AN: Thanks for the feedback! Couple more chapters left.
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Nell took stock the moment she walked into the restaurant: it was bigger inside than it appeared from the street, yet each table had an intimate feel to it. It spoke of class and money, which made sense, as Bella's catered to the upscale. Nell fit in well; her borrowed look, courtesy of NCIS, fit the bill. "I need to see someone," she told the young hostess. "I believe he's here already, under the name White?"
"Right this way," the girl said, leading her to a large, half-circle booth in the back that was set apart from other booths and tables. Nell suspected it was Salvatore Donatacci's favorite place to conduct business. Callen was alone in the booth, and Nell reminded herself for the dozenth time to keep their exchange short. She should embody the very definition of an over-worked assistant called upon in the late evening to do a task for her forgetful boss.
Of course, it took all of three seconds for that to change.
Callen stood when he saw her, kissing her cheek, and keeping his voice low. "Hey, while you were on your way here, there was a change of plans. I thought it better to just tell you in person – you're my wife for the evening."
"What are you talking about?" She lowered her voice as well, though the risk of being overheard was slim since there weren't any diners nearby.
He sat down and pulled her next to him. "Maria just left the table. She stressed, pretty strongly, that we'd be set if I could get my wife here tonight to perform a demonstration. Something about moving a small amount of money. I can't do that – you can. And I can't teleport Kensi here, therefore, you have a new role."
She automatically shook her head. "It's not a good idea."
"If it makes you feel any better, it's already done."
"How would that make me feel better?"
"Look, I told Maria you were coming." He knew Nell wasn't thrilled, and there was little he could do about it. He opted for trying to reassure her. "Eric's changing everything as we speak so your picture will show up when they go looking into your background. Don't be worried about this, you have plenty of practice."
Nell didn't know who to blame more – Hetty, Deeks, Callen, herself. Blame did nothing, yet it made her feel oddly better. "This is the kind of thing that gets you shot," she informed him.
"I highly doubt they're going to shoot us in their own restaurant."
"No, you. This is the kind of thing that gets me to shoot you." He didn't seem to understand the gravity of the situation. They were already walking a fine line as it was. "This isn't even allowed."
"Executive decision," Callen said. "The circumstances warrant it."
"I don't know if I believe you."
He ignored her misgivings. "So you're onboard! Great to hear it."
"I never said –"
"You didn't have to," Callen cut her off. "I can sense your enthusiasm."
Before she could respond to that, Maria Donatacci came over to their booth and they both stood to greet her. The woman seemed eager to make them happy, probably because Callen had promised to make her husband an even richer man than he already was. "Mr. White! This must be your lovely wife?"
Nell answered without thinking, still set in her original plan. "No. I mean…yes."
Maria started to laugh. "Do you not know?"
Nell had nothing. "Sometimes I lie…to try and get out of it."
Callen put his arm around her waist. "Isn't she delightful?"
"Funny," Nell suggested. "The word you're looking for is funny."
"No," he said, "that's not the word." He smiled at Maria. "This is Nell."
"I thought your wife's name was Elizabeth?" Maria asked the question of Callen, as if maybe Nell were an impostor pretending to be his wife and he somehow hadn't noticed.
"It is," he said calmly, glad he hadn't given them too much information prior to tonight's meeting; it meant Eric (hopefully) had time to fix things. "I call her Nell. It's what most people call her."
"It's my middle name," Nell added, as if they had to explain this often. She held out her hand and prayed Maria would take it without further questions.
Nell needn't have worried, because Maria's slightly puzzled expression disappeared and she brushed Nell's hand aside in order to pull her in for a hug instead. "It's wonderful to meet you, my dear! I'm Maria, Salvatore's wife. We own this restaurant and we're very happy you were able to come spend the evening with us."
Nell politely hugged her back, and as she drew away, she tried to smooth things over. "I'm sorry for the confusion."
"Don't worry about it. Simple misunderstanding. Sit, both of you." She waited until they were back in the booth before harassing Callen. "Why didn't you tell me how beautiful she is? You've certainly chosen well."
"That's quite the understatement," Callen told the older woman. He kept an eye on Nell, but she appeared fine with the sudden change of plans. He didn't know if he bought it. "I've never seen her looking as lovely as she does tonight."
Nell recognized the line, and she had a very real fear he might continue on. "Stop it," she whispered.
