Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or rights associated - even loosely - with NCIS or NCIS: Los Angeles. I'm just a fan.
A/N: So, I've been a little bit in love with Deeks/Kensi for some time now - they're just so bloody sweet - and haven't written anything in a long, long time. I've been toying with some ideas for a NCIS: LA fanfiction, but haven't quite nailed down a story, so I thought I'd start with this, which is something that's been on my mind ever since Blye, K., Part 2. I hope you enjoy. Hopefully there'll be more Densi in the future.
He was slipping and he knew it.
After they'd talked, and she – presumably – went to mend fences with her mother, Kensi hadn't come into the office the next day and it was beginning to make him feel, well, "panicked" sprang to mind.
"Much needed R&R" was all Hetty would say. He assumed she was telling the truth – why lie now, right? Even though Deeks had expected her to be in; everyone had. She was injured, sure, but she seemed intent on coming in anyway. And she hadn't called him.
Should she have called him, he wondered? "It's not as if I'm her mother…" he said under his breath, biting a blue pen cap thoughtfully.
"Whose mother are you?" asked Nell, a quizzical smirk playing at the edge of her lip. She cocked her head to the side, glancing at him from the corner of her eye, brow raised. "Are congratulations in order?"
Snapping his head up, Deeks leaned back in his chair, "Who's a what-now?" he asked playfully, hedging for time.
Nell narrowed her eyes at him, too busy to press the issue any further and set a file down on his desk, "Uh-huh".
Deeks glanced at the folder for a moment before his eyes travelled to desk directly across from his. The desk where his partner sat. The empty desk. "Damn it", he muttered.
The day passed uneventfully. Routinely even. Achingly slowly when it became apparent that his text messages would go unanswered the entire day.
Maybe she was in more pain than he'd thought. Three cracked ribs and a bruise the size of a softball were pretty nasty for most people, but not Kensi. The whole ordeal had been emotionally draining, that much was certain. But still, this was Kensi, he thought with a shrug. Maybe he was worried for nothing.
But then, why hadn't she come in? Why hadn't she called? Or responded to one of his witty and totally casual text messages? "Hey there partner, oversleep? LOL ;P", or "Remember: beer + painkillers = bad things". But nothing. Nothing!
He kicked the leg of his desk, the audible thud resounding louder in the mostly quiet office space, causing more than one head to pop up and glance his way. "Ow" he managed, after a beat. Damn it. Would this day never end?
By the time 6pm rolled around, and the mundane paper-pushing had long since ceased, Deeks was all but ready to sprint for the door.
"Friday" called Callen in that sing-song way people do when the week is finally, thankfully, beautifully over and they anticipate a long weekend of blissful nothingness. "Beers?"
Sam shrugged his bag over his shoulder and shook his head, "Sorry, plans".
"Deeks?" Callen inquired, brows lifted as he inched toward the door.
"Sorry", Deeks began, "I, uh, something…".
Sam and Callen fixed him with a suspicious look before glancing knowingly at one another, "Uh-huh" said Callen finally. "Give Kensi our best".
Deeks puffed in indignation, "Wha? You guys… I'll see you Monday".
After pacing conspicuously between Kensi's doorstep and his nearby parked car for what must have been at least 5 minutes, Deeks bit his bottom lip firmly, glancing heavenward for some sign. "This is ridiculous" he exhaled sharply, "I'm just makin' sure my partner's okay. Nuthin' wrong with that".
He knocked rapidly, softly, three times and instantly wished he'd gone home. Or had at least liquored up a bit. He wasn't sure why. Turning on his heel, he thought perhaps she hadn't heard him, that he might make a run for it when Kensi opened the door.
He turned slowly, a guilty smile lining his pressed lips, "Hey! Thought you weren't home!". He shook his head slightly, alarmed by the forced joviality so evident in his voice. He flashed his most charming smile, knowing full well she was one of the few people who could see right through it.
His partner leaned against the door frame and glanced at him through long lashes. "I was beginning to wonder if you were going to come up or just pace all night". Deeks smiled sheepishly and Kensi, as if constantly tested by his playful nature, released an exaggerated breath and opened the door wider for him. "Come on in".
