Author's Note – I got a lot of lovely reviews, favorites and follows for Metaphors and Regrets, and I decided to do a "what happens next" – so this follows directly on the heels of that story. Reading it first will help a lot, just in terms of some references I will make.
Also, yes, some of the last lines are totally Bogarted from Firefly. I don't own that, and I certainly don't own these characters. No profit to be had here, just having a bit of fun with a show I love.
This will be multi-chapter, some stuff borrowed from a few scant rumors I've seen around the season premiere for the fall, the rest in my head. I'm not sure exactly where I'm going with this, and work will likely keep my updates somewhat slow. I'll do my best to aim for no less than weekly, though!
Deeks rubs his oft-targeted upper arm as he follows Kensi into ops. She told him she owes him a dollar for, in her words, "The stupid jar when you get it," after she slugged his arm for what felt like at least the tenth time today. At least she didn't catch him off guard this time. He'd known it was coming before he owned up to her about Hetty offering him a job as an agent back before Romania.
The upside is that, in addition to noting her need to pony up her hit fine, she kissed him after hitting him this time, which made it seem somewhat less painful. He'd also seen a blush on her cheeks and a sincere apology in her eyes immediately after she hit him, and her instant regret was so palpable that he pulled her close to him and pressed a kiss to her temple as he murmured, "I had that one coming, Fern."
She'd shaken her head, and after mentioning the jar she added, "No more free passes for me, Marty. Only nineteen more dollars to dinner for you." He guesses that she thinks he didn't see the flash of hurt in her eyes, but he knows her better than she's ever given him credit for. He feels like a heel for not telling her about the job offer from Hetty before she found out another way.
As she waits for Deeks to follow her into the room, Kensi stares up at the big board in ops, her mind racing. She can't believe Hetty offered Deeks a job over three years ago. She also can't believe he never told her about it. The sting of that, irrational as it might be, runs through her. Wrapping her arms protectively around her midsection, she tries to make herself focus on Callen and Sam, as she knows they're what's important right now.
Deeks comes in and sees Kensi, and her body language confirms for him that he hurt her feelings. He curses inwardly, but he knows that now isn't the time to say anything. As he usually does in ops, he goes to her side, getting as close as he can. The thing that's different today is that he places a hand on her lower back, knowing she probably won't do anything to stop him.
When Kensi feels Deeks' hand on her, she looks up at him in surprise and a small amount of irritation at his never-ending willingness to invade her personal space even when her body language screams "back off." When their eyes meet she can see the contrition in his, and she feels a little bit of the irritation drain away. Her expression softens, and she gives him an almost imperceptible nod. He looks like he wants to say something – he usually looks that way – but he hesitates as they look into each other's eyes.
"You two done?" Granger's gruff voice makes them jump, and they look over to see him looking at them with one eyebrow raised and arms crossed across his chest. Behind him, Eric and Nell are staring at them as if they can both see that something is going on. Nell cocks her head at Kensi and gives her a questioning look, but Kensi just shakes her head.
Deeks recovers his voice first. "Yes. What do we have?"
A very tired-looking Eric nods at him and turns to the board. It's been a long day for all of them. The rest of them turn their eyes towards him, and Eric starts talking. "In addition to trying to work the drug angle, we have been digging into the harbormaster where the sub was moored. Something is hinky there. He has a significant number of gambling debts, and his finances are seriously in the red."
"What about the drugs?" Kensi asks this time.
Granger turns to them. "Nothing so far. Detective, you need to call Agent Del Campo."
Kensi sighs at that, and she feels the pressure from Deeks' hand increase on her back. Before he can respond to Granger, his phone rings. When he looks down at it, he rolls his eyes. "Or she could call me, sir." He hits the speaker on the phone to answer it. "Talia, you're on speaker in our ops center."
They hear the woman on the phone cough a little in surprise, but she regains her equanimity quickly. "Marty," Kensi scowls at the woman's use of his first name, "We've been getting reports from our street contacts for the last twenty minutes or so – a huge amount of coke has just flooded the market. I'm gearing up to go out on busts with our team, but it looks like they've definitely off-loaded a lot of drugs here. There's not much other explanation for it right now."
They hear Granger swear under his breath, and Eric and Nell turn to their computer terminals. Kensi reaches behind her to grab his hand on her back. "Agent Del Campo, do you or your people have any thoughts as to where the sub might be headed?" Kensi is proud of herself for keeping her voice calm and professional.
"I'm sorry, Agent Blye, we don't know. I wish we did." Talia sounds genuinely sorry, and Kensi nods even though the woman can't see it.
"We appreciate that and the update," Kensi pauses awkwardly and looks up at Deeks as if to ask him for help.
He squeezes her hand. "Talia, thanks, and be careful out there. If we find out anything of interest to the DEA in relation to the sub, we'll call you."
"Thanks, partn-, uh, Marty. We appreciate it. You all be careful too." Kensi swallows a smile at the way the woman stumbles a bit over the words.
"Thank you, Agent Del Campo," Granger cuts in, and with a nod, Deeks ends the call.
He looks at Granger. "Harbormaster?"
The man nods. "Harbormaster. Check back in after you two talk to him."
