"I still don't see why you all had to cram into my car," Sam grumbled as he pulled over into a gas station.
They had to travel together for a few days for a case. They were meeting up with some FBI agents at their headquarters. It wasn't urgent, surprisingly, so Hetty - in all her budget saving needs - decided that they did not need to fly there. No, they would have to make it by car. Which, normally, would be somewhat okay. They each had their partners for a reason. One being that they could put up with each other for long periods of time. Granted, in a car it was somewhat different - there being literally no escape- but it was doable. Now, it was completely different of the whole team had to be in one car. Which was most definitely the case here.
"Because Kensi's has bullet holes in it in a few vital places," Callen reminded him.
The engine being one of those vital places. Kensi and Deeks had come out of that whole incident relatively unscathed but the same could definitely not be said for the car. Hetty had not been impressed.
"That was not our fault," Kensi told them.
"You drove right into that gang!"
"Because we were avoiding the ones that were on our tail!"
"A rival gang! Of course, you were going to get shot at!"
"It was a lose lose situation!"
"We are not going to survive this journey if we are already bickering with each other," Deeks observed.
"I'm not bickering with anyone," Sam said, looking at Deeks in the mirror.
"Neither am I," Deeks said quickly. "I'm just saying."
"Well, no one is going to bicker or they are going to find themselves removed from this car," Sam said loudly enough for each of them to hear.
"I'm not bickering, are you bickering Kensi?" Callen asked innocently.
"Not if you aren't," she returned.
Sam glared at them both.
"No more nonsense about cars even if it was their fault."
"It was not our fault!" The younger set of partners protested.
"Um, why are we just sitting at a gas station?" Deeks asked, looking around.
"Because apparently you all need snacks and other supplies to keep your mouth shut," Sam said irritably.
Deeks had been sent in for aforementioned supplies, leaving the other three to just sit there and wait. Hopefully, not for too long. It didn't seem like the gas station was too busy.
"I still don't get why you two don't have a car," Sam was saying.
"Hetty said our car would be fixed up by the time we got back."
"And she didn't see fit to give you a temporary one?"
Kensi shrugged. "No. She said there was no need because the only travelling we'd need to do by car was getting back and forth from the FBI office and we could share with you guys."
"So, she's punishing us as well."
"Me and Deeks are not a punishment."
The look on Sam's gave said otherwise which made Kensi kick the back of his chair.
"Hey, watch the leather!"
"Watch what you say!"
They glared at each other but fell silent. For a whole minute anyway.
"Why is Deeks taking so long?" Kensi asked in exasperation.
Surely, he wasn't running into any bother by getting some snacks for the journey ahead. There was no need to make anything about this situation worse by throwing low blood sugar into the mix.
"Maybe he got shot again," Sam joked in poor taste, reminding them of the shooting Deeks had gone through to try and get to them
Callen winced as he said that and the most ferocious glare was given by Kensi that Sam actually looked away. She even added another kick to the back of his seat for good measure. Callen was impressed that her foot didn't go through it.
"Why did we send Deeks in again?" Callen asked in an attempt to distract them.
"Because you and Kensi would come out with nothing but rubbish and I don't do gas stations."
"Who doesn't do gas stations?" Callen asked incredulously.
"I don't."
"Some of these places do pizza, you know," Kensi piped up.
"Oh, pizza."
Sam shuddered. "There is no way that whatever you get from a gas station any way resembles a pizza."
"You don't know that. You don't do gas stations."
"I don't have to Surely, know that."
Their increasingly ridiculous argument was interrupted by Deeks returning.
"Deeks? What the hell?" Sam exclaimed as Deeks dumped his purchases across the back seat of his car.
There was an awful lot of snacks there. They were spilling off the seat.
"No bag?" Callen asked.
"They didn't have any."
"Why did you get all this crap? It's literal crap!" Sam exclaimed, picking up a slightly crushed twinkie.
"It doesn't matter how old you are," Deeks sniffed. "Buying snacks for a road trip should always look like an unsupervised nine-year-old was given a hundred dollars."
"You are like a nine-year-old," Sam grumbled.
"I thought he was one," Callen added.
"For that, you aren't getting any of my snacks."
"I'll live," Sam said drily, eyeing the pile of candy that was still across the back seat of his car. "Can you put all that away in a bag or something? I don't want anything to mess up my seats."
"Never fear, Sam, my man. Everything has its own wrappers. No mess here."
Sam gave him a look that definitely said he didn't believe him.
"I got everybody's favourites," Deeks continued happily, ignoring Sam's look.
"I don't touch anything that comes out of a gas station."
"Au contraire, mon frere, but you do."
"I definitely don't."
Deeks rummaged around the pile between him and Kensi and came up triumphant.
"Even when the gas station stocks your favourite protein bar?"
Sam gave him a suspicious look and snatched it off him.
"The one with goji berries?" He asked in amazement.
"Exactly."
"Nice," Callen said approvingly.
Sam gave him a look but kept the bar.
"Don't get any chocolate on my seats," he instructed.