Turn of Events

By BH72

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from NCISLA. They all belong to Shane Brennan and CBS. I am thankful that I am allowed to borrow them and return them, ready for the next episode.

A/N: Time to rescue Callen, hey! Thanks for your continued support. Need to end Janvier and Namena too. Hang on.

Chapter 25

Ziva jumped into Tony's arms when they arrived on board the Kelly. They kissed passionately as Gibbs and McGee placed all of their gear down below. They no longer worked together, so Gibbs' no dating co-workers rule no longer applied to them. "I've missed you." Tony told her lovingly.

Ziva's smile broadened. "I've missed you too, Tony." She pulled away from Tony and hugged Gibbs and McGee, both also pleased to be reunited with their former team mate. "As I have missed you too, Gibbs and McGee."

"It's good to see you too, Ziva." McGee's smile widened, it had been too long since he'd seen his good friend.

Gibbs returned her infectious smile. "Like old times. Glad to have you back, Ziva. Now let's set sail." They all nodded as they were used to Gibbs' straight forward focus on the job at hand. They all tended to the ropes and waited until Gibbs took them out of the marina, before hoisting the sails up and letting the wind take the Kelly out into the Gulf of Mexico. Word had come through an hour earlier of the name of the yacht, with a photo of what it looked like. It was a top of the range luxury yacht, that made the Kelly look tiny and worn out. But this boat had been made with love, at the hands of one, Leroy Jethro Gibbs. The team were honoured to be allowed to sail with their boss and help rescue Agent Callen from the hands of a Serbian witch, as Gibbs had referred to her in front of them.

The sun rose from behind them as they sailed west, drinking in the warm October sun, smothered in sunscreen and hidden under their caps or brimmed hats. It took seven hours out at sea before they spotted the yacht that towered above them. Gibbs ordered them to pull the sails down and issued a mayday call. The yacht slowed down and allowed the team to board the ship. As Tony thanked the captain for his assistance with the help of Ziva, who distracted the crew in her skimpy white bikini and long dark flowing hair, Gibbs and McGee searched for Callen on board the ship.

In a room two levels below, Gibbs heard Callen's muffled cry out for help, when he breached the room. Tied up on a bed, Gibbs fired his weapon at the woman, shooting her in the head. She fell off Callen dead, and a pool of dark red blood bled out of the wound, soaking into the white satin sheets. Callen pulled himself away from her, into a ball, hiding himself from Gibbs. "I don't want you to see me like this." His voice sounded foreign to Gibbs and he wondered just how much the younger man had been through at the hands of this witch.

His pleading broke Gibbs' heart in two as he ignored the state he'd found Callen in and focused on un-cuffing him from the bed head. He found some clothes and left the room, while Callen dressed himself. Scanning the hallway for movement, he was pleased he'd used a silencer, as no one knew what had happened down there. When Gibbs saw McGee come his way, he signalled for him to head back up to the deck. Soon after Callen exited the room after he'd double checked that Namena was indeed dead. He never wanted to see her alive ever again, after all she had done to him. He was a broken man, old haunts from his days in the system came flooding back, his walls around his heart fell when she broke him again and again. His body was already scarred from the abuse in his teenage years and later from his days as a federal agent. But now, his body bore the scars of Namena's bite marks. She'd been vicious and he regretted ever meeting her six weeks prior. He wished he'd thrown her into the harbour to drown and feed the sharks. But he knew he couldn't turn back time. With his head down, he followed Gibbs' every movement to the deck and climbed down onto the Kelly. Once on board, Tony and Ziva joined them, after tying the captain and his crew up and called the coast guard.

They set sail for Baytown, just outside of Houston and made the call through to Ellie to tell them that they had killed Namena and rescued Callen. Relief for the Director and the Los Angeles team flooded through them all, knowing that Callen was safe and heading home. It took them a few hours before they reached land.

Up in Los Angeles, Sam remained focused and tense, he refused to stop searching for Janvier. With his wife, Michelle beside him and Deeks and Kensi backing them up, they search through every location Eric could find that Janiver had been since fleeing South Carolina and on his previous visits to Los Angeles. But with no success.

