Hospital Part 1
It was work as usual for Annie at NCIS: OSP. She made calls throughout the day, set up meetings with upcoming and extremely cheap new designers who held promise in her opinion and with old clients to keep up good relations. She took in stock of all the clothes OSP had as well as what condition they were in. If anything couldn't be immediately fixed by her, she made sure to make a note to send them to the tailors. Annie also kept up with undercover agents in the field to make sure they have all the clothes they need. It was couple of hours of being on her feet non-stop and she unfortunately chose the wrong day to break in new heels.
Annie sighed in ecstasy when she sat down in her chair behind her desk filled with paper work and orders from Hetty. She closed her eyes and smelled the chamomile scent from her tea before taking a cautious sip. Annie finally could let her mind stray from work as she set her cup down and looked through her email. Thankfully she wasn't holding the cup because as soon as she read the first email she jumped out of her chair and headed straight to the tech center.
"HETTY! OPS CENTER NOW!" She yelled as she passed her boss's office and ran up the stairs not feeling the pinch of pain from her feet. Annie stormed into the tech center so quickly that Eric and Nell nearly jumped out of their own skins.
"Did you guys receive an alert from the emergency switchboard about a tip regarding the man who hired the hit on the Ryans?" She asked and saw the two scramble to get to their perspective stations and type furiously. They stopped simultaneously and turned to look at Annie in shock.
"What is it Ms. Smith that has you so wound up?" Hetty asked in her business tone that showed she was displeased at being interrupted and called away from her work so rudely.
"My ex's murder case just heated up." Annie answered firmly and saw the look of surprise on Hetty's face at that.
"I see. I will get Mr. Callen and his team so you can brief all of us at once." She said before disappearing. Nell came up to Annie and squeezed her arm in reassurance while Eric gave her pitying looks. Annie returned the gesture to Nell with a small smile as Callen, Sam, Kensi, and Deeks came barreling into the ops center at the news.
"You ok?" Callen asked as he closed the distance to stand next to her. She nodded but didn't say anything until Hetty joined them all.
"Proceed, Ms. Smith."
"Well, I did as you asked and told my friends at the NSA to keep their eyes and ears open to anything that was connected to the Ryans and their murder and to contact me as soon as possible. Today at 1 I received an email from one of them telling me that someone called 911 saying that he has information about who ordered the hit. The man wants to meet up in a warehouse around 11 tonight to speak. Once I read this I came straight here to Eric and Nell to confirm it." The two techies backed up what she said as they nodded their heads silently.
"But why has it taken the switchboard this long to contact us?" Sam asked and Eric turned around, typing into his computer to answer the question.
"Switchboard has been clogged up with tips and don't have the resources to filter all of them quickly. If we didn't get the head's up from Annie's friend then we probably wouldn't have received it until much later tonight if not possibly tomorrow when it's too late." Eric explained and the room went silent once more as everyone was immersed in their own thoughts.
"Mr. Beale, did the potential informant list any other details about the meet tonight?" Hetty asked and Eric was typing away before she even finished her sentence.
"Yes, he says he will only talk to one person and if he sees anyone else there he won't talk."
"Very well, who shall go then and who will be the back-up at a discreet distance?"
"I'll talk to the informant." Callen spoke up and Annie looked at him. "I'm the lead on this case, it should be me."
"Good, Ms. Smith will get you set up with button cams and listening devices. Mr. Beale, Ms. Jones would you please get the layout of this warehouse and the surrounding area so we can get Mr. Hanna, Ms. Blye, and Mr. Deeks into their positions without being sighted." Hetty dismissed them. Callen followed Annie all the way back to her office and sat down while she dug around for something inconspicuous for him to wear that would accommodate a button camera and audio recorder.
"Um, I know that you are just doing your job and all, but I want to say thank you." Annie said as she tossed clothes around, not finding what she liked.
