Hey, thanks for the reviews. What started out as me writing a one shot turned into 9 chapters. This is our final chapter though. I hope you've enjoyed it. I have a few other NCIS: LA stories on my profile if you feel like checking them out and will probably write more in the future.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own NCIS: LA or any of it's characters.

CHAPTER 9

The next few days were touch and go for Deeks. Nate talked with him a few different times, trying to help him through the events that transpired during the case. Little by little, he seemed to be making progress with Deeks.

Kensi was by his side, willing to help with whatever he needed. She wasn't giving up on him and he was thankful to have her. She was his sweet sunshine and each morning when he woke up with her face laying on his chest, her legs and arms spread out over the bed, his day seemed just a little bit brighter. Slowly, he was starting to push the darkness away.

He remembered something that Sam said a long time ago, after the Sidirov case. He said that laughing was good. He hadn't had a good laugh in a while. Hell, he hadn't had a good and genuine smile on his face in a while either. This case was all kinds of crazy and it had fucked him up real good, but he had to push on. He had to try and work through it. He had to try and focus on the outcome.

The children were in a good home now. They were getting the help they needed to hopefully overcome all that happened to them in that home with Richard. He, himself, was now getting help. Even though he dreaded talking with Nate at first, he's kind of glad he's been talking to him now.

He watched Kensi in the kitchen from his spot on the couch. He smiled as he took in every curve of her body. She bent over to reach into the fridge and seeing her ass in those tight jeans made his heart skip a beat.

Kensi peeked her head out from the fridge. "I think we might have to run to the store. We're out of..." She was about to say they were out of beer, but she noticed his gaze and realized what he was staring at, with that cheesy grin on his face. While she was grateful to finally see that grin again, she couldn't help but throw a jab at him. "Hey, you pig. Stop staring."

His grin only got wider. "Sorry, I can't help myself." He stood and walked over to a shelf that Kensi couldn't see from the kitchen.

She grabbed a couple bottles of water, since they were out of beer, and headed into the living room just as Deeks was putting a dvd into his dvd player. "What are you putting in?" She asked. Before Deeks could answer, she heard the opening song to the movie National Lampoon's Christmas vacation.

"Uh..." Deeks trailed off as she cut in.

"Seriously?" She asked, giving him a quick glare. "You do know that it's barely fall right? We have months until Christmas."

"I know." He answered. "I just thought it would be nice to be able to laugh again, so I thought about a few movies that really made me laugh and put one in."

She smiled, happy that he wanted to laugh again. "Ok, but I'm not sure if I can watch a Christmas movie without cookies and eggnog."

Quickly, Deeks hit pause on the DVD remote. "Hold that thought." He jumped up and walked to the kitchen. He rummaged in the cabinets and through the fridge. Kensi thought she saw the blender on the counter, but then he stood, blocking her view.

"What are you doing in there?" She asked curiously. After some time, she heard the blender going. That got Monty's attention and he came running out of the bedroom. He begged at Deeks feet, but he just ignored the dog.

Deeks walked out of the kitchen with a proud grin on his face several minutes later. In each hand was a Moose Mug, just like Clark Griswald's. "Here you go, Princess. Sorry I don't have any cookies." She was right, he really did need to go to the store. He had very little food in his apartment. Once he was seated on the couch beside her, he finally gave Monty a little affection, petting him behind the ears.

Kensi took the mug. "Did you make eggnog?" She took a sip and it tasted perfect.

"I found a recipe for it when you were in Afghanistan and decided to try it." He explained before taking a sip from his mug. He set it on the coffee table, taking up the remote instead. He restarted the movie and sat back.

Kensi took another sip and leaned into him, resting her head against him. "It's perfect." She said. They finished that movie and moved on to The Princess Bride. She was happy to see Deeks laughing and smiling again.

Kensi started back at work and was almost afraid to leave Deeks alone. Part of her thought back to Jack and how he had left her abruptly and deep down, she was worried that Deeks might do the same. He seemed to be getting better though, so she hoped that wouldn't be the case. No, she knew that wouldn't be the case. He'd never leave her like that, at least that's what she kept telling herself while she was at work.

Nate had to get back to his patients on the East coast. He made sure that Deeks would be ok if he left and left Deeks with the number of a friend who lived in LA in case he still needed to talk to someone. He encouraged him to open up to Kensi and his family at Osp though. They were all eager and willing to help.

