Hey there readers! I made you wait so long for the last chapter, so here is a new one already to make up for the previous delay. This chapter kind of wrote itself - the words just flew off my fingertips onto the screen. I hope you like it!
The last two weeks before Deeks' return from training brought about the conclusion of the serial killer case. The OSP team, the Red Team, and the team from San Diego finally narrowed things down and came up with their prime suspect. It was the same man who had gone missing from NAS Fallon. Mr. Edward Coleman, the explosive safety officer from Fallon, had used his job and familiarity with weapons systems to gain access and trust from the other bases. When they wouldn't share the information he wanted, he killed them and tried to copy the files to a flash drive.
After apprehending him at a tiny motel in northern New Mexico, he was brought to LA where Callen and Sam grilled him thoroughly. DNA samples taken from Mr. Coleman confirmed that he was the man at each of the crime scenes, other than the victims. He was then turned over to the justice system for his trial and sentencing. Mr. Coleman was found guilty of four counts of murder and treason. He had sold some of the weapons information he had collected to foreign interests. Apparently he had gotten too frustrated and angry with his own government and felt he needed to do something to guarantee he would still receive income from somewhere. Too many federal employee furloughs and government shutdowns made him lose faith in the job and country he had worked for during the last 18 years.
The only other unknown sample in the case, which was found solely at Port Hueneme, was the one that presumably belonged to Callen's biological father. The team hadn't found any more on that lead, but Callen vowed to figure it out – officially or otherwise – much to Hetty's dismay.
"Man, I love LA!" Deeks exclaimed as he walked into the bullpen Monday morning. "The sun, the sea, the women…" he listed off, stopping in front of Kensi's desk.
"Deeks! You're back!" She jumped out of her seat and gave Deeks a quick hug. Then she dropped her arms and stepped back. An air of awkward, what's-the-expected-way-to-greet-each-other-ness, filled the space between them. "Why didn't you call me and let me know when you got in?"
"I got in pretty late last night, and I didn't want to wake you up. I know you've been really tired lately, and what kind of dad would I be if I robbed you and our child of needed sleep?" He grinned, excited to try out the "dad" title in front of everyone.
Callen shook his head. "I still can't believe you two did that," he said, pointing to Kensi's slightly rounded abdomen.
"Apparently you guys are good at both undercover ops and under-the-cover ops," Sam chimed in. "Just remember what G and I can do to a man, Deeks. You've seen us work."
Deeks' earlier happy-go-lucky mood suddenly deflated. He looked nervously from Kensi to Callen and Sam. "Uh, Kens, is there something you should have warned me about before I came in today?"
Kensi put her hands on her hips and shook her head. "Ignore them Deeks. They're just trying to harass you. They're excited about the baby. The day I told them, they both got big, goofy grins and gave me big hugs. The debate about favorite uncle has already begun, and they haven't stopped trying to smother me in your absence."
"You say smother, we say care," Callen argued.
"We're just trying to take care of all of you," Sam agreed. "And I'm the favorite."
"Who are we taking care of?" a female voice asked.
"Ah ha! You're the one responsible for putting pink items on my desk!" Deeks said, pointing at Jenny as she joined the team in the bullpen.
"Nope," Jenny replied with a smile. "On my desk. I believe that one – " she pointed to an empty desk near the end of Callen's, "is yours for now. Welcome back, Special Agent Deeks!"
Sam suddenly got a big smile on his face, the kind that shows off his deep dimples, and his eyes sparkled. "That's right. You're a special agent now. A probie special agent," he said as he looked over at Callen. The team leader picked up his partner's thought process right away.
"We haven't had a probie for a while, have we? It's nice to have one again. Let's see, I'll have a large coffee, black. I believe Kensi is drinking decaf these days, Sam will take his usual green tea, and Jenny prefers cappuccino. Oh, and of course whatever you want for yourself. Can you be back in 20 minutes?" He smiled at the former detective.
"Seriously? I just got in. I'm tired, it's my first day back, I haven't even checked in with Hetty yet…" Deeks started rambling off excuses.
"Don't worry about Hetty. We'll cover for you," Kensi reassured him.
Deeks stuck his pointer finger out and wiggled it back and forth among the team members. "I get it. Some kind of probie initiation, right? Cute guys. Fine, I'll get your drinks, but then we're done. I'm a special agent now, not your lackey."
"The special-ist of them all, Deeks," Callen dead-panned.
Deeks jotted down the orders quickly so he wouldn't forget and took off out the door.
Kensi sat back down at her desk. "It's so cute that he thinks coffee is the only thing he has to do."
Jenny nodded her head in agreement. "No offense to your baby daddy, Kensi, but he can be pretty clueless at times, can't he? I hated being a probie. My old team was pretty ruthless."
Sam and Callen chuckled to themselves. Whoever had said Mondays were the worst days must never have had a probie agent.
