A/N: I let the other chapter end the way I did as nothing seemed to fit. And I intend to leave this one the same. I hope you have enjoyed reading this story as much as I have writing it. There is another story that tags onto this one. It takes place a few months later and I HAVE finished it. I will publish a couple of chapters tonight after I have sent these on their way.

Thank you to all those who have stuck with me on this journey and I hope you enjoy it.

Callen and Nell returned to his home a couple of hours later. It was almost midnight; the end of their first Christmas together.

Callen made his way over to the couch that now filled his living room, pulling Nell with him. "Wait here." He said before heading to his room. While the two of them slept together in the master bedroom, he still had his things in the room he occupied when he was a teenager. If Nell stayed late at ops, she would often find him dozing on the bedroll he kept there. He returned a few minutes later with two gifts. He pulled Nell down with him onto the couch and gave the heavier one to her first.

Nell unwrapped it and lifted the lid of the box it was in. She gasped as she saw that it was the Fairy Wrens she had been admiring in Melbourne. "Greg?!" She looked up at him.

"I saw how you kept getting drawn to them. The blue in the male wren matches my eyes, the one that looks after their family, the bird that flies when trouble comes . The brown of the branch matches yours, the sturdy piece that can be relied upon." He looked into her eyes, "You are my branch Nell, the piece that keeps me here. You have been ever since you walked through those doors." He pushed the other into her hands after placing the birds on the coffee table.

Nell saw that it was a tin. A little dented, rusted and worn, but when she lifted the lid, she saw that it was full of memories. She pulled out a photo of a woman sitting on top. It was black and white. She had dark hair and was spinning around as the photo was taken. "Greg, is this…?" Nell didn't finish as she realised what she was holding. It was The Box. Callen's box of treasures that she had heard Sam talk about. He had a vague idea of what was in it, but he had no real clue as to what it held.

"Yeah, that's my mother." Callen said as he held the photo with her. "Everything in this box is something I've found that belongs to my past." He didn't need to tell her what they were, she knew most of them. "This is the part of me that I want you to know about. So you know as much about my past as I do."

Nell knew just what this meant to him. Callen had never let anyone as close to him as Nell was right now. Even in Australia he had kept a little to himself, but now it was all out there. He had opened his sole to her and she had no idea how to let him know that she would keep it safe. So she simply hugged him as tight as she could. "Thank you Greg."

Callen held her tight as she hugged him. He had hoped that by sharing his box of treasures with her, she would understand just what he was risking, and she did. After a few minutes Nell pulled back and stood.

"Now you stay here. My turn." Nell went to their room and from the desk beside her half of the bed, she pulled a thing envelope. She handed it out to Callen and she could see the confusion in his eyes. She simply told him to open it.

Callen gasped as he pulled the yellowed paper from the envelope. It was his birth certificate. And at the top was his name.

George Callen Reznikov

Mother: Clara Margret Callen

Father: Nikita Alexander Reznikov

Country of birth: Russia

Siblings: Sister – Amy

"My name really is George. How?" He asked. He looked at her, unable to say anything more. Tears had started to form in his eyes.

"A lot of phone calls and favours. A friend of a friend has a family member whose husband works for Russia. Without telling them who I was, who I worked for or anything that could compromise us, I tracked it down by telling them that my husband had no idea who he was and that these names were all he had. The man also managed to find something else as well. It's the second paper in there that will interest you more."

Callen gently put his birth certificate down on the coffee table and reached into the envelope once more. It was an official Kremlin order on the organisations letterhead dated in the mid-nineties. Callen read over it several times just to make sure that it was real.

"I had another friend of a friend check; it's real, George, if and when you find you father, he is a free man and will not be prosecuted." Nell could see the tears in his eyes had started to spill down his cheeks. She gently tugged the orders free and hugged him tightly. "Everything's going to be ok George. I promise we will find him and bring him home, where ever he is."

As they hugged, the clock on the mantle over the fireplace chimed midnight, on the most memorable Christmas Callen had ever experienced. He pulled back from Nell and kissed her softly, saying the words that he couldn't voice with it; his love, gratitude and joy that he had her. He then lifted her up and took her into the bedroom. The pair stayed curled up until long after the sun rose on boxing day.