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: Thanks for reading and for the wonderful reviews. Let's see how Sam is doing now that he's been found and taken to hospital.

Chapter 38

UCLA Medical Centre…

Callen sat alone in the waiting room, as Sam was prepped and taken into surgery. The lift doors pinged opened and a concerned Michelle walked out. He stood up and greeted her with a hug.

"How is he?" She might have been shorter than him, but like Hetty, Michelle had the capability to make herself appear taller. She looked up at Callen with a hint of fear in her brown eyes.

"He's strong, Shell." Callen led her to the chairs and sat down with her. "He's been beaten up and suffered a gunshot wound to his leg." He let that information sink in before he continued.

"I don't understand how he could disappear." Hetty had read her in on the whole operation that morning and how Sam had vanished from all tracking and surveillance the team had on him. For three months everything had been smooth. But someone had burned Sam and that was when everything went south. Like Callen, Michelle and their daughter Macey hadn't seen Sam for three months. It was too long for a family to be apart, especially when children were involved. "How did he get burned?"

"I don't know the specifics of the case, Shell, but from what Arkady told me earlier, the gang has been dealing with a Croatian group. I think someone from Sam's past, from when he was a SEAL, burned him. When we arrived at the warehouse, the leader of the San Clarita gang was killed for allowing a Federal Agent into their gang. There was an all out battle from both groups, so we took advantage of the situation and took them out one by one, until no one was alive or conscious. Nell and Eric are working on the identities of the Croatians for clarification on how Sam got burned."

Michelle took a ragged breath in as worry for her husband got the better of her. It was a valid fear, that one day Sam might never return home. She understood it well, being a CIA agent herself. But she knew she would never be prepared for it, just the same.

Callen wrapped his arm over Michelle's shoulders and kissed her gently on the forehead. "He's strong. He's as tough as they come. He's a SEAL, through and through."

"Thanks, Callen." Michelle looked back to him, grateful that he was there with her.

"You're welcome." It was a strange situation and a first for Callen and Michelle to sit there waiting on news on Sam. Normally it would be Sam waiting for news on Callen. It really was a turn of events in this case for them. Even when Sam had been shot the last time, Hetty had pulled the bullet out of his calf and patched him up when he refused medical aid, so he could complete a case. And he tells me off for not wanting to stay in hospital. Well he's going to stay in this time. Callen knew that they were indeed fortunate that Arkady was able to get the intel that they desperately needed.

Kensi and Deeks exited off the lift and walked over to them, giving Michelle a hug of comfort. "Heard anything?" Kensi asked as she sat down next to Deeks, thinking back to when she and Deeks had both been shot escaping the house when it was about to blow eight months earlier. It was never good for morale, when one of their own was injured in the line of work. Even worse, when they were shot. Marty Deeks pulled her in close and held her in his arms, understanding just how much Kensi worried over their team mates. They really were like family.

Callen shook his head. "Not yet."

Before long, Hetty, Granger, Nassir, John, Nell and Eric joined them in the long wait to hear about how Sam was doing. To them all, Sam was like the big brother, strong and larger than life. He was the former Navy SEAL who seemed untouchable to injury, even after he'd been tortured by Isaak Sidorov's man. Although, Sam often displayed his heart on his sleeve when a case touched him personally, which usually involved children. Being a father, he really was a giant teddy bear of the group. Now they banded together as a team and family to support Michelle and Callen as they waited on news on how he was.

"Family of Sam Hanna?" Dr Harry Cumberland walked over to Michelle, as she and Callen stood up to hear what the doctor had to say.

"Mrs Hanna?" Michelle nodded. "Your husband is fighter and has pulled through surgery successfully. He lost a great deal of blood and sustained numerous bruising internally on his organs as well as externally and three broken ribs. He has sustained a considerable amount of trauma to his head too, yet he was conscious on arrival. From the MRI, the swelling appears to be subsiding, which is a good sign. You will be able to go and sit with him, once he's been brought onto the ward."

Michelle gripped Callen's hand hard as she tried to rein in her emotions. He was okay. That was all she needed to hear. That although he'd suffered a great deal of trauma, he was going to get through this. "Thank you, doctor." She turned into Callen and allowed him to comfort her, not caring for the team around them. She too regarded them as family, since the team had been there for her when she had to go back under as Quinn, in the Sidorov case.

