Deeks head felt like it was splitting open as he sat in the back of the Challenger with Callen and Sam in the front. Nell and Eric had gotten a hit that morning on the bank accounts that the Donovan's had, indicating that someone had somehow gotten into the frozen assets and made them available.
The team did not believe that Mrs. Donovan had the skills to unlock the accounts on her own, resulting in Nell and Eric tracking the IP address to a residential area not far away from where the Donovan family had lived. While none of them really believed that they would find the person helping Mrs. Donovan, or the woman herself, they were all itching to wrap this case up and call it good.
"Are you okay back there?" Callen asked and turned in his seat to face Deeks. The younger man had his eyes closed and head tipped back while the pallor of his skin had taken on a sickly green tinge.
"Peachy," Deeks grimaced.
Callen gave him a calculating look but refrained from saying anything else and just turned back so that he was facing forward.
They quickly pull up to the house that the techs had tracked down, and spotted Mrs. Donovan's car out front along with another one that they didn't recognize. Callen signaled for Deeks to go around the back as soon as they had gotten out of the car. Deeks nodded and circled around while Callen and Sam approached the door and swiftly knocked on the wooden surface.
"Mrs. Donovan, NCIS federal agents, open up!" Sam called out.
There was a quick scramble in the house and the sound of muffled talking. Callen and Sam shared a look at stepped back so that Sam could kick the door in, Deeks followed suit with the back door just seconds later.
They filtered into the house, checking each room in fast pace until they came to the last room and faltered in their steps. Standing in front of them was Mrs. Donovan and a man that they didn't know. They were both only partially dressed and were beat red, staring at the floor.
"Get dressed." Sam snapped and took mild amusement at seeing them scramble to do just that.
Once they were dressed and cuffed, the group made their way to the boatshed where they were met by Hetty and Nell.
Deeks sat heavily in a chair as Sam and Callen went into the room that Mrs. Donovan had been placed in and sat down across from her. Neither said anything for a few minutes and watched her squirm in her seat uncomfortably.
"It wasn't supposed to happen this way." She blurted out just moments later.
"What wasn't?" Callen asked.
"David and I wanted to find a way to be together and to get Michael out of the way. I never thought that he would…That he would kill Mike." She stammered. "He was supposed to talk to Mike to get him to back down and sign the divorce papers that I had drawn up a few months ago."
"Instead he hired two hit men to kill your husband." Sam said and saw her nod. "But why do that? Your husband had terminal cancer."
A look of shame crossed her face before Mrs. Donovan spoke again. "I know and I feel terrible that I had asked for a divorce knowing that he was dying, but our marriage had been falling apart for years and I didn't want the insurance money that I would get when he died. I didn't want the reminder."
"But you took the money anyway." Callen stated and watched her head snap up and confusion cloud her eyes.
"No I didn't." She shook her head. "I called the insurance company and informed them that I didn't want that money."
"Yet the money was taken and your accounts that were previously frozen were opened again." Sam stated. "And do you honestly want us to believe that you had nothing to do with any of this when we not only found you with the man that supposed set up a hit to kill your husband, but you also pulled a gun on two of our agents and nearly shot one."
"I…"She stuttered and seemed to recollect herself. "I had to keep them away from David. I-I can't lose him as well."
"This man had your husband killed. He is potentially the one that killed your whole family." Callen stated bluntly. "He hired two people to murder your husband, and then he collected Michaels insurance money and accessed your bank accounts. He took your whole family from you and You were protecting him?"
"You don't understand." She sighed heavily, as if they were completely missing the point.
"Then explain it to us." Callen said. "Honestly I don't believe that he did this all on his own. In fact you going shopping just after your husband and family was killed does not show you as being innocent of any of this. I personally feel that you had something to do with everything."
Callen and Sam then saw something snap in her eyes, all the innocence that she had been showing was quickly pushed to the side to show steely determination and deep loathing. She then leaned back in her chair and rolled her eyes.
