Deeks released a huge breath upon finishing and waited for the reactions. Thankfully, they weren't long in coming.

"Seriously? That's all that happened?" Kensi demanded, all but shouting her reaction.

"All?" Deeks repeated in an insulted tone. "A whole firefight went on!"

"Yeah, yeah," she dismissed in a somewhat scathing tone. "Nothing overly exciting about that."

"Hey!"

Not exciting? How was a firefight not exciting? Okay, maybe they had been in far too many to count but still.

"Yeah," she repeated, scrunching up her nose and a hint of a smile curving her lips. "Not exciting at all."

Then the penny dropped and he narrowed his eyes at her.

"It's not nice to tease," he complained.

She squeezed his arm affectionately and he couldn't help but smile at her.

"But it's so easy to," she replied.

He pouted but that must made her pay his arm.

"Seriously, is that the end?" Callen checked.

Deeks didn't know if he should be feeling insulted or not.

"Was it not exciting enough for you too?"

Callen raised his eyebrow and shook his head. "You like your cliffhangers," he pointed out.

Okay, that was a fair point. They were too good for dramatic flair not to use them.

"Well, we had to lug a whole lot of drug dealers down to the precinct but for some reason they didn't want me involved in that."

"I wonder why?" Sam responded sarcastically but Deeks saw the smile on his face.

He was onto the big guy. Deeks knew that Sam was somewhat impressed by what he had managed to do. Okay, it might not have been the cleverest thing in hindsight but it got the job done. And he was alive to tell the tale. Everything was good. Excellent even.

"So, that's how this case ended? Your infamous case?" Kensi asked.

A nervous laugh escaped him as he rubbed the back of his head. This was all still this embarrassing for him, even though he had been regaling them with it. It was better for him to put his own spin on it after all. He'd really not liked how Bates had just dropped this into his damned award, it was completely unnecessary and downright embarrassing. Unfortunately, it had apparently come something of an LAPD legend now. Something to impress the new recruits with. See? Embarrassing.

"Yeah, that's how it ended," he replied quietly.

There really wasn't anything left to tell, except how all the dealers were processed and brought to trial but no one enjoyed hearing about those. No tales of daring-do about that.

"That can't be it," Eric said shaking his head. "There are way too many loose ends here."

"I have so many questions," Nell added.

"I always have questions when it comes to Deeks," Sam muttered to Callen who smirked.

"I thought I tied up all of the loose ends pretty well."

Everyone directed him the exact same disbelieving look.

"Oh, wow. I guess not."

"How did LAPD even find you? You never mentioned having a phone," Eric queried with a thoughtful frown.

"Drug dealers always have a phone," Kensi stated. "Burn phones usually but they have them."

Deeks shook his head. "Not me. I wasn't trusted with one. Did all my 'dealings' the old-fashioned way."

"Bet that was fun," Callen said with a snort.

Deeks pulled a face. Trying to keep track of people and getting regulars was much more difficult without a phone. Not that he wanted a legitimate drug dealing operation but still. It had been an awful lot more difficult to establish himself. Though, because he didn't have a phone with a list of less than reputable contacts he didn't feel as slimy when in character. Which was something.

"Video cameras up until me and Bordesley/Wilkes left the main road. That's what took them so long, they had to search a wide area.

"But they found you," Kensi stated.

"By sheer luck," Deeks said bluntly.

LAPD had found the warehouse completely by accident. Apparently, someone needed to take a leak and ducked behind a piece of dilapidated fencing and saw Bordesley's car. He shook his head trying to rid his mind of the what-ifs. Those were never good.

Looks like everyone else was thinking the same thing if their silence was anything to go by. They all knew of that feeling, wondering if they were going to get somewhere in time, wondering if they were going to be alive for just a bit longer.

Sam clapped him hard on the back.

"Alls well that ends well," he said happily.

"Yeah," Deeks answered with a tired smile.

He'd brought people to justice, dissolved a major drug ring and made his name in undercover work. So, yes. It had turned out well.

"Have you got it all out of your system now, Mr Deeks?" Hetty questioned.

Deeks eyed her warily, wondering when she had reappeared. "Yeah."

"Do you feel better about it?"

'Better' wasn't exactly the right word to describe how he was feeling. Embarrassed, emotionally exhausted, kind of proud but not 'better'. Though it did feel sort of good to share it with his team.

"I guess so," he said slowly.

She nodded at them and then clapped her hands making them all jump.

"Am I to assume that all required paperwork has been done?" she queried.

She got several hasty "Yes ma'ams", none of them stupid enough to slack of before finishing up paperwork. You only made that mistake once with Henrietta Lange.

"They stopped me from doing mine," Deeks tattled, pointing his finger at Sam and Callen.

"You were already done," Sam retorted, folding his arms in an unamused manner. "You were trying to get ahead."

"Just because I take pride-"

Hetty held up a hand to stop them both. You obeyed the hand.

"While I do admire your work ethic, Mr Deeks, I would admire you all the more so if you kept a healthy work-life balance."

Deeks was not alone in giving their boss a blank look. She let loose a sigh of exasperation.

"Go home, everyone," she instructed.

She didn't need to tell them twice. There was a quick scrambled for bags and they were soon being ushered towards then door.

"I kind of feel like celebrating," Callen announced.

"Hey, there's always the bar," Kensi suggested, nudging Deeks with her shoulder.

He grinned at her, glad that she was just as proud of it as he was.

"Sounds good," Callen easily agreed, he did live there after all. He turned to his own partner. "Sam?"

"If you're buying."

AN: And that's it guys. It's over. What did you think of Deeks' infamous case? I want to thank each and every reciewer and reader for taking the time to read this. Each of you is so appreciated! You guys are quite literally the reason for this story. Reember to hit me up for any missin scenes for this series and I'll add it to "The Outtakes". Again, thank you so much!