DISCLAIMER: I do not own the rights to the NCIS:LA characters, I'm only borrowing them.
Thank you all so much for the reviews. I greatly appreciate your feedback and I love your reactions! Hope you enjoy this chapter as well!
Callen wanted to scream, run. Less than twenty-four hours ago, he woke up next to her. Please God, don't let it end like this; the thought to himself. All eyes were on him, he could feel their stares. Finally, he looked around at them with tears in his eyes and shook his head. His mind immediately replayed the events in Portland. Trying on rings, the dinner out, making love and the look on her face as his plane pulled away from the gate. He never imagined this last weekend would be the last time he ever saw her. Suddenly nauseous, Callen leaned forward and grabbed the nearest trash can, then rested his head in his hands.
Kensi looked at Deeks and shook her head. In spite of Hetty standing there, he reached out for her and pulled her to him. Instinctively, she wrapped her arms around him. She and Katy had grown so close in the first three months they'd known one another and truly thought Katy to be one of her best friends. Deeks gently rocked her back and forth stroking her hair.
Hetty heart sank to her feet. "Ms. Jones would you please go to my desk and pull her flight itinerary from under the desk pad and bring it to me?"
Nell nodded and quickly ran over to her desk, returning with the paperwork and handed it to Hetty. She pulled her phone from her pocket and dialed the toll free number the station was scrolling across the screen. The number was busy, frustrated, she slammed her phone closed and continued to watch the new broadcast, Callen and Kensi.
Katy woke to frantic banging on her hotel room door. Falling out of bed to as she rushed over to the door, she opened it still on her knees. Cassidy had a horrible look on her face and rushed into the room and over to the TV, turning it on.
"I've been trying to call my parents since I saw the report the first time. I can't get a call out and I'm guessing no one can get a call to us. I pray to God Callen's not seeing this. I can't even imagine how worried he is." She said as she sat on the edge of the bed.
Katy backed herself to the nightstand and grabbed her phone. Without even looking at the keypad, she dialed Callen's number and got a busy signal. "Christ, have you tried calling on the hotel line?"
"Yes, the lines in the hotel are dead; apparently the crash took out one of the telecommunications stations that serve this part of Moscow. The hotel is also running on a back-up generator." Cassidy told her as there was another frantic knock on the door.
Katy walked to the door and opened it. "Please tell me Cassidy's in here. She left my room so fast." Michael said.
Katy smiled briefly at him then turned her attention back to the TV. "Yeah, come on in." she said.
She tried calling the Ops number and got a busy signal. Katy could only imagine what was taking place in the bullpen at that moment. It was just after seven in the evening in Moscow, making it after eight in the morning in LA. Katy tried to send a text, but it was returned as a network failure. She sat back on the bed her focus drifting between the new and everyone in LA. This was a nightmare. Not only were they unable to let everyone know that they were alright, but they were also unable to work. Within a few minutes the rest of the guys were sitting in her room with them.
"We can't work this case without Nell and Eric." Michael said.
Katy just nodded in agreement. "I don't think we're going to be able to get a flight out to St. Petersburg either."
"When was the last time you tried to call the LA or DC office?" Carson asked.
With her phone in her hand, she dialed Callen's number again.
Hetty tried the eight hundred number again and it rang. The woman who answered asked if she could put Hetty on hold. Just as Hetty was about to answer the line went silent. Fifteen minutes later when someone else came back on the line, Hetty yelled into the phone.
"If I get put on hold one more time, I will reach through that phone and drag out through to my end and let my employees have their way with you." She said.
"I'm so sorry Ma'am; I'm sure as you can imagine we've been bombarded with calls from concerned family members. As of right now, we have absolutely no information to pass on to the families. All I can tell you is that the flight originated from Seattle yesterday morning." She said.
"That's not good enough. Listen to me and listen good. My name is Henrietta Lange; I work for NCIS; Naval Criminal Investigative Service. A group of agents under my charge were scheduled to fly from Seattle to Moscow on flight 2495 yesterday at eleven thirty. I need to know as soon as there's any information." Hetty told her.
"Ma'am, I'm sorry, the best I can do is take your name and number and hope that one of the managers can call you." She said.
"That would be fine." Hetty told her and gave her the number for her office. She spoke to the woman for a few more minutes, giving her the seven names of the passengers she needed information on and hung up. "One of the managers will call when any information is released."
Callen looked up at her pale and washed out. He stood and nearly fell over again, but Sam was there to catch his arm. Kensi walked over to him and hugged him. "They're going to be fine. They have to, right?"
"I don't know Kens." He said and walked out of the bullpen. There was no place in particular he was headed, he just walked and found himself climbing the stairs to the roof. It was a cool morning, making him almost wish he'd brought a jacket with him. Walking to the edge of the building, he leaned against the railing and looked into thin air. He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and prayed to God it was Katy.
