Hi!
This is something that kept niggling at me after I watched the last ep (5x16), so I decided to do a one-shot. It's not what I think will or should happen on the show, just a scenario that unfolded in my head and that I had to write.

R&R & hope you enjoy the story :).

*Disclaimer: I own nothing.

*Also, I apologize in advance for my love for a certain fruit...and, of course, any errors I might have made/overlooked.

S.

"Kensi…"

"Don't," she said, quietly, but forcefully.

She was standing in the interrogation room at the boat shed.

Deeks was behind her to her left, while Sam stood close to the door on the right. Callen had just secured their suspect and was now standing next to the table. Handcuffed to that table was the man she had found in Afghanistan.

They had flown in three hours ago, and it had been an unpleasant three hours since then.

Scratch that, she thought, it had been an unpleasant 20-plus hour journey, and an unpleasant three months before that.

And she was in a foul mood.

She hadn't gotten the time to properly greet her team, she hadn't gone home yet, and she had exchanged a total of maybe 20 words with her partner, before they were ordered to take Jack back to the boat shed for questioning. Granger and Hetty had disappeared, claiming they would catch up.

"I just want to say-"

"Don't bother."

"You don't even know what I was going to say."

"You were going to thank me."

Jack leaned back in his chair, his eyebrows shooting up for a second.

"Well, you could've shot me, and you didn't, so I feel like I should say thank you. Even if you don't want to hear it."

She scowled, hoping he would drop it and just shut up until Hetty got there.

She didn't want thanks from Jack.

The man she had found through her rifle scope wasn't anybody she knew, wasn't her fiancé, wasn't the man she had agreed to marry years ago, wasn't the first man who had given her some kind of home, and wasn't the man who, when he proposed, had taken her hiking for a weekend and had spelled out "marry me" with firewood and had almost accidentally burned down their cabin and caused a forest fire.

He wasn't hers anymore, and they were, for all intents and purposes, complete strangers, and have been for years.

"Should've", she corrected.

"What?"

I should've shot you, Kensi thought, but she didn't say it. It wasn't that she wanted him dead, she was just angry at everything and nothing in particular, angry at her current circumstances.

He seemed to think about it for a second.

"So, why didn't you?", he continued when he connected the dots.

"I missed."

His laugh was so loud and unexpected that she almost jumped out of her skin.

"You missed. Is that what you told your boss?"

"How long have you been working with the Taliban?" she asked casually.

He looked away, and she inspected her nails carefully, knowing Jack wasn't going to just start spilling all his secrets, and not wanting to make eye-contact with Deeks, or Sam, or Callen for that matter.

She grimaced internally when she cleaned under the nail of her right index finger and a little ball of dirt formed at the corner and stuck to her finger pad.

She badly needed a shower, and apparently a manicure, even though she had never gotten one before in her life.

She could feel sand in her hair and ears, and sticking to her skin and clothes.

She had left the desert but had clearly brought some of it back with her.

Kensi glanced quickly at the man across from her.

Some things should've stayed in that desert, she thought.

"Kaykay.."

"Do NOT call me that."

The use of his old nickname for her had pierced through the cool exterior she had been trying to maintain and her voice was a little louder than she wanted it to be.

"I'm not the enemy."

"No? What were you doing with Afghan tribesmen in the middle of enemy territory?"

He didn't answer. Instead he looked her over.

"I can't believe you're NCIS. Special Agent Kensi Blye. Looks good on you, babe."

He glanced at the men.

"Which one is your partner?"

When she didn't immediately reply, he shrugged and added, "no, that's fine, I can guess."

"At first I thought maybe that one"- he indicated Sam- "he looks extremely pissed off and like he's trying to come up with creative ways to hurt me."

"But now the blond one here is just as tense, but looks somewhat concerned too. And he's listening more intently to you, than he is to me. I don't think he cares as much about what I have to say. I think he's more worried about you- his partner."

He waited as if he had just performed a magic trick and expected applause and a prize.

"Somebody alert the media."

Deeks' easy drawl cut through the tension, although Kensi hadn't expected him to answer.

"Kens, call Sir Arthur Conan Doyle-"

"…and tell him we found Sherlock? Yeah, slight problem, he's very dead, Deeks."

"I've got two words for you. Ouija board," and then he paused and shook his head. "Actually, no. Steven. Moffat. Call him."

