Sorry for the delay again in posting a new chapter. This time it was due to a new story I wrote for the NCIS LA Magazine challenge, about Deeks and Halloween. If you haven't checked it out yet, please do. It's called "Pretending". And now on with this story...

"Morning Fern," he greeted Kensi as she opened the door. "Ready for today?"

She stepped out, closed the door and made sure it was locked. "If there is a bag of pastries in the car waiting for me, I'll be ready." She walked past him and down the walk to the car.

Deeks stood there watching Kensi walk the few feet to the vehicle and couldn't make himself move. How had he missed it yesterday? Maybe she was sitting down more or maybe he was too busy with those stupid files.

"Deeks? Is something wrong?" Kensi asked him. She started looking down at her clothing, as if there was a stain or something she hadn't seen.

"Huh?"

"You're staring at me. Did I spill something?"

He started slowly walking towards her. "You – you're beautiful," he simply said. Kensi blushed slightly. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you yesterday, but you are. You've always been, but even more so now. I mean, wow." Deeks was right in front of Kensi now, who was still speechless. She wasn't used to compliments. Deeks held his hand in front of Kensi's belly. "May I?"

She smiled and nodded. "Yeah, go ahead."

Deeks placed his hand very gently on her rounded belly. "Wow, so this, this is really real. You're pregnant. We're having a baby together."

"That's what I've been trying to tell you for the last five months," Kensi replied.

"Yeah, I know. I mean, in my head I've known and accepted and even gotten excited about it. But this is the first time I get to see with my own eyes, the changes in you, the physical-ness of all your phone calls and texts and emails about it. I missed the first few months of actually being here with you, and now here you are glowing and our baby is growing and wow – I'm turning into a rhyming idiot on a sidewalk. Not the way I imagined this in my head," Deeks finished.

Kensi laughed. Leave it to Deeks to be completely sweet and charming and utterly goofy at the same time. Kensi placed her hand over his. "It's ok. I understand. What matters is that you are here now and we can experience the rest of it together. Should we get going?"

"Right. We should go. Hopefully I'll be seeing you in few minutes, little one." Deeks helped Kensi into the car and they drove off toward the clinic.

"So how was your dinner date last night?" Kensi asked on the ride back to OSP.

"It was good. Yeah, good sums it up nicely," Deeks answered.

"Do I get to know who it was with? Or don't I want to know?" she asked, a hint of jealousy in her voice.

"Relax Sugar Bear. I know what you're thinking, and no. I am not seeing anyone else. I told you I love you, and I mean it. There is no one else for me."

"So who did you have dinner with?" Kensi really wanted to know.

Deeks sighed. "My mom." At the look of genuine shock on Kensi's face, he continued. "I want to tell you all about it, but later. I don't want anything to take away from this moment as I get ready to tell everyone that I'm going to have a son." Kensi looked at him. "I mean, we are having a son."

She watched him as he drove. His face beamed with pride. It was quite adorable, actually. Even though her curiosity about Deeks' mom was strong, she didn't want to take anything away from the joy and happiness he was experiencing. He needed that; they both needed that.

"Hetty, how much do you know?"

"About what, Mr. Callen?" Hetty set aside the papers she had been reading.

Callen placed his hands on the front of her desk and leaned forward. "About my father. This whole thing is bugging me. His DNA hasn't shown up at any crime scene except the one, and it's apparently not in any database we have access to. For some reason, I get the feeling you know more than you are saying."

"I haven't really said anything at all," Hetty replied coolly.

"Exactly."

Hetty looked at him, nodded her head slightly, but did not say anything.

Callen continued. "Do you know who my father is? I remember you telling me about my mother – that you knew her – but what about the other side of my family? I need answers, Hetty," Callen said, his voice a mixture of desperation and a lost little boy.

"Your mother told me his name, all those years ago. I tried to keep track of his movements, but he seemed to have disappeared with the years. I do not know a man by that name anymore, and I do not know why his DNA showed up at your crime scene. I know you want answers Mr. Callen, but they are not mine to give," Hetty replied.

