Three weeks later:
Cameron and Phil had been dating for a few weeks when Cameron went back to work with a big smile on her face.
"Why are you so happy?" Sam asked her.
"Oh no reason." She replied with a wink and a grin. Sam raised an eyebrow at her.
"Oh really? Because if I didn't know better I'd say you were in…" Cameron stepped over to him and clapped her hand over his mouth.
"We barely know each other. Besides I er…" she trailed off when she heard someone enter the bullpen. Looking up she saw that it was Callen and she smiled at him. Catching the look that they gave each other Sam licked her hand and she pulled her hand away with a look of disgust on her face.
"Really? Was that necessary?" she asked him. Instead of answering Sam just nodded his head and dropped the subject. Callen eyed the pair suspiciously.
"What am I missing here?"
"Nothing G."
"Do we have a case?" Callen asked. For the last couple of weeks it had been pretty quiet but they all knew it would be the calm before the storm.
"Nope." Cameron replied with a pop.
"This is ridiculous. Have we heard anything on George?" Cameron paled a little,
"Haven't felt anything behind me. But then again they think I'm dead so you know…"
"Do we have a court date yet?"
"Next Tuesday at 9 am LA District Court House. You're up Miss Mitchell." Hetty replied. Cameron nodded and sat behind her desk and put her head in her hands. Twenty minutes later she still hadn't pulled her head up,
"Is she ok?" Sam whispered to Callen.
"I'm FINE! Just need to wrap my head around this that's all." Cameron replied.
"It's nearly over." Callen said.
"Next week couldn't come quick enough." Cameron muttered. Callen tilted his head to the side and looked at her from his desk.
"How's it goin' with the doctor?" he asked her. Cameron pulled her head up so fast she nearly cricked her neck. She stared at him with narrowed eyes. Callen shifted. "What?" he asked her.
"Since when do you care how it's going with Phil?"
"Since I don't really trust him." Cameron stood up and walked over to his desk.
"Any particular reason as to why?"
"Just a hunch. Or gut instinct. You choose which one you prefer."
"He makes me happy Callen. It's been a while." She snapped at him, "So back off!" Callen raised his hands in surrender.
"Alright. I'm just saying something feels hinky about him."
"Hinky? Do you want to explain that? Or would you rather explain rule 12?" she demanded. This time Callen stood up and stalked towards her desk,
"Oh come on! Are you telling me that nothing feels weird to you about him?"
"No! Nothing feels weird. The only thing that feels weird is you!"
"Me?"
"Yes you! I could throw signals at you left, right and centre and you still wouldn't notice! Jesus Christ you are so blind to everything that's right in front of you!" she hadn't even realised she'd stood up until she walked away. Callen stood there with his mouth open and slowly turned to face Sam who had a grin on his face.
"What just happened?" Callen asked his partner.
"You got jealous and she, pretty much told you how she felt, and you just stood there like an idiot." Callen gaped at Sam,
"Really?" he asked him in total confusion.
"Yeah G. If you're not careful you're going to lose her." Sam replied before he stood up and left the bullpen.
Two days later:
Cameron smiled when she heard her door bell ring. She practically skipped to the door and pulled it open with a big grin,
"Phil!" she said. She looked him up and down and her grin got bigger. He was wearing black jeans that hugged his hips and black trainers. On the top he was also wearing a black fitted t-shirt that showed off his abs and broad chest. She raised an eyebrow,
"Are you kidnapping me or something?" she asked with a grin.
"Or something." He replied with a grin of his own as he stepped over the threshold. "Are you ready to go?"
"Ish. What do I need? Where are we going anyway?" she asked him as she turned her back on him to walk into her bedroom. Once she was inside she frantically started to look for a pad and a piece of paper, I can't believe he was right! She thought to herself.
"So what do I need?" she called as she carried on looking. When Phil had come in her gut instinct had been screaming at her. But she couldn't decide if it was his clothing that had spooked her or if it was something else. Either way she wasn't taking any chances.
