A/N: So, here comes chapter 2 and I have to say that I was really thrilled about the nice reviews and also all the followers and favs. :) Thank you. I hope you´re enjoying this chapter as much as the first one and I´m really looking forward to your reviews and messages - cause those are like applaus for us writers ;)
I´m also always open for any kind of suggestions or ideas for the story, so feel welcome to submit them to my inbox.
Blessings
Soulia
Disclaimer: Sadly, I still don´t own any of the NCIS Los Angeles Characters or stories, but it´s fun to spend some time with the characters especially during Christmas time :)
Let´s get down to the Christmas Spirit
They made their way up to the Hotel where Deeks had rented the cottage, he checked all of them in and so in no time he opened the door of the cottage for Julia and Kensi, letting them enter first and grabbing their luggage to bring it inside. Julia and Kensi looked around with mild surprise at the really lovely looking rooms and how beautiful everything has been decorated for Christmas, there was even a small Christmas Tree in one corner of the main room, a proper tree not like at OPS where they had the palm tree decorated with too many bright lights. Julia reached for her daughters hand and squeezed it briefly, knowing that Kensi couldn´t really remember the last proper Christmas with her family.
"Uhh, could someone …. Don´t worry, I´ve got this …. ", and with that there was a loud bang coming from the stairs, on which Deeks was standing looking slightly surprised by quite a number of spilled PJs, the fluffy type and obviously not Julia´s.
"Wow Kensi, that is a nice assortment of PJs. You remember that we stay just for 5 days?" he smiled at Kensi, rubbing the back of his head lightly, waiting for Kensi to say something. But she just stood there next to her Mum, mouth ajar and looking at Deeks.
"I just …. ", he knelt down, started putting those PJs back in her bag, when Kensi came rushing up those stairs and grabbed them out of his hand, a nice red colour on her cheeks and her gaze fixed on her stuff.
"Don´t you dare …. ", was all Kensi could muster to say while packing her things again and stuffing them in her bag as fast as she could, brushing past Deeks and entering one of the upstairs bedrooms, leaving Deeks and Julia to themselves.
"Wow, that was awkward, even for your daughter", Deeks mumbled more to himself and then looking at Julia for an answer. "Who needs 5 PJs whilst on a 5 days holiday?"
Julia just laughed under her breath before looking at Deeks, her head slightly tilted to one side and one eyebrow raised at him, just as Kensi would do if he´d asked a really stupid question. And to Deeks´ surprise Julia left him with that, getting her bag and choosing the second of the bedrooms, shutting the door behind her.
"Alright, maybe I should rethink this whole idea about spending Christmas with two female Blye´s as my company", he spoke aloud while trying to figure out what just had happened, but he couldn´t really made any reason of it, so he grabbed his bag as well and entered the last remaining empty bedroom, where he sat down on the bed for a moment and just took a deep breath.
Who would have thought that in the room next to him the picture was nearly the same, with a little difference that the person had her face in her hands and was huffing and puffing because of her reaction just minutes ago. "That was embarrassing, Kensi … really embarrassing." And now she was talking to herself as well – congratulations for being silly. She sat up straight, took a deep breath and started to unpack her things and put them in the drawers, before she had a closer look around the room and out of the window, overlooking the lake and a great part of a beautiful looking forest. Deeks had really found a nice spot up at Lake Tahoe and with this appeasing view her thoughts cleared as well and she could nearly forget what happened on the stairs.
After one final look out the window she turned around, found her toiletries and made it to the bathroom door, opening it and being greeted be the view of Deeks bottom while he was putting his clothes in the drawer. She closed the door quickly but without a sound, leaning against it and tried to calm her heart rate down, cause for no reason her heart had sped up at that unintentional view.
"As if you haven´t seen his back before Kensi, don´t be silly", she said to herself again, quiet so that Deeks wouldn´t hear her, but at the same time strong enough for her to be aware of the absurdity of those words and her reactions.
After a moment she realized that there was another door in her room on the opposite side, which was ajar and she could glimpse a sink and a shower, so she made it to her bathroom and put her things away, the picture of Deeks´ back still at the front of her head and a tiny smile creeping up at the corner of her mouth. Somehow it felt good knowing that Deeks was just next door, doing exactly the same things that she´s been doing a moment ago and that everything was nearly like at home, where he was always there for her if she needed him. And if she was honest with herself she liked the idea of spending the next days up here with him so close – maybe too close? She didn't let her thoughts go down that path, but she couldn´t help wondering how it would be to spend more holidays with her partner …..
