Till Death Do Us Part

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

Chapter 13

Santa Barbara

Callen rested himself slightly on the edge of the desk and looked over to his partner. "I've missed you, Sam. It's so good to see you. You look well."

"You have no idea how much I've missed you, G. Your replacement is doing all our heads in. Nell's just filled me in on why he's at OSP. How long are you going to be up here? The team miss you. Hetty misses you." He noticed Callen became tense at the mention of their Operations Manager. "Is there something I'm missing?"

"A great deal, Sam. What happened to Granger?"

"We had a mole in OSP, a new tech guy, he started just after you left. He poisoned Granger until he lost control of his car and was a little crazy in hospital. His blood works came back with the results of the poisoning. Some poisonous plant the tech guy grew in the garage at Helen's."

"The HR Manager?" Sam nodded. Callen noticed the sadness in Sam's eyes. "What is it, Sam?"

"He killed Helen. Then he took Beale hostage, but we managed to corner him, rescued Eric and arrested him. Something big is going on, G. Matthias returned and tried to kidnap Hetty to take her to Russia. Someone wants her. The old cold war has returned. Even Arkady is nervous."

Callen shook his head. He was worried about Sam and his team, but for a completely different reason. Never had he envisioned all of the things Sam was telling him. "I wish I could be there to help, but I can't."

"Why didn't you ever tell me you had a daughter?" Sam watched numerous emotions flash over Callen's face. It was unusual for him to witness this, Callen was usually a blank canvas hiding his emotions.

Callen looked over at him and met his gaze. "I never knew. I only found out earlier this year." Sadness entered his eyes. "I failed big time, Sam. I left Alex for L.A. I shouldn't have gone without her. She was supposed to follow me, but I had no idea that Hetty called her and told her not to come." Anger replaced the sadness, resulting in Sam to furrow his brow.

"Whose's Alex, G?"

"My wife. Real wife. We used to work together in D.C. with Gibbs and Kate. We became a family, all four of us. Alex and I, well you know how it goes, Sam. Get too close. We were on an operation in Paris and we decided to get married with our real names. We posted the marriage certificate and our real identities back to Gibbs for safe keeping until we returned. I had what I always wanted." He shook his head, annoyed with himself. "Then I threw it away. Hetty offered me a place in OSP with undercover work. Deep undercover. It was what I was born to do. So I accepted on the proviso that Alex came too. I flew out in time to work with you, and then Kensi and Renko joined the team. I asked Hetty about Alex, but she," he fisted his hands together, "deflected the conversation." He looked back up at Sam. "I thought Alex had abandoned me. Only to discover it was I who abandoned her. I had no idea she was pregnant with Katie." He sighed out heavily.

"Alex was the agent burned by Green, wasn't she?" Callen stood up and paced the room. "That's why Vance wanted you urgently in D.C. To rescue her. Nell told me. I'm sorry, G. I had no idea. But what I don't understand is why are you hiding up here under aliases?"

"Green can't know that it was Gibbs and I who rescued her and that she is still alive. Green thinks she's dead. It's best he thinks that. Her life will be in danger if Green knew. She's a witness to his dealings with Roman Basara, a Ukrainian. Weapon trading and not just with him. Green has been making a great deal of money on the side."

"He's a bastard, you know. He's not that good of an agent. Non of us can understand how he managed to become an agent. Hetty arranged a massive training for him and we've been putting him through his paces, but no one likes him." Sam caught Callen's arm and stopped his pacing. "Is that why you're here, taking care of Alex and Katie, hiding from Green?"

"Kind of. What happened to Alex in Donetsk…" Callen's body tensed and his eyes welled up. His voice was barely a whisper. "Roman starved her and r…she was barely alive when we got to her. It almost killed me to see her like that. It took three weeks for her to be well enough to fly back to D.C. It took her four months before she would even allow me to hold her. To comfort her. It was the hardest thing to do, stand there and watch the emotional toll deprive her of the happiness she deserves and not be able to do anything for her to make things better. The restless nights from her nightmares. Hell, even I have nightmares from it and I wasn't the victim. Nate's tried to get the three of us to talk about it, but Gibbs and I, we won't talk about it. Not until she's ready." His voice became louder as anger raged within him. "I wanted to kill Roman and Green, you know. With my bare hand. Torture them and kill them slowly for what they did to her."

"I'd want to do the same if it had happened to Michelle, G. I get it. I want to go back to L.A. and strangle the guy myself." Sam wrapped his arms around him and hugged him. "I'm here for you, G. For you and your family. Whatever you want me to do, I'll do it."

It was a moment of weakness for Callen, but he needed it. He broke in his partner's arms. He'd been strong for Alex for six months, but he needed someone to talk to. Sam arriving like he did, gave Callen the support he needed. He took in a ragged breath and pulled away from Sam. "Thanks, Sam."

"No worries, G. You were there for me when we had the Sidorov problem. That's what brothers do for each other." He held his shoulder with a firm grip.

"The plan is that we've gone into witness protection, but we're also undercover watching underlying terrorists who have been meeting at the Country Club up here. I gather the intel, but that's all. Another team come in and take them out, one by one. I can't tell you anymore than that, it's pretty low key, boring stuff. But Vance wanted to give us a second chance of being a family."

"Hetty doesn't like Alex?" Sam pondered over the conversation he'd been having with Callen.

