Title : Cure for the soul.
By : GirlOfSpring
Pairing : Nell/Callen
Summary: It all started with a certain intelligence analyst who needed her music and a certain special agent who was disturbed by the noise. A Nallen story
Disclaimer : Don't own, don't own, don't own.
Note: So, as I promised a much quicker update. This chapter is also the longest I have written so far and now there's also a bit more of a story to the whole of it. At least, that's what I think. It did take me a few days to write this and there's not a lot of Nallen in it, with more investigations, but all of this has a purpose. I promise.
And once again, thank you for the amazing reviews!
~~~|G|O|S|~~~
"You seem distracted."
"Hmm?"
Callen was staring out of the window of the car to the houses that flew by as Sam sped up.
"Exactly, that's my point. You know, you could at least tell me that I am right or wrong instead of just going all mystical on me. What's up?"
Finally, Callen tore his eyes away from the outside world and glanced sideways to his partner.
"Nothing really, I'm just thinking." He couldn't really tell his partner what he was thinking about, that would just create another very awkward situation.
In the command centre, after the briefing, he had taken charge and told Kensi and Deeks to go and talk to the family of Jason O'Dowd and find out what they could about him. With Sam, he was going to check out the crime scene and talk to Dennis and Georgia Walters to see if there would be any reason why they had the blood in the kitchen.
It was still a strange situation.
They seemed to be a very ordinary couple, without any ties to the navy whatsoever.
"G, I know I can trust you to have my back and everything, but you really seem distracted"
Callen turned to his partner and made a movement with his hand as if he was sweeping away his words.
"Nothing is wrong, I was just thinking about the case" That seemed to satisfy the former SEAL and they drove on in silence.
Yeah, he had been thinking about the case, but by now his thoughts had floated on to their very special intelligence analyst.
What on earth had happened? Well, if he had to be very honest with himself, and he really had to be, he was really attracted to her.
Who wouldn't be?
But this was just a moment in which a grown man who hadn't slept with a woman in a long time had found a woman on which he could project his desires. That was all. The best thing he could do to make all of this go away, was to sleep with a woman.
A sneaky part of his brain, far far away in the back of his head, whispered that it wouldn't even be a bad idea if that woman would be Nell.
He vigorously shook his head.
He couldn't. It would complicate their lives and jobs way too much, and most of all he didn't want to use her to satisfy his needs. He would have to go to a bar and find another woman.
Nell deserved better than an old man who had killed more men than there were working in their LA field office.
But why was he talking about her deserving a man? I wasn't going to get close to her anymore. He would just have to distance himself from her and make sure to do something against his desires.
Everything would be fine.
~~~|G|O|S|~~~
"So, could you tell us the story from the beginning? You were at the wedding and…?" Callen was standing next to Sam, who had taken the initiative in the interview with the couple.
Dennis Walters was a tall, broad guy who had the whole look of having been in service about him, but nothing in their background checks suggested anything like that. He was bald with dark brown eyes and a nose that had been broken many times.
Next to the man was standing Georgia Walters. She was younger and a lot tinier than her husband, with shortly cropped black hair and lightblue eyes. She was slightly hugging herself and still seemed to be in shock with the discovery in their house.
"My sister was getting married and we left at around ten from the party." She started, telling the story.
"It's a long drive and we were both tired, we've had a very busy week with both our jobs. So, we came home at around 11.30 pm and Dennis saw that the front door was unlocked and slightly ajar. He told me to call 911 and to wait in the car with the doors locked.."
Her husband slightly squeezed her shoulder before looking up to Callen and Sam.
"We have an umbrella stand next to the front door and I keep a baseball bat in there as well. I took it and went inside. I looked around but there was nobody there, except for the blood in the kitchen."
Sam nodded after their words and gestured towards the kitchen. They were sitting in the living room and in the kitchen they could see a couple of their men looking for any traces of evidence.
"Has there been any progress?" Dennis Walters asked them and Callen slightly shrugged his shoulders.
"We're not really at liberty to discuss the details of a still on-going investigation. We have come across some leads and we are looking into those now. Can you stay with some family for the next couple of days? It will take a bit more time until the search here will be finished and it might be better for you to be somewhere else."
This time it was Georgia Walters who nodded at his words.
"Yeah, we can stay with a friend. Thank you."
