Wednesday, December 24
Kensi awoke first the next morning, they'd slept in much later than they usually did, even though it was still just after 9:00.
She went to stretch, but then noticed there was an arm around her waist. She rolled over to face him and couldn't help but smile. He looked much more peaceful in his sleep, which gave him the illusion of being younger than his 35 years. His hair is even more disheveled than usual and she can't keep the grin off of her face as his nose starts twitching.
She leans forward and kisses his nose, running her hand up his chest at the same time. She watches as he slowly rouses from sleep. Soon, she's met with two beautiful blue eyes and a soft smile.
His voice is still gravely from sleep when he speaks. "Morning sunshine." he says, causing her grin to turn into a smile.
"Good morning." He examines her face for a second, causing her confusion. "What?"
"Nothing, I'm just commiting this moment to memory, our first time waking up together as a couple. I want to remember this moment for the rest of my life."
"You are so cheesy." She teases.
"I prefer charming." He retorts, "you know you love it." He flashes one of his smiles that makes her completely melt. When she doesn't reply he dips down for a kiss and is confused when she pulls back and turns her head.
"Don't kiss me yet, I still have morning breath!"
"So? I don't care if you're breath smells minty fresh or like a clove of garlic. Get back here!" He teases, gently pulling her back towards him. He kisses her and she lets him this time. Their kisses are still tentative and relatively innocent as far as kisses are concerned.
She pulls back after a few seconds. "Come on, I really want to get out on the slopes today!" and then proceeds to practically jump out of bed, taking the covers with her.
"Aww come on! That was just mean!" he calls after her retreating figure. He just hears her laugh in response.
He joins her in the kitchen and they both enjoy a breakfast of fruit and yogurt with coffee. Kensi goes to shower first since she's going to have to take time to dry her hair before heading out into the cold. He takes advantage of the time she's in there to slip out to the truck with Monty and retrieve the presents he'd bought her from underneath the tarp in the back. He places them under the tree and quickly retreats to the bedroom to grab his shower things when he hears the water turn off. Kensi walks into the bedroom dressed in a tank top and leggings that he assumes are the first layer of many that she'll be wearing today. He slips into the bathroom and showers as quickly as possible.
She blow dries her hair in the bedroom and is just finishing braiding it when he emerges from the bathroom.
"So, you ready for this?" Deeks asked as they started laying out their layers on the bed. Putting them on too early would result in major overheating.
"Yes, I might not be all that great to start with but I'm hoping it will come back to me quickly. My Dad and I used to snowboard every year. I wasn't joking when I said this was black diamond rated." She said motioning to herself, much like she had when he'd invited her snowboarding the last time.
"Yeah well I still have no doubt about that." Deeks said eyeing her up and down. Somehow she knew he wasn't thinking about slopes.
"You're a pig."
"Yeah, maybe. But now I'm your pig." He says with a smirk. She playfully pushes him out of the way. "Oh come on Kens, you know you love it….. you love it!" he says calling after her. He follows her a couple moments later, not getting a response.
"Deeks, what is all of this?" she asks gesturing to the rather large boxes under the tree. She had no idea how he got them here without her noticing.
"What? Is this a trick question?" She just stares at him. "They're presents. For you." He finally says.
"Deeks, this is too much. You've already probably paid a fortune for this cabin. You really didn't need to buy me anything." She says.
"Oh, but I did. I refuse to let you return them too. In fact I'm pretty sure they're all nonrefundable so you might as well open them." He said.
"But its only Christmas Eve, shouldn't I wait until tomorrow?"
"Nope! You should definitely open them now." He said. He grabbed her hand and led her over to the tree. They both sat down in between the tree and the fireplace and he handed her the mid sized box. It was still rather large and she gave him a wary look, but she couldn't wait any longer because he looked so excited for her to open it. She tore away the paper to find a box almost identical to the one she'd given him for his birthday last year. "this isn't payback for your birthday present last year, is it?" She asked. Monty had joined them and was curiously sniffing the colorful boxes. Kensi rubbed him affectionately behind the ears and he laid down beside them to watch.
