The Ops centre was eerily quiet. Nell and Eric were both in early, scanning through chatter received during the night, specifically searching for anything connected to domestic terrorism centred in Los Angeles. Hetty had arrived even earlier and remained at her desk, sipping tea from a fine bone china set. The rest of the building was empty. The sudden sound of Callen's voice through their ear pieces made Eric jump, and even Nell looked surprised.

'Callen, what are you doing up so early?' Eric stole a quick glance at his watch and saw they had only been in for thirty minutes.

'It's pretty hard to sleep when some old man is snoring and you think your other two roommates will steal from you the moment your eyes close.'

Eric tilted his head to one side, briefly considering the scenario.

'Hmm, yeah, I get your point. And what can we do for you on this fine morning?'

'Stop being so cheery would be a start.'

'Oh, OK. What's up?'

'Patten's just introduced me to DuValle. They've invited me to the ranch, leaving tonight. Is Nell there? I need to know what she can recall from the other night.'

'Hey Callen,' Nell said. 'The site is huge, I was lucky to find it in the dark. The outskirts of the land -the old fields - has all been left to nature. I had some close encounters with a few cows and goats. As you get closer to the ranch there are a number of outbuildings, some are old barns which look beyond repair but quite a few of the others are being renovated. There's stables for maybe twenty horses - I was given a tour of the property in the morning. From my arrival through the fields, the security lights only flashed on when I was about fifty metres from the ranch itself.'

'Are there any other external alarms or security systems?'

'Not that I could tell and Eric hasn't been able to find anything to say otherwise. They're not paranoid - certainly not on the outside. I mean they were nice and friendly to a lost backpacker...'

'What about the interior of the barns, stables, outbuildings, the ranch?'

'I wasn't able to access any of the barns or outbuildings. The stables are definitely for horses but I could only see inside two of themes. One set of stables has been converted in to small apartments. The main ranch is very large. Again I was pretty limited in my access. The kitchen is big, farmhouse style with the usual appliances, dining tables, dressers. The lounge is homey, lots of sofas, bean bags, cushions. In the morning it was a real community area where everyone gathered, all very casual and relaxed.'

'What about Lyneham? Was there any hostility, suspicious activities, places they refused to show you?'

'Umm, no, it all seemed pretty cool. The men mostly looked ex-military, tough but genuinely friendly - to me at least. There are a few families with kids, they all seemed happy. I checked that Lizzie's son Tyler was fine. He was running around without a care in the world. There were only one or two that weren't real friendly. Look out for a tall brunette. I recognised her from the Homeland photos and she was introduced as Ariel. She's close with Lyneham and I got the feeling she's more than she seems. If I didn't know better, I'd have thought they were exactly as they've been selling themselves; a peaceful oasis for people who've fallen on bad times and need some space to recover.'

'Callen,' Eric said. 'I searched through old newspaper articles relating to that area and back in the early sixties there were rumours of an underground bunker being built in case of a nuclear war or Russian invasion. I can't find any evidence that confirms it was actually built and if it was, if it's still there, but thought you might want to know.'

'Thanks Eric. Can you get hold of Deeks? He needs to show up at the shelter so I can work him into getting an invite to the ranch.'

'Sure thing.' Eric said.

'And remind him that he's not going under as Artie. If he turns up in that homeless jacket I'll kick his ass outta here and claim he's mad. If he wants in on this undercover op then he plays it as we discussed.'

'Hearing you loud and clear.'

'Deeks knows his role, he'll be fine.' Nell reassured him.

'And brief Hetty. It'll probably be difficult for me to check in once I'm on the property. If it looks like they're becoming suspicious, I'll ditch my comms but try and keep the tracker on me.'

'Understood. Stay safe.'

Nell signed off and smiled at Eric. 'I'll go brief Hetty. You'd better call Deeks and get him in here.'

'Bet he's sleeping or surfing.' Eric replied with a small shake of the head, thinking that he would much rather be doing either activity at six thirty in the morning.

