She was surprised when Callen didn't back away. Instead he deepened the kiss and brought her closer to him. A moment later Callen came to his senses and backed away. Zoë and Callen just stood there looking at each other.

"I'm sorry," Callen spoke after a while. "I'm not sure what happened…" Callen said, hoping he had not screwed up his friendship with Zoë.

"It's okay. It was actually kinda nice," Zoë replied.

"It was?" Callen asked with a hint of a smile.

"Yeah, it was. I don't regret that it happened. I've actually wanted to do that for some time now, but I wasn't sure about it. I could feel something going on between us."

"Yeah, I know. I think I felt that too but I wasn't sure what it was. I've never felt this way before. I'm not sure what these feelings are and what they mean."

"I feel it too. I feel more for you than just as a friend and I've really enjoyed this trip with you."

"Yeah I've enjoyed that too. I think I feel more for you than just as a friend too, but I'm not sure what it means, what it means for us. But if it's okay with you, I would like to find out, find out together with you."

Zoë smiled at Callen. Was he really saying he wanted to try to have a relationship with her? She never thought she would fall for Callen, but she was. She never thought Callen would feel the same way about her, but he did.

"I'd like that," Zoë replied with a smile.

"I don't know where we go from here or what it means. I've never felt this way before but I feel like if I don't at least follow it I might never know."

"How about we just go slow and see where this leads?"

"Yeah sounds good. But I do feel like kissing you again. Is that alright?"

"I'd like that," Zoë smiled at Callen.

With a smile Callen stepped closer to her and brought his lips to hers again. He deepened the kiss and wrapped his arms around her waist and brought her even closer to him. It felt so nice to kiss her, her lips tasted so sweet. He couldn't stop himself from kissing her more and more. He suddenly realized that if he didn't stop kissing her it would probably go further than that, it was probably too soon for that. Callen pulled his lips away from her and Zoë immediately whined at the loss of his lips. It felt so nice kissing him, his lips where so soft. Callen rested his forehead against hers.

"We should probably go to sleep," Zoë said. 'We have to get up early to go to the airport."

"Yeah we should."

Callen kissed her once more before they went to sleep. Around 5.30am their alarms went off. They grabbed their bags and checked out of the hotel and walked to Liverpool Lime Street station. Just before 6.30pm their train towards Manchester airport left. Just after 8am they were at Manchester airport. They checked in their luggage and went to customs. After passing through customs they went to get some breakfast before their flight left. Their flight left around 11.30pm and they would be in LA around 8pm, local time. They just relaxed on the flight and about seven and a half hours later they were at JFK. They had about a three hour overlay before continuing to LAX. They lounged around the airport before continuing on to LA.

They arrived at LAX just after 8pm, local time. They grabbed their bags and went to the parking lot. They got into Callen's car and Callen dropped Zoë off at home.

"Thank you for coming with me. I really had a great time," Zoë spoke once Callen had stopped in front of her place.

"Yeah me too. Thanks for asking me to come along. It was nice to see where you grew up. I really had a great time."

"That's good to hear," Zoë spoke with a smile. "Thanks for dropping me off. I'll see you after the weekend at work."

"Yeah see you."

Callen leaned closer to Zoë as gave her a kiss.

"See you later," Zoë said and she grabbed her bags and walked up to her place.

Callen drove off and went back to his own place. He parked the car in the driveway and grabbed his bags. He emptied the mailbox and went inside. He had a great time with Zoë in Europe. They had really grown closer together. In a way this scared Callen. Was he really falling for Zoë? He never thought of himself as someone who could be in a relationship, let alone with someone he worked with and a shrink no less. He had never liked shrinks but he liked Zoë, she understood him in ways he didn't think was ever possible. But could he really have a relationship with her? He was broken and he didn't know a lot about his own past. He didn't even know his name. But maybe someone like Zoë was just what he needed in a relationship.

…

That Monday Callen went back to work.

"Good morning," Callen spoke as he walked into the bullpen, only Sam was there.

"Morning G, happy New Year."

"Happy New Year. Did you have nice holidays?"

"Yeah, spend it with Michelle and the kids. It was nice."

"Did you go to Michelle's sister?"

"Yeah we did. How about you? What did you do for the holidays?"

"Not much. Just hung around at home," Callen lied to Sam. He had no interest to tell him about his trip with Zoë, because he knew he would get a third degree from Sam then.

