A/N: In honor of Thanksgiving, I give you this hastily thrown together one-shot. The completely, wonderfully cheesy title is taken from a song in the movie 'Holiday Inn' with Bing Crosby. Edited on 11/23/2018 to fix a typo pointed by a guest reviewer.
I've Got Plenty to be Thankful For
"I don't know, Kens, hosting Thanksgiving at our house doesn't sound like a great idea to me," Deeks said as he mirrored Kensi and attempted to stretch his body into the complicated yoga pose she'd adopted. Clearly his body was not made to bend this way. His hip twinged ominously as he forced his legs to spread just a little bit further.
"Yes," Kensi replied in a breathy voice as she rearranged her limbs and brought her torso nearly even with the gym floor. "That's something that you've made abundantly clear. However, I have a few reasons why it's actually an excellent idea."
"Ok, then let me have it." Kensi started to stand and he hastily added, "your ideas" just in case she was planning on 'helping' him into the right position again. He swore his pelvis had never been the same since then.
"One, none of us are going anywhere this year. Two, we're really the only ones who have a place big enough to have a normal thanksgiving dinner with enough room for our friends and family." She held up her index and middle fingers and wiggled them in the air.
"True," Deeks acknowledged, giving up on the stretching and swiping his hand across the hair matted to his forehead. "What else you got?"
"Three, we could all use a get-together that doesn't involve copious amounts of alcohol," Kensi continued.
"I thought most family get-togethers were dependent on copious amounts of alcohol," he quipped, earning an unamused look from Kensi which quickly turned into a smirk as she held up a fourth finger.
"And four, your mom is planning on coming over very early on Thursday," she said, lifting her hands with a flourish as she delivered the piece de resistance. Deeks groaned, only partially because his legs were aching from being pushed into unnatural shapes.
"Then we're definitely going to need a lot of booze."
"Deeks…"
"Fine, but don't you think that everyone might already have plans? Or maybe after spending every day with us for the last three months, they might not want to see us?"
"If they do have plans or just don't want to come, that's ok. I just think it would be nice to have everybody together again, especially they don't have plans. No one wants to be all alone on Thanksgiving," Kensi said, pulling her legs up and resting her chin on her knees, her expression taking on a pensive air. Deeks figured her thoughts had probably turned to Callen and Sam who would both be alone this year and not by choice.
"Yeah, Sam and Callen probably could use a little distraction," Deeks sighed, now regretting his selfish desire to not bother with all the drama that holidays usually entailed.
"Exactly. Especially since Kam and Aiden decided to stay at school this year."
"Ok, we'll do it. We'll have everybody over for thanksgiving, we'll have turkey and potatoes and pie and it will be ridiculous and awesome," he declared, forcing himself to sound enthusiastic. Kensi smiled at him in appreciation, likely knowing that it wasn't exactly sincere.
"That's the spirit."
"But you get to invite everyone since it was your idea."
"Less spirity," Kensi remarked with a raised eyebrow. "but fair enough." She checked the time on her phone and smacked Deeks shoulder as she stood up. "We better go shower."
"But everyone better be gone by nine!" he called after Kensi. "Because I've got plans that don't include spectators or turkey."
Kensi closed her eyes and dragged in a slow, calming breath as she stepped into the master bedroom and then slowly blew it back out. The smell of basting turkey, fragrant pies, and buttered potatoes permeated the air and downstairs roughly a dozen people were milling around. She could hear the muffled sounds of their voices filtering upstairs although the individual words were indistinguishable.
So far everyone was behaving themselves; Roberta had readily agreed to handle most of the cooking and was cheerfully bustling in and out of the kitchen while Julia assisted. Amazingly, they were getting along pretty well and were no doubt sharing woeful stories of their offspring.
Kensi groaned quietly to herself. She could just imagine the helpful advice she'd be getting from both women after they'd spent several hours conspiring together.
"Kensi? Oh hey, what are you doing up here?" Kensi opened one eye to see Deeks' head craning around the doorframe. It probably would have been smart to have closed the door, but at least Deeks wasn't one of the people she needed a break from.
"Babe, are you ok?" he asked, stepping into their room. Immediately, he bypassed mild concern and jumped to full-on worried, coming towards her with an outstretched hand as though he was preparing to check her for possible injuries.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she said quickly.
