A.N.: Thank you for reading! here it goes another one!

Chapter 14

When Dr. Reyes Costa and his assistant arrived she was all business. Her display of activity contrasted with her short and chubby complexion. Her dark hair was tied back in a bun and she had bags under the black eyes. The guy seemed inhibited and still impressed by the helicopter and Hetty's house.

- "Good to see you Reyes. Gentleman"- saluted Hetty shaking hands.

- "My assistant, Tom Haddock. I hope you have a very good reason for getting us in a kamikaze flight at this time in the night Hetty."

- "You know I always have one, my dear. But in this case I've just come ahead of time and provided you with a transportation service for your conference the day after tomorrow in L.A. in exchange for some example of your talent."

- "You really don't do it for the love of it. Anyway where is she?"

- "He. Follow me, please."

Callen was already installed on the operating table of Hetty's torture chamber as he used to call the well provided treatment room she set up some years ago. Still unconscious he wasn't aware of the cooler blanket that covered his torso, the heart monitor and the thermometer that Daniel just took from his armpit.

- "The blanket is working, Hetty: 105,6."

- "Still too high."- she answered.

- "So there is the reason. I don't know if I want to ask why he's not in a hospital…" – asked without in fact doing it, the doctor. She took possession of the space in seconds and after washing and gloving her hands she started to check on Callen's ear with an otoscope.

- "At this point it was easier if I'd made you come here, Reyes. Let's say he had a device in his ear when he was involved in an explosion two days ago. The other lesions are not relevant for his present state." – told Hetty.

- "He has quite an infection here and I can see at least two foreign bodies embedded in spite of the swelling. I don't understand why he hadn't been treated before."

- "I think he wasn't even aware of his condition."

- "C'mon Hetty! You know how painful could be a simple otitis and he had the eardrum perforated, the middle ear like a pincushion and so much liquid that I doubt he could even remain standing. Nobody can't ignore this level of pain, believe me! "

- "The only thing I can tell you is that the moment we knew it he was already burning up with fever."

- "Whatever."– said Reyes a little bit suspicious- "Any allergies I must be aware of?"

- "None."

- "Good. I just hope for his shake that it isn't too late to control the infection before more damaged is done. At this point I can't guarantee he won't lose the hearing in this ear, hell I can't even guarantee his life if the infection has reach the blood or even the brain."

Not wasting time Tom and Daniel had prepared all the surgical instruments.

- "I know you'll do your best, as always Reyes. Is there any way I can help?"

- "Nothing for now. I'll let you know when we'll finish."

Sat on G's favorite couch on the library with her eyes closed and a now cold tea on her hands, the minutes seemed hours and the hours days to Hetty. Last days she felt like finally her age catch up with her. She was exhausted and devastated by the possibility of losing Callen, for not having realized before how bad he was hurt. It was her fault. The simple fact of him losing his hearing therefore his status as an agent was just unimaginable. In addition she felt terrible for not being with Sam and his family in this hard moment. And she knew that there were more problems waiting for her as the director Vance had announced. Not in vain she was responsible for releasing an international terrorist, spending a lot of public money, government resources and creating some chaos on L.A. streets.

- "Can I get you something, Hetty?"- asked the ex-MI-6 agent.

- "No, thank you, Alfred. I'm good, is the waiting that drives me crazy."

- "The guest rooms are ready and Daniel has prepared everything the kid could need, even his favorite cookies. All this is my fault Hetty, for not checking on him before."

Hetty sighed and patted Alfred's hand.

- "It's not, Alfred , it's not. And don't call him kid, you know how he gets"- she added.

- "I won't the moment he stops acting like one."

The minutes turned into hours and each cuckoo of the clock made Hetty sank a bit more on the couch. Just when it was about to sing for the fifth time Dr. Costa went to the library and sat, exhausted, next to Hetty.

- "Sorry for the waiting. I wanted to make sure he was completely stabilized and the fever under control before disconnecting the monitors. Your men and Tom are installing him in a bedroom. You had quite a fighter there, Hetty."

- "I know. Can I offer you some tea while you tell me how it was, Reyes?"

- "It's too early for breakfast? It smells delicious and operating always makes me hungry" - asked the doctor.

- "Never is too early not too late for a good breakfast after a hard work, my dear."- smiled Hetty.

Both women went to the kitchen where an oven tray of chocolate chip cookies were cooling. A pot of coffee was prepared and generously served in two mugs. The fact that Reyes didn't elaborate only meant that the result of the operation wasn't a good one. Hetty knew she needed some time to fit together the words she wanted to say and she let her engulf a cookie before interrogating her with the gaze.

- "I did my best Hetty, I really did. What could have been an easy operation when the damage was produced was a nightmare now. Too much swelling and the biggest infection I've seen in a long time. I succeed at extracting all the tiny pieces on the bones and to place them correctly. I took me quite a while to clean and drain the entire medium ear and I'm pretty sure the infection didn't spread to the inner ear. The eardrum was partially gone, although it will cicatrize once the infection subsides."

- "But these are good news my dear!"- exclaimed Hetty.

- "Well, yes, I guess. But as I told you before I don't know at this point if he's going to lose hearing. The damage is repaired, but now it depends entirely of the evolution. At this point he's not out of the woods yet, I don't understand why he is so severely dehydrated and why the infection was so extended."

- "Let's concentrate on the solution now: what is the treatment? What can we do to keep him in good tracks?"

She took another cookie before answering:

- "Antibiotics broad spectrum and specific. I gave him a bolus of amoxicillin intravenous and I want him hooked at the IV for at least four more days. Then he can take it orally for two weeks. Twice a day, for ten days, ofloxacin drops directly in the ear." – she seemed to think for a second and then added: "And painkillers, of course, also drops in the ear, the common ones like Tylenol will be useless. We can adjust the medication according to his response."

- "Why on Earth you seemed so disappointed Doctor?"-asked Hetty surprised.

- "You didn't pay my medicine studies to have this incertitude."

- "Oh, sweetie. I've paid for your studies because you worth it, not expecting any results. I'm so proud of you! Now go to sleep, if the coffee and the cookies allow you, you can still get some resting hours."

Said that Hetty lead her pupil to one of the guest rooms and she installed herself at the rocking chair in Callen's bedroom to watch over his sleep.