KING'S RETURN

/Chapter 2/

Both men had long since given up their attempts to free themselves from their bonds, and simply sat in silence; each lost in their own thoughts.

"Man, this is gettin' old...I'm bored," Deeks grumbled, before looking towards the closed door and giving a loud shout, "Hey, anyone out there...come on, introduce yourselves...you went through all the trouble to invite us over..."

Colby just looked at him like he was crazy. "What are you doing man..."

"Trying to get someone's attention...if we can get a look at them we can at least, maybe, figure out what they want," Deeks shot back, "We're certainly not accomplishing anything just sitting here."

"Yeah, so let's get the bad guys attention, maybe they'll shot us sooner rather than later," Colby grumbled.

Raising expectant eyebrows, Deeks retorted, "You got a better plan, I'm all ears, dude."

No, he didn't have a better plan, hell, he didn't have any plan; and that was the problem; that and the guilt he felt that someone else had gotten caught up in his abduction. It didn't matter that the other man obviously wasn't a civilian, that he had law enforcement experience; it boiled down to the man just being unfortunate enough to be in the wrong place, wrong time. If the detective died, it was on him.

Deeks watched as Colby just shook his head, his lips pursing into a tight grimace; and though the man was looking at him, he seemed to not be seeing him.

"Hey, you alright...I mean, you're not hurt or anything, are you," Deeks asked with sudden concern.

Deeks voice pulled Colby from his guilty thoughts and the young agent gave a frustrated sigh, "Nah, I'm fine...just...I'm sorry about all this; you shouldn't have got caught up in all of this...whatever, this is."

"Cop, remember...so, uh, not really in the habit of ignoring a 'crime in progress'...so, no sorry's are needed; and somehow I get the idea that if the situation were reversed you wouldn't be the type to walk away either," Deeks supplied.

"Yeah, well, still doesn't make me feel any better," Colby said.

Suddenly serious, Deeks said pointedly, "Look, dude, I know it looks bad; but we got two government agencies and the LAPD out lookin' for us...and I don't know about your team, but I do know mine, and they will tear this town apart until they find us...they hate to lose."

The detective's thoughts slipped back to those early months with the team, how hard it was to be accepted...how he felt like such an outsider and was seriously rethinking the whole 'liaison position' when Hetty had finally filled told him of Dom; how they had lost the young agent. Marty was not about to put the team through that kind of loss again...not if he was able to do something about it.

Deeks pulled himself away from those thoughts with a wry chuckle, "...and god forbid the bad guy that dares get in the way of my partner when she's on a mission; The Terminator has nothing on Agent Kensi Blye..."

Colby couldn't help but chuckle, "You got one of those too...mine is a real laid back kinda guy, but by now...let's just say, David can get scarily intense when pushed..."

Deeks gave a quiet sigh, "So we have faith in our teams—our partners...and we have each other's backs on this..."

Colby looked at Deeks and gave a nod of agreement; then turned towards the door and gave a shout, "Hey, my 'partner' and I are still waiting...show yourselves..."

Deeks gave a grin, adding, "Don't be shy...you invited us remember..."

The two men watched with bated breath as the door suddenly began to open...

...ncis la...numb3rs...ncis la...numb3rs...

A/N: yeah, shouldn't be much of a cliffy...since the bad guys name is in the title and all...