She almost laughed. It wasn't what he was saying so much as it were his voice and his proximity. He was trying to let her know he was there. A Deeks-style show of support and she couldn't help shooting him a quick smile in thanks.

"That's cute," Jack interrupted, smirking, looking at Deeks again, "detective, right? You must have to do your job twice as well to compensate for a cop, Kay-"

It was that nickname.

It was that and that grating façade that did it.

Before she could control herself she had taken out her gun and slammed it on the table, reaching across with the other hand to grab the front of Jack's shirt and yank his face close to hers.

"Let me make myself clear, you traitorous jackass. Had I done my job, you would be in Afghanistan, lying in the dirt with a bullet in you. Now, if I lose my job over this, I will correct that mistake. And if my boss walks in and she orders me to shoot you, I will still put a bullet in you. GOT IT?"

"Kensi", Callen warned again. She had heard him the first time, but had been too busy grabbing Jack.

She pushed him back into his chair, letting go of his shirt.

"Don't thank me yet," she grumbled- or would have grumbled, but her voice wobbled a little. The rollercoaster-ride of emotions she had been experiencing since she first saw Jack's face was taking its toll on her and she was losing the tight grip she had on control.

She straightened and took a step backwards, bumping into Deeks who had moved closer to her in the scuffle.

He tugged at the hand holding the gun and she quickly holstered it, not breaking eye-contact with Jack, who had finally stopped smiling.

"Kensi…"

"Argh, what happened to you?" she asked.

And that was the problem, she realized.

She wanted to know. The Kensi of 7 years ago wanted to hear the reason for his disappearance, for leaving without any kind of explanation, for never coming back. She had moved on with her life, but she had never gotten closure, had not been able to calmly, and resolutely close that door to the past behind her and it had stayed with her –he had stayed with her- like a splinter.

And, although she had meant what she'd just said, she was wishing she wasn't going to end up shooting him, and a part of her wished he wasn't the White Ghost, wasn't the bad guy, because he wasn't bad when she knew him, and even when she had been angry and brokenhearted she had wished him only the best. That he could lose the nightmare that was his PTSD and find some degree of normalcy and peace again.

She was about to apologize and take it back, not wanting him to think she hated him, but didn't get a chance. Callen's phone beeped, signaling an incoming text.

He threw a glib "don't go anywhere" at Jack and gestured to the rest to follow him out of the room.

"You alright?", he asked Kensi as soon as the door shut behind them.

"Fine. What did Hetty want?"

They looked at her for a second before Callen broke the silence.

"They have been delayed by Washington."

Sam shifted restlessly. "What now? Do we handle the interrogation without her?"

"No, we are to wait for her and Granger."

Kensi went to stand closer to the screen displaying the interrogation room and the man currently in it. Next to the live feed footage were old photos of Jack and documents that Nell and Eric have probably dug up. She tapped on one of the documents and it opened, revealing a lease agreement.

The flashback came quickly, like watching an old film on fast forward.

It was Jack's second day back from overseas and she had woken up alone to the smell of coffee and bacon. He had left a note for her on the counter saying he would be back with a surprise for her.

The surprise had turned out to be a woman in her late thirties in a plaid suit and sensible heels, carrying a briefcase which, Kensi soon found out, contained the lease to a small house with a yard near the military base.

Kensi scrolled down and zoomed in on the signatures, ignoring the growing lump in the back of her throat. Jack's was a crazy scribble. They had both been laughing at the time of signing, giddy with excitement over their own place and their recent betrothal.

Next to Jack's signature was one she hadn't seen in a long time.

"What's that?", Sam asked, jarring her back into the present.

"The contract for our house", she said quietly.

It wasn't the signature she used these days. She had forgotten all about it, because it was such a little thing. She had only signed her name like that on notes and care-packages to Fallujah- for Jack.

It was a girly squiggle that read "Kaykay Blye" instead of "Kensi Blye". The realtor hadn't even noticed.

"Kens-"

She swallowed and gathered herself.

"I'm fine, just in serious need of a shower and a change of clothes. Do I have time to go home and come back?"

Callen studied her face and nodded briefly.

"Go. You have an hour. We might start without you, but that's not a problem. Get back as soon as possible though."

It wasn't until she reached the car that she remembered that she didn't have the keys, because Deeks had driven them.

