"All clear?" a voice whispered; face hidden behind a handily placed plant.

"Yes, and you don't need to whisper you know. You know that they're all out in the field," an exasperated voice replied.

"Were trying to be sneaky here."

"Ok, fine. Put one in his pen holder."

"You still putting one in his gym bag?"

"Of course."

"Brave move."

"No one's in the gym at the moment."

"True."

"How many of these did you even buy?"

"It was a four for three deal."

"Uh huh."

"I put one in his jacket like you said by the way."

"His jacket?"

"Uh, yeah."

"No, I said I was going to put one in his jacket.

"Oh."

"Crap, that's them, never mind."

Callen sighed almost inaudibly. He closed his eyes and rested his head against the window of Sam's Challenger as he was waiting for his partner to return from the building he had managed to charm his way into. He was hoping to get a look at some of the files or account numbers they needed.

Today was not a good day for him. It never was a good day. He shifted in his seat slightly. This was stupid. It was the anniversary of him getting shot. Five times. The fifth one too. He was fine. Alive, that's what counted. Normally this like this didn't bother him, hazards of the job and all that. But this one did. It always did.

Five bullets. Five scars. That was impressive even for him. He rubbed at his chest absent-mindedly, trying not to think of it.

Of course, that made him think about it all the more. Callen was sure that there was a proper term for that. Nate would know. Not that he was going to talk to Nate about this. Everyone had already been needlessly worried about that incident. Hell, even Deeks and Nell got anxious looking when it was brought up and they hadn't even been with them. He was fine.

Really.

He sighed heavily and reached for a lollipop. There was usually one in his pocket. His fingers grasped around one-or three? What the? Callen frowned and opened his pocket wider to see inside. Three lollipops? How did that happen? He bought the things in bulk and stashed them about the place so there were always a few handy but he didn't usually put more than one or two in the same place. He'd really go through them if he did that and he didn't need Sam yapping on about his teeth and sugar consumption any more than he already did.

Pulling all three out, Callen frowned at them. There was the yellow one he'd thrown in there and the two unexplained ones were purple. His favourite. They looked legit. Felt it too. The branding was right. Why would someone want to plant a lollipop on him? Was it even real?

He shook his head. He was being suspicious about lollipops of all things.

Feeling slightly uneasy, he picked one of the purple ones and unwrapped it. Nothing out of the ordinary about that. Suspiciously, he gave it a tentative lick. It was real. Weird. Callen looked at it even more closely, nose almost touching it. It even smelled ok. Should he? Shrugging to himself he took the plunge and stuck the whole thing in his mouth. There were worse ways to go if this was a problem he thought as he sucked on it.

He hadn't had a purple on in a while after all.

"I'm going crazy," he announced to his partner, throwing himself into the passenger seat after doing his own reconnaissance and earning himself a glare from Sam.

"Going?" Sam asked with a quirked eyebrow.

Callen shot him a dark look.

"Why are you 'going' insane?" he asked placatingly.

Callen didn't say anything but dumped the handful of lollipops onto the dashboard in response.

"They better not be sticky," Sam warned, picking one up and inspecting it closely. "Lollipops?" he queried.

"I'm finding them everywhere," Callen said in frustration, side-eyeing said treats suspiciously.

"Your problem being?" Sam asked, setting the candy back down. "You love these things. Especially the purple ones."

"I didn't put them there," Callen all but hissed, getting annoyed that he wasn't getting across just how weird this whole situation was.

"Seriously, G?"

"I'm telling you Sam; they just keep appearing!" he insisted.

"Because you stash the damn things everywhere," Sam pointed out then frowned at Callen. "You better not have hidden them in my car again."

Callen gave him an innocent look.

Sighing loudly in frustration, Sam reached his hand down the side of the driver's seat. It re-emerged with a blue one.

"G!" he complained, holding it between two fingers in disgust. "Really?"

Callen grabbed it off him with a grin. "Like you said, so I always have them."

"You're worse than my kids," Sam grumbled. "At least they listen when I say 'no food in the car'."

"It's not going to make a mess," Callen said, trying to put it back in its hiding spot.

Sam slapped his hand away and glared at him.

"I should just dump you out here and make you walk back."

"Aargh!" came Callen's cry of frustration from his desk.

Kensi and Deeks looked at each other, then at Sam inquisitively. The big guy just shrugged; he didn't know.

Before Kensi could voice her confusion, Callen stomped around the corner and past them, swearing the whole time in what was probably Russian.

"Language, Mr Callen," scolded Hetty disapprovingly as he made his way past her.

He pouted at her but stopped his scary sounding mumbling.

"Hetty," he complained, getting as close to a whine as he could without actually doing it.

Hetty didn't tolerate whining and there was no point in aggravating her as well.

"No aggravation requires that sort of language," she continued.

"Even when it's these?" He demanded dropping a handful of something onto her desk.

"Are those lollipops?" Deeks asked in a whisper.

"I think so," Kensi responded, squinting. "The purple ones I think."

"Eurgh," Deeks said. "Purple? Everyone knows the red are better."

"Purple," Callen retorted. "Red is disgusting"

Deeks was outraged, "Bite your tongue?"

"Really?" Kensi asked her partner.

Callen just scoffed at them and turned back to Hetty with a pleading look.

"What am I supposed to do?"

Hetty picked up a piece of the offending candy by the tips of her fingers. Slowly, she unwrapped one and placed it in her mouth, smiling at the flavour.

"The only thing you can do," she replied, taking it out of her mouth and inspecting it briefly. "Enjoy your good fortune."

Callen made a frustrated noise and went back to his desk. Kensi and Deeks decided this was a good time to disappear, saying something about lunch.

Sam had had enough. His partner was slowly getting more mentally unstable than usual and becoming increasingly paranoid. Over lollipops. It was ridiculous.

