Author's Note: Hey everyone - Happy New Year! Hope that you all had a wonderful holiday season, and that 2014 will be fantastic for you all! I know I've been away from this site for a bit, but in my absence I've actually had a lot of time to work on my writing and so this is just one of several new things you'll be seeing from me over the next few weeks. (And for those of you following Talking In Circles, I even have been working on the next chapter of that a bit - honest!). This is going to be an ongoing series of drabbles and ficlets that all center around the Nell/Deeks partnership that began during Kensi's reassignment in Afghanistan. The chapters may be related, they may be random, but one thing is certain - this is about a brotp between Nell and Deeks. I still firmly ship Densi.

Author's Note 2: This is only very very slightly AU, in the sense that it assumes a much longer time span has elapsed between The Frozen Lake and Merry Evasion. Now, without further ado, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Nell, Deeks, or, sadly, NCIS: LA.

Deeks took a deep breath, refocusing his attention on the weapons and other gear laid out on the armory table in front of him. For a moment – just a few seconds, really – he'd let his mind drift. He'd been standing there, prepping for a tactical strike related to their current case, when the thought crossed his mind that it was the first time in a couple of years that he was doing this kind of gearing up without Kensi standing next to him.

The rather simple realization had momentarily immobilized him, the ammunition he'd been loading settling onto the tabletop gently as his hands had dropped to rest on the flat, padded surface. Kensi not standing next to me is more than a bit of an understatement, he had thought to himself. Far from being here in the Mission, in Los Angeles, or even in the country, Kensi was somewhere roughly halfway around the world. He wasn't even allowed to know her specific location, much less have any sort of regular communication with her. But there's not anything I can do about that at the moment, he had thought bitterly, so I might as well focus on the job at hand.

He had just pulled himself out of this momentary reverie and resumed his preparations when the sound of soft, quick footsteps caught his attention. He looked towards the armory doorway just as Nell entered and flashed him a brief smile, though Deeks thought it lacked a bit of its usual brightness. He grinned warmly at her before bending once again to his work. Wondering if something was bothering her, he watched her surreptitiously through his shaggy fringe without lifting his head too much. He said a silent word of thanks that he'd not gotten the trim he'd contemplated the other day, as the length of his hair partly obscured his eyes as they tracked her around the room.

Still, Nell must have sensed something from him as she moved from one gear cabinet to another – when she was in the locker where they kept the bulletproof vests, she spoke without ever looking over her shoulder at him. "There something you want to say to me, Deeks?" she asked, her voice slightly muffled from having her upper body tilted partly into the locker as she rummaged for the right vest.

He started a bit before recovering. "Not really, though that was a nifty trick," he said, smirking at her as she brought the vest and her other gear to the central table where he was working. "Y'know," he gestured vaguely at her, "the whole eyes in the back of your head thing. Hetty teach you that? Think she'd teach me?"

Nell grinned, seeming to relax just a bit, though it still wasn't her usual carefree smile. "An advanced course in Hetty Training, I'm afraid. You have to pass Stealth Walking 101 and Intermediate Ninja Eavesdropping before even beginning to attempt it."

Deeks couldn't help but laugh at that, a genuine chuckle breaking out. The word touché was on the tip of his tongue, but he bit it back, instead focusing intently on re-checking his ammo. If he was moving the clips around with a little more force than necessary, Nell either didn't notice or chose not to comment.

They worked together – a companionable silence settling over them for a few moments before Nell broke it. "Deeks?" she asked, her voice having lost its teasing tone, sounding slightly hesitant instead.

"Mm?" he murmured, looking up and giving her his full attention.

"What if…" she trailed off for a beat before regaining her determination and pushing on, locking eyes with him as she finished. "…what if I'm no good at this?"

He could see that she wasn't joking and he was sympathetic, recognizing her current feelings as similar to those he'd had too many times in his life – when he'd taken the bar exam, when he'd graduated from the academy, when he'd let Hetty talk him into the liaison position, just to name a few. Sighing, he ran a hand through his hair as he sat back, leveling his gaze on her face, which showed an uncharacteristic nervousness. "You've been great these last few weeks, Nell. Why are you worried now?" He was honestly curious and his praise was genuine. She'd been a solid partner over the time Kensi had been gone.

