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Rescue

Callen was suiting up with the rest of his team, Travis Johnston, Carson Smith, Director Smith, and Mrs. Smith. They knew where Annie was being held and they were going to get her back. The plan was that Jason, with his marine team, and Sam were going to use their training to scale the boat from the water and hopefully take out any obvious sentries before Callen and the others entered from the walkway. This was so that the sentries don't alert Stryker before they breached and retrieve Annie safely.

The involvement of Jason and his marine team was all thanks to Director Smith who pulled some strings with the Secretary of the Navy. It was also because of Director Smith that Eric and Nell were able to get satellite access so they could read heat signatures as well as aerial footage to figure out how many mercenaries could be on the boat. Hetty was going to stay behind with Eric and Nell to monitor any changes in the situation. Hetty was also the one who was going to alert the back-up CIA team and the medevac on when to come into play.

When they were all ready, they got into their cars and headed straight to the Port of Los Angeles and to where the Den Lille Havfrue was docked. Callen and Sam shared a look and a nod so they both knew that they were going to be fine and come out of this alive before they split up. Callen then got out of his car and entered the dark van that held Kensi and Deeks in the back, the second van held Carson, Director Smith, Mrs. Smith, and Johnston. They were going to enter the port under the radar and then hang out behind some of the cargo holders waiting for Hetty to give them the ok in the vans.

Minutes passed and Callen was getting antsy even though he didn't show it externally like Deeks was. Deeks was beating his fingers against the assault rifle in his hands to an unknown song while giving a dissatisfied grunt every now and then to signify his impatience. Every time he did this, Kensi would give her partner a glare and Callen would recite the Russian alphabet mentally so he wouldn't snap. Thankfully this didn't last too long.

"Proceed everyone; Mr. Hanna and the younger Mr. Smith's team have taken out the sentries." Hetty's voice relayed into their ear coms and with that Callen, his team, the Smiths, and Johnston exited their perspective vans and silently raced up to the boat to join Sam, Jason, and the marine team.

Once they had all gathered on the deck they split into pairs. For the NCIS agents it was obvious on who they were going to split up with. For everyone else it followed as Carson and Johnston, Director Smith and Mrs. Smith, Jason and his marine buddy, Ben, and the other two marines were paired together. Each duo took a separate entrance into the haul of the boat, assault rifles with silencers ready to take out anyone who posed as a threat.

"Alright we have approximately 15 heat signatures on the Den Lille Havfrue based on what the satellite can see, so brace yourselves for unfriendly company." Eric said over the ear-buds which resulted in everyone exchanging some form of a knowing look with their partner before they continued their descent and search of the vessel.

Sam fired off a round and killed a random mercenary who had just walked out of room and aimed to shot the NCIS agents upon seeing them. Callen quickly kicked the man to make sure that he was dead before proceeding to step over him and check out the room. They did this with every room they passed and every time the room was empty, Callen's heart pounded harder and louder against his rib cage. It was roaring in his ears after Sam and him cleared their first floor and took out one other mercenary.

He tried to calm himself by thinking about Annie, seeing her face smiling back at him, her humming or laughing, the spark in her eyes when she told them a story or cracked a joke, anything really as long as it was about Annie. Callen also kept reiterating to himself that they were one room closer to finding Annie when the room that Callen and Sam just checked turned out empty.

"Agents and Marines, be warned that Stryker is now with Annie. You all have been given lethal authorization by the higher powers that be in our government." Hetty stated calmly and that made everyone pick up their pace. This news also made Callen's heartbeat quicken, the urge to save Annie was now in overdrive.

Thankfully Callen and the others could not hear the video feed over their coms. It would distracting to say the least if they could hear what was happening to Annie without actually seeing it. Callen was also grateful that Hetty, Eric, and Nell remained silent as well. He was already going stir crazy with the lack of results in his search and not knowing that Annie was still alive with his own eyes. Callen kept reminding himself that he needed to remain calm if he was going to save Annie and if he was going to make it out of this with all of his mental faculties intact.

Sam and Callen were heading towards the center of the ship when they were met with more mercenaries and this gave Callen hope. If they were encountering more of Stryker's men then that must mean that they were getting closer to where Annie was being held, right? This thought gave Callen more energy as well as sharpened his senses as he and his partner took out each man standing in his way and the empty rooms hardly affected this demeanor. Of course, Eric had to go and ruin this semi-good mood of Callen's.

