A/N: This one's for AthenaMay24. Congratulations,and keep up all the hard work!
It had never mattered much to Eric wether he had sons or daughters. Lyla however, was firmly convinced that having a brother simply wouldn't do. So when Nell and Eric had told her that the new baby would be a girl, her new favorite word had quickly become "sister." In the last few months of Nell's pregnancy, the two year old had developed an obsession with attempting to communicate with her unborn sibling. Upon being picked up from daycare, Lyla would immediately toddle up to her mother, pressing her cupped hands against the swell of Nell's stomach, and whisper gentle greetings to life forming there. She was beside herself with excitement the day the that her sister responded with a firm kick against her hand.
It made sense then, Eric thought as he checked the clock on the wall, that she would be desperate to meet her sister as soon as possible. It was just past 7:30 am, and Sam and Callen where on thier way with Lyla, who had been in the care of a neighbor since midnight. He had texted Deeks as well, to see if he and Kensi wanted to come meet the newest Jones and he couldn't wait to tell his wife what the response had been.
"Daddy!" Lyla came hobbling toward him at full speed, sippy cup in hand.
"The sitter said she was up every hour asking to come here." Sam said, handing Eric a coffee.
"Guess that means we're all a little short on sleep." He said, taking a long sip. "Thank you guys so much for picking her up."
Sam shrugged. "That's what family does, right G?"
Callen nodded in agreement before turning to Eric. "So where is the little nugget?"
"Follow me." Eric lead them out of the lobby and into the elevator. When the doors opened they followed him down a long hallway until they reached the door to Nell's room.
"I brought you something." He said, opening the door enough for Lyla to walk into the room.
"Actually, Sam and I brought you that particular something." Callen said, following the others into the room.
"If you want to get technical..."Nell was sitting up in bed, looking as prim and pristine as ever, despite the morning's events and the fact that she had to be seriously sleep deprived thanks to the little pink bundle in her arms.
"Sister?" Lyla asked, cutting off her mother's sentence.
Eric picked her up and set her on the bed with Nell. "Yeah Lyla, this is your sister." He said, letting Lyla get a look at the baby.
"She's cute." Sam said. Peering at the littlest Jones. Callen nodded in agreement.
Nell smiled up at them. "Hey, where are Deeks and Kensi?" She asked looking around for any sign of the two absent agents.
Eric gave her that crooked grin that spoke of secrets yet to be told. "They're upstairs." He said."In the delivery room."
"What? Why didn't they text me?" She asked.
"You really think Deeks would have had the presence of mind to do something like that?" Eric asked. "And besides, you had a pretty eventful night yourself. I'm sure they didn't want you to worry."
"I guess you're right." She said.
"So what's her name?" Callen asked.
"Morgen." She said. "Morgen Lydia Jones."
Twelve hours later Eric was peering through the window of the hospital nursery watching Morgen sleep. Her little tuft of honey colored hair was covered with a pale pink hat and her tiny eyelids were fluttering in her sleep. "So, which one's yours?" Asked a voice behind him.
"Fourth row, third from the left." He replied automatically, before realizing to whom the voice belonged. "And yours?" He asked.
"First row, fifth from the left." Deeks said, proudly.
Eric looked where Deeks was pointing to a little blue-clad baby with its limbs sprawled out. "I see he has his mother's sleeping habits." Eric said. Kensi and Deeks had had more than one lively conversation about her inability to remain solely on her half of the bed.
"And her hair." Deeks amended.
"He's pretty cute." Eric admitted.
Deeks smirked. "Yeah, kid's gonna break a lot of hearts."
"Really?" Eric said. "Well, you can keep your little heartbraker far away from my daughter."
Deeks chuckled. "Hey, save the over-protective dad speech for him."
"Oh, I intend to." Eric smiled.
A third voice entered the conversation, void (as usual) of the accompanying sound of footfall on the tile floors. "And what should we call him Mr. Deeks?"
Both men turned around instantly. "Hetty?"
"You didn't think I was going to miss this, did you?" Asked the tiny woman.
"Of course not." Eric said, trying to shake off the shock that often accompanied Hetty's surprise appearances.
"Well, ?" She prompted.
"We named him Kyle." He said. "Kyle Elliot."
"An excellent name!" She said approvingly. "And your little one ?"
"Morgen Lydia." Eric said, his eyes falling back on his youngest daughter.
They fell into a companionable silence before Deeks mumbled "What are the odds?"
"Astronomical." Eric said, shaking his head.
"Be that as it may," Hetty said "they were clearly in my favor today."
"How so?"
"I bet Mr. Hanna fifty dollars that they would be born on the same day."
Deeks grinned. "On the one hand, I feel like I should be mad. But on the other hand, Sam should really know better than to bet against you."
"That he should, . That he should."