A/N: Sorry for the delay with the new chapter. Had some personal stuff going on.

A few days later it was time for Zoya's first therapy session.

"You want me to come with you today?" Callen asked.

"No, I'll be alright. But thank you," Zoya replied.

"Alright, call me if you need me."

"I will."

Callen gave her a kiss and left for work. A little later Zoya left as well. Esme was the house to look after the kids. Zoya drove to the hospital and walked up to Dr. Harper's office.

"Good morning Zoya," Dr. Harper greeted her.

"Good morning, doctor." Zoya sat down on the couch and started fidgeting with her hands. "Sorry, I'm a little nervous."

"That's okay. We'll take it a session at a time and see where we're at. It's gonna be hard but it will be good to get through it. And if you ever want to bring your husband with you to one of the appointments that's totally fine. It's good to have a support system right now."

"Oh yes, I have a great support system. I wouldn't have been able to get through this without Grisha, Esme or my parents. I couldn't have asked for a better husband or father. He really is the best. And Esme, our nanny, she is a godsend. She helps out so much at home, not just with taking care of the kids but also housework or shopping. She was already Maya's nanny when we got custody of her. So she moved closer to us so she could stay Maya's nanny."

"Yeah you mentioned that in our first conversation that you have custody of your niece. May I ask what happened there?"

"Maya is my brother's daughter. My brother and sister-in-law were both killed in a car crash. I'm Maya's godmother and my brother and sister-in-law had it in their will that should something happen to them I would take care of her. So when they died Maya came to live with me and Grisha."

"I'm sorry to hear that. That can't have been easy."

"No it wasn't. But it was good for Maya to stay with people that she knew. It was a bit challenging in the beginning cus we were all still grieving but I think we created a lovely family for Maya and she loves helping out with the triplets."

"I'm glad to hear. It's good that you have a good support system at home. Don't be afraid to lean on them in this time. Ask them for help."

"I'll try. I just don't want to be a burden to them."

"You're not a burden, it's not your fault that this happened. Postpartum depression can happen to anyone."

"I'm not a good mother right now and I feel like I can't do as much as I would like, so Grisha has to do the majority now and I just wish I could help him."

"From what I can tell from our first conversation is that you have a caring husband, he loves you and the kids."

"Yeah I know he does and I love him too, it's just, I wish I wouldn't feel this way so that I can help him with the kids and around the house. I'm still on maternity leave and he works. It just doesn't seem fair that he has to do everything around the house too just cus I don't feel like doing anything."

"You have postpartum depression, it's not like you're just lounging around on the couch for no reason. That can happen to anyone, it's more common than you think."

"I just hate feeling this way," Zoya started crying. "I just wish I was feeling better so that I can be a good mom and a good wife and that my husband doesn't have to take care of me as well as our new born triplets."

"It's all gonna be okay Zoya. You're here, that's the first step. We'll go from here. I will help you feel better, but I need you to be open to help and accept that this is not your fault."

Zoya nodded.

About an hour later Zoya walked out of the office again. It hard been a hard session but she felt a tiny bit better already. It would take some more sessions but she hoped she would get back to her old self. When she sat in the car she called Callen.

"Hey honey," Callen answered after a few rings.

"Hey honey, you have a minute?"

"Yeah, I'm at the office waiting for new information. How was the session?"

"It was good, hard but good. Doctor Harper wants to see me twice a week so we can work on it. So hopefully I'll be back to normal soon."

"Don't rush it Zoya, these things can take some time. But I'm glad you're getting some help."

"Thank you for everything Grisha. I wouldn't have been able to get through this without you."

"You're welcome honey. I'm here for you whenever you need me."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

"I'll see you later at home."

"Yes see you, bye honey."

"Bye honey."

Callen hung up the phone.

"Everything okay with Zoya?" Kensi asked.

"Yeah. She's dealing with some things. Doctor diagnosed her with postpartum depression."

"Oh no, I'm sorry to hear that. If you ever need to stay home to help out just let out us know, I'm sure we can manage a day without you here."

"Thanks. Luckily Esme is coming by. She really is a godsend. She's great with Maya and the triplets and helps out wherever she can."

"Good to hear. Hope Zoya feels better soon."

"Yeah me too. She's getting therapy sessions now to help her deal with the depression so hopefully they'll help. Doctor said we caught it relatively early so a few weeks of therapy sessions should help her a lot."

"Let's hope so."

The day was relatively quite so Callen could go home on time.

"Hey guys," Callen spoke as he walked into the house.

Maya sat at the table doing a boardgame with Esme and the triplets were in their play pens.

"Hey Uncle Grisha," Maya replied when Callen gave her a soft kiss on her head.

"Where's Zoya?"

"She's outside in the hammock," Esme told him.

