Thank you for reading and for the wonderful reviews.

Growth

Chapter 10

Sam reached over and pulled G into his arms. "You okay?"

G jerked in his lover's arms. "Let go of me."

"Nightmare again."

"I didn't."

"You did."

"Damn." G sighed.

"Talking in your sleep."

"I hope it was unintelligible."

"Nope." Sam released him. "Care to talk about it, I'm here to listen."

"Not my first choice," G said, "but you'll make me tell you anyhow. I left out important details."

"I'll bet you did."

G sat on the side of the bed. "One little detail."

"You said details."

"So I did." He leaned over and pressed his head into his hands, massaging his temples with his thumbs and forefingers. "Someone entered my home."

Sam sat up. "When?"

"Before everything happened with you and me," G said, wiping wetness from his eyes.

Sam drew his lover back into his arms, pulling him close to his body. "It's okay."

"You still want me?"

"What? Seriously?"

"I want to make sure."

"Yes, of course."

"No matter what," G asked, testing his partner further.

"Promise."

"They… I don't remember… how I got home… it was after the shopping incident," G said. "It was the last thing I remember, and then I was home… in my bed waking up. Strangest thing."

"The shopping incident?"

"You know the survey taker."

"Ah, yes, how could I forget your lack of love for surveyors."

"You don't like clowns, and I don't like surveyors." G smirked.

"Any type of surveyor?"

"Just the ones with lists of questions, demanding answers." G laughed. "All clowns?"

"Birthday party clowns are my worst fear."

"Remind me not to dress up in that clown suit I purchased to surprise you on your next birthday."

Sam chuckled. "You dress up in a clown suit? About as probable as you answering another survey."

G sighed. "Where's a pillow when you need one?"

"I've got several under me," Sam said. "Want one?"

"Back to my story."

"Switch and bait."

"You really want me to throw a pillow at you?" G sighed. He didn't expect his partner to answer the question. "Here's the details about what occurred at the store."

"You certain you want to share them?"

G shot his partner a look. "Okay, I'm avoiding as usual."

"I'd call more than avoidance. More like refusal to talk about it," Sam said.

"Okay, true again."

"If you want more sex…."

"I know. You don't need to remind me, Mr. Briber. I was at the store, no, coming out of the grocery store. And a guy motioned me over to this table. He had a questionnaire in his hand. He spoke with a low voice, and I leaned in to hear him. At the same moment, I felt something prick me on the side of my neck."

"Show me where."

G pointed to a spot on the right side of his neck.

Sam pushed his lover's finger aside and examined the spot.

"I checked it in the mirror and found nothing there."

He kissed the spot. "There's a tiny scar."

"What?!" G slid his hand back to feel the spot again.

Sam kissed it. "I can feel it." He nuzzled G's neck again. "A slightly elevated bleb."

"I didn't imagine it."

Sam grabbed his cellphone off the nightstand and autodialed his Operations Manager.

"What are you doing?" G asked.

"Calling Hetty."

G reached for the cellphone. "No."

"Have something you want to say to her?" Sam offered him the cellphone.

He pushed it away. "Damn."

"I'll call you back in a moment." Sam disconnected the cellphone. "What's this about?"

G sighed. "You calling her now in the middle of our talk."

"She needs to know. Director Vance needs to know about this." He wrestled his partner into a solid hold until their eyes met.

"On my terms."

"Seriously?" Sam tightened his hold.

"Your terms?" G squeaked out his answer, as if his partner had pushed all the air out of his lungs.

"Good." He autodialed Hetty's number again, and briefly told her about G's memory.

"Not so tight," he said, "remember, I'm pregnant."

Sam ended the call. "Is that your excuse?"

"If it works."

He licked and sucked on his lover's neck.

G shivered. "It works."

"She'll be here in five minutes."

"Here? No!"

"She needs more details." Sam released him.

G pulled away from his partner and sat upright. "I'm not in the mood to talk, especially to her."

"I noticed." Sam slid behind his lover, wrapping his legs around him. "Let's dress in our bathrobes."

They climbed off the bed and got ready for their Operations Manager's visit.

At the moment Sam and G settled onto the sofa, Hetty let herself into their home. She sat in a recliner next them. The chocolate brown leather chair was one of a pair G purchased two weeks ago.

"Mr. Callen," Hetty said, "tell me more."

He sighed. "Nothing more."

"What? Come on G."

