Give Me All of You
I love the song "All of Me" sung by John Legend (written by John Legend/Toby Gad). Listening to it inspired me to write a story using elements of the song, and also to try to write it in first-person mode using Deeks' point of view about events. My minions are sitting back to see if I fall flat on my face trying this in first person. I don't think they have much confidence in me, the little beasts. This story is close to canon, but there are some AU elements in it when it delves into future developments.
I started writing this in the middle of the sixth season but then real life knocked me for a loop and all my stories were put on hold. I'm just now back to good health and beginning to write again.
NCIS Los Angles does not belong to me, and mores the pity, it never will. But as I've said before, I can always bring the characters out to play. I'll put them back in good shape, I promise!
Anything in bold face type and quotes is an actual line from one of the episodes from the show. There are too many to list here but they are from most of the seasons of the show.
Reviews are always welcome. If you are enjoying this story, especially this chapter, or even if you're not, leave a review on the way out and let me know why. Feedback helps me more than you can possibly know.
Enjoy.
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CHAPTER 1: Smart Mouth
What would I do without your smart mouth
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I first saw her in the MMA gym when I was undercover as Jason Wyler. I'd been undercover for months by that time and was finally close to breaking my case wide open. She came walking into the gym and it was as if all the air was immediately sucked out of the place. I couldn't breathe as I stood there and stared at her like a love-struck teenager. I was lucky I was able to get my game face back on before anyone noticed my reaction, especially her. God, she was beautiful, but it was more than that. So much more. I felt like I had known her for my entire life, but hadn't remembered her until that very moment in time!
I saw her glancing my way every so often while talking to the owner of the gym. His name was Victor Janklow. When he introduced her to the rests of us as Tracy, Daniel Zuna's girlfriend, I had a momentary thought that I might have been made. I knew the minute she opened her mouth she wasn't who she said she was. This I knew for a fact because I'm an LAPD undercover detective and I've been undercover for six months or so as Jason Wyler trying to find out who was controlling the drugs that were being funneled through the gym. I got in with the group at the Blood and Guts Gym through cultivating a friendship with Danny. Danny didn't have a girlfriend, in fact, he was gay so who was this woman and why was she claiming to be Danny's girlfriend? He was still in the closet, of course; because if the guys in the gym knew he was gay, he would have been out on his butt immediately. They might even have beaten him to within an inch of his life before throwing him out. That's just the kind of men they were…homophobes; well that and bigots, drug dealers and overall low-life scum. I didn't care if they had served their country, they had disgraced the uniforms they used to wear as far as I'm concerned.
So as Janklow introduced all of us to 'Danny's girl'; Tracy or whoever the hell she really is, kept glancing at me as I gave her a hard time. I could tell she liked what she saw but she was playing it like what I said hurt her feelings or something. Maybe it was her eyes, but I could see right through her and knew she was lying. The way she kept looking at me though gave me goosebumps among other things. I was having a hard time controlling my reactions because I was already a goner. I just hadn't admitted that fact to myself yet. Thank God my gym shorts were so loose is all I could think because otherwise I would have been very embarrassed!
She finally left the gym and I watched her hair swinging gently, her walk and the sway of those hips until she was out of sight. Maybe if I took a cold shower…make that a very cold shower…I might be able to get my head back in the game. I didn't think I'd ever see her again but was already thinking about how I might be able to track her down once this operation was over, so imagine my surprise when I arrived home to Danny's house and found her standing in front of his laptop in his living room looking guilty as hell.
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I've been staying in Danny's spare room as a guest for a while now. It had taken me a few weeks to wrangle the invitation from him, but as he got to know and trust me, he offered me the room for a small amount of rent. Getting close to Danny was how I had gotten most of my information about what went on at the gym. He was just days away from giving me the name of his supplier when he died. Of course, I didn't find out until later that he had been murdered.
Anyway, seeing her standing there in his living room not only pissed me off, it also intrigued me. I got in her face and asked her how she had entered the house and can you believe it, she tried to feed me a line about Danny giving her a key! When I called her on it she came up with some shit about emailing him some 'private' photos and wanting to get them back and make sure they didn't end up on the internet. My imagination took her statement and ran with it, I can tell you. I could see every one of those 'private' photos in my head. I would give just about anything to see her in those 'pictures'. I gave her a hard time about whether or not the photos were x-rated. I could tell she was scrambling to come up with some story I would believe. I gave her just enough rope…I kept stringing her along while checking out the rest of the house, telling her that Danny told me he used to party hard with her and when I had fed her enough rope, I hit her with "but he said your name was Kate".
When she heard that statement, she changed her story again to one about meeting him at a party and buying drugs from him, then coming to get them herself because he never delivered them to her. God, whoever this woman is, she can't lie worth a damn! At least not to me. Next she tried coming on to me asking if I was Danny's supplier because as she said "I was kinda hoping you were". I finally had enough and told her to empty her pockets because maybe she had already found what she was looking for, like cash, but she was saved by a cabbie who I was pretty sure wasn't one. He was probably her partner, but I let it go. As long as they hadn't made me as a cop, I was fine with it.
