KC's job offer

KC still wasn't used to her short hair or the headache that came with the stitches, but at least they had removed the bullet. She'd woken up a few times, but never long enough to contact Callen or Kensi. She was sore, more so since she kept refusing most of the pain killers the hospital liked so much. As she opened her eyes, she saw a woman waiting there, obviously not a nurse, short but not small, under 5'0, in her late sixties or early seventies.

"Miss Landry, my name is Hetty and I want to talk to you about something."

"Hetty?" She knew who the woman was now, of course, she'd heard the stories from Kensi and Callen for years, but she wasn't sure what she was doing there. "Is Callen okay? Kensi?"

"Both are fine. I'm here about you. More specifically, about a job."

It was still sinking in that the aftermath of the firefight meant she could no longer be a Marine, now she was approaching her about a job? "I'm not an NCIS agent."

"But you can be."

"I'm listening." She wasn't sure why, but she didn't have anything else to do.

"I want you to partner with Mr Deeks, while Miss Blye is on maternity leave."

"She's already on maternity leave?" She felt her head start hurting.

"Starting tomorrow."

"I don't know if you know this, but I was just shot in the head. I can't be there tomorrow."

"You can start in a week or two."

"I'd like to help Kensi out. I think that she would be more assured if someone she trusted was with Deeks, but I'll have to see how I feel. Can I let you know?"

"Of course." Hetty gave her a card with her number on it. "Get better quickly."

"Thank you." She still found herself being bewildered. She didn't even know Hetty knew who she was and now she had a job offer? On the other hand, she would get to see Callen more, get to actually experience Kensi being a mom, being an aunt herself.

Hetty left quickly as the doctor came in.
***********************
KC had her bag, scanning the hotel lobby casually, trying to find who she was to meet. Hetty hadn't said it was Deeks, but since she was supposed to be his partner, she was assuming it was him. She'd met him a handful of times, enough to know what he looked like, so she was totally unprepared for who showed up. Callen grinned when he saw KC. He ran over, pulling her into a hug. She kissed him, glad for the excuse of pretending to be married.

"How are you?"

She shook her head. Questions and explanations could wait until they were in private. They had a job to perform and she was trying to focus.

"I'm meeting someone that I'm meant to go undercover with."

"I know you've been working hard, darling, that's why I arranged this second honeymoon for us." She said. "Surprise." That part, at least, was genuine.

"It's you?" he whispered.

She nodded. He grinned again, keeping her wrapped in his arms as the went to their room. The bellhop waited for Callen to carry her across the threshold before closing the door with a smile. Only then did KC get nervous.

"Hey, you alright?"

She smiled. "Yeah. I'm fine." She'd never known him when she had short hair. Even when he'd first met her, it had been long. Her stitch was ugly to her. She knew all that didn't matter, it was an op, but it was still G.

"You know, short hair suits you," he said, as if reading her mind.

"I haven't worn it this short since Kens and I were kids." When they were living on the street, a time no one but Callen and Kensi knew about, where she'd had to keep it almost shaved to keep it clean.

"It looks great." He touched the stitches softly. "Let me kill them."

"C'mon, a couple more I'll catch up with you," she whispered softly, trying to joke.

"Never."

"You're not mad I didn't tell you I joined, are you?" She asked, sitting down on the bed. One of the reasons Hetty had picked her for this assignment was that it should be easy, let her gain her strength back.

"No. Of course not."

"Hetty was just sitting there when I woke up and asked me. I thought it would be a way to help Kensi, a way to see both of you more often. I missed you."

"I missed you too baby."

She smiled.

"I'm glad you joined."

"So am I."

"You know you're working with Deeks normally?"

"Yeah, for a few months until Kensi gets back to normal, then I'm working with her."

"And Deeks is going to take time off to be a father."

"I can't believe he's going to do that."

"Me either, but he chose to."

