I would like to apologize for the delay, this chapter has been done for days now...but my beta kept telling me he would send it that night or the next morning and he never did. Needless to say I am posting it without his feedback and corrections. So please forgive any errors. :) I would also like to say I love the reviews. And I got a couple of reviews that asked for Callen/Nell. So I tried to oblige. It isn't much, but be patient my friends. :). I always want to make my readers happy so if there is anything you want to see just let me know.

Hope you all have a great weekend.

Kenzie. :)

Callen walked back into OPS and cleared his throat, "You guys go ahead and go downstairs and come up with a plan. Give me a minute with Nell." Callen did not know why seeing Nell in such a fragile state bothered him as much as it did, but he was finding that it was making his stomach nauseated with worry. He didn't want to imagine Nell being in danger...in fact he wanted to protect Nell from the world. He wanted to shelter Nell from all of the dangers and all of the evil that was present. More than that though his chest constricted as he thought that Nell was willing to go out on her own again. She was so small and fragile, no one should have to confront something like this on their own, but especially not Nell. Once the team had made an exit Callen made his way to where Kensi had resided moments ago and sat down, "I owe you an apology."

Nell's heart was racing at the close proximity that her and Callen now were, "What for?"

Callen took in the red eyes, the tissue that Nell held tightly in her hand, and the way her voice was shaking and sighed. He wanted to raise his hand to wipe the remainder of her tears away but refrained not knowing how she would respond, "I as the senior agent should have made you feel comfortable enough that you felt like you could come to me with absolutely anything. I should have talked to you more, should have known what had happened before now. I was not the senior agent that I should have been and for that I am sorry."

Nell could not believe what she was hearing, was he really blaming all of this on himself, "Callen it has nothing to do with you not making me feel comfortable. I've not felt as safe as I do here since it happened. For once, I felt so safe that I finally let my guard down and because of that Jason found me."

"Nell, you are safe here. I promise you that, I will protect you." Callen had told a lot of people that over the years but he could not recall a time where he had been so genuine. G Callen knew at that point he would do whatever he had to do to ensure that Nell was safe. He suddenly got the urge to pull the woman into his arms and hold her. As he reached around her shoulders, he decided against it. Instead he awkwardly patted her on the shoulder.

Nell could not explain it, but she felt safe. Despite the fact that a murderer was after her, despite the fact that she was in grave danger, and despite the fact that Jason knew where she was, she had never felt this safe. G Callen had never been a man of many words, so Nell was left to theorize what the touch had meant. To Nell the mere touch of Callen's hand on her shoulder conveyed that he would protect her and that he did deeply care. Nell quickly brushed this to the back of her mind as guilt came to the surface. She had killed her husband; she didn't deserve to be cared for. And even if she did, there was no way Callen would fall for her.

Callen took the silence as his cue to leave and give her space. He stood and exited the room, taking Nell's feeling of safety with him.
She was once again left to drown in her own thoughts alone. It only took a moment for her tears to start falling. Her whole body shook from the thrusting of her shoulders as the sobs continued.

Nate glanced at Hetty, "We knew it would happen like this eventually."

"The team should have been prepared, I should have known that he was closing in on her." Hetty replied.

"He's good."

"We are better." Hetty responded, and the look in her eyes gave Nate cold chills.

"That we are..." Nate let his voice trail off not knowing what to say.

"How bad was she back then? How rough is it going to be for her this time?"

"It was bad. Suicidal ideation. All she thought about was getting back at Jason and then taking her own life. Psychologists kept handing her case off from one doctor to another. No one knew what to do or how to help her get past the initial idea that she had killed him. Me, I was new and wanted to prove myself, I readily accepted her case as a challenge. It took awhile but I finally got through to her using Gestalt therapy. My supervisors were impressed, they thought she would need to be in a mental institution for months before she would be able to go back into society, even then they didn't think she would succeed. I set out to prove them wrong. Everyone was so focused on fixing her; I just focused on making it easier for her to cope with. I let her know I was there, I learned how far I could push her and I knew how far I could go. Hetty, if it wasn't for her case I never would have been promoted and I most certainly never would have made it to your team. I think this time, Nell is going to have an easier time, she has a support system and people to fall back on. She knows we care, and she knows we are here for her. Nevertheless I would like to prescribe her something to help her through this ordeal."

"Do what you think you must do."

"We will get her through this."

Hetty's eyes turned cold, "I know we will, he got us once...he won't get us again."

****
Callen walked downstairs to join the rest of the team. On the way there he turned back around twice not wanting to leave Nell by herself...but he finally decided against it. The last person she would want to see would be him. His heart pounded thinking of the endless possibilities that could have happened had he not of realized something was wrong and went to her house. She could have walked right into a trap and right into Jason's outstretched arms.

"I think we need to focus on finding Chris for now, he may be in danger as well." Kensi was saying.

"No need he's dead. We need to focus on getting Nell someplace safe...He could be out there watching us right now." Callen replied.

"We can take her to a safe house?" Sam offered.

"She can stay with me." Callen decided.

"How is she?" Eric asked.

"She will be okay. I'll make sure of it. Kensi, run by Nell's house and grab her some stuff and come to my house. I am going to get Nell and drive around to make sure tailing us and I will meet you there."

"What about us?" Deeks asked waving his hand between Sam and himself.

Callen hesitated before he responded, "Find Jason. When you find him, call me."

Callen turned to walk away and Sam grabbed his arm, "We'll get him G."

"Sam he's killed some of our own already, and if he is going to kill anyone else it will be over my dead body." Callen said. Sam went to open his mouth to respond but Callen interrupted, "Find him Sam." Sam nodded before turning and walking away.

Callen noticed Nate walking away from Hetty and he nodded his head in way of greeting. Nate smiled and looked upstairs as if to ask where Nell was. "She's up there." Callen replied.

Hetty was sitting at her desk going through paperwork as Callen walked up, "I'm taking her to my house for the time being. She shouldn't be left alone."

"I completely agree." Hetty responded not looking up.

Callen went to say something else but was interrupted as Granger walked up, "I need the team, we have a case." Granger said.

"Another team will have to take it. We are working our own case right now." Callen replied. He wasn't about to take on another case. All of their attention needed to be focused on their youngest team member and keeping her safe and Callen wasn't going to let Granger use his authority to get them to work the case. Callen was not about to budge.

Granger hesitated before he spoke, "What could possibly be more important than working the case I bring for you?"

"It's confidential." Callen answered.

"I am positive that I have the clearance to know." Granger said cooly. It was evident in his tone that he was not used to being told no.

Hetty spoke for the first time, "Do you remember that favor you owe me? Well consider us even."

Granger eyed the two for several moments before turning and walking away.

"Thanks Hetty." Callen heard hurried footsteps on the stairs and turned to look.

"She's gone." Nate said loudly.

"She can't be, we would have seen her." Callen replied.

"I'm telling you, she's gone." Nate repeated.

Callen didn't hesitate before he started running upstairs. He knew he needed to find her. He knew that he needed to know that she was safe. And he also knew that at some point in time he had unknowingly developed feelings for the young woman.

So now that Callen has finally admitted that there is something between him and Nell what will happen? Will he express those feelings for her or will he hide them from her? More importantly though is where has Nell Jones gone? Feel free to review. :)