No Ordinary Love - G.Callen NCIS L.A

Chapter 40

It had been a slow day with no pending cases, so Hetty had sent the remaining part of her team home early to have a life. She had left early herself, to be in time for some pampering of her own before her appointment that night.

The man in front of her at the table reached for his wine glass. "... you never mentioned him before."

Oh, how she didn't like these conversations. The ones that became personal and crept up on you even though you fought hard to keep them at bay. But she was here. And she had been talking about Grisha. Because Tom deserved to know.

"I was not certain how to bring it up."

"That you have a son? That seems fairly normal to me."

"It is a bit more complicated than that."

Tom leaned back in his seat. "How is it complicated?"

It was complicated because even though he wasn't hers, he felt like hers. And even though she was his boss, she operated as his mother too. Hetty studied the man in front of her. She was letting her guard down. Thomas Holt was becoming a distraction that she didn't mind. Maybe that her old age was catching up with her, maybe it was that it was nice to have someone to just talk too about the things she enjoyed. Someone to connect to.

She had reconnected with Tom months earlier at an art gallery she frequented. They had worked together a long time ago, she with the CIA and Tom on loan from NIS. There had been an attraction they hadn't addressed, because Tom had been married and Hetty was always married to her job. But the quiet confidence he carried around had always piqued her interest and was what she appreciated about him most. He was down-to-earth and could counter her worries sometimes like Deeks could Kensi's. Tom was the kind of man to take things at face value. And he knew the risks of her job. Knew what her job entailed, and that was something she couldn't share with anyone in an outside circle.

So they had bumped into each other at the gallery, and this time, Tom had stuck around for more than only the polite questions about her interest in art and she had said yes to his invitation for dinner quicker than she would've liked.

And so the weeks flew by. Dinner, theatre, drinks, exhibitions... Before she knew it, it was August and here she was. Sitting in one of her homes, with him at her dinner table. "Let's say he's adopted. He came to live with me when he was fifteen and stayed for three years until he joined the Army. From there he worked with a lot of agencies in the alphabet soup, and now he works for me."

"Don't you mind it?"

"Do I mind what?"

"That he works for you? You have to send him out in dangerous situations every day."

She sighed. "I know that he is excellent at what he does and that he wouldn't take any more risks than he has too. Having said that, the boss and mother in me are at conflict sometimes."

Tom twirled the wine in his glass around. "It's a delicate balance you're trying to keep. I'm sure I'd have the same issues doing what you are."

"Maybe, yes."

The telephone in the corner started ringing. Hetty ignored it. Tonight, she was having a night off, and nothing was going to interrupt that. Unless, of course, there were bombs going off and people were dying and she could do something about it, but then it would be another phone ringing.

"Aren't you going to get that?"

She shook her head. "It's not urgent."

The telephone on her desk stopped ringing. But it was only a few moments later, her personal emergency phone started to ring. Tom lifted an eyebrow at her. "Maybe it's more important than you think."