"A Moment In Time"

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters; those belong to their original creators. The way it's all stringed together is of my making. No profit is being made out of this (*sigh* unfortunately).

Fandom(s): NCIS: Los Angeles and Supernatural
Character(s): Kensi Blye, G. Callen, Marty Deeks, Sam Hanna, Hetty Lange (and mentions of the Winchesters)
Pairing: past-Dean/Kensi, one-sided Deeks/Kensi

Rating: T
Words: 2,965 words

Requested By: none
Challenge/Summary: Being single on Valentine's Day sucked but it did have its perks. All it took was a card and photo from her past to remind Kensi of that.
Inspiration: Valentine's Day

Spoiler(s): SPN 5x14 ("My Bloody Valentine")
Time Frame: Post SPN Season 5 and Season 3 for NCIS: Los Angeles

A/N: Additional comments at the end to avoid spoilers. All you need to know is that Kensi meet the Winchesters right after her father's death.

*NCIS:LA*SPN*NCIS:LA*SPN*NCIS:LA*

"Unattached Drifter Christmas"

"Whoa." Kensi Blye mumbled when she arrived at her desk in the bullpen that Tuesday morning. Not only was her desk crawling with decorations but so were the other desks in the bullpen as well as the railings all over the place. It wasn't just random decorations; they were Valentine's Day decorations. Pink and red paper hearts, streamers and a few cartoon cupid pictures were scattered around the work area.

"I know. It's like a couple of kids snuck in and decorated the place." G. Callen grumbled from his seat just as Kensi slumped into hers that was situated right beside him.

"Oh c'mon, where's your loving spirit?" Marty Deeks teased as he returned to his desk after getting himself some coffee.

"Stop while you're ahead Deeks, those two don't like this particular holiday." Sam Hanna piped in as he pointed to the two agents in question as he was seated at his desk.

Deeks let loose a mock gasp. "How could you not love this loving holiday?" He just couldn't help riling up his partner and the team leader when they had identical frowns on their faces.

Kensi and Callen rolled their eyes as they looked to one another.

"For one it's not really a holiday. Holidays mean we get time off yet we're still here." Callen stated as he looked back to the team's LAPD liaison officer.

"And secondly, it's a commercialized way to single out all the…singles. There shouldn't be a designated day when you have to show someone you care. You should already do that everyday when you're with them." Kensi added on, earning herself a brief nod from Callen as a show that he agreed.

"Aww, are you feeling kind of sentimental Kens?" Deeks teased, not noticing soon enough the deep thinking look that she had on her face.

Kensi rolled her eyes, as if it could roll away her stray thoughts on the holiday. "Shut up Deeks."

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything." The voice of their boss stated out of nowhere, causing the team to jerk in their seats a bit. None of them seemed to get use to Hetty Lange's stealthy ninja moves.

"Oh course not Hetty. What can we do for you?" Callen questioned as he shifted his chair so that he could see his boss better.

Hetty was about to answer, that is until Deeks interrupted her. "It's not another case is it because that would be seriously messed up since its Valentine's Day and all." He rambled before taking a sip of his coffee.

Hetty sighed. "Crime doesn't stop for holidays Mr. Deeks and no, there isn't a case at the moment. I just wanted to give Ms. Blye this." She stated before she let the envelope in her hand be noticed by the team as she handed it to her female agent.

Kensi cautiously took the envelope before she looked it over. Her name was the only thing written on the envelope. "What is it?"

"It was delivered to my house last night so I thought I'd deliver it to you today." Hetty explained, leaving out the sender since it originally came to Hetty in another envelope with the return address and a brief note asking for her to pass the envelope inside to its appropriate recipient.

Before Kensi could ask her boss anything else, Hetty had already disappeared. The female agent just shrugged her shoulders as she analyzed the envelope. Nothing gave her any clue as to who sent it to her and she found it quite odd that it was sent to her through Hetty.

