Life For Rent

Chapter 9 : Indefatigable

Author's Notes :

- Indefatigable: adj. incapable of being tired out; not yielding to fatigue; untiring
- Spoilers for Pushback. (S01Ep07)
- Honeybush Vanilla tea belongs to SpecialTeas.
- Tom Bergin's Tavern is a real place.
- Rainbows are flip-flops and Vans are slip on shoes (well, most of them).

"Nate has been starin' at you all day, G." Sam muttered to his friend.

"He stares at me a lot." Callen agreed. "I think it has something to do with this last case. I don't think he wanted me working it."

"Yeah, probably not."

Callen drank his tea. After Hetty found him drinking some of her tea, a few different flavors mysteriously showed up. Callen particularly liked the Honeybush Vanilla that had appeared. Callen looked up from his tea to see Sam studying him. "What?"

"How you really doin', G?" He asked, a cup of coffee between his hands as he stared at Callen over the table.

"I'm fine." Callen responded lightly, normally and perhaps it was just a little too normally to convince Sam that nothing was wrong.

Sam met his eyes and Callen could see it then; the worry, the questions, the pity. But a second later the emotions were gone, something Callen appreciated about Sam. "Let's go out and get a drink tonight, drink one for Alina."

"Yeah, okay." Callen agreed.

Eleven hours later found Callen and Sam in an Irish pub off of Fairfax, Tom Bergin's Tavern. They'd been there a few times, the food wasn't bad and it wasn't too far out of their way. He and Sam had split an order of chicken wings and each had a pint of Guinness. Sam was at the bar right now, ordering them a cold shot of vodka to end the night with.

Sam plunked the shots down onto their table with a light thud. Callen reached for his and held it up to clink it against Sam's. "Za Alina." Callen offered quietly.

"To Alina." Sam echoed.

Callen raised the glass to his lips and let it quickly slide through his mouth and down his throat. He shook his head once before saying, "Thanks, man." He clapped Sam on the shoulder.

"Where you goin' now, G?" Sam asked, sliding his jacket back on.

"Might go watch some waves." Callen said, slipping into his own jacket.

"You be careful out there." Sam cautioned. "Call if you need a couch to crash on."

"I will." Callen promised, although he had no intention of doing so and Sam knew it.

"See you tomorrow, G." Sam said with a thump to Callen's back.

"See ya."

*Buzz* *Buzz*

Jared blindly reached out for his cell phone. He'd gone to bed about two hours ago and had only just fallen asleep when his phone began to ring. He clicked it on without looking at the caller. "Hello?" He answered, voice heavy with sleep.

"Jared?"

"G?"

"Yeah. Were you sleeping?"

"Not really." Jared offered, it was mostly the truth…

"Shit, I woke you up." G said quietly. "Sorry."

"It's not a problem, G." Jared rubbed a hand across his eyes as he laid back against his pillow. "Is everything alright?"

There was audible hesitation before G asked, "Want to come watch some waves?"

Jared sat up and pushed his blankets off, squishing the phone between his ear and shoulder as he asked, "Which beach are you at?"

By the time G answered, Jared had already pulled his jeans back on and was sliding his feet into some Vans, it was a bit too cold for his Rainbows. "Santa Monica pier."

"I'll be there in twenty." Jared promised.

"I'll see you then." Callen said softly.

Jared ended the call and stuck his phone in his pocket, along with his wallet. He didn't bother to change his shirt as he pulled a hooded sweatshirt on over his head.

Seventeen minutes later he had found parking and grabbed a blanket from the backseat before exiting his car. The lights flashed as he locked it. He searched down the pier for G, trying to spot his silhouette in the darkness. There were homeless people scattered across the grass and groups of teens with cigarettes hanging on the railing. Jared's phone buzzed and he pulled it out to see Sitting on the beach. He smiled and shoved his phone back into his pocket before heading towards the stairs that would lead him down to the sand.

There was a lone figure sitting on the beach, illuminated by the moonlight as well as a distant street lamp. Jared walked towards the figure and it turned and waved at him. He picked up the pace and reached G in a minute or so. Jared sat down onto the sand next to his… man friend? He settled the blanket around his and G's shoulders. The older man leaned in towards him and Jared stretched an arm around G's body under the blanket.

"Nice night." G said quietly, eyes on the waves.

Jared glanced at G and said, "Yeah."

"I put you in danger." G said quietly.

Jared turned to look at G for longer than a glance. "Hmm?"

"There was… someone was following me for the past couple of weeks. We found pictures and stuff, you were in a couple."

"Why were they following you?"

G sighed, "That's kinda classified." He explained.

"Are they still following you?"

"Not anymore." G said with an air of finality.

"Okay."

"None of the pictures were of your place. Just when we met for coffee a couple times."

"I'm not really worried about me, G." I'm worried about you, but Jared didn't say that.

"I just wanted to apologize for putting you in danger."

"You're not going to use this as an excuse for us to stop seeing each other, are you?" Jared asked worriedly.

G offered a soft laugh. "Would it work?"

"No." Jared said, tightening his arm around the older man.

"Didn't think so." He paused. "I found out that someone I used to know has died."

Jared ran his fingers up and down G's arm on the outside of his jacket. "I'm sorry."

"Me too."

They were quiet for a while, just watching the waves in the moonlight. Jared wasn't sure how long they sat there together, huddled under his blanket. A thought suddenly occurred to him, "Are we allowed to be here this late?" Because contrary to popular belief, beaches did close.