Two hours later…

Callen and Michelle sat by Sam's bed, watching him sleep like a baby. The heart monitor beeped regularly and he was still attached to a bag of blood and fluids. Time for Sam was a blur when he became conscious again. As he opened his eyelids, he had to think to where he was. The familiar beeping took him back to four months earlier, when his partner had suffered a heart attack. For a moment, he thought he had fallen asleep by his partner's bedside, before he realised that it was he who was in bed. He turned his head and saw Michelle and Callen, both who had fallen asleep, waiting for him to wake up. He tried to think what had happened for him to be in bed. He looked around him and saw the blood bag and the fluids. He thought back to six years earlier when he almost lost his partner to a drive by shooting. Five bullets into his upper body. He instantly realised that he must have been shot. When he tried sit up, pain shot through his body, taking him by surprise.

Callen and Michelle woke to the sound of pain that escaped Sam's mouth. They both moved forward and realised that he was trying to sit up. "Don't move, Sam," Callen ordered him. He found the remote and raised the head end to help him sit in a more upright position.

"Hey, babe. How are you feeling?" Michelle sat on the edge of the bed, gently stroking his face. "We've missed you." She leaned down and brushed her lips with his. They were dry and flakey, but she was just thankful to have him alive and safe. A tear escaped, falling onto his chest.

Sam raised his hand and brushed her cheek. "What happened to me? I feel like I've been hit by a train." He looked over to his partner. "What did you do to me?"

Callen smirked, the banter had returned and he too was ready to banter back. It was a sign for him that Sam was going to be fine. "You became a pain, so I had no choice but to knock some sense into you."

Michelle laughed, she had missed listening to her husband and his partner's banter. Sam had been moody ever since Callen had returned from West Virginia and then he had to go deep undercover for the next three months.

""What's so funny?" Sam looked at his wife, pleased to see her laugh, because when she laughed, she radiated and was so beautiful, taking his breath away every time. But he had no memory of what had happened to him.

"You've got a concussion," Michelle told him.

Sam looked back over to his partner.

"Don't look at me, bro. I came and rescued your ass from some Croatians." A smirk appeared on Callen's face, pleased to have this normality of him and Sam gloating on how many times they had to rescue the other. It made for a nice change, seeing it was usually Sam who had to come to his rescue.

"Croatians?" Callen and Michelle nodded.

"You've been undercover with the San Clarita gang for three months. You disappeared overnight and were beaten pretty badly. Your GPS devices in your clothes had been cut out, so Eric couldn't find you." Callen had been filled in with the details while they waited on news of Sam. He'd questioned the team on what had gone wrong, so he and Michelle could understand how Sam ended up in this situation. "I had Arkady make some calls, that's how we found you."

"Thanks." Sam looked over to his partner, pleased to have his partner back. "So you're back at work now?"

Callen smirked. "I hope so, I'm going crazy not working a case. Plus I've missed my partner and I want him to recover quickly, so we can show those bad guys how we make L.A. safe."

"So you went rogue?" Sam wasn't surprised, he would have done the same in his partner's position. He was grateful for Callen for finding him and being there for him.

"Kind of. But I had back up." Sam raised his brow, curious. "My Dad. Hetty told him not to let me out of his sight, so he came with me. Apparently Arkady and Nikita were old friends after all. I knew to never trust that man. Always hiding something."

Sam cringed when he tried to laugh and pain shot through him from his ribs. "I knew he had a soft spot for you," Sam hissed through his pain.

"Don't laugh, Sam. You've got three broken ribs and a gun shot wound in your leg. Not to mention all the bruising." Michelle switched into mother mode with him and Callen had to laugh. He could see where Sam got the coddling from, his wife.

"I'll give you two some private time." Callen stood up and grabbed his partner's hand in a clasp. "Good to see that you are safe now, partner. Get well and don't give the nurses a hard time. I'll be back in the morning to check up on you. I've got some smoothing out to do with Hetty, Granger and Nell due to my lack for rules and regulations." At least he'd called for back up and had approached Sam's rescue like any other operation.

What a relief for Sam to be okay, although he's got a while yet before he's recovered from this attack on him. Good to see the old banter between Callen and Sam has returned again too. It's been too long. Love to know what you think, please leave a review.