1. Chapter 1

Sabine was in trouble. For the life of her Sabine couldn't work out what exactly she had done that had got her into this amount of trouble and with that she didn't know what she as apologise for but she was decently in big trouble. That had to be the only possible explanation as to why Sabine was here at the Navy yard of all places. When the Director of NCIS summoned a junior agent from the LA field office all the way to his office in D.C you knew it wasn't for a simple chat over a coffee. The only reason had to be because Sabine was in enough trouble that Director Vance wanted to chew her out personally than have one of Sabine's other superiors do it. Sabine was clueless as to why she was here given that she currently wasn't working at the moment, she was seven weeks into a six month leave of absence and she had made sure she had gone through the proper channels to get her time off approved. Whatever the hell she was in trouble for, it had to be something that had happened prior to her being granted a leave of absence on compassionate grounds. The only thing that came to mind was her former parter, some new probie fresh out of the academy who had quit after only four month in the job because he couldn't hack it. But that wasn't really Sabine's fault… Whatever she had done Sabine would sure enough find out soon given that she was sitting outside the director's office waiting to be called in after flying across the country to see the director at the D.C field office. If it had been something minor then Director Vance could have chewed her ass about it over the phone of through a videoconference but this was in person. Given how serious this seemed Sabine wasn't sure whether she would be walking of this office still with her badge and a job, there was a possibility of losing her badge over whatever she had done. A suspension seemed pretty unlikely as they would have got is over and done with already but Sabine had called in to see the director whilst she was leave so this had to be bad. But whatever it was Sabine would deal with it regardless of what had happened, she told herself as she idly played with her thumbs.

"Agent Sawyer? The director will see you now."

Looking up from where she sat Sabine saw the director's personal assistant get up from behind her desk and make her way over to the double doors that lead straight to the director's office. Standing up from where she was seated Sabine took a deep breath as she got up and walked to where the director's assistant was standing before going past her and into the office. The director's office was one of the few paces in the navy yard that Sabine didn't like to spend much time in for obvious reasons, it sort of reminded her of many tribes to the principal's office back when she was in high school and getting up to no good. Remaining as clam headed and nonchalant as possible Sabine walked over to where Director Vance's desk stood and came to a stop right in front of it of it and looked over at the African American man sitting right ahead of her.

"Director Vance…"

"Thank you for coming on such short notice Agent Sawyer." Vance replied in a friendly and courteous manner, which wasn't exactly how Sabine had been expected to be greeted. She had been expecting a tenser environment and a bit of a frosty reception. Sabine dared to think that the director seemed somewhat pleased to see her which if she put much thought in that, it could possibly mean that she wasn't in any sort of trouble in the slightest. But it did beg the question as to why she was here if she wasn't in trouble. "I need you on a case Sawyer."

"Unfortunately I'm going to have to decline Director Vance, I'm not sure whether or not your aware but I'm currently on six months leave from the agency …" Sabine replied after a moment as she hadn't really expected to hear that from the director, she had been pretty convinced that she was here because she was in trouble. But it was because of a case and normally Sabine would have taken the case on with no arguments given that she was q certified workaholic. However right now there were personal matters in her life that needed to take priority hence why Sabine had requested the leave of her absence. As much as she loved her work, right now her family needed her more. But yet several weeks later Sabine was back in the office being asked to take a case, personally by the director.

"I'm well aware of your personal situation Agent Sawyer and I wouldn't have asked if this wasn't important and of the upmost importance to this agency. This case is tricky and it needs someone with a certain skill set to handle it." Director Vance stated and Sabine couldn't help but purse her lips together as she was rather intrigued about this case that the director had called her in personally to take. But she was going to have to say now, it was going to be career suicide as she was pretty much refusing a direct order for the director but right now her family came first.

"Forgive me for if this sounds out of line Director Vance but if this case is so important then why ask me? You have countless agents at your disposal and that's just just here in the navy yard so why me? I'm just a junior office at the LA field office, there are agents with more seniority and experience than me that you could have asked. But you had me come out all this way despite the fact I'm currently on leave, so I can't help but wonder what is so important that you want me to come back in to deal with?" Sabine questioned as she knew that she was missing something here and she watched as the director opened his desk drawer and pulled out a file and handed it over to Sabine who opened up the file. From first glance she could see that it was about a shooting involving some guy called Callen. The name sounded vaguely familiar but Sabine couldn't place it given how many fellow agents she had encountered during her years with NCIS.

"Three weeks ago one of our guys down at the Office of Special Projects was shot several times in what was a drive by shooting. Agent Callen was in critical condition for a while given the extent of his injuries but he's slowly improving." Vance explained as Sabine continued to flick through the file and reading the case summary and looking at the crime scene photos. At first glance it seemed like a normal drive by but the fact that it was agent who was assigned to a unit that specialised in undercover work made this whole thing suspicious. Whoever shot Callen clearly wanted him dead but the suspect list was going to be long given that the office of special projects had their fingers in a lot of pies. That's when it all clicked for Sabine and she realised how she knew Callen, or rather how she knew of him. The man was pretty much a legend, infamous for his proficiency at going undercover.

"From what I can see from the file Director, a full investigation is being conducted into the shooting of Agent Callen so how do I come into this? Surely the Office of Special Projects is conducting the investigation and I doubt they need or want any help from an outsider even from the LA office given the sensitive nature of their work." Sabine questioned as she still hadn't received any clarity as to how she was needed for a case that had occurred three weeks ago.