After all Kensi and Deeks had finished unpacking their stuff, they both made it back downstairs to the living room, enjoying the view through the glass front, a balcony in front of it, over the rest of the resort, with nice looking cottages here and there among the trees and the slightly bigger main building where the hotel rooms were suited. Deeks cleared his throat and looked first at Kensi and then upwards. "Do you think Julia is okay? Should we check on her?" he was not sure what to make of it, that she hasn´t come back downstairs by now.
"No, she´s alright. I talked to her before I came down and she said something about a short nap before the evening festivities and not being as young as we are", with that Kensi rolled her eyes again, smiling a little, cause she knew her Mum was absolutely fit and wouldn´t really need a nap, but like Kensi herself you better didn´t try to argue with Julia.
"So, what have you planned for the first day and the Christmas Eve?" Kensi turned to Deeks, her hands in her back pockets and nearly unable to hide her raising agitation, while thinking about the upcoming evening.
Deeks smiled at her, aware of her excitement, but not wanting to push her on that. So he scratched the back of his head again, trying to play it down, that he had everything for this day planned nearly to the minute. "Yeah, about tonight. I hope you brought something nice …. Like maybe a dress? I reserved a table in the restaurant and we will have a nice 5 course meal with your Mum at 8, hope that´s okay with you?" looking inquiring at Kensi, cause he really had no idea what she would like to do on Christmas Eve. But to his surprise, Kensi just smiled and nodded at Deeks , averting her gaze after a moment, but he was pretty sure he had seen a tiny bit of shiny eyes.
"You okay?" he asked after a moment with no word from Kensi and she was obviously struggling with something that she couldn´t put into words right now. He made a step towards her, placing a hand on her upper arm and looking at her, waiting for any kind of reaction. After what felt like ten minutes, Kensi finally looked up at Deeks again, a bit surprised by the concern on his face, but after all he was her partner and knew her so much better than anyone else.
"Yeah, I´m fine …. " after realizing she had used the wrong word, she corrected "I´m okay. It´s just that all this … "she gestured to the tree, the snow outside and all the decoration "is more than I had expected from this trip. Thank you."
She wasn´t sure who was more surprised by her words, Deeks or her, but he covered it quite well, laughing gently with so much joy in his blue eyes, that Kensi wasn´t sure what to made of that. But he helped her out, by offering some more plans, that he had made for today.
"Good, than you maybe won´t be too upset about me ordering some partner massages before the evening events. I had planned a beauty treatment for your Mum, but I guess I´ll have to cancel that", but the moment he said those words, Julia came bustling down the stairs in a happy mood and smiling brightly at Deeks once again. Kensi really had to talk to her Mum about her behaviour around Deeks, but now wasn´t the right time and place to do so.
"Oh no, don´t. I´m feeling much better and a beauty treatment sounds perfect, thank you for booking that for me Marty, you are such a considerate man. I will meet you later than? When is our reservation for dinner?" Julia asked, after patting Deeks quickly on his shoulder and looking really happy and content with this decision.
"Diner starts at 8, so if we meet back here at 7:30 the latest? Then we can make it to the restaurant together?" he asked carefully, but Julia just smiled again and nodded her agreement, before grabbing her jacket and heading to the door. "See you later and enjoy your massage." And with that Julia was gone and left two slightly startled people in the living room.
"Wow, she is in a really good mood since we hit the road to get to Reno. Something I should know?" Deeks looked at Kensi, waiting for an explanation from her, but she looked as stunned as Deeks and had to shake her head to get out of her numbness about her Mum´s happiness and cheerfulness.
"Don´t ask me. I just met my Mum properly again not that long ago, and I haven´t really made it to the part where I understand everything about her and I´m not sure if I ever will." And with that Kensi turned around, grabbed her jacket as well and looked back at Deeks.
"You coming? I think it requires two people for a partner massage, doesn´t it?" she winked at him, even though just a minute ago she has been a bit annoyed by her Mum just rushing out and leaving her with Deeks once again, but she had set herself a goal for tonight – be happy and enjoy whatever comes along, Kensi.
Getting in his jacket, Deeks made it to the door and held it open for Kensi, who looked much happier than moments ago and he hoped that that was a good sign for the afternoon and evening coming up.
They made it up to the main building, enjoying some snow under their feet and at the reception Deeks managed everything, so they could go through to the spa area, where they were greeted by two employees of the resort who would be performing the partner massage. Kensi and Deeks were separated, so that they could get undressed and slip a bathing robe on, before entering the room with two massage table prepared for them. The room was lit only by quite a number of candles and a soft light from above, the smell of cinnamon and something typical for Christmas in the air, Kensi couldn´t really name it, but she liked it. When her gaze met Deeks, she saw the same feeling in his eyes, even though they were both wearing not much more than the bathing robes, they both were happy and she tried to hide her huge grin. The therapists explained how they should lay down and they both had to let go of the bathing robe, which left Deeks with just his briefs and Kensi in just a slip, but they were both settled on the table in a moment.
