Author's Note: Sorry it took so long for the update. I just got in the zone with Terrors of the Night and had to finish it up. Shouldn't be so long between updates for this one now… (but who knows what will come up?)


It took a lot to put Nell Jones in a bad mood. And right now, she was crankier than a grizzly drug from its cave in a January blizzard, to borrow a simile off from her dad. She batted away the hands on her arms in a peevish manner worthy of said hypothetical rudely-awakened grizzly bear.

Pacing about the room, she glared at its other occupants. There weren't as many clogging up the small sterile space since the doctor shooed what seemed to be half of NCIS' LA office out of the room, which Nell was both relieved and angered about.

Honestly, she didn't want to be like this, but the only person in the entire history of universe that she wanted with her that very moment was not there. And he had promised. He always kept his promises. Always. No matter how minor (or major). And no matter whom he made them to. And this one, this one he'd made to her.

Oh, G. Where the hell are you?!

Thoughts temporarily fled her as another contraction began and then overwhelmed her. It was a kind of pain the intensity of which she'd never even near experienced before. But she bore it, for she had no choice. And perhaps, it wouldn't be so bad... except she was fighting it. Because she had called him on the way to the hospital and he'd said that they'd just pulled up to the house to interview some guy whose name she couldn't remember and didn't care to know, and that they were about twenty minutes away and would head to the hospital right then. That was a little over two hours ago and this labor was proving to be a fast one, according to the doctor who was supporting Nell by the arm. Kensi Blye was at her other side, looking wide-eyed and fearful in a manner the intelligence analyst had never witnessed the agent to be in the field.

Yeah. Child birth was scary. And painful!

Nell was doubled up by the pain of the contraction, somehow still on her feet. It felt like a muscle cramp, like the worst kind of Charlie-horse, only the muscle tissue involved was her entire uterus, which was currently the size of a beach ball.

"Nell, your body is telling you it's time to have this baby," Dr. Vickery said. She was dark-haired, olive-skinned woman in her thirties with big, gentle, brown eyes. Nell currently both hated and thanked god for the woman's presence. "You're only going to exhaust yourself by fighting it."

Nell panted through the contraction until she felt the muscles release slightly with a brief flood of relief. She pushed the two women off from her and stalked about the room once more. If she kept this up, Dr. Vickery might just rethink her child birthing philosophy and order Nell strapped down to a birthing table. As the good doctor had discussed with her during prenatal consultations, it didn't make sense to force a woman onto her back to push a 7 pound creature through a 12 cm pelvic cavity against gravity. In most cases that presented normally, a woman's body tended to instinctively know which position it needed to be in to expel the fetus. And so, Nell had been left mobile even as active labor rapidly progressed, the doctor examining Nell's progress periodically and then banishing all of her crowd of visitors except for just one she could keep with her for support. But he wasn't there. To be honest, Kensi wouldn't be her second choice. She would've preferred Sam, a man experienced with the child birth process. Or Hetty, a calming force in any storm. But they were both tied up, presumably with whatever was keeping G himself from her.

Oh, dear god! The next contraction hit her and it was all she could do not to give in to the instinct to push. Again, Dr. Vickery and Kensi were at her side, supporting her. They guided her to sit on the edge of the birthing bed, where the obstetrician proceeded to examine her while Kensi tried to calm her.

"Nell." Kensi placed her strong, slender-fingered hands on the laboring woman's face and stared straight into her eyes. The older woman had such pretty, strange eyes. They looked determined, but also, worried. "You know Callen better than any of us. You know that he's doing everything humanly possible to get here."

Nell nodded, feeling the tears welling.

"You also know he wouldn't want any harm to come to you or the baby." Kensi refused to release Nell from her intensely concerned gaze. "He would want you to be strong, to do what you have to do to ensure your daughter is born safely and healthy."

Nell nodded again. The woman was right. And if Nell had been using the little bit of her logical brain still functioning, she'd just let nature take its course, give birth and be done with it already. Callen would be there soon, and she'd be able to place their newborn daughter, pink and fresh, cleaned up (and maybe finally settled and calm having been nursed into forgetting the trauma of being born), in his arms, and bask in the affection and pride resultant from the introduction. But she wanted him there in the worst, irrational way. She wanted his hand on hers, large and warm, the callous of his trigger finger stroking the back of her thumb. She wanted his voice, soothing and encouraging her with calm words. And she wanted his eyes, steady and intense and full of affection, holding her gaze and telling her that everything was going to be alright. Oh, Kensi had nice eyes for certain, but she wanted gorgeous blue ones, his gorgeous blue ones. But she was right, was only thinking of Nell and her imminent baby.

"Okay?" Kensi asked, giving her an encouraging smile.

"Okay," Nell said, feeling a little petulant.

"Your little girl is in position and ready to make her entrance into the world," Dr. Vickery said, her voice a professional, soothing tone. "When the next contraction hits I want you to push, okay, Nell?"

Nell nodded as Kensi took her hand and the two women, along with attending nurse helped her into a squatting position.

"Good?" Dr. Vickery asked.

"Yesss..." Nell's answer turned into a hiss as another contraction hit her. This time she did not fight it as the doctor coached her to bear down and push, feeling the child shift and move inside of her beyond the flood of pain.

"You're doing great," Kensi added to the praise and encouragement of the doctor as Nell recovered her breathing, waiting for the next contraction. A loud shout made all three of the women jump and look towards the closed door and the corridor beyond. A loud clatter and a light curse had indicated the nurse tending to the tray of medical instruments had been equally surprised. The pleasant looking middle-aged woman (who appeared like she didn't even know the kind of curse word that had passed her lips) bent to retrieve the tool she'd dropped. Nell didn't want to know what sort of instrument it was and hoped it wouldn't be needed, not that she didn't trust the obviously competent nurse to re-sterili-

The door burst open, startling all but Nell, who only sighed in great relief as the intruder strode purposely towards them and switched off places with Kensi, taking Nell's hand in his strong, warm fingers.

"You made it," she said, looking into blue, blue eyes.

"Of course," G Callen said. "Sorry I'm late. Traffic was-"

Nell could feel another contraction coming on, but it didn't stop her from leaning in to press her lips to his and silence his excuses. He kissed her back, a short sweet embrace, and then the contraction was on her full force and the doctor was telling her to push again... And her entire world changed forever.


A/N: Short, I know, but I'd intended this update to be completed and posted a while ago. Plus, there was really no reason to get into gruesome child-birthing details. (Sort of can't believe that I'm one of those fanfiction writers... making characters have lots of sex and babies... but there's no denying this series of fics' existence.)