AN: This one is from me, too! Thank you for some great ideas! I'll get to working on them soon!

Chapter 2: Kensi finds out Deeks was taken hostage. Again. Some reunion, huh?

As always, keep the reviews coming, and keep the great ideas flowing!

Blessings,

bookdiva

"I'm fine," Deeks said for what felt like the hundredth time. He'd been taken hostage at a bank earlier that morning, when he'd been stoping by to take care of some personal business. He reached his good hand into his pocket and fingered the velvet box that was still there. He'd been without Kensi for three months now—no letters or Skype… nothing but that one, minute-and-a-half phone call—and he knew that when she got back, he never wanted to be apart from her again. Sure, he knew proposing was probably a long way off—he'd promised her he'd be patient, after all—but when he'd seen the simple, princess-cut ring in the window, it had just seemed… right.

Luckily for him, he'd been able to send the agent in distress code from his phone, and Sam and Callen had shown up. He'd worked from the inside, talking the man down, and Sam and Callen had worked from the outside. They'd made it through with no casualties—civilian, cop, or agent.

"Serious guys," Deeks continued at his teammates' unconvinced looks. "I'm fine."

"You know we know what 'fine' means, right?" Sam asked rhetorically. He gestured to Deeks's arm, which was in a sling. Deeks tried to smile, but his face was so cut up that it was too painful to manage a smile for long.

"Okay," Deeks said, walking into the mission building, "I'm not fine. Being taken hostage really isn't my idea of a fun time, but—"

"You were what?!" a shocked, angry—yet strangely, comfortingly familiar—voice screeched from over by the desks. All three men stopped dead in their tracks at the sound. Deeks was slightly aware of Sam and Callen's gasps of shock, but he couldn't bring himself to move.

Because standing there twenty feet in front of him, eyes dancing in so many emotions—surprise, joy, anger, exhaustion, relief—was Kensi Marie Blye. His partner. His Fern. His girlfriend. His… everything.

"Wha—?" was the only thing he was able to get out before his Kensi burst out in anger.

"Do you have a damn death wish?" she asked, coming around the front of her desk, gesturing wildly. "What was so important for you to go in alone. I mean, really alone. Without me? What the hell were you thinking, getting taken hostage? Again! Don't your promises mean anything?!" She finally stopped, breathing hard and glaring at him.

Deeks just smiled, taking a step toward her. He saw her anger for what it really was—she cared. So much that it scared her.

"Anyone ever told you how cute you are when you're homicidally angry?" he asked with an impish smirk.

Instead of the laugh he expected, she choked out a sob and ran the rest of the distance between them, flinging herself into his arms. He caught her with practiced ease, pulling her as close as he possibly could. He ignored the twinge of pain the action caused.

"Hey, hey, princess, it's okay. It's okay, Fern. I'm f—I'm okay. I'm here," he whispered over and over in her ear. She just shook her head, pulling back to stare into his eyes.

He winced as the motion moved his injured shoulder. She looked up at him questioningly.

"Just a graze," he said, answering her unspoken question. "Apparently, I should just never visit a bank on my day off."

She looked like she wanted to strangle him and kiss him at the same time, but instead, she just pulled him close again, shutting her eyes and clinging onto him as if he could disappear at any second.

"Hey, Kens," Callen said, finally snapping out of his shock-induced silence.

Kensi immediately pulled away from Deeks. For a moment, Deeks was confused at the steely look in her eyes.

Uh-oh, he thought, what'd I do now?

But then he realized that, for the first time since he'd entered the building, she wasn't looking at him. Her glare was focused on Sam and Callen.

"I could have sworn," she said menacingly to the two senior agents, "that I told you two to look out for him."

"We did!" Sam exclaimed. "It was our day off, too! We weren't even running an op! Deeks just happened to be in the bank when some idiot tried to rob it!" Sam looked like he could tell Kensi didn't believe him, or maybe she just didn't care. Either way, he glanced towards Deeks, "Back me up here, Deeks!"

She moved to step toward the slightly terrified men, but her partner's strong arm around her waist stopped her.

"Easy there, Fern, don't bite. Sam's telling the truth. They did help," Deeks said, a genuine grin stretching across his face. "I mean, sure, I did all the heavy lifting, but I couldn't have done it without all the little people."

Sam and Callen just rolled their eyes. Kensi looked over at her partner, a half-frustrated-half-elated smile spreading across her face. She punched him lightly on his good shoulder.

"Ow! What was that f—" he exclaimed. Kensi cut him off, pulling his face down to hers and kissing him gently, so as not to hurt him.

His jaw ached, his face stung from all the cuts, and his shoulder was shouting curse words at him, but he couldn't've cared less. Kensi Marie Blye was kissing him in the middle of the office like there was no tomorrow. So he figured the least he could do was to kiss her back.