Here's the next chapter for any of you still out there ;)
Kensi reaches across the bed, the fog of sleep still clouding her mind. Her hand lands on soft, cold sheets and she frowns, her eyes still closed against the morning light.
She scootches over to the other side, just far enough so she can bury her face into the other pillow - his pillow - hoping to smell traces of sea salt and pretend that he's here. But it smells like detergent and fabric softener and feels like disappointment.
Super pathetic, Kensi.
She's barely seen Deeks in the last week; she's been so busy with the fallout of the stolen nuke and an onslaught of new cases. And he's been swamped too, wrapping up all the paperwork and getting things in order after his undercover.
Reliving the night they spent together after they recovered the nuke can only hold her so long - and that was approximately 48 hours.
Okay, fine, 24, but in her defense it had been weeks before that.
She's going crazy here.
She groans into the pillow and pushes herself up, swinging her legs over the side of the bed to ensure she won't burrow in again.
Deeks' feet hit the pavement in time with the song in his head - Two Princes, as covered by Touching Wood. Way better than the original, obviously.
It's a beautiful day. The sky is blue, the sun is yellow, the waves are - waving. The yoga bunnies are strolling.
"Morning, ladies." He smiles as he passes two women.
They smile back. He thinks about Kensi, thinks about touching her, feeling her - and then thinks about his grandmother naked and dead hamsters and global warming. He tries thinking back to the women he passed. They must have been wearing yoga pants. He's sure of it. But he didn't look a second time as he passed them a few moments ago. Heck, he didn't even look once. He's got it worse than he had thought.
He takes a deep breath and checks his watch again.
"You're so predictable."
Deeks practically jumps out of his skin.
Kensi jogs up from behind him. She's dressed for a run - hair pulled back and sweat forming along her hairline. She's grinning, clearly proud of herself for tracking him and taking him by surprise.
"I like routine," he says, once he gets his heart rate back down to something more manageable.
"You know what I like?"
"Me?"
She grins and he thinks about taking her right there in the sand. "I was going to say 'donuts' but I like you too."
Right. Food. Public places. He steers them off the footpath. "Let me grab a coffee and a paper and we'll see what we can do about that sweet tooth."
"How cheap of a date do you think I am?"
Deeks reaches for a coffee cup before sparing her a glance. "I'm going to refrain from answering that."
She rolls her eyes, but grabs a box of powdered donuts, tucking it under her arm. They're not gourmet, but they'll do.
"Frank," Deeks calls as he reaches for a cup, "this coffee just how I like it? Cold and stale?"
She eyes the Hostess display on the end of the candy aisle. It's too early for Twinkies, probably. But she could definitely save them for later. Like twenty minutes from now when the donuts are gone.
Deeks appears beside her and she jumps guiltily.
"I'm saving them for later," she insists.
His hand is on her hip, solid pressure, and she looks at him askance. She's about to say, "What the hell?" when she registers the look in his eyes.
She follows his gaze to the man at the counter, who, now that she thinks about it, has been deciding which pack of gum to get for an inordinate amount of time. Probably something to do with the gun in his hand.
She nods at Deeks and he nods back, moving toward a rack of chips.
"Got a question for you, Frank. What's the deal with these Funyuns? Why are they more expensive than Cheetos?" Deeks grabs a bag and starts toward the register. "They putting real fun in there?"
Deeks tosses the Funyuns at the guy and follows with a left, slapping the gun out of his hand. It takes Deeks all of ten seconds to disable the would-be robber, slamming him into the counter and knocking him off his feet. Deeks has the guy pinned on the ground, arms behind his back when he looks up at Kensi.
"Maybe you should go ahead and crack those Twink-"
She sees movement out of the corner of her eye as Frank yells, "Behind you!" and Kensi drops her treats, bracing herself against the shelving unit as she thrusts out her leg.
The second guy falls over it, slamming his head into the floor and sending his gun clattering to the tile and colliding with a support beam.
"Stay down!" she yells, throwing her leg over him and straddling his back as she secures his arms. She feels naked without her sidearm, feels even more vulnerable with his out in the open, but can't risk moving off of him to get it. His head is bleeding and his movements are slow, but he's still struggling beneath her.
