Promises to Keep

Chapter 1

...

She was running away from him when he first saw her, oblivious to the shouts of her mother as she called for her to come and meet him. It made him laugh, but the look on her mother's face showed she was exasperated with her young daughter's actions and an embarrassed smile told him her wildness was not uncommon. He watched her slender, fleeting figure as she darted among the fruit trees, her yellow sundress flashing between the gray tree trunks. The smile remained on his face as he saw her look back briefly before disappearing behind a very old tree whose twisted shape was just wide enough to hide her. The grounds of her grandfather's orchard were littered with dying fruit lying in amongst the dirt clods and dried weeds and he stopped and knelt down to examine one of the apricots, turning his back to her to give her time to adjust to his presence and decide if she wanted to come out on her own. He knew she was nine years old and had spent a lot of time here, but that was about all. He had been assigned to protect her, so he needed to establish some kind of rapport and a level of trust he could count on.

"These are kinda small peaches, Mrs. Walters," Deeks said loud enough for the girl to hear.

Her mother looked quickly over at him and he winked and a small tremulous smile slowly graced her worried face. He knew she was afraid for her daughter and he could almost feel her fear, but he didn't want to rush the little girl, hoping instead to entice her to make the first move to interact with him.

"They're apricots," he heard her say softly, but adamantly from behind the tree. "Everybody knows that."

"Really? Apricots?" he said as he stood. "How can you tell?"

He turned toward her and skeptically tilted his head, keeping a perplexed look on his face with one eyebrow cocked dramatically until he saw her inch out from behind the tree, keeping her back in contact with its rough bark as she stared warily up at him.

"The leaves are kinda round," she said, before quickly looking down at her tattered red tennis shoes. "Peaches have long, narrow leaves."

She was a skinny little thing, wearing glasses with pale blue frames that tilted slightly on her face. Her hair was light brown and somewhat short, curling wildly around her head. He noticed the hem of her dress was ripped and dirty and a trace of dried blood clung to her skinned left knee, but she seemed unconcerned and looked slightly disgusted at his ignorance of fruit trees.

"Ruthie Fay you've spoiled your new dress," her mother said stridently as she moved toward her. "Were you up in the tree again?"

Ruthie nodded absently as she continued to stare at Deeks. She seemed startled as her mother took her arm, only looking up at her briefly before returning to look him over and appraise what she saw. She suddenly pulled free of her mother and walked over to the old tree and scrambled easily up into its gnarled limbs and settled sullenly in the crook of two of its branches, totally ignoring both of them and making him realize she wasn't going to be easy to get close to and that worried him, but didn't deter him. He decided to allow her the space she needed, sensing something familiar in her rejection of him and her odd behavior toward her mother. He studied her as she studiously ignored them both, seemingly lost in her own world. He saw that she would occasionally glance his way and knew she was just a little curious as to who he was and why he was here on her grandfather's property. After awhile, Deeks walked slowly up to the tree she was in and picked one of the ripe apricots clinging to a low-hanging branch, holding it up and examining it in the late morning sun.

"Is this a good one?" he asked, looking up at her with a pleasant grin.

"Yep. You can tell by the color and if it's soft," she said seriously. "Don't you know anything?"

"Apparently not much," he laughed, taking a bite out of the warm apricot and groaning with pleasure as its juice trickled down into his scruffy beard. "This is yummy. I bet you get to eat a lot of these."

"Pawpaw wouldn't let me eat too many. Said it would give me a stomach ache," she replied. "But he's dead now, so I'm gonna eat as many as I want to."

She looked at him with defiance and he saw the shimmer of tears in her eyes and his smile faded as he began to understand the depth of her sadness. She was the youngest of the three children and her mother had told him she had been the closest to her grandfather, a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the Marines. He had been killed trying to protect Ruthie's dad, his only son and a high level researcher with the Navy. From what Deeks had learned during the initial briefing, Ruthie had screamed at her father when he'd told the family what had happened, running away and scaring the hell out of her mother. When she was found, Paul Walters finally revealed to NCIS that he'd been receiving phone calls threatening his family if he didn't give a clandestine group certain information about a top secret project he was working on. It was the reason Deeks was here. Hetty had scattered the Walters family across Southern California, each child protected by a personal bodyguard. Kensi was with the teenage daughter somewhere in the valley, while Sam had taken Walter's twelve-year-old son under his protection. Callen was following leads and keeping a close eye on Walters, who was spending his nights in one of their safe houses after working twelve hour days on his project with a four man tactical squad protecting him at all times. Sandra Walters had refused to be separated from Ruthie, which left Deeks to guard them both with the help of a two-man squad, working undercover as farm laborers.

"I don't think your grandfather would have wanted you to get sick," Deeks said softly, his face serious and concerned

"You didn't know my Pawpaw," she declared, her eyes angry and pooling with tears.

"I know he was a brave man and died saving your dad," Deeks answered gently.

