Author's Notes – Not mine.

Two in one day! Thought I would try wrapping this story up by the end of the weekend or beginning of the week. My goal is tomorrow though!

Hope you all enjoy! Read and review, please!

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Moving slowly through the halls, he tries to come up with a game plan. Honestly unsure of how to proceed, he stands watching from the doorway for a moment. Knowing he is just putting off the inevitable, he walks in taking a deep breath as he goes. Standing along the wall directly behind her and watches as she raises her weapon to fire into the target. Thinking back, he tries to remember ever seeing Nell at the firing range. Drawing a blank, he slowly moves towards her as she fires her last round and places her weapon down.

Realizing there is probably no way to announce his presence without startling her, he opts to just start speaking. "Looks good, Nell." Jumping as expected, she turns around and glares at him pointedly. Kensi was right, she is channeling Callen somehow. Picking up her weapon, she goes to walk past him without saying a word.

"Talk to me Nell. Which part of what we did at the restaurant pissed you off this bad." He uses his body to block her exit, but knowing she is angry he keeps his hands to himself. Never having seen her quite like this, he really isn't sure what to expect. "What makes you think I'm mad?" She now has her free hand on her hip giving him a look that dares him to challenge her.

Unfortunately for Nell, her takes her challenge and answers her question. "Well, let's start with not talking the whole way back from the restaurant aside from some choice muttering that Kensi wouldn't even repeat. Then, we can move to the fact that you are standing here with your weapon in hand having just fired some impressive rounds into a target. I have to say I'm a little afraid to ask who you were picturing. Seriously, clue me in here, Nell." She can see the concern in his eyes, but is too mad to really care.

Standing up as straight as her frame will allow, she locks eyes with him and speaks in a tone he knows he has never heard her use. "I asked you all to back off. I told you I didn't want any of you to handle things with him. Instead of waiting to see what I would do, you guys took over. Before I could even react, Kensi was whisking me into the car. I didn't even get to say a word. How do you know I wouldn't have been able to handle myself?" He had figured she was unhappy they stepped in, but he had silently hoped maybe there was something else going on.

Completely understanding where she is coming from, he takes a deep breath before explaining their position. "I get where you are coming from Nell, I really do. You have to see from our perspective too. This guy has already abused you more than once. He was restraining you in a public venue trying to force you to leave with him. We saw you in danger and reacted in the quickest way we knew would keep you safe." He hopes she can see their side of the equation too.

Pausing to take in what he said, she shakes her head. "No, I don't see anything other than you guys took control of the situation and didn't let me try to handle it. Seriously, that would have been the best place to let me try because you could have stepped in if need be. You just took over though." Nell moves towards the door, pausing as she hears his voice.

"Do you realize it could have gone bad fast enough that none of us could have done anything. What if he had a weapon? You not only put yourself in danger to try and prove something to yourself, but you would have put a lot of innocent people in danger too. You can't predict these situations, Nell. The only thing you can do is take control at the first available moment and hope you lessen the damage done. I won't apologize for that, Nell and I'm guessing neither will anyone else." He watches as she absorbs his words and hopes they make an impact.

She leaves the room without another word as she fights against the tears threatening to fall. Damnit, was he right? Was that really the best solution? God, her head is swimming. She needs to get out of there; go somewhere she can think. Walking past the bullpen wiping tears from her face, she passes the confused agents still seated at their desks. Ignoring Kensi's calls, she walks towards the exit and finds herself driving down the road before she registers what she is doing.

Approaching the set of four desks, the inquiry comes quickly from Kensi. "What the hell, Sam? What did you say to her? You were supposed to talk to her and calm her down, not make her cry. We figured if anyone could manage that it would be you." She crosses her arms across her chest clearly frustrated having seen her friend leave so upset. Holding his hands up in the universal sign for surrender for a brief moment and then placing them at his sides, he talks quickly to dispel the assumptions being made.

"She wasn't really interested in talking. Nell feels like we took over and didn't let her handle things herself. She figured it would be the perfect place for her to take the lead and we would be there if needed." Raising his hand as Callen tries to interrupt, he continues. "I told her these situations can turn bad really quickly and we took the first opportunity to make sure everyone there was safe."

Kensi immediately feels bad for accusing Sam of saying something to upset Nell as Callen pats him on the shoulder. "You just told her the truth, man. She needed to hear it whether it was easy or not. That could have escalated quickly if he had a weapon and people could have got hurt." Deeks nods in agreement as Kensi speaks softly, "Any idea where she was going?"

Sam shrugs his shoulders as he answers, "I don't know. I have to say if she keeps her weapon in her hand, then I'm a lot less worried than I was before I saw her shoot. Girl has got some hidden skill." The rest of the team laughs at his revelation as they all sit down at their desks. "No guys, I'm serious…she's good."

Finishing out the last couple hours, they make a collective decision to have Eric track where she is after having no luck getting a response from the numerous texts they have sent. As the time stretched later, the team was getting more than a little worried. Nell would not have just ignored them and they all know that. Fearing something might have happened, they make their way up to the ops center as Eric is finishing up for the night.

Callen, going in all business as their leader, speaks with authority. "Eric, we need a location on Nell." The tech looks at the four of them and nods quickly. Pulling the information up on his computer monitor, he relays what he has found. "She's at home guys." Armed with her location, Callen calls out one last order to Eric on their way out the door. "Keep calling her Eric and let us know if she answers."

Pulling up to her apartment building, Deeks takes the lead as he can show them the quickest route having been there before. Arriving quickly, they fan around the perimeter of Nell's door two on either side. None of them stand directly in front of the door just in case. Deeks leans in to knock as he goes to call her name, but was stops upon hearing her scream. Pulling their guns from their holsters, the team silently passes directions amongst each other before exploding the door with a well placed kick courtesy of Sam's leg.