Thanks as always to those of you who are reading and reviewing. I really appreciate it :)

xxxxx

"How much longer?" Kamran asked as she fidgeted in the passenger seat next to her mother.

"Kam…didn't I tell you to stop asking me that every five minutes?" Michelle asked, trying hard not to lose her patience with her overly exuberant child. "I told you what time we should get there and you can see what time it is for yourself."

"I know, but I'm sooo excited to see Uncle Callen," Kamran said. "He's going to be happy to see us too."

"I'm sure he will be. I just want you to behave when we're there though and watch what you talk to him about, okay?"

"What do you mean? I wouldn't say anything bad to him," Kamran assured her mother.

"No, that's not what I mean. I know you wouldn't say anything bad, honey. Just, be careful what you say about your father and don't keep talking about him being lonely, things like that."

"Okay," Kamran said with a shrug. She picked up her tablet from her lap and started to play another game, hoping the time would go by fast and they would soon be at the beach house.

xxxxx

"Ooooh, it's beautiful, isn't it?" Kamran's eyes were shining as Michelle pulled the car up in front of the beach house.

"It's very nice," Michelle said, nodding in agreement, just glad that they had finally arrived. She loved her daughter dearly, but sometimes her nonstop chatter could be a little hard to take.

"Come on, hurry," Kamran urged as she got out of the car. She then squealed when she saw Callen coming out through the front door. "Uncle Callen!" She ran to him and threw her arms around him, giving him an enthusiastic hug. "I missed you so much!"

"I missed you too, Kam," Callen said, returning her hug and then hugging Michelle when she walked up to them. "Hey Michelle, how was the drive?"

"Not too bad," Michelle said with a smile as she looked up at him. "You're looking good, Callen." He appeared to be well rested and it was obvious the fresh air and sunshine were agreeing with him.

"Thanks. I didn't know if you two had lunch? I don't have a heck of a lot as far as food goes unless you want…well, basically junk," he said with a grin.

"Junk sounds good to me," Kamran said, smiling impishly up at him.

"Or we could go out somewhere to eat," Michelle said, shaking her head, unable to hold back a smile of her own.

"And I've got the perfect place to go," Callen said, ushering them towards his car. "It's owned by the woman who rented this house to me."

"A woman rented you this house?" Michelle asked, unable to hide her obvious interest. "Is she nice?"

Callen grinned as he started up his car. "She is…She's really terrific, Michelle. As a matter of fact, I've been going there and seeing her every day, most days, more than once."

"Oh really, well that sounds wonderful," Michelle said, inwardly thinking that perhaps Callen wasn't quite as lonely as her daughter thought he was on this little vacation of his. That explained why he hadn't bothered to get any food in the house.

"Here we are," Callen said, pulling in in front of the restaurant.

"I'm starving," Kamran said as she got out of the car. "Is the food good here?"

"Really good," Callen said, patting his stomach as he and Michelle followed Kamran towards the entrance. "I bet I've put on at least five pounds this week."

"Hi Millie," Callen greeted her as they walked inside.

"Good afternoon, Grisha," she called out to him as she put some food on a table. "You know the drill. Sit wherever you'd like."

"I usually sit over here," Callen said, guiding them over to his favorite spot in the corner. "What?" he asked Michelle with a grin as they sat down.

"You…you knew what I was thinking," she said, shaking her head at him with a mock glare, but she was unable to keep the smile from her face.

"Not my fault you jumped to conclusions," he said, laughing.

"Uncle Callen?" Kamran asked. "She called you Grisha…why did she call you that?"

"Oh," Michelle looked at her daughter and then at Callen. Sam had told her when Callen had discovered his name, but seeing as no one really seemed to use it, they hadn't thought it important to tell Kam or Aiden about it.

"Uh…that's my real first name," Callen said to her.

"It is?" Kamran asked, looking at him with interest. "Why haven't you ever told us that before? So, shouldn't you be Uncle Grisha and not Uncle Callen?"

"Your father and I knew about his name, Kam," Michelle said. "But…" She wasn't really sure why they didn't use it.

"Old habits die hard," Callen said to Michelle, a trace of a smile on his lips. "It would probably be just as weird for me as it would be for you guys if you started to call me Grisha."

"But it's your name," Kamran said, looking somewhat puzzled. "Shouldn't we call you by your real name?"

He shrugged. "You can if you'd like to…you can call me whatever you'd like, Kamran."

"Well…I am used to calling you Uncle Callen," she said thoughtfully, "but I don't know, Uncle Grisha is good too. I'm going to have to think about it."

"Okay, you do that," Callen said, smiling at her.

