Friends and Neighbors
Author: Cheryl W.
Disclaimer: I do not own any characters or any rights to LA NCIS, nor am I making any profit from this story.
Summary: Callen's breakfast meeting with a contact goes badly and Sam's not there to have his back. No slash.
Author's Notes: This is my first LA NCIS story so I'm starting slow, sticking my feet in the water.
LANCISLANCISLANCIS
Sam Hanna ducked under the police tape, his eyes already taking in the grim signs of violence as he approached the inside of the diner: tables overturned, scattered remnants of broken plates, forgotten food and spilled drinks, spent gun shell casings, blood…and body bags. His chest was tight with dread and he nearly stumbled as he came upon the first body bag, grey and final and closed. Couldn't quite bring himself to bend down, to unzip the bag, to face the truth- that his partner might be dead. That after surviving five gunshot wounds by a Russian hit squad, a simple breakfast with a contact would bring about G. Callen's death.
Callen hadn't asked for backup, had known his contact for years, trusted him. And of course G hadn't listened when Sam had protested his going alone, because the contact? Sam didn't know him and that meant he sure didn't trust him.
The shooting? Sam hadn't even learned about it through the NCIS channels, had seen it on the news at the coffee shop. When the newscaster said the diner's name, Sam's head had snapped up to the tv hanging on the wall, having heard G mention his location for his breakfast the prior night. Sam saw the gunmen fire from the door of the diner, saw a man fall as he tried to flee, watched as people on the sidewalks and streets ran away, heard more gunfire off screen, realized that there were numerous bodies on the ground and they weren't moving.
Leaving the coffee shop at a run, Sam had pushed his Dodge to 90 mph as it traversed the streets. Swerving around vehicles, he pushed G's speeddail number, and G not answering his phone would have been bad enough. But the "I'm sorry. The party you've reached is unavailable" was so much worse.
Now, standing at Ground Zero, Sam wished that he hadn't come, that he had waited for the phone call, for some detached voice to deliver the bad news. Because, holding Callen in his arms, certain he was going to lose his best friend? He had done that once and that was all he could take.
'He would do this for you,' ran though Sam's head and G would. Would do anything for him, he knew that. 'I owe him this much.' With his jaw clenched, he bent down, took a deep breath and unzipped the body bag.
LANCISLANCISLANCIS
TBC?
LANCISLANCIALANCIS
Love to hear if you would like more of the story!
Have a great day!
Cheryl