Kensi POV

He's been rambling for a while now. She has to admit that alone has calmed her, and strangely, given her strength. He didn't throw her out. He didn't make demands of her. He just held her and talked. Really, should she have expected anything else from him? Now it's her turn….

She finds her voice, but is only able to utter, "Ok."

"Ok?"

She slowly nods her head. "Yes."

"Yes?" Deeks looks nearly at the end of his rope. "Kensi, I really applaud you talking, I do. I don't want to put any pressure on you, I'm just curious if you might be able to use more than a single syllable?"

She lays a gentle kiss on his lips, but very quickly he pulls away. "Whoa. No, no. Doing the same thing and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity and I was already feeling like I was halfway there before we even walked in the door."

She offers him the sweetest, shiest, grin. As she starts to speak, she can only look down to where at some point his left hand and her right are intertwined. "You're right. I'm scared. More scared than I've been in a very long time. So much can go wrong." She can't believe how her body is betraying her right now as another tear escapes and her hand quivers. Yet Deeks calmly takes their joined hands to wipe away the tear. "But I need to apply my bravery in the field to… this. All of the times you've been there for me hit me tonight. I started to see…" She looks up to him now. "…and feel what this could be. We've both been through so much and we see such horrible things, shouldn't we give ourselves a chance at being happy?" Deeks gives her a look of hope, but just as quickly tries (and fails) to hide it. "All I can say is 'Ok'. I'll try. I want to try."

She refocuses on Deeks and can only shake her head at her partner. He's smiling like the Cheshire Cat. Who just won the lottery. Oh man. What have I gotten myself into?

"Now listen up, buddy. Nothing changes at work. Nothing. No looks. No touching. No conversation about anything not related to work. Everything's about the case. Pure Partners. Just like Sam & Callen. If the rest of the team gets even a hint of this, not only will we never live it down, but it jeopardizes both of our careers."

Deeks looks at her confused. "But that's not how we are. That's not how we've ever been."

Kensi's found solid ground talking about work and moves off his lap, but he simply switches hands so he can keep holding hers. "Those are the rules pal. Take'em or leave'em."

She could tell him to go jump off the Hollywood sign in that moment and he'd do it. He doesn't like it, and it's going to be incredibly weird, and it's going to take every bit of strength & willpower he has, but for her… anything. Deeks sighs and almost begrudgingly agrees, "Ok."

"It's a deal." She puts out her right hand to shake on it, but his right hand is still gripping her left. It suddenly hits Kensi as to what she's just agreed to and begins to uncertainly draw back her hand when Deeks grabs it with his free left hand and places a soft kiss on her knuckles. She reacts, "You're so weird."

Deeks POV

By now the movie had long ago ended, leaving them in silence as they look around trying to figure out what comes next. Deeks stands. Kensi, unsure of what's going on, stutters, "Ah, yeh, I guess it's time for you to ah, yeh take me home?"

Deeks immediately turns back to her. "What? No. Well, if that's what you want, then yeh, uh I'll take you home." She just stares at him. "But I uh, was just going to ah, get a pillow and blanket." Uh oh. Scared. I have a feeling I'm going to be seeing that face A LOT in my future. At least I hope so. Wait. No. I don't want her to be scared. But if I'm seeing it, it means at least she's still around. Oh man. This is going to be a lot tougher than I thought. He scratches his head and takes a breath. But it's definitely worth it. "I, I uh thought maybe we could just put on some really bad late night TV to mock or, I don't know, just maybe snuggle on the couch?"

Kensi gives him one of her famous disagreeing looks. "Deeks, I don't snuggle." To emphasize her point she says it with a superior tone and he notices she nearly lifts her head in a smug motion. Well, then. She told me. "Ok, bad late night TV it is."

He quickly returns with his supplies, relieved yet again that she hasn't bolted. He places the pillow at one end and the blanket on the back of the couch. Kensi looks around not knowing what to do next.

Deeks walks into her personal space and again takes her hand. "Kens. It's ok. It's just TV. We've done this before."

She fails to play it cool, to cover her growing panic. "We haven't done this before."

Deeks offers her a comforting smile and quietly says. "No. We haven't. But I for one am glad we are now." He makes his point by placing a feather-light kiss on her forehead.

