I can't say enough how much your reviews mean. I love getting feedback on what I've created and it motivates me to write more. I hope you enjoy this Zoe :)
The restaurant Nell suggested was a quaint country style cabin, with old wooden tables and chairs, red checked tablecloths and pictures from the past adorning the walls. The team were seated at a table in the corner, Callen, Sam and Kensi on one side, Nell, Eric and Deeks on the other. Several bottles of wine stood empty on the table alongside the remains of dinner.
"Dessert menus?" their waitress, a middle aged woman with bleached blonde hair and too much eyeliner, asked.
"Yes!" Kensi exclaimed immediately and accepted the bundle of menus she held out.
"And drinks?" the waitress asked as she picked up the last of the plates from the table.
"A round of beers, and a coke." Callen replied. "Thanks."
"I'll be right back sweetie." She winked at Callen (not for the first time since they arrived) and Sam suppressed a laugh.
"What?" Callen asked.
"I think she likes you." Nell giggled.
"Whatever." Callen shook his head.
"Here, who wants one?" Kensi offered the desert menus but only Eric and Nell accepted.
A few minutes later the waitress returned with a tray of beers and Nell's coke.
"You kids decide what you want for dessert?" she asked as she handed out the drinks.
"I'll take the double chocolate fudge cake." Kensi licked her lips as she handed back the menu.
"Apple pie." Eric replied.
"Um, I'll have the ice-cream sundae." Nell finally decided.
"You sure you don't want anything honey?" she asked Callen.
"Oh, I'm sure." Callen nodded, trying to keep the smirk off his face.
Ten minutes later, Kensi was tucking into a warm gooey piece of cake, Eric was shovelling pie into his mouth and Nell was delicately scooping ice-cream out with a small spoon.
"That looks good, can I get a…" Deeks lifted a spare fork from the table and reached out to Kensi's plate but she swatted him away.
"My cake Deeks. If you wanted some, you should have ordered." She mumbled with a full mouth.
"Nell's sharing." Deeks pouted as he looked over to where Callen was leaning forward and taking some of Nell's sundae.
"Kensi's an only child." Sam laughed. "They never learn to share."
"Besides, Callen asked nicely." Nell pointed out.
When dinner and dessert were both over, everyone relaxed into their chairs, drinking beers and chatting animatedly. For once, conversation stayed far out the realm of work and even though she was the only sober one at the table, Nell was still having a good time.
She caught herself watching Callen as he laughed and joked with everyone. It wasn't often, if ever, that she saw him this relaxed. He usually had a guard up, one eye always looking around for some unseen danger. But tonight he was all there, his attention entirely on the team. Every so often, his gaze would shift to her and they would share a moment, a look.
"Last call sweetie." The overly friendly waitress said to Callen as she passed their table. "We'll be closing in half an hour." Callen glanced around at everyone and seeing they were almost finished their drinks he turned back to the waitress.
"We'll just take the check." He nodded.
"Okay honey." She winked at Callen, again, and Nell laughed, covering her mouth to try and stifle it. Callen just shook his head, knowing this was going to provide his partner with material for weeks to come.
"I'll be right back." Nell said as she rose to her feet.
"Bathroom?" Kensi asked and Nell nodded. "I'll go with you." She jumped up from her seat and fell into step beside Nell as they crossed the restaurant.
"Why do women always go to the bathroom together?" Deeks asked, shaking his head.
"To talk about guys." Callen said without looking up from his beer.
"You think they're in there talking about us?" Deeks asked, glancing over in the direction of the bathroom.
"Probably." Sam laughed.
"Maybe they just went to pee." Eric offered, drawing three pairs of eyes to his own.
xxx
In the bathroom, both women stood in front of the mirrors, taking the opportunity to be in a well-lit and clean place to check their hair and make-up and wash up.
"What about that waitress, huh? She's really taken a shine to Callen."
"Who wouldn't." Nell smirked. She had hardly been able to take her eyes off him the whole night herself. It was that damn black leather biker jacket he was wearing. Every time she looked at him in it she felt her knees go weak.