G laughed. "Don't worry, I'm a federal agent."

Jared grinned. "That's not reassuring me, G."

"I have a gun and know how to use it." G offered and Jared could see a grin stretched across his face.

"So you're gonna shoot anyone who tries to kick us off the beach?"

"Yeah."

Jared laughed. "As long as they're not shooting back."

Callen woke up in Jared's bed and immediately moaned. Jared's mouth was doing some pretty amazing things to his body and Callen worked his hands into Jared's hair, pulling lightly.

Jared stopped what he was doing to grin up at Callen, "Good morning."

"So far." Callen agreed.

Jared smiled and went back to work, lowering his head, sucking and licking until Callen came with a cry. Jared sucked a few more times before lifting his head up and licking his mouth. Callen grinned and pulled Jared up by his shirt, pressing their mouths together. He could taste himself on the younger man, something that he knew Jared found particularly hot. He plunged his tongue into Jared's mouth while reaching a hand down to the younger man's boxers. He blinked in surprise to find Jared already spent.

Jared broke the kiss. "Came before you."

Callen was pretty sure that if his body could manage it he would be hard again from that statement. "But I didn't…"

Jared grinned. "What can I say? You're pretty hot when I blow you."

"Has this always happened and I never noticed?" Callen asked in amazement.

The other man ducked his head shyly. "Uh, not with you, but a few times before…"

"It's pretty friggin' hot." Callen told him, pulling him back down into a kiss.

"It's not something that happens often." Jared mumbled against his lips an odd expression on his face.

Callen frowned lightly, "That's okay."

"I mean, I can't do it on command." Jared stressed quietly.

"I don't expect you to." Callen said, sensing something deeper was happening here. "Did someone-someone else ask you to?"

"No." Jared said instantly and Callen knew he was lying. Jared rolled off of Callen to lay on the bed beside him. The younger man took a deep breath before slowly exhaling. "Yes." He said quietly. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said 'no'."

Callen turned on his side to look at Jared. "It's fine."

"I don't usually lie." Jared said softly.

"I know." Callen propped his head up on an elbow. "You can talk about it if you want."

"I'd rather not." Jared said, turning his head sideways to face Callen.

"Okay."

"Okay?" Jared asked in mild disbelief.

"Yup." Callen pressed a kiss to Jared's mouth before poking his chest. "I want an omelet for breakfast." He said as they pulled away from each other.

Jared quirked an eyebrow. "I was planning on French toast… but if you would rather--"

"On second thought," Callen broke in hastily. "French toast sounds great."

Jared laughed. "Thought so." He smirked. "Do you want to shower now or later?" Callen's stomach growled before he could answer and Jared laughed again. "I guess that answers that." He said, patting Callen's hip. He rolled over and out of bed, landing on his feet. Callen caught a brief glimpse of a wet spot on the front of his boxers before the younger man peeled them off. Callen rolled out of bed on his side and came up behind Jared before he could slide on some clean boxers.

"How about the shower first?" He asked, wrapping an arm around Jared from behind.

Jared raised an eyebrow but nodded. "Sure." He paused. "Are you joining me?"

"It would probably be faster." Callen mused aloud.

"Not really." Jared said, grinning.

"And more water efficient." Callen continued, ignoring Jared.

"Probably not."

"And I'll need some help with those hard to reach places."

"Even though you've been reaching them by yourself for many, many years." Jared muttered.

Callen smiled at Jared. "Sounds like I'll be joining you," he concluded.

"In which way?" Jared asked seductively, turning to face the other man.

Callen offered him a regretful smile. "Probably just in the shower way, I don't know if I can get it up again so soon."

"Oh, ye of little faith." Jared grinned, tugging Callen into the bathroom. He shucked off his shirt as Callen reached for his toothbrush. With a toothbrush in one hand and Callen's hip in his other, Jared rubbed up behind him suggestively and Callen was pretty sure he'd never been as turned on while brushing his teeth as he was then. Jared reached a hand around to give him a squeeze before leaning forward and spitting out his toothpaste.

Despite his words, Callen felt himself twitching. Jared grinned at him in the mirror and Callen couldn't help but laugh. He spit his toothpaste out and rinsed his mouth out as Jared turned on the shower. "Didn't you get enough last night?" He asked, before they stepped under the stream of water.

Jared's kissed Callen's neck before responding, "Never enough of you, G."

And with that, Callen knew it would be longer than first thought before they got to breakfast. His stomach would just have to wait.

"Callen." Someone called softly.

Callen turned around to see Nate heading towards him, steaming mug of coffee in hand. Callen gestured to the seat next to him, closing the book he was reading and Nate sat down. "What's up, Nate?"

"I just wanted to see how you were doing." Nate said quietly, serious expression on his face.

"Not too bad." Callen said easily, meeting Nate's eyes.

The psychologist accepted the offer that Callen had wordlessly given him and searched Callen's eyes as if they would tell him everything that Callen himself wouldn't. When he finished he gave a small nod. "Okay. If you ever need to talk…"

"I'll come find you." Callen promised.

"Do you talk to anyone, G? Sam maybe?"

"I have someone." Callen offered quietly.

"Your mysterious texter?" Nate asked with a raised eyebrow.

Callen paused before saying, "His name is Jared."

To his credit, Nate blinked only once before asking, "And you talk to him about stuff?"

"Yeah."

"That's good to hear." Nate said honestly. He stood up with his coffee. "Well, I won't take up any more of your time. Remember, my door is always open."

"I'll remember."

"Good."