"I don't need you to help the investigation in the most conventional way, I want you to focus on Callen. Right now we don't know whether the people who shot him know about his current condition. They may think he's dead and the job is done but if they know that Callen is still alive then they'll try again and that's where you come in. Callen already has round the clock protection but given the nature of his work it would be difficult to provide surveillance without drawing attention to him and blowing his cover when he leaves the hospital. Which is where you come in Agent Sawyer. You are to provide both surveillance and countersurvellience for Agent Callen. I want you to keep an eye on him and make sure that he isn't being watched by anyone. Callen worked with a few other agencies before he joined NCIS and so there is a lot of people who could want him dead and they will try again if they think he is alive and I. will not have that happen. I will not have one of my agents being hunted down like this" Director Vance explained and Sabine had to admit that this whole thing was insane. But Sabine understood what he was coming from in a way.

"Director I mean no offence in the slightest but I am not one of the instructors at the academy, it is not in my job description to be holding some agents hands and wiping his nose like he is some puppy. Given his line of work and from what I have heard about his reputation I am going to assume that Callen is well versed in counter-surveillance measures." Sabine began as she was practically being asked to babysit this agent who was probably going to have an almighty long list of people who probably wanted him dead given Director Vance's comment about many agencies this guy Callen had worked for before coming to NCIS. Sabine didn't know the man but already she didn't like him as his shooting had put a huge dent in her plans. She had been drafted into deal with this and it was going to be a lot of work but the fact that Callen primarily worked undercover and no doubt used counter-surveillance measures frequently meant it was going to be a lot harder for her to keep an eye on him.

"Agent Sawyer I assure you that you will not be holding Agent Callen's hand and I assure you that he is in no position to be doing any kind of work." Vance interrupted and Sabine knew she didn't have a choice in this, as much as she didn't like this she was going to have to do it. There was no way in hell that Sabine could so no to the director on this.

"Sir can I just ask why did you chose me for this?" Sabine asked with a reluctant sigh as she was clearly getting sucked back into work despite the fact that she was currently taking time off. It was times like this that made Sabine wonder why on earth she hadn't become something like a school teacher or a dentist instead of joining NCIS.

"I didn't ask for you." Vance replied and Sabine frowned as things were getting even more complicated now as it emerged that somebody had asked for her personally for this case. Sabine couldn't help but wonder who on earth had picked her? She wasn't the worst agent in the world but still…

"Then who did?" Sabine questioned.

"Henrietta Lange. She's just take over the Office of Special Projects from Lara Macy and asked for you by name Sabine. Hetty wants the best for this and I agree with her on this. You are the best person for the job." Director Vance said and despite him saying how much faith in her abilities he had, Sabine still would have preferred not to have done this. But there was no use in crying over spilt milk, she was just going to have to suck this up as the Henrietta Lange had asked for her and the director wanted her on this assignment too. If Sabine thought about backing away from this she might as well hand in her gun and badge as her career would practically be over. Sabine would probably be stuck on some dead end desk job or be assigned as Agent Afloat on some carrier which was not something she wanted to experience again in her lifetime. The only upside was that Sabine was going back to LA and having to pack her bags and move to God knows where.

"I'm assuming that you would want me to start straight away, right?"

"That is correct.

Sabine slowly nodded her head, she had assumed that and how right she was. "Then I'll head straight to the airport Sir and get on the next available flight back to LA and start right away."

"Agent Sawyer, I know that right now this is possibly the last thing you want to be doing considering that you are indeed taking some personal time because of the situation with your family. For now I'm going to have you reassigned to the Office of Special Projects where you'll report to Hetty and myself. After this situation with Callen is dealt with, you can have your pick of assignments – stay at OSP, go back to the LA field office or wherever you want. I know this isn't what you wanted and I apologise for some of what precious time you have remaining with your grandfather but we need your assistance and your far too good of an agent for us to let you leave for a long period of time Agent Sawyer." Vance said and Sabine forced herself to smile, so this wasn't the most ideal situation as she was going to spend her foreseeable future surveilling one of her new co-workers before she even worked with him. Sabine could already tell that wasn't going to end well but she would deal with that later. She appreciated the new assignment as it would keep her busy without having to juggle several cases, it also meant that she would still be near to her Papa Sadowski so Sabine was determined to make this whole thing work, she would do whatever it would take.

"Thank you Director Vance, I really appreciate it." Sabine replied in grateful manner as whilst this wasn't the best case she had ever received, the long term benefits made it very bearable.

"I'll let Hetty know that you are on your way Agent Sawyer."

Taking this as a sign of dismissal, Sabine left Director Vance's office making sure to shut the door behind her as she exited and began her journey to leave the office as she needed to get to the airport. Once she reached the elevators Sabine found herself opening the case file that Director Vance had given her and she looked at the picture of Agent Callen. She didn't know who he was and pretty much didn't care all that much, but she was going to make sure that no one tried to kill him on her watch.


	2. Chapter 2

Adjusting her binoculars as she stood on a rooftop in downtown LA Sabine allowed herself to sigh as it was a rather humid day in LA and she was three months into her assignment of providing both surveillance and counter-surveillance for Agent Callen who was none the wiser about the entire thing. Sabine had been practically been following Callen's every step this entire time which wasn't easy as the was naturally cautious given his line of work and made a habit of moving from whatever motel he had been staying out. In the space of a month he had moved about four times, Sabine didn't really blame him for his restlessness given what had happened and knowing the person who had shot him could still be out there. The last three months Sabine hadn't caught whiff of anything that resulted into a real threat, if she caught sight of anyone so much as looking at Callen in a suspicious photo then she would taken a photo and have it sent over to a friend who would use facial recognition to check their background. There had been a few threats and one minor incident but none of them linked back to Callen's shooting. They were just other people who wanted him dead, making the elusive Agent Callen a very popular man in the worst possible ways and why Sabine was still keeping tabs on him. They couldn't be too sure that the people coming after Callen were linked to the people behind his shooting or separate and the people who shot Callen thought he was dead and that was it.

