Beep… Beep… Beep. Cressida never knew that a heart monitor could be so loud before as she stood in the doorway of the hospital room. The continuing beeping sounds seemed to be so loud in the eerily silent room and it just unsettled Cressida, she wasn't the biggest fan of hospitals given her own previous experiences in them but for some reason she was particularly unsettled. But she couldn't turn back, not after she had come all this way and gone through that extensive check to even get here. Apparently showing her badge and credentials wasn't enough, her identity had to be confirmed over the phone by her boss and given the high security that was in place here, not to mention Cressida had come way after visiting hours were over. But Cressida didn't care, the hospital was the first place that she had come through the moment that she had set foot on the ground here in Los Angeles. Taking a deep breath Cressida slowly made her way towards the bed. Even though Cressida had been told what had happened, had time to prepare herself for what she was about to see, it still didn't make her feel any less nervous. Cressida still couldn't believe it: G. Callen wounded in line of duty, an attempt on his life resulted in him taking several bullets to the chest. Callen was a legend in their line of work, one of the best when it came to undercover work and he was one of the few people who lived up to the legend and more but most of all he was Cressida's friend. Approaching the bed, Cressida couldn't believe that Callen was really lying here in this hospital bed, hooked up to various machines and a ventilator, she had been told that his condition was critical but she didn't believe that it was this bad. It was eerie, Cressida had never seen Callen like this in the six years that she had known him. They had seen their share of scrapes and brusies over the years, one time Callen had pulled out a piece of a fragmented bullet out of Cressida's shoulder with a pair of pliers but that wasn't serious, it was minor. But this was damn serious.
Taking a seat in the chair by Callen's bedside, Cressida reached forward and brushed her hand over Callen's own. She didn't know what to say or what to do but what Cressida did know was that Callen wasn't one of those people who would want her aimlessly talking to him as if he could hear her, As elusive and mysterious as Callen was, Cressida knew that much about her friend. He would simply appreciate the fact that she stopped by. It was odd for Cressida to be sitting with Callen and in complete silence none the less. Whilst Callen was a pretty stoic character, he sort of did the whole brooding thing he was never this quiet. Cressida could always count on Callen always breaking a silence by saying something so absurd that would cause her to laugh; a particular memory couldn't help but spring to mind. It was three years ago and Cressida and Callen were out on a stakeout and they were camped out in some beater of a car with nothing to do and plenty of time on their hands and they had decided to play I spy. This round had gone on for 45 minutes until Cressida had finally caved, clueless as to what Callen saw. It turned out to be spot of bird poo on the hood of the car they were in. The two of them had laughed so hard about it that Cressida had actually started crying. Callen was like that, he was the oddest person that Cressida had ever met, some of the things that he didn't went beyond being quirks but he was a good guy, one of the best men than Cressida knew and she trusted him with his life. He was the one person Cressida knew that she could go to if she was ever in trouble and she had done, when she needed to get out of LA for a while Callen was the one who had arranged it. She didn't need to explain anything with him, it was always that simple with Callen.
God could Cressida do with having Callen break this silence, she was half expecting him to wake up and ask her why on earth she was holding his hand. But Callen didn't stir, his condition was critical and would probably stay like that for a while. Cressida knew that Callen would pull through this, it would take more several bullets to the chest to kill G. Callen. It was all just a matter of waiting and Cressida would be here to say hello to him when he woke up, just like Callen was there to say goodbye to her when she left town – well it wasn't really goodbye so much as a see you later because as Callen put it, he didn't do goodbyes.
"Ms. Findley?"
At the sound of her name, Cressida looked up to see a old but familiar face; Henrietta Lange. Hetty was a rather small but stylish woman whom Cressida had numerous run ins with over the years. The last time the two had met, Hetty had pretty much saved Cressida's ass and career after there was an incident with an agent from the DEA a while back which resulted in lots of broken glass, several stitches in a questionable place and very expensive carpet being ruined. Hetty had been the one who responsible for bringing Cressida back home, having just taken over the Office of Special Projects a few weeks ago. Cressida wasn't surprised to see Hetty, the woman pretty much saw and knew everything.
