NCIS: LA: Eric Christian Olsen Reveals What's Next for Kensi and Deeks

[Warning: This article contains major spoilers about Sunday's episode of NCIS: LA. Read at your own risk!]

Densi fans can finally breathe a sigh of relief.

At the end of Sunday's episode of NCIS: LA, Kensi (Daniela Ruah) finally woke up from her coma, with Deeks (Eric Christian Olsen) by her side.

Olsen tells TVGuide.com that the scene in which Kensi regains consciousness is "one of my favorite scenes we've ever done on NCIS: Los Angeles," and the same can probably be said for fans of the couple.

But unfortunately, the hardest part for Kensi may just be beginning. TVGuide.com chatted with Olsen to find out what's next for Kensi and Deeks (spoiler: another proposal!), what Kensi's road to recovery will look like, and what we can expect from the ongoing investigation into the mole.

We finally saw Kensi wake up this week, but first let's go back a couple of weeks to the episode in which Deeks took the plunge and popped the question. What was going through his head in that moment?
Eric Christian Olsen: It reminds me of one of my favorite quotes, which is by Steve Jobs. He said, "One of the greatest tools I've ever had to help navigate life is knowing that I'm going to die soon, because it allows you to take away all the things that stopped you from doing what you love - the fear, embarrassment, the shame of it. All that's left is the things that really matter."

And I think this is one of those [instances] in which [Deeks] realizes all the things that he had planned for his life and the future - the love, the kids... he had that conversation with her in the car right before all that stuff went down in Syria. You realize, so much of your life is spent in preparation for living it. And now all of a sudden he's looking across this bed at the woman that he loves and she's unconscious.

We don't know if she's ever gonna come out of it, and if she does come out of it, what version of her it's going to be. I think it's such a sad moment of realization when he makes that proposal, because he knows he should have done it long before that. We get caught up in the mundane aspects of the logistics of life, versus the love of it.

[Showrunner] Scott Gemmill has said that the discussion of kids is going to come up a lot for Kensi and Deeks. What impact will this ordeal have on the future of their relationship?
Olsen: I think the irony of that thought process for Deeks is that this catastrophic event makes him want to dedicate himself to the things that are important -- the irony being that Kensi, coming out of it, I think is going to be more in the tune of, let me get myself right before I can do anything as far as a relationship. Deeks is like, "I'll take whatever I can get." She says, "No, I have to get to 100 percent before I can even attempt to be a part of anything." So there's another proposal coming up at some point.

I think this is going to serve as another great obstacle that either turns into a foundation for betterment of the relationship, one of these things that they use as just another rock to build this foundation ... or an obstacle which becomes a roadblock. ... And I don't know the answer to that. That's why I'm answering this as a hypothetical, because we're not that far along with it.

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In this episode, we see Deeks struggling with the idea that Kensi might be a different person when she wakes up. Does he have what it takes to take care of her?

Olsen: When Deeks finally gets a grasp on what it is that he's feeling, it's something that we all say in relationships, which is, "I'll go to the end of the earth for you." You say these things because they're platitudes of comfort. And then all of a sudden when you're called out on one of them and you realize that you don't know how. It's another path. You don't know the journey. You don't know what you're supposed to do. You don't know the role you're supposed to play in the madness.

So, you're kind of left there with all you know, which is love. ... I think it's Deeks at his most vulnerable, which is, taking the thing that he cares about the most in the world and saying, "You have to be there for her. And him saying, not only do I not know if I can, what's more terrifying, I don't know how. There is no road map for this. That conversation with Hetty is what drives him into that final scene, which is my favorite scene that we've shot so far this year.

Obviously given Daniela Ruah's real-life pregnancy, there are behind-the-scenes practical reasons for keeping Kensi out of commission for so long. But do you think it's for a stronger story to not have her bounce back right away?
Olsen: One hundred percent. The best thing that ever happened to Kensi and Deeks is Daniela Ruah getting pregnant. Because the work that Scott Gemmill and the rest of these writers have put into the storyline is better than anything we could have imagined prior to this. I understand that they're doing it for logistical reasons, but I think it's the best gift they ever could have given not only Kensi and Deeks, but their fans of that relationship on the show.

This show is heightened reality, obviously, but I think this is one of the most realistic and honest and flawed and beautiful and tragic relationships on network television. And ... this is only one more kind of obstacle for these two characters to navigate. And Scott did his research on this type of recovery. ... [The writers] put a lot of time and effort into making sure that Kensi's recovery is honest but also how that recovery affects the relationship she's in, and how that affects Deeks. I think it's heartbreaking.

What can we expect from her recovery?
Olsen: I don't know. I know that it's a long road to recovery for her. At the end of the day, I think we're gonna get her back 100 percent physically, but there's no way to go through these types of things unscathed as far as what it's done to their psyche. When we look at those kind of events, when Deeks was tortured, how that affected him. We look at Kensi's torture and how that affected her in Afghanistan. This is one more thing that will play a large role and, I think, drive these two characters together.

Nell has really stepped up in recent weeks. Will Deeks continue to have substitute partners?
Olsen: We'll get Kensi back and they'll be partners after all is said and done. I think these characters are supposed to be together as a relationship and as partners, and I think we'll get both of those things back.

The Kensi storyline has kind of overtaken the mole investigation for now. What can you tease about what's ahead with that storyline?
Olsen: Sam Hanna (LL Cool J) is investigating and interviewing what was the mole in prison. There's some really great scenes with those two going head to head. The reveal is that obviously it's a much larger storyline than just him. He kind of sold himself as a one-off, and of course, like all things, once you start pulling a thread, you reveal that the sweater is much larger and there's a looming conspiracy at hand. So we get into all that stuff in the next few episodes.

NCIS: LA airs Sundays at 8/7c on CBS.

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