It wasn't Katy, but he answered it anyway. "Please tell me you've heard from Katy?" Gibbs said.
"No, we've tried all of the team's numbers and got nothing." Callen told him emotionless.
Gibbs sighed. Callen could hear voices in the background and knew his team and or Director Vance were standing around him waiting for answers. "I'll call you back in a few minutes." Gibbs said and hung up.
He looked at his phone and the GPS symbol in the top right hand corner. A hopeful smile crossed his lips as he ran back down the stairs and into the bullpen. "What about tracking them through the GPS?"
"Well, they reports are saying that the plane took out a telecommunications tower at the edge of the runway. But I can try it." Nell said and headed back up stairs.
Katy punched the call end button and wanted to throw her phone. Tears stung her eyes at the thought of the agony Callen must be going through. She brought up the photo album on her phone and scrolled through the pictures they'd taken of themselves over the weekend and smiled as a tear rolled down her cheek.
"Katy, I'm sure he's going out of his mind, but he'll be able to keep it together." Jason told her.
"I know I just really want to hear his voice right now so I know he's ok." She said.
Jason grabbed one of the pillows and sat next to her at the head of the bed. "I need a drink, anyone else game?" He asked after a few minutes of awkward silence.
"Hell yes." Katy said. Grabbing some clothes off the dresser and going into the bathroom.
Everyone else was still dressed; Katy had been the only one who'd gone to bed already. When she walked out of the bathroom, they went down to the bar in the lobby. Everywhere you looked, people were trying to dial their phones. There was a distinguished looking older man in the corner of the bar talking on the phone. Katy walked over to him and put a hundred dollar bill on the table. He looked up and scoffed at her she took out a wad of cash and flashed it at him.
"Hey Tony, I just wanted to let you know I was okay, some woman's offering me cash to use the satellite phone." He said and immediately disconnected the call.
"Two hundred." He said.
"Two fifty if you let my friends use it too. We just need to call our families to let them know we're all okay." She told him.
"Three hundred." He said and Katy pulled two more hundreds and a fifty out of the wad and handed it to him. "Wow, you must really want to use the phone. I said three hundred, but thank you."
Katy smiled. "No, seriously thank you." She said taking the phone and dialing Callen's number.
He was sitting back at his desk in the bullpen trying in vain not to watch the news when his phone rang. Without looking at the number calling, he answered it.
"We're fine, all of us. That wasn't our flight." She said quickly.
He let out a ragged breath and rubbed his free hand down his face. "Thank God." He said waving to the others. "They're fine."
Everyone fell back into their chairs exhausted. "I paid some guy three hundred and fifty dollars just to use his sat phone. I can't talk too long; I want the rest of the team to call their families too. I love you, baby. I'm fine."
"I love you too, Katy. I'm so thankful to hear your voice." He said with tears rolling from his eyes. "I'll let you go so the others can make their calls. I think that's the best three hundred fifty dollars you've ever spent."
"I think so too. I love you, tell everyone I said hi." She said and disconnected the call.
"Three hundred fifty dollars to make a call?" Sam asked.
"Someone had a sat phone. Katy said she paid for them all to make calls." He told him.
"Smart girl." Sam smiled.
"Alright, since we know they're alright, back to work." Hetty smiled, relieved.
Katy handed the phone to Cassidy who quickly dialed her parent's number and talked for a very few minutes, then handed the phone to Michael and so on down the line. When they were through, she walked back to the man and handed him the phone back. He in turn handed her the three hundred dollar bills back to her and told her there was fifty dollars worth of drinks waiting for them at the bar.
"The name's Anthony DiNozzo Sr." He said offering his hand. "I couldn't take your money from you."
"DiNozzo, do you have a son?" Katy asked.
He gave her a curious look. Katy took out her phone and pulled up one of the photos from dinner in Virginia. The man laughed. "Damn, that would be Junior."
"We were in Virginia earlier this week. We spent some time with the team." She smiled.
"So you're NCIS?" He said leaning in and spoke in a low voice.
"Yes I am." She said with a smile.
"Well, I've got to head up to my room; I have an early meeting in the morning. It was a pleasure meeting you." He said and walked away.
She walked to the bar and ordered herself vodka with cranberry juice and waved the others to the bar. No one understood why he gave the money back and was absolutely floored to find out he was Tony's father, but they were thankful for his generosity. Within two days, phone service was restored and they were able to track down the Artur and his brothers Artem and Pavel. Unfortunately, by the time they were able to get to Artur, he was so badly injured that he slipped into a coma. Katy left her number with his wife and asked her to call when his condition changed. That evening, she made her calls to the other single births telling them about Artur and his condition.
