Hello my darling. I would like to thank Dief09,Mimi a fan (Guest), heyjode, Beepmybanana, Guest 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. This story is going in a completely different direction to what I had imagined when I started, but hey, I'm rolling with the punches. Anyway, enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS: LA.
Deeks woke surrounded by warmth from the body that he was lying across and the arms that were wrapped around him. He smiled at the feel. At knowing it was Callen's arms he was in and it was Callen's chest he'd woken upon. A smile that only grew when he felt the feather light touch of lips on his forehead.
"Morning, G." He murmured as he turned to open his eyes and stare into the other man's blues ones. A blue which he'd once thought so cold, but now only saw affection in. Oh yes this was definitely the way to wake up in the morning.
"Hey." Callen replied, before bending his head so he could kiss his man on the lips. It was gentle and chase, and the perfect good morning kiss in both their minds.
"Hmmm, I could stay here all day." Deeks responded when their lips parted, allowing him to snuggle closer to the other man putting action to his words. After all he wasn't on shift until later, they could happily spend the whole morning in bed if they wanted to.
"I wish I could." Callen replied with a sigh, and not for the first time he cursed Hetty. Of course a part of his brain, the part that always saw all angles reminded him that without her intervention he wouldn't even be there that day. Though he knew on balance he would prefer to not be there and for Marty to be happy, than to have him as upset as he'd seen him the previous evening.
"Why can't you?" Deeks asked with a frown and a pout on his lips. He didn't want G to go, especially as he was pretty sure that if he did he wouldn't be returning. And he wanted to spend time with his boyfriend when he wasn't in tears or in need of his help.
"I have to go see Hetty. But when I'm done, I promise to come back to bed. How does that sound?" Callen answered, a smirk appearing on his lips at his bargaining suggestion. I mean Sam wouldn't believe he'd solved Hetty's case in a single night, he might as well make the most of it, right?
Deeks contemplated those words. In truth he didn't want G to leave him, but he knew he needed to go see Hetty. Needed to sort out why she'd come. But that didn't make him want him to leave.
"Well, I guess that could work. I could get in a surf." Deeks finally replied realising there really wasn't much other choice.
"That you can. I will try not to be long." Callen responded bending to kiss his boyfriend once more before pulling himself out of the bed. He really didn't want to get up. But he knew he had to talk to Hetty, however much he didn't want to. And hey, he could level one more thing at her door, being the reason he had to leave his boyfriend in bed alone. Not that he was going to tell her that fact, but he could think it. It would make sure he didn't give into her. Because this was not something he would forgive easily, that he knew for sure. No one hurt Marty and got away with it. Not in his world. Not now he was his to love and protect.
Hetty was sat in the breakfast room of the hotel, enjoying a morning cup of tea, though it was not up to her usual standards. But you could not have everything, and she'd had worse in her time. She was contemplating what words she was going to say to her boy when he arrived. Thinking about what she would need to say to get the answers she sort. Because there were things she needed to know, and she would not let Mr Callen get out of not telling them to her.
She was just considering asking for more tea when the chair opposite her was unceremoniously taken by her wayward son. "Mr Callen, a pleasure to see you this morning." She said with a smile as she looked him over, noticing that he seemed well rested even after racing up from LA the previous day.
"Hetty, what are you doing here?" Callen asked, even if he knew the answer to that from the conversation Frank had with her. He wanted to hear it from her own lips.
"I am sure you are already aware of my intentions for this journey." She answered simply, though with a calculating gaze in her eyes. She wanted to know if Frank Monroe had shared her conversation with the man across from her.
"I want to hear you say it." Callen replied letting her know the answer to that question, but not letting her off the hook of his ire.
"Very well, I came for you. I wanted to make sure that you were safe." Hetty responded straightening her spine as she did so. She knew he would not appreciate her words, but they were the truth in her mind.
"That's a lie. You'd have done the same background check I did on Frank and Henry the first time you registered my car here. Try again." Callen growled out. He was not letting her off that easily. He wasn't going to let her play the 'I want you safe' card. Because he didn't believe it for a minute. He knew the truth was she wanted to know what he was doing. Because she had to know everything. And that had to stop, now.
"I came to find out why you kept coming back here, and yet told no one about it." Hetty replied with a sigh. She should have known better than to expect him to accept her first answer, though it was still the truth as she saw it. He was always so prone to trouble she needed to know what he was doing to protect him from it.