Deeks stepped across the threshold tentatively, suddenly feeling as though he'd invaded her space; that she didn't need or want him there. That he'd been foolish and childish, and every other kind of 'ish' for letting her absence distract him all day long.
"I can go" he said slowly, watching her make a deliberate and obviously painful path toward the sofa, "I just didn't hear from you and wanted to make sure you were… alright" he said finally, as she, biting her lower lip against the discomfort, lowered down onto a host of pillows.
"I'm alright" she said with a patient smile, "just a little more sore than I was expecting. Besides" she said, adjusting a cushion, "I didn't really have a choice".
"Ah", Deeks understood at last. "Hetty".
"Indeed", Kensi answered.
Deeks closed the door behind him and hoisted a bag of tacos. "Food".
"You always bring the good stuff" Kensi smiled, leaning forward to reach for him, but stopping as the offending cracked ribs stabbed at her side, causing a sudden sharp intake of breath.
Deeks lurched forward quickly, "Ah, don't get up. I saw how long it took you to sit down in the first place", he teased. He set the bag of tacos down on the coffee table in front of her and removed his leather jacked, hanging it on the door knob. Kensi narrowed her dark eyes at him but decided to let the comment pass. She reached for a taco before settling back, "Hot sauce is in the fridge. Just inside the door".
He disappeared into the kitchen. "How many painkillers are you on?" he called.
"Just enough" she called back, "why?"
"No reason". A moment later Deeks emerged with the hot sauce in hand, along with two open beers. He set one bottle down in front of Kensi before settling onto the sofa next to her. Just far enough away to be inconspicuous, he thought, yet just close enough to feel the warmth radiate from her body.
She leaned forward carefully, unwrapping a taco and drizzling it with hot sauce. The loose-fitting grey tank top she wore slipped from her left shoulder as she turned exposing a baby blue bra strap and the delicate angle of her shoulder, lightly tanned by the LA sun. Deeks caught himself watching her and swallowed a bit too roughly.
"So", he began casually, "what'cha do on your day off? Go to a movie? Hit the beach maybe?"
She leaned back before taking a hearty bite of her taco. She smiled as the combination of seasoned beef, melted cheese and guacamole met her lips, her eyes fluttering closed for a brief moment. Through a half-full mouth she said, "Oh… you went all the way to Mariachi's?"
Deeks chuckled, watching her chew and swallow happily. "I know they're your favorite". He unwrapped a taco and, after a hearty dose of hot sauce, took a bite himself.
After she'd swallowed a second bite, she turned to watch him. "No," she finally answered his question, "I just kind of lounged around actually".
"Top model marathon?" he asked between bites.
Kensi rolled her eyes. "No".
Deeks furrowed his brow and swallowed before fixing a somewhat puzzled gaze on his partner. "So… you were home all day just doing nothing?"
"I was" she answered, taking another bite, "and it was awesome".
"Ah, that's nice. Nothing to do. You might even say, you had some time on your hands?" he asked, setting his half-eaten taco down on the coffee table.
Kensi shrugged, taking another bite. "I guess I did".
"I see", Deeks said, leaning back to cross his arms in a mock-professional fashion. "With a day full of nothing to do, you didn't happen to find the time, between commercials perhaps, to, oh, I don't know, call? Or respond to a text message? Full day indeed".
Kensi popped the final bite of taco into her mouth and chewed slowly before dabbing at the corner of her mouth with a yellow Mariachi's serviette. "I didn't realize I needed to. Besides, my phone was off for most of the day".
"Hey, you don't owe me anything" Deeks quipped, hands raised in acquiescence, "it's just generally considered mobile phone etiquette to respond to the occasional text message, that's all".
"Occasional text message?" Kensi turned, eying him with playful surprise. "Occasional?"
Deeks huffed, shrugging sharply, "Yeah".
"32 text messages in less than 8 hours is 'occasional'?" she asked, arching a well-sculpted brow.
"Oh… come on" he answered, becoming visibly flustered, "it wasn't 32…"
Kensi pushed herself painfully upward, ignoring her partner's calls to "sit still" and, "what do you need? I'll get it" to stride across the living room and into the bedroom before emerging with mobile phone in hand.
"Hey kid, how's the war wound?" she read, glancing up at him.
"Kenz, just checking in. If you're passed out on the living room floor, text me" she quoted.
