Chapter Text
Placing his drink on the table Callen let his eyes slowly scan the club trying to take everything in without anyone paying too much attention to him. The last thing any of them wanted was security being on guard and security there was. A lot of it. Not that the untrained eye would be able to tell. So far he had been able to tag five more people along with the four that were manning the front doors. They were all spread about the club acting as if they were patrons themselves, but some training never faded away.
It wasn’t often that the team ended up undercoverin afull fledged nightclub.The type of nightclub that might not have a list a mile long of people allowed to come in, but most definitely had a list of people that couldn’t. And not just based off what clothes they were wearing. No this place was upscale without falling into some of the trapping that came with their clienteles parents being the ones that paid for everything.
Still, it was a nightclub and he absolutelyhated it.Especially during an op. The last thing he could do was keep an eye on a specific person let alone keep on eye on his team. Clubs were always too packed and too loud for things to not go awry very quickly if they lost sight of each other for longer than a minute. Not to mention having to chasesomeone.Half the people there would step in their way on purpose if they exclaimed they were federal agents.It never ended well.
Which was the main reason they usually tried to find any other place to observe their suspect. There was nothing usual about Alejandro Chase though. The man not only owned ‘The Silver Lining’, but he also lived right above it. Add that to the fact that he only left the building when he was forced and they had no choice. Not that they didn’t try. In the three months they had been watching him the man had only left the building twice. Each time for a legitimate reason and for such a short periods of time that he couldn’t have done anything but the task he set out to do. It was infuriating.
It had been awhile since they had run into someone that was as locked down and focused as Chase was. It was clear that he was fully aware of everything that he was doing at any given moment in time. The guy was good at what he did. He never stayed talking to one person long enough to make them a target. He never talked to someone multiple times in one day. He never invited anyone up to his home or private office. If they didn’t know better he would think they had the wrong guy.
When the case had first come to them they hadn’t quite known what the make of it. It was clear that Chase was doing something illegal, no one had that amount of ex-military and police on their payroll if they weren’t. Then there was the people that came in and out of the club. It was true that a lot of deals happened in places like clubs, but the amount and consistency of the criminals were a red flag. If the guy wasn’t a criminal than he had the worst luck on the planet.
That being said no one actually knew what he was doing. It was as if he was in the market to become the market. Weapons, drugs, secrets. Based on the individuals that appeared during multiple organizations surveillance he was dipping his toes in more things than any of them could keep track of. Which made what they were doing extremely important.
It wasn’t that uncommon to have to observe random people that happened to be attached to their real suspect or because they happened to spend just a little more time together than was deemed necessary by the higher ups. It wasn’t his favorite part of the job, but he could see why it was necessary for them to air on the side of caution. In his gut though he knew that there was something going on with Chase, they all did, but no one could say exactly what it was.
Which lead them to where they were. Chase wasn’t the type to let a random person get close to him in any way. The man specially paid the exact same person to go out and get all of his deliveries and paid extremely well. Every single person that was around him was hand picked by a set of rules that no one actually knew. It had taken almost a full year just for them to get an outline of an idea about them. Luckily, they had been right when they sent in Kensi.
She only held a low level job in his club as a mixologist and therefore rarely ever spoke to the man, but she was there and that was a step above where they had been. Any kind of daily access to a man like Chase was going to help them out in the long run.
The bar itself wasn’t a new thing for the club, but having a trained mixologist was. Up until that point they had done beers and champagnes only, but apparently Chase had decided that he needed to add something else. Sometimes it was really helpful that there were so many classes that they were required to take to continue working undercover.
So Kensi joined the group of women that ran the bar at the club. According to the little information they were able to gather when Chase had first opened the club two of the bartenders had decided to use it as their hunting ground. Not a lot was known about what happened back then, but the men were linked to sixteen assaults on multiple people in the span of a year. It was their dead and mutilated bodies that had started them watching Chase in the first place. The case was still unsolved.
Ever since then the only people allowed behind the bar were women.And the background checks that they went through were no joke. Eric had to add so many different layers to Kensi’ story that it wasn’t funny. Every single page and document, both online and physical, had been touched in some way. At least they knew the man cared about his patrons.
In the end though Kensi, or Charlie Whiting, was able to pass all the tests and started working. It had taken another month before they realized that she wasn’t going to be the one that got close to Chase. He was constantly there and talked to her and the other workers constantly, but he was nothing but professional with them all. If it wasn’t for them getting lucky seeing the man check out a male delivery driver they would still be spinning their wheels trying to find some way to get closer.
After that Charlie’s little brother Caleb joined into the little group. That had been a whole other chore. They didn’t need to have the background for Deeks to be as airtight as Kensi, though Eric did just to be safe. No, the hard part had been getting the man to pay attention to Deeks in the first place. Attractiveness alone wasn’t going to get the man to loosen up on any of the safety nets that he had in place.