"No, I mean, I think it's really cool. Most guys would want the woman to be the one to stay home, to take care of the kid. It's great that he wants to be involved to that extent."

"He's a kid himself."

She smiled. "Babe, he's older than Kensi and I are."

"Doesn't mean anything. Poor Kens."

"Poor Kens nothing. She loves him. I think it's good for her, that she's going to be that happy. And if being a mom is what makes her happy, more power to her. You couldn't possibly find someone who loves her more than Deeks loves her."

"Yeah, that's true." He sounded so wistful.

"What? What is it?" She was confused now.

"Nothing. Just thinking."

"About?"

"Kids."

"They're not contagious, babe. You love Kam and you're gonna love this one too."

"Yeah, I meant that I think I want one."

"Since when?"

"Not sure, I think maybe when Kensi told us she was going to be a mum."

She started to run her hand through her hair, only to find it wasn't there anymore, feeling like a phantom limb. "Can we possibly talk about this after our assignment?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry, I didn't mean anything."

"You need to decide if that's true or not and then we'll talk."

"You promise?"

"Of course."

He smiled happily.
******************
Callen watched Sam carefully. When it seemed like Sam was being spotted, KC kissed Callen, enough to distract everyone in the lobby, even Sam momentarily. Callen kissed her back, loving the feel of her lips on his. She kept going long enough to buy Sam the time he needed and then some, breaking only to catch a breath. Callen finally looked at his partner, glad that he was okay. Sam disappeared into a crowd and finally their job was over.

"Want to go back upstairs?"

She nodded. "Maybe one more night."

"Just one?"

She kissed him again in response. Callen grinned as they finally were able to be together in peace. They went back to the room they had secured for at least one more night.

"Hungry? We could get room service."

"Not particularly. We can eat if you want though." She hadn't regained her appetite yet.

"I'm good." He pulled her to him.

"I believe we were going to have a conversation, after we finished this case. It might not hurt to have two."

"Two? You mean kids?"

"No, two conversations."

"What's the second one?"

"We've never talked about us, because it was impossible. There were a million different reasons why it was better just to take each day at a time. I didn't know if you still wanted to do that or not."

"Hell no! I hated that, but you were right about it. I want a real relationship."

She smiled. "I never thought I'd hear you say that." She'd never thought she would say it either.

"Me either actually, but I really do."

"I do too. That makes your conversation a little easier, actually."

"About having a kid? If you don't want to, it's okay."

"I didn't say I didn't. I said I wouldn't talk about it while we were supposed to be working."

"I know, I just want you to know that it's you I want, and if I can't have kids that's fine, we'll just spoil Kam and Kensi's child."

"I wouldn't mind having a kid, but if we start a family, I want to talk about being foster parents or maybe foster to adopt, too."

"Really? That would be wonderful. I can't tell you how many times I wanted a permanent family."

"No one knows more than we do how important that is to a kid."

"Definitely. I think we should adopt both. There's a million kids looking for a family."

"Now that that's decided," she said, her arms around him.

"Fun time?"

"Definitely."

His smile got impossibly wide.

"But first." She took her cell phone and turned it off, then did the same with his.

"Great idea."

She kissed him again, as she had downstairs. He responded enthusiastically. They lay down on the bed and got to know each other again, this time no hurry, no rush, knowing they had all the time in the world together.
****************
Callen grabbed their bags and slung them over a shoulder so he could carry KC to the car. Normally she would insist that she could walk, but she lay her head against his shoulder, more tired than she'd wanted to admit. They'd stayed awake all night the past two nights, talking during the last night of the case, and 'practicing' the night before.

"Want something to eat?"

"Why don't we get something on the way home?" The word 'home' had a ring to it.

"Sure. What would you like?"

"What about Chinese? Or pizza?"

"Pizza sounds nice."

"And we can get a couple that would feed everyone. And Kens will be able to eat it."

"I can't wait to see her again."

"She's missed you. She keeps telling me that she can't wait for you to be an aunt. Does she know what happened?"

