Chapter 2

The team looked at the little boy sitting in the car he was looking around wanting to touch everything but trying not to get into trouble.

"Is he…is he addicted now?" Sam asked in a deep tone that Callen knew meant he was furious.

Hetty looked at him, "I don't know Mr. Hanna; we don't know what it was that made Mr. Deeks like this so we really don't know the effects of the drug on him."

"So what are we going to do with him?" Callen asked.

Hetty looked over at the boy who had stopped fidgeting and was staring intently at the group of grown-ups.

"We'll take him to the mission; Dr Mason is in residence today doing the staff physicals, so maybe he could do a workup on the boy." She said reluctant to refer to him as Deeks right now.

Kensi nodded and walked towards the car that held her pint sized partner.

Hetty turned to Callen and Sam, "Mr. Callen I need you to go with Mr. Hanna to get over to LAPD and find out what happened on Mr. Deeks' last mission, we need to know about the scientist and what he may have been exposed to and hopefully we can bring the scientist in and they can fix Mr. Deeks." She said.

Deeks sat back and put his seatbelt on as Kensi got in the car.

He watched her, his eyes following every move she made. "You ok Marty?" Kensi asked as Hetty climbed in the front beside her.

"Uh huh." Marty nodded he bit his lip and scratched at his hair yawning as she started the car.

Kensi looked in the mirror as they drove and Marty started to drop off to sleep.

Pulling up outside the mission she shut the car door as Hetty got out.

"I will go and inform Dr. Mason of the situation, would you bring young Marty?" she asked.

Kensi nodded and opened the door. "Deeks?" she called quietly, but the boy didn't move, "Marty?"

Marty opened his eyes and yawned he rubbed them once or twice and Kensi could help but wonder if this would be what his children would look like one day. His eyes opened wider when he realized he was outside. "I…" he looked around in panic, he didn't know where he was, but he did know he wasn't home and his dad didn't seem to be around, then he saw the police lady. "I…I'm sorry." He said, he wasn't allowed to sleep when he had to go outside.

"It's ok," she smiled, "You've had a busy day."

Deeks climbed out of the car, his comic tightly gripped in his hand and tripped over his shoelace and fell awkwardly onto the floor. He stood up and wiped his bloody nose not making a sound.

"Are you ok?" Kensi asked looking at the cut lip and bloody nose he had from the fall.

"Yes ma'am." Deeks said his big blue eyes filling with tears but he wasn't crying.

Kensi looked at him, "Oh Deeks." She said.

Marty looked at her, "Is he here?" he asked hopefully. Andrew Deeks and his wife Susan were kind to him and he loved them dearly. "Are they coming to look after me?"

"I don't know." Kensi said, but she resolved to find out as much information on the couple as she could.

They walked into the mission and Hetty looked at the injuries on Marty's face.

"Agent Blye what happened to Master Brandel's face."

"I fell it wasn't her fault Ma'am!" Marty piped up quickly shrinking back as he realized he'd just spoken aloud to a grownup.

"He fell over his laces," Kensi said moving to do them up for him.

"I'm sorry I'm stupid." Marty said.

"Who said you were stupid?" Kensi asked gently looking at the worried face of her tiny partner.

"I…My Daddy said I should not be a stupid bar…barst…" Deeks stopped searching for the word he wanted and failed.

"You are not stupid, do you want me to show you how to tie your laces?" she asked as she nodded for Hetty to get the doctor.

Deeks nodded and he clambered up onto the chair that actually was his own in the bullpen.

Kensi knelt down and Deeks watched with rapt concentration as she showed him how to tie his laces.

"Has no one ever shown you?" she asked.

Deeks shook his head, "No, Momma said I should learn at school that's what it's for, but they can all do it, when I asked the teacher said ask my momma. So I did, she said if I asked again that she'd tie them around my neck, but I can't do that with my feet in them." He said innocently confused.

Kensi turned away hiding the look on her face as Hetty and Dr. Mason walked in.

"Hello?" Sheila Mason knelt down and looked at the little boy, "That looks like it hurts would you like me to have a look at it?" she said.

Deeks looked at her.

Sheila smiled, "its ok I'm a doctor I'll make it all go away."

Deeks' eyes went wide and he scrambled off the chair and across the room hiding behind the sofa Callen usually slept on.

"No!" he said moving as far as he could.

"Marty she's not going to hurt you," Kensi said crouching down near him.

"She's a doctor!" he exclaimed in terror, "They kill children!" he told her in and awed hushed tone as if she didn't know that.

