Marty smiled. As if Cassie had known what was happening. The short SMS was what he needed. A short reminder who he fought for (not that he could ever forget), who was the real enemy (at least for now) and that the world would go on. Ben and Zoe running around and keeping Ray busy... yeah, he could totally imagine that. And Kayla... she probably wanted to text Ty. If Marty was honest with himself, he could admit that Ty was a good guy and would probably not hurt Kayla. Still, he was Kayla's father, and after that idiot (her first boyfriend) had dumped Cassie for another girl (with who the guy actually had had an affair with when he was still dating Cassie) breaking his oldest daughters heart in process, Marty didn't like his girls dating. Not that he could stop it. But still.

He took a deep breath. It was good to know they were safe and happy. It helped him focus. He shared a short look with Kensi, well aware that both Hetty and Callen were watching them. Sam didn't seem to notice, he and Quinn stared at the picture of Callisto with hatred burning in their eyes.

Suddenly, Eric spoke up:

"Guys, guys, guys, I have him! He's driving down a street in downtown... wait, the car stops."

All eyes were glued to the screen. The quality wasn't awesome, but they could clearly see Callisto getting out of the car. The house he was walking to looked nice, it was in an expensive neighborhood and to the outside it seemed as if it belonged to some completely innocent family. When Callisto was walking in that however meant that the owner of that house probably wasn't exactly harmless.

"Okay, let's do this this way: Mr. Callen, Mr. Hanna, Agent Blye and Detective Deeks are going to visit this house. Maybe finally we're lucky and you are able to arrest him. I don't think I have to tell you, especially you two, Mr. Callen and Mr. Hanna, not to get caught by the police. You two have no authorization and I will not be able to get you out of jail before the spies Callisto has there will report to him. Mrs. Hanna, you will stay here with Eric, Nell and me to coordinate this operation. Everything clear?" Hetty said. Everybody nodded. "Well then, hurry!"

The drive to the house was silent. Too silent, Callen thought. He remembered the car drives before, before he, Sam and Quinn had left. The car had always been full of chatter and laughter, sometimes they had played music. It had always been fun. Even when they were driving to a non-pleasant location, Deeks had always made a few jokes and generally played the clown until everybody smiled at least a bit. Callen had never really noticed it, but now he missed it. The tension lay thick in the air, and this silence felt just wrong.

Deeks was driving. Next to him sat Kensi, and in the back row were him and Sam. Another difference from before. Before, it had always been Sam and Callen in front, one of them driving, and the younger agents (actually: the younger agent and the younger detective) in the back.

Other things were different as well. Even though Kensi and Deeks weren't touching, Callen could see that they were different. He briefly wondered if this was because he knew or if it actually was visible. Probably both. If he wouldn't have known he wouldn't have spent so much attention on how the two of them treated each other and then he wouldn't have noticed.

It were subtle things that showed him just how much he had missed. In the Ops, when Deeks had layed his hand on Kensis shoulder, for example. It was strange enough to see that she hadn't shrugged him off, but that wasn't it. Her whole demeanor had changed. She had relaxed.

It had been that moment that had Callen really regretting having left. Not the moment before, when he had found the pictures of their family, no, it had been this moment, in which the thought of Kensi and Deeks being a couple for a long time really set in. He wished he had been there. There to see them grow closer, there to watch them getting married, there to welcome their children into this world. He had always seen Kensi as his little sister, and now she was all grown up and he had missed it.

He looked to Sam next to him. His best friend hadn't noticed anything. He looked through the window, obviously deep in thought. Callen knew that he should tell him what he had found out about Jessica. If she even still carried that name. He remembered her very well, the young, happy girl that loved to laugh and could bring a smile on everybody's face. Now she was 19 years old. He wasn't sure if Sam really understood what that meant. He and Quinn had always lived in the fantasy to one day come home to a Jessica who would welcome them, a Jessica who was still a child and waited for them all the time. Clearly, that wasn't the reality.

Finally, they arrived at the house. Over the com. Eric informed them that the car was still standing in front of the door, and that as far as he knew nobody had left the house. Nell added that the official inhabitants of the house were a banker and his wife, both in their mid-thirties. There was obviously no hint that they were involved in any of Callistos dealings, but then again there had never been a hint that Callisto wasn't sitting in the prison he had been send to.

He saw Kensi and Deeks exchanging a look, then Deeks wordlessly tugged Kensi's shirt so the bulletproof vest under it wasn't visible. Then he looked back to Sam and Callen.

They were finally going to get Callisto now.

AN: Yeah, there's much of Callen's thoughts in this chapter. I hope you like it.

PS: A big thank you to everyone who has reviewed! You really made my day!