Set anytime in the series after Deeks joins the fun. Deeks has a secret.
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"Oh Mr. Callen, really?!" Hetty was getting exasperated with her agents, all of them. "Mr. Polson won't let Mr. Deeks be his lawyer until he meets him. Obviously, that can't happen without breaking his cover so we need a body double. That's you. Now go change." She pushed the suit into his hands and pointed at the changing rooms not giving him any choice.
Callen actually sulked as he walked over to change. "This isn't right. I don't know how to be Deeks. What do I do? Talk all the time? Make lame jokes and drive everyone crazy?" He continued on this vein while he changed. "Do I have to learn to surf too?"
What he didn't know was that Hetty and Deeks had left him and headed back to her desk, "He does have a point Mr. Deeks. What if Mr. Polson asked personal questions? I think it would be a good idea if Mr. Callen had some background to study."
Deeks understood what Hetty was asking of him. She was asking permission to share his personal and personnel files with Callen. Deeks was unsure. He knew Callen needed some information about him to make the cover work but he really didn't want to share so much of himself with his teammate. "Can we limit it to my legal-life?" Deeks asked.
Hetty was a little sad. She knew that if Callen were to understand Deeks, he needed the background information. She wouldn't break Mr. Deeks' trust and just give Callen the files but she really wanted to. She hoped this was an opportunity to let the team leader read more about their liaison officer. Perhaps it was enough for now. Hetty nodded her head in agreement and as Deeks left to check on Callen, she started to put together a file for Callen to read.
"Callen? You ready?" Deeks called out. He didn't find him in wardrobe so he headed over to the bullpen where he heard Sam ribbing Callen.
"Hey, you know you're sitting at the wrong desk, DEEKS." Sam was laughing at him.
"No." Callen tried to make the word into every warning he could. Deeks quietly stood outside the bullpen to listen to the partners.
"Does this mean you have to wear a wig? You're not quite shaggy enough." Sam kept at him.
"Stop." Callen tried again.
"Just listening Mr. Deeks?" Hetty asked as she approached him from behind letting the men in the bullpen know that he was there.
Deeks smiled at Hetty as they stepped over to Callen's desk. "Mr. Callen, here is a file on Mr. Deeks' legal life. I suggest you study it." With that she turned around and left the men alone.
"Ready to go?" Deeks asked. Callen nodded his head and grabbed the file from the top of his desk. Deeks was not sure how he felt about Callen knowing even that much about him but it had to be done. "I'll drive, you read." They headed out to the car. Before they got in, Deeks opened the back door and pulled out a briefcase. He opened it up and showed Callen some paperwork. "This is what Neil needs to sign." Deeks handed it to him without looking at Callen or the paperwork. "Can't have you fumbling wondering what needed to signed. I do have a reputation to keep up, you know." He tried to lighten his own mood as he got in the driver's side and waited for Callen to get in the car.
Callen snorted at the comment as he glanced at the paperwork. Seeing what it was he put it back in the case, put the briefcase in the back seat and sat down next to Deeks. He started to read the file as Deeks drove them to the hospital.
Deeks was quiet as Callen read. Occasionally Callen would whistle or raise his eyes to Deeks in surprise and there was even a 'wow' as he read. When he finished the file, "Let's recap. You have a license to practice law in three states: California, New York and Maryland. As well as DC. Correct?" Deeks nodded his head in affirmative. "And you got the New York, Maryland and DC licenses because between the first & second years of law school you interned with a California Senator while he worked in DC. And between the second & third years you clerked for a New York Judge. So when you got out of law school and passed the bar exam in California, you decided to just get it in these other states for what? Shits and giggles?"
Deeks smiled, "In a way. The California senator wanted me to work for him as one of his private lawyers when I got out of school so I had to pass the California, Maryland and DC exams to do that I worked for him for about a year. I kept in touch for the Judge and he insisted I pass the New York bar. So, I studied and passed the exam."
