A/N: This was done for the first NCIS LA Hiatus Fic Challenge started by aprylynn on Tumblr. The theme was changing one thing. I didn't like what happened in "War Cries" (5x14) with Nell and so I changed it to where someone was with her. Don't worry, she still gets to kiss the guy's butt.

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

"Deeks, can you head over to the boatshed? I know Nell has become very good in the field, but I'm not feeling comfortable leaving her alone with this guy. There is something we are missing and I can feel it. Something isn't right." Callen said over the phone. He called the detective right after Eric had told them about the man who had arrived at the house that Granger and Deeks were at.

"Sure." Deeks answered. "You okay here until the others arrive?" He asked, turning towards Granger who rolled his eyes.

"Does it look like I'm new to this?" Granger asked in a sarcastic tone. Deeks sent him his familiar smirk of understanding before turning for the door.

"I'm on my way Callen." He said before hanging up.

It only took him a few minutes to arrive at the boat shed, but when he had got there Nell was entering the room that held Robert Brown. Deciding that she was okay on her own, he went over and sat down at the table and turned on the TV that was connected to the camera in the room.

"Hello." Nell's voice was heard over the speakers.

"Hey." Brown replied. Deeks yawned a bit and stretched in his seat. This was the only part of the whole job that he had a problem with. Give him a chase, give him a shootout, give him an interrogation and he was fine; but make him sit and watch made him antsy, especially with no partner to banter, tease or joke with.

"So, can I get you anything?" Nell asked.

"What happened to the other guys?" Brown asked. The tone in the man's voice and the question made Deek feel uneasy. He sat up a little straighter, his eyes alert for any sign of trouble.

"Oh, they just had to go check on something." Nell replied, still not sitting down and something Deeks made a note of.

"So you're the only one here to protect me?" Brown inquired. The unease Deeks felt multiplied and he cursed the fact that he couldn't see Brown's face. The only thing giving off the fact that something was wrong was Nell's body language, her stalling on having to go sit down across from the guy.

"Yep" Nell answered. Deeks wondered if Callen had told Nell that he was coming.

"Are you an agent?" Brown asked. Deeks cursed under his breath, Nell was in trouble but he couldn't do anything until something happened or he would set the guy off and possibly put his friend in more danger than she was.

"Technically I'm an analyst." She replied.

"Lucky me." Brown said. The tone sent shivers down Deek's back. Suddenly Nell's phone when off and Deeks frowned as her body language changed as she read the text on her phone. He jumped as his phone vibrated and he pulled it out and opened the text he received.

"Get her out of there. Brown killed three women in afghanistan. he is a psycho. - C"

"Everything okay" Brown asked, making Deeks turn back to the tv.

"Just my mom" Nell answered. After a few moments she continued.

"I'm going to call her back." Deeks inwardly groaned, knowing that Brown wasn't going to buy it. He watched as they both said something inaudible and then suddenly Brown had her against the door.

Deeks immediately ran for the room, pulling his gun as he went. He burst through the door and tackled the guy, Brown gave a small howl of pain and the gun in his hand flew into a far corner. Deeks was surprised when Brown didn't put up a big fight as he handcuffed him.

"On the ground!" He ordered. Brown dropped to his knees before falling sidways.

"Nell?"Deeks knelt down and his breath caught in his throat. Nell was on her knees, curled up tightly as she held a bloody knife in her hand. He quickly looked over at Brown and finally noticed the blood starting to stain his pants. He didn't worry though, it didn't look too deep nor did look like she got an artery. He looked back at her and saw that she was staring at the knife with a wild look, but there was a hint of fear there as well. Her breathing was slightly erratic, but not enough to worry him about her hyperventilating.

Deeks sighed as he ran a hand over his face before checking her over and saw that there were no injuries on her. He pulled out his phone, knowing that the others would be wondering what was going on.

"Brown has been detained. Nell is okay at the moment. -D"

He sent the text off to Callen before looking back at Nell. He slowly moved to take the knife from her and saw her flinch a little bit when he did. He put the knife next to him before gently pulling her out from under the table. He ushered her out of the room and to the sofa in the main area.

"You good?" He asked as he knelt before her, the question usually helped to break Kensi out of the edginess that came after a shootout or physical confrontation. He didn't know how Nell would respond and watched her closely.

"I'm fine." She stated, her breathing had calmed down a lot, but she still wasn't looking at him.. The answer made his heart drop. Fine usually meant not fine in his books. He tapped her on the knee to get her to look at him.

"You did good. You are almost at Kensi's 'ninja assassin' level." He said with a smirk, trying to lighten the mood but she didn't smile back. He could see the doubt and a small amount of fear in her eyes.

"What going on in that head of yours, Velma?" He asked.

"What if I didn't have the knife? What if you weren't there? What if I had been alone with him when he did that?" She blurted out, along with the words came the tears. Deeks moved to sit beside her and pulled her into a hug.

"Hey, don't think like that. You don't know what would have happened, but remember what Callen said before you got captured in that kill house place?" Deeks asked.

"Trust my training." She stated.

"And what happened when you did when that guy had the gun and you disarmed him, in the most awesome way might I add?" Deeks said. A small smile came to her face as she saw what Deeks was doing.

"I trusted my training." She said with a small roll of her eyes.

"Thanks Deeks. Sometimes I just need a little reassurance." She added.

"No problem, that is what friends are for." He said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"No, that is what family is for." She said. He smiled and put his arm around her shoulders.

"So if we are family…"He trailed off.

"Yes?" She prompted.

"How does Kensi and I work?" He asked, his brows furrowed in deep thought. Nell laughed and nudged him.

"I think you are the kissing cousins." She said with smirk. He let out a loud laugh just as Callen walked in with an amused look on his face.

"I guess I don't need to ask if you guys are okay. Sam is patching up Brown and we will be taking him in as soon as he is done." Callen said.

"Well I need to go back to ops. Eric is probably about to have a panic attack since I told him I would only be gone an hour or so and heaven forbid it be a couple minutes over." she said with a smile and another roll of the eyes.

"Come on, I'll follow you." Deeks said, pulling her up as he stood up.

"Hey Nell." Callen said, stopping them.

"Deeks was right, just trust your training." He said with a slight wink towards her. Deeks frozen as he heard that.

"Wait, how long where you here before coming in?" He asked, looking at Callen suspiciously. Callen just smile at him.

"Callen?" He urged.

"Oh, not long…...kissing cousin." Callen said before making a quick excite while Nell grabbed Deeks and started to drag him out of the boatshed.

"Wait!" Deeks was heard before the door closed.

Thanks for reading! Leave me a review to let me know what you thought!