A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who has loved on this fic so far. I love writing the full team so I just couldn't resist doing it for Thanksgiving. Plus an appearance from a very special friend. Enjoy!
"Ma! Mama!" Deeks bellowed from the bar dining room.
"Martin, how many times do I have to tell you not to yell for your mother?" Roberta stepped out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on a towel. "If you need me, come find me."
Deeks was not in the mood for a lecture. "What the hell is this?" He gestured at the long dining table running through the middle of the room.
"It's a table Martin. A table that I helped you set this morning."
"No, I mean this!" He thrust a butter dish at her with a frown on his face.
"Oh that. I ran out of butter for the potatoes so I used a little."
"A little?! Mama, you beheaded him!" Sure enough, the tiny, turkey-shaped butter was headless.
"Well he's just going to get eaten anyway. What's the big deal if he lost his noggin a little early?"
"I can't serve headless turkeys to our guests!"
"Well I hate to break this to you dear, but the turkey currently in the oven is also headless. I'm sure no one will mind." She patted his cheek and turned to go. "And if you'd like me to finish cooking said turkey, I'd suggest you refrain from any more criticism!"
Both his mother and Kensi had encouraged him to give up the idea of hosting a "teamsgiving" at the bar, citing that the kitchen was too small to cook for the number of people invited. He'd plowed ahead anyway, stating that he had a second kitchen upstairs. It didn't matter that Callen lived in the same room as that kitchen. He was sure their team leader wouldn't mind.
As it turned out Callen did mind, but after a lot of smooth talking and several promises for updates to other things in the apartment, he'd given in. Deeks had left him babysitting the stuffing and gravy while he'd gone downstairs to check on his mother, the butter-turkey murderer. Deeks glared down at the offending bird and then set it down on the table in disgust. His first problem had been allowing anybody else to help with this dinner. Clearly no one knew what they were doing.
His second problem was that Kensi wasn't there yet with the pies. He checked his watch and then pulled out his phone to text her just as she walked in the door. "Babe, where have you been? I thought you'd be here like an hour ago," Deeks said as she set several boxes on the side table.
"Sorry," she gave him a peck on the cheek. "The pies took longer to bake than I thought."
The word "bake" sent a trickle of fear down Deeks' spine. "Bake? What do you mean bake? I thought you were picking the pies up at the store."
"Well I was going to," she told him. "But then I thought, how hard could a pie be? It's just a crust with stuff in it."
"Oh no. No, no, no." Deeks put his hands on her cheeks, squishing them together. "Kensi. Kensalina. My darling wife. Tell me, tell me, that you did not bake these pies on your own."
She swatted him away and glared in annoyance. "Yes, Deeks, I baked the pies. And you're welcome."
"But Kens, you can't bake," Deeks said weakly. "Remember the Christmas cookie incident of 2018? And the brownie debacle of 2017? I can still smell the smoke when I open the cabinet over the stove."
Kensi huffed. "I just wanted to give it a try. See? Look. They're fine."
They did look okay, all three of them lined up inside the boxes she'd brought in. Deeks swallowed his panic and tried to move on. "Okay. Okay fine. It's fine. We have lots of ice cream anyway. That will cover up whatever these taste like."
Kensi's glare turned even stonier. "You know, for someone hosting a Thanksgiving dinner, you're not being very thankful."
"I just want things to be perfect!" Deeks said.
"Yeah, well, maybe you should think about the true meaning of the holiday." She headed for the stairs.
"Where are you going? You said you'd help me get the drinks ready!"
"I'm going to see if Callen needs any help!"
She opened the upstairs door without knocking and slammed it shut behind her.
Deeks was left to make his Thanksgiving cocktails on his own. He'd just barely finished with the last glass when the door to the bar opened and Nell and Eric came in. "Hey! Welcome!" Deeks rushed over and took the casserole dish from Nell. "Welcome to Teamsgiving!"
"We're glad to be here," Nell said. "That's sweet potato casserole. It should go in the oven until we're ready to eat."
"I'll take that." Roberta appeared and whisked the dish away into the kitchen. "I'll just see what I can move around in here to get it in!" she yelled pointedly at her son as she walked past.
"Can we help with anything?" Eric asked as Deeks handed them each a drink. "I'm an excellent dishwasher."
"No, just come on in, relax, enjoy yourselves. Sam should be by any minute and Callen's just upstairs—"
The door opened again and Sam came in, but he wasn't alone. "What's up Deeks?" he said with a grin. "I hope you don't mind, I brought a friend."
"Katherine. What a surprise," Deeks said, his mind mentally calculating exactly how many dinner rolls that left per person. "Come in. The more the merrier!"
He pressed drinks into their hands as Callen and Kensi came downstairs bearing the gravy and stuffing. "Well hello Katherine," Callen said with a gigantic smirk on his face. "Good to see you. Did we know you were coming?"
"Well I never say no to pie," she told him.
"You might say it this time," Deeks muttered, glancing at Kensi to make sure she hadn't heard.
The door opened a third time and Hetty strolled in, her eyes taking a critical look around the room. "Well, this is quite the establishment Mr. Deeks," she said. "I'm so glad I had the opportunity to come and see it for myself."
