"That was some case, huh?" Nate questioned as he and Deeks walked into the bar that Deeks had recommended. Nate watched the Detective's reaction carefully, but Deeks just chuckled softly and shook his head. He motioned to the bartender and ordered them two beers.

"Worth every second of it," Deeks said firmly. The bartender placed the beers in front of them, and they both nodded their thanks to him. Once they had their beers, Nate shot Deeks a confused look. "Sam? As Teddy?" Deeks explained. "Oh man, there's no end to the amount of crap that I can give him about that one!"

"And why do you feel the need to do that?" Nate asked as Deeks took a pull from his beer. "Do you give Sam crap because of the way he used to treat you?"

Deeks almost choked on his beer, and he let out a humorless laugh.

"Oh, hell no," Deeks said said quietly. "No. Nope. Not happening. No."

"What?" Nate asked, genuinely confused.

"I'll chat with you as a friend, Nate," Deeks said. "And we can talk as colleagues. But we're not doing the shrink thing."

"Oh," Nate said, genuinely surprised. "I just thought… last time…"

"It's not like last time, Nate," Deeks said shortly. Then he did what Nate knew he did best: the Detective deflected. "I still can't believe Hetty sent Sam and Callen down after Tuhon before they really trusted each other. Heck, before they knew each other. Crazy."

"Yeah," Nate agreed, wondering at the different man he was seeing. "You think Hetty's been doing that lately? Making crazy decisions?" Deeks shot him a look, and Nate held up his hands. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry. But you know, you can talk to me. I'm pretty good at listening."

"No thanks, man," Deeks said shortly. "I'm fine."

Nate had to chuckle at that.

"Wow, you must be spending too much time with Kensi," Nate said. Too late he realized what he'd said. Deeks's eyes flashed, and his hand wandered down to the knife still strapped to his waist. "I mean—"

Nate was cut off as two blonde women—who appeared to be twins—purposefully bumped into Deeks. Deeks instinctively reached out a hand to catch the one who was falling, but his hand didn't linger on her arm. He turned away without even a slight glance.

"I'm soooo sorry," the blonde said, placing her hand on Deeks's upper arm. Nate just settled in to watch, wondering what Deeks would do. Deeks didn't disappoint.

He smiled politely at the blonde, discretely removed her hand from his arm, and simply said, "No harm, no foul." Then he turned back toward Nate.

"Why don't you let me buy you a drink?" she asked, grabbing his arm and turning him toward her again. Her voice was low and seductive, but Deeks didn't react. He shook his head, but she continued before he could speak. "My sister and I can be so clumsy, and really it's both of our faults. We'll each buy you a drink to make up for it."

"No thanks," Deeks said firmly. "I'm just here with my buddy, and we're having a guys night out." He turned to Nate with a hard stare. "Right Nate?"

Nate smirked and decided to push Deeks into revealing something.

"No, don't worry about it Teddy," Nate said. Deeks narrowed his eyes at him. "We can always catch up another time."

Deeks's glare intensified, and Nate realized he didn't think the situation was funny. The man who could find humor in any situation—no matter the danger or importance—was throughly unamused.

"So why don't you come on home with us, then?" the second blonde chimed in for the first time.

"Yeah," her sister nodded eagerly. "I'm sure we could find something to do."

But Deeks didn't even look tempted.

"Sorry ladies," he said stiffly. "I'm taken."

"You have a girlfriend?" the blonde asked, looking down in disappointment.

"Yeah," Deeks said. "And I kinda love her, so… have a nice night."

"So you have a girlfriend, huh?" Nate asked when the two blondes finally made themselves scarce.

"Not really," Deeks hedged, throwing Nate slightly off-balance. His momentary pause didn't go unnoticed by Deeks.

"So where are you headed off to next, Nate?" Deeks asked before Nate could turn another question on him.. He didn't wait for Nate to respond. "Someplace classified, right? Someplace where the lower-levels can't know about?"

Nate heard and understood the bitterness in the Detective's voice, so he went with the deflection.

Maybe he just needs a little alcohol to loosen his tongue, Nate thought to himself. He was uncomfortable with the thought for a moment before reminding himself that he was here as a friend and not as an operational psychologist.

