"Hey lady," Kensi greeted Nell when she got back to the mission. She looked around at the empty bullpen. "Where is everybody?"

"Hey! Callen and Sam decided to reinterview some of the witnesses and employees connected with the previous fires," Nell replied, turning around with her tablet in hand. "And so far I haven't been able to find anything of interest. Though Eric and I have have combed through hours of security feed at this point. Again."

"Well, I doubt there'll be much from the new scene."

"That is unfortunate. So, give me the details on the Lieutenant," Nell said, turning around completely and settling her chin on her folded hands with an eager expression.

"It was strictly a professional meeting," Kensi insisted, leaving out the part where she'd been a few seconds away from finding out what Marty Deeks' lips taste like. She cleared her throat. "He's very dedicated to his job."

"Oh, I'm sure it was." Nell pressed her lips together, leaning forward. "But I was actually talking about the date. I haven't seen you that dressed up since you had to seduce that foreign dignitary."

"Yeah, well there wasn't any seducing tonight," Kensi said with mild bitterness.

"Who's seducing somebody?" Callen asked right on cue as he and Sam sauntered through the sliding doors.

"Kensi," Nell answered before Kensi could.

"I see. What did your fireman have to say?" Callen asked.

"Deeks is not my firefighter," Kensi protested heatedly.

"Well, he's certainly not mine."

"And no one seduced anyone." Unfortunately.

"I could take him off your hands," Nell muttered from her work station. She shrugged innocently when everyone in the room frowned or glared at her. "What, I've always had a soft spot for a man in yellow."

"Or a man who poses shirtless for calendars," Callen quipped.

"Yeah, I bet Lieutenant Deeks has made lots of money for charity."

"Which month is he, Kensi?"

"Is he holding puppies?"

"Ooh, I saw one with baby goats," Nell offered.

"You guys keep this up and I'm going to bring out the video from that charity auction you did a few years ago," Kensi threatened.

"Moving on," Callen said quickly. "Ok, what did you learn at the new site?"

"Lieutenant Deeks couldn't tell me a lot. The infrastructure is too unstable for them to investigate thoroughly, but he did say that there was more damage this time than in any of the other burn sites."

"But he thinks it's the same MO?"

"Likely. The building's probably going to be a complete loss though, so I'm not sure how much evidence there'll be." Kensi explained.

"Huh, so that means you'll have to go back and talk to him again," Sam surmised. "Very clever."

"I'm sure Deeks regards his job too seriously to delay the process," Kensi objected, offended on his behalf. "What about your interviews?"

"The business manager from the second fire reported that one of her employees belatedly reported a missing ID tag a couple days before the fire," Callen told them.

"So, anybody who had access to the building could have stolen it."

"Exactly.

"We'll have to refigure possible suspects," Sam added.

"Fantastic," Kensi muttered, reaching for her phone as it started to buzz in her pocket. "It's Deeks."

"Ooh, already has number in her phone book," Callen joked in an undertone.

She glared at him before answering. "Hey, this is Kensi." She turned partially away, a little self-conscious though she was certain Deeks was calling in a professional manner.

"Kensi," Deeks responded, her name clipped and no hint of playfulness in his tone. "I just finished a walkthrough of the building and—hey, you're not authorized to in here!"

Kensi frowned as his voice grew fainter.

"Deeks, is everything ok?"

"Stop!"

There was distant sound of footprints and muffled static that made Kensi think Deeks was suddenly on the move. She jerked as a gunshot rang out over the speaker.

"Oh my god, Deeks," she whispered.