The trouble was that the team investigating the attempt on Callen's life had come up with zilch and Sabine couldn't exactly blame them. She had asked for Callen's personnel file along with his case history so she could make an assessment of people who wanted Callen dead as if she knew their faces she could keep an eyes out for them. It was a simple enough request but the file that Sabine had been given barely contained anything it and that was excluding the information inside the file that had already been redacted. This guy Callen was a tricky one, the director hadn't been kidding when he said that Agent Callen had worked with a few agencies in his time. Callen had been FBI, CIA and DEA before he had finally settled with NCIS, it explained why so much of the file that had been given to Sabine had been redacted, Not only did the guy move around when it came to where he was staying but also when it come to work, from what Sabine had seen and read Callen was an extremely fidgety person and had this need to move around. Plus the guy was some kind of freak who practically never slept which was something that Sabine really didn't like.

Sabine watched as Callen stood on street corner idly chatting with his partner Sam Hanna a former Navy SEAL who stilled lived but that code from what Sabine had read in his files. She had read the files of Callen's team when she began this assignment as Sabine needed to know who and what she was dealing with. It had been a rather difficult thing for Sabine to do as she knew that she was going to inevitable work with these people once this current assignment was over. Personnel files were generally confident but Sabine had been allowed to look them over for 'five minutes'. Because at this moment she didn't work them, at this current time Sabine was there to make an objective and covert assessment to the threat towards Callen, which meant looking at everyone who had dealt with him, including the people who he worked with. It was a necessary evil as she called it because she needed to see if there was anything to suggest they were involved. Sabine didn't know the people personally so she dealt with the whole thing rather easy reasoning that she was doing this all to save Callen's life. Sabine watched as the two men interacted before Callen went into a bodega whilst Agent Hanna remained outside. Continuing to keep her eyes on the target Sabine felt a vibration from her pocket, which was no doubt her phone, and so she touched the hands free device that was attached to her right ear.

"Sawyer…" Sabine began.

"Hi Sabine, is this a good time to talk?" Angie Marques, one of the nurses who worked at the care home of Sabine's grandfather. It was one of the daily phone calls that Sabine received as since she spent most of her time acting like Callen's damn shadow she didn't have much time to visit her sick grandfather. So Sabine would have one of his nurses call her and give her an update.

"Yeah I can talk, I'm just doing some work…" Sabine replied as she put down the binoculars down for a brief moment to give her eyes a much needed break. They had become her best friend in the last couple of months that she was going to end up getting tunnel vision if she wasn't careful. "So what's up Angie? How is my old guy going today?"

"Right now he's taking a nap but he's been having a very good day so far Sabine, we went for a nice long walk this morning and he was telling us all these stories about the war. Then how he met your Grandmother Julianna soon after the war ended and how they got married a month after they met and then traveled around Poland for a year before coming back and settling down before your mother was born. August's eyes just light up when he talks about your grandmother."

Sabine found herself smiling as it gave her great relief to know her grandfather was doing okay despite how ill he was, however she was happy to hear that he was having a goody day but it made her wish that she was with him. Growing up as a kid she loved to hear stories about how her grandparents met, she loved to hear those stories even more so after her grandmother passed away five years ago. I'm not surprised, she was the love of his life."

"He asked about you several times Sabine, he misses you very much…" Angie stated and Sabine sighed, she missed her grandfather too. She knew time was running out but this thing with keeping an eye out on Callen like she was babysitting him too up a lot of her time because of the man's bizarre habits. Sabine had to watch the man like a hawk and keep a very close but distant eye on him because he was constantly on the move. His reputation preceded him and then some, when this was hopefully all over Sabine wasn't sure whether she wanted to buy the odd agent a drink or strangle him for keeping Sabine on her toes this entire time.

"I miss him too and I want to be there with him Angie I really do, there is nothing I want more but I am just caught up with work. There seems to be an never ending pile of manuscripts I need to read and proof read, then there is the countless meetings." Sabine replied casually lying as she tended to lie to a lot of people about what she did given it's nature. If people knew she was a federal agent they would ask a lot of questions so Sabine told everyone that she worked in publishing and if anyone asked she would bore them to death about proof reading and editing academic textbooks and other books that they would never ask about her job again. "I'm going to try and slip out of work early and come over and spend some quality time with him for a couple of hours at least. I made some pączki last night, it's a like a polish doughnut so I'll bring up some with me. My grandmother used to make it and we all adored it so Papa Sadowski will be overjoyed if I bring that with me.

"August will be so pleased to see you–" Angie began and Sabine was about to laugh until she heard a sound in the distance from behind her. Sabine was pretty sure that someone was up here and she knew she had to keep acting like everything was fine. Lifting up her binoculars as to pretend everything was fine as Angie continued to walk, Sabine noticed that both Callen and his partner Agent Hanna were gone. Sabine couldn't believe she had managed to lose them but they couldn't be too far, she would find them. As in the last three months of her playing Sabine spies she hadn't lost Callen once. There had been a couple of close calls but he had never managed to get past her and she was not going to call Hetty or Director Vance and say that she had lost Callen. Putting down her binoculars on the roof of her edge, Sabine slowly shuffled around slightly and began to discreetly reach for her gun in order to unholster it.

"Don't even think about, now put your hands where I can see them."

