Hello, thank you for reading! I hope that this chapter makes up for the lack of Nallen-y goodness in the past few chapters.

Chapter Fifteen

The farther away from Mike and the closer Callen got to Nell the more he was able to think clearer. He was still upset and disappointed in his friend, but not as murderously so. Tara glanced at him, from her spot at one of her top of the line, sewing machines, and quickly looked back down to her task. She had heard the argument between him and Mike, most everyone within seeing distance of the bullpen had. However, she knew better than to comment on it.

"Which one is Nell in?" Callen asked Tara, remnants of his anger making his voice rougher and rawer than he intended.

She pointed to the small fitting room on the far right. When the OSP had moved to the mission, one twelve by twelve room was reconstructed into three fittings rooms that each measured four feet by four feet with a door that opened outward. Callen walked toward the indicated door and lightly knocked on it. There was no answer. Worried he tried the handle of the doorknob and when it turned indicating that it was not locked he opened the door just enough to silently step inside. The image in the full-length mirror on the wall took his breath. He knew Nell was beautiful, but seeing her like this made him realize that she was stunning; she wore a deep chocolate brown form fitting sleeveless dress that ended four inches above her knees. She was barefoot and the back of her dress was unzipped to the small of her back revealing the smooth alabaster skin.

He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall beside the door. The room was small and she was sure to realize that she was no longer alone soon. The mirror that encased the opposite wall had caught him, but he could see from their reflections that Nell was engrossed in her phone either texting or emailing someone. He arched an eyebrow as he waited for her to realize that he was there. After a moment more, his brow furrowed at the realization that she still had not registered that she was not alone. If he had been the enemy, she would have been dead by now. He uncrossed his arms and took a step toward her, but paused when she held her phone up as if to take a picture of her reflection, looked-up, loudly squeaked as she saw that her reflection was no longer alone in the mirror, and instantly dropped her phone.

Yes, squeaked, however loud it was, it had still been a squeak. Callen blinked, because he was fully prepared for an outright panic attack or at the very least a blood-curdling scream.

She turned around quickly as if to hide her naked skin from line of sight then possibly realizing that the mirror still displayed that skin, she turned and backed up to the left wall. Her eyes widened in surprise, her cheeks and neck reddened in embarrassment, and her mouth parted as if to say something, but words refused to flow.

"You realize that if this had been part of your field readiness evaluation, you would have failed a good chunk of it, right?" Callen asked, as if it was normal for him to sneak in on her as she dressed. He picked up her smart phone from the floor as he continued to speak, "Constant vigilance is a must even when, no, especially when you feel safe, because that is when you are must vulnerable."

"Callen!" Nell harshly whispered, "What are you doing? Get out!"

"Nell, you don't have to whisper," He whispered teasingly before his blue eyes trailed once more from the little crease of irritation in her forehead down her face and neck, which he registered that Tara must have applied some sort of cosmetic to the skin, because there was no evidence of what had transpired earlier. His dilated blue eyes continued to trail down her body to her adorable bare painted purple toes. Subconsciously, he recognized that he must have it bad for her when he thought her toes adorable. He smirked as his pupils dilated even more so; he continued speaking, though no longer in a mocking whisper. "I'm admiring an intelligent woman. I have no plans on leaving until I get what I want."

Yet, he had not decided exactly what he wanted.

She swallowed and blinked. She hated how he made her feel. She was mad at him, mad that Mike had made her question what Callen thought of her, whether she was capable or not at her job. However, that anger she felt for him, was secondary to the attraction she felt. Her pupils dilating as he closed the distance between them. She bit her bottom lip. She raised her head, looked up at him, brown met blue as eye contact was met, she refusing to be backed into a corner, although her back was literally against a wall, he assessing her, memorizing the golden specks of her irises. Her pulse quickened and it seemed as if her heart was beating out of her chest, the pounding of her heartbeat in her ears. She had easily fallen into a façade of bravery and strength, that she was challenging him ever closer with the look in her honey brown eyes. Rather untimely for the realization, but for the first time, she understood how and why he was so good at his job. It was quite liberating to pretend to be someone or in her case something else that you were not. She was not seductive or sensual, she was always just one of the guys, but in this moment, she could be whatever she decided, because it was a façade, or so she allowed herself to believe.

