[fic] Preparation ("In Between" series)
Jul. 15th, 2012 04:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
danakateFandom: NCIS: LA
Title: Preparation
Pairing: G Callen/Nell Jones
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Post 02x12 - Overwatch
Word Count: ~2400
Disclaimer: These characters belong to CBS, Paramount, et al. No copyright infringement is intended.
Summary: A post-episode moment. Part of the "In Between" series. The "In Between" series is intended to take place in between the scenes (which includes immediately before/after an episode) of every episode of NCIS: LA since 02x04 - Special Delivery, when Nell Jones is first introduced. Covers season 2.
Also available on FFN, LJ, and AO3.
Note: Yeesh, sorry for the delay—AGAIN. Hopefully I'll have finished Season 2 and started on Season 3 before Season 4 starts, but one never knows. Also, I have another big bang fic in the works for this fandom, so this little series will take a little break as I work on it. I do still plan on finishing out the season at minimum! An infinite number of thanks to vegarin for the excellent beta services. And thanks to you guys for being awesome and leaving feedback, etc. I do notice and it is appreciated.
~~~~~
Exiting the men’s locker room for the second time that night, Callen eyes the climbing wall warily. One of these days, he’ll beat Hetty at a challenge, or learn to stop challenging her. Both options have equally likely chances of happening: low.
He’s mentally replaying the earlier fiasco in his head when he notices there are more lights on in the facility than he expects at that time of night. Roaming towards the source, he realizes it’s the firing range and Callen looks to see who’s getting some shooting practice in after hours. He’s surprised to discover it’s Nell. He’s seen her name in the range logs, but this is the first time he’s actually seen her there.
Callen watches for a few moments. Nell doesn’t seem to notice him and she appears to be practicing drawing and firing. From his vantage point and angle, he can’t see her well but he can tell she’s focusing intently on her task and he smiles slightly. Nell Jones takes her job seriously and he’s certain she takes her training seriously, too.
Still, he’s somewhat unsettled that she is doing firearms training. It’s not that Callen thinks she’s incapable. It’s more that while he’s glad Nell’s taking precautions to learn to protect herself--a necessity in their line of work--there’s also a part of him that wishes she didn’t have to.
He observes Nell’s face as she finishes her clip and brings the target towards her. His features mirror hers when she frowns. Clearly she is not pleased with her results. Hitching his gym bag higher up on his shoulder, Callen makes his way to the firing range. Avoiding guns isn’t really possible in their job, but maybe there’s something he can do to help her in her training.
~~~~~
Nell sighs as she takes in the state of her paper target. She’s a pretty good shot when she’s in a firing stance, but drawing and firing is another thing all together. Her shots are erratic with no grouping; some are even wild. That’s not a good thing, especially if she’s ever in a situation where she’d have to draw and fire in public.
She feels a draft on her arm and turns to see someone has come into the range. It’s Callen and she’s both anxious, because she doesn’t like to be watched when she’s training, yet pleased. After all, who better to offer pointers than the whole reason she was in the range that night?
Pulling off her headgear, she greets him. “Agent Callen. I thought you’d gone home for the night.”
“I was just about to,” he answers, putting his gym bag on the ground by the door. “I got held up by an, uh, impromptu meeting with Hetty.”
“Ah.”
There’s an awkward pause and Nell desperately tries to think of something to say. She hadn’t expected to run into him this evening.
“So,” Callen begins. “What brings you to the firing range tonight? Just practice?”
“Yes.” She hesitates for a moment, then adds: “Well, not completely. Actually, it’s because of you.”
“Me?”
“I saw the footage in Venice, when you took down Hertz.”
Callen blinks a few times and Nell wonders what he’s remembering.
“Oh, so that’s why you were practising drawing and firing.”
She nods vigorously then steps towards a table with a spent target on it. “I do pretty well when just firing,” Nell points at the target. There are tight groups of holes in the head and center mass. “But drawing and firing,” she trails off, pointing to the target still hanging in place, head slightly bowed.
Callen steps up to the target and studies it. “Well, at least all your shots are on the target.”
Nell gestures at the wildest shots. “Uh, yeah, if you call that ‘on the target.’ They could have easily been across the room or something.”