Callen shrugged, as if he had no idea what he was supposed to stop doing. She felt tempted to do something childish like kick him in the shin, but figured any act of violence probably wouldn't go over well – not while they were trying to make a good first impression. Or…would it make their relationship seem more authentic?
She opted for another route altogether. "I've heard wonderful things about your restaurant," Nell told Maria.
"You flatter us," Maria said graciously. "I hope you know, if I were only thirty years younger, you might have to fight me for this wonderful husband you have. Poor Sal would be left in the dust."
"You don't need to be any younger, you're gorgeous as you are," Callen said, turning on the charm (he was especially skilled at it when he needed to get out of something).
Maria patted his shoulder. "I do like you, and I'll make sure my husband knows it. It's heart-warming to see another happily married couple in this day and age. I was beginning to think Sal and I were the only ones left! I have to apologize for the way the night is going. We'll be joining you soon. It's been a hard night for the kitchen staff, two people abruptly quit, so I'm helping to make sure things don't fall apart in there. Sal is conducting some last minute business upstairs. He'll be down any moment. Anything you two want, it's on the house."
"We understand," Nell told her. "It takes a lot of work to run a business. You put in the hours when necessary."
Maria nodded. "Tell me about it, this restaurant is our labor of love. After our children, of course."
Nell instantly liked Maria, even though she knew the Donataccis were involved in a number of illegal activities. Even criminals could be pleasant, right? It probably helped, actually.
"We appreciate your generosity," Callen told her, as Maria left to check on the kitchen.
Nell inwardly sighed with relief. That had been a whirlwind five minutes. She started rummaging around in her purse, and in about ten seconds, she had pulled out a ring and slipped it onto her left ring finger. "Don't say it," she told him, hoping to cut off any lectures. "I'm always prepared."
Callen slid around the booth to sit next to her, further ensuring they wouldn't be overheard. He set his arm on top of the booth behind her, and to everyone else in the restaurant, they looked like any other couple enjoying a romantic evening. "How could you have possibly prepared for us switching the plan and asking you to play my wife?"
"Alright, I wasn't prepared for that scenario, but I was thinking it'd be more believable if my character had a backstory. She's married."
"This isn't community theater. You don't need a backstory for walking in and out of a restaurant."
"I'm going to ignore that jab at my acting skills," she informed him. "And I already thought of it, though I guess I have to ditch it now."
He found himself wanting to know more. "I must be a terrible employer, since I had no idea my assistant was happily married."
"Who said happily?" She shot back.
"Nell."
"If you must know, your assistant, Nell Black, has been happily married for almost two years."
"Nell Black? Typical Eric," he sighed. "Expand your imagination, would you?"
Eric's voice over the comms sounded quite shrill in their ears. "You try doing what I do every day!"
"He's sorry, Eric," Nell said, indicating that Callen should shut up.
"Fine," Callen agreed. "Tell me about your husband."
"Tom's an electrician."
"Random enough," he nodded. "Let me guess, he's incredibly good-looking?"
"I'm attracted to a person's soul, not the way they look on the outside."
"Is he intelligent?"
"He married me, didn't he?"
Callen let that slide. "Charming?"
"I bring out the best in him."
"Are you capable of answering a question without complimenting yourself?"
"Is that what I was doing?" She asked, innocently.
He couldn't help rolling his eyes. "I'm glad you two are happy together."
"He's a good guy. He's always home in a timely manner after work to help me take care of the kids."
"I'm sure it's easy to take care of children who don't exist."
Nell took offense at his tone. "Hey, Tom treats me right."
"I treat you right," Callen argued.
"Please, you're always out engaging in criminal activities with…criminals." The look she shot him dared him to refute it. He really couldn't, seeing as they were about to arrange an agreement with a mob boss and his wife to commit numerous crimes in this fabricated life they'd assumed for the night. That didn't mean she wasn't as culpable as him, a fact which he had to point out in the interest of fairness.
"Where are you right now?" He challenged. "You're supporting your criminal husband in said activities to keep the money rolling in. Remember, you're as guilty as me, if not more so."
He was right. If she was going to berate the character he was playing, she had to admit hers wasn't morally superior, either. "Maybe I'm thinking of reforming my ways," she suggested.
"Uh huh, well do it after we've gotten what we came for."