"Hetty! What can I get you?" Deeks asked. "Whiskey?"
"I prefer scotch please. Neat."
"Coming right up."
"Turkey's done!" Roberta shouted from the kitchen. A few seconds later she appeared, bearing a gigantic tray "Everybody get settled down while it's hot."
As they scraped their chairs back to get seated there was a knock on the door. Deeks looked around the room counting people and then at Kensi who shrugged. "We're all here, right?" Callen said, as the knock sounded again.
"Oh that's for me." Roberta fluffed her hair, and straightened her dress. "I invited a guest."
"A guest? Mama, you didn't tell me about this, we're not going to have enough rolls!" Deeks hissed as she walked by him and opened the door. "Well hello AK!" she crooned. "Come inside."
"I have brought best vodka for team Thanksgiving celebration," an extremely familiar voice boomed.
Every eye at the table widened. "No," Deeks whispered. "Oh god no."
"Hello friends!" Arkady Kolcheck himself stepped through the door, a broad smile on his face, the bottle of aforementioned vodka held high. "I am come to celebrate this beautiful American holiday with you!"
Callen turned a pointed look at Deeks. "Did you know about this?"
Deeks shook his head. He could feel tension creeping into his shoulders. "I did not. But I think I'll turn in my badge because I definitely should have anticipated it."
"Sit right here by me AK," Roberta said, ushering him to a chair.
"Oh no." He pulled out her chair with a dramatic flair. "It is always the ladies first my Robbie."
Kensi wrinkled her nose. "Did you know your mom and Arkady had nicknames for each other?"
"No, I did not and I wish I still did not," Deeks said, pouring himself a very large glass of wine.
"But I see one friend I do not know," Arkady said once he was settled. "Hello lovely lady. I am Arkady Kolcheck, best friend of G Callen—"
"No." Callen shook his head.
"—And good friend to rest of NCIS team," Arkady said. "And you are?"
"I'm Katherine," she said. "A friend of Sam's."
Arkady's eyes immediately began to sparkle. "Oh, a special lady friend. If you have any questions about my good friend Sam Hanna, I am happy to answer them. We have known each other many, many years now."
"I don't want to sit across from him all night," Sam said immediately.
"Well I'm not sitting across from him," Callen said.
"That's enough from the two of you," Hetty said from the head of the table. "We are all here to have a good time together. Mr. Deeks I think a toast is in order."
The senior agents settled back into their seats with a grumble. Deeks saw Eric and Nell exchange amused looks before both taking large sips from their glasses. "Ah, well thank you Hetty," Deeks said. "And thank you everyone for coming. It's uh, it's truly a gift to have you all here."
He glanced down at Kensi. She took his hand and squeezed it, all pie comments forgiven. He looked around the table, taking in every face he saw. The faces of his friends. The faces of his family, such as they were. Ten years ago he never would have imagined something like this. And today, he had it all. "I couldn't ask for a better group of people to share a table and a life with. I know I don't just speak for myself when I say, everyone in this room has earned their spot here, one way or another. And I'm grateful for every, single one of you." He cleared his throat. "So let's eat."
It turned out having two extra people around didn't damage the mood of the evening after all. The drinks flowed freely and so did the conversation. Katherine was actually a lot of fun and Eric and Nell were completely on board with Arkady dragging out the karaoke machine and breaking into "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" halfway through dinner.
"Okay, here you go," Kensi said, serving up pie as the evening grew late.
"This looks great Kensi," Callen said.
"I can smell all the cinnamon and spices," Eric said, taking a bite.
His face changed immediately and he began to chew very slowly. Callen also took a forkful, his eyes widening in obvious discomfort.
Kensi was oblivious to the sudden mood change around the table as one after another, everyone took a bite of pie. That was, until Arkady tucked into his piece. He choked and spat it into a napkin.
Kensi's jaw dropped. "Seriously Arkady?"
"I'm sorry Kensi, but that is horseshit," Arkady told her bluntly.
"Well it might not be top of the line but it can't be that bad." She plopped herself down next to Deeks and took a big forkful. Her eyebrows shot up and she looked at her husband. "I must have mixed up the salt and the sugar," she said guiltily.
He shook his head. Only Kensi. "Sorry?" she said, not looking particularly apologetic at all.
He kissed the top of her head. "It's all right."
"No it's not. I want dessert," Callen said.
"There's ice cream in the freezer. Help yourself," Deeks said.
"I'll get it!" Eric shot out of his chair. "I spent many days in my youth working at a Coldstone Creamery."
"I don't know what the hell any of that means, but I'll have vanilla," Sam said.
"Vanilla?" Katherine asked skeptically. "You're asking for the most boring flavor?"
"I will take a hot cup of tea instead Mr. Beale," Hetty requested.
"I'll help." Nell got up and started clearing plates as Roberta did the same.
Deeks settled back into his chair, Kensi rested her head on his shoulder and he put an arm around her. It might not have been a perfect Teamsgiving, but it turned out it was exactly the one he'd always wanted.
A/N: Arkady might be my favorite person to write ever. He just explodes onto the page and I laugh the whole time. I hope you enjoyed it. Happy Thanksgiving to all those celebrating!