Oh, if Deeks could see her now! Pushing a shopping cart, studiously avoiding the frozen TV dinners, looking like she was just as domestic as anyone else…
Kensi hadn't shopped for food in a while — she hadn't really needed to, what with always grabbing a quick bite for lunch during work and Deeks pretty much covering most of her dinners at his place every other night or so.
And since he'd completely ruined her tolerance for frozen prepackaged meals now, she needed something new to sustain her on the nights that they didn't cook together or eat out.
She was really loving the homemade pizza, so she loaded up on the things she needed to make some more of those. Minus the spinach and olive oil, of course.
The cookie aisle called to her, and she willingly gave it her thorough attention.
Twinkies…cupcakes…fruit pies…
She grabbed a package of chocolate chip cookies and added it to her cart.
And then inspiration hit. Instead of buying cookies…she could make them!
Everyone and their grandmother made chocolate chip cookies, right?
Well if everyone else could do it, Kensi could too!
With a new enthusiasm, she put the package of cookies back onto the shelf and pulled out her smart phone to search for a chocolate chip cookie recipe.
And then she was like Deeks on their first grocery shopping spree together — crisscrossing and backtracking and almost colliding with someone else's cart in order to find all the ingredients in that list.
When all the ingredients were found, she realized that she also needed measuring cups and spoons, and a big bowl, and a big spoon, and a spatula…things that she would have already had if she'd bothered to try this years ago.
The last thing to find was a cookie sheet, and she chose a set of two taped together. Twice the cookie sheets meant twice the cookies.
Better get enough of the ingredients to make two batches, she thought belatedly.
So she backtracked and crisscrossed again. And finally she had everything she needed.
Her cart load added up to a small fortune. She paid and got out of there before she could spend anything more.
And on the drive home, she could almost taste the pizza she would have for supper and the cookies she'd eat for dessert.
What the hell was she thinking?
Buying the ingredients was one thing. Actually putting them together properly was another thing entirely.
She almost called Deeks to bail her out.
No! She didn't need Deeks. She could do this one herself.
"It's just a recipe," she told herself out loud. "A simple cookie recipe. If you can beat Sam at hand-to-hand, you can make a stupid batch of cookies."
Taking the bull by the horns, she started with the first step: opening the bag of flour.
From Deeks she'd learned that it was bad to pack down the flour because you might get more than you need and wreck the recipe by making it too dry.
So she stirred a fork around in the top of the bag to fluff the flour before carefully scooping it up with her measuring cup.
The butter was much more forgiving — just one stick, cut in half and mashed around.
The baking powder and baking soda were a little confusing. And not to be confused with each other even though they looked exactly the same when out of their packaging.
But the recipe called for half as much of one as it did the other, and Kensi figured there was some scientific reason for that so she did as instructed.
She also wondered about the need for both white and brown sugars in the same recipe — but she didn't question that one too much because really, who doesn't love sugar? White, brown, red, green, who cares?
And the chocolate chips! Best part of the whole recipe.
Kensi popped a handful into her mouth before dumping the whole rest of the bag into the bowl. No such thing as too many chocolate chips in a chocolate chip cookie.
Good thing she'd bought two more bags!
She put the big wooden mixing spoon into the mound of ingredients in the bowl and started to stir, immediately producing a small cloud of flour powder.
Grimacing, she stirred a little more gently. And her arm felt like it was going to fall off before the stuff in the bowl finally started to resemble cookie dough.
That darn butter — it wasn't as soft as she'd thought it was going to be. She could see little bits of it that refused to be blended smooth, but there wasn't really anything she could do about that now.
Well, she didn't care if there were chunks of butter in her cookies — if she mixed any harder or longer she was likely to dislocate her shoulder or something!
Exhausted, she dropped the spoon back into the bowl. She let her arm rest for a moment before picking up a cookie sheet and coating it generously with no-stick cooking spray.
Oops! She'd forgotten to pre-heat the oven. Better do that now so it's at least halfway warm when the cookies go in it…
With a regular teaspoon from her silverware drawer, she scooped up glob after glob of dough, depositing them in irregular shapes and various sizes on the two cookie sheets.
She kinda hoped they'd round themselves out while they baked.
Both cookie sheets were loaded up and poked into the oven, and there was still a little bit of dough left behind in the bowl.
Despite warnings she'd heard never to eat raw cookie dough because of the egg in it, Kensi couldn't help spooning up a bite and licking it off the spoon.
Just one more wouldn't hurt her. Okay, two or three. Enough to empty the bowl.
She set the oven timer and waited anxiously for it to count down the minutes.
When the timer went off, she snatched the oven door open and grabbed one cookie sheet with an oven mitt on her hand.
They were only half cooked.
With a small sigh, she slid the tray back in and closed the door. And she set the timer for a few minutes more.
