Kill house

"They have Nell" Those three words that sent everyone into immediate action, with fear in their hearts, for this was not just another case, this was one of their own.

It was 9:30 pm in OSP, when Eric received the notice that Nell had set off her agent in distress signal. He immediately notified the team and they rushed into the OSP center.

Eric carried the tablet, his hands shaking, with a worried expression as he began to report the information he had so far. "Nell set off her agent in distress signal half an hour ago. I managed to track her phone to a certain point before it was disabled. Through the traffic cams I watched all the cars that followed the route of her phone, and I narrowed it down to a dark blue SUV. I tracked that to the end of the freeway before I lost it. Then we received this:"

Eric pulled up a page on the screen "It's a link to a video camera, but I can't track it." Eric sighed. "And this is what I found when I opened it." Eric tapped the link and it redirected to a new screen, which showed a room with a concrete floor and brown walls. Lying in the middle of the floor, bound by the wrists and ankles, was Nell.

Eric sighed again. "So far the image hasn't moved. It's just an image, not a video. I don't know what we're waiting for, I don't know what they're going to do, but it's something they want us to see." He finished.

"Do you have any idea where she might be?" Sam asked.

"I told you, I lost her at the end of the freeway. I tried tracking the car on the traffic cams but it disappeared into some side roads near Parker Street." Eric's voice was shaky, and it was obvious he was on the verge of tears.

"Wait a minute, I'm getting something." Eric flipped back to the video camera image, which was moving now. Nell was on her knees in the middle of the concrete floor in a dimly lit room. Her hands were tied off behind her back, and her ankles bound. A large man wearing a mask stood in front of her. His mouth was moving, but the team couldn't hear anything.

Eric panicked and messed around with the computer keys quickly "Trying to link to the audio…" he muttered to himself. "Got it." Instantly they heard a man's voice yelling in some other language.

"Kde je?!"

"Nevím!" Nell responded in the same language, which shocked everyone since they didn't even know what language it was.

"Nelži mi Ty malá děvko Jen mi řekni, kde!" the man shouted back.

"Už jsem vám řekl. I. ne. vím. Já ani nevím, kdo mluvíte"Nell said.

Callen quickly translated for the rest of the team. "He's asking her where someone is. She's saying she doesn't know."

"You know that language, G?" Sam asked.

"It's Czech." Callen replied.

"Ano, ano. Můžu to velmi obtížné. Jen mi řekni, kde G Callen je!" The man shouted.

The team all turned to Callen. They may not speak Czech, but they knew Callen's name when they heard it. Callen looked shocked. After a few seconds he quietly said "He's asking her where I am."

The team turned back to the screen when they heard Nell's voice. "Nevím, kdo to je, slibuji" Everyone turned to Callen to translate. "She says she doesn't know who I am." Callen felt guilt in his heart. She doesn't have to do this. She is suffering for me.

"lhář!" The man shouted, and Nell spit in his face. Raging, he slapped Nell hard across the face, causing her to fall roughly to the ground.

Kensi gasped, and the whole team felt anger coursing through them, and the urgency to find this bastard and beat him into the ground.

"He called her a liar. Eric! Find her now!" Callen shouted urgently.

"Don't you think I'm trying! This isn't exactly a frickin walk in the goddamn park! That's my best friend, and I want her safe as much as you do." Eric's voice got weaker "I'm doing everything I can. I'm sorry." There was silence for a moment before Sam said "It's not your fault, Eric." Shooting a 'cool it' look at Callen. They all looked at each other for a few moments before turning back to the screen, where the man had left the room and Nell was struggling to get back up into kneeling position.

After another minute, the man came storming back in the room again. He threw something down on the ground in front of Nell. "Vidíte? Fotografie z vás a G Callen. Ty ho znáš." He said to her.

"He says those are photos of Nell and I together." Callen said worriedly.

"Oh! Ho? Řekl mi, že jeho jméno bylo Chris Robins" Nell replied.

"She said 'Oh him? He told me his name was Chris Robins'" Callen said.

"Takže víte, kde je?" The man asked.

