A Christmas Tale

'Deeks, why is Monty wearing reindeer antlers?' Kensi asked, staring at the dog as said dog plopped himself down on the floor in his usual spot in the middle of the bullpen and began to stare at Sam, who was eating a piece of gingerbread.

Sam shook his head and held out a morsel of the pastry out to the dog/ reindeer hybrid. 'I'm done fighting you on this, Monty,' he said, shaking his head and gently scratching the dog behind the ears. Monty let out a whine of appreciation and settled down on Sam's feet.

Deeks chuckled at the look that Sam sent him. 'Gee. He must like you now, Sam. There are only two people that I know of that he'll sit on, and that's me and Kensi.'

'That's great,' Sam said, staring perplexed at the dog, who now seemed as if he were permanently affixed to Sam's feet. 'How do I get him off?'

Deeks shrugged. 'I don't actually know. Generally, he only gets up to pee or eat.'

'And you're feeding him,' Kensi pointed out, spying Sam slipping Monty another morsel of gingerbread. 'Is that actually good for him?'

'As long as it doesn't have chocolate, that dog can eat anything, and will,' Deeks said, pouring himself a cup of coffee. 'I've given up buying myself decent shoes.'

Kensi stared at his Converse. 'They seem alright.'

Her partner shrugged. 'He doesn't like canvas, but loves leather.'

Kensi glanced down at her own leather boots. 'If he touches these, it'll be you I kick,' she said to him.

'Fair enough,' Deeks said, shrugging and slurping his coffee.

'Hey, it's… Rudolph?' Callen walked in, carrying his newspaper under his arm. 'Are we changing his name due to the season?' he questioned.

Deeks shook his head. 'Nah. He's still Monty. He won't respond to Rudolph.'

'Smart dog,' Kensi muttered.

'Smarter than his owner, that's granted,' Sam muttered, trying to shift his feet. 'Seriously, what if we have a case?'

'You could try a dog whistle,' Deeks suggested.

'I don't have a dog whistle.'

Deeks shrugged. 'Then you're stuck.'

Sam grunted before spying a doughnut in Kensi's possession. 'Kens, can I have a bit of that?'

'You run out of gingerbread?' Kensi asked, passing a chunk to Deeks to hand to Sam.

'Yeah.' Sam frowned and looked around until he spotted a good place. He threw the lump of doughnut a distance away from himself, and Monty sprang after it. Immediately after Monty sprang up, Sam drew his feet up and placed them on the desk. Monty came back chewing, and sat next to Sam's chair, staring up at him with large, "puppy-dog" eyes, whimpering slightly.

Callen chuckled and shook his head. 'Like master, like dog,' he said, motioning to the look on Monty's face.

'What do you mean?' Deeks asked, looking confused from Monty to Callen to Kensi.

'So that's where he learns it,' Kensi said, widening her eyes in realisation. 'Deeks, you are such a bad role model for Monty.

'Wha- me?' He put a hand to his chest and widened his eyes, looking at her for an explanation. 'Whatever do you mean?'

'Exactly that. You've been teaching Monty bad habits.'

'Like what?'

'Like that.'

'That?'

'That look.'

'What look?'

'The look that you're giving me.'

'What look?'

'The puppy-dog eyes look.'

'How do you know that he didn't teach that to me?'

'Oh, please. Monty has more sense than that – don't you Monty?'

At the sound of his name, Monty stood and moved from Sam's desk to Kensi's, where she fussed over him, ruffling his fur and cooing over him.

Deeks shook his head and finished his coffee. 'She's got you, Monty. Resistance is futile.'

Suddenly, a horn played (badly) the first line of "Jingle Bells" and they all turned to find Eric wearing a fluffy Santa hat and holding a shiny golden trumpet.

'Oh, come all ye faithful!' he sang, loudly and somewhat out of tune.

'Oh, God! Stop, Eric!' Sam called.

Eric laughed. 'Sorry. It had to be sung.'

'I assume we've got something?' Callen queried.

'We've got something,' Eric confirmed before disappearing.

'Come on, then, Rudolph,' Kensi said, patting Monty on the back as she passed him.

He got up and followed his new best friend up the stairs and into Ops before abandoning her and lying content at Hetty's feet.

She looked at him, startled, before beginning. 'NCIS has obtained intel on an arms dealer known as, quite appropriately, all other facts considered, "Saint Nick".'

'All other facts considered?' Deeks questioned curiously. 'Are you saying that because it's Christmas Eve?'

'That, and where we've discovered where he's been dealing from,' Hetty said. 'Bring it up, Mr Beale.'

Eric set the golden trumpet down and picked up a portable keyboard before typing something in. 'Behold, The Old Toy Chest.'

'A toy store?' Kensi asked, raising an eyebrow and smiling. 'You're right Hetty – that is an appropriate name.'

'Well, now that we've identified all the ironic factors in this situation, can we move on to what this has got to do with us?' Callen asked, folding his arms and shifting his weight from his left foot to his right foot, leaning his hip against the centre table.

