That Monday Callen quietly got out of bed so he wouldn't wake up Zoya to get ready for work.
"Where you're going G?" Zoya asked half asleep when Callen got out of bed.
"I have to go to work. Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."
"It's okay. Be safe okay."
"I will." Callen gave her a soft kiss on her head. "If you need me I'm only a phone call away."
"Uh-hu."
By the time Callen had left the room Zoya was asleep again. Callen went to wake up Maya and get her ready for school. Esme was there to bring Maya to school.
"Have a good day at school Maya," Callen told her.
"Thanks Uncle Grisha. I will."
Callen gave her a kiss and left for work. Given that it was summertime it wasn't that busy at work. Sam was still out, just spending time with his kids. It wasn't that busy so they managed to handle it without him. And if Callen needed to go out there with a partner he would take Nell with him.
"Have you talked to Sam?" Kensi asked.
"Yeah I texted him last week. He's doing okay. Just spending time with Aiden and Kam. Hopefully he'll be back after the summer."
"Yeah it's gonna take some time for him to deal with what happened."
"If only we had found her when we were at that address earlier than she might have been alive," Deeks said.
"You can't blame yourself for that Deeks," Callen spoke. "There was no indication that she was being held there."
"Still, if we found her then, she might still be alive."
"Yeah perhaps. But at least Tahir paid for what he did. I'm just glad we all got out of there in one piece and no one else was hurt. Sam will be alright, eventually."
"How's Zoya doing?" Kensi asked, changing the subject.
"She's good. As of Friday she's on maternity leave. So now it'll just be a waiting game. Doctor said the babies will probably we here around thirty-seven weeks, that's considered full term for triplets."
"She's now thirty-two weeks right?"
"Thirty-three. So far everything is still going fine. She's just easily tired."
"Yeah that's to be expected if you're body is working for three more."
"Yeah, luckily Esme is still coming around so she can help around the house."
The rest of the day went by slowly. It was just after 5pm when Callen went home.
"Hey guys," Callen spoke as he walked into the living room.
"Hey Uncle Grisha," Maya replied.
"Hey Maya, did you have fun at school?"
"Yes I did. We had a little water party out on the playground."
"Oh that sounds lovely." Callen walked over to the couch where Zoya was. "Hey honey."
"Hey honey."
Callen gave Zoya a kiss. "How was your day?"
"Just quiet."
"Good." Callen sat down on the couch and gave Zoya's stomach a kiss too. "Hey little babies."
After dinner Esme went back home. Callen and Zoya just had a quiet evening on the couch before going up to bed. Zoya was already in bed when Callen walked into the bedroom. As he walked into the bedroom he was met by very cold air.
"Geez, how cold did you put the air conditioner in here? It's like a freezer."
"Not that cold. And it's not a freezer. It's actually pretty nice."
Callen looked at the air conditioner in their room. "It's fifty-seven in here."
"It's not that cold. But then again maybe I'm not a good measure lately. It's not even above ninety outside but to me it feels like above hundred. I'll not put it so low again."
"It's okay. It just a bit cold."
Callen pulled a sleeping shirt and a sleeping pants on and crawled into bed underneath the covers. Zoya lay curled up to her pregnancy pillow above the covers.
"Goodnight G," Zoya spoke.
"Goodnight Zoya," Callen replied and gave her a kiss.
…
That Thursday Zoya had another appointment with the doctor. Since it wasn't that busy Callen had taken the part of the morning off to go with Zoya. They waited until they were called in. Luckily everything was still going fine with Zoya and the babies. Before going home they dropped by the store. Zoya bought a few new clothes as well. In the beginning she really didn't want to wear dresses, but now towards the end she actually found them pretty comfortable. She bought a new dark blue polka dot short dress, a red polka dot short-sleeved shirt, a new bra and some underwear, a black tunic with white stripes, a black dress with Hawaiian flowers and a new nightgown. She also already brought a nursing bra and a nursing nightgown. They also grabbed some groceries before going back home. Callen carried in the stuff and put the groceries away before going to work.
…
It was now the end of June and yesterday Maya had her last day of school, she now had vacation time from school. Callen still had to work for two weeks before he had summer vacation as well. Hopefully the babies would wait to make their arrival until his summer vacation. Zoya was now thirty-four weeks pregnant. She really had enough and hoped these babies would be here soon.
Today they were having a baby shower. Zoya really didn't have the energy for it but she went through it nonetheless. Eva, Vera, Esme, Hailey, Keira, Kensi, Nell and Zoya's sister-in-law Robyn came by. They first sat around just having drinks and snacks before game time came.
