A/N – this started out in my head as a standalone one shot but I decided to incorporate it into this story line.

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Chapter 26

"Kensi, just tell me what it is I supposedly did!"

"Deeks, just leave it alone! We have almost four more hours until we land in L.A. and I plan on using them to sleep. Why don't you do the same?" With that Kensi turned her head away from him and closed her eyes, hoping he would just stop asking. She wasn't ready to tell him what was really bothering her. She wished she could just hit rewind and go back to the weekend. It had been a great two days with both of them working on Cassie and Paula's wedding song. He'd said it was like a dam burst open in his head and all these ideas had started to come to him. She'd found him hunched over the music book before dawn on both Sunday and Monday morning. She'd let it slide on Sunday but Monday she'd dragged him back to bed, reminding him that they needed to be at work in just a few hours. He'd reluctantly gone with her.

"Kens, you know I had to take that shot! He had his gun pointed at your head, there is no way you would've been able to take care of it yourself! I don't understand why you're angry with me about this!"

She refused to respond, keeping her eyes closed. The team had spent a long three days tracking an arms dealer from L.A. to Boston, trying to recover explosives stolen from Seal Beach. It had come to a head that morning. Nell and Eric had finally managed to track the thieves to an abandoned warehouse on the waterfront where they would be meeting with a buyer. The team had taken them down and thought it was all over when one man they hadn't accounted for got the drop on her. She had been bringing her own gun around to cover him when Deeks had appeared and shot the guy. She'd gone off on him, saying that she'd had it under control, that she didn't need him to come to her rescue like she was some weak damsel in distress. He had just stood there, open mouthed, as she ranted and raved at him.

She couldn't tell him that it wasn't his shooting the guy that had her in turmoil. That it was his actions from the night before that had her all turned around. The team had decided to go out for pizza and beer at a little restaurant down the street from their hotel. There had been a little league team there, celebrating a win, when they'd walked in. The restaurant had a back room with video games and pinball machines and most of the kids had eventually disappeared into it. Deeks had eaten one piece of pizza before he'd been sucked into the back room with them. She hadn't been mad at him for leaving; Deeks just naturally gravitated to kids. They'd been able to hear the kids laughter interspersed with his deeper rumbling one. At one point they had heard a high pitched female voice yell "That's so not fair Marty!" and they'd all chuckled. The coach had finally rounded the kids up to take them home and the group had left the restaurant to choruses of "Bye Marty!"

He'd come back to the table grinning from ear to ear, talking about how when he had kids he hoped they would play sports, boy or girl. When not if he had kids. How he'd be involved in whatever they chose to do. Sam and Callen hadn't helped. Sam had talked about how Aiden and Kamran had completed his world, how he loved being a father. Callen had once again said he was thinking about having a family of his own, now that he and Joelle were doing so well. She'd remained silent. They all knew she didn't really like kids, Deeks included, and here he was talking about what he was going to do when he was a father. She wasn't sure she would ever want to be a mother, she didn't think she would be any good at it. He hadn't said he loved her yet, but she was pretty sure he did. Didn't he? Did he just assume that they would eventually get married and have kids? Or was she just convenient for the moment while he waited for a more suitable woman to enter his life? A woman who would be happy to bear his children?

She'd been quiet the rest of the night and had refused to go to his room with him when they got back to the hotel. They all had their own rooms but he'd assumed she'd be spending the night with him. He'd looked so hurt when she'd said she was going to her room, alone. She'd tossed and turned all night, getting no sleep at all, thinking and worrying. She didn't see him again until they got the call from OSP the next morning with the news that the wonder twins had tracked down the location of the buy and they'd all headed out. When the guy had snuck up on her and Deeks had taken him out before he could shoot her, she'd reacted angrily. The worry about what he was thinking about their future together, the fact that if they did have kids and this had happened, it might leave their children orphaned or with only one parent, had caused her to freak and she'd taken it out on him. Instead of thanking him for saving her life, she had let him believe that she was angry at him for doing so. She knew she was going to have to apologize and tell him what was really going on. A crowded plane, however, was not the place and she needed time to figure out how to broach the subject. Sleep finally claimed her as she planned that conversation in her head.

Deeks watched his girlfriend pretend to sleep, wondering what the hell was going on in that beautiful head of hers. He knew he had done the right thing that morning. He'd gone over it in his head, replaying the scenario over and over and each time his shooting the guy was the only possible move. It had nothing to do with her being his girlfriend or his thinking she couldn't take care of herself. He knew better than anyone that she could, she was his Kickass Kensi. He would have done the same if it had been Sam or Callen. He hoped they would do the same if it had been him in her position. When her breathing evened out and he realized she had actually fallen asleep he found his emotions changing from confusion and worry to anger. If she couldn't tell him what was really bothering her, what chance did they have for a future? He leaned back in his seat and closed his own eyes. They would be having a serious talk when they got home.

With his eyes closed he tried to clear his head as the sounds of the crowded plane suddenly came to his attention. The not so quiet snores of the guy in the window seat on the other side of Kensi. The music that seeped out of the headphones of the kid across the aisle from him. He could hear a baby crying from somewhere in the back of the plane. Someone wasn't happy. The two flight attendants walked by his seat talking softly. "I told her I was sorry. That the plane was full and there was nowhere I could move her to. I feel for the poor baby's mother. Bad enough that she can't get the little one to stop crying but having that woman sitting next to her, glaring and making snide comments, can't be helping." Deeks thought for a moment and decided it might be a good idea to put some space between him and Kensi. It was all he could do not to shake her awake and have it out with her. He knew that would only make things worse but he was rapidly reaching the point where he didn't care. He stood up and followed the two to the front of the plane.

"Excuse me? I happened to overhear your conversation about the woman sitting next to the crying baby. Would it help if I offered to switch seats with her?" he asked.

Both turned to look at him. The woman, whose nametag said Susan, asked "It certainly would but why would you do that?"

"I like babies and their crying doesn't bother me." he replied. He knew it wasn't the whole story but a crying baby really didn't bother him and it would allow him the space he needed between him and Kensi, something he wouldn't be able to get otherwise on the fully booked plane.

Susan looked at him suspiciously and he sighed. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his badge to show it her. "Detective Marty Deeks, LAPD. I'm not a pervert, I promise."

Susan blushed and said "I'm sorry but you just have to be so careful these days. If you really don't mind changing seats with that woman, it would make our lives so much easier. She's been complaining pretty much since we got in the air."

"No worries and I really don't mind." he smiled at her and she felt a little flutter in her stomach. She found herself grinning back.

Turning to her male counterpart she said "Cliff, could you start to get the food and drink cart ready. I'll go make the seat changes. I should be right back." Cliff nodded and added his thanks to Susan's. Heading towards the back of the plane Susan said again "Detective Deeks, thank you so much for doing this."

"It's Marty."

"Susan."

They passed his assigned seat where Kensi was still sound asleep. Deeks indicated which one was his and they continued on. They passed Sam and Callen. Sam was asleep and Callen had his nose buried in a newspaper. He didn't bother to say anything to them. When they finally got to his new seat, the woman sitting in it had her arms folded across her chest and was glaring at the young woman and baby in the seat next to her. "Ma'am? This gentleman has kindly agreed to change seats with you if you'd like."

The woman immediately unbuckled her seat belt, gathered her things and stood up. She started up the aisle with a "Thank God."

Deeks watched her go and said "You're welcome!" The woman never turned around.

"Thanks again for doing this Marty. Some of us really appreciate it." Susan said as she started after the woman, wanting to be sure she sat in the correct seat. It wouldn't do to have someone come back from the bathroom and find that harpy in their spot.