A/N: Originally suggested by mashmaiden on Tumblr. Densimber day 20.

"Marty?"

Deeks glanced up from the monthly bills, smiling at Rosa. It was a welcome distraction from his current task.

"Hey Rosemond. You know anything about annuities or term life insurance?" he asked, holding up a couple papers.

"I'm glad that I don't have to worry about them right now," she answered with a grimace." Deeks smiled at her honesty.

"Fair enough." Noticing the way she lingered in the doorway, a little uncertain, he gestured to the other chair in the small office. "What's on your mind?"

She came in slowly, perching on the edge of the chair. "Um, I was looking through some boxes for pictures to use for my art project. Kensi said it was alright." She added the last part quickly, like he might accuse her of snooping.

"Ok. I'm guessing you found my seventh grade pictures. I'll admit it, the hair was a lot. I was going through an experimental stretch," he joked, but Rosa didn't so much as break a smile.

"No." She sighed deeply and pulled something from her pocket, laying it flat on the desk.

It was a copy of Deeks' mugshot. He picked it up, brows furrowing as he stared at it.

"Where did you find this?" he asked softly.

"It was in an envelope with a bunch of papers. I promise I wasn't looking for it," Rosa said, sounding worried once again.

Damn. He'd kept everything from his IA investigation, just in case he ever needed the evidence to defend himself. That box must have gotten thrown in with their photo albums when they were renovating the house.

"Did you read any of those documents?" If Rosa had gotten a look at the police report, or anything else, no wonder she was upset. Deeks closed his eyes briefly, never having imagined this particular conversation. He should have though.

Rosa shook her head quickly, hair bouncing on her shoulders. "No. This picture was on the top, and I didn't look at anything else," she explained.

"Good."

Hesitating again, Rosa gestured to the picture. "Marty, were you in prison?" Deeks looked up. There was concern, but also blatant curiosity in her eyes.

They'd come so far in their relationship from the beginning; he hated the thought of destroying that hard-won trust.

"I was arrested," he answered slowly. "Looking down at his clasped hands, swallowing heavily. He didn't need Rosa to speak to know her next question. "Several years ago, Internal Affairs, the part of LAPD that tries to keep cops in check, started an investigation against me. My first partner had been shot, and they thought they found evidence that I had murdered him."

"Why would they think you killed him?" Rosa asked. It wasn't what he'd expected, but she always surprised him. Catching her eye for a moment, he didn't see any anger or fear. He could tell she was trying to put all the pieces together though.

"My ex-partner was not a good man, and an even worse cop. He did a lot of terrible things and got away with them, which is why I switched departments soon after we were partnered together." He licked his lips, dragging his hand through his hair as he tried to find a palatable way to explain the next part. "He also liked to, um, hurt young women who were in unfortunate circumstances."

Rosa's brows furrowed with immediate understanding, something that broke Deeks' heart. She didn't look all that surprised though.

"They should have stopped him," she said softly, but he still heard the anger underneath.

"A lot of people tried," Deeks said, not able to conceal his lingering bitterness and disgust. "But more even more people, the important ones, didn't care. He always found a way to get around any charges, or someone covered it up for him. Until the day he was found dead in a motel room."

"Anyway, in the end, IA didn't have enough evidence to prove I had killed him, so they had to let me go."

Rosa remained quiet for several moments. Deeks waited for her judgment. Her gaze focused on the picture, and Deeks wondered if she saw him differently now.

"Was your ex-partner hurting someone, another girl, when he was killed?" she asked eventually, once again surprising Deeks with her shrewdness.

"That was the running theory." Lie by omission, he through wryly.

"Then I'm glad that someone protected her," she decided. If you did kill him, I wouldn't blame you," Rosa told him, lifting her chin defiantly.

Deeks felt immense pride that she wasn't afraid to hold firm to her beliefs, and fear that he'd made a grave mistake in telling her at least a partial truth.

"Rosa…"

"Thank you for telling me." She took the picture back, effectively closing the subject for further discussion. "I'll put this away."

On her way out, she squeezed his hand. Bracing his chin on his clasped hands, and Deeks closed his eyes.

It was all kinds of wrong, but to a certain degree he still agreed with Rosa. At least Boyle couldn't hurt anyone else.

A/N: I know it's somewhat unlikely that Deeks would just tell Rosa about Boyle and all that, especially without consulting Kensi.