DISCLAIMER: Not mine.
STORY NOTES: February 2013 - Deeks on his own. This got long, so two parts for chapter 3.

For the next 90 minutes, Detective Sanchez shared everything she could remember.

Deeks turned off the camera and told Angela how proud he was of her. She started weeping. As Deeks handed Angela a box of tissues and poured her a glass of water, he told her he had to tell Bates he had her statement. He'd be just outside of the room for five minutes but he'd be back, he swore. Angela told him she needed a few minutes to compose herself. Deeks needed a few minutes not to want to find the people behind the kidnapping and beat them like a hand sanitizer.

Officer Bathroom-Break was replaced by a young female officer. "How is Det. Sanchez?" Officer Jackson, according to her nameplate, asked.

"She's awake and talking. She's also one of the bravest people I've ever met."

"She spoke to my class at the Academy. They had a seminar for women in law enforcement. She knows so much. She's my ideal."

"Officer," Deeks read her nameplate, "Jackson..."

"Sheryl, sir, call me Sheryl," she interrupted.

"I'm Deeks, not sir. Bates is sir. If you want to be like Det. Sanchez, do an awesome job here. Then do an awesome job on your next assignment. And keeping doing awesome jobs. And when you need to be brave, all that awesome comes back to you. I need you to do something for me."

"Anything, sir."

"Anything Deeks, please. I need you to contact Roger Bates for me and to tell him that I have Det. Sanchez's statement. I need him to send someone I trust to pick it up."

"Yes si...Deeks."

"See, you're well on your way to awesome," Deeks said as he started to open the door. "Sheryl, I'm guessing Marine."

"3rd Tracks out of Pendleton, sir...I mean Deeks. How did you know?" She smiled at him as she fished her phone out of her pockets.

"Just a guess. Call Bates, Marine Sheryl, tell him I need to hand it over to someone I trust," Deeks told her as he returned to the room. Angela was pulling apart the turkey from her sandwich and eating a little. "I'll get you something..."

"The yogurt was perfect. I think I just need some protein."

"If you need to rest..."

"How did you do it?" she asked.

Deeks sat at the end of the bed. Angela's tiny frame and the fact that she was sitting left plenty of room at the end of the bed. "Do what?"

"Stay you."

"I'm sorry..."

"You're you. Bates told me everything. I was in his office when the call came in that you were injured but back in the field. That I guess came from an administrator in your office."

Deeks figured it was Eric. He was the one who usually contacted LAPD for or about him. "Okay."

"He told me to stay and then he called I guess your NCIS boss. He wanted me there so he wouldn't start swearing."

Deeks chuckled. "I always loved it when you were around and he was reading me the riot act." Deeks started to imitate his boss. "Deeks, dammit, excuse me Angela, what the hell, I'm sorry Angela, were you thinking? Your ass, my apologies Angela, is going to wind up in the hospital or in an IA hearing if you don't do your g-damn job, forgive me Angela." Deeks cleared his throat when he was done. "God, how does he talk like that all day and still have vocal cords."

Angela smiled. "You know, I told him once that I felt his apologies sort of separated me from the team."

"What did he say?"

"I can't do the imitation but he said that he shouldn't be using that language period and that maybe he should have me around all the time when he's talking to you. Or Bernhart."

Deeks feigned being serious. "Matthew and I are just terribly misunderstood."

"You're both great cops. I want..." Angela looked down. "How did you get back to being..."

"You can't use anyone else as a marker for how you're doing. I sat in my apartment with the lights on for a week because where they kept me was dark. I didn't sit in a regular chair for nearly six weeks. Flopped on my couch, sat on the floor, sat on the bed, sat on the sand or the rocks at the beach. Any chair with arms...just no." He looked down, looked and her and took a deep breath. "Got into a thing where I couldn't sleep. Didn't talk to anyone for a while. Don't recommend either."

"You can't control being able to sleep."

"Could have worked out more. Could have made myself so tired I'd drop. I tried a lot of, well, one of the people I work with would call new age crap," Deeks put air quotes around the phrase, "to find some inner peace to get to sleep."

"Find any?"

"Not in books or tapes or the sounds of the rain forest while I was trying to sleep."

"What did you do?"

"Tried to talk to people was saw me as me. I saw Bates once or twice. He looked at me with such pity. I didn't need pity. I needed normal."

"Normal?"

"The rain forest sounds were pity. Something super bad happened so I needed something super special to heal myself. Which was stupid. Since I was 12 years old, if I wanted to hear the water and sleep, normally I'd take a towel and an old pillow to Leo Carrillo and sleep there. But since what happened to me never happened to me before, I tried to find different ways to handle it."

