Thank you so much for the reviews, favorites and follows! Sorry I left you all waiting and with a cliffhanger at that! Whoops! Here's a new chapter!
Takes place in season two.
Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS:LA.
A ringing doorbell pulled her out of her thoughts. "That was fast." Nell said as the pizza had just been ordered.
"Can you get that?" Kensi asked, still busy getting their drinks.
"Sure." She walked to the door and opened it. Who was on the other side of the door surprised her but not as much as the person standing there before her.
"Hi."
"Hi Nell." He looked like a deer in headlights.
Kensi came to the door surprised. "Deeks?"
Not really knowing what to say, he just gave the reason he came over in the first place. "She was crying and wanted to see you." They all looked at Jules sleeping with her head on his shoulder. "Fell asleep on the way here."
"Come in." She stepped out of the way to let them walk through the door. "Is she okay?"
"Yeah, I just figured, if it calmed her down, I could give coming here a try. Then she fell asleep but I was already almost on your street. So here I am."
Nell was left standing by the door totally confused. She looked at Kensi laying her hand on the sleeping girl's back and then soothingly smoothing her hair as they talked. The little girl came with Deeks so she must be his daughter but she saw her with Kensi at the market. They didn't live in the same house so they must have joint custody because she'd been crying for her mother, she thought. But they were partners and she knew Deeks hadn't been at NCIS much longer than her, maybe that's why they became partners. All this happening in front of her wasn't how she'd ever seen either of her colleagues so she finally said the only thing her brain could piece together. "You guys have a kid together!?"
Both Kensi and Deeks turned back towards Nell quickly. "No!" They said in unison.
"Daddy?" Jules said, reacting to the noise of their hasty "no's", with her eyes not quite open.
"I'm here." He said softly then spoke to Nell. "She's my daughter."
"Wow I didn't know. It wasn't in your file."
"You've read our files?" Kensi asked.
"Well Hetty gave them to me so I… I looked at them."
"Now you know." Deeks looked at Kensi. "I'm sorry I interrupted your girl's evening."
"No not at all." They both said.
"We were just getting to know each other, being as we are the only females on the team besides Hetty." Kensi said. "We actually thought you'd be the pizza."
"Sorry to disappoint." He chuckled. "I should go."
"No, you should stay. Did you eat? We have plenty of pizza coming." Kensi insisted.
He looked over towards Nell to make sure it was okay and she smiled. "Uhm, alright."
"Do you want to lay her down?"
"Yeah." He went to Kensi's bedroom and laid Jules down on the bed.
"How's Beale been?" Deeks asked as they all ate pizza.
"I think he's frustrated with me."
"Ah McBeal-y Pants will be fine, I'll talk to him."
"But I don't want him to know that I think that he thinks that of me." She rambled.
The two partners looked at eachother. "I think you will be just fine. Eric just needs to adjust."
"So I've been told." She smiled.
Kensi lifted her beer. "Cheers!"
"To team bonding."
"Welcome to the team Nell." They all clinked their glasses.
Their commotion must have woken Jules up because moments later they saw that she was standing in the doorway looking at them.
"You want some pizza sweetheart?" She nodded her head slightly. "Come over baby girl, I want you to meet someone."
Nell waved at her. "Hi, I'm Nell. I work with your dad and Kensi."
A shy smile graced her lips but she didn't respond.
"This is Juliana." Deeks said.
"It's nice to meet you." Nell said.
"We're very tired today." He didn't push Jules to talk tonight because of the mini meltdown she'd had before.
"Me too, it's been an exhausting few days." Nell sympathized.
Kensi quietly observed them. Nell had a certain ease with children she just didn't have. Somehow though, she and Jules had built up a relationship that she was very happy with.
"You want some juice?" Kensi asked softly as Deeks and Nell continued to converse.
"Yes, please." She said softly, politely as ever.
Nell watched as the little girl followed Kensi to the kitchen until they were out of sight. She and Kensi were obviously close. She'd seen them at the market and Juliana had been very talkative with her plus the fact that she wanted to see her tonight.
Deeks took this moment of silence to speak to Nell. "Kensi's the only other person on the team who knows and I'd like to keep it that way."
