Inferno

Chapter 12

12. Chapter 12

=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)

Friday Afternoon || Hollywood Hotel

Callen had intended the late afternoon nap to settle Nell's nerves and give him a chance to rest before the mission. Boy, was he wrong! Because he chose to indulge himself and got caught by Nell, he had no idea what was going to happen.

He lay in the bed next to her. He didn't dare try to touch her with the same hand he used...ugh, that thought was abhorrent to him. Could she ever forgive him for what she saw? Would they have to call off the mission, or would she back out and leave him to go off on his own to do it? Would she ever be able to look at him again?

He felt the bed starting to shake. The trembling was coming from her body. Crap. He made her cry again. She must look upon him as a fiend. All hope he had of a relationship was completely gone. She could never love a monster like him.

The shaking of the bed got worse. All of a sudden, she could no longer hold it in. She turned to face him and snickered...with laughter.

"I'm sorry, Callen," she said. "I shouldn't make fun of a person who has to sublimate their own sexual urges, but the look on your face was just priceless."

Callen tried to become angry with her, but her laughter was just so infectious that he couldn't.

"Could you answer one question for me? If you do, I will never mention it again."

"I don't know. What is the question?"

Nell stopped her laughing and became very serious. "When you were doing it, was it me you were thinking of?"

Callen found that his voice had deserted him. He just nodded and turned his head away in shame.

"I'll tell you a secret." Nell looked around again as if she expected to see Hetty. "Yesterday, when I spent that extra time in the bathtub, I was doing the same thing, well, you know, the girl's version, and you were the one I was thinking about."

"I guess we both got it bad."

"And I think you're gonna have to let me help you out with your problem while you help me out with mine."

"Do you..." Nell still was being very serious "the fact that I saw you, you know... Does that make you want me any less?" Callen wasn't sure, but he thought he detected a hint of fear in her question, like she didn't really want to hear his answer.

"What? No, god no, Nell. If anything it has made me want you more." The agent couldn't believe what she asked him.

A huge smile came across her whole face. Teasingly, she reached for him and said, "You know if we didn't have to go in just a short time..."

Callen pushed her hands away so reluctantly, "Yeah, but you know you would never forgive yourself if we didn't save those girls just for a few short hours of pleasure."

"You're right. It's up to us to deny our passions and save the world." She looked at him with a cheeky grin. "At least I don't have to change into my crime-fighter's costume in a phone booth."

""Right," he chuckled as he answered her, "first of all, it would take you all day to find a phone booth these days, and secondly, you would get arrested for indecent exposure, not that I would consider any part of you that was exposed to be indecent."

She laughed as she shook her head, "You know, the longer that I'm with you, the more I'm finding that I am just the slave of a dirty old man."

Callen grabbed her and pulled her in close, "Remember, you're no longer a slave. I've upgraded you to pet." He bent down and gave her another one of his toe-curling kisses, then pushed her away from him. "And now, my pet, it's almost time for us to get ready to go. That will have to last you until we get back."