"Angie? Can I call you back in a bit as something has just come up…" Sabine stated as she moved her hands away from her gun holster and used her right hand to hit her hands free to end the phone call. Knowing that she couldn't reach for her ankle holster Sabine took a deep breath and slowly turned around and must to her surprise and dismay she was Agents Callen and Hanna. Sabine recognized them instantly from their photos not to mention she had been all but stalking Callen for the last three months. Up close and personal Sabine had to admit that the elusive Agent Callen looked rather good looking then he did from a longer distance even if he was looking at her with a very pissed off expression on his face. They must have spotted her watching then and now here they were pointing their sigs at her. Sabine's day was now getting a bit worse. She knew she should have taken her position in the next building over as it provided more cover however it had less visibility.

"Now take the gun out and slowly place it on the ground, kick it away and then get on your knees and put your hands over your head." Sam Hanna instructed in a tone that suggested it would be better for Sabine if she didn't argue and just did what they said. Unable to believe what was happening Sabine did what she was told as the sooner she got this over with, the sooner she could explain what was really going on.

"This isn't what it looks like–" Sabine began as she slowly unholstered her gun, placed in on the ground and kicked it away before following the rest of Agent Hanna's instructions. This had to be the most embarrassing thing to have ever happened to Sabine, in her eight years of being a federal agent. Upside was that someday it may make one heck of a story, hell she may even tell her grandfather about it later on considering how the rest of this encounter went.

"–Says the woman with the rifle." Callen retorted and Sabine's eyes couldn't help but dart over to the rifle that was sitting in a black duffle bag that was about 2 feet away from her. Even though she was only doing the surveillance on Callen, she had the rifle with her in case something did happen and she needed to quickly intervene. If something had went down from where she had watching there wasn't much that her sig and glock could do, hence the rifle.

"I know it looks bad I can explain that and the rest of this…" Sabine said in a casual manner as she knew things were looking pretty bad for her, if things were the other way round she would definitely be getting the wrong idea about what was going on here.

"Who are you? And why have you been following me?" Callen demanded and Sabine looked at him for a moment before deciding what the hell, he had busted her so she might as well tell him who she was. Really it was her only choice as Sabine doubted Callen or Hanna would let them go if she fed them some cock and bull story as they weren't stupid. Telling the two of them that she was one of them was literally the only way that Sabine knew that she could get the two of them to lower their guns.

"NCIS."


	3. Chapter 3

He arrested her. Sabine thought at first that Callen was just trying to scare her, she didn't think that he would actually go through with it but he did. The whole nine yards which included the handcuffs and perp walk. Even after Sabine had explained that she was a federal agent, showed them her badge and id, they still didn't believe her. To which Sabine had gone and made an offhanded comment about why on earth would she lie about working for NCIS, most people didn't know it stood for let alone what they did. If she was going to lie about her job – which she already did on a frequent basis she wouldn't have said something like she worked for NCIS. It wasn't really the kind of job that you lied and said you worked for. But Sabine wasn't even going to argue with Callen or his partner, so she just allowed them arrest her. For Sabine it was painfully hilarious and embarrassing at the same time but right now she couldn't do anything about as Callen and his partner were adamant about taking her in and so Sabine allowed them to do it. This was small hiccup but Sabine had been in worse scraps before and it wasn't her first time in handcuffs and she doubted it would be the last. Although this kind of situation was a first for Sabine and she wasn't exactly sure what to do. From the moment that she was given this assignment Sabine had been slightly uncomfortable with it and a part of her knew it couldn't last forever. There was no way Callen wouldn't figure out what had been on eventually, Sabine was actually surprised that it had gone for this long given that Callen was a seasoned agent. He would want answers. That was one thing that Sabine was certain on, ones that she couldn't give him. Sabine wasn't at liberty to tell anyone what her current assignment was, the whole Callen thing was highly sensitive and only two other people besides Sabine knew about this. One of them was Director Vance, the other was Henrietta Lange. So Sabine wouldn't say anything about what she had been doing until she had spoken to at least one of them, now that Callen had caught her in the act Sabine wasn't sure what the next step was but what it was, Sabine was certain that it wasn't going to be easy given who she was dealing with.

Eventually Sabine was brought to a secure location, one that she had been to before. The boatshed, she had met Hetty here a few times late at night when they would have bi-annual meetings. Sabine couldn't afford to come into the office and have Callen spot her, she had to remain invisible to him hence why her and Hetty always met here. But she wasn't going to let Callen know that as he led her into a small backroom which was for interrogation. Sabine wordlessly sat down and just looked at Callen who was staring back at her, no doubt trying to figure her out.

"You know impersonating a federal agent is a crime."

"Good thing I'm not impersonating a federal agent is it then?" Sabine replied with a lazy smile. Callen had arrested her simply because he could so she was going to yank his chain for a bit. It was immature to say the least but Sabine was going to make light of a bad situation with humour.

"Who are you?" Callen asked.

"I told you already." Sabine said in amusement as she smiled at Callen, she knew just by the look in his eyes that he didn't trust her. He was one of those types, the kind that never really truly trusted anyone. Sabine had learned quite a bit about the man in front of her over the last couple of months, Callen was what her grandfather would call a lone wolf. Someone who was always alone and on the outside even when they were with others. Very interesting people.

"Well I don't believe you."

"Oh I very much believe that. But riddle me this? If I was going to lie why would I lie and say that I work for a federal agency that most people have never heard of never mind known what NCIS stand for. As a little girl I never dreamed of dreamed of working a government job where I don't get paid enough for what I do. So if I was going to lie about what I did for a living I would say that I was Prince's personal muse and that I wrote purple rain and the Harry Potter series. Point is that I would be a little more inventive if I was going to lie about my job. I've told my name is Sabine Sawyer and I work for NCIS, that's all you really need to know right now. It's more than what a lot of people know so you should consider yourself very lucky bud." Sabine stated as she shuffled in her chair, the handcuffs weren't the most comfortable things in the world even after wearing them for the better part of half an hour.

