Hiatus Fic Challenge #1 – Change One Thing
Alternate ending to 4x11, 'Drive'

"I thought it was on the eighteenth!" Kensi exclaims as her eyes flash to his and Deeks can't tell if she's joking or not.

"Uh, yeah, nice try. Actually, I heard you making dinner reservations, so…" he prompts, assuming she will admit her plans knowing that he overheard her on the phone.

"That was with somebody else," she replies, looking a little mortified.

"Yeah right," he scoffs uncertainly, "What…are you serious?" It hits him then that maybe she's not kidding. "It's my birthday…"

He can't hide the hurt in his voice. They're partners. Friends. Maybe even best friends, and sometimes he thinks they could be more than that someday. And she forgot?

Plastering a fake smile on his face, they turn to toast with the rest of the team. If this is going to be the only birthday celebration he gets, he doesn't want to miss it.

A few minutes later, when he sees her packing up her bag, about to leave, he makes a last ditch effort to get her to confess. She may be a good undercover operative, but she sucks at lying to him.

"Hey, um, I'm the one that's going to dinner, right?" He tries to sound confident as he stage whispers across the bullpen. The silent, apologetic look she gives him feels like a punch to the gut. Not trusting himself to say anything more, he just nods and lets her walk away.

When he makes his way out to the parking lot ten minutes later, he's too busy feeling sorry for himself to notice the figure leaning against the back of his truck.

His birthday has never been a big deal, especially to anyone else, so he rarely even gets disappointed anymore when it comes and goes without much, if any, fanfare. But after two and a half years of this gig with NCIS and with her, he had gotten his hopes up that his 34th birthday might actually be special.

"Another birthday alone," he grumbles to himself, searching his bag for his keys, "Why did I think this year might be different? Because you're an idiot, Marty, that's why."

The sly smile that had been on Kensi's face fell when she heard her partner's mumblings.

Damn it, Kensi, he's really upset.

Suddenly the joke she'd been playing on him didn't seem funny at all.

Truth is, she had forgotten – or not so much forgotten but rather, she hadn't initially realized that today was the eighth. When she finally got a chance to make dinner reservations after their long day, her spur-the-moment idea to make him think that she didn't know it was his birthday had seemed clever – like something he would do. Knowing he had heard her on the phone, she didn't want to confirm right away that the plans she made included him – she hoped maybe she might surprise him a little if he got to thinking she was going out with someone else.

What she hadn't counted on was just how hurt he would be. He hadn't been able to hide the disappointment and now hearing his defeated words, Kensi is chastising herself for not coming clean sooner. She never intended to take it so far, but she had suddenly become shy about divulging the information in front of the entire team.

Exhaling softly, she pushes off the truck and hopes that it's not too late to make it all up to him.

"Deeks?"

He stops abruptly as his hand flies to his chest as his eyes snap up and take in her apologetic expression.

"Geez, Kens," he takes a couple of shallow breaths, "you scared the shit out of me."

She cringes, "Sorry."

Avoiding her gaze, he fumbles with his keys, "Don't you have a dinner date to get to?"

"I do," she nods, "But, Deeks, listen, I—"

"Kens, I'm fine," he says a little too sharply. He doesn't want her pity. "I'll be fine."

He brushes by her, attempting to get into his truck and stop whatever conversation she's trying to start.

"Deeks," she says more forcefully and reaches out to grab whatever she can, ending up with a fistful of stiff cotton as she gets a hold of the back of his gray button-down shirt. She doesn't speak again until he finally turns towards her, though he continues to avoid making any sort of eye contact.

"I didn't forget," her words are barely above a whisper but they're enough to make Deeks finally look her in the eye.

"W-what?" he asks just as softly.

"I didn't… You were right – in the bullpen," she pauses and gives him a small smile. He suddenly looks so hopeful but stays silent, afraid to jump to any more conclusions. "You're the one coming to dinner, Deeks."

For perhaps the first time in their partnership, she has rendered Deeks speechless. He's staring at her and she sees the different emotions was over his features – his eyes widen, his shoulders relax, his jaw drops open just barely – he's surprised and Kensi thinks maybe even a bit relieved.

"Deeks?"

"You didn't forget," he repeats.

"Of course not," she says emphatically – as though he hadn't just been thoroughly convinced that that's exactly what had happened.

"I know we've never done the birthday thing before," she shrugs as if she has to explain why they're doing something now, "but my partner deserves a birthday dinner."

A broad smile splits his face and his eyes are dancing. Despite the rough day, turning thirty-four suddenly feels great because he feels like he's finally found a place in this world where he matters to people.

This thing that he and Kensi have been dancing around for almost two years now may be in a constant state of the unknown, but their partnership – their friendship – it works, and he never knew how badly he needed it until about twenty minutes ago when he thought that maybe she wasn't in it as deeply as he is.

"And dessert?" He presses, already not wanting this night to end.

Kensi lets out a laugh as she releases the breath she hadn't known she was holding. She shakes her head and gives him a knowing glance.

"Right, I'm having dinner with you; I'll be impressed if I get something besides dessert."

"Hey," she smacks his arm lightly, "I eat other food!"

Still grinning at her, he asks, "So what other food are we eating tonight?"

"You'll see," Kensi winks and turns to walk to her car. "Come on, Birthday Boy, I'm driving."

A/N - I actually have a second chapter/follow-up already in mind so this one isn't quite done yet. No promises when it will be up, but it's coming.