I'm so sorry this is late, but real-life has hit with a vengeance and knocked me flat on my tush.

Nell has a shining moment in the hunt for Stefan while Stefan exacts punishment on the two teams who have failed him so far.

I only own my own characters which include Stefan Badžo and Mark Anderson 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. For the translation of the Romanian see the end of this chapter.

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, especially this chapter, or even if you aren't, leave me a review on your way out and tell me why.

Enjoy.

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CHAPTER 17: Finding Stefan

Recap from previous chapter:

Callen instructed Nell "Check out the motels around the Duke of Mead pub near the Happy Hippo on Wilshire." Turning to Deeks he continued "The pub owner did say he thought the guy was staying at one of the motels near his shop right? Maybe we'll get lucky and see him on traffic cams."

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Nell began checking all the motels near the Duke of Mead while Eric continued checking traffic cams. Within the hour, Eric had identified the car coming out of a Motel 6 about a block from the pub. Nell then called the motel, put the phone on speaker and asked to speak to Stefan Badžo while pretending to be his girlfriend. On hearing that there was no Stefan Badžo registered, she stayed in character and began crying "But he told me he was staying there. He's 6 Ft with black hair and speaks with an accent. Are you sure he's not there? I really need to talk to him. I have some news about his sister that he needs to know."

Maybe it was the sobs the motel manager was hearing over the phone or the fact that Nell sounded rather young and naive, but the manager took pity on her and tried to get her to quit crying by telling her "There is a man registered here as Steven Blanco who sounds a little like your boyfriend. I saw him leave a little while ago, but he's rented the room for the week. It might be him. Do you want to leave a message?"

"Oh, thanks so much." Nell gushed through her sobs. "No, I...I probably shouldn't leave a message since it may not be the right person. I don't want to freak some stranger out if he's not my boyfriend Stefan. I'll try again a little later or maybe I'll come by and see if it's my Stefan. You've been such a big help and so kind. I can't thank you enough." There was the sound of clapping in OPS as she hung up the phone.

"Well done, Nell! You're a natural." Callen was pleasantly surprised at how well she had handled the man.

Callen's praise caused a slight blush to begin creeping up Nell's neck and into her cheeks. She hoped no one else in OPS noticed the blush. If they did, it might become awkward. "Thank you Callen. Glad Eric and I could help."

The team began to throw ideas around on how they could verify whether or not it was Stefan Badžo staying at the motel without him noticing them. They couldn't afford a repeat of earlier that day when Kensi and Deeks had been followed but they needed additional information on what Stefan was planning and who might be helping him. The also didn't want to spook him. If he thought they were on to him, he might disappear which would make it even harder to protect themselves and take him down.

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While Callen and the team were trying to figure out their next steps to find Badžo, he was trying to figure out how he was going to accomplish his mission to kill them. He had sworn on his families' graves that he would make them pay. It had taken him a long time to find out where they were located and put together a team to track their movements.

At that moment, he was in the warehouse he had rented to use as a base for his mission, listening to the two teams that had failed him; the one that had been tasked with killing Callen and the other that was supposed to follow and kill Kensi and Deeks. Neither team had succeeded in their objectives.

He had gone into a towering rage when he found out that Callen had survived the shooting and that Kensi and Deeks had escaped. He had thought long and hard about what he was going to do because of both teams' failure to accomplish their tasks. He was still extremely angry but had calmed down now that he had finally decided what he was going to do about their failure. He wasn't going to put up with any excuses from the team tasked with killing Callen, or the team tasked with grabbing Kensi and Deeks but that was all he was hearing. Watching the four men, he finally had heard enough of their feeble excuses and motioned for them to shut up.

Looking at each man in turn, he began talking. "Tot aud sunt scuze. Nu vreau domnilor scuze. Vreau rezultate. Voi doi," he pointed at the team assigned to Callen. "Cine a fost cel care a tras pe echipa ta?"

The smaller of the two men said "I was. I hit the blond instead of his partner when he moved in front of him, but I only wounded him. I won't miss the next time."

Stefan then looked at the team assigned to Kensi and Deeks. "Cine a fost șoferul pe echipa ta?" Again, one of the men spoke up and identified himself as the driver and tried to explain once again why they had failed in their objective.

He continued looking at the men in both teams. "Voi accepta nimic mai puțin decât un succes deplin. Nu ne înțelegem, domnilor?" he asked.

