A/N: I could have finished up the last chapter of Hold 'Em… And I will, I swear. Instead, in honor of the season 8 DVD box set being out (and my subsequent binge), I've worked up a new story from one of those episodes. Set after the events of 8x09 ("Glastnost"), this is my take on when I thought Kensi and Deeks would actually have rekindled their physical relationship during her recovery process.

For more on my opinion on the matter*, feel free to check out my previous story: 'Surprise Visit.'

Additionally, the show focused way more on Kensi's spinal injury… but don't forget that she also had a broken leg (that they more or less glossed over) and an IM rod. Trust me**, that part is painful. But the rehabilitation timeline/process looks more or less the same as what they showed, so I won't gripe too much about skipping over it.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Not the characters. Not the show. Not even this keyboard I'm typing on that I 'borrowed' from my dad sometime back in college… You know what? Screw it. I own this keyboard, dammit!

Rating: M for Moose… and also Mature.

With an extraordinary amount of mental effort, Kensi willed the fingers of her left hand to extend just a little more so she could weave them between the fingers of her fiancé's outstretched hand. Ok, so he wasn't her fiancé yet, but much like she started calling herself a year older a month or two before her birthday, she had already started to think of him as such.

When at last she succeeded at grasping his hand with her useless claw, he wrapped each of his fingers around hers. For just that moment, she felt a strange sense of achievement at the simple act. She sighed in relief and looked lovingly at the man sitting on the couch across the checkers board from her.

He kissed their joined hands and held her gaze before whispering, "I love you."

Kensi smiled in response and leaned as far over the board as she was able. Tilting her head slightly, she bade him to lean in closer.

Deeks was already half way to her, and met her lips with a chaste kiss. One kiss turned into two, then three or four, and Kensi only pulled her lips from his in order to try and move the checkers board off the couch and out of the way. But her hand was stuck in his; she couldn't release his fingers.

"Come on!" she said softly in frustration, yanking his hand with hers a bit harder than she intended.

"Baby, it's okay," Deeks told her, spreading his fingers more so hers could pull free.

Using mostly her right hand, Kensi moved the board from the couch to the coffee table, losing several checkers pieces to the floor along the way. With some additional effort, she uncrossed her legs, and scooted over closer to Deeks.

He had watched her patiently, resisting the temptation to help her as best as he could. As hard as it must have been for him, he had listened to her request to let her do things herself while she slowly recovered. When she reached him, she threw her arms around his shoulders, and let him reposition her legs across his lap.

"Baby, we're supposed to be playing checkers," he reminded her when she brought her face to his.

"No. I'm supposed to be doing ADL therapy," she reasoned. "And checkers is a dumb game anyways."

"You're just saying that because I was winning," he said, grinning. "We could play chess, or cards. Dust off the Xbox and play Call of Duty. Video games are supposed to be good for dexterity."

Instead of answering, she reached for his hand with her 'claw' again, making a concerted effort to have her fingers do the work, and not her wrist. When she had his hand in her grasp, she gingerly got to her feet, and pulled him with her.

"I think I'm ready for bed," she informed him simply.

"Alright," he agreed, following her as she tugged him towards the stairs.

He turned off the lights downstairs when she released him again. Kensi single-stepped her way up the stairs slowly; her left leg was still not quite coordinated enough to handle the task. She was almost to the top when he caught up to her.

"It's nice to be home, and out of that hospital," she told him for the dozenth time once they had reached their bedroom.

"You're telling me," he agreed. "Back in our big, comfy bed and off of the davenport of despair."

Kensi smiled at him from over by the dresser. She thought about teasing him; about reminding him again that he hadn't needed to stay with her as often as he did. But she was glad he had, and so left it at that. She was already mostly in her sleep wear and had only to take off the outer t-shirt she was wearing. But Deeks needed to change out of his work clothes still.

When he was down to his boxers and had brushed his teeth, she watched in amusement as he walked first to the left side of the bed where he used to sleep, and then over to the right when he remembered that they had switched. It was silly, but she'd asked him to. The doctors had caught her laying on her right side in the hospital and warned her against doing so for too long. She couldn't feel them much yet, but she still had screws and a rod in that leg and needed to be careful. But as the sleepless nights wore on, she found that she wanted to at least be able to watch her peacefully slumbering boyfriend while she battled insomnia. So, since the distance to the bathroom was the same in this new house, they switched sides so she could lay on her left side and face him at night.

