Ok, SOOOOOO! SORRY! for taking this long to update. Thank you all those who have left reviews and stuck with this story. I know I said that there were maybe three more chapters, but guess what, there are at least five in total, and that doesn't include the epilogue/stand alone story I have half finished. I will post a couple of chapters today with the rest at least once a week. ENJOY! :-)

Early the next morning, Monica drove them back into the city as she had to do a grocery run. She dropped them off outside Triple C and spent several minutes talking to the woman who had come out to see her friends.

"Well, it sounds like you had an eventful weekend." Mimi said as they made their way back into the store.

"One of the best weekends I have in a very long time." Callen said. He winced as he made his way over to a chair and eased himself into it. He was still sore in muscles he didn't know he had.

"Tell you what, there is a wonderful spar a couple of blocks from here. I'll have Nicky drive you. Massage out those kinks, or you'll be just as bad tomorrow. What do you have planned for tomorrow?" Mimi asked as she dug around in her handbag for her phone.

"We're having dinner at your parents place." Nell said.

"What?!" Mimi looked shocked and worried.

"Mimi, what is it?" Callen asked, he knew that Mimi and her parents didn't get on all that well, but he couldn't very well refuse their invitation when they had asked at the cup. He didn't even know the reason.

"I wish you had told me." Mimi made the call to Nicky and Callen could hear the tone in her voice, it was worried and tense.

"Mimi?"

"Greg, Nell, whatever happens there, don't believe a word they say." And with that, she turned and left them to help the customers in her shop.

Nell looked at Callen who shrugged his shoulders to show that he had no idea. Nicky walked in then and they followed him out.

They spent several hours in the spar and had all the cramps massaged out. Even Callen enjoyed it, feeling years of stress flow out of him. He felt like a new man.

"Greg?" Nell asked as they walked into their room.

Callen heard a tone in her voice that sounded like something he liked. "Nell?"

"Think Mimi and Jason would mind if we made a little noise?" She blushed a little at the thought that his friends might hear them. She wanted him bad though.

"I don't think so, Mimi mentioned that the walls are pretty thick when she wrote that she was building this." Callen wrapped his hands around her waist and pulled her toward him. He was wanting her just as much.

"Good." Was all she said as she kissed him.

They slept in late the next morning, happily curled around each other. When they finally got up, they found it was almost lunch.

"Why do you think that Mimi didn't want us to have dinner with her parents?" Nell asked.

Callen shook his head as he pulled a shirt over it. "I don't know. She wrote that she was no longer talking to them a couple of years after she and Jason were married, but she didn't say why."

"Do you think we should cancel dinner then?" Nell asked as they headed downstairs.

Callen answered as he wrapped his arm around her waist, "I want to find out what happened. I think we should go, but we should keep what she said in mind."

They made themselves a lunch and spent the rest of the day taking a tour of the vineyard that Mimi owned.

Seven that night found them outside the front door of Natalie and Adam's home.

"Greg, Nell, welcome. Please come in." Adam said as he opened the door and showed them in. "I see you've been out at our grandson's place." He continued as he noticed the sunburn.

"Yeah, I was having too much fun to reapply the sunscreen." Nell said.

"Mum, do you want the vegies turned off now?" a woman's voice called out as she came into view. She was a blonde bombshell, Nell noticed. Closer in age to Callen, she was gorgeous.

"Yes please, Colleen. Honey, this is Gregory, Mimi's penpal and his friend Nell." Natalie said. She watched as Callen looked at her daughter few only a couple of seconds, nodding a 'hi' before looking around her living room. His arm around Nell's hip.

"Nice to finally meet you. Mimi has been talking about this visit for ages. She was so pleased that you could finally come." Colleen said. She came over to shake his hand.

Nell noticed that she didn't shake hers and that she hadn't even acknowledged her. She was starting to feel a little uncomfortable. Until she felt Callen squeeze her to him, letting her know that he knew they were ignoring her.

"I wasn't told that you would be here, Colleen." Callen said, not letting his grip on Nell go.

"No, my landlord suddenly decided to fumigate the apartment building today, I won't be able to get in for a couple of days." She said as she turned and headed back into the kitchen, swinging her hips as she went.

Natalie and Adam followed her as Callen and Nell brought up the rear. Dinner was filled with light conversation, what line of work was he and Nell in, how were they finding Australia?

"Nell, can you help me take some of these dishes into the kitchen?" Natalie asked at the end of the meal.

Callen went to help her when Adam asked him to stay and talk. "How long have you and Nell known each other?" he asked after his wife and Nell left.

"Close to three years. We work together." He was starting to guess why Mimi didn't want him and Nell to come tonight.

"A working relationship. They rarely work out." he said as he accepted a drink from Colleen. "Thank you darling."

