A/N: Again many thanks go out to all you that took time to read and review. Also a huge thank you to my wonderful Beta Kadiedid for catching all my mistakes.
As the door closes after Sam and Callen, Deeks tries to fend off another yawn. He reaches upwards stretching his arms and instantly regrets it when he feels a sharp pain in his side. He hisses at the stabbing pain and Kensi catches the noise.
"Sore?"
"Yeah, I shouldn't have stretched. Stupid mistake."
"You want me to grab an ice pack for you?" Kensi starts to get up off the couch.
"Give me a minute or two. I think it's easing. What about you?"
"Better. I took some painkillers when I made coffee and I think the ice pack earlier helped." She hits the power button on the remote and the TV goes blank. "You're tired, you should call it a night."
"No arguments there." But he makes no effort to move. If he's honest, he's shattered and considering he's not done anything all day he feels slightly ridiculous. He's waiting for the pain in his ribs to settle a little more and trying to gather the energy to move.
The two of them sit in silence for a few more minutes before Kensi speaks, "Ice pack?"
He sits and thinks about his ribs before answering, "No I'm good thanks."
"Need a hand?"
He shakes his head and starts to edge forward. Kensi watches him and it's like all the energy has been sucked out of him. She hears him take a couple of deep breaths and knows he's trying to gather his strength. She stands and heads to his room, opens the door, turns on the light and goes in to turn back the cover on the bed. When she comes back out he's up and trying to get steady on his crutches and she offers what she hopes is an encouraging smile when she catches his eye. It's slow going as he makes his way over to her but as he gets to where she's waiting for him in the doorway he grins at her.
"Gonna tuck me in too?"
"You'll be telling me you want warm milk next."
"Actually..."
She raises her eyebrow at him.
"OK so no milk."
"You think you'll be OK?" she asks worried about the painkillers he's taken earlier.
"I feel OK. I think Sam was right, I'll be fine."
"Well if you start feeling funny, call me on my mobile."
He grins at her, the fact she's worried about him is sweet and he kind of likes it. "Thanks again Kens, for this." He looks around him at her home.
"Night Deeks."
"Night." He turns and heads into his room and Kensi heads to hers.
In the very early hours of the morning Kensi wakes to the sound of someone moving around the house. Always on guard she retrieves her Sig from the night stand drawer and makes her way to the bedroom door and listens. Someone is in the kitchen, she'd hazard a guess it's Deeks but she doesn't like to assume. He was supposed to be tucked in bed and she'd told him to call if he needed her, but then she guesses that's where they're a little similar, stubborn in asking for help. She cracks the door open and can see shadows down the hall, but not well enough to make out who it is. She moves quietly down the hall and tries to keep flat against it. She hears the tap running and peeks around the door way. As she does the figure turns awkwardly around and when he sees her gun up and pointed at him, he jumps out of his skin.
"Jesus Kensi, don't do that."
"Well don't creep around my house at two a.m." She lowers the gun.
"Wasn't creeping, I was just getting myself some water." He holds the water bottle up as evidence.
"Sorry. Just, you know, always on guard. I'm not used to having someone else here." Kensi places the Sig on the kitchen counter. "You were supposed to call me if you needed anything. Do you feel sick?" She moves to place her hand on his forehead to take his temperature. It's done without thought and she's surprised when he catches her around the wrist to stop her.
"I'm fine, you need to stop fussing. I just needed some water." He lets go of her wrist and her arm drops to her side. He places his weight against the counter, having set his crutches aside to free up his hands to fill the bottle.
"Sorry." She's not sure if she's angry at him or herself, but the fact that he kind of pushed her away stings a little.
"Kensi stop apologising OK? You've done more than enough for me already. I just didn't want to disturb you. You have work tomorrow which, by the way, is crazy. There's no way you're fit for duty. You need your sleep. I promise I feel fine. It's just water and you're not going to be here to do this for me all the time so I need to just get on with it."
He watches a range of emotions pass across her face, even with the minimal lighting that he's switched on he can still detect the subtle changes. She's annoyed at him mainly, probably frustrated by him. When she lets out a huff it confirms his suspicions.
"You're so annoying," she starts off and he nods his head in agreement. It's not like he doesn't get told this all the time, but his lack of denial defuses her somewhat. "But right."
"I'm what?" 'Well that's not something she says often... at all... ever.'
"Except for the part about not being fit for work." She tries to glare at him and then notices the way he's looking her up and down. "What?"
He grins at her, one of his lazy cheeky smiles and she just knows something is going on inside that fluffy haired head of his. Not only does the smile give it away, she can see it in his eyes. "That does not count as a costume."
