Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS: Los Angeles or the characters. I'm just borrowing them. I make no money from this.

Author's Note: I made a guess about Sam's children. We know he's got a daughter but not her age, though we did see her briefly so I'm guessing her to be about 7. And from the comment he made when he first mentioned her, we know he has at least one more. But since he only ever refers to one daughter and he talks about how he was so nervous after she was born, I'm guessing that his other child is a son and younger than the girl.

Callen stared. He'd thought this would be simple. Go in, find something Callie liked, pay for it and bring it home. Simple. But the sheer number of different sets available boggled his mind. He stared at one and did a double take at the price. Was it made of gold?

A salesperson spotted him standing there. He must have looked as lost as he felt because she immediately came over with a smile. "How can I help you?"

He looked at her gratefully. "My daughter, I've just gotten custody of her and we need a new bedroom set."

She glanced at Callie and smiled, taking in the bruises on her face. Poor thing, she wondered what had happened, it was probably why he had custody now. "Of course. Did you have anything in mind? Any preferences on the wood or color? Or did you want a metal frame? What size, twin, full or queen? Were there specific pieces you wanted, such as a desk or an extra chest of drawers?"

Her questions only further confused him. Was all of this really necessary?

Beside him Callie started to laugh as she watched his face. She couldn't help it, his face was the perfect picture of confusion. "Maybe you could just show us some different sets," she suggested. "With extra shelf space?" she added.

Callen sighed as the saleswoman, Stacy, led them over to a couple of sets. Callie examined them before shaking her head. They were then shown several more and the process repeated itself. He frowned as he noticed her lingering over one or two of them before glancing at the price and shaking her head. He frowned. They were a bit more expensive than he had been expecting but she shouldn't be worrying about that.

As Stacy led them to yet another set, he came up beside the girl. "Don't worry about the price. Just find something that you like."

She glanced at him. "But-"

"Trust me. I'm not rich but my pay is good and other than the house I haven't had to make any really large purchases. I can afford to get you a good bedroom set. And it's not like we're going to have to replace it again any time soon, we're looking for something that will last you at least a few years."

Callie bit her lip but nodded her agreement. Stacy called to get their attention and she turned to look at the next set and froze.

Callen looked at the set. The bed was a wooden platform bed with drawers for storage underneath. It was accompanied by a bedside table with two drawers and the standard chest of drawers. All made of the same rich, mahogany wood. But the main attention grabber was the large desk. It had a bookcase built into either side that extended up past the height of the desk before connecting to each other with another set of shelves. Remembering Callie's collection of books and other items, he knew it was perfect for her. The expression on her face as she gazed at it settled it for him. "We'll take it," he told Stacy.

Callie snapped out of her daze. "What? No, it's way too much!" It was even more expensive than the other sets they had looked at.

"Hey, I told you to let me worry about that. Besides, I owe you 14 years of birthday and Christmas presents." When she still looked doubtful he added, "We're getting it and that's final."

A small smile came across her face. "Giving me orders already, huh?" She wrapped her arms around him. "Thank you D-" she cut herself off, not sure if he wanted her to call him that. "Thank you," she repeated.

"You're welcome," he told her, not missing her slip but not wanting to push the issue yet. He turned to Stacy. "How soon can it be delivered?" He hesitated at that, not wanting strangers to know where he lived even if they didn't know who he was.

She led them over to a computer terminal. "You're in luck, we have it in stock. We can deliver it this weekend. Is Saturday good?"

Callen frowned at her response. That was three days away. Well two and a half. He didn't want to wait that long. "What if I pick it up myself? How long?"

Stacy frowned and typed something. "The earliest you could pick it up is tomorrow as we do need to prepare it to leave the warehouse. But you are aware that the shipping and assembly is a free service we offer, aren't you?"

"That's okay, I can handle it." He handed her his credit card, ignoring Callie's frown and had her add a mattress to the total. Signing the slip, he accepted the information packet Stacy handed him. "Thank you," he told her as he shook her hand and handed her a tip. "I really appreciate all of the help you provided."

"No, it was my pleasure," she answered, flashing him a bright grin. "If you have any other furniture needs or have any questions feel free to contact me. My card's with your paperwork."

"Thanks again," he gave her a smile.

Callie shook her head as they walked away. "She was so flirting with you."

Callen grinned. "She was doing her job."

"Yeah, how much you want to bet that's her private number not her work extension."

"What, you embarrassed that your father is still popular with the ladies?"

Callie snorted in amusement. "Yeah? And are these ladies going to help you move and assemble all of that furniture tomorrow? You won't be able to do it by yourself," she pointed out. "Why didn't you just wait for them to deliver it?"

He shrugged. He hadn't been comfortable with strangers wandering around his house to begin with. "I'll get Sam to help, he's good at the heavy lifting. It'll be fine, how hard can it be?" He ignored her incredulous look. "Besides, it would have taken too long for them to deliver. As it is I don't know where you're going to sleep tonight." He was sorry he hadn't been able to arrange to pick it up sooner.

"I can sleep on the floor for the night," she told him. He raised an eyebrow at her. "What? I've done it before at sleepovers. Mom's quilt is thick enough that I won't even feel the floor."

"If you're sure," he told her. She nodded and he let the matter drop. His phone chose that moment to ring. "Callen."

"Hey G, just wanted to see how everything was going."

"Hey Sam. We're good, a few rough spots here and there. Actually, we just finished purchasing Callie's bedroom set."