"I'm not telling. Just pack something that is comfortable and warm." He called back through. He was rummaging through her cupboards for something to do as she seemed to be taking ages. Back in her bedroom she was making sounds as if she was looking for her clothes. Walking to her bedside drawer she pulled it open and finally found a pad and a pen. Quickly scribbling her note she put it in her pocket and quickly grabbed her rucksack that she used for work sometimes and quickly stuffed some clothes inside it, along with her gun. Putting a smile on her face she walked out of her room. Not seeing Phil anywhere she looked around her living room,
"Phil?" she called out.
"Right here." He whispered and she jumped and turned around to look at him,
"Don't do that!" she said.
"Sorry I forgot how jumpy you can be. Are you ready to go?" he asked her. She looked at him and nodded her head.
"Yeah. I just need to leave a note for my neighbour."
"Why?" he asked her.
"She worries if she doesn't see me for a few days." She lied.
"What's her name?" he asked her suspiciously.
"Georgia."
"Pretty name." he commented.
"Yes it is. Should we go?" she asked him as she headed towards the door. He nodded and followed her to the door. Once they got downstairs she slipped the note under Callen's door and headed out into the warm sun.
A few hours later:
Phil pulled his car onto a dirt track and parked it. Cameron looked around and saw nothing but dense forest.
"Where are we?" she asked him.
"I have a cabin not far from here. But the path is dense with trees and the car can't get up there. So we have a bit of a hike." She smiled at him and raised a coy eyebrow,
"A romantic weekend in the woods?" she asked him. He looked at her with blank eyes,
"Something like that." Cameron still smiled but her instincts where still screaming at her. Nodding her head she said,
"Lead the way." He turned away from her and started the trek to the cabin. As she walked she started to make plans of her own. They walked in silence until Cameron couldn't take it anymore.
"So tell me something."
"What do you want to know?" he asked her.
"How much is George paying you?" she asked him. He stopped walking and turned to stare at her.
"How?"
"Do you seriously think I'm that stupid?" she asked him with a smirk.
"How long?"
"Since this morning." He smirked at her,
"Really are as stupid as he said you would be."
"He doesn't know anything about me." She growled at him. "So how much is he paying you to kill me so that I won't testify?"
"A lot."
"Why? What did I ever do to you?" she asked him.
"You betrayed my father." He growled at her before he pushed her to the floor. "I was amazed you fell for it to be honest. I thought you would see right through me. But you didn't. But that short one did. Didn't he?"
"Yes he did."
"I'm guessing when he pointed it out to you, you completely ignored him out of spite." He laughed at her, "How does it feel to know that because of your own spite and pride you're going to die?"
"How does it feel to know you are so far beyond original that it's actually physically hurting me?" she countered. His face darkened and he slapped her, Cameron just laughed,
"Is that the best you got? Daddy hurt me more than that." Phil growled and proceeded to hit her with all of his might but Cameron just carried on laughing. After fifteen minutes he stopped, out of breath and his arms were tired.
"I know what you're trying to do." He gasped out. She raised her eyebrows at him,
"Oh? And what's that?"
"You're stalling me. Hoping that your little NCIS buddies will come to help you. But I've got news for you." He got right into her face and whispered, "They'll. Never. Find. You." Cameron smirked,
"You just made the two biggest mistakes of your life."
"Oh really?"
"Yeah. First of all you called Sam little and second of all you made the unfortunate mistake of thinking you're cleverer than Eric and Nell." He looked at her in confusion but she just pushed herself up against a tree and smiled at him.
NCIS HQ:
Sam and Callen were in the bullpen sitting in an uncomfortable silence. This was strange in of itself. Callen had been stewing for the last few weeks since his argument with Cameron and with himself. After Sam had called him on it Callen had taken to ignoring him. Sam sighed loudly he hated being out of sync with his partner but Callen was being more stubborn than usual. Taking a look at him out the corner of his eye,
"This is stupid G. Are we going to talk about this?" he asked him.
"There's nothing to talk about."
"Yes there is. I want to discuss this."
