First - I want to thank BlackBeltGirl67 and bookdiva for some of the ideas coming up in the next couple of chapters. Thank you!

Disclaimer - not mine.

Week 8

2 months. 8 weeks. 56 days. A few injuries she may or may not have to explain when someone's scruffy ass got back. Inevitable talks. She had so many different things she wanted to tell him, but she had no idea how to get her thoughts lined up correctly so she didn't sound like an auctioneer going 300 miles a minute.

And she was worried that was exactly what was going to happen. She was either going to have word vomit and not be able to shut up or she was going to be unable to speak at all, opening and closing her mouth like a fish. Come on, Blye, this is not hard. Deeks, we need to talk. No no, that sounded like she was going to break up with him, and they weren't even together. Deeks, I love you. Yeah no, maybe she could throw that in there somewhere, but she couldn't lead off with that. UGH! Why was this so difficult?! Because you never talk about your feelings Kensi, that's why.

She felt like she had a devil and an angel on each shoulder. The angel telling her it was okay to tell him exactly how she feels. He knew her well enough that he would be able to follow (maybe) the rubbish that was going to literally be falling out of her mouth. The devil was telling her that this was too much, too fast. Maybe she had somehow misread all the looks and smiles he had given her.

The angel scoffed at that. He was away on assignment and still managed to leave her gifts that she could find. And there was NO mistaking that letter she had found in the candy stash box. Kensi smiled at herself, the angel had won. It may not be pretty when it happened, but she needed to just get it all off her chest and tell it to him straight.

Since she hadn't been cleared for field work yet, she usually found herself upstairs trying to help Eric and Nell with…well, whatever they asked her to do. She was out of her element when it came to technology, but she was always willing to lend a hand. She was currently going through phone logs looking for anomalies when the door whooshed open.

"Ms. Blye, a word in my office if you please." Hetty then immediately turned around and walked off.

Kensi looked at Eric and Nell, both of them shrugging their shoulders at her. Kensi just raised her eyebrows, got up and headed downstairs, suddenly getting worried it had to do with her missing in action partner.

"Everything okay, Hetty? Is it Deeks? Is he okay?" She looked expectantly at Hetty, wishing she would just spit it out.

Hetty, for her part, sipped her tea and carefully placed the cup back on the saucer.

"Relax, Ms. Blye," she said. "Nothing is the matter with Mr. Deeks. I was informed by the LAPD this morning that the assignment is almost complete and Mr. Deeks should be home by tomorrow evening."

Kensi couldn't breathe. Tomorrow? He was going to be home tomorrow? She wanted to whoop for joy and throw up at the same time. The butterflies in her stomach had just erupted.

Hetty saw every look ranging from excitement to horror pass over Kensi's face.

"Ms. Blye, when you get finished with what you are working on for Ms. Jones, go ahead and head home. You have the weekend coming up. I know there are probably some preparations you want to make before Mr. Deeks gets home, am I correct?"

Kensi just sat there with her mouth open. How in the hell did she know that? Kensi had been trying to come up with something special for when Deeks came back but she couldn't get a single thought to metabolize into something worthwhile.

Kensi smiled. "Thank you, Hetty."

"Of course, my dear. And I have it on good authority that he likes chocolate cake."

Kensi just laughed, thanked her again and walked back upstairs to finish with Nell.

An hour later, saying good night to the guys, she grabbed her stuff and headed to the store. She may not be able to cook, but she could definitely bake! And what do you know, her basket soon had all the ingredients needed for a chocolate cake.

Getting home and unloading the groceries, Kensi got to work. This was going to be the best damn cake he had ever eaten. As she prepared everything, she started going over her plan.

Ideas were swimming around and it was hard to really pinpoint anything good. And that's when inspiration hit her. As a child, her dad would send her on scavenger hunts for special little things he had gotten her. With a smile on her face, she put the cake in the oven and sat down, ready to send her partner on his own special scavenger hunt, straight to her.

The next morning dawned early. Kensi had been up half the night getting ready to put her ideas to fruition. She had a list of items she needed to get. She had talked to Nell who had agreed to let her know if/when Deeks arrived at the Mission, knowing he was going to have to brief Hetty before going home. Taking a quick shower, she grabbed her stuff and hit the road.

Her first stop was the Mission. She managed to get there before the guys, so no lame excuses were going to have to be made, and for that she was thankful. Walking straight to Hetty's desk, she let her know what her plans were, and Hetty readily agreed to help. With the first part of her plan put into place, she quickly moved onto phase two.

Deeks walked into the Mission, finally allowing himself to relax a little bit. The assignment had been particularly tough, making him become a man he never wanted to be. It wasn't as bad a Max Gentry, but it was damn near close. He had done some things he wasn't proud of, and he knew it would take a while to unwind from it. All he wanted, right now, was his couch, his dog, some food and his partner. But definitely not in that order.

