Tsunami

Disclaimer: NCISLA characters belong to Shane Brennan. All original characters and this story are mine.

Chapter 6

The Callens' house, Los Angeles

Savannah sat down on the couch, she gave Samuel a kiss and held him on her shoulder, gently rubbing his back.

Baxter joined her, prepared to listen.

"My dad was overseas for work again. I didn't know this at the time, but every time he went away, he entrusted me and Nell to Amy. He told her that she had to keep us safe. She'd completed her training and had already worked on a few operations for the CIA, not that I knew anything about it. I was too focused on my designing and senior year at High School." Savannah wiped her tears and took in a ragged breath. She bit on her bottom lip until she had the courage to continue.

"Nell and I were home alone and a man, someone who had worked with our father, broke into the house. We had no idea what had happened. Dad never told anyone about us, but he'd stalked him and found out that he had a family. Something had happened, that turned him into the monster that he'd become. He lost his job and he wanted out right revenge on my father. Nell hid, being so small, she was good at that. But he didn't appear to care about Nell anyway. He was focused on me."

Samuel made a gurgling sound, slightly cheering her up from the memories that haunted her. She gave him a kiss on his chubby cheek and savoured his scent.

"Mom and Amy returned home from the shops and Amy found me upstairs, tied to the bed. She fought him, knocking him out, just enough to get me free, find Nell and escape. We made it downstairs, but before we could warn mom, he'd returned to consciousness and held our mom at knife point. He threatened to kill her if Amy didn't hand me over to him." Her voice was scarcely a whisper. "Mom told Amy to get us out of there…we heard her scream, the last sound she ever made, as we ran down the street for help."

"Why was he fixated on you?" Baxter furrowed his brow, worried over what they'd suffered.

She let the tears fall, perhaps Nate was right, talking about it was better than bottling it up. She'd tried to talk about this for a long time, but she never could do it. For some strange reason, she found it easy to talk with Baxter.

"I did't know why back then. It haunted Amy that she couldn't save our mom, and I carried the guilt for years. That I had killed my mother and had placed Amy into that position. But she never let it get between us. If anything, it strengthened our bond. We were it, us against the world."

"What about your father and Nell?" Baxter was blown away by the harshness of reality that had hit both of his children.

"I refused to talk to my father again after that. When I found out who that man was, who had killed our mother, I blamed him. He forced me to go to FLETC for training and I thought that perhaps he was right, after what happened to our mom. That's when I met Mark. I had these huge walls built up around me, but he knew how to pull them down."

"Mark was an extraordinary man, Savannah. He was one of the best I've had the pleasure of commanding. He's greatly missed at Little Creek."

Savannah nodded and gave him a weak smile. Although she was happy with Callen, she still missed him.

"The only time I spoke with dad, was when he forced me to work a case. Get in close with some suspects, as my clients. Thankfully, I had other clients that weren't terrorists or drug lords, so I managed to not ruin my reputation or get burned."

"And Nell? What happened with her?"

"She was adopted by our mother's cousin and her husband. The Jones'. She'd only been eleven at the time, she needed the stability, whereas Amy and I were adults. So we made our own paths."

"I'm so sorry, Savannah. You've had it tough at a young age. I had no idea about your mother or what happened to you."

"Thank you, Baxter. I appreciate it. In fact, for some reason, I find talking to you about this easier than I've had with anyone. Even George."

"Does he know about any of this?"

She nodded. "Yes. The man who killed my mother escaped. He returned only last year and kidnapped me from the hospital." Goose bumps spread across her skin and she shivered.

"Dad found me, he placed a microchip inside my right ankle when I was four. I'd forgotten about it, until I was showing Luca and Jacob how to use the scanner. We needed to make sure that they weren't bugged, when we rescued them. George, Nell and their team came in as back up and he was arrested. That's when we realised who Amy was and why he wanted me."

Baxter furrowed his brow, surprised by this news.

