NaNo #9: Protective (NCIS:LA)

[miss_lucy21]

"Are you done with G?" Sam demanded as he marched into Hetty's office. It was early in the morning and no one was around, which was what he intended when he'd learned last night that Hetty was back.

"Excuse me, Mr. Hanna?" Hetty asked.

"Are you done fucking with him," Sam asked, bluntly. He knew he was swearing at his boss. Right this minute, he did not care.

Hetty didn't seem fazed by his language. "If you mean have I told him everything I know, then yes, I am."

"Good," Sam said, angrily. "Because if you weren't, you were going to be. Because *he's* done. No more. Whatever anyone knows about him, they need to tell him, now."

Hetty sighed. "He knows everything I know and everything I have been able to find out now. I assure you." She paused. "How is he?"

"He's hurting more than I've ever seen him hurt," Sam said, deflating a little. "You don't know, Hetty. You just don't know. You didn't see him in Romania; I've never seen him look lost before. And you weren't here when we got back. You weren't the one who sat up with him all night because the flashbacks wouldn't let him close his eyes for more than ten minutes at a time. You weren't here while Hunter was playing her fucking power games all summer. You know she tried to split us up? While he was still reeling from all this? Her only saving grace is she put him with Kensi, who doesn't *know*, but she knows," Sam said. "Hunter jerked him around all summer with that damn laptop. If she'd just said that it didn't have anything to do with him, then he would have been fine, but she just kept stringing him along."

"I am aware that he does not trust her," Hetty said. "She did not trust him, either."

"Yeah, that was obvious. But it was a bad, bad summer. I almost took him to the emergency room one night because he was wound so tight. I wasn't sure what he was going to do. It was that bad. I even tracked Nate down," Sam sighed.

"Did you contact him?" Hetty asked.

"Only just to make sure I wasn't making things worse," Sam said. "He said he would trust my judgment."

"Good," Hetty said. "And in your judgment, should Mr. Callen be out there?"

Sam sighed again, and closed his eyes. "Right now, he's functional. With Hunter gone- she is gone, right?" he asked, opening his eyes.

"Yes, she is," Hetty assured him.

"Good," Sam said, with feeling. "With Hunter gone and things getting back to normal, he'll be ok. So long as there's nothing else that he's gonna get ambushed with. He really cannot take anything else right now. He's at the end of his rope and it wouldn't take much to push him over."

Hetty nodded. "I see. It is good then, that I do not have any requests for his particular expertise."

Sam shook his head. "He goes under now, getting him out might be hard. He's hung in there pretty well; he hasn't been running away. But give him the opportunity and he might think it's worth taking."

"I understand," Hetty said. "I do regret this entire situation. If I could have given him the information I had earlier, I would have. Mr. Callen's best interests have always been my main objective. But it was too dangerous."

"G handles danger pretty well," Sam said.

"There were too many variables that I was not fully cognizant of," Hetty said. "Not until I was there, in Romania."

Sam nodded. He knew sometimes things were like that. "Ok," he said.

"I do hope I will be able to regain your good opinion," Hetty said.

Sam heard it for the apology it was. "Yeah. We're ok."

"Good," she said. "Will you tell Mr. Callen about this conversation."

"Yes," Sam said, firmly. "I can't keep this kind of thing from him. Not and have him trust me."

"He does trust you," Hetty said.

"I know. And lately, it's all he's had," Sam said. "So I'm not going to mess with that."

"Good idea," she said, nodding. Sam stood up to leave. She stopped him, saying "You are a good partner, Sam Hanna."


"Thank you," he said, nodding at her as he left her office.