This story has been percolating in my mind since I saw the episode where ECO channeled the alias Sven, and I decided to have some fun with it along with a lot of angst. There will parts of the episode included, but this will not be a recap. I have already completed the story and expect to update it every couple of days. I don't own NCIS Los Angeles, but my minions and I brought the characters out to play with again. I still don't have a beta so all errors are mine and mine alone. As usual, thoughts or memories are in italics.

Anything in bold letters are actual quotes from the NCIS LA episode Allegiance.

Reviews are welcome.

Enjoy.

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CHAPTER 1: The Fabulous Sven

Callen, Sam and Deeks were in the middle of a case involving murder and Hawala, an ancient system of anonymous money lending. They were investigating a broker with possible ties to terrorist activities. They had been sitting in a car watching an Afghani rug store for some time. After discussing how they were going to get the information they needed and hearing from Nell and Eric that about the time the store had set up the Hawala system, terrorist activities had begun in the United States, Callen indicated "We need to get inside and confirm."

The smiling voice of Deeks came from the backseat "Well, then I think it's time for Sven, fabulous interior decorator to the stars." He was going to have some fun with Sam being his Sven alias. Sam wouldn't know what hit him.

They walked toward the store, and Sam's eyes were almost bugging out as he watched and listened to Deeks' walk, attitude and vocal performance. He had draped his sweater over his shoulders and was loping along with his arms resting at the top of his hips. Deeks noticed Sam's discomfort, and said in Sven's voice "Snap out of it Shy Sammie. You keep looking at me like that and the store owner is going to think you want to jump these fabulous bones".

"Deeks…" Sam growled. "Don't even go there."

"Why Sam, because you're a former Navy Seal? Deeks came back in his own voice. "The man who helped me with this alias the first time I used it was gay and former Special Ops, an Army Ranger if you must know." A quick flash of memory regarding the undercover operation he had been part of as Sven for LAPD darkened his mood momentarily. He quickly shook his head to banish the memory and continued toward the store.

Sam just sputtered and didn't know what to say to that tidbit of information. Once Deeks banished thoughts of Brian, he turned away from Sam to keep himself from laughing out loud at his discomfort and continued walking toward the store. He hadn't seen Sam this uncomfortable in a long time and it was really amusing him and helping him regain his good mood. As they approached the door to the rug store, he whispered to Sam "Get your game face on Sam, remember, you hired me to help you decorate your club…and I'm fabulous!"

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Once inside the store, Deeks continued in character. After looking around, waving his arms at the various rugs and getting the attention of the store's owner, Sven said "Okay, bring on ze wonderful, ja? Uh, look here." as he began looking at the rugs and commenting on colors and sizes.

Sam played along while trying to keep from shaking his head at Deeks antics. Sven asked Sam for his opinion on the colors in one rug and Sam indicated he didn't like the colors. Sven shot back "Oh, ja, but I've always told you, you can't be afraid of ze color."

Sam replied in character "Color's the last thing I'm scared of."

Sven looked at the owner and continued "I've always said this to him. You can't be scared of ze color."

Sam couldn't believe what he was seeing and hearing. Deeks was almost unrecognizable as Sven. Not for the first time, Sam wondered just how he came up with his aliases. He wasn't sure he believed what Deeks had told him earlier about the Army Ranger helping him. He couldn't quite get his head around the fact that a Ranger could also be gay. He didn't have anything against gays, but he was having some trouble equating an Army Ranger with being gay and wondered if Deeks was just pulling his leg.

Continuing the charade, Sven pointed out to Sam "Well, you don't want to be ze boring beige boy, now, do you, Chad, hmm? Maybe. No, come on, no one wants to be ze boring beige boy." Deeks was enjoying giving Sam a hard time as Sven and was really hamming it up. He could tell Sam was having trouble trying to hold it together.

Sven continued "Yeah, but you don't want to be the drab Danny, or ze gray Gary. Remember, Chad, you hired me to make you fabulous."

Sven walked over to some other rugs and began admiring them. He started taking pictures of the rugs as cover for getting a picture of a young man coming out of the back room of the store. He got the shot and sent it to the wonder twins. He continued "Ze blues are so pretty over here. Zey match my eyes."

Nell was heard over coms giving Deeks the young man's name. "He's the owners son, His name is Ehsan." Noticing the young man had a gun on him along with a bag, Deeks spoke quietly over coms "He's heading out the side door, and he's got a gun."

Callen spoke up from the car for Sam and Deeks to stay with him and they would apprehend him away from the store.

Ehsan had been apprehended and taken to the boat shed, where it was discovered that he wasn't involved in any terrorist activities. Deciding to partner him up with Deeks to check out a charity event that might give them additional information on the men they were looking for, Hetty dressed both men up in tasteful suits. Callen followed them in undercover as a doctor. At the charity event everything seemed to be going fine until the organizer of the fundraiser confronted Deeks and Ehsan.

"You've been flagged by security. I don't take kindly to paparazzi crashing my fundraisers" Ms. Chang stated. She went on to state their names had been added to the guest list at the last minute after Deeks tried to convince her she had made a mistake. "That's a red flag. Now, are you going to leave, or am I going to have to make you leave?" She began to wave over security to escort them out.

Ehsan saved the situation by telling a story about his little sister being saved by a medical clinic supported by the charity and they were able to remain. They even received an apology from Ms. Chang. Ehsan was able to identify a man who came in regularly to the shop to use him as a broker for a Hawala transfer. After an identification was obtained from OPS, Callen took him out and they escorted him to the boat shed.

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That evening, all parties found themselves at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium for a naturalization ceremony after Nell and the team in Afghanistan realized that money had been flowing into the U.S. from Afghanistan for a while and had recently stopped. The theory was that an operation was going to take place in the U.S. in the near future. After more digging a conclusion was reached that the naturalization ceremony was the intended target and Ehsan would be needed to identify the potential bombers. He was able to identify one man and plans were made for Sam to take him out with Callen acting as over-watch before anything could happen. Ehsan was thanked and told to leave, but before he could do so, he saw a woman that usually accompanied the man whenever he visited the store. He told the team and Deeks followed the woman. When all was said and done, Deeks wound up holding down the woman's deadman switch and screaming for Callen not to worry about him and take the shot. Callen took the shot and then screamed "Deeks?"

"Aside from a bullet whizzing six inches from my head, I'm fantastic." he snapped as he lay there with his hands around the woman's deadman switch. Callen had been able to take out the bombers without injuring his team mates, but Sam's target had been able to arm his bomb which was counting down to detonation. As he was telling Callen he needed two hands to diffuse the bomb, Ehsan said he could help. He held the deadman switch while Sam diffused the bomb. Deeks was still waiting for Sam to come and diffuse the second bomb he was keeping from exploding as he lay there by the dead woman. Laying there brought back additional memories of his first go-around as Sven.

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He had been tasked with going under cover at a gay bar that catered to a more flamboyant gay clientele. He couldn't just walk in as some random, uptight, gay man looking to score. He had to make himself noticeable and outrageous enough to catch the eye of the person or persons who were targeting young gay men and beating them. Each time the group found another target they escalated the violence against the victim. The last victim had ended up in the hospital in critical condition. The fear was that the next victim might end up dead which was why Deeks got the assignment. So far, none of the victims could, or would, identify their assailant or assailants.

As usual, he was going undercover with very little backup. LAPD didn't have the same resources as OSP did, but at that time, it was all he knew and he was used to it.

The bombs were secured and the naturalization ceremony went on. The team headed back to OSP.