A/N: Sorry this took so long to get out. My grandparents, who had known each other since primary school, passed away within two months of each other, so its been hard to find the motivation to write. But now I'm back in the saddle. So here goes.

ATF had much smaller holding cells that LAPD. Instead of 30' x 30' group cells, ATF used single person cells, barely 40 feet square. Worse, today they were double booked. Even worse, his cellmate, Remy, who had been the money man, would not shut up. He needed time to think. By now Kensi would have gone to Granger, but the question of whether-

"Hottest actress in the hottest scene in movie history, go."

Deeks turned away from Remy to face the wall. He wanted to punch it more than anything. That wouldn't be helpful, and hitting things never seemed to satisfy his father for very long. The real question was who was calling the shots, if it was Bauer then there was a good chance that he could walk, but if it was some ladder climber-

"Best line in Breaking Bad."

Deeks took a very deep breath.

"Come on man, you've got to give me something."

Deeks really did not need to deal with this right now. He was trying to salvage this. If he couldn't well, he didn't really-

"Hey."

Deeks rolled over and sat up. He felt the fury rising inside of him and in all honesty pummelling Remy was probably better than facing-

The cell door buzzed. He turned to see two plain clothes agents. "You're up," said one. They led him down the hallway and into one of the interrogation rooms.

Standing next to the table was a male agent. Unlike the last two times the men had met. Agent Bauer was wearing suit and ATF lanyard, his hair combed back and his beard neatly trimmed, with a single folder, full but not overstuffed on the table. All designed to present authority and control to the subject.

"Are we?" He waved towards the cameras.

"We're being recorded."

"You want to tell me why you're under buying guns for a gang."

"The same reason you were under with bikers, to catch the bad guys."

"Do your bosses know about this?"

"Not the exact details."

"What they don't know..."

"Exactly."

"I screwed it up for you brother."

"It's okay, I'm sure I can spin this."

"So you don't want me to call this in."

"No, question me, then throw me back."

Bauer smiled. "I should have brought coffee." He settled into his chair. "So, how've you been?"

When the voice told Kensi not to move, she managed to turn over and draw a pistol. Being shot was far better than being taken. She had been a hairsbreadth from shooting out the man's kneecaps when she'd seen the letter ATF on his bulletproof vest. She had been held at the cordon and released once ATF has verified her identity. Now she followed Granger, Sam and Callen through the ATF bullpen. An agent was coming out of an interrogation room, coffee and files in hand. Callen led them towards the suited man.

"Agent Bauer," said Callen as they got close.

"Listen-," Agent Bauer started.

"Is he in there?" snapped Kensi.

"He's in the holding cell, with the other suspects," said a voice to one side. The quartet turned to find an Indonesian man in pin stripes.

"Agents, meet Section Chief Batu. Chief this is Agents Hanna, Callen..." Bauer stopped.

"Agent Kensi Blye."

"Assistant Director Owen Granger."

"NCIS," finished Bauer.

"You've got a lot of nerve coming in here after what you pulled," said Batu.

"What we pulled?" Kensi said.

"You almost blew more than a year's work by my best man. And for what, some two bit outfit," Bauer was looking very intently at his file.

"And you've probably blown our only chance to get in on a major drug smuggling organisation," Kensi replied.

Batu was getting ready to speak again when Granger stepped in. "Enough. Clearly we're not going to get anywhere here. Let's take this upstairs."

"What about Deeks?" Sam said.

Granger turned to Bauer. "Can you fish him out again?"

"He wanted me to throw him back. He thinks he can salvage it."

"Then we follow his lead. Agent Blye, Agent Callen, come with me. Agent Hanna keep an eye on Deeks, be ready to pull him out if there's trouble." Granger turned to Batu. "Can you have some men standing by?"

Batu paused for a moment, then turned to two of his men. "Cy, Fitz, show Agent Hanna the way, back him up." The two men nodded and led Sam in what was presumably the direction of the holding cell. She felt a hand on her arm. She looked up to see Granger.

"Let's go get him out of here." She allowed him to lead her away.

Assistant US Attorney Roberts rose as both agencies entered the conference room. He made a few notes as both sides told their respective stories. Then he said the words Kensi had feared. "I agree with Section Chief Batu. Your operation can't proceed in its current form and even if it could, I am not prepared to give away the best shot we've had at the Crows in the last decade, not on a maybe."

"But I also agreed with Assistant Director Granger. There is little to be gained by blowing your CIs cover. I'll have to talk to my superiors, but I think that what we'll do is charge everybody, including your CI under his assumed name. Then towards the end of pre-trials, if your investigation doesn't bear fruit, we offer your CI and his associates good plea deals in which they admit to weapons trafficking. But I'll have to inform the judge."

"Agreed," said Granger.

"Fine." said Batu.

Granger stood and offered his hand. Batu took it briefly, shook Roberts' hand, nodded to the others, and left, Bauer in tow.

