AN: hi everyone! I'm excited to finally write for this fandom, so please enjoy my one-shot and accept my little smiley face as a token of appreciation :) -kittiesgalore101

After yet another day of solving crimes and ridding the world of terror, NCIS Agents Chris LaSalle and Merri Brody sat in their office kitchen enjoying a midnight cup of coffee. "You did good today," Chris broke the awkward silence.

"Thanks," Merri responded as she set down her mug. "Not the first gun I've ever had at my head, but you know."

"I meant you did good with that kid today," Chris corrected his statement.

"That kid we found in that closet? I barely talked to him, let alone had a chance to 'be good with him'," she responded awkwardly. "I don't even remember his name."

"It was Remy," Chris got up and got himself another cup of coffee.

"See, you're the one that was good with him. Kids are not my strength," Merri stole the coffee pot away from him.

"Oh, come on, Brody, you'd make a good mom," Chris was only partially joking.

"I almost was once, but that is a story I refuse to tell you," Merri gave him a 'do not ask' look.

"I take it that had something to do with that infamous ex-fiancé of yours," Chris got another look in return. "Hey, I'll tell you what," he began to pull a $50 bill from his wallet. "Double or nothing, says that you'll be a mom within the next, let's say, 2 years. Just for fun, and besides, either way, one of us will loose 50 bucks."

"You stop at nothing, don't you, LaSalle?" Merri took the 50 with a smirk on her face.

"Nope," Chris smiled, knowing that their bet was more an offer than a joke.

"As much as I'd like to have a social life, I've been married to my work ever since that attack during my agent afloat days," Merri admitted.

"I don't know how much I can stress that the attack was not your fault," Chris sighed and looked her in the eyes.

"Yeah, I know. But no matter how much I hear that, I can't help but think about all the people that died because I couldn't pull the trigger. And everytime I think about it I realize that I was the one that deserved to die in that attack.

"Hey, you know what?" Chris boldly held her hand, "You didn't die in that attack because you were given another shot. Another shot to go live the life you were always meant to live."

Merri smiled because she had no words. "Well, I guess I better head out. It is midnight after all."

"See ya tomorrow," Chris smiled as she walked out the back door of their kitchen.

The day when Chris got double his fifty dollars back came sooner than even he would have expected...

When a thirteen year old Camille LaSalle could not get a straight forward answer to why there was a hundred dollar bill tucked into the frame of one of her baby pictures on her dad's desk, a question she's been asking her whole life, she'd learned to laugh at the answers she did get.

Her parents would tell her it was further proof of her dad's "persuasive charm" and that it's something they would look for in any guy that ever dates her. Her Uncle Dwayne would laugh and say that it was the last time he'd ever let his agents stay at the office alone at night. Her Aunt Loretta would smile and tell her those hundred dollars were priceless. But no matter what she was told, she really wished it eventually went towards her collage fund.

la fin

AN: tell me what you guys think! :*)