Author's Note: Hey everyone! This is my second new ficlet/drabble series for NCIS:LA (the other one is The Ongoing Adventures of Shaggy and Velma, which focuses on the Nell/Deeks brotp and partnership). This one features the shenanigans that Sam, Callen, and Deeks get into while Kensi's away on assignment and the three of them have to all work together more often. The first chapter takes place sometime after the events of Iron Curtain Rising but before Merry Evasion. Future chapters will be posted as I get ideas for them, and I'm open to prompt suggestions. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Don't own NCIS:LA, not even a little bit. Sigh.
"I still say it's not fair," Callen grumbled, his eyes trained on the warehouse that their current suspect was supposed to be using as a front for his illegal arms dealing operation. It was ongoing surveillance for an older case that had been dragging, but nothing new had come in for over a week and surveillance definitely beat cold case paperwork. At least in theory. Though that theory was being sorely tested after three hours without so much as a sign of their perp. "You were just as involved as I was."
Sam snorted in disbelief, shaking his head. "Yeah. And I was just as punished as you were," he said, taking a glance down the street in the opposite direction.
"Sure doesn't feel like it at the moment," Callen grunted, shifting around in an attempt to find a more comfortable position.
"What can I say, G? Owning the car comes with driving privileges. We've been over this a thousand times."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Callen muttered. "I'm not disputing that. It's the fact that you've made me –" he cut off abruptly as he continued to attempt to twist around in his seat, slipping against the leather of the upholstery and falling back into his original position. "–sit back here," he finished with another undignified grunt.
Sam shook his head slowly. "Maybe that's just the price of getting us into trouble with Hetty."
"Oh, so now it is my fault? What happened to 'I was just as involved as you were,' huh?"
"Actually," Sam said with a grin, scanning the other side of the street, "you said that. I said I was just as punished. But you're the team leader. You're responsible for the team. It was your crazy plan that got us docked a day without pay. So –"
"So you think I should have been punished more than you?" Callen asked. "Is that it?"
"Something like that." Sam's grin only grew wider.
"And you're achieving that by making me sit in the backseat of your car?"
"Uh huh."
"Yet you don't see fit to punish Deeks?"
"Nope," Sam said, shaking his head.
"Interesting," Callen said before twisting around again to try to get a better view of the warehouse. "I thought you –"
"Oh my God," a third voice cut across the ongoing bickering, stopping Callen mid-sentence. "Deeks is right here. Thank you so much for remembering that. And if you two think I'm not being punished," the detective's eyes shot up to meet Callen's in the rear view mirror before he turned in his spot in the passenger seat to look at Sam, "think again. If this conversation goes on much longer, the outcome isn't going to be pretty, boys."
Silence settled over the car for the next several minutes, the three men each keeping an eye out for suspicious activity in the area of the warehouse. The quiet was only broken by the clicks of the digital camera as Deeks snapped some general surveillance photos of the building.
"Hang on a minute, G," Sam said, glancing over at Deeks, whose eyebrow quirked as the sound of Sam's voice pierced the quiet that had reigned over the car for a few blessed moments. "Speaking of things that aren't fair…" he trailed off, a speculative look in his eyes.
"Yeah?" Callen said, leaning in conspiratorially towards Sam, his grumpiness diminishing at his partner's tone.
"I don't think our shaggy friend here got fined by Hetty at all…but he was just as involved as we were," Sam looked over his shoulder and caught Callen's eye.
"Ohhhh, nono…No." Deeks shook his head. "Nuh uh. By your own logic, Sam, that was the appropriate call on Hetty's part."
"How d'you figure that?" Sam asked.
Deeks chuckled. "Well," he said, "if we were all equally involved – not arguing that, by the way – but Callen should be punished more, according to you, for being team leader, then I should be punished less since I'm only the liaison and not one of the senior partners." He finished his statement with a smug grin and lifted the camera to take another picture. Someone, though not the person they'd anticipated, was finally approaching the warehouse. It turned out to be a false alarm though, as the person passed on by without stopping.
Sam opened his mouth to argue further, but he was beaten to the punch by his partner's laughter. "He's got you there, Sam," Callen chuckled. "Well played, Deeks. Well played." But Callen's glee was short-lived. His laughter cut off abruptly, morphing into a yelp of pain as Sam purposely slid the driver's seat back a few inches causing it to collide with Callen's shin.
Thankfully, their suspect chose that precise moment to finally show his smarmy, thuggish face and the three men sprang quickly into action to apprehend him. They worked fluidly together, their squabbling completely forgotten until after the arms dealer had been cuffed and handed over to another pair of agents for delivery to the boatshed. As they straggled back to the car, Sam leading the way, Callen and Deeks paused for a split second and looked at each other before both of them bolted, sprinting for the passenger side door.
"Shotgun!" they called out simultaneously.
Sam just shook his head. It was going to be a long drive back to the Mission.
TBC...