Chapter Five: "Under the Starry Skies Above"
A goofy Thanksgiving weekend drabble.

Disclaimer: Still not mine.

"Oh! Give me land, lots of land
Under the starry skies above,
Don't fence me in." - Robert Fletcher and Cole Porter

.

Kensi stuffed a dumpling in her mouth. "Why don't you want to go camping?"

"Why would I want to go camping?"

She rolled her eyes. "Besides the fact that it's fun? I love to camp."

Deeks took a pull on his beer. "So of course you just assume I do. City mouse, remember?"

"Mickey Mouse is more like it," she said, laughing at her own non-joke.

She really was adorable, Deeks thought. "Well, Minnie, how about you, me and the Bellagio? There's gambling, spa treatments, a daybed at the pool, Cirque du Soleil, world-class dining."

"I am so over Vegas."

"You've never been to Vegas."

"Have you ever been camping? You might like it," she made her case. "You should be open to new things."

"OK, you're so over Vegas - a place you've never been - where we could be staying at a Five Diamond, world class casino, hotel, spa, whatever but I'm not giving a sleeping on the ground in a garbage bag surrounded by a piece of burlap with a stick holding it up a fair shake."

"First, a good tent is made of polyester mesh…"

"Compared to 600-thread Egyptian cotton sheets on a king size bed."

"Cooking under the stars…."

"Or the pan-roasted Dover Sole at Prime."

"The great outdoors…."

"The great indoors….Oh my God, we've become the Green Acres theme song. Which makes me Eva. Or Zsa Zsa. I could never tell those Gabor sisters apart," he said, shaking his head sadly. "And why am I talking about a comedy to a woman who probably grew up watching Daniel Boone and Davey Crockett reruns after school?"

"MacGyver and The Bionic Woman, actually. How old are you?"

"Channel 11 reruns were a staple for this latchkey kid."

"Which is why you should enjoy nature."

"I do. It's called the beach. And surfing. Hey, we could go to Hawaii."

"I spent Christmas there two years ago."

"Three, we were on the Van Buren in two years ago."

"That's right," she nodded. They weren't talking about last Christmas. "Maybe we shouldn't plan anything. You lost your deposit on the cabin in Tahoe that year."

"If we don't plan anything then we'll sit and watch Netflix. I'll wind up getting called in by LAPD; you'll move piles of stuff from one side of your apartment to another to mark the passing of another year."

"Hey!" she objected.

"Crystal Cove has cottages if we have to camp," Deeks offered as a compromise. "I can surf, you can hike and do other earthy things."

"Earthy?"

"Bucolic, folksy, rustic, I should probably stop talking."

"You're incapable of not talking."

"Oh, if only I had something to keep my mouth busy."

"Dumpling?" she asked, spearing the last one out of the take out carton.

"I was thinking more…" He leaned in and kissed her, biting the dumping as he pulled away.

"I could probably come up with a way to keep your mouth busy for a while but we need to figure out where we're going on vacation."

He didn't have the courage to tell her he already booked a cottage at Crystal Cove. Make up for last Christmas. "We'll figure something out, we always do. Now about keeping me quiet," he said as he took the empty dumpling carton from her and put it on his coffee table.

"Oh Deeks," she said as she climb on his lap. "I'd much rather make you scream."

-30-

Am so far behind on my reading. Looking forward to a quieter December and the chance to catch up.