“It’s not an easy skill,” Callen offers.
“I know,” Nell replies, sighing. “That’s why I’m here.”
“Okay.” Callen pauses. “Would you mind an observer?”
Nell fidgets for a moment, unsure what to say. She doesn’t want to seem too eager and is trying to stop herself from coming up with all sorts of scenarios to have him stay.
“Or, maybe I should get going,” Callen trails off.
“What? Oh, no, sorry!” Nell mentally kicks herself for pausing too long. “I—I’d really appreciate your insights. I mean, if you have time.”
“Sure.” Callen turns and grabs a set of hearing protection and Nell blows out a breath, willing her anxiety to abate.
He stands off to the side and nods in deference to her, indicating she should just go about her training as if he wasn’t here. Right, like she can do that. Regardless, Nell tries to block Callen out of her thoughts and replaces the target, sending it back down the range.
Nell checks her weapon and steadies her stance. Then, before nerves can get the better of her, she draws and fires off two shots. Lowering her gun, she winces. She sneaks a look at Callen and is relieved to see him smile a little in encouragement. She’s grateful, too, that his arms are hanging to his side and not crossed. His casual stance puts her a little bit at ease. Taking a deep breath, Nell tries again.
By the time she’s done with her clip, Nell’s pretty much at the place she was before Callen stopped by. That is, she’s still pretty terrible.
“Not bad.”
Nell turns and gapes at Callen. “Not bad? Are we looking at the same target?”
Callen’s lips twitch. “Don’t sell yourself short, Nell. Your form is good, I think you just need more practice.”
She makes a quiet growling noise. “Is it always going to be this frustrating?”
“There’s a reason the phrase is ‘practice makes perfect’. And, frankly, I’d be more concerned if your form wasn’t solid. You can even practice without an actual weapon.”
“Really?”
“Really,” he answers. “The weapon is important, especially the weight of it in your hands, but so is knowing how to hold your arms and hands. Give it a try.”
“Er.”
“Like this.” And then Callen demonstrates, his shooting arm coming up in perfect alignment right at her eye level.
Nell watches, fascinated with the way his arm muscles move as he mimes pulling the trigger. Her eyes trace the line from his forearm to the way his fingers curl and she marvels at the strength in his grip.
“Nell?”
Callen’s voice breaks her out of her reverie and she’s embarrassed to find she’s probably been staring at his arm for way longer than anyone has a right to. Although, it is a very nice forearm, well muscled and—
Nell shakes her head. “Sorry, I was thinking.” Trying to get her head back to the task at hand, she mirrors his stance and brings her arm up. She can immediately tell her aim is off. “Wow, my arm muscles suck.”
Callen chuckles softly. “That will come with time and training. But while you can do this without a weapon, there’s no substituting the real thing. Ready to try again?”
Nell nods enthusiastically and moves to replace her target.
~~~~~
Callen has to admit he’s enjoying training with Nell, and not just because she’s an attentive and determined student. He’s come to realize he genuinely enjoys her company and he’s glad he’s found this opportunity to spend some time with her.
“Try a few draws without firing,” he instructs, watching her from the side.
Nell does have good form and Callen notices she doesn’t really have any bad habits that need to be corrected. She just needs more practice and while he wishes she didn’t need to have this training, he’s glad she has a good resource in NCIS and he’s more than happy to help if needed.
“Okay,” he says, interrupting her practice stance. “For real this time, but I’m going to stand behind you.”
“All right,” she replies slowly.
Nell is much shorter than him, so while Callen can easily see over her head, what he really wants is to see things from her angle. He widens his stance so he doesn’t have to squat at an odd angle to peer over her shoulder.
“Whenever you’re ready,” he says and they both pull their headgear fully over their ears.
Immediately, Callen can tell Nell is uneasy. He’s never been comfortable with having people behind him so he understands. But this is something she’ll have to get over if she needs to be effective in the field.
Halfway through the clip, Callen can see a pattern. Nell’s shots start to seem more random and from Callen’s vantage point, he can tell she’s anticipating and overcompensating.
Right before she draws for another shot, Callen deliberately brings his right arm up into her field of view. Nell visibly flinches, pulling her arm in a tiny bit, but a hole appears in the target dead center in the chest.
