AN: I didn't want to mention this in the summary, because it sounds like I'm playing the pity card, but this is my first fanfiction! I had an idea and didn't see anything similar around, so I thought - why not? I hope you like it! Any reviews would be greatly appreciated, whether positive or negative. After all, I won't improve if I don't know there's a problem!

Anyway, enough of me, and onto the story! I hope you enjoy it!

Five Year Curse

Chapter 1:

Hetty saw him coming. She already knew what he was going to say; he could see it in her eyes. But then, this was Hetty. Of course she knew.

He'd been playing this scene over and over in his head as he parked his car, but he still had no idea what he was going to say. This team was the closest thing to family he'd found in a long time – probably not since the Rostoffs. He had a best friend in Sam – their partnership had just hit the 5 year milestone. Just last week they'd been discussing how to celebrate when they made 10 years.

When, not if. Pessimism had no place in their line of work. But now he wished he hadn't been so optimistic about it. He was the glass-half-empty kind of guy, he'd never even believed in optimism before he'd met Sam. Hope for the best, expect the worst; that was the way life was. Somehow though, Sam had made it past all the walls he built, and somehow, he had become G Callen's friend. Not an easy task.

5 years. It was a lifetime in his books. If he was superstitious, he might have said it was cursed. He had been 5 years old when his mother had been killed, and he had begun his travels through the foster care system. Now, 5 years with a new family had passed, and he was being torn from them as well.

He walked straight to Hetty's desk, quickly so he didn't dwell on his thoughts. He wouldn't be able to go through with this otherwise. She watched him calmly, but with a faint sheen of sadness in her eyes. Those who did not know her would have seen nothing wrong, but he could see the slight tremor in her hands as she raised her ever-present teacup to her lips and sipped delicately.

"Hetty, I –"

But he got no further. Hetty silenced him with a hand, and he waited as she set her cup back down and looked up at him.

"Mr Callen. Sit down, please. I would say good morning, but I feel it would be an error."

He tried again, "Hetty, I just – "

But again she cut him off, "Sit down, Mr Callen. We have much to discuss, if what I have heard is true,"

"That depends, what have you heard?" She smiled slightly at the typical Callen response, but with no real humour.

"You are leaving us," He moved as though to interrupt, "No, Mr Callen, let me finish. Director Vance spoke to me this morning, and told me you would be relinquishing your post with us. I know the what, but he did not tell me the why. And so I am going to ask you. Why, Callen? I thought you were happy here. Has something happened?"

He smirked, but the humour couldn't make it to his eyes either. "You could say that. Hetty, you know me. My entire life I have wanted to serve this country in the best way I can, and for the last six years I felt that here was the best place to do that. But now, I've been offered a place... elsewhere, where I can do even more. This team has grown to mean a lot to me, Hetty, but if I can do better elsewhere, you can't expect me to pass this up."

He paused, well aware that he had said a lot at once for him, and looked at Hetty. Her face was blank, but her eyes held hidden depths of emotion.

"Very well Mr Callen, I respect it is your decision," she said slowly, "However I must tell you that I expected you to find it harder to make this decision than it appears to have been."

"It was, but –"

"Mr Callen, this team has become your family. I like to think I know you better than most, and I know that you have been searching for your family all your life. Forgive me if I tell you this led me to believe you would find it hard to leave us behind."

Callen sighed, a rare display of emotion.

"Hetty, it was hard. I know you think I should take longer to think things over, but then I think about things most of the night too. I have thought about this, and I will miss this team, but... I think it's what I need to do."

Hetty stared at him sadly. Need, not want. She knew there was more to it than patriotism. Callen had always had the reflex to run away from anything that made him happy, before it could go wrong and hurt him. She had hoped his bond with the team would help him to overcome it, but it seems that it was only delaying the inevitable.

"If that is what you have decided, then I will not stand in your way, Mr Callen."

He sighed in obvious relief that she was not going to push him.

"However, there is one more thing I would like to know. The Director did not specify where you were going. Perhaps you will tell me?"

Callen had been dreading this question. He looked up at Hetty, and she was concerned when she saw the darkness pooling in his eyes.

"Black ops," he whispered.

So... What did you think? Please review if you have any thoughts, I want to make this better for you to read!