A/N: I decided to start off the celebration on a high note for Densi so interpreted this prompt creatively. For Densimber day 1.

"Hey, we've gotten a lot better at this," Kensi observed as she threaded a new strand of multicolored lights Deeks. He wound them around the middle section of the Christmas tree, moving aside a branch of two.

"I told you it helps when the lights aren't in a tangled ball," he teased.

"One time." Kensi held up a finger for a second, shaking her head. "I didn't follow the "Marty Deeks Protocol for Storing Christmas Lights" one time and now I will never hear the end of it."

"I never did get those undone. I wonder what Callen did with them." Deeks frowned for a second, presumably contemplating the thought of Callen decorating a nonexistent tree.

"I'm pretty sure he threw them away the minute he got home."

"That's rude," Deeks said lightly, surveying his work with a critical eye. "Hm, that's a little unbalanced."

Stepping back, Kensi waited while he rearranged some of the lights just so. Based on previous years, Kensi knew that he would fiddle with them until he thought they looked perfectly scattered without leaving any large gaps.

While he finished with that, Kensi started digging through the ornament boxes. Last year, between trying to move, Deeks being at FLETC, and her own faltering mental health, Kensi hadn't felt much like decorating. At one point, just the thought of putting up a tree and pretending to be cheery made her feel nauseous.

Thankfully, while all their worries weren't magically gone, she felt in a much better frame of mind to celebrate this year. Deeks seemed in better spirits too without FLETC hanging over his head.

She pulled out a couple of large, bulbous green, red, and purple ornaments that had been a present from Deeks' mom. They were almost pretty, in a garish kind of way. Kensi wasn't totally convinced that Roberta hadn't given them as a gag gift.

"Hey, where do you want to put your mom's ornaments?" she asked, turning with one dangling in each hand. Deeks sucked in a deep breath as he scrunched up his face in consideration. They came across the same question every single year.

"Near the bottom so they don't break any branches, but not so low that my mom thinks we're dissing her gift. And definitely not towards the back since last year she accused us of hiding them," he decided. "But not so obvious that if Nell and Eric happen to visit, it makes them wonder where their ornament is."

"Oh yeah, definitely not." Kensi shuddered as the image of a white horse with a black and neon pink details, green hair, and a psychotic grin came to mind. "That thing gives me nightmares."

"I swear Nell bought it just for our reactions. She always gets this slightly evil expression when she mentions it."

"Definitely wouldn't put it past her." Sighing, she grabbed a couple more ornaments and passed them up to Deeks. "We'll just stick the crazy horse behind the vintage elves from my mom and if anyone else tries to give us decorations, they're going straight into the goodwill pile."

"Sounds perfectly reasonable," Deeks said and though she couldn't see his face from this angle, she was sure he was smiling. "Somehow I don't think we have to worry about Callen buying us any kind of decoration."

They were just about done hanging ornaments, when Kensi's phone buzzed with an incoming call.

"Oh, it's Sandra, our adoption coordinator," she told Deeks, brows furrowing. As far as she knew, they'd completed all the paperwork, interviews, and other requirements to be considered for adoption, but maybe they'd missed something. She caught Deeks' eye as she accepted the call, hoping that there weren't any issues.

"Hi, this is Kensi. Yes, we did. Really? No, thank you for calling." Deeks gave her a searching look as she listened to the women on the other end of the line.

"Kens," he hissed, but she held up her hand, concentrating on everything Sandra said. "Right. Yes, we can come down tomorrow. Thank you so much."

"Kensi, what the hell is going on?" Deeks demanded the second she hung up. A plain blue bulb hung loosely between his thumb and forefinger, apparently forgotten. "Did we accidentally check "divorced"or something on the paperwork?"

"Um, no." Kensi shook her head and chuckled incredulously. "Sandra said they have a placement for us. She wants us to go to the adoption center to meet him tomorrow."

"You're kidding."

"No."

"Holy crap," Deeks breathed, sounding dazed. He looked just as shocked as she felt. He reached for her and Kensi fell against his chest, gripping his shoulders. "Is this really happening?"

"I think so. It seems impossible," Kensi said, starting to feel a little giddy. "It's been so long and Sandra had said we should expect to wait at least a couple months before we heard anything."

"This is crazy." Deeks shook his head again, eyes moving around the room, focusing on the mantle above their electric fireplace. "Crap, we're going to need to buy another Christmas stocking," he muttered giddily. "And presents."

"Oh my god, you're ridiculous," Kensi gasped, kissing him with tears of joy leaking down her cheeks. "And I've never been happier."

A/N: So, as you might have concluded, we have a crazy horse ornament that my mom got in Mexico when she was a girl. We put it on the tree every year. Mom insists.