Callen resisted the urge to laugh though he was sure it showed on his face. He looked at his Assistant Director, hoping he wasn't smirking too obvious. Wasn't so funny when you had to do it, was it? He glanced around his team, they were equally as amused by this turn of events. Some hiding their humour more than others. Heck, Deeks wasn't even trying to hide his amusement. Well, at least there was a grin on his face now unlike earlier.
He felt sorrier for Granger than he did for Nate. He was almost certain that this had been dumped on Granger like it had been on them. But their sneaky little operational phycologist on the other hand…Oh, he was probably in on this with Hetty from the beginning. Nate could never resist the chance to get into their heads to "help" them. Callen crossed his arms and let a grin spread over his face. Oh, Nate, Nate, Nate. He deserved every part of this.
"This really isn't necessary," Nate said quickly, giving Granger a nervous look.
"Of course, it is," Nadine said almost indignantly, if she was even capable of that emotion. "It is very important for subordinates to see their superiors display the level of trust they are expected to be held to."
"Don't be ridiculous," Granger grumbled, giving her a glare.
Impressively, she wasn't intimidated. Callen's respect for her actually went up a notch. He was pretty sure that glare promised banishment to a far eastern country. It had been directed at Deeks at his more obnoxious moments plenty of times.
"I don't know," Bates said with a shrug. "Could be fun."
Now Granger's glare turned on him. This time it worked, Bates looked intimidated.
Nadine looked pleased, "That's the spirit!"
Nate actually looked ill. Callen tilted his head and looked closer at him. Were you meant to be able to go that pale?
"That means he should go first, right?" asked Nate, now sweating slightly. "To demonstrate his, uh, team spirit?"
"Exactly!" Nadine said, clapping her hands. She did that a lot.
Bates stepped forward and said, "Well, I'm Lieutenant Bates, the boss of these knuckled heads," he pointed a thumb behind him at the LAPD staff, "and I guess I'm a, a narwhal?"
"A narwhal?" spluttered Deeks. "Really?"
"I panicked," Bates said with a smirk. "And they're cool."
Ahhh. It looks like Bates wasn't going to take this to seriously either. This just got better. Strangely, Nadine looked very pleased with his answer.
"Just fantastic," she said. "You went with your instincts. They always reveal the truth about yourself. You are going to be a very positive source for these exercises."
Now the LAPD were snickering as their boss pinned a false smile on his face.
"Really?" Bates asked through gritted teeth.
"Oh yes, I'll even let you demonstrate with me," she informed him as if she had just bestowed a marvellous prize.
Bate obviously didn't see it that way.
"He is an excellent teacher," Deeks said, looking very earnest. "I have learned so much from him."
Ok, he was pushing it a bit but it was so very funny and Nadine looked like she was buying it. Surprisingly, Bates didn't exactly look pleased.
"But first," she said, turning to face the NCIS crew. "We need to finish our introductions. Gentlemen?"
Granger glared at Nate, who paled further and gulped."
"Uh, I'm, uh, Nate," he stuttered out, Nadine giving him an encouraging look. "And I think I'm a, um," he looked around him and focused his gaze on the windows. "A magpie?"
Callen followed his line of sight and chuckled. He caught a flutter of black and white wings that he'd bet was a magpie.
"Um, interesting," Nadine said, eyeing Nate a bit worriedly and then turned to Granger. "And you?"
"Granger. A human," he said shortly, upping the intensity of his glare.
For the first time today, Nadine showed some common sense and left Granger at that. Honestly, Callen was impressed that she even got an answer out of him.
"Now we start the exercises!" she announced, back to looking slightly manic again. "I want each of you paired with someone from the opposing agency."
"I get Deeks," Kensi said quickly, grabbing her partner by the arm.
Callen saw Deeks conceal a wince, Kensi had pointy fingers and a tight grip.
"Ma'am, I said opposing agency."
"Detective Deeks, is LAPD," Kensi said matter-of-factly.
"Our liaison," Sam added, looking annoyed that he hadn't thought of it first.
To be fair, so was Callen but he guessed Kensi technically had dibs. Would it be too asshole-y to pull rank?
Nadine looked to Bates questioningly who just shrugged and nodded.
"I can't allow that," she said. "It needs to be someone who you don't work with."
"You never said that," Kensi said defensively.
"If that's the case, I get Nell," said Sam, pulling her to him and receiving a glare from Eric.
"No, no, no! This isn't how this works," Nadine protested.
"Hey, you make the rules," Deeks said with a careless shrug. "Do you think I can pick Granger?"
The man's glare was now turned on him.
"I'll take that as a maybe."
Nadine just looked defeated. Hm, Callen looked at his watch, twenty minutes. He'd have to collect his winnings from Sam after this. Honestly, didn't the man even know how they operated?
AN: Ok guys, I need your help. You've been fantastic at supporting me so far and I was hoping you could give me some trust exercises you'd like to see them perform?
