Thank you for the nice reviews! Somehow these chapter always seem to get posted midweek because I can't seem to finish it before the end of the weekend sorry!
It's Christmas time (at the end of summer)! At least in this chapter it is hahaha! I'm also introducing Deeks' mom a little earlier than on the show because I feel like she would have been in the picture more to help with Jules than we saw on tv. So this chapter will mention scenes from the episode Disorder (2x11).
Takes place in season two.
Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS:LA.
For the past few weeks Kensi had been very quiet and distant. He had tried to talk to her, invite her over and make sure she was okay but he was afraid he'd scared her off. She had been spending a lot of time with him and Jules and they were getting along so well but maybe she'd realized how close she was getting to them and freaked out. Like the rest of the women in his life, she was backing away.
She looked so disappointed in herself, he thought. She had failed in helping her fiancé years ago and now she had tried with Talbot but he was just pretending. They were at the end of the pier, wrapping up the case and talking. Sam and Callen reassured her that she had done well and couldn't have seen it coming, then turned and left.
"So you still going to Seattle tonight?" He asked tentatively.
"No Deeks, I'm not going to Seattle."
"Wanna join me?"
"I thought you had a date." Deeks had said he had a date but she knew full well that it was with Jules.
"I do but we'd love for you to join."
"Are you sure Deeks? I wouldn't want to intrude on your dinner date."
"Trust me, you won't. She'd love for you to come."
They made their way to Kensi's car and she let him drive without argument. She was exhausted and all her muscles hurt.
He drove to his house to pick up Jules and when Kensi saw Jules in a fancy Christmas dress, she wondered what to do. "Should I go home to change?" She wasn't sure if it was going to be fancy dinner.
"No, you're good. I'm not changing either. Jules just likes to dress up."
"Hi sweetheart." He greeted as she came over and Alice said her goodbyes.
"Hi Jules." Kensi said and she timidly waved back.
"Ready to go Jules?" Deeks asked.
"Yeah."
Once they got in the car and he started driving, she wanted to know what was happening.
"Where are we going?" Kensi asked.
"Tell her where we're going Jules?" Deeks handed the question off to her.
"We're going to help give food at the homeless… what is it called again daddy?"
"Shelter, the homeless shelter."
She was surprised that that was their date. "Cool."
When they arrived, Angela got them santa hats and put them right to work. They served food and made small talk with some of the people and as she watched him interact with some of them, she was amazed. He could make everyone smile, saying exactly what they needed to hear. Just when she thought she knew everything about him, he turned out to be even nicer. He liked helping people in all aspects and she admired that very much.
Once the majority of people had gotten food, Deeks served up a plate for Jules.
"He's never brought any other women here, except Jules of course, you must be very special to him." Angela told her as she watched Deeks helping Jules find a seat. Kensi smiled to her, Deeks was very special to her too.
"How long has he been coming here?" She wondered because the people seem to know them.
"Since he was a teenager, with his mom. Sometimes he misses a Christmas but he usually makes it up in January then."
"That's amazing."
"How long have you been together?"
"We're not together like that but I've known him almost a year."
"Well, he doesn't bring just anyone here and we're grateful you could join us."
She was grateful Deeks had invited her too. Without him she'd be sitting at home in a dark apartment, drinking till the pain disappeared and she didn't mean the head injury. Instead she was spending time with him and his beautiful daughter, helping the homeless get a nice Christmas dinner. She felt loved, in a friendship kind of way of course, she thought. She wasn't alone for the first time in a long time on Christmas eve.
Once they got home, Jules put her jammies on, decorated some cookies and put them out with milk for Santa. Deeks read her a Christmas story on the couch and then she went to bed. Kensi waited for him to come back from Jules' room so she could say goodbye and head home.
"Thank you for including me tonight. I had a great time."
"I'm glad. I wouldn't have liked for you to be alone tonight, especially with the head injury."
"I'm fine Deeks."
"You have a concussion, you should stay here tonight so I can make sure you're okay. You can take the bed and I'll take the couch. Then I'll wake you every few hours just to see that the concussion hasn't affected you too much."
"I don't know."
"Pretty please." Deeks begged with sad puppy eyes. "I happen to have beer and ice cream, your favorite ice cream, Jules told me."
She smiled. "Okay."
"Really?
"Yeah."
"Okay, great. I thought I had scared you off. You've been a little distant lately." He said quickly without realizing.
She looked shocked. "Oh, no, that's not it at all." She hesitated about telling more but decided she could trust him with it. "December is just a hard month for me."
"Oh good, I mean that I didn't scare you off, not that it's a hard month." He clarified making her smile.
"It's not just Jack… but my father died when I was fifteen. It was four days before Christmas so the holiday has never really been the same since… until I met Jack and we made new traditions. The holiday was joyful again but then he had to leave on Christmas morning."
"I'm so sorry that happened Kensi. It puts a real damper on holiday."
"Tell me about it."
"So did you cancel your ticket to Seattle or did you lose all the money?" He changed the subject.
She sighed. "I was never going anywhere Deeks. I don't have any family… It's just me." She said softly and looked sad.
