It's not an anniversary or a her birthday or any other special occasion when he drops a small, neatly wrapped box into her hand. It's just a lazy Saturday morning after he returns from the beach.
The wrapping removed, she dumps a heavy silver and glass circle into her hand and examines it with interest as it lies in the center of her palm. The rim of the small circular frame is silver, and there's a flat pane of glass on both sides; you could look straight through it if not for the fact that behind the glass, a copper plate lies buried beneath a multitude of tiny colorful charms. The word engraved on the plate just peeks out from behind:
"Forever"
"It's called a living locket." Deeks' low voice interrupts her examination with an oddly timid explanation. "There was this booth at the mall and the lady told me you could make a locket to tell your story," he continues. "She had all these tiny little charms to choose from... I might have got a little carried away."
He stumbles over his reasons for buying her the keychain version instead of the necklace version and she knits her brow at his uncharacteristic nervousness as she examines all the tiny charms and reads their story in them as the moments flash through her mind.
This is Tracey, Danny's girl.
Stuck, smitten, whatever.
Deeks? Really? That's the best they could do?
Don't worry Fern, I'll be back.
Well, you're not a real girl. You're like – you're like Wonder Woman.I just have a thing about my gun.
Yes, Princess?
You smell like sunshine... and gunpowder. Two of my favorite things.
I'll settle for a beer every day for the rest of my life.
You're my frozen lake.
Everyone has three hearts...Contrary to hundreds of years of scientific research, I believe that raccoons do mate for life.
Sometimes a knife is just a knife.Cards on the table?
All in.
There's a microscopic gun and a tiny badge. A boxing glove for their first meeting, and for all the time they've spent fighting—on and off the mat—since then. There are charms for his nicknames for her: a fern leaf; a pink rhinestone crown; a smiling yellow sun; the Wonder Woman insignia. There's a bitsy brown beer bottle for all those nights they've spent on the town and on the couch, and for all the ones she still owes him. There's a knife, a microscopic ice cube, a tiny ice skate and a hand of playing cards, a silver raccoon and three bubbly hearts, one of which has the word PARTNER etched into it's surface.
Her breath catches and then is sucked out of her as she recognizes the last tiny charm under the glass.
"Deeks, there's an—"
Her eyes fly up to find him, and they don't have to move far before they find him on his knees. Well, on one knee.
The rest of her sentence proceeds out of her mouth automatically.
"—engagement ring in here."
The real thing is pinched between his fingers, glinting in the sunlight, and her eyes go wide.
"If I have three hearts, they all belong to you. I'm ready for the next step of our story. Do forever with me?"
The day she says "I do," he swaps one of the hearts out for a new one. The word WIFE is stamped into its surface.
One May morning, almost two years into their marriage, unbeknownst to him, she swaps out another one.
When he wakes that Sunday morning, she's laying waiting for him, watching as the sleep clears from his eyes.
She pulls a miniature box from her pocket and presents it to him.
Inside, he finds her locket and, bewildered, examines it until he finds the new little charm and stares at it confusedly.
Staring back at him is a green teenage mutant ninja turtle face with a blue mask. Is it Raph? Michaelangelo? He can't remember.
His eyes fly up to hers and then back to the locket in his hands and he notices that there's been another change. All of the hearts now have writing on them. One says WIFE. One says PARTNER.
One says MOM.
AN: I had intended for this to be a little bit more filled out, but it just wanted to stop here, as little snippets of moments.
I'm making living locket keyrings for my sisters and sisters-in-law as we all prepare to move hours, states, and continents away from each other over the course of the next few months. As I was searching for the perfect charms to represent each of us, I came across all these charms that reminded me of Densi things, and this was somehow born.
All the charms that Deeks buys Kensi in this story are actually available as living locket charms.
