A/N: Hi guys, hope everyone had a great holiday. I know it's getting late for a Christmas fic, but I couldn't stop writing. Oh, and I forgot to mention that I don't actually own It's A Wonderful Life. But that wouldn't really make sense, because it was made when my grandpa was a child. Also, some events in this fiction are fabricated. Since I haven't watched every episode of NCIS: LA, I don't really know all that happened. Please enjoy and don't forget to review!

Chapter Two

The water was freezing and murky. Callen couldn't see anything, but he felt his fingers brush against something soft. He grabbed what he assumed must be someone's coat and hauled them towards the surface. The banks of the river were slick and cement, slippery with water. Callen shoved the stranger onto the concrete and struggled from the water, gasping. In the faint glow of the nearby streetlights, Callen saw that it was a young woman. She had blond hair that fanned around her pale face like a halo. She wore a white dress, now soaked through and almost transparent. She was soaked and pale, but she was also wonderfully alive. Callen gently touched her shoulder.

" Miss?" He asked. The woman stirred, then sat up and coughed loudly. Water streamed from her long hair and her gaze was confused.

" Who are you?" She choked. She seemed taken aback to find Callen holding her upright.

" You fell into the river." Callen explained. " I pulled you out. I'm not going to hurt you, I'm a federal agent." He verified this fact by showing her his shiny badge. He felt lucky that it hadn't tumbled away into the seemingly endless depths of the river.

"I know." The woman sat up, using one hand to wring the water from her hair. " You're Special Agent Callen, NCIS."

Callen raised one eyebrow. He didn't remember meeting her before. Maybe she was the relative of a victim, or even someone he had put in jail.

" You work with the Office of Special Projects. Your partners and closest friends are Agent Sam Hanna and Agent Kensi Blye. You also work with one LAPD liaison officer Detective Deeks, but you find him annoying and immature at times."

Okay, there's no way this is just some random stranger, Callen decided.

" Who are you?" He asked, wishing he had a weapon with him. He didn't want to knife some random girl, but she seemed to know an unusual amount about Callen's life.

She gave him a small smile. " You wouldn't believe me if I told you, Callen."

He stood up, offering the woman his hand. She took it, and her skin was warm to the touch. Too warm, Callen thought, for someone who had recently been in an icy river.

" Try me." Callen challenged. The woman smirked.

" You're not a God-fearing man, Callen. You don't believe in magic, much less miracles."

Callen raised one eyebrow. " I have a good reason not to."

She tilted her face towards him. In the misty glow of the streetlights, she looked strange and otherworldly.

" I'm your guardian angel."

…

" Ha!" Callen let out a disbelieving laugh. The idea was ridiculous, of course, but this was getting pretty weird.

" My name is Clara, and I was sent from Heaven tonight to show you how much you are needed here on Earth."

Callen turned away. " Well, thanks for your concern, but I'm not. I don't have any friends, I don't have any family…you're an 'angel', you should be able to see how pathetic I am."

Clara gave him a sympathetic look, then began hiking up the steep embankment towards the road. Callen followed her, somewhat intrigued. When they had reached the side of the road, she stopped walking.

" You almost died today, Callen. If I hadn't fallen into the river, you would have jumped in and killed yourself."

Callen looked towards the ground. Now he felt ashamed at his rash actions.

" Do you know how much pain you would have caused if you followed through with suicide?" Clara demanded, putting her hands on her hips. " You do have friends, even if you don't realize it."

She stretched out her hand. " Follow me, Callen."

Callen nervously took her hand. Light and sound swirled around them, and Callen felt his feet touch solid ground. To his surprise, it was a cloudy afternoon. They were in a cemetery, the same one that Amy was buried in. A group of mourners were huddled around an open grave. Callen recognized them at once: Sam, Kensi, Eric, Hetty, Nell, Deeks and Nate. Kensi was leaning against Sam's shoulder, her eyes glittering with unshed tears. Sam's arm was around her shoulder, the ever-comforting friend. Nell was sobbing into Eric's shoulder. Deeks and Nate were standing with their hands clasped behind them, staring at the ground. Hetty was speaking, probably saying something about Callen's life cut so tragically short.

" No." Callen breathed. " This is my funeral?"

Clara nodded, a grim look on her face.

" Yes." She touched his shoulder. " These are your friends, heartbroken at your death."

The scene flashed forwards. The sky was dark with storm clouds. A single figure was kneeling on the ground by Callen's grave. It was Kensi, her long dark hair pulled into a hasty ponytail and her eyes filled with unimaginable sadness.

Callen heard her whisper something, so softly that the words almost disappeared into the wind.

" I could have been a second date girl. But only for you, Callen. I'm sorry I never told you." Kensi's shoulders were shaking, her head bowed. Callen realized that she was sobbing, leaning against the cold marble headstone, completely alone in her grief. He moved forwards, wanting nothing more than to hold her, tell her that everything would be alright. But Clara stopped him, lightly touching his arm.

" You're dead, Callen. You drowned in that freezing river two months ago. She comes here every week, and every time she cries. It's painful to watch. She cared about you so much."