"What?! My partner, Mr. G. 'I don't need any furniture' Callen, actually went into a furniture store and bought something and I missed it?!" Sam's incredulous tone carried through the phone. "What store did you go to?"

"Why?"

"So I can have Eric pull the footage because I won't believe it until I've seen it."

Callen snorted. "You can see the proof tomorrow," he told him. "You don't have any plans, right?"

"Why?" He asked suspiciously.

"'Cause I could use some help transporting and assembling it."

"You do know that most places provide those services," Sam pointed out.

"They told me I'd have to wait until at least Saturday. Come on, didn't I help you with that dollhouse for your daughter? You owe me."

"This isn't the same thing as a dollhouse," Sam pointed out. "But I'll be there. I'll see if Hetty will let us use one of the trucks."

He shook his head. "Good luck with that."

"I'll just point out it's for Callie's benefit. She's really happy for you, and she's not the only one. Besides, if she doesn't approve it Granger probably would."

"Thanks Sam. I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow G."

He pocketed his phone and turned to Callie. "See, got the big guy to help us."

"He's got kids?"

"Yeah, his daughter's seven and his son is almost four. You'll meet them soon. I tend to spend the holidays with them."

Callie studied him. "You guys are close?"

"He's my partner," he replied, as if that explained everything. Spotting the confusion on her face he tried to explain. "You have to trust your partner to have your back, and in order to trust your partner you have to know him. Know how he'll react in whatever situation you find yourself in." He watched her frown deepen. "What's wrong?"

"What you do, it's dangerous, isn't it?"

Callen placed his hands on her shoulders, forcing her to look at him. He sighed at the fear he saw in her eyes. She had just watched her mother die, of course the news that her newly discovered father's job was dangerous was going to upset her. "I won't lie to you, it can be. But that's why I have a team to back me up. We are very good at what we do."

"But what if you're not good enough?"

She was really asking if she was going to lose him too, he knew. "I have to trust that we will be. I can't promise that I won't be at risk but I can and do promise that I will be careful and always do my best to come back to you." He pulled her into an embrace, rubbing her back as she trembled slightly. "You don't have to worry about that now. I'm on leave from work, I'm not going anywhere for the time being."

"You promise?"

"Yes, the only place I'm planning to go right now is home, with you." He led her to the car.

They drove in silence. Callen cast the occasional glance at her as she sat there, staring out of the window. He wondered if he was being selfish, letting her get so attached. His job was dangerous, and while he was good at what he did all it took was for him to have one bad day or the bad guy to have one lucky one. How did Sam deal with the uncertainty? The knowledge that his kids could lose him at any time? He glanced at Callie again and pushed those thoughts away to be dealt with at a later time.

Pulling back into the driveway he turned to look at her. "You okay?"

"Yeah, just thinking."

He sighed as he could guess just where her thoughts had been. "Well, we're back, as you can see." They got out of the car and headed for the front door. But upon entering he wondered if this was such a great idea as she stood there, obviously unsure of what to do. "You want something to drink? I think I've got some juice." He hoped he had something other than beer in his fridge. He couldn't remember the last time he had bought groceries.

"I am kinda thirsty," she admitted.

"Okay, I'll be right back," he told her as he went to the kitchen to refrigerate their leftovers and find something to drink.

Callie took the time to study the few objects in the room. With so few belongings how did he pass the time. The chair looked comfortable enough and the stack of books was telling. She glanced at the titles but none of them really caught her attention. Turning to the mantle, she studied the only other items in the room.

The plant was small and she'd never seen anything like it before. Studying the pot it was in she frowned as she realized that there was no indication it was ever watered. So how was it still alive?

Unable to come up with an answer, her gaze fell on the only other object on ledge. It was a small, plain box, with no indication of what could be inside. In fact, it looked like something that you would use to store tea packets or something similar. And yet, from the way it was positioned on the mantle and the lack of any other personal items, she knew it was somehow very important. Or what it held was. She was tempted to open it, to look inside. But she forced herself not to do it, that would be an invasion of privacy and she got the sense that her father was a very private person. She turned as she heard him approaching. "Thank you," she said, accepting the glass of orange juice.

"You're welcome. Something interesting?" he asked, watching her carefully.

"I was looking at your plant. I've never seen anything like it before." She took a sip of the juice, savoring the cold liquid as it went down her parched throat.

Callen looked at it and smiled. "Hetty again. She was trying to make a point. Actually it's the perfect plant for me as I don't even have to worry about watering it. It's very self-sufficient, drawing moisture out of the air."

"Self-sufficient like you?" Callie guessed. "You and Hetty are close?"

"We have a complicated relationship," he hedged. "But she's always been there for me when I needed her. Don't underestimate her based on her looks, she is one sneaky and tough lady."

"You really care about her."

"Her and the rest of the team. I never really knew my family. Growing up I learned to depend on only myself. That changed when I joined NCIS. Suddenly I had others I could count on, depend on. We became more than just a team, we became a family, with Hetty as the mother who keeps a tight rein over us."

She nodded, wondering where that left her.

He could see the question written in her eyes. "Hey, look at it this way, you didn't just gain a father, you gained honorary uncles and aunts."

Callie smiled slightly as she thought about it. A spark of devilish amusement flashed in her eyes. She watched as her father took a sip of his own drink before asking, "So I should call Hetty Grandma?"

Callen choked on his juice. Coughing a little to clear his lungs, he told her with a grin, "I want to be there to see her face if you do." Callie simply grinned back at him and he pulled her into a hug.