The next morning, Deeks found his teammates at their desks, all quietly working. Callen was in deep concentration over his laptop, a usual routine for the lead agent every morning. Sam was reading a case report, turning ever so slightly in his seat every few seconds. And for the detective's partner, Kensi was sitting cross legged in her chair while angrily picking at a slice of double chocolate cake. Deeks wasn't confused at all as whenever Kensi felt upset about something, food was her best friend.
"Morning," Deeks called out and received a grunt from Sam in response. Callen lifted up his cup of coffee and replied, "Hey, Deeks."
Kensi swallowed her bite of cake and said, " Hey, partner."
"What happened?" Deeks asked.
Kensi rolled her eyes and muttered, "The dinner last night was so stupid."
"What did your date do- flirt with another waitress?" Sam joked. As Callen smirked and Kensi groaned, Deeks realized that everyone had moved on from last night. If they've moved on, maybe I should too, the detective thought sadly. He placed his bag on his desk before he saw a long white box under his table. His heart jumped for a second, thinking that his team had suddenly came up with some sort of super gift. It all went away when he saw Hetty's handwriting on the gift tag.
"Oh, Hetty put that there this morning. She also said something about it being very private for you," Kensi said, " So...what is it?"
Deeks lifted the cover ever so slightly and his heart almost jumped out of his chest when he saw amongst white tissue paper, a white hard wood bow with a NAVY enigma engraved in it. "Oh my God-"
Sam leaned back in his chair to try and get a look, but Deeks grabbed the box and bolted for Hetty's desk. The operations manager was waiting with a smile when he arrived.
"What is this?"
"A man of your talent should be playing with one of the best bows out there," Hetty stated, " I know that you only play on a bad day, which I do hope that you start doing on good days as well."
"But I played for you last night. How did you get a bow like this so fast?"
"I called a friend who had it delivered here this morning. Enjoy it, Mr. Deeks."
Deeks was speechless. He ran a finger against the bow and whispered, "Thank you so much, Hetty."
The rest of the detective's day was terrible.
His morning had gone to hell when his LAPD boss called him in for an evaluation after he received his gift from Hetty. The evaluation turned out to be 30 minutes of humiliation in front of a department filled with sniggering detectives and cops. Next, the detective rolled his ankle while chasing down a perp through side streets of Los Angeles and then finished the day by having to hunt for an hour for his keys, which he had lost during the chase. By the end of the day, Deeks had driven home, grabbed his violin, and returned to play with his new bow in one of the conference room upstairs.
Now, Deeks slowly slid his brand new bow against the strings of the violin. He was lost in his music again while playing with his eyes closed and once more letting his fingers do the work. The note he was playing resonated throughout the conference room so beautifully that it gave the detective goose bumps. He raised the bow to play another note, but stopped at the sound of footsteps approaching the conference room door.
"Hey, you alright?"
Deeks turned around to see Callen standing at the door. Deeks' eyes shot down to the violin and bow in his hand and up to Callen. "Callen, what are you doing here?"
"I heard you playing," Callen replied, "I was actually looking for you- you had a rough day, I heard. You were really quiet too."
"Quiet? Sam called me a motor mouth twice today."
"Well, it's usually once every few hours that he calls you that." Callen stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. He took a minute to admire the violin in the detective's hands. "I didn't know you played."
Deeks placed the violin in the case and shrugged. "It's no big deal. I play when…"
"When what?"
"When I'm having a bad day," Deeks finished. He braced himself for any kind of response from Callen. The lead agent only sat at the edge of the table and said, " You know that I asked Hetty if she knew if anything was going on with you and she mentioned that you hadn't had the best history with birthdays, including yesterday."
Deeks smirked. " And let me guess- you looked in my file and found out about me shooting my dad."
Callen nodded and crossed his arms. " You shot him on your birthday."
"Well, she's right," Deeks replied, " Even after that day, my birthdays had been either spent alone or spent looking out for my mom. I know this makes me sound like a child, but I honestly thought you guys would have remembered. This is my third year on the team."
"Well, first off- I suck at remembering birthdays," Callen chuckled, "The only reason I remember Sam's is because I forgot it one year and he complained about it for a week straight. I remember Kensi's because she shares a birthday with a woman I met recently who was once a good friend of my mother's. I haven't really found a mnemonic device for your birthday yet….but with you being upset- this isn't just about a birthday, is it?"
Deeks sat down in a chair and placed a hand against his forehead and his elbow on the table. " Alright…..I'm more upset because I feel forgotten, Callen. I've felt it all my life and honestly, it was actually starting to go away when I joined this team. Believe it or not, Callen, behind all the jokes and witty remarks, I'm not the most trusting, confident person. Again, I probably sound childish-"
Callen sat down across from Deeks. "No, you sound like someone who got hurt in the past . I'm sorry that we forgot your birthday, Deeks. Trust me when I say that this team loves and cares for you. You're my little brother, you're Sam's pain in the ass, and you're Kensi's….whatever you two are. Yes, we forgot your birthday, but we haven't and won't ever forget or abandon you."
"Thanks," Deeks said with a smile. "That's what I needed to hear."
"You're welcome," Callen replied. A smile suddenly appeared on his face. " I just thought of something- an old agent friend of mine used to play the violin and he had taught me 1st and 8th position. 1-8- January 8th."
When Deeks grinned, Callen said, " Happy birthday, buddy."