Glitter

Nell is going to die.

Slowly, painfully and without regret.

And then Kensi's going to spread glitter all over her corpse, her coffin and her grave. Seems like a fitting response since Kensi feels like she's drowning in the stuff.

"My wedding, assuming I get to that point, will not have glitter," she grumbles without thinking.

Callen chuckles, then bites his lip when she shoots him a glare.

"I'm with her," Eric moans.

"This is your wedding," Sam points out. "Nell didn't strike me as the glitter type."

"Me either," Eric laments. "Who thought this up anyway?"

'This' is the tiny little stocking he holds up. It has enough room for a place card, basically. It's another one of Nell's Christmas ideas, informing each guest of their table by a card in each of the damn things. They've been using glitter to decorate them with each guest's name all morning and there's evidence of it everywhere. Kensi is seriously rethinking using her day off for this, especially since Nell and the bridesmaids have the excuse of work to get them out of it. She's pretty sure all the agents around the table are cursing their time off as well.

"Sophisticated and elegant," Sam says, setting another bloody stocking aside to dry. "That's a wedding."

Kensi sees the surprised look Callen shoots him out of the corner of her eye and is actually not as shocked as she should be that these feds have talked weddings.

"Got your girl picked out too?"

She's not sure she'd even considered that the large black man could blush, nor that Callen's eyebrow could rise that high.

"Since when?" Callen asks.

"What?" Eric jumps in. "Wait, what?"

Sam shrugs.

"You have a girl," Callen says, abandoning his stockings in favour of interrogating Sam.

"Woman," Sam counters with a smirk. "Definitely a woman."

"Who?" Callen pushes. "Where did you meet?"

"None of your business," Sam counters.

"Is that a coffee shop or a restaurant, I can never keep track." But then, rather abruptly, Callen changes his strategy. "Come on. You're always on my case about finding someone to settle down with and now you're going to keep all of the secrets of the universe?"

She's not sure what possesses her – Sam's not her friend, she barely knows the man – but then her mouth is opening and out comes, "Destination wedding."

All of the men turn to look at her, but it's the curiosity and awareness in Callen's gaze that makes her heart hitch. The way he clings to every personal word she says makes her feel both nervous and guilty. She's not a 'sharer' by nature.

She forces a shrug. "I've always wanted to go to Mexico or the Dominican. Maybe Costa Rica. And it limits the number of people you can have, so the invitations don't get out of hand."

"Do you not take time off?" Callen inquires with a little laugh and it takes Kensi a minute to realize he's asking why she hasn't just gone to those places herself.

She shrugs again. "Not really. The place doesn't run itself."

"Everyone needs a vacation." Sam says kindly. "Business owners take vacations all the time."

She just offers him a smile.

"I didn't know you'd thought of your wedding, Kens," Eric says. "Think you can tell Nell? She's been going on and on about how you work so long and never date. Maybe knowing you've thought about getting married will get her to let up a bit."

Kensi curses Eric's usual obliviousness. The quasi-secrets he'd just spilled to his team are not things she's particularly proud of. After Jack and her dad she's thrown herself into the shop, into stability and consistency and things she could control. People leave, barring the minimal exceptions like Nell or Rose or Deeks. So it's easier to just not involve herself in any of it.

And then she catches Callen's eyes, the intrigue and interest in them, and thinks that maybe she's spent the last week breaking her own rules.

For some strange reason, that's not as terrifying as it should be.

Look at the present! Not a long one but I kind of surprised myself with how much writing I've managed to get done in the last week, not just for this one but for at least two other stories too. And the other AU I'm hoping to write once this one's done (different universe, again. I'm excited) has been kind of floating around in the back of my head solidifying.

SO MUCH WRITING.

Happy Kavis write more too, I'm finding. Which is not a plea for reviews, just a statement of fact.

But, you know, if you wanted to review, that would make me happy too.

PS: Quick friendly PSA. If you choose not to sign in or don't have an account (your prerogative, promise) I will not be able to respond to any questions or issues you may raise in your review. If you do actually want an answer to the question or whatever, do leave some sort of contact? I try my best to be good with answering reviews.