Kensi rolls her eyes as she read the note on the pillow where Deeks was sleeping just moments ago.
Kensi -
What's a pirate's favorite exercise? The Plank.
Get it. Plank.
I know you start working out again today. Take it slow. It'll come back. If you need a workout partner, come on up. You could spend next weekend in LA if that sounded like fun.
Deeks
Even in the awesome climate of San Diego she felt the absence of his warmth immediately. He told her last night he was going to sneak out and let her sleep, so she didn't try to stop him. One more real kiss would have been nice, but she knew where one kiss would lead. She tries to shake the shiver that catches her as she thinks about what she would have done to him that morning with enough time.
Back to real life. She has a workout regimen that starts today, and Dave has been threatening her to stick to it, exactly, or else. No subtracting, no adding, no pushing. She accused him of babying her, but he wouldn't hear it. The doctor will clear her for Ops, but she'll need Dave's signature to be operational again, so he calls the shots.
She just wants to get back in the game, but even getting back in the game isn't simple, because more than ever she wonders if she's playing for the right team. She shakes her head and gets started with her day. She'll be riding the bench no matter where she is if she doesn't get to work. She gets dressed, pulls out her workout sheet, and gets going.
A few hours later she's proud enough of her mile and a half run, even if it was slow. She takes a screenshot of her running app and texts it to Deeks.
Kensi: I'll get faster
She types it as an apology, despite not needing one.
Deeks: Grats. It's a great first day
Kensi: For a middle school teacher or a doctor or an electrician, maybe. Not a federal agent.
Deeks: For anyone who's been through what you've been through
He waits a while, and when she doesn't write back he pushes his luck.
Deeks: Gonna come up this weekend?
There's silence for a long time. He can't help the smile that flashes across his face when he sees her response.
Kensi: Yeah, that sounds great.
And she means it, but they get excited for nothing. On Thursday she calls to tell him she can't make it. Blue team had to blow town for an Op at the last minute, and she promised Dave she'd stay with Julie while he's gone. Deeks mopes through the day, his long face giving away his disappointment to Sam and Callen. They read him like a book.
After the weekend Kensi and Deeks try to put together a plan to try again for a visit the next weekend, but Kensi's week takes an unexpected turn when she finds herself pacing the hospital waiting room. It's all good news, it's all happening the way it's supposed to with the significant caveat that Julie went into labor two weeks early and Dave and the team are still away. From the first contraction they realized was an actual, real contraction the night before, Kensi's been communicating with the team. They got everyone on a plane and she's expecting them to walk through the door any minute.
When she sees Dave, she smirks. This man has stared down some of the craziest situations imaginable, but his face when he enters the hospital is complete panic.
"She's doing great," Kensi tells him. "The nurses asked for a minute with her so I just stepped out. We're getting really close." She wraps an arm around him and brings him over to the nurses' station.
"Is this the dad?" the nurse asks.
"He made it," Kensi says excitedly. Dave turns and gives her a quick hug, thanking her for being there for Julie, and then he disappears with the nurse. Kensi sits and the rest of the team file in. They tell her about the op and that it's time for her to get back on the road with them.
A few hours later Kensi is sitting in the waiting room when she sees Dave enter with another expression she's never seen - pure joy. In all the years she's known him, nothing has come close. She stands, and Blue Team stands with her as Dave walks to his team with steady hands carrying his daughter.
Kensi can't even speak; the little baby is so precious.
"Blue Team," Dave says, "I'd like to introduce you to Michaela Rose."
"Oh my god, Dave, she's so beautiful," Kensi finally whispers, trying not to disturb the sleeping infant. "Michaela, after your mom?" Kensi asks.
"And Rose after Julie's grandmother," Dave tells them.
Midas comes closer and Dave shakes his head. "Your clumsy ass is not touching her." They all laugh. "Besides, her godmother should get dibs." It takes a beat before Kensi realizes everyone is looking at her.
"Really?"
"Who else would it be, Pirate?"
Kensi reaches out so tentatively, certain she's never held a baby this little. Dave carefully makes the exchange, and Kensi takes her and holds her close. She sways just a little and starts telling Michaela how lucky she is, and that she will be the most loved little girl of all time.
His hands free, Dave accepts hugs and handshakes from the guys. When he looks over, he's taken by the way Kensi is looking at Michaela. So much wonder. He grabs a pic and quickly texts it to Deeks.
Dave: Michaela Rose and her godmother
Deeks: Congrats man! How's Julie?
Dave: Good all around.
Deeks: She's so beautiful!
Dave: My daughter's pretty cute, too
Deeks: Busted. Need anything?
Dave: We're good. Just thought you'd like the pic
Deeks: You're a lucky man.