Deeks had several visits from his 'family' while he was recovering. Nell had returned from visiting family out of state only a few days after Deeks' case ended. She and Eric had both made sure to visit him and make sure he was doing ok. Sam and Callen gave him a good lecture on signing those damn agent papers every time they stopped by. He hadn't a clue how they knew about them, but told them he'd consider it. Hetty even made a visit to his apartment and he was glad that this time she hadn't startled him like she did during her last visit. This time, she knocked and used the front door. Hetty told him that they were able to find several of Taking Innocence's subscribers and even figure out who some of the unknown victims were that were shown in various pictures and videos on the website. The LAPD made a lot of arrests after getting Richard and shutting down the site.

Over the weeks, Deeks muscles stopped aching. His ribs and nose took a bit longer to heal than his muscles, but they were feeling quite a bit better now. He was eagerly waiting for Kensi to get home. He wanted to talk to her. He had some things he wanted to say to her, some things that he thought she needed to know as they went forward in their relationship.

Kensi entered the apartment after a long day of case work. She was aching, after tackling a suspect and rolling down an embankment on the side of the road. She wasn't in the mood for anything but a warm shower, some food, and a little bit of time snuggled up on the couch in the arms of the man she loved. Monty greeted her as she entered and she pat his head affectionately. Deeks was sitting at the table on the other side of the room waiting for her. He had a look on his face and Kensi immediately thought something must be wrong.

"Deeks?" She thought maybe today had been a bad day for him, though he seemed to be working things out after things with his LAPD case had settled down. He was even getting ready to come back to work, granted he would be on limited duty...mostly desk work. "Everything ok?"

"Yeah, Princess." He replied, letting out a soft grin. "There's just something I need to talk to you about."

Ok, that worried her. She walked to the table and sat down across from him. "Is it about us?" Oh no, he better not be having second thoughts about their relationship. She wasn't sure she could take it if that were the case.

"No, not really. It's more about me." He explained.

"Ok." She nodded as relief came over her and urged him to continue.

"I realized over the last few weeks that there are things you don't know about me, things a lot of people don't know about me. These aren't really things I like talking about, but they've made me who I am." He sighed before continuing. "I shot my father when I was eleven years old."

She already knew about Deeks shooting his father. What she didn't know was the why. "I know about that and it doesn't matter to me that you shot him, if that's what your thinking." She replied, taking his hands to steady them when she noticed they were shaking a bit.

Deeks looked away for a moment, trying to gather his thoughts. "But you don't know why." He said, meeting her gaze again. "He had a shotgun and he was trying to shoot me. He had already beaten my mom to a bloody pulp in the bedroom. She was lying their limp and I couldn't wake her up. He came at me with the shotgun, so I ran into my room where I had a gun that Ray gave me. He came in and shot, but he was too drunk and his aim was way off. He tried to aim again and I panicked. It didn't even register to me that I was pulling the trigger. I don't even remember the bullet hitting his shoulder. I just remember a cop trying to get the gun from me. I remember paramedics wheeling my mom out to an ambulance." He was starting to tear up. "Gordon was a mean drunk. He wasn't really the loving and understanding type. My Mom always made excuses for him, you know...she protected me when she could, but it was still bad. She spent two days in a coma because of him and then when she woke up, I thought things would get better, that the two of us would be happy because Gordon wouldn't be able to hurt us anymore. Things didn't get better. Instead, she blamed me for tearing the family apart. She hated me for what I did. She went into a bad depression and when I was fourteen, I ended up in the system."

"Deeks, I..." Kensi wanted to comfort him, but he cut her off. She had noticed how he only once referred to Gordon as his father.

"Let me finish." He said. She nodded for him to continue. "He always told me I was worthless, I'd never amount to anything. So many kids grow up to be just like their parents and when I got older and started thinking about my future, I knew I didn't want to be anything like them, especially Gordon. I got into trouble with Ray a few times in high school, but I decided that I was gonna put the past behind me and focus on being the kind of man that Gordon wasn't. I was gonna find my little slice of happiness. That's why this case was so hard. Being Danny Briggs and doing the things he did, made me think of him. I felt just like him. Hell, I felt like I was worse than him. Richard was a sober version of my Dad. I fought against every urge in me to strangle him and protect his kids because I had to keep my cover and figure out where he was filming, where his website was run from. It wasn't just his kids in the videos on the website, there were other kids too and it wasn't just about saving his kids."

"I don't know what that must have been like." Kensi replied. She pulled at his hands. "Come, sit with me on the couch." He followed her reluctantly, since he wasn't really sure he was done talking yet. She gestured for him to sit and then patted her lap. "Lay down." He laid his head in her lap and felt her hand gently stroking his hair. "You're a great person Deeks. You're nothing like your father. Danny Briggs was just a cover. You're nothing like him either. And I love you, Marty Deeks."

Deeks turned his head so he could look up at Kensi. Their eyes met and he smiled. "I love you too, Kensi Marie Blye."

