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DREAM CATCHER

Every year previously for Christmas, Hetty Lange regifted presents she had previously received. This year she tried something new. After all the close calls and nightmares the people of her team went through, she found the perfect gift, dream catchers, or so she thought. But every so often a dream catcher must be 'emptied' of the nightmares it has caught. Who does it and what do they see?

A/N: This is written in response to a Facebook prompt by M. I told her that I would use this idea for my Christma story this year.

Disclaimer: The characters and sets of NCIS: LA are all owned by CBS, Donald P. Bellisario, and Shane Brennan. I only own a copy of the DVDs from season 1-6. I do get to play with everyone, but they all have to be home by curfew.

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DREAM CATCHER

Every year, prior to this one, the OSP Christmas party was held at the mission. A tree that tried to look 'majestic' was procured and decorated. Treats overflowed on the agent desks in the bullpen. Eggnog, with enough nog to curdle the eggs, was shared so liberally, that each team had to celebrate on a different day, and be available as 'designated drivers' on their days of non-celebration. Presents would be exchanged, and when everyone would open their gift from Hetty, they would find that she had regifted them with a present that she had received in previous years.

This year it was totally different, at least for her first-string team of agents. The schedule did not have their Christmas party listed. There was an open day on the calendar when no celebrations were planned, but that continued to remain an 'open' day. As Christmas drew nearer, Callen and the other members of the team wondered why the Christmas spirit was at work for everyone else but them. Even Deeks began to compare Hetty to Scrooge.

A week before the 'open' date, Hetty was waiting for Nell when she came in to work.

"Ms Jones, a word, please?" she asked.

"Of course, Hetty," Nell said, walking over to Hetty's office.

The older woman gave her analyst a stack of envelopes, all of them in shiny gold paper, each with the name of one of the team members embossed on it.

"Will you please pass these out to the members of the team? Ask that they not open them right away, but to assemble in Ops and wait for me. I will join you up there and answer any questions they may have."

Nell raised one eyebrow and answered, "Of course, Hetty."

When all the envelopes were passed out and everyone had come together up in Ops, the little ninja made her appearance. She looked at each and every one solemnly before she started.

"Ladies and gentlemen..."

Deeks sorta snickered at that introduction. Hetty gave him her gorgon stare and quietly said to him, "Mr. Deeks, I know that you have been complaining to your fellow agents that this year I have out-Scrooged Scrooge. I have chosen to let that go in the spirit of the season. But if you continue to dampen the spirit of Christmas, I will have to ask you to return your envelope to me."

"What? No... I'm sorry Hetty." the detective stammered.

"Then, as I was saying, you people have done admirable work this past year. I know all the extra hours that you all have put in, all of the times you were shot, knifed, blown up, involved in traffic accidents, all of the mayhem that has assaulted your bodies. But what concerns me more in this season of 'Peace on earth, goodwill to men', is the eroding away of your souls." She paused to let those words sink in. After a minute or two, she continued, "Please open up your envelopes, now."

Each of them opened up their envelope and found their Christmas party invitation.

You are invited to share the joys and wonders of Christmas

Saturday, December 19th, 2015

Ancora, my beach home in Venice

6:00 PM to close of celebration

Attendance is NOT optional

Please bring swimwear to make use of the sauna

Everyone's face showed the questions that were lurking in their minds. But no one wanted to ask the biggest question that they all had, Why at Ancora and not the Mission?

"I'm sorry, Sam," Hetty said as she placed her hand on his arm. "This will be a party for just the team members, not their families. I will host a holiday party for the children after the New Year and your family will be invited to that."

"Okay, I understand, Hetty," the big man said, even though he really did not.

"Are there any questions?" Hetty asked.

They all shook their heads and said, "No." "Don't think so." "None."

"Gooood," she said, "I will expect you all at 6:00 then."

Throughout the week, there was great speculation as to what was going to take place on Saturday evening. It ran the gauntlet from a big Christmas bonus, Deeks thought that this would happen because of the golden envelopes the invitations came in, to Callen's fear that Hetty would announce her retirement at this party. He tried to figure out if this was her golden anniversary in the spy business, but since so much of her early life was shrouded in CIA mystery and innuendo, he found it hard to even begin to figure out how many years of service she had given to her country.

