A/N: I know you prolly don't want to read my mindless chatter before 3200 words of straight up Densi, but I just wanted to thank all of you who took the time to review the first chapter. You're the reason this second chapter is up much sooner than planned and chapter three is already almost finished. So without further ado, I give you Chapter 2.
The morning had not been a good one for Deeks, but he had managed to convince their driver that he needed a bagel and coffee before they got too far from civilization. Kensi had not fought him on that stipulation because she was starving and didn't want to break into their supplies of energy bars just yet. When they'd left the bakery slash coffee shop, Deeks' pockets were suspiciously bulky but he was grinning and avoiding all eye contact as he climbed back into the car. She had to work very hard not to roll her eyes. Where did he think he was going to stash the food once they started to load up in gear? When they arrived at the starting site they were allowed to haul the two large backpacks from the van and begin sorting through what they needed out now (bandanas, sunglasses, etc) but the driver kept a watchful eye on them.
"What?" Deeks asked finally, not wanting the guy to see him hide his bagel stash.
"I'm supposed to make sure you don't start until eight," the guys said gruffly.
Deeks eyed his watch and noted that they only had a few minutes to wait anyway so he tried to be patient and passed time by securing his banana over his head. Easy visibility – said Kensi's lecturing voice in his head and then slid on his sporty looking sunglasses. He preferred his aviators but since they would be climbing all over the place he had to agree that the snugger wrap around fit of the sport sunglasses would be better for this trip. That's what he kept calling it in his head; a trip, because survival mission just didn't have a very fun ring to it. He glanced over at his partner who held up the compass hanging from around her neck. Deeks had to bite back a grin when Kensi had first appeared from the back of the plane dressed in cargo style camo pants that hugged her backside in a very sinful manner and a form fitting neon orange long sleeve zip up that was very Kensi-like. Her hair was plaited down her back and a matching orange bandana tied over her head that made her a very attractive beacon. That had been the point of the bright bandanas. So if one of them strayed a few feet further than they should they could be spotted easily enough. His own wardrobe consisted of dark grey cargo pants and a red version of the shirt Kensi was wearing and a matching red bandana to boot.
"We'll be starting in that direction," Kensi spoke up, staring hard at the compass as she pointed in the direction of the trees. "You ready?"
When she looked up at him a thrill went down his spine because she had her classic Kensi-grin plastered across her face and he could feel the excitement radiating from her. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad; hanging out with his favorite partner for a week. Just them and nature and a single tent. A matching grin spread across his face and for that moment the world around them ceased to exist.
"You can start now," a gruff voice came from near the car.
Kensi beamed Deeks a smile and together they trekked in the direction Kensi had pointed in with their backpacks strapped on snuggly and their heads held high.
*Ten Minutes Later*
"Do we get a water break yet?" Deeks asked from a few steps behind his partner.
"You can't be serious…" Kensi sighed and continued as if he hadn't said a word.
*Another Ten Minutes Later*
"So do we play the 20 questions game or something while we trek through these woods?" Deeks asked, honestly getting a little bored with the hiking in silence routine.
"Nope, we're going to play the shut up game or we'll have to double our speed so you no longer can talk," Kensi replied, her voice dripping in sarcasm.
"Keeeeeeeensi," Deeks whined, dragging out the 'e' in her name.
"You're going to scare away all forms of life if you keep talking and then we're going to have to chew pine cones to survive," Kensi tried to explain.
Deeks cringe at that thought and stoically followed his partner in grudging silence.
*Twenty Minutes Later*
"Can I at least whisper?" Deeks asked in as soft a voice as he could manage.
"OH MY GOD DEEKS!" Kensi growled and turned on him. "We have the opportunity to finally beat Callen and Sam at something and be paper duty free for a whole month and you want to talk?"
"Well it's going to be a very long trip if we have to do the entire thing in silence," Deeks said in his still quiet voice.
