AN: It's taking a little longer for me to update since I'm finishing up this story & trying to tie up loose ends. As ever, I love all your feedback!
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Eric's glad he's escaped Nell, hopefully for the rest of the morning. He loves her, but he doesn't want to wonder if she's secretly planning any further acts of revenge. Plus, it'd be nice to have a partner who isn't wandering off every five minutes…then Kensi joins him and he suddenly wants Nell back.
"Are you sure you want to work with me, Kensi? I'm terrible. Beyond terrible. If you could take a gentle approach –"
"Oh, Beale," she says sympathetically. "I'm going to make you tougher. Even if I have to beat that toughness into you."
"I don't – how would that work?"
"Trust me," she says, in a way he absolutely does not trust. "You're going to be a new man when I'm done with you."
"No, I don't need to be new. I don't want to be new. I'm fine being old –"
She rushes him and he freezes in terror. The next thing he knows, he's on his back and blinking at Kensi above him. "Why didn't you try to stop me?" She bounds back to her feet with uncanny speed. "You need a lot of work."
"Like I didn't already know that." He grimaces in pain as he sits up. "I hope you gave me a hernia or a fracture, anything to get out of this."
"What have you been teaching him, Nell?" Kensi asks, implying the other woman's at least partly to blame.
"I certainly didn't tell him to pretend he's a statue and let himself get bulldozed! You're making me look bad, Eric," Nell chastises, though she can't help feeling sorry for him. It's apparent to the entire room that he's out of his league, and she hopes Granger will take pity on him soon.
"I'm very sorry that my lack of skills reflects poorly on you," he says snidely, making a show of checking his ribs for injuries.
"How many times have I told you to always pay attention when –"
In a cosmic twist (that Nell brings entirely on herself), Callen launches a surprise attack and she's on the mat before she can process what's happened.
He's back on his feet as quickly as Kensi had managed, and close to gloating about how easy that was. "What was that about paying attention?"
"Not fun, is it?" Eric asks Nell, starting to smirk until she shoots him a look and he wipes the expression from his face.
"Get up," Kensi orders Eric. "That was only round one. We've got miles to go, my friend."
"Nell, I'm sorry I dropped you through no fault of my own. Please, take me back," Eric begs, as Kensi tells him they're going to keep going until she breaks him in.
"Godspeed," Nell tells him, somberly, as Sam joins them to mediate. He'll keep Eric alive. Probably.
She realizes she's still on the mat when Callen holds his hand out to pull her up. She doesn't know if it's a genuine offer or another trick. She places her bets on the latter and flings her leg out to try and sweep his legs out from under him. He jumps back at the last second. "Unsportsman like conduct. I offered you my hand in good faith."
She gets to her feet, brushing her hands off. "Sure you did."
"Now we'll never know."
Fighting with him shouldn't be as much fun as it is, and she means that both physically and verbally. "Why'd you want to switch partners?" She asks. "Miss me? I think you've become unnaturally dependent if you can't get through one morning without me."
He could accuse her of the exact same thing. "No reason other than to mix it up a little."
"We spend the majority of our week together. Us fighting is not mixing it up, by any means."
"Fine," he relents, "you know we work better together than with anyone else."
"Most of the time," she allows. "There are exceptions."
"None that matter." He waits until she meets his eyes. "I keep you from throttling Eric, you keep me from…" his voice fades, as he tries to put it into words. "You know, I find you…calming."
No, she didn't know. She's kind of skeptical about it, too.
"Totally agree," Deeks says, as he walks by sipping his water, "the first thing that comes to mind when I think of Nell is 'calming'." He winks at her slyly and she can't help 'accidentally' taking a step forward in a way that conveniently trips him. He falls right into Callen and the water in his bottle splashes everywhere.
"Nell," Deeks whines, as Callen levels a glare at her (he'd seen her intentions probably before she'd taken the step). "That's not how you demonstrate tranquility."
"It was an accident. Besides, Callen caught you, didn't he?"
"Thanks, man. You're a good friend," Deeks says seriously, patting Callen on the back while also awkwardly holding the bottle of water. It starts tipping again and Callen grabs it before he can get completely soaked.
"Learn to hold this upright." He shoves the bottle at Deeks' chest and pushes the other man back toward his mat. "There you go. Seriously, can't anyone have a conversation around here without everyone else joining in?"
