"Do you remember when Nell joined the team?"
Kensi turned to Deeks behind the wheel, driving them back to the NCIS office.
"Do I ever," he returned.
They had been swapping old NCIS stories since they left the diner, tongues loosened by a good meal and all the trauma-sharing that came before it.
"I wasn't that bad!" Kensi shot back.
"Are you sure about that? I took quite a beating when she joined the team."
"Don't be such a wuss."
"I just can't stand her sometimes," Kensi said, irritated. The whole team was in the Ops center but Deeks and Kensi. He was standing next to her while she pumped the wall, pounding the life out of the cement frame.
"Hey… hey… hey," he said, pulling her active hand away from the wall it was hitting.
"She's just like my old friends in junior high, you know? Catty, annoying, know-it-all? You know?"
Deeks could tell that trying to speak at this point would be death. So he let her vent. Significantly. But he made sure to hold her arms while he did so she didn't bruise her fists more than necessary- her hands were too pretty to be black and blue.
"And I can't believe that Hetty keeps her around? I mean, I know Nate's gone, but she's got to know how annoying she is!"
"Kensi… Kensi, sweetheart, chill," Deeks said, letting go of her arms to put his hands on her shoulders.
Mistake. Kensi had expressed her feelings before on his terms of endearment. Namely, that she didn't like them. The look she gave him made Deeks want to shrivel into a cardboard box and sleep for days, watching Private Practice and listening to Barry Manilow.
Not that he did either of those things. Regularly.
She started to walk towards the Ops Center door, but he grabbed one of her arms, and prayed she didn't slap him for it.
"Kens, it'll be okay. Whenever you want to smack her, just keep it in. You can smack me that many times when we leave and we're in the car." It was a peace offering for his earlier slip-up, but it worked, nonetheless.
She hit him seven times when they got in the car. Punched, really.
"Kens!"
"You said I could!"
"I know!" he paused to nurse his shoulder, which had taken the grunt of the blows.
"So why are you surprised?"
"I didn't think she annoyed you that much!"
"Well she does!"
"Okay, okay!" Deeks put his hands up in surrender. "C'mon, we have a crime scene to get to. Can't be late because you've been maiming your partner."
"I barely hit you. You're fine."
"I can't believe I forgot about that," Kensi replied, after Deeks had recounted the tale.
"You forgot? You punched me in the arm at least five times a day for a month and a half. I can tell when it will rain these days because of your vendetta against Nell."
"It was not a vendetta." But even in the saying of it, Kensi didn't believe it. She was harsh when Nell first arrived, because she felt that she had replaced Nate. Even though they are in different disciplines, even though she found her own handsome man, even though she and Nell have sort-of figured themselves out. She was rough on Nell. And it was unfair.
"Call it what you want," Deeks laughed, pulling into the office lot, "But it was a painful turnaround."
"I should apologize."
"Thank you. I accept your apology for all those beatdowns."
"Not you, moron," Kensi replied, but even so, she was smiling. "Nell. I've been shit to her."
"I think she'd appreciate it," Deeks offered, taking her hand across the console.
"Do we have to go back?"
"I think so, babe."
Kensi groaned. "Ugh. This is going to suck."
Kensi and Deeks rolled into the bullpen several hours after Kensi bolted. It was quieter in the office than when she left, but that might have been because no one was there. The bullpen was deserted.
"Where did everyone—"
"They went on the raid without me," Kensi answered. "Rude. Hett-y!"
Kensi said it the way Deeks had always heard her say it when yelling—she turned it into a three-syllable word, getting higher in pitch with each one. She did the same thing with Marty when she hollered across the house.
"Yes, Ms. Blye?" Hetty appeared as she always did, right around a corner or from a shadow.
"You guys started the raid without me?"
"Ms. Blye, you were absent. We did not know when you would return, and your position on this particular operation was that of non-essential backup. Our friends at the LAPD were able to absorb your position into their plans."
"I see." It was clear she did not see.
"If you would like to monitor the progress of the operation, you are free to join Mr. Beal, Ms. Jones, and Mr. Getz in Ops."
"I think I'll do that. Can Deeks come?"
"The LAPD is also on scene, so it would be appropriate for Mr. Deeks to attend."
"Thanks, Hetty," Kensi smiled, taking Deeks' hand and dragging him up the staircase to Ops.
Once they arrived, it seemed that the operation had concluded. They entered to room to a cacophony of "Hands behind your head!" and "Show me your hands!" from the monitors covering the wall.