With the lights extinguished, they settled into their bed face to face, and practically nose to nose. She nestled closer to him and tucked her head under his chin, nuzzling the skin of his bare shoulder. She breathed deeply and let his scent fill her nostrils. Not for the first time, she failed to place it. He smelled like the desert, the ocean, and the mountains all at once; maybe it just reminded her of all the places that made her happy.

His arm wrapped around her waist tighter when she sighed, pulling her closer. His hand wasn't even that close to her butt, but she kind of wished it was. Without her asking, he had promised her when she came home that he would wait until she was ready; that he wouldn't ever bring up having sex until she said so. It had been a few weeks since the hospital had discharged her, and he had kept his word to her and his hands to himself.

Her injury and recovery had been hard on them, but today had been okay. She didn't want her partner at work to see her so weak. She didn't want her partner in life to be so burdened by her. But occasionally she remembered that in between all that he was also her friend and lover, and as hard as it was to admit, she needed him right now. Her body had started to remind her how long it had been since they'd last made love.

Her left arm was tucked up against his chest, and she groped around until she found one of his hands. Already, she was getting better at entwining her stubborn fingers with his, and it made her feel happy— almost accomplished.

"You really like doing that, huh?" he asked her sleepily.

"Mhmm," she agreed, her lips now muffled against his skin as she started to kiss his neck softly.

Her other hand snaked between them and under the waste band of his boxers, following the cut of his muscles towards the base of his shaft. The tips of her fingers had just brushed against him when he stopped her.

"What are you doing?" he asked her, his face visible in the low light coming in through the windows.

"What do you think I'm doing?" she responded, leaning into him more so she could press her lips to his.

"Kens," he said, cupping her face and looking sadly into her eyes. "I don't think this is a good idea. You're not ready."

"Yes I am," she argued.

He insisted, "No, you're not."

"Come on, Deeks! This is something I can do. Something I have control over. Something that will help me feel like life is normal again, if only for a few minutes. And I won't let anyone— not even you— tell me I'm not ready for this."

He held her gaze for a few seconds and she tried to convince him with her eyes to give in. He sighed, then finally relented.

"Okay… But we go slowly. Gently," he said softly. Then, with a mischievous grin and a glint in his eye that she hadn't seen for months he added, "Oh, and uh, it will be for more than a few minutes, I can promise you that."

Deeks kissed her again and shifted down the bed to lay on his side level with her hips, taking their covers off with him. She watched his eyes as he paused to examine the scars visible on her right leg below her shorts: a jagged, uneven one on her inner thigh about half way down where the helicopter had pinned her; and a neater one on the outside of her hip where the surgeons had put in the intramedullary rod and screws that fixed her broken leg. His fingers brushed lightly against them, but she couldn't feel his gentle touch. She still couldn't really feel anything in that leg.

Not for the first time, she marveled at the medical miracle that allowed for broken femur patients to walk as soon as eight weeks. With everything she'd researched on the subject, Kensi almost considered herself lucky that she spent the first portion of that recovery in a coma, safe from the excruciating pain that usually followed the procedure… Almost.

It certainly wasn't worth the difficulty she was having right now doing simple tasks. As if to illustrate that point, she reached for his head with her claw hand and failed at extending her fingers. Frustrated that she couldn't tangle her useless digits in his hair, she instead rolled to her back and tucked her hand above her head, digging it into her pillow.

Unaware of her struggles, Deeks was seemingly finished with his inspection of her lower injuries. He pulled her sleep shorts and underwear down her long legs, and helped her out of her tank top as well. He settled on the bed next to her again, and draped his chest across her stomach. His lips took a meandering journey around and across her breasts, while one of his hands pet her legs. His thumb massaged the skin near her center, and as he inched closer she could feel her inner muscles begin to twitch occasionally in anticipation.

"Deeks, come on!" she urged him. With a hint of desperation in her voice, she added, "No more teasing."

