A/N - Thanks for the reviews, messages and Alerts and Favouriting of this story. I really appreciate knowing that you readers are enjoying the story. I really love getting reviews so it can help me make sure this story continues to be enjoyable. Okay, enough begging.

I really had fun writing this chapter, hopefully you'll enjoy it too.

Disclaimer in Chapter 1

Chapter 10

It was late Friday night. They'd had a successful day solving the murder of the officer's de-facto wife. DNA found in the stomach matched up with a close friend who had been having an affair with her. Eric walked into the bullpen and asked them with a grin, "Anyone for poker?"

Kensi frowned. "Since when do you play something that doesn't involve a computer screen?"

Eric tossed a boxed pack of cards between his hands. "Since Tash came back."

Callen shook his head, "Eric, I don't think Tash remembers that yet."

Kensi looked between Callen and Eric, intrigued.

"Tash was my good-luck charm. When we paired up, I could almost double my paycheck in a couple of hours," Eric explained, after seeing Kensi's look.

"She that good?" Kensi asked.

"Too good." Sam grinned at Callen and continued. "G lost a whole lot more than money one night." Kensi raised her eyebrows about to ask for more details.

"Enough Sam," Callen warned, as he noticed Tash and Hetty coming over.

Eric turned around. "Hey Tash, you feel like playing some cards?"

"May I suggest Miss Farrow, should you say yes, that you keep it to a friendly game that does not involve any stakes," Hetty advised. She looked straight at Callen as she spoke.

Tash frowned, not understanding. "I don't remember how to play."

Callen tried not to smile. "Then perhaps I might stand a chance of beating you."

Tash looked from Callen to Eric as she asked, "What's the game?" Maybe if she knew something more than 'cards' it might help.

"Poker." Eric's eyes lit up at the possibility she might say yes.

"I'm in," said Kensi.

"Me too," Sam replied.

Tash looked at Callen. "I'm game," he added, watching her carefully.

X

She smiled at him. "In or out G?"

"I'm game. In." Callen threw some more money in the middle of the table.

"You do know you are about to lose right G?" asked Sam.

Callen continued to focus on her whilst he responded to Sam. "Why do you say that?"

"Haven't you learnt that look yet? Didn't take me that long," Sam said.

"She's bluffing." Callen's tone confident.

"You sure about that?" she asked, keeping her expression neutral of anything that would give her hand away, though she was still smiling. "You don't really have much left to lose if you're wrong."

Sam and Eric chuckled. Before Callen could reply though, they were interrupted.

"Miss Farrow, I think perhaps it is time for you to give Mr Callen a break. A few secrets between team members is a good thing," Hetty's voice came from the door way, making them all jump.

"Thought you'd gone home Hetty," Callen said, still watching Tash.

"I returned, hoping to save you from yourself Mr Callen."

Tash chuckled and pleaded with their boss, "Hetty can't we just finish this hand."

"No Miss Farrow, you can not," Hetty said firmly.

She looked at Callen, "Saved by divine intervention G." With a smile she collected her winnings from the poker game they had been playing. She picked up her current hand, looked at it and shook her head with a sigh, before looking at Hetty and saying, "You're no fun." Hetty didn't reply.

She stood up, grabbing her shirt off the floor, and moved over to Callen, her cards still in her hand. She put them against his bare chest and he caught her hand and held it against him.

"You really should know me better than that G. I wasn't bluffing."

"Maybe not, but you are distracting." Callen smiled at her and ran his eyes over her. She blushed slightly and then bent down to whisper in his ear.

"Why do you think I always lose the first hand. Perhaps we should try this another time, when Hetty can't come to your rescue." Then she stood up and moved away, putting on her shirt as she went, trying very hard not to look back at her partner who had lost a lot more clothes than she had.

X

"Tash?" Sam noticed a strange look on Tash's face. "You okay?" he asked.