They sit on the couch. Closer than before. Deeks places their entwined hand on her left knee as he reaches back to turn off the light. And in the most normal way Kensi takes possession of the remote to find something they will both comment on, but that neither will be focused on. No. Both of them are already focused on Deeks massaging small slow circles on her left knee.

This may not be what I've ever imagined, but in some strange way, it's better. Deeks is lost in his thoughts when suddenly, he's taken by surprise. Kensi is simultaneously playing with his curls (again) and whispering "Thank you" in his ear. Trying to keep control, all Deeks can think now is: This woman is going to be the death of me. But I'm pretty sure I knew that before tonight. And I'm perfectly happy with that. Her words finally register.

"For what?" he inquires.

"For being you. For caring about me. For making this ok.", she confesses. But her words are merely ghosts to Deeks ears. Because Kensi is now nipping on his neck just below his ear and casually twisting the curls at the base of his neck around her fingers. Oh man. This is… Ugh. Oh boy, can you say mixed signals?!

Struggling to form words, "Uh Kens. Uh, whatcha doin'?"

Ever so comfortably and with clear flirtation in her voice nearly purrs in his right ear, as she twirls his curls with the fingers of her right hand and gently strokes his beard with her right thumb. "What? We can at least make-out a little. Can't we?"

"Yes. Oh yes. Absolutely yes. Whatever you want Princess." Deeks moves to lay down on the couch and pulls Kensi on top of him. This is so much better than when I was a teenager! While "controlling Kensi" can be a challenge in the field, he's perfectly happy to allow her to take the lead here. And it seems he now understands the "Special" part in "Special Agent". If he knew he'd been missing this all these years, he'd surely would have had to quit or, or something! As much as he wants more, much more, in fact he is probably going to just want more of her for the rest of his life, limiting their activity to some innocent make-out session (ok, maybe not so innocent), really is the smartest plan.

And having to help hold her hair back, was probably a saving grace. He gets to enjoy running his fingers through her luscious locks, which means it's keeping him out of trouble elsewhere! Seemingly annoyed with it, Kensi grabs a hairband that she always keeps around her wrist to pull it back. Deeks places a halting hand on her wrist, "No. I like it down." She immediately complies.

He'd seen Kensi in a bikini on a couple of occasions. No one could argue the point that she is just flat-out, smokin' hot. So as much as he wants to explore every inch of her right now, he's not going to endanger the gigantic leap they took tonight. College, law school, the Academy, some NCIS training, all of it had made him an incredible student. It was clear if he could keep Kensi secure and happy, she was certainly going to reward him. In fact, he might have to reassign his moniker of "Jungle Cat" to her. All of that is perfectly fine, but for now, he's going to enjoy it for as long as she wants.

Kensi POV

Now I just hope I'm not scaring Deeks! She chuckles to herself in her head. It might take her a good long while to decide what she wants, but when she finally decides, watch out. She's always been an "all or nothing" type of girl. Up until now Deeks had pretty much seen only "all" of her in a professional role and mostly "none" of her on the personal side. But she has finally admitted she wanted him. She'll never admit it to him, at least not anytime soon, but it's going to be tough for her to take whatever this is with him at a cautious pace. (Until those nagging fears make their expected and repeated appearances. Sigh.) Besides, if she tells him what she really thinks of him, it's just going to result in more self-aggrandizing about how awesome he is. She gets enough of that at work. Ok, he is awesome, but she's going to have to be strategic about when and how she lets those feelings be known. It's not that she's overtly trying to control or manipulate him, it's just part of her fear. If she tells him too much too soon, he might get bored or maybe think he deserves better and le…? No. I'm not going there. Just enjoy this moment.

How could I have been so totally wrong about this mop of shaggy hair?! How I'm going to be able to keep my "paws" off of it at work, I have no idea. Perhaps I'll have to handcuff my… Whoa. Handcuffs. Deeks. Stop. Get control over yourself! But she couldn't break those thoughts so easily. She'd seen Deeks a couple of times shirtless and it truly was something to marvel. I hardly ever see him working out; how does he keep so fit?