"Speak up a little guys," Kensi requests, from the next mat over. "I'm having trouble hearing you."
"I don't think they're capable of minding their own business," Nell alleges, conveniently ignoring that she and Callen are as guilty of that as the rest of their team. "Where's Granger to keep them in line?"
"Haven't seen him," Callen says, slowly.
"Did he leave? Please tell me I missed him leaving and that Hetty's in charge."
Callen watches her kind of oddly…wait, she knows that look –
"Jones!" Granger says, from directly behind her, as she spins around. "Do you have a problem with my leadership today?"
"No. Not at all," she says hurriedly. "You didn't let me finish, sir. I was going to say, I hope you left because…you've earned a well-deserved break."
He doesn't buy it for a second. "You're lucky I like you, Jones," he says, and glances at Callen. "Especially considering the company you keep."
"You and your jokes, sir," Callen nods. "Always funny."
"Go back to pretending as if you're doing something productive," he orders and then walks off, mumbling to himself.
Once she sees that he's distracted by Sam and Deeks, Nell confronts Callen. "Is Hetty teaching him about the secret passageways around here? How long was he behind me? You couldn't tell me he was there?"
"I…didn't see him," he tries to lie.
"I would have warned you," she argues.
He almost laughs. "No, you would not. My proof is that you never do."
"I would, if it was really warranted. Most of the time, you kind of deserve not being warned."
"Situational awareness, Nell. We've been over this, though I guess we need to practice more. You're clearly slipping."
"I'm not slipping. Don't make me play another round of trying to find you in my apartment's parking lot." That had been brutal. Her neighbors had called the cops on them, thinking they were either casing the complex or attempting to steal cars.
"That lot is a predator's dream of hiding places, Nell. You're welcome that I pointed out the blind spots for you."
"Yeah, you know my favorite spot? Sitting in the back of that cruiser waiting for the police to verify our badges."
He's not the slightest bit sorry. "Wildest Saturday night you've had in a long time, am I right?"
She presses her hands to her temples and wonders why she hasn't learned by now – the more she complains about something, the more Callen thinks it's working, as if her annoyance is directly proportional to how much any given technique is helping her.
Callen snaps his fingers and points to the mat in front of him, indicating they should get started. "At least Granger didn't notice we switched partners."
"It's not that I don't notice," the assistant director calls, frowning when Eric tries to use him as a buffer from Kensi. "I've merely decided I don't care anymore. Let's put it this way – how much worse can the morning get?"
"How did he hear us?" Callen asks Nell.
"Just because I'm a few years older than you does not mean I can't hear you," Granger informs them.
"A few?" Callen asks skeptically, as Nell hisses at him to shut up.
"Agent Callen!" Granger knows the odds of dying from a stroke rise nearly ten-fold every time he has to coach one of these trainings (he's done the math).
"Yeah, we're setting up," Callen insists. "Nell's taking her time, as usual."
Nell's sure she couldn't look more exasperated if she tried. "I'm standing right in front of you. I've been ready for twenty minutes." She's not even done speaking when he dives at her. She appreciates the straight-forward approach, knowing exactly how to annoy him. She waits until the last second and spins away. He manages to grab her arm but can't keep hold of her when she twists away from him. Without her to stop his momentum, he ends up several paces behind her, near the edge of the mat.
"What was that?" He asks, despite knowing full well what it is, and it irritates him as much as it usually does.
"That's evasion. Eric's a master at it, by the way. Usually."
Eric gives her a half-hearted salute from where he's been pinned to the mat – again – by Kensi.
"Well done, Jones." Granger makes a show of checking off his clipboard.
"Doesn't avoiding each other kind of defeat the point of this training?" Callen asks their boss. "Besides, you know she's only doing it to annoy me." He belatedly realizes that explanation will make Granger more in favor of her strategy.
"You're right. Maybe she should get two points: one for avoiding you and one for annoying you," Granger suggests. "Evasion's in the manual. It counts."
"If running away counts, why don't we play hide and seek around the building instead of training in the gym?" Callen asks.
"I've had enough of that already," Nell says. "You and your 'strategic hiding skills'."
"You need to think of better places."
That was completely unfair. Her spot in the clothing racks had been brilliant. "You only found me due to Deeks not understanding what it means when someone hides."
"Callen asked where you were," Deeks tries to defend what had been a simple mistake. "How was I supposed to know it was one of your weird trainings? I'm not psychic."
