Thank you all so much for the nice reviews! This chapter is based on the episode Personal and has some of scenes from it but most are written around those scenes. Also, Kensi's on the phone a lot hahaha!
Takes place in season two.
Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS:LA.
It had been a horrible morning. Everything was fine, one moment she was laughing with Callen and Sam and the next moment Hetty told her that Deeks had been shot. He was on his morning run and somebody shot him. He wasn't working a case, tracking down a suspect or breaching a building, no, he was running in his free time and still got shot. She was shocked, she couldn't lose another partner. Especially him.
She was standing by the hospital window holding Deeks' belongings when her phone rang with an unknown number.
"Hello?"
"Hello this is Beach View Elementary. Am I speaking to Kensi?"
"Yes." She didn't know why the school would be calling her at this time of day.
"I'm here with Juliana. It's a minimum day today and nobody has come to pick her up yet. We can't get a hold of Marty or anyone else on the contact list."
"Oh my gosh." She didn't know that Jules had to be picked up early. Deeks hadn't mentioned it and he couldn't have known that he would get shot today. "He's not available right now but I can be there in ten minutes."
"Alright, no problem."
"Thank you for calling." How had she not thought of this before? She had no parental instincts that's why. Deeks would have known what to do, he always did, but he couldn't right now which is how she found herself in this situation. She rushed to her car and drove to Jules' school as fast as she legally could.
When she got there Jules was sitting on some steps in front of the school next to her teacher who was talking to her. She had her huge bright pink backpack on her shoulders and her outfit was absolutely adorable. Kensi walked up to them. "I'm so sorry." Kensi apologized to the teacher.
The teacher stood up. "No worries." She knew Deeks had a crazy work schedule. "I'll see you tomorrow Juliana." She said to Jules and then walked away.
Kensi took a seat next to Jules. "I'm so sorry, I didn't know you had a minimum day today."
"Where's Daddy?"
She didn't know what words to use. "He was in a little accident this morning so he's at the hospital right now."
"Is he okay?" Her voice filled with worry.
"I think we should go visit him." Jules nodded and they walked to her car.
They parked in front of the hospital and got out. Kensi stood next to Jules, about to cross the street when she felt a small hand wrap around hers. She looked down at Jules but she just looked straight ahead. They then started walking into the hospital hand in hand and they didn't say anything on the elevator ride up. After a nurse told them his room number, the silence continued the whole way to where Deeks was but before they went in to see him, Kensi crouched down in front of Jules. "He's going to have some bandages on his chest and he's probably still sleeping but it's all to make him feel better okay?" Jules nodded and they entered the room. Deeks was indeed still sleeping so Kensi sat on the chair next to the bed and lifted Jules onto her lap.
"When is he going to wake up?" Jules turned her head and whispered.
"I don't know." She moved some of Jules' hair out of her face. "Soon hopefully."
"Is he hurt?"
"He's going to be in some pain but he's okay."
"I don't like seeing him like that."
"I don't either, but the doctor said he's doing better already."
They had been sitting next to Deeks, who was still not awake, for a while when Kensi's phone rang. When she saw that it was Callen, she knew she'd have to take this somewhere else. "I have to take this. I'll be back in a sec, just sit here okay?" She stepped out into the hall and talked to Callen. He gave her an update on the case and told her that she was now on protection detail because Deeks getting shot this morning wasn't a 'wrong place at the wrong time' situation but he was ambushed. He said that he and Sam would be coming over soon as well. "Okay, thanks Callen."
She now started to worry. If Deeks was targeted this morning then he would be in danger right now. What about Jules, was she in danger? She was now that she was here with Deeks. Callen and Sam were coming and they didn't know about Jules. Would Deeks want them to know? He didn't really have a choice because she had to protect him and Jules had nowhere else to go. She just hoped Deeks would wake up soon.
Her phone buzzed with an incoming call again, this time from Hetty. "Hello."
"Hello, Miss Blye. How's our detective?"
"Still asleep but he's going to be okay."
"Good. And how is our youngest Deeks?"
"She's worried but hanging in there."
