Lori got up from the couch as fast as she could and walked upstairs.
"G? Are you okay?" Lori asked concerned as she walked into the room.
"Yeah I'm okay. I thought I had the crib put together but as I moved it, it fell apart."
"It is broken?"
"No, I think I can put it together again."
"Okay, do you need some help?"
"No, I've got it."
"Okay."
Lori walked out of the room and went to the girls' room. Luckily there were both still asleep. Lori went back down to watch some TV and a little later Callen joined her.
"Is the crib put together?'
"Yes it is."
"Okay good."
…
A few days later Callen had managed to finish the room. It looked beautiful. The two cribs had been placed next to each other with the closed long side against the long wall. The changing tables stood on either side of the cribs. The two rocking chairs had been placed in the opposite corner next to the window. The two closets stood next to each other against the other long wall. The decorations they had bought hang on several places on the walls. It was perfect for the two little boys. The stuff they had bought already had been placed in the closet or changing table. Both Callen and Lori couldn't wait to see there little babies in here but it was still a few months away before the babies would be here. Everything at home was however ready for their arrival. Callen and Lori had talked names already but they still hadn't decided which ones to go with.
Callen lay awake in bed that night with Lori snuggled against him and Callen couldn't help but think back at the significant things in their relationship.
Callen hoped this time everything would go alright this time. He remember how scared he was when Myra and Julie were born.
..
"How far along is she?" The doctor asked.
"34 weeks," Callen answered.
"Any problems before with the pregnancy?"
"She had a couple of panic attacks that caused cramps but never like this. Please help her."
"Sir, we're gonna everything we can to help her and her babies. She's in good hands here."
Callen watched as the medical staff started to work on Lori, hooking her up to a lot of different machines.
"Call upstairs, tell OB and the OR we're coming up," the doctor called.
"What's going on?" Callen asked panicked.
"The babies are in distress, we have to perform an emergency C-section."
"What?! What's going on?"
"Stay calm sir, we're gonna do everything we can to make sure all 3 of them are okay."
"Stay calm?! She's only 34 weeks, it's too early."
"I understand sir, but if we don't do something soon we could lose all three of them."
..
Callen remembered how hard it was to sit there in the waiting room waiting for any update on Lori and their babies. It had been hard with the babies in the NICU but luckily they were doing very well. Callen remembered seeing his babies for the first time. It was a magical moment.
..
He couldn't believe that this were his little girls. He looked at their cribs and he saw two dark blond haired and blue eyed babies staring back at him. They looked so beautiful.
"Can I…?" Callen asked as he held his hand above their cribs.
"Sure."
Callen ran his fingers over their little cheeks and the babies smiled back at him.
"Hey there, I'm your daddy," Callen said and he moved down to kiss their little hands.
"This is Nurse Debbie, she'll be taking care of your kids here. I have to go back down, I'll let you know when your fiancé is out of surgery," the nurse told him.
"Thank you."
"They are very cute G," Sam stated.
"Yeah they really are adorable," Callen replied and Sam didn't miss the emotion spreading across his partners face. Normally his partner was very good at hiding his emotions, but not right now. Sam saw happiness on Callen's face while Callen looked at his daughters and he thought he could see tears forming in Callen's eyes.
..
Callen was so happy that his little girls and Lori were doing so well. He really hoped everything would be fine this time around. There was, of course, always a chance of something going wrong but Callen tried not to think about that too much.
They had been through so much already with Lori get pregnant out of the blue. Since Lori was pregnant everything happened at super speed after that. They were living together in no time and Callen had asked Lori to marry him. They had planned the wedding before the babies were born but Lori got a nervous breakdown so they agreed it was better to wait until the babies were born. That was better. Callen remembered their wedding day perfectly. Lori had looked so beautiful in her wedding dress and so did their little girls.
..
At 2 o'clock sharp the music started playing. First Sam and Michelle's daughter walked down the aisle throwing flowers and then Michelle, Lori's sister, Nell and Kensi walked down the aisle. Michelle and Lori's sister walked with Myra and Julie. Callen smiled as he saw his two little girls walking down the aisle, they could walk by someone's hand now. Myra and Julie were both dressed in a soft yellow summer dress with white flowers on it. The bridesmaids wore a yellow dress at knee length with one strap that was made out of flowers and it had a soft yellow strap around the middle. Callen figured that Lori would be wearing something with yellow as well. As soon as Myra and Julie saw Callen they wanted to go to him.
"Hey my little girls," Callen said as he crouched down and he gave both girls a hug and a kiss. "Go sit with your aunts, okay."
Michelle and Lori's sister sat down with the girls on their laps. The music played a different tune and everybody stood up. Callen watched with excitement, wondering how Lori would look. Lori stood at the beginning of the aisle and saw Callen standing at the end. He looked so handsome on his black suit with white shirt and yellow neck tie and with a yellow tissue coming out of his jacket pocket. Lori smiled as she saw Callen and Callen smiled back at her. She looked so beautiful in her wedding dress. She wore a full length strapless wedding dress. The dress was white. The top was covered with a vine with yellow flowers. The top of the bottom was covered with shine through white fabric with the same flowers as on the top.
