For today's prompt: Kensi and Deeks discuss their pasts. I was watching "Into the Breach" from last season and Kensi and Deeks were talking about their relatives (most of whom we've never heard about before). I was curious if these additional family members played a role in our favorite couple's childhoods.
This one takes place after "Into the Breach".
"Ok, so we had another cancellation so now we have two possible seats for Cousin Mortimer," Kensi told Deeks as she stared at her seating plans once again. After finishing up the case, she'd headed over to the bar to see how Deeks and Roberta had faired with the health inspector. She'd been pleasantly surprised to find both Deeks in good moods. The prospect of finishing their to-do list was not nearly so pleasant.
"Yours or mine?" Deeks asked, tossing a bar towel over one shoulder and coming to sit beside her.
"Yours." She slid the RSVP his way and Deeks stared at the name for a while.
"Huh," he frowned, his eyes distant for a second and then added, "I haven't seen them in years. Mom must have added them to the list."
"Did you see your relatives a lot growing up?" Kensi asked. It was a question that had been on her mind ever since they'd started pooling their respective families together. It turned out they both had a lot more random aunts, uncles and cousins than they'd originally thought. Naturally, Kensi's mind had turned to Deeks' past which was still somewhat a mystery to her.
"Some. Most of them lived kind of far away or we weren't very close with them," Deeks answered casually while he ticked off something on their "massive" list.
"What about when the stuff happened with your dad?" she continued carefully.
"What do you mean?" he asked with a frown.
"I get you not being close to everyone, but you've mentioned your Uncle Bob a lot. I don't understand why no one helped you and your mom out after your dad went to prison," Kensi explained and she watched as Deeks' expression slowly changed with the distant look that sometimes accompanied these conversations.
"To tell you the truth, I don't really know. I don't even know if my mom reached out to anyone-she was pretty embarrassed and self-conscious about what happened. And we'd already become pretty isolated be then," he said, pausing to let out a long breath and rearrange his hair. Kensi let him think, allowing him to lead now.
"My best guess is that mom maybe asked for help with finances-which would be a stretch 'cause you know she's proud as hell-but Uncle Bob never had any money. And the rest…maybe they thought mom deserved it for marrying dad or were afraid they get saddled with both of us." He shrugged and gave Kensi a small, crooked smile.
"They don't sound like very good relatives," Kensi commented. "Are you sure you want them at our wedding?" Deeks snorted at that, shaking his head.
"I'm pretty sure Mama would kill both of us if we uninvited anyone," he said, only partially joking. "Besides, I like Uncle Bob. Even if he is a little crazy."
"Yeah, he certainly fits right in."
"I think I should maybe be offended by that," Deeks said, scrunching his face up into a ridiculous expression that she couldn't help laughing at.
"You are such an idiot sometimes. But I love you," she said fondly, leaning over to kiss him and he grinned against her lips.
"What about you?" Deeks asked when they pulled apart. "Why didn't you stay with one of your relatives after your dad passed?" He asked the question with the same underlying caution she had. It was funny, she hadn't considered how similar those aspects of their pasts were.
"I guess like you, I didn't have a close relationship with family since we moved around so much. And as a teenager, I figured if I ran away to one of them, they'd just ship me off to my mom," she said thoughtfully, blowing out a long breath.
"I'm sorry, baby. We don't have to talk about it anymore."
"Deeks, I'm the one who started this. And I'm ok. It's actually nice to talk about this stuff without feeling like it needs to be some kind of secret." She squeezed Deeks hand and he leaned down to kiss her again.
"So, does that mean we finally have the seating done?" Deeks asked, getting up to finish up something behind the bar and effectively ending the prior conversation.
"Unless we get another late RSVP," she said with a roll of her eyes and then leaned forward to watch him. A smile slowly spread across her face. She really did love him beyond reason. While he started wiping down the top of the bar, he asked,
"Hey, did I ever tell you about the time Uncle Bob took me fishing?"
"No, I don't think you did. What happened?" she said, resting her chin in her palms. She sighed contentedly as Deeks began to spin a ridiculous story, clearly in his element.