Isobel
Disclaimer: NCISLA characters belong to Shane Brennan. All original characters and this story are mine.
Chapter 10
Ten months later
Isobel woke every few hours during the night from nightmares that invaded her mind every night since that night in Russia. Simon's execution, her torture and rape kept going over and over in her mind. Callen would gently massage her back and whisper sweet words of comfort to bring her out of her nightmares. It was a long road to recovery for Isobel, and Callen made sure he was there every night after work for her. He knew how bad she had suffered, and he knew her guilt for Simon's death ate at her, so he took things ever so slowly with her. He would lie next to her and she would snuggle up next to him, before she would drift off to sleep. He had always slept better when he was was with her, so he didn't have to worry that he would be awake and away from the bed whenever her nightmares came.
Slowly her colour returned to her face, the sparkle shone again in her eyes and the tension left her face and body. Hetty knew it was all to do with her Senior Agent, G. Callen. She asked her self numerous times, why did she ever forbid her Isobel to be with him? They were meant to be together, that was obvious to her and everyone else around them. But she knew why she had forbidden it, it was to keep Jack and Sophie safe from the Comescus.
Hetty noticed Georgia and Caitlin began to trust her like a grandmother, and they started to spend more time with her giving their mom time to heal. It had been hard at first, as they were wanting to cling onto Isobel for dear life. Yet, Callen had managed to quickly bring down their walls and she was amazed at how good he was at adapting to family life. After all Callen had been through without his family, she was amazed at how quickly he had adjusted to being a father, not only to his own children, but also to Simon's girls as well.
However, Callen's relationship with his Owen remained strained, even after that emotional day at her home, when Owen brought Amy with him, alive. Her own spirits had been lifted that day, finding out that Amy was in fact still alive, married with children of her own. What Owen had done all those years ago to save Amy from being found and given her a normal and safe life, was heart warming to anyone who heard the story. Even Callen was over the moon with joy to know his sister was alive and well. But it also burdened Callen with the feeling that he wasn't good enough for his father, seeing he was left on his own for all those years. Indeed Owen had admitted to Callen, that it was he who felt he was not worthy of being his father. But Hetty knew that Callen would still feel the rejection as being his fault. She had tried speaking to him about it on numerous occasion, but he had brushed it off as if it wasn't important. She tried getting Owen to return to Los Angeles just to speak with his son —- but he managed to find excuses to evade their office, unless a case warranted his presence at the mission.
Callen and Owen managed to be professional when dealing with each other at work, and she was pleased they could at least manage that. Hetty tried to get Amy to see if she could help mend the wounds Owen and Callen were both suffering from, but even she could not achieve success on her own. But Callen welcomed his sister with open arms and welcomed her into his family. She returned with her own family and the two siblings and their families together was an amazing sight, filling Hetty's eyes with tears of joy.
Then there was the Hughes case that had left her team all heartbroken and shaken to the core. Owen had flown quickly to Los Angeles to help Hetty and her team rescue the Hughes family from the Mexican Cartel, south of the border. Only to be too late, and find the battered and broken bodies of Steven Hughes, his wife Patricia, and their three little girls, Zoe, Michaela and Willow. On the large screen in the Ops Centre, Eric, Nell, Hetty and Owen stood in shock as Callen, Sam, Kensi and Deeks broke into the Romero Cartel compound. Once they had shot and killed the guards, it was Callen and Sam who first found the Hughes family's bodies in the basement. They were too late in saving them. Too damn late, was all Callen could say over and over again in his mind. It broke him to see what had happened to this family. It hit him hard that this could have been his family or Sam's, lying there dead. It shook them to the core, and when Kensi and Deeks joined them, they were silenced by the horror they had found. None of it had made sense. Steven Hughes was an intelligence gatherer for the navy. To the outside world, he was just a civilian, a loving husband and father of three gorgeous little girls. But his job had put all their lives at risk. This case was too close for Callen and Sam, with the risks their jobs put on their families. They were the good guys, wasn't good supposed to overcome evil? It was this philosophy that had kept them going each day in their jobs, to keep people safe.
