"You know that will rot your teeth, right?"

"What, this?" Deeks asked as he pulled a red lollipop from his mouth. "This is a lollipop, candy, a staple of childhood."

"Which explains why you are eating it," Callen remarked with a grin.

Kensi smiled at her partner as well. "You kind of walked into that one."

"No, that –" Sam said, pointing to Deeks' confection, "—is pure sugar on a stick. No nutritional value at all, and the sugar collects on the surface of your teeth and eats away at the enamel. Pure junk."

"If that was the case, then Kensi would be toothless by now," their liaison joked. "I did learn something important about these yummy little things, though."

"What's that, Deeks?" Callen inquired, leaning forward on his desk in anticipation "Going to share your wealth of knowledge with us?"

Deeks smiled big. "Absolutely. It is never a good idea to have a wet lollipop when you're playing with your dog. Fur sticks to these like sand on a surfer."

Callen shook his head and went back to reading his newspaper. The rest of the team attempted to look busy with file folders and the tapping of laptop keyboards. After a few minutes, Callen shook the pages of his paper and looked up.

"Now it's my turn to enlighten you all with my knowledge," he said. "Did you know that in addition to being the day we celebrate Halloween, October 31st is also the day in 1864 that Nevada became the 36th state in the union?" He paused for comments, but none came. "On this day in 1941, the Mount Rushmore monument was completed, and in 1892, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle first published The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes."

Deeks looked up excitedly. "See, now that's something to get excited about."

"Really Deeks? A book? I didn't know you could read those things," Sam joked.

"Ha ha Sam. No seriously, Sherlock is the master detective. His stories have inspired many a great detective, like yours truly – another awesome detective."

A round of eyerolls could be seen all around the bullpen.

"And on Oct. 31st, 2014, three NCIS special agents and one very special LAPD liaison were detained from all leisure time for failure to complete necessary case paperwork. I suggest you all get very busy very quickly if you want to see life outside these walls today." Hetty disappeared as quickly as she had appeared to give her team some direction.

"How does she do that?" the blond detective wondered.

Two hours later, Nell bounded down the stairs with her usual pep and Eric close behind. They had their bags over their shoulders, ready to head out for the day. At the bottom, she observed the team quietly filling in paper forms, placing them in file folders and tapping away at their computers.

"Hey guys! Everyone ready for the Halloween party at the club tonight?" she asked. "Eric and I are heading out to get our costumes ready. It's going to be a great time: candy, games and prizes, costume contest, and free beer thanks to Hetty. I can't wait!"

Deeks shook his head. "Sounds like a great time, but you guys will have to enjoy it without me."

"You're not going tonight? Why not?" Kensi asked, surprised by Deeks' revelation.

"I have an appointment with some bad guys tonight." When he noticed his teammates just looking blankly at him, he continued. "There's this LAPD case I've been part of for quite a while. A gang dealing in nasty stuff, but every time we think we are close to getting them, they disappear. I finally got some good intel about something going down tonight, so I'm in stake-'em-out and bust-'em-up mode."

"What kind of intel and from whom?" Callen asked. "You need our help?"

"A CI of mine, actually of our whole department. He's a decent guy, always given reliable information before," Deeks reported. "He said there's a meet going on tonight in the back section of St. Michael's Cemetery."

Sam stood up to pack his bag. "Seriously? That's your intel? There's a meeting going on at the back of a cemetery on Halloween night. Are they going to be wearing black pointy hats and stirring a giant cauldron, too?"

Kensi snickered. "Oooh, I bet they'll arrive on their broomsticks! You can tell us all about your big sweep of the gang tomorrow – HA!" Once again, Kensi's attempt at humor was funnier to her than anyone else.

Deeks rolled his eyes. "Guys, this is real. My CI's info has panned out before, and I trust this guy. I've had a couple successful busts in the past because of his intel. I believe in what he told me, and I'm going to sit there tonight and wait. You'll see – I'll be the conquering hero when it's all done."

The team shook their heads and headed out the door to get ready for the Halloween party that night.


A knock on the door interrupted Deeks' brief channel surfing before he had to leave. He looked at the door, then down at his furry companion.

"Monty, did you invite your friends over for a party this early? I told you I wasn't leaving 'til 9:30."

Deeks stood up, stretched, and loped over to the door. Through the small peephole, he got a distorted view of two teammates, or at least he assumed that's who they were: a pilot of some sort and a very attractive French Maid. He opened the door.

"Uh, hi guys. In case you can't tell, my porch light is off. No tricks or treats this year," he joked.

"Hey Deeks," Callen greeted him. "We just stopped by to see if you had changed your mind about the party tonight."

Deeks shook his head and stepped aside so his friends could enter. "Nope, I have a stakeout tonight. I have a date at a cemetery."

Kensi stepped a little closer to Deeks. "Do you really think they're gonna show tonight?"

Deeks laughed nervously. "As much as I wouldn't mind a little 'room service' tonight…" he said motioning to Kensi's costume, "…I have to do this. I believe in this guy and his intel."

"Too bad. You're gonna miss all the fun at the club, plus how often does Hetty pick up our beer tab for the entire night?" Callen asked. Deeks just shrugged.

"Ok then. Let's head out. See you later Deeks." Callen headed out the door. Kensi slowly started to follow, then stopped at the threshold. She looked back at Deeks.

"There's really something big going down tonight?" Kensi chewed her bottom lip in thought as Deeks nodded. "Maybe… maybe I should go with you – you know, just in case you need some back-up. That's what partners are for, right?"

Deeks grinned. "Yeah, no, I mean that's great. But let me ask you this: where in that costume do you have room for a gun? Or are you gonna beat them down with your feather duster?"

Kensi walked back into the apartment and shut the door. "Wouldn't you like to know..."

Half an hour later they got into Deeks' car and drove across town. "I'm glad you decided to come with. You won't be sorry. You'll get to see this all go down with your very own eyes." As Deeks talked about the case and all the efforts put into apprehending these guys already, Kensi started to understand how important this really was to Deeks. There was a level of passion for his job and the mission at hand that she didn't see from him too often.

"If anything happens, I've got your back," she said. "But if you try to hold my hand - or anything else - while we're in this car, I'll slug you!"

And there she was. Even a very feminine, sexy costume couldn't hide her inner Bad-Ass Blye. As he drove across town to the cemetery, he still wondered where she was hiding her gun.


A/N: This is only divided into chapters to make reading a little easier.