"G!" Sam said and he went to check on his partner.
"Sam," Callen grunted.
"It's okay buddy," Sam said and he saw that Callen had been shot in his abdomen.
Sam quickly took his phone and called Eric for an ambulance.
Eric called for the ambulance and made his way downstairs to inform Hetty what was going on.
"Hetty, we have a problem," Eric said as he walked towards Hetty's office.
"What is it, Mr. Beale?" Hetty said.
"Callen has been shot."
Lori heard the conversation. "What?!" Lori said and she walked towards Hetty's office, followed by Deeks and Kensi. "How bad is it?"
"Don't know exactly. Sam said he was hit in his stomach. He's on the way to the hospital now."
Lori didn't think twice and she grabbed her keys and jacket and drove to the hospital. She went up to the surgical floor where she found Sam in the waiting room.
"Sam, how is he?" Lori said.
"Don't know yet, he's in surgery now," Sam said.
"How bad was it?"
"He was shot one time in his abdomen. He has lost some blood, but don't worry. G's though, he'll pull through."
"Let's hope you're right," Lori said and she sat down next to Sam.
About an hour later Callen was out of surgery and his doctor came to talk to Sam and Lori.
"How is he doctor?" Sam said.
"We managed to recover the bullet and luckily it didn't hit any major organs. We repaired the damage that the bullet did and gave him some extra blood, cus he lost some blood. But he should be fine," the doctor said.
"Thank god," Lori said. "Can we see him?'
"Of course, right this way."
The doctor lead them to Callen's room and they saw Callen lying on the bed, he was still unconscious.
"He should wake up soon," the doctor said and his pager went off. "Excuse me."
Lori walked over to his bed and grabbed his hand and gave him a kiss on his head. When she did that she saw his eyes were starting to open.
"Hey G," Lori said and she saw his blue eyes staring back at her.
"Hey," Callen mumbled back.
"It's okay G, you're in the hospital. You got shot, but the doctor said you should be fine."
"Welcome back partner," Sam said as he squeezed his partner's shoulder.
"Thank Sam and thanks for taking me to the hospital."
"No problem G."
Callen felt that his mouth was dry and he saw the can of water standing on his bedside table.
"Could you….?" Callen said and he pointed at the can.
"Sure," Lori said and she poured him a glass of water. "Here you go."
"Thanks."
A little later Sam's phone rang. "Yeah Hetty."
"How's Mr. Callen?" Hetty asked.
"He's gonna be fine. He's already awake."
"Good to hear. We need you back at the office. The case isn't over yet."
"Alright, be right there," Sam said and he hung up the phone. "I've gotta get back to the office."
"Go Sam, we'll be alright," Lori said.
After Sam had left Lori sat down on the bed holding Callen's hand.
"You okay honey?" Callen asked as he moved some of her hair from her face.
"Yeah I'm good. I'm just glad that you're okay. When Eric told me you got shot I got worried."
"I'm fine Lori. There's no need to worry."
"It's just that I won't know what I would do if something…." Lori started and tears appeared in her eyes.
"Hey, it's okay. I'm still here and I'm not leaving you. Don't you worry about that," Callen said and Lori laid her head down on his shoulder and Callen wrapped his arms around her. "It's okay Lori. I'm here."
A day later Callen was released from the hospital. He still had a week off to recuperate.
"Now you be a good boy today when I'm at work. Don't try to do too much already, okay," Lori said.
"I won't, you just be careful today."
"I will."
"You're not going out in the field with Sam while I'm not there, right?"
"No, I won't. I'm staying in the office."
"Okay good. Cus I won't be there to protect you."
"I know sweetie. I'll be fine. I promise," Lori said and she kissed Callen. "I'll see you later."
"See ya."
Callen hated sitting at home and not being able to go to work. Especially since Lori was at work. Now he wasn't there to make sure she was okay and that she wasn't going out in the field and getting hurt.
Lori had just sat down at her desk when her cell phone rang.
"Hey G," Lori said as she answered the phone.
"Hey Lori, did you get to work alright?" Callen said.
"Yes G, everything is fine."
"Okay good. Just take it easy today okay. Don't do anything crazy that might get you hurt."
"I won't. You take it easy too. Don't try to do too much already."
"I won't, promise."
"Alright, I'll see you later."
"See ya."
Lori hung up the phone and started working on her paperwork and finishing up some reports. A few minutes later Sam came walking in.
"Morning," Sam said.
"Morning," Lori said.
"How's G?"
