Sweet Silver Lining

Title: Sweet Silver Lining
Rating: PG
Fandom: NCIS: Los Ageless
Characters/Pairing: Eventual Kensi/Deeks, team friendship
Genre: Family/Humour
Summary: When tragic strikes Kensi is left being the legal guardian of her friend's four-year-old daughter. Deeks uses this opportunity to be the father he always wanted to be. Life as they know will be changed forever.
Warnings: N/A

Disclaimer: Don't own NCIS: LA. Hopefully I will soon, though… ;) The night's still young.

Author's Note: Okay. This is going to be the first time I'm trying out this fandom. I really hope that everyone will like the concept of this story. I got the idea from the movie Life as We Know It. I just thought about how well this plot would fit Kensi and Deeks. Well, enough with my rambling. Read and review! Don't just leave me hanging~

Prologue

This can't be happening.

Kensi Blye groaned as she opened one eye and gave the phone that was currently ringing on her night stand an evil glare.

The team had just finished a particularly difficult case (four dead marines within a week, and said marines didn't have a single connection to each other). By the end of the week, the team had their confession from a serial killer with father issues, and Kensi was suffering from a bruised rib from a fight with their killer that Deeks had fortunately helped her with. The rib was not quite broken, but it still stings like hell at times.

Not that she would ever admit to that to anyone that asked.

So no. Her freaking cell phone can't be ringing at freaking seven o'clock in the morning.

Groaning again, Kensi realized that this ring tone was programmed for unknown callers only, which meant that there wasn't a new case needing NCIS's immediate attention. Feeling a bit relieved, she pushed the button to put the call through.

"Hello?" Kensi mumbled, her voice foggy from sleep (or lack thereof). The case wrapped around two last night, and it took at least an hour for her to be ready for bed. And now it was seven in the morning, meaning the NCIS agent only had no more than four hours of good quality sleep.

"Miss Kensi Blye?" the voice in the other end - an overly cheerful woman - asked, her tone sounded no where near as tired as Kensi was now feeling.

Kensi nodded, but realizing that the woman on the other side can't see her, she quickly replied with a confirmation.

"My name is Zoey Kindle, and I'm with Children and Family services. Are you familiar with a woman by the name of Sadie Carter?"

"Yes," Kensi sat up, feeling refreshingly awake instantly. "She's one of my closest friends."

Their fathers were stationed at Camp Lejeune during one of the best parts of her childhood. Sadie and her stayed close, even years after their fathers' marine days. Although, now that Kensi thought about it, they really haven't spoken in quite some time.

"Are you aware that Ms. Carter had a child?"

Kensi didn't miss the way the woman used pass tense. She can feel her heart dropping with emotions, but she swallowed harshly, forcing the words out of her mouth. "Yes. Her name's Katherine. Kate." She swallowed again, this time; she felt a single tear escape from her eye. She already knew the answer to this question, but she had to ask it anyway. "Has something happened to them?"

The Children and Family service worker sighed sadly. "I'm sorry I had to inform you of this information over the phone, Ms. Blye. But Ms. Carter was involved in an automobile accident last week. The injuries that she had suffered were too severe and she passed away while the doctors were attempting to get her into surgery. I'm very sorry for your lost."

"What about Kate?" Kensi bounced back quickly, feeling the wetness of her eyes increase with every moment. "Was she, was she in the car -"

"No," Ms. Kindle said, cutting her off gently. "She was with a baby-sitter when it happened. She's the main reason that I'm calling you, Ms. Blye. You're probably aware of the fact that Kate was born via sperm donor, and Ms. Carter didn't have a living will at the moment of her death. We're also unable to contact any of her other family members."

Kensi let out a relieved breath. Kate was okay. "Well, Sadie's mother was never in the picture ever since she was just a child," she recalled. Both being raised by single fathers was one of the things that made them extremely close as friends. "Her father passed away just last year from a heart-attack. I think she has a distant half-sister in France, but she didn't talk about her much."

"Well, it's taken us quite a while to track you down, Ms. Blye." Ms. Kindle said. "I was made aware of your current work situation, and I can understand why." At that, Kensi had to smile unexpectedly. Leave it to Hetty to make sure all of their information would take ages to track down. That would explain why she was just receiving the news a week after the accident.

This also told Kensi that Ms. Kindle know her real work situation. She had told Sadie that she worked as an art curator, but from the looks of things, Child and Family Services knew the truth about her work.