She couldn't explain it, but there was just something about those v-neck t-shirts he wears to work all the time that drives her mind to less-than-professional thoughts. They just fit perfectly, show off those biceps & triceps (that he's always flexing!), and that v-neck…. There's something unexplainable about that incredibly smooth, tan skin at the base of his neck. She immediately turns her attention to that location. And here I am. With him. Finally. She can't deny it any longer, at least not to herself: This really is where I want to be.

While she can't express herself verbally, she's more than compensating with her actions. And Deeks is reciprocating with every move. They're exploring, hands roaming freely, yet almost innocently. Something else she should have expected: Deeks chattering throughout, verbalizing his satisfaction - that is when his mouth wasn't otherwise engaged. She's playing, testing to see how she can halt his mumbling, encouraging him to make better use of that lovely mouth. She'll grant him this, he is a quick learner!

Deeks POV

Heaven. This must be what heaven is like. How did I get this lucky?

It's taking an immense amount of willpower, but he's maintaining their limits. Kensi, Kensi on the other hand is certainly testing those boundaries! Normally he'd deny her nothing, but he's not going to risk everything for a single night of pleasure that would inevitably end in regret.

Too soon they are both struggling for breath, hands longing to explore further, bodies humming for more. It's when Kensi gives him a wicked grin, bites her bottom lip, and begins to release the top button of his shirt that Deeks knows he has to bring their festivities to an end.

With a ragged breath and hoarse voice, "Kens. Kensi."

She acts as if she doesn't hear. Deeks closes his eyes, takes a steadying breath. He refocuses on his dream hovering above him. He stills her hands to get her attention and whispers, "Princess".

She gives him a worried look, afraid she's done something wrong. He offers her a caring grin and then turns so he's lying with his back against the back of the couch; he slides Kensi in front of him. He takes her right hand in his and returns to caressing slow circles on her hip.

He leans his head on top of hers and continues in a quiet, yet teasing voice, "Uh, Princess. Didn't we have a deal about tonight or did I miss a memo along the way?"

She can't help but giggle. Wait, what? Did Bad Ass Blye just… giggle? Ha!

She stills. "Yes. We did. I'm sorry if I…"

He cuts her off. "No. Don't be sorry. Especially for that. Because that was all kinds of…" He clears his throat. "So anyway, I'm in no rush. Seriously. I just want us to take this a step at a time. Slowly. You can trust me to keep us in line, and I need to trust you will be able to eventually talk to me about your thoughts and feelings. I want to go down this road with you; I want us to go down this road together. What do you think you about that?"

She grips his hand to reassure both of them. "Yeh. That doesn't sound too scary."

He tightens his hold to convey his commitment to her and their plan, to reinforce they are in this together. "So, about that reality TV…."

Kensi takes the hint, and grabs the remote to scan the channels again.

As she does this, Deeks adds, "And for the record, anytime you want to do that again is fine with me. No need to ask. I mean I know you're obsessed with my gorgeous locks, so if you get the urge…." Kensi playfully smacks his hand to shut him up. Luckily she's turned away he doesn't see the smirk on her face or detect that she's thinking, Yeh, that's the problem!

Kensi begins to move and Deeks fears his mouth has gotten him in trouble again.

"Wait. Wha… where are you going?" Kensi simply turns over and gives him a quick, yet somehow lingering kiss and lays her head on his arm.

"Nowhere. Just snuggling." She says with a smile in her voice.

Deeks automatically starts to mock her, "the girl who doesn't snuggle", but thinks better of it. He releases a brief chuckle and snuggles in himself.

Within moments he feels Kensi relax and her breath slows in even measures. Deeks looks to the clock and smiles as he pulls the blanket over them. The night, what's left of it, will be a sleepless one. Thinking back over the last few hours, the night didn't turn out as he'd expected (not that he ever knew what to expect from Kensi), but it reminded him things could sometimes end up even better. It's a true miracle his partner, now his Kensi, (he shakes his head in disbelief) is cuddled warmly in his arms. No, tonight he'll use his time wisely in memorizing her every curve, every lash that graces her beautiful face, caressing the silkiest hair he's ever felt. He's making a memory. Because in their line of work, you never know what tomorrow might bring.