Nell takes a step back but Callen doesn’t, so she bumps into him. Instead of moving away, she turns to the side and looks up at him, her eyes wide and surprise on her features. Their eyes lock for a moment and Callen can’t help but smile at her. When she smiles in return, he’s momentarily distracted by the light shining off her lip gloss.
He’s so startled to realize he’s staring at her lips that he shifts aside abruptly, accidentally bumping her away from him. His hands shoot out to steady her before he realizes what’s happening. They end up with Callen still standing behind her, but he’s practically holding her close to him, which is awkward in ways that are more than just the fact that Nell’s still armed.
Callen deliberately touches his headgear to hers. “Uh, sorry about that. I must have slipped.”
“Th-that’s okay.” She’s staring straight ahead, gun clutched in both hands.
Carefully, Callen disengages from her and steps back, then motions for her to continue. Nell doesn’t do anything for a long moment but he doesn’t press her. He’s not entirely sure himself what the hell just happened, only that whatever it was had nothing to do with firearms training and everything to do with physical proximity.
Nell eventually starts firing again and she does well for a couple rounds before her shots start straying again. Callen gives her a few more rounds to try to get back into the groove, but when it’s clear she isn’t, he tries another tactic.
This time, right as she’s about to draw, Callen steps up close and nudges her right shoulder with his. Nell stumbles forward but when she fires, her aim is true. She finishes the rest of her clip with good results and minimal intervention by Callen.
She puts her weapon down on the counter and turns to him, both of them pulling their hearing protection off. “I don’t get it,” she says, a frown on her face. “How come I can shoot straight when you’re pretty much making sure I shouldn’t be able to?”
Callen opens his mouth but doesn’t say anything, trying to find the words to convey what he’s seeing. He opts for the direct and simple explanation. “You’re over-thinking it.”
Nell blinks at him a few times. “Over-thinking it?”
He nods and watches, fascinated, as a thoughtful expression crosses her face and her eyes look up towards the ceiling, tracking back and forth as if she’s further analyzing his words and her actions.
“I guess you’re right,” Nell finally answers. “I mean, whenever I shoot I always seem to have a weird running commentary in my head that ends with ‘Just shoot, Nell!’”
Callen grins. “And now you’ve hit upon a key aspect of firearms. The physics and mechanics are pretty static, but the human factor, that’s the part you can’t predict.”
“But practicing this,” she says, pointing behind her at her weapon and target, “will help?”
“Absolutely. Practice builds muscle memory, and so long as you’re practicing correctly, it’ll be the correct muscle memory.” He hesitates for a moment before speaking again. “I can help you with practicing, if you like.”
“Really?”
“Sure. We can even go over other techniques, too, if you want.”
“That—that would be great,” she replies with a wide smile. “Um, how often were you thinking?”
Callen shrugs, hanging his headgear back on its peg. “Once or twice a week?”
“That sounds good.” Nell checks her watch. “Although, not tomorrow night.”
“Hot date?” he quips with what he hopes is a playful smile. He tries to ignore the pang of anxiety in his chest.
Nell laughs. “Nothing so exciting. I have a weekly Skype session with my parents.”
“Ah. Well, we can play it by ear. Depending upon how busy we are, some nights may be better than others.”
“Very true,” Nell says, collecting up her targets and putting them in the recycling. She turns back to him and puts a hand on his. “And thanks, Callen. I really appreciate this.”
“Not a problem,” he answers.
Callen waits for her as she collects her things and they walk through the armory together. He’s surprised to see Hetty still at her desk when they reach the main part of the building.
“Goodnight, Hetty,” he calls out.
“Goodnight, Mr. Callen,” she replies before looking their way. “Ah, Miss Jones. I have some things for you to look into when you come in tomorrow, but one item in particular requires a little explanation I can provide now if you have a moment.”
“Oh, sure, Hetty.” Nell turns to him and flashes him a smile. “Have a good night, Agent Callen. And thanks again.”
Callen nods in acknowledgement, watching for a moment as Nell makes her way to Hetty’s desk.