"Want to prove yourself?" Callen challenges Nell, far too sure of himself. "Think of a new spot. I'll wager I could find you within five minutes."
"Not if I go home. That'll take longer than five minutes."
"I didn't include commute times." He starts calculating. "If I factor in the twenty-three minute drive for route B – no wait, today would be route C –"
"Construction," Nell reminds him.
"Add seven minutes, then. Or I could go with E. I don't think E is used enough, it's two minutes shorter, and it goes right by that great Chinese place."
Kensi has to chime in on this one. "You know how long it takes to get to her place? For every route?"
"It's not that hard to remember," Callen tells her, matter of factly. "You're acting like I shouldn't know. I know how to get to everyone's place. It's kind of essential knowledge."
"Yeah, but how do you know the exact time?" She sounds suspicious. "What's the time to get to my place? The main route."
How should he know that? "I have no idea, when was the last time I came over? Was it the last game night?"
"You should remember considering you cheated your way through half of the games."
"Hey," he insists, pointing at Kensi, "that game of charades was completely within bounds."
"You can't use sign language in charades!" Kensi looks to Nell, as if expecting the other woman to admit her part in it.
Nell takes a step back and holds up her hands. "Don't look at me, I didn't even want to learn it." It had actually been Hetty's suggestion for her and Callen to practice sign language as a way to communicate silently – the older woman's plan had been to expand it to other agents if successful. Those lessons with Hetty had not gone well. They'd only gotten through the alphabet and a few basic words. After too many arguments between Callen and Nell about the clarity of each other's signs, they'd stopped going to Hetty's makeshift classes and their boss had wisely put her pilot program on hiatus. Nell knows Callen's kept up with it. In fact, it surprises her that he hasn't mentioned it lately and urged her to go back to it.
"You should go back to it, Nell."
There it is. She signs 'no' at him (that one had always been the most useful). "Thanks, Kensi, for reminding him of this topic."
Callen nearly does a double take at her hypocrisy. "I forgot this is my fault. You had nothing to do with game night, right Nell?"
Kensi picks up on what Callen's implying. "You're not exactly innocent, Nell. You should have called him out, not played along. I expect better from you."
Nell can't believe that Kensi's turned on her. "What happened to sticking together against the guys, no matter what? That was a sacred promise."
Kensi's instantly filled with guilt at the reminder. They'd made a pact long ago to always back each other up; it made sense in a male-dominated job like theirs. They rarely needed it, or acknowledged it, but it was nice to know they always had it to fall back on. "Sorry. Callen manipulated me into thinking you shouldered some of the blame."
"It's okay, I forgive you," Nell tells her, sending a triumphant glance Callen's way.
Callen watches the exchange with growing awe. Nell's turned him into the villain with the simple reminder of an old promise, and Kensi has completely – and voluntarily – ignored all signs of Nell's guilt. And make no mistake, Nell's as guilty as he is. She enjoys skirting the rules as much as he does (he likes to take credit for her increasing willingness to view the world in shades of grey).
Every so often, his mind wanders to a scenario where Nell's plotting to take over their team, then their headquarters, then NCIS altogether. Maybe more than that. It would sound crazy to anyone else, but he knows better. He's seen the ways she accomplishes her goals, stepping outside the lines if necessary. He's also seen the kind of cunning from her that reminds him of Hetty. He thinks it should worry him that if he's caught glimpses of it on occasion, he probably misses the vast majority of what Nell carries out behind the scenes, with no one the wiser. It's also during those times that he's inordinately thankful that she likes him. She's one of the few people in the world that if he got on their bad side, he doesn't know how he'd escape unscathed (and maybe part of that is because he knows he could never hurt her, not even to save himself).
Under most circumstances, Callen would let Kensi's condemnation slide and accept full blame. However, Nell's increasingly smug looks compel him to defend himself – he can't let her think it's that easy to get away with things.
He makes sure he has Kensi's attention. "Nell and I weren't talking, therefore it wasn't against the rules. If you had a problem with it, you should have specified at the beginning of game night that it wasn't allowed. Or picked up on it before round fifteen. Don't you all investigate crimes for a living? How did you miss it?"
"The vast amounts of wine might have…affected our observational skills," Kensi mutters.