"You're welcome. Although you should know that I would still do this even if it wasn't my case." Callen replied humorously when she pouted at the pile of clothes she made and had to clean up before moving to the next drawer.
"Why?"
"I would do it for you Annie… You are a friend of mine now and I help my friends." He explained further as he noticed her hesitation at the first part. Annie turned around and gave him a brilliant smile to show her appreciation before she went back to looking through the endless amount of clothes she dealt with on a daily basis. She finally found something that would suit Callen but was easy to hide a button cam and audio device on him. He got up to leave for the changing room or curtain in reality, when she stopped him by grabbing his free hand.
"G… Thank you, that means a lot to me. Be safe alright?" She pleaded with him. Callen just got this goofy grin and promised her that he was going to be fine and that by tomorrow they would hopefully have a new suspect or at least a possible lead. Annie smiled gently as he walked away, praying that he was right.
Ten hours and thirty minutes later…
Annie found herself in a hospital looking at an unconscious Callen, recalling the events leading up to this.
Annie didn't go home that night after her briefing; neither did Hetty, Eric, or Nell. But while Hetty and the two techies were able to watch the entire thing from ops center, Annie could not. It broke protocol for one and if anything went down she would be suspect numero uno to anyone who investigated the matter. They would claim that she could have hired the hit in the first place and then upon learning there was an informant, took matters into her own hands and possibly take out the agent as well. As preposterous as that was, Hetty knew that if they wanted a conviction on the bastard who killed Annie's ex-husband and his brother, then there can be no screw ups, including letting Annie watch.
So, she paced. Annie walked into every room and inspected every corner in the NCIS: OSP headquarters. Everywhere that is, expect for the ops center. Annie couldn't help but let her mind run wild at what could be happening at that moment. She cursed every millisecond that went by without any news from Hetty and she cursed herself for being so impatient.
When did that happen? She used to be calm and cool, the two qualities best suited for the weapons expert that she was. That was her job in the NSA; she had to know anything and everything about weapons to provide the best back-up as possible. And she was the best, or so they said. But all that patience she had for putting together and diffusing bombs or stake out a target went out the window this night as she paced. Then again, she hasn't been that woman in a long time.
"Ms. Smith," Hetty halted her but when she saw her boss's face, she knew something was wrong.
"What happened?"
"Mr. Callen was stabbed; he is on his way to the emergency room right now." Hetty explained grimly before walking away and Annie was hot on her heels. But neither said a word to each other as they got into their perspective cars and drove to the hospital that Eric texted them the address to. She barely held back the onslaught of guilt, frustration, and grief at what happened to Callen because of her.
She and Hetty joined the rest of the team in the waiting room, thirty minutes later Eric and Nell joined them. Upon seeing all of their faces, Annie's guilt grew exponentially. All these people in this room cared about Callen deeply and it was her fault that he was hurt. She was the only one to blame. Another hour passed without news, by then Sam, Deeks, and Annie were pacing the room, Kensi was rooted to her chair, Eric and Nell held onto each other, while Hetty just stood by the door with a blank expression.
"Agent Callen's family?" A doctor appeared out of nowhere and everyone gathered around him like he was a magnet.
"That is us." Hetty announced for them and the doctor looked skeptical but continued on anyways.
"Well, Agent Callen is a lucky man. The stab was low and to the center of his abdomen, he lost a lot of blood but he is going to make it. Right now we have him sedated so the medicine and blood transfusion can do its job." As he said those words everyone was relieved that he was pulling through and nothing too damaging was done to him.
"When can we see him?" Hetty asked.
"Technically you can all see him now but he won't be awake for the next 24-48 hours depending on how strongly he reacts to the drugs." The doctor replied and left after a round of thank yous. The group ushered into the room but Annie hung out at the door, hesitant to enter. Sam seemed to notice this when he took the spot on Callen's right.
"It's alright Annie, we don't blame you for what happened and I know for sure that Callen won't either." He soothed her worries and she took a small step inside the room.
