A/N: Moving into the 'M' territory. You've been warned!

"How about I help with these layers," Deeks suggested as he fidgeted within inches of her, awaiting permission. No way did he need another slug to the shoulder.

"Yeah, I guess that would work," Kensi sighed in frustration. She hated being unable to do basic things for herself and showing this weakness to her partner of all people was especially disappointing. They had spent the last few years with Kensi feeling the need to prove herself to him; that she was a valuable asset to their partnership and just as tough as the other guys, but scenarios like this worked against that image in her opinion.

Deeks carefully lifted the hem of her thermal undershirt and when he got the shirt under her arms, fitted her head through the gap and then tugged the rest of it off her arms. Before he could stop himself, a soft gasp escaped at the sight of her nature-abused body and he quickly looked away. It wouldn't help though because the image of all those bruises would be forever burned into his corneas.

"What?" Kensi asked. He'd seen her without a shirt already and even them sitting here doing this was giving her waves of déjà vu so why was he freaking out? She glanced down at her body and then sighed. She looked like crap. It would figure the first time Deeks would see her without a shirt on after agreeing to be something more and she would look like a beaten piece of fruit. Kensi tugged the shirt from his hand and started to put the layer back, but he took the shirt back and shook his head.

"I should probably take a look at these anyway and then we can get you cleaned at the same time," Deeks' voice was soft and low. It killed him to see all of the marks on her body and each one might just hurt him as much as it hurt her, but she needed him to be stronger and help get cleaned without all of his hesitations. He caught her worried gaze and held it until she released the shirt and nodded. Picking up the soaking shirt from the pot, Deeks rang it out before starting to gently scrub at her arms, thinking they would be better off than her torso.

Kensi only winced a few times and managed to not make any noises, knowing this task was tough on both of them and any help she could be she would manage. Lucky for both of them he took a break to rinse and ring out the shirt in some freshly warmed water before turning to her to start again.

"Back next?" Deeks asked, his voice gruff from lack of use in the last several minutes. Kensi only nodded and angled her back to face him. Deeks sighed in relief when her back showed far fewer bruises and marks. Still trying to be gentle, he moved the shirt up and down the length of her back to clean the old sweat from her skin and became hypnotized by the droplets of water trailing down her lighter olive skin. Kensi for her part was finding it harder to stay awake through the gentle motion and she fought to keep her eyes open. Sleeping could happen later.

"How does my back look?" Kensi asked, wondering if there was more bruising there.

"It appears as if you fell down the mountain front first or maybe the pack protected your back on the way down," Deeks tried to force a laugh but failed. "Ready for the front?"

"Yeah," Kensi sighed and turned back so that she was facing him.

Deeks swallowed past the choking feeling before beginning to rub at her stomach in gentle circular motions and then slowly moved up her body. It took all the effort he could sum up to not react to her body; bruised or not. She needed him to be neutral, to take care of her and if his body betrayed his reaction he felt sure she would run screaming. When he got to her chest he forced his face neutral and steadied himself and her with a hand on her bare waist while the other with the shirt scrubbed softly. A soft gasp escaped her lips and Deeks jerked back, panic written across his features.

"OH God – I'm so sorry –" Deeks started but she shook her head.

"It doesn't hurt," Kensi murmured and when he caught her gaze they were liquid chocolate; one dark and the other milk and the reaction he was fighting so hard to prevent started up and he forced his mind to non-sexual topics. His gun, Monty, surfing…

Her hand palmed his cheek and she smiled up at him. Good help him if his heart didn't skip a beat at that smile of hers. He was wrapped around her pinky; hook, line, and sinker. And for the thousandth time he found himself wondering when the hell that happened. It certainly wasn't from the beginning. Granted he had been intrigued as hell when he first saw her at the MMA gym and later at the victim's house, but once they'd been partnered he was sure she would drive him insane with her constant one-upping and tough-girl routine. Somehow she had gotten under his skin and consumed all of him; his body, his mind, and his heart. He vaguely wondered if he ever stood a chance before her lips reached up to meet his and all thoughts were lost. He felt her tongue glide across his bottom lip before gently sucking it into her mouth and nibbling until his mouth opened and the kiss depended so that their tongues went to war.