"Well it's a good thing you're not alone then. In fact it's going to be so busy with Jules bouncing off the walls, opening all her presents that you're gonna wish you were home alone." She laughed. He always knew exactly what to say to cheer her up. "Let me get the beer and ice cream. Here take this blanket." He took the blanket off the back of the couch and wrapped her in it making her laugh again. When he came back, he handed her a beer. "You probably shouldn't be having alcohol but you can have one."
"Wow, thanks dad!" She said with emphasis because he was being overprotective.
"Just looking out for my partner." He laughed. "Here's your ice cream and I'll put on Miracle on 34th street."
She smiled for what felt like the hundredth time today. He had scoffed at the idea of beer, ice cream and a movie earlier this afternoon but was doing what she wanted now.
Over the course of the movie she had slowly sank further and further into the couch and at some point, turned to lie down on her side with her head resting on the side of the couch. She was exhausted and the headache wasn't helping. When the movie ended he turned to her again.
"I still have some presents to wrap." He stated.
"Oh I have a bag of presents in the trunk of my car for you guys."
"You didn't have to get us anything."
"Well, I did."
"It's a good thing you're still here then. I'll go get them and put them under the tree."
When he came back moments later, she was asleep. He'd let her rest before waking her up to check on her. He had a lot of things to do before he could go to bed.
"Hey Kens." He said softly as she started to stir. "You've been asleep a couple hours so I just wanted to check on you."
"I'm okay." She said groggily.
"Okay, good. I'm going to go to sleep now too. You can still take the bed if you want."
"I'm good here." She looked around. "Santa already came." She said when she saw the presents under the tree.
"He did." He chuckled. "Alright, see you in a couple of hours. Jules will be up bright and early."
"Night."
"Merry Christmas Kensi."
"Merry Christmas." She whispered back.
The sun was barely coming up when Jules opened her eyes. She walked across the hallway seeing parts of the tree and some presents underneath, then opened the door to her dad's room.
"Daddy?" She asked and he started to stir.
"Hi baby girl."
"It's Christmas!"
He laughed. "Is it?"
"Yes!" She said excitedly.
"Did you already see some presents?" She nodded. "You want to get up and go look." She nodded. "Okay, but let's be quiet, Kensi's probably still sleeping."
They made their way to the living room and once she say the tree her face lit up.
"There's so many presents!" She could barely keep her voice at a whisper because she was so excited. Kensi was still sleeping on the couch but didn't wake up.
"Look the cookies and milk are gone." Deeks pointed out.
"Santa had them." She said in awe as he crouched down next to her.
"Yes he did. Let me take a picture, stand next to it." She put on the biggest smile as he took the photo. "Speaking of milk, do you want some?" She nodded. "Daddy needs coffee."
They walked to the kitchen to get milk and start the coffeemaker. Jules was jumping up and down with pure joy waiting for her dad to finish.
"When can we open presents?"
"Once Kensi wakes up."
"When is she going to wake up?"
He looked at the clock and it was 6:16 AM. "If she's not up by six thirty, you can wake her up."
"How long is that?"
"Fourteen minutes."
Once Deeks' coffee was ready, he poured it into his cup and took a sip. "How long do we have to wait now daddy?"
He checked the clock again. "Thirteen minutes." He chuckled to himself. Waiting to open presents was just torture for little kids.
"That's so long."
"I know but we need to let her rest a little longer."
He looked out to the living room and saw Kensi stand up. It was only high enough for him to see so he couldn't wait to watch Jules' reaction. She stepped into the kitchen rubbing her eyes.
"Morning Kens." Deeks smiled as Jules turned around to see.
"Kensi! Did you see the presents?!" Jules practically shouted.
"I did." Kensi laughed. It had been a long time since she'd experienced a house filled with this much excitement and joy for the holidays.
"Can we open presents now?"
"Yes you may." She ran to the living room waiting for her dad and Kensi to walk out as well.
"Want some coffee?" Deeks offered.
"Yes please." She took it gratefully.
"How's the head?" He asked as he took a long sip of his coffee.
"Fine." She smirked. "You're taking your time on purpose to tease her aren't you?" She suspected.
"Am I?" He questioned back cheekily but before he could say more Jules' voice came from the other room.
"Daddy!"
"Coming!"
They made their way to the living room and Kensi sat down on the couch while Deeks joined Jules to sit on the floor in front of the tree. He handed her presents to open and then watched the joy on her face when she saw what she got.
She opened presents from Santa and from her father and then some from Kensi. Kensi had given her some art supplies since she'd seen that Jules was an artist.
"Thank you Kensi." Jules said sweetly and then quickly walked over to Deeks and whispered into his ear.
He stood up and searched for a gift for Kensi and joined her on the couch. "Jules come here. It's your present for Kensi, let's watch her open it." She came to stand next to them to watch.
Kensi took the lid off the box and moved the tissue paper to the side. "Oh wow Jules, this is beautiful!" Kensi took the small canvas out of the box. It was a painted flower in the same style as the butterfly from the art show. "Thank you so much Jules, I love it."
