The music shop was old- from the smell alone, Kensi would have placed it at least forty years old, at least. Dust seemed to cover almost every horizontal surface, and she was almost sure the vertical ones as well. Extra instruments were piled into the corners, their black cases gray from the years left alone. She was almost sure rats and cockroaches were running wild and free somewhere in there, excited to be able to run out in the open without any fear of being caught or killed.

"And your cousin used to own this place?"

"Yep," Deeks said proudly, looking around the store in excitement. "Owned it for seven years, before he ran out on the rent. He bought all of the instruments, and since he listed me on his contact info, the owner called and told me to get this place cleared out by the end of the month. Otherwise he's junking it all."

"And that's a bad thing, because…?"

The look Deeks gave her was almost horrified, his hand resting on his heart in mock pain.

"The fact that you, my wife, said that me is seriously giving me trust issues, Kens," Deeks said slowly, shaking his head. "I mean, look at these!" Picking up a small drum, Deeks gently tapped on, snorting as a plumb of dust rose around him. "Other than being a bit dusty," he added, coughing softly, "they're in perfect condition. If Jimmy doesn't come by to pick them up soon, we can clean them up and sell them online somewhere. Maybe it'll even be enough to get you that horse you've been wanting."

"Maybe," Kensi said with a laugh, though it was quickly cut off by her own inhalation of dust, the particles covering her tongue and filling her nose as she knocked the cover off of some sort of stand. Stumbling backwards, she rubbed the dust from her eyes, shaking her head to try and clear it of the age old gunk.

"Hey, a xylophone! I haven't played one of these in years, not since my college days."

Shrugging out of his over shirt, Deeks carefully wiped down the instrument, removing the last traces of dust from the wooden planks and the metal right underneath, leaving it almost spotless- though his shirt would need a good washing if it was ever going to lose the gray sheen it had gained. Picking up and blowing off a few mallets, Deeks shot her a cheeky grin as he twirled them between his fingers, his eyebrow raised as if he was daring her to just try and not be impressed.

Kensi's own look told him she wasn't, and to get on with it already, drawing out a small chuckled from Deeks as he stopped showing off and began to play.

Kensi shouldn't have been surprised that, after all these years, he still remembered how to play, the quite little children's songs slowly turning into more elaborate pieces as he remembered the scales and cords he had undoubtedly spent hours practicing back when he was new to the world of adulthood.

And he got into too, his smile falling as he actually began to concentrate, his hands picking up speed as the old muscle memory found its way back. He actually looked serious, as if the song he was trying to make his way through was the most important thing he had ever done.

For how long they stood there, listening to the music that came from his hands, Kensi wasn't entirely sure. It could have been hours or it could have been minutes, the results were the same- by the time he put the mallets down, off to the side, she had already pulled off her own over shirt, the gray-blue material much more likely to hold up against the dust than his own black had.

"These aren't getting in my car like this," Kensi said, "so let's get started."

Deeks just grinned at her, tapped the xylophone with his nail so one small, final note rang out, and got to work.