No Ordinary Love - G.Callen NCIS L.A

Chapter 51

Dee looked around their newly furnished living room as Grisha closed the door behind the last of their moving crew. "Thanks for coming Deekses!" she threw over her shoulder. "See you soon!"

Grisha grinned at her. "We did a lot today."

"We did."

He came walking in her direction and wrapped her in a hug. "Are you glad it's all done?"

"Beyond relieved. At least one major thing to check off my list." She held tight. "Now I can finally go and set a date to open the cafe, and not worry about the house, because the house is all done."

"I'm sorry I wasn't around much," Grisha mumbled in her hair. "I know you've been running around like a mad woman to get everything done in time. I wish I would've been around to help you out."

Shrugging, Dee lifted her up her face to his. "It's all right. Your dad's been a great help. He packed our house, and in between me meeting with Jess, and having people running around here, and moving, we even managed to squeeze in time to buy him some new furniture."

"Still." Tucking hair behind her ear he sighed. "I should've been here, though. I wish I could've been here."

"You're here now."

"Everyone was here today. Especially these last five weeks I've been..."

"Running around like a mad man trying to keep us all safe," Dee interrupted. "Babe, it's fine. It's done. We're moved. Almost everything is in place thanks all our amazing friends and family that helped us out today. Let's focus on planning an opening date for Indulge, and set a date for the wedding and zoom in on the positive side of things."

"You still sure you want to marry me?"

She poked his ribs. "I meant it when I said yes."

"I meant it when I asked, so that's good."

Everyone had showed up. Marty and Kensi, Sam and Michelle with Kamran, Jess and Ethan, Eric and Nell. Hetty had brought Tom and pizza around dinner time, and they had spent their first night in the garden. Dee was already looking forward to more nights like these.

"Are you going to miss the old house?" she questioned.

"Maybe a little," Grisha admitted. "I'm grateful for all the memories, and it was a good starting place for putting down roots, but this is a new chapter. And after everything, I want you to feel safe at home. I want to know you're safe at home. And that will always outweigh where we live."

"Okay." She yawned. "I'm going to fill that wonderful tub in our bathroom. You gonna join?"

"In a moment. I want to see how Garrison is doing." He pressed a kiss to the side of her head. "But by all means, save some warm water for me. I shouldn't be long."

Grisha watched his father's cottage from a distance. If there was one thing he had never thought would happen, it was that his father would be living this close by. But he was, and Grisha appreciated Dee's efforts in making it happen. The lights were still on and Grisha knocked. "Garrison?"

"Grisha." Garrison opened the door, pleasantly surprised. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah. Just wanted to know if you've settled in."

Opening the door further, Garrison stepped back. "I have."

Stepping into the small house, Grisha let his eyes wander around. He'd seen the furniture his father had picked only briefly when Deeks and Sam had unloaded it from the truck, but he had been busy with other things to pay close enough attention to it. One thing was clear as day, though. He snickered. "Did Dee take you to her favorite shops?"

Garrison laughed too. "Somehow she understood that I wasn't going to buy all new things."

"She has a thing for understanding what we mean." It was sparsely furnished and it reminded Grisha of the way his house had looked for so long. "Are you sure this is all you need?"

His father shrugged. "For now. Maybe when it's dawned that I'm going to stay here for a while, I might add a few things. But for now this is all I wanted."

It was something Grisha only understood too well. "As long as you're happy." Grisha paused. "How did the bathroom turn out? Dee said that there were some problems and it took longer than expected."

"Come see."

After a brief tour of the house, Grisha stopped again by the door. He paused, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his jeans. "I wanted to thank you. For helping Dee out when I was away. It was my responsibility, but I really appreciate the way that you've stepped up and helped her out with moving. Thank you for that."

"It was the least I could do," Garrison softly said.

Grisha shook his head. "No dad, really. She was going crazy trying to juggle three things at once, and taking over the packing of the house was a big deal. So thank you." When it dawned on him what he'd said, the two men looked at each other, trying to gauge reactions. Grisha cleared his throat. "Let's try and spent a bit more time together, okay?"

"You go and spent some time with your fiancée first."

"I will. Hetty has given me a long weekend somewhere, so I'm going to try and block a weekend before she opens the café. But once that's up and running, we should go and catch a game, or something."

"I'd like that."

"Yeah, me too." Grisha gave the place one last glance and opened the door. "Let us know if there's something you're missing? Or if something's not working? Or if you want coffee?"

"I'll be fine. Thank you, Grisha."

"You're welcome."

He found his fiancée, as predicted, in the bathtub, her eyes closed, humming to a slow tune. Leaning against the doorframe, he took her in, not saying a word.

Dee opened an eye. "Are you going to stand there or are you going to come and join me?" Then she noticed his stance and opened her other eye as well. "What is it?"

"I called him dad."

Dee wasn't all that surprised. She'd known it was coming for a while. "Just like that?"

He frowned. "You don't sound surprised."

"I'm not. Not really. You've been brooding over it for a little while."

He chuckled. "Sometimes I think I'm getting more transparent by the day."

"Only with me."

"I'm still not entirely sure he deserves it, though."

"To be called dad?"

"Yeah."

"Then why did you?"

Shrugging, he let his breath out. "I said thank you for helping you while I was away. And he wanted to shrug it off like it was no big deal."

"Was it a big deal?"

"Well, yes. I'm not used to parents helping out." She arched an eyebrow. "Fine, I'm used to Hetty helping out," Grisha relented. "I'm not used to him helping out."

"That's just because he hasn't been around. He's around now."

He still wasn't convinced. "Yeah."

Deja rolled her eyes. "Babe, much as I love you, you have to stop fighting this. He's here. He's around. He's living in our garden for crying out loud. You can't keep punishing him or yourself for everything that's happened in the past. So you've called him dad. That's good. You don't have to do it all the time. Just the fact that you did means there's room to grow closer."

Taking a deep breath, he nodded his head. "I know."

"Good. Now get out of those clothes and come join me in the tub and celebrate the fact that we've moved. Everything else, we'll handle in the morning."

This time, he didn't need convincing.