Updates for re-readers: A couple of chapters ended up published out of order. They've now been moved to their correct chronological location. If you happen to peruse reviews, chapters 2 & 3 were published as 14 & 15. Additionally, several chapters have received minor error/grammatical corrections.

A/N: Starting with the cliffhanger at the end of 5x09 ("Recovery") before Kensi heads to Afghanistan, my intention is to fill in some gaps going all the way on through the events of 6x11 ("Humbug") when they officially start dating.

Much of what we see transpire between them suggests that while they hadn't defined their relationship, in my opinion they're still probably knockin' boots in their spare time. I have no proof to offer… just my own wishful thinking and a couple of suggestive lines from the show's script. Consider this a later-seasons connected collection of 'partners with privileges' that will hopefully offer some support for my theory. If nothing else, it should be fun to read.

Disclaimer: If I actually owned any of these characters or the show(s) they're in, I wouldn't need to post this disclaimer. Not that I technically need to post this disclaimer. I just like writing snarky 'legal' disclaimers.

Rating: M…

… Seriously… like— all of the chapters are rated "M." It's literally all I write. Why would I write anything else?

(Chapter 1: Shuffling the Deck)

A/N: So let's start off with my take on what happened after they left the restaurant in 5x09 ("Recovery"). This plot line has been written so well by so many people, but it can't hurt to contribute another log to the fire.

"…And we've been over this, about how you never say what you mean. And if this is the way it's gonna be, then I don't know how we're ever—"

"I don't want to be with you here right now," Deeks blurted so suddenly and bluntly that he surprised himself, as well as Kensi.

"What?" she asked, perplexed and on the verge of feeling hurt.

Deeks held her steady gaze, struggling to maintain composure as he prepared to tell her, "I want to be at my place right now… with you."

Kensi stared at him open mouthed, considering what he had just said. Deeks waited patiently, and cocked his head slightly in the tiniest motion towards the door. Still, Kensi said nothing. She took a breath, then slowly, deliberately, she got up from the fancy restaurant chair and headed towards the door.

Deeks breathed deep and paused before following her. Did he blow it? Was she pissed? It had been hard to make out her expression, but he was fairly sure she wasn't angry with him. When she looked back at him from the entryway of the building to be sure he was following, he thought he saw a faint smile.

They walked in silence through the parking lot to where their cars were parked. Deeks climbed in his car, then looked at her with concern when he saw her continuing on to hers.

She glanced back at him and confirmed, "Your place?"

Deeks smiled and nodded while he cleared his throat enough to manage, "Yeah. See you there?"

He was glad she was driving ahead of him as he was pretty sure he'd have crashed by now if he constantly had to look in his review mirror to make sure she was still there.

After the longest 12 minute drive he'd ever experienced, they finally made it back to his building. He parked his car in his garage stall, unlocked his front door and waited expectantly in his doorway for her to appear from around the corner up the road where she parked. She wouldn't meet his gaze as she walked up the garden path to where he stood.

When Kensi had joined him inside and closed the door behind them, locking the rest of the world out for the night, Deeks just stood there unsure of what to do. She'd been to his place hundreds of times before, but they both knew this was different. He had made the first move of getting her to come over, but he wanted her to decide the direction they would go from here.

Still she remained silent, but held his gaze as she moved closer to him. The low light from the hall way accentuated the difference in her eyes. His own eyes pierced intensely into hers, searching for any indication of what was to come next. He didn't have to wait much longer.

Gently, she put her hands on his chest, running them slowly up to his shoulders and behind his neck. She pulled him in and pressed into his waiting lips, tentatively at first, then more deliberately and with more purpose.

Reluctantly, Deeks broke the kiss. "We should talk about this."

"Or not," she responded by covering his mouth with hers again.

"We really should talk about this," he tried again between her demanding kisses.

"I really don't want to talk about this," she said with finality as she began to push him slowly in the direction of his bedroom.

Deeks knew he was right; knew that she was the one who had insisted they needed to communicate better. But now that the time had come, it seemed she would rather not. Perhaps she was too afraid that one or both of them would come up with a reason to not do this. He couldn't help but agree that it was an unacceptable risk.

Never allowing their mouths to break contact, even for their already shortening breaths, they bumped into walls and door frames on their clumsy journey to Deeks' bedroom. They had both managed to lose their shoes along the way before they finally crashed down on the soft mattress.

Kensi pulled herself up the bed and Deeks shifted above her, settling down so his forehead pressed against hers. Kisses that had been desperate and passionate only moments before were now languid and sweet, as a silence settled around them broken only by their occasional soft moans.

Kensi pulled away to look at him. Deeks could see the concern in her soft gaze, even as the desire he also saw in her eyes made it nearly impossible to not try and kiss her worries away.

"What's wrong?" he asked her softly.

She looked at him carefully. The light from the hallway again illuminating her eyes. "You know if we do this, this changes everything."

"So what do you want to do?" he asked cautiously.

"I don't want to have to choose."

"Then don't. Then don't choose. We don't—" he tried to convince her, desperation edging in his voice.

"You know that's not how it works." she interrupted. "What do you think's going to happen?"

"I don't know." he said shaking his head. "I don't care."

She shook her head in response and fought back a tear as she gripped his shirt tighter. He waited anxiously for her to answer. No one had ever made him feel like this and he hated it as much as he loved it.

