AN: Wow! You guys are amazing! Thank you so much for the reviews! I really wasn't expecting to be updating before Saturday, but your response was so great, this chapter just happened.

Here's a shout out to Bamie02 who has been editing these chapters! Sorry I forgot this in the last chapter, which she also helped with! She's kinda the bomb! Also, Moresassythanclassy gave me a few good ideas that will hopefully be coming in later chapters!

That said, reviews really do speed up the update process, guys! Thank you so much! Hope you enjoy this new chapter :)

Blessings,

bookdiva

Having her near him was great. Being surrounded by her scent—sunshine and gunpowder—was absolutely intoxicating. Having her in his arms again was heaven. But knowing that their future was growing inside her at that very instant… well that was indescribable. Even for a man of many words such as him. He smiled as he got out of the car, glad that they'd been able to effectively communicate.

In both ways, he thought with a smirk as he remembered the heat and passion of their kisses.

When they reached the doors to the mission, he pulled her close to him, into a security camera blind spot—he wasn't stupid, after all.

"I don't wanna let you go," he mumbled into her hair, taking comfort in the way she clung to him. As if she didn't want to be separated again, either.

"And I don't want to go," she said, pulling back to look into his eyes, confirming his hopes. He was amazed at the depth of emotion he saw dancing around in her mismatched brown eyes—at this new, open Kensi. "But the sooner I get this done, the sooner I'm free of it."

He nodded and, with one last lingering kiss, turned away and strode into the bull pen. The sooner he faced the guys, the better, he figured.

"Well hello Sleeping Beauty," Sam greeted Deeks with cheery sarcasm. Deeks just snorted.

"Hey, it was a late night!" he protested halfheartedly, but even with all his undercover prowess, he still couldn't remove the grin from his face.

Sam gave him a confused look.

"Okay, now you're doing the creepy Hetty-smile," he said, raising his eyebrows suspiciously. "What's going on?"

Deeks just laughed and sat down at his desk, too happy to pretend to be otherwise.

"Nothing's going on, Sam," he said, grinning at the senior agent.

"See! That, right there," Sam said, leaning forward toward the detective. "That's what I'm talking about. What's going on?"

"Does it have something to do with the moaning I heard on the phone this morning?" Callen asked, finally looking up from his paperwork. Sam's eyes widened in surprise. He turned to glare at Deeks.

"Wow, you guys are some friends, you know that?" Deeks said, fighting back a furious blush at Callen's words. "And on my birthday, too…" he muttered under his breath.

She's pregnant, he reminded himself. It's not like we can keep that a secret forever… can we? It was slightly tempting. No, no…. They're gonna know soon enough.

His grin just widened at his own train of thought.

Kensi's pregnant. Kensi. Like… really pregnant. With my baby. I'm gonna be a dad. Oh my god, I'm gonna be a dad. We're having a baby. Half me, half Kensi. A baby… A son, if I listen to Kensi, which I should, you know, since she can be scary, and—

"Deeks!" his team leader's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Hmm…? What?" he asked, still grinning. The two older agents just looked at him like he had a few screws loose.

Eh, maybe I do, he thought to himself. After all, he should be much more freaked out about the whole situation than he actually was.

Callen just shook his head as if to say "I'll never understand you." Sam gave him a confused look. Deeks just grinned at them both and pulled out an old file.

"Happy birthday, Deeks," Sam said softly before turning back to the file on his desk. Deeks smiled and did the same.

I wonder how long this silence will last…

As it turned out, Sam and Callen managed to make it over an hour before they broke the silence with more questions.

"Does this have something to do with the person who was moaning into the phone this morning?" Callen asked, finally breaking his uninterested facade. Sam's eyes widened again, and he shot an accusing look at Deeks.

"You brought a girl home last night?" he asked accusingly. For a moment, annoyance seeped in around Deeks's cloud of joy.

"No I did not bring a girl home last night," he said firmly. She came home to me. He grinned again at the thought, his annoyance vanishing as quickly as it had appeared.

"No… no, of course you didn't," Sam said, immediately backtracking. "So what were you doing last night?" Sam finally broke down, asking Deeks straight out. He sounded only slightly concerned. "I mean, you haven't been late in a long while. You weren't pulling traffic duty again, were you?" Deeks started to protest, but Sam just continued, "I don't care if it was an undercover operation, Hetty will literally kill you if you play that card again."

