A/N – Thanks again for the great support. Glad so many of you are letting me know what you think.

Yep, the romance is heating up, but I'm pretty sure that the friendship side is still strong. Oh well, those who know my stories probably expected this.

So, Reunion part 2, here we come.

Hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer in Chapter 1

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Chapter 7

Callen and Jo sat down at an almost empty table and started talking again, pretty much ignoring anyone else around them. He started to wonder if she was interested in anyone else here.

"Who have you caught up with tonight?" he asked. "You haven't left me since you found me. What are you missing out on?"

Jo shook her head. "Nothing. Caught up with all the ones I wanted before I saw you arrive."

"You saw me arrive?" he queried.

"Of course."

Callen tilted his head curiously. "How did you know it was me? Been a long time."

"Well, for starters, everyone else was eager to catch up with anyone and everyone. You went and hid, watched and checked out everyone from a distance before going to the bar. So many signs of someone not interested in being here," Jo told him. "Plus," she smiled. "I'd know you anywhere."

"I was interested," Callen protested weakly. "I just couldn't find the reason I'd come."

"You weren't looking in the right place."

"Where were you? I looked everywhere."

That knowing smile of hers came out again. "Right behind you."

"What?" he asked. How had he missed her being so close?

"I had to go outside and saw you as you walked in and followed you."

"Didn't want to say anything before the bar?" he asked.

"Was hoping you'd figure out you were being watched. Always thought you were very observant. Guess I was wrong," Jo teased.

"No. You weren't wrong." Callen smiled. "Just you. You always had a way of sneaking up on me." Lucky not too many people had that gift.

"What have you been up to?" Jo finally asked him.

"Everything and anything," he replied vaguely.

"Non-committal huh. Or is it if you tell me you'll have to kill me." There was a smile twitching on her lips and a mischievous look in her eyes.

"Second one," Callen joked, "though I'm sure there are plenty of other ways to keep you from talking," he said.

"You never had much luck before," she reminded him.

"Never tried what I have in mind before." Callen looked her over suggestively. He saw her blush slightly before he caught her gaze.

"So tell me about your girls?" He needed to direct his thoughts and conversation away from what he wanted to do with this woman sitting beside him. Since that kiss and knowing she was actually interested, and had been back then as well, his thoughts had been a little harder to keep focused on the conversation.

"Fourteen and ten," Jo told him.

"You have photos?"

"Of course," she said.

"Hand 'em over." Callen wondered if they looked like her. Plus, he was curious about the husband.

Jo pulled out her phone and found the photos, before handing it to him.

Callen pointed at one of the girls. "She looks just like you."

"Ella. Apparently she is in more than looks."

"This one?" Callen asked, as he skipped on to the next photo.

"Tamara. She's like her dad, both looks and temperament. Hoping that is going to benefit me when she starts dating in a couple of years," Jo replied.

Callen glanced across at her and saw the proud mum look on her face, along with a whole lot of love. He had a feeling she had turned into a great mum, nothing like her own.

"This him?" he asked when he flicked to a family shot where the girls look quite a bit younger.

"Yep. That's Dan," she said softly.

"You loved him a lot didn't you?" Callen asked. He could hear it in her voice, see it in the photo.

"Wouldn't have married him if I didn't, G."

Callen was glad she hadn't settled for just anyone.

"You look happy. All of you." He looked up from the photos to her. Maybe he liked the guy after all. It's all he ever wanted for her; to be happy. It's why he'd never told her he was interested. She deserved more than he could have given her.

"We were." There was a slightly sad smile on her face along with the sadness in her tone.

"I'm sorry," Callen said, a tenderness in his voice he hadn't heard in a long time. Jo smiled gently at him.

"Not your fault G. Life happens. Even with a quiet, simple life people still leave, they still die."

"So what about Billy? What's he up to these days?" Callen asked in an attempt to change the topic. He hated seeing or hearing her sad. He just hoped Billy was a good topic.

Jo smiled. "He's doing great. He's married, has a couple of young boys. Four and two who keep him and his wife on their toes, as well as their aunt when the visit. He's actually working with Child Services. He devised a program to help support older children take care of their younger siblings."

"Like you did for him." It was an assumption. She'd wanted to get Billy away from their mother but hadn't been sure if she could.

"Yeah." Jo nodded. "It was hard work when he came to live with me but we made it. He wanted to help out then but he was too young and I wasn't going to let him. It was up to me to take care of him. This was one of his ways of saying thank you. He's making it easier for those like us. He pitched his idea to the powers that be and they let him have a five year trial to see how successful it was. It worked better than they expected and now he's working on getting it going statewide. It's a long process with lots of red tape, but he's also a foster care inspector. So he does random checks on foster homes." Jo looked at him. "I think he knows you didn't have a great time. He also knows a few others that didn't and figures if he just manages to save one kid from a bad home, then he's been successful."

"Glad he didn't follow my footsteps," Callen added. Billy had always seemed to have big eyes when he looked at him, like Callen was a hero or something.

