One member's ritual cast some light on his past and evolves into something more
FOR THE FALLEN
The Mission, Bullpen
The team sat in the lounge area next to the bullpen talking about their plans for the evening. Nell and Eric were going to catch a movie tonight, Sam and Callen had tickets to a basketball game. Kensi figured she would do what she normally did with Deeks, Dinner at either of their places and watching TV. But Deeks seemed a little bit distracted tonight. He sat at his desk, staring at his laptop, deep in thought. Kensi stepped over to him and leaned on the desk next to him.
"Hey, you ok?" She asked.
Deeks took his hands away from his face. "Yea, I'm fine. Just having a rough day." He said.
"Anything I can do?" She asked.
"Nah. It's something personal." He said.
Hetty walked around the corner carrying a small dark bottle. "Mr. Deeks." She said as she set the bottle on his desk. "For your ceremony." She said, giving a reassuring smile.
"Thanks Hetty. I really appreciate it." Deeks said as he inspected the bottle.
"What's that?" Nell asked. The rest of the team's curiosity was piqued.
Deeks took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He figured they were going to find out sooner or later. "Couple of years after I joined LAPD I help found a special unit in LAPD specifically for deep cover operations. There were 5 of us and we were the best that LAPD had."
He set the bottle down and stood up, leaning against the pillar. "A year and a half after we formed we were doing a deep cover op into the North End Triads, one of the toughest street gangs in LA. Big into the drug and weapons trade. We spent months placing ourselves into positions of trust with in various parts of the gang. Money launders, attorneys, arms dealers, the works. But something went wrong. Our covers were blown. No one in LAPD knew who blew it but it was always thought to be an insider. The Triads struck with a vengeance and within a span of 20 min everyone was killed…except me." Deeks voice began to crack telling the story.
The mood in the area sombered up as they listened to Deeks. Nell gripped Eric's hand and he squeezed it gently to reassure her.
Deeks turned his laptop to face them showing a picture of a younger Deeks with 4 other guys. They were at a BBQ in a backyard holding beers and smiling. Tears started to well up in Kensi's eyes.
He turned the laptop back around. "It took me almost a full year to finally realize that there was nothing I could have done to save them and that it wasn't my fault. LAPD did an IAB investigation into the leak but never found out who did it." He reached down and shut the laptop.
"That is why for the longest time I did ops by myself. I couldn't go through that again." Deeks sniffed a bit. Hetty pursed her lips as she thought for a moment and then walked away.
"Today is the day that they were killed and every year on this date at the exact time I drink a toast to them, to my friends." Deeks finished.
Everyone was silent for a few moments. Nobody said anything or even moved for a bit. Kensi grabbed his hand and squeezed it.
Hetty returned with a tray of glasses and set them on his desk. "Tonight, Mr. Deeks, we toast with you." She said, smiling.
Deeks smiled a bit before grabbing the bottle and opening it. He poured into the glasses and Hetty passed them out. Hetty held her glass up.
"Tonight, we drink to the fallen." She said.
"To Lauren Hunter" Callen said, raising his glass.
"To Dom." Sam said in a low voice, raising his glass as well.
"To Mike Renko" Kensi said
"To Lara Macy" Eric said.
"To Moe" Nell followed suit.
"To my brothers." Deeks said, bringing all the glasses together. They all separated and drank the scotch.
They said their glasses down and stood in silence for a few moments. Deeks broke the silence. "So, Hetty, how much is this going to cost me?" He said, adding a bit of humor into the situation.
"This one is on me, Mr. Deeks. This one is on me." She said, smiling.
Off Topic here. 4k views? I'm stunned. You like me, you really like me! Or at least the random fantasy stuff that comes out of my head. I've been debating on starting up One shot comploations for the other series, Tales from the Navy Yard, and Tales from the Big Easy. Please let me know if that is something you all would enjoy. Also I am still working on the Sequel to It's Hell getting to Heaven. Fear not. I've just encountered a few walls in the story that Im trying to figure out how to navigate around but I have not fogotten about it. Thank you all for reading, favoriting, following, and reviewing. Please keep it up!