A half hour later Zoya walked back into the hospital room. She was pleased to see Maya asleep on Callen's lap.
"Hey G," Zoya spoke softly.
"Hey Zoya."
"Sorry I was gone so long. It was hard to be there in the house. I just needed a moment."
"That's alright. I was wondering was taking you so long but I suspected something like this."
"Yeah it was hard being in the house. I still can't believe that they're actually gone."
"I know me neither."
"How did Maya do?"
"I read her a book and we talked a bit. She asked me if she could still life in her house. I told her she couldn't and that she would probably be coming home with us, considering you're her godmother."
"Yeah, I don't know if David and Emma had a will or something but yeah I'm her godmother so if they don't have anyone else listed to take care of Maya we probably will do that. Are you okay with that?"
"Yeah, I think so. She's a sweet girl and I won't let her go into foster care. She doesn't need that after everything that happened and she still has family around her that care about her. She won't go into foster care."
"I'm glad you feel that way cus I don't want her to go into foster care either."
"She won't Zoya, you have my word."
"Okay good."
Zoya placed Maya's plush Elsa in her arms. Callen sat with Maya on the bed as Zoya sat next to the bed. Zoya and Callen stayed in the hospital that night.
The next day Zoya's parents dropped by with David and Emma's attorney.
"Hi, I'm Max Rivers I'm David and Emma's attorney, I'm really sorry for your loss. But I do have to talk to you. I was looking for Zoya Foster, your parents told me you were here."
"Yeah that's me," Zoya replied. "What's this about?"
"David and Emma did have a will in place, in case something should happen to them, and in the will they give full custody of Maya to Zoya Foster and Grisha Callen. Did they discussed that with you two?"
"Well not to that full extant but I am her godmother so it's only logical."
"I do have the papers here with me so if you want to sign them," Max spoke and he pulled the papers out of the briefcase.
Zoya looked at Callen who nodded at her. Zoya looked back at Maya on the bed. Zoya sat down in front of Maya on the bed.
"Maya, is it okay with you that you come live with Uncle Grisha and me?"
"Can I take my stuff with me?"
"Of course you can sweetie, we'll take everything from your room and it will go to our house. You can have your own room there too. I know it's not the same as with mommy and daddy but me and Uncle Grisha will take very good care of you."
"Okay, I guess then."
Zoya pulled Maya in for a hug. "It's all gonna be okay sweetie. We will take very good care of you."
Callen and Zoya both signed the papers. Maya was now officially theirs.
"If you call my office we'll set up an appointment to go over everything," Max spoke as he handed Zoya a card. "Again my condolences."
Max left the room. He had taken the contract with him and Callen and Zoya had a copy of it. Callen stayed in the hospital with Maya as the others when to David and Emma's house to clear it out. Zoya's and Emma's parents were busy with the funeral arrangements. Zoya's brother and sister came to the house as well to help pack everything up. Emma was an only child. Zoya started upstairs in Maya's room. She packed everything into boxes and loaded them in her car. They had rented a truck as well to transport the furniture in. Everything from Maya's room went to Callen and Zoya's house. With the other furniture they would see what they would do. Maybe the new owners of the house wanted them. Some other stuff around the house also went to Callen and Zoya's house so Maya would have some things of her parents, like pictures and such. Once all the stuff was packed up and loaded into the truck they drove to Callen and Zoya's house. They would use the bedroom on the left front of the house as the bedroom for Maya. The previous owners had this as a girl's bedroom as well. The walls were already light pink which was perfect. The bedroom had two windows on the front of the house, one in the corner. On the side of the house was another window, also in the corner. There was a bathroom attached to the bedroom. It had a vanity with mirror, a toilet and a tub/shower. There was a skylight in the roof. They decided to keep all of Maya's stuff and not buy new stuff for her bedroom since this would be familiar for her. Maybe they would buy a few new things but not much. Maya's bed was placed in the corner at the front of the house, underneath the window. The wardrobe they placed along the right wall. Her toy storage closet was placed along the left wall, just behind her bed. The other stuff was placed around the room. They would see later where Maya wanted them. The other stuff of David and Emma they would keep at their house for now too. They would see later what they would do with it. After all the stuff had been unloaded Zoya went back to the hospital as her brother and sister went back to David and Emma's house.
"Hey," Zoya spoke as she walked into the hospital room.
"Hey aunt Zoya," Maya greeted her.
"Did you have fun with uncle Grisha?"
"Yeah, I beat him at the game."
"That's very good. We moved all your stuff over to our house so your room is ready there. It's a beautiful princess bedroom."
"The doctor came by when you were here," Callen said. "She can go home tomorrow."
"Okay that's good."
"Can Esme still come over?" Maya asked.
"Who's Esme?" Zoya asked.
"Esme is my nanny."
"Oh I guess she can still come over to watch you. I will give her a call okay."
"Okay."
Zoya texted her sister to ask if she could find the number for Esme so Zoya could call her. A little later Eva texted back with the number. Zoya momentarily stepped out of the room to call her.
"Hello this is Esme Gregg," Esme answered the phone.
