Chapter Thirty Five: Compromising Positions
Because I couldn't resist the mental image the final scene conjured up. Simple as that.
"Why don't you two have your coffee on the terrace," Nico suggested after dinner. "There's a passage in that Etude that is bothering me and I just want to do a little more work on it." There was no need to mention that she wanted to make sure the mood was sufficiently mellow by the time Hetty arrived at eight. Surely moonlight and romantic music drifting out of the windows would work the necessary magic? Mikey was usually as easy-going as they came, but he could be incredibly stubborn. Just like his great-aunt, in fact. Stubborn and dedicated and fiercely loyal – they were more alike than either of them would admit and they needed to put aside their differences and start to learn to work together. And if they couldn't do that, then maybe she and Kensi were going to have to bang their two heads together and knock some sense into them. Nico didn't particularly care that assaulting a federal agent was a crime, because something had to be done.
Of course, the Etude was pretty damned perfect, as it should be, given that Nico had first started to play it when she was twelve. After she'd played that, she began to play her favourite Chopin Nocturne and the notes rang out with silvery precision and delicacy, the perfect blend of technical mastery and exquisite tenderness.
"It's beautiful tonight." After so long in the hospital the soft night air seemed like heaven to Kensi. "How's your shoulder now?"
"Not too bad," Marty said automatically, before catching the look in her eyes and looking like a guilty schoolboy. "Okay – minor agony? Will that do?"
"It's a good thing I got Joe to switch on the jacuzzi heater earlier then, isn't it?" There was a distinct note of satisfaction in her voice.
"You're going to make someone a wonderful wife one day. Hopefully me. I knew there was a reason I fell in love with you. Apart from your amazing body, of course."
"And my beautiful face," she prompted, helping him to remove the sling.
"And your beautiful face. Are you and your amazing body and beautiful face going to join me?" His jeans fell on top of the pile of clothes beside the Jacuzzi. "Please?"
Oh my – every time she saw him just in a pair of boxers Kensi's heart started to do backflips. Not so long ago, she would lie awake at night and indulge in her fantasy of him, and having the real live thing in front of her was so much better. He looked so good and so fit it was almost obscene.
"No can do, I'm afraid," she managed reluctantly. "Not till the doctor gives me the all-clear and says the wound is completely healed."
Why couldn't they just have super-glued the incision? That's what the stuff was invented for in the first place. Much nicer that those staples they put in, that's for sure.
"Bummer." Marty shucked off his boxers and stepped into the bubbling water. "Oh God, that's good!" He adjusted his position so that the jets were pummelling his back and shoulder and gave another ecstatic moan of delight.
"Nico's going to wonder what we're doing out here!" Kensi warned. Despite herself, she found she was getting incredibly turned on by the sight of his bare torso gleaming in the moonlight, with the steam rising all around him, so that his hair was starting to curl in the damp.
"Nico's a big girl. And very broad-minded. It takes a lot to shock her. Callen's got his hands full there."
Kensi kicked off her shoes and sat down on the edge of the Jacuzzi, dangling her legs into the water. "This is good. Hold onto all those thoughts running through that dirty mind of yours and in a couple of weeks…"
"Maybe I should write them down? Some of them are really good." Marty leaned his head back against the tiles and gazed up at her. "There should be a law against this, you know."
"Against what?" Kensi bent her own head forward so that her face hovered just inches above his.
He smiled in her eyes, seeing the whole world in them. "Being so happy." He reached up a little further and kissed her, slowly at first and then with increasing fervour. Kensi leant into the kiss, feeling his urgency and completely failed to notice that the music had stopped altogether, far less hear the approaching footsteps as Nico ushered Hetty out through the French doors that lead onto the terrace.
"It's such a lovely night, they decided to have coffee outside," Nico explained and then suddenly stopped as she saw the uninhibited passion taking place in the Jacuzzi. "Only they seemed to have moved on a bit since then." She gave her visitor an apologetic grin. "Young love: what can I say?"
Several pithy phrases came to the forefront of Hetty's mind, but she wisely refrained from uttering any of them. It was, after all, private property; they were consenting adults and it wasn't even as if they were frightening the horses. "Good evening," she called out in ringing tones and had the immense satisfaction of seem twin looks of horror on her agents' faces.
You've still got it, old girl! she congratulated herself and tried not to smile too broadly.
"Guard dogs," Marty hissed in an undertone. "We need to get a whole pack of guard dogs. Preferrably ones with rabies."
"Watch-towers with machine gun emplacements," Kensi suggested, before smiling sweetly and waving at Hetty. "It's not that bad though, not really."
He looked at her incredulously. "Not that bad? Hello – are you forgetting I'm completely naked in here? And that's my boss standing over there? With my best friend? And they're both female? Oh – and did I forget to mention that I'm butt naked?"
Ain't that a site for sore eyes? yum yum yum.
oh - and just to allay any doubts - even I am not mean enough to give Deeks a Marine buzz cut. I might maim him, I might put him through the emotion mangle, but his hair is sacrosact. I have my standards, after all and I'm not completly heartless.