"Alright. Grisha and Zoya. Each of you will have to change this baby's diaper. Whoever does it fastest gets a point," Eva said.
Zoya stayed seated at the table and Callen stood next to her. They each got a baby doll with a 'dirty' diaper.
"Alright, get set go." Eva hit the timer for Callen and Vera hit the timer for Zoya.
On go Zoya and Callen each started to take off the diaper, clean the baby up, apply some cream and put a new diaper on.
"Done!" Zoya said and she victoriously put her arms up.
"Well done Zoya," Eva said. Callen was almost done with getting the diaper on but Zoya had won this round. "Next is the pacifier hunt. There are a few pacifiers hidden around the yard and whoever finds the most will get a point."
"I vote that Hailey does this round for me," Zoya said. "I'm not that fast and get down to pick something up is not that easy anymore."
"Sure, no problem."
Callen and Hailey got down the yard while the others stood on the porch watching.
"Alright, there are seven hidden pacifiers around the yard. Whoever gets the most will get a point. You guys ready? Set, go."
Quickly Hailey and Callen ran around the yard trying to find the pacifiers. When they had found one they had to go back and put it in their cradle before they could pick up another one. After about a minute Callen and Hailey both had three. There was just one more around the yard and whoever got it would win.
"Come on Hailey," Zoya cheered her on.
They both continued to search the yard.
"Yes got it," Callen suddenly yelled.
"Well done Grisha."
Hailey and Callen made their way back upstairs. Now it was time for the first round of gifts. Vera was the first one who gave her gifts to Callen and Zoya. Zoya's package contained three pajamas with teddy bears on it. Callen's package contained six different body suits with sheep on it. Next they got gifts from Eva. Callen got three stuffed elephants and Zoya got three stuffed squirrels.
"Alright, next game," Eva said.
Callen and Zoya each got a small laundry basket filled with baby socks. They had to find the matching socks. When the timers were hit Zoya and Callen went to work to find the matching socks. There were a lot and all so tiny so it was hard to find the right matching one. It was a close game but Callen was slightly faster. Next was pin the paci, it was a pin the tail on the donkey game but then they had to put a pacifier in the mouth of the baby. First Zoya was up. They turned her around, away from the poster and put a blindfold on her. Hailey carefully turned her around and gave her a pacifier.
"Alright Zoya, poster is right in front of you," Hailey said.
Zoya took the pacifier and planted it somewhere on the poster. After she had planted it she took the blindfold off. She had managed to put it on the nose.
"Not bad," Zoya said.
Next it was Callen's turn. He also got a blindfold on and a pacifier. Callen put the pacifier in the eye so Zoya got this point.
Next they had the baby-food challenge. As preparation Vera has put some food in the blender and Callen and Zoya had to guess which food item it was. Callen and Zoya had to write down what they thought it was. It was tricky since they had to taste blindfolded.
"Alright, first one," Vera said and she put a jar in front of them and gave Callen and Zoya each a spoon of it. After tasting it Vera removed the jar so they couldn't see how it looked and they removed their blindfolds so they could write it down. They had five jars to taste.
"Ugh gross," Zoya said after she tasted the fifth one.
"Yeah this one is gross," Callen added.
"Alright, let's review the answers," Vera said. Callen and Zoya had given their piece of paper to Vera. "First one was carrots. Both correct. Second one was peas, also both correct. Third one was strawberries. Zoya got this one correct, Grisha didn't. Fourth one was apple, Grisha got this one correct, Zoya didn't. So the last one will be the decider, both three correct. The last one was cauliflower. Zoya correct….. Grisha not correct so Zoya is the winner."
"Woohoo," Zoya said.
"Ugh I like cauliflower but it all blended up tastes really bad," Callen spoke.
"Yeah it does."
Next they had another round of gifts. From Esme they got a book which they could read to the kids and a pack with three rattles. From Robyn they got three hanging rattle spirals to wrap around the car seat handle, it had some animals dangling off of it, and a pack of floaters for in bath.
"Alright, last game," Eva said and she placed two boxes in front of Callen and Zoya. "In here we'll place different baby items and you have to feel with your hands and try to guess it."
The boxes had an opening on top which Callen and Zoya could stick their hands through and it was open at the front so the others could see what was in it. Eva placed the first item in the box and Callen and Zoya started feeling around. After they had felt they wrote down what they thought it was on a sign. When they both had put something in they showed the sign. They both had bottle which was correct. Next they both guessed correct a pacifier, a rubber duck and a bib. One only more item left to guess. Eva placed it in the box and Callen and Zoya started feeling around. It was a hard one, it took them both a while before they had written something down.
