A/N: So...without giving too much away, this involves a baby being born. So if you're a bit squeamish, read with caution.

"Kensi, I do not think this is a good idea," Deeks repeated for what felt like the hundredth time.

"You've been saying that for the last three weeks," Kensi replied, her tone slightly breathless yet still somehow able to convey her annoyance. She had insisted on carrying her own duffle along with some kitchen supplies from the truck to the Air BnB they'd rented near Mammoth. It was a cozy looking little place that supposedly came equipped with all the amenities they could ever want.

Deeks trailed slightly behind her, weighed down by a cooler, two more duffle bags, and a collection of miscellaneous crap. He would have gladly carried all of it if Kensi let him. She was being stubborn though and he was the last person to tell his extremely pregnant wife what to do.

"That's because I still think this is a really terrible idea. You're 38 weeks pregnant, we're up in the mountains and my cell phone connection is already sketchy."

Stopping in front of the front door, she looked over her shoulder, her expression all but settling the argument.

"Oh my god, nothing is going to happen. We've had these reservations for over a year. It's a miracle that we didn't have to cancel them for some reason so I am not going home." She punctuated the statement by stabbing in the 6 digit code into the security system keypad.

Sighing, he followed Kensi through the door, eyeing the sky. It was a fairly warm day for December, there wasn't a cloud in sight and the roads had been in good condition.

"I still don't like it," he muttered, hopefully low enough that Kensi wouldn't be able to hear it.

A few hours later, Deeks was finally starting to relax. They'd turned on the electric fire in the living room and were sipping mugs of hot chocolate while they lounged on the floor.

"Ok, maybe this wasn't such a bad idea," he admitted, pressing a kiss to the top of Kensi's head. She looked up at him, snuggling into his chest a little more.

"Mm, good," she said contentedly. "You needed a break. Oof." She quickly grabbed his hand and pressed it to the left side of her stomach. He grinned at the now familiar feeling of a tiny foot pushing back.

"So cool," he muttered, not for the first time. Kensi smiled indulgently, but pointed out,

"It would be nice if your child didn't feel the need to practice his football skills at all hours of the day. Mama needs her rest."

"Then let me escort the lady to her bed," Deeks said gallantly, placing an arm under her knees.

"Oh no, Baby," Kensi protested. "You'll hurt your back." He ignored her and gathered her against his chest as he slowly got to his feet.

"All part of the Marty Deeks holiday service." Kensi snorted and rolled her eyes, looping an arm around his neck while he started to ascend the small flight of stairs leading to the master bedroom.

"You are so ridiculous," she said fondly. Her fingers brushed against his neck in a soft caress as she gazed up at him. "But I love you anyway."

Deeks shivered and burrowed under the covers, scooching closer to Kensi. Her skin was blessedly warm in comparison to the chill of the room. She made a soft sound of protest before shifting back against him, bringing their mostly naked bodies together.

A shiver ran up his spine, not from the cold this time. Last night was the first time in a few weeks that they'd really had the opportunity to have sex without worrying about being interrupted. Or at least as much as they could with an 8 month baby bump between them. It turned out that pregnancy made sex a slightly more difficult, if not intriguing, endeavor.

"Ugh, why aren't you sleeping?" Kensi asked groggily, blindly reaching out and brushing the side of his head by chance. Deeks pressed a kiss to her fingers before she hastily snaked her hand back under the covers.

"I got cold. You should go back to sleep." The covers shifted and most of Kensi's left eye appeared; from what he could tell she was frowning.

"I would, but your son keeps kicking me in the liver." He held back a snort and started rubbing his hand over her back in a soothing rhythm.

"It's a boy, huh? Yesterday it was a girl," he pointed out. They'd been going back and forth on the gender for the last several months since they'd decided they wanted it to be a surprise. "And I didn't realize you could feel your liver."

"He's acting more like you today. And believe me, I can definitely feel my liver. I'm pretty sure it's covered in bruises."

"I would say you're being ridiculous," Kensi narrowed her eyes dangerously and he quickly finished with, "but I'm smart enough to know that to do so would be suicidal."

"Smart man," Kensi said around a huge yawn. "What time is it?"

"I don't know, but based on the light-crap!" Kensi jerked up and his sudden exclamation, automatically reaching for a nonexistent gun while clasping the other hand to her belly.

