Author's Note: Own anything NCIS related? Nope. Not I. No suing allowed, k?
In all seriousness, I really enjoyed writing this chapter and loved reading Jen's comments when she beta'd. I wrote this section about 2 weeks ago and when I went back and did the pre-post re-read, it still made me grin exactly where it was supposed to. I hope it does the same for you guys.

Reviews are very much appreciated. I enjoy hearing from you all :)

The mug was warm in her hands and she inhaled the steam coming off the coffee with an appreciative smile.

She had missed fresh good coffee. She had missed the custom-roast Eric brought in every week from the cafe near his place. She had missed the organic whole milk Sam kept.

MREs and powdered creamer just hadn't been the same. Kensi happily admitted that while she was certainly capable of roughing it, she was much happier with a latte and a reliable heat than the freeze-dried food and layers of stale wool blankets that had been in Afghanistan.

She shifted her weight and rested her still stiff back against her chair, enjoying the slight recline and sipping her coffee.

Deeks had yet to master the art of Hetty's Ninja-walk, Kensi realized as she heard his distinctive gait echo against the mission floor.

Her eyes flicked towards his face as he approached her desk and began to pace in front of where she had been relaxing.

She arched an eyebrow. Deeks rarely paced. He was much more of a 'take a firm stance and ride it out' kinda guy.

"We need to talk," he said, barely sparing a glance at her as he paced.

She swallowed and straightened in her chair. "That's always a positive start to a conversation." She felt her heart slip into her throat.

"Before you left, we didn't really get a chance to discuss our Thing," he stated the obvious, his hands gesturing between them while he paced.

Kensi dropped her gaze to her feet for a moment, willing her heart to slow to a normal pace.

She had hoped things wouldn't change. She had hoped that they'd be able to pick up as close to where they left off as possible.

He had said he'd wait. He had said he understood the way across the frozen lake that was their Thing.

She couldn't help but feel the pang of loss as she realized he must have found someone else. Five months was a long time, after all. It was not entirely reasonable to think that he'd just sit around his house pining for her.

They had waited this long. Asking for more wasn't fair to him. He certainly deserved someone to be present for him.

She felt his eyes on her and she forced herself out of her rapid rush of panicked thoughts and she met his gaze, urging him to continue.

Deeks sighed and squared his shoulders. "Look. I heard about what happened."

Her brows shot up towards her hairline.

Jack. Damnit. Nothing had happened! she thought, unable to utter a cohesive self-defense.

Despite years of undercover training, he wasn't that great at disguising his looks when it involved her. She had seen his eyes when she was cradled against Jack's side on the helo. She knew he wanted to be the one holding her and she wanted the same thing. But at the time she had been too pained to protest.

"I-"

He held up a hand and she closed her mouth, her teeth clicking together.

"Kens, I'm an all-in kinda guy," he said simply. "I don't want to do half-way. I don't want to play games and I don't want to share."

She shook her head at him and rose, the coffee mug forgotten on her desk top. "Deeks-"

"Kensi, this is serious. I mean, I know you were on a mission and gone for a long while and I understand that feelings change and sometimes things happen in the heat of an operation, but ...we flew halfway across the globe on a shitty military transport to find you and bring you home! That's got to count for something, doesn't it?"

Oh god. Her mind spun again. Nothing happened!

"And what's the thanks I get? Instead of being mature enough to say 'Deeks, I just need some space,' you go and feel up Eric and his shoulder in the middle of Ops! You've never rubbed my shoulders, Fern. I thought we had something special!"

She blinked at him and his eyes finally softened and twinkled and her brain slowed enough to process his words.

Damn you, her mind screamed at him in relief.

"You are an ass, you know that?" she grumbled, hauling off and punching his arm. Hard.

He winced, just as she knew he would, and his previously restrained laughter bubbled up. It was a sound that delighted her soul; one she had missed for so many months away.

"Damnit, Deeks," she sighed and ran a hand through her hair. He shifted towards her, his laughter having faded into a soft chuckle and he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a hug. "I thought you were really pissed."

"About what? You being sent across the globe to assassinate someone who used to be your fiance, getting kidnapped and me getting some serious frequent flier miles to come save your cute butt? I mean, it wasn't how I had hoped we'd spend the-morning-after-the-morning-after, but... you take what you can get."

She shook her head and returned his hug, tucking her head under his chin and enjoying the pressure of his arms around her. "Not exactly what I had in mind either, for what it's worth."

He shook his head and his voice barely broke above a whisper. "Pretty much anything other than what happened would have made my list."

They tipped away from each other and a silent moment passed between them as they lost themselves in each others eyes.

"Is this when we talk about it?" She asked softly.

He shrugged. "Whenever you're ready. I'm not going anywhere."

She took a good look at his eyes, finding nothing but sincerity there. "No. You're not, are you?" she slipped her arms away from him and grabbed her coffee mug and the backpack that was sitting ready on the floor near her desk.

"Come on, Shaggy," she said, slinging the bag over her shoulder. Taking another sip of her coffee, she waited patiently for him to grab his own bag and they both moved towards the door. "We've got lots to talk about and we're out of ice-cream."

"Nuh-uh," he grunted. "There's more at my place."

"Guess that decides where we're going then, doesn't it?" she smirked, following him out to her SUV.