I don't own NCIS Los Angeles! My native language is Dutch and I'm dyslectic so sorry for any mistakes. Thank you for all the reviews, alerts and favorites!
First of all Happy New Year everyone! And yes I'm back from my great trip to Berlin with my sister. So here's the new chapter!
And I discussed the story with my sister while we're in Berlin. I know it's not what everyone wants it to be...but on the other side there are people who like it. I know it's different from the other stories. But do you want only the same stories? Also no one is forcing you to read the story. I'm very sorry if you don't like the story. Hopefully you do like my other stories.
Also I realize that Christmas has passed but I wrote this around Christmas. And Christmas is just the perfect time for family.
Chapter 7
I love pictures
Because the best thing about them is that they never change
Even when the people in it do.
Everyone in Los Angeles was cheerful. It was the season. Today it was Christmas. Our first real Christmas together. Marty and I had picked out a Christmas tree for in the apartment and decorated it while listening to Christmas carols. We were feeling the Christmas spirit. We were invited by Hetty to come to the team's Christmas Dinner, like they used to do. I was as excited for the dinner as Marty. He couldn't wait to leave. I couldn't help taking my time getting ready. Checking myself in the mirror several times and then deciding to wear another dress. I knew Kensi and Hope were coming too. Marty had told me. He saw this dinner as the moment I could meet Hope. I was looking forward to meeting Hope, after all the stories Marty had told me. We agreed that he would go one time every week to see Hope. That agreement was working out fine.
'Should we bring something to the dinner?' I asked Marty, who shrugged.
'What could we bring?' he asked. 'A bottle of wine?'
'There is one on the kitchen counter,' I told him while putting on my shoes. 'The one I got from the firm.' Marty left and came back with the bottle. I looked around in our bedroom and found a piece of ribbon. I put it on the bottle to make it look more special.
'Are you ready?' Marty asked and I made a little pirouette. 'You look beautiful.'
'You look quite handsome yourself,' I laughed and I kissed him. Marty looked so handsome in a tux. Not quite. I rather stayed home when he looked like that. But Marty wanted to go and he wanted to go right now.
Hetty's house was huge and completely in Christmas style. A big Christmas tree stood in the middle of the room. Marty handed Hetty the bottle and we were givem something to drink. Almost everyone had already arrived. We only had to wait for Eric. Marty immediately went over to little Hope, who looked so sweet in her Christmas outfit. He gestured me to come over.
'Hope, this is Lisa,' he introduced me and I gave her a little wave. She hid her face into Marty's shoulder. He laughed. 'She's quite shy. Hope, I told you about Lisa, remember?' I saw her nod a little bit.
'Nice to meet you, Hope,' I said. 'You look very beautiful.' I got some muttering back and Marty smiled.
'She says you look very beautiful too,' he told me and I smiled. Marty stood up, forcing Hope to let go for a second. He pulled me close to him, kissing my cheek.
'Hey, Deeks,' Sam greeted.
'Hey, Sam,' Marty smiled, turning around. 'Where are the wife and daughter? You left them at home?'
'Yes, the little girl is sick,' Sam said disappointed. 'I could have brought her over but we can't have her throw up on Hetty's stuff. I don't have a place to hide.' Marty and Sam laughed and I looked at them, not understanding what was so funny.
'All alone?' Callen asked as he sat down next to me. I was sitting on the terrace looking at Hetty's gorgeous garden. I wished we had a garden at the apartment. I turned to Callen.
'Yes,' I answered and I took a sip of my wine. Callen didn't seem to get that I wanted to be alone and he sat down next to me. We sat in silence and looked at the garden. I couldn't help looking at him every once in a while. He didn't look like how Marty had described him. He seemed older and more serious. But maybe that had changed over the years. The years we were locked up. He was the team leader; maybe he felt guilty for Marty's and Kensi's disappearance.
'So what do you think of LA?' he asked, trying to start the conversation.
'It's okay,' I answered. 'Weird having Christmas with this kind of weather. I'm used to snow with Christmas. But it starts to feel like home…though I miss New York sometimes.' Callen nodded.
