Chapter One

It was Monday morning. As soon as Nell Jones arrived to work and parked her car in her usual spot, she felt apprehension crawl down her spine. She shook the feeling off as she walked toward the building with her head down holding her iPad with both hands. While mentally preparing for the onslaught of cases for the week as she checked her email, she did not see the mild danger coming. Ten feet from the entrance of the covert Office of Special Projects, she felt someone bump into her at a brisk speed, and she fell forward and landed upon the concrete on her hands and knees. As she connected with the concrete, skin on her knees and palms were scrapped and she felt something pop in her wrist, she hissed in discomfort and pain. Tears welled up as she tried to stand, trying to use the ground as leverage, because she had chosen to wear heels today, her balance was off kilter; the irritation in her wrist had become more pain than discomfort. Just as she looked around to see if anyone had seen the embarrassing situation, she saw a flash of the back of the suit-clad person whom without a second thought to her safety ran her over. She then, noticed her iPad lying a few feet from her on the concrete face down, and she started to panic. She did not need, as she feared, both a broken wrist and cracked iPad; she wanted neither, but if she had to choose, it would have been the wrist. A wrist could heal, whereas the iPad could not. She could transfer the information to another, but it would be a nuisance to do so, however easily done.

Today had started bad and it kept getting worse. She tried to breathe normally, but the more she tried the harder it became. Like a guardian, angel come to save her, she felt a calming presence emanating strength from behind her. She knew who it was, before she saw or heard him. She slightly shook her head as to not venture down the road of how or why she knew.

"Nell?" G. Callen asked concerned. He walked around her, accessing the damage, as he offered her his right hand and she took it with her left, favoring her right against her abdomen. He nodded to her arm. "Anything broken?"

"I hope not." She answered as she glanced at her discarded iPad to her bruising wrist. "My wrist hurts something fierce, but I don't think it's broken."

"What happened?" He asked, as he made sure she could stand by herself before he let go of her to bend to pick up her iPad. He handed it to her and she took it, holding it with her good hand with a tight grip to prevent it from again falling. "Or who? You tripped, which I highly doubt, or you were pushed." He paused as he noticed her changing how she stood. He looked down and noticed her knees were scrapped and bleeding. He bent his knees down and crouched to check to see if the lacerations were deep enough to need stitches, or a simple bandaging. A simple cleaning and bandaging should fix it, he decided. "Which is it?"

"You've not watched me walk in heels." She retorted, before blushing when she realized that she had practically implied that he watched her walk, at all. He noticed the blush, but chalked it down to the excitement that the fall had created; he gave her a look that told her to get to the point. "I did not trip, and I was not pushed. I was checking my emails from Eric. I was running late, and he sent me the prelim briefing." She paused when he once again gave her, the get to the point look. More tears welled up in her eyes, and he suddenly felt bad, thinking that he was the cause. However, really, it was the stress of the last twenty-four hours. "Someone ran over me, well, bumped into me, and stupid me fell."

"Nell, it wasn't your fault." He assured her. "Let's get inside so I can take a look at your wrist and legs."

Legs? She blushed and she felt incredibly stupid as she walked in step with Callen. She gritted her teeth when she felt him touch her upper back as he guided her through the open hallways of the office. She was acting like a lovesick teenager with a crush, or worse ill-fated lust. What was wrong with her?

She blamed her sister.

And her mother.