"Most importantly, it's not like I was signing things to myself." He doesn't glance Nell's way, sure she'll be none too happy at how easily he turned the tide back on her.
"You shouldn't let him talk you into these schemes," Kensi mildly scolds Nell. "You're better than that kind of underhandedness."
"I know," Nell drops her head in faux shame. "I'm trying. He just insists that I go along with his –"
She inhales sharply when Callen grabs her, pulling both her arms behind her back. "Liar. You're lying. Admit it."
"Never," she swears, and he responds by pressing one of his hands to the back of her neck. It's one of her greatest weaknesses, to the point that Callen won't touch her there when they spar because of the insanely unfair advantage it gives him when she inevitably collapses (she's been trying to work on that, and hasn't made much progress). In fact, she'd be on the mat right then if he weren't basically holding her upright. "Stop!"
"Not until you come clean."
At that point, Nell's laughing too hard to respond.
"Callen…" Kensi thinks about intervening, but Nell doesn't seem to be in actual distress. "This kind of behavior is unacceptable. You're intimidating her. Uh, I think?" Truthfully, she doesn't know what the hell's going on.
"Oh, is that what this is? I'm intimidating Nell and forcing her to go along with my schemes?" He leans closer to Nell's ear. "You want to confess, Nell. I know you."
"Okay," she gasps, "I give, I give." Callen lets go of her and she sheepishly turns to Kensi. "It was my idea to use sign language that night."
Kensi gasps in horror, as if she's just learned that her entire life is a lie. "Nell! Why?"
"I wanted to win," Nell confesses. "You were all pretty drunk. And you deserved it from how you kept harassing me about…" she hesitates, glancing at Callen. "Various things. It was easy payback. If it makes you feel any better, I'm ashamed."
"No, you're not," Callen calls her out on that, too.
"Fine, I'm not," she manages through gritted teeth, then turns to Callen. "You couldn't give me that one? I can't believe you gave me up. I thought we'd always lie for each other."
"Me too, until you blamed everything on me."
"Like it's my fault that Kensi believed me over you? I'm better at this than you."
"Not entirely, or you wouldn't have admitted your guilt as easily as you did."
"Sorry that I have a conscience," Nell retorts. "Obviously you'd use it against me."
"It's not only your conscience," he says, touching the back of her neck and smirking when she jerks away from him. "But you keep telling yourself that."
Kensi's been following along the best she can, and she thinks she gets it. "You're both insane. No wonder you've memorized the time it takes to get to her apartment."
Callen can't believe she's stuck on that. "We train together a lot, especially on weekends. When we leave late, I often drive her home. It's a perfectly reasonable thing to know."
In the world of 'Callen and Nell', where at least 75% of the things they consider normal are nothing that outsiders understand, Kensi supposes it makes sense (because she sure can't think of anyone else who could plan their drive to a co-worker's home down to the minute). "I guess it's not as creepy as it initially seemed, I mean, I was picturing you driving by her place at random times. That'd be a little questionable, bordering on –" She catches the slightly guilty look on Callen's face. "Oh my god, you've done that."
"For valid reasons," he argues.
"It's true," Nell rushes to his defense. "He'll come by occasionally to make sure things are fine. See, I thought someone was following me for a little while. At one point I was convinced I had a stalker."
"You do!" Kensi yells. "It's Callen!"
Nell shrugs in honest confusion. "I find his concern sweet."
Kensi opens her mouth to speak, then stops. She does that a few more times, then spins on her heel and walks toward the benches.
Callen shrugs off her odd reaction at the fact that he and Nell care about each other (it seems to happen more lately than ever). 'Ready?' He signs to Nell.
"Are you going to do that the rest of the morning?"
'Maybe' he signs.
"I will break your hands."
'No you won't,' he signs. 'You're far too nice for that, Nell.'
"I'm not as nice as…" Oh great. Three months of keeping it a secret and she'd given it away that easily.
He watches her with dawning realization. "You knew what I said."
"No, I didn't."
"Yes, you did," he's astonished, and he knows her well enough now that she doesn't astonish him easily. "How long have you known more than basic signs?"
She gives up; there'll be no talking her way out of it. "I didn't know before Hetty tried teaching us, if that's what you're asking. I kept up with it after we quit. I had to. I knew you were going to use it against me if I didn't."
"This whole time you've been pretending you didn't know. For shame, Nell. For shame."
"Don't pretend like you're not impressed."