"I know that I probably should have swung by the temporary office to and see you first Hetty before I did anything but I just had to come here. I had to see him, see for myself before I could do anything else." Cressida softly explained not bothering to apologise because it would just be a waste of time as both herself and Hetty knew that she wouldn't have been sorry in the first place.
"Of course, I understand that you and Mr. Callen are quite close." Hetty said stepping further into the room and Cressida couldn't help but let out a small chuckle at Hetty's response. That was a good one.
"Close? I don't know about that, Callen isn't exactly close with anyone…" Cressida replied as she rubbed her right knee in an awkward manner as Callen pretty much kept people at arms length, he kept things close to the chest and didn't talk much about himself or his past. You had as much chance getting Callen to open up as you did not getting eaten by a bear after prodding it with a stick for fun. Cressida could say that she knew things about Callen but she didn't really know him. Sure she was one of few people allowed to call him G and they occasionally hung out outside of work not to mention she had given him a key to her place to crash there whenever he felt like it but they weren't close as in braiding each other's hair close. If Cressida could name a person who was close to Callen then it would be his partner Sam Hanna.
"How's the knee Ms. Findley?" Hetty questioned and Cressida looked down to her knees, she hadn't even realized she had been rubbing it. She must have been doing it unconsciously. A long time ago Cressida had been in a very bad accident, she couldn't remember the details of what happened but she had injured her knee badly and whilst it had recovered, occasionally got these pains in her right knew. It tended to happen when she was sad or when it rained. Given that it hardly rained in LA, it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why Cressida's knew was aching so much.
"Hasn't killed me yet Hetty." Cressida quipped in a rather grim manner before deciding to move things along and away from her. They weren't here to talk about her, they were here because of Callen. "How's the investigation going? Any new leads yet as to who did this to Callen?"
"Unfortunately not Ms. Findley, given our line of work the suspect pool is rather large and showing no signs of getting smaller. We've eliminated some potential suspects but given Mr. Callen's spells at various agencies, it's going to take some time but we will prosper. The Director is adamant that this case is a priority for the agency and Mr Callen's case will remain open until we catch whoever did this." Hetty explained and Cressida wearily nodded her head, she knew that Callen had a history and he had pretty much worked for all the major agencies at one point; CIA, FBI, DEA, and NCIS. You name it Callen probably worked for them at one point.
"I want to help. I know you called me in because you need reinforcements because you're down an agent with Callen being here and all. He saved my life. Callen saved me from taking one straight to the chest a couple of years back, I owe him big time. The least I can do is help catch the bastards who put Callen here. So however long it takes I'll be here, it doesn't matter when Callen wakes up or comes back to work I'll be here until we get them. If it's next week or next month or even next year even I'll stay until we catch the bastards. I know he'd so the same for me in a heartbeat." Cressida stated as owed Callen and she wouldn't leave until she had paid her debt. He had saved her life so Cressida would find the people who had tried to take his.
"Welcome home Agent Findley."
Horrendously hungover. There were actually no real words to accurately describe how Cressida Findley was feeling as she was hanging on by a thread and her day had barely even begun. Cressida was really regretting those last coupe of jägerbombs as not only could she not couldn't bounce back the way she used to when she was in college but this was without the worst day that she could possible go into work with a hangover. Usually Cressida was a lot better about these things, she didn't hit the hard stuff on 'school days' but this sort of an exception. Kind of a celebration in a way as Cressida was back on dry land after spending the last two years aboard the USS George Washington as Special Agent Afloat. It was hard to believe that those two years were finally over, it seemed to go by incredibly slow and fast at the same time. Now Cressida was off the carrier, reassigned back to the Office of Special Projects and today was her first day back at the office and she was hungover as hell. Perfect mix. Truth be told Cressida was a little bit apprehensive about today, maybe that's why she had a bit more to drink last night then she should have been. Cressida had been back in LA for three days, but she had been getting her affairs in order. Being away for two years on an aircraft carrier meant that she had left a lot of things behind and she needed a bit of time to deal with them such as getting belongings out of storage, going through bank statements and other boring and tedious things. She wasn't even supposed to be back yet, Cressida had six months left as agent afloat but things changed, once phone call five days ago had changed it all and Cressida was informed to pack her bags as she had just been reassigned back to OSP with immediate effect. There had been shooting and they needed her back. That was it, no elaboration on what had happened, just basically Cressida had to get back to LA as soon as she could. 72 hours and very little sleep later, Cressida was back in the city of angels and being briefed on why she was brought back to LA whilst she unpacked her house. The situation wasn't good, a colleague of hers, a good friend of hers had been shot. Callen had been shot several times in a drive by shooting a couple of weeks ago and things weren't looking good. The former agent in charge of OSP and the woman who had pretty much trained Cressida, Lara Macy had been reassigned god knows where and because of the security issues relating to Callen's shooting they were having to relocate the office. It was a mess. At least it wasn't a mess that Cressida had to sort out, she just had to work with it.