Deeks walked along the sidewalk and resisted the temptation to stop and shake the sand out of his sneakers. Goddamn, he thought, stopping abruptly. Using the toe of his left foot his slid the right sneaker from his heel, crouched down and poured out half a cup of sand. He wouldn't have minded so much if he'd actually been on the beach for pleasure, but no, Hetty had insisted that Deeks cement his undercover alias by visiting Venice Beach and showing random people photos of his foster brother, Rob Gladstone. His photo of Callen was about nine years old and Deeks had studied the likeness out of sheer curiosity. Hetty had declined to comment on its source but there was a possibility it had been prepared for a previous alias, either that or someone had caught Callen on an extremely bad day. He had his trademark buzz cut but he looked gaunt, pale and haunted. It was an interesting combination and Deeks thought back to when he first encountered the team eight years ago. It was his second to last undercover assignment for LAPD that brought him into contact with the Special Operations team of NCIS and he was certain the photo of Callen was from at least six months prior to that. Maybe it was from around the time he was shot? Deeks thought it would be highly entertaining to make a point of showing Callen and putting him on the back foot, nothing like a spot of improvisation when it was least expected.

Despite being an old photo, the likeness to present day Callen was clear, mainly in the intensity of his blue eyes and his desire to never be clean shaven. Deeks had no shortage of people in Venice stating they remembered him from a few nights ago. Kensi had not been exaggerating when she relayed the events back to Ops, which had made the feed from the security cameras all the more worrying. Deeks eventually found a police officer - one he did not recognise - and struck gold, legitimately finding details of which precinct Callen had spent the night. Using the spare change in his pockets, Deeks took the bus to downtown and repeated his search, this time at various hostels and shelters for the homeless. It was early afternoon by the time he reached The Sanctuary Outreach Centre and he wearily approached the reception desk, dumping his hold all bag on the floor with an exaggerated sigh. The man on duty was in his twenties with dyed red hair and piercings in his nose, eyebrow and ears.

'What's up man?' Deeks greeted the man with a smile.

'Hey, I'm Brett, not seen you here before. What's your name?' Brett tapped a pencil against the side of the table.

'No, I've not been here before. Not to this place. 'Bout a year ago I crashed in a place about two miles down the road though. I'm Billy.'

'This place is pretty cool. Got food, drinks and bathrooms inside. Just gotta say no drink or drugs. We close up 'bout eight, if you wanna bed you gotta let me know by five, beds confirmed by six.'

'Sure man. A bed for the night would be good, I'll move on in the morning. I'm looking for my brother, been trying to find him for a while. I know he's passing through. Have you seen him?'

Brett squinted in confusion. 'Dunno.'

'Oh, this might help. Take a look.' Deeks hurriedly removed the photo from the ripped back pocket of his faded jeans and held it in front of Brett.

'Sure, he stayed last night. Not seen him since. Might've gone.'

'Ah,' Deeks looked dejected and glanced inside the shelter's day centre.

'You still want that bed?'

'Yeah man.'

'Cool. Chill, get food n' stuff. Let y'know 'bout the bed.' Brett dismissed Deeks and returned to tapping a drum beat with his pencil.

Deeks nodded, picked up his bag and sniffed the air. A meaty smell that reminded him of high school lunchtimes set his stomach rumbling and he realised his last meal was an early breakfast shortly after Eric had woken him. He wouldn't have said the aroma was particularly appetising but he'd always found that hunger pangs caused him to eat pretty much anything. Deeks started towards the interior of the day centre, cautiously glancing around him and nodding as he caught the eyes of several men and women. Smiling to himself, he was secretly pleased that he had managed to fit Artie in to his bag, although he left the bad teeth at home. Avoiding the hot food, Deeks grabbed a few sandwiches and a steaming mug of coffee and sat down at a table occupied by a man who could easily have been Artie's twin brother. He struck up an easy conversation that would have sounded like madness to any casual observer but made perfect sense to him and Jim, his new companion. The minutes wound their way into hours and by the time the clock turned five, he had spoken at length to every person who had passed through the doors of The Sanctuary since his arrival, including volunteers. The conversations helped inform him of the reasons why homelessness was such an issue and Deeks took onboard everything he could glean. If nothing else it would help make Artie more believable for future undercover operations. For now though, he was already processing tiny pieces of detail and working them into his current legend. In a rare moment of silence Deeks was deep in thought, leaning forward and brushing his long, dirty blonde hair away from his eyes when he felt a vicious kick to his legs. The buzzing hum of the centre ceased with the sudden and unprovoked attack. None of the room's inhabitants had survived without honing their senses to impending danger and with a wariness, they watched cautiously as Deeks jumped to his feet and squared up to his assailant. Standing in front of him was Callen. There was no welcoming smile or bear hug and Deeks hesitated, allowing Callen to lead so he could follow.

