A/N: This was written after the finale of Season 9 and before the start of Season 10. I've added in some detail from the show to make it more current since we've lost and gained characters, but the rest of the events are AU to continue my story from Lines Crossed, Hunted and Poisk.
Chapter 1
The cry of a newborn child stays with you for a long time. Relief washes over each and every parent, when their first breath had been taken and their child arrived safely into the world. For most parents, their main focus for their child's safety remained at the usual concerns, are they breathing, sleeping, eating, peeing and so forth. Then as they grow, each and every head injury from tumbles, and scrapes and bruises. But not for this father, who watched them closely as they fell to sleep in their beds each night, ensuring that no one would take them or hurt them. He shuddered at the thought of losing his three children, who were the apple of his eyes.
"Mom! Dad!" Alice cried out from her bed.
Stephen and Thea rushed into the bedroom, expecting the worst.
"What is it, Sweetheart?" Thea sat on the edge of the bed, while Stephen turned on the lamp and crouched low to his daughter's height in her bed.
"I saw someone in my room." Her hazel eyes were wide with fear.
Thea pulled her in for a hug. "There's no one in here, Sweetheart. Look around your bedroom."
Alice wrapped herself into a tight ball and shook her head. "Not looking under the bed. You look." At seven years of age, she was experiencing nightmares five nights in a row. It was the same thing every night. Someone was in her bedroom. A man standing in the corner of her bedroom, staring at her. Her heart raced each time, and it scared her.
Stephen looked under the bed. "Nothing." He walked over to her closet and showed Alice there was no one in there either.
"I saw him. He had a bit of a beard with dark blue eyes and longer hair to his shoulders. He was wearing a long grey coat."
"It's summertime, no one is wearing a coat this time of year." Thea tried to reason. But no matter what Stephen and Thea tried to soothe her, it ended in the same way.
"Can I sleep with you?" It shattered Stephen's heart every time he saw his daughter frightened.
"How about I lie on the floor for a while until you fall back to sleep?" He was accustomed to sleeping on the floor from the years when he had no furniture.
Alice nodded. She shuffled back under the covers while Thea kissed her gently on the temple. "Sleep tight, Alice. Love you."
"Love you too, Mom." Her cherub lips pressed together to kiss her mom back.
Thea kissed her husband before she wandered back along the hallway to check on Tristan and Hudson, before falling back to sleep. She didn't know why the nightmares had started for their daughter, and she wondered if she needed to take Alice to see a therapist to help her talk her worries over. She would discuss the matter with Stephen later when he returned to bed. Tristan and Hudson slept soundly in their bedroom, and she left them quietly. Pulling the covers over her, Thea rested her head onto the pillow and drifted off into a deep sleep.
The sound of glass smashing woke Stephen up with a start. He looked over to Alice who had drifted off to sleep, holding her giraffe close to her chest. He silently crept out of her bedroom and listened out for any further sounds. He furrowed his brow. He couldn't hear anything other than the humming of his blood pounding inside his head. Maybe he was imagining it. He checked the windows of the house near the front door and then to the back, and was satisfied all was safe. He walked back to Alice's bedroom and checked on her before heading for bed. Satisfied she was still where he left her, he checked on the boys and entered the master bedroom.
Climbing into bed, he snuggled up to his wife and drifted off to sleep for the rest of the night. He must have imagined the sound, he mused. There hadn't been any evidence of broken glass anywhere in their house. All windows were secure, and he went through the checklist one more time before he was pulled under into unconsciousness.
The sun peeked through the dark grey curtains, causing Stephen to squint as he climbed out of bed. There was nothing more effective of a way to wake up than for the sun to stream through and stop the production of melatonin. He ruffled his hand through his dark hair and entered the bathroom. He frowned when he looked outside the bathroom window at the police lights flashing next door.
"What's wrong?" Thea stood in the doorway watching him.
"Not sure." He turned and she saw the worry in his eyes. "There are police vehicles parked out front of next door."
Thea moved to take a look. "Wonder what's going on at this hour?"
"I don't know." Stephen thought for a moment. "I heard glass shattering at two this morning. I checked every window in our house, and thought I'd imagined it."
"No word to the kids, we can't have them worrying." Thea pressed her lips together, worrying. "You don't think it's anything major?"
Stephen's cell buzzed. He saw it was his best friend calling. "Sam. You're early."
"I've been for a five mile run already. What's your excuse?"
A hint of a smile graced Stephen's lips. "Child watch. Alice had another nightmare last night, I ended up on the carpet of her bedroom again."
"That's five nights in a row. What's started this up?"