He needed to know whether she trusted him, because if that trust was broken, how he feared it was, then the Op would go to hell in a hand basket, and both of them would deliver it. He could ask her if she trusted him, but that would plant the idea in her head that he thought that she did not trust him. So, with that in mind, he formed a plan and he began to execute it. If she reacted to him positively then he would know that she did trust him with at least one thing, which would be a start. He placed her smart phone in her right hand, her unharmed hand, making sure that his fingers lingered just a tad too long to be appropriate. He, then, placed his palms on the wall above her head on either side of her head.

Her breath hitched and she sucked her bottom lip in her mouth. Her eyes left his and trailed over his cheekbones to his oh so kissable lips, which smirked as he followed her gaze. He leaned in as she raised her body unto her purple tipped toes. Their mouths only a few inches away now, slowly, and teasingly the space dissolving before their eyes met again searing the other with the intensity in them, until finally their lips touched. The kiss was patient and sweet, though to Nell it felt more intense than the ones in the boatshed that were frenzied calculation. She could feel the power, the restraint that he possessed as they kissed. He brought his right hand from the wall to the side of her neck. He trailed his fingertips down her neck, over her shoulder, down her arm, before his hand settled on her waist. Wherever he touched her was on fire and gooseflesh had formed in anticipation, his hand left her waist. His fingers trailed to her back. Her brow furrowed as she felt and heard the zipper of her dress being zipped. Once the dress was zipped, he pulled away from the kiss, bringing his right thumb to her bottom lip and gently caressing it, further smearing the dark pink lip-gloss she had applied earlier in the attempt to conceal the reddening and slight bruising from the boatshed kisses.

"What?" Nell asked confused as she attempted to regain control of both her mind and body. Why had he zipped her dress up? Talk about mixed signals. Only a few hours in the preliminary Operation and his mixed signals was making her dizzy.

Callen smiled and tucked both hands in his pockets. Instead of revealing his plan, he twisted his actions into something else, he asked, "If I had asked, would you have let me zip it for you?"

Her lips formed a thin line. Her eyes hardened, her jaw clenched, and she tilted her nose upward just so. She did not like being played or manipulated, "Callen," She firmly stated, her chin rising just a bit more, "If this is going to work between us, you need to communicate with me. Do not take advantage of me, do not play me, and sure as hell don't manipulate me!"

His eyebrows shot upward surprised at her reaction and he made the mental note never to intentionally anger her unless he had no other choice or whether he was ready to suffer the consequences, "Nell, you're overreacting," Callen soothed, "I did not take advantage, play, or manipulate you."

"Really?" She asked, her right eyebrow arched, "So, you didn't kiss me, so that you could zip up my dress?" She continued, not giving him the opportunity to answer, "In my experience, the zipper is unzipped during a kiss, not zipped up."

He grinned at what she said.

She almost forgot why she was mad at him until he replied to her both her question and quip.

"I didn't think you'd like our first time to be in a fitting room at work," He replied teasingly as his grin widened, his eyes twinkling with mischief. Knowing that what he said would needle and shock her. He should have known better than to do so, with the revelation of earlier not to anger her unless he had to, but he liked seeing her flustered, because normally she was in control, almost too in control. Seeing her not in control made him feel closer to her, the real her, because she was not able to maintain the walls she normally had in place.

Her jaw went slack and her mouth dropped in shock. She pushed past him and with her right index finger and middle finger grabbed the heel straps of the pair of dark chocolate brown open toed high heels, which rested on Deeks jacket on the only chair in the room. He went to grab her elbow, but she jerked away and quickly exited the fitting room before coming to an abrupt stop just outside of it. He followed her, but he, too, stopped. He grabbed ahold of her shoulders as to not knock her down. She numbly stood immobilized, although she desperately wanted to jerk away from him, run to her car, go home, and attempt to restart the day. She had clearly gotten up from the wrong side of the bed and had entered an altered reality such as The Twilight Zone or perhaps even The Trickster from Supernatural had worked his magic while she had slept last night. Anything, she would settle for any of those scenarios to be true, because Hetty Lange had been on the other side of the fitting room door and she had clearly heard something that she should not have.

Hetty Lange stared up at both of them with a look of pure disappointment and fury.

Nell was too shocked and embarrassed to attempt to explain or apologize. Callen, however, opened his mouth to explain, mentally reminding himself not to tell Hetty to mind her bloody business, but Callen never said a word, because Hetty raised her hand, slightly shook her head, and stated, "Save it, Mister Callen, I do not want to know. However, I will say this only once, keep it out of the office from this moment forward! Alias or no alias! Op or no Op!"

