Distress

Annie was taking her normal tea break this day while hanging out with Callen and his team. She loved being around the four of them. Plus, she knew that the team liked it when she came around and provided a minor distraction from their paperwork. So, it was just another regular day at the office as she leaned against Kensi's desk cracking jokes with her favorite three NCIS field operatives and one LAPD liaison. Today's topic of conversation was about Annie's family, though she didn't mind as much anymore now that she could now identify the people at NCIS: OSP as her friends.

"What's it like to grow up with your father as the director of the CIA?" Sam asked.

"Well, he wasn't always the director of the CIA and my mother was also a part of the same intelligence agency so it was pretty interesting. I got great gifts from the places they visited though."

"So it's the family business to become spooks?" Deeks teased and Annie smiled at this.

"My sister and I had the choice to do something else, but we admired our parents so it seemed obvious to us to enter a similar career path. I, however, stepped out of their shadows and joined the NSA whereas Carrie decided to go with the CIA." Annie answered amicably; something startled the group of agents from the expressions on their faces.

"You have a sister?" Kensi questioned and this made Annie smile.

"Didn't you guys read my file when I was a suspect?"

"We got the highlights from Eric and Nell and even then they were focusing on gathering information about your aliases and work history to see if you were capable of being a murderer. After you were cleared your files were sealed back up by Hetty." Callen explained.

"Ah, I love our boss." She replied with a grateful smile for Hetty maintaining Annie's privacy before continuing. "Yes I do have a sister. Carson Smith, the best sister a girl can have."

"Who's older?" Kensi asked.

"I am." Annie said before taking a sip of her tea.

"How old is she?" This time it came from Sam.

"We are the same age."

"OoooOoooh, twins. Fraternal or identical? I want to know if there is a clone of you Annie." Deeks commented in a flirty tone and sized Annie up. Everyone rolled their eyes at Deeks for that but she answered all the same.

"Carrie and I are not twins; she was adopted by my parents. But she will always be family no matter what genetics say." She added firmly and made eye contact with each of them. And the four of them nodded their heads in acceptance at her words.

"So when do we get to meet this sister of yours?" Deeks asked, again the flirtatious tone evident in his voice, making it clear as day to everyone what his intentions were.

While his teammates scoffed at the blond detective, Annie laughed. She was laughing so hard she was drawing looks from those who were just passing by the cubicle of office space that belonged to Callen and his team. So much so that Hetty came over when she was clearly in the middle of something based on the fact that her hands were grasping three roses, two red and one white.

"What in the heavens is so funny?" She demanded and Annie quickly wiped the edges of her eyes as not to ruin her eye liner.

"Deeks thinks he stands a chance on a date with Carson." Annie chuckled and this had Hetty chuckling as well.

"Ah, I can now see why you were laughing so hard Ms. Smith." Hetty agreed while still laughing.

"What? I can be quite persuasive with the ladies." Deeks defended himself which had the two women laughing harder.

"Oh, you probably could get a date or two with the other Ms. Smith-" Hetty started.

"But she would chew you up and spit you back out again leaving you begging for more and she would never look back." Annie finished as the two still chortled about her sister. Deeks didn't look dismayed by this information at all; in fact he seemed to be fired up by it. She could tell that if he ever did meet Carson, Deeks would try to prove them wrong and attempt to tame her sister. And Annie wouldn't mind seeing the showdown.

"Hetty, why do you have flowers?" Callen asked and everyone's attention turned to the small bouquet in the little woman's hands.

"About that," And their boss turned towards Annie. "I have told you Ms. Smith that OSP headquarters' location should be kept secret, correct?"

"Yes, you stressed that quite a bit." Annie replied hesitantly, confused as to what Hetty was getting at.

"Then why did some of our security personnel intercept a delivery boy whose job was to hand these over to you?" Hetty questioned with a serious tone and Annie gaped. She has not told anyone, not even her family, where the OSP headquarters was and even fewer knew that she was working there in the first place.

"I swear Hetty; I have no clue as to who sent that to me and how they got a hold of this information. I have not told anyone where this place is located." Annie hoped that Hetty believed her, although it was hard to tell because the little woman she called her friend and boss had one mean poker face.

"Good thing that these flowers came with a card. Shall I read it aloud for you?" Hetty stated more than asked and before Annie could protest, Hetty did just that.

"My dearest and sweetest Annie, it has been too long. My love for you is so passionate that if it were a fire it would burn down the house I live in. My poor roommate Gabriel would just be collateral damage from how powerful that fire could be. Oh just the thought of harming poor Gabriel is dampening my spirits. To compensate from this I will fly out to see you at your earliest convenience. Love, Jackson." Throughout the reading Hetty's captivated audience experienced a flurry of emotions.

The general emotion was confusion as to who this Jackson person was and how he got a hold of the address to their headquarters. Also, the word usage to convey his message was strange as well. It made Annie blush madly from embarrassment and Callen felt his face heat up in anger. But Annie's demeanor suddenly changed at the mention of the sender's identity.