"I don't know. It seems to be working pretty good for Mimi and Jason." He said as he took the glass from her. "Thanks." He started thinking about how to get himself and Nell out.

"Its only a matter of time before he finds someone younger and leaves her." Colleen said as she went to sit beside Callen. She tripped on something and ended up not only spilling her drink on him, but she ended up in his lap. As both Callen and Adam tried to help to help her up, Nell came in with dessert. Colleen spotted her and pressed her hands against his chest, making it look like she was cleaning the spilled liquid from his chest.

"I'm so sorry!" she said.

"That's ok, it could have happened to anyone." Callen said, patting at the dampness on her chest, not knowing that Nell was behind him.

"Thank you." She said, then she leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. "No one else would have been as understanding as you." Resting a hand on his cheek, she continued. "I knew when you wrote back to me the other week that you liked me."

Callen heard a small gasp and spun round and spotted Nell. "Nell!" He went over to her, taking the dishes from her and placed them on the table next to him. He was shocked as she stepped away from him.

"Don't Callen. I'll see if Nicky can take me back to the house. I'll fly out in the morning." She said. She was horrified that Callen had led her on, had been her first and that he hadn't liked her at all. She knew he was an expert liar, but to lie to her. It was too much. She walked out of the room, grabbed her bag and coat and went to find Nicky.

Callen rounded on Natalie, Adam and Colleen. "What was that about?"

"Making her see that falling for a man twice her age will always end badly." Colleen said. "Mum had a sister that fell for a much older bloke. When he left her for someone younger then she was when they met, it broke her heart. She killed herself six months later."

Callen shook his head and hurried after Nell. He found her just as Nicky pulled around to the front of the house. "Nell please, it's not what you think." He said as he caught up to her.

"I don't want to hear it Callen. She is beautiful and it's clear she likes you and you her. Just leave me alone." She didn't look at him as she spoke. She shrugged his hands off her shoulders and opened the back door. She climbed in and slammed it shut before he had a chance to tell her anything.

Callen didn't know what to do, so he just climbed into the front with Nicky and asked that he take them back to Mimi's.

Mimi had waited for Greg and Nell to return in the living room. She had a feeling as to what would happen, but really hoped that her parent's wouldn't stoop that low. She heard the car pull up and headed to the hall. Just as she was about to enter it, she heard the front door open and Callen pleading to Nell.

"Nell, please. I never wrote to her, I have no idea what she is talking about." He said, his voice breaking as the emotions started taking their toll on him.

"Save it Agent Callen. I booked a flight that's leaving in the morning." Mimi heard the tears in Nell's voice as well as the sound of a woman who had opened her heart up to someone for the first time, only to have them shatter it.

She silently cursed and wondered what her parents had done. She heard Nell walk away from Greg and a moment later she passed Mimi without seeing her. She waited for Nell to head up the stairs to come out and see Greg. She took in the tears on his face, the lipstick on his cheek and the look of total despair in his eyes. "Agent Callen?" she asked.

"You heard that?" he asked as his head snapped to her. He hadn't seen her enter the hallway.

"Yes, it answers a lot of questions." She took his hand and led him to a couch in the living room. "Was my sister there?" she asked as she wiped the mauve lipstick off his cheek with a tissue.

"Yes. I'm sorry I didn't listen to you. I now know why you don't talk to them anymore." He said as a tear fell from his face. The first person he truly felt something for and he had ruined it. Nell would no doubt ask for a transfer. Maybe he could beat her to it. There were still lots of places that wanted him. He had been with NCIS the longest and it was going to be hard to leave, but maybe it was time.

"Tell me everything that happened. From the time you walked in the door." She said as she poured him a shot of whiskey.

When he finished, she knew what she had to do. "Leave it to me."

"What are you going to do?" he asked.

"That's between us girls. At the end of the hallway is a spare bedroom with some of Jason's old clothes in it. Have a shower, clean up and when Nell and I are finished, I'll send her down to you." She patted his knee, stood and headed to her room.

"I take it didn't go too well?" Jason said as Mimi entered their room. He had seen Nell run into her room, tears in her eyes.

"No, Colleen was there and put the moves on Greg." She said as she went to a closet and started to look for a box. She shuffled a couple around til she found a silver box. She opened it, looked at the contents for a moment then put the lid back on. "Hopefully this will help Nell see."

"What's in it?" Jason came up to her and wrapped his arms around her. He could see that this was upsetting her.

"Some of Greg's letters." She hugged him and headed out to Nell's room.

She knocked on Nell's door. "Nell, it's Mimi. Can I come in?"

"Did Callen send you?" Mimi flinched at the use of Greg's last name.

"No, I came to show you something." Mimi heard movement behind the door before it was opened and Nell stepped clear of it. "Thank you."

"It's your house." Nell said as she returned to her packing.

"True, but this is your room. I tried to warn you not to listen to anything they said."

