I'm REALLY inspired about these two lately…here's another little two-shot.

Deeks couldn't get the images out of his head, no matter what he did in an attempt to distract himself. He didn't think he would ever get over having to watch Kensi be abducted before his very eyes. When they had finally found her, forty-eight hours later, she had been weak and battered, but not too weak to make a smart comment to them about not finding her faster.

Still, the fear and torment that Deeks had suffered during Kensi's disappearance would haunt him forever. The thought of never teasing her again, of never seeing her eyes flash angrily, of never seeing the devilish gleam in her eye when she knew that she had something to hold over his head for a while—all of those thoughts inspired him to work twice as hard at finding out where she was.

Deeks hadn't told anyone—especially not Kensi—of his feelings. He had realized, in that agonizingly long time, that he loved his partner. He loved everything about her, and all he wanted to do was tell her. He had planned it all out in his mind—how he would say it, what he would say, and what her response would be. Of course, the minute Kensi had returned to OSP, he knew that he was too much of a coward to face her. Deeks would rather go up against Mexican drug dealers than confess to Kensi how he felt.

She was resting at home, and Deeks was sitting as his desk, staring at the nearby stone wall as if it were something incredible.

"Somebody lost the nerve," Callen commented quietly to Sam, his partner.

"Yep, sure looks like it," Sam agreed.

"Huh?" Deeks snapped out of his reverie suddenly, and sat up straight so quickly that he nearly fell out of his chair. "What were you guys saying?"

"Why don't you go talk to her," Callen suggested. "We'll cover for you if Hetty gets suspicious."

"Talk to who?" Deeks asked innocently.

Sam snorted. "Deeks, we're not stupid. We can see right through you."

"Cannot," the blonde LAPD detective objected uncertainly. "Can you? Really?"

"Uh-huh," Callen replied. "You've got it bad. I've seen it before, but this is the worst case of lovesickness I've seen in my lifetime."

"Guys, it's Kensi!" Deeks pointed out. "I don't even think she likes me!"

Sam laughed outright this time. "She likes you," he declared confidently. "Trust me, you're one of Kensi's favorite people."

"She'd never admit that, though," Callen added wisely. "Unless she's heavily drugged and even then, it'd be difficult to get it out of her."

"Yeah, but 'liking' me, and 'caring for me' are two very different things, guys," Deeks told them. "If I make an idiot of myself, Kensi will never forgive me or let me live it down. Any advice?"

"Agent Blye is a woman at heart," Hetty said, materializing out of nowhere it seemed. "Down deep, she'd like to be treated like a lady. Tell her exactly how you feel, Mr. Deeks, and I think she'll come 'round in no time at all."

"Wait—," Deeks hesitated for a second. "You're giving me…are you saying that..." He thought for a second, staring skeptically at Hetty. "You know what? I'm just gonna go," he finally decided, picking up his keys off his desk. "See you guys soon."

When Deeks was gone, Callen turned to Hetty with a grin on his handsome face. "You're actually encouraging him in this? I thought we weren't supposed to get involved with our partners."

"I am a notorious matchmaker at heart, Mr. Callen," Hetty declared. "If I see two young people who deserve each other, than I will do everything in my power to unite them, no matter what Director Vance says."

Sam struggled to conceal a smile that was twitching at the corners of his mouth. "Are you saying you hide a bow and harmless arrows somewhere on you?" he asked her playfully.

"Not all of them are harmless. You would do well to keep that in mind, Mr. Hanna." Hetty smiled politely at Sam and then walked away to her office.

When she was gone Callen turned to his partner. "The mental image of Hetty as cupid is going to be stuck in my mind forever," he declared quietly.

"I didn't know you ever thought about cupid, G. I'm beginning to worry about you," Sam laughed.

Tell me what you think! The second chapter will be nothing but pure Kensi/Deeks fluff!