A/N In response to all the PMs for the story behind Hope's Birth, you asked for it, you got it. Note there will be spoilers for Poker Face Failure. I can't write this without them. Thanks for reading and please leave a review.
Disclaimer: Nothing in the bank account, so I don't own anything from NCIS LA
How anybody could think somebody could stay calm and quiet with that alarm screaming in the room, I have no idea. I was moving towards Kens, thanking God for our nonverbal communication, because I sure wasn't going to be able to say something, and be heard. Two nurses came flying into the room, just as the wail of the alarm shut off and the thump of the baby's heartbeat came back over the speakers, as if nothing had happened.
"Kens…. Sunshine…. Princess…. Fern look at me." Reaching down, I gently cupped her face and tilted her beautiful features up towards mine; projecting a calm I didn't feel. It almost felt like I was lying to Kens. "It is going to be ok." I looked at the two nurses silently begging them to agree with me. I honestly couldn't remember their names at the moment. I turned back to see those mismatched eyes clouded with doubt and fear. "It. Is. Going. To. Be. Ok. We're going to be good."
The black haired nurse looked at the screen on the monitor. "We're getting a lot of background noises. I think the baby or Kensi moved. Dr. Stevens the night shift doctor is on his way. He'll make the final decision, but seeing as the baby's heartbeat is still as strong as before the alarm went off, I think we're good." It suddenly struck me that her name was Heather and the other nurse was Stephanine. I gave a quick grin to Kens, hoping for at least a quick roll of the eyes about the fact I was right, but her eyes were still downcast.
Dr. Stevens was older, by a lot, than Dr. Robertson, and had a serious no nonsense attitude. I knew the moment I met him, I had to be on my best behavior. No jokes, no quips, no sarcasm; but that was alright because the man extruded a confidence that was sorely needed right now. He immediately looked at the monitors for the baby and then the ones for Kens. "Everything is looking good. Either the sensors malfunctioned, or someone moved just enough to for the sensor to lose the heartbeat. I'll be back through a little later." He wasn't rude or harsh, but just spoke what needed. I barely made it back into the chair before my legs gave out in relief, as he left.
Heather made some adjustments to the monitor. "If the baby or Kensi moves again the alarm shouldn't be as loud. I don't know why that thing was set that loud." She grinned apologetically. "Do you need anything Kensi before we leave?"
I doubt even Callen or Sam would be able to tell how much this had terrified Kensi. She just shook her head numbly. I had never seen her this way, and I was fighting desperately not to break down myself. I knew something that would help both of us, but with all the wires and sensors I wasn't sure how we could do it. "Hey Heather is there any way I could possibly lay beside her?" I was almost afraid to ask for worry of crushing what little hope I was able to give. Again I was starting play the Divine intervention version of Let's Make A Deal. I was praying there was some way I could just hold her and give Kens the comfort she desperately needed.
"I think we can work something out, don't you think Heather?" Stephanie could see what the idea was doing for Kens, and making sure Kensi stayed calm was the best thing for her. For once it felt like my prayers were being answered the way I had requested. They were always answered, just not in the way I wanted. After all I did survive Russian dentistry school and Kensi did come back from Afghanistan, just not safe and sound.
"Yeah we can do that. What side do you want to be on Kensi?" Heather was already starting to disconnect various leads so that she could move the monitor.
"I have to be on the right side of the bed." I snorted, even now with all that was going on, her stubbornness was showing through. The things I have sacrificed for this woman, but I would do everything in my power to make her happy and to keep her safe.
"Ok we can try to move onto your right side, but I have to tell you this might make the baby a little harder for the sensors to detect." Kens just nodded in agreement. I hated how quiet she was being. Right now I would take her up on her offer to eat bulgolgi for the rest of our lives, if it would just bring back a spark of the Kensi I fell in love with and married. It seemed like forever until I was finally able to climb into bed with my wife, until then I just held her hand, anxiously trying to give her some relief.
As I climbed into lay down beside her and gently wrap my arms around Kens, I felt some on the tension leave her body. "What did I ever do to deserve you?" I still can't fathom how she thinks she isn't good enough for me. "Thank you for asking if we could do this. It just felt so wrong being in here without you. Love you."