"You seem very sure of yourself." Callen noted and Sabine didn't say anything for a moment. No doubt Callen saw her as an overly cocky and arrogant woman and he probably didn't think much of her given the whole rifle thing. He thought Sabine was sure of herself. How wrong he was. Sabine was never really a hundred percent sure of anything, not even herself. Sabine knew that she was flawed, that like most humans she was prone to getting overemotional and not thinking with her head when it came to the people that mattered her. She was never sure that she would come home alive everyday when she went to work as she knew how the world worked. Sabine knew that bad things happened to people all the time and that you could never be sure of anything.

"Those aren't the words that I would use myself." Sabine lightly scoffed.

"Why were you following me?" Callen asked.

"I wasn't doing anything of the such."

"I'd believe that if it wasn't for the fact that you've been following me for the last day and a half." Callen stated and Sabine said nothing, as she was trying to think. Just under two days did Callen know someone was following him. Sabine was trying to figure out at what point did he pick up on her as she thought she was being careful. But apparently not careful enough. Although the more she thought about it, she had been careful enough that it had taken Callen this long to figure out someone was tailing him. It was a cup half full kind of situation. "Why do you want to kill me?"

"If I was trying to kill you then you'd know about it Agent Callen." Sabine drily commented.

"Then why the rifle." Callen questioned and Sabine allowed herself to smile.

"I can't tell you that handsome and I'm done talking now, let me know when your finally done running my prints and confirming who I am so I can go." Sabine said in a polite manner, letting Callen know that she was done with talking to him. Callen looked at her for the longest moment and Sabine just stared straight back at him, until he finally got up and left. Sabine knew that it wouldn't take long for them to confirm who she was and they would want to know who she was, it was just a matter of running her prints through the system and putting her name into the database of NCIS employees. Sabine also knew that certain people would be alerted if her name or prints were ran as her name had been 'flagged'. It was only a matter of time until they tracked her down and sprung her.

So Sabine waited. She waited perhaps another forty minutes until Agent Hanna came in and motioned for Sabine to get up and uncuffed her with much reluctance on his part. Walking out of the little interrogation room an back into the main part of the boatshed Sabine came face to face yet again with Callen, who wasn't alone. He was with another three people, two of which Sabine didn't met however she had seen their files and knew them as Kensi Blye and Dom Vail but the last person she knew. The woman may be short in stature but regardless of her height she commanded respect and authority when she walked into her room. Henrietta Lange's reputation preceded her.

"Hello Hetty." Sabine warmly greeted.

"I knew you had a reputation for getting into trouble Ms. Sawyer but I honestly didn't think that even you would get into this kind of trouble." Hetty began and Sabine couldn't help but laugh in amusement as it would only be here that would get arrested by fellow NCIS agents even after identifying herself as one of them. "Your like a moth to the flame!"

"A girl has got to have hobby." Sabine quipped.

"Indeed." Hetty replied before turning her attention to the others. "Agents Callen, Hanna, Blye and Vail I'd like you to meet Agent Sabine Sawyer, who has just been reassigned to the Office of Special Projects effectively immediately."

"Told you." Sabine couldn't help but tell Callen in a smug manner as she picked up her gun, badge and id off the table that was right in front of her and went about putting back her belongings back where they belonged.

"Still doesn't explain why you've been following me and the fact that you had a rifle with you ready to go when we found you." Callen retorted and Sabine let out a deep sigh. He just couldn't let that go.

"Like I said I can't tell you." Sabine repeated.

"However I can." Hetty announced and Sabine just remained where she was as things were going to get a bit dicey from here and there was no way Callen was going to let her walk out of the boatshed before he found out why she had been following him. "After you were shot Mr. Callen there were some concerns about your safety and whether or not the people responsible would try again. The investigation at the time was not proceeding with much progress and so I decided to take a different and unconventional approach. Upon speaking to Director Vance, it was decided that you were to be assigned an agent who would provide both surveillance and counter surveillance to you, the agent would provide us a risk assessment and keep a close eye on you and see if anyone else was watching you so they could attempt to try and kill you again. Ms. Sawyer was the agent I requested to keep an eye on you."

"And you thought I wanted to kill you Callen, turns out it's far from it actually." Sabine stated, making sure not to say that if she wanted to kill him she would have had plenty of chances to do so over the last couple of months.

"How long has this been going on?" Callen questioned and Sabine glanced over at Hetty before answering.

"Three months give or take."

"You've had someone watching me for the last three months? Hetty I appreciate the concern because of what happened but I am fine. I don't need some kind of babysitter to take care of me like I am a child. No one is after me anymore–" Callen began.

"That's where you're wrong Agent Callen. Someone tried to kill you and luckily for you they didn't succeed and so far there is no information that says these people who wanted you dead actually think you are dead. They have turned into ghosts according to your case file whereas I now that they aren't as invisible as they like to think. I believe that they know that you are still alive although they haven't taken anymore recent steps into trying to kill you for a third time." Sabine stated much to the surprise of Callen and the rest of his team.

"What are you talking about third time?" Sam questioned.

"There was a little incident at the motel on Venice beach in which Callen was staying at the time, the thing was written off as some drug deal gone bad. But it wasn't. It was actually me dealing with the Serbian who had been following you for the last four hours and wanted you dead. Things got a bit messy but I got him and you lived to see yet another day. There have been some other little tiny threats but not like this one. I believe that the people who tried to kill you ordered out and sent this guy to make sure the job was finished." Sabine explained.