"Wha-what is Annie doing? She can't be giving up! Guys go faster now!" Eric urged over the coms frantically and he didn't need to say that twice for Callen and Sam, or anyone else a part of the rescue team either.

"She is seducing Stryker, Mr. Beale, that is what Ms. Smith is doing." Hetty replied calmly and this alarmed Callen and everyone else.

Why the hell would she be doing that?

"So she is brainwashed?" Nell gasped and Hetty didn't respond. Callen and Sam could only share a brief look of bewilderment before they were once more accosted by a mercenary. But this mercenary was guarding a specific door and Callen's hopes were renewed with what that must signify: that was the room that Annie was being held hostage in.

"WOOT! GO ANNIE!" Nell exclaimed gleefully over the coms as Sam opened the door on the silent count of three for Callen. He entered to a strange scene before him.

There was Annie still strung up to the ceiling wheezing as Stryker was rolling on the ground cupping his groin. When Callen entered the room Annie's whole face, bruised and all, lit up as her gaze landed on him. The spark in her eyes returned with the soft smile. She was going to say something when the withering Stryker beat her to it.

"YOU BITCH! THAT'S IT!" He bellowed in agony, pulled his gun out, and aimed it at Annie apparently still ignorant to the fact that Callen was there. Callen knew what Stryker was going to do and so did Annie by the way she closed her eyes tight.

'BANG!'

'BANG!' Two shots were fired off as Callen's bullet went hurtling through Stryker's head as Stryker's bullet went through Annie's abdomen. Callen barely registered that Sam was still behind him in the hallway because Callen was blocking the doorway and he also barely registered that Walker was in the room as well. Callen just cared about Annie.

As Callen ran towards Annie, Sam entered the room and aimed his rifle at Walker. Walker in turn released his own while raising his hands in surrender. But Callen didn't see this nor did he want to, all of his attention was on the bleeding fashion consultant that was still tied up to the ceiling.

"Sam get her down! Annie? Come on, Annie! Stay with me!" Callen ordered frantically as he placed his hands on both sides of the open wound to staunch the bleeding. Annie was barely maintaining eye contact with Callen as Sam motioned for Walker to go over to Stryker's body to retrieve the remote.

Walker did as he was told and easily found the device before pressing the button that released Annie from her shackles. Afterwards, Sam cuffed the mercenary before turning his attention back to his partner and their friend. Meanwhile, Callen quickly moved his hands from her wound to catch her and lay her down gently on the ground. Once she was on the floor he went back to placing his hand on her still bleeding wound. Her blood continued to flow around and over his hands and Annie grew paler and paler with each second.

"G," She whispered to him and tried to stop from closing her eyes but she was losing the battle as Annie's eyelids drooped dangerously.

"Save it, you are going to survive this. You hear me, Annie? Fight, damn it! Keep fighting!" Callen nearly shouted at her. One of her hands slid over the cover his own as the other rose shakily to cup his face. Annie smiled at him and opened her mouth once more but didn't say anything when she finally fell into unconsciousness.

"NO! DAMN IT ANNIE! STAY WITH ME!" Callen yelled and pleaded with her as soon as her hand collided with the floor and produced this horrible clanging noise in the metal room. But Annie's body wasn't listening to him as her wound continued to bleed out creating a small pool.

"ANNIE!"

"MOM!"

"OUR BABY!" Was the cries that emitted from Carson, Annie's parents, and Jason once they and the rest of the rescue team made it to the room. Those same people who shouted their dismay rushed to Callen's side to surround the pale Annie. Jason was at her feet, watching helplessly as Carson checked Annie's pulse from her wrist and Director Smith held onto his crying wife as Mrs. Smith silently fixed Annie's hair with trembling hands.

"Where is that damn medevac?" Callen asked as he turned to his team and Johnston as well as a cuffed Walker but Callen still didn't move an inch especially where his hands were applying pressure.

"We are right here, son. Now move away so we can move her." A gruff man stated as he and one other man in light blue EMT jumpsuits entered the room. Callen glared at them suspiciously as did everyone else and nobody moved an inch.

"You can trust him Mr. Callen." Hetty's calm voice filtered through their coms and Callen did as he was told. He got up and moved just far enough to allow the paramedics room to reapply pressure to Annie's wound and then transfer her to a gurney the second man brought in from the hallway.

"One of you may fly with us to the hospital." The paramedic who had ordered Callen to move away stated and Callen wished it was him who could go with her but he knew that was impossible.