Kensi worked to ease the tension from her shoulders and sighed. She could meet him halfway on this one if it meant she wouldn't have to listen to him whine and it kept him going.
"Okay," Kensi said calmly. "What would you like to talk about?"
Deeks' step was a little quicker and they continued in the direction they had started. "So how did you get into camping? Because I'm guessing this isn't a completely new thing to you."
Kensi chuckled and shook her head. "My dad, of course. As soon as I was out of diapers he'd take me out camping for a couple of weeks at a time when he was on leave. Didn't matter the season, he'd find a place we could go and it would just be us and nature."
"That sounds like it would've been a lot of fun," Deeks smiled.
"Yeah, it was great," Kensi smiled wistfully. "How about you? Ever go camping?"
"Does backyard camping with bed sheets and sticks count?" Deeks chuckled and Kensi snorted. She couldn't help the image of an eight year old boy with a mop of bright blonde curls and clear blue eyes excitedly building a fort of sorts with whatever he could find in a backyard and some DC comics bed sheets. It warmed her heart and before she could stop the next image it had seared itself into her mind. A young boy and girl with those same blonde waves and brown eyes, racing around a backyard where a tent was set up while calling for their parents to join them. God help her that was going to be an image she'd regret because it made the yearning in her for her partner even more unbearable. "Kens?"
"Oh, uh, what'd you say?" Kensi blushed.
"I think I'm starting to hear the river off to our left," Deeks repeated him, giving her a confused look. "Maybe we should steer a little closer so we can start following that as planned."
"Yeah, of course," Kensi nodded and they both steered themselves closer to the sound of the river. After about five minutes of hiking they were able to find the river and they followed it up stream while they talked softly, letting the sounds of the river mask the sound of their travel and voices.
*Four Hours Later*
"Why don't we break for some water and a snack," Kensi suggested as she paused and unfastened her backpack.
"Oh thank God!" Deeks sighed and dropped his bag to the ground before collapsing dramatically.
Kensi only rolled her eyes as she sat on a larger rock by her bag and began fishing around for a couple energy bars. When she'd found them she tossed one at her partner who nearly jumped a mile when it landed on his chest making her laugh.
"Eat up," Kensi said cheerfully. "We're only stopping for ten minutes."
"Awwwwww," Deeks half whined as he remained unmoving and sprawled out.
Kensi shrugged and bit into her chocolate chip energy bar. At least Hetty had set them up with some tastier bars. She was quite hungry after all the hiking so the bar only took her seconds to inhale and left her a little hungry at the end. Deep down she knew they had to be careful with their food stores as there was no guarantee that she'd be able to find anything for them to eat in the wilderness. Deciding to take a tip from her partner, Kensi layed out on the forest floor to get her blood circulation elsewhere from her legs and then turned to eye up her partner. It looked like he too had been hungry because the bar was gone and he was now chowing on a bagel while flat on his back.
"Hey!" Kensi said indigently.
Deeks turned his head to stare at her and just smiled as he took another large bite. He went back to staring at the clear sky and was completely unaware of his partner crawling the distance between them until she'd ripped the remainder of the bagel from his hand and shoved it into her mouth.
"Hey!" Deeks exclaimed as he rolled to the side and snagged her ankle before she could get too far. What ensued was a mass of limbs and laughter as they wrestled for the last few bites of the bagel until Deeks had her hands pinned with both of his above her head and he was straddling her waist. Kensi glowered at him with the bagel still in her mouth, but he couldn't remove one of his hands to snatch it because then she would be free. Dawning hit him and Kensi's glare turned to daggers as she realized what he was about to do and mumbled through the bagel even though neither understood a word. She was too late though and Deeks dropped his face closer to hers and bit into the portion of the bagel that was out of her mouth and started tearing into it. Kensi chewed hard and fast to get whatever she could but Deeks got the better half of what was left and the look on his was one of triumph.
"It wouldn't have killed you to share," Kensi grumbled. "Now can you let me up?"
