I'm coming out.

Chapter 18

The first thing Callen heard was the beeping and movement nearby him.

He wanted to open his eyes and move away from the noise. He wanted to keep himself safe, but a hand settled lightly on his.

"Shhh...." Michelle's voice came to him. "You're back at the compound, you're safe Callen."

He wanted to claw his way back to consciousness, but the sense of defeat he was feeling overwhelmed him.

"Sleep Mr. Callen, you are going to be alright." An unknown man's voice floated in his ear.

For a moment he fought sleep, worried that Michelle was in danger.

"Everything is alright G, so sleep." Sam's voice added to the throng in his head. Callen trusted Sam, therefore, he knew that everyone was safe, so he slept.

A few times it happened. Half awake, half asleep, his body wanting to check his surroundings for safety, and being told by some voices that he recognized, and some he did not know, that he was safe.

Callen had lost all concept of time, but slowly he was healing.

Michelle spent most of her days in Callen's room, stopping only to look after Jacob when she switched with one of the others, Kensi, Deeks, Hetty, Sam, Nikita or Arkady.

At no point was Callen left alone; Sam had insisted on it.

Kensi had been horrified when she had found out that Callen deliberately chose not to wear a vest.

For the first two weeks after he had been moved back to the compound, she had refused to see him, blaming herself for his injuries. Until Nikita and Deeks had taken her aside, explaining that Callen had made his decision knowing full well what the consequences were going to be.

As soon as he had been patched up, The President had arranged for his personal physician to go with the small band to the compound, where he would be kept safe. The surgeon was pleased to go, as he secretly agreed with the cause, and had been a good friend of Barak's brother. Also, he had seen the way that Agent Callen had been treated. By now, most of the world had seen the Agent, whose face and name were blacked out, just being referred to as the Natural Born Agent, who had saved the life of The President.

There had been riots when it had come out, some in support of the unnamed Agent, and agreeing that Heterophobia should be made illegal. Some people argued that he should not have been treated in a hospital.

The President had announced his support for the group, and for all Heterosexual couples to be granted the same rights as others.

Congress had debated the rights and wrongs of using Brood Mares to conceive children. With the help of Eric and Nell, Michelle appeared in a YouTube video as the face and voice of the Brood Mares. Her story was told to the world, and many were surprised to find what they had known about them was wrong. They were not subhuman people, but intelligent young women forced to bear children for others.

Michelle argued her corner eloquently and passionately, with a few pointers from Hetty.

For a while, parents of new children were worried that Brood Mares would want their children back, and would take them away from loving families. Michelle appeared, via video link on ZNN, to promise that would never be the case; all these women wanted, was to leave the centers and go home to their loved ones.

She told how they were forbidden to talk for the whole nine months of their pregnancies, and how they were stripped of their humanity for the sake of others. Michelle also argued how a great many of these women had not wanted to have children, and how others would have gladly been surrogates to help others be parents.