It had been a few days since the whole "Trust Exercise" incident (or The Fiasco as Deeks had taken to calling it) and things were finally back to normal. They'd dealt with a theft from a secure Naval Base, Deeks and Kensi were sexually harassing each other, Callen was egging them on and Sam was done with all of them. A pretty normal day all in all.

Deeks had just got his ears flicked so decided that he would let his partner have this round and returned to his desk, sheepishly rubbing his red appendages.

Kensi also returned to hers with an extremely smug look on her face. Callen was amused by the whole thing and Sam was just glad Deeks didn't spin Kensi upside down this time. There was still a dent in the wall after that particular struggle. They had covered it with one of the many plants about the place in a poor attempt to hide it from Hetty. Everyone knew that that was impossible to do but they were operating under the system of 'if it's not brought up it doesn't exist'. It hadn't killed them yet but Hetty was probably just biding her time.

The team worked in silence for a few minutes, working away at their reports with pens scratching signatures into far too many pages. Well, Kensi was still looking for hers in the landfill she called a desk but that was completely normal. Callen thought that he would tell her that he had rescued her reports from eminent disappearing when she looked frantic enough. A dangerous game but one that was always worthwhile playing. She never did learn.

Deeks sighed heavily while reading through his report. He wasn't entirely sure it made sense when you were reading it second hand. See, it was from LAPD for a change and he wasn't sure how he could make edging around the outside of a moving storage truck to fire a ridiculously large weapon (he'd got his handgun literally blasted out of his hands) at a ninja. Deeks shook his head in frustration, there really was no way that could sound normal.

"Having trouble there, Deeks?" Sam asked, amused.

Deeks resisted the urge to run his hands through his hair.

"How do you describe how deadly a ninja is without calling him a ninja?" He asked the team in general, ignoring Sam's question.

Kensi gave him an incredulous look.

"You mean Landon? He was not a ninja."

"Like a ninja then," Deeks said, waving his hand dismissively.

"Are you actually going to put down 'I was exchanging fire with a ninja' in your report?" Callen asked disbelieving.

"No, of course not," Deeks replied in exasperation. "That's why I asked how to describe him. And we were hardly exchanging fire, the guy didn't even have a gun."

"And he still manages to floor you," Sam teased.

"Not before he nearly knocked you unconscious," Deeks retorted with a grin.

Kensi also had to hide a grin at the memory. She had been the only one who hadn't been able to spar with the guy and she had been sulking until she had found out that he had managed to take down each of the guys.

"We were talking about you, not me," said Sam, still smirking.

"Some help here guys," he complained.

"With your report, Sam or yourself?" Called asked, seemingly absent-mindedly. "Because I think we can only help you with one of those."

Deeks pouted.

"You could just refer to him by his name," Kensi pointed out.

"Nah," her partner replied, scrunching up his nose. "This is for Bates. It needs to be entertaining. You know, to brighten up his day."

"It needs to be succinct, Mr Deeks," Hetty informed him, appearing out of thin air as usual. "Your Lieutenant has informed me that your reports sometimes read like the script to a bad action movie."

"I think we're more interesting than a bad action movie," protested Callen. "Certainly, more awesome."

"But if we compare ourselves to the Avengers..." said Kensi.

"He hasn't said anything to me about them," Deeks said with a shrug.

"He did say he thought you were more likely to take heed of the instruction if it came from yours truly," said Hetty, peering over the top of her glasses.

"Do you have a problem with my reports, Hetty?" He asked it a charming smile.

Hetty shook her head fondly at him, glad he had perked up after what had happened in the last few days.

"You are very thorough," she said with a slight smile before returning to her office.

Deeks looked at his team in slight confusion.

"So, I don't need to change my reports?" He asked.

Everyone just rolled their eyes. Deeks leaned back on his chair and smiled. It was good that things had got back to normal around here.

Suddenly there was an incoherent shrieking noise from Kensi's desk.

"What do you mean you had them all this time?" She demanded, lunging at the papers Callen was waving tauntingly in her direction.

He exchanged a look with Sam, both debating on the advantages of intervening.

'CRASH'

Well, as normal as it could be.