A/N: You guys are seriously amazing! Thank you for all the reviews and alerts and favourites!

Chapter Three: I'm Good

Kensi snatched Deeks' phone out of his hands, "So what do we need?"

"I don't know," He waved his now empty hands at her. "You tell me."

"8 chicken breasts and Chinese plum sauce and butter," She read of the screen, walking around the trolley stand. They had made it to the supermarket with only two more wrong turns. Not that Deeks was counting.

He yanked a trolley out of its chain and followed his partner, "You don't have butter?"

She whirled on him, "I live on take out. Why would I need butter?"

"Good point," Deeks conceded her argument. They had no time to cook anything on a normal day. The fact that they couldn't probably contributed to the destitute state of Kensi's kitchen. "What else do we need?"

"Everyone likes bread rolls," The tall brunette spied a bundle of fresh rolls. "And they're on sale."

Deeks frowned, mentally recalling the list. "I'm pretty sure bread rolls weren't on the list."

"So," Kensi shrugged, dropping the plastic wrapped pack into the trolley. "They're on sale, it's a bargain."

"But we don't need them," He argued, pushing the trolley away.

"But people like them!"

"What else is on the list?" Deeks changed the topic. Kensi could be as stubborn as a mule and arguing with her would be like striking up a conversation with a brick wall.

"Vegetables," She scanned the list. "Potato, Sweet Potato, Eggplant, Tomato, Zucchini, Carrot."

"Okay," He looked around for the vegetable area. "Why can't they ever put signs where you can read them?"

"They do," She pointed to the one directly above his head. "You just can't read." She followed the direction the arrow was pointing, leaving him in her wake.

"Hello, I went to law school," He retorted indignantly. "All you do is read."

She shook her head at him, "I still don't know how you graduated."

"Neither do my lecturers," He quipped, always playing the clown.

Kensi held up a long green cylinder vegetable, "Is this a zucchini or a cucumber?"

"Why are you asking me?"

"I guess we'll find out," She shrugged and tossed it carelessly into the trolley. "How many carrots do you think we need?"

It was his turn to shrug, "One per person. What does the recipe say?"

"It says 5 but that's for four to six people. And we eat a lot."

"You mean you eat a lot," Deeks corrected, not being able to control his errant tongue.

She ignored his jibe, "Get seven then."

"One," He picked up a carrot, "Two," He drew out the words, purposefully trying to irritate her; "Can you open a bag for me? My hands are full."

She tore the plastic bag of the roll and held it out for him, "Are you trying to torture me?"

"Is it working?" He smirked at her, noting the red flush creeping onto her cheeks. He had her.

"Yes," She hissed at him, leaning into him and keeping her voice low so they didn't cause a scene in the middle of the supermarket. "I don't see why you're being so cavalier about this. This is our reputations – they will neverlet us forget this if we screw it up."

He shrugged, "Meh. They already think I'm an idiot

She rolled her eyes, "No they don't. It's their way of showing affection."

"I'd hate to see what they'd do if they didn't like me," Deeks drawled dryly.

"You'd be fish sticks," Kensi told him simply and moved on to the next shelf.

"Literally?" He asked, standing still. "They wouldn't literally turn someone into fish sticks, would they?"

"They dump you through the floor of the boatshed," She answered over her shoulder as she picked through the box of sweet potatoes. "Do we want orange or purple?"

"Orange," Deeks told her decisively. "Anything naturally purple shouldn't be eaten. It's just wrong."

Kensi shook her head at her partner, "You are so weird sometimes." She picked out some of the vegetables and dropped them in the plastic bag he had waiting for her.

"You know if you're going to insult me, I might leave," Deeks told her in a teasing tone.

Her face fell, "Don't you dare."

He put the bag of carrots in the trolley, "Don't worry Fern, I'm not going to cause a flare up of your abandonment issues."

"I don't have issues," She said in a huff, folding her arms.

"We all have issues. No big deal. Baggage comes with the package," His blue eyes widened as he realised what he said. "That rhyme wasn't intentional."

She rolled her eyes, "Sure it wasn't. Come one, stop distracting me. We have to be home in like ten minutes."

"We have half and hour, stop rounding down," Deeks said, being slightly patronising. "Calm down."

"We have 20 minutes," Kensi checked her watch. "Stop rounding up. And don't tell me to calm down!" Her voice rose and an elderly couple glanced in their direction.

"Ah young love," The older man chuckled. "Do you remember when we were like that Nora?"

His wife gave his hand a squeeze and smiled, "Of course." They walked past, offering the partners a smile. "Give it twenty more years and the arguing won't annoy you so much, honey," The elderly woman told Kensi as they passed.

"Thanks," Kensi said with a frozen smile. She held the smile until the couple was gone, "I can't believe they thought we were a couple."

"It's it that hard to believe that a girl like you could end up with a catch like me?" Deeks grinned cheekily at her.

"Shut up and get the eggplant," Kensi ordered, pointing to the barrel a few feet away.

"I thought they were sweet," Deeks said as he ambled away. "I can't imagine being with someone for twenty years and still liking them."

"Or them still liking you," Kensi shot back, picking out some tomatoes.

"Ha ha," He glared at her over his shoulder. "You know, I don't think Hetty is going to let us split up anytime in the future. We're too good a team."

She frowned, not understanding. "Is this going somewhere Deeks?"

"Yeah," He nodded, walking back toward her with two eggplants. "You're going to be the partner I have for the rest of my life."

"Which will be extremely short if we don't start cooking," Kensi said, trying not to think about what her partner had said. They were more comfortable with teasing than being mushy.

"One day you're gonna have to stop and smell the roses Miss Blye," Deeks said, looping an arm around her shoulder.

She pushed him off and rolled the trolley towards him, "Come on, we have to go the meat section." She led the way, pausing when she realised he wasn't following. "Deeks!"

"Coming. I'm coming," He hurried after her, tossing a tub of butter into the trolley as he moved. "I was just getting the butter. Don't want to burn everything, do we?"

"Butter stops things from burning?" She frowned, asking the question honestly.

"Wow," He blinked, "And I thought I was bad."

"Hey, at least I can do useful things," She retorted harshly and stormed away.

"I am useful!" He called after her. "I am an extremely useful person."

"Whatever," She rolled her eyes and leant on the butcher's counter, "Hi," She smiled brightly at the butcher, "Can I get 8 chicken breasts please?"

"Coming right up," The dark haired man nodded and bent through his window to get her order. "Having a party are we?"

"You betcha," Deeks' voice boomed from behind her before she could answer. "It's Fern's first dinner party and she's a little nervous. Any tips for my girl?" His arm slid around her waist. Kensi forced a smile through clenched teeth.

The butcher nodded sagely, "When in doubt, always stock up on the alcohol. That way, even if the food sucks, people are too happy to care." He handed her the wrapped bundle of chicken.

"That's really good advice," Kensi said, slightly surprised. "I didn't think of that. Thank you."

"So I guess we're going to go to the bottle shop before we go home?" Deeks guessed.

"Yep," She told him, peeling his hand off her waist. "And don't get any ideas."

"Ideas? Me?"

"I have your credit card and I'm not afraid to use it," She waved his card at him.

He patted his pockets, searching for his wallet. "How did you?"

"I'm good," She smirked at him.

"That you are."

A/N: Reviews are love people!