Sam awoke early. As he did every day, he looked towards the other side of the bed, where Michelle had slept, and felt a pang in his heart when he once again realized she was no longer there. Tears began to fill his eyes, but just as they began to trickle down his cheeks, a knock sounded on his door. Sam quickly brushed the tears away with his hand. "Come in."
"Happy Father's Day!" Kamran and Aiden came into the bedroom with smiles on their faces. Aiden was carrying a tray with breakfast on it and Kam was carrying a glass of orange juice.
Kamran placed the glass on the nightstand and climbed onto the bed next to Sam, then gave him a big hug. "I love you, daddy," she said.
"Here you go, dad." Aiden carefully placed the tray onto the bed, then leaned down to give Sam a hug. "I know it's not much."
"It looks great, kids," Sam said. "Thank you." On the tray was a plate of scrambled eggs with some slightly burnt toast and a cup of cut fruit.
"So what should we do today, daddy?" Kam asked as her father began to eat the breakfast.
Sam shook his head. "I'm just going to hang here at the house, baby girl," he said.
"Oh daddy, we have to do something better than that," Kamran said. "That's no fun."
"Kam's right, dad," Aiden said. "There must be something you'd like to do."
Sam shrugged. "The U.S. Open is on. I'll watch that."
"You don't even like golf, dad," Aiden protested. "We can at least go to a movie."
Sam looked at his children, both with disappointed expressions on their faces, and relented. "Sure, kids," he said. "We can go to a movie. What would you like to see?"
Kamran sighed heavily. "You have to pick the movie…not us."
"Okay," Sam said. "After I eat, I'll pick a movie and we can go out to dinner, later. How's that?"
Kam and Aiden both nodded, though neither was fooled by Sam's compliance. They both knew he was only agreeing to a movie to make them happy.
xxxxx
After Sam finished eating, the kids went off to the kitchen to wash the breakfast dishes. "Daddy's not very happy," Kamran said, drying one of the plates Aiden handed her after he washed it. "I wish we could cheer him up."
"Let's face it, dad's probably not going to be very happy for a long time, Kam. I don't really think any of us will be. It's hard without mom."
"I know," Kamran said. "I just wanted to make his day special though."
"We'll just have to do the best we can."
"Mother's Day was special, even though…" Kamran swallowed hard, unable to continue.
"Uncle Callen was with us on Mother's Day, Kam, and it was still sad. We just have to expect that right now."
"I know, but it was still special…"
"You can call him if you want to," Aiden said after a brief hesitation.
"I don't want to bother him."
"I don't think you ever bother him," Aiden said, then added teasingly, "not anymore anyhow, now that you don't make him dress up like crazy characters for your birthday parties."
Kamran stuck her tongue out at her brother. "I was just a little girl then. I'm grown up now."
"Call him," Aiden said again. "Maybe he'll have an idea."
Kamran's eyes brightened up at her brother's suggestion and she reached into her pocket and pulled out her cell phone.
xxxxx
Callen had just showered and finished dressing when his cell phone rang. He saw Kamran's name on the caller ID and his heart immediately sunk. "Hey Kam," he said, putting the phone to his ear. "How are you, sweetheart?"
"I'm fine, Uncle Callen," she answered politely, but Callen could tell by her tone that she was anything but fine.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing really," she said hesitantly, "but daddy is really sad today."
Callen sighed softly, not surprised to hear that. "This is one of those days that's bound to be hard for your dad, Kam."
"I know, but I want it to be special for him. I don't want him to just be sad all day, Uncle Callen."
"Yeah…" Callen didn't want that either. During the week, he'd considered calling Sam's kids to find out what they were doing about Father's Day, but then he had decided he really had no right to interfere and had decided against it. Now he was kicking himself for not pursuing the matter.
"What do you think we should do?" Kam asked.
"I'll think of something. Just stay home with your dad until I get there, okay? Don't tell him I'm coming though."
"Thank you so much, Uncle Callen," Kamran said. "I knew we could count on you."
xxxxx
About 40 minutes later, as Sam sat in the living room, feigning interest in searching for a movie, the doorbell rang. "He's here!" Kam called out as she ran to the front door.
"Who's here?" Sam asked his son who just shrugged with a slight grin on his face.
"Happy Father's Day, Sam," Callen said, as he followed Kamran into the living room. "What's up?"
"Nothing's up, G," Sam said. "I'm just looking for a movie for us to go see. What are you doing here?"
"Is that any way to talk to your partner?" Callen asked with a smirk. "You wound me, Sam. Come on. We're going out."
Sam shook his head. "The kids and I are heading to a movie."
"Oh yeah?" Callen asked. "What movie?"
"I…" Sam looked at the computer, trying to find a movie, but it took too long and he just looked back at Callen silently.
"Come on, Sam," Callen said. "You guys are coming with me."
Aiden got to his feet eagerly and looked at his father. "Come on, dad. We know you don't want to see a movie. Let's just go with Uncle Callen. It has to be better than staying here all day, right?"
"Fine," Sam said as he reluctantly got up off the couch. "Do we need to bring anything?"
