Turn of Events

Children's Hospital, Sunset Boulevard

The drive over to the Children's Hospital was in silence as Elise gave Callen the space he needed to process what had transpired. Already that day, the news he'd had a daughter was overwhelming for him, who was used to being on his own and he spent much of his life in search for his family. But to meet her in that way, to find her struggling to breathe had topped it off for G. Callen. Anger radiated from his body as he tried to process the danger she lived with every day of her life -- the threat of another anaphylaxis reaction. He saw the fear in Elise's eyes when they found her and he wondered just how many times this had already occurred. But his gut told him there was something more behind this reaction. Someone with a known severe allergy, such as Emily's, would be well aware of ensuring that the food she ate was nut free. Her food had been tampered with, to deliberately put her life at risk. Callen clenched his jaw as he thought over all of his enemies and who could have possibly known about Emily being his daughter. He concluded, that if he had no knowledge of her, then his enemies didn't either. With this in mind, he turned his mind back to Warren Mitchell and his company. The death of his employee who he had become friends with, was a great concern. They had surmised that the family were also at risk, not just the other employees, therefore they had researched the Mitchell family out. That was when his world turned upside down. Not only did he know the wife, the eldest was his flesh and blood.

Callen pulled into a parking spot outside the entrance to the hospital. He turned and noticed Elise showed no sign of moving. "I'm sure Emily's fine, Ellie. Let's go and find her."

Elise nodded and stepped out of her navy SUV. "Matt?"

Why did she use his alias? She knows the real Callen, in the restaurant, she only called him Matt and Emily's name is from their last case that they worked on together. What is she hiding from? "Ellie?" He needed answers that only she could provide, and although he understood that finding Emily and ensuring she was fine came first, he was determined to get the answers from her.

It didn't take long for them to find Emily in a curtained off cubicle with a young doctor who was attending to her. Her face brightened when she saw both of them together. The doctor with dark wavy hair and black rimmed glasses had just completed his assessment of Emily. "I think you're doing fine, Miss Summers. Please don't give your parents here another scare like that again." He gave her a gentle smile and spoke softly to her.

"I don't understand how this happened." Elise responded to the attending physician. "We've been so careful, this is the first reaction she's had since she was four. We always ask the staff whenever we eat out to ensure cashews or pistachios aren't in her food."

"We've sent the remainder of Emily's food off to our lab for analysis," Callen added, catching all of the doctor's attention.

"And who are you, may I ask?" The doctor studied Callen as he showed his identification and nodded. "Thank you, Agent Callen. I'm sorry, I presumed she was your daughter,"

Sshe is." Callen responded, causing confusion on the doctor's face. "But I am also a Federal Agent and we're concerned this may be linked to a case my team and I are working on. How long will she be in here?"

Emily looked over at her mother, confused, when the doctor referred to her father as Agent Callen. Elise slightly tightened grip on her daughter's hand for reassurance, before looking back at him.

"We need to observe her recovery for a few more hours. Can we have a copy of the results for our records, incase something else shows up on the analysis?"

"Yes, of course." Callen nodded to the doctor, before turning to face Elise. He saw the awkwardness in her expression and he realised the doctor had caught her out. When he looked over at Emily, he saw her confusion, but he chose to ignore it for now. He turned his attention back to the doctor. "I need a list of all staff who will be attending Emily. Anyone not on that list cannot enter this cubicle."