"I am allowed to have my own secrets you know. You do not have the right to know everything that happens in my life." Callen responded narrowing his eyes at the woman in front of him. I mean she had enough of her own secrets, why couldn't he have his? Why did she have to know everything, and yet he knew nothing in return?
Hetty couldn't help but concede his point. "I am aware. But your safety and protection is my concern, Mr Callen." She replied wanting to make sure she got her point home, that she did not mean anything bad by coming here.
"You send me into dangerous situations on a daily basis." Callen dismissed with a shrug. It was their job to go into unsafe situations. Her words meant nothing.
"Situations I control. And situations I can pull you out of if needs be." Hetty replied a stern tone entering her voice as the argument heated between the two of them.
"Tell that to Deeks." Callen spat back. What she was saying was meaningless in the face of what his boyfriend had gone through.
At his words Hetty took a deep breath before responding. After all they would get nowhere if they both started shouting at each other. "You know that was not my call."
"But if it had been, you'd have made the same one Granger did." Callen replied without hesitation. He knew she would have thought of the good of the mission before the idea of pulling Sam and Deeks out of Sidorov's clutches.
"I would, no matter who had been inside. But Mr Callen, so would you." Hetty responded quietly. Her words were followed by silence as Callen digested them. As he realised the truth in them. He too would have made the call to leave Sam and Deeks in to maintain Michelle's cover, and in realising that he hated himself just a little bit more.
"I know. Doesn't make the fallout any easier to deal with." He responded with a sigh, all fight leaving him at his mental discovery.
"It is never easy. Even if we'd pulled them out when we went in the first time, it would have been too late to protect Mr Deeks from what he is going through now." Hetty replied softly, hoping to help her boy.
"I suppose." Callen replied, though he knew that if they'd pulled Deeks out, at least they wouldn't have demolished his trust, wouldn't have destroyed the faith he'd once had in Kensi. And he was pretty sure that that could have been the defining point in Deeks' recovery, or lack of.
"How is he doing?" Hetty asked when Callen said nothing more. She wanted to make sure that Mr Deeks was all right. That she had not set him back too much by her unexpected arrival. She never wanted to cause him pain after all.
"I don't know. He seems okay." Callen replied with a shrug, not wanting to go into how Marty was doing with her. He wouldn't betray his boyfriend's trust by sharing anything with the woman in front of him, even if he did think of her as family. Marty came first.
"Does he have someone to talk to?" Hetty asked understanding she would get no more. That she was not entitled to any more in Callen's mind. But she would respect that, he had Mr Deeks best interests at heart, and that was all that mattered right then.
"He has me." Callen answered in a tone that brooked no arguments in its fierceness, almost as if he thought she would try and pull him away from the man he cared for so deeply. The man he'd finally found the start of happiness with.
"While I am sure that is of great comfort, he needs to see someone. I could recall Nate if it would help." Hetty suggested. She did not know the true extent of what Mr Deeks was going through, but she would not be surprised if he was suffering from PTSD. He would need help, a help that Mr Callen was not qualified to give.
"No. Nate won't help. No one from Deeks' time in LA can help him at the moment." Callen replied. But her words did get him thinking. He was so far away, and Marty's reaction to Hetty he knew he couldn't explain or justify. Maybe Marty did need someone else. Someone whose job it was to help people in situations like his.
"And yet you seem to be doing a very good job of doing so." Hetty responded with a raised eyebrow at how it seemed he did not see himself as someone from Deeks' time in LA. That was very telling in her mind. It told her that the relationship between him and former detective had fundamentally changed so much that Mr Deeks did not think of him as part of his previous life.
"That's different." Callen replied, shuffling in his sit slightly. He could see her connecting the dots, but he wasn't going to give her anything. She had no right to know what was between him and Marty, not now, not ever. Not until they chose to tell her.
"How so? You and Mr Deeks were never close, you were not his partner-" Hetty started to say, trying to think of the words she could use to get him to confirm her suspicions about how their relationship had evolved.
"Hetty stop. Don't ask those questions because I am not going to answer them." Callen interrupted, unintentionally answering all that she wasn't allowed to ask.
"Ah. Very well. Do you think he would be up to seeing me today? I would like to offer my apologies for the upset if nothing else." She asked changing the conversation away from the romantic relationship she now knew her boy was in with the former detective. She was not sure if she approved of such a relationship. Mr Deeks was obviously suffering from mental trauma, she did not think that now was the best time to start such a relationship, but she was not going to address her worries to Callen. So she would stay away, and watch from a distance, ready to intervene if she ever needed to.