"How'd you find normal?"

"Slowly. The person who runs what I do at NCIS showed up one day out of the blue. It was a kick in the ass. An inappropriate kick in the ass in some ways but something I needed. Saw their shrink. Good guy but..."

"Vic Flores sent me a text."

"I'm not going to tell you how to handle your recovery but I spoke to Vic last summer the day before I went back to work. He's a good guy but he's there to get guys with drinking problems into rehab and getting their careers back on track. He's there for guys whose marriages are in trouble or who saw something awful. What you survived, what I survived, he means well but..."

"Who do I talk to?"

"That's what you need to figure out. Took me a while."

"You have a shrink? Can he recommend anyone?"

"Not really a shrink." Deeks hadn't told anyone but Angela deserved the truth. "I had to go to San Diego a few weeks ago for a Department of Defense shrink convention. Nothing like hours of navel gazing for Uncle Sam."

"San Diego's nice."

"Totally the upside to the seminar but I left in a foul mood. Got back and had a message from the Dean of Discipline from my high school."

"He still calls you?"

"I still owe about 10 hours of J.U.G. Sorry, detention." After hearing Angela laugh, Deeks told her "I'm not kidding. Anyway, I was sort of a regular with Fr. Griffin."

"Oh that's right, you went to Catholic school."

"Part of junior year and all of senior year. Saw four years worth of Fr. Griffin though," Deeks smiled. "Anyway, he wrote lots of nice letters to get me into college and law school - I'm hard to stay mad at most of the time."

Angela laughed. "Bates would know nothing about that."

"No, he wouldn't. Anyway, Fr. Griffin calls from time to time when he got some kid who is smart but got himself into trouble and needs a kick in the butt..."

"This is Marty, he was a mess like you, now look at him. If you straighten up, you could be like him but probably look better groomed," Angela filled in the blanks smiling.

Deeks laughed. "Yeah, something like that. Anyway, I go see him and do the usual. The kid was like me - hardship student with a big bucks patron at the school. After I give the kid the 'straighten up and fly right' speech and send him on his way, Fr. Griffin sits me down and asks me what's wrong."

"He knew."

"He's not your typical...anything. He's a Jesuit. 68-years old, flew helicopters in Vietnam for the Marines. Got back, started college, did some things he's not particularly proud of, was sitting in a party in Venice and heard someone ask him what was he doing with his life. Only he was smoking a joint in the garden and he was alone."

"God?"

"He thinks so."

"You don't."

"Not my story, it's his." Deeks shook his head. "Got his mind right. Got his degree in social work. Joined the seminary. Got his masters in theology. Then a masters in social work, psychology, then another in French literature."

"French literature?"

"He's an interesting guy. Loves going to school. Got a doctorate in French literature, too. He taught French and honors lit in the high school when he wasn't figuring out ways for tragically misunderstood students like me to volunteer at soup kitchens or senior centers with the free time we'd have from not causing trouble in school."

"And he picked up you were having problems."

"You said before I got back to being me. No. That guy's gone. He died when a Russian psycho started drilling teeth. Zombie Deeks got through that day. Trying not to be Zombie Deeks did rehab and recovery. Trying to figure out the new model was a running project after I got back to work. There were good days once I got back but there were days where I was going through the motions. But people depended on me. And if people I trusted and respected depended on me and if they thought I could get through the day, I could get through the day."

"Faking it 'til you're makin' it."

"Something like that. Then there were some personnel changes with my gig at NCIS. Not happy with those. Then someone decided to do a whole psychological study about me and that's not my deal either. Fr. Griffin, after I gave the kid the talk, he offered to buy me dinner. An hour later, we're at the Palm and I'm unloading."

"Confession."

"Not Catholic. Just finally found someone without an agenda when it came to me."

"What do you mean?"

"LAPD's shrink, their Psych Services guys are great and they mean really well but they're there so you don't eat your gun, shoot a civilian or do something you shouldn't. NCIS has a shrink who is this really good guy but he doesn't believe in what the person running the liaison program did the day I was hurt. The boss is, well, intimidating so he's voicing his disapproval with these passive-aggressive medical studies about what happened with me as test subject number one. The only agenda Fr. Griffin, Mike, has is me."

"So that one talk.."

"Well, I go surfing the following Saturday and guess who is there with his board and wet suit."

"Fr. Griffin."

