Hello my lovelies. I would like to thank Lic. Lu, heyjode, Petunia3116, Guest and anonkp 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.
Frank was busy cutting the fruit for behind the bar when the front door opened. His head shot up only to see Monty making his way through followed by two men. He didn't even hesitate as he made his way round the bar and grabbed Deeks, pulling him into his arms as he wrapped one had around his head so he could ease it on to his shoulder. And while he did so he spoke without thought the words that had been going through his head all morning. "I've got you, son. I'm here for you."
Deeks heard the words and couldn't help the lump that formed in his throat at them. Son. Frank had called him son. He sounded as Deeks had heard so many fathers sound throughout his life, just never his own. He never expected to hear someone speak to him that way. To sound so full of concern and… love. Callen was right, Frank loved him. He still couldn't believe it after all that had happened. After all he had done the night before. He had expected to have to offer apologises aplenty as well as a promise it would never happen again before Frank let he back into his life. But it seemed he was wrong. Somehow, someway he had been given something he had never thought he would ever achieve, the unconditional love of a father.
But that didn't mean he was just going to accept it. He knew he couldn't. Because however much he wanted it to be true, Frank was not his dad. Therefore he pulled back from the other man, though only so far as Frank would let him which was that far at all.
"I'm sorry I hit you, Frank. I so sorry." He whispered feeling tears in his eyes once more that morning. Damn he was becoming a watering spout the amount he was crying, but he really couldn't find it in himself to care overly much. He knew none of those around him would hold it against him.
"There is nothing for you to be sorry about, Deeks. You hear me? Nothing." Frank responded with a determined look in his eye as he gripped the younger man's head tighter hoping to get his message across. The kid didn't need to say sorry to him, he knew it was the nightmare that had caused him to do it. Just as he knew next time to not try and approach Deeks until they had Callen on the other end of the line, even if he wished his words alone would do the job.
"Still sorry." Deeks replied stubbornly, though there was a small smile on his lips as he did so. He knew Frank meant his words, but he couldn't forgive himself as easily as it seem Frank could.
"Okay. Why don't you go tell Henry your back so he can cook your breakfast?" Frank nodded after looking in his eyes and understanding what he was feeling. It would take time before Deeks could forgive himself, but at least he was still here with them so they could help him do just that.
At that Deeks nodded, before heading for the side door, Monty at his side.
As soon as the door closed on Deeks, Frank turned to the other man in the room, the one he hadn't even looked at before now, but knew was instrumental in his boy being back under his roof. "Thank you." He said sincerely to Callen.
"Just doing my job." Callen replied with a small smile wondering what Frank would make of that. It was nothing more than the truth to him. Deeks was part of his team, making sure he was okay was his responsibility. It didn't end just because the kid quit.
"Your job?" Frank asked with an upraised eyebrow. There was no way what Callen had done was his job. No. That was the behaviour of a friend, if not something more if he was reading the undercurrents right between these two.
"He's part of my team. He's family." Callen replied simply hoping that would explain what he was trying to say, without Frank thinking it was more. He could see what was in the older guys eyes and while sure, he thought Deeks was hot, there was no way he would ever try and make a move right then. The kid needed a friend far more than he needed a lover to get through what he was going through.
"Okay. Go. I'll set up a table for you both." Frank responded with a wave of his hand towards the door. He had seen how Callen barely took his eyes off the last place he had seen the kid, and he knew he wanted to follow him. Who was he to stand in his way?
Deeks made his way into the kitchen, making sure Monty stayed outside the door as he did so.
"Henry, can I-" He started to say, but before he could complete his request he was engulfed in another set of arms as Henry practically jumped on him. After a minute his surprise lessened and he managed to mutter "need to breath." Before he was released.
"Don't you do that again young man, you hear me?" Henry snapped once he let Deeks go, instead waving his finger in Deeks' face.
"I'm sorry for hitting Frank." Deeks replied. He had known the whole forgiveness thing was too good to be true. He should have realised that Henry would be the one that was angry at him for what he had done. For hurting the man he loved.
"I'm not talking about that, Deeks. I'm talking about the going out without breakfast. Don't you know it is the most important meal of the day? Now shoo. Out of kitchen while I get you and Callen something to eat." Henry responded in exasperation. Of course the younger man would think he meant hitting Frank, but he knew that wasn't personal. Deeks had been having a nightmare, it was understandable. No, he was talking about the idea that boy would never return. Because he didn't think he could stand that any more than his husband could. It seemed Deeks had managed to find a way into both their hearts over the few short weeks he had been there. Henry finally felt like he had the family he had always wanted, and there was no way he was letting go of any of it, ever if he had his way.
"Right. I'll go wait in the bar then?" Deeks asked surprised by Henrys words. Why wasn't he angry with him for hurting Frank? Why wasn't he having a go at him for hurting the man he loved? Because he knew Henry, and he knew he wouldn't hesitate to rip a new one to anyone who did anything to his husband. So how the hell was he getting a free pass?
"You do that." Henry nodded before turning round and heading back to the stove to cook breakfast for the other two men, but just before Deeks walked through the door he spoke once more.
