Callen settled into a daily routine at Hanna's house. It was okay, but not his idea of the best situation. Best would be complete privacy, doing his own thing day and night. Sleeping when he wished, eating if he wanted to, working out day and night, making sure he was fit and ready for the next undercover ops.

This routine sucked. Brush your teeth at a specific time. Take a shower at a specific time. Eat at a specific time. Go to the gym and workout where everyone could see you. Where everyone could stare at you when you can't function normal. Stare at you when you stumble. Stare at you when you wince. Stare at you when you—

"G?" Sam held his name out longer than usual to get his attention.

"What?"

"Talk to me."

"About?"

"You know."

"Remember, you said I have PTSD. I'm having a memory lapse."

"I'll give you a memory lapse."

Callen smirked.

"That's more like the partner I know."

"I don't wish to talk about it."

"Not an option." Sam slid down on the sofa next to him. The living room was his favorite spot in the house. He had fixed a fire earlier in the evening and the two logs now glowed bright orange-red.

"Was this Hetty's idea of bonding?"

"Hetty wanted your file encrypted."

"What?"

"I have the password. Some unanswered questions remain."

"Does she know?"

"She knows everything. I suspect that's why she sent you home with me. Why is your main personal file encrypted and sealed?"

"What?"

"Don't answer questions with a question. Answer me, G."

"Ooh, getting angry, Sam?"

"Getting frustrated with your evasiveness."

"I did that myself."

His jaw dropped. "Yourself? Why?"

"I didn't want anyone snooping around my history."

"Like me?"

"Not you in particular."

"Why?"

"Do you need to leave no stone unturned?"

"Yep, I'm afraid so."

Callen sighed, stretching his arms out before him, next over his head, and last back down on his lap. He glanced at his hands and then at the glowing logs in the fireplace while licking his lower lip. "My father."

This time Sam waited, hoping G would talk without more prodding.

"He was and still is quite the bastard. You don't know what a bastard is until you meet him. Sadistic bastard who loved to torture and…. We'll leave it at that, torture. Hate his guts to death. Know why I go undercover on my own?"

"Why?" He leaned against the raised arm cushion. It was the most comfortable spot on the sofa.

"To hunt down the bastard."

"Hetty doesn't know about this?"

"Never telling her and neither are you."

"Hate to tell you, if I know about it, she'll know sooner or later."

"Read your mind?"

"Don't know how, she does it. It's creepy some times. She'll nab you in a corner down the long hallway and confront you."

"Yeah, too many times. Hate it. Scrutinizes you, up one side and down the other. It's like she can smell a lie. Smell a hidden agenda."

"Yep, smell it, that's it." Sam laughed.

"I know a liar when I see one. Can tell a mile off."

"Really?"

"Read 'em like an open book. I think I learned it from my father's abuse. I had to know his state of mind when he got home from work. Whether he had gone to the bar or did drugs."

"Drugs?"

"Cocaine or heroine were has favorites. Occasionally he'd abuse meth and go bonkers. I tried to stay clear of him then."

"Go bonkers?"

He swallowed hard and stared into the fireplace. "Lose control of all his inhibitions."

"Doesn't sound good."

"Horrific and terrifying for my mother and I."

"How old were you?"

"You mean when did it start?"

"Yes."

"The first time… six months old or there about." His voice drifted off to a whisper.

"Sorry, G."

"Never told anyone why I don't use my name. It's his. He named me after him. I was named after a bastard, a sadistic bastard." He lied, at least a partial lie. Best to lie when you don't know the whole truth. Yet the truth was there in his mind at times and then it simply drifted away in his mind, lost in a cacophony of thoughts and emotions and long forgotten night terrors.

"Sorry."

"Now you know."

"Not everything."

"I'll be here for several more weeks. You can pick my brain whenever you wish."

"Where's your mother?"

Callen leaped to his feet a little too fast. He doubled over in pain, recovered after a few minutes and hurried toward the bathroom.

Sam waited on the sofa. His position provided the best view of the kitchen, bathroom and hallway to the bedrooms. The family room and library lay behind his right shoulder. The perfect view of his entire house. A gun hidden in each room in a strategic spot. Loaded and ready. His partner looked pale when he exited the bathroom.

"Too close to home?"

"I don't talk about her."

"She abuse you too?"

"Bastard!" Callen charged his partner, running straight at him.

Sam leaned to one side, grabbed and wrestled G onto the sofa.

"Stop! Let me go, that hurts." It was no lie. Searing pain coursed through his rectum into his lower bowels, he cried out and clutched his gut with both hands.

He relaxed his hold. "Tell me you're angry."

"Tell you? My mother was my only ray of hope. She fought for my freedom. Fought for my right to live… abuse free."

"Most children don't have someone like that in their lives."

"She paid the price for it."

Sam waited.

"My father tried to kill her because she stopped him from hurting me."

"Hurting you how?"

"Damn it, you won't let me just get away with it."

"No, tell me the truth, G, just say the word."

"Gees…" he said, releasing a long sigh. "He raped me. Satisfied? Okay?"

"He raped you in the hospital's freight elevator too?"

He nodded. "Bastard," he said under his breath. "Threatened me if I told anyone. Threatened me if I didn't start having… damn… a relationship with you." Damned if he would.

"A sexual one?"

"Yes, of course, what else. I mean we all ready have a relationship of sorts. Right? Wants you to top me. You know, wants me to be the bottom."

"Don't know that terminology."

"Gay stuff with BDSM mixed in for good measure. Or is it bad measure? Doesn't matter. If he's watching, which he said he is, I know he's watching, he'll see we're together."

"I think Hetty suspects this and she planned us living together for a reason."

"If she sealed my records why?"

"Hm, interesting, I think she's protecting your ass as always."

"Literally protecting my ass," Callen said, smirking.