Eric and Nell mediated all of the information, feeding facts and instructions to the team's earpieces. Nate was slouched against one of the tables behind. Once all the business had been solved and Eric stopped speaking for a moment, Kensi interrupted.
"Hey guys. How'd it go?"
"Kensi! Where were you? I was worried!" Nell turned and ran to Kensi, taking her hand and looking up at the towering woman. It completely befuddled Kensi.
"I had, um, I needed some time to figure some stuff out. I'm sorry."
Nell nodded. "I totally get it. You've been doing so much."
"But really, Nell. I wanted to apologize. Deeks has been reminding me I was terrible to you when you first got here—"
"-And for a decent time after that," Deeks interjected. Kensi bumped him with her hip.
"-What I mean is, I'm sorry. You're really wonderful, and I shouldn't have been so catty."
Nell waved her off. "Don't worry about it. Change is hard. Even for me."
"You're damn right!" Eric called from the other side of the room.
"Stop it!" Nell replied, giggling even as she said it.
Kensi turned to Deeks. "Forgive me for ruining your meticulous plans?"
"Always. What are you—"
"Nell, would you be one of my bridesmaids?"
Nell beamed, and stuttered, "what? I- of course! I mean, yeah—yes!"
"Good." Kensi beamed back.
"Kens, we were going to keep the wedding party small. Just Sam and G and your friends from college and this is going to be uneven now—"
Kensi stopped him. "Please?"
Her big smile seemed to turn him in an instant. He looked over Kensi's head to call to the bespectacled man by the screens. "Eric! You wanna be a groomsman?"
"Can I wear my shorts?"
"Absolutely not!" Deeks shot back. "The groomsmen are wearing charcoal grey suits with navy ties and pocket squares. Don't be ridiculous."
"Fine. I'll do it." At that moment someone started talking in Eric's ear, and he quickly turned and started spitting out sequences of letters and numbers. Nell was called on headset as well, and she reached up to give Kensi a quick hug before returning to the screens.
"Thanks babe," Kensi said, turning to wrap her arm around Deeks. "I know you've been planning for months."
"I refuse to become a groom-zilla, but Eric is going to wear that slim-cut charcoal suit if I have to pin him down." Kensi laughed.
"Hey Kensi?" They turned, and Nate had shuffled towards them.
"Yeah?"
"I just wanted to say sorry. For everything. Everything, everything. I've been a lot of things, but I haven't been good to you. And that's on me. I'm sorry."
"I know," Kensi replied, looking up at him softly. "We were both disasters back then."
"But that's it. You figured yourself out of being a disaster. I haven't yet, I guess. So I'm sorry." Nate stuffed his hands in his back pockets, adopting the slump of defeat.
"Hey, it's okay," Kensi said, letting go of Deeks to take Nate's shoulders. "You helped me through some tough times. I'll always be thankful."
Impulsively, Kensi reached around his neck and pulled him into a hug. Nate froze for a brief moment, before wrapping his arms around her. The hold was strong and deep. And after a moment, they let go, and it was still okay.
The guys came back from the operation, locked up the necessary bad guys, and all of them decided to go out for tacos to celebrate. All of them. Nate resisted at first, protesting that he should just head to the airport, but Kensi gave him a prod in his chest and he agreed. Nell came down from Ops, gushing about bridesmaid duties, and Kensi warned that she would have to deal with Lydia and Frances from college, which Nell only took in stride. Nell had faced scarier demons, Kensi knew. Kensi gave G a strong talking to about defending her with men, G conceded, and she returned, as she always does, to holding Deeks' hand as they all walked out of Ops together.
"You okay?" Kensi had been in her own head as they got to the car to drive to Maria's Canteria down the way.
"Hm?"
"Kens. You okay?" Deeks asked again.
"Yeah," she replied, meaning it for the first time in a while. "Yeah. I'm okay."
"Good." With that, Deeks pulled her in for a kiss, achieving half a dip before Kensi righted herself and climbed into the driver's seat. If Deeks worried about Kensi driving his baby today, he didn't voice it. That was a tomorrow fight. Tonight, there was only Kensi, driving with the windows down, hair whipping in the wind, free and easy.
(A/N): And that's the end, folks. It's been a bit, honestly. I hope you liked the last few chapters, since I know I've changed as a writer since starting this journey. Thanks to all of you, especially those who have been here since the beginning, and have stuck around until the very, very end.
Cheers, y'all. Reviews are more addicting than pistachios.