'New York is great too,' he agreed. 'A different city from LA.' And now I nodded in agreement. It was a bit awkward talking with Callen. He tried to talk but I felt that he found it awkward too.
'How is living with Kensi and Hope?' I asked him, hoping to get to know something about Kensi. Maybe some bad habits as Marty usually only talked about the good things.
'Good though not easy,' Callen answered. 'You know: nightmares and stuff. I think it's the same with you…but Hope is a great kid. Scared but great. She starts to loosen up a bit: walking around the house, leaving Kensi's side for longer than a minute. So I think that's good.' I took a deep breath and I fully faced Callen.
'Did you know about Kensi's and Marty's relationship?' I asked him and he smiled.
'Everyone knew about their relationship,' he answered. 'Maybe even before they knew and surely before they actually had a relationship. What started as a partnership turned into friendship which turned into a relationship.'
'Wasn't it weird?' I wondered. 'Them working together while they were in a relationship? Was it even allowed?'
'It was allowed because they worked so perfectly together,' Callen explained and I sighed. That wasn't something I wanted to hear. 'They would put themselves in danger rather than the other. They had each other's back. That was all that mattered to me and Hetty. And they kept it out of the office. Though we didn't know what was going to happen long term as they weren't together that long…But it was obvious that they loved each other.'
Hope had the cutest laugh. She made me smile when I heard it. It was a laugh you wanted to hear. A laugh that would cheer you up no matter what. I stood in the door entrance to the garden watching Marty play with his daughter. He held her up high, like she was an airplane. And all Hope did was laugh.
'It's the best thing ever, isn't it?' a voice next to me said. 'Seeing father and daughter together.' I looked to my right and saw Hetty standing next to me. The fearless boss whom everyone else feared. But when I saw her, she didn't scare me. When she talked to me, she didn't scare me. You had to be in the family to understand, I guessed and right now, I was outside of it. It didn't matter I was with Marty. Our relationship didn't make me a part of the family.
'Give them some time to let you enter,' Hetty said. 'It's a tight knit family.' I turned my head to Hetty, who had a little smile on her face. I had to admit that that was kind of scary. It was like she knew. 'Marty and Kensi have a history, but you should keep in mind that you and Marty are going to have a future.' I forced myself to give the woman a smile. She patted my arm and stepped into the room.
'I hope everyone is ready for dinner,' she announced. 'Because dinner is ready.' Marty put Hope back on the floor and he walked with her to the table, holding her little hand. I had to admit that he was a perfect dad. He did all the right things to make Hope feel so special, like a good dad did. And most of times it were the small things like making her smile and holding her hand that meant the most.
I had to admit that the dinner had turned out to be different than I had thought. Hetty was a brilliant cook and I couldn't stop eating till I felt like I was going to explode and I didn't feel left out in the conversation. They made sure that most of the times I was a part of it. We were drinking some coffee and tea with some chocolate right now and talking some more. Hope was asleep in her mother's arm and I noticed Marty looking at her every once in a while but I was no longer bothered with it. I understood. His arm was around my shoulder and he gave me a quick kiss once he saw me looking.
'We heard that you had a job,' Sam said to me and I nodded.
'At Johnson and Sons,' I told him. 'A law firm downtown. A friend helped me to get the job and it turned out to be a good and fun job. I love going to work, get back a rhythm.' Sam nodded.
'Sounds good,' he said. 'And what about you, Deeks? Any plans for a job?'
'I'm looking around,' Marty answered and I noticed his expression became a little sad. I laid my hand on his knee. We had talked about jobs. He loved being a cop but he knew he wasn't going to be one soon. Too much stuff that was left unresolved. He wasn't fit to be detective Deeks again.
'What about you, Kensi?' I asked. I realized it was the first time I spoke with Kensi and I came with a question about work…Nice move, I told myself.
'Right now Hope is taking up all my time,' she answered and I nodded, looking at the little girl in her arms. Of course, I could have known that. Hope wasn't a child you could drop of at daycare while you went to work.
