Deeks' Training

He stretched as he woke early on a Saturday morning, it was close to 7am and the sunlight coming through the window highlighted the colors in the hair of the beautiful brunette lying next to him the sun's rays caressing her skin and glancing off the ring on her left hand.

He smiled remembering how he had proposed to her last night and she had said yes.

After a year of being together, they were ready to take the next step and make their life together permanent.

He got up to make himself a coffee, slipping silently out of the rumpled sheets, but not waking the sleeping beauty beside him. He figured he had enough time for her to sleep in for a bit while he made her coffee and looked to see if there was anything he could make her for breakfast before they headed to the gym.

For the past few months he had been giving her lessons in self defense. She had been surprised when she found out exactly how extensive his level of martial arts training was and gladly accepted his offer to teach her.

He took a sip of his coffee, leaning against the counter watching Los Angeles come to life through his window.

It seemed funny to him, thinking about it all now how it started and how far he had come.

It had started that fateful morning when his father's insults had flipped over the edge and he had turned violent beating his eight year old son and terrifying him to the point that he had run to his room, snuck out the window unable to listen to his mother's screams and ran down the road to his friend Ray's house.

It had been his birthday and his mother had made him a nice cake with 8 small candles on it. She had saved for months for the ingredients and was delighted with the smile on her son's face.

They both jumped as Gordon slammed the front door storming into the house.

He was angry and Martin had no idea what had made his father mad. Martin put his hands over his ears as Gordon yelled at his wife and he whimpered as he backhanded her. Martin got up and ran towards his father grabbing his hand as he pulled it back for another hit on his mother.

Without a word Gordon turned and snarled at his son, he grabbed him by the hair and threw him into a wall. His attention taken from his mother, Martin closed his eyes and curled into a ball as his father started screaming obscenities at him and hit him until his world went fuzzy. The second his father's back was turned and he walked back into the kitchen for a beer, Martin scooted off down the hallway.

In his room he sobbed as the pain in his small body cried out for relief. He didn't know what his momma or him had done to upset his daddy. All he could think about was that it was his birthday, if he wasn't there or hadn't had a birthday maybe his daddy wouldn't have been mad.

There and then he made the decision, Ray was older than him and Ray knew everything. Ray would know what to do.

Finally arriving at Ray's house Martin baulked at the sound of his father talking to Ray's father on the phone.

He stood in the shadows of the backyard until he noticed Ray's bedroom light come on and his window open.

He waited as a pair of long legs reached through the window and Ray shimmied down the drainpipe and landed with a soft plop on the grass next him.

"I heard man, you ok?" Ray asked.

Martin shook his head, "I'm scared Ray, I couldn't help momma."

"You wanna be able to protect yourself and her?" Ray asked.

Martin nodded, "Can you help me Ray?" he asked.

Ray nodded wisely and patted Martin's shoulder noticing the wince as he did so.

"Come with me." he ordered and they headed out of the backyard and down the street.

Ray knocked on the door as Martin stood on the edge of the porch scared.

An older man opened the door and Martin nearly ran, only Ray's strong hand on his shoulder kept him in place.

"You ok Ray?" The man asked concerned.

"I'm good thanks Pete, this is my friend Martin, his dad…" he trailed off knowing Pete would make his own assessment of the boy in front of him.

Pete looked at the boy, "Brandel's kid right?" he asked and Martin nodded shaking.

"Did Ray tell you what I do?" he asked.

Martin shook his head, "N...No Sir."

"I teach martial arts, classes that will help you defend yourself, do you want to learn?" Pete asked.

Martin nodded. "But I don't got no money." he sighed.

"Don't you worry about that, Ray helps me by doing yard work, maybe if you help him I will teach you."

Martin nodded hopefully and both Ray and Pete smiled.

Pete's son Jake and Ray were friends they had been talking all about Martin and his dad when Ray had been overheard by Pete.

Worried for the boys Pete had started teaching Ray Judo and hoped to get Martin to join. Unfortunately Martin was too scared to go anywhere but Ray's so they had thought of this plan in case of an emergency.

Because of Martins age and size he was also taught Judo. Pete called Martin's mother and explained the situation to her and she was happy that Martin wasn't going to be in the house and was learning something useful so readily agreed to the lessons.

For two hours a day, every day Martin practiced, he never missed a session. After a few months he became rather good at it, showing real promise.

Pete would make him recite every session that you should never lose your temper or let your emotions take over when using martial arts. You need to control your emotions in order to focus on the strikes and sweeps you need to deliver.

He was only taught basic stuff by Pete until he was ten. Pete would watch him and was amazed at the dedication and talent that the boy showed.

One afternoon Pete took him aside.

"Marty, you got a sec?"

"Yessir!" Martin stopped and stepped off the mat walking towards his friend.

Pete sat on a bench and motioned for Marty to join him. "You know I'm impressed by your dedication to Judo I was wondering if you wanted to learn more?"

Martin nodded eagerly.

Now at 34 he was still practicing two or three hours a day.

He had to admit it had come really handy on undercover ops. Kensi had only found out about it as she had walked past the gym and he had been practicing and she stopped amazed at his skills. She walked in and waited until he had finished and then asked him for some training.

There was no way Deeks could say no, after all she was his partner.

Over the year her skill improved and even Callen and Sam had remarked on the way her experience had grown, even joking to the point that maybe she could show Deeks a few pointers. Both of them had smiled and said nothing.

