A/N: Thank you for all the great reviews! I hope you'll like this part.
85 – I am planning that, but so far, I agree. That's why I threw in the threat in Part 3: Blackmail. But I'm planning it as we speak! You're right, now, she would kill him.
SunnyCitrus10 – Thank you for the amazing message! I'll keep you to the promise. But yeah, I liked writing that part, too. Could totally envision it, even the glares Kensi would sent him! I am going for a more casual Kensi though, but her trust issues will flare up in anger once we have passed the small depression.
Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS: Los Angeles or any of its characters and contents.
Part 4: Small Joys
Kensi wouldn't be Kensi if she didn't try to convince him that she doesn't need help adjusting. Of course, it quickly turns into a heated argument between the partners and when Deeks' car pulls up to her street, she is sitting next to him, doing her best to ignore him with crossed arms. The fury behind her eyes aren't intense but enough to make him sigh as he turns off the engine. They sit there for a while, neither willing to break the spell. Like always, he must be the peacemaker.
"Listen, you're lucky to even be let out of the hospital. Had I been Cho, I wouldn't have. He obviously doesn't know you, but I do. I know you're gonna act like you can do everything yourself, and hell, if the situation had been different, you might have–."
" –Definitely could have –," she interjects stubbornly.
"Definitely could have, but now you'll need my help whether you like it or not," Deeks states. Out of the corner of his eyes he can see her smile just a little over the won argument. Small joys.
He opens the door and gets out, motioning for her to wait, to get the wheelchair. The glare she sends it is one full of contempt, but it doesn't feel her resentment as Deeks places it on the passenger side of the car. He helps her get into it without further comments, sensing her hatred of the situation, but once she is securely placed in it, he cannot help but say, already dodging a snide comment,
"Wait and see, you'll be terrorizing the neighborhood in no time in this one." He reaches for the handles, but a growl from Kensi stops the movement. He lets her push the handrims by herself, walking beside her. The awkwardness is certain. Luckily there's a lift designed for people with her, er, disability, where she lives. Whether she likes it – and she doesn't – or not, she'll have to adjust. And even though their lives depend upon adjusting to new settings, Deeks doubts that this will make an easy transition for Kensi who is used to being totally independent.
He fumbles with her keys, causing her to roll those mismatched eyes and pad the wheelchair impatiently and repeatedly. Her hands are in her lap by the time he opens the door, stepping aside for her to guide the wheelchair into her home.
He has been there before, yet Deeks sees the faults only when he scans the room. The potential hazards. Kensi, of course, wouldn't even talk about altering her home to benefit her new, albeit temporary, disability. Luckily the wheelchair with its handrims slips easily through the threshold. Deeks releases a breath he wasn't even aware he was holding. She already looks exhaustion past her determination. Fighting her new situation has left her tired. Usually, he'd offer her solace or rest, or even loneliness, but he cannot leave her alone the first night. Not until they've found some sort of solution. Wanting to converse casually while Kensi walks, er, pushes herself through her home, watching it from a lower point of view, Deeks begins to talk practically.
"I called a mechanic about your car.." Uneasy territory; she seemed fine to ride in the car without him, not frightened by the memories.
"You called Paolo?" Her tone is more vivid that he'd expected.
"Yeah. He's gonna try to fix your car," Deeks states, thinking about the awkward conversation in which the mechanic first refused to even take the car. Of course, Kensi was good business, but the mechanic was obviously aware of Kensi's tendencies around cars. After severely convincing Paolo to get a tow-truck to take the car to his shop, the mechanic agreed; the bill would be grand if he'd even be able to make it work. Then he'd thrown in a joke that this was the worst damage he'd seen so far. Deeks nearly cringes at the memory. When he saw the car, it was made clear how Kensi's legs had ended up broken.
Even with her tendency to damage any vehicle she meets, not due to bad driving necessarily, Deeks also knows that Kensi adores her wheels. Well, not her new ones, but the cars she drives. And the smile that she sends him through the resentment of her situation confirms that.
"Well, I need to get the things from my car," Deeks excuses, uncertain whether or not to leave her. "You okay?"
"Yes, Deeks," Kensi says gloomily. She is letting her eyes fall upon the items of familiarity that are now, physically, out of her reach.
Only when Deeks is returning from the car with his overnight duffel bag among the things needed for Kensi, he realizes that Kensi's new dispirited nature may be from her own disability, but also out of shock. The sudden change and following transition she has been forced into. He puts the stuff on the kitchen table, being careful not to notice the dirty dishes in the sink. It only reminds him further of the in-expectancy and inconvenience of this. Is there one thing Kensi doesn't like, it's being helpless. It probably has something to do with her father being a marine. Either way, it makes Deeks wonder where she gets her Kensiness from; her stubborn, bad-ass attitude.
The liaison dumps the duffel bag on the floor, silently watching Kensi. Secretly he has always found her quite entrancing, and her gorgeousness is one of the reasons she works so well. She is adept at deceiving, though Hetty has confined in him of her uncertainty when lying. Despite the fact that he will never admit it out aloud, Kensi is better than him at a lot of things due to her determination and natural talent. Oh, and her upbringing. Her sullenness saddens him.
Her demeanor has fallen dull out of exhaustion and dispiritedness. Her eyes are clouded by the uncertainty of the following weeks. She sits in the wheelchair, admiring or scrutinizing the traces of her in the apartment. The sun is downing, an amazing view from the window, but Kensi painfully clutches the handrims as if hit by sudden agony. Forgetting all about the beautiful rays, Deeks all but rushes to her side.
"You ned your pain medication, Kens," he reminds her.
"No, I'll be fine," she says stiffly, biting her bottom lip as she tries – and fails – to conceal her pain. He ignores her statement, finding the medication in the plastic bag from the hospital's pharmacy. A few minutes after, her refusals die out, and she looks at him reproachfully.
"You needed it," Deeks states in his defense.
Kensi-sque moments? Somebody catch/recognize the moment hint in the end from the show?
Whatcha like, whatcha don't?