"David didn't hire someone to kill your husband did he?" Sam asked, understanding settling onto him. "It was the two of you that killed him and ambushed our agents wasn't it?"
Mrs. Donovan huffed and glared at them. "They were getting in the way." She snapped.
"And your husband?" Sam asked.
"He had gone back to the doctors only to be told that he wasn't as terminal as we thought he was." She ground out. "Apparently he was going to live much longer than we thought."
"And that didn't bode well with you." Callen nodded.
"I wanted to pathetic bastard dead." She growled. "I wanted to divorce him but he refused and claimed that he would expose my relationship to David to everyone that I know. My worthless family wouldn't have done well with that information. When Michael died, it was only a short time before they put two and two together. I had been stupid and had purchased a gun shortly before killing him. My father had seen the purchase."
"So you killed your whole family as well." Sam said, trying to wrap his mind around the fact.
""Life is much better without them all nagging me." She claimed and let a smile spread across her face.
Sam and Callen shared a look and got up, leaving the room and a smirking Mrs. Donovan.
"She seriously did all of this just to get away from her husband and family?" Nell asked in shock.
"It's amazing what people will do to the ones that they are supposed to love." Deeks stated from personal experience. "I'll call LAPD and have them come and get them."
"I think Mr. Donovan's family should be informed." Hetty said with a pointed look to Callen who nodded and went to make the call.
"LAPD will be here shortly." Deeks said and pocketed his phone. "Now if you'll excuse me, I should go and get Kensi before she tries to break herself out of the hospital."
"If she hasn't already." Sam smirked.
Deeks nodded in agreement and left the room and collected the kids before they headed to his car and to Will's school. The drive didn't take long and as he pulled into the parking lot, he wasn't at all surprised to see Kensi waiting for him near the front doors.
"Let me guess, you've already signed all the needed papers to get released." Deeks said when she climbed into the car.
"The sooner I could get out of that room the better." Kensi nodded and turned to greet the kids, all of which were overjoyed to see her. "I think tonight should be a pizza night." She said and smiled when they beamed at her.
"Pizza it is then." Deeks agreed and drove them home where the kids proceeded to run off to play, leaving Kensi and Deeks alone in the living room.
"What's wrong?" Kensi asked when Deeks walked into the kitchen and grabbed some more Tylenol.
"Isla and Elijah screamed the whole way to OPS this morning." He explained and put his water bottle on the counter and walked up to her, cupping her face in his hands. "What did the doctor say about your head?" He asked, checking her eyes.
"I'm okay Marty." Kensi said. "He gave me some meds to take, but the concussion has subsided."
"Good." Deeks said and placed a kiss on her forehead. "I have no idea how I would do any of this without you."
"The house would probably be in shambles. That or you'd somehow manage to blow it up." Kensi teased and got a smirk out of him in return. "Come on." She grabbed his hand and led him to the couch where they both sank down and Kensi curled up at his side.
"What do you think the odds are of getting someone to babysit all three kids?" Deeks asked. "I think we're overdue for an actual date."
Kensi chuckled and nodded. "I think we're doing this a bit backwards." She pointed out.
Deeks chuckled as well and found her lips with his own in a soft kiss that made them temporarily forget about anything else. The silence didn't last long though and was broken by the high pitched scream that all kids seemed programmed with.
"They need volume controls." Deeks grimaced and rubbed at his temples.
Kensi went to agree, but stopped short when they heard the unmistakable sound of glass breaking, shortly followed by another scream and one of the kids crying.
The adults shared a panicked look and bolted up the stairs and towards the sound of the kids. Lying on the floor was a decorative glass plate that had once sat on a shelf in the hallway. The kids all looked at the shattered glass and then to the adults. Isla had tears streaming down her cheeks and upon further inspection; Deeks saw the crimson of blood on the little girl's foot.
"What are you guys doing?" He snapped and saw Elijah's bottom lip start to tremble.
