AN: For /u/altarp2408 who wanted to see Whiting and Bates' reactions to this whole mess. Set after Chapter 13 of 'A Matter of Trust'.

Bates rubbed his hand over his face once he was out of sight, utterly exhausted by the day. He did think that his people were good people. They worked hard, got results and didn't piss other people off too much. Heck, they even got on well with the FBI when the occasion called for it. For some reason when it came to Deeks all of that went out the window.

He cursed Henrietta Lange, in his head of course. He wasn't that stupid. If it wasn't for that stupid exercise, she had made his people and hers do together he'd still be oblivious to his people's attitudes. He frowned then sighed heavily again. OK, that was unfair and also untrue. Bates had been aware of what everyone thought of Deeks, you'd have to be deaf not to hear the whispered comments that flew around when he was actually in the precinct. It was just that, he'd thought it had been simple jealousy of the kid's success rate and the fact that he was working with the feds. No police officer viewed that as a good thing.

And when had Deeks become one of Hetty's anyway? The small woman had made that fact abundantly clear. To be honest, she was free to him. That sounded bad. Bates liked Deeks. Really liked him. He was a fantastic guy and excellent cop for both normal duties and uncover ops. One of the best and Bates didn't say that lightly. But he was absolutely wasted here, he knew that. The kid was too good and he needed a more reliable and consistent team (even ignoring the hostile environment). They couldn't give him that here. Also, he'd never seen Deeks happier than he had been since starting with NCIS and Bates couldn't begrudge him that. Though, he'd never say any of that out loud. He was no sap.

There was the sounds of disgruntled mutters and angrily shuffled papers coming from desks. Bates frowned. He was really annoyed at himself for not realising just how toxic it had become towards Deeks. Were they really all morons or did they not just get the man?

"He's too out there," came a woman's voice from in front of him.

He jumped and clutched at his chest when he realised who it was.

"Whiting! Give a guy some warning," he hissed.

"I coughed," she said blandly, entering his office without waiting for permission.

"Do you want something?" Bates asked, pointedly shuffling some papers.

"You were thinking about Deeks, weren't you?" She asked, standing in front of his desk.

"Yes," he said cautiously, could all the women he knew read minds?

"And how today went?" Whiting pressed.

He winced in remembrance of that disaster.

Whiting smirked at him. "It was because of Deeks, wasn't it?" She demanded.

"Technically it was due to the incident with the tyre..." Bayes responded weakly.

Whiting just gave him a look.

"Yeah," he replied reluctantly.

She gave him a triumphant loo.

"I didn't reliable they were that bad," he said heavily.

Whiting just shrugged.

"Deeks is a bit of an oddball," she explained. "Works great by himself, maybe a little too well, and as a team."

"Then what's the problem?" Bates interrupted.

She glared at him until he was significantly cowed and continued, "But he holds back, doesn't trust very well and is just all over the place when it comes to his methods. They can sense that even if they could say what bothered them about him."

"But he's had tried and proven results. His methods work and make sense. He always explains himself and doesn't let anyone go in blind," Bates complained. "He's hauled some of their asses out of situations they couldn't get out of safely at risk to himself!"

"I'm just telling you what they all think not why they think that. I don't speak moron."

Hm, he'd never actually think that Whiting would be on Deeks' side. What with the IA investigation and all that.

"They're idiots," he cried, giving into the urge to thump his fists on his desk.

Those damned lines of Hetty's fluttered to the ground. He gathered them up before something happened to them.

"Something we both actually agree on."

Bates looked at her suspiciously.

"You don't like him."

"He annoys me," she said in a tone that implied that that was different. "I don't question his honest abilities."

Hmm, there was something there that he wasn't quite getting. Whiting stared straight at him, nothing was going to come from this end and probably not at Deeks' end either.

"Don't you have any lines to do?" He asked irritable, not wanting to prolong this conversation anymore.

That got him a humorous look.

"Didn't have any," she said smugly, swanning out of the room looking far too pleased with herself.