Fluffy Hair and Nosy Bosses

Disclaimer: I own a growing OPI nail polish collection (I might be addicted...) but not these two shows.
A/N I: I still enjoy writing these, and now that 'Running Rogue' has wrapped up I hope to post a few more of these. Thanks to BeckyBoo12221, TMVH50, LisaG16, HayNSW2711, Gemini girl 96, jmlane1966, storyfan101, shestarsky, Craftygirl11, guest, cargumentluv, NCISRookie33, fan girl 666, Girl with a pink flying carpet, Kneoria, Shattered Star, guest, guest m (aw, I'd love to read it and I wish there was a way I could. Put a summary in the reviews, as long as you don't mind me playing with your chapter. Congrats on building the courage!) and NCISlover3 for the reviews on the last one!
A/N II: It's baaaaaaack! And with 47% more cheese! This chapter brought to you by the plethora of weddings I've had the pleasure (and the 'pleasure') of attending.

Joy, Joy, Joy

"You're getting married?!"

Deeks winced as he pulled the phone away from his ear. In hindsight he should've chosen his words more carefully, but it was too late to stuff them back in his mouth.

"Teal the cows come home."

"A good man-darin is hard to find."

"Gouda gouda two shoes."

"That's berry daring."

Grace had talked Danny into her letting her buy nail polish with the leftover money from her birthday. It had taken her two months to decide and then another one to wear him down into agreeing. She had dragged him over to the OPI colours and they'd spent the last ten minutes reading and laughing at the names.

"Which one is it going to be?" Danny planted his hands in his pocket.

Grace bit her lip as she focused on her top three. "Blue my mind." She picked it out of the rack, held it up and smiled.

"Alright, let's get it." He felt his phone buzzing in his pocket. "One sec, monkey, it's Deeks." He fished it out and answered it. Grace waited patiently until her dad pulled in a huge lungful of air and released it in a torrent of words and panic filled his face. "You're getting married?!"

Grace tugged her dad's arm. "Ask if I can be the flower girl. And Monty would be a cute ring bearer."

Danny covered the phone with his hand and squinted down at his daughter. "How are you so calm? He's not ready to get married; he's nowhere near prepared for the responsibility of maintaining a stable and long-term relationship. Do you know how old he was when he finally learned how to tie his shoes?"

"You let him take care of me on my stopover."

"That's because I had no other options." At some point Danny forgot about the importance of covering the phone's microphone and was gesturing with his hand instead. A quiet 'hey!' filtered through the speaker. "He's not my first choice to take care of children." Danny froze. "Children...marriage leads to children. Grace, we cannot let this happen."

Grace rolled her eyes. "Danno..." she stretched out his nickname. "You're over-reacting again."

"I am not getting married!" Deeks must have screamed to get his voice to come through the phone that loud.

"Good." "Aw..." sounded simultaneously from a relieved Danny and a disappointed Grace.

A few hours earlier

"Do you get the feeling this wedding's been rushed?" Deeks leaned over and whispered to Pete.

Pete shrugged. "They've been inseparable for the entire time; but their engagement was longer than the entire time they were dating."

Deeks raised his hands but Lana's head shot forward from the other side of Pete and she shout-whispered at him "If you mime cocking a shotgun again I will hit you with a hymnal." She pointed at the books sitting in the rack on the back of the pew in front of them.

"Part one, 'Joyful Voices', or part two 'Even More Voicier'? Because the second one's smaller." Deeks cocked an eyebrow at Lana.

She frowned and growled "That's not what the second one's called."

Pete raised his brows. "No? What about 'Go Go Joy Joy'?"

"'One More Time with Feeling'?"

"'Joyful-voices-that-aren't-necessarily-in-tune'?"

"'Mildly Enthused Voices'?"

Lana started scooching away from Pete. He felt her move and asked "Where're you going?"

"I'm getting away so I don't get hit by the lightning strike that is undoubtedly coming very soon."

"I'm bored, when's this thing going to start?" Pete shifted on the hard wood of the pew seat.

"Weddings always start late, it's only 5 minutes behind so it should start in the next 10."

Pete frowned. "Did ours start late?"

Deeks smothered a smile because he knew what Lana was going to say, and she didn't disappoint.

"We could have started on time because I was ready to go, but one of your groomsmen got lost bringing you to the church." Lana narrowed her eyes.

This time he let the smile out, "At least I got him there sober. You were very clear you didn't want him puking on your dress."

"You're a cop, how do you get lost in the city you've been sworn to protect?" She hissed.

"Shh...the guys are walking in." Pete waved at both of them to quiet down. His wife had forgiven Deeks for that slight mishap the day he pushed Pete out of the way of a man armed with a knife having a psychotic break, but they liked to keep up the appearance that they didn't get along.

They watched as the bride came down the aisle, well, they saw the top of her head pop by. They listened as the minister spoke and vows were exchanged. But when Deeks started to compose a text he felt the heat of Lana's glare. "What?" He whispered across Pete.