"My dad should have saved him," she shouted as tears streaked down her dirty face. She rose and began to climb higher in the tree, frightening her mother, but gaining Deeks' admiration.

"Get her down, Agent Deeks," Sandra Walters pleaded. "Please. She might fall."

"I never fall," Ruthie stated loudly as she settled into the tree, her legs straddling a small limb.

"Mind if I come up?" Deeks asked lightly as he placed a comforting hand on Sandra Walters' shoulder, giving her a reassuring look and finally getting a nod of acceptance from her.

"This is my tree," Ruthie said, furiously wiping away her tears as he started to climb up.

"You remind me of my partner," he said with a crooked grin. "She doesn't like to share either."

"Does she steal other people's trees?" Ruthie demanded.

"No, mostly just Twinkies and donuts," Deeks answered as he settled on one of the larger limbs close to Ruthie, looking out over the orchard toward the house.

"I like Twinkies," Ruthie said, suddenly shy now that he was so close to her.

"Ding Dongs are better," he stated, flashing her his best smile.

"Are you here to protect me from the men who killed my Pawpaw?" she asked, taking him by surprise.

"Yes," he said simply. "Did your mom tell you that?"

"I heard Mom and Daddy talking," she replied. "Do those men want to kill me too?"

"No, sweetie," Deeks said gently as he turned to look up at her.

"Then why are you here?" Her eyes were wide and he saw her tremble and he reached out and put his hand over hers as it gripped the branch above him.

"To make sure you stay safe, and so your mom and dad won't worry," he answered softly.

"They want to kidnap me, don't they?" she said breathlessly.

He bit his lip as he tried to decide if she should be told the truth or not. Her face took on a look of doubt and distrust so he knew he was close to losing her.

"I won't let that happen," he said.

"Well, you better be telling the truth, 'cause I don't want to be kidnapped," she said defiantly, yanking her hand free and crossing her arms.

"I'll never lie to you, Ruthie," he said softly, "And I need you to promise that you'll never lie to me, okay?"

"Okay," she nodded. "Pawpaw didn't like liars."

"Me either," he said.

"Do you have a gun?" she asked with an odd little lilt in her voice, as if she thought it was something he wouldn't tell her.

He nodded and watched her closely as she absently pulled a small leaf from the tree and twirled it around in her fingers.

"Can you shoot good?" she questioned, her face now openly curious.

"I can," he said.

"What's your name?" She asked as she swung her leg over the limb she was on and dropped down on the one next to him.

"Marty Deeks."

"That's a funny name," she said, a tiny smile breaking free.

"I'm a funny guy," he laughed and her smile widened.

"Do you have a grampa like my Pawpaw?"

"No, not for a long time," he told her honestly.

"Did somebody kill him?" She asked in a poignant whisper.

"No, sweetie. He died when I was about your age," Deeks answered, suddenly saddened by his own comment, remembering the quiet man who used to take him to the beach and tell him silly stories.

"What about your other grampa?"

"I never knew him."

She looked quickly at her mother before leaning in so she wouldn't hear.

"Do you like your dad?" She asked softly.

"Now that's kind of a complicated question for me," he said, looking past her shoulder, unsure of how to answer.

"You promised to tell the truth," she said firmly, her eyes never leaving his face and he knew this was her test question and that if his answer didn't satisfy her, she might never trust him.

"My first dad was mean," he said. "He didn't like me and I didn't like him."

"You have more than one dad?" She asked, her brow creasing as she pondered his answer.

"My real dad was killed in a car accident," he began quickly, but then slowly began to share with her. "The man I now consider my father is a good man that I love very much. He took me into his family and he didn't have to do that. His name is George and he lives on a ranch in Wyoming and trains horses. He taught me to ride a big horse named Sheila and he has four dogs, Stinker, Toby, Joker and Boo."

She giggled as he recited the names of the dogs, but then got quiet and serious, looking cautiously at him as she struggled with what she wanted to tell him.

"You can tell me anything, Ruthie," he said. "I'm not just your bodyguard, sweetie, I'm your friend."

"I don't think my daddy loves me very much," she said earnestly. "He gets mad at me. A lot."

"I know for a fact that he was really scared when you ran away," he said. "He even yelled at us for not finding you sooner."

"He did?" she seemed surprised by that information, looking down at the leaf in her hand as she sat quietly for a while.

"I yelled at him, too" she said. "I told him I hated him cause Pawpaw got killed. I told him it was his fault."

"No it wasn't, sweetie," he said as he gently touched her shoulder. "Your Pawpaw saved his life because he loved him. He knew what those men would do to him if they took him, so he tried to stop them and he did. Your father couldn't have kept him from doing that."

He saw a couple of tears slip down her cheeks and he inched closer to her as she began to cry softly.

"I miss him so much," she said as she choked back her tears.

"I know," he said gently.

"Please don't let those men take me," she whispered.

"I won't sweetie, I promise."

...

...

