Ha, I feel victorious getting this out to you guys. I had a little case of writers block after finishing "Tricks instead of Treats" (Something you all should read if you have time ^^) but I've done it! A new chapter!

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Special thanks to my reviewers for the last chapter: Skippy1967, Dixie, luvstoread1964, justdreaming-83, daughter of ewan, and keviana.

You guys seriously make my day~

I hope you enjoy that new chapter!

Chapter 5

A week's worth of forced leave was spent brushing up on Russian and perfecting several other languages Callen had been working with. Since the rest of the NCIS crew ended up getting swamped with a new case, G had found himself with a lot of time on his hands. More time that he knew what to do with. Although he had given his best to get involved with the case, Hetty had blocked him and to make matters worse Sam had taken the conniving woman's side.

Times like these, the lulls between cases when Callen found himself completely separated from his world, forced the man to realize how alone he really was. His entire existence was centered around his job and his coworkers were his only friends and his best definition of a family. Since they were preoccupied with what he should be apart of, G found himself cut off from his purpose and not feeling much like being involved in outside human interaction.

The house he had been coerced into buying was just that, a house. A home was somewhere one starts a family, has friends over for cookouts and all that other 'white picket fence' 'apple pie' nonsense that Callen never had. Normal had never been something G had embraced, not that he had really been given a chance to be normal, but now normal seemed to be getting further and further from his reach.

If Nate weren't still out on assignment he'd probably have something philosophical and decidedly unhelpful to say about the issues G was suddenly faced with. Nate would probably recommend talking about it, or settling goals to create a better balance. Callen wanted nothing more than to ignore the loneliness and move on. Throwing himself into work, the same work he wasn't allowed to do while he was 'injured.'

Ever since he had been released from the hospital G had felt off. Not off as in sick, just different. Sam called frequently to make sure his healing partner was still alive. After a long day of working he had even come over bringing Callen food and checking his 'mental status' post concussion style.

Still, the majority of the day G found himself thinking more than he wanted about his social life. As an NCIS agent, especially a special ops agent, Callen couldn't exactly 'socialize' with strangers. Even when he tried, and yeah sometimes he did, it was all a lie. Another cover, another made up identity complete with a fake name. Because he didn't actually have a name to begin with, just a letter.

In many ways he was jealous of Sam, he had a family, a reality not based off of guns and chasing criminals. He had a life; Callen had work. Sam had a family; G had coworkers.

It was a bit depressing, G didn't like thinking about it. So he tried hard not to, going on long runs, practicing different languages, pacing back and forth across his empty apartment.

Needless to say when his week of exile was finished G had been ecstatic. Since Callen hadn't really been sleeping well, and that was even more so than his normal not sleeping well, so he opted on getting ready rather early for work the day Sam was supposed to pick him up. Lucky for G he was normally pale and his eyes didn't look very drawn or shadowed, at least not yet.

The dreams he had he couldn't remember, just the like one from the hospital. It plagued his minds with 'flashbacks' things that didn't make sense. Whales and purple light. Strange, jumbled, it didn't make sense.

Still Sam would no doubt know he hadn't been sleeping well, Callen sighed as this thought rang through his mind. What else was new?

Grabbing his duffle he headed toward the front door to meet up with his partner just pulling onto the street.

One of the great things about having a SEAL for a partner is the predictability. If Sam told him he would arrive at a certain time Callen could rest assured that it would happen.

Slipping into the car G nodded his greeting, trying to burn down the smile to 'normal' as he strapped on his seat belt.

"You're in a good mood this morning," Sam caught on easily, pulling away from the curb and starting down the maze of streets towards HQ.

Callen smirked, shaking his head lightly, "What can I say? I love my job. I assume you can read me into the latest case now?"

"Nope," Sam said quickly, not elaborating for a moment. After he received a narrow look from G he finally grinned in response, "There would be no point, we wrapped that up yesterday morning. We spent yesterday filing paperwork, something you will be getting very familiar with. Hetty is thrilled of your return, your desk is looking more and more like a library every day with the stacks of files."

G groaned, "Sounds like fun." His words were spoken in a tone that contradicted the words.

"Still love your job?" Sam asked, voice filled with his natural smugness.

"Only when I get to shoot people." Callen sighed looking out the window. Even with the promise of a mountain of paper work G's mood had greatly improved now that he was back in the game.

"You haven't been sleeping well, haven't you?" Sam spoke casually, "Anything we need to talk about?" The partners exchanged sideways glances, eyes meeting for a second before they looked out their respective windows stubbornly.

Of course since G was suffering from insomnia his partner would automatically assume their last case was the source of the problem. Callen read the guilt in Sam's tone like a predictable children's book.

"It's nothing serious, just weird dreams." G admitted, not wanting this guilt thing to become a thing between them. "There are only pieces I really remember, it doesn't really make sense. I like my subconscious to make sense." He said grumpily.

Sam seemed to accept this excuse, hearing the truth in his partners voice as he pulled into a parking space in front of ops. "Well, if you need to talk about it…"

"Nothing to talk about. Unless you have some sort of insight on what a killer whale and purple light has to do with anything." G shrugged, getting out of the car.

"Purple light…and a whale…your subconscious is a strange place, G." Sam shook his head, but gratefully dropped the subject as they entered their head quarters.

