DOUBLE TAKE

Chapter 36

It had been a few frustrating weeks for Callen, waiting to be cleared by medical professionals, with regards to his mind and body. He had passed the physical, which he attributed to the time he spent with Pierre and his father at the beach. He relished in the family time, seeing he had lived so long without it, but he was still desperate to return to work. His work was what he had held onto, while his life lacked what he craved. Now he had family, yet he still felt the need to hold onto what had remained constant the longest in his life—-his work.

Becoming a Federal Agent had given him the fulfilment in bringing good into other people's lives, even if his own lacked it. It had given him a purpose and direction, which he needed. If only for his sanity. If it hadn't been for his work, all the searching for who he was and where his family were, most probably would have made him go insane. It also gave him the opportunity to prove his self worth to others. Yet, it wasn't until he met Leroy Jethro Gibbs, did he make a close personal connection with another person. He was an older brother figure for him, when he needed it most. But as Callen reflected back on that time, he realised, Gibbs needed that connection as well. He had lost what had been most valuable to him too, when Shannon and Kelly were killed. All the losses both men had endured, clinched their friendship.

But now he found himself in a new situation again. His father, John, needed him. After spending those few weeks with him and Pierre, he realised it wasn't just for his purpose John and Pierre were there. Each one of them needed the other. Pierre was at an age, where he needed his father. Callen needed family around to heal and John needed his son and grandson. The absence of Beth and any mention of her, had Callen wondering. But finding the right time to approach his father on the subject with Pierre around, had been difficult.

He sat at his desk, alone, as he was the first of his field team to arrive into the mission. Nell sat upstairs with Eric, getting ahead on intel for their new case. Being in a relationship with Nell Jones had given Callen a heads up, when something was coming their way. It was his first day back to working in the field. His shrink had given him the all clear, after much negotiating with Nate. Nate knew he was good at passing psychological tests. He'd been doing it most of his life. He had learned early on, the importance of having people thinking you weren't affected by what life threw at you. He was good at deflecting the conversation back at Nate on many occasions, to avoid having to talk about his feelings. But he felt it was his relationship he had developed with his father and son, that had Nate accepting he really was okay. He had spotted Nate on many occasions watching them from afar on the beach. And he had to agree, having Pierre and John around as well as having Nell move in with him, had him smiling a whole lot more.

The day of the big move of Nell's furniture into his house and Kensi's stuff into Nell's old apartment had been the highlight of his time off work. Although he was limited to what he could do, he had defrosted most of his cooking to feed the troops. The looks on his team's faces when Nell told them he had baked them all, had been priceless. Deeks had tried to crack a joke about Callen's new found talent, but after he had tried his baking, the Detective was speechless. Sam shook his head in utter amazement. Kensi couldn't feed herself enough. She had decided she would put orders in for Callen's baking instead of donuts, in future. Nate was surprised, but pleased the seasoned agent, who hardly ever let anyone into his life, was beginning to trust others. Callen was sure Hetty already knew about his cooking classes. After all, his aunt knew everything. Eric, like Kensi, couldn't eat enough. He fought Nell for the last caramel tart. Callen smiled at the memory. He had to play referee in that instance, cutting the tart in half, for them to share.

John and Pierre appeared to have enjoyed his team's company also. They all had been amazing with Pierre. He had laughed, when Pierre managed to play a joke on Deeks. He pretended he didn't understand English, at first. Callen himself had stood back and watched his son play the Detective with utter smoothness. Deeks had struggled to speak to Pierre in French. Instead of saying, "pleased to meet you." Deeks had managed to say "I'm sure you are pleased to meet me." This had sent all of them who understood French into utter hysterics. Poor Deeks. Kensi rubbed his arm to make him feel better. As usual, the Detective pulled himself back up and when Kensi told him what he had actually said, he too could see the funny side of it all. But then Pierre chose to suddenly speak to him in perfect English.