Where the hell is everybody? Bunch of slackers, that's what this is. He walked to his desk and put his bag down and then made his way to Hetty's desk.

"Mr. Deeks, it's good to have you back. I trust everything went according to plan?"

"It went as well as it could go. I'm going to be sore for a few days, but nothing a little time won't fix. Hey, where is everyone? Why is it so quiet around here?"

"I sent everyone home early. They have had a rough few weeks and were in need of some down time. Don't worry, everyone is alright, or will be. Nothing a little time won't fix." Hetty picked up her tea and took a sip as she watched him. She could see the worry appear in his eyes.

"Mr. Deeks, before you leave, have you thought anymore about the papers I gave you?"

Deeks had already stood up and was about to walk away when she said that. Yes, he had thought about it. A great deal. He knew before he left that things were changing between him and his partner. While he was gone, he had missed her every second and cursed LAPD for bringing him in for this.

But could he give up being a cop? Every damn time he asked himself that, he would see her face, hear her laugh, and he knew that yes, he could give it up if it meant never leaving her side again. He fervently hoped that she felt the same way.

"Um, well, yeah, the thought has crossed my mind a time or two." He reached up, scratching the back of his neck and trying but failing to make eye contact with her.

"I can assure you that the team dynamics will not change, Mr. Deeks. As long as things stay status quo, there is no reason to move things around, is there?"

Wait…what?! Did she just say that? He met her eyes and saw the twinkle in them. She did. She just gave her blessing for him to pursue something with Kensi. He would be ready to get down on one knee right now of he thought she would say yes. But this was Kensi, his Kensi, and he knew he was going to have to take it slow. And this would be his final surprise to her.

"Oh. Yeah, no, I can assure you that everything will stay the same. I um, yeah, I think I'd like to sign those papers."

Hetty smiled and pulled the paperwork out of her desk, handing him a pen. He scrawled his signature. Taking one last look at his badge and gun, Hetty quickly made the switch for his new NCIS badge and issued gun.

"Welcome to NCIS, Special Agent Deeks." He beamed at her. Yeah, that had a nice ring to it.

"One last order of business and then you can go." She pulled a letter out of her top drawer and handed it to him. "I strongly suggest you read that before you leave here, Mr. Deeks."

He looked down at the letter in his hands and recognized his partner's handwriting. He smiled at Hetty, thanking her again, and walked to his desk, seeing Trey cleaning his stuff off it.

"Hey man, I didn't think I would see you here. Hetty said she sent everyone home. Something about a rough few weeks?"

Trey looked at him and smiled. "Well, I know you will be a sight for sore eyes for everyone. Bates told me a couple of weeks ago that your assignment was coming to a close and to be ready to come back when I got the call. My phone rang about an hour ago, so here I am."

"What happened to your head?" Deeks asked, starting to get a sick feeling in his stomach.

Trey absentmindedly put his hand up, feeling the rough skin where the stitches used to be. He frowned, lost in thought for a minute thinking of everything that had happened that night.

Deeks watched as Trey's eyes glazed over a little and frowned. He knew that look. It was the same look he got on his face every time he thought back to any time Kensi had been hurt or in danger.

"Trey. What happened?" Trey snapped out of it, hearing something in Deeks' voice. Gone was the friendly drawl, replaced with concern but he could still hear the unmistaken hard edge it took.

"Two weeks ago, Kensi and I were on a stakeout, watching a couple arms dealers. Bates had just told me about your mission being over soon. It was the middle of the night and the men had tried to take off. Kensi and I followed and they noticed they had a tail and took off. As soon as they got on the freeway, the passenger started shooting. Before I could get any shots off, bastard hit the tire. Kensi tried but lost control of the vehicle but managed to turn the car a little so her side took most of the impact. I walked away with a bruised elbow and the cut on my head. She wasn't as lucky."

Deeks just looked at him, waiting for him to tell him what exactly the extent of her injuries were.

"She um, she had 3 cracked ribs. Sprained her wrist. But when the car struck the barrier she hit her head on the window and her brain swelled. She was put in a medically induced coma for a couple of days to allow her body to heal and the swelling to come down. When the swelling finally came down and they weaned her off the meds, it was still 4 days before she woke up. Sam, Callen and I never left her alone. Hetty tried to get Bates to tell you what was going on but he refused to pull you out."

Deeks eyes narrowed dangerously and both of his hands balled into fists. That son of a bitch. He had checked in twice a week, always asking for updates on the team and no one had told him.

Kensi had been in a god damn coma, for almost a week, and he should have been there. But he wasn't. He had failed her. And he had never been more sure about his decision to sign those papers than right at that very moment.