"Stop fiddling with your phone, we're at a wedding." She hissed back.

"It's for work." Deeks put on his best innocent look, but Lana knew him too well. She narrowed her eyes and Deeks dug his head down into his shoulders. "They're just signing the registry, it's not anything important." Her eyes narrowed further. "It's just a short question." She frowned, he gave in. "Okay, okay." He shoved the offending object back into his pocket.

A few hours later

Deeks waved goodbye to Pete and Lana as they climbed into their car to drive home. He checked his watch and grimaced, it was only nine o'clock. After the ceremony the guests had gathered at a local restaurant for a cocktail hour while the couple had their pictures taken. Dinner had followed and dessert was tasty. There were speeches made and...that was it. The wedding party started packing up the presents and the maid of honor changed out of her dress as the couple was making the rounds thanking people for coming. That left the trio looking at each other as they stood on the steps of the outside of the restaurant wondering what to do. Pete and Lana decided to go home but Deeks was too fidgety to call it a night.

The restaurant was just off a park where a busker was playing and some vendors were selling knickknacks in between small jewelry stands. He stayed to the edge and wandered the perimeter. A few taps and he pulled up the number he was looking for. He waited for Danny's 'yeah' before asking "You've lived through a wedding. I've been thinking..."

"You're getting married?!"

Deeks winced as he pulled the phone away from his ear. In hindsight he should've chosen his words more carefully, but it was too late to stuff them back in his mouth. He started to talk, but the sound of something covering the phone stopped him. He waited as he listened to the muffled voices on the other end. He deduced that he was being insulted.

"Hey!" He called through the phone. The conversation didn't slow down. He looked around and shouted "I am not getting married!" A lady he didn't notice earlier walked by and gave him a look. He smiled, "yep, I'm single." She rolled her eyes and kept walking.

"Good." Danny's emphatic voice came back on the line but he could hear a saddened 'aw...' as well.

Finally Deeks could explain himself. "I was at a wedding and I was going to ask your opinion."

"So no marriage proposal in the future?"

"Not in the near future." Deeks paused, "Especially not before some serious conversations happen."

"So, then what's the question?"

"What do think it means if the minister is standing between the couple who are getting married? Like they're not holding hands or even within touching distance?"

Danny thought for a moment. "Is it tradition? Would they be allowed to touch?"

"Yeah, it wasn't any special religious service. It was in a church but it's not like they go regularly."

Danny paused, "Do they like each other?"

"We think so, I knew the groom from the academy. We still get together on occasion."

He could imagine Danny pulling his mouth down into a frown. "Could be nothing, some wedding day nerves. Maybe they're not fans of being affectionate in public."

"Well, the party ended as soon as the speeches were done. No dance, no mingling. It's too bad, I don't get to see most of those guys very often since I started with NCIS." He turned off the path around the outskirts and started to wander through the booths.

"Sounds like you didn't enjoy it."

"Well, it's not what I would want. It didn't seem like they were excited about anything today – the wedding, being married."

"What are you doing now?"

Deeks looked down at his hand and what it had picked up while he wasn't paying attention to what he was doing. "Uhh..." He struggled with whether he should tell Danny the truth. "Looking at rings." He smothered a burst of laughter as he twirled the simple band in his fingers.

A smack sounded from the other end of the phone line and Deeks imagined Danny hitting his forehead. Some muffled sounds came through and then a sweet voice came on. "Hi Marty!"

"Hey Grace, what are you up to?"

"I used the last of my birthday money to buy some nail polish. It's blue."

"And what's your dad doing?"

"Some deep breathing." Deeks could hear the smile in her voice. "Now he's mumbling that between me, you, and Steve he's going to be grey long before he should be."

"He should watch the mumbling, someone might think he's taken a dive into the loony end of the pool."

"Give me the phone and go pay." The phone passed hands and Danny came back into the conversation. "You are not getting married, correct?"

"Yes. No." Deeks scrunched up his nose. "How do you answer that? Like I said earlier, I am not planning a wedding or getting married. Feel better?"

Danny huffed, "No. Grace wants to go surfing tomorrow. I blame you." He sighed. "I should get her home, it's been a long day and she has a bit of homework to do. Don't go and do anything stupid like elope."

"I'm not..." Deeks gave up. "Okay. Have fun convincing Grace you're still not going surfing." They ended the calls and Deeks gazed around him. Surfing sounded like a good idea; he would head home, get some sleep, and then catch the early waves.

Grace pointed at a colour as they walked towards the exit, "4 in the morning. That's a neat colour, I didn't see it earlier." She frowned slightly, "what would you even be doing that early in the morning?"

Danny steered his daughter away from the display. "Nope, no more adult-themed conversations for you tonight."

"Where are we surfing tomorrow?" She smirked at her dad.

"No more talking at all."

Grace laughed and pulled him towards the car, between her and Deeks, they'd get him on the waves willingly one day.