Writing Deeks: Domestic Densi

If it’s satisfying for fan fiction writers to let Densi express their feelings verbally, it’s even more so to be able to bring these two characters together as a committed couple.

“So what happened to us meeting at work this morning?” Kensi asked in mock confusion as Deeks made his way around to the kitchen, pulling a t-shirt down over his bare torso as he did so. His hair still damp, though this time from the shower, he stopped directly behind her as she poured out two mugs of freshly brewed coffee. Pressing his lips to the smooth area of skin at the juncture of Kensi’s neck and shoulder, Deeks rested his hands on her hips as he closed his eyes and simply breathed her in.

“I just wanted to see you,” he murmured against her skin, but despite the lack of volume in his voice, Kensi still caught the underlying tone that suggested greater meaning to his words. Leaning back against the warmth of his body she dropped her head back against his shoulder and tilted her face towards his.

“I wanted to see you before we had to be Detective Deeks and Special Agent Blye,” he continued softly, wrapping his arms securely around her waist. “I wanted to see you before Eric stood at the top of those steps and blew into whatever whistle, or noise making… thing he’s bound to have with him, and we start on another case. I wanted to see you before we strap on badges and guns and step out into the unknown again, because…” Pause. “Time with you… like this, is too precious to waste.”

Kensi nodded in understanding, then turning in his arms she smiled gently up at him. “See, and I was thinking that it was just for the booty call.”

For some writers, bringing Densi together is very much a reaction to what they have seen with the television couple. aslycsi1315 for one, admits to a certain degree of impatience that prompted her to move her Densi forward. Bamie02 also has tended to write them together, “mainly because the show [was] taking their sweet time with it.” ZeGabz on the other hand, just finds it an interesting topic. “I always try to write them getting together, because to me, that’s something very fun to read. The emotions and thought processes involved with jumping into a relationship can vary greatly, and I love exploring all the different ways it could happen.”

Jessica237 makes a distinction between what she’d like to see on the show, and what she does with her Deeks and Kensi. “I was perfectly happy with that kind of [slow] relationship/partnership development on the show, whilst I got to play with them in fic and write things I wouldn’t necessarily want to see on the show because a fic is a fic – as far as one-shots go, it’s one and done, and what happens in a one-shot doesn’t have to carry forward into everything else you write. But if something happens on the show, if you have decent continuity, it does get carried forward and in my opinion, it tends to color everything that happens from that point forward… To me, the fun part is writing what hasn’t happened and what probably won’t happen.”

He takes the bag and looks inside. “A pregnancy test?”

She nods.

“Are we – I mean, are you? Is it, uh…” Jesus. A complete sentence would be nice right about now. Idiot.

“I don’t know, I don’t know, and yes, you idiot.”

Okay, so they agree on the fact that he’s an idiot. That’s reassuring. “You realize it’s not opened? My detecting skills may be sub-par right now, but I’m pretty sure that means you haven’t actually taken it yet,” he says, pulling out the box with unsteady hands.

“I don’t have to pee.”

“Hence the waiting.”

“Hence the waiting.”

He swallows the lump in his throat and tries to tamp down on his emotions. “Okay, well, can I wait with you?”

“Are you going to leave when I pee?”

“Sure, yeah, of course. Otherwise, it’d get really weird, right?”

She shrugs. “Maybe you could stay.”

That’ll save him from pretending he’s not plastered against the other side of the door, trying to divine the answer by proximity. “I could stay.”

“But turn around.”

“Okay, yeah. That makes it less weird.”

The writers who bring Densi together don’t necessarily make things too easy for them. Kadiedid says, “Oh, I definitely like to write about them getting together and jumping through hoops to make it happen. I like angst as long as there is a happy conclusion. I’m a glass half full kind of person and depressing stories depress me so I don’t like to read them very often. I certainly don’t mind writing about troubles but you can always count on a happy ending!”

Kadiedid’s Densi has changed over time. She says, “I think that now, when I write about them, there is more of a willingness for them to get together than in some of my earlier stories. I try to stay as close to the character as I can and lately… they want to be together and are trying to figure it out whereas before, they might have wanted to be together but thought that it was impossible and didn’t really try very hard.”

Some writers write Densi together without letting the rest of the team in on their relationship. Tess DiCorsi is “…a big fan of them established as a couple. I go back and forth between them being together covertly or having the team aware of what’s going on but letting Deeks’s and Kensi’s business be Deeks’s and Kensi’s business.” Kadiedid describes a similar storyline: “I thought it would be rather funny for them to be together and then have to go through all kinds of issues trying to keep it a secret. One of my stories has them hiding and making out in the storage room and almost getting caught by Hetty.”

Once Densi is together as a couple, it’s a natural next step to consider writing them as pregnant, or as husband and wife.

