Hello there! A couple of very nice writers on this site convinced me to post this little oneshot. It's just a short little story, nothing too fancy, but if you like Callen/Kensi, I hope it makes you smile. :)

Thanks for reading!

-I-

"Good morning, beautiful L.A.," Deeks announced as he strode into the OSP hacienda. "The sun is shining, blue sky above, surf and sand below, God, I love this city." He stopped short as he noticed Kensi standing at her desk, carefully folding a pair of pants. "What are—what are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?"

"Looks like Hetty put you on laundry duty," Deeks declared with a grin. He swung his bag over his chair and stepped around his desk to take a closer look at the pants. "Armani? Hetty has you folding Armani?"

Kensi rolled her eyes. "Hetty didn't put me on laundry duty. I was doing laundry last night, and a...a friend left some clothes over at my place. I thought I would wash them before I returned them."

"Yeah, well, unless your friend wants to be sporting the latest Barney the Dinosaur look, I don't think letting you anywhere near the laundry is a good idea."

"I used the delicate cycle," Kensi argued, holding up the pants for him to examine. "Washed with like colors. And look, they came out fine."

Deeks raised an eyebrow. "Since when do you have friends who wear machine washable Armani?"

"You have no idea what my friends wear," Kensi replied defensively. "Your friends, on the other hand..."

"My friends go for the—"

"Scruffy surfer look?"

"I prefer to think of it as tanned and ruggedly handsome."

"Morning."

Deeks smiled at Sam in greeting as Kensi refolded the pants with a growl of frustration.

"Kensi's learning how to do laundry," Deeks explained.

"Yeah?" Sam sounded interested, and he motioned to the clothes in her hands. "Where'd you find G's pants?"

Deeks blinked in surprise. "Those are—those are Callen's pants? You washed Callen's pants for him?"

"I said I was helping out a friend."

"Since when does helping out Callen include doing his laundry?"

Sam took a step closer and examined the fabric. "These are the pants he's missing from that Armani suit. He said he lost these while undercover."

"He did," Kensi affirmed. "Then he...um, found them. And I was just helping him out." She firmly plopped the pair of pants onto Callen's desk chair.

"Who are we helping?" came a voice from the stairs.

"Kensi's helping Callen lose his pants." Deeks looked over at Nell. "That didn't come out right."

Nell looked at him doubtfully. "Ooookay. Hetty wants all of you upstairs in Ops. Now. Where's Callen?"

"Probably still looking for his pants," Deeks guessed.

Kensi punched him in the arm as she headed up the stairs.

"Ow. What? I'm not the one washing the man's pants." Deeks glanced at Nell again as he followed behind his partner. "That didn't come out right either."

He looked up the staircase at Kensi's retreating figure. "Hey, Kensi, you don't wash Callen's pants with your, uh, non-outerwear, do you? Because that would be your inner...under...wear...Kensi? Kensi...?"

-II-

"Petty Officer Michael Samuels," Eric announced as the NCIS team made their way into Ops. "Went clubbing with a couple of his buddies last night. Found dead this morning."

"Sort of puts a damper on the night," Deeks remarked.

"Surveillance footage shows that they entered the club together around nine o'clock last night," Nell said, pulling up the video on screen. "Had a few drinks and sat down to wait."

"Who are they waiting for?" Kensi asked.

"Me."

The doors to Ops swung open again as Callen walked in, looking tired and slightly rumpled.

"Late night?" Sam asked.

"You have no idea."

"Callen enters the club about twenty minutes later," Eric continued, pushing a few buttons to fast forward the video. "Meets with the three guys, including Samuels, and then leaves."

"And who are you supposed to be?"

"Mr. Callen made contact with Petty Officer Samuels and his friends a few days ago," Hetty explained. "We have reason to believe that they possess some illegal weapons that they would be interested in selling to the right buyer."

Kensi looked over at Callen. "So you're—"

"Brokering the arms deal," he finished.

"So how does all of this end up with one of them dead?" Sam asked.

"Cold feet? Didn't want to go through with the deal?" Kensi theorized.

"Three's a crowd, so his buddies offed him for a bigger pay day?" Deeks added.

