Altered Fraction of Truth

Disclaimer: NCISLA characters belong to Shane Brennan. All original characters and this story are mine.

Chapter 1

Santa Monica Beach

She sat there on the beach like she had every morning for the past two weeks, staring out at the waves. Her bare feet wiggled freely in the soft white sand, while her knees were pulled up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them. She looked peaceful sitting alone, except for the tears that fell down her cheeks and the grief he saw in her eyes. The vision tore at him from within and had him pulled to watch her and follow her every morning at sunrise. He looked at his watch and noticed it had now gone six. Had he really been sitting there watching her for an hour? The sound of a sob that escaped her mouth caught his attention once again. He wasn't sure why, but he wanted to go over and see if she was okay. Normally, he was the kind of man who would mind his own business, unless someone's life was at risk, then his agent skills would kick in. He had no business to pry in the woman's life, so why did he find himself walking over to her?

"Are you okay?" He gently asked her as she stood up from her position on the beach. His question brought her out of her thoughts when she studied him.

"Stop following me," she stepped back from him, annoyed for the intrusion. "I've seen you watching me. Go away."

"I'm just asking out of concern," he defended his action. He watched her pick up her shoes and run towards the car park. She brushed the sand from her feet before placing her shoes on and climbing inside her blue Audi Q3. She sped off before he could get to his Aston Martin and follow her. He tried, but no matter how good his driving skills were, the woman was good. He'd lost her, like he had on every other morning. "What's wrong with me?" He was going mad, that was certain. If not, he was definitely obsessed with a woman who clearly told him to leave her alone. He wasn't sure what it was about her that made him return each day, but he needed to find out more about her.

Office of Special Projects

Sam Hanna entered the Spanish style mission with a grin on his face. The night before had been a special night of just him and his beautiful wife, Michelle. His sister took care of their daughter, Kamran, so they could celebrate their tenth wedding anniversary out in style at the Hilton, downtown. He was about to pour himself a cup of coffee, when a pounding sound from the gym caught his attention. He looked at the desks and noticed his partner's bag hanging on the rear of his chair. With a smug look on his face, he walked out to the gym to watch Callen sweat out whatever frustrations were bothering him now. He knew his partner well after eight years, that if he was working out, he had something big on his mind. His partner was a man of mystery, who, although he had let his guard down many times in the past to him, managed to keep locked away many unpleasant moments he'd rather not tell anyone. They were more than partners, they had become brothers and he'd let Callen inside his family and he had become an uncle to his daughter.

"What is it this time, G? Another blog by Elise?" He chuckled as he watched the concentration on Callen's face.

"No." Callen continued to pound the life out of the sand bag, right, right, left, he punched, continuing the rhythm that managed to hold the insanity that led him there in the first place.

"Someone parked in your spot?" Sam raised his brow as he watched him respond.

"That's your problem, never cared where I parked," Callen replied, never wavering from his pace.

"Hetty sent you back to driving school?" Sam crossed his arms, curious when he noticed not a single flinch of reaction from his partner.

"Women trouble?" He'd hit the nail on the head, as Callen turned with fury in his eyes. "A woman. Who is she this time? A yoga coach? No, wait, she spilled your coffee all over you at Starbucks this morning and never took any notice of you."

"No!" Callen glared at him. He unstrapped the gloves from his hands and threw them on the metal cabinet beside him. "I have no idea who she is or what she does for a living."

"So what is it that's got you so riled up?"

Callen unravelled the tape off his hands as he tried to rein in the frustration of his own actions. He looked up at his partner and saw a hint of amusement there. "I don't know." He grabbed his towel and wiped the sweat from his face as he walked off to the showers.

Sam shook his head and walked back to his desk, still curious to what had caused this brooding in his partner and so early in the morning. It was only eight and he expected Bonnie and Clyde to waltz through the doors bickering about something. Their so called "just partners" routine was wearing thin, and he chuckled over the varied ways Deeks had managed to put the P for partners out there. From a popping sound, to a more subdued form, emphasising the T instead of the P. He was sure Deeks had accentuated the word in a conglomerate of dialects already and braced for it again today. He could hear Marty Deek's Californian accent echo through the building as he entered.

"All I'm saying is that you're like my version of Barbie —- the brunette kind." Kensi fist thumped his upper arm for the second time since they'd climbed out of the SUV. He tried to soothe her with a compliment, yet like usual, it went the wrong way. Her anger boiled ever since the girl at the cafe told him that if he wanted to upgrade to a real Barbie, he could give her a call. The long legged blonde had written her name, Candy, along with her cell number on his cup and he joked about calling her.

"Fine then," she spat out. "Then you're my version of the Ken doll —- the shaggy blond version who is on the verge of having his head ripped off."

"Look, Fred and Wilma, the stone age has ended. Get over it and admit it for once, will you?" Sam opened his laptop and muffled a chuckle from the gobsmacking silence he'd procured by stating out loud that he knew that they were more than just partners.

Deeks and Kensi silently sat down at their desks and got started on their paperwork, giving each other looks and then turned their gaze over to Sam with regards to his comment. They'd been busted, but they had tried hard to hide their true feelings.

Callen entered and looked between the three of them as they silently worked away on their paperwork. He stood there staring at them as if they had warped to another reality. "Okay, what have you done with the real Kensi and Deeks?" It was the first time in a while since he'd seen either of them not egging the other on with some silly rant and he was taken aback over the change.

"I called them on it." Sam looked up and smirked over to his partner.

Callen merely nodded before eyeing the pair once more, narrowing his blue eyes as he studied them.

A low vibrating sound from above caught their attention, sending their gazes up the stairs once more.