"Oh, and one last question. Does the name Jason O'Dowd mean anything to either of you?" Callen was closely studying Dennis Walters' face to see if there would be any reaction to that name, but nothing happened. They looked at each other, both a bit puzzled by the question, before shaking their heads.
"It doesn't ring a bell."
Callen and Sam nodded and both stepped past the couple and towards the kitchen.
"It doesn't make any sense" Callen heard Sam say quietly while they were putting on their black gloves.
"There must have been at least two guys, one of them Jason O'Dowd, who is supposed to be dead. He gets stabbed or shot or injured in some way, which causes him to lose a lot of blood. The other guy then must have taken him away.. But what were they doing in here in the first place?"
Callen sighed and stood next to the rest of the puddle of blood on the floor. He was looking around to see if there was anything to help them further with their investigation.
Next to him, on the cooking island, was a knife block with one knife missing.
"So, there were two guys, standing here. For some reason, they broke into this house or they had the key or something like that. Somehow, they got inside the house."
Sam nodded and stepped closer, standing on the other side of the blood.
"When they are in the kitchen, they start arguing. One of them grabs the knife and stabs the other one.."
To illustrate his story, he took one of the other knifes from the block and made a movement as if he was stabbing Callen.
"He leaves him long enough for the puddle to form. Maybe he is trying to get information from the other guy, but in the end he presses a towel against the wound and they leave.."
"So where is the knife?"
Sam scratched the back of his head before turning around to the lead investigator.
"Hey, you! Have you guys found a knife around here? There should be a knife somewhere, big, with blood on it" The guy shook his head in response before leaving the room, probably to do another sweep.
"He could have taken the knife with him.." Callen said.
"Possible, but let's just hope that getting an injured guy quickly out of the house was asking too much of his attention and that he decided to dump it somewhere.."
They stepped away from the blood and left the kitchen, stopping in the hallway.
"Georgia Walters is a language teacher and Dennis Walters owns a paintball venue. There is nothing that would indicate selling highly classified information to terrorists." Callen sighed.
Sam took out his phone and dialed the office.
"Yeah, Nell. Can you give me the information on the paintball venue Dennis Walters owns? Is it open today and send me the address. Then, just have a look and see if everything is legit.."
Sam went quiet for a moment, probably because Nell was telling him about the information she had found within two seconds and Callen turned around.
He didn't want Sam to see his face. He had been totally engrossed in their work and investigation, not even once thinking of the petite analyst. It only took a second of thinking of her and he was immediately remembered of his dream and the not so good thoughts he had been having about her all morning.
"Alright, thanks"
He heard Sam hang up the phone and took a deep breath before turning back to Sam.
"So, Iron Paintball Venue. I got the address and it's open today. We can go and have a look without Walters being there to ask questions and get suspicious in case he has anything to do with this.."
"Great, let's go" Callen turned and left the house without waiting for another moment. Sam frowned and looked back before following his partner to the car.
~~~|G|O|S|~~~
Nell was trying to concentrate, but she couldn't. Every time she was trying to think about something for the case, a certain blue-eyes agent popped up in her thoughts and she started making mistakes.
She didn't make mistakes.
She was an intelligence analyst, and a good one at that. She never had problems to order her thoughts and to concentrate on whatever needed her attention at a certain time.
Now, she couldn't, and it was making her feel very frustrated. Most of all because there was something case-related she was trying to remember, but she couldn't figure out what it was.
For some reason the name Jason O'Dowd was familiar and she just couldn't put together the pieces. Why did she remember the name? Where did it come from?
For a second, Nell closed her eyes. She could see it, the name. She had an eidetic memory, which allowed her to recall reading the name in a file of some sort, but the details were all blurry.
Nell cursed in frustration when the blurredness turned into G again and opened her eyes before furiously typing on her keyboard.
She felt Eric glance sideways at her cursing before slowly looking back at his own screen.
"What was that for?"
Nell didn't look up while typing and checking into the financial information on the paintball venue.
"I can't seem to remember from where I recognize the name Jason O'Dowd.." She mumbled in a response to his question.
"I might be able to help with that, Miss Jones."
Eric and Nell both turned around in their chairs when they heard Hetty speak, still a bit spooked by the fact that she seemed to grow from the ground. They hadn't even heard the doors open.
"A while back I asked you to look into the brothers Nick and Russell Demay."
Slowly, Nell nodded. She remembered the two brothers. Very well even, she had been looking into their backgrounds the one evening that Callen had walked in on her dancing.
