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Title: Rogue Agents

Rating: M

Slash Warning: G/Sam

Story Details and Full Disclaimer on prologue page: My stories are a work of my imagination and I do not ascribe them to the official story canon. This is a work intended for entertainment outside the official storyline owned by CBS and the producers of NCIS:LA.

Reviews appreciated and welcomed.

Spin-The-Bottle

Chapter 13

G sulked on the back deck near the kidney-shaped pool, refusing to speak with Sam. After several hours, he entered the kitchen to get something to eat and found his partner making a sandwich. In silence G made himself a sandwich and brought it out to the kitchen nook to eat at the built-in table.

Sam chose to eat in the dining room.

G loathed the distant he had created between Sam and him. He needed the closeness of his partner during this tumultuous time. Damn it. He picked up his plate and milk and strode into the dining room, sitting across from him.

"I love when you get angry."

"What?" He raised his head and glanced across the oval-shaped, dark oak, dining room table.

"You're sexy." Sam licked his lips.

Damn it. He knows I'm needy and he is playing with my physical desires again. Sam was not Brad Gowan. Sometimes the lines blurred for him.

"Glad I bought you a dozen of those tight t-shirts."

"Crap!" G shot off his chair. "Do you have to act this way?"

"What way?"

"Ogling me, you know what you're doing."

"Ah the ogle, the quintessential mark of the insatiable lover."

"What the?" G slowly sat back down in his chair.

"Obviously, you've got a problem with me being in love with your sexy body."

"No." He sighed. "I'm angry about the… that game."

"And?"

"What makes you think there's something else?"

"With you, man, there always is."

G scowled at him.

"See, there it is."

He shot off his chair again, pulled the burn phone out of his back pocket, and started to dial a number.

"Remember, if you call her you'll need to destroy that phone."

"Screw you, bastard!" He dialed the number and left the room. "I've had it, Hetty, no more."

"Mr. Callen, I assume by this call that this is an emergency or that you two are ready to embark on your ops."

"Oh hell."

"I don't expect contact with you for any other reason," she said. "I thought I made that clear in your instructions left on the dining room table."

Crap. "I've got a problem, and I don't know how to, damn it, don't know how to reconcile it."

"Sam and you should be hashing out problems—"

"Hetty, no, listen to me, I can't do this ops, and don't ask me why, it's not happening and that's final." He paced the area in front of the fireplace, stopping every so often to stare into the embers.

"Mr. Callen, you have your orders," she said. "I fully expect you to carry them through to the end, whatever that might be for you."

Damn it. "I'm not coping with this."

"What part?"

"Part?"

"Yes, is it the memories?"

Gees, who does not know what I am going through. She must know through the files on my computer. Damn that computer. I should have never kept those files on there.

"Mr. Callen?"

"Yes, Hetty."

"Your instructions are to work through your memories with Mr. Hanna."

"You don't understand." No one seems to understand my dilemma. "How can I be sure he can't, crap, I can't even say this, I don't know how to say it?"

"Mind control and brainwashing issues, Mr. Callen?"

She does this again and again. Reads my mind with accuracy. "Yes."

"The more that is shared and dealt with, the less ammunition he'll have to use against you," Hetty said. "Do you have a name for me?"

There she is again, reading my mind. "Brad Gowan."

"Any relation to Twayne Gowan?"

"There is no Twayne, it's Brad."

"I hope you have an explanation for when we next meet."

"Mind control."

"Good-bye, Mr. Callen, the next time I hear from you I expect it to be news of you two starting your ops."

Before he could answer her back, the burn phone went dead. He pulled out the smart card and bent it into several pieces. Afterward, he threw them into the dying embers in the fireplace. Screw this all. G plopped down on the crimson couch and stared across the room.

Sam entered the kitchen with his plate and drink and put them in the dishwasher. With his hands resting on the red and white tiled countertop, he watched his partner for several minutes. "What did she say?"

"I'm screwed."

"She literally told you that?"

"Not in those exact words." He crossed his arms and leaned back into the cushions.

Sam plopped down on the opposite end of the couch. "If you want to talk I'm—"

"I'd like to scrap this ops," G said. "She won't let me out of it. I don't get it. She won't allow me to investigate when I got burned before. Yet she encouraged me to do this. It doesn't make sense."

"The circumstances are different."

"Good excuse."

"Put you feet over here and let me give you a foot massage."

"So you can seduce me?"

"Relax you, man, you're uptight." G decided to take his partner up on his offer and stretched out on the couch. Sam slid over and lifted his partner's feet onto his lap. He removed the left foot's sock and athletic cross trainer and massaged the bottom of his foot.

G sighed long and deep and relaxed into the leather couch. "You're right, I'm uptight," he said. "Feels great."

"And?"

