Apologies for the delay in updates; unfortunately, life gets in the way and teaching is more important than writing fanfiction. Shame, because I enjoy this so much more than my lessons. It means that I haven't been on my page in a while, so when I came on to upload this chapter I was absolutely blown away by the number of views – 1,039. I'm in shock. Pure shock. Thank you so much to everyone who has been reading this story, to those who are following, who have favourited, sent a review or a PM (that made me smile for days that message).

So finally, after waiting forever, the next chapter is finally here. Cannot guarantee when the next chapter is going to be posted, I am in the process of writing it, but it is gonna take a while I'm afraid. Four stories to write on top of the fifteen classes I have to plan, prepare and teach makes for a lot of work.

Enjoy my lovelies

xXx

Chapter Six

The three agents and two detectives spent another hour or so quietly talking amongst themselves. Kimberly was sitting in front of Callen's desk whilst he had perched himself on top of the table, gently nudging her whenever it looked like she was drifting off. Something she was incredibly grateful for; her head was killing her and a fog was starting to dull her senses. Kimberly couldn't have been more grateful when the alarm finally went off on her phone indicating it was time for her to take a round of medication. Sam passed her a glass of water to help wash the pills down and she sipped it slowly, feeling the effects of the meds kick in almost instantly. Logically she knew her brain was convincing the rest of her body that the meds were already at work whereas in reality it would be at least another twenty minutes before they actually started working. But today was one of those days where logic to take a back seat.

Hetty walked over to them a while later, asking softly if Kimberly was up to continuing their conversation. Kimberly hesitated, biting her lip. Thanks to the medication she was much more clearheaded now compared to when she had started the conversation. Why the hell had she started talking about this? "Hetty I…I'm sorry, a lot of this is still really…" She sighed heavily. "What exactly do you want to know? What happened during the attack? Because I wasn't there, I was travelling into the city from New Jersey because it was a Friday morning and I had three days off. As soon as I heard about what was happening I got over to the lab just in time to see it blow up. With no idea if my friends, my family, had gotten out safely." She stopped briefly, running a hand through her hair. "If you want to know anything more about that day you would be better off talking to my boss."

"But you were the one who connected the dots to the incident here." Kimberly turned slightly to face Deeks. His partner glared at him and Hetty levelled a gaze at him. He gulped inaudibly, silently cursing that he had yet again spoken without thinking.

"I haven't connected any dots yet Detective, I haven't had a chance to go over the information you gave me. All I've got is alarm bells ringing, and that was enough to convince Mac to request the information." She turned back to Hetty. "I don't know the details, it's only word of mouth. Even then it's come through friends of mine in the LAPD and their crime lab. So until I can get five minutes and read those files it is all speculation." She sighed heavily. "What do you want to know Ms Lange? How I think these two attacks are linked, or more about my life story?"

The team glanced at each other before all collectively transferring their gazes to their boss. It was a good question, and Callen imagined Hetty would want answers to both of them. He sure as hell knew that he did. But what would Hetty say? Which one did she want to know more about? Callen's mind flitted back to the picture and realised they needed to know more about how it came to be in the Detective's possession more than anything else right now. Evidently the Operations Manager was thinking along the same lines as him. "I would like to know what happened after the…incident…if you are okay with telling me." Callen rolled his eyes; only Hetty could make someone feel like they just had to tell her what she wanted to know.

Kimberly stared at her, silently weighing her options. They weren't great. What did it cost her, to tell those around her more about herself? Just her sanity. Ok, so maybe she was being a little over dramatic, but still, this was difficult. She'd become an expert in blocking out the more painful aspects of her past, and now these people, practically strangers, were asking her to dig it back up again.

With a sigh she shifted slightly in her chair, biting back a wince. "Okay, so the attack came, blah blah blah. Like I said, I'm not going into details about it. But I later found out that everyone, including my aunt, had managed to get out of the building. Everyone except for Mac and his partner. Mac was indirectly responsible for blowing up the lab. I didn't know this before then, but Mac and my aunt had been arguing that day because Peyton was going to London to visit her family and she wanted Mac to go with her. He was reluctant at first, but after…everything I guess he realised he was being an idiot. So they went off to London and I went with them, having managed to get two weeks off from work. Well, I say two weeks. I had actually handed my notice in with NJPD and was going to be joining the crime lab in the city full time, that's what I was on my way to tell them. I was bloody crap at taking holiday time, still am, so was able to take two weeks out of my months' notice to go to London with Mac and Peyton, see my family over there. I hadn't seen any of them in nearly ten years."

