Michelle looked at the streamers and saw the blue and pink coming out. She immediately looked at Callen and Zoya.
"OH MY GOD! Are you two having a baby?" Michelle yelled with excitement.
"Yes we are," Zoya replied with a smile.
"Oh my god! That's amazing," Michelle spoke as she hugged Zoya. "Congrats."
"Thank you."
Sam looked at his partner as Callen looked Sam's way with a smile on his face.
"Congrats G!" Sam said as he gave Callen a bro hug. "You're gonna be a great dad."
"Thanks Sam. I hope so."
Sam released him. "I know so. And otherwise I'll be there to kick your ass," Sam teased.
Sam moved over to Zoya as Michelle moved over to Callen.
"Congrats G. I'm happy for you two."
"Thanks Michelle."
"Are you having a baby uncle Callen?" Kam asked.
"Yes we are. Aunt Zoya and I are having a baby."
"When will the baby be here?"
"It will be a while," Zoya told her. "Around the summer."
Kam came to give Zoya and Callen a hug.
"Now it's time to toast," Michelle said as she got ready to open the champagne bottle.
Michelle popped the cork and poured some glasses while Zoya opened the non-alcoholic champagne. She poured a glass for herself, Maya and Kam. Once everyone had a glass they toasted.
"Happy new year!" They all said.
"To the new year and to G and Zoya's baby," Michelle added.
After drinking a bit everyone put their jackets on and went outside. They went to the front of the driveway since the driveway was full with their cars. Sam had brought some fireworks. Maya was a bit too young for fireworks but they had bought some kids' fireworks for her. Callen grabbed the sparklers and handed one to Maya.
"Alright now hold it tight in your hand and away from you a bit," Callen told her.
"Like this uncle Callen?" Maya asked.
"Yes exactly like that." Callen grabbed the lighter and went to turn it on. "Now watch what it does."
Callen lit it and it started sparkling. Zoya took a picture of Callen and Maya together. Sam had some bigger fireworks that he lid and Kam had some kids' fireworks too. Once Maya's sparkler had finished they stood together to watch all the pretty fireworks in the sky.
"Wow look at that one aunt Zoya," Maya pointed up at the sky.
"Yeah that was a pretty one."
Callen wrapped his arm around Zoya and pulled her to him. "This year is gonna be a great year. In the summer we'll have our little baby here."
"Yes we will. It's gonna be a great year."
Zoya rested her head on Callen's shoulder and Callen gave her a soft kiss on her head. About a half hour later Zoya was starting to fall asleep and Maya was tired too so Zoya took Maya inside and Michelle followed with Kam. Callen and Sam stayed outside to lit the rest of the fireworks.
"So you and Zoya are really gonna have a baby?" Sam asked.
"Yes we are. She's nine weeks along. She told me on Christmas Eve."
"I'm really happy for you two. I know you've been trying for a while."
"Yeah I had almost given up hope that it was gonna happen for us but it did finally happen. I just hope everything will be alright. You know how many things can go wrong during a pregnancy?"
"Let me stop you right there G," Sam said as he looked him right in the eye. "Don't think about that. Yes I know things can go wrong but I'm sure everything will be alright. Zoya will have regular appointments with the doctor and nowadays they can mostly catch it in time should something be wrong. My advice, don't think about those things, deal with them if they should come your way but not before."
"I'm just scared something's gonna go wrong."
"I can get that. But you're both in good health and Zoya will be watched by the doctor so as long as the doctor tells you not to worry, I wouldn't worry too much. You're gonna miss out on all the fun stuff during the pregnancy if you do. But just keep in mind that Zoya's behavior can change during the pregnancy with all the hormones going through her body so don't make her angry and she can react differently than before."
"Thanks for the heads up."
A half an hour later Sam and Callen went back inside as well. The girls were already up in bed. Callen locked up downstairs and they went upstairs too.
"Night G."
"Night Sam."
Sam and Michelle stayed in one of the spare rooms and Kam slept in the same room as Maya. When Callen walked into the bedroom he saw that Zoya was already asleep. Quietly he stripped out of his clothes and pulled a sleeping shirt on before crawling in bed. Zoya lay with her back towards him so Callen crawled up behind her and wrapped his arm around her. He gave her a soft kiss on her cheek before he lay down next to her.
…..
Before they knew it their holidays were already up and they had to go back to work and Maya had to go back to school. After they dropped Maya off at school they went to the doctor's office. Zoya was now ten weeks pregnant and she had another appointment. They drove in separate cars so they could go to work after the appointment.
Zoya and Callen waited until they were called in. Zoya changed into a hospital gown and lay down on the table and waited until the doctor came in.
"Hello Zoya, good to see you again," Dr. Kidd greeted her. "Hi, you must be the husband. I'm doctor Miranda Kidd."
"Hi yes, Greg. Nice to meet you," Callen shook the doctor's hand.
