Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS: LA.
Prompt #36: Unwind - Sometimes, after a long day of solving crime, the best way to relax is just to hijack the giant screen, hook up the Wii, and play Mario Kart with your partner.
Words: 539
"Today sucked," sighed Eric, putting his keypad down and slumping in his chair.
Nel groaned in response, her head buried in the nest of her arms on her desk. "Yeah. Sucked." Her head shifted, letting one green eye peek from behind red bangs. "Totally and completely."
While they'd dealt with rough cases before, very few were so completely draining as today's hullabaloo. The techs breathed another heavy sigh, too exhausted to move and go home.
Then Eric sat up. "Hey, Nell."
"What?" she grumbled. Looking up, she spotted her partner's grin. "What, Eric?"
"I think I have just the thing to cheer us all up." He reached under his desk and pulled out -
Nell's grin was enormous. "Eric, you're a genius!"
He grinned modestly. "Go get the team. Something tells me they'll like this idea as much as you do."
"OOOOH!"
Hetty blinked in surprise upon hearing a group shout from Ops. Curious, she started walking up the stairs to see what the commotion was about.
"Dude, you just got inked!" Deeks shouted.
Callen groaned. "What gives, Sam? I thought we were on the same team!"
"Less yaking, more driving!" was Sam's only response.
The small woman entered Ops without a sound. She saw her team sitting in front of the giant plasma holding small white steering wheels like their lives depended on it, leaning forward and shouting at the split screen. On the screen were four squares that showed a different brightly colored vehicle and a strange-looking cartoon driver in each. She frowned, unable to understand what they were playing.
Kensi shouted a curse as the girl riding a yellow motorcycle was knocked off the road by a car bearing what looked like a giant turtle dinosaur. "Sam, dammit! I'm gonna shell you the instant I get an item!"
"You can try, Kensi!" Sam crowed, pressing a button on his controller. The dinosaur rocketed forward, then skidded on a banana peel. "What the - Deeks!"
Deeks laughed as a green lizard-dinosaur on a dirt bike shot past him. "Sucker!"
Then suddenly, the three screens were covered in what looked like black ink blots. Sam, Kensi, and Deeks all shouted "Callen!" as he swiftly maneuvered his massively disporportioned red racer over them, squashing them flat as he headed for the finish line. When he crossed, he threw his hands up and whooped.
"Our turn, our turn!" Eric proclaimed, grabbing the controllers from Kensi and Deeks and handing one to Nell. Quickly resetting, the race was off again.
Hetty had no idea what on earth they were playing. But it reassured her that they were smiling, and laughing, and being friends after such a trying case. She even forgave them for hijacking Ops and turning it into a video arcade for the night.
So she quietly walked out and headed home, knowing that tomorrow would be another day for them. But for tonight, at least they could pretend that the world was all right.
This was pure fun to write. Mostly team-centric, but oh well. Please review!