Callen made his way to Nate's office. He needed to talk to him before they left. Who knew whether they would make it back or not? This might be his only chance to tell Nate how sorry he was.
Callen stopped in front of Nate's office and knocked on the open door.
Nate looked up from what he was doing. "Hey. I figured you'd be gone by now."
"We're waiting on Sam. I had to take care of a couple of things at home. Can I come in?" Callen asked.
"Of course," Nate said as though it were obvious.
Callen immediately crossed the threshold into his friend's office. "I owe you a very serious apology, Nate."
"No, you don't," Nate said.
"Yes, I do. I called you a traitor. I said you like Gibbs when nothing could be further from the truth. I'm the one that's like him," Callen said shamefully. Ever since he'd had his eyes opened about how Gibbs really was, he'd prided himself with being a better man and a better Agent in Charge. But the truth was he was no better. He'd done exactly what Gibbs had. He'd betrayed a friend.
"No, you're not!" Nate said firmly before standing up and going over to Callen. He was not about to listen to this crap. Callen was a better man than Gibbs could ever be. He was not going to let think otherwise. "You are nothing like Gibbs. Nothing!"
"I turned my back on you, Nate. The same way Gibbs turned his back on Tim," Callen said guiltily.
"No, not the same. Gibbs was never anything but disrespectful and frankly abusive to Tim. And he never had a reason other than the fact that Tim had different ideals than him. You had a reason. Your reason was my words. I looked you dead in the eye and I said Tim was guilty. And I knew how you'd react. So did Tim. We counted on it," Nate told him.
Callen shook his head. "It doesn't matter. I should've known better. I should've known that you would never turn your back on Tim."
"Callen, don't you understand? I did what I had to do to make sure you didn't figure that. I knew how to work you. I knew how angry you had to be already after spending a week in jail for a crime you didn't commit. I knew finding out Tim was being accused in your place had increased that rage by a hundred. Telling you that I thought he was guilty would send you right over the edge and I knew it. And I made sure you stayed angry later. Emotion is a powerful thing, Callen. It can help you or it can hinder you. Your emotions clouded your better judgment, just as I knew they would.
"So that's why you pulled that whole shrink crap on me a while back. You were trying to piss me off," Callen realized.
"Yes. I wanted to make sure your anger didn't simmer. I needed you angry. It was the only thing that kept you from realizing that I was lying. And if Tim hadn't done the unthinkable and gone to Iran, I would've continued with it all. You wanna blame someone for the way you treated me, blame me. I brought it on myself, literally," Nate said.
Just then, Sam and Kensi showed up. "Hey, you ready?" Sam asked Callen.
"Yeah, Nate and I were just clearing the air," Callen said.
A guilty look crossed Sam's face. "Yeah, about that, man…"
"Okay, stop! No more apologies. I don't need an apology from any of you. None of you owe me an apology," Nate told them firmly.
"Of course we do. We treated you horribly. 'I'm sorry' doesn't even cover it," Kensi said. She too felt a lot of guilt for believing the worst of Nate.
Nate sighed. "Okay, I want you all to listen very carefully to what I'm about to say. This. Is. What. We. Wanted. We wanted you all to turn on me. It was the only way to convince Kort that I was not an accomplice. Now I won't say it didn't hurt, but I was prepared for how you'd react to me. I wouldn't expect anything less from any of you. I know how loyal and protective you are. Especially when it comes to Tim. You are all more protective of him because of what he's been through in the past. That was another reason I knew that you would take my words seriously."
"But our protectiveness shouldn't have come at your expense," Kensi said. It was true that she was very protective of her partner, but Nate was once her partner too, even if it was for a short time. She should've known better than to think he'd turn on them so easily.
"No matter how you wanna spin it, we betrayed you, Nate. You should hate us for that," Sam said.
"Why do you think you betrayed me? Because you believed something I told you? What logic does that make? I gave you absolutely no reason to believe I was lying about what I said. I was convincing. Even the director couldn't figure out if I was lying or not. The only one that knew for sure was Hetty and that's because the woman has superhuman powers that nobody could possibly understand," Nate said.
That comment resulted in chuckling from all three agents.
Nate smiled as well, but quickly got serious again. "Look, we're all okay. I don't hold a grudge against any of you."
"Then you're a better friend than we deserve, and we thank you for that. I still have to say it though. "I'm sorry," Callen said.
"We're all sorry," Kensi added.
"Your apologies are accepted and completely unnecessary. Look, you wanna do something to me? Go get Tim and bring him home in one piece. That's all I want," Tim said.
Sam smiled. "That we can do. Come on, let's get the show on the road."
Callen and Kensi nodded and followed Sam out