#3
The looks that Nell had been receiving since she boarded the flight, were… well, like she was being looked upon as being crazy.. although that could be because Grace was with her.
Nell didn't feel like she had any other option… she wasn't going to abandon Grace at such a young age. Under different circumstances, she would maybe have left Grace with her Mom or sister, Maybe even Kensi… but neither her Mom or Sister could get to LA quick enough, and Kensi was down in San Diego with Deeks working. The only people that left, were Eric or Hetty…
The former was never going to happen again, and the later… well, Nell needed Grace with her. She wouldn't take her into combat… but Grace had just as big a stake in finding Callen as Nell did. Her heart had ached for months since Callen's disappearance… she felt guilty for pushing him away about something that shouldn't have mattered. If they had been together during the period of Nell's absence, she would have justification to be angry. But she had left him. She had broken his heart if she was to believe Mike
"You want me to take her for a spell. Let you get some rest?" Renko asked in a quiet tone
"Thanks, Mike. But we'll be fine"
"You know you didn't need to come. We could manage this by ourselves. And what're you gonna do when we get to the LPD. It's not like a cruise ship, where you can drop Grace off in the creche while you go kick ass" added Sam
"I know that. But I remember You and Mike telling me what, G told you all when Alin Comescu had me and Grace. He told you that he expected you to watch out for us. He told you that he'd sacrifice himself for us both. She's not even a year old, and she may have already lost her Father. How am I meant to look her in the eye when she grows up and starts asking questions about him, about who he was and why he's not there, if I don't do everything to help bring him home to her"
"Just her?" Renko added, suggesting he knew that Nell wasn't being fully honest with them, or herself
…
"Welcome aboard the San Diego" the Petty Officer began, before noticing the baby that Nell was carrying "This isn't a suitable environment for a child, Ma'am"
Nell opened her mouth, ready to say something before she was cut off by Sam and Renko in unison "She's family!"
…
"So this is where he's been" Nell exclaimed, as she looked around the cabin before focusing on the picture stuck to the bulkhead by the bed. It was the picture he had taken of Nell and Grace right after they signed the marriage certificate, when Nell was still in the hospital. She had no idea he had even kept that picture. It was about the only personal touch in the cabin, save for a non-work tablet.
Had he really been in this room for the last 6 months. Recording those videos for Grace from here. Nell felt awful, she felt like she had sentenced him to this punishment. The cabin, not the abduction.
"You okay, Nell?" Sam asked before urging her to sit down and relax while he and Renko investigated the damage from the grenade explosion.
Sam would later ask Nell to run through the communication records from the ship, analyse the crew's service and police records and to try and reconstruct the scrambled video surveillance records during the time of the attack.
….
"Mike!... Come look at this" Sam called down the corridor as he stared at the wallet, pool of blood and shell casing
"Who's is it.. one of the attackers? …"
"It's G's." There's a baby picture of Grace in it. I'm not feeling good about this, Mike"
"We follow procedure. Collect a sample of the blood, get it tested against AFIS and NCIS records." We don't tell Nell anything till we know for sure"
"How soon till we can get the DNA results?"
"If we were in the states? Normally a few days… maybe less if we could rely on some of G's contacts"
"What if we could get a sample to HQ… surely they could get us results quicker!"
"You know as well as I do, that it would take too long to get it back to the states and processed. Best bet is getting it sent to the crime lab in Rota…" Renko replied, getting increasing frustrated by the number of new questions and lack of information the scene was providing. Whoever was responsible for this, had some mighty big balls to attack a US Navy warship carring hundreds of sailers and marines.
…..
2 Days later
"How old is she?"
"pardon?" Nell replied, not bothering to look up from her laptop while continuing to bounce Grace on her knee, while set up in the corner of the mess hall
"Your baby. I was asking how old she is"
"Oh. Em.. she's coming up on 9 months" she replied to whoever had spoken to her. She knew she was being rude, not even looking at the person she was talking to
"Dada"
"No, honey. Not dada. You'll see him soon. I promise" Nell told the child. She knew she shouldn't make such promises. But Nell didn't know how to explain the situation… even if Grace could understand what she could be told
"Would you like me to get anything, ma'am. Coffee?"