They had double-teamed her last night during their weekly Skype call. What was the topic of discussion? What it always was, whenever she spoke to her family; dating, finding the right person, being happy, working too much, ask for vacation time. Yet last night's discussion had, also, went in a direction that she wished it would never ever go again, while her mother was active in the discussion. Sex; her mother had the nerve to tell her, that she needed to get laid. Her sister had encouraged the discussion by stating that any man, or woman (her mother had added), would do. Nell was raised to believe in equal rights, but she preferred men; specifically an older, blue eyed man. She found it, ironic, that not even twelve hours ago, it was insinuated that she was a lesbian, yet here she was blushing and practically drooling over her friend, in essence her boss. She sighed; she thought she had gotten over this silly crush, not the admiration, but the daydreaming crush. The first month of working with the Office of Special Projects had been awkward moment after moment, finished sentence after finished sentence, yet they had started to mesh well, after she not-so-secretly (Hetty knew everything) assisted him during the case of the counterfeit computer chips that never were, which had resulted from a man named Nico breaking into his home. She had proven to Callen that she could be trusted, and he had proven to her that she could trust him. Her thoughts were interrupted, and she focused on her surroundings as he gently guided her to a stop around the corner from their bullpen.

"Nell, you okay?" He asked concerned. She had not said a word since they had entered the building and a quiet Nell was never good. Her eyes had been glossy, but he had pegged it for tears, he was now rethinking it. "Did you hit your head?" He asked, yet did not wait for an answer. He placed his hands on either side of her neck, and gingerly searched for any lumps.

"Callen," She stated, almost screeched, in surprise at his first touch. "Callen, I didn't hit my head."

He continued searching. He was not convinced. Her behavior was odd. A concussion would explain it.

"G." She said firmly and he paused as she captured his intention, she hardly ever called him by his first name, his search stopped, and his fingers lingered above her ears. "I promise, okay?"

He slowly extracted his hands from her hair, scalp; feeling a twinge of discomfort at how he overreacted with concern for no apparent reason, other than her odd behavior. After all, she was Nell. She was quirky. He liked that about her; how she blazed her own path, did things how she wanted to, be herself. In some ways, there were alike, yet others he was almost envious of her. Almost, not quite.

"Okay." He smiled. Her breath caught. It was not often that anyone saw him smile, and it was even less frequent, when she saw one. He was attractive when he was scowling, yet he was breathtaking when he smiled. His smile started to slip as he saw the far off look in her eyes. "Nell? Come on, let's get to my desk, so you can sit down and I can check your wrist and legs out."

When he noticed the red twinge on her cheeks, he instantly realized that it was no longer the excitement of the fall, if it even had been to begin with, that had her cheeks red, but it was he. He had made her blush with his careless remark, innocent, but still careless. He should have known better, if he had said that to anyone else, it would have landed him in a seminar about sexual harassment, but he was never on guard around Nell. He had no reason to be. He trusted her completely. He was free to be himself, whoever that was.

"Um," He muttered awkwardly. She winced as she realized that he had realized. "Yeah, let's go."

She had to take control of the conversation, the situation, or else she would die of mortification, and he awkwardness. She placed her iPad between her abdomen and the forearm nearer her elbow away from the hurt wrist. Her unhurt hand, she barely touched his elbow to stop him. "Callen, it's okay. I know what you meant. Today has been a bad long day, and it is just getting started. Disregard the awkwardness, please."

He shook his head, chuckled. That was Nell, always taking control; no matter what the circumstance, or whom she was taking the control from. "Disregarded. Come on, let's get you all doctored up." He paused. She giggled. He shook his head and smirked at both himself for putting his foot in his mouth again, and the fact that she was now comfortable, or rather more comfortable than she was. "Brat. You know what I mean."

"Brat?" She repeated in mock outrage. She rolled her eyes. "What am I? 5?"

"If the age fits." He retorted as they walked around the corner of the bullpen, into it.

Sam was typing on his red laptop. Callen knew that it was paper work from the last case. Kensi was engrossed in her smart phone, most likely playing Angry Birds. Deeks was holding a Styrofoam coffee cup as he leaned back in his chair and stared up at the ceiling. He was the first to acknowledge their presence.

"Morning," Deeks greeted then realized it was Nell with Callen. "Dude, Nell, Eric was looking for you, ten minutes ago."

"I was running late." She replied, embarrassed, because she was always early, sometimes even arriving when Hetty did. "I'll go."

"No." Callen corrected. "Eric can wait. This can't."

