A/N - at this point, I think this is alternate timeline rather than alternate ending. Thought about abandoning it but too many ideas running through my head.

A/N 2 - thanks to honus47 for reviewing and catching all the errors! Any that are left are all me!

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Chapter 9

Deeks exited the precinct and realized he had no transportation. He checked his wallet. He had more than enough for a cab ride home. He flagged one down and gave the guy an address a couple blocks from his place. He couldn't face Kensi right now. He needed to get his head clear before he said something to her he couldn't take back. He was lost deep in thought and the cabbie had to tell him three times that they were there. He paid the man and got out. Even though it hadn't been all that long, being out in the open air felt strange. He couldn't even begin to imagine being incarcerated for years and then getting out, trying to reacclimate to the sense of freedom.

He walked the couple blocks to their, his, place. His truck was there but her car was gone. She was still at work. He went up the walk and into the house, greeted by an ecstatic Monty who had missed him. He scratched his buddy behind the ears and then let him out into the back yard. While Monty was out doing his business, Deeks emptied his water and food dishes. He opened the cabinets and pulled out the dog food. Moving into living room, he grabbed Monty's bed and took it all out to his truck, throwing it in the back. He'd made his decision. He needed some time. Time away from everyone to make sure he was making the right decisions and not acting hastily, time to make sure the coming difficult conversations were rational. The one thing he did know, he'd made the right decision leaving LAPD. He wasn't sure what he was going to do with his life, but he was pretty sure it wouldn't include being in law enforcement anymore.

He packed his duffle bag with enough clothes and toiletries to last him a week. If he needed longer, he would just find somewhere to do a load of laundry, pick up whatever he needed at local stores. He took that out and threw it in the back with Monty's stuff. Coming back into the house he hesitated. He wasn't sure where he was going but taking his surfboard would be a good idea. He always thought best out on the water. He grabbed his wetsuit and board. They too went into the back. He closed the lid and locked it, glad that he'd paid extra for the locking cap for the bed. Moving back into the house, he checked on Monty. The dog was still wandering around the backyard and would be okay for a while.

He pulled a pad of paper out of the desk and sat down to write Kensi a letter. He stared at the paper, not knowing where to start. Finally he picked up the pen and just started to write from his heart. When he finished, he didn't bother to reread it, he knew he'd end up making change after change or just throwing it out. He found an envelope and wrote her name on it then stuffed the letter inside. Before sealing it, he pulled out his keys. He worked Kensi's apartment key off the chain and put it in with the letter. When he got back, either she gave the apartment up and admitted they were living together or they would decide to no longer be together. Either way, he would no longer need that key. At this point, he wasn't sure which scenario would play out. It would depend on the next few weeks and her answers when he got back. He placed the envelope on the dining room table where she would be sure to see it. He pulled the pad back towards him and wrote another letter. He put that into another envelope and stuck it in his back pocket.

He opened the back door and whistled for Monty who bounded up to him. Deeks snapped the leash on his collar and led him out the front door. He locked it behind him and got the dog situated in the back of the cab. He got into the driver's seat and put the key in the ignition. Before turning it, he stared at the house he'd been so excited to rent. It was plenty big enough for him and Kensi. She all but lived there, so much of her stuff having migrated from her place to here, but she still held onto her own apartment. He hadn't told her that this place was a rent to own. He'd been ready. Ready to own his own place, with her. He huffed out a laugh. Yeah, how'd that work out?

His bills would be okay. With all the long term undercover work he'd done, he'd long ago set up all his bills to be paid automatically. He just needed to move money out of his savings and into his checking, enough to cover the rent and utilities for the next few months. He wouldn't be using his credit cards. He knew the wonder twins would be able to track his every move through those. He'd stop at the bank and take care of that, as well as taking out enough cash to get him through this time. He still wasn't sure how long he'd be gone. It could be a week, could be a month but he wanted to be sure everything would be paid for.

He turned the key and drove away, watching the house get smaller in the rear view mirror. Other than the bank, he had one other stop to make and he was going to wait until later tonight to go there. After that, he was going to head south, down the coast. Surf where he could. Head into Mexico. For now, he had to find a way to kill the time. He couldn't go to any of his regular haunts, she'd be finding out soon enough that he'd been released and would go looking for him everywhere she knew he went. After hitting the bank, he drove for an hour and stumbled upon a secluded beach. He wondered if an alert had already been sounded up in ops that he'd accessed his account. It felt strange to be on the other side of things. For the next few hours, he and Monty walked on the sand or sat and watched the waves. He bought a burger from a place up the road and shared it with his dog. When he felt it was time, he aimed the truck back to L.A.

