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: And so ends the crossover. I really tried to work Ziva and Tony in here as well but just couldn't make it work. I think this story is finally starting to draw to an end. I think there is only one or two more chapters and maybe an epilogue left. Though I do have some ideas for writing tags to various episodes, such as showing Callie's reactions to the aftermath of the events of those episodes, like Purity.
I know this chapter jumps around a bit timewise, but I'm running out of ideas other than a few key scenes that I really want to include in this fic. It's just getting there that's the problem, hence the time jumps. Please let me know what you think.
Gibbs blinked at her question. Good point, what was there around here for a teenager to do? "Come on, I'll take you down to meet Abby," he decided.
"Dad mentioned her," Callie said as they headed for the elevator. "Who is she?"
"She's our forensics expert and a friend of mine."
She glanced at him. "So how did you and my dad meet? Work a case together?"
"Something like that," he answered.
She sighed. "I know, I know. No talking about work." She winced as she turned wrong, pulling at one of her still sore muscles.
Gibbs noticed the brief look of pain. "You okay?"
"Still just a little sore. Dad says that's normal, that sometimes it lasts for a couple of weeks after jumping out of the car."
He stared at her. "You jumped out of a moving car?"
She shrugged. "I had to get away from those goons somehow."
He shook his head. "Definitely Callen's daughter."
She smiled slightly, feeling pleased at his declaration. The elevator doors opened and they exited to be met by blaring music. Callie blinked, not having expected that.
Gibbs led her into the lab. "Abby!" he yelled.
"Oh, Gibbs!" She shut off the music. "Wasn't expecting you. Do we have a case?" Her eyes landed on Callie. "Who's this?" She frowned, there was something familiar about the girl. "Do I know you?"
Callie stared at her. The goth was definitely not what she was expecting. "Er, hi." She had to smile at the goth's energetic and somewhat bubbly demeanor.
Gibbs smirked. "This is Callen." He got a look from the girl and winked at her.
Abby frowned at the name. "Callen, as in G. Callen?" She could see the resemblance to the agent who had saved her life. "But this can't be G. Callen. He's a grown man, this is a young girl." Her eyes widened. "Unless he somehow got transformed! What was it? Radiation? Zapped by some weird machine? And you came to me to fix it." She was practically bouncing.
Callie couldn't help but giggle. She definitely liked the happy goth. "I'm Callie, G. Callen's my dad."
"Of course he is, cause the other thing only happens in movies and comics," Abby said, still bouncing. "Wait, your dad? Oh, it's so great to meet you." She pulled the startled girl into a hug. "Is he here? Where? I can't wait to see him, he saved my life."
Callie blinked at the small case of hero worship she could hear in the woman's voice. "Saved your life?"
"Oh yeah. There was this whole thing with a serial killer that no one believed existed cause he left no evidence. But the lack of evidence was the evidence, and he kidnapped me and your dad burst through the skylight and shot him before he could shoot me."
She blinked again at the rambling answer. "You drink a lot of coffee, don't you?"
"Nah, gotta have my Caff-Pow though." She held up the large cup.
Gibbs chuckled at them. "Abby, why don't you show Callie around. I'll be up in the bullpen when you're done." He walked away as Abby started to enthusiastically show off each piece of equipment while peppering the girl with questions.
"Director Vance," Callen greeted as he reached the other man.
"Agent Callen. I hear congratulations are in order." The other man glanced down toward the bullpen.
"Thank you sir."
"Well I'm sure you have something else you'd much rather be doing so let's get this meeting started." He turned and led the agent into his office where the SecNav and Granger were already waiting. Greetings were exchanged as they all sat down. "Now, we've already heard the report from Assistant Director Granger here, as well as read the written reports. But I'd like to hear your thoughts on Janvier. What was his motivation? Can we expect him to have had any other surprises planned? And most importantly, just how far does his knowledge of our files and personnel go?"
Callen stifled the urge to sigh, this was going to be a long meeting.
He did sigh as the debriefing finally came to a close. Seriously, this couldn't have been done over the phone or a video conference? Glancing at his watch as he exited the director's office he shook his head. Nearly four hours.
"Agent Callen."
He turned to face Director Vance as he followed him out the door.
"I'm sorry to have dragged you down here for this but you know how it is." He glanced back into the room. "But you are now officially on vacation. Go spend time with your daughter." He held out his hand.
"Thank you sir," Callen said, taking it. "I intend to." He headed downstairs. Glancing around, he spotted several agents sitting at their desks but not Gibbs or his daughter.
"G. Callen!" A voice rang through the air right before a body impacted with his. He stumbled back a step, somehow managing to stay upright.
"Abby Sciuto," he returned, grinning down at the woman.
"Oh, it's so great to see you again! And you have an awesome daughter!"
At her words he looked over her shoulder to see Callie standing there, laughing at him. "Good to see you too Abby Sciuto. And I know." The goth released him and he wrapped an arm around Callie as she came to stand at his side.