"Why didn't I know about this? Know about any of this?" Callen demanded.

"The reason you weren't told about me Agent Callen is because if you knew what I was doing, that I was watching you and your team then you would have fought me at every chance you got and attempted to ditch me at every possible chance. You would have made my job more difficult and keeping an eye on your fidgety ass was hard enough without you playing let's try to ditch the surveillance girl." Sabine retorted.

"This guy you caught, this Serbian… What does he have to say?" Agent Hanna questioned.

"Nothing. Not talking in more ways than one if you believe…"

"What do you mean he not talking?" Agent Vail asked.

"He has no tongue so even if he wanted to talk to us he couldn't. It's a big messy thing that I can't really get into with you guys at the moment but don't worry. He's not coming after Callen anytime soon." Sabine replied with a small smile as she glanced over to Callen who didn't look happy about any of this. Not that Sabine could blame him much although she didn't appreciate him looking at her like she had run over his mother and then backed up to run over her again.

"Why weren't alerted about any of this? If someone was working Callen's case then we should have known about it." Agent Blye stated.

"You all work with Agent Callen, from what I have seen over the last couple of months you are all friendly with him which means that you are compromised emotionally especially since the shooting. From what I've read in your files you are all good agents but you work with Callen on a daily basis which is too close when it came to what I was doing. I wasn't working his case Agent Blye, Agent Callen was my assignment. I was in the shadows, watching Callen from a far and in the dark following his every move and examining everyone he came into contact with and making sure no one tried to kill him again. I was chosen to do this because I didn't know Callen personally, I didn't have any history and I had fresh eyes and I wouldn't get distracted from what I had to do because of feelings. I don't mean to offend anyone but you did ask…" Sabine said in the most passive and non threatening manner she could muster but the whole thing still didn't go down well.

"Wait? You read our files? Our personnel files?" Agent Hanna questioned and Sabine knew that it was time for her to leave right now as this was the thing that she wanted to avoid the most. This was what she knew would inevitably happen when Director Vance had given her this assignment. Things were going to get messy when the truth came out and here it was, so damn messy and just getting even more complicated.

"Well it's been nice to meet you all but I have some things to take care of and you guys all clearly needed to talk so I am going to take off now." Sabine began in weird cheery voice as she started to make her way out of the boatshed as quick as she could. Things in there were getting a bit intense, people were unhappy and hurt about what had happened and Sabine staying would have just made it worse. The moment that Sabine stepped outside the boatshed she let out a huge sigh of relief. Now that all of that was over, she could go see her grandfather and no longer have to keep an eager eye on the constantly errant and yet somewhat aloof Agent Callen.


	4. Chapter 4

Looking down at her wristwatch that faced inwards towards on her, Sabine took note of the time. It was just after half seven in the morning, but Sabine couldn't even remember falling asleep as she had snuck in pretty late. Letting out a yawn Sabine looked up from the armchair in which she had fallen asleep and met a pair of old eyes, which despite their age was still a brilliant frosty blue colour and belonged to her favourite person in the world; her grandfather August Wyatt Sadowski. Sabine was surprised to see her grandfather up this early as the pain relief that the hospice gave him generally knocked him out for the night, he usually wasn't up for another 40 minutes. Nonetheless Sabine was happy to see him as time was something that she didn't have much with her grandfather as he was dying a very slow and painful death from prostate cancer which had spread to his bones. As a child Sabine used to think that her Papa S was invincible as he had survived so much, wars, racism, the death of his daughter and wife. He was the strongest person Sabine knew, so watching the man who practically raised her from the day she was born slowly die was heartbreaking as he was the only family Sabine had left. Her father Ezra had been an orphan who had been killed two days after she had been born, then her mother Klaudia had died when Sabine was only four. After losing both her parents Sabine had been raised by her grandparents and with her grandmother gone, it was only her grandfather left.

"Good morning mala dama." August began greeting Sabine with a mixture of English and polish, referring to her by her childhood nickname of Small Lady. The nickname never failed to make Sabine smile as she whilst she had been pretty small until she reached puberty and had quite a big growth spurt, she had never been a lady in any shape or form. Growing up Sabine was always falling out of trees, getting cuts and bruises, coming home covered in dirt. She never really did things that was deemed lady like dressing up in nice dresses and having tea. Sabine was always happy running and around exploring, which her grandparents happily encouraged. They were the ones who had raised her and her grandfather was perhaps the biggest reason why she had grown into the woman she was today. Sabine had joined NCIS because her grandfather has been in the marines and had fought in both the Korean and Vietnam war, although he was injured enough in the Vietnam war that he was discharged.

"Morning Papa…" Sabine began as she got up from the armchair in which she had slept in and pressed a kiss on the top of his head before she settled herself back into her seat that was right next to his bed. "How long have you been awake?"

"A little while."

"Then why on earth didn't you wake me, huh?" Sabine questioned.

"Because you are exhausted Sabine, you have been working yourself way too hard since you moved to LA so I wanted you to get some sleep. As I know you are way too stubborn to take a day of work to focus on yourself. You should be at home sleeping in your own bed and not in that armchair for days on end." August revealed and Sabine couldn't help but sigh even dying from cancer didn't stop her grandfather from putting her first even though she was a grown woman. Sabine supposed that even though she was all grown up, she would never really stop being a child in her papa's eyes. Now this child was having to watch her grandfather slowly edge closer to departing this world and leaving her behind. Sabine looked at her grandfather who seemed to look more gaunt as the weeks passes by, it was like you could see imminent death on his face. August Sadowski was as frail as Sabine had ever known her grandfather to be and all that had happened after the cancer diagnosis when the treatment began and they all thought that it would work. Papa S looked a far cry from what he used to be but even with less white blonde hair on his head, weary blue eyes and a frail body he was still the person that Sabine loved most in this world.

