A/N

I tried this challenge from xana4 a while ago but couldn't get it to go anywhere and when my computer needed some fixing and I was relegated to my baby netbook, I went looking through some of the old stuff on it that I'd tried and decided to give it ago.

So, for those of you who know me and my writing, this may come as a bit of a shock, but here is a Kensi/Callen fic based on xana4's challenge in the Rabid Plot Bunnies forum. Friendship/Team bonding/Romance (just a teeny bit of potential anyway)

Details of challenge:

xana4 Challenge

Kensi/Callen Romance although not since the beggining

Their first meeting ever

At least 3000 words

Needs to have mentions of :

- Sexual Tension between the two

- vodka

Needs to contain the following expression:

- "Doesn't expecting the unexpected makes the unexpected expected?"

So, let's see how I went. Kensi's pov by request, not written but willing to give it a shot if there is enough demand for it.

Disclaimer - Don't own anything or anyone you recognise. Thanks to xana4 for the prompts above.

Hope you enjoy, please let me know what you think. This isn't what I usually write so all encouragement/constructive critiscm is appreciated.

Now, enough babbling and on with the story.

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UNEXPECTED ENCOUNTER

.

Callen had been watching her for the last week. Actually, he and Sam had been watching her for the week, though he was pretty sure his version of watching and Sam's version were very different. Considering Sam was married, Callen was quite sure that the thoughts he'd been entertaining about one Junior Special Agent to be, Kensi Blye, were entirely different to those going through Sam's mind.

Hetty had included pictures in the files when they'd had to choose their new team mate. He'd seen the photo - Tall, pretty, competent looking young woman whose experienced cross all the t's and dotted all the i's. She was definitely the kind of agent they needed. Nothing in particular had stood out from the photo and Callen hadn't thought any more about it. Then a week ago, Hetty told them they were going to personally take care of the final week of surveillance of her. It was standard; make sure no one was following her before she officially started with OSP. It was the week Nate pulled them off duty anyway, due to psych evaluations, so it was definitely a step up from being chained to a desk and the paperwork that would come with it.

Except the photo in her file hadn't done her justice. It certainly hadn't given Callen a clue about how he would react to her when he saw her in the flesh, so to speak anyway. The first time had been when she came out of the gym, still in her form fitting gym clothes which, whilst covering her properly, left the contours of her body visible and his body had reacted to a picture his mind had unexpectedly made up and flashed before his eyes of what was underneath. He'd shifted uncomfortably in the car and was glad Sam hadn't been with him at the time, having been ordered to Nate's office that first morning.

Any hope Callen had that it was just an initial reaction - one caused by shock at seeing her dressed like that, combined with the beauty that he hadn't been expecting - was dashed when she came out of her apartment later that day. She was dressed in a simple white sundress that swished around her legs. His reaction to her could make it difficult for them work together. And there wasn't a thing he could do about it. Because he was sure Hetty would just look at him with one of those looks that said something along the lines of, 'Mr Callen, you are a Special Agent, and an adult. Surely you can handle your physical attraction for a co-worker. Don't you have a rule about not dating cops?'

Yes, he had a rule. Yes, he should be able to handle the attraction for a co-worker. He'd switched it off before, more than once. Yes, it shouldn't be that hard. Especially considering he was so much older than her. She was twenty six and he was thirty nine. He was much too old for her. Wasn't he?

Callen shook off that thought. The final check before Kensi Blye officially started working for OSP was almost complete. This was the last night he'd be watching. He'd watched her leave her apartment. She looked like she was ready to party wearing the tight fitting black jeans, purple spaghetti-strapped ruffled top, dangly earrings with most of her hair piled on top of her head. She was gorgeous and his body still had a mind of its own when it came to reacting to her. Actually that wasn't quite right; his mind and body were always in sync, he was just having trouble getting into the right frame of mind to ignore his attraction to her.

Callen followed her to a club and made his way inside, keeping to the shadows as he watched her have drink and then dance with some guy. His stomach clenched at the way she was dancing with him. He was just some random guy, at least he was pretty sure he was, but it looked like so much more with how close they were dancing. He pushed away the thoughts that he wished it was him and made his way to get a drink. He found a seat at the end of the bar, in a fairly secluded spot and sat there. For two hours. He nursed two drinks whilst he carefully observed her, rejecting about four offers to dance. None of them could hold a candle to the woman he was her to watch.

