A/N - I'm getting there, I promise.

Thanks to Hoosier65, for the idea on his text to her!

Thanks to yellowcallalilly, for giving me the idea on how the resolution comes about (not just yet though)

And, thanks to everyone for reviewing this six chapter story! ;-)

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Chapter 32

Deeks walked down to the beach, deep in thought. When he reached the sand, he toed off his shoes and removed his socks. Moving further onto the beach, he dug his toes into the warm sand and felt the beach perform its magic on him, calming his chaotic thoughts. The sand, the sound of the waves, the sun on the water, there was nothing else like it. He plopped down onto the sand and felt something poke him. Reaching around, he pulled his cell phone out of his back pocket. He didn't even remember picking it up before following his nose to the kitchen earlier. Hell, maybe he'd slept on it.

He activated it and found two text messages waiting for him. One was from Kensi from last night. Crap! If she was mad at him before, he could only imagine how pissed off she would be if she thought that he had ignored her text. He'd never even heard the notification. His mind skittered away from just how drunk he'd gotten last night. The other was from Sam from this morning. Feeling cowardly, he opened the one from him first.

Where are you buddy? Everything okay? Not like you to bang out like this!

It still amazed him at the turnaround in Sam's attitude towards him. Ever since the Sidarov situation, Sam had done a complete 180 and he found he liked this new Sam. The teases and taunts were still there but they weren't mean spirited anymore and, while they sometimes bothered him as he had told Laura, he knew deep down it was meant in fun. Sam was the same with Kensi and Callen. He also took as good as he got. Deeks thought about responding but figured if Kensi found out he answered Sam before her, he might as well just leave the country. Sighing, he opened her text.

I'm outside your place. Where are you? Are you okay? I'll wait here for you. Please, we need to talk!

His heart sank. He wondered how long she had waited for him. She had a key. Would she have just gone in and made herself comfortable or would she have felt they needed to clear the air before she took that liberty? He could picture her sitting in the car for hours. This was just getting better and better. He hesitated as to whether he should respond at this late date or not, but finally decided that she would just worry if she didn't hear from him for too long and he owed her this. He texted her back.

I'm sorry, I just now got this. I never heard the phone last night. I hope you didn't wait too long. I'm okay and I promise, I'll be back shortly and we'll talk. I won't be at class tomorrow. For right now, I just need some space. Can you do that for me?

He sent it and then decided to send another one, hitting send before he could have second thoughts.

I love you.

While he was waiting, he texted Sam back.

I'll be fine Sam. I mean good, I'll be good. I just need to work a couple things out and I have to do it alone. Thanks, I mean it.

He hoped Sam would understand that he was thanking him for caring enough to try to find out what was going on. While he was waiting to see if she responded, he tried to picture the talk they needed to have in his mind, but it always ended either in another fight or with him taking the blame for everything. He sighed again. The more he thought about it, the more he realized he was going to need more than just today. His phone pinged twice. Guess it was a quiet day at the Mission if both of them were hatching their phones. The first was from Sam.

If you say so. You know where I am if you need anything or need to talk.

The second was from Kensi and he held his breath while he opened it.

I'm not sure that I want to know where you were that you didn't hear your phone. How could you just walk away like that? I, we, deserve better. I'll give you as much space as you need but please, don't take too long.

The phone pinged with another incoming text while he was reading the first.

I love you too.

He blew out his breath, her first text had made him feel like there might be no going back but the second one had left him feeling more positive. As long as they loved each other, they could work through just about anything. She would need to apologize for her actions and words, in fact she had tried, but she was not alone in this. He had walked away and made it worse. He should have stayed and made her understand just how badly she had hurt him. They would need to set some ground rules for the future, their future. Even though he was feeling better, he still felt it would be for the best if they took a little more time apart but he knew he would be heading home on Sunday, if not Saturday night. Of course, that was provided he could stay here until then.

Back at the house, Neal watched him from one of the lounge chairs artfully placed around the garden, each with a beautiful view of the ocean. Laura came up from behind him and sat on the chair closest to him. "How did he seem?"

Neal thought about it. "I think he's going to be fine. He's strong, stronger than he gives himself credit for. "

"I agree. "

"Did he tell you what happened?"

Laura thought for a moment and then decided she could give Neal the bare bones of the situation without giving away any of Deeks's confidences about his father. She ended with a question. "What do you think of the two of them?"

"I think they're both strong personalities that shouldn't work together, but they do. They're like two halves of a whole. They're going to fight, all couples do, but it's going to be harder on them if one side doesn't know what fight they're having and then walks away." Neal suddenly realized he was lounging around the garden with his boss and speaking very informally with her. He quickly added "Ma'am." and started to get up.

Laura laughed at him. "Calm down Neal. There's no one here but us and I'd prefer if you didn't stand on ceremony right now. I could use someone to talk to about this. Someone I can trust." A glimmer of an idea had presented itself to her and she wanted to run it by him.

Neal sank back down into the chair and frowned at her, not sure if he liked the look in her eyes. "What exactly do you have up your sleeve?" As an afterthought he added "Mrs. Shelton."

Not answering, she responded with a question. "What do you think of this place?" She had fallen in love with it at first sight and had bought it with the thought that it would make a lovely romantic getaway for her and John. It was quiet and quaint. Covered in bougainvillea, it had a lovely garden in the back that marched right down to the beach. Unfortunately, John had been away more and more and they had never made it down here, just the two of them. Mostly she used it for friends and family who wanted to get out of L.A. She thought about how much more attentive John had been since the threat all those months ago and smiled, she might just be using this for the original purpose after all, but for now, she had a plan in mind.

"It's my favorite of all your properties. Again, what do you have in mind?"

Laure outlined her plan and Neal smiled in approval. It would require some manipulation on Mrs. Shelton's part but, he'd seen her manipulate with the best of them. He had complete faith in her abilities.

When Deeks came back up from the beach, he found them talking quietly but they stopped when he approached. He wondered if they were talking about him. It would stand to reason. He owed both of them an apology for last night. It was inexcusable. Plus he needed to let Laura know he was going to disappoint the girls after all. To top it all off, he realized he would also owe Hetty, Sam and Callen an apology for today. He was just hitting on all cylinders on this one, wasn't he? "Laura. Neal. I just want to say how sorry I am about last night. You should never have had to get involved in this and I've disrupted both your lives. It won't happen again, I promise you."

Neal responded first. "If I had called you, in the state you were in last night, would you have come to get me? Or would you have left me to my own devices?"

"Of course I would've come!" Deeks was somewhat offended Neal had asked.

This time Laura spoke. "Then why do you begrudge us the chance to do the same for you? Now, I don't expect this to become a habit but, Marty, you have to know you've become very important to us. Of course we would be there for you without a second thought!"

He didn't quite know how to respond so just nodded. He opened his mouth to tell her about tomorrow when she spoke again. "I've been thinking about it Marty. I don't think you should come to class tomorrow after all. It's a combative atmosphere and now I'm thinking it's not conducive to settling a fight, unless you want to battle it out with knives and winner takes all?" She grinned at him.

Knowing full well that Kensi would win that battle 99 times out of 100, he grinned back and shook his head no. Laura smiled, hiding her pleasure at how things were working out. "Very well, it's settled then. I'll call Kensi later and ask her to lead the class alone, that way the girls won't be as disappointed. You stay here until you're ready to head home. If you weren't here, it would just be standing empty."

"I don't know how to thank you, Laura." he said quietly, pleased to know he could spend additional nights in this place; he had no real memory of the first one. It was peaceful and quiet, just what he needed. Laura and Neal said their goodbyes and headed back to L.A., leaving him alone in paradise.