Title: "Weak One"
Rating: T
Genre: Drabble, drama
Characters: Marty Deeks
Spoilers: S4 "Descent", S5 "Ascension"
Summary: He's not like the others.
Author's Notes: A random musing on S4's "Descent" and S5's "Ascension." My first NCIS:LA story/drabble. Deeks-centric. I adore him. I know this aspect of the series has already been done to pieces, but I couldn't resist. Mr Olsen acted the hell out of these episodes, and portrayed Deeks so honestly, too.
Updates on my NCIS WIPs are in the pipeline. Life has interfered with my writing time and my muse.
"Weak One"
They thought he'd cave, all of them did, friends and enemies alike.
Even weeks after the carnage, they all look at him in disbelief, and an ounce of pity, too. Sam, and Callen, and Hetty. And Kensi, too. Like he might crumble under the weight of it. And maybe that's partially true, maybe he's already crumbled, but it has nothing to do with them and everything to do with himself.
He wants them to back the fuck off, because it's been hell, even without their pressing doubt.
He's not like the others. He's not as invincible as them, nor as untouchable. He's not like Sam, who only needs forty-eight hours to brush it off. He's not like Sam at all.
Deeks needs time. He needs to carry the burden with him for a bit. He needs to feel it. All of it.
They thought he'd bend and then break into a dozen little pieces, and there'd be nothing left for the Marty Deeks they knew to do but give up Sam's beloved wife, spew out the damning truth about Michelle, give it all up for the thin sliver of a chance at relief.
Because that's what was expected of him, right? That was the plan all along. Sidorov's plan. Of course the man is sadistic, and once he slapped Deeks around enough, got rid of that sassy attitude — which didn't take long — and managed to draw out some real fear and some real tears… Well, Sidorov already knew which link he had to smash in order to break the chain, didn't he?
And Sidorov probably couldn't believe his good luck. He took pleasure in pressuring Sam, who was a brick of stalwart fortitude, but he knew exactly where he should've gone first…
Sidorov knew who to press….
The weak one.
Take Marty — the one with the goofy, laissez-faire demeanor and the false bravado, the one who admittedly could afford to put on a few more pounds, and the one who came to Sam's rescue so quickly and so enthusiastically — Take him and pressure him, with pain and fear or the simple threat of it, and he'd break. No doubt, he would.
But he didn't give her up.
He didn't give her up.
He didn't. He didn't. He didn't.
And that's the one thing he repeats over and over again, in his head, to himself. When he finally says it to Sam, at the end of it all, Sam can't believe it, nor does Deeks believe it himself. There was no training for this. He cannot believe what he's managed to accomplish.
Repeating this unlikely victory is one solace he has while gagging on his own blood and shards of his own fucking teeth. His one solace while waiting for someone to grab ahold of his face again and stick the drill in his mouth again. He nearly lost his mind. He did lose it, and that's when he locked on Kensi.
Kensi who smiled and laughed and encouraged, "Don't give her up, Deeks. Don't give her up."
And every second he doesn't give her up is like a lifetime achievement award. For Marty Deeks, it is. The weak one takes the prize. Believe it, or not. The weak one comes out on top.
He wasn't expected to last, was he? The underdog. The real and true underdog.
Sidorov based all of his terror on human decency, and human caring, and human attachment. That's how he lured Deeks out in the first place. Drowning Sam Hanna by locking a fucking case of gold to his wrist was a safe bet for Sidorov, wasn't it? He just had to wait it out. Wait him out.
And out came Deeks.
Out came the weak one.
End.