After hours of playing his new game to keep his mind distracted from the hospital tragedy, sleep claimed him in his computer chair. Despite the awkward position, he slept, and memories locked deep in his mind filled his dreams.
"Hey Daddy!”, Callen sounded happy. His four-year-old, almost five-year-old, hands held a small Lego space fighter. "You're home early!"
Callen sat on the floor surrounded by a plethora of Lego pieces and a few partially built projects. Shades of blue and dark cherry molding that matched the furniture decorated the room. The warm light casted very few shadows in the room and made his father's face seem even more kindly as he stepped inside.
His father wore a worn UPenn sweatshirt and a pair of jeans and was carrying a short glass filled with an amber liquid and two ice cubes slowly melting in it. Under his arm, he carried a leather-bound book.
"It's your birthday." He rubbed his neatly kept beard with his free hand. "I thought you would want to do some building before presents tonight."
"Yeah!”, Callen cheered.
"Mommy and Ania just left to pick up your cake and a few more last minute things." He smiled and placed his book and drink on the Callen's dresser. "So, how you are feeling today, Pup?" His father lowered himself to the floor, and a small silver Celtic cross fell out between the unbuttoned collar of his shirt. He tucked the cross back inside.
Callen shrugged. "Hurty." He rubbed his bruised shoulder. "Too many needles."
"I'm sorry, Pup." He said. "I had to do those tests yesterday. It will help me make you feel better."
Callen nodded slowly and touched a spot for inserting a tube into his chest. He pushed on it with his small hand and bit his lip. "It stings still."
"Don't push on it." His father shook his head. "Did mommy give you medicine?"
Callen nodded. "Yeah."
"Good. Would you rather get some sleep than play Legos?"
Callen shook his head. "No Daddy. Building makes me feel better."
"Yeah, me too." Alex glanced towards the Lego spaceship that Callen placed on his knee. "Now show me the ship."
"Okay!" Callen smiled and held it out for his father.
"That's a nice one." His father sat down next to him and took a look at the ship as Callen held it out. "Wow! Quite an improvement over your last design."
"I listened Daddy."
"You certainly did. Each piece provides mechanical support and adds to artistic design. I don't think you could break this one by just dropping it."
Callen shook his head. "Nope! I tried, and only the decorations broke off. It's solid."
His father smiled. "When building things you always got to pay attention to how the pieces interact. The placement of each piece must complement the whole design."
Callen nodded. "Yeah. Daddy, can we build a base?"
"Of course."
Callen smiled deviously. ”I want to build something weird."
"Ok, like...?"
"Well, I wanna build a castle with a secret base connected to it that has spaceships and computers." Callen smiled excitedly. "And then we can make you, me, and the bunny-man. And we can be there and then we can make some robots and some bad guys and we can fight them!"
"Sure.” Alex laughed. "But, I don't see any robots. How about you build the robots, and I'll build a castle, deal?"
Callen nodded. "But, I want the castle to have a bust away wall?"
"Deal."
"Can I make the robots have a weakness?"
"Of course! Everything has a weakness. Sometimes they are hard to find, but they are always there. Make it tough. Then you, me, and the bunny-man can find a weakness to save the day when we play."
"Yeah!" Callen smiled. "Should I build Mommy and Ania too? What about Grandpa or Uncle Balkor? I want to build Uncle Balkor's truck...you know, the one with all the cool weapons in the back? Or maybe his boat…”
"We can make whatever you want, Pup. But, let's build the robots and the castle first."
They began rummaging through the giant pile of Legos.