"I have notified Mr. Deeks' mother and she said she would try to be on her way immediately."
"Uh, yeah. That's good, thank you for doing that." Kensi stuttered over the words as her mind was wrapping around the fact that she'd just forgotten another thing she should have thought of.
"Everything will be okay Miss Blye."
"Yeah, thank you Hetty."
Deeks groaned and started to open his eyes. "Daddy." Jules said softly.
"Hey, baby." He reached for her hand. "I'm so happy to see you."
"I'm happy to see you too, Daddy."
"We're glad you're awake." Kensi said.
"Does it hurt?" Jules asked worriedly.
"No, not right now. The doctors gave Daddy medicine, so I feel better." Deeks started coughing.
"Could you get your Dad a glass of water?" She said pointing to the plastic cups and sink that were on the other side of the room. Jules happily obliged and Kensi had a moment to talk to Deeks. "Have you felt like anyone has been following you this week?" Kensi spoke softly.
"No, why?..." He sighed as what she said sunk in. "It wasn't random was it?"
"No, they waited outside of your apartment. I'm on protection detail now."
"Do you want a straw Daddy?" Jules asked yelling across the room.
"Yes please." Deeks said nicely and then his voice turned angry. "What do they want?" He asked no one in particular. He had made lots of enemies with his job over the years but he had no idea who would do this.
"Sam and Callen are coming to the hospital. Do you want me to take Jules somewhere?"
He thought about it for a moment. "No, I'll just introduce them to her."
"Are you sure? I can take her downstairs."
"You would be leaving me and breaking protocol. I don't want you to get in trouble."
"I'll do it Deeks, I don't care."
"It's okay. Thanks though, Kens."
Jules walked back over to them slowly and it looked like she had filled the cup way too full. She handed it to Deeks very carefully. "Oh thank you so much sweetheart. This is just what I needed." He took a sip from the water, luckily with the straw it didn't spill.
"How was school today? I'm sorry I couldn't pick you up."
"That's okay. We only watched a movie and had a party."
"That's fun."
A knock sounded at the door. Kensi looked at Deeks and he nodded his head. "Come in." She called.
Callen entered and Sam followed. You could see the confusion on their faces when they saw a little girl now sitting on Kensi's lap again.
"Hey, how are you doing Deeks?" Callen asked, breaking the awkward silence.
"I'm doing alright. I uh… I want to introduce you guys to my daughter." He looked at Jules. "This is Juliana."
"Your daughter?" Sam was utterly confused.
"Yes…"
They were both taken aback. "Well it's nice to meet you Juliana. I'm Callen." It was Callen who recovered fastest again and shook Jules' hand.
Sam did the same. "My name's Sam." He smiled. He definitely was not expecting Deeks to have a kid. He never hinted at it whatsoever. Silence filled the room again.
"Are you hungry Jules?" Kensi asked her.
She nodded. "Yeah."
"Let's go down to the cafeteria and get something to eat." Jules hopped off of Kensi's lap.
"Kensi, can I have chocolate milk?"
"Sure." They left the room hand in hand.
Sam looked at Deeks and didn't waste anymore time. "We found footage of a car in front of your apartment and then they followed you when you started your jog." Sam started and Deeks moved a hand over his face. "You have to start changing your daily routines especially with you having a daughter." Sam added sternly. Deeks felt like he had failed as a father.
"That's a conversation for another time. Do you recognize these people?" Callen said flipping through the suspects' pictures on his phone.
"No, only from this morning." He was worried about what this meant for Jules' safety.
"Keep this with you." Callen handed him his gun and Deeks nodded silently.
"We're gonna have a talk when you get out of the hospital." Sam said seriously. He was not only talking about switching up his routines but also the fact that he hadn't told them about his daughter.
"Yep." Deeks was definitely not looking forward to that. Another talk with Sam was not a pleasant thought.
A while later Kensi and Jules entered the room again. Callen and Sam had waited because Kensi would have to be on protection detail again once they left.
"We brought you a muffin, Daddy." Juliana said looking at the food in her hands. She was holding two muffins in her hands and had a bottle of apple juice under her arm. When she finally looked up and realized that Callen and Sam were still there, she turned silent.