"He says he's fine. I tried to tell him to take it easy today. Don't know if he listened."
"Yeah he can be pretty stubborn at some times. Especially when he's home on sick leave or when Hetty takes him off a case."
"Yeah, I've noticed."
They had a pretty quiet day at work. Around noon Lori's phone rang again. She looked at the display. It was Callen again.
"Hey G."
"Hey Lori, how's it going?"
"Everything's fine. No new cases yet so just catching up on paperwork."
"Okay good. And you're feeling okay, not nauseous or anything?"
"I'm fine G."
"Okay. You're drinking and eating enough?"
"Argh," Lori sighed and she hung up the phone and tossed it on her desk.
"Everything okay Lori?" Kensi asked.
"Yeah it's fine. G is just annoying me a little."
Sam chuckled as Lori said those words. He knew his partner all too well and that he didn't like sitting at home and not doing anything.
A few minutes later Callen called again. Lori saw his name flashing on the display again and she pressed the ignore button. Callen called again. Lori figured that he wasn't going to stop so she picked up.
"What is it G?"
"Did you just hung up on me and then reject my call?"
"Sorry, I was just busy with something. Everything is fine G. Sorry but I have to go. Eric is calling with something new. See ya," Lori said and she hung up the phone.
Sam looked up the stairs and he didn't see anybody there.
"Everything okay Lori?" Sam asked.
"Yeah, it's fine."
"You just lied to G to hang up the phone."
"I know," Lori sighed. "He's just annoying today and I hung up before I blew up at him, I can't trust myself sometimes with all these hormones running wild. The slightest thing can set me off."
"I'll keep that in mind," Sam said with a little smile.
Around 5pm everybody went home again. Lori walked into the house and found Callen sitting on the couch.
"Hey G."
"Hey Lori," Callen said and he got up and gave Lori a kiss. "I missed you today. How was work?"
"Work was fine. Pretty quiet day."
"Okay, so what was it then that Eric called you about?"
"Uhm… well Eric didn't exactly call. I was just getting a little annoyed with you and I thought it was best to just hang up than to explode at you over the phone. I'm sorry, it's the hormones."
"Oh, It's okay. I just missed you today and I just wanted to make sure you're alright."
"I missed you too. Just promise me you won't call me so often anymore okay."
"Alright, I promise. Now come here," Callen said and he pulled her into his arms and kissed her.
…..
Lori and Callen were sitting on the couch just watching some TV. Lori was leaning against Callen and Callen had one arm around her and his other hand was resting on her stomach.
"You're really okay to come back to work tomorrow?" Lori asked.
"I'm fine Lori, don't worry."
"Okay, I just wanna make sure you're fit again."
"I'm fine Lori, don't worry."
"Okay. It's just…." Lori started but Callen cut her off with a kiss.
He picked her up and carried her to the bed and gently laid her down on the bed and crawled down next to her.
"I'm absolutely fine Lori."
"Okay, just be careful."
"I will," Callen said and Lori and Callen changed into their sleeping clothes.
Lori laid her head down on Callen's bare chest and Callen wrapped his arm around her. Lori saw all the scars that he had on his chest. She knew that they were there but she never noticed them the way she did now and her fingers trailed a path from one scar to the other.
"You have a lot of scars," Lori said.
"I know, comes with the job."
"Where are these scars from?" Lori said as she touched his bullet wound scars.
"From a shooting 4 years ago."
"What happened?"
"Sam dropped me off at my place, not this one, it was near the beach. And as soon as I was at the corner a van came by and they shot me. Nearly killed me. Luckily for me Sam was there."
"Damn. Do you know who did it?"
"Yeah, it turned out to be one of my old team mates when I was with the DEA. He tried to kill everyone in that unit and he staged his own dead just so he could make a little profit with his company."
"Jeez what a jerk. You did catch him right?"
"Yeah, we did about 6 or 7 months later. He's rotting away in prison somewhere now."
"Good, that's what you get for shooting at you," Lori said and she gave him a kiss. "Goodnight."
"Goodnight," Callen said and he gave her another kiss and Lori snuggled back into his chest.
…..
"Welcome back partner," Sam said as Callen and Lori walked into the bullpen.
"It's good to be back. Miss me?" Callen said with a little smile.
"Yeah, I missed you like I miss getting shot at," Sam said and he smiled a little.
"Missed you too Sam," Callen said and Sam smiled. He was glad to have his partner back again.
"You're okay to come back to work again, G?"
