A/N: Densimber Day 14.

"I'm just saying, of the two of us, one is clearly a better speller than the other," Deeks proclaimed as he and Kensi walked into the bullpen.

"Deeks, I misspelled one word. It's not that big a deal," Kensi insisted, tossing her bag onto her already crowded desk. Callen reached out to catch a bottle of lotion. "And that was AutoCorrect's fault.

"Uh-huh. Sure."

"Hey, guys," Nell said. "Do we want to know what's going on?

"Kensi can't spell," Deeks announced loudly, before Kensi could respond. She rounded on him with a glare, and Deeks grinned back at her. He could tell it wasn't true anger, so he didn't feel all that bad about teasing her.

"All right, that's it. I challenge you to a spelling competition."

"Ok, I'm in. What do I get if I win?"

"The knowledge that you're the better speller?" Kensi said with a shrug.

"Nah, that's not good enough," Deeks decided. He thought for a moment. "If I win, I want control of the radio for a week."

"Then I want you to make me frittata every morning for a week."

"Deal." Turning to face the rest of the team, who had been watching the conversation with varying levels of interest, Deeks asked, "Any other takers?"

Callen snorted. "Not a chance. Sam, you in?"

"Oh no, I already know my spelling abilities. I once won a state spelling competition in high school," he said, a hint of pride in his voice.

"I thought you were a mathlete," Callen commented.

"I was." Sam jabbed a finger at him. "And no jokes."

"I would never," Callen said solemnly. "Though it is impressive that one man can hold so much geekiness within him. I think you're running neck and neck with Beale."

"He thinks that's an insult," Eric said wryly. "For the record, I am not beyond competing in a test of spelling acuity."

"Nell?"

"I would, but I don't think you guys could handle it," she responded.

"Ooh, that sounds like a challenge, Jones. Why don't you put your money, or similar compensatory item, where your mouth is?"

Nell stepped toe-to-toe with Deeks, standing as tall as she could.

"All right Mr. Deeks. I'll participate, but you'll regret it. And if I win, the losers will write all my expense summaries for the next week."

"It's a deal," Deeks agreed.

"Oh, you're going down hard," Kensi goaded him. "I'm looking forward to breakfast in bed."

"Alright Kensi, your word is "onomatopoeia"," Callen called out, waiting as Kensi stepped forward. He'd been assigned the role of choosing and assigning words, mostly because Sam refused.

Eric had dropped out after three rounds with the word chiaroscurist. Personally, Deeks thought he'd done it on purpose, in deference to Nell. Deeks had nearly lost it with "lachsschinken", but somehow managed to squeak through solely by chance.

Kensi correctly spelled her word; she looked decidedly tense, biting at her thumbnail in between turns. When it came back around to her again, Callen gave her the word "arachnophagous".

"A-r-a-c-h-n-o-p-h-a-g," Kensi started, then hesitated. "u-s?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, that is incorrect," Callen said, not sounding sorry at all. "Now it's just down to Deeks and Nell."

"Damn it!" Kensi hissed, plopping into her seat.

"I can't believe I'm watching this," Sam mumbled.

"You got this, Nell," Eric encouraged, then shot Deeks an apologetic look. "Sorry, man."

"It's ok, brother. I understand."

"Ok Nell, your next word is "budgereegah".

"Now you're just making things up," Deeks muttered even as Nell rattled off the apparently correct spelling liked she'd actually heard the word before.

"Excellent. Deeks, yours is "sesquipedalian"."

"Awesome. Uh, s-e-s-a-u-i—p-e-d-a-l-i-e-n".

"That is…incorrect," Callen called out. "Congratulations, Nell. You're the NCIS Office of Special Operations' inaugural Spelling Bee winner."

"That implies there's going to be another one," Sam commented under his breath.

"Nicely done, Nell," Deeks congratulated her, and Nell accepted the praise with a nod.

"Thank you. And thank you for the week of expense reports. I will enjoy going home early."

"It won't be so bad with Eric and Kens helping. Right, Kensi?"

"Right," Kensi said with a grimace. "Congrats Nell, but I was really looking forward to those breakfasts."

"Well, there's always next year," Deeks said brightly.

A/N: This one was a bit sillier, but I hope you still enjoyed it. I think the team would compete for anything under the right conditions. Also, some of the words I used were selected from the national Spelling Bee's list.