Can you do a fic where Deeks is forced to be Max in front of Roberta. Naturally this scares her a bit.
A/N: I really like this prompt and I might have gotten a bit carried away.
"Ok, I think we have enough tequila, rum, and tonic to last until next month," Deeks said, scanning the inventory one more time to make sure he hadn't missed anything. He glanced up at Mike, one of their newer employees, who held a clipboard and was making precise notes of everything Deeks said. "But it looks like you'll need to order more of most everything else."
"Will do, Marty," he said as Roberta walked into the store room with an annoyed expression.
"What's up, mama?"
"There's a guy out front who will not leave," she said, clearly exasperated.
"Did you tell him we're not open yet?" Deeks asked, wondering if he'd need to break out his badge. Roberta cocked a hip and placed a hand on her waist.
"Of course I did. But he insisted he had to see some guy named Max. I told him nobody named Max works here, but he kept insisting." A shiver when up Deeks' spine and he insistently froze.
Both his mom and Mike were watching him and he cleared his throat, shaking off the unpleasant memories that came with the name Max Gentry.
"Uh, did he say what he wanted with Max?" Deeks asked quietly.
"Nope. Just said that his name was Reggie and that this Max person would want to see him. I said I'd ask you about it just to get him off my back." By now his mom looked concerned and he absentmindedly patted her shoulder.
"Don't worry about it. I'll handle him." He took a deep breath, trying to channel the cruelty and violence necessary to be Max. "You two stay here," he instructed. Mike nodded, but Roberta looked mutinous.
"Max!" Reggie crowed when he saw him. He was on the shorter side, but beefy with a shaved head and several tattoos he'd gotten during prison stints lining his arms.
Deeks nodded perfunctorily, relieved that Max wasn't the handshaking type of guy. "I knew I'd seen you here last week, but every time I ask, they all say they don't know you." Reggie waited expectantly, apparently expecting an explanation and Deeks sighed.
"The staff is instructed to say that," Deeks told him, letting his voice drop lower and sound a little less than thrilled. "Wouldn't want any of my enemies to find me, right?" He smirked then, knowing that on Max, it wasn't a friendly look. If Reggie was intimidated, he didn't show it, but nodded along.
"I get you. But if you don't want people to find you, you're gonna need to cut off that hair. Man, I knew it was you from a block away."
Deeks wasn't exactly pleased to hear that or that Reggie was apparently in the mood to chat.
"Listen man-"
"Who is this guy, Marty?" Deeks swore under his breath at the sound of his mother's voice.
"Mom, I thought I told you to stay put," he said from between his teeth.
"Wait, this is your mom?" Reggie asked gleefully, interrupting Roberta's response. She came to stand beside Deeks and he internally rolled his eyes. Now it was going to be even harder to get rid of Reggie.
The man loved stirring up trouble and despite his outward appearance had the capability to be just as nasty as Max.
"Get in the back," Deeks told his mom, more harshly than he normally would. She looked affronted and, of course, didn't move.
"So you going by an alias now, Max?" Reggie's voice had turned from conversational to vaguely threatening. "In trouble with the police again, huh? I heard you were jail for a while, never heard how you got out though."
"You need to stop now, Reggie," Deeks said warningly. Beside him, he could feel a change come over his mom. From curious and a little annoyed, to concerned.
"Or what? You gonna beat me up or something?" Reggie taunted, bouncing on his feet like he was about to enter a boxing ring. Deeks punched him without warning, evading Reggie's swing easily and grabbed a handful of his jacket, shoving him against the bar. The other man lashed out again and Deeks twisted his arm behind his back as he spun him around, face first, into the hard wood.
His mom gasped, but he still didn't look at her. He knew he wouldn't be able to maintain his composure if he did.
"I told you to stop," he growled, giving Reggie's arm an extra twist. "I don't care what you think you know, but you're going to walk out that door and you're not going to tell anyone that you saw me. Got it?" Reggie growled out something profane, ending with a threat against his mom and Deeks slammed his fist into his ribs.
"If I so much as hear a whisper of my name on the street, I will make sure you live to regret it. And you know I can do it. Remember what I did to Little Ricky." Deeks chuckled hoarsely as he felt a tremor run through Reggie's body.
"So I'm gonna ask this again, do you understand?"
"Yes," Reggie groaned.
"Good," Deeks whispered, releasing his hold on Reggie and mockingly patting his shoulder. He stumbled around, glaring malevolently at Deeks and swiped at the blood dripping down his chin.
"Now I remember what an SOB you are."
"And you better not forget it again." Even to his own ear, his voice sounded menacing and his mom made a soft sound under her breath. He'd almost forgotten she was there and the sudden reminder caught him off-guard. He needed to get Reggie out of there before he lost it completely.
"If I ever see you in here again, your lip won't be the only thing bleeding," he told him, pulling on the last of his reserves. Muttering under his breath, Reggie straightened his jacket, but didn't try anything else. As he slouched out of the bar, Deeks let out a shaky breath; he wasn't sure what he would have done if Reggie had resisted.
"Marty, what the hell was that?" Deeks jerked and didn't turn around for several second, slowly breathing in and out as he gathered himself.
"I'm sorry you had to see that," he said quietly.
"Who was that guy and why did he keep calling you Max?" Roberta continued, her voice rising, tinged with fear. Sighing, Deeks rubbed his hand over his mouth and finally turned to face her. Even then he couldn't look her in the eye.
"He was, um…he was an alias I used with the LAPD." He swallowed harshly, a sickening lump in his throat nearly choking him. "When I was undercover. He wasn't a nice guy." The last part wasn't necessary. Even with a small glimpse, it was obvious that Max Gentry was a terrible person, but he felt the need to explain. If he could explain it at all.
"You sounded like your father," Roberta said hollowly. His eye flicked up almost against his will and he saw her face was drained of color.
"Yeah, well, he was my inspiration," he whispered, smiling weekly. She just shook her head and asked,
"Why? Why on earth would you want to act like him?" She sounded mad now and Deeks had to resist the urge to flinch.
"Max isn't a nice guy. He wasn't meant to be, mom." Feeling exhausted, he pulled out a barstool and sat down before he continued explaining. "In order to catch the bad guys, sometimes I had to act like one of them. I've told you that before."
"Yeah, but I didn't think you'd act anything like him." Roberta ran a hand through her hair. "How often do you do this? Threatening and punching people?"
"I don't go under as Max anymore, if that's what you're asking. Or only when something like this happens," he told her, then tentatively reached for her hand. She didn't pull away and he took that as a good sign. "But, mom, there's always gonna be some unpleasant things that come with what I do. And no matter how much I try, sometimes that stuff follows me. I'm just sorry you had to see it."
His mom looked at him, scrutinizing him for an uncomfortably long time. Usually her face was a fairly open book, but right now he couldn't tell what she was thinking. It was nerve wracking. After another minute, she brushed her hand over his cheek and asked,
"This Max guy, he's helped you put away a lot of bad guys?"
"Pretty bad ones." She nodded and flashed a quick smile.
"Well, just make sure he doesn't come into the bar again," she said. It wasn't total absolution, but it was enough for now.
"Won't happen again, mom," he promised and she squeezed his hand before she released it.
"You're still a good boy, Martin."