Saturday evening arrived and found the whole team gathered at Hetty's beach home. The house was festively arrayed with a truly 'majestic' tree in her great room. Everyone had drawn names and placed the gifts they had purchased for the person whose name they drew under the tree. Their gifts joined whatever was in a 'Santa's bag' whose top was folded over, giving no clue of what it contained, nor whom it was for. Since it was there when Callen showed up, the first of the team to arrive, everyone knew that Hetty had placed it there. None of them wanted to mess with anything that belonged to her, especially under these peculiar circumstances.

A buffet feast was laid out at the tables just outside the back door. Smoked turkey, glazed ham, prime rib sliced as thick as you wanted it by the serving chef, two different types of fish, oysters, shrimp and lobster, every type of entree that you could imagine, and all types of side dishes to complement them were available. A small bar had been set up with a bartender that could provide any type drink imaginable in addition to bottles of iced-down beer that Hetty knew some of them enjoyed.

This feast only increased the feelings of foreboding that everyone was feeling. They tried to hide it, but any trained observer would have picked up on it immediately. No one ate as if this were the Christmas feast. Instead, most of them just picked at their food. The banter between them seemed forced, not natural like it should have been. There was also a lot of whispering that lapsed into silence, as soon as their host came into hearing range.

Finally, at 7:30 PM, Hetty gave the orders and a crew came in and started cleaning up. She asked the members of the team to assemble around her.

"First of all, thank you for coming. You don't know how much this means to me tonight."

"Hetty, is there something wrong?" Callen asked. "You aren't sick, are you?"

"No, Mr. Callen. There is nothing wrong. My doctors tell me I am in perfect health for a person ten years younger than I actually am."

"Then what is all this about? Why does tonight mean so much to you?" the young man asked.

"All in good time, Mr. Callen. Right now I would appreciate it if all of you would go back into the house and go to the bedrooms upstairs. The ladies may change into their swimming attire in the bedroom on the left. The men can divide themselves up among the two bedrooms on the right and change there. You will find some very lovely plush robes that you can put on over your swimwear, along with some open-backed slippers. Please put them on as the night might get a little chilly without them, and meet back down here."

This was getting stranger and stranger. Nevertheless, they did as Hetty asked and reassembled on her back patio. All traces of the meal had been cleared away. The lights had been lowered. There was a smell of something sweet being burned and Callen looked off to the side to see that the sauna had been fired up. A white smoke was coming from it, the source of the sweet burning scent.

Hetty joined her team, similarly attired as the rest of them. She had grabbed the 'Santa's bag' that she had placed under the tree and opened it up. The little lady then looked over at the sauna and said, "Mitena, please join us."

Callen had always prided himself on being able to blend into any situation. His name was legendary among several of the government agencies. Some even claimed he was just an urban legend, the ghost that never was. He saw movement, off to the side of the door of Hetty's sauna. A figure rose from a sitting position, turned and came toward them. None of these highly trained agents had seen the woman, sitting next to the sauna, even though she was in plain sight.

"I would like to present to you, Mitena, the daughter of Sakima, an Ojibway native of the Twilight Moon Clan. She is going to help me with the gifts that I present to you this evening." Hetty smiled as she introduced the woman.

Mitena did not say anything. She just put her hands together in a prayer-like pose in front of her and nodded her head in greeting.

The Operations Manager again turned toward her team. "I know that this year has been extremely tough for you. This team has endured more than its share of shootings, knifings, explosions, car wrecks, poisonings, and other types of mayhem that has assaulted your bodies. But what concerns me even more, is what all these things have been doing to your souls. In the past year, Mr. Getz has reported to me that each of you has not been sleeping properly. Each and every one of you has been haunted by dreams and nightmares that have taken away a little bit of your spirit every time you have had to fight them."

"Hetty, we can..."

Turning toward the team leader, she said, "Please do not interrupt me, Mr. Callen." Addressing them all once more, Hetty continued, "I know that you made fun of me in the past, for regifting the presents that you had given me previously. This year I begin a new tradition; I give you each a present that you can use. Please wait until everyone has theirs to open them."

Then, reaching down into her bag, she drew out a wrapped gift and gave it to Eric. The next one went to Sam, then Kensi, Callen, Deeks, Nell, and one final one that she continued to hold. "Open them, please," she requested, as she did the same with hers. Each one found that Hetty had given them a dream catcher.

