5 Hours Before
7.30 a.m.
Sam's house
Sam wakes up with the sound of his alarm clock. Sure, it's early and he could sleep for a few more minutes but he likes doing things with enough time to spare. So he gets out of bed as slowly as possible to avoid waking up his wife, Amber. She spends the day looking after the house and their two girls so it's more than fair that she tries to rest as much as possible.
He showers, shaves and prepares breakfast. When he's sure everything's ready, he walks back inside the bedroom and wakes up Amber. They need to get the girls ready for school. Lisa is 7 years old and Michelle is 9 so that can be a hard task, sometimes. It all comes down to their mood in the morning.
Amber wakes up the girls and leads them to the kitchen for breakfast. Lisa eats quietly, too sleepy to do anything else. Michelle, however, turns to her father with her big eyes shining brightly. "Daddy, I have a spelling competition this afternoon."
Sam nods with a smile. "Did you practice?"
Michelle seems almost offended with her father's question. "Of course I practiced. And I'm going to win. Are you coming to see me?"
There it was, the question they always did whenever there was a competition, a play or a dance recital. Sam sighs and looks towards his hopeful daughter. "Honey, I'm going to try. But you know I can't make any promises. Mommy is going to be there, though, and I'm going to be thinking about you even from afar. I promise you that much, sweetie."
Michelle's smile drops but she just nods, finishes her breakfast and goes to her bedroom to get ready for school. Lisa follows her and that leaves Sam lone with a very disappointed wife.
He takes a deep breath and helps her with the dishes. "What was I supposed to tell her, Amber?"
She shrugs but doesn't say a word, showing Sam how she's feeling without even talking. So he continues. "Amber, you know I have work and I'm not going to promise her I'm going to be there when we both know I might not be. I don't want to break any promises to our kids."
Amber finally turns to him and, after making sure the kids are not close enough to heart them, starts talking. "You were supposed to promise your daughter you would be cheering for her on the first row. You were supposed to, for once, be there for your daughter!"
Sam frowns. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"You know exactly what that means! You're never there for the kids. All you do is work! Sometimes, I wonder if it wouldn't be best for them to be away from you. At least they wouldn't get their hopes that up. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to get my daughter's ready for school. Have a nice day at work."
With that, she storms out of the kitchen and Sam knows they won't talk about that right now. That's why he grabs his things and leaves for work.
AN: Thank you so much for all the amazing reviews on the first chapter. The next one will be focused on Nell and Callen and the one after that is all about Kensi and Deeks. And, just for the record, there are a few people who guessed who got shot but it's too soon to tell you who that person is. First, you have to know what the characters were up to before that moment. I'll update as soon as I can.
What do you think about this chapter?
Love,
Sarah