"Hi Esme this is Zoya Foster, David's sister."
"Ah yes hi. Can I help you with something?" Esme asked, wondering why David's sister would call her.
"Well first of all I have some bad news. David, Emma and Maya were in a car accident. Unfortunately David and Emma didn't make it."
"Oh," Esme gasped. "I'm so sorry to hear that, my condolences."
"Thank you."
"And Maya? How is she?"
"She's still in the hospital but she's gonna be okay. Now that her parents aren't here anymore she is coming to live with me and my husband. She asked me if you can still be her nanny."
"Yeah of course. Poor thing. If there's anything I can do let me know."
"Thank you. Can you come by our house next week? I'm gonna ask my boss for another week off so I can be home with Maya."
"Yeah sure I'll be there. What's your address?" Zoya gave Esme her address. "That's in Pacific Palisades right?"
"Yes it is. Is that gonna be a problem with your commute?"
"I live in Covina as well. But I can move closer to you."
"That's not a problem for you? I don't want you to move just because of us."
"Oh no it's not a problem. Before I was Maya's nanny is lived somewhere else as well. I've been a nanny for a while now. Sometimes I had to move for my job. It's not a problem."
"Okay good. We'll even chip in if you need to."
"Thank you but that's not necessary. I have enough that I can rent an apartment for myself."
"The apartments are much more pricy up here than in Covina."
"Thank you for the offer. I'll see if I can find something down there I can afford otherwise I will let you know."
"Alright. So come by the house Monday around 10am."
"Alright, I'll be there. See you then. Tell Maya I said hi."
"I will. Thank you." Zoya hung up and walked back into the hospital room. "Well, good news. Esme is coming too. She will still be your nanny."
"Yay, thanks aunt Zoya."
"You're welcome sweetie." Zoya turned to Callen. "She'll come by the house on Monday so we can meet her."
"Alright that's fine. Don't you have to go back to work again on Monday?"
"I'm gonna ask my boss for another week off. I still have some time owed so."
"Alright. I'll see if maybe I can stay home as well some more, I'm sure Hetty will understand."
Zoya and Callen stayed in the hospital again that night and they took Maya home in the morning. The funeral would be on Sunday. Maya had been in Callen and Zoya's house before so it wasn't 'new' for her. Once home Zoya took Maya upstairs to show her the room.
"So this is your room Maya. We put all the stuff in but we can always put them somewhere else if you don't like it."
Maya looked around the room. It was a nice big room. It looked nice.
"No, this is fine I guess."
Zoya got down to Maya's level and turned her so she was facing her. "I know we're not your mommy and daddy but we are gonna take care of you and we love you. We're gonna be a nice family the three of us. You will be okay here. There are some more kids living in the neighborhood and there's a playground nearby and some schools are close by too so we'll see which one you can go to."
Their neighbors had a little girl as well, she was four years old too and she was at Pacific Palisades elementary charter school so maybe Maya could go there too. She would at least have someone close to home there at school too. They just relaxed around the house, trying to make Maya feel at home as much as they could.
"How about tonight we go eat at McDonald's?" Zoya suggested when it was time for dinner. "Would that be okay Maya?"
"Can I get a happy meal then?" Maya asked.
"Of course you can."
They all got in the car and drove to the McDonalds in Santa Monica. After dinner they went back home and Zoya put Maya in bath. They had to be careful of her cast, it couldn't get way, so Zoya put one of those bags around it and helped Maya wash herself. After bath Zoya put Maya to bed after showing her where their bedroom was should she need them in the middle of the night. Zoya read her a story and tucked her in.
"Goodnight Maya."
"Goodnight aunt Zoya."
"If there's anything, anything at all, you can wake us up."
Zoya gave Maya a kiss before going back downstairs. She joined Callen on the couch.
"Do you think Maya will be okay?" Callen asked.
"Yeah, I think so. She's been through a lot."
"Yeah she has. Losing her parents is hard."
"Yeah." Zoya could tell that Callen's mind was somewhere else. "Thinking about that day on the beach again?"
"Yeah," Callen smiled a bit at her. She knew him so well.
"You grew up an orphan and look at everything you've accomplished. Maya will be just fine, I promise you."
"Yeah she will be. It's crazy, now all of a sudden we have a little kid."
"Yeah we do. It's not our kid but we're still taking care of her."
"Yeah, we may not be her parents but we will do the best we can to take care of her."
"Yes we will. She really is a little cutie."
"Yeah she is."
Callen and Zoya sat on the couch for a while before going up to bed as well.
In the middle of the night they woke up when Maya jumped on their bed.
"Hey Maya, what's wrong?" Zoya asked as Maya crawled into her arms. Zoya wrapped her arms around Maya and tried to calm her down.
"I miss mommy and daddy," Maya cried.
"I know sweetie, we miss them too but me and uncle Grisha are here and we will take of you I promise."
"Can I sleep with you?"
"Of course you can." Zoya placed Maya in between her and Callen. "You can sleep here with me and uncle Grisha tonight."
