Notes: Thanks for taking the time to look over my story.
This is the latest of my stories based in my "Sacrifice" series, and is planned to be the last of my stories in this 'Series'
I hope you enjoy it.
I do NOT own NCIS:Los Angeles or any of its Characters. I'm just borrowing them
January
"Tell me he's okay, Sam?"
"When I know something, believe me, you'll be the first one I tell, Nell!" Sam almost shouted into the phone.
….
"Is he gonna be Okay, Doc?"
"He should be. He was very lucky not to suffer any broken bones" the A&E doctor explained
"So, you don't need to admit me?"
"No. Nothing medically wrong with you that would require you be kept in"
"Shit. Nell's gonna kill me" Callen exclaimed, as he covered his face with his hands
"What way is it to your mortuary?" Sam asked, jokingly
….
Callen stood outside his own front door, trying to will himself to open the door.
Sam was still parked at the kerb, waiting to see what would happen….
After a few minutes, Callen slid his key into the lock, and turned it.. pushing the door open. He wished he had something he could use to shield himself from Nell's fury
"Nell? You home?" He looked around the lounge, before deciding to retreat while he could still walk "No? Okay. I'm gonna nip out for a few minutes…. Or hours" he added, before slowly stepping backwards through the open door
"You're not going anywhere!" Nell barked, as she appeared from the bathroom
Callen turned to look to Sam for support, only to find him cracking up at seeing his friend so terrified of his wife
'I'll get you back for that' Callen thought to himself, as he watched Sam pull away from the kerb.
"Get in here!"
….
"Are you injured?"
"Just a few cuts and bruises. Otherwise, I'm a picture of perfect health"
"Good" Nell replied, before she started hitting Callen's chest with her balled up fists "Do you have a death wish or something?"
"What was I meant to do, Nell? Cooper was in that building, and there was no indication that anyone had booby trapped the place"
"Do you not realise what could have happened?, or do you just not care?"
"Of course I care. Of course I realise what could have happened. But I can't expect another Agent to risk their life for me, if I'm not prepared to do the same for them"
"I'm not sleeping with you tonight. You can sleep in the spare room" Nell replied before she stormed off to bed
Callen knew better than to argue with her when she was in that sort of mood
….
Laying back on the bed, Callen lay there, unable to sleep, staring at the ceiling, analysing everything from the day, and each decision he had made.
Had he made a grievous error by going into the building?, not retreating when he found out that the building had been booby trapped?.
He realised how worried and upset Nell would have been feeling watching and listening to everything that was going on, cooped up in OPS.
Thing was though, he didn't regret what he had done… at least as far as running into the building was concerned. He would have done the same for any Agent, and had thought that Nell knew that that was the sort of man that he was. If he had left Cooper tied up in the building, would he still be the man that she had fallen in love with?.
Would she have looked at, or treated him, differently?
After Christmas, and everything that had happened… he was glad that Nell had decided to request reassignment from the field to OPS. If she hadn't brought it up, he would have, because there was no way he would have been able to sleep, or even function anywhere near normal, if he knew that she was still working in the field, at risk of being shot, stabbed, poisoned, blown up or any other unpleasant things, while she was pregnant with his child.
….
Callen had last looked at his watch at some time just before 2am. He had still been unable to get even a wink of sleep. He didn't know if it was because he wasn't sleeping in his usual bed, if it was because Nell wasn't with him, or if it was because they had gone to bed with Nell angry with him. Hell, maybe it was just that he didn't need any sleep, although he doubted that, since he had been yawning for hours.
Sometime later, he was distracted by hearing the floor in the hallway creak… Nell must have gotten up to use the toilet, he thought. A few minutes later he heard the toilet flush, and waited to hear the floor creak again as she returned to their room. Only the creak never came. Instead, the door to the room he was sleeping in, opened with a slight squeak, (He really had to oil the hinges, he thought to himself) and in shuffled Nell, closing the door behind her.
He didn't even look towards her; instead he just lifted the quilt to allow her to slip in beside him.
"This doesn't mean you're forgiven" she whispered
"I know" he replied, as she snuggled up beside him
….
It was Saturday, so they didn't have to go into work. But Callen still found himself awake earlier than he needed to be.
Over the last few weeks, he had been reading articles online about pregnancy… about what Nell could and shouldn't be eating or drinking, what changes they should expect. He assumed that Nell may have known some of the stuff already, since she had mentioned friends that had been pregnant, so he hadn't mentioned what he had been reading. Where as, he had just read it so that he had a better understanding of the whole process.
Since Nell was still asleep, he slipped out of bed and got dressed, so that he could nip out to grab a few things from the market and a local pharmacy.
When he returned home, Nell still hadn't surfaced from bed… So he put away his shopping and decided to start cooking breakfast. Not that he expected cooking her breakfast would make her forgive him.
….