"'So you know where he is'" Callen translated.

Nell looked nervous and bit her lip for a second, before replying with confidence: "ano, vím, ho. Žije na 1422 Sullivan ulici. Necháte mě jít?"

The man quickly left the room without answering.

"She said "Yes I know him. He lives at 1422 Sullivan Street. Will you let me go now?" That's not my address. What's at 1422 Sullivan?" Callen asked.

Eric did a quick search on the tablet and gave an impressed laugh before saying "It's the police station." Smiles spread across everyone's faces.

"Way to go, Nell!" Sam cheered.

Deeks went off to alert the police station about a guy in a dark blue SUV anywhere near the station.

Kensi added another positive thought "He's wearing a mask, right? So he plans on letting her go, or else he wouldn't bother with the mask." The team nodded in agreement.

Things quickly turned bad when the man walked back in and said "Poslal jsem své dva asistenty v případě, že jste lhal"

Fear flooded both Nell and Callen's faces. "What'd he say?" Kensi asked eagerly.

Callen sighed. "He said "I sent my two assistants in case you are lying"" They took a moment to process this.

"Shhhit!" Sam said, as if he was going to catch himself and say 'shoot' but then decided the situation was worthy of a 'shit'.

The man left the room again, and once the door was closed, Nell repeated Sam's reaction. "Do you think she knows we're watching?" Kensi asked. Just then, Nell let out a long string of curse words.

"Nope, I don't think she knows." Deeks said.

"Like the friggin Catalanos all over again" Nell muttered quietly to herself.

"What did she say?" Sam asked, but no one answered. The only person who was able to make sense of what she said was Eric. Spending all day every day in OSP together, they got the time to learn about each other's lives. Eric remembered that Nell mentioned her least favorite foster home was when she was with the Catalanos. He also recalled her saying something about them being in jail now.

"Friggin handcuffs and goddamn face slaps, yeah." She snorted. "The good old days." She muttered as she moved over to the corner and began rubbing the zip ties around her wrists against the edge of a pipe, but after 5 minutes, and after cutting her own hand on the pipe, she gave up. "That's not gonna work. You've been watching too many movies, Nell." She said to herself. She sat back on her heels and began humming quietly to herself.

The team spent the next 45 minutes trying to track Nell, and constantly keeping an eye on her through the video camera. When Deeks was alerted that the police department had two men in custody who were found driving past the station, and as soon as they told Deeks that they were speaking Czech, he knew they had the right guys. Unfortunately, that sent things into a downward spiral.

The team turned all their attention to the screen when they heard the door slam open in the room Nell was trapped in, and the man barged in shouting louder than ever.

"TY IDIOTE! Ta zatracená policejní stanice! Myslel sis, že může oklamat mě takhle, dovolte mi, abych vám, nemáte žádné větší šance. Budete platit!" He stormed back out of the room and returned with a whip-like stick.

"Oh my god, Callen! What did he say?" Kensi asked, worried.

Callen was completely pale, he quietly answered ""You idiot. The damn police station. You thought you can fool me like that, let me tell you, you have no more chances. You will pay.""

The team watched in horror as the man stormed over to Nell, kicked her over so she was laying on her stomach, raised the whip, and brought it down hard, with a sickening sound of it connecting with Nell's back. Nell cried out loudly in pain, and tried to move her arms so they wouldn't get hit, preparing for the next blow. The man brought the whip down again, and Nell let out a cry a little bit weaker than the first one, and curled up into a ball.

"Oh my god, do something!" Kensi cried, but Eric sat frozen in his chair, and Kensi couldn't even stand to see the look on his face. Callen was paler than ever, his right hand gripping the table, holding him up. His whole arm was shaking and the look on his face could not be described as anything other than fear and guilt. Kensi, Deeks, and Sam felt their hands forming into fists, the anger towards this man building in them to an unimaginable level. Eric snapped into action, working faster than ever, turning away from the screen completely and typing furiously into multiple keyboards.

"Vidíte? Vidíte, co se stane? Já tě zabiju!" The man shouted as he raised the whip a third time. He struck her again, and she cried out, "Ne! Prosím!"