Kensi felt like her brain was dancing with a thousand stars and her stomach was out of control as his warm and soft lips worked hers over until she was a puddle of girl-goo in his arms. She wanted and needed him more than anything else in the world – ribs be damned. Kensi pulled him lower and arched her body up into his and tried to ignore the pain this brought. Deeks traced a trail of wet kisses down along her jaw, then her throat, then down to the tops of her breasts. Easing her back down to the ground, he hovered his body carefully over hers so that he could place open mouthed kisses over her breasts through her bra.

"Mmmmmmm," Kensi's head fell back and let her eyes droop shut, just riding the soft waves of pleasure he was giving her. "Deeks… more…"

Deeks grinned against the cotton fabric of her bra before lifting it up just high enough for him latch onto the tip of her left breast and she cried out in surprise and desire. He spent equal amounts of time on each breast until she squirmed and her whimpers were a steady noise. Finally he kissed down her stomach and lower until he was kissing the fabric line of her pants. His eyes moved up her body until they locked gazes and she nodded quickly, already desperate to reach the finish line. Deeks tugged her pants along with every layer underneath down and off so that she lay before him naked but for her bra that was resting across the top of her chest. Even a little smudged up she was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen in his life. He took his time kissing up her legs, inching closer and closer to her center. Her desperate plea for him to hurry up ended any thought that he might milk out the preshow any longer and he closed the distance to where she really wanted him.

Kensi's back arched and pain shot through her torso, followed by blazing hot pleasure as his mouth worked absolute magic on her. Unable to find anything to grip or hold around her, she wound her fingers through his hair and tried not to pull or direct in any way. He was doing just fine all on his own if the proximity of her orgasm was any indication. Normally she preferred the men in her life not to do this because it involved a certain level of trust, but she could definitely get used to Deeks doing this. She could feel her body dancing at the edge of a mind blowing orgasm and she squirmed beneath his attention until he slipped a single digit into her and she came screaming his name and any pain she was feeling from her injuries was overwhelmed by the waves of pleasure crashing over her, over and over. His tongue and lips eased her down from her climax until her body felt like it was softly humming with only a dull ache of pain coming from her ribs.

"Deeks, that was – " Kensi couldn't process any words that could accurately describe just how amazing he was. "Wow…"

Deeks gave a short laugh and grinned up at her. "Glad you approve."

"Mhmm," Kensi felt almost loopy with all the pent of desire temporarily satiated. "C'mere," she motioned for him to move further up her body until he was lying beside her with an arm draped across her body to keep her close.

When his face was finally close enough, Kensi tilted her head so she could seal her lips over his. He groaned into her mouth and she felt his arousal through the pants as it brushed up against the side of her hip. Grinning into the kiss, Kensi shifted her body so that she faced him and used her free hand to lightly trace the outline of his manhood.

"Kensi!" Deeks whispered, unable to stop his body from pushing further into hers. "You're hurt and you should be focusing on resting."

"See now there's a problem with that, because I can't seem to focus on anything but you and more specifically, thissss," she held him just a little tighter in her hand before moving up and down over the fabric.

"K-kens…" Deeks tried to sound like he was giving her warning, but it came off as more breathy much to his embarrassment. He was acting like he'd never been touched by a woman before, but she always was the exception to every rule in his book.

"Do you honestly believe you can rest with this being soooooo hard?" Kensi purred in his ear, nipping at his lobe.

"Oh God you make it impossible to be the good guy," Deeks groaned, thrusting his hips into her hand.

