"Another house?"
"Yeah. If that's what you want."
"I've never really thought about it. Why do you wanna move? Is it because of that Comescu thing?"
"Yeah. I can't help but feel scared here. That's why I didn't stay here when you were in the hospital."
Callen grabbed Joelle's hands. "It's okay honey, I'm here now. You have nothing to be scared off. I won't let anything happen to you or our little boy, I promise."
"I know honey, but what when you go back to work, when I'm here alone again. I think I'll still be scared then. What if someone else, someone who wants to hurt you, knows about you living here?"
"My team checked it thoroughly, there's no one else in the group that Comescu dealt with, no one else knows about this house."
"But Comescu somehow found out, there could be others."
"Honey, I will keep you and our little boy safe I promise, but if this is something that you really feel like would be good I will give it some thought."
"Thank you. I know you like living here, it's your first real home and this was your favorite foster placement. But I just can't help but feel this way. I know what your job is like and the dangers that come with it but I thought I'd be safe here in the house considering it's under your alias."
"I know, I thought that too. But my team looked at everything and they got everyone."
"I know, but there could still be others. If they were able to find out other people could too."
"I know honey, I know. But for now I'm home so you have nothing to worry about and I promise I'll think about moving."
"Okay, thank you. I know this house means a lot to you but I just don't feel safe anymore here."
"I can understand that Jo, I really do. I promise I'll think about it but for now I am home to protect you so you have nothing to worry about."
Joelle fell into Callen arms and the two of them sat together on the couch. "I know with your job and everything it's dangerous but I feel safe with you."
"That's good. I'll always be here to protect you and our little boy."
"Good."
"I love you Jo."
"I love you too G."
They sat like that for a while before going to bed. Joelle snuggled up to her pregnancy pillow, facing Callen, and was fast asleep. Callen lay awake, thinking about what Joelle had asked earlier. Should he move? He wanted Joelle and their baby to feel safe whenever he was not there but was he ready to move? This play was his home, his first real home. He really liked living here. They both agreed that Joelle would come live here when they agreed to move in together. But now Joelle wanted to move. Callen understood where she came from and why she wanted to leave. He should just move because he wanted her to feel safe when he wasn't around but it was hard for him. It had taken him really long to finally by his own house and to get furniture. He had a good home now here with Joelle and they had finished the nursery. This felt like his home but maybe it was possible to create a new home with Joelle. Maybe there was a house out there that was perfect for them.
He loved Joelle more than anything and he was really happy with her so maybe he should just move, it was just a house after all. And the memories he had of this house would always be with him. Technically this was still his house since Joelle moved in with him, maybe it would be good to buy their house. Joelle was right though, there could be others who find out about this house. He really liked this place but he wanted Joelle to feel safe when he wasn't around. And just like Joelle had said, what if someone else found out and came here and he wasn't there? He couldn't stand to see Joelle get hurt. So they had painted the nursery already, they could do that again somewhere else, they had everything else already so it was just paint or wallpaper.
After a while Callen managed to fall asleep. He was awake early the next morning but he decided to stay in bed with Joelle. He crawled closer to her and wrapped his arm around her. A little later he noticed that Joelle was waking up.
"Good morning honey," Callen spoke softly.
"Good morning baby."
Callen gave Joelle a kiss. "Did you sleep okay?"
"Yeah, I slept fine. You?"
"Fine too. I've been doing some thinking about what you said last night. If you really want to move I'm okay with that."
"Really?"
"Yeah, I just want you to feel safe whenever I'm not around."
"I know you like this house, this was your first house, so I know it's not easy for you. But it's just a house, the memories will always be with you. After everything that happened I just don't feel safe here anymore, I'm afraid someone else will come here when you're not around."
"I get that, that's why I'm willing to move. I just want you to feel safe and I don't want anything to happen to you or our little boy. I'm sure we can find a house that will be perfect for our little family. We can built our family life there."
"Yeah we can. Yeah I'm sure there will be a house that will be perfect for us. Maybe we can even find a house with a nursery already so we don't have to paint it again."
"Yeah perhaps and I'm still home for a couple weeks so you'll be safe at home."
