NCIS: LOS ANGELES - "Falling Star"

Starburst

They had taken their time, working their way through the living room and finally making it into his bedroom. Later, when their bodies were exhausted and they lay in a tangle of arms and legs, Deeks kissed the damp hair sticking to her temple. Starr was lying over him and he could feel the thump of her heart against his chest. He breathed her in, the scent of her, the two of them together. Her hand was on his chest, fingers twitching in time to the thump of his own heart. He shared a deep connection with this woman and it wasn't just the amazing sex they had just enjoyed.

The blue illuminated display of the clock on the nightstand was the only light in the otherwise dark of the room.He shifted a little and turned his face into her hair. "So, uh, quick question," he murmured, "why'd we wait so long to do that?"

Starr smiled and stretched her body against him and the movement wasn't lost on Deeks, who quietly groaned and tightened his grip on her. "Because you're an asshole who refused to relinquish his control," she murmured back.

"Well, this asshole can now confirm that losing control can be a very pleasurable experience."

"No more control..."

"No more cards to play."

"I find that so hard to believe." She had a hunch that the cute, but dorky, blue-eyed boy next door had way more moves that could surprise her.

"I'm serious. You broke me down, sister. Took it all. That may've been my swansong."

She gently laughed. "It was one for the record books."

"You've made a man's dream come true. And for that I thank you."

"Play your cards right maybe it'll happen again."

"Like I said, no more to play."

Starr smiled and opened her eyes, her gaze falling on the bullet scars on his chest. The result of a shooting in a market a couple years back. She began tracing her fingertips over them.He had taken so many hits and every day he went back out there. He wasn't afraid to keep fighting. He was the bravest, most strongest guy she'd ever known. His hand reached down, fingers folding around hers, stilling her movements. When her head came up to look at him, his hair was all mussed up, mainly because she hadn't been able to keep her fingers out of it, and his baby blues were sparkling as he gave her a lazy smile. She dropped her chin to his chest and blew back a lock of hair and he reached out to finger it from her eyes.

"What you thinking?" he asked her.

"Right now? Nothing. You killed the left side of my brain." Another lazy smile from him, but he had a faraway look in his eyes that told her there was something he was thinking about. "Your turn. What's on your mind, Detective?"

"You," he said simply and honestly.

"You about to get all serious on me?"

"No. Because then it'd be weird and we can't have that, right?"

"Right. Don't say something you'll later regret," she told him.

"Told you, don't have any. Just...y'know, thinking."

"Don't do that, either."

He smiled a little, that same finger curling around her hair. "I missed you. Y'know. For a long time after you were gone all I did was miss you."

She met his gaze and the look he was giving her made her lose her breath. "I missed you, too," she told him quietly. "But I knew we'd both be okay."

He nodded and she could feel the entire mood shifting, becoming something more. It made her wonder if her leaving had gone a lot deeper for him than she'd known.