"I could," Deeks said, tilting his head to get a better look at her.
Kensi blushed under her partner's exploratory stare and fought the urge to squirm. "Deeeeeeks," she whined, trying to hide her reaction.
"Fine," Deeks sighed and got to his feet and offered her a hand up that she took. "Suppose we should get going again anyway."
They each piled on the gear again and began hiking their way along the river to their first campsite that awaited them.
*Six Hours Later*
"Kens, I'm starving here!" Deeks whined, his feet were now dragging and he wanted to sleep for a year.
"Fine, fine," Kensi sighed as she peered carefully at the area around them hoping to see a nice place to set up camp for the night. "Next open space we find we'll set up camp."
Deeks sighed, knowing that was the best he was going to get at this point. He spent the next fifteen minutes gazing intently into the woods beside them for a clearing of sorts until Kensi pointed out a space just twenty feet from the river and thirty feet from them.
"Yes!" Deeks nearly ran to the opening and dropped his bag to the ground before plopping onto his backside as he had done earlier.
"Not so fast buddy," Kensi laughed when a look of horror crossed his face. "Why don't you get started on the fire and pulling our tent supplies out while I find us some dinner. Would you like fish or bunny?"
Deeks cringed and chose fish.
"I'll see what I can do then," Kensi shrugged off her pack and dug around in it before pulling out a flashlight and an arrow.
Deeks' gaze followed her skeptically before he turned to dig out the lighter and then started collecting a variety of nature to burn. He would never tell Kensi, but he had watched as many survival youtube videos he could find when he'd left mission and before the flight and making a fire was one of the things he'd learned. Luckily he had a lighter so it was just a matter of building it up right so that they could use it. Completely focused on his mission he forgot about Kensi and her fishing expedition until he had a small fire going strong and the tent supplies laid out. He wasn't about to try and put the complicated pile of stuff together into a tent by himself so he plopped down by the fire now that it was getting cooler and turned his attention to his partner by the river. She was motionless and crouched low in front of the river with the flashlight beaming down at the water in her left hand and the arrow in her right. Like lightning, the arrow jerked down and when she pulled it back up a fish was flapping on it while speared in the middle. Deeks couldn't help but be impressed with her handiwork. That is a very handy trick and he vowed to ask her to teach it to him. When she removed the fish from the arrow he watched as she pulled out a smaller knife and she began working to descale the fish. Feeling a little useless, Deeks began picking through his bag in hopes of finding the cooking tripod and pan they would need to cook the fish she'd caught. By the time he'd found what he needed and set it all up, Kensi was walking over with the readied fish in hand.
"This looks great Deeks," Kensi said as she got closer.
"Try not to sound too surprised," Deeks grinned at her. "Those fish look tasty."
"Thanks," Kensi took the compliment before placing the fish in the pan. "Would you mind getting the beans started and watching the fish while I wash up? I wreak of fish guts."
Deeks scrunched his nose up when the smell wafted his way. "Please do, stinky."
Kensi stuck her tongue out at him before turning back to the river to wash as much of the smell off as she could. Deeks walked over to her pack and picked out a can of beans and opened the top off. Carefully he maneuvered the can into the edge of the embers so that it would cook slowly and then used a fork to flip the fish. After a few minutes his partner returned smelling much better and she took a seat on a medium size rock near the fire.
"It's starting to get dark and cold," Kensi said, rubbing her hands together. The water was ice cold and she had just been using it to wash up and that wasn't really helping. "We should probably get the tent up before we can't see and then we can eat."
"Alright partner," Deeks grudgingly got to his achy feet. "Let's do this."
Together after a few setbacks they were able to get the tarps and tent up with a lot of verbal direction from Kensi and cursing from Deeks.
"That looks like we have some decent room inside," Deeks commented as he peered into the tent.