'Well, the intel included not only the place of the arms deals, but also a time,' Hetty said.

'A deal's going down?' Sam questioned curiously.

Hetty nodded. 'Yes.'

'Awesome,' Callen said glumly. 'Undercover?'

'I'm an old friend of the man who runs the Old Toy Chest,' Hetty began.

'Hang on – I thought that "Saint Nick" was dealing out of the Old Toy Chest?' Deeks interrupted.

'He owns a large portion of the store, Mr Deeks,' Hetty said. 'However, this friend of mine owns the larger portion, and he's the one that actually controls the business. After all, if he didn't, we'd be finding guns in doll houses and bombs in teddy bears.'

Deeks winced at the thought. 'Merry Christmas, son. Have a bomb,' he said wryly.

Hetty shook her head at him. 'Indeed. This good friend of mine has agreed to take on more staff in the rush of the Christmas season.'

'We're going undercover in a toy store?' Callen asked in dismay.

Hetty let the corners of her mouth curve in a slight smile. 'No, I have other plans for you and Mr Hanna, Mr Callen. However, Mr Deeks and Miss Blye will be going undercover in the toy store as employees, yes.'

Deeks widened his eyes in excitement. 'Are you kidding me?' he asked, eyes sparkling.

'Are you kidding me?' Kensi also asked, her tone the polar opposite of her partner's. 'He's gonna be like… well, a kid in a toy store.'

Hetty allowed herself a light chuckled. 'Indeed. Go to the boatshed – the owner's name is Mr Nicholas Kringle – no comments on his name, please,' she said, seeing Deeks open his mouth. 'He'll be meeting you there. He'll supply you with the uniform and you will inform him of what will be happening.'

'Awesome,' Deeks said. 'Come on, Monty.'

Kensi sighed and shook her head. 'What did I do to deserve this?'

Callen chuckled and patted her on the shoulder. 'Good luck.'

She nodded glumly and followed her overly cheerful partner out.

'And what plans do you have for us?' Sam asked their petite boss nervously.

She laughed softly. 'I'm glad you asked.'

…

'Are the antlers really necessary?' Kensi asked Mr Kringle, poking at them as they sat on her head in their brown, green and red felt glory.

'It's the season, Kensi,' he said, smiling at her. 'Are you going to complain about the Santa hat, Marty?'

Deeks shook his head. 'Nope. It's keeping my head nice and warm.'

'I wouldn't have thought it needed keeping warm, not with all that hair,' Kensi said.

'Don't listen to her, Marty,' Mr Kringle said good-naturedly. 'One day you think you've got all the hair and time in the world and then next… well…' He removed his own hat, a dark felt beret, and motioned to the thinning grey hair on the top of his head.

Marty grinned at him and accepted a green vest from Mr Kringle, tugging it on over the white button-up shirt that was the store's uniform. He checked himself carefully, making sure that the clothes covered both his Kevlar vest and his weapon. Hetty was taking no chances in her agents' safety, and Mr Kringle agreed - there'd already been enough bloodshed over this issue. He twisted awkwardly and peered over his shoulder at his back before twisting his mouth into an equally awkward frown. 'I think my vest is showing… Fern, can you check please?'

'Call me something other than Fern and I might consider it,' Kensi mumbled, typing the shoelaces of her red Converse.

'Sorry, Kiki. Please?'

Kensi switched to her other shoe and didn't deign him with an answer.

'Alright, Princess. Can you please check to see if my vest is showing?'

Kensi straightened and checked her reflection in the mirror.

'Kens, please?'

Finally, she turned and looked him over. 'Lift up your arms above your head.'

'What is it you have against the nicknames?' Deeks asked curiously.

'They're ridiculous, Deeks, and they sound likes names a prostitute would choose. Isn't that enough?' Kensi questioned before checking that his vest didn't show. 'You're okay.'

'Would you like me to check you?' Deeks asked Kensi.

'No, I'm fine,' Kensi said, eyeing him suspiciously. 'You just want an excuse to look at my ass, don't you?'

'Are you admitting that you were looking at mine?' Deeks smiled one of his best smiles at her, his "roguish charm with a chivalrous twinkle" and winked at her.

'Be glad that this only lasts one day,' Kensi said to Mr Kringle, who simply chuckled and patted Monty, who was sitting by his feet.

'He's a nice pup,' Mr Kringle remarked to Deeks.

'He's been with me for a while now.' Deeks bent and let Monty lift a biscuit from his palm.

'He keeps telling us that he's a police dog, but we're still having trouble believing it,' Kensi said.

'Did you forget that that dog saved your life?' Deeks asked.

Mr Kringle let a smile light up his pleasant, slightly chubby face. 'Did he? How?'

'He can detect bombs,' Deeks said.

'He claims that he can detect bombs,' Kensi muttered. 'Last time he tried to prove it to us, all Monty did was roll over.'

'That's because he was intimidated.'

'Intimidated?'

