Hello to everyone who is reading this!
Just two more chapters after this before I go on my break! I hope you all like what is going to happen!
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Disclaimer is in Chapter 1: Who?
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A Thousand Words
"Excuse me, but we have another bouquet of flowers for Ms. Smith. They are from a Mr. Harrison Kane." An agent that Annie didn't recognize stated and diffused the situation if only to shift from to a different form of tension.
"We have run all the tests to make sure that the bouquet and the voice recorder are not rigged to explode or have been bugged." The agent continued and Callen's happy mood plummeted even more so from when Annie had to relive the last few painful moments of her abduction by Stryker and now she was receiving roses and a message from an old fame.
"Thank you agent, you can hand those over to my daughter and return to your post now." Director Smith ordered and the tall, non-descript agent did as he was told as he handed over the bouquet to Annie with the voice recorder tucked inside of it.
"Thanks," Annie said as well and took a deep whiff of the bouquet that consisted of lilies and lavender.
"I can't believe Harrison remembered Sarah's favorite flowers." Annie stated after the agent left the room and smiled a beautiful smile that Callen had ached to see since this whole ordeal started. He also was able to hold back the growl that threatened to emit from his throat at the fact that Annie was happy because she received flowers from an ex-boyfriend.
"Who's Sarah?" Kensi asked and Annie couldn't help but chuckle this time. Annie lit up for the first time since Callen woke up and saw her smiling face.
"Sarah Chadwick was the alias I met Harrison under," She explained as she continued to smile brightly at all of her visitors and Callen decided to just let it go and enjoy her warm smile instead of get pissed off at a man who wasn't even here to hand her the flowers.
"It is also why Harrison calls her 'Princess'." Carson added which made Hetty, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and Sam exclaim "Oh" and Annie blush scarlet.
"HE WHAT?" Annie practically screamed in shock, still blushing a brilliant shade of red that made her still gorgeous to Callen despite the bruises and swelling on her face.
"Yup, Harrison still calls you 'Princess'." Carson stated and Annie covered her face with her one free hand after she shifted the bouquet into the crook of her arm.
"Ugh, if I ever see that man again I will definitely kick his ass. Carson, you know how many times I have been telling him not to call me Princess!" Annie said as Carson nodded her head and Callen now really wished Harrison was here to see Annie do what she said she would do.
"I don't understand why him calling you Princess has anything to do with your alias' name being Sarah Chadwick." Deeks spoke up and voiced the question that most of the employees at NCIS: OSP wanted to ask.
"Sarah means 'princess' in Hebrew." Sam explained and everyone who didn't get it at first said "Oh," just like the others did. Again, Annie blushed a shade darker than before and shook her head in embarrassment.
"Well, let's hear the voice message he has left for you or do you wish to hear it in private?" Hetty redirected everyone's attention to that small detail other than Annie having the nickname of 'Princess' with an ex-flame.
Annie hesitated and thought about it for a brief moment which intrigued Callen as well as the rest of her visitors. Only Carson understood that Annie was hesitant on the fact that Harrison might say something even more embarrassing in the message than just calling her 'Princess'. In the end, Annie decided to play the message in front of everyone because they were all just going to ask her about it sometime later. So she took out the voice recorder from its nestled perch in the bouquet of lilies and lavender. They were all surprised to see attached to it by a rubber band was a piece of paper. Annie took the piece of paper off without looking at it by placing it face down on the bed sheet and pressed the play button on the voice recorder.
"Ha-lo Princess, I'm sorry I couldn't be there to hand these flowers to you personally but I do not wish to make it awkward for your friends and family who all work for a federal agency because I am technically still wanted by the U.S. government for a few past jobs I did. I hope you are listening to this yourself so I can say I am glad that you are alright, or at least conscious. If you are listening to this then I need to tell you that I am changing my number effective immediately and that I wish you a long and happy life now that we are even. Be safe Princess and find yourself a nice bloke who can keep up with ya." Harrison's voice resonated within the hospital room and Annie couldn't help the small, soft smile grace her face as she appreciated the ex-mercenary's sentiments. While she was lost in her thoughts and Callen was consumed with memorizing that look on her face, Director Smith picked up the piece of paper she had placed on the bed.
A strange noise that sounded like a strangled grunt came from Annie's father as his eyes bulged at the piece of paper he was looking at. That noise drew everyone's attention to him and Mrs. Smith, with her position standing beside her husband, looked over and smiled at the piece of paper in the older man's hand.