"Once again you have it wrong, Princess. It's me that doesn't deserve you." I placed a gentle kiss to her temple. "Where you go, I go. That's how we roll. Love you too." We didn't speak anymore just let our ability to communicate without a word convey the strength and solace each needed so desperately. Kens slowly drifted off to sleep as the magnesium started working its magic, now if only something could unplug the blender running through my head.
*****NCIS LA*****
I managed to doze off again, but then about an hour later the alarm went off again. Heather and Stephanie made a few adjustments and Dr. Stevens was not happy about me lying in bed with Kensi. It took some time for us to explain that this was actually helping keep her calm and quiet, it didn't help that entire time I was stammering like a teenager who just got caught by his girlfriend's father. A shudder passed through my body at the thought of what Donald Blye would have done to me if I sneaked into Kensi's bedroom if we had met when we were teens. I like to think that even then we would have realized we were soulmates.
About two hours later the alarm went off yet again, and this time I had to get out of bed because while the nurses could find the baby's heartbeat they couldn't lock it down. Kensi was going to have to move onto her left side. It still took almost another twenty minutes to get the baby's heartbeat dialed in. The nurses were definitely getting exasperated. "There is no way that this baby is a girl." Heather sounded like she was fuming. "No self-respecting girl would ever do this to her mother. It has to be a boy."
"That's because you don't know her mother." I couldn't help it. Maybe teasing Kens would help her feel a little bit better, and it would definitely help me. "She'll probably end up being the first female linebacker in the NFL, because her mother kicks that much ass." Bad Ass Blye could take down men twice her size, routinely beats me when we spar together, and if anyone questioned those facts, I had pictures on my phone of one Jack Simon after Kens had captured him not that long after she had escaped from the Taliban. All while being around three months pregnant.
"If you aren't careful Shaggy, I'll kick your ass right here, right now." That was the first true Kensi grin I had gotten in a while. Maybe we would get through this alright. Figure it out as we go along, we always do. I just needed to keep faith in myself, which based on my history was easier said than done.
"Well, all I can say is this kid likes to swim around. It's really difficult to keep the sensors in one spot." I could understand the irritation in Heather's voice.
I leaned down to Kensi's stomach. "Hey there Little Deeks, it's Daddy. I know you can't wait to go see the ocean with me, but you need to take it easy on Mommy ok? We need you to stay in there as long as possible, but we can only do that if you take it easy on Mommy. Plus you're scaring Daddy, and I can't fix this for you or Mommy." I stood up to see Kensi watching me with her heart in her eyes. "What?"
"You never get to question your ability to be a good father ever again, got it?" That was spoken which such conviction that I seriously doubted how I ever felt that I deserved such faith in me.
"Wow that did the trick. The little guy has stopped moving around. You have a way with kids there Deeks." Heather's amazement matched my own. "Maybe we need to hire you."
"That's because he is basically a kid. Filled with eternal optimism and wonder." Tears were in Kens eyes as she spoke. Again I wondered what I have done right in my life to deserve her. As I climbed back into bed with I couldn't help but wonder what I done that Kensi and our child had to go through this. Both of them were in trouble and I couldn't do more to help them. This had to be payment for my all the wrongs I have done. "Stop it." Even lying with her back against my chest Kens could read me like a book. "This is not your fault. You heard the doctor. If anything it's because I didn't give into you sooner, I got pregnant the night we got married, remember."
"Part of me knows that. Unfortunately the larger part of me keeps saying it is my fault."
"Well pull that part of your head out of your ass. I'm getting tired of beating it through your skull. You are not a monster. You are not your father. You are the best man I have ever known. And there is no one else who I can imagine to be going through the next fifty years of my life with." She snuggled back into me some more. "I love you. Now stop thinking and go to sleep."
"Yes ma'am. Whatever you say, Mrs. Deeks." This got me an elbow in the guts. There wasn't a lot of power behind it, but I could feel the love in the physical assault. "I love you, Fern."
*****NCIS LA*****
The beach was calm and serene. It felt almost like I had been here before. Nobody in sight that that I could see and I'm not prepared to go surfing, the feeling of déjà vu was immense. I just waited, I had pretty good idea what was going to happen, but I could never be too sure. Usually when I am at the beach and there is nobody around, Kensi and I are very naked and very busy.
"Hey Dad, how are you doing?" The voice came from behind as it did the last time. I knew instantly without turning that it belonged to a young brunette with blue eyes and wavy hair. "Told you would we would be meeting sooner than you think."