'You know how intimidating Sam can be.'

'Sam's a giant teddy bear.'

'Yeah – the operative word being "giant". You see how small Monty is?'

'He isn't that small. He's actually quite a largish dog.'

'But in comparison to Sam…'

'Everything is tiny in comparison to Sam. The freaking Statue of Liberty is small in comparison to Sam!'

Mr Kringle coughed quietly, breaking into their argument. 'Are you two going to be like this the entire day?'

'Probably,' they both said at the same moment.

He smiled and sighed. 'Nice to know. What time do you expect the deal to go down?'

'Late. Eleven pm, around about,' Kensi said slowly.

Mr Kringle sighed. 'It's a pity I'm open late tonight because it's Christmas Eve. They've chosen a bad day for it.'

'Well, from a bad guy point of view, it's actually the best time of year to do this,' Deeks pointed out.

'I'm not sure if I should be so happy that you know that,' Mr Kringle said.

'I'm an undercover cop – they pay me to think like that.'

'Oh, well… I s'pose that's better,' Mr Kringle said uncertainly.

'What time should we check in for "work"?' Kensi asked, checking her watch.

'Well, it's… three o'clock now, and most of my regular staff will be knocking off around five, but you expect to be there until around eleven… around seven, I think,' Mr Kringle finally said after much musing.

'Gives us time to check out what the game plan is,' Deeks said.

'I'll see you later, then.' Mr Kringle glanced over the two of them once more before dipping his head in a nod. 'I'll see myself out. Merry Christmas!'

'Merry Christmas,' Deeks said cheerfully.

'Bye,' Kensi simply said, watching the small, portly and infinitely cheerful man leave the boatshed.

'Well, this should be interesting,' Deeks said, gathering up his other clothes and shoving them into a backpack.

'Very,' Kensi agreed.

'I wonder what Hetty's doing to Callen and Sam,' Deeks said.

Kensi shook her head. 'If you'd seen all the things that Hetty has done to those two that I have, you would know that wondering is a waste of time.'

'Well, how about we stop wondering and go find out?'

'Good idea.'

They were quiet for a moment before Kensi's stomach made a loud grumble.

Deeks laughed. 'Come on, Wikipedia. I'll buy you a hotdog on the way back to OSP.'

Kensi nodded and led the way out of the boathouse. 'I'll take you up on that.'

…

'Hey guys.' Deeks walked into the bullpen, his mouth half full of hotdog. He deposited a hotdog on each of the guys' desks.

'Thanks,' Callen said, taking the hotdog with a nod. He looked a little annoyed.

'Is everything okay?' Kensi asked, polishing off her own hotdog.

'Yeah, sure. It's fine.'

Sam slammed his phone down back into the cradle and glared balefully at the two younger agents before picking up his hotdog and biting rather viciously into it.

'Bad news?' Deeks asked weakly, moving away from him as far as he could without actually leaving his desk.

Sam stared at him for a moment before answering, 'No, not really.'

Kensi and Deeks exchanged a glance, but before they could act on their shared feelings, Hetty walked in.

'Well, don't you two look good,' Hetty said, looking Kensi and Deeks up and down. 'You know, I helped Nick choose those uniforms.'

Kensi looked at her and then poked rather obviously at her antlers.

Callen sniggered while Hetty said, 'Well, not the Christmas uniform, but the normal uniform, that shirt and pants – those I helped with. And the vest is usually a rather nice blue.'

'Well, it's green for Christmas,' Deeks said, tugging at it.

'Nice hat, Deeks,' Sam said.

'I thought so,' Deeks said, adjusting it so that it sat at a jaunty angle.

'Hey, Kens, you and Monty match now,' Callen said, pointing out that the dog and Kensi were both wearing antlers.

'You say that again and you'll be singing the soprano part in the Christmas carols,' Kensi said, glaring at him.

Callen just smiled.

'You look lovely, dear. A lot more Christmassy than usual,' Hetty said. 'It suits you.'

'Great,' Kensi said, not entirely sincerely.

'What time are you meeting up at the Old Toy Chest?' Callen asked.

'Seven,' Kensi said. 'The store is open late tonight because it's Christmas Eve and parents will be rushing in to find toys for their children, so when the arms dealers do their thing, it's gonna be bedlam in the store.'

'The meet's not until eleven, though,' Hetty reminded them.

'So it's either gonna be fairly quiet or chaos,' Callen said.

'My bet's on chaos,' Deeks said.

Sam chuckled. 'I'm sorry, it's hard to take you two seriously when you're dressed like Santa's Little Helpers.'

'You take Deeks seriously when he's not?' Kensi asked.

Sam tilted his head to the right. 'You've got a point there.'

'Uh huh.'

'Now, now, boys and girls,' Hetty admonished them. 'Remember to stay nice, not naughty.'

'Yeah, leave the arms dealers to get on Santa's naughty list,' Sam said, a twinkle in his eye.

Kensi smiled and shook her head, while Deeks began to whistle a Christmas carol.

