Coming Home

Callen exhaled heavily as he unlocked the door, as he entered the house he could hear Sammy's voice from a room away. He rounded the corner and looked into the living room, he saw Izzy and Sammy sitting on floor watching as one year old Amy stood unsteadily.

"Come on, you can do it." Sammy encouraged her as Callen walked into the room, all three smiled when they noticed Callen's presence.

"Dad!" Sammy exclaimed as he got to his feet, as he did he noticed Amy taking her first wobbly steps.

"Look, she's doing it." He exclaimed, Callen and Izzy watched Amy toddle towards Callen.

"Good girl." Izzy commended as Callen crouched down and put his arms out to Amy.

"That's my girl." He beamed as she reached him then scooped her up and gave her a hug.

"Where those her first?" He asked as Izzy and Sammy came over and praised Amy for her achievement.

"Yup, I guess she just needed the right motivation." Izzy smiled as Sammy wrapped his arms around Callen.

"Hey Bud." Callen shifted Amy to one arm and hugged Sammy with the other. After a couple of seconds he stood, when he got to his feet Izzy held his arm and tilted his watch to face her. Seeing the time she raised an eyebrow at his unusually early arrival.

"Hi." He smiled in greeting then kissed her. Once she had kissed him back he moved his mouth next to her ear.

"We'll talk later." He whispered, she felt a knot form in her stomach as she nodded in understanding.

"Let's see if she can do it again." Sammy suggested, Callen nodded and placed Amy back on the floor. Callen, Izzy and Sammy all sat on the floor, Sammy several feet from Amy and his parents.

"Come here Amy."

After spending the late afternoon helping Amy practice walking, Callen and Izzy gave both Sammy and Amy a bath and dinner. Izzy put Amy to bed then tidied up the kitchen while waiting for Callen to do the same with Sammy. After the third bedtime story Callen was able to finishing tucking Sammy in, as he was finally asleep. He put the book back on the shelf and quietly left the room. He padded down the hall and found Izzy had just finished cleaning the kitchen.

"Never wants to go to bed that kid." He commented as he entered the kitchen.

"I wonder where he gets that from." Izzy smirked as she hung up the tea towel, Callen smiled.

"Can we talk?" He asked as he tilted his head towards the dining table. She nodded and wordlessly followed as he walked over and pulled out a chair. He took a seat as she pulled out the chair beside his and sat down facing him.

"I've been given an overseas assignment." He told her and watched her face drop just a little.

"What it is?" She asked though she knew he couldn't tell her much.

"I can't tell...screw it. We've lost contact with an agent overseas, they need me to go in undercover and find out what happened to him." Callen confessed breaking protocol, Izzy was quiet for a moment as she took it in.

"How long?" She followed up trying her best to be unemotional.

"Hard to say, at least a week, most likely two." He answered honestly, despite her best efforts he could see her deep concern. She nodded her acceptance then stood and walked back into the kitchen, he immediately followed.

"Hey, talk to me." He requested as he reached her.

"What am I supposed to say? Please be careful, try not to get yourself killed." She replied staring at him.

"I'm sorry, I know this is hard on you." He empathised.

"You have to do this, that agent needs your help." She did the justifying he usually did for him.

"Doesn't make it any easier to leave." He gave her a small smile.

"Doesn't make it any easier to watch you go." She gave a small smile back.

"I'm going to be okay." He tried to reassure her, pulling her against him.

"You can't promise that." She sighed as she wrapped her arms around him and rested her head on his shoulder. They stood that way for a few minutes before Callen checked his watch and reluctantly let go of her.

"I have to go and pack." He told her, she nodded and followed him to the bedroom. She perched on the bed as Callen grabbed his go bag from the closet and began putting clothes in it. Izzy watched for awhile until it seemed like he was almost finished, when he returned to bed she stood and took his hand, he looked over at her then walked closer as she tugged on his hand. She pulled him close, wrapped her arms around his neck and started to kiss him. As he kissed her back she deepened the kiss and ran her hands down his chest, as she began to lift the hem of his shirt he realised where this was going.

"I don't really have time." He informed her after breaking the kiss.

"We'll make it quick." She smiled. As always he was unable to resist that smile and allowed her to take his shirt off, they resumed kissing intensely as he lowered them both on to the bed.

A short while later they were lying together on the bed both catching their breathe in companionable silence. Reluctantly he lifted the arm draped over her warm naked body and checked the time.

"I really have to go." He stated as he got up and started to get redressed. She rolled off the bed and threw on her pyjamas as he put the last of his clothes on. Once he was ready he picked up his go bag and she walked with him to the front door. He unlocked the door then put down his bag and turned to face her, they shared one final tight embrace. He let go and they stood staring at each other for a few seconds. He reached out and gently stroked the side of her face before leaning in and giving her a kiss.

"I love you." He told her.

"I love you too." She replied earnestly then watched as he picked up his go bag, opened the door and left.

