"Fighter pilot is an attitude. It is a cockiness. Its an aggressiveness. It is self-confidence. It's a streak of rebelliousness, and it is competitiveness. But there is something else - there's a spark. There's a desire to be good. To do well; in the eyes of your peers, and in your own mind." General Robin Olds, USAF

I do not own NCIS LA or any of its characters. Only my OC. I know I said that this was the last chapter, but there will be one more, I like to end on a nice number and 15 chapters seems good.

We arrive back at Ops. All of us are tired and covered in sand and dust. I follow the four of them in. They are laughing and joking amongst themselves. Deeks is reliving the "roadblock" maneuver that the F-35 pilot pulled off to the rest of the group.

"Did you see that? It just stopped and stood still, just hanging there in midair. It ignores all laws of physics." The other four of us were rolling our eyes.

Hetty walks out of the shadows in front of the group. "Captain Lee, I see that your creativity shows no bounds." She looks at me and smiles. "Good work."

"Thank you Hetty." I smile back at her.

Deeks then starts to recount it again for Hetty. "Hetty, it was amazing to see….."

The rest of us walk over to the desk area. Callen, Kensi, and Sam put down their bags beside their desks and sit down in their chairs. I walk over to the chair in the corner and put my bag down. I'm facing the window in the back of the room. I breathe in deep, the mission is over.

"I guess this means you are finally free of me….." I slowly turn around. Thinking that I'd be facing the group but in fact Callen is standing right in front of me. He is holding his hand out. I take it, he holds on to the grip.

"It wasn't all rainbows and unicorns, but you did good, Captain. You were an asset to this team. Thank you. Good luck with your career." Callen has a look of sincerity on his face.

"You ever need anything, or have issues with the Air Force, you let me know. I'll back you up."

Hetty walks back over to the group. "Captain Lee, a word."

I follow Hetty to her desk area. She points to a chair.

"It seems you've had quite an eventful 36 hours."

"Has it been that long? Haven't been up this long since JTAC indoctrination." I run my hands thru my hair. I need a hair cut.

"I would like your opinion of my team. As an unbiased person, I was wondering what you think." She looks straight into my eyes.

"Short version? Very good unit cohesion. They know what each other is thinking, they can react faster, I only hope that one day I belong to a team that is even half as good as them."

"Thank you Captain. Your skills have been noticed by quite a few people. I also put a good word into your file. You are dismissed."

I stand up from the chair and start to walk away, "Thank you", then I remember something i needed to ask, "Hetty, can I ask for your permission on something?"

I head back to the group and grab my bag. "Alright guys, I suck at goodbyes, so its been fun, and good luck. If you need anything, I think Eric program my number in your phones." I get a few chuckles.

Sam stands up and shakes my hand, and says "100%"...

I reply, "...and then some." Its the JTAC motto.

Callen walks up and shakes my hand again and slaps me on the shoulder.

Deeks and Kensi walk up together. I look at them both. "I hope I wasn't too much of a bother, you didn't have to change a diaper, or feed me, or even burp me." They both laugh. "You guys are interesting pair, don't change a thing." Kensi shakes my hand and grabs my shoulder.

I turn to look at Deeks. "You remember what I said to yah at the boatshed?" He nods, "And don't you forget it. I meant that."

Kensi looks up at Deeks with a look of concern, "What did he say?"

"Nothing to worry about Fern. It's all good…. Matt is been fun, hope to see you around some more." He holds out his hand towards we.

I take his hand and pull him in for a hug. Its a short man hug with a slap him on the back. We pull apart.

"My friends call me Emil, Deeks." I turn and walk out of Ops.

Its a Friday afternoon. Callen, Sam, Kensi, and Deeks had been working on paperwork the rest of the week after the Helmet Case was solved. They are having one of their typical bullpen discussions. Today's topic was food on a stick.

"Kensi, have you ever tried a fried Twinkie?" Sam asks. "Its not like a Twinkie isn't bad enough already, then you gotta go fry it in fat. How is that food?"

A voice comes from the side of the room from the hallway. "I don't know about Twinkies, I've always been partial to Fried Snickers." All four sets of eyes turn toward the voice which they all recognize. He is carrying a manilla folder under one arm, and a green bag in the other. He is dressed in street clothes, jeans and a Under Armour polo shirt.