Jo grinned. "He knew he wasn't the military kind."

"Ready to dance again or have I repaid my debt enough?" Callen asked.

"One more." Jo stood up and held out her hand to him.

"Then?" Callen took the offered hand and lead her to the dance floor.

Jo smiled up at him and he pulled her into his arms. "There's still a lot of catching up to do, G. Don't think I'm letting you disappear easily."

"How long do you plan on keeping me?" Callen knew she didn't need to do anything more than what she had already said to get him to stay as long as she wanted him to.

Jo looked like she was considering how to answer that question. She shook her head a little before answering.

"I never could keep you, but I can hope that you'll stay for bit longer. I'm staying in a room upstairs. It'll be a quiet place to catch up without Martin and his drunken buddies interrupting. You can live a lifetime in a night, you know," she said. He caught the small amount of sadness that crept into her voice and pulled her a little closer – hoping in some way to protect her from whatever painful memory caused it. She saw his look and smiled to reassure him she was okay.

"Dan was on life support for twelve hours before he died," Jo told him. "I spent the time talking to him, about all the things we'd done, that we would have done. Lived the rest of our lives that night," she finished.

"Must have been hard with the girls." Callen reached up and stroked her cheek, regretting again that he hadn't kept in touch so that he could have been there to help. He didn't know what he would have done, but being there would have been a start.

"Hardest thing I've had to do," Jo replied. "So are you going to tell me about the modern day G?"

"Maybe not here."

"I think I can guess."

"Yeah?" There was a challenge in his tone.

Jo grinned. "You won't have changed much."

That Callen didn't agree with but didn't say anything.

"You joined the military," she continued. "So I'm guessing you're probably still fighting bad guys and protecting those who can't protect themselves." There was a twinkle in her eyes as she moved her hand over his shoulder and brushed over the opening of his tux jacket. "You've smoothed off the rough edges and I'm sure fill out a tux better than you would have at 17."

Callen raised his eyebrows at that. "Imagined me in a tux did you?"

"Well, you were supposed to dance with me at graduation so of course. Then," Jo returned them to the topic at hand, "I'd also say that something that hasn't changed is that you still show you care, more than say it." She tilted her head a little. "So how did I do?"

Callen shook his head slightly and smiled. "You always had me pegged from day one, hadn't you? How? How could you know me so well, both then and now."

Jo smiled. "Sometimes when you meet someone, you just know them. It doesn't matter what they try and project to the world, you just know who they really are. I knew you then, the real you, and I know you now. Maybe not all the details, but I know the essence of G Callen. It's the way best friends are meant to be. I've only met a handful people I've known instantly. You and Dan were two of them."

Callen didn't really know how to respond to that and was, in a way, glad that the song finished. They slipped out of the reunion and went to her room.

It was two o'clock in the morning by the time they finished talking. He hadn't had much to say but he'd found some things he could tell her. She'd told him all the important things; how she'd managed college and Billy, her mother hadn't protested when she'd asked to have him with her. How she'd managed to track down what had happened to her father. Unfortunately he'd died about six months after he'd left them so she'd never managed to get an answer as to why. However she'd also found her paternal grandparents, who had been estranged from her father and she'd never gotten to meet. They'd accepted her with open arms and were now a part of her life. How she'd met Dan; the girls; those times she'd lost people she cared about. He told her about some of his life in the military; the women he'd loved and lost; a bit about his team, in an abstract kind of way sharing his family with her. By the time they'd finished she knew a lot about him and that his life was a dangerous one.

She'd been right. They lived their lives for each other again that night.

"I missed you G," Jo said when they finally finished. "I thought about you, often. Wished you were there so many times."

"I missed you too," Callen replied. And he had, he'd felt it but he'd never let himself put a name on it, until now.

"But you didn't think about me did you?" she asked, with a knowing look.

"Couldn't. I'd have come back if I did," he admitted.

"Would that have been so bad?" Her voice was soft and gentle.

"You deserved better," Callen said. Jo glared at him, though it lacked the punch that it used to have, and he chuckled.

"No ice packs here. Behave," he added. "You deserved someone to make you happy. How could I do that when I wasn't happy with who I was?"

Jo stayed silent, just looking at him.

Callen reached out and stroked her cheek. "He made you happy. I couldn't have asked for anything more. You were right," he said. "I would have liked Dan." "Even if he had me?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said. "Even if he had you."

They were lying on the bed, facing each other. At some point during their talk they had gone from sitting up to lying down. Callen saw something in her eyes, he hoped he was reading it right. He slipped his hand to the back of her neck and moved closer. Before he got too close though, he looked at her to make sure and silently asking permission to continue. Jo smiled and reached out to him too, and moved herself closer. This time, the kiss started gentle but didn't stay that way for long. It was like they had only a limited amount of time and wanted to make the most of everything. Callen pulled back.

"Are you sure?" he asked. "You do know where this is headed right?" He knew where he wanted this to go, hoped she wanted the same, but he didn't want her to regret it.

"Very," Jo told him. She smiled and pulled him back to her.