Monty began barking, and Kensi clapped a hand over Deeks' pursed lips to make him stop.

'Sorry,' Deeks said, tugging Kensi's hand away. 'I forgot he did that.'

'Is Monty going with you?' Sam asked.

'No, Monty will be staying here with Hetty and Eric,' Deeks said, petting the shaggy dog.

'Where's Nell?' Kensi asked. In the rush of the day, she'd forgotten to look for the youngest member of the team.

'She's probably in Chicago right now,' Hetty said, checking her watch.

'Lucky Nell,' Deeks said. 'While the rest of us are working our butts off, she's drinking eggnog in the snow.'

Kensi checked her watch. 'Well, it's rush hour and if Deeks and I want to get to the shop before seven, we'd better leave now.'

'See you there, then,' Callen said, waving them off.

'See you,' Sam echoed his partner.

'Can't wait to see your cover,' Deeks said, readjusting his hat again.

Callen groaned. 'Don't remind me.'

'I just did.'

Kensi rolled her eyes and tugged her partner from the bullpen before Sam and Callen took it into their heads to shoot him.

'Bye, guys,' she said, and dragged her protesting partner away from the danger that he'd created for himself.

…

Deeks hummed a Christmas carol under his breath as he stacked boxes of Barbie dolls.

Kensi pulled the candy cane she'd been sucking out of her mouth and looked at him curiously. 'How can you be so cheerful? We're working on Christmas Eve.'

'Hey, so's everyone else in the store,' Deeks pointed out.

'Yeah, but they're being paid for it,' Kensi said.

'We are being paid for it,' Deeks replied. 'Just not by the toy store.'

Kensi sighed and looked critically at the doll in the box. 'Who would want to play with this thing? Everything's… wrong.'

'I never did pick you as a doll type,' Deeks said, peering over her shoulder. 'What did you play with when you were little, Fern?'

Kensi glared at him. 'Not Barbie dolls.'

'Well, I figured that. Let me guess… Lego?'

Kensi laughed. 'No.'

'Played in a sand pit?'

'No.'

'Mud pies?'

'No.'

'Toy cars?'

'No, Deeks.'

'Am I barking up the wrong tree?'

'You could be.'

'Hmmm… You played house, didn't you? With the miniature kitchen, and the fake, plastic food…'

'No.'

'Play Doh?'

'No.'

Deeks thought it over for a while, moving on from Barbies to toy robots. 'I've got it!' he exclaimed triumphantly.

'Yeah?' Kensi asked.

'You played with stuffed animals, didn't you? The fluffy teddy bears and the plush ponies…?'

Kensi flushed slightly and stuck the candy cane back in her mouth.

'You did, didn't you?' Deeks laughed triumphantly.

There was a twinkle in his eye that Kensi didn't like. Turning away from him, she pushed some boxes to the side and jumped.

'Hello.' Mr Kringle's eyes twinkled kindly.

'Hey,' Deeks grinned. 'What's up?'

'Just checking on my two newest employees,' Mr Kringle said, smiling back.

'Oh, we're fine,' Deeks assured him. 'Having lots of fun. Aren't we, Kens?'

'Well, this is one of the more pleasant operations I've had to be on,' Kensi said. 'It's clean and the uniform's better than most of the things I've had to wear.'

'In your opinion,' Deeks muttered, winking at Mr Kringle.

Mr Kringle gave a Santa-like chuckle and walked away from the partners.

'I'm wondering how Hetty and he are associated,' Deeks said, stealing a candy cane from his partner's back pocket and sticking it in his mouth.

'Hey!' Kensi squeaked, swatting his hand away, but Deeks simply laughed around the candy cane before peering through the boxes Kensi had cleared.

'Well, well, well…' he muttered, a smile lighting up his face. 'Kens, check it out.' He motioned to the gap, and she stood on her toes to look through. A smile lit up her face as well.

'Now, that is a good disguise,' she said.

'Come on.' Deeks tugged on her sleeve and disappeared around the shelving. Kensi followed him.

'Welcome to The Old Toy Chest,' Deeks said to the two disgruntled looking men with a delighted smile.

'Can we help you?' both he and Kensi chorused, as they'd seen other employees do throughout the two hours that they'd been there.

Callen and Sam glared at the pair.

'Any movement?' Callen finally asked.

'Nope,' Deeks said, moving the candy cane from one side of his mouth to the other. 'Nice cover.'

'Mention this again and I'll kill you,' Sam grunted at him, before pushing the stroller containing a tiny baby further into the store.

'Out of curiosity, whose baby?' Kensi asked, kneeling down and examining the sleeping child.

Callen shrugged. 'No idea.'

'You stole a baby?' Deeks asked. 'Gee, and I didn't even know that you two were trying. Why didn't you tell us? Or were you not ready to come out?'

Callen closed his eyes and sighed. 'We're never gonna hear the end of this, are we?'

'No way,' Deeks assured him.

