A/N I am trying to portray Deeks as someone who is trying to get back to who he was before Sidirov and the White Ghost Op. Let me know what you think.
Disclaimer: Just checked my bank account. Nope don't own NCIS LA
Bullpen
NCIS Office of Special Projects Mission
Somewhere in Los Angeles
The day was winding down finally. It had been a trying day, not because of workload, but because tomorrow would be the day that Granger would finally take over as Operations Manager for the Office of Special Projects for NCIS. Almost four months to the day that the fiasco that was the White Ghost Op came to a head. Personally I thought it was a bit of a demotion to go from Assistant Director to Operations Manager, but what do I know? There are times, even after resigning from LAPD and joining NCIS that I felt like a mushroom; kept in the dark and fed a lot of bullcrap.
One of the few bright spots today was my Princesses had decided to grace me, and the rest of us, with their presence. Kens still wasn't cleared for active duty or even full time desk duty, but she was doing some work with Eric and Nell up in OPS, and even down in the bullpen with us. It wasn't much, but in the field it still felt like I was missing half of my brain without my partner there. Don't get me wrong, Nell was great, but she wasn't Kensi. Since Kens only worked part time at moment, and we hadn't been able to decide on a daycare that met our, read hers but honestly as screwed up as our life has been I really can't argue with Kens, she often brought Hope with her.
I didn't know what time it was, as I was playing with Hope at my desk. Hey, when you have a kid that's half Kens and half me, who wants to do anything like work? Anyways Kensi, Nell and Eric were descending the stairs and I didn't even notice my beautiful wife until she was right in front of my desk. Yep, before we ever left the Seahawk, I took Hetty's advice, asked Kensi, and we were married by Captain Owens. Sure it irked the rest of the guys, with two of them still stuck in Afghanistan, and the other two stuck in LA, but I was done letting the important stuff slip through my fingers like sand. I still hadn't quite come to terms with the idea of me being a husband and a father, so sometimes I miss things like the look Sam and Callen shared.
"Hey Kens, can I borrow your husband for a while tonight?" You could tell Sam tried to keep it light hearted, but there was a tone of seriousness beneath it.
"Um Sam, don't you think it's a little late to have the talk about knocking your sister up?" To which I received a punch from Kens, and a chorus of groans from the rest. Now look I like Sam. We have come a loooonnnggg way since Sidirov used us as his personal pain tolerance tests. He backed Callen into a corner and got me to Afghanistan, he was the first one I called after Hope was born, and he is Hope's Godfather. But if it's choice between him and my girls, he is going to lose.
"Deeks we need to talk about what happened. Because we need your head in the Game." Oh great. Sam had his old mother hubbard look on his face, which meant that I was not going to my house any time soon. After all there was only one thing left to discuss. Kensi looked back and forth between us and nodded.
"No problem." She leaned down to give me a quick kiss, way too quick for my liking, and picked up Hope. "Hurry home, because we have some things we have to talk about as well." Just from the look in her eyes, I knew she wanted to hear what really happened as well.
Swell. Just what I wanted to do today. I don't like thinking about what happened that day. It is a side of me that I thought buried. Nobody knows what really went down in that room from hell, but me. Kensi being just over of 8 months pregnant, and in shock from killing her ex fiancé and seeing me had gone into labor. Granger did a face plant into the cave floor as soon as the first shots were fired, and both Sabatino and the White Ghost were dead, and dead men tell no tales. Sam and Callen were both somewhere else in the maze that was the village and cave complex that was the White Ghost's HQ coordinating with Marine Fire Teams dealing with a mix of the White Ghost's men, Taliban, Al Queda and your little dog too.
"Fine, can I at least drive my own car?"
"Nope."
"Swell, Nell think you can help Kensilina get my car home?" A quick nod and I tossed her my keys. Grabbing my go bag, I looked up at Sam "Well, we going to do this or what?" and strode out the door.
*****FLASHBACK*****
Chips of stone, earth and dust showered me, as the asshole down the corridor hosed the AK whatever (Kens would kill me for not being able to identify the specific variant this guy is using) in my direction. The firing stopped, and I slid the M4 around the corner squeezed off a burst that lead to a puff of dust coming from the targets vest. He dropped to his knees with a quizzical look on his face, as the bolt on my M4 locked open. I was already moving down the hall as I hit the magazine release, dropping the spent magazine to the ground. My left hand grabbed another mag from the pouch and slammed it home, just like Drill Instructor Kensi had taught me during her time as my coach in CQB training. I skidded to stop on my knees, just at the next bend of the tunnel. I had gone high at the corner before, and was going to go low this time around. It really sucked that the tunnel went right around the bend and I was right handed. It meant I was going to have to expose myself more to lead with the M4.
The hissing static of my com made think I had stuck my head in a bowl of rice crispies, with all the snap, crackle and pops coming through the earpiece. "Deeks…. Deeks…. You…Move…. More Reinforcements… Here.!" Sam sounded worried, though with the gunfire and explosions in the back ground I didn't blame him.
"Just keep them out of my hair Sam!" I growled as leaned around the corner to get a quick peek. Thank God. There was nobody there, but a door was at the end of the tunnel. I crept forward, slowly when I heard voices speaking in English. Wait a minute that sounded like Kensi, and was that Granger? And then I heard the voice that chilled me to the bone, Sabatino's. Callen and Sam had filled me in with the knowledge that all evidence was pointing to Sabatino being the mole, but Kensi and Granger had gone communication silent before OPS could get the info to them.
