"Drinks on me tonight!" Deeks hopped on his desk after their long harrowing day. "The bar is coming along nicely. It would be totally awesome for you guys to come check out the progress. I know you'll be brutally honest about what you think as alway."

"As long as you promise not to serve us that monstrosity you did last time!" Sam scowled puckering his lips remembering the awful taste of something vaguely resembling beer.

"No guarantees," Kensi laughed.

As they gathered their belongings and headed out of the mission, Deeks turned back to Kensi. "Why don't you go see if the WonderTwins are ready and I'll ride with the guys."

"Ohhh, you're finally going to ask them, Chicken?" She teased knowing Deeks had been trying to find the right time to ask the two men to be his best men. He obviously couldn't choose between the two and hell nothing they've done to this point was normal, so why start now.

"Something like that," he smirked, "Besides, don't you need to ask Nellasaurus to be your lady in waiting."

"Funny guy, huh?" She slugged him as he winced in pain.

"Point taken," his smile lit up the room. "I love you, Kensi Blye," he kissed her forehead.

"Now go, see you in a bit."

"Let's go, Loverboy! I'll even give you shotgun if you hurry," Callen shouted. Deeks wasn't gonna wait on that offer, since Callen never gave him shotgun even when he called it!

He quickly looked back and watched Kensi walk up the stairs to OPS. " Soon to be Kensi Deeks."

Kensi walked into OPS, finding it strangely empty. Thinking the wonder twins might be playing some weird kind of technical hide and seek, she called out their names. "Nell, Beale?"

She heard a shuffle. Rolling her eyes, "Seriously?" She tried to hide her chuckle. "Guys, c'mon Deeks, Callen and Sam are gonna drink all the actual consumable beers before we get there."

She heard the shuffle again. "Nell?" Being inside the mission, she left her gun down in the bullpen. "Beale?" He voice began to crack. The past several years, with the mole and security breaches, crept up in her mind making her feel less secure.

A semi familiar shadow moved into the light, "Hello Kensi"

Her body began to tense unsure if the figure was friend or foe. "How did you get in here? Where's Nell and Eric?" After a moment of silence, the anger in her voice beginning to show, "What the hell do you want?"

"You!"

—

The men arrived at the bar. Deeks had made moderate progress. The bar area had been freshly stained and there was now more adequate lighting since the last time they were there. A bright neon sign hanging on the wall above the liquor shelves lit up in the words Densi's.

"Too corny?" He asked hoping the men would be as honest as ever. "Kensi was hesitant at first, but I told her it's us."

"It's perfect," Sam said giving his teammate a slap on the back.

Deeks pulled out some fresh beers, " I promise, I just bought these." He handed a beer to each of the men. He had learned so much from them over the past 9 years. He truly considered them family.

"It's coming along, Guy," Callen beamed. "We're proud of you!"

Deeks was taken back a bit by this statement. They had never really expressed that sentiment to him before. Sure they were very supportive when he was tortured and when Kensi was injured. They helped him regain his focus the last few months while he was questioning his career choice, Sam especially. He had given him some insight on how they could make a family work, even with this job. He made him value even more how amazing Kensi is at what she does and made him realize there were many jobs within NCIS that didn't involve field work. Even after Michelle's death, Sam could still see the importance of what they do and wouldn't change a thing. Deeks had so much respect for this man. He took a deep breathe and thought aloud, " Well, this is as good as time as any."

The two senior partners looked at each other. They knew what was coming. "It's me!" Sam boldly whispered.

" I just told him I was proud of him," Callen bolstered in expectation that he'd win the title.

Deeks just sat back and smiled taking in the teammates , who had become brothers, banter over who would stand beside him when he married the love of his life.