"What?" she demanded.

"The window's covered in snow," he said, pointing to said window as he climbed out of bed. The lower pane was covered with a thick coating of white let through only a small amount of light. Already, his mind was filling with images of a three foot snowdrifts and blizzard like conditions.

"The wind probably just blew it there," Kensi said reasonably. "Come back to bed, Baby. I'm cold," she wiggled her eyes ridiculously but Deeks couldn't deny her. He crawled back under the covers, tugging Kensi towards him and began kissing a path down her neck.

Several pleasant hours later, Deeks wandered into the kitchen in search of food. They'd dozed off and on, enjoying the opportunity to just stay in bed without interruption. While Kensi showered, he planned to scrape together something for lunch.

They'd brought along some sandwich stuff and he was in the process of making two truly spectacular BLTs when Kensi called out, sounding weirdly hesitant.

"Hey Babe?"

"You want me to shave your legs again?" he shouted back. For some reason, Kensi found asking for help with that task particularly humiliating.

"No...I think my water broke."

"Would you mind repeating that," he requested calmly, sure he'd misheard.

"My water broke," she said. His mind blanked for a moment and then he was running up the stairs. He found Kensi wrapped in a thick white towel, braced on the edge of the tub. She was breathing a little bit harder than normal and her cheeks were flushed. "Hey." Her voice was casual but she winced slightly, her face scrunched up in pain.

"Oh my god, you're in labor." It was a ridiculous, obvious statement, but somehow his mind didn't want to accept the fact.

"Pretty much."

"Ok, that's fine. It's fine. I'm just going to grab our stuff and we'll drive to the hospital," he said with forced calmness.

"Can you help me get dressed first?" she asked, her fingers clenched so tightly the knuckles were pale. Deeks helped her change sweatpants and a large shirt and then started grabbing a random collection of items to throw in the truck.

When he stepped out on the driveway, he skidded a few feet and nearly crashed into an inconveniently placed tree. The ground was covered in a sparkling sheet of ice. There was no way he could risk driving on it.

"The roads are too icy, I'm going to call an ambulance," he told Kensi as he ran back inside and grabbed his phone.

"We don't have time for that," Kensi said in a strained voice.

"What do you mean we–" he started to say and then broke off as he saw Kensi was now braced against the kitchen counter and panting shallowly. "Kensi?"

"Yup."

"Kensi, no. This isn't what we planned for."

"Well, I'm sorry but apparently this baby doesn't care what we planned for. My contractions are already two minutes apart," she snapped out, punctuating it with a moan.

"Ok, you're right. Let's get you somewhere more comfortable and then we'll maybe get some blankets and hot water and totally not have a panic attack," he said, placing a supportive hand on Kensi's back and one under her arm. He started to head for the living room, the closest room, but Kensi shook her head and said,

"No, we'll never get our security deposit back. The bathroom."

"Oh my god, you are so ridiculous," he muttered as they changed directions.

Once he had Kensi semi-comfortably reclined against a mound of pillows and blankets, started searching for scissors, clean towels and anything else his scattered brain could think of. When he had it all together, he paused just outside the bathroom door and promptly collapsed to his knees.

He hadn't been joking with Kensi. He felt on the verge of an honest to god panic attack. He breathed in and out slowly, trying to slow his racing heart.

"Deeks?" Kensi called some time later. She sounded scared and he felt terrible for leaving her alone, even for a few minutes. Scrubbing his hands over his face, he pulled in several short breaths and walked back in.

"What's wrong? Do you need anything? Are you thirsty?"

"I need you," she whispered, reaching for his hand. He took it and crouched down beside her, brushing damp strands of hair back from her temple.

"Kensi. Baby, I have no idea what I'm doing," he admitted.

"We took the classes and watched the delivery videos. And didn't you read a book about delivering babies?"

"Yeah, but I wasn't expecting to actually have to do it," Deeks retorted. "This is the kind of stuff that happens on sitcoms."

"And to us apparently." She let out a quiet moan, biting down on her lip. It spurred him back into action. However much he might want to deny it, this was really happening.

"Ok, we should probably get your pants off and see how dilated you are."

"Now I really know you're worried." She paused to gasp, her hand squeezing his so tightly it hurt.

"Why?" he asked as he helped Kensi scooch out of her sweatpants.