"No, no, I actually want you to open this. No puzzles or hidden messages. It's just the box that the company shipped it to me in." She seemed to accept his explanation and pulled the tape off the box and opened it. Inside was a lavender and light green ski jacket and white ski pants with matching colors that appeared to be splattered across the fabric. There was also a pair of light green gloves and a matching fleece ear warmer in the bottom of the box.
"Deeks! These are way too expensive!" She said. He just smiled back,
"Kens, I'm not returning any of this so stop worrying about the cost and just enjoy the gifts, please?" he pleaded. She took a deep breath and placed them off to the side.
"Okay, okay." She agreed. He handed her the next present. This one was long and narrow and much heavier than she'd been expecting. She tore off the wrapping paper to find a simple white glossy box with a logo she didn't recognize on the top. She flipped the top of the box up and gasped. Inside was a brand new snowboard. It was purple with white and black circles extending from the middle of the board outward to the edges that had a splatter appearance.
"It's a Signal Siren Maiden Park snowboard. It's built very similarly to the one I use and it should last you a long time." He explained, obviously excited about giving it to her.
"Its beautiful! Thank you so much!" She said pulling him into a hug, then pecking him quickly on the lips.
"Here, open these." He said handing her a smaller box and a gift bag. She opened the box first and found a pair of white snowboarding boots. She was thrilled with them and even slipped them on her feet to try them out. Monty was having fun tearing the paper into shreds and spreading it around the cabin.
Next came the bag. "I couldn't figure out how to wrap this one." Deeks explained as she took out the tissue paper.
She pulled a purple helmet out of the bag. It was white with 'Kensalina' printed in fancy script just above where her right temple would be. She gave him a look, but couldn't help but smile. It was perfect.
"I was going to put 'Princess' or 'Fern' on there, but I actually want to be able to survive until the end of this vacation." He said with a teasing tone. "There's more in there too."
She pulled out another piece of wrapping paper and found snow goggles at the bottom of the bag. She put them on causing both of them to laugh. They definitely weren't the most attractive things in the world, but they'd be useful out on the slopes.
"Thank you so much for this, Deeks. I love all of it. I know you said you didn't want me complaining about the money but I really could have just rented equipment."
"Well, I figured the price for rentals is kind of ridiculous and there was no way I was going to let you pay for that yourself anyway, since I was the one who invited you up here. Plus, this is much better equipment and ski clothing than they'd give you down at the lodge and we don't have to worry about renting and returning any of it." He knew she was a woman of practicality and this was the best way to explain it all to her, even though he knew she'd go and look up how much it'd cost him and see he still spent several hundred dollars more than necessary, but he honestly thought it was completely worth it just to watch her open her presents.
She sighed and gave him a pointed look, but her grin betrayed her. "I don't believe you, but thank you anyway. Come on, I want to go try out my new gear." She said as she walked toward the bedroom to layer up.
"Yeah, I'm going to clean this up first." He said as he bent down to pick up some of the wrapping paper that Monty had made a mess of. The dog was currently curled up by the tree looking completely relaxed. She walked back out to help him. With both of them working it didn't take too long.
"Come on slow poke!" She called over her shoulder as she took off towards the bedroom.
He followed suit and soon they were heading out the back door towards the entrance to a beginner slope. He'd purposely picked a cabin that led to an easy slope not knowing what skill level she was at. He helped her strap into her board, he'd adjusted everything for her before wrapping it so that it would be ready to go.
"You ready?" he asked as they prepared to head down.
"Ready as I'll ever be." Kensi said with a grin.
Okay, wow, so I'd intended for this chapter to be about their entire first day but then I couldn't resist throwing in the part with Deeks giving Kensi the snowboarding equipment. It's definitely something I could see him doing. So, the next chapter will be about the rest of the day on the slopes and Christmas Eve.
Thanks again for all of your reviews! Keep them coming! I love hearing what you guys have to say and I'd love some suggestions!