Callen watched her with a smile as she walked down the aisle. Her dad walked her down the aisle and gave her a kiss on her cheek before handing her to Callen.
"You look beautiful," Callen told her and he gave her a quick kiss on her cheek.
"You look very handsome too."
..
Their wedding day had been absolutely perfect. Callen looked over to his nightstand were one of their wedding pictures stood. Him and Lori together with their two little girls. Lori was holding Myra and Callen was holding Julie and they were both giving the girls a kiss on their heads. His family was just perfect, he loved having his three girls around and in a few months they would have two little boys in their family too. Callen wondered what it would be like with two sets of twins. It would be hard work but Callen was sure he and Lori would be able to manage it. He wondered how Myra and Julie would be around the two new little babies. They were used to having all their parents' attention but they would have to share the attention with their two new little brothers. It would be getting a little used to for Myra and Julie.
Callen couldn't wait to meet their two new little boys. Callen pulled Lori closer to him and gave her a soft kiss on her head before he fell asleep as well.
…
That Saturday Callen and Lori decided to take Myra and Julie to the zoo. Callen loaded the strollers into the car as Lori got the girls in their car seat. Callen got in the driver's seat as Lori got in the passenger seat.
"ZOO!" Myra and Julie squealed when they pulled up into the zoo parking lot.
Once the girls were in their stroller they walked to the register and bought the tickets. Callen pushed Myra's stroller and Lori pushed Julie's stroller. The girls loved the zoo. They loved to watch the monkeys play and swing around their habitat.
First they went to the Winnick family Children's zoo. Here Myra and Julie could see some smaller animals up close. They got a change to pet a few.
At the otter exhibit you could see a part under water. Just as they were there an otter was swimming in front of the window. Myra saw it and she pointed to the window.
"Yeah, that's an otter," Callen told her.
After having some lunch they walked to the Chimpanzee exhibit. There was a show there at 1.30pm. Myra and Julie really had a good time.
"Big," Julie spoke when they were at the elephant exhibit.
"Yeah they are very big," Lori replied. "Can you do an elephant?"
Both Julie and Myra made a trunk with their arms. Myra and Julie had to laugh as they watched the hippos role around in the mud.
"Look Myra, Julie, do you see that kangaroo? What does the kangaroo have?"
"Baby!" Julie yelled as she pointed to the belly.
"Just like mommy," Myra stated.
"Yeah just like mommy."
They stayed at the zoo a little longer before going home. Myra and Julie were so tired that they fell asleep on the ride home. Once home Callen and Lori picked the girls out of their car seats and placed them in their cribs so they could sleep a little more. Once they girls were in bed Callen got their things from the car.
"They had fun today," Lori stated.
"Yeah, they love the zoo. It's so cute to see a smile on their little faces."
"Yeah it totally is."
"It was not too much for you?" Callen asked as they sat down on the couch.
"No, it's okay."
"Good." Callen bent down and placed a kiss on her stomach. "Daddy loves you. Daddy can't wait to meet you two. I know you're gonna be so cute."
Callen placed his hand on her stomach and smiled when he felt the babies move underneath his hand. Lori loved it when Callen paid attention to her stomach. He was such a sweet daddy. The boys would just love him. Lori couldn't wait to meet them and maybe dress them up in matching outfits. They would look so cute together.
….
The agents had just arrived at the office for the day when Eric whistled them up.
"What do we have Eric?" Callen asked as they walked into OPS.
"Hostage situation at the naval recruitment center," Eric told them.
"What do we know?"
"Not much at this moment. LAPD is on the scene along with the media," Eric spoke as he played footage from the camera news crew.
"So far there has been no news on who the hostage taker is or how many hostages are inside the office," the reporter spoke. "All we know is that around 9am this morning an armed man walked into the office. The hostage taker has not shown himself. The only thing we can see is two hostages in front of the window, hands bound together."
"Do we have any footage of the man walking up to the office?" Callen asked.
"The camera at the front door caught him," Eric explained and he put the footage onto the screen. "But as you can see the man was wearing a mask before he shot out the camera."
"Any cameras on the inside?" Lori asked.
"No, not that I can access."
"Alright," Callen started. "We'll go on scene. See what we can find out. Lori, work with Nell and Eric, see if you can find out anything who this guy is."
With everyone knowing what to do they went to work. Lori sat behind the computer and started looking for anything that might help. Eric went to search the cameras in the area to see if the caught the guy, Nell went to look into the persons that worked at the recruitment center and Lori looked for information to see if someone had it out for the navy or if they claimed the hostage situation.
Twenty minutes later the four agents were at the scene. They walked up to the LAPD officers.
"NCIS, anything known about the hostage taker?" Callen asked as he showed his badge.
"Nothing so far. The guy hasn't shown himself and we haven't gotten any demands yet. Has your office found anything about who this guy is?"