When her team returned from Mexico, Hetty could see their pain and suffering as clear as day. Deeks had stopped his jokes and banter with Kensi, although he always had in the past hid behind his humour to lighten the toughness of the reality of their jobs. Kensi couldn't hide the emotional wreck she was, and she was found crying and needed Deeks to comfort her, not caring if everyone else saw. Sam asked for time off to spend with his family, which of course Hetty granted, knowing it was what he needed. But what concerned Hetty the most, was Callen. He couldn't seem to focus on anything around him, on conversation or paperwork. Hetty had looked to Owen with great concern at her lead agent's reaction to this last case. Normally Callen would shove the emotion away, hidden, so he wouldn't have to deal with it, and somehow he would manage to carry on as usual. In the past, this behaviour of Callen's had frustrated his partner to no end. She concluded that it was too close to Callen now that he had his own family. She decided to give him leave like his partner, to spend time with his family for two weeks.
Owen stayed on in Los Angeles to help Hetty and her team with any cases that had come their way. Although it had become a quiet time in the office, they all had been glad of it. They all needed time to process what they had seen and to heal from it to some degree. But they never fully recovered from cases like this one. The office was quiet without Sam and Callen being around, with their teasing of Kensi and Deeks, knowing that the two of them had gotten together, after what Sophie had said to Deeks ten months ago. Hetty had also given the Detective and her younger agent time to heal from this case. All that was left was Eric and Nell in the ops centre, and she wished she could too give them leave. But they still hadn't found answers as to why the Romero Cartel had kidnapped and killed the Hughes family. Eric and Nell were needed to get to the bottom of this horrid case. But what surprised Owen and Hetty the most out of everything from the repercussions of the Hughes case, was Isobel. The day after Hetty had let Callen go on leave, Isobel had walked into the mission in search of Owen.
"Owen." She walked into the Ops Centre, suddenly. "I need a word with you, in private. Please." She and lowered her voice, as to not seek attention to her presence there.
Owen nodded and followed her to a private and vacant office on the second level.
"Isobel, why are you here?" Owen sat on the edge of the desk facing Isobel who was pacing the room.
She stopped pacing. "Callen. This thing between the two of you needs to stop, right now."
"You know I would do anything to fix this, Isobel. But you and I both know none of its been easy on Callen. You have to let him be angry at me. I deserve it."
"No." Isobel looked straight into Owen's eyes. "You need to stop it now."
Owen grabbed Isobel's arm as she had started to pace the room again. "Isobel." He looked straight back into her green eyes. "Callen won't let me."
"Grow up, Owen and be a man. Face your responsibilities as his father for goodness sake." She let go of the breath inside her with a big huff. She paused. "He needs you," she whispered. Tears welled up in her eyes, the anger had subsided.
Owen shook his head. "He doesn't need me, Isobel. He won't let me in."
"Yes, he does." Isobel looked at Owen with pleading eyes. "I don't know what happen on this last case, but Callen is not himself. Please, Owen. For once in your life, be there for him."
Owen remained standing beside Isobel for a while thinking about what she had said and the case they had just finished. He new it was bad, and that it had affected his son worse than even when they were dealing with Janvier and Sidorov. And Callen had reacted badly to that case. "Okay," He finally answered. "I will try."
Isobel nodded. "Thank you. He's down at the beach at the moment, underneath the Santa Monica Pier."
"Thanks."
Santa Monica Pier
Callen sat and watched the waves crash against the shore and the pier's pylons for most of the morning. He had sensed Isobel watching him earlier as he was aware she had followed him there out of concern. But he knew it was no longer Issy nearby watching him. Callen turned to see who the figure was and was not impressed to see Owen.
"Go away."
Owen continued to walk closer to his son, and sat beside him.
"Are you deaf? I said, go away."
Owen looked at his son. "No." He spoke softly, unlike Callen's harshness.
Callen glared at his father. He was the last person he wanted right now. But it didn't take him to be an agent to know Isobel had sent him. He saw the look of worry in her eyes last night and this morning. When she had asked him what was wrong, he had told her nothing. He hated lying to her, but she had been through enough as it was, let alone needing to deal with what he was going through right now.
"She sent you, didn't she?" He knew the answer, before he had even asked it.