Kensi handed her flowers to Nell, and Deeks looked at the two photos in her arms. Very carefully, she placed them in the two chairs next to her mom. One of them Deeks knew was Donald, this being Kensi’s way of having her dad nearby today. The other, though, took his breath away. It was the only picture he had of his mom, the one he thought he had lost…

Tears gathered in his eyes as he looked at this amazing woman who, for the second time, had agreed to marry him. He would never know what he had done so right in this world to have the privilege of spending the rest of his life with her, but he knew he would never take a second of it for granted.

imahistorian’s Densi has undergone these transitions in a trilogy of stories. Her goal in writing them, she says, “has always been to put Deeks and Kensi together in as realistic a way as possible. I wanted to write them navigating a partnership, then a romantic relationship, then balancing family issues, having to make decisions and sacrifices that made sense for them as a married couple and a family, and then ultimately having to examine their professional desires with their love for each other and their family. I’d say my Densi relationship is a much more developed one since they are married with children and also older than they presently are on the show. They are still a team, like on the show, just a different sort of team.”

For other writers, this version of Densi does not come naturally. “I struggle with a ‘domestic’ Kensi and Deeks… with a house, kids, etc. but I have read some great ones on the FanFic sight and am amazed at how wonderful they do seem to work out together,” Jericho Steele says. Sweet Lu’s Densi is long established, but they struggle to take their relationship to the next level. Her Kensi is the hesitant one. Sweet Lu explains, “It was only during my last story did I get into their conversation about what the future might hold. I’ve hinted at Kensi’s reluctance through a couple of my long stories, but in my last one they actually talk about it…amazingly without metaphors.” Her Deeks on the other hand, “wants it all…marriage, kids and happiness.” He may have to wait. She adds, “I’m not sure I want to write that… so I may pull them apart at some stage. There are others writers who are much better at doing stories about marriage and babies than I am.”

“…You told Hetty that after this is over we start the next fifty years. I’m looking forward to every minute of them with you but do you have any idea what we’re doing?”

“Nope. Maybe for the first time in my life, I don’t have a plan past tomorrow and it is awesome,” Kensi’s smile was glorious. “And that’s how you rocked my world.”

Deeks looked around the room, finally lifting the covers, “Who are you and what have you done with my wife?”

“You know why I said yes this time last year when you proposed?”

“My devastating good looks, wit, charm, sexual prowess…”

“Are you done?”

“Only if you have nothing else to add.”

“I said yes because after all that went on with the investigation into my father’s death, there you were. You had no idea what was going on, you just kept going with the flow. Going with me on blind faith.”

“Kens, not blind faith. I know you, I love you. Can’t go wrong with that.”

“That’s exactly it. Wherever I’m going, I’m going with you, who I know. Who I love. And I can’t go wrong with that. It’s been a long time since I’ve had someone who has as much faith in me as I have in them.”

It seems that, like us, our writers just want Deeks (and Kensi) to be happy. Even though Sweet Lu’s Densi may not be getting married any time soon, they still are in a loving relationship. She says, “In my stories, they express their love for each other and support each other and I wanted that for Deeks. He needed that so I gave it to him.” Tess DiCorsi thinks there are more reasons for them to be together than apart. “I like them as flawed but sane adults dedicated to making their relationship work,” she says. “Their pasts are part of who they are but shouldn’t define their futures. The more we’ve learned about Kensi, the little we know about Deeks show both had hard times in the past but survived – maybe even thrived. The program [liked] to use that as an excuse to keep them apart. Knowing what they’ve been through and seeing what they have, it should be what draws them together.”

Next time we’re changing things up a bit. We’ll move away from Densi (for now) and take a look at a few special versions of Deeks. First up is what we call Competent Deeks, a Deeks whose skills and abilities are front and center, not hidden away behind his joking exterior or ignored by his mocking teammates.

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Want to Read More?

To find the stories quoted above, follow these links:

thepixiesmademedoit, “Redefining Normal”

peanutbutterer, “In Due Time”

Bamie02, “Raising the Stakes”

Tess DiCorsi, “Scattered”

We also asked each writer to recommend a short story they thought best represents their Densi. Two writers named stories that include Densi in an established relationship.

phillydi describes “Some Like It Hot” (humor/romance) this way: “I like it because it is a playful Densi and this time the jealousy is coming from Deeks’ side. Also it was the first time I wrote a hot scene for Densi, just a step before the bedroom and with Santana playing in the background I could imagine them swaying to the Latin beat before surrendering to each other. Always loved writing that scene because it was so real in my head.”

Of her story “Come Clean” (romance), ZBBZL says, “That story has a special spot in my heart,” she says. “I think it’s one of my favorite stories of mine. They are happy together, and they’ve both faced their deepest fears to get there. That’s the kind of development I want to see on the show.”

Or, go back to the previous Writing Deeks, Saying What They Really Mean.

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A special thanks to @thewingsofnight for creating the wonderful artwork.