"Rose, hun, go with her. " Director Smith insisted but didn't need to as Mrs. Smith followed behind the paramedics willingly. Everyone else filed out with her and all the way to the helicopter that had positioned itself on the deck while Callen and the rescue team was busy downstairs. They all watched the helicopter take off before they dispersed. After Sam and Callen handed Walker to the CIA back-up team, they made their own way to the hospital that Annie was being taken to.

Everyone, it was safe to say, broke the Los Angeles speeding laws getting to the hospital in record time. They all got there five minutes after the helicopter had landed and were greeted with a grim, shaking, and crying Mrs. Smith, and equally grim but silent Hetty, Eric, and Nell. Callen knew that Annie was now in surgery and didn't die on the way to the hospital by the way Hetty held herself. Callen almost missed that Eric and Nell were practically clinging to each other as they sat on the waiting room chairs. Sam, Director Smith, and Johnston were the ones to sit down with the others while Callen, Carson, Kensi, Deeks, and Jason paced the waiting room as Jason's marine team stood patiently against the wall.

"I have to call Harrison and tell him what's going on." Carson said aloud but sounded mechanical. It was easy to see that she was still affected by how ghostly pale her sister looked.

"Same with Emma." Jason stated in the same tone of voice and the two were about to leave the room when Johnston stop them.

"Jason, could you ask Emma to bring Aisha? I- I need to see her." Johnston croaked out, his voice sounded like his vocal chords were rubbed against sandpaper. Jason just silently nodded before walking out with Carson. Both Smiths returned not even ten minutes later and the group went back to their previous routine.

It would be twenty minutes after that when Emma and Aisha joined the rest of them. Aisha went straight to her father who pulled the little girl onto his lap and clutched her tight to him. The girl surprisingly didn't ask what they were doing there or why they were all sad. In fact, because she looked like she had been crying Callen guessed that Emma had already told Aisha what they were doing there. The father and daughter just held onto each other for silent support. With Emma there, Jason sat down to hug his pregnant wife, one hand around her shoulders and the other absentmindedly rubbing the baby bump, their foreheads touching. This scene was similar to that of Director Smith and Mrs. Smith, but instead of having his hand on her stomach Director Smith's second hand was being clutched by Mrs. Smith. These couples, including that of Eric and Nell made Callen ache for Annie.

He didn't want Annie in surgery right now, he didn't want her to be injured, and he didn't want her to be kidnapped at all. Callen just wanted time to reverse to when Annie was still sitting happily in NCIS: OSP working on expense reports and cracking jokes with him and the team. He would gladly take back her kissing him on the cheek and her recognizing all his efforts and attention to her just for her to be safe and happy. This wish made the last image of Annie giving him a faint smile and cupping his face before she became unconscious float to Callen's mind and made him want to punch something. What stopped him was Emma.

"Jason, don't worry, Annie will pull through. We both know that your mother will, she knows how to live too well to just give up and die on us." Emma whispered soothingly to her husband and cupped her hand against his face just like Annie did with Callen on the Den Lille Havfrue. But unlike Callen, Jason leant into Emma's hand to kiss it lightly.

"You're always right Em," He whispered back and smiled a small sad smile.

"At least you are learning that your wife is always right," Director Smith joked with his own hoarse voice and Callen realized that this family was trying to diffuse the tension with some form of humor and not get swallowed up by the anguish surrounding them. Something that Annie did as Callen vividly recalled Annie's change in demeanor when she used his shoulder to cry on about three days before she sacrificed herself to be tortured by Stryker.

"I remember when you were stationed in Iraq and I was so depressed. But Annie scolded me and took me out for a night on the town with some of my girlfriends and Carson, I couldn't help but amazed with you mother." Emma began and the blonde beauty held everyone's attention with a smirking Carson who probably was recalling said night vividly.

"Every club we entered it seemed as if Annie commanded the room. All the guys looked at her and all the women were envious because of the confidence and exuberance she had. But your mother didn't take note of all of this unflattering attention but focused solely on me and our group and made sure that we had fun. For the first time since you left, I wasn't anxious or heartbroken, I was the young 19 year old girl that I had forgotten was in me. That night, Annie taught me that even though I was depressed and worried about you in Iraq that I couldn't be like that all the time. I had to continue to live my life until you come back. I think that is why your mother continued to live on after your father's death, after the false positive, how she could globetrot for three years and still have amazing stories to tell us, how she could accept the news that we were pregnant. That is why I know that Annie is going to get through this and continue to live." Emma persisted but in this soft tone that had all of them believing her. Callen sure as hell did. What Annie's daughter-in-law was saying the truth when it came to the woman he loved. Annie did know how to live, that was evident from all the stories Annie has ever told him, from all the time that Callen and her have spent together.