"I don't know. But what I do know is that we have police out front of next door, and I heard glass shattering around two."
"Call Eric, I'm sure he'll be able to find out what's going on if you're worried."
"Yeah, you're right. Thanks. What's up? You called me."
"We have a case. I'll meet you out front in fifteen."
"You don't give me much time, do you?"
"How long does it take to make you look pretty?" Sam revved his engine and pulled out of the marina carpark.
"One minute. It's the saying goodbyes that take the longest." Stephen quickly pulled his denim jeans over his hips and zipped up the fly. He shoved a blue t-shirt over his head and quickly washed his face and brushed his teeth.
Sam chuckled slightly, he loved the family side to his partner. "See you soon." He looked at his boat of almost a year, and smiled a sad smile. It wasn't the same as either of their last homes, both of which had been beautiful, but the boat deemed safer after what happened to their second last home, and to his wife, Michelle, at their last home. Anger seeped through the crevasses when he thought about what those men did to her—it broke his heart to know he couldn't save her in time. He pushed the memory back and focused on the day ahead of him.
"Daddy's got to go early today." Thea told their children. Alice, the eldest, jumped up into her dad's arms and held on tight. "Take me with you."
"You know I would love to, but I have to concentrate on my work." Stephen pried her off him and settled her back onto the wooden floor. "Hi five, Trist." He held his hand out and slapped it with his son's.
"Bye, Dad." Tristan was in Kindergarten and loved going to school like Alice.
"Hey, Huddy. Going to be good for Mommy today?" He lifted his youngest at age two and a half into his arms.
"Huddy good boy."
"That's my boy." Stephen hugged and kissed him before placing him into Thea's arms. He kissed her for longer on the lips. "Love you."
"Love you too. Stay safe." She opened the door for her husband and was in shock to see a detective about to ring their bell.
"Hi." Stephen stepped forward, closing the door behind him. He spotted Sam pull up at the curb. "What can I do for you, Detective?"
"We're asking all the neighbours if they heard anything strange during the night."
Stephen's eyes darted to his neighbours and spied the crime scene tape. "Is it safe for my family to stay here?"
"We don't know why your neighbours were targeted. Did you hear anything?"
"I remember glass shattering around 2am. I got up and checked all of our windows, but I never heard a sound after that." He narrowed his eyes at his neighbour's place. "What happened? Are Jason and Audrey okay?"
"You didn't notice anything going on next door?"
Stephen shook his head. "No. I would have dialled 911 had I known something was going on."
The detective dotted down his statement. "May I have your name, Sir?"
"Stephen Campbell."
"Thank you. We'll be in touch if we need anymore details from you."
"Like I said, I only heard the glass around 2am. It was silent before and afterwards."
"Thank you, Mr Campbell." The detective turned and spotted the black challenger and walked towards it. Sam stepped out, wondering what was going on.
"This looks serious," Sam stated to his partner. "What happened?"
"Don't know. The detective isn't answering my questions, only asking his own."
"You know this man?" The detective asked Stephen of Sam.
"Of course I do. He's my ride to work." Stephen slipped into the passenger seat and buckled in.
Sam slid in next to him. 'You sure you want to leave Thea and the kids next door to a crime scene?"
"I was thinking the same thing. I don't know Jason and Audrey that well, we spend more time with the neighbours with kids. But the detective isn't revealing anything about it being unsafe for the neighbours. He huffed out a breath. "What if they were targeted by mistake and it was me they were after?"
"Call Hetty, she'll know what to do."
"I miss her at work, you know."
"I know you do. It's not the same with Mosley at the helm," Sam admitted. "But you know Hetty and her contacts. She'll love having Nell and the kids over."
"Yeah, I know. It's hard living this double life as the Campbells and being Grisha Callen at work. It would be nice to be me all the time, but after what happened three years ago, it's too risky to chance that we'll be safe living as the Callen family."
"We got to do what we have to," Sam added. He knew that risk from his own experience as a husband and a father.
Callen noted the sadness in his partner's eyes. "You okay?"
"You know me. I'm a survivor." Sam stated matter of factly without emotion.
"I feel like we've swapped places. You alone, me with the family. It's odd!" Callen declared.
"Make the most of each and every day. At least Aiden was able to return to San Diego and work closer to home than he was in Europe. It's mattered to Kamran to have her big brother closer too."
"And for you." Callen added. He squeezed his partner's shoulders. "I'm here for you, bro."
"Thanks, G." Sam focused on his driving, turning corners and re-routing them to ensure they weren't being tailed while Callen called their old boss for advice on what to do with Nell and the kids, while there were police everywhere next door.