"Well, let's see what the little baby is up to shall we." The doctor turned the computer on, grabbed the wand and put some sort of condom over it before she inserted it into Zoya. She moved it around a bit until she found the baby. "There it is."
Callen looked mesmerized at the screen. "That little thing? That's the baby?"
"Yes it is. I was right at the previous appointment. You are ten weeks along right now so that will put your due date on the eighth of August."
Zoya looked at Callen who was still staring at the screen. She looked at him and smiled. She could totally see that he was in love with their little baby.
"Is everything alright so far doctor?" Zoya asked.
"Yes so far everything looks good." The doctor removed the wand from Zoya's vagina. "Given your age there is a higher risk but we'll keep monitoring you closely with regular appointments so should something come up there's a good chance we'll catch it. And I would recommend delivering in the hospital."
"Yes I want that too. But doctor, honestly, how big is the risk?"
"There's always a risk in older women during pregnancy but so far everything seems good and you're in good condition so I wouldn't worry about it too much."
Zoya sat up so the doctor could take her vitals and after that she stood on the scale to get her weight. The doctor gave them a picture before they left the office and made and appointment at the desk for five weeks from now. They walked out to their cars. Before getting in their cars Callen pulled Zoya to him.
"That was amazing, seeing our little baby on the screen like that," Callen spoke with a smile.
"Yes it totally was. That is our little baby."
"Yes it is. I know we have a while to go but I already can't wait for him or her to be here."
"I know, me neither." Callen wanted to kiss Zoya but they were interrupted by Zoya's phone pinging. Zoya looked at her phone and saw that it was work. "They need me at work."
"Alright, I will see you later at home. Don't go out into the field okay."
"I won't." Zoya leaned forward to give Callen a kiss. "I love you."
"I love you too."
Callen gave Zoya one more kiss before they drove to their offices. Zoya walked into the office and went to the OPS center to get briefed. Their operations manager was upstairs too and he gave them their tasks after the briefing.
"Just one thing I wanna say before we all go," Zoya spoke up before her fellow agents left OPS. "For the coming months I won't be able to go out into the field anymore. And that's cus I'm pregnant."
"Oh my god! That's amazing!" Hailey, her partner, yelled and she hugged Zoya. "Congrats! I'm happy for you two."
"Thank you."
The others came to congratulate her as well.
"Congratulations Zoya," Ryan Peterson, her operations manager, spoke to her.
"Thank you. I know you're gonna miss an agent out in the field now but I'm not gonna risk going into the field and get hurt, besides in a few months I won't be able to run so fast anyway. But I can still help around the office."
"Yes that is totally understandable. And yeah we can still use your knowledge here in the office. So why don't you stay up here with Liam and Keira can go out with Hailey."
"Uh yeah sure, let me go grab my gun," Keira, their intelligence analyst, said.
Everyone left and Zoya sat next to Liam, their tech operator, to help him look through files and such.
..
Callen arrived at the office too and went into the bullpen.
"Morning," Callen spoke as he walked into the bullpen, Sam, Kensi and Deeks were already there.
"Morning," the others replied.
"Did you and Zoya have nice holidays with Maya?" Kensi asked.
"Yes we did. We decorated the Christmas tree together and we spent time with the family. It was nice, of course she missed her parents but I think we made it nice for her."
"That's good to hear."
A little later Eric whistled them up for a new case.
"What do we have Eric?" Callen asked once everyone was in OPS.
"This morning the Coast Guard was doing a routine check of the waters and they came across an idle boat a few miles of shore. They tried to make contact with the boat but no one responded. They went closer to investigate and boarded the boat. This is what they found inside," Eric explained and put some pictures on the screen.
They saw pictures of a man lying on the couch, covered in blood.
"When they went in closer to inspect the body," Nell continued. "They found this."
Nell put another picture up on the screen, they saw an NCIS badge.
"He was one of us?" Sam asked.
"We ran him through our database and found a match." Nell put an ID on the screen. "Agent Paul Parker, he was working out of the office in Norfolk."
"He's a long way from home," Callen stated.
"Mr. Beale, you have an incoming call," Hetty spoke as she walked into the OPS center.
"Who?" Eric asked but at the moment he asked that his tablet pinged with the incoming call. He answered in and put it on the big screen.
"Agent Pierce, thank you for calling us. I'm sorry for the loss of your agent," Hetty said.
"Thank you Hetty," Agent Pierce responded.
"Agent Pierce, I'm special agent in charge Callen, I'm sorry for your agent. Was Parker working on a case down here?"
"Thank you agent Callen. No, as far as we knew he wasn't working a case. He requested for a week of time off this week. If he went down there my guess it's for a holiday. We don't have any active cases linking to anywhere in California."
"Did he go out on a boat more often for fishing or something?" Sam questioned.
"Yeah he loved to go fishing. He has a boat here in Norfolk too and he would take it out on the weekends if the weather was good. But we checked as soon as Director Vance informed us, his boat is still at the marina here. He didn't mention anything about going to California. I have our techs looking through his case files and his emails and such. I'll also send the information your way so you can look into it too, maybe we can find something in there that would suggest why this happened."
