A Year and a Half Later…
Deeks strolled into the squad room area fresh from the showers. He had been in the gymnasium working out after a long workday and difficult case at NCIS. He was tired to say the least, but knew he had paperwork to finish before he could head home with Kensi.
A huge part of the liaison officers' exhaustion came from the fact that he believed everyone had forgotten the significance of this particular day—his birthday. It made him feel a little depressed to be honest, but not because his friends had seemingly forgotten—but because his girlfriend and adopted daughter had forgotten.
He entered the squad room and found it darker than it had been when he'd headed out to the gym just an hour before hand. He was taken off guard by the darkness of the room, and stood silent as he stared down at the other end of the room. "Wow, it's actually quite Spooky in here…in the dark." He said aloud.
How long was I out there?
"Guess they all went home." He said to himself, as he started towards the bullpen and his desk. He was about to sit down in his chair when he heard a noise coming from upstairs.
He looked up and listened intently, but heard nothing else for a long while. "Hey Guys! Callen, Sam! You there!" he called out. He waited for a minute or so quietly before trying again. "Eric, Nell!"
He waited for another long minute and then he heard another sound coming from upstairs. It was muffled though so he couldn't really tell what it was exactly.
He looked around the bullpen at the desks of his teammates, and noticed that their things were still there. Deeks found that to be very odd, and it made him feel a little uneasy. Then his eyes fell upon the keys to Kensi's SRX perched at the center of the top of her desk.
The sound of glass shattering startled Deeks, and he jumped out of his seat almost immediately. "Guys!" he called out again. Still nothing. Deeks reached down under his desk and brought out his service pistol. He primed it for use, and then started off towards the staircase. He didn't like the sick feeling he had growing in the pit of his stomach.
He took each step of the staircase to Ops slowly and carefully. He held his weapon in front of him ready to gun down any intruders who might have somehow infiltrated the mission.
He finally reached the top of the staircase, and stood just outside of the Ops Centre looking in. It was dark in there too. "I don't know who you people are, or how you got in here." Deeks called into the darkened Ops Centre. He started to move into the room very slowly. "I won't hesitate to shoot-on-sight though…especially if you've hurt my friends in anyway-"
Suddenly the lights flashed on and everyone jumped out up out of their hiding places yelling surprise at the startled liaison officer.
"SURPRISE!" Everyone yelled in unison.
Deeks looked around and saw that the whole room had been decorated in birthday theme décor. Everyone wore party hats and had noisemakers either in their hands or in their mouths. There were also colorful streamers hung from the ceiling of the Ops Centre.
"What the-" Deeks cried in shock at the sight of his friends. "Damn." He swore under his breath as he lowered his weapon to his side. "I thought you guys were…I mean, everything was so…" he struggled to get words out of his mouth right.
Kensi stepped forward, smiling at her lover, and relieved him of his weapon. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him gently on the cheek. "Happy Birthday." She said softly against his cheek.
"I-I-I." Deeks stammered. "I thought…I thought everyone forgot, I mean no one said anything all day and now…this." He said, pointing around the room at each member of their team.
Kensi chuckled at her lover. "We didn't forget." She told him. "I've had this planned for 2 whole weeks." She explained. "You always seem to spoil every other surprise I try to spring on you, so this time I thought I'd try something drastic."
"Yeah, I'll say." Deeks remarked. "Okay, I admit it—you got me this time." He told her, as he stole a kiss.
The rest of the team steadily moved forward to wish the birthday boy a Happy Birthday. They all wore smiles on their faces as she shook his hand and spoke to him.
"Happy Birthday Deeks." Callen told the shaggy-haired man as he shook his hand, and patted him on the back. "A little heads up for next time though…people don't usually bring guns to parties." Callen told him.
"Right." Deeks chuckled. "I'll uh…I'll have to remember that one." Deeks said.
"Happy Birthday Shaggy." Sam said with a big smile. He shook Deeks' hand, and then pulled him into a hug. "Hope you like the cake. Kensi told me it was your favorite…chocolate on Scooby Snacks." Sam joked.
Deeks laughed at the muscular black man's joke. "That makes you Scooby right?" Deeks joked back. "Which would also mean you've already eaten all of the cake."
"Ha Ha Ha." Sam said as he rolled his eyes at the shaggy-haired man.
Eric and Nell were next in line to say Happy Birthday. "Happy Birthday Bro." Eric said as he and Deeks shared a manly handshake.
"Thanks man." Deeks replied to the tech specialist.
Then Nell stepped forward and wrapped her arms around the shaggy-haired man and hugged him tightly. "Happy Birthday Deeks." Nell said quietly.
"Thanks." Deeks replied.
Then came Alyssa. Nell had rushed out to pick the little girl up from school while Deeks was working out in the gym earlier. Kensi had asked her for the favor, explaining that she should be involved with her adopted father's party with the rest of the gang.
"Heya munchkin." Deeks said with a smile, as he scooped the little girl up into his arms. "Have a good day at school?" he asked her.
She nodded back. "Yes." She then went on to explain everything that her class had done that day, and Deeks listened intently to every word she said.
"Wow, sounds like you had a really fun day." Deeks said after the little girl had finished her story. "I didn't really have any fun today…well, except for right now." He said with a wink.