In one of those observation moments, Kensi looked at him from the dance floor and smiled. He watched as she expertly extricated herself from her current dance partner, number five if his count was correct, and make her way over to him.

She glanced sideways at him as she leant against the bar and asked, "Is it any good?"

Callen frowned at not only the question but the smile that was twitching at her lips. "Is what any good?" He'd heard the mischief in her voice, but he really had no idea what she was asking him about.

"My butt."

Callen almost spat out the mouthful of his drink he had just taken.

"Excuse me?" He could see the smile in her eyes that joined the one on her lips; could see she was seriously enjoying the fact the he felt decidedly uncomfortable.

"You've spent the last two hours checking it out. Figured you must have finished your inspection by now."

Callen just looked at her in shock. So much for not being obvious.

"Wasn't checking out your butt," he managed to deny. No, he had definitely had been checking out more than that.

Kensi grinned and shook her head in disbelief before she hopped up onto the bar, spun herself around and slid down onto the other side.

"Don't think you're supposed to be over there," Callen advised. She lifted an eyebrow at him and continued to smile as she turned away from him.

He watched her reach up for a bottle, her shirt lifting up, exposing an expanse of skin between the bottom of it and the top of her jeans. His fingers itched to see it felt like. Kensi pulled the bottle down and turned back around.

"I'll think I'll be fine," she said with a wink, as one of the bartenders walked up to her with a smile. Kensi turned to him and gave him a dazzling smile as she reached into her bra, pulled out a twenty and gave it to him.

Callen shook his head and tore his gaze away from her. This was bad; jealous of a piece of paper.

Kensi asked the bartender, "Help me back over?"

He put his hands on her hips and effortlessly lifted her up and placed her back on the bar, as if he'd done it many times before. Kensi then lent down and dropped a quick kiss on his lips and Callen felt that jealousy surge again. He really was going to have to get a grip if he was going to work with her, and he wanted to. They knew from her records that she would make a great agent and a fantastic addition to their team. They wouldn't have chosen her if they hadn't thought that. Though Callen did have to wonder if he'd actually met her in person, before they had decided, whether or not the way he felt might have caused him to want to choose someone else.

What? So we'd miss out on a great girl, just so you could ask her out on a date?

"Thanks," Kensi said to the bartender, her voice helping him to focus back on her rather than Sam's voice inside his head. Then she spun around slowly and stayed sitting on the bar; one leg on either side of him.

Callen ran his gaze up her body slowly until his eyes clashed with her warm mismatched brown ones. He knew about the birthmark in her eye. He'd seen it in the photos. But again the photos didn't do her justice. Whether it was the birthmark that made them intriguing or just simply the deep chocolate colour that pulled him in, he wasn't sure. But there was something in her eyes that he couldn't look away from.

Perhaps the mischief, perhaps the knowing look, like she knew what he was thinking. He really hoped not.

"So," Kensi said, leaning forward slightly to look him clearly in the eyes which he had to consciously focus on pulling from where her shirt had gaped a little as she continued, "since you've been ogling me for the last two hours, least you can do is have a drink and dance with me."

She straightened up, opened the bottle of Vodka and took a mouthful, then handed it to him. When he didn't take it from her, Kensi raised her eyebrows.

"What? Don't like it?" she asked him.

It was almost like she was challenging him. Nobody could say that G Callen wasn't a man up to a challenge. So he took the bottle out of her hands, trying not to think too much about the intimacy of sharing the bottle with her. His eyes never left hers as he took at drink. It was impossible not to think about the fact that her lips had just been in exactly the same place as his, since he could taste a slight something that wasn't Vodka. Something that was definitely better tasting. He handed it back and she smiled in satisfaction.

"Better," Kensi said as put her other hand on his shoulder. "Help a girl down?"

Callen stood up, slid his hands slowly up her legs until they reached her waist and then pulled her off the bar. He held her close as she slid down his body until her feet touched the floor. He watched the flush come over her cheeks and her nervous swallow before she stepped away.