"Alright, then. Why are you hiding in our bedroom? Our mostly dark bedroom, I might add," Deeks glanced at the windows where only the faintest streams of light were coming through.
"I just needed a minute away from everyone."
"Was my mom asking you about grandkids again?" Deeks guessed and Kensi actually chuckled at the assumption.
"No, she's actually been on her best behavior so far. It's nothing in particular. I'm just not used to having so many people in our space and having to play hostess for more than a couple hours. It's a lot," she admitted, somehow feeling like she was letting someone down. Neither of their moms seemed to be having any trouble dealing with the people that made their weird mish-mash of a family and even Callen appeared content despite his normal lone-wolf tendencies.
Deeks looked surprised for a moment and then nodded.
"Yeah, it is kind of hard not being able to just leave when we get tired of everyone or tell them to get lost. But I don't think anyone expects you to be a hostess or anything. They can entertain themselves just fine and still have a good time," he said, somehow understanding how inadequate she felt at this whole house-wife thing and instantly absolving her of any guilt.
"I thought we were supposed to provide entertainment since we invited them?" Kensi said and Deeks waved his hand dismissively.
"We're providing dinner, or our moms are which mean that we have too by proxy, so I don't think we're obligated to entertain them as well. Besides, they honestly seem to be having a great time." Kensi watched Deeks for a few seconds for any signs that he was lying to make her feel better.
"Ok, I guess you're right," she sighed. "Why did you come looking for me?" Deeks grinned and hooked his thumb in the direction of the door.
"The Wonder Twins broke into the wine stash and somebody, pretty sure it was either my mom or Sam, suggested it was time for a toast."
"Are toasts before Thanksgiving dinner a thing?" Kensi asked, briefly worrying about everyone getting smashed without any food in their stomachs.
"Who cares? Like I said, they're entertaining themselves and as long as no one throws up, I'm fine with it," Deeks said with a shrug. Then he grabbed her hand, playfully tugging her towards the door. Kensi allowed him to lead her back downstairs where they found Sam uncorking a bottle of white wine at the dining room table they'd set with the best dishes they owned.
For once, he looked at ease; not purposely calm as he looked so often at work these days, but genuinely content. He turned with two glasses and spotted them still at the threshold of the stairs and extended the drinks with a wide smile.
"Hey, there you are. You nearly missed the toasts and the wine. Eric and Nell were ready to start without you." Kensi stepped forward, Deeks trailing behind her and accepted a glass with a grateful nod.
"Thank you. What are we toasting too?"
"What we're thankful for. Friends, family, warm weather. Anything. It's up to you, especially since it's your wine we're using."
"How about we toast to the lovely ladies who are cooking dinner?" Deeks called loudly and Roberta cheered, lifting her glass of sparkling grape juice to take a drink. Sam chuckled good-naturedly, following her with a sip from his own glass.
"Hear, hear," Hetty said from the couch where she was primly sandwiched between Nell and Eric. Callen stood near the back of the room next by one of Kensi's friends, his expression genial and relaxed as he quietly sipped at his wine.
"What about you, Kensi?" Sam asked. She glanced around the room, at the odd mixture of people that made up their family, then turned to Deeks who smiled happily down at her. Smiling back for a second, she lifted her own glass high and gestured to the room at large.
"I'd like to say that I'm thankful for everyone who came to celebrate with us. I'm thankful that we haven't been called out on a case," Deeks snorted behind her, but she merely grabbed his hand and linked their fingers together. "And I am thankful every day, for the life I get to share with you, Marty Deeks. Cheers."
Everyone chorused 'cheers' back and drank. Under the cover of the noise and commotion, Kensi turned her head and leaned back to press a kiss to Deeks' jaw. He was watching her with a soft warmth in his eyes, reflecting the same love and affection that had inspired her impromptu toast to him.
"Best Thanksgiving ever," he whispered.
A/N: Happy Thanksgiving to my U.S. readers and anyone else who might be celebrating. I personally don't like turkey all that much, but I figured I should let Deeks have some since ECO can't have any these days, poor man. If you're not sure what I'm referring to, Eric recently mentioned a couple times that he is a pescatarian, something that I did not know previously.
Also, Roberta's drinking grape juice because I decided that she might not imbibe much given Brandel's penchant for overdrinking. I don't remember if there's ever been a time when she's drinking alcohol on the show.