The next morning, rays of sun filtered into the bedroom as Deeks and Kensi slept. Usually Deeks was up before the sun, off to surf on whatever beach was calling for awesome swells, but he hadn't been surfing in months. His cover wasn't one to surf and after his case, he wasn't allowed to surf because his muscles and ribs had to recover. Curse his damn injuries. He hated not being able to surf, but that didn't keep him from spending a lot of time on the beach watching the surfers, taking in the salty beach air, and listening to the waves crashing against the shore. Something about the beach always put him at ease, whether he was just sitting in the sand or surfing on the water.

Now though, he slept in as long as he could, until of course, the alarm clock on his phone would wake him up. He wanted to be well rested for his first day back at work, even if he was just going to be on desk duty. He had been thinking a lot about returning to work and he'd been thinking a lot about what Sam and Callen had said to him about becoming an agent. He'd been working with NCIS for so long now as a liaison officer that he was starting to feel like a stranger at LAPD. His latest case with LAPD didn't exactly sit well with him and he wasn't rescued by his LAPD team. He had been rescued by his NCIS team, his family. Maybe it was time to finally bid goodbye to LAPD.

His alarm finally went off, though he had already been awake for a few minutes. He reached over to turn it off and smiled when he saw the sun's rays dancing in through the window on Kensi. She had her head rested on his chest, listening to the rhythm of his heartbeat. He hadn't realized she was awake.

"Hey there partner." She said, greeting him. She lifted her head and turned to face him. She lowered her head towards his, lips meeting lips. She kissed him softly. "Are you ready to get back to work?"

"Yeah, I am." He replied. They both parted and got up from their own sides of the bed. "We should get ready. I wouldn't want to be late on my first day back."

Deeks settled into his desk at work. He glanced around, making sure everything was where it should be and then placed his messenger bag on top, pulling his laptop out of it. He sighed and sat back comfortably in his chair. It felt good to be back.

Kensi had gone off to the gym in search of Sam and Callen. They told her to find them when she brought Deeks back in for his first day. Luckily, they hadn't even changed yet into their workout gear. They followed her back to the bullpen to welcome back their comrade.

"Hey there, Shaggy." Sam said. "Welcome back."

"Hey, thanks man." Deeks replied with a small grin, happy to be back.

"It's good to have you back." Callen added. "It will be even better when we have you back in the field where you belong."

Sam glanced at Kensi. "Yeah, Kens needs her partner back. I don't know how you put up with her all day." He joked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She shot back with an angry glare.

Nell walked up from behind them. "Oh, it could be that you eat like a pig, have terrible taste in music, and drive like a maniac." She said.

"I, what?" Kensi couldn't believe what she was saying.

"Sorry, I over heard Sam complaining to my partner over there." She gestured to Callen. Over the last few weeks, she and G had been partnered while Sam had been partnered with Kensi. It was nice getting out in the field, but she'd be happy to get back in ops with Eric.

Deeks flashed one of his cheeky grins at Kensi and said, "I hate to break it to you, Princess, but they're right."

"Hey, who's side are you on?" Kensi asked, she was feeling a bit annoyed. "Is this pick on Kensi day or something?"

Before anyone could answer, Eric was at the top of the stairs giving one of his usual 'we have a case' whistles.

"Looks like we have a case." Nell glanced at Deeks. "Welcome back Deeks. I promise that as soon as you're cleared for casework, you can have your spot on the team back."

Deeks sighed as they all headed up to ops. He'd give anything to be up there right now, but he couldn't be much help to them on desk duty. It was just as well though, he was hoping to talk to Hetty anyways and he spotted her sitting at her desk with her favorite tea cup in hand. He took in a couple of deep breaths before pushing his chair from his desk and standing. Slowly, he walked over to Hetty.

Hetty saw him coming from a mile away. She could already tell he wanted to talk to her about something. "I'm sorry Mr. Deeks, but I can't clear you for field work unless I get the OK from your doctor." She said, assuming he might be trying to weasel his way into the current case.

He smiled. "Uh no, that's not it."

She set her tea cup gently on her desk. "What can I do for you, Mr. Deeks?"

Nervously, he ran a hand through his hair. "I was just wondering if, if the offer still stood." He pulled out from his back pants pocket a set of folded papers. They were the papers Hetty had given him a few years ago with the offer to become a full agent.

She knew immediately what the papers were. "Have you signed them already?" She inquired.

"Well, no. I wanted to make sure the offer was still there before I signed them." He replied.

"Why don't you have a seat?" She gestured to one of the chairs in front of her desk and he sat. Reaching into her desk she grabbed a special gold pen that had the name of one of her many covers engraved on it. It was the pen she had used when she signed the papers that gave her control of The Mission and her own NCIS team there on the west coast. "Perhaps you should sign them then." She held out the pen.