I dropped the M4 to hang by its sling, and drew the Beretta M9. I had left my Smith & Wesson back at the Mission because: A) The way Sam and Callen had smuggled me into the country didn't really leave a lot of options for me to carry a handgun. B) I had no idea how long I was going to be here and if something should happen to the pistol fixing it could be a problem. And C) The Beretta M9 was pretty close to identical to the 92FS I had carry when first joining NCIS as the LAPD Liaison.
As I eased the door opened, I noticed Sabitino was the closest to me. Then Granger a little off to the side but behind Kensi who facing a man dressed in native garb, who looked strangely familiar. Nobody seemed to notice me, as the only one who was able to see me was looking forlornly at his feet. What surprised me the most was the fact that all three federal agents were wearing US Marine Combat gear.
"What you see, Jack, is something we could have had" I could hear the anguish in Kens voice, yet the Sig in her hand never wavered. "But you'll never even come close, to what I have now. It is so much better than what we ever had." Jack's head jerked up in time to notice me, but before he could say anything Kensi pulled the trigger. His head snapped back, and the wall behind him was painted red and grey.
Time seemed to come to a standstill. Jack hadn't even began to fall, as Sabatino drew a pair of pistols and pointed them at Kensi and Granger both. "No Kensi!" I pulled the trigger, desperately aiming at Sabatino's ribcage where the vest joined, praying he wasn't wearing trauma plates. Granger started to topple like a tree, blood appearing on the seat of his pants. I counted the shots as I moved forward towards Sabatino. Eleven, twelve, thirteen. Sabatino slid to floor just after Jack and Granger hit the ground. I kicked the pistols out of Sabatino's hands as I slammed a new magazine into the Beretta's well. He wasn't dead yet, but he soon would be.
"Deeks, what in the hell are you doing here?" I could hear the incredulousness in her voice as well as joy, sorrow, pain and guilt. There something else there as well, like a quick hitch of physical pain.
"Hiya Fern. Did you miss me? You good?" A major part of me wanted nothing more than to sweep her into my arms and kiss her until we both passed out from lack of oxygen. Another smaller part of me wanted to rip her clothes off right here as well. But Granger was lying on the floor bleeding, and I at least had to check on him before Kens distracted me even more. Not to mention, now that I knew she was somewhat safe, what had been minor uncomfortable twinges started to increase up high on my arm, my leg and across my back. I sucked a breath through gritted teeth as a particular strong pulse swept through me. I simply settled for a quick look at her, and that's when I noticed it, she looked pregnant. It had to be a prosthesis, it had to be, it simply had to be a prosthesis. There was no way either Hetty or even Granger would have allowed this continue if she was actually pregnant. "Um Uh, why are you wearing a pregnancy prosthesis for an assassination?"
"It's not a prosthesis." Kensi was looking right at me and saw something in my eyes and face that must scared her, cause she bored right on through. "No, Deeks, the baby is yours, not exactly the way I wanted to tell you, but… And… and I think I'm in labor."
*****END FLASHBACK*****
"And that's what happened Sam." I picked the bottle of beer I had nursing and took a swig. It was starting to warm up, but I wanted to stay just this side of buzzed, especially if Kens and I were going to have another similar discussion when I got home. I didn't see a lot of sleep in my future for tonight. Tomorrow was just looking better and better. Maybe I could call in with the bad sushi excuse again?
"You had sixteen rounds in didn't you? A full mag and one up the pipe?" I nodded trying not to grimace at the taste of luke warm beer. Sam continued on "There were only seventeen shots fired in that room Deeks, one from Kensi and the rest from you. Sabatino was shot fifteen times. Granger was shot once. A ricochet wouldn't have been a through and through."
"Well, Granger did say my going to Afghanistan would be something along the lines of National Lampoon Vacation." The look on Sam's face was less than amused. Dang, that would have worked on Kensi. "Look Sam what do want me to say? Did I deliberately shoot Granger in the ass?"
"Yes."
"Honestly, I don't know. Yeah sure there were times when I hitting the bag that I pictured Granger's face, hell I even pictured Hetty's face there a time or too. Yes I wanted to kick his ass for what he did to Kensi and me. But to deliberately shoot a man who, as much as I dislike him, is still one of the good guys, that's something my father would do and that scares the crap out of me. So I have to believe it was an accident."
"Ok works for me. That's what went down in our after action reports. Granger was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Like or not Granger is our new boss, and we're going to have to deal with. Which means you can't go around making quips all day pains in the ass."
"Not even a little?"
"Come on Deeks, Granger doesn't like anybody, but seems he really doesn't like you and he takes it out on you and Kens relationship. Do you really want to give him an excuse to make you an Agent Afloat, or NCIS Special Agent in charge of the field office in McMurdo Station?"
"We have a field office in McMurdo?"
"No that's my point."
"Oh. DiNozzo told me enough horror stories about being an Agent Afloat while we were on the Seahawk. That would drive me insane."
"Wait what was DiNozzo doing onboard the Seahawk? What happened the MCRT was onboard?"
"He was the Agent Afloat. Something about his second tour, and getting his head screwed on straight. It was talking to him that finally pushed me to quit tap dancing with my Kensilina."
Thanks for reading tell me what you think. Next Up Kensi & Deeks talk about how Sam & Callen got him into Afghanistan. After that comes Deeks & Granger.
