Chapter 11

Callen lay, his eyes closed letting the warm sun-rays wash over him.

"So you do remember?" Nate said.

Callen flinched, "Some…Why can't Granger accept that I haven't been compromised?"

"You have an important job Callen; you have secrets which if they fell into the wrong hands could cause a lot of damage."

Callen's face stayed impassive, "I wanted to tell Granger…I tried. Hell I'm trying to tell you…now…but I can't something is stopping me." He admitted.

Nate looked worried, "It sounds like maybe someone has hypnotized you or brainwashed you."

"No." Callen snapped sitting upright, "It's nothing like that!"

Nate wrote something down on a notepad, and turned to Callen, "I could try some relaxation techniques on you?"

Callen nodded, "I suppose I will have to." He said. "Coz I sure as hell am not going to Gitmo."

He lay back on the lounger and closed his eyes as Nate talked softly to him.

"You are going back to that day in November you are walking into the alley and…" Nate prompted.

"I can hear music, folk music it hits a cord the same as that night, the night with Nell," for a second Callen smiled, "I can smell the food too, it reminds me of when I was a child. I looked back and Sam, Kensi and Deeks aren't there…I just assume that they are further down so I walked to the door of the restaurant and walked in."

"The old woman, Nadia was sitting by the bar as I entered." Callen said, "She seemed surprised to see me," He told Nate about the conversation in the restaurant then he told him what the glowing man said.

"Glowing?" Nate asked.

"Glowing….like bright, but with no light source." Callen confirmed. "He said I could go back, but it was something to do with my blood and both of us thinking about each other, and a connection. But I wasn't supposed to be there."

Callen remembered as he had realized that he had needed to get back to his team, "I need to go." He had said looking for the door he had walked in through, it was not there.

Nadia had patted the seat by the table lovingly, "Come and sit, we can talk and then you can go."

Callen had shaken his head, "I'm a federal agent I can't be held against my will, my partner is out there he will be looking for me."

He had stood up and looked for the exit.

She shook her head sadly, "He won't find you, and you won't remember this…I promise the memories you will have will be nice ones, no one here wants to hurt you."

Callen's gut started to churn and he jumped as a loud scream came from the back of the establishment.

"What was that?" he snapped and got up towards a dark door that had appeared where he swore there was none before.

"No!" Nadia had said jumping up in warning, "You can't go through there."

"Why not?" He had asked suspiciously taking a step towards the door.

"It is not for you," she had said simply, "Come sit and talk to me." She tried coaxing him again.

However, Callen's nature as an investigator had won out and he headed towards the door as another scream rang out. Not going without a weapon, he had grabbed a knife from the table as he rushed past.

"STOP!" Nadia called worried for him.

The man's voice came from nowhere, "Callen if you step through that door you will be interfering with the timeline, and there will be an error between here and your time getting you back."

"What?" he asked worried, "Timelines?"

There was another scream and he charged through the door determined to help.

"Stop….please!" Nadia begged but it was too late, he stepped through the doorway.

It was dark…A full moon hung over a cobbled alleyway, and a hot wind swept around his ankles.

Callen shivered not from cold, but from a primal fear that tugged at his core, this was wrong and he shouldn't be there, he looked back for the door he had stepped through and it wasn't there, however a new door appeared and unwillingly he felt his feet walking forward and the door opening as if something else had opened it.

Something dark flew overhead and the scream echoed ahead of him.

As he stepped through the door he felt hands pulling at him, he tried fighting them…

Nate stopped coaching him through as Callen screamed. His eyes wide and his hands pawing at something only he could see.

Nell and Hetty came in to find Callen in the corner pulling at his shirt and screaming.

"What's going on?" Nell yelled over the loud whimpering Callen was emitting.

"No…Nell run, don't let them get you…" Callen grabbed her hand and moved her behind him into the corner.

"G, what are you seeing."

"Hands….so many many hands, so much screaming….hot…ash….m…monsters…bones…death….oh God….Nell run….please, don't let them take you I love you and I can't lose you!" he held her tight and for a moment focused on her, "Nell, let them take me, get away please."

"G you're not there now you are safe…" Nell said as Callen kissed her and moved her behind him again.

"Callen…listen to the sound of my voice," Nate said moving in front of him, "Focus on me…You are not there now. Look at it as if it is on the big screen in Ops. Tell me what you see. Give me a Sit-rep."

"Fire…it's so hot, I'm burning…Oh my God Nell I'm burning...the hands are pulling me forward and then I'm in the dark…it's so dark. There's a girl…she's small…about nine or ten, she has pigtails, jeans and a red top. She's with another blonde girl, they are laughing, I call out to them but they don't hear me. They are playing and two men come over to them, one girl has her mouth covered with a cloth and they lay her down on the grass. The second girl is screaming, she is screaming so much, they take her to a river and throw her in…I screamed at them to help, I tried to help her and the hands pulled me back, she made it back to the bank and they pushed her back in….over and over again…." Callen sobbed, he still wasn't focused on the people in the room just the deadly sight in front of his eyes. "She tried so hard, she was so tired…she reached out for me…and I couldn't save her." Tears fell unchecked down his face as he recalled the memory, "The man turned to the other man and smiled….God…He smiled! He….he said….he…." Callen's voice broke and he looked up at all three of them watching him.

"It was Amy…I watched the Comescu's kill Amy and I couldn't save her, the hands they wouldn't let me." he gasped in horror as the realization washed over him.

Nell moved pulling Callen into her arms and he held her tight breathing in her scent and grounding himself.

"Then they pulled me back three women, I didn't see their faces, but I felt…they were safe and comforting, the next thing I knew…I was walking out of the alleyway and looking for Sam…"

Hetty and Nell stood either side of him holding him tight.

Callen was shaking and sobbing not caring that they could see him, they were there for him.

"Wow…" Nate said sitting in the chair, "That's a hell of a story."

Callen gave a sad laugh, "I think I preferred the version they gave me better."

Nate looked at him, "Their version?"

"Sitting talking to the old woman about my childhood…except…I did do that too…" He looked confused.

Callen looked down and there on the coffee table was another black feather.

"Why is this here?" he asked picking it up.

The second he touched it the pain he was feeling subsided and he felt safe and calm again. He stroked it absentmindedly. "It's good…" He sighed.

Nell shot Nate a look of worry that the feather he had found seemed to have affected such a profound change in him, but Nate shook his head, If it made Callen feel safe, right now it was a good thing, especially as it counteracted the horror he had just told them about.

Callen lay back in the chair, his eyes closed, slowly stroking the feather and feeling the terror and the images subside from his mind.