After they landed in St. Petersburg and got to their hotel, Katy received a call from his very tearful wife saying that he had succumbed to his injuries. She herself was heartbroken and took his death as a failure on her part. For the simple fact that she chose to spend the few days with Callen instead of leaving immediately for Moscow.
Cassidy called Callen to let him know about Katy's half brother and spoke to her for an hour trying to get her to stop beating herself up, telling her that you can't save everyone. With five cases left, Callen hoped she could get to them in time. Within three days, Katy had found Maksim Ulanov unharmed. Two days after that, Arseny and Anton Zlobin were arrested with millions of dollars worth of American military grade weapons.
Life returned to normal for the LA office or as normal as one could get in that office. Eric found new and increasingly annoying ways of announcing they had another case. When Callen would go home in the evenings, he'd tell Callie about it, but of course she didn't laugh like Katy would.
Katy resumed her weekly Saturday afternoon calls and sent her weekly letters and monthly packages. Once they got back to the United States, Callen knew they were on the downhill side of the assignment. By Thanksgiving and dinner at Sam and Michelle's house, Katy had three cases left.
"When was the last time you talked to Katy?" Michelle asked.
Callen tossed his phone on the table. "Saturday, she said she'd try to call today if she could. I don't know how much more of this I can take."
"Did she say how close she was to the end of the list?" She asked, smiling to herself.
"Three more cases." He said taking a swig of his beer.
"Where is she right now?" Sam asked
"New York searching for Oleg Ivchenko, Veronkia and Dominika Yazov. They'd just landed and gotten to the hotel in Manhattan when she called. Hopefully they've got all three if not Oleg." He said.
"So how many single birth siblings does that make?" Michelle asked.
"Fourteen single births and I believe fifteen sets of twins." Callen said shaking his head. "Can you imagine one man getting thirty or so women pregnant in the span of ten years? She took her half brother Atrur's death pretty hard."
"It's sickening; I can't get over the number of children Dmitri threw away because they were single births. With all the evidence Katy's collected, can he be charged with the murders of all fifteen mothers?" Michelle asked.
"Oh yes, Yuri and Yegor will be charged with a whole list of things in association with the murders of a lot of them too. Not to mention masterminding the entire plot to kill all fifteen of the kids." Callen said proudly.
"When this is all over, is Katy going to be reassigned to our team again?" Sam asked.
"I don't know, I've talked to Hetty about it and she's still waiting on word back from the Director. I hope she is. I miss working with her." He said.
"We all do G. Katy added so much to the team, made friends with all of us. We all miss her. She'll be back soon, I'm sure." Sam said before Michelle kicked him under the table and glared at him. He glared right back.
"Can I help clean up?" Callen asked wanting to get his mind off of Katy.
"No, I've got it. You guys go on in the living room and watch your football games." Michelle said getting up from the table.
The following Saturday, Katy called Callen from Boston. She eagerly sent him a picture of her and her half sister Oksana who happened to be a Patriots cheerleader. In addition to an autographed photo of the entire team, she told him that she'd picked up a few other items as well. Callen couldn't wait for the package to arrive that month and ran home every night hoping to find it. By December tenth, they'd arrived at their final destination, St. Louis.
Having wrapped the case almost immediately after their arrival, Katy sent the rest of the team home to their families while she visited with Anastasiya for a few days. She also stopped in the office with her final reports for Director Vance. While she was there, the Director gave her, her permanent re-assignment to the LA office. Katy purposely didn't call Callen on Saturday the twenty-first. In fact, she was sitting in Gibbs living room with a beer in hand, having dinner with his team and ignored his calls.
On the morning of December twenty-third, Callen stormed into the office and threw his bag on his desk before he ran up to Ops. Kensi, Sam and Deeks watched wide eyed. Nell and Eric nearly fell out of their seats when he blew into the room.
"Please tell me you've heard from Katy?" he said.
Nell and Eric looked at each other and tried to hide their smiles. Nell turned around. "No we haven't why?"
"She didn't call Saturday night like she always does. I've tried calling her cell and she's not answering. Can you find her please just so I have a little piece of mind that she's okay?" He asked.
"Sure, we'll look and let you know." Nell told him and turned back to her computer.
Callen stood there for a minute waiting for something to pop up on the screen.
"Callen, we'll let you know. I'm sure she's fine." Eric said.
Callen walked back down to the bullpen and fell into his chair. Kensi looked at the other two and tried not to smile.
"What's wrong, Callen?" she asked.
"Katy didn't call this weekend. I called her and she never answered. Aside from the plane crash, this is the first time in the six months she's been gone that she hasn't called. I'm worried that something happened." He told her.
"I'm sure she's fine, G." Sam said.
"I'm sure she is I just can't help but worry." Callen moaned.