"Yeah, Mom is too stubborn to die by the hands of Stryker. If she could stand up to my drunkard of a biological father and then move past my real father's death then she can get through this." Jason replied after being reassured by his wife.

"What do you mean?" Callen asked. He wanted to hear more about Annie, he needed to hear more stories about her and how strong she was to reassure himself that Annie was going to make it.

"Mom met me during a case she was investigating that involved a student bomber at my high school. She and her partner, Agent O'Riley, thought that the kid who blew himself up and killed ten other students in the cafeteria had an accomplice. I knew the kid because we grew up together so they talked to me first. But somehow Mom knew that I wasn't the accomplice and that I didn't have the best situation back home. She with dad, or O'Riley, stopped by one night when my biological father had gotten drunk again and was beating me, blaming me for why my biological mother ran away." Jason started getting worked up at the mention of his genetic parents but with one caress of Emma's hand against his arm, Jason had settled down.

"The two stopped him and arrested him as well as took me to the hospital. Mom stayed with me all night, made sure that I didn't go to sleep with the concussion I had. I was going to be placed in the foster care system but then Mom asked me if I would rather live with her instead. She told me that she was living alone after a recent divorce, that her apartment was small, and that she would be working long hours but I would be in a safe and loving environment. I, of course, leapt at the chance. She had already proven to me that she would protect me and that she cared enough to want to adopt me. That was when I took the surname of Smith, I wasn't an official one until I survived Christmas with my new family." Jason and the other Smiths chuckled at this. Everyone else cracked a smile.

"You said that Special Agent O'Riley was your adoptive father?" Deeks asked gently and Callen didn't feel the flare of jealousy when it came to mentioning the name of Annie's deceased lover.

He never did, even when he first learned this tidbit of information while Annie was still being held captive by Stryker. This was odd to Callen because every other male that Annie has had romantic encounters with made him apprehensive and protective but not with Special Agent O'Riley. Maybe it was the fact that he was dead or maybe because in a way, he could understand that Annie had moved on. Although, he didn't know how he knew this.

"Yeah, he was Mom's partner as you all know and was fully supportive of her adopting me. He said that he would be there to talk to me about the guy things in life that Mom couldn't answer. Less than a year later, he and Mom started going out and were literally the parents I always wanted. They loved me and listened to what I had to say, they transferred me to another high school because I didn't want to deal with the crap that was happening at my old school after the bomber incident. That's how I met Emma." Jason smiled a brilliant smile as he looked at his wife and the two shared this look before they remembered where they were.

"Mom would give me advice about Emma, but Dad would be the one who would take me out to do guy things like baseball games or hockey. That man taught me how to drive properly and how to be a proper gentleman while Mom was always the comforting person who would be there to give me a hug or beat the crap out of any kids, or even teachers, who were giving me a tough time at my new school. So for all intensive purposes, Annie Smith was my mother and Kevin O'Riley was my father." Jason finished but there was something that was bugging Callen about this.

"If Special Agent O'Riley was your father, then why didn't you take his surname when Annie married him?" Callen asked.

"Because I was seventeen at the time Mom adopted me, eighteen going on nineteen when they were married. I kept Mom's last name to honor the fact that she was the one who stepped out on the branch first and took me in as her own. Dad didn't mind, especially seeing how I was about to ship out on my first tour. He was just worried about me being safe out there, he gave some pointers being an army man himself." Jason explained and Callen nodded in acceptance of that. He thought he would have liked O'Riley even if he was married to Annie and Callen had no chance. Callen respected O'Riley too much out of all of the men that Annie has dated, or at least of all of the men that she has mentioned in passing. That was why Callen wasn't jealous of the relationship between O'Riley and Annie, he respected the man despite his feelings for Annie.

"In retrospect, it's strange to me that Annie has been married twice, or at least has gotten that serious with a man, and started her own family." Director Smith stated and that was when everyone turned to look at him in curiosity at what Annie's father meant. He gave them amused looks before he took a deep breath to start.