What was odd that they kept on appearing, even in places that Callen had emptied - like his jacket pockets. Someone kept replenishing them. Sam was impressed. The person who was doing this must have quite a stash.

Nevertheless, he was going to find out who was doing it. He didn't know whether he was going to congratulate them or give them a good shake but he needed to know who it was. Honestly, he was veering more towards the good shake. No one messed with his partner if he could help it. No matter how funny it was. Their heads need to be in the game and G's currently wasn't.

Positioning himself as unobtrusively as he could near their desks, Sam waited.

He was going to pull a Sam and pound a punching bag. He needed to burn off some of this frustration. This was getting out of hand. No one believed him that there was a problem. Of course, there was a problem, there were lollipops everywhere. Why were there lollipops everywhere?

A terrified agent skirted around him as he strode into the changing rooms. Oops, that definitely wouldn't help his reputation around the office. Oh well. Not like he cared.

He slung his bag on a bench and went to change. There was yet another lollipop, right there on top of his clothes. Because why not? Resisting the urge to throw it into the bin he swung around making his sneakers fell to the floor, under the bench. Because of course they did. Sighing heavily, he grabbed the left one, returned it to the bench, and knelt down to grab the right on. Grasping it by the toe, he felt and heard a soft 'Thud'. Something had fallen from it.

It was another damned lollipop! He threw the shoes away from him in disgust

The noise he produced made all the staff currently in the gym jump in fright.

There was movement coming from their desks. Specifically, Callen's desk. Aha!

"It's you guys?" Sam demanded, gaping at the two meerkats as he jumped from behind the screens.

"What?" Nell asked, looking at the Agent confusedly as Eric made sure to smooth down their Team Lead's jacket.

She adjusted the little bouquet of lollipops she had just placed on his partner's desk. It looked like a bizarre bunch of flowers.

"It's you guys who have been leaving those lollipops everywhere!" Sam exclaimed, pointing a finger accusingly in their direction.

Eric blinked at him. "Well, yes," he said slowly. "Who else would it be?"

"We just wanted to cheer Callen up," Nell explained. "We know how he gets on this day and we know he loves these."

Eric nodded vigorously behind her, now looking very concerned for their personal safety.

Sam just stared at them, completely gobsmacked. Eric and Nell bit their lips and squirmed in discomfort. The mab''s face was completely expressionless.

Suddenly, loud laughter practically boomed from Sam. Eric could have sworn that the windows rattled. The man was laughing so hard that he was actually doubled over, his head nearly touching his knees. Now they were just concerned. He was attracting the attention of other Agents. It was often that you got to see the Ex-SEAL lose control. Actually, Sam never lost control.

"It was you," he managed to choke out between chuckles.

"Yes..." Eric answered nervously even though it was a question.

The Tech Operator exchanged a look with Nell that screamed 'should we run?'

"To cheer him up?" Sam checked, wiping at his eyes. He hasn't laughed that much in years.

"Uh huh," replied Nell, looking questioningly at him. "We just wanted to distract him from his thoughts. "

"No one can be negative while sucking on a lollipop," Eric interrupted.

"Exactly," agreed Nell, nodding. "Did it work?"

"Oh, you distracted him alright," Sam said with a final chuckle. "How do you know he likes those things anyway?"

Eric and Nell just gave him a look.

"What?"

"You're always complaining about the wrappers he leaves all over your car," Nell answered exasperatedly.

Sam frowned at her. "I haven't complained-"

"You do," Eric interrupted. "All the time."

"Not in here," Sam said defensively

Sure, he complained about it when G was eating those damned things but he only ever ate them when he was with Sam. Sam didn't pretend to understand the thought process behind that or why his partner felt like he could eat a damn lollipop in the office or outside or even bin the damn wrappers in a trash can like a normal person instead of poking them in all possible spaces in his car (A verifiable avalanche of them had tumbled down on him when he pulled down the sun visor once). It still came down to the fact that Sam always complained as G was eating them. Not anywhere else. Could you imagine what Deeks would say if he caught them arguing over candy?

"But you do in the car," Nell explained.

"How do you know that?" Sam asked, narrowing his eyes.

"You guys really need to be more aware of when your mics are on," said Eric by way of explanation, edging behind Nell when Sam just looked at him.

Inwardly, Sam was slightly worried about what the hell the two meerkats had managed to overhear. For Agents that specialised in undercover work they really should be better at checking for things that might overhear them. Outwardly, he glared at them like it was their problem.

"Oh," was all Sam had to say from that. "Uh, you may want to tell G that it's you guys because-"

Just then Callen stomped past them, this time with Nate trailing behind him.

"I'm just saying," Nate was trying to explain, "if you're having a negative reaction to the candy due to repressed memories of your childhood you really need to stop compartmentalising them."

Callen swirled around and angrily jabbed a finger in the Operational Psychologist's direction.

"I don't have any repressed memories about goddam lollipops!" Called said hotly. "My 'negative reaction' is down to them appearing everywhere I go!"

"Are you sure? Everywhere is a bit of a stretch surely?" Nate tried.

"I found them in my jacket and my gym bag. My shoes. Multiple times," Callen stressed.

Sam raised an eyebrow at Eric and Bell. They got his jacket multiple times? Impressive.

"I swear whoever is doing this is going to pay!" Callen declared and then came to a screeching halt in front of his desk.

He'd noticed the bouquet. Making an incomprehensible noise of frustration, he swept everything off his desk and stomped off to the gym. Probably to shoot something. Nate took one look at the floor, the three of them and where Callen just left before scampering after him.

"Maybe wait until he's cooled off before you own up to it," Sam advised.

Wide-eyed, Eric and Nell nodded vigorously.