A/N: A little Rosa and Deeks drabble.

Deeks pulled his legs up to his chest, flipping from a cooking show to some special on hotdogs. The TV selections at three in the morning on a Friday night left something to be desired. He took a drink from his glass of water, idly brushing his palm over their dog's, Penny, honey blonde head. She made a sound huffing sound in her sleep, but otherwise didn't budge.

He had the sound muted and everyone else asleep, the house was completely silent aside from the occasional normal creaking or car door from outside. Holding back a yawn, he focused on finding out about Chicago's best offerings.

The host was just accepting a footlong hotdog, when the front door eased open. Deeks tilted his head, observing as Rosa tried to creep in, her movement slow and a little exaggerated in her attempt to be quiet.

She caught sight of Deeks almost immediately and froze just a foot inside the door, her hand on the doorknob, key still in the other.

"Hey. Did you have a good time?" he asked quietly.

Closing her eyes for a second in apparent defeat, Rosa closed the door with as much care as she opened it, then walked over to stand in front of him with a resigned expression.

"Did you wait up for me?" she said, even her whisper sounding completely miserable.

"No, I went to be at 9:30 with your mom and trusted you'd make it back by 11, like we agreed. I woke up with the twins at 1:30, and that's when I noticed your bedroom door was open and you were not there," he explained calmly. "I wanted to make sure you were ok."

"And you've been sitting up since then." She made a pained sound, and Deeks nodded.

He patted the other side of the couch that wasn't occupied by him or Penny. "Have a seat." The last couple hours definitely had him on edge and he wasn't exactly happy, but he hadn't expected this response out of Rosa.

"Before anything else, are you ok?" he started. Rosa's eyebrows furrowed and she shrugged.

"Yes, I'm fine. I was just with Steven," she answered, then dipped her head. "We decided to watch the Captain America movies and fell asleep during the second one. I promise I didn't mean to stay out so late. When I woke up and realized it was after two, I completely freaked out." Her fingers tangled together briefly, then tucked her hair behind her ears, reinforcing her anxiety.

"Why didn't you just text when you realized? Or if you were planning to stay overnight."

She shrugged again. "I didn't want you to be mad."

His heart clenched at the admission; it hurt to think he'd given Rosa any reason to hide from him. Reminding himself that this wasn't about him, he took Rosa's hand, gently unfolding her twisting fingers.

"Rosamund, I am not mad at you," he assured her. "I don't care what you do." He inclined his head and clarified, "Hopefully you're being safe and not breaking the law."

Rosa laughed, a soft, slightly hoarse and vaguely desperate sound. He smiled back, nudging her shoulder with his.

"I'm just worried about you, kid. I'm probably always going to worry about you, because you're my daughter and I love you. So, that might mean staying up late just to make sure you get home safe."

Swiping her finger under her eye, Rosa pressed her lips together, looking remarkably like Kensi as she fought back tears.

"So maybe next time you start that second movie, you can text one of us first. You know, just so we don't pull our hair out thinking you've fallen in a ditch or been abducted by aliens," he requested, and Rosa laughed again, rolling her eyes.

"Ok. I will."

She tipped to the side, head falling on his shoulder. "Why didn't you text me?" she wondered.

"Cause I didn't want you to think I was hovering."

Rosa snorted at that, and then immediately covered her mouth, eyes wide as Deeks forced down his own chuckles brought on by relief and exhaustion.

"I love you, kiddo," he whispered.

"Love you, too." Wrapping her arms around his waist, Rosa scooted closer, her head resting on his shoulder.

A/N: Although Rosa is probably over 18 by this point, I figure since she's still pretty young, she'd agree to be back by a certain point at night or text for everyone's sanity.