Till Death Do Us Part
Disclaimer: NCISLA characters belong to Shane Brennan. All original characters and this story are mine.
Chapter 7
Navy Yard, Washington D.C.
Alex knew it was going to be tough to lie to her parents. She'd done it for the past eight years, when she'd told them that she was working as an analyst at NCIS. But now she knew that she had to tell them another lie. That they were going into witness protection, not on another operation and taking Katie with them. Her father knew what life as a federal agent was like and he'd studied her closely over the years, when she came and asked them to look after Katie for a few days or a week, while she went away for work. She was good at lying, her job required it of her.
But her parents knew her well, her father the best out of anyone. She was just like him. Thought like him, behaved in the same way, in the same situation. They were close. Very close, like many father-daughter relationships. Well, the good ones, anyway. From the moment Alexandra came into their lives, she'd melted Oscar's heart and they'd forged a solid bond from the word go. Everyone commented over the years just how much like her father she was. She couldn't have been more his daughter, even if she was their biological daughter. And that was the interesting part of it all. They had no blood ties and only a very few knew the truth. That Christine and Oscar had adopted her. They took her into their family when she was only ten months old. She'd been left alone after her mother's body was found lifeless and bloodied on the bed in their family home.
It was Oscar who had found her and fell in love with the dark haired, blue eyed baby. Her eyes bulged out from her face, enhancing her petite features of her button nose and sweet rose coloured lips. Her chubby cheeks were red from crying and she had just learned to stand up on her own two chubby legs. It was Oscar who soothed her and took her home. No family came forward and by the time Alexandra turned two, she was officially theirs. Her name and that of her mother's was all that they knew. They had found her birth certificate in her mother's name, but no name had been provided for her father. But that didn't matter to Christine and Oscar. Alexandra was theirs. And she had slotted into the Holden's family life as if she belonged there from the word go. Her siblings came along after her, they had no idea that she was adopted. For her protection, they kept it a secret, incase her father came looking for her. They had no idea who he was and if he even knew about her. The FBI suspected that it may have been him who killed her mother. But they'd never found her killer.
Oscar was determined from early on to train Alexandra to protect herself. From a young age, she had karate lessons and excelled. As she grew, more and more hand to hand combat training was given until she was old enough to hold a gun in her hand and shoot. Alex was twelve when her father first took her to a firing range. Before then, she'd been educated on the responsibility of holding a gun. The damage it could do and how easily things could go wrong if the weapon was not respected. She could dissemble a gun, clean it and put it back together again by age eleven. She was good. Real good, Oscar noted. She could have gone on to represent the country and won gold at the Olympic Games had they allowed her. But they needed to keep her safe. He kept his focus on training her so she could protect herself. And it had worked. She was forty years old and had survived a great deal of challenging moments. Not that Oscar knew of any of them. But he had trained her to be the best of the best, which earned her the position to lead her own secret team within NCIS.
Until recently. Anger bubbled under the surface over the danger that had almost resulted in his daughter's death. After three and a half weeks, she was still weak and in no fit state to protect herself. She was in a situation beyond escaping on her own. But she had a back up plan and now, for the first time, Oscar was listening to his daughter explain to him how it wasn't safe for her and Katie to remain in her home city. Washington D.C. had been her home ever since he brought her home to be his daughter. Yet, he was impressed over the strength she displayed when she spoke with him and his wife of forty-two years. She was in control. And everything she had told them over the past eight years since she had returned to work after having Katie, made him doubt every word. This was the control of a woman with leadership behind her. Not something recently earned. But something she had for a real long time. He was well aware of her time as a field agent stationed at the Navy Yard in the past, and he had been so proud of her. Although disappointed that she hadn't followed him into the Bureau, he was still proud of what she had achieved. Top of her class at FLETC and chose NCIS after her stints with each of the agencies, in her final year.
It was where she met G. Callen, her husband. He had admired her choice in a husband, although he and his wife were annoyed at first for them eloping in Paris. But they supported her just the same. They had done what they had set out to do. Love her and provide a loving family environment to grow up in and help shape her into the amazing woman that she'd become. A silent hero working for their government. Protecting others and seeking justice for those who couldn't be saved. They'd been there for her when Callen left D.C. for Los Angeles and when she told them that she was pregnant. They helped her raise Katie so she could return to work, when Katie was eighteen months old. When she was four, they helped her with Katie, so she could fly to Los Angeles to sit at her husband's bedside after he had been shot five times. And now, five years on from that moment, he was back in their lives and regretful of abandoning Alex and the child he never knew. He heard the regret in his voice. The acceptance of his actions and the consequences of them. The determination was written on his face to make up for his biggest mistake of his life, to walk away.