"Yeah, but we also have to keep our bags in there so it'll be tighter than it looks," Kensi said as she started picking food from their makeshift grill and onto a plate that they would be sharing. Deeks did his part and carefully pulled the can of beans from the fire so they could cool enough to eat. In the mean time they sat huddled together by the fire and picking fish off the plate and inhaling it.
"This is amazing, Kens," Deeks mumbled between bites. Luckily Kensi had caught three fish and they were almost full by the time the beans came into play.
"It was teamwork," Kensi grinned before nudging his shoulder with hers.
"We do make a pretty awesome team," Deeks grinned, bumping her should right back. "How about I wash dishes since you got us dinner in the first place."
Kensi smiled brightly and nodded, "great, then I can get the inside of the tent all set up for us."
Deeks started picking up the pan and plate to take over while Kensi fished in his bag.
"Hey, take this," Kensi said before he made it out of the clearing, tossing him a sweatshirt and a sponge. "It's getting cold and we can't have you catching something while we're out here."
Deeks warmed at the thought that she really did have his back, even with the smallest of things. He nodded before sliding the extra layer on and continuing to the river. In the meantime Kensi dug out two sleeping bags before dragging the two backpacks into the tent and setting them off to either side of the tent. When she was content with that she unrolled each sleeping bag inside the tent toward the center. They had a few inches of space between them and she snorted under her breath thinking of how close Sam and Callen would be sleeping in their tent since Sam was a little broader.
"All set?" Deeks said, coming up from behind her.
"Think so," Kensi said, getting up from her knees and onto her feet in front of the tent.
"You were right, that is a little tight on space," Deeks commented with a raised eyebrow.
"We'll make do," Kensi shrugged. "You tired enough to sleep?"
"Actually, yeah," Deeks looked slightly abashed. "I'm pretty exhausted and I'm sure tomorrow will only get tougher."
Kensi nodded her agreement. "Then why don't we call it a night. I'll put the fire out so you can change."
"You're sure you don't want to stay for that show?" Deeks gave her an exaggerated wink before she shoved him forcefully into the tent and walked toward the fire. Using the pot of water they had brought over just in case, she doused the fire and stepped out the remaining few embers. When she was totally satisfied with her handiwork she headed back to the tent only to see the shadowed silhouette of her partner pulling on a shirt before wiggling into his sleeping back. She took a deep breath and straightened her shoulders before unzipping the front panel and slipping into the tent, closing the door behind her.
"Hey," Kensi said, shyness getting the best of her.
"Hi," Deeks fought a grin and tried to not let his excitement scare her away.
"Turn around already," Kensi gave him a pointed look before he finally rolled over and stared at the wall of the tent while he heard shuffling of clothes. It took very real effort not to turn around and stare boldly at his partner's body but he respected her too much. "Done."
Deeks turned around and watched his partner slide into her sleeping bag wearing only her panties and a tank. He couldn't help the blush that crept into his cheeks.
"Aren't you going to freeze in only that?" Deeks almost stuttered, trying to keep his eyes from bugging out.
"Nope, but you're going to be pouring sweat in what you're wearing," Kensi grinned before snuggling into her sleeping bag.
"Kens, it's freezing outside!" Deeks exclaimed. "Unless this is just an excuse to share my sleeping bag, cos Sugarbear you don't need an excuse."
"Deeeeeeeeeks," Kensi whined. "Don't make me reach out in the cold and punch you."
Deeks sniggered and let his eyes shut.
"G'night Deeks," Kensi mumbled tiredly before yawning.
"Night Princess," Deeks mumbled back and both were asleep within seconds.
A/N: K, so I would feel really selfish asking for more reviews after all those ones I already got last chapter, but if I promised that the steamy rating is going to shoot through the roof then will I get additional reviews for this chapter? Also, as a side note, the only camping stuff I know is from what little exposure I had as a kid and from google. So for you avid-camping-fanfic-reading peeps out there who spot a million errors with my camping info, I'm sorry, I did my best.