"Well, I…" Deeks began before she cut him off.
"Hey partner, oversleep? LOL winky-face"? she questioned.
"Alright, so it was a slow day. And you didn't respond, how was I to know if you were dead or not?"
"Well", she crossed her arms to mimic his stance, "I imagine that, were I dead, I wouldn't have responded either way".
Deeks nodded, "Touché".
Kensi smiled, knowing she had thoroughly won this round, and set her phone down on the coffee table before slowly making her way into the kitchen.
"So how is the war wound?" Deeks called from the living room. He retrieved is taco and pushed the remaining half into his mouth which he chewed and swallowed diligently.
Kensi emerged from the kitchen with a glass of water in hand and, after taking a sip and placing it on the already cluttered coffee table, stretched painfully, her eyes closing as she tugged the elastic band from her hair to let her chestnut curls cascade loosely down her neck and face.
"I'll be alright" she said at last, shrugging one shoulder. "I look like someone's thrashed me with a nine-iron and feel pretty much like I've been run over by a tractor, but I'll live".
"Yikes" Deeks answered. As she stretched, the edge of her tank top rose slightly, revealing a strip of golden-tinted skin and, down her right side, the yellowing edges of a bruise that was significantly larger than it had been the day before when she had lifted her shirt to show him. When she had lifted her shirt and was all but topless. In her mother's garage, chased by an unknown, would-be assassin. With him. Alone.
The way the dream sequence begins…
Without realizing it, Deeks rose from the sofa and made his way toward her where he lifted the edge of her top to examine the bruise. Kensi opened her eyes, surprised to feel his hands against her skin, and drew in a startled breath that ricocheted across her cracked rips, causing her to wince with an audible grunt.
Deeks drew his hand away quickly, "Sorry! I'm just surprised to see it's gotten this bad…"
She eyed him, her lips pressed against the pain and managed a nod. "Told ya. Nine-iron".
"Looks more like a fourteen-iron…"
Moving slowly, Deeks gently lifted the edge of her top to expose her belly and side ribs. The bruise had darkened substantially, an inky purple in the middle that faded to blue, green and yellow as it spread like a stain across her light flesh. In less than 24 hours, it had grown to nearly twice the size of his hand and he realized she must be in considerable pain.
"God…" he breathed, placing his left palm tenderly against the mark. Her skin was warm, and through his spread fingers the wound seemed to glow like a morbid sunset. Deeks spread his thumb across the bruise, shaking his head slowly, his flaxen curls ruffling.
"When I saw you go down…" he said softly, his fingers tracing the line where her skin became discolored, "I thought…" He swallowed thickly. He felt the hot, sharp sting of threatening tears prick the corners of his eyes as the blast rang in his ears as clearly as he had the day before when he was forced to watch helplessly as his friend and partner pitched forward as the bullet struck.
"If you hadn't been wearing that vest…" he said softly, his blue eyes flicking up to meet hers.
"I know" she said quietly, breaking him from his reverie. Deeks pulled her top down and cleared his throat, suddenly cognoscente of the fact that he was mere inches from her body, close enough to feel her breath on his face – Tabasco and onions and beer. Instantly he longed to kiss her.
"Well it's a good thing you have the weekend" he said at last, retaking his space on the sofa and reaching for a second taco.
Kensi nodded, easing into her seat beside him. She pulled her feet up and tucked her icy toes under his leg, leaning against a pillow to shift the weight off her core and onto her right side. She breathed a sigh of relief.
"So…" Deeks began through a bite of taco, "do I ask how it went with your mom?"
Kensi shot him a look and he nodded. She reached for her beer, but he beat her to it, picking up the bottle and handing it to her. She smiled a quiet thank you and took a sip, her eyes wandering to the muted episode of Grey's Anatomy she had never paid attention to.
"It was… nice" she said at last.
Deeks watched her as she stared past the television set, her long fingers wrapped around the bottle resting on her knee. A number of minutes ticked silently by. Kensi tucked her chin, her gaze coming to rest on the low coffee table.
"It was just… nice. Nice to see her. To talk. To have the opportunity to mend things…"
Deeks nodded, swallowing the last of his taco. "I'm glad".
Kensi looked up at him, a faint smile lighting her eyes. "Me too".