Chapter 14

Arkady looked at Callen and sighed. Sitting on the bed he ran his hand over his face and looked into his eyes.

"I cannot tell you why you didn't come with us moy syn. The man that put us in the program told us you were not able to come with us, and that it would be better…safer if you weren't with us."

Callen took a step back and sat heavily on the chair in the corner of the room, "I put you in danger?"

Arkady could see the boy in the man standing before him. "We did not at any point want to leave you. Your mama and I fought to have you come with us, but we were not able."

"Where are mama and Alaina…?" Callen asked.

Arkady looked sad, "Svetlana isn't with me anymore. I still see Alaina on occasion. She is in college now and has grown into a beautiful woman. She still talks about you."

Callen looked at him, "Mama…is she…?"

Arkady looked at his son and realized his fear, "No. She didn't like the witness protection program; we fought a lot. She is remarried and living somewhere in New York."

"I'm sorry," Callen said. He still was none the wiser but remembering the conversation he had overheard in the hospital years ago, he knew that he had had an impact on their lives. "You would still be with her if I hadn't come to live with you."

"Vy ne vinovaty v tomchto sluchilos' mezhdu mnoy i tvoya mama. My byli gordy tem, chto vy schitali nas vashimi roditelyami. khotya my i ne , my ob vse yeshche lyublyu tebya, i ya gorzhus' tem, chelovek, kotorogo vy stala, kak tvoya mama budet, kogda ya govoryu yey." Arkady stood up and walked towards him.

Callen dropped his head, "I hated you for so long. I was angry. I thought I wasn't good enough for you. Why did you have to go?"

"Some bad men came to where I worked. They were interested in you, very interested in you. We had some people come and help. While I was in hospital they shot up the house. I did not know what their interest in you was son, all I know is I had to keep my family safe."

"So you took them away from me," Callen said sadly.

"We couldn't find you," Arkady said honestly.

Callen looked down ashamed and went red; he had run away and there was no denying it. "That's because I ran away."

He stood up. This wasn't getting the job done and he knew his partner was outside waiting. "Can you do this papa? Can you work with us?"

"Things have changed Moy syn. I am not the easy-going man I once was. I now know the value of money and the potential value of information."

Callen took a step back to the door, "And the information you have on me…my real identity…is that valuable to you?"

Arkady looked at Callen and saw immediately what he was alluding too. "You are my son, not by blood but by circumstance, and I will always protect you, however, if I happen to pick up any information on my competitors during this little escapade, then I will consider that payment. You will tell your bosses that information is only for you. I will not work for, or with, the DEA or any other agency."

Callen looked at Arkady and as he grinned, Callen was reminded of the man he had grown to care about during his brief time as a member of his family.

"Come, meet my partner and we will see what happens next," Callen said as he walked to the door.

Peters and Nigel looked up as Callen and Arkady came back into the room.

"Ok so you gonna fill us in?" Peters asked.

Callen gave a curt nod. "Arkady Kolcheck will work with us in getting information on this syndicate that will help stop them from financing this new route."

"What does he get out of it?" Trevor asked.

"Information Agent Nigel; also I will never turn my son down if he needs help."

"So you are his father?" Peters asked intrigued.

Arkady laughed, "I am not his biological father, but I am the only person he will allow to fill that role until the real man himself turns up."

"So, Agent 'Callen'," Peters started putting the emphasis on his surname, "I suppose we have to change the plan now."

Callen leaned back in the chair he'd crashed onto and had opened another Tootsie Pop that he twirled around in his mouth while thinking up Plan B.

"Yes we do," he replied.

Trevor Nigel looked at the younger agent, and if asked, he would have sworn he could see the wheels turning in his head.

"Are you going to share this plan with us?" He asked.

Callen stood up and threw the wrapper in the trash and looked out the window, "We are going to tell them the truth."

"What?" All three men chorused. Then Arkady laughed. Not the laugh the other men had heard since he had arrived, but a huge deep belly laugh that Callen hadn't heard since he was a child.

At that he grinned.

"I take it that you are going to pull the same stunt you did at school."

Callen sucked and grinned "Yep."

Arkady walked over to the small kitchenette. "Coffee?" he asked. Nigel nodded.

"So, Callen, for the benefit of those of us who didn't know you when you were a child, would you care to explain?"

"We tell as much of the truth as we need to. I go in as Arkady's long lost son, he'll vouch for me, won't you papa?" Callen asked.

Arkady sighed, "Yes and when it all goes south I will take the heat?" he asked not sure of the colloquialism

Callen laughed at him, "I am sure you will find a way out of it."

"Ah, moy syn, the things we will do for family." Arkady sighed taking a sip of the coffee he'd just poured. "So, as my son, you will be joining the Malenkov family. Hopefully they will give you a good job. Sergei Malenkov owes me a favor, this I will collect as my wayward son, just over from his… shlyukha of a mother."

"Papa!" Callen replied shocked.

The other two agents looked at him confused.

"You are making my mother a prostitute?" Callen asked.

"How else am I to explain my shame in not mentioning you to him before? You have tracked me down; I am meeting my obligation to you and finding you a job."

Callen shrugged, "Fair enough."

Peters looked at the two men. Callen had slipped back into speaking English with a Russian accent again - he was so good. Peters would have bet money on the fact that Callen hadn't even realized he was doing it.

It's a bet he would have won. Callen had fallen straight into the role that they had worked out. It fit him like a glove, and there was enough of his past that they knew they could fit into his back-story that it would pass the kind of scrutiny that the Malenkov family could bring to bear.

"So," Trevor stood up and looked at the two of them, "we will get started tomorrow. You will arrange a meet with Malenkov and Peters and I will be your new bodyguards."

"In that case you should all get changed, I need to eat and it is time Arkady took his son out to dinner and caught up on the life I have missed out on."

Arkady smiled and took the Tootsie pop out of Callen's mouth and tossed it in the trash.

"Dad!" Callen protested.

In that moment, Agent Nigel could see this plan working. That wasn't an undercover agent pretending to be somebody's son that was the genuine action of a son to a father.

"You will eat healthy food again, moy syn. No more of this 'junky' food."

Callen rolled his eyes. "Yes sir." He sulked and crossed his arms.

Arkady looked at the boy, yes…still his son. "You shower and we will buy you a suit, you are moy syn and you will look the part," he ordered.

Callen sighed and much to the amusement of the other two agents skulked off to the bathroom to shower.

Nigel and Peters looked at each other, they were going to enjoy the next few hours…a lot!

Translation.

1. You are not to blame for what happened between myself and your mama. We were proud that you considered us your parents. Even though we are not we both still love you and I am proud of the man you have become as your mama will be when I tell her.