"And the following Saturday and the Saturday after that. I took him out to breakfast after that and every Saturday since. We're just two guys with weird pasts, surfing and having breakfast on Saturday mornings."

"Has it helped?"

"I don't know. Been a couple of weeks. If I have any advice for you, it's find someone who doesn't have an agenda. Who doesn't care about your job performance or what's expected. Who just wants you to be in a good place."

"So don't talk to..."

"Talk to anyone, talk to everyone. I spoke to Psych Services. I spoke to the NCIS shrink. Figured out early both of them had nothing for me. I spoke to Bates, I spoke to the person running the liaison program at NCIS. Six weeks ago if you asked me if I'd be surfing with this sixty-something retired Marine helicopter pilot turned Catholic priest and getting my life right, I'd have had Psych Services check you out. You find help in the most unexpected places."

"What about the leggy brunette?"

"Who?"

"Nobody ever told me her name. Tall, gorgeous, dark hair, drives a Caddy SUV."

"The leggy brunette?" Deeks started to laugh. "She'd love that."

"I've seen her pick up you a couple of times or drop you off at the station. About a year ago when Dr. Schwartz's office had that scandal," Angela was smiling so Deeks was happy to play along. "You had to give some official statement at headquarters. I was dropping off my requalifying scores and I saw you walking out. You were wearing a suit. You looked good."

"I rock a suit with the best of 'em."

"The leggy brunette thought so. She was all dressed up too. She smiled when you walked out of the building but quickly put her game face on when you got closer. She thinks you're cute."

"She thinks a lot of things about me. Cute, no."

"Nah. I saw her. I was her. I did that with Marco the first six months we were on that Jordan case. I couldn't let anyone know I how bad I had it for him. I was ..."

"Two years away from being Mrs. Marco."

"I didn't think he saw anything in me. I'm short and stubby."

"You're tiny, curvy, feisty, gorgeous and smart. You're the whole package."

"I'm guessing so is the leggy brunette. She's the one you who has faith in you. She's the one..."

"She's a lot of things. And she thought I could do it. Do my job, be the person she thinks I am. She's smart and really good at what she does so if she thinks I can work at this level..." There was a knock at the door. "Hold on," Deeks told Angela as he pulled his weapon. Hospital personnel were free to come in, a knock meant something else.

Deeks opened the door a crack and saw Matt Bernhart waving like a lunatic with about two dozen get well soon mylar balloons.

"I'll be right back," Deeks told Angela, "LAPD is here to pick up your statement so don't go anywhere."

"How's Ang?" Bernhart asked as Deeks closed Angela's hospital room door behind him.

"Is there a balloon available between here and the station?"

"This little rat bastard wanted one for his baby brother who had his tonsils out. I wanted to tell him to grow a pair, I needed the balloon, but I let him slide since he was about eight. How's Ang?"

Deeks wasn't sure if Matt was kidding or not. He was guessing not. "Hurting but she's Angela."

"I don't want to bother her, just drop these off and take her statement back to Bates. And no, I won't watch it. Bates told me if I do anything but get in the car and drive the statement directly to him, he's going to put me in a Green Lantern costume and put me outside of Grauman's. In July. With a costume one size too small."

Deeks put the digital camera in Bernhart's backpack and then took the balloons off his hands. "I'll tell Angela you were here."

"And that if she needs me, I'm here. I want to help. If she and Marco need someone to watch the boys..."

Deeks started laughing. "She's not leaving her children alone with you."

"No, you're right. She's a responsible adult and that would be foolish." That statement got a giggle out of Marine Sheryl, who was smiling throughout. "I can help somehow. Get Mom's chef to make up dinners or something."

"The veggie lasagna mini-trays you dropped off last summer were great."

"Cause you're my boy, Martin. And Ang is my girl, but don't let Marco know that. The man is a bit protective. Bates told me about this morning."

"What happened this morning?" Sheryl asked.

"He assaulted a Purell machine in the men's room. The Purell machine had it coming, I'm sure." Bernhart was in full flirting mode.

"I'm going back to our patient. Go see Bates," he said before walking into the room.

"Bernhart," Angela said as he put the balloons by the couch.

"Who else."

"The kids will love them. The kids..."

"Are with your Mom and Marco. And they're going to be thrilled to see you."

"I don't ..."

"Don't do that."

"Do what."

"The biggest mistake I made was not ...I...dammit." Deeks took a deep breath. "I didn't answer calls. I didn't see anyone for a while. For a long while. I figured I'd get myself going and then show everyone else I was fine and go back to everyday life."

