Chapter 12
Jack stood outside Sam's home as he heard a shriek of laughter from within and a bark of a dog.
Sam had called Michelle to collect Hero and a few things that Callen had gotten that might fit Jack, plus anything that might jog his memory.
She had beaten him home by an hour Michelle and Kamran had put Hero's bed in the Kitchen, put up a camp bed for Jack and Kamran was playing in the garden with Hero as she heard her father's car pull up.
Hero stopped and sniffed the air; his tail started wagging as he smelled his boy.
Jack stood behind Sam as he opened the door. "Michelle, we're home!" he called with a smiled and motioned for Jack to enter.
Michelle had already talked to Kamran and she waved hello to her dad as she walked past on the way to her room.
Hero sat his tail wagging furiously as he sat behind Michelle.
"Hello Nicu?" Michelle smiled, "My name is Michelle, and I'm Sam's wife that was our daughter Kamran who has gone to do her homework."
"Hello." Jack said his accent stark in contrast to Michelle's.
Michelle shot a glance, over at Sam who shook his head.
Hero let out a bark and as Jack came into full view he launched himself at the boy.
Jack cowered for a second and then he felt the dog's fur, and snuggled into his warmth. "Hero?" he sighed.
Michelle looked at Sam neither had mentioned the name of the dog.
Jack looked up at Sam with tears running down his cheeks, "He's real…he's…your dog?" he asked.
Sam shook his head as he crouched down to be on the same level as the boy.
"No…he's not my dog…he's yours." Sam said quietly.
Jack sat back heavy on the floor, the memories of the comfort he'd had from his dog, the feeling of the warm fur and the hot breath and the dog's long slobbery tongue jarring loose memories that had been buried by Vasilie's conditioning.
He sobbed as he remembered his mother's murder, and the abuse that Vasilie had heaped on him…and then the memories of… "Callen…is he really my father? …but…I…I don't understand?"
Sam nodded at Michelle who went to call Callen and Nate and he lifted Jack up and placed him on the couch wrapping the blanket that Callen had slept under over the years around the boy's shoulders.
The images of Vasilie raising him, were conflicting with Callen sitting at a dining table with Hetty and him feeling happy and full, Images of his mother looking over her shoulder as the CPS worker took him away, Images of Vasilie beating him when he got his name wrong, the threats….the punishment.
"NO! I AM NICU!" Jack shook his head crying in terror, he couldn't forget that.
"It's ok Jack, what you're feeling is ok…" Sam said holding the boy close.
"NO!" Jack sobbed "It is not ok…I have to remember."
He moved back from the dog and hugged his knees to his chest. He started rocking back and forth whispering to himself, "Not Jack…Nicu…Not Jack…Nicu," repeatedly, he was so distracted he didn't hear the door open and Callen, Hetty and Nate let themselves in until he heard Callen's voice.
"What happened Sam is he ok?" Callen asked.
Within seconds, Jack had grabbed Sam's gun from the back of his pants and was holding it out pointed shakily at Callen.
"You are a filthy Callen, you need to die…" Jack said his eyes confused and full of tears.
"Jack...Nicu, I am a Callen…But you don't need to kill me, you are too young for that. Vasilie has fed you full of lies."
Jack shook his head, "They are not lies my mother is dead."
Callen nodded, "Yes son, yes she is."
"So my father was telling the truth, you killed her. I remember you were there and she was shot…she died and you just stood there!" Jack snapped, the gun shaking dangerously in his hand.
"Jack…my name is Nate, I'm a Doctor, can I talk to you?" Nate asked taking a step into the room.
"NO! My name is not Jack, it is Nicu Comescu, and I will take my revenge I will kill Callen, I have to it's the only way to stop the pain." Jack said not taking his eyes off Callen.
Nate looked around the room, "Michelle maybe if you could take Hetty upstairs and check on your daughter?" he suggested.
Michelle nodded and her and Hetty headed upstairs to check on Kamran.
Sam stepped back so that by this point there was only Callen and Jack in the room, the dog sitting between them looking confused at his two masters.
"Why will killing Callen stop the pain?" Nate asked.
Jack stepped away from the new man, "I have pain when I think of him and what he did to me, he hurt me."
"Callen hurt you?" Nate asked confused shooting Callen a questioning look.
Callen gave a small shake of his head, but Jack saw it.
"YOU DID! I know you killed my family, I am Roma, you need to die to avenge those I love, to stop the pain." He snapped. "The pain hurts, if I let you live he will hurt me again…" Jack added quietly as if it were an afterthought.
"Who will hurt you…?" Nate prodded.
"My fath…Callen…my…I…" Jack looked confused, "I only know when he's dead I will not hurt anymore." He said with conviction.
Callen moved, he took a step towards Jack, took the gun from his pants, dropped it on the floor and spread his arms wide in supplication.
"OK." He said flatly never taking his eyes off his son.
"Ok?" Jack, Nate and Sam said at the same time.
"Ok Jack," Callen said again, "If shooting me will take your pain away and stop you hurting, then do it." He said his voice flat and even.
Sam looked over at him surprised. "G?"
