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AUTHOR'S NOTES:

Title: Troika

Rating: M

WARNINGS: Slash: G/Sam; Squick: M-preg G Callen; Whump: G Callen

Story Details and Full Disclaimer in Chapter 1: My stories are a work of my imagination and I do not ascribe them to the official story canon. This is a work intended for entertainment outside the official storyline owned by CBS and the producers of NCIS:LA.

Bureaucracy

Chapter 17

The van which Hetty had purchased through the government's payoff a month after G came home from the hospital, now proved to be the only mode of transportation for his and Sam's burgeoning family. Alissa and Benji loved tending to their brothers and sisters making sure their blankets and pacifiers were accessible at all times. G and Sam never asked them to help out. Alissa and Benji volunteered their time, each taking a seat next to their siblings and switching every time someone stopped the van at a destination.

For the first time since the quintuplets' birth, Sam drove toward NCIS's Los Angeles Headquarters. He eyed his anxious partner in the seat next to him and placed an arm around G's shoulders bringing him closer to his side. "You okay?"

"I've been better."

"Don't jump to conclusions."

"Trying not to jump at all." G smirked. "I'm sitting down, see?"

"Into that again already and we just started down the road."

"You know you love it."

"I do." Sam missed their repartee.

"Donuts afterward?"

"What?" His eyebrows raised high crinkling his forehead.

"Got you!" G chuckled slipping his left hand down to Sam's thigh.

"You sure did," he said. "No molesting the driver while we're moving."

He grinned wide. "Shucks, I had plans."

"No more of those parental iron infusions if you keep acting this way."

"You love it and you know it."

"Yes, I've got to admit it."

"Daddy, I dropped a pacifier," Benji said, "can I get it?"

"No!" G and Sam yelled at him one after the other. They both chuckled at their responses.

"Wait until we get to headquarters," G said. "Almost there. Now I know why Hetty liked this house. It is close to work."

Sam pulled into a parking space close to the side door of headquarters. He leaned over and cupped his husband's face with both hands and passionately kissed him. "And that is a reminder of our special and private time tonight."

"You have plans."

"I do."

Sam slid out of the driver's door and opened one side of their van while G opened the opposite sliding van door. They both fitted their custom made baby slings over their heads and fastened them at the waist. G positioned Makana, Maddox, and Marquois in their sling pockets facing his breasts. G allowed them to feed at his breasts anytime they wanted by wearing a special t-shirt Sam and him designed together. The t-shirt had customized flaps with velcro which flipped down for convenient feeding. Sam placed Michael and Mackenzie in their sling pockets and grabbed the two diaper changing kits. Alissa and Benji knew the routine too and stuffed their siblings' blankets in a two bags along with the pacifiers, each of them grabbing a bag and following their parents into NCIS Headquarters.

The moment Alissa and Benji entered building they dropped their bags and rushed over to Marty and Kensi.

"Mr. Callen, Mr. Hanna, let's talk over here in the lounge where we'll all be more comfortable," Hetty said, crossing the wide open space of headquarters over to the cozy lounge area. "Who do I get to hold?" She asked while sitting down in a chair.

Alissa rushed over to her side. "Me!" She climbed onto Hetty's lap and hugged her.

Benji settled down beside Hetty in her chair. "Me next."

"And then Makana," G said, "she's just finishing a short feeding session."

"Hungry girl," Hetty said.

"Always."

Sam helped G settle down next to him on the leather sofa. He observed the worried look on his face again. "You okay?" He asked whispering.

"Fine," G whispered back.

"Right."

"Peachy."

"Ah huh."

"Sam, stop."

He slipped an arm around G's shoulders. "Peace."

"Mr. Callen, I've a proposal for you."

"About working?"

"Yes, Director Vance and I want you to continue acting in the same capacity as before," Hetty said. "Therefore, he proposed a daycare center here."

"Here?"

"You have a better idea?"

"Well, I, no," G said. "I thought you asked me here to talk about the kidnapping."

Alissa and Benji climbed off Hetty's chair and settled on the sofa next to their parents and siblings.

"Yes and no."

"Alissa and Benji why don't you go play with Auntie Kensi and Uncle Marty," Sam said.

"Okay, Papa," Alissa said bounding off the sofa with Benji chasing after her.

"G needs answers."

"And I don't have any for you, Mr. Callen."

"None?" He shot her a look.

"The case is out of our hands."

"And into who's hand?"

"Washington's NCIS Headquarters."

"You mean Director Vance?"

"Yes."

"You told me I'd be allowed to investigate and now you've usurped it and turned it over to… him," G said. "I can't believe you did this." He tried to stand. The three babies on board zapped his strength and he slumped down on the sofa again.

"I had no choice," she said. "I was pressured by the powers that be to hand over the information."

"All of it, including everything about my pregnancies and the kidnappings?"

"I'm afraid so, Mr. Callen."

"Damn it, this sucks." He huffed his indignation. "And I suppose that is why Director Vance has agreed to offer me a daycare center and whatever else I need to—"

"Sweetheart, come on." Sam grasped his husband's right hand.

"You want me to back down too?" G gave his husband a look. "She promised I'd be able to investigate who did this and now… this sucks. It's as if you all plotted behind my back when I was incapacitated by the very thing which these bastards caused."

"Mr. Callen!"

"Well, Hetty, what do you want me to think?"

"I did everything in my power to prevent this from happening."

"I find that hard to believe."

"G."

He ignored his husband's protests about his attitude. "Well, I do, you gave me your word."

"And Leon shut me down."

"Now it's Leon." G huffed again and jerked his hand away from Sam's and rested it under Marquois's sling. "Time to go home."

"What?" Sam eyebrows lifted high.

"I don't see any purpose in prolonging any conversations."

"Mr. Callen, what about the daycare center—"

"Stuff it, Hetty, you took from me what you promised to give me."

"And that's all you wanted?" Hetty asked. "No career and daycare proposals."

"Take me home, Sam." G pulled two of the slings off his torso with Marquois and Maddox still inside them. He stood and left the lounge area with Makana still sleeping in her sling at his breast.

"I'll talk to him."

"No, Mr. Hanna, this is my doing and my responsibility." She followed her team leader outside.

TROJKA TROJKA TROJKA

G settled down in the van waiting for Sam to drive him home. When he saw his Operations Manager stroll toward him, he steeled himself against what was coming.

Hetty sat down behind her lead agent. "Nicer than I thought it was inside and plenty of room."

"Should I read between the lines?"

"No, not at all, I never saw the van before this," she said. "I'm sorry, Mr. Callen, I wish I could change the way things transpired."

"You of all people can't change this?" he said. "That I can't and won't believe."

"If you want to keep things as they are—"

"I get it, the van, that's why you mentioned it."

"Yes, and the house."

He shook his head. "So you are telling me if I accept one, I lose the other."

"Yes."

"Can't have both as you promised."

"I promised and they took it away."

"Hetty… for just once… I'd like to see these damned bureaucrats lose their butts over an incident."

"Me too, Mr. Callen, me too." She sighed.

He released the swivel mechanism on his chair and turned around to face her. "The house, this van, the daycare center, my perfect job while fathering and mothering seven children, and what else?"

"Almost anything you can dream of which money can buy—"

"Except politicians and bureaucrats." The corners of his mouth turned upward.

Thanks for reading. A couple of more chapters...