"That was wrong?"

"For me it was. I had someone who wanted to help. Someone I've come to realize I need. And I pushed them away."

"The leggy brunette."

Deeks sighed. "When she's not infuriating, she's smart, kind and cares. She's kicked my ass every damn day since we met and I ran and hid from her. It was a mistake."

"But you two are OK, right?"

"She's been on an extended assignment since mid-November. And I look at every minute I spent alone in that apartment, or sitting on the beach alone as time I could have spent with her. I declined her phone calls dozens of times. I'd do anything to have her call."

"Are you two..." Angela sort of waved her hands.

"We were trying to figure that out before...more time we wasted, I guess."

"I'm sure the leggy brunette knows you're the whole package too."

"I'm sure there's a joke about my package there but..." Deeks smiled as he watched Angela blush. "You know, I'm now going to think of her as 'the leggy brunette' every time I talk to someone at LAPD."

"I've called her that to Bates, to Bernhart, to Greg. Bates keeps all your assignment info quiet. So you got the leggy brunette, the big dude - he was the guy injured with you last year. There's the boss lady who terrifies Bates. She's my favorite and I don't even know who she is."

"She'd like you. She likes smart, strong, brave women. And while the team has the leggy brunette, they also have a tiny red head who I'm sure will be running the world in about ten years. You know, if you want to make a career switch," Deeks teased.

"I'm already making one."

"I was joking." Deeks was worried. "Listen, I thought I was quitting after..."

"No, not that. This was always going to be my last case with the Department. Marco's been transferred," she said before she took a sip of water.

"Where?"

"Desk job. Marco just turned fifty."

"Marco's fifty? Wow, I wouldn't have guessed he was a day over forty." Wow, he really needed to sleep if a guy 15-years older than he was nearly took him out in the men's room.

"I tease him all the time about being a cradle robber. He was the big boss on the Jordan case and I was the rookie undercover who spoke Spanish like a local girl. He never saw me coming."

Deeks chuckled. "You're so tiny nobody ever does." She tossed her pillow at him. "There's my girl."

"Marco got promoted to an intelligence gig at the DEA. It's in Arlington."

"Wow. East Coast Angie."

"Marco's from Newark. He wound up in LA twenty years ago but always wanted to go back to somewhere where he said the four seasons weren't fires, earthquakes, floods and mud slides. The DEA offered me a job training undercover operatives, developing a mentoring program for young agents. Stuff where I won't get grabbed up and ..." Angela started crying again.

"You'll be great." Deeks leaned over and grabbed her hand. "And Angela, you can call me anytime to talk. I can ask the NCIS shrink if he knows anyone at the Pentagon or in DC. Fr. Griffin probably knows people. I bet Bates knows folks from his Army days."

"All I wanted to do was survive so I could see my family again. Now, I don't want to do more than survive. I want it to be like it was."

"It won't, but that's not the worst thing. The worst thing is if you let this take things away from you. Set small goals. The day I got the stitches out of my face was a good day. I finished up with the dentist so that was a good day. Started swimming and surfing."

"Never a bad day at the beach."

"You know me so well," Deeks told her. "And I know you. And I know about your family and the people you have around you. My only regret, well besides the whole thing happening, was keeping the leggy brunette at arm's length. Not because she could have fixed me or anything. I had to fix myself. You have to fix yourself. It's just...I realize now that she's not a ten minute ride in the car from my place or sitting at her desk at work or on the other end of the cell right now, I cheated myself. I screwed that all up. And she wasn't going to run away from me if I had a bad day and she wasn't going to think less of me. She just would have been Ke..the leggy brunette. And I've come to realize that someone who'd do that for me was more than I ever thought I'd get in this life."

"When's the leggy brunette coming back? I want to meet her."

"When the case is over. You know how it goes," Deeks shrugged his shoulders.

"I want Marco and the boys to be proud of me."

"How could they not be proud of you. You survived. Evil people threw their worst at you and you won by surviving."

"For them. When I was hungry, I thought about what we had for Christmas dinner. All the fun we'd have finding new places to eat in Virginia."

"If the leggy brunette is back before you leave for the East Coast..."

"We're moving first week of August."

"You, me, Marco, the boys and the leggy brunette at Neptune's Net. You'll like her."

"You do. That's enough."

"And your family loves you."

Angela's cell phone chirped "Lucy!" again. She picked it up and looked at the screen. She smiled and started crying. She handed Deeks the phone. There were Angie's two boys with a piece of oak-tag. "Can we visit?" was written on the sign with a couple of Mario and Pokemon stickers.

