A/N - Hope you all had a lovely weekend. Now back to the business of posting some more chapters.

So enjoy the follow up to the previous chapter. Love to hear from you when you're done.

Chapter 35 - Self Defense

"How's Mrs Bradshaw?" Callen asked from his spot in Jessie's doorway.

Jessie looked up from her computer. "She's fine. Her son came over the next day when he got home and stayed with her the rest of the weekend. Made sure everything was okay."

"Did she ask about your night?"

Jessie sat back in her chair, crossed her arms over her chest and gave him a look that said he was in trouble. For what he wasn't sure.

"Not exactly," Jessie said slowly.

Interesting response. Callen moved into the room and sat on down on the couch. "Meaning?"

"Meaning," Jessie said. "I had to cover for you after she mentioned how disappointed she was that you left at three in the morning."

"How did she know I left at three?" He certainly hadn't made any noise when he'd left and had to walk straight past Mrs Bradshaw's door to the exit.

"She had trouble sleeping." There was a hint of worry on Jessie's face.

"What did you tell her?"

The worry slid away, a smile replaced the frown. "Don't worry G. You're reputation with her remains in tact. She still thinks you're wonderful."

Callen raised an eyebrow.

"What?" Jessie said.

"That wasn't what I asked."

Jessie rose and moved around to stand in front of her desk. "You don't need to know what I told her."

The slight hint of pink rising on her cheeks and the fact that she wouldn't look him in the eye told Callen a lot.

"Maybe not, but now I really wanna know," he said.

"Not gonna happen." The blush got stronger.

With that and her evasive answer, Callen's curiosity rose further. He just might need to call on her neighbour and make sure everything was okay for himself.

"I guess next time I'd better make sure I stay all night."

"I don't even know why you stayed until three," Jessie said. "The movie would've been done by eleven."

Callen worded his answer very carefully. "You weren't the only one who fell asleep."

They hadn't eaten at the table but their usual spot on the couch. There'd been no candles but there had been wine and as for the something more comfortable? She'd changed but certainly not in the direction the expression usually implied; he hadn't actually expected it. Not that it made a difference because what she had chosen was made of whatever soft material it was she seemed to favour at home and had been almost as distracting as she would've been in something else.

Jessie had fallen asleep about three quarters of the way through the movie. After the movie had finished Callen had quietly cleaned up the dinner dishes and carried her to her bed, even though he knew she would've been comfortable on the couch, leaving her in it alone this time. He'd stood in the doorway and watched her sleep for a few minutes, just to make sure she was completely there, and let his thoughts drift a little. He still couldn't quite place what exactly it was about her that had him coming back frequently, aside from enjoying her company which was obviously a good reason, except that wasn't usually the reason he sort her out. Sure this time had been because she'd needed them but he continued to find himself with her more often after rough days than he'd ever imagined he would. More so than he found himself with Sam or Hetty, or even the solitude he usually craved when things were bothering him. It was like she was becoming his safe place. Before he left her apartment he'd made sure to check that all the windows were secured. He'd had his hand on the front door ready to go but had stopped and switched on the small table lamp that she always left on overnight in the lounge room first.

It was at that point he'd sat on her couch and tried to figure out what was going on. She lived on the third floor with no balcony. The likelihood of someone trying to scale the outside walls to get into her apartment was pretty slim. Her couch was comfortable, he knew she had no problem sleeping on it, but still he hadn't been able to leave her there. And when exactly had he learned that she left that light on at night? He'd known it for a while. He knew if this was Kensi he'd have simply covered her with a blanket and walked out the door locking it behind him. Sure there'd been a break in downstairs but that's all it had been. With Sam he'd checked out every door in the building for any other signs of forced, or attempted, entry and there had been none. Eric had found the suspects on a surveillance camera he'd gained access to and run them through facial recognition. They had no connection whatsoever to him or any of the team. Just a couple of teens that were looking for a thrill and LAPD had tracked them down already thanks to an anonymous tip about security footage from the apartment building across the street.

She was safe but it didn't stop him trying to make her safer; getting an alarm system put in here was something he just had to figure out how to convince her to do and he knew exactly which one it would be. The temptation was there to stay the night but right now Callen was struggling with where to take, to borrow a phrase from Deeks, this thing with her. He trusted her, there was no doubt about it. They were friends, very good friends, but he needed to figure out what was going on beyond that. To figure out if she was interested or not in more. In all honestly the banter and flirty nature of the relationship made it that bit harder to work out.