"No. In fact I want you to stay far away from here. And I will know if you come here again. Frank and Henry have spy's everywhere." Callen replied simply, though there was a glint in his eyes that she knew better than to cross. She did not want to think of what he would do if she broke his decree to stay away from the man he cared for. After all she had seen what he'd done for her over the years, and she knew he was capable of anything if he put his mind to it. So no, she would not be coming here again.
"I am sure they do. I will honour your wish Mr Callen, and I will make sure none of the rest of the team come here also." Hetty replied sincerely, letting him know she would support him in whatever he needed to do to help Mr Deeks. After all it was NCIS's duty to help one who had been hurt while working for them. If that meant keeping people from him while letting Callen stay close, then she would comply.
"About that. I texted Sam to tell him you put me on a special assignment." Callen responded wondering just how she would react to that. After all he wasn't actually working right then. But he knew she could find a work around if she really put her mind to it. And she would have to, because he was not going back to LA just yet. Marty still needed him.
"Very well, I will process the paperwork when I return. Do you have any idea how long this assignment will take?" Hetty asked not even batting an eyelid at his words. He was helping one of their own, she would support him however he needed it, within reason of course.
At that Callen thought. His initial answer was a couple of days, but then he remembered Hetty's suggestion of getting Nate to help Marty. He knew he couldn't ask him, but there was another he trusted. Someone he trusted not only with his life, but enough to take care of his boyfriend if he wasn't there to do it. Therefore he changed his estimation. "A week."
"Then I will get you sighed off of cases for the next seven days." Hetty replied. She did not know what was going through his mind, but she could see the cogs turning and knew he was coming up with some sort of plan. It was what he did best after all.
"Thank you, Hetty." Callen replied, giving her the first true smile since he sat down. Her support was something he'd never expected to have, but he was extremely glad that he had it.
"You are most welcome, Callen. I now understand why you never told me where he was. It was never about you not wanting me to find him and dragging him back, it was about what he needed." Hetty responded a sad smile on her own lips at her words. She hadn't realised it was this bad, if she had she would have gotten Mr Deeks the help he needed in LA. Though even as she thought that she knew it would not have worked. Because Mr Deeks had not just needed help, he'd needed what he'd found here. He needed the family love and fatherly protection Frank and Henry Monroe had given him.
"It's always about what he needs, Hetty." Callen replied simply. And with those words he told Hetty that Deeks was more than just a relationship, more than just someone he cared for. No Mr Deeks was someone her boy could love, and that she would go to the ends of the earth to protect if she had to.
"Yes, so it would seem. Well I must pack, I have a long drive ahead of me. I will see you in a week, Mr Callen, and I expect a positive report from your assignment upon your return." She said standing, smiling down at her boy. She couldn't help but wonder if he knew just what Mr Deeks could be to him, but that didn't matter. He would tell her when he discovered the truth, and when he was ready to do so. She would just have to settle for waiting until that time.
With that Hetty left, leaving Callen sitting there watching as she walked out the door. He wasn't sure he truly believed that she was going to put him helping Marty down as a special assignment, but it seemed she was. He didn't know why, but well he wasn't going to question the fact he now had more time to spend with Marty, and more time to get him the help he needed. With that in mind he made his way out to his car, but rather than start his engine he pulled out his phone. Turning it back on he scrolled through the contacts until he found the name he was looking for. Pressing call he put the phone to his ear. "Hi, yes. I'd like to speak to Dr Jasmine Dale please. Tell her its Michael Hamish calling." He said, waiting with baited breath to be transferred to the only person he could think of that could possibly help his boyfriend through the pain and hurt he was feeling.
"Callen? Been a while." Came the female voice down the line, he could hear the smile in her voice as she said his name.
"Hey Jas." Callen responded smiling himself as he heard the voice of the woman he hadn't spoken to in years, but knew would help him without hesitation.
"So, how can I help you?" Jasmine asked already looking through her diary thinking of what she would need to rearrange depending on just what it was Callen needed her for. After all he'd saved her life in her long ago military past, and she would do anything for him.
"I'm not calling for me, but my boyfriend." Callen answered, he words saying a lot more than they did at face value.
And well, hearing that Jasmine Dale didn't need to think about her response. She knew a favour being called in from a mile off, and the one she owed Callen was big. Therefore she said the only thing of importance. "When and where?"