"How bout another beer?" Nate asked, noticing that Deeks's beer was already empty. The Detective sighed.

"You trying to get me drunk, Nate?" Deeks asked, startling Nate slightly. Nate started to protest, but Deeks just shook his head. "It won't work."

Deeks was indeed right. An hour later, they were still sitting at the bar, and the Detective had managed to control the whole conversation while downing five or six beers. Nate was currently nursing his third. The bar tender came up again, but Deeks declined another beer, asking instead for a glass of water.

"So have you seen Rose lately?" Deeks asked. The question caught Nate off-guard.

"Have I… seen Rose lately?" Nate repeated. Deeks shook his head.

"Wow," Deeks drawled in a teasing tone. "You can remember the defense budgets for random countries, but you can't answer a simple question? As one friend to another friend?"

"You're not answering my simple questions," Nate returned. Deeks nodded.

"You're not asking simple questions, Nate," he said firmly.

"They're simple to me," Nate pushed. "They're not simple to you?"

"No," Deeks said simply, taking a sip of his water.

"Okay…" Nate said, meeting Deeks's gaze once again.

"Okay…?" Deeks narrowed his eyes at Nate, clearly trying to figure out the angle. "What does that mean, exactly?"

"I don't know, what do you think that means?" Nate prodded. Deeks didn't respond, so Nate chuckled, trying to lighten the mood. "Has anyone ever told you that you need to work on your communication skills?"

Deeks eyes flashed wide before he quickly looked away from Nate.

"Now you're answering all my questions with questions," Deeks said bitterly, letting out a defeated sigh. For one moment, Nate read all the hidden emotions on his face. But then Deeks sat up straight again, his had still on the knife. "I think that's my cue to call it a night." He stood and reached for Nate's hand, shaking it firmly but briefly. "It was good seeing you, Nate. Be careful out there—wherever there is."

Nate watched as Deeks quickly retreated into the swarm of people, marveling at how little he'd been able to glean from the former lawyer.

A few minutes later, Nate left the bar, replaying all the minuscule slips the Detective had made. There hadn't been many, and the ones that had slipped out hadn't really been his fault. For the first time, Nate had seen evidence of the Detective's past as a lawyer.

He wasn't more than ten steps away from the bar when his phone rang. He glanced down at the caller ID, but he needn't have.

Hetty.

"I thought you had a friend in town," he answered, forgoing any polite greeting.

"I did, Mr. Getz," she responded. She didn't offer up any other explanation—and he didn't plan on talking either—so the line was filled with a tense silence. Of course, Nate was the first to break.

"Is this about my next assignment?" he asked, knowing full well it wasn't. "Are you changing something?"

"How was your evening with Mr. Deeks?" Hetty asked instead of responding to his question.

Nate's mind flashed back to one of the last things Deeks had said.

"Now you're answering all my questions with questions."

"You're answering my questions with questions?" Nate asked Hetty, feeling unexpectedly braze.

"As are you, Mr. Getz," Hetty returned.

Nate hadn't been lying to Deeks—he really had been there as a friend. So he wouldn't betray his friend's confidence, even if that friend hadn't really trusted him with much.

"It was good to have a beer with a friend," Nate finally answered.

He heard Hetty hum discontentedly over the phone, but he didn't wait for her to ask another question.

"Well, it's getting late, Hetty," Nate said. "I think I'm going to head back to my apartment. Check on a few things before catching a little shut eye."

Hetty just hummed again, and Nate clicked the phone off.

Wow. Maybe I've been hanging around Deeks too much, Nate thought to himself as he drove off to get a little shut-eye before leaving on his next classified mission. If I'm deflecting Hetty, it's not too long before I'm almost as good as Deeks.

He shook his head and laughed slightly at the thought. Deeks was surviving, that's what mattered. He was pushing on, doing his job, and being there for his partner. Nate realized, as he got into his car, that he was slightly envious of Deeks. Sure, his partner was on the other side of the world, doing Hetty-knows-what, but he had that partner—in every aspect, if tonight was any indication—in his life.

Nate smiled as he drove off. Tomorrow, he'd be living his classified life. Tomorrow, he'd be someone else. Tomorrow, he'd have enemies, not friends. But tonight, he'd had a friend—been there for a friend. And for tonight, that was enough.