"Yes she did. She's worried about you. We all are, Callen."
Callen flinched at his father's touch. It was gentle and meant to comfort. "Like hell you are." Callen was frustrated at him for being so kind to him. He wanted to punch him. He needed a reason to hate him.
"I've always cared, Callen. Always." It was hard for Owen to admit it to his son, but he knew he needed to hear it now. "I know I haven't been a father for you in the past, son. But I am here for you now,"
"Don't." He tensed up. "You can't decide one day to start being my father after all these years of not being there when I needed you. When I was five. Where were you?"
"Yes, I can. I'm here now aren't I?"
"Why? Why now?"
"Because you need me now. I didn't think you needed me now that you are your own man. But you do. I can see your hurt and I feel your pain." Owen bravely placed his arm over his son's shoulders to comfort him.
Callen shook his head, fighting the demons running around his mind wanting so bad to be angry at him. But he couldn't. Instead, he crumbled. He cried in his arms.
Isobel looked on from a distance, and she was glad she had made Owen go to his son. She still wasn't strong enough from her own ordeal to be there for Callen, and because she had no idea what had brought on this worrying behaviour by him, she found it hard to help him. She knew it was time for Owen to step up and be the father Callen needed. She decided it was time to leave them alone and went home. She had tried to get some information out of her mother as to what had happened, but Hetty had closed up and refused to tell her anything. She noticed that no one in Callen's team except for Eric, Nell and Hetty were at the mission, so she concluded that this last case had been a really bad one, and they were on leave. Just thinking about it sent shivers up her arms and goose bumps appeared on her skin.
When Callen finally stopped crying, Owen remained still beside him, to continue comforting him. Both remained silent, when Owen's phone rang. "Damn. Sorry Callen, I better get this."
Owen stood and walked a few metres from Callen. "Granger." Callen noticed his father went silent. He stood and waited till he got off the phone. He knew something was up. "Thanks, I'll be there as soon as possible."
As Owen turned to excuse himself, he found Callen standing right in front of him. Damn those agent intuitions his son had. One of the best. "I've got to go. I am needed somewhere."
Callen wasn't going to let him leave without explaining exactly what was going on. "Tell me what's going on," he demanded.
"Callen, please. Let me go."
"Not without you telling me what's going on. That was Eric on the phone, wasn't it?"
Owen looked at his son. He knew he could not fool him. He nodded.
"They've found a link, haven't they?"
"Yes they have." Owen placed his hand out to stop him. "The case has been referred to the CIA now."
"What the CIA? No. This was our case. We need to finish it. The Hughes family deserve for us to finish it." Callen tensed up again and was once again at odds with his father.
Were they always going to be like this? Owen thought. Clara would be devastated and disappointed in him, if she saw them now. It saddened Owen to see his son so angry.
"Son, please, you've got to let this one be finished by the CIA. It's in their jurisdiction now."
"What did Eric and Nell find?" He knew it was an uphill battle to complete the case, so he settled on just finding out the details. He needed to know for his own sanity, why the Romero Cartel had killed that family.
"Steven Hughes had gathered intel of an Iranian group, the Yavaris, who have known ties to al-Qaeda. They've found a link of the Yavaris family to the Romero Cartel. A daughter of the Yavaris elder married one of the Romero brothers."
"You're kidding me? Iranian terrorist groups marrying Mexican cartels now?" Callen was shocked. "We're screwed. We're not safe anymore."
"Son, we never were."
Callen looked into his father's eyes. "No. We never were." He shook his head in realisation of the battle they had in keeping the U.S. borders protected. "I understand now."
"Understand what, son?"
"The huge burden of being a father, in keeping your family safe."
Owen brought his son closer to him and hugged him. "And you'll do a far better job than I ever did. You'll keep them safe. If anyone comes near your family, they will have hell to pay. That I do know."
Callen looked back at his father. "Thanks."
They parted and Owen left for the mission. Callen decided to ring Sam, Kensi and Deeks to give them the update. He knew they were going to be frustrated as he was, knowing that they wouldn't get to bring the Romero Cartel and Yavaris family to justice, and that the CIA would get all the glory.