Trey could see the anger, feel it coming off of him in waves. And Trey was starting to put some things together in his mind. The look Kensi would get in her eyes when she talked about Deeks was the same one reflecting back at him right now. Even through the fury, he could see the love. Suddenly, everything was clear. And while he now knew he had never stood a chance, he was happy to at least know that the feelings she had were reciprocated.

"Callen was with her when she woke up. I heard him tell Sam that every night he would tell her stories about you. That night, he was telling her about the King case? Anyway, he saw her fingers twitch when he said your name. It took another 15 minutes or so, but finally she woke up. When I got there the next morning to relieve Callen, she had a death grip on a purple piece of paper and a starfish key chain. He said he had tried to move them, but it was useless. When she woke up, the first thing she did was read the paper again."

"Please tell me no one left her alone at the hospital, even after she woke up." Deeks knew that she absolutely hated hospitals and had confessed one night after a few too many beers that she hated being alone in the hospital even more. He couldn't stand it if she had been alone.

"No, I still went every day and Callen stayed every night. She tried everything she could think of to get us to leave, but Callen had warned me that leaving the room for more than 15 minutes would result in physical harm. Kensi may be scary, but I wasn't about to find out what kinds of physical harm would be passed my way if I left."

He relaxed a little. She hadn't been alone. It may not have been him there with her, but they hadn't left her there by herself. For that he was thankful.

"You have a great partner, Deeks. And while I know you could probably kill me six different ways right now, she's an amazing woman but I now realize I never stood a chance."

Deeks just looked at him, a baffled expression adorning his face. Yeah, she was pretty amazing.

"You try something Norton?" he asked suspiciously.

"Tried and failed miserably." With that response, Deeks laughed. The rest of the tension left him knowing no one had come in and swept her off her feet. Shaking hands, Trey got his stuff and went home.

Deeks sat down and wondered what else had happened while he was gone.

He opened the bottom drawer, taking Kensi's candy stash box out and putting it on the desk. Putting the number in to unlock it, he prayed there hadn't been a reason for her to open it. But a quick glance showed he was wrong.

Did she read it before or after the accident? Sighing, he made a mental note to restock the now depleted stash. Well, he was going to have some explaining to do now.

He swiped a hand over his face. On one hand he was hoping that she hadn't found it, that he would be able to pass off the little gifts and notes as nothing but missing his friend and partner.

He also knew the risk of leaving that letter for her. But he knew that if she got into that little box, then she would have been desperate. And he had needed to leave her with something a little more serious, baring his soul just a little more for her, in hopes that maybe it would help whatever she was going through. He picked up the picture he kept of them in there and smiled. Remembering that day, he put the picture back and replaced the box, knowing he had put off the inevitable long enough.

Picking up the letter, he wondered what she had written. His heart sank as he recalled the words he had written.

If you don't feel the same way, if you feel that now is not the time to bring it up, all you have to do is look at me and shake your head, and I will know. I won't make it awkward for you, for us.

Was this going to be her way of shaking her head? Letting him know that she didn't share the same kinds of feelings? His heart felt like it was about to come out of his chest. It was now or never, he thought as he opened the paper.

Deeks –

When I was little girl, whenever my dad would come home from his missions, he would always bring me a present. Sometimes it was something big, sometimes it was nothing more than a piece of candy from a forgotten place. But it was always something, showing he had thought of me while he was away. He would leave a note for me on my bedside table, making sure it would be the first thing I would see when I woke up. That note would be a clue, which would lead me to another clue, and so on and so forth.

You managed to do something similar while you were gone. I may not have had clues as to where I was going to find my next surprise, but you made sure I always had something waiting for me. I am not entirely sure how you did it (I hate to speculate who you bribed and with what) but every single week, you left me something EXACTLY when I needed it. How did you do it? You can't understand what it meant to me. Remember when I told you you have no idea what that little blue box means to a girl? Well, you have no idea what that purple piece of paper means to me. Kind of the same thing, isn't it?

So Shaggy. In a time honored tradition, I may or may not have something for you upon your return. Clues if you will. And I happen to know a certain Detective who claims to detect things. So go ahead, Deeks, detect things. I DARE YOU.

First order of business – Go home. Take a shower. Sit at your dining table. You will know what to do next.

I'm glad you're back, Deeks. Smile Sunshine! - Wonder Woman

Deeks was nothing but smiles. This was better than he could have hoped for. I mean, it didn't sound like she was saying no to their thing. Right? And when had he EVER backed down from a challenge? Well played Kens…Well. Played. But, she was going to get the shock of her life when he told her that she no longer knew Detective Deeks. Until then, though, he would put his detecting skills to use and see what awaited him.

Putting all thoughts of the accident and everything Trey had told him away for the moment, he grabbed his stuff and headed home, ready to keep the time honored tradition alive.

AN - AND he's back! Let me know what you thought about it! :)