After work one day, I get a call from some random number, but the person on the other end wasn't random.
"Hello." I answered.
"I heard you've been having nightmares, Agent Deeks." Nate said.
"When did you get into town?" I asked, shocked to hear from the operational psychologist.
"I was in on business, but I get detoured to check in my old team." Nate said.
"I wouldn't call it a nightmare, but it's a commonly reoccurring dream." I said.
"Wanna talk about it?" he asked.
The dream still doesn't make much sense, but I have to talk to somebody at some point. So I decide to Nate up on it. "Yeah. I'll meet you at the boatshed in an hour." I said.
"See you in an hour." Nate said.
"See you then." I said.
N.C.I.S. L.A.
Boatshed-
When I arrived at the hour mark, I was carrying food and booze.
"I haven't been to L.A. in a few years, but you remembered my favorite restaurant." Nate said, and then we entered.
"Can't come to L.A. without having you favorite meal. Plus, I brought drinks as well. " I said.
"The drinks aren't necessary, but I'll take 'em." he said
We sat down at the table, and ate the food while catching up.
"So what's new since I last been here?" he asked.
"Hetty died, and I'm human again." I said.
Nate started chocking on the drink of alcohol that he had just taken. I get up, and round the table to help Nate clear his air passages.
"Thanks. Thanks for leading with that. Though you could have wait until after I finished taking my drink to say that. How about we go have a seat by the couch." he said.
We grabbed our beer, and then step over to the couch and chairs: I took a seat on the couch while Nate sat on the chair across from me. There was a moment of silence while we sipped our booze in silence. Then Nate asked. "How does this dream of yours go?"
"The basics is that death has no meaning in the dream, and that there is an android that can break the fourth wall." I said.
"Death has no meaning, as in the way it meant for you, Nell, and Hetty?" he asked.
"No. back in February, there was this show on Netflix called Altered Carbon." I said.
"I've heard coworkers talking about the show in passing." he said.
"In the show, a scientist created technology that made it so people couldn't die. The human conscience has been transferred to a piece of technology called a "stack", or at least that's what it's called in the show. With the conscience on the stack, you could change between bodies at will. The person could survive any wound, as long as it wasn't a head shot." I said.
"Sounds like a bad running joke with you." he said.
"That's one way to look at it." I said.
"What do you know the android?" he asked.
"Other than he know he likes to break the fourth wall, nothing. I don't know what to think of if." I said.
"Probably because you're not." he said.
"What?" I asked.
"This is a dream isn't?" he asked.
"Yeah." I said.
"Whatever the dream was saying, it wasn't meant for you to understand. That's the nature of dreams." he said.
"Are you telling me that the dreams that I'm having have no bearing on what I'm doing at the moment?" I asked.
"The dream that you're are having is that just that: a dream. It has no importance to your life. It's not meant for you." he said.
"If it isn't meant for me, then who is it meant for?" I asked.
"No clue, but it isn't meant for you." he said.
There was a moment of silence as we sipped our drinks in silence.
"Anything else?" he asked.
"The rest of the beer is yours. I'm going for a drive." I said.
"Thanks." Nate said.
I get into my car and drive around town for a good hour, or two. It was midnight by the time I got home. I'm sitting in my driveway staring at Kensi's and mine house, and then I pick up the phone and make a call.
"What's up Deeks?" Nell asked, sleepiness in her voice.
"How's the digging coming along?" I asked.
"I've dug up a lot of things. Some of it is current ongoing investigations. Do you know how much trouble we could get in if the authorities found out we were investigating the police?" she said.
"That won't be a problem. You let me handle the police. Drop off what you found at the boatshed before heading to OPS in the morning" I said.
"You got it." Nell said. Nell was yawning as she ended the call.
I get out of the car, and head inside.
Come morning, I'm awakened from my slumber by a text message. It was from Whiting.
Is she for real. Right now. I thought.
Whiting wanted to meet at the boatshed at nine thirty. I look at my phone, and see that I have thirty minutes before I had to meet her. I get a shower, get dressed, and head out the door. As I'm driving over to the boatshed I text Kensi that I'm meeting Whiting at the boatshed. I'm not looking forward to this meeting, but I knew this day was coming. So I need to get on with this.
N.C.I.S. L.A.
Boatshed-
I walk into the boatshed, and Whiting is nowhere to be seen. I make a bird call, still no answer. I come to the realization she's in the interrogation room upstairs.
"Extreme drop in body temperature. A little shortness of breath. General feeling of malaise. So either I'm coming with the scurvy or…Oh!" I said, walking up the stairs and entering the room.
"It's good to see you too. Deeks." Whiting said.
"You know, in order for distance to make the heart grow fonder, I think you're gonna need to give me more distance." I said.
"Thank you for meeting me."" she said.
"You sounded very urgent. Don't tell me your synchronized swimming partner fell ill. You need me to suit up?" I asked.
"Cute. But this is serious." she said.