"You've worked so hard to take care of me, you and nana put a roof over my head, provided me with clothes and food. The two of you took care of me, paid for my college tuition and made sure that I never wanted for anything. Papa you have given me everything and more, it's now time for me to take care of you. So I will work as hard as I can to make sure that you are comfortable." Sabine said in a warm manner as she wearily glanced around her grandfather's room, when they had gotten the news that the cancer was terminal and there was nothing more the doctors could do Sabine had made the heartbreaking decision to move her grandfather into a hospice for elderly people. Sabine paid for it out of her own pocket, after everything her grandfather had done for her, she wanted him to be taken care of when she couldn't be there. Upon moving back to LA, Sabine had moved back into the family home but because of the nature of her work she couldn't have her grandfather taken of by a nurse in their house. It had to be this way.

"I am an old man dying, I don't need you to work so hard for me Sabine. I need you to enjoy your life and not spend all of it running around for NCIS." August lectured and Sabine just chuckled in amusement before being interrupted by the sound going off. Digging her phone out of the back pocket of her jeans, Sabine didn't have to check the caller id to see that it was work calling her as no one else would be calling her at this hour unless it was work or about her grandfather. As Sabine didn't have much in terms of friends, maybe about five people in LA who she considered friends and they all knew never to call her before 9 am. Answering the call, Sabine placed her phone against her ear before pulling a face at her grandfather.

"Sawyer."

"Hey… Agent Sawyer? You may not remember me but I'm Eric Beale, umm… I'm a technical operator at OSP. We met a couple of days ago when you came to the office to get your biometrics done.

"I remember, what's up?" Sabine questioned as it had taken a moment before she recalled who Eric, he was the tech guy at the OSP who wore glasses and walked around in shorts and flip-flops. Sort of goofy in a little brother way given how much Eric liked to talk but he seemed sweet nonetheless and currently one of two people at OSP who didn't think she was the devil. Sabine could recall with exact precision stepping into the office for the first time after the whole Callen incident. Everyone had been looking at her, no doubt word had gotten out that a NCIS Special Agent had been spying on one of their own for months on end. They all hated her. Didn't even know her but they hated her and Sabine could deal with that. Being a federal agent made her pretty unpopular most of the time with criminals. The fact that her co-workers hated her wasn't going to stop her from doing her job.

"We've got a case and Hetty needs you to come in." Eric explained and Sabine glanced at her watch as she needed to go home, take a shower and change her clothes at least.

"I'll be there in an hour." Sabine replied before ending the call and looking at her grandfather. "Sorry Papa S, I have to run as something has come up at work and it seems like I have been asked for by name. It must be something important and as much as I hate to leave I must. But I will try and stop by tonight, so be good for the nurses Papa and don't be afraid to ask for some more pain relief if you need it! There is nothing wrong with asking for it!" Sabine gently scolded with a warm smile on her face before getting up from seat and pressing a kiss on her grandfather's cheek.

"Be safe and go get yourself breaking and by that I don't mean coffee Sabine." August warned and Sabine couldn't help chuckle as she would much rather spend all her time right here, but she still had to work. Sabine had tried to take time off work but that had lasted all of seven weeks before she got roped back into another case. The case that had ended up with Sabine being transferred over to the Office of Special Projects

"You know I always am." Sabine replied with a warm smile, picking up her bag on her way out and less than an hour later, Sabine felt fresher and cleaner after having a nice hot shower, getting a change of clothes and a pop tart along with a very strong cup of black coffee. It wasn't the most healthiest of breakfasts but there wasn't much that Sabine could do about it. When she arrived at the office, Sabine made her way up the staircase and into the ops centre. When Sabine walked in she saw that everyone was already there and waiting for her, which was what Sabine was expected and Callen along with the rest of his team weren't too thrilled to see her. Sabine just held her head up high and was going to take it all in her stride.

"Ms. Sawyer." Hetty greeted.

"Ms. Lange." Sabine replied with in a bemused manner before turning her attention to the big screens that were filed with information, surveillance pictures and what not. "So what do we have here?"

"Cpl David Marek, 24. Found in his home, executed with one shot to the temple and with the words śmierć zdrajcy carved into his chest, pre mortem. Medical examiner says that the carving was done before he was shot. The words carved onto his chest are polish, it means…" Eric began and Sabine slowly nodded her head as he brought up the pictures of the crime scene onto the big screen. By the way the body was positioned Sabine could tell that Cpl Marek was forced to kneel down before he was killed. The killer no tortured him for a while before killing him.

"Die traitor." Sabine responded as there was no need for a translation, as she understood Polish very well. Being raised by her Polish-American relatives meant that Sabine was raised to know the history, culture and costumes of Poland along with the language. Looking at the picture of the dead corpse, Sabine knew that whoever the corporal had some degree of understanding when it come to Polish. "Okay so we've got a dead marine who was probably killed by someone he knew or knew of him given the whole polish phrase and Marek is a polish surname. Whoever did this is cold and calculating as carving the words into someone is one thing but then getting them to sit on their knees before the executed them with a bullet to the head is cold. Well ruthless actually, The Cpl must have really pissed someone off to warrant being killed in such a tense manner."

"Forensics found no trace of the killers DNA anywhere, it was like he was never there." Kensi explained and Sabine slowly nodded her head as she took a sip of her coffee.

