A/N: I know, it's been too long, and I am so sorry. But life has been hectic as hell.

Anyways, here's the conclusion. It was always meant to be short and sweet, so I hope you enjoy!

"Let's change the subject," Kensi suggests suddenly. Deeks arches an eyebrow at her but she keeps her eyes focused on the small dictionary.

"Okay," he says slowly, uncertainly. "What do you want to talk about?"

"The case."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't want to!" Kensi snorts at that, and he pokes her, feigning annoyance. She grins at him with one of his favorite expressions, the smug little half-smirk she gets when she thinks she's being really funny or clever. It's kinda sexy.

"Fine, then. You come up with something to talk about, since the case isn't interesting enough for your refined tastes."

"Okay. Um . . ." he searches his thoughts for something interesting. His eyes then land on a table near the window, and it stirs a memory. He grins. Kensi will love it. "How 'bout this. In high school, Ray and I had this thing we would do to try and pick up chicks."

"Nice way to put it," she quips.

"I'm being blunt. And you're interrupting. Rude," he teases. Kensi settles back into her chair with a smirk. "Anyways, we would go to these coffee shops, just the two of us-"

"How romantic."

"-and We'd sit at a table for two. Then, one of us would pull up a chair from another table, and we'd wait. On good days, girls would come up and ask if the seat was taken, and then once she showed interest in one of us, we'd wingman it up and soon, we'd have digits." He grins and leans back in his chair, waiting for Kensi to snort and tell him he was beyond hope. But she doesn't move. Instead, she looks totally lost in thought, her eyes focusing on a small table near the window.

"It's a foolproof plan, trust me."

"Kens?"

Her eyes dart back up to him. "I used to come here in high school," she says suddenly, "Especially after I ran away from my mom. I'd come here to read or do homework." Deeks tilts his head slightly, curious. He briefly wonders if he picked up the habit from Monty.

"Uh, I don't underst-"

"One day, a blonde boy approached my table and asked for one of my chairs. He told me that-"

"Lonely girls like to linger in places like this-"

"-Leaving room for any-"

"-interested parties," Deeks finishes, eyes wide. His heartbeat has increased significantly and he leans in closer to Kensi. "Oh my God, Fern, we met in school." He grins impishly. "I should've known. You ignored me even though I kept trying to get your attention." He's practically baited himself for several jibes from his partner, but she just looks at him with shining eyes and a hint of a smile.

"That was right after I ran away," she murmurs, "You opened the door from me that day. You made me smile for the first time since I'd jumped out of my window." Deeks feels as if his heart is about to burst with a lot of girly things like rainbows and sunshine. He feels that it's best not to inform Kensi of that, so instead he just says:

"You were hot back then too." This rewards him a familiar eyeroll, moving their conversation back to emotionally safer territory.

"I still can't believe it," she murmurs, "That was you."

Oops. Back to that thin line again, the line they've been dancing on for a long time now. The line right between "You are an annoying child who makes my job harder than it needs to be" and "I am hopelessly in love with everything you are and stand for, and you make having mutant ninja assassins sound okay." She feels tears lurking and blinks rapidly, trying to force them back in, but one finds its way out.

He notices.

"Hey now," Deeks murmurs, "What's wrong?"

"Remembering just . . . brings me back to that place I was in at sixteen. I felt so . . . lost and helpless and I hated it . . . " Deeks' hand finds hers and squeezes tightly. He knows it's useless telling her that no matter how broken she was then, she makes up for it now in spades. She knows her strength. But she doesn't know how completely incredible she is when she allows herself to feel. Because right now, with tears in her eyes and a just barely there smile, she is the eighth wonder of the world.

"You know," he whispers, "Even though you look like you're about to cry, you're still the most beautiful girl in the room." Her head whips up at that, and her eyes bore into his.

"Wait a minute . . ." She reaches into her purse, pulling out her wallet. She then hands him a small, crumpled piece of paper. "I found this on my table after Jack left. I carry it with me everywhere." Deeks reads it, and then he remembers, more and more with each word that he reads. He looks up at her in shock, mind attempting to process everything.

She was the girl from the coffee shop.

She was the other girl from the coffee shop.

And here she is now, looking at him with delighted eyes and a smile he would kill to see more.

"Let's get another coffee. Looks like we have some talking to do."