Kimberly had been smiling as she talked about seeing her family, but Deeks noticed that it dropped suddenly, her shoulder slumped and she seemed sadder. "So after two weeks I had to come back. Mac came with me but Peyton had decided to stay behind a little longer. It wasn't until October that mac received a letter from Peyton saying that she was staying in London permanently and so was breaking up with him. I only found out through him what was happening, which led to several very intense phone calls between me and my aunt, and I didn't talk to her again. We saw her once, back in 2010 when Mac inadvertently found out she was back in the city for a few days. By that point Mac and I had filed the paperwork to have my name legally changed to Taylor-Driscoll, although I tend to shorten it to T-Driscoll as you know. And that's about it. That's my story. Neither of us have seen or heard from Peyton since then, Mac's since gotten married to a lovely women called Christine and I've been working in the lab."

She paused briefly before fixing Hetty with a glare that, Sam later swore to Callen, would rival that of the older woman. "Is that it? Or is there anything else in my personal life you wish to know?"

Deeks hid a grin at the question, wandering how Hetty would take the question. There was another pause before Hetty replied. Callen was half expecting her to whip out the picture there and then, but she didn't. Instead she asked Kimberly if she could come back over to the office as there was something confidential she needed to share with her. Callen bit the inside of his cheek as the younger woman hesitantly agreed before sliding off the desk and straightened up. "Do you need some help getting over there?"

Kimberly shook her head slightly. "No, it's okay. Thank you."

He glanced at Hetty, silently asking if she wanted him there for the coming conversation. She twitched her head slightly, just enough to indicate no. Callen hesitated, wandering if it was the best thing to do, but eventually sat back down at his desk, turning to watch as Kimberly slowly climbed the steps back into Hetty's office. "Quit staring at her, you'll scare her off."

He turned around to see his partner smirking at him. "What are you talking about?"

Now Sam was full on grinning. "You know exactly what I'm talking about. You've barely taken your eyes off her. Stayed with her in the hospital the entire time. Have you left her side at all?"

"Yes actually. I wasn't with her when she got changed, or went for her scans. And one of the FBI guys sat with her for a while so I could grab a shower and change."

"And did you?" Sam didn't know why he was asking the question when he knew full well what the answer would be.

Callen opened his mouth to reply, then shook his head in exasperation. He looked down and attempted to focus on the pile of paperwork that was in front of him in an attempt to ignore the insufferably smug look that would be on his partner's face, blocking out the chuckles that came from his team. What could he say in reply to that? He couldn't admit that he was fascinated by this Detective, that he wanted to know everything he could about her. Instead he tried to play it off as being concerned about her. There was no way he was going to go any further than that; Christ it had barely been three weeks since he and Joelle had split up for the last time. No, he was not interested in a relationship of any kind. He just wanted to know a little bit more about her.

This was why he was keeping an ear open to the conversation taking place on the other side of the Mission. He wasn't able to hear what was being said between the two women, but he had promised the doctor that he would keep an eye on Kimberly. She had after all been unconscious only hours ago, and she was still suffering from a pretty serious concussion, even if she did manage to hide said suffering pretty well. He became distracted however when Eric walked into the bullpen. "I've managed to piece together the CCTV from the airport, tracking the shooters back to where they started."

He turned around to face the young tech. "What did you find Eric?"

"See for yourself." He gestured to the TV screen set up by Deeks' desk and they all turned, watching as large group of men piled out of a nondescript van. They were all wearing dark clothing, the same that Callen had seen the shooters wearing in the terminal. The group paused, apparently conferring amongst themselves before five men split off and got back into the van. It was then driven away as the rest of the group slipped into the airport via a service entrance.

"So that's how they got in then. There are no security checkpoints at service entrances," Sam commented.

"And with what they were wearing, they could have easily been mistaken as airport personnel," added Kensi. "What about the van though? And the men that got back into it?"

"We're still trying to track it down. But it's pretty generic. All we could get from the cameras was the colour, license plates aren't visible or the quality of the cameras isn't good enough. Nell's got Kaleidoscope running upstairs for it, but I'm not sure we're going to get anything."

"What about the men who got back into the van? It doesn't take five guys to drive one vehicle," Deeks chimed in suddenly, watching the footage as it played back. Callen focused in on the five. It was difficult to make out which ones were which when they were all crowded together, but as the main group headed towards the building five men split off and headed back to the van.

"Facial rec hasn't been able to pick up anything on them; their faces are never turned towards the camera and, again, the quality isn't good enough to pick up any features." Eric sounded a little frustrated, and Callen couldn't blame him. It was annoying that they had so little to work on.

