No Ordinary Love - G.Callen NCIS L.A

Chapter 18

Sunlight filtered through the window when the alarm went off. Hitting the snooze button, Grisha snuggled in closer to Dee, burying his nose in her neck. Dee smiled. "Isn't it time to get up?"

"Ten more minutes," he murmured.

So ten more minutes it was. Dee loved these moments in the early morning. They didn't have to jump out of bed the moment the alarm went off. It was a well-established morning ritual by now. Ten minutes later, they were up. Deja tied her hair in a ponytail. "You shower, me breakfast?"

Grisha pouted. "Not joining me?"

"Not if you want buttermilk pancakes for breakfast."

"Mmm..." Buttermilk pancakes had become a fast favorite breakfast item. "Throw in some blueberries and I'll let it slide."

"Done."

By the time he was out of the shower, she'd brushed her teeth, had gotten dressed and was downstairs in the kitchen, mixing batter. They tried to have breakfast together every morning, even when she had the early shift at Indulge, especially since Grisha couldn't really say when he was done and there was no way of knowing whether they'd have dinner together. She made tea and threw the back door open for some fresh air, when she heard his voice from upstairs. "Dee, have you seen my watch?"

She rolled her eyes. Same story almost every morning. "Night stand? Dresser?" She threw a glance in the direction of the living room. "It's on the coffee table."

A few moments later he was downstairs, buttoning his shirt. "How is it that I always displace my watch?"

Setting the teapot on the table, she shook her head. "I don't know. It's like your keys. We have a perfectly good bowl right next to the front door to keep things like that in, but do you ever use it?"

He wrapped his arms around her and rested his head on her shoulder. "Yeah, but why use it when you can tell me where I've left them?"

"The whole point of having a designated place is that I don't have to tell them where you've left them."

Sighing, he pressed a kiss to the bare skin where her shoulder and neck met. "Fine. I'll try and keep them in the same place, but I'm not making any promises."

"I know." She handed him plates and a bowl of blueberries. "You want honey or maple syrup?"

"Maple syrup."

Within a minute, they were sitting at the table. Grisha leafing through the paper and Dee through a food magazine. "When exactly are your parents coming?" Grisha asked, breaking the comfortable silence.

Swallowing her bite, Dee looked up. "About that... They've pushed the date back a bit. They're not coming until the end of April, instead of halfway through."

"Something with your Grandmother?"

"Oh no, Nanna's fine. Something about Dad's work. He's got some important meetings in Amsterdam first that he can't push back, so they're doing that first and then coming over here."

"What exactly is it that your dad does?" He wasn't sure anymore they'd covered that yet. If they had, he couldn't remember.

"CEO of Airbus. He has one of his board meetings, then he and Mom decided to stay a week in Amsterdam and then fly up to LA. Which delays their arrival by a week. Mom was talking about the 27th, I think."

For a moment, Grisha stared at her. "Your dad is CEO of Airbus?"

"He is."

"And your mother?"

She added more walnuts and blueberries to her pancakes. "My mother... She used to work as the event manager of the Hilton in London; that's how she met my dad. Now she manages their apartment in London and every party she hosts there." Smiling, she reached for her teacup. "She takes care of Nanna now, too."

He let all of it sink in for a moment. "Does that mean that you're used to private jets and hotel suites? Because I'm not entirely sure we're ever going to able to afford that."

Surprised, she shook her head. "I haven't seen a private jet in fifteen years, and I prefer a small scale B&B over a hotel suite any day." Reaching over, she squeezed his hand. "I'm perfectly happy with what we have. Don't worry about not being able to afford luxuries like private jets and hotel suites. Don't need them. I have you, which is way better than all of that combined."

He seemed to take her word for it. "Okay."

"Okay." She took the last bite of her breakfast, and put her fork down.

"We should have them over for dinner." He wasn't even sure why he was suggesting that. Never having met future in-laws before, he wasn't sure what to expect.

"We will." She nudged his shoulder as they loaded up the dishwasher. "Have a good day at work, babe. You coming to the café tonight?"

He let himself be guided to the door, picking up his bag and putting his gun in the waistband of his jeans. "I'll let you know. There might be things today, and otherwise I should be home at a sort of decent hour."

"One of these days you're going to have to tell me what exactly it is you do," she said, handing him his lunch.

He'd been thinking about that, too. He had to talk to Hetty. Of course he couldn't show her Ops, but maybe he could take her to the boat shed to give her some idea of what it was he did. He pressed a lingering kiss to her lips. "I'm working on it. It's not that easy to explain without giving up a few secrets that I'm bound to keep."

Dee could understand that. "Well, as long as you do your best to come back to me, I'm not going to be too worried."

One last kiss and he was on the other side of the door. "Oh, trust me babe, you're the reason why I pay extra attention every day."

"Good. Be careful, I love you."

He smiled, never bored with hearing that. "One of these days I'm going to tell you that."

That grin he loved so much lit up her face. "I know. Now, go!"

"See you tonight." He caught the kiss she blew him and disappeared into the car. He hadn't thought she'd been all that serious about introducing him to her parents, but apparently, she was. And it scared the hell out of him.