Like Thanksgiving, Callen agreed to spend Christmas with Sam and his family for lack of anything better to do. He knew he'd get to watch the kids open their presents on Christmas morning in addition to Michelle's mouth-watering ham dinner. He arrived late Christmas eve after the kids went to bed, bringing the Santa gifts Sam and Michelle had asked him to hide at his house. Sam helped him bring the presents in from the car and tried to talk to him in the process. Once the packages were all sitting around the tree, Callen took off his shoes and lay on the couch, wishing Katy was there or would at least call.
Michelle and Sam smiled at one another and said good night. Once they were in their room Michelle asked when his present would arrive.
"Her flight lands in San Diego at six. Hetty had the Mercedes dropped off in the short-term parking lot for her." Sam said.
"What time do you think she'll get here?" Michelle asked excitedly and all smiles.
"Providing traffic isn't bad, thirty to forty minutes. The kids won't be up until seven thirty or eight, so the timing would be perfect." He told her.
"You don't think he suspects anything do you?" she asked as they pulled the covers back on the bed.
"The way he's been moping around no, he doesn't suspect a thing. The best part, I talked to Hetty and she's being reassigned to the team. Life goes back to normal. Callen's happy, Kensi's happy, I'm happy." He smiled.
"You really miss her, don't you?" She asked.
"I do, I love how she kept him on his toes. She's my best friend's girl. I miss her giving me hell about being in the Navy. Katy's a good woman and a damn good agent. When she first started with us, I worried about her abilities, but she quickly proved herself to me when she ran out and helped Kensi save you." He said kissing her.
"Is she going to text or call you when she gets close?" Michelle asked leaning into him.
"Yeah, she said she would. I can't wait to see her and hear about all of her half-brothers and sisters." He smiled.
"It's almost midnight baby, we should get some sleep." Michelle said turning off the lamp beside the bed.
Sam's phone beeped at six-thirty indicating he had a text message. He rolled over and turned on the lamp before he grabbed his phone and read the message. 'Sam, I got on an earlier flight. Standing on your doorstep, please come let me in it is freezing out here.'
He rolled over to Michelle and told her she was there and got up to let her in. When he opened the door, she nearly knocked him over when she hugged him.
"I missed you so much, Sam." She whispered.
Michelle came to the door pulling on her robe, "Katy, girl it's so good to see you. Where are your bags?"
"In the car, I just grabbed a few things so I could shower and change if you don't mind?" she said stepping out of the way so Sam could close the door.
"I'll make a pot of coffee while you girls catch up." Sam said shaking his head at them as the squealed and giggled while they walked back to the bedroom.
"Girl, he has been wandering around like a lost puppy dog the last few days. He's going to be so happy to see you." Michelle told her giving her a huge hug.
"I missed him so much, I can't even tell you." She said wiping tears from her eyes.
"Go shower and get warm, I'll bring you a cup of coffee." Michelle said walking out of the room, closing the door behind her.
Callen woke to the smell of fresh coffee and rolled over to find Sam and Michelle grinning at him. "What the hell is with the two of you?" he said grumpily.
"Merry Christmas to you too Grinch." Sam laughed.
"What time is it?" he asked.
"It's almost seven." Sam told him.
Callen rolled back over, "It's too damn early for this crap. Wake me when the kids are up."
Michelle took Katy's coffee in just as she was brushing out her wet hair. "Damn, that was a fast shower." She said setting the mug on the counter. "He's in a horrible mood. Told us to wake him once the kids were up."
Katy laughed. "Uh no, his ass is getting woken back up here in about two minutes."
Callen heard the bedroom door open and a familiar scent wafted into the living room. Still half awake and half asleep, he passed it off to a dream. He felt footsteps on the hardwood floor as the scent grew stronger. Callen sensed someone standing over him, then a body behind him on the couch. If he was dreaming, he never wanted to wake up. He could feel her body next to his and her hand on his chest. She kissed his neck; and sat up, leaning over him.
"Hey grumpy, you want to wake up?" She whispered in his ear.
"No, because I know this is only a dream and you're not really here." He mumbled.
"So if I'm not really here, would I be able to do this?" she asked as she slipped between him and the back of the couch and kissed him.
"Oh God Katy." He smiled and wrapped her in his arms.
"Hey Baby. I would've worn nothing but a bow, but we're at Sam's I thought that was more than a little inappropriate." She laughed.
"I missed you so much." He said nuzzling into her neck. "I can't believe you're really here. How much time do you have before you have to leave again?"
"Well, I've got two weeks off just like you then I go back to work." She told him.
"I can live with just two weeks." He said kissing her neck.
"Baby, when I go back to work, it's at the OSP. I'm back for good." She told him.
Katy saw his eyes tearing. "You're back, back for good?"
