Marty Deeks has to work out his relationships with his partners. One is the love of his life, but she is no longer available to him. The other has always been there, but can he love her enough?
Disclaimer: The characters and sets of NCIS:LA are all owned by CBS, Donald P. Bellisario, and Shane Brennan. I only own a copy of the DVDs from season 1-5. I do get to play with everyone, but they all have to be home by curfew.
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Do Not Speak Ill of the Dead
Chapter 1
. . . . .
South Bureau Police Building, Los Angeles || March 2010
Marty Deeks was called into the office of LAPD Lieutenant Roger Bates. The Lieutenant sat him down and just glared at him. Deeks knew that what was going to transpire was not something he was going to want to hear.
Bates slammed his hand flat on the top of his desk, making an explosive noise that made Deeks jump in his chair. "Damn it, Deeks. This is the third handler that has given up on you. Why the hell can't you work with them?"
Deeks quickly recovered his composure and looked back at the Lieutenant with an angry, piercing look "Shit. They just don't care about me. This yo-yo told me that when he clocks out here, he's off the job. Don't bother to call him after 10:00 PM. How's an undercover cop supposed to work a 9 to 5 job?"
"I don't know what the heck to do with you anymore, Deeks. You've run me out of handlers for you. There's nobody I can put you with."
"You can't put me back into the squad room. God, nobody wants to partner with me. I'm treated like shit there."
"One last possibility. I've got a friend, Robert Murray, in another jurisdiction. He needs to move one of his people. I'll have her down here by the end of the week. Let's see if you can work with her."
"Her? Come on, a female handler? Geeze, Bates, what are you trying to do to me?"
"More than just a handler, Deeks. When you are not undercover, she will be your partner too."
"Partner? Hell, you know I work alone. I don't do partners. Besides, after one day, nobody ever wants to partner with me again."
"You brought it on yourself, Deeks. You ran everybody else off. She will be new and know nothing about you at all. You will work with her. This is your absolute last chance."
"Shit."
Chicago || 2006
Jess Traynor was born Karen Hendricks. She grew up in Chicago and lived most of her life predominately on the north side of the city. Karen got her associates degree in Criminal Justice/Safety Studies at Wilbur Wright College, one of the City Colleges of Chicago and then received her undergraduate degree in Criminology, Law, and Justice at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She applied for and took the Chicago Police Exam, became a Probationary Police Officer while she attended the Training Academy and graduated. For five years, she was a good Chicago cop and was promoted to the rank of detective. She was assigned to the Youth Drug Enforcement Squad and did her job well. Then one night she arrested Dominic Rovero, a member of the Carducci crime family for selling heroin to a bunch of young adults.
He was put into a holding cell, waiting for his lawyer to come and bail him out. Before he could be brought up for arraignment, Tony Hernandez, 'the Showman Snowman', a minor street dealer was dropped into the cell with him. He recognized Dominic as the guy who sold him a bad lot of china white heroin a couple of months before. There was a scuffle and Dominic was found on the floor, shanked in the belly with a homemade knife. He bled out before anyone found him and provided him with medical attention.
Somehow a member of the Carducci family found out that Karen was the arresting officer. Two nights later, while she was out patrolling the streets, her home was broken into. Her father, her mother, and her younger brother were all brutally murdered. Her 68-year-old grandmother was left alive, just barely They beat her almost senseless and left her with a message. 'For every one of ours you take, we take three of yours.' To make sure that the message was understood, it was also painted on the wall in the victims' blood.
Of course, there were no witnesses. No one was ever charged with the three murders. Every single one of the Carducci family had an airtight alibi. They all were at a family dinner to honor their patriarch, Emilio Carducci. That evening he announced that his eldest son, Joseph, would be the one in charge of the family business. Emilio just wanted to spend his time traveling the world with his wife.
Karen suffered a nervous breakdown. Her superior, Captain Murray, put her on medical leave. After intense therapy, when she came back, he advised her to transfer to a different division. In fact, he thought it would be best if she got out of police work in any major city. The Carducci crime family had too many connections throughout the country for her to be completely free of them.
He got her an appointment to FLETC where she graduated. For three years, she was with the FBI. Mindful of her background with the Carducci family in Chicago, the Bureau had her doing mostly back up investigative work, hesitating to send her undercover, or use her as part of the primary teams involving drug busts, human trafficking, or anything else that the major cartels specialized in.
Karen was never happy with this arrangement. She felt like she was always being baby-sat. She knew that any further involvement with the Carducci family would mean that her grandmother would be killed, and she was the only family that she had left. But still, it upset her that it seemed like a federal agency was taking orders from a crime family.
Captain Murray, knowing how unhappy she was there at the Bureau, tried to find a way to help her. First he found a very sympathetic judge. They had pulled in a floater in the Chicago River. The female victim came close to Karen's description, but the body had started to decompose already so very few details could be determined. An autopsy was performed, and the judge declared that the deceased woman was indeed Karen Hendricks. This unknown woman's body was buried under Karen's name. Karen Hendricks ceased to exist. The original owner of the name had been provided with a brand new identity. Jess Traynor was born that day.
But she still looked too close to the woman the Carduccis would remember. So she requested a transfer, as far from Chicago as possible. Out to LA
South Bureau Police Building, Los Angeles || March, 2010
At the end of the week Bates called Deeks into his office again. There was a woman waiting there with him.
"Marty Deeks, meet your new handler and partner, Jess Traynor"
Jess got up and turned around. Deeks was immediately struck by the beauty of the young woman. Although she was wearing flats, she was only about six inches shorter than he was. Her long hair was a deep, dark brown. He looked her in the eye, and saw they were colored black. Her warm, olive skin tones gave hm absolutely no idea what her racial heritage could be. If anything, he guessed it might be somewhere in the Mediterranean.
