A Lost and Lonely Boy.

Merry Christmas.

Churches and Christmas was, in Callen's opinion his version of Hell.

As a child every year he had been forced to go with whatever group home he was in, or with some of his more religious foster families to church. He would sit either with the group, or the said family, and be gazed at like a curiosity. He never listened to the services and frankly he never bought into the hype of it all, after all, he never got a present, unless it said Gift Boy aged (whatever he was at the time) Happy christmas, (Said Charity).

Never was it a gift, picked out with love for him alone.

Even his gifts, as an older teenager from Hetty, had been re gifted presents. So apart from the fact he brought her a gift, Duke a gift until his death, and the obligatory secret santa gift for work he didn't really bother.

This year it was different.

Nell had been sitting cross legged on his bed, looking in his opinion every bit like an angel in his blue checked shirt as she read a flyer that had been put through all the doors in the neighborhood.

"They have a Carols by Candlelight service on at the church down the road on Sunday." She said reading the flyer.

"A what?"

"Christmas carols G." She prodded.

He shrugged as he took the towel she threw at him and dried off from the shower, his other towel hanging dangerously low on his hips.

"Have those in the mall." He shrugged.

"Not like this," She shifted and he stopped to look at her. "It's Christians getting together, celebrating the birth of Jesus and hearing the whole Christmas story."

He turned to grab his clothes and get dressed.

"Yeah yeah, woman gets knocked up, lies to her boyfriend, rides on a donkey, has a baby in a stable and loads of people go and look, heard it before." He walked out to find his shoes leaving Nell looking shell shocked on the bed.

She scrambled to get dressed and joined him in the kitchen as he poured the coffee.

"G, it that what you think christmas is really about?" she asked.

He nodded, "Of course, I had to sit through those boring sermons as a child."

"I want to go." Nell said stubbornly.

"Ok." Callen said turning away.

"I want to go with you." She reiterated.

"Nell?"

"Please G, I used to go with my family as a child, it would mean a lot to me, now we are going to have our own family, that I go." She batted her eyelids and placed a hand over the barely visible bump in her abdomen.

He sighed, "Ok, I'll go."

She beamed and he wrapped her in his arms, "You'll be wanting me to buy furniture next." He grinned.

She kissed his cheek, "When is the couch coming?"

"In an hour." He shook his head, "When Sam finds out he's gonna call me whipped."

She made a whipping noise and darted out to get dressed.

So, Three days later; Callen found himself, holding Nells hand staring at the outside of La Crescenta Presbyterian Church. The building was tasteful, not overwhelming and a man smiled as they got closer.

"Welcome." He shook Nell's hand and then Callen's, "Please come in and sit anywhere you find comfortable. We are a small church but we are friendly." He smiled, and surprisingly Callen found himself warming to the man. For a moment feeling self conscious of the back up gun he had strapped to his ankle.