"Mitena, would you please continue?" Hetty nodded to her guest and waited for her to speak.

"There is an ancient legend among the Ojibwe people concerning the origin of the dream catcher. Those who tell the story legends of the Ojibwe Nation speak tenderly of Asibikaashi, the Spider Woman, who held the people of the land in her care, especially the children.

"The people of the Ojibwe Nation were strong and prosperous, extending their living space to every corner of the North American continent. With such a vast area to cover, it became extremely difficult for Asibikaashi to stretch over the whole expanded territory and care for the children.

"To help Asibikaashi in her task to protect the children while they slept, mothers and grandmothers would bend willow branches into a circle and bind it with sinew. It was shaped in a circle to represent how the sun and moon, every month, make their daily journey across the sky. Then with more sinew, they wove magical webs in that circle for the little ones. The dream catcher would filter out all bad dreams and the good dreams would pass through and slide down the feathers to enter the mind of the sleeper.

"For the little children, all bad dreams trapped in the web disappeared from the dream catcher when it was touched by the pure rays of sunlight. But the older the person grew, the stronger the bad dreams and nightmares became. The dream catcher would still filter out these disturbing thoughts, but they could not simply be removed by the cleansing rays of the sun. Yet these dream catchers must also be 'emptied' of the nightmares they have caught. Who does it and what do they see?

Callen had looked up from the dream catcher in his hand and tried to give Hetty a look of thanks in their silent means of communication that they had practiced for over three decades. What he saw completely surprised him. The tiny lady looked like a little child, her face contorted by fear or some other strong emotion. She had her eyes screwed so tightly closed, he couldn't tell if the tear beginning to form in the corner of her right eye came from the pressure or the memory. Hetty placed her right hand on top of her own dream catcher, hiding it in the palms of her hands. Almost immediately her face relaxed, and she opened her eyes, once again joining the group listening to Mitena's words. Feeling Callen's eyes on her, she looked over at him, wondering if he saw what she had just gone through, but the agent had already steeled his face to a neutral expression, and she knew she would get no answers from him.

"As a young girl, I went on a vision quest. I fasted and purified myself to obtain a vision of how I was to carry out my future life and what force of nature would help guide me on this journey. The vision that I was given was that of a ground quail dragging her wing to lure a coyote away from her nest. When the coyote was gone, she returned and sat on her nest, tucking her head under her wing and fell asleep. In the morning, she was still asleep. I wondered if she really was injured so I went up to the nest. She let me take her out and examine her, then she fluttered to the ground and ran away.

"I looked back at the nest. It was a circle with a lot of loose feathers laying inside covering a single egg. It looks like the circle of a dream catcher with the feathers forming the web. The egg was the young one, protected from all evil.

"This happened every single night of my vision quest. When I spoke of this to the elders, they told me that my spirit name would be the Wandering Quail. They warned me that I would be a 'dreamer' one of the visionary ones of the tribe, who would always dream of powerful objects that would seek me out when I am awake. I would also experience prophetic dreams, that I could use to warn others to ward off danger. Some of these visions would be complete, in message or song. Others would be only partially revealed and awaited their completion in the future."

Nell asked her, "And have you seen these prophetic dreams?"

Mitena looked at her and said, "Yes. When the visions came upon me, I could not refuse. I did not choose the dream catchers. They are the ones that chose me. I now wander this world, watching the struggle between light and shadow, listening to the spirits softly whisper in the breezes, encountering the dream catchers. I do not weave them; they are the ones that have woven me. They have shown me my purpose in life, and as always, it revolves around them.

"There are the ones that need to be emptied. They call to me loudly, begging to have the darkness and evil taken away, before it grows too massive for them to deal with and they break down under the assault. There are the new ones, that have never been used, that call to me and want me to unite them with the person for whom they were made."

"Is that how you came to call me and then gave me these seven dream catchers?" Hetty asked her.

Mitena just nodded her head, as it appeared as if Hetty wanted to continue.

Hetty looked at her team and said, "I received a call from her and we met in a coffee shop here in Venice. She asked me to bring something to identify seven specific people. I brought seven slips of paper with a name on each one. They were placed face down, so Mitena could not see the names. She touched each slip of paper for a moment, then placed a dream catcher on each one. I made sure that the name stayed attached to the dream catcher she placed on it, and those are the ones in your possession right now."