"We need to do something NOW." Callen said "Why? What'd he say?" Kensi asked.

Callen froze, and then said "He said he's going to kill her"

"I have police searching everywhere they can around the end of the freeway and Parker street." Deeks reported, but it didn't lift their spirits much.

"Co dobrého budu-li, že jsem mrtvý?" Nell said, pausing to cough. "Jestli mě zabiješ, budete prostě muset vraždu přidat do svého seznamu trestných činů. Můžete držet mě za výkupné."

"She said she won't be any good dead, and he should keep her for ransom." Callen quickly translated.

The man seemed to consider this for a moment, before shouting "Neměňte předmět!" and struck her twice more.

The team winced with every blow. It seemed to be hurting Callen more than it was hurting Nell. "He said do not change the subject." They began to realize just how bad the situation was when they saw dark blood blossoming from her light blue shirt.

The whip tore her skin with every slash, and eventually she stopped making any sound, while the man continued to shout curse words at her.

The team could only watch for the rest of her beating. Never had Callen felt so helpless in his life.

When the man finally finished, he threw the whip down angrily, the blunt end of it hitting Nell's temple. All she could do was let out a soft breath of pain, not even making a sound. The man left, and a few minutes later, the video camera disconnected.

"What happened? Did we lose the signal or something?" Deeks asked.

"We lost access." Eric replied, typing in more commands "I can't get it back."

Sam sighed. "I want to do everything I can to help, but I know being here I'll just be in the way of Eric's techie thing he does. So I'm going to go pray. As soon as you need me for anything, feel free to interrupt me." With that, Sam left the OSP center and headed downstairs. Callen looked at Eric.

"I'll do my best." Eric promised.

After 5 stressful, hellish hours, Eric finally shouted that he got something. Everyone dropped whatever it was they were doing to literally run to the OSP center.

"I'm not sure. Honestly this is just a guess. But I think I might have the location." He said.

"Great. I'll send some officers down there." Deeks said.

"No." Callen replied. "I'm going. I want to take care of this bastard myself."

"Me too." Sam said, and Kensi nodded in agreement.

"Well let's go then! Stop wasting time! Deeks, call for police backup." Callen said. Deeks nodded and pulled out his phone as everyone made their way to their cars.

Four cars surrounded a small cabin in the woods off of an old street called Darby. In two of the cars sat policemen, ready to jump in if help was needed. In the third was Kensi and Deeks, and in the fourth, Callen and Sam were quietly exiting the car, and making their way up to the door. Deeks and Kensi quickly followed. Callen tested the doorknob, and of course it was locked, so he stepped back and kicked in the door as hard as he could, without even knocking.

A woman screamed and a baby started crying as Callen and Sam started to search the house. As soon as they got through the door, they looked to their right and saw a woman holding a baby, sitting on the couch, watching TV.

"Who the hell are you!?" She cried, frightened.

"uh, NCIS." Callen said, thrown off by what they found.

Deeks jumped in with his gun out and shouted "L.A.P.-" Callen grabbed his arm and shushed him. "Oh." Deeks said. "Ma'm, we are so sorry. This is a huge misunderstanding," Kensi walked in and Callen wandered off while Deeks was talking "we are sorry, really." Deeks looked back at the damage done to the door. "I-I'll pay for that, sorry. If there's anything we can do, or-"

"Hey!" Callen shouted. "Over here." Sam and Kensi followed Callen to where he was standing near the basement door. On a tiny nail sticking out of the wall next to the basement stairs, was a very small piece of light blue fabric, no more than half an inch wide. "This is part of Nell's shirt" Callen declared.

Deeks spoke into his radio for the other officers to come in and watch the woman. Then he followed the rest of the team quickly down the stairs. Guns out, they searched the basement before all that was left was a door. They surrounded the door, and Sam put his ear up against the door. "I don't hear anything." He said. They all glanced at each other and nodded before Sam kicked in the door.