"Yes, all of my half-siblings are either behind bars, safe with their families or peacefully resting, in Artur's case. If anymore come up the rest of the team I was working with will take care of it. My assignment was only for six months." She smiled.
"Wait, who all knew you were coming back?" he asked craning his neck to look at her.
"Everyone." She smiled.
He laughed and shook his head. "Why am I not surprised, so you not calling Saturday was part of this whole elaborate plan?"
"Yes, I' m sorry, I know you were worried. As soon as you walked out of Ops Monday morning, Nell and Eric called me. I was sitting in Gibbs' living room when you called Saturday." She said.
They heard the pitter patter of little feet running down the hall. "The kids are up." He said and sat up.
"Uncle Callen, Auntie Katy!" They yelled when they ran into the living room and jumped onto the couch with them.
"Auntie Katy, we've missed you so much." One of the kids said while she about squeezed the life out of her.
"I missed you too, Sweetie." Katy said kissing the little girl on the cheek. "I saw Santa leaving just as I pulled up."
The kids all stopped and stared at her awestruck. "You did?" they asked.
"I did, he said you all were so good for your Mommy and Daddy that he brought you so many presents. In fact, he had so many he had to leave some with me in the car. So why don't you let Uncle Callen and I go out and get them, okay?" she said.
Sam and Michelle corralled the kids so Katy and Callen could put their shoes and jackets on. When they returned they had armfuls of brightly wrapped presents and set them next to the tree. "Ok, not all of these are from Santa, these here on top are from me." She said.
"Katy, you didn't have to do that." Michelle said.
"I know I didn't have to, I wanted to." Michelle said bringing gifts over for her and Sam.
"Oh Katy, thank you." Sam said as he sat down in the chair and opened it. His eyes lit up when he found a box set of James Bond movies. "Oh yeah, no more Netflix for me."
"Katy, you really shouldn't have." Michelle said giving her an annoyed look, then laughed.
Katy grabbed another present and handed it to Callen, then sat next to him. "You being home is enough of a present for me, you didn't have to get me anything else." He said leaning over to kiss her.
He waited for Michelle to open her present before opening his. Katy had gotten Michelle a beautiful necklace with the kid's birthstones on it. "Oh Katy. Thank you so much." Michelle said.
Callen tore the paper off his package and tossed it in the pile that the kids had started and opened the box. Inside, he found a first edition copy of his favorite book. "Holy Crap Katy! Where did you find this?"
"One of my half-brothers owns a rare bookstore. He gave it to me so I could give it to you." She smiled.
"Wow, this must be worth a fortune." He said looking at the book closely.
"Don't worry, I got it appraised and insured. I have a display case for it in the car." She told him.
"Thank you, Katy. I love it." He said putting his arm around her and kissing her.
"You're welcome, Callen. Oh, there's more, here." She said getting up and picking up two more boxes.
He gave her a curious look and smiled as he shook the larger of the two packages. It was heavy. Eyeing her, he tore off the wrapping and opened the box. The look on his face was absolutely priceless. "You're kidding." He said as he pulled the silver helmet out of the box.
"The entire team signed that. Including the cheerleaders and all of the coaching staff." She smiled.
"Holy shit, Katy" He said as the kids gasped.
"Uncle Callen owes a dollar to the swear jar." They giggled.
"It's worth all one hundred pennies. I might have to up that to five dollars. Lord, Katy this is awesome." He smiled like a kid at Christmas.
"Don't forget about the other one." She reminded him.
"How could it get any better than this?" He asked.
"Would you just open it, please?" she laughed.
Quickly, he ripped the wrapping off and tore open the box. He knew what it was immediately. It was a Tom Brady Jersey, signed. "Wow." He said holding it up to look at it.
"He wore that jersey in the previous week's game. He got himself in a bit of trouble for giving it to me." She said.
"I'm speechless. Not only did I get you back for Christmas, but I got this stuff. Thank you, honey." He said leaning in, kissing her.
The kids giggled, Callen and Katy turned to the kids and made smooching sounds at them making the giggle and squeal even more.
After the kids tore through all of their presents, Katy helped Michelle pick-up all the wrapping paper while the guys took all of the toys out of the boxes and folded them for the recycling. Callen had a permanent smile on his face the rest of the day. They sat together on the couch after breakfast watching the kids play with their new toys and even put together a Lego doll house together.
"If I had known you were going to be here for Christmas, I would've brought your present." He told her.
"I'm not worried about it, Callen. I'm on cloud nine right now just being with you. I cannot tell you how much I missed you the last three months." She said with her head resting on his shoulder.
"I missed you too. Callie's going to be so happy to see you. Yes, she's still alive. I didn't kill her while you were gone. The first few weeks I wanted to, she howled and cried when I came home alone from work every night. After a few hours, she'd come and sit with me on the couch and would start her howling again when I went to bed." He told her.