"No thanks. I should really…. Em… I should put her down for her nap" she replied, as she got up and closed the laptop and carried it as she headed back to G's cabin
….
"…We're going to have to tell her, Mike. We can't hide this any longer. She'll have to find out sooner than later!"
"Get Hetty to recall her. This isn't a safe place for her or Grace"
That was what Nell heard through the door as she got back to the NCIS cabin. She was being treated with kid gloves.
She knew she wasn't doing the smartest thing, she knew she wasn't putting Grace's needs first… but she knew she couldn't sit back in Los Angeles waiting to hear if they had recovered Callen, or waiting for Iranian intelligence or whoever was responsible for his abduction to ransom him
"Tell me what?" Nell asked, pushing the door open, waiting to hear the news that she fully expected to be bad
"We found his wallet…" Mike began
"… and the blood we found at the scene is a match for G" Sam continued
"So? You found his wallet and some blood. How often have you been at a crime scene like this, where there wasn't blood. And neither of you are sending us away. I've managed to reconstruct some of the surveillance video. So it's good news, bad news time… it's not VAJA that attacked the ship. I'l fill you in on the rest en route to Rota"
"What's in Rota?"
"My Mom and sister. They flew out last night. They're going to watch Grace till this is over"
"Nell…" Sam began
"Don't. Okay… just don't. I need to find him. I need to tell him I don't care what happened with Anna. And if I wait…." Nell stopped, he voice beginning to break as she struggled to keep the 'walls' intact "…If I wait… I may never get the chance" she just barely managed to say before tears began to run down her face
Sam and Mike didn't know what to say… and just remained silent
The silence only being broken by Grace
"Mama"
…
24 hours later
Mike and Sam sat in the car, watching as Nell handed over Grace to her Mrs Jones
"I don't know if I could do that…."
"Be polite to your mom?" Sam joked
"No, Smart ass. Hand over my kid to someone. Family or not… Could you do it with Kamran or Aiden?"
"I did. Everytime I was deployed I had to hand the kids over to Michelle. And walk away"
"Yeah… but that's slightly different. I mean I know your missus. Aint no way I'd do something to piss her off. Even if I didn't know she was a CIA bad ass"
"That's adorable, Mike. You have a crush on Michelle" Sam laughed, enjoying the brief opportunity to stop thinking about Callen and where he was
"Nah. Not Michelle… Kensi's Mom or Nell's sister on the other hand…"
…
"You okay, Kiddo?" Mike asked, as he pulled away from the hotel in Rota. Conscious that she'd probably be a little more emotional having just left Grace behind. To the best of his knowledge the longest time that the girls had been apart was during Nell's surgery.
"Yeah. It's better that Grace is with Family…. not cooped up in a dark cabin on a warship. I just … I wish I didn't need to leave her behind."
"It's what's best for her, Nell" Sam piped in to add "Where we're going… not somewhere you would ever want her to have been. So where are we headed?"
…
"You sure you're ready for this, Nell?"
Nell stared down at the Glock she held in one hand, while the MP5 hung from the strap round her neck, inspecting it from all angles, as if looking for some flaw
"Yeah. Let's do it…." She replied and she slid the Glock into its holster
Mike and Sam knew better than to risk letting anything happening to Nell… so that meant that they took a top and tail formation. Sam taking up position at the front, while Mike took up position to the rear, leaving Nell to focus on over head vantage points
Barely getting a few metres into the building before the sounds of several shots aimed in their direction
Nell closed her eyes, took two quick and deep breaths, tightened her grip on her MP5 then popped out to the side of Sam, aiming and taking fire towards the muzzle flashes
…..
"Well Grisha. Time for you to say 'Спокойной ночи'"
Three shots were then first. One into Callen's Left knee, One in his gut and One in his right shoulder
On his way out, the interrogator ripped out the IV that had been fed into Callen's right forearm, leaving Callen bleeding from numerous cuts, gashes and bullet wounds across his whole body
…
"You hear those shots?. Mike, We'll cover you. You check it out" Nell requested, speaking just above the sound of all the automatic weapons fire
As promised Nell and Sam Gave plenty of cover fire, drawing the attention of the shooters
On his way towards the gun shots Renko managed to take out 3x shooters, who had all been armed with hand guns only.