There were people everywhere and loads of noise as per usual which didn't do anything to improve how Cressida was feeling, in fact it just made it worse. But there was nothing she could do, it was Cressida's own fault that she was hungover and now she just had to suffer though it all and boy was she suffering to the point where she was idly sitting in the office with a pair of sunglasses covering her eyes and an extra strong cup of coffee. That was barely even making a dent in making Cressida feel better but it would have to do as if Hetty caught her, there was going to be hell to pay. Hence why Cressida was currently hiding out in a corner of the temporary office until she was needed. Hopefully it would be a quiet day at the office but even Cressida knew, despite thinking it that it wasn't going to be likely. Things at OSP were never exactly quiet, there was always something to do or something to be done. It wasn't like being agent afloat where sometimes all Cressida could do was wait until something happened.
"Well I'll be damned, I heard that you were back and I just had to see it for myself. Hungover too I see, you never change do you Finn?"
Pulling down her sunglass ever so slightly Cressida looked up from her coffee cup which she was all but inhaling the fumes at this point to see who had addressed her. Cressida knew the voice well and she knew the well built, muscular man with the shaved head who was addressing her. Sam Hanna. Former Navy SEAL, bit of a hardass at times but a general good guy, Cressida's fellow senior agent and more importantly Callen's partner. Although Cressida would never admit it, Sam was a sight for damn near sore eyes. The two of them were as different as chalk and cheese, oil and water depending on who you asked and if you looked at the two of them on paper everything would tell you that Cressida Findley and Sam Hanna shouldn't get along in the slightest. But for the most part they got on well enough, most people thought it was because of the navy thing; Sam had been in the navy and Cressida's came from a naval family; her grandfather and father had both served and her two brothers were currently serving overseas. Cressida would have served but something got in the way. But personal tragedy aside, Cressida got along with Sam rather well, around here you could always count on Sam to be the calm in the midst of the storm. He was a good guy to have around and was great at keeping Callen in check if the occasion ever arise.
"It's good to see you too Sam." Cressida quipped as she took off her sunglasses and put her coffee to the side in order to hug the former frogman. Already Cressida felt like she was back home and nothing had changed as Sam could tell straight away that she was hungover just by looking at her. It was like she had never been away. It left Cressida with this warm and fuzzy feeling in her chest. "I'm sorry about Callen."
"Me too, you seen him?" Sam questioned as the two of them pulled apart from the embrace and Cressida grimly nodded. She had sat with Callen for over two hours before she had called it a night and headed back to her place. She hadn't caught much sleep that night, every time Cressida shut her eyes all she could hear was that damn beep, beep sound from the heart monitor.
"Yeah, I swung by the hospital as soon as I got back into town which was a few days ago. It was surreal just seeing him laying there but if anyone can survive something like that then it's Callen." Cressida replied with a small shrug of her shoulders as she really wouldn't define what she did as visiting Callen. But it didn't matter what she thought, Cressida knew that she had to be here for her team; for her friends. They were the ones who needed her the most, they had been the ones working a case with Callen when he had been shot; Sam had been there when it had happened. Cressida had seen the footage of the shooting, it had been Sam's quick reaction which had saved Callen. Curiosity made Cressida want to ask Sam how he had been doing since the attempt on Callen's life but she knew better than to ask Sam how he was doing. Sam wasn't the kind of guy who would spill his guts to you about the emotional stuff, pretty much the same as his partner in that respect.
