A/N: Thanks again to everyone who continues to follow this story. Even if I can't always have the time to respond to every review, I appreciate them all.

"What the hell just happened?" Callen asked as Kensi tried to push her way to the stage, now surrounded by the crowd. She didn't have a full view of Deeks anymore, but it looked he was still on the ground.

"Somebody attacked Deeks," she answered shortly. Pushing through a group of patrons trying to get a better look, she swung herself onto the stage, and yanked the woman on top of Deeks away. Almost immediately Kensi knew she wasn't their suspect. She was blonde, tall, and wearing a shiny white "Bride-to-be" sash. The woman they were looking for was significantly shorter and based on the video, a brunette.

A female dancer joined them and helped Deeks to his feet, offering him a pair of pants. As he put them on, Kensi noticed a nasty looking scratch along his forearm. He must have scraped himself on the chair when he fell.

"Are you alright, Marty?" the other dancer asked with obvious concern.

"I'm fine," he insisted, examining his arm with a frown. Finally, one of the bouncers made it on stage and took the struggling woman from Kensi. She was clearly drunk and Kensi doubted she was completely aware of what she'd done.

"I'm so sorry, please don't call the police," she begged, slurring a little. She was clearly completely smashed and made a desperate grab for Deeks.

"You want me to call the police?" the bouncer asked and Deeks shook his head.

"No, that's not necessary, Harry. Just get her back to her party and make sure they leave."

Kensi wanted to object, but knew she'd already overstepped her role as a waitress. Her response could be brushed as that of a concerned girlfriend to a certain extent, but not if she seemed too forceful. Keeping that in mind, she caught his eye, silently asking if he was really alright, and he nodded.

"Kens, is Deeks ok?" Callen asked as she returned to her serving duties.

"Yeah, false alarm. Just a drunken bachelorette having her last hurrah, I guess."

"Unbelievable," Sam muttered.

"I didn't realize exotic dancing was so dangerous for men," Eric commented, sounding sympathetic on Deeks' behalf. "He's lucky that woman didn't have a knife or something."

Kensi thought about Eric's comment for the rest of the night. After a small break, the night's entertainment had resumed without too much difficulty and most of the patrons didn't seem bothered by the interruption.

Even while she filled orders, she kept a closer eye on Deeks. Or as much as she could with him leaving the stage between routines. If their killer had been the one to jump Deeks, he would likely be dead. The thought made her shudder.

The club officially closed at 1, but wait staff were expected to stay after to close up. Deeks helped clean tables and stack chairs, significantly reducing the time it would have taken her to do it on her own. He seemed pretty familiar with the process which made her think it wasn't the first time.

It wasn't until they were driving back to his apartment that Kensi voiced something that had been bothering her.

"Why didn't you press charges against that woman who attacked you?"

Deeks actually chuckled, seeming to think she was joking until he saw her face.

"What? You wanted me to have a drunken bride to be arrested for getting a little overexcited?" he asked, his nonchalance equally annoying and amazing Kensi.

"She jumped you, Deeks," Kensi reminded him. "You had no way of knowing if she was going to hurt you. Actually, she did."

Deeks glanced down at his arm, now covered with a wide bandage and shrugged dismissively.

"This is nothing. I've gotten worse surfing. Besides, if I pressed charges against every person who got a little handsy, we'd be out of business."

"How often does that kind of thing happen?" Kensi was slightly horrified at the thought of Deeks being routinely harassed.

"To me? Only a handful of times," Deeks assured her, like that made it better. "The combination of excessive amounts of alcohol and the amped atmosphere seems to be a little too much for some people." He shrugged again. "You get used to it."

"If it was me, I would have taken that blonde out," Kensi said firmly, surprised when Deeks grinned.

"Well, then I guess it's a good thing Harry got to her first. Not that I would mind watching."

She pulled up in front of his apartment, turned off the ignition, and turned to face him.

"Either way, I'm having Eric bring you a comm tomorrow. At least then we'll have some kind of contact when I can't see you."

"Whatever you say, Agent Blye," he said in a teasing voice as he opened his door. "Thanks for the ride. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Um, I don't think so. After what happened today, I'm not leaving you alone."

"You're seriously planning on spending the night here?"