The second time she checked them, they looked perfect. They were still rather misshapen, not pretty and uniform like store-bought or bakery cookies.
But they sure tasted good! After taking the first tentative bite and burning her tongue, Kensi's taste buds melted into a puddle of delight.
She almost inhaled three more cookies like a starving person who'd stumbled upon a buffet.
Deeks was going to be so proud of her! Hell, she was proud of herself enough for the both of them.
She would definitely have to share these cookies with him, and prove that she wasn't a lost cause in the kitchen. (Not that anyone thought she was, but just in case they did.)
She transferred a dozen of the nicest-looking cookies to one of her dinner plates and covered it with foil to save for tomorrow.
There was still plenty of remaining ingredients for a second batch, but that wasn't going to happen tonight.
So Kensi put everything away and set all the used dishes in the sink to deal with later.
At work the next morning, Kensi was pleased to see that Deeks had already arrived.
"Hey," she greeted simply with a nice smile. "I brought you some of your favorite cookies. Just to show that I appreciate what you've done for me." And she set a foil-covered plate on his desk.
Deeks' whole face lit up. "You brought me snickerdoodles?"
Kensi's smile fell at the mention of a different kind of cookie. "Chocolate chip," she corrected, a tiny hint of flatness creeping into her voice. She pulled the foil off to show him.
Well, chocolate chip sounded just as good. And they looked pretty good too.
But Deeks — ever the troublemaker — couldn't help the words that came out next.
"I dunno…you dangle a snickerdoodle and then offer me something else. I don't know if I can handle that whole 'bait-and-switch' thing. At least not where cookies are concerned."
Kensi's gaze on him hardened, her demeanor suddenly exuding disappointment. "You know what? Forget it. I'm taking them back."
But Deeks grabbed the plate before she could take it away. "Kens, I'm just teasing. Come on. I'm sorry."
"Really?" Kensi prodded solemnly.
"Really. Gimme cookie." And in imitation of Cookie Monster, he playfully drew out the word. "Coooooookie."
She scoffed at his weirdness and let him have the plate again. "I made them last night," she revealed proudly. "From scratch."
Deeks picked up a cookie and examined it a moment. "You sure about that?"
"You don't believe me?"
"I seem to recall a certain someone who once tried to pass off store-bought cookies as homemade," Deeks teased in a reminder of their little undercover-married jaunt a couple of years ago. "And then she whacked my hand with a spatula when I tried to sample one. And I do believe those were snickerdoodles."
"And what does that have to do with this?" Kensi wanted to know.
Deeks merely shrugged, biting into the cookie. "Just saying… Old habits die hard."
"You don't believe me — I'll prove it to you," Kensi insisted. "Tomorrow night, you come to my place and you can watch me make them from scratch. And then I will enjoy the cookies, and you can eat crow."
Ooh, a challenge from Kensi. It was too good not to accept. Deeks finished off his cookie and grabbed two more. "You're on, Martha."
Kensi smiled, despite the stupid moniker. "Alright, then."
"Just don't try to poison me with it," he couldn't resist adding.
Kensi shot him a look and was about to retort something equally not-nice but she abruptly swallowed her words back as Callen and Sam sauntered into the bullpen.
"I smell cookies," Callen stated seconds before he spotted the plate on Deeks' desk.
Kensi picked it up again and held it out to share. "I made them myself," she informed them pleasantly as the two men both reached for the treats.
Callen's hand halted to hover directly above the plate. "Really? Are they…edible?"
Kensi was mildly offended. "Of course they're edible! Deeks just ate three of them."
"Deeks will eat anything," Sam put in knowingly.
Kensi could not believe these two were actually hesitating to try her homemade cookies. Jerks, both of them.
"Aw, come on, guys — you're hurting her feelings," Deeks backed up his partner. "And we all know that a hurt Kensi is a dangerous Kensi."
Callen shot a look at Sam. "That's true."
"Are you men, or are you mice?" Deeks boldly jabbed with a grin.
"You gonna let him talk to you like that?" Callen quipped to his partner.
"He's talkin' to you, not me," Sam deflected.
"Pretty sure he's talking to you," Callen persisted.
Sam had no problem 'manning-up' at any time, but he was torn between placating Kensi, and protecting his taste buds from the unknown.
Choosing the lesser of the two evils, he finally said, "You only live once, right?" And he picked up a cookie.
Callen took one too, and only after Sam sampled one was he brave enough to try his.
"That's actually not bad," Callen commented in surprise. He popped the rest of his first cookie into his mouth and took two more. "Thanks."
Sam took only one more cookie. "Moderation," he claimed, ever conscious of his own health.
That's better, Kensi thought to herself. Glad that she'd proven them all wrong, she grabbed a cookie too and settled into her desk chair.