A/N: Haven't felt like writing this week (both I and my hubby have been sick), but thanks to everybody who alerted me. And special thanks to Sweet Lu, for her words of encouragement. If you aren't already reading her, you should check her out.

I don't own NCIS: LA or any of it's characters.

As she stood in the hallway looking at Deeks, Kensi got the feeling that she was over-reacting, which just made her angrier. Even though she wasn't dating Deeks, the rules of their thing meant that he was NOT supposed to kiss another woman.

Deeks let Kensi stew for a few more minutes and then sighed. "Look Kensi, you know when we are undercover we have to do things we don't want to to get the job done. I hate being Max Gentry, but I did it for the assignment. Like I've tried to tell you before, you had me at hello."

Kensi narrowed her eyes at him for actually saying what she wanted to hear, but she didn't want to hear it either. She was perfectly happy letting their thing be unspoken. She doesn't do emotions well, and Deeks damn well knows that. However, her retort was silenced by Sam and Callen walking by to go to the gym.

"Hey, don't you know partners are supposed to get along better than you two do?" Sam asked. He and Callen knew what was wrong with Kensi, but they couldn't help giving her grief over it. Kensi shot him that look that said "if you want to remain in one piece you will shut up". Deeks looked at her and said "Kens, you know they are just gonna tease you. Let's take this convesation somewhere else."

They walked over to the bullpen and sat down on the couch. Deeks grabbed hold of Kensi's hand, looked at her, and started talking. "Yeah, I kissed Nicole, but at no moment did I really want to be there. As I told you earlier, you had me at hello. You have put barriers up, and I have respected that. There are things in my past that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. I was hoping that we would get closer, and you would learn to trust me. I will NEVER do anything to delibarately hurt you."

"Deeks, it's just hard for me. I don't know how I feel. Any guy I have ever let in has deserted me. First my dad, then Jack, and even Dom. I wasn't close to Dom, but I still couldn't save him when it counted." Kensi didn't look at Deeks while she was talking. She couldn't bear to see the smirk on his face. However, if she'd looked at him, she would have been surprised to see the tears in his eyes. He had learned earlier that Jack, Kensi's one major relationship, had been a shallow, self-absorbed jerk who didn't care who he hurt. Deeks hadn't realized that Kensi still felt guilty for not being there for Dom after he got kidnapped.

"Come on Kens, let's go get some lunch." Deeks knew it wasn't lunch time yet, but he figured that Kensi needed to get away from the Mission for a bit. They left the bullpen and got into Kensi's SRX. A mile or so down the road was their favorite lunch spot. They ordered subs, fries (for Kensi), and drinks, and sat down to wait. Deeks was looking around when he saw a kitten, no bigger than his hand, headed to the street. He hopped up, startling Kensi who hadn't seen it, and ran to grab it before it got in the street. Even though he wasn't a cat person, per se, he wasn't just going to let the animal get run over. He brought it back to Kensi and showed her the kitten.

"Awwww, look at her Deeks, she's adorable." Deeks looked at the scrawny, flea-bitten creature now nestled in Kensi's arms and thought she was nuts. Give him a dog anyday. But, with the kitten purring and head butting Kensi, he saw the first real smile he'd seen from Kensi since he kissed Nicole.

After they ate lunch, Kensi made Deeks go with her to get what she would need for the kitten to stay at her house while she was at work. She also wanted to call a vet and make an appointment to get the kitten checked out to make sure she didn't have any major problems. She called Hetty and told her what was going on, and Hetty told her since they didn't have a case yet just to take the kitten to the vet and get it checked out.

While they were at the vets', Kensi couldn't believe that Deeks had risked his life to save the kitten. She knew he was a dog person, but on the other hand, she knew that he was a very caring individual. Kensi thought that she shouldn't have been surprised that caring side extended to the felines in the world. She turned and flung her arms around Deeks, shocking him speechless. "Come over to the house tonight when we get off." Kensi thought that maybe she needed to at least try to open up to Deeks.

A/N #2: Thanks to my wonderfully supportive husband for proof-reading this story for me.