Mitena looked at them all and announced, "It is time to begin the ceremony of purification, for each of you and your dream catcher. Hetty has allowed her sauna to be converted into a sweat lodge, where the ceremony will take place. Please enter in silence, in honor of the fathers and mothers who have gone before us. I ask that you drop your robes after you enter, so that the smudge of the sage may coat as much of your skin as possible. Arrange yourselves in a circle, and I will draw out each person, one at a time, for the purifying process. Are there any questions?"

No one spoke, so she led them over to the sauna and opened the door.

They all arranged themselves as Mitena had asked. The Ojibwe woman added a pinch of the smudge mixture to the pot, and fanned it with the wing of a hawk, until it was burning well. As she added the mixture to the pot, she offered up her thanks to the grandmothers and grandfathers of each direction, east, south, west, north, following the path of the sun. Her hand then went down to honor Mother Earth, up to honor Grandfather Sun, and finally to her heart, in honor of the Great Mystery in all of us.

Mitena again fanned the embers to keep them smoldering. She looked over to the east, where Kensi was standing, and led her to the center of the circle. She pressed her forehead to the forehead of the agent, her hands holding her shoulders. Then she broke off the embrace and named her 'the Warrior Maiden'. With the hawk's wing, she drew the smoke over Kensi's head, over each of her shoulders, and over her heart. Mitena lifted each of her legs and cleansed the areas under both of her feet, along her legs, and across her back. Then she took the dream catcher from the young woman, passed it through the sage smoke, making sure that every part of it came in contact with the sweet smelling grayish-white haze. Handing it back to her, Kensi was again led to her place in the circle.

Standing next to Kensi, in the sunward direction toward the south, was Sam. Mitena took him next into the center and did the same thing with him. The big man had to lean down a little bit for her to join her forehead to his. She named him 'the Defender' and then proceeded to cleanse him and his dream catcher.

Callen was the next in the circle, standing in the southernmost part. He was led into the middle, was given the name 'the War Chief' before he and his dream catcher were cleansed.

Hetty and her dream catcher were the next to be cleansed. She was named 'the Tribal Elder'.

Nell was standing at the west point of the circle. When she and her dream catcher were placed in the center, she was given the name of 'Medicine Woman'.

Eric and his dream catcher were at the northwest point. His cleansing left him with the name 'the Wind Talker'.

The last one was Deeks, standing between Eric and Kensi at the north-east spot. The detective was led to the center of the circle and the final cleansing of the man and his dream catcher took place. Mitena had a somewhat surprised look on her face as she drew her forehead away from that of the detective and gave him he name 'the One Who has a Foot in Two Worlds.

After cleansing Deeks and his dream catcher, Mitena fanned the smudge embers until they were completely burned. She then placed these ashes into a clean container and told everyone that the ceremony was completed and they could again get dressed. She carried the ashes out to the base of a tree near the edge of Hetty's property. There they were returned to Mother Earth in respect to every creature in the web of life.

The Ojibwe woman looked completely drained as if she just got finished fighting a full day battle. She thanked Hetty for her hospitality, and told everyone that in four months she will return. They would need to bring their dream catchers with them and in another sage ceremony she would empty them from all the darkness and evil that they have accumulated. What she didn't tell them that was that she would be able to see the greatest fears that each of them was fighting against that had been filtered by these webs.

Before she turned to leave, Kensi came up to her and asked, "I can understand the other names you have given us, but what do you mean that Deeks is 'the One Who has a Foot in Two Worlds'?"

Mitena looked at her and said cryptically, "That is a question you will have to ask him. He knows the answer. He alone can decide if he wants to share it or not." With that, Mitena raised her shawl over her head and entered the cab that Hetty had called for her.

Kensi went in search of her partner. When she found him, she led him away to a spot that was off to the side, away from everyone else. "Why, Deeks? We all got names that describe what we do, how we are in the team, all of us but you. Why would you get a name like 'the One Who has a Foot in Two Worlds'? Can you tell me that?"

Deeks ran his fingers through his hair as he thought intently about it. "Perhaps," he said to her, "it is because somehow she knew that I am the only one who is not completely NCIS. I have one foot in the world of NCIS, but I still have my other foot in the world of LAPD."

