Author's Note: A little short, I know… but I work better this way sometimes.

Exposed

Part 5: The Awakening

Chapter 1: In which Nell awakes in an unfamiliar place with a familiar person…

Nell Jones felt cold. Cold and damp. She swam to the surface of consciousness with the feeling that she had just been plunged into the depths of a freezing, black ocean. She opened her eyes only to promptly squeeze them shut and groan. The second attempt was slightly more effective. She actually managed to hold her eyes open for a few seconds and almost focus on the world.

She still felt cold and damp. Specifically... her forehead. She reached a hand to her brow and found the source; a wet cloth. Pulling it off and feeling more comfortable, Nell thought she'd give her eyes another try. The light was soft, and there were... vines? Was she in a thicket?! Fallen asleep for a hundred years like Rip Van Winkle?

Nell tried to sit up for a better view, but made it nowhere quickly, flopping back down with a groan. Her head! It felt like the inside of her skull had swelled several sizes whilst her cranium remained rigid, inflexible and about to split open under the internal pressure. What the hell was going on?!

Memories that would provide the answer seemed beyond elusive. Her head was throbbing so badly, it was all she could do to form the questions as to her situation, let alone ascertain the answers.

Okay, one more try. One more try and then she would just give up, fall back into that cold blackness. It seemed preferable to the pounding, pulsating, painful world.

Oh, frig it!

Nell tried to curl into the fetal position, but something heavy on her shoulder held her in place. Her heart leapt into her throat. And whereas her eyes were sluggishly resistant before, a surge of adrenaline and terror caused them to shoot open now. She wasn't alone!

Blue eyes in a familiar face calmed her nerves, but only for a moment.

Agent Callen?! What the hell was going on?!

"Welcome back to the world of the living."

Nell winced at the sound even though he had whispered the greeting to her, apparently more knowledgeable of her condition than she was. This time when she struggled to sit up, strong hands aided her, adjusting pillows (pillows! She was in a bed!) behind her. The world spun a bit as her head protested the movement. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath, and it subsided to its perpetual throb.

Any sense of serenity was fleeting however, for as soon as there was a free neuron in her aching brain, it was set to panicking fiercely. Think, Nell. Think. She was apparently in a bed -well, more on it than in it, but in an unfamiliar room nonetheless. With Agent Callen. He'd been sitting on the edge of the bed. She felt the mattress shift, indicating this was no longer the case. She cracked open one eye to see him disappear around a corner and heard the sound of a faucet being turned on. Okay. Not so bad. They were in some sort of hotel room, which could be very bad in a number of ways, inappropriate and embarrassing ways. But he'd been fully clothed, in a rather flattering charcoal grey suit and blue shirt that matched his captivating eyes and... stop!

Nell checked herself. She was dressed... barely! Looking down she saw mostly skin and... sans bra! She'd never left the confines of her own home without proper undergarments before in the entirety of her life. What had she been thinking when she picked this dress out for Trish's wedding?

Trish's wedding.

She was at the country club. This was the hotel. The wedding. She remembered the wedding. But... what happened later? How had Callen gotten here? How had she gotten into the hotel room... with him?

Just because they were fully clothed now... No. He would never. Oh! And neither would she. Not with Callen. No. But just because she felt a ball of panic swelling up in her chest again, Nell concentrated for a moment on her body. Everything seemed normal. She was pretty certain she'd feel it, the ache of using certain long-neglected muscles, had they'd...

The faucet had shut off a while ago and she heard footsteps signaling Callen's return. Her skin turned hot as a blush swept over her upon his reappearance.

Ridiculous, Nell! You're ridiculous!

When he sat down on the edge of the bed beside her once more, she felt the blush deepen from embarrassment. How could she ever think the man would have sex with her when she'd obviously been in some sort of state that she couldn't even remember afterward? How could she think he'd ever be interested in having sex with her at all? It was obvious he did not consider her in that way, that he sometimes barely tolerated her, and other times appeared to not know what to make of her at all.

No. Nothing of the sort had happened between them, which actually raised far more questions. If it wasn't a simple drunken lapse in judgment fling between the sheets, then...

"What the hell's going on?" Nell asked, wincing at the croaking sound of her voice.

Callen held out a hand. "Here. These should help with the headache without reacting badly to whatever's still lingering in your system."

She took the offered aspirin and popped them in her mouth, gratefully accepting the glass of water he held out to her next. Somehow she didn't choke on the extremely large gulp of satisfyingly cool and wet liquid. Greedily, she down the entire glass, feeling her parched mouth and throat soothed immensely for her hydration gluttony.

"Look at me," the senior agent in the room ordered. Nell gave him a confused look but then obeyed, as his stare turned clinical and she realized he wanted to examine her. There were worst things to stare into than gorgeous blue eyes. Becoming slightly entranced, she jumped when his fingers grazed her neck, searching out her pulse. He looked away, focusing on the expensive looking watch around his wrist.

Nell tried to be patient, knowing the way the man was, that he wouldn't answer any of her questions, tell her what was going on, until he was good and ready to do so. He touched the back of his hand to her cheek and then her forehead, and she was immensely grateful he had checked her pulse first because she felt her heart rate quicken at the gentle touch.

"You seem better," he announced after what seemed an eternity of deliberation. Nell bit her lip in order not to exclaim her demand for information. What was a clueless intelligence analyst, after all? A joke, that's what!

"How do you feel?" he asked, looking concerned and relieved at the same time, which Nell would've thought impossible, yet there it was on his face. One layered over the other. Concern in his blue eyes, relief softening the corner of his mouth.

"Like my head is about to develop its own gravitational pull."

Callen chuckled and Nell smiled stupidly.

"So. Are you going to fill me in on what's going on?" she asked. "I'm assuming you weren't on the guest list. I know we don't have many non-work related conversations, Agent Callen, but I thought you'd be polite enough to mention that you were also attending a wedding today, the same wedding. Perhaps we could've carpooled? Were you on the bride's side or the groom's?"

Nell would like to blame the rambling on the disarrayed state of her grey matter, but that would be a lie. She had always possessed a tendency to ramble, especially when under stress. Only after working with Eric, who seemed to suffer the same affliction, had she realized how uneasy it made every else around the rambler as well and had been trying to train herself otherwise. When it came to such circumstances as these, however...

Callen only smiled and gave her that damned amused, questioning look of his. He said nothing, the bastard!

"You know I know how to use a gun, right?" she asked. This earned her another smile. And then his expression turned grim.

"I take it you don't remember much of what happened earlier today?"

Nell nodded slowly, a 'Duh! That's why I was asking you' look on her face.

"You were drugged, Nell..."

A/N: See, if we break here, then we can easily bypass retelling of events we're already aware of… :-)