"Miss, you can't just take a baby and if you want to adopt her it's gonna take some time."

"Isn't there something you can do in these special circumstances? I mean her parents have been killed."

"I can appoint you her legal guardian but I would have to discuss that with a judge, until then she is in the hands of CPS. Which means someone will stay here with her until the doctor says she's free to leave. If the judge has made you her legal guardian you can take her home otherwise she will be put in the system."

"How long will it take for me to become her legal guardian?"

"That's up to the judge but I will give him a call right away."

"Thank you."

Lauren left and someone from social services sat with Marisa and the little girl. Marisa sat on the bed with the little girl in her arms. That poor little girl, she was so little and she already didn't have any parents. Lately Marisa had been thinking about adopting since she hadn't been able to get pregnant yet and she had been adopted herself. There were so many children that were orphaned or abandoned by their parents.

A little later Sara called Marisa.

"Hey mom," Marisa answered the phone.

"Hey Marisa, how is the little girl?"

"The doctor says she's fine but he's just keeping her a little longer just be sure. Have you found any evidence pointing to the killer?"

"No not yet, we're waiting on the results from the lab and the wonder twins are upstairs doing their thing."

"Alright, let me know if you guys have something."

"I will, but you should stay with the little girl."

"I will, I just want to know if you guys have made any progress."

"I will let you know."

"Great thanks. Oh by the way, have you found something at the house that would suggest how old the baby is or what her name is?"

"Me, Kensi and Deeks are still looking through all the stuff in their house, also to see if we can find something that would lead to a suspect and Eric and Nell are looking through the records to see when the girl was born. They will contact you when they find something."

"Great thanks." Marisa hung up the phone.

"What happened to her?" The social worker asked.

"Her parents have been killed. We're trying to find out what happened to them."

"Poor kid."

Marisa's phone rang again. This time it was Nell.

"Hey Nell," Marisa answered the phone.

"Hey Marisa, I found out when the little girl was born. She was born nine months ago and according to the file her name is Hannah. I've send all the information I could find on her to your phone."

"Thanks Nell."

"I also looked for a will or something. I didn't find a will but the neighbor is listed as next to kin. Sara went to talk to her and she said that they had talked about her taking care of Hannah if something should happen to them but they never officially agreed on it since their neighbor had gotten sick, she has stage four of lymphoma. She said as far as she knew they hadn't found someone else to look after Hannah if something should happen."

"Alright, thanks Nell."

Marisa went to find the doctor to give him the information Nell had just given her and called CPS to update her on everything Nell had found.

Three hours later Marisa got an update on the case. Eric and Nell had found a suspect and had found out that he was still after the kid.

"Why would they be after Hannah?" Marisa asked over the phone, wondering what a little baby could have done wrong.

"Well it seems as the suspect was Lisa's," Nell answered. Lisa was the female that was killed. "Former boyfriend. In fact Lisa and Mark," Mark was the male that was killed. "Hadn't been married for that long. According to the file they had only been married for three months. I looked further into Hannah's record and the record states that Jay, and not Mark, is Hannah's father. And there's a record of Lisa having his rights revoke. It says that he was abusive."

"So he could have killed them because Lisa kept Hannah away from him. But why did he leave the baby behind then?"

"Maybe he was afraid to get caught," Deeks spoke. "The next door neighbor said she saw someone walk up to the house with a gun and she immediately called 911. So he could have been scared off by the sirens."

"So he could be coming back to get the girl?"

"Yes," Nell said. "Sara, Callen and Sam are on their way to the hospital. I will send you his picture so you know what he looks like."

"Mrs. Jenkins," Hetty's voice was heard over the phone. "If he really is the one that killed Lisa and Mark we can't let him get his hands on Hannah."

"Don't worry Hetty, I will keep her safe."

Marisa hung up the phone and looked at the picture Nell had sent her.

"Is everything okay?" The social worker asked Marisa.

"No, someone might still be after Hannah. We have to get her out of here."

"I will go talk to the doctor."

"Too late," Marisa stated as she saw Jay walk into the ER.

