Secrets, Lies and Omissions of Truth - An NCIS Los Angeles Fanfiction

A secret, something that is kept; or meant to be kept unknown or hidden from others. When working for NCIS Office of Special Projects, one adjusts to living a clandestine lifestyle.

A lie is a statement that is known or intended by its source to be misleading, inaccurate, or false. The practice of communicating lies is called lying, and a person who communicates a lie may be termed a liar.

As a former lawyer turned police detective Martin Deeks had a very clear knowledge of the definition of a lie, and a moral viewpoint on lying. As an undercover cop he also understood that some lies or omissions of truth can equal not just his life, but the lives of those he cares about..

An omission is when a person tells most of the truth, but leaves out a few key facts that therefore completely change the story. Also known as a continuing misrepresentation, a lie by omission occurs when an important fact is left out in order to foster a misconception. Lying by omission includes failures to correct pre-existing misconceptions. Being part of NCIS Deeks has learned that these omissions and white lies can ensure the safety of those he loves

Chapter One - Dad Jokes

Deeks stood in front of Callen and Sam holding the ziplock bag containing a red herring. He was proud of the joke. He had been reading a book on jokes he had received for Father's Day. It was the kind of lame 'Dad joke' that would have his son Eli rolling his eyes, hence the gift. Deeks was pleased to see a smile appear upon Sam's face he too could appreciate the humour. It was a dad thing. A shout from a familiar voice behind him, caused the blonde man to turn sharply forgetting his fish causing a ruckus with the uniforms standing guard at the entry to the fish market, was Talia Del Campo. The mother of his son Eli. Yeah, It was a very long story.

He unconsciously stepped towards her, his natural instinct to protect her taking over. As she approached he made a calming shushing sound, placing a hand on her upper arm. Talia rushed past him, firmly shoving him with her elbow as he tried to stop her. Talia had been undercover for a few weeks now, so Deeks played his part pretending she was just another civilian. The last thing he wanted to do was break her cover and place the mother of his child in danger. As Callen and Sam began to question Talia out on the dock behind the fish market Marty remained casual keeping his distance, until he noticed her struggling to get her words out. She seemed stressed pacing slightly as she spoke. A light sweat had broken out across her brow and she appeared breathless. Callen bet him to the punch asking if she was ok. But Deeks knew better than to trust her answer, something was wrong even though Talia brushed Callen off with "I'm fine". Talia was avoiding his eye contact knowing he could see through her lie. His heart jumped to his throat when she suddenly collapsed, preventing him from uttering a word. He grasped her hand firmly an innate action, as Sam and Callen lowered her down on the wooden pallet. Keeping his hold as Sam discovered the stone fish spines embedded in her ankle. Deeks followed Sam's instructions barely aware of his actions as he completed the required tasks, his mind full of dizzying concern and panic.

Some time later Deeks found himself glaring angrily at that very same woman as she signed the papers preventing the ambulance from taking her to hospital.

"Come on Talia. Think of Eli, go and get checked out by a doctor" he urged sliding his hands into his pockets out of frustration. His tone was low and he glanced around to ensure they were not being overheard. She ignored him continuing to make her mark on the paperwork.

"I will get pulled off the case Marty. Then all these weeks I have spend away from Eli will be for nothing" she growled back mirroring his frustration.

"Why weren't you working with a partner?" Marty continued his interrogation.

"because they complicate things...what's your excuse" Talia sighed irritation still evident in her tone. Deeks sighed as well walking away to inform Callen and Sam. Talia was dedicated to her job as much as Marty was to his, it was both an attractive and terrifying shared quality.

"She's a tough little lady" Sam commented appreciatively and Deeks internal voice grumbled "you don't know the half of it buddy" in agreement. The things he had seen Talia bounce back from over the years, flashing through his mind. least of all child birth.

He couldn't stop the smirk that rose to his lips however when Callen told him to charm Talia back at the boat shed for information. It was a little too late for that advice. Been there, done that and bought a souvenir t-shirt; as they say. Besides after ten years Marty was pretty sure his charms had worn off on her.

