AN: The following two chapters were completely the idea of my younger sister who was awesome enough to give me inspiration.

"What's this I hear about you and a clown?" Deeks asked far too loudly as Sam and Callen arrived back at the office.

Sure, he probably could have been a little more discreet about it but where was the fun in that? That, and he couldn't just let an opportunity like this pass him by. He couldn't. So, at the risk of his physical wellbeing, he didn't.

Sam didn't immediately respond to him, instead turning to his partner and asking in a betrayed tone, "You told them?"

Callen raised his hands in the air in innocence, "I didn't tell them anything."

Sam didn't look too convinced of that. Not that it mattered. What mattered was that Deeks had something to distract him from paperwork and it involved getting a rise out of Sam. Win win in his book.

"I don't know anything about a clown," Sam said quickly.

Oh, very good. Very good. If Deeks didn't know him any better, he would have believed it. But he did know Sam better (and some of his tells) and also, he had proof of a kind.

"Au contraire, mon ami, I know for a fa-"

"Augh," Kensi interrupted.

"Excuse me?" Deeks asked, distracted.

"It's 'au contraire'," she told him, putting on a slight French accent.

"That's what I said."

"No, you said 'Oh contraire'."

"Same thing."

"It's really not."

"Everyone knew what I meant!"

A cough interrupted them and they both turned around. It was Callen.

"A little bit off topic there."

"Because Kensi is being all pedantic!"

Kensi said nothing except fold her arms and glare at him. Because she couldn't deny it, ha!

"Can we get back to the topic on hand," she grumbled.

"No, I'm good with this," Sam interjected.

Of course, he was because that meant that the teasing would have stopped. Which Deeks just couldn't allow. It hadn't even started properly yet!

"Oh, and Deeks?" Callen said before he could launch into the spell he had thought up. "Your pronunciation really is horrible."

Deeks rolled his eyes and muttered something about "all the dammed linguists in the room" before getting rid of all negative thoughts. One needed a clear head when dealing with Sam Hanna, after all.

"Right," Deeks announced, clapping his hands together. "Let's get back to the brilliant topic of clowns and how we should act around them. Exhibit one," he gestured at Sam. "How not to act."

Kensi let out a groan that Deeks knew to mean that she thought he was going too far. That he had crossed a line. Now, Sam hadn't physically threatened him yet so he was on the safe side of the line. At the minute. Probably not for very long.

He was about to launch into his perfectly prepared (if he said so himself) speech when he was interrupted yet again. It was like the universe was trying to tell him something.

"Please tell me that Deeks did not just say something to Sam," Nell said as she walked down the stairs, eyes firmly on her tablet and a finger on her comms.

Kensi cleared her throat loudly making Nell look up. Her eyes immediately widened in shock and she pulled the earwig from her ear.

"Oh, hi Sam!"

That had to be the falsest bright tone Deeks had ever heard and he had heard some bad ones before.

Sam folded his arms and raised an eyebrow. "Hi, Nell."

She gave him an awkward grin before asking, "I don't suppose you heard any of that, did you?"

"Oh, I did."

"Of course, you did."

Sam just stared at their Intelligence Analyst, wanting to intimidate her into a confession.

"I would like to say that I specifically said to Detective Deeks to not bring it up."

Oh, she was going all formal. Nice touch. Wait. She was throwing him under the bus. Not so nice.

"Hmm mm."

Good, maybe he would focus on Nell now. She could take him; Deeks knew she could.

"Just you wait," Sam swore. "We'll pin that guy for something."

"Pretty sure you can't just do that," Deeks commented.

"I think that's called falsifying evidence," Kensi added, also grinning, and then turned to her partner to ask in a mocking tone, "That's what it is, isn't it?"

"That's exactly what it is, Kensalina."

"I don't mean I'm going to convict him without evidence," Sam said in exasperation.

Deeks raised an eyebrow. "Then what did you mean?"

"That he is a suspicious and shifty character who obviously needs to be investigated further."

"Sam, nothing in our investigation points towards a clown," Kensi tried to persuade him.

"Of course, it wouldn't! That's what makes it the perfect cover!"

Kensi just shook her head and threw her hands up in the universal 'I give up' gesture.

"You can't just go around accusing clowns of everything that's going wrong," Callen tried. "They really aren't that suspicious. You know, except for their horns," he finished off with a snort.

"Oh, there'll be something," Sam said darkly, leaning over his laptop to do some sort of work.

Probably researching the likelihood of clowns committing a crime or something knowing him.

Deeks exchanged raised eyebrows with the other two members of the team. They looked just as sceptical and amused as he felt. Callen nodded at Sam and then rolled his eyes, ending with a shrug. Ah, the gesture for "humour him". Slight problem, Deeks didn't know if he could do that without throwing in some more jokes. Which would definitely cross the earlier mentioned line and definitely end up with him in the hospital or him being used as a "training opportunity" for new agents. No, they did not need a love, human, subject to demonstrate their technique no matter what Sam said. At least he was allowed to be on the defensive when they did so. Some of them really did have sloppy technique - no wonder Sam went all drill sergeant on them.

"Okay, big guy," Callen said in a consoling tone.

"Yeah, if something comes up, we'll investigate it," Kensi added, lips twitching."

"We'll even grab him by the nose for you," Deeks threw in for good measure.

Sam did not look amused by any of this conversation. Actually, he looked pretty passed off if Deeks had to pin an emotion to it.