"Of course." She understood.
"It's not easy but she's my world."
"Yeah, I can see why. My sister just had a little girl. Babies are so sweet." She smiled.
"They are, except when they won't stop crying." They both laughed.
The next day they all stood in the middle of the ops center getting briefed on a new case.
"Marine John Parker didn't show up for work this morning. Nobody can reach him and the neighbors reported seeing some strange behavior around 7:30 this morning. They're asking us to look into it."
"We'll check in with his work. You two check the house." Callen said.
"Got it."
"Another day, another case!" Deeks said enthusiastically getting out of the car. They were parked on a street near the beach in front of some townhouses as they looked for the right place.
"You seem way too excited about that."
"Any day I get to see the ocean and call it working, is a good day." He looked out at a group of girls sunbathing in bikinis. "A very good day."
Kensi glared at his smug smile. "You're gross."
"I'm charming."
"Oh please, you couldn't pick up any of those women."
"I bet I could've picked you up at that age."
"You saying I'm old?"
"No, no…" Trying to dig himself out of the hole he created. "I'm just saying you wouldn't be able to resist my charm."
"Pff, as if."
"You know we can hear you right?" Nell's voice pierced through their ears.
"We do now." Kensi said with light frustration realizing the comms were on.
They entered the house with weapons drawn as a precaution but it was clear that there was nobody, in the main room at least.
"Dolls. He has a kid." Kensi said matter of factly.
"I'm checking right now." Nell said.
"There was definitely a struggle." Deeks looked at the shattered glass from the kitchen.
"John was married but got divorced, they have one child together. I'm going to contact the mother."
"I hope the kid was with the mother." Kensi said coming to stand next to Deeks to look at the damage.
"We need to move upstairs." They lifted their weapons again and moved to the next level.
Going through the rooms, they didn't see anything strange. "Clear."
"Clear."
"No indication of a struggle upstairs."
"Did you hear that?" Deeks paused.
"Wha…"
"Shh." He silenced her.
There was another thud. "The closet."
They moved into position to open the door. Deeks put his hand on the knob and Kensi raised her weapon. He counted down with his fingers and then swung it open. What they saw was not what they were expecting.
A young girl was tucked in the corner staring at them in shock. Deeks quickly moved in front of Kensi so she could put her weapon away.
He crouched down. "Hey there, my name is Marty and I'm with the police. See, here's my badge." The little girl looked at it with wide eyes. "This is my partner Kensi. She's very nice." He pointed to her. "Can you tell me your name?"
She looked him in the eye and then moved her eyes towards Kensi, after a beat of silence she softly spoke. "Cami."
"Cami?" She nodded. "It's so nice to meet you Cami. Can we take you somewhere safe?" She didn't make a move to come out from the corner so he sat down on the floor. "It's a cool place, like a house on the water. Have you seen the show Bubbles?" She nodded. "Just like that. My daughter loves it."
"Is that true?" Eric asked and Nell just shrugged, not knowing how to .
The little girl just kept staring at him. "How old are you, Cami?"
"Five."
"My little girl is a year older than you. Her name is Jules."
"Her mother has been contacted and is already on the way to the boatshed to come get her." Nell said.
"Hey Cami, your mom's coming to get you but she's going to that cool place I told you about. Will you come with us so we can wait for her?"
Cami seemed to think about it for a moment and then slowly stood up and made her way closer to them.
The door of the boatshed opened and a woman walked in accompanied by an agent.
"Mama." The little girl ran towards her mother, open arms welcoming her in a hug.
"You're okay?"
"Yeah." The mother hugged her tightly and then looked at her face as if inspecting if she was truly okay.
After the mother-daughter reunion, Deeks and Kensi approached them and introduced themselves. "Hi, I'm Detective Marty Deeks and this is my partner Special Agent Kensi Blye."
"Jessica." She said shortly on the verge of tears.
"We'd like to ask Cami some questions if that's okay?"
The mother reluctantly agreed and they moved over to the couch.
"Cami, how come you were hiding in the closet when we found you?"
She looked at her mother to see if it was okay to answer. "It's alright Cam, you tell them what happened."