Having taken them out, Renko let Nell and Sam know they could push further into the building, while he continued sweeping looking for Callen
It was only when all the shotting had ceased from behind him that Renko opened a door in the furthest point in the east wing of the building that he found what they had been looking for
"Oh Shit!" Mike exclaimed, lowering his MP5 and rushing over to the body . "Sam, call for medical support. NOW!"
…
"You sure you want to see him like this?"
"He's my husband, Mike. I need to see him"
Renko stepped aside and waved Nell into the hospital room
"What kind of animal could do this" she asked, surveying the full extent of his physical injuries
"I dunno, Kid. But he's a fighter, and won't give up. The fact that he's still here proves that. He survived more than a week of being drugged and tortured… he can survive the recovery time"
"It's not just about what we see, Mike. God only knows what they've done to his psyche. You saw what he was like after the attack in Scotland. You know what he went through. How do we know he's not blind again, how do we know he's not got brain damage. Fucking hell, Mike… we don't know if he'll ever be able to work know that this job is his life. Who's gonna tell him that there's a very good chance that he'll never lift his daughter again, let alone hold a gun. I don't care what you or anyone else says. Next ship headed back to the states, we're on it… I don't care what I have to do. He's not being left in this dump to contract MRSA on top of everything else"
"I know you're gifted with computer and all that stuff… and sure, you managed to get yourself and your baby booked onto an internal navy flight, and then managed to get authorised to set foot on a warship with a kid that not even a year old… you can't just decree that you're getting G shipped back to the states on the next US navy ship headed back there. You're not, Hetty"
"Want to bet, Mike!. Do the two sisters that you've been sleeping with, know you're sleeping with the other?"
Mike's eyes went wide with shock. How did she know about Rochelle and Kimberly . He hadn't told anyone. Normally he would have bragged to Callen, but he had been off the map of late.
"…oh, and by the way. Sidney is newly single. So, knock your socks off. But I wouldn't tell Kens about wanting to sleep with her mom though. And NO, Sam didn't tell me"
….
"You sure about this, Penny. It's no problem for us to take Grace home on the flight with us"
Why had her mom started calling her Penny again. It was the name that just wouldn't disappear into the mists of time.
"I appreciate you and Sidney watching her for the last few days. But I want her with us"
"So Callen is with you?"
Nell was just so tired at this point, she ran out of energy and collapsed on the couch in her mothers suite, and started sobbing, no longer able to pretend that things were okay.
….
Nell sat at the side of Callen's bed aboard the Seahawk.
She had left Grace asleep in the Agent Afloat's cabin. Agent Decker agreed to call her when Grace woke up. Nell hadn't been too happy about leaving Grace alone… But Agent Decker had insisted that the child needed sleep, and she couldn't get that in the infirmary surrounded by sick people and noises that Grace would have never heard before, that could scare her. But most of all, because (and Nell agreed with Decker) she shouldn't see her father in the condition he was in.
Nell wished that she wouldn't have to see him in this condition. It was the worst state she had ever seen him in. She had thought that his condition after the assault in Scotland was bad.. she had thought that his condition, beaten and bruised all across his body, was bad when she had first seen him after he visited her in the hospital… but this, this was something else. He had obviously been tortured, judging by the numerous cuts across his torso, not to mention the bullet wounds that could very much end his career as a special agent. He would be in a lot of pain for a long time… he wouldn't be able to walk until his knee had healed, to say nothing of the lengthy rehabilitation he would have to go through.
"I'm sorry. I should have trusted you… we've lost too much as it is. I'm not prepared to lose any more. When we get into Norfolk, Hetty has us booked on a flight to San Diego and then we can get you transferred to a proper hospital"
"Agent Jones?"
"It's Callen"
"Sorry?"
It's Agent Callen. Not Jones"
"Sorry. Em…I thought that he was Agent Callen?"
"He is. He's my husband. I thought I covered this already"
"Sorry. I just came on shift and hadn't been made aware of your circumstances. Anyway. Agent Callen has em… shown signs of responding to external stimulae. We'd like your permission to try and wake him… take him out of the induced coma"
Nell was shell shocked. She hadn't expected this… especially not so soon after recovering him.