"Aw, it feels good knowing you guys missed me that much. Is it true you moved back into your old room?" she asked.
"I did," he sighed. "I couldn't sleep in our room or in the bed without you next to me. The only time I went into the room was when you called. I'd sit on the bed and stare at your picture while we talked."
"Aw. I'm sorry. I promise I'll never go away for so long again." She said.
"You'd better not; I thought I was going to go insane without you there." He said kissing her forehead.
"I love you, Callen." She said lacing her fingers through his.
"I love you too, Katy." He said.
"Have you talked to Reggie lately?"
"I have, he and the kids are doing well. The house sold within a month and he closed on the new house three months ago. He said he wants us to come up again soon." He told her.
"Well, we do have two weeks off." She said.
"We do, we could go up for a few days if you'd like." He said.
"I would like to. We could say hi to Lt. Hammond and Pete while we're up there." She said.
"Sometime this week, be back before New Years?" he asked.
"How about the week after New Years? I just want to spend some time alone with you. I'll call Reggie in a little bit, I'm sure he's presiding over the Christmas morning service." She said.
Callen nodded. "He is. He invited me up there to spend Christmas with he and the kids, but I'd already promised Sam and Michelle I'd be here." He told her.
"He really thinks very highly of you Callen." She smiled.
"Well, the feeling is mutual." He smiled. "We can leave on the second or the third."
"Sounds good, should we go see if Michelle needs any help with dinner?" she asked.
"Sure." He said standing and pulling her up and into his arms. "I'm so happy you're home."
"I am too. I can't wait to fall asleep next to you again." She told him as they walked into the kitchen.
After dinner, Callen and Katy headed home. He helped her unload all her bags and bring them in the house. Callie was so happy to her, meowing and pawing at her. She rubbed face against Katy's remarking her with her scent. Katy was exhausted and went into their room. Everything was as she'd left it except he'd hung her uniform.
He was standing in the doorway smiling at her. "What?" She asked.
"It's so good to see you in here. It's been six months since this bed's had anyone but the cat sleep in it." He told her.
She walked over to him. "Well maybe it's time we show it some love."
"I want you to open your Christmas present first." He told her and walked to his room. She heard him open a dresser drawer and close it again. When he returned, he had a little two inch square box in his hand. Her heart raced as her fingers worked the ribbon, once she'd finally untied the bow, she tore the paper and saw the jewelry store symbol on the lid of the box. She sat on the foot of the bed and took off the remaining paper before the opened the box.
"This is what I think it is, isn't it?" she asked before she took out the velvet container.
Callen walked towards her and rested his arms on the railing of the foot board. "I don't know what do you want it to be?" He asked with a sexy smile.
Katy opened the container; admittedly she was a little disappointed but tried not to show it. She smiled. "They're beautiful, Callen."
"Do you really like them?" He asked.
She nodded with tears in her eyes, "I do, I love them." She said taking out the card with the earrings on it. Katy opened the backs of the earrings and put them on.
"They match your ring." He smiled.
"Yes they do. Thank you Callen. I love them." She said trying to give as honest a smile as she could.
Katy had been doing a lot of thinking in the six months she was away, particularly after Callen's visit and the plane crash in Moscow. It wasn't hard making her decision and she thought she was going to get the opportunity to give him her answer. She closed the container and put it back in the box, setting it on the nightstand.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"I'm tired." She told him.
"Was it not what you expected?" he asked with a sly smile.
Katy laughed, "Honestly, no I thought it was going to be something else."
"What else could it be?" he said with a teasing smile.
"I don't know. Do you mind if I got to bed. We can talk more in the morning." She said.
Callen looked at the clock, it was almost midnight and she's been up since who knows when. "Of course, let me lock up and turn off the lights and I'll join you." He said and kissed her before he left the room.
When he walked back into the room, he stood at the door and watched her lying in bed. He cocked his head wondering if she was truly ready for the other gift. It had been burning a hole in his pocket since he'd gotten it. The afternoon he got back into town, Callen immediately went to the jewelry store and bought the exact same engagement ring she'd tried on in Oregon. As soon as he saw it on her finger he knew that was the ring. Callen thought he'd have more time to plan a proper proposal, having her home for Christmas threw him off.
He walked to the bed and opened the nightstand drawer, looking at the box. Katy was already asleep, so he pulled out the box and opened it and flipped it over so the ring container tumbled into his palm. He sat with his back to her and opened the container looking at the brilliant three-quarter carat diamond staring back to him. Callie hopped up onto the bed and walked over to his side.
"What do you think Callie girl, do you think Mom will like it?" he whispered. Callie meowed.
