A/N - thanks for the reviews and alerts. Hope you enjoy the next installment.
Disclaimer in Chapter 1
Chapter 6
Callen woke up the next morning before she did and slipped out of bed quietly. Kat still looked exhausted, even in her sleep and he wondered why. She'd slept for a long time last night, and hadn't had any more dreams. He made himself some coffee and thought back to the time with her twelve years ago. She'd responded to some light teasing back then, when she hadn't been too distressed. He'd even managed to make her smile a couple of times. He'd wondered last night if that might be the best way for them to interact. The few times she had started to tease him it had seemed almost natural for her, until she seemed to think about what she was doing and then it stopped. He could be anyone she needed him to be, they just had to figure out who she could be. Callen heard her moving around and went into the kitchen to see what was for breakfast.
"Morning," Kat said, smiling at him as she came into the kitchen, seeing he pull out cereal and bread and juice. "This is very domestic of you."
"Aim to please," Callen said looking at her. She didn't look as tired now she was awake, which was good.
"A girl could get used to this," Kat said, watching him.
"So what do you want to eat?" Callen asked. Kat looked at the food and then at him.
"Do you cook too?" she asked.
"Why? Don't see anything you like?" Callen asked. He saw her mouth open as if she was about to say something, he saw the mischief in her eyes, but she stopped. He wondered what she was going to say.
"Umm, I was thinking bacon, eggs, toast and juice. Didn't eat much yesterday. I'm starving," Kat said.
"Can do, as long as you tell me what you were going to say," Callen said, stepping closer to her. She blushed and looked away.
"Nothing," Kat said, stepping back slightly as he got closer.
"Kat?" Callen asked again, though he stopped moving closer, not wanting to scare her.
"What?" she asked, nervously and still looking away.
"Please tell me," Callen asked her again.
"Why?" she asked, looking back at him.
"Because, I think it will help," Callen said. If she'd been about to tease him in some way, then his idea might actually work.
"How?" Kat asked, eyes narrowing at him as she tried to figure him out.
"Just a hunch," Callen replied. "Please," he added again for good measure.
Kat blushed again and looked carefully at him, trying to decide what to do.
"You're... you look good," Kat admitted.
"Good, I can work with that," Callen said. She looked confused.
"What? You know maybe we should talk after I've had some food. I'm not feeling very awake," Kat said, wondering if maybe she was still asleep.
"You always like this before coffee?" Callen teased her.
"Wouldn't know, don't usually have company," Kat replied absently.
"What, a pretty girl like you?" he said. Kat poked her tongue out at him. It seemed an automatic response and her eyes went wide at what she had just done. He smiled. He had a feeling he was on the right track, if only he could get her to relax and just let it happen.
"Look G, I wasn't kidding about the lack of a love life. I can't tell you if I'm grumpy in the morning, or if I have any bad habits. I live on my own, there's no one to complain," Kat said, frowning. She really didn't have much of a life outside of work.
"Well, at least we know you don't snore, or steal the covers," Callen said.
"Good to know, I think. I'm going to go have a shower and try and wake up."
Kat stood under the shower for five minutes, wondering what she was doing. She found herself teasing G and enjoying it. It seemed easy, almost natural, and she had no idea where it was coming from. But it seemed to give her something else to think about that didn't scare her, well not in bad way at least. She briefly thought back twelve years ago, remembering him trying to make her smile. Maybe it was just the way things were with them. She didn't really interact with people outside of work. Her life had revolved around study and work and research for so long, she wondered if she even knew how to interact with something that wasn't in a lab, a student or on a computer. Kat shook off the thoughts, finished under the shower and got dressed. Stepping out of the bathroom, she smelt the bacon and smiled. Seems like he can cook too. She wondered if there was anything he couldn't do.
"Smells good," Kat said with a smile as she walked in to the kitchen. "Need any help?"
"Nope, all done. Go sit, I'll bring it over," Callen replied and she went and sat down. He had already set the table.
"I'm not usually so fragile. I can do stuff you know," Kat said, though right now she really appreciated him taking care of her. She still felt so tired, it reminded her of when this had first happened twelve years ago, but at least last night, she'd slept.
"I'm sure you can," Callen said as he sat down. "Is there any reason a husband can't take care of his wife though?"