"You up to this?"

"I prayed for four days I'd see them. I have to be."

"You don't have to be anything," Deeks told her. "You do what's best for you."

"I miss them," she said with conviction.

"Not faking it 'til you make it?"

"Nope. Miss my guys. I'm going to call them."

"I'm going to use your bathroom. Then I'll hang around until they get here. Then I'm going home and sleeping for a while."

"Do me a favor."

"Anything."

"What's the leggy brunette's name? I won't tell anyone or repeat it but anyone that important to you needs a real name."

"Kensi. The leggy brunette is Kensi." Deeks said as he made his way to the bathroom door.

Marco and the boys arrived just before five. While Angela was hugging her sons and kissing them - something they suddenly didn't mind after two years of squirming away from Mommy-based affection - Marco shook Deeks's hand and apologized. Bates told Marco that Deeks got a statement from Angela - something Marco was relieved was done.

Marco also told him that Nero was giving instructions to his wife and mistress after Angela was kidnapped, not before, through his lawyer. The lawyer was underwater on mortgages for a Beverly Hills house and a summer place in La Jolla. Nero paid well. The lawyer said Nero was furious Angela was kidnapped. They still believed Angela was still Maria Rivera, her undercover persona. LAPD, led by Bernhart, picked up the lawyer around 3PM. He was working on a sting to add charges against Nero. Deeks told Marco he'd be by tomorrow morning if Angela wanted company and Marco needed to work. Marco liked that idea - get the family back on some sort of schedule.

Deeks saw Officer Jackson as he left. She wanted to know about Det. Bernhart. His answer - "he's the best kind of crazy" - made her smile. He made a mental note to tell Bernhart that.

As he walked past the nurses station, he heard a familiar voice ask "How is Det. Sanchez?" He honestly wasn't surprised to see Hetty sitting there. Nurse Dionne's comment about his boss telling them to let him sleep - probably more Hetty than Bates.

"She had a brutal few days but she's strong and she's got a great family. She'll figure it out and if she needs my help..."

"Det. Sanchez couldn't ask for a truer friend." Hetty stood. "Lt. Bates told me you were given a lift here and I wanted to make sure you got home safely."

"While you were here," Deeks told her as they walked to the elevator, "you didn't happen to see the janitor's uniforms, did you? Looked comfortable."

"I'll have Mr. Beale look into it."

"Hetty, I can take a cab home. You didn't have to come."

"I was in the neighborhood. The clutch in the Jaguar is acting up and the dealership in Irvine does wonderful work."

"Okay." Deeks said skeptically as they got into the elevator.

"They're keeping the car overnight. I have a loaner. I thought since you were brought here, I could give you a lift home. We could also discuss Miss Jones."

The elevator door opened and Hetty exited with Deeks behind her. "She's doing really well."

"Of course she is. No, she showed up at the office around 11 this morning."

"Okay," Deeks was trying to follow but then it hit him. He smiled. "She was..."

"I believe Mr. Beale said she was officially running for mayor of Obsessiveville."

"What did she do?" Deeks asked, chuckling.

"I think the better question, Mr. Deeks," Hetty said as they walked up to a late model red Jaguar XKP Coupe. "is what did you do to make the usually unflappable Miss Jones..."

"Flappable," Deeks interrupted as he admired the car.

"That would be a fair description," Hetty disappeared behind the driver's side. When the lock popped on his side of the car as Hetty sat on a pillow as thick as his home mattress.

"I had a bet going with Nell that I would figure something out. I did. She was surprised."

"And what did you figure out?"

"How she knows Nate."

"Oh, that explains why she checked the internet usage on both your work and home computers."

"I'm disappointed Nell thought I was dumb enough to use the internet at work or at home. Or even use the internet."

As Hetty pulled out of the parking lot and into traffic. "And how did you discover their connection?"

"Nate and I wound up having dinner with the SecNav and Dr. Carson in San Diego. Nice women. Nate made a comment about having a sister named Michelle who was an eye surgeon and who worked with Doctors Without Borders. I wondered if maybe Michelle and Nell knew each other. I found a Dr. Michelle Rosen, eye surgeon, on the Doctors Without Borders website. There was a glowing article at the site from the Arizona Republic about Dr. Rosen and her husband, Dr. Harry Jones, and how they spend a month every year in places like Sri Lanka, Africa and Cambodia as angels of mercy. Dr. Jones was just too much of a coincidence."

Hetty smiled. "Mr. Beale told me she kept saying 'He has pictures,' as she furiously examined your browsing history."