…
Sunday was the funeral. It was a beautiful service, as far as funerals are beautiful. Zoya spoke a few words and together with Maya she lit the candle. Afterwards they all went to some sort of lounge where people could condole them. After the service they all went to Zoya's parents house and just hung out there before going home after dinner. Once they were home Zoya put Maya to bed. She had fallen asleep in the car.
The next day Callen had to go back to work. Zoya had arranged with her job that she could stay home this week.
"Have a good day today, be careful," Zoya said as Callen was getting dressed.
"I promise." Callen leaned over to Zoya in the bed and gave her a kiss. "Bye honey, I'll see you later tonight. You'll be okay with Maya here?"
"Yeah I'll be fine."
"Alright." Callen gave Zoya one more kiss. "I love you."
"I love you too."
Callen grabbed his bag and went to work.
"Morning," Callen spoke as he walked into the bullpen, only Sam was there.
"Morning G, how was your honeymoon?"
"I was just perfect. The Maldives are so beautiful, it was really perfect. Just not the flight back."
"Yeah what exactly happened there?" Callen explained to Sam what had happened. "Yikes, glad you two are okay."
"Yeah me too. But just after we got home we got a phone call saying that Zoya's brother had gotten into a car accident with his family. Unfortunately David and his wife didn't make it so now Zoya and I have a little girl, Maya. She was the ring bearer at our wedding."
"I'm so sorry to hear that. You adopted her?"
"Yeah, Zoya was already her godmother and David did have a will and in the will he left Maya to us."
"Wow that's something. How is she doing?"
"Okay, it's just hard for her. She's asking for her mommy and daddy quite often."
"Yeah I can imagine but it's nice of you two to take her in."
"Yeah, I couldn't let her go into the foster system and neither did Zoya. So now we have a four year old running around the house."
"Wow what?" Deeks spoke as he and Kensi walked in. "Do you and Zoya have a kid?"
"Yeah, Zoya's niece. Her parents died in a car crash so Zoya and I have custody of her now."
"Poor little thing," Kensi remarked.
At that moment Eric whistled. "Vacation is over boys, and girl."
They all walked upstairs and followed Eric into OPS.
"What do we have Eric?" Callen asked.
"This morning a DOD facility here in LA was broken into," Eric said and he showed a footage of the break-in on the big screen.
"Thieves were pros," Callen stated.
"Yeah and they never show their faces on the camera."
"What did they steal?" Sam asked.
"They broke into the server room," Nell responded. "And they made off with a few hard drives."
"What was on the drives?" Kensi wanted to know.
"All of the operatives US has undercover and overseas."
"A lot of groups would pay top dollar for that," Deeks stated.
"Which is why Mr. Deeks," Hetty spoke as her face appeared on the screen. "We need to get it back and fast, we can't let those hard drives fall into the wrong hands. Time is of the essence." Hetty's face disappeared.
"Eric, Nell, see what you can found out about this break-in, maybe they showed their faces somewhere or see what was accessed to gain control."
"Got it," came the reply from the techs.
The four agents left and went to the DOD facility.
..
At home Zoya was getting ready for Esme. Just before 10am the doorbell rang. Zoya went to open it.
"Hi, you must be Esme," Zoya greeted her.
"Yes, that's me and you must be Zoya," Esme replied as he stuck her hand out.
"Yes, nice to meet you." They shook hands. "Come on in."
As soon as Esme walked into the main area Maya came running up to her.
"Esme!" Maya squealed.
"Hey sweetie," Esme said as she got down and gave Maya a hug.
"Mommy and daddy are gone," Maya cried a bit.
"I know sweetie, aunt Zoya told me. But I'm sure your aunt and uncle will take very good care of you and I will here with you too."
"Can I show you my new room?"
"Yes you can."
Zoya walked upstairs with them and Maya showed Esme her room.
"This is a very nice room Maya."
They went back downstairs and sat out on the patio while Maya was coloring next to them. Zoya pored them both a cup of coffee and some lemonade for Maya.
"Again I'm really sorry about what happened," Esme spoke.
"Thanks, it's just hard to believe. We're glad that you are still coming here. It's at least something familiar for Maya."
"Yeah, I'm happy to."
"Have you found a place yet?"
"Yes I have a few sightings up later today."
"Okay good. This afternoon Maya and I are going to check out her new school so she can start that again. It's not that far from here, it's about a fifteen minute walk and three minutes by bike."
"Alright that's fine."
"And there's a playground near here. It's about six minutes by bike."
"Okay that's good."
"Maya did have a bike already so we have that here but we're gonna buy a bike for us a as well with a kid's seat on the back so you can use that too then."
"That's fine."
Zoya just chatted with Esme for a while. She seemed really nice. She had asked her office to look into her. She had also send the office all the information she had gotten from the LAPD about the accident to see if it was just bad luck or it they were targeted. Esme stayed for a while before leaving. She would be back tomorrow at 8am. After lunch Zoya and Maya went to the school to check it out.
..
Callen and the others had arrived at the facility and started looking through everything to see if they could find something that could help them. Suddenly the power went out and the windows shattered.