"They had a younger half-brother who was killed in combat while in Iraq." Hetty explained the connection.
"Of course!" It all came back now the connection was made and Nell felt a bit stupid for not remembering this earlier.
"He was only mentioned in the files once or twice.." Hetty nodded, while Eric was just looking from one woman to the other and not really following their conversation.
"So, I think it would be beneficial to have a look in the past of his two older brothers. You still have the files I presume, there might be a connection to be found in their pasts."
Hetty smiled and turned around before leaving again, leaving her tech team to continue working.
"You going to tell me what that was all about?"
Nell shook her head while she started typing, pulling up all the information she had on the two brothers.
"A while back, Hetty asked me to look into these two brothers who are suspected of being involved in a few different cases including robbery, kidnapping and rape. They both joined the marine a while ago, but got dishonorably discharged for assaulting a woman in Iraq. Nicholas is the elder brother with three years and according to some tests he has an incredibly high IQ. His brother, Russell, has always followed him around and done everything he was told. There's just the problem that we don't know where they are. For the last two years, they've had no known address, no credit cards or phone records on their names. They just disappeared. Damnit, I could have thought of this much earlier if I hadn't been thinking about-" Nell stopped herself just in time.
"Thinking about? Nell?" Eric was looking at her face, his eyebrows cocked in a teasing manner as he was watching how her face grew red.
"Are you thinking naughty things?" He grinned when her cheeks turned a darker shade of red than her face.
She pushed him, and since he was sitting on a desk chair on wheels, he rolled sideways for about a meter, turning a bit and facing her more directly.
"You are!"
"Shut up! If I would have a drink, I would totally throw it in your face" Nell murmured embarrassed.
"No you wouldn't" Eric replied laughing, ducking away from another push.
"Oh stuff it, I have to tell the others about this."
She dialed the cell phone numbers and opened a line so she could talk to both Sam and G and Kensi and Deeks at the same time.
"Listen up guys, we have got some new information. Jason O'Dowd has two older half-brothers who have been AWOL for the last two years and are suspected of at least half a dozen of robberies and B&E's, a kidnapping and three rapes. I'll send you their pictures, meet Nicholas and Russell Demay."
"How is it possible that they have been AWOL for the last two years?" Callen's deep voice boomed over the line and Nell felt the heat that had slowly been retreating from her face return a bit.
"They cancelled every credit card they had and dumped their phones. We have no address and can assume they have been living under aliases as to not attract any attention to their names. We have been looking for them for quite a while now.."
"How does a well-respected officer as Jason O'Dowd get involved with all of this?" asked Kensi.
"Well, they are still his brothers.. Nick is three years older than Russell and Russell just a year and a half more than Jason. Nothing in the files suggest he had a very good relationship with his brothers, even while growing up with them, but he did try to help Russell with some trouble he got in while being a teenager. Even with the information in the files, he might have a concern for his brother.."
"Alright, thanks. We are going to the paintball venue to find out more about either of them, have a look around. Kensi and Deeks, just try and see what you can find on the brothers at the base.."
As if they were one person, everybody okay'd to Callen's words before the call was disconnected.
~~~|G|O|S|~~~
Sam and Callen pulled into the driveway of the paintball venue, located outside the city in a more wooded area. From what they could see, the terrain was quite big and the parking lot was pretty filled up as well with clients' cars.
Together, they walked inside the main building, where they were greeted by a desk with a young woman. She was holding a phone between her ear and shoulder, talking softly while typing quickly on the keyboard in front of her.
Without saying something, both pulled out their credentials and showed them to the woman, who looked up before squinting her eyes a bit while taking in the pictures and badges.
"Alright David, I'll call you back later. We have a situation here." Without any further notice she hung up the phone before looking up at the two men in front of her.
"Jessica Collins, what can I do for you?"
"We are looking for the person in charge here." Sam answered her question, before pulling out his one phone and browsing through his pictures.
"And have you seen any of these men ever before?"
He showed her the three pictures of the brothers.
"Take your time, I guess you see a lot of people passing through here every day."
The women looked at each picture for a few seconds before pointing at the one with Russell Demay.
"I remember this guy, he always stops to flirt with me before going to the back and get ready for his round. I have never seen the other two."
Callen looked sideways to Sam, both actually a bit surprised by getting an identification this easily.
"And when was the last time you saw him?"
To answer that question, she had to think a bit longer. The two agents waited patiently while the woman started counting on her hand and mumbling to herself, listing a party and two dinners she had been to.