With that said, Hetty turned around, and walked back to her office, what she had planned on saying to Nell would have to wait for a different time, a time where Hetty was not tempted to give Callen a true what for, and tell Nell the entire story about what happened with her own blue eyed beau. She was angered at Callen for disobeying her wishes of not starting anything before the completion of the Operation just as much as she was disappointed in Nell for not listening to her. She did not want the young woman to suffer as she had, but she also, wanted the unusual pair to work things out and be a success. However, there was a time and place for everything, and Hetty knew or rather felt that right now it was neither the time nor place for either to start the journey to their happy ending. Life was not a fairy tale nor was it an easy ride. The upcoming months would be a true challenge for them. If their relationship could survive, the uncertainty of what was real, and what was not, surely the relationship would thrive once the Operation was over. However, Hetty feared that the uncertainty would definitely hinder the core of the relationship, which was why she was adamant about the aliases romance to be alias and not G. Callen and Nell Jones.

She wanted them to learn from her mistakes, yet how were either supposed to when they knew not what her mistakes were? Or with whom?

*.*

Meanwhile, back in wardrobe, Nell and Callen shared a confused look as if to ask the other what had just happened, before simultaneously they looked at Hetty whom had sat at her desk, folded her hands, and stared at them. As they watched her, they heard a whistle, not the whistle that Eric used to rally the troops, oh no, a whistle that could be heard at every construction site as an attractive woman walked by. Callen turned toward the sound, to the bullpen, and swallowed as he gently took Nell's elbow, which she allowed, because she had enough scenes to today to last her a month, and lead her to the bullpen. Mike Renko shook his head while his arms crossed defiantly, before he passed them and finally went to wardrobe. Sam Hanna gave Callen a disapproving look, nothing like the one Hetty gave him, but one that made him feel worse, as if to say that he should have known better to subject Nell to censor. Kensi Blye did not look at him, but instead was focused on Nell, almost pityingly. Deeks, on the other hand, whistled again and smiled genuinely at Nell.

"Hot damn, Nell Bell, you look smoking hot in that dress," Deeks exclaimed, shying away from arm reach of Sam, as he did not want another smack to the back of the head, or anything worse.

"And you look quite dashing, Detective," Nell replied as she slipped on the shoes. After Deeks had persuaded Kensi to give him the keys and before they had begun their search for one, Aintin Sorcha, both Deeks and Kensi had changed. Deeks had changed into a two-piece suit with a deep blue button up collared shirt. He looked sharped even with his gruff beard and disheveled hair; it made him look sophisticated, yet rebellious at the same time. Nell glanced at Kensi and tightly, but warmly smiled as the two shared a look that said that they would talk later. Kensi wore a beautiful designer pantsuit the same deep blue of Deeks's shirt.

All of a sudden, the true whistle of Ops was heard, and the team glanced at the staircase. All, but Nell, stared at Eric waiting for him to elaborate on the whistle, since they already had a case, what was the purpose of his whistle?

"Another body was found a few blocks away from the alley where Captain Pike was found." Eric answered each unspoken question. The team started toward the staircase to return to Ops for another consultation, but Nell hesitated briefly.

The person standing to Eric's right, where Nell normally stood, as Eric whistled and made brief announcements, was the same woman from earlier in the restroom. The woman who now shot her a knowing look and disgusted smirk as Callen began to guide Nell.

In that moment, Nell made a decision that no one would ever again make her feel inferior or ashamed of how she felt about Callen, because no matter what actually happened between her and him, she would always care about him. With that decision made, Nell defiantly looked at the woman whose name she did not know, and hooked her arm through Callen's as if to tell the unknown woman, he's mine, get over it.

Thank you for reading and to all who have reviewed; individual review replies are in the process of being sent. I appreciate all of the readership, alerts, favourites, reviews, and constructive criticism. :-)

Credit: The phrase "dissolving before their eyes" was created by my wonderful friend Thn Fanfiction over on facebook when I listed a help me fill-in-the-blank sentence as one of my statuses. If interested in becoming facebook friends (please send me a message stating that you found my facebook through this story when you send a request, so that I will accept the request) my URL is facebook dot com backward slash fanficauthorbrengail