Lost Too Much

LOST TOO MUCH Chapter 4

She was gutless, Bronte concluded. She had cancelled her dinner out with Callen three hours before he was to pick her up. She had used her father as her excuse. She tossed and turned that night, over the guilt of cancelling on him. She knew he was attracted to her. But she couldn't go there. She had decided that even as friends, something would happen. That he would kiss her, and if he did, she wouldn't be able to fight her feelings for him. She needed to clear her mind of him and focus on her job. Only three and a half more weeks to go, and her Mother would be back at work. She would be kicked back to New York, as Callen had called it. So why bother starting something that couldn't be continued?

Callen entered the mission late on the Saturday night. He couldn't sleep, and had to distract his mind from thinking of Bronte. He had a load of paperwork to do. He brewed a cup of coffee and sat down behind his desk. But the distraction of his paperwork failed after only half an hour. He was frustrated. She had cancelled on him and it had bothered him more than he had wanted it too. How had she managed to get behind the walls he had built up around his heart so easily and so quickly? He shook his head.

He stood and walked to the firing range. After he had placed his ear protectors and glasses on, Callen emptied his load on the paper target in front of him. He reloaded and clipped another paper target up for round two. It still didn't work. After he had packed everything away, he walked into the armoury and cleaned his gun. The last time he had been in that room, was with Bronte. He had nearly kissed her in the firing range. But she had quickly pulled away. Damn! If he hadn't been so rash with her then, perhaps she might not have cancelled on him. He needed to get away from anything that reminded him of her.

The sandbag had always been a good release of his frustrations. He entered the locker room to change into his t-shirt and shorts. After he had completed taping his hands, he placed the gloves on and strapped them firmly. He stood in position and began to pound the bag.

Bronte pulled up outside the mission and noticed Callen's car in the car park. She thought it was odd that someone else would be there that late on a Saturday night, so she thought he had another vehicle for the weekend. After she had unlocked the front door, she walked over to her mother's desk. She sat down and opened the laptop to begin working on the cases they had completed that week. She heard a noise coming from the gym. She quickly grabbed her gun and quietly moved into the direction of the noise. As she moved closer, she could hear it was a pounding noise. Prepared for anything, she moved slowly towards the entrance of the gym, scanning the area around her.

Bronte relaxed briefly and placed the safety switch back on, when she saw Callen pounding on the sandbag. But nerves of a different kind replaced her tension. He had a good rhythm, she noted. It reminded her of the times she had watched Greg do the same thing when a case had effected him.

She was lost in thought, when she realised Callen was standing right in front of her, with sweat dripping off his body. She jumped with surprise.

"Why are you here?" He asked her gruffly. He had tried to get her out of his mind and it had nearly worked, until he saw her standing there lost in thought.

"I'm sorry, Callen." She needed to get a grip whenever she was around him. "I couldn't sleep, so I came in to catch up on some work."

Callen remained standing where he was. He wasn't going to make it easy on her.

Bronte could feel the tension radiating off him. "I'm sorry. For cancelling on you tonight." She shook her head. "I really can't do this..." Tears welled up in her eyes, but she remained where she was.

It broke Callen's heart to see her so upset. He calmed down and stepped away. "No, Bronte. I'm the one who should be sorry. I've pushed you, after you told me not to." He turned to go to the showers.