She sighed, and she felt so exhausted and alone all of a sudden that she almost sat down next to the car and cried.

It took all she had to shove it down and turn back towards the boat shed.

She jerked to a halt as she saw Deeks. He was already walking towards her with the keys dangling in his hand, and pressed the button to unlock the car.

"Get in."

"You don't have to-"

He sighed, took her by the elbow and steered her towards the passenger side.

"Shut up, Kens. You're too tired to drive. You don't want to be a danger on the road, do you?"

He shut the door when she was seated and climbed in on his side.

"You okay?"

"No."

She felt him study her profile. They were about 8 minutes into the drive home and this was the first time either of them had spoken.

She took a deep breath, trying to calm her swirling emotions and turned to lean against the door to look at him while he drove. He was tightly wound, his jaw set, and his eyes restless, with purple shadows underneath them. It wasn't the image she had had in her mind whenever she had thought of him lying in her bunk at night missing home. She had thought about him talking too fast, saying awkward, inappropriate things, and making her laugh. Whenever she had thought of Deeks he had been smiling or laughing.

She was home now, and they were Kensi and Deeks again, but it was tense and uncomfortable.

"You?", she inquired softly, hating the tension between them.

"No." His voice was low and gruff.

At least they were being honest, she thought.

"Are we?"

She couldn't fault him that question. He looked more weary than tired, really. His fingers drummed nervously on the steering wheel. Jack must have been a shock for him too, and she wasn't handling it well enough to boost his confidence.

"I know this is not the right time," he rushed on. "Things are crap and blown all to hell, and you must be dead on your feet. I'm not trying to pressure you or be insensitive, I promise. I just…"

He trailed off awkwardly and then sighed as if sorry he asked.

She couldn't stand it.

Reaching across the center console, she grabbed the hand nearest to her and slipped her fingers between his, closing her eyes for a second at the comforting touch.

She didn't feel pressured, and she wasn't mad at him for the question, because she got it. He wasn't asking about the awkward situation they were in exactly, just asking for some kind of reassurance that they were still a thing, that she wasn't running, that Jack's reappearance hadn't immediately changed everything.

"Yes. We are."

Deeks looked surprised, maybe not having expected her to reply, but then his lips stretched into a genuine smile, the first she had seen since she'd arrived, and it eased the tightness in her chest.

He pulled into her driveway and switched the engine off, letting go of her hand reluctantly to step out. Before Kensi could do the same he was there, holding the door for her and linking their hands together again.

They reached her front door and Kensi was completely unprepared for the welcome party that awaited her.

She hadn't stepped properly inside yet when a ball of yellow fluff rounded the corner of her couch and flew towards her, knocking her off balance and into Deeks, who could only manage to hold her by the waist as she went down under the added weight.

She landed softly on her butt with Monty in her lap, licking her face frantically, trying to get to both her and Deeks at the same time.

"Ew, ew, Monty, stop", she protested halfheartedly at the slobber, but scratched the dog lovingly behind the ears and then hugged him to her.

She didn't want to move, finally feeling excited to be home, but Monty decided her turn was up and jumped out of her lap to give Deeks a similar greeting.

She picked herself off the floor and smiled down at them.

"I can barely tell you two apart," she teased.

"Har har. Go shower. Or was that it?", meaning Monty's face-licking.

She did an exaggerated shudder of disgust.

"Gross, Deeks", she said, laughing, as she walked into her bedroom, grabbed what she needed, and proceeded to the bathroom.

Kensi walked into the kitchen fully dressed less than 20 minutes later.

She had wanted to linger and enjoy the hot water, but in the end wanting to spend some time with her partner alone before heading back had won out, and she had stuck to a short but efficient shower. She had washed her hair and blow dried it a little, and she felt clean and almost human again, despite the lack of sleep.

Deeks was standing at the counter, making two sandwiches with Monty standing at attention next to him, waiting for Deeks to accidentally drop something.

Deeks didn't pay attention to him. He was too busy mumbling to himself as he added lettuce and cold cuts to each sandwich, and neither of them sensed her as she leaned against the doorway and took in the sight.

"Slice of cheese for Kensalina… two slices for Señor Marty Deeks…"

She had to bite her bottom lip hard to stay quiet.

He reached for an avocado and cut it open.

"Ah-voh-cah-doh", he emphasized quietly in the empty room, and sliced the fruit carefully.