"I can think of a few things I'm going to do after we've gotten what we came for," she told him.
"What?"
"Nothing." She picked up the menu and pretended to be enthralled.
"Marriage is far more work than it's worth," he said. "Should've listened to Sam."
"What?" Nell asked.
Sam and Deeks had been mostly silent the whole night, but now Sam felt compelled to lend his advice, even as Deeks shook his head no. "Don't drag me into this, G," Sam told him over the comms. "Every choice you've made is on you. I say this as a friend – backtrack right now, because this path you're going down is not going to end well for you."
"I'm not afraid of her," Callen shot back.
"You probably should be," Deeks tried to warn him. He'd be scared of Nell if she were halfway around the world – to sit right in front of her and take such risks? It was terrifying. (He found himself in awe of Callen sometimes, as much as he wondered if the man weren't destined for an early grave.)
Nell was not amused by their conversation about her. "I can hear you guys. You realize that."
Callen was saved by a young waiter who came over with wine. "Compliments of Mrs. Donatacci." He poured them both glasses, and then took Callen's order for two meals. Nell would have given him hell about it, except he ordered a meal she liked, effectively preempting her tirade – she knew it was on purpose.
She went back to twisting her ring. Seasoned agents should be able to deal with any unexpected incident that came up – she was a seasoned agent, right? Of course she was…so why did she sometimes feel like a rookie with no idea what she was doing? She wasn't prepared for this.
Apparently she was quiet for too long, because Callen interpreted her silence as being upset with him. "You're supposed to at least pretend you like me," he cajoled.
"I do like you." She leaned her head back against his arm and turned to face him. "We'd have a serious problem if I didn't."
"More romantic words have never been spoken between spouses, I'm sure."
"I'm worried, Callen," she made sure to keep her voice down, though the only person who'd been remotely near their table in the past ten minutes was the waiter. "These people are dangerous, and changing things like we did at the last minute? Equally dangerous." She'd tried to ignore it the entire night, and couldn't anymore. Everyone knew that introducing an unexpected variable (like swapping a role in an operation with another person) could lead to mistakes. And mistakes led to being found out.
"Is that it?" He asked, because of course he knew there was more going on.
Truthfully, her apprehension was about far more than worrying about the last minute switch – it came down to her insecurities about participating in field operations. It didn't help that she wasn't supposed to be there. "I'm not sure I'm doing this right."
"You're doing fine."
"What do you expect from me?" She would have appreciated a step-by-step set of instructions for the night, if he'd had one.
Callen must have read the increasing anxiety in her. "Breathe in and out slowly. Stop worrying. Most importantly, sit here and look pretty."
That snapped her out of her self-doubt. "Is that the only thing you think I'm capable of? Sitting here and being the dutiful woman, agreeing with your every word and doing whatever you ask of me?" She didn't realize until she was at the end of her semi-rant that he was smiling.
"I knew you were still in there," he sounded far too pleased with himself.
Alright, maybe his goading had made her feel more like herself. He knew her too well, and she wasn't surprised by that anymore.
He took her hand and she gripped it back too tightly. "You've done this before," he reminded her. "Don't think of tonight as pretend, or as taking Kensi's place. The only thing to remember is to maintain a certain level of confidence. Just be yourself."
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He was right. This shouldn't be difficult; if you got right down to it, it wasn't even a 'role' per se. "Be the real me, that shouldn't be hard. The real me…who's your wife."
Callen nodded with approval. "See? I believe you already."
"I should hope so." She knew he was watching her closely. She was used to it, and it always made her feel better, even as she felt guilty about warranting that level of concern from him. "I'll be fine."
"I know you will. By the way, didn't you originally come here for a reason?"
She'd completely forgotten. She found the flash drive in her purse and gave it to him as they spotted Maria returning.
"Sal's on his way down. How's the wine?" Maria asked cheerfully.
Nell reached for her glass and took a few deep sips to calm her nerves. "Fantastic," she said, though it was more to her glass than to Maria.
"Wonderful, thank you," Callen echoed.
Moments later, Salvatore came over to join his wife on the opposite side of the booth from Callen and Nell. He apologized profusely for his delay in joining their meeting.
They exchanged small talk for a short while until their meals were delivered, and then Salvatore got down to business.
"I hear you have a proposition for me?" He asked Callen.
