AN: Another bonus Christmas Densi-mber Discussion! Credit for inspiring this one goes to Sassyzazzi and Max and Fern 4ever who "made" me watch Humbug (6x11) again not too long ago, which got me wondering what gifts Kensi and Deeks got for each other before and after they went "all in." This takes place during that subsequent trip to Mammoth.
Kensi stretched her arm out, reaching for Deeks. When she felt only cool sheets, she remembered he'd gotten up a few minutes ago to take Monty for a quick walk. She picked up her phone to check the time. It was after midnight, and officially Christmas Day.
Figuring she wouldn't get another chance, Kensi wrapped the heavy blanket around her naked body and climbed from the bed. She rifled through her suitcase for Deeks' present and hurried into the living area of their rented cabin. "Oh, hey," she stopped short when she spotted Deeks on the couch and tucked the item in her hand under the blanket. "I thought you were out with Monty. What are you doing?"
"Nothing," Deeks did a lousy job of lying as he obviously hid something behind one of the decorative pillows. There was no light in the room save what came from the low fire in the electric fireplace and the multi-colored lights on the small artificial tree they'd bought on the way up to Mammoth two days ago.
The Christmas tree stood on the table next to the couch, and beneath it they'd placed the gifts for each other. Except, Kensi now noted, her gift from Deeks was gone.
She walked slowly toward him and said with a smile, "What did you just put under the pillow, Deeks?"
"Kens, if I ask you to do me a favor, would you do it?"
Thrown by the change in topic, Kensi narrowed her eyes at him before responding, "Depends on what it is."
"Please go back to bed. I promise I'll be there soon, and I'll do my best to make you forget this little incident," he added lasciviously.
"Where's my present?" she asked instead of granting his request.
Deeks closed his eyes in apparent frustration. He scratched the back of his head in what Kensi had long ago recognized as a stalling technique. She might admit to him sometime in the near future, now that they were a couple, how endearing she though that particular habit was. "Uh, yeah, about that. See, I bought that gift for you, um, before you agreed to come to Mammoth with me. And definitely before we decided to go all in. So it's not what I would have given you if I knew we were going to end up here, literally and figuratively, together. Like together, together,"
"A safe gift," she clarified, harkening back to Joelle's words of a few days ago.
"Right," he agreed, disappointed. "Not the type of gift that says–" Deeks stopped himself.
"Not that gift that says you're the most important person in the world to me," Kensi finished. They were silent, eyes locked on each other, for several heartbeats as they both felt the weight of that statement.
Kensi recovered first and asked, a small smile gracing her face, "So what were you going to do, burn it?"
"What?" It took Deeks a moment to catch up. He shook his head, "No. I was actually trying to replace it."
"When did you have the chance to buy something else?"
"I didn't, which was only part of the problem, as it turns out. The other part was finding five minutes alone to switch them." At the look on Kensi's face, Deeks quickly added, "Not that I'm complaining. I love that we've hardly been apart since we got here. But I've been trying to figure out how to pull this off all that time."
"Me too," Kensi said quietly.
"So when I – wait, what?"
"I came out here to do the same thing," she confessed with a sigh.
Still clad in only a blanket, Kensi padded the rest of the way to the couch and sat facing Deeks, hearing the wrapping paper rustle under the pillow as she pushed against it. "I was home packing for the trip and was glad remembered to take your present, which was already wrapped, when I realized it was a safe gift. And I wasn't sure I wanted to give it to you anymore, or at least not just that, but there wasn't time to get you something else because you were coming to pick me up within the hour. And I couldn't not give you a Christmas present, especially now, so I found something in my apartment that I thought would work," Kensi admitted.
The joy and excitement of listening to her story brightened Deeks' face and made him appear years younger. He nodded quickly and related his own experience, "Yes! And even then, I had to make sure it was something that would fit in the other gift's box, because I'd have to unwrap the original present and re-wrap the new one with the same paper after we got here," he laughed.
"Exactly!" Kensi said, joining in the laughter until Deeks leaned forward and kissed her. She was losing count of the number of times they'd touched lips since deciding to be bold together, but the powerful punch of emotion that accompanied each one hadn't dimmed at all.