'I think it's time for a picture,' Hetty announced as an uncomfortable silence fell and everyone stood up. I stood up a second later, not knowing what was expected from me. Should I be in the picture, their family picture? But Hetty didn't give me much time to think it over as she pushed me towards Marty, who pulled me against with him. Standing there with them, gave me a special feeling. Like I was step closer to the family. I knew this was an annual happening: Christmas dinner with a picture of all of them. I had seen them on the mantelpiece. A picture for every year they had survived together.
I felt nervous being in my own home. Marty had brought Kensi and Hope over. He wanted to have Hope with him on Christmas Day, to give her the Christmas presents. But Kensi didn't feel comfortable Hope sleeping over at our place alone. Like we would take her away. So Kensi and Hope were sleeping both at the apartment. And that made me feel nervous. I was at home with my boyfriend, his child and his ex. It didn't sound like it was supposed to be. Though I understood that Marty wanted to spend Christmas morning with Hope since he never really had one when he was young.
I was probably more nervous than every child that night. I hardly slept at all and the morning came way too soon. And I didn't understand why I felt like it. Marty was my boyfriend, Kensi had no indication of being interested in Marty and Hope was just Marty's sweet daughter. Maybe it wasn't like I saw us spending our first real Christmas together.
When I walked into the kitchen around five am, I noticed I wasn't the only one who had a hard time sleeping. Kensi was sitting at the bar. I took a breath and walked into the kitchen, filling a glass with water.
'Did I make a sound?' she asked me, shocked of seeing me and clearly disturb.
'No, you didn't,' I answered quickly. 'I'm having a hard time sleeping.' Kensi nodded. 'Do you want also something to drink? Some water? Tea? Anything stronger?'
'Some water,' she answered and I filled another glass. I sat down next to her and for a moment we just sat there, drinking our water.
'Some Christmas, huh?' Kensi said and I nodded.
'You said it,' I said and when it felt my mouth, I winced. I didn't want to sound so grumpy. Like she and Hope weren't welcome. 'I mean…'
'I know what you mean,' Kensi told me. 'This wasn't the Christmas you had in mind: spending it with me and Hope. Don't worry, I also had a different Christmas in my mind. But Hope really wanted to spend it with her father…'
'…and Marty with his daughter,' I added. 'He spent quite some time buying presents for her. He really wants a perfect first Christmas with her. I think she will be really spoiled today.'
'As long as they're happy,' Kensi said. 'That's all that matters to me. And right now, they are happy…Marty is really happy with you, Lisa.' I sighed. Why couldn't she be easy to hate? Why did she have to be so nice that I hated myself for thinking bad about her.
'Merry Christmas,' Marty greeted me and he kissed me. He said the same to Kensi but hugged her instead. Hope was following him, still in her pajamas, like any child should be dressed in at Christmas morning. I grabbed my camera as Marty led Hope to the Christmas tree. I had promised him to take many pictures of her first Christmas. I took a few pictures of Marty and Hope next to the tree and one of Kensi, as she watched Hope like a proud mother. It was a look that suited her, the proud, loving mother.
'Give it to mommy,' Marty told Hope and he pointed at Hope. The little girl turned around with a smile and walked over to Kensi, balancing the big present. Kensi laughed as she took the present over and I snapped few more pictures. This was surely a moment that needed to be documented. Marty stood next me, his arms around my waist. Hope was already back at the tree grabbing another present. This time one of her own and I stood ready to snap a few pictures as she unwrapped her present.
'Mommy!' she said enthusiastically as she held up a soft stuffed dog. Then she pointed at Monty, who was laying lazily in the corner of the room. 'Dog!' It was the first time I heard Hope speak and she had a sweet voice. It was just such a sweet little girl. Kensi walked over to Hope, kneeling down.
'That is right,' she replied. 'That is a nice dog.' Hope giggled and she hugged the stuffed dog. I turned to Marty and smiled as I saw the loving look towards his daughter. It was obvious that the girl had stolen his heart in those couple of weeks. She had even stolen my heart just now. Maybe it wasn't that bad to spend Christmas with them.
TBC.
I hope everyone liked to see Deeks and Hope together and also some more Kensi.
