Around a half an hour later, Kensi found herself a bit overwhelmed by all the activity and noise after having been isolated from most of the world for nearly 4 months. Kensi managed to communicate to Deeks without actually speaking that she needed some space, and Deeks knew from the look she gave him that she was going to spend some time sitting in the armory.

Kensi sat in her wheelchair admiring the many weapons that surrounded her. She sighed lightly taking it all in, wishing she could just grab one and let all her frustration out on a target in the shooting range. Instead, she settled for eyeing over some of Hetty's exotic weaponry.

"Hey, uhh, looking at Hetty's weapon collection?" Eric asked tentatively as he walked in on her with his hands holding something behind his back.

"Yea. Something like that."

"Well, uh, I uh… might have something for ya that could almost compete with her collection." Eric said while presenting her gift to her.

"A scarf?" Kensi questioned.

Eric responded by raising his eyebrows while awaiting Kensi to grab her gift from his outstretched hands.

"Hmm not just any scarf. This one is embedded with kevlar filaments around the edges so you can use it as a garrote if necessary." Eric said while miming strangling someone.

"Oh my gosh that is awesome! Thank you, how thoughtful."

"Yea."

"I never pegged you as a sewer though."

"Oh I'm not. Uh Hetty helped me."

"Mm."

"It was like 75% me, 25% her."

"Hmm not bad."

"Ok, m… maybe it was more like 50 50." Eric let out a reluctant sigh. "Fine, the kevlar was her idea. I wanted to go bigger. Bolder. Nail file, cork screw, tooth pick, tweezer, just full on swiss army scarf."

As Eric continued listing different tools Kensi nodded along somewhat sarcastically, though she couldn't deny how much she loved the gift.

"But then, she was all like "Mr Beale, I think we should scale it back a bit. And I was like, but a corkscrew, it's so usefu…"

Kensi cut him off. "Eric... This is awesome. Thank you."

"Well, Merry Christmas Kensi. It's… really great to have you back."

"Merry Christmas." Kensi smiled at him.

After a few awkward moments, Eric continued. "So uhh, do you forgive me for not visiting?"

Kensi laughed lightly. "I was never mad Eric. It's ok. You have nothing to apologize for. I haven't been the best company anyway."

"Yea, well. It doesn't matter. I know I'm like the dorky younger brother in this family dynamic of ours, but I still really care about you, and I wish I could have done something to protect you. And I'm even more sorry I was too much of a coward to come visit you."

"Eric. You're not a coward. You're far from it. You're Bulletproof Beale." Kensi said with a large smile that caused Eric to return one in kind.

"But really Eric, out of everyone on this team, you probably are the one who has protected me the most."

"How do you figure?"

"Every single day in ops. Having our backs. Are you kidding me? You're our eye in the sky. You protect all of us. You don't have to be out in the field with us to keep us safe. And I don't need visits from you in the hospital to know you care."

"You promise?" Eric asked, still nervous.

"Just shut up and come here." Kensi commanded as she opened her arms up to him for a hug.