A/N: Thank you for all your reviews/alerts/favourites. You give me the motivation to write faster

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

I Capture The Castle

Deeks looked at his partner, the person he depended most on. "Are you ready for this?"

She tossed him a cocky grin, "Of course."

"We don't have to do this if you don't want to."

Kensi looked him in the eyes, brown meeting blue, "Do you not want to?"

"I do if you do," Deeks told her with a little shrug.

"Get over it already," Callen groaned, glowering at the junior agent and detective. "We're waiting for you."

"Well sorry, I'm just checking my partner trusts me, you know, considering this is a trust exercise."

Eric gave him a confused look, "How is Capture the Flag a trust exercise?"

"I trust that we're going to win," Deeks answered with a confident swagger as he and Kensi strode to where the rest of them were waiting.

"You mean, we're," Sam gestured to himself and Callen, "Going to win."

"Hey, you're kinda ignoring the dark horse here," Eric piped up. The field agents looked at him, "I was just…" Nell tugged on his sleave, signally him to stop digging himself into a hole.

Callen surveyed the motley group. All of them were dressed in dark browns and pale greens – perfect for blending in with the foliage that surrounded their safe house. He nodded to himself. They were as ready as they'd ever be. "Everyone remember the rules?"

"Yes Dad," Kensi drawled, rolling her eyes.

"We all have 1 area per team and anyone that team catches in their area goes to jail until they rot. Or die of exposure. Or-"

"We got it, Deeks," Kensi cut him off.

"Anything else?" Sam asked sardonically. It was amusing how the LAPD officer tried to impress them sometimes. Other times it was simply annoying. This may have been one of those times.

"No biting, no eye gouging, no testicle T-ball," Deeks glanced poignantly at his partner out of the corner of his eyes.

Kensi and Nell rolled their eyes in unison. Men.

"Thanks for that, Deeks," Callen said sarcastically.

"No problem," Deeks bobbed his head, his mess of blonde hair covering the smirk caused by his success at irritation. They were just too easy sometimes.

"And let's not forget the two hour limit-"

"And the losing team does laundry and dishes for a week, we know," Deeks cut him off. "I hope you guys like laundry."

"Great," Eric muttered darkly. That was going to be fun for him. He and Nell stood no chance against the agents. Unless their plan worked. Then he would have fun.

"We good?" Sam gave them all a final once over. He wasn't about to let anyone get hurt on his watch.

"Just hurry up so we can beat you," Deeks said impatiently, bouncing from foot to foot.

"Everyone's watches synchronised?" Callen asked and a series of simultaneous beeps was his answer. "Okay, go!" He yelled. All of them started running, each pair going in a different direction. And each pair clutching a different coloured flag.

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Sam crept through the trees, keeping low to the ground so as to make himself harder to spot. "I am not letting Deeks win."

Callen raised an eyebrow, "I thought you were supposed to be the one all about team solidarity and all that."

"Yeah, well," The Navy SEAL huffed, "Right now, you're my only team and he was annoying me this morning."

"You're just mad he used all the hot water."

"Aren't you?" Sam asked, looking back at his partner.

"Yeah, that's why I short sheeted his bed."

"At least I'm dealing with my irritation in a productive manner. Yours is just destructive."

Callen sighed, "You sound just like Hetty."

"Good," Sam replied quickly. "You might actually listen to me then."

"I do listen – you just," Callen stopped short as Sam held up his hand in the universal symbol of 'stop and shut up'. Sam pointed to the slither of pink hovering behind a large tree a hundred feet in front of them. Callen signed for Sam to take the right while he went left. They walked stealthily forward, avoiding stepping on any branches or making any sounds that could give them away. They got within inches of the tree. Callen grinned a little; it was like taking candy from a baby. Sam went right. Callen went left. Then they attacked. Callen rounded the tree, reaching out and grasping the pink t-shirt tied to a branch sticking out at an odd angle.

Sam almost laughed, "Kensi's good."

"How do you know that was Kensi?" Callen asked as he untied the shirt. "Deeks may have had a moment of usefulness."

Sam looked at his friend dubiously, "It was Kensi. She's teasing us."

"True," Callen agreed and slipped the t-shirt into his backpack. It wouldn't do to get surprised by it again. He would just look stupid. "If they left it here, they have to be close."

"Let's move it then. Deeks is mine," Sam searched for tracks, walking around the tree for a good minute before sighing. "She's good."

"We taught her well," Callen nodded proudly.

"Too well," Sam groaned.

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Eric groaned. This was not the fun part. "How are you doing that?" He looked up at Nell, who was climbing up the tree like she was part chimpanzee.

She paused and glanced down, "You're doing great, Eric. It's just a little further."

"Almost being the operative word," The tech grumbled. There was a good reason he rarely strayed from the Ops centre. The outdoors hated him with a vengeance. As if to prove his point, as he pulled himself up onto the next branch, he whacked himself in the head on another. "Ouch."

Nell wisely refrained from smiling, "It's just a bit further."

"This was a stupid idea," He continued hauling himself up the large tree, getting higher than he would have liked. But it was all part of the plan.

"It was your idea," Nell reminded him gently. She'd reached the top of the trunk and settled on one of the branches it split into.

"No, playing Tarzan was your idea," Eric corrected, finally catching up with his partner. "I made it." He dropped onto the other branch, put his feet up and rested his back against another branch. This part was so bad, he decided.

"Yes you did," She smiled at him, genuinely happy. She pulled off her backpack and started rummaging through it.

"I now remember the reason I didn't climb trees when I was a kid,"

"You didn't climb a tree?" Nell asked, surprised.

"Nope," He shook his head, sounding almost proud of the fact. "I hated it."

