Deeks stretched in the early morning light. Any sensible person would still be asleep in the dawn hours but he was a surfer. They defied laws of gravity, sane sleeping and sanity in general every day. And habit was hard to break. Running a hand through his hair, his version of brushing his blonde mop, he strode down the corridor to the kitchen/dinning/living area intending to find something edible. He whistled lightly as he walked, then stopped and grinned at the group of sleeping people in the lounge room. "That is just too good."

Practically skipping back to his room, Deeks jumped to the ground, skidding under the bed, and grabbed his secret weapon. They would have no idea what hit them. "This is gonna be awesome."

He stretched, craning for the boxes he'd hidden in the dark under the headboard. He'd been waiting for an opportunity like this for days. It wasn't like he often got the chance to put one over his teammates. His street smarts were good but they were no match for the combination of streets marts and training the others had. He wrapped his fingers around the edge of one of the boxes and used them as leverage to pull all six of them towards him.

"Lock and load baby," He grinned like the cat that caught the canary and opened the first box

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Sam dozed fitfully in the pale sunlight, ignoring Eric's reverberating snores and Kensi's constant tossing. Years of sleeping beside snoring sailors had taught him the art of sleeping through the worst of snorers. He'd always liked the early morning- the calm before whatever storm they had to persevere began. Mornings were relaxing. Mornings were for quite contemplation about what nice surprises the day would bring. A sudden jetstrream of cold water hit him in the face. He opened his eyes, wiping them dry with a hand. That was not a nice surprise. "Deeks," He growled, glaring at the blonde detective who was currently running around the room like a child on Christmas morning. If the child was spraying his friends with a hot-pink, high pressured water pistol.

"Hasta la vista baby," He crowed, spraying Callen until he was soaked. "Boom, who's the boss now? Huh?"

"What the hell Deeks?" Kensi looked up at her partner, her face a mixture of anger, shock and surprise.

"Good morning," He said jovially, resting the water pistol on his shoulder. "How did you like your wakeup call?"

"Ah, not very much," Eric pulled himself to his feet, wringing out his shirt.

Callen tore his now wet t-shirt off, "What was that for?"

"Meh," Deeks shrugged nonchalantly. "I felt like it."

"So you haven't been planning this since we bought those water-pistols?" Nell asked as she sat cross legged on the ground, stretching and stifling a yawn.

Kensi whirled on the redhead, "You let him buy water-pistols?"

"That's what those boxes are?" Eric asked at the same time, eyes wide with realisation.

"Hey, I don't need permission to buy things!" Deeks objected to the wording of his partner's questioning. "I am my own man."

"He bought them because he was hitting on the gay shop assistant."

Deeks paled, "You promised."

"You woke me up," Nell retorted harshly.

"Deeks is gay?" Callen asked, not entirely following the conversation

"What? NO!" Deeks waved his hands, almost dropping his water pistol. "I am not gay. She was gay."

"Deeks tried to hit on her, she rejected him because she was gay," Nell explained with a small smile, looking up at the four people standing around glaring at each other. "It was a simple misunderstanding."

"A humiliating misunderstanding," Kensi corrected, her glare turning to a gleeful expression. The teasing for this one would wear out for a while. Deeks always said he had an impenetrable 'gaydar'.

"Which is why I'd hoped you'd never find out," Deeks said, sending a venomous glare at Nell.

The petite girl just shrugged, "You woke me up."

"That doesn't make it even!"

The sound of running feet pounding the floorboards made them all turn to face the corridor.

"Haha suckers!" Eric roared, pumping the water pistol before spraying them all.

"Eric!"

"How many more of those things are there?" Sam growled, again wiping his eyes dry so he could see.

"Four more," Deeks said with a little shrug. "It was supposed to be a Christmas thing but I forgot."

"So there's one for each of us?" Callen asked for clarification, doing the numbers in his head.

"Give the man a prize," Eric drawled dryly, shooting a stream of water at the senior agent. "Four plus two equals six and there's six of us."

"Not for much longer," Kensi declared, giving Deeks a meaningful glare.

He gulped at the implicit threat, "Kensi…"

"Deeks," She gave him a saccharine smile that made his stomach drop. He was a dead man.

He glanced to where Callen and Sam had been a few seconds ago. "Where did they go?"

"Oh crap," Kensi groaned and sprinted to the door. While she'd been distracted by Deeks' infuriating actions, the senior agents had left the room. And there was only one place they'd go. "And I had to be wearing white."

