A/N: The epilogue is HERE! Summer is officially over :( I'll be crying and cold until next June, so enjoy this last little bit of sunshine! Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed and stuck with me this far!

"I'm going to have a bullet hole tan," Deeks said, fidgeting with the bandage covering his shoulder.

"Leave it alone or I'm taking you back to the hospital," Kensi said from where she lounged next to him.

"Well if you would give me something better to do with my hands…" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

She was not amused. "Three weeks Deeks. The doctor said three weeks."

"Since when are we good at listening to authority figures?"

"If I get you a mai tai, will you stop?"

He grinned at her and he could tell she was rolling her eyes even though she had sunglasses on. "What am I saying? You're never going to stop," she said.

"And you don't want me to."

She sighed, but couldn't stop the smile that spread across her own face. "You are so annoying."

"But cute. Very cute."

"Your saving grace."

Deeks had been released from the hospital the night before and had insisted he was fine to spend the last two days of their vacation recuperating at the hotel. They'd visited Sebastian and Katrina before departing. Sebastian had looked a little worse for the wear but both were smiling and teary eyed as they thanked them for all of their help. It hadn't alleviated all of their guilt, but it had helped to see their neighbors safe and sound.

Now they sat on the beach, watching the waves and other tourists gallivanting around the resort. "Must be nice to only worry about things like weather and a crappy room view ruining your vacation," Kensi said.

"You mean normal people don't add contingencies about being abducted and running for their lives through the Hawaiian mountains as part of their vacation planning?" he asked.

"I don't think they do, no," Kensi said.

"Weird."

"Super weird."

He reached for her hand and they sat silently for a while, just soaking in the sunshine and reveling in surviving yet another horrendous vacation experience.

"I don't want to be this close to the water."

"You're a SEAL. SEALs are supposed to like the water."

"When you sit by the water you're more exposed. When you sit up farther you can see more of the beach."

"Who's coming after you on the beach? Seagulls with machine guns?"

Deeks and Kensi both sat up and turned around. "Oh you have got to be kidding me," Deeks said.

Sam and Callen were maneuvering themselves down the beach between the rows of chairs. Callen had sunscreen on his nose and Sam was wearing an extremely bright pair of board shorts while balancing a cocktail with a little umbrella in one hand. "I quit," Deeks said to Kensi. "No more vacations. We sit at home, in the dark, and if anybody knocks we shoot first and ask questions later."

"Hey guys," Callen said as they got closer. "Mind if we join you?"

"I thought you were going home," Deeks said as they sat down.

"Well we flew all the way here," Callen said. "And this hotel has really great reviews on Yelp."

"And you two aren't allowed to be out without adult supervision anymore so…" Sam shrugged and settled back into his lounger.

"Unbelievable," Kensi said.

"What's unbelievable is that you haven't offered to buy us a drink yet. We did save your lives after all," Callen said. "Again."

"I had the situation under control," Deeks said.

"If your definition of control is bleeding out on the ground with the bad guys closing in, then yeah, totally," Sam said.

"Hey! You didn't see my daring escape from the clutches of two of the baddest baddies ever to walk this island. I saved all our lives. Tell 'em about the Harry Houdini babe," Deeks said.

"That sounds dirty," Callen said. "We don't want to know what happened before we found you."

"Yeah whatever happens in your hotel room stays there," Sam said, slipping on a pair of sunglasses and leaning back.

"If you're invading our vacation it's your own fault if you get TMI about our private life," Deeks told them.

"It's a risk we'll have to take. You two are too important to lose," Callen said.

"Just pretend we're not here," Sam said. "We're like any other strangers on the beach."

Deeks looked at Kensi who shrugged. "It's not like we have a choice. They'll just track us anyway."

"We'll ditch the watches."

"We've got 'em in other places," Sam said.

"Places you have no idea about," Callen said.

"Okay I'm never apologizing for anything you guys accidentally hear or see again. You are way too involved in our lives," Kensi said.

"Again, you're welcome. Now if you don't mind, I have some reading to do," Sam said.

Kensi looked at her partner and he shook his head.. "Don't look at me. They were your friends first."

Hours, and many mai tais, later, they sat at dinner. They'd attempted several times to ditch their friends to no avail. It was a strange mix of annoying and adorable tending far more toward the former. They'd finally decided to head to seek food in an attempt to gain some semblance of alone time.

Kensi looked up to find Deeks watching her as she perused the menu. "What?" she asked.

"It's just that if I'm going to spend my vacations running through jungles and being shot, I'm glad I'm doing it with you."

She smiled. "Me too. Does that mean future vacations are back on the table?"

He reached for her hand and squeezed it. "Babe, wherever you go, I'm there."

"So are we," Sam said, from the next table over.

"Yep," Callen added.

Kensi and Deeks looked at each other and smiled. Maybe vacation wasn't so bad after all. Not if you did it with people you loved; even if they were extremely annoying and overprotective.

A/N: Happy Fall! See you soon for the SEASON 10 PREMIERE!