Author's Note:

So… You remember how last chapter I said something about more regular updates? Well, you see, about that… Oops… XD Oh I could offer up all kinds of reasons for the wait, but honestly, this chapter was just hard to write. I don't know why. And my free time has been dreadfully limited as of late so that didn't help either.

But you don't care about any of that.

On a story-related note, this chapter was supposed to have another part to it but I've spent the last week trying to write it and it just wasn't coming so I'll just move it to one of the next two chapters. I figured you guys had waited long enough for this update already. But for those of you who are wondering, no, I have not forgotten about the FBI's investigation into Callen, that was the part I wasn't able to get finished. XD It's coming, I promise.

Happy Reading!

Chapter Nine

Hetty

Hetty woke in the early hours of the morning knowing something was wrong. Sitting up slowly, she pushed aside her light duvet and slid noiselessly out of bed, the gun she'd produced from beneath her pillow held steady in her hands. The house was silent around her but that fact did little to quell the feeling of unease. Having lived most of her adult life behind enemy lines she'd learned that these feelings were often more reliable than actual evidence and she intended to treat it as such.

Those same instincts beckoned her to the living room and, moving silently through the shadowy halls, she made her way there. The room itself was barely lit when she arrived, the pale morning sun just beginning to creep through the windows, but even still she could make out a man's silhouette in the semi-darkness. In fact that silhouette, the height, the posture, the build, was remarkably familiar… But she stopped the thought there. Familiar or not it was not, could not be, the man she hoped for.

Raising her weapon with a newfound determination she took a step forward. She'd come here to get away from her past, all of it, not see ghosts. "Do not move," she instructed calmly, "Raise your hands above your head and kindly explain to me your business here."

The figure froze, his back to her, and slowly raised his hands just as she's instructed but something about the motion seemed off. He did not jump when she spoke, nor did he turn to confirm that she did in fact have a weapon of some kind, he didn't start looking for escape routes or try to talk her down either. It was almost as though he expected her…

Again the recognition flashed across her mind and again she pushed it away. "You have not answered my question," she said instead.

Still there came no answer, instead the man turned around slowly, his hands still raised where she could see them, and his face came into view through the shadows. "Hetty," he said softly.

The beard was something she'd not seen before, the hair was longer than she'd grown accustom to and darkened by a great deal and every ounce of common sense was telling her that what she was seeing was impossible but still she knew. "How?" she asked, the gun dropping a few inches but still held firmly in her practiced hands.

The man gave a grim smile and took a few steps towards her, pulling down the collar over his oversized sweatshirt as he did so to reveal a raised, uneven scar just above his heart. "Closed casket funeral, I'm guessing."

And so it had been. She lowered her weapon in disgust and shook her head. Had she learned nothing over the years? Sam had been there, he'd felt the life leave his partner's body but even so she should have checked for herself… "Oh Mr. Callen," she closed the distance between them and took his hands in hers, taking note of the bones she'd never been able to feel before protruding through the skin, "I apologize…"

Callen shrugged (only his right shoulder, Hetty noted) and turned his smile into something more genuine. "It happens."

"It shouldn't."

Silence fell over them but neither of them felt compelled to move. Callen didn't even attempt to free his hands from his former Operations Manager's grasp. The prolonged physical contact along with the tension evident in his body was enough to worry the tiny woman somewhat and she squeezed his hands gently, moving to lead him silently towards the couch.

"No." And just like that the silence was broken and Callen finally tugged his hands free, shaking his head as he backed away a few steps. "I can't. I don't think they're watching but I don't want to push it…"

"Of course," said Hetty, nodding even as she took her own invitation and settled onto the couch, "Do we know who they are they?"

"We?" The look thrown his way caused a slight smile to work its way onto his face despite the tension still coursing through his body. "We then." He sighed suddenly and the smile fell away far more quickly than it had come. "I don't know who they are, but… Look they're well funded and they know what they're doing. Nothing about this is by chance. I was never meant to die, but they didn't seem overly concerned with my welfare apart from that –"

The tiny woman felt the worry rear its head once more as she was reminded all too clearly of the one-shouldered shrug and the bony hands, but she kept silent.

"– They have eyes inside NCIS, Hetty," Callen continued grimly, "That's why I have to be so careful. They have cameras in all the cars, and the bullpen and even Ops and they've implied that they've got people in position to kill any member of the team to moment I disobey them."

Hetty bowed her head, anger bubbling through her veins even as she resigned herself to the fact that they'd all been played. "Do you believe the threat?"

