A/N: And I'm back with another installment of Alone Together. Enjoy and review por fa!
With the unconscious cartel guards dragged out of sight, Callen, Sam and Reina continued their path down the hallway. They were aware that Deeks and Kensi had found the second route to the basement but had lost communication with them. Callen hoped it was due to the basement being out of range, but he had a very bad feeling in the pit of his stomach nonetheless. In his ear, he could hear Eric and Nell furiously working to get coms back up. Sam was leading this time, his big form stopping abruptly when he reached a door. Reina, who had lost her heels when they were stowing the guards' bodies, stood behind Sam with Callen on their tail. Callen turned his body, gun drawn, and examined the path they had just taken. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, he turned around tapping Reina's elbow. In turn, Reina tapped Sam's shoulder and the muscular agent pulled open the basement door, sliding in silently. Callen and Reina followed softly.
The basement level was a large space, packed with a sea of parked cars. Ducking behind cars in an attempt to stay out of sight, the three moved through the level, looking for signs of the other two, the bomb or the cartel. Reina strained her eyes and ears but there was nothing but silent darkness.
Sam stopped abruptly for the second time that night, indicating towards a sliver of light coming from a door almost hidden against the blackened walls of the basement. In large letters, the words 'Service Room. Hotel Personnel Only' shone against the dark wood of the door. The trio reached the door and Sam grasped the handle firmly. Callen nodded and moved towards the other side of the door, heart pounding, adrenalin pumping through his veins. A peek through the slit in the door revealed voices and moving shadows. Callen nodded a second time, raising his gun in preparation, and Sam heaved open the door sharply. Callen's legs were moving before he could register his full view of the room he was entering. He could hear Sam directly behind him, Reina a few steps behind them. They travelled a few steps further into the room filled with heavy machinery. Loud metallic clanging indicated some sort of generator. Something flashed in Callen's peripheral vision.
"Move!" He heard Reina's hiss too late, because a bright flashlight was being shone in his face, his eyes fluttering in protest to the brightness. As his eyes adjusted he realized that they were surrounded by Abdul and the three other cartel thugs, guns drawn. There was no way they could get any shots in without taking a few bullets themselves.
"Drop the weapons; hands where we can see 'em."
Callen sighed in frustration at Abdul's demand, dropping his gun and raising his hands out in front of him. A quick glance to the side showed him that Sam was following his lead, his gun now resting on the grimy floor of the service room. Reina was nowhere in sight but from the corner of his eye he saw a flash of red fabric disappearing behind a large container. He felt the cold metal of one of the cartel member's guns against his back as he was pushed forward towards the center of the room. Beside him, Sam was being herded forward in a similar manner.
Callen gritted his teeth when they finally came to a stop. Deeks and Kensi were on their knees in the dimly lit area. Their guns were missing, hands bound tightly behind their backs to the narrow column in the center of the room, an ugly bruise already forming on Deeks' jaw and an angry red welt on Kensi's arm.
"Ah, you've arrived. Come join us gentleman, I was just telling your teammates here how much I'm enjoying their company." Chaves' accented voice was as cold and hard as steel, his footsteps echoing through the room, despite the loud metallic screeching of the generator. As he appeared in their line of vision, Callen took in the sharp black suit complemented by the smart tie. He was well-dressed, a strong jaw highlighting his tanned skin and dark eyes. Callen felt himself being roughly lowered to the floor beside Kensi, his arm suddenly useless as they were tied behind him against the hard cement of the column. He could see Sam struggling against the two of Chaves' thugs who were attempting to tie him up beside Deeks. They finally succeeded, a murderous expression making its way onto his partner's broad face.
"Shall we gentlemen?" Chaves asked, smirking. His men leered as they turned their backs on the four struggling agents. Callen saw another flash of red fabric and realized that Chaves had no idea Reina was still in the room. Four shots rang out in rapid succession, and he watched as Abdul and Chaves' men hit the ground, one after the other.
