That reminder of weddings just set Callen back to thinking about Nico. "We should be married," he muttered. "It's not fair to her. Or the baby."
Kensi looked at him pitying. "And this has only just occurred to you? Callen, you've had months to think about this."
"I know. But it's difficult."
"Tell me about it. I thought Kensi would never say 'yes'. I had to ask her three times before I finally got an answer."
Marty could remember it so clearly, like it was only yesterday: how nervous he'd been, the way Kensi had reacted when he proposed - all three times, and then how they'd made love, right there in the living room, in broad daylight, when anyone could have walked in. Actually, Callen and Nico had walked in, but luckily that was after the main event, so to speak. And then that evening, joy had turned to sorrow and he thought he'd lost Kensi for good, when she was stabbed.
"I was in shock," Kensi protested. "I just never had you pegged for the marrying sort."
Kensi remembered that day so well, and how she had been convinced that Marty still had unresolved feelings for Nico. The proposal came as such a shock that she'd actually fallen off the sofa when he'd produced the ring. And they'd been happy for such a short period, a mere matter of hours before their whole world was rocked to the core and turned upside down. A few days later, Kensi had asked him for time to think about their whole relationship.
But that all seemed like a lifetime ago, because so much had happened since then. The marriage had symbolised the start of a new life together, where nothing that had happened in the past mattered as much as what would happen in the future. Anything was possible now, together they could do anything they wanted. They might even try for another baby…
"I want to marry Nico – and she wants to marry me. But it's complicated," Callen protested.
"Tell me about it!" Kensi looked at him in disbelief. "You don't have assorted relatives to add into the mix, do you?" For a while, it had looked as if Allison Blye would have done anything to try to persuade Kensi not to marry Marty.
"Or a father who reappears from the dead." Marty looked at him. "Although that's actually a whole lot better than it sounds, to be honest."
"Plus, you and Nico are having a baby together. That's the biggest commitment you can ever make, Callen. So what's your problem?"
"I don't have a problem. And neither does Nico. WE're engaged, if you must know."
Kensi gave him a sceptical look. "Exactly when did this happen?"
"I proposed at your rehearsal dinner. We just didn't want to steal your thunder."
"And what did Nico say?" Marty asked curiously.
"What do you think she said?" Callen was beginning to wonder if they were ganging up on him on purpose. "She said yes – of course."
"Of course she did. And?" Kensi gave him a hard stare.
This was beginning to feel a good deal like an interrogation. "And what?"
"And what's the ring like?" she asked patiently, as if it had been obvious all along and he was just being deliberately obtuse.
"We haven't got round to that yet," Callen admitted.
"And they say romance is dead." Marty took hold of Kensi's hand and looked pointedly at her engagement ring. "Some of us like to take care of these important details in advance."
Bully for you, Callen though. If he'd been able to afford a solitaire diamond, he'd probably have bought one too. "We'll go and choose one together."
"So, when's the big day?" Now that her own wedding was safely over, Kensi found herself looking forward to Callen and Nico's.
"We've not exactly talked much about it." They were still busy getting the house in order and preparing for the baby, after all.
"You've not done much of anything, have you? Apart from get my best friend pregnant in the first place." With considerable relief, Marty saw that they were pulling up to the house and decided their inquisition could finally stop. "Okay, Kensi, we can start to go easy on him now. We've distracted him enough for right now."
As he knew from personal experience, there was nothing like talk of weddings to distract a man. Thank heavens he planned to stay married for the rest of his life, because there was no way he wanted to go through anything like that ever again.
Callen glared at him, but saw the younger man was quite unrepentant. "You'll thank me for this one day, Callen. Really, you will." He exited the car at high speed.
Kensi wasn't quite finished with her friend yet though. "Hetty is an ordained minister. She could make things really easy for you. Cut through all that re tape like a hot knife through butter. Just think about it."
Callen thought about it. He thought about it for as long as it took him to get out of the squad car and then he dismissed it out of hand. They would get married on their own terms, thank you very much. Or, as was more likely, on Nico's terms. It would be easier that way.
Inside, his house was in a state of organised chaos, as the paramedics attended to Nico, who was in the advanced stages of labour. They had planned everything carefully: Nico wanted a spinal block, soft lighting and calming music. She'd made up several CDs of herself playing her beloved Mozart to serve as a distraction. But all these preparations had been thrown to the four winds. Nowhere in Nico's plans had she considered the possibility of giving birth in her newly decorated living room, with Kensi and Deeks in reluctant attendance.