He stood and strode over to the front windows. "I don't remember anything after that, except waking up in my own bed." Well, that wasn't exactly true though. No bed, yet. He remembered waking up in his closet, cold and shivering.

"That's all?" she asked.

G stared out his new wooden blinds into the front yard. Dark. The same as it was when he was kidnapped in the grocery store's parking lot. "And hurting," G whispered, tightening his bathrobe around him.

Sam came along side him, placing an arm around his lover's shoulders. "Why didn't you—"

"They used some kind of instrument on me. It's a vague memory. Pain upon awakening. Feeling weak. After that the strange urges to purchase things began… and I followed through with them all. Damn."

Sam lowered his voice. "They, whoever they were, created fertile ground inside you."

"I guess," G said.

"I'm certain."

"I agree, Mr. Callen," Hetty said, walking past them and grasping the front door's doorknob. "And I'll get Mr. Beale and Mr. Jones on this right away. We need to find your kidnappers ASAP." She slipped out the door before her lead agent had time to reply.

#

G shot straight up in bed and screamed and grasped his abdomen. It was another nightmare, an all too real one. He remembered the moment he found himself back in his house after the kidnapping. Everything had hurt, inside and outside his body.

Sam smoothed his hand down his lover's lightly tanned back. "You okay?"

"I know more about what happened."

"Another nightmare."

"One in particular," G said, lying back and turning toward his lover. "Everything hurt."

"Either they did more than you remember or you fought them."

He squeezed his eyes shut to blot out the memory. "Hold me. Tight." G saw himself examining his body before the bathroom mirror. He lightly stroked his fingers over black and purple marks. Even that caused him to cry out. "Maybe I fought them." The following days at work he complained about feeling like he was coming down with a cold. Any excuse necessary which kept him off field work and at his desk. He winced when his partner patted him on the back. G stifled a scream each time.

"Let's see, seven months ago, I remember that day and that week. You acted strange. You flinched when I touched you."

"Yes."

"Being coy."

"As usual," G said.

"Something you excel at."

"I was covered in bruises."

"Obviously their experiments entailed things we're not knowledgeable about."

G pulled away and looked up and winked at him. "You think so."

Sam drew him back into his side. "I think someone feels better after talking about this."

"With you by my side."

"You know what day it is?"

"No."

Sam slid his hand under his pillow and pulled a box out from under it. "Father's Day." He opened the dark blue velvet box. It was from his favorite jewelers, Gearys in Beverly Hills. Sam presented it to his lover.

G's jaw dropped open. "For… me?" He reached out his hand and stroked a single gold band with one finger. "I'm not a father."

"Yet," Sam said, "G. Callen, will you marry me?"

"Sam!" He gazed into his lover's eyes. "Seriously?"

"Yes, my wife, well, ex-wife, excelerated our divorce proceedings for me, us." He removed the ring from its box.

G held out his left hand.

Sam took it and placed the ring on his lover's ring finger.

"Yes, of course, yes."

He tossed the box aside and turned his lover to face him. "Happy Father's Day."

"When are we going to get married?"

"Before the baby is born." Sam patted G's abdomen.

"I'd like that." G leaned into Sam and kissed him, wrapping both arms around his neck. "Make love to me."

"One more surprise." Sam took a dark chocolate brown box from the nightstand's drawer and gave it to his partner. "From you to me. I ordered them at the same time and thought you'd appreciate double rings."

"Thank you. I do." G opened the box, lifted out a matching gold band, and asked, "Will you, Sam Hanna, marry me?"

"Yes."

He placed the ring on his lover's outstretched left hand's ring finger. "Perfect."

"I thought we'd choose the weddings rings together," Sam said.

"You've got great taste, surprise me."

"I've got a picture on my cellphone."

"No, a complete surprise, like this was," G said.

"Okay."

G's eyes glistened with moisture.

Sam lifted his lover's chin. "You okay?"

"Feeling something I haven't felt in… well, ever; loved, charished, and honored. Thank you."

Sam cupped G's face with both hands and planted a passionate kiss on his mouth. "Me too."

"I want to snuggle for a while," G said.

"The nightmare?"

"Something strange about it." He grasped his abdomen again.

"You okay?"

"Break through cramps again."

"They occurred when you first awakened."

"Too observant," G said.

"Calling the doctor." Sam grabbed his cellphone and autodialed the doctor's number. "He'll be here in five minutes."

"Here? Damn. We need to get dressed."

