I was having some trouble uploading the last chapter. I posted a chapter from my other story oops! Hahaha anyways hopefully this chapter will go smoother! So sorry for the delay! It's been awhile!

I'm trying to stay close to character but it's hard with a kid in the mix of the story so it's probably very ooc. This still feels like the set-up and getting to know the characters in this situation, hopefully I can work in some cases later on.

Takes place in season one.

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS:LA.

It was early on Saturday morning when he woke up. There wasn't an alarm or sunlight hitting his face for him to be awake this early but when he turned he saw a set of blue eyes, and the cause of him waking up, staring back at him. She was holding her stuffed animal and looking at him.

"Hi Daddy." She said with a huge smile.

"Hi baby girl. You're up super early. How come you always wake up early on the weekends and sleep in on school days?" He tickled her.

"Daddy, stop." She giggled.

"Huh? Never wants to get up for school." He continued and they were both laughing.

"I don't know why but we're going to the beach today right?!"

"And there it is." He smiled. "Yes, we are but it'll be a couple hours before we go sweetheart. It's much too early now."

She nodded. "Okay."

"Maybe go to sleep for another hour or so."

"No, I'm awake."

He laughed internally. Oh the joys of life with children he thought and closed his eyes for a second. Jules wanted to go to the beach today and he had decided to invite Kensi. The week had ended peacefully with no new cases and conversations with Kensi over their lunch breaks. She was the only one who knew about Jules now and he was happy they had met. He knew he could trust her and she didn't seem too angry that he hadn't told her sooner. Besides Jules, Kensi was the person he spent most of his time with, certainly the only adult he spent most of his time with. They'd been partners for a little while and spent all day together. She was his best friend and it was nice to be completely honest with her. He could tell she wasn't as ready to talk about her personal life much but he would get there.

"I love the beach." Her voice brought him out of his thoughts.

"Me too, sweetheart."

"Is Kensi coming?"

"Mhm, she is." She stared at her stuffed animal and didn't say anything. "You okay Jules?" She nodded. "I can tell there's something." He prodded. "Does it have to do with Kensi?"

She looked at him. He always knew when something was up. "I don't know."

"Are you nervous to have her around because you don't know her well?"

"Yeah."

"That's how we get to know people though, right? We spend time to get to know them. She's super nice and a little shy around new people just like you." Kensi wasn't really shy but he knew she was nervous around children.

"How did you meet her again?" Jules asked.

"We work together."

"So she's a police person too?"

He smiled at the words she used. "Yeah, sort of."

"How long have you knowed her?"

"How long have I known her?" He repeated correcting the tense of her verb. "Uh about half a year maybe."

"Do you like her daddy?"

"Of course, she's my friend."

"Nooo! I mean 'like like' her?"

"Well she's kind, pretty and funny in her own way…" Even though he'd never admit that, he thought. What was he doing? This was his partner he was talking about and why was Jules questioning him like that. "Why? Do you 'like like' someone?"

"No!"

"No? What about Jake?" It was one of his friends' sons and he knew she liked spending time with him.

"He's my friend."

"And Kensi's my friend."

"Okay daddy." They looked at each other with a mutual understanding.

"Daddy, can you braid my hair?"

"You want it braided? I can try, you know Daddy isn't very good at this."

"It's okay. You do alright."

"So honest." He said more to himself than her as he started to braid her hair. He had watched a video online to learn how to do it after Jules had wanted the same hair-do as some of her classmates. He messed up a lot of the time, but her hair would resemble a braid eventually.

When he tied the hair tie at the end of her braid he turned her around to see how it looked. "It's a braid." He said pleased. "The beach awaits."

He brought his surfboard with him, on the off chance that he could take a few minutes to surf with Kensi there to watch Jules but he doubted it. He wasn't sure how comfortable Kensi felt around his daughter. They'd only met once and Jules was also a little nervous.

He took out his phone and saw that Kensi had texted him ten minutes ago saying she was just leaving her house so they found a spot and put their things down. He laid out the towels and emptied the bag of sand toys.

"Come here, munchkin. I gotta put on sunscreen."

"I don't like sunscreen." She didn't like the sticky feeling on her skin and she had to wait to start playing in the sand.

"I know you don't but we have to do it." She stood in front of him as he applied it.

"Why do we have to put it on?"

"Because otherwise you will burn. It protects us from the sun." He explained.

Kensi arrived and spotted them right away. Deeks was looking through bags and Jules was already busy playing in the sand building a sandcastle.

"Hey Kens." Jules turned around to look at them greeting each other.

"Hi guys."

"I'm so glad you could come."

"Me too. It's a beautiful day."

"It is. I thought we would hang here for a while and then go eat lunch."

"Sounds good."

They sat down on the towels and watched as Jules shoveled sand into a bucket.

"I'm so tired from yesterday." He said.

"Me too. I can't believe how long the day felt. Sometimes I need to take a break from the action but a week of paperwork is too much."