During the car ride to the boat shed Deeks said very little, Talia seemed thankful for this taking the opportunity to close her eyes and rest. They had been through alot together since first meeting almost ten years ago at a Los Angeles police academy undercover training course. His charms had definitely worked on her back then although she would probably deny that until she was blue in the face. Their brief week long romantic relationship ended when the course did, however the pair were destined to be in each other's lives apparently, because four months later when Deeks phone rang in the middle of the night it was Talia's name that lit up his screen. She was pregnant. His world was spun upside down when he became a father. Although not an easy task Talia and Martin had managed to make co-parenting work, so far. They understood the demands of each other's jobs better than most, being in similar fields. It was this understanding and their desire to give their son a better childhood than their own that motivated them through the challenges of their lifestyle. They had purchased a family home together while still maintaining Martin's apartment for when one of them might need some space from their co-habitation. It had initially when Eli was a toddler had been a week on, week off parenting arrangement. Talia would live at the house with Eli and Deeks the apartment for a week, then come Friday evening they would swap. When they both began working undercover assignments this arrangement went out the window so to speak. Eli would live at the house with whichever parent was available at the time. Should their undercover assignments overlap there was always Roberta Deeks close by and very willing to dote upon her only grandchild until one of his parents returned home. This however had resulted in Eli going weeks at a time without contact with one parent. Deeks and Talia understood this was hard on their son, but hoped that one day he would be able to understand their passion to make this world a safer place for him. Their new flexible parenting plan also meant there were periods of time where Eli lived with both his parents. At first Talia and Martin loosely held a romantic relationship but found the stress of their jobs, the demands of parenthood and their limited knowledge of one another before living together, made successfully dating impossible. So they set boundaries for one another to ensure that they would not confuse each other about where they stood. They were co-parents and housemates nothing more. Although that had yet to stop their playful flirting.

Upon arriving at the boat shed it was clear Talia was not 100% ok. Marty made her tea the way she liked it and allowed her to brief him on what she knew, trying to keep it professional. Deeks had learned a long time ago that walls have eyes and ears at NCIS. So when Talia teasingly suggested he give her a deep tissue massage he awkwardly avoided her typical playful flirting. When she joked about needing a shot of tequila as he carried her to the bathroom though he found himself commenting before his brain had time to process and prevent his lips from moving.

"Yeah cause the last time we drank tequila shots together worked out so well for us." His comment ended with a humourless laugh, as he remembered the night their son was conceived. The brunette in his arms shrugged and offered a smile, her expression telling him he was right.

Once Talia was settled Deeks contacted the wonder twins in OPS getting an update on the case. His blue eyes cautiously followed Talia as she hobbled in from the bathroom, just in case she collapsed again or something. When the woman began responding to Eric and Nell with information about the case that was new to him, Marty frowned rounding on her.

"You wanna explain why you didn't share that with me." He accused annoyed she was keeping things about the case from him, considering their personal relationship. They had a long time ago learned not to share the dangers of their jobs with one another, the other parent didn't really need to know how close to becoming a solo parent they had come.

"Because it's my case and I already told you that." Talia responded territorially.

"Well technically it's my case" he retorted but was quickly cut off by Hetty who in her true Ninja style appeared out of nowhere with perfect timing to announce they would be partnering on this case. Deeks normally knew better than to argue with Hetty or Talia for that matter, but working alongside Talia didn't sound like a good idea. He had never been asked by NCIS about his personal life so he had never bothered to share, having Talia in the team complicated things. Deeks wasn't ready to let the proverbial cat out of the bag yet. He wanted to break the news to Kensi first, after all they are...were partners. And it's are hard enough to spill ones life secrets to someone they care about without the added complication of that someone currently being on the other side of the world with little access to communication devices. Although knowing his ninja boss it would not surprise him if Hetty already knew his secret This is Hetty and her mystical spy powers we are talking about.

"You want me to partner with..." Deeks cleared his throat. Then decided to introductions were in order. For Talia that is, Hetty is all knowing and all seeing.

"Talia Del Compo, this is Hetty Lange. My boss and I'm pretty sure she's the master of the universe." Talia smiled politely but was quick to veto the idea.

Attempting to put some professional distance between himself and Talia Deeks tried the rational and polite route.

"In all fairness Hetty, why are we even on this? It seems like the FBI and the DEA have it covered." He knew Talia had never told her boss either, purely because being a mother would make her look weak in this line of work. Hopefully that meant both of them could as Hetty suggested 'play nice' in order to keep their mutual secret. He stared down at Talia with a smirk on his face at Hetty's comment daring her to fight the issue with Hetty. It was always fun when someone underestimated Hetty's superpowers. Which of course the feisty Latina woman did. Deeks took his cue at the first chance he had, grabbing Talia's bag and ushering her out of the boat shed.

So it turns out Deeks worries over everyone finding out about his relationship with Talia really wasn't an issue. Their ability to work together as partners, now that was the real issue. It was quickly very obvious to Deeks why they had never worked as a romantic couple.

"Well I am starting to see why they don't give you a partner" Talia snapped smartly. Apparently agreeing with Deeks thoughts. He was really beginning to grate upon her last nerve. It was very clear to her where her son had inherited his powers of annoyance from. Deeks went quiet biting back his words as he grudgingly gave her access to the WiFi.

"And I have a partner" his tone was sulky like Eli when things were not going his way. Triggering Talia to use her same parental tone of disbelief as she replied.

