Kensi glared at him uncompromisingly. "We need to talk."

Just when Deeks thought that things couldn't get any worse, they did. Kensi put out her hands protectively to ward him off as he stumbled forward and he just couldn't help himself. The words came out of his mouth before he had time to think.

"You want to talk about how you can't keep your hands off me?"

Kensi could feel the palm of her hand itching to smack him. "We need to talk about what happened last night."

"Nothing happened," he protested. "We both agreed that nothing happened."

"Exactly." She lowered her hands and let them hang loosely at her sides, looking as if the world had stopped making sense and she was lost and without direction.

"And we agreed that we wouldn't talk about it. Even though nothing happened." It seemed important that he emphasise that point, because Deeks was pretty sure Kensi was going to bring up the fact that he'd woken up with a hard-on. Which was not his fault. It was completely beyond his control. Plus, it was perfectly normal. Ask any guy, let alone one who'd spent all night lying chastely next to his incredibly hot partner. Really, he deserved a medal for not making a move last night. 'Above and beyond the course of human endurance' should just about cover it. And it certainly was not his fault that Kensi's thigh had somehow got between his legs, so that he was pressing up against her. Yes, she would bring it up and then beat him around the head with it. Only that metaphor had suddenly gone haywire and was creating the most obscene images in his mind.

"I've changed my mind. I want to talk about it."

Okay, he would never understand women, not if he lived to be a thousand. "But it was your idea in the first place."

"It was not. You spotted the motel."

"I meant the whole 'not talking about it' thing was your idea. That's another 'thing' we've got now, isn't it?"

"We do not have a thing. We never had a thing and we're never going to have a thing. Understand?"

Well of course he did. Not. Mainly because it was about as clear as mud. Marty got the feeling he should be grateful Kensi was spelling things out for him so succinctly. "Okay, so let me get things straight – you came out here, in the middle of the night, to say that you want to talk about the thing we agreed not to talk about? And to tell me that we don't have a thing?" His head was hurting just trying to work it all out and why it was so important to her.

"Exactly."

"But there's nothing to talk about – because nothing happened."

Kensi could feel her head spinning. "That's what I want to talk about, Deeks."

This was starting to make sense, in Bizarro world. He should have taken more drugs in college. "You said you didn't want to sleep with me."

"And yet I did. Sleep with you, I mean. And I say a whole lot of things. So why didn't you do anything?"

It was at this point that Deeks decided he was having one of those weird, looping nightmares, where you never quite knew if you were awake or asleep. He kind of hoped he was asleep. "Okay, so last night you made it clear that you'd disembowel me with a blunt teaspoon if I laid a finger on you and tonight you want to know why I didn't?"

It sounded completely mad when he put it like that, Kensi realised. She really wasn't thinking straight. "I don't know what I'm doing here. Standing on a beach in the middle of the night, freezing my ass off and having another pointless conversation with you."

So that made two of them, Deeks thought. "Nobody asked you to come out here. I was managing just fine."

"Running in the dark is so normal." Kensi took a step forward. "You couldn't sleep either, could you?"

"I could sleep now. I'm tired of all this. Only you want to talk, don't you? So go ahead – I'm listening."

God, it was freezing out here. The wind whipped straight through her jacket and Kensi hugged her arms around herself for warmth. And it would sound so stupid if she asked him why he hadn't made love to her last night, even though she'd done everything except wrap herself up in barbed wire. Coming here was so stupid – what had she been thinking of? Apart from the fact that he had looked insanely hot in those boxers… and that she was worried she'd missed the best opportunity of her life.

"Come on – what are you waiting for?" His voice was low, pitched at exactly the right cadence to invite confidences, and Deeks was standing looking at her, like he could see straight into her soul. "Look, last night there was just you and me. And I told you that you could trust me. Tonight – here we are, all over again. Just you and me. And you're mad at me, just like you were last night. Kensi – you can still trust me. But stop screwing with me. I'm only human."

"What the hell does that mean?" There was barely two feet between them, and Kensi knew she only had to reach out and she could touch him. That was all she had to do. She could make it right with one simple move. So why was she frozen in place?

"You want me to spell it out for you?"

There it was again, that smile. The cocky smile, mixed with a liberal dose of impudence, like he was so sure, so damned sure. Like he knew anything. Kensi held her ground and remained silent, choking back a response.

Deeks watched her struggling for a moment, and then took pity on her. "Okay, let's get right down to it. You wanted me to make a move last night and you're mad because I didn't."

"That's not what I meant at all. And you know it." Clearly, she was way off her game tonight, because this was not the way things were supposed to work out.

"Stop fooling yourself, Kensi, because you're not fooling anyone else." He had that look on his face again, the one where he thought he was so smart and knew everything. She knew every single look he had.