They moved quickly through the next room, as it was only a small room anyways. In the corner of the room was the whip, with dried blood on it. There was a television screen, which showed the same view they had of the room Nell was in. Through the screen they could see Nell still laying on the floor, and the man in the corner, wrapping up the sharp edge of the pipe so she couldn't try to escape again. Next to the screen was a door. "That's gotta be it." Sam muttered. They all surrounded the door, gave a silent prayer, and broke through the door.

It was finally the right room. The man looked up and saw them, and immediately grabbed Nell and held a pocket knife to her throat. Kensi slipped behind them before anyone could see.

"You don't want to do this, man." Sam said.

"Dejte zbraně dolů!" The man shouted angrily, pulling the knife closer against Nell's neck.

"Alright, alright, we're putting down our weapons." Callen said gently placing his gun on the ground as Sam and Deeks did the same. Callen held his hands up. "No one has to get hurt. I am G Callen, just let her go and you can have me. Nikdo nemá ublížit. Já jsem G Callen, jen nechat ji jít, a můžete mít mě. " He tried to negotiate.

"Jak mám vědět, že nejste lhář?" The man asked.

Sam, Deeks, and Callen were slowly stepping out of the way of the man. "Yes. I'll do whatever you want. Ano. Budu dělat, co chceš." Callen replied. Before the man could even respond, they heard a loud

BLAM

The man dropped the knife and fell to the floor. Callen lunged forward in one step and caught Nell. Kensi stood behind the man, her gun raised. Sam gave a small nod. "Nice shot, Kens."

Callen was holding Nell tightly, and Nell was shaking. "Shh, shh, it's okay" Callen tried to calm her, even though she seemed more sleepy than anything by this point. Deeks walked over with his own pocket knife and cut the zip ties around Nell's wrists and ankles, allowing her to stand up straight, but she still leaned into Callen. Deeks went to radio-in for an ambulance. Callen still held Nell tightly, whispering "It's okay, it's okay" and gently stroking her hair, trying to keep holding her up without touching her back too much. "Nell you didn't have to do that. You could have just told them where I-" Callen stopped when Sam gave him a look that said 'not now'.

Fortunately the ambulance was not far, and soon the paramedics came down with a stretcher. Callen had debated carrying Nell up the stairs himself, but decided that would only hurt her back more. Callen walked Nell over to the stretcher, and she reluctantly let go. As soon as she started to lay down, she let out a small cry of pain and rolled off the stretcher. After a bit of fussing, and realizing there was no other way unless she wanted to walk, which she was in no position to do, she laid down, cringing. Callen could only watch as they carried her away, knowing it was best if he just let her go without making a big deal about wanting to go with her.

Sam walked over to him and put a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Hey. She's safe now. We did it."

"Not soon enough." Callen replied.

The team left the room to let the coroner and crime scene investigators in, and they regrouped outside. "You all okay?" Sam asked

"Yeah, I'm good." Deeks replied.

"Yeah." Kensi echoed.

"Alright, we'll meet back at ops, get changed, and go to the hospital." Callen instructed. Everyone nodded and went to their cars.

It was just past 4 in the morning when they got back, Callen quickly changed out of his bulletproof vest and other equipment, and waited impatiently for the rest of the team. Eric came down to join him. "You alright Eric? You look a little shaken up." Callen commented.

"Who wouldn't." Eric stated while trying to smooth out his hair, since he had been running his hands through it all night. He sighed "Anyway, I'm going with you guys. Hetty doesn't need me here anymore for tonight. I really want to see Nell."

We all do, Callen thought. Kensi appeared, and Sam and Deeks weren't far behind.

They got to the hospital rather quickly, but then spent 4 hours in the waiting room. They had been told that she was okay to see visitors, but they were going to have her talk to a social worker or psychologist first.

Needless to say, the whole team was surprised when they saw Nate walk in.

"Nate! What are you doing here?" Kensi asked.

"Hey man, I thought you were overseas!" Sam greeted.

"Well, I was going to surprise you guys tomorrow –er- today." Nate corrected, checking his watch. "But," He gestured around him "this happened. I'm just stopping through, I'm on my way to Washington for…well, I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you." He joked. "I'm just kidding. But really, I just talked to Nell, and-"

"Wait, what?" Callen said, shocked. "We were told she can't have visitors yet-"

"before she sees a psychologist." Nate finished his sentence. "And I am that psychologist."

