A/N: For any returning readers, thanks for not giving up on me after a long hiatus from writing/posting. One of my fics was plagiarized and posted by someone else on AO3 last year, which kind of put a damper on my motivation to write and post until I got that resolved. As I did start writing again, I got focused in on a multi-chapter fic I'm working on within The Walking Dead fandom.
Nallen still has a piece of my heart though, and this is my take on a Nallen version of one of my favorite tropes.
Timeline-wise this could loosely fit somewhere around season four or five I'd say, because that's the point in the series where my Nallen muse thrives the most, but imagine it wherever it makes sense for you.
Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS:LA or the characters.
This wasn't quite how Nell had imagined this would go. And yes, she'd imagined this, though she'd never admit it out loud. Except, in her imagination, she and Callen being pressed up against each other like this would be part of a night of hot, steamy, passionate sex. And she'd be wearing better underwear. And it would have nothing to do with work or any sort of life or death situation.
But alas, this was not her imagination. In all the unbelievable situations their jobs had put them in, she would never have even imagined this particular situation would occur.
Yes, she likes spending time in the field and has been doing so more often lately. But she'd rarely traveled with the team for field assignments outside of southern California. For those more intensive missions, she usually was most useful running things from ops. But they'd needed her technical expertise on this one and weren't sure they'd have a clear signal on coms to talk the other agents through it, so she needed to be on-site here in Colorado. No big deal.
Except nothing with this case had been going according to plan. They had intel about a conspiracy theorist turned potential homegrown terrorist who had developed a more advanced weaponized self-piloted drone he was seeking to the highest bidder. Of course being a bit of a recluse, he'd arranged for the buyer to meet at a remote cabin in Colorado for a demonstration before finalizing the sale. The trouble was they didn't know the specifics of what type of weapons the drones were equipped with or how much damage a test run might do. There weren't many high-value targets in the immediate area, but there was a small university not too far off and various small towns and ski resorts. Even if they were trying to keep the demonstration under wraps by aiming for the open wilderness, there was a high risk it could cause an avalanche putting people at risk.
When they'd caught up with the suspect at his cabin, there were no drones or weapons to be found. They did find a set of keys to various vacation rental cabins where his brother worked maintenance though.
And so, Deeks was questioning the suspect at the local Sheriff's office while the rest of the team split up to check out a few of the vacation cabins, with Callen and Nell taking the two to the north while Sam and Kensi took the three to the east.
They made it to the first cabin quickly and without incident, finding it empty and with no signs of the drones. Nell knew later Callen would tell Hetty they had a "minor accident" with their snowmobile when a heavy snowfall and freezing rain started unexpectedly and impaired their visibility on their way to check the second cabin. And by "minor accident" he'd mean the snowmobile was currently half submerged in a small pond, Callen had gone partially in with it and ended up completely soaked on his left side, and Nell was sporting what she hoped was just a sprained ankle. Most of their gear on the cargo rack was a lost cause, but they each still had their small daypack.
Thankfully they were less than a mile from the cabin by that point and managed to make the hike without further incident. The cabin appeared quiet when they arrived, but they approached cautiously anyway, guns drawn as they entered the small one-room cabin.
Once they'd deemed it safe, a shivering Callen made a beeline for the fireplace, relieved to see a bucket of kindling and a small stack of firewood. Grabbing a few pieces of each he knelt in front of the fireplace, trying to control his shivering long enough to arrange the kindling.
"Here," Nell was at his side, holding a large quilt she'd pulled from the bed and reaching for a box of matches on the mantle. "I've got this, you need to get out of those wet clothes. You're probably already hypothermic."
Callen nodded, standing and taking the quilt from her and stepping back slightly before unlacing his boots and kicking them off.
As Nell got the fire started, she tried not to blush at the sound of Callen's clothes rustling and dropping to the floor. When the movement stopped she turned to pick up the wet clothing, wringing out the excess moisture and draping it over the backs of the two wooden chairs at the small table between the fireplace and kitchenette before dragging the chairs closer to the fire in the hopes of helping them dry.
"So the drones must've been at the other cabin, right? You think Sam and Kensi are okay?"
"Th-theyre f-f-fine," Callen replied through chattering teeth.
"Shit," Nell said, looking up at Callen's still shivering form. "Here." She took him by the arm and led him closer to the fireplace. She stood looking at his back, thinking through what she knew of hypothermia and considering their options.
She glanced around the cabin again, spotting a wooden chest at the foot of the bed. Finding more blankets inside she grabbed two and brought them back over to Callen, leaving one folded, she laid it on the ground behind him.
"Here, sit."
As Callen lowered himself down to a seated position on the blanket, Nell took a few deep breaths to calm her nerves. She unzipped her coat and started removing her own extra layers, which were fortunately mostly dry.