'I sure hope that the kid doesn't wake up and start crying in the middle of things,' Callen muttered.

'The baby belongs to one of the other agents,' Sam informed the other pair. 'They said as long as we bought it something, we could borrow it.'

'It? Sam, this baby is most definitely a "she",' Kensi said to him, lifting the baby out of the stroller and regarding it with delight. 'And she's awake.'

'Because you woke her,' Callen pointed out.

'No, she was awake before,' Kensi said, watching as the baby stretched its tiny arms and let out a yawn.

'You look so very…' Deeks paused for a moment, trying to find the right word.

'You want to watch what your next word it,' Kensi warned him.

'Oh, I know,' he assured her. 'Maternal. You look very maternal.'

'That's because this baby is so very cute,' Kensi cooed at her. 'It's got nothing to do with me.'

Privately, Deeks thought differently, but he didn't voice the opinion as he was sure that Kensi could kick just as well holding a baby as when she did without.

'Here, Callen, take your baby back and go buy something for it,' Kensi said to him, handing the baby back with a sigh.

Callen groaned and looked at the child, whom reached up at him with exploratory arms. 'What do you even get for a baby?'

'I dunno. A rattle?' Deeks suggested.

'Great. Where are the rattles?' Sam queried.

'Aisle seven,' Kensi said.

At the same moment, Deeks said, 'Aisle thirteen.'

Kensi turned to him with a frown on her face. 'I could've sworn that I saw them in aisle seven.'

'And I thought that I saw them in aisle thirteen.'

'Okay, you two,' Callen broke in. 'We'll check both.'

'Or maybe you should just get her a stuffed animal?' Deeks asked, glancing over at Kensi and waiting for the tell-tale pink staining of her porcelain cheeks. He wasn't disappointed.

'I'm too disgruntled to figure out the inside joke,' Sam grumbled, and trudged off with the stroller to find a good place to wait for the op to start.

'And you two – back to work,' Callen ordered them with a twinkle in his eye.

'See you when it's over, Callen,' Kensi said, waving him and the baby goodbye.

The partners retreated to their tactical position behind the shelving.

'You ever think about having one?' Deeks asked Kensi.

'Having a…?'

'Baby.'

'A baby? Me?'

'You seemed to enjoy holding that one,' Deeks said, gesturing in Callen and Sam's vague general direction.

'I… I dunno. I mean, this job isn't exactly stable and predictable, is it? I mean, this is Christmas Eve and I'm on an Op in the middle of the night. If I had a kid…'

'You'd want to be home, wrapping presents and decorating the tree and pretending to be Santa Claus,' Deeks said softly.

'Exactly. And also, this isn't the safest occupation in the world. I… I don't want my kid growing up without a parent.' He could hear the unsaid words; like me.

His eyes flicked to her, and he wanted to say something reassuring, but the words just didn't come to his lips.

Suddenly, she shook her head, as if trying to shake off memories and dark thoughts, and grinned sunnily at him. 'What about you?'

'Well, I'd love to bring someone into the world. You know, be able to point at them and say "I did that". Plus, I know what not to do, which is a start, right?'

Kensi laughed at his optimistic attitude. 'When you get that kid, come to me about three months into it and we'll see if you're still that optimistic.'

Deeks laughed. 'I'd probably fall asleep on you.'

'Yeah,' Kensi agreed with him. 'If you did, though, I'd probably hit you.'

'You mean like that time on the stakeout, even though I wasn't sleeping?'

'I was just checking.'

'It hurt. And it was more like a slap than a hit, anyway.'

'Be glad it wasn't a kick.'

Deeks winced at the thought. 'Okay, I'll take a slap.'

'You mean now?'

'Now?' The way Deeks eyes widened was comical. 'No, thank you. I'll remain slap-less.'

'I thought so.'

They were silent for a moment, until Deeks peered through the gap in the boxes. 'Hey, those guys don't look like they're here to buy toys.'

Kensi joined him. 'Not unless the toys are really, really, really dangerous.'

Suddenly, Deeks' phone buzzed, and he quickly picked it up. 'Callen and Sam see them too,' he reported.

One of the three men looked to Mr Kringle, who nodded and led them to a room in the back that he'd previously shown to Kensi and Deeks, who had bugged the room with numerous cameras and microphones. As walked by their hiding spot, he caught Deeks' eye, and Deeks nodded to show that they had seen them.

Kensi checked her watch. 'It's only ten thirty. They're early.'

Mr Kringle slipped quietly out of the back room and quickly walked over to them, taking a roundabout way to get to them. 'They're the buyers,' he said quietly. 'He won't be here for another fifteen minutes at least.'

Kensi dipped her head in a quick nod. 'Thank you.' She removed an earpiece from her pocket and slipped it into her ear, watching as Deeks did the same.

'Eric?' she said quietly, tapping on the earwig. 'Comm's up.'

'Yup,' Eric said. 'And there are people in the room that you bugged, did you know that?'

'Yes. What can you tell us?' Callen's voice joined them on the conference call.