"Oh." Kensi said, still looking confused.

"Well how is she?" Sam asked.

Nate sighed "Well," he started "I divide up reactions to trauma into 3 stages. Stage 1 is shock. Stage 2 is the actual reaction: crying, yelling, being angry, being scared, et cetera. Stage 3 is being able to recognize what happened, and be able to talk about it, and overcome it. Kinda like the 5 stages of grief, but this is my own version."

"So how's Nell?" Callen asked impatiently.

Nate held up his finger "I'm getting there. She's definitely past stage 1. But I think she's skipping stage 2 entirely."

"Is that bad?" Deeks interrupted.

"Normally, yes. That's very bad."

The team shared worried glances.

"But, knowing Nell as well as I do, I think it's just her natural reaction to skip stage 2, it's just what she does. "avoiding the drama", in a sense. So I can safely say, she is working on step 3. Oh yeah, and one of you can go see her now." Nate said with a smirk, knowing they had been waiting for that last part.

"I'll go!" Callen jumped at the chance. "I think I owe her at least two-hundred apologies and thank-yous."

The team reluctantly nodded, knowing he had to. "I'll show you the way." Nate led him out of the room and down a few hallways, and up an elevator, before reaching her room.

Callen quietly entered, afraid of what he might see. Finally he saw her laying in the bed, watching him. She didn't look that different, and Callen reminded himself that most of the damage was done to her back. There was a small bandage on the center of her neck, and harsh red marks around it.

He walked over and sat quietly on the chair next to her bed. "Nell," he couldn't really think of what to say. His throat felt dry, and he swallowed nervously. "How ya feeling?" was all he came up with.

"Been better." She whispered hoarsely. "I can't talk" she quickly explained, bringing one hand up to her neck.

"Nell, I am so sorry." Callen took her hand, and he noticed the bloody red marks around her wrists.

He was going to say something else, but then Nell started talking, or, whispering. "Kensi shot the guy?"

"Yes. And the other two are in custody."

"So did they say why they were looking for you?"

"Uh, not yet." Callen replied. "But I already know what happened, there was a video camera, and we could see everything that he did you, I'm so sorry-"

"I know." Nell replied. "Hetty already told me everything."

Callen looked around "Hetty was here?"

Nell gave a small laugh "She's pretty sneaky alright."

Callen just shook his head, glad to see Nell's smile. "Doesn't your back hurt, laying on the bed like that?"

"It doesn't hurt if I stay still."

Callen felt really bad. "I'm so sorry. If there's anything I can do, just-"

"A kiss." Nell whispered.

Callen was completely taken by surprise "..what?"

"A kiss. I want a kiss from the wonderful man who saved me." She said, intentionally sounding corny, in that bold, not-thinking-things-through she sometimes does.

"Well, I'm the one who got you into this in the first place…"

"I think we can overlook that tiny detail." Nell smiled.

Honestly, Callen had been thinking about kissing Nell for longer he cares to admit. Now she was asking him to kiss her. Of course he had to do it, after everything she just went through for him; and even if she hadn't done that, he still would've kissed her if she asked. Few things ever made Callen as nervous as he was now.

He leaned over her fragile body, afraid he was going to break her, and gently brushed his lips against hers. For just a moment, their eyes met. She may have been bold enough to ask for a kiss, but now she was making no efforts to be the one to initiate the kiss. She was leaving Callen to do that part. He finally brought his lips to hers, closing his eyes, and he felt something he had never felt before. It was not a rough kiss. It was not a hungry kiss. It was gentle and slow and it left Callen thriving for the feeling of her touch. She was the one who finally pulled away, and Callen thought if she hadn't, they might never have stopped. He stayed close, just looking into her hazel eyes. He saw that the pain in her eyes when he first walked in had vanished, and the look that remained was happiness and a bit of mystery, and he could tell she knew just how she made him feel, what power she now had over him.

