After a short debriefing with the Captains Palmy and Bates, two arson investigators, and Deeks, they were given custody of the lighter and any other evidence. They'd also been given approval to use Deeks as a liaison. With that in mind, they'd decided to regroup at the boat shed.

"Is that a code name?" Deeks asked once his superiors had dispersed and it was just NCIS and him left. "The boat shed?"

"Nope, it's literally a boat shed repurposed for our interrogations and meetings with non-NCIS staff," Callen replied, folding his arms over his chest.

Clearly this was some kind of test, so Deeks just nodded along as though using a boat shed for classified business made perfect sense. He'd heard enough rumors about NCIS over the years from Bates to know they were decidedly quirky for a federal agency, which worked just fine for him. "Cool. I love the water."

"Of course you do," Sam commented under his breath. "Tell me, do you surf, Lieutenant?"

"Every chance I get," Deeks confirmed. "Which admittedly isn't so often these days, but I'm not complaining. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, no reason. You just seem the type." Sam's grin in Kensi's direction suggested otherwise. As did the way she suddenly dipped her head for a second before leveling the other agent with a glare fiery enough to burn a brick house down.

"Alright, are we done with the small talk? Because there's an arsonist out there," Kensi said with a "wrap it up" gesture.

"Right. Deeks you can ride with one of us—"

"I'll do it," Kensi volunteered quickly, interrupting Callen. Deeks just barely held back a grin at her eagerness. "What? There's more room in the SUV."

"Uh-huh. Alright, we'll meet you there."

"Don't take any detours, kids," Sam said as they walked through the tent flap.

"You know, if you wanted to spend more time with me, all you had to do was ask," Deeks teased quietly.

"I just don't want to give them the chance to give you dirt on me," she insisted.

"Ooh, that's implies there's dirt to know." He wiggled his eyebrows a couple times.

Kensi shook her head, starting to brush past him, but he stopped her with a finger to her shoulder.

"Hey, just so you know, I want to spend as much time with you as possible too," he informed her.

Her cheeks darkened slightly with a light flush, and she stepped back to look him up and down suggestively.

"Preferably some of that time is in private in the very near future," she whispered in his ear.

A petite brunette woman and a man with short curly blonde hair were already set up with tablets and folders when Deeks and Kensi entered the boat shed.

Deeks detected a faint fishy smell and noted the various boats and surf boards hanging from the walls. He tried to imagine Agent Callen or Sam breaking out one of the boards in a spare moment, and had to conceal the resulting smile that thought produced.

"Deeks, this is Eric Beale, our technical operator and Nell Jones, Intelligence Analyst. Eric and Nell, Lieutenant Marty Deeks of the LAFD," Callen said, handling introductions.

Beale gave him a short wave and a smile while Nell Jones tilted her head, clearly scrutinizing him. He wondered what she hoped to find.

"Nice to meet you," Deeks said, nodding to each of them. "I've heard about you guys from one of our analysts and he's really impressed with the kinds of results you achieve so quickly."

"Why thank you, sir," Eric responded with a small, but pleased smile. "We do our best."

"Wow, cute, charming, and a fireman. What more could you ask for?" Nell responded, and Deeks huffed out a laugh of surprise.

"Nell, not now," Kensi sighed, and Deeks turned his head enough to smirk at her. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Nell give Kensi a double thumbs up.

"Moving on to the case, did you get anything from the lighter found at the fire site?" Callen asked.

"Yes. The lab results came back on the fingerprints LAPD collected." Eric tapped something on his tablet, dramatically gesturing to the large screen mounted across the room. "And there was a partial fingerprint that matches one Jason McHenry."

A picture of a man with a medium build, short brown hair, brown eyes, and a truly unremarkable appearance popped onto the screen.

"McHenry is 37 years old. He dropped out of Cal Tech after one year before accepting an entry level position at a plumbing company. Since then, he has lived in six different states and held a variety of blue-collar jobs, most recently as a subcontractor for a cleaning company," Nell added.

"Well, custodial work would certainly be a good way of getting access to a building," Kensi observed. "I bet most people wouldn't even look twice at a guy in a pair of coveralls and the administration wouldn't even remember they had a sub in for a few days."

"Can you check if he has any prior history of arson or similar criminal activity?" Deeks asked, drawing a nod of approval from Sam.

"Good thinking."

"Let me see." Eric tapped away, his fingers a blur as he typed. "Jason McHenry doesn't have any prior criminal charges, not even a parking or speeding ticket." He raised a finger, eye lowered as he read. "However, when we go way back to little Jason, a shed on his parents' property burn down. They filed a police report, believing it was the work of some troubled teens in the neighborhood, but no charges were ever submitted."

"And there we go," Sam said quietly. "I bet if we look a little deeper, we'll find a whole lot of small fires linked with this guy."

"Mm, yeah. He seems to be a pretty smart guy, if a little arrogant. Based on the types of accelerants he used and the way he was able to conceal them, get past security, and time the fires for when the buildings were empty for the most part, I'd say this is not the first time he's done something like this. I think he's just gotten cocky with this last batch." Deeks shrugged, hoping he hadn't overstepped, but he was there to liaise after all.

"You think he's for hire?" Callen asked.

"For most of these, yeah, I do."

"Ok, I need to make a few calls." Callen grabbed his cell, stepping several feet away, Agent Hanna following him.

"Don't you want to listen in?" Deeks asked when Kensi stayed by his side.

"They'll fill me in when they're done." She glanced over his shoulder suddenly, and he followed her gaze, seeing Nell watching them with obvious interest. "Come with me." Hand lightly on his forearm, she led him around a corner and out of sight of prying eyes.

"Ooh, junkyard chic," he said approvingly of the small filled with an interesting collection of items, including a worn bike and flippers.

"It's a cover. Who'd ever suspect that top secret operations go on here?" Kensi didn't wait for him to answer question, drifting closer until there were maybe six inches separating their bodies. "That was very impressive, by the way," she added, changing the subject and the tone as her voice dropped several notches.

"You mean my profiling back there?" He hooked his thumb over his shoulder. "It's part of what we're trained to do."

"Yes, but I found your confidence…appealing. Some people can be a little intimidated by Sam and Callen, but you're not at all."

"Oh, you like that, huh?" Deeks murmured, shifting a step forward, closing the distance by half. Kensi nodded, bottom lip tucked between her teeth. "There's something about running into burning buildings that knocks the fear out of you. Plus, when I was younger, I tended to get a lot of flak for oh so many reasons, so I learned how to stand up for myself," he explained.

As he spoke, his voice grew softer, the air between them warming with potential and the heat of their bodies so close together. Kensi swayed towards him and she settled her thumbs at the top of his waist, thumbs light on his back. He saw her eyes drop to his lips, the rich brown even darker than usual.

Dipping his head, he lowered his lips towards hers as she tipped her chin up. He felt a whisper of her breath on his lips, the faint smell of lavender as her hair fell back from her face—

"Kensi!"

They both jerked back at the sound of Agent Callen's voice, Kensi's head swiveling towards the doorway, though she didn't drop her hands from his waist immediately. She sighed heavily in frustration.

"We need to solve this case now," she decided, voice dark with annoyance. With a final sound of regret, she slid her hand up his chest, leaving a trail of warmth in its wake.

A/N: Yes, I did create a temporary firefighter liaison position for Deeks. Because he's special. And Kensi needs to spend more time with him. Even if it kills her.

As always, in these AUs, Nell is a little feistier and has a thing for Deeks. Though she would never seriously go for him.