He placed the container back in the box and the box in the drawer and got into bed next to Katy. It was such a good feeling to know he could reach a few inches over and touch Katy anytime he desired. He did just that, pulling her to the middle of the bed and into his arms. "I love you." She mumbled in her sleep.
Callen smiled, kissed her neck and said. "I love you too, my Katy."
When Katy woke the following morning, she smelled coffee and smiled with tears in her eyes. She was home. Callie was laying in Callen's stop and meowed at her when she rolled over and gave her pet. She heard a sizzle coming from the kitchen and faintly smelled bacon. Tossing the covers back, she got out of bed and walked out to the kitchen.
Callen saw her from the corner of his eye. "You're not supposed to be up yet, go back to bed. I'll being you a cup of coffee." He said.
Katy ignored his order and walked into the kitchen and wrapped her arms around him from behind. He smelled so good; she closed her eyes and rested her cheek on his shoulder. Callen leaned back and kissed her head. "I missed you so much." She sighed inhaling deeply again.
Callen turned around to face her. "I missed you too. Now back to bed." He ordered and smacked her ass.
"Aren't you in a feisty mood this morning?" She laughed as she walked back to the bedroom and got back in bed.
A few minutes later be brought her a cup of coffee, some bacon and a blueberry muffin. "Here you go. I got our tickets for San Francisco; we're leaving the morning of the second. I already talked to Reggie and we're staying with him. Actually, he doesn't know you're going to be there. He just thinks I'm coming."
"Aw, that's so sweet you want to surprise him." Katy said leaning in to kiss him.
"Within five minutes, he's planned the entire visit. We're going to the Exploratorium the day we get there, down to Union Square to see the Christmas display and go ice skating, Church Sunday morning, and whatever your heart desires the rest of the day Sunday and until leave that night." He said stealing a piece of bacon.
"I don't know it noon is going to be early enough for the Exploratorium. It's pretty big and there's lots of stuff to do." She told him.
"Well, I have no idea what it is." He admitted.
"Oh, you're going to have a blast. It's a huge building with hundreds of science experiments. All hands on." She smiled.
Callen smiled, "That does sound like fun."
"Reggie and I took Kari when she was eight, she had so much fun." She said with an undertone of sadness in her voice.
"Are you going to be okay going back?" He asked.
"I'll be fine. Besides, little Reggie, Cassandra and Mary will be there." She said.
"Alright." Callen hoped she would be okay. "So what would you like to do today?"
"I just want to spend it with you; I don't care what we do." She smiled.
"When you're done, get dressed, we're going to go out for a while." He said.
"Where are we going?" She asked.
"We're going to see if we can find a Christmas tree." He told her with a smile.
She laughed. "I doubt we're going to be able to find a tree the day after Christmas. Why do you want to put up a tree now?"
"You're home and we're here for a few days until we go to San Francisco. I'd like to have a little bit of our own Christmas." He said.
"Okay, then we'll find a tree. We have to buy ornaments and lights too." She said.
"Alright, we'll find that too." He laughed.
Thirty minutes later, they set out to find themselves a Christmas tree. The clerk at the local grocery store gave them an odd look when they asked to buy one of the leftover trees, until they explained that Katy wasn't expected home so soon. He smiled and went to find the store manager. They wound up getting the live tree for free and tied it to the roof of the Mercedes. Callen drove back to the house and dropped it off so they didn't get sap all over the car. Then set off to find a stand, lights and ornaments.
They wound up driving all over town to find everything they needed and decorated the tree as soon as they got home. They played some Christmas music as they decorated and laughed as Callie batted at some of the glass globes. Katy wondered how many she'd break before they took the tree down. After wards, Katy went in to lay down, still trying to recover from the rigorous schedule she and the team had kept while on assignment. Once Katy had fallen asleep, so Callen snuck off to the store to buy wood for the fire place and everything needed to make s'mores. Katy was still asleep when he got home, so he started a fire and woke her up.
"Hey, you want to come into the living room with me?" he asked as she opened her eyes.
She smiled, "What'd you do now?"
"Just come see." He said pulling her out of the bed.
It was cold in the house, she took a look at the thermostat in the hallway on the way to the living room and tried to turn the heater back on, but Callen stopped her. She complained until she saw the fire roaring in the living room and the couch sitting a few feet away from it. There was a blanket spread out on the floor with a dozen or so pillows scattered around it. Katy laughed when she saw the skewers, the bag of marshmallows, chocolate bars and graham crackers on the coffee table.
"We're going to make s'mores?" she asked.
"S'mores and wine and whatever else we find to do by the fire." He said pulling her close, kissing her deeply.