"You're the son we never had, Deeks. Don't forget that." he said softly. He had seen the confusion on the younger man's face, and he wanted to make it clear just where he stood in the hearts of both him and Frank. He didn't know much about the kids past, but he had seen enough over the past few weeks to know he hadn't had the most loving of fathers. Something Henry himself could sympathise with. His own had not been happy about having a gay son, to put it mildly. He knew what it was like to grow up without that love, and he wanted to make sure Deeks knew he didn't have to spend the rest of his life like that. That he now had him and Frank, and they were not going to go anywhere. And he knew Frank would never spell it out for the kid, so he might as well do so.
Deeks stopped at his words a gasp leaving his mouth at hearing it stated so plainly. This wasn't some heat of the moment hug calling him son, this was Henry declaring it as clear as day. How had that happened, when had that happened? And what the hell could he say in response to such words? But luckily he didn't have to think of an answer, because it was at that point the swing door in front of him opened to reveal Callen.
Callen had walked towards the kitchen silently as he always did. He smiled when he saw Monty sat at the closed door staring at it as if he had x-ray vision and could see what was happening inside. As such Callen stopped to give him scratch behind the ears before moving to open the door. It was at that point he heard Henry's words, and they caused a lump to form in his throat. He had known that Frank loved Deeks like his kid, but he hadn't realised Henry had felt the same. He'd been under the impression that the other man just thought of Deeks as a good friend, or more truthfully an injured bird Frank had taken under his wing. To hear him proclaim that not only Frank, but Henry too thought of Deeks as his child, it was more than Callen could have ever hoped Deeks would find. But he also knew that the former detective wouldn't know what to do with the words. As such he pushed opened the door and gave of the impression he had heard nothing of what had been said before.
"Frank is laying us a table in the bar. Shall we go and grab Monty his breakfast so he can join us?" He suggested casually his eyes not straying from Deeks as he spoke.
"Umm, yeah. Sounds good." Deeks nodded in agreement before turning once more to look at the man in the kitchen who had just declared himself as loving him like a parent. "Thanks, for making us breakfast." He said, in a voice barely above a whisper. And all three men there knew he wasn't thanking him for that at all.
"No need to thank me, Deeks. It's what you do for family." Henry replied with a smile and a nod to Callen who was standing behind the younger man's shoulder. If any knew what you did for family it was the man who had hightailed it here in the middle of the night and then taken two days off work just to be with his kid. Yeah, Callen was as much as family as Deeks was in Henry's mind.
"Right." Deeks agreed, before Callen took a hold of his arm and guided him out of the kitchen, pushing him towards the stair so that they could Monty's food.
It wasn't long before Deeks and Callen found themselves sat at their favourite table. The one that showed them all entrances and exits, with Monty happily eating at their feet. They didn't say anything as they sat and enjoyed the coffee Frank and given them both. No, they just sat and enjoyed the peace in the moment. The normality of what they were doing. Callen giving Deeks time to find himself, even if that did mean he once more put on his masks. Because no matter what had happened earlier he knew the kid would need them. He had had them for so long, there was no way they would dissolve after one night and hell of a lot of truths.
Henry came out with plates piled high with food for them both, informing them if they did not eat it all they would be in trouble. Callen smiled at that. Henry really was a mother hen, so much so he put Sam in the shade with his behaviour. But saying that he was also someone he didn't want to cross, and as such put himself to finishing of the food. It really wasn't a hardship, Henry was one hell of a chef.
Deeks for his part looked around the bar with new eyes as he ate. The idea that Frank and Henry were family was spinning in his mind so much it had pushed everything else right out of it. Or at least it did until he looked at the clock on the wall and saw the time. "Damn it. My shift starts in five minutes." He muttered turning resolutely to his plate so he could finish his food before he got behind the bar. He didn't know how he felt about working right now, but that didn't matter. Because he had to.
Finishing his plate in record time he stood to make his way to the bar, but before he could take a step away from the table Frank was at his side.
"And just where do you think you're going?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. He too had taken note of the time and he knew Deeks shift started then. But there was no way he was letting the kid behind the bar today. No he needed time off and he had the perfect excuse to give it to him.
"Umm, work?" Deeks replied not sure why Frank was questioning him about this. I mean, this was the guy who wrote the rota after all.
"No you're not. You're going to spend the day showing Callen around. Can't expect him to sit at the bar all day, now can you?" Frank responded resolutely. With that said he moved back to the bar to serve the couple who had just come through the door.
"right." Deeks sat back down again before turning to the man at his side. "So what do you want to see?" he asked Callen who was now sat back enjoying his coffee.
"How about we go for a walk. Somewhere other than the cliffs?" Callen suggested. He wanted to see more of this place that Deeks now called home. Wanted to see more of the life he led here with his new found family. Plus he wanted to get Deeks out of the building so Frank would have a chance to get his door fixed.
And that was how Callen found himself being dragged through the fields behind the bar making his way to the local farm shop, which Rob's daughter ran. And how he found himself once more bantering with the younger man at his side. No talk of what had happened earlier or been said by Frank and Henry was discussed. Instead he watched as Deeks turned from the haunted man he had been on the cliffs, back to the Deeks he knew. Though he wasn't completely the same. There were no walls behind his eyes this time. No, this wasn't the Deeks he had been before, there was more of the real Deeks he wanted to know showing through now. This was the start of man he had always seen beneath the others masks coming out, he was just glad he finally got the chance to meet him for real. It was past time in his mind, and while he hated what had caused the transformation, he couldn't help but be glad it had happened. Because he liked this Deeks even more than the other one.