So sorry for the long delay between chapters- school is slowly taking over, and the season premiere just gutted me to a point where I couldn't write anything at all! Slowly I've begun to pull myself together though, and I came up with this today:) I really enjoyed writing this chapter, and I hope you all enjoy reading it! Maybe it'll get our minds off the angst-filled season premiere?

No, probably not. Wishful thinking.

Please review as always!

-Hazel

P.S. I have gotten really into making Densi videos, and I've made two new ones for Deeks and Kensi in the season premiere! They are both on my tumblr page if you'd like to watch and cry. ;) Username: imgoingtocallyoufern

. . .

Kensi took a deep breath and opened the front door slowly. The house was silent, any previous conversations that may have been being held between their various houseguests put on mute for the time being.

It was clear that their team had heard what was being talked about, probably by pressing their ears up against cracked windows just so they could catch a word or two that might tell them what all the commotion was about.

When her and Deeks eventually wandered back into the living room, all they could hear were a few hushed whispers. When they were spotted though, the room fell into total and complete silence. No longer were people dispersed throughout the space- everyone stood in the center of the living room, just staring at Kensi and Deeks as they reentered.

Kensi's mother was the first to make any sort of movement. Julia took one step towards her daughter, extending a hand as she approached her side.

"Are you alright? What the hell just happened?"

Sam, Callen and Deeks clearly hadn't given away any details from the little scuffle- they were leaving that entirely up to Kensi.

"I'm fine mom," she said quietly before raising her head and speaking loudly to the whole group. "It's fine guys, really."

They were just silent, all still wearing expressions of concern.

Kensi sighed and glanced over to Deeks, almost apologetically. Neither of them wanted to bring any of it up again, but in all honesty the conversation just couldn't be avoided.

She shrugged, awkwardly shifted her weight from foot to foot. "It was Jack… he- he came back."

Michelle turned to Sam in confusion, mouthing the word 'Jack' with a perplexed expression. He whispered 'ex-fiancé' into her ear, which caused Michelle's eyes to focus back on Kensi, her mouth left agape.

Nell gasped, Eric looked dumbfounded, and for once Hetty actually seemed genuinely shocked- which was surprising, to say the very least. Even she couldn't have anticipated something like that.

Kensi recognized the astonished expressions that surrounded her, and was quick to interject before they could start asking questions.

"Look... it's over. And I'm fine- honestly."

Kensi seemed at peace with the situation, and it wasn't some front she was putting up so that they could just move on. For probably the first time in her life, when Kensi said that she was fine, she actually meant it.

Deeks wound one arm snugly around her waist, glancing down to Kensi before addressing their friends and family.

"We're fine. Sam and Callen almost killed him for me, but aside from that we're all good. He managed to escape unharmed."

That produced both a sigh and weak laugh from the people surrounding them.

Deeks exhaled loudly and began spinning his head around, eagerly sniffing the air.

"Is dinner ready yet? I'm dying over here."

Michelle nodded, pointing towards the kitchen and patting Nell on the shoulder.

"Nell and I finished everything up while you two were dealing with the unwanted houseguest."

"Good." His entire face turned up in a cheeky grin. "So it's actually edible."

Eric and Nell shot one another a look- they didn't want to deal with 'married Kensi and Deeks,' but instead decided it was best to leave before things got messy. They slowly drifted away, Nell discreetly grabbing Eric's hand as she lead him towards the kitchen.

"Hey!" Kensi exclaimed, elbowing him in the side. "I can cook."

"No you can't, but you are very good at ordering takeout. I'll give you that."

Kensi crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows, but that didn't deter Deeks- he still held one hand tightly against her waist.

"Oh, come on. Your ex-fiance showed up on thanksgiving Kens- I think I'm allowed to have a little bit of fun with you."

"The man's got a point." Julia added, grinning at Kensi and winking at her favorite son-in-law.

Deeks was delighted by her response, and was keen to let Kensi know. "Yeah. What she said."

"You know what? You're a good man Deeks." Sam chimed in, half-sincere and half-joking as he glanced down to Michelle. "I would've killed the guy. Literally."

"I wasn't being nice," Deeks said, shrugging and he steering Kensi towards the kitchen as everyone else filed out of the living room.

"I just didn't want to deal with the paperwork."

Luckily, for both Kensi and Deeks' sanity, the rest of their thanksgiving dinner went off without a hitch. The food was divine, as Kensi hadn't really done much cooking at all aside from chopping vegetables.

Jack's dramatic and impromptu reappearance didn't cause any more issues after he was gone- nobody brought it up, and nobody asked questions. There wasn't much to tell, and anything that may have been worth knowing wasn't going to be divulged by Kensi, as moving on was truly the only thing on her mind.

When the last of their guests had wandered out the front door, the clock was nearing midnight, but Kensi and Deeks still had cleanup ahead of them.

"You know Deeks," Kensi said, coming to stand half way between the kitchen and the front door that had just pushed closed. "It's late. We should just do this in the morning."

Deeks chuckled. "You really will try anything to get out of cleaning, won't you?"

The house was in shambles- there really was no way he'd be able to sleep when his place looked like such a jumbled up mess.

"Me? Never!" She exclaimed, her hand flying up to her chest as she put on a jokingly hurt outward expression. "It is midnight past midnight though, so that seems like a valid enough excuse."