A little later the others arrived too and they were called upstairs to OPS.

…

"Knock knock," a man spoke as he knocked on Zoë's open office door.

Zoë looked up from her work to see who was at the door. "Hey Nate," Zoë spoke surprised and she got up to give Nate a hug. "What are you doing here?"

"Hetty asked me to come by. Thought I'd just pop in and see how you are doing."

Zoë and Nate sat down on the couch.

"I'm good. I really like working in this office. They really are a family here and I feel a part of this family."

"That's good. How are the agents? Are they opening up to you?"

"Yeah it's going great actually. They come and talk to me and confide in me."

"That's great. And Callen?"

"Callen too. In the beginning he didn't really like it but he's opening up to me more and more. Still not as much as I would've liked by it's getting there."

"That's great to hear."

They sat there talking for a while before Nate went to see Hetty.

…

They team was busy with a case, trying to stop a terrorist from attacking Los Angeles.

"It mentions an Euroexpress Airways flight arriving at LAX from London tomorrow morning," Eric told the team in OPS.

"As well as a physical description of a man wearing a red baseball cap," Nell added.

"And there are three Chechen passengers on that flight. The one that best matches the description in the email is this one: Anwar Amurov."

"He was born in the US, but moved back with his family when he was ten years old. No record, no Homeland file."

"On nobody's radar," Sam concluded.

"How tall is he?" Callen asked, studying the picture of the man.

"Just under six feet," Eric answered.

"That'll work."

"Work for what exactly, Mr. Callen?" Hetty asked, not sure what her lead agent was planning.

"The red baseball cap."

"That's how the driver's supposed to recognize him," Sam said.

"They sent his description in the email cause they've never met before," Deeks added.

"And if they've never met before…," Kensi started.

"They'll be none the wiser when I show up in his place," Callen finished.

"Are you sure about that Callen?" Zoë asked.

"This is our way in. Eric, Nell keep tracking the flight."

"Will do," Eric answered.

"Mr. Callen, my office, please."

Callen followed Hetty down to her office.

"This is a dangerous game, Mr. Callen," Hetty spoke.

"Isn't it always, Hetty? They've never even met this guy," Callen pleaded.

"Well, that's a supposition."

"It's an informed supposition. Look, they're expecting a guy in a red hat, five-eleven, short hair, who speak Russian, and they're gonna get one," Callen spoke pointing at himself.

"It's called risk assessment. When the odds are in favor of an agent getting killed before he can procure.."

"This unit goes in anyway. Look, I appreciate your protective instincts, Hetty, but.."

"I'm not mothering you, Mr. Callen. Mr. Amurov is Chechen."

"And I'm familiar with most common Chechen dialects."

"You know, we should just move in and take down this cell right now."

"What about the unseen contributors you mentioned? Can you guarantee this is the only cell?"

"Of course I can't."

"These people are ruthless, Hetty. You know what they're capable of. Hundreds of innocent lives could be at stake."

Callen was getting ready in the wardrobe and the gadget room.

"You ready Callen?" Zoë asked.

"Yeah, ready as I'll ever be."

"Just be careful out there okay. We don't know what these people are planning."

"I'll be okay. This is not the first time for me."

"I know. But it's always dangerous."

"I'll be careful and the others will be close by. Don't worry. It's gonna be okay."

"I'll see if I can built a profile or something, see what we're up against."

Callen went in to infiltrate the cell. Deeks managed to sneak him a button camera and an earwig. Callen only managed to get the button camera on and not the earwig. So they only had picture, no way of communicating with Callen.

"Come with me, Anwar. I have something I want to show you," Jamal spoke to Callen.

In OPS. Hetty, Eric, Nell and Zoë were watching the camera feed.

"Freeze that, Mr. Beale," Hetty said when two faces came into the picture.

"Starting facial rec."

Jamal opened the door of a garage and inside was a van with many bags of ammonium, nitrate and cans.

"I wish it was me. But someone has to coordinate. You are lucky," Jamal spoke.

"I am," Callen replied.

"Soon the world will know your face. You'll be a hero to all those who fight and sacrifice for our cause. You will be loved."

Jamal handed Callen a sheet of paper and a pen.

"What's the pen and paper for?" Nell asked.

"His martyr letter. Of explanation to his family. Anwar was brought here to be the suicide bomber. Mr. Callen is The Chosen One," Hetty answered.

"Oh crap. We've got to get him out of there," Zoë said.

