7.30 a.m.
Nell's house
Nell wakes up with the sounds of her alarm clock and stops it. Then, she turns around to find an empty bed. It's not that she's not used to it, by now, but today it bothers her. Maybe it's because she kissed the man of her dreams yesterday, right before he left without as much as a word.
She gets up, gets ready for work, and leaves the house. If she's lucky with traffic, she might arrive in time to solve the mess in her head. And, much to her delight, she notices Callen's car is the only one in the parking lot. That means she can talk to him without Sam being a problem, or any of the other agents for the matter.
Acting quickly and on instinct, she finds him in the gym. He senses her there, she knows he does. But he doesn't stop his workout and keeps delivering punch after punch to the punching bag. After a few minutes, she gets enough of it and walks to his side.
Callen stops but keeps his eyes trained on the punching bag instead of on her. That's why she's the one who breaks the silence.
"We are going to talk about what happened yesterday."
Callen shakes his head. "I'm busy."
Nell sighs. "That wasn't a question and this conversation isn't optional. We're going to have to talk about it now. You're not busy. You're just avoiding me."
"I'm not avoiding you. Trust me, if I wanted to avoid you, all the computers in that room upstairs wouldn't help you find me."
She sits on a nearby bench and resists the urge to kiss him once again. Instead, she tries to reason with him. "If you're not avoiding me, then talk to me!"
Callen grabs a towel and starts cleaning his sweat-covered face. "I am talking to you. I just don't think there's anything to talk about."
Nell shakes her head, noticing that he's still not looking at her. "Yesterday, you kissed me."
Callen defends himself instantly. "You kissed me back, if I remember correctly."
Nell gets up, frustrated with the conversation, and stands in front of him. "That's not the point. We kissed and we have to talk about it!"
He plays defense, something he's so used to by now that he doesn't even notice when he does it. "Last night…we went out and we all had a few drinks."
She nods, knowing what he's saying is true. However, she can't help but ask. "Were you drunk?"
He shrugs and grabs his things, getting ready to walk out of the gym. "Is that important?"
Nell stands in front of him to keep him from leaving and he is finally forced to look at her. But she can't read him. She can never read him. "Of course it is. If your argument is the drinks we had, I need to know. Were you drunk last night, when you kissed me?"
Callen sighs and shakes his head, knowing she's not going to let him get through without talking. "No, I wasn't drunk last night."
She nods and keeps on pushing him, glad that he's finally talking and looking at her. "Then why did you kiss me?"
But he withdraws once again, frustrating her, "Nell, we're not going to talk about this."
That pisses her off and she reacts accordingly. "That's not your decision to make! We kissed and I have a say in this. We're going to talk about it!"
That's when he delivers the final blow. "Listen, we kissed but that's the end of it. Nell, I can never be with someone like you. Let it go!"
With that, he walks out of the gym, leaving Nell behind and ignoring the broken look on her face.
Next chapter: Kensi and Deeks (yes, together) that morning…What do you think about it so far?
Love,
Sarah