Operation: Unfamiliar Feelings

Disclaimer: These characters belong to CBS, Paramount, et al. No copyright infringement is intended.

The title is a reference to the Season 3 episode "Neighborhood Watch," where Kensi and Deeks go undercover as a married couple and Hetty warns them that doing so may bring about some "unfamiliar feelings." I figured it was appropriate for Nell and Callen as well. Timeline wise, this story takes place sometime in Season 3, but before "Neighborhood Watch" and the finale. General spoilers for the show, but nothing really major (I don't think).

Rated for language, violence, and adult themes.

Special thanks to live_brave for the beta services.

Written for the Het Big Bang 2012 challenge.

Fabulous art provided by whogate. I don't think I can link to it as it's over at AO3...

Prologue

San Diego, CA

5:15pm

Outside an average looking house, a plain, black sedan pulls up. A man, dressed in a sharp, black suit, steps out of the car and slowly looks around the area. He leans against his vehicle, flipping his keys around the key ring on his finger.

Another car, same as the first, comes around the corner and parks across the street. G Callen emerges, dressed much like the first man. His face is devoid of expression, jaw set.

The two men don't speak, but walk towards the house. They bypass the front door, heading instead to the rear of the building.

"You want me to come in with you?" the first man asks.

"I can handle this, Burke," Callen replies.

Burke nods and leans on the wall next to the back door. Callen knocks and a middle-aged man answers.

"What do you—"

Callen cuts him off, pushing into the house, door slamming behind him.

Sounds of a scuffle can be heard through the door. Burke, the picture of serenity, continues flipping his keys. Abruptly, the noises inside the house stop and Burke pauses. Three suppressed gunshots echo faintly through the door and Burke nods, flipping his keys once more.

A moment later, Callen steps outside. "It's done."

"Need any help with the cleanup?"

Callen shakes his head once.

Burke shrugs. "Good. See you tomorrow." He offers a casual wave before heading back to his car.

Callen watches his retreating form for a few seconds before heading back into the house.

Chapter 1

6 months earlier

Deeks is the first to ask when 11am rolls by and Callen still isn't there. "So, where's Callen?"

Kensi checks her watch. "Huh, he's never this late."

Sam just grunts and settles deeper in his chair, not looking at either of them.

"Do you know something?" Deeks asks, suspicious.

Before Sam can answer—or ignore the question—Eric whistles for them. Sam is the first one up the stairs to Ops.

As they all gather, Eric surveys the group, confusion in his eyes. "Where's Callen?"

Deeks's eyes narrow when he sees Nell quickly look away. "Hey, how come Sam and Nell know, but we don't?"

"Because Mister Callen's whereabouts are 'need to know' and you do not," Hetty answers, striding through the automatic doors.

"And Sam and Nell do?" Kensi asks, voice indignant.

Eric has a slightly hurt look on his face as he eyes Nell, but says nothing.

"I only know that he was called away on a special assignment so I can take over the lead agent role while he's gone," Sam admits.

"I was only told what I needed to know to backstop his new alias," Nell adds.

"And that is sufficient for all at this time," Hetty says.

"How long will he be gone?" Deeks asks.

"As long as it takes, Mister Deeks." Hetty levels a look at the LAPD detective that stalls further questioning. "Now, I believe Mister Beale has a case for us."

Eric nods and starts tossing pictures up on the big screen.

Callen's first day at his new job is pretty typical: paperwork and security forms. The latter is somewhat ironic since he's there to take a security position, but really it just means even more forms to fill out. Every time a background check and personal reference comes back accepted, he sends a silent thanks to Nell for backstopping his alias so well in a short amount of time.

By lunch, he's thoroughly tired of signing his new name—mostly electronically—and is sent through a maze of halls to meet his new boss.

"Come in," a female voice answers when Callen knocks on the office door.

In the office, he sees a middle-aged woman with long, straight black hair sitting at a modestly sized, contemporary desk. Her brown eyes flick to his before going back to her monitor.

"Please, have a seat. Just give me a moment to finish this up."

"Take your time," Callen says. He uses the opportunity to observe.