This time I know I didn't eat bad sushi or whatever it was the last time. "So apparently I need a little pep talk, and you're the one to give it to me."
She stepped around in front of me, with a grace so reminiscent of her mother. "Looks like it." Even her speech patterns were that of Kensi. "Remember what Uncle Sam and Aunt Michelle told you after NCIS offered you the new position? When you were wondering how you and Mom could make it work? Saving the world, looking good while doing it, and having a relationship outside of work?" I nodded. Sam and Michelle had done more in helping us get to where we are today than anything else we had tried. Both had to deal with the fact that their significant other put their lives on the line and had watched the other seduce suspects and targets before, yet they had one of the strongest marriages I have ever had the privilege of seeing. If it weren't for the two of them, I honestly don't know where Kens and I would be. Actually I would probably be inside a bottle or a long term undercover operation with no hope of coming back alive. "You just need to keep hope alive and keep the faith in one another."
"So my firstborn is going to be a girl. I knew I was right." I am a master of deflecting, apparently even in my dreams. Because there was no way I was having a conversation with someone who wasn't even born yet. "You know you still haven't told me your name?"
"Really Dad? We both know, however much you talk about it, you don't believe that metaphysical crap." If my dream was any indication, the rest of life was going to be very interesting with dealing with two Kensis. It certainly wasn't going to be boring. A grin started to break out on my face as I realized I was looking forward to meeting my daughter. "I am just a manifestation of your subconscious. There is no way you having a conversation with me while I am still in Mom."
"Pretty sure if you were manifestation of my subconscious you would be a lot taller, blonde, male and smell like cheap booze, there kiddo."
"Whatever Dad. Remember hope and faith. It's got you two this far after everything, right? It will get you through this as well." She stood up on her tip toes, and kissed me on my cheek. What sounded like sirens cut through the distance. "Sorry Dad, just feeling the need to start swimming again. I can't wait to meet you."
The alarm of the monitor brought me back to wakefulness. But all the little cat naps I had been receiving was just enough to make me feel loggier. Of course hospital beds aren't designed for two people, so I am sure that had a part in the way I was sleeping. All I could focus on was that I was never going to complain about a normal alarm clock ever again. Feeling every bit worn down and ragged as I had when Kensi was on her forced vacation, I started to get out of bed knowing that the nurses, and most likely the doctor as well would soon be entering.
The nurses that entered were completely new, and weren't all moving all that fast. I mean they were moving with a purpose, but it was like they were expecting this to happen. Based on how light it was outside the window, and that it appeared that the shift change had already occurred, it looked like it was around seven in the morning.
"Good morning." The blonde was especially chipper, and I just had to groan when I saw that her nametag read Wendy. I thought she looked familiar, hopefully she wasn't the same one who gave me her number for a case about three years ago. The only thing that could be worse if she was named Nichole or Monica. "How are we feeling Mrs. Deeks?"
Though it still made my heart flip sideways when I heard Kensi called by our last name, it all depended on her mood as how she received it. "He is Deeks, just call me Kensi." Kens slowly raised her head off the pillow to glare at Wendy. "I'm tired, sore and pregnant with preeclampsia. How do you think I'm feeling?" And there was my beautiful partner back in her full glory.
I leaned down to give Kens a kiss. "Easy tiger. You know, and I know but they don't know." Kens hated being in hospitals, and absolutely hated anything that might be seen as a weakness.
"Deeks, that doesn't even make sense, and I don't think it would even later in the day." I loved how her nose would scrunch up when she was thinking really hard. Whatever it was, she must have come to a conclusion pretty fast. "I still feel really twitchy, and I am really getting sore from laying on my left side." Wait a minute wasn't she shot in her left side in Afghanistan? Did the doctors all this time miss something that hadn't healed properly? "Deeks, calm down." I shot a look at Kensi, just have returned with one that said I do know what you are thinking. "I don't normally lay on my left side for hours on end. Normally I am a starfish, remember?" A slight twinkle was in her eyes, not as big as I had hoped for, but I would take it."
"Oh Mr. Deeks, the desk received a message from a Mr. Granger for you. He said to call the office when you got a chance, as long as that chance was before 9:30 am." Both Kensi and I groaned as both nurses worked diligently to take Kensi's vitals and get the fetal heart monitor readjusted. At least it wasn't an emergency; otherwise Sam or Callen would have come and dragged my butt down to the mission. "Doesn't your boss know what's going on?"