"I'm going to keep looking for him. There has to be more to this than just one random blood sample at my crime scene." Callen was frustrated and impatient.

"I believe it is your good friend Mr. Gibbs who does not believe in coincidence. The answers are out there. Sometimes what you are searching for has been in front of you all along."

Callen frowned at her cryptic musings and walked off.

Hetty wrinkled her brow. "Oh dear. This has gone on long enough," she said to herself quietly. Glancing over to the bullpen to make sure no one could overhear her, she picked up her phone. After someone on the other end picked up, she simply informed them, "It's time. We need to meet."

A short time later, Kensi and Deeks walked into the bullpen. Before either of them could say a word, Jenny jumped up to greet them.

"Soooo? What's it going to be – a girl or a boy?" she eagerly asked, her palms pressed against each other in front of her chest. She resembled a cheerleader ready for the first cheer.

Hetty casually strolled over to join the team, her hands clasped behind her as if nothing else had happened that morning. "Yes, please share with us all, if you don't mind. Are we to expect a miniature Ms. Blye or a pint-sized Mr. Deeks?"

Deeks looked at Kensi, his eyes silently asking if he could be the one to share the news. He had a smile a mile wide permanently on his face. She smiled at his enthusiasm and nodded.

"Go ahead Deeks. You can have the honors," she told him.

He cleared his throat dramatically. "This little ninja assassin," he started, placing his hand on Kensi's belly, "is a boy. I'm going to have a son!" Deeks couldn't have been more excited if he tried. He glanced at Kensi, and then added, "I mean, we are having a boy. Just a few more months and there will be a Marty Jr. running around."

Kensi grimaced. "Um, we are still working on names. That is not the final choice. But yes, a healthy baby boy!" Deeks winked at her. A chorus of congratulations for the partners echoed through the mission, everyone happy for Kensi and Deeks. Nell and Eric joined in the well wishes from the railings up above.

"Congratulations to both of you. A little boy will be a wonderful addition to our family here," Hetty said with a smile. Then she clapped her hands together once. "While we are waiting for the newest team member to make his appearance, though, we have work to do. I suggest you all get back to it." With that she made her way back to her office space.

The rest of the team members settled into their tasks for the day. Callen logged on to his computer and typed something into a search engine. Jenny wandered off to the gun range for some practice. Kensi gathered some files and papers into her bag. She opened her desk drawer, grabbed two pens, a pencil, and a Kit Kat, and added those to her bag as well.

"Where are you headed? Didn't we just get here?" Deeks asked with a confused look on his face.

"I have to meet Granger at the boat shed in twenty minutes," Kensi replied. Then she looked up. "Shoot, that's right. I haven't had a chance to tell you about that yet since you got back. We've been so busy with everything else and it slipped my mind." Deeks looked at Kensi, waiting for her to go on. "I'm taking some team leadership courses. Granger recommended me for them, and it's something I can do while I'm pregnant. No field work. I'll fill you in later, I promise."

"Ooo… kay…" he answered slowly.

Kensi walked over to his desk. "How about dinner tonight? We can stop and grab some food on the way back to my place after work. You can tell me about your night last night, and I will tell you about Granger and these courses. Deal?" After getting an affirmative answer from Deeks, she hurried off.

After Kensi left, Deeks looked at the ultrasound picture he had gotten from the earlier appointment. He tried hard to stop smiling so he could concentrate on a couple of files on his desk. After two minutes, Sam spoke up. "You look like an idiot with that big grin."

Deeks dropped the corners of his mouth slightly. Sam continued. "But an idiot who is really excited about his first child. I remember that feeling. It's pretty awesome."

The shaggy agent nodded his head in agreement."Yeah, it is."

Sam went on. "But we can't have you all jittery and goofy – well no more than normal – around here when we have important stuff to do. How 'bout you and me go work it out of your system? Basketball or rock wall? Your choice." The two men headed for the gym.

Hetty unlocked her top right desk drawer and stared at the rows of driver's licenses and credit cards. She chose a set, placed them in her wallet, and stood up. She had her own meeting to attend.