"Why would they get back into the van if this was a terrorist attack? You'd have thought that they would all be in on it." Kensi was sounding confused, almost like she was trying to get inside their heads.

"Unless…" Sam trailed off, looking at Callen.

The team leader could see what his partner was thinking and finished his sentence, almost automatically. "The airport wasn't their target."

"What do you mean?" Deeks looked over at the two older men, as confused as his own partner.

"Think about it. What does attacking an airport, an international airport nonetheless, do?"

"Creates panic." Eric offered.

"Yeah, but it does something else. Who went to the airport yesterday? As soon as the attack began?" Callen looked at his team, an eyebrow raised slightly.

"The police." Comprehension started dawning in Kensi's eyes. "And not just them. The Bureau, Homeland."

"All law enforcement and government agency was entirely focused on the airport yesterday. Which means they weren't thinking about the rest of the city…"

"It was a distraction." Deeks finished Callen's sentence, the colour draining slightly from his face. "What the hell was happening that they needed to use a massacre as a distraction?"

Callen turned to the tech. "Eric, find that van. And start trying to find if anything was reported yesterday afternoon. No matter how small or silly it may seem, we need to know them all."

The younger man had just left the bullpen and he was about to give the rest of his team tasks when a crash echoed behind them, making the team jump slightly. Callen swung around to see Kimberly walking out of the Mission, her body tense and her face white. He started to follow her before turning to look at where she had come from. Hetty was still sat behind her desk, and standing next to her was Granger, his jaw tight from what Callen could recognise as frustration. Callen's eyes narrowed slightly and he was torn between wanting to go after Kimberly but also wanting to know what had happened. "Sam, get onto the Bureau, catch them up on what we have; they may have new information too. Deeks do the same with LAPD. Kensi, help Eric and Nell. See if you can find out about anything else that may have happened yesterday." Without waiting to hear his team agree Callen was walking over to his boss. He stopped in front of her desk, not bothering to lift up the chair that had been the source of the crash. "What happened?" He saw the photograph lying on the desk, next to an open file. "You told her?"

"Actually it was the Assistant-Director who told her." Callen looked from Hetty to Granger who had managed to smooth his face back into an impassive mask.

"What did you say?"

"I merely told her the truth Agent Callen, not that it is any concern of yours." Granger was, once again, sounding like a pompous ass.

"You do realise that she is still seriously ill. That technically she should still be in hospital. That the only reason she is out of the hospital is because I said that I would keep an eye on her. That I would make sure that nothing could happen to set her back. And now thanks to you she's just walked out of the building into a city that she is unfamiliar with whilst heavily concussed?" Callen's voice had risen as he had spat all this at Granger, and damn the man for not even looking like he cared. He turned back to Hetty, who did not look happy at all with what had happened. "Do you know where she went?"

Hetty shook her head. "She didn't say anything."

Callen turned around, paused and grabbed the picture from the desk before leaving Hetty's office and going after the New York Detective. He hoped that she was okay, and that it wouldn't be too difficult to find her.

She didn't stop walking until she had reached a park. She had no idea what the time was, even though her phone was in her pocket, but she couldn't bring herself to look at it. She didn't want to talk to anyone right now.

With a sigh she sank down onto a nearby bench, ignoring the mild ache in her back and leg. In truth she barely noticed her injuries now, her mind full of turmoil and despair. She couldn't believe what they had said. They were wrong, they had to be. But even as she denied it, so many things slid into place. So many things now made sense. But still. They couldn't be right…

Kimberly lowered herself back into the seat, sighing softly as she stretched her leg out in front of her. She was lucky she had only been given a walking cast to support her ankle, but it was still making her leg ache to have an unfamiliar weight weighing it down. She looked up at Hetty who was watching her. "Would you like a fresh cup of tea?"

Kimberly smiled slightly. What a British thing to say. As if all the problems in the world could be solved by tea. She shook her head. "No thank you. I've never really been a tea drinker. My aunts' family is though. God they were always drinking tea."

"Have you seen them? Since you came back from England?" Hetty was wandering just who these people were.

Kimberly frowned. "No, but that's hardly surprising. I'm always working, and I'm crap at taking holiday. Plus, ironically, I hate flying; altitude sickness is not fun." She ran a hand through her hair.

"Have you spoken to them at all? Over the phone, or emails?" Hetty was persistent, probably too much.

The young Detective straightened slightly, her eyes narrowing a little. "Why are you so interested? I can understand you wanting to know more about the attack, but everything else? Why are you so insistent on knowing about my personal life?"

