Hello darlings. I would like to thank anonkp, Lic. Lu, ssl71 and Guest for the wonderful reviews. I would also like to thank those of you who have followed and favoured since my last update.

So here is the next chapter, I hope you like it.

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS: LA.

Callen placed his knife and fork together on the now empty plate. That had to have been one of the best meals he had ever eaten. Frank's husband was a genius chef, even if he did give him a death glare that rivalled Hetty's when he brought out the food for him and Deeks. That look made him chuckle as he realised that Henry was actually the more dangerous of the two Deeks now worked for. Because while Frank was a former cop, Callen was pretty sure that Henry would, without hesitation, poison you if you so much as looked at someone he cared about wrong. Say the wrong thing to either Frank or Deeks and he would be dead. He didn't know how Deeks had found himself such a protective couple to take him in, but he was glad he had. Glad he had these men to look after him, to help him find what it was he was looking for. Glad he was settled somewhere with people like Frank and Henry around him.

Callen was pulled from his thoughts by Deeks speaking, for the first time since the food arrived.

"Well, I guess I'd better go get ready to start my shift." He said, smiling happily at the idea. He liked working behind the bar, talking to the regulars and entertaining them with his antics. Since starting the job he had decided he wanted to be like Tom Cruise in Cocktail, though Frank had forbidden him to throw around the bottles of spirits they had behind the bar. He was no fun. But hey, that didn't mean Deeks couldn't practise with the empties when the bar was quiet now did it? He had even nearly caught one yesterday and everything.

"And I'd better head back to LA. Get this lot filed before Hetty or Bates finds out." Callen agreed, patting the now signed paperwork at his side. He wasn't looking forward to the backlash that he knew would be coming his way once it was processed and everything was official.

At that Deeks frowned. It was already early evening, and he knew how far it was back to the city. There was no way Callen would make it back before midnight at the earliest. And he really shouldn't be driving after the beers he had had. Therefore without thought, he spoke. "Why not stay the night?"

"Where? Last I checked there wasn't a motel around, and I really don't fancy sleeping on the beach or in my car." Callen replied simply. It wasn't like there was any other option of where he could crash now was it? He doubted Frank and Henry would be too happy to lend him their couch after all.

"My beds big enough for two, as long as you don't mind fighting Monty for the space." Deeks responded without thinking through the words coming out of him mouth. It seemed the obvious solution to him.

Callen on the other hand couldn't help the many things that went through his mind at that suggestion. The main one being what exactly Deeks meant by it. Was he just offering a friend somewhere to sleep?... Or was it possible he was offering something more? The building manager of Deeks' apartment blocks words came back to him then, asking if he was Deeks' boyfriend. Was the other man offering something like that? Because if so… well Callen wasn't sure what his answer would be. Sure, he thought Deeks was cute, he always had done. Academically he had always accepted the kid was extremely attractive, he just never considered he had a chance with him. He still didn't if he was being honest. Which made him think that if Deeks was offering something more than just a place to sleep for the night, it was more because of the trauma he had been through, than he actually wanted to be with Callen that way. In which case Callen knew he would have to turn him down, however much he really didn't want to.

But he was jumping completely ahead of himself. First he needed to find out exactly what it was Deeks was offering him, and he needed to do it in such a way that there was no awkwardness attached to it. This would take some finesse… or he could fall back on the age old ribbing he had team had once done to the younger man on a daily basis.

"Is this your way of trying to get me into your bed, Deeks?" He asked with the raise of an eyebrow and a smirk on his lips.

A look that made Deeks roll his eyes as he replied, "no."

"Really? Because your building manager seemed to be under the impression I was your boyfriend." Callen returned, slipping in the information to see what reaction it would cause in the other man.

What?! No. I'm not… I don't think… you and me… I…" Deeks spluttered not sure what to say to that sentence. He instinctive gut reaction was to say that he didn't like guys, but he knew that would be a lie. A lie the old Deeks told everyone he worked with. He didn't want to lie about that side of himself anymore, but he had no idea how Callen would take that declaration. I mean they had never really been close, telling him he was Bi would probably be a bit too much information. Then there was the idea of him and Callen together. A thought that had never crossed his mind before. But now that it had he couldn't help but admitting the older man was sexy, the way his eyes could sparkle as well as smoulder… Yeah, okay, enough thinking about Callen's eyes, it probably was not a good idea right then. He needed to work out what he was going to say.

Callen saw the conflict going on in the other man and decided to, hopefully, reassure some part of it. Therefore he smiled as he said, "you should probably finish at least one of those sentences, Deeks. It doesn't matter to me who you sleep with, as long as you enjoy it. I never let gender get in my way."

"You don't?" Deeks asked his eyes going wide at what those words implied. At what Callen was saying without hesitation.

"No, why should I? If I like someone I like them. What does it matter if they're male or female?" Callen responded with a shrug. Okay sure, he may not talk about it at work, but he never hid his sexual orientation either. He was who he was, and if people didn't like it, then that was their problem. He had long gotten rid of the need to please others, a childhood of rejection did that to you he found.

