There are literally five different versions of this chapter, and this is the one I'm most happy with. For those of you who are (sort of, slightly) worried that this is coming to an end, don't worry. The whole pace of this story is quite slow, and it will stay slow. Which means that I might need another ten to fifteen chapter just to get to the end of September storywise. And there might already be a sequel in the works. :-) :-)

Just so you know, this is officially the longest story I've written so far. Drinks on me! ;-)


Monday came too soon. By the time they had cleared away their luggage and had sorted out the gifts, it was Sunday afternoon again. To mark the end of their vacation, Grisha took her to Harry's, who promptly donated champagne when learning of their engagement.

So, come Monday, Grisha was alert, but not as alert as he would've been without champagne and a longer night's sleep. Dee chuckled at his sleepy head as he strolled into the kitchen. "You okay?" she asked, handing him a cup of tea.

Grisha mumbled something she didn't understand. Then, finally, his eyes seemed to open. "That last glass was a bad idea."

"You're just saying that because it's Monday and you need to go to work."

"Maybe," he relented, "but maybe it's because saying goodbye to you for the first time in three weeks doesn't help, either."

"You're sweet." She pressed a kiss to his lips. "But, I have things to do today as well, so whether or not you're going into work, I'm not going to be home." She ducked under his arm to open the fridge. "Soy or regular yoghurt?"

"Regular." He looked around. "No paper?"

"On the porch." On his way to the door, he threw over his shoulder: "What exactly are you going to do today, then?"

"I am going to work through my emails, since my inbox has been neglected for at least a month." She added nuts and fruit to the yogurt and put a bagel in the toaster. "I texted Jess last night, who is home, thankfully, so we're having lunch today. And then, I'm going location scouting for both Indulge and our new house."

He grinned, digging into his breakfast. "Already? We've been home for two days."

Taking a seat across from him, she shrugged. "I know. But I want to get a head start. So I hope there is an email from the insurance company, and I'm going to look for something smaller then what we had. And once I find a new location for the café, we can start looking for houses too. I know you don't want to commute longer than I do."

"Alright. Don't you need to go shopping for the wedding?"

"Ours?" The confusion was evident on her face. "Already?"

"Well, I don't know how long you want to wait… But no, not ours. Marty and Kensi's? It's only two weeks away."

Taking another spoonful of yoghurt, she nodded as she went back to the toaster for his bagel. "I don't think I need something, but let me sort out everything I've brought back and see if I can put something together. You, on the other hand, need something."

He watched her as she spread cream cheese on the bagel and shook his head. "I'm sure Hetty will have something in the wardrobe."

Raising her eyebrow, Dee stopped what she was doing. "As in: it's more convenient to let Hetty figure out what you're going to wear? Not happening mister, we are going shopping."

Taking the bagel out of her hand, he pressed a kiss to her nose. "I'm not going to have time to shop."

Crossing her arms, Dee squinted at him. "We'll make time to shop. Really babe, the only suit you own is in need of replacement, and I'm not going to let you show up in a pair of jeans."

He laughed, giving in. "Fine, we'll go shopping."

"I knew you'd come around." Smiling, she wrapped her arms around his neck. "Enjoy your day. Be careful. Text me if you're on your way home so I can have dinner on the table. And say hi to everyone from me."

"I will." He kissed her long and thoroughly. "Say hi to Jess for me. I love you."

"I love you more."

His trip to work was uneventful as ever, and Kensi and Deeks pulled up next to him as he parked the car. They both grinned at him. "Look who's back!"

Talking about his trip, they strolled into the mission. Sam was already sitting behind his desk and looked up at the noise. "Look what the cat dragged in!" He got up from his desk and enveloped Callen in a sort of hug. "It's good to have you back, buddy."

"It's good to be back, I think." Callen dropped his bag on his desk. "What have I missed?"

"Other than Kensi freaking out about the wedding, not so much."

Kensi stuck her tongue out. "As said by bridezilla himself. I'm not apologizing for wanting things to be perfect."

Callen looked between them and grinned in Sam's direction. "Was it like this when you got married to Michelle?"

"Not that I can remember. Then again, I may just have blocked all that," Sam shrugged.

"Mmm." Callen went in the direction of the kitchenette. "Anyone else want tea? Or coffee?"

Kensi stopped in the middle of her sentence, seemingly realizing that she should be asking him questions. "Aren't you going to tell us about London? How was it? Did you meet her family?"

