A/N - Most of you think that Callen is a spoiled child, selfish and all about himself. Good! That just means I've evoked feelings about what he's done. Don't give up on the story. Wait and see how he evolves. There will be pain for him and Sara, but Callen will grow from this. Just remember where he came from.

BB53

Chapter 2

As Sam came around the corner into the bullpen, I sat looking at a memo that Hetty had left on my desk earlier that morning.

I smirked for the first time since Sam picked me up this morning. "Well it seems we need to take inventory in the armory. Hetty wants me to delegate the job." I looked up at Sam and I knew what came next. "I'll do it myself." Sam's face dropped.

Sam watched my discomfort unfold. "Why G? Let someone else do it. You've got other, more important things to do."

My smirk grew to a full-fledged smile. "What would that be, talking to you?" My smile left my face and I snarled at my partner. "Not. Now. Sam." What I saw as his interference irritated me and I couldn't stop myself from fuming, so I got up and marched off to the armory to do the inventory. I knew he watched my back as I left the bullpen and I felt two things; one satisfaction that I could think about my problem alone for a while, second, I knew he wanted to help me but he couldn't. His remarks would be to fix it. I want to do that but at this time I don't know how.

Sam knew that under my smirks and smiles there was pain, lots of it. I know that he wanted to be the one to help me and he did help some, but there was another who helped more, but that's for later in my story.

While I was in the armory Deeks and Kensi came in with their coffee and bags of breakfast goodies: donuts and such. I find it ironic that they choose to pick apart my breakfast choices when theirs left so much to be desired. It's not my job to take care of them today.

It wasn't that long ago that they'd found their feelings for each other after years of denying it and their romance looked good on them. An office romance can be dicey and in our line of work down-right dangerous. It can get you killed. But it didn't seem to bother them. They left the lovey-dovey stuff outside the door and became all business upon entering the mission. Sam had been concerned about it but trusted the two of them to work out any issues they had or to come to us to help them. I'm sure that Sam felt the same about me right now and he hoped that I kept my head in the game.

I looked back on Sara's and my relationship. Much of it happened because of my job. I fell in love with her because of my job. I spent a month living with her and then sent her back home to Connecticut because the Comescus were targeting both her and me. I went under for six months to take care of that problem. When I came back she told me about being pregnant with Gretchen. I missed so much in that time away and while there'd been other undercover missions, this one was hard on me. I'd known she wasn't feeling well when I went under but didn't put two and two together. I was gone three months and so much could have happened and almost did.

Because I was under, my family had been moved to a safe house. This time it paid off. I'd met a woman at the grocery store while shopping for snacks on my way to my undercover home and we'd struck up a conversation and chatted for a while. I began to find her there more and more often when I went to the market. I knew that she'd begun to stalk me and that meant trouble. I tried breaking away from the acquaintance if that is what you want to call it. I began using a different grocer. She showed up there as well and I knew that meant there could be repercussions. I tried being nice and told her I had a wife and daughter and that she'd have to leave me alone. She didn't take it well but I'd thought it was over. I never saw her after that day, until recently.

The op that Sam and I were on should have been cut and dried. We'd infiltrate, flush them out and take them down. We did that but found there was another angle to the bomb making. The bomb maker had made a simple bomb for a woman. He didn't know why but being a cautious man he'd taken pictures of all of his clientele over the years. He took us through them and when I saw the woman from the grocery store an eerie feeling began to eat at me. The bomb maker told us that the woman had taken possession of the device and would be planting it soon. Sam and I took off and called Deeks and Kensi to met us at my house. When we arrived she was there setting up her device.

Once again my family was in danger because of me. The Comescus almost took Sara and my daughter while they were in Rhode Island and now this woman had almost killed them because of me. I didn't feel real good about myself at that moment. I talked with her for a good twenty minutes before she flipped out, screaming at me and stating that if she couldn't have me no one would. Then she started the timer on the bomb, setting it on the counter. Deeks looked to me before he shot her and Sam disarmed the bomb. It was a wake-up call for me. I wanted to hold my wife and daughter so badly and I would that night. Sam and I were going home.

I would take a long time counting inventory in the armory today but it was exactly what I needed. It needed the time to clear my head and think about nothing at all except my marriage and my reaction to being a member of a family, but what I would do right at this moment was just focus on the objects that needed counting. Maybe then I could start to put my life and marriage back together which is what I really wanted to do.