"Nice picture Annie." Her mother said with this smirk that made all the active and retired agents in the room as well at the marine, his wife, and one almost ten years-old girl curious as to what picture Harrison gave to Annie that would make her parents react the way they were. Annie had a bad feeling about what the picture might be.
Carson went over and took the picture out of their father's hand and gave a low whistle with her own smirk before leaning to her right so that Hetty could see. Hetty chuckled and shook her head while passing the picture onto Nell and Eric. Nell grinned knowingly as Eric had his own eyes bulging out of their sockets; the techie opened his mouth as if he was going to say something but nothing came out. His eyes in their bulged state humorously followed the picture as Nell passed it onto to Kensi. The female agent positioned the picture between herself and her partner. When Deeks saw the picture he gasped and started stuttering as he flailed his hand from the picture to Annie as if he couldn't believe it was her and Kensi rolled her eyes at this while giving Annie this amused smile at Deeks' reactions. Travis whistled like Carson did and leaned over so that Aisha could look at the picture when he got the little piece of paper that made Annie blush an even more, darker shade of red than ever before and made Callen loose his mind as to what the picture was.
"Auntie Annie, you are really pretty!" Aisha exclaimed when Travis bent over and she could finally see the picture. Annie sighed in relief knowing that it wasn't inappropriate if Travis was showing his daughter the picture. For Callen, it was the complete opposite. He was literally going an insane with the possibilities of what the picture of Annie was to get such reactions from the people who have seen it so far.
Travis then handed it over to Jason and Emma; they too were smiling although Emma did let out a mumble that sounded like "go Annie…" but Callen could have been wrong as Jason was left speechless and wide-eyed himself at this picture of Annie. Next was Sam who chuckled and shook his head in amusement when he saw the picture but Callen could see the bewilderment in his partner's eyes as well that was simmering just beneath the amusement. Because Callen was seated, he was not able to see the picture until Sam handed it to him directly.
When his eyes finally landed on the small wallet sized picture, his breath got caught in his throat. It was a picture of Annie performing her job as a belly dancer. Her raven black hair was long, like the first time Callen had ever met Annie, but this time her hair was not straight but had luscious curls that cascaded down her back and shoulders. Half of it was up in this little bun that anchored the saturated red head band to her forehead with little coins attached to it but still loose to probably jangle from what Callen could gather. Annie's eyes had heavy make-up in the sense that it created the smoky eye effect, making her bedroom eyes even more seducing and searing than in real life. Her lips with a noticeable neutral lip gloss made her lips even more kissable to Callen and her almond skin looked flawless and soft to the touch.
Her clothes and body was positioned to show off what little curves Annie naturally possessed. One arm was extended towards the camera with an offering hand, as if to invite the photographer or the viewer, Callen in this case, to join her while the other arm was raised and bent at the elbow so that her fingers were snapping over head to the beat probably. Annie's torso was turned away from the camera and leaned forward, caught in the moment of swaying her hips, so that her curves were displayed. Her outfit helped in this endeavor as she was wearing a midriff top and long skirt. Both were the color of saturated red, her top barely covered her chest and had a deep V-cut to show off some cleavage with three quarter sleeves. The little coins like the ones on her head band dangled off the bottom of the midriff, along her necklace that was nestled on her chest, along her bangles, along the bracelets on her ankles, and along the tops of her skirt. The skirt reached to her ankles and as mentioned previously, a saturated red color that complimented her skin color.
But what had Callen mesmerized and gaping like a fish was the look on Annie's face. Yes, her eyes were naturally alluring and with the make-up it made it even more so but it was the sexuality she was somehow emoting through a picture that really got Callen. In this one simple picture, Annie's eyes held this intense and raw power over the NCIS legendary operative because of the lust, passion, and sensuality that were oozing out of every pore of her body just from the way she was looking at the camera. No women could Callen recall, whether it is in person or on camera, ever looked so alluring and gorgeous in his mind. He never knew Annie could look at someone like that or even look like she did in that picture. Apparently he was staring at it too long for Annie struggled to take the picture out of his hand once she put down the bouquet of flowers so she could use both hands. When she did somehow get it out of his grasp, she gave him an amused smile before finally looking at it herself.
"Oh," She chuckled and shook her head while the noticeable blush lessened to a more subtle pink. "Harrison took this picture on my first night working as a belly dancer. My boss told me to be as sexy as possible and leave the men howling for more by the time I exited the small stage. According to Harrison, I accomplished that task." Annie continued to laugh as she explained the importance of that picture as she kept looking back at it not believing that it was herself either.