"No, not yet. They are still looking."
"My men are looking for a way in but he has rigged the doors with explosives, if we breach the whole building could collapse."
Callen looked at the building. "What about the roof?"
"We haven't been able to find access onto the roof from the outside."
Callen called Eric.
"Yeah Callen," Eric answered the phone.
"Eric can you find any access onto the roof?"
"I will check…. I can't find any ladders but there is a small alleyway behind the recruitment center."
"Alright, thanks Eric."
Sam and Callen went to the alleyway as Kensi and Deeks stayed with LAPD to see if they couldn't find out something more. Callen and Sam walked into the alleyway. There was a ladder on the building but it was two stories up. There was however a ladder in the alleyway on the building behind the recruitment center but it was a bit up in the air as well.
"Give me a lift," Callen spoke to Sam.
Sam boosted Callen up who grabbed hold of the ladder and pulled himself up. He climbed up until he reached the ladder on the other side.
"Don't fall," Sam called up.
"I've got you to catch me," Callen joked down.
Carefully Callen reached across to the other ladder. He grabbed it with one hand and put one foot on it before he pulled the other hand and foot across. Callen climbed up until he reached the roof. Callen peaked above the wall but it appeared to be clear. Callen climbed onto the roof and walked towards the door. He checked if it wasn't wired with explosives before he opened it.
"I'm in," Callen spoke over the com.
Gun drawn Callen walked down the stairs. Once he reached the bottom floor he carefully peaked around the corner. The man wasn't wearing his mask anymore. When the man had his face in the direction Callen was Callen quickly snapped a picture and sent it to Eric.
"Eric, I've send you a picture of the hostage taker without his mask on. There are ten people inside. I'm not sure which are personnel and which are visitors. They appear to be alright so far."
"Copy that Callen."
Callen looked at the back door to see if he could disable the bomb.
"I can't deactivate the bomb on the back door. He must have a device with him."
When the man wasn't looking in Callen's direction Callen crawled closer, hiding behind a large desk. Callen saw a gun holster underneath the desk but the gun was missing. The hostage taker had probably taken it out. Callen stashed his gun in there. It was almost a perfect fit but it would hold for how. Callen turned the sound down of his phone and stashed it underneath some papers on the desk when the man looked the other way. While the man was still looking the other way Callen crawled back out towards the stairs. Pretending not to know what was going on Callen walked into the main room.
"Jennifer, can you take a look at this for me," Callen spoke as he walked into the hall without really looking around. Then he saw the man with the gun. "Wow, what's going on?! Who are you?"
"Who are you? How did you get in here?"
"I work here."
"I checked the entire office. I didn't see you before."
"I was upstairs but I was in the file room. It's locked off from the outside."
"Get over here!"
"Please don't shoot me."
"Sit! Over there!"
Callen did as he was told. When the man turned away he looked around to make sure everyone else was alright. The phone was ringing and Callen knew that was LAPD. Finally after it rang for the fifth time the man picked up.
"What?!" He yelled into the phone.
While the man was on the phone Callen turned towards the hostages.
"I'm a federal agent, everything is gonna be alright," Callen softly spoke to the others.
A little later Callen heard Sam's voice over the com.
"G, cough if you can hear me," Sam spoke and Called coughed. "Eric just called. They found out the man's name is Peter Brown. Yesterday he applied for the Navy at this office but he was rejected. I guess he didn't like their answer. We can't breach until we've found a way to disable the bombs. Can you maybe find a way to disable them? Have you seen the device? Cough once for yes, twice for no."
Callen looked around. The man was holding the device in his hand. There was no way he could get it off safely so Callen coughed twice. Callen could see that the man was getting agitated. The police called again and Callen saw he had put the device on the desk. This was maybe the change to get it. Callen was sitting next to one of the sailors.
"Sailor, can I count on your help?" Callen whispered.
"Of course. What can I do?"
"See that device he just put on the desk?" The man nodded. "That's probably the device to shut down the bombs. I will distract him and you can get the device and shot the bombs off."
"Okay, do you think it'll work?"
"Yes of course."
"Oorah sir, I'm in."
As soon as the man put the phone down Callen walked over to him, before he had a change to grab the device again.
"What do you want?! I told you to sit down!"
"I just wanna know when we can get out of here. You can't keep us in here forever. There's a pregnant woman in here, at least let her go."
"Sit your ass back down! Before I blow a hole in your head!" Peter yelled at Callen as he placed his gun in his face.
Callen saw that the sailor had grabbed hold of the device and he appeared to have it turned off. Callen waited until the sailor was back down before he sat down again.
"Sam, now!" Callen softly spoke through the com.
Sam, Kensi, Deeks and some SWAT officers made their way over to the doors. Just before one of the SWAT members wanted to open the door Sam stopped him.
"Wait! The bomb is still armed! Do not open the door!"
SWAT quickly spoke it in their earpieces so the men at the back door could hear it but it was too late. They heard and felt the bomb at the back door go off.