"Yeah I'm glad about that. We can find a house together."
"Yeah we can."
Callen pulled her closer and kissed her again. He pulled the pregnancy pillow out from between them so he could pull her closer. Their pajamas were taken off and they made love. After breakfast they looked at some houses. They already found a couple of houses that looked nice. They made appointments to visit the houses. They had one house on Thursday evening and two more on the weekend. The first house Joelle thought was okay, not special, but Callen didn't like it. That Saturday they went to visit the other two houses. The first one looked nice, Joelle could totally see them living here but the other house looked really nice on the pictures too so they waited to make a decision until they had seen that one too. The other house was right after this one. That one looked really nice too.
"What do you think G? Do you think we've found our house already?" Joelle asked.
"I'm not sure. They both look nice but I don't know. I didn't get that wow feeling. What do you think?"
"I really liked the first one we saw today. It's in a good neighborhood and it looks beautiful."
"Yeah perhaps, I thought they both looked nicer in the pics. I don't think these are our houses just yet."
"Okay, if you don't like it we'll look further."
With the other houses they visited Callen always managed to find something wrong. Joelle was getting a bit annoyed. None of the houses Callen seemed to like, she wondered if he really wanted to move.
They sat together on the couch and looked at some more houses
"What do you think of this one?" Joelle asked.
Callen looked at the pics. "It's okay I guess."
"It's perfect G."
"I don't know."
"Alright out with it!" Joelle kinda yelled.
"Out with what?"
"Every house you manage to find some wrong with it, they are all perfect houses. It's like you deliberately are looking for something wrong cus you don't wanna move."
"No, it's not that Jo."
"Then what is it? I've shown you perfect houses. So it's not this house, but you said you were okay with moving."
"I know….."
"Well it seems like you're not okay with moving after all."
"I am Jo, I am. I just…I don't know."
"You don't want to move? You don't want me and our baby to feel safe? I thought you loved us."
"I do Jo, I do."
"Then why won't you move? Do you want me and our baby to get hurt?"
"No Jo, I don't want that at all."
"Then stop being such a jerk when we're looking at houses. They were all perfect for us."
Joelle put her laptop on the table and got up. She didn't want to be around Callen right now. She really hated Callen right now. She told him why she wanted to move but it seemed like he was refusing to move. Joelle thought they meant more than that to Callen. That their safety was important to him, but maybe they weren't important to him. Maybe he wasn't right for family life after all. Maybe it had been a mistake to come back to him. Maybe it would just be better if Joelle raised this baby on her own, free Callen. Ever since Joelle had asked Callen about moving he had changed, like he was angry at her for asking him to move from his home.
A little later Callen walked into the bedroom and found Joelle packing a bag.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm leaving."
"What? Come on Jo. Just because of the whole house thing?"
"Yes G, cus of the house thing. We've looked at perfect houses but you always find something wrong with them, it's clear to me that you don't want to move. And with that you're saying that me and the baby our not important, that our safety doesn't matter to you. I've just had it. If you don't want to move I will move."
"Come on Jo, don't do this."
"It's your call G. Either we move or I'm moving out."
Callen stood there perplexed, was Joelle really giving him an ultimatum?
"I…" Callen wasn't sure what to say.
"Right."
Joelle grabbed her bag and wanted to leave but Callen stopped her.
"Let me go G, it's clear that you don't want this."
"But I do Jo, I do."
"No you don't, it's really clear to me that you don't. I shouldn't have come back to you, I'm sorry."
Joelle wanted to move past Callen but her grabbed her by the arm to stop her. Joelle wiggled to get free. With her free hand she slapped Callen across the face causing him to let her go. Joelle quickly left. She grabbed her car keys and went outside. She locked the door so Callen couldn't come after her immediately. She got in her car, which was in the driveway and pulled away.
Just as she pulled out of the driveway Callen came outside too. He got in his own car and followed Joelle. This wasn't how he planned everything, he didn't want to lose Joelle. So maybe he had been a little picky with the new house, but he did want to move, he wanted Joelle and their baby in his life and he wanted them to feel safe. He needed to get her back and try to explain everything to her.