Callen carefully laid out their terms, and he didn't waver in the slightest. Nell had admired how persuasive he was dozens of times in everyday situations, yet those instances couldn't compare to the way he performed undercover. She was used to hearing him over the comms, or learning after the fact how he'd gotten out of a terrible situation by creating some elaborate story. Witnessing firsthand his ability to persuade others to do exactly what he wanted – while pretending to be someone else, and with the knowledge that a slight misstep might cost him his life – gave her a newfound appreciation. He amazed her, and she promised herself that she'd tell him that later.
Callen handed over the flash drive, and Salvatore gave it to another man to 'verify' and get back to him.
"Your terms sound reasonable," Salvatore told him. He'd ordered steak florentine, and cut through it with measured precision. Nell suspected it was an intimidation tactic.
"Reasonable enough to accept?" Callen couldn't have appeared more unaffected. He casually brushed a hand along Nell's neck in a silent signal that everything was going fine.
"It almost makes me wonder if it's too good to be true," Salvatore said, and though it sounded like a question, it wasn't.
This was probably the point where Nell would have started to worry, but Callen wasn't fazed, and he laid a hand on her knee under the table in an effort to keep her from reacting. "To be honest, usually I hear that I've demanded too high of a percentage for the terms to be agreeable. I can always take more of the profits, if it puts you at ease."
Salvatore waited a few moments before laughing and waving his steak knife at the two of them. "You have quite the sense of humor! However, I believe my wife informed you we'd need a demonstration?" He called one of his employees over to give Nell a laptop.
She glanced at Callen and he nodded at her to indicate she should do what they asked. It turned out to be simple enough: Salvatore wanted her to transfer $10,000 to a new secure account through her bank. Since her bank didn't actually exist, Eric helped, instructing her on what to do. Once the money was transferred, she returned the laptop to Salvatore.
He saw the results on the screen and called his accountant to confirm the transfer had taken place. He wouldn't be easily fooled. "This is beautiful," he told them, after the transfer had been confirmed. "Allow me to discuss the terms with my associates and I'll give you my answer soon. Now, let's stop discussing business for the time being." He smiled at his wife, and Nell relaxed.
The rest of their dinner, while slightly nerve-wracking at times, went fine. Nell called upon every trick in her arsenal to appear confident, yet not arrogant or rude. She knew she was succeeding when Salvatore asked Callen how he'd managed to find a wife like her. Callen answered that she took a lot of patience, and Nell made another vague mental note to get back at him later.
Nell couldn't say she was entirely objective at judging her own skills, though as the evening wore on, she actually began to believe they'd pulled it off.
They left Bella's around midnight, thrilled to be celebrating a successful evening. Hopefully Salvatore would contact them soon and they'd be able to strike a deal (she knew he wanted to thoroughly investigate them first – she had no worries, Eric was more than capable at his job).
As they walked to the car, Nell spared a moment to think of Sam and Deeks, forced to wait nearby for hours. Her sympathy didn't last long, though, when Deeks told them over the comms that he'd been waiting for this moment all his life and then cut transmission. She gave him high marks for catching onto their game – she hadn't realized anyone else was even aware of it.
With each step away from Bella's, Nell felt as if the tension were evaporating from her body. She didn't know if she could describe in words how relieved she was that dinner was over. She wanted to go home and sleep for twelve hours.
"That went fantastically, don't you think?" Callen asked.
"Far better than it might have," she admitted, stopping next to the car. "I'm a little surprised."
"I'm not," he insisted, leaning down to briefly kiss her mouth. "They're watching us," he whispered, by way of explanation.
"Really?" She glanced over at the restaurant, as if she might see a crowd watching them. There was no one in sight.
"Well…they could be," he allowed.
She couldn't help her smile, which meant her words weren't as stern as she intended. "I'm sure they have nothing better to do than watch us from the windows of their restaurant in the middle of the night."
"I'm always looking out for us," Callen said. "We should work together more often."
"Tell that to Hetty. And Granger. And NCIS. Let me know how it works out for you."
"If things keep going well, we could probably change their minds." He opened the passenger side door of the car for her. "I think they worry about us having too much fun."
"Oh yeah," she said sarcastically. "That's their main concern."
"Alright, maybe not, but it's still true."
She couldn't argue with that.
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