He tips her head back and searches her eyes, trying to figure out how she got this past him. "Oh, I'm impressed. I'm also annoyed that you made me use the alphabet for months. I spelled out 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'. That was like –" he starts counting on his fingers and then gives up. "Dozens of signs. When I could have done it in four!"
Since she's coming clean… "I knew it after 'Eternal'; I let you keep going for my own amusement."
He'd thought it was odd when she claimed she'd never heard of that movie. "We almost lost because of you. Deeks was watching me that whole time. He was catching on."
"He was watching you because you kept looking at him. Your paranoia nearly cost us the game."
No way, he's not taking the full blame. "My paranoia? What about your lies? We could have won much sooner if we'd been honest with each other."
"And missed half the enjoyment of watching everyone else slowly lose."
"Good point," he allows. "I have to say it was worth it."
"Of course it was. We swept the floor with them."
"Yeah, we did." He high fives her and then seizes the opportunity to pull her closer. "You win this round. Don't get used to it."
'Is that a challenge?' She signs.
'If you want it to be,' he signs back. 'Go ahead and keep lying to me, like you love to do. See what happens.'
She grins at his acceptance of her methods. "I wouldn't say I love –"
She breaks off when he lunges at her, and their fight isn't as clean this time; she tries to evade him again (since he enjoys that so much), but she fails. He manages to get an arm around her neck and she wonders if he's going to try one of the new techniques. Before he can (maybe) think about it, she twists, wrapping a leg around one of his and throwing herself backwards. They both go down and he has to let go of her so that neither of them get hurt.
He's never gone back on his promise, from the beginning, that he'd avoid hurting her at all costs. They'd both injured each other accidentally, but neither had ever suffered anything more than some occasional bruises or (in Nell's case) a mild wrist sprain. There were also a fair number of times Callen's hit the floor to avoid her getting injured, and because of that, she trusts him in a way she trusts no one else.
A shadow falls over them and she glances up to find Granger shaking his head and writing on his clipboard. "Items 48 and 49," he mumbles, flicking a glance at her. "This is my 'G. Callen and Nell Jones List'. Things for you two to work on."
"You know we're two of the best you have, right?" Callen hates when Granger acts as if they're delinquents (or worse, ineffective) because they…choose to do things their way.
"Debatable," Granger says.
Callen wants to yell at him, and then Nell reaches over to touch his hand and his anger evaporates. "No, it's not," he says, with a calmness he owes entirely to her.
It's not that Granger disagrees with Callen, per se, it's that admitting it could cause a whole host of problems, including having yet more agents decide they want to follow the Callen and Nell school of pissing him off. And frankly, although Callen's team is fine adopting those methods, he can think of plenty of agents who won't be able to pull it off without hurting others or getting themselves injured.
He can't help Callen and Nell become role models, and he certainly won't endorse them if they ever manage it (and he knows they're a lot closer to it than he's comfortable with). "Can't you two play by the rules for once? For me? You owe me."
They exchange glances, both of them surprised to hear their boss pleading.
"Alright," Callen says, cautiously.
"Fine with me," Nell agrees.
"Want to call the last round a tie?" Callen suggests, since she'd taken him down, but he'd chosen to let her go instead of countering. She nods and he lets their agreement lull him into a false sense of security, especially with Granger standing right there. He figures Nell will stay within bounds to win approval. He should know to never trust her (after all, this is the same woman who'd admitted not five minutes earlier that she taught herself sign language and then deliberately kept it secret from him).
As he starts to stand, she pounces on his back, twisting his right arm behind him and pushing him back to the mat. He had no idea it was coming and has no way to react or throw her off, since they both know he'll hurt himself if he tries to flip over or wrench his arm free.
He knows it's the position where she probably would have gotten her arm broken if the instructor hadn't intervened, all those years ago, and the memory infuriates him all over again. Unlike her former partner, Nell isn't sadistic, and she lets him go the second she declares a point for herself.
He sits up to face her and shakes out his arm – that move is usually painful. It has to be to work.
She notices the anger in his eyes and second-guesses herself, wondering if she'd really upset him by doing that.
He instantly notices her self-doubt and shakes his head. "Not you I'm angry at." He leans forward and absently wraps a hand around her ankle. "It's never you."
She's reassured by that, though she can't help wondering what's going on. "You're upset." He doesn't respond to that, and she makes the sign for 'why' without consciously thinking about it.
