Finding Out

15 weeks later ...

Kensi had spent the last 15 weeks after she had bought the house decorating and furnishing it. She had been in contact with Hetty regularly who offered to help but Kensi told her that it would be suspicious if she left too often and Kensi wanted her to come and meet her baby when she was born. Hetty was pleased Kensi wanted her to meet her baby and kept tabs on her, making sure she was safe and well. Allie was a constant presence for Kensi, helping her with anything she needed. It didn't take her long to get most of the house done as it was in quite a good condition anyway but there was one room that hadn't been decorated, her baby's room. Kensi had even installed a small art studio at the end of the yard where she could paint but she had yet to decorate the baby's room as she wanted to find out the gender first and today she was going to find that out.

Making her way into the doctor's surgery and sitting in the waiting room, Kensi marvelled at the amount of friends she had made as she greeted them. Sitting in one of the chairs was one of her best friends, Sophia Marcelles, a friendly woman the same age as Kensi and in exactly the same situation.

Sophia had moved into a house in the same street as Kensi not long after she had and they had bonded over being alone and being single expectant mothers. As it happened Sophia loved to write stories and so the two of them had decided to write and illustrate children's books together. They would try and get them published but if not then they would give them to their children to read. Sophia was at about the same point as Kensi in her pregnancy and they had decided to find out the genders of their babies together. Carrie called them into her room and began the ultrasound on Kensi first and then on Sophia. Both were expecting little girls.

Leaving the doctors they made their way to the small hardware store to buy decorations for their babies' rooms. With their baby bumps now showing everyone wanted to make sure they were alright and carry their baskets and bags for them. Picking out the paint and the furniture for the rooms they went to the tills and paid. The owner insisted on delivering the goods for them the same day so the girls went off to buy some clothes and toys.

With all their purchases, Kensi and Sophia drove home where they found a truck with the furnishings in waiting for them and workers to help put the furniture together. Silently agreeing to buy the owner of the store a gift for all his help, Sophia and Kensi director the workers around and in little time they had the rooms finished. Both rooms were a soft shade of pink with a wooden chest of draws painted white and a small crib in along with other furnishings. Both Kensi and Sophia had bought their daughter's a small teddy bear which they laid in the crib.

Hearing the doorbell Kensi descended the stairs slowly to find Allie standing on her doorstep with two buggy's in her hands.

"I had to get you and Sophia a little present and I heard you were both having little girls. Congratulations!" Allie said as Sophia joined them on Kensi's doorstep.

"That is so kind of you Al", Kensi said.

"Yeah, thank you so much for all you have done", Sophia added.

"Oh it's nothing. I wish I could stay and chat but I have to get back to work and I know you two are going to be writing those books of yours."

Waving Allie set off back to her car as Kensi and Sophia put the prams away and made their way to Kensi's studio in the garden. Sophia settled herself down in one of the chairs and began to write as Kensi sat down next to her and started working on the final illustration for the second book in the series. When she had finished she left Sophia writing and pulled out a canvas she had been working on from a photo she took from her balcony. Mixing the paints up to make the right colour, Kensi continued painting until she pleased with the final image. Hearing Sophia approaching her, she turned and asked "What do you think?"

Sophia was amazed. She knew Kensi was a brilliant artist, she could see that from the book's illustrations but this was amazing. Before her was a large canvas on which Kensi had painted the picturesque view they both had of the beach in the middle of the day when the sun was bright in the sky and there were people enjoying it. There were boats and swimmers in the sea and it captured the view perfectly. "Wow Kenz, this is amazing. You are so good at painting."

"Thanks Soph. I was thinking about doing a series of paintings of the beach at different times of the day and this was the first."

"That's a great idea."

At that point Kensi's stomach grumbled loudly and they both laughed. I guess baby is hungry then. Do you want some lunch?" Kensi asked.

"Sure", Sophia replied and they went inside for lunch.

After lunch, Kensi and Sophia went to the hardware store again and gave the owner Max a bottle of wine and some chocolates to say thank you.

15 weeks later ...

Both Kensi and Sophia were now heavily pregnant and spent most of their time writing or drawing and painting. Kensi had finished her series of three beach painting and had started painting other views in the town such as the parks or just a singular surfer or boat on the waves. Sophia had finished writing three series of children's books with Kensi's illustrations each with ten or more books in a series and had got half way through writing a novel for adults. Both were tired and just wanted their babies to come.

Back in L.A. ...

Callen, Sam and Eric had continued to look under all Kensi's known aliases but hadn't found anything. Hetty kept Nate informed on Kensi's wellbeing every time she got a call from her. They all missed Kensi and the boys wondered if they would ever see their friend again. Martin Deeks or Marty as he preferred to be known had been a square peg in a round hole to start with but he got passed the comments and the times when he was ignored when he heard the story. He got on with the team much better when he knew what topics to avoid but he was still slightly isolated not having known Kensi. Callen and Sam at first had tried everything they could to get rid of the new agent, not wanting Kensi or Dom being replaced but he was persistent and ignored their barbs and cold shoulders and grudgingly they had to accept his presence on the team. They drew the line at having another agent on the team claiming the spot left was for Kensi when she returned and the others had to respect this, especially as they didn't want to push Callen or Sam too far on this one. Both could be very scary when they got angry