He entered the Mission a little before 10 PM. As he'd expected, there were few people there, just a couple agents finishing up some things, people he was only on nodding terms with. His team's, ex-team's, desks and Hetty's office were vacant. He found an empty box and emptied his locker and desk. When done, he stared at the box. Seven years here, seven of the most important years of his life, and everything he wanted to take, fit into one box. He wasn't sure how to feel about that. He had studiously ignored THE box, sitting on the shelf where he'd placed it after she'd let him open it, only to find another inside. She had told him that inside was everything he'd ever wanted. Right now, he wasn't sure what that was. So, the box would stay here. He picked up the nameplate from his desk. He ran his finger over his name. Detective Marty Deeks. Sighing, he dropped it into the trash barrel. It wasn't his name anymore. Her voice startled him.

"It's good to see you, Mr. Deeks." He'd been so sure she wasn't in the office. He wondered if she had trackers on all of them and headed here if she saw one of them show up unexpectedly. He'd have to search his truck. He didn't want, or need, her tracking him in the coming weeks. He turned to find her standing on the edge of the dais her office sat on. Her hands were folded in front of her as they often were. He took a deep breath and moved towards her. When he was standing in front of her, she reached out a hand and gently turned his head towards the meager lighting. The bruise on his check had turned a darker purple. She then raised his head and sucked in a breath at the sight of the hand print on his neck. "I'm so sorry this happened to you Marty."

He blinked at the use of his first name. She only used them when she was emotionally impacted by whatever was going on with them at the time. He smiled at her and said "It doesn't hurt anymore Hetty." He reached into his back pocket and drew out the envelope. "Actually, I'm glad you're here. I was going to leave this on your desk but now I get the chance to give it to you in person."

She took and opened the envelope. "It's your resignation as our Liaison."

"It's more a formality or a courtesy, if you will. I resigned from LAPD today. That would mean I could no longer be your Liaison anyway."

Knowing the answer but hoping she was wrong, she asked. "Does that mean you will be signing the papers to become an NCIS agent?"

"No. I think I'm done with law enforcement."

A familiar gravelly voice sounded behind. "I highly doubt that."

Deeks turned towards the man and said "I'm not sure what you mean by that Granger."

"It means, Deeks, that it's in your blood now. It's what you do, who you are. It's never just been a job to you. You'll be back to it. I know from experience. I tried once. I lasted 5 weeks before I gave up and admitted there was nothing else I wanted to do, nothing else I was suited for. "

"I don't know about that."

"I do. You have my number, correct?" Hetty raised her eyebrows at that. Just how many off the books assignments had their Liaison done for Granger? She would save that discussion with Owen for a later date.

Deeks nodded in the affirmative. Granger continued. "Good. When you're ready, you call me. I'll get you fast tracked as an NCIS agent and I'll do whatever I can to get you into whichever office you want to be assigned to, even if it isn't OSP. If you decide you don't want NCIS, I have contacts at many other federal agencies. I'll help you get in wherever you want."

"I don't know what to say! That's very generous of you and not something I would ever have expected."

"Don't make a big deal out of it. You're an asset and I hate to waste them."

Deeks smirked at him and turned back to Hetty. "I'll miss you Hetty! We've had our ups and downs, but I will miss you."

"As I will miss you, we all will. Are you sure this is what you want? Your team has worked diligently on proving your innocence. They are still working on who tried to frame you for this."

Deeks barked out a humorless laugh. "Right. I bet my team was just as shocked as LAPD when it turned out that I actually am innocent."

"That's not fair, Mr. Deeks. Your team stood behind you."

"So Callen asking me what else LAPD had on me was standing behind me?"

"Mr. Callen is a cautious man. He sees all sides and tries to plan accordingly. He never once said you were guilty."

"And Kensi?" he asked softly.

Hetty hesitated, wondering if she should really try to psychoanalyze her junior agent to the woman's partner and lover. Making a decision, she said "Kensi had a hard time letting you in. You know that, we all do. She has been abandoned by or lost many people in her life. Her mother, father, Dom, even Renko. I believe she fears losing you to the job and has prepared herself for that, but I don't believe she ever thought she could lose you to incarceration on a murder charge. She may have been hasty and unthinking in her initial conversation with you but know this, she vehemently supported you and was loud in her belief of your innocence."

Deeks realized from her words that they had discussed the conversations he had had with his team mates while in lock up. He wasn't sure how he felt about that but did feel a sliver of hope at her words. Hetty continued "As for Mr. Hanna, you never spoke with him but he never once suggested that you were guilty. Can you say the same for yourself in relation to him?"

