Requiem for the boy

Chapter 22

Dave drove on in silence looking surreptitiously at Deeks on the way back, watching as the happy demeanor slowly crumbled away.

Dave pulled up on the side of the road and stopped the car.

"Ok, speak to me…what's wrong."

"Nothing…" Deeks stared out the window.

"BullShite…You look like a wet weekend. You've done nothing but stare out the window moping since we left. You were so upbeat and now this?"

"Just drive." Deeks snapped.

"No." Dave got out of the car, keys in hand and sat on the hood.

Deeks got out and looked at him raising an eyebrow in surprise. "You burning your ass?" he smirked as Dave scowled at him.

"Yes…." Dave admitted through gritted teeth and jumped off. "But that's not the point. You were optimistic, you were all for this so what's going on in that gorgeous blond head of yours."

"I don't wanna go back; if I go back there, I might go back to what I was, I shouldn't have left the others…I can't do this alone." He sighed sitting on the side of the road, leaning back against the car tire.

Dave smiled, he had thought it was something huge, to find out it was just this was a relief. "Marty, its ok, what your feeling is normal."

Deeks looked lopsided at him, "Normal?! What the Hell about any of this is normal?"

Dave looked at him, "All of it, It's a week Marty, you'll be out in a week, your family will be there for you."

"But…but I've gone…they may now realize that it is less trouble when I'm not around, they might not want me back."

Dave moved so he was squatting in-front of Deeks, "Do you trust them?" he asked looking Deeks in the eye.

"God …Yes!"

"Do they make a habit of lying to people?"

"What?! NEVER!"

"Then the other night, when each and every one of them bared their souls to you and told you how they felt, do you think they were lying or telling the truth."

"Telling the truth?" Deeks asked hoping it was true.

"EXACTLY!"Dave said forcefully, "They were telling the truth about how they felt about you, trust that, trust them. It won't be that long, it's just a week, you talk to Bryan and you finish up your meds, then you're out of here, back into the real world to kick butt and take names and make the world safer for the rest of us."

Deeks stood up and stalked back to the car, climbed in, slammed the door and did up his belt.

"Well." He snapped.

Dave sighed and climbed in the car, this was the part of his job he hated, when the client realized they were nearly better but still had the last hurdle to overcome.

Throwing his bag back down onto his bed Deeks slammed himself on it with a sigh.

"Bryan will be seeing you in an hour; he's coming here, so you don't have to worry." Dave said flatly.

"Dave…." Deeks called quietly.

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry; you've been a great friend and Mentor." Deeks told Dave, who stopped and looked at him.

"You sound like you are going to die?" Dave replied quizzically.

"If Bryan doesn't let me leave at the end of the week I just might, It's just…Kensi, ya know. Finally she's looking at me like a person, she…she loves me and now I have to leave. Jack left her and it took her ages to get over it. I don't want to be like that, what if she thinks I am and she doesn't want anything to do with me when I get out."