This turned out a lot sadder than I had thought. Sorry about that! Still hope you like it! ^_^

Warning: None?

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Gripping his pen tighter Callen did his best to ignore the laughter echoing from upstairs. Normally that was a noise that he liked hearing at work. There were too many days when it felt like the whole world had turned on its axis and nothing good would ever happen again.

He had seen every single person on his team and up in Ops breakdown at least once. It wasn't something that he liked seeing and knowing that they were happy even for a moment meant that he could relax a little.

The only problem that he was having was who was laughing. He had watched Deeks go up there ten minutes ago claiming that he had to talk to Eric about something that happened on the last case they worked..

It was something that the two of them had started to do a few weeks back and it had already become an almost daily thing if time allowed. Sometimes more than once on particularly slow days. It was also a complete lie.

He had no idea when things had started to change between Eric and Deeks, but they had. They had always been friends so he didn't think too much about it. Lately they had been getting even closer to each other.

It was no secret that they met at the beach together to surf or just hang out on the beach. They were pretty much the only people in their team that did that so it was no shock they started doing it with each other.

Then they started to talk about the things they did after they surfed. Like getting breakfast or going out to try new restaurants. They had even talked about the food creations that Deeks had made and forced Eric to act as a guinea pig for.

Callen hadn't even known that the detective liked to cook. Which shouldn't be all that shocking considering just how much he liked to eat, but that wasn't the point. He hadn't known something basic about the other man. If he went off the teasing from Kensi and Sam they hadn't known either.

The only thing that he could figure was that was something that Deeks did for himself. A little way of relaxing from the everything they had to do in a day. To share something like that he would have to be really close to someone.

Eric had become that person at some point in time. It should have been a good thing too. Deeks wasn't tied to NCIS by anything more than his higher ups saying that he was working with them. If one day he decided to leave no one could stop him.

There was a part of Callen knew that that didn't say anything good about himself or the team, but he didn't know what to do about it. Deeks wasn't an agent and, though they loved him, it was difficult sometimes.

That never meant that they didn't want him there. It was just… He knew that Hetty had offered the detective a full time job with them a long time ago. The fact that he still hadn't said yes said a lot about what he wanted.

Or maybe it didn't. There was something about Deeks that he couldn't figure out. The man was surprisingly hard to read. It was the main reason that he watched the man as closely as he did. He had to know who the man truly was.

Alright, that was a lie as well. It should be the truth though. He was the team leader and that meant something to him. He took his job very seriously. He had to if he wanted to keep the people he cared about and everyone else safe.

Ever since that first case though he had been intrigued by Deeks. There was just something about him that drew the agent in and made him want to figure out who he was underneath it all. It made it a little hard to focus.

Something that he wasn't all that happy about. He couldn't do his job correctly if he was more interested in someone on his team than on the case. So he pushed down all the feelings that he might have for the other man and did his job.

Which lead to where he was now. Listening to that carefree laughter and knowing that he was never going to be the one that caused it. Knowing that no matter how hard he tried he had missed out on someone amazing.

Looking up at Ops he caught sight of the pair standing closer than they needed to with those blissful smiles on their lips. He should be pleased that his friends were as happy as they were, but he only felt bitter about the whole thing.

"Callen," Nell greeted walking up to his desk stopping only to look up at the pair upstairs as well, "They're cute, aren't they?"

"What?" he questioned turning to look at her only to stop when he saw her eyes.

It felt like a punch in the gut seeing all the pain that the normally bright brown eyes. He had been so caught up in his own world that he had forgotten that he wasn't the only one that had an unrequited interest in the pair.

He had forgotten all about the way she and Eric used to be together. It had been quite obvious that they had crushes on each other. There had even been a pool going on for when they would get together.

"Nell," he tried only to stop when he realized that he had no idea what to say.

"I told him to go for it," the woman whispered finally looking away from the couple.

"What?"

"Eric… He asked if I wanted to go to dinner with him. Like on a date date. I was going to say yes, but then Deeks walked in. He lit up just looking at him. I just couldn't do it after that. I couldn't go out with him knowing that he wanted Deeks. So I told him to go for it."

Looking back at the couple Callen watched as the detective said something that caused Eric to blush and sway closer without thought. A sigh fell from his lips at the pain that caused just not him, but Nell as well.

"They really are cute together," he offered to Nell knowing that it was little condolence.

"Yeah," she whispered giving him a sad smile, "I hope they're happy… Umm… Hetty wanted to see you."