He was about to retort when he heard a soft chuckle, and he looked up to find Kensi standing just outside the bull pen. He couldn't help but grin at her, and she grinned back. She'd obviously been listening, and she was pleased with what she'd heard.

"Nah, Sam," he said, turning to face the senior agent, still grinning. If Kensi was happy, he was happy. That's just how we roll. "I wasn't working last night. I was just busy."

"Yeah," Sam said, his head tiled in concerned confusion. "That's what I'm worried ab—"

"KENSI!" Nell's voice rang out through the mission, causing everyone to spin around to face the two women. The pixie-like red head bounded down the stairs and pulled Kensi into a hug before Kensi had time to react. "You're back!"

Deeks smiled as his Kensi was engulfed in a tight hug, and he turned back to see Sam and Callen, both with identical looks of shock and pleasant surprise on their faces. Both senior agents walked toward Kensi slowly. Deeks followed, hanging back slightly to give her space with their friends/teammates.

"Yeah," Kensi said, sounding out of breath. "I'm back, but Nell, I can't breathe!"

"Oh!" Nell exclaimed, releasing Kensi. "Oh, right."

Deeks just chuckled quietly, enjoying the scene that was unfolding before him. Seeing Kensi back with her family… it was better than he could've imagined it.

"Welcome back, Kens," Sam said, enveloping her in a brotherly hug.

"Thanks Sam," Kensi smiled when Sam released her.

"Welcome back, Kensi," Callen said, giving her a slightly awkward side hug.

"Wait a second," Sam said, turning to look over at Deeks in confusion. He'd obviously noticed that Deeks was the only one who hadn't come over to welcome her home. "You already knew she was back?"

Deeks just smiled. He'd seen it coming a mile away.

"Guilty," he answered with a nonchalant shrug.

"So it was Kensi who was moaning into the phone this morning!" Callen said, his eyes widening in understanding. Everyone's eyes flashed to him, and Kensi's face turned red. Callen seemed to realize what he'd said. "No, I mean—"

"Yeah, you're probably not going to be able to talk your way out of that one, wise team leader," Deeks smirked at Callen. He looked over at his—partner? girlfriend? baby mama?—and smiled.

Yeah, we definitely have a lot to talk about.

"I was tired!" she exclaimed defensively, not even bothering to deny that she'd been with him. He smiled at that. "I didn't get in until around three. You woke me up. I have every right to be grumpy."

"Yes you do," Deeks agreed, meeting her eyes across the bull pen. This time there was no mistaking her blush. He could tell she understood the deeper meaning behind his words.

Everyone looked like they had more they wanted to say, but Kensi cut them off.

"I heard we're all going out for drinks tonight," she said, smiling at her teammates. "Why don't we finish this conversation then?" They still looked reluctant to let the conversation drop, so she added, "Shouldn't we get back to work before Hetty comes back?"

"Yeah," Callen agreed, nodding his head. "We should all get some work done."

They all headed back to their desks, and Kensi began to redisorganize her desk, spreading files out in a glorious display of clutter. It was completely Kensi, and it wasn't until that moment that he realized how much the neat desk had haunted him. After a few minutes of content, comfortable silence between the team members, Sam finally spoke up.

"Well, at least this explains the creepy Hetty-smile," he said.

Deeks looked up, immediately meeting Kensi's gaze across the bull pen, and he knew they were both thinking the same thing.

You have no idea.

Around five o'clock that evening, Callen slammed his laptop shut.

"I suppose we should call it a day," he said, standing and moving to the center of the bull pen. "We don't know what'll come up for tomorrow. I don't know about you guys, but I could definitely use a drink after this boring day."

Deeks smirked, nodding his head in agreement. Last year, he would've agreed with Callen—paperwork used to be the worst kind of torture he knew. Now, however, he had learned to appreciate slowing down. He didn't want it every day, by any means, but a slow day spent exchanging looks across the bull pen with his partner… it wasn't all that bad.

"I'm down," Sam said, standing. "Usual place? Drinks are on me."

Kensi's eyes suddenly tightened in anxiety at Sam's words. Deeks sent her a discrete smile to settle her nerves.