Kensi smiled that same dazzling smile she'd given the bartender and took his hand, pulling him through the crowd and onto the dance floor. She took another sip and handed him back the bottle before she put her arms around his neck and started to move to the music.

Twenty minutes, four dances and ¾ of the bottle of vodka later, they stopped and she looked at him.

"How come you look completely sober?" she asked, her speech sounding slightly slurred.

"Perhaps you've drunk more than me," he replied. He continued to hold her close as she lifted the bottle to see how much was left. Given how much he had noticed she had drunk so far tonight, he was sure there was a very good chance she wouldn't remember any of this by Monday. Which was good, because Hetty would come close to killing him if she found out that his supposedly 'covert' surveillance had become slightly more than compromised.

Kensi started to pull away, but there was a part of Callen that wasn't ready to let her go. She gave him a smile of encouragement and tilted her head, indicating she wanted him to come with her. Callen followed her and they made their way to a quiet corner.

"You know any other guy who'd drunk as much as you would be wasted by now," Kensi said, eyeing him off suspiciously.

"Can handle my alcohol."

Kensi grinned at that and a twinkle appeared in her eyes. "Hmm, but can you handle your women?" Someone bumped into her at that moment, sending her tumbling against him. Callen caught her and held her up whilst she found her feet.

"That was unexpected," Kensi said under her breath, as she looked up at him. Their bodies were flush against one another. She was tall, almost matched his height and he found himself in a battle; his eyes locked with hers.

"What was unexpected?" Callen asked.

Kensi shook her head and broke their eye contact. Callen watched her take a deep breath before she looked back at him and he noticed the mask that she'd managed to pull up over her eyes. She was definitely hiding something from him.

Kensi grinned as she moved her hips slightly. Callen raised his eyebrows and one side of his mouth tilted in a lopsided grin, as he narrowly held back a groan at the feel of her moving so intimately against him.

"You didn't expect a reaction? You're a very sexy woman, why wouldn't I react to you being this close?" he asked.

"From any other guy yeah. But from you... unexpected."

"From me?" Callen frowned. That was a strange response from her.

Her looked turned puzzled and her words completely distracted him from what he was trying to find out.

"Does expecting the unexpected, make the unexpected expected?" Her head tilted as she considered her monologue, because Callen was quite sure she wasn't expecting him to answer. "Should I have expected that because I was expecting the unexpected? And does that mean that I should have expected you because I wasn't expecting anything and -"

Callen kissed her soundly, tasting the vodka mixed with something else that was familiar. Her. He was pretty sure she was more potent than the vodka, more addictive too. And she kissed him back, which just made things so much more complicated.

Callen didn't know where his head had been when he'd decided to kiss her. On vacation perhaps, because it wasn't the brightest idea he'd ever had. Best idea perhaps, but not the brightest. When he pulled back Kensi blinked those big brown eyes of hers at him in confusion.

Callen smiled to himself at the desire he saw in her eyes, at the flush on her cheeks; pleased he wasn't the only one who felt the attraction. Though what that meant come Monday when they had to work together, he didn't know.

Kensi shook her head as if trying to bring herself out of a daze. "What?" she asked.

"You were rambling. Had to stop you."

Kensi stepped away slightly from him and handed him the almost empty bottle.

"I need to go," she said and started to turn away.

"Not going to give me your number?" he asked.

Kensi turned back and there was a wicked gleam in her eye as she smiled. She stepped close to him again, her mouth going close to his ear. He smiled as she did, expecting her to tell him her number, then he figured he could probably steal another kiss. After all, things were already complicated and he might as well make the most of it before he couldn't do this anymore. The smile dropped from his face at what she said.

"Why? You already have it ... Agent Callen." Then Kensi turned and walked quickly through the crowd, completely steady with not a sign of a drunken sway at all. By the time Callen could move again, she was gone.

So much for her being too drunk to remember tonight.

Callen smiled.

This was going to make Monday interesting at least.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

Callen walked into the bullpen Monday morning to find it empty. He'd just placed his jacket on his chair when his phone rang.

"Callen," he answered absently.

"Upstairs if you please, Mr Callen. You are late."