"Morning" he said quietly, just after leaning over to place a kiss on her forehead, putting the mug of tea on the bedside table.
"What time is it?" Nell said, softly, still sounding half asleep
"Just coming up for 10am. I've made breakfast, if you want to get up… or I can bring it through to you?"
"I'm coming" she groaned
He left her to get up in her own time, returning to the kitchen to serve the breakfast.
"What are you using to try and buy my forgiveness?" she mumbled as she shuffled into the kitchen, still in her pyjamas.
"I'm not trying to buy your forgiveness. But I did cook flapjacks, fried eggs, sausages and some bacon. And then you have a couple of supplements to take"
"Bah. And what's that stuff you left by the bed?"
"Tea"
"That wasn't tea"
"It's Lemon tea. No caffeine, so it's better for you and for the baby"
"I am allowed to drink coffee you know"
"Just drink it, and eat up. Then you can go back to tearing me a new one"
….
March
"…and would you like to know the sex?"
"Yes!" Callen replied, far too quickly
"No. We do not" Nell instructed
"This is quite normal. We can only tell 'Grandpa' if you like…
"He's my husband, not my father" Nell quickly jumped to defend Callen, shooting daggers at the Doctor with her eyes, before adding "…and Neither of us wants to know the sex. We're gonna wait, be surprised"
….
"Mind telling me why I can't know if we're having a boy or a girl?"
"Does it really matter? Will you love whichever we have any less, if you have to wait another 6 months to find out?"
"Of course not. I just…" Callen paused, trying to find the right words
"Just what?"
"What I tell you goes no further. Deal?"
"Deal"
Callen continued looking at Nell, unconvinced
"I promise. I won't tell anyone" Nell added
"I'm terrified that we'll have a girl. Not for any reason other than… I know what guys of certain ages want from women, and as much fun as I'm sure it would be to terrify potential boyfriends, I would probably get locked up for what I would do to any boy who would touch my daughter"
"…and if we had a boy, he wouldn't need the same 'protection' ?. G, Whichever we have… will be graced with a very loving father. Now let me ask you an unrelated question. Why did you not react when 'she' referred to you as grandfather?"
"Honestly. I came to grips with the what most people would think when they see a beautiful young woman like you, with a middle aged guy like me, a long time ago. All that matters is what we both think and feel about each other, not what some stranger thinks" Callen explained, after reaching down to hold onto Nell's hand
….
April
"I just spoke with my mom"
"I bet that was a delight" Callen replied, not even bothering to look up from his laptop
"She's been thinking about everything, and has decided that she's going to come stay with us, to help after the baby's born"
This grabbed Callen's attention. His eyes shot up from the laptop screen to look at Nell, trying to work out if she was being serious
"What are you punishing me for this time?"
"Did you hear me say that I want her to stay with us?, 'cause I don't think I could cope with her being here for more than a few days"
….
"You know, you don't have to keep working. I bring home more than enough 'bacon', and between us, we have more than enough set aside to cover any eventuality, for the next few years"
"and what am I meant to do every day, while you're out there getting shot at?. At least at work, I can keep an eye on you, and watch your back, even if it's only over security cams"
"We don't want you or the baby being stressed, and you being at work would stress you, especially after you've spent a few years as a field agent, only to be forced to be tied to a desk again"
"Say I decide to stay home… do you really think I won't be getting stressed out anyway, not knowing what could be happening to you. At work, I can be useful to you, and retain my sanity"
….
He had tried to get to sleep, he had tried to switch off his brain… but he hadn't been able to. Instead he slowly and silently slid out of the bed and walked through to the lounge.
He found that he had been sleeping less and less over the past few weeks.
Not that he slept a great deal, most of the time anyway.
Turning the TV on, Callen inserted a disc into the Blu-ray player and sat down on the couch.
For the next hour, he sat and watched the ultrasound video, restarting it each time it reached the end of the clip. In a matter of months he would be a father, and while he was delighted, he was also terrified to an extent that he had never experienced at any point in his life to date. He could face up to terrorists, drug dealers, and even Henrietta Lange… yet he was more terrified of the tiny person growing in his wife's belly.
"You planning on coming back to bed?" he heard Nell ask from behind him
"Yeah, I was just thinking. I just need a minute and I'll be back in"
….
Early June
Callen had been working undercover for over a month, trying to take down a private militia, and hadn't been in direct contact with anyone back at OSP. That wasn't to say that he hadn't had any contact. Before he started working on the assignment, Nell had set up a protocol, so that he could receive pre-programmed text messages through his phone, that to anyone other than Nell and Himself, would just look like a standard text message sent by the cell network.
After a few weeks of showing up to a diner, saying the write things, and managing to 'procure' weapons and vehicles, Callen had managed to get close to the Militia leader, and started to cement his position, before starting to feed information back to NCIS and the ATF.
….
"You wanted to see me, Del?"
