Fluffy Hair and Nosy Bosses
Disclaimer: Nope.
A/N: Thanks to jmlane1966, tractorlady41, Sweet Lu, Sprig, GrayLady117, cargumentluv, jimmer, OhBuddy66, meraveps, Guest M, IWantColoredRain, happyherb18, Guest, tvj12, Mei2, evelynmarie1, and Dagger Queen for your reviews, messages, and input! I tried to work in as many of your ideas as I could into the story.
Now, you all enjoy this while I stop rubbing my hands in evil glee and use them instead to work on #50.
The Meet-Cute Part 2
Deeks was excited.
No, that wasn't right – 'excited' didn't quite cover it. He was stoked, he was gleeful, he was Monty getting a woof-back from that high-maintenance poodle with the pink bow that lived up the street.
Why? Because he had a paintball gun and permission to use it. That permission was exercised when he sighted down the barrel and let a ball fly right into the center of a woman's back.
Her head shot up and she gave a frustrated sign as she asked "What now?"
Deeks poked his head over the one of the temporary walls enclosing the group of three people. "Bullet to the shoulder from hidden sniper. Requires pressure. Your back-up is pinned down by the same assailant. The assignment has not changed." The three grumbled, but rolled with the curveball.
Deeks leaned back against the scaffolding he was perched on and smiled. He'd been slightly giddy ever since his friend Pete asked him to help with the conference and Hetty gave him the okay. Pete was also on the organizing committee and wanted Deeks' special brand of experience to beef up their tutorials. He was also scheduled to talk about inter-agency cooperation at the seminar later today. But first, he had some havoc to create. He pressed a button and smoke puffed out of the radio. He watched as the three scrambled to put out the fire while still trying to stay on task.
Across the warehouse there were different skills being honed. From identifying bomb styles and diffusing techniques to containment protocols and sorting out chain of command, the stations were meant to give each team of attendees a block of time to focus on just one aspect of a complicated situation. Then they came to Deeks' station which was, much like him, a little different.
Pete had pitched it to him as an opportunity to mine all the stories he'd regaled Pete with for training gold. Among the fake room's scattered furniture lay a ticking bomb. The goal was simple: disarm it. One team member was given the schematics on how to so to memorize. Should be simple – they had the steps and lots of time. But that wasn't the lesson. Also among the furniture was a treasure trove of roadblocks Deeks could release. So far he'd shot people, turned off the lights making the room dim and shadowy, acted as an overbearing captain who demanded minute-by-minute updates, and generally frustrating the participants to the point of giving up. But none of them had and he was glad that the lesson was being learned: always find a way.
He clapped as the green light flashed on, which signaled the bomb was disarmed. He climbed off the scaffold and entered the room through the door. They debriefed from the session and then he sent them on their way to the next station when the bell rang. He smiled at the growl of frustration that he heard as the team shut the door behind them. He probably wasn't their favourite person, but he was used to that.
The next team was reaching the table holding the instructions just as Deeks climbed to his perch. His eyes narrowed and a smirk worked its way across his face as he saw who was up next. When he originally saw the name on the attendees list he was intrigued. Danny had told him about Lou and when the man strolled into the first day wearing a Hawaiian print shirt, Deeks sized him up and saw his opportunity. Rolling the cart over his foot was phase one of his plan. He wanted to make sure that the man watching his friend's back was up to the task. He'd saved some nasty surprises for this group, so when the three entered the room, Deeks got ready to release phase two, nicknamed 'Hetty's House of Horrors', on them.
The three members of team Echo entered the room and did a quick sweep. Echo-1, the team member that had memorized the bomb schematics went straight for the device while Echo-3 began to dig through their provided tool kit.
"We have a problem." Echo-1 stated quickly. Lou, also known as Echo-2 in this scenario, asked what was wrong. "The diagram was in inches but this ruler is only in centimeters."
Deeks nodded up on his perch. They'd run into the one hurdle that everyone was given. He had mail-ordered that ruler from Canada just for this day.
"The conversion's 2.54 cm in an inch." Echo-3 muttered from deep within the kit. "Uh…we have a bigger issue."
Lou gave a grunt. "What now?"
"We have no cutting tools. No wire or side cutters, scissors, or blade of any kind in here."
"Let's look around." Lou started carefully opening drawers and cupboards.
Up on the perch, Deeks scratched his head. Two impediments and no real response. He peered down at Echo-3 as he found the jackknife hidden in the flower pot. Lou continued to scout the room while the other two set up to start taking the bomb apart.
They looked comfortable.
That wouldn't do at all.
Deeks grabbed the plug of the extension cord and prepared for round 3. Lou was unfortunately examining the hanging shelf when the plug in Deeks' hand made contact with the outlet. Deeks held in a laugh watching Lou spit out the mouthful of water he got as the sprinklers turned on. Lou's hand swung wildly as he grabbed for his walkie-talkie.