Then Alyssa handed her adopted father a folded up sheet of paper. "Happy Birthday." She said sweetly as she handed Deeks the sheet of paper.
Deeks took the sheet of paper and unfolded it in his free hand, and read it to himself. It was a progress report from Alyssa's kindergarten class. As Deeks read it to himself, he saw that Alyssa had gotten all high marks in everything for the first nine weeks of class. "Good job!" he told her quietly as he planted a gentle kiss against the side of her head. "That's my girl."
"You like your present?" She asked the shaggy-haired man, looking into his eyes as they spoke.
Deeks smiled at the little girl. "It just might be my favorite." He told her quietly.
Alyssa hugged Deeks around the neck. "I love you." She whispered to him.
"I love you too, munchkin." He whispered back lovingly against her ear.
Suddenly a familiar floated across the room nearly drowning out all of the others with every word spoken. "Mr. Deeks," Hetty said as she entered the Ops Centre. "Let me wish you a very Happy Birthday."
"Aww, thanks Hetty." Deeks blushed a little bit. "Glad you make it."
"As am I." Hetty said with a nod. "Before we commence with the cutting of the cake, let me first present my gift to you, Mr. Deeks." The tiny woman walked towards Deeks, and once she was just a couple of feet away she produced a small, leather wallet-shaped object.
"Your papers just came through a few hours ago, and your request has been granted." Hetty told the liaison officer with a smile. She handed him the object she held in her hand. "I give you this on behalf of myself and Director Vance. Congratulations Mr. Deeks, you're now officially one of us." She said with a smile.
Deeks flipped open the leather wallet-like object, and found that it was a brand new NCIS badge with his name and photo attached to it.
"Thanks Hetty." Deeks told the tiny woman with a nod of his head.
Everyone in the room cheered for their friend.
Deeks looked at Alyssa, and showed her his new NCIS badge. "Know what this means munchkin?" he asked her.
She shook her head at Deeks. "No. What does it mean?" she asked.
"This means I'll be home for dinner every night from now on." He told her quietly. Alyssa hugged him again. She knew that he was referring to how upset she had been the last time an L.A.P.D. assignment had kept him away from her for three weeks straight.
"Good." Alyssa said quietly as she hugged the shaggy-haired man.
Kensi smiled at her lover and their adopted daughter from a distance. Over the last year and a half they had both settled into their new parental roles exceptionally well, and they couldn't be happier with the way things were going even if they wanted too.
The party was finally coming to a close, and Deeks looked like he was really enjoying himself. The gifts he'd gotten from his friends were awesome in his mind, and he couldn't wait to get them home later.
Eric and Nell had gone in together and had gotten Deeks a brand new surfboard. Deeks said he couldn't wait to try it out on the waves later.
From Sam, Deeks got his very own juicer just like the one that Sam himself used in his own home. Deeks smiled and told the muscular black man thanks for the gift. Sam offered to give him lessons on how best to utilize the juicer, but Deeks claimed that it wasn't necessary.
Callen's gift was probably the one that surprised him the most, or at least he thought so at that particular moment. He unwrapped the heavy box, and opened it up. Deeks' jaw nearly hit the floor when he saw what was inside the box.
"Wow." Was all he could say at first.
"I've noticed how you only carry one gun with you, and you usually leave that gun here at the end of the day. In my opinion, you need to have a backup nearby at all times…just in case you know." Callen explained.
"Thanks." Deeks said, as he shook the team leader's hand once again.
"You're welcome." Callen replied with a grin.
A little later as they all pitched in to help clean up the trash left over from Deeks' surprise party, Deeks grabbed Kensi by the hand and pulled her aside so that they could talk in private for a minute.
"Something wrong?" Kensi asked, hiding a fiendish smile.
"Not really." Deeks said, as he pulled his girlfriend into a kiss. "Except, you're the only one who hasn't given me a present. I'm just curious as to why." He explained.
Kensi smiled up at Deeks. "That's because my gift to you isn't here yet." She told him.
"Why not?" Deeks asked, curiously.
Kensi's smile got bigger as she stood there with Deeks. "Because its not. You'll just have to wait for it." She told him.
"Wait?" For how long?" he demanded.
Kensi's smile got even bigger after that. She had been waiting for almost a week and a half to deliver this particular bit of news to the shaggy-haired man.
"Not long." She teased him.
"Kensi, how long?" he demanded even more firmly the second time.
Kensi feigned thoughtfulness for a brief moment, and then her smile widened even more. "Oh, about nine months." She told him with a grin, as she pulled away and headed back out to help with the clean up of the Ops Centre.
Deeks stood silently in thought for a moment—slightly confused my Kensi's statement.
"Nine months? Kensi, why Nine mon-" Suddenly realization dawned on him, and his eyes got real big. He darted back into the Ops Centre chasing after the beautiful brunette.
"Kensi, are you saying what I think you're saying?" he called across the room to his girlfriend.
Kensi looked across the room at her lover, and winked at him with a grin.
Deeks stood frozen in place staring off into space as he took in everything and processed it for a brief moment. Kensi wasn't kidding about what she'd said.
Then a small smile played across his own lips, and it was all he could do to contain his joy.
…THE END…
…Fear not my intrepid fan fiction readers, for I will soon be posting some more one-shots related to my series 'Alyssa', so just hang in there and bear with me. Hope you guys enjoyed reading this one as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thanks Again!