Solidary Soldier
Chapter two
[NCIS Los Angeles]
After a nice clean shower, Agent Callen felt as though his mind was lightened up like a candle. He felt more alive than he did than his sober days. The stench of alcohol was gone. The only smell under his breathe was Colgate. He sprayed the cologne all over him, making him look like the new Mr. G. Callen.
The Russian man stepped out of the bathroom, feeling very refreshed. Then, scouted around his house looking for his big bad wolf partner. The first sight greeted him was a disinfectant smell. He found Sam in the kitchen, finishing his mopping duties.
Normally, Callen never have any possession in his house. The only possession he have was just a sofa, a small wooden box that contain photos and a small green plant. The photos represents his very identity and still not discovering his first name. The photos were what connected him.
But, when Joelle Tayler, the school teacher came into his life, he had a reason for his empty house to be very full. Callen actually went to a grocery store, shopping everything he needed for his girlfriend to feel at home. His kitchen cupboard had a handful of plates. A tea pot for his boss and a set of tea cups. He even have his own coffee machine as well as a boiling kettle.
Joelle was the reason his house was filled with household possession. Even his main room had a queen size bed. His main bedroom had a cupboard filled with Joelle's books.
Since she had walked out of his life, the bookshelf became emptied. His house looked like it had a reason for him to live a life. A life just like everyone else. His house surprised Sam how much his best friend had changed over just one person. Even his personality.
"Make tea for Hetty." Sam instructed.
"Sure." Callen moved towards the cupboard, collecting the pot of tea and the set of cups. He set the kettle, filling it with water to the brim and started to boil it. "So, care to share what my assignment is?" He asked in a business tone.
"Apparently you're assigned to protect a North Korean agent, Sun-Hwa Kim." Sam answered promptly, putting away the cleaning equipment.
"How is a North Korean agent related to NCIS?" Callen pointed out, sounding baffled at his answer.
"Grace Stevens. She's dead." Sam reported bitterly. He turn to face him, looking sour. "Grace was working with Sun-Hwa Kim, defusing two Chinese terrorist cells who threatened the world leaders. While they did defused their threats, she discovered a third Chinese terrorist group defecting all agents for what they did to their predecessors."
Callen allowed this new information to digest in his mind. "So, the two Chinese terrorists group had a purpose, that their purpose is: they didn't need a governor to run the country. They think the governor are the disease that made their country ill. They're rebellious and out for blood." Callen surmised.
"Yeah." Sam agreed, sounding displeased. "Granger wants us to find two North Korean agents and defuse three assassins. There could be more agents needed to be assigned for protection. Their history with the terrorists cells are messy. Hell messy. They don't like to be found and trust no one."
"What do you mean two North Korean agents?" Callen asked, in a confused tone. "I thought the assignment was just to protect Sun-Hwa Kim."
"Two for now. But, there could be more. Sun-Hwa Kim and Ki Soo Kim were the only ones who saw Grace's killers." Sam explained.
"They're siblings?" Callen noted the surnames being similar.
"No. The surname 'Kim' is common in Korea. It's just like the surname with Jones." Sam pointed out.
"Okay. What do you know about Sun-Hwa Kim?" Callen questioned him.
"Her file is thick. What I read on her file is similar to yours." Sam smirked at him.
"How so?" Callen raised one eyebrow at him and leaned against the wall lazily.
"Let's see: she's paranoid. Her trust is wounded from her past and a very complicated person, just like you. She's very beautiful. Fair skin. Tall and a highly decorated agent." Sam hinted.
"Sam, I don't date law enforcement." Callen reminded him and repeated his question. "I think we're beginning to go off the track here, my friend."
Sam smiled back understandingly. "She was force to become a North Korean agent. Her mother and sister were kidnapped by the North Korean military agency. They'd threatened if she'd didn't agree to work with them, they won't hesitate to kill her family."
"What was the mission to set her family free?" Callen wondered.
"She and her supervisor were assigned to protect a political ambassador during the conference. The political ambassador was in charged with the nuclear facility. But, when a South Korean agent murdered him, they chased him down. Then, the agency asked her to assassinate him, saying he is a threat." Sam explained.
"But, she didn't and her family was murdered." Callen concluded, his stomach churned uncomfortably.
Sam nodded in response to his conclusion. "Her family was burn alive in the warehouse. According to the report on the file, the agency shot them, mutilated before burning them with oil and fire. Sun-Hwa went back to her home only to find burn bodies that was the remains of her mother and sister."
Callen looked taken aback. "Why didn't she turn the South Korean agent in?" His heart sank like a stone at this brutal murder.
"She believed he was setup." Sam surmised.