"Did you know-" he began, looking up briefly as if he was speaking to an audience, completely unaware that he actually had one, "the avocado tree does fine on its only lonely and technically has everything it needs- all the equipment for survival, flowering, and self-pollinating... But unless there's some serious wind magic going on, the avocado tree can't pollinate itself. To produce a viable crop it needs another avocado tree, despite having everything that other tree has.
And - and this is the best part- not just any other avocado tree, but one that complements it. There are thousands of different varieties... that we know of.

Basically, the avocado tree chooses its partner, and if that's not love, Monty", he looked down and addressed the dog solemnly, as he finished the sandwiches, "I don't know what is."

"Don't look at me like that," he scolded the dog who had tilted his head and was now staring at his master questioningly.

"Had your girlfriend been away for 3 months, you would be talking to yourself too, buddy." Girlfriend. Huh.

"About the complex love-life of avocado trees?"

As much as she was enjoying herself, she was hungry and that sandwich looked mouthwateringly delicious, so she interrupted the one-man show.

Said man, however, whipped around so fast that he dropped one of the avocados. He reached for it and Kensi watched as if in slow motion as the little pyramid of avocados he held in his other hand wobbled, the top one rolling off the other three and off the edge of Deeks' arm.

Deeks, who noticed that he now has two escaping avocados, dropped to his knees, trying to stop the right one from hitting the ground with the help of his entire body, and catch the other avocado with his left hand, slamming his elbow hard against the counter top in the process.

She picked up the avocado that had rolled near her feet, laughing hard at Deeks' shocked expression as he knelt there between rolling fruit.

"How long have you been standing there?", he asked dryly.

She sucked in air, but couldn't stop laughing long enough to answer.

He grimaced, and then looked so sheepish that she started up again. She walked around him picking up the other four avocados, trying to suppress the sounds coming out of her mouth, but only managing to walk around with shaking shoulders, sniggering.

She put the avocados on the table and then turned to the source of her amusement, who was now leaning against the counter looking embarrassed.

It was her turn to look sheepish as she walked towards him. She grabbed his arm so she could inspect the slight bruise already forming on his elbow.

"Ouch," she said, sobering. She started to move away to grab an ice-pack from the freezer, but his arms came around her and held her to him.

"God, that's nice," he exhaled.

"What is?"

"Seeing you laugh again, even if it's at my expense. Actually, especially if it's at my expense", he smiled happily down at her.

"Missed the verbal abuse you suffer with me, didn't you? I will have to make up for it", she joked.

His mouth on her neck felt heavenly and she breathed him in, feeling more of the tension leave her.

"Well, sugar bear, if you're going to make up for a few things I think you could start with a few other- ow!"

She had pinched him on the stomach.

"Pinching is not what I meant!"

She extracted herself from his grasp and tossed him a pack of frozen peas for his elbow.

"You were so subtle, I must have misunderstood."

She batted her eyelashes at him innocently.

"Come on, let's eat, Señor Marty Deeks!"

Kensi giggled as she saw his eyes widen at how much she had overheard.

"Put your friends in the fridge so that they don't overripe", she added, gesturing to the avocados she had placed on the table, and grabbed the two plates with their sandwiches on her way out.

"They're not my friends."

"Sure sounded like you knew them well."

He laughed, joining her on the couch and taking his plate from her.

"You're just jealous of our bond."

Kensi smirked. "They changed the name from ahuacatl to avocado when they started growing them here in the U.S. because ahuacatl was too difficult for Americans to pronounce."

"The avocado is roughly the size of a 16-week-old fetus", Deeks countered.

"'Ahuacatl' meant 'testicle'."

"…Wait, what?"

"Apparently the Aztecs called them that because they hung from the tree in pairs," she explained, amused at his expression.

"Okay, you win." He laughed and continued eating, but Kensi could have sworn he had whispered, "Wikipedia", before taking a bite.

"Thanks for dinner, Marty."

She ate her sandwich and pretended not to see his surprise at her words.

She was in the living room checking her gun when he came back from the bedroom, shrugging into his jacket.

It was black leather and hooded, and most probably new because she hadn't seen it before. It made him look edgier and reminded her of his alias, Max.

Kensi would've been okay with Max never again making an appearance, but as she watched he lifted his head and caught her staring. He smiled goofily at her before approaching her slowly, and he was so Deeks that all thoughts of Max fled her mind and she gave silent thanks for that jacket instead.