"You didn't make a dirty joke," she answered and he snorted out a somewhat hysterical chuckle.

"How long between your contractions?"

"About a minute and a half." She let out another strangled groan, her eyes squeezing shut as her belly heaved. "It feels like I need to push." Gingerly, he pushed Kensi's legs farther apart. Never in a million years had he imagined this happening.

"Holy crap, I think I can see the head!" he said in quiet awe. A sudden feeling of calm replaced his earlier panic and he squeezed Kensi's hand again as she smiled at him hopefully.

"What's it look like?"

"Um, dark. I can't really tell yet."

"Well, I think-aaah-I think you'll get to see in-oh my god-in a minute. I really need to push," Kensi said, her voice strained and higher pitched. She looked a little panicked now, her breath short and shallow.

"Ok, Baby, breathe with me. Deep breath in and then out, good. That's perfect, Kensi," he instructed. Kensi closed her eyes and focused on matching him breath for breath. After several minutes she seemed at least a little calmer.

"I can't believe I'm about to give birth in a bathroom in the middle of the mountains," she said.

"If you think about it though, this isn't even one of the crazier things we done. We routinely jump out of exploding buildings, a crazy Russian guy try to kidnap me from our wedding and last year our Thanksgiving party included a Russian criminal, six Navy SEALs, and Hetty Lange. We've got this babe."

"Great. Because I think this baby is ready to come out now." She made an unearthly sound and bore down. Deeks hastily lifted her legs higher as she continued to push.

"Don't push too hard," Deeks instructed, recalling some salient bit of information from the recesses of his mind. "I'm going to count to five and then I want you to take a deep breath and stop pushing." Kensi nodded again, not making any other noise than panting.

Far quicker than he thought possible, he could see the head was crowning.

"You're doing so good, Baby. Just keep pushing. Ok, the head's out, but I think the shoulders are stuck."

"You need to turn the baby," Kensi managed to say, her voice strained.

"I don't want to hurt you," Deeks said, gingerly supporting the baby's head with one hand while the other hesitated. He could almost hear Kensi's eyes roll as she said between clenched teeth,

"Just do it." Then she added more softly, "I trust you."

Carefully, he turned the baby until one shoulder was free. He eased the second shoulder out and the rest of the body slipped into his trembling hands with surprising speed.

"Oh my god, it's a girl, he whispered, staring down at the tiny human wriggling in his arms. She had a full head of dark brown hair that he guessed would be the same shade as Kensi's. Even covered in pasty vernix and slime, with her eyes squeezed shut, she was beautiful. Carefully, he ran the tip of his pinky over her cheek. Kensi pushed herself up a few inches on shaky arms and asked,

"Deeks, is something wrong, I don't hear anything?" At the sound of her voice, the baby's eyes popped open and she let out a tiny wail.

"She's perfect," he answered, moving to Kensi's side and gently laying the baby on her chest. "She's absolutely perfect."

"Oh, she's so little," Kensi breathed. "She's so beautiful." He was in awe as Kensi shifted their daughter towards her breast as though it was the most natural thing in the world. She looked entranced. His throat tightened suddenly with emotion, tears pricking at the back of his eyes.

She looked up at him and noticed the tears now slipping freely down his cheeks and reached for his hands.

"Don't cry, Baby." He scrubbed at his face and sucked in a shallow breath.

"I just can't believe this is real." He'd wanted this for so long, they both had, and now he was slightly afraid it was somehow a cruel dream. Kensi tilted her head and gave his hand a weak tug.

"Come here," she whispered. "Hold us." Deeks shucked his shirt off, easing behind Kensi. She leaned back against him, letting out a deep sigh of exhaustion. He rested his hand on the baby's back, partially covering Kensi's and pressed his lips to her temple. Kensi shivered and he yanked a clean towel off the towel bar, draped it over them all and then wrapped his free arm around Kensi.

He knew they'd have to get up soon, but for now he was content to sit there, basking in the snuggling sounds of their daughter as she slept.

"Love you, Kensi," he whispered, pressing a kiss to her temple. She didn't speak, but gave his hand a small squeeze.

For the moment, everything was perfect.

A/N: Please remember this is meant for entertainment purposes and not intended to be taken as completely medically accurate. The more gruesome bits will take place post-scene.