"Do you really think this is a good idea?" Kensi asked, giving her team lead a doubtful look and then giving an equally doubtful look to the floor. "There's no cushioning on those mats."

Callen brushed off her concern and shot her an arrogant smirk.

"You're assuming that you'll manage to floor me."

"I am," she stressed. "That's the whole point." A thought struck her and her eyes narrowed. "You don't think I can do it," she accused.

Callen didn't say anything as he looked at her expectantly.

"I can!" she announced stubbornly, stepping out of the doorway and into the gym and facing him with a glare.

Hmpf. How dare he doubt her. How dare he think thay she couldn't do it. She'd finally got back into the swing of things at work and, more importantly, felt like she was back on her game. She could still keep up with the guys and Sam had deemed her sparring to be "back to terrifying normality". It was great, all her hard work and everyone's patience had paid off. Thank God for excellent physiotherapy (and sheer bullheadedness if you asked Deeks). She was useful again. Something everyone kept trying to tell her she never stopped being but whatever. She was back to what she deemed normal. Which meant that she definitely could do this no matter what Callen thought!

Now Callen had issued a challenge. An instruction. Basically, an order. He dared her to judo flip him. Or, in his words, "Try to". In the most infuritating tone possible, by the way.

"Because you need to build your muscles back up," he had pointed out matter-of-factly. "And this is a good way to test that."

Kensi wasn't entirely sure of herself even though she had specifically worked on rebuilding her physical strength as she knew that that took the longest. She wasn't going to mention those doubts though. She wasn't going to give him any more ammo or let her doubts win. Nope, because she was better. No moaning or complaining allowed. And anyway, she was always up for flipping a teammate onto their back. It had been far too long since the last time. she decided not to dwell on what that probably said about her.

So, she had agreed and they'd somehow got Hetty's blessing but without an audience, Hetty having kept Sam and Deeks at their desks. Well, she'd been all for it until she remembered those mats.

Which brought them back to the present of her glaring at Callen. Because he was being so annoying , she suddenly didn't care as much about the state of the mats.

Callen jerked his head to the mat.

"Want to put your money where your mouth is?"

"Of course," Kensi replied and strode confidently past him and onto the mat.

She bounced on the balls on her feet to loosen up. There really wasn't much padding on these at all. No give, whatsoever.

Callen took on a defensive pose in front of her, arms positioned low on his torso. Kensi positioned herself similarly, facing him off.

"Keep going until I flip you?" Kensi checked.

Callen nodded and added, "Or you get tired."

"Oh, I won't," Kensi assured him just as she took a quick, opportunistic jab at his gut.

Callen dodged it easily, and very nearly sidestepped into her sweeping foot. A quick jump avoided that.

Oh. It was on.

Well, this wasn't good. It wasn't supposed to end like this.

Callen was currently staring at the ceiling, lying at an awkward angle mostly on his back. Hmm, interesting. It was very different to the one in the boatshed, which he was far more familiar with. The weird position was because he had heavily on his right side and he didn't really want to move until the throbbing had died down.

He really should have listened to Kensi's warnings about the mats. He'd have to ask Hetty about fixing that.

"Ha!" Kensi cheered from above him, a triumphant smile on her face. "Told you I could do it!"

"Uh huh," Callen said ruefully, rubbing his shoulder where he had landed on it.

It had taken her a bit longer than he knew she would have liked but she finally managed to make a grab at Callen. A simple twist, as he was leaning into her, and suddenly his feet had left the floor. That didn't last for long as he was only briefly in the air before all of him seemed to hit the ground at once.

Deeks was right, you landed hard. Callen wasn't entirely sure what part of him actually ached. It felt like it was coming from everywhere if the amount of throbbing going on was anything to go by. He couldn't help but let a groan escape him. That was definitely going to leave a mark somewhere.

"Need a hand?" Kensi asked, sounding amused.

"Not yours," he responded teasingly as he picked himself up.

It was a good thing that Deeks and Sam were safely ensconced at their desks. He would not have wanted an audience for this. It was a bit embarrassing, especially since he always teased Deeks about always ending up on the floor.

Kensi paused in her moment of triumph and gave him a suspicious look.

"You didn't go easy on me, did you?" she demanded.

Callen shook his head in response.

And he really hadn't. One, it would do her no favours whatsoever and two, it wouldn't have even been needed.

She really was back on her game; her blows were accurate and well planned; her dodging had actually improved and she had the confidence to take hits when necessary. Callen was proud of her; he knew how hard she had had to work to get back to this point. It would have been a good spar if they had ended it before he got flipped into the air.

Reading his silence correctly, Kensi quickly stated, "You wanted me to do that."

"Yep," Callen agreed. "Not going to be doing that again any time soon."

Kensi poked her tongue out at him.