"I don't think you have any competition." Kensi nudged her with her elbow. "Speaking of, you and Callen seem to be getting along better. I guess that little blip at the lake was just that." Kensi grinned as she ran a hand through her hair, shaking out the loose waves.
"Mmm hmm." Nell replied as she pulled out her chapstick and ran it over her lips.
"That's all I get?" Kensi laughed.
"There's nothing more to tell." Nell shrugged.
"Not yet anyway." Kensi laughed. "Come on." She grabbed Nell's hand and together they headed back out.
The guys were already waiting for them near the exit so they moved past their table and joined them.
"What about the check?" Nell asked, realising neither she nor Kensi had paid their share.
"I took care of it." Callen smiled. "Here's your jacket." He held it out for her as she slipped her arms in and shrugged it onto her shoulders. "You got the car keys?"
"Yup." Nell fished them from her purse as Callen held open the door for her.
"Shotgun!" Deeks called out as the six of them made their way across the parking lot.
"Hell no." Callen replied.
"Callen already called it." Nell told Deeks.
"When?"
"Earlier." She shrugged.
"That doesn't count. You can't call Shotgun until the deed is done."
"What?" Kensi asked, shaking her head in confusion.
"The deed, you know, the event immediately before the car ride, in this case dinner. Callen can't call shotgun before that."
"Give it up Deeks, you won't win." Sam shook his head.
"But there are rules." He protested.
"There are shotgun rules?" Eric asked.
"Official shotgun rules and Callen is breaking them." Deeks pouted.
"Well I'm driving and I say Callen gets the front seat." Nell said firmly. Callen grinned and slung his arm around her shoulders, giving her a squeeze.
"But it's not fair." Deeks moaned.
"Life isn't fair." Callen laughed. "Deal with it." He added as they reached the car.
Nell unlocked it and climbed into the front, adjusting the seat so she could reach the pedals, while Callen got in beside her and the other four squeezed into the back. It was a tighter fit than on the way down, when Sam had been in front and Nell in the back.
"I'm getting squashed back here." Kensi moaned as she wriggled to try and get more comfortable.
"Sam, you're sitting on my leg." Deeks whined.
"And where do you suggest I sit?"
"Kensi, I can't feel my arm, can you move?" Eric grumbled.
"Hey!" Nell yelled. "Pipe down or you walk back." She realised she sounded like an annoyed mother with a car full of kids but she had no desire to spent the next twenty minutes driving back to the campsite with everyone bickering.
"That's better." Nell said when they had all settled down and fell silent, for a few moments anyway.
Pulling the car out of the lot, she turned it onto the dark road and headed for camp. She drove carefully and a little slower than necessary, purely from the thought of having the lives of five people who saved the world on a daily basis, in her hands.
"Can you put the radio on?" Kensi asked as she leaned forward a little.
"No techno." Deeks stated as Callen switched it on and began searching for a station.
"Or country." Eric rolled his eyes.
"And before you say anything Sam, we are not listening to any jazz." Callen twisted in his seat and grinned at his partner, who just laughed.
Callen finally settled on a generic pop station and as the cheesy tunes filled the car, he settled back in the seat and let his eyes close. He listened to the banter being tossed around in the back seat for a few minutes, then turned his head and looked at Nell. She was concentrating hard on the road ahead, both hands gripping the steering wheel firmly.
He thought back over the past few weeks and how close he had come to losing her. And even when it was over and she was safe, he had to watch her fight her way back. The others didn't know how truly hard it had been for her. They hadn't been there when she had broken down and cried. They hadn't seen her wake from nightmares and be afraid to go back to sleep. He had. But he had also seen her grow stronger as a result, turning her into the woman he now found himself totally captivated by.
"You're staring at me." She said quietly.
"Does it bother you?" he asked. He wasn't worried about the others in the back hearing him. They were chatting amongst themselves and not paying a blind bit of attention to what was going on up front.
"No." she shook her head and smiled to herself.
