Life For Rent

Chapter 31 : Everything You Are

Author's Notes :
- Spoilers for S2E04-6
- This lovely chapter's name is courtesy of Green River Ordinance.
- I'm signed up for NaNoWriMo this year, and I'm not sure how often I'll be able to update anything during that time. I wanted to get this out before it started, but didn't quite manage. Just thought I'd warn you all that the next update may be in December (when all this madness is over). Cheers!
- I love you all, you rock!

"What are these?" Callen asked, poking one with his fork. "They look like giant shells."

Jared rolled his eyes and took a sip of his wine. "That's because they are giant shells. They're filled with cheese, G. You'll like them."

"It's not seafood?" Callen asked, stabbing one a little harder so that the prongs of his fork went into it.

"Nope, not seafood."

"Did you make these shells yourself?"

"Nope." Jared cut into one of his shells easily. "They're from the frozen section."

Callen looked up. "Are you serious?"

"Yup."

"So if I look in the garbage there will be the box that these came in?"

Jared shrugged. "They came in a bag, and I put it in the recycling bin, but yes."

Callen eyed him. "You totally talked to Sam, didn't you? At Hetty's party a couple weeks back."

"I can neither confirm nor deny your suspicions," Jared said, with mirth in his eyes.

Callen popped a piece into his mouth and then grimaced. He swallowed, "This is terrible."

Jared laughed. "I think I've spoiled you."

"Like seriously terrible," Callen said, making a face. "It tastes like plastic."

"I've heard there's a lot of nutrition in plastic."

"Now you're just making shit up," Callen complained. "Are we really going to eat this?"

"Did you really make a bet with him?"

"In my defense, you weren't supposed to find out about that."

"Oh, I'm sure I wasn't," Jared grinned. He sipped his wine. "Speaking of Hetty's party…"

"Yeah?"

Jared frowned. "Has it really been a couple weeks? How have we not talked about that until now?"

Callen glared at the pasta shell on his plate. "We've both been busy." He poked it with a fork and looked up at Jared who had an amused expression on his face. "Me with… top secret government stuff, and you with training that new guy."

Jared groaned. "Don't remind me. I don't think he's going to work out."

"Really?"

"Yeah. He's messed up at least two orders a night since he's started, and his cooking's just not cutting it. I'm giving him until the end of this week."

"That sucks," Callen sympathized. "Was there something else you wanted to talk about? Something from Hetty's party?"

"Hmm?" Jared said with a frown. "Oh, yeah! That new guy-"

"The one who looks like you?"

"Except that I'm much better looking, and I have much more fashion sense," Jared added.

Callen laughed. "I'm with you on both counts."

"Who isn't?" Jared asked. "Anyway, I don't think he knew that I was there with you."

"Really?" Callen mused. "Who did he think you were there with?"

"I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't you, since he suggested we pretend to be twins to pick up a couple of girls at the bar."

"Is that where you went?"

Jared laughed. "That's where he went. I went to the bathroom."

Callen frowned as he tried to remember. "I thought I introduced you to him."

"You did," Jared confirmed. "You even said the word 'partner'."

Callen loved the smile that that word brought to Jared's face. He wished he had a way to keep that smile there all the time. "Hmm, I'm not sure why he was confused then."

"I blame your line of work."

"Huh?"

"Everyone's each other's partner. Sam's your partner… Kensi's your partner… the word is used so casually."

Callen blinked. "You think that he thought we worked together?"

Jared shrugged. "It fits."

"I think I'll ask him tomorrow," Callen decided.

"Cool, let me know what he says."

Callen looked down at his food. "Only if we don't have to eat this."

Jared laughed and stood up. "There's pot roast in the oven."

"You're seriously my favorite person ever."

"So…" Deeks looked up from his desk with an expectant look. Callen raised an eyebrow. "Remember when we went out for Hetty's party?"

"Yeah."

"And there was a guy there, who looked like you…?"

Sam glanced up from his desk and looked between Callen and Deeks before shaking his head and rolling his eyes.

"Yeah."

"Who did you think he was?"

Deeks frowned. "Jacob? Justin? Something with a 'J'. I thought he worked here or something."

"Jared," Callen corrected. "You thought he worked here?" Sam snorted but Callen ignored him.

"Yeah. I mean, you all seemed to know him… and he was… there…" Deeks drifted off. "He doesn't work here?"

Callen smirked. "Do you see him here?"

"Well, not right now." Deeks frowned. "I'm confused. Does he work here or not?'

Sam chimed in, "That would be a not."

"He doesn't?" Deeks looked at Callen. "You said he was your partner."

Sam laughed while Callen rolled his eyes and went back to his paperwork. Kensi chose that moment to walk by.

"What's funny?" She asked.

Deeks shrugged. "We were talking about Callen's partner…"

Kensi grinned. "And how is the lovely Jared? I loved those blueberry things he made for Wednesday."

"Someone made those?" Deeks asked.

"Well, they don't grow on trees," Callen told him.

"I know that," Deeks grumbled. "I just meant, as opposed to being store bought."

Kensi looked at him. "Haven't you noticed that every Wednesday, Callen brings us some new goodies?"

Deeks shrugged. "I didn't know where they came from, they're usually here when I get here."