Hetty let her breath out slowly as she tried to calm her exasperation. Her phone call with Director Vance had gotten away from her and she was not pleased with herself for letting that happen. She rose slowly and began the process of making tea, the familiar steps giving her time to assess their conversation and the flash of anger that had sent the whole thing into a shouting match. She assessed her own state of mind about Deeks being back on regular duty, wondering just why her anger had flared when Vance had questioned her decision about assigning him as one of the bodyguards for the Walters family. He had made it quite clear that this case was a top priority and that no mistakes could be made and that had been the spark that had ignited a deep fury that had surprised her. His suggestion that Deeks wouldn't be able to handle himself had more than pissed her off and she had told the director in no uncertain terms what he could do with his opinion. It still made her furious just thinking about it.

She took another deep breath as she poured her Chamomile tea, staring into the pale liquid as memories of the past months tumbled around in her head. When she tried to focus on one memory, another one would crowd in and soon she couldn't keep them organized in her mind. She thought watching Deeks' continued progress over the last three months would have helped the memories fade, but that hadn't happened and that concerned her. When they had all returned from the celebration in South Africa she had insisted that each member of the team talk with a counselor and after some resistance they had all agreed, except for Callen. Deeks had refused to speak with Nate at first, but eventually began talking with him on the phone a few times a week or in person when he was in the city, but now she knew he only spoke with him occasionally when something was troubling him. This was only the second assignment she had given him, his first in the field, waiting until the majority of his physical injuries had properly healed. Kensi had revealed that he sometimes still suffered from nightmares, but the panic attacks completely disappeared after his reunion with the two little Sotho boys.

She was completely confident in his ability to protect the youngest Walters girl and to connect with her in a way that no one else could. After speaking with her parents, she knew the girl had an independent spirit and some of the stories they told her reminded her of herself at that age. Ruthie wasn't a girly girl, but what her father had always called a tomboy. Deeks had a way with children; he cared about them and had a natural ability to connect with them. She thought it was one of the reasons the two Sotho boys, Thuso and Dikobo had taken to him and helped him. There was just something in his eyes, a kindness that couldn't be faked and that children responded to. His brilliant smile didn't hurt either. It was one of the things she'd missed about him after they'd finally gotten him away from Jürgen for good. His humor and his smile had been beaten out of him and she would never forgive Granger for that, even though he was dead and long buried. Deeks had experienced the most vile of human nature and they had all worried that it would change him and it had, leaving him much more serious and quiet around them. It was the recent birth of Joe Atwood's son that had revitalized him and a smile always graced his face whenever he showed off his latest photographs of the baby. It was a new beginning for him and she hoped he would never look back. As she finished her tea, she wished she could feel the same for herself, but she knew she was still haunted by all of it and the dark memories and the guilt they represented were never far from her mind.

"You want to talk?" Callen asked softly as he approached. "I heard part of your conversation and I'd say the smoke still hasn't cleared."

"Not by a long shot, Mr. Callen," Hetty answered sullenly. "That man had the gall to question my decision to assign Deeks to guard the little girl. He didn't think he could possibly be ready."

Callen's eyes narrowed as he listened to her comment and it unsettled her even more.

"Do you have something you want to say, Mr. Callen?" she asked, challenging him.

"You're still worried about him," he answered kindly.

She looked down at her cup of tea and sighed at his perception. It was something she had always admired about him, yet it still bugged her when his intelligent insight was directed at her.

"How was he when you last spoke with him?" she asked softly, needing to know she hadn't put him in harm's way too soon.

"He seems fine, Hetty," he said lightly. "He likes the little girl. In fact, I'd say he's smitten. He thinks she's what Kensi must have been like as a child."

"And he sounded confident?" She watched him closely for any hesitation in his voice.

"Hetty, he passed every evaluation we threw at him," Callen said assuredly. "He wants to work and we need him back, especially on this case. He's good with kids and this kid needs someone like him. If she runs away again, it could jeopardize the entire operation. We'd never get Paul Walters to cooperate if that happened. You made the right decision, Hetty."

"Thank you," she smiled slightly and got a tentative one in return, but he still remained standing in front of her. "Something more you need to say, Mr. Callen?"

"He doesn't blame either one of us, Hetty," Callen said kindly. "We both know the mistakes we made, but he doesn't hold them against us. Why, I don't know, but if he ever did, he's forgiven us for them."

"Now, all I have to do is forgive myself," she said softly.

"That's the hard part," he said, the understanding plain in his reply.

"Stay close to him for me, Mr. Callen," she said. "I won't recover if anything more happens to him."

He nodded solemnly and she noticed a hint of unease about him as he turned to leave. They had discussed what had happened at length, knowing just what had gone wrong and what they would have done differently and though he hid it well, she knew he hadn't gotten past any of it quite yet either. She wasn't sure any of them had. They all needed this operation to run smoothly and be a success, and they needed to know that Deeks was truly back in mind and in body and able to handle himself in the field. This operation was more than just a case to them, it was a benchmark for their future as a team and none of them would rest easy until it was over.

...

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