See, I didn't kill Callen...as if! He'll be fit as a fiddle in no time. But what about his relationship with Nell. Will his injury ruin what they've just begun exploring or will it make it stronger?

I only own my own characters which include Stefan and Mark in this story.

Anything in italics within single quotes is a quote from my one-shot "Can't Stay Away". Anything in italics and double quotes is thoughts.

Nope…no matter how hard I wish, NCIS LA nor any of the characters on the show are mine. And sadly, they never will be.

Reviews are always welcome. If you are enjoying this story, or even if you're not, drop me a line and tell me why. My minions are weeping in the corner because they couldn't get my laptop away from me. They were trying to hold it hostage until we received more reviews, but I told them it wouldn't be fair to my readers.

Enjoy.

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CHAPTER 8: Nell's Reaction

Back in OPS, Nell heard everything that happened over coms as usual because she and Eric were the team's eyes and ears whenever they were on a case. She, Eric, along with Hetty were together in the room and Nell was barely holding it together. "Hold it together Jones." she chided herself mentally. "I can't let Hetty see how upset I am about G. I can't fall apart or she'll know for sure we've been seeing each other and I'll have to leave NCIS. I don't want to leave and I can't lose G now. Please God let him be okay." She was as efficient as ever in doing her job and providing needed intelligence to all the agents she was responsible for, but inside she felt like she was falling apart. Her heart was pounding and she could feel tears threatening to overflow and run down her cheeks. She was holding them back with everything she had in her. She didn't want anyone to see her crying, especially Hetty.

She always worried the most about her team; that's how she felt about Callen, Sam, Kensi and Deeks. They were her 'team' and she always worried when they were out in the field, but this was the first time something bad had happened to any of them since she and Callen had gotten together. What made it ten times worse was it was Callen who was hurt and she couldn't be there with him. She had to remain in OPS to back up Kensi and Deeks instead of doing what she so very much wanted to do, which was get to Callen as soon as possible to see with her own eyes that he was going to be okay.

When she heard the shot on coms and then Sam yelling, she had been terrified that Callen had been killed. If she hadn't heard his voice answering Sam, she thought her heart would have shattered into a million small slivers. She was so relieved to hear him all she really wanted to do at that moment was have a good cry, find Callen and rip him a new one for scaring her so much and then hug him fiercely; however, she still had a job to do and agents in the field to support.

Nell was finding it extremely difficult to maintain her objectivity when it came to Callen. Since they had begun their relationship, she had developed a much higher level of respect for Deeks. He somehow made it seem easy to lay it all on the line to protect Kensi with everything he had in him. He seemed to have no fear and no regard for his own safety when it came to her. "I know he would gladly lay down his life for Kensi without a second thought. I always knew he loved her, but now I see that it's so much more than love. The way he looks at her and the way he protects her tells me he feels she's his soul mate. I don't think he would want to survive if anything happened to her. I don't know how I'll go on if Callen ever gets killed on assignment."

Now that Callen had been shot, she thought about Deeks again and how he was able to keep it together while covering his partner's back when she knew he was madly in love with her. She and Deeks had gotten closer while they had been paired together when Kensi was in Afghanistan and had told each other a few things about themselves; things that no one else knew.

She had even told him how she felt about Callen. He encouraged her to do something about her feelings and not live with regrets because she was too afraid to say anything. He had talked about Kensi, a lot; and she now knew just how deep his love for her went, even though he hadn't come right out and said it in so many words. She also knew how much he worried about Kensi and what might happen to her in Afghanistan. He confessed to her how angry he had been when Hetty sent Kensi off without even letting them have a chance to say goodbye. He told her how he had gone to Hetty and asked he if it was his fault that Kensi had been reassigned. He went on to tell her not let anyone at work know how she felt about Callen especially if they became involved, because he didn't want to see them parted from each other like Hetty had parted him and Kensi.

When Hetty had reassigned Kensi, it had broken something between Deeks and Hetty. Nell knew he no longer trusted Hetty with his heart and it saddened her because she knew he had looked at Hetty as somewhat of a mother figure. She had always thought that Hetty felt the same way about him, but then to let him think it was his fault that Kensi was sent away was cold, even for Hetty. It was why she was so careful at work to not show how much she cared for Callen.

"I remember how he was when she was in Afghanistan. He quit laughing as much and was much more serious. It was like he had lost that uniqueness that made him Deeks. I don't know how he held it together without tearing into Hetty for separating them. I don't think he's ever gotten over it. And he thought that Hetty sent Kensi away to punish him. I never thought that was it, but what if I was wrong? What if that's really how Hetty operates? And now…now I feel the same way about G. If Hetty tries to separate us, she'll have the fight of her life on her hands!

Nell knew that she had to suck up her feelings and do her job to protect Callen and the entire team. She continued helping Eric check traffic cams trying to find out exactly where the shot had come from and identify the shooter. It was a long shot but it was all they had at present and she was determined to do everything in her power to find out who had hurt Callen.

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Meanwhile Kensi and Deeks had arrived at the Naval base and been escorted to the ship. There they talked to the Commander's superior officer about what his duties were and who he had been in contact with recently. They found out the Commander hadn't met anyone out of the ordinary in the previous few weeks. His commanding officer had nothing but praise for him. He told them he did his job diligently and was a role model for the younger sailors on the ship. He regularly attended the monthly classified briefing. Kensi and Deeks split up to talk to as many of the sailors who knew the Commander as possible. Everyone they talked to had nothing but good things to say about him. Everyone seemed to like the Commander.

When they checked out the car and driver assigned to him that morning, they were told it was picked at random from the motor pool and then thoroughly checked out which was standard operating procedure whenever a car was assigned. There was nothing wrong with the car when it was checked out, everything was fine; there were no incendiary devices found anywhere on or in it. According to witnesses, the driver had left the base about 6 am to go to the Commander's home to pick him up.

They were still at the base talking to the Commander's friends and subordinates trying to find any leads to the car bombing but were coming up empty when Callen was shot. As soon as Kensi and Deeks heard the shooting over coms, they began trying to find a connection between the commander and Callen that might account for Callen's attempted murder. They again came up empty. There was no connection between the two they could find. They decided to call it a day and return to the Mission hoping they would get home before midnight for once.

Marty turned to Kensi as they began walking back to their car to return to OSP and quietly murmured "It had to be an inside job. There's no other way the device could have been put in the Commander's car. But what I can't figure out is why? Why him? What was hoped to be gained by killing him? There's got to be something else going on here. We're missing something."

"You're right. We're going to have to have Eric and Nell check out everyone who was around the car." Kensi tapped her earwig and continued "Nell, Eric, check out the list of people I'm going to be sending you. Deeks and I think it was someone on the inside who rigged the car. I really don't think it is any of the people on the list I'm about to send you, but we have to start somewhere." She then sent them the list of names they had come up with.

Nell and Eric weren't having any luck finding anything either. All the financials and background information they could dig up on the driver or the commander was clean. There was nothing suspicious at all. It didn't make any sense. They set up a search to find out as much as they could about the list of people Kensi had given them.

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