"He's a decent guy, but this case was supposed to be the big break that got that office out from under the Stone cloud and give him a plus for the next promotion round. Now he's got a complication, and he has to deal with the people who he sees as having put him in his unenviable position."

"He should be thankful for the win."

"He will be, in a few days. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have court to prepare for."

It wasn't the first time that Deeks had been in a courtroom. On dozens of occasions over the years, he had been called to testify hidden behind a screen, or sometimes just to sit in the gallery and observe. Nor was it the first time where he hadn't had much sleep, though this time it was from a need to stay vigilant, rather than pre-trial nerves. It was his first time in the dock. The lawyers stood and introduced themselves to Judge Abernathy, the bailiff read the charges, then things got interesting.

"Your Honour, the government requests remand. The defendants are charged with crimes carrying a mandatory minimum of five years per count, totalling more than a hundred years in prison."

"Your Honour, the government is misrepresenting the charges, two of my clients are on their first offence and the other is on his second and therefore all are only eligible for a maximum ten year term. I request that my clients be released on their own recognizance." The judge harrumphed.

"Where I come from Your Honour ten years is still a lot of time to spend in prison. In our opinion the flight risk is considerable and furthermore, the defendants are accused of purchasing deadly weapons." That last part would probably have been effective in front of any other California judge. Deeks knew that Judge Abernathy was extremely gun-shy, in both senses, for fear of being overturned on appeal.

"Your Honour, the government is once again misrepresenting the charges, my clients are not accused of purchasing these weapons for their own use, only for commerce." No reasonable US attorney would exclude the possibility of use. "Furthermore, all my clients have strong ties to the community, all three own homes, and additionally, Mr Gentry owns his own business, a car wash in East LA." Deeks was just as surprised as the US attorney at that one, but he quickly suppressed it.

"Your Honour, the defendants are accused of serious crimes and represent a flight risk." This man must be incompetent; no prosecutor would let a criminal claim business ownership without proof, and a source of funds hearing. He was throwing the hearing. Deeks silently thanked Kensi.

"A flight risk for which the government has yet to provide evidence and crimes of which my clients are innocent until proven guilty."

The judge raised his hand. "Bail is set at $200,000.00 cash or bond." He banged his gavel down. "Next case."

As the sheriffs led Deeks out, he saw the AUSA smiling.

When Deeks walked out of central detention this time, Kensi and Bates weren't waiting for him. Instead, there was a man Deeks recognised from Rick's, who led him to a blue sedan down the street. The back window came down, revealing Thornhill.

Deeks leaned over the window. "A house and a business. You didn't have to do all that for me."

"We set it up after the thing with the sailors. You're one of my guys. As long as you're with us, we'll be with you."

"You said that."

"I meant it."

"Thank you." Deeks said quietly. He could see why Thornhill's people were so loyal, he appeared, and most likely was, willing to risk it all for them. Putting together a home and a business for every member of the organisation couldn't have been easy, or without risks.

"What happened?"

"ATF had an agent inside the Crows."

"Well, you put a human being in a plan and there will be a flaw. Don't worry too much about it. We have to be more careful about checking out the other guys better next time."

"Yes, sir." The man who had been waiting at the gate took a briefcase out of the trunk. Inside was $250,000.

"To complete your assignment." Deeks stood up. "And Mr Gentry."

"Yes."

"Fail again, and I will find someone more adequate for the task."

"I understand."

The car sped off.

Kensi was sitting in an SRX five rows from the gate. Deeks leaned in the driver side window. He placed his hand along the side of her jaw and pulled her lips to his. After a few minutes, they released each other and Deeks got into the back seat, lying across the seat so that he wouldn't be easily visible.

"His licence plate is AGRT6794." Kensi wrote the plate number on a note pad.

They drove in circles through the streets of Downtown Los Angeles for almost half an hour before stopping at an old-school diner. Kensi hopped out of the car

"Breakfast?" Deeks asked as he followed her.

"Something like that." She smiled.

Bauer, Sam, and Callen were gathered around a table in the corner.

"So, now what?" Sam asked after the waitress had refilled everyone's coffee.

"Well, I can probably scratch the most of the basics from my connections. But the more specialised items, like the grenade launchers and the rifles are going to be tricky. Everyone I know who has that sort of hardware is locked up." He turned to Agent Bauer. "What about you?"

"The Aryans are hoarding. They're worried about the Armenians trying to take their turf and also more generally about the obvious threats posed by non-WASPs to truth, justice and the American way." Bauer said. The last phrase dripped with contempt.

"If they're hoarding they're not going to be interested in selling to us," said Kensi.

"No, we're going to have to sell them something," said Deeks. "What are they looking for?"

"A rocket launcher." Agent Bauer said.

"A rocket launcher?" Kensi said.

"There's a time for a scalpel and a time for a hammer," said Deeks.

"Where on earth are we going to get a rocket launcher?" Kensi said.

"I know a guy who might be able to help with that," said Callen.

A/N: Once again, thank you to all those who have read and reviewed. It's deeply appreciated.