"Oh he knows all right. He just doesn't care." Kensi managed to punch me from an angle that I thought I was pretty safe to be in.
"He does too care." While Kens was still a little leery of our boss's ability to use us for their own personal agendas, whatever happened over there in Afghanistan had furthered their surrogate father daughter relationship. There are times I think Granger resents the fact I didn't ask his permission to marry Kensi. But seeing as it was a spur of the moment decision, and we just went and eloped, I didn't ask anybody's permission. "You have a lot of projects in the air at the moment, and he probably needs something from you."
"Oh what is it you do?" Wendy was trying to make small talk, as she and her partner worked.
"Deeks is a lawyer. I am an art curator." Whoever came up with the idea that Kens should be an art curator obviously didn't know the first thing about cover identities. Kensi should have been a self-defense instructor or something, she still couldn't tell a Monet from a Rembrandt.
"But you know he is going to want me down at the office." Sheesh, that was whiny even by my standards, as Kensi just shook her head. "What time is it?" I hadn't bothered to look at a clock and I had shut my phone off to keep from interfering with the monitors.
"You know you have a watch on, don't you genius?" Well, Kensi was definitely waking up, and feeling a little better than yesterday.
"Oh oops. Sleep deprivation." I glanced at my watch. "Cool it's only a quarter to eight. I got over an hour before I need to call him."
"Why must you always push things?" Nice to know that even after all this time, Kens still hadn't quite figured out all the things that make me tick.
"Kensilina, if I started being on time, Granger would wonder who I was and what happened. I've been doing this for so long, why change now?" I just gave that lopsided grin I knew Kensi loved so much.
"You got a point." Kensi gave a drawn smile back.
"Now see here light of my life that was the perfect time to use touché. Ahh the master still has much to teach you young grasshopper."
"Don't you have a phone call to make?" She sent me a scowl, but the twinkle in her eyes told me that all the good I had done by holding during the night wasn't going to waste.
"I was thinking of waiting until after we have breakfast together, and maybe this time I could steal your Jello." I wanted to bang my head on the wall as soon as the words left my mouth. Bringing up my previous injuries was a sure fire way to get Kensi worked up. "Sorry no brain to mouth filter."
"Obviously." Kens' response was droll.
"So what did you want for breakfast Kensi?" Wendy felt the tension between us and was attempting to diffuse it.
"Donuts. Twinkies. A gallon of Rocky Road." That didn't surprise me one bit. The only reason my more sassy than classy girl didn't ask for a beer, was she hadn't had one since the day she found out she was pregnant.
"Somehow Fern, I don't think those are options here." At Wendy's shake of her head, I leaned down to whisper in Kensi's ear. "But if you're really good today, if I have to go into the office I will bring you back a case of Twinkies."
Those eyes that I had drowned in lit up. "Then what in the hell are you waiting for? Go call your boss." Nice to know even now Kens was working on keeping our covers straight. She turned her head back to Wendy. "Unless my husband can go down to the kitchen and make me some chocolate chip pancakes?" Kensi sighed at the amused shake of Wendy's head. "What's on the menu?" This was going to be interesting; Kensi hated hospital food, except for Jello. Though it wouldn't be surprising to see her get a double order if possible, even with food she hates Kensi can't keep from shoveling it in her face.
Just as Kensi was placing her order, and yes it was a double size, Dr. Robertson walked in. "Twelve hours down, three hundred twenty four more to go. How are you feeling Kensi? I understand you had an active night." If I didn't know any better he was teasing. Kensi mind was in the gutter as she started to blush.
"Not as twitchy as yesterday, but still sore and my butt really, really hurts." I was honestly staring at my wife wondering who she was and what had happened to the real Kensi. She wasn't fighting the doctor, wasn't being surly, and was just scaring me. She looked up at me. "I am trying to follow his directions Shaggy. So we can have a healthy baby." So apparently Kensi could be surly with me, got it.
"Well, I got some bad news for you then, you going to be getting another shot of the betamethasone, in a few more hours." The grimace on her face was enough to make me nauseated in sympathy. "This is the last one I swear. If we can, and we are still aiming for another two weeks, keep you pregnant for another twenty four hours after this shot, the baby's lungs will be fully developed, and if the preeclampsia takes a turn for the worst it will be much easier on the baby."
