Deeks trailed off and frowned. Everyone made noises of dismay and frustration. Nell even lobbed a scrunched-up piece of paper at him. He ducked, letting it hit Kensi which was definitely a mistake as she sent him a murderous look.

"Come on, man, don't leave us hanging!" Eric complained, literally on the edge of his seat. He looked like he needed to go to the bathroom.

"I swear, if there's one more dramatic pause," Sam warned.

Seriously, for specialised, undercover agents these guys really had no patience. It was just a story and it had already happened. He was very obviously alive and well so no big deal, right? There was absolutely no need for all of this concern. Deeks honestly appreciated their protective tendencies but this was a bit much. He hoped that his unimpressed look conveyed that.

"Are you in pain?" Kensi asked, cocking her head to one side.

Ok, apparently not then.

"I'm trying to get the order right," Deeks scolded, ignoring his partner.

"I told you to just stick with the facts," Sam told him.

"I am," Deeks retorted. "But everything from now kind of happened fast."

Very, very fast. Even now, some of the memories were a bit of a blur. He was kind of relying on his memory of the subsequent case reports, not what actually happened to him.

"Finally," his partner muttered but he ignored her. Again.

Yes, not exactly the safest thing for him to do but she didn't appreciate the need for a story to flow.

"It won't make sense otherwise," he continued.

"It's barely making sense now," Callen felt the need to add.

Deeks decided to ignore him too. He was a man of few (of any) words. There was no way he could understand the struggle Deeks was having with this. There were just so many things to consider. He had to make sure that the story was exciting but still correctly giving the facts. But not too many facts or else he'd start yet another feud with the LAPD and that was how the team became aware of this case he was retelling in the first place. Which was just awkward in his opinion. That, and Deeks didn't think that Hetty would be as forgiving this time if they picked another fight with the LAPD. One that was sure to be more, he carefully considered his partner, physical. Or near-deadly. Who knew what Hetty would come up with as a punishment this time? Deeks shuddered. He still couldn't stand the smell of what the used to clean their weapons. And he'd had only just got the stains off his fingertips. His mother had thought that he'd taken up smoking for crying out loud. She'd given him such a telling off, which he didn't appreciate considering she stress smoked of all things. But where was he? Oh yeah, the punishment Hetty would cook up if his team took offense to how the LAPD treated him. Again. So yes, he did have to be careful how he recounted this tale. Very careful.

Something nudged his arm and he jumped. Oh, it was Kensi.

"You okay?" she checked.

"Oh, uh," he shook his head and grinned at her. "Yeah, I'm good. Just trying to get the story straight."

"With no flights of fancy," Sam reminded him.

Sheesh, he was really going on about that, wasn't he? You add a little dramatic flair once and suddenly it was high treason.

"It's artistic licence," Deeks corrected him with a sniff (hadn't they been over this before?).

Sam did not look impressed by this information. In fact, he looked less than impressed. Downright annoyed even.

"Well, I'm not giving you any licence for flights of artistic fancy," Sam told him, folding his arms.

Deeks rolled his eyes and Sam's insistence. The guy really needed to loosen up a bit. It wasn't like he was taking anything away from the story. In fact, he was adding to it.

"Yeah, sure," Deeks dismissed.

"You better not," Sam said threateningly.

Eyeing the big guy warily, Deeks asked, "Uh, where was I again?"

That got him multiple exasperated groans.

"LAPD was about to open fire," Callen prompted.

"Hey, I never said that!"

Ok, Callen wasn't wrong prese, but he was jumping ahead!

"Normally when cops storm the place it's with a hail of bullets," Nell pointed out.

Deeks raised an eyebrow at her. "Well, that's a stereotype."

"That's drastically proven," she countered. "Especially in LA."

"Oh, touché," was his partner's far too eager contribution.

Though, Nell didn't have a point but it was not the point he was trying to make!

"How many died?" Callen asked morbidly. "What?" their team lead demanded as everyone gave him exasperated or disgusted looks. "It's an enclosed area. There's going to be a fair number of deaths."

"You don't just ask that, G," Sam scolded.

"It's a crime scene and in think we'd want to know how many drug dealers were taken off the streets," Callen argued.

"In body bags," Nell muttered to Eric making him snort.

"It's not our crime scene," Sam retorted.

"Guys, you do know this happened in the past, right?" Kensi reminded them as she stepped between them in an effort nonstop the bickering.

Thank you! It wasn't like he had been saying that this whole time!

"Look guys, we're getting ahead of ourselves here," Deeks whined.

They were ruining the flow! Even if he still couldn't quite remember where the 'flow' was taking him.

"So, there was a shootout," Callen said triumphantly.

Deeks didn't deign that with a response. It would probably just start another argument even if everyone was currently nodding approvingly at their team lead.

"Do you want me to continue?" he demanded instead.

Everyone gave him an expectant look. He sighed in exasperation. He supposed he could just go with what he could now remember. It wasn't like this lot was going to give him any more time to track his memories.

"Well, yes, there was-"