The older woman remained silent for a moment looking at Kimberly. Her posture was stiff, her shoulders tight and a frown was creasing her forehead. Hetty pulled a slip of paper out of her jacket pocket and glanced down at it briefly before holding it out to Kimberly. "Does this look familiar to you?"

If it was possible Kimberly's frown deepened as she took the piece of paper, worn from being handled often. Her mouth dried suddenly when she turned it over and saw a very familiar picture. Biting her lip hard she asked Hetty in a very quiet voice whilst staring at the photograph, "Where did you get this?"

Hetty was silent until Kimberly looked up at her, silently demanding an answer. She sighed heavily. "After you had left Mr Callen's car yesterday at the airport he found it in the passenger foot well; he believed it had fallen out of your bag." She hesitated, already knowing what the answer would be thanks to Nell running facial rec on the picture earlier. "I know I'm prying but I have to ask; is that your aunt and uncle?"

Kimberly swallowed. "Yes it is. That's Mac and…and Peyton. This was taken when we were in London. Why?"

"Because Peyton Driscoll was not her name. She was Senior Agent Lauren Hunter." Granger's voice sounded from behind her and she turned her head slightly to see the man stepping up into the office and stand beside Hetty.

Kimberly stared at him with a raised eyebrow. "I'm sorry, what? Her name was Peyton. Dr Peyton Driscoll and she was a distinguished medical examiner, not a federal agent."

Granger dropped a folder down in front of her, the sound of it hitting the desk with a quiet thud. "No she wasn't. She was an agent who at that time was working undercover for the FBI. She told you she was remaining in London when in fact she was re-assigned, pulled out and transferred from the FBI to NCIS."

Kimberly barely heard the man as she looked through the folder, skimming through the pages and pictures so quickly Hetty wasn't sure if she was taking any of it in. Until she looked up at the older woman and she saw the colour was draining from her face. "Did you know her?" Hetty simply nodded and Kimberly swallowed heavily. "And C…Agent Callen?"

Hetty hesitated briefly but it was answer enough for her. Biting her lip hard she stood abruptly, the chair pushing away from her and toppling over with a bang. She seemed oblivious to it, and with hands shaking and her head buzzing she turned and walked to the nearest exit, a different one to the way she had walked in from earlier, but she wasn't aware of that. She just had to get out.

The sound of laughing startled Kimberly out of her thoughts and she blinked, sniffing heavily. Bringing a hand up to rub at her eyes she was shocked to feel tears running down her face. Angry at herself she scrubbed the tears from her cheeks, pulling her jacket closer around her. Callen's jacket, she suddenly realised. Damn it. She wished she had never come to LA, had never heard of this stupid case, and realised that suddenly, despite the fact that she was 31, and wasn't even related to him, she wanted nothing more than to talk to Mac.

Oh god, Mac. How the hell was she going to be able to tell him? That they had been lied to, completely and utterly by the one woman they had both trusted their lives with. And it had been a lie. All of it, a total lie. Her body started shaking and she found that she was choking back sobs, unable to think about what to do next. She knew that she sounded like a child but the only thought she could focus on that was running around in her head, the only thing that made sense, was one sentence; she wanted to go home.

Callen had spent an hour searching the surrounding neighbourhood trying to find Kimberly, to no avail. She wasn't anywhere, and he was starting to grow concerned. He knew that normally she would be able to take care of herself, but this wasn't normal circumstances. She was hurt, confused, and in a strange city. Damn it, he knew he shouldn't have let her talk about this by herself. And Granger sure as hell hadn't helped.

With a curse he pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialled OPS. "Beale."

"Eric, I need you to trace Detective D-Taylor's phone now."

"On it." Callen waited for Eric to come back to him, fully aware of the time. She had just over an hour before the next round of medication was due. It was in his pocket; she hadn't taken it with her when she had left OSP. "She's five minutes away from you. In the Descanso Gardens."

"Thanks Eric." He ended the call and slid his phone away before turning and heading back the way he came. Callen hadn't even thought to check the park, but it made a certain sense, especially if she wanted some time to herself. But damn it, he was worried about her. And Alex would have his head if something happened to her.

Callen entered the park, wandering where the hell Kimberly would be in a park that stretched 150 acres. His phone beeped and he pulled it out, silently thanking Eric who had sent him a virtual map of the park with a marker indicating where Kimberly's phone was. Hackers, he thought as he broke into a light jog, skirting past other people who had decided to be in the Gardens that afternoon.

When he reached the lake Callen slowed down to a walk, scanning the people who were there, looking for Kimberly. Eventually he saw her sitting on a bench, close to where he was. He stopped and simply watched her for a while, guessing she didn't want any company for a while. He glanced at his watch for the time; 3:10. He didn't need to disturb her just yet, so sank down onto a bench that was just out of her line of sight if she looked up. He didn't want to scare her off, but was determined to keep an eye on her nonetheless.

