Maria's Densi mber Stories

Too much Responsibility

OSP.

'What do you mean it's gone?! It can't be gone!' Callen exclaimed.

'Well it is! I checked the garage this morning and it was gone! What more do you want me to say?!' Sam shouted back.

Hetty and Granger were off on their honeymoon, and 1 of their many requirements for the team until they returned was to look after her cars and make sure nothing happened to them, and her Cobra that she kept in the garage at work was now missing!

'Well, let's check the security tapes. Maybe whoever did it was dumb enough to get caught.'

Unfortunately, whoever stole it made sure the cams were off at the time of the theft, as Eric unhappily revealed.

'Well, who the heck would even take it?! Better yet, who would even be small enough to squeeze into that car?!' Sam asked.

'Beats me. I don't know anyone here who would risk certain death by stealing any of her babies.' Callen replied.

'Well, we've got to find it soon before either Hetty OR Granger somehow find out about this, or we're all in deep trouble! Remember when her Jag was shot up? That thing cost us at least 2 or 3 of our paychecks to repair! How do you think she'll react if she finds out 1 of her cars was stolen under our watch?!'

'Is this really a big deal? She has quite a few old cars, as Nell has told me. Would losing 1 of them be that big of a deal?' Eric asked.

In unison. 'YES'!

'Okay, duly noted!'

'Well, let's start looking. Eric, start looking up car shops or sketchy sounding dealerships that would pay a lot of money for old cars, maybe it'll turn up at 1 of those places. Sam and I will check the garage for clues.' Callen finished.

While on their way downstairs, he checked in with Kensi and Deeks, who were tasked with looking after the Jag at Dovecote.

'Yup, it's still here, and in perfect condition.' Deeks confirmed.

'That's good. Has Nell dropped by recently? I didn't see her at work yet today.' Callen asked.

'No, I don't think so.'

'Thanks anyways. How's Kensi?'

'Other then really, really loving the whole place and wishing we could afford a place like this, real fine! She hangs out near the swimming pool a lot. How did Hetty get a place like this anyways?' Deeks replied.

1 of Hetty's gifts to the team as thanks for their help in planning her wedding was that Kensi and Deeks could stay at Dovecote until she returned.

'I'm not sure if I ever asked. Though, I would guess it was either handed down to her as a gift, or she won it in a high stakes chess or poker game.' Callen replied.

Down in the garage, the boys searched the whole place top to bottom looking for clues, but didn't find much of anything. Except for a short strand of hair.

'Hmm. How many people here have, ginger looking hair?' Callen asked.

'I don't keep count of that.' Sam replied.

'Well, let's ask them. See if they know anything.'

Unfortunately, by the end of the day, they still no idea where the Cobra was. Convinced that maybe the crook would return to the scene of the crime, Callen hid a small hidden camera in a sneaky spot in the hopes of catching the thief.

'This better work, G. Because if we don't find it, or we do find it and it's already been destroyed for parts...'

'I know I know, we're all dead. I know. You don't think I'm anxious too?' Callen retorted.

And sure enough, after midnight, the thief returned with the Cobra! It was also trying to get upstairs when Callen stopped the crook.

'Callen! Wha, what are you doing here?!'

It was Nell.

Bullpen.

'Okay, I wanted to know what it felt like to drive a really fast car. So when I heard Hetty was letting us look after her cars, I saw my opportunity. So, I took the keys from the security locker, and decided to drive the Cobra for a bit. I was very responsible the whole time, and it's not damaged or anything, I swear! I was always going to return it.' Nell confessed.

'You made us believe it was stolen. Do you know how much trouble we could've gotten in if Hetty came home and found out we let 1 of her cars get stolen under our watch?!' Sam exclaimed.

'I know, and I'm really sorry, honest! You're not gonna tell her, are you?'

'No. But on 1 condition, you have to tell us what it was like to drive it, without leaving anything out.'

'G! You just gonna let her get away with it?!'

'Hey, it's either that, or we all get yelled at. Which would you rather do?' Callen challenged.

That shut him up.

As it would end up turning out, Hetty knew about the theft the whole time. Because she had her own sneaky cams hidden in tight places that the others didn't know about, and she saw the whole thing unfold on her laptop.

'So what are you going to do?' Granger asked.

'Well, I was thinking of making them clean the bathrooms, but she returned it with seemingly no damage, so. Maybe I'll let them off the hook for this, given the concern they showed when it went missing.' Hetty replied.

'And what about your Jag? Do you also have hidden cameras there too?'

'Oh definitely. I know you were thinking it was a bit crazy to let Miss Blye and Mr. Deeks look after it.'

'It was just a hunch.'

When she checked those cams, she saw they had brought the car out of it's garage so Deeks could hilariously pose for pics. Then she saw him turn and let out a long and over dramatic 'Noooooo'. Pigeons had decided to fly overhead and go Number 1 on the hood.

'Oh, bugger!'

'Yeah, that stinks. Think they'll do the smart thing and take it to a car wash? I tried to wash off bird poop off my car once, and I ended up scratching it. Last time I would ever buy a red car.'

They decided to try and wash it themselves, which didn't go over so well.

Facepalm. 'Oy vei.' Hetty muttered.

'So, taking both their paychecks for a week then?' Granger asked.

'And making them clean the showers at work.'