"I'm on protection duty. So where you go, I go," Kensi explained. She thought he might argue the point, but after a minute he rubbed his eyes and said,

"Fine." He swung the strap of his bag over his shoulder, got out of the car, watching as Kensi grabbed her own duffel bag. "I don't have a spare room, so you'll have to sleep on the couch," he added as he unlocked his door, gesturing for her to go first.

"How very gentlemanly of you." He chuckled at her comment, flipping on a couple lights while Kensi quickly checked the apartment for intruders.

"Hey, the only way you're sleeping in my bed is if we share," he said, winking at her when she came back from said bedroom. "And somehow I don't think you'll agree to that."

"In your dreams, Deeks," she said, sarcasm filling her voice. Deeks didn't seem at all offended, winking again as he made himself comfortable on the couch.

"I think that would be an exceptionally good dream." He ignored her glare, pointing towards the hallway. "The bathroom is the door on the left, by the way."

She wasn't sure she should leave him alone, but figured that he couldn't get into too much trouble in his own apartment. Then again, he'd proven himself to be extremely careless about his own well-being.

"Thanks. Don't do anything stupid while I'm gone."

About 15 minutes later Kensi came out the bathroom, squeezing her dripping hair with a towel since Deeks didn't seem to own a hairdryer. She found Deeks sitting in front of the coffee table as she lingered in the entrance to the living room.

He had several books, a laptop, and what looked like an entire ream of paper spread out in front of him. His attention was completely focused on whatever he was typing so Kensi took the opportunity to observe him.

Every half minute or so, he ran his fingers through his hair, making the already messy strands curl around his head like a fluffy halo. It was strange seeing him so completely sober and focused. In their brief acquaintance even when Deeks was discussing something serious, there was usually an underlying hint of sarcasm or humor.

It frustrated her that he was more complex than she'd anticipated. She was used to reading people fairly easily, but Deeks wasn't predictable and amazingly adept at concealing parts of himself when he wanted to. He was full of contradictions and, dammit, she was curious.

Realizing that she'd been staring at him for a couple minutes now, she stepped back into the hall, making a little noise as she walked into the room.

"Shower's all yours," she said. Deeks didn't take his eyes off his work, fingers tapping away at his keyboard.

"Thanks, but I showered before we left the club. My water heater is a piece of crap," he told her.

"Oh, is that how you, a self-proclaimed "broke law student" ended up with such a nice place in LA?" He finally glanced up at her, the hint of smirk lifting the right corner of his mouth.

"That and the lady who owns this property thinks I'm cute." His smirk widened and Kensi shook her head, sitting down in the chair next to the couch.

"You have no shame," she observed. He pursed his lips, twirling his pen between his fingers as he gave her a questioning look.

"You just watched me strip for 6 hours, does my lack of shame really surprise you at this point?" He didn't give her a chance to answer before he added, "Besides, I gave Mrs. Deter some unofficial legal advice a while back and she was very appreciative."

"You know, one day your good looks and charm aren't going to work anymore," Kensi warned him. Instead of looking worried, his eyebrows rose and he nodded.

"So, you find me attractive and charming. Good to know."

"That is not what I-"

"There's some pizza on the stove if you're hungry," he interrupted. "I'm afraid it's only frozen, but based on the contents of your glove compartment, you don't seem all that picky." Kensi glared at him, intending to ignore his offer, but her stomach chose that moment to growl extremely loudly. "Help yourself."

Since there was no point pretending she wasn't hungry, she grabbed a couple slices and a glass of water. From a cursory glance, he seemed to have a fairly well-stocked kitchen. Or at least more than she currently had in hers. When she returned to the living room, he'd cleared off the table and put a couple blankets and pillows on the couch.

"Do you always stay up this late?" Kensi asked as she rearranged the bedding, exhaustion beginning to set in. She felt a little bad for forcing him out of his own living room.

"Only on work nights, or during finals. You get used to it after a while," he said with a shrug.

Kensi never had, but she didn't mention it. He already knew far too much about her as it was.

"Well, don't stay up too late."

"I'll try not to, Agent Blye. Sleep tight." His voice was teasing again as he headed out of the room. He popped his back in and added, "Oh, and I hope you like early mornings, because I have a run planned before I go to my first class."

A/N: Is this just an excuse to have Kensi and Deeks spend more time together? Why yes it is.

Also, I figure that even with the camera Kensi is wearing, it would still be hard for the team to see everything that's going on at the bar.