"Matt what are you doing here?" Kensi is the first to ask with a smile on her face.

I shoot Kensi a wink, "Hetty asked me to bring by copies of my After Action Reports I filed with OSI. She wanted to add them to yours for the Navy and give me copies of all yours for OSI. Gave me a reason to get out of the desert for awhile to."

Deeks stands up and walks over to me, "Good to see you Emil," and shakes my hand.

"Also wanted to give you and Kensi something while I was here, a little gift." I see Deeks eyes light up.

"Oh a present?"

I walk over to Kensi's desk and reach into my green bag. I pull out a patch. Its a Squadron patch from my unit at Edwards, the one that shows the pilots name and callsign that we wear on our flight suits. It is bordered in white . On it in the left corner is a gold embroidered copy of the NCIS badge on a black background. To the right of that, is a logo of a F-16 in side profile, under that it is stitched with her name "Kensi Blye", and beneath that in large font in all caps is "FERN".

"Anyone ever gives you any problems at Edwards, you just show them that patch and drop my name." She takes it in her hand and looks at it and shows Deeks.

"Fern is her call sign huh, guess its permanent now." Deeks chuckles.

I take out a second patch that is a copy of the one I handed her and I stick it on her name plate that sits on her desk. Callen and Sam share a laugh and check out the patch on her desk.

"Now Deeks, it took me awhile to figure out a callsign for you, but I think I picked it right." Deeks seems very excited. Callen and Sam stand up to see what I gave him. I reach into my bag and pull out his.

Its another black background patch, but it has pink thread as a border. Inside is a small LAPD shield in the corner, and F-16 in side profile and "Marty Deeks" embroidered on it. Underneath his name, something all four of them are anxious to see is the word "DAINTY".

Deeks just looks at it and points in shock, Kensi, Callen and Sam start laughing hard.

"Dainty, it fits! Marty "Dainty" Deeks" Sam is very amused.

"Come on guys! Emil I thought we were friends, with the whole I call you Emil and you are going to call me Dainty? Seriously?"

"Oh come on Dainty, they used to call Matt "Emilee" for the longest time, before it became Emil." Kensi teases her partner.

"But why does it have to be pink, why can't it be cool like Kensi's." Deeks complains. Hetty walks over to see what all the commotion is.

"Deeks theres another reason why I'm here today. I cleared it with Colonel Michaelson, and Hetty gave me her blessing." Hetty nods at Deeks. I reach into my green bag and pull out a grey helmet that fighter pilots wear. I place it on Deeks desk. On the helmet is another copy of Deeks patch, just not in pink on black, but white on black like Kensi's. I take out another copy of that patch and stick it to his inbox on his desk since he doesn't have a name placard on his desk.

"Tomorrow is Saturday Deeks, and at 1300hrs you get to have a ride in the back of a F-16B with me."

Deeks jaw drops to the floor. "Are you serious? I get to go on a flight with you in an F-16? You're not kidding me right? This is really going to happen."

"I hope you enjoy your flight, Mr. Deeks. Captain Lee had to pull a few strings, but I believe it is well deserved for all the hard work you have done for us here." Hetty tells Deeks to confirm that it is for real.

"Wow" is all Deeks can say.

"Deeks is speechless, that's something I thought I'd never see." Callen is looking at the blonde haired Detective.

I clear my throat, "There's just one condition Dainty." I reach back into the bag and pull out a can of shaving cream and a razor. "You can keep the surfer hair, but the scruff has got to go. Sorry bro, thats the rules. The oxygen mask has to form a tight seal, but it will grow back. You could keep a moustache though if you wanted." I tell him. I can see the others try and picture deeks in a moustache, I think I saw Kensi do a shiver.

Deeks grabs the shaving cream and razor, thinks it about it for a second, "I'm in."

"I gotta get back to Edwards and do the final arrangements. Deeks be at the gate by 0800, theres a lot we gotta cover before you can get in the airplane." I look at the rest of the team and Hetty. "You are all welcome to come and watch if you'd like. I will have a GoPro camera on him the whole time for your viewing pleasure." I shake hands around again, slap Dainty/Deeks on the back and head out.