Sixteen days passed before Callen stepped back through the front door of his house, he did so silently as it was nearly two in the morning when he arrived back. After he entered he closed and locked the door behind himself, before moving any further into the house he started slipping off his shoes. He discarded them at the door, padded through the living room then began to make his way down the hall. He hadn't made more that a few a feet when he heard excited babbling, he turned his head to the left and looked in to the nursery. He saw Amy lying awake in her cot, he dropped his go bag at her door and went in.

"Hey sweetheart, what are you doing up?" He whispered as he walked over and lifted her out of the cot. She babbled a bit more, wrapped her little arms around him and rested her head on his shoulder as he cuddled her to his chest.

"I missed you too." He smiled carrying her over to the rocking chair in the corner, he took a seat and began to rock.

"Time to go back to sleep." He told her, he continued to rock the chair as he patted her back and quietly began to hum. A little less than five minutes later Callen looked down and saw that she had fallen asleep, he slowly stood, carefully placed her back in the cot and recovered her with her blanket. He moved quietly out of the room, picking up his go bag as he continued down the hall.

He went passed Sammy's room then his own and dropped his go bag in the laundry. He turned around and walked back to his room, opening the door slowly when he reached it. He entered the room and as he approached the bed he saw Sammy was asleep on his side of it. He slowly peeled back the covers and gently lifted Sammy into his arms. He carried his fast asleep son to his own bedroom and carefully placed him on his bed. He pulled the covers over him and tucked him in, deciding to stay a minute he perched on the side of bed. As he watched his son sleep a small smile spread across his face, he patted Sammy's head and smoothed out the blankets. He stayed for another minute before placing a kiss on the top of Sammy's head and silently exiting the room.

He padded the few steps back to his own room, he pulled his shirt off over his head as he walked in. He dropped it in the hamper and followed it with his socks and jeans. He climbed into bed and looked over at his sleeping wife, he hesitated for a second but decided to wake her up.

"Iz." He whispered as he leaned over and kissed her cheek.

"Iz, I'm home." He told her as he jiggled her gently. He saw her eyes open, she rolled over and blinked sleepily taking a few seconds to process what was happening.

"Callen!" She exclaimed as she wrapped her arms tightly around him, he hugged her back burying his face in her neck. After several seconds she pulled back just enough to look at him and began a visual inspection as best she could in the dark.

"I'm okay." He reassured her, she smiled, kissed him then gave him another tight hug. After a few seconds she let go, he lay down and held his arm up. She snuggled into him resting her head on his chest and draping her arm over him, he lowered his arm down and put both arms around her.

"So how did it go, what happened, did you find that agent, are they okay?" She peppered him with questions and he smiled.

"It went well, we found him and he's back home safe with his family." He informed her.

"Good." She replied.

"How were things here?" He inquired.

"Fine." She responded.

"Iz?" He prodded, sensing all had not been well while he'd been away.

"Amy got sick." She admitted.

"She seems fine now." He commented and felt her lift her head.

"She was up when I got home, we had a cuddle and I got her back to sleep." He explained knowing she was looking him at him questioningly.

"She's much better and almost done with her course of antibiotics now." Izzy agreed.

"She's on antibiotics?" He questioned wondering what had been wrong with her.

"Yeah, she started running a fever about five days ago, I tried to get it down with painkillers but it didn't budge. Then she started seizing, so I called Dad and we took her to the emergency room, they ran a bunch of tests, got her fever down, prescribed her antibiotics and sent us home." She recalled as she played with the edge of the bed covers.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here." He told her sombrely giving her a soft squeeze, he felt a pang of guilt as he imagined her dealing with that without him.

"It's okay, you would have been here if you could have and I had Dad. He stayed a couple of days to help out, we got through it." She tried to assuage the guilt she knew he was feeling, Callen just sighed.

"Hey she's fine now." She added. They lay together cuddling in the dark for several seconds before Callen broke the silence.

"Maybe I should reconsider Hetty's offer." The thought aloud.

"To take her over her position as operations manager?" She asked for clarification.

"Yeah, giving out the assignments instead of getting them. It would mean I could be at home more." He confirmed for her.

"The kids and I would love that." She began to comment.

"But?" He pressed sensing there was more.

"But...what you do, being a field agent isn't just your job, it's part of who you are. You and I both know you would hate spending most of your time behind a desk." She finished her thought.

"So you want me to keep being a field agent?" He inquired surprised.

"I want you to be happy, besides you can't do the job forever anyway. You're not exactly a spring chicken, you should do the job you love while you still can." She answered.

"So what you're saying is I still have some good years left in me?" He chose to see the positive.

"A couple." She teased chuckling, he smiled as he turned his head and glanced at his bedside clock.

"It's late, we should get some sleep." He stated. She mumbled her agreement, disentangled them and rolled over. He followed suit rolling over, shifting close to her then gently pulled her body against his.

"The kids will be waking us up in a few hours." He added as she rested her arm on the arm he had around her.

"You. The kids will be waking you up in a few hours." She corrected him grinning, he chuckled and placed a kiss on the back of her shoulder.

"Understood."