"So who do we have here?" Millie asked as she approached the table. She'd been watching Grisha since he entered the restaurant and it was very obvious that this woman and her daughter were very important to him. He also appeared happier and more relaxed than she had seen him since he had arrived the previous Saturday.

"Millie, this is my partner's wife, Michelle and her daughter Kamran."

"Nice to meet the two of you," Millie said. "Any friend of Grisha's is a friend of mine. Can I get you something to drink?"

"I'll have a Coke, please," Kamran said.

"Do you have iced tea?" Michelle asked.

"We do."

"Iced tea then, thank you."

"I'm good with water, thanks," Callen said.

"Coming right up. Specials are over there on the blackboard."

"So, what's good here?" Michelle asked as she scanned the menu.

"Pretty much everything," Callen replied. "I haven't had anything here that I haven't liked."

"Millie seems fond of you." Michelle could understand it. Callen had that lost little boy quality which women of all ages seemed to adore.

"She's really great. I'm fond of her too. She…she's been good to talk to."

Michelle nodded, her eyes serious. "I'm glad you found someone to talk to…I'd like to talk to you too, when we get back to the house, if that's okay."

Callen nodded. "Of course, Michelle…whatever you want."

xxxxx

"Sam, we're going out to get some lunch. You want something?" Deeks asked the senior agent. At least Sam seemed somewhat calmer today. He, for one, would be glad when the week was over and Sam's partner was back in the fold. Sam sure was a grouch when things weren't right between him and Callen.

"Where are you going?"

"Betty's?"

"You want to get me a Cobb salad?" Sam asked.

Deeks nodded. "We won't be long."

"Take your time. I'm not going anywhere." It had been a slow day. For that matter, it had been a slow week. They'd mostly been stuck in the office, which had only served to give Sam more time to dwell on what he had done to Callen. Whenever he thought about it, it made him feel sick to his stomach. He just wanted to talk to G so that he could make amends and hopefully get his partner to forgive him. He wondered what his wife and daughter were doing on Kam's day off from school. He picked up his cell phone and pressed his wife's call button.

xxxxx

"I'm going to take this outside," Michelle said softly when her phone began buzzing.

Callen nodded as Michelle quickly got up and walked out to the front of the restaurant. "Hi Sam," she said as she clicked on her cell phone.

"Hi baby." As always, hearing his wife's voice put a smile on Sam's face. "I just called to check on you and baby girl. Are you having a good day?"

"We are…How's your day going?"

Sam looked around the currently abandoned bullpen. "Slow…kind of boring. I'm glad tomorrow's Friday."

"I know it's been a long week for you, but we'll have a nice weekend and then things will get back to normal for you next week."

"I hope so… Anyway, what are you and Kam up to today?"

"It was such a beautiful day, we decided to take a little day trip along the coast." Michelle closed her eyes, silently hoping her husband wasn't in an overly curious mood.

"Oh yeah? Well that sounds nice…" He hesitated and then went on. "So, you're on the coast, you say?"

Michelle sighed softly, knowing he had already figured it out. "Yes, Sam."

Sam took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. "How is he?"

"He seems good, Sam, rested…"

He didn't know what to say. Asking her to tell his partner he was sorry was lame. He needed to say a lot more than that to him. "What time do you think you'll be home?" he asked, unbending a stray paperclip on his desk.

"I'm not sure exactly. Maybe between 7 and 8? I can grab us something to eat somewhere. We'll have a late dinner together."

"Okay. Tell him…tell him I'm looking forward to seeing him on Monday."

"I'll tell him, baby. I love you."

"Love you too… I'll see you tonight."

Michelle walked back into the restaurant. Kamran was engaged in eating a banana split, but Callen met her eyes and gave her a knowing look.

"Sam?" he asked her, his eyes suddenly sad.

She nodded. "He said he's looking forward to seeing you Monday…he really misses you."

"Yeah…I miss him too," Callen said, swallowing against the sudden lump he felt in his throat. He just really hoped they'd be able to sort things out and get their partnership back on track.

xxxxx

After their lunch, the three of them headed back to the beach house. Callen gave Michelle and Kamran a brief tour and then guided them out to the balcony.

"Oh Callen, this is beautiful," Michelle said as she looked out towards the ocean. "I can see why you like this place so much."

"Yeah, I do like it," he agreed with a nod, "It's maybe just a little too quiet at times though. "It would be a great place for you, Sam and the kids to come to. Super reasonable too."

"Mom? Can I go swimming?" Kamran asked. She was leaning against the balcony, gazing out towards the water yearningly.

Michelle looked out at the ocean where the waves were pounding along the sand. "I don't know… those waves look pretty big, Kam," she said nervously.

"I'll go with her," Callen said. "You can just hang out here and relax."