Callen turned toward her just as she was down to her base-layer T-shirt and leggings. "Wh-what're you-" Callen started, still shivering.
Nell pressed a hand on his shoulder, turning him back around to face the fire before she continued, stepping out of her leggings and pulling off the t-shirt. "I"m trying to keep you from freezing to death." Nell mentally cringed as she looked down at her black sports bra and Back to the Future underwear.
As Callen realized she was planning to use her own body heat to help him warm up, he thought he should at least try to argue. He wasn't sure if that even worked or if it was a myth. But at this point he also felt like he'd never be warm again and thought he'd try just about anything.
He felt Nell brush up against him as she reached over his right shoulder and across his body, holding one edge of another blanket out to him. "Hold this a sec," she said.
Callen did as he was told, taking the corner of the blanket in his left hand while Nell unwrapped the first blanket from his right side and slipped inside. He smiled at the clever way she'd managed to keep most of the warmth trapped inside the blankets as she wriggled and shuffled around wrapping them up together in the blankets.
And then suddenly Nell was completely surrounding him. His first thought was she was so warm. He was pretty sure he let out some sort of involuntary sigh or even a soft moan at the sensation, but he couldn't be sure.
They sat there in silence for a while, aside from the sounds of Callen's teeth chattering and the crackle of the fire. Callen wasn't sure how much time had passed, but then, as more coherent thought returned to him, he still couldn't understand how someone so tiny could be wrapped around him so completely; could be everywhere at once.
He could feel one arm draped over his shoulder and onto his chest as her other arm wrapped around the opposite side of his body around his ribcage. Her head was resting on his shoulder as her torso was pressed up against his back. He could feel the swell of her breasts against his upper back and was thankful she'd left her bra on because this was not the time to be thinking about Nell's breasts, and it was going to be difficult enough to ignore them as it was with how tightly she was pressed up against him. He refocused his thoughts on the mental scan he was performing and was still confused until he figured out the warmth and pressure against the outside of his upper left thigh was her calf. She was kneeling on one knee behind him with her other foot planted on the floor next to his leg. The wide stretch of warm skin pressing against that side of his lower back was her inner thigh. Callen resisted a groan at that realization.
"You can't possibly be comfortable sitting like that." Callen was relieved to find that despite his continued shivering, his teeth had stopped chattering quite so badly and he could speak more normally now.
"I'm fine," Nell replied. "This seemed like the best way to maximize skin to skin contact."
Callen smirked, "I noticed."
"Hey, there's no way I'm facing the wrath of Hetty and Sam if I let you freeze to death."
"Oh come on, I can't be killed that easily. I'm freakishly lucky when it comes to survival."
"That may be so, but you took a dip in a partially frozen pond, walked a mile in wet clothes through a snowstorm, and you were shaking so badly I doubt you could've lit a match."
"Fair point. But I would've warmed up eventually once you got the fire going."
Nell loosened her grip and started to pull away slightly, but before she could get a word out, Callen's hand was on her forearm, pressing it gently back onto his chest. "Hey," he said, turning his head toward her slightly. "Thanks. This helps a lot more than just the fire was doing. I'm glad you had my back today."
"What, you don't want to snuggle with Sam for warmth?" Nell teased.
"Sam and I have been through a lot together, but so far we've managed to avoid spooning and I'm not sure this would've been quite life-or-death enough for either of us to want to change that."
A few moments of quiet passed.
"You know," Nell paused thoughtfully, "I don't think I've ever been the big spoon before."
Callen let out a snort-like laugh. "I don't think what you're doing right now can qualify you as any size spoon. More like some sort of spider monkey."
It was Nell's turn to laugh, and she couldn't seem to stop, turning her face into the crook of Callen's neck as she burst into a fit of giggles.
"What? It's an accurate description!"
"No, I know, " Nell took a minute to catch her breath. "It's just… Have you ever seen Twilight? Those teen vampire movies?"
"There's a monkey in a vampire movie?"
"I take it you never saw them?"
Callen shook his head.
"They're not so much vampire movies as these horribly cheesy teen romance movies that happen to have vampires as some of the main characters. And there's this iconic horribly cheesy line where Edward calls Bella a spider monkey while she's clinging onto his back. It became like this huge thing… I can't believe you said that and you haven't even seen the movie."
Nell relaxed into him as her laughing subsided, Callen's hand still loosely clutching her forearm to his chest and Nell's cheek resting against his shoulder. Callen was relieved she was okay. Snowmobile accidents could be serious; deadly even. They'd been lucky.
Callen felt Nell shift slightly against his back and he was again reminded that she was kneeling in an awkward and uncomfortable position. "Okay, your knee has to be killing you."
Nell shrugged, "it was this or lying down and I didn't want to risk you falling asleep while hypothermic."