"Typical," Sam said with a shake of his head.

Callen hid a laugh as he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. It had just started buzzing with a text from Jared.

Don't worry, I'm okay.

Callen frowned and felt his heart skip a beat as he replied. Worry about what? What happened?

"Callen!" Eric called from above. "I have something you'll want to see."

Callen stood up. "Just me?"

"Yeah."

He made his way quickly up the stairs and found Eric and the new intern, Nell Jones, waiting at the top for him. "What's up, Eric?"

"You know how we monitor NCIS personnel? Even when they're off duty? Just in the background?"

Callen nodded. "Yeah."

"And their family members, as well?"

"Yes. I know all this," he said impatiently. "Tell me what's happened."

"I tagged his name in case anything came up… a 911 call was issued from Jared's cell phone nine minutes ago."

Callen gripped his phone tighter. "Start talking, right now."

"I can do you one better," Eric said, pressing some buttons on his large remote. "Two street cameras caught it all."

A video popped up on the screen and Callen immediately recognized Jared's figure leaving a book store. A second later, Jared's head titled and he stopped moving, only to then run to the end of the street and down an alley. Because of the way the camera was positioned, Callen couldn't see everything that happened, but it soon became clear that Jared was responding to someone's cry for help.

Callen's heart rate sped up as he caught the glint of a knife, but Jared reacted quicker than Callen could have hoped for. Using a very familiar move, Jared managed to knock the knife out of the man's hand and deliver a sound punch to his face, knocking the attacker to the ground, leaving him out cold. Jared then made sure to move the knife out of the reach of the attacker before seeing to the person sobbing on the ground.

"Who's he talking to?" Callen asked.

"That would be Lisa Tyler, age twenty-one, a junior at UCLA," Jones answered, instead of Eric.

"And the attacker?"

"Is now in police custody," Eric answered. An arrest photo appeared on screen next to the video. "His name is Joshua Mathers, age twenty-nine, and this isn't his first trip behind bars. He's got quite the rap sheet."

"What happened to Jared?" Callen asked, desperately wishing Jared would answer his text.

"As far as I can tell, they took him and Lisa Tyler down to the station for questioning."

Callen nodded. "Tell Hetty that's where I'll be."

As soon as he stepped out of ops he was dialing Jared's number. There was no answer on the first try, but Callen called again. It went to voicemail and he sighed, hanging up.

"Everything alright, G?" Sam asked, standing up.

"Yeah," Callen answered. "There's just something I need to do."

"Need any back-up?"

Callen grabbed his jacket off the back of the chair. "No, I should be fine."

"Just let me know," Sam said, sitting back down.

"I will, thanks."

Callen may or may not have flashed his NCIS badge a little bit to get to Jared. And he may or may not be getting a lecture from Hetty on improper uses of a federal identification in the morning.

But he didn't care.

Because Jared was sitting, slumped over, in a chair, his hand shaking as he sipped a cup of water. There was a lost look in his eyes and his posture screamed defeat.

"Jared," Callen said as he neared.

Jared looked up and his eyes locked onto Callen's. He stood up immediately, the cup of water going into a nearby garbage. Then Callen was standing in front of him and Jared was in his arms.

"Why didn't you call me?" He murmured, running a hand up and down the younger man's back.

"I didn't want to disturb you at work."

"For future reference, cryptic messages are just as disturbing."

Jared let out a shaky laugh. "Noted."

Callen's hand moved up and rested on the back of Jared's neck, as Jared buried his face in Callen's shoulder. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Jared whispered. "I just want to go home."

"Are you finished here? Do you need me to talk to them?"

"I-I already talked to someone," Jared answered. "But they told me to wait here for something."

"Let me talk to them alright?" Callen asked, starting to pull back. Jared gripped him tighter and Callen stopped trying to move. "When you're ready."

Jared mumbled. "Thanks, G."

Callen ran his hand lightly up and down Jared's arm, and the other man let out a soft sigh of contentment from his place, pillowed on Callen's chest.

"I'm so proud of you," Callen whispered. He kissed the top of Jared's head.

"I almost peed my pants, I was so scared." Jared paused. "It's probably not too manly to admit that, right?"

Callen smiled. "We've all been there."

"I used the moves that you showed me."

"I know, I saw. You were awesome. I'm pretty sure you've impressed Eric for life."

"You saw?" Jared asked. "How?"

"Street cameras," Callen informed him. "Big Brother sees all and knows all."

"I'm still surprised you even knew in the first place."

"Eric tagged your name."

"Should I be worried?"

"Only if you plan on robbing a bank any time soon," Callen joked.

"The ski mask would mess up my hair."

Callen laughed and mussed Jared's sweaty blonde locks. "That it would." He paused. "You're so important to me… I swear my heart skipped a beat today when I saw you approach that guy with the knife."

"I couldn't just do nothing," Jared said quietly.

"I know."

Jared whispered, "Thank you for coming to get me, G."

"Always," Callen answered honestly. "Not matter what, Jared."

Jared swallowed, and Callen watched as his eyes slowly closed. "Thank you, G."

Callen brushed Jared's hair out of his face as the other man drifted off to sleep. He whispered, "You're welcome."