"Well, damn Deeks. I don't know what to say." Callen was truly surprised at what he had learned about the younger man.
"That doesn't bode well for this op. According to you, I talk all the time." Deeks joked back to him.
Callen smiled at him. "It's the flirty jokes with Kensi and the surfing that worries me." Callen joked back. Callen asked the question he didn't know he wanted to the answer too until he actually asked the question, "Why did you give it up?"
Deeks knew what he was asking and decided to tell him the truth. "It wasn't for me; being a beltway lawyer. Can you see me sitting behind a desk and in a suit ALL DAY LONG? No. And the Judge died shortly after I passed the bar. He was the only reason I would've worked in New York. He was a great man. Honest, trustworthy, tough as nails and mean as hell. Unprepared lawyers were his major frustration. He would rip them the shreds. He didn't care if were at the top of your class or the bottom. Mistakes may have pissed him off, but he understood that happened. But coming into his courtroom without being prepared and organized would send him over the edge. He'd throw you out of court, not the case but the person." Deeks was remembering the old man with fondness. It was clear to Callen that Deeks cared about the man. Deeks came back to what he was originally saying. "In the end, I worked as a Public Defender for a few years but I wanted to do more. Help more."
"It says here you still help out at Legal Aid. How does that work with our schedule?"
"I review files and cases when I can or when they have something they can't figure out. They send me the file and I check it out, find out everything I can about the situation and send it back to them. Most of them know my name, I guess, but have no idea what I look like. Had to make that concession when I started to go undercover for LAPD and especially now. There is one person there that filters all the requests and then sends them to me."
Callen realized Deeks was dismissing the help he gives people. Deeks really just wanted to help as many people as possible and didn't care about credit. Callen was actually impressed by the man and that was something Callen never thought he would admit.
They arrived at the hospital and headed up to Neil's room. They found the room empty and checked with the Nurses Station. He just went to physical therapy. Instead of sitting in the waiting room, they headed down to the cafeteria for some coffee. They sat in silence until they both needed something to do. Deeks opened the briefcase to review the paperwork to make sure it was in order. Callen sat and re-read Deeks' file. Making sure he remembered the salient points in case he was asked about it.
Forty-five minutes later they were back in Neil's room trying to get him to sign the papers. "Neil, this is a good lawyer and a good guy. He's not going to screw you and he's been my lawyer for years. He's the one that looks over my contracts for fights before I sign them."
Neil was laying in his bed exhausted from therapy. They feeling had started to come back to his legs so he was really pushing himself to get better and out of the hospital. He was struggling to keep his eyes open but the not so subtle dig was not lost on him, "MAN! I said I was sorry. I didn't mean to get us into this mess."
Deeks took a deep breath, "I know that man and this guy can help us get out of it. But he can't work on your behalf unless you sign the papers." Deeks set the paperwork on the rolling table along with a pen, "sign it."
Callen listened to Deeks work what appeared to be magic on the man. Deeks was ready for every argument and countered them. Callen could tell that Deeks had been an exceptionally good lawyer. It didn't really take that long before Neil Polson became the latest client of Martin A. Deeks, Lawyer.
They were headed back to OSP when Callen asked a question that Deeks wasn't ready for, "Does Kensi know about what's in this file?"
Deeks was hesitant, "No. I haven't gotten around to telling her about that part of my life."
"Don't you think she should know about it? You are partners. Actually for being partners, you seem to have a lot of secrets you haven't shared with her." Callen was suddenly worried about the partnership.
"You share everything about your life, your past with Sam?" Deeks tried to deflect.
"Just about. I mean there are times I don't tell him something, but he always seems to find out anyway." Callen informed him.
Deeks didn't continue the conversation at first. "Does this mean you plan to tell Sam about what's in that file?"
Callen noticed that Deeks never once said 'about my past', he always said 'what's in that file'. Callen wondered what Nate would make of that. But the question, does he tell Sam or not was left hanging in the air for the rest of the drive back to the Mission.