A/N: It has come to my attention that some people believe that I am making Deeks look like a jerk in the scene between him and Kristina a couple chapters previous. To those who think that, please know that this was and is not my intention in any way, shape, or form. If you have any ideas on how to improve that scene, or any others, please post a review or PM me! I love it when you do that and help make the story better. Nonetheless, I believe that what I posted before is true to Deeks' character. Feel free to PM me with disagreements. In the meantime, here is another chapter with Callen and Rachael. Enjoy!

Rachael sighed as Kristina parked the truck and trailer in front of the barn and turned off the truck.

"What?" Kristina asked as she turned to look at Rachael.

"Oh, nothing," Rachael replied. "I'm just glad to have her home."

"Gotcha," Kristina said. She pulled the keys out of the ignition. "Where are we going to put her?"

"I was thinking the field on the far side of Diamond's old field. I don't know who's been on and off that farm."

"Alright. Let's go then." They hopped out of the truck and began the process of unloading the horse. Rachael went to her head while Kristina undid the ramp. "Ready?" she called.

"Ready," Rachael called back. Kristina undid the butt bar and Rachael slowly backed the mare off the trailer. "Easy girl," Rachael murmured when the mare tried to rush. "You'll get there soon enough." When they finally emerged, Rachael paused to let the mare take in her new surroundings. The mare took in the farm with nostrils flared and eyes slightly wide. She whinnied once and listen to Jet and Diamond as they responded. Rachael rubbed her ear.

Kristina laughed. "Right in your ear?"

"Right in my ear," Rachael agreed. "Though she's not as loud as Jet." She shook her head, clearing her ear the rest of the way. Let's get her to where she belongs." She gently tugged on the lead rope, and the mare followed completely calm. Rachael turned the mare loose in the pasture and turned to Kristina. "Let's unload her stuff."

"Sounds good to me!" Kristina said in Stevie Rae's voice. Rachael laughed and walked back to the trailer.

They finished unloading and putting away everything by lunch. They chose a stall separate from all the others to be hers for the time being until she finished quarantine. After they finished, Rachael and Kristina ate a quick lunch before Kristina went to the grocery store for supplies for dinner.

Shortly after Kristina left, Rachael heard her phone go off. Who could that be? It was Callen asking for a lesson. "Go ahead and come. I'm free," Rachael muttered as she typed. She hit send. "Now to get ready to teach," Rachael said.

Callen looked down as his phone buzzed. It was Rachael.

"Thank goodness," he muttered under his breath. He put away the paperwork he was working on and pushed back his chair. Sam looked up.

"Where are you going, G?" he asked.

"Horseback riding lesson," Callen said as he stood up.

"Lucky," Kensi chimed in. "I'd love to trade places with you. Anything to get out of here."

"That's why I'm going," Callen said. He gathered all his stuff.

"Wait a minute, G," Sam called. "Aren't you coming back?"

"Well, you know," Callen said as he started backing out of the bull pen. "The lessons are an hour long, plus a half hour on either side for set up and clean up." He checked behind him for Hetty. Don't want to run over her. "Add to that, traffic going there and back and," he shrugged, turned around, and walked to the door.

Once outside of OPS, he took a deep breath, glanced around to make sure Hetty didn't startle him, got in the car, and drove off.

Thankfully, the roads were relatively clear, so Callen was able to travel quickly and think as he drove. The x-rays that Eric had sent him kept coming up.

They could have been caused by a jump, but they weren't in a linear pattern…. I'll have to ask Rachael about jumps and their formation though to make sure…. Even still, falling on a jump wouldn't explain her black eye.

Callen turned onto the highway that led to the barn. I hope Kristina isn't there… he wanted some alone time with Rachael. If the damage on the X-Rays wasn't caused by a jump… he decided not to pursue that line of thought. Though he'd bet a bottle of his best tequila that she was beaten and that the story would not be easy to tell.