"It was great. London hasn't changed. Yes, I did."

Kensi rolled her eyes. "You're supposed to elaborate on that, Callen. How is her family?"

Having put the boiler on, Callen leaned against the counter. "Depending on the side, either small or huge, and sophisticated and cordial, or out-there and really, really loveable. Either way, they're great."

Deeks frowned. "Have you met her family in Barcelona, too?"

"Yes. We spent our last week there." In the meantime, Callen searched in his desk drawer for tea. "It's a massive difference from her English side, which is more conservative and always polite. Her Spanish side is, with thirty-six people, three times as big, and they bellow, they don't talk. It took me four days to get used to it."

Deeks chuckled. "Welcome to the family."

"Uhuh." Callen put tea in a strainer, then in a cup. "Anyway, how are things at this end?"

They filled him in on the cases they had worked, and even the cold case they had managed to solve. Judging by his inbox, he had a lot to catch up on. Their day was filled with paperwork and jokes, and to be honest, Callen was glad to be back. He had missed his work and family more than he wanted to admit.

Halfway through the day, he slipped into Ops. Nell looked up to him and smiled. "Ah, I was wondering when you were going to show up."

"Well, you know, if they all keep solving cases when I'm away, there's a mountain of paperwork to plough through. What did you find?"

Nell didn't have a lot for him. "He's as clean as they can be, working in our field. He retired from NCIS six years ago; has been doing some investigative work and he runs an art gallery with his son. His file reads better than yours does."

Callen shrugged. "Every file reads better than mine does."

"Squeaky clean. He worked for the FBI before he started at NIS, and he just worked there until he retired. I can't find a lot of dirt on him." She handed him a flash drive. "Why him, again?"

"He's dating Hetty." It was out there before Callen could swallow it.

Nell raised an eyebrow. "He's dating… since when?"

"I'm not sure. I'm guessing it's been a while, because she's taken him to the beach house and everything. They seem pretty comfortable together."

It stayed quiet as Nell mulled over that news. "Good for Hetty." She looked up at Callen. "I'll dig a little deeper, see if I can find anything else."

"You don't have to do that, Nell," Callen said. "All of this is more than enough. It's mostly just to put my worries at ease. I've seen him, I only wanted to make sure."

"Are you sure?"

"I am." He put the flash drive in his pocket.

"How was your vacation, by the way? For some reason, Eric and I have been stuck up here all day, I didn't have a chance to ask you yet."

"Great. Good." He ran a hand through his hair and it stayed in his neck. "I've met her family, which is immense, compared to mine. But they're all friendly and acceptive. It was good to have time together after everything that's happened in the past couple of months."

Nell was glad for him. "Good to hear. So now back in full work mode?"

"More or less. We need to move, and Dee has decided to re-open and relocate Indulge, so I'm sure we'll be busy with all that. What about you and Eric?"

The beaming smile send his way was answer enough. "We're good. Slow and steady."

"Good. I'll leave you to whatever it was you were doing. Thanks for what you've done."

"You're welcome."

The rest of his day was, again, filled with paperwork until Hetty showed up at his desk around leave time. Callen tilted his head up from filling in a report. "Can I help you, Hetty?"

Hetty handed him a present. "I know it's small, but it's the thought that counts."

He frowned. "You didn't have to get me anything."

"It's not only for you. It's an engagement gift, so it's for you and your fiancée."

Five heads, including Eric and Nell's, who were downstairs sparring a cold case, snapped up at those words. Deeks, who was in the process of cleaning his desk, stopped mid-motion, and Kensi and Sam fell silent. Hetty snickered. "I gather that you haven't told them yet?"

"Nah." He shrugged. "What's the big deal, you guys? I proposed, she said yes."

And so the mayhem started. They all spoke at once, pulled him into hugs and wanted to know details. "We need to go out for celebratory drinks!"

"Engaged…" Sam muttered. "You ask him how his vacation was and he forgets to mention that he got engaged."

"I didn't forget… I just…. It's only been a week. We got back on Friday. It's Monday. Besides, you asked me how my vacation was and like I said, it was great. I didn't think you all wanted to know I went down on one knee with my heart in my hands hoping she'd say yes."

"Of course we want to know," Kensi said. "Getting engaged is a huge step, especially for you. We're all just excited because we think she's great and you were brave enough to take the leap."

Callen rolled his eyes. "Well, there you go. Should I call her so we can go to dinner, then?"