Callen shook his head. "Just yourselves. We really should get moving though. I need to make a stop along the way."
xxxxx
Callen turned his car into the parking lot of the Majestic Ticket Agency and pulled into an empty space. "Be right back."
"Where do you think we're going?" Kamran asked, her mind working overtime to figure it out. "Do you think maybe it's a musical?"
"For Father's Day?" Aiden couldn't help but smirk at his sister. "This is supposed to be for dad, Kam not for you."
"Daddy likes musicals too, don't you?"
"Some of them," Sam said, his thoughts going back to the magical weekend he and Michelle had spent in New York City when Arkady had procured tickets for them to see Hamilton. They had gone shortly after Christmas and it had been almost like a second honeymoon. They had seen the play, eaten at some excellent restaurants, shopped and wandered through the city, looking at Christmas lights and having a wonderful time. He never would have suspected that would have been the last time they would get to take a trip like that together.
"Okay, let's get this show on the road," Callen said as he got back into the car. He glanced at his partner and saw the sad, faraway look in his eyes. He really hoped this was going to be fun for him. Callen drove for about another 20 minutes before pulling into a parking lot. Aiden and Sam immediately knew where they were going.
"Alright!" Aiden said, enthusiastic about the day's activity.
Kamran looked at her brother in confusion. "Where are we?" she asked.
"Dodger Stadium," Aiden informed her. "We're going to the ball game."
"Oh." Kamran smiled, not entirely thrilled with the plan for the day, but this was for her father, not for her, so she was good with it. Besides, some of the ballplayers were cute. If they were close enough, she could take pictures and post them online for her friends to see.
"G…you shouldn't have done this," Sam protested as Callen parked the car. He didn't really like his friend spending a lot of money on him and his family.
"It's not a big deal, Sam," Callen said, trying to reassure his friend. "Come on. We're going to have a good day."
The four of them got out of the car and took the short walk to the stadium entrance. Once there, they were directed to their seats which were infield box seats. Sam knew his friend had paid a pretty penny for the tickets. "G…at least let me pay you something towards this," he said.
Callen shook his head and turned to his partner, his eyes serious and keeping his voice low as he spoke. "Sam…just let me do this for you, please? I'd really like for you to try to enjoy the day…I know your kids would like it too, so if not for me, do it for them."
Sam looked back at Callen and nodded his head slowly. After Callen had gone to all this trouble and expense, the least he could do was try to have a good time.
xxxxx
The afternoon did turn out to be a good one, after all. While Callen and the kids filled up on hot dogs, loaded potato tots, ice cream and soda, Sam discovered a Tuna Poke Bowl, a combination of Ahi tuna, rice, edamame, cucumber, carrots, wakame, sesame seeds and ponzu sauce, which he found to be delicious.
"I really don't know where you put it all, G," Sam asked, shaking his head at his partner as he ate the potato tots with obvious enjoyment.
"You don't know what you're missing, Sam," Callen said. "You sure you don't want to try these? After all, it's not like we do this kind of thing very often."
"I think I'll pass," Sam said, shaking his head with an amused smile on his lips.
The game itself was an exciting one. There were some excellent defensive plays and plenty of extra-base hits and home runs. In the eighth inning, the Dodgers' seemingly comfortable 8 to 1 lead suddenly turned into a nail biter, as Cincinnati made a comeback, but they ended up winning the game 8-7.
"Wow, I can't believe they almost blew that," Aiden said as they made their way, amongst the crowd, back in the direction of Callen's car.
"It was a fun game," Kamran said, happily holding the stuffed Dodgers bear Callen had bought for her. "They have lots of cute players on their team."
Aiden rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything, although privately he thought that girls were pretty ridiculous sometimes.
Finally, they got back to the car and then waited in line with the multitude of cars as they slowly began to move towards the parking lot exit. "Anyone up for dinner?" Sam asked with a smirk, pretty sure what the answer was going to be.
Both Aiden and Kamran just groaned from the back seat and Callen looked at him incredulously. "You're kidding, aren't you?"
Sam chuckled. "Maybe by the time we get home, you'll have changed your mind. It seems like we're going to be stuck here for a while." It did take them almost 90 minutes to get out of the parking area, but once they did so, the ride home went smoothly and before too long, they were back at the Hanna home.
"You want to come in for a while?" Sam asked as Callen pulled into the driveway.
"I think I'm going to just head home," Callen replied. "I need to do a few things."
Sam nodded and gave his friend a heartfelt look. "Okay…I just want to say thanks…I appreciate you doing this and I know the kids do too."
"It was fun for me, Sam," Callen said, smiling at his partner. "If I got your mind off of things, even just a little bit, well, it was worth it for me."
Sam nodded his head. "You did, G…thank you."
"You're welcome."
"Thanks, Uncle Callen," Aiden said. "I had a great time."
"Thank you, Uncle Callen," Kamran said. "I love my bear."
"I'll see you tomorrow, G," Sam said, grinning at his partner as he got out of the car.
"Bye kids, bye Sam," Callen said. "Take care of yourself." He watched as Sam and the children went into the house, waving before they did so. He then pulled his car out into the street. He knew the Hanna family still had many tough days ahead of them, but he would continue to do the best he could to make things easier on them.