Deeks gave himself a mental high-five. "I had a CLE class at Pepperdine in the beginning of the month. There were the usual legal vendors at the cafeteria. One was from LEXIS/NEXIS. Gave him a few bucks to use his credit card to run a search," Deeks told her - not mentioning that 'a few bucks' was actually a C-Note. "I found all I could on Michelle Rosen, including a 1999 wedding announcement in the Houston Chronicle. Found that in the periodical room at the Loyola University library. Microfiche is alive and well."

"Very well done, Mr. Deeks. Very well done."

"Thank you, Hetty." Deeks was still quite pleased with himself.

"And will you be sharing your investigative method with Miss Jones?"

"I think Nell may need a project. Of course with no real paper trail..."

"You will tell her at some point."

"She has a birthday in May," Deeks smiled.

"And you'll be with us in May?"

"Excuse me?"

"Lt. Bates told me Det. Sanchez is leaving LAPD. And was leaving before her ordeal."

"Yeah, I just found out about that."

"You didn't know."

"No, I didn't. I'm really not involved in the day to day business of the squad anymore."

"Now Lt. Bates has two open positions."

"Yeah, well, maybe not two. There's an internal candidate who wants Greg Byrnes's job. I put in a good word for him this morning."

"So you're not involved in the day to day business but you are comfortable making recommendations to Lt. Bates."

"Bates trusts me. Nice thing to have in a boss."

"I trust my agents," Hetty paused, "and my liaison officer in all matters."

"Unless they want to ride a motorcycle in their free time."

"Touche."

"When she gets back, can you teach Kensi the proper use of that word? She's got real issues with it."

Deeks saw Hetty crack a small smile. "You didn't answer my question."

"I don't understand what you're asking."

"Will LAPD be recalling you for good?"

"I'm not replacing Angela."

"Good to know."

Deeks decided to mess with Hetty a little. "I'd have a hard time fitting in her undercover outfits. I look terrible in a low cut wrap dress and four inch heels."

"I don't know Mr. Deeks, I think you could carry it off."

"I'd try," Deeks decided to pull back on the messing with Hetty. Janitor uniforms were still better than a wrap dresses and heels. "Angela was the only female working full-time for the squad and one of only three bilingual detectives. That's what Bates will be looking for."

"And what are you looking for, Mr. Deeks?"

"Looking for?"

"You've done a remarkable job living in two worlds. You're as good as any undercover operative I've had at OSP yet you insist on remaining with the LAPD."

"I think we had this conversation. I'm a police officer. What NCIS does is great and I'm honored to be part of it but I can't ever see not being a cop."

"And if the liaison position was eliminated."

"Are you making plans?"

"Are you?"

"Until we had this conversation I thought everyone was happy with my situation. If this is you telling me you need to make a change..."

"Or LAPD needs to make a change. You can't assume that both NCIS and LAPD will stay happy with your situation."

"No, but I'll deal with that when it happens. A friend recently told me that man plans and God laughs. Maybe I'm tired of God laughing at me. Or maybe I'm just tired."

"Perhaps. But Mr. Deeks, one of these days you are going to have to make a choice."

"Maybe, but today's not that day."

Hetty kept things light for the remainder of the ride. Callen was following a hunch on Assaf. He'd call if he had anything. Hetty also got a call where she spoke French. "Monte Carlo" and "Monaco" were the only English word he recognized. "Douzieme de juillet" was 12th of July if he remembered any of his high school French. Deeks found his car parked outside his building - Hetty had an agent drop it off during the day. One less thing to worry about before visiting Angela on Friday.

Monty was a little less desperate than he was about twelve hours earlier - Madison, the latest high school kid/dog walker was probably by at lunch time. Monty figured out pretty early the walk was to the corner and back. "Sorry dude, I need some sleep," he told his dog as they started walking home.

Once Monty was walked and feed, Deeks plopped on his couch. Just before 7PM, he decided a quick nap would do. He woke at 2:20AM. Less nap, more a crummy night's sleep. Monty was sleeping under the coffee table - his favorite spot last summer when Deeks wasn't sleeping. He was a good dog.

He opened and drained a can of tuna. He mushed a little salsa in with a plastic fork and had a late night dinner. Tres elegant. A text on his phone proved the entire Assaf case was a joke - Assaf was a CIA asset so the CIA was using an FBI asset with NCIS chasing them both. What. A. Waste.

Putting the little snowman thumb drive into his computer, Deeks started his Kensi note.

