"We should finish packing," Zoë spoke after what seemed like an eternity.
"Yeah we should," Callen replied, still unable remove his eyes from Zoë. After a few more seconds Callen eventually stepped aside to let Zoë passed.
Zoë finished packing up as Callen went into the bathroom. Callen finished packing as well and they went downstairs with their luggage. They checked out of the hotel and went to the car.
"So whereto now?" Callen asked after had gotten the luggage into the car.
"To my mom's house," Zoë answered.
They got into the car and Zoë drove them to a town nearby. It was just before 6 when they arrived. They drove through the neighborhood and Zoë stopped the car in front of a quaint little light-colored stone bungalow with a low hedge in the front yard. There was a driveway and a few plants and small trees stood in the front yard. Callen looked at the house as Zoë stopped the car.
"Is this where you grew up?" Callen asked.
"No, it's not. My mom moved here a few years back. I grew up a few blocks from here. I can show it to you tomorrow when I take you for a tour of the town."
"Sure, that's perfect."
They grabbed their luggage from the car and walked up the paved pathway towards the front door. They rang the doorbell. A little later an older woman, in her seventies, opened the door.
"Hey mom," Zoë spoke once her mom had opened the door.
"Hey Zoë, it's good to see you again," Kirsten replied and gave her daughter a hug.
"It's good to see you too. Mom, I'd like you to meet a friend of mine from work. This is Greg. Greg, this is my mother Kirsten."
"Hello ma'am, it's nice to meet you," Callen greeted her and shook her hand.
"Hello Greg, it's nice to meet you too. And please call me Kirsten. Come on in, dinner is almost done."
Callen and Zoë followed Kirsten into the house. Zoë and Callen put their stuff away in the guest room before they sat down at the dinner table. Kirsten had made Zoë's favorite Dutch meal which was a hotchpot of sauerkraut with smoked sausage and bacon.
"It's looks delicious," Callen told Kristen.
"Thanks. Have you ever tried Dutch food?"
"No, not until a few days ago. Zoë had me try something called a frikandel."
"Ah yes, one of the famous Dutch snacks."
Kirsten put some food on their plates and they sat down to eat.
"So Greg, you and Zoë work together? You're with the navy as well?" Kirsten asked.
"Yes, we work together. Yeah I work in the navy too but as something else then Zoë. But we are on the same team so to speak," Callen answered.
"Is that how you two met?"
"Yes it is. We met when Zoë was transferred to the team I work with. She fits in great. We make a great team all of us and your daughter is an important part of that team."
"That's good to hear. So, are you two dating?"
"Mom!" Zoë yelled at her mom.
"What? I'm allowed to ask. This is the first time you bring someone home with you, so I was just wondering."
"We're not dating, we're just very good friends."
"Then why did you bring him home for a family visit?"
"We're good friends and I wanted to show him around Holland and we're going to a football match after New Year's. He's showing me American sports and I'm showing him European and Dutch sports and since I was going to be here for New Year's anyway I invited him along for a football match."
"But all the football is down here."
"Yes I know, we're going in England to a Liverpool match. So, no date. Just two friends hanging out."
"Okay."
"This is delicious," Callen spoke after a speak seconds, clearing the awkward moment.
"Thank you Greg. Have you been in Holland before?"
"Not really. Only a brief layover in Amsterdam on a passing through flight. But I really like what I'm seeing so far. Holland's a beautiful country."
"That's good to hear."
They finished dinner and dessert and sat around the living room for a while before going to bed. Callen and Zoë slept in one of the guest rooms. There was a single bed in the room and an air matrass on the floor.
"You can have the bed, I don't mind sleeping on the floor," Callen said.
"You sure? I can sleep on the air matrass as well."
"No problem. I sleep on the floor at home as well."
"You still haven't gotten a bed?"
"Nope, I don't need one. I'm not home often and I sleep perfectly fine on a bed roll on the floor."
"When I think I've figured you out a bit something else pops in."
"That's me, a man of many mysteries," Callen replied with a smile.
"One of these days I'm gonna figure you out Callen."
"Good luck, many have tried it before."
Callen didn't want to admit it to her but she had gotten further than anyone else ever had. But there was still so much she didn't know about him and he wasn't sure he would ever tell her these things. There were still a lot of things he didn't even knew himself.
"I hope my mom wasn't too much during dinner," Zoë spoke as she got into bed
"Nah, it's okay. Nothing I can't handle."
"Good. Goodnight Callen."
"Goodnight Zoë," Callen replied as he got in bed as well.
A few hours later Zoë woke up when she heard some noise coming from the kitchen. She looked next to her, at the place where Callen was sleeping, to wake him up. But to her surprise Callen wasn't in bed. Quietly she got out of bed and opened the door to the hall way. She saw a light coming from the kitchen. Quietly she walked towards the kitchen. She found Callen at the kitchen table pulling a toaster apart.
"What are you doing at three in the morning?" Zoë spoke a bit sleepy as she walked into the kitchen.
Callen looked up surprised as he heard her. "Oh hi Zoë, sorry did I wake you? I sometimes pull apart kitchen appliances when I can't sleep."