Deeks rolled his eyes, smirking at her dramatic rebuttal. "Come on babe- your ex-fiancé showed up tonight, the least you can do is help me clean."

Kensi laughed, shaking her head in disbelief. "You're going to hold onto that forever, now aren't you?"

Deeks shrugged, closing one eye and glancing up to the ceiling as he contemplated her words. "No, not forever. Just give me like a week or so. Then I'll drop it."

Kensi may have rolled her eyes and showed her husband a slightly annoyed exterior, but his words delighted her more than she cared to tell. A week wasn't bad at all- she could deal with that, easily.

"Besides…" Deeks said, taking two steps closer to her. "We won't be able to clean in the morning, as we have to leave here around nine... I've got a little surprise for you tomorrow before we go back to work."

Kensi looked weary at first, but smiled once she saw how hugely he was grinning. "What is it?"

"I think that defeats the purpose of it being a surprise, wouldn't you agree?"

"We're married. That means there are no surprises."

"Oh, I think you know better than that, Blye." He wagged his finger at her. "That's not how it goes at all. We're married, so there are no secrets between us. I am still allowed to surprise you whenever I want."

She chuckled, looking to the floor in defeat. "Fine. Just promise it'll be a good surprise, okay? I think Jack's lovely little reappearance was enough of an alarming experience for one week."

"Oh yeah. Having an ex-fiancé show up out of the clear blue on Thanksgiving really can put a damper on things. It was pretty 'shocking and amazing,' don't you think?"

"I'd say shocking before I'd say amazing, Deeks."

He shook his head slightly and raised his eyebrows, resting both hands on his hipbones. "Yeah, I would to."

Deeks' tone was lowered, any sense of tease almost entirely gone from his voice.

In that moment, after Kensi had actually used Jack's name in a sentence, she could visibly see her partner stiffen. Jack's 'second coming' was like an earthquake, in a way. He came, things got shaken up and maybe even a little broken, but everything went back to normal within a few minutes. However, the shockwaves were still coming- strong, fierce and unexpected as hell.

Deeks had played it off as a joke from the start, like always, but his second reply held much more realness and annoyance than the first. Not annoyance at Kensi- just annoyance at the situation.

So although he'd tried to tease her about it before, Kensi could tell Deeks wasn't entirely over the shock of it yet- she hadn't really expected him to be. So, before she could change her own mind about it, Kensi was quick to bring up the unfortunate topic of discussion once more.

"Are you okay, Deeks?" Kensi asked the question with a flaming sincerity, ducking her head down with her eyes still pinned to his. "I'm not just saying it this time. I'm honestly asking."

Deeks shrugged, placing both his hands in his pockets as he continued to stare at the floor. "I'm good if you're good."

She grimaced at his words, folding her arms across her chest and leaving them to rest on her stomach.

"Saying that has never worked out well for us in the past, Deeks."

He wasn't easily catching onto her train of thought. "What do you…"

Deeks trailed off as Kensi raised her eyebrows. There was something roughly resembling a grin gracing her face- it was clear that her heart wasn't in it though.

"Oh. Right. That."

They were both of course referring to Deeks' undercover assignment with Monica, which by that point in time seemed like light years away.

Kensi sighed. "Yeah- that. You didn't mean it then and I'm sure you don't mean it now."

Deeks took two steps towards her. "Kens-"

She cut him off before he could begin, as she needed to make one final point.

"Look, Deeks- we're married. And along with a million other things, that means that I don't want you to keep anything from me. Nothing at all, because keeping everything bottled up inside doesn't do a damn bit of good. So- if you're sad, cry. If you're angry, yell at me. If you're upset, tell me why. But don't keep saying you're 'good,' because we both know that is a load of crap."

By the end of her rant, Kensi's eyes were damp with tears.

Deeks swallowed hard through a tight throat, exhaling and scratching the back of his head. "Okay."

Kensi turned her head to one side, eyeing him suspiciously. "Okay what?"

Deeks shrugged. "Your ex-fiancé showed up on Thanksgiving and, sure, for a few minutes it sucked. It really sucked."

He sounded somewhat like a defiant teenager, but Kensi wasn't swayed. And as time went on, Deeks' voice returned to it's typical, more grownup tone.

"But Kens-" He took two more steps forward, completely closing the gap between them and placing both his hands on her shoulders. "-I'm not mad at you. And I'm not going to yell at you. I just don't know how I'm supposed to react to it all, I guess."

"What do you mean?"

"I feel…" He dropped both his hands away from her and placed them behind his back, almost smiling. "I feel like I should be angry or something, you know? Like I should feel mad and upset and violated. But for some reason I just don't."

Kensi narrowed her eyes and grinned. "So you aren't upset?"

"No." He glanced up to the ceiling and then back down to her, a perplexed look on his face. "I'm not. You defended me, Kens. You made him leave. I don't think I could ask for anything more."

Kensi chuckled at his phrasing of the statement. "What, did you think that I wouldn't? We're married Deeks, of course I'll always defend you. I love you. And Jack showing up doesn't change any of that."

Deeks immediately pulled Kensi close, wrapping both arms around her waist. "I love you too. And that's why I'm not upset, okay?"

Kensi relaxed beneath his grip, winding her arms around the back of his neck. "Really?"

Deeks flashed a crooked smile, one that showed off all of his brilliantly white teeth. "As long as you're still here, how could I be?"

Kensi snorted with laughter before briefly pressing her lips to his.

"Touché."