Chaves whirled around snarling, as a bullet whizzed by his face. His own gun was drawn in seconds, sending a spray of bullet back towards Reina. The team watched helplessly. Chaves suddenly ducked seeking cover behind a container. As he crouched out of view, Reina popped up again, using the last of her ammunition and throwing aside her gun before continuing the sending bullets towards Chaves with another gun, which Callen recognized as his. Unfortunately for Chaves he popped up right as Reina fired her last shot, the bullet tearing through his impeccable suit and burying itself in his arm. He roared, firing back. Reina dove for cover but the distinctive tearing of her dress was heard as a bullet grazed her side. She hit the ground in surprise.
Chaves, realizing his opportunity, turned on his heel, sprinting away from the scene, clutching his injured arm. Reina heaved herself off the ground, addressing Eric and Nell through her in-ear coms. "Guys, we lost Chaves, he's headed out the south entrance of the basement, can you find him?"
"We're looking through security cameras right now," came the urgent reply from Nell.
Ignoring her bleeding torso, Reina pulled up her dress, extracting a knife out of its holster on her thigh and cutting Sam loose first. Callen quickly realized why she had chosen Sam first. In the far end of the service room, a massive explosive unit was resting innocently on the floor. The timer attached to it, seemed less innocent. The moment Sam was free he was dashing towards the device, his own knife in hand. Reina was now working on Deeks' bindings furiously.
"Dr. Khan! We found Chaves, he's leaving the hotel through the back entrance. He's on foot but there's a black SUV parked down the street," Eric exclaimed. Reina's eyes glinted dangerously. When Deeks' bindings came undone, she pushed the knife in his hand, whirling around and taking off. Deeks made no attempt to stop her and instead turned to cut his partner and leader loose from their restraints. When Callen was free, he made a dash for Sam.
"I got this G. Go!" Sam said, cutting through a set of wires, his face pulled into an expression of heavy concentration. He nodded, turning around to see that Deeks and Kensi had located their guns and were already running out the basement in pursuit of Reina and Chaves. Realizing that Reina still had his weapon, he swiftly retrieved Sam's from the ground, and tore after them.
They scrambled through the back lobby of the hotel, eliciting strange looks from the small crowd. Suddenly, a loud gunshot rang through the air. Callen, Kensi and Deeks burst through the glass doors of the lobby, stopping in their tracks at the sight. Chaves was on the pavement in front of the hotel's back gate, a bullet firm lodged in his ankle, his blood soiling the pants of his suit. His gun was thrown haphazardly several feet to his left. Reina stood above him, Callen's gun, pointed at Chaves' torso, held steady in her hand. Several onlookers, including guests and security guards, watched helplessly, frozen in their spots.
"R-Reina?" Callen was surprised at the lack of solidity in his voice.
"Rei, you don't have to do this," Deeks soothed. He was closest to her and took a chance by inching forward.
"Don't," Reina's voice was low and scarily stable.
Finding control over his voice, Callen tried again. "Listen to me, Reina, I know you're angry about what you've had to go through these past years and you badly want to blame someone but this isn't on Chaves, it's on Anwar. Okay? And Anwar is going to prison for the rest of his life."
"Don't defend him!" Reina's teeth were gritted and he could tell her composure was crumbling.
Deeks exchanged a quick glance with Callen before taking another step forward, only a few feet away from Reina now. "He's not defending Chaves Rei, he's just trying to stop you from doing something you're going to regret." With Reina in arm's length away from him, the detective leaned forward placing a hand gently on his friend's delicate shoulder, squeezing lightly. The gun dropped to her side almost instantly. Extracting it from her grasp, Deeks held the gun out behind him allowing Callen to take it from him before pulling the petite woman into his embrace. She clung to him briefly, taking deep breaths before pulling away. Her large brown eyes met Callen's pale blue ones.
"Thank you,"
"Of course," he replied with a warm smile, inducing a small smile in return.
The sounds of sirens were heavy in the air, but there was something else. A sense of finality. It really was over, Reina realized. She could finally move on with her life.
"Mr. Callen, a word?"
"Can I help you Hetty?" Callen couldn't stop from the words coming out cold. With the case done and dusted, the team had returned to the Mission, heads held high and wounds bandaged up. They were getting ready to head out and celebrate when Hetty had beckoned Callen to her office.
