"Aren't we missing something?" Sam looked around the garden curiously. "Like a minister?" They were usually a prerequisite for a christening after all.

"No, we've got everyone we need right here." Kensi reached out both her hands to him. "This isn't a normal christening, you see." Sam took hold of them tightly and kissed her on the cheek.

"Since when did you two ever do anything normal?" Callen had Nell pressed close to his side, his arm protectively around her.

Kensi ignored him. "It's more of a naming ceremony, and our way of welcoming Densi into the world."

"And to say thank you to everyone who's been there for the three of us." Deeks had Densi balanced on his hip and he seemed uncharacteristically nervous. "Because we've never really thanked you properly for all you've done and for all your support. It's been one hell of a journey, but we made it, because you were there. Every single step of the way."

"And that made all the difference," Kensi added. She didn't even want to think about how very different things might have been, but the one consolation was that her friends would have surrounded her with love, just as they always had – and helped in every way conceivable. They had gone that extra mile, and they had done so willingly and with such compassion. The past few months had shown her just how blessed she was with her family and her friends.

"It was our pleasure," Hetty assured him. She'd worked with many teams, and with agents from all around the world in the course of her career, but this team was special. This was her team, the ne plus ultra and they were definitely the crème de la crème, as dear Miss Jean Brodie had so rightly said. More than that, they were the closest thing she had to a family, and to see that family stretch down into a new generation was especially satisfying. The ties that bound them had been made that little bit tighter, than extra bit stronger and more special.

She held out her arms and received Densi, who stared at her glasses with great interest, and then made a determined grab for them, which she fended off with uncanny ease.

"David Martin Deeks: welcome to the world. You have brought so much joy to everyone, but especially to your parents. May you always be secure in their love and understanding."

Hetty had always been able to capture her audience's attention, but never more than at this moment. Kensi and Deeks were standing to one side, watching as Hetty looked at their son with intense love and spoke directly from her heart.

"And may you always know that you have the support of your wider family." She gestured towards Sam. "Mr Hanna: will you promise to guide him faithfully?"

Sam looked slightly taken aback and flashed a grateful look at Kensi and Deeks. "I will. With love and with courage."

"And Mr Callen and Ms Jones: will you both promise to watch over him?"

"We will." It seemed like a foreshadowing of what was to come, Nell thought: of wedding vows and married life and babies with round, plump little legs and smiles of pure joy. The future had never seemed brighter.

"With love and understanding."

"And Mr Beale: will you promise to listen to him?"

"I will." Eric looked completely shocked, not having expected to be included. "I'll even take him surfing."

"Oh no you won't! Kensi interjected. "Not until he's at least eighteen," she amended hastily, just in case Eric thought that she didn't trust him..

"By which time I'll have taught him properly." Deeks flashed a grin. He definitely didn't trust Eric enough to leave something as important as that to anyone other than himself. And eighteen months was more like it, he thought.

"And I promise to be here for you, dear Densi," Hetty said quietly and kissed the top of his head. "Come what may."

She had had so many dreams, and such precious, wonderful dreams, but they had died unfulfilled. To finally be a part of a new young life was so special and it helped to assuage the hurt she had concealed for so long.

"The Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you;
The Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace."

Hetty bowed her head briefly, and everyone else followed suit. For a moment, silence hung over the sunlit garden as they contemplated the words. "May you have every blessing and have a long, happy and healthy life."

"Welcome to our world, Densi." Marty retrieved his son and stared at him intently. "It's because of these people that I'm here right now. I know I can trust them to look out for you and to look after you. And my wish for you is that one day you can find friends like them. But it's going to be hard." His voice wavered slightly, and for a second he looked frightening vulnerable.

Kensi was there, putting her arm around his waist. "And one day, may you find that one person who completes you." She turned her gaze from her son to look up at her husband. "And may you know just how wonderful this world is when you have someone to share it with."

"I think I'm going to cry," Nell confided and felt Callen squeeze her hand as he struggled to compose himself.

"I've never been a godfather before," Eric said, still trying to figure it all out.

"And you still aren't," Sam informed him. "Hetty's not an ordained minister."

She looked at him quizzically. "Really, Mr Hannah? Are you absolutely certain about that?"

"Don't go there," Kensi warned him. It sometimes seemed as if there was nothing Hetty had not done during the course of her very varied career, which was precisely why they had asked her to lead the ceremony. "Go and have something to eat instead."

"Or drink." Marty gestured towards the glasses. "If you go into the kitchen, you'll find champagne chilling, courtesy of Hetty."

"It was the least I could do." Hetty gave a sigh of contentment as she looked around the garden. "This was such a lovely idea." She didn't know about feeling nearer to God in a garden, but here today, with the kiss of the sun for pardon, and the fellowship of her friends, her soul had found its ease and contentment, as well as its joy and hope. And maybe that was being closer to God? She wasn't to argue about it, she would just accept it with gratitude.

Sam came out with the champagne and expertly twisted the bottle, so that cork came away smoothly in his hand, with only a subdued explosion of air.

"He's showing off," Callen said loudly. "Wants everyone to remember he was once a sommelier."

"And I've got the corkscrew pin to prove it," Sam reminded him. "Which I might just leave to Densi in my will. What are you going to leave him – that rabbit you got free with your top hat?" He poured out in the wine into the waiting flutes, judging each glass perfectly, so that when the froth of bubbles subsided every single glass contained the same amount. "Now, that is a skill," he said with considerable satisfaction.

"And it's the first time you've been able to use it since their wedding, "Callen reminded him. "You going to show us again in another three years time?"

"It's going to take you that long to make an honest woman of Nell?"

Hetty decided it was time to intervene. She raised her glass and declaimed; "To the Deeks family."

He couldn't help it, he really couldn't. "May God bless them and all who sail in them." The champagne was going straight to his head.

Eric gave Callen a hard look. "Live long and prosper." He splayed his fingers in a perfect Vulcan salute."

"Here's to the weekend," Kensi said wickedly and then held out her glass for a refill. Life was so good, so very good. And it was only going to get better.

Here's to the weekend indeed - and we all know what happens this weekend... I just hope Kensi has been feeding Deeks up so he's back to full strength. Believe me, he's going to need to be...