"Here's the father now." Deeks was standing by the window, very carefully looking anywhere but at Nico, whileKensi was hovering her, looking faintly appalled by the whole situation and oddly ill at ease.
Once more unto the breach, Callen thought. He wasn't sure he was ready for this. He wasn't sure if he was ready to be a father. Only it was too late now, and when Nico turned a grateful face towards him, he knew exactly what to do and began to feel a mounting surge of excitement.
"I thought you were never coming," Nico panted. Her face was red and sweaty and her normally immaculate hair was every which way and plastered to her forehead.
"I got here as fast as I could." He grabbed hold of her hand and smiled down at her, hoping desperately that he looked reassuring, rather than scared out of his wits. "Everything's going to be fine." Callen hoped he sounded more confident than he felt and kissed her hand. "I'm so proud of you."
"It won't be long now," the paramedic warned. He had long, floppy dark hair and looked vaguely familiar, Kensi thought. She racked her brains trying to work out where she'd seen him before. They saw so many emergency personnel that after a while they all started to blend together into a homogenous whole. "You got here just in time to see your wife have a baby."
"We're not married," Callen said. "But we're going to be." He wondered why he felt the need to explain that.
"I don't care about that," Nico gasped through gritted teeth. "I just want to get this baby out."
The paramedic moved to take a closer look. "I think you're going to get your wish – the head's starting to crown. Don't push – just pant."
Everyone turned automatically to look when he said that, but Nico was beyond caring, as waves of pain engulfed her and she let out a low moan of anguish and then tried to pant as she'd been taught in the classes. She couldn't have cared less if she'd been giving birth on live TV, because all she could think about was that this baby seemed to be tearing her apart.
"I don't think you should have looked, Marty." Kensi really didn't like the funny colour he'd gone. "How about we go get some towels?" She took hold of his hand and led him out of the room before he caused an unnecessary diversion by passing out.
"We're going to have us a baby here," the paramedic said jovially.
"Tell me about it," Nico snapped and then thankfully inhaled the pain relief he offered. Callen knew from the hours of practice she put in at the piano every single day that Nico had strong hands, but he'd never quite appreciated just what a powerful grip she had. It felt as if she was crushing every single bone to smithereens and he wondered if it would be crass to ask for some pain relief for himself.
"This does rather answer some questions, doesn't it?" Hetty looked at the crime scene photographs Sam had taken before the ME arrived. "As to Ben's rather mysterious disappearance, I mean. And he seemed like such a nice young man." He'd almost seemed good enough for Nell. There was a special place in Hetty's heart for her young analyst, who often reminded her of another young woman from nearly forty years before. There was no telling how far Nell might go in this business.
"We need this case to be transferred over to us," Sam urged. "Because it's personal."
"I agree." Hetty sighed, wondering how she was going to break the news of Ben's murder to Nell, who was fortuitously on a day off. "I'll get in touch with the Director and start to make all the necessary arrangements."
"Don't forget about Deeks' friend," Eric reminded her.
"I was not about to, I can assure you of that." Age had not diminished Hetty's powers of recall and she still had a mind like a steel trap. "And then I will go to see Miss Jones."
"I could come with you?" Sam offered, knowing how difficult a task that would be.
"Thank you, Mr Hannah, for that kind offer." Hetty knew how much Sam, like all her agents, hated these tasks. "But I am afraid it is one which I must refuse. Some things are better done alone."
Hetty recalled a time, over thirty years ago but still fresh and raw, still so easily recalled, when she had opened her front door to two men in uniform, along with an army chaplain. The pain was still as great today as it had been back then, as was the memory of having to force herself stay in control in front of so many people. It was not until the three men had finally left that Hetty had allowed herself to break down and weep. And Sam had such a big heart, he always wanted to protect his team whenever he could, no matter at what personal cost.
"We'll get started on background research into both men." There was still a chance that both deaths were unconnected, after all: a slim chance, sure enough, but they could not afford to jump to any conclusions. Sam looked at his watch. "We should have heard something by now." He didn't have to elaborate any further, knowing that both Eric and Hetty were as anxious for news about the baby as he was.
