Author's note: Well this is it! Final full chapter. I have to say that I'm really going to miss this one. I have really enjoyed writing it.

Thanks again to all for the encouragement, especially my two muses imahistorian and SunnyCitrus10, who provided invaluable assistance and feedback. :)

Disclaimer: I still own nothing despite my very best efforts, and the time has come to return everyone. Even Deeks, I guess. But I've got another little bit of a story stewing around in my head, so I may borrow them again soon. Either an epilogue to this story, or perhaps the start of a new one.

For once, Deeks woke first.

It took him a while. There was no reason to rush, not when his dreams were so sweet. Warm, soft arms wrapped around him. The sweet caress of breath sweeping like a whisper across his shoulder. The tickle of satin curls just under his chin. It took some time for him to understand it wasn't a dream. It was real. She was real. Kensi was real, and she was here. And she was safe.

His arms tightened around her, wishing he could keep her here like this. Not forever or anything. That'd be plain creepy. Just for a little while. Maybe a week or three, or a couple of months. Five or six years at the most. He took a deep breath and then exhaled slowly, savoring the sweet scent that had nothing to do with perfume or fragrances but was instead uniquely her own.

The sun had long since set. Deeks couldn't see his watch, but he knew it must be late. The silver moonlight filtering through the tree branches and sheer curtains at the window told him it had to be close to midnight. Not so surprising given the day they'd had, but he knew he needed to wake Kensi up and do a quick check up on her head injury. He began rubbing her shoulders and upper arms briskly. "Kensi? Hey, Kens. I need you to wake up for me."

She didn't move for several long minutes, and he began to worry that he'd let her sleep too long. His voice a little sharp with fear, he shook her shoulders lightly. "Kensi. Come on."

Her voice was low and scratchy, sounding rough and unused when she spoke. "So, Uncle Marty. You want to know another secret?"

He relaxed again back into the cushions. "Always."

"Want to know why I always want to go brother-sister? Or why our covers tend to involve family, and why I didn't want to play honeymooners in romantic Romania?"

Deeks' hands stilled, and he sat there for a moment. Did he want to know? Did he really? He wondered if she could feel the increased pace of his heart belying his casual tone when he said, "Well, Fern, I always just assumed that my awesome hotness was a little too much for you, but if you've got a better reason then by all means feel free to share with the class. After all, I've always said…"

"You were right. You are too much for me." She turned her face into his chest a little more, and goose bumps broke out on the back of his neck as she nestled closer. Her voice was muffled as she continued. "I could play house with Callen or Sam til the end of time, and it's nothing more than a job. I can feel what's real and what isn't, and I understand that I have a job to do. I can kiss Callen or…or make out with Sam and still think about where the mark is in relation to us and how best to approach the suspect to get a drop on him." Her fingers began to play with the buttons of his shirt, circling around and around until he thought he'd go mad except that the sound of her voice had him mesmerized. "But with you…with you, it's so different. When you're close to me, like this, all I can think of is that I want to be even closer. When you put your arms around me, I forget about everything except how good that feels. I sometimes think…" She faltered for a moment. He wanted to reassure her, but he had a feeling if he spoke he'd frighten her into closing up again. She was so rarely this open with him, or anyone else for that matter. Instead he began threading his fingers through her tangled curls, smoothing her hair down her back with gentle caresses. After a silence so long he was afraid she was finished, she began to speak again, voice barely audible. "I sometimes think a gunman could walk up and put a gun to my head, and so long as you were there filling my vision I'd never even notice. Or worse yet, a gunman could walk up and put a gun to your head, and I…I wouldn't be able to help you."

"Kensi," he murmured, but she didn't stop.

"When I'm with you, sometimes I don't know myself. I don't act like the me that I'm used to. And it's scary." Her fingers were trembling now, and he put his hand over hers, steadying it. He pulled her hand up and put a gentle kiss on one knuckle, then another, before laying her hand over his heart under his own. "I don't feel like Kensi. I get jealous and…and stupid and girly sometimes. I don't even know me. And that's why I don't like to play house with you."

Deeks was silent for a moment, pondering her words. His voice was soft when he finally spoke. "Okay. My turn.

He never failed to surprise her. "Your…what are you talking about?"

"It's Uncle Marty's turn to tell a secret." He could feel her smile against his chest, and an answering smile bloomed on his own face. "You want to know why I broke my rule for you?"

"The female partners thing?"

"Yep." He began to toy with her fingers. "You see, I don't know myself with you either. With my other partners—the female ones, I mean—I was always trying something. Trying to get in their pants, or trying to get in their friends' pants. And I usually did—OW," she'd pinched him, "Ow, Kens!—or got close, and then things got awkward. And eventually either I'd request a change of partner, or she would. Even with Traynor I'd gotten to the awkward and was heading right on in to, 'Please, Lieutenant, may I have another?' I mean, once you've done the horizontal mambo…"

"There is a point to this story. Right?" Her tone was very, very dry, and he decided discretion was the better part of valor.

