I know I shouldn't, I really shouldn't. But I couldn't say no to the idea any more. It has been hounding me determined to get written, and therefore here is my latest story. I hope you like it. Updates may not be that regular considering the other stories I have on the go.

Okay usual things, sorry for any grammatical or spelling errors throughout this story, I am dyslexic, so if Word doesn't pick them up, neither will I.

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS: LA.

Martin Deeks stood over the coffin with his head bowed as he watched the earth be placed on top of it. People had tried to pull him away, or at least those who were still his friends had done so, but he refused. He could not walk away until he knew she was safe. Until he saw that she was encased in the deep earth and protected. His best friend for the last twenty years, his wife. He needed to make sure. Because he had promised her he would always protect her, would always have her back, from the moment that had changed their lives in a way neither of them could ever comprehend. Changed their lives for the better. So no, he wasn't moving until he knew she was safe from those who wished her harm. From those who wished to change who she was, from those that wished to pretend she did not exist. No. he would stand by her side until the end. That was their deal, to stand together until the end.

If only that end had not happened so soon.

Sarah Deeks stood half behind a tree, watching her dad say goodbye to her mom. Her family, or at least that was what they called themselves, had tried to pull her away but she wouldn't let them. No she would do nothing they suggested, after all they had tried to override her father's guardianship of her. They didn't think she knew that, but she did. She knew of the fierce legal battle they put her parents through while her mom lay dying in hospital, and she had no doubt they would do the same with the will. She was just glad her dad was the best damn lawyer in the state, even if he was only a public defender. He was still better than any money could buy, and her mom's family had money. Oh she knew their supposed 'reasons' but she didn't understand them. She knew the true story. Knew how her parents had been childhood best friends. Knew how they had both realised that they preferred the same sex when it came to romantic relationships. And yet when they were sixteen they had decided to try it out with the other sex, just once. See what all the fuss of heterosexuality was all about. The result of that one time test was her. She knew that.

Just as she knew her mom's parents had insisted that they marry, agreeing to put her dad through law school in return for him doing his duty. They had refused to accept their daughter was gay. Therefore her dad and her mom had married, and had had the prefect one in her mind, both going out meeting people, even having serious relationships with others, while being married to each other. She knew her parents were more best friends than anything else, just as anyone else in the family did. Which was why they were trying to take her away from her dad. They didn't think a gay man could raise a child alone. That sort of prejudice, she hated it. And she would stand by that. Which is why she knew that when she refused to agree that it would be better for her to be with her grandparents, that everything would change. That the money they had given her family up until now would stop. But she didn't care. She knew she would have to leave the private school she was currently at, and she knew she would have to move out of the house with the pool. But she didn't care because she would have her dad. And to her, that was all that mattered. He was her family now her mom was dead, the rest… well they could all go to hell in her mind. She had never fit in in her posh shithead school, and hey, who needed a pool when you lived by the ocean? Everything would be fine.

Thinking this Sarah watched as her dad stood by her mom's grave as it was filled in. Unlike everyone else, she knew why he did it. They had no secrets in their family, they never had had. She knew of his promise to protect her when she had discovered she was pregnant, and it was a promise he had held until the day she died. Sarah was glad of that. For herself, she of course felt the loss of her mom, but she had been in so much pain in the last year, wasting away in front of their eyes, she couldn't say she wasn't glad she had finally found peace. Couldn't say that she wanted her torture to continue. She was sad, but she had found peace, knowing this day was to come many months ago. And watching the last of the earth cover where her mom rested, Sarah turned her mind to the future. To what would happen now, where they would go and what they would do. Because she needed to think of something other than the fact her mom was gone from her life forever. No now she needed to be there for her dad, the man who had lost his best friend. Needed to be there ready to accept the changes that were about to happen without batting an eyelid because that was what her mom would want her to do. To accept and adapt. And that was something she was damn good at.

A month after the funeral Martin and Sarah Deeks pulled up outside their new home. It was a simple detached house, on a quiet street in LA, not far from the ocean or Sarah's new high school. Climbing out of the car the fifteen year old looked around her, wondering what this new start would bring. But all she saw was suburbia. It nice, but she couldn't see anything unexpected or exciting happening here.

Oh how wrong she could be. Because appearances really could be deceptive, surely she, among all people knew that right?... Right?