He turned onto Rachael's drive way and drove up to the front of the barn. He parked the car, turned it off, and got out. As if summoned by a cue, Rachael appeared in her typical jeans, boots, and cowboy hat.

"Hey, Callen," she called out.

"Hey Rachael," he called back. He walked towards her. She looks tired, he noticed as he got closer. He stopped within arms' reach. "You doin' okay? You look tired."

"It's been a bit of a busy morning, but," Rachael's eyes lit up, illuminating her whole face. Wow… Callen was so distracted by the transformation that he completely missed what Rachael said.

"Hey," she said, startling him.

"Huh? What?" Callen stammered, trying unsuccessfully to recover.

"I think I may need to be the one who's worried. You okay?" Rachael asked.

"Yeah. I've just been in the office all day so I'm kinda spacey. What did you say?"

Rachael laughed. "I can totally understand that. I said that I picked up a horse for Kensi today. Would you like to see her?"

"Yes. I would love to."

She motioned for him to follow her. As they walked around the barn, Rachael's phone rang.

"Hello?" she answered. "Oh hey! What's up?... Really? Well, that sucks…. That's fine. Don't worry about it. You can cook me dinner another night." Rachael laughed. "Alright. I'll hold you to that. Now, go be Stevie Rae." Rachael laughed again and then hung up.

"Who was that?" Callen asked as they stopped by a fence.

"That was Kristina. She just got called into the studio for detail work. She was going to make dinner tonight, but I guess I'll have to do it instead." She shrugged. "Well, what do you think of her?" She motioned towards the pasture.

Callen looked. I didn't see a horse in there before…. Suddenly he spotted her. A brown horse with black legs and a black mane and tail. She looked to be tall but was ratty looking.

"She's…." he paused, not wanting to offend Rachael.

Rachael laughed. " I know she doesn't look like much now, but she's a beauty under saddle. She just needs to be cleaned up is all."

Callen shot Rachael a dubious look before turning back to the horse. "If you say so," he said.

Rachael sighed. "Just give her time, Callen. Now, you'll be riding Jet today. So, go get changed while I pull out your tack. We're going to switch things up today."

"Okay," Callen said. He went back to the car for his clothes and change in the tool room. She didn't sound too happy about having to make dinner, Callen thought as he changed. Maybe I can make it for her. Then I can have more time to ask her about the X-Rays. He dropped off the clothes he just changed out of at the car. When he got back to the front of the barn, he saw 2 sets of Western saddles with bridles hanging off of the horns. He turned to Rachael who was in the tack room. "What's going on?"

"We are going on a trail ride," Rachael said as she grabbed two grooming kits. "I will be riding Diamond and you will be riding Jet." She jumped down and handed Jet's kit to Callen. "I figured that you needed to have some fun and that it was time for you to try riding out of the ring. So," She said as she finished getting her stuff ready. "We are going for a trail ride."

"Ah," Callen said, watching her. He grabbed Jet's halter and lead line and started towards Jet's pasture.

"Hold on there, Callen," Rachael called as she walked quickly to catch up. "We're both going to the same pasture, so might as well go together. The two of them will probably be with each other anyway." She caught up to him and they started again together.

As they walked through the pasture, Callen smiled. While this wasn't exactly what he wanted to do with Rachael, it was a close second.

"What are you smiling about?" Rachael's question surprised him.

Damn it, he thought as he looked around trying to find something to smile about. Does she have to be so observant? He saw the horses in the distance. "Found 'em," he said, nodding in their direction.

"Ah," Rachael said. They walked up to the horses. Jet looked up and saw Rachael. He nickered and walked over to her. "Hi, honey," Rachael said cradling Jet's head. "I'm not here for you though. Callen's here for you. I'm here for Diamond."

Callen cleared his throat. "Hi, buddy," Callen said, slipping the lead line over Jet's neck. Rachael walked over to Diamond. Jet followed Rachael with his eyes but stood still as Callen slipped on his halter.

