Thank you for the reviews, favorites and follows, also thank you to all the guest reviewers each week, I can't write to you personally but I appreciate the reviews.

This chapter is going to feel a lot shorter than the last one because it is much shorter hahaha! I don't know why I keep going back to the same storyline but it seems to be the season's theme for Deeks and Kensi.

The next chapter has been started and then I'll be caught up again. Good thing I have 6 or so weeks to catch up! But not really, it's way too long between episodes. The cliffhanger was just too much and now we have to wait so long for part 2. Also I finally got a picture for my account yay!

This picks up after the twelfth episode of season 9, Under Pressure (9x12).

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS:LA.

Deeks, Kensi and Callen we're sitting at a booth when Sam finally showed up.

"What way did you go? You're a half hour later than us."

"Sorry, I was talking to Kam."

"She okay?" Kensi asked worriedly.

"Yeah, I'm the one that called her. Just checking in."

"Did she start the new semester okay?"

"Oh yeah, she's doing great."

"That's good to hear."

"I just wanted to make sure that everything was going well and let her know that she can always talk to me."

"Aw, that's cute." Deeks smiled.

"The girl today was being bullied and the guy took advantage of her. I just don't want Kam to ever go through that, it's not worth it. We'd change schools in a second if anything ever happened." Sam told Deeks since he wasn't there today.

"I don't understand why kids have to be mean to each other. Why can't everyone just mind their own business or be kind?"

"Kids are cruel."

"Were you guys ever bullied?" Callen asked.

"No, not really. I've always been pretty big so I guess people were intimidated." Sam buffed his chest.

"Me too." Callen said.

"Yeah, I don't think anyone ever bullied me. If they did, it either didn't make a big impression on me or I just took it as a compliment." Deeks smirked.

"What about you Kens?" Sam asked her since she hadn't responded.

She was toying with the straw in her water. "Uhm, yeah no I was, sort of."

"What? You never told me that."

"Well… after my Dad died… I switched schools and I was super tall and skinny, just extremely awkward and I'd missed a lot of school, started somewhere in the middle so I was an outcast and an easy target. They called me names like bag of bones, chicken legs and olive oil." Deeks reached for her hand under the table.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that." Sam sympathized.

"It's alright. I was talking to Hidoko today and she was right, it got better and college was definitely more enjoyable."

"I agree. College was much better." That topic died down and the waitress brought more beer.

"So 39, one year away from the big 40. You're getting old." Sam slapped him on the back, laughing.

"What do you guys have planned? Besides work." Callen was interested.

"Well, she's not telling me anything." Deeks said dramatically.

"It's a surprise but it'll be fun."

"You can't give me like just little hint?"

"Nope, not a chance."

Sam and Callen laughed at the incredulous looks the two younger team members were giving each other. "Let's make a toast." Sam held up his glass. "Deeks, our good friend and co-worker. Thank you for many years of hard work and dedication this job. You're a great detective and you'd make a great agent… even though you come up with weird little games, joke around a lot and talk too much but Kensi doesn't seem to mind anymore." Kensi leaned into Deeks' side and put her head on his shoulder.

"Love is blind." Callen interjected and they all laughed.

Sam continued. "We may not have always seen eye to eye but we've come to respect each other and I can't imagine the team without you."

"Thank you Sam."

"Cheers!"

She stopped right in front of him as he closed the door to the house. "I didn't see you all day, I missed you."

"I missed you too." He pecked her lips.

She wrapped her arms around him just wanting to be close. "I'm so happy to be home."

"Long day."

"Mhm." She had her eyes closed, taking in his familiar scent and the warmth of his body.

"Why didn't you tell me you were teased in high school?"

She pulled back but they kept their hands linked. "I don't know. It wasn't that bad, I was just insecure about myself."

"Wow…"

"Hard to believe I haven't always been a badass, isn't it?"

"Now, I don't believe that for one second. My kickass-Kensalina has and always will be a badass."

"I thought I was but… I'm much stronger now."

"Oh I know. You're incredibly strong and you get stronger every day."

She smiled at the compliment. "Thank you." She decided to share more about her past. "I was on the street for about a year and then I guess I sort of isolated myself from other classmates. I was just focused on school after that. I was taking classes on the side, extra courses outside of school, I had tutoring. They helped me get caught up and I graduated on time."