"No…Sam, Jack is my son; I love him more than anything including my life and if he needs to take it to make his pain go away, then let him." Callen said firmly.
Jack looked at Callen standing there willing to die so he could be free of pain; Hero nudged his head into Jacks leg with a small whine.
Tears freely started to fall as Jacks mind started to crumble, "I have to shoot you…you are a Callen…you are my enemy," Jacks hand.
"I love you Jack, you are my son, I will never leave you and I will never hurt you."
"I…" Jack looked at all the men watching him, but his eyes kept going back to Callen's there was not a hint of anger or malice on his face, not like when he looked at Vasilie, he would always look at Nicu coldly.
Callen took another deep breath he could see the emotions on his son's face.
"It's ok Jack, I will never hate you…I can't hate you, you are my world."
Callen watched as Jack steadied the gun and smiled at him.
"I'm sorry Daddy." Jack said quietly and turned to gun towards himself.
"No!" Callen moved instantly and grabbed the gun as Jack turned the barrel to his head, they wrestled with the gun, Callen turning it and pressing it tightly to him as a shot rang out, Callen grunted as the gun blasted through his shoulder.
Jack stood there in shock as Callen slumped to the floor.
"It's ok Jack." Callen said trying to keep his own voice steady.
Shooting Callen released a dam in Jacks mind, he dropped the gun and curled up into a ball, crying and rocking as images that had been suppressed by Vasilie's mind control weakened and then broke as they were designed to do.
Jack suddenly remembered all the good times with his father and grandmother, then Tracy coming back, her betrayal of him and the pain of what Vasilie had done to him.
"Dad…" Jack stammered through the pain.
Callen shook off Sam's hand which had been trying to staunch the blood flow from the wound in his shoulder while they waited for an ambulance.
"Jack?" he asked.
Jack nodded, "I…I didn't know…I didn't mean to kill you…" he said and fainted as all the images crashed together in his brain.
"Nate!" Callen cried as he used his good arm to pull his son closer to him.
"It seems like he's had an emotional shut down." Nate said checking Jack's vitals, "He's exhausted, other than that he's fine." Nate clarified as he looked over at Callen, "Sam get some first aid on him."
Sam gave a curt nod as Hetty and Michelle came down the stairs.
"Mr. Hanna, what happened?" Hetty asked seeing the blood and the state of Jack and Callen.
"Callen called Jack's bluff and overrode his programming." Sam told her.
"Will he be alright?" Hetty asked concerned for her grandson.
Nate nodded, "He will, it will take some time, but whatever Vasilie had programmed into him seems to be gone."
The paramedics arrived and started to deal with Callen's shoulder wound.
The second team arrived and tended to Jack, "We will need to take him in to see what caused this collapse."
Callen shrugged off his team of paramedics and watched as they tended to his son.
"He'll come to the same hospital as me, I don't want him out of your sight Sam, stay with him please?"
Sam nodded, "Ok, I'll keep him safe G."
At that Callen sat on the gurney and allowed the paramedics to inject him with some morphine. He lay back and closed his eyes.
"Keep him safe Sam." Callen said as the morphine overtook his system.
"Are you coming with us Sir?" The paramedic asked.
Sam nodded, but Hetty put her hand on his arm, "Sort your family Mr. Hanna, I will stay with my grandson, you can meet us later."
Sam smiled and went to check on Michelle and his daughter glancing once at Callen as he was taken away with Nate at his side.
Hetty watched as they closed the doors on the ambulance that Jack had been lifted into.
"I need to strap you in ma'am." A paramedic said as the other one climbed into the driving seat.
Hetty reached for the strap as the paramedic stopped her, "I have to do it for insurance purposes." She nodded and moved her arms out of the way, but was shocked as within moments she was handcuffed to the chair she was in.
"What?"
The paramedic smiled, "Nicu…Wake up boy!" he snarled and slapped Jack around the face, "Your father sent us to bring you back to him.
He turned to Hetty, "Oh and Ms Lange, the Agents at your boatshed are dead, Vasilie is in a safe house and he is looking forward to some one on one time with you."
Hetty looked at Jack as a tremor of fear crossed his face as he woke up and recognized the men, "Marco, Daniel…?" he said to his cousins.
Marco sat in the back with them looked at Jack, "Nicu, your father will be pleased to hear that you shot a Callen, if he dies…maybe he will not punish you so severely for leaving him."
"I didn't mean to…" Jack started but stopped as Marco hit him again.
"Your father gave you orders boy and you broke them."
Jack bit the inside of his lip, he knew now that he wasn't Nicu Comescu, the dam in his mind had been well and truly broken, but Hetty was with him and he needed to keep her safe.
"You should have seen it Vasilie," Marco said as he was on the phone, "Nicu shot him, he was bleeding pretty heavily, the real paramedics took him but I wouldn't be surprised if he ain't dead by now." He laughed at the look of horror on Hetty's face.
Jack turned his face away, he'd been away from his real father for so long, he'd forgotten who he was and then he'd shot him.
A dark looked crossed his face, he understood now the sentence his father had come out with oh so long ago, because now he too was going to kill them all, every Comescu would die and he would avenge the death of his father and his mother.
