A/N – thanks to anonkp for the description of Deeks in a top hat. I can't get it out of my head!

Thanks again to honus47 for reviewing and giving me suggestions!

This is lighter and fluffier than the last story arc I posted. I needed something to offset that!

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Chapter 36

Deeks looked in the mirror and couldn't believe what he was seeing. He looked like Baby New Year in the Rankin-Bass Christmas special, Rudolph's Shiny New Year! How had he let Cassie and Paula talk him into this? It was all Kensi's fault. She just had to bring up the top hat joke that the guys had pulled on him all those months ago. He wondered how the rest of the guys were faring with their fittings. This was the final one as the wedding was this coming weekend and they were all trying on the full regalia. The girls had tagged along, under the guise of not wanting their men to mess things up. He sighed, he knew he was expected to come out of the dressing room and parade around in front of them but he really didn't want to.

He was about to finally head out when he heard Sam. "I'm going to kill him G! I look ridiculous! Why can't I just wear my dress uniform?"

"Because we're in the wedding Sam, you know that! Besides, you won't be able to kill him; I'll already have taken care of that! Top hat and tails? Who does this?"

"Friends of Deeks, that's who! If he hadn't introduced Michelle and Joelle to Cassie and Paula, we wouldn't be in this mess. How those girls got so close so fast, I don't know. Now we're all in the wedding and look at us!"

John Shelton exited his dressing room with the same disgruntled look on his face. "I'm never going to live this down you know! I'm an admiral in the United States Navy for Pete's sake!"

Deeks heard Eric chime in. "I don't know. I think we look pretty cool! Very sophisticated!"

Sam growled "Eric, you dress up for ren faires and cosplay, I can't take anything you say about these getups seriously! Deeks get your butt out here! You can't hide in there all day."

Deeks jumped when he heard Sam yell for him. Squaring his shoulders, he decided to pretend he liked how he looked. He calmly left his dressing room and promptly burst into laughter at the sight of Sam in the same getup. He really did look ridiculous. Callen didn't look much better, nor did Admiral Shelton. Eric, on the other hand, looked right at home in his. Sam glared at him and he swallowed his laughter.

"Deeks, how the hell did you get us involved in this?" Sam asked.

"Come on Sam. It's only one day and it will make the girls happy. Isn't that the only reason we're doing this anyway?" Deeks replied.

"I suppose, but I swear to you, if pictures of me dressed like this start showing up around OSP, you will die a slow and lingering death!"

Callen intervened. "Let's go show the girls how we look and then we can get out of these. Now!"

The five of them left the dressing area and wandered into the room where their significant others were waiting, along with Meaghan, Cassie and Paula. In the time they had been in changing, the group had grown to include Granger and Hetty. Great, just great! Deeks thought. The more the merrier. And it will be merry as they all laugh at the way we look.

Shockingly, no one laughed. The women just looked at them with open mouths. Deeks watched Kensi as she licked her lips. What the hell? He looked over at Sam who was eying Michelle. Michelle had eyes for no one but him, her mouth opening and closing a couple times. Finally Cassie cleared her throat and said "This is going to be a wedding that no one is ever going to forget! I can't believe how handsome you all look. I think I'm going to cry!" Her eyes really did well up and she reached for Paula's hand. Paula looked all teary eyed as well, surprising Deeks. She wasn't the most demonstrative person.

Laura went up to John and kissed him full on the lips. Passionately. In full view of everyone. Meaghan was smiling from ear to ear. Nell seemed the least fazed by the whole thing, but then, she went to the same ren faires and cosplay events that Eric did. Granger just looked relieved he wasn't in the wedding. Once the shock wore off, the women walked around each of the men, checking on the fit, looking for flaws. When everyone was satisfied that no additional alterations needed to be made, they were able to hightail it back to their dressing rooms to change back into their regular clothes. The last thing Deeks heard before closing the door was Hetty saying "Intoxicating!" He shuddered, trying hard not to let those images form in his mind.

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The day of the wedding dawned clear and beautiful. The weather report indicated it would stay that way all day. Deeks and Kensi had finished their wedding present for the two women and Vivid Dreams had been practicing it for the last two weeks, every chance they got. Chris loved the song and asked if they could add it to their repertoire, Deeks told him he needed to ask Cassie and Paula, it was their song.

Waking up to the alarm, Deeks rolled over and kissed Kensi. "Wake up sleepy head; we need to get ready for the wedding of the century!"

Kensi groaned and mumbled "Five more minutes?"

He laughed and kissed her again. "Ok, but when I get out of the shower, you need to get up." She mumbled something he couldn't make out in return. He slid out of bed and padded into the bathroom. Once showered, he went in and tried waking Kensi again. At least this time he got her to open her eyes, if not get out of bed. Monty was at the sitters today as they had to leave early and were staying at the wedding venue tonight, so he didn't need to feed or walk him this morning, he just needed to get his sleepy girlfriend out of bed. He wandered towards the kitchen thinking he would scrounge something up for breakfast when he caught sight of his go bag. He kept meaning to put the dirty clothes in the laundry and fill it with clean stuff. He had two bags so that he always had one with clean clothes in it. The other one was at the Mission, ready in case they needed to leave in a hurry. He picked this one up and unzipped it. His jaw dropped open. It was definitely not filled with his clothes. He reached in and pulled out a sheer teddy in bright red. Hearing a sound, he looked up to find Kensi watching him from the bedroom doorway. "What?" he asked dazedly.

She blushed and said "I brought those with me to the house in Santa Barbara. You never gave me a chance to wear them and I kind of forgot about it."

"Them?" he looked back into the bag and saw several other outfits, all sheer and all in bright colors. "This bag is totally coming with us today!"

She laughed and headed into the bathroom for her own shower. He was tempted to follow her but they really did need to start getting ready. Their clothes were ready to move out to the car as they would be dressing at the wedding venue. He sighed, wishing they had more time. While he waited for her, he moved everything, including the go bag, out to her SRX. When he returned, she was out of the shower and in the bedroom, throwing on yoga pants and a t-shirt for the drive over. He stopped in the doorway and just drank her in. She was so beautiful and filled his world. And she was all his. How could he have been so lucky? She looked up and smiled at him.

"Are you nervous about presiding over the wedding?"

"Not really. I've practiced so many times; I can practically do it in my sleep. I don't get stage fright so I should be okay."

"I can't wait to see everyone all dressed up at the same time. It's going to be awesome."

"If you say so. I do love the way your dress looks on you though! Usually bridesmaids dresses are ugly or somehow unflattering, but this one? This one makes you look like a fairy princess." He had been bowled over when she tried on her dress for him. He had promptly taken it off for her. He felt his body respond to the memory and he started towards her.

"Not now Deeks! We don't have time." She recognized that look only too well and danced out of his reach. She knew how he felt. She had remembered the same scene and had felt the heat start in her belly. She was tempted to allow him to catch her. Reminding herself that they had somewhere to be, she instead smiled at him and said. "We have all night tonight to act on those thoughts! I'm looking forward to our mini vacation." The wedding was being held at the Casa Del Mar in Santa Monica and Kensi had booked a room as a surprise for him. This way they could stay as long as they wanted without having to worry about the drive home. Most of the rest of the wedding party had done the same. The other girls had followed Kensi's lead and had all booked rooms as a surprise for their guys. Nell and Eric were staying as well. Bets had been placed as to whether it would be one room or two. And Nell wasn't talking.