Deeks came back a little while later and passed out the hot beverages to his team. He then sat down at his new desk and started settling in. Nell came downstairs with a stack of manila file folders and held them out to Callen.
"Hetty wanted me to give you these. They need to be entered into the system by date and then the paper files locked up in the archive room," she explained.
"Uh uh. Put them on probie's desk," Callen responded shaking his head. "That sounds like a perfect first day back kind of job."
Nell shrugged her shoulders and stepped over to Deeks' desk.
"Hey Deeks. Welcome back," Nell said as set the tall pile down. "Have fun with those, probie."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Deeks said. "Since when do I have to do all the data entry stuff? I have been trained, I passed everything – with flying colors I might add – so I'm an agent just like you guys now. No more jokes. I am a full-fledged member of this team."
"We've all been there. Even I had to take my turn as probie," Nell remarked as she walked out. "There's really no getting out of it."
"Is he whining? Cause it sounds like whining to me," Callen said to no one in particular.
Jenny looked up from her desk and nodded. "Yep. I have a three-year-old nephew who sounds just like that."
Sam leaned back in his chair and stroked his chin with his index finger and thumb. "A probie's gotta do what a probie's gotta do. But do it quietly, please."
"Oh come on. All of these? Can't we share? Kens? Kensalina? You're my partner, or part of my three-way with Jen… wait that came out wrong. Our threesome, I mean our three-way partnership cause you're… you know… with child and all. We're a team. Aren't we supposed to help each other out?" Deeks rambled on.
"No way Deeks. The partner card isn't going to help you this time. Neither is the father-of-my-child card or the jet-lagged-new-agent card. We were all probies at one time. Now it's your turn, surfer boy," Kensi remarked with a smirk. "Excuse me, I need a doughnut to go with my coffee." She stood up and walked to the break area.
Deeks sadly shook his head and opened the first file folder.
"Five o'clock. Quitting time!" Deeks shouted out as he moved a file folder from the left to the right side of his desk.
"You're not done yet, probie. Those files have your name all over them," Callen remarked as he stood up to grab his own things.
"Um, I don't have to do these all today, do I? That's just… well, it's not right," Deeks argued.
Kensi stood up and placed her bag over her shoulder. "C'mon, Callen, go easy on him. It's his first day back, and he'll still be a probie tomorrow."
"Thank you, partner. I think," Deeks said with a confused look on his face.
"Have a good evening Deeks. It's good to have you back," Sam said as he walked out. "See you tomorrow."
Callen and Sam walked out together. Kensi casually walked over to Deeks.
"So, you wanna grab some dinner together? There's this new place that opened about two months ago, and I've waited to try it until you were back," she said.
Deeks looked nervously at her. "I, uh, I'd love to, really. But I kind of have plans already for dinner. Rain check?"
Kensi frowned and immediately felt defeated. Of course it was silly of her to assume he would want to spend his first night back with her. They weren't officially "together", were they? Just because they were having a baby together didn't mean they were exclusive, right?
He saw the look of disappointment in her eyes, and knew he had to say more. "I don't have a date. It's not like that. It's, um, it's family business. Something I need to take care of," Deeks started to explain. "I promise I will tell you about it, maybe even tomorrow, but right now I can't."
"Family? I didn't realize you had any family here in LA still," Kensi mumbled. Those damn hormones were really making it hard to mask her emotions.
"Yeah, a little. We're not super close but we're still blood."
"Ok, well, I hope you have a good dinner. See you in the morning?" she asked hopeful.
"Yeah, definitely. I will pick you up at 9 so we can go to your appointment together. Thank you for waiting to go until I came back," Deeks said quietly. He knew she was still disappointed to not hang out with him tonight, but he needed to do this. It was one more step in the right direction for healing.
"No problem. You have every right to be there, and I want you there with me, too," Kensi replied softly. "I'll see you tomorrow."
Deeks drove up to the small, nondescript house. It looked a little more run down than the last time he was there. After parking the car in the driveway, he looked at his reflection in the rearview mirror. He ran his fingers through his hair, blinked his eyes, and let out a breath he had been holding. "Here we go," he said to himself.
Rap-rap-rappity-rap. Deeks knocked on the front door and waited for the occupant to answer. Slowly the door opened and woman in her late fifties with dirty blond hair and blue eyes smiled at him. "Marty? You're really here. Come in, please." She stepped aside to allow him entrance.
"Hey. Sorry it's been such a long time, mom." He wasn't sure if he should hug her or shake her hand or what. It had been ten years since the last time they had seen each other. She didn't make any immediate move towards him, either, so Deeks just walked further into the house.
"I'm just glad you're here after all this time," she responded.
They exchanged a little small talk before they had dinner together. Elaine Deeks (formerly Brandel) made her son what used to be his favorite meal: roasted chicken, leafy green salad, a baked potato, and chocolate cake for dessert.
"I wasn't sure what to make. I didn't know if you still liked this food, or if you joined one of the latest food trends of the week. I hope it's ok," she said meekly.
