After a week of light duty, Deeks was deemed fit enough to return to full capacity, which meant he was split between consulting and assisting with active fires when a unit was shorthanded.

In the absence of James McHenry and any new arson cases with his M.O, Deeks had a fair amount of down time with NCIS, which mostly consisted of weighing in on various aspects of arson paraphernalia. One of these discussions resulted in an entertaining debate between him and Sam that lasted for more than an hour. In the end, Sam had ceded to Deeks' interpretation with grudging respect.

She obviously enjoyed having Deeks around, and the rest of the team seemed to appreciate his insight and company (more so than any other outsider they'd ever had to liaise with), but she could tell the case was beginning to wear on everyone. As they rolled into their third week without any leads, pressure to either solve the case or move on started coming from above and the tension in the office was rising.

Late on Saturday, Kensi and Deeks were set up in the bullpen, poring over every record they could dig up on James McHenry, which wasn't much in the last 15 years.

Nell and Eric had already researched most of it, until they were called away to help out the FBI on a case. So Kensi and Deeks had picked up the slack while they were out. Unfortunately, James had minimal interaction with most of his family and acquaintances and interviews had gone nowhere. His already paper-thin digital footprint had gone completely silent too.

"This is making me long for cleanup duty," Deeks sighed, leaning back in his chair to rub his eyes with both hands. When he brushed his hair back, Kensi saw the bottom edge of thin pink scar, the remnant of one his now healed facial cuts. He pulled his hands up through his hair, bangs flopping back into place, and covering the scar once more. While his eyes were still closed, Kensi snuck a glance at the snug fit of his dark blue button down, made even tighter as he stretched.

"That's not saying much, you seem to like cleaning. You offer to every time you set foot in my apartment," she pointed out, taking one final look before Deeks opened his eyes.

She pushed back from her side of the desk, eyes set on the coffee pot across the room. It was hideous compared to the iced lattes Deeks had been spoiling her with, but it would get her through the next couple hours.

"That's because you have a concerning level of mess in your apartment and I don't want you to get buried alive someday—"

Deeks paused to grin as she turned around with an outraged gasp.

"—but I do find vacuuming and laundry calming."

"Oh good, because I haven't done laundry in a month and I'm really short on socks," Kensi said, returning with a mug of coffee dosed with a healthy amount of creamer.

She was pretty sure she should feel more self-conscious about sharing that part of her life—she had in the past with men she'd dated, but for some reason she didn't care so much with Deeks. Maybe it was because the first time Deeks had seen her disaster of a living room, head teased her about it, and then treated her exactly the same as before.

"Ah, now I see why you went after me; you could sense my tendency for tidiness."

"You figured me out," Kensi quipped, drinking half her coffee before she could truly taste while Deeks a took a single swallow and grimaced at the flavor, then took another sip for good measure.

Kensi hid her smile in response to his antics in her cup.

"Ok, so we've established that James hasn't interacted with his sister in years unless they're using carrier pigeon," Deeks said, grabbing a hefty file and moving it to his left.

"And outside of one phone call last year, he hasn't been in contact with him mother," Kensi continued, handing over another file.

They were silent for a few minutes, Deeks painstakingly reading through the notes Nell and Eric had left behind. "What does this say?" He held up a purple post it with a three different dollar amounts listed with a scrawled note.

Kensi squinted at it from an angle.

"That looks like Nell's handwriting. She must have been in a hurry." Taking it from Deeks, she stared at the note for several more seconds. "Edith McHenry withdrew over a $1000 each month for last April, May, and June, but on a different day. Did Nell leave any other notes?"

"No." Deeks shook his head, but there was a sudden light in his eyes, that had Kensi straightening up. "But when I checked, she's made this withdrawal almost every month for two years straight, on the same day," he said, holding up several sheets of financial data."

"Yes?"

"So, the 10th is three days from now," Deeks said with a significant nod. "And all these withdrawals have been in person, likely to avoid leaving a paper trail."

"Which means she has to drop it off somewhere," Kensi whispered.

"Exactly." He shrugged. "I mean, could be that she's hiding some other activity, but—"

"It's the best lead we've had in weeks," Kensi interrupted. "This is good." She tilted her head, eyeing him fondly. "It's a shame you're such a sexy fireman, because you'd make a damn good agent."

"Just wait til you see me clean up the kitchen after a house dinner," Deeks joked, making her snort and roll her eyes.

"C'mon, let's tell Sam and Callen what we found," she said.

A/N: We're making a little progress towards the end, and as always, this is almost certainly rife with inaccuracies. Remember, this story is all about the flirting and Fireman Deeks.