The next morning they woke up early to go on the 8am snowcat tour. The tour left from their hotel so they didn't have to go far. With ten others they went aboard the snowcat. The snowcat took them through beautiful mountain areas that were otherwise off limits to the public, only with a guide you could go there. They took some pictures from inside the snowcat. They stopped after an hour at Minaret Vista to enjoy some breakfast and the view. After they finished breakfast they got back aboard the snowcat and continued with the tour. An hour later they were back at their hotel. They walked towards the gondola and took it up towards McCoy station. They got out there and hiked back down via the main lodge trail. It was a two mile hike back down and it would take them about an hour. It went around the gondola through some trees back down. It wasn't that hard of a trail so they figured they could do it. They had some beautiful views as they walked down. Within ninety minutes they were back down. They went to grab some lunch before going back to the hotel. They enjoyed the rest of the day in the hotel.

…

Before they knew it, it was New Year's Eve. Their hotel had a fireworks snow tonight so they would go to watch that. But before that they would go into town for a game of bowling and a bite to eat and the Mammoth Rock 'n' Bowl. They spend the day at the lodge, just relaxing around the hotel room before getting ready to go eat. Zoë dressed herself in a pair of black dress pants with a glittery top and a black dress jacket. She finished the outfit with some nice jewelry and a pair of black pumps. Callen dressed himself in a pair of dress jeans with a blue and white plaid shirt and a dark blue dress jacket. He finished the outfit with dark blue dress shoes. They grabbed their coats and took a cab into town. They were dropped off at the restaurant. They first went to bowl. They put on the special bowling shoes and went to their assigned lane. Zoë entered their names into the computer before they started.

Zoë tested the balls on the rack to see which was a good one for her. She picked her ball, lined up her shot and threw the ball down the lane. She waited anxiously to see how many pins she would get.

"OH YES!" Zoë shouted happily and threw her arms up victoriously when she hit a strike.

"Don't tell me you're good at bowling," Callen teased her.

"Beginners luck I guess," Zoë teased him back.

"Uh uh."

Callen grabbed one of the balls and threw it as well, he managed to knock over seven pins in two throws. When they had nine frames they were two points apart, Zoë was two points ahead. Zoë was the first to throw. She managed to throw a spare so she had a throw extra, but on that throw she managed to only knock over three. Now she had to wait and see what Callen would throw. Callen needed at least a spare too and five pins to tie, six to win. Callen managed to throw a spare as well, now he just needed five or six pins. He lined up his shot and sent the ball rolling over the lane, both he and Zoë watched anxiously to see how many pins he would knock over. Five fell straight away but there was still one wobbling but it eventually fell as well.

"Ah no!" Zoë said when the last pin fell as well.

"Oh yeah!" Callen replied as she turned around and victoriously threw his arms up in the air.

"Well done."

"Thank you," Callen spoke and he leaned in to give Zoë a soft kiss.

Their time wasn't up yet so the continued bowling for the rest of the hour before returning their shoes. They went down to the Brasserie for dinner.

"Good evening, welcome to Brasserie. My name is Emma, I'll be your waitress tonight. Here are you menus. Can I get you anything to drink?"

"Can we get a bottle of Pinot Noir?" Callen asked.

"Of course." Emma took the order and left them to look over the menu. A little later Emma returned and poured them both a glass of wine. "Have you made your choice yet?"

"Yes, I would like the mushroom strudel and the chicken breast," Zoë told her.

Emma noted her order. "And for you sir?"

"I would like the mushroom strudel as well and the black angus ribeye."

"Alright thank you," Emma spoke and she left their table.

Zoë picked up her glass of wine. "Here's to us, to a wonderful new year ahead."

"To us, and to a wonderful new year indeed."

They toasted and each took a sip. Dinner was absolutely delicious. They had some dessert as well. Zoë had the chocolate mousse and Callen had the apple tart.

"Hmmm, this is delicious," Zoë stated as she took a bite from her dessert. "Wanna try a bite?"

"Sure."

Zoë fed Callen a bite from her dessert and in return Callen fed Zoë a bite from his dessert. After they had finished they paid for dinner and took a cab back to their hotel. They went to their room for a bit before going to the bar at the hotel for the new year's eve party. They enjoyed the party for a while before going back to their room around 11.30pm. They were going to ring in the new year in their room. From their deck they could watch the fireworks show. They had bought a bottle of champagne in town and some snacks. Zoë put the bottle of champagne ready as Callen got the snacks. They waited until it was almost midnight. They had put the TV on to see the countdown. They were tuned in to the ball drop in New York.

"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one," they counted down with the clock on the TV. "Happy New Year!" Callen popped the cork of the champagne and poured them both a glass before putting the bottle back on the table and turning to Zoë.

"Happy New Year honey," Zoë told Callen.

"Happy New Year honey," Callen replied as pulled Zoë closer so he could kiss her.

Callen grabbed their glasses of champagne and handed one to Zoë. They toasted and drank a sip. They put their coats on and went to stand on the deck. With a glass of champagne in hand they enjoyed the fireworks show for about an hour before going back inside. Callen closed the door and the curtains and Zoë put their coats back. When Zoë had hung their coats back up Callen stood behind her. He took her dress jacket off before hugging her from behind. Zoë leaned into him as Callen started kissing her neck.

"Mmmmm," Zoë moaned.

Callen turned her around so they were face to face and he kissed her lips. Zoë moved her arms around him and pulled him closer. Callen put his hands on her hips and guided them to the bed. Gently he lay Zoë down on the bed and lay down on top of her. Callen stopped kissing her after a while and just looked into her eyes and Zoë looked into his.