"So agent afloat, huh? Kind of the last person who I expected for that Finn and for two years none the less. It must have been your own personal hell." Sam started and Cressida just rolled her eyes in amusement, she had expected as much as she knew word would have gotten out eventually about her new assignment after she had pretty much disappeared under a cloud of smoke two years ago without telling anyone. Only two people had known at the time Cressida left LA, where she was going and Sam hadn't been one of them. She didn't have time to say goodbye, back then Cressida had needed to get out of town as fast as she could which meant she had to leave without saying anything to anyone. It had been better for everyone at the time, most of her.
"Don't ask." Cressida retorted in a playful manner as she knew it herself, she was the last person anyone would expect to be agent afloat. She just wasn't the type. Cressida herself would have flat out refused to do it two years ago, she would have got on her knees and begged for any other assignment than that. It was funny how things had changed so quickly. Back then Cressida had asked to be reassigned as the agent afloat, Callen and Macy had thought she had been joking at first. But she hadn't been. Cressida had given no reason for wanting to be reassigned, she could remember that day clearly as Macy had been a bit sceptically about it but Cressida had managed to convince Macy of it, telling the senior agent that it would be a good for her, make her curb in her wildcard tendencies. Macy still hadn't been too convinced, it was Callen backing up Cressida that had changed Macy's mind. Cressida recalled that Callen still wasn't too sure of the whole thing, given that he knew why Cressida wanted to be reassigned but he went along with the whole thing because she had asked him to. Cressida knew that she had put Callen in a hard spot, she had used her friendship with Callen to get him to do what they both knew wasn't right for her professionally.
"How do you feel being back on dry land?" Sam questioned and Cressida had to admit that it was a very good question and the more she thought about it, the more Cressida realized she didn't know. If it hadn't been for the attempt on Callen's life she would still be stationed aboard the USS George Washington. Everything had sort of gone by so quickly and in a haste that Cressida hadn't really had time to sit down and think about how she felt about being back in LA, back at OSP and everything that had happened here that made her ask to be reassigned as agent afloat before promptly taking her leave.
"What are you Nate?" Cressida questioned, making a somewhat tongue in cheek joke/reference to the team's operational psychologist who Cressida no doubt had to have some kind of debriefing with in the near future. Already she wasn't looking forward to it. Nate was a nice guy, a bit odd but harmless none the less however Cressida tended to tread carefully around him as he had the authority to have her pulled out of the field if he believed she couldn't cope and Cressida was not the kind of agent who was suited to desk duty. The last time Cressida had been on desk duty was the result of a rather badly sprained ankle and things hadn't ended well. Cabin fever had set in after three days and Cressida had to pay to have her desk replaced. It hadn't been pleasant for all involved. "Ask me again in six months and I'll tell you."
"Always the same with you Finn."
"Why change something so great? So any news on the new office? Not that I'm not loving the new digs but it's not exactly what I would call the office." Cressida questioned motioning to the functioning chaos that was unfolding in front of them. People were coming from everywhere and going in different directions, bumping into each other at times but continuing to walk without even a second look. If Cressida had to sum this whole thing up in one word it would be crowded,
"Your guess is as good as mine Finn, G getting shot pretty much shook everything up and with these security issues, they figured it would be better if we moved offices just to be safe."
"No kidding, with G out for a while Hetty had call in for some reinforcements…" Cressida murmured more to herself than to Sam as just watching this made Cressida all the more grateful that she didn't sit high enough on the totem poll for everything in front of her to be her problem to deal with. Cressida was more than content with just being a field agent as the office hierarchy and the politics that came with it was just not her thing. Cressida was more G.I Jane than Hilary Clinton and she preferred it that way. "So besides us being in a little predicament over the office anything else going on that would pipe my interest? Has Eric finally started wearing pants to work? Or is he still rocking the whole shorts and tropical shirts combo?"
"Eric is still Eric… Like you Finn, he will never change and sometimes I think you two do it intentionally. Other than the whole G thing, Macy getting transferred out, Hetty taking over and the whole office situation things haven't changed much. But Kensi does have a new partner." Sam replied and Cressida just idly nodded her head along before she took note of how Sam had put emphasis on how Kensi had a new partner. Cressida knew that it could only mean one thing.