"Your meeting's done?"
"Yep, and I'm officially on vacation. Which means I'm all yours, no more getting called into work."
She beamed at him.
He looked up as Gibbs approached. "Well, we never made it to that bar. Maybe next time."
"Next time," Gibbs agreed. "You've got more important things to do at the moment." He clapped the younger man on his back. "Take care of yourself. You've got more than just yourself to worry about now."
"I know. And you too Jethro."
Gibbs turned to the girl. "It was nice meeting you Callie. Try to keep this guy out of trouble."
She grinned at him. "I'll try but you're asking a lot." They laughed. "It was nice to meet you too. And you as well Abby, thanks for showing me around."
"Oh, no problem. And don't forget to email me, I want to hear how everything is going. And it was great seeing you again G. Callen."
"Great to see you too, Abby Sciuto."
With a couple of last goodbyes, he led his daughter to the elevator. "Now that I'm done here, let's go grab some lunch. Did you decide where you want to go first?" He listened to her eagerly explain where she wanted to visit and smiled.
A week later Callen unlocked the door to his house and opened it, his eyes carefully checking for anything out of place as Callie followed behind him. Nothing appeared to be disturbed and he relaxed. "It's good to be home."
Callie yawned slightly and nodded. "But I had a lot of fun. Thanks for bringing me with you."
"Are you kidding? There's no one else I'd rather have spent the time with." He drew her close and kissed the top of her head. "Now, you should head to bed. It's late."
She looked like she was about to argue, then another yawn escaped her. "Good night Dad," she said instead, heading for her room.
He started to head to his own room but paused and headed to the kitchen instead. He checked the fridge and shook his head. Taking out his phone, he made an appointment for groceries. It wouldn't do to forget, again.
With that taken care of, he headed for his own room and settled down in his bedroll. For once sleep found him easily.
Too bad it didn't last long. Less than three hours later he was wide awake and staring at the ceiling. Giving it up as a lost cause, he got up and exited the room. He paused and poked his head into Callie's room, taking a few minutes to watch her sleep. A smile formed on his face and he slipped back out before he could disturb her.
Entering the kitchen, he started to poke at the toaster but found he just wasn't in the mood to take it apart. Instead, he retrieved his language tapes and started to practice his Russian, losing himself in the familiar intricacies of the language. He was so into his practice that when the tape asked about the weather he was startled when another voice answered it.
"The weather is very nice today," Callie's voice answered.
Callen turned to face her, surprised that he hadn't heard her approach. He shut off the tape. "I didn't wake you, did I?"
She shook her head as she started poking around in the cupboards. "No. I just couldn't sleep anymore. Been doing too much of that lately."
He eyed her as she continued her search. "Your body obviously needed the rest. Why don't you go back to sleep?"
"I told you, I'm not tired." She let the cupboards close, obviously not finding what she was looking for. "We need to go shopping."
"First thing tomorrow. I've even got a reminder programmed in. What were you looking for?"
"Hot cocoa mix. You obviously couldn't sleep either," she told him as she glanced at the language tapes. "Hot cocoa always helps me fall asleep. Figured it might help you too."
He raised an eyebrow. "You have trouble sleeping a lot?"
She shrugged. "Sometimes. Mom said I used to keep her up all night when I was younger."
"Huh." He'd always assumed his insomnia was a result of his childhood and the things he'd seen and done as an adult. But if what Callie was saying was true then perhaps it was actually genetic. He wondered if either of his parents suffered the same. "And hot cocoa helps?" He'd never tried that before.
"Well that and the company." She shrugged again at his look. "I'd try not wake Mom up but I didn't succeed that often. So we'd drink hot cocoa and talk until I felt I could sleep again."
"Well, then remind me to pick it up later today." He studied her for a moment. "You feel up to going back to bed?"
"Not really." A grin came over her face and she said, "But we can practice our Russian together."
He smiled back and replied. "But only if you let me know the instant you feel tired."
She rolled her eyes but agreed and they spent the rest of the night conversing in Russian, getting to know each other a little better.
The next morning, true to Callen's word, they headed out to do grocery shopping. "So is there anything in particular you want to buy?" he asked her as he added a couple of steaks to the cart.
"We should probably get some cereal."
He turned down that particular aisle. "What kind?"
She glanced at the shelves and made her selection. A short time later, they had picked up all of the essentials, as well as some non-essentials as Callen hadn't been able to resist the bag of Tootsie-Pops, they headed for the check out.
Callie's eyes widened. "Oh, we almost forgot the hot cocoa. I'll get it while you get on line." She darted back down the aisle before he could stop her.
Callen glanced worriedly after her before shaking his head. What kind of trouble would she get into in a grocery store? He started to place his items on the belt.
Callie knelt down beside a coffee display to grab the large package of cocoa mix from the bottom shelf. It was all the way in the back and she had to stretch to reach it. As her fingers finally wrapped around it, her ears picked up voices nearby, speaking in Russian. Thanks to the late night practice being fresh in her mind, she didn't even have to think about it for the words to make sense. Her eyes widened as she heard the conversation.
