Paranoia or Reality

Paranoia or Reality Chapter 7

Callen was relieved he'd sent Nell and their kids over to Hetty's that morning. Now, he could concentrate on the mission at hand. He trusted his family with the closest he had to a mother, and was glad she was alive to be there for them. Three years ago they almost lost her, but it was thanks to Arkady Kolcheck who donated his blood to keep her alive. He dialled his cell now they were up in the air, it was safe for him to make his call while he was flying over the U.S.

"Hey, how are you?" Nell Callen smiled at their happy children, who were eating their lunch before Hudson went for an afternoon nap. Alice and Tristan had missed a day of school and kindergarten, but after the previous night's event at their neighbour's place, she felt safer with them being with Hetty.

"I'm fine."

Nell narrowed her eyes at the comment. "Fine?"

"Okay. I should have expected you'd see through it. I'm not okay. I'm peeved at Mosley."

"What's she done now?" It was an almost daily complaint from Callen over Mosley's behaviour, but she didn't blame him since she almost lost him, Sam, Kensi, and Deeks a few months back, on a rescue mission Mosley was obsessed over, in getting her son back from his father. A Mexican standoff south of the border, with Kensi pretending to give the son horse riding lessons. A rocket was fired on their vehicle after they'd passed the boy, Derrek, over to their Assistant Director, who'd flown the coup and almost cost the team their lives. She shook the memory from her focus and drew in a deep breath.

"She's sent us to Europe, without time to say goodbye." She noted his grumblings in the tone he used.

She sighed. "How long will you be away for?"

"I don't know. We have a couple of NCIS agents and CIA officers to track down and interview for our case." He neglected to tell her it was connected to their neighbours incident the night before, but he suspected Hetty was already on the ball on that one, and Nell would know herself by now.

"Stay safe. We miss you."

"Please stay with Hetty while we're gone."

"We will. Love you."

"Love you too. Give Alice, Trist and Huddy big hugs from me."

"I will."

Nell disconnected the call and sat in the armchair closest to her. Hetty looked over with worry in her eyes.

"What's wrong my dear?" Hetty walked over to her and remained quiet with their conversation, keeping all concerns far from the children.

"Mosley's sent them to Europe without giving G time to say goodbye to us."

Hetty pressed her lips together while she thought about the situation. "You know what the job entails. Some times we have weeks to plan, some a day, other days an hour."

"I know. I still don't like the fact that when we said goodbye to him this morning, we expected to see him later today. How am I going to explain to them that Daddy's gone away for who knows how long?"

"I think I may have an idea." Hetty walked over to her study and found what she was looking for. She pulled the globe of the world out and took it to the dining table.

"Who knows where the United States of America is on here?"

Alice's eyes sparkled and her arm rose high in the air. "Me! Me!"

Hetty and Nell smiled at Alice's enthusiasm.

Alice held the globe in her hands and slowly turned it around until the U.S. came into view. She had to kneel on the chair to see over the globe since it was a big one. "Here is the United States of America." Her pointer finger placed onto the country where they now lived. "This is where Mommy and Hudson were born."