Which lead them to where they were at the moment. Kensi playing the part of theoverworked,overprotective big sister while Deeks played the out of control but trying to get back on track little brother. It wasn’t the easiest sell, but after a little mental breakdown involving tears and a ‘hospital visit’ everyone at the club fully believed them. Chase had even agreed to let Deeks spend some time at the bar so Kensi could keep an eye on him after he was finally ‘released’.
It was a bit of a roundabout way to get what they wanted, butthemanhad been watching Deeks like a hawk for the last few days so they were counting it as a win.He did try to be subtle about it, but with at least one person from the team watching him they saw almost everything.
Like the fact that every few hours Chase wouldget up from his designated table totalk and dance with random people before sitting back down tospend awhile simply watching. That didn’t exactly change when Deeks started to come in. He still danced and talked and let his eyes wonder around for a moment. The only difference was the fact his eyes always ended up back on Deeks after a few moments.
After almost a full two months though, there was no actual contact between the men.It was clear to everyone that Chase wanted to talk to Deeks, Kensi had even tried to give him a little push, but nothing. Apparently the man was perfectly fine with flirting withanyonehe pleased up until feelingsstarted to getinvolved. Which was both exactly what they wanted and the last thing that they wanted. Casual hook ups because of an op were one things. Having to date though… That was a very dangerous position to be in.
Over the years Callen had been forced to play the love interest more than a few times. It was never fun to do. No matter how hard they triedto fight it off and remind themselves that the person was a bad guy that needed to be stopped feelings got involved. No matter how horrible thecrimes they were all human and pretending to fall in love with a person wasn’t that far away from actually being in love. Heartbreak was inevitable; for everyone involved.
If only that was where the feelings ended. As much as he hated to admit it hearts were already involved. His.Sort of. It was complicated. Everything with Deeks was complicated. Not that the younger man knewabout anything that was going on between them. Hell, according to him there was nothing between them.Callen had made sure of that.
When the detective had started working with them a few months backCallenhadput up a barrier between the two of them. It was easy to dismiss him given the front he put up. Not that it was fair to him, butwiththe life they lead they didn’t have time to be comedians. One conversation with Deeks and it was easy to assume that he had no idea what the hell he was doing.
So he and Sam treated him poorly.It wasn’t that he wasbadat his job. There were a few points in time where his relaxed nature had been an asset to them all, mostly when it came to children and party crowds. He fit right in with them making it so they were able to slide right in without having to create elaborate backstories.
Not that Callen was ever going to say that out loud. There were too manyrisks for everyone involved. He couldn’t, wouldn’t, be the reason that the little family they were starting to discover fell apart. He’d never be able to forgive himself if he did that.
“Okay,” Eric’s voice suddenly said cutting through the music and Callen’s thoughts, “Chase is on the move again.”
“Where?” Sam questioned from his place in the van outside sounding more than a little bored.
“He’s… He’s heading towards Deeks? Is he finally making his move?”
“Oh yeah,” Kensi offered somehow sounding both serious and teasing, “Tonya just served him up a little liquid courage. First time I’ve seen him drink. You’re up, Caleb.”
Callen watched covertly as Chase made his way to Deeks side an unopened bottle of sparkling water in his hands. The exact one that Kensi has been feeding the detective under the pretense that he couldn’t hold his liquor. All together it would have been a fairly decent way to get someone’s attention.
A familiar yet crooked smile came to Deeks lips as he took the bottle and started to play with it as they started to talk. Callen knew that it was all on act, but watching as the younger man moved closer, tossed his head back in laughter, let his fingers brush purposefully against the mans bare wrist, it hurt more than he could explain.
There was a part of him that wanted to look away from the scene before him. If only to get himself under control for a little while. He forced himself to come to terms that he was never going to have a romantic relationship with Deeks. Hell, he doubted that friendship was on the table for them. Not after the way he had treated the younger man.
With that thought in mind he looked back at Deeks and Chase. The last time he looked the two men had been talking calmly, but that had changed. Instead of them talking over drinks Chase had pulled Deeks onto the dance floor where they were pressed together gently swaying back and forth clearly lost in their own world. A voice in the back of his mind reminded Callen that it wasn’t real yet at the same time he could clearly picture the type of person that Deeks was when he was in a real relationship.
“Looks like he’s in,” Kensi offered breaking through the panic and sadness brewing in Callen, “Finally.”
“Don’t celebrate just yet,” Sam’s voice cut in though he sounded more relaxed than he had before, “He’s made contact, but that’s just the beginning. We have a long way to go. Callen, you got eyes still?”
“Yeah,” he replied doing his best to keep his voice even and normal, “I got eyes.”
“Normal?”
“So far. Deeks hasn’t given any signs.”
“Good. We got time. Keep watch, people.”