Pushback
Callen's worst nightmare was coming back to him. Okay, not his worst nightmare. His worst nightmare was Riaane Vandenhoven, but this was a close second. The fifth of May shooting. He was determined to find out who had shot him and in the end, he ended up forgetting that his daughter was suffering just as much from that shooting as he was.
It wasn't until Arkady Kolcheck mentioned something about Taylor. "Everything is useful sooner or later," Arkady Kolcheck said about the fact of him using Alina Rostoff to "warn" Callen. "Does your daughter know you speak Russian?"
"How do you know about my daughter?" Callen said. His felt a cold shiver on his spine. Normally he'd try and deny having a daughter, but he knew Arkady well enough that he couldn't lie in front of the former KGB officer.
Arkady shrugged. "I met her mother, Riaane? One time on an op. Gorgeous woman."
"What do you know about my daughter?"
"That she is an excellent soccer player and she goes to Santa Monica High. Don't worry. After the fifth of May, I made sure to check if she was still alive," Arkady replied. Callen wasn't sure if that was a good thing that he had checked up on Taylor or not.
With the syndicate deal going down, Callen was determined to keep his daughter safe. He sincerely hoped it was just Arkady who knew about Taylor. He was going to ask Hetty to keep her safe, but she had told him she already did that, with an undercover agent outside her classrooms all day.
Hetty was talking about Callen to Nate and she still had to keep her mouth shut about Taylor. She had made sure the teenager was safe. Nate was extremely worried about Callen working this case, and in return, Hetty was worried about Callen, not realizing that his daughter was suffering just as much as he was. They had managed to find Callen, what if they managed to find Taylor? Did Callen realize that his daughter was affected by this case as well? It wasn't just Callen anymore. He couldn't go lone wolf like he always did. He had Taylor to worry about, if he wanted to stay in her life again.
After the case, Nate stopped by Hetty's office. "Not such a bad day, after all?"
"It was a hard call to make," Nate admitted.
"There's someone waiting for you in the boatshed. I think you should go there." Nate knew better than to question Hetty Lange, so he did what he was told.
To his utter and complete surprise, sat a teenage girl in the boatshed. Hetty had slipped a file in his briefcase and as Nate crossed the boatshed, he had a sneaking suspicion this girl had to do with the file.
"There's no mention in your father's file of you," Nate said as Taylor was making coffee, back turned to him. She turned around and Nate didn't realize how gorgeous she looked. Nate could see the resemblence between her and Callen, that nobody else could see. The way she stood making the coffee, was the exact same as Callen. Her whole posture and the "air" she gave off, was like him too.
"I didn't think so," Taylor replied, sitting down on the couch.
Nate flipped open a file and sat beside her. "I just found out about you, the minute I walked in here."
"Yeah. My father isn't too keen on spreading the wonderful news about my existence with the whole world," Taylor shrugged. "But that's my dad."
"Were you worried about him?"
"When?"
"When he got shot? The fifth of May?" Nate asked. He also had a sneaking suspicion Callen didn't know that Nate was meeting his daughter in the boatshed right now. Hetty had sent him to go look at Alina Rostoff's house.
Taylor was silent for a minute. "I didn't know. My father wasn't exactly… involved with my life at the time. Social services came to tell me he died, but I didn't believe it. I just figured it was another cover for an op he was going on."
"Did you know your father worked for NCIS?"
She shook her head. "I knew he worked for an agency. That's all. My aunt tried to keep my mother and my father from me, the best she could."
"Why your mother?"
"Because my mother is the worst excuse of a mother you can ever get. That's why."
"What makes you say that?" Nate wasn't sure if he really did want to hear the story or not. Obviously Taylor had good reasons about not liking her mother. He had never heard Callen talk about his ex's, much less a daughter.
Taylor sighed and folded her hands on her knees. "What kind of mother leaves their three year old daughter with their grandpa and runs off with the CIA?"
"Callen?"
"On a mission he couldn't talk about, in places he couldn't say. That was my life. I have two spies for parents. Imagine a childhood, living like that. If you don't want to, well, it sucked. A lot."
Nate sighed. "Who raised you then?"
"My aunt, Skylar. My mother and her are… estranged. I was four and my aunt was 20 when I went to go live with her. She took Dad's side during the custody battle. In the end Skylar ended up getting custody. It was a really nasty custody battle, dragged out for way too long. They were using me as a pawn to get back at each other. There was a lot of hurt feelings. Skylar and I moved from Waco last year."
"Waco, Texas? What made you move to Santa Monica?"
Taylor rolled her eyes. "My aunt met a guy," another roll of the eyes. "That didn't last long. I just found out I had been living in the same city as my dad for the past year, and had no idea. None. What so ever."
"He's just trying to keep you safe, Taylor," Nate tried explaining.
"I'm a little old for that bullshit. I don't need protecting. I can do fine on my own. After all, that's been my life."
Nate was silent for a minute, studying Taylor's reactions. "Do you want a relationship with your father?"
"Sure. If he's actually serious about it, this time around."
"How many times have you seen your father since the custody battle?" Nate asked.
Taylor looked at the psychologist. "I can count them on two hands."