Dave: So are you
Eventually the guys clear out. Kensi stays a little longer. She catches up with Julie, and then runs out to grab food and drinkable coffee. When she gets back to the room the lights are dim, Julie is out cold in bed and Dave is in a recliner staring at the sleeping girl in his arms.
"I'm so happy for you guys," she tells him. "You deserve to be this happy."
"So do you, Pirate."
Kensi comes close and takes in the little princess.
"Why me? For her godmother."
He's still looking at his sleeping little girl. "Because you can teach her to do a million things. Because you love Julie and I so much that you'll always help her see how much we love her, even when she wants to kill us. Because you and Julie are different enough that you will give her a really different perspectives on things and that will be good for her."
"I will, I promise," Kensi vows.
"You looked like a natural out there holding her," he tells her. "You'd be good at it, you know, if you were wondering. Of if maybe you were daydreaming about little kids running around with shaggy blonde hair…" His eyebrows go up waiting to see if he gets a reaction.
"Quit it. Don't make me punch you. I'd hate to wake her up 'cause you were being a jerk."
Dave laughs. "I said something nice about you. How am I the jerk?"
She's laughing now, too. "It's that little magic trick you do where you say something nice, but don't mean it nicely."
Dave pretends to be wounded by her observation, but he can't pull it off, and they are chuckling again. "I didn't not mean it not nicely," he assures her.
"Then how did you mean it? 'Cause it sounded a lot like 'why aren't you setting down and having kids with Deeks?'"
"Perhaps you're projecting."
"Perhaps you should keep your nose out of it."
"What would be so terrible about admitting that he makes you happy and you love him."
"Hey hey hey. You're jumping a few steps."
"You don't love him?"
"I'm just saying…."
"So, you do love him?"
He won round one, because she's flustered. She regroups and tries to talk him down. "We've only been … whatever we are … for a few weeks, and long-distance weeks at that. You're getting way ahead of us."
"You were partners for two years. And I'm not ahead of him. That man loves you."
"You can't know that."
"Like hell I can't, Pirate. I was watching when he saw you for the first time after you left. I saw his face when he saw you in that hospital bed. I saw him break down at the thought of losing you. I see him come down here to be even a small part of your life. I see him trying to be friends with Blue Team even though he probably hates you being down here with us. I'm the big, dumb, oaf of the bunch, but I see more than you think I do."
"You're not that big."
"You're changing the subject."
"I'm nowhere near where you are in your life. Something like that hasn't really even crossed my mind."
He stands up when Michaela starts to stir hoping a little rocking might lull her into a little more sleep. "I'm just saying, be open to the possibility that even though you've drawn your share of short straws, there's something great out there waiting for you."
()()()()()()()
The weekend after Michaela makes her presence known is a blur of activity. Kensi is organizing food and doing dishes at Dave's place and being an extra set of hands. Once the initial chaos is tempered, Kensi gives the family a little space.
Then Blue Team gets an intel package for their next Op – a drug trafficker and murderer from the Pena Cartel. Luis Marquez has been dark since his sealed indictment a couple of weeks ago, and just popped up on the radar. The Pena Cartel is looking to bring him back to Mexico the next day from an airstrip south of LA on a chartered flight with valuable cargo. Word of his indictment must have gotten out. Blue Team would like to get him before he disappears.
"Do we know what the valuable cargo is?" Midas asks.
"Not yet. The Intel group is doing some cross-agency information requests to see if they can figure it out before we hit the airstrip tomorrow," Dave tells them.
The next morning, Kensi is antsy to go. It's been almost two months since she was injured, and she's put in the work to come back. The doctor OK'd her for missions again two days ago. Now she's waiting on Dave to sign the papers. He keeps telling her not to rush it. She keeps threatening to punch him. When they review the plan for Marquez, and a new idea for how to get him, Kensi tells Dave to sign her papers and let her take his place.
"You have a nine-day-old daughter, Dave. Maybe you should sit this one out."
"Julie's mom is here. I'm going to save up some time for when she leaves so Julie has help a little longer."
"You're afraid of your mother-in-law," Kensi jokes. "Sign my papers and go hug your kid," Kensi tells him.
He smirks. "You looking out for me, or is it possible Pirate is thinking about an LA booty call?"
"Ha Ha Ha," she says with exaggerated diction. The others are too afraid of her to laugh. She makes sure her face doesn't give anything away. It's been more than two weeks since she's seen Deeks, and she can't deny that getting to see him has crossed her mind.
"You think you're ready?"
"I do."
"You sure?"
"I am."
"We have three hours until the helo leaves for LA. I'm going for a run. I'm going on the Marquez op one way or another, but if you want me to sign your papers so you can come with us, put your running shoes on and let's go."
The corners of her mouth curl up with a hint of a smile. She puts up one finger and jabs it into his chest.
"No hell hounds," she warns him.
"No promises."