At this point she remembers what she is wearing and groans. She's changed out of her yoga pants and baggy T-shirt in favour of her normal bedroom attire, the more comfortable and cooler vest and short combination. This set just happens to be blue with the superman logo across her chest. She can feel the blush start to spread across her cheeks. It's not the lack of clothing, Deeks has seen her in far less, it's more the reference he's making to the conversation they'd had a few weeks back and the unfortunate fact that of all the times he could catch her in her pyjamas it has to be in the superman ones. She opts to continue glaring at him.
He holds his hand up in surrender, "Hey I'm not complaining, you look kinda cute." He winks at her. He knows he's being cheeky but can't resist, and she does look cute.
"And on that note I'm going back to bed." She knows ignoring him is for the best or they'll be here for what's left of the morning.
He screws the lid on the bottle, places it on the side and reaches for the crutches leaning against the cabinet. As a quick after thought he pockets his pain meds too. She realises he's been leaning to one side with all his weight on his good leg. "You need a hand back?"
"Fussing?"
"Fine, see you in the morning?"
"I guess so."
"Night Deeks."
"Night superwoman," he calls after her and if he's not mistaken, hears a small laugh come from her retreating form.
He heads back to his room, water bottle stuffed in the pocket of his pants. It annoys him how long it takes him to travel such a short distance but he has to take it easy and he's still getting used to the crutches. Making it back to his bed he wants nothing more than to collapse into it but he knows that will aggravate his ribs and some of the other smaller injuries he sustained. Eventually after taking a drink and placing the bottle on the night stand, he slowly climbs back into bed and hopes he sleeps better this time than the last. He really doesn't want another dream like the one that had woken him.
Lucky for him, the sight of Kensi in her Superman vest and shorts was just what he needed and the remainder of his sleep, while disturbed due to the discomfort of his leg is much more pleasant. He wakes at five thirty to the sound of Kensi making coffee and talking to Monty. Deciding there isn't exactly any rush to get up he lays in bed listening to them. She's obviously feeding him as he can hear her asking him what he fancies this morning and that makes him chuckle. The fact that she speeks to him just like he does is always a surprise. It isn't something he'd expected of her.
By six he can't lie in bed any longer and gets up to answer a call of nature. After that he's followed the smell of fresh coffee and he finds himself at the small table in Kensi's kitchen enjoying a huge mug of coffee.
"I see you found the coffee. Sleep well?" He's pleased to see she is already dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. With her being up so early he thought maybe she was still heading out for a run.
"Not too bad considering. The wedge helped support my leg but it was still a little uncomfortable. I'll get used to it though."
"I was gonna walk Monty before I head to work, you need anything while I'm out?"
"No I'm good, thanks."
Kensi calls for Monty and he appears from the yard. She clips on his leash and they head out the door. Deeks takes a look around Kensi's house. 'Suppose I better get used to this' he thinks. By now he'd usually be out surfing. Maybe thinking about heading home to get ready for work. 'No surfing, no work, what to do all day?' He decides he isn't going to feel sorry for himself and sit here moping all day. Finishing his coffee he heads to his room and begins to get ready as he would any other day.
When Kensi returns from walking Monty, Deeks is still in his room. She gives Monty fresh water and places the pastries she'd bought, on a plate. She still has ages before she needs to head into work. Usually she would head in early after her run and work out for a while but there was no way she could do that at the moment with how her ribs feel. The walk had been more than enough. She lays out the pastries on the table and takes out cereal, fruit and some juice too. She sets another pot of coffee to brew and while she's waiting, gets out plates and cutlery.
She is just getting out the milk when she hears him.
"Wow breakfast." He is grinning again.
"Nothing fancy I'm afraid."
"No this is fine, more than fine. Oh those look good." Deeks hobbles over and sits down, leaning the crutches up against the wall. He helps himself to one of the pastries and takes a bite. "Tastes pretty good too."
"Don't get used to them, I can't get them every morning, but me and Monty were going past the bakery and well, I couldn't resist."
He has a mouthful of pastry and just shakes his head. When he finally swallows he adds, "No you never can."
They sit and eat breakfast and it's all very civilised. It reminds him of that ridiculous undercover operation a while back. It was nice and they'd enjoyed playing the happy couple for a while, but it was all just so over the top and not at all them. Although breakfast around the pool had been pretty nice, even if he had found himself having to make Kensi pancakes pretty much every morning.
"Hey Deeks?" He's roused from his musings. "Having a nice day dream?"
"Just remembering the last time we had breakfast together."
She smiles. "That was one of my favourite parts of that op." She's thinking of pancakes and him making them for her every morning without even asking most days.
"Yeah the pool and the back yard were pretty sweet. It was nice having breakfast out there every morning. Monty would have loved that place." He looks over at his four legged friend. "What were your other favourite parts?"
"What?"
"You said it was one of your favourite parts?" he puts emphasis on the word one.