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Next thing I know, some black dude is at the gym the following day talking to Janklow and trying to get Danny's spot on the team. Something smelled off about the whole setup which made me wonder if he had anything to do with 'Tracy'. I'd been working for months to get a spot on the team, keeping my head down and doing my training so you can imagine how pissed I was when it looked like someone else would get Danny's spot on the team. I wasn't going to let this yokel, or anyone else for that matter, mess up my undercover operation. I tried to convince Janklow that the spot should be mine not some stranger's who just waltzed in off the street, but he felt I wasn't ready yet. I was adamant though and he finally said we could fight for the privilege of taking Danny's spot with whoever won that night getting Danny's spot on the team. Not really the solution I was aiming for, but I had a good chance of taking him in a fight. I'd been training quite hard and I had already known quite a bit about MMA fighting before starting at the gym so I wasn't too worried.
That night, the crowd was pretty big. It was easy to spot 'Tracy' in the crowd though, which just reinforced my feelings about 'DeMarco Williams'; yeah, that was the name the black due was going by. My gut was telling me he had to be working with her. There were too many coincidences popping up around her and Danny's death. I was going to do my damnedest to take Williams out, without hurting him if possible. Well, that was my plan anyway. I was able to hold my own against him for a while and got in some really good shots, but he got lucky with a roundhouse punch to my jaw and I went down. Damn! There went my chance to get on the team and I knew, I knew! the case was about ready to explode.
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It's a good thing I had a backup plan in place in case he got the spot. I had already set up a sting by calling some cops I know on the force that are actually friends letting them know what I had planned. I arranged for us to get arrested if I started fighting Williams outside of the club. First I tried to pay him off but he wasn't buying anything I was selling. That took the first option off the table.
Option 2 got us both arrested for fighting in the alley behind the gym after I picked a fight with him. I figured the cops could keep him on ice for 24 hours minimum, which would give me a way in back at the gym and I could finally take down the crew for the drugs I knew they were dealing from there. What I didn't know at the time was that 'Williams' was an NCIS agent working undercover investigating Danny's death. Needless to say, he didn't spend any more time in jail than I did. That's when I found out his real name was Sam Hanna. I also met his boss, a woman named Hetty. She's this pocket-sized woman. She couldn't have been more than 4 foot 8, but what she lacks in size she more than makes up in gravitas. Watching Sam with her, I could tell he was afraid of her. He's my size though much bulkier and I'm not small. I'm 6 foot 2. She must make up for her lack of stature in power. I found out that woman is one scary lady; she radiates both power and danger!
After introductions all around, we ended up in their 'safe' house? boatshed?...whatever; sharing information on the case. Actually, I was the one sharing all the information. They weren't being very forthcoming, in fact they looked like they were made of stone, although they did show me the report indicating that Zuna had been murdered. There was a definite chill in the air. Who the hell do they think they are anyway? They're no better than I am; I don't care if they're federal agent wienies or not. Someone had better start sharing and soon or I was out of here! They needed me more than I needed them.
I finally asked Kensi, yeah that's her real name, about her ridiculous story of the 'naughty' pictures. If they weren't going to share I was gong to bring all my cheekiness, jokes and smart-ass quips out to play. A man has to have some fun sometimes. "So, riddle me this did you pre-plan that, or maybe…maybe…that happened in real life." As I expected, she gave me a dirty look and started fuming. God, she is so much fun to watch when she gets rattled. But I've got to hand it to her, she came right back at me. "Crashing in his spare bedroom? Is that the best you could do? You're lucky I didn't shoot you myself". There, right there is a prime example of her smart mouth.
When I finished telling them everything I had on the Zuna case, they had the nerve to try to shut me down and push me out. Man I was now pissed to beat the band. This was an LAPD undercover operation and if anything they should be backing me up, not the other way around and I made that abundantly clear. I was really on a roll when Hetty silently appeared again saying that because it involved active military personnel, it fell under their control but went on to say it would be a joint operation and we'd be working together. When I mentioned I would have to clear it with my boss, she informed me that he had already agreed and then continued with "Ruben says hi." Who is this woman and how does she know everyone and everything?
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To make a long story short, we took down the bad guys, even as Callen and his team kept trying to cut me out of the operation. It turns out a special branch of NCIS is who they all work for. Hetty's the boss, I guess. Anyway, she runs the show, that's for sure. In the end, though, who did they call to back up Sam when his cover was blown but yours truly? I kept him from getting himself shot and maybe killed by taking down one of the guys at the gym while he took care of the others. He at least shook my hand and said I wasn't too bad once everything was under control.
By the time the undercover operation was over, I had experienced Kensi's smart mouth more than once. One minute it felt like she was pulling me close to her and the next minute she was pushing me away. I could tell she was curious about me. I also knew there was something she was afraid of and I was going to find out what it was no matter how long it took. I was completely gone on her and trying to figure out how to 'bump' into her again. The next time I saw her though was after I accepted the liaison position with NCIS.
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