"It doesn't." Deeks replied sitting back still slightly astonished that Callen had just come right out and said that. It was something he had always believed, but it was also a truth he had to hide throughout his career in law enforcement. Cops that were different did not last long, no matter how much the powers that be talked about diversity and inclusion.

"Exactly." Callen answered with a smile, enjoying watching how Deeks mind was turning around the idea of being open and about who he really was. How his mind was trying to process this new idea that it was okay to be himself completely. Watched as a new aspect of the new Deeks unfurled before his very eyes.

Finally Deeks nodded to himself before turning to address the sentence Callen had spoken that started this whole conversation. "Okay. Well, yeah I may swing both ways, but the reason the apartment manager thought you were my boyfriend is probably because I told him I had one to stop him trying to set me up with his niece."

Callen couldn't help but laugh at that. The idea of Deeks coming up with a fictional boyfriend just to get the guy of his back, he could totally see him doing that. No doubt he had spun in great detail how much he loved his fictional partner, describing him down to the last detail. Though that last did make him wonder what the hell Deeks had said to make the manager think he was said boyfriend. But that was for another time, or at least a late night drunken conversation.

"As for your suggestion, No I am not trying to get you into my bed. But hey, if you find your way into it on your own, I wouldn't kick you out." Deeks continued with a flirtatious wink at Callen which just made him laugh even harder and no, he did not spit beer out of his nose, no matter what Deeks said about it.

Deeks for his part couldn't help but let his usual sunny smile split his lips as he watched him. The worry and tension he had felt at Callen's original words disappearing in an instant. Back came the friendly comradery they had shared so far that evening.

"Okay, I'll stay." Callen replied when he had finally gotten himself under control enough to not laugh and instead return the smile. He liked this new relationship him and Deeks had. Liked the way there was nothing standing between the two of them being friends, not work, their positions in the team, their partners or anything else that always seemed to be there when they were in LA. Yeah he liked this a lot.

Callen spent the rest of the night sitting at the bar, watching as Deeks played the customers like the strings on a violin. He watched him trying to juggle the lemons for a couple girls who came in, hair wet from the ocean. Watched as he had a one sided conversation with the old man at the end of the bar, both seemingly fine letting him ramble on. Watched how he interacted with Frank when he came to get drink orders from the restaurant next door. And through it all he noticed how Monty seemed to split his time from sitting by the end of the bar watching Deeks work behind it, or by his side as he moved around the room collecting glasses and cleaning tables. It seemed the dog did not like the idea of letting his master out of sight, but he was also trained enough to know he was not allowed behind the bar.

This lead Callen to only one conclusion, and that was that Deeks was not as okay as he seemed. He trusted Monty's judgment on the younger man, he was the only one who could truly see behind all those masks he wore. Therefore if Monty thought Deeks needed him close, then no doubt he did. Callen was mulling this over when the stool next to him became occupied.

"So, Agent Callen, what do you think of our bar then?" Frank asked the man as he sat down with a beer in hand. The restaurant was closed for the night now, and his work currently done. As such he had decided to come and keep Deeks' former team leader company. He wanted to find out more about the man.

"It's nice. I can see why Deeks likes it here so much." Callen responded absently looking round the bar before his eyes returned to the younger man, a small smile appearing on his lips as he watched him trying to flip empty spirit bottles, and failing miserably.

"Do you know why he left?" Frank asked his eyes also on the younger man, wincing slightly as the bottle fell to the floor, though luckily without smashing. When would the kid learn he wasn't Tom Cruise?

"I do." Callen replied, but refused to say anything more. If Deeks wanted Frank to know, he would tell him. Callen wasn't going to sharing his secrets.

Frank looked at the man next to him and waited, but when the silence stretched without another word from Callen he knew he wouldn't get anything more. And he had told Deeks he wouldn't pry, therefore he decided to ask something else. Something he hoped the agent next to him would answer. "How'd a member of LAPD end up working with NCIS?"

"Our boss wanted him for an agent, not that he ever signed the paperwork. Guess it was second best in her mind." Callen replied smirking at the thought of Hetty. Deeks had to be the only person who had ever not done what she wanted, and now he had done it twice by signing his resignation paperwork.

Frank thought about that response for a moment before deciding to see what other information he could get from the man next to him about the one they both cared for. He wanted to make sure his hunch about what Deeks used to do was correct. "Bet he was good at undercover." He said causally, watching Callen out of the corner of his eye and therefore not missing the smirk that crossed his lips at his leading statement.

"He still is." Callen responded with a nod of his head to Deeks who was now charming a couple who seemed to have taken a wrong road somewhere and ended up at the bar. He easily got them relaxed enough to tell him there life stories, as well as where they were trying to get to.

"That he is." Frank agreed, and not for the first time he had to wonder who the real Deeks was. Watching him behind the bar day after day for last week had shown him how easily the kid fell into a part. How easily he became what those he was talking to expected him to be. The way he read people without thought was remarkable, and a trait Frank knew couldn't be learnt. He had to wonder if the Deeks he and Henry saw was the real him, or if it was just another mask, Deeks playing what he thought they wanted. And looking back at the man next to him he had to wonder if Callen felt the same, or if maybe he knew who the kid was underneath it all.