AN: this story take place before season three finale and it's a little AU.
The bullpen in the morning was quiet. Nothing interesting was happening and everyone was focusing on his or her paperwork, with just a few annoying behaviors from Deeks who couldn't sit still in his chair. It was obvious that he was bored, but so was everyone else; it had been a whole week since they'd had a case, and the last one hadn't been easy. Everyone kept that to themselves, except for Deeks… who apparently just couldn't do that. He was getting on everyone's nerves, especially those of his partner's.
"Oh God! Deeks! Can't you just shut up?" Kensi exclaimed after another one of Deeks' annoying rambles.
He glanced at her with a smirk on his face. "What? I'm just trying to have some fun."
"Well can you do it without talking?" She demanded irritably.
"Oh come on. I know that you like my voice," he teased, trying to get a rise out of her because he loved it when she was a little mad (just not too mad).
Kensi groaned. "Oh my God. Sometimes I don't know how I put up with you. They should give me an award just for putting up with the most annoying person on earth."
"Come on Princess! You know that I'm awesome all of the time," he heard a chuckle from Sam and Callen but he continued on, "and you wouldn't have it any other way," he finished, grinning.
"Again with the nicknames! I told you to stop it! Not to mention the cockiness you have. Were you this annoying when you were a kid? Because I'd give your parents a prize for putting up with you and liking you," Kensi replied teasingly, a smile slipping onto her face. The smile quickly faded when she saw the look of fear and hurt that crossed her partner's face, before he quickly averted her gaze. She gave him a questioning look but before she could add anything, Eric whistled to get their attention.
"Finally!" Deeks was the first one to jump from his seat and go running up the stairs, leaving Kensi to try and catch up, but she was stopped by Hetty's voice.
"Mr. Deeks, a word in my office please," she called.
With a confused look on his face, Deeks began to climb back down the stairs. He met Kensi at the bottom but didn't make eye contact.
"What's wrong?" She asked him in concern.
"I don't know," he replied in a cold tone before brushing past her to get to Hetty's office.
Kensi's concern grew and she had so many thoughts rolling around in her head as she walked into Ops. 'What's wrong with him? His behavior changed so suddenly and it happened while we were talking so it must be something I said… I need to fix this a.s.a.p. I can't bear it when he's angry with me—even though he is annoying and cocky, I wouldn't want any other partner but him.'
In Hetty's office Deeks sat on the chair across from her. "Is there something wrong, Hetty?"
She stared at him with a concerned gaze before saying, "I needed to talk to you about the case, away from the others."
"Okay...?"
"The case is of a Marine who claims that he, his wife, and his son have been attacked in their house."
"Okay… is there anything we know about the reason behind the attack on him and his family?" Deeks inquired, not sure of the reason why she'd felt the need to pull him aside to talk to him in private.
"That is where the problem lies, Mr. Deeks; I saw the picture of them after the attack and my suspicions were aroused from what I saw."
"How so?"
"In the picture I saw multiple bruises on the wife and the ten year old son, but only one cut on the husbands head, indicating to me that he was only struck once."
"So what are you saying, Hetty?" Deeks asked, not liking where she was going with this.
"I'm sorry to say this, Mr. Deeks, and it has not yet been confirmed, but I think that there is a chance that Mr. Patrick Kiver was the on behind all of this," she finished quietly, waiting for his reaction.
"Are you saying that this Patrick—whatever his last name is—abused his wife and son?" Deeks demanded, voice rising slightly.
"I'm not saying that, Mr. Deeks, but the pictures make me believe it is possible, though we must have it confirmed first," she replied in a soothing voice.
"So what do you want from me? You want me off the case?"
"Actually, I want you to do something for me, Mr. Deeks, to help in the understanding of this case so that we know which way to go. I know it's already hard enough for you, but you can understand the situation better than most… but if you don't want to do it and if you would like to be removed from the case, I will understand and won't think any less of you."
"You want me to go there and find out if he was abusing his family or not because I can relate and would know if that's what happened or not," he murmured, pain evident in his voice.
"Exactly, Mr. Deeks. But as I said, you don't have to do it if you don't want to," she assured him, trying to get the point across that she knew that this would be difficult and she didn't want him to feel pressured…
… But being Deeks, he did feel like all of the pressure of this case was on him, and he knew he needed to figure out what had happened; this was the main reason he had become a cop, to help kids in these situations. He needed to find out the truth and get this case solved.
"I'll do it, but this stays between us, okay Hetty? I don't want anyone from the team knowing about my past; I don't want to change how they look at me."
"As you wish, Mr. Deeks, but they wouldn't think any less of you. I think you should at least tell your partner about this; she would be able to help you," Hetty advised.
Deeks considered it for a moment, but shrugged it away when he thought about what had happened just a short while earlier in the bullpen. "Can I see the photos of the case?" He asked Hetty, who nodded and handed him the file.
"I will be upstairs with the others. Join us when you are ready." Hetty said, rising.
