Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS: Los Angeles or the characters. I'm just borrowing them. I make no money from this.
He had no idea how long he had sat there, simply watching her sleep. He'd dozed off at one point only to wake up when she rolled over in her sleep to pillow her head on his leg, one hand clutching the bottom of his shirt. He'd thought she had woken up from another nightmare but she was still sound asleep. So he had placed his hand on her back and started to rub small circles. She had sighed in her sleep and snuggled closer to him.
Now the sunlight was just starting to filter through the window as she started to stir. He smiled down at her, thinking she looked absolutely adorable with sleep tousled hair as she lifted one hand to rub at her eyes. "Good morning sleepyhead," he greeted her.
Callie smiled up at him before realizing where she was. Her face scrunched up as she glared at him. "I told you I didn't want to kick you out of your own bed."
He stifled a laugh. He thought her look of disapproval was adorable. "I wasn't tired and I was fine where I was." He rose to his feet then extended a hand to help her up. "Sam will be here soon. If you want to take a shower, I'll see if I can scrounge up some breakfast for us."
She smiled at him. "Thanks, Dad," she said hesitantly before proceeding to do just that, with a small detour to retrieve some clothes from her room.
Callen grinned at her response and waited until he heard the water running before he quickly changed and headed to the kitchen to check his food stock. He didn't hold much hope of finding anything there. One search of the fridge and the cupboards later and he stepped back, shaking his head. "Definitely have to buy groceries today." Hopefully Sam wouldn't argue about stopping for something to eat on the way to pick up the furniture. At that moment he heard a vehicle pulling up and headed to the front to check it out.
He shook his head as he recognized one of the trucks they occasionally used for undercover work. "Guess Sam really did go to Hetty." He opened the door and stepped out. "You're here early," he said as he saw his partner exiting the truck.
"I told you, I want proof that you actually bought furniture," Sam told him, clapping him on the back. "And I've brought backup." He indicated the familiar silver car pulling up behind the truck.
Callen frowned slightly as Kensi and Deeks climbed out. "I wasn't expecting you guys. Thanks for coming," he said, touched by their actions.
"What? Pass up a chance to see you with furniture. I don't think so," Kensi shook her head at him. "And we didn't come empty handed." She held up a bag.
"Figured you didn't have anything edible in this place," Sam shrugged.
"You figured right. I really have to do some grocery shopping."
"Oh! I can do that with Callie while you boys do all of the heavy lifting," Kensi spoke up.
Callen eyed her suspiciously at her eager tone. But it was Sam who answered. "You do that and all he'll have in the house is more junk food." Callen was surprised at the glare Kensi directed at the other agent.
"Ignore them," Deeks said as he sipped at a large thermos, sounding like he wasn't fully awake yet. "Kensi's just upset that Sam insisted we stop at a bagel place instead of the doughnut place she wanted to go to. I had to listen to them argue and then Kensi complain the whole ride. You know how Kensi gets when she hasn't had her morning dose of sugar. Ow!" He glared at his partner as he rubbed his upper arm where she had punched him.
Callen shook his head at the byplay. "Well thanks. Come on in."
Callie was just entering the living room as they entered the house, her hair still damp from her shower. She'd changed into a clean t-shirt and jeans. "We're going to have to pick up a few things," she started to say before she spotted everyone. Her eyes widened. "Uh, hi."
Kensi and Deeks called out a quick hello.
"Hey Callie, this guy been treating you right or do I need to put him in his place?" Sam asked jokingly.
"What?! No, Dad's been great!" she hastily defended before blushing and dropping her gaze.
Sam's eyebrows rose at her comment and he turned to see Callen's reaction. His partner had a wide smile on his face as he gazed at the girl before meeting his gaze. Sam grinned at him and nodded, happy for his friend. "Well that's good. You just let me know if I need to straighten him out, alright? So, you hungry? We brought bagels."
They entered the kitchen and spread out around the counter, with Kensi distributing the bagels. As they started to eat, she studied the girl, wincing at the bruises that looked even worse than the previous day. One massive bruise covered nearly the entire left side of her face. It was mostly a dark purple though the edges had started to fade to a mottled mix of purple and green. Though they didn't appear to bother the girl any. "So what do you need to pick up?" she asked, curious.
Callie's eyes widened, and she glanced from person to person. "Oh, uh. Oh yeah! We forgot to get actual sheets and stuff for the bed."
Callen frowned at her nervous tone. He was sure that wasn't what she had been talking about earlier. But he decided to go along with it for now. There was no point in pushing her at the moment. "We can pick that up later, after we have the furniture."
If anything his words only agitated her more. "But-" Her eyes darted between the three guys before landing on Kensi. She gave her a pleading look.
Kensi's eyes narrowed. She had a feeling that it wasn't really bed linens that Callie needed to buy. "How about I take Callie to pick that stuff up while you guys get the furniture. After all, you're the ones who are going to be doing the heavy lifting." She nodded slightly as the girl gave her a grateful look.
Callen glanced from one to the other, knowing he was missing something. "You sure?"
"Yeah. And it'll give us a chance to get to know each other. Girl talk. You done Callie?"
