Chapter 1

Kensi looked out the windows into the Los Angeles sunlight. The sun was barely up and shades of rose and orange were streaking into the bullpen.

"Kensi?" Callen asked, and she snapped from her faze.

"What?"

"I asked you four times to get the Brandon case file." Had he really? She really hadn't been paying attention.

"Oh. Sorry," she said, pulling the manila folder from the stacks on her desk and handing it to him.

"Kensi, you okay?" Sam asked, drumming his fingers on his thigh as he usually did when he was concerned. Kensi chose to ignore that observation.

"I'm fine," she said, and waved him off, but as she waved her hand caught a glint of sunlight.

On her left hand was a beautiful silver ring with a flower-shaped diamond in the center surrounded by four tiny sapphires. Just seeing it glint on her finger made Kensi subconsciously smile as she admired it.

"Oh, she's thinking about her boy again," Sam commented, and she shot him an annoyed look. "Callen, why did we keep Kensi when we should have kept Deeks?"

"Because Deeks was already LAPD, and Kensi was already NCIS," Callen added. "It made sense to just send Deeks back to LAPD."

"Not when it means Kensi goes daydreamer on us all the time," Sam said.

"Be quiet both of you," Kensi snapped, and then her face softened into a smile.

"Okay, something needs to be done about her," Sam pointed out. "She's going to drive me insane."

"Agreed," said a voice behind Kensi, and she spun when she heard it. "Something needs to be done."

Her favorite guy in the world was standing behind her, sandy blond hair shining in the sunlight and his characteristic smirk on his face.

"Marty!" she yelled, and launched at him. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close for a long, deep kiss. To Kensi he tasted delicious: a little bit like peppermint, a little bit like coffee, and a little bit like mustard.

"Hey gorgeous," he whispered in her ear.

"You came back. I missed you," she said. "I thought I wouldn't see you for another three days because of the undercover op."

"Caught the sleaze bag earlier than we thought, so I went home, took a shower-"

"Thank God," she teased, and he kissed her temple.

"-and thought I would come and say hi." He let go of one side of her waist so they could face Callen and Sam.

"Hey guys," Deeks said.

"Hey there, sunshine," Sam offered.

"Sunshine? Oh, my hair. Well, now that I'm back at PD I'm outside more, not cooped up in the office," Deeks added. "How've you been, Callen?"

"Fine. Your fiancée needs to get her brain screwed back on straight," Callen observed, and Kensi blushed.

"D'you hear that, Kensi? You need to stop thinking about me," Deeks teased.

"Not going to happen," Kensi said, and kissed him again.

"Miss Blye, Mr. Deeks," Hetty commented, making the two nearly jump. "I trust this is not a usual occurrence?"

"No, Hetty," Kensi replied, embarrassed. "Marty just finished with his UC op, so he came to say hi. I doubt any of you have seen him since he left NCIS in March."

"I did actually see Sam at one of our old cafes a couple weeks back," Deeks commented.

"You didn't say hi," Sam said, acting hurt.

"You were talking to a Russian arms dealer, Sam," Deeks added. "Figured you were working a case."

"Fair enough," Sam said.

A loud whistle sounded from the upstairs balcony. Everyone turned to see Eric holding his laptop and urging his crew upstairs. Callen and Sam were the first up, followed by Hetty, followed by Kensi's replacement partner and LAPD liaison (Deeks tried not to think that this guy was replacing him) Andy Cartwright, followed by Deeks and Kensi, holding hands.

Kensi had become quite comfortable in her life. She started dating Marty, then he proposed, which boomeranged him back to PD ops, which got her Cartwright, and now she was living in an apartment with Deeks and still working at NCIS. It was perfect.

When they all reached MTAC, Kensi was further reminded of the changes that had occurred in the span of a year. Eric's desk, which used to be crowded with tech devices and papers and formulas and codes and other miscellaneous items was now fully functioning and organized for all things work-related, and he had a corkboard above his computer that had over thirty pictures of Eric and Abby at various places during their cross-country nerd-off challenge.

That irritating fount of infinite wisdom known as Nell had appeared at his side, pointing out anomalies in the programming to Callen and Sam.

"So this is what's up," Eric said, pulling up photos and videos as he explained the information. It took all of the focus she had to keep on what Eric was saying and not the hand that was currently sitting on her ass.

"And so," Hetty said, "because of the major psychological problems with this case, one of our old teammates will be returning to assist us."

Kensi knew what that meant. She prayed she was wrong. And she failed, evidently, as she could feel a very tall presence behind her.

"Well isn't this adorable," Nate said from behind her, indicating Deeks' hand on her butt. Kensi used her left hand on Deeks' shoulder to turn and face him, but that seemed to make Nate's tone even more sarcastic than it already was. "A ring? Oh, and a beautiful one at that. This is just so precious, Kens." Kensi cringed at the nickname.

"Hi, Nate," she whispered.

(A/N): Hey y'all. I know, I'm on fire. two fics in two days. Well, don't get used to it. But enjoy it while you can. And d'you know how you can enjoy it most?

Read and Review: its more addicting than pistachios.