"Well, where shall I begin?" Kensi muses.
I know where I'd like to begin: I'd like to begin by kissing Kensi's mouth, sweetened by the champagne. Only I kind of want to hear what she has to say. "Why don't you start at the beginning?"
"The beginning?" This slow smile creeps across her gorgeous, totally kissable mouth and it's only because the champagne has gone straight to my head that I don't leap on her there and then. "Okay. That would be when we first met, in the gym. When you were pretending to be Jason. Do you know what Sam and Callen said when I got back to the Mission and told them about you?"
"Nope." I don't actually care what they thought. I want to know what Kensi thought.
She smirks."That I was stuck on you. Or was it smitten?"
"Whatever." It's not really important what words were used, is it? But they noticed? She must have been kind of obvious.
"That's exactly what I said!"
"Really?" So it happened right from the start for her too? I can't quite believe it. And I can't quite believe it's taken us this long for us to get our act together. What the hell was wrong with us? We're supposed to be two intelligent people, so how come we couldn't figure all this out over a year ago?
"Really. So I kind of had this thing for you, I guess. And then you went away on that undercover operation after the Darva case. For months."
"Talk about bad timing." It had totally sucked, and not just the timing. Everything about that operation sucked, up to and including my LAPD handler, Jess Traynor, getting killed. But I spent a whole lot of time thinking about Kensi. You have no idea how many nights I would lie awake at night and think about Kensi wearing that little black dress and those incredible go-go boots at the nightclub. I'd go to sleep dreaming about her, and I'd wake up, cold, empty and alone.
"But you came back," Kensi says simply. "You came back to me. And I tried to fight it, I really did. Only you were always there. Even when I didn't want you to be. You were just there, no matter what, no matter how hard I tried to push you away."
"You could never push me away. I wouldn't go."
"I know." Her eyes are deep and mysterious, fathomless dark pools that I could drown in. "I remember when you told me you would be there for me, that you would find me – and you did. I think that's when I started to fall in love with you, when you got me out of the laser trap. I just stood there, praying that you would come and find me, and then you did, just like I knew you would. I think that's when it started."
The way I remember things, it had nearly ended there too. It was only by some miracle we got out of that explosion unscathed. Even if I had nearly peed my pants. I can remember lying there afterwards, sprawled on my back, hugging Kensi close and just feeling this huge surge of relief that she was alive. Nothing else mattered.
"And then when you were shot, that's when I knew."
"You knew?" Okay – but what did you know, Kensi?
"Oh yes. I knew I couldn't bear it if you died. You see, I'd seen one partner die – and I'd managed to keep on going. It was hard, but I managed it. But when you got shot, it was different – completely different. And that's when I knew."
"Right. You knew." And I'm still clueless.
"Oh yes." Kensi reaches out for my hand. "I sat there at the side of your bed, and I watched you sleeping and then you finally opened your eyes and that was it. I could see tomorrow in your eyes. And the day after that too. It was as simple as that. I knew I wanted you in my life and I wanted to be in yours."
"You never said." I'm trying to make sense of all this and wishing I hadn't drunk quite so much champagne. Or maybe I've not drunk enough?
"No, I didn't. Because then you had to go and nearly get yourself killed, didn't you?"
"I didn't much think about anything except you. And making sure you were okay. Nothing else mattered." Because I'd always known, even if I hadn't quite realised it. I'd known since the day we met that Kensi was the one person who could make this whole crazy world start to make sense. So I guess it must be love.
"I know," she says complacently. "I know, because I feel the same way."
Suddenly words aren't that important, but I say them anyway. "I love you, Kensi."
We're both kneeling now, arms around each other, noses touching and our faces so close that I can see my own reflection in her eyes. The warmth of the fire is as nothing compared to the heat we're generating and as I run my fingers down the long length of smooth skin that is her back, Kensi stretches sinuously under my touch.
"And I love you too. I think I've always loved you."
There is no need for further words as we simply let out bodies do the talking, slowly as if we are both speaking a foreign tongue, taking great care and relishing every single sensation as if for the first time. Nothing else matters except the moment, everything else simply ceases to be as my body reacts to each touch, every caress. Nobody can make me feel quite so alive as Kensi. Her lips leave a trail of hot, damp kisses down my neck and chest, and set my nerve endings singing with anticipation. And nobody feels quite so good as Kensi, as she reacts to my movements. I've never felt like this before, she's filling my senses and nothing will ever be the same again. And then everything ceases to be, except the two of us, lying in front of the fire, bathed in sweat and trying to work out if we're still alive.
