Prologue

The West Coast Office of NCIS around Christmas is, well, Hetty decorates the building. Not part of the building, the WHOLE ENTIRE building. Even the shooting range, when she put shear, see-through sweaters on all of the targets. She even insisted on putting a real pine tree in the building this year – much to the dismay of the team seeing as how they were the ones to decorate it due to Hetty's lack of height, and the tree being a full on 8 feet tall. And the other decorations that she can't reach, the team (unwillingly) reaches for her. That is about all there is to say as far as decorating goes. Not that they don't like Christmas – they love Christmas! They just don't have as much fun as others because cases around Christmas are usually the worst. Murders and robberies are usually what their case load looks like. They don't, however, mind the public indecency cases that jump around every so often inside the various Naval Bases found in Los Angeles. Out of the four team members, Deeks usually enjoys these the most. Kensi on the other hand does not enjoy them because Deeks is constantly talking to her about how his past cases relate to the current bouts of public indecency. That is about the time she turns up her car radio as far as it will go to her techno station of choice.

Those cases, fortunately aren't given to Kensi and Deeks too often, but they are given to Callen and Sam, who are also immature (and a little rough with the suspects, however, they don't exactly tell Hetty about that), but not nearly as immature as Deeks (they don't tell Hetty about that either).

Aside from that, Christmas is a rather odd time for the team. None of them have anyone to spend Christmas with, except Sam, who spends Christmas with his wife and daughter. Callen is a lone wolf, and Deeks and Kensi don't have any family, except the team. Nell and Eric are a different story. They have family to spend Christmas with, so compared to the rest of the team, they are fairly normal.

This Christmas isn't as boring or tedious as most though. Deeks likes to think it is him that is making the holiday more cheery, but that is his own personal opinion, according to Kensi. It is really because the team is back to normal. Hetty is there to stay, and so are Deeks and Nell. With the team happy, that makes for a wonderful Christmas.

Chapter 1

"Deeks, I don't want to hear it!"

"I'm just saying! The Santa hat looks good on you Kens!"

"If you even begin to elaborate on that, I will never drive you to work again, no matter how tired you are!"

"Wha-"

"Or how much coffee and donuts you bring me."

"Hmm. That doesn't seem very fair."

"Well! You started it!"

"And I am finishing it, Mr. Deeks." And with that, the little ninja killer was gone.

"Hah!"

"Kensi, that is not funny! She sneaks up behind me all the time! One day it is going to be you who is being snuck up behind."

"That doesn't even make any sense! And even if it did, I have no reason to be snuck up behind!"

"You have a point Ms. Blye."

"Gosh! You scared me Hetty! Not a word Deeks!"

"I wasn't gonna say anything."

"Yes you were and you know it!"

"I plea the fifth."

"You can't do that!"

"Yes I can. I was a lawyer. Remember?"

"Ugh. Great. Now I am going to be hearing about this 'lawyer' thing all day. I'm not even going to start talking tomorrow. I'm just going to stay quiet all day."

"Well, Fern, that would just give me one more reason to annoy you."

"Two things. One, if you call me Fern one more time, those fake NSA agents aren't going to be the only ones who are hurting where it hurts, and two, if you annoy me tomorrow at all, I swear I wi-"

"Whhhheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!"

"Yea. Wow. I am going to go deaf one day because of that whistle."

"Oh, it isn't that bad Fern."

"Deeks!"

"No chasing me! Fern! Kensi? Kens? Stop chasing me! I can't run that fast up stairs! Kensi! Ahhhhhhhhh!"

"Run, Forest, Run! Hah. How long do you think it will be before she kills him? And how would she kill him! That's another thing to add to the bet!"

"Yea but no changing the bet's wager though, G. I already have a spot in my wallet for the 50 bucks you are gonna owe me when this is over."

"In your dreams, big guy. In your dreams."

"You are most definitely not in my dreams!"

-*NCIS: LA*-

"Hey guys. LAPD found a dead body in an

alley this morning at about 2 a.m. ME says he died from drug overdose. Not sure how the drugs got in his body though. It could have been inhaled, injected, put in food, or a ton of other ways. Name was John Taylor. He was retired from the Navy for 5 years. His old C.O., Gary Durant. Taylor wanted to take a vacation to L.A. Ended up moving here. Not married, no kids, apparently estranged from his family, hasn't seen them in over 15 years, works at a local restaurant called Lé Orangerie. Fancy French place. Customers say that the chef is grumpy and rude, and doesn't like to talk to customers. I can only imagine how he would react to NCIS. Be careful Deeks, he might have sharp utensils."

"Why was that comment directed towards me, Eric?"

"Because you had to ask why the comment was directed towards you."

"Touché."

"Eric, the ME isn't supposed to touch the body until we get there to authorize it."

"Sorry Callen. I tried to tell them but they said that their people declared the autopsy to be done immediately."

"Their people dec- whatever. Alright, thanks Eric. Kensi take Deeks and go talk to the manager and see how he acts at work – any suspicious behavior or missed days. Sam and I will go talk to his old C.O. Eric and Nell, get the autopsy info from the ME.

"We'll send it to all of your phones when we have it."

"Ok. C'mon Kens. Let's go terrorize Le Orangerie. This is gonna be Le Fun!"

"Deeks, just because you say Le in front of an English word does not make it French."

"Not in my wor-"

"I don't care about how you talk in your world, Deeks. Your world is not the real world. And it's weird and no one would want to live in it."

"That's not what Ang-"

"If it is about one of your past girlfriends, I don't want to hear it. Actually, I don't want to hear it in general."