Deeks followed her immediately, working out her plan – get the hell out of dodge. They had a better chance of escaping if they were in an open area. "What's wrong with white? It looks like a desert back here; you'll blend it alright."

She turned on him, looking at him like he was missing a few brain cells. "White shirt and water- what usually happens when the two are mixed?"

"Wet T-shirt contest," He realised, a grin growing on his face.

"Don't look so happy about it. This is all your fault," Kensi hissed, glaring at him angrily. She grabbed a fistful of his shirt and started dragging him along the side of the house.

"I know. I couldn't have planned this better if I tried," He couldn't keep the goofy grin off his face. It wasn't his fault his partner was insanely attractive.

"If I get wet, you're gonna be in so much trouble."

Deeks shrugged, "You say that like it's different from normal."

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Nell slid underneath the couch – it seemed the safest spot at the moment even if she would have trouble getting out later. "Why did you do that?"

"Why not?" Eric grinned from his place at the sink. He was filling up the water pistol, just waiting for round 3 to begin. "Besides me and water pistols go way back. My crowning glory of eighth grade was shooting the grade bully in the face. Shooting with water, obviously," He added quickly, not wanting her to get the wrong idea.

"Obviously," She echoed dryly. "But you do realise you're going up against federal agents who shoot things most days."

"Hey," Callen objected as he ambled down the hall, water pistol hanging loosely in his hand. "Not most days. And it's not our fault. Blame the bad guys- they start it."

"Who starts what?" Sam asked, following his partner's footsteps.

"The bad guys shoot at us first," Callen explained quickly. "And what are you doing under there?" He glanced down at the sofa where a pale foot was poking out from underneath the faded wooden leg.

There was a slight pause. "Hiding," Nell answered in a quiet voice, slowly realising her actions weren't as smart as she'd thought.

Sam couldn't help but chuckle, "Bad place Nell. You've trapped yourself."

"Oh."

"Rookie mistake," Callen added, crouching down to face her. "And you know what comes next?"

"Yes," She squirmed, trying to get out from under the sofa, wiggling to the other side. Nell closed her eyes just in time to get a face full of water.

"Dude, come on," Eric intervened on her behalf. "She didn't do anything to you."

"She let Deeks buy them," Callen explained, standing back up. "Accessory after the fact."

"Or co-conspirator," Sam added with a small shrug. "And you two should know better than to hide somewhere without an escape."

Eric rolled his eyes, "It's a water fight, not war. Our lives don't depend on this."

"Oh but they do," Callen said darkly. "Or at least Deeks' does." He looked to his partner, "You take the front, I'll take the back and we'll corner him?"

The Navy Seal nodded and walked out the front door. Callen mimicked his actions in reverse, sliding out the back door like he was about to lay siege on an unsuspecting terrorist.

"You know I almost feel sorry for Deeks," Eric commented lightly, watching Callen disappear into the early morning shadows.

Nell shimmied her way out from under the sofa, "Wanna watch?"

"Of course," He grinned and ran towards the kitchen window.

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Kensi darted between the shadows cast by the house, trying to stay hidden. Unfortunately for her staying hidden would be hard considering she had Deeks with her and he wouldn't shut up.

"So, I'll take Callen and you take Sam?"

She rolled her eyes, "It would be so nice to have a gun right now."

"I should have thought of that," Deeks' eyes widened with realisation. "You don't have a water pistol."

"Why'd you think I ran out of there?" She asked in a 'duh' tone like she was talking to an idiot.

"Tactical retreat?" He guessed.

Kensi shook her head at him, "You are so lucky to have me as a partner. I can't believe you lasted this long without the ability to form a coherent plan."

"Hey, I can plan. And I have an amazingly charismatic personality that makes my job so much easier."

"You also have an amazingly loud mouth," Sam appeared behind them, startling them both. Deeks gallantly stepped in front of Kensi as Sam shot at them. She took the opportunity to run, laughing as she did so.

"Run Deeks! Run!" She giggled, darting around the back of the house. She rounded the corner and collided with Callen, sending them both tumbling to the ground. Kensi rolled off him and grabbed the water pistol that had fallen out of his hand. "Ha!" She crowed, spraying him as she stood up. "Got you!"

"Hey, that's not fair," Callen pouted.

"Don't be a sore loser Callen," She replied, giving him a hand up then shaking it dry. "You're just jealous I got the jump on you."

"It was an accident. Luck."

"Sheer dumb luck," A strangely all too familiar voice spoke and made them all freeze, "is something that has killed many agents in the past and apparently will in the future."

Callen turned on the spot as Sam and Deeks ran over to them. "Hetty?"