Back on the Kelly, Callen sat with his legs over the edge of the smaller boat, appreciating the sea breeze blowing across his face as he saw Texas approach in the distance. He knew he was fortunate it was Gibbs who had entered that room. He trusted Gibbs to keep the details on what condition he had found him in, to himself, but it still didn't stop tears from falling down his face. He was a broken man and wondered if he would ever heal from this. Janvier had sourced his juvenile records and provided her with the details of the abuse he'd suffered in the foster care system. She had used that information to break him. All the efforts he'd worked damn hard on to overcome those dark years, broke apart, shattering into millions of pieces. He was known for being a strong man, a silent hero, protecting the innocent, unsurpassable at dealing with the most difficult of difficult situations. What he and his team came across day by day would break anyone. Yet he had managed to compartmentalise them, separating his own emotions from them. Sam had wondered how he had managed to do it, when a case came close to Sam's heart and tore at him. But now, he couldn't see past the present. His breathing became ragged as he tried to prevent a panic attack on the boat. it had been years since he'd had them, and he had Hetty to thank for getting him the help to overcome them. She had given him the skills to meditate and separate himself from the events that had led him to dispair. It was what helped him to become a great agent.

Gibbs looked over and saw the despair in his friend's posture. He asked Tony to take over at the helm and joined his dear friend up front. He was known for being a good listener and just sat with Callen, knowing he'd talk, once he was ready.

"Thanks, Gibbs. For rescuing me." Callen turned after what felt like eternity to Gibbs, after he had sat down.

Gibbs gently squeezed Callen's shoulder for support. "You know I would sail the world to find you, Callen. I would never give up looking for you."

Callen only nodded, but it was enough for the older man. Neither man were big on words, but he also knew Callen needed to talk to someone about his ordeal.

"You're the strongest soul I've ever encountered, Callen. No one should have to endure all what you've been through, but you get back up and get on with your life. You've done it before, you can do it again." He hoped his words would make Callen realise that he was right and that it would give him the strength to fight back. "Don't let her or Janvier win. You have your family back, a daughter who loves you. Nell."

Callen shook his head. "No. I am not worthy of any of them. No good. Never have been."

"That's not true, Callen and you know it. You do deserve to be happy. Take some time off and spend it with your family. If I'm right, you probably have a year's worth of holiday accrued by now."

A smirk appeared on Callen's face. "You know me too well." His face became serious again. "I can't let them know what she did to me. That I allowed her to do those things to me." His voice quavered as his emotions got the better of him. "I can never be the man Nell deserves, nor the father Emily needs. Not after this. It's best if I just go. Vanish without a trace."

Anger rippled through Gibbs at the heartbreaking words spoken by Callen. "Don't you dare disappear on anyone. Let them be there for you, so you can heal. If you leave, how will you get over this?"

Callen looked over at the older man, tears welled up in his eyes. "I can't. I just can't. Please. Let me go."

"You know I can't do that Callen. I can't let you go." Gibbs looked sad at his younger friend, knowing all the pain he'd been through. He'd tried for years to help him get over it.

Callen shook his head. "Then I have no choice." Before they even pulled into the harbour, Callen jumped off the Kelly and dived under the water. Gibbs sounded the alarm and dived in after him, but the murky water didn't allow him visual of his friend. McGee threw in a life saving ring for their boss to hang onto, but Gibbs kept diving down, searching for Callen.

Two hours of searching came to a halt, when daylight vanished. Gibbs was heartbroken and hoped Callen had made it to land and was somewhere safe. He was good at becoming a ghost, but without any money, he worried over his friend on what would become of him.

Gibbs nodded and McGee sent the message through to Ellie that Agent Callen had jumped off the boat and after two hours of searching had failed to find him. Leon Vance paced his office in anger and rang Gibbs himself to find out answers as to Callen's disappearance.

"Leon, if you saw what I saw, you would understand why he's gone. What that woman did to him, after all he's suffered during his years in the system, I'm not sure he can pull himself out of this. He needs time to heal. But he doesn't think he's worthy of his family to love him."

"What did she do to him, Gibbs?"

Gibbs swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat. "I can't tell you, Leon. I promised him I would never tell anyone."

Leon knew from the way Gibbs told him that Callen must have been in a bad way and all manner of thoughts entered his head. He shook his head to clear them before he rang Hetty. He braced himself for her wrath as he called her to tell her that her favourite agent had disappeared.