"There's nothing to discuss."
"Oh really?" Sam asked him sarcastically. Callen sighed and looked up from the report he was trying to write.
"You wanna talk? Fine. I told you about my fears about that doctor, and instead of backing me up like a partner should, you basically turned around and said that I was jealous and that there was nothing to worry about. So will that do? Have we discussed this enough?"
"G…come on. You know I'll always back you up. But you have to admit you have been a little crazy about this guy."
"I'm not the crazy one! Listen I ran a background check on this guy and there was nothing on him until a couple of months before we found her. Don't you think that's a little weird?" he asked his partner. Sam gaped at his partner,
"What?" Callen snapped.
"You really are worried about him. Why didn't you say anything sooner G?"
"Because she was happy and I didn't want to ruin it." Sam looked at him sceptically. Callen rolled his eyes, "Fine I was hoping I was wrong. I mean people change their names all the time." Sam gave him a look, "And I was worried that I just wanted to see it because of how I feel about her." Callen looked at his watch and frowned, "Where is she anyway?"
"She's off this weekend. Phil is taking…" he trailed off with a frown. "Don't you think this is a little weird?"
"Weird how?"
"The timing. She's meant to be testifying against George on Monday and Phil is taking her for a weekend vacation who knows where right before?"
"Yeah. I'm surprised she went. She knows how important it is."
"Yeah that's what's worrying me." Sam muttered as he pulled out his phone and called her. After a few moments he pulled the phone away from his ear, "She's not answering but it is ringing."
"That's nothing new." Callen muttered.
"For you maybe. But something isn't right."
"Ask Eric to trace it."
"Why aren't you more worried G?" Sam asked him.
"Because she's put me in my place. I'm done sticking my nose in." Sam looked at him quizzically.
"Yeah ok. So if she's in trouble you won't be coming with us?"
"Course. But that's as far as I go."
"Uh huh." Sam muttered as he headed up to OPS to get Eric to start the trace on her phone. He came back down the stairs and looked at Callen again.
"Eric starting the trace?"
"Yeah. Are you sure you haven't heard from her?"
"I'm the last person she'll want to talk to."
"Maybe. Look I'm going to take a look around her apartment to make sure nothing is out of place. You comin'?" Callen put his report down, stood up and cracked his back.
"Yeah. I'll check my place while I'm at it."
"Why?" Sam asked him. Callen looked at him,
"Pretend you're Cameron and something has set your alarm bells in your head off. What's the first thing you would try and do?"
"I would try and contact one of us."
"Yeah but you don't have a cell phone within reach what's the next best thing?" Callen asked him.
"A note."
"Precisely. And who's the closest person to her that she could reach once she realised she was in trouble." Comprehension dawned on Sam's face but then he became puzzled,
"Why still go?"
"Because she doesn't want to spook him. Maybe she thinks she can take him by herself. I don't know. But knowing Cameron she probably wants to find out who he really is and why he's doing it. You know I think this all has something to do with George."
"Why?"
"Who is the one person that can put him away for a very long time?" Callen asked him.
"Cameron."
"If she doesn't show up what happens?"
"He gets away with it. But what about the murder of Will's mother?"
"There wasn't enough evidence so Cameron is the only one that can really put him behind the bars."
"Exactly. So G what would you do?"
"I would take her somewhere isolated. Middle of nowhere."
"Then what?"
"I'd kill her." Callen answered simply. Sam nodded and instead of heading towards his car he decided to head upstairs to the OPS centre.
"Any luck?" Sam asked the bespectacled techie.
"Yeah. Her phone last pinged off a tower just north of the Malibu Creek state park. After that it, it disappeared I'm sorry."
"No that's ok Eric. We'll find it." Sam left OPS and went down the stairs.
"Let's go G." he said as he walked past the bullpen and headed for his car.
A/N: I just looked up Malibu Creek state park on the internet. I'm not actually sure where about it is. So I apologise for two things, for taking so long to update and also for any inaccuracy in the geography of LA.