Callen walked past the play pens and gave each baby a kiss. "Daddy missed you today." Callen walked outside and down the stairs. "Hey honey."

Zoya looked Callen's way when she heard his voice. "Hey honey."

Zoya sat up in the hammock so Callen could sit next to her and he gave her a small kiss. "How was today?"

"Okay I guess. Therapy session was hard but it was good. It's gonna take me some time to get better, but I really hope I will."

"I know you will," Callen replied as he pulled her in for a hug. "And I'll be here for you whenever you need me."

"Thank you. Doctor said to do things I would normally do, that will help. So I'm gonna try."

"That's good. But if you don't feel like doing something it's okay too."

They sat there for a while until the babies started crying. Callen and Zoya walked back into the house and Callen picked Maksim up while Zoya got Elena and Esme got Luka. Zoya sat on the couch to breastfeed Elena as Callen went to warm up some bottles. Once the babies had been fed and happily laying in their bouncy chairs the others went to have dinner.

After dinner once everyone was in bed Zoya wanted to go and get a nice warm bath.

"Grisha, would you mind going in the tub with me? I just want to take a nice bubble bath to relax but I'm afraid of going it in alone, after, you know, last time," Zoya hesitantly asked.

"Of course honey, anything for you." Callen gave her a soft kiss. "Let me just grab the baby monitor."

Callen went to grab the baby monitor while Zoya filled up the tub. She sat waiting on the edge of the tub for Callen. Callen noticed the worried and scared look on her face.

"It's okay honey, I'm right here. I won't let anything happen to you, I promise."

Zoya gave him a little smile. "How did I get so lucky to have such a caring husband like you."

Callen smiled back at her and gave her a little kiss. "Cus I love you so much. You ready to go in the tub?"

"Yeah, I think so."

Callen got in first and helped Zoya into the tub. Zoya sat in between Callen's legs with her back against his chest and Callen wrapped his arms around her.

"Comfortable?" Callen asked.

Zoya snuggled against Callen. "Yeah I am. Thank you for joining me."

"Of course, anytime."

Callen enjoyed lying in the tub with Zoya. He missed being close to Zoya and he hoped she would feel better soon so he had his Zoya back. But the most important thing was that she was getting the help she needed. Callen was shocked out of his thoughts when he heard Zoya crying.

"Hey honey, what's wrong?" Callen asked as he pulled her closer.

"It's just, everything from today coming out I guess. Doctor Harper said that this could happen. It's a way of dealing with everything."

"Just let it all out," Callen comforted her.

Zoya turned sideways and snuggled against Callen as Callen rubbed his hand over her back.

After a couple of minutes Zoya stopped crying but Callen continued to hold her.

"I'm sorry Grisha."

"It's okay, you have nothing to feel sorry for." Callen gave her a soft kiss on her head.

They just relaxed in the tub for a while before going out. Zoya was tired so she went to bed early. She helped Callen feed the babies around 11pm before falling back asleep.

Callen was awake early the next morning since he had to go to work and was pleased to see Zoya still asleep next to him. He quietly got out of the bed and went to get the triplets.

"Good morning, my little babies," Callen spoke softly as he entered the room.

Elena was already awake, Maksim and Luka were still asleep. Callen picked Elena up and changed her diaper and dressed her for the day.

"You are daddy's little princess, yes you are," Callen softly spoke as he tickled her tummy causing Elena to laugh.

Callen brought her downstairs and warmed up her bottle before feeding her. He was just done feeding her when he heard Maksim and Luka crying over the baby monitor. He placed Elena in her playpen and went upstairs to get Maksim and Luka. Just as he came down with Maksim and Luka Esme walked through the door.

"Good morning Esme," Callen greeted her.

"Good morning Grisha," Esme greeted back. "You need help feeding them?"

"Yeah sure, thanks. Elena has already been fed."

Esme went to warm up the bottles as Callen sat down on the couch. A little later Esme returned with two warm bottles of breastmilk. Callen fed Maksim and Esme fed Luka. Just as Callen was done feeding Maksim his phone rang. He saw it was Eric.

"Hey Eric," Callen answered the phone.

"Hey Callen, you're needed in OPS, we've got a new case."

"Alright, I'll be right there." Callen hang up the phone and placed Maksim in his playpen. "Zoya and Maya are still asleep upstairs. I've gotta go to work."

"Okay, that's fine. How's Zoya doing?"

"She's okay. The first appointment was hard yesterday but it was good."

"Good to hear."

"If you need me, just call me."

"I will. Have a good day at work."

"Thanks."

Callen kissed his babies goodbye before going to work. He dropped his bag by his desk and went up to OPS. Kensi and Deeks were already waiting for him.

"What have we got Eric?" Callen asked.

"This morning a storage and training facility was robbed. A security guard was shot, he's in the hospital," Eric told them as he put some pictures on the screen.