"Hope you enjoy it, princess", mumbled Deeks, before properly laying down and closing his eyes, to enjoy an hour of being massaged and relaxing completely after they had a few really exhausting days behind them.
Kensi just mumbled something Deeks couldn´t really understand, but he was sure he heard a shut up somewhere in there, which made him chuckle for a moment, but then he really let go of everything and shrugged off all the stress from the last weeks and months and enjoyed being worked from toe to neck by professionals, nearly falling asleep at some point. Just Kensi´s quiet moaning at some points kept him more awake then he would admit it was just a too nice sound escaping her lips, every time her therapist hit a certain part of her body. He would have loved to know that spot, but being trapped in the hole he had no chance to catch a glimpse. But he promised to himself, that he would find that spot at some point during their trip.
An hour later the thing was over and the therapists left them alone in the room, telling them to take their time getting up and changed. So Deeks slowly sat up, wrapping one of the towels around his waist and looked over to where Kensi was still laying on her table nearly without any sign of movement, just her even breathing a sign of her being alive. He thought about going over to her and talking to her, but he decided to give her some time to digest whatever was on her mind and concerned her.
Silently he got up and left the room to enter his changing area and get changed, which took him just a few minutes and then he left for the bar, where he ordered a simple coke, not wanting to be the slightest bit drunk by the time Kensi emerged from the Spa area and later for the dinner with her Mum. He just sat there, thought about the rest of the team and sent a short message to Nell, asking her how the time at the hospital has been with Eric, immediately getting a reply from her with a pic attached of her, Eric and a bunch of kids with bright smiles on their faces. Nell just stated that the time has been absolutely worth the costume and that she would tell him and Kensi all about it as soon as they would all be back in OPS in a few days' time. Deeks just laughed to himself about Eric being so eager to join Nell on that kind of operation, but in the end he had to admit, that he would have done the same if Kensi had asked him.
"So much for the power of women", Deeks muttered to himself before taking another sip of his coke, when suddenly someone tapped him on his back. He was half expecting Kensi, but was surprised to see Julia with a happy face and a nice discreet Makeup. She settled on the chair next to him and ordered a coffee, before turning fully to Deeks and looking him up and down.
"Where is Kensi? I thought you had a partner massage together?" she inquired with a raised eyebrow, sipping her coffee slowly and with some pleasure.
"Uhm, I hope she is still in there somewhere, I left her after the massage, cause she seemed a bit unsettled and I was sure she needed some alone time", saying it aloud it occurred to him, that Kensi might have needed him by her side, but for once he was unsecure when it came to Kensi and her feelings.
Julia just stirred her coffee and took a deep breath, before addressing Deeks with her next words. "You know, that my daughter trusts you more than any other person, including me, right?" Just waiting for a confirmation from Deeks, she looked straight at him, getting his tiny nod and so she went on. "You should always trust yourself when you´re around her, cause she has never opened up to anyone like she has with you and for some reason you seem to have the perfect combination of teasing and pushing her but also being her shoulder to lean on if she needs it and because of that, don´t question why you left her. Be sure, that it was the right thing and that Kensi will come to you as soon as she is ready and has sorted her thoughts out. I know that much about her and I trust my feeling with this as well as I trust you to be there for her." And with that Julia put her hand on Deeks arm, cause she could see him questioning his own actions when it comes to Kensi.
"Shall I leave the two of you alone for a bit longer?" came Kensis voice suddenly from behind and Deeks felt caught, even though he hadn´t done anything, but still sitting here with Kensi`s Mum and talking about her felt somehow weird.
"No, please join us. Can I order something for you, my dear?" Julia flashed Kensi an honest smile and pulled her next to her, patting her leg and looking her up and down. "You look good, was the massage nice?" she asked her, sipping some of her coffee again, after Kensi had got herself a coffee as well.
"Thank you Mum, it was great and I hadn´t been aware of how much I´d needed this", she looked past her Mum and flashed Deeks a thankful smile which he just answered with one of his smiles that told her so much more than any words could do. And they also said so much more with all their glances than they had ever discussed before, which made her feel a bit unsettled at some points. Her Mum saw these silent exchanges once again and felt more assured in her goal to get these two to open up to each other.
A/N: Can´t wait for your thoughts and ideas. Next chapter will be up by the end of the week. Have a nice week :)