"And now she's paranoid in terms of security." Callen stated slowly. "What about Ki Soo Kim?"
"Ki Soo Kim is a North Korean Intelligence. He is a guy to see if agents needs to be relocated to a safe house. New passport. New identity. Now, a retired agent. He worked closely with a South Korean task force to defuse the first Chinese terrorist group. His file is thin. So you know, Hetty said the whole team is coming over to be brief on Grace Steven's case." Sam warned him seriously.
"Why?" Callen asked, startled.
"After what happened to Grace, Hetty said we couldn't risk revealing our location to the third Chinese terrorist group and she doesn't doubt they might try to infiltrate our headquarters to deliver their attacks. She thinks we could be compromised. So, be nice and don't mess up this time." Sam advised him.
Callen sighed. "I guess my shopping have to wait. You think the next time I see Nell at work I would receive a punch in the face?" He asked in a apprehensive tone.
"I would do it for Nell." Sam agreed protectively over their youngest member. "Seriously, G, you'd scared the hell out of me!" He commented.
"I'm sorry." Callen said genuinely, turning his back on him and switched off the squealing kettle. He could feel his eyes heated up with hot tears. "Truthfully, I – I didn't want to accept that Joelle and I were over that soon. There were times that I felt suicidal." He admitted in a cracked voice.
The emotions were swelling inside his heart. He could feel his chest was beginning to tightened. His heart clenched so tightly he was certain it would bleed. The heartache was so real he felt his own heart was set with an angry fire. The leader place a hand on his own chest. Sam put a consoling hand on his shoulder.
"I really loved Joelle. I never felt like this with any woman before and it hurt so badly that I feel I wanted to just die in the inside." Callen told him in a wobbly voice. His tears spilled freely. "But, what I do know if we do get back together, we won't be the same anymore. It will be different. It was better that we broke up. We both called it."
Sam was glad his partner didn't push his hand or chase him out of the house like he had done to Nell and Kensi. It was a start to say the least. It was the first time G. had spoken about his bitter relationship. It was the first time he had ever shared his private life with a friend because Agent Callen acts like a solidary soldier.
He is a man who lived in the shadows, always sewing secrets close to his chests; never exposing it to others unless it was somebody he'd trusted. He is the most complicated man the team had ever known, always acting alone. His childhood made him who he is today.
They were distracted by a soft knock on the front door. Sam and Callen looked at each other. Sam smiled warmly. "You just needed a cute tight cuddly teddy bear hug right now." He open his arms wide, waiting for his colleague to climbed into his embrace, looking amused.
Callen chortled, then, he recited. "'A cute tight cuddly teddy bear.'" He looked thoughtfully at Sam. "I don't know, Sam. You look more like a shark than a teddy bear to me." He walked out of the kitchen, making his way out to the front door to greet their boss.
"Keep it up. I will give you a headlock and do Nell a favour." Sam remarked, irritated at his smartass comeback. "I will get the tea for Hetty." He patted Callen on the back.
Callen swung his front door open. "Hi, Hetty." He helped his boss carried the two luggage's. The luggage's he'd carried were light. It seemed to be empty.
"Mr. Callen." Hetty said kindly. She greeted him with a warm hug.
Callen had to bend down slightly to hug her back. His boss was like a mother to him and respected her just like everyone else. He was like a son that she never had and they were close as his real family. Her trust with him were just like the trust Callen had with Sam.
"So, what's the luggage's for?" Callen nodded at the luggage's.
"Your new undercover alias. A marriage certificate for you and Agent Kim. I assure you this certificate will bypass the North Korean military agency. She was flag for being on the no-flight list." Hetty explained.
"Okay. I will bring her back." Callen promised her.
"Bring yourself back home. We lost too many of our own." Hetty told him in a worried tone.
"How are you coping with Grace Steven's death?" Callen asked concernedly, knowing his boss was close to the female agent.
"Pitchy." Hetty replied honestly. "How are you?" Hetty asked in a stern tone, studying him like a hawk.
"I'm..." Callen wasn't even sure what to say. He couldn't say he was fine because he was still feeling very sore in his heart. In fact, the last four days the former Russian agent felt as though he was being suffocated.
"You feel lost." Hetty supplied. "I believed what you need is closure."
"I – " Callen started, his words were lost as he felt his throat all clogged up. There was no need for him to finished because Hetty understood him. Like a mother, the woman with glasses took his hand into hers.
"You don't want to accept it is over. You are afraid to love due to past experiences. But, what you'd experience over the years, Mr. Callen, will only make you stronger." Hetty advised him wisely.
"Thanks, Hetty." Callen replied appreciatively. "I don't know when I will be ready to love somebody like Joelle again."
