Life For Rent

Chapter 3 : Choices

Author's Notes :

- Sorry this took so long to get out. I made a promise with myself that I couldn't work on this until I got 10,00 words out on my other fic. Needless to say, I hit some serious writer's block. The result: a delay in Life For Rent.
- Thank you to everyone who has reviewed. The feedback on this fic has been overwhelming.

Callen groaned softly as he worked out the stiffness in his neck. While the office couch was a convenient place to rest, it wasn't the most comfortable. He wondered if he should bite the bullet and get his own place. Callen couldn't remember ever really having his own space. He'd lived out of motels, his car, Gibbs' garage and other impersonal accommodations. His own place meant putting down roots. It meant having somewhere to go at the end of the day where he could leave his stuff strewn out. It also meant that he wouldn't awaken to find a blanket pulled over his sleeping body or coffee waiting for him.

It was Monday. They had just finished a six day long case and most of his team was taking the day off. They were all still on call but otherwise free to have the day to themselves. Sam had invited him over to his place to watch some football and grill some steaks but Callen had passed, although now at six in the evening he wished he'd taken his partner up on the offer. Callen had spent part of the day catching up on paperwork after which he'd taken a short nap, the one he'd just woken up from.

With a glance at his watch, Callen stretched before standing up. He stifled a yawn and grabbed his jacket off of it's hook, sliding his arms into it. He picked his wallet up from the table and shoved it into his back pocket. Checking his pocket for his keys, satisfied he had them when he heard a small jingle, Callen made his way out of the LA headquarters. There were still people milling out, but most of the office was off at five and those who weren't were usually squired away at their desks or in a lab.

Callen found his car quickly enough. He got in and took off down the road for The Bean Pole. It had been a few weeks since he'd been there, work had been so hectic that he'd barely had time to breathe let alone go out for hot chocolate. It didn't take long to arrive at the small coffee shop and Callen exited his car before jogging over to hold the door open for two women leaving. They offered him a smile and their thanks.

"G!" Susie greeted him from behind the counter. "Oh, Jessica's gonna be mad she missed you."

Callen smiled as he stepped up to the register. "She not working tonight?"

Susie shook her head. "Study group." Callen handed over a five and Susie shook he head before issuing his change that he dumped in the tip jar. "Are you ever gonna change your order, G?"

Callen grinned. "Hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

The woman behind the counter smiled. "But what if there's something you might like better?"

Callen shrugged. "I like this already."

Susie shook her head. "That's what I love about you, G. Always the same."

"Giant white hot chocolate!" Terry called.

Callen winked at Susie before going to get his hot chocolate. "Thanks, Terry."

"No problem, G."

Callen chose a table in the corner. There was one other customer in the coffee shop; a teenaged boy with headphones on as he typed away on his laptop. Callen picked up the newspaper and flipped to the real estate section.

"Looking to buy?" A voice asked from above him about twenty minutes later.

Callen looked up to see the same guy from before. "Not really." He answered, lowering the paper. "Just looking."

Jared sat down with his mug of coffee. "Don't like where you're at now?"

Callen shrugged. "I'm not really anywhere now." He sipped his lukewarm beverage. "How goes the cooking business?"

Jared smiled. "People eat no matter the economic situation."

"I suppose that's true." Callen agreed.

"What about you, G? What do you do?"

Callen was a little surprised that Jared had remembered his name. It was Callen's job to remember information about the people he met but he'd found that most people didn't do the same. "Oh this and that."

"You make it all sound so mysterious." Jared said with a chuckle.

"I'm in information analysis." Callen offered. Which was more or less true, sorta.

"What kind of information do you analyze?"

"Top secret kind." Callen said easily.

Jared took a sip of his coffee. "So you're like James Bond?"

Callen grinned. "More like Batman."

"So your day job requires you to wear tights?"

"If I told you, I'd have to kill you." Callen said, taking another sip of his almost gone beverage.

Jared laughed easily. "So what else do you like to do?"

It took Callen a moment but when he finally processed the question his brain had also processed that holy shit, Jared was hitting on him. "Not much." He finally said.

"Nothing?" The other man asked, leaning forward.

Callen shrugged. "The normal stuff I guess: listen to music, watch movies, work out. What about you? Any hidden talents?"

"Nah. When I'm not cooking I'm surfing."

"Do you catch a lot of good waves up here?"

Jared shook his head. "I drive down to Carlsbad or Encinitas. There's also a couple good spots in Newport Beach."

Callen finished off his hot chocolate. "Ever surfed in Hawaii?"

"Once, man." Jared told him. "I was there for a cooking thing and decided to check out the waves."

"How was it?"

"Got stung by a jellyfish my first day out." Jared said with a laugh. "Wasn't able to get back into the water."

"Ouch." Callen winched sympathetically.

"Wasn't too bad." The other man offered.

Callen smiled. "So what's your favorite thing to cook?" He asked, changing the subject.

Jared look him in the eyes. "Why don't you come over sometime and find out?"

Callen tossed the offer around in his head. "Only if you promise not to use parsley."

Jared blinked and then smiled. "Deal."

Later that night Callen lay awake as he pondered his conversation with Jared. He'd waited with the other man as he finished his coffee, talking and finding out more things. Such as Jared's last name was Dassagne, he was two years younger than Callen's thirty-seven, both of his parents were deceased and he was an only child. He started cooking when he was very young, had one dog (a golden retriever), and loved The Beatles.

When he'd gotten back to headquarters, the first thing Callen had done was run a background search. One could never be too careful with who they met, especially if that one was Callen. Jared's name had come up, along with his driver's license photo. He'd had two parking tickets a few years back but that was it.

Callen blew out a breath as he stared at the ceiling. Jared was a nice guy and for some reason he liked Callen. Callen had only been with a couple men before, generally he stayed more to the straight side of life and had rarely been tempted. But Jared was funny, hot, very interested and didn't seem put out by Callen's secrecy. Plus Callen thought he would probably get a decent meal out of it and who knew how long it had been since he'd last been laid.

Callen had warned Jared that his schedule wasn't fixed so it would be a little difficult to plan something. Jared didn't seem bothered by that fact. Instead he'd programmed his number into Callen's phone with strict directions to call while making Callen tell Jared his own phone number so that the other man could call him if Callen didn't. He knew that Jared worked Wednesday through Sunday so Callen thought he'd see how tomorrow looked before calling Jared to get together that night.

He slowly drifted off to sleep trying not to think of rule number one.

Rule number one: don't get attached to people.