"You seem to be cutting me off a lot lately."

"If you think about it, I have a very good reason."

"You guys realize that you still haven't left the office yet, right?"

"Shut up Callen. We are leaving now Deeks."

"Just a few more minu-"

"No. Absolutely not Deeks. Absolutely not."

"You cut me off again!" … "Ow! Why do you always hit me directly in the shoulder?"

"Would you prefer I kick you somewhere else?"

"You can hit me in the shoulder all you want. Wait, I didn't mean that! Ow! Kens! Really? Really!"

"If you stopped being annoying, maybe, just maybe I would st-"

"You guys are still here."

"Ooh! Callen just cut off the cutter-offerer! Haha!"

"Shut up Deeks. We are leaving NOW. Period. Let's go."

"Ok! No arguing here!"

"Bye kids! Have a good day! Be safe!"

"Shut up Callen!

"Bye Kensi! Bye Deeks!"

Faint arguing was heard in the background.

"I am upping the bet to 60 bucks."

"Nuhuh Sam! We agreed no increasing the monetary amount!"

"Monetary amount? G, what are you, 80 years old?"

"C'mon Sam. Let's see if we can beat them back here! Maybe they will be mad at us! I bet you 40 bucks they are!"

"Deal."

"Well… C'mon! Don't just stand there staring at the screen! Do you want 40 bucks or not?"

"You do realize we need an address, right G?"

"I'll send it to your phone guys. Go if you want to win your bet!"

"Thanks Nell!"

"Jinx you owe me a beer!"

"A wha-? It's jinx you owe me a Coke!"

"Yea Sam but I don't like Coke!"

"What? Who doesn't like Coke? Nevermind!"

"We might have to create a bet on who kills who first in that partnership too, Eric."

"I think Sam will kill Callen first."

"Nope. I think Callen will go off on Sam and snap."

"Haha! Ok, 30 bucks says Sam kills Callen."

"You're on!"

Laughter was heard up in OSP Center, and all Hetty could do was smile at how great her team functioned together.

"Deeks give me the keys!"

"No."

"It's my car!"

"You have a point, but no."

"Why not!"

"Because you suck at driving!"

"I most definitely do not!"

"Do to."

"Do not!"

"Do to."

"DO NOT! Deeks I will not chase you around the car! Deeks give me the keys! Deeks! Give. Me. The. Keys! Now, Deeks! Deeks! Stop running! That is it! Get back here!"

"Hah!"

"Deeks!"

Deeks finally stops running, with the keys in his hand. He unhooks the car key, puts the rest of the keys attached to the key ring on the hood of her car (scratching it in the process but he hopes Kensi won't notice that, although with his luck she will) and begins running again.

Kensi grabs his arm and he turns around with the key in his free hand. Without much thinking, he put the key in his mouth.

"Deeks what the heck!"

"Now you weawwy can't have ta key!"

"What did you say?"

"Nuhuh. Vat ivn't gomma wowk!"

"You know what? That's ok because my car can start with a button. And you are really the one who is going to pay because after we go check out the restaurant, you are taking me to the store."

Deeks spits the key out in defeat.

"Why, may I ask?"

"Because, you owe me a brand new key. And I want one of those cool ones that have the palm trees and water on them, not just a plain silver one."

"What about a bronze one?"

"Nope. I want the most expensive key I can find."

"Fine. I should've seen that one coming."

"Yes you should have. Now get in the car before I hurt you."

Deeks unwillingly climbs in the passenger side of the car.

"Thank you."

"Did you just say thank you to me Kens?"

"Are you gonna brag about it for the rest of the day?"

"Yes."

"Then, no. Ok, yes, but if you say one word about it to the rest of the team, I will not hesitate to kill you."

"Kensi Marie Blye just apologized to me! Wait I have to make one of those recordable notes in my phone."

"Then Sam and Callen will win the bet."

"About recording a message in my phone?"

"No! About me killing you first. So much for a secret bet. Oh, and I will be making you pay."

"I can't pay if I'm dead now can I?"

"Shut up Deeks."

"You know you would never kill me Fern."

"Don't call me that!"

"Ok Princess!"

"Deeks!"

"Sorry Sunshine!"

"That's a little better but you are still pushing it, buddy."

"You know you love me!"

"More like tough love, if that."

"Ouch, Fern. Ouch."

"You started it!"

"Did not."

"Did so."

"Did not."

"Did so."

"Did not. We should make a pact to stop arguing."

"Now Princess, you know that wouldn't last long."

"Good point. We are really slow today. Actually, you are really slow today. We still haven't left the parking lot. If we don't head to the restaurant now, Hetty is gonna kill us. More specifically, she will kill you."

"I seem to be getting theoretically killed a lot today."

"Deeks, I could never hurt you. Intentionally."

"That means a lot Kens. Thank you."

"Anytime."

"Where are we going, G?"

"What do mean where are we going?"

"Not where are we going in general, but the address we are going."

"Oh, 1223 Pacific Boulevard. He isn't a C.O. anymore, he is a recruiter for the Navy now. That address is for the recruitment building."

"Alright. I'll put it in the GPS – wait where is the GPS Callen?"

"Why do you always blame me for things like this?"

"Because, you are my partner and you are the only one who rides in the car other than me."

"Well, I didn't touch your GPS."

"You better know where 1223 Pacific Boulevard, G."

"What if I don't?"

"Do you?"

"Yes."

"Well, there you go. Right or left?"

"What?"

"Do I turn right or left G?"

"Oh. Uh, right."

"Dear God. This is gonna be a long car ride."