"Nonsense!" Shelia exclaimed, "Who told you that?"

"Momma and daddy, they said if I told…." His eyes went wider, "It's my fault I told? So you have to kill me now because I told…" he waited and worked it through in his head, "But…But I didn't tell, the policemen found me…but I didn't tell honest! Can you not kill me?" he asked the doctor biting his lip worriedly.

Shelia smiled, "I'm a nice doctor and I do NOT kill children, but I do have these." She produced a Tootsie Pop from inside her coat and handed it out towards him.

Marty looked at Kensi who nodded so he knew it was ok.

Taking the sucker he put it in his mouth and he smiled as the sweet flavor flooded over his tongue "I like these!" he exclaimed with a huge grin on his face, "What are they?"

All the adult looked at each other, "They are tootsie pops, Marty, you know candy?"

Marty shook his head, swinging his legs off the edge of the desk that Kensi had lifted him up onto.

The doctor moved, "I need to take your t-shirt off and look at you, so I can hear your heart," she showed him the stethoscope and let him hear her heart.

He looked at her worried, "Does it hurt?" he asked.

"The stethoscope?" she asked confused.

"The thumpy thing?" Deeks asked.

Sheila smiled, "No sweetie that's my heart, you have one too, listen." She went to take his shirt off and he shrank back, "It won't hurt and we will hear your heart." She promised.

His curiosity won out and he pulled his t-shirt over his head, oblivious to the worried looks of the adults who gasped at the bruises and the track marks on his arms.

Shelia turned her back to him, "I think this child was abused, maybe you should be looking for his parents." She said, "I will be taking a blood sample to see if he has drugs in his system."

"Thank you. Dr. Mason, but this will need to be tested here." Hetty said.

She nodded, she didn't know why, but she knew enough to follow Hetty's lead.

She gently prodded him, watching as he winced and hid the pain only showing a tear as the doctor took a needle and extracted a blood sample from the child.

Marty looked at the doctor funny, and she turned, "What's wrong Marty?"

"Did you just give me my medicine? Its daytime, do I have to go to bed now before the funny pictures start? I don't like them, you said you were nice." He said with a bit of accusation in his voice.

"I didn't give you any medicine, can you tell me who gave you the medicine?" she asked gently.

"Momma did, daddy gave it to her."

Shelia looked at the little boy who tugged at her heartstrings.

"Do you want to play?" Hetty asked pulling his t-shirt back over his head.

"Can I play with Ray?" he asked. "He's my bestest friend." He grinned.

"I think Ray is busy, but we have so pens and paper you can draw pictures."

"Drawing is for girls." Deeks repeated by rote. He heard his father's voice in his head as he said it and flinched.

"What do you like to do?" Hetty asked.

Deeks looked around the room he spotted Hetty bottle of drink. "I can pour you a drink Ma'am, Daddy says I should be a bartender when I grow up so I can give him free drinks, I'm really good at it so ya don't have to hit me or nothin'" he grinned. He hated the honey colored drink but he knew that it made the adults happy.

"Actually I prefer a cup of tea." Hetty said. "I will show you how to make it if you wish and you can join me."

"What's tea?" Deeks asked.

"It is a drink from a bush, from Asia." She said, it wasn't a full explanation, but the boy was ten, "It's my favorite drink," she admitted, "What's yours?" she asked.

Deeks looked at her and crossed his legs on the armchair her had moved to, "I…I don't like scotch…it tastes like wood, Daddy says Beer is a man's drink, but I don't want to drink that if that's ok with you ma'am, unless you think I should Daddy says I'm an ungrateful little brat, I don't mean to be…but it makes my head hurt. Oh!" Marty smiled, "I had a grape soda once…I think that's the bestest drink ever, Ray got me some he stoled it," Deeks suddenly looked at her in horror, "He won't get into trouble will he, it was my fault I was hungry and he was getting us both dinner."

Hetty gave a sad smile, "No Mr. Brandel, your friend Ray will not be in trouble."

"Can…Can I tell you a secret?" he asked looking around so no one else would here.

Kensi had gone with the doctor and the whole floor was bereft of people.

"You may tell me anything and I will not tell the others." Hetty promised.

"Ray says he and me are gonna run away, we is gonna go to the beach and live like the turtles. He knows a way to stop Daddy hurting me…" he looked around and his voice dropped to a whisper, "He gave me a gun." He breathed.

"They are very dangerous," Hetty told the boy.

"So's daddy." Marty said flatly.