"Alright, show your answers," Eva said.
Callen and Zoya both showed their answers. Callen had written down socks and Zoya had written down shoes. Eva grabbed the item from the box and showed it to them. It was a sock so Callen had won. But overall is was three for Zoya and 2 for Callen so Zoya won the overall games.
Now it was time for the last gifts. Kensi, Nell, Keira and Hailey all pitched in together and bought three baby play mats. It had different animals on it and on the arches dangled some toys.
"I made you something too Aunt Zoya," Maya spoke as she walked up to Zoya with a package.
"Aww thank you Maya, that is very sweet of you."
Zoya took the package and opened it. Inside the package were a few handmade hand puppets, a fox, a racoon and a zebra.
"I made them at school," Maya spoke proudly.
"They are so cute. Thank you Maya." Zoya gave Maya a hug. "Thank you all for the wonderful gifts and thank you for this wonderful baby shower," Zoya spoke to everyone.
"The shower is not over yet. We still have some more fun things to do," Eva said. "Like decorating our own bibs."
Eva got the bag with white bibs and spread some craft items along the table. Everyone could decorate their own bib.
"What do you think about this G?" Zoya said as she held up her bib.
Callen looked at the bib. Zoya had written "I have the world's best daddy" on it.
"That's really sweet Zoya. I sorta made the same." Callen showed his bib. He had written "I love mommy, she's the best."
"Aww thank you honey." Zoya leaned over and gave Callen a kiss.
The others had created nice bibs for Zoya and Callen as well. Eva hung them up so they could dry. Eva had made one that said "Daddy's little princess" with a little crown next to it in pink. Robyn had made one that said "Mommy's little prince" with a little crown next to it in blue. Vera had made one that said "Who needs Santa when I have grandma?". Kensi decorated the bib with some animals on it. Nell had written "50 % mommy, 50 % daddy, 100% cute" on it. Hailey had drawn a bottle on it with the text "feed me now" next to it. Keira had drawn some palm trees on it. Esme had decorated hers with a little black bow tie and suspenders. Maya had made one too. She had decorated it with a rainbows.
Callen wanted to help Esme and Eva clean up but they told him to stay seated.
"No need to clean up, we've got this. You two don't have to do anything today except enjoy this party," Eva told him.
Once they were done with cleaning up the food was delivered. They all sat down at the table outside and enjoyed a nice spread of Chinese food. After dinner everyone started going home.
"Thank you all for this wonderful baby shower. I really enjoyed myself," Zoya told everyone.
"Good luck with everything these last few weeks," Vera told her daughter as she gave her a hug. "And if you need anything just call me."
"I will mom, thanks."
The others left too and Callen brought Maya up to bed.
"Maya is already asleep," Callen said as he walked back down into the living room.
"That's good."
Callen sat down next to Zoya on the couch. "Today was fun. It's nice of them to throw this together."
"Yeah it was very nice. I enjoyed the games and all the gifts we got."
"Yeah they were nice. Was it not too much for you?"
"No it was fine. I sat for most of the time so it was okay."
"Okay good."
They enjoyed a nice evening watching TV before going to bed.
…
Zoya was now thirty-five weeks pregnant. Callen just had to work this week and then he would be off for summer vacation. They were both anxious to meet their little babies. They wondered what they were gonna have. They knew they would get at least one of each but they wondered what they would get two of.
"If there's anything, you can always call me," Callen told her as he was getting ready for work.
"I know. I'll be alright. Esme is here too to help me take care of Maya. If there's anything I will call you."
"Alright." Callen gave Zoya a kiss. "Take it easy."
"It will."
Callen gave Zoya's stomach a kiss too. "Bye little babies. Take care of mommy." Callen gave Zoya one more kiss. "Bye honey."
"Bye honey."
By the time Callen had left Zoya had fallen asleep again. Esme was already there to take care of Maya.
Luckily Callen had a pretty easy day at the office so he was home just after 5pm. Esme had cooked dinner for them and they all sat down at the table outside to eat it. After dinner Zoya got up to go back inside.
"Aaah," Zoya yelled a bit and grabbed her stomach.
"Zoya, what's wrong? You okay?" Callen asked concerned, immediately at her side.
"I don't know. Something doesn't feel right," Zoya replied with fear on her face.