"Echo-2 to base, the sprinkler system has turned on. Repeat, the sprinkler system has turned on."
Deeks held his walkie-talkie to his mouth and started to rustle a crumpled piece of paper as he spoke. He said "Roger, we'll work on it" but it was hard to tell what made it through to Lou because he asked for the answer again and Deeks gave him a second showing. Lou shook his head, sending water droplets flying, as he relayed the non-answer to his teammates. He pulled the white sheet off of the couch and strode behind the others who were trying to keep the unit dry. Deeks watched as Lou put one side over his head and shoulders and flipped the other part over the rest of his team.
In Deeks opinion, it was if the Hulk was dressed up as a ghost, but it was effective. Maybe too effective. The performance of this team was both uplifting and annoying. They hadn't cracked under the first three challenges so Deeks shimmied down the scaffolding to ensure his next act was ready for its opening night. Satisfied, he climbed back up and pulled the plug on the sprinklers.
They had a minute of peace before the barrage started. Someone, clearly maniacal, had created a version of a baseball pitching machine to shoot paintballs. Deeks had two of them pointing in the room's windows straight at the bomb's location. Three team members hit the floor. Lou called it in, "Echo-2 to base, someone has us pinned down. Repeat, we're being shot at!" Deeks responded similarly to before, rustling and all.
Lou growled. He crawled towards the low table, shouting his plan as he went. Echo-3 came to help and together they shifted the table towards the one window. They grunted and groaned, heaved and pushed, but they got the table on its side and in front of the window which blocked the one barrage. It gave Echo-1 enough cover to stand back up and continue.
Somewhat disheartened that his plan had been thwarted, Deeks waited for a bit before radioing yet another unintelligible message to Lou and then shutting off the machines. It was time to release his ace-in-the-hole. He went to the computer controlling the simulated bomb and pulled up an option. He squinted down at the team and then clicked the mouse.
Echo-1 pulled away from the unit. "Guys, big problem." The others crowded around. "On the time display, the one number went out."
Lou, who hadn't worked on it at all needed an explanation. "What does it mean?"
A shrug. "Best case? The water shorted out a connection and we can no longer see its value. Worst case? Our time just got cut in half."
Lou pulled his shoulders back. "Let's get to it. What do you want me to do?"
Deeks watched, impressed, as the team efficiently worked their way through the complicated steps of diffusing the bomb. They completed their task before the end of their time and had earned Deeks' respect. He watched as Lou exited, content knowing that this man was watching his friend's back.
"And the obstacle course, Detective Deeks?"
Deeks stepped forward and looked over the group. "In terms of completion time and number of challenges overcome, the highest scoring team was Echo." He clapped along with the rest – they earned it.
"We'll take a quick break for lunch. Instructors, please follow me."
Deeks waited as the flow of people began to separate. He was just about to go to the instructors table when a hand on his elbow stopped him. He looked up to see Lou staring down at him.
Lou frowned as he seemed to size up Deeks. Then he spoke: "I guess when you take the square root of D-squared you get Deeks." Then he turned and walked away.
Deeks was frozen in place. He wanted to go after Lou but Pete was already calling Deeks over because they had to prepare for the afternoon's seminar. On shaky legs Deeks turned to join the group.
He'd done it. Deeks had made it through his short talk on inter-agency cooperation. Sharing examples of both good and bad operations had demonstrated his key points. He'd even touched on working with people from the same agency but different offices – Dinozzo had appeared in that one.
However the whole time part of his brain had been trying to decipher Lou's cryptic comment. Lou was leaning back in his chair, comfortable but not smug. Deeks hadn't even tried to get a hold of Danny because he wanted to get some answers first.
Finally, the day was over. Deeks' responsibilities were done so he caught up to Lou where he loitered outside the door of the warehouse. Lou nodded towards the café tables that were waiting to be picked up by a company that supplied set dressing. They sat down and Deeks fought the urge to fidget.
"Catherine sent me a letter." Lou held out his hand. "Lou Grover. But I think you already knew that."
Deeks shook his hand. "Catherine? Why?"
Lou shrugged. "She felt you two needed an ally and she picked me." He threw an arm over the back of another chair.
Deeks squinted up at him, "Does Danny know?"
"Nah, that man gets all kinds of annoyed when he's left out of the loop. Should-a seen the stink he threw up when Kono and Chin went out for pizza without him last week."
Deeks barked out a laugh. "You got that right." A sly grin slid onto his face. "Could be a lot of fun, y'know, telling him."
Lou grinned. "Could be." He dropped a piece of paper on the table. "Here's my number. I have a plane to catch." He pushed himself out of the chair and slapped Deeks on the shoulder. He was a few strides away when he turned and looked back at Deeks. "You did good here. A good amount of damage to my sanity, but no worse than Steve. Talk to you later." With that, he stepped out of view.
Deeks pocketed the number and smiled. It was good to have friends.
