Set anytime in the series after Deeks joins the fun. Deeks has a secret.

Disclaimer: I own nothing and no one. I'm just writing them as I want to see them.

Thank you everyone for reading and reviewing, following and favoriting. Each and every one is beyond special to me. I take your time as valuable as my own and I thank you for lending me some of it.

Please remember all you MMA or UFC fighters or fans, I'm not a fighter or a fan. I don't really know how the game of promoter/manager is played but I am a history buff and back alley promoter/manager dealings during the Depression were fairly common. Does this sort of thing still happen? I don't know. But this is where these ideas are coming from. Please don't hate me.

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While he waited for his flight, Deeks made a decision. He reached for his phone and hit speed dial #1. He knew it was still early yet in California, 6:42am to be exact, but he figured he was going to be facing a lot of lions today, i.e. telling the team his secret, and he wanted to see if he had another ally before the actual carnage began. Each one was formidable on their own but combined he imagined them to be unstoppable. Having all three female members of the team on his side sure couldn't hurt.

The phone only rang twice before, "Deeks?" a sleepy voiced Kensi answerd, "Are you…are you ok?"

"Yea, no, I'm ok. Look, can you pick me up at that airport? My flight gets in at 10:30 this morning your time. I took a cab when I left and I need to talk to you about something. Can you come get me? I'll buy you donuts."

"Yea, sure I'll be there."

"Thanks, I'll text you the flight info. See you then."

"Ok. Bye."

9am, Monday Morning, Office of Special Projects

Callen & Sam were walking into the bullpen when Eric came rushing down the stairs and practically skidded to a stop just before slamming in the back of Sam. "Wow, Eric. Where's the fire?" Sam asked with a chuckle.

"Yea, man, leave the surfing at the beach." Callen added smiling.

Ignoring their comments Eric pointed at the plasma screen, hit a couple of keys, "You have to see this!" His eyes were shining with excitement.

Callen & Sam turned their heads to the screen in time to see an MMA fight in progress appear. Sam watched for a second before turning to Eric, "Their technique is good. So what?"

"Watch" was all Eric said to him.

Sam turned back to the screen and watched closer. Finally he noticed something familiar about one of the fighters. He approached the screen to see it closer. They watched as the fight ended with a knock out in, according to the announcer, the 3rd round. The camera focused in on the winner of the fight.

Callen and Sam stood facing the screen stunned and silent. Eric was grinning from ear to ear. "I know, right? That is Deeks, isn't it?"

Callen & Sam turned to each other for a quick eye conversation and then turned back to Eric. Callen pointed behind him at the screen, "WHEN?"

"I found this," he pointed at the screen, "this morning. It was broadcast on the internet this past Saturday night. Jason Wyler won. I checked his record: 22-5. His last loss: DeMarco Williams," he looked at Sam.

"Have you found any more of his fights?" Sam asked.

"No. I've checked. I have found references to them but no actual footage. I can tell that all the other footage has been removed from the internet and by someone who knows what they doing. I wouldn't have found this except I was doing…something I probably shouldn't tell you about on someone else's computer that I shouldn't tell you about." Eric flinched and didn't meet their eyes.

"You were on NELL'S computer? You better hope she never finds out." Callen informed him.

"Yea, ok. But back to this…" Eric pointed at the screen that he had frozen on Deeks' sweaty face.

Callen turned to Sam, "Do you think this is what he's been hiding? That he's been fighting?"

"Why would he keep it a secret?" Sam asked.

"Like you guys would ever let up on him about it if you knew about it." When Callen & Sam turned their attention back to Eric with questioning glares in their eyes Eric figuratively and literally retreated, "I said that out loud didn't I? Yea, ok, I'm going to back to ops." He turned and bolted back up the stairs. When he reached the top of the stairs he stopped and turned toward the plasma screen and removed the fight footage before stepping past the sliding doors of his domain.

"Do we tell Kensi?" Sam asked as they moved to sit at their desks. Callen just raised his eyebrows as his way of asking the question right back to Sam. "Are we sure she doesn't know?" Sam asked next.

"Good question," was Callen's only response.

Kensi walked into OSP less than 5 minutes later. "Hey guys. I'm gonna be leaving in about 30 minutes. Deeks needs a ride." She looked at the guys and noticed the carefully constructed casual expressions on each of their faces, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing" Sam said just as Callen said "Not a thing."

"Uh huh. You guys are acting weird." When neither man spoke she shook her head, "I'm going to talk to Hetty." She didn't know what the guys' problem was but right then she didn't care. She turned and headed off to find Hetty.

11am LAX outside baggage claim

Deeks had collected his bags and was waiting on the side walk when Kensi pulled up in her SRX. "Need a ride sailor?" She yelled through the open passenger window with an open smile on her face.

Deeks smiled, opened up the backseat door, threw his bags in the back and then climbed into the passenger seat. "Thanks, Kens."

"No problem," she said as she pulled out into traffic. "So what's going on?"

"You don't want donuts first?" Deeks was surprised.

"Nope. This way if it's needed you can buy me more donuts." She smiled at him. "Now, what's going on?"