She looks up at Deeks, who's grinning. "Not exactly what I hoped to be riding this morning."
She laughs, in spite of her tension and unease.
"Hey, Frank, snag me that gun, will you?" he asks, nodding toward one of the fallen weapons. "And do you happen to carry any twine?"
Deeks tosses the ice pack onto the table as Detective Versi steps out of the interrogation room. He flexes his fingers. "Still think it's cut and dried?"
Versi puts his hands on his hips, watching the suspect as he sits alone on the other side of the mirror. "Something's definitely off."
"They were waiting for something in that store, and it wasn't the perfect timing for an exit."
"So what was it?"
"I have no idea." Deeks opens the file on Carlos Guzmon. He's a South LA gang member who's been linked to three non-gang-related murders. And now he's holding up liquor stores?
Versi nods toward the second interrogation room. "Let's hope we find the answer behind door number two."
"I'm saying I think it's out of our jurisdiction."
"He's still talking about the moon, right?" Renko asks Kensi under his breath.
She nods.
Sam waves a hand dismissively. "Well, maybe I'll have to change the rules a little. Maybe it doesn't have to be places I've worked."
Callen shakes his head. "Yeah, that's the concession you have to make."
Kensi's phone vibrates and she pulls it out of her pocket. It's Deeks. She pushes out of her chair and makes her way to the kitchen area before answering.
"Hey, what's up?"
"So you remember that robbery this morning?"
She grabs her mug and wedges the phone between her ear and shoulder as she fills it with coffee. "How could I forget something that resulted in free Twinkies?"
"Sure, that's the memorable part."
"That and your incredibly sexy hand-to-hand skills."
"You're mocking me."
She laughs and reaches for a sugar packet. "It's a possibility."
"Anyway, the robbery."
"Yes?"
"Not a robbery."
She frowns as she dumps the sugar into her coffee. "What do you mean?"
"They weren't there because they wanted to rob it, there were there because they knew I was coming."
She grabs her phone with her free hand and switches it to the other ear. She takes a breath before answering, trying to make sure her voice doesn't betray her suddenly swirling emotions. "They were targeting you?"
"No." he says, and she has a second of relief.
But only a second.
"They were targeting you."
Deeks glares at Kensi. "Seriously?"
"This is ridiculous."
"What's ridiculous is you putting up such a big fuss about it."
"I'm not putting up a fuss! I'm just suggesting maybe these walks would take less time if you weren't letting him be in charge of them."
"He's not in charge! I'm respecting his privacy."
"He's a dog, Deeks. He doesn't have privacy."
"Not with you looking at him."
"Oh, jeez." She turns away, folding her arms across her chest. "Go ahead, Monty."
"It's okay, boy," Deeks says, nudging him away from the pool of light that surrounds the pole they've stopped beside. Monty much prefers the cover of darkness. "You take your time."
"Yes, please, take all night."
Deeks lets the leash out a little and steps up into Kensi's space, wrapping his arm loosely around her waist. She sighs into him as he drops his chin on her shoulder. The last rays of sunlight are sinking below the horizon, but the view isn't as peaceful as it should be.
"You okay?" he asks after a moment.
"Perfect, yeah."
"Kensi -"
"I'm fine, let's just keep going."
"Well..."
"As soon as Monty's done."
He gives her a squeeze before dropping his hand, kissing her shoulder and straightening back up.
He's turning around to check on Monty's status when he hears a weapon discharge.
"Deeks!" Kensi yells as she watches him fall, but before she can reach for him, she's attacked from behind.
Her assailant has his arms around her, his grip strong and firm and she bucks against him fruitlessly as a second man approaches, black bag in hand.
She kicks Bag Boy in the sac and then the face, taking him out of the equation as she continues to struggle in the first guy's arms. She pushes them back toward the light pole, thrusting hard when she reaches it, knocking his hold loose enough to free her elbow, which she promptly thrusts into her assailant's face. Pain shoots down her arm as he falls to the ground, but she keeps going, turning in hopes of getting to Deeks, but instead finding herself face to face with a gun.
A shot fires and she watches as the third and final man falls to the ground to join his friends, both of whom are starting to rise. She pulls out her sidearm and puts them both down, scrambling over to Deeks, who's dropped his weapon in favor of clutching his chest.