"What are you my mother or something? I'm fine honestly," Callen said and Sam looked at Lori.
"He says he's fine. I asked him myself yesterday. You know how he is," Lori said.
"Oh yes I do."
"You two done?" Callen said a little annoyed.
"Yeah just about," Sam said smiling.
"Welcome back Mr. Callen. It's good to have you back," Hetty said as she walked into the bullpen. "Now upstairs you go. You have a new case."
They went upstairs and Eric and Nell explained the case to them and the team went to work.
The case was pretty big so it took them 3 days to wrap the case up. But in the end they got the bad guys and nobody got injured.
The next day before work Lori had another doctor's appointment. Lori was now 18 weeks along. Callen was called into the office early so he wasn't able to go with her.
About 20 minutes after her appointment Lori walked into the office. All the agents were out investigating the case. She and Callen didn't really have a chance to speak during the day, because they were really busy with the case. Later when they were at home Callen finally had time to talk to Lori.
"Hey Lori, how did the appointment go today, everything alright?" Callen said.
"Yes everything was fine. The babies are growing very nice and all my test results came back fine. Everything is fine with both me and the babies."
"Glad to hear that. Sorry I wasn't there and sorry I wasn't able to ask you earlier."
"It's okay. You were busy with a case. I did get a picture for you," Lori said and she got the picture out of her bag and gave it to Callen.
"Wow, that's amazing. They have really grown already."
"Yeah I know."
"I love you," Callen said and he gave Lori a kiss. "And I love you too." And Callen gave her stomach a kiss too.
"I love you too."
"Just out of curiosity, did the doctor mention anything about if the babies are boys or girls, or a boy and a girl?"
"No, she did ask if I wanted to know but I said I would like to keep that a surprise if that's alright with you."
"It's fine by me. I was just wondering."
"She did say that the twins are identical, so we'll be either having two boys or two girls."
"Okay. It doesn't matter, as long as they are healthy."
….
Callen was almost finished with painting the walls of the baby room. He just needed to do one of the small walls. He was about to start painting when he heard a crash coming from the kitchen. He quickly went to the kitchen.
"Everything okay in here?" Callen asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just dropped a plate."
"Need help cleaning that up?"
"No, I'm good, thanks. You can go back to painting. I'll call when dinner is ready."
"Alright, you're sure?"
"Yeah I'm fine."
Callen managed to finish the wall before going to bed. He quickly jumped in the shower and joined Lori in bed.
"I'm done with painting. Now just need to wait for the furniture and then the room will be ready."
"Okay good. The furniture should be here in a week or two I guess."
"That's gives me plenty of time to put it together before the babies are here."
"Thank you for doing this again."
"It's my pleasure," Callen said and he kissed her and slowly his lips made their way down her neck.
"G, not tonight please. I'm not in the mood."
"Everything okay? You're feeling alright?"
"Yeah I'm fine. I'm just not in the mood, okay."
"Okay, goodnight," Callen said and he gave her another kiss.
"Goodnight sweetie," Lori said and she rolled onto her side with her back towards Callen.
…..
It was a pretty slow day today so Lori decided to go to the gym to work out a bit. She decided to keep the workout light, not do to heavy stuff. She was punching at the training machine when Callen walked in. He had changed into his workout clothes as well and he joined Lori.
"Hey Lori," Callen said.
"Hey G. Gonna work out too?"
"Yep, it's a slow day today so I might as well do some training."
"I'm almost done with this thing so you can have at it."
"That's fine."
About a minute later Lori was done and she walked over to the bicycles and Callen trained at the machine. Lori watched Callen as he was working out. She had to admit that he did look good in his training clothes and with sweat running over his face. She tried to gather her thoughts and to focus on her own workout again.
About 15 minutes later she was done and she walked to the locker room to shower and afterwards she went to the armory to do some target practice.
A few minutes later Callen walked in. He didn't say anything and Lori didn't look around but she just knew that it was Callen. She tried to focus again on her shooting.
"Am I distracting you?" Callen said and Lori could feel his breath on her neck.
"No, I'm fine."
"Really? Cus it looked like the last few bullets missed target," Callen said as Lori put up a new paper.
"You're not distracting me."
"Oh really? Try shooting again then."
Lori aimed her weapon again while Callen was standing really close to her and he placed his hands on her hips. Lori paused and took a deep breath to focus. She kept her eyes on the target and emptied her magazine. All bullets hit the target, not all center mass hits but she still hit the target.
"Not bad," Callen said.