"Green?"
"You know it." Sam replied with a small laugh and Cressida just rolled her eyes in amusement as she was sure as hell glad that it wasn't her. Over the years Cressida had gone through a few partner, five to be precise if people were keeping count and most of them hadn't stuck. Only one of those partners had been a probie and it had just been difficult from the get go, Cressida hadn't helped the situation at all by not holding back her dismay at having a probie as a partner. She did not have the time to hand hold and wipe the snotty nose of some probie and try to make sure they didn't get anyone killed as they had no clue what they were doing. Her probie partner hadn't lasted long, he had decided that NCIS wasn't for him and had resigned to go and teach sailing to over privileged teens. Cressida had honestly that she was going to get fired for that. Things were a bit hairy for a while over the whole partner thing. Cressida wasn't against having a partner, she just preferred having one who knew what they were doing.
"Rather her than me."
"Speak of the devil…" Sam noted and following his line of sight, Cressida could see that indeed Sam was right. About twenty yards ahead of them was the very lovely Agent Kensi Blye, still as devastatingly gorgeous as the last time Cressida had seen her with her long dark hair and warm brown eyes. Alongside Kensi was no doubt the so-called new partner and probie, if Cressida was being honest and she was rather too honest at times, the probie looked like a scrawny looking African American kid who should be sitting in Calculus then being here. But Cressida wouldn't write him off for that as clearly he had to have something of value to merit him being here. He wouldn't have been assigned to OSP if there wasn't something he could bring to the team. Cressida liked to think hers was, her blunt honesty and her tenacity. It probably was something related to her knowing five languages and having a degree in criminology and mathematics not to mention a pretty good poker face. Although those did tended to be overlooked when she came into work hungover and went through more partners than anyone else in the unit.
It didn't take them long to catch Kensi's attention and once they had, Cressida smiled and gave a little wave hoping for the best. She knew that if anyone was going to be pissed about her just suddenly taking off for two years then it would be Kensi.
Cressida watched as Kensi began to walk towards her and Sam with her new partner trailing close behind. She wasn't sure what to expect for Kensi but Cressida knew sure as hell not to say 'long time no see' as that was going to get her in trouble and Cressida knew she was going to be in a lot of trouble if she didn't pull herself together before Hetty got a good look at her. Cressida had been plenty nervous about today but not as nervous as waiting to see how Kensi was going to greet her. It was all coming down to the wire and Cressida wasn't sure whether or not she needed to close her eyes in anticipation of getting punched in the face. However Cressida needn't have worried as Kensi warmly embraced her, perhaps a little two tightly that Cressida was certain that her breakfast and some of last night might come up from her stomach to say hello. Cressida couldn't help but be filled with relief. The last thing she needed today apart from being hungover to hell was tension with her friends/co-workers.
"Two years with not one phone call or a single letter!" Kensi began and Cressida hung her head in shame, Kensi had her on that one as Cressida hadn't exactly kept in contact during her time away. She had thought about sending a postcard to Callen as a joke during her first couple of weeks aboard the USS George Washington but she quickly remembered Callen never had a permanent address given that he kept moving around for cheap hotels constantly. But when it came getting in touch with Kensi, Sam and everyone else here at OSP Cressida didn't know what to say. She couldn't tell them why she had suddenly left and taken a new assignment aboard the USS George Washington. It wasn't like she had left because she was going undercover on some classified assignment. She had left LA for more personal reason and she didn't have the courage to tell her friends the truth because she was worried that they would think less of her.
"I know Kensi, I'm really sorry that I didn't get in touch but life on the carrier is like it's own little world and it wasn't exactly quiet, I had my hands pretty full for most of the time. But I'm back now!"
"For good?" Kensi questioned.
"Until we close Callen's case, after that I'm not too sure but hopefully yes." Cressida replied giving as honest answer as she could and that seemed to satisfy Kensi for the most part. So with that sorted and Cressida no longer worrying about receiving the cold shoulder from Kensi, she turned her attention to Kensi's partner. "You must be the probie that I've been hearing about."