"No, yeah, ok. That's reasonable." He looked forward and really didn't know how or where to start. "Well…" and he stopped. Why was this so hard?

When he didn't continue, "Come on, spit it out."

"Ok." He took a deep breath and did as she said, he spit it out, "I went to Chicago this weekend because I had a fight. An MMA fight as Jason Wyler."

Kensi was quiet for several minutes as she processed his short statement. Deeks let her be quiet and didn't interrupt her thoughts. "So…you've been fighting MMA again. That's the big secret? That's why all the bruises, broken hand and all?"

"Yep."

She reached over and punched him in the shoulder as hard as she could. "Ow! What was that for?"

She was silent again and he glanced to his left to see that her jaw was clinched and she was focused intently on the road ahead. "I thought someone was abusing you or something Jackass! I see bruises and you are secretive and we stopped hanging out. What was I supposed to think?!"

He didn't say anything to her statement. He was humbled that she cared enough to worry about him.

"Why?" was her only question.

Deeks was confused, "Why, what?"

"Why fight? Why keep it a secret from the team?" Then she got to the crux of the real question, "Why didn't you tell me? We're partners and that's a pretty big thing to keep quiet about. Didn't you trust me?"

"Kens, it didn't have anything to do with trust."

She cut him off, "If feels like it has a lot do with trust. You didn't trust me with your secret, that's a pretty big deal."

"It's not that. I wanted something…" he stopped talking here because he was having the same problem explaining this Kensi just as he did when he tried to explain it to Hetty. "Ok…Have you ever just wanted something for yourself? Something that was just yours and nobody else's? Something that nobody else knew and you didn't have to share it or wonder what anybody thought about it or you for doing it?"

Kensi thought and thought and thought but she couldn't think of anytime when she felt that way. "No. I haven't."

Deeks' head turned to look at her before sighing in frustration. "Well, I just didn't want to share, Ok? I liked having a secret. I liked that I knew something you all didn't." He raised his hands and eyes to the ceiling of the car, "the high and mighty all-knowing special federal agents couldn't figure it out." He dropped his hands back into his lap and returned his eyes her face. "I liked that I didn't have to explain myself or why I was doing it. Or listen to Sam or Callen or YOU belittle me for doing it." He turned back to facing the road, clasped his hands in front of him, "Besides it was personal."

Silently she agreed that he was probably correct and the guys wouldn't have let up on him. She stopped at a red light and turned to face him. "Ok, I see not telling the team. But me? I wouldn't have laughed at you. I think it's great. How long have you been back to training?" When the light changed she drove through the intersection and pulled the car over to side of the street in front of her favorite donut shop, the one that invented the maple glazed bacon donut.

As they got out of the car and walked into the shop, the conversation continued. "For the record, I never stopped fighting. I've been fighting as Jason Wyler since we met. And I have a pretty good record too."

"Wow, you never stopped? What about all those times you trained with us? You sucked!"

His voice rose with a little hint of pride, "Nope, didn't stop just changed gyms and really Kensi? We lie for a living or as I have said before 'Truth re-imagined for the greater good'. And you never noticed when it came down to a fist fight that I always won? I may have gotten hit a few times, but, think about it, I always won."

Here the conversation halted as Kensi ordered a variety of her favorite donuts, a dozen in all. They stood at the register while the clerk totaled the bill. "$18.00" he said.

Before Deeks could reach for his wallet Kensi looked at the clerk and added, "He's buying," as she took the donuts and walked back to her car. She had climbed into the car and already selected her first donut by the time Deeks arrived back in the car.

"Do I get one of those?" He asked pointing at the box that sat between them.

"Yes, you can have one, but not the bacon one." She warned.

Deeks smiled at her and selected the one he knew she had chosen for him. It was a favorite: a simple but delicious raised glazed donut.

It was while sharing their treats that she finally realized how amazing Deeks was at undercover work. He had convinced 3 highly trained federal agents that he just really sucked at self-defense. She finished her donut and her voice turned stern as the conversation continued, "well, don't lie to me again. I don't like it. Does anybody else know?"

"Hetty of course." Kensi gave him a one-shoulder shrug and a little eye roll in an 'of course' gesture. "and Nell."

She nearly choked on her mouthful of donut, "NELL?! And she didn't tell me? That little…"

Deeks cut her off before she could work herself into a rage at Nell, "I think that Nell has way more secrets in her head that we could ever want to know. She's almost a mini-Hetty already except that she's a littler taller than Hetty."

"Meh. True. But still, you didn't tell me, Nell didn't tell me. Who's next? Sam? Callen? Eric? And why does Nell know?"

"She did the backstopping on Jason. To quote Hetty, 'We watch all our agents' alias'."

"Huh. Ok. That's it though right? Any more secrets you want to spill?"

Deeks gave a slight shrug knowing that there would be at least one more to share, "No. Well, not right this moment anyway." She turned to look at him and he gave her a full smile. "I have something I have to talk to Hetty about first. I'm going to tell you, but I really should talk to Hetty first. Ok?"

She studied him, "Fine, but then no more secrets."

Not surprisingly he didn't commit to that statement at all, he just smiled at her.