NCIS: Origins: It's Time To Start 'Shipping Lala And Flaco's Henchman (Hear Me Out!)

I am rooting for Lala and Gibbs as much as the next guy, but who's to say our Lala can't have a little fun with other suitors in the meantime? 

In Tuesday's episode of "NCIS: Origins," the NIS agent gets a little cozy with an unlikely prospect: Flaco's henchman Manny (played by Miguel Gomez). 

The pair first met in Episode 2, when Flaco asked Lala to help take down Luna. Then, Manny was just Flaco's driver; he hardly made an impact. Now, Manny is back and he's taking center stage all while making me feel... confusing things! 

The henchman arrives in his Impala once again — which is suddenly, kind of a very hot thing to do? — to tell Lala that Flaco's watching her. He wants her to know that Luna has killed again, and he has pictures to prove it. Manny says the blood is on Lala's hands, before driving away in a flurry like the man of mystery that he is.

When Gibbs asks Lala about the guy in the Impala, she makes up an excuse: He's the man she's been seeing. Which, for now, is a lie, but the pair's chemistry only builds throughout the episode, making us wonder: Might these two actually share a connection?!

Later, Lala returns home after a long day at work, and she finds photos of Luna's latest victims inside her home. She scours the premises, searching for the person who planted the pictures. She opens her front door, and finds Manny outside in the hallway.

He says he was just about to knock on her door. She doesn't believe him. She holds him up at gunpoint, pats him down and grabs his wallet. She gets Manny's address from his driver's license, and threatens to come after him if he doesn't stop following her.

Finally, she lets her guard down, and figures out what he's actually doing there. He came armed with a lock, one that's hard to pick.

"The one you got on there now, it's pretty easy," Manny says, pointing at Lala's door. "Flaco doesn't know I'm here."

OK, what?! The man has clearly developed an affinity for Lala, and is going off-book to protect her with this sturdy little lock. What else are we to make of this if not a brewing romance? And wouldn't it make the perfect foil to the slow burn that is Lala and Gibbs? 

I can just see it now: Lala gets into a risky relationship with a henchman, all because she is still searching for meaning in this life after coming so close to death. The dangerous nature of her flimsy relationship with an outlaw becomes the only thing that can keep her going; it makes her feel alive! All the while, Gibbs grows more and more protective of her until he finally realizes who she's seeing, and has no choice but to profess his true love. He ends things with Diane, saves Lala from her own destruction, and the two ride off into the sunset. (Well, until something else breaks them apart and she becomes the story he's never told!)

So in case it's not clear: 'Shipping Manny and Lala is in no way going against our collective desire to see Gibbs and Lala get together. In fact, perhaps a Manny and Lala moment needs to happen to get to where we want to go, people! It might just be the catalyst we need.

The episode ends with yet another meeting between Manny and Lala, this time at church. Manny cracks a little joke: "Are you following me?" (Cute!)

Lala returns the lock, saying she doesn't want to owe him. Manny tells Lala he's been coming to church ever since he and Flaco found her there. Neither of them knows why they keep coming back, but here they are, together in the place where they've each been seeking peace.

Then, Manny asks how Lala's day was. She shares the goings-on of their latest case, and vents to him about Franks' angry outburst, and how he ruined Randy's computer. She tells Manny about Randy, how he never gave up and solved their latest case, all with a good attitude.

"He's probably lighting up a room somewhere right now," she says. "I wish I was more like that."

"Me too," Manny replies.

And that, my friends, is called vulnerability: the pillar of any successful relationship.

Am I so deprived of a Lala/Gibbs flirtation that I'm looking for love in all the wrong places? Or does this Lala/Manny theory have legs?! Sound off in the comments!