A/N What is Hetty going to reveal? Please keep in mind that the two main characters did not know anything so far about the facts Hetty is going to tell them.

Referring to my title (Bad Moon Rising, lyrics by Creedence Clearwater Revival):

I see the bad moon arising

I see trouble on the way

I see earthquakes and lightnin'

I see bad times today

When Nell and Callen arrived at the office they could see Hetty sitting at her desk. She looked exhausted and although they were on time, it seemed the elderly lady had already been waiting for them. Callen had told Nell about what Hetty had said the previous day while they were having breakfast and both were concerned and nervous about what Hetty wanted to discuss with them now. She rose from her seat and walked up to her analyst and agent.

"Good morning," she said to both of them and Nell and Callen returned her greeting. "I figured it was better to meet you at the file room to make sure we will be all alone. I already prepared some tea as I assume it will take us some time." She did not tell them she had brewed a calming-tea, which she was sure would be absolutely necessary, especially for herself. With a nod of her head into the direction of the file room she invited them to go ahead. When they all had stepped inside she closed the door behind them and the three took a seat, Hetty on one, Nell and Callen on the opposite side of the table. It reminded Callen on his schooldays when the principle had called him into his office although this time the situation was the other way around. This time the 'principle' had been called upon to declare her herself.

They were sitting in silence. Hetty was eying them. In front of her sat her Agent Callen, calm and cool as usual, his face unreadable; next to him, her Intelligence Analyst, who was looking at her curiously. The young woman reached out her hand grabbing Mr. Callen's hand nervously and he squeezed the small fingers tenderly, giving Nell a reassuring smile. He did not seem to care of what Hetty had told him the day before and she was wondering if the two of them were already in a kind of particular relationship. But it wasn't Hetty, the Duchess of Deception, if she openly showed any signs of disapproval or anything. However, she wasn't sure what to do with this right now and she had to acknowledge to herself that it bothered her. There was no other way than to tell Miss Jones what she deserved to know. And, more than that, her Agent-in-Charge deserved to know the plain truth as well.

"I would like to come clean with you," she broke the awkward silence with a strained voice and coughed slightly.

"You don't say," Callen responded sarcastically and this time Nell squeezed his hand to calm him. "It's about time, don't you think?" Nell asked Hetty straightaway.

Hetty nodded in response and tried to collect her thoughts. Never had she expected that she was the one who would have to deal with this situation alone and that it would be that hard for her. She took a deep sigh before she started to explain.

"Miss Jones, I'm not exactly sure to which extent your inquiries have been successful. What I'm now going to tell you is hardly convenient for me and might not be it for you either. But there is no way to withhold it from you for longer. I'm quite certain that you deserve the truth. This is long overdue."

Nell and Callen exchanged a concerned look and when they looked back to their boss they concentrated their attention solely on her and her words but without releasing the other one's hand.

"As I ascertained, you learned recently that you had been adopted. Well, I knew your adoptive mother, Miss Jones. We knew each other because of a common assignment when we were with the CIA. Her name was Matthews then. She and her husband had already adopted twins when they adopted a seventeen year old girl as well. The girl was your mother and was pregnant then – with you.

They had promised the girl she could raise her baby within the family but a social worker had mentioned to your mother she would have to give the baby away after the delivery and this damn misinformation lead to this tragic history. The girl ran away and gave birth to you all alone. She lost too much blood in the aftermath of the delivery and died shortly afterwards. You had been found in time and the Matthews' adopted you as well."

Nell was confused. "How is it that I didn't grow up at the Matthews'?" she asked.

"Well, you indeed grew up at the Matthews'," Hetty tried to clarify. "They changed their family name into Jones – your mother's birth name – and moved from Nevada to Idaho. We needed to delete traces to keep you safe. Now comes the difficult part for me. Until she had been adopted by the Matthews', the pregnant girl's name was Jacqueline Foley…" Hetty paused and looked straight at Mr. Callen.

.*.*.*.*.

