A/N: Just watched a Christmas classic: It's A Wonderful Life, and I needed to write a fanfiction for it. Of course, everyone seems to write millions of these fics each year, and I thought I might try my hand at it. Please review, and I don't own NCIS: LA.
Chapter One
Rain was pouring over Los Angeles as Callen hurried down the sidewalk. Sam had offered him a ride, and so had Kensi, but he had refused both of their offers. He didn't know why, only that it was Christmas Eve and it felt wrong to take any more from them. They had treated him like family, let him stay in their apartments, kept him company. Kensi, Sam, Hetty…even Deeks had been nicer than usual as of late. But something felt wrong, almost forced. Callen was tired of their pity. He had never asked them to feel bad for him. Poor Callen, never had a family, his sister died, nobody loves him. He knew that they really meant, poor loser, doesn't even have a family on Christmas.
Callen stopped on the overpass overlooking the LA River. The water was coursing past, gritty and dark. Garbage swirled in the foamy torrents, the forgotten waste of a city of several million. Callen took a deep breath and leaned against the railing. He realized, quite suddenly, that he was totally alone. Sam, Kensi, Deeks, Hetty…they were all off with their loved ones, celebrating Christmas Eve. The dark water coursed past, and Callen felt a burst of anger. He could do anything right now, and no one would ever know. He could jump off this freaking bridge and nobody would know! They would realize later, sure, when he failed to appear at work. Was that all he was good for? Callen couldn't remember anyone ever telling him he was good for anything else besides undercover work. Granted, being a federal agent was no small feat, but it would have been nice to have been told that he was good at something else. Callen thought about it and decided he wasn't actually good at anything else. He gripped the cement railing and felt the insane urge to jump. He remember, suddenly, being very young and standing on a high building. He didn't remember where it was, only that he could see for miles. People walking by on the street below had appeared ant-like. And suddenly, he had felt the urge to jump. Just like now.
Before Callen could follow through with his insane plan, he heard a splash and a cry for help. Someone had fallen into the river! Callen didn't think, he just responded. Years of field work had taught him that in an emergency, there was no time for thinking. And so Callen didn't think. He just reacted. Before he knew exactly what he was doing, Callen had stripped off his jacket and jumped into the freezing river.