Fall Easy, Baby

A tag to NCIS:LA 8x05 Ghost Gun and also...my first Densi Fanfic.

2:08am

The world – the sights around her, the noises – they're just a little bit clearer. That is what she realizes when she wakes again, some time in the middle of the night. Her eyes aren't as heavy and her throat isn't as scratchy. She feels less like she got hit by a train and more like she had a run in with just…a very large bus.

The room is quiet save for the slow and consistent beeping of her monitors.

Deeks has moved to her right side. His feet are up on the end of her bed and he's got a blanket and a pillow and he's snoring.

She stares at him for a moment. How many nights has he slept like that?

She shifts to find a more comfortable position because her neck is throbbing and her back aches.

She quickly regrets the motion.

Pain radiates from her upper back and her neck through her shoulders and down her spine. She winces and a small whimper escapes her mouth. She screws her eyes shut.

There's a call button on the left side rail of the bed and she doesn't remember that she can't reach for it until she tries. And then she panics. Her face flushes and the beeping of the monitors becomes just a bit more rapid as her heart rate increases. Kensi stares at her hand and wills it to move, but it doesn't. It feels limp and foreign and tears spring out from the corners of her eyes again. This is actually happening to her.

"Deeks," she croaks. The words still not coming out as clear as they are in her head. "Deeks," she says again, but he is fast asleep.

She's about to scream – the frustration of being unable to do anything for herself let alone call for help, pushing her to panic – when a nurse quickly comes through the door.

She steps around Deeks' extended chair like she's done it hundreds of times and reaches behind Kensi's head to pull another call button towards her. She places it right under Kensi's right hand.

"That better?" she asks.

Kensi nods.

"I'm Kim," she says. "Do you remember me from earlier?" she asks.

Kensi shakes her head.

"There was a lot going on." Nurse Kim says. "Well, I'm stationed right outside and only go between this room and the one next door so I won't be far. Does anything hurt?"

Kensi nods. "My neck," and it comes out as more of a cough than anything else.

Nurse Kim nods and eases her forward. Kensi winces. "I'm sorry – I just want to make sure your incision is still sealed up." She peals the gauze and bandage back and Kensi wishes she had stuck with the earlier pain. Her body hasn't moved in who knows how long and everything, from her head, to her neck to her hips, aches. "It looks good." Kim says, easing her back down, "I'll get you some pain meds and some water. Are you cold?"

Kensi shakes her head.

"We could always steel his blanket," Kim smirks; she throws a glance over his shoulder. "Congratulations, by the way. What a gorgeous ring."

Kim is shifting her pillows so she doesn't see Kensi's look of complete confusion. What. Ring?

Kim pulls her stethoscope from around her neck, explaining she's just going to have a quick listen to Kensi's breathing before pulling her blanket back up. "I'll be right back," she says. And Kensi hopes that she will return with a highly potent narcotic.

Kensi spends the less than two minutes that she is alone, staring at her left hand. Though she can't feel any weight on it, she knows her eyes aren't deceiving her. There is no ring there. It doesn't surprise her that the nurse and the doctor from earlier both referred to Deeks as her fiancé. He's been throwing that term around ever since he their conversation at work.

It bugs her, but only a little. She wants that romantic moment. She wants her heart to leap and for it to be perfect, but she also knows that Martin Deeks is a man of truth and practicality. And in a time like this, he'd be only lying to himself and everyone around them if he didn't call her his fiancé. As for the ring, though…that's a question that will be hard for her not to ask him. Gorgeous, huh?

Soon the nurse returns and she pushes some painkillers in Kensi's IV. "That should help," she says. Her other hand holds a cup of water and she holds it out for Kensi to sip. She's over eager to have her voice back, if she can't have her arm and her leg, she damn well wants her voice. "Easy," Kim warns. "Choking will not feel fun."

Kensi drains the cup and exhales. "Thank you," she says. And it is almost clear as day.

4:12am

He had fallen asleep sometime after midnight. The lights in the hallway had been dimmed and his favorite of Kensi's nurses had promised to be quiet during her rounds. Nurse Kim had brought him a pillow and a blanket and congratulated him on surviving him the tunnel. He had smiled and thanked her.

