A/N - so I was wondering just what was going through Callen's head on the roof when he had faced off with Keelson and thought I'd give it a shot. Callen's POV

Disclaimer - Italics are mine, the rest is from the episode 'Burned' to help with what is going on in his head. Don't own NCIS LA or anything you recognise. Just exploring and having fun with the characters.

Reviews appreciated as always.

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"Keelson!" he called as he stopped, his gun trained on Keelson.

Keelson finally stopped running, breathing heavily.

"You exposed yourself by coming here...That's checkers not chess," Callen called out to him.

"Yeah well, either you or Marinov was going to walk away. And that left me with one final loose end ... to snip," Keelson said, as he finally turned around.

"You won't get that chance," Callen replied, focused on Keelson.

"There's elements at play here ... that are way bigger than you and me," Keelson said.

He frowned at the words.

"If you kill me you'll never know the truth. Who you really are. ..Who hired me to find you … Are you … are you ready to live the rest of your life wondering what that G stands for?" Keelson asked.

As he very slowly lowered his gun, so many thoughts went through his mind.

Keelson knew who he had been, knew his past. He held the key to the things in his life he didn't know. If he let him go, maybe he could find that out. But if the NCIS information gets out, his life, his future; everyone connected to NCIS, their lives, their futures, would change. Sam, Kensi, Hetty, Eric, Nate, Gibbs, what would happen to them, not only them but all the ones he didn't know by name. Was his past worth their futures, or even their lives. The temptation was so great. He'd lived so long not knowing, and now, here it was, so close he could almost reach out and touch it. All he had to do was let Keelson go.

He saw Keelson start to bring his gun up to shoot him, but he reacted and fired before Keelson could shoot.

Not worth it, his past wasn't worth so many peoples futures. Those he knew about, those he didn't. They were innocent and it wasn't his place to decide on so many people's fate. He'd known that all along, he'd just had to make the choice, the right choice. Keelson had found the information. So would he, somehow. He knew it was out there now. He just had to find it. At least he had a starting point.

He walked over slowly to Keelson's body, gun still aimed. He kicked the gun out of Keelson's hand, checked his pulse. Then checked the body where he finds only a key card. He stood up, turned away from the body and started walking away, slowly.

He looked out over the city, the feel of the key card heavy in his hands, As hard as it had been to pull the trigger that had destroyed such a strong link to finding out his past, he knew it had been the right thing to do, knew he had made the right choice, and not just for everyone else.