"There he is."
"Where did the girl go?"
"I don't know but she must be somewhere nearby. Why is the boss interested in them?"
"He didn't say. And it's not for us to question his orders."
Callie carefully poked her head around the stack of coffee, taking in the sight of the two men standing near the front of the aisle. They were looking in the direction she had left her father. One turned slightly, his jacket opening and she glimpsed a gun tucked into his belt. She swallowed nervously. What was she supposed to do? She had to warn her father, but they'd see her if she moved. Wait, why was she worried about that? They had no way of knowing that she spoke Russian.
So with the package of cocoa in her hands, she rose and started toward the front of the aisle, purposefully keeping her eyes on the cocoa as if checking it was the correct brand. "Oh!" she said as she bumped into one of the men. "I'm so sorry, I didn't see you there." She kept a wide-eyed look on her face as she apologized.
"Is no problem," the man she bumped into said in heavily accented English. "Just watch where you are going next time."
"I will," she promised before heading toward her father.
"Took you long enough. I though you'd gotten lost," he said as she joined him and placed the cocoa mix on the belt. "What's wrong?" he asked as he saw her face.
"I just couldn't reach it is all," she said in a slightly raised voice. She glanced at the cashier, checking that he was fully concentrating on their order before continuing much quieter. "Two men, at least one is armed, watching us and speaking Russian."
Callen's eyes narrowed before he forced his face to relax. "Where?" He made a show of checking over the order.
"Near the front of aisle 6, unless they've moved."
"Looks like we forgot the ketchup," he said as he turned to glance toward aisle 5 as if gauging to see if he had time to run and get it, his gaze sweeping over aisle 6 in the process. "We still have some left, so it can wait until the next trip." He silently cursed himself for dropping his guard. How had he missed them following him? He should have been alert for any threats, especially since they didn't know if Janvier left any other surprises for them.
"Okay," Callie agreed. "They still there?"
"Yep." He paid for the groceries and started heading outside. "Follow my lead and do exactly as I tell you."
She swallowed nervously and nodded.
Callen caught a reflection in a nearby car window, they were being followed. He took one hand off of the cart and made a show of searching his pockets. "Where are the car keys? Here, push the cart for a minute." She took hold of the cart just as they were passing between two parked cars, freeing him to pull his weapon from his holster, out of sight. "Got them," he said, making a show of holding up the keys. "Now, where did we park again?"
"You getting forgetful in your old age?"
If the situation wasn't so serious he would have grinned. His daughter was a natural. "Keep it up with the age cracks and we'll see how long it is before you're allowed out of the house." His eyes darted around the parking lot but it was devoid of others except for them and the two following them. "Get ready. When I say, I want you to duck behind a car and stay down."
She nodded slightly. "What's the matter, you can't take a joke?"
"It has to be funny to qualify as a joke," he said, reaching out to take hold of the cart again. He started to turn as if he was going into the next row of cars. "Now!" Callie quickly ducked as he shoved the cart at the men following them and took cover, his gun aimed at the two.
The men were taken by surprise and one went down under the cart. The other reached for his waistband and the gun there but stopped at the sight of Callen's gun aimed at him.
"Who are you? Why are you following us?" Callen asked as he quickly relieved them of their weapons.
They stubbornly kept their mouths shut.
He tried again in Russian and they still refused to speak. He pulled out his phone and snapped a picture of them. Keeping them covered, he called Ops. "Eric, I'm sending you a couple of photos. I need the men identified, immediately." He sent the pictures.
"Got 'em. Running through the databases now. What's going on?"
"Went to the store for groceries and had a little company. They're not talking, though they were speaking in Russian earlier."
"Mr. Callen, I am sending Sam to your location," Hetty's voice came over the line. "Are you alright?"
"Fine Hetty." One of the men started to move, obviously believing him to be distracted by the phone. "I wouldn't unless you want to have more holes than swiss cheese," he told him. "I've got to go Hetty." He hung up the phone and glared at them. "You will tell me who sent you or I will make the rest of your very short lives a living hell."
Callie shivered at his words and the rage in his voice. "D-dad?"
Callen's eyes widened. He'd forgotten she was listening. "Stay there. Don't move." He glared at the men, a slight frown forming as he really looked at them. The one on the right looked vaguely familiar. "You will tell me what I want to know otherwise I will be forced to shoot you in front of the girl. And that will really piss me off. You won't like what happens then." He only hoped Callie would forgive him for scaring her like this.
A familiar engine roared as tires squealed nearby. "G!"
"Over here Sam," he answered. "So what's it going to be?" he asked as his partner joined him.
The men exchanged a look. "The boss only said observe. He didn't say why. We weren't going to do anything. Only follow."
"And who's your boss?" Sam demanded.
But Callen had finally placed where he recognized the one man from. "Arkady. You were sent by Arkady Kolcheck."