"We were playin'." He said and started to cry.
Deeks sighed and rubbed at his eyes before he leaned down in front of the boy and pulled him into a gentle hug.
"It's okay." He said and looked at each child in turn.
"We sorry daddy." Elijah said, causing Deeks to instantly freeze, his eyes finding Kensi's shocked ones before they fell onto Will who had tears filling his.
He gave Deeks a quick look before he ran to his room and slammed the door shut behind him. Kensi went to follow him but stopped when Deeks grasped her arm.
"Let him be for now." He said and lifted a still crying Elijah into his arms while Kensi picked up Isla who still had silent tears streaming down her cheeks. "He looked rather angry. I'll talk to him in a minute."
"Are you sure?" Kensi asked, rubbing Isla's back.
Deeks nodded and led the way down stairs. They were both in shock over Elijah referring to Deeks as daddy as they made their way to the couch and Kensi found something for the kids to watch after they had calmed down.
"I'm sorry." Elijah said, his finger going into his mouth where he started to chew on it.
"Why are you sorry?" Kensi asked.
"Will's angry." He said, his lip trembling again.
"Sweetie, Will can be angry if he wants but that doesn't mean that you did something wrong." Kensi explained and gently rubbed his arms. "Will is upset because you called Deeks daddy and Will misses your real mommy and daddy a lot still."
"Oh." Elijah said and looked down at his feet.
"Hey listen buddy." Deeks said, kneeling in front of him so that he was at eye level with the little boy. "You and your brother and sister can call us mommy and daddy if you want, but you don't have to."
"But I can?" Elijah asked. Isla was watching them with interest.
"Yes you can." Kensi agreed and leaned into Deeks. "We're going to take care of you just like your mommy and daddy did."
"K," Elijah said.
"K," Isla parroted.
"Let's find something to watch." Kensi declared then and sat down with the kids.
Deeks gave her a warm smile and headed up the stairs and knocked on Will and Elijah's bedroom door before he walked in and found Will sitting on his bed with a stuffed animal giraffe clutched to his chest.
"You're not our daddy. Our daddy is dead." Will stated.
"I know that Will." Deeks said and sat down beside him, a hand going to the boy's back. "I know that you miss your mom and dad and I understand that. But your brother and sister are still too young to really understand that your parents are dead. Kensi and I…We are your parents now bud. You don't have to call us mom and dad, and you don't have to recognize us as being your parents. That is your choice, but it is also your sibling's choice as well. They can call us mommy and daddy as well and though that is going to upset you, it is their choice."
"I know. It's just…I miss them a lot." Will said and let a sob break free from his lips before he started to cry heavily.
"I know buddy." Deeks said and pulled him into his arms.
He slowly started to rock back and forth until Will's crying started to slow and his breathing evened out, suggesting that he had fallen asleep. One look at him confirmed that suspicion and had Deeks slowly standing up and lowering the child onto his bed before he pulled the blanket up to Will's chin and placed a barely there kiss on his cheek.
Deeks then found a spot on the floor next to Will's bed and watched the boy sleep. He wasn't sure how long he was there before Kensi walked in with Elijah fast asleep in her arms.
She put the boy in bed and took up a spot next to Deeks.
"Isla's asleep as well." She said and rested her forehead against his shoulder. "I'll let them sleep for a bit and then order dinner."
"Okay." Deeks agreed and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "I think we should find someone that Will can go and talk to about his parents. He was really upset tonight and I have a feeling that he isn't comfortable with talking to us about them yet. He seems to be holding everything in."
"I agree." Kensi sighed and stood up, ruffling a hand through the child's hair. "I want him to be happy here and with us."
"He will be." Deeks said confidently. "He just needs some time."
Kensi nodded and wrapped her arms around Deeks as they stood there and watched Will sleep.
A/N: The case does end a bit abruptly, but to be honest we just wanted to wrap it up and focus more on the family.