Set anytime in the series after Deeks joins the fun. Deeks has a secret.
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Deeks arrived at the bar to find a beer waiting for him and a seat open next to Kensi. He was smiling as he sat down and took a long drink of his beer.
Callen was the first to speak, "Get dumped for the night there Deeks?" which caused Sam to chuckle and Kensi to smirk.
"Plans change," Deeks replied still smiling. "What are we talking about?" He asked to change the subject off of himself.
The rest of night was spent with inane chatter and the re-telling of embarrassing stories. Deeks could feel Kensi's eyes on him from time to time but she didn't push any questions. Around 10:00 Deeks decided to call it a night. It was early yet, but he needed the sleep. So he excused himself from the group and headed to the door. He could feel Kensi's worried eyes on him the entire time as he was walking to the door.
The next day at the gym he felt more relaxed and was warming up when Neil approached him. Deeks glared at him for a second before going back to his warm up. Neil got the message, "Ok, so I might have gone a little overboard."
"A little?" Deeks lifted his shirt to show the bruises on his chest. "You think?" Deeks dropped his shirt back into place and restarted his warm up.
Neil was surprised at the amount of purple spots on his fighter's chest. "So alot overboard, huh? Sorry." Neil waited a beat, "We good?"
Deeks stopped his warm up again and looked at his trainer; judging his sincerity and making a decision. "Yea. We're good."
Neil nodded his head, "Strength, speed & cardio/stamina. We've got three weeks to make them the best that we can. Let's get to work." They walked over to a heavy bag. Neil braced it and Deeks took up position, ready to start hitting it. After the heavy bag came the speed bag and then the suspended ball. Neil even had him working like a sprinter so that he would be faster coming off the line.
The next 2 weeks were spent just as they had planned; strength, speed & stamina. Deeks' bruises healed and he was able to spend more time with Kensi and their movie nights. He could still feel her need to ask questions but thankfully she didn't ask them. At night he was able to sleep rather than pass out from exhaustion or pain. In short he was relaxed. The only problem he was having was finding clothes in his closet that actually fit. It seems even though he was still at 185 pounds, he had dropped a couple of inches off his body.
The Tuesday before the fight arrived and he was ready for the next few days off. Fate however didn't like that idea. That day they got a case that took them until very late Thursday night, in reality it was very early Friday morning to solve. Luckily for him Hetty had arranged for a change in his airline ticket and hotel reseverations so he was leaving Friday afternoon rather than Thursday morning as he had originally planned. Neil didn't like it but there was nothing he or Deeks could do about it. Neil agreed to meet him at the airport Friday evening.
"Your paperwork can wait until your return on Tuesday, Mr. Deeks. Have a good trip." Hetty said as she handed him his ticket.
He looked down at the itinerary that she handed him and noticed that she had changed his ticket and hotel reservation so it was only from Friday night to Monday morning. He really didn't want to come back a day earlier than originally planned but Hetty was Hetty and he didn't argue with her. At least he got Sunday & Monday to recover from whatever was going to happen to him on Saturday night.
"Thanks Hetty." He looked at Hetty and for the first time it hit him that he was going to have a fight in just over 30 hours against a very tough opponent, probably the toughest he had faced yet and he was suddenly nervous. He's pretty sure that she saw the nerves he was having because she smiled at him with what he hoped was an encouraging smile just before she turned to walk back to her desk.
The rest of the team looked up from their paperwork as Hetty left the bullpen. "Goin' somewhere?" Callen asked.
Deeks eyes followed Hetty as she crossed the floor. When he heard Callen's question he exhaled a breath that he didn't realize he was holding and brought his focus back to the people around him. Stuffing his ticket into his messenger bag while answering, "Yeah, just a couple of days off. I'm going to Chicago. See you guys next week." The stunned silence that followed his statement gave him the chance to leave without answering any other questions.
After he left Sam & Kensi looked at each other. Callen's eyes hadn't strayed from the door that Deeks exited as he asked "What is going on with him? Kens?"