Callen was taken aback when he heard this name. That explained why he had not been able to find her in the past. He didn't know that she had been adopted and that her name then had changed into Matthews. All the years he had been searching for her and learned now from Hetty that she had not only been adopted but been pregnant, too. It was this thought that made him turn pale… He jumped a little when he heard Hetty's voice again, interrupting his thoughts.

"Mr. Callen, as you know, I have always been informed where you lived in your youth. I knew when you had been 'caught' with Jackie Foley and you were sent back into foster care in California where else she had to stay in foster care in Nevada where she came from, coincidentally at my old friend's house. When it turned out she was pregnant I arranged her permanent stay at the Matthews'. Jackie had been adopted and everything had already been arranged to help her to keep the baby. The Matthews' took care of her and Jackie liked her adoptive parents. Everything went well until that day when she ran away, well advanced in pregnancy, because she was more afraid of a social worker's gossip than to trust her new parent's words. I couldn't blame her, because of the things she had gone through all the years before." Hetty sighed heavily.

"The next I heard from Jackie was about her tragic death. I did everything in my power to accommodate you, Miss Jones, at the Matthews-family, too, after we learned about the child's father and that was what insisted us to change the name Matthews into Jones and your adoptive parents to move away. We had to take care of you. We had to keep you, too, safe from the Comescu-family and you were well protected by your adoptive-mother Lorena, who was - after all - an ex-CIA-Agent."

Nells confusion grew more and more. "Are you gonna tell me now, my father was or still is a dangerous man?" she asked.

"No!" Hetty replied immediately. "No, anything but dangerous. But please let me try to reveal the rest of the story as far as I know it." Mentally she added 'Lord help me!' and turned her eyes up to heaven.

Hetty's posture stiffened when she was looking at her agent again. Callen had a feeling that there was something significant going to happen now and he blankly stared back. 'Why the hell should Nell be kept safe from the Comescus?' he asked himself when a premonition hit him all of a sudden and he slowly pulled his hand out of Nell's hold. This move had not gone unnoticed and when Hetty continued, her voice vibrated slightly.

"There is a document in our storage, besides your original birth certificate Miss Jones, which mentions your father's name." Never in her life had Hetty felt so guilty. But she was sure she had no other chance to ease her conscience than to tell them the plain truth. And moreover she was dead certain, for her there was no way to escape it anymore. She took a long deep breath and exhaled slowly. "Mr. Callen, Miss Jones, it occurs that the father of Jackie's baby is nobody else than… you, Mr. Callen…"

In less than the blink of an eye after Hetty had confessed this, Callen jumped off his seat and with a loud bang the chair fell backwards to the floor. His hands were running over his face and he was pacing through the room. Nell pulled both her hands over her mouth to absorb a high scream that tried to escape her lips. Wide-eyed and motionless she was looking at Hetty, then back to Callen who was struggling not to lose his self-control.

After what seemed like an eternity, Callen lifted his chair and sat down again. When he turned his gaze at Nell's he could see her crying silent tears. With furiously sparkling eyes and clenching his teeth he stared at Hetty. "I want to know all of it. Tell me. Tell us. We deserve this, don't you think?" he ordered, trying to sound calm but swallowed hard.

.*.*.*.*.

It was now or never and so Hetty told them the rest of the story. Nell grew up safe and she did well in school and university. So Hetty hired her for NCIS and was glad to have both of them – father and daughter – under one roof.

Somehow the Comescus knew that there was a 'Callen-baby' and right after the adoption in Carson City they made it to place a mole in the adoption office: Lara Sheldon. As Hetty and Lorena Jones learned very early that the baby they took care of was a Callen they managed it to keep the addresses secret. And so the Comescus lost track of Baby-Nell due to the move and name-change of the Matthews-family. But the Comescus were patient. Sheldon had always been waiting for Nell to show up and ask for her mother, and when she did, Sheldon knew it was her although Nell now had a different family name what explained their difficulties to find her earlier. Lara Sheldon betrayed Nell and they were after her. The Comescus didn't even know that Nell's companion had been Callen himself.