"What's the hold up…open it!"Deeks interjected a few moments later which brought Kensi out of her thoughts.

Kensi rolled her eyes as she carefully opened the envelope, completely aware that three sets of eyes were watching her. When the card was free from its enclosed confines, Kensi couldn't help but laugh at the words that were written on the blank card, in a handwriting that she'd never forget.

Happy Unattached Drifter Christmas Sweetheart.
~D

She ignored the curious looks from her teammates as she flipped the card open to reveal a photo inside; a photo of herself at seventeen in the arms of twenty-one year old Dean Winchester as his sixteen year old brother Sam had his arms draping over the both of them. It was definitely a convenient position for the youngest Winchester thanks to his growth spurt.

She couldn't help the smile that graced her face as she remembered that day as if it happened yesterday.

"Dude, why do I have to come along? I'm perfectly fine staying behind while you two have fun." Sixteen year old Sam Winchester complained as he stepped into the bar with his two companions. Luckily for him, his growth spurt didn't have anyone questioning him about his age.

"I'm not going to let you mope around the room all day Sammy so you're celebrating with me and Kens." Twenty-one year old Dean Winchester exclaimed to his brother while his arm was slung over seventeen year old Kensi Blye's shoulders.

"What's the big deal Sam? We always hang out together." Kensi questioned, not really seeing what the problem was as they made their way towards the bar.

"It's different today." Sam grumbled yet he was loud enough for his companions to hear him.

Dean quirked an eyebrow at his brother. "How so?"

Sam gave his brother an incredulous look. "Seriously?"

"What? What is so different about today?" Dean questioned with a shoulder shrug, not really noticing that the bar was decorated a certain way (and if the hunter did notice, he didn't show it).

Sam pinched the bridge of his nose before he looked around, paranoid that someone might hear his next words. "It's Valentine's Day Dean. The very day you deemed easy to find bars filled with lonely women…that's your type of scene, not mine."

Kensi smirked while Dean laughed. Kensi had heard the reasons behind Dean's interpretation of cupid's day last year when she spent her first Valentine's Day with the Winchesters. It still amused her how right he was about the whole thing. Women expect to have some elaborate show of affection from their date for that one day (which she found ludicrous since it should be year-around affection) and when women don't get it, they search for an outlet that could fill that affectionate void they felt that day. Being in a relationship on Valentine's Day meant more pressures while being single just meant an easy hook-up with no expectations except to have a good time. She completely understood Dean's logic behind the whole commercialized holiday and quite frankly, she preferred his version better.

"All the more reason to hang out with us. You need to get yourself some action Sammy." Dean taunted as he slapped his brother on the shoulder while Kensi ordered their drinks.

The youngest Winchester narrowed his eyes at his brother. "Why…so that you two could get the room to yourselves?" He questioned as he motioned between the two of them.

Kensi pouted while Dean smirked.

"Now that hurts Sam, what type of girl do you think I am?" Kensi questioned, her pout still present on her lips.

Sam rolled his eyes. "Dean's girl."

Dean laughed. "You got that right." He stated before planting a kiss to Kensi's temple.

The duo hadn't gotten together until two months after Kensi's seventeenth birthday after she finally realized how hard maintaining a relationship was when on or between jobs. It got to a point that she didn't even bother connecting with anyone if a case happened to be longer than a week because she knew that she'd have to leave them behind shortly afterwards. She envied Dean with how easy it was for him to hook-up with girls and not get emotionally attached to them because for Kensi, she found that she got attached to guys she kissed a lot easier than she had expected and she didn't want that. So instead of banishing all guys from her system so that she wouldn't get hurt…she had Dean.

"Now that we have that established, can I go back to the room?" Sam questioned with a sigh, with some hope that his brother would take pity on him and let him go back to their motel room for the week.

"No Sam! Drink up and enjoy your singleness." Kensi protested as she passed his newly arrived drink to him.