"The last time I saw him was last week on Tuesday, if I am not mistaken.."
So the brothers had been in LA only the week before. That must have been quite risky for them.
They thanked the woman as she pointed them to an office in the back, reminding them that her boss wasn't in today but that their supervisor, Blake Taylor, was.
They walked past her desk as she picked up the phone, probably to call 'David' back and waited to be out of earshot before talking again.
"That is one out of three, but according to the psych evaluations, they never left each other to do something. They were as tightly-knit as possible, so we can only assume that Nick was around here somewhere as well. So Jason has two older brothers, one of which has been seen regularly in this paintball venue, and last night his blood was found in the home of the owner of this venue. What does that tell us?"
Callen smiled slightly and shook his head at Sam's words.
"Well, that Mr Walters might be a bit more suspicious than we first thought."
"Indeed"
Callen knocked on the door which had the supervisor's name on it.
"Come in!"
They entered the room and came face to face with a man from about 30 years old, with dark hair and dark eyes. He was holding a hammer in one hand and a picture frame of a woman with a baby in the other.
"You are cops, right?" He asked, before taking a nail to punch it in the wall.
"Special Agents Callen and Hanna, NCIS. We have got a few questions for you."
"Alright, that shouldn't be a problem." The man smiled and in his words Callen could make out a foreign accent. It sounded Spanish, but it was very faint.
"We assume you know about the break-in into your boss' house last night-"
"Oh yeah, yeah, absolutely. Heard of it, terrible thing. Can't imagine it happening to me.." Blake Taylor stepped back from the wall and took his picture frame, that he put next to a few other pictures that were already hanging there.
"My wife just go a baby, a boy. It's the most amazing feeling.." He nodded his head before turning around again to the two agents in his office.
"So, as you are here to ask me a question and you haven't yet asked a question, I ask you now to ask me the question you have been wanting to ask. I don't have a lot of time, I need to go and check on equipment in a few minutes. We have a big group coming in tomorrow."
Callen frowned slightly at the long rumble of words that came out of his mouth, before shrugging slightly and showing the man the pictures of the brothers.
"Now, Miss Collins was so kind to tell us that this man has been here a few times already.." Callen showed him the picture of Russell Demay, closely watching Blake Taylor's reaction.
A front desk worker wouldn't be confined with a lot of 'secrets', but with the main supervisor they might have a bit more luck.
And they did, as Blake Taylor turned white as a sheet when he saw the pictures of the men, slightly stepping back before wildly shaking his head.
"No, no, no, no, no, no. Jessica must have been mistaken, I have never seen these men in my life!" He turned around and hurriedly put the hammer and nails away in a small box.
"I'm sorry, I can't help you."
Sam stepped forward, putting both of his hands up as to make sure the man knew he wasn't a threat to him. Not directly anyway.
"Listen to me. We know that they are dangerous and I can understand that you want to protect your son. I have a kid of my own, I wouldn't want anything to happen to her. But if you don't help us, these brothers might go and hurt somebody else's kids. Would you want that to happen?"
For a few seconds, there was a complete silence in the room, until Taylor spoke again.
"That's just mean, going for my conscience. But you have to make sure they never knew it was me, or that they don't come after me and my family."
"Alright, we can do that. Nothing will happen to you."
For another few seconds the man seemed to think before finally turning around and looking for something. He mumbled something, before pulling out a slip of paper and handing it over to Sam.
"This is the address we have, that's all I know."
~~~|G|O|S|~~~
"Can you see anything?"
Callen and Sam were sitting in Sam's car, waiting for Kensi and Deeks to arrive. Sam was folding his usual origami-animals from the candy wrappers, just finishing an elephant of blue paper while Callen just kept staring at the house.
"We have been here for only half an hour. For us it might look long, but inside somebody might have just taken a shower or cooked something, and for that person half an hour really isn't that long.." Sam said, shrugging his shoulder.
Callen just glanced sideways, his eyebrows arched in slight surprise.
"That might have been the most interesting thing you have said all day.."
"Hey, I say useful things all the time."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah!"
"When? Give me an example."
"Well, I told you that that candy is going to give you a heart attack very soon if you keep eating them and you know I am right, you just never listen."
"That wasn't useful. I happen to like them."
They kept on bantering while Kensi's car pulled up behind them and the agent and cop got out of their car. Kensi knocked on the window on Sam's side and the other two agents got out as well.