"I used to climb all the trees in Central Park. I'd get to the top and just sit and read until my Mom made me go home," She smiled at the memory.

That explained her monkey-like skills. "I was one of those kids that never left their room. My Mom thought I was surgically attached to my computer."

"Nothing's really changed then, has it?" She teased.

"Nope," He grinned. "Are you going to give me those Oreos you're hiding in there or not?"

"Here," She passed over the packet.

Eric tore the packet open and stuffed a cookie into his mouth, "I take it back," He said, crumbs spraying everywhere. "This was a good idea."

"Not as good as yours." She took an Oreo as he took his second.

"But close," He knocked his Oreo against hers. "Cheers."

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"I feel like I'm in Lost or something," Deeks said as he followed Kensi down the winding path through the trees. "I keep expecting a polar bear to come out and –bam- we're dead."

She glared at him over her shoulder, "Deeks." It was surprising how much intonation she could place in one word.

"Hey, I call it like I see it," He shrugged. "We're in the middle of nowhere, playing hide and seek with the Others. Get it – the others."

"You're hilarious."

"I know," Deeks said cheerfully.

"And we're not in the middle of nowhere. I know exactly where we are," Kensi explained smugly.

"And where is that, Lady MacGyver?"

Kensi pointed to her right, "The house is two miles that way."

"Smart Alec."

"Jealous," Kensi retorted.

"Am not."

"Stop."

"Why?"

"Because I just found Sam's tracks," Kensi hissed, pulling him back before he could walk into them.

"You sure?"

"You think Nell's shoes are that size?" She pointed at the large footprint in front of them.

"Good point. So what do we do now?"

"We stay quiet and alert," Kensi planned. "If they're here, chances are they're close and they know it."

Deeks glanced around the trees, "Are we in their territory?"

"Yep," Kensi nodded, pursing her lips.

"We're doomed."

"Yep." A thought hit her, "Unless…"

"Care to voice that thought?" Deeks looked at her questioningly.

"I have a plan."

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Deeks stormed through the trees, kicking branches out of his way. "Great plan, Kensi!" He fumed loudly. "Great way to get your partner killed," He looked around at the all too strangely familiar trees. "And now I'm lost. I hope you're happy Kensi Marie Blye because I'm-" He was tackled to the ground.

"Going to jail," Callen told him, rolling over the detective and pinning his arms behind his back.

"Oh come on," Deeks whined. "Can't you give a guy a break?"

"He did," Sam told him, leaning against a tree. "I was gonna tackle you."

"Thank heavens for small mercies," Deeks rolled his eyes. "You can get off me now."

"Why would I want to do that?" Callen smirked as Deeks struggled in vain to get free. "You'll just run away."

"I won't!"

Sam laughed at that, "How often do we here that one?" He felt a hand slip into his pocket and take the flag out. "Hey!" He snagged Kensi's wrist and eyes widened as he saw her holding his yellow flag.

"I guess that means we won," Deeks grinned.

Callen released him and stared at Kensi, "It was a set up?"

"Please," She rolled her eyes. "Even we wouldn't fight during a training exercise."

"I'm kinda hurt that you thought Kensi would leave me in the middle of nowhere," Deeks said, rolling out his shoulders.

"We're not in the middle of nowhere," Sam explained impatiently as though speaking to a small child. "The house is just over there."

"Yeah well I can't tell that, now can I?"

"You planned everything?" Callen asked, ignoring Deeks with the ease of practice.

Kensi looked at the ground, "Not exactly. It was more of an improvised plan."

"Then why did you plant the shirt to confuse us?"

"And how did you disguise you're tracks, cos I couldn't find any." Sam added, slightly more than curious. It wasn't often people got one over him and his partner.

"What are you talking about?" Kensi frowned at them, looking as though they weren't making sense.

"You didn't leave this behind a tree?" Callen pulled out the shirt and waved it in front of her.

"No," She shook her head.

"Then who did?" Deeks asked the question running through their minds.

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Eric leaned back against the branch, "This is the life."

"Yeah," Nell nodded and grabbed another cookie. "Who needs anything else?"

"Just a never ending packet of these babies and I'll be a happy man," He sighed. "And a computer with internet. But we'll work up to that."

"Internet," Nell groaned and closed her eyes. "I miss it."

"Yeah," He nodded. "But this is nice as well."

"For now," She said.

"For now," Eric agreed, taking the last Oreo.

"You could share, you know," Nell pointed out.

"Eric's never been good at sharing," Sam said, standing below them.

"You should know that by now," Callen added. "And I have to say, I'm impressed. You had us fooled."

"Well," Eric grinned down at them, revelling in his victory, "We do try to impress."

"And so do we," Deeks swung down from a branch above them, grabbing their green flag out of Nell' bag. He hung upside down, watching their surprised faces.

"Hey, that's not fair!" Eric whined.

"That's totally against the rules," Nell said, crossing her arms.

"Technically there were no rules against us cooperating," Kensi said, walking out so they could see her.

"You cheated," Eric pouted. His plan had failed and they were going to be stuck on laundry duty for a week. It wasn't fair; they were at a disadvantage.

"If it makes you feel better," Deeks said, "You didn't come last. Kensi and I got Callen and Sam."

"You won?" Nell asked, shocked. That was not the outcome she was expecting.

"Yes, and don't remind me," Sam grumbled.

"So hurry up and get down here so we can give them enough laundry and cleaning duties to last a month," Kensi said.

"Gloating is so not cool, Kensi," Callen told her.

"I'm not gloating. I'm stating a fact."

The senior agent sighed, "This is going to be a long week."

A/N: Please tell me what you thought. Reviews are much loved.