HEREDITY
"Kensi, once again, I am not interested! Why do you keep bringing this stuff up? It's all way in the past. What does it have to do with me, here and now?"
"C'mon, Callen. It's really neat. You wouldn't believe some of the fascinating things I've found out about my family."
"Like what? No," he held up a hand, "don't tell me. You're just trying to sucker me in."
Callen leaned forward in his chair and fixed Kensi with a firm, discouraging stare. Unfortunately, his intimidation was completely wasted because her attention was fixed on her laptop, her fingers tapping away rapidly at the keyboard. Ever since they'd found out about Callen's parents, she'd been researching his family tree online despite his protests. Callen never would have figured her for a genealogy buff, but apparently, along with cars and self-defense, it was a passion of hers.
"Aha!" She practically bounced in her seat. "This is really - wow!"
"Wow what?" Callen couldn't help asking. Intrigued in spite of himself, he edged over to catch a glimpse of her monitor. She grinned and obligingly angled it so he could see as well.
"Look, right here," she pointed. "I've traced your mother's side of the family all the way back to 17th century France."
"France?" he said, startled. "I have French blood?" He squinted at the handwritten document. "What is that anyway?"
"It's a photocopy of an actual roll - a record of enlistment - from the 1600s! I traced your family back to this name, here." She pointed to one name about halfway down the first column.
"Dee Ar - what? I can't read that writing," he complained. "What's it enlistment for? The French Army?"
"D'Artagnan," Kensi said with a passable French accent. "Your," she counted on her fingers for a moment, "I think it's nine-times great grandfather, was a King's Musketeer!"
Author's Note: For any who may not know, a young, long-haired Chris O'Donnell, who now plays G. Callen, portrayed D'Artagnan in the 1993 movie version of "The Three Musketeers". We were watching the movie the other day and came up with the idea that Callen must be D'Artagnan's descendant, so I wrote this little scene just for him. I counted back to the 1600s (when Three Musketeers takes place) and allowed 30 years per generation to figure how many "greats" might be between D'Artagnan and Callen.