"How did he know I was kidnapped?" She mused aloud and looked particularly at her sister. Carson smirked at how well Annie could guess that it was Carson who got in contact with Harrison.
"I was the one to notice that Lucas Walker was in the room with you and that he knew you from before. From there we were able to trace Walker back to Harrison Kane; Carson was the one who contacted him through your contacts. As you might not know, Kane was then able to contact Walker and try to convince him to help you escape." Mrs. Smith explained redirecting Annie's attention to her also amused mother and disgruntled father who, like Callen, was remembering the fact that Annie dated Kane and apparently had the best break-up sex she has ever had thanks to Deeks letting slip that fact in front of her parents. If Annie noticed her dad's displeasure, she didn't voice it.
"Actually, Lucas did tell me that Harrison contacted him. He was the reason why I was able to tell you all where I was located." Annie trailed off at the end and it was clear to everyone in the room that something bad happened to her as the memory overwhelmed the battered woman in front of them. They all knew at that moment that Annie, understandably, was going to have a hard time overcoming this whole ordeal, that there will be just some memories that will never go away.
"If he is giving me this picture then I guess really we are going our separate ways." Annie said in a sad tone, changing the topic after Callen took her hand and squeezed it to bring her back to the present.
"Do you want that Annie?" Hetty asked knowingly and Annie hesitated for a brief moment before she nodded her head.
"It's for the best." Annie answered and even though she did sound a tad sorrowful, Callen was happy that she thought it was a good thing that she and Harrison Kane were no longer in contact.
"Why Auntie Annie?" Aisha asked her favorite Aunt and the young woman smiled at the little girl she had put her life on the line to save.
"Well Aisha, when I met Harrison I was not acting like myself. That relationship and the feelings I had for Harrison was not a real one, it was all a lie if that makes any sense." Annie tried to explain but the little girl was still confused.
"How can you love someone and it be a lie?" Aisha asked and once more all the adults turned their attention from the almost ten year old girl to Annie.
"You know how I said that when I met Harrison I was a different person and that my name at the time was Sarah?" Annie countered with her own question in which the girl hesitated before nodding her head enthusiastically that made Annie smile and chuckle.
"Basically Sarah is the one who has feelings for Harrison and Sarah is the one that Harrison returned his feelings for, not me as Annie. When I was Sarah I was not acting like your Auntie Annie. So, I may have liked Harrison very much, but only the part of me that was Sarah, the part of me that has Sarah's memories, is influencing my feelings for wanting to stay in contact with Harrison." Annie tried to explain once more but Aisha still didn't seem to get it from the look of strong concentration on the little girl's face that was quite adorable. But Callen, Sam, and Deeks understood what Annie was trying to say the most out of the adults in the room who also understood in their own way. All three men had fallen in love or developed strong feelings for women while they were undercover that still have some form of affect over them.
For Deeks, it was his best friend's ex-wife, Nicole. For Sam it was Jasmine, the sister of a well-known African terrorist even though Sam would have never left his wife for Jasmine. Callen remembered Kristen Donnelly, the woman he truly fell in love with when he was pretending to be a dirty MP to get close to her brother, John, and his friends who stole 5 million dollars from the Navy. He remembered how those old feelings he thought he buried when he closed the case came back when the case was reopened. Jason Tedrow's love for Kristen Donnelly resurfaced in full force when Callen finally saw her after four years, after he found out that she had a son that could have been his, when Kristen Donnelly's life could have been in danger because she might have known something even though Callen knew she didn't.
All three men would agree that even though they still had strong feelings for those perspective women they met while undercover, those emotions were not really theirs, they belonged to their aliases. While those emotions were real, very real to each man, those relationships were not real and thus each man had to put those feelings behind them and move on just like Annie was attempting to do.
"You will understand when you get older, hun." Travis said to the little girl and broke her concentration.
"How much older?" Aisha asked in her innocent voice that had everyone smiling.
"Well, I would say when you are 40 years old, possibly 35 depending if I change my mind which is highly doubtful my baby girl." Travis replied and this made everyone laugh as Aisha pouted. Aisha opened her mouth to say something when Emma gasped and grabbed her protruding stomach.
"Emma, what's wrong?" Jason asked, his wife was about to answer when another painful gasp came out instead and she closed her eyes in pain.
"She is having contractions, I would recognize that face anywhere. That was the same face Rose had when she went into labor with Annie." Director Smith spoke up and both he and Mrs. Smith went straight to Emma's side.