Tash shook her head slightly to shake off the images in her head. "Sorry, don't think I'm up for it tonight. But if you guys want to play, I'll just crash on the couch." She turned to go.

"Tash?" Callen called. Tash turned back but he noticed she didn't look him in the eye. "You want to go home?"

Tash shrugged. "When you're ready." She wasn't really sure if she was ready to be alone with him yet after that memory. Something about the look she had caught on his face told her that he knew what she had just remembered.

"Let's go then. Another night Eric." Eric looked disappointed. Callen stood up and grabbed his jacket and keys. Tash picked up hers and walked toward the door.

"What's up?" Callen asked in the car when she hadn't spoken.

"Tired I guess." He didn't believe her.

Back at the apartment, she got ready for bed and when she went out to get a drink, she saw him with a pack of cards in his hands. She blushed.

"So you remembered huh?" Callen wondered if it had been that particular memory that had caused her to not want to look at him earlier. Her blush when noticing the cards could only relate to one type of memory.

"Remembered what?" Tash asked, trying to sound like she didn't know what he was meaning. She wasn't very successful if the smile on his face was anything to go by.

"Want to play? See if you can still beat me?" Callen sat down on the couch and started to shuffle the cards,.

Tash shook her head.

Callen grinned. "Worried I'll win?"

"No," Tash replied.

Callen raised his eyebrows. "Worried you might?"

"Why would I have been playing strip poker with you, Sam and Eric?" Tash's words came out quickly and she blushed at the question, but she need answers so she could hopefully go to sleep. She held his gaze waiting for his answer.

"Perhaps we were drunk," Callen offered. They weren't drunk so that suggested...

"There was more than one time?" Tash wasn't entirely sure if the answer to this question would help her sleep after all.

"Not the four of us," Callen replied.

Tash tried not to think about the 'Not the four of us' comment and what he may have been meaning. "We weren't drunk, okay. That much I know."

Callen smiled and finally gave her some kind of decent answer. "I jokingly suggested we should up the stakes one night. Eric was slightly drunk and suggested the strip part. Sam and I agreed, not expecting you to. We were a little shocked to say the least." They expected her to disagree and come up with something else. They knew she was very good at poker, but it wasn't until that night that they realised just how good.

"I agreed?" Tash frowned. Why would she have agreed to that? Okay so she was obviously good, considering the way the game was ending, but still.

"You don't remember that part?"

Tash shook her head. "I only remember the last hand where Hetty came in."

Callen smiled. "Well, you missed most of the fun then."

"What happened?" Tash asked. Might as well know, she doubted she could get to sleep easily now.

"Play me for it." Callen held up the cards and looked at the spot beside him on the couch.

"I don't remember how."

"I can teach you," Callen offered.

"Why was I better than you?" Tash walked over slowly, still trying to decide whether to play or not.

"Aside from being distracting?" Callen watched her blush again before he continued. "Your uncle was extremely talented at poker, taught you everything you know."

"Did you know that at the time?"

"No," Callen admitted. Tash looked at him, curious. "You kept that particular piece of information to yourself." Callen continued.

Tash kept looking at him, still not sure about this.

"So, shall we?" Callen prompted her.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

"Shall we?" Callen's voice came from the doorway. She turned and looked at him. At least he was dressed, even if his shirt wasn't done up. He had a pack of cards in his hands.

"Shall we what, G?" She reach for the blanket and sat down on the couch.

"Finish the match? Everyone's gone. It's just us," Callen replied.

"What? No witnesses? What's the fun in that?" She looked at him and hoped that her poker face was still on. The offer was very tempting. She hoped he didn't realise just how tempting.

"Plenty." Callen held her gaze, causing her to swallow nervously.

"Sorry G. Hetty said I wasn't allowed," she replied, taking off her shoes and getting settled on the couch.

Callen walked over to the couch. "Planning on staying the night?"