"That's great. Not to have to stay back and delay your future."

"Really got my life back on track."

"I can't even imagine what you had to go through living on the street. You were fifteen."

She looked at their intertwined hands. "Yeah, I wouldn't want my child to ever go through that."

"I want them to have a better childhood than we had."

She nodded but then stopped. "Wait, them? As in multiple?"

"Of course." He took in her horrified face. "Well, I mean, we don't…" She then smiled mischievously. "Mmm, you're mocking me." He stated.

"I say we start with one and see from there. You never know when I might change my mind."

"Just don't want them to be lonely."

"I think we turned out okay."

"That's true. We are pretty awesome."

"Agreed." She let go of one of his hands. "Now, I wanna hear about your day." She poked him in the chest. He looked at his arm. "I'll get you an ice-pack."

She let go of him completely to walk to the kitchen and he went to the couch already starting to tell her. "It was kinda like that killhouse thing we did a few years ago except I didn't really know any of the other people so there wasn't the same amount of trust." He moved over some of the cushions when she came back. "Got these cause some new guy didn't watch my six." He lifted his shirt up to show his shoulder again. "I turn around, the guy's gone and I get shot in the arm."

"Definitely not pros like we are." She threw some hair behind her, doing a hairflip showing her confidence in the team.

"Definitely not." He agreed. "It would be hard joining another team after working with the same people for eight years."

"It would be… but you'd adapt like any other time you've switched jobs."

"That's true, but I've never felt any personal connections to the other jobs."

"Then why not become an agent so you're stuck with us?" She smiled.

"I don't know, as good as it sounds, I'm kind of happy the way it is. It leaves options open for when we want to start a family."

"But you could still get sent back for however long just like today."

"Yeah." He had been considering those things in his head.

"I don't want you off doing dangerous things without me watching your back."

"Trust me I feel the same way but I just don't know how long we're going to continue doing this job."

"I know."

She didn't say anything and was deep in thought when he looked over. "What're you thinking about?"

She shrugged. "I never have the right answer to that."

"There is no right or wrong answer to your ideas or opinions." She didn't react. "Kens?"

"I just don't know and I keep saying that cause don't have an answer and I feel like I'm letting you down."

"You're not letting me dow…"

"I don't like change. I've been with NCIS since 2003. I think I was 21, it's all I know."

"Kens, you said so yourself, you'd adapt. It would be a change, yes, but it's for a great reason. You'll have a different purpose, a different priority in life, someone else to protect."

"That's a terrifying thought. They're dependent on you and I can't even keep a plant alive."

"First of all babies and children will notify you when they need something. Their cries cannot be missed. You don't have to worry that you'll forget about them. Second, everything new you try, you succeed at. If not at first, then you overcome it later on. You tackle everything with your fullest potential and you make it work."

She still didn't look him fully in the eye. "Some days I'm so confident about it but then I think about what it really entails…"

"You're not alone Kens, I have no idea what to do with kids. I didn't have a good example growing up, I don't know what good dads are like but I'm willing to try and I know that I'll be much better than him and they're going to turn out to be even better humans than us. We're partners, in every sense of the word."

"You're going to be such a great Dad, Deeks."

"Well I know you're going to be an amazing Mom." She looked away blushing. "Mmm our mutant ninja assassins." She smiled embarrassed. "You teaching them about nature and how to fix cars cause I'm definitely not going to do that."

"Mhm." She leaned in closer.

"Oh, leaning in." He observed as he did the same. Their lips met and he put his hand on her hip. Their kisses were getting heated so he went to pull up her shirt.

"Uh, uh, uh not tonight." She pushed him back and stood up.

"Oh come on! You can't leave me hanging like that."

"You have to be ready early tomorrow morning for Deeks' Birthday Bash." She called behind her as she left the room.

"That's so unfair." He mumbled to himself.

"I heard that." She shouted from the other room.

"Son of a…" He followed her but little did he know that his birthday celebration was going to begin in less than 20 minutes as the clock struck midnight.

You can fill in the rest with your imagination :) Thanks for reading!