Chapter Two
Thank you so much for your feedback guys! As I said I really don't watch the original NCIS so I didn't realise that Gibbs didn't have an office- for the purpose of the first chapter of this he had temporarily borrowed one….
Please keep reading and reviewing!
Chapter Two
Callen slept better that night than he had in weeks, his unrecognised exhaustion had caught up with him and he was asleep before his head had hit the pillow. It had been nice to fully relax and enjoy a good steak and some beer with an old friend- sure Gibbs had enquired into the whole Janvier episode, yet knew better than to push the younger agent and when he had merely got clipped responses he had let it lie. He finally felt as though he could move on, the guilt would always be with him and the hatred for the most evil person he had ever met would always be present- but he could finally close his eyes without seeing Lauren Hunter's looking back at him. He rolled out of bed feeling unusually refreshed, and pulled on his running gear- heading out within minutes for a smooth run through the city.
LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA
Gibbs chuckled to himself as he read the e-mail from Henrietta Lange, it did please him that his friend was now surrounded by a support network that cared about the loner. He was unsurprised that the LA ops manager had already discreetly checked on her agent- yet he was somehow hesitant to respond in detail, unwilling to betray his friend's confidence. He typed out a reply carefully- stating that Callen had arrived safely and pressed send. He could already imagine the frustration that the vague message would cause the woman, but that just made him chuckle harder.
LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA
Hetty sighed as she read the meagre response she had received from Washington- she did not like being kept in the dark where her agents were concerned, especially when the agent in question was Callen. She was supposed to be on vacation herself, yet Callen being summoned to Washington had halted her plans- there was no way she could sail off into the sunset for three weeks whilst one of her boys were operational- she just wished she could confirm exactly what he was doing if anything. The director had given her no information, Callen himself was off the grid and now even Gibbs would merely confirm the agent's safe arrival and nothing beyond. She was very unused to being out of the loop in this manner, and she didn't intend on making a habit of it. Having one last attempt she dialled Callen's cell number, pleased when it rang- yet disappointed when it diverted to voicemail. Curtly she left a message regarding contact and disconnected the call, before redialling another member of her team.
"Hetty?" Sam answered in surprise, once they were on leave they rarely received any contact from the ops manager.
"Mr Hanna, I am sorry to disturb your vacation- however I was just checking are you still taking the family away?" she asked carefully.
"Yep, just loading the car up now a full week at Disney World with the family" Sam responded, glad that he was going to have a real vacation with his family.
"Have you heard from Mr Callen at all?" she asked, acknowledging that Sam would be out of the equation should she need reinforcements.
"G? Yeah he text me last night to let me know he had arrived safely" Sam replied in confusion. "Hetty what's going on? Is G ok?" he asked, pausing in what he was doing and unable to hide the fear from his voice.
"Relax Mr Hanna- I am sure that Mr Callen is just fine, I am just struggling to reach him on his cell" she reassured him.
"He said he was fine yesterday. What's going on Hetty? Is he on a job?" Sam asked, now worried for his AWOL partner.
"I wish I knew Sam- I wish I knew" she responded finally. "Don't worry Mr Hanna, enjoy your vacation with your family, I will make sure that Mr Callen messages you to let you know he is safe and well" she assured her senior agent gently.
"Okay Hetty- tell him I will kill him if he gets himself in trouble without me to have his back" Sam stated, and the ops manager knew that the former seal meant it. She chuckled lightly.
"I will pass that on Mr Hanna- now go and be with your family" she urged him softly, before they both disconnected. She shook her head to herself, resisting the temptation to set up a trace on her team leader's GPS- whatever was going on was clearly sanctioned by the director she just needed to try to get to the bottom of it.
LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA
Callen stretched as he stepped back through the door to his apartment, he had covered a good ten miles on his run and he felt good. He moved to the fridge and twisted the cap off a bottle of water, sipping from the cool liquid gratefully, he moved over to the counter and saw his cell flashing. Picking it up he rolled his eyes as he noticed the missed call from Ops, shaking his head to himself he dialled the voicemail and listened to the abrupt message that Hetty had left for him. He grinned, the director had not informed Hetty of the reason for his presence and he had no intention of doing so either. If the team back at OSP knew that he was in Washington for anything other than a catch up with an old friend, none of them would relax for their vacations, and the team deserved to relax- he wasn't going to stop them. Thinking carefully he typed out a quick text to the Ops manager and quickly sent it before heading to the shower. When he re-emerged there was already a message waiting for him.
Be very careful Mr Callen
He read it and chuckled lightly, you could keep nothing from Hetty- and he was pretty sure that she knew he was working despite not being furnished with any details.
Jethro will make sure of it. Have a good vacation.
He replied before switching off his cell and removing the battery- keen to make sure that everyone got to spend their vacation time exactly as planned. Moving over to the lounge he took his burn phone from the coffee table, placed the battery inside and switched it on. Carefully he typed out a text to Gibbs, keen to make sure the seasoned agent had his contact details, then he sat down on the sofa and picked up the file next to him- he had prepping to do ready for his interview the next day. He was glad that the cover was already established- less for him to memorise and the backstopping was already solid. He had hoped that he would never have to be Sergei again, yet he appreciated the necessity in this instance. Taking another sip of his water he made himself comfortable as he flicked through the papers before him.
LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA
Hetty sat back at her desk, pleased that she had heard from her agent, yet dissatisfied that he was clearly working something in Washington- without his team around him and without her to oversee it. She didn't like that one bit. She also didn't like that his cell was now switched off, and she was pretty sure it would remain that way until he had completed whatever it was he was doing. She sighed to herself and got to her feet, putting her bag over her shoulder.
"Something wrong Hetty?" Nell asked as she caught sight of the older lady making her way out of the building.
"No Miss Jones, just checking on all of the kids" Hetty responded lightly.
"Agent Callen?" Nell asked, she had picked up that something was going on with the team leader, yet she, like everyone else, had no idea what.
"Yes" Hetty responded with a sigh.
"Is he okay?" Nell asked- she liked the lead agent, he was an enigma to her- yet he never treated her with anything other than the utmost respect.
"I hope so" the responded with a weak smile before heading out of the building- leaving a confused Intelligence analyst in her wake.
End Chapter Two
Please review!