He looked down at the gun in her hand and shook his head pensively. She put the gun away and looked up at him.

"What?" she asked at his rueful expression.

"It's just not what I pictured your return to be like, that's all."

"Oh? There was no imaginary scenario where I show up with both Granger and MY EX? I don't know how you didn't see that coming..."

She started laughing.

Mostly because she was sleep-deprived, but then Deeks joined in, and it felt so good that she kept laughing, stepping closer and running her hands over his chest before wrapping them around him and snuggling into him.

"What did you picture?" she whispered into his shirt.

"Well, picking you up at the airport would've been a happy occasion, for one. And we would have done nothing but laze around with Monty for a week. No OSP, no work. Sleep in, have breakfast at noon, swimming at sunset, dinner in bed. And lots of ice cream."

She groaned and Deeks chuckled softly.

"That sounded exactly how ice cream tastes like," she whimpered.

Deeks traced patterns on her back with one hand while the other one played with her hair, and she was surprised she wasn't literally a puddle at his feet, because she felt like molten wax, like warm butter, and she just wanted to turn the lights off, pull him into bed and sleep in his arms for a few hours- or days.

"I missed you, Kens."

"We talked."

"Not enough."

She smiled against his chest, knowing how he felt. Talking on the Sat-phone and chatting for 15 minutes every other day had been a salvation from insanity, a dim light in the darkness, but it didn't compare to this: his scent, his voice, his heart beating steadily under her ear, his warmth surrounding her. After the first two months in the cold she thought she'd never be warm again.

"Can I ask a question?"

"Oh no," she whined. Questions that begin like that were never fun questions, and she didn't want to think right now, let alone carefully construct her thoughts.

The silence stretched out and she frowned, reluctantly lifting her head to look at him.

"Well?" she prodded.

He leaned down slowly and pressed his lips to hers. It was a ridiculously gentle kiss, their lips barely touching, and too damn short in Kensi's book, but those few neurons in her brain that had still been firing, trying to help with the walking and talking, short-circuited and died, leaving her completely numb.

"What's with the nickname?"

She groaned again.

It seems she was still capable of noise, and a groan summed it up for her nicely.

"Okay, we can talk later- or not. We have to go anyway. Our hour is up."

She groaned again, feeling him pull away from her both emotionally and physically.

She held on, not letting him budge.

"It's not that I don't want to tell you."

She didn't. Not because she wanted to hide anything, but because it wasn't important, and okay, fine, she didn't want to discuss her ex with Deeks, the thought made her uncomfortable. Also, it was Deeks, and it was going to stay in his brain and she will probably never be able to eat donuts again without him thinking about it.

"It's okay, I don't need to know."

"Shut up", she whispered. "We really do need to go, and I just wanted to be us before we go back out there where- how did you put it? - things are shitty and blown all to hell and back?"

"Okay", he stated simply, but she couldn't tell what that meant.

She moved away, patting Monty on the head and reaching for her jacket.

"There was a SuperTarget close to the base. The first time we were there we had split up and Jack was paged."

Deeks looked deceptively nonchalant, as if he didn't want to say or do anything to interrupt. She rolled her eyes and continued.

"He made an employee call for me over the intercom, but he noticed there was a Krispy Kreme in the store, so the lady addressed the message to Krispy Kreme, which she shortened to "KK". She kept repeating over the loudspeaker "it's an emergency, Kay-kay". Apparently Krispy Kreme had answered back saying "Kaykay, on her way" when I left. It's silly, but Jack thought it was hilarious and it just stuck."

She shrugged dismissively.

Deeks grabbed the keys off the table with one hand and her hand with the other.

"Considering your love for donuts, it's pretty apt."

"Hmm," was all she said, looking down at their joined hands. She wasn't sure she was ever going to get used to holding hands with Deeks. It was still so new, and so weird.

"Can we go now?" she demanded, uncomfortable with the whole sharing process.

"Yup."

And then, much to her surprise, he chuckled.

"One more thing…" He abruptly closed the distance between them and kissed her.

It was a simple, rough kiss, no longer than a heartbeat, but he pulled away and looked at her with annoyance while she glared back as if she was irritated, and he bumped into her on purpose as they were walking to the car- and it was perfect.

It was good to be home, she thought.