I've read a lot of fan fiction but this is my first venture into writing it. I have recently become a little obsessed with NCIS:LA and Callen in particular – Chris O'Donnell is to handsome for words, and those eyes (swoon). I was thrilled to see there are other Callen/Nell shippers out there so decided to take a shot at this pairing myself. Comments/feedback welcomed.
All the usual disclaimers apply
It was Valentine's Day. A day for love and romance…and commercialism. Special Agent G Callen arrived for work, a large black bag slung over his shoulder. For him this day was no different to any other. He wasn't that into holidays, perhaps a hangover from his unhappy childhood and the lack of family…or girlfriend. He was therefore less than thrilled to see that pink and red paper hearts had been cut out and strung up all along the trellis surrounding his teams' work area and bunches of red balloons were tied to the backs of each of the chairs. He figured Nell had a hand in it since she had been the one to decorate the place like Santa's grotto at Christmas and had spent hours blowing up balloons for Hetty's birthday.
With a roll of his eyes at the corny decor, Callen crossed to his desk, slung his bag off his shoulder onto the floor and dropped into his seat, pushing the sleeves of his dark grey shirt up his forearms a little. Sam arrived close behind him, a sly smile on his face and a bounce in his step.
"Hey G." he greeted his friend and partner.
"Sam." Callen nodded. "Date tonight?" he knew the look. Sam had met someone.
"Of course." Sam rubbed his hands together. "Beautiful woman I met at a bar last night."
"Of course." Callen echoed.
"You have come with me G. She had a gorgeous, tall, blonde friend." He grinned and gave a wiggle of his eyebrows in suggestion of what Callen had missed out on.
"I had plans." Callen replied.
"Sure you did." Sam chuckled. As well as he knew his partner, Sam was in the dark as to what G Callen did when he wasn't at the office and he wasn't one to pry…much.
It was only a few minutes before Kensi and Deeks arrived, walking into the office bickering like school kids. Just like Callen, neither seemed particularly interested in the romance of the day. They didn't even mention the decorations. To Callen, the normally fresh and raring to go junior agent looked like she had been awake all night.
"Late one?" he asked.
"My car wouldn't start this morning. Deeks had to give me a ride." Kensi glared at her partner as she stripped off her black leather jacket. Callen knew immediately the reason Kensi looked exhausted was a forty minute ride with a man who didn't know how to have a quiet moment. It was his trademark - Deeks could talk!
"Come on Deeks, now she's going to be grumpy all day and we have to work with her." Callen moaned in jest. While Kensi scowled, Deeks merely chuckled, ran his fingers through his surfer boy hair and dropped down into his seat.
"Come on kids, play nice." Sam told them.
Just as they were settling in, Eric whistled from the stairs and with that their day began.
It was the usual, if their work could ever be described as 'usual'. Eric and Nell gave them a briefing on a terrorist suspected to have arrived in LA the day before, their well-rehearsed tag team effort getting the information across quickly and concisely. Callen formulated a plan and the team headed off to investigate. Nell and Eric remained in the ops room, feeding the team information, maps, plans and relaying messages, all the while checking in with Hetty.
Every case was tough - that's why it fell onto their desks. But as cases went, the team would class this as an easy win. Within hours they had located a safe house where the terrorist and the cell he had joined up with were likely to be hiding out, waiting for the signal to go ahead with their plan. Sam and Callen took the front, Kensi and Deeks the back. The moment the team burst through the doors they encountered the cell members, completely unsuspecting of having been rumbled. Shots were exchanged and two went down. Deeks and Kensi chased another attempting to flee and Deeks tackled him in the back yard. Callen encountered a fourth and after a brief hand to hand fight, the Agent easily emerged the victor. A few hours after that the case was all wrapped up. Two terrorists were in custody and two more were on slabs in the morgue. A plot to bomb a navy ship had been foiled and the team were feeling victorious. All in a day's work.
When they arrived back it was nearing eight at night. Sam was anxious to get away for his date and barely stuck around long enough to collect his things. Kensi needed Deeks to drive her home and was pestering him to go so she could catch up on her shows. Only Callen was in no hurry to leave. He had nowhere to be and no Valentine to romance. He was only marginally bothered by that – he knew his life as an NCIS Agent and working undercover complicated things with any potential relationship. He could never be himself and to him it was much simpler to just be alone.
As he settled in his chair, taking a moment to push the balloons out his way, he noticed a small brown paper bag sitting in the middle of his desk with a little red card the size of a business card stapled to it. He looked around suspiciously, then leaned forward and poked at the bag. It rustled slightly. Sitting up straighter, he took another look around for anyone watching his reaction but he saw no-one, at least no-one paying the blindest bit of attention to him. With his curiosity peaked, Callen picked the bag up and pulled it closer to him. Carefully he pulled the red card off and turned it over. Typed on the back in black ink were the words Happy Valentine's Day.
No handwriting to analyse. Someone wants to play games. He thought.
Placing the card down he began to open the bag. As he peered inside, a smile tugged at his lips and his tired eyes brightened a little. Emptying the contents of the bag onto the desk, he examined his gift; a selection of lollypops – something that had become a staple of stake-outs, partly because of how much the sucking and crunching of candy annoyed his partner. The smile on his face widened as he sorted through the variety of flavours. Finally, he picked out a red one, peeled off the plastic wrapping and after twirling it in his fingers for a moment, he popped it into his mouth and leaned back in his chair, his hands clasped behind his head.
"Mr Callen." Hetty appeared from nowhere as only she could.
"Was this you?" Callen asked, as he sat up and pulled the lollypop from his mouth.
"Please, those things will rot your teeth." She replied. "Why aren't you going home?"
"I'm just leaving" he smiled as he scooped up his candy and put the lollypops back into the bag before locking it safely in the drawer under his desk.
"Good work today Mr Callen. Oh, don't forget the card." Hetty pointed to the red card on the desk. Callen looked down and ran his fingers over it, his mind running through who could have left the gift for him. It couldn't have been a joke gift from Sam, Deeks or Kensi as they were with him all day. It had to be someone in the office who had access to his desk, and someone who knew he liked lollypops. That didn't really narrow the field, as there were a number of people (okay so he was only thinking about the women) who worked in the building and he could often be seen sucking on a lollypop at his desk on a slow day. He was also pretty sure he would have noticed a woman who was interested in him. He was at a loss. When Callen looked back up with the card held tight in his fingers, to no surprise Hetty was gone, but a new face was in his field of vision.
"Goodnight." Nell Jones called as she came down the last step and started towards the door. She was wrapped up in a fitted green wool coat carrying a large backpack. She never seemed to dress for LA weather yet somehow the look suited her.
"Wait up. I'll walk you out." Callen grabbed his bag and strode over to the young woman, lollypop tucked into his cheek. He didn't know Nell well but he liked her. She was young, a lot younger than him, but she was confident, smart and skilled at her job. That was all he needed from someone on his team.
"Whatcha got there?" Nell indicated to the red card in his hand as the Agent fell into step beside her.
"Someone." He paused to take the lollypop out his mouth. "Left me a Valentines gift." Callen said.
"How sweet." Nell smiled. "Anonymous?"
"Completely." Callen replied. "I'm thinking about getting it tested for fingerprints." He joked.
"Can't you just enjoy the mystery?" she asked as she glanced up at him. Callen met her gaze and paused a moment.
"Nope." He shook his head as he popped the lollypop back into his mouth. Special Agent Callen was a trained undercover agent, an investigator and an expert at reading people. How hard could it be to find out?
I have an idea of where this will go but will let views and comments decide if I continue. So let me know what you think.