"Late? Wait?" Sam looked up from his typing and recognized that both Nell and G were late, arriving together, and what did he mean by Eric could wait. His eyebrows raised, his forehead creased, and his eyes widened coming to a conclusion that was out of context. G shot him a look that said, 'don't go there.' Sam glanced from G who took his personal first aid kit out of his go bag, to Nell and his mouth formed a firm line. "Oh, shit, what happened?"

This expletive got Kensi's attention. She looked up. "Good morning, G, Nell." She did not like the idea of Nell hurt. Her small wrist was swelling and bruised. Concerned, Kensi asked, "What happened?"

"Nell, sit, palms facing up." Callen ordered as he pointed to his chair with one hand, and the other set out the necessary supplies he would need. She rolled her eyes, but did what she was asked. She gritted her teeth at the discomfort of the antiseptic he dabbed on her scrapes and cuts. Both Deeks and Kensi blinked in surprise, one surprised that Nell had rolled her eyes, the other surprised at how Callen had talked to her, it was almost, nah, they weren't flirting. Sam half smiled, as he knew that, at least, G had been.

"What am I?" She had begun to repeat the same question, but Callen interrupted her.

"Five?" Callen finished her sentence. He playfully smirked as his eyes twinkled in mischief. "Ain't the same on the other end of the sentence, is it?"

Nell lightly gasped as she narrowed her eyes in mock anger, the corner of her mouth tilting up in rebellion. She deserved that, after all she had finished his sentences more times, than she could remember; although, she was relieved that he did not realize why she finished his sentences. She admired him.

Deeks and Kensi shared a look as they simultaneously got on the same page. They glanced at Sam whom now had a full grin as he shrugged. Callen and Nell were flirting; albeit, lightly, yet any at all, was surprising to the pair of partners, but not Sam. Sam had a theory, and he would get it validated.

Nell truly narrowed her eyes in anger and hissed in pain as he gingerly checked her wrist for broken bones. "It's not broken, but it is bruised, possibly strained, nothing to seriously be concerned about; before you leave today, especially if it gets worse, check with medical for a follow up."

As he wrapped the wrist with an ace bandage, she repeatedly muttered at different volume levels. "Sonavitch."

"Did she?" Deeks started to ask, but stopped as he looked at Nell to Callen then Kensi and Sam then back to Nell as he turned his head to the side, as if that would make it easier to understand what he was witnessing. "Are we in the Twilight Zone? Is it April Fool's?"

"Deeks, you don't need a holiday to be a fool." Sam quipped.

"Ha. Ha. Ha." Deeks laughed sarcastically as he playfully held unto his chest. "You wound me."

As Deeks dramatically continued the silent charade of wounded in the heart, Eric sped down the stairs, a look of rapt concern and worry on his face until he saw Nell.

Eric exhaled deeply. "Good you're here, I was really worried." He paused as he took in the scene in front of him, blushing Nell sitting in Callen's chair, Callen crouching on one knee as he steadied Nell's leg by holding her calf in one hand as the other cleaned her knee with gauze. Deeks stopped the dramatics and shared a look with Sam before looking from Eric to Callen to Nell back to Eric. Kensi stared at Nell to gauge her reaction. She was uncomfortable, her eyes looked up at anything above her, and she would not look at either Callen or Eric. Eric continued. "What happened? When did this," he pointed between his best friend and friend whom was his boss. "Happen?"

Kensi narrowed her eyes as she realized that he was the fourth person to ask that, yet no answer given.

"Me." She squeaked under the scrutiny that Eric subjected her. She understood the question, filed it in her mind to answer later, but refused to comment in front of the team, more importantly the man kneeling in front of her. She pointed to herself then to the ground. "Heels."

"Oh," Eric replied as if those two words explained what happened.

"Oh-kay," Deeks drawled in the attempt to distract the awkwardness that had settled. "You Techies, me no speak your partner language. Me need more explanation than that."