"You okay?" she reaches for him, brushing his hair out of his face as he groans.
"Everyone all right?" Sam asks, running up, Callen and Renko on his heels. Their weapons are out and their faces are in matching scowls of determination and she can't help but laugh.
"Great, thanks, cavalry. Excellent timing you have."
Sam shakes his head, smiling, and the other two relax, their weapons falling to their sides. "Looked like you two had it covered."
She helps Deeks sit up.
"Yeah, sure." The words come out as more of a wheeze as he winces and tugs up at his shirt to uncover his kevlar, inspecting the bullet that's wedged into it. "It worked out great for everyone involved. I was thinking of phasing out this flannel anyway."
"Hey, any more talk about your dog's bowel movements and that bullet would have been from my service weapon."
Kensi looks around. "Where is Monty?"
At the sound of his name, he trots up, tongue out and eyes sparkling.
"Taking advantage of a little privacy."
"Eric called with an ID," Callen says, hanging up his phone.
"And?" Kensi steps up to join them, leaving Deeks to continue debriefing LAPD as the bodies are loaded into the coroner's van.
He holds up his cell so his teammates can see the picture. "Our Chechen terrorist, known only as Vakar."
Sam looks at Kensi. "He must have thought you were going to lead him to his wife and kid."
"When I was relocating them after the first attempt to kill her, she told me he'd try again."
"She was right."
Callen nods to Kensi. "But he had to find you first."
Sam assumes they're all thinking the same thing, but he voices it anyway. "Deeks."
"He -" Kensi starts, immediately on the defensive, but Sam cuts her off.
"He was the weak link, Kensi. They could find him when they couldn't find you."
"He's not trained to be an agent," she says, and it's clear the defensive has quickly morphed to anger. "He doesn't live the life we do. And that's a good thing."
Sam shakes his head. Maybe for him, but - "Not if it puts you, puts him in danger."
"Well," Renko says, stepping up beside them, Deeks' mutt at his side, "we'll just have to train him."
"Yeah," Sam agrees, eyes locked on Kensi's, an offer and a promise, "we will."
Deeks falls onto the bed, body limp and breath heavy. He's exhausted to the core, but his mind is buzzing with an energy that refuses to quiet.
"Well, that should have happened a week ago."
Her voice sounds like his body feels.
"No argument here." He musters enough energy to crawl up the bed so his shoulders are on the pillow, head slightly elevated. He tugs her to him, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and pulling her into his side.
He kisses the top of her head and thinks about how amazing her proximity is; thinks about what his proximity means for her.
"I'm sorry I put you in this position."
She wiggles in his arms. "Don't be. It's cozy."
"Not -" he rolls his eyes, "not this position. The position you were in earlier. The one where you could have been captured and tortured for information because I'm not a super spy."
She twists so she can look up at him. "Don't be sorry for that, I'm sorry for that. I'm sorry my job put you at risk."
He shakes his head. "If it wasn't for me, that terrorist wouldn't have been able to find you."
"If it wasn't for me he wouldn't have been looking for you."
Deeks sighs and lets his eyes slipped closed. "So, basically, it's the combination of us together that puts us in danger."
"Do you think we should -"
"Not for a second."
"But our lives, our jobs - they're dangerous. We're doubling the risk."
He considers the truth to her words as his mind puts together the response he feels to his core. What would their lives be without the risk? Is life really being lived when you can't live it the way you want because you're afraid you might lose it? What is it that you'd lose?
But he says none of those things, because he already knows she's scared of commitment. He knows she's scared of them, their relationship, their feelings, and their connection. But more than anything, he knows she's scared of herself. And though he's determined to hold onto her, he knows not to hold too tight or she'll slip right through his grasp. So instead he tells her about Sam's plan and his determination to improve his tradecraft. Because even though it's not the whole truth, it is the truth and it's the one she's ready to hear.
Kensi reaches across the bed, the fog of sleep still clouding her mind. Her hand lands on a warm body and she smiles, her eyes still closed against the morning light.
She scootches over to the other side, just far enough so she can tuck herself into his side. His arm comes around her reflexively and he sighs.
She drifts back off to sleep.