"Mmm, I can't wait to dig in! Hurry up with the door," Deeks exclaimed as Kensi fumbled with her keys. "It's been too long since I've had burgers from Moe's. They didn't have anything close to these in Georgia."

They got in and sat down on her couch. Deeks dropped the food bags on the coffee table before taking off his shoes. Kensi was torn as to whether to grab her burger or the TV remote first. She decided on the burger. The partners inhaled their food quickly, neither wanting to slow down to talk. Once the burger was gone, Kensi moved on to her fries.

"So," she said between fries. "Your mom, huh?" She hadn't forgotten about Deeks' bombshell and that he would fill her in tonight.

He swallowed the last of his burger and took a drink. "Yep, I have one." He grinned at Kensi.

"Funny. And here I was thinking you were hatched."

"Hey! Even things that hatch have a mo—never mind." He looked at her impressed. She almost had him.

"So yes, my mom is here in LA and I had dinner with her last night," Deeks said, sitting back into the couch.

"How come I've never heard you talk about her before?" Kensi asked. She had heard snippets about his father, but not much of anything about his mom.

"Last night was the first time I had seen her in ten years," he started to explain. "A lot of things happened in the past, and it wasn't easy for either of us." Deeks paused to let Kensi settle back into the couch on the other end. "I called her before I left Georgia, to see if we could talk. I wanted to at least try to reach out to her, considering everything that has happened."

Kensi listened attentively, like a child hearing a fairytale for the first time. "Did it – did it go well? Were you guys able to work anything out?" she inquired.

Deeks opened up and told her all about his visit with his mom. He told her about his fears, about why he needed to see his mom, and how the night ended on a good note. Then he asked about her training with Granger. She shared the offer Granger had made to her a few months ago, and how he had confidence in her as a future team leader. Kensi mentioned that she was not looking for a new position or a transfer right now, but it didn't hurt to take the training. It helped her pass the time while she couldn't be out in the field.

"So, now that we've filled each other in, how about a movie?" Kensi asked. Deeks agreed as he got up to clear away their trash. Kensi surfed the channels until she settled on the movie Armageddon.

Deeks sat down on one end of the couch, and Kensi laid down with her head on his lap. They watched the movie in comfortable silence for quite a while. About half-way through the movie, Kensi twisted her head to look up at Deeks instead of the TV.

"Hey Deeks? What is this? I mean us – what are we, what are we doing now that you're back?" she asked him.

His first instinct was to point out the obvious, that they were watching a movie. But then the more mature part of his brain kicked in and he knew that Kensi genuinely wanted to talk about their relationship. At his momentary silence, she continued talking.

"Are we dating? Are we together-together? Um, based on our horrible past communication skills, I don't want to assume anything. I know we've been apart for five months, and I wasn't sure if anything that was said before… might have changed," Kensi timidly mentioned.

Deeks shook his head and played with her hair. "No, nothing has changed as far as my feelings for you. I love you, Kensi. Yes, I would like to think that we are together as a couple and dating." There was a short pause while he looked up at the movie that was still playing. "I uh, I guess that means I should actually take you out on a real date." He asked her out for their first date that weekend and she accepted with a smile. They went back to watching the movie, Kensi seemingly satisfied with their conversation.

However, fifteen minutes later she looked back up at Deeks.

"Are we together then, because we really want to be, or because we feel we should be for the baby?" Kensi asked.

"I can't speak for you, Sugar Bear, but there is one thing I am absolutely sure of without a doubt. I want to be with you because I love you. I told you that before there was a baby. I told you what you mean to me before we knew there was a baby, and none of that has changed."

She slowly nodded. "Me, too. I meant everything I said to you that night before you left. It's about me wanting to be with you, regardless of anything else going on in our lives."

Deeks leaned over and kissed her forehead.

They finished the movie, and Kensi stood up from the couch. Deeks stood up, too, and said something about needing to go home. She asked him to stay. After all, he had promised to help her with some of her cravings when he got back from training. She held out her hands to him, and with a grin as big as he had worn earlier in the day, he let her lead him into the bedroom.