"Really, where is he?" At hearing Martin's partner was a female. Talia instantly backed off. She understood that relationship better than most I mean look at the man seated across from her. They had once although very briefly been training partners. Talia also knew by his behaviour that his partner was not something to be discussed with her. Those invisible boundary lines they had long ago put in place suddenly appeared clearly drawn, right in front of her.

When everything was said and done with the case Marty drove Talia back to the fish market. She had to remain undercover a little longer although the NCIS case was closed the DEA one was still an open investigation, and for now her cover was secure.

"You know I picked up the fish van at 1am this morning" she commented looking at the clock on her phone. Things had been fairly quiet between them for the ride back.

"Yikes, bet you haven't had that little sleep since Eli began sleeping through the night." He joked. She grinned then read him the cliff notes of a text message she had just received. She finished it off with her own attempt at a 'Dad joke' making Marty smile almost proudly at her.

"you know you don't need me to tell you this, but you did good today" Marty complimented Talia. Having never formally worked with her before he had to admit he was impressed with her skills.

"Thank you, it was good working with you to, it was...different" Talia returned the gesture.

"Positive connotation right?" Deeks smirked

"Hmmm, give Eli a hug for me." She muttered in a mixture of sadness and exhaustion. He could only imagine how jealous she was that he could go home to their son while she was headed back undercover for an undetermined length of time.

"Of course" Talia gathered up her belongings.

"You know if you're ever a free agent the DEA's really not a bad place to work" she encouraged letting him know she enjoyed working with him today. Deeks smiled and nodded his understanding, knowing he was happy with NCIS; having found a home there.

"Good night partner" Talia fair welled Deeks with a tender fistbump against his shoulder.

Once he returned to OPS the team were excitedly preparing to go out for sushi. They pushed a little for Deeks to join them. He knew though that he had to get home. Eli was safe with his mom but Deeks had promised him just this morning that tonight after school he would help Eli finish his project for the school science fair. He hated disappointing his son and knew the kid would already be upset that his dad hadn't been home hours earlier. He politely told the team he was tired but would try and rally to join them later. Knowing that that would never happen, he would most likely go home reheat his mom's lasagna and spend the last of the evening trying to make flubber with Eli.

As he walked through his front door, abandoned his keys upon their hook and securely locked his gun into the gun safe. Marty heard only the soft sound of the television in the nearby family room. Monty approached slowly with a happy wag of his tail, he brushed passed Marty's side before trotting lazily back to his previous spot in the family room. Marty followed and Monty bounded back onto the sofa and tucked his head into Eli's lap. The boy was cuddled into his grandmother's side, a woollen blanket draped over his small frame. Both Marty's mother and son were asleep. The title page for a kids DVD replaying its theme tune quietly upon the tv screen, was the only source of light or sound in the room. The house still held the lingering smell of his mother's famous lasagna. Marty shifted Monty and the blanket out of the way. Scooping his son awkwardly into his arms. This was a lot easier when Eli had been younger. Now at 9 he was too big for this. Roberta stirred awake at the movement, offering her son a sympathetic smile.

"He had wanted to stay up and wait for you" Marty sighed his heart breaking knowing he had disappointed Eli. He carried his son clumsily up to his room and laid him down to sleep in his own bed. Upon returning to the kitchen Martin found his mom already microwaving him some lasagna as she began to wash up the pile of dishes in the sink.

"It's ok Ma, go to bed I can do those." He placed a hand on her shoulder. Roberta smiled but carried on.

"Nonsense you sit and eat, I bet you haven't done that all day. Besides it may be easier to replace some of these bowls. That slime stuff was horrendous to make." She joked trying to lighten her son's mood.

"Thank you...I promised him I would be home to do that with him tonight" Marty groaned frustrated with himself, as he moved around the counter and took as seat upon a stool.

"You shouldn't make promises you can't keep my boy... But Eli does understand." Roberta reminded her tired boy, reassuring him that he wasn't an awful parent.

"I saw Talia today, our cases crossed over, she was hurt...it was touch and go there for a little bit...all I could think about was Eli. What if one of us doesn't come home one day. Surely it's not good parenting putting ourselves in this much danger everyday." Roberta allowed him to ramble out his story, observing how his fingers tugged at his blonde locks out of stress.

"She's ok now though?...how many lives did you save today?...how many criminals are now off our streets thanks to your actions?" The string of rhetorical questions his mother ranted at him only making Marty sigh...sure the figures when said like that were great but was it really comparable to missing his son's life? Sensing he still needed some convincing Roberta continued as she placed the lasagna before him on the kitchen counter.

"Eli had a friend round to play yesterday. The first thing this boy asked was "where are your mom and dad?" Eli turned to this Jake kid and proudly told him "My dad's a cop and my mom's a special agent, if I told you where they are I would have to kill you, cause it's classified" Roberta let out a chuckle as she finished her tale. Deeks found himself grinning with pride at his son's joke. A real dad joke if he ever heard one.