Deeks took the pen and unfolded the papers. He hesitated before meeting pen to paper. "So this is it? All I have to do is sign them?" He asked curiously.

"Well, that's not quite all. There will be some training you'll need to attend." Hetty explained. "I think we can forgo some of the required training though, since you have plenty of field experience."

"That understandable." Deeks replied. He smiled as he moved the pen to the paper, swiftly putting his signature at the bottom.

Hetty became curious. "So what has changed your mind over the last couple of years?" She wondered if Sam and Callen had anything to do with it. They had mentioned that they were going to lecture Mr. Deeks about becoming an agent.

"I think this last case helped influence my decision." He admitted. "It was a tough one and it wasn't Bates or anyone at LAPD offering to help me get through it, it was all of you. Hell, you were the ones who mounted my rescue mission."

"We take care of our own." Hetty said.

It was as simple as that and Deeks knew very well that it was true. "Yeah, you do."

"I'll get this paper work submitted and have Eric draw up the information needed on your training." Hetty took the papers from Deeks.

"Great." He replied. Now he just had to deal with telling Kensi and the rest of the team.

It was a long day and Deeks spent most of the day willing it to end. He had a lot of old paperwork to catch up on and there wasn't anything even remotely exciting about that. He wondered what kind of case the team was dealing with. Maybe it was just an easy, arrest a suspect kind of case, but maybe it was something more...like taking down some terrorist who was threatening to blow up half of the city.

Finally, he could hear Sam and Callen coming down the hall into the bullpen. "There's no reason to ever hit a woman." He heard Sam saying. "It's damn good thing they suspended Ray Rice."

"You know me, I'm all about the Lakers. Forget football." He heard Callen reply back.

Then he heard Kensi. "Do you two always have to talk about sports?"

"They're men, of course they do." Nell replied.

Finally they entered the bull pen...Sam and Callen first, followed by Kensi and Nell. "Hey guys." Deeks greeted them. "How was the case?"

"Oh, you didn't miss much." Kensi replied.

"Just Kensi nearly running down an old lady trying to cross the street." Sam blurted out.

"That wasn't an old lady and she should have been using the crosswalk." Kensi argued.

"She had a walker." Callen shot back in Sam's defense.

Deeks glanced at Nell, who had said nothing so far. "Don't look at me. I'm not getting in the middle of this." She said.

"Alright, enough arguing. It think we need to celebrate." He looked over at Deeks. "Drinks are on me."

Deeks looked confused. "What are we celebrating? Kensi running over an old lady?" He asked.

"I didn't run her over and she wasn't an old lady." Kensi snapped.

"Rumor has it that we have a new agent on our hands." Sam replied, ignoring Kensi's comment.

Deeks face went pale. "Wait, what? How...I..." He stammered.

"So, special agent Marty Deeks, you up for drinks?" Kensi asked, excited that he had finally taken the plunge.

"Absolutely." He said, flashing a smile. Hetty must have told them that he signed the papers. He would deal with her later.

"I'll go and get Eric." Nell replied. "He said he wanted to come tonight."

Hetty walked over to her team in the bullpen. "I hope you don't mind me telling the rest of the team." She said to Deeks.

"I was kind of hoping to tell them myself." He replied. He flashed quick grin. "But hey, at least I'm getting free drinks out of it." He and Hetty both let out a soft chuckle.

"Hey, you and I are going to have our own celebration after drinks." Kensi said.

"Oh, now Ms. Blye, I do wish you would leave those discussions for later." Hetty was ok with their relationship, but she wished they would keep some details of it out of the work place.

Deeks flashed Kensi a grin and she giggled a little at the comment. At least she didn't say what she had planned for her personal celebration with Deeks. "Just make sure you're not too rough on me tonight, I'm still healing." He said.

Nell and Eric came down from ops. "We're all ready." She said.

Eric patted Deeks on the back. "Welcome to the team."

"Thanks!" Deeks replied.

A moment later they were all, including Hetty, headed to drinks at a local bar. Deeks would be on desk duty for a few weeks, but as soon as he was all cleared for field work again, he would start his agent training. He couldn't wait to be an agent. The only thing he had left to do was to alert Bates that he was leaving the LAPD and taking his place where he belonged. His mind still wandered to the case, his last LAPD case as it turned out. He still thought about what he had to do and what that little girl had gone through, what both children had gone through. It pained him, but knowing they were in a loving home, getting the help and encouragement they needed, helped a lot. The case would always be there in the back of his mind, but he was getting through it and moving on to a new chapter in his life.

Thanks for sticking with me through all these chapters. As you can see Marty finally decided to join NCIS. I hope you've enjoyed the story. Feel free to review and let me know your thoughts on it. Thanks!