"Well, I personally take the aquatic arts very seriously, but, all right, fire away." I said.
"Take a look at this." She said.
Whiting showed me a video on a tablet, and the only person the screen was Bates. There was a shooting and he was fleeing a scene of a crime.
I think of the implications. Bates shooting a cop, and fleeing the scene. I remember Whiting said that there were a lot of open I.A. investigations going at the moment. Bates was at the center of one of those investigations.
"Why is I.A. investigating Bates?" I asked.
"We have reason to believe L.A.P.D.'s got quite a few officers moonlighting as private contractors." she said.
"That's not illegal." I said.
"It is if there breaking the law." She said.
"And you think Bates is one of these dirty cops?" I asked.
"Looks like Bates is running the whole racket." she said.
"Video evidence of Bates shooting a cop and fleeing the scene doesn't prove that he's running the racket. It could be misconstrued that he stumbled upon it, and tried to break it up. Things got out of hand, and he had to shoot the other cop to protect himself." I said.
"You have proof?" she asked.
"Not yet." I said.
"Until then I need you to get in touch with Bates and convince him to turn himself in." she said.
"Listen. I am not gonna help you throw Bates under the bus, and do your superiors know that you're consorting with a federal agent to close the case?" I asked.
"No." she said.
"Keep it that way. I'll reach out to Bates, but I'm going to close the case." I said.
Whiting gave me a sideways glance.
"Isn't that why you came to me? You don't trust anyone at L.A.P.D. and you want to make this all go away." I said.
Whiting was about to respond, but I shook my head, and exited the room.
N.C.I.S. L.A.
L.A.P.D. safe house-
I pull up outside the house, and Bates gets in saying. "Drive, now."
"Kiss your Uber driver with that mouth?" I asked.
"Shut up, Deeks. We need to move, now." He said.
"All right, Nancy." I said, and pulled away from the curb.
"You saw what happened this morning." he asked
"You know I did." I said.
"And it looks bad." he said.
"You know it does. Don't worry about it. N.C.I.S. is going to help you." I said.
"N.C.I.S.?" he asked.
"L.A.P.D. is dirty than strip club floor, and Whiting reached out to me to get you turn yourself in. I agreed, but I said that I would close the case before that happened." I said.
"Thank you for that. Whiting wouldn't help a kitten stuck in a tree unless she thought she could shoot it without any witnesses." he said.
"Well, cats are notoriously evil and hard to trust, so I guess I'm with team Whiting on that one." I said.
At that moment, a squad car pulled up behind lights flashing.
How the heck did they know Bates was with me? I thought
"You son of a bitch. You set me up." he said.
"What are you talking about, man? I didn't call them. Plus there was probably somebody watching the house you wore holed in anyways." I said.
"You don't understand what's going down. You pull this truck over, it doesn't end well." he said.
"Wow, you've gotten very dramatic in your old age." I said.
"Looks like we're doing it this way now. Drive." Bate said, pulling his weapon on me.
The patrol car pulled around in front of us, driving to the end of the block and then stopped attempting to block us in.
"You're a lot scarier without that mustache. All right hold on." I said.
I gunned the engine, and tore the front bumper off of the patrol car as I drove past.
"That's not going to be good for the resale." I said, looking in the driver's side view mirror.
N.C.I.S. L.A.
Ryan Wallace's house-
"Looks like they're using the same maid as Kensi." I said, when I entered.
"I'm gonna find and expose the person behind this." Bates said.
"Great you focus on that. I'll figure out who Wallace is trying to sell this virus to." I said.
"You do remember you technically work—"
"I don't work for L.A.P.D. I never worked for L.A.P.D. It was an inconvenient cover until the Office of Special Projects was formed. I'm here as a guest investigator to bail the LA.P.D. out of this mess." I said.
"That's convenient." he said.
"What's going on here? How come these guys keep breaking their oath?" I asked.
"You know the starting salary of an L.A.P.D. officer?" he asked.
"I do." I said.
"It's Los Angeles. You try to buy a house, put your kids through school, do right by your family on that salary. You can't do it. I'm not saying I agree with them. Screw them. We make choices. I'm just saying I can see how easy it is to have your hand tipped." He said.
"Well, how come they never tipped your hand?" I asked.
Bates chuckled and then said "I've given my life to this job. I'm five years away from a pension that's going to two wives that I lost to this job. I can't control everything, Deeks, but my honor, that's one thing I can control." He said.
"I feel like I should start a slow clap." I said, and then we both chuckled.
"Okay." Bates said.
At that moment, there were tires screeching outside in the drive way.
N.C.I.S. L.A.
Boatshed-
I entered the boatshed with Bates, and Whiting was already waiting for us. There was a mini debrief, and then Bates left.
"And then there were two." I said.
"You did good work today." Whiting said.
"Sorry, what?" I asked.
"Don't make me say it again." she said.
"I couldn't hear it, because you were mumbling. Just one more time." I said.
"You did good work today." she said.