The woman has a fair complexion and wears a minimal amount of makeup. She's dressed in a tailored black suit with a light blue dress shirt. Other than a simple wristwatch and a wedding ring, she wears no other jewelry.

The room is typical of an office, but there are no windows. The walls are bare with just a couple security-related certificates, a company award, and a large plastic frame with a map of the building on it. The map has a bit of its edge sticking out and Callen thinks maybe it's been recently changed.

The desk has a couple neat, short piles of paper and two tablets. There's also a picture frame that's angled slightly and Callen can just make out a middle-aged man and two young children—a boy and a girl.

With a soft sigh and a firm mouse click, the woman pushes her keyboard away and gives Callen her full attention.

"You must be George Chapman. I'm Terri Zimmerman, the Site Security Officer. Welcome to

Assets of the Future."

Callen sits forward and shakes Zimmerman's outstretched hand. Her grip is firm, but not overpowering.

"A pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Zimmerman."

"Please, call me Terri."

Callen nods. "Then call me George."

Terri clasps her hands in front of her. "I have to say, it's quite the coincidence that you were looking for a position just as we had one open up."

Callen shrugs. "I guess I was in the right place at the right time."

"Mmm. I wish I could say the same for Justin Tiller."

Callen tilts his head to the side. "Is he the one who left?"

Terri nods. "Although, not voluntarily. He was involved in a pretty severe car accident. The doctors say he'll be out of commission for a couple months."

"Ouch," Callen winces. "I guess I shouldn't get too comfortable, then."

"On the contrary," Terri assures. "We've needed to hire more qualified personnel for a while. Justin's situation just put added pressure on the timeline. Trust me, we'll have more than enough work for both you and Justin by the time he returns."

"Good to know."

"George, I know we just met, but I hope you'll indulge me…"

"You want to know why I left a cushy government job for a relatively new company?"

Terri smiles. "Quick on the uptake and straightforward. I like that."

Callen grins. "I'd ask the same thing. Why leave a nice, stable job after so many years for one that is likely to have some, shall we say, interesting times ahead?"

Terri nods again.

Callen clasps his hands in his lap and pretends to mull over the question as if looking for the right words. "Let's just say the cushy job was getting a little too cushy. I've been following this company since it made its debut in the small business defense industry. Landing a high profile Navy contract less than a year after being founded is no easy feat."

"And you wanted a new challenge?"

Callen smirks. "Call it an opportunity to shape and affect change from an earlier stage. Direct government work doesn't give you that chance."

"And your family?" Terri's eyes flick towards his wedding band.

Callen has been making sure to twist the platinum ring occasionally, as if it was new to him. It is, of course, but showing it is more important for selling the George Chapman back story.

"My wife—Norah—and I are newly married," he says. "A new job for a new life together."

Terri smiles amiably. "Is she here?"

"Not yet. I have a house back in the DC area. She's handling the last of the packing and selling the property while I look for a house. She should be out here in a month at the longest, hopefully sooner."

"It must be tough on the both of you."

"We manage," Callen says, making his smile just a little tired.

"Well, I'm sure we'll get to know each other in the coming days," Terri says, standing. "Why don't we get you settled and I'll give you a tour of the place and an idea of what you'll be doing."

"Sounds good."

Terri hands him one of the tablets from her desk and keeps the other for herself. "This is yours. You'll have a desktop, too, but the tablets have all the data you'll need to navigate the building. It connects wirelessly to the company intranet—heavily encrypted, of course. Let's take a walk."

"Lead the way."

"Oh," Terri stops just outside her office. "No personal cell phones. You'll get a company-issue one tomorrow."

Callen nods. "The man at the front desk, Alex, already told me. He has mine."

Terri nods in approval and starts walking again. "Good. Some employees leave theirs in their car or even at home, but we do have one designated room for personal use with lock boxes."

"I'm surprised, given the sensitivity and nature of the work."

Terri grimaces. "HR told us we had to give the employees something, because their jobs are stressful enough as it is being pretty much cut off while in the building."

Callen ponders. "They're all Words with Friends addicts, aren't they?"

Terri barks out a laugh. "You don't know the half of it."