"What the hell is that?" Deeks yelled out, as he looked up at the Technical Operator. His expression morphed into a mischievous grin when he saw the ornately decorated hollowed log. "Is that a didgeridoo?"

Eric grinned, pleased with his progress on his lessons. "Indeed it is."

"You can play that thing?" Callen furrowed his brow, studying the Tech and the Aboriginal musical instrument.

"I've had lessons." Eric demonstrated his skills with puckering up his lips and inhaling a lung full of air and blew. His lips vibrated under the waxed edge of the instrument, causing a tingling sensation, until he succeeded to bring a sound out the other end. Once he'd passed the initial tingles, his lips felt foreign and slightly numb as he continued to blow out a variety of sounds, whilst re-inhaling oxygen back into his lungs.

"That's pretty cool, Eric," Sam nodded in approval.

Kensi placed her hand out to feel the slight raised paint on the outside. "Where did you find one of these?"

"One of my surfing buddies went to Bells Beach for a surfing contest, and he brought this back as a thank you for taking care of his dog while he was gone."

"Cool," Deeks was keen to have a go, once he'd wiped Eric's saliva from the end. "Can you teach me sometime?"

"Don't you dare," Kensi pleaded with him. "He'll drive me around the bend with that noise."

Eric looked between Deeks and Kensi and retreated with his didgeridoo firmly gripped in his hands, not wanting to get between the pair. They followed him into Ops for their briefing.

The rest of the day became a blur for the team as they tried to solve the missing weapons out of Pendleton. Surveillance footage of two Staff Sergeants removing a crate into a van in the middle of the night was found by Eric and arrests were made.

"Anyone for drinks? I'm buying." Callen called out to his team, eager to continue a distraction from his early morning.

"Got to spend time with the family." Sam smiled over to his partner, "another time." He left them, walking out at the same time that Eric and Nell wandered down the stairs.

"I'll come." Deeks answered him and looked over to Kensi who shook her head.

"Girls night out tonight. Nell and I have plans." Kensi hooked her arms around Nell's and the two left them to it.

"Guys' night out then?" Deeks looked over to Eric who nodded, happy to be included.

Owen Granger sat opposite Hetty at her desk, watching the three men leave together. "It's good to see that they all get on so well, even if they're very different people."

"That's what families are, Owen. You're accepted no matter who you are." She smiled as she poured the golden liquid of scotch into two tumblers and handed one over to her dear old friend. "To family."

"To family." Owen swallowed the scotch down fast and thought about his own family. He'd been widowed now for twenty years and rarely got to spend quality time with his daughters, even though one of them lived in the same city. His job had pulled him away from the responsibilities a long time ago, but now he was determined to make up for the lost time and repair the damage, if only they would have him back. He'd managed to persuade his eldest to move west recently, although she threatened to leave in an instant if he didn't play nice. His younger daughter was easier to deal with, although he never got to spend the quality time he sought alone with her, as she was always busy, surrounded by close friends. He got the message, but he hoped that his eldest being around just might change that. His daughters were close, although their relationship remained a secret. Something he had to do a long time ago, to keep them safe from his enemies. It came with the territory. Neither of them beared his family name and their birth certificates and relationship had been locked away, hidden from anyone who didn't have the classification level in NCIS to access their real files.

The Brig, Venice Beach

Callen downed beer after beer, unaware of the looks from his colleagues. "You sure you're alright, Callen?" Deeks looked over at him concerned, although Callen appeared to be in a jolly good mood. He'd found a woman sitting at the bar and asked her to dance. This was a first for their team leader and Deeks wondered if this was the real Callen? In all the times they'd gone out as a team, Callen would place himself in the corner, where he had a good vantage point of all around him, as he bantered with Sam, joined in teasing him and Kensi, or sat quietly observing. He and Eric watched Callen in his sleek moves whirl the blonde around him on the dance floor and move her closer to him during a slower song. His face was nestled in her hair, fully absorbed or unaware of the goings on around him.

"What's bothering Callen?" Eric finally asked. "This isn't normal for him."

"I dunno," Deeks replied. "I wondered the same, but I haven't a clue. Let's have some fun ourselves. We can't let Callen have all the fun." Deeks stood up and looked around the bar for a dance partner. His eyes widened as the blonde from the cafe that morning turned and greeted him with a wide smile.

"Well hello there, cutie." She almost clawed her way into his arms.

"Candy." Deeks was thankful that Kensi wasn't there to see him lead Candy onto the dance floor. He knew he'd be in the dog house for a month if Kensi had.

Eric strummed his hand to the beat of the music on the table when a red head walked over to him. She smiled sweetly over to him and tilted her head. "Hi. Want to dance?"

Eric gulped, not used to being picked up and nodded. "Yeah, sure."

The music sped up to a fast beat, relying on quick footwork by the Technical Operator. He grinned over to Phoebe, as they danced song after song away, until closing. The three team mates exited the bar, when Callen became confused to where he had left his Aston Martin. Deeks and Eric had met him there in the silver SUV. "I don't think you're up to driving home, Callen." Deeks tried to persuade the lead agent in accepting a lift home.

"I'm good," Callen shook his keys and waved them goodbye.

They watched him walk steadily over to where he'd finally remembered he'd parked it five hours earlier and climbed in. He started the engine and it roared it to life to drive him home. When Callen looked at the time, he realised he'd be lucky if he even managed to have any sleep before he was to drive back down to the beach. So instead of driving home, he went around the corner and parked in his usual early morning spot and waited. He drifted off to sleep in his half alert way, waiting for the sun to rise from behind him. The night had been a blur and perhaps he had drunk more than he should have, so it was probably best that he hadn't driven home.