"Smart thinking. You can move now though, if you want. I think I'm out of the woods. I'm hardly even shivering now, see?"
Nell paused. He did seem a bit better, with just some occasional shivering. And while she wasn't terribly uncomfortable, she knew she needed to do something about her ankle soon anyway.
Nell raised her head off his shoulder and unwrapped her arms from around his torso. Callen turned to make room for her to come sit beside him, but Nell was already extricating herself from the blankets completely. "I should really get this ankle elevated at least."
"What's wrong with your ankle!?" Callen turned around quickly in concern and saw her walking with a slight limp as she made her way over the bed, picking up a few pillows.
"It's nothing. I just think I sprained it earlier in the accident."
"You said you were okay!"
"And I am. We were thrown off a snowmobile, so considering the circumstances this is nothing. It's not like I can't walk on it."
Callen shook his head in exasperation, leaning over to grab his backpack where he'd dropped it by the fireplace earlier. "First aid kit was in a dry bag, everything should still be good," he said as rifled through it. Holding up an ace bandage he waved her over "here, let's take a look at it."
Realizing she was still in her underwear he took the outermost blanket from his shoulders and handed it over to her. She wrapped herself in the blanket and sat on the floor, extending her bad ankle out toward him.
He gingerly ran his hands over the swollen joint. "It doesn't look broken. I think you're right, it's just a sprain."
Nell rolled her eyes as Callen started to wrap her ankle. "Gee, who would've guessed."
Callen finished with the bandage but still lightly held her foot in his hand. "How's that?"
"It's good, thanks." He set her foot down and she scooted back over to sit beside him.
He picked up the pillows and stacked them up in front of them before extending one arm in invitation. "C'mere."
She unwrapped her own blanket and draped it over his shoulders alongside her own as she settled into the crook of his arm, propping her foot up on the pillows.
"Oh, hang on." Callen untangled one arm from the blankets and picked up the first aid kit, passing it over to her along with the water bottle from his backpack. "There should be some ibuprofen in there."
Nell swallowed down the pills and set the kit aside, looking around the cabin. "You know, we're lucky this is a vacation rental, even if it's shut down for the off season it's better than a rickety little hunting cabin or something. This place is almost cozy."
"Cozy enough that this counts as a second date?" Callen teased, pulling her more snugly against his chest.
Nell laughed, "if it is, it's definitely the most unique second date I've ever been on."
"I aim to please."
"I dunno, I don't think we get to count work as a date. Probably not a great precedent for maintaining professionalism."
"Hmm. Fair enough." Callen said, "Speaking of work, how much longer do you think before someone comes to get us? I don't think we're hiking out of here on our own anytime soon."
Nell thought over their original plan.
"Well, assuming the drones are at one of the other cabins, I guess it depends on which one they found it at and how smoothly that all went." The plan had been for whichever pair didn't find the drones to circle back toward town and check in with Deeks once they were in range of comms. If there was still no update from the other team they'd head out toward those cabins to meet up with them. "Eventually Sam and Kensi will get back into town. When we're still not back even after they've dealt with the drones, and maybe even the buyer, they'll know something's up and come looking for us. But I guess if they don't find the drones they might head here sooner thinking we found them, but that seems unlikely. The vacation cabins were our best lead."
"So at least a couple hours then."
"Seems like it. And even if your clothes dry before then, I think you're right. Without a snowmobile heading back on our own is a bad idea, especially as late in the day as it will be. I don't want us stuck out there after nightfall."
"Agreed. But if they don't come tonight then something must've happened. We might need to hike out tomorrow morning. Think your ankle will be up for it?"
Nell nodded, "Yeah. My boots should give some added stability at least. I'll manage."
"Do you wanna tell me why you didn't mention your ankle earlier?"
Nell turned sideways so she was able to look at him while they talked, draping her legs across Callen's thighs while he helped her move the pillows over for her ankle. "It wasn't important at the time. I could put weight on it and we just needed to get you out of the cold and dried off as fast as possible."
"I get it," Callen nodded, "but an injury is always important. I wish you'd mentioned it. Or I should've noticed."
"It's hardly even an injury."
"I'm serious. Look, you trust me, right?"
"Of course."
"And I trust you. When you're in ops I trust the intel you give me and when we're out in the field I trust you can handle yourself and that you've got my back." Nell started to respond, but Callen continued. "No, I do. I know you're an analyst but you hold your own in the field and no one on this team doubts that of you. But when we're out here, we make judgement calls based on what we know of the other person's abilities. If you're not at the top of your game your partner needs to know."
"What, like you've never downplayed an injury?"
Callen shook his head, "Of course I have. We all do. It comes with the territory. We all think the job and the case is more important than a little pain and we push through it. Downplay it all you want. We trust each other to know our own limits, but we've gotta know if you're not 100%. I believe you when you say you'll be okay hiking out tomorrow if we have to. But I'm also gonna pay more attention to the terrain on our route and be more aware of our pace. And if we were caught in a firefight I'd know you might not be moving as fast."