They sat down and pushed marshmallows on the skewers and roasted them to their liking. Katy opted to just eat her roasted marshmallows, never being one for the combination of the chocolate and graham crackers. Callen opened a bottle of peach wine and poured two glasses. They sat for hours talking and watching the fire slowly die down. With two more bottles of wine in them. Callen laid her back and kissed her. From then on, what happened was a blur; flashes of bare skin and seduction, moans of passion and wonderful sensations in the fire light.
They woke at five, freezing. Callen ran to the hallway with a blanket wrapped around him to turn the heater on. Katy pulled the blanket back what he came back into the living room. Once the house had heated up, Katy got up and showered. Callen started a pot of coffee and breakfast. She was in the bedroom getting dressed when he walked in with a hot cup of coffee.
"Thank you." She smiled, taking the cup and then a sip.
"So what do you want to do today?" he asked.
Katy shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. What would you like to do?"
"I know Kensi really wants to see you. I think she and Deeks are back from her Mom's." he said.
"Ok," she smiled. "What are we going to do for New Years?"
"I don't know, we can talk to Kensi and Deeks, see what they have planned." He said just as the phone rang.
Katy looked at the cordless phone on the nightstand and handed it to Callen. "It's Reggie."
"Good morning Reggie, how are you?" He said answering it, putting it on speaker phone.
"I'm doing well, I was wondering what you've heard from Katy. I'd hoped that she'd call Christmas morning. The kids and I were a little disappointed." He said.
Callen looked at Katy, she sighed. "Well, we weren't going to say anything; I was just going to show up with him in San Francisco." She said.
"When did you get back?" he asked
"My flight landed in San Diego at six Christmas morning." She told him.
"Why San Diego, you live right around the corner from LAX?" He asked.
"Well Callen was at his partner's for Christmas. The whole office was in on the surprise." She said smiling at Callen.
"Yeah, I woke up to the best present in the world Christmas morning." Callen added.
"Aw, that's so awesome." He said. "I won't tell the kids you're coming up too. I'll let you surprise the kids."
"Thank you Reggie. I'm sorry I couldn't surprise you too." She said.
"As long as you're home safe and sound." Reggie told her.
"She is, believe me and I'm not letting her go away like that again." Callen told him.
"Alright, I'll let you guys get back to your morning, can't wait to see you guys next week." He said and hung up after Katy and Callen said goodbye.
Katy called Kensi. "Hey lady, what are you doing today?" she asked.
"Actually, Marty and I had planned on calling you guys to see what you were doing." She laughed. "We both really want to see you."
"Ah, great minds think alike." Katy laughed. "You guys want to meet up for lunch or something?"
"Of course." Kensi said eagerly.
They planned on Kensi and Deeks coming over for dinner, so once again Katy and Callen headed to the store. The two of them walked up and down the aisles trying to figure out what to make for dinner. Finally, they settled on lasagna and picked up everything Katy needed to make it. Callen grabbed a loaf of French bread so they could make garlic bread as well. Since they'd used all the wood Callen had bought the night before, they got another bundle of fire wood and a few other odds and ends.
When they got home, they had thirty minutes before Kensi and Deeks were supposed to be there, so Katy hurried and made the lasagna and got it in the oven. Callen started a fire and opened a bottle of wine. Remembering that she'd gotten a gift for Kensi and Deeks, Katy went to the bedroom to get them and placed them under the tree. They sat down on the couch to wait for Kensi and Deeks to arrive.
"So, I was wondering what you would say if I actually proposed to you? Would you run?" He asked with his arms around Katy.
She smiled and looked at him. "No, I wouldn't run. I did a lot of thinking while I was gone and I think I'm ready for that step."
"Really?" he asked. "What made you decide that?"
"Between your visit and the plane crash and missing you so much the last three months, I decided I didn't want to live another day without you." She said.
"So if I asked you to marry me right this minute, you'd say yes?" He asked.
Katy sat up and turned to face him. "Yes, I would why?"
Immediately, Callen stood and walked to the bedroom. Katy heard the nightstand drawer open and close. He walked back into the living room and sat back down next to her. "I was going to save this for a more elaborate proposal, but." He said, slipping off the couch kneeling on one knee.
Kensi and Deeks knocked on the door and Callen yelled for them to come in. As soon as they walked in, they stopped dead in their tracks at Callen on one knee.
"Marry me." He said opening the velvet box.
Kensi gasped and put her hands to her mouth and looked at Deeks. "I can't believe our timing."
"That's the same ring from the store in Portland, isn't it?" Katy asked.
"Well not the exact same ring, but yes it's the same ring." He smiled.
"Katy answer the man please so I can breathe." Kensi said.
"Yes, I'll marry you." Katy said with a huge smile.
That was all Callen needed to hear; he pulled the ring from the box and dropped it on the floor and slipped the ring on Katy's finger, kissing her.