"It's great. I love it, really. Thank you. It's been quite a while since I've had a home-cooked meal," he replied between mouthfuls of food. "You're still an amazing cook."
Elaine nodded and smiled. After helping her with the dishes, they sat down in the living room.
"So, you mentioned on the phone that a lot of things had changed in your life. New job? Married? Do I get to know what is going on with my son these days?"
Deeks nodded. He was nervous to tell her everything but knew he needed to take this step.
"Yes, no, and sure." He paused to breathe. "I do have a new job. I was out-of-town for my training when I called you. I used to be a lawyer, and then a detective with LAPD. Now I'm a federal agent. I can't say too much about the job because of what we do, but I'm happy."
His mom nodded politely. "Is it more dangerous than being a cop?"
"Not really. Same risks, different bad guys is all." He didn't want his mom to worry too much, but he didn't want to lie to her, either. Their relationship was strained enough as it was. "I've kept up with my surfing, even taught a friend of mine. She had never been on a board before."
He filled her in on a few more things in his life, like Monty, his trip to Jordan and camel rides, and shows he had seen in Vegas. He conveniently left out all mention of the capture and torture portion of his life. Finally he couldn't avoid the real reason he had wanted to talk to his mom.
"So, the biggest change in my life is kind of in progress right now. I, um… I'm going to be a father," he told Elaine, not quite looking her in the eyes.
"You're having a baby? Who's the mother? Oh my gosh, I'm going to be a grandmother?" she asked all at once.
Deeks nodded. "The mother is my partner at work, Kensi. We kind of have this thing; well we've had a thing for a while and one night actually acted on it. It's complicated and I don't even know how to describe our relationship, but yeah. We're having a baby, in about 4 months."
"Congratulations Marty. Do you know what you're having yet, a boy or a girl?"
"Not yet. Kensi has an appointment tomorrow, and hopefully we will find out. She waited for me to get back from training so I could be there with her."
"Do you love her – this Kensi? Or was it a one-night stand?" his mom asked him.
"No, it wasn't like that. I do love her, mom. I love her more than I ever thought I could love another person," Deeks responded. He sat back into the couch. "It's complicated, but she is amazing. I'm incredibly lucky that she is carrying my child."
"But…." Elaine said looking at her son. She still knew him, even after all those years.
"But I am freaking out inside mom. I have no idea what it means to be a father. I have no idea what to do, and I am scared of… of… of turning into him," Deeks said slowly. He looked up at his mom's face. "I don't want to be the next generation of that violence." His eyes were glistening.
Elaine scooted over closer to Deeks and wrapped her arms around him. "Oh, Marty. You are not him. You never have been, and you never will be. You are a good man." She hugged her son tightly and kissed the top of his head.
"I'm afraid having a kid could trigger something, like a switch that I was born with. You said that Gordon wasn't always like that. Then the drinking and beatings started after I was born."
"No, don't think like that. You are not to blame for your father. It was not your fault at all. Do you understand that Marty? You are not to blame," Elaine told him adamantly.
Deeks just nodded. Tears started flowing down his cheeks. He sat in his mom's embrace for a long time before being ready to speak again.
"Mom, I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I've ignored you for so long. I'm sorry I blamed you for so long," Deeks confessed. He went on to tell his mother than he used to think that she didn't protect him well enough, and it was her fault that he had a crappy childhood. Then he grew up and his anger turned to guilt – guilt that he hadn't done more to help her and protect her. It was too hard to come back home and visit her, the painful memories too hard to relive.
Elaine and Deeks spent two hours crying, talking and trying to heal from past wounds. Deeks had been nervous when he arrived that night, but the tears washed that away. He was beginning to feel comfortable around his mother for the first time since he was a child.
"Mom, thank you for tonight. You have helped me more than you know," Deeks told her as it was getting late.
"Marty, no matter what, I am always here for you. And you've helped me tonight, too," Elaine confirmed, smiling at her son.
"Do you think we could, um, get together more often? I think I'd like that," Deeks said, standing up to leave.
"I would like that. And maybe someday, when you are ready, I would like to meet this Kensi who has stolen your heart."
Deeks nodded. "Yeah, I will definitely bring her by one of these days. We have a lot of things to talk about between the two of us as well, but yeah. I want you two to meet."
"And I will have a grandchild to meet, soon, too. Right?" Elaine asked.
"Yep, you can bet on that. I want my son or daughter to know you. And I want to get to know you again, too." Deeks replied.
Elaine reached out and held her son's hands in her own. "You are going to be a wonderful father to your child. You have nothing to worry about, Marty. Remember, you are a great man and I am very proud of you." She smiled gently at the man before her.
"I love you, mom."
"I love you too, Marty." She reached up and hugged him.
Deeks kissed his mom's cheek and promised to call her soon. She watched him drive off, and smiled as she got ready for bed, the first time she could remember feeling that calm and content in a long time.