He looked around and noticed Marisa with Hannah. Marisa handed Hannah over to the social worker.

"Stay behind me," Marisa ordered. There was no way to get them out of the ER without them being at risk.

"You give me my daughter back!" The man shouted across the ER.

"Sir, you have to calm down," a security guard spoke to him.

Out of nowhere Jay grabbed his gun and shot the security guard in his leg. Marisa immediately grabbed her gun and aimed it at Jay.

"Federal agent! Put the gun down now!" Marisa yelled at him.

"Not until you give me my daughter back!" Jay yelled, aiming his gun at Marisa.

"Not gonna happen. You just shot a security guard and you have your gun pointed at a federal agent and you killed her mother. You're crazy if you think I'm gonna let you walk out of here with her."

"She's my daughter. You can't keep me from her! I have rights!"

"You lost the right to your daughter the moment you killed her mother. Now, I'm not gonna ask again. Put the gun down!"

"After you."

"There are three ways this can go, one of them is you ending up in a body bag."

"If you don't give me my daughter back I swear I will shoot you!"

"I will shoot you first."

"I just wanted to see my daughter, was that too much to ask! She kept my daughter from me!"

"She must have had a good reason for it."

"That's not me anymore."

"No, now you've upgraded to killing instead of abusing. Now put the gun down or I will shoot you."

"I just want my daughter!" Jay yelled and he pulled the trigger.

Marisa made sure Hannah and the social worker weren't in the line of the shot. From their position behind the gurney Marisa shot at Jay, hitting him in the chest. At that moment Sara, Callen and Sam came walking into the ER, guns drawn.

"You good Marisa?" Callen called.

"I'm good."

Sam cleared Jay of his gun and checked his pulse. "He's dead."

Hannah was crying in the social worker's arms. Marisa put her gun back in her holster and grabbed Hannah.

"It's okay little girl. It's okay. He's not gonna hurt you," Marisa softly spoke to her as Marisa calmed her down. Hannah was calmed down pretty fast.

"What happened here?" Callen asked as he walked up to Marisa.

Marisa told Callen everything that had happened.

"Poor kid," Callen stated.

"Yeah, she has nobody so she would go into the system."

"Would go?" Callen caught what Marisa was saying.

"I asked CPS to appoint me her legal guardian. I haven't heard back yet. She has nobody. I just can't let her go into the system. Maybe I'm even going to adopt her but I will have to talk to Zac about that."

"Did I hear correct?" Sara asked as she walked up to them. "Are you going to adopt her?"

"Maybe. She has no relatives and if there's no will saying who should raise her, I maybe will. I just can't let this little girl go into the system. I was adopted and for that I will be forever grateful towards my adoptive parents. So maybe I can do the same for this little girl."

"That's nice of you. But are you sure you're ready for that?"

"Yes mom, both me and Zac are ready to have a baby. We hadn't really talked about adoption but now that this happened it may be a chance for us. I don't know, I have to talk to Zac about it and then if we decide to do it we still have to wait for approval from the judge. And if we can't keep her I will personally find a good home for her and make sure she gets adopted. I don't wanna put her in the system."

The ER was busy with doctors running in to check on their patients and Jay's body was transporting to the morgue. The security guard that had been shot was already up in the OR.

"What happened here?" Lauren Stevenson asked as she walked into the ER.

"Well, long story short. Her birth father came here to kidnap here and he was waving a gun so I shot him. He had lost custody of his daughter so that's why he shot her mother and the man, who was her husband," Marisa explained.

"Poor kid."

"Did you talk to the judge?"

"Yes I did and he is willing to grand you guardianship for now but if you really want to adopt her you will have to go through the proper channels like everyone else but for now you're her legal guardian."

"Thank you."

"A social worker will go home with you and check everything out at your home and she will visit you again tomorrow to see how it's going."

"That's fine."

Marisa signed the contract, becoming Hannah's legal guardian. Hannah's doctor came down and told Marisa that Hannah was clear to go home.

"Can you tell Hetty I'm taking Hannah home?" Marisa spoke to Callen as they walked out of the ER.