As he walks out of the building and to his car, Callen reflects on the night’s activities. Unsurprisingly, his thoughts are not on being shown up by Hetty—that’s rather normal, really—but on his interactions with Nell. He tries to figure out why he felt so anxious when she made it clear she had plans the following night. After all, he doesn’t think twice when Kensi talks about her dates. Although, to be fair, he doesn’t really have to worry about it because Kensi rarely takes things past the first date.
Climbing into his car, Callen decides he’s just being protective. Nell’s still relatively new, but he knows she’s a valuable asset so it makes sense that she’s taken a place in his little work family. The thought of someone unknown interacting with her is bound to be unsettling. What he felt earlier was just a protective response. It couldn’t possibly be a tiny twinge of jealousy.
~~~~~
End Part
Episode Summary
Coroner Rose is doing on Yusuf Afzal an autopsy and she finds a residue with a USN marking on it. She leaves the room to call the NCIS crew and one of the workers there, Edgar, is in the room when two men come in, kill Edgar, and take the body Rose was just autopsying. Hetty catches Callen stealing some of her agave nectar and she tells him his 360 evaluations of his co-workers are unacceptable because they're all perfect. He suggests racing her to the top of the climbing wall for it and she manages to psych him out. Nell finds out the residue is Overwatch (Nell to Sam: "It's very Sauron."), a tagging detection system that allows people to be tracked by satellite anywhere. There aren't supposed to be subjects tagged in the US, but the tracker shows 112 targets in LA. Yusef's body was taken for his head to get past an eye scanner in the hospital. Radiopharmaceuticals were taken and other materials to make a dirty bomb. They track it down to a sale in Venice. Deeks gets into a fight with one of them and thrown into the water (Nell shows this footage repeatedly in Ops later). Sam and Callen track the other guy, Wendell Hertz, who is carrying a bag. Hertz grabs a bystander and Sam approaches slowly, Callen hidden behind him. Sam tries to talk Hertz down and when Hertz's guard is down he dives and Callen kills him with one shot. They look in the bag and there is a canister missing. Later, Hetty waits for Callen in the gym and he tells her he redid the evaluations. They end up racing for the rock wall and the episode ends in a fade to black with Callen's voice saying, "damn it!" implying Hetty won.
Title: Preparation
Pairing: G Callen/Nell Jones
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Post 02x12 - Overwatch
Word Count: ~2400
Disclaimer: These characters belong to CBS, Paramount, et al. No copyright infringement is intended.
Summary: A post-episode moment. Part of the "In Between" series. The "In Between" series is intended to take place in between the scenes (which includes immediately before/after an episode) of every episode of NCIS: LA since 02x04 - Special Delivery, when Nell Jones is first introduced. Covers season 2.
Also available on FFN, LJ, and AO3.
Note: Yeesh, sorry for the delay—AGAIN. Hopefully I'll have finished Season 2 and started on Season 3 before Season 4 starts, but one never knows. Also, I have another big bang fic in the works for this fandom, so this little series will take a little break as I work on it. I do still plan on finishing out the season at minimum! An infinite number of thanks to vegarin for the excellent beta services. And thanks to you guys for being awesome and leaving feedback, etc. I do notice and it is appreciated.
~~~~~
Exiting the men’s locker room for the second time that night, Callen eyes the climbing wall warily. One of these days, he’ll beat Hetty at a challenge, or learn to stop challenging her. Both options have equally likely chances of happening: low.
He’s mentally replaying the earlier fiasco in his head when he notices there are more lights on in the facility than he expects at that time of night. Roaming towards the source, he realizes it’s the firing range and Callen looks to see who’s getting some shooting practice in after hours. He’s surprised to discover it’s Nell. He’s seen her name in the range logs, but this is the first time he’s actually seen her there.
Callen watches for a few moments. Nell doesn’t seem to notice him and she appears to be practicing drawing and firing. From his vantage point and angle, he can’t see her well but he can tell she’s focusing intently on her task and he smiles slightly. Nell Jones takes her job seriously and he’s certain she takes her training seriously, too.
Still, he’s somewhat unsettled that she is doing firearms training. It’s not that Callen thinks she’s incapable. It’s more that while he’s glad Nell’s taking precautions to learn to protect herself--a necessity in their line of work--there’s also a part of him that wishes she didn’t have to.