"Y-Yeah…"
"Dom, this is Special Agent Cressida Findley just back from two years as agent afloat aboard the USS George Washington." Kensi began making the introductions and Cressida couldn't help but grimace at the use of her full name. She hated her whole name, it just seemed a bit frilly for her, so she tended not to go by it much. Well Cressida actively tried to avoid being called by her first name, to most people she was Finn or Agent Findley. Not many people called Cressida except for her brothers and then a few people outside her family. Even Hetty didn't call her Cressida, which said a lot about the whole name thing. "Finn, this is my new partner Agent Dom Vail."
"Nice to meet you Agent Findley." Dom greeted holding out his hand and after sharing an amused look with Sam, Cressida reached out and shook Dom's hand.
"Friends call me Finn… Word of advice? Never call me by first name because no one calls me by my first name so fair warning; if I ever catch you calling me Cressida I'll have my foot so up your ass that your breath will smell like shoe polish probie." Cressida quipped in a half joking manner and a half serious manner as whilst she was kidding around about the boot up his ass thing, she was dead serious about him never calling her Cressida. The only person at NCIS who was allowed to call her Cressida was Callen. Well anymore at least, there was another person who used to be able to call her Cressida…
"Don't worry Dom, her bark is worse than her bite but I wouldn't take her up on that threat of her boot up the ass because she will kick your ass just for the fun of it. Isn't that right Agent Findley?"
That voice. That deep voice which seemed to have this lightness about it stung at Cressida's ears as she knew that voice, she knew it well. That voice went together with the words that voice had whispered to her a long time ago which were stored inside her heart. She knew that voice almost as well as the sound of her voice. Cressida hoped that she was hallucinating things due to her hangover and that this was not real. That all of this was just a figment of her imagination. But it wasn't. Cressida saw those somewhat puppy brown eyes and she knew that this was no hallucination but reality as he made his way over to the group. Mike Renko; NCIS Special Agent, a frequent pain in the ass, arrogant son of a bitch who was always never around and the guy who had broke Cressida's heart into a thousand piece before stamping all over it just for fun. He looked just as stupid as ever, with his hair in desperate need of a cut and his clothes looking like they hadn't been washed in a while and as if they had been put on in a haste. Cressida had now gone from being terribly hungover to homicidal in the space of fifteen seconds.
"Mike." Cressida replied through gritted teeth, he was the last person on earth who she wanted to see again. Cressida hadn't seen Mike in a couple of years for good reason and she had naively thought that he wouldn't be here as Mike had never been around; he was never here. Always off on some assignment overseas doing god knows what but not this time. For once Mike was in the office and he just so happened to be here on Cressida's first day back on the office when she was feeling a little less like her usual self. She had to be being punished for something she had done in this life or the last one, that was the only way Cressida could explain any of this happening.
"Cressida…" Mike began and just hearing him call her by her first name was like a small dagger to the heart for Cressida. She hadn't heard that in a long time and she was reminded of those times that they had shared. Her name was something that was intimate between them, Mike was the only one besides Callen, whom outside her family was allowed to call her Cressida. With Mike, it was never Finn always Cressida or Cress unless he was in the office except for this time and Cressida knew that he was doing this just to rile her up and it was working. Cressida could feel her blood pressure about to skyrocket through the roof and just seeing Mike was enough to anger her but him casually calling her by her first name at work and in front of their friends and the probie was blinding Cressida with fury.
"Excuse us, Mike and I need to have a little chat." Cressida stated, mustering up something that didn't sound like it was completely filled with venom and malice. Not really caring about apperances, Cressida strode over to Mike and grabbed his arm tightly before pulling him through the office and past several people before she found a blind spot in the surveillance system where she could talk to him without worrying that anyone would see them or overhear what she was about to say. No one here except Callen knew that Cressida and Mike used to be an item and that was the way she wanted to keep it. The past needed to stay in the past where it belonged and Cressida wanted to make sure that Mike understood that. "What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be off somewhere doing whatever it is you usually do eight months out of the year? Why are you in LA?"