Receiving nods from all four men, he turned away from them momentarily. He could hear their sighs of relief and smiled to himself. When he turned back around, he had his gun out and calmly killed the shooter on the first team and the driver on the second, then returned his gun to his shoulder holster. He looked at the two men still standing and continued "I hope I've made myself clear. If you fail me again, you will join your companions. Is that understood?"

"Yes sir" came the dual replies.

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Stefan ordered one of the other mercenaries to dispose of the bodies of the men who had failed him. He then instructed the remainder of his team to find out everything they could about the team's movements. He still hadn't found out the location where Callen and his team worked or where Callen himself lived, which was what he really wanted to know. He was still frustrated because he and his team had missed two golden opportunities to exact a portion of revenge and find out where they all worked. First, when the team lead had been shot, they hadn't been able to follow him from the hospital to where he worked or lived; and then second, when they had followed but lost the two agents who had been snooping around his motel room. He thought it would be fitting to take the fight right to their front doors. After all, they had invaded his home when they had traveled to Romania.

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Back at the Mission, Eric and Nell were continuing to do everything in their power to identify the men around Badžo so that they could be picked up. They hadn't had much luck so far, but they weren't letting it stop them.

Callen watched Nell working and wondered once again how he had been so lucky to have her come into his life and turn it upside down. He couldn't believe how very important she had become to him. He wanted to be with her all the time, but he knew he had to compartmentalize the two parts of his life; his job as the team leader and being her boyfriend "God, I hate that term," he thought. "It makes me sound like I'm sixteen years old for God's sake. Significant other is even worse. Man-friend sounds absolutely ridiculous, so I guess it has to be boyfriend. It is what I am and I wouldn't want it any other way." He absently rubbed his wound trying not to scratch the itch he was feeling along the stitches.

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At 10 pm, Hetty told everyone to call it a night. They had been working non-stop since very early that morning and she could tell they were worn out. "Let's get a good night's rest and continue in the morning people. Be very careful going home and make sure you're not followed."

"Night Hetty" or "See you in the morning" came from various members of her elite team as they grabbed their bags and made their way out of OSP. Kensi and Deeks automatically began walking out together as they usually did. As soon as they were outside and knew they where in a blind spot where no-one in OSP would be able to see them, they gravitated toward each other until their shoulders were touching and they were able to hold hands.

"My place or yours tonight?" asked Marty.

"Yours. I want…no I need to see Monty. There's just something about your mutt that soothes me Shaggy" Kensi snickered.

"Monty? Monty rates higher than me? Seriously?" Marty looked at her in disbelief. "What about yours truly? Don't I soothe you Kens? I can be very soothing, I do have magic hands" he continued with a leer.

"Keep dreaming Marty, keep on dreaming" Kensi was in full-on teasing mode.

"You wound me Fern. What a way to treat your partner, really…your better half…your dream date."

"More like nightmare" she snorted. Marty gave a very dramatic sigh. If Kensi didn't know better, she would have thought she hurt him, but his arm coming over her shoulder and the kiss on top of her head made it very clear that he knew she was just messing with him.

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As they reached Deeks apartment, he followed her up the stairs into the apartment asking her what she wanted for dinner. "Monty misses you too Kensalina. You know that, right?"

"Yeah, I know," she sighed.

"What would you like, pizza or something from Yummy Yummy Heart Attack?"

"I don't care as long as there's beer. Surprise me."

Kensi threw her bag down beside the couch as Monty came toward her, tail wagging furiously. She spent a few minutes petting him and talking to him. "Who's a good boy?" Monty immediately flopped down and rolled onto his back blatantly asking for a tummy rub which Kensi was more than happy to give him.

"Hey Kens…what don't you grab a shower while I order dinner? It should be here by the time you get out. I'll take one later." Marty turned to Monty giving him a dirty look. "Traitor. You're supposed to be man's best friend, Monty. Man's best friend. For a tummy rub you betray your master. I may have to give you back you know." Monty looked up at him before laying his head back down and closing his eyes in doggie bliss as Kensi continued rubbing him.

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Translation of the Romanian: "All I'm hearing are excuses. I don't want excuses gentlemen. I want results. You two,";

"Who was the shooter on your team?";

"Who was the driver on your team?" and

"I will accept nothing less than complete success. Do we understand each other, gentlemen?"