"I guess I'm stuck with you then." Kensi doesn't sound too upset about it.
"Guess you are. So if you're stuck, then I'm smitten?"
"Whatever." She's lying on top of me again, staring down at me, with her hair tumbling around us both.
"Is that a promise?" I shouldn't be ready again quite so soon, should I? It seems that somebody forgot to tell my body that. Excellent.
"Definitely."
Like I said, nobody has ever made me feel quite so alive as Kensi. I'm definitely on the mend. "That's one reason I love you."
Kensi smiles at me. "I just love you. Period."
She's right. We don't need any explanations or justifications – we just need each other. All the rest will fall into place and what doesn't, we can make up as we go along. Right now I've got the whole world at my fingertips – quite literally, as it turns out.
I'd envisaged a weekend full of bright skies and sunshine, so it came as no surprise to see a dull looming sky outside the bedroom window next morning.
"Don't tell me – it's raining?" Kensi's voice is suitably doom-laden.
"Not raining – just a sea fog coming rolling in." The sheets smell of lavender, and the whole house is filled with the aroma of wood smoke and sea air. We've got the whole weekend to look forward to, so I wouldn't exactly care if it was raining frogs right now, because Kensi loves me.
"You want to go out, don't you?" She sits up and hugs her knees, staring at me with those incredible eyes. I still can't quite believe this is happening.
"Kind of," I admit. "We could go for a walk along the beach, and then go into town for breakfast afterwards?"
"Or we could go for a walk along the beach, come back here and then go into town for brunch?"
"That's another reason I love you: for your mind." I know exactly what she's thinking we can do when we come back, mainly because that's what I'm thinking too.
"I still just love you because. Because you are you, and because you make me so happy." She kisses me. "You just make me so happy I could shout it out to the whole world."
And that's what she does when we're down on the beach, walking along barefoot, hand in hand and watching as the thin mist rolls in towards us, just barely skimming the tops of the waves, a pale, translucent veil, silvery grey and nebulous, shimmering in the early light of the morning. Already the sun is starting to burn the haze away, although there is still a chill in the air, and a brisk wind that's whipping Kensi's hair into disarray. No matter: we've got thick sweaters on and the wind is turning her cheeks pink, so that she looks full of life and expectation. Kensi runs to the edge of the water, where the hard packed sand is rippled by the tide, and cold water of the Pacific rushes in a bubbling foam over her toes.
"I love you!" she cries, throwing her arms up in the air just to emphasise this and kicks at the water, sending a stream of droplets flying up into the air. Then she runs back to me and I pick her up and swing her around and around in joy. We're laughing and kissing and no morning has ever been more perfect. A dog comes running down the beach towards us, barking with excitement and then starts dancing around on its hind legs and in an instant I'm laughing so hard I collapse down on the sand, with Kensi on top of me.
"I'm so sorry!" It's an older woman, who's grabbed her dog by the collar and is pulling him away. "He gets terribly excited."
"No problem. I get that way myself." There's sand in my hair and the dog's licking my face and I just don't care.
Kensi pokes me in the ribs, which just makes me double up laughing again. I'd forgotten how good being in love makes you feel. Luckily, she reminds me again, when we're back in the cottage, sharing the old-fashioned roll-top bath.
"So you're ready to tell the whole world?" Or just the unsuspecting dog walkers of Carmel? If the worst comes to the worst, maybe I could put in for a transfer to the Carmel police force? Or I could just become a dog walker. There's lots of options – but not being with Kensi isn't one of them.
She leans back against me. "I trust you. And I believe in us. I don't know why I was so scared… well, I do, kind of. But I know I'm safe with you."
"Do you want to talk about it?" That was why we came down here, after all, to be able to talk about things and work out where we're going.
"Maybe later. Right now I've got other things on my mind."
"How strange. So do I." See, that is why we are so great together: we think alike. These baths are roomier than you might think. And really quite deep, so that we didn't flood the bathroom too much – nothing that we couldn't mop up. Once we noticed, that is. But then we were kind of preoccupied. Put it this way, by the time we finally made it into Carmel, it was lunchtime and I had no doubt that I was physically as fit as I'd ever been.