Kensi Blye has never been a morning person, something always seemed to go wrong before she even opened her eyes. The bright sun peeking through her closed blinds, birds chirping away a tad too loudly for her ears so early in the day, sore muscles either from a fight or a fall the day before or simply from sleeping in a wrong position. Mornings never were Kensi's forte, at least not until she had her fix of sugar and caffeine.

But on this Tuesday morning, none of those could have mattered as she opened her eyes to find herself staring at her partner's still sleeping face. From her point of view, her head perched on his shoulder, she could see his nose twitching, a sign that, as discovered during their Undercover Op as Justin and Melissa, a married couple, was a sign of happiness.

Her heart soared at the sight. She hadn't seen Deeks for almost four weeks now, 24 days to be exact, not that she was counting or anything. Her left hand that had apparently spent the night fisting his shirt on his chest, travelled up to his jawline as she caressed his, at least, weeks' worth scruff. She had never been before into face hair, or hair at all, as her chaetophobia would suggest. But on Deeks it was different, it suited him. Deeks wouldn't be Deeks if he ever were to be clean shaved.

Lost in her profound thoughts during her exploration, Deeks started to stirr in his sleep, indicating is impending awakening. Kensi took her hand back and put it in her lap instead, not willing to alter anything else about their current disposition. Deeks's eyes flattered open, taking in his surroundings before turning to face the soft smile gracing Kensi's mouth.

'Morning.'

'Morning sleeping beauty!' she said, smiling wildly.

'Oh yeah, I feel very ravishing right now.' he said while stretching is leg on the coffee table.

'You might need a few more hours of sleep to repair the damage.' Kensi said finally parting ways with his body.

'Hours, days, whatever.' He said as he searched for his phone that had fallen on the floor sometime during the night.'7.45am, not bad. But I missed the sunrise, there goes my scrapbook project!'

Kensi laughed, glad to see her partner resume his pastime of trying to be funny. 'Pink cat pillows and scrapbooking, what happened to you?' she said.

'Well the list is long!' he said as he grinned at her.

Silence fell over Deeks's living room, both happy to just enjoy the peace that being together brought them.

'What will you be up to, today?' Kensi said, breaking the comfortable silence.

'Cleaning.' He said as he looked over the chaos that was his appartment. 'Both the place and myself.' he added while looking at his state of clothing.

'Yeah, you're starting to smell. Kinda like the cronut.' she replied with a devilish smirk.

'Yeah well I've been sitting on the other side of my doorstep for just as long.'

'You need to do something about your hair, too, Shaggy!' Her hand momentarily touching his hair. 'By the way where is Scooby-Doo?'

'Monty? Oh he's at a Doggie Day & Night care. I figured, the poor dog is depressed enough on his own, he didn't need to be hanging out around me until I sorted myself out.'

'Are you? Sorted out, I mean.' She asked softly.

'I slept, 8 hours in a row at that, so I'm getting there I think.' he said with a shrug.

'Good. I'm glad. That's the most I've slept in a while, too.'

'Really? You guys have been that busy?' he ask surprised.

'No, the usual. I just happen to have trouble sleeping when I don't know if my partner is still alive.' Kensi said, bitterly.

Deeks looked at her guiltily and a little taken aback by her tone. 'Look Kensi, I'm so-'

'It's fine, I'm fine.' she tried to brush off. 'You asked for the space after all.'

'Yes but common sence says you should at least let people know you're still part of this world every now and then.' he insisted, not wanting to burry the issue of his MIA attitude as of late, especially to his partner.

'Don't beat yourself up, you've always been slow to catch up.' she said with a smile, proud of her dig.

'Touché!' he said with a typical Deeks smile. 'What do you say we move this party to the...' he stopped and looked at Kensi with a playful spark that had been missing from his eyes for far too long. 'Kitchen.' he finished with a grin.

'Right. Go make your partner some pancakes!' She shook her head, trying not to let the smile break over her face.

'Your wish is my command sugarbear!' he said as he got up and went off to the kitchen.

'I'm gonna go get my back up bag in my trunk and use your shower. I stink almost as much as you now.' Kensi called after him, still in the living room.

'That's what you get for cuddling with me! And don't use my hair products, Fern!' was his response.