Callen sat back in the chair and tried to regain any sense of reality. He looked back at her, and she had a small smile on the same lips he had just kissed. He already missed the sensation of her touch on his lips.

"Maybe another one, sometime when I don't have tubes in my arm and I'm not in a stupid gown." Nell whispered.

"I think you look beautiful." Callen whispered back, teasing her.

Nell's smile got just a little bit bigger. "So what's your answer?"

He paused, just to make her wait a little longer before saying "Absolutely"

A/N Review please! I'm thinking of continuing this, but I'm not sure. I hope you enjoyed

headed into the kitchen, where she was greeted by a familiar voice. "Hey, you're up. Want some coffee?" Callen asked, holding up a fresh pot of coffee. Nell was about to decline, she usually only liked coffee that she made, but it was a friendly gesture, and she decided maybe it was time to shake things up a bit. "Sure. Thanks." She said.

Callen smiled as he poured her a cup of coffee. He loved the cute look she got when she was trying to make a decision. "How did you sleep?" he asked.

Nell thought out how to compare it, before answering "Better than I ever did back at home, but not as well as in my apartment."

"Home?" Callen asked.

"Yeah, Brooklyn. My parents and my brother still live there."

"So why didn't you sleep well? Bad neighborhood?"

Nell gave a small laugh "Well, that too, but my step-dad runs an animal shelter in the house, so we had, say…at least 2 dogs, 4 cats, rabbits, turtles, snakes, birds… you get the idea, on any given day. So I don't really call it a house anymore, I call it "Jeff's Zoo" "

"Are you serious?" Callen said after swallowing his coffee "That's insane! I can see why you didn't sleep. You might as well start calling your step-dad Dr. Dolittle."

Nell laughed "I should! Next time I call, I'll ask for Dr Dolittle. He'd get a kick out of that."

Callen set down his coffee and suddenly turned serious. "Really, though. How are you? Did any of those painkillers work last night?" Nell began to open her mouth but Callen interrupted "Don't you dare lie to me."

Nell raised her eyebrows at his harsh reaction. In truth, she had planned on lying. She didn't say anything.

Callen took a step towards her "I'm sorry, I…I didn't mean for it to come out like that. I'm just…I'm really worried about you. Please, tell me the truth so I can help you." The only thing between them now was the counter.

Nell was going to tell him, but then backed out at his sudden reaction. "What are you, my doctor or something? I can tell my own doctor how I'm feeling." She said in a tone that was less than pleasant.

"Nell, I'm sorry, really!" Callen reached his hands across the counter quickly, but accidentally knocked over a napkin holder onto the floor on Nell's side. Nell instinctively bent down to pick it up, but immediately froze when she felt a stinging, ripping pain in her back. It felt like each of the slashes were tearing themselves apart, and she tried to keep in her hiss of pain because she didn't want Callen to worry any more. She ended up just sucking in a big breath and standing straight up again. Digging her nails into her palms to try and distract her brain from the pain, she hid her face from Callen and ran back into the bedroom.

Callen hurried after her, afraid something serious was happening, but before he was even halfway down the hall, he heard her yell "I'm fine, go away!" and the door slam shut.

He stopped in the middle of the hallway and let out an exasperated breath. He ran his hands through his hair in frustration before spinning around to head back towards the kitchen. "Idiot!" he whispered to himself. He walked back into the kitchen and kicked the napkin holder across the room. He was considering smashing something else when he remembered if he broke anything in this house, he would have to pay for it.

They were in a safe house, since Nell was a victim and Callen was still being targeted. They still hadn't figured out who the men were working for or why they wanted Callen, so the best place for Nell and Callen right now was in a very secluded place where they couldn't be found. This way they had someone to keep an eye on Nell while she recovered. The downside was they couldn't really help much with the case.

As soon as Nell shut the door a bit harder than she intended, she threw herself onto the bed, laying on her stomach, burying her face in the blankets waiting for the pain and itching to go away. The itching was almost just as bad as the pain, and she knew she couldn't scratch it because even the slightest touch hurt like all hell. She could still lay on her back, or lean against something soft, as long as she kept the position and didn't move.