More Than Meets the Eye.

Chapter 4

Hetty was already awake as the phone rang.

She had been expecting a call tonight after the events of the day, but she wasn't expecting the person on the other end.

"Mr. Deeks...I assume you need to talk." She said without looking at the caller id on her phone.

"It's not Deeks." Callen said.

Hetty admonished herself for assuming that it would be him, but didn't miss a beat. "Ah Mr. Callen...can't sleep?" she asked.

"When do I ever?" Hetty swore she could hear her Agent smirk down the phone.

"True, true, Mr. Callen...So tell me what is keeping both you, and by extension me, up at...." She looked at the clock, "Two a.m. in the morning."

"I've been thinking..." Callen said unsure how to tell her. "Something is wrong with Deeks... I mean he's not hurt or compromised, nothing like that." He added hastily.

"Mr. Deeks will be alright, he just needs some time to gather his...thoughts, together." Hetty advised.

"You know what is wrong with him don't you." It was not a question as Callen was certain that Hetty knew about whatever it was that was bothering Deeks.

"Tell me Mr. Callen, what makes you think there is something wrong with Mr. Deeks?" She asked.

Callen sighed and Hetty could almost see him leaning back in the chair in his barely furnished house.

"Mr. Callen?" She pushed in the same tone she had used on him as a teenager when he had first come to live with her and hadn't wanted to talk.

Callen sighed again, "I swear...we were doing it for his own good. His head wasn't in the game and we didn't want....we wanted him to..."

"Mr. Callen."

"Sam decided we should...test him...I mean we didn't want another Dom..." He let the implication hang in the air.

Hetty caught it and her gut clenched with worry.

"What. Did. You. Do?" She asked quietly punctuating each word.

"We followed him. He didn't notice, we could have been anyone and he went down an alley and Sam jumped him and...."

Hetty's sharp intake of breath halted his tirade.

"Is Mr. Hanna in hospital?" she asked worry dripping from her tone.

"Sam?" Callen sounded confused. "Sam's fine, Deeks is fine too, but there was a scuffle."

"Which I assume resulted in your broken nose."

Callen gingerly touched his face, "How?"

"You sound nasally Mr. Callen, and this is not the first time we have had a phone conversation and you've had a broken nose." she reminded him.

Callen smiled and winced.

"There are painkillers in your medicine cabinet." She told him.

"There are?" Callen sounded surprised.

"And there is healthy food in your refrigerator, you forgot to go shopping for food and you eat too much junk."

In spite of himself Callen smiled. He would never admit it but he loved it when she went all maternal on him. It was a nice reminder that someone cared for him. It sent his thoughts back to the blonde haired woman at the shelter.

"Do you know a Jessica Bates?"

Hetty smiled although Callen couldn't see.

"Jessica Bates is a remarkable woman, she runs the New Hope Shelter in Reseda."