It had been 20 hours, 14 minutes, and 58 seconds since Deeks had last uttered any words in her direction.
Brushing a strand of dirt encrusted hair from her face, he'd looked in her eyes and asked simply, "Are you okay?" When she nodded yes, he hoisted her weak body in his arms and ran after the rest of the mission extraction team back to their vehicles. He stared at her silently during their ride in the Humvee, afraid if he tore his eyes off of her she would disappear again. The longer he sat in silence, the clearer the situation became to him.
He knew his partner inside and out, probably better than anybody else on the planet. So when they infiltrated the cave where her captors had been hiding her and he came face to face with The White Ghost himself, all the pieces of the puzzle started to fall together perfectly in his mind. Deeks recognized the man instantly.
Kensi had destroyed all of her former fiancée's pictures but one. She kept it in a kitchen drawer under a pair of shears; when Deeks found it accidentally early in their partnership he just assumed she was awaiting the necessary courage to cut the last piece of him out of her life. That picture crossed his mind several times while she was on her assignment; he had hoped she would finally be able to put the past behind her and destroy it when she came home.
She'd allowed herself to be captured on purpose, and he knew it without ever asking her. The sadness and regret in her eyes had confirmed it for him. When the Humvee reached base camp again and the medical team rushed her away for evaluation, Deeks sunk to his knees on the cold ground and laid his forehead in the dirt. He knew tears were threatening to spill out, and he was too proud to let any of his team members witness it. Fear had turned to relief, then to sadness, and finally to anger as the whirlwind of emotions overtook him on the desert floor. He could hear Sam say, "Give him a few minutes" to someone, most likely Granger based on the grunt that followed.
When he had finally calmed down, Deeks composed himself and returned to the team as if nothing had happened. Sam gave him a knowing look, and he nodded in appreciation. After robotically going over the details of their rescue efforts in the debriefing, Deeks isolated himself until it was time to head to the airport. They met up with Kensi there, who'd been deemed healthy enough to fly home as long as she received medical attention the next day. Still, even seeing her cleaned up and dressed in normal clothes again, Deeks couldn't bring himself to speak to her. She sensed his anxiety and didn't push him, merely pleading with her eyes at him.
The sixteen-hour flight from Kabul to Los Angeles was nearly silent, save a few random snores throughout the night and morning. Kensi's Cadillac was waiting at the airport where Deeks had left it; he'd had complete faith at the beginning of their mission that he would either return to it with her in tow, or he wouldn't return at all. Her face lit up briefly at the site of her SUV and the small bit of normalcy it gave her.
Deeks drove to her apartment, playing the techno playlist he'd selected for her before he boarded the plane to Afghanistan. He unloaded their belongings, throwing most of her bags in the small closet that held her washer and dryer. They silently moved around her home, going through the motions as if they'd only just been on a short vacation together. When finally there was nothing left to distract either of them, Kensi stepped close to him and placed a hand gently on his chest.
"Are you going to say anything?" she asked, her voice weak and desperate.
Deeks looked down at his watch and frowned. He'd had exactly 20 hours, 14 minutes, and 58 seconds to figure out what he wanted to say to her and still couldn't compartmentalize the day's events enough to come up with anything. He raised his eyes to hers and they just looked at each other. Her eyes told him she was still scared and confused; his reflected a mixed bag of his relief at having her back safely and his anger for putting herself in that situation in the first place.
Not knowing what else to do, Deeks fell back on what was comfortable for them. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and she wrapped her around his waist, leaning her head into his chest. As he stroked her hair, he whispered over and over again. "You're okay. I'm just glad you're okay."