"Sure, are you coming back today?"

"I'd rather not, if that's okay with Hetty."

"I'm sure under these circumstances she will understand."

"Thanks."

Callen, Sara and Sam went back to the office as Marisa put Hannah in her car seat.

"I'm gonna go by her house first so I can pick up some things since I don't have anything myself for a little baby."

"Isn't that still a crime scene?"

"The case is over but maybe LAPD is still there. I can go onto the scene."

"Okay."

They went to Hannah's house. Once there Marisa grabbed Hannah out of the car in her car seat.

"Hey Pete," Marisa spoke showing him her badge. "Can I go get some things for Hannah?"

"Yeah sure, CSU has finished."

"Great thanks."

Marisa ducked underneath the tape and walked into the house. Marisa walked upstairs to Hannah's room. Marisa had grabbed her bag from the trunk and filled it with a few of Hannah's clothes and toys and two bottles and her pacifier. Marisa looked in the cupboards and found some baby formula so she took that with her too. She also grabbed the stroller, bouncy chair and travel bed. If Marisa really was going to adopt Hannah she wanted to buy things herself for the nursery. Marisa put everything into the car and strapped Hannah back into the car before they drove back to Marisa's house. Marisa showed the social worker around the house.

"We may have to childproof some things but don't worry we will do that and we will make one of the rooms upstairs the nursery."

"Alright, I will come back tonight so I can speak to both you and your husband."

"Alright, that's fine."

"8pm okay?"

"Yes that's fine."

"Alright, I will see you then and if you need any help with Hannah don't hesitate to call."

"I will but I think I'll be fine. I have a little brother who's just over a year old and I look after him sometimes too."

"That's good to know. I will see you tonight."

Marisa showed the social worker out. She closed the door and looked at the little girl lying in her bouncy chair. She couldn't believe that she sort of had a kid. She had just agreed to become her legal guardian without talking to Zac about it. What if he didn't like it? Marisa grabbed her phone and called Zac.

"Hey Mari," Zac answered the phone.

"Hey baby, do you have a minute?"

"For you, always. What's up?"

"Well, something sorta happened today at work."

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Zac asked concerned.

"No, no, I'm fine."

"Okay good." Zac let out a relieved sigh.

"We had this case today were two Navy SEALS were killed. They were married and they had a nine month old little girl and I sorta took her in."

"You adopted her?!" Zac spoke astonished.

"No, not adopted her. Not yet away, but she had no one so I asked CPS to make me her legal guardian."

"Wow, you kinda dropped a bomb shell on me there Mari."

"I know honey and I all happened kinda fast. But if I didn't do anything social services would take her and she would be put in the system. I just couldn't let that happen to her. I hope you're not mad at me."

"I'm not mad at your Mari, I'm just a thrown off guard."

"Yeah, I kinda figured that would happen but nothing is decided yet. I said I would need to talk to you before I even considered adopted her. I just couldn't let her go into the system."

"I understand that and I love you for that Mari. I have one more meeting today and then I will come home so we can talk about this."

"Alright. The social worker is coming over tonight at eight to talk with us."

"That's fine. I will see you later."

"Alright, I love you."

"I love you too."

Zac hung up and went back to work. Well at least he tried. His mind was somewhere else. Marisa had taken a kid in. Could this be their chance to become parents? He rather wanted a baby with Marisa together but so far that hadn't happened yet. They were both ready to become parents. So why shouldn't they become parents to this little girl?

Luckily the meeting was over pretty fast so Zac went home. When he got home he found Marisa sitting on the couch with the little girl in her arms and she was feeding her.

"Hey Mari," Zac greeted his wife.

"Hey honey."

Zac walked up to Marisa and gave her a kiss. "So this is the little girl you were talking about? She's really cute." She had dark blonde hair and green eyes. Zac watched as his wife fed Hannah the bottle. It was really nice to see his wife with a baby in her arms. "What's her name?"

"Her name is Hannah and she's nine months old. She's only nine months old and already been through so much. Her mother and step-dad were killed and then later I shot her father."