"Did he have any enemies?" Kensi wanted to know.
"Sure he has put away some people who could hold a grudge against him but we haven't received anything credible."
"Does he have any family or friends here in LA?" Callen asked.
"Not that we know of."
"We'll have a look at the crime scene and see what the ME has to say. We'll keep you in the loop."
"Please find who did this agent Callen."
"I will, you have my word." Agent Pierce disconnected the call. "Eric, Nell, look through the information they sent over, see if you can find any link to here in LA. We'll go check out the crime scene."
All agents left towards the marina. The Coast Guard had already pulled the boat towards the marina. When they arrived at the marina the ME was just pulling the body off the boat. Callen and Sam put their gloves on and went aboard the ship as Kensi and Deeks went to the ME.
"Any prelim findings?" Kensi asked the ME.
"I'll know more when I get back to the lab but it seems like stab wounds are the cause of the death. Multiple stab wounds over the body, first sign is that he bled out but I'll know more when I examine him in the lab. I'll have a more accurate reading in the lab but his time of death is somewhere between midnight and four am."
"Take him out on the boat in the middle of the night, stab him and leave him there to die, by the time someone finds him he'll have bled out. And in the middle of the night the killer had a chance to slip away," Deeks stated.
Callen and Sam were looking through the boat to see if they could find something that would point them into a killer.
"Got some scuffmarks here on the edge of the boat," Sam said as he took a picture of it. "It has a nice boot print on it."
They looked through the rest of the boat but didn't find much, other than a whole lot of blood. They got off the boat and met up with Kensi and Deeks.
"ME said he was killed after midnight," Kensi told the two senior agents.
"That limits the chances that he took the boat out himself," Sam reasoned.
"Unless he's a fan of night fishing," Deeks added causing the agents to look at him weird. "What? It could be a thing."
"Eric and Nell are looking through camera footage of the marinas in the area to see if one caught our boat leaving and perhaps that could lead us to a suspect," Kensi continued. "Did you find anything on board?"
"Other than a boot print and a whole lot of blood, nothing," Callen answered. "So far no leads so it's just waiting until the wonder twins find something."
Everyone got back to the office and waited for new leads to check out.
A few hours later Eric and Nell came down the stairs.
"We found the marina where the boat left from," Eric announced. "Given it was dark we don't have a clear picture of the other man."
Eric put a video up on the screen and they saw Parker being dragged towards the marina by a mysterious person.
"We checked other cameras to see where they came from and we found the car they took, unfortunately it was reported stolen so no luck ID'ing our suspect from that," Nell continued. "But we did find where the car was stolen from and we got a good imagine of our suspect there." Nell put an ID on the screen. "This is Jordan Elliot, a local LA resident."
"Any connection to Parker?" Callen wanted to know.
"Not that we could find at first," Eric answered. "But after we dug a little deeper we found a connection to a case Parker worked on in Norfolk. Elliot is the brother of Petty Officer first class Steven Elliot. Steven served in the navy and was stationed at the Norfolk base until a few months ago."
"What happened?" Sam asked.
"Steven was dishonorably discharged after he was caught with a huge amount of drugs on base," Nell answered.
"And let me guess," Kensi spoke. "Parker was the one who arrested him."
"Yes he did. Two weeks ago Steven was found dead in his apartment, he had killed himself."
"So Jordan blames Parker for getting his brother discharged which led to him killing himself," Sam reasoned.
"Yes that seems the case."
"Do you have a location on Jordan?" Callen asked.
"Yes his home address and work address are on your phones," Eric said.
"Alright, Kens, Deeks you take the work, Sam and I will check out his home."
"Got it."
Both sets of partners left, hoping to find Jordan.
"How is Zoya doing?" Sam asked once they were in the car.
"She's doing very well. We had an appointment with the doctor this morning. She's ten weeks along. I saw the little baby on the screen."
Sam briefly looked Callen's way before turning his eyes back on the road and he saw a smile on Callen's face.
"Yeah it's pretty amazing to see your baby on the screen like that."
"Yeah it is, it's still seems so unreal, that Zoya is actually pregnant. But I saw the little baby on the screen, she's really pregnant."
"Yeah it's hard to wrap your mind around in the beginning, that there's really a baby."
"Yeah it is. It's so weird but I already can't wait to meet the little girl or boy."
"That's perfectly normal G. I had that too when Michelle told me she was pregnant. I always loved seeing them on the screen, it's something special."
"Yes it is."
"Just wait until you hear the heartbeat, that sounds beautiful."
A little later Callen and Sam arrived at the house and they walked up to the house.
"G," Sam softly spoke and pointed to the door.
Callen noticed the door was slightly open so both agents grabbed their guns before going into the house. Guns raised they checked the entire house. They had checked all the rooms but no one seemed to be home. Just as they put their guns away they heard shots coming from outside and glass shattering.