'Well, there are three of them. I'm pretty sure that only one is the buyer, the other two are probably bodyguards. None of them are "Saint Nick".'

'We know,' Deeks said. 'He's not gonna join us for another fifteen minutes, according to Mr Kringle.'

'Can you get an ID on them, Eric?' Sam questioned.

'Of course I can,' Eric said, and the sound of busy typing was then heard. 'Facial rec is running now.'

'Good work, Eric,' Callen said. 'Anything we should know?'

'Emilie's mother is worrying about her,' Eric said.

'Huh?' Callen asked, frowning. 'Who's Emilie?'

'The baby, G,' Sam said.

'You forgot her name?' Kensi asked, laughing a little.

'Tell her that Emilie is fine,' Callen murmured.

Deeks laughed a little.

'Hey, I've got an ID,' Eric said brightly.

'On the dealer?' Kensi asked.

'No, a body guard. Tony Buick. LAPD arrested him for assault and battery six years ago – he just got off of parole. And he's been arrested a bunch of other times too.'

'Awesome,' Deeks said dryly. 'He sounds like really good news.'

Kensi shook her head. 'Any others?'

'I've got a hit on the other one,' Eric said brightly. 'Paul Brown. Same sort of stuff… ooh…'

'I don't like the sound of that "ooh", Eric,' Callen warned him.

'Sorry, it's just… he was suspected of murder a little while ago, but it was concluded that he didn't do it.'

'That's intriguing, Eric,' Deeks said blandly.

'Sorry.'

'The arms dealer, Eric?' Kensi prodded.

'Hey, I just got a hit on him!' Eric said after a moment. 'Only a code name, though.' He snorted. '"Frosty the Snowman".'

'Are you kidding me?' Kensi asked, exasperated, while Deeks just laughed along with Eric.

'Unfortunately, he isn't,' Callen said.

'How do you know?' Sam asked his partner.

'I ran afoul of him a few years ago. Gave me a few scratches for my troubles,' Callen said, a hint of pain colouring his voice.

The door to the toy store opened with another ding, and Kensi and Deeks looked up to see two more men, one an older-looking white man with sandy-blonde hair turning grey at the temples and an African-American who looked even more scary and built than Sam, who had a tell-tale bulge beneath his left shoulder.

'It's them,' Kensi said immediately.

'Kens, just because that guy's packing doesn't mean…' He trailed off as they watched the greying man smiled and shook Mr Kringle's hand heartily before setting off towards the backroom, followed closely by the guy who seemed to be his bodyguard. 'Okay, it's probably him,' Deeks allowed.

After watching them disappear, Mr Kringle sidled up to where Kensi and Deeks were carefully hidden.

'You saw him?' he asked quietly.

'Yeah,' Deeks said.

Kensi nodded, listening to her earpiece with a frown on her face.

'Okay,' Mr Kringle said with a sigh. 'Good luck.' With a pat on Deeks' shoulder, he moved off away into another part of the store.

'"Saint Nick" looks quite distinguished,' Sam noted, peering at the screen of his phone.

'Does he have swagger?' Callen asked curiously.

'Gamers recognise game,' Sam simply said.

'What's that supposed to mean?'

'If you don't know what it means, you never will G.'

'Are they making the deal?' Deeks asked, peering over Kensi's shoulder to look at the screen of her phone, moving strands of her hair so that he could see better.

'Yeah. Exchanging pleasantries,' Kensi said, reading the men's lips.

'Great,' Deeks said slowly. 'Uh, Eric? Can I get some audio, please? Unlike my partner, I can't read lips.'

'Sorry.' Eric typed something quickly. 'Better?'

'Much.'

'You have the goods?' "Frosty" asked.

'Yes,' "Saint Nick" replied, sitting down opposite him at the table. He nodded to his body guard, who supplied three briefcases, each containing twenty grenades in each. 'The launcher must have been satisfactory.'

'It was, very. This is why I am buying the ammunition for it from you. I know that you provide satisfactory goods.'

Kensi cursed under her breathe, and she and Deeks shared a look. 'He's got a grenade launcher? I hate those things. I really, really, really hate those things.'

'You and me both. And I've only really come across them while working with you lot,' Deeks replied.

'Sh!' Callen whishted them.

'Shushing,' Deeks whispered before settling down to listen again.

'I demand eighty per unit,' "Saint Nick" said.

'That's steep,' Callen remarked in an undertone.

On the screen of Kensi's phone, "Frosty" shook his head. 'No. Forty.'

'Forty? You mistake me for an idiot! Seventy-five.'

"Frosty" snorted. 'Are you kidding me? Now I'm the one being mistaken for an idiot. Fifty.'

'Sixty-five.'

'Fifty-five.'

"Saint Nick" smiled. 'I think we both see where this is going. Sixty. Take it or leave it.'

"Frosty" exchanged a glance with his bodyguards before nodding to them. They produced two briefcases and opened them.

