Author Note - Thanks for all the lovely feedback. It's great to hear what you, the readers want to see. So here's a bit of Neric and Densi, with some Deeks thinking and sweet Densi scenes up next (tomorrow).

Also, if you're looking for something else to read while you wait for this, I recommend anything by homegrownoregano!


Two hours (and a few beers) later, Nell threw her controller to the floor.

"HA! Eat my dust, AGAIN! You're going down, Jones." Eric shouted.

"You beat me! You beat me! How on earth did you BEAT ME?!" She yelled with a smothered grin, pretending to be in a rage.

"It's all in the fingers" Eric said as he wiggled them at her.

"Oh REALLY?" Nell said, her voice lowering and eyebrows raised. "Maybe we should put those FINGERS to better use." She winked at him, causing him to blush.

"That's... uh... that's not what I meant." He mumbled. "I just meant, you know, it's about muscle memory and stuff..." He continued, stumbling ove his words.

"Either way, you BEAT me." She said with a pout. "But I do know how you can make it up to me..." She stood up in front of him. Just as she was reaching down for him, his computer pinged and both of them jumped. They reached for the laptop at the same time, bumping heads. Eric pulled back and Nell grabbed the computer.

"Facial recognition hit." She told him. "We've got an Isaac Matthews. Time to get to work or should we leave it for tomorrow?" She asked.

"We know his name, we've got a photo and we've got a pretty good idea of where he'll be tomorrow." Eric said. "Save the picture for Callen and Sam, and we can tackle a search first thing in the morning at Ops. It'll take too long to do from here, and I don't think Hetty would let us back in tonight."

"You're probably right. It just doesn't feel right to be doing nothing..." She said.

"Well, we could go to bed early and sleep so we can start early tomorrow." He suggested.

"I like how you think." She said. "But first, weren't you going to make up for beating me at Mario Kart?" She asked, leaning in to kiss him gently. "I think I have an idea how you could do that before we go to sleep."


Deeks woke up with a start, unsure when he had fallen asleep. He glanced at the sleeping form in his lap, noting that Kensi must have slid down at some point while he dozed off. He was glad to see she was sleeping peacefully.

He sighed, and stretched carefully so he wouldn't disturb her. The food Callen had brought was now cold and untouched, sitting on the counter in the kitchen. Deeks glanced at his watch and realized that not only were they overdue for dinner, but Kensi also needed to take her meds. He reached down and put his hand on her shoulder and leaned down to whisper in her ear.

"Hey princess, you need to get up for a few minutes. You need to eat and we've gotta take some meds." She swatted at his face as if he were a fly. He gently caught her hand in his and brought it to his lips for a kiss. As she began to wake up, she felt a hand on her wrist and panicked, jerking it away.

"Don't touch me." She hissed, pulling herself away from his lap and flipping gracefully off the couch to land upright on her feet, reaching for her back where her gun would typically be. Her eyes finally opened when the gun wasn't there and she felt the pain shooting through her body. She saw Deeks sitting on the couch, surprised, and she realized where she was.

"Shit, I'm sorry Deeks." She whispered as she sank back down beside him. "I didn't realize it was you."

"Don't worry about it. I'm sorry to wake you up, but we should eat. And you need to take your meds." He explained. She groaned slightly as she stood up again to head for the kitchen. "Wait a sec, where are you going?" He asked. "You need to stay off that leg. Doctor's orders. Lie down, I'll get everything ready and bring it to you." She huffed and crossed her arms, but sank back down and flicked the TV on.

Deeks pulled out the book from Lindsey to double check which meds were needed for both of them, and quietly took his painkillers with a glass of water. He reheated their food, and organized Kensi's pills for her, then grabbed their drinks and returned to the couch.

"I thought you were supposed to take it easy on your arm." She said as he set everything down in front of her.

"I am. I didn't lift anything heavy." He told her. "It's not that bad anyway. You're the one we need to worry about."

"I'm sick of everyone worrying about me." She mumbled. "I'm not that fragile."

"Hey Kens, no one thinks you're fragile. We just don't want you pushing yourself too hard. You need to let you leg heal properly without ripping out those stitches again." He reminded her. "And you know if it was me, or Callen or Sam, who had an injury like that, you wouldn't let us stand up let alone walk on it. No one thinks you're fragile or weak." He told her emphatically. "We just want you to take it easy so you can get back to work."

Kensi was silent as she shoveled food into her mouth and alternately sipped her water and took her pills. The look on her face was unreadable to Deeks, although he knew it was definitely an unhappy one. He picked at his dinner as he watched her, unsure what to say or do. A tear trickled down her cheek as she looked up at him.

"What if I don't go back?" She asked.