Chapter 4.
I know I'm super, super late with this, but I hope you forgive me. It'll be another two weeks at least before I update again, so enjoy!
Tattoos.
Callen.
Slender porcelain arms reached up to grab the box of tea from the kitchen cabinet. Her torso was covered in nothing but a thin tank top, leaving nothing to the imagination. My eyes trailed down from her upper body to her perfectly shaped legs, snaking out from underneath her plaid pyjama shorts, hanging dangerously low on her hips. Being the small beauty that she is, she struggles to reach the ornately decorated box on the top shelf of her oak-wood cabinet. Her fingers brush the edge of the box, just out of her reach, and she leaves out a frustrated sigh, prompting me to get up off my seat at the other side of the kitchen counter and sauntering over to help her. My body easily towers over hers, her tiny stature now pressed between the granite counter and my torso, her body still facing inwards towards the cabinet. I bring the tea-box down from the shelf and hold it out to her, my eyes catching on a small inked design on the base of her neck. It had been a week since we had started dating, and she and I were still getting to know each other. The small picture, drawn in black ink, stands out against her snow-white skin. My hand involuntarily reaches up to caress the piece of discoloured skin. "Does everyone but me have a tattoo?"
"Yes, G, everyone but you has a tattoo." She laughs, recalling the disagreement the agents had in the bullpen the previous morning. Sam, Kensi, Deeks, Nate, Eric, and even sweet little Nell had a tattoo, and I know she knows what tattoo both of her friends have.
"So what is it?" I ask curiously.
"What, my tattoo?" She replies. "Seriously? You don't know what this is?" She finishes, gesturing to the ink on her neck.
I shake my head, she laughs, grabbing my hand and dragging me to her multi-coloured couch in her living room. "Sit." She tells me, grabbing a DVD from the shelf, placing it into her blue-ray player.
The title screen plays, the symbol that graces her skin now appearing on screen, followed by two words emerging from the foreground. Star Trek. I look over at the smiling woman, understanding what the symbol is. I shake my head. My girlfriend is a sci-fi geek. So much so that she has the Starfleet symbol tattooed on her neck.
The steady bleep-bleep of her heart monitor is still the only sound in the otherwise silent room. Her head is to one side, revealing a slight glimpse of her tattoo, her hair draping around her neck and shoulders.
Bleep. Bleep.
Nate went home an hour ago, per Hetty's request, and now Kensi and Deeks were sitting on the couch, with Lucy sitting beside her sister's bed, fidgeting as usual. It's strange how accustomed we had become to the hospital room. I hadn't moved in a little over two days, hadn't said a word, or even blinked. I just sat there, staring at her lifeless body, watching doctors and nurses constantly rotating in and out of the small room. It reminds me of the last time I was in the hospital.
The op had been particularly tough, trying to bring down a cartel kingpin that was selling bad dope on the market, causing at least ten deaths that we know of. My job was to go under as a lawyer that needs the money. Somehow, my cover was blown, and it ended up breaking out into a gunfight between Sam and I, and the drug lord and his goons. I got shot in the arm, while Sam shot the guy square in the chest. I had insisted I was fine, but Hetty insisted I go get sewn up. I went alone, because the others had to finish reports.
It took three hours of waiting to see the doctor for a procedure that only lasted ten minutes, tops. When I got home, I had expected to find an empty house, but instead when I entered my bedroom, I saw my beautiful AJ, wrapped up in the white linen sheets she had bought for me as a present when she almost forced me to buy a bed almost a month ago. You could barely see her, she was wrapped up like a burrito, only her head sticking out above the covers. I stood admiring her delicate features for a minute, before quietly removing my shoes and climbing into the bed beside her as quietly as I could. My movement still woke her.
Smiling, she looks up at me and says, "you're back."
"Yeah, I am."
"Don't ever do that again." She orders sleepily.
"Do what?" I ask.
"Get shot." She replies simply. "Promise me."
"I promise."
"Good. G'night." She says, snuggling into my chest. Then, almost a whisper emerges from her mouth, "I love you, G." She sniffles.
I take a sharp breath at the sincerity in her voice. And before my brain could even process what I was doing, my arm wrapped around her semi-conscious body and whisper it back. "I love you too, AJ."
"Lucy Connors?" A demure nurse asked the room. Lucy's head snapped up from the floor, turning to face the nurse, who smiled and motioned to Lucy to follow her out into the hall, closing the door behind the younger Connors sister. From my position, I see Lucy engaged in conversation with Dr. Yang, with a worried look on her face that had become the normal expression of everyone for the past three days. But her face was laced with more concern than it usually was.
Her hand flew up to her mouth, her eyes glazing over as the doctor walks away. Her hands rest on her hips, and her eyes catch me staring. She hesitates a second, before cocking her head back, motioning me to join her in the hall.
My legs are shaky from the lack of movement in the past three days, and I struggle to stand. I feel Kensi's unique eyes following me as I leave the room.
Lucy turns her back to the ICU cubicle where her sister rests, runs her hand across her eyes, and returns her hand to her arm, silently hugging herself.
"Wha- What did the doctor say?" I stammer, worried.
"He, uh, got her bloodwork back." She sniffles. "She's pregnant."
I know it's a bit on the short side, but I hope you guys liked it. Can you feel the feels coming on? Mwhahaha :3