Sam groaned yet he still accepted the drink. "There's nothing good about being single." He stated with a head shake.

Dean snickered. "There is tonight." He stated with a smirk as he accepted his own drink from Kensi. He clinked his drink with hers before he repeated the action with Sam. His brother reluctantly followed the gesture before the trio downed a few gulps of their drinks.

Kensi's fingers ran over the picture as images of them having a blast together flashed through her mind. They had managed to take the picture after Sam had lightened up a bit more later on in the night. It was just another fun night out with the brothers. It was never a dull moment with them.

Callen noticed the faraway look on Kensi's face but he couldn't wait any longer for some answers after he snuck a peek over her shoulder to see the photo in her hands. "Is that you?" He questioned as he took in the sight of a smiling teenage Kensi, in the arms of a young dirty-blonde haired man while a younger man with slightly shaggy brown hair towered over them from behind; both boys had wide smiles on their faces to match.

Snapping out of her thoughts, Kensi managed a nod with her head as she tried to flip the photo over to see if there was anything written on the back. A soft smile crossed her face when a simple 'we wish you were with us' and 'we miss you' were written on the back; both written by a different brother.

"So is the guy holding you in that photo the one that gave you the…interesting greeting?" Callen questioned with a smirk as he held up the card with Dean's handwriting on it. The greeting alone warranted a back story but now with the photo, Callen really wanted to know and by the looks on Deeks' and Sam's face from across the bullpen; they were feeling a little bit left out.

"What?" Deeks interjected; his eyes had widened when this mystery guy was brought up.

Kensi moved her attention from the photo to Callen as she glared at him. "I see nothing wrong with Dean's greeting." She declared.

"Who's Dean?" Deeks asked again, his attention moving between Kensi and Callen while Sam chuckled at the fact that the surfer was being ignored.

"Oh of course not but there's got to be a story behind someone calling Valentine's Day an Unattached Drifter Christmas." Callen continued as if he hadn't heard Deeks as he lifted the greeting card off of Kensi's desk.

Sam laughed. "A what now G?"

"Who's Dean?" Deeks tried again but with no such luck.

Callen smirked to his partner. "You heard me Sam," he started before returning his attention to his junior agent, "so spill Kens because I really wanna know how you deemed a name like that to cupid's day."

Kensi chuckled as she looked back down at the photo. "Bars, babes and booze." She finally answered without taking her eyes off the photo.

Deeks had a cheeky grin on his face when her words finally registered. "Why Kens, I didn't think you swung that way. Now back to my question; who's Dean?" He teased before his expression turned serious when he brought his question up again.

Kensi rolled her eyes at her partner. "Oh shut up Deeks. The 3Bs were not my motto to the holiday, there're Dean's." She didn't reveal anymore information about the issue, not completely sure if she wanted to tell the team about two of the people that changed her life completely (in more ways than one).

"And why's that?" Sam questioned but when he noticed her hesitance, he knew that he had to think fast before she completely closed them off. "You don't have to tell us Kens but I'm pretty sure Deeks and Callen won't stop until they get the story behind the name."

The junior agent scoffed. "You're dying to know the source of it too Sam." Kensi quipped with a smirk which caused the ex-Navy SEAL to laugh.

"Just tell us Fern." Deeks added in, all too eager to learn who this mystery guy is since he was very certain that the name Dean never came up before in his conversations with Kensi and it was obvious that Dean meant something to his partner.

Kensi glared at her partner for calling her Fern but when she noticed that his smirk wasn't going to leave his face anytime soon, she sighed. "Dean travels a lot so he doesn't really commit when it comes to relationships. The only constant he ever had in his life was his younger brother, Sam or Sammy."

"Tall guy in the photo?" Callen piped in as he took a closer look at the photo while Kensi was still holding onto it.