"Why don't you try it when I'm standing really close to you?"
"Alright," Callen said and he took out his gun and put a magazine with dummy bullets in it and he took his position.
Lori stood behind him and her hands were running over his chest, but Callen was able to maintain his focus. But what Lori did next made him miss the target. Lori moved her hands to his back and she grabbed his ass.
"Did I just distract Agent Callen?" Lori said.
"That was not fair," Callen said as he turned around.
"Maybe not, but it worked didn't it. You missed."
"True. But what would you do if I did that?" Callen said and he grabbed Lori by her ass and he pulled her to him.
"Probably miss too, I think," Lori said and she moved her head a little closer to Callen's so that their lips were almost touching. "We should probably go back to the bullpen soon."
"Yeah maybe we should," Callen said but they couldn't help themselves and their lips touched and they kissed.
A few minutes later Lori snapped out of the trance she was in and she realized that they were still at work and she broke the kiss.
"We shouldn't do this here."
"I know, but I couldn't help myself," Callen said and he wanted to kiss her again but Lori pushed him away.
"No G. Not now, not here."
"Alright, we'll finish this later at home."
"Maybe. We'll see."
Around 5.30pm everybody went home. Lori was in the kitchen making dinner when Callen joined her. He walked up to her and grabbed her from and he started kissing her neck.
"Not now G, I'm making dinner."
"That's okay, you don't have to do anything. I'm just kissing you," Callen said and his lips went back to her neck again.
"Callen, not now," Lori said and she stepped away.
"You okay?"
"Yeah I'm fine."
"You sure? Cus lately I get the feeling you don't like it anymore when I kiss you."
"I do like it, it's just lately I don't feel like it. I don't know why, must be the hormones messing with me."
"Alright then. I understand."
…..
Lori had her 20 week ultrasound today before work. Callen went with her. The doctor put the device on her stomach to examine the babies. Callen and Lori could see their little babies on the screen and they heard the heartbeats.
"Wow, they're so fast," Callen said as he listened to the heartbeats.
"It's normal," the doctor said.
"Everything okay with the babies, doctor?" Lori asked.
"Yes everything is fine. They are growing nice and big and their heartbeats sound just perfectly and everything looks fine."
"Good to hear."
"And how are you feeling?"
"I'm okay. Not feeling nauseous so much, just a little tired sometimes and sometimes my feet or my back hurts a little after standing too much. I also have this appetite for the craziest things, things I would never eat normally and sometimes my hormones are just running wild."
"Well, just sounds like a normal pregnancy. If you don't have any further questions I say we're done for today."
"Nope, no questions."
"Okay good, I'll see you in two weeks then."
They left the office and they went to work. It was a pretty slow day. Callen and Sam decided to do some training in the gym.
"Can I ask you something G?" Sam said.
"Sure, what's up Sam?"
"It's about you and Lori," Sam said and Callen stopped their sparring session.
"What about me and Lori?"
"I was just wondering how this happened exactly. I mean I thought you had this rule about 'never date someone who has their own handcuffs' and 'never date a co-worker'."
"I know Sam. I know I have these rules but…"
"But? What changed?"
"Lori did. I don't know what happened but it's just something about her that changed me and made me change my rules."
"Alright G. As long as you're happy."
"I am," Callen said and they continued their training
The rest of the day was pretty quiet so the team finished up on their paperwork. Around 6 everybody went home. Lori walked straight into the kitchen to get started on dinner. She was getting the pans out of the cupboard when Callen walked in.
"Lori, is everything okay with you? Are you mad at me or something?" Callen said and Lori turned around.
"What?" Lori said.
"You hardly talked to me today so I was wondering if you were mad at me or something."
Lori didn't say anything and she turned back around and sighed. Callen stood next to her while leaning against the counter.
"Are you just with me because I'm pregnant?"
"What?! Why would you say that?"
"I heard you and Sam talking earlier about your rules. You know: never date someone with their own handcuffs and never date a co-worker," Lori reacted a bit angry.
"Ah come on, Lori. You're serious?" Callen said and he tried to place his hand on her shoulder but Lori walked away.
"Is it true you have those rules?"
"Yes, I used to, until you came along."
"Until you found out that I was pregnant you mean."
"No before. I love you Lori and I just wanna be with you and our babies. What more do I have to do to make you realize that?"
"I don't know. How am I supposed to know you're telling the truth, that you really love me and not just because I'm pregnant with your babies?"
"I do love you Lori, more than anything and I'll prove it. Marry me, Lori."