A/N Thank you for all your reviews.
Disclaimer: Shh! it may not be mine yet, but i am slowly edging my way around the perimeter of Shane Brennan's house to find the rights for NCIS:LA.
Chapter 2
Callen stood in his C.O's office at parade rest.
He had just completed his mandatory tour and was considering where to go next as far as he was concerned he had been here too long. The stability had been nice but he felt the need to move on again.
"Callen, I need you for a mission, it is volunteer only, but somehow I think you suited for it, it's a joint Marine/CIA mission."
"Sir, Yes. Sir!" Callen answered by rote.
"Sit down Callen." His C.O. motioned him to the chair in his office and Callen sat down.
"This mission is in Russia, well Serbia to be exact, according to your files you would be an ideal candidate for this job."
"Because I'm expendable sir?" Callen asked matter of factly.
His C.O. cringed inside, four years and still Callen could not quite shake that he was not as good as everyone else was because he had no family.
"No Callen, because you're the only guy in this unit that speaks fluent Russian, we only have one other marine on base right now that's available and he'll be going with you, a Gunnery Sergeant Leroy Jethro Gibbs. He should be here in a few moments if you are willing to take on this assignment"
Callen nodded, "How long is this mission planned to take sir?" he asked.
"At least three months."
The door knocked and a brown haired, blue-eyed marine entered. "Gunnery Sergeant Gibbs Sir!" he saluted.
"Stand easy Marine." The C.O said.
"Sir," Gibbs said and took his seat,
"Gibbs, this is Callen. You two will be working together."
"You just have one name too?" Callen asked he was younger than the other man was and had never met anyone else who only had a surname like him.
"Nope three, just only use the one." Gibbs smirked at the younger man. Who, in his opinion was a little bit young to be going on this mission, but he had been recommended and let's face it Gibbs had orders to follow.
"So how's your Russian?" Gibbs asked.
"Это не плохо, как твой?" Callen said.
Gibbs smiled, "Достаточно того, что я могу иметь разговор и не говори глупостей."
Callen laughed as the C.O. looked on confused, "так что вы единственный разумный на русском или вы разумный и на других языках?"
Gibbs laughed which caused the C.O. to do a double take as Gibbs was known as a hard ass and never laughed.
"Nope I'm sensible in English too."
"Good to know." Callen replied.
Both men headed off on the mission, at the airport the C.O. gave them their last minute details and watched as they boarded the transport plane.
Hetty came out from another room, "Don't you think he is a little young to go on this mission?" He asked the diminutive operative.
"Mr. Callen is more than prepared for this mission. I have great faith in him and hopefully he will make a good friend in Gibbs, I think they will be good for each other." She mused.
She followed every report that came out of the mission.
Standing in the CIA threat assessment center she stood at the back following the end of Callen and Gibbs' mission as they took down the Arms dealers that were selling weapons to the American military.
Her heart was in her throat as the gunfire sounded and Gibbs' voice came over the radio, "Alpha team ready for extraction, one wounded. Bravo teams on site for clean up."
She watched as the pick up helicopter focused on the two men, Gibbs was crouched over Callen protecting him from the downdraft as the helicopter landed. "How is he?" She asked her voice calm but her heart in her throat.
"Unconscious, a lot of blood loss and a through and through bullet wound to the side, he should be fine." The airman told her.
She let out a breath which her director caught, "Hetty?" he asked concerned at the uncharacteristic behavior of his Agent.
"Sam, I think it's time we asked Mr. Callen to move to the CIA?" she suggested. "He would make a good asset."
Sam picked up the file Hetty held in her hand and looked at it. "He's Clara's kid?" he asked shocked. "I thought they were all dead?"
The older man sat down in shock as he looked over the file.
"I need him close after this Sam, just to see if he finds his feet, I think he may have the same talents as his grandfather and his parents." Hetty said.
Sam nodded agreeing with her. "Very well Henrietta, you bring him in, if he recognizes you, then we will have to rethink what to do with him. How much of his past do you think he knows?"
"Nothing, All he knows is his surname and the first letter of his name we redacted everything else for his safety."
"Very well pick him up and give him the standard offer." Sam handed the file back to Hetty and watched as she left the office. This was turning out to be a day full of surprises.
Two weeks later Hetty sat in the company black sedan on the tarmac at an 'undisclosed' air force base waiting for the black ops flight carrying Gibbs and Callen to arrive.
She sat in the car and looked over to the only other car on the tarmac a brown truck containing a woman with red hair and a bright-eyed child who was laughing with her mother. The child bounced up and down in the car pointing excitedly as the plane they were waiting for came into land.
They waited separately at the plane taxied to a stop and two men wearily disembarked from the rear of the plane.
The two men shared a one armed hug and Gibbs walked over to hold his wife and child. He nodded a goodbye to Callen who halfheartedly smiled back watching as the happy family left. Then he stood on the tarmac as personnel worked on the plane.
He shrugged his shoulders, heaved up his bag, and started walking towards the exit looking to Hetty's mind as lost as he did when he was five and she had told him she was not family.
"Mr. Callen!" She called stepping out of the car.
He turned and looked at her suspiciously, she was glad of that it proved he did not remember her, although a small part had hoped he would.
He slowly walked towards her, "OK I'm too old for a social worker and you're too short for a cop…so who are you and what do you want?" He asked.
"I've been asked to offer you a job with the Company." She said.
"What company?" Callen asked confused.
Hetty gestured for him to get into the car but Callen hung back. Hetty suppressed a grin; suspicion was a good trait for him to have it would keep him alive.
"My name is Henrietta Lange and I work for the CIA, my job is to find viable candidates to make good agents and you Mr. Callen have so to speak 'pinged my radar'."
Callen nodded, not breaking eye contact with the woman, he entered the car.
They arrived at the CIA offices and he was taken to an intake center. In a year, he was a fully-fledged agent and often he wondered about the strange woman who had picked him up from the airport that day. He had not seen her since.
He had, as his Director Sam had predicted, turned out to have an excellent penchant for undercover work managing to completely become another person with ease. The only difficulty they had was finding him partners. He never stayed in the same place for more than a week moving from motel to hotel to bedsit. He only owned two sets of clothes and his partners would all end up complaining about his insomnia. He would forget they were sleeping and sometimes he would call them in the middle of the night and he would cat nap at his desk during the day.
After two years and one dirty partner later, Callen was sitting at his desk feeling betrayed and stifling the urge to change jobs and he was getting antsy.
He flicked through the mail shots for the day did his paperwork and leaned back in his chair. His bag packed next to him ready for his next move. He was writing his resignation letter as his phone rang.
"Callen," He said.
"Agent Callen, Director Simmons DEA, I've been passed your name as someone who might be interested in moving your considerable talents to our organization."
"I'm listening," Callen said guardedly.
Inside the DEA office, Director Simmons replaced the receiver on the phone and looked up at the woman sitting across his desk.
"Well, Ms Lange, it looks like I may have a new agent, Thank you, his resume is outstanding and it was fortuitous that you knew he was planning on leaving the CIA."
"Just keep him safe Robert, that's all I ask." Hetty said
"I think with you looking out for him, he should be fine." The director smiled.