Late in the evening, after most of the personnel have left, Hetty Lange walks into the bowels of the OSP facility and navigates to one of the few rooms that have no surveillance devices in them. She steps in, quietly closes the door behind her, and locks it.

In the center of the room is a chair and table, an answering machine placed in the middle, its red message light blinks steadily.

Hetty takes a seat and presses the playback button. Callen's voice echoes, sounding tinny in the small room.

"Hi, honey. The first day of work was typical: forms and more forms. Nothing too interesting happening, but it is the first day. I plan on looking at some houses this weekend—expect pictures. Anyway, I gotta run. Love you."

The message ends and Hetty nods slowly. The operation is going exactly as planned, but she's worried. She has no doubt Sam and the rest of the team will adapt, but she's more concerned with Callen.

Hetty, more than anyone, knows Callen likes to work alone. But he's been with NCIS, been with a real partner for more than five years now. She isn't sure it was the best idea to send him in alone and not brief Sam as to the nature of the operation.

Director Vance and SECNAV had been adamant: the fewer people who knew about the mission, the better. But Hetty has a plan—she always has a plan.

The first week undercover is uneventful. Callen suffers through some extremely boring new employee compliance training and mentally reminds himself this is why he hasn't changed jobs in recent years. His duties as part of the security team are light and he takes the opportunity to learn the building inside and out, as well as observing the employees and their habits.

The second week, he's paired up with another security officer: Michael Burke. Callen immediately doesn't like him—Burke is arrogant and a bit of a bully—but he makes nice with the man, hoping to ensure Burke leaves him alone.

"You done with all that new employee bullshit?" Burke asks when they first meet. "I don't know why they bother with that stuff."

Callen scoffs in agreement. "Yeah, really. Then again, it's government work and government work is all about 'cover your ass'."

"You're telling me. Well, now we get to do the real fun stuff."

"Why do I get the feeling you're being sarcastic?" Callen muses, eyeing Burke suspiciously.

"Because I am. We have a pile of potential security violations and new protocols to go through, see where we might have holes."

"Sounds exciting."

"Just another day in paradise, buddy."

Investigating potential security violations involves interviewing the engineers and Callen grits his teeth at Burke's methods. He's unnecessarily condescending and there's at least one moment when Callen thinks he should intervene, but he doesn't because he needs to understand the company dynamics and disturbing things now, so early in the mission, isn't a good idea.

Needless to say, Callen intends to make sure Michael Burke's personnel file is among the first things he liberates from the company databases to send back to OSP.

Getting access to information is easy. Moving it elsewhere—and undetected—well, that's another story. Luckily, Hetty thought of everything, and in addition to creating his new life story, Nell also put together a field guide for transferring data in ways that are not easily discovered.

Callen decides to start off small, in case there are other safeguards in place his current tools don't find. He takes pictures of the neighborhood around his temporary housing and embeds his pay statement information in the data stream before sending it off to his "wife." It takes a little time, but is easy enough.

The third week, Callen sees his first suspicious event. When he arrives at work Monday morning, there's an impromptu meeting happening just inside the security wing.

"What's going on?" he asks, addressing Terri.

She's clearly uneasy, standing ramrod straight with her arms crossed. "One of our data analysis engineers, Rick Wiles, has gone missing."

Callen has to stop himself from immediately taking charge. Here, he's not the team leader. He's not even second or third on the list. So, he waits to see what happens and does the tasks he's given.

The news isn't good for Rick Wiles. Local law enforcement finds his body in the ocean three days later, a suicide note in his car.

The company holds a memorial and offers grief counseling. The atmosphere, especially on the floor where Rick worked, is understandably somber.

Callen isn't totally convinced, though. Sure, Rick's passing is unfortunate, but Callen has his doubts. One of the reasons he's on this operation is because of a significant number of "unfortunate accidents" and "suicides" that have happened at Assets for the Future. The company is barely two years old and doesn't have a large workforce, yet they're losing, on average, an employee every three months.

There isn't much of an investigation into Wiles's death, but Callen pulls what information he can on the man and what he was working on, sending it back to OSP for analysis.

End Part