'That is four thousand dollars,' "Frosty" remarked. He removed two bundles of money. 'Now that is the amount we agreed upon.'

'Okay,' said "Saint Nick". He nodded to his bodyguard, who took the two briefcases and gave the other men the three briefcases containing the grenades.

Kensi and Deeks crept out of their hiding place towards the back room, tugging their weapons free, and saw Callen and Sam doing the same. Sam placed a hand on the door knob before looking to Callen, who counted down with his fingers from three.

Suddenly, Sam threw the door open and yelled out, "NCIS! Put your hands up!'

All three bodyguards pulled weapons, while the two dealers ducked behind them.

'Okay, this isn't good,' Deeks said nervously.

'Drop the weapons,' Callen growled.

'No,' "Saint Nick's" body guard growled back.

'You're really, really, really outnumbered,' Deeks pointed out. 'Like, really.'

'Not a good idea right now, Deeks,' Kensi muttered to her partner, setting her jaw as she kept her weapon levelled on the guy on the right.

'Meh.' Deeks shrugged one shoulder. 'It's four against three. I like my chances.'

'You don't shut up, I'll shoot you myself,' Kensi muttered.

Deeks accordingly shut his mouth.

"Frosty" chuckled. 'Pretty little girl's got balls.'

Deeks turned to Kensi and they shared a smirk.

'They had to go there, didn't they?' Deeks mused aloud.

'Yup,' Kensi agreed.

'Trust me, you wanna put down the weapons,' Deeks assured the other men in the room. 'Or she'll kick you like's she's trying to kick a field goal. I've seen her do it. Don't think she won't.'

"Saint Nick" snorted. 'Why?'

'She don't like being called a "pretty little girl".'

'I don't know about you lot, but I'm not going back to jail,' one of the body guards snarled, the one that Eric had identified as Tony Buick. He aimed the gun at Kensi, but before he could even think about getting a shot off, Deeks had raised his Beretta and shot him square in the shoulder.

He fell to the floor, groaning.

Kensi sighed and turned to Deeks as the other men dropped their weapons. 'Deeks, I don't need protecting.'

'Just then – it looked like you did. So I did.'

'Damn it, Deeks.'

Sam looked up from cuffing the injured body guard and nodded to Deeks. 'Good shot.'

'I wanted to aim for his head, but, you know, all that paperwork… It's Christmas.'

'I wasn't worth the paperwork?' Kensi asked Deeks as he led the way out of the tiny back room.

'Oh, you're worth twenty pages of paperwork. But him? Nah.'

Kensi sighed and tugged the Santa hat off of him, leaving him with his hair standing on end. 'Only twenty?'

'Seeing as it's you… thirty-five?'

'That's more like it.'

Deeks chuckled. 'Come on, Fern. Let's get out of here.'

'I like that idea. You guys coming?'

'Yup,' Callen said, pushing "Saint Nick" into the waiting hands of an LAPD cop. 'Just let me go get Emilie.'

'Good idea,' Sam chuckled, delivering "Frosty" to the cops as well.

Deeks sighed and put an arm around his partner. 'Let's go, Fern.'

Kensi shrugged herself out of his warm embrace. 'On one condition.'

'What's that?'

'Don't call me Fern.'

…

'Why are we back here?' Kensi asked Callen, pulling the reindeeHr antlers from her head and sighing with relief as they walked back into the OSP.

Callen shrugged. 'Hetty called and asked me to bring everyone in.'

'Oh, great,' Deeks said dryly, rubbing his tired eyes.

'Tired, Deeks?'

'Okay, seriously, it's Christmas Eve. The only person that should be awake is Santa Claus, right about now,' Deeks said to Callen, who simply smiled and folded his arms.

'That is true, Mr Deeks, but I wanted you to come in so that you could receive your thanks personally.' Hetty's voice floated out from the vicinity of the bullpen, and the group followed accordingly.

'Whoa,' Deeks said quietly, gazing around the bullpen, softly lit by several hundreds of twinkling fairy lights twined around balustrades and poles, their light reflected by fluffy tinsel which dangled from every free surface.

'It's beautiful!' Kensi exclaimed gently.

In the middle of the bullpen sat a palm tree, decorated so heavily that you couldn't actually see the tree for the tinsel and lights and dangling baubles. A large, shiny gold star sat proudly on top, and beneath it were nestled five presents, wrapped in bold red and gold wrapping paper.

Mr Kringle and Hetty stood by it, smiling broadly, while Eric sat at Kensi's desk, staring up at the tree like it were a hallucination or something.

'I realise that you all are probably very tired,' Mr Kringle began, 'But I wanted to thank you all personally for making my toy shop safer. I'd always feared that something might happen, but thanks to you, it now never will. I've left a few little things, one for each of you. Hetty helped me in picking them out.' He moved closer to them and shook each of their hands before smiling kindly at them all and then leaving the OSP.

'Nice guy,' Callen remarked.

'A very nice guy,' Sam agreed.

Eric moved forwards and picked up a present. 'Hey, this one's for you, Callen.'

