Family

NCIS LA

Hetty/Granger

…

Callan was only one of the few who had stayed behind to finish up his reports after the events of the day, he stopped typing as he looked up and over at Hetty's desk, her office empty. His mind flashed back to earlier in the day, the gun shot ringing out before they saw Hetty fall to the ground, the team running to her aid. Owen Granger made his way down from ops and spotted Agent Callan, the younger man lost in his thoughts as Granger approached his desk.

"Agent Callan, don't you think it's time you were calling it a day. You Team have already left for the evening?"

"Yeah, I just wanted to get my report finished off first."

"I see, well then…I'll see you tomorrow."

"Have you spoken to Hetty since earlier?"

"No, she eh…left the hospital pretty quickly after they fixed her up."

"I tried calling her but, she's not picking up. I'd go to her house but, I don't know which one she'd go too."

"Look, I know you all care about her, I've known her a long time. Sometimes she just needs to be on her own for a bit, I'm sure she's fine."

"Yeah, thanks Sir."

Callan was taken by surprise when Granger squeezed his shoulder as a gesture of support and understanding before making his way out of the building.

…

Hetty was just about to finish off the remaining whiskey in her glass, stopping mid way when she heard her front door. She sat the glass down on the table, getting up slowly, turning off the side lamp before going over to her wall safe and typing in her code, quickly removing her hand gun. She made her way slowly down the long hallway, hearing someone on the other side of her door, attempting to gain access to her home. She braced herself, ready to shoot as the door opened slowly. Hetty aimed her weapon, firing immediately as her intruder ducked down, hearing the voice as she tuned on the light.

"Owen?"

Owen Granger straightened himself as she moved to close the door, her gun at her side.

"What the hell is wrong with you Henrietta?"

Hetty heard the anger in his voice as he turned to finally face her, his face red.

"Me, you're the one breaking in to my home. I taught you how to pick locks back in the day and this is how you repay me?"

"Well maybe if you hadn't switched you cell off; I wouldn't have had to break in."

"I wanted to be on my own."

"People are worried about you."

"Mr Callan?"

"All of them, you could have died today…the least you could have done was stick around long enough for them to see for themselves that you were safe."

"Well as you can see, I'm perfectly fine…drink?"

…

Granger rolled his eyes before giving in and following Hetty through to her sitting room, she switched the table lamp back on before walking over to her drinks cabinet and pouring another glass of whiskey as well as topping up her own. She handed Granger his glass, which he took without a word.

"Take a seat."

He sat down, waiting for Hetty to join him before they both took a drink of their whiskey.

"This is good stuff." He said.

"Old Rip Van Winkle, only the best."

"Henrietta I…"

"Owen, I already told you, I'm fine."

Granger could see by the way she shifted uncomfortably as she tried to adjust her position, pain in her face.

"You know, it really does amaze me, just how easily you can lie with a straight face."

"Years of practice."

"You're in pain; you're not that good a liar Hetty."

"The pain will pass."

"Hetty, you always bring Nate in when one of your team is going through something but when it comes to yourself, you pretend that you don't need anyone, that you can handle it all on your own and…"

"And I can."

"No you can't, they may be your team but I've known you a hell of a lot longer than they have. You went of the grid and you nearly got yourself killed doing it, you can't keep doing that, it's not safe for you and it's not good for your team, Agent Callan was going crazy wondering what had happened to you. You're like a mother to him, you know that."

"I know, it's just that…when something like this happens and I'm the reason it's happening, the last thing I want is for my team to become targets too. I'd rather risk my own life than theirs, I've lived my life, and they still have theirs ahead of them."

"You don't get it do you, you're a part of their lives Henrietta, you're not just their boss and you know that. The connection you have with them, that's something I highly doubt I'll ever have with them, if anything were to happen to you, it would destroy them."

Hetty drank the remainder of her whiskey before placing the glass on the table, her eyes finally looking up to meet Granger's. He immediately saw the pain and sadness in them, reaching for her hand before he took tight hold of it.

"I…I didn't mean to lie to you, to any of you. I didn't know…I would never…"

Hetty finally gave in to her emotions, years of holding back all her pain, her pent up emotions as Owen Granger did something, that not even she had been expecting. She tensed a little at fist when she felt his strong arms coming around her small frame as her tears fell.

"Shhh…it's alright, I know…believe me I know. You'll be alright Henrietta, you'll be alright. You'll always have your family behind you, supporting you whether you want them to or not…it's what we do."

…

-Fin