The bearded man looked away. "They're inside OSP, it's the only way they got the cameras in place… Yeah, I believe it."

The pair fell silent once again and Hetty could see the restlessness resonating from every fibre of Callen's being. She could sympathize with him; she'd felt the same fear and helplessness currently twisting the gut of the man she'd come to see as a son many times throughout her career and she wanted nothing more than to calm his muddled emotions.

"The place they were keeping me is two hours away by helicopter," the aforementioned man spoke up suddenly, "Central or South America. Nice building – modern – with a view of the ocean. There's a basement, purpose build out of concrete for confining prisoners, with elevator access to the upper floors. The conference room has state of the art technology. Everyone I've spoken to has been North American, no regional accents, no identifying marks, but I'd recognize them if I saw them again."

Heaving a sigh, the former Operations Manager brought her hands together in her lap. "What have they asked you to do?" she questioned.

"Run surveillance on your place, of course they didn't tell me whose place it was, I only found that out when you arrived. I had never even considered that it could be yours before that, I thought you were still in Los Angeles…"

Hetty heard the accusation in his voice clear as day but now was not the time to address his disappointment in her decision to leave. She'd been so sure that by leaving, by escaping to such a remote location, she might outrun her past. She'd been wrong. But she wouldn't make that mistake again. "Then you will do precisely that, Mr. Callen," she instructed firmly, holding up a hand to ward off any interruption, "Run surveillance as requested. Report in as required. Do not deviate from their orders again, and I will get you home."

And get him home she would, if it was the last thing she did.

Sam

"I. Am. A genius."

Sam resisted the urge to roll his eyes and settled instead for shooting their resident detective a sharp glare as the younger man bounded dramatically into the bullpen.

Kensi, who was following in her partner's wake, showed no such restraint and rolled her eyes skyward as she flopped down at her desk. "You'd better ask him why," she said with a sigh, though a small smile tugged at the corner of her mouth, "He'll just stand there batting his eyelashes until you do."

Deeks, his grin widening, did just that, going so far as to tilt his head to one side to complete the effect.

Sam sent his glare Kensi's way. "Don't encourage him," he grumbled but he found there was no heat behind his words.

"Uh, I feel like I'm missing something…" Neely's voice was the first indication of his approach and he entered the bullpen casting each of his coworkers a confused look as he did so.

Again the temptation to roll his eyes struck, and again Sam pushed it away. "You are," he told his partner shortly before turning his attention back to the grinning blond before him, "Alright, Deeks, spill."

"I know where Genevieve McArthur took Eva."

The dark skinned agent felt one eyebrow raise of its own accord, he wasn't sure exactly what he'd been expecting but it was that.

"You do?" Neely asked, the surprise Sam felt magnified on the rookie's face, "Really?"

"Yes, he really – " Kensi began, but Deeks cut her off.

"Disneyland. Just like I predicted yesterday. She took Eva to the most magical place on earth."

For a full thirty seconds the bullpen was silent as the detective's statement sunk in. Sam, for one, couldn't help but think the notion was fairly farfetched but something, maybe the investigator's instinct he'd honed over the years, kept him quiet. Despite his class-clown persona, Deeks was very good at his job and the conviction in his statement had caught the older man's attention.

This instinct had apparently bypassed Neely, however. "You're not serious," he said, his tone reflecting the disbelief on his face perfectly.

The blond's smile grew – all but confirming his lead agent's feeling that this was anything but a joke – and he took a step forward. "Serious as a heart attack, young Neely," he said cheerfully, "Serious as a – "

"Just show them the pictures, Deeks," Kensi cut in impatiently, thrusting one of the Rowland family's photo albums into his hands with her usual amount of force.

The detective, to his credit, absorbed the blow with a practiced ease and flipped the book open without missing a beat. "Based on the photos in this album, and those in the others as well, Genevieve McArthur took her daughter to Disneyland each and every year, in fact it looks like they started going the very year Sarah was born."

"So it seems like it would be a likely place for her to hide out with her granddaughter," Kensi continued, picking up for her partner easily, "If she's taken her to raise her in what she considers to be the 'proper' way then she'll probably be looking to start up her old traditions again."

"Besides, it's really easy to get lost in that place," Deeks added, "Trust me…"

Sam nodded. "Seems logical," he agreed, "But let's get Eric and Nell to do their thing and hopefully prove that's where she went before we brief Natasha."

As general sounds of affirmation overtook the group, Deeks grinned once more. "We're going to Disneyland!" he said brightly.

And finally Sam rolled his eyes.