When they parted, Deeks whispered, "So why don't we exchange both? But starting next year, no more safe gifts. Deal?"
Thrilled with the implication of his words, Kensi nodded, needing a moment to find her voice. Considering she still had her gift to Deeks pressed against her body, Kensi knew there was no way they were getting back to bed without him seeing it, so they may as well exchange them now. "Can I open mine first?"
"It's the middle of the night," he said, surprised.
"So? It's already Christmas Day," she reasoned.
Finding no fault with her logic, Deeks shrugged. "Guess we'll have more time for snowboarding later." He stuck his hand behind the pillow and pulled out a half-unwrapped shirt box. Handing it to Kensi, he said, "This is the safe one."
Tearing off the rest of the paper and removing the lid with her one free hand, Kensi found a new sweatshirt. Lifting it from the box, she saw it was emblazoned with the words, LAPD Dept. of Athletics.
"Safe as they come, yeah?" Deeks asked.
"A little," Kensi said. "But still my first piece of LAPD clothing, so thanks." She gave him a sweet kiss.
From behind him, Deeks presented a plastic bag to Kensi next. "I have to admit, I'm sort of nervous about this one."
Curious, Kensi peeked in and immediately smiled. She didn't even have to pull it out to know what it was. Deeks' old, worn, Property of LAPD sweatshirt. When she did take it from the bag, Kensi lifted it to her face and inhaled his scent before she realized what she was doing. It had been recently laundered, but it still smelled like Deeks. She looked up, embarrassed, to find his shocked face staring back at her. "Sorry," she muttered.
Deeks cleared his throat, "Don't be. I'm, um, glad you like it."
"I do, very much. But it's your favorite. Are you sure you want to give it away?"
"Oh, believe me, I am now." Having witnessed Kensi's reaction, Deeks was already getting turned on. He knew this would be a favorite go-to memory during those nights he was alone and couldn't sleep. That and imagining her wearing it.
"Thank you, Deeks. I love it." Her kiss this time did nothing to quell his arousal. When she pulled away, Kensi said, "Your safe gift is still under the tree, would you mind getting it?"
Deeks made quick work of the giftwrap and revealed a book, Prescription: Murder. A Drama in Three Acts.
Kensi explained, "It's a play featuring Lieutenant Columbo. That's what inspired the TV show. It's the same writers, too."
"Wow, this is great, Kens. Thanks. It may be a safe gift, but it's still pretty cool." He kissed her cheek. "Do you need to go inside and get the other one?"
She shook her head with a sly smile. "No, it's under my blanket."
"Oh?" Deeks said with obvious interest but misunderstanding.
Kensi chuckled, "No doofus, I mean I have it in the hand that's under the blanket."
"Oh," he sounded more than a little disappointed as he held out his own in expectation.
"Keep in mind the original gift was a book, so really I had no choice but to replace it with another book, you know, because of the wrapping paper," Kensi said, somewhat hesitant to reveal the item.
"Okay…" Sensing her reluctance, Deeks assured her, "Kens, whatever it is, I'm sure I'll love it."
"I think you will too, I just hope you don't take it the wrong way." With that, her hand appeared, holding a copy of Kama Sutra.
Deeks grabbed it from her. "Awesome!" he exclaimed, as he started flipping through the pages.
Kensi hurried on, "I only realized a few minutes ago that some men might be insulted, getting a sex guide as a gift. And that's not at all what I was thinking when I chose it."
"Are you kidding me? Do you know how many times I've fantasized about you and this book since I found out Het– you owned it?"
"Really?" Kensi didn't know what surprised her more, what he just said or that he said it.
"Yeah, got me through an awful lot of nights while you were in Afghanistan." Now it was Deeks' turn to look discomfited at what he'd let slip.
Like Deeks before, Kensi was getting worked up by this revelation. "I'm here now. With you," her voice was low with desire.
"And the Kama Sutra," he reminded her, yanking at the back of his shirt to pull it over his head.
"We're not going snowboarding later, are we?"
"Kens, we'll be lucky if we can walk later," Deeks growled, moving to join her in the blanket.