She shrugs a little embarrassed, "I think I already told you that. Remember our last afternoon on the couch?"
He smiles remembering the conversation and then he too feels a little embarrassed, remembering what he'd said to her after. Even if in some roundabout way he totally meant it, it was a really dorky thing to say and in all honesty, after all the times he's told her she's not his type, he can't believe she didn't call him out on it.
"So what are you going to do today?" She asks changing the topic.
"Looks like more TV, for now. Maybe finish off that book you packed for me. I'm not sure if I should be envious of you or not."
"I don't understand?"
"You're going to be sitting doing paper work all day." She groans knowing he's right. Partnerless and injured there's no way Hetty will let her do much more than paper work.
"I should call in sick."
"You totally should and you can hang here with me."
"I was joking Deeks, I'm not pulling a sickie."
"Spoilsport."
She starts to clear up their plates. They've polished off the four pastries between them as well as a bowl of cereal each and Deeks is now demolishing an apple. She washes up and leaves it all to drain. At some point Deeks makes his way back to the couch and sits with his leg back on the coffee table.
"Comfy?" she asks. He scrunches up his face in an expression that tells her he's not sure. "You want the pillows?"
"That might help." He's currently using a couple of the cushions from the couch. She brings over the pillows and lifts his leg, swapping out the cushions. "Thanks, that feels better already," he tells her. "Could you pass me my laptop?"
"Sure." She grabs the laptop and power cord then takes them over to him, plugging the cord into the power outlet behind the couch. "Anything else?"
"Think I'll be OK. I have my phone, laptop and the remote for the TV."
"You want me to get you a drink and your pain meds? I can leave them on the table here, save you a trip."
"Good idea."
She wanders off and gathers up his painkillers and a glass of water for him. "When did you last take your antibiotics?" she asks reappearing. She has them in her hand anyway and leaves them on the table too. "We'll change your dressing when I get back ."
He watches her move around. She's kind of fussing again but at least she's being productive. And honestly he would struggle to do those things on his own, well at least not without it taking him about ten times longer.
She checks her watch. She still has a while before she needs to be at work but she doesn't want to be under his feet. "I'm gonna be off, call if you need anything. I've left the door to the yard open for Monty and he has fresh water."
"Thanks, I'll be fine. Enjoy your paper work." She's by the door grabbing her stuff when she looks over at him and he swears she looks a little guilty. "Go, really I'll manage."
"Call me if you're not."
"I will, promise." He hopes that settles her a little.
She hesitates a little and then heads out of the door. It's an odd sensation sitting on her sofa and waving her off. Once she's gone he pulls out his phone and sends a quick text to Nell.
Keep an eye on Kensi for me. I think her ribs may be hurting her more than she lets on. And don't tell her about this text or I'm dead!
Five minutes pass and he gets a reply.
Sure, no problem. Hetty doesn't have any plans for her so she has a nice easy day.
Hope you're OK.
He throws the phone onto the seat next him and looks for something to watch on TV.
Kensi arrives at the Mission to find Hetty waiting for her. "Miss Blye how are you?"
"Hetty, thanks I'm fine."
"And Mr Deeks?"
Kensi has to think about her answer and Hetty studies her while she does. It unnerves her slightly. Of course the woman would know Deeks is staying with her, Callen probably told her. She's not mad at him. She knows Hetty has her ways of finding these things out regardless. "He's doing alright considering."
Hetty nods seemingly satisfied with the answer "I'm sure you're taking good care of him, but please look after yourself Miss Blye."
"I will, thanks Hetty."
"Don't thank me. I'm afraid you're on desk duty for the next few weeks."
"Weeks?" Kensi had expected maybe a week but the use of its plural form has her worried.
"Your ribs are cracked and your partner is out of action. I'm afraid there aren't many other alternatives. Besides, we currently have no active cases." Kensi starts to interrupt her and Hetty merely holds up a hand to tell her she isn't finished. "That's obviously not counting what happened to yourselves, but Mr. Callen and Mr. Hanna are looking into that. Now as things have been a little quiet lately we don't have much of a paperwork backlog however I believe Miss Jones has something you might be able to help her with." And with that Hetty takes her leave and heads back to her office.
Kensi carefully makes her way up the stairs to Ops not wanting to jar her ribs. She enters to find Eric and Nell busy tapping away at their keyboards. "Hey guys."
"Kensi." Nell whirls around in her chair greeting Kensi with a genuinely happy smile.
Eric is a few seconds behind her as he taps a few more keys before turning. "Hey how are you?"
"Fine, thanks for asking." She smiles hoping that between that and her words they won't pry any more.
"And Deeks?" Nell asks.
"Yeah he's, you know, OK. But ask me again in a few days when he's bored and driving me mad."
Nell laughs "So no change there." Kensi laughs too.