"Anything?"
"The house has been quieter than a terrarium filled with turtles."
Three pairs of eyes turned to Sam at his comment, who shrugged his shoulders.
"Bought one yesterday. Let me tell you this: nothing happens. Ever."
Callen shook his head and took the initiative again.
"We'll take the front, you two the back in case anybody runs."
Everybody nodded, agreeing to the plan before they each went their own way. Kensi and Deeks disappeared behind the house while Callen and Sam went for the front door.
Callen knocked. Nothing happened and he knocked again.
"NCIS, open up!"
Something fell and they could clearly hear the sound of breaking glass followed by the sound of somebody screaming.
They both pulled out their guns and looked at each other. Sam showed three fingers and started counting down. On zero, he kicked in the door and they both went inside the house.
"NCIS, nobody move!"
They entered an empty hallway and Callen stepped sideways to the left into a living room which was also empty. In the back he saw a door bang and he quickly moved forward.
"Guys, they are coming your way!"
He wanted to follow the man he saw through the door but was suddenly jumped from behind. He was thrown forward into the wall, his attacker not waiting for a second before moving in again and pushing him against the cold stones.
Callen started struggling, kicking backwards when he felt the cold metal of a gun in his neck.
"Stop it!" An unfamiliar voice shouted in his ear. He didn't really feel like listening and while he dropped and turned around at the same time, he heard gunshots in the back of the house, followed by shouting and a voice he recognized distantly as Deeks', laced with fear.
Suddenly his feet got a heavy kick and he fell to the ground, followed by a dark leather boot that stamped on his hand that was holding a gun.
He groaned slightly in pain before letting go and pushing himself sideways to avoid a next kick. He leaned backwards and kicked his attacker on the knees. He could see now that it was Russell who had come after him.
The kick sent him flying backwards, into the kitchen. He tried to grab a hold on the sink but missed and knocked over a knife block. The knives scattered on the floor and for a second the two men looked at each other. Then Callen threw himself forward, just as Russell did, both going for the knives.
Russell had been closer and got there faster. He scrambled upright which gave Callen the time he needed to grab a weapon of his own and ram it down in the leather boot.
Russell shouted in pain and lost the knife he had picked up, but managed to kick Callen straight in the face with his other foot before trying to pull the knife out of his own foot. Blood was spraying around, staining the floor.
Callen took the kick straight to the jaw and once again flew backwards, blood filling his mouth. He blinked groggily while trying to get up again. He didn't get enough time as Russell literally threw himself on top of him, pinning him to the ground. The man started punching him and Callen could see the rage that was filling his eyes.
"G!" Sam's voice sounded far away. He must have gone out through the back.
He tried to fight back but the kick in the face had made him slower, not reacting fast enough to get any advantage in the whole situation.
"You. Stupid. Idiot!" He could hear him say, shouting louder with every punch he delivered to his ribs. He felt one crack and groaned again. He had to do something.
When Russell took a two second pause to get some air in before continuing his actions, Callen tried to gather all his strength and moving his legs, he rolled them over.
Somehow, he managed to catch the other guy of guard and they rolled over. Callen went for a blow to the jaw.
His brain had kicked into survival-mode, just trying to get out of the situation alive and pushing back the agent in him that would just try to take the other guy out.
He went for another blow and pulled back his fist when he saw something silver-colored glitter from the corner of his eyes. Russell had managed to get hold of his knife again.
Before really registering what was happening, the man sunk the knife into his chest.
Surprise hit Callen when the cold, sharp metal slid easily into his flesh, tearing up everything on its path. His eyes went wide and he slumped down but got pushed away by Russell, who was getting up and holding on to the refrigerator because of the wound in his foot. He spat some blood on the floor.
Callen didn't move, he couldn't move. His hands were trying to get a feel on the knife, but he could barely raise his arms.
"G!"
He could hear gunshots, but they sounded more like champagne bottles being uncorked.
Next to him another body hit the floor and from his blurry vision he could recognize Russell's dead eyes staring at him.
They were a blueish green and slowly they started to blur as well.
"Damn it G. Common, stay with me here!" Sam had kneeled down beside him.
"Ambulances are on their way. Kensi got shot."
The words didn't really get through to him.
"G, just hold on!"
Slowly, the color of the eyes became a more hazel and the last thing he really saw was Nell's face before blacking out.
~~~|G|O|S|~~~
Thanks for reading!