A/N: I hope you enjoy this new story from me. It's going to be all fluff with plenty of romance and drama with a little sprinkle of humor thrown in.
Please be aware that I own none of the characters in these stories, except for ones that I make up. They are all the property of CBS, CBS Studios and the producers of NCIS: LA.
READY FOR LOVE
Chapter 1
Callen stared down at the blank screen. He had been looking at the picture on the screen for quite some time. He guessed it was at least 15 minutes, but it could've been up to 30 minutes. Coming in early and being alone in the bull pen gives you that luxury. In the past, Deeks would sometimes come in early, but now that he and Kensi were married with young Andy, he rarely did. As for Sam and Kensi, they had never made it in early a day in their whole career. They were either late or on time, but never, never early. Focusing back on the computer screen, he continued to look at the woman whose picture he was gazing upon. Callen knew her. He and Sam had recently saved her life on a case, but now he was contemplating doing something that he hadn't done in a long time which was to call her up and ask her out on a date.
Lilly Lockhart was an amazing person. She had recently cooked dinner for Sam and Callen as payback for saving her life. It had been a slow food dinner and it had been a wonderful experience. Callen was usually a casual diner, but her expertise in the kitchen mixed with the regional dishes that she had prepared had turned the agent into a convert. He never thought in his wildest dreams that he would have enjoyed the experience as much as he had. Of course, Sam had laughed his head off when Callen had mentioned it. A lot of "I told you so's" followed in the days that followed. Sam was having a great time of this at Callen's expense, but he didn't mind.
Sam needed to laugh after all the stress that the team had been under recently. In the past year, Kensi had been sent on a secret covert assignment and then reunited with the team and Deeks. Just when things seem to be settling down, Deeks had been reassigned to the Reagan as Agent Afloat and then reunited with Kensi and the rest of the team after getting hurt onboard the ship and finding out that he was to become a dad from his new wife and on and on and on. The team needed a break. So far, the shining moments had been Deeks and Kensi's wedding and the birth of little Andy. Not to mention that the ex-detective had finally taken the plunge and become a full fledge agent of NCIS. Callen couldn't help but be so proud of his team. They were amazing people.
Suddenly, Callen heard a commotion behind him. Nell was walking through the door trying to balance her very large coffee cup, food bag, purse, laptop bag and a briefing folder while trying to stick her keys in her purse. Now there was someone who had surprised Callen to no end and that was Nell. She was absolutely one of the brightest people, not withstanding Hetty, that Callen had the pleasure of knowing and working with. During the past few months, she had really stepped up for the team from partnering with Kensi while Deeks was away to then switching to partnering with Deeks while Kensi was pregnant and then some after the baby was born until Kensi could return back to work. She had done without one complaint and always with a smile on her face. No wonder Eric sung praises about her.
Callen quickly shut down the computer screen and raced around the divider to assist Nell. She hadn't noticed him until he whipped around the corner grabbing her coffee as she started to lose her grip on it.
"Nice recovery." Nell said as she readjusted her purse to retake the hot liquid beverage from Callen.
"No problem. You're in early." Callen stated as he gazed at Nell. All of sudden, the analyst seemed to be blushing and for what reason, Callen couldn't figure it out.
"Well. Um. Trouble sleeping and so I thought I'd come and get a head start. Hetty wanted to start to give me some other assignments and tasks to do now that Kensi's back to full duty."
"That makes sense. Do you need any help taking this up to OPS?"
"No, but thanks Callen, I really do appreciate you coming to my rescue like that." Nell walked around Callen and proceeded up the stairs towards OPS.
"No problem. Glad I could help!" Callen called out to her retreating figure. He began to wonder what had made her blush. Was it him? Nah, it couldn't have been, but then again, maybe it was. Callen thought before finally wiping it away and turning back towards his desk.
Callen sat back down again and reopened his laptop. There stood Lilly's picture with her personal information. Write it down dummy. All she can do is say "no" or "that she's busy." It won't hurt. Callen scribbled down the number to call later and closed the laptop again. This was at about the same time as he heard a voice clearing at the entrance of the bull pen.
"Ah, you're in early, Mr. Callen. Trying to make an early day of it?" Hetty asked as she stared at her team leader.
"Couldn't sleep and so I thought I'd come in catch up on some reports and evaluations."
"Good. Good. Glad you're putting the time to good use. I just hope you're not spending the whole night here and not going home." Hetty looked at Callen with concerned eyes.
"Nope. Not staying here. I went home and slept a bit, but then I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep. So, I came in."
"I see. It seems that Ms. Jones has been experiencing the same lately. Maybe you should text her the next time and see if she's available for breakfast? You know that Norm's is open all night and their menu is fantastic with almost any dish you could imagine available any time of the day." Hetty smiled at Callen.
Callen laughed. "Thanks, Hetty. I'll keep that in mind if it happens again."
Hetty nodded and headed back towards her office. Callen glanced at his watch. It was now going on 6 am. That really was too early to call someone and ask them out. Deeks wouldn't have pulled a maneuver like that even before his Kensi days. Thinking of the ex-detective, he wondered if he was up and about yet.
Callen picked up his cell and gave Deeks a call. Deeks picked up on the first ring. "Hey man. What's up? Do we have a case?"
"No, not yet. I was just wondering what you were up to?"
"Heading over to the beach to meet Eric and try to catch a few waves before coming in. Kensi and I are driving separately today since Andy needs to go to the doctor."
Callen tensed. "Nothing wrong with my nephew?"
"Nah, just his normal check-up. I think he might be due for a couple of shots. I can't handle it. The minute he starts to cry, I'm ready to leave. So, that's Kensi's mommy duty. She's the bad guy when it comes to this."
Callen started to laugh. "Thought I might join you this morning. I need to run something past you."
"Sure. Anything, but are you sure that you want me and not Sam?" Deeks replied.
"Nope, I think you'll do on this one. Then I'll take us back to the office afterwards."
"Okay. Fine with me. See you soon. Bye."
"Bye." Callen closed his cellphone, grabbed his bag and headed for the door.
Unbeknownst to him, someone had been listening to his half of the conversation. Nell quietly headed back to OPS to think of what might be her next move.
A/N: Please review and let me know what you think. I'm trying to incorporate parts of the other story that I just finished into this one, so that it will feel like the stories are going on concurrently. Happy New Year to you all!