"Come on, let's go," Callen said. He started walking forward. He took two steps before he was jerked to a stop by the lead rope. He turned to look back at Jet. He was standing stock still, looking evenly at Callen. Callen sighed and walked back to Jet. "Walk on," he said firmly and walked towards the gate again. And stopped two steps later. Again. He turned, frustrated. "Really, Jet?" This is why I hate horses.

He heard Rachael laugh. "He's just being a butt," she called. "Just slap him with the lead rope and try again. He should walk after that."

Feeling embarrassed, Callen did as Rachael suggested, and Jet walked forward. Together, the four of them walked back to the barn, hooked up the horses to the cross ties, and began grooming. A half-hour later, they were done and were mounting.

"So, where are we going?" Callen asked as they settled into the saddle.

"You'll see," Rachael said with a smirk on her face. "when do you have to go back to the office?"

"I don't." Callen smiled.

"Alright." Rachael smiled back. "Let's go then!" She nudged Diamond forward.

They spent the next 3 hours roaming the trails, laughing as they trotted and cantered. Near the end of the ride, they raced up a hill Rachael dubbed "The Galloping Hill." Callen thought that he and Jet would win cause Jet was taller, but Diamond was in front from the start. Callen was impressed with Rachael's riding skills though. Diamond bucked his way up the hill, but she managed to stay on. They walked back to the barn to allow the horses time to catch their breath.

As they rode into the barn yard, Callen turned to Rachael. "That was fun. We should do that more often!"

Rachael laughed. "I'm glad you enjoyed it, Callen." She smiled at him, making his breath quicken. Damn, she sure is beautiful.

"Callen?" Rachael's voice startled him. "Are you gonna get down?" He hadn't noticed her dismount.

"Sure," he said as he swung his leg over and dismounted. He groaned as his legs hit the ground. He staggered and caught himself against Jet as his legs complained about changing shape after so long. He heard Rachael chuckling. "What's so funny?" he demanded as he slowly stood up straight. He glared over Jet's neck at Rachael, who was still chuckling.

"Nothing," she said, busying herself with loosening Diamond's girth. She turned back around and faced Callen. In addition to being flushed by the heat of the day, her cheeks were also red from laughing. What little anger Callen had melted away. He smiled back at her.

"Good. 'Cause if there was, then I wasn't going to cook dinner for you." He winked at Rachael.

"Excuse me, sir," Rachael said, cocking a hip. "But I don't recall inviting you to dinner." She smiled.

Callen's smiled broadened. "Well, if that's the case, then you can cook and eat dinner all by yourself." He led Jet into the barn and was followed by Rachael's laughter.

"I was only teasing," he heard her call as she followed him with Diamond. "Of course you can come over and cook dinner."

Yes! Callen cheered inwardly.

"But…" Rachael began.

Uh oh, Callen groaned inwardly.

"We have to feed the horses first," Rachael finished.

Phew, Callen thought.

"I can deal with that," Callen said as he started to untack Jet.

"Good." Rachael smiled at him. She quickly stripped Diamond of his tack and waited for Callen to do the same before she said, "Let's go hose 'em off."

"Okay." Callen followed Rachael. Hosing the horses was uneventful, though Callen desperately wanted to spray Rachael. After they hosed off the horses, they put them in their stalls and Rachael showed Callen how to measure out the feed and where the chart was. Rachael also added the new mare to the chart.

Wow. This is actually kinda fun, Callen thought as they finished. He followed Rachael up the stairs to her apartment. As they took off their boots and walked in, Callen said, "Alright. One rule for when I cook: no watching. So go take a shower or something and I'll let you know when dinner's ready." He gave Rachael a gentle push towards her room.

Rachael laughed as she allowed Callen to push her out of the kitchen. "Alright, but are you sure you don't want to take a shower?"

"I'm fine," Callen said. "Now go."