He had asked Kensi not to mention to the others about his martial arts skill explaining how personal it was to him and how he only used it once in a while to help him out of a jam. He had for a while taught classes at LAPD but his undercover ops were so long he had to cancel the classes.

He picked up her coffee and walked back into the bedroom, he stood watching for a second as she slept.

Deciding to practice by himself, not having the heart to wake her he wrote her a note and placed it beside his sleeping princess and left for the gym.

Before he knew it, it was monday.

He and Kensi had talked after he had come home from the gym, deciding to keep the engagement to themselves for a while, with the exception of Julia, whom they had been to see that afternoon. The idea of having something just for themselves was thrilling and Julia had been pleased to keep the news to herself until her daughter and soon to be son in law were ready to share it with others.

As he and Kensi walked into the bullpen, they noticed Sam and Callen talking about starting a little training course for the junior agents. Well, everyone started on their paperwork and after a few hours, no case had come in so Callen and Sam decided to go to the gym for a little sparring.

Sam, in the superior tone he kept for picking on Deeks meekly asked if they would like to join them.

Kensi nodded, but Deeks laughed and replied, "When pigs fly!" citing that he had a report to finish for Hetty and he got back to it.

After finishing the report Deeks decided to go to the gym to see how things were going. When he got there he smiled at the ugly bruises that Sam was sporting and figured that the future Mrs. Deeks had been showing off her new found skills.

Proudly he walked over to her and congratulated her on her moves.

Sam and Callen kept goading him into joining in.

Eventually Deeks sighed and joined them in the ring.

He kept it simple and only Kensi could see how hard it was to ignore the obvious moves for the more simple and easy moves that 'Deeks' knew.

As Sam and Callen headed to the locker room, Kensi came up behind Deeks.

"Why didn't you just tell them?" She asked.

"It's not theirs, they don't need to know, just you and Pete, that's it." Deeks vowed. "I just want to keep it between us."

"Mr. Deeks!" Hetty called as Deeks and Kensi entered the bullpen.

Deeks turned to Kensi, "Go on without me, I'll be there in a sec." He turned and walked over to Hetty's office.

"Come in and sit down Mr. Deeks." she said gesturing to a chair.

Deeks sat down and accepted the cup of tea she offered him.

"Don't you get tired Mr. Deeks?" She said as she sipped her drink.

"Every night Hetty," Deeks quipped, the smile slipping from his face at the look she gave him.

"Do you not get tired of being constantly underestimated by your team. I for one think it's about time they knew exactly what you are capable of."

"Well Hetty," Deeks sighed, "If you think I should then I promise the next time we have a sparring session I will show them."

"Goody." Hetty almost clapped, "I have been listening to Mr. Hanna and I for one will enjoy your demonstration. Do not hold back when you give him a demonstration of your skills."

Deeks sighed and put the cup down on her desk, "Great…" He replied his voice showing he was anything but thrilled at the idea.

A week passed and Deeks managed to steer the conversation away from sparring for the entire time until Friday.

Sam walked into the bullpen having watched a MMA fight the night before.

"Well, if it had been Deeks in there the fight would have been over pretty fast." Sam laughed, "He'd have face planted before the guy got his second hit in."

"I can hold my own." Deeks protested as he turned away from Sam.

"Maybe if you'd had SEAL training, you want to come down to the gym and I'll teach you a few moves?" Sam offered.

Kensi smiled and turned away from the men.

"I don't need to learn any moves." Deeks argued.

"You know Deeks you can't wear that homeless coat of yours all the time to keep them away, besides someone is gonna get a little runt like you in the end." Sam snapped.

"I'll be waiting in the gym." Deeks said and grabbing his bag headed to the gym. 'Enough fun and games.' Deeks thought, 'You come and get your butt handed to you Sam, I've had enough!'

Deeks walked out of the locker room and wasn't surprised to see most of OSP watching from the sidelines, 'probably looking forward to my funeral.' Deeks thought.

Sam looked up and was surprised at the small smile that was crossing Deeks' face.

As Deeks walked out to the mat Hetty called out, "Mr. Deeks, please do not put Mr. Hanna in the hospital."

Sam laughed haughtily, "Like that'll ever happen Hetty," he scoffed in his mind this was going to be an easy win.

"You ready Deeks?" Sam asked.

Deeks nodded not taking his eyes off Sam.

A second later Sam went after him.

Deeks neatly sidestepped him and flipped him onto his back.

"I must have tripped." Sam said getting his wind back.

Deeks grinned and Kensi clapped, "Yay Deeks!"

"You want some more big guy."

"That was luck Deeks not skill." Sam argued and got up and began circling him again.

For the next thirty minutes every time Sam got near Deeks, Deeks pulled a different move on him and each time he ended up on his back on the mat.

In the end Sam raised a hand. "Stop...ok...ok Deeks you win. Where did you learn all that?" he asked.

Deeks told him, "I've been practicing since I was 8." he said and told them about his fighting history.

"So why didn't you tell us?" Sam asked as Deeks sat on the edge of the ring.

"Figured you'd figure it out, being an investigator and all." Deeks shrugged.

"I'm a brilliant investigator." Sam argued as Deeks climbed out of the ring, "I never miss a thing!"

Deeks and Kensi held hands as they walked towards the locker room together.

Kensi lifted their joined hands in the air, the light glinting off the ring on her left hand.

"You never miss anything Sam?" she asked laughing as they walked off.