SIGNIFICANT OTTERS by MioneAlterEgo
DISCLAIMER: Disclaimed.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This one is dedicated by delightful partner in crime, imahistorian, who requested more K/D. (BTW, if you haven't read her fic "The Greater Good," you should definitely go hit up that one next. This one won't take you long.) -D Just a little fluffy K/D drabble. Enjoy!
"Awww, look! They're like little otters," Nell chirped in an uncharacteristic display of giddiness.
"Otters?" Sam questioned.
"Look at them!"
Sam, Eric, and Callen stared somewhat uncomprehendingly at the sight in front of them on the Ops center's big screen monitor. How Kensi and Deeks were at all like small aquatic mammals, they were really not sure.
All the men could see was the interior of a hotel room at an exclusive honeymoon resort in which Deeks and Kensi had been holed up for three days, allegedly monitoring their latest suspects—a newlywed couple (the woman a Marine) with convenient ties to a prominent Central American drug trafficking ring. Kensi was sprawled out spread-eagle on her stomach, easily taking up 2/3 of the king size bed on her own, while Deeks was lying half on his side snoring indelicately.
"Nell," Callen ventured, "I'm still not seeing otters."
Nell rolled her eyes and moved toward the touch-screen. She zoomed in on one small detail the others had missed: in the middle of the twisted sheets and rumpled PJ's, Kensi's hand found Deeks', their fingers entwined in silent connection.
"Ah… otters." Eric, apparently catching onto Nell's line of reasoning, turned to his own monitor and pulled up an internet search. In seconds, an image of two furry sea otters appeared on screen, hands linked and eyes closed.
Sam and Callen glanced between the image of the otters and the image of their teammates, realization sinking in.
"Otters are very playful, very social, and… they hold hands when they sleep so they won't float away from one another," Nell whispered, still barely concealing her girlish delight.
Callen cringed, but to his surprise Sam began to snicker. "They know the room is being video-monitored from here, G. What do you think Kensi is gonna do when she wakes up and realizes we have video footage of her holding hands with Deeks while they sleep?"
Callen's face slowly split into a grin. "Eric, you're recording this, right?"
The tech specialist smiled evilly in reply. "Of course I am. Every minute."
"And how much trouble would it be to have, say, four or five small posters printed up to hang around OSP?"
"Color? Or black and white?"
"Neither," Hetty scolded from behind them. "Save your reindeer games for some other time, Mr. Callen, and not in my office in the middle of an investigation."
When Deeks and Kensi returned from the op two days later, neither could figure out why they both had multiple e-mails from a local sea otter sanctuary. Neither could figure out how two tickets and a map to the Monterey Bay Aquarium ended up in Deeks' desk drawer. And, while both were fairly certain that Eric had been the one to photo-edit their faces onto a picture of two floating sea otters, neither could quite figure out which of the other members of the team had been responsible for plastering both their cars with posters of the manipulated image.
Deeks chuckled as he slipped his hand into Kensi's sleeping grasp later that night. He didn't know who'd made the posters, but if the looks Callen had been giving Nell lately were any indication he'd have fodder for his own revenge soon enough. He squeezed Kensi's hand once more before drifting off to sleep.