"Alex has no idea why either. Hetty told her that she knew who she was and that she's no good for me. And that she would do everything in her power to keep us apart." Callen shook his head and gripped the lamp stand firmly in his hand. "She's the love of my life, Sam. She makes me a better person. She wanted me back. It was her backup plan when she went to Donetsk, for Gibbs and I to rescue her if her trip went south."

"What was she doing in Donetsk? It's been too risky to have any agents in there."

"A mom at school is from there. Her mother died, and happened to be telling Alex about her trip home. She asked Vance if she could go and check out what was really going on in there. He approved the plan. But she saw Green there. We met him years ago and never liked him. He tried to get onto our team, but Gibbs refused his request. He hired Kate instead. Green was dealing something with Roman Basara. And intel has revealed that he dealt with weapon trading and girls. We had to trade with some dodgy microchips that only worked until we initiated them to go corrupt. We made sure we had Alex safe with us, first." His emotions got the better of him and he had to take a break.

"I'm sorry, G. For Hetty ruining the best thing in your life and for what Green did to Alex." Callen nodded and sat down on the chair. He rubbed his hand through his hair that had grown longer since he'd left L.A. "Is Alex around?" Sam was eager to meet her.

"She's upstairs resting. She's still recovering from the ordeal. She's had a few busy days starting her new job as a History teacher at the local High School." A smile crept onto Callen's face. "She's always loved history. She's qualified too, you know, to teach the subject. All the way up to University level if she wanted to. She's highly regarded in her field. It's a great alias for her."

"But really she's an agent like us."

Callen looked up and shook his head. "No. Not quite. Even more secret than OSP. A team that doesn't exist, only Vance knows about them and she deals with him directly. They're the king of ghosts. This operation I'm working on, she needed me for it before the Donetsk situation. It only delayed it. It required a family to go undercover and she wanted me back. For herself and for Katie. She said it was time to fight for what was hers. But she doesn't want Hetty to know about it. And Vance agreed. Then Granger was asked to be our handler." Callen took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. He looked up at his partner and a smile appeared. "I met my father, Sam. Granger brought him to the Navy Yard. I know my name."

Sam's face brightened. "That's great, G. So tell me, what's Nikita like and what does the G stand for?"

Callen smirked. "An older version of me. Same blue eyes and shaped face." He wiped his face with his hand. "Any guesses?"

"No way. After all this time, you're having me guess? If it's Russian, I'll have no idea." Sam chuckled. "Gabrielle. Gunther. George, Gregori?"

"Gavrill." Callen's face reddened. It was still new to him.

"Gavrill?" Sam raised his brow and studied him. "Hmm! Yeah. I can see you as a Gav. You know that's what we'll have to call you. Leave off the Russian part. Help you fit in better."

Callen raised one brow. "Oh, is that so? Well I might just demand everyone to call me by Gavrill, you know. Seeing I've lost thirty-nine years of being Gavrill Reznikov."

"We could always call you Rill instead," Sam teased.

"And we could call you muel," Callen smirked. He had missed this banter between the two of them.

Sam chuckled. "Okay, G, you got me. Gav it is." He nodded. "I approve. I'm glad you found him, G."

"Me too. But I only had an hour with him. He's been living in Canada with Amy. Oh, yeah, she's alive too, much to Hetty's dismay I bet." His voice went bitter over the situation.

"What do you mean, G? Hetty would be thrilled that she's alive. This is great news." Sam looked over to him with confusion.

"Granger said that they had to fake her death to keep her hidden from the CIA and from Hetty. I have so many questions for her, Sam. Why she moved me around the foster system so much? Thirty-seven homes is too many for any foster kid."

"I agree with you, G. That is a lot of homes to be moved around, growing up. But didn't she tell you that it was to keep you safe from the Comescus? She did fly over to Prague to tell them that you were dead, to keep you safe. For your mom's sake. Isn't that what she told you?"

Callen thought about it for a moment. "I know, Sam. She's been the one constant in my life growing up. I thought she was the only one who cared about me. But the truth is, she kept me hidden from my family. They couldn't find me. I missed out on living my life with my family for all of those years. That's why Granger came across to NCIS. To keep a closer watch to make sure she didn't leave the reservation again and to make sure we didn't follow her again." He heaved out a sigh. "And she took me away from my wife and daughter. That is something I am struggling with the most, you know. I'd accepted my fate as a kid in the system. I survived. But I allowed her to ruin the happiness I had finally found with Alex. A family of my own. Vance is keeping me away from Hetty for now. They're doing their own investigation into who she really is. Henrietta Lange is not her real name, Sam. They need to know who she is and where her allegiance lies. You have to agree, she's got a bit of a history of taking kids and turning them into agents, who are loyal to only her. We handed our badges in for her, Sam. What were we thinking?"

"What any of us would do for the other, G. I'm sure Hetty's had a damn good reason for hiding you. I'm sure if you asked her, she'd give you the answers that you need."

"She's kept so much from me over the years, I don't know if I trust her." His admission hung in the air as they both became quiet.

"She is good at keeping things from us, I'll agree with you on that. But she loves you, G. Looks to you like a son. I'll see if I can do some digging for you." He looked at his watch. "I need to let Shell know I'll be late."

"Stay the night, Sam. Please." Sam nodded.

"Got a secure phone for me to call her?"

Callen handed him a satellite phone. "I sure do."