She walked over to her Dad and put the muffin on the little table by his bed. "Thank you sweetheart."
"We better get going. We'll keep you updated."
"Don't forget about the conversation we're going to have." Sam said, again mentioning that.
"Yeah." He said reluctantly.
"Call us if you need anything." Callen said.
"We will. Thank you." They left and Kensi turned to Deeks. "What was that about?"
"Changing my routines, I'm too easy to find." He was obviously angry and she wasn't sure if it was about something Sam had said or if it was anger towards himself for not realizing he was being followed.
Sam and Callen got back in the Challenger and took a moment to let what just happened sink in. "A kid? He has a kid." Sam was just beyond shocked.
"Yeah, it's crazy."
"How long has Kensi known, you think? Did you see how close they seemed?
"Oh I saw. It must be a while."
"Why wouldn't he tell us?"
"Just keeping it separate I guess. Just like you did."
Sam gave him a look. "Don't give me that, G."
"I'm just saying." Callen held up his hands in defeat as he laughed.
They had been talking about the case, or at least what they could in Jules' presence. She'd been preoccupied with some art supplies while they spoke but the moment her dad started to think out loud, she listened.
"Wait a minute. If I'm an easy target, that makes you guys impossible targets, right? I mean, I'm new to this, but you guys... You guys live your life with a strict regimen that includes heightened security awareness at all times. You said so yourself."
"I'm-I'm sorry. I'm not following." Kensi said.
"I'm a cop, right? And like it or not, I'm the weakest link here, so what if... What if I'm not the target? What if I'm the bait?"
"To lure the rest of us out." She called to warn Callen and Sam. As Kensi was about to leave, Jules saw her father still thinking.
"Wait a minute. I'm still thinking here." He said but she was already out of the room. "Kensi! Kensi. Kensi!"
He pulled his sheets away and unhooked something from his arm in one fast motion. "Stay here Jules, don't leave the room."
She nodded, somehow she knew not to ask questions. Left in the room with one of the machines making a beeping noise, she didn't know what to do.
The nurse entered the room, reacting to the noise. "Where's your father, sweetheart?" She asked sweetly but Jules could tell she was panicked.
"He ran out of the room and told me to stay here." She didn't know what was going on. First Kensi ran out and then her father.
"He's right, you stay right here and I'll go find him." Jules was left alone again with no clue as to what was happening today.
Once the nurses found him, they wheeled him back to the room so they could redo the stitches of the wounds that had reopened. Jules' eyes went wide and the blood now soaking the bandaids. Kensi walking into the room, picked her up as Deeks spoke.
"You're going to go get a snack with Kensi while they help me okay?"
She nodded her head softly against Kensi's shoulder as they left the room.
"Let's see if the vending machine has something we like." She came to stand in front of it and Jules lifted her head to look. "How about the chips? You like those."
"Yeah." They got some things and settled on a bench in the hallway.
Jules silently ate her chips as her legs were dangling from the seat.
"You okay, Jules? I know it's been a stressful day." She nodded but Kensi could tell she was on her last leg. She rubbed her eye for a moment but then Kensi saw the tears pooling in her eyes. "Oh come here." She wrapped her around the small girl's body and just held her.
Kensi understood. It had been an incredibly stressful day for herself, she can't even begin to imagine how a six year old would feel, especially Jules. She'd been forgotten at school, not forgotten but not picked up on time, seen her father all bandaged up, his painful hisses as he moved all day, met new people which is nerve wracking in itself and then left behind in the room alone as Deeks ran out. Overall, a very stressful day worrying about her Dad.
Then, her phone buzzed with a message. It was Roberta seeing how it was going.
"Your Grandma wants to call. Do you want to talk to her?"
Jules nodded so Kensi dialed the number and spoke to her for a moment.
"Hi Kensi, how is he?"
"Hi Mrs Deeks, he's doing alright, the nurses are in the room right now, so I can't go in there at the moment."
"How bad are the injuries?"
"I can't really go into that right now because Jules really wants to talk to you, but he's okay." She made it clear that they weren't going to discuss the details in the presence of Jules. It would have to be done at a later time.
