"Can I ask you a personal question?" Eric said to Deeks in the gym. "Just between you and me."
"This place is wired up with cameras, microphones and God knows whatever surveillance equipment Hetty has the NSA, CIA and DHS busily working on. You'll understand if I am a little restrained with personal matters because I don't think it is just you and me."
"Understood," Eric said. "I just started rebooting the security system. We have about 20-minutes."
"Use your 20-minutes wisely."
"Since I got back from San Francisco, things are….weird with Nell."
"Oh, why do I think I'm going to need ear bleach when this is all over."
"Not that way, things are fine that.."
"OK, I believe you. You can stop now." The less Deeks knew the better, he thought.
"What's weird is that everything that used to be really easy is suddenly really hard."
"Like what?"
"Trivia night, this pasta making class we both wanted to take, her drone contests. I want to do all those things, Nell always enjoys doing those things and now it just isn't working."
"What is working?"
"Lately, nothing."
"Then do something different."
"Like what."
"Go to Santa Barbara for a weekend or San Diego or Las Vegas. Go to a concert or a show. Do things you weren't doing before things got weird."
"Why?"
"Change in latitude is a change in attitude to semi quote the great Jimmy Buffett. Do a wine tasting in Santa Barbara. Kensi and I did that with her friend Mandy and Mr. Mandy to be last year. That was fun. I'm always up for Vegas. Food is fine, there is always a show to see and put some money you won't miss in your right pocket. Gamble and if you win, you put that money in your left pocket. Stop gambling when you're out of right pocket money."
"What if it doesn’t work?"
"What if it does?" Deeks smiled. Somehow he became a relationship whisperer. 30-year old Deeks would find this hilarious. "If what you usually do feels off, find other things to do. You don't have to go anywhere far. Take the ferry to Catalina and walk around on a nice day. Binge The X-Files or Netflix and chill one weekend. Don't sit on your usual side of the couch while you're watching a movie. Just shake things up."
"All good ideas."
"I got a million of 'em. By the way, what does Nell thing about all this?"
"She's not really talking about it."
"Well, how about a staycation at some Air-BnB where you two can have a tough conversation."
"Why an Air-BnB?"
"Don't put the stink of a hard conversation on your couch or Nell's dining room table."
"I never thought of that."
"Kensi and I had a terrible fight in the parking area. We don't use that side of the lot anymore," Deeks chuckled.
"I like the idea of Santa Barbara."
"Always put your faith in Jimmy Buffett." The cameras in the gym stared rotating. "And if you go back to the pasta class, I'm a fan of campanelle."
"Fair payment for good advice."
"Let's see how everything goes before you're paying me for advice. Use Kensi and I as a test case for your pasta skills.
"Deal." There was a beep in the gym. "And the cameras are back."