"I remembered who taught you that move."
Now she gets his reaction. "You're lucky I'm not out of my mind like she was."
He stands up, pulling her with him in an automatic motion she can't decline, or avoid. "Luck has nothing to do with it. You're a good person." The fact that Sara wasn't remains both unspoken and implied. She leans against him in silent acknowledgement, and thanks.
Callen expects Granger to inform Nell she'd broken their agreement not two minutes after it was made, but the older man says nothing. "Really? You're going to ignore it?"
"Ignore what? She was following the rules. I didn't see anything unfair." Granger's infuriatingly smug.
"Okay, you didn't see that. I can buy that your eyesight's that bad."
Granger taps his clipboard. "I've added number 50 to my list, you two can collect your copy on the way out."
Callen pulls on Nell's shirt sleeve to get her attention. "You'll pay for that, by the way."
"Sure I will," she replies, making a show of smoothing out her sleeve. It's really up for debate if he wants to put her in her place, or hug her instead.
"Stop complaining," Sam calls, saving him from having to make the choice. "You're sounding like Deeks over there." Sam might be a bit upset since Deeks has just successfully pinned him. Granger goes over, furiously writing on his clipboard the entire way (everyone in the room wants to burn it).
Callen shudders at the comparison to Deeks. "Withdrawn. I concede the point to Nell."
"As if I need you to concede for the point to count," Nell says, backing away when he reaches over to playfully shove her, or mess up her hair, or whatever else he might have planned.
"Maybe I was going to hug you," he says, as if reading her mind.
"You were not. How gullible do you think –"
He pulls her into a hug (to prove her wrong), and she puts up a token protest until she can break free. She tries to scold him, but the words die on her lips and all she ends up doing is smiling, a reaction she can't help.
"This is one of my most humiliating days in recent memory," Sam grumbles as Deeks continues to revel in his (singular) victory. "Meanwhile, you two are over there laughing and hugging. I'm glad you're not letting the rest of us get in the way of your date."
Callen won't take the bait. "You could always hug Deeks."
"Come here, buddy." Deeks advances on Sam who stops him with a look.
Hetty wanders through as Granger calls everyone over to him for a summary of what they've achieved (or failed to achieve) so far that morning. Hetty nods to Callen and Nell to stay with her for another minute. "If Mr. Hanna thinks he's humiliated from losing one round, imagine how he'd feel if I let Owen set up a whiteboard to keep track of points, like he wanted." She'd shot down the idea as too competition-oriented; Callen and Nell waste no time reinforcing her opinion.
"I'd be winning," Nell asserts.
"No way, I'd be ahead of you," Callen argues.
Hetty lets them bicker for a minute before informing them, "Neither of you would be allowed on the board."
"Not fair, Hetty," Nell sulks. "How come?"
"You know why," Hetty says, watching them disapprovingly.
Callen glances at his sparring partner. "I believe Hetty's implying that our points wouldn't be obtained fairly."
Nell knows Hetty has an argument to make there. Not that it matters. "It's fine, it's not like we need a scoreboard to know that we're leagues ahead of the others."
Callen throws an arm around her shoulders and grins. "It's like you speak my language."
Hetty has the perfect wrench to throw into their endless cycle of self-congratulations. "Speaking of language, I wanted to tell you both that I was very impressed earlier at how you've become close to fluent in signing. The newest recruits are coming through next month and I have quite the honor planned – you're my two new instructors for American Sign Language 101."
They immediately start protesting that they'd be terrible at the job. Hetty could rival Granger with her current level of self-satisfaction.
"Nonsense, you two will be perfect. Clearly you both enjoyed learning, yet hated my instruction. Why else would you have ditched my classes and then continued learning on your own?" She bites back a smile when neither of them has an answer for her. "If my teaching leaves so much to be desired, I shouldn't be in charge of a class. But you two…you can teach together. Your styles complement each other so well."
She carefully sets her face to stone, and once they realize they'll have no luck arguing with her, Callen and Nell turn on each other. They both insist the other would be best suited to teach the class alone (as if there's any way she's going to let either of them off the hook).
Hetty will tell them later that they don't have to worry – she'd never subject the new recruits to them. Veteran agents, however…oh yes, it's perfect. She heads to her office to print sign-up sheets – she wants to get them passed out before Owen's training is over.
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