About 40 minutes passed and Callen noticed that not once did Kimberly release the tense posture she had. Her shoulders were tight with tension, her head bowed low and her hands clasped tightly in her lap. He wasn't close enough to confirm but he was pretty sure that, every now and then, a shudder ran through her body. Whether this was from supressed emotions or pain he wasn't sure, but it could have also been from cold; the temperature had dropped noticeably in the time he had been in the park. With a sigh he climbed to his feet and started walking over to the Detective, taking care to be in her line of sight in an attempt to not startle her; in the time it took him to reach the bench she was sitting on Kimberly hadn't looked up once and her posture hadn't shifted an inch. He slowly lowered himself down onto the bench and simply sat there, waiting.

It didn't take long, maybe five minutes, before Kimberly finally moved. She had been sitting in the same position so long it was a wonder she hadn't started to fossilise. She wasn't stupid either; she'd know that someone was watching her for some time, but just couldn't bring herself to look for them. She had figured though that it was going to be someone from the building she had left a while ago; she would have been surprised if they had not kept tabs on her. But she didn't know who it was until they finally sat down beside her.

Kimberly closed her eyes as she breathed in the scent that had dominated the car earlier. Callen. Damn it. She had been half hoping it would be someone else from his team. Why? Because he didn't tell her. He knew, Hetty's silence had told her that. He had known when they were at the airport, when they were working with each other to save the lives of as many people as possible. Trusting each other's backs.

Kimberly sighed inaudibly. What else could he have done? Told her right there and then? At the hospital? When would the best time had been. She drew in a slow breath before speaking, very softly. So quietly in fact that it was difficult to hear her own words. But she found that she couldn't speak any louder. "You knew. When you saw that picture. That's what all the questions were about."

Callen hesitated. He had to strain to hear what she was saying, then wished with all his heart that he hadn't. Christ, what the hell was happening to him? He was never like this. Nevertheless, she deserved an answer. "Yes. I…we needed to know…what you knew."

"And that's why you were in the airport. Why you came looking for me, and wanted me to go with you."

He nodded. "I'd called Hetty as soon as I found that picture. She…I didn't know anything about her past assignments; I still don't. And I don't know why she was in New York, if I did…"

"Would you tell me?"

"Yes. Screw clearance. I've had information kept from me about my family for years and that screwed me up beyond belief. I wouldn't do that to someone else."

Kimberly bit her lip hard, swallowing another sob. "C-can you tell me…a-about her?"

Callen nodded again. "Yeah." He glanced over at her and noticed that her posture was still stiff, unyielding, and started wandering if she was holding herself in that way to ease the pain she was no doubt in. She was also shaking, despite wearing the jacket he had given her earlier. Glancing at his watch he saw it was almost time for her next round of medication, and remembered there was a small café near where they were sitting. "Look why don't we go somewhere a bit warmer. It's nearly time for the next round of medication as well."

"I'm not going back there. Not today."

"I wasn't even thinking of taking you back there. I told the Doc I would keep an eye on you, so let me take you to a hotel. I'd take you to my place but…well honestly there isn't a lot there. You can grab a shower, get something to eat and try to relax. I'll tell you what I know about your aunt."

"I don't even know if she is my aunt anymore." Kimberly sighed heavily before nodding. "Okay, that sounds…thank you."

Callen shrugged a shoulder before standing. He stretched, feeling his muscles ache with cold, and wandered how she must have been feeling. He started to offer Kimberly a hand before realising she would probably need more help than that, so bent down and, after waiting for a nod from her, wrapped an arm around her shoulders. He could feel just how tightly her body was wound and realised just how much she was trembling. After counting to three he slowly lifted her to her feet. Kimberly bit her lip hard to bite back the groan, the abused muscles in her back protesting the movement.

Once he was sure she would be able to stand unassisted Callen stepped slightly away from her. Kimberly hesitated briefly before taking a step forward. She grit her teeth as her back twinged and her head swam. Suddenly it was all she could do to stay on her feet, and then she felt a warm arm wrap around her waist. It took a second for her vision to clear but when it did she could see Callen staring at her, concern splashed across his face. "I'm okay, just stood up too fast. Thanks."

He hesitated briefly before nodding. "Come on, I'll grab you a bottle of water for your meds." He kept his arm around Kimberly's waist as they walked slowly over to the café, trying to keep his mind off of how close she was, and that he found her scent of vanilla and oranges particularly appealing.