"I love you so much," Callen spoke passionately to Zoë. Zoë felt and heard that he meant every word of it and she felt exactly the same.

"I love you even more."

"Thank you for this amazing year. I can't wait for the next year."

"Yeah me neither, it's gonna be a perfect one."

"Yes it will be, cus you will be my wife."

They hadn't set a date yet but they wanted to get married over the summer.

"And you will be my husband. I can't wait for our wedding."

"Me neither. The wedding will be special but I'm looking forward to the wedding night," Callen spoke with a smirk.

"Oh you," Zoë replied laughing a bit.

"What? It's the truth."

"Well if that's the case, we could always get a bit of 'practice' in," Zoë teased him back, not that they needed any practice in that department.

"That could never hurt."

Callen crashed his lips down on Zoë's and kissed her deeply. Zoë moved her hands over his shoulder and took his dress jacket off before tossing it off the bed. Their other clothes soon followed and they were naked in the bed. Callen pulled the covers over them before he joined them. It felt so good whenever they were together like this. Zoë put her feet flat down on the bed next to Callen's hips as he moved more forcefully. Her toes curled into the sheets and her hands flew to his upper arms as she reached her peak and Callen wasn't far behind.

Afterwards they lay in each other's arms, after putting their pajamas on. Zoë had her head on Callen's chest as Callen had his arms around her.

"Goodnight G," Zoë spoke as she lifted her head up towards Callen.

"Goodnight Zoë."

Zoë gave Callen a soft kiss before she snuggled back against his chest. It didn't take them long to fall asleep. The next morning after breakfast they packed up their stuff and checked out before leaving the hotel. It had snowed overnight so the roads were a bit icy. Once they got on the highway the roads were good to drive.

Once they were home they grabbed their suitcases out of the car and went inside.

"It's a lot less cold here than in Mammoth," Zoë stated.

"Yes it is. I prefer this weather."

"Yeah me too."

Zoë got some laundry started as Callen put the rest of their stuff away. The vacation was nice but it was good to be home again too. They still had the rest of the week off. They would start again on Monday.

….

"Good morning," Callen spoke as he entered the bullpen, only Sam was there. "Happy New Year."

"Morning G, happy New Year to you to," Sam replied. "Did you have nice holidays?"

"Yes I did. Zoë and I went to Mammoth. It was cold with all the snow there but it was beautiful. How about you?"

"Just spend it with Michelle and the kids, nothing special."

A little later Eric whistled, Deeks had arrived too in the meantime. Kensi had been sent to Afghanistan before the Christmas break on assignment. "Holidays are over."

They agents went upstairs and joined Eric, Nell and Zoë in OPS.

"What have we got Eric?" Callen asked.

"This morning LAPD responded to a traffic accident on Pico. When they arrived this is what they found in the car," Eric explained and he put several pictures up on the big screen.

The agents looked at the pictures. They saw two cars that hid each other but no drivers. In one of the cars was an open empty briefcase but it seemed like classified information was in it and a navy ID.

"The ID belongs to Lieutenant Mark Speedle," Nell continued as she enlarged the ID. "He works with Navy Intelligence."

The sliding doors to OPS opened and Hetty walked in. "Mr. Hanna, Mr. Callen, Speedle's commanding officer is waiting for you in the boatshed. We need to find him fast and find out what was in that briefcase."

"You got it," Callen responded and he and Sam walked out and headed towards the boatshed.

"Mr. Deeks, take Ms. Jones to the accident scene, see what you can find it."

"Will do," Deeks responded and he and Nell left

"Ms. Moore, help Mr. Beale with finding out who could be behind this."

"Yes Hetty."

Eric and Zoë went to work as Hetty left the OPS center.

..

Callen and Sam arrived at the boatshed and walked inside where Captain Mike Thomas was waiting for them.

"Captain Thomas," Callen spoke as he and Sam walked into the boatshed. "Agents Callen and Hanna, NCIS."

"Nice to meet you, though I wish it was under better circumstances."

"Was Speedle working on anything in particular, something that would get him kidnapped or killed?" Sam asked.

"No, nothing different than usual."

"There was an empty briefcase with him in the car. Could that have contained classified documents?" Callen asked.

"Not that I'm aware off. He wasn't scheduled for any meeting or something that would require him to move classified documents in a briefcase and our staff isn't allowed to take documents home with them. Please find out who did this and if our operations are compromised."

"Will do. If you think of anything else, please contact us," Sam said and handed Thomas his card.

"Will do."

Captain Thomas left the boatshed and Callen called Eric.

"Yeah Callen," Eric answered the phone.

"Do you have Speedle's home address for us? Maybe we can find something there."

"Yeah, it's on your phones."

"Thanks."

Callen and Sam left the boatshed and went to Speedle's home. In case someone was home Callen knocked on the door as Sam looked through the window but no one seemed to be home. Callen used his lock pick to open the door. When the door was open Callen stood back up and grabbed his gun. He looked at Sam who nodded at him and Callen opened the door. Sam went in first and Callen followed. They cleared the house but nobody was inside. They put their gloves on and started looking through the house. Callen started in the study and Sam started in the living room. There was space for a laptop but Callen couldn't find a laptop anywhere. Inside the closet Callen found a home security system but it was locked. He inserted the USB drive for Eric.

"Eric, can you get into the security system?" Callen asked via his earwig.

"Yeah just give me a sec," came the response from the tech.

Callen went to look further through the room as Eric got to work on the security system.

Eric hit a few keys on his keyboard to get in. It was pretty well protected so it took him a few minutes.

"Callen, I'm in," Eric spoke but there came no response from their lead agent. "Callen, you there?" Eric asked but there was no answer again. "Callen, can you hear me?"