And so he'd had stared at Kens for a while, waiting for her eyes to flutter open again.

Soon after she had woken earlier in the evening, the night shift of her medical team had descended on the room and preformed a full examination. She had no feeling, and no use of the entire left side of her body from the neck down.

The confirmation of their suspicion sunk the room like a brick in water. Kensi looked like her world had ended. Their hope was that vigorous therapy could reverse all of the damage. She was young, she was healthy, and she would be determined. It was all in her favor.

The commotion had exhausted her. Kensi fell asleep while the on-duty neurologist was still speaking with him.

Once the room had quieted, Deeks had paced for a couple of moments, running through everything that the Doctors had said. She had no use of her arm and leg now, but that could change. With hard work, and man did Kensalina work hard, she would get it back. And so that was what he would hold on to. That was what they would hold onto.

He had moved to the other side of her bed, wanting to be able to hold the hand that could respond to his touch and leaned back against the chair. He was exhausted but he was definitely not leaving her side. She was back. She was bruised, but she was back. And it was that and the idea that together they would get through this that lulled him to sleep once Kim brought him a pillow and blanket.

He slept for several hours, waking sometime after three in the morning. His body was screaming at him. Marty Deeks was too old to be sleeping in a chair.

He looked over at his sleeping fiancé. Her ring felt like it was burning a whole in his pocket. She was awake now. She could say yes, but was that what he wanted? Was that what she wanted? Kensi had been right. She deserved romance. And so he wouldn't propose until she could have that.

He watched her for while, resisting the urge to touch her. Deeks didn't want to disturb her. Her body needed all of the rest that it could get and so he dozed in and out of sleep and checking every so often to make sure that she was okay.

"Deeks?" Her voice pulled him out of the fog of being only half awake.

"Yeah, yeah. What's wrong?" he sprung forward.

"Can I have some water?"

"Oh yeah, course." He said. He ran his hand through his hair, looking for water before he saw a cup on the tray table. He grabbed it and held the straw for her.

"Better?" He asked when she was done.

She nodded and he reached to brush some of her hair out of her face.

"How are you feeling?"

"Less…drugged." She said.

"Yeah, you look amazing. Certainly not what I would look like after being in a coma."

She rolled her eyes at him, but it lacked the umpf that she usually had.

"Were you hurt?" She asked

He took her hand and laced his fingers through hers. "Just a few cuts and scrapes." He squatted down beside her.

"Sit with me?"

"I'm not going anywhere." He reminded. And he was only a little bit horrified that she actually thought he would be going somewhere.

"No, up here."

He hesitated. "Baby, I don't want to hurt you." He ran his knuckles down her cheek.

"Deeks," she pleaded. And the crack in her voice broke his heart.

So he gently moved her just a little over on the bed, terrified that he was going to compound some issue. "You okay?"

She nodded, but he knew she was in pain. He slipped his shoes off and eased himself next to her, his arm wrapping around her head. He couldn't say he was comfortable but she was quick to nuzzle her head into his side and it was the greatest feeling in the world.

He held her in silence for a couple minutes and then he felt his shirt dampen.

"Baby," he tried to soothe her. "Don't cry. It's okay. You're okay."

"I'm scared," she said.

"I know. I do. But you're…you're stronger than Supergirl - physically and mentally. So we're gonna do this, okay?"

She gripped his shirt.

"I've got you." He promised. And he squeezed her just a little bit tighter.

She nodded.

"We're partners. In everything."

"Someone said I was your fiancé." And he could hear the smile in her voice.

"That news to you?" He asked, knowingly. Their banter lightened his heavy heart. His Kens. She was still right here.

"No." she said. "But the ring is."

Deeks paused. He didn't know how that information got to her. "You made a request." He said and he kissed the side of her head. "I'll deliver."

A/N: Heyo. I'm Caro. Some of you know me as a sappy NCIS writer, but I'd like to introduce myself to those who don't. There's way more where this came from and I'm always looking for prompts so feel free to send some along. I'm on tumblr as atlolehvad.