Deeks remembered the case where Sam had been arrested by the FBI for murdering a reporter who was working with an ex-Navy Seal who was exposing fake Seals. The team had immediately had his back and Deeks had made one small comment, playing devil's advocate, that was immediately misconstrued as him thinking Sam was guilty, when he knew that the man wasn't. He looked at Hetty. "I'll take all that into consideration Hetty, but I need time away to clear my head, to think about the future."

"Will you promise me one thing?"

"If I can."

"Will you let me know, as often as you can, that you're okay? A call, an email or even a text?"

He nodded at her and said "I can do that."

Turning, he shook hands with Granger and then went to pick up his box of belongings. Granger decided to ask one last question. "If you suspected Tiffany Warner of killing Boyle, why didn't you give her up to LAPD?"

"I suspected but had no proof. She was just a kid in a bad situation. I couldn't let anything happen to her." Something in Deeks's voice gave Granger pause.

"Did you, do you, have feelings for this young woman, Deeks?" Both he and Hetty watched the emotions play over his face, the prominent one, sadness.

"Yes, I do." He replied.

"And Kensi?" asked Hetty, repeating his exact words from earlier. He looked startled.

"No, it's not like that!" He hesitated and decided it wouldn't hurt for them to know. "She's my sister. Half-sister, actually."

If he had ever expected to surprise Henrietta Lange, the expression on her face was exactly what he would have been looking for. "Your half-sister?"

"Yeah, I always knew my dad screwed around on my mom. He met Tiffany's mom when I was 9, got her pregnant when I was 10. Tiffany, or Julie as she was called then, was born just before he went to jail for trying to kill mom and me. "

"Does she know?"

"No! When I first met Tiffany, I just thought she was another down and out kid who'd gotten caught up in the life with no way out. She became my CI and, one day, I struck up a conversation about family with her, trying to figure out if there was anyone out there who would care about what happened to her. She told me her mom had married when she was 13 and that her stepdad was nice for a while, then she started to mature and he took a different kind of interest in her. He started raping her when she was 15 and her mom wouldn't believe her. When she was 16 she ran away from home and ended up a prostitute. When she killed Boyle she was only 17!"

He took a deep breath. "Anyway, while we were talking about family, she told me her real dad hadn't been around when she was a kid. Her mom had told her how much he loved her and what a good man he was, but that he just couldn't come to see them right now, but that he would, eventually. I asked if she knew his name, thinking that maybe I could reach out to him; get him to understand what danger she was in out on the streets. I almost passed out when she said his name was Gordon Brandel. I didn't know what to say. I wanted to tell her that her mom had told her lies. That Brandel was not a good man and wasn't capable of loving anyone other than himself. That he'd died in 1998 in a car accident. I wanted to tell her the world was well rid of him but she'd sounded so wistful when she talked about him. I didn't want to take away her only good memories of him. What good would that do?"

He looked at them, wondering what they were thinking and Hetty nodded in encouragement. He continued. "I couldn't tell her Brandel was my dad as well. If I had, she would have wanted stories about him, what he was like, how he was with me and my mom. What was I going to tell her? That he beat the crap out of us both, on pretty much a daily basis? That I had to shoot him when I was 11 to stop him from killing mom and me? What harm would it do to leave her with her fantasies about the perfect dad who was still out there, just waiting to swoop in and take her away from all that her life had become? I decided to just stay her friend and do what I could to get her out." He paused. "Bates asked me if I would have gone to jail for her. I didn't tell him what I've just told you. What I did tell him was that I honestly didn't know but now, I think the answer is yes. I would have gone to jail for her. She has gone through so much and would have had a good life ahead of her. Turned out, she's just too good a person to let me do it."

Hetty reached out again and put both hands on either side of his face and pulled his head down towards her. She leaned forward and kissed him on the forehead, much as she had not so long ago with Sam, after they'd made up over him trying to go rogue. She said quietly "You're a good man and I will miss you Marty Deeks!"

He smiled, the first real one since he had been arrested and pulled off the street, away from Kensi. He went over to his desk and picked up the box of his things. Turning, he looked at the two of them, standing by the entrance to her office and he felt something tug at his heart. He thought it was regret, he prayed it wasn't relief. He nodded to them once more and walked out of the Mission with their eyes upon him. When he had disappeared from view, Hetty went over to the trash and removed his name plate. She ran a hand over it and looked up to find Owen watching her. She expected amusement, derision maybe. Instead she found understanding.