Callen turned away. He couldn't watch Kensi's misery anymore. " What happens next?"

Clara hesitated. " You're not going to like it, Callen." The image of Kensi crying at Callen's grave blurred and was replaced by another: the bullpen. Something was wrong, something was different. A pretty African-American woman now sat at Callen's desk. As Callen watched, she and Sam stood up to leave for the night, saying goodnight to Kensi and Deeks. They exited towards the elevator. Deeks was sitting on the edge of Kensi's desk. He said something and she laughed. Then she stood up and gathered her things. She and Deeks began walking towards the stairs. He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. Callen's eyes widened.

Clara gave him a grim look. " Yeah, they started dating a few weeks ago. It's been almost a year since your death. She needed someone to love."

Callen shook his head. He had always suspected that Deeks had a crush on Kensi, but he had never imagined anything really coming out of it. The image flashed, and Callen saw a wedding. His first thought was Eric and Nell, but the bride was taller than Nell, and with long dark hair. He realized with terror that it was Kensi. And the groom, the groom was Deeks. Callen smacked himself on the forehead.

" Are you serious? They get married?"

Clara shrugged. " Sure. Who else was she going to marry? I mean, she'd been looking for love for years. Working at NCIS put her in a dangerous position. She needed someone who would understand that."

Callen felt awful. He felt sure that he had been kind to Kensi during his time at the OSP. He suddenly wished that he had done more.

" What's next is worse." Clara promised. The scene changed to one of a small living room. Kensi was sitting in a rocking chair, rocking slowly back and forth. A small bundle of cloth was lying in her arms. The lamplight was soft, glowing. Kensi was singing softly to the bundle.

" Her baby?" Callen whispered. " She had a baby with Deeks?"

Clara looked sympathetic. " Callen Deeks." She replied.

Callen stared at Kensi. " She named her baby after me?"

" Deeks didn't like it. He thought it meant…well, that she loved you more than she loved him."

Callen shook his head. "No. She didn't love me. She thought of me as her brother, right?"

Clara gave him a long stare, then continued.

The scene blurred, and Kensi was sitting cross-legged on a bench in the park in Venice Beach. She was watching a small boy with fair hair playing in the sand.

" Where's Deeks?" Callen asked right away. " Not the perfect dad now, is he?"

Clara looked saddened. " Quite the opposite. He leaves Kensi when little Callen is only a few years old. He knows what she is hiding. There was someone else that she loved."

The scene blurred, and Kensi was standing in front of a familiar gravestone. Her son, Callen Deeks, stood by her side. Kensi laid a single rose on the grass by the gravestone.

" Who is that?" Little Callen asked. Kensi put a hand on her son's shoulder. He was no more than five or six.

" He was my partner. At the place I used to work. He was…he was my best friend." Her voice was thick with tears. " I liked him a lot."

Callen felt his heart give a familiar pang. " What does she mean, used to work at?"

" Oh, she asked for a transfer from the OSP when she divorced Deeks." Clara replied. " She realized that things were never going to be the same. Sam was never the same after your death. He'd lost men in battle, and Dom of course. But you were too close to him. He turned sort of cold. And she couldn't stand working with Deeks anymore, after he'd broken her heart. She transferred to the Seal Beach Field Office, but after a few months she quit. Everything reminded her of the life she'd left behind. She moved back to LA. Sam helps her, he watches the kid from time to time."

Callen felt a cold feeling growing in the pit of his stomach.

" No. No, that's not possible. None of this is possible. Sam wouldn't let my death affect him this much. Kensi is a great agent. She'd never quit her job. And she'd never marry Deeks. I mean, I know that he has this weird crush on her, but she's professional. Kensi would never date a coworker."

Clara raised one eyebrow. " Are you sure about that? Didn't you hear her crying at your grave? Saying that she was sorry that she never said how much you mattered to her?" Clara glared.

Callen was speechless. " I…I thought…that she…she never…"

" What? She never loved you?" Clara demanded. " She never cared about you? She cares more about you than anyone else. Family? Yeah, she loves her dad, but you're the one she cares about the most, the one that's closest to her. You showed her that you cared about her, Callen. All those times you saved her life? Sure, that was just the job, that was just being her partner. But there was something else there, wasn't there? Always…you never stopped caring about her, did you, Callen?"

Callen paced back and forth, knowing that Kensi and her son couldn't see him.

" Clara…I know that Kensi cared about me. I cared about her…I still do. But I don't ever think she loved me."

Clare fixed Callen with a level and calculating stare.

" I think that she would say something different. Love is complicated, Callen. Remember, love doesn't change a person. It changes itself."

Author's Note: Okay, guys! We have made it this far. Sorry to be hating on Deeks earlier in the story. I love him just as much as everyone else, and I think he's charming and somewhat endearing in a very shaggy way. I just had to make him a jerk for the purpose of this story. Please, please review. I refuse to be one of those pushy authors who demands reviews in exchange for writing because I write for the love of it and not the praise. Or criticism, whichever. Anyway, some reviews would be nice if you would. Thanks, and have a great winter break if you're still in school!