Cuddles/Hugs meme: Near-Miss. This is a post-ep to 1x20, Fame.

Yeah I don't own it.

"So, you're going undercover tonight? That's kind of short notice," Kensi asked, driving her Cadillac back to the Mission. She glanced to the passenger seat where her very temporary partner sat, staring out the window as she drove. "Deeks?"

"Huh? Yeah, no, short notice, not really, like I said, we've been trying to put this together for a while." Deeks pursed his lips and turned his head towards Kensi. "It's a really deep cover. Deeper than my last one anyway."

Kensi snorted. "Well yeah, all you had was a drivers license. Even I could have made that crappy license on my computer."

"Wow, sorry LAPD doesn't have super badass computer geeks that can backstop somebody with the click of his heels," Deeks bristled.

Kensi was taken aback. Marty Deeks was still largely a mystery to her; she either knew him as a potential murderer or a goofy LAPD liaison that had been forced on them suddenly. "I, uh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything by that…"

Deeks waved a hand at her. "It's not just you, but thanks for the reminder that my backstory is probably being created by, as you would put it, some girl with a computer."

"I'm sorry, some girl?!"

"Okay, some woman?"

"Wow, your communication skills are severely lacking, Deeks."

He threw his hands up in the air in frustration. "What do you want me to say? That you're this awesome federal agent superhero who's obviously too good to be partnered with some plain ole cop like me?"

Kensi shook her head and jutted her jaw out. "Superhero. I'll take that as a compliment. And I said I was sorry about my comment this morning."

"I'm over that."

"Obviously not."

Deeks groaned. "Have you ever gone deep undercover?"

"No."

"Well, it's not easy. It's hard as hell, and I'm damn good at it." He paused, knowing he was going to regret the next thing to come out of his mouth. "Better than you are."

Kensi's eyes grew wide and she slowed the car down, pulling into a shopping center parking lot. She put the car in park and removed her seatbelt, swiveling in her seat to face Deeks. "Would you care to elaborate on that statement?"

He mimicked her, removing his seatbelt and sunglasses so he could look her in the eyes. "The Zuna case. I didn't believe you for one second."

"Well, everybody else did," she said defensively.

Deeks shook his head. "That's not my point. What if I wasn't the undercover cop, and I really was a bad guy, and you were stuck in Zuna's house with me. What would you have done?"

Kensi shrugged. "I wouldn't change a thing."

"So, you still would have tried to seduce me?"

She balked. "What?!"

He tilted his head at her. "That's what you were about to do before Callen conveniently showed up to rescue you."

Kensi rolled her eyes. "Maybe."

"So just how far would you go to sell your cover?"

"As far as I had to," she said seriously.

"And if I had gone along with it?" Deeks asked.

"Doesn't matter now."

"That's not an answer."

"And that's not a question."

"Well," he said, licking his lips. "I guess I'm just wondering what I would have missed out on."

"Well, I guess I would have had to shoot you," Kensi answered, faking a smile.

"Do I make you uncomfortable?"

Kensi scrunched her face. "No. Why would you think that?"

Deeks shrugged. "Just seeing the way you interact with everybody else versus me. It's different." He squints at her. "Maybe you don't like that I can see through you. Or maybe, you do like it."

Kensi smiled, scooting closer to his seat and casually running her hand up his thigh. "Maybe you're right."

His eyes grew wide and he glanced down at her hand. "Uhh, what are you doing?"

She pulled her hand away and slid back into her seat, putting the car back into drive. "Selling my cover."

Deeks laughed. "Touché."

Kensi was quite proud of herself. She pulled the Cadillac back onto the main road and headed back to drop Deeks off. "You're just mad that I didn't actually touché anything."

Deeks shook his head and refastened his seatbelt. "I can't even begin to figure out what that means."

She turned her music up and beat her hands to the rhythm on the steering wheel as she drove. She wouldn't admit to him (or herself), but she was concerned for his safety on his long-term undercover mission. She nonchalantly asked him, "So you'll call us when case is solved?"

Deeks stared out the window again, taking in the late afternoon Los Angeles scenery. "I told you. I'll be back."