After Farmer and his agents left, Granger turned to the team. "I know you have lots of questions about what Hetty said. It's probably best she tells you herself but what I will say is that until now only Director Vance, myself, Hetty and Agent Callen know that Hetty is his mother; well, his adoptive mother – not his birth mother. We'd like it kept that way please for the safety of all concerned. Do I make myself clear? And that includes you two, Miss Jones, Mr Beale. Regardless of the fact that you disobeyed an order, you all did good work here today. Now let's get to the hospital."
In the ambulance, en route to Mount Sinai, while one paramedic kept checking Callen's vitals, the other had a look at Hetty's wrist.
"The wrist is OK but you've broken your arm – just here" indicating the point where the break was. "I'll put a splint on it for now but it will have to be x-rayed and the doctor will decide whether it can be manipulated into place or whether it's bad enough for an operation."
"Thank you" said Hetty. "That's quite comfortable now" after the paramedic applied the splint and a sling to keep it as immobile as possible.
"Chris, give me a hand here please. I need to swap over this bag" the senior paramedic said to his colleague indicating the chest drain bag. "He's still bleeding internally; get ready to change the IV too- it's getting low. I hope your medical team will be ready when we arrive, he'll need to go into surgery as soon as we get there." He felt comfortable being blunt with the strange, old woman, he sensed she preferred the no nonsense approach.
"Yes they will be. They are used to being called on at short notice to attend to Federal Agents injured in the line of duty. I'm afraid you will all have to sign a disclosure regarding what you have seen today. It is a matter of national security."
He shrugged. "Of course. We're covered by the Services own protocol but it's not a problem" he said. Just then, an alarm from the monitoring equipment sounded bringing his attention back to his patient. "Dammit! Sorry, m'am" apologising to Hetty for his language. Hetty waved her good hand in a 'don't worry' gesture, concerned more about Callen's deteriorating condition. Checking to see what the monitors were indicating, he took his stethoscope and listened intently to Callen's chest.
"Dave! Pull over! Now!" he shouted to his driver and when the vehicle was stationary, he took a syringe and inserted it carefully and slowly into Callen's chest. Almost immediately the monitors returned to normal. The senior medic let out a relieved sigh and answered Hetty's unspoken question, after telling his driver he could continue the journey. "Blood was seeping into the sac surrounding the heart which, if not removed, would have built up stopping it from beating. A fragment of the bullet or a piece of bone must have pierced the sac. Your team will need to check that as soon as possible."
The medic got on his radio and phoned ahead to the hospital to update them on the patient's condition and injuries so that they knew in advance what they were dealing with.
At the hospital they were met by Hetty's medical team. Whilst the senior paramedic updated the team on Callen's condition and what had already been done, the senior Doctor came over to Hetty and took his hand in hers.
"Hetty. Here we are again! I will do all I can, you know that."
"Yes. Thank you, Michael. Go, go. I think time is of an essence" said Hetty as she watched her god son rush after his team to scrub up and hopefully save the life of her son.
She thanked the EMTs for all they had done after getting them to sign the disclosures that her medical team had left for them. She then wearily made her way to the family area where she sat waiting for the rest of her team to arrive and for news that she knew would be a long time coming. After a short while, Granger and the team arrived anxious for any news.
"Mr Callen is in surgery. There was an incident on the way here." Her voice cracked and she took a deep breath before continuing. "He coded but they managed to revive him. Apparently blood was seeping into the pericardium probably caused by the bullet and was putting undue pressure on the heart, preventing it beating properly. Michael, my god son, and his team are doing all they can & he will tell us as soon as there is any news."
She looked at faces of her team. At the mention of 'coded', Kensi put her hand over her mouth in shock, her eyes welling up with tears. The usual jovial Deeks shook his head in disbelief and Sam bit his bottom lip, trying to keep his emotions in check. Even the stoic Granger looked concerned and weary. Hetty continued "You also deserve an explanation regarding what I said earlier. I cannot tell you anything that Mr Callen doesn't know himself of course and while I know he would prefer to tell you all himself, I'm sure in the circumstance he wouldn't mind."