"I don't want you to be the good guy right now," Kensi grinned, already making a mental list of things she wanted to do to him. First things first, she wanted to really feel him, so she worked her hand under the waistband of his pants until she felt burning hot skin beneath her touch. She lightly scraped her barely-there nails along the skin until she felt his arousal pulsing into the back of her hand and grasped it carefully.

Deeks groaned, allowing his body to take over his actions as her hand moved up and down with small variations that would make his breath catch until he couldn't hold back anymore.

"Kensi!" He groaned her name as his seed filled her hand and created a mess of both of them. "Ummm… sorry…"

"Huh? Why would you be sorry?" Kensi asked, slipping her hand from beneath his pants and kinda feeling like a teenager sneaking around with her boyfriend.

"Well, you're messy again," Deeks offered, looking a little abashed. "Actually, we're both messy now…"

Kensi chuckled before smearing her hand across his stomach.

"Hey!" Deeks whined, trying to escape her reach.

"You're really messy now," Kensi grinned.

"And you're evil. Absolutely evil," Deeks pouted as he moved a little further away to try and wash himself before it all dried.

After they had both cleaned up and redressed, they both stretched out on the floor in front of the fire and cuddled close together in a position that didn't hurt Kensi. With the residual warmth from their dying fire and the cozy nature of their position, Kensi was finding it almost impossible to stay awake. She kept jerking awake until Deeks chuckled and pinned her down a little better.

"Sleep, Fern," Deeks murmured into her hair. "You need to be well rested and feeling better for tomorrow because we've gotta finish this thing so we can have crazy amounts of hot sex in a bed. Or at least in a place with central heat. I'm not very picky at this point."

Kensi rolled her eyes before snuggling closer to him and letting her body relax. "If you insist," she murmured, already dozing off.

"I do," Deeks yawned. "G'night partner."

"Night."

*Team Sallen*

"Have you thought about feeding him?" Sam asked as they broke for water. Callen was currently still armed with his long stick while he kept one eye on the cat-sized black bird that lurked just out of his reach.

"I'm not sharing my food with him," Callen said testily. "We don't have much as it is and if I feed him, he'll never leave me alone."

"You might have a point there," Sam agreed and looked thoughtful. "You should at least give him a name then."

"How about Hetty?" Callen half joked. "This bird is always nearby and knows all my sore spots."

Sam guffawed and nodded. "Nature's version of Hetty it is."

The bird cawed at from overhead and after a few minutes of constant noise, Callen waved the stick around some more before shouting up at it.

"Oi! Hetty! Can it!" Callen shouted.

The bird swooped down and managed to find an open spot to peck at on Callen's shoulder.

"HEY!" Callen rubbed his shoulder and picked his pace up to catch up to Sam.

"Don't even think about walking closer to me," Sam said. "That's your pet bird and I don't want anything to do with it."

"It's been following us for the last two hours," Callen moped. "Why hasn't Hetty give up already?"

"Because this is nature's Hetty we're talking about here," Sam teased. "When does she ever give up?"

*OPS*

"We should've picked a smaller mountain," Eric whined. "It's so boring around here without the team."

"Tell me about it," Nell sighed. "I can only do much more archiving of old case files before I want to throw myself out a window!"

"Really?!" Eric's voice was worried and almost panicked.

"Well, no," Nell frowned. "But I'm tempted to steal a helicopter to bring them all back. I mean, I know they're okay because their GPS bleeps are moving, but the only back up they have is each other out there and we can't help them from out here."

"I wouldn't be too worried, Nell," Eric said, patting her on the shoulder a little awkwardly. "Sam is an ex-seal and Kensi is some kind of survival expert. They're all in good hands."

"Ugh, I know, I just miss them and the excitement that comes with them," Nell pouted.

"I know what will cheer you up," Eric perked up. "How about we do a second fantasy football team?"

Nell sighed and nodded. "I suppose."

A/N: No excuses, except that I'm cross country and hotels aren't very creative spaces to write in. Thank you for the inspiring reviews though! Don't let me hold you back from leaving more :D