He observes Nell’s face as she finishes her clip and brings the target towards her. His features mirror hers when she frowns. Clearly she is not pleased with her results. Hitching his gym bag higher up on his shoulder, Callen makes his way to the firing range. Avoiding guns isn’t really possible in their job, but maybe there’s something he can do to help her in her training.
~~~~~
Nell sighs as she takes in the state of her paper target. She’s a pretty good shot when she’s in a firing stance, but drawing and firing is another thing all together. Her shots are erratic with no grouping; some are even wild. That’s not a good thing, especially if she’s ever in a situation where she’d have to draw and fire in public.
She feels a draft on her arm and turns to see someone has come into the range. It’s Callen and she’s both anxious, because she doesn’t like to be watched when she’s training, yet pleased. After all, who better to offer pointers than the whole reason she was in the range that night?
Pulling off her headgear, she greets him. “Agent Callen. I thought you’d gone home for the night.”
“I was just about to,” he answers, putting his gym bag on the ground by the door. “I got held up by an, uh, impromptu meeting with Hetty.”
“Ah.”
There’s an awkward pause and Nell desperately tries to think of something to say. She hadn’t expected to run into him this evening.
“So,” Callen begins. “What brings you to the firing range tonight? Just practice?”
“Yes.” She hesitates for a moment, then adds: “Well, not completely. Actually, it’s because of you.”
“Me?”
“I saw the footage in Venice, when you took down Hertz.”
Callen blinks a few times and Nell wonders what he’s remembering.
“Oh, so that’s why you were practising drawing and firing.”
She nods vigorously then steps towards a table with a spent target on it. “I do pretty well when just firing,” Nell points at the target. There are tight groups of holes in the head and center mass. “But drawing and firing,” she trails off, pointing to the target still hanging in place, head slightly bowed.
Callen steps up to the target and studies it. “Well, at least all your shots are on the target.”
Nell gestures at the wildest shots. “Uh, yeah, if you call that ‘on the target.’ They could have easily been across the room or something.”
“It’s not an easy skill,” Callen offers.
“I know,” Nell replies, sighing. “That’s why I’m here.”
“Okay.” Callen pauses. “Would you mind an observer?”
Nell fidgets for a moment, unsure what to say. She doesn’t want to seem too eager and is trying to stop herself from coming up with all sorts of scenarios to have him stay.
“Or, maybe I should get going,” Callen trails off.
“What? Oh, no, sorry!” Nell mentally kicks herself for pausing too long. “I—I’d really appreciate your insights. I mean, if you have time.”
“Sure.” Callen turns and grabs a set of hearing protection and Nell blows out a breath, willing her anxiety to abate.
He stands off to the side and nods in deference to her, indicating she should just go about her training as if he wasn’t here. Right, like she can do that. Regardless, Nell tries to block Callen out of her thoughts and replaces the target, sending it back down the range.
Nell checks her weapon and steadies her stance. Then, before nerves can get the better of her, she draws and fires off two shots. Lowering her gun, she winces. She sneaks a look at Callen and is relieved to see him smile a little in encouragement. She’s grateful, too, that his arms are hanging to his side and not crossed. His casual stance puts her a little bit at ease. Taking a deep breath, Nell tries again.
By the time she’s done with her clip, Nell’s pretty much at the place she was before Callen stopped by. That is, she’s still pretty terrible.
“Not bad.”
Nell turns and gapes at Callen. “Not bad? Are we looking at the same target?”
Callen’s lips twitch. “Don’t sell yourself short, Nell. Your form is good, I think you just need more practice.”
She makes a quiet growling noise. “Is it always going to be this frustrating?”
“There’s a reason the phrase is ‘practice makes perfect’. And, frankly, I’d be more concerned if your form wasn’t solid. You can even practice without an actual weapon.”
“Really?”
“Really,” he answers. “The weapon is important, especially the weight of it in your hands, but so is knowing how to hold your arms and hands. Give it a try.”
“Er.”
“Like this.” And then Callen demonstrates, his shooting arm coming up in perfect alignment right at her eye level.