She nodded eagerly. "Yep. See you later Dad," she called as she practically raced out of the room, Kensi following at a more sedate pace.
Callen glanced at the other two men. "Did I miss something?"
"If you did then we all did," Sam told him.
"Who can really understand the female mind," Deeks added. "But if you notice it got them out of here before any work had to be done."
With that the three men exited the house, climbed into the truck and left to pick up the furniture.
A few hours later Kensi pulled back up to the house.
"Thanks again," Callie told her gratefully, glancing meaningfully at the small paper bag. "I really wasn't ready to have that conversation with my dad."
Kensi smiled at her. "No problem, I remember how embarrassed I used to get when I had to ask my dad to run to the store for them. Of course, I have a feeling he was usually more embarrassed than I was."
Callie smiled back at her. "You think they're done yet?" she asked as she dropped the small bag into one of the larger ones containing her sheet set.
"We'll find out. I can't wait to see what your room looks like. It's still hard to picture Callen having any furniture in this house," she told her as she grabbed a couple of the bags, Callie taking the remaining ones. They entered the house.
As the door closed behind them, Deeks walked out of the kitchen, a beer in hand. "Sure, come back when all the work's already done," he teased.
"Isn't that what we keep you around for?" Kensi told him. "Where are Sam and Callen?"
He pointed back to the bedroom. "Still arguing about the positioning of the bed. Sam wants it near the window but Callen says that will cause the morning sun to wake Callie." He walked over to them. "So what did you buy?" He grabbed one of the bags from Kensi before she could stop him. "Ah-hah! I knew it! I knew you'd end up stopping somewhere else along the way. You had to get your sugar fix in." He pulled the brown paper bag out. "So what's in here? M&M's? Snickers?" He glanced inside as Callie made a strangled noise. "Uh, definitely not Snickers," he said right before a beet-red Callie snatched the bag from him and darted down the hallway, barely avoiding running into Callen and Sam. The slamming of the bathroom door echoed throughout the house.
Kensi glared at her partner before punching him in the arm.
He winced. "I deserved that."
Sam entered the room and gave them a confused glance. "What happened?"
"Callie? Callie?! Is everything alright? Callie answer me?" Callen's voice drifted down the hall as he stood outside the bathroom door.
"Go away! Leave me alone!"
He stared at the door as he heard the tears in her voice, tempted to break it down. But first he needed to know what had upset her before he made it worse. "What happened?!" he demanded as he joined his team in the living room.
"Deeks is an idiot," Kensi said, shooting her partner a glare.
Callen turned a murderous look on the detective. "What. Did. You. Do?!"
Deeks winced. "To be fair I thought it was Kensi's bag. Though the good news is I can now tell you exactly why Callie didn't want to go shopping with you." He backed up a step as his words did nothing to calm the older agent down.
Kensi decided to take a small measure of pity on her partner. She'd hate to have to break a new one in if Callen did end up killing him. "She's alright Callen, just mortified. Deeks embarrassed her by sticking his nose into something private."
Callen calmed down slightly at that. "She's okay?"
She nodded. "Though I don't envy her. She's already on an emotional roller coaster and now to have her hormones all out of whack?" She shook her head causing Callen and Sam to exchange confused looks.
"I feel sorry for you man," Deeks said. "It's not going to be easy dealing with a grieving teenager, but a grieving teenager with PMS? So not wanting to be in your shoes right now. OW!" He rubbed his arm where Kensi had just punched him, again. "What was that for?"
"What part of private don't you understand?" she hissed at him.
Callen's eyes had widened as realization dawned. No wonder Callie hadn't wanted him to take her shopping. "Thanks," he told the female agent, not ready for that experience.
Sam laughed. "Welcome to fatherhood G."
They heard the bathroom door open as Callie re-emerged. She kept her head down, not meeting anyone's gaze, a blush still staining her cheeks red as her arms wrapped around her torso.
Deeks winced at seeing how uncomfortable she was. "Hey Callie, I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to embarrass you." She simply shrugged. "Please say you can forgive me? Hopefully before either my partner or your dad decide to murder me and dispose of my body. 'Cause I gotta say, that's looking pretty likely right about now. And Sam would help them, I'm sure of it."
She lifted her head as he talked, a small smile tugging at her lips before she laughed at his outright begging. "Okay, okay, you're forgiven."
Callen smiled, glad to see her calmed down. "Hey, how about you go check out your room? Let us know what you think about how we arranged it."
"Yeah, I still haven't seen what this bedroom set looks like," Kensi said.
Callie nodded but paused next to her father. "Sorry for slamming the door in your face."
"That's okay. Just next time, try not to scare me so much by not answering. I was this close to breaking the door down," he told her, not completely joking.
"Okay," she grinned at him before heading toward her room. The others crowded in behind her as she stopped and stared. "Wow, it looks great. Thank you guys so much!" she said as she turned to give the three men a bright smile.
"It really does," Kensi agreed. "This is a really nice set of furniture. How the heck were you able to pick it out Callen?"
"Hey! I have great taste!"