"I wanted to congratulate you for wrapping up this case and for a job well done adjusting to Dr. Khan's presence. I know how difficult it is to work on joint investigations."
Callen mentally berated himself for his icy demeanor towards the woman he considered his friend and mentor. He shrugged, lightening his tone, "She was easy to work with."
"She would have made a good agent,"
"Well she's still working for CIA's Science and Tech Department right? I'm sure we'll need her in future investigations as a consult or something."
"Oh, I assumed she would have told you," Hetty responded mysteriously, putting away her laptop as she turned in for the night.
"Told me what?"
"She's leaving the CIA, taking up a research position somewhere I believe? You'll have to talk to her for details." Callen nodded slowly, deep in thought.
"Forgive me for being harsh earlier this week,"
"Don't apologize. You were right Hetty. I screwed up, and I couldn't help but be hard on myself. I didn't mean to let my self-pity get out of control."
"It was not self-pity Mr. Callen," Hetty replied severely. "You were angry at yourself and for good reason. I was angry at you too. But what is done, is done. We must learn to put it behind us."
Callen smiled sadly, "I'm sorry Hetty."
"You are forgiven my dear. Now I believe your teammates are waiting for you?" Hetty asked, glancing around her favorite agent's body at the group still hanging around the bullpen.
Callen chuckled. "We're going to Deeks' place for pizza and beers. Would you like to join us?"
Hetty's eyes twinkled. "Thank you Mr. Callen, but unfortunately I've already got plans. Good evening."
Deeks' surprisingly tidy apartment was buzzing with activity. Sam, Michelle and Kensi were in the living room, yelling at the TV (or perhaps each other), watching a Lakers game. Eric and Nell were sitting in chairs across the room from them, beers in hand, deep in discussion about a new program that had just been installed the Ops Center. Deeks was in the kitchen with Reina putting final touches to the pizzas they had just pulled out of his oven. Callen, leaning against the kitchen door frame, took a long pull from his own beer bottle, smiling at his team. His eyes wandered to rest on Reina. She was laughing and swiping at Deeks, who was wagging his eyebrow in her direction, with a flat spatula.
She was dressed very simply, in a pair of denim shorts and a pale green shirt, yet somehow managed to look radiantly beautiful, in his opinion. Deeks looked up suddenly, catching the direction of his gaze. Callen averted his eyes quickly but Deeks smirked at him knowingly.
"Hey Callen-" he started slyly.
"Shut up."
"You don't even know what I was going to say,"
"Just, shut up." Deeks grinned back turning back to pizzas.
The team had migrated to the beach just outside of Deeks' apartment. A large blanket was spread out over the sand, carrying plates of pizza and multiple packs of chilled beer. Deeks glanced around at the people sprawled in the sand around the blanket chatting lightly among themselves, the people that had become his family. He sat back contentedly, a slice of pizza in hand, Kensi beside him. They watched the waves as the sun, still offering warm rays of light, sunk slowly into the vast body of water.
Callen plopped down beside Reina, spreading his legs beside her petite brown ones. He offered her a paper plate carrying two slices of the warm homemade pizza. With a smile, she gratefully took one of the slices, taking a bite. Callen watched her sun-kissed face contorting with happiness as the flavors hit her taste buds. He took a bite of his own.
"I'll admit, Deeks makes a killer pizza," he broke the silence lightly.
"Trust me, Deeks is a better at playing house than he looks, he can cook a whole lot more than pizza,"
"Thanks for the blackmail material," he chuckled and she grinned. "I'm glad things aren't weird…after the hallway I mean."
"We were undercover," Reina responded a firm edge on her voice.
Callen nodded, opting to change the subject. "So, Hetty told me you're leaving the CIA."
"Does that woman know everything?"
"Pretty much,"
She paused smiling at his bluntness. "Yeah, I accepted a post at UCLA."
"Good for you,"
She turned her head then. "Do you mean that? Deeks thinks I'm running away."
"I think if it feels right to you, you shouldn't doubt yourself."
"I feel like I've said this a lot since I've met you but, thank you,"
"Of course."
A/N: Next up, get ready for some jealous Kensi, and some hard core Densi. But first, reviews? What do ya'll think?