Lost Too Much

LOST TOO MUCH Chapter 1

Callen strode into the mission like any other day, ready for whatever his job threw at him. He arrived at the bull pen and smiled at his partner. "Morning, Sam."

Sam looked up and returned the smile. "Morning, G. Looks like we're the first in again."

Callen looked over at Hetty's office and thought it was strange for her not to be sitting behind her desk, sipping on a cup of tea. "Hetty's not in yet?"

"No."

"Strange." Callen added, before they could hear the familiar bantering from their junior team members. Callen turned and smiled as he often did when Kensi and Deeks arrived together. "Morning, Kens, Deeks."

"Morning, Sam, Callen." Kensi replied.

"And what a good morning it is." Deeks added. He was on a high from a good surf that morning.

Sam shook his head and chuckled. "Get laid by any chance last night, Deeks?"

Deeks frowned. "Um, no."

"Then why the good spirits?" Sam always liked to push the detective that bit further, for amusement.

"The waves were perfect this morning and then I was greeted by my lovely partner with coffee and donuts." He answered honestly.

Kensi sniggered over Deeks' remarks about her.

"What?" Deeks was always being picked on by the other members of his team. But to be honest he loved the attention. It was far more attention than he had ever received at LAPD. So he saw it as a sign that they liked him.

Callen and Sam chuckled at the younger man. Their smiles vanished at the sudden appearance of their least favourite visitor into the Office of Special Projects, Owen Granger.

"Morning." Granger greeted them, fully aware his appearance dulled their mood.

"Morning." They replied.

"Hetty has taken a month's vacation, you will have to do without her for a while," Granger advised them. He saw panic appear across their faces, but noted Callen quickly hid his away.

"Why are we only being told about this now?" Callen asked him curiously, but also worried about their mother hen.

"It's only happened over the weekend. She's accrued too much overtime, she's been forced to have a break."

"You know that the last time Hetty disappeared, we had to rescue her from the Comescus in Romania," Callen piped in. He worried she had suddenly disappeared.

"She has not disappeared, Agent Callen. However, this office cannot survive without an Operations Manager, so another agent will step in during this time." He saw their mistrust of a newcomer. "I am aware of how you all reacted to Agent Hunter, when she filled in last time for Hetty. I expect you to give your total loyalty and respect to her fill-in." He knew he had to tread carefully, after what he heard about the run-ins between Hunter and Callen. "Hetty has procured an experienced agent as her replacement. She will expect you to cooperate with her."

"So Hetty's fill-in, as you call them, is a woman?" Callen noticed his use of term, her, in his words.

Sam looked over at his partner and thought back to Hunter's time as Operations Manager. He worried how Callen would take this change.

"Yes. Her name is Agent Bronte Smith from our New York Office," Granger replied. "While there is no case as yet this morning, I suggest you complete your back log of paperwork.

They all grumbled and went to work. It hadn't been long before a woman in her late thirties, entered the mission. She had long brunette hair, that she had pulled down over one of her shoulders with a plait. She was dressed in a pants suit, with a tan leather jacket hanging over a rather feminine printed blouse. All four occupants of the bull pen's heads sprang up, as they watched her walk past them and over to Hetty's office. Work stopped as the four of them watched and quietly chatted about the new comer.