While he'd been thinking and staring up at her ceiling sleep had pulled on the edges of his mind and he'd drifted between sleep and memories of them together, which was why he hadn't left until so much later. He hadn't wanted to pull away from those times.

"G?"

Callen pulled himself out of his thoughts when she said his name. "Sorry."

"Did you just come by to ask about my neighbour?" Jessie asked him.

"No." Callen straightened and focused on her and the here-and-now. "You're going to learn some more self defense." The basics weren't enough for this new life of hers.

"Why?"

"Have you forgotten about the break in already?"

"No." Jessie shook her head. "But it had nothing to do with me or this job. The police have already caught them."

Callen rose and stepped closer. "You're in a different world now. You need to know in case." He saw the mix of reluctance and acceptance in her eyes.

"Fine," Jessie said. "But I don't know when we'll fit it in."

"You're meeting with Sam in the gym in an hour." Because Callen knew how easy things got busy and he'd figured if he took away the option of when and just gave her a time it would more than likely happen.

"What?"

"Sam's teaching you self defense. And no, you're not getting out of it. I know you don't have any meetings."

"Why Sam not you?"

For two very good reasons. One, as much as he'd enjoy the close contact teaching her would bring, Callen wasn't entirely sure they'd get to much teaching the way the heat had been building between them and he was still trying to work out if she was willing to take them further. He was trying to find that out subtly because asking straight out would make the professional side more complicated than it already was if she wasn't.

And, because he wouldn't trust anyone else to get her through it, he was responsible for number two.

"I'm teaching you how to fire a gun." Callen saw the tension flood Jessie's body in an instant and, even though she had her desk right behind her, she seemed to shift further away from him.

"No." Jessie shook her head. "No you're not."

"Jessie," Callen shifted a little closer.

"No," she repeated firmly. "It's one thing to get through the fear of seeing them." Jessie moved away from him to an open space in the office before she turned around and faced him. "Or even being around them. But not shooting one." She shook her head again. "No."

Callen took a step closer. "If you end up in a situation where you have one and don't know what to do with it, it'll be even more dangerous."

"I'm not going to-"

"Yeah you might," Callen interrupted her. "I keep telling you Doc, this is a dangerous world you move in now."

"The only danger right now is you pushing your luck."

Jessie was scared. Callen heard it clearly in her tone as she tried to stop this. He stepped closer and she took another step back.

"What are you going to do Jessie?" Callen kept walking toward her as he spoke. "How would you get away if I wanted to hurt you?"

"You won't hurt me."

She was confident of that which was reassuring.

"I won't," Callen agreed and took the final step that would bring him close enough to her when her final step took her flush against the bookshelf. He put his hands on either of her arms at elbow height and trapped her there. "Do you know how to get away?"

"I didn't say no to the self defense." Her eyes locked with his. "Just the gun."

"All part of it," Callen said. Those brown eyes were swirling with so much emotion and had deepened in colour; the honey brown swallowed by the deep chocolate. Jessie shook her head and Callen saw the panic rise in the depths of her eyes.

"Jessie," Callen lowered his voice, "let me teach you how to keep yourself safe."

"I-"

"Trust me one more time. Have I let you down yet?"

"I trust you," Jessie told him in a soft voice. "It's not you."

"You can do this," Callen assured her. He'd make sure she could.

Jessie shook her head. "Please."

Callen pushed away and stepped back when the almost overwhelming urge to reach out and run his fingers over her cheek, or do something to shift the panic that was increasing in her eyes out of them, like lower his mouth to hers and make sure they both forgot what they'd been talking about. He didn't exactly think now was the right time, even if they were alone.

"You know," he said in a deceptively relaxed manner because he wasn't relaxed at all and it had nothing to do with the conversation. "It's in your employment contract."

"No," Jessie said. "It most definitely isn't. Trust me. I went over that very carefully and made multiple alterations with Hetty before signing it. I know exactly what's in it."

Callen smiled, grateful that he'd hit on something appropriate that distracted her enough that the panic was diminishing in her eyes. "It's in there Doc. I guarantee it."

"If you can find the clause that says that," Jessie told him, confidence replaced the hint of fear that had been in her words before, "I'll do it."

