Callen was under no illusions as to the subtext of this request: Vance wanted him to conduct an internal investigation into Hetty, while at the same time finding out what Sgt. Gillanders could add to an on-going investigation that was creating international headlines around the world.

"I can make it a direct order – if I have to."

Which meant that if Callen refused to accept the position, then he would be suspended on a charge of gross insubordination. It looked as if Leon had won this particular round in their battle of wits, but this was only the opening salvo in what could prove to be a long and bitter war, one in which they had just been thrown right into the middle of. Callen was already feeling bad enough about his part in Kensi's injury, and now he was being asked to supervise an investigation into Hetty, the woman who had stood by him, mentored him and helped him to become the person he was today. Callen new exactly what a debt of gratitude he owed her and was under no illusions as to the contents of the poisoned chalice he had just been handed. His enquiries could end Hetty's career. And if Vance had his way, they would be the formal nail in her coffin.

"I think that would probably be best, Director. A direct order. In writing, if you don't mind. Then we both know exactly where we stand."

Leon lent back in his chair for the first time since the interview had begun and relaxed. "She taught you well, Agent Callen. But then I'd expect nothing less from Hetty. She's a living legend – I know that. But sometimes your idols can have feet of clay."

"We all serve someone. You take your orders from the politicians – I take mine from Hetty. I know who I trust." If that counted as throwing down the gauntlet, then so be it. Callen was not about to lie down and let Vance trample over him or his integrity.

"And I know I can trust you to be impartial and objective."

"Of course you can, Director. Like you said, Hetty taught me well."

The conference call ended and Callen wondered what the hell he had just got himself roped into, and how he was ever going to explain all this to Sam and Deeks. Not to mention Hetty. In fact, the whole of the LA office. With one stroke, Leon Vance had managed to turn everything upside down and inside out. Really, the man was a master strategist and Callen had just walked straight into his hands, like some helpless fly getting caught in a sticky spider's web. Bugger, as Hetty would undoubtedly say. Bugger, bugger, bugger.

"He got you between a rock and a hard place, G. Don't beat yourself up about it."

Deeks was having trouble processing the information. "When did Vance manage to grow such big balls?"

"Probably right about the same time as he was squeezing mine." The instant he said that, Callen wished he hadn't come up with that image: it was going to take a long time to suppress it.

"Does anyone else think we shouldn't mention this to Kensi?" What she didn't know, and all that… And right now Kensi had enough to think about without adding any more to her worries. What she needed right now was rest and recuperation and lots of tender loving care. Deeks was certain she was going to need lots of the latter, in fact he was probably going to have to devote his whole attention to showing her just how much he cared and exactly how tender and loving he could be.

Sam agreed. "That makes sense to me. Knowing Kensi, the first thing she'd do would be to rip Vance's balls off and serve them to him on a plate."

Silence fell as everyone contemplated that singularly unpleasant mental picture.

"Yeah, Kensi doesn't need to know about Hetty and Callen – she needs to stay in hospital a while longer. And she definitely doesn't need to know about this conversation." Because if Kensi ever found out that they had deliberately concealed information from her, then Deeks knew that it would not just be Vance's balls that were in danger.

"We need to speak to Hetty: that's priority number one. And we need all the background information on Gillander." There was one good thing about this unholy mess, Callen thought: it was going to keep him so busy that at least he wouldn't have much time to worry about Louise.

"And Deeks needs to go have a shower and change." Sam thought that only Deeks could manage to look dishevelled in what was clearly an expensive suit.

"That works for me." Given the choice, Deeks would never put on another suit ever again.

"We've already got a detailed dossier on Gillander's military career, but Eric and I will get digging into his background while you're talking to Hetty." Needless to say, Nell ha discovered that there was no mention of Gillander's putative relationship to the Marine Sergeant in either of their files.

"Do you reckon it's true – about Hetty having a son, I mean?"

"She admitted it," Eric said bluntly. "Vance boxed her into a corner so that she had no choice. Bastard. And he did it in front of us, quite deliberately, so that he'd have witnesses." Once again, Eric was reminded about just why he had such a problem with people in positions of authority – sooner or later, they all tried to screw you.

"And you never knew, G?"

"I never knew," Callen confirmed, running the date of Gillander's birth through his mind. It was starting to make sense, given the other events that were unfolding in Hetty's life at that time. Maybe that was why she had such a penchant for choosing to work with people who had screwed-up childhoods – as a way of righting some ancient wrong? Neither he, nor Deeks or perhaps even Kensi had exactly had the 'white picket fence' upbringing that was supposed to be synonymous with all that was best about America. Rather they grown up on the other side of the fence, looking over enviously at all the other kids living such normal lives that it hurt.