Was it worth the risk to try and take him out of his induced coma while aboard the Seahawk, rather than waiting till he was able to be cared for in a proper hospital?
"Do it. Please"
…
"Hey, baby. Got good news for you. The doctors are going to try and wake daddy."
"Dada, Mama" Grace responded, waving her arms as she spoke
"Daddy's going to be so pleased to see you, baby"
….
The doctor aboard the Seahawk was checking Callen's SATs and fluid intake.
Then he lifted one of Callen's eye lids and using a small torch looked into the eye to check for reaction
"Agent Callen? Can you hear me?" The doctor turned to one of the infirmary nurses and requested a shot of adrenaline, once he had it he injected it into Callen's IV
The doctor returned to doing checks on how responsive Callen was… obviously he was more aware than anyone had given him credit for.
The doctor rushed over to the internal communications phone and spoke to someone at the other end of the line, before hanging up and returning to Callen's side
….
A few days later:
"No way. It's not happening"
"Sorry… but you don't get a say. This IS happening."
"I have friends, I have a job… I have…"
"Yes we know, A family"
"I was going to say , I have a daughter who I can't very well see, if I'm in witness protection"
"Simple fact is that you're at risk, and you can identify the man involved in the attack on the USS San Diego"
"Yeah! And I can take care of myself… I've been doing it since before you started high school…" Before Callen could finish the scathing reply to the US Marshal the door to the infirmary opened, and in walked Hetty, Granger and Sam. Callen didn't like that this was happening… this smelled like he was going to be forced to do something he REALLY didn't want to do.
"If you'll excuse us Mr Hunt. We need a word with Mr Callen." Hetty requested
Granger added "Matter of National Security, Gents" when neither of the marshals made any move to leave
Once they were alone Hetty looked Callen up and down, assessing his condition before explaining the seriousness of the situation, and how he was pivotal to the governments ability to take action against those involved on the raid/attack on the 'San Diego'
"I can't do it, Hetty. I can't pretend to be someone I'm not"
"Mr Callen. There is no one anywhere on this earth that is better at doing just that"
"I 'go under' I'll not see Grace again 'till she's too big to know who I am, and will never understand why I was absent for half her childhood"
…
"Are you serious, Sam? We get him back, just to lose him again" upon finishing this statement Nell , in a state of utter frustration, launched her coffee mug across the cabin, the sound of it smashing upset Grace and set her upon a full tantrum
"I'm sorry peanut, I didn't meant to upset you" Nell said, speaking to Grace, as she started waving Grace's favourite toy in front of her "What am I meant to do? If the last 6 months taught me anything, it's that I don't want Grace to be apart from him. Would they really separate them?"
Sam knew what Nell meant, he knew that Nell wasn't concerned just about Grace not getting to see Callen for god only knew how long… it was just as much about Nell not being able to see him, talk to him… love him
"Could they keep us together… if we agreed to go into the programme with him?"
"It's possible, Nell. You know what it's like to go undercover on an op for a few days… a week tops. What you're talking about now is going undercover for.. potentially a long time. Possibly the rest of your lives. DO you really think you could do that?"
"If it means we'd be with him… yeah. I think I could do it. And Grace is too young to remember being a 'Jones'. So it's not like she'd have to pretend to be someone she isn't"
…
"I need you to pack up some stuff for me, Sam. I need you to… I need you to get me something from one of my stash houses. I need you to get me my old service weapon. The old '226' that Macy signed over to me after we upgraded to the '228'. The false wall in my bedroom, Pull the bottom shelf out then slide the rest of the unit down into the gap. In there is the '226', $25,000 and a full set of forged passports for Nell, Grace and I… I need you to get them and disguise them in my go-bag so the Marshals don't discover them if they decide to check my belongings"
…..
A few days later there was no evidence that Callen had survived the torture… there was a burial. A few days after that an 'attack' that killed Nell and Grace. The only people that knew what had really happened, outside of the WITSEC inspectors dealing with Callen's relocation , were Hetty, Mike, Sam and Granger. To the rest of the world, it appeared that whoever, whatever remained of the Comescu's operation had succeeded in destroying their bloody enemy