She should know him well enough that he wouldn't say something like that if he wasn't sure.

"Sounds like a bet," Callen said. "I'll take it." He watched the confidence fall from her expression in an instant.

"No." Jessie shook her head. "It can't be."

"It is. I told you it was."

"No." Jessie shook her head. "There isn't any mention of the word gun in my contract."

"Your job is to take care of the mental health of the team right?"

"Yes," Jessie confirmed. "And that is in there."

"Good. After work we'll get started," Callen told her. "I know you don't have a hospital shift tonight and any other plans can be cancelled."

Callen walked toward the door.

"Don't you walk away like this," Jessie demanded. "How?"

Callen turned back to her. "Because Doc," he said seriously, "the better you can defend yourself, the less I … We'll worry about you. And that's got to be a good thing for our mental health right?"

The look on her face was all the answer Callen needed. She knew he had her. He walked out of the room before she tried to talk her way out of it.

"How did it go with Sam?" Callen asked when Jessie walked up to his desk at the end of the day. He'd avoided the gym during the time Sam was working with her. He figured she didn't need the distraction of him there.

"Fine," she said, followed closely with, "I can't do this." It wasn't what she was learning with Sam that she was saying she couldn't do. Callen knew that.

"You can," he told her.

"No G." Jessie shook her head. "Please."

Callen rose from his chair and moved to the same side of the desk as she was. He leaned against the edge. "Jessie, it's the same as what we did before. One simple step at a time."

Jessie shook her head. "It's not simple."

"Think what you've overcome. Just a little step further."

Jessie stared at him in silence, silence that said way more than it should. She was scared, big time, but Callen knew that this needed to happen. Because this job came with enemies and they knew that those who would come after them wouldn't always make a frontal attack. Jessie knew that; had seen it already. Everyone in the team was a target to get to any of the others. Deeks could easily vouch for the dangers. Callen wished she wasn't on the list but he couldn't do anything about that unless he was prepared to chase her out of their lives and have her leave though, even then, he couldn't guarantee they wouldn't use her anyway, like Janvier had with Hunter.

"Give the first step a shot and we'll go from there," Callen said.

Jessie's eyes widened and he realised too late the words that had slipped out weren't quite appropriate, at least not for the seriousness of this conversation.

"Sorry." Callen stood up. He held out his hand to her. "Trust me?"

"You know I do."

His hand remained empty, but he kept it there and waited. Jessie took a slow deep breath in and then let it out as she put her hand in his.

"No guarantees past tonight," she said.

"One step at a time," Callen agreed. He tightened his hand around hers and lead the way out of the bullpen. When he stopped at the firing range door and turned to her a frown creased her forehead.

"Why here?" Jessie asked him.

"Here, if things don't go so well, it won't affect you too much."

"You think I'll fail."

"No." Callen shook his head. "I'm not going to let you fail Jessie." She would get through this, no matter how long it took, one small step at a time. "Here is a place you don't have to spend time in. If it doesn't go as well as I hope, isn't it better the memory is here than in your office, home or somewhere you need to be often?"

"Still talking to Nate?"

"Haven't been able to talk to Nate for a while. So far my instincts haven't let us down have they?"

"No, but obviously you think they might this time."

"I'm just planning for potential roadblocks. Always have a back up plan."

"So you have a plan for when I run screaming from the room?" There was a touch of sarcasm to her voice, better than panic or fear.

Callen stepped right up close. "Not planning on letting you run."

"How are you going to stop me?"

Callen slipped his arm around her waist and steered her to the door. "Can't run if I don't let you go."

Once inside, Callen slid Jessie's bag off her shoulder, put it on one of the hooks and with the hand that had stayed around her waist, shifted it to her back and directed her to one of the stalls.

"I'm not shooting one tonight," Jessie told him. "Can I at least draw that line?"

"One step at a time Doc. That's a long way off."

Callen stood next to her and watched as she took some deep breaths with her eyes closed.

"So," Jessie turned her head and looked at him. "What's your plan?"

Callen put his left hand on the bench in front of them, palm up, and used his other hand to put hers in his the same way. She stared at their hands for a moment before she looked at him, curiosity in her eyes. He smiled and kept his eyes on hers as he reached behind him and pulled his gun, already emptied and cleared, from his waistband. Her eyes followed the progress, with only a hint of fear in them, but the moment he placed it in her hand he felt the slight tremor run through her body. He closed her hand around the gun with his and put his free arm behind her, just touching her back and creating a barrier to stop her running.

