"Tell me about your mom."

"What was that?"

Kensi felt a little embarrassed. Since the start of their partnership, they had slowly learned things about each other. She knew what happened to his father and what kind of man he was. He knew about her parents: her dad was her hero and her mom was back in her life. She was thinking back and realized that he never mentioned his mom to her, not once. Finally one night while they were sitting on his couch flipping through the TV channels, curiosity got the better of her and she just blurted out the request… without thinking of a more delicate way to word it.

"Uh… I'm sorry… I'd like to hear about your mom. What kind of person is she? Is she… still alive? What was her name?"

He sat in silence for a bit. This was a difficult subject for him, but he trusted her. He took a deep breath and began.

"Her name is… was Elizabeth. She died shortly after I graduated from law school."

"I'm sorry."

He smiled as he looked down. "Thanks. She was an amazing woman. The home I grew up in was… chaotic, to say the least, and despite all that, she always tried to make sure I did my best at everything. She'd push me to study and do my homework even when I'd rather hang out with troublemakers like Ray. She was actually the one who forced me to take violin lessons."

Kensi smiled as she imagined Deeks as a child, playing the violin for his beaming mother.

"After my dad went to jail, things got a lot better. We weren't living in fear anymore. I kept doing well in school, mostly because of her. I got into college and paid for it with scholarships and… um… other questionable means."

Kensi chuckled as she remembered the conversation about Deeks' dancing days.

"She was so proud of me when I told her I got into law school. I worked hard and busted my ass for years all because I wanted to make her happy. My dad disappointed her and hurt her so many times… I wasn't going to do that to her, too."

"Wow, she sounds amazing."

"She was…" Deeks drifted off and looked sad.

"Hey," Kensi reached over and gently touched his arm. "You don't have to tell me anymore… if you don't want too."

"No, that's fine. It's good to talk about it. Someone else should know how great she was." He took a deep breath and continued. "Unfortunately, her one major flaw was her horrible taste in men. After my dad, it was just the two of us for a while. Then, my last year of law school she started seeing this guy. I never liked him or trusted him. I tried talking to her about it, but she thought I was overreacting and that I wasn't giving him a chance. My mom was always trying to see the good in people and this guy… I just didn't like the way he treated her."

Kensi moved closer to him on the couch and grabbed his hand.

"After I graduated and had been a public defender for about six months… I got a phone call in the middle of the night from LAPD. They told me I had to get to my mom's house right away. They wouldn't tell me anything else over the phone. I raced down there and they told me that she was dead. She got into an argument with her boyfriend and things escalated… and he ended up killing her and then killed himself. It turned out that there had been a lot of problems between them and he had been violent towards her before. I had no idea that any of this was going on. She hid it all from me. All I had to go on were my suspicions about him. And then it was too late."

"Deeks, I'm so sorry."

"I couldn't believe that she was gone. For a long time, I was in a daze and couldn't process what happened. Then it just hit me one day that I had to do something. It was too late to help my mom, but I could help others in her same situation. I quit my job, signed up for the police academy, and the rest is history."

"Wow… Deeks, thank you for telling me that. I'm… I'm so sorry. I wish I could have met her."

Deeks smiled. "She would have liked you. A lot. I think she would be planning out ways to make you her daughter-in-law."

Kensi laughed and slapped him on the arm. "I don't think so, Deeks!"

"Hey, don't hit me. It was her idea!"

He spent the rest of the night telling her stories and happy memories about his mom. She listened and was thankful for the chance to see this side of him. Looking back at the beginning of their partnership, there were very few things that they trusted each other with. They were very guarded and cautious around each other. She was thankful that they had come to a point where they trusted each other and they could be themselves around each other.

"You know, she would be proud of you, what you've accomplished, all the people you've helped."

He smiled. "Thank you, Kens."

"You're welcome, partner."