Doheny Road, Beverley Hills…

Henrietta Lange sunk into her chair over the news that Leon Vance gave her. As she looked over at John and Amy and then at Elise and Emily, a tear escaped down her cheek. This was not the news that she wanted to deliver to any of them, but knew that she had to. How was she going to tell them that Callen had vanished on his own free will because of what the Serbian woman had done to him? Without the details, which Gibbs promised never to tell, her mind brought up many variables that came back to one thing. Namena had abused Callen until it broke him. It broke her to the core that her boy had to suffer such inhumane treatment of his body once more. She stood up and walked around her garden for some peace, thinking back to the many times she had found Callen curled up underneath a tree in her garden, bruised and his body shaking. The abuse he had suffered at the hands of men who should never been allowed to be foster parents had made her blood boil. But instead of allowing her feelings to show, she had treated his wounds, many of which she wished she had never seen and had tried meditation over the years to forget. But they all came flooding back to the forefront of her mind of the cruelty Clara's boy had suffered all because the Comescus had killed his mother. I am sorry, Clara, I have failed him again.

It was John who had picked up on Hetty's distressed state and walked over to her. He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder to soothe her, but she remained on her knees under a tree, where she had found Callen many times in despair. He was patient with her and waited for her to tell him the news.

"He's gone, John. Jumped off the boat. Gibbs looked for him for two hours, but he's disappeared."

"Why, I don't understand?" John kneeled down beside her, with his heart breaking.

"Namena broke him, John. It's the only thing that makes sense of why he's gone. He can't live with himself after all that he went through from her and what he endured in the system. You never saw him after he'd been bashed and abused so badly by a rotten foster father. I would find him lying curled up underneath this tree, crying. It took me weeks to heal him, not just his physical injuries, but his emotional as well. The fact that he grew up and became a healthy member of society was an achievement in itself. Then I had to send him back into the system, because I had no idea where you were, or who you were." Her body shook as she let down her own defences and cried in John's arms, who also cried for his son. The only other person Callen had ever told of the abuse he'd suffered as a kid was Elise, who stood back and watched the scene under the tree. She turned and spoke quietly with Warren and told him not to tell anyone where she was going.

L.A. General Hospital…

Nate was sitting with Nell talking her through events in her life to help her remember. Deeks had been in earlier with her weapon incase she needed to protect herself, but she had stared at him as if he was mad. "How would I know how to use it?" With her memory loss, she couldn't even find a memory of holding it and immediately placed it underneath her pillow, so it was out of sight. She knew something was going on, but no one would tell her. She didn't blame them, it probably was for the best until she remembered who she was and who they were. Nate brought up photos of her and the team and told her funny stories about each of them. She'd laughed and regretted it with the bruising on her ribs, but Nate really had a funny way to explain each of the team. When Deeks entered, thoughts of the funny stories Nate had told her about him, came flooding to the forefront of her mind. She liked Deeks, she decided. He was funny but caring. She couldn't believe she had set Deeks up to lose at his own card tricks with the help of Callen and another member of the team, with her using a uv camera on the cards from a distance. But it sounded like they were a great bunch of people that she worked with.

She had fallen asleep and when she woke up, Nate was no where around. A man entered her room and fear consumed her. The man who had taken her hostage, the one with the funny left hand. Memories of the past, all the evil he had done on Callen and the team returned to her like a fast speeding train. She pulled her weapon out from her pillow and switched off the safety. She aimed it at him with her right hand, focused and her breathing calmed down. Trust my training. Callen's words entered her mind as she kept her eyes on her target. She had never killed a man before, but the evil in the Frenchman before her made her determined to ensure that he never lived another day on the earth. It was for good, she told herself. "I know who you are. What evil you've done. The people you've killed and what you've done to Callen."

Janvier laughed at her, as if she was weak and never feared the gun pointed at him. "You'll never do it. You've not got it in you too."

"Callen has trained me. I can and I will." Before he grasped what she had said, she pulled the trigger and fired. The bullet shot out the end of the pistol and flew through the air at lightning speed and entered Janvier's temple. Shock was evident on his face as he fell to the floor. Nate, Deeks and Kensi came running up the hallway after hearing the gunshot. They saw the pool of blood and feared for their team mate.

"Nell!" Kensi's voice echoed through the ward of the hospital as staff members came running out from hearing the gunshot.

They stopped outside Nell's room in shock at the body on the floor and the look of determination on Nell's face as she still held the gun out in front of her.

Kensi walked over to her and took it off her. "Good girl, Nell. You did it."

Nell looked wide eyed at Kensi, "I did. I killed him." Her body went into shock and Kensi sat down and held her until she settled down.

"Callen would be proud of you, Nell. Good girl."

Things have gone dark in this story. Callen's vanished and Nell's killed Janvier. Where has Elise gone to? Love to hear from you, please leave a review.