"Okay," he relented.

Deeks reached around her on the bed. He grabbed a few of their pillows, putting one under her head and another under her hips and lower back.

"That really isn't necessary," she told him, smiling at how sweet he was being.

But when he went to help her spread her legs, she thought she felt something catch in her right hip. As he settled his body between her open legs, forcing them to split even further, she definitely felt something in her right thigh. Something like pain.

"Ahh ah!" she cried out at the sharp, stabbing sensation in her thigh.

"Oh, God! I'm so sorry!" Deeks called out nervously as he backed off of her. "Kens, I'm— why are you laughing?"

"It hurts!" she told him with a smile on her face. He still looked confused and concerned so she elaborated, "It felt painful… Deeks, it felt!"

He caught on to what she was saying, and smiled with her. "Baby, we don't have to do this."

"Oh, yes we do. I want to see what else I can feel," she informed him.

In truth, she had never lost sensation between her legs. Only on her leg below the hip. The body is a strange thing some times. But Deeks seemed to pick up on the game she was playing, and returned his fingers to her inner thighs, inching them closer to her center.

"Can you feel this?" he inquired, teasing her folds with a feather light touch. She nodded and he pressed harder. His fingers delved into her wet heat that had been so long neglected. "How about this?"

"Hmmm. I can. And it feels good. But, maybe a little bit deeper?"

"Like this?" he asked, curling his fingers and pushing them into her.

She squirmed as he rubbed against the sensitive ring of nerves and muscles that made the opening of her pussy. She was willing to admit that two months was too long to go without being touched by him— not even including the time she was unconscious.

With her legs mostly closed, Deeks couldn't get his face fully in between them. So he latched his lips onto her thigh instead while he kept working at her with his fingers. He mouthed his way closer and closer to her center as he pushed his fingers deeper. At last his nose dug into the soft mound of flesh above her slit as his tongue made contact with her clit. Kensi gasped at this, and stretched out her uninjured leg as best as she could to allow him more access.

For his part, Deeks seemed to be taking his time; slowly savoring her with each lap of his tongue. Kensi had apparently been more ready for this than she originally thought, because she was on a hair pin trigger. After only a couple of minutes, she let out a sharp breath and tensed all of her muscles when she found her release. A jolt of ecstasy had coursed through her almost the second his fingers touched the right spot inside her. And with his tongue working her clit in tandem, this short burst escalated into an explosion of pulsations and flutterings of pleasure.

Deeks hummed in satisfaction against her skin as she relaxed on the bed in front of him. He massaged her skin as he slid up to lay next to her, and she didn't even care that he left a trail of warm wetness on her as he dragged his hand up her body.

He cuddled against her and kissed her on the cheek before asking, "Better?"

"Uh huh," she answered. Suspecting that he intended to end their session, she went on, "But I want some more."

He groaned a little into her neck. "You know we don't have to."

"I think we do," she answered. Feeling around for the bulge poking out under his boxers, she added, "And I think you want to."

He didn't argue. And he didn't resist when she pushed and pulled at the waist band of his underwear until they were half way down his legs. His cock was already rigid, and it bounced back and forth as he worked to completely rid himself of his boxers. He climbed partially on top of her, kissing her soundly. He pulled away, and looked down the length of her body at her legs still held closed and together, before bringing his eyes questioningly back to hers.

"How should we…?" he started to ask.

Pushing on his shoulder, Kensi tried to roll him. "Maybe try a different position?"

Deeks held his ground and shook his head, saying, "I don't think it's a good idea for you to try and straddle me."

"Probably not."

"Think you can get on all fours?" he asked hopefully.

She hesitated and cocked her head. "Maybe…"

"Wait, I've got a better idea. Lie on your stomach," he told her. She did as she was asked, and he rearranged some of the bedding around her. "We'll just shift this pillow under you. And… there! Comfortable?"

"Yeah," she replied from her mountain of pillows.

"Okay, baby," he said in a low voice, kissing her shoulder. "You just tell me if you need me to back off. I'll go slow."