"But we're not really..." Kat started to say.
"I know," Callen cut in.
"How do you do it?" Kat asked him, wondering again if she would be able to do this.
"Do what?" Callen asked.
"Be someone else so easily," Kat replied, as she started to eat.
"Practise. I've been doing this a long time," Callen said, most of my life, he added silently.
"Any tips?" Kat asked. They'd said he was good, hopefully they were right, because she'd probably need a lot of help.
"We'll start with going over what's been sorted out for you after breakfast," Callen said, letting her know that he would help her.
"What about you?" Kat asked.
"Did it last night," Callen replied.
"Oh," Kat said softly, looking back down at her breakfast and feeling guilty that she hadn't stayed up.
"Kat you needed to sleep," Callen said, seeing the look on her face. "Sometimes it's easier just to stay in character, rather than stop and try to remember when to start again," Callen said, giving her something to consider. Kat looked at him, wondering just how this whole thing would work, especially if she couldn't do it.
"I won't do anything you don't want, Kat. You will be safe with me," Callen added trying to reassure her he wouldn't take push her into anything.
"I know. I always am," Kat said, smiling at him.
They finished their breakfast, though it was more like lunch by the time she had woken up, and moved to the couch. Callen pulled out the file for her to read. They went over it together a few times, matching the information up with his cover so she knew who he was going to be as well.
"It's reasonably thorough isn't it?" Kat said. Whilst it was daunting to see all the new information she needed to learn, she was pleased that whoever had taken care of this seemed to leave a bit of room for her to be herself, whoever she was.
"Hetty's good at what she does," Callen said. So that must have been what Hetty meant by research.
"She said that about you too," Kat replied, looking over at him.
"She's right. I will help you. You can do this," Callen said confidently. Kat hoped he was right.
"Just as long as Miss Mason wasn't right huh?" Kat said with a frown.
Callen frowned, not sure what she was meaning.
"School teacher," Kat said clearing things up for him.
Callen smiled. "You were ten Kat, I doubt you were that bad."
"Oh, believe me I was," Kat replied. She'd known the teacher was right. It's why she'd never ventured down that path again.
"Tell me then. Let me know what I'm getting myself in for," Callen asked. He heard her groan.
"You don't want to know," Kat said, shaking her head.
"Yeah I do." Especially now, he was curious.
Kat picked up the file and started to read again, though since the page was upside down, he knew she was faking. Callen took it out of her hands and Kat looked at him.
"Yeah, I do," Callen said, looking her in the eye. Kat closed her eyes and put her head back.
"I had two lines, really simple. Shouldn't have been able to mess them up. Just had to say them and walk off stage. Couldn't do it," Kat said, eyes still closed.
"What were they?" Callen asked. She opened her eyes and looked at him again.
"Please don't make me tell you. It's embarrassing," Kat said, begging slightly.
"Can't be as embarrassing as that drawer in the bedroom that you didn't want me to see," Callen teased.
"You looked?" Kat asked, blushing.
"Was curious. Hetty has good taste. So it can't be that embarrassing can it?" Callen asked again.
"Actually, yeah, it is," Kat replied, seriously. At least it was for her. Callen raised his eyebrows at that. They ended up in a bit of a staring competition which, of course, he won. Kat rested her head on the back of the couch and closed her eyes again. She didn't think she could look at him whilst she told him.
"Look, all I had to say was 'Yes sir', 'No sir' and walk off to the left," Kat said, cheeks going red as she said the words. She opened her eyes and looked at him. She could see the laughter in his even though he was barely making a sound.
"Stop it, it wasn't funny!" Kat picked up a pillow and threw it at him. The look on her face, combined with the fact that she was a seriously bad shot with the pillow, made him laugh. He could see that, even though she was embarrassed, she was close to laughing as well and he felt that she needed to.
"Stop laughing," Kat said again as he threw the pillow back at her. Callen saw her grab a second pillow but before she could do anything with them, there was a knock on the door.
He tensed but relaxed fairly quickly. It would probably be Sam, Kensi or Hetty, the only other ones to have entry keys.
"Saved by the bell," Callen said, smiling at her as he got up and opened the door to let them in, after checking the security system to make sure he'd been right.