'Hah! Wouldn't dream of it!' as she opened the door to make her way to her car parked outside.

Half an hour later, Kensi freshly showered with her own products as verified by Deeks sniffing her hair, and a dozen of pancakes later, they were eating their breakfast, some more enthusiastically than others.

'Humm these are so delicious! I could eat this for the rest of my life!' Kensi exclaimed all the while chewing.

'I can tell, just take a breather between bites don'tcha!' he said. 'I should enter you at a hot dog eating contest or something. You'd go for the gold!' he said with a fist in the air.

'Already done.' she said.

'Really?!' he said his eyes growing wild, dropping his fork.

'Yes really. Although at the time it wasn't my smartest idea.' she said shaking her head at the memory.

'Why?' he asked, forgetting his plate still half full.

'Because, I was on a date.' she said rearranging her now emply plates, embarassed.

'No way!' he burst out laughing.

'Yes way. I won with 23 burgers in 10 minutes.' she said with a note of pride on her face.

'Impressive!' he said in a mock-serious tone.

'You'd think so, but my date vanished, he was no longer there when I was done.' she said honestly offended.

'Hard to imagine, there's nothing hotter than a girl eating her weight that fast.' he said with a smirk.

Kensi looked at Deeks, finally catching up on his amusement. 'Shut up!' she said but couldn't help laughing at herself, too.

Kensi got up and went to help herself to a second cup of coffee with plenty of suggar, just like she liked it. She sipped at it standing against the counter, looking at Deeks gathering the dishes.

'So I was thinking, since we both dozed off last night, I could come back tonight with a rental of Burnt Offerings and turkey burgers...' Kensi proposed. Deeks stopped what he was doing and looked at her surprised. 'Unless you'd rather be alone.' she added, all of a sudden not so confident in her idea.

'Nonono, it's a good idea!' Deeks quickly answered. 'But I think we should watch it in my bed in case we were to repeat the sleepover.' he said as he realized what it sounded like when he saw Kensi's raised eyebrows. 'I mean, I'm not sure it's safe to spend two nights in a row on my old couch.' he precised.

'Of course. The bed is...safer...for our bodies that is.' she mumbled.

Right.' he said.

As Deeks placed everything in the Dishwasher, Kensi emptied the rest of her coffee in the sink and grabbed one of his travel mugs to fill it with some more coffee for her journey to work.

'I should probably head off to work. I'll call you later today...' she said once done.

'Alright.'

'Is your phone charged?' she said, picking her back up bag from the floor.

'Yes it is fully charged.' he answered. Seeing her bite her lip, doubtful. Deeks added for her sanity's sake 'I'll answer the phone, Kens.'

'Good.' she said, releashing a breath she didn't know she was holding. 'Not that I've asked.' she added trying to play it cool.

'Of course you didn't.' he said smiling at her antics.

They left the kitchen to go back to the living room, where Kensi made sure she didn't forget her own phone. Awkwardly they stood by the door, just like the previous night.

'Bye then...' Kensi finally said.

'See ya later.' Deeks said, rubbing his hair as a nervous habit.

How are you supposed to part ways with someone that you consider your best friend, with whom you cuddled all night? Not that it was so unusual for them to wake up limbs tangled, falling asleep during a movie on one of their couches or even when sharing a bed when they were a happy and in love married couple. The only difference from then to now is the fact that both are so much more aware of the importance of the other, for so many undiscussed reasons. A wave is impersonal, a handshake makes it look like a business transaction, a kiss on the cheek too european...Tired of overthinking it, Kensi steps forward and hugs him.

It takes Deeks a moment to hug her back, not expecting the gesture at all. They stay like that, in each other's arms probably a tad longer than strictly necessary.

'Yeah later.' Kensi tells him, smiling before going down the few steps to her car.

Once in her SRX, Kensi places Deeks's travel mug in the cupholder, put her keys in the ignition and turn her favorite radio station On. As she drives down the street, she checks her rearview mirror to see Deeks on his doorstep, laughing and shaking his head at her choice of music as he heads back inside.

Kensi really hates morning. Unless she shares them with her partner, in that case they're simply the start of a beautiful day.