Seeing Callen hooked up to all of those tubes made her remember O' Riley's death. They both looked as white as the sheets and the heart monitor did little to reassure her. But she shook off those feelings and recalled the doctor's exacts words, '…he is going to make it.' Totally different from what the last doctor said about O' Riley. So she edged towards Callen's bed, not taking her eyes off of him for even a second.
Once more the group of coworkers was silent and immersed in their own thoughts. Annie thought of why this happened. It seemed like it would have been a simple information swap but then this happened... Was the guy spooked, and if so, what spooked him? Was Sam, Kensi, or Deeks spotted? It didn't seem to make any sense to her. Clearly they were missing something, something that got Callen stabbed. It was another hour or so before Hetty cleared her throat and gained everyone's attention.
"We need to find this informant and get him to spill all of his information as well as arrest him for harming a federal agent. We need to get back to work. I will make arrangements with local LAPD to guard Mr. Callen until we know this wasn't intentional and if so that this man won't come back to finish the job." And a firm resolve to avenge their fallen coworker burned through them all. The man who did this to G would pay; Annie knew that much by Hetty's tone of voice and the look on the other's faces. But while they could actually do something, she couldn't. She was no longer an agent of any form, so she had nothing to do.
"I will stay here and protect Callen. It's my fault he is here and it's my responsibility that this bastard doesn't harm him any further. Plus I will be useless back at the office while you guys run down any leads; at least here I will be able to do something." Annie reasoned and there was a look of protest at her statement about her guilt from the group of coworkers.
"As wrong as you are Ms. Smith about the circumstances on why we are here, I trust you will protect Callen to the fullest of your abilities. And I know your abilities, so I know he is in safe hands. I will update you on when LAPD should be arriving to stand guard outside his room and they will have a fresh pair of clothes for you as well when they arrive. Keep me updated on his condition." Hetty ordered before leaving to make the call.
"This is not your fault Annie. Stop blaming yourself." Kensi told her and hugged her good-bye. Eric, Nell, and Deeks followed suit.
"She's right, you know? No one blames you for this, only you do." Sam placed his hand on her shoulder and she actually believed him above everyone else. Sam was Callen's partner, and those two were closer than most, so if Sam didn't blame her than Annie's guilt retracted just a bit.
"It still feels that way." She responded kindly. Sam smiled at her to prove that he wasn't upset with her before following everyone else.
"Hey Sam!" She called out as he was about to walk out of the room.
"Yeah Annie?"
"Callen's lucky to have you as his partner." She said and Sam just chuckled.
"You tell him that when he wakes up."
"I will call you and put it on speaker phone how about that? You get to hear his reactions and all." Sam chuckled and nodded his head in agreement. This time she let him leave.
Annie turned around to face Callen once more. She stared at him for a while and when she was sure that he was still breathing and that the beeps coming from the machine weren't lying to her, she grabbed a chair and sat down next to his bed. She grabbed his hand with both of hers and rubbed his knuckles gently with her thumbs just like he did with her once.
"G, I- I'm so sorry. I know if you were awake you would say I shouldn't be, but I am. So, just accept my apology and get better soon ok? Your team needs you… I need you. That's right Special Agent G Callen, I need you. I need you to keep me grounded. I need you to make small talk with me. I need you to keep bickering with Sam and teasing Hetty. I need you to be there when I am not alright in the head, to just sit there and hold my hands like this. I need you to give me that sexy and yet adorable lopsided grin you do so well and to wink at me when you are winning a conversation. I need you, G. So, like I said earlier ago, get better soon." Annie whispered to him and she squeezed his hand with her own. She wasn't expecting a miraculous response or anything of that nature, so Annie settled on just watching him and humming until she dozed off into a light sleep, her hands still firmly gripping his one hand. She fell asleep vowing to herself to be a bit more open with all of her friends at NCIS: OSP especially Callen. Well, within reason of course.