A/N: This is a story that came about when I travelled to Sedona, Arizona for New Years two years ago. The West calls me as do the National Parks. They are something everyone should see before our government sells them off. Sorry for my cynicism. If this sounds like a travelogue I'm sorry but I love these places and want to go back. How nice it will be to do it with Callen.
Great Escape
Chapter 1
Washington D.C. can be a cut throat city and working for a federal agency doesn't make it any easier. There is a one-upmanship that boggles the outsiders mind. Many agents want to get out of D.C. and work in their agency offices in other parts of the country or even out of the country. FBI agent, G. Callen, was one of them, only he wanted out entirely; out of the FBI, out of the gophering he did for other agents and out of the three piece suits that incumbered him each and every day. He hated the suits that he were required for him to wear everyday and then there was the useless grind of the job. He wanted to feel that what he did meant something to his country and himself, not the endless drivel that he encountered day after day. He was also tired of fending off other agents who had agendas and who were willing to step on your forehead to get past you and move up that invisible ladder of success. After five years with the Bureau he began to feel the wanderlust setting in and he knew it was time to move on. Before the FBI he'd worked with the CIA and before that the DEA, with a small stint in Europe with NCIS. He'd met his good friend and sometimes mentor, Leroy Jethro Gibbs while working in Russia and Bosnia. It was good to have someone to bounce ideas off of and while he lived in D.C. he'd spent a good deal of time with Gibbs.
About a month ago Callen's other mentor, Henrietta Lange, called with a job offer. She'd been put in charge of setting up a new office of NCIS, The Office of Special Projects, in Los Angeles. Callen thought about thirty seconds before agreeing to come out for an interview. He arranged for a few days off and flew out to meet with her and the woman who would actually run the office: Lara Macy.
A young man by the name of Eric, who dressed like he'd just left the beach, met him at the airport and drove him through the nutty traffic that is LA. They arrived at a ramshackle factory building in one of the seedier neighborhoods of the city. To the unsuspecting eye there was nothing there. Inside, however, was a hive of business that interested Callen as soon as he saw it. There were high tech toys and the people who knew how to use them and that would make the job that much easier.
When he entered a woman came out to meet them. She was about five foot nine, with long blond hair and a very pretty face. While she was a beauty, she was all business. Eric introduced her as Lara Macy and then she invited him to her office. Henrietta Lange didn't show up for the meeting. She'd put in her good words about Callen before this meeting.
The interview must have gone well because before he left the building, she offered him the job and he accepted it. He'd never show it but he gave a sigh of relief at hearing he'd got the job.
After the interview and being introduced around the office, being asked if he'd like to chose his own team and turning that option down as he worked best alone. He didn't realize that Hetty would veto that decision and chose a partner for him. Eric then drove Callen to Miss Lange's home, Dovecote. He was to spend the next few days with her before heading back to Washington.
While flying back to D.C. he thought about what he'd miss about the city he'd live in and around for the past eight years or more and he decided that Gibbs and the Smithsonian Museums were it. The traffic, the people and tourists were not anything he'd miss. Little did he know that Los Angeles would rival if not outdo the D.C. traffic in a major way. After making that determination he dropped off for a nap on the way home. He'd have much to do when he got back to D.C.
When he arrived back to Washington, he went to his boss, tendered his resignation and called his partner who happened to be stationed in Denver, Colorado currently. Jay Curry and he worked well together but Callen sensed Jay's need to leave the agency as well. If Callen had to guess, Jay was looking for something while working out west as well. Jay asked that some case files be sent to him and gave Callen the file names and numbers. Callen, while he didn't recognize any of the files, he gave him one better. He'd hand deliver them on his way to Los Angeles. Callen gave him his time table and Curry agreed to it. They hung up and Callen put in a call to Gibbs.
Dinner that night would be at the diner that Gibbs liked to frequent. It sat under an underpass of Route 95 and had some of the best apple pie in the metropolitan area. Many of the senators from more rural states liked the food in the quaint diner as a change from la-di-da state dinners and gala functions. Gibbs had introduced him to a few and even the Secretary of the Navy ate there once in a while.
He and Gibbs sat at a booth and Elaine, Gibbs favorite waitress, came for their order. Gibbs ordered his usual, a bacon club sandwich with chips and Callen ordered the special, meatloaf with mashed potatoes and green beans.
Gibbs had been curious as to why Callen had called but let the younger man take his time. G asked about their friend Fornell and about the rest of Jethro's team, DiNozzo and Kate. He was making small talk but Gibbs knew better than to hurry G.
Callen waited until they'd ordered the apple pie to share with Jethro. Gibbs wasn't too surprised. He knew that Callen was a wanderer and that it was only a matter of time before he uprooted and moved on and he was happy that he'd found something that really interested him. Callen would do very well in Los Angeles.
Jethro's eyebrow lifted a bit when he heard the name of the supervisor that G would be working under, Lara Macy. Their run in seventeen years ago left a cold feeling in his gut but he refused to let on about it. Callen was intuitive and picked up on it none the less and wouldn't let it go. No matter how much he asked, cajoled or badgered, Gibbs wouldn't tell him about the relationship between him and Macy. It would be a mystery for a much later date.
Each man retired to their own home and Callen packed up what little he owned. The furnished apartment held little of him. There were no furnishings to have shipped and everything of his fit into his duffle bag. He'd always wanted to be a man of few possessions and so he was. He'd never been allowed to own much in his life so why should he start now? No, everything of importance to him fit in the duffle that now sat next to the front door.
In the morning he took a cab to the office to pick up the files for Jay and then to Reagan International Airport and where he bought a ticket to Denver. From there he'd rent a car and drive to Los Angeles. He had two months leave from the Bureau that he needed to use up and he'd use it seeing the Great South West and the National Parks that he'd heard so much about but never had the time or the inclination to visit. He'd taken the time last night to book hotels along the way and had made reservations inside the parks at some of the best hotels. He'd been lucky that several reservations had been cancelled and he ended up with the rooms.
The long ride would be relaxing and that is what Hetty and Macy needed: a relaxed agent.