"Close your eyes," Callen said quietly. He shifted his body a little further so he brushed up against her side. Her eyes darted to his before she closed them but not before he saw the slight deepening of the brown, that he was sure had nothing to do with fear. He wasn't about to push that side beyond the slight connection at her side and back. Distraction was warranted but he had a different kind in mind for now; though it could be a very good back up plan in the event that things went badly.

"What are you doing for Christmas this year?" Callen asked after she'd taken a few calming breaths.

"Going to Vienna."

"Hmm. Thought you'd be spending it with Trevor."

"He and Alex are going to the Caribbean this year."

"Don't want to join them?"

"Nope. Been there, done that years ago. Love them dearly but not again."

"Why not?"

"Third wheel is not exactly fun. It's not that they didn't include me, it's just that I felt like I was intruding on their time together. I ended up making excuses to do something on my own so they would get to be alone."

"Yet you lived with them." Callen was definitely enjoying the things he learned about her from these 'distracting' conversations. It was the little things she told him that added up to so much.

"Living with them was simply a transition from living with Trevor," Jessie said. "We made a life that worked from scratch. Vacationing with them like that was an entirely different scenario. Give me sightseeing or an active holiday like skiing or hiking with them and we're good. Not a beach holiday with all the trimmings of hot bodies, sun, sand and water and everything else that goes with that." Jessie shrugged and Callen saw the smile that twitched her lips. "Mind you, it was probably more the timing. They'd been having some problems, gotten through them finally and were feeling … like making up."

"Maybe next time you should take someone with you," Callen suggested. "Give them a taste of their own medicine."

Before she could make a comment and before he did the rather inappropriate, though incredibly appealing, thing of suggesting he'd be happy to go with her and help, he pulled them back on track.

"Other hand as well," he said softly in her ear. "Eyes stay closed."

Jessie slowly shifted her other hand and put it on the gun. Callen didn't miss the way it shook but he was feeling very proud of his doc for doing it without question.

"Do you ever spend Christmas with them?"

Jessie nodded. "Every few years Alex's family do a massive family Christmas. That's where I went last year. I've been to most of those since we met. Usually though I see them at New Year."

"What takes you to Vienna?"

"Markets, and the city, are supposed to be beautiful and since I haven't had chance to spend any time in the city yet, only transited through the airport, thought I'd give it a try."

"Are you going with someone?"

Jessie opened her eyes and looked at him with that question. "Are you asking about my love life Agent Callen?"

"No." But if you want to tell me what's going on with that I'm not going to stop you. "Just asking about your Christmas," was all he said.

"No," Jessie admitted. "On my own."

When Callen smiled confusion clouded her eyes. He wasn't quite sure how she'd taken it but he was happy to clear it up for her.

"Look down." Callen tilted his head just a bit in the direction of their hands but kept his eyes on Jessie's face and watched her reaction.

When she looked at her hands she promptly dropped the gun she was now holding on her own. He'd slowly slipped his hand away from hers as they'd been talking.

"Jessie," Callen said quietly, "Pick it up." Jessie didn't move, her eyes were locked on the gun and her breathing shallow, though fairly even and controlled. "You can do it," Callen added.

Her hands were trembling but slowly she did. She only held it for a few moments before she put it down again and backed away, straight into him. He'd moved behind her to let her pick up the gun without him being within her line of sight.

"See." Callen rested his hands on her hips. "You did it."

Jessie nodded slowly. Callen lifted one hand off her hip, reached for the gun and slipped it back in its place and the shirt back down over it. Jessie finally turned around and looked up at him with an expression he wasn't expecting.

"You like the distraction technique don't you?" she asked.

Callen wondered which one it was that worked this time - the conversation or the physical contact. Perhaps it was the combination of both. He smiled. "It does seem to work on you."

Jessie shook her head at him, the corners of her mouth lifted just a little. "I can see I'm going to have to be more aware of what you are up to."

Callen shrugged. "I'll just have to be more sneaky."

"More?" Jessie raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

Callen slipped his arm around her shoulder, steered her to the door and grabbed her bag before they walked out.

"If you know it's coming," he said, "it's not going to work."