"Poor Hetty." Sam tried to imagine living his life without seeing his daughter growing up and knew that the prospect was unthinkable. So why had he deliberately put the most valuable thing in his life at risk by indulging himself, by letting himself think even for one second that he could have some sort of relationship with Jada? What the hell had he been thinking about?

"Poor Gillanders." Deeks wondered if the guy had any idea who his mother really was.

Callen wanted to say "poor us", because that was what everyone was thinking, but it seemed rather superfluous.

"Where iz Louize?" Kensi was speaking very slowly but with remarkable clarity. She had to make a conscious effort to pronounce each syllable, and that confounded 's' sound was still proving elusive, but she was finding ways to cope, to work around it. The speech therapist had given her a variety of exercises and had assured her that with practice and perseverance, the old fluidity would return.

Eric and Nell exchanged guilty looks.

"She's been asked to help out with a legal issue. Semi-officially." It wasn't a lie, it just wasn't the whole truth, Nell thought.

"An' Hetty?"

"She's had to take some unplanned leave. I think it was an urgent family matter." Eric was rather proud of the way he managed to phrase that and just hoped that Kensi wouldn't want to probe any further.

Kensi looked at them, guilt oozing out of every one of their pores. "And?" She felt a bubble of frustration start to rise inside her chest. There was something they weren't saying, something they were hiding from her. "All of it. Now."

"Do you want to tell her, or shall I?" Nell said desperately, playing for time. Okay, Kensi was clearly getting over the head injury, because her thought processes were as sharp as ever.

"Feel free." Because Eric was all out of ideas. Sit him before a computer screen and his thought synapses fired at light speed, but in a face-to-face situation, he kind of went to pieces.

"Well, this is completely off the record, okay? And you've got to promise not to tell anyone."

"I promise."

Nell drew in a deep breath. "Eric and I are kind of seeing each other." She reached down and picked up his hand, squeezing it tightly.

"Really?" Oh God, she sounded like Deeks, Kensi thought. Exactly like Deeks – even down to the slight drawl. Macy would have a field-day with that…

Macy. Oh my God, she'd forgotten all about Macy, who had winked out of her life just as suddenly as she had appeared in it. It made sense, in a strange sort of way, as if the circle was finally complete. Macy had appeared after Kensi had the first accident, and she left after Kensi had the second one. There was probably some sort of warped logic in there. It went some way to explaining the empty feeling inside her, because in just one week Macy had become such a huge part of her life. Things were going to be very different without her around.

"It kind of took me by surprise too," Eric confessed. Who would have thought Nell would be such a tiger? She simply wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. Not that he was exactly protesting terribly hard. In fact, he hadn't protested at all, Eric had just let Nell have her wicked way with him. There was one keyboard that would never be the same again, though. Luckily, Eric knew where the spares were kept and had managed to make a swap without anyone being any the wiser.

"In the Mission?" Kensi raised a disapproving eyebrow. "Bad." She shook her head from side to side. "Very bad." But probably very good too. Just as soon as she could talk properly, she would have to suggest it to Deeks. Or maybe she should just spring it on him, catch him unawares and make him an offer he couldn't possibly refuse? She'd have to think about that some more.

"How did you know we had sex in Ops?" Nell blurted out, reddening in an instant.

Kensi just smiled enigmatically. It seemed that there was an advantage in having a speech problem, especially when you had found out things about your colleagues' sex lives, courtesy of a dead woman. Poor Macy. It was so strange not having her around anymore. Kensi wondered if it was totally weird that she missed dead-Macy more than she had ever missed living-Macy, and decided that on balance it probably was. In future, she was going to make sure the people in her life knew how important they were to her.

"So, when are you getting out of here?" Eric decided this was as good a time to change the topic of conversation as any. He wasn't entirely comfortable with having his sex life discussed quite so openly.

"Maybe tomorrow. Hope so."

"Do you want me to come and stay over with you for the first couple of nights?" Nell offered. "Just so you're not left all on your own?"

"I think Kensi might just have other plans for her sleepover." He kind of had his own plans too, Eric thought. Although the prospect of a threesome with Kensi was rather tempting.

"Sorry. So it's official then? You and Deeks?" There was almost a simper in Nell's voice.

Kensi looked down at her hands and then plucked at the blanket nervously. "I guess."

"Congratulations."

Eric looked at the two women, who seemed to be exchanging mutually self-satisfied looks and shook his head. He would never understand the female mind, not if he lived to be a hundred. "It took you long enough."