"Hetty says you have something you need me to do?"
Nell looks a mix between nervous and embarrassed. "Ah, yeah, I'm ah, well you see..."
"I'm not going to like this am I?" At this Eric spins back around and continues with his work.
"Sorry." She pulls an apologetic face and then begins explaining what Kensi will be doing.
When she's finished, Kensi lets out a groan. "Maybe Deeks was right," she mutters to herself.
"What was that?" Nell queries.
"Nothing." Kensi tries to sound nonchalant.
Nell raises her eyebrows at her and Kensi knows she heard exactly what she said. 'Damn it. She really is turning into Hetty two point zero.'
"Right well I'll just get on with it." She doesn't wait for a response and heads out of the room to face the task she's been given.
It's only been an hour since Kensi left and he's bored already. Monty is sitting on his chair watching him. "I know, I know," he tells him having one of his usual one sided conversations with the dog. He picks up his phone and checks for messages. Nothing. He looks through his selection of games, picks one he hasn't played for a while and settles in to try and beat his high score. Monty huffs and rests his head back on his paws and eventually his eyes close.
He's lost track of time, the addictive game and his urge to beat an age old high score distracting him. He's just at a pivotal point, he's been stuck at for the past ten minutes or so when his message alert goes off and distracts him sending him right back to the start of the level. He growls at the phone and taps at the touch screen, surprised to see the message is from Kensi.
You better be resting and healing! I'm stuck at my desk till further notice and have THE MOST BORING job.
Deeks laughs and replies to the text.
Missing me?
She doesn't reply and that throws him. He'd expected her to reply with something sarcastic, but nothing at all has him confused. He toys over what that means and then finally gives in after thirty minutes.
I'll take that as a no then!
Kensi hadn't known what to say to his first question. She did miss him already but there was no way in hell she would give in that easily and tell him. She wanted to reply with something witty but her brain was so numb from the filing task Nell had given her she couldn't come up with anything that didn't sound like she was just being rude or mean. So in the end she hadn't replied with anything. When his second message came through she still felt bad. What could she say that wouldn't give him ammunition to throw back at her some other time? She's been at the filing task for best part of two hours now and her butt and brain have both gone to sleep. She hasn't heard from Sam and Callen and wonders how they're getting on. Feeling the urge for a change of scenery, she finishes up the file she's going through and heads up to Ops.
"Kensi, everything alright?"
"Yeah, I just wondered if you had heard from Sam or Callen."
Nell shakes her head, "Not yet. You could have just called up and saved yourself the walk."
"Yeah, well I might have just fancied the walk," she says like it's no big deal.
"Ah!" Nell sounds like she understands completely with the one little word.
"Yeah." Kensi answers.
"So what are you and Eric up to?"
Eric sits back from his computer. "Nothing exciting. We're waiting for Sam and Callen to get a lead that we can follow up. I'm not sure I like it when we go so long without a case. I mean it's great and all for obvious reasons but it's kinda..."
"Boring," Kensi and Nell say together.
"Yeah, that."
As if on cue Eric holds a hand up. He has a call coming in and taps his earpiece while checking the screen for caller ID. "Callen how's it going?" he pauses, "uh hmm, yeah. OK." They can only hear one side of the conversation and it's frustrating. "Right, I'll let them know." Another pause. "OK later," and with that the conversations over. He turns to find Nell and Kensi looking at him expectantly. "That was Callen."
"Really!" Kensi says sarcastically.
Nell looks at her then back at Eric, "And?"
"Nothing." Kensi and Nell look confused. "They're still conducting interviews. So far nothing has come up and they've spoken to half the marines that were there last. No one seems to know anything and they don't think they're going to get anything from the remainder either."
Kensi lets out a frustrated sigh. Nell pats her arm sympathetically. "We'll get to the bottom of this, don't worry. The forensics will hopefully be back later and we can work that angle."
"Thanks Nell, let me know the minute you hear anything."
"We will, don't worry."
"Thanks, well back to it I guess." She turns to leave and Nell watches her. Kensi's movements are cautious and Nell swears as she disappears through the sliding doors she sees her hand go up to her ribs. Curious she slides into her chair and taps a few keys. An image that shows the stairs leading down to the bullpen appears on screen. Seconds later a figure that's distinctively Kensi appears from the hallway and sure enough, she is holding her arm across her ribs. Nell nudges Eric who glances up at the screen, then turns to Nell and nods in agreement.
Nell picks up the phone in front of her and dials a two digit extension. When the person on the other end answers, Nell just says one word, "Kensi."
A/N: So its looking like my updates are dropping down to one a week now the chapters are getting longer, however for the moment I'll continue to post as and when there ready, that way there won't be an actual whole week between up dates. As always reviews are appreciated.