Hello my dears. I would like to thank JackSam, Scififan33, Guest, LKK (Guest), No1 DB (Guest), Petunia3116, elsje1967, French fan (Guest) and Beststoriesever for the wonderful reviews. I would also like to thank those of you who have followed and favoured since my last update.
So, this chapter has been bugging me. I wrote it out the other night, but then got stuck. And when I came back to read what I had written, I realised it was crap. Therefore I have rewritten it, hence it taking me so long to update.
Also a lot of you have been wondering if I was coming to the end of this story. We're not there yet. I have plans up until the episode 22 'Plan B'. After that I am considering writing a collection of stories which are episode based throughout all the seasons. But we'll see on that one.
Anyway, I hope you like what I have for you.
Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS: LA.
After new year's everything within the team returned to the normalcy of working for OSP. Well a new normal at any rate. Deeks and Callen came in to the office together most days now they had told everyone they were together. But when it came to doing their jobs, there was no change in their behaviour. Deeks was still the LAPD liaison for the team and Callen was still the team leader. They still had their work partners who they spent most of the day with, and the banter in the bullpen was still very much alive.
And if Callen ended up taking more of it than he had before, his partner taking delight in asking his boyfriend just how he managed to put up with him, he didn't mind. Everyone was happy and everything was good.
Then came the 8th of January. Deeks didn't expect anything, mainly because he had neglected to tell the man he loved that it was his birthday. He had seen how G had felt about Christmas, and he decided it really was too close to that holiday to force another celebration on the guy. He didn't mind not celebrating his birthday that year. I mean there would be other times where he and G could do something, right? He was fine about it. Really, he was fine. Or at least that was what he told himself as he tried to drift off to the sleep the night before. Trying to convince himself that it didn't matter. It was just another day after all, and so what if he became one year older. He was old enough for age to not matter, right?
What Deeks did not know was that Callen was well aware of what the next day was. There was no way he would be letting it pass without some celebration. It was a day that he could legitimately make all about the man he loved. He wasn't going to let that opportunity pass.
Therefore when Deeks woke on his birthday it was to find himself alone in their bed. The mattress beneath him already turning cold by the absence of the other man. He hadn't expected anything, but… well he had hoped that at least he would get a good morning kiss. Was that really too much to ask? Pulling his head out of his mind and shaking the morose thoughts from it, he heard a sound in the kitchen. Oh god, was G trying to cook? He really hoped not. He didn't want his apartment burnt to the ground thank you very much. It was with that in mind that he moved to get up and see what was going on. Only to be stopped when the man he loved came through the door, trialled by Monty.
"Where do you think you going?" Callen asked when he noticed Marty was awake and looked very much like he was about to get out of bed. He had heard noises coming from the bedroom and come to see what was going on. Mainly because Marty getting up was not part of Callen's plan for the day. His lover had better chance his mind pronto then, or he would make him.
"I was coming to see if I still had a kitchen." Deeks replied in his usual jokey tone wondering what was going on. G had a very determined look in his eyes, it was one he had seen before, though usually when they were about to execute a mission or he was getting intel. He had never seen G look at him like that before. It was slightly unnerving. No wonder the suspects always folded.
"Nah-ah. Monty." Callen responded clicking his fingers at the dog causing him to jump onto the bed and lie himself across his masters legs, making it so Marty would have to move him if he wanted to get up.
"G, what's going on?" Deeks asked, trying tentatively to move Monty, but finding him to be remarkably impassable.
"You'll see. Monty stay, and make sure he does too, yeah? Good boy." Was all Callen said in answer before leaving the room once more and returning to the kitchen.
"Just what is your other daddy planning huh? Care to share?" Deeks asked as he lay back down and scratched Monty's head. Oh he knew he could get up if he wanted to, but he was kinda curious about what on earth G was doing, and he couldn't stop the small voice in the back of his mind that saying that this had to do with the fact that today was his birthday. So he decided to wait and see.
Callen on the other hand returned to the kitchen just in time to save the toast. He had managed to make a passable breakfast for him and Marty, even if it only consisted of toast, eggs, bacon, coffee and juice. Okay sure, the kitchen did look a bit like a bomb had hit it, and sure he had had to do three tries at the eggs before calling Michelle and getting her advice. But he had managed it alright? That was good enough for him. Therefore placing the dishes onto a tray with the mugs of liquid, he collected the smartly wrapped gift and placed it, with a flower in a vase, in the centre of the tray as the finishing touches. And no, he wouldn't be telling Sam about the flower part. He did not need his partner giving him even more grief for being sappy thank you very much.
Checking he had everything he nodded to himself as he picked up the tray. Time to wish the man he loved happy birthday.