Deeks nodded his understanding and she left him alone. Beginning to browse through the photos, Deeks felt his stomach start to knot as he remembered all of the times when his dad was drunk.
In Ops, they were waiting for Hetty and Deeks to join them before starting the debrief. Kensi got more nervous with every passing minute, and for a moment she was relieved when the sliding doors opened, but then that relief was replaced with even more worry when she saw Hetty was alone.
"Where's Deeks?" Callen voiced the question in Kensi's mind.
"Mr. Deeks will join us in a few minutes," Hetty answered him cryptically, before she turned to Eric. "Mr. Beale, would you start the debrief please?"
At Hetty's orders, Eric began to speak. "This is Patrick Kiver, a marine who served two tours in Afghanistan. He and his family—Mrs. Jenna Kiver and their ten year old son William—were attacked yesterday in their house." Eric hit a few buttons on his tablet and pictures of the family in the hospital and the crime scene appeared on the screen. "Mrs. Kiver and William are still unconscious, but Mr. Kiver woke up this morning and gave a statement saying intruders broke into the house and beat him and his family."
"Did he say anything about being threatened or that he'd done something lately that might have pissed someone off enough to do this to him and his family?" Callen asked Eric.
"Well we did a background check on him and, until now, nothing has come up. We'll dig further and see what we can find," Eric answered before turning back to the computer.
At that moment, Deeks entered Ops and everyone turned to look at him. Kensi tried to meet his gaze, but he kept his eyes on the screen.
"Okay," Callen started, "Kensi, you and Dekes go to the hospital to talk to Patrick while Sam and I check out the crime scene." Callen started for the door but was stopped by Deeks.
"Actually, I think Kensi and I should go to the crime scene while you and Sam go to the hospital."
This earned a glare from Callen and Sam, and a confused look from Kensi.
"What?" Sam questioned annoyed by Deeks words "who assigned you as a team leader?".
Deeks gave no sign that he'd heard Sam, but Kensi didn't like Sam's attitude. "Sam! What the Hell?" She retorted, angry at how he'd just insulted her partner. Deeks smiled faintly before pushing it away.
"I think I agree with Mr. Deeks on this. Ms. Blye and Mr. Deeks will take the crime scene, and Mr. Callen and Mr. Hanna will go to the hospital to talk to Mr. Kiver," Hetty spoke, ending the dispute.
In the car…
Kensi and Deeks drove in silence for a long time, until Kensi was fed up by it. "Okay. What's wrong, Deeks?"
Deeks eyed her, contemplating on telling her or not, before he answered, "Nothing's wrong."
"Deeks, I know you better than anyone, and right now you are mad and I know that you are mad at me because of something I said this morning. I don't know what it was, but I'm sorry if I said anything that upset you."
"Don't worry about it, it's okay," he replied.
"Okay, then what did Hetty want from you this morning?" She asked, changing tactics.
"Nothing. Just wanted to review some of my paperwork," he answered nonchalantly, looking out the window.
"So are you okay?" She asked again.
"I'm okay. Can we just focus on this case now?" Deeks asked, frustrated by her persistence.
At that response Kensi knew that her partner was not okay; he was hiding something from her, and she was going to find out what it was, because it was bothering him enough for him to be silent and not to be his usual annoying self—not like the partner she knows and cares about. She'd discovered recently, after their undercover assignment as a married couple, that she was in love with him—and she needed to fix everything and help him get back to his old self.
They spent the whole drive in an uncomfortable silence. Nothing happened, except a call from Callen telling them what Patrick's statement was, until they entered the house. They began to check out the house, looking over the living room which had shattered furniture and was a complete disaster.
"According to Callen," Kensi told Deeks, "here is where one of the assailants threw Kiver and his head on the coffee table. The glass broke and he blacked out and he doesn't remember anything else."
"Right." Deeks muttered sarcastically.
"What?" Kensi asked, having not heard what he'd said.
"Nothing," he replied quickly.
The moment Deeks entered, his past life came flooding back. The living room looked exactly like all of those times his father had come home. He checked the door to see if there were any signs of breaking and entering, but there was nothing. He checked the back door and his suspicions were heightened when he saw the marks were from the inside and not the outside. He checked every window of the house and got nothing. He and Kensi separated to check the rooms: Deeks checked Williams' room and found a drawing book. Looking inside he saw paintings of a scared boy in a corner, knees pulled up to his chest. There were also ones of a crying woman with lots of bandages on her. He checked the closet and found some clothes with dried blood on them, and that was when he knew that the father was abusing his family. Anger filled him.
Deeks walked out of the room. "Kensi!" He yelled.
She came running, pulling her gun out, worried by his call. When she saw the look in his eyes, it terrified her enough that she almost took a step back. "What's wrong?" She asked hesitantly.
"We need to get to the hospital," he stated, walking past her.
"Did something happen to you?" She rushed after him, holstering her gun.
"Nothing happened, but we need to talk to Patrick," Deeks spat.