For the prompt: pls could you do an angsty max gentry fic? where kensi has to go undercover with him/sees a different side to him?
A/N: I have to admit this was a bit hard because Kensi's already "seen" Deeks punch a guy with very little, if any, provocation and then be very unpleasant/threatening to his girlfriend while he was being Max. In any case, it take place after Kensi has been introduced to Max, but still early on in their partnership.
"Deeks, what the hell was that?" Kensi hissed as Deeks slammed the car into drive and pulled out of the gravel parking lot before she'd barely gotten in her seat. He floored it, knocking her off balance and into the passenger door as she tried to get her seat belt on.
"Max," he corrected her, eyes darting around as though someone else might be in the vehicle with them and hear her slip. His jaw was tight, fists clenched around the steering wheel. They rode in silence for a few minutes, putting some distance between them and the abandoned factory.
Kensi gripped the edges of her seat, trying to process the last two hours. Everything had been going so well, or at least as well as could be unexpected, when Max Gentry was involved.
"I didn't have a choice," Deeks said eventually, defensively.
"Did you really have to threaten his kids?" Kensi asked, shock slowly turning to anger. He glared back at her and turned onto a side street, roughly putting the car in park. Not looking at her he said,
"I needed him, and the others, to believe I was serious. Max isn't the kind of guys who worries about what people think of him. He plays dirty and that's exactly what they expected."
"Well, you certainly didn't have to make it that graphic." She shuddered slightly as she recalled the explicit language he'd used to describe what he'd do to Bobby Harris' family. What Max had said, she corrected herself. Though it had certainly sounded like Deeks' voice.
"Yes, I did," Deeks replied tiredly, looking to her for some understanding. When she didn't respond, he shook his head, his expression bitter. "See, this is why I didn't want to go under as Max again. I told Hetty it was a terrible idea." He was silent for a minute and then he jabbed his finger in her direction. She jumped ever so slightly but fortunately he didn't seem to notice.
"And the thing that kills me is that you've seen him before. You know exactly what he's capable of, what Max can do. What I have to do if I'm playing him and you still act surprised."
"Last time I heard you rough a guy up a little bit. It's not the same thing at all," she retorted, now on the defensive herself. "This was different."
"Can you honestly tell me that Sam or Callen, or even you, haven't had to seriously cross a line to get results or to keep a cover?" She shifted uncomfortably and he smiled with bitter triumph.
"Was your father really like that?" she asked quietly, finally giving voice to the thought that had been plaguing her. Maybe it wasn't the right time, but she needed to know. "Was he that violent and cruel?"
"I do not want to talk about him right now," Deeks said firmly.
"Then when?" she said, not caring that she was practically shouting. "We both know this isn't going away."
"I think the more important question is, can you keep working with me, knowing what I'm capable of? What I'm willing to do." Kensi looked in the eye, for what felt like the first time in hours, and her heart clenched with the pain she found there. It was like he was silently begging her to understand, to forgive him.
She didn't answer and he muttered something dark and unintelligible, putting the car back in park and pulling onto the main street. Whatever she might have said, could only make matters worse.
Kensi glanced at the side of his head, seeing the anger mixed with sadness in the tightness of his jaw, in his refusal to look at her again. They drove the rest of the way in silence.
Thanks for the prompt!
A/N: I'm not completely sure this works, but hopefully it's not too bad. And I feel, barring Deeks doing something truly terrible, Kensi would take it in stride.