"Rise and shine, valentine," someone whispered into her ear.
But Kensi, apparently not expecting such a wake-up call, instinctively jabbed an elbow toward the voice by her head before she was even really aware of what she was doing.
"Oh!" Deeks jumped back just in time, and her elbow ineffectively grazed the very edge of his ear. "Remind me never to do that again," he cracked with a light grin.
"Deeks?" Kensi mumbled drowsily, opening her eyes. "What're you doing here?"
"I live here," was his immediate reply.
Despite her sleep-muddled brain, that response made perfect sense.
She bolted upright as a new question entered her mind. "Why am I in your — " she'd been about to say 'bed', but a quick glance at the room around them stopped that word. "Couch?" she finished lamely.
Deeks gave her a very amused look. "Do you mean, 'Why are you on my couch'?" he clarified properly.
Kensi rubbed one eye with the heel of her hand. "Yes. That."
"Because you fell asleep on it last night."
"Oh. Sorry."
Deeks chuckled at her appearance of disorientation. "You're not much of a morning person, are you?"
"Yes, I am," she replied with a hint of defensiveness, rising from the couch. "Most of the time."
"Just not today," he decided.
She ignored him, dragging herself up from his couch and disappearing into his bathroom.
Kensi used the toilet, washed her hands, and splashed cold water on her face to help herself wake up the rest of the way.
She wasn't accustomed to being in someone else's bathroom this early in the morning, and she already missed her own set of amenities for her morning routine.
Her ponytail had prevented bed-head, and her shirt wasn't rumpled too awfully much, and her jeans didn't tend to wrinkle in the first place.
Really, all she needed at this point was her toothbrush. And she didn't have it. And she hated the idea of going back out there to greet Deeks again with morning breath.
She eyed her partner's toothbrush propped up in the cup on the bathroom sink.
Dare she?
She could put it back exactly the way she found it, and he'd never know…
Kensi debated with herself a moment longer, then grabbed the toothbrush and the tube of minty whitening paste.
It wasn't like Deeks was phobic about Kensi's mouth germs anyway. He'd stolen her donut once and bit into it right over her own bite marks. He'd offered 'share-sies' on a fish taco that she'd stoutly refused (and rejected his use of the word 'share-sies' too).
And he'd kissed her. That was the ultimate swapping of mouth germs. And one of these days, she was going to kiss him back, too.
Just not with morning breath. And also not when her shoulders were stiff from sleeping all night on his couch.
This was a bit surreal, Kensi thought as she scrubbed away on her teeth. They weren't sleeping together, yet here she was borrowing his toothbrush in his bathroom while he (hopefully) was making breakfast for them in his kitchen just a few short yards away.
Finished, she rinsed her mouth, rinsed the brush bristles, and put everything back exactly as they had been before.
"What's for breakfast?" Kensi inquired, entering the kitchen and sounding much more chipper than she had a little while ago.
Deeks gave her a nice smile. "Omelets."
"Oh, something I do know how to make already," Kensi replied with a smidgeon of pride in her voice.
Deeks' snort of amused derision escaped before he could stop it.
She faced him with surprise. "What was that noise for? You've eaten my omelets before."
"And I'm not saying they were bad…" he backtracked.
Kensi regarded him with hurt on her face and in her voice. "What was wrong with them?"
Deeks cringed inwardly, wishing he hadn't said a word. But now that he had, there was no going back.
"They were a little…runny," he admitted. "…Chewy. In need of salt."
"Great," Kensi gave a wry nod. "That's just great. I can't even make a freakin' omelet."
Deeks tried to cheer her back up. "You can make lasagna," he reminded her of the dish they'd made together just last night. "And pizza."
"Wow, two things," Kensi voiced sarcastically. "I should start my own cooking show."
"Alright, look. You've just barely started; you can't expect to be a pro already."
"I know. I was just…kinda proud of my omelets. Until you decided to bash all over them," she added resentfully.
Deeks inhaled a sigh. This morning was not going the way he'd thought it would.
"Why don't I make us some pancakes instead," he suggested, drawing the topic away from Kensi's culinary shortcomings for a while.
But Kensi was tougher than that. "Nope, you got me wanting an omelet now." She gave him a little smile, forgiving him for his opinion toward her own failed past attempts. "How about you show me how to make a really good one."
That was more like it. "Whatever you say, partner," he agreed with a grin.
He grabbed a carton of eggs from the fridge and set it on the counter, then pulled out a medium-sized bowl from a cupboard and wire whisk from a drawer.
At least Kensi was capable of cracking the eggs without getting any bits of shell in the bowl. "How many eggs?"
"Four," Deeks answered, deciding to make one big omelet instead of two regular ones to save time.
Kensi cracked four eggs into the bowl and poked at them with the wire whisk, not hiding very well the fact that she really didn't know the proper way to handle one.
Deeks stepped up beside her, one hand closing over hers on the whisk. "Like this." And he beat the eggs with a confident whipping motion, rather than her tentative stirring one.
"Oh. Okay." Kensi swallowed the lump that had jumped into her throat when his hand covered hers.
His hand slid away now as he gave back her control of the wire whisk and moved toward the refrigerator again.
Kensi whipped the eggs some more, sneaking a peek at her partner's back as he stood before the open fridge.
"How's your finger?" he asked casually, reaching into the fridge for a few things.
"Finger?" she echoed uncomprehendingly.
"The one you burned the other night when we made the pizza."
"Oh." She looked at her pinky, at the tiny burn mark that Deeks had spontaneously kissed. The second his lips had touched it, she'd forgotten all about the pain and noticed instead how soft his lips had been against her finger.
