He hadn't intended any of them to grow on him. No, definitely not. These were colleagues, people he was in charge of, people he had to reign in nothing more. Definitely people to be kept at arm's length, not letting them get close enough to grow on him. And definitely not one Detective Deeks. He wasn't even NCIS for crying out loud. That made him a liability, if anything. Someone to keep a close eye on. An even closer eye than one G Callen.

So that's what he did. Carefully, at a distance - of course. How else were you supposed to observe without people realising why you were up to? He wasn't stupid. Especially around people as protective as this team. He wasn't stupid, he had heard and listened to what people said about them.

And now he got to see for himself. It was... enlightening yet predictable and unpredictable all at the same time. Sam Hanna the protector, Kensi Blye the defender, G Callen the reluctant leader, which just left Martin Deeks. Conflicting confusion was something he had to get used to when dealing with Deeks. Granger struggled to put a label on him besides "incredibly annoying".

He rubbed Granger up the wrong way, he wasn't going to deny that. Of course, it didn't help that Granger automatically disapproved of him. Owen Granger was very much old school in some things and when it came to Deeks, he could help but feel even more stubbornly old school. The younger man had that effect on him. He seemed to have that effect on a lot of people. Not that Granger ever cared what other people thought.

It didn't matter because he didn't really like any of them. They bent rules, broke them, twisted them to their hearts content. All with little to no oversight from Henrietta. So, he was here to put a stop to it. Spoil their fun. That's how they viewed him curbing some of this nonsense anyway.

And that's what they were nonsense. Highly skilled and highly effective but still nonsense. How they worked the way they did, he would never know.

Everything pointed to him being what je normally was. Cold, aloof, distant, authoritarian. All the things he was good at and would very much like to stay that way.

Of course, kt didn't work like that. Why would kt when it had worked for years, nay, decades before? He blamed Henrietta. She almost certainly had something to do with this.

Slowly but surely (and begrudgingly) he came around to them. He would have done it kicking and screaming if, you know, he was into that sort of thing. Which he wasn't. No, there was going to be no drama for him.

Coming around to the team was completely different from actually liking any of them. Liking people was just not something he did.

Yes, he felt a bit protective of Kensi and yes, he respected Sam. He even understood Callen. Deeks, he was bewildered by. But even then, he was fondly bewildered by him? It was just a part of Deeks. But liking them? No. That wasn't going to happen. He didn't like anyone and that was a fact.

Then he found himself... understanding their jokes? Getting their rather odd sense of humour. Becoming entangled in their rather terrifying loyalty for one another. Deeks was a part of the team so if he became more involved with them, he became, begrudgingly, more involved with him.

And that's what had happened. Deeks was a part of the team so je was one of his people. And Granger did come to like him in a strange sort of way. Though still only in small doses. But yes, he liked Deeks.

That so-called farce of an investigation with Detective Whiting had made his blood boil. Even more so when he realised there was nothing, literally nothing he could do. It wasn't an NCIS investigation. He couldn't interfere- not without creating suspicions and he didn't want anything to happen to Deeks.

It shocked him, how protective he felt of that infuriating man. The man whose mouth ran away from him, made inappropriate comments, thought in a completely different way to anyone he had ever met. But that didn't mean people could just attack him. He had told Henrietta that the whole team should have been made aware of this while situation but she had denied it. He should have insisted. Or gone behind her back. Deeks was the type of person who needed the support of those he trusted. The more the better. The man still had lingering trust issues after all.

Thankfully she did eventually listen to him and Deeks realised that they weren't just on his side in this fiasco but they were also actively helping. As much as they could without having all the facts anyway.

When that all got squared away (sort of), Granger realised that he had done all that for Deeks without knowing all the facts. He just trusted the fact that Deeks was in the right. If that didn't speak volumes, he didn't know what did.

And then Kensi nearly died and they didn't know what was going to happen to her and Granger actually felt his hardened heart crack a little as Deeks all but fell apart.

It felt natural to step into the role as a blunt sort of comforter, as someone Deeks could lean on. And thankfully he did. Between him and Sam they got Deeks back on steady ground and Granger had never felt so relieved in his life. The world was unbalanced when Deeks wasn't... Deeks.

So yes, it may have taken him a while to realise it (and he still wasn't ever going to admit it) but he... liked, no, was fond of Deeks. Couldn't imagine the team without him. All in all, he was a good addition.

"Granger Danger!" the rather loud hiss came to his ears.

Owen rolled his eyes as he walked up to their desks to have the man in question give him a far too innocent look.

He could do without that, however.