"You're welcome." She smiled and Kensi held out her arms for a hug. Jules wrapped her arms around Kensi as well and Deeks couldn't take his eyes off them. This had been one of the best Christmases he'd had and he knew exactly what the reason was. His partner was the new person at their little family event and he couldn't be happier.
The rest of the morning, they ate pancakes and opened more gifts. Jules was so happy with everything and kept herself entertained for a while.
"Sorry you didn't get very much Kens." Deeks said when he sat down on the couch next to her.
"No, it's perfect. I haven't gotten this much in years." She chuckled softly but he could see some sadness as well.
She turned as if she wanted to say something but said nothing so he pretended not to notice and turned to Jules. "Well we have to wait to open the rest when grandma gets here."
"Ah come on!" Jules said dramatically. There were quite a few gifts left under the tree but they always waited to open more when his mother was there.
"Deeks…" Kensi tried again.
"Yeah?"
"Thank you for everything. Today has been amazing and I'm so glad I could be a part of it."
"I'm glad you're here too."
She went to stand up. "I should probably get going, I don't want to invade the time with your family."
"No, you have to stay for dinner." He rushed to say. "It's an early dinner. You can go home after that, I know you're tired."
"Are you sure?"
"Of course."
"Yeah Kensi." Jules said. "There's still presents to open!" Kensi smiled knowing all the presents were for Jules. She had gotten more comfortable with her over the past two days. Talking more in front of and to her, showing her presents and thanking her for the things she'd given her without Deeks' prompting. It had been a really nice morning and she felt grateful to be included.
They cleaned up the wrapping paper and got changed. Jules put on a different fancy dress than the day before and Kensi got some clothes from the go-bag in her car. A while later the doorbell rang and Jules jumped up. The moment Deeks opened the door, the loudness turned up a notch.
"Grandma!" Jules shouted and ran into her arms.
"My little Jules!" Roberta wrapped her arms around her.
"Hi Momma." Deeks hugged her as he came over.
"Martin." She touched his cheek and then went in for the hug. "I've missed you guys."
"I want you to meet someone." Deeks said as he stepped closer to Kensi. "Mom, this is Kensi, my partner from work. Kensi, this is my mom, Roberta."
"It's a pleasure to finally meet you." Kensi said nervously as they shook hands.
"Do you cook?"
"No."
"Do you want to learn?"
"No." Kensi said quickly.
Roberta looked at Deeks and then spoke. "I like her."
"Yeah, me too."
"Well, let me start up the dinner and then I have some presents to hand out."
The food was cooking, the presents were opened and the youngest among them was basking in joy.
"Sorry I didn't have anything for you Kensi." Roberta apologized.
"No worries, I wasn't supposed to be here this long but Deeks insisted and forced me to stay." She said with feigned annoyance and then laughed.
"Oh please, more like begged me to let you stay."
"Hardly." She scoffed.
"Really? You were asleep before I could even say a word." He chuckled.
His mother laughed with them as well. She enjoyed the banter between the partners and was happy to see her son with a friend his age. "It's always good to have more company for the holidays." Roberta lovingly put her hand on Kensi's back and then stood up. She decided to check on the dinner. "Martin, I could use some help."
"Of course." He followed her into the kitchen.
"So tell me about her."
"Who?"
"What do you mean 'who'? Kensi!"
"What about her?"
"How long have you guys been together?"
"As partners…" He stated clearly. "Almost a year."
"Jules seems to like her."
"Yeah she does. They're really sweet together." They both looked out through the open window from the kitchen that had a view of the living room where Kensi was taking a toy out of the package for Jules and they were talking and laughing.
"You've never brought a girl home, ever."
"She's not my girlfriend if that's what you're getting at."
"I'm just saying. You've never invited anyone to anything before but you did invite her, she must be very special."
"She had a rough day yesterday and she has no family so I invited her over."
"What about her mother and father?"
"Her father passed away when she was young and… I don't know what happened to her mom, but she's never talked about her."
"I'm glad you did Martin. Nobody should be alone for the holidays."
"Yeah… and she is special." He admitted as he looked out to his partner and daughter getting along. "She's my best friend."
Roberta watched her son. Even if he wasn't willing to admit it, she knew he was falling madly in love with his partner.
Moments later, Kensi and Jules walked into the kitchen. "Jules wants to show you guys something."
The little girl happily demonstrated how one of her new toys flew across the kitchen.
"Wow baby! That's amazing!"
"Very cool Jules." Roberta said as she took a dish out of the oven. "I think it's dinner time!"
"Yay!"
Kensi stood there and watched as the little family moved around the kitchen with happiness. There was a time when she was this happy on Christmas Day with her mom and dad. The three of them together as a family, not broken and apart yet. The memories were bittersweet to think about but before she could dwell on them for too long, she got pulled out of her thoughts when Roberta started talking to her.
"Could you carry the bread rolls Kensi?"
"Yes of course, sorry." She walked over to the counter to pick up the bowl.
"You okay?" Deeks asked gently.
"Yeah, I'm good." She smiled genuinely. "Really good."
At dinner, she listened to Roberta tell stories of when Deeks was a little boy and by the look on Jules' face, she was enjoying it as well. The food was great and the company even better. This was definitely a Christmas worth remembering.
Thanks for reading!