She stood up and pulled the sundress over her head, revealing the bikini she was wearing underneath. Deeks couldn't help but notice how stunning she really was. She was always beautiful but he loved seeing the muscles she'd gained from training for the job.

Trying not to stare, he moved his attention to Jules. She was in her own world creating a masterpiece with sand and then grabbed the sunscreen. He was applying it to his arms and then once Kensi was laying on her stomach to look out at the ocean, he turned to her again.

"I already put sunscreen on Jules…"

"You can't put sunscreen on me." Her statement cutting him off.

He chuckled. "It was worth a shot."

"I put it on at home." She gave him a smirk.

A silence fell between them as they took in the sun on their skins. The calm ocean breeze and the sound of waves crashing on the sand bringing so much peace after a long week. Kensi could see Deeks looking at the waves longingly. He was a surfer boy at heart, she laughed inside. She could imagine that it was hard to get in some surfing with a kid to take care of.

"You wanna surf don't you?" She'd seen the board lying behind them when she arrived. "Go, I'll stay with Jules."

"No, that's okay." He was quick to reply.

"Oh come on, it's not like you brought the board for nothing. Go!"

He laughed. "Thank you." He stood up right away and grabbed his board. "Jules, I'm going to catch a few waves." He let her know as he headed towards the ocean.

Kensi watched as he dove into the water with his board, paddling out there. She then turned her attention to Jules who was still busy playing in the sand. She didn't know if she should talk to her or let her be. She wasn't good with kids. "What are you building Jules?" She kicked herself mentally. That was a stupid question, it was obvious that she was building a sandcastle.

She turned to look at Kensi. "A castle and a village."

"That's cool. It's like a kingdom." No response came from Jules as she continued to work. The sand wasn't staying together well as she flipped the buckets onto the sand. The buildings were falling as the sand mixed in with the rest of the beach. "Maybe we can use some wet sand so it sticks together."

Kensi picked up one of the buckets and went down by the water. Jules watched her go and quickly grabbed another bucket to follow her. Filled up buckets of wet sand and water were brought back to their spot and together they silently built many sand-buildings. With lots of trips down to the water to get more wet sand, the village was coming along very nicely. Every so often Kensi could see Jules look over at her as she was busy to see if she was still working on the village but she didn't make a point to look at her when she did.

She wanted Jules to like her. Not just because she was her partner's daughter but because she felt she could relate to her. Her fondest memories were those with her father and seeing Deeks and Jules interact made her think of her own past.

They were now seated at a restaurant which was situated along the beach. She could imagine the sunsets would be beautiful with the view this restaurant had. Deeks and Jules were seated on one side of the booth and Kensi on the other.

"Have you been here before Kens?" Deeks' question brought her out of her thoughts.

"No, I haven't." She looked around.

"Well, it's one of Jules and my's favorites. Isn't it?" Jules nodded. "We always come here after a day at the beach."

"It's really cool." The restaurant was like a huge beach shack decorated with surfboards and tropical flowers. Things from the ocean. "I've always loved the beach."

"Me too. There's just so much peace, when it's not too busy."

She laughed. "I know what you mean."

"I used to bring Jules to the beach when she was a baby and being fussy. It would always calm her down."

"Really?" Jules asked.

"Yeah, we still come down to the beach when you're upset sometimes. It's just something about the ocean smell and the breeze with the sound of the waves crashing. It helps both of us."

Kensi knew exactly what he meant. She always came to the ocean when she was sad. It made her feel closer to her Dad and she could just think without getting disturbed. "Agreed."

"Daddy, can I have the cheeseburger?" Jules said softly as she pointed to the picture on the children's menu.

"Of course."

"I think I'll have that as well. I love cheeseburgers." Kensi said.

Jules smiled and looked at her dad, then moved closer to whisper something in his ear. Kensi was curious what was being said but by the look on Deeks' face, it was positive.

"Jules has an excellent point, you haven't tasted the best cheeseburger in the universe yet."

"How would you know?" She baited with a smirk.

"Because you've never been to one of our 'Friday Night Burger Parties'. We've been told they're the best homemade cheeseburgers to ever exist."

"They're amazing!" Jules said making Kensi smile.

"By whom? And who is invited to these parties?" She decided to keep up the gig.

"Important people, it's very exclusive."

"Mhm, such as…"

"Mr. Snuggles, Bailey the bear and baby doll..."

"And Barbie oh, oh, oh, and Simon the frog." Jules added enthusiastically.

Kensi tried to keep in her laugh as they told all about the stuffed animals and dolls that were part of their burger party. She could tell he was trying not to laugh as well because Jules was very serious and listening intently to his telling of the story.

"You have to come sometime." He said with all seriousness though.

"Yeah." Jules agreed.

She laughed. "I'd like that." Jules was getting more comfortable around her and slowly building up trust was something Kensi understood very well. It wasn't an easy task and she knew Jules was shy, but she hoped she would slowly be able to gain her trust eventually.

Thanks for reading!