A.N.- I'm really sorry about the lack of updates, real life took over everything. I haven't been able to update any story on either of my accounts, and I'm going to work hard to do so. I'm also in the midst of trying to write a novel, and that's proving to be extremely difficult. I also work every day, but I'm off this coming week so maybe I'll get something done.

Also, I wanted to thank the person that advised me on the amount of times I used the word 'kiddo.' I reread the last chapter, and it was pretty glaring, so I'll try to fix that for the future, thanks!

Callen didn't know how Kensi would react the next morning. As he made breakfast for himself and the two girls, he frequently checked the staircase for a sign of the older girl. Lauren came down early, excited to go to school. She was watching TV in the other room while Callen finished up making breakfast. By the time he was finished, Kensi was still nowhere to be found. Callen called Lauren back to the kitchen, put some of the eggs and toast on a plate for her, and then went upstairs looking for Kensi.

He was mildly worried that she had left during the night, while the rest of the family was asleep. The only fact reassuring Callen was that he was a light sleeper, and would have probably heard Kensi leaving. He knocked on her doorframe, giving her a chance to speak up if she was changing, before pushing the door the rest of the way open. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw she was in the room, still passed out on her bed. She mustn't have set her alarm the night before, he thought, thinking that it would have made sense. He walked over to her bed, and shook the girl slightly. "Kenz, you've got to wake up now. It's time for school."

She rolled over, wincing slightly when her backside made contact with the bed. Callen immediately felt sorry for the girl, he didn't expect for the soreness to last this long. He knew how the chairs at school felt, even normally. "Go get ready for school then come downstairs, I have breakfast and Tylenol for your bottom," he said, smirking.

Kensi was in no mood to argue, or really do anything but sleep. She gave Callen a nod, which he took as affirmation and left the room so she could get dressed. He searched the medicine cabinet for Tylenol, having little luck. All he saw were bottles of the childrens form of medicine, bought for Lauren. Finally, he spotted a small bottle of normal Tylenol in the back. Quickly surveying the rest of the medications, he figured that he should hit the drugstore for the adult form of medicine, in case Kensi was to fall ill or perhaps need more Tylenol.

He grabbed the small bottle of Tylenol, and headed downstairs with it. He made sure that everything was still warm, then waited for Kensi to appear. A few minutes later, she came down. He looked her over, making sure that her outfit was within the school's dress code, then handed her a plate of eggs and toast, a fork, and a knife, before sending her to the table. She sat down, wincing again, and began to eat her breakfast. Callen could see that Lauren wanted to say something, so gave her a warning look not to before calling her over to him. "Laurie, come here with your backpack please."

Lauren wrinkled her nose, before responding, "But G, I didn't forget anything!"

"I know Laurie, but I would rather double check to make sure you don't forget anything that you need."

Lauren huffed a little at that statement, but then went to get her backpack. She came back with it in less than a minute, opened it up, and said, "See G, I didn't forget anything! I have my pencil case, and my... Where's my homework folder?" Lauren rushed off, running up the stairs to her room to look for her missing homework folder.

Kensi had finished her breakfast during that interaction, and stood up to put her plate in the sink. Callen walked back over to her, cleaning up Lauren's plate, and then handed Kensi the Tylenol. She mumbled a "thanks," still sleepy. Lauren ran down the stairs, holding her homework folder. She placed it into her bag, and then Callen sent her off to the front door, to wait for him and Kensi to catch up before they began the walk to school.

"Do you have the slip, Kenz?" Callen asked. Kensi responded by nodding, and picked up her bag before joining Lauren, Callen right behind her.

After school that day, Callen walked across the street from the high school to the elementary school to pick up Lauren. As they walked to the middle school to get Kensi before heading home, Lauren gave Callen a thorough description of her day. Callen, however, barely heard what she was saying, too worried that Kensi got in trouble in school again.

He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Kensi outside, talking with a girl who appeared to be her age. As soon as she saw him, she said goodbye to the other girl, and jogged across to where Callen and Lauren were standing. She was smiling, but he wasn't buying it just yet.

Lauren asked Kensi for a play-by-play of her day, which Kensi supplied as enthusiastically as possible, before Lauren gave Kensi all the details about her day. Callen listened closely to the story Kensi was telling, looking for any sign of trouble. He relaxed a little when he didn't detect anything that would lead him to suspect she was in trouble again.

Before long, they reached their house. As soon as they entered, they all split in different directions. Lauren and Kensi headed to their rooms to do homework, and Callen veered off towards the kitchen. He cut up two apples, put the slices on a plate with some peanut butter and honey, and went to deliver them to the girls. He entered Lauren's room first. "Hey Laurie, how's the homework going?"

She looked up from her paper long enough to answer him, "It's fun!"

"Alright kiddo," Callen said, putting down the plate of apple slices on her desk and leaving the room.

He went over to Kensi's room, knocked on the doorframe, then walked in to place the apples on her desk. "How was your day?"

"Alright."

"Anything happen?" Callen tried to get more information from the girl.

"No."

"Any trouble?"

"No."

"How's the homework coming?"

"Fine."

Callen gave up trying to hold a conversation with the girl, and walked to his own room to do his homework.

After dinner, Callen went to check on the two girls again. Lauren was fine, and almost finished with her homework. He figured Kensi wouldn't talk anymore, so he peered into her room to make sure she was doing her homework, then retreated to his own room.

An hour later, he heard a timid knock on his door. He looked up, and was pleasantly surprised to see Kensi standing there. "Hey kiddo, what's up?"

"Um I'm done with my homework now, and I'm really tired so I'm going to go to bed now."

"Alright, do you want to talk about school?" He could sense something was off with the girl.

"It's miserable. That's all there is to it."

Callen sensed he wouldn't get anything else from the girl that night. "Goodnight Kenz." He would see if she was sleeping when he came in to check her homework, if she was, he would just let it be

He glanced at the clock, realizing that it was actually pretty late. He went to Lauren's room, and found her passed out at her desk. He picked her up and carried her to her bed, before taking off her shoes and socks, and covering her with a blanket. He checked over her homework, finding it thoroughly done, and walked over to Kensi's room. A peek in the door told him that she was sleeping, so he trusted that she did her homework well, and left to finish his own homework.

A.N.- Wow I'm really sorry about the lack of updating. Let me know what you think about this story, and any suggestions you have!

-littlemissscatterbrained