"You're a fine one to talk. If I'd waited for you to make the first move, I'd still be waiting," Nell informed him tartly. "So don't start picking on Kensi."

The look of outraged indignation on her face was so priceless that Kensi started to laugh and as she did so, she realised that the sound was exactly as she remembered. So at least there was one part of her voice that was working normally. Now, if only she could persuade the rest of it to follow suit. It was all very well being the strong and silent type, but it was a bit frustrating not to be able to join in with the quick-fire repartee, almost like trying to follow a conversation in a language you had once been fluent in, but which had started to slip away.

The sleek lines of the ultra-modern, split-level condo in Century City were far removed from what Callen had considered Hetty's preferred style of accommodation, which generally ran to what could best be described as classically understated architecture, overlaid with an huge accumulation of eclectic clutter. This apartment was chic and minimalist, with large expanses of glass, dark-stained wooden floors and the clean lines of Scandinavian furniture. There was no extraneous clutter, but unlike Callen's house, this was clearly designed to make a statement, which in this case was that less was definitely more.

"Thank you for coming, gentlemen." Hetty even looked different, wearing loose-fitting judo pants and a tunic style blouse. "How is Ms Blye."

"Kensi's doing great." Deeks looked at her carefully. "And how are you?"

"I've been better." Hetty gestured to a modular seating unit. "You took the job then, Mr Callen?"

There was no way she could officially know that, Callen thought. But Hetty could always read a situation better than anyone he had ever met. For her, this would have simply been a matter of objectively assessing the situation and working out the most probably outcome, with coldly impeccable logic. "I did. I thought that I should be as near to the throne as possible." There was nothing like having a position of power from which to launch one's attack, after all. But that did nothing to assuage the feelings of guilt and betrayal he was battling.

"That was very wise of you. Besides which, I imagine Leon did not exactly give you a choice in the matter." Her mouth twisted as she said this. Damn Leon for treating people as if everyone was as devoid of compassion and decency as he was. Not everyone was so desperate to shimmy up the corporate ladder that they would willingly knife their superior in the back. He might just have made the biggest mistake of his life when he appointed Callen to step into her job, because Callen had more integrity, decency and honesty in his little finger than Vance had in his entire body. And if Leon thought he could be ruthless, then just wait until he saw Callen in action.

"Not if I wanted to avoid joining you in a period of enforced leave, no," Callen said bluntly.

Hetty sighed and then walked over to one of the floor to ceiling windows. "I apologise. I seem to have inadvertently put you in an untenable position - all of you."

"Not you, Hetty. Vance." Sam was under no illusions about that fact. Hetty was honourable and straight and she treated her agents like people: people who went out every day and did unthinkable things, things that the general public never even contemplated went on as they engaged in their busy yet mundane lives.

"Thank you, Sam." The use of his first name told Sam just how deeply this was affecting Hetty. "He told you about David, I imagine."

"Just his name. And the fact that he is your son." Callen was careful to keep his voice as neutral as possible.

"David is a decent man: you can trust him."

"I wouldn't expect anything less from your son."

Hetty turned around and her face was suddenly vulnerable, all the feelings she normally hid were in plain sight. "I'm afraid I can lay no claim to that. You'll have to thank his parents for that. His adoptive parents." She sighed, a deep sigh that seemed to arise from the soles of her feet. "It's a long story, and I suppose I should start at the beginning."

"You don't have to. We only need to know what's pertinent to the investigation."

"I believe I owe you this much, Mr Callen. Besides which, it would be nice to finally be able to tell someone." A secret kept for so long could begin to prey on your soul, eating away at it piece by piece. And besides which, she was so very proud of David, and it would be good to share that with someone – to share it with her friends. "And besides which, you are partially responsible."

A small, knowing smile crept across Callen's face. "I did wonder," he admitted.

"And I'm officially confused. Can Sam and I have the Cliff Notes to this conversation, please?"

"It started just after we lost Clara – Mr Callen's mother. I had known her as a young agent, and it was a shock to find out that she had two children. As you know, Clara was killed, and the children disappeared. After a while, everyone forgot about them. But not me. These children existed, and I never stopped looking for them. And while I was looking, I realised that there was something missing in my own life."

It had been a long time ago, and she had been much younger, almost a different person, but Hetty still had the same hopes and dreams of her younger self. She just had a whole lot more of experience and cynicism to temper those dreams, and yet they still burnt just as fiercely. The difference was that now she was able to hide them a little better. Until now.

"I realised that I was lonely and that I did not want to live my life alone."