A/N: I want to thank all the readers who have given me their honest opinion of this story. I have to admit it may not be everyone's cup of tea. Thank you for reading anyhow. I would like to thank Knirbenrots, Petunia3116, jonesdeer88, elsje1967 and jillyjwh, and my guest, for reviewing, following and/or favoriting this story. It means the world to me.

Chapter 3

Sam's POV

As G walked away from me in the bullpen I felt as if he'd gone lone wolf again, only this time he'd stay within the mission. I have to admit to being extremely worried about him. I knew he felt he'd done something to bring down some kind of evil upon his family yet again. The decision to walk out on his wife and daughter could go two ways. He'd divorce Sara because he loved both her and Gretchen so much and wanted to protect them or he'd get himself killed because all of whatever bothered him would hang on his mind, torturing him. I needed to help him think clearly on this one. I know what having a family means and how important it is to keep them safe. It's a fine line we walk in this business. If it didn't straighten itself out soon I coukd foresee Hetty calling Nate back from wherever he currently is and I honestly hoped she'd do it. As a matter of fact I'm going to talk to her about it.

I sat back in my chair gazing across at my partner's desk and wondered what would make G leave his wife and daughter. I knew the bomber setting her bomb in his kitchen hit him hard, real hard. What could have affected his partner so adversely that he'd leave Sara and Gretchen? The importance of family had always been foremost with his partner. He'd hunted for years only to find out his sister had drowned when she was eleven, his mother had been gunned down on a beach in Romania and his father was still a mystery living somewhere in Russia. Having a wife and daughter had taught him about family and gave him the stability he desperately needed or so I thought. Now something threatened it.

Deeks and Kensi had just come through the front door of the mission. They bumped hips and shoulders and laughed at whatever the two of them laugh at, all the way down the hallway. The sounds they were making had a grating effect on me this morning and I knew it only affected me that way because of my worries for Callen. Normally it didn't bother me all that much. I fell deeper into my thoughts about my partner and his problems.

Both of them smiled at me as they dropped their bags and sat at their desks with their donuts and cups of coffee.

Kensi smiled across the bullpen at me. "Morning Sam! Did you have breakfast? I have extra donuts." She shook the bag at me. She knew they were safe because I wouldn't eat a donut if my life depended on it.

Kensi took out one of her donuts, opened the lip of her coffee and took a sip. She looked around the bullpen and spied Callen's bag by his desk. "Where's Callen? I'm missing the dissertation on my choice of breakfast foods." She chuckled at this.

Deeks looked up smiling while acknowledging the question his partner asked. "Yeah, where is our esteemed leader and his lecture?"

I just shrugged and answered the question with as little information as I could. "He's in the armory doing the monthly inventory. Hetty told him to give the job to someone but he didn't want to delegate today." I gave a small smile and a dry chuckle hoping to divert their questions with a small attempt at humor.

Deeks turned his chair to face me. He wore one of his beaming smiles but I saw concern in those eyes. "What? That's his least favorite chore on the planet. He usually foists it off on Jimmy Friedlander who loves to do paperwork."

I smiled at that notion and it happened to be true but it didn't change the fact that G was in the armory thinking and we were out here worrying. I wondered how long this would last. "True, but G just needs the time to himself."

Kensi watched my face and later she said the crease lines around my eyes told her there was more to the story. She shook her long brown locks and looked to the armory. "Wait…G is using this time to process something, like what? Is it work related?" A look of panic went across her face as she returned her gaze to me. "He's not leaving is he?" She knew that issue plagued us constantly.

Deeks thought briefly about the subject. "Wait a minute? He doesn't process issues, he internalizes them and then we never know what's going on with him. He does not share."

Kensi turned her mismatched eyes back to me. "What's going on Sam? How can we help him?"

My comfort level with this conversation was not great, far from it, but these two had the right to know that something would be off. "No, he's not leaving us as far as I know and I don't think we can help him right now. Listen, it's not my story to tell, even if I knew what it was. But so that you both know, it may make working with him a bit more difficult in the up and coming weeks, and, even if I did know, I wouldn't tell you, but do me a favor, don't ask questions of him because if I know him, you'll get no answers. He'll just go deeper and I need him in the here and now." I met their gazes which asked so many questions that there were no answers to currently. "Oh, and he will be living at the boatshed for the time being."

That apparently shook Kensi so much that she stood up and started towards the armory to check on her big brother. She motioned to not be followed.

I opened my mouth to stop her when Eric whistled for us. "Kensi, I'll get G, you two head up to OPS." I knew this was going to be awkward and I'd have to watch my brother's back even more than usual.

I walked into the armory and Callen had most of the hand guns on the table to check their serial numbers. This would be a long check because of the sheer number of weapons that NCIS had for our use.

Callen looked up as I entered and sneered. "What now Sam?"

The air in the armory seemed crisp to me, almost frosty. I put my hands up as if to surrender. "Whoa Big Fella…we have a case. Eric just called down. I've sent Deeks and Kensi up. What do you want to do?"

Callen shook his head. "I'd be no good to you out there today. Do it without me. If you need help let me know."

I nodded and agreed that maybe it was a good idea to leave him back here. Hetty wouldn't like it but she might be able to give him counsel, because Lord knows he's not listening to me. I gave him another nod, pivoted and walked back out of the armory and up to OPS.