Kensi speaks for them both. "Will do. If he doesn't cooperate, though, we're dragging his ass to the boatshed."
Granger gives her an almost feral smile. "I rather imagined you would, Blye." Deeks snorts as Granger goes on, "When you two are done with him, report it in. If it's something we'll have to research or dig into, you two go home for at least six hours."
They both start to protest, but Granger holds up a hand. "It's not up for debate. We'll call if we need you, but you're no use to me if you're bleary eyed and exhausted. I'm even about to put one of these two," he motions to Nell and Eric, "Down for a nap."
Deeks, Kensi and Nell all roll their eyes at that, and Eric looks vaguely confused. Deeks guesses that he's the one who'll be sent to sleep first. Unable to resist, Deeks looks at his friend and says, "Do you still have your polar bear PJs in your locker?"
Nell laughs out loud while Eric wakes up enough to shoot Deeks an obscene gesture. Shaking her head and not liking that she's not in on the joke, Kensi turns on her heel and leaves ops. Chuckling lightly, Deeks follows close behind before Granger calls out, "And Detective, the papers. Signed and on my desk, Hetty's desk, before you leave."
Deeks blinks and just continues down the stairs after Kensi. She's at her desk shrugging into her jacket when he gets there. He opens the bottom drawer of his own desk and sees the folder there. Opening it, he has to smile a little to see that the papers are the same – he'd gotten a bit of coffee on the top page – except for the last page. The page with Hetty's signature is gone, now replaced with Granger's.
Also new is a short note in handwriting he doesn't recognize. It reads, "Detective – Assistant Director Granger cleared this all with me. This is my confirmation in writing that you are assigned to OSP once this paperwork is signed and that FLETC is officially waived. And for the record, AD Granger got this from me on the way back from Afghanistan. You did well there, Detective. You're an asset unlike any other on our team. Welcome, officially, to NCIS. AD Granger has your badge and gun. Leon Vance."
Curious, Deeks peers into the drawer where the folder was. "Holy crap."
Kensi comes over. "What?"
He just points into the drawer, and her eyes go to where he's pointing. In the bottom of the drawer, Kensi sees a Sig in a holster and a badge wallet. "Is that?"
"Think so." He passes her the note from Vance and drops into his chair, staring at the paperwork in the folder. He looks up at her and sees her eyes widen as she reads Vance's note. She finishes and her eyes meet his. He sighs. "Is it just me, or do I not have a choice here?"
Her expression of disbelief softens into sympathy. She crouches down in front of him, putting a hand of each of his knees. "Are you OK with this? You know you don't have to. You clearly didn't want to before."
He sighs again. "Kens, it's not that simple. It's not that I didn't want to. I just…I'm a cop. I'm a good cop. It's all I've been for a long time – it's who I am. It's all I am."
She shakes her head. "No way. You are a hell of a lot more than that. If you were just a cop, you wouldn't be here. Hetty may not be my favorite person right now, but she knows talent when she sees it, and you have talent. You're a lot more than a cop."
He snorts and looks down at her hands on his knees. "Since when? I can't remember when I was anything else that was worth much."
"Marty, look at me." He is still for a moment before he meets her eyes again. "You are a great friend. You are the best partner I've ever had, and you're an amazing member of our team. To hear tell of it, you were a damned good lawyer. You are a great surfer. You treat your slightly odd, screwed up dog like a small furry person. You are a guy who would spend his Christmas at a soup kitchen surrounded by people who clearly know you, so I know that wasn't your first time there."
She pauses, taking a deep breath to gather her courage. "And you are my best friend, the only person I want behind me in the field, the person I trust with my life and who I trusted with my mother's life. But more than that, I trust you with my heart. You know how hard that is for me. But it happened, and I couldn't be happier. You have my heart, Marty Deeks." She laughs softly, and his stunned eyes look confused. "And I'll borrow your line now – how's that for communication?"
He blinks a few times and then he gets a small smile on his face. He turns slightly, blindly patting around on his desk until he finds a pen. He signs his LAPD resignation letter first, and then he signs the NCIS paperwork. He closes the folder and hands it to her, and she nods and takes it. He stands up as she carries it over to Hetty's desk and leaves it there. He assumes that Granger will send his resignation over to Bates, but Deeks also makes a mental note to call his soon-to-be former boss.
He bends down and picks up the new badge, he opens it and shakes his head to see his name and photo in it. He slips it into his pocket after taking his LAPD badge out and putting it in the drawer on top of the Sig. Kensi's voice is curious when she returns to his side. "You're not changing guns?"
He shakes his head. "Not until I've had time to check it over and use it on the range. I'm not going to be out there covering you with a new gun."
She leans up and kisses his cheek. "That's sweet."
He snorts and motions towards the door. "Come on, Agent Blye. Let's go be heroes."
She grins and heads out. "Big Damn Heroes, Agent Deeks?"
He laughs at her reference to one of his favorite TV shows. "Ain't we just, Fern?"
"And Deeks, in the car, you're telling me about Eric's polar bear PJs and why you know that he has polar bear PJs."
Opening the door for her, he says, "I can do better than telling you, Fern. I have a picture."
He waggles his eyebrows at her, and she leaves, him right behind her. "Oh, this I have to see."