Deeks was seriously beginning to think that interrogating hardened terrorists was easier than this. Anything was easier than this. He'd even willingly go and question Kirkin. In the bath house. That's how bad this was.
Seriously, pulling information from a teenager was impossible. Especially when they were right in the middle of the whole 'the entire world is against me and nobody understands me' stage. Why did all of them go through that stage? Better yet, why was one of their only witnesses a teenager going through that stage? It was infuriating. It was like pulling teeth. The girl in front of them didn't even seem to get just how annoying she was being. Her mother next her seemed to realise as she was currently massaging her temples with her fingers. Fantastic.
"Maisie," the mother warned.
"What? I'm helping."
Barely. She was barely helping in between her sighs and eyerolls. Something that was driving his partner up the wall.
"Tone down the attitude, okay?"
That just got the mother another eyeroll and gum popping. The mother shot them what must have been the seventh apologetic look and shrugged her shoulders. Deeks felt for her. He did not know how she coped with this attitude for a whole day. These few minutes were bad enough.
Did Kamran go through this stage? Or would she be in the middle of it? Either way, he pitied Sam. Nothing seemed to mitigate this stage. Nothing.
"So, one of your friends also saw something," Kensi tried to continue the interview.
From the look on his partner's face, it looked like she'd much rather be doing this in the interrogation room.
"No, it was one of my BFF's," Maisie said in a scathing tone.
Kensi blinked at her. "Your what, sorry?"
"You know," the teenager said with an eyeroll. "My BFF."
"Oh," Deeks said, perking up. "I know this one! It means Best Friends Forever!"
"Urgh."
The girl conveyed her disdain in a way only teenagers could. Apparently, he wasn't supposed to be excited that he understood what she was saying. Though he would probably have got the same response if he didn't know. Teenagers were confusing.
"So, your friend said something," Kensi tried to encourage her to continue.
"My BFF."
"Right," Kensi said through gritted teeth. "Your BFF said-?"
"So" Deeks began when they were safely away from the teenager, nudging his partner. "Who's your BFF?"
Kensi raised an eyebrow at him.
"Is there a reason why you are using preteen slang?"
He shrugged and shot her a grin. "What can I say? I adapt to my current environment. Like a chameleon, that's what I am."
That got him an eyeroll.
"Yeah, no."
"Too much?"
Kensi shuddered. "I've heard enough of it today."
"I hear you," he agreed.
They did eventually get some of the information they needed from the teenager. Maisie Durham. That was her name. They should probably start using it rather than referring to her as "the teenager". Even if "the teenager" was more cool and mysterious sounding. So more rebellious which suited that girl down to the ground. She had really not wanted to be here. It cut into her social media time and all that.
"Callen and Sam cam take the kid witnesses next time," Kensi grumbled, rubbing her head.
"Definitely," Deeks agreed.
There was definitely no arguing about that.
"So, your BFF?" he asked again.
"Really, Deeks?"
"It's an important question!"
"Uh huh."
"Come on, tell me!"
That earned him an eyeroll but he still won because she replied!
"Nell."
"See, I knew that because I- wait. Nell?"
"Yes. Nell."
Deeks gaped at her.
"Nell is your BFF."
"Hey!" the small woman in question complained, appearing next to them almost like Hetty did.
"Not that there's anything wrong with you being someone's BFF."
Nell folded her arms and in general looked intimidating. Deeks tried not to cower. It was bad enough he did so for Hetty.
Okay, he was cowering. But only a bit!
"What's wrong with Nell being my best friend?" Kensi asked in that dangerous tone of hers.
"Nothing! And, wait, aren't Cat, Mindy, Mandy, Tiffany and Tiffany your best friends?"
"Yes."
And the look on her face heavily implied that there was going to be no further explanation forthcoming. Which was okay.
"Am I not your BFF?" he asked with a pout.
He thought that was pretty much a given.
"No."
"But I'm your partner!" He whined and then added with a waggle of his eyebrows, "in multiple ways."
"Don't, don't do that again," she told him, a weirded out look on her face.
Okay, that was definitely not what he had been going for.
"And all that doesn't make you my best friend."
"All that? All that? All that should put me well above the best friend zone. Like, the ultimate friend," Deeks tried to defend himself.
"Isn't that what a BFF is?" Nell asked.
"Exactly! I'm glad that somebody understands this."
Nell just grinned and puffed out her chest a little. Deeks' face fell, remembering that it was her he just described as the 'ultimate friend'. Now, Nell was awesome and everything but she was no him. He should be Kensi's so-called 'ultimate friend'. Surely, he had more than proved himself by now.
"Why's Deeks talking like a teenager?" Callen asked, appearing with a stack of paperwork that he promptly passed around.
"Has his speech finally regressed to his mental age?" Sam joked.
"Hey! I'm discussing something really important here."
Sam looked at Kensi with some alarm but Kensi shook her head.
"It's not important," she told him.
"It is!" Deeks insisted.
Rolling her eyes, Kensi decided that she'd had enough of this and walked away, Deeks trailing after her a lot like a lost puppy.
"Come on, Kens-"
Callen turned to Sam with one of those grins on his face. The one which made everyone in the surrounding area feel nervous, like they had to take cover.
"Am I your best friend, Sam?"
Sam gave Callen a dark look. "Don't even go there."