"I have to tell you about the memories," he said, sighing. "And I don't want to do that."

"Why?"

"It brings up ambivalent feelings which I don't know how to deal with."

Sam massaged between G's toes which elicited a deep moan from his partner. "Your ambivalence about Brad Gowan teaching you about rogue operations and you liking and hating that."

"For one."

"Didn't know there was much more."

Too much more than he cared to share. At some point, G needed to engage himself in the ops. After his phone call to Hetty, he knew backing out of this ops was not an option. She expected him to lead Sam to find Brad Gowan and deal with him any manner he saw fit. Many dilemmas plagued G's mind day and night. If he did not talk about them soon, he felt as if a bomb the size of the one which blew Sam's Challenger 20 feet into the air would explode within him.

# # #

G dressed in multiple layers of clothes.

"If you're trying to hide your body from me, good luck with that," Sam said. "I'll find you under all those clothes."

He ignored Sam's comments and strode toward the family room and the game he decided was the least noxious way to talk about the memories. G sat down cross-legged at his spot in the circle and waited for his partner.

"Ah, you're ready for my favorite game, spin-the-bottle-and-make-G-confess-his-deepest-secrets."

He shot Sam a dirty look.

"Not happy with the situation?" He asked.

"It's better this way."

"But what's with the garb?"

"Just stuff it, man, and let's play."

"Time to change the rules to accommodate your excessive habit." He sniggered.

G's eyes widened as he watched his partner change the configuration of the game. "That's not fair."

Sam added two more 'share' cards where the omelettes had sat. "Who said I'm playing fair, man." He placed their two banana splits in the nine and three positions.

"I'm not doing this." G stood and started for the hallway.

Sam tackled his partner a few steps shy of the hallway. They tumbled to the carpet and wrestled until Sam had the upper hand, pushing G onto his back. "Escape artist."

"Damn it, you can't change it just because you want to," G said. "That's not fair. Screw you!"

"Oh, I love when you get angry, so hot and sexy," he said. "And probably would make for some steamy sex."

"Fuck you!"

"I'd like to." Sam laid on him lengthwise, shoving his partner's hands above his head. "Now, what's with the multiple layers of clothes?" He asked, inching closer to G's face.

"Ulterior motives."

"Is that how you're playing this?" He planted a hard kiss on his partner's lips and forced his tongue inside his mouth. Sam secured his partner's hands above his head with his left hand, and slipped his right hand under G's three layers of sweatshirts and t-shirts playing with the hairs on his chest.

G twisted and turned under Sam, trying to get free. "Stop this, man," he said, breathless after their passionate kissing.

"Stop getting you turned on and ready for our game." Sam rubbed and pinched his partner's right nipple. G writhed beneath him. "Yeah, now I'm getting a reaction." He switched over to his partner's left nipple.

He gasped and writhed. "Damn it, stop."

"Say it, give me the satisfaction and say it."

He shook his head.

"Stubborn, Mr. Houdini." He trailed his hand through the soft hairs on his partner's chest and finished with brushing across both nipples bringing them to hard points.

G writhed and panted. "Fuck!"

"And?"

"Damn you," he said, panting and squirming. "I wanted it the first way, just change it back and I'll tell you why."

"Nope, not happening."

"Asshole!"

"Foul mouth tonight."

G sighed. "I'm trying to, crap, I want to share more so I thought layers would work better."

"Why didn't you just tell me, man?"

"Why do I have to tell you?"

"That's fair, you shouldn't have to tell me everything." Sam released G's hands and rolled off of him.

He climbed on top of his partner and pushed him onto his back, straddling his waist and punching him in the chest. "Bastard!"

Sam grabbed his partner's wrists and held them. "What's with this crap?"

"You, damn it, I'm pissed at you."

"More like you're pissed with Hetty."

"No!" He jerked his arms backward trying to release them.

"Forget it, it's not happening, man." Sam rolled G over onto his back again and held his wrists beside his head while straddling his hips.

"Bastard!"

"What's with you tonight?"

"You." He spat out.

"I'm not buying that."

G released a long sigh.

"That's it relax, because we're not done," Sam said. "I'm not releasing you until you confess."

"Confess?"

"Yeah, what's really going on, man?"

"I wanted off this ops."

"You said that." Sam sighed. "Hetty won't give you the satisfaction."

"No."

"And?"

"Why do you keep saying that?"

"There's got to be more to get you this angry."

G sighed and averted his eyes to the ceiling. "Only one way to deal with my memories and it's sharing and that sucks," he said. "And to go on this ops, I need to share those memories or risk problems I'm not willing to have happen."

"Care to share?"

"Afraid Brad will try to control me."

"You mean use mind control or brainwashing to control you."

"Yeah."

"And Hetty gave you an answer for your problems you don't like."