"I knew that she wasn't my real sister, our parents weren't old enough to be her parents, and her blonde hair and blue eyes didn't match with anyone in the family. So did this man, he'd worked out that I was close to my father, before he'd killed our mom. He knew that Amy wasn't his real daughter and that Nell always had her head in her books. He chose me, to hurt my father the most." She took in a ragged breath, trying to rein in the emotions that washed over her, not only for her own sake, but for Samuel, as she continued to rub his back. "Anyway, Amy came with Nate to where we were after I had been rescued and she was rambling on about how she'd lost her baby brother and that she could not lose her sisters too. She said enough to make us realise who she was and we all looked at her, shocked. That's when George came out with my father from interviewing my abductor. The tension was high and it was then that I found out that my father had placed her in charge to protect us when he was away for work."

"I had no idea about any of this. I did wonder how Amelia and George had found each other. Through you."

"Yes. Ironic really. We move here and I meet him my first morning out on the beach. We didn't talk for about two weeks, but I sensed he was watching me. I struggled to sleep after loosing Mark. It was six months after, when we moved here. I would drive down to Santa Monica Beach and tried to wash the pain away. He was there every morning. Mostly before me. He kept his distance, but I felt him watching me." She gave a quick laugh. "It annoyed me at first, that he could break down my walls and see my pain. Then he became a comfort, knowing that he would be there each morning. I couldn't explain it. Then one day he walked over and asked if I was okay. I was rude to him, I told him to stop following me. I drove home like a mad woman, so he couldn't follow me." Savannah took in a deep breath to continue. "Then I found him sitting in his car asleep before I arrived the next morning. I had no idea who he was, his car was expensive, but I couldn't understand why he was sleeping in his car. My anger got the better of me, I banged on the window, demanding him to unlock the door. He had this look of surprise on his face, but he unlocked the door anyway. I dragged him out and pinned him against his car." She shook her head. "Sometimes I'm my own worst enemy. I was angry. Angry with my father, because I blamed him for Mark's death. Yet, I was just like him, I realised. I'd lost control and I was taking it out on George." Memories of that day, when her life with Callen changed forever forged their way forward in her mind. "Then my phone rang. My father was on the other end, he'd traced me with the microchip and logged into the car park security cameras. He told me to leave George alone. That's when I realised that he was a Fed, like me."

"Why did your father insert a microchip inside your ankle? You mentioned that you had it inserted when you were four?"

Savannah took in a deep breath and sighed. She'd been shocked to hear the reason from her father, not that long ago. It had made perfect sense to her father's behaviour over the years. "He was about to go away on an assignment, he had this look in his eyes, very serious and I just accepted it. I loved him and trusted him. It hurt, but I knew from the look he gave me that it was important. I'd forgotten about it, I couldn't understand why he'd done it, when I did remember." Her voice trailed off, Baxter wondered if she knew the reason behind her father's action. "It was the day of the plane flight back to America. He'd flown over with Amy, thinking we'd gone down with the plane, panicking. He was desperate to see me, once Nell told him that we were safe. He found George and I on the beach, he'd just proposed to me. George was worried about me, why I was so ill on the flight back…"

"You had morning sickness." Baxter looked at his grandson who had fallen back to sleep in his arms.

"Yes. But I didn't know, it had been over seven years since I'd been pregnant with Archie. Dr Mallard in D.C. was the one who'd realised and asked to allow their forensic scientist to analyse my blood to be certain. Once he confirmed it, I asked George if we could get away from the office. I needed to get my head around the news and to tell him." A smile made it's way across her lips. "What I didn't know, was that he was going to propose, the ring survived our jumping out of the plane." She looked at Baxter. "He's a good man. He just needs time to adjust, get used to knowing who you are."

Baxter nodded, she was right, but still, he needed to talk with his son. There was so much pain from all of those years ago for both of them. They needed to heal from it properly and talk. "Did your father ever explain why he inserted the microchip into your ankle?"

Savannah nodded. "Yes. George wasn't happy when he found out about the microchip. But dad had a good reason. I had an older brother, Phillip. I never knew, I was a baby when he was abducted and killed. He was only four years old. It explains a great deal about my father."

Baxter rubbed his hand over his face, he understood clearly the pain and worry a father had over his own children.

"I failed him. I tried so hard to find him and when I did…"

"What happened back then?" She'd figured out something had happened, from the look on Callen's face when his father had shown up and admitted that he had tried to adopt him when he was nine. She saw how he had lifted the barriers around that time in his life, he still refused to tell her.

