3.
She was angry.
He could tell by the rigid set of her spine, by the way she refused to turn around and look at him. The one-word answers she was giving him might as well have been underlined in red.
"Beth..." he began, her name a sigh on his lips.
She didn't face him, but flinched when he called her name, her shoulders hunched up to her neck.
She uttered a very terse "What?"
"Talk to me."
"There's nothing to say."
"Nothing."
She shook her head.
"Okay," he said. "Then I'll talk." He moved to take a step toward her, then thought better of it. Sticking his hands in his pockets, he said, "I'm used to Sam as my partner. When something bothers him, he doesn't wait to tell me."
"Well, I'm not Sam."
"No. But sometimes, even with a partner I've known for so long, mistakes are made."
She huffed. "Is that what we're calling it?"
"I should have told you. I should have warned you what was coming."
"What would it have mattered? It's not like my opinion counts in something like that."
Now it was his turn to scoff. "Really? Because it seemed to bother you at the time."
"It didn't."
"I saw your face," he told her. "I'm not blind, Beth."
She whirled around to face him, her eyes stormy. "I barely know you. Besides, I was a little too busy with a gun being pointed in my face to worry about some chick slobbering all over you. And by the way, thanks for leaving me like that."
"That was the other thing I was going to mention. I shouldn't have left you."
"Damn right."
"I let the mission get too important, and I'm sorry."
"It was my first time out in the field – I mean, really on a case - and I could've been killed. Do you even know how afraid I was?"
"Yes, I do."
She glared at him. "So, you knew what you were doing to me, and you went and left me anyway?"
"You..." he made a sound like a growl and then shouted, "I already apologized! What else do you want from me, Beth? A promise that I won't do it again? I can't say that!"
"I want you to understand how abandoned I felt. And you, of all people, were the one to make me feel that way!"
"That's the job, honey," Callen spat. "If you can't deal with it then go back to filing papers."
"Oh, you'd love that, wouldn't you?"
"No. But it's not up to me. I happen to think you can handle the field, but if you don't I can't make you."
She walked away again, leaning against the boathouse's picture window. "You're not too big on sympathy, are you?"
Callen stood still for a moment, blinking in disbelief. Then, his voice low, he said, "If you knew half the things I've seen, or been through, you would never ask that. Look, if you wanna think I'm an ass for keeping up my cover, fine. But don't talk to me about sympathy when the only thing you know about me is what you can see on the outside. I would never disrespect you like that, and I won't stand around and put up with it from anyone else. Especially you."
As he contemplated either punching the wall or walking away, Beth pulled in a shaky breath and let it out slowly, watching her breath fog the glass in front of her. She had never seen him so angry, and knowing that she had been the one to make him that way sent a twinge of guilt through her heart. Sure, things hadn't gone as they'd expected during the op, but the mark of a true agent was improvising, thinking on their feet. While she had stumbled at that, Callen had remained flawless in his acting. Even as mad as she was, she kind of admired that about him.
"Callen," she finally said, still facing the window, "you're right. I'm being selfish – among other things – and I'm sorry. Someday maybe you can tell me what you've been through, so I can understand who G. Callen really is."
Still upset, he nodded curtly even though she was facing the other way and couldn't see him. "Someday."
Beth turned and took a step toward him, her features sufficiently chastened. "You know," she said shyly, hesitantly laying her palm flat against his chest, "I never did thank you for coming to my rescue, did I?"
"No, you didn't."
She reached up and kissed his cheek. Only then did she softly say, "Thank you, Callen."
"You're welcome."
She headed for the door, but just before she left, she turned back with a smile and said, "See you tomorrow, partner."
Callen groaned. That woman was going to be the death of him. Still, as his hand drifted up to his face and touched the spot where Beth's lips had brushed it, instead of finding a frown he felt a smile.