"Yeah, share," he said. "Damned if I do, damned if I don't."

Sam released G's wrists and slid off him. "Let's go play and I'll return the game back to its original configuration." He stood and offered his partner a hand up and then pulled him into a hug. "I wish you would've told me about this before you got radical on me."

"Me?" He asked, pointing to his chest. "What about you?"

"You didn't like me wrestling you to the floor and groping your sexy body?"

G sighed. "Okay, you've got me there" he said. "I do like it when you play rough. I also enjoy and appreciate gentle lovemaking."

"Yeah, you do."

G sat down at his spot on the carpet and waited for his partner to sit. "I'm spinning it first."

"Be my guest," Sam said, gesturing with his hand and sitting across from his partner. He removed the extra 'share' cards.

He spun the beer bottle and the neck pointed at a 'share' card. G swallowed hard, removed his first sweatshirt, and thought about which memory to reveal.

# # #

After three hours of spin-the-bottle, Sam finally got his wish: G naked and lying next to him on the blanket in front of the fire. "How's the massage feel?"

He moaned and groaned.

"That's a good enough answer for me," he said. "Turn over and let me get your back."

"I'm fine with just this." He yawned and stretched for the second time.

"Mind telling what's going on, man."

G opened his eyes and half-turned toward where Sam sat in front of the rough marble fireplace. "The last part triggered me and I'm not interested in exposing myself in that way."

"That was an intense memory about that slab of wood."

"There's more to that memory." G sighed. "I'm not ready to share it."

Sam replaced the cap on the massage oil, set it aside, and reclined next to his lover. He wrapped an arm around his waist. "No pressure, sweetheart." He tenderly kissed G on the mouth and laid back down next to him. "Want to try out the last bedroom?" They had managed to use all but one of the five bedrooms.

"Maybe later on."

"Okay, you're stalling now, talk to me."

"I'm just, crap," he said, squeezing his eyes shut. "Triggered."

Sam drew him closer. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I tried, man, but you weren't getting it." G rolled onto his side and wrapped his arm around his lover's waist snuggling into him and shuddering.

Sam pulled the blanket over them both. "We good or do you want me to hold you in bed?"

"Here." He shivered hard, flashbacks attacking his defenses and threatening to shatter them. "Please, make it go away." He squeezed his eyes shut again and cringed, crossing his right leg over his lover's legs and pulling himself closer to him. "I can't do this any more. I need to stop."

"We're done, sweetheart."

"No, not that, everything."

"Everything?" Sam asked. "You mean the ops?"

"Yeah, everything."

"You talked to Hetty and she said you couldn't quit."

"So?"

"Come on, man, you need to follow through with this ops."

G buried his face in his lover's chest hiding the tears now forming in the corners of his eyes.

Sam raised his lover's chin and gazed into his eyes. "You need to tell me what's going on."

"Don't know."

"Come on, you do, you just don't want to tell me." G rolled off of Sam and turned to face the kitchen. Sam drew him back into his body and tightened his hold around his lover's waist. "Is this about the mind control?" G nodded. "I told you not to worry about it. You've worked through enough of those memories."

"I can't help but think Brad can manipulate me, making me do something I don't want to do."

"I'll be right there with you."

"And you think that will stop him?" G asked. "Don't think so."

"Maybe there is something he made you do which you don't remember."

"Don't know, and that's what scares me," he said. "What if I see him and suddenly react to the programming he initiated years ago? I won't be able to stop him from indoctrinating me again. Plus I don't remember what happened at the glass shop and there's still no intel on that." Nobody knows what happened at the glass shop. No intel from Eric. No intel from Nell. And no intel from Hetty. Ten hours of my life are missing No one can tell me what happened during those hours. Now Hetty wants me to track down and confront the man who could very well drag me back into a situation I could not cope with. Maybe Sam is right, this is about something more sinister than a man abusing me.

# # #

Sam awakened to the sounds of his partner packing his gear on the fifth bedroom's closet floor. He climbed out of bed and sat on the floor next to him. "I said this could wait until later on this evening."

"Yeah."

Sam wrestled his lover backward onto the burgundy toned carpet and half laid on him. "Is that all you have to say to me?"

"Yeah." His eyebrows furrowed, almost touching.

"Come on, man, you need to relax."

"Can't sleep and this relaxes me, preparing for our ops," G said.

"How long did you sleep last night?"

"I didn't."

"How about a massage?"

"What if you're right about this guy?"

"What?" Sam glanced at him sideways.

"About it being something more sinister." This was G's worst nightmare for an ops. He did not know his enemy's intentions. The man had toyed with his body, toyed with his emotions, and toyed with his mind. The odds were stacked against him emotionally, mentally, and physically. If only if this ops had been like most of them, G would not feel on edge as if he were walking a tightrope above the Grand Canyon without a safety harness, without safety rope attached to the tightrope wire, without gloves to hold onto the wire, and without special shoes to help keep his balance on the tightrope wire. He was lost in some limbo land blindly feeling his way through it. He did not know where he was going.

