Callen's Old Flame:

I watched the woman with a dark baseball cap carefully. Something about her was off. Sam, Deeks, and I were walking around Portugal looking for Kensi. We hadn't heard from Kensi in a few weeks, and Hetty, worried about her, finally sent us in to find her. Deeks had become unbearable, but we knew he was worried about Kensi; she was his partner after all.

I inclined my head slightly to the woman who was walking quickly away from us. Sam and Deeks nodded and we followed her. She looked back and caught my eye. Then she took off running, all of us following her, running through the crowd.

I watched her turn down an alleyway and I took the lead. She stood there, blocked by a three walls, and then by us. We had our guns trained on her.

She slowly raised her hands and took the baseball cap off, blonde hair cascading down her shoulders and emerald green eyes flashing. "Is this how you greet all your old friends William?" she asked.

"Alexandria…" I whispered lowering my gun. I saw a small smile form on her lips that were still beautiful.

"Stand down Sam, Deeks" I ordered, and they lowered their guns.

"What are you doing here?" I asked looking at the beautiful woman I had parted ways with in Moscow over eight years ago.

"I could ask you the same thing William, but you never one for giving me all the details" she said.

"Neither were you" I said.

She gave a small smile. "Maybe that's what made us perfect for each other".

"I thought you went rogue a few years back" I said, Hetty had told me the news, and I had knew it would have happened sooner or later, a woman like Alexandria couldn't be detained, not when she had a deep, dark past under her belt.

She shrugged, keeping her emotions in check like she always had. "They kept me on retainer in case they needed my…expertise".

I laughed, only the CIA would keep an assassin as a contact.

"Aren't you forgetting something William? To ashamed to introduce me to your friends?" she said.

I looked at Sam and Deeks, they looked confused. "Sam, Deeks, meet Alexandria Brookes. An old friend of mine. Alexandria, meet my partner, Sam Hanna, and Marty Deeks, from the LAPD".

"A very old friend" she added before looking at the two. Her emerald green eyes slowly sized them up, the same way they had sized me up all those years ago.

"Come on" I said nodding towards her. Surprisingly, she followed. She put her hair back under the cap and then walked beside me. Sam on her other side, Deeks on the other side of Sam.

"You're looking for someone, someone important to you. Girlfriend maybe? Wife?" she asked as we walked.

Sam chuckled saying "Not even close. Our teammate. She's been out here for over six months, and we've had no contact with her".

I glared at Sam. This wasn't something you tell an observant assassin.

"Why do you call Callen William?" Deeks asked.

"It was the name I knew him by way back then. I knew his name was really G Callen, but calling him William was much easier" she said.

That way you didn't have emotional ties to me I thought. She looked at me like she could hear my thoughts.

"What is your teammates name, maybe I can help you" Alexandria said.

"No" I said harshly. Sam and Deeks turned to look at me. Alexandria just smiled.

"Why are you here Alexandria?" I asked.

"I'm on vacation" she said simply.

I laughed again, this one cold and bitter. "People like you don't take vacations, you said so yourself when we were holed up in a cabin in Moscow" I said. I forced the memories away, what we had done in that cabin; with only each other for warmth was something that didn't need to be brought up here, especially in front of Deeks and Sam.

She took out a card and handed it to Sam. "If you want to find your partner, and need some assistance, call this number."

Turning to me she said, with a glint in her emerald green eyes, "But you probably won't need it, William will know where to find me. He always does", then she quickly disappeared into the crowd.

. . .

"Callen she can help us find Kensi" Deeks said. He and Sam had been trying to persuade me to enlist the help of Alexandria. I bluntly refused.

"She's a assassin Deeks" I finally blurted out. That stopped him and Sam.

"What do you mean an assassin G?" Sam asked.

"Alexandria was an Arch Angel Sam" I said. He tensed. He knew all about them, he had been part of the Navy Seal team that had taken out the man who had started it all.

"What's an Arch Angel?" Deeks asked. Of course he wouldn't know. The CIA, the Seals, and higher up the command chain was the only ones who knew about the Arch Angels.

"The Arch Angels were a group of assassins. A man by the name of Andrew Barclay kidnapped eight children who he thought were going to be the best killers in the world. It turns out he was true. He kidnapped them from a young age and trained them to kill. Their toes and fingers were even considered to be dangerous weapons on their own. If the children didn't do as they were told, Barclay would execute someone they loved in front of them. So, they did as they were told. They were guns for hire. Killed Barclay's enemies as well as other peoples. The CIA finally told the President and he ordered them to be stopped, so we went in. We killed Barclay, but the right he called the Arch Angels weren't there. We didn't find them. Finally, the CIA tracked them down. Most were still doing the only thing they knew how to do, and that was killing people. They offered them jobs at the CIA. Some took them, others refused, and those who refused were killed. I was at the CIA when an eighteen year old Alexandria was brought in. With her was a ten year old boy, another one of the Angels. Alexandria was the oldest; therefore she took responsibility of the ones who came to the CIA. The CIA made an exception for the three that came to us. They were immediately issued clearance and put under tight security, but they weren't a threat. They did as they were told. They helped catch a lot of assassins, terrorists, you name it. Alexandria even saved quite a few Presidents from being assassinated" I said.

"You still know your history" said a voice and Alexandria gracefully climbed through our hotel window. Sam immediately had his gun on her.

"You killed Barclay. Thank you" she said sitting cross-legged on the window sill.

He slowly lowered his gun.

"Of course I know the history" I said quietly.

"Andrew Barclay was a monster, but he was also the only father figure I had. He kidnapped me from my family, wealthy aristocrats from England, and then, when I directly defied his orders repeatedly, he executed them in front of me" she said, and I heard her voice, that was always neutral fill with pain.

"Callen was the only person that tried to keep me going. He's the only reason I'm still alive. The others, they didn't get the honor to work with him. In the end, they both were killed, overcome by the horrors of what we had been through" she said, and that's when I realized that was the first time she called me Callen in a long time. I remembered how right if felt for the name to slip off her tongue.

She dropped a piece of paper on the bed. "You'll find your agent there, but you'll want to hurry. I don't know how much longer she can last". Then with that, she climbed out the window again and was gone.