Thank you everyone for the reviews. I'm glad you liked it. I was surprised by the numbers of follows and favorites. I hope this lives up to expectations. A lot more dialog in this one because Deeks and Talia do most of the talking. Hope it doesn't take from the story.

Please leave reviews. I can't get better if I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Even constructive criticism is appreciated. It helped me fix the many error I made last time.

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS:LA


"What's shaking partner?" Talia Del Campo called walking up to the group of agents.

Deeks swung his head up to see who was talking. "Hey!" Oh no.

"Hi!" Talia walked right up to Deeks.

"Hi! Hi. Hi?" What are you doing? You can't hug me. Kensi is right here. Don't do it. Don't do it. "Alright there. Hi." She did it.

"You guys make this mess?" Talia asked taking a step back.

Be cool. Just be cool. You don't want Kensi to get the wrong idea. "Yea we did. DEA agent Talia Del Campo. You remember agent Callen, agent Hanna." Deeks pointed to the senior agents.

"How you doing?" G replied.

"Good to see you again." Sam did is best not to laugh.

"You too." Talia flashed them all a smile.

Ok. Let's shut all this down before anything really bad happens. "And this is special", very special, "agent Kensi Blye."

"Hey."

OK, that wasn't exactly cordial, but nobody is fighting.

"Aahh, you actually do exist. I thought you were an imaginary friend." Talia looked Kensi up and down.

So much for no one fighting.

"Imaginary friend?" Deeks could tell that Kensi was starting to get aggravated.

"You were on another assignment the last time we hooked up."

WHAT? HOOKED UP? NO! NO! There was no hooking up. No hooking up of any kind. Is she insane?

"Partnered up. Partnered up, teamed up. Partnered up. They teamed us up … there was an explosion at a fish market." Oh my life sucks. I'm so screwed.

"Yea. Right." Kensi didn't really sound like she believed it.

"What's your connection to Michael Wilson?" G tried to bring the conversation back to the case.

I owe you one G. A big one. Thank you.

"The DEA has been following the Herrenvolk brotherhood. They move half the meth on the west coast." Talia actually sounded professional.

"What about coke?" Sam jumped in.

"Not traditionally but they've been forming some new alliances. Why?" The DEA agent replied.

"Something else we are working on, nothing big." Sam replied flatly.

"Right, you guys hate to share."

Did she just look at me when talking about sharing? I have to be imagining things. OH no, now she is staring at Kensi. This will end poorly.

"Something wrong?" Kensi looked unhappy.

Please just let this end.

"Just not what I pictured." Talia laid down what sound like a challenge.

"Oh yea? What did…what did you picture?" Kensi glanced around at the rest of the team.

"I don't know. I guess the name threw me. When I heard Kensi, I guess I just expected Barbie's Malibu cousin. Thought I would be seeing a blonde California girl."

Oh no. This is going to end so badly. So, so badly.

"Not even close." Kensi bristled.

"I can see that now."

"OK then. We are going to run down this lead. We'll let you know what we find." G quickly took his leave of the deteriorating situation.

"Yea, you three should talk. See if you can find something to help on this." Sam quickly followed after his partner leaving his parting shot.

"Sure you don't want me to come with you?" Please save me. Please.

"We're good." Sam responded with a large grin.

That's it. I don't owe either one of you. Leaving a man behind. That's just wrong. Now I'm stuck.

"Ah, why don't you follow us to the boat shed?" Please let the earth open up and swallow me whole. This is California, it can absolutely happen.

Deeks started walking toward the car. He just wanted to get out of here.

"She's pretty"

"Who, Talia?" Come on Kensi, don't do this. You have to know there is nothing there.

"No Queen Elizabeth."

Maybe she will just let me dodge. There is now way this line of questioning ends well. "Regal maybe. I always thought her sister Princess Margaret was the hot one."

POW

Ow. I should have seen that coming.

"Don't be an idiot."

"You are the one that brought up the Windsor sisters." Just drop it, please.

"You can't tell me you don't think she is attractive." Kensi looked seriously aggravated.

"You know what, I've honestly never noticed." There. You have your answer. Come on Kensi. You have to know you are it for me. How else would I answer the question?

POW

UFF. Son of a … that hurt. I guess she isn't going to let it go.

"Alright. Ok. I've not noticed that she is not not attractive." That's as close as I get. I'm not going to say anything else. Nothing that could hurt you. Nothing that would make you feel bad. Nothing I would feel bad for saying.

"She's beautiful." Kensi practically shouted.

Not compared to you Kens. "You're beautiful." Oh Crap! I said that out loud. We aren't supposed to talk about out th…

POW

Oh come on! I didn't deserve that.

"I don't know why you punched me then. What is that for?" Deeks grabbed his arm.

"For good luck." Kensi offered weakly.

"That's, that's not good luck." Maybe if I keep talking I can change the subject.

"Just get in the car and drive." Kensi definitely sounded aggravated.

