It was kind of adorable, seeing Callen glance at the chocolate milk in her hands every so often. Like he expected it to disappear or her to put it back. Actually, it was kind of sad. She couldn't believe that there were people who hadn't tried chocolate milk as a kid. At least she rectifying one of them. He'd better like it. She was sure he would, who didn't like chocolate milk?

Kensi noticed what aisle they were about to pass and quickly made a left turn to go down it.

"Kens?" her partner called after her. "Wrong way. It's this aisle."

He gestured towards the aisle to their right.

"Need something down here," she called over her shoulder.

"Can't you do your personal shopping later?" Sam grumbled, noticing what was on this aisle.

She shot him a dark look. "For the safe house."

"It's not on the list," he pointed out.

"It needs to be topped up."

"It's not on the list."

Was she seriously having this argument right now? Kensi turned around to face him, giving him a decidedly unamused look.

"Trust me," she emphasised. "It needs to be topped up."

Deeks suddenly cottoned on, only after taking a none-too-subtle look at the sign above the aisle, and snatched the cart off Sam and pushed it behind her.

"What the?" Sam demanded, storming after Deeks.

"Let the lady get what she needs to get," Deeks said quite seriously.

"What's going on?" Callen asked from the end of the aisle and looking down at them.

"Kensi's doing some more personal shopping," she heard Sam grumble.

Someone was still sore over the chocolate milk. Sam was taking this whole thing far too seriously.

"I am not," she hissed. "I'm replacing supplies."

Honestly, she thought this lot was meant to be observant. Obviously not as the two older agents were giving her blank looks. She huffed at them.

God, did she have to spell it out? Kensi looked at her teammates, well - not her partner who was currently looking down the shelves. But yes. It did look like she was going to have to spell it out.

"I was on my period this past week," she explained through gritted teeth. "This op caught me by surprise and I didn't have supplies so I used those in the safe house. I am going to replace them."

Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Deeks nodding vigorously at them. She didn't know whether to be happy that he kind of had her back or annoyed that he was trying to help the two dingbats in front of her.

"You didn't tell us!" Sam accused, pointing his finger at Deeks of all people.

"Am I meant to keep you aware of this little fact?" Deeks demanded.

"No," Kensi shot that thought down.

They definitely did not need to be made aware of that little fact. Of course, she couldn't exactly prevent them from figuring it out themselves, it was a fairly easy cycle after all, but they did not need to be blatantly told every month. She couldn't exactly avoid making Deeks aware - he was her partner and somehow that was different. She told him because he was normally nice enough to get her tampons when she asked and because she never wanted him to think that she was snapping at him for nothing.

"He usually makes us aware of your other moods," Callen informed her.

"Excuse me?" Kensi swung around to glare at her partner. He did what now?

"I don't violate your privacy!" Deeks was quick to defend himself. "Like that would."

She was a little mollified at that, though she would be having words with her partner later about what exactly Callen's words meant. There were slightly more pressing matters to take care of now.

"Can I go get what the safe house bathroom needs now?" she asked bitingly.

"Surely you'd just bring that sort of thing along with you?" Callen protested. "Aren't you meant to always have a supply in your bag?"

Kensi put her hands on her hips and the expression on her face made him wince. Surely, he knew that that was the wrong thing to say.

"Oh, is this another female stereotype?" she demanded.

Sam jumped in before Callen could dig himself into an even deeper hole. "Of course not," he said in a measured calm tone. "It's just been our experience that women tend to be prepared for this sort of thing. Isn't that right, G?"

"What he said," Callen told her.

Kensi took a deep breath and counted to ten. Twice. She was not going to be the cause of some sort of 'incident' or physical altercation in the store, that would give her partner far too much satisfaction. That, and Hetty would not be amused. She ran a hand across her face. They weren't trying to be annoying; they were just a bit oblivious.

"It's a sort of predictable cycle for most woman," Kensi explained with a long-suffering sigh. This is what she got for working it a male-dominated job. "Some might not carry them if they don't need them."

"What about emergency supplies?"

"For what? In case we suddenly leak?" Kensi arched an eyebrow. "How do you think the female anatomy works?"

"I blame our sex ed," Deeks said with a straight face. "Teaches us nothing leaving us to assume the female race are these strange alien creatures that leak fluid every now and then."

That actually got a snort from Sam. Neither contribution was appreciated in Kensi's opinion. She hoped her glare got that across.

"Though, seriously, it really teaches you nothing," Deeks said. "I learned more about safe sex from my mom than educated officials. Way more," he finished with a shudder.

Kensi had to stop herself from sniggering. Deeks had told her that story before and apparently his mother had broken out puppets for it. Puppets.

"Is it really necessary for all of us to be down this aisle?" Callen complained as they all trailed behind her like a group of annoying puppies.

"Hey, you guys followed," Kensi said with a shrug. "I was just going to dart down and come back. Now you have to deal with it."

She really hadn't wanted a whole rigmarole over this, it just wasn't necessary. But of course, it had turned into one. She never should have thought otherwise.

"I assume you don't want any of the scented stuff?" Deeks asked, reading down the shelves.

"Nope, better off having things everyone can use."

"I'll grab a couple of different sizes then," he told her, turning to head further down the aisle.

"How do you even know all this stuff?" Sam demanded, folding his arms.

"Hey, I'm a modern man and modern men get their ladies pads and tampons," Deeks bragged.

Typical. Kensi rolled her eyes. She appreciated the sentiment but did really have to be so - urghh? She supposed it wouldn't be Deeks if he didn't.