She hummed before she continued. "Yeah. Because of that, Dean always relished in his singleness, hooking up with girls whenever he wanted…" She trailed off as she remembered her first year with the Winchesters and how Dean would always be picking up girls either on or off the job. She shook her head before she got back on track. "Now when it comes to the name…it's quite simple. Unattached Drifter simply references himself or any other uncommitted traveler and Christmas because…well it is deemed the most wonderful time of the year so why not?" She explained with a chuckle as she remembered a fifteen year old Sam explaining it to her during her first Valentine's Day with the brothers.

"But why Valentine's Day?" The ex-Navy SEAL questioned while he found the whole thing amusing for some odd reason.

Kensi smirked. "Because of all the expectations that surround it." She wanted to leave it at just that, figuring that since they were guys that should be able to put two and two together but with the three looks that clearly told her to go on, Kensi should have known it wouldn't be that easy to dismiss the topic.

She inhaled deeply as she leaned back into her chair, leaving the photo on her desk which didn't stay there long since Callen snatched it to get a better look. It wasn't everyday that the senior field agent came across anything that documented the female agent's past so when the opportunity presented itself, he was going to milk it as much as he can.

Instead of reaching out to take her photo back, Kensi let Callen look at it since she didn't want to risk ripping the memento. So while he was busy looking at the photo, she carried on with her explanation. "Women in relationships expect to get all these overly affectionate gestures from their lovers while guys have more pressures on them as they worry about what to do…completely overrated if you ask me." She stated with a wave of her hand which caused her partner to scoff.

She immediately glared at him which had Deeks immediately having his hands up in a surrender-like way before he motioned for her to continue. Neither noticed the amused smirks the other partnership were sporting.

"Now single women either mope about their singleness or they go out looking for a drunk hook-up to forget the fact that they are single. Single guys just want to hook-up regardless with no strings attached." She paused, waiting for any refusals from her teammates but when she only received agreeing nods, she continued. "Put all the singles together in bar with unlimited booze and you get massive hook-ups all around…babes for Dean, boys for me." She ended with her hands gestured like a counter-weight.

"Or you could go with 'booty-call' if you really wanna stick with this B-alliteration, that way you have one phrase for everyone." Deeks piped in with a shrug but that only earned him many glances from the team. "What? I'm just saying." He defensively retorted.

Before anyone could tease the liaison officer any further for his comment, one of Eric's whistles was heard which set off a bunch of groans from the team before they made a move.

So much for no crime today, Sam thought as he made his way upstairs.

Callen handed the photo back to Kensi before he followed his partner up to the Mission.

Deeks hung back as Kensi placed her photo back in the card before slipping it safely into her bag. "So are we ever going to meet these brothers?" He questioned as nonchalantly as he could but it only earned him a skeptical look from his partner.

"I don't know Deeks. We'll see." She stated before she made her way towards the stairs, knowing that the team would be waiting for them before they started the debriefing.

A smirk slowly surfaced on the detective's face when her words registered before he sprinted up after his partner. Although Deeks felt threatened by Dean, not forgetting the fact that his question about the older brother was ignored, he knew that if he met Dean then he'd get more of an insight into Kensi's past. That fact alone is what made him eager to meet the mysterious brothers (it had nothing to do with the fact that these brothers could possibly know more about Kensi than he did...nothing to do with it at all).

*NCIS:LA*SPN*NCIS:LA*SPN*NCIS:LA*

A/N #1: I'm sorry if the ending was kind of...rough but I didn't want to get into a case and I just wanted to focus on that brief moment that the team exchanges light banter before they get a case. So with that aside, how was it? I hope you all enjoyed it since I can't get a crossover between these fandoms out of my head! Don't forget to leave me your thoughts in a review! Thanks for reading! Happy Valentine's Day/Unattached Drifter Christmas!

A/N #2: Don't forget to watch the new episodes of both shows this week! Also SPN's Samantha Smith aka Mary Winchester is supposed to guest star in next week's NCIS: LA episode (3x16...the one focused on Kensi) so I'm even more pumped to see it!

Originally Published: February 14, 2012