"We don't have all day, Deeks." Callen retorted as he gingerly smoothed the large Band-Aid over her knee. She squirmed. He gave her an apologetic look that she did not see. He had thought the action had hurt her; actually, it had done nothing to hurt her, but succeeded to make her uncomfortable with what the innocent action had created. "It would take that and more to explain it to you."

Nell went from looking at anything above her to leveling Callen with a not amused look. "Deeks, and Sam, and Kensi, and Eric, thank you for your concern, but it is really not necessary. I was being a klutz, not watching where I was going, and fell."

"Nell," Callen sternly chastised. "Tell them what you told me, quickly, no rambling." Nell glared at him, he smirked back, but his smirk faltered when she quirked an eyebrow and smirked back at him. He did not like the look she was giving him. He warned her not to say whatever it was that she was about to, but she did not listen. "Nell, don't."

"Fine," She sighed and twisted the incident from earlier into something dirty. She knew she should not, because he was her boss, her friend, and the comment, although true in the innocent form, was stepping over a boundary, into uncharted territory. He pissed her off by chastising her, and picking on Deeks, for wanting to know what happened to her. Her friend was concerned, and she did not want that friend belittled, because of her, regardless of whether it was in a joking form or not. "I won't tell them how the concrete hurt my knees while I looked up at you. How my wrist hurt from the awkward angle it found itself."

"Touche." Callen blinked, coughed, and stood before quickly packing the first aid kit with the unopened materials that he had not used. He had underestimated her, and would not do so lightly again.

Sam grinned and shook his head, knowing that Nell was messing with Callen, and indirectly the rest of them.

Kensi covered her mouth, mocked coughed and smiled as her eyes twinkled in amusement.

Eric grinned, shook his head, and blinked before turning around, walking toward the staircase to the Command Center.

Deeks screeched, pushed his chair back, and stood. "What? My Nell Bell?" He glowered at Callen, all of the sudden thirsty for blood. He had taken the comment to be sexual, and the way Callen had warned her with a simple don't, raised Deeks' ire. He was haunted by the abusive relationship between his parents; after all, wouldn't anyone, when at eleven years old one had to shoot his father to protect both his mother and himself? Deeks wanted no one, not even their boss to take advantage of the sweet girl who had been the first of the team truly to befriend him. She was the little sister that he never had. "She is a very delicate flower! You had no right picking from that innocent garden!" He paused when he noticed Eric walking up the stairs. "Hey, dude! A little help here. She's your partner!"

Unfazed by the taunt, Eric quirked an eyebrow, and retorted in a singsong voice. "I know something that you don't."

"Eric!" Nell squeaked afraid that he would reveal her secret admiration.

Eric paused on the stairs and looked down at the team.

Deeks realized that he had overreacted and took the comments out of context, took a deep breath, and looked at both Callen and Nell apologetically. Callen waved it off, forgiving him, not blaming him for wanting to protect Nell. Nell did not see the exchange as she had her eyes on Eric.

Eric shrugged and dropped a bomb. "Assistant Director Granger is here. He and Hetty are conferencing with FBI's BAU Section Chief and an Agent from White Collar about today's case."

Each of the team froze; whenever Granger was here, something awful happened.

"Damn it," Deeks retorted as he haphazardly fell into his chair.

"There goes my plan for having a good day." Kensi stated wistfully.

"It must be something big." Sam concluded.

"Elusive Serial killer/Embezzler who is targeting high ranked government officials, add in missing documents, and everything else; yep, as big as it's going to get." Eric replied. "But the FBI has found a link, a way to the killer, and they aren't equipped to catch him. Their caseload won't allow it so they're delegating it to us."

"Deep cover." Callen stated, in realization and almost in irritation. In his experience with the FBI, he had only come across two agents that he could be civil and cooperative with; Tobias Fornell and Aaron Hotchner.

Nell hung her head as she realized that the feeling of trepidation that she had felt when arriving had nothing to with her being knocked down, but everything to do with this upcoming case.

With this team, deep cover operations had the habit of forming permanent repercussions.

This case would be no different.