Callen took it with a slightly suspicious look on his face.

'Can we open them?' Kensi asked, receiving hers.

Deeks looked at his clunky black watch. 'It's after midnight, which makes it, technically, Christmas.'

Hetty beamed at them all. 'Go ahead. Merry Christmas, all.'

'Merry Christmas, Hetty,' they all murmured, and she left the bullpen.

'Who's going first?' Kensi asked.

'How about ladies first?' Deeks suggested.

'Okay, then, Deeks, go ahead.' Kensi grinned at him.

Deeks closed his eyes briefly and chuckled. 'Nice one. Seriously, Kens. Go ahead.'

She paused before tearing the wrapping paper off of a box. 'Hey… It's a toy bow and arrow set.'

Callen and Sam exchanged a look.

'Well, Hetty did say that she helped him choose,' Callen reminded them.

Without further ado, the men all tore the paper off of their presents.

Callen's eyes lit up. 'Hey! A new basketball.'

Eric grinned with delight. 'A robot?'

'Who didn't see that coming?' Deeks asked Kensi before tearing into the wrappings of his own present.

'A magic kit?' Sam looked slightly confused.

'Maybe Hetty's planning a cover for you as a magician,' Callen suggested.

'G, you're the one with the white rabbit.'

'It came with the hat!' Callen protested. 'What did you get, Deeks?'

A smile lit up Deeks' face and he let out a small laugh. 'A remote control car.'

'Oh, God,' Kensi groaned. 'We're never gonna see the end of it.'

Deeks grinned and patted the dog that had come to sit by his legs, minus the flashing red nose and reindeer antlers. 'Monty will have fun with it, won't you buddy?'

Callen sighed and tucked the ball under his arm. 'Well, I'm gonna call it a night. Merry Christmas, everyone.'

'Me too,' Eric agreed, regarding his robot with glee. 'Merry Christmas.'

'You guys want a lift?' Sam offered.

Both men nodded.

'Well, then, I'm outta here too. Merry Christmas, Kensi, Deeks.'

'Merry Christmas, guys,' Kensi said, smiling at them.

'Don't stay too late,' Callen warned the younger members of the team.

'Merry Christmas to you too, Callen.' Deeks grinned at him, and the three men left.

Kensi sighed. 'Well, that was an… interesting Christmas Eve.'

Deeks checked his watch. 'Actually, it's after midnight. It's Christmas.' He paused and then headed to his desk. 'And seeing as it's after midnight, I guess you can open this.' He pulled a silver and gold wrapped box out of his desk and presented it to her with a flourish.

'What's this?' Kensi asked, frowning at it.

'Why don't you open it and find out?' he suggested.

She watched him carefully, trying to figure out what was going on, but his carefully black face said nothing. 'Alright…' She tugged at the red bow and slipped it off before tugging at the wrappings until they fell off. She held a cardboard box.

'A box?'

'Actually, it's what's in the box.'

'Oh… because it's a very nice box, and…'

'Just open the box.'

She grinned at him before opening the box and lifting out what it contained.

'Oh, Deeks.'

'What?'

She held an incredibly cute fluffy light golden brown teddy bear wearing a bright red, equally fluffy Santa hat.

'Oh, Deeks…'

'You keep saying that.'

She laughed softly and hugged him.

'I'll take that as a thank you, then.'

'Good idea,' she murmured.

'You leaving soon?' Deeks asked.

Kensi nodded, moving away from him, bear in her hands. 'I guess.'

'Beer, ice-cream and Miracle On 34th Street?' Deeks asked with a smile on his face.

She forced a smile. 'Probably.'

'You know…' Deeks sidled over to her, where she was leaning against her desk. 'They've been asking about you, down at the shelter. You could come with me again, if you want.'

A smile lit up her face. 'Really?'

'Yeah. It'll be fun.'

She paused and then nodded. 'Okay.'

He smiled at her before realising how close he'd actually stepped to her. They were toe to toe, almost nose to nose.

'I, uh…' Kensi realised that she was staring at him, and quickly looked down, biting her lip.

Almost awkwardly, Deeks looked up before gaping at what he saw.

'Oh, you are kidding me,' he muttered softly.

'What?' Kensi asked, looking up at him.

He laughed dryly. 'That woman…'

'What is it?'

He sighed and looked down, while in the same moment pointing up.

'Mistletoe.' Her voice was barely a whisper.

'Uh huh.'

She looked up at him, and could feel his breath on her face.

'Well, we appear to be standing under it,' he whispered.

'Uh huh.' She was silent for a moment before asking with a coy smile, 'Well, are you going to kiss me?'

His answering laugh told her everything she needed to know.

The End

…

Just a little holiday drabble that popped into my head. Hope you liked it. If you did, tell me so in a review. Thank you!

Merry Christmas!

XD PurpleHipposRock

P.S. I don't expect NCIS: LA to be in my stocking or under my tree this year.

XD PurpleHipposRock