"What are you doing to me, Deeks?" she asked, her voice cracking under the strain of several emotions.

"I'm falling in love with you," his soft words were spoken against her lips as her hands came up to cup his face.

Again their caresses grew more voracious as Kensi worked to push his sweatshirt off his shoulders. His own hands were busy with the buttons on her grey shirt, and in quick order they were both left in nothing but their undergarments.

Kensi arched into his touch below him, pinned by his hard muscles yet completely in control. Deeks was able to remove her bra with little resistance. Her breasts finally bare to him for the first time, he completely froze and gawked at them. She smiled at his bewitched expression and ran her hands up the smooth plane of his back in an attempt to break the spell. He dropped a kiss to her lips and gently slid his hand over the swell of her breasts; first the left, then the right, caressing her nipples lightly as he went.

Tender kneads turned into firm squeezes as he peppered kisses down her throat, across her collar bone and finally on each of her soft mounds. She moaned louder when he ran his tongue around each bud, sucking lavishly before releasing her with a satisfied hum.

She whimpered as his mouth abandoned her breasts and continued down her body. Deeks took his time learning each curve of her torso, her tight stomach, and her waist with his lips. But she was getting impatient, so as his hands reached the waistband of her panties, she helped him remove them a little quicker.

"Flowers? How girly," he commented, smiling as he tossed them aside and settled his chest between her legs.

"Says the man with smiley faces on his boxers," she pointed out to him in a breathy voice.

"What can I say?" he asked as he lifted each of her legs above his shoulders. "I'm happy in my pants."

Rather than retort at his lame (but accurate) joke, Kensi let out a gasp as his scruff tickled her inner thighs. Surprising him, she tugged at his jaw, then his shoulders to bring his mouth back up to hers.

"Please," she asked on the verge of begging. Her eyes as dark as he'd ever seen them. "Now."

Deeks didn't need to be told what she was asking for. Her hands had been pushing at his boxers and working to free his substantial erection. With no more preamble and one last look in her eyes he began to push into her. Slowly at first, careful to let her adjust. With each purposeful stroke, he pushed a little deeper, earning a gratifying moan from her kiss swollen lips.

He kept the pace slow. Drawing out almost entirely before burying himself again and again. Each time allowing both of them to feel each bump and ridge, every bit of friction where they were now intimately connected. Kensi tried unsuccessfully to urge him to increase his pace, instead settling for drawing him in more forcefully with her long legs wrapped tightly around his waist.

Kensi was quickly losing control. Her breathing was erratic and she let out a moan or a whimper with each of his movements. Her arms curled around his shoulders, pressing his chest into hers. She latched onto his mouth, taking his lower lip in between hers and released it only to cry out his name as she careened towards an intense climax.

"Oh God, Kens," Deeks growled as he too lost his composure, finally breaking down and slamming into her with speed. He could feel his balls tighten and knew he had only seconds.

A garbled noise and what sounded like his name is all Kensi could manage as she finally succumbed to the pleasure he had given her. Still moving slowly inside her, Deeks came down from his high with her. Delighting in her tight convulsions he could still feel, he whispered her name reverently in her ear.

She turned in his arms as he rolled onto his back, and they pulled the covers up. The sheets clung to their sweaty bodies, but neither could find the energy to care.

They didn't speak. But Kensi pressed an affectionate kiss to his lips and held his gaze warmly for a moment before tucking her head into his neck and she gradually allowed her breathing to slow. Deeks smiled at the revelation that Kensi like to cuddle, and pulled her tighter to him. He wanted to say so many things to her, but feared that he might ruin this otherwise perfect moment. So instead he let her drift to sleep contentedly.

As he held her in his arms, gazing at her sleeping form, Deeks knew that Kensi had been right: this had changed everything. If he had harbored any doubt before, now he knew: there is nothing he wouldn't do to keep her safe from harm. He took solace with the fact that she was here with him now. But with a growing sense of trepidation about what tomorrow might bring, Deeks fell into an uneasy sleep.

Eighteen hours later, all of Deeks' hard earned cautious optimism had been immediately rewarded with a swift kick to the groin from the reality that was their jobs.

"Your partner has been reassigned… A classified mission… Indefinitely." Hetty's words played on a loop in his head as he sat at an intersection on his way home, completely oblivious to the green light in front of him or the impatient honking behind him.

He eventually continued moving and even managed to swing by the store on his way home to pick up some essentials: beer, Kensi's favorite brew; and Haagen-Dazs, her favorite ice cream. Yes, he was hurting. And he knew this was going to be a long 'indefinite' period of time.

As he sat on his couch not really watching an episode of America's Next Top Model. Idly wondering how much weight he might gain on this new diet, it occurred to him again that this might all be his fault. They hadn't been careful enough. The team had immediately picked up on the change in tension between them. Worst of all, he had let it affect him in the field. Angry as he was at Hetty for what he was convinced was a punishment, or at least a preventative attempt at keeping the two partners separated, he only blamed himself and his own lack of self-command.

Deeks had never thought he'd be affected this way. Even on the few occasions he'd gotten too close to a suspect, a source, or even a partner in the past, he had still managed to mostly keep his emotions in control. But as with everything, Kensi was different.

He had been so sure that they could make this work; that they could figure out how to make it work; that he was already learning how to better keep himself in check. He thought he had finally been dealt a winning hand. But Hetty had gone and reshuffled the deck.