prompt: Kensi accidentally sees the pic on Deeeks phone what Nell&Eric send him of her being dead...

"Good work, guys." Nell sat down in her chair with a plop big enough to send it spinning in a semi-circle and make her auburn hair bounce in the air. She smiled, slightly embarrassed, and corrected her position at her computer.

"Is Nell actually the boss now?" Kensi whispered to Deeks.

Deeks smiled at Nell, who was busying herself with work on her computer again. "I don't even think she's Hetty 2.0 anymore. She's her own entity now. Did you see the way Granger crumpled under her stare earlier? I think he actually asked to be excused from Ops."

"Ahem." Nell cleared her throat loudly. "If you don't mind, I need to reorganize this year's files-"

"I'm going to backup and reformat everybody's computers," Eric interrupted.

"Yes, Eric, and everybody really needed to know that right now." Nell shot him an annoyed look.

"We get it, you two need some nerd bonding time," Deeks joked. Nell and Eric both ignored him, typing furiously on their keyboards. "Yeah, I can take a hint. You ready to get out of here, partner? Beers on me?"

Kensi grinned and looped her arm with Deeks', leading him to the automatic doors. "That sounds kinda naughty, but I'll let-" She paused, looking at the big screen. There were numerous photos from different cases scattered on the screen as Nell assigned uniform naming conventions to all of them. A picture of Jack had caught the corner of her eye, along with several other pictures pertaining to her mission in Afghanistan. All the pictures on the screen started disappearing almost as quickly as they had appeared, flying into a file named WGA-closed.

"What was that?" Kensi asked Nell, dropping Deeks' arm. "Those pictures of me, and of Jack? Did they actually-"

"Come on, I thought we were getting beer," Deeks interrupted, practically shoving her through the doors as soon as they opened.

Kensi planted her feet outside of Ops as soon as the doors closed behind her, crossing her arms over her chest. "Answer my question."

"Yes, this actually is my natural hair color, and I love that you're so jealous of my beautiful Scandinavian features," he deflected casually, even though he was visibly tense.

"Deeks!" She had a stern look on her face, and was not amused at all. "Those pictures. I didn"t...I didn't know about them."

"You were there, what do you mean you don't know about them?" Deeks looked at her, confused and extremely irritated that Nell hadn't waited until they left Ops to start her organization process.

"I mean, I knew they were taken, obviously. Everything was really blurry at the time, and we didn't know..." Kensi uncrossed her arms, shoving them in her pockets. Neither she nor Deeks were looking each other in the eye, instead darting their gazes everywhere but. "I didn't realize the pictures had been sent to anybody."

"Sam, Callen, and Granger found them while they were tracking the cell that took you. They sent them back to Ops after that," Deeks stated matter-of-factly.

"And you?"

"I was otherwise occupied."

He was avoiding the question, but Kensi wasn't going to accept his answer. "So you didn't see those pictures before you knew I was actually alive?"

"No," he answered, still not looking her in the face. "I probably would have done something unthinkable if I had."

Kensi tilted her head, taking in her partner's uncomfortable expression. He was lying; she knew it, and he knew that she knew it. Deeks had spent his entire life telling tales as if they were the gospel. As an expert at lying, he'd been able to decipher Kensi's lies from the truth within a few months of knowing her. It took her longer, but in time she'd figured out his lies as well. But for now, she'd let him get away with this one. He would tell her the truth when he was ready.

Placing a hand on his bicep, Kensi simply stated, "Okay."

Finally making eye contact again, Deeks smiled for just a second. "None of that matters now anyway, right? You're alive, and you're back. Where you should be."

As she linked her arm in his, she could feel him relax again. "Right where I should be," she said with a smile. "Come on. I'm still waiting on that beer you promised me."