"Ah okay. Just put it back together the way it was and can you quiet it down a bit?"
"Yeah of course, no problem. Sorry I woke you."
"It's okay."
Zoë went back to bed and Callen continued with the toaster. The next morning when Kirsten walked into the kitchen Callen was already there.
"Good morning Greg," Kirsten spoke surprised when she saw Callen.
"Good morning Kirsten. I hope it's alright I got a pot of coffee going."
"Oh yes it's fine. Thank you. Always up this early?"
"Yep, never sleep much. I hope I grabbed the right coffee. I don't really understand Dutch so I just grabbed one that looked like coffee."
"I only have one brand of coffee so I'm sure it'll be fine. So, how long have you known Zoë?"
"For about two and half years now. I really like working with her. She's very good at her job."
"She always was a bright kid growing up. She takes after her dad a lot. That's why she moved with him to America. What about you? Have you always lived in LA?"
"No not until a couple years back. Moved around a lot for my job. But I enjoy being in LA. It feels like home."
"Good morning," Zoë spoke as she walked into the kitchen.
"Morning Zoë," Callen replied, glad there was someone else to talk to so he wouldn't get the third degree from her mom.
After eating breakfast Callen and Zoë went to the store to get dinner and snacks for tonight. Zoë drove Callen around the town, showing him where she grew up and which places she loved as a kid before driving to the grocery store. Zoë parked the car in the parking lot and grabbed a shopping cart before making their way into the store. Since it was December 31st it was pretty busy at the store. Callen looked around the store as they walked. Some things looked familiar to him but other things totally didn't.
"This looks totally different than the groceries stores in LA," Callen stated.
"Yep I know."
"What are we eating for dinner tonight?"
"We're doing some sort of fry-up. You have all the food uncooked on the table and you bake it yourself in a small pan on a cooker on the table."
"Ah okay, sounds nice."
Callen looked through the shelves for things to put on the your bread and some things were really weird to him. He would never eat those, they didn't even have them in US.
"Why do you have so much of the same? These all look the same," Callen said.
"They are not. They have different flavors or from different factories."
"What are these? 'Mu-eyes,yes'?"
Zoë couldn't help but laugh a bit as Callen tried to speak Dutch. "It's called 'muisjes'. Meaning little mice. With the blue and pink color we actually only eat when a baby is born. We put them on a biscuit like this and then the 'muisjes' on top. Blue for a boy and pink for a girl of course."
"Ah okay, weird."
They walked on through the store.
"That's a lot of cheese," Callen remarked.
"Yeah, we are really cheese-eaters here. They call Dutch people "Kaaskoppen" too. It means cheese heads."
"Haha, funny name."
They finished getting the groceries and went back home.
"Heb je nog onze oude bord spellen mam? [Do you still have some of the old board games lying around mom?]" Zoë asked once she put the groceries away.
"Ja, ze liggen in de kast op de hobby kamer. [Yes, they are in the closet in the hobby room]."
"Hey Greg, want to play an old Dutch board game?" Zoë asked.
"Sure, sounds like fun."
Zoë went to grab some board games from the closet.
"Doe jij ook mee mam? [Are you playing too mom?]"
"Ja, waarom niet. [Sure, why not.]"
Zoë grabbed a board game called "Kolonisten van Catan[Settlers of Catan]". She set op the board and explained the game to Callen.
"So you have to build villages, roads and cities. The cities and villages can be placed on a corner of a tile but there always have to be two spaces in between each city or village." Zoë demonstrated how the cities could stand on the board. "You first have to build a village and then you can upgrade it to a city. When you buy a new village it has be along your route you build with the roads. You see the numbers on the tiles and each tile represents an element. When it's your turn you roll the dice and if you're village is on one of the tiles with that number you get that element. If you have a city you get double the elements. So there's wood, stone, wool, grain and ore. You need those elements to buy stuff. Here's the card with what you need. The top is a road, you need wood and stone for that. Then it's a village, you need wood, stone, grain and wool for that. Then you have the city, you need two grain and three ores for that. And the last one is an evolution card, you need grain, wool and ore for that. That card can be anything, some free elements, a thing you can take of the other players, a point, anything. You need ten points to win the game. A village is one point and a city is two points."
"Ah okay, I think I get it. Let's just play. If I have any question I will shoot."
"Alright first, each person gets a color and can place two villages with one road. Be smart about where you put your villages, you want to get all the elements. Greg you can go first."
Callen placed his first village on the board, then Zoë placed her and then Kirsten placed hers. Kirsten placed another one and then Zoë and then Greg. Each player started with the elements belonging to the tiles that their last village was on.
"Mom, why don't you begin, so Greg can watch for two rounds first. The correct order of play is throw the dice, trade cards, build and play an evolution card. Some evolution cards can be played at the start of your turn."
Kirsten began with throwing the dice. The number three and three popped up so all the players who had a village on a tile with a six get the elements belonging to the tiles. Kirsten bought a road and put the dice through to Zoë. Zoë threw the dice and threw nine. Zoë bought a road and an evolution card. Zoë briefly read the card before putting it down on the table upside down. Now it was Callen's turn. Callen threw the dice and threw seven. Callen look at the board put there was no number seven on the board.