Kensi seemed to be satisfied with his answer. But the detective wondered if it went even deeper than that. This woman had her own links to the spirit world. Somehow, he was sure that Mitena knew that he spoke to the spirits too. He had long conversations with Jess Traynor and his father, both of whom were dead. Deeks had one foot in the world that everyone knew, the day to day working of the normal world. The other foot he had in the world of the spirits, dealing with those who had gone on ahead of him, acting as if they still were here living a normal life. Maybe one day he would tell this to Kensi, but not today. His dealings with the spirit world were hard enough for him to deal with. He had to know how he would handle it, before asking his partner to confront a concept this foreign to normal thinking.

. . . . .

Four months later, Mitena again returned to Hetty's home in Venice. Once again Hetty had converted her sauna to a sweat lodge, and Mitena had already purified the interior with the sweet sage ceremony. Before the others arrived, Hetty approached her and asked point blank, "How could you say that dream catcher you gave to me somehow told you it belonged to me? Do you know what happened to it?"

"Unfortunately, I do." I was surprised when it first indicated that it was to go to you. I questioned it, because I did know what was going to happen. But it told me that it was only going to be a temporary fix, it would serve while your permanent one was being prepared. The enhanced one found me last week and I have it along with me tonight. Please bring your first one tonight and we will honor the sacrifice it made for you and purify your new one before it goes into service. If you would, please stand in the northeast spot, so you will be the last one in the cleansing ceremony."

The others arrived and they all proceeded into the sauna. They again arranged themselves in a circle and Mitena added the pinch of the smudge to the embers and fanned it until the sweet sage smoke was being released to her satisfaction. Once more thanks were offered up to the grandmothers and grandfathers of each direction.

Again, starting at the eastern point of the circle, she went around purifying the people and their dream catchers just as she did before. The only difference in the two ceremonies was that before she cleansed the dream catchers, she held them up to her forehead, taking in all the evil and nightmares that it contained, that they might be released through her body. She had explained to them that since they were not her bad dreams, there was no place for them to stay within her. She could 'empty' the dream catcher of all the nightmare it has caught.

But since she, like Deeks, lived in two worlds, and was led by her vision spirit to understand the dreams and fears, Mitena could read the dream catchers as she 'emptied' each one. When she read those fears, she saw into their very souls, and what were the fears she saw?

Nell, the medicine woman, had the desperate fear that she might never know love and turn into another Hetty, just in a younger version.

Deeks, the one who had a foot in two worlds, constantly was fighting his memories and the fears of all of the abuse he suffered in trying to help others.

Kensi, the warrior maiden, was also fighting her memories, watching all the men who were in her life look back at her as they abandon her and wondering if her present partner would do the same.

Eric, the windtalker, whose greatest fear was that the technology of Ops would let him down and he would have to go out into the field where he is sure to fail.

Sam, the defender, who always feared that something would happen to the members of his family, either the one at home or the one at work, especially if his partner decides to go 'lone wolf'.

Callen, the War Chief, dreamed of trying to save people, especially his father, and not getting there in time or not being able to help, as he relived watching his mother be killed again and again.

Finally, there was Hetty, the tribal elder; Hetty's dream catcher had faded and in Mitena's hand started to unravel. The Operation Manager's dreams had too much evil in them to it to hold together, the evil of her actions in the past, the evil of those actions playing out in the lives of her agents in the present, and the evil that would try to overwhelm her in the future.

Mitena picked up the pieces of what had been Hetty's dream catcher. As she laid them in the sweet sage fire to remove any remaining influence of evil, the dreamer realized that not only was Hetty taking on the evils of her own life, she was trying to help her agents by pulling their evils away from them to herself. Overwhelmed by this great act of love, Mitena had received a new and far more powerful dream catcher for the little woman who fought for her people by day and by night. She went to the bench in the back, brought out the double spiraled dream catcher that had confided to her it was made for the little ninja, and cleansed both of them.

The Native dreamer knew this woman was a warrior, the equal of any that stood in the tradition of the Ojibwe Nation. She was fighting for each of these, her children, and Mitena would do everything she could to help the guardian she had given the spirit name of the Protecting Mother.