"Hetty called in for reinforcements and asked me to come in and I'm going to assume that she did the same for you Cress." Mike stated and Cressida let out a sigh before crossing her arms together as she made sure to avoid making direct eye contact of eyes. She didn't want to look at him and be reminded of things that just caused her pain. But Cressida should have known that Mike was only here because of Hetty.
"She didn't call, Hetty had me brought in." Cressida replied in a matter of fact kind of tone.
"Yeah I heard about that… USS George Washington. You were so desperate to get away from me that you got yourself assigned to being agent afloat." Mike retorted and Cressida didn't say anything at first as there was no point in denying it, if she did Mike would just call her out on it and Cressida was many things and she would admit to every last one of them but she lair outside the walls of her job. Cressida knew Mike would have figured out that she left because of him, two years ago he would realized something was up when didn't come home and it wouldn't take him long to figure out she was gone and the reason why she had be reassigned. It was because of him. Cressida wouldn't allow anyone to know the truth but Mike was the reason that she had asked to be assigned to agent afloat. He had broken her heart and she needed to get away and figure things out without him being everywhere; at her home and at the office so she got herself reassigned. It was a sure way to heal a broken heart and she knew Mike wouldn't be able to come find her as easily as if he could if she had transferred to one of the field office.
"You left me no choice."
"I asked you to wait for me." Mike replied in a soft voice and Cressida allowed herself to look Mike in the eye for this one, she could remember exactly that conversation he was talking about. It was the day he had broken her off, Mike had snuck off from whatever operation he had been working on in order to see her. Things happened, words were exchanged along with Cressida tossing a photo frame across the room and then the call came. Mike had been away for two long and he was being told to come back so his cover wouldn't be broken. He had turned to Cressida and asked her if she could wait for him, wait until he was finished with this operation so he could come back and fix things. Cressida hadn't replied. She hadn't said yet but she certainly didn't say no either.
"You had no right to ask anything of me, not after what you did." Cressida retorted as she wasn't the one who had done anything wrong, that was all on Mike and she wasn't going to apologise for leaving, not after he had done something much worse than that. Cressida may have run away but Mike had ruined everything that the two of them had over those three years that they were together.
"I said I was sorry."
"Well sorry wasn't good enough for me Mike, I needed something more than that." Cressida barked in annoyance before pinching the bridge of her nose, getting worked up like this wasn't good for her bloody hangover and it wasn't going to make this problem any better. Not to mention the two of them were forgetting the reason that they were here. "This isn't about us or what mess we used to resemble, this is about Callen. We have a man down and we've been called into help out and we need to focus on that. I would give anything not to see you or have to work with you ever again but Hetty called you in and I'm not going to go up against her on this. So we'll just have figure out someway to work together without making everyone aware that we used to be an item because my life outside of this job is nobody else's business and I won't have you ruin that. I'm here because I gave Hetty my word that I would stay here until we found whoever tried to kill Callen."
"I should have known you only came back for him, you and Callen have always been as thick as thieves." Mike said in a jokey manner but Cressida wasn't in the mood for laughing, well at least not with Mike anyway. "Okay then… I try and stay out your way when I can but we will be working together on a regular basis Cress –."
"And Mike? Don't you ever call me Cressida again." Cressida interrupted as if she had to put up with having Mike for the foreseeable future, she would do rather begrudgingly but she wouldn't allow him to call her by her first name. She wasn't his Cressida anymore. She wasn't someone special to him and he wasn't special enough to her anymore to warrant him being allowed to call Cressida by her first name. He lost that right a long time ago.
"What about Finn? You said friends call you Finn..." Mike questioned and Cressida rolled her eyes as Mike could never be serious about anything. Always trying to be funny or make a joke. It was driving her insane. She said he couldn't call her Cressida, now Mike was messing around with her by asking her if he could call her Finn like the two of them were best buddies which they were the furthest thing from but that didn't stop Mike from asking. Cressida didn't know what to do. She didn't know how to deal with her and Mike being like this. She sure as hell didn't know why she had fallen in love with this idiot and given him three years of his like. Cressida wasn't sure who was the bigger idiot, her or Mike.
"We aren't friends Mike, we were never friends to begin with."