A/N: We uh...Kind of forgot about the social worker, so here he is.
Jeffry McDowell sat across from Kensi and Deeks, flipping through one of the many folders that he had brought with him. The social worker had shown up shortly after the family had finished with breakfast and after having gone through each room with a fine toothed comb and checking on the children's wellbeing, he had directed the new couple to take a seat on the couch.
"The children are in good health and seem to be happy here." Jeffry stated and glanced up from his folder. "I do want to see you get them to a doctor soon though for their checkups, but other than that you seem to be doing very well by them. I have however noticed that William seems a bit put off by something."
"He's still having a hard time coping with his parent's deaths." Deeks stated. "He will seem perfectly fine for days and then suddenly something seems to remind him of his parents and he'll break down a bit."
Jeffry nodded and consulted his folder again before he jotted something down.
"Have you looked into a therapist for him?" He asked and leaned back in his seat.
"We have a friend that is a therapist." Kensi nodded. "We are going to try and contact him and see if he can talk with Will."
"Good, I think he would benefit from some minor therapy. I feel that with time he will be just fine, it just takes a while to get over a death of someone that you loved so much and had your whole life." Jeffry claimed.
"I lost my father when I was fifteen." Kensi announced. "I know it can be really hard."
"Yes, plus he is still just a child. He might not fully understand everything that happened." Jeffry said and pulled a folder closer to him. "Now I do need to update my information so I'm going to have to ask you a few questions."
"Okay." Deeks said and saw Kensi nod.
"When I was first here, it was just Kensi and the children so I need to know if Mr. Deeks is now living here." The social worker started.
"I am." Deeks nodded.
"Okay, and what is the status of your relationship as of today?"
"We're dating." Kensi said and almost cringed when the social worker raised an eyebrow.
"Has the change in your relationship impacted the children in any way?"
Kensi and Deeks shared a slightly confused look before Deeks answered.
"They don't seem impacted at all."
"Some children seem to be impacted when the adults in their life change their relationship." Jeffry stated. "But I'm glad to hear that they haven't reacted badly to the change. Now are there any questions that you have for me?"
"Actually yes." Deeks said and glanced at Kensi and squeezed her hand gently. "We want to look into adopting the children."
Jeffry leaned back again and rubbed a hand across his face and sighed.
"That isn't going to be as easy as you might think." He started. "First you are going to have to contact a family court and get appointed a judge. However, I can tell you right now that the chances of you being allowed to adopt the children together are not very high."
"Why not?" Kensi asked a bit sharply.
"The main reason is because of conflict of interest. A judge is not likely to appoint two friends as the legal parents of one child, not to mention three. This is because of the fact that if you were to break up and move apart, then you would then have to go back to family court to arrange custody rights. You would find it much easier to adopt the children if you were married." Jeffry explained.
"So to adopt them we'd have to get married?" Deeks slowly stated.
"If not, then it would more than likely end up being just Kensi who could adopt the children easily since she is their guardian. Kensi can continue to just be their guardian, but if a biological family member shows up one day and wants the children, then they would more than likely be put in that person's care."
"Even though we've been taking care of them?" Kensi asked.
"Yes." Jeffry nodded. "Now I wouldn't suggest rushing into anything, but if this is something you want to look into then I can go about helping you to find a judge and a family court."
"We'd have to really think about it." Kensi said a bit faintly.
"Of course." The social worker nodded. "I think I've covered everything that I need to for now. I'll stop in again at some point to check in with you all. If you have any questions or concerns then you can always call me."
Kensi and Deeks both nodded but didn't say anything as they walked the social worker out and then sank back down on the couch where they sat in silence for several minutes, just listening to the kids as they played in their rooms.
"I'm uh…I'm going to go call Hetty and see if she can give us a number to contact Nate." Kensi said and quickly got up and left the room.
Deeks just continued to sit where he was, his mind racing and going over everything. He had thought that adopting the children with Kensi wouldn't entail too much and would be fairly easy, but marriage had never really been on his mind before.
He had never really thought about living the married with children life style, and though he was now essentially the father of three children, marriage was a concept that still seemed astronomically huge. He loved Kensi and the children, but he wasn't really sure if he and marriage would mix. He didn't exactly have the best experience with married couples before.
"Are you okay?" Will asked at the bottom of the stairs.
Deeks head snapped up and he nodded. "I'm okay."
Will bit him bottom lip and shifted from foot to foot before he made his way over to Deeks and sat down.
"Are you and Kensi going to get married?" He asked.
Deeks sighed and leaned into the couch. "Were you listening to our conversation?"
"Sorry." Will said a bit sheepishly. "You said that you want to adopt us."
"Yeah bud, we do." Deeks gave him a small smile. "What do you think about that idea?"
Will shrugged and looked down at his feet. "I don't know."
"You know that we are never going to try and replace your parents."
"I know that." Will nodded. "I know that you and Kensi care about us and want to take care of us. I just miss my mom and dad."
"We know someone that we think would be good for you to talk to about your mom and dad." Kensi said, coming back into the room. "His name is Nate and he's really nice."
"What would he do?" Will asked.
"He'd just talk to you and help you." Kensi sat down next to him.
"Would he make me forget them?" Will asked a bit fearful.
"No buddy, no one can make you forget your mom and dad." Deeks quickly stated. "He would just talk to you about your parents and what you are going through and feeling."
Will seemed to think about it for a moment before he shrugged. "Okay."
"Are you sure?" Kensi asked.
"Yeah." Will nodded and looked between the two of them. "So are you going to get married?"
Kensi and Deeks shared a look before Deeks answered. "That's a lot to think about bud. We don't want to go into something that we are not ready for. Getting married is something that is really big and needs a lot of thought."
"But if you don't get married then you can't adopt us." Will pointed out.
"That's true, but that doesn't mean that we can't keep taking care of you and your siblings." Kensi said and squeezed his shoulder. We are going to try and take care of you and your siblings the best that we can, no matter what we decide."
"Are we going to live with you forever?" Will asked and saw them both smile.
"Well someday you'll grow up and move out, but until then you're stuck with us." Deeks teased and got a smile from Will.
"Are you always going to live with us Deeks?" Will questioned.
"I love you guys and I love Kensi so I don't see why I would leave." Deeks nodded.
"Good, I like having you both here." Will smiled and got up from his spot and headed back upstairs.
They both watched him leave before Deeks fell back into his own mind and Kensi glanced at him.
"You look like your head is about to explode." She lightly teased.
Deeks gave her a lopsided grin and shrugged. "It's a lot to think about."
"Yeah it is." Kensi agreed and ran a hand through her hair. "How about we take everything one day at a time and see where we go from there?"
"That sounds like a plan to me." Deeks nodded and wrapped an arm around her shoulders and placed a kiss on the top of her head before they both fell into contemplative thought.