Kensi laid prone on the bed and hugged one of the pillows he'd placed by her as he shifted around. She waited in silent anticipation, unable to see what he was doing behind her and wishing she could reach him. She felt the bed shift as he climbed carefully over her, and heard him spit into his own hand to spread the moisture on the tip of his dick. She kept her legs together, so he spread his on either side of her thighs until his pelvis was level with hers.

With her hips propped up and her back curved the way it was, it was actually quite easy for him to find and spread the lips of her pussy with his cock from behind. But he had to push in slowly, so slowly. Both her position and the amount of time since they'd last fucked made her tight, and their foreplay had done only a little to loosen her up. Kensi relished this feeling of being stretched inch by inch— the only positive thing about longer dry spells. By the time Deeks had sunk all the way in, he was already breathing raggedly with with the effort of restraining himself. With impressive self control, he began to move.

His strokes were long and sluggish. He made an effort to not lean on her or bump into her too hard. Instead his hips rose and fell like a piston as he pumped in and out of her; dropping lower as he pulled out then rising up so he could push down again as he thrust into her. Around and around he moved, slow enough that she could feel the warm tingle of each ridge and vein of his as he moved within her and pressed up against her butt. God, did she miss this.

After a few minutes, Deeks' muscles began to shake with the effort of holding himself up, even with how slowly he was moving. He bent over at the waist and lowered himself until his chest rested on her shoulder and pressed her gently into the mattress. He had planted his hands and elbows on either side of her rib cage and still held most of his weight up.

His pace stayed so torturously slow. At times, she wasn't even sure he was moving, though she could still feel him inside her. He paused to tuck his head down over her shoulder, nuzzling her cheek with his nose until she turned her face to his and accepted his kisses. With their lips in reach of each other's, he started to move again. He mostly just rocked his hips back and forth, grinding and gyrating against her butt every few strokes and drawing a breathy moan from her. Kensi released the pillow she had been clinging to, and pulled her hands back until they reached his. Her right hand quickly found and gripped his wrist. Her left hand she placed over his and managed to curl each of her fingers between those on his splayed hand. He bent his fingers as well, allowing her to capture his fist in her palm.

She desperately wanted him to go faster and harder, but she could feel a sharp pain each time she tried to push back against him. So she lay there squeezing his hands as much as she was able, and moaning softly while the heat started to build inside her slowly. At this slothful pace, when her orgasm finally came it didn't crash over her in a wave so much as it rose like a high tide until it consumed her. For almost a minute, her inner muscles had started to tighten as her clit began to throb.

Deeks groaned through it all at the increased resistance to each of his thrusts. Soon though, he was unable to hold off any longer, and his whole body shook when he emptied himself inside of her. Like a hot, liquid bullet, his seed hit her inner walls with force, and any of her nerve endings that weren't already trembling finally went off.

Kensi uncurled her toes and relaxed her jaw, releasing the inside of her cheek she hadn't even realized she was biting. But she continued to hold onto Deeks' hand even as he shifted over and collapsed at her side. She knew they would have to get up, tidy themselves and redress for bed soon, but for a few minutes all she wanted to do was lay there with him.

As satisfied as she felt, she could still sense a building anguish. She had barely been able to really participate in what they had just done. Not like she used to anyways. She sighed and tried to push such negative thoughts from her head as her therapist had taught her to do. Instead she focused on the slight sense of accomplishment she felt, and what other positions might work with her current physical abilities. One thing was for sure though: she couldn't wait until she was ready to take control and go full speed again. With those more positive thoughts, she reminded herself anew: one step at a time.

A/N: If you care, see rants from my opening comments below:

*The short version is: having personally been through a debilitating injury, surgery and rehabilitation process, I can assure you that the second I was able to do something, I did it. If only because those baby steps towards getting my life back to normal were important to my mental recovery as well. I may be projecting, but at least you get a naughty story out of it.

**Also, it's amusing anecdote time: When I had that leg surgery, my doctor straight up warned me that she'd had a surprising number of women get pregnant following similar procedures, despite being in an obscenely restrictive leg brace (which has to be worn even in bed), because "where there's a will, there's a way." You see, hormonal birth control has to be discontinued before such surgeries and up to a month after… something to do with blood pressure and clotting risks. I still laugh about that lecture sometimes.