Hetty hung up before he could say anything and he pocketed his phone and made his way upstairs.

Yes, he was late, and it had everything to do with one Kensi Blye invading what little sleep he'd managed to get. She was the reason why he had been up since 3am attempting to learn how to dismantle and rebuild a motorbike. Anything to get his mind off her and get him in a place that meant he could work with her. Which was why he was late. Because somewhere during that learning process, he'd managed to get a handle on things and he hadn't wanted to stop until he was sure that he could put the attraction he felt for her where it belonged. Tucked away in a box, on a shelf in his mind labelled 'Not to be opened' written clearly on it.

Callen walked into the OPS centre and looked at Hetty in apology.

"Sorry Hetty," he said, not defining his reason for being late.

Hetty just nodded her head in acknowledgement, which made him more nervous than anything else. Usually he would have been in for some reprimand or something but she just turned her attention to the others in the room. So did he.

And damn if that box didn't try and jump off the shelf and break open. Because one Junior Special Agent Kensi Blye was in the house.

"Miss Blye. Mr Callen. Though given that you have already met, I am just taking care of the official introduction."

Callen's eyes flew to Hetty, though not so quickly that he didn't pick up the grin on Kensi's face – a knowing grin.

"Yes Mr Callen, I know about the other night. And might I advise you to brush up on your surveillance skills. Perhaps Miss Blye could show you a few tricks."

"How... Never mind." Callen really didn't want to know how Hetty knew, though he had his suspicions that Kensi may have had something to do with that.

Hetty stepped back. "Now, I shall leave you all to get to know one another. In a professional capacity that is," Hetty added with a brief glance at Callen before she left the room.

"G?" Sam asked curious.

"Nothing Sam. Just … doesn't matter."

Sam raised his eyebrows and looked at Kensi.

"Kensi?"

Kensi grinned. "We've meet."

"Gathered that. When?" Sam asked her.

"Saturday night."

Callen shook his head at her giving in so easily to Sam's questioning. She just smirked at him.

"You mean when you were supposed to be watching her?" Sam asked.

Callen rolled his eyes at his partner. "I was watching."

Kensi giggled. "Closely."

Callen shook his head again and smiled. "Shall we show you to your desk?" he asked her formally, pushing the conversation in a different direction.

Kensi started to walk toward him. "Sure, but don't think this over. I'm going to get so much mileage out of that night."

Callen stepped up beside her and slid his arm around her shoulders. She looked over at him as they walked.

"You know I was just playing along. Couldn't let you know who I was."

Maybe he could spin it that way, after all, that was what they did for a living.

Kensi grinned. "Playing along? They did say you were good, but I didn't think they meant that good." Kensi's eyes drifted down his body briefly before returning to his face and he knew exactly what she meant by that.

Callen ignored the temptation to bite back at her, given her reactions felt exceptionally real to him too.

"So we're good?" he asked instead. He really did like her and the idea of working with her. He wouldn't want his actions of the other night to mess it up.

"Well, you did stare at my butt for two hours but," Kensi shrugged, "you did make up for it by dancing with me. Guess we're good."

"He never dances with me," Sam complained in that fake whiny voice.

"You're not as pretty, Sam. You also can't move like she can."

Callen's arm slipped of her shoulders as they arrived at the top of the stairs and he let her go down first.

A few steps down Kensi stopped and turned around.

"Oh and Callen… the rant. Interesting way to stop it. Though, next time, if you want that is," she paused and grinned, "just ask."

Callen stopped, slightly stunned at what he thought she might have just suggested. Kensi turned and continued down the stairs and joined Hetty at her desk.

"Do I want to know?" Sam asked.

Callen just shook his head, his eyes still on Kensi.

"So , you think she's gonna match well with us?" Sam asked.

Callen looked at Sam and nodded.

"I think she'll match up perfectly."

Unfortunately that box in his mind was now trying even harder to shuffle off the shelf after Kensi's comment about stopping her rant. And his comment to Sam hadn't just been referring to her fitting perfectly with the team.

Day to day life at the office sure was going to be a little more interesting from now on.

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A/N - So ... Love it? Hate it? Want more? Let me know. Thanks for reading.