His first thought was to run, don't walk, to the nearest exit. Don't turn around to look back. Just keep running until he was as far away as he could possibly get.
Instead, he shook her hand. It was nothing like he ever felt before. They made an immediately connection.
"Okay, the two of you get together somewhere and work it out between you how this is gonna work. I don't want to hear Deeks complaining."
She looked at Marty and asked him, "When and where do you wanna meet?"
"Not here, how about on the beach?"
"Okay with me."
"Do you surf?"
"No. I never had the chance to learn."
"Do you wanna learn?'
She gave him an upraised eye for an answer.
"Do you have a swimsuit?" he asked.
"Yeah, why?"
"I mean a sturdy one-piece suit, not a bikini that will fall off of you when someone looks at you sideways."
"Yeah, sooo?"
"Wear it tomorrow morning. If you want, wear a cover-up. Bring a go bag with a change of clothes along with you. Give me your address and I will pick you up at 6:00 AM."
Jess looked at Lt. Bates, who just shrugged his shoulders. She wrote her address on a post-it note and handed it to him.
Deeks just told the Lt. that they would be in tomorrow after 1:00 PM, ready for work, then left.
Santa Monica Beach || March, 2010
Deeks was ten minutes early picking her up. She saw him walking up to the door of her apartment building and went down to meet him.
"You ready?" Deeks asked
Jess pulled the sundress over her head and pirouetted before him. "Does this meet your approval?" she asked, showing him the white swimsuit from all angles.
Damn, Deeks thought. She is one fine looking woman.
"It's not me that has to approve. It's Amelio."
"And just who is Amelio"
"You'll see."
Ten minutes later Deeks pulled his car up in front of Amelio's Surf Shop. It looked like it was closed but he went and pounded on the front door anyway.
"Amelio, my man. Thank you for opening up so early just for me."
"Anything for you, Marty."
"Actually, Amelio, it's not for me. It's for my new friend, Jess, who wants to learn how to surf."
Amelio looked at her and asked, "You sure you want to let this psychopathic beach bum teach you to surf. You look smarter than that." He was laughing as he said it, so Jess knew that these two men were good friends.
"Okay, take off your dress." he said to Jess, then adding to Marty, "I hope you told her to wear something decent under it."
"Ohhhhh, yeah," Deeks said.
Amelio had her turn around, looking at her from top to bottom. He turned and went into the back of his shop, telling them on the way, "I think I have just what you need."
Five minutes later he was back with a package in his hand. "Jess, come closer and give your dress to Marty. Now, just stand there." He shook out the package and held up a white, long sleeved wet suit up to her body. "Yes, I think this will work just fine." He opened the zippers and explained how she should put it on, then led her to a small dressing area to try it.
She came out shortly wearing the garment. If she looked good in just her swimsuit, she looked fabulous in her wet suit.
Amelio turned to Deeks and asked, "So, you wanna pick out a board for her or should I?'
"I'll do it. You gotta remember that she's with me."
"Damn, you pretty boys get all the hot girls. Just remember," he said to Jess with an exaggerated wink of his eye, "if pretty boy doesn't work out, I'll be here waiting."
Deeks laughed and said to him, "Down, boy. How much I owe you for all this?"
"We'll settle up when you find out if you are keeping her or throwing her back. Now get out on the water. The waves are gonna be perfect for beginners today, and I mean you, Marty, not her."
Deeks picked out a board for her and strapped it on the top of his car next to his own. They drove a little further down the beach and parked the car. Walking out onto the beach, Deeks spread out a blanket, and they left most of their stuff there. They walked down to the waterline and out into the ocean.
"What do we do first," Jess asked.
"First we're going to try a little trust exercise. Let's walk out till we're waist deep. You hop up on your board. Stretch your arms out as far as you can and grab the edges of the board with your fingers. Now curl your toes underneath the edges of the board. A wetsuit is made to be worn wet. So I'm gonna flip you and then flip you back. I'm gonna do the same thing when we're out in the deeper water. I'll let you do it to me here, but until you're more comfortable with your board, I'll do it for myself out in the deeper water, okay?"
He flipped Jess, so the bottom of her board was up on top. He flipped her again and she came back up to the surface.
"Now, you trusted me on that, right?"
"Yeah."
"Jess, as my partner, you can always trust me to have your back."
"Good to know."
"Now, you wanna do it to me?"
"Sure," she said eagerly, with a twinkle in her smile.
She repeated his actions.
"Okay. We're both wet, Let's paddle out."
"Are we gonna be doing any surfing?" Jess was wondering if he was going to teach her, or if he just had some ulterior motives for getting her to the beach.
"I... kinda doubt it. I think we're just gonna stick on our boards, and just get to know one another, out there where it's just us, and the water, and the sun".
"What do you mean, sun?, she asked looking at the sky. It was still twilight, and a thin haze seemed to be rolling in off of the ocean.
"Wait for it." he said as they continued to paddle out a ways.
"Okay, now turn around." he said, swiveling on his board and helping her turn hers around.
The sun was just beginning to peek over the mountains behind the city.
"God, that's beautiful." she sat there entranced at the beauty of the scene that was playing out before her.
"Thought you'd like it. That's one of the main reasons why I love the water so much. You can come out here, and the beauty of a sunrise or the power of the waves can easily strip away all the problems and stress that had been building up within you,"
They sat there just watching it for a little bit. Then Deeks turned to her and said, "Okay, what is there about Jess Traynor that I need to know?"
"Well, I'm 38 years old. I was born in Haiti, father was an American, mother was a Haitian. We lived there for three years, then we moved to Chicago.
She grew silent for a few moments, until Deeks looked at her and said, "There's got to be more."
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