February 14, 2014

[img A246]

Hey Kens,

Happy Valentine's Day. This was not how I figured today would be, even after you left. I'm eating tuna alone at 2:30AM. I'm hoping you're having a better day. Mine's leaning pathetic.

Sorry I missed yesterday and the day before. We had another run in with Jonas Ambrose on the 12th or really the 13th. Nobody would let me arrest him, which was almost as disappointing as sitting watching a terrorist who wound up being a CIA asset working with an FBI snitch. I'm really thinking of opening a company that just tracks how many investigations are running into other investigations. NCIS and LAPD with Daniel Zuna, CIA and NCIS with LAPD making a guest appearance for Isaak Sidorov, FBI and NCIS with Jonas Ambrose as Justice's evil twin.

Then I spent yesterday with a friend in the hospital. In the picture attached, you recognize that handsome devil as Dale Sully circa Summer of 2010. The woman is Sully's ex-wife, Ana Maria Benetiz-Sully. She's better known as Det. Angela Sanchez. Angela and I never were partners, we just were always the other's spouse or ex. Angela had a week that makes my time in the garage look like a vacation so I hung out with her today. Amazing what we can survive for the people we love. Angela has a husband and two great kids and they kept her alive.

I wasn't lying that day. I got through because of you. I'm working on what happened but you're still the reason I got through.

I'm also working on regrets. I keep saying it but I'm sorry about last summer. I made a terrible mistake pushing you away. I regret that every day when I walk in and see your empty desk. I regret that every time something great happens or something tough happens and I want to call you. You realize I'm not shutting up once you get back. There are so many things I need to tell you. I flipped Nell out today. Remind me to tell you how.

I promised we'd go to dinner with Angela and her family when you get back. You'll like them. I think we could be them if we figure things out. And I will kill a hand sanitizer for you, just so you know. I'll explain that to you as well.

I'm guessing Granger is back by now. Good luck with that. Nell wouldn't let me send some movies to you - season one of "Homeland" and the Bourne movies, you know the ones where the CIA guys are awful. I told Nell you could have a marathon with Sabatino in your downtime. She said no.

I put your Valentine's Day candy under your Christmas tree. Now we have another holiday to make up. Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, Valentine's Day and of course America's favorite national holiday, my birthday.

I need some sleep. Hetty sounded like she's doing something in Monaco this summer. I'm thinking if she's out of the county, I could take my motorcycle money and show her just what trouble I can get myself in. Saw a commercial the other day during the news about jet-packing over the water in San Diego. That could be fun.

Be safe, come home,
Soon to be extreme sports vacation enthusiast Deeks

Postscript

The surprise rains ruined her afternoon on the water. With just three days left to her month in Monaco, her time on the Lady H was precious and running from the dock to the new clubhouse was not part of her plans. Then again, seeing Nikolay Mirov, Putin's chief European intelligence operative, sitting with Rudolf Nurme from Estonia's scientific community was worth the rain drops.

Going online, she found the e-mail she waited nearly two weeks to see:

Sent July 29, 2014 at 9:55PM PDT
TO: henrietta . lange at ncis . navy . mil
FM: deeks8523 at lapd . lacity . org
Subject: Home safe

Hey Hetty,

Home safe and sound. What an exciting month of travel. I'm sure the south of France is all that and a bag of chips but there is a lot of fun to be had Stateside. Decided that jumping and swinging and sledding and gambling were all quite fun but I missed the water so I found some. You'll see new video of my final summer adventures and one little surprise at the end.

As always, I'm at Deekscursion dot tumblr dot com and the password is what paid for this all.

Hetty, I can honestly tell you - this is the best summer vacation I ever had. I owe a lot of it to you. Yes, this was a childish rebellion paid for by my lost toy. But after my time in Sidorov's garage, the tough summer, the lonely winter - I think I earned my Deeksfiance, Deekssent or my moments of nonconforMarty (defiance, dissent or nonconformity for those not living in MartyWorld).

See you back the office in about two weeks. I'll be the tan one with the self-satisfied smile waiting to have the riot act read to him. Just so you know, my defense will be my long standing one with Lt. Bates - it is better to say I'm sorry than may I.

Marty Deeks.

Back to Deeks's website - she typed in the password and saw three new links: "Descent", "Ascent" and "+1".