"I did. I need you to take care of something for me"
"Whatever you need. Ask, and I'll see it done" Callen replied, hoping that this request would give them enough leverage to take down Del and his militia, so that Callen could go home
Dave, Del's right hand man, eyed Callen suspiciously.
"I want you to take some of that C4 that you procured, along with the five men that are waiting outside, and blow the door off of the bank vault down in Lake Tamarisk, and bring back the contents of locker 56G. Think you can manage that?"
"I'm sure we can manage that" Callen assured Del
….
"What do you mean you didn't get it? I ask for one simple thing, and you can't manage that, even with five of my best men"
"Gary planted the C4… he used too much, the whole bank just about collapsed…" Callen started explaining, before being interrupted by his phone bleeping with a message received tone
Callen immediately pulled out his phone, and focused on it, ignoring both Del and Dave
###
Valued Customer,
We would like to make you aware of our new product
Contact your local Sales Rep for more information
###
Callen knew what that meant… and it wasn't good
"Hey. Focus you useless fuck wit. You wanted in this army, but you can't complete even the simplest of tasks" Del Shouted over his desk
"Well, I don't want to be here now… I've got better places to be" Callen replied as he turned to leave, only to be stopped by Dave getting between Callen and the exit,
"Where d'you think you're goin. The boss is talking at you"
"You want to get out my way before I make you regret getting in it" Callen said, the anger starting to build in his chest
"Don't think I'll be doing that. Not for the likes of you"
Callen looked Dave in the eye, before pulling his Beretta out and shooting Dave's left foot without so much as a second thought, before balling his other hand into a fist and throwing it into Dave's gut
Callen watched as the larger man fall to the floor, squealing in agony.
Callen stepped over Dave's body and walked out of the building, hearing Dell shouting for any of his 'troops' to stop Guy (Callen)
Callen soon had half a dozen well built men blocking his way from the buildings out to the motor pool
"You lot don't want to try and stop me from leaving. I've got better things to do today than kill the lot of you"
A few of the men looked to one another to see who would react first
"Okay, you want to play that way. Fine by me" Callen added, before swinging a fist at one of the men in his way, while simultaneously sweeping one of his legs to knock one of the other men off balance, before pulling his handgun out again and firing a round into two of the other men's guts
….
By the time Callen had fought his way through the remaining 'troops' be was bruised and bleeding, but was in a better condition than the men that got in his way. Before hopping in the first car he could reach, Callen made a point to walk by the armoury, grab a pair of grenades, unpinned them and threw them back into the armoury to destroy what weapons, explosive and grenades were left.
Pulling out his phone as he pulled out of the yard and onto the highway he quickly dialled a number from memory
"Eric. Get whoever you can out to the militia's operating base… they could probably use the fire department, several paramedics and local PD should probably be there"
Before Eric could say a single word, Callen ended the call and quickly dialled another number from memory
….
Callen pulled up outside the hospital and abandoned the car, rushing inside… ignoring the security guards and their comments that he couldn't leave his car there.
The security guard that had followed him up to the maternity unit, and had started to make threats to phone the police. To this Callen pulled out his empty Beretta, tossed it to the guard and told him to do his worst, and that he was a federal agent.
This was helped by the convenient arrival of Sam, who backed up Callen's statement about him being a federal agent
Finding Kensi and Deeks sat in a waiting area Callen turned his attention to the female agent, looking for details about why Nell had been brought to maternity when she wasn't due to give birth for at least another 7 weeks
….
After changing into clean clothing, Callen was guided into the birthing suite where Nell was… He was excited to be there, but also full of trepidation over the fact that she had been rushed here far sooner than expected
Nell was flushed, and looked to be sweating profusely, which he should have known to be expecting. But despite that, she was still the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.
As soon as he was close enough, he reached out to grab her hand, trying to show his support for what she was going through
"Your father's here, to support you" one of the nurses said, speaking to Nell
"I'm not her father. I'm her husband. Where's Doctor Mills? Why's she not here?" Callen interjected, as he scowled at the nurse
"She's on vacation at the moment. I'm Doctor Logan, I'm filling in for her"
Callen turned his attention back to Nell
….
Less than 20 minutes later Sam, Kensi and Deeks watched as the doctor, and a pair of nurses rushed out of the room, pushing a trolley.
Callen followed them out of the suite and walked over to his friends, who all started to rise from their seats waiting expectantly for news
"It's a girl. Amazingly, she can breathe, but they've taken her to the Neonatal critical care unit anyway" Callen explained to his friends before going back into the suite to be by Nell's side
….
"You okay, man?" Sam asked, as Callen collapsed down on the seat beside his friend and ex partner
"I don't know. I mean I'm physically fine… I just can't help feeling … out of sync with my body"
"I'm sure it's just the shock of everything that mixing you up a bit. So come on… now that you know it's a girl, what are you naming her?"