"Huh? So that man you found in the house was not her dad?"

"No, her mother had married him but he was not her dad. The mother had gotten a restraining order against the father after he abused them. So he killed them to get his daughter back. He somehow found out she was at the hospital with me and he came there to get her back. He was waving his gun around and he already shot a security guard before he shot at me, the social worker and Hannah. So I had no other choice but to shoot him."

"Poor kid. You're really serious about adopting her?"

"Yeah I think so. I mean she has nobody. Both her parents were an only child, well the once we assumed were her parents. After we found out who her real father was Nell did a background check on him too and he's an only child too and neither one of them have parents who are alive. Their neighbor had said that they had asked her to take care of Hannah if something should happen to them but she got sick so they had to find someone else, which they hadn't done yet. So legally there's no one responsible for her. And I just couldn't let this little cutie go into the system."

"Maybe this baby appearing in our lives is a sign or something."

"Yeah," Marisa replied with a smile. "We have a chance to become parents, of course the judge has to agree with it."

"Yeah, but I really think we should try."

"You really wanna adopt her?"

"Yeah. I know it's not the same as a baby of our own but she can be our baby, our kid. And who knows, maybe one day we'll have a baby of our own, but I really wanna become a dad."

"Yeah me too, well a mom then. So yeah, we should try to adopt her."

Marisa smiled at Zac and gave him a kiss as she burped Hannah.

That evening the social worker came over. Hannah was asleep in her travel bed upstairs. They had told the social worker they wanted to adopt Hannah.

"Well, it's not up to me to decide if you can adopt her. There's a process you guys have to follow, even though these are special circumstances. But there's no shortcut when it comes to adoption. I'm gonna need some documents from you, birth certificate, tax returns, medical records and marriage certificate and you will get multiple visits from a social worker and also the judge. You will also have to answer some questions."

"That's fair enough."

"We really need to make sure you're the right parents for Hannah so it might take some time, since you already have legal guardianship it might go a little bit faster than normally. Now, did you think about adoption before Hannah dropped into your lives?"

"Well, we didn't register ourselves as adoption parents yet but we have talked about it a little. You see, we've been trying to get pregnant for a while now without any success so we've discussed some other options. I've read some things about adoption and I was adopted myself."

"Ah okay. Well I suggest you go visit an adoption lecture so you can learn more about it or read some books. I've heared that you are a federal agent. Mr. Jenkins, what do you do for a living?"

"I'm a lawyer, murder cases mostly, for the DA so I represent the state and not the suspect."

"What kind of hours do you work?"

"I work mostly from nine to five," Zac answered.

"Mine depend on the case load we have." Marisa wondered what to tell the social worker, since they were secret agents but she couldn't lie, not when something as big as an adoption was at stake. "Normally I start somewhere between eight thirty and nine thirty and I've we don't have a case I'm usually home around five or six. If I do have a case I sometimes have to work at night or even through the night. We're undercover agents so I might have to go undercover sometimes."

"For long periods of time?"

"Sometimes yeah. But I already told Mrs. Stevenson this when I applied for guardianship."

"I know, but I just want to have everything together on paper. Would it put Hannah at risk, with you being a federal agent?"

"Not many people know that I'm a federal agent so I'd say the risk is just the same as with other people, cops and federal agents have kids all the time so, and with me being a federal agent I can protect her."

…..

Over the next few weeks a Marisa and Zac got visits from the social worker and the judge assigned to their case. They had to answer a lot of questions and had to fill in some forms. They really liked having Hannah around. Hannah really was such a cute little baby. She was a pretty easy baby, she slept and ate well. Marisa could tell that she missed her parents but everything was going fine so far. Zac was busy turning one of the bedrooms at the back of the house into a nursery for Hannah.

Marisa and Zac had to appear in court a couple times to defend themselves, why they would make great parents.

…

It had been three months since Zac and Marisa had filed for adoption and today was the hearing. Today they would find out if they really could adopt Hannah. Tomorrow was Hannah's first birthday so it would be perfect if they could celebrate it as a family.