Then Came You

Chapter 9 - Sorrow's Gift

It had been a long stretch for Chris LaSalle. His wife was on a lengthy assignment to who knew where. He still found it unsettling not to have her in bed next to him.

They were still trying to get Emma potty trained. She was doing pretty well until her mother left. She finally realized on day two that her mommy wasn't coming home. Suddenly her response was to cling to her father when he was at home and spend her day attached to him. He had made the mistake of going into her room one morning as he was preparing to go the squad room. With Sonja gone wherever, she was determined to make sure her daddy didn't leave her too.

Emma clung to his neck so tightly that it took both of LaSalle's hands to get him loose and then Miss Mariam had to keep her in her room until he could get out of the house. Usually LaSalle would close her bedroom door behind him. She still wasn't strong enough to open it by herself. Miss Mariam told him she ran to the garage door and set there for almost an hour. After that she allowed her to help her take bath and eat. Then she found her favorite doll and walked around and whimpered for the rest of the day.

Chris came home earlier than usual that afternoon. He had time to play with Emma, help her eat dinner, put her jammies on and read her a good night story.

With his daughter in la la land, Chris went back to his office to retrieve his weapon from the gun safe. He had to admit that he was a little nervous about this specific mission. This one included Russian nationals who had sneaked into the country across the Canadian border. They had established a 'safe house' with an American woman. The Task Force had learned that while they allowed the woman to go to work each day, they would not allow her four year son to leave the house. He would admit to himself that he was not always secure in these situations. Until Charlie, no one else had made him feel as safe as when he was with his old 'Nola team.

Chris pulled his trusty shot gun out of the bed of the truck and moved toward his assigned location. He hated urban situations like this. He was always concerned that a civilian would get caught in the cross fire.

It was indeed an explosive situation. The Russians did not go easy. In the end it appeared that the mother was not able to get to the safe location in the house and the last two hostiles took her as a hostage and sped away.

Chris and three FBI agents swept the house. As soon as the all clear was given, Chris started looking for the boy. It took him a while but he finally found him under his bed.

"Michael you can out now. My name is Chris" he said as he took his badge off and shoved it under the bed. Slowly Michael crawled out.

"Where's mommy" he cried terrified.

"She had to leave son. My friends are going to get her." It took a good hour for the social worker from child protective services to arrive.

"Hey Michael this nice lady is going to take you to eat and get some sleep."

"No" he cried as he grabbed Chris' leg. "No. No." LaSalle tried to reason with him to no avail.

"Look ma'am" Chris said addressing the social worker. "I have a little girl at home with my nanny. Why don't I take Michael home with me and you can meet me tomorrow at the NCIS squad room"

It was nearly midnight when LaSalle got home. He still had a shadow to his dismay.

He found some frozen waffles in the freezer and warmed them up for him.

He then went to the linen closet and found a set of sheets and made up the love seat in his bedroom. "Here you go Michael. Do you need anything else? I'll be right there" Chris says as he points to the master bath. "There's a night light there if you need to go potty later."