The "Descent" link led to a page with a video and some photos. The photos were of Deeks standing outside a place called Dive Valhalla, Deeks in a wet suit, Deeks going into some water. Hetty was familiar with Dive Valhalla, a former nuclear ICBM Silo flooded with nearly two million gallons of water. The video showed Deeks getting in the water and starting his dive with Bruce Springsteen's "I'm Going Down" providing the soundtrack. The video turned murky in the water but certain markers caught Hetty's eye, including being more than 100 feet down, passing several signs about nuclear workplace safety and finally the brass dedication plaque on the launch pad that was older than Deeks.

Deeks made his way up top, smiling for the final ten feet or so. This was the first time Hetty noticed Deeks was just a little nervous on his summer rebellion tour. He showed the digital readout for his dive - down 115 feet with no signs of decompression sickness. Well done Mr. Deeks, Hetty thought.

The "Ascent" link had a photo of Deeks standing by a sign for the Mission Beach Wind and Surf Sports in San Diego. There were two videos, one with Deeks kite boarding. Split screens provided video of Deeks from cameras in the kite, on the board and on the beach. It was how she'd always think of him in his free time - on the water, being lifted sometimes ten feet by the kite, moving, yelling and smiling. The second video showed Deeks donning a jet-pack on a fishing boat. There were a few crash landings before he got the hang of it but he was flying over the Pacific with the San Diego shoreline in the background, hooting and hollering as he flew by.

When Hetty clicked on the '+1' link there was a page of other links: Astoria, OR; Park City UT; Moab; Vegas; Abilene; San Diego.

The Astoria link had a video. "You ready Kens," Deeks asked with a black screen. When the camera came on, Kensi Blye was wearing a parachute, a helmet and a smile. "See you on the beach!" she yelled as she jumped out of the plane. Deeks was seconds behind her, his camera on his helmet. While his free fall was fairly direct, Kensi did flips, even grabbed his hand and yelled "YES!" When they landed, Kensi unhooked her parachute and nearly knocked him over when he landed. "We are so doing that again!"

The Park City link had Kensi doing the skeleton on the same track where Deeks tried the luge. She crossed the finish line announcing "I feel the need for speed!" The two then rode a bob-sled with a spectacular crash in the last turn that had them hitting the finish line with the bobsled on its side and Deeks joking about Kensi's driving skills.

The Moab video used the same music as Deeks's video as Kensi swung off the Corona Arch. They even did a couple of swings as a pair. The video ended with the two of them sitting at a camp fire with a tent behind them, Deeks with a beer, Kensi toasting her own s'mores.

The Vegas link was a group of photos: Kensi in the gondola, Kensi and Deeks in the gondola together, Kensi flashing a big bucket of quarters next to a slot machine that read "WINNER" on a video screen. Kensi in a short black dress Hetty recognized as from the Ralph Lauren window in town. She was with Deeks backstage at "Rock of Ages". There was also a photo of her in the Venetian lobby with a dress shop in the background - smiling, showing off her dress.

The Abilene video was Kensi doing the missile silo dive with Deeks. San Diego just photos of Kensi at the spa at the Grand Del Mar - a rose pedal pedicure, a massage with another person Hetty figured was Deeks and a steamed up photo in the sauna. There were photos of her in a yoga class. The final two photos were tagged as 'home' - one looked like Leo Carrillo Park. Deeks was crouching in a wet suit with an arm slung over Kensi's shoulder while she was laughing, book in her lap and eating ice cream while sitting on a beach chair. Both were tan, rested, happy and seemingly carefree. The second photo was of Deeks, Kensi and a family she didn't recognize at a casual restaurant. A man and woman, both around Deeks's age, and two pre-teen boys - everyone smiling and having fun.

One last graphic appeared:

Deep Dive in Abilene: $1,200.00
Kite board/Jetpack Rentals in San Diego: $500.00
Farewell Dinner with the Martinez family - $112.50
Having Kensi along for all the fun: Priceless.

P.S. Hetty, I forgot to tell you, I have a new car - a Toyota Highlander. It's a hybrid - I'm doing my part for the planet. I'll be sure to send Eric the VIN number when I'm back in the office so I can be tracked through GPS. I somehow forgot to do that before we left on the trip. Except for the Venetian, the whole trip was visiting B&B's and paying with cash only. America's a great country - you can get lost if you decide to. Good to know.

-MD

Hetty shook her head. She'd enjoy hearing their explanations for why they thought they'd get away with this. And then she'd make them pay. But first, she was going to watch them swing from the Corona Arch again. That looked like so much fun…..

-30-

Thank you all as always for the kind feedback and the support. It is wonderful to read and every piece of feedback is cherished.

Hope to be back soon.
Tess
March 2, 2014