Nell watches, fascinated with the way his arm muscles move as he mimes pulling the trigger. Her eyes trace the line from his forearm to the way his fingers curl and she marvels at the strength in his grip.
“Nell?”
Callen’s voice breaks her out of her reverie and she’s embarrassed to find she’s probably been staring at his arm for way longer than anyone has a right to. Although, it is a very nice forearm, well muscled and—
Nell shakes her head. “Sorry, I was thinking.” Trying to get her head back to the task at hand, she mirrors his stance and brings her arm up. She can immediately tell her aim is off. “Wow, my arm muscles suck.”
Callen chuckles softly. “That will come with time and training. But while you can do this without a weapon, there’s no substituting the real thing. Ready to try again?”
Nell nods enthusiastically and moves to replace her target.
~~~~~
Callen has to admit he’s enjoying training with Nell, and not just because she’s an attentive and determined student. He’s come to realize he genuinely enjoys her company and he’s glad he’s found this opportunity to spend some time with her.
“Try a few draws without firing,” he instructs, watching her from the side.
Nell does have good form and Callen notices she doesn’t really have any bad habits that need to be corrected. She just needs more practice and while he wishes she didn’t need to have this training, he’s glad she has a good resource in NCIS and he’s more than happy to help if needed.
“Okay,” he says, interrupting her practice stance. “For real this time, but I’m going to stand behind you.”
“All right,” she replies slowly.
Nell is much shorter than him, so while Callen can easily see over her head, what he really wants is to see things from her angle. He widens his stance so he doesn’t have to squat at an odd angle to peer over her shoulder.
“Whenever you’re ready,” he says and they both pull their headgear fully over their ears.
Immediately, Callen can tell Nell is uneasy. He’s never been comfortable with having people behind him so he understands. But this is something she’ll have to get over if she needs to be effective in the field.
Halfway through the clip, Callen can see a pattern. Nell’s shots start to seem more random and from Callen’s vantage point, he can tell she’s anticipating and overcompensating.
Right before she draws for another shot, Callen deliberately brings his right arm up into her field of view. Nell visibly flinches, pulling her arm in a tiny bit, but a hole appears in the target dead center in the chest.
Nell takes a step back but Callen doesn’t, so she bumps into him. Instead of moving away, she turns to the side and looks up at him, her eyes wide and surprise on her features. Their eyes lock for a moment and Callen can’t help but smile at her. When she smiles in return, he’s momentarily distracted by the light shining off her lip gloss.
He’s so startled to realize he’s staring at her lips that he shifts aside abruptly, accidentally bumping her away from him. His hands shoot out to steady her before he realizes what’s happening. They end up with Callen still standing behind her, but he’s practically holding her close to him, which is awkward in ways that are more than just the fact that Nell’s still armed.
Callen deliberately touches his headgear to hers. “Uh, sorry about that. I must have slipped.”
“Th-that’s okay.” She’s staring straight ahead, gun clutched in both hands.
Carefully, Callen disengages from her and steps back, then motions for her to continue. Nell doesn’t do anything for a long moment but he doesn’t press her. He’s not entirely sure himself what the hell just happened, only that whatever it was had nothing to do with firearms training and everything to do with physical proximity.
Nell eventually starts firing again and she does well for a couple rounds before her shots start straying again. Callen gives her a few more rounds to try to get back into the groove, but when it’s clear she isn’t, he tries another tactic.
This time, right as she’s about to draw, Callen steps up close and nudges her right shoulder with his. Nell stumbles forward but when she fires, her aim is true. She finishes the rest of her clip with good results and minimal intervention by Callen.
She puts her weapon down on the counter and turns to him, both of them pulling their hearing protection off. “I don’t get it,” she says, a frown on her face. “How come I can shoot straight when you’re pretty much making sure I shouldn’t be able to?”
Callen opens his mouth but doesn’t say anything, trying to find the words to convey what he’s seeing. He opts for the direct and simple explanation. “You’re over-thinking it.”
Nell blinks at him a few times. “Over-thinking it?”
He nods and watches, fascinated, as a thoughtful expression crosses her face and her eyes look up towards the ceiling, tracking back and forth as if she’s further analyzing his words and her actions.