"And aren't you married?" Deeks retorted, raising an eyebrow. "Don't tell me your one of these husbands that refuse to get their wives these things."

Kensi inhaled her breath sharply and winced. That was definitely not a smart thing to say to Sam Hanna.

"I get my wife her things," Sam said defensively and then muttered, "Just the stuff she uses."

Hmm, that was a fair point. At least he wasn't being the one who was being weird over this. No, that belonged to her team lead who was currently eyeing the shelves with more than a little suspicion and a definite hint of discomfort.

"It's okay to touch it, G," Sam teased. "It doesn't exude oestrogen."

Callen shot him a dirty look. It would be funny to watch if it didn't annoy her so much. It wasn't like it was going to hurt him or anything.

"Oh!"

Kensi groaned. Her partner had just noticed Callen's apprehension. Fantastic.

There was a sly smile on his face. "You scared of the big, bad box of tampons?"

"No!" Callen even had his arms folded defensively.

Sam rolled his eyes at his partner's antics and asked her, "Would it be better to get pads and tampons?"

Callen and Deeks gaped at the man while Kensi nodded, just thankful that he was being sensible.

"Definitely, we don't know what everyone would prefer. Better being safe."

"And comfortable," Sam added, putting both packets in the cart.

Kensi chuckled at the gobsmacked look that was still on Callen and Deeks' faces. Her partner shouldn't really be surprised, he practically challenged Sam earlier.

"Hey, I have a wife," Sam snapped, obviously still smarting from Deeks' earlier comment, and then pointed at Deeks. "Which is a better reason for knowing about this sort of thing than you."

Deeks held up his hands. "Hey, my knowledge is for the ladies being more comfortable and I am all about ladies being more comfortable."

Sam rolled his eyes.

"I always have a packet of one kind or another in my bathroom," he continued airily. "That way if their little monthly visitor surprises them, there's something there."

Sam grumbled something unintelligible but couldn't find anything negative to say about that so just pushed passed them.

"Do you really have a stash of this stuff at your apartment?" Kensi asked quietly as her partner walked beside her.

"Well, yeah," he said in a confused tone. "It's really no big deal and I figure it's my responsibility to make all my guests feel comfortable and if this makes half of them feel more comfortable-" he shrugged, "-then it's all good."

"That's so sweet."

"Yeah, well," Deeks scratched the back of his head and shrug.

The touching moment was interrupted by Sam's teasing and challenging tone.

"Come on, G, I bet I could find the right box and get back to Kensi before you," he challenged.

Callen leaned back and raised an eyebrow, seemingly unbothered by it. "You have an obvious advantage."

"What advantage would I have? I'm a dude. I don't use this stuff, not that using it would give me an advantage over grabbing it off a shelf," Sam finished with a chuckle.

Callen didn't look too impressed. "You know what it looks like. I don't. Unfair advantage."

Sam snorted and shook his head. "Aren't you a highly specialised, federal agent? You have skills for this sort of thing."

"For identifying feminine hygiene products?"

"For deducting and identifying your surroundings," Sam corrected and gave his partner a playful punch on the shoulder. "Right up your alley."

Callen didn't exactly look convinced but they all knew that he couldn't back down from a challenge issued by Sam. His eyes narrowed and he folded his arms.

"The stakes?" he demanded.

"The knowledge that you are very aware of feminine hygiene products," Sam said solemnly which made Kensi and Deeks snicker.

Callen obviously wasn't too convinced by that argument.

"Yeah, that's not going to work for me."

"Need to make it worth your while?" asked Deeks.

"Exactly."

Sam sighed in exasperation. "Fine," he grumbled. "Loser takes the winner out for steaks."

"Can I get in on that?" Deeks asked.

"No," Sam retorted, eyeing Callen. "Well?"

Amusingly, Callen looked like he was wavering.

"Fine," he finally bit out, the lure of steaks too much to resist. "Which one do I need to get?"

"What about the ones Kensi uses," Deeks suggested.

Sam raised an eyebrow. "Do you know that?"

"Obviously," Deeks said with a shrug. "But I'm not a part of this, so no advantage here."

Sam and Callen turned to her for confirmation and she thought for a moment before nodding slowly. They may as well.

"Sure, go for it."

"Let's get to the end of the aisle," Deeks suggested. "Make it a proper race."

They soon got themselves in position, Kensi trying not to take up too much space with their cart. They had a few bewildered spectators but decided not to say anything. It was Callen and Sam's own fault.

"Count us down," Sam instructed.

Kensi rolled her eyes but her partner was far too into this.

"Three. Two. One and a half, one and a quarter-"

"Deeks!"

"One, Go!" Deeks finished hurriedly.

Both men took off like they were after a suspect. Surprisingly not leaving a trail of dust in their wake. Kensi didn't know who she wanted to win but she knew that both of them were in the wrong part of the aisle. Typical. Sam was pushing products roughly aside as he searched as Callen was doing more scanning of the tags on the shelves. Both zigzagged back and forth a bit before Callen broke away and sprinted back to her.

He thrust a box at her, an honest-to-God blush staining his cheeks.

"Here," he muttered and promptly got himself out of the aisle.

Kensi didn't know whether to laugh or go "Aww". She looked down at the box in her hands, which made the decision for her.

"Callen?" she called, chuckling under her breath.

He poked his head back around, a rightfully suspicious look on his face. She passed the box back to him, struggling to keep a straight face. He looked at her curiously.

"These are adult diapers."