Project 'C'.

Chapter 13

Callen had sat with his new family that night, and at about 3am he had gotten up, got dressed and left.

He had left a note, saying he was fine, but he needed some time to get his head around all this. He had sent a message to Hetty to arrange for a two weeks leave and left Sam a message telling him he would be fine.

For someone who had grown up with no family the amount of people he needed to inform now was staggering to him.

He was not hurting too much, nothing that pain killers wouldn't cure and he grabbed his clothes and left.

It wasn't that he was running away from his family, far from it…He had just been given all this information and he needed to decide where his life was going from here.

This was something he needed to do alone. He knew Sam and the others would want to give their advice, and the fact that he had money and a lot of it now, always brought the armchair 'financial' advisors out in people. However, there were other things he needed to take into consideration. The fact that the CIA had parted him from his family, they had put him through this experiment and kept him from having a family, he needed to just, think.

As he pulled into his driveway he smiled, not only could he afford the time, but also he did not have to sit at home either.

He grabbed his bag and a change of clothes, and his cell phone.

Within moments he'd made a call and was off.

Two weeks later, bag in hand and a lot more tanned than when he left Callen sauntered into the mission. He looked well rested and healthy and Hetty let out a sigh of relief she didn't even know she had been holding in.

"Good Morning Mr. Callen," She said with a smile, he was as usual the first one in. "Mr. Hanna will be pleased to see you back, he's been fretting while you were gone."

"Fretting?" Callen followed the smaller woman to her office and sat down.

Hetty nodded, "Fretting, he seemed to think that you wouldn't be coming back."

"I said I would." Callen snapped. "God, why would he think I'd run away….go nowhere to run too, I just needed some time Hetty!" he exclaimed as he took the cup of tea she offered him.

"It was a lot to process, I understand." Hetty said taking a sip and watching him covertly.

Callen nodded, "I'm not sure if I've worked everything out, but I have made a few decisions." He said.

Hetty inclined her head slightly in an indication to show that she really wanted to know but was unsure of asking.

Callen smiled, "I'm staying with NCIS, I'm happy here…I just needed to do some stuff." He told her.

"Have you been to see the Hurst's while you were away?" Hetty asked.

Callen smiled and nodded, "I did, Mom made this huge dinner and I don't think I could move for three hours." He grinned at the memory, Jessie had introduced her new husband to him and they had gotten on tremendously. He had sat there feeling uncomfortable as Emma and Daniel introduced him as Jessie's brother. He had felt the need to explain that he was their foster child but Steven had turned around and grinned, "Foster child or not, they love you like a son and you are Jessie's brother and our son's uncle."

At that Callen had relaxed, he felt as though he was as welcome there as he felt in Sam's home. It was then he realized that Sam was family too, and leaving and starting again was out of the question. He needed this…this feeling of belonging, this feeling of family.

"I am glad to hear it." Hetty said. "It must have been nice, spending time with your family."

"Yeah…yeah it was." Callen said, "I must admit, I'm kinda waiting for the other shoe to drop, but I'm hoping it won't and for the first time in years Hetty, I have a family and I am hoping."

"Hope is a very good thing to have Mr. Callen."

"I know Hetty, really I do know…I have made a few decisions though, a few things will be changing." Callen said looking at Hetty and missing Sam coming in, catching the end of the conversation, and tensing up.

"What do you feel the need to change Mr. Callen?" Hetty asked hesitantly.

"I'm not working for the CIA again, no more secondments to their teams for missions. I don't trust them and I won't work for them, or with them…unless it's an NCIS case." He added.

She nodded it was completely understandable.

"Also, I have a check for you, the last installment on my house." he said, handing her an envelope.

"Ah, yes…Thank you, so are you going to make some improvements?" she asked wanting to know what he was doing with the money.

Callen shook his head, "No, I'm selling the house; it was nice…I did appreciate you buying it for me Hetty, the thought you put into it was appreciated. However, it is the Rostoffs home, not mine. It was just a nice memory, somewhere to get used to owning a home." He shrugged as the woman watched him and he suppressed a smile, he could almost hear her brain whirring trying to figure out where he was going to go next.

"It's time for me to move from the past and into the future." He said

"Does this mean you are…?" She did not want to put it into words.

"I am not totally abandoning my search for my father; however I am going to move on with my life, Hopefully, I will one day find my father. However, my whole life has been on hold for years, Hetty. I have not even been able to meet a woman properly, have a relationship because I was so hung up on who I was. Not anymore, I want to fall in love, have a family of my own and if I am meant to meet my father in the future, then so be it." He said.

Hetty smiled this was good to hear, "Do you have anyone in particular in mind?" she asked.

Callen smiled but said nothing, "I'm staying in my house for now, but I have a few idea's where I'd like to move to…somewhere with good security." He said changing the subject.

"Maybe Mr. Hanna could help you with finding somewhere?" she suggested.

"I will be asking his opinion, after all if my security isn't top notch I'll never hear the end of it," Callen grinned shooting a look towards Sam who was trying to be inconspicuous while listening in.

"You will inform me when you move won't you?" Hetty asked.

Callen grinned, "You'll know when I move, I do actually have my eye on a new houses near you." He admitted.

"So maybe I'll be able to visit and meet your mystery lady." Hetty pushed slightly.

"When I get one, sure." Callen turned as the familiar bantering of Kensi and Deeks coming to work filled his ears. "You know that house of mine, would make a great starter home." He said to Hetty as he looked over at them and he went to join them.

"CALLEN!" Kensi and Deeks called at the same time as he jogged over to join them, "We thought you'd quit." Kensi said looking at him, "You haven't have you?"

Callen laughed, "Nope…come on I'm the greatest asset you have." He dropped his bag and looked at his paperwork lifting the pile from his in tray to his out tray.

"You do have to actually do that you know…" Sam nudged.

"I did it this morning while I was jogging." Callen admitted.

"No fair!" Kensi groused, "I wish I could do that…" she lifted a heavy file and dropped it down on the desk as Deek swiftly dropped a chocolate bar on top of the file. "Thank you." She said softly to Deeks and smiled at him.

Sam smirked at Callen and went to his own pile.

Callen was back and they were ok with him. He leaned back in his chair and sipped the coffee Sam had left on his desk for him. Admittedly he had been worried when he left for work this morning, but this was good. His mom had been right, family is family and they accept you just the way you are.