"Any chance we can do it right now? While Deeks is still here?" Kensi was pleading and I hated it.
"Unfortunately no, it has to be twenty four hours between shots, or other complications can develop." Dr. Robertson looked over at me. "I heard all about your technique for calming your wife and child down. Interesting approach. Do you have to leave? By all indications Kensi here is much calmer when you're around."
"Um, yeah, maybe, I don't know. My boss wants me to call him, and … usually when he wants me to call him, I have to… have to go in." I was stammering, and I couldn't help it. "Uh, yeah about, last night, um yeah, we've had some… pretty crappy things… happen to us over the years… and just holding each other … has been a big thing in helping us deal with it. Nothing inappropriate happened, well I mean it did happen, she is pregnant after all, umm I am just going to shut up now."
Kensi just stared at me like she had never been around when I was this nervous, while Dr. Robertson looked like he was going burst from laughter. "Don't worry about it Kensi, Deeks. We're used to being flexible around here when it comes to making the mother comfortable."
"Could have fooled me from Dr. Stevens's reaction last night." We are both grown adults, why can't I sleep with my wife without getting embarrassed?
"Well he is old school. What matters is you kept Kensi calm and quiet." If only he knew that she was doing just as much for me, otherwise I would be curled up on the floor weeping by now. "Anyways, hopefully you can be back by four o'clock. Dr. VanderWoode from the Neo-Natal Intensive Care Unit or NICU as we call it around here will be meeting with you to discuss what will happen after you give birth Kensi."
"Then you better go call Granger right now Deeks, find out what going on and make sure you're back here by four o'clock." It was definitely a good detail that I had a thing for a bossy brunette. The look I was getting would have, and I have seen it do so to Sam and Callen, melted a weaker man.
"Don't look at me like that Princess. I have on good authority you actually like me." If anything the glare intensified. "Besides which you said I do. The moment those words left your lips told me you have a vested interest in keeping me safe and sound."
"That may be so Deeks, but we are in a hospital." I gulped at the indications her words implied. Mentally I tried to remember where her pistol was at. "It's nearby Shaggy." Damn our silent communication skills.
I quickly leaned down and kissed her. "I love you. And I am really glad you're feeling better." This little bit of banter had picked up my spirits and I left to go call Granger. I needed to do from the lobby on my cellphone, I could just imagine the look on Eric's face if I called the secure line to the OPs center from the nurse's station of the seventh floor Pacific Medical.
"Ditto. Don't forget your promise!"
*****NCIS LA*****
"Detective how nice of you to call in." Despite having resigned from the LAPD and joined NCIS as a private contractor just a little under four months ago, Granger still tended to call me Detective. Usually when he is annoyed at me, problem being is this time I wasn't going out of my way to annoy him, and thus I couldn't even enjoy it.
"Sorry Granger, I mean Assistant Director." I heard my boss suck air through clenched teeth. "Long night."
"How is Blye doing?" On the job Kensi had kept her last name mainly because everyone called me Deeks.
"About as good as can be expected." For some reason when Granger and I spoke to each other since Afghanistan, we tended to speak in fragments. "What's going on?"
"Jacobs is demanding to see you. He is offering to tell us where he has hid the device, but only to, and I quote 'the Hippie lawyer' unquote. I told him no." Well that was a switch; usually Granger is all mission first, agent second when it comes to these kind of things.
"What? Why?" I couldn't keep the surprise out of my voice.
"Because your head wouldn't be in it Deeks." Granger paused; apparently this next part was going to uncomfortable for him, like actually having to praise somebody. "Yes, I know you have proved that you are fully capable of handling yourself without Blye holding your hand, but you have never been in this situation before. Plus I don't need Jacobs getting worked over." He just had to bring up my past actions when Kens was in danger, didn't he. "If something changes on your end to the point I feel you can get your head in the game, we'll address the situation then. In the meantime, Beale and Jones are tracking Jacobs's movements before we apprehended him, Callen and Hanna are searching Jacobs's home, and Agents Fiddlestein and Libahii have taken Jacobs's wife into protective custody." Our team had yet to work with the team that partnered a guy from New York with the granddaughter of a Navajo Code Talker, and that made me uneasy about what felt like abandoning Sam and Callen.