Director Vance had given them a second chance. A new life as a family, in a new city, with new names and past, without them. Alex's words rung through his ears as fog settled in his brain at the news.
"Dad?"
Tears poured down Christine's face as she held onto Alexandra's hand.
Oscar looked to his wife and then to his daughter. He furrowed his brow for a moment, as he took the time for the news to sink in. "No. We're coming with you."
"You can't. It'll be just the three of us. No one can know who we are or where we're from. You have to stay here for Oliver and Samantha. They need you to be in their lives still. To be there for their children." It hurt her to tell them. She knew she was going to miss them terribly, and her brother and sister. Oliver and Samantha were twins, three years younger than her, but the three of them had always been close. They were a close family and did everything together.
"Whose going to keep an eye out for you?" Oscar was well attuned to the life of those who went into the witness protection program.
"It will be kept in house in NCIS. Owen Granger will be our point of contact. He'll come to visit us regularly as Callen's father. He'll be able to get to us easily enough and he'll have a team ready to come to our aide if we get into trouble." She kept from him the part about her own team being around. They didn't exist, she couldn't reveal their part in this. Or the operation that Callen would be involved in, although it will be for intel only on Callen's part. Hers would be a little more involved. Not that Callen had been read in on that part of the operation. Because one day, his team could be called to their aide, if her own team weren't available. The plan was set in place. Just in case. But with Green burning her in the Ukraine, it brought a whole other set of complications with it. They had a plan within a plan, to arrest these low lying terrorists, take them down one by one and then draw in the agency's mole. She was certain it was Green. If Green hasn't been arrested by then from the proof Nell or Hetty had found, she needed to be prepared to face her demon head on and end him. At the risk that Callen's team might shoot her to protect him, unaware who she is and why she would attack Green. That's why Callen was needed. To have her back. To protect her and to be her husband again. She'd gone over the plan in her head numerous times over the past six months. More so, more recently, now that her life was in danger as herself from Green. Her time in the Ukraine complicated the operation and the risk of Green meeting her in Santa Barbara was high. She had to put her trust in those around her to ensure she and her daughter were safe. Callen would do what it took to protect them, that much she knew. Granger too, now she knew that he was family.
"You're not going into the FBI's witness program?" Oscar shook his head. "No, Alexandra. You know the drill. The Bureau is the agency who deals with situations like this. I can call a friend and set it up immediately. You'll be safer this way." Fear flashed in his eyes for his girl.
"Dad. It's okay. Director Vance has the best people working on this. The fewer the better. The FBI's witness protection program would be the first place they will look to find us. There's a mole within NCIS who burned me. Someone I knew from years ago told the rebels in Donetsk that I worked for NCIS. I was there to support Daniel's mom in a hostile part of the world. We should have come home after our two weeks planned trip. If word gets out about Katie and I going into the witness protection program, I'll be in more danger than if I stayed at home. No. I will have people around me I know and trust. G will protect us. And you did an amazing job training me, Dad. Please, you've got to let us go." It was her plan and she needed her dad to accept it.
"We're going to miss you, Ally. You and Katie. Please send word to us now and then how you're going." He wrapped his arms gently around his daughter. It pained him to see her so fragile, although she tried hard to hide it from him.
"We're going to miss you all too." Tears fell down her face as she held onto her parents.
Their departure was a difficult one for all of them. There were tears pouring down Alex and Katie's faces as they said their goodbyes to her parents and Gibbs. Callen found it difficult to say goodbye to his father after such a short time with him. They'd had an hour to talk before they had to leave and it wasn't anywhere long enough for either of them. Thirty-nine years apart and all they got was an hour together. Thankfully, Owen stepped in and told them that he would be happy to pass messages on between them. He'd lost his chance in flying to Canada to see his sister and spend time with them. But he had to step up and be there for Alex and Katie. Responsibilities he'd walked out on ten years earlier and he needed to prove to Alex and Katie that he was here for them now.