It's gonna be okay, he said with his eyes. They'll be happy for us. He did his best to keep the maybe out of the silent pep talk. She smiled and nodded almost imperceptibly.

"Yeah," Kensi said, gathering her things. "We'll meet you there."

She climbed into the passenger's seat of her SRX, leaving the door open as she settled her things into the back seat.

"So this is just normal now?" Sam asked, turning to Deeks as the rest of their teammates walked to their cars. Deeks just gave him a confused look. "You two carpooling?"

Deeks just smirked, enjoying the relative calm before the storm. He caught Kensi's slightly worried look.

"Yep."

Sam's face fell slightly at his flippant tone, but Kensi's grin said it all. She tossed her keys to Deeks through the open door, then shut it in the faces of the two, slightly stunned men.

"You're driving?" Sam asked, puzzled. Deeks just grinned, an expression that he'd become all too familiar with in the last twelve hours.

"I'm driving," he said. With a smirk, he headed around and got into the driver's side. Sam just shook his head and jumped into the driver's side of his Challenger. He said something to Callen, then peeled out of the parking lot, following Eric and Nell to the bar. Deeks turned on the car, but instead of driving off, he turned to Kensi.

"So… is this going to be normal?" she asked before he could say anything. Her tone was hesitant, but her eyes were still the new, open Kensi he'd really come to appreciate. He still couldn't believe how lucky he'd gotten.

"I sure hope so," he said, looking into her eyes. He could see that she understood what he was implying, but also that she needed him to say it.

No more dancing around it, he told himself.

"Hey, Kens?" he began, gathering his nerve.

"Yeah," she said softly, still not breaking eye contact. He resisted the urge to look away and make a joke.

Now is so not the time for humor. C'mon, Marty. Communicate. He smirked internally at himself. With words.

"I, uh… we're, um…" Okay, not the greatest start. He took a deep breath. "So, we're, uh, telling the team, right?"

She looked disappointed, and he cursed himself.

"Well, I mean, only if you want to," she said, looking down at her hands, which were playing across her stomach. "I mean, we still have some… things to figure out, and so we can wait until—"

"That night," he said, cutting her off before he lost the nerve. She looked at him confused. "That night when you showed up at my door… you know, after the… with the…" Understanding flashed in her eyes. "I said that someday you'd make someone the perfect personal assistant. And I…"

This is it, he told himself. He took one last deep breath, steeling his nerves, then looked directly into her eyes.

"I didn't mean that," he said with sincerity. "I was going to say that you'd make someone the perfect wife someday. The perfect life partner. And not just someone." He paused here, trying desperately to convey the sincerity of his statement. "Me."

"Deeks…" she said, sounding slightly terrified.

"I'm not… I know it's too soon," he reassured her. Surprisingly, her expression didn't look relieved. "And I'm not just saying this because of the baby. I would've said it that night, but apparently my communication skills were still somewhat… lacking." He shook his head and let out a self-depreciating laugh. "I don't know, Kens. The point is, I love you. I loved you then, and I love you now. And I already love our son."

She froze, and Deeks suddenly wondered if he'd gone too far—pushed too hard, too quickly. Then she smiled, and his worries started to reside. She reached across the console for his hand, intertwining their fingers and placing them together under her shirt. Never breaking eye contact with her, he began to move his thumb back and forth over the place where their baby grew.

After a few long, silent moments, she spoke.

"This baby," she said, holding his gaze, "is the living proof of our love. Of how much I love you." A grin spread across his face, but she wasn't finished. "But even without this baby, you'd still be my everything."

"Your smile, your laugh… everything." The words he'd spoken to her that night—after surviving hell—would be forever in both of their memories.

"And you're mine," he said. No more words were necessary as their lips finally met again. This time felt different to Deeks—like the last barrier between them had finally been removed.

He pulled back and rested his forehead against hers. They stayed like that for another moment before Deeks finally pulled back.

"I'd love to stay like this all night," he said softly, "but I really don't think they'll be all in favor of us being together if we make them wait much longer." He grinned as something else occurred to him. "Not to mention all the hilarious jokes they'd be sure to make at our expense."