"You refused to have sex last night."

"Why do you keep up with this crap?"

"What?" Sam asked. "Asking you if you want a massage is crap?"

"Yeah, right now it is, it has nothing to do with the ops."

"You're obsessed." He rolled off of G and stood. "I'll go make us lunch." He grabbed his bathrobe off a hook on the back of the closet door and left.

"Well, screw you too, asshole!"

Close to the hallway, Sam flipped on his heels and marched back into the closet. He hoisted his partner off the carpet, pushed him over to the bed, and shoved him onto it face down. "No, screw you." He removed his bathrobe and laid on G lengthwise.

"Bastard!"

"Get it all out of you."

"What out of me?"

"You're still angry about the ops and Hetty giving you no choices."

G sighed. "Yes and no."

Sam sighed. "That's not the answer I expected to come out of your mouth."

"I've resigned myself to going," he said. "She's given me no other choice."

"And?" Sam slipped off his partner sideways and faced him.

"The mind control and brainwashing has me worried."

"I told you I'll have your back."

"Remember when you read the text message on my phone back to me and I reacted to it."

"Yeah."

"What if that happens to me again?" G asked. "What if this time you can't stop how I respond to that programming?"

"You think he'll make you go to a glass shop." The corners of his mouth turned upward.

G wrestled Sam onto his back and straddled his waist. "Must you always interject some humor into a serious conversation?"

"Yeah," Sam said. "You get too freaked out over things out of your control."

Crap. "I never used to be this way."

"It's because of what happened to you with Brad Gowan," Sam said. "The unknown on this ops is just that, unknown."

"And like nothing we've ever dealt with on an ops," G said. "And we have no backup." He rolled off of his partner and laid on his side facing him. "Inside I'm a mess…"

Sam drew his partner into him, rubbing his back. "I know, sweetheart, I'm here if you need to talk or if you just want to be held."

"And if you just want to make me into a s'more sandwich."

"I missed you last night."

"I can't."

"I know."

G snuggled into Sam's chest and wrapped his arm around his partner's waist.

# # #

G paced the hallway holding a burn phone in his hand and trying to muster the courage to call Hetty. It was time to inform her of his decision to go to Washington DC. Pacing when nervous or on edge was not something which G did often. When he did it meant only one thing to him, he rather not follow through with whatever it was that he was told he had to do. Orders were orders. G stopped again and stared at the phone in his hand. Damn it. He dialed her phone number and waited for his supervisor to pick up on the other end.

"Mr. Callen."

"Hetty."

"When do you leave?" She asked.

"Ten minutes." He heard a click in the phone and knew she had hung up. After he shut off his cell phone, G turned the phone over and pulled out the smart card and destroyed it. He threw the destroyed card in the dying embers in the fireplace. Afterward he warmed himself in front of the fire.

"Ready?" Sam asked, entering the family room.

"Yeah." He threw the burn phone's shell into the trash bag his partner held in his hands.

"What did she say?"

"Less than I thought she would, my name and asked me when I was leaving."

"You serious?"

"Yeah," he said, "I think she thought the least amount of time I was on the phone with her the better. I'd have less time to back out of the ops."

Sam drew his partner into a hug. "Let's go get this bastard."

"My sediments exactly." He hugged his partner back. Before G could pull away, Sam kissed him softly on the lips. "That was a smooth move."

"Yep, more where that came from and soon." He took his partner's hand and lead him to the garage.

"You packed it without my help." G said.

"You've got too much on your mind, sweetheart, it was the least I could do for you." He opened the passenger door and helped G get in.

He reached for the seatbelt. "I can do this."

"Remember," Sam said, leaning over and securing G's seatbelt in place and kissing him, "I intend to keep up my part of our new tradition."

G wrapped his arms around his partner's neck and pulled him close, planting a tender kiss on his mouth. "And I will keep up my part of our new tradition." He released him.

"And as part of our new tradition, the car has been officially checked over from bumper to bumper." Sam closed the passenger door and climbed into the driver's side. He grasped G's left hand and kissed it. "I love you."

"There you go again, mixing pleasure with business," G said. "I love you too."

"Can't separate the two of them."

"Tried."

"Failed." Sam kissed G's hand again. "And I'm glad you and I both failed at that." He revved the engine and backed out of the garage. "And I'm glad you convinced me that a red metallic Challenger was the way to go."

G pulled the iPad2 out of his carryon pack and plugged it into the car's stereo system. He searched for the song Sam had downloaded for him and pressed play. He started to sing along with the song. "…Born to be wild…"

Thank you for reading my story.