"No, you stay naked." Sam chuckled.

"Very funny."

"Seriously, stay here. Need anything besides me?"

"Nope." G wrapped his arms around his lover's neck and drew him down into a passionate kiss. "Only you." He released him. "Come back soon." G turned to his side and curled into a fetal position, grasping and then alternating with massaging his abdomen. His breaths came in hard pants, even though he attempted to control them, breathlessness followed.

Sam reentered the bedroom and pulled the comforter over his partner and sat behind his curled form. He smoothed his hand down his lover's head to his lower back. "Anything I can do to make it better?"

"Just being here is enough for now."

Sam kissed his head and felt his partner's shudders. "I love you."

"Cuddle with me."

"After your doctor comes and goes."

"Need it now, please."

Sam slid into bed behind him, wrapping his arms around his lover's waist.

G pressed his body backward into him. "Feels so good and warm." He sighed.

Dr. Markus entered the bedroom. "Look as if you've got this under control."

G winced and stifled a moan.

"I guess not. Turn over on your back." The doctor brought out ultrasound equipment, pulled down the comforter to expose his patient's abdominal area, and squirted gel onto the area. He pressed the wand over the gel, covering the entire abdomen with it. "This isn't possible." Dr. Markus repositioned the wand and scanned the area again. "If I didn't see it with my own eyes… your baby has grown beyond my expectations."

"How much are we talking about?" Sam asked.

"It wouldn't occur in a normal pregnancy."

"Nothing about me being pregnant is normal," G said.

"True," Dr. Markus said, "I'd say you're about three to four months along, and you should be about one to two months. Doesn't make sense yet the scan can't lie about the size of the embryo, well, now it's a fetus. Must be the recent contractions. Maybe I should increase that dose of relaxant."

"Maybe I'm supposed to grow this fast."

Sam eyed his partner.

"There's something I've left out of the equation."

"Now you're telling us?" Sam asked.

"I planned to tell you, but I chickened out."

Sam looked him over as if searching for something. "I don't see any feathers."

"Very funny," G said. "I'm afraid you won't believe me. Even now."

Sam leaned against the head board and patted his side. G crawled over to him, pulling the comforter with him. Sam wrapped him in it. Dr. Markus sat at the foot of the bed.

"Something has happened in my, our house. I thought it was a nightmare until now."

"Finding the bleb on your neck changed your mind?" Sam asked.

"Yes," G said, "with the sensation, or whatever you want to call it, that something occurred grew within me."

"Whatever are you talking about? You're not making sense," Sam said.

"Hard to articulate." He snuggled closer to his lover, shuddering. "Someone's been here. Something's different."

"You mean since the first time you mentioned?" Sam asked.

"Yes."

"I believe you, Mr. Callen, because of the sudden changes in the baby's growth."

"What if it's growing too fast, and I'm aging too fast along with it?" G flashed back to the grotesque men and babies in the morgue. He shivered hard and buried his face in his partner's enrobed chest.

"I know about the bodies at the morgue," Dr. Markus said. "As far as I have determined, your baby displays no deformities."

"That's a relief."

"And you haven't rapidly aged," Sam said. "You haven't asked me for a cane."

G laughed. "Where's pillow when you need one?"

"Several under me if you need them. I think a thorough spring cleaning is a great idea." Sam grinned wide.

"I'm glad you didn't say there was a cane there too," G smirked. "Only one problem, it's not Spring."

"And I want to test your blood, hair, skin cells, sweat, semen, and urine," Dr. Markus said.

"Now that's a thorough spring cleaning," G said, smirking.

"I suspect some type of drugs," the doctor said.

G shivered again and wrapped his arms around his lover. "Hold me tight."

"I'll notify Ms. Lange," he said. "I'd like to set up testing in your living room."

Sam tightened his grip around his lover. "Sounds okay."

With a cellphone held up to his left ear, Dr. Markus left their bedroom.

"Time for a quickie," Sam said, winking at his partner.

"We think alike," G said. "It'll decrease these contractions."

"Always thinking with your stomach." Sam chuckled and slipped out of bed. After locking the bedroom door, he jumped onto the bed and wrestled his partner into position.

"Aggressive."

"I need you, now."

"Go for it big guy," G said.

Sam chuckled and kissed G. "I'm glad we're on the same page."

G laughed. He wrapped his arms around his lover's neck and drew him down into a passionate kiss. "I'm past that page and onto the next chapter."