God, now she was feeling even guiltier for not telling Sadie the truth about her work.

"What's going to happen to Kate now?" Kensi asked worriedly, forcing herself to focus on Kate right now. "Is she going to be alright?"

"Well, unfortunately, the baby sitter she was with at the time of the accident was a minor. She's currently placed with CPS. She'll be safe."

"CPS?" Kensi asked.

"Child Protective Services," Ms. Kindle explained. "Ms. Kindle's affairs are now being handled by the state, and Kate will be placed with a foster family briefly before arrangements are made."

Kensi frowned, "arrangements?"

"For adoption." Kensi felt her heart sink at these words. "It was only a few days ago that we recovered a note in Ms. Carter's home that indicated that anything should happen to her, you will be rewarded guardianship of Kate. Unfortunately, the note isn't a legal document, and it won't do in the court of law. But they - the court - have agreed that if you are willing to undertake this kind of responsibility, Ms. Carter's wishes will be honoured and you will be awarded legal guardianship of Kate."

Kensi sighed, rubbing her temple with her fingers. This was a load of information to take in. The shock and the grief of the entire situation had now made their way into her mind in a whirlpool like motion. Ms. Kindle seemed to have noticed the prolonged silence.

"I know this is a lot to take in right now," the service worker offered. "It's perfectly acceptable if you declined the guardianship, but it is in our best interest to offer Kate the best care she's able to receive."

"Of course," Kensi sighed. "I understand."

The sheer amount of the information was enough to make this agent's head spin out of control. She was still not over the initial shock that overtook her when the news that her best friend was gone, and now, she was expected the take care of a young child. God. This was almost worse than most of the NCIS cases.

"Do you, do you think I can give you a call back?" Kensi asked timidly, knowing that the only way she can think this through was with time. "Just to think through my options?"

"Definitely," Ms. Kindle said kindly, informing their office hours before hanging up the phone, leaving Kensi in the overwhelming mood she has been in for the better part of the morning.

Placing her phone back on her nightstand gently, Kensi leaned her head against the wall behind her bed. She was trying to breathe through all of the emotions she was currently feeling at the pit of her stomach. The pain of losing a best friend, the sadness of them being gone forever and the regret that she had really lost contact over time with Sadie when she was still alive and lying to her about her job.

Now she'll never get the chance to talk to her again.

Sadie had spent the better part of her childhood wanting to be a mother. She was always dressing up her dolls and naming them (rather girly names, in Kensi's mind). Kensi was never into the house games that Sadie enjoyed playing so much, but as her friend, she was always there with her, reluctantly being the neighbourhood mother. After searching for ages without finding "Mr. Right", Sadie decided to go ahead with sperm donation in order to pursue her dreams of being a mother. It didn't surprise Kensi the least knowing that her friend was ready to have a child, with or without a father in the picture.

After all, she wanted to be a better mother than her own mother had been.

When Kate was born, Kensi was told that she was the first person that Sadie had called to inform the good news. She had been working on a case then, but she made sure that as soon as the case was finished, she was there to see her best friend's newborn daughter. Kate was a beautiful girl; with her curly blonde hair and clear, baby blue eyes, she was sure to be a heartbreaker when she got to her teenage years.

Since Kate was born, Kensi made a point of seeing her at every milestone. Unfortunately, that was easier said than done. With work always getting in the way for the both of them, Kensi hadn't seen the little girl in at least two years.

Kate was going to turn four in two months, Kensi suddenly realized. The realization caused her to think about how big of an idiot she was being for even hesitating about being the legal guardian of her best friend's daughter. Of course she was going to take Kate in as her own daughter. It really touched her that knowing after all these years, Sadie still trusted her with a situation as huge as part of her own life. Kensi knew that if everything had been reversed, Sadie would claim guardianship of Kensi's child within a heartbeat.

Kensi was conscious about the responsibility she was brining to herself, but all things considered, it was a responsibility that Kensi was willing to take.

Standing up from her bed, Kensi reached for her phone again. Dialling the number that Ms. Kindle had giving her earlier, she waited for her to pick up.

"Ms. Kindle?" After three rings, the service worker's voice was heard. "This is Kensi Blye. I want to talk to you about claiming guardianship of Kate Carter?"

Love it? Hate it? Should I continue? Please leave me a review and tell me what you thought of it! :) It'll make my day~

XO - Spring