“I guess you’re right,” Nell finally answers. “I mean, whenever I shoot I always seem to have a weird running commentary in my head that ends with ‘Just shoot, Nell!’”
Callen grins. “And now you’ve hit upon a key aspect of firearms. The physics and mechanics are pretty static, but the human factor, that’s the part you can’t predict.”
“But practicing this,” she says, pointing behind her at her weapon and target, “will help?”
“Absolutely. Practice builds muscle memory, and so long as you’re practicing correctly, it’ll be the correct muscle memory.” He hesitates for a moment before speaking again. “I can help you with practicing, if you like.”
“Really?”
“Sure. We can even go over other techniques, too, if you want.”
“That—that would be great,” she replies with a wide smile. “Um, how often were you thinking?”
Callen shrugs, hanging his headgear back on its peg. “Once or twice a week?”
“That sounds good.” Nell checks her watch. “Although, not tomorrow night.”
“Hot date?” he quips with what he hopes is a playful smile. He tries to ignore the pang of anxiety in his chest.
Nell laughs. “Nothing so exciting. I have a weekly Skype session with my parents.”
“Ah. Well, we can play it by ear. Depending upon how busy we are, some nights may be better than others.”
“Very true,” Nell says, collecting up her targets and putting them in the recycling. She turns back to him and puts a hand on his. “And thanks, Callen. I really appreciate this.”
“Not a problem,” he answers.
Callen waits for her as she collects her things and they walk through the armory together. He’s surprised to see Hetty still at her desk when they reach the main part of the building.
“Goodnight, Hetty,” he calls out.
“Goodnight, Mr. Callen,” she replies before looking their way. “Ah, Miss Jones. I have some things for you to look into when you come in tomorrow, but one item in particular requires a little explanation I can provide now if you have a moment.”
“Oh, sure, Hetty.” Nell turns to him and flashes him a smile. “Have a good night, Agent Callen. And thanks again.”
Callen nods in acknowledgement, watching for a moment as Nell makes her way to Hetty’s desk.
As he walks out of the building and to his car, Callen reflects on the night’s activities. Unsurprisingly, his thoughts are not on being shown up by Hetty—that’s rather normal, really—but on his interactions with Nell. He tries to figure out why he felt so anxious when she made it clear she had plans the following night. After all, he doesn’t think twice when Kensi talks about her dates. Although, to be fair, he doesn’t really have to worry about it because Kensi rarely takes things past the first date.
Climbing into his car, Callen decides he’s just being protective. Nell’s still relatively new, but he knows she’s a valuable asset so it makes sense that she’s taken a place in his little work family. The thought of someone unknown interacting with her is bound to be unsettling. What he felt earlier was just a protective response. It couldn’t possibly be a tiny twinge of jealousy.
~~~~~
End Part
Episode Summary
Coroner Rose is doing on Yusuf Afzal an autopsy and she finds a residue with a USN marking on it. She leaves the room to call the NCIS crew and one of the workers there, Edgar, is in the room when two men come in, kill Edgar, and take the body Rose was just autopsying. Hetty catches Callen stealing some of her agave nectar and she tells him his 360 evaluations of his co-workers are unacceptable because they're all perfect. He suggests racing her to the top of the climbing wall for it and she manages to psych him out. Nell finds out the residue is Overwatch (Nell to Sam: "It's very Sauron."), a tagging detection system that allows people to be tracked by satellite anywhere. There aren't supposed to be subjects tagged in the US, but the tracker shows 112 targets in LA. Yusef's body was taken for his head to get past an eye scanner in the hospital. Radiopharmaceuticals were taken and other materials to make a dirty bomb. They track it down to a sale in Venice. Deeks gets into a fight with one of them and thrown into the water (Nell shows this footage repeatedly in Ops later). Sam and Callen track the other guy, Wendell Hertz, who is carrying a bag. Hertz grabs a bystander and Sam approaches slowly, Callen hidden behind him. Sam tries to talk Hertz down and when Hertz's guard is down he dives and Callen kills him with one shot. They look in the bag and there is a canister missing. Later, Hetty waits for Callen in the gym and he tells her he redid the evaluations. They end up racing for the rock wall and the episode ends in a fade to black with Callen's voice saying, "damn it!" implying Hetty won.