Callen followed her and almost caught up to her when they drove across a crossing. Callen saw a car coming up to her from the right, it was green for them so they could drive through. Before Callen knew it the car had crashed against Joelle's car which sent her rolling over the pavement and she ended up against a pole. Callen quickly parked his car behind her and ran up to her car.
"Jo!" Callen yelled afraid.
Callen crawled inside the car and he noticed that Joelle was unconscious. He heard the sirens approaching already. They were close to a fire station so it didn't take long before the firemen and the paramedics were there. Callen moved so the paramedics could look after Joelle but it didn't really look good. Callen stood there nearly in tears as he watched the paramedics work on Joelle. Once she was out of the car they tried to stabilized her. Callen watched as they pulled out a defibrillator. Joelle was shocked a couple of times but it wasn't helping. Callen watched in horror when the paramedics stopped a little later.
"What?! Why are you stopping? Safe her damn it!" Callen yelled.
"I'm sorry sir, there's nothing more we can do. She's gone. I'm sorry," one of the paramedics spoke.
Callen couldn't believe it. Joelle was dead, she was gone.
"What about the baby?" Callen asked, holding back the tears.
The paramedic grabbed a Doppler and moved it over Joelle's stomach. "No, heartbeat. I'm sorry sir."
Callen couldn't believe it, both Joelle and their little boy were gone. He had caused this, if they didn't have a fight Joelle wouldn't have left. She would still be here. If only Callen had agreed to one of the houses, then this wouldn't have happened. Callen felt so angry right now. He looked around and saw the cops handling the other driver. He seemed drunk. Callen ran up to him.
"YOU SON OF A BITCH! YOU KILLED THEM!" Callen yelled as he punched him.
"Sir, step back. We've got him," one of the officer spoke.
"No, he killed them! He needs to pay."
"He will sir, we'll take him to jail. I know you're upset right now."
"Upset doesn't even being to cover it! He needs to pay for what he did."
"He will."
One officer tried to calm Callen down as the other walked the other driver to the squad car. Callen showed to the other officer that he had calmed down so the other officer walked away too. Suddenly Callen pulled his gun out and shot at the driver multiple times. The officer quickly ran up to Callen and took him down. Callen lay on the pavement with his hands behind his back as he looked towards the driver. He saw the cop shake his head, he was dead. Callen had killed him. Callen was arrested and put in the squad car. He didn't care about that. Joelle and their baby were going, it didn't matter anymore. Nothing mattered anymore.
Callen was booked and put in a holding cell. He lay there on the bunk just staring up at the ceiling. His life was over, he had nothing left to live for.
"G?" Callen suddenly heard a familiar voice. Callen looked over to the door of the cell and saw Sam standing there. He had no desire whatsoever to talk to him so he turned his gaze back to the ceiling. "What did you do G? They told me you shot and killed a guy. What were you thinking?"
"It doesn't matter anymore Sam, nothing matters. He killed Joelle and our baby. Nothing matters anymore. I belong it here, I killed them. My life is over."
"What happened G?"
"I don't wanna talk about it."
"G?"
"I said I don't want to talk about it! Just leave Sam. You can't help me now, no one can. Guard! Take him away. I don't want any visitors."
The guard came and told Sam to leave.
"I'll get you out of here buddy."
"Don't bother," Callen mumbled underneath his breath and Sam left.
He didn't want to get out of here, he belonged it here. Joelle and their baby were gone. He had nothing left to life for. His job, his friends, nothing mattered anymore because he had killed Joelle and their baby. It was his fault they were dead, he'd be better off in here than out there. He didn't deserve to be out there. He had shot and killed a man, he should be in here. Callen just felt so angry that he couldn't help himself but to shoot and kill the man that had taken everything away from him. That man needed to pay for what he had done. But more than anything Callen was pissed at himself, he had caused Joelle to run away, it was his fault that Joelle had gotten in the car. If only he had agreed to a house, then this wouldn't have happened.
Callen lay there on his bunk and shut his eyes, trying to forget everything that had happened today but it wasn't working. He kept seeing Joelle lying there lifeless on the street.
Callen opened his eyes again and he noticed that he was in the hospital.
