Altered Fraction of Truth

Disclaimer: NCISLA characters belong to Shane Brennan. All original characters and this story are mine.


Chapter 11

Boat Shed

Callen stood awkwardly in front of his sister. For most of his life, he'd forgotten that he even had a sister. Then when he discovered that he had indeed had a sister, he had been told that she had drowned at age eleven. So he hadn't even looked for her. Although he'd told Hetty that he refused to change the tombstone to her real name because he felt that she was out there, somewhere. Hetty. What was she thinking playing his secret keeper? She knew about his trust issues, but still after how many years had he worked for her, had she continued to dance around the truth? She would provide only snippets of truth when she could no longer hide it from him.

"George." Amy stepped forward towards her brother with tears falling down her cheeks. Her voice quavered from the emotion of finally reuniting with her baby brother.

"I was told that you died." Callen furrowed his brow when his voice sounded foreign to him. "I visit your grave every week and leave flowers for you." Tears threatened to spill as he bit on the inside of his right cheek to keep himself from breaking.

"I almost did die. Owen saved my life. He said he owed it to our parents for saving his life in Russia."

"Granger knows our father?" A hint of anger escaped before he could rein his temper in.

"Yes, but he can't find him." Her words appeared ironic after Granger's promise to find her brother, but never told her when he had. "You don't think that he's found him too, do you?" Doubt entered her eyes over everything.

"You saved Savannah from Jackson." Callen said it more as a statement of fact than a question.

"Yes, I did. I was made to promise to keep my new sisters safe."

"I'm glad. Nell is amazing and an important member of our team. Savannah, she's so beautiful. I've fallen in love with her." He looked up into her matching cerulean eyes and saw that she already knew. "You know?"

Amanda nodded. "Savannah and Nell were talking about the game that they played on you the other day. I had no idea that they were talking about you, until Sav mentioned G. Callen written on the bedroll that you sleep on." She looked at the burn mark that was still visible on her hand. "I burnt my hand on the barbecue when I heard your name. I thought I would never find you again. I'd lost hope. But when Sav mentioned the name, I was confused because Nell was calling you Greg Walinski."

"It's an alias for my house. I had asked Nell to pretend to be my sister, I had no idea that they were sisters. Not until yesterday." He stepped forward, diminishing the distance between them. "I've missed you so much."

Amanda broke and wrapped her arms around her brother. "Not a day's gone by that I haven't missed you." They cried in each other's arms until they couldn't cry anymore. It was a relief to finally be reunited, after a lifetime of heartache and separation.

Will Rogers State Beach — the following day

The day before had been an exhausting day, emotionally for Callen and Savannah. And for everyone else. Callen had spent the rest of the day over at Savannah's house to get to know his sister and vice versa, while the rest of his team continued the search for the missing Commander. He enjoyed watching Amy with Savannah, Nell and Nate in their comfortable family environment, into which they welcomed him with open arms. It made it easy for him, seeing he knew the others already and that he had admitted to his sister that he was in love with Savannah. It was a huge step for him to admit, but she was his sister. She was family and he felt safe enough to trust her with this information. He'd been told about Amanda's husband, Robert, who had vanished with their sons and immediately he wanted to help her find them. They would be seventeen now and almost men. He could see that although she had been given a second chance at having a family, she still had gone through it tough after losing a second mother, husband and sons.

He set the blue picnic blanket out on the sand and placed the basket on top of it, waiting for Savannah to show up. He'd left just after nine, the night before, seeing they were all exhausted from their day. He'd met Milly and Archie and found them easy kids to get along with. Milly was a spitting image of Savannah and Archie was a mini Mark, he'd been told. They were excited to find out that Callen was their Aunt Amanda's brother and they wanted to call him Uncle George. But Savannah had put a stop to that, telling them that it would be weird for them to call him Uncle when something was happening between the two of them. Milly and Archie looked between their mom and Callen with wide eyes, surprised, but then after the news sunk in, their expressions turned into bright smiles and hugged him.

"Well this is a surprise," Savannah greeted him with a warm smile and allowed him to take her hand and lead her down onto the blanket.

He moved in to kiss her gently on the lips, pausing slightly before moving back. "I've missed you."

A smirk edged her lips. "I've missed you too."

He pulled out the plates to put their breakfast on and some nonalcoholic bubbly to start their day. "I have no idea what happened to us the other night, and I apologise if I took advantage of you in any way. I want to do this right, Savannah. To get to know you: what makes you laugh, cry, happy and sad. What you like and don't like and what makes you lose that temper of yours."

Savannah's face turned red. "You already know what makes me lose it, George. Let's face it, I have a problem controlling it. Yet you still want to be with me."

He gently stroked the side of her face and lifted her chin to face him. "You had good reason to get angry at those things. Anyone would. You've tried to bury your pain for a long time. That's not easy to control, yet you've managed to do it for twenty years. I'll say, that you are incredible to hold it in for that long."

"Are you smooth talking me, George Callen?" She quirked up her right brow, causing Callen to smile.

"You and Nell are definitely sisters. That look is just like hers."

Savannah laughed. "Well if you're going to bring sisters up, then shall I mention the Callen smirk and teasing that both you and your sister are well known for?" She saw his look of innocence at her accusations. "That look too. Wow, you and Amanda, sorry, Amy are so alike in your expressions. Nell told me how you're a big tease. Your sister is the same. And protective."

Savannah bit into her chocolate croissant and looked out to sea. "This is my favourite part of the day. When I am here with just you and the sea." She turned and faced him and saw his pupils dilate. "I don't know how we happened, but I am glad it did." She moved closer and gently brushed her lips on his, capturing the taste of breakfast on his lips. She deepened the kiss and he returned it, allowing her to lead the way. He was being a true gentleman with her and she appreciated it. Both of them had been through enough major emotional upheaval over the past few days and they really needed to take things slowly.