Deeks could now smell toast and bacon coming from the kitchen, he wasn't sure whether to be alarmed or happy, so he decided to go for the latter. He would deal with whatever chaos G had caused in his pristine kitchen later. For now he would just enjoy whatever it was that G had planned. It was then he heard a sound from the corridor and looked towards the door just in time to see G enter with the tray held firmly in his hands.
"What's all this G?" Deeks asked smiling his sunny smile at the concentration he could see on the other man's face.
"Breakfast in bed. Happy birthday Marty." Callen replied placing the tray next to Deeks and as far away from Monty as he could. He knew the dog wouldn't try and steal the food, but it was always better to removed temptation in his mind.
"How did you know?" Deeks asked surprised that not only had G known it was his birthday, but that he had also gone to all this trouble because of that fact. But when he looked from the tray to G all he got in response was a smirk, causing him to roll his eyes. "Of course, superspy. How could I forget?" he muttered cheekily.
"Good question." Callen answered before moving towards his lover and giving him a gentle, sweet kiss, making sure not to squash the dog that was lying between them as he did so.
Pulling back from the kiss Deeks instructed Monty to get down, and after the dog turned to Callen for confirmation he did just that. Moving so he could go and get his own breakfast that Callen had laid out for him, including some of the slightly burnt bacon. His favourite.
Deeks on the other hand pulled the tray towards him, and that was when he saw the gift and the flower. He raised his eyebrow at the latter, but made no comment. Mainly because inside it made him feel warm and loved. It was something that he would have done for G if this had been his birthday, and he was sure that the other man knew that just as much as he did.
He picked up the present and stared at it for a moment, wondering what it was that G had brought. It was definitely a box, but not big. It fitted neatly into the palm of his hand.
"You going to open that?" Callen asked the tension he was feeling about how Marty would take his gift causing his patience to run thin. He hadn't been sure about this at all. But he had seen it in a store window when he was out with Sam the other day, and it called to him. He just hoped it did the same thing to his lover.
Deeks chuckled at G's impatience and got down to doing as he asked. Carefully unwrapping the present he found himself confronted with a matt leather box embossed with gold lettering, claiming that this was from a jewellers near Venice. That he had not expected. If he had been asked what G would be likely to get him for his birthday, jewellery would not be top of the list. Hell he doubted it would be on the list at all. But here he was stilling in their bed with a box, which contradicted that thought, in his hand.
Carefully he pulled it open to find, nestled on deep purple velvet, a watch. But it wasn't just any watch, this was a thing of beauty. It was classical in style, with its dark brown leather strap, cream coloured clock face and gold decoration. But if he looked closer he could see the hands were made from miniature surf boards, and the metal linking the strap and face together were engraved with waves. It was the most awesome and quirky watch he had ever seen. And it was completely him.
"I love it G." He whispered as he sat there staring at the thoughtful gift the man he loved had given him. He had no idea where or how G had had the time to find this for him, but he loved it. Almost as much as he loved the man who had given it to him.
"It's waterproof, though the leather might take a while to dry. I had it engraved." Callen responded his voice shaking slightly at his last words. They had asked in the store if he wanted it done, and he hadn't even thought about it before he was agreeing and writing out the message he wanted written there for all time.
At G's words Deeks quickly took the watch out of its box and flicked it over. What he saw made him smile and the warm feeling of being loved grow even more inside him. Because engraved on the back were the words 'I love you, always. G.'
"I love you too." Deeks finally said, looking up into the eyes of his boyfriend before pulling him towards him and kissing him deeply, hoping to say without words just what this present meant to him. What everything G had done so far that day meant to him. And hell it was only 7 in the morning.
Callen kissed him back, understanding what he was saying and therefore relaxing. Knowing that his ideas hadn't been off. That he had got this right, his first real intentional attempt at doing something couples do without prompting or help for others. He had got it right. He had made Marty happy, and that really was the only important thing in his mind.
When they finally pulled back Deeks made a great show of putting his new watch on before they both started eating the fast cooling breakfast. Though Deeks did think that it was probably a good thing it was cold, it gave him a reason not to eat it all. Because as much as he loved G, he really couldn't cook for shit.
Once there breakfast was 'finished', rather than letting Marty get up and get ready for work, Callen decided to join his boyfriend back in bed. After all it was Marty's birthday, and he had a few more presents he wanted to give him, of a more intimate nature.
"Aren't we gonna be late?" Deeks asked as his arms were suddenly filled with naked G Callen. Not that he was complaining, hell no. He would never complain about this.
"Hetty'll understand." Callen replied before closing his lips once more over Marty's. After that neither of them did much thinking or talking for some time. They just enjoyed the feelings of pleasure they excited in each other.
And if they were a little late when they finally turned up for work, both of their hair still wet from the shower, Hetty was willing to turn a blind eye. Just this once.