"I have no idea. He hasn't talked to me about whatever it is, but something is going on, that much is for sure," was Kensi's worried reply.
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That Saturday night when Deeks stepped into the ring, he suddenly wasn't nervous anymore. He was better prepared for this fight than he had been for any of his previous fights. Win or lose he knew he was ready for this. It actually made him feel a little guilty for a second; he really liked and cared about his late trainer but he had to admit that Neil really had prepared him for this fight.
As he found out, he was more ready for it than he thought. The first two rounds were tough but in the third round he found an opening and instinct made him take it. The fight ended with a knock out and with Deeks still on his feet.
The next morning, in the hotel room, he rolled over with a groan when he heard his phone ringing. He groped for his phone and discovered his ribs hurt. He suspected it was from the knees he took and he was sure there would be a bruise the size of Lake Michigan on his left upper thigh in about a week. The muscle was already feeling tight.
He checked the time, 7:08am, as he grabbed his phone and saw "Hetty" on the screen. "Hetty? What's up?"
"Congratulations, Mr. Deeks! How do you feel?"
"Like I was in a fight." He chuckled.
He could hear the smirk in the words, "I imagine. It was quite an impressive display on both your part & your opponent's part."
Deeks wasn't fully awake yet, "Thanks". Suddenly her words penetrated his foggy head and he was wide awake, "You saw the fight? How?"
He could hear the smile slip from her face, "That is where we have a problem. It was broadcast live on the internet last night."
Deeks dropped his head into his hand, "God Hetty, I'm sorry. I didn't know."
"Rest assured Mr. Deeks; Ms. Jones has been working all night to scrub the video from the internet. We will do what we can to minimize the damage but we will have to discuss this further when you return on Tuesday. You might want to bring her a present as a thank you for all her work."
"Understood. Thanks Hetty. I really am sorry."
"I know, Mr. Deeks. Have a good morning." She responded just before disconnecting the call.
He dropped his phone on the table next to the bed, flopped back and slept for another couple of hours.
Another 4 hours passed before he finally woke up for the day. He showered which helped loosen up some of his tight muscles and headed out to see Chicago for a couple of hours. He decided to be a tourist and headed over to the Sears Tower. He found it amazing to look down at a helicopter as it passed below the observation floor of the tower.
Being from LA he was curious what 'Navy Pier' was all about. He discovered that he enjoyed it. It was cold with the wind blowing in off the lake and it didn't have the strange characters that Venice had or the free flowing attitude of the Santa Monica Pier, but he really enjoyed it. He found a couple of small gifts for Kensi, Nell and his neighbor who was looking after Monty for him.
He headed back to the hotel having thoroughly enjoyed his day wandering around Chicago. Even though it wasn't nearly as warm as LA he decided he really liked Chicago and would come back for a weekend getaway. Maybe he could convince Kensi to come with him. Then he could hit up some of the night life Chicago offered.
He and Neil had made plans to have dinner that night and what Deeks really wanted to have was a Chicago- style hotdog. He had been eating a no-carb, high protein diet for the last month and half and he really wanted fries and a hotdog.
Neil was sitting across from Deeks at the small diner they found. He was watching him scarf down a mountain of fries and three hotdogs when he decided to break into the single-person eating contest going on across the table from him. "Slow down! You're going to choke to death. We didn't spend the last 6 weeks beating you into shape for you to blow it all now."
Deeks rolled his eyes at him. "Give me a break. I'm sick of boiled chicken! Let me enjoy my food in peace."
Neil was laughing at him. "Come on, you don't want to go through that re-training do you?"
"Oh Come on! That guy was tough and I don't have a fight scheduled for anytime in the future so leave me and my food alone." Suddenly he felt like he was channeling Kensi.
"You never know. You might have a fight sooner than you think." Then he dropped the bombshell on Deeks. "Jason, I've accepted a fight on your behalf to fight the third ranked MMA fighter in the country."