"I'd like to talk to you first," she said, giving him a meaningful look. "Kam, why don't you go inside and change into your bathing suit."

Recognizing her mom wanted to talk to her Uncle Callen alone, Kamran obediently nodded and went into the house.

"So…" Callen said, looking down at the floor of the balcony and then finally meeting Michelle's eyes.

"Oh Callen…I know it probably doesn't help you to hear this from me, but, he's so sorry. I mean, he's totally broken up about this."

Callen sighed and stared out at the water, not really sure of what to say.

Michelle came up beside him and rested her hand on his lower back. "This is not an excuse, because I don't believe he should be excused for what he did, but…the morning we came home, he hadn't slept, he had a really bad headache and he was just a bear. Like I said, I know it doesn't excuse him, but maybe it helps to explain, just a little bit, why he was in such a miserable state of mind and ended up taking it out on you."

He nodded, still not saying anything.

"Anyway…I want you to know how grateful we are for what you did for our daughter when she was sick. I know it was not an easy week for you. You took such good care of her and made sure she was as happy and secure as she possibly could have been under the circumstances. She loves you a lot…we all do…"

"It wasn't that difficult a week," he said. "You know how I feel about Kamran, Michelle. It certainly wasn't a hardship to take care of her."

"Even so…"

"No." He turned and looked at Michelle, meeting her eyes. "For a really long time, I've thought of you guys as family. You took care of me when I was recovering from being shot…and after the Spiral virus. If anything I owed you."

"Family members don't owe each other, Callen," Michelle said gently. "Family just does what they need to do for each other, because they love them. It's part of what makes a family."

Callen shook his head sadly. "But I'm not your family, Michelle…not really…"

"Don't," Michelle said fervently. "Don't let a few foolish words by my husband make you feel like this, Callen, words I know he did not mean. Please don't. And when he talks to you next week, please don't put up walls. Please let him in and at least let him try to make this up to you. I know for a fact that this partnership he has with you…this friendship… is one of the most important things in his life. Families are more than who we are born to. They are also made up of people we meet along the course of our lives and those are often the most important, as they are of our choosing, not by chance."

"Can we go now?" Kamran asked as she came running out onto the balcony.

"Yes," Callen turned away from Michelle and smiled at Kamran. "Let me go changed really quick and we'll head down there." He then hurried into the house leaving Michelle to wonder if her words had had any impact at all on him.

xxxxx

Michelle watched, smiling to herself as Kamran frolicked in the water with Callen. She could see he was always diligent, watching the waves. Whenever one was coming in that appeared as if it might be too big for Kamran to handle, he held onto her tightly. She totally trusted her daughter in his care and she knew Sam did too. Her husband just needed to convince Callen of that.

xxxxx

The remainder of the afternoon flew by quickly. Finally, at 5:30, Michelle deemed it was time to go. "Come on, Kam. We need to get home before it gets too late. Tomorrow's a school day."

"Aww…Do we have to go now?" Kamran pleaded. "Can't we stay just a little bit longer? Pleeease."

"Kam, your mom was nice enough to drive you all the way out here to see me," Callen said. "You probably shouldn't repay her by giving her a hard time."

Kam sighed heavily but nodded. "I'm sorry, mom," she said.

"It's okay, baby."

Callen walked them outside to their car. He couldn't help but feel a little bit bereft at the thought of them leaving. He knew he was being silly though. It wasn't like he wouldn't see them again. "Oh, I forgot, I have something for you, Kamran," he said, when they reached the car. "I'll be right back."

He ran into the house and came back a couple minutes later and handed Kamran a small gift box. "Oh thank you," she said, taking it from him. "What is it?"

"Well, it might be just me," Callen said with a smile, "but I think you can open it and find out."

Kamran grinned up at him and turned her attention to the box, opening it carefully. "Ooooh, it's so pretty," she said, taking out the delicate silver bracelet with various kinds of blue beads and a silver heart that said niece on it. "I love it. Thank you so much." She threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly. "I love you, Uncle Callen."

"I love you too, Kam," he said as he kissed the top of her head. "I'll see you really soon, okay?"

She nodded and gave him an emotional smile. "Thank you again for the bracelet. I'll wear it every day and think of you."

"Kam, sweetie. You're going to see him again, I promise," Michelle said. The whole scene was making her feel all emotional as well. She almost felt like some kind of a villain, leaving Callen here by himself, which was ridiculous because it had been his choice to come here. "Come on. We have to go."

Kamran gave Callen one more hug and then Michelle hugged him as well. "Please think about what I said," she whispered to him.

He nodded, his blue eyes serious. "I will… Drive carefully."

With that, Michelle and Kamran got into the car and headed off as Callen waved and then watched them until they were out of sight.