"Yep, too tired to drive home," she answered, watching him carefully. He sat down on the other end and took off his shoes.

"What are you doing G?" she asked.

"Joining you/"

"Why? You don't seem too tired." She held onto her end of the blanket as he pulled some over to cover him as well. It wasn't the first time they'd shared the couch.

"Don't have a home to go to." She rolled her eyes at his answer.

"What happened to the last one?" Her tone sarcastic.

"Heating doesn't work," Callen replied, "and it is almost winter."

She looked at him, considering whether to just go home or not. She was too tired.

"Fine, but how about you go see if you can find another blanket." Might give her a chance to lay claim to enough of this one to keep warm.

"Only one. You know that," Callen reminded her. Inwardly she groaned. She'd be fighting half the night just to keep warm. Better that than crashing the car.

She settled down and closed her eyes. "Good night G."

"Night Tash."

She woke up to find herself wrapped in his arms, their legs tangled together and she was half lying on top of him, the blanket over them both and her head on his shoulder. Instead of being cold, she was warm. She couldn't remember how it happened. She closed her eyes again, wanting to enjoy it before she had to come back to reality.

"You know your breathing sounds different when you are asleep," his voice came from above her head.

She lifted her head and looked up quickly at him, blushing at having been caught out.

"Good morning," Callen said.

"Morning," she replied quietly, wondering just how long he had been awake for.

"You know this works a whole lot better than fighting for the blanket all night." Callen's voice was soft and gentle and did strange things to her stomach.

"How did we end up like this?" she asked.

"You don't remember?"

"No," she replied. She wondered what else had happened that she didn't remember and was very glad she hadn't been drinking last night.

"My secret then," Callen replied. She sat up, at least she tried. He still had his arms around her. "Going somewhere?" he asked, not letting her get up.

She looked up at him. We need to get up before someone comes in."

"Hetty's already been in. Can't you smell the coffee?"

She looked over at the table to see two cups of coffee, still steaming, on the table. She groaned and buried her head in his shoulder, which was when she realised that he was shirtless.

"What is she going to think?" she mumbled softly.

"Probably that we fell asleep here, or she might think you took advantage of me and we finished the poker match alone."

"What did you tell her?" she asked, looking back up.

"Nothing." Callen grinned and added, "She just might have noticed my shirt on the floor, before she left."

She was confused. "But you had your shirt on when you went to sleep."

"I got hot." She blushed.

X

Tash sat down and looked at him. "So how did we end up like that on the couch?"

"Another memory?" Callen asked back, though he knew the answer. He had been able to tell for a while what the signs were that she was remembering something.

"Yeah. The couch after."

"It was a cold night. The blanket wasn't big enough. I picked you up and moved us around. We both slept better and stayed warm." Callen didn't admit that he hadn't slept a lot of that night. He was enjoying having her in his arms too much to sleep.

"Your shirt?" Tash asked.

"Sleep better without one." Tash narrowed her gaze, not quite believing him.

"Another time Tash. Not yet," Callen replied, knowing that look. He wasn't about to tell her that he wanted to feel her against him, that he'd given in to the temptation when he had changed their position on the couch. Though, he could just say that he had done it so that the body heat had helped to keep them warm on that cold night.

"So, you going to play me for the rest of the story?" Tash asked.

"No, I think we should both get some sleep." Callen put the cards down on the table and made a move to stand ups.

"Probably." Tash picked the cards back up. Callen stopped getting up as she said, "But I'm not so tired anymore. You still game?"

"For?"

"Teaching me."

"Any stakes?" Callen asked. This was probably pushing it, but he couldn't resist and wanted to know what she would say. Tash looked at him carefully for a moment.

"I think I'll trust Hetty's judgment this time." She shuffled and dealt the cards out. She didn't notice the look on Callen's face as she did it like a pro. He already knew he was in trouble and, though part of him was slightly disappointed, most of him was glad that they weren't playing for anything.