'What are you doing here Billy? You been following me?' Callen's voice was hard, not the acknowledgement Deeks had been expecting.

'No, Rob! Well yes, sorta.' Deeks broke eye contact and stared at the floor before looking up at Callen again with a rue smile. 'Guilty as charged.'

Deeks' words and demeanour broke the ice and Callen visibly relaxed, matching Deeks' smile with a smirk of his own. The temperature in the room increased by a few degrees and interest was quickly lost in the two men. Frederick Patten was back to manning reception and had tracked Callen's movements through the centre. DuValle had requested he monitor his movements and advised Patten of his research in to Rob Gladstone. He had liked what he had found; a steady rise through the ranks and heavily redacted black ops reports. His attitude towards authority and a tendency to work outside the usual boundaries was a bonus. Witnessing the hostile kick on a new patron, Patten had left his post and loitered to either break up a fight or eavesdrop.

'Why you following me? I thought you'd sorted yourself out?' Callen asked.

'Long story. Sit down, I'll tell y'all about it.' Deeks gestured to the empty chair next to his. Without waiting for Callen's agreement he sat down.

'I'm not sure I really want to know.' Callen said, taking Deeks up on his offer and joined him. 'What's the short version - the last three years in three sentences?'

'Really? Um, well after um...y'know that girl I was with, last time I saw you? We got hitched, she kicked me out, I lost my job...'

'Again?'

'Again.' Deeks sighed. 'She divorced me and I, um, just drifted man. Hit Venice earlier and thought of you. From what I heard, sounds like you hit Venice. What've you been doing?'

'This and that,' Callen said vaguely.

'Like what? Causing fights and getting arrested? Spouting hate against the Government. You'll get yourself flagged on some commie anti-American database and shipped off to Guantanamo Bay.'

'Don't be stupid. And I'm doing better than you.'

'Sure brother, that's why we're both here.'

The pair fell in to an easy silence, observing their surroundings. Both men had been aware of Patten's presence and tailored their conversation to his ear. Callen's invite to the ranch was secured and Deeks had just cemented Callen's alias. All they had managed to establish for Deeks was a friendly connection to Callen so they had to move quickly if they were to persuade Patten and DuValle that Deeks should go too. Callen decided to push forward without delay.

'Hey, Freddie.' He called to Patten who was listening to an elderly woman, without hearing a word she was saying.

'You good there Rob?' Patten replied, eagerly walking over to where Callen was sitting.

'Yeah, want you to meet Billy.'

Patten held out his hand to Deeks who shook it with a friendly smile.

'Hey Freddie. I'm Rob's brother. He doesn't like to admit it, thinks I shame the family name.'

Callen shook his head and raised his eyebrows in frustration. 'We don't share a family name and we're not related. Well, not by blood..'

'Ok ok. You can tell how much he just loves to talk, about everything. We're foster brothers. We were placed with the same families three times. I'm pretty sure Rob cried every time they tried to move one of us on without the other.'

'Stop being a dick.' Callen smiled and turned to Freddie Patten. 'He had a tough time as a kid so I looked out for him. Turns out I could be quite persuasive when I wanted so it was easier for social services to place us together. It worked out ok for a few years.'

'Trouble was there was no one to look out for him,' Deeks continued seamlessly.

'Billy...'

'I know. Now we just seem to find each other when we need help. He keeps me on the straight and narrow and I calm him down, stop him getting in to serious trouble. Partners, right brother?'

'So is that why you're here now?' Patten asked Deeks before Callen could reply.

'Guess so. I was down at the beach, Venice. Rob used to hang there all the time as a kid. And I last bumped in to him about three years ago. Seems we're both drawn to the ocean even though he can't surf for shit. Anyways, thought I'd ask if he'd been around. Turns out his temper's gotten him in to trouble again.'