Nell sighed, "You're right, that all makes sense."
"Can I ask something else?"
Nell nodded.
"Not that I was intentionally looking, but was that a DeLorean on your underwear?" Callen teased with a smile, lightening the mood.
"Ugh," Nell buried her face in her hands. "You were not supposed to see those."
"Oh come on, they're cute."
"They're not exactly the underwear a girl wants to be wearing the first time a man she's dating sees her in her underwear," Nell said, peeking through her fingers.
"So does that mean there's going to be a second time I see you in your underwear."
Nell smacked him lightly on the shoulder. "Not if you keep teasing me."
"Then in that case I'll remind you that as we are at work, I'm simply a coworker who saw you in your underwear that you seem to think are embarrassing. Not the man you're dating, who might hypothetically at some point like to see you in your underwear under different circumstances."
"That's not actually any better."
"Does it help if I tell you Back to the Future is one of my favorite movies?"
Nell narrowed her eyes at him, "you're making that up."
"It's true. I snuck into the theater to see it six times the week it came out."
"Impressive."
"That I saw it six times or that I snuck in and never got caught?"
"Both I guess. Not that I approve of sneaking into movie theaters but you had to be what, fourteen, fifteen? And you never got caught?"
"Fifteen." Callen replied. "I'd found myself in a lot of tough spots growing up but as a teenager I realized I was pretty good at getting out of them too. I started trying to see what I could get away with without being in trouble first, you know? Avoid getting caught in the first place"
Nell nodded but stayed quiet. It was rare for Callen to talk so openly about his past.
"The movie theater was fun because it was pretty low risk if I got caught and I could try out all different methods of getting in. I'd wait for the employees to take the trash out and then I'd slip in while they had the back door propped open. Or I'd talk to one of them while they did that and stick something in the door so it wouldn't latch and I could sneak in later. I'd bump into someone and take their torn ticket stub off them without them noticing. It was just fun I guess. A few times I just talked my way in, but obviously I couldn't do that with the same employee more than once.
"At first I didn't really care what movie I made it in to see, it was just about the challenge. And it gave me a place to be other than my foster home. I think I ended up seeing The Breakfast Club the first time I made it in, which was pretty good. But then I sat through the whole Care Bears movie and there was no way I'd make that mistake again so I started being more strategic about which movie was playing. Once school was out I started going more often. I think I watched The Goonies two or three times. But Back to the Future was my personal record of 6 times. I finally got caught trying to watch one of those National Lampoon movies and they banned me from the theater. I still went back a few times, but I'd run out of different ways to sneak in and was getting a little bored by then anyway.
"I uhh… kept pushing the limits after that." Callen said, a bit more cautiously now. "If Hetty hadn't intervened when she did I probably would've ended up being a criminal instead of catching them."
Nell waited a beat, to make sure Callen was done speaking. "Wow. I knew you were a natural at what you do, but I didn't realize it went back so far. That you were already figuring it out before you had any training."
Callen nodded, "yeah, I didn't really realize it at the time though. Hetty was the first one to see me as anything but a troublemaker. To show me there were ways I could do those same types of things and actually help people."
"Well I'm glad she stepped in when she did then," Nell said, giving his arm a gentle squeeze with her hand. "And for what it's worth, I think you make a much better federal agent than you could've ever been as a criminal."
"Hey, I could've been a great criminal. A criminal mastermind even."
"Mhmm, I'm sure you could have." She patted his chest lightly before sliding her hand onto his shoulder to steady herself as she started to stand. "I should get dressed."
Callen nodded, averting his eyes as she disentangled herself from the blankets and stepped behind him. "Don't want any more coworkers to see those DeLoreans?"
"Definitely not," Nell answered, leaning down to speak softly in his ear. "You can sneak another peak if you want though."
"No way. Next time I see those it's going to be as G. Callen, man you went on a date with, not Special Agent Callen, the coworker who has to keep things strictly professional."
Apart from some PG-rated cuddling and some PG13-rated flirting, they did manage to keep things strictly professional for the rest of their time in the cabin. And the next time Callen saw Nell in her underwear, it was not due to life or death circumstances, and she was wearing a navy blue matching set with lace trim which she wasn't the least bit self conscious about. He saw the Back to the Future pair again soon though, and made sure Nell knew just how much he liked them.
The End.
A/N: Thank you for reading! Reviews/comments are always appreciated! This fic will be staying a one shot but I'm back to work on my other Nallen fics now and hope to post new chapters for those soon. (And if you like The Walking Dead, particularly if you're a Bethyl fan, keep an eye out for the new fic I'll be posting soon!)