"Callen made it clear that he liked her." Nell said as she tried to stop the tears. "What did you want to show me?"

"Sit with me, please?" Mimi said as she sat on the couch at one end of the room. She placed the box on her lap and opened it as she waited for Nell to join her.

"What are these?" Nell asked as she sat next to Mimi.

"Greg's most important letters."

"Why are the envelopes different colours?" Nell asked as she looked at them as Mimi sifted thru them.

"As you know Greg and I started to write to each other while he was still in the foster system. Because he moved around so much, sometimes they would pile up and he wouldn't get or read them in the right order." She stopped at a blue one. "So we used the I can sing a rainbow song to create a system of order." She paused a moment and started to sing Red and yellow, pink and green, purple and orange and blue. "It worked. So long as I didn't use pink." She let a small laugh out as she thought about that. She smiled as she heard Nell join her.

"Greg would always send me a grey envelope when he moved. Sometimes I would get three or four a month, depending on how often he was moved. The majority of them were these colours. But when he started to work for the 'police' I started to get black envelopes. They were of friends and colleges that had been killed. He never mentioned names or places, just a letter saying that he lost someone he knew."

She handed her a black envelope. "You need to read this one first." She held up a silver envelope, "Then this one." A third very large envelope, red, was placed under the silver one. "Then that one. After a little while, he started to use red envelopes when it involved his past and his search for his family."

Mimi paused and looked at Nell. "Read these and the others and understand him a little more and you will see that he loves you." She stood then "When you are ready, Greg is in the bedroom at the end of the hall downstairs." She left a slightly stunned Nell in her wake.

Nell took a moment to look at the envelopes. She noticed the handwriting on them. It was in beautiful calligraphy. She recalled a bunch of flowers that appeared at her home early one morning. The card had the same writing on it. She ran a hand over the lovely writing as she realised that Callen had sent her the flowers.

She opened the flap to the black envelope and pulled out a letter. She noticed that it had several splotches from what she recognised as tears. She noted the date as several months before she started.

Hey Mimi,

Sorry I haven't written in a while. Do you remember me writing about Aliana Rostov when I was fourteen? Well I just found out that she was the same woman who tried to talk to me before I was shot back in May. The reason I know now, is she was killed last month. She was trying to find information about the people who targeted me and they killed her because of it.

She tried to talk to me, my little sister, Моя маленькая сестра, and I didn't give her a chance. I scared her away. The only person who loved me no matter what, and she was killed trying to avenge me!

I went to the house a couple of days after we wrapped the case. The spare key was still in the same spot. They kept their promise that it would always be there. I miss her so much.

Even after what happened, the Rostov's tried to find me and get me back. I found my social records and they looked for me for years. They wrote to the child services a lot trying to find me. I never knew that they wanted me back.

I don't know how much longer I can stay here, Mimi. I've been with this team now for almost six years and with the same partner for four. It's the longest I've ever stayed in one place, let alone one partner, but now, I'm thinking of moving on. I think I'll leave the west coast, been here for almost twelve years. Knowing that the Rostov's were looking for me, that Alaina was right in front of me and I didn't recognise her has me thinking that a change of scenery will help me to refocus.

I miss her so much. Моя маленькая сестра.

I'll write when I have made a decision.

Gregory Callen.

Nell carefully folded the letter and placed it back where she got it from. She had a lot of questions. Like what happened to make him leave the Rostov's? If Sam, Hetty or Nate knew that he wanted to leave, what had kept him from leaving? Nell picked up the silver one and pulled out the letter. There were two. One dated the day after she threw Hetty's party, the other was dated a couple of days after she received the bunch of flowers, almost six months after she started at OSP. As she opened the older one, a picture fell out, it was of her. She was wearing a dark green skirt and white blouse with a dark green cardigan over the top.

Hi Mimi

I bet you're shocked that I've sent you one of these, but it's happened. I've found her. When you sent me a silver letter when you met Jason, I wrote back saying with what I do for a living, I would never find or meet anyone who would get it.

Her name is Nell. She works with us as our intelligence specialist. She has been here a few weeks, which is a lot longer than many others have lasted. Hetty usually doesn't like them.

She's funny, smart and makes it known when she doesn't agree with something we say. She doesn't back down, thinks well on her feet and can go into the field with us if needed. Her voice has a determined tone to it, and her laugh, I could listen to it all day.

I just wish I knew if she had a thing with Eric. The two work well together. I watch them when they work before they realise I'm there and it seems like they have something, then Nell will do or say something that will put him back in his place. It gives me hope that he isn't her type.

I just wish I knew how to approach her. However, in the meantime, I'll take the advice you gave me years ago. To let things happen at their own pace. Don't rush them and go to her if I need help with things.

She is a breath of fresh air in this place Mimi, something that doesn't happen here very often. It's only been a few weeks, but I'm pretty sure I'm in love.