"So am I." Callen gently rubbed his thumb over her wrist and could feel the thumping from her pulse. He wasn't sure how long he was going to hold himself back for her, but he knew that she was worth the wait.

They continued their breakfast over many varied conversations that early morning, and each and every morning for the next month. They would also see each other in the evenings, but they were surrounded by family which they also enjoyed. The early mornings was their time and life appeared to settle somewhat, although there was still tension between Amy and Callen with Granger and Hetty. They felt disappointed that the two people that they had trusted the most had let them down. Amy with Owen and Callen with Hetty. When they were at work, Callen chose to only deal with either of them on a professional level and if either of them tried to talk to him about it, he would respond with, "here is not the place." But he also gave them no opportunity to talk with him alone outside of the work place. He had filled his life up with Savannah, her children, Amy, Nell and the rest of the team. Savannah had invited the rest of the team over for barbecues and they all revelled in the quality time away from work.

It was a Tuesday morning, when Callen received a text from Savannah telling him that she wouldn't make it for breakfast. He was worried about her and asked her if everything was okay. But she brushed it off, saying that it was. But his gut clenched tight and he drove over to her place just after Milly and Archie had left for school, and Amanda had gone out for a spa treatment. Callen found Savannah still in bed sleeping and she looked peaceful and beautiful. There were no stress lines around her eyes or on her forehead as she slept. He wanted to kiss her, but worried over her, so he gently placed a kiss on her forehead.

Savannah opened her eyes and smiled when she saw him. "You came here. You'll be late for work." She looked at the clock, surprised.

"You're worth being late for." He laid down beside her and wrapped his arms around her.

"You shouldn't be here, you know. Remember what we said about being near a bed alone?" He hadn't forgotten, but he wished that she had. After the night where they had lost all memory of what exactly happened to them, they had agreed to keep their time alone to the beach and not at his house.

"I had hoped that you had forgotten." He kissed her behind her ear and wanted to stay there forever with her.

The sound of broken glass from downstairs caught their attention. Immediately, Savannah found some clothes and grabbed her weapon. Both she and Callen removed the safety switch off and checked their clips. They could hear voices below, but it was foreign. "What language is that?" Savannah didn't know any other foreign language than French and German, but she was aware that Callen was fluent in many.

"Romani." Fear for his sister grew within him as he concluded that the Comescus must have followed him to Savannah's house.

"Comescu?"

Callen nodded. "Must be. I don't know of any others who would be after any of us."

They moved silently either side of her bedroom door and waited for the intruders to come their way. It didn't take long before a figure entered and Callen knocked him out with the butt of his gun. He pulled him aside and waited for the next. They weren't sure how many there were, so they didn't want to shoot incase an army of them ran their way.

Callen stood there controlling his breathing and listened intently to the creaks on the floorboards. He heard the next and hoped that they were also on their own. The intruder stepped over the threshold of the bedroom and was knocked down by Callen, like his friend. Callen pulled him over and laid him beside the other. The house had gone quiet and they patiently waited. A groan from behind Callen alerted to them that the first intruder was returning to consciousness. He'd removed their weapons and tied their hands up with zippy ties. But his groaning was attracting attention from the other intruders. They could hear movement coming their way along the corridor. There were two this time and they were prepared as both entered and were knocked unconscious like the other two. They pulled them over and tied them up and Callen knocked the first intruder out again to keep him quiet. They listened but all was silent in their house.

Sirens blared and cars screeched outside Savannah's Beverly Hill's property as news came through of the intruders. Sam, Deeks and Kensi arrived and talked with them over who they thought they were and who they were after.

"They are Romani and must have followed me to the house. They think Amy is dead, so it must be me," Callen told them. "Let's get them out of here and over to the boat shed and find out which one will talk first."

He stepped away from the others and noticed Savannah sitting at the kitchen bench sipping on a cup of tea and eating a piece of toast. "Are you okay?"

Savannah turned and smiled over at him. "Yeah, just tired. You?"

"Yeah, I'm good. I'll leave Kensi and Deeks here until I can get agents to watch your house from the street. We don't know if there are more of them in town."

"Are you forgetting that I am an agent, George?"

"No, but I'm just ensuring that you, Amy and your kids are safe. We can't take any chances with these Comescus." He looked over at the fridge and something caught his eye. He stepped closer and saw the name Amelia.

"What is it, George?" Savannah walked over and looked at Milly's drawing.

"Milly. Her name, I just remembered something from when I was a kid. Amy is short for Amelia. Papa used to call her Amelia all the time, but Mom and I only ever called her Amy."

Savannah kissed him on the cheek and smiled. "When Mark and I were choosing names for Milly, Amanda got excited about us having a girl. She had two boys and would have loved a girl too. She pulled our list out of our hands and wrote Amelia down. She handed it back to us and told us that we could call her Milly for short. We fell in love with the name. We had no idea that it was her real name. But we made Amanda very happy calling our girl, Amelia."

Callen turned and faced Savannah and kissed her passionately on the lips. "I love you, Savannah Hall." It was the first time that he'd said the words, although she'd seen it in his eyes a month earlier.

"I love you too, George Callen." He pulled her in close and held her there for a few moments, before brushing his lips to her temple.

"I've got to go and help the others find out who these men were after." He quickly gave her a hug and left after Sam, who had taken one of the intruders with him, the other three were with LAPD, heading to the boat shed. Callen hoped that they would find out who it was they were after and who had sent them.