Callen looked up at the screen and studied the video carefully. "Even if Samuels is dead, his buddies aren't gonna risk losing this chance. They'll be back to finish the deal."

"Guess that means we're going clubbing tonight," Sam muttered.

Callen looked his partner up and down. "You gonna change first?"

Sam stared back at him in disbelief.

"What? We can't go to a club dressed like this."

"Oh, so now you want to get dressed up?"

"We gotta look the part," Callen said innocently.

Sam rolled his eyes. "You're only saying that because Kensi finally found your pants."

The two partners continued grumbling at each other as they headed out the door. Kensi and Deeks moved to follow.

"Miss Blye?" Hetty called after her. "If you would please, keep an eye on Mr. Callen tonight."

Kensi nodded. "Of course."

"See to it that he doesn't misplace his pants this time."

-III-

"Callen's inside, guys." Eric's voice was loud and clear in their ears. "You got eyes on him?"

"Yeah, I got him," Sam replied. He was seated at the bar, pretending to nurse a drink as he watched his partner make his way through the club and sit down at a table with two other young men. "Kensi, Deeks?"

"Front and back entrances covered, Sam."

Sam tapped his earpiece. "Eric, get me some audio on Callen. We're going in hard and fast on this one."

"You got it. Connecting Callen's audio…now."

"So as you can see, gentlemen, there are a few conditions to this deal," Callen said. "One, there's no down payment. You prove the weapons work, then my client pays." He counted on his fingers. "Two, my client chooses the dropoff location. You deliver promptly on time, you get paid. Third, you take care of all the loose ends." Callen narrowed his eyes. "And we do mean all."

One of the men nodded in understanding. "Already taken care of."

"He's no longer a loose end," the other man confirmed. "So…will there be anything else?"

"Yeah, one more."

Callen's lips curved into a small smirk, and the men looked at him expectantly. Finally, he leaned in closer and spoke in a whisper. "Put your hands in the air and get down on the ground."

"What the—"

"NCIS! Federal agents!" Sam's voice rang out over the club, and the crowd screamed and scattered.

The men froze with a wide-eyed look at Callen for only a split second – and then they bolted.

"Kensi, Deeks, they're running! Sam, take the back, I'll cut them off in front!"

The back door to the club swung open with a bang, and the men took off down the street.

"You guys ever think about yelling something else?" Deeks mused as he sprinted after them. "You know, since the words 'federal agents' always seem to make 'em run!"

Sam was only a fraction of a second behind Deeks, coming from the other side of the building. "They're doubling back! G, Kensi, your twelve o'clock!"

He was cut off by a blur as Callen and Kensi came flying out of two side alleys, tackling their suspects straight into a nearby fountain with a splash.

"Stay down, turn over, put your hands behind your back!"

It wasn't until the giant sprays of white foamy water finally settled that Sam and Deeks were able to make out both of their partners, standing over two handcuffed suspects, completely and thoroughly soaked.

Deeks sighed. "Guess you two are doing laundry tonight."

-IV-

Kensi Blye had never been the tidiest homemaker, especially where laundry was concerned. Her own laundry often spent more time on the floor than anywhere else, and as a result of her fine laundry skills while undercover, Deeks did have quite a few clothes with a slightly purplish tint.

But when she arrived home late that night, she quickly changed out of her soggy dress and threw it in the washer, along with workout clothes from the previous night's CrossFit WOD. The washer had just started churning when there was a knock at the door.

"Callen, what are you doing here?" It was more of an acknowledgement than a question, as she wasn't really surprised to see him.

He shrugged. "Heard you were doing laundry."

The smirk was obvious, and Kensi couldn't help but give him a tired smile as she let him in. When he turned around and took a step closer, she noticed a long, dark streak running down his leg.

"You got blood on them."

"I would never bleed on Hetty's wardrobe…had to be a bad guy."

"She's gonna blow a gasket."

"I was undercover. Things happen."

Somehow he had closed the space between them without her realizing it, and Kensi could already feel the heat radiating through her body.

"I just started the washer," she breathed.

His eyes locked on hers, silently challenging her to make the next move.

And he didn't seem surprised when she slipped her fingers through his belt loops and pulled him flush against her, deftly releasing the top button on his pants…