"Oh, and there it is. So does this mean we're even?" I asked.
"I like you, Deeks. I know it doesn't seem like it, but I do. I could wish I say this is the end of it, but I can't. But the truth is, I just don't know. And I hope you understand that." she said.
"Before you go, I need you to look at something." I said, and then walked away from a moment.
"What am I looking at?" she asked.
I came back with a laptop and a thumb drive. I place the thumb drive into the laptop, and accessed the data. I place the laptop on the table in front Whiting, and took a step back. Whiting swiped through a few screens before asking. "Where did you get all of this?"
"It's what you call knowing the right people. I'm going to make you a deal: you can have the thumb drive, but you have to let me go." I said.
"If I don't?" she asked.
"That's not the only copy of the information. You make a move to arrest me, and that information goes to the press. And I'm certain you don't want to deal with the fallout of this going public." I said.
Whiting was thinking about the implications of this going public through the media, instead of through the police, and what the narrative the media would be using.
"Okay, you win. I will close the investigation. You actually did me a favor. Night, Deeks" Whiting said, and then left
"Night." I said.
N.C.I.S. L.A.
OPS: Rooftop-
About a week later, I'm on the roof of OPS, and I'm just thinking about what the case that we had today. Kensi got called out to assist the Air Force in taking down three of their officers who had went rogue, and threaten to launch a nuke from Colorado. Kensi and I started the day out angry with each other, and by the end of the day Kensi was saying her good-bye in case she didn't make it out alive. For the first time in five thousand years I was ready to die. Without Kensi, there is not point to living this life. I gave up being an immortal just so I could live out my days with Kensi.
Kensi got out alive, but the thought of losing Kensi was a punch in the gut that has yet to wear off. I hear the door open, and I hear the footsteps approach. I hear the police siren in the distance, and then I hear the footsteps stop. I know Kensi is right next to me, but the thought of Kensi dying is too much for me to handle. I know Kensi is standing right next to me, but I can't look at her.
"Hi." Kensi says, as she pats my side.
Hey." I said. I never felt so vulnerable in my life before, and no matter how hard I try to hide it I can't. "Well it's official. I'm never gonna criticize your grilled cheese again."
We had an argument last night about how Kensi made grilled cheese, but in light of today's the events, it seemed poor taste to still be upset about it. There was a moment of silence before either of us spoke. It was Kensi who spoke, and she was fight back tears as she said. "It was the hardest thing I ever had to do."
"What's that making the grilled cheese or single-handedly saving the world from nuclear holocaust?" I asked.
"Making that call to you." she said. There was a moment of silence before Kensi let out a breath and then asked. "How long are we going to do this for?"
I couldn't believe what I just heard. I'd walk away right now if Kensi said she wanted to, but it was Kensi who want to stay and finish the case. I understand her reasoning, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.
"I mean, you're the one that wanted to stay in, so why don't you tell me?" I asked.
"I don't know." She said.
"Aw, that's great." I said.
"I don't—I don't—I don't know." she said.
There was a moment of silence before I said. "I can't go through what Sam went through. I mean, honestly, I don't know how that guy gets up in the morning. What are we doing?" I said. There was a moment of silence before I continued. "You're everything for me. I killed thousands of people across five thousand years to get to you. And, uh…I hate feeling like this because you're my world."
Kensi reached up and pulled me into a hug. While we were still hugging, Kensi looked me in the eye and said. "You are mine."
We kissed, and then we after kissed we just stand there still holding each and staring into the distance.
"You're my world." Kensi said.
N.C.I.S. L.A.
OPS: Bullpen-
The next day the four of us were in the bullpen when Mosley came through to update us on current events. After Mosley was finished I decided to ask Mosley about Hetty.
"Director Mosley." I said.
"Yes, Agent Deeks." Mosley said.
"What's the status on Agent Lange?" I asked.
This drew stares from Sam, Kensi, and G. I waved them off as Mosley said. "Agent Hetty retired last month, and is probably in Fiji by now."
"You know this because?" I asked.
"Because Hetty always said that she sail off into the sun set. Anything else?" Mosley asked.
"No. No that is all." I said.
"I expect update by day's end." Mosley said, and then left.
I waited until Mosley was on the balcony before saying. "Eric."
"Checking the South Pacific between her and Asia for Hetty's boat. On it." Eric said, entering from the cubby hole, and then heading up to Ops.
"Don't let me stop you." I said. I look at the rest of my team and said. "I will now by taking your questions."
"Agent Lange?" Sam said.
"As in Special Agent Hetty Lange?" Callen asked.
"You thought there was only one Hetty Lange?" I asked.
"How do you know there was a second Hetty Lange?" Kensi asked.
"On my way back from Scotland, I dropped by the Naval Yard. I haven't been there in over a decade. While I was talking with Director Vance, he give me a gift to give to Hetty. It was a scarf that he meant to my Hetty, but he wants me to give to the current Hetty. Once she comes back from wherever she is." I said.