Baxter gently traced his grandson's hairline with his fingertips. At that age they were innocent from the harshness of life. So sweet and trusting. A flash of anger crossed his face, Savannah's heart pounded in her chest from his reaction. "At first Gloria and I fostered him. We managed to get him to our house, but he was so withdrawn, he wouldn't look at me, and he'd flinch and move away from me as if I was about to hit him or something." Baxter swallowed down the hard lump in his throat. He felt it constrict, but the breathing exercises he practised helped control the panic that tried to ensue him.

"You wouldn't have recognised him, Savannah. He wasn't anything like the man he is today. Someone worked a miracle on my boy, that's all I can say." His thoughts went back to 1979. It should have been a good year, but instead the pain and guilt he suffered, made him turn himself into a workaholic.

"I tried, my goodness, Savannah, I tried. I gave him the space, Gloria was so good with him. He trusted her a little. I think she might have gotten through to him, but he was this scared boy, small for his age, he never said one word in the time he stayed with us. Only a few days. We did what we could, gave him some new clothes, only to find him bury his old clothes in the garden." Baxter stood up and gently placed Nathan in the basket by the couch. He paced the room, as his emotions got the better of him. He looked over to Savannah and what she saw, scared her. "I knew then that something horrible had happened to him. He never said, I never found out, but I tried to get help for him. Gloria's bother was at NIS, he took him to the hospital, for them to check, to get proof of what his previous foster father had done to him…but I couldn't wait any longer. After hearing him scream, I barged into the room…" Baxter shook his head, he dug his hands into his pockets, hiding the fisted hands. "I tried to help him, to get him out of there, I was so angry. I gave him the keys to my car, so he could have some space and for me to get control of my own anger. No one cared about him. They treated him like an animal."

Savannah stood and walked over to him. "It's not your fault, Baxter. You didn't do it to him." She saw the despair in his eyes.

"Yes, it is. I should have told him who I was. Then he wouldn't have stolen my car, and run away. He was broken, all because I wasn't there for him."

Savannah felt helpless as she watched Baxter cry into his hands. She walked over to the second basket and laid Samuel down. She hoped that both of her sons would sleep, so she could help Baxter deal with this.

"George won't talk about it. I know that he'd had it tough, living in thirty-seven foster homes…"

"He what? Thirty-seven?" The shock of the news hit Baxter with a full force.

"You never knew?"

"No." Baxter held onto the book shelf to steady himself. The camcorder laying on the top shelf caught his attention. There was a small piece of paper resting underneath it.

"What's this?" Savannah spotted it as soon as Baxter had seen it and she picked it up. She opened the folded piece of paper and a tear escaped her eyes.

My dearest Sav, I will miss you and our children every moment that I am away. I have no idea how long I will be gone, and I worry that our boys will forget me. Please play what I have left on here every day, so they will remember who I am when I return. I love you, George. x

Savannah looked at the camcorder, her breath hitched. He'd left a piece of himself for them. Quickly she connected it to the television and pressed play. Callen came up on the screen and Nathan laid in his arms. She could see the worry in his eyes, she knew that he didn't want to go. But he had no choice.

"Sav, my beautiful wife. I love you each and every moment while I am away. Tell Milly and Archie that I love them too, as if they were my own. I will make it up to them when I get back, play with them and teach them some magic tricks." The emotion of leaving had left a strain on his face. She watched him chew on his bottom lip, to prevent himself from breaking. How much she missed him. Right then, right now, she wanted to hold him tight. Another tear escaped as Baxter gently squeezed her shoulder.

"Don't stop singing, Sav. Your voice is so precious, our boys love to hear it. I've just witnessed Samuel watch you as you sang to him, while you changed his nappy. You are their guide in this life. You are the buttons that hold our family together. "

"Samuel and Nathan. My precious and beautiful sons. Daddy loves you very much." They watched Callen choke on a sob as he stumbled on. "I'll miss you ever minute of every day. Be good for mommy, I'll be home as soon as I can."

The recording went blank. She pressed the stop button, with blurred vision, she carefully disconnected it all and placed it back where he'd left it. She needed a moment, she walked outside into their garden and breathed in the scent of summer. Flowers were in full bloom, all the hard work that she'd put into making Callen's house a home paid off. But it was no good without him being there to share it. A gentle summer breeze swept over her and she wrapped her arms around her as if he was in the breeze, hugging her. "Come home, George. Please come home to us," she whispered.