Again she looked at her team who were still reeling from what had happened earlier. "You know Mr Callen and I have history. Sam, I'm sure, knows more of Mr Callen's past and Ms Blye and Mr Deeks both discovered some information when you all went to Romania to rescue me. Suffice it to say that I knew his mother and vowed to looking after her children after she was killed. I have been keeping tabs on Mr Callen since I discovered he was in America, lost in the welfare system. What you don't know is that I adopted him when I rescued him from juvenile hall when he was 15. He has lived with me on and off since then and we enjoy a family relationship – or did until I did something really stupid. The only people who know are Director Vance, Assistant Director Granger, Mr Callen and myself. And now you. It is imperative this be kept a secret for the integrity of the Agency but for our safety. We have all made enemies and our family and friends could be used against us."
They uttered their thanks for being trusted with the information and all assured that the secret would be safe. They were genuinely pleased that Callen had a relatively normal family life. Kensi said, "Hetty, have you got your wrist checked out yet?"
Hetty said that she hadn't done anything since the paramedic looked at it in the ambulance. Whilst Hetty was prepared to wait until Michael was free, Granger insisted that she went to ER and get it checked out. "The longer it is left, the more likely it will be harder to fix" he said and virtually carried her to ER, with the team promising to contact them if there was news.
In ER they checked out the arm and arranged for an X-ray to be taken. Whilst they were waiting for the results, Hetty said to Granger "Why did he do it, Owen?"
"Why did who do what, Henrietta?" he asked.
"Mr Callen. Why did he put himself in danger to save me? Especially after the way I've treated him lately," asked Hetty in all sincerity.
Granger looked at Hetty incredulously. "It's what he does, he protects people. Especially those he cares about." Hetty looked at him as if he was speaking a language she didn't understand. "Henrietta" said Granger exasperated "Callen loves you; he cares about you more than life itself. He's just proved that. In spite of whatever has happened between you, he needed to keep you safe. He proved it twice today – once in the house, when he protected you with his body and again, when he pushed you out of the way of the bullet."
Hetty eyes were welling up with tears again. "How can I make it up to him, Owen? What can I do to put it right?"
"You are the only one who can answer that, Henrietta"
Just then the consultant came back with the results of the x-ray. "I'm pleased to say that it is a relatively simple break that can be manipulated into place so you won't need an operation". He gave her a local anaesthetic and when it had taken effect, manipulated the bones into position and a colleague put it in plaster. Once done, Hetty thanked them and went with Granger back to the family room to await news.
Granger's phone rang and he answered it, listening intently at what was being said. When all the information had been disclosed, he said: "Good work, Beale. I'll let the others know. No, Agent Callen's still in surgery. As soon as there's any news, we'll let you know" and he hang up.
The others were looking at him questioningly.
"The dynamic duo have discovered the identity of the dead woman. Her name is. or rather was Fatima Khan. Her father drove a taxi in Karachi. He was killed when his car exploded when he was driving the terrorist."
"I know that terrorist; he was No 1 on the most wanted list" said Sam
"Yes" confirmed Granger. "It was our team – Farmer, Potter, Brown, Henrietta & me – task in the 80s to discover terrorists and neutralise them. It was our bomb that killed Khan's father."
"And she witnessed it?" asked Kensi
Granger nodded.
"We made her a terrorist" stated Sam and the others sat in silence, alone with their own thoughts.
Granger went to sit with Hetty and she looked at him sadly. "It was simply revenge, Owen. We were responsible for turning an innocent little girl into a terrorist and it is our fault – my fault - that Mr Callen is now fighting for his life."
"Henrietta, don't you dare say that. Do not belittle his actions or his commitment to keeping this country safe" answered Owen angrily. His voice softened as he continued "Yes, it's his job and he's an exceptional agent. However, he did this to protect his team and more importantly, you."
Inside the OR, Michael & his team were working frantically on Callen. They were struggling to control the internal bleeding and were hard pressed to get more blood into him as his stats continued to fall. "Where's the blood coming from?" asked Michael to no-one in particular as he searched for the source of the bleed. "Oh, there you are" he said. "More suction, please. If I can't close that off from here, I may have to crack his chest." He managed to suture internally and watched satisfied as his patient's vitals started to rise. "Let's see if we can find the bullet. Ah, there you are" said Michael when he had located it. Delving into the chest with forceps, he located the bullet and extracted it, dropping into a kidney bowl an assistant held out for him. "Good. It doesn't look like it's fragmented at all."
Just then there was a spray of blood and the stats fell suddenly causing the alarms to bleep.