"No."

"She told me that she'd been having blood pressure problems, that Deeks was worried, she made it sound like he was just being silly, but...I didn't want to add any stress to her."

"You know she's going to be angry when she finds out you didn't tell her? But she's okay, the doctor said she'll be fine."

"I know. I just hope she'll appreciate my reasoning."

"I'm sure she will."

Deeks and Kensi were already there, waiting, when they arrived at Callen's house. Kensi was getting bigger but she still ran to the car, wanting the first hug from KC. KC hugged her as tightly as she dared, smiling when she felt a kick.

"The baby found their aunt!" Kensi exclaimed.

"Yes, they did. Do we know yet if I have a niece or a nephew?"

"We agreed to wait and be surprised."

"Cool."

"Now, are you going to be home until I have the baby?"

"Hetty and Deeks didn't tell you?" She looked at Deeks who shook his head.

"Tell me what? Hey, what happened to you?"

"Honey, let's go inside, okay?"

"Tell me."

"Inside." She added a "Please".

Kensi headed in, but turned as soon as they were in the living room.

"I'm not a Marine anymore. In fact, I'm an NCIS agent. I'm Deeks' partner until you're ready to come back and then yours then."

"What?"

"Hetty's request."

"Okay," she said slowly.

"So we good?"

"Only when you tell my why you shaved your hair again."

She turned, slowly, so that Kensi could see the stitches.

"Who the hell am I going to kill?" Her voice was full of anger.

"It doesn't matter, Kens. It's over." So is my career, she wanted to add. She liked spending time with them, but she'd been a Marine the majority of her life.

"It does matter. That was completely unfair!"

"What was unfair?"

"That they hurt you. Is that why you came to NCIS?"

"They're bad guys, Kens. It's kinda their job. And yes, that's why. And to be with you and Callen."

"It's mean. But if you stay, I'll be happy."

"I think I will too."

"Now, are you hungry? Deeks was about to cook."

"Honey, we got all that pizza, remember?"

"What pizza?" She hadn't noticed it, her attention had been on KC.

She laughed. "IN the kitchen, if the boys haven't eaten it all."

"Oh, let's go eat then."

She walked in with Kensi.

"You two okay?" Callen asked.

"We're fine."

"I'm hungry," said Kensi, leaning against Deeks.

"You want me to make you a plate?" He'd been catering to her lately, but couldn't help it.

"I can do it."

He nodded. "Okay."

She made two plates and gave one to him.

"Thanks, babe." He handed her the drink he'd gotten her.

"KC is going to stay."

"I know."

"How?"

"I know everything." He smiled. "Hetty."

"Why am I the only one that doesn't know?"

"I wanted KC to tell you."

KC had her eyes closed, her head against Callen's shoulder.

"Tell me what?" For the first time since she had gone on leave, she felt left out, hurt.

"That she was joining NCIS."

"Why didn't you just tell me?"

"Because I thought it was her place. I thought that you'd want it coming from her. I never thought she wasn't going to tell you."

"Why didn't you tell me KC?"

She raised her head and it was obvious that she had a headache. "I was going to. But the first day I was put on an undercover assignment. We've been on one since."

"What assignment?"

Callen answered this one for her. "Backing Sam up at a hotel. She's right, Kens. We've been on an undercover assignment for the last few days. I didn't know until I walked into the assignment."

"Does that mean the assignment is over? Cause I really want to go shopping with my bestie."

"Maybe you should wait a.."

KC shook her head. "It's okay, Kens. We can go whenever you want."

"Really? Tomorrow?"

She was relieved. "Tomorrow's great."

Kensi's smile grew. "Deeks, can we go home now?"

"Sure, babe. Are you okay?"

"Tired. And KC is too."

"I'm okay."

"I think she's got a good idea, baby. You've got a long time to be together," Callen told her gently.

"I really need to go lay down anyway. I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow," KC said as Callen walked out with them.