"Rabbit's feet, four leaf clovers, those are good luck. Your abusive nature, there is nothing good lucky about that." Just keep rambling my man. Keep rambling. This way she's not talking and I'm not thinking.


Deeks, Kensi, and Talia entered the boat shed.

"Last time I was here you had to carry me to the bathroom. Remember that?"

Oh come on. Can't we really stop this nonsense already? Talia, why are you doing this? I have to explain it to Kensi. "She had a stonefish spine stuck in her leg."

"Right." Kensi didn't sound like she believed him.

"Excuse me." Talia said heading toward the bathroom.

"I'm going to go..." Kensi began heading the same way at the same instant.

"Please after you." Talia offered.

"Oh no, you go ahead please." Kensi was trying to be nice.

"I can wait." Talia had a stern look on her face.

"No, no, guest first." Deeks could tell that Kensi's smile was forced.

"I insist." Talia's smile looked just as fake.

Ok, time to put a stop to this before it gets completely out of hand. Deeks started toward the restroom. "Why don't I… I'll run to the bathroom. Just go to the…"

"Noooo. Yooou back away."

What are you doing Kensi?

"You know what, I suggest you go after me. You see, he refuses to put the toilet seat back down, and I can't tell you how many times I've had a wet butt thanks to him." Kensi walked off toward the restroom.

"I don't think that means what you think that means." What is wrong with me? What is wrong with her? Deeks looked at Talia's questioning glance. "What? Sitting on a toilet without looking down, that's just plain reckless." Shut up Deeks. Shut up.

"Alright." She came right at Deeks.

POW

Mother…now they are both hitting me? This is ridiculous.

"That is for not telling me how beautiful she is." Talia said backing away.

You have now idea.

"You should have seen the last one." Deeks tried to laugh it off.

"Uh-hu. It all makes sense now. I get it." Talia smiled knowingly.

"What makes sense now?" This can't be good.

"You partner is smoking hot and you are very clearly madly in love with her. So…"

Nope, not good at all. Time to stick to the party line and shut this conversation down. "No no. No no. We're very close, obviously. But it is much more of a brother and sister relationship."

"Really. So you are telling me that you never Tick-tick." Talia even made a fist pump action to get her point across in case Deeks didn't quite understand.

You mean the single greatest night of my entire existence? You mean that? You mean the night I'm afraid that I will never have again? "That would be against regulations."

"That's not a no."

"Nnn." Just keep quiet. Don't say anything stupid. For once in your life keep your mouth shut.

"Uh-ha. You know, I wouldn't have let regulations have stopped me if we were partners." Said in a husky tone.

"I'm sorry just to clarity, if you and I were partners or if you and Kensi were partners?" As long as we aren't talking about me and Kensi.

"Either or." Talia whispered.

"Wow. Going to go ahead and save that image in my head." That should embarrass her into changing the topic.

"Why don't you tell me why you guys burned down Michael Wilson's house?" Talia steered the conversation back to business.

Nope, no classified intel for you. Maybe if you had been nicer to my partner. "Because, that's how we roll. What can you tell us about the Herrenvolk brotherhood and these uh, these new alliances?"

"Well there are 450 active gangs in Los Angeles, which translates to about 45,000 gang members. The irony of the prison system is once you guys bust them, they all…end up…in the same…place." Talia trailed off.

Kensi came walking back into the room. She had let her hair down and adjusted her clothes just so.

OH MY GOD! It's Fern. She looks so good. Better than good. I have got to get rid of Talia. I bet she smells like Gunpowder and Sunshine right now. Would it be inappropriate to walk over and smell her?

"They are forced to interact with each other. The smarter ones then realize that they have a lot more to financially gain by working together than shooting each other over a street corner." Kensi said in a voice a little lower than normal.

Talia noticed the changes as well and removed her over shirt. "Exactly."

Really, cleavage. That's all you have? Kensi comes out here looking like sin on legs, in work clothes no less , and all you have is a lowered neck line? Sorry Talia, you are completely out of your league.

"Hmm." Kensi responded giving Deeks a look.

Kensi, you have to stop looking at me like that. Please stop looking at me like that. I'm going to forget my own name. They are both looking at me. Time to say something. Please be intelligent.

"Uuuuhhmmm, so what about the…the… "Deeks clears his throat. I know exactly what that neck taste like. "The Herrenvolk brotherhood.. ah.." She is so hot. "they are allying themselves with someone I suppose…because they've got to do that." What was I saying?

"I'll help you out. We thought they may have been working with the Brana Sola cartel, but as of this afternoon, any proof we may have had went up in smoke." Talia jumped in to stop the stuttering.

"That makes…it..diffa…cult." Look away from Kensi before you start drooling. Ah crap, looked at the cleavage. Stare at the wall. The wall is perfectly safe.

"Uh-hu." Talia tried not to laugh.

"Poof!" Kensi said making a little hand motion indicating an explosion.

Everyone heard Deeks sigh of relief when the screen came to life with Eric's face on the screen.