"Wait, Hetty, did you say that Jackson was the person's name who sent me these flowers?" Annie asked and at her boss' nod she felt the blood that filled her face immediately leave and give her an abnormally pale complexion.

It can't be… She thought but when she looked over the flowers, she knew that this was no false alarm.

"Excuse me a moment." She whispered and briskly walked back to her office to pull out a satellite phone. Annie typed in a number that she prayed in the past she wouldn't have to and waited as it rang for the person on the other end to pick up. Meanwhile Callen, his team, and Hetty remained speechless as to what was going on. They watched in silence and from a far as Annie talked on her satellite phone. This worried Callen immensely.

He, of course, felt extremely jealous of whoever this Jackson person was. For one, this Jackson person admitted his love to Annie so openly, if not a bit cheesily, and two because this Jackson person must be close to Annie to know where she worked. If he wasn't close to her then this man could be a stalker and Callen would have none of that. And the idea of this Jackson being a stalker seemed plausible from Annie's reaction to finding out that it was him who sent her the flowers. Callen watched her closely as she stiffly walked back to her office and then dial the phone number. She was even stiff as she waited for this Jackson person to answer, or at least he assumed she was calling Jackson.

"Quick, Kens, what is she saying?" Sam commented and Callen was thankful that his partner had his wits about him.

"I can't." Kensi said in astonishment.

"What do you mean you can't?" Callen questioned.

"She-Annie is using a language that I can't identify and she is talking so fast." Kensi explained in frustration and confusion. Callen felt his eyebrows furrow at this information as his gaze turned back to Annie who was now pacing. She looked up briefly and caught them all staring at her. She stopped talking immediately. Annie's brown eyes locked with his own blue ones before she turned her back on the group and probably resumed her conversation with this Jackson or whomever she was speaking to.

"It seems like Ms. Smith does not wish to share her private conversation with us." Hetty commented as Annie hung up the phone and leaned against her own desk. The way her shoulders were slumped and by the way she was pressing her index finger and her thumb to her temples, effectively blocking her face from them, it was easy to see that the conversation was not a good one. Callen got up to comfort her when Hetty waved him off and approached Annie herself. Hetty stood right in front of Annie but the woman he was worried for did not remove her hand from her temples.

"Can you get anything Kensi?" Deeks asked but their female teammate shook her head in a negative.

Hetty stood there for another five minutes before she placed a hand on Annie's arm, it was then that Annie removed her hand from her face and Callen, as well as the rest of his team, could see that their fashion consultant had been hiding her tears. Annie gave Hetty a watery smile and Callen could make out the words 'thank you' before the woman gathered her belongings. She then left headquarters, giving Callen and his team a grimace of a smile as she passed. Callen wanted to run after her but Hetty reappeared in front of him, cutting off his escape. She also was stopping, apparently, Sam, Kensi, and Deeks who all had the same idea as Callen to go after Annie to discover what made her cry.

"What was all that about?" Sam asked for everyone when it was clear that they were not permitted to leave by their boss.

"Ms. Smith received a very distressing phone call as you can see. So, I allowed her to take the rest of the day off to attend to her personal matters. But do not fret; you will all see her sometime tomorrow." Was all Hetty said to them and then walked away before they could protest for more information. The rest of the day Callen, Sam, Kensi, and Deeks called Annie's cell phone separately and when they thought that no one else was looking. But none of them got a hold of her because it seemed as if Annie had turned off her cell phone when she left work. All they could do was wait for her to get their numerous messages and call them back.

While they were waiting for Annie to reappear, she was at the LAX waiting for Jackson to arrive and was parked away from the cameras' line of sight. She couldn't believe that he was dragging that alias back into the light. Jackson's real name was Travis Johnston; he was a fellow coworker of hers from the NSA. And when she called the number she hoped to never call and he answered, her worst fears came to life. The conversation they had did little to ease her worries, especially upon hearing that he was flying to L.A. to meet up with her and why.

"Hey," His deep baritone voice cut through her thoughts. When Annie's gaze finally focused on Travis, she smiled. The man was about the same height and build as Sam but Travis Johnston had a darker complexion with a head full of hair. In fact, Travis had dreads which, paired with his favorite Hawaiian shirts, made him look Jamaican. Currently he was wearing a deep red colored shirt with big white flowers and ukuleles with beige shorts and Nike tennis shoes.

"Hey yourself." She greeted and the two exchanged hugs. Annie then took a hold of his duffel bag and threw it into the back seat of her convertible. They then sat in her car but she had to ask one question before she started the engine.

"Are you sure that Gabriel's death is connected to Elijah's? Are you sure it was the same people?" Annie looked Travis Johnston square in the eye and he calmly stared back.

"Yes Annie, I'm sure. I was there practically." He replied and she sensed no hesitancy in the man who she has worked with for years. This last claim of his was what reassured Annie that what they were about to do was the right thing. Now she just had to find a way to convince Hetty to give her some more time off and a way to say good bye to Callen and his team without them being suspicious.