A few months ago I wrote saying that I was considering leaving where I am now, but since Nell arrived, I want to stay. I'll write when I know what's going on in my heart/head. Being around Nell is lessening the feeling I have of wanting to move.

Gregory Callen

Nell looked at the letter in shock. He had stayed because she had starting working there. He had stayed because of her. She opened the other letter. It was short and the previous one had been sent with this one as he hadn't had a chance to send it.

Hi Mimi,

I meant to send the other letter when I wrote it but we got pretty busy with cases. Just letting you know I decided to test the waters as it were, with Nell.

I sent a box of flowers to her house early this morning and she brought them to work! Not something I was expecting. She took them with her from her desk, to the conference room and back again. I wrote in calligraphy on the card so she wouldn't recognise my hand writing. She was very protective of them.

One time she was at her desk when Eric came over to her and stated talking about them. He seemed very put out about the flowers. When he started to get jealous, I went over as Nell moved them away from him, and placed them right in front of me. Granted it was the only place she could put them on her desk, but, maybe it was a sign?

She liked them though, so I might do it every now and again. I'll write when something happens.

Gregory Callen

Nell realised that she received a bunch after a trying case ever since then. They always made her feel better simply because of the colours and the kindness. She always figured that they were from the team. Not just Greg himself. She wiped a tear away as she realised that there was no way what Colleen had said and done at the house was true. Greg loved her. She opened the red envelope, it was very thick and the size of a sheet of paper. Nell recognised the pages as coming from the notebook from the Kelson case. It had been before her time, but Callen had come to her a little while after she had started and asked if she could copy it onto a flash drive. It seems he had printed them out and sent them to Mimi. She wondered why.

Hi Mimi,

I'm sure you know the drill by now for these.

I just found out that I had a sister! A real sister. Her name was Amy, she was older than me by about six or seven years, but, we were separated. She died when she and another girl from the orphanage they were in snuck out one night. They went down to the river and Amy slipped and fell in.

The other girl was hiding from some very bad men who had killed her father so she took my sisters name. My sister was buried under her name. Hannah Lawson.

Hetty gave me the grave site. When I visited it, there was a fresh bunch of flowers on it. This card was with them. It matches the handwriting from the notebook. If my father was here, why hasn't he come to me?

As always, keep these for me please. It's so hard not being able to talk about what I'm doing about finding out who I am. Writing to you is wonderful and I'm grateful for all the help you've given me over the years, just by being someone that no one knows about that I can talk to.

Going to Nell the other day to get her to copy all these onto a flash drive, it felt right. I can't explain it. I've done it a couple of times now, and it feels, right. There're no other words for it. If I had to find my family with someone, I would want it to be with Nell. I'm pretty sure Hetty is teaching her to take over from her, and she already has a steely resolve when it comes to not telling anyone anything that they aren't supposed to know. I trust her, more than I'd trust Sam with this.

Thanks for being a sounding board, Mimi. I'll write soon.

Gregory Callen.

Nell sat on the bed, looking at the letter in her hand. Greg had been sending copies of everything he could find on his family, his past, to Mimi. He was right, not even Hetty knew of the woman. She had a feeling that it was so that if he had to go rouge to find out about his past, he could just vanish. He wouldn't even need to go to the mission to get anything. It was all right here, out of the country and with someone that no one, NO ONE, knew about.

And both Greg and Mimi had told her. Greg trusted her more than his own partner about this and she felt, she wasn't sure what she felt. She folded the letter and put everything back into the envelope.

She read a couple of the others. They were filled with silly things that Deeks and Kensi did. The antics that he and Sam got up to as well as grumbles about Granger and small details about whatever got under his skin during cases. No names, dates or places, but Nell could tell that the reason that Nate was never able to get the man to talk was that he already had, to someone he had trusted for most of his life. As she read them, she could hear his loneliness. Sure, he trusted Sam to have his back, to be there for him, but to just talk? He had never been with anyone long enough to let his walls down til Sam, but by that point, it had become part of who he was not to talk about things like he told Mimi. Nell could understand keeping her from the team.

Throughout them all, however, was his praise, adoration and respect for her. She was shocked at the level of love she felt flowing from the letters. He was very good at hiding it from her and the others at work. She would never have guessed it. He had buried his feelings deep and only this trip had brought them out. She folded the last one she read and placed it very carefully back into the box. She placed the lid back on the box, and leaving it on the bed, headed down stairs to Callen.

"You knew that she would change her mind." Jason said as he and Mimi watched from the crack of the door frame.

"I had put it together some days ago when it was clear that one of them may need a little push." Mimi said as she pulled away from the door and turned to her husband. "Didn't know that I would need it for that reason." She giggled as Jason kissed her and allowed him to pull her to the bed.

Look for the next chapter. I hope this reads well and that you enjoy it.