"What was stolen?"

"Military grade explosives and ammo."

"Were they authorized to store these items?" Kensi wanted to know.

"Yes they were," Nell informed them. "Everything was stored accordingly and they were secured."

"So how did the thieves get in?" Deeks wondered.

"That's the big question. So far LAPD hasn't found any signs of forced entry."

"Do we know who they are?" Callen asked.

"No, we have no idea," Nell answered.

"There must be surveillance footage."

"There is," Eric started. "But conveniently the cameras were down right when the robbery took place."

"That's not suspicious at all," Deeks remarked.

"Kensi, Deeks, you visit the security guard in the hospital. Maybe he saw something," Callen told them. "Nell, you're coming with me to the crime scene. Eric, see if you can find any cameras in the area or something that could've caught our thieves."

"On it," came the response from the tech.

Nell grabbed her gun and followed Callen to his car.

"How's everything at home? How are Zoya and the babies?" Nell asked as Callen drove them to the crime scene.

"The babies are doing very well. They are eating very well and it seems like they grow every day. Zoya is slowly getting better, she had her first therapy session yesterday and I could tell that it was hard for her. But luckily she's getting help, so hopefully she'll feel better soon."

"Glad to hear she's getting the help she needs. I'm sure it can't be easy at home right now."

"No, it's a lot of work with the triplets. But they are so cute so that makes up for a lot."

"You got a recent picture of them?" Callen pulled out his phone and handed it to Nell. Nell looked up one of the pictures. "Aww look at them. They really are cute. And they are getting so big."

"Oh yes they are."

"Maksim and Luka really look a lot alike. How do you keep them apart?"

"Yeah they really look a lot alike. Maksim has a little mole above his left eyebrow so that's how we can keep them apart."

"How's Maya with the three little babies?"

"Oh she loves them. She loves helping us take care of them. She really is like a big sister to them."

"Aww that's so sweet," Nell replied as Callen pulled up to the crime scene. "Give Zoya my best and if you ever need anything just shout."

"Thanks Nell."

Callen and Nell showed their badges to a LAPD officer to get onto the scene and they walked inside.

"LAPD was right, no signs of forced entry," Callen stated as he looked around. "No broken windows, door doesn't seem busted."

"So perhaps an inside job. But there can't be that many people that know about this storage facility. I mean it's pretty low key, nothing on the outside suggests that this facility is here."

"No, I'm sure there are not that many people, which limits our suspect pool."

"It seems like they only targeted this shelf," Nell stated. "Everything else is pretty untouched.

"So what was so special about this shelf? There must be a inventory list somewhere."

"I'll check the office."

Nell went to the office as Callen looked around to see if he could find any leads. It was a pretty clean theft. Nothing was out of place, nothing broken. They went straight to the shelf and grabbed the things and left again. Not finding anything Callen went to the office to see if Nell had any luck.

"You got anything?" Callen asked.

"Yeah, just got into the computer. Looking for the inventory now," Nell spoke from behind the computer. "Alright got it. Seems like some C4 was stored there, along with some grenades, some bullets. Oh this is interesting…"

"Oh yeah, what's that?" Callen asked intrigued as he walked over to the other side of the computer.

"It also says on the inventory that they had this…."

"Project Zulu," Callen read from the screen.

"Anything that is written down in a codename must be highly classified."

"I agree. Does it say who stored it here or where it came from?"

"It was logged in by Sergeant Mitch Asher, he works out of Seal beach."

"Well, looks like you and I are headed to weapons station Seal beach."

Callen took a picture of the inventory list before he and Nell left. He drove them down to Seal beach.

"Good morning sir, madam," a guard at the gate greeted them.

"Good morning. NCIS Special agent Callen and Intelligence analyst Jones here to see Sergeant Mitch Asher," Callen told him as he and Nell showed their badges.

"One moment, just have to verify." The guard took their badges and scanned them in the computer. "Alright, you're good to go, just have to sign in here. Sergeant Asher is at building seven. Just follow the signs."

"Thank you."

Callen signed them in and drove them to the building. It was some sort of office building.

"Can I help you?" The woman behind the desk asked them.

"Special agent Callen and intelligence analyst Jones here to see Sergeant Asher," Callen told her as they showed their badges once again.

"He's up the stairs to the right and then the second door on the left."

"Thank you," Callen told her and he and Nell walked upstairs.

They walked up to the door and Callen knocked on the door.

"Come in," they heard the voice from the other side of the door.

"Sergeant Mitch Asher?" Callen asked as he and Nell walk in. "Special agent Callen and intelligence analyst Jones, NCIS. We're here to talk about project Zulu."

"Project Zulu? That is highly classified. Why are you asking about that?"