"Not ours, Deeks," Kensi said, leaning back over to her seat and pulling the seat belt across her lap. "Just you."

"Oh, I don't know, Princess," Deeks said with a sly wink. "Callen got plenty of material out of that moan episode this morning."

There was no place for him to go to dodge the light punch he took to the shoulder.

"About time you two showed up," Callen said as Kensi and Deeks walked over to the table where Callen, Sam, Eric, and Nell were already nursing their first drinks.

"Well, Mr. Driving-Miss-Daisy over here—"

"Hold up there, Sunshine," Deeks cut in with a smirk. "I just obey the laws that we enforce. Besides, you let me drive."

Nell, Sam, and Callen shook their heads at her incredulously.

"Jet lag," Kensi defended her decision. It was adorably weak, in Deeks's opinion, but he didn't mind at all.

"Speaking of…" Sam said. "How are you back? I thought Hetty said your mission was still incomplete."

"Oh, well, uh…" Kensi shot a frantic look at Deeks, but he just shrugged. "It… uh, it is."

Might as well get it out of the way.

She just narrowed her eyes at him. Nell, however, seemed to pick up on Kensi's discomfort.

"C'mon, Sam," Nell said lightly. "The girl just got back." Kensi shot her a relieved look. "Let's get this girl a beer before we start playing 20 questions."

Kensi's gratitude suddenly turned to fear. Nell got up to go to the bar. Deeks placed a hand on the small of Kensi's back discreetly, and her fearful look vanished. She nodded up at him.

"No thanks, Nell," Kensi said with a soft smile, not looking away from Deeks. "No alcohol for me."

He smiled at her and nodded encouragingly.

"Ah, c'mon, Kens," Sam said with a real smile. "You just got back. You deserve to let loose a little. Eric can be the designated driver tonight."

"Hey!" Eric protested, but no one payed him any mind.

"No," Kensi said, shaking her head and shooting Sam a very meaningful look. "I won't be drinking alcohol."

Sam's brow furrowed in confusion. Deeks held his breath and counted in his head. He was at around fifteen when Sam's confusion morphed into realization and finally settled on a mixture of shock and disbelief.

"No…" Sam said, shaking his head at Kensi. She smiled.

"Yep," Deeks said. Sam's gaze shifted to Deeks, and he could see the internal war raging inside the senior agent. On one hand, he was upset that Deeks had gotten his surrogate-little-sister pregnant. On the other hand, as a surrogate-big-brother to Deeks, he was happy for him.

"Look man," Deeks said, attempting to lighten the mood. "All I want for my birthday is my life. Think we can work with that?"

Sam stayed still for another thirty seconds before he allowed a grin to cross his face.

"Yeah, I can work with that," Sam said. Deeks finally let out the breath he'd been holding.

"Someone wanna fill me in here?" Callen's voice interrupted the moment.

Kensi smiled softly. Looking across at Deeks, she placed her hand across her stomach.

"No way…" Nell joined the realization, catching on first. Kensi just nodded. Nell beamed at her.

"Wha…?" Callen trailed off as his eyes landed on Kensi's hand. He looked up at her face. "No."

Kensi just smirked. "Yes."

"But—but she just got home last night!" he exclaimed. Sam, Nell, Kensi, and Deeks turned to him incredulously.

"Really?" Deeks asked with a smirk. "Seriously man? Do we need to have that talk? Because—ow!"

"Not the time, Deeks," Kensi whispered in his ear.

"Okay, fine!" he exclaimed, rubbing his shoulder more dramatically that necessary. Surprisingly, since she'd been home, her punches hadn't packed any force. "Geez! You didn't have to hit me."

Something flashed momentarily in her eyes, but it was gone before he had a chance to really notice it was there. He made a mental note to ask her about that later, and looked back at the rest of the team.

Sam, who was now over whatever internal struggle he'd had, was beaming at them. Nell was grinning, too. Callen still seemed to be in a state of shock. Eric, however, was completely clueless.

"Umm… does somebody want to tell me what's going on?" he asked. It was just what they needed to break the tension in the group.

Deeks looked down and met Kensi's eyes.

Do you want to say it, or should I? he asked her. She just smiled.

"I'm pregnant," she said, not looking away from Deeks. He smiled down at her.

"We're having a baby," he added.

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