"I understand." I didn't really want to leave Kensi, anyways, but I still felt guilty about being told to stay here.
I headed back upstairs to tell Kens what was going on. Being reminded yet again about the promise of a case of Twinkies, as well as being told I really needed to shower; I made it back down to the parking lot starting my daily routine of mainlining coffee. The magnesium was starting to take effect again, and Kens was drifting in and out of sleep. I had to remember to thank the team for getting the cars switched around for me. Kensi's SRX was parked nearby where I had left Nell's ATS. I idly wondered what the guys done with my Avalanche, and what little pranks Sam and Callen had come up with this time. Not that I would ever do anything similar back to Sam, at least when it came to cars. I learned that after Charlene was stolen. Whoever had brought the SRX, and I was guessing Nell because how far forward the seat was, had also stopped by the apartment and grabbed another one of my go-bags.
I made it home, fully expecting to get mauled by Monty, when I realized the apartment was empty. I forgot that Sam had come over and picked up Monty for me. Without Kens not here and even Monty gone, my mind flashed back to a night some seven months ago when Hetty had to me to button up. I had immediately come here, hoping to catch Kens before she left on her reassignment. But once I had got here I had realized that she wasn't even allowed to come home, that Hetty had packed her stuff up for her and had it waiting for Kensi at the mission. The moment was easily in the top three lowest points in my life over the last year. And now with an empty home, I had to fight to keep this moment from bringing me down as well.
I know that Hetty had claimed to not only be giving Kensi closure, but to help someone who she thought was a friend get running start from the wolves. Our former Operations Manager said she was played by Jack Simon into believing he was an innocent targeted by the CIA, unfortunately for Hetty, enough secret records of communications between the two of them had shown that Hetty did know that Jack Simon aka the White Ghost was actually aiding and abetting the Taliban by training them in small unit tactics courtesy of his time spent in the Marines. I still had yet to forgive Hetty for what she put Kensi through, not to mention me.
I had to clamp down of these thoughts running through my head fast. I couldn't let them bring me down into despair. I was going to be a father soon. And if Dr. Robertson was to be believed we would have a healthy baby at the end of it. Besides which Kens needed me to be strong and to get my butt back to the hospital with a case of Twinkies. I hopped in the shower, grabbed more than a few extra sets of clothes, Kensi's laptop after downloading a whole mess load of America's Top Model episodes, Titanic and a few other DVD's and made sure to raid the not so secret stash of sugar.
I was out the door and had loaded up the SRX, when I stopped and went back inside to the room we had slowly been turning into a nursery. Sea foam green colored the walls, while the loading of Noah's Ark formed the border at the top. I knew exactly what it was I was looking for. One was a tiny stuffed Bighorn Ram that Callen had handed to us; after a case took he and Sam to Montana join up with the Red Team once again. He said he didn't know why but it just fit in his mind that the stuffed animal belonged with the Baby Deeks, though there was something about the parents' hard heads mentioned. The other was a book that as soon as I saw it, I just had to buy it. It was one from my childhood, and is one of the very few good memories I have from that time period.
By the time I got back to the hospital, Kensi was out cold. I would just have to wait for her to wake up when she saw all the stuff I had brought. I started playing Plants vs. Zombies on my phone, to just give my mind ease. Guilt for what Kensi and the baby were going through, guilt for leaving Sam and Callen to finish the case alone just wouldn't stop eating at me. Kensi shifted in bed and I steeled myself for the alarm to go off, but some odd reason maybe our little girl decided to cooperate. Ever since the dream I had started seeing our child as a little girl. "Mmm. Deeks isn't she beautiful?" So apparently my wife was dreaming of a little girl as well. It was amazing that Kensi's words eased my mind on leaving Sam and Callen high and dry, now if only someone could do it with what I felt over Kensi being in the hospital.
*****NCIS LA*****
Kensi drifted in and out the rest of afternoon. I ran my phone down, and started screwing around on Kensi's laptop. I cracked open a Twinkie, and waved it under her nose when it came close to the time we would be meeting the doctor from the NICU. I so wanted to video record this, but I knew if Kensi was to ever find such a recording, my life would become very very painful. It was almost Monty like the way her nose stopped in one of those cute little piglet snore and starting sniffing. Those beautiful mismatched eyes blinked open and I got one of those smiles she solely reserves for me.