"Not too surprised by that. In fact I would be surprised if our killer had left his DNA anywhere at the same. This guy is meticulous, if you look at the photos nothing is out of place. No sign of a struggle which means he got into the Cpl's home very quickly. The only mess in the scene is the blood so it would be safe to conclude that the killer got in and out. He didn't stick around long after the deed was done and it's safe to assume that he has proficient enough in his understanding of forensics. This may have been a professional hit." Sabine wearily said.

"That's the theory we're working on Agent Sawyer." Callen dryly stated and Sabine just let the comment slide and she even allowed herself to smile.

"Okay then, if you've got all the answers Callen then tell me who would order a professional hit on a marine?" Sabine retorted in a challenging manner as she looked at Callen. She could understand the attitude but that didn't mean that Sabine couldn't give as good as she got.

"Mr. Callen and Ms. Sawyer the two of you will put a stop to this childish nonsense right now! Or do I have to put the two of you in some sort of time out? Despite the fact that the two of you are grown adults and the furthest thing from children!" Hetty scolded and Sabine just held up her hands as she wasn't the one who had started this but she was more than willing to put Callen's issue with her to the side in order to deal with the case. "Now that we've got that settled we can move on to more pressing issue and to answer your question Agent Sawyer, we haven't figured who would want Cpl. Marek dead but Mr. Beale has been taking a look into Cpl. Marek's life in terms of social media."

"–Yes. Well for the most part Cpl. Marek hasn't been too much of an active user on social media, however two months ago he was friended by someone by Ana Woyzeck on facebook. The two of them have been sharing friendly and flirty messages with each other and have met up numerous times at some club called The Merman. Cpl. Marek was supposed to meet Ana there last night and a traffic cam from across the road shows him coming in but not coming out. Now I've done some digging into the club and it turns out the The Merman is a social club which is visited by a lot of polish people." Eric explained and Sabine allowed herself to laugh, it explained why she was here.

"So you believe that this club and Ana is liked to Cpl Marek's death? Safe assumption to make and it always explains why I was brought in. I've never been to one of these clubs before but I knew a few people back in D.C who used to run in groups like these and you've got to be the real deal or pretty damn good to get the people who run this clubs to believe your legit. They tend to be really exclusive depending on who your dealing with and some of these clubs aren't the kind of clubs that play bridge and tell stories of the old country. I understand why I was brought here now, I'm not sure whether to be offended by that though as I'm not sure NCIS is using me for that reason. Makes me feel like I am some kind of dumb Polak." Sabine noted as she took a sip of her coffee.

"Ms. Sawyer, we both know that you are more than that and I refuse to use that disgusting word but we will be needing you for this case given you fluency in Polish." Hetty stated and Sabine couldn't help but laugh as it reminded her of the days when her grandmother clipped her round the back of the ears for referring to herself as a dumb polak. They were proud Polish-American women and they knew it. Just thinking about that made Sabine miss her grandmother fiercely.

"How fluent is fluent?" Callen demanded and Sabine just rolled her eyes, it was clear that Agent Callen didn't want her help in the slightest. But he was going to have it whether he liked it or not as Sabine doubted she wouldn't be here if anyone else in this room spoke Polish.

"More than enough."

"You going to expand on that Sawyer?" Sam questioned.

"Is there a need to?"

"Well you know all about us and we know nothing about you." Callen questioned and Sabine had to admit that he had a point. But it wasn't Sabine's fault, digging into all of them was part of her assignment into keeping Callen safe. However she could still see that most of them were pretty sore about the whole file reading thing especially Sam and Callen. So Sabine decided to toss them a small bone, she would give them some information about herself but only the stuff that could help them out on the case.

"English isn't my first language Callen, my mother tongue is polish although you would never tell. " Sabine said as she told the group that she had been raised in a Polish speaking environment. From birth everyone around her had been speaking to her in Polish and English, but Sabine's first words had been in Polish. Her family spoke to her in Polish so she would get a quick grasp for the language at an early age, Sabine had raised to know the importance of where she had come from. So being able to speak Polish was something that was important for her family. However no one could ever tell that Sabine's first language was Polish as she had no trace of any accent as by the time she was four years old Sabine could switch between conversations in Polish and English with no conscious effort.

"Your Polish?" Callen asked in clear surprise and Sabine let out a snort of bemusement, she didn't know why she found his surprise over the fact that she was Polish funny but yet Sabine did. Her mother always did say she was a bit odd.

"Half. Polish-American. My full name is Sabine Sadowski Sawyer and I was raised by maternal family who are polish. My great grandparents immigrated to America after the second world war but we always go back to Poland for the holidays. I spent my summers in the north of Poland by the beach where I learnt to swim in the Baltic sea as child. We originate from Warsaw but we travel a lot, in fact I haven't been back to Warsaw in a couple of years. I've been Poland enough times to know the land. I had my heart broken for the very first time outside the Marien Church in Krakow when I was sixteen, it's a beautiful city with wonderful architecture although it all it holds is heartache for me. You know with all that first love nonsense so I can never go back… When I graduated college my grandparents told me whatever I wanted for a graduation gift, all I had to do was say the word and it would be asked. I asked them to take me back to Poland and for three months they showed as much as they could of their motherland. From the Tatra mountains, Kaszuby, Krakow, Zamosc and Lodz. I love the food, pretty good at making it myself and I keep up to date with that's going on so I'm about as Polish as you can get Callen without having a Polish passport." Sabine explained.

"Oh..." Callen stated after a moment and Sabine just turned to him with a bemused look on her face.

"Is that fluent enough for you?"


End file.