'Billy...It wasn't my fault.' Callen warned again.

'Aren't you old enough to take responsibility?' Deeks challenged Callen's childish response.

'If it was my fault I would say so.' Callen protested. 'And what about you? Still bumming around?'

'Just a rough patch, that's all.' Deeks said lightly.

'You're whole life's been a rough patch.'

'Yeah, thanks for that brother.

'You know it.' Callen shook his head.

'So what now? They said I can probably stay here a few days. I've missed you man.'

Callen looked up sharply and caught Patten's eye. He could see nothing in Patten's face which screamed at him that the invitation to the ranch was a secret.

'Patten and his pal invited me to some ranch in the national park. I'm leaving tonight for a few days to see what it's like. If it's good I might stay a while.'

'Oh.' Deeks was visibly crest fallen, as though his whole being suddenly had the air sucked from it. 'I thought I could stay here and help you and then you can help me, like the good old times.' Deeks picked up his bag and stood up. 'That's cool. Guess it's just been too long. I'll see you around Rob.'

'Billy...' Callen called after Deeks half heartedly but did not get up to follow. Instead he remained in his chair, his head in his hands.

Deeks walked away from Callen, leaving the day centre behind and with certain knowledge that either Callen or Patten would eventually come after him. He decided to cross the street and squatted next to some over flowing trash cans, trying not to breath in too deeply.

'So you're not really that close?' Patten said to Callen. 'Look, DuValle will be hear in about twenty minutes. You should get your stuff together.'

'What? Yes. No. I should go after him.' Callen stood up and hesitated, allowing Patten enough time to consider his options. Should he decide not to suggest Deeks accompany them, then he would have to engage those persuasive skills he had alluded to earlier.

Patten had closely observed the behaviour between the two men and could tell they were close, even though their words could be interpreted by some as harsh. The difference he saw in Rob, Callen's undercover alias was intriguing. His had lowered his defences and there was a glimpse of a personality which contradicted that of a man tightly in control of his emotions. Patten was now conflicted. He knew DuValle wanted a man on the edge, a man who would be willing to cause damage to Government buildings and maybe even people and have no regrets. If he invited Rob's foster brother Billy, the game could change. Patten took a beat and then thought about how people like Rob changed during stays at the ranch anyway. They usually settled within a few days and the outdoor, wholesome and relaxed lifestyle allowed many to forget their problems, even if only for a short while. There were plenty of men and women at the ranch with backgrounds similar to both Rob and Billy's and work could be found for both of them. And if one or the other didn't fit it, then they would be told to leave. It was a gamble he thought would pay off.

'He's your brother, of course you should go after him. I'll speak with DuValle and tell him he'll be collecting both of you.'

'Thanks Freddie. I owe you big time.' Callen slapped Patten on the shoulder in appreciation and headed out after Deeks, spotting him quickly on the opposite side of the street.

'Well?' Deeks asked, still squatting on his haunches.

'It's all good. You're in too. We leave in twenty.'

'Ah, excellent.' Getting up, Deeks stretched his back out and stood tall. 'But I meant 'well' as in what was that kick all about in there? I thought you were gonna deck me.'

Callen grinned. 'I watched you for about ten minutes. You were totally silent and the kick was to make sure you weren't dead. Anyway, made it more fun.'

'You're idea of fun and my idea of fun are two totally different things.'

'Good. Let's head back, I need to make sure no one's stolen my stuff in the last two minutes.'

'You left your bag in there?'

'It's only stuff,' Callen shrugged. 'All my money is in my socks and shoes.'

Deeks pulled a face in revolt. 'Ok, just don't give me any money. Like ever.'

'Why would I give you my money?'

Callen looked genuinely puzzled and Deeks tilted his head slightly to one side. Was his new partner having him on? There was no sign of any twinkle in Callen's eye and Deeks raised his eyebrows in sudden understanding.

'What? You really are being serious. Is this what you're like with Sam? No! Don't even answer that.' Deeks walked across the road leaving Callen staring after him with a confused look on his face.