"I'm sure Mr Callen will be in touch when he's good and ready." Hetty was still finding it hard to imagine her agent as a father, but then he had been on such a great journey this year – finally meeting the woman who provided the impetus to put his wandering, nomadic lifestyle into the past. More than that, Nico had made Callen actively want to begin a new life on his own terms, a life that would be governed by a shared view of the future rather than dictated by an unknown past.
Sam shook his head. "I'm going to text Kensi." He couldn't stand this waiting; it was almost as bad as when Denise was in labour with first Crosby and then Callie.
"You're as nervous as if this was your own baby, aren't you?"
He had to laugh at that. "No way. You didn't see me then, but I was much worse. Callen practically had to hold my hand on the journey over. And I should have been there for him today."
"Mr Callen will understand."
"I know. But still…" Sam sighed and then had to content himself with firing off a text to Kensi. There was work to be done – there was always work to be done, no matter how much you wanted to be somewhere else. And at least this would take his mind off things. "Okay – Ben Masters and Tad… what's Tad's full name?" He felt dreadful that he didn't know, that he'd never even asked.
Eric consulted the New York Coroner's database, which listed the cause of death as a single gun-shot wound to the head. "Tadeusz Maczek." He gave the words a decidedly German pronunciation.
Hetty's ears pricked up at that. "Maczek?" It wasn't a particularly unusual name, but still, it gave her cause for concern. "Was he any relation to a Kasia Maczek?"
Eric checked. "No trace of anyone by that name."
"Try Katarzyna," she said brusquely, and then spelt it out for him.
"She's listed as his aunt. And she's a surgeon here in LA."
Hetty ignored the enquiring look he directed at her. "I'm well aware of that fact, thank you very much, Mr Beale. Send her details to my phone, if you please." It looked as if she would be paying a visit to an old friend after she had seen Nell. This case was becoming more personal by the second and it gave Hetty a sinking feeling. She left Ops without a backwards glance.
"That was weird." Eric looked a Sam for confirmation. "Almost like she already knew."
"Wheels within wheels. Sometimes you're better off not knowing." Hetty's labyrinthine past was often best left undisturbed, Sam thought. Therein lay madness and the very real possibility of discovering something you really didn't want to know. He looked at his phone and wondered where there was no reply. Sometimes the not-knowing was a killer.
"Go on. I'll take care of things at this end. You know you're dying to."
Sam feigned surprise. "Am I supposed to know what you're talking about, Eric? Was there a course in mind-reading I missed?"
"Go on over to Callen's. It doesn't take two of us to do this background work. I'll have everything ready for when you come in tomorrow."
Sam was already on his way over to the door. "I owe you one."
"And I intend to collect. Just make sure you send me a picture of the baby."
The room was empty now, it was just Eric and his computers, and all the databases he could access. This was what he did best, ferreting out information from nooks and crannies, finding the secrets people thought they had secured from prying eyes. Eric had never yet met a system he could not penetrate, but the challenge was what excited him. Soon he was lost in a world of his own as he probed and interrogated. The tragedy of two dead men soon became forgotten as he became absorbed in the mechanics of the search, each piece of information retrieved leading on to another and so on, as all the facts slowly started to appear.
As Sam pulled up outside the house, Nico was being wheeled out to the ambulance, cradling a swaddled bundle in her arms and Callen was walking behind her, grinning from ear to ear.
"No need to ask how it went." Sam bent down and kissed Nico and took a quick peek at the baby. "Well?"
"We're both very well indeed," Nico said demurely. "But anxious Daddy back there is insisting we get checked over at the hospital." Now she held her baby in her arms, all the pain and anguish was forgotten and she felt as if she was floating on cloud nine.
Callen held his hand up in the air and Sam grabbed hold of it briefly, before pulling him into a hug. "Congratulations, man. To both of you. Now put me out of my misery – did you have a boy or a girl?"
"We've got a baby girl." It still felt wonderful, every time he said it. "A beautiful baby girl." Callen's heart felt so full of love and pride he thought it might just burst out of his chest. The world had never seemed more beautiful or perfect.
Details of Kensi and Deeks' engagement are in It's Just My Heart Talking
Kasia Maczek first appeared in Fame: What You Get Is No Tomorrow.