"Marry me?" It was hard to understand as said Twinkie has currently stuffed in its entirety into Kensi's mouth.
"I thought we already did get married." I was really trying hard not to smile at the sight and sounds coming from her.
"Oh my God Deeks you are truly my hero." Somehow I just knew that I would be in trouble as Twinkies were not approved hospital food, but I was willing to deal with the consequences if only it got Kens to smile more.
"Glad to see you're awake finally. We've got a few minutes before the doctor comes in, you want anything? I brought your laptop and some movies, and I downloaded America's Top Model and…."
"Deeks slow down. We really don't have time to watch Titanic, and I probably shouldn't be watching it all with the state my nerves are in." I couldn't believe I had been so stupid. I know it's her favorite movie, but I also know how much see gets worked up over it and the memories it can occasionally bring back. "Deeks, it's the thought that counts. As long as I have you and Twinkies, I'm good."
A knock at the door silenced anything else I was going to say. The doctor who entered was blonde and was wearing glasses. She was looked fairly young as well. "Hello Mr. and Mrs. Deeks, my name is Dr. VanderWoode, and I am one of the Neo-Natalogists here at Pacific Medical. We understand you will sometime in the next couple of weeks be joining us down in the NICU." She paused looking at us, taking in our body stances. These doctors would make excellent investigators at the way they read body language "Now let me assure you, that is standard operating procedure for any premature birth. One of us is in the delivery room at the time of the birth. As soon as the baby is born we take over and make sure he or she gets whatever they need immediately. Now depending on just how premature the baby is, will determine whether or not you will be able to hold them before we take them down to NICU. Let me see here." She glanced down at the clipboard in her hand. "It says you are at around thirty three weeks and have already had a shot of betamethasone." Kensi grimaced at that word. "That's good news." Dr. VanderWoode glanced at me. "Do either of you have any questions?"
"Do you have any idea how long our child will be in the NICU?" I don't know why I asked that, but I couldn't help it.
"Mr. Deeks, we have a saying down in NICU: 'We may not be to His level, but we're pretty darn close to touching His feet.' But that doesn't mean we're precognitive. Until we actually see your child, we won't know what needs to be done or how long he or she will be with us." Sympathy shown through her eyes, it was obvious she had dealt with nerve wracked parents before. "Chances are that your baby will need oxygen for the first few days. It all depends on how long you wife can stay pregnant without harming her or the baby. If we can set it up, maybe the two of you would like a tour of the facilities later." Kensi and I both nodded at that idea. "Now once your child is admitted to the NICU the only visitors allowed must be accompanied by a parent and only a total of three people at a time. Which means if both of you are down there, only one other guest is allowed." I could just see Sam and Callen doing rock paper scissors to see who would get to see the newest Deeks first. "Once your child is healthy enough we'll move them into another area where we can make sure no complications happen for a few days before we send them home. Because once they leave us, then they go to Pediatrics, and while that department is good, it is most definitely not as good as the Neo-Natal unit when it comes to preemies. So we tend to keep the babies around for a while. I would ready yourself for your baby to be here for a minimum of three weeks after he or she is born." Another looked moved between Kensi and me. "Any other questions? Good. I'll talk to Dr. Robertson about seeing if he thinks you're up to taking the tour Mrs. Deeks."
It was a good thing, because just then Janice knocked on the door and entered the room with a needle. I simply held out my hand for Kensi to take, hoping that I wouldn't need to handle a firearm or punch somebody sometime in the next year. The string of words out Kensi this time would have made a sailor blush or a Marine Drill Sergeant proud. She actually whimpered a little bit. "I think you need to name that shit betahurtsalot." Her humor still needed work.
Just as Janice was walking out the door, and I had started to unwrap another Twinkie, my phone went off. I just plugged it back in, after playing Plants vs. Zombies. I handed the snack to Kensi, before I went to grab my phone. It was Callen calling. "Go for the soon to be patriarch of the Deeks household." Kensi just rolled her eyes.
"Deeks you are now on security detail." Kensi tried to sit up as my body stiffened, the Twinkie forgotten.
"What happened?" Guilt that I had let Sam or Callen get hurt or even worse came flooding back.
"ISI agents hit Jacobs's house while Sam and I were searching it. We're all right. But on one of their phones was photos of Kensi being wheeled into the hospital. And also of you entering the hospital last night."
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