"So, when are you two going to take the next step?" Mandy asked, insinuating herself between Kensi and Deeks. From her slightly lopsided smile, he thought she'd enjoyed the wine tasting. Turning to Deeks with a conspiratorial smile, she leaned closer. "I bet you already have a ring and spot picked out, don't you Marty."

"Beg your pardon?" Deeks asked at the same time Kensi nervously said,

"Mandy, you know we're taking things slowly." Taking Deeks' arm, her hand tightened around his, flexing quickly several times. They'd decided that if anyone inquired about their future as a couple, they would redirect and lie through their teeth.

They just hadn't allowed for a drunken Mandy's persistence.

"Oh yeah, I've heard that same speech from both of you." She affected a higher-pitched, sing-song voice, 'We want to enjoy our time together without any pressure.' 'We only just found each other.' 'We don't want to kill the romance.'" Mandy rolled her eyes. "You two are perfect together and one of you needs to make a move so I can start planning the wedding. Which means you need to get on it, mister." She poked Deeks in the chest.

"Mandy, enough!" Kensi snapped. "We're not like other couples, so stop pushing for some fairytale that doesn't exist."

Mandy's eyes widened, a bit of her alcohol induced giddiness disappearing in the face of Kensi's anger.

"Geez Kay, I was mostly joking. You've always talked about your perfect wedding all these years. I thought you'd be happy."

"Well, not everyone gets a perfect ending," Kensi said, pulling her arm out of Deeks'.

"Kens—" he protested softly, as she stood up, gathering up the length of her blue skirt.

"I need a couple minutes." Then before either of them could stop her, she hurried off towards the small vineyard gift shop.

"I'm such an idiot," Mandy sighed, cupping her hands over her mouth. "I'm sorry. I really didn't think I was going to upset her that much."

"It's ok," Deeks assured with a forgiving smile. "It's kind of a touchy subject. But, uh, if I ever do propose, I do have the perfect place in mind."

Lifting her head slowly, Mandy grinned back at him. "I knew you wouldn't let me down."

When Kensi came back about 20 minutes later, she was noticeably subdued, and faked her way through the rest of the event.

"Well, that was a disaster," she sighed on their way back home. She'd kicked off her heels and roughly yanked the hairpins out keeping her hair in place.

"Eh, I thought the Riesling wasn't bad," Deeks joked. "Tiffani definitely approved." Kensi gave him a knowing look.

"I freaked out for no reason. I let Mandy get to me, even though I knew she, or one of the other girls would pressure me about it at some point."

"So why did you?"

"I don't know," Kensi said to his surprise. "I guess…I've been thinking about how different my life is from Kat's and Mandy's, any of my friends. I'm probably not going to get engaged, or invite all my friends to bachelor party, or marry—that's just not my life."

"Who knows, maybe I will propose to you someday," Deeks said, probably getting way too close to the line of truthfulness for his own good.

Tilting her head to the side, Kensi reached for his hand on the steering wheel, smiling sadly. "I wouldn't do that to you, Deeks." She squeezed his hand once before letting go, and settling back with a wistful expression.

"Just a couple more weeks, and you'll be a free man," Kensi commented one night as they painstakingly glued tiny bits of lace to roughly a thousand centerpieces.

"Yeah, seems like it was just yesterday that the Tiffanys were jumping up in down in excitement at Kensi One-Date Blye finally having a boyfriend," Deeks said after a moment.

The weeks flew had flown by with increasing speed, and before Deeks knew it, they'd hit the month of Kat's wedding. With that, Deeks felt an increasing sense of panic with the knowledge that his and Kensi's charade would be over once the reception ended.

And he didn't want it to. Well, that wasn't true; he didn't want to pretend anymore. He wanted to be with Kensi, and he was pretty sure she felt similarly.

Since the disastrous wine tasting, her kisses were less perfunctory, and she found reasons to keep him hanging around longer each night. The day she'd insisted she needed help organizing her dishes was probably his favorite.

Every time he even hinted at there being something more, Kensi brushed him off with some self-deprecating comment about her inability to keep a houseplant alive. She wasn't suited for a relationship, she insisted.

"I bet you can't wait," Kensi continued, pausing expectantly. Deeks hesitated, licking his lips as a touch of nerves set in.

"About that." He drew a breath through his teeth, wondering if he was about to make the worst decision of his life. "You know how we said if either of us ever found someone that we liked, we'd stop doing this. Fake dating?" he asked. Kensi stilled, her face going carefully blank.

"Yes," she said. "Did—did you find someone like that?"

"I did. I wanted to tell you sooner, but uh, I didn't want to back out on our deal."

"Oh." The devastation on her face made him almost stop right then and there and tug her into his arms. Shrugging a little helplessly, Kensi offered a weak smile. "What's she like?"

"She's utterly ridiculous. In the best way possibly," Deeks replied, not having to pretend for once. "She's a brunette, with the most amazing smile in the world, and a terrible sense of humor."

He saw genuine hurt flash across Kensi's face, and decided he'd gone far enough.

"Wow, that's really amazing Deeks. I'm so happy for you," she said, sounding devastated.

"Yeah. I forgot to mention that she's got these crazy eyes too. Different colors and everything." He paused, fiddling with a bit of lace as Kensi froze, tilting her head.

"Deeks," she whispered, a note of question in her voice. He couldn't contain his smile.

"And she's currently sitting in front of me," he finished softly. Kensi gaped at him for a moment, then she launched herself at him, knocking him to the floor, her lips slanting over his. He leaned up into the kiss, tangling his fingers into her hair.

"You are so mean," Kensi murmured, punctuating each word with a kiss.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures." He drew back, brushing a strand of hair out of her eyes, and looked up at her. "Kensi Blye, will you go out with me?"

Kensi cupped his cheek, arching up to kiss him again. "Yes. More than anything."

"To never be free again," he said as Kensi drew him back down, rolling them into the long-forgotten centerpieces.

A/N: I think I might be watching too much sappy romance stuff. Sorry if this fell a little flat at the end.