"You don't know anything, Deeks."

"Don't I, baby girl? I know that you want me and I want you. We both know it. Stop pretending."

"I don't want you. I never wanted you." Right now, Kensi didn't know what she wanted. She wasn't sure about anything anymore, least of why she was standing here talking to Deeks and getting nowhere. Okay – maybe she did know one thing: she wanted out of here, right now.

"You're forgetting one thing."

Okay, he was bluffing. He had to be bluffing. "And what would that be?"

"The small matter of a little something you said last night. When you told me you loved me."

If there was any justice in the world, an enormous wave would have swept him out to sea, there and then. "In your dreams, Deeks." Kensi put every ounce of scorn she could into the words.

"Yeah, I thought that at first. That I was dreaming, I mean. Only it turns out I was wide awake and you were the one dreaming. And talking in your sleep."

Oh shit. She was dead in the water. Actually, that sounded pretty good right now – to be floating face down in the chilly water, and away from this hideous reality.

"So how about we talk about that, Kensi? And then we could go on and talk about why you want me to make the first move? How does that sound?" Deeks took a step forward, and almost closed the gap between them. He was so close that she could almost count the freckles on his nose, and could feel his breath on her face.

"I came here tonight." And all of a sudden it seemed like the most dangerous thing she'd ever done.

"So you did." Deeks pulled his hands out of his pockets and held them out.

"I came here to talk," Kensi prevaricated.

"We can talk." His palms were upturned, facing the dark sky and it would be so easy to take hold of them, to let herself be pulled into his arms. "We can do anything, Kensi, anything at all. But you've got to meet me halfway."

And what did she have to lose? There was no-one around, it was just Kensi and Deeks, and the wild open ocean and the promise of infinity. "We're partners. This could ruin everything." And she was terrified. Terrified of losing him.

Why did she have to be so logical, so sensible? "We're partners. We're already close. This is just taking things one step further. You can't deny the connection, Kensi. The first time we went out together, we made a commitment." If she didn't make a move soon, he was going to have to run into the ocean and let the frigid water do its thing. "This is you and me, Kensi. Just like it always is."

"You and me, Deeks," she said slowly and then smiled. "Just like it was meant to be." And then she took that fatal step forward and put her hands on top of his, looking him straight and steady, as if she was seeing his face for the very first time.

"You know it."

And suddenly this beach, even with the overcast sky and the chilly wind was about the most romantic place in the world. She just had to know one thing, and then Kensi might give in to the temptation.

"But let's get one thing straight." She tilted her head slightly, and bit her bottom lip provocatively, loving the reaction that caused.

"Okay." His fingers tightened around her wrists.

"I did not say 'I love you'. Did I?" Kensi's fingers also tightened, so that they were gripping onto one another for dear life.

"Maybe not those exact words," Deeks admitted, dropping his gaze.

"I knew it!" Kensi pulled her arms up sharply and then jerked them out to the sides, loosening his grip enough to be able to wriggle free. "You just can't help yourself, can you, Deeks? Just when I think I'm seeing the real you, you have to go and ruin everything. You nearly had me going there, you stupid, shallow, selfish bastard." She turned and started to stalk back to her car, but there was a hand on her arm, pulling her back with a relentless force.

"Don't walk out on me." Deeks turned her around, holding her shoulders so tightly there was no possible escape. "Listen to me, will you? Just give me a chance."

"Give me one reason why I should?" His fingers were digging painfully into her shoulders and in about ten seconds Kensi was going to kick him in the shin and then follow it up with a knee exactly where it hurt most.

"Because last night you called me Marty. You said 'Aw Marty, I love you.' That's why. You weren't talking about your partner, Deeks. You were talking about me, about Marty. So will you listen to me now?"

And she was lost, floundering, and totally powerless to stop him when his hand moved to run slowly down the side of her cheek.

"This is so real, Kensi. Let's not pretend any more. This is Kensi Blye and Marty Deeks and to hell with everything else." Nothing else mattered. She got to him in a way no other woman ever had, got to him on some deep, visceral level that made it hard to think straight.

"It wasn't supposed to be like this." Kensi leant in to his touch and drew one finger softly across his lips, smiling as he opened his mouth and let his teeth rake against it for just a second.

"I know." God knows, he hadn't planned it like this. "But it is."

And sometimes you just had to accept the inevitable, because resistance really was futile. Call it destiny, pre-ordination – call it whatever the hell you wanted – when it came right down to it, who really cared? Tonight was all about two people who had suddenly discovered they had no reason to fight any more and every reason to come together.

"So it is." Kensi put her hand on the nape of Deeks' neck and pulled his head close. "So kiss me."


Slushy and randy plot bunnies have both run into the ocean to cool down... I do hope they can swim.