THE FOOL...Write about someone beginning a new adventure or journey, with no idea of where it might lead.

Detective Marty Deeks hesitated at his front door; hand outstretched to open it. He let his eyes run around his apartment for the third time that morning. Still, nothing was out of place. Just like the other two times. It was tidy and clean and Monty had been fed and taken care of. He'd had his coffee, probably too much of it if his jittery hands were anything to go by, and had a decent breakfast in his stomach. The first decent one in weeks. Being Jason Wyler meant crappy breakfasts unfortunately. He sighed heavily and rubbed the back of his head. He was stalling and he knew it. It was stupid but he wanted today to be perfect and he thought that if he got the day started off right it would continue being right the whole way through. See, stupid but Deeks really needed all the luck he could get especially since he'd now be dealing with the feds from now on.

Seriously, NCIS? He hadn't even thought that it was a legitimate thing. Well, that was a lie. Deeks made it a business to know everyone that he could be dealing with while working. That meant perps and agencies alike. He knew of NCIS, they dealt with Marines and he was posing as one for Pete's sake. He just didn't realise that they basically had a Black Ops division. An exaggeration? Probably but of everyone he'd come across in the past few days from that terrifying little lady to the intimidating guys, Sam was the massive one's name he thought, and the quite frankly hot as hell but amazingly skilled brunette, every single one of them had given off 'spy vibes'.

Bates had snorted when Deeks had voiced this thought and told him to try and not get himself killed by them. He'd gotten used to seeing his grinning, scruffy face around. Bates' words, nor his. Hmpf, nice show of confidence there.

His hand rested on his door handle, once he got outside, he'd have to go. He was nervous, OK? He hadn't worked with a partner in a while, notwithstanding his technically ongoing investigation with Jess Traynor. He didn't really count what they had as a proper partnership. He was more helping her investigate than them really working together per say. Also, he'd never worked as a team outside of his rookie training days and these NCIS guys looked tight. Like, ridiculously so. It was definitely going to be a bit awkward breaking into that. What if he couldn't?

With a heavy sigh he opened his door. The sun was still low in the sky, it was way too early. Left himself plenty of time to follow the directions that Hetty woman had given, with strict instruction to not enter anything into his satnav because of course not. Did he mention that these people were weird? It also gave him time to freak out before dealing with people. See, Deeks even scheduled that in. Completely ignoring the fact that he had been doing that all morning.

He got into his car, he didn't remember how he left his apartment and keyed in the appropriate level in the elevator, but he was in his car. Hopefully, he had locked his front door. Deeks could just about remember fumbling with his key. He took a calming breath as he clutched at the steering wheel. This was going to be fine. Just another assignment. He was going to be fine. These guys were going to be less dangerous than the worst of LA's criminal underworld, right?

Fishing the handwritten note from his jeans with one hand, Deeks started his car with the other. He really hoped wearing jeans were okay. Feds normally wore suits, right? At least, the FBI agents he'd come across always wore a suit. Not that he'd seen any of these NCIS guys be anywhere near that well-dressed. They had been running an op though. He shook his head. No one had mentioned a suit so no suit. There was no time to change anyway.

Deeks peered at the note and tried to straighten it out. He had to go along that highway that was notorious for its traffic build ups. Fantastic.

Finally, he pulled into the parking spot the note had directed him to. Deeks suspected that it wasn't actually the parking they used and it was just somewhere inconspicuous for non-agency people, people they didn't trust. Either that or they were hella paranoid. Weren't they supposed to use agency assigned SUVs or something? Or was that just the FBI again?

There were still three more lines of directions to follow and hopefully he'd be at the right place. He felt that this was some sort of test with all the weird turns he had to take earlier. There had to be a more direct way to get here. Now, was that the side street that he was meant to go down over there?

Apparently, it was. It took Deeks another ten minutes but he finally arrived at the correct building, he hoped.

The place looked quite impressive, Deeks was always a sucker for Spanish architecture, if it wasn't for the crumbling front and numerous 'scheduled for demolition' signs. This was it? He scrunched up his nose, bit weird for a federal agency. Though he supposed it was an excellent spot for secrecy. In plain sight but not. Way too much thought had gone into it. He stared up at the apparently condemned building.

Now, how was he supposed to get in here without an agent? He was a bit scared that there were laser trained guns pointed at him, just waiting for him to make a threatening looking move. Maybe he should just go away and wait for someone to drag him here. He bet that Sam guy could literally do that.

He sighed heavily. Oh, what the hey. He'd come all this way. Surely, it would be better to start this whole thing on his terms.

Deeks reached out his fist to rap the door...