"Not so fast, Miss Moore. We can't just go in and get him out."

"They are gonna kill Callen."

"Mr. Callen is a seasoned agent. He can handle himself for now."

They waited for the terrorists to make their move. A van left with what looked like Callen. The others followed the van but it was a decoy. And they had no camera feed anymore since the bomb vest Callen was wearing blocked the view of the camera. The others quickly made their way back to the warehouse since Callen had never left the warehouse.

"When did you know?" Callen asked Jamal.

Callen was still wearing the bomb vest and he was sitting on some sort of scale with his hands tied to the scale.

"You wrote you letter with you right hand. I don't remember much about Anwar when we were in school, expect that… all of us left-handers, were all sat together on the last row."

"How is blowing up an abandoned warehouse gonna make a statement for you?"

"By killing a heretic as his motorcade passes. His police escort should announce his arrival very nicely. Your government send a federal agent, we improvise. And should we be denied our prize, well, we improvise again. A federal agent.. should make a very nice consolation prize."

Jamal stands up and leaves, leaving Callen alone with the bomb. Next thing Callen heard was the door swinging open and shots being fired. He then heard the voices of his team members.

"In here!" Callen called.

"Sam, the vest!" Deeks stated.

"It's just me. There's no one in here," Callen said.

"It can't be activated," Sam said after inspecting the vest. "This is Jamal's cell phone. If a call would've been completed to the cell on your vest. Then this would have.."

"It's nice to see you too," Callen said as he stood up after Deeks cut the tie wraps.

"How you doing? You okay?" Kensi asked.

"Yeah, I've been better. Thank you." Callen wanted to step off the scale.

"Stop!" Sam suddenly yelled. "Don't move. Looks like you're on some sort of scale. It's rigged."

"What are we talking?" Callen asked, suddenly afraid. Sam kneeled down next to the scale. "Sam?"

"Looks like a pressure switch wired to some high explosives."

"So if he steps off the scale..," Kensi started.

"He triggers the charge," Deeks finished.

"Sam?" Callen questioned. Hoping his partner could defuse it.

"Be still. Be very still, G. Okay."

Sam took out his wire cutters and looked at the device. He cut one of the cords and sighed when he sat up.

"Good?" Callen asked.

"Got it. We're good."

Callen let out a relieved sigh.

"Thank you," Callen spoke sincerely.

They went back to the office and finished up their paperwork before going home. Callen had just grabbed himself a beer when there was a knock on the door. Callen went to open the door.

"Hey Zoë," Callen spoke after he had opened the door.

"Hey Callen, can I come in?"

"Yeah sure, come on in." Zoë stepped into the house and Callen closed the door. "Have a seat," Callen gestured to his chair.

Zoë sat down on the chair and Callen grabbed a stool to sit down.

"You doing okay after what happened today?" Zoë asked.

"Yeah I'm fine. It's nothing I haven't handled before. Sometimes we get made during an undercover op. It's part of the job. I'm just glad that the others came in when they did. It all worked out okay in the end. There were moments I didn't think it would. But the team is always there to have my back."

"Yeah I'm just glad it all went okay. It gave me quite a scare when I learned you were the chosen one."

"Yeah, I wasn't expecting that either. But everything's okay. I'm still here."

"Yeah I'm glad you are. I don't know what it is but ever since our trip to Europe I worry about you more when you're in the field than before. I know you're a good agent and you can take care of yourself and you have a good team behind you but I can't help but worry about you."

Callen wasn't sure what to say. Was she worrying about him more now that they were sorta starting to be in a relationship?

"I care about you a lot and I don't want anything to happen to you."

"Nothing's gonna happen to me."

"You don't know that. You go on dangerous missions sometimes."

"Yeah, it's part of the job. Which I'm very good at, by the way."

"I know you are. I don't know, I just can't help but worry about you when you're out there."

"It's nice that you care about me, but I promise you, I'll be okay."

Callen leaned a bit closer to Zoë and kissed her. Callen stood up and pulled Zoë into a standing position with him so he could kiss her better and wrap his arms around her. Zoë melted against Callen's body as he kissed her. It felt great to be in his arms and to kiss him. It was just what she needed right now. They got lost in the moment and Callen moved his arms lower and picked her up. Instinct took over and Zoë immediately wrapped her legs around Callen's waist. Callen pushed her against the wall in between the two windows and deepened the kiss.