What the Heart wants It Gets

Chap 8

Callen went out into the courtyard. Anna was sitting next to the fountain (which was also covered in fake gold paint), looking lonely. Then she saw Callen, and looked surprised to see him.

'You found me.' She said.

'Indeed I did. May we talk?' Callen replied.

'Of course, please sit down.'

He did just that.

'So, I have a few questions. Starting with, why did you ditch me at the ball?' Callen asked.

'Sigh. You're a nice guy. But I've had a string of bad boyfriends over the years, and when I saw that what we had that night looked like it might mean something special, I got scared and ran away.' Anna replied, looking guilty.

'What kind of bad boyfriends?'

'Couple of them were cheaters. 1 of them turned out to be a thief. And the last person I dated, was a very good person. But when he saw who was going to be his father in law, he chickened out. Though, I think my father scared him off with 1 of his 'talks.'

'Wow. Though, I can't say I blame the guy. Your father looks pretty intimidating, and weird looking.' Callen said.

'He's great and all, but also a bit overprotective.'

'My parents can be the same thing, so I understand. Where's your mom?'

'Died a long time ago. I don't think my dad ever got over it, because of his ways of coping. Which is: Mostly drink, look weird, and chase away anyone who dares to criticize him. He actually dated someone a while back, but after he repainted this whole place, and she said it looked tacky, he told her to leave.' Anna replied.

'This place does look pretty tacky though. In fact, my mom called this place tacky herself.'

'Your mom has good taste. He only repainted this whole place because he wants to look rich, when he's anything but real rich. He mostly likes to spend most of his money playing poker. So far, he's had a good streak of luck, but that's bound to run out at some point. And I don't plan on being around here when that does happen.'

'Ouch. Pardon my asking, but. Would it be too much to ask if we could give whatever it is we have a real try? I really felt like we connected the other night.' Callen asked.

'You sure you can put up with my dad when he finds out?'

'I've dealt with worse parents. Mainly when my own dad tries to get me to date random women. Not that this is what I'm trying to do, I'm just saying.'

Silence.

'Okay. I'll give this a try.' Anna said.

'Thank you! Oh, (pulling the shoe out of his bag), here's the shoe you left behind.'

'I was wondering where that went, thank you!'

–--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Is this pure craziness? Oh wait, what am I saying? Of course this is crazy!' Deeks thought to himself during the carriage ride.

He had gotten Jack to tell him where Kensi was sent, and afterwards, he had gotten on the next carriage to go to where she was at.

'This is a bad idea, man. If you get caught, you're both going to be in serious trouble!' He thought when he packed up.

'Though, if you don't do this, and you don't tell her how you feel, and something happens to her, then you'll regret it for the rest of your life.' He thought to himself again.

And before he knew it, he was in the carriage.

'She wants someone who's not afraid of getting her into trouble? Well I'm gonna give her that person! Just hope I don't end up getting killed in the process.' Deeks thought. 'Hey, how much further?' He asked the carriage driver.

'Gonna be another half hour at the most.' The driver responded.

'Thanks!'

–----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Castle Dining Room

Granger was wondering why Hetty had wanted to talk to him in the dining room.

'What was it you wanted to talk about?' He asked.

'Just wanting to know why you put a tiny weather vane in Duke Kilbride's back pocket.' She replied.

'What the hell?! How did she know?!' He frantically thought. 'Do you know what you're talking about?' He asked.

'After you left, I tracked down Ray to see if anything happened after I kicked him out. He said that you 2 were up to something last night. I want to know what it was since he seemed too scared to tell me anything.'

'Okay. You want to know what happened, fine. I'll tell you. I overheard you yelling at him when he stormed out of here. I chased him down and asked him what it was about. He said some bad stuff about you, saying that he suspected you of intentionally killing your enemies under the guise of 'other people did it' and 'accidents', and that if he wanted to, he could make our lives a living hell. And some junk about how you manipulated him the whole time you 2 were together. Well, I went to Ray, asked him if he had a small weather vane, I asked him that so I could slip in a listening device. When he was back in the ballroom, I slipped it in his back pocket. I had no intention of him getting struck by lightening, I swear.' Granger said.

Hetty didn't really looked convinced.

'You sure? Because you knew there was going to be a storm, and I recall you knowing about objects that can act as lightening rods. I'm not mad, just curious.' She said.

'You're really good at this, aren't you? All right, it's possible that, I asked for a lightening rod like item, not just to act like a listening device, but to maybe attract lightening to try to teach that jerk a lesson.'

Smiling. 'I thought so.'

'You're not the only 1 here who enjoys revenge plots against our foes, even the ones who outright annoy us or look to be a threat to us.' Granger replied, grinning.

'And that's one reason why I love you. Because I know you will protect me.'

'And you'll do the same for me. Now, what say we go over this bizarre looking death threat that I got last week and try to find out who sent it so we could plot his unexpected demise?'

'I love the way you think.' Hetty finished.