Sam snorted. "Yeah right. Callie be honest, it was you who did all of the shopping yesterday, right?"
"She had to have, Callen wouldn't know the difference between a futon and a canopy bed," Kensi added with a grin.
Callie glanced nervously between her father and his team before gathering her courage and grinning. "You should have seen his face when we first entered the store, he couldn't believe how many different pieces there were. And when the saleslady started to ask him questions, his face was priceless!"
"Hey!" The team all laughed as Callen gave her a mock betrayed look but inside he was pleased with her response, especially after her earlier upset. It showed she was becoming comfortable with him and his team, comfortable enough to joke around and tease.
"So Callie, since you already got him to buy furniture once, what's the chances of the rest of this place being furnished any time soon?" Sam asked.
She gave him a look of mock surprise. "What do you think I am, a miracle worker? We have to take this one step at a time or we'll scare him off," she said, causing the others to laugh.
"Scare me off?" Callen questioned before picking her up and tossing her over his shoulder. "You're not getting rid of me that easily," he told her.
"Okay, okay, put me down. It was just a joke," she laughed.
The doorbell rang just then, and their laughter faded. Callen frowned as he put her down, not expecting any company. "Wait here," he told her, making his way to the door. He was aware of his team shadowing him, taking up strategic positions. He glanced out the window before signaling the all clear to them as he opened the door. "Hetty, Granger," he greeted. "What's wrong?" He stepped aside to allow them to enter.
"Owen has something he needs to discuss with you," Hetty told him. "And I found myself curious about this bedroom set, I had to see it for myself." She turned to Callie who had followed the others into the room. "Why don't you show it to me dear?"
Callie glanced nervously at the adults. "Okay." She paused to retrieve the bags of bed linens then led the older woman down the hall.
"I'm sorry to disturb you at home," Granger said, his eyes following the young girl. "How's she doing?"
"She's had good and bad moments. But today hasn't been too bad," he said, glancing at Kensi for confirmation and receiving a nod.
"Had no problems while we were out shopping," she added.
"Good." Granger sighed. "The coroner has released Erin's body. I've seen to the arrangements. The wake is tomorrow and the funeral on Saturday."
Callen briefly closed his eyes and nodded. "Thanks."
"My responsibility. She was family," Granger said. "And you had your hands full here." He glanced down the hallway. "She's not going to take it well."
"No. She knows that her mother is dead but she's having trouble accepting it. I think she's been exploring our relationship as a means to avoid thinking about it. It's going to hit her hard once she finally does." He knew it would, he'd been so focused on Callie that he hadn't really had time to accept Erin's passing himself. And he hadn't seen her in 15 years. The next few days were going to devastate her.
"Keep doing what you have been. Be there for her," Granger urged him. "I've also started the process of dealing with Erin's estate, what little she owned. It's all to go into a trust for Callie. You took anything that Callie wanted from the apartment, correct?" At Callen's nod he continued, "I'm going to have the rest packed up and put into storage in case she wants it at a future date. She doesn't need to be bothered with that at the moment."
Callen nodded then gestured down the hallway. "Go see her. I'm sure she'd appreciate a chance to talk."
Granger nodded and walked away.
"Never thought I'd see the day you and Granger were so chummy," Sam commented.
"Neither did I," Callen admitted. "But we have something very special in common, something too important to lose by fighting."
"Well said, Mr. Callen," Hetty said as she joined them. "Your daughter has excellent taste in furniture by the way. You might want to see if she'll help you decorate the rest of this rather empty house."
"One thing at a time Hetty, one thing at a time," he shook his head. "Let's get through the current crisis before you start in on me about my lack of furnishings."
"No!"
"Shit, Granger must have told her." Callen hurried to Callie's bedroom, the sounds of her sobbing growing louder with every step. Entering the room he found her in Granger's arms, hands ineffectively beating against his chest. "Callie?"
She tore herself out of her Godfather's arms to throw herself into his embrace. "No," she cried again. "We can't go, if we go that makes it real."
His heart felt like it was breaking as he listened to her cries. "I know, I know. I wish it wasn't but it is. I'm so sorry, моя дочь." He met Granger's eyes and an idea came to him. "Would you like to hear about how I first met your mother?"
Callie's sobs slowly quieted as she heard his question. She pulled her head back to look at him. "R-really?"
"Really. I've got plenty of stories to tell you. I'm sure your 'Uncle Owen' does as well."
Granger nodded. "I can tell you stories of when she was your age and the situations she got herself into."
They led her back to the living room to find the others waiting for them. "We're going to share some stories about Erin with Callie," Callen told them.
"In that case, perhaps we should order some food," Hetty said. "To sustain us as we honor her memory." She turned to Callie. "I did not have the honor of knowing your mother but I know she must have been someone special to have earned such love from you, as well as two such men as your father and your Godfather. I would be honored if you would allow me to remain and commiserate with you."
The rest of the team added their own sentiments and Callie nodded her agreement. Hetty made the call and they all found seats on the floor, with Callen pulling his daughter close as he started. "I had been with the ATF for a couple of months when I first ran into the spitfire known as Erin O'Rourke..."