"Well anyway, with you it's different. You're different."

"Because you never tried to get into my pants?" He thought he detected a hint of hurt in her tone.

"Because of how much I really wanted to. Because of how much more I wanted with you." He turned his head and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. "The first time I saw you in that gym I knew you were different. But I could never have guessed just how much you were going to mean to me. And because you meant so much, I didn't want to play all those games with you. Instead I found myself watching you. Watching how you and the guys interacted. Watching you at work, and watching you work a mark. And I was…I was entranced, Kensi. Enchanted. I found myself wanting to be a better cop. I found a new me, and it was a me that I liked. And a me that was liked. And that's why I broke my own rule about female partners for you."

He gave her a moment to absorb all that, then poked her gently under her ribs. "Now….your turn."

She curled a little, laughing, and he tickled her once more before letting his hand settle on her back. "I already told you a secret, Deeks."

"And I told you one, too. Now it's your turn again."

She sighed, letting herself relax a little more fully against him. "Well, I guess I could tell you about the second worst memory of my life."

"The first being your dad's murder."

She nodded against his chest. "It was awful. You know…I've told you some of it. How abandoned I felt. How lost I was without him. How I was so angry, and so sad all at the same time. That was the absolute worst. The second worst was when you…when you were…"

"Shot?" he whispered gently. "Being at the hospital, being reminded of what it was like with your dad…"

"No, that's not it. It's when…when I thought you were fired." Deeks closed his own eyes against the shaft of pain he felt at her words, listening as she continued. "When you were shot, it was bad. It did remind me of my dad. But I knew that you were coming back to me. And I could sit there in the hospital with you, and talk with you, and run security for you. I could help. I could do something."

"But when you were fired." She swallowed hard. "It was…it was like you couldn't shake the dust off fast enough. You were just walking away, abandoning me like my dad did, and I felt that same horrible combination of anger and grief and helplessness."

"Kensi." He put all the apology and regret and love he could into her name. She finally raised her head and met his eyes.

"No, that's not why I'm telling you. I don't want to hurt you. The part I want you to understand is why it hurt so much, and why I felt it so strongly." She reached out one hand and laid it on his jaw. "It was because for the second time in my life the single most important person in the world, the one person I cared about more than anyone else, was leaving me." She waited until understanding bloomed in his gaze, then smiled and laid her head down on his chest once more.

"Now. Your turn."

"What? Me again?"

"You made me tell two. C'mon, Deeks. Spill already."

He was silent for a moment, considering the events of the week. If nothing else, he'd come to realize just how much she meant to him. Along with that realization came the understanding that he was walking the edge of a very steep cliff, caught between 'partners' and 'something more'. And 'partners' just wasn't enough any more.

Taking a deep breath, he willing stepped off the edge of the cliff. "Okay, but this is one I told you already."

She frowned. "No cheating."

"I'm not cheating. I'm pretty sure you missed the best part." He smiled at the memory. "You were….well, I believe the technical term is 'hammered."

"Ah. Princess Fern." She turned carefully, trying to find a more comfortable spot. "I remember bits and pieces. But not so much the end."

"That's because you passed out."

She sniffed audibly. "I so did not pass out. I took a much-needed nap."

"Nap? Ha! If that was a nap, then I'm Brad Pitt. Only better looking."

"Whatever, Brad. Just get on with the secret-telling, would you? Because I'm not getting any younger here, and…"

"I love you." She froze at the words, spoken in a softer, more tender tone than she'd ever heard him use. "That's what the end of the story was. Or that's what it meant, anyway." She still hadn't moved, and he continued, suddenly nervous. "Only in the story, I didn't know quite how you'd respond. Still don't, if it comes to that. I guess I've been thinking that you would maybe say something or perhaps respond in some way."

But even having said that, he was surprised by her next move. She leaned up on her elbows and laid her lips on his, kissing him hungrily. He tried to tell himself to take it easy, tried to remember that she was injured, her face still bruised, but she would have none of it. With a hungry moan she pulled herself forward, then grasped his face in both hands and deepened the kiss. He slanted his head, lips moving with hers, losing himself in the taste and the feel of her. The rest of the world disappeared, and there was only her and him and this moment together. He let himself sink into the kiss completely, using one hand at the small of her back to anchor her to him, while the other stroked hair and back and shoulder and any other part of her he could reach.

After an eternity, or perhaps a few moments, her hands stroked his cheeks softly, and she pulled back. Her eyes opened slowly, and she met a bemused blue gaze.

"Kens?" he whispered.

The promise in her eyes warmed him all the way through. The words were easier to say than she'd ever dreamed they could be.

"Princess Fern loves you too."