"You will be. Since you began your relationship with Joelle, you had been doubting yourself, battling to tell her which I is I." Hetty reminded him. "You will love somebody like Joelle if you learn to trust yourself."
[NCIS Los Angeles]
"I understand the team will feel awkward around you. I am sure Mr Hanna had told you our security had tightened and we can't always use our headquarters as our base. Assistant Director Granger believed we may be compromised." Hetty informed Callen.
"Yeah, he just brief me on our assignments." Callen agreed, still trying to adjust the new case in his mind. "How do you know the two North Korean agents?"
"It started with the first Chinese terrorist group called Athena. The US government agencies had been monitoring their activities for some time. The Athena was born before the second terrorist group called IRIS. In history, they had attack the global stock market and the US soil." Hetty answered promptly. "They are the most radical group we had encountered. In the past they had used children as suicide bombers. Some were as young as a primary school age. At the age of eight, Ki Soo Kim was strapped with a bomb and was force to assassinate the secretary of treasure."
Callen gave her a look. "You were assigned to protect the political members for the US government."
"Yes, during my days as a CIA agent." Hetty smiled. "Well Mr. Callen, I am very glad you had freshened up." Hetty laughed and patted him on his cheek with her hand gently. "Give Nell a big bear hug, will you?"
Callen nodded, now feeling ashamed. How was he going to face his team with his atrocious behaviour he had delivered the last four days? Particularly to Nell and Kensi, whom he'd considered them as his younger sisters'.
A soft crunch sounded at the side of his kerb. Sure enough, the field agent could see a Honda vehicle parked. Then, four members of his team climbed out of the car. His stomach twisted into knots, feeling more guilty and embarrassed. He could see Kensi holding onto Nell. Callen didn't blame their junior looking quite apprehensive. After all, he did scare his favourite boss's analysis.
The word 'Dysfunctional family' crept into his mind. He shook his head, dismissing that awful thought and realised how much Sam was right: that he does have a family. That he does need a shoulder to lean on no matter how much he wanted to deny he didn't need to cry on somebody's shoulder. They might not be in blood family but they were as close as his real family.
As the rest of the team reached the front door, Callen stretched out his hand to detective and much to his surprised, the leader was swept into his embrace, almost lifting him off the ground. Shocked washed over Callen's heart. He certainly did not expect this gesture from the cop. Still, he appreciated all the same and did expect a handful of fists being sink into his mouth for all the treatments he had given them.
Deeks laughed joyfully at the sight of his expression. He was like a younger brother amongst the males agents. He walked passed him, bending low to his boss to give her a hug before making his way to find the muscle man. Eric awkwardly shake his hand. Callen return his gesture and patted him on the back, understanding him. After all, Eric was close to Nell and was rather protective of her. Plus, like Kensi and Deeks, Eric was Nell's partner.
Callen noticed there was a medium box in Kensi's arms. "What flavour?" He enquired sincerely.
"It's a surprised." Kensi answered cheekily. "Nell, would you mind to put the cake in the fridge?" She handed the medium box of cake to the red hair woman.
"Sure." The petite woman agreed.
Nell took the box from her. Then, her eyes widen in surprise as Callen engulf her with his big arms, hugging her tightly. Kensi had to smile. She knew Callen had different ways to express his feelings when he regretted something. Nell patted on Callen's head awkwardly, unsure what to do. Kensi grinned at her friend. Callen let Nell go and watched her walked into the kitchen.
Kensi clasped his hands into hers. "Promise me one wish, Callen." She hold his hand tightly.
"Okay." Callen agreed, feeling uneasy.
"I want you to promise me never to push us away. If anyone understand what you're going through right now: is me. I lost the man who never came back to me. I felt lost. I started drinking a lot of booze and refuse to talk to anyone. I was like you. I left my home and became homeless. But, when NCIS found me, that was when I started to unlock the doors. I was reminded that I was not alone. I know it's extremely difficult because you're always wishing that one day they will come back." Kensi explained in a consoling tone.
Callen nodded in agreement. He sighed. The words he wanted to tell Kensi was lost in mid-sentence. The male agent couldn't bring himself to tell her about his relationship with Joelle. Kensi understood his pain because she hugged him warmly. She kissed him once on the cheek. Like a sibling, she patted him on the head, just like Nell did.
Callen noticed her fourth finger on her left hand sparkled merrily. There was a ring on her left hand.
"Congratulation on getting propose." Callen managed to say. "I'm actually looking forward to eat my cake."
Kensi grinned broadly at him. "Hey, don't give up on finding love. You will find someone like Joelle."
Callen smiled in response. He closed the front door and followed her into the lounge room. It was time for a briefing.
[NCIS Los Angeles]