"What does the seven mean?" Callen asked.
"The seven is for the 'Struikrover', the bandit. That's this black pawn in the middle. You can put it on any tile you want. And when that number is thrown the villages on the tile won't get the elements, so put it on a tile that has either me or my mom or both of us on it, not a tile that has your village. It's the smartest to put it on a tile with a middle number so not like two, three or eleven or twelve, cus those don't get thrown a lot. And then you can take a card from one of us. Also when seven is thrown and a person has more than seven cards in his hands you have to turn in the half of it, rounded down. But neither one of us has that now so you can put the pawn on a tile you like."
Callen grabbed the pawn and looked at the board to figure out on which tile he should place it. Zoë and Kirsten both had villages on a tile with the eight so Callen put the pawn there and chose to steal a card from Zoë.
"So look at your building cards to see if you can build something."
Callen choose to build two roads. Once his turn was over Kirsten could throw again. They continued playing. Callen was actually really loving this game. For the evolution cards he scanned them with his phone and the phone translated it for him so he could understand it without giving away to Zoë and Kirsten what he had. Callen was pretty good at the game. He had seven points already and as far as he could tell Zoë had five and Kirsten had six. But they had some evolution cards as well and they could be points as well.
A few turns later Callen just needed one point but he didn't have the right cards for that just yet. It was Zoë's turn now and she threw the number that Callen needed but it was Zoë's turn now so he couldn't build it just yet. Here was hoping Zoë didn't have enough points yet. Zoë wanted to trade something but no one wanted to trade with her. Zoë bought an evolution card and luckily for her it was a point.
"Yes, I won. Two cities are four points, three villages are three points and I have the card for the longest route which is two points and this is a point!" Zoë revealed the card she just bought.
"Ah no! I was so close. If you didn't get that card I would've won," Callen said.
"Ah too bad. But you played very well for a first time."
They cleaned up the game and Kirsten went to get them some sandwiches as Zoë set up the next game for her and Callen. It was 'Stratego'. It was a board game with pawns in a war type setting. Each pawn represented a figure from the military and you had to get the flag of the other player. Callen and Zoë set up the playing board. Callen played with the red pawns and Zoë had the blue pawns. One was the highest rank and nine was the lowest rank. You also had a bomb and a miner who could destroy the bombs. Each pawn could take one step per turn, except for the Scout. He could move horizontally or vertically as far as was allowed.
Zoë started the game and moved her Scout one place to not give away to rank of the piece right away.
Callen was the first one to attack one of Zoë's pawns.
"I have a Lieutenant," Zoë spoke.
"Mine's a Sergeant."
"You lose."
Callen had to remove the piece from the board. The continued the game and they each lost a few pieces. Neither one of them had any idea where the flag of the other was. Callen brought his spy forward. And attacked one of Zoë's pieces.
"I have a spy."
"Damn, you found my marshal."
The spy was the only piece that could beat the marshal.
"Haha, nice one."
A few moves later Zoë had fifteen pieces on the board and Callen had seventeen. They both had managed to clean up a few bombs from the other. Callen was closing in on Zoë's flag. Zoë just hoped he wouldn't be able to find it, but it was a fixed piece so she couldn't move it. A few moves later Callen attacked one of Zoë's pieces. He thought it was her flag.
"I've got a colonel."
"Ha, mine's a general."
"Damn it."
Zoë attacked on of Callen's pieces.
"Marshal,"
"Yay, spy."
Callen lost his marshal. Callen attacked another piece of Zoë, that had to be her flag then.
"Mine's a major."
"I have a…" Zoë turned the piece. "You found my flag."
"Yay," Callen victoriously threw his arms up in the air.
The played a game of goose and just relaxed around the house for the rest of the day until it was time for dinner. Callen was really loving the fry-up. After dinner they sat around the living room with some music on the TV in the background until it was almost midnight. Kirsten went to heat up the 'Oliebollen'. It were some sort of doughnut balls. Zoë grabbed the champagne glasses and the champagne. The TV had a countdown clock. As the clock reach almost midnight they counted down.
"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, happy New Year," they called as Callen popped the champagne.
They wished each other happy new year and Callen poured them some champagne. They each grabbed a doughnut ball.
"These are actually pretty good," Callen said as he took a bite out of it.
They enjoyed the champagne and the doughnut balls as the stood in front of the window looking at the fireworks.
"I'm just gonna go outside real quickly, wish the neighbors a happy new year," Kirsten spoke.
"So what do you think of Dutch New Year's eve?" Zoë asked.
"It's actually pretty nice. It's funny to think, we're in the new year earlier that the rest of the team back in LA."
"Haha yep we are."
"Thank you for taking me with you here to Holland. I'm really loving it."
"You're welcome."
They stood there in front of the window with the fireworks in the background as they looked into each other's eyes. It felt exactly the same as back in the hotel room. Zoë was afraid to move, wondering if Callen was feeling the same as her but after Callen kept staring into her eyes and didn't move she slowly moved forward, bringing their faces closer.