Daddy’s Little Girl: Drabble 02/16/23

Posted on February 16, 2023 by Em in Drabble // 0 Comments

A/N: The title is a reference to the song “Daddy’s Little Girl”. The version I’ve always heard is by The Mills Brothers.

“I remember taking late night walks with my parents when I was little,” Rosa said, walking between Kensi and Deeks, ice cream cones in each of their hands. She paused to lick a quickly descending drip from the cone before continuing. “We would go on hot nights after the sun set and walk to the street vendors to buy paletas or other snacks.”

Deeks smiled at Rosa’s soft expression as she reminisced about her parents. He was glad she didn’t feel uncomfortable sharing such private and potentially painful memories.

“That’s a beautiful memory, Rosa. I used to go on long walks with my dad too,” Kensi shared. “Or hiking. He was really into fitness and strength. But he also had a massive sweet tooth. So, we’d usually stop for pancakes, French toast, cinnamon rolls, whatever we could find.”

“Which explains so much,” Deeks teased, reaching over to tweak Kensi’s cheek when she stuck her tongue out at him. “Mrs. Reese’s cups for breakfast.”

“Ok, now you’re just making stuff up,” Kensi said, shaking her head at him in exasperation as Rosa fought back a round of giggles. “Anyway, one of my earliest memories is sitting on my dad’s shoulders walking back from the beach. I think I was about three. It was so late, and the path back seemed like it was ten miles long, I started crying, and Dad scooped me up and plopped me on his shoulders.”

“Oh, I remember Papá carrying me on my shoulders too! I would always get tired on the way back and put on a big show until he picked up and carried me the rest of the way home. Many times, I fell asleep before we made it there.”

“Yeah, Dad would tell me that I was a big girl and could do it, but he’d always end up caving in the end.” Finishing off the rest of her cone, Kensi licked her fingers. “When I was older, we’d make up games to get through the longer hikes or compete against each other and the loser had to wash the dishes or laundry.”

“And therein began a lifelong competitiveness and loathing for household chores.”

“Hey, I do the dishes at least once a week,” Kensi protested. “Sometimes twice.”

“What about you, Marty? What are your memories?” Rosa asked a few minutes later, phrasing the second question carefully. Deeks appreciated that she didn’t shy away from the topic altogether.

Deeks didn’t answer right away. He could be completely honest and tell Rosa that he couldn’t think of one moment with his dad that wasn’t marred by something terrible. She knew some of his past, but not everything. Or he could twist things into a fairytale version and keep with the light, happy mood. He decided on something in between.

“As you can probably guess, I don’t have a lot of good memories of my dad. He wasn’t a walk on the beach kind of guy,” he began. Deeks felt Kensi squeeze his hand and flashed her a smile of reassurance. He wasn’t going to fall to pieces over this. “I do have this, uh, vague image of playing catch with him when I was about four or five. Though I don’t know if it counts as catch if you miss 80% of the time.”

“You never told me about that,” Kensi said.

“Kens, I’m not entirely sure that I didn’t invent it to give myself a good memory with the guy.” He shrugged, hoping that Kensi wasn’t hurt, but when he looked her way again, she seemed concerned and much a little curious. “Maybe… I just wanted to have something connected to him that wasn’t completely awful. I don’t know.” He sighed deeply, looking out across horizon, just barely lit by the setting sun. “I’ve never had the courage to ask my mom in case I wasn’t real.”

“Oh baby,” Kensi murmured, cupping his cheek.

“Marty, I’m sorry if I brought up bad memories. I didn’t mean to,” Rosa said, contrite. “It’s OK, Rose. I like hearing about other people’s relationships with their fathers. It gives me hope,” he assured her. Smiling to himself, he recalled a day from when he was maybe thirteen. “And, it reminds me of going down to the beach or walking to the park with my mom when she had time. She’d always insist on packing a lunch and if we had the extra cash, we’d get a fudgsicle before we left.”

“I’m glad you have those memories,” Rosa said, reaching out with just the smallest touch of hesitation to take his other hand.

“Me too. And you know what’s even better?”

“What?”

He smiled down at Kensi, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her close. On his other side, Rosa leaned her head on his shoulder. “That I get the opportunity to make these memories with you guys,” he answered kissing them each on the temple. “Means the world to me.”

A/N: This fic isn’t connected to a particular episode. I like to think that being a father, even if isn’t how some fans imagined, is extremely healing and affirming for Deeks.