Sam hadn't been kidding about the paperwork, but thankfully they had been called out on a case before Callen could settle much into the mind-numbing task. The case was pretty regular. Someone had kidnap a Navel Intelligence officer who worked on something important enough that the information in bad guys hands could spell disaster.

The team worked hard, gathering leads with record speeds and working in perfect synchronization.

So by the end of the day they had already located the neighborhood where the woman, Shyanne Rivers was being held, even narrowing it down to the specific house. Lucky for the team there were only four bad guys, which meant one for each of them. Still Callen had a sudden, sinking feeling, especially when he was standing next to Deeks. He glanced at the man, wondering if the vibe he was getting was simply from Marty's posture. It wasn't, Deeks was his normal annoyingly cheerful self.

Still G couldn't help but feel as if something was wrong, or going to be wrong. The sensation tickled in the back of his mind as lightly as a feather would skin. The chilling oddity was enough to raise goose bumps on his arm and send a noticeable shiver down his spine.

"You okay, G?" Sam's voice called the pale agent out of his deep thoughts.

Callen sighed a bit, rubbing his forehead hoping to relieve some of the pressure building inside his skull. This was so not the time for a migraine. "I'm good, just a little headache." He passed off the impending feeling to the headache and nodded at his partner, assuring him silently that he was in fact fine.

"Alright," Sam nodded back, accepting that the pain lines on Callen's face weren't as prominent as they got when he was in serious pain and refocusing on the case. "Deeks you take the back, Kensi, come through the side door on the left, me and Callen are going to go through the front."

Sam wasn't sure if he wanted to believe that his partner was telling the truth, mainly because there was always that fear that G was lying to him. Of course Callen would explain that he was doing it for the team, but Sam firmly believed there was no reason to endanger a mission of such delicacy because one of them wasn't on top of their game.

Still there was no real sign that G was a danger, to himself or the mission. After the hit he received the 'headache' Callen had admitted to having was a legit cause for his pale face. At least it didn't seem to be distracting G to much, Sam had no doubt that his partner could push passed the pain to rescue the woman inside the house.

With stealth each of his team members stationed themselves into position at their specific entrances. Callen's was the most tricky, climbing silently up the side of the house to enter through the upstairs window where they had reason to believe the girl was being held at gun point.

"In position," G's soft voice whispered through the earwig in Sam's ears, chorused by Kensi and Deeks.

"On three," Sam announced, taking charge of the moment. "One, two…three!" Breaking down the door was effortless to the ex SEAL, aiming his gun and firing at the bad guy inside was done in a fluid motion. As if all of this were as natural as breathing in air and exhaling. Upstairs he heard similar gunfire as well as towards the back of the house. Then silence fell.

"Clear!" He shouted, hearing Kensi announce the same before G echoed the word from somewhere up above. Both he and Kensi made their way up the stairs to meet up with him. The girl, Shyanne was crying hysterically, blood (probably splatter from G shooting the gunman in the head at such a close proximity) stained her pale face and clothing.

"It's going to be okay now," G mumbled to her in the soothing voice he saved for scared children. She reacted well too it, panicked eyes locking on his bright blue ones as he worked on the ropes binding her to the chair.

"I'll call Eric for an ambulance," Kensi smiled warmly at the girl before stepping out of the room. When she returned Callen and Sam had the Miss Rivers settled on the edge of the bed, trying to help her fight off the shock of what had happened to her until the ambulance arrived.

Suddenly Sam glanced up, "Where's Deeks?" He asked suddenly, half expecting the man to say something annoying over his earwig. Something like, "It took you long enough to notice," or, "Admiring my handy work," but nothing came.

There wasn't even time to look at Callen before the man was moving. Dashing from the room and thundering down the steps to the first floor. "G!" Sam shouted after, fallowing with Kensi close at his heels, the rescued woman left to look after them as they followed their leader.

They arrived in the back yard just as Callen dove, with surprising grace, into the pool still fully clothed.

"What is he doing?" Kensi asked Sam curiously, eyes embedded with confusion as she moved closer to the edge of the pool.

"The hell if I know, maybe he suddenly had the urge to go swimming?" Sam's voice was tight with concern, glancing around the pool area for any sign of Deeks. The loud sound of G resurfacing caught both dry agents attentions again.

Sam's eyes widened when he realized his partner wasn't alone. Marty's unconscious body was in his arms as G struggled to the edge of the pool. "He's not breathing!" He shouted to Sam as the big agent hurried to assist.

"Oh my God," Kensi was mumbling, hovering just over Sam's shoulder. The shrill of the ambulance's siren filled the air, signaling it's arrival. The sound caught Kensi's attention enough to distract her from staring at her unconscious partners face. "I'll, I'll go get the paramedics." She announced quickly, rushing from the scene as fast as she could.

Sam had already started chest rescue breathing when Callen pulled himself from the pool. G kneeled on the other side of Deeks, staring with pale, hallow eyes as he watched his partner try to clear Marty's lungs.

"G, how did you know?" Sam's voice raised Callen's eyes to his own. With one look Sam's heart nearly stopped at his partner's lost expression, "G…"

"I just knew." Callen answered, dropping the gaze as he moved away to allow the arriving medics space to work.

I'll admit it was a bit slow at first, but I think the action at the end made up for it? Right? Let me know what you think!

Reviewers and Reviewers are always loved!

- Strawberrywaltz