"This morning there was a break in at a storage facility and something called project Zulu was one of the things missing."

"Oh, that's not good."

"What is project Zulu exactly?" Nell wondered.

"It's a new type of weapon. But it's still in the testing face. We use that facility to train off base."

"Who has access to it and who knows about project Zulu?"

"About a dozen people, the engineers designing the weapon and some soldiers who are training with it. But only myself and two of the leads on the project have access to the storage facility, the others only have access to the training grounds."

"We're gonna need a list of those names."

"Of course."

"What kind of weapons are it exactly?" Callen asked.

Asher looked at Callen and Nell before speaking. "We're testing to use it against chemical and nuclear attacks. It uses special bullets that on impact should stabilize the effects of a chemical weapon and render the toxins useless. But in order to test that we also have chemical weapons to simulate the actual chemical. They were stored in a separate container but also in that storage facility."

"So whoever has it can carry out a chemical attack?"

"In theory yes. But as a safety precaution the storage container can only be opened with a code and before it can be implemented in the gun you have to put in a separate mag. We made those mags handprint sensitive so only a handful of people can actually shoot the chemical bullets. But yes in theory they can do that."

"Anyone of the people that know about the project not accounted for?"

"I was there yesterday and everyone was there. I was the last one to lock up and everything was under lock and key. You think someone on the team did this?"

"We didn't found any signs of forced entry and the thieves knew exactly what to grab so yeah we have reason to suspect it's an inside job."

"All the members of the team have been in the service for a long time and no red flags when we vetted them."

"We'll go over the list to check them out anyway. If you hear anything about this please call us," Callen told him and gave him his card. "We'll keep you posted."

"Thank you. Please find this weapon. In the wrong hands it can be deadly."

Callen and Nell left Seal beach and went back to the office. Nell went upstairs to vet the list of personnel.

"Any luck with camera footage?" Nell asked Eric.

"No not many cameras around. The nearest camera is about two blocks away. Have been scrolling through the footage but no suspicious vehicles. It was night so not that many vehicles but so far all the license plates have come back normal, no stolen car or something. Did you and Callen find out anything?"

"No, not much. Just that project Zulu is a some sort of chemical weapon. So whoever has it probably will use it for a chemical attack. Any events happening here in LA in the next few days where many people would gather?"

"I'll check."

While Eric was checking that Nell went to check the list. Callen was in the bullpen when Kensi and Deeks returned.

"Did you learn anything from the security guard?" Callen asked.

"He was still in surgery when we arrived but he just woke up. He was sitting behind his desk when he heard a noise, so he went to check that out. He head something at the door so he went there and looked through the peephole but he didn't see anything outside. He slightly opened the door and before he knew it he was lying on the ground shot. They threw in a sort of smoke bomb so he didn't see anything," Kensi replied. "Did you guys have any luck?"

"No, the place was pretty clean so they knew wat they were after. And it's not good. It's a chemical weapon."

"A chemical weapon? What kind?" Deeks asked.

"They were testing a new weapon that could be used against chemical attacks but in order to test it they needed to have chemical agents there and they are missing too."

"So someone could carry out a chemical attack in LA?"

"Yes. The NEST teams are already standby and they are scanning the area for any sign of the chemical agents. Nell is looking through the list of people who know about this weapon and have access to it."

"You think it's an inside job?" Kensi wondered.

"Probably yeah. The crime scene was too clean for it to be a break-in. Sure they lured the guard to open the door but they knew exactly what to go for. There were so many more items in that storage facility, that they could've grabbed anything but they went straight for this shelf. The other items were left untouched. So whoever broke in, knew exactly where project Zulu was stored."

"Project Zulu?"

"That's the codename the navy gave to this weapon. It came from Seal beach. Nell and I went there and spoke with the one in charge of this project."

Nell was checking the list when Eric noticed a name flashing over the screen.

"Wait, I know that name from somewhere," Eric remarked.

"This one? Petty officer Jason Walker?" Nell asked.

"Yeah, I just saw his name come by when I was checking the cars." Eric scrolled back in his history of camera footage. "Here, this is his car." Nell looked at the camera footage Eric had managed to get and a dark blue ford was caught on it and the license plate was registered to Walker. "He crossed that intersection just around 3am."

"That's right around the time of the break in. The logs keep track of when the door it opened and at 2.45am the door of the storage facility was opened. So yeah that would track. Do you have an address on him?"

"Yes I have. Sending it to the agents phones."

"Good work Eric," Nell spoke and she left OPS. "We've found an address on a potential suspect. Address and info is on your phones," Nell spoke from the top of the stairs and went back into OPS.

"Thanks Nell," Callen replied. "Let's go."

Kensi, Deeks and Callen left and went to the address. They walked up to the door and Callen knocked on the door.

Suddenly bullets came flying through the door.