"Mr. Callen, there should be no reason to doubt about your fatherhood, although DNA-tests have never been made. I'm not against non work-related relationships in general. But under this given circumstances you'll understand there is obviously no way…" she paused, looking straight at Callen then Nell, hoping to find out how deep the two of them were already related. She did not really plan on it but she intently hoped to receive the absolution but both of them had no notion of explaining or clarifying anything to her. It bothered Hetty that she couldn't read in their faces if there had happened anything between them and she felt guilty to the core.

"I must admit to having made a mistake. Maybe the biggest mistake of my life in not telling you the way you belong together. It's hard for me to admit of having stolen you masses of common time as a family, especially you, Mr. Callen…" her voice quivered and she turned to speak at Nell who was still in shock. "I've got something from your mother for you" Hetty said and handed Nell an old letter. Nell was looking at it in silence and reached out her shaking hand to take the letter carefully as if it could break to pieces when she touched it and respectfully brushed over the envelope with her other hand.

"I wanted to tell you both how you are related ever since Miss Jones had started work here." Hetty continued. "But I never figured out the right moment. There are no words that can explain how guilty I feel, of having let you down, of having withheld this essential information from you."

Now, that was enough for Callen. The whole time he had tried to control his temper but now he couldn't stay quiet anymore. "Nell, would you please give me some time with Hetty?" It was less a question than an order and Nell understood why he needed to speak with Hetty alone. She nodded and when she stood next to him, she leaned down and whispered in his ear "Don't you do anything you will regret afterwards." Then she paused and before she stepped out of the room she took a deep breath "Please… 'Dad'."

He didn't expect something like this right now and it sounded weird to him. Hearing the word 'Dad' coming out of Nell's mouth took the wind out of his sails and he was completely taken aback for some time. But when he looked back into Hetty's pale face the former anger returned immediately.

"How long?... How long had you planned to keep this information from me? And Nell?" he asked.

"I know I made a big mistake…"

Callen interrupted Hetty. "You know, I have always seen you as someone who comes close to being my mother. But do parents do this to their kids? Hurt them? Betray them? Lie to them? How will I ever be able to trust you again? When one says 'trust is a good thing, control is a better one', exactly now, it's so true! I should never have trusted you..." He spoke quicker and louder now.

"Mr. Callen" Hetty tried to calm him down, lifting her hands in front of her chest in surrender. "I hope we both will be able to come to terms with the past one day. All I can do is to ask you for forgiveness…"

"It's not the first time, Hetty." He interrupted her again. "You withheld information about my mother and sister, too, not so long ago, you remember? And then you let it drop that the woman I've been looking for so long died after giving birth to my child. My daughter. Nell..." his voice broke and he stood up of his chair "I need to get out of here. I can't stand it any longer!"

Callen stepped to the door but when he reached it he paused in his movements and turned back to face Hetty. Provocatively he folded his arms in front of his chest and leaned against the door frame. He clenched his teeth, before he began to speak in a steady voice "You know, Hetty, I developed feelings for her. Certain feelings that sometimes occur between a man and a woman. And now it turns out that this woman is my daughter. How can you deal with it, if there happened anything between us? You mindfully assented and accepted this. Isn't that dangerous? No, it's not just this… it's forbidden and morally reprehensible. You always knew the truth and let us straight walk into the trap. Can you reconcile this with your conscience? Can you handle the aftermath?" Not awaiting her reply he turned on his heels and left the room, slamming the door shut and headed straight to the gym.

Hetty jumped when he slammed the door shut. Her hands were shivering and she was feeling sick. Her heart was racing when she reflected Callen's last words. He had completely let her be in the dark. And he was dead right. What if…? It was all her fault. Maybe she had ruined both their lives, Callen's and Nell's, with her secretiveness. What if…? And with these thoughts she wiped a tear away.