She put down the items she was fiddling with and stared back at him. "Because, Deeks," she said, exasperation coloring her tone, "this isn't like anything else we've done since I've been going out in the field on a regular basis. This is almost definitely going to end in a major firefight, and I just…what if I'm not ready? You need to know your partner is fully capable of having your back."

Deeks sat forward, crossing his arms as he leaned on the bench. It was true that in the weeks since he'd been partnered with Nell they'd not happened to have any cases that had required this kind of major tactical strike – which was, admittedly, an oddity for their team. He and Nell been on stakeouts, a few recon missions, done several witness interviews together, and even a couple of small undercover assignments. Some of these missions had, as was the way of things in their line of work, resulted in engaging their targets, but not, as it had happened, on this large of a scale. But Nell had easily risen to every challenge as it had come along. While perhaps not being quite as in sync with her as he usually is with Kensi, he felt a comfortable ease in working with Nell, and had no hesitation about continuing to be partnered with her, even in their current situation. He smiled widely at her as he replied. "I do know that," he said, his tone serious.

"But I know you and Kensi –" she started.

"Buh-buh-buh," Deeks interrupted her, waving a hand at her and overriding whatever she was about to say. "Nell, I trust you. I do know that you've got my back. Completely. Okay?" He held her gaze until she finally relaxed and smiled easily at him.

"Okay," she said softly.

"Besides. It's not really true that you haven't done anything like this," he continued. "You more than held your own against Inman and his goons last year – you had some pretty cool moves in that high pressure situation."

"I guess I did, yeah," she nodded at him slowly, a look on her face that suggested she was replaying the whole incident in her mind.

"And besides, Callen told us how you handled that guy at Reduce Q on your own a few weeks ago. You went right after him, and you followed your instincts and protocol and you got the job done. Nell, you'll be fine out there. We both will be."

"Okay, okay, I get it. I'm the greatest," she said jokingly. Deeks couldn't help but laugh and she chuckled along with him.

They worked together quietly for a few minutes after that, and were just getting ready to head out to meet Sam and Callen when Deeks paused, a serious expression on his face as he looked at Nell. "There is one thing I just thought of though," he said, turning to her as they walked to the armory door. "One thing you really need if this partnership is going to work."

"What?" she asked, a slight frown crinkling the space between her eyebrows.

He heaved a sigh, crossing his arms over his tac vest slowly. "A new nickname," he said gravely, though his serious tone evaporated quickly, a smile breaking across his face as he spoke.

"Oh really?" she asked, crossing her arms and matching his stance. She quirked an eyebrow at him.

"Yep. Nellosaurus is great, but you need something fresh. Besides, it's a partner tradition." He scratched the back of his head for a moment, pretending to consider options, before he continued, barely able to keep a straight face. "And, I mean…c'mon…Ginger Bitch? Really? I just don't see it."

"How did you…?" she trailed off, laughing slightly and gaping at him in shock.

He chuckled, patting her shoulder as they turned and exited the armory. "Oh, Callen told us everything about that part of the op. But don't worry, we'll figure out the perfect nickname."

"Great," she sighed, gently shaking her head, though Deeks could hear her gentle laughter and knew she wasn't nearly as put out as she sounded.

A few weeks later, they found themselves in the car, en route to Senator Lockhart's office. Nell was gazing out the passenger window, though she wasn't really seeing the maze of L.A.'s streets slipping by them as they passed. Her mind was focused instead on running over everything they knew about the case so far. She was mentally replaying the morning's briefing in Ops when one part of the memory in particular snagged her attention.

"So," she said, turning to look at Deeks with a smile. "Velma, huh?"

"Velma," he replied firmly, sounding completely self-satisfied. "Told you we'd find it."

She shook her head slightly, grinning. "Good thing I like it, Shaggy."

"Yep. Good thing." He looked back at her with a smile, and they both started to chuckle.

Theirs wasn't the partnership either of them had previously been used to, but in that moment, they both knew they were going to be more than okay.

TBC...