"Daddy told me to."
"Did he tell you why?" She shook her head no. "Did he help you hide there or did he just tell you to?"
"He told me to and I had to run upstairs. He seemed scared."
"Did he say anything else? Like when you could come out?"
"He said he would come, but he never did." Her mother tugged her closer to reassure her.
"Where is he?" She asked softly.
"That's what we're trying to figure out."
"Did you hear anything?"
"I don't think so." She seemed a little frustrated.
"That's okay. You're helping us so much Cami." He smiled. "Were you hiding for a long time?"
"I think so."
"What were you doing when your dad told you to hide?"
"We were gonna make pancakes."
"That sounds like fun."
"Yeah, it's my favorite."
"Mine too." He smiled.
After a few more questions, they got all the information Cami could give them.
"When can I take her home?" Jessica asked.
"We think it's best if you stay here until we figure out what's going on."
"I'm never letting her stay with him again."
"Ma'am we don't know what happened, and if this had anything to do with your ex-husband personally."
"Speaking from experience, don't keep her away from her father, you'll only regret it later on." Kensi added.
They stepped aside so they could speak in private. "He wouldn't have agreed to take her home if he was expecting this."
Kensi sighed. "He's a good father." At that moment her phone rang. "Sam and Callen found him, they need back up."
Deeks could see John from the small window. He was tied to a chair with one guy with a gun guarding him. His face was beaten but he was alive.
"Two more by the entrance." Sam said peeking around the corner.
"Everyone ready?" Callen asked.
"Ready." Kensi adjusted her weapon.
They breached the building and took down the first two quietly, not to alert the others who were with John.
Seeing more men standing on the other side of the warehouse, Callen signaled for them to move towards John's direction as they went to the other.
Seeing the agents, his face obviously looked relieved. There was just one person standing in the way. Kensi threw a soda can that was laying around in one direction and Deeks came from the other. He put his arm around the bad guy's throat to take him down without making too much noise. They didn't know if everyone had been accounted for yet with Callen and Sam.
Once cuffed, Kensi approached John. "How are you?"
"Where's Cami?" He asked frantically.
"She's okay, she's safe. She's with her mom." Kensi worked to undo the ties holding him. "How are you?" She asked again.
"I'm fine, I just want to see her."
"You'll see her soon. You're okay."
"Clear." They heard both Sam and Callen say.
"We're coming out." They helped John walk towards the exit just as more agents were arriving on the scene."
"Do you know what they wanted?" Sam asked him.
"Sensitive information, but I didn't give it up."
"We're glad you're okay."
After discovering who was behind the kidnapping and who wanted the sensitive intel, they brought John to the boatshed to reunite with his daughter.
"Daddy!" Cami ran to her father and was engulfed in a hug.
"Cami, I love you so much." He kissed her head several times, clearly emotional.
"You're hurt." She looked at his bruised face.
"I'm okay. Really okay now."
Jessica stood to the side watching their embrace. When John looked up and saw her, he stood. She quickly moved forward and hugged him. "I'm glad you're okay."
"Yeah, me too."
Kensi and Deeks decided to leave and give them some privacy. It was a successful day and the good guys won.
"The family has been reunited. They'll have some things to discuss." Deeks told Eric and Nell as they entered the bullpen.
"At least her dad's safe." Kensi added.
"Great work today guys." Nell told them.
"Thanks, we couldn't have done it without you."
"Making up the story about a daughter was a nice touch Deeks." Eric smiled.
"Yeah… about that." Deeks started. "That was true." He admitted.
"What?! You have a kid?"
"I do." Deeks chuckled softly at Eric's response.
Eric stood in shock as his teammate told him the news. He looked at Nell to see if she had the same reaction but all he saw was a smile. "Wait you knew?"
"Since yesterday." She shrugged.
"I can't believe it." He shook his head. "And you knew." It was more of a sentence then question reassuring what they'd just said.
"She happens to be staying at a friend's for dinner so do you guys want to grab something to eat?" Deeks asked.
"Sounds good."
"Finally, we finish a case at a decent time." They packed up their bags and walked down the hall.
Thanks for reading!