Nell Jones had lived in Los Angeles for a while now but there was one typical LA thing she had yet to experience. However unlike the tourist traps like seeing the Hollywood sign, taking a celebrity homes tour and visiting the theme parks that she had done on first moving here, this thing was one she had hoped to never experience. But here she was, in the midst of it, and it was both terrifying and exhilarating at the same time.
A few minutes earlier she had skipped down the stairs from the Ops centre carrying a cardboard box of files destined for the storage room. She added it to the other two boxes at the bottom of the stairs, the fruit of her morning labour to clear out old case files. She was still relatively new and wanting to prove herself and be useful so today that meant clearing the files Hetty had been going on about for a few weeks.
She glanced over to her right to see Callen, Sam, Deeks and Kensi at their desks engaged in their usual banter. She couldn't hear what they were saying but Deeks was arguing with Sam about something, Kensi was on Sam's side and Callen was trying to stay out of it. She turned her attention back to the boxes, lifting the lid of the too one just to double check the contents before she took them away.
"Whatcha got there Nell?" a familiar voice snapped her form her thoughts. Glancing up she met the blue eyed gaze of Special Agent G Callen who had left his desk and was now standing a couple feet from her.
"Files for storage." She shrugged as she came back to her senses. "Nothing exciting. I'm just taking them down now while I have time." Callen glanced over at his team who were in full debate mode, then back at the stack of boxes.
"I'll give you a hand." He offered.
"You don't need…" Nell started.
"I don't mind." Callen interrupted. "I'd rather stay out of that." He gestured with his thumb to the rising volume of the argument behind him and laughed. Then he reached down and grabbed two boxes. "Shall we?"
Nell smiled and picked up the third box, falling into step beside him as they headed down the hallway leading to the old storage room.
They walked in silence to the storage room, which was in an unused part of the building seldom visited by anyone but Nell, Hetty and a couple of admin staff. Nell was still a little uncomfortable around the senior agent in charge. She found him intimidating. Not in a scary way, but he was the master of undercover work, highly skilled at just about everything, not to mention he was quite possibly the most handsome man she'd ever known. And then there were those piercing blue eyes that she was pretty sure could read her soul, she wasn't sure she'd ever get used to the intensity of that.
Shaking herself back to reality, she came to a stop outside the storage room, located at the far end of the hall. Balancing the box she carried on her hip, she unlocked the door using a small silver key off a ridiculously large bunch of keys and pushed it open revealing a room filled with large steel shelving units, all laden with brown boxes from years of cases.
"Thanks, I can take it from here if you need to get back." She said as she stepped inside the room and placed her box on the ground. Callen simply nodded and stepped into deposit the two boxes he was carrying. And then it happened.
Nell had never felt anything like it before in her life. If there was one thing she had ever been sure of it was the solidity of the ground beneath her feet. But in a split second that was gone. The storage shelves began to rattle, the pendant light above her too. She felt the ground moving like it was slipping and sliding around leaving her unsteady on her feet. She heard glass shattering somewhere close by, and her eyes widened as she realised what was happening. An earthquake, her first earthquake.
But before she had time to react, she felt Callen's hand grabbing her arm and pulling her hard and fast. Next thing she knew she was pinned against the doorframe, Callen's body curled into hers with his chest pressed into her back, one arm resting somewhere just above her head, the other holding her arm. She steeled her hands against the door frame, her breath caught in her throat, and her mind raced as she tried to make sense of what was happening.
The intensity of the earthquake grew, boxes started falling off the shelves and one of the units toppled over, crashing to the ground right where Nell had been standing just a few seconds earlier. Plaster was falling from the walls and ceiling, filling the air with dust and Nell coughed as she took in a breath of it. She felt Callen move his hand from and wrap his arm around her waist, holding her steady as they both struggled to maintain their footing while the earth moved beneath their feet. At the same time as she tried to comprehend what was going on, she couldn't help but think about how this was as close to a man as she had been in a long time, feeling a man's body curled around hers, pressed into her….Inappropriate Nell she scolded herself, just as a large piece of the ceiling dropped mere inches from their position. The unexpected crash of ceiling parts by her feet elicited a sharp scream from her and she felt Callen's arm tighten around her in response and he pressed them both closer to the doorframe.
And then just as quickly as it started, it stopped. The shaking subsided, the ground stopped moving and everything went quiet. It couldn't have been more than 30 seconds. She felt Callen pull back and his arm moved from her waist back to her arm, turning her around to face him.
"You okay?" he asked, his bright blue eyes darting around looking her over from head to toe. He reached out a hand and gently brushed some dust off her cheek as Nell nodded in response to his question. She wasn't sure if she really was okay, but it seemed like the thing to do at the time.
"Haven't had one of those in a while." Callen said jovially as he turned and looked at the damage around him. "Felt like a 6."
"Uh huh." Nell nodded, still a little shocked at what had just happened. She was staring at the fallen shelves and knew that had Callen not been there she would most likely be underneath them.
"Ah, first quake huh?" Callen realised when he took in the look of shock on Nell's face. "Don't worry, you get used to it." He added as he stepped around her and started to right the shelving unit.
"I was standing right there." She whispered, almost to herself. But Callen heard and turned back to her once the unit was standing again.
"Nell?" he asked, trying to draw her attention. She was fixated on the spot on the floor where the shelves had fallen. "Nell." He said again, this time reaching out and placing his hands on her upper arms. "You're okay. I'm okay. We're all okay." He said softly. Nell finally glanced up at him and seeing the soft smile and gentle gaze he threw her way brought her a strange sense of calm.
"Yeah, I'm good." She nodded. "I'm good." She repeated, almost to convince herself.
"Come on, we should go see how the rest of the building faired. Hetty will want a sit rep." Callen gestured for her to follow him out, and with one last glance back at the storage room, Nell scurried over and joined him on the walk back.
"Agent Callen, thank you…for...you know, saving my life and not letting me get crushed by a shelf." She said quietly, just before they rounded the corner back into the bullpen.
"You're welcome. Nell Jones." He replied sincerely, then both their attention was quickly taken by the noise in the bullpen, loud chatter and the mess they all needed to clean up. She took in a deep breath and got to work.