Just a little thing I thought up randomly one day.

Alright, there will be one chapter left after this one so expect the loving feelings. Remember. Happy ending. Fluffy. Sorry this chapter is not only late, but short. I was having trouble finding the right words.

I own nothing. Please, review?

"Mr. Callen," Hetty greeted me when I walked into her office, "Is there something I can do for you?"

It had been a little of two months since our operation started and as of yesterday afternoon we had our suspects behind bars. Though in the process of making sure no civilians were hurt Sam did sprain his wrist.

Still, it wasn't the worst thing to happen to the man. It was going to take him awhile longer to do his paperwork and he was going to glare at the wrapping on it, but he was going to be fine.

That also wasn't the team member that had my focus most of the time. No, that was Deeks. Ever since I had heard what he thought about his placement on the team I had been watching him.

I needed to know exactly what I was supposed to do to help the younger man, which I had yet to come up with any ideas on, and just how badly he was hurt by everything, a lot more than I had thought.

It had taken me awhile to see that though Deeks was acting like himself, flirting, joking, and being a pain in the ass, there was this pain in his voice that was well hidden. I wouldn't know if I hadn't been looking.

How long had that pain been there? Because I sure as hell wasn't ready to say that this was all because of the team missing his birthday. There had to be something else going on with him.

Of course there was nothing that I could do to get him to talk to me. Especially since he thought that no one actually cared about him. Something that was far from the truth.

We simply didn't know him. Something that was just as much his fault as it was ours. He didn't talk, we didn't ask. And I knew that I should have seen it before now. Before it came an issue.

I was the team leader even with Hetty being in charge. It was my job to look after everyone and I failed when it came to Deeks. I hadn't even bothered to look past what he showed everyone.

Was it too late for me to correct everything that I had done or was it possible that I could keep him on the team? Because if I didn't work quickly to fix this problem that was what was going to happen.

Deeks would continue to think that he didn't belong until one day he felt the need to go back to working strictly for LAPD. I didn't want that. I liked the younger too much for him to just leave.

This was just one big mess and that was going to change now that I knew. How that was going to change was beyond me. I had thought that Deeks was the kind of guy to sit back and let everything roll off his shoulders. Now I saw just how wrong I was.

The Deeks that I knew was a funny, caring, at times childish cop. He worked for everything that he had and he put others needs before his own. He was a good cop and someone I was glad was on our side.

But, like everyone else, there was a side that he didn't want people to see. I didn't know what it was. Maybe it was vulnerability or anger or sadness. I had no idea, but I needed to find out.

I couldn't let the younger man leave. Hetty brought him onto our team for a reason. She saw that he was going to be a good agent with the right training and she was willing to give him a chance.

That right there should have told me all I needed to know about the man. It took a long time and a lot of work to get Hetty to notice a person. She wasn't someone that was easily pleased.

She had always had to hand select people to work for her because she wanted to be able to show us our full potential. The same thing that she had been trying to do with Deeks. Something the team had messed up.

I had never been so wrong about a person as I was about Deeks. He was a lot more than I had ever thought and I needed to show him now that I was wrong about everything when it came to him.

That didn't mean that it was too late to try to get everything back on track. I was going to get him to see that he was part of this team even if it took the rest of his time with us to do it.

Alright, so maybe my first step should have been to involve the rest of the team, but I hadn't done that. They needed to get to this point on their own. And after I fixed this thing with him I'd push them to do that.

Right now it was about Deeks and I. That was where my focus needed to be now that the case was wrapped. I just needed a little help to get everything sorted out. There was only one person that I could talk to.

"It's about Deeks," I answered sitting across from her.

"I would imagine so," Hetty nodded calmly, "After everything I would be surprised if you didn't help the young man."

"I'd love to help, Hetty. That doesn't mean that I can."

"Why do you say that, Mr. Callen?"

"Because I don't know him. After three years of working with the man I couldn't tell you a thing about him."

"Whose fault it that?"

"Right now I'm not sure. Both of ours. This isn't a one way street, Hetty. Deeks messed up and we messed up."

"You mean 'you messed up'."

"What?"

"Mr. Callen, if you meant that 'we messed up' than the rest of your team would be here. Instead you're here alone hoping that I would help yours and Mr. Deeks relationship grow."

"I just want him to feel like part of the team."

"Yet you come alone."

"What was I supposed to do, Hetty? After everything I heard that day from him I knew that things needed to change. But you heard the emotions in his voice. He'd never forgive me if I told anyone about that night. You know that. If they want to do anything they have to do it on their own."

Hetty stared at me for a moment before standing up and walking around her desk. I could feel the protectiveness coming off of her as she walked closer to me. She really did like Deeks.

"I do have an idea, Mr. Callen," Hetty spoke calmly, "If you're up for it."