No Ordinary Love - G.Callen NCIS L.A

Chapter 3

And so it went on for a few more weeks. He would come in for breakfast and tea, leave with something she wanted him to try for lunch and return for dinner. He met Lindy and Jess, Deja's friend and business partner and the waitress they hired to help out. He'd always sit at 'his' table, knowing both Deja and Lindy set it especially for him.

Today was Saturday, and he had skipped both breakfast and lunch at the café, having done some chores. Doing laundry and vacuuming were not on his favorite to-do list, but he was almost out of fresh clothes and he could actually see the dust gathering around the house, which didn't leave him with a choice.

Late in the afternoon, he found himself on route to his new favorite place when he heard Deja's voice coming from the other end of the street. She sounded slightly stressed, not in a panic, but not completely comfortable either.

Callen slowed down, checking for signs she was in trouble, and finding none, went in the direction of her voice. He found her and Lindy outside, talking to each other.

"Everything okay?" he asked when he was only a few steps away.

They looked up. Deja notably, seemed relieved. "You just missed them," Lindy said.

"Missed who?"

"Some customers who wanted more than what they were paying for."

She seemed uncomfortable as Lindy told him what just happened. "I'm not a damsel in distress that needs rescuing," she protested.

"I know." He'd seen her dodge customers that wanted more than just her food. She could stand her ground. "You want to tell me who they were?"

"Just some friends of a guy I used to date. Well, that's an exaggeration. We went on a total of two dates before I decided I was done. Not my type."

Callen silently wondered what her type would be. Blond hair, blue eyes, a surfer? Tall, dark and handsome? He'd presumably never have a chance with her. Even though he didn't know where the thought came from, he wanted to know what it would be like to date her. Get to know her better than he did now.

"So what were they doing here?"

She shook her head, wiping a few loose strands out of her face. "They didn't mean it the way it sounded," she defended them. "It's just... They wanted more of Lindy and me than we were willing to give. And I'm not going to give in because someone's pressuring me, you know?"

"You shouldn't have to feel pressured to begin with," Callen told her.

"Maybe not," Deja agreed. "Tell me that the next time anyone asks me out, all right?"

He nodded, scanning the area to make sure they were really gone. Deja locked her eyes on his face. "What are you looking for? Sometimes I catch you looking around here as if you're looking for some threat that I don't know of."

She had no idea how close to the truth she actually was. He could never let his guard down; not willingly at least. It was both part of the job as it was part of him. He would always be on the lookout for things that were out of the ordinary. It was what he was trained for. But he couldn't tell her that. So he told her something else that was true, instead.

"No, no threat. It's just force of habit. Grisha means 'watchful', so maybe that's it. My parents must've known it when they named me."

There was something he wasn't telling her, Deja could feel it. Maybe he never would, but she'd take his explanation at face value for now. Maybe he'd ever trust her enough to share. And if not, that should be fine too. Then why did she feel somewhat disappointed?