"It's fine. Doesn't hurt." But maybe she should've said it did, so he'd kiss it again. Or maybe the next time he kissed her, it should be someplace other than her hand. Like her lips. Or neck. Or…
"Good." Unaware of her less-than-honorable ideas, Deeks graced her with a genuine little smile.
He placed a whole onion on the counter along with the rest of the mushrooms from the pizza the day before yesterday, and a few remaining slices of Canadian bacon. He went back to the fridge for the teensy dab of shredded cheese that was left.
Banishing her dirty thoughts lest she accidentally speak them out loud, Kensi eyed the foods spread around the counter. "What, no spinach?"
"Not in an omelet," Deeks replied, as if the idea was completely absurd. Except he usually did like a little sprinkling of spinach in an omelet, just for a nice dash of color and natural vitamins. But he didn't want Kensi to think that everything he made had to include that particular vegetable.
She might not agree to continue with cooking lessons if she thought she'd get something like…spinach cake.
Deeks laughed internally. Spinach cake. Drizzled with olive oil. Yuck.
He put those gross thoughts out of his mind and focused on the omelet at hand. Or more specifically, at Kensi's hand. Because since she was still here, why shouldn't she make his breakfast for him?
Under his direction, she made an oversized omelet that was neither runny nor chewy. In fact, it was darn near perfect, and it didn't take long for them both to polish it off.
Rather than dirty up extra dishes, Kensi cut the whole omelet down the middle and ate her half straight from the skillet with just a fork.
Deeks shrugged and went along with it, keeping to his half as they stood by the stove sharing the one pan between them.
"Something wrong with your shoulder?" he questioned in suspicion, having seen Kensi squeeze at it with her opposite hand at least twice now.
She tried to minimize the pain. "I just slept on it wrong. It'll be fine. It's that couch of yours."
He felt bad that his couch had made her sore. Next time she fell asleep on it, he was going to carry her to his bed.
And then he would take the couch himself, like a true gentleman. (Because he really didn't want to lose an eye or something from a startled Kensi waking up right beside him on a mattress like she thought she had just a little while ago.)
Right now, the proper thing to do would be massaging the stiffness back out of her shoulder for her.
"Come here," he said, dropping his fork in the skillet and laying both hands on her shoulders from behind.
"I'm fine, Deeks," Kensi objected stubbornly. "You don't have to — " But a gasp broke off her own words as his fingers hit a particularly testy spot. "Oh, my god — right there!" she hissed through suddenly clenched teeth.
Deeks grinned to himself as he manipulated her sore muscles, knowing that she'd rather have suffered in silence than admit to being injured.
Soon she relaxed into his grip, the rest of her omelet abandoned with his on the stove. She welcomed the massage, giving little sighs of pleasure that had his own body wanting to respond in certain ways.
Was it just him, or was the kitchen getting a little warm all of a sudden?
He had to distract himself before he did something they'd both regret. Not that he'd regret making a serious move on her — but he would regret her pushing him away like she always did.
A certain impromptu kiss sprang to his mind. Months had passed now since he'd grabbed her face and kissed her senseless, and by default of mutual avoidance of that topic, they'd never actually mentioned it out loud once.
Nor had they shared any other kisses since then.
To be honest, he wanted their next kiss to be instigated by her. Why should he have to do all the work? Just because she seemed afraid to?
Well, despite that, the two of them were still closer than ever before — it just seemed like the majority of their relationship was unspoken (but definitely not unacknowledged) feelings that they were both still trying to sort out independently.
"Deeks — you're getting a little rough there." Kensi squirmed her shoulders away from his hands.
He loosened his grip immediately, horrified that he was hurting her. "Sorry." He hesitated a briefest second before resuming the massage more delicately than he'd started with.
"Are you okay?" she questioned, concern coloring her voice as she turned her head to look up at him over her shoulder.
"Yeah. Just…thinking."
"About what?"
As if he was really going to tell her what he was actually thinking about. Instead, he made something up. "Oh, just thinking about how much time we'd save if we shared a shower before work."
Kensi rolled her eyes. "Why did I even ask?"
Deeks teased her some more, ending the massage and boldly resting both of his hands on her hips from behind her. "You know you were thinking that, too."
"Oh my god," she scoffed. "Are these magic mushrooms in this omelet, because you've got to be high on something."
His hands had been dangerous enough on her shoulders — now they nearly burned into her hips as they lingered there.
It was such an intimate move and she knew she should pull away from his grasp and remind him that they were partners. Friends. Not lovers.
The problem was…she didn't really want to. What would it hurt to give in a little?
And yet she felt like she was supposed to pull away, having made such a habit of it since the very beginning of their partnership.
But she leaned into him just a teeny bit first and warned lightly, "You might want to finish your omelet before I eat your half, too."
Deeks was surprised that he'd gotten away with putting his hands there. He'd figured he would at least get an elbow in the ribs for his effort.
He must be wearing her defenses down a little, because if he'd tried touching her like that even a year ago he'd very most likely be cringing in pain afterward.
Interesting little development…
He'd leave it be for now. But he certainly wouldn't make any promises not to revisit it later on down the road.
His hands slid away and Deeks returned to his spot beside her at the skillet on the stove burner. With his fork he cut the last of his omelet into four medium pieces and speared one. "It's good, by the way," he praised graciously.
The genuine compliment warmed her, and a small smile crossed her face. "Thank you."
"If we leave soon, I can drop you off at your place with plenty of time to change before work."
Kensi poked the last of her omelet into her mouth. "Ready when you are."