"Good." He settled back and faced forward, watching the road ahead. For the rest of the ride, he glanced over at her every few minutes, knowing that before this weekend was over, he had to take things to the next level. He couldn't live in this limbo much longer.
xxx
"We're here." Nell announced as she pulled the SUV into a parking spot at the campsite.
"Oh thank god." Eric gasped as he took off his seatbelt, threw open the door and staggered out. The others followed, stretching out from being so cramped in the back seat.
"I'm exhausted." Kensi yawned as they all followed the dirt path leading to their campsite.
"Me too." Deeks nodded. "I think it's from being tackled repeatedly all afternoon." He teased.
"We should get up early tomorrow. Make the most of our last day, maybe go for a hike or something." Sam suggested as they reached their camp. "But right now I'm gonna hit the sack." He patted Callen on the shoulder as he headed for his tent.
"Me too. Night guys." Eric started towards his tent. "Thanks for driving Nell." He added as he passed his pseudo partner.
"No problem." She shrugged.
"If I don't get to sleep before him, he'll keep me awake with his snoring." Deeks laughed as he started to follow Eric. "Night partner." Deeks waved enthusiastically at Kensi who rolled her eyes.
Then it was just Callen, Nell and Kensi. And she stood feeling like the biggest third wheel in history, while Callen and Nell just stared at each other. She could have cut the tension with a knife. It was like neither of them wanted the night to end but they didn't know how to vocalise it. And her being there wasn't helping.
"Uh, I'm gonna go to sleep too." Kensi said as she backed away. "G'night." She took one last glance over her shoulder at the pair, noting the pair's awkward body language. She had a bad feeling this wasn't going to end in a good night kiss and she worried that two people who were clearly meant to be together weren't going to get there.
"Looks like the party's over." Callen said softly when he and Nell were alone. He wanted to ask her to stay up with him but the words wouldn't come out. As much as he wanted to take things further, to kiss her and hold her and tell her he never wanted to let her go, it was like he was afraid to take that last step. His heart said one thing but his head just wouldn't co-operate.
"Yeah." Nell sighed. "Um, thanks for getting dinner." She said as she took a hesitant step towards him.
"Sure." He nodded. "Uh, good night. I guess." He said as he closed the gap between them.
"Night Callen." Nell chewed on her lip, staring at him for a long moment before they both backed away from each other.
"I'll see you in the morning." He called as she backed away towards her tent.
Callen watched Nell walk away from him, the whole time a voice inside his head shouting 'wait, come back'. But no audible words came out and as she disappeared into her tent, he realised he had let another moment slip through his fingers. Rubbing his hands over his head, he sighed loudly then headed to his tent.
As Nell turned and crossed the short distance to her tent, she was disappointed that he hadn't made some move to get her to stay but she was more disappointed in herself. Despite talking with Kensi about her giving him a push in the right direction, she hadn't done anything either. She just didn't understand why she was so reluctant to follow through.
She crawled into her tent and heaved a loud sigh as she settled herself on her sleeping bag and began to rummage through her bag for something to sleep in.
"Nell, what the hell." Kensi whispered.
"What?" Nell asked as she glanced up.
"Why aren't you out there, with him." She jerked her head towards the tent flap.
"He's going to bed Kensi." She sighed.
"Callen doesn't sleep." She replied, her voice sounding frustrated. "I know you want him, and he wants you. But you're not going to get anywhere if one of you doesn't make the first move."
"Maybe I'm just not ready." Nell said quickly. She realised her fast answer was the true answer. Maybe she really wasn't ready to permanently change her relationship with Callen. Once she did, there was no going back.
"I'm sorry." Kensi sighed, pausing to think about what she was pushing Nell into. "I don't mean to push you, but I just know you'll be happy together."
"It's okay Kensi." Nell told her as she slid out of her jeans and into a pair of sweats then pulled a long sleeved cotton shirt on to replace the one she wore to dinner. "Maybe we can talk about it in the morning." Nell offered. Right now she needed time to think. If she was going to make the first move, she needed to get her head, and her heart, straight.
Hahahahahaha Sorry, I just had to tease you for one more chapter. But I promise, the next one should satisfy all your Nallen cravings.