She handed the phone to Jules and they talked for a long time. A nurse came up to Kensi to inform them that Deeks was all set and they could go back to his room.
"Let's go see your dad." They entered the room and put the phone on speaker.
"Hi Momma."
"Martin, I'm at the airport, they're trying to get me on the next flight but I'm on standby." She rushed.
"Don't panic, I'm okay. Just get here when you can."
"I need to be there."
"You will be. In the meantime, Jules and Kensi are keeping me company."
"Okay good."
"We're all good." He gave Jules a smile to reassure her.
"Yeah, oh they're calling me up. I love you, I'll see you soon."
"Love you too."
They'd been sitting there for hours as Deeks slept on and off. Jules had switched between sitting on Kensi's lap, playing games on Kensi's phone and drawing with the supplies she'd had in her backpack.
"I don't think he'd mind if you ate his jello cup."
"Really?"
"Yeah, just eat it." She encouraged.
"Okay, I love jello."
"Me too."
Kensi helped her take the lid off and Jules started eating right away.
"You want some?" Jules held up the spoon with jello on it.
"Yes please." She opened her mouth and Jules fed it to her on the spoon.
The little girl was definitely opening up to her more and getting comfortable around her.
"It's getting late, should we go to your house? I'll sleep on the couch?"
"I don't want to leave Daddy alone."
She looked at Deeks laying in the bed sleeping. "I know but I think you'd be more comfortable at home."
"I don't like that." Her small voice said.
"Okay, we'll stay here. Don't worry."
"Promise?" She said so softly that Kensi almost missed it.
"I promise."
"You wanna lay next to him?"
"No, I don't want to hurt him."
"I think he would love to have you next to him."
"Can I just stay here?" She said pointing to the chair she and Kensi were sitting on.
"Sure, sweetheart." She rocked them back and forth lightly. "You can fall sleep. It's okay."
"Need to say night night." Yawning as she spoke.
"He knows." She moved Jules' hair out of her face in a caring way. "He's tired just like you. You'll both be sleeping." Jules nodded finally giving in.
He watched as Kensi lovingly moved her hand up and down Jules' back. By the time he woke up again, Jules had turned so that her front was facing Kensi and her head could rest on Kensi's shoulder.
"You ate my jello?" He stated as he looked at the table.
"No, Jules did."
"You let her eat my jello?"
"It's been sitting there for hours. She was hungry."
"I like to let my jello breathe."
"Mmm. Big baby."
They joked but he then turned serious. "How's she doing?"
She looked down at Jules in her arms. "She's good, a little upset earlier but she'll be okay."
"She shouldn't have to go through this."
"It's scary to think that they know how to find any of us. I'm sorry it got you injured and put Jules in danger."
"Nobody knew why Kens, this isn't your fault. I'm glad you went to pick her up, I wouldn't want her to be with anyone else. You're the one who can keep her safe."
"But I didn't, they found me and you… and Jules."
"You're not to blame."
"Still feels like it."
"Kens, that's what our job entails. It's a scary thing."
"Yeah, super scary."
"Yeah I mean, they knew where I lived. How do I know that I'm not putting Jules in danger everyday?"
"You don't know, but that would be wherever you lived. Sam's right you just have to change up your routines."
"How do I do that with a kid? She needs structure, which she already doesn't have enough of."
"I don't know the answer to that but maybe Sam can help."
"He has a wife who's a stay at home Mom."
"Yeah…" She didn't know how to reassure him.
"I just can't help but think that it could have been so much worse." He looked at Jules' face, sound asleep, all worries gone as she slept. He couldn't imagine what would have happened if they had taken her or if he would have been killed.
"I know. Thank you for saving me today."
"That's what partners are for." He said. "You guys should go home. Sleep in a bed."
"I already tried. She doesn't want to leave you."
He yawned. "I'm exhausted."
"You need to try and get more sleep. Are you in pain right now?"
"No, just when I move."
"You should lay her next to me and go home."
"I'm okay Deeks. We're good." They were all okay. "I made a promise."
Thanks for reading!