AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hi. Hope you are having a lovely weekend. Well, it feels like a slow start to recovery here, with these short chapters but they are necessary to the progression of things. Hope you enjoy! You know what I'm going to ask and I hope you oblige. There is a lot of angst to deal with here. It's only just beginning and has yet to come to a head.
Stepping out into the hall, he closed the door behind him, praying Callen wouldn't use the opportunity to disappear, though, from the looks of it he doubted Callen could even stand up straight should he find the strength to try.
"Kamran, right? You're Sam's daughter?" Marcus asked.
"Yes, sir. Can I please see Uncle Callen?"
Before Marcus could answer she continued.
"Please! I really need to talk to him. I said some awful mean things to him before he left last time and I need to tell him I'm sorry. I just really need to see him. Please?"
Marcus hated the sorrow he saw in the young girl's eyes, "I know how worried you are right now, but he's going to be okay. For now, his body just needs rest. Tomorrow will come soon enough and you can see him then, okay?"
Kamran's eyes glistened with unshed tears, "Okay…" she replied, quietly turning to walk away.
As the doctor turned back toward the door, he was stopped as she ran back down the hall. "Will you give him this for me? I found it on the beach and I want him to have it… please?" She handed him a piece of brilliant blue sea glass, "It's the color of his eyes when he's happy." she smiled fondly.
Marcus smiled as he turned the piece of glass over in his hand, "This is a beautiful piece of glass. You must really love him… You don't find these around here normally, and turquoise blue is extremely rare… You were very lucky!
"I know. I think I was supposed to find it." Kamran agreed.
You call him Uncle Callen? May I ask, why?"
Kamran stopped and thought before answering, "My daddy went to work with Uncle Callen and he would come home and tell mom that he wouldn't talk about nothing. Dad doesn't like that. He says you need to be willing to share if you are going to be able to trust each other. So, mom told him to invite him to dinner but he wouldn't come… then one day he did. Daddy said Uncle Callen saved his life and so now his family wanted to say thank you… he made him promise to come. Uncle Callen NEVER breaks his promises…"
"So how did you end up calling him Uncle?" he asked curiously.
"I don't know, really. It just kinda happened. He came over once for dinner. He was really nervous but he liked me… This one time, he got hurt and came to stay with us for a while. I heard daddy tell him he was like a brother to him… so, after that, I started calling him Uncle and then so did Aiden. He didn't get mad so…"
Marcus chuckled, "I see. Makes sense to me." Holding up the piece of sea glass, "I will make sure he sees it just as soon as he is awake, I promise."
"Thank you… Good Night, sir."
Marcus closed the door and headed back into the room. Thankful to find Callen still there, he started talking.
"That was Kamran. She brought you a gift… says it reminds her of your eyes when you're happy. Apparently, you blue eyed people… Callen? Stop messing around." Marcus looked at the low but steady beat on the heart monitor, and muttered under his breath, "I'm a doctor and even I can't tell if you are actually asleep."
Taking note of his vitals and checking his bandages he took the piece of glass from his pocket and held it between his fingers, "I don't know if you're hearing me or not but regardless of what that head of yours is trying to tell you, I'm begging you not to listen. I know some of what went on here, enough to know they screwed up… but that's it, they screwed up. They made a mistake. They realize that. I wasn't there to see what happened, I don't know what went down… what that man said to you in the time he held you captive… I see the physical damage and can only imagine the emotional… but G, that little girl adores you and she is hurting over whatever mean thing she said to you. You need to let her make amends. For your sake, my friend, you need to let them have their say and stop running."
Marcus gently placed the precious gift on the table next to the bed before finding his way to the couch on the other side of the room.
Once he heard the soft snore assuring him the other man was asleep, Callen opened his eyes. He had, in fact, heard every word his friend had said. He hated that Kamran was upset over what he felt were legitimate feelings. Holding his ribs with one hand, he reached for the table and picked up the sea glass Marcus had left there. He held it up towards the lamp in order to better see the color. It was a lucky find on this beach. It was a pretty one and fair sized too. Maybe he would have it made into a necklace for her.
He laid back and attempted to get some sleep. When Marcus checked on him a few hours later he insisted on giving him something to help with the pain of the headache as well as something for the nausea. The next few hours were fraught with one nightmare after another until finally he was lucid enough to warn Marcus there would be no more pain meds if he valued his health. The rest of the day was spent avoiding anyone coming in to see him regardless of Marcus's attempts to convince him to do otherwise.
He spoke little the rest of the day and moved around even less. Once everyone had finally settled in for the night, he allowed himself to attempt to sit up. He didn't dare move very much due to all the wires and iv, so he sat quietly considering everything that had happened. His thoughts were tormented at best. He would have to face everyone eventually. It was a prospect he dreaded with every fiber of his being. As color began creeping into the sky, Callen quietly turned the monitor off and removed the wires from his chest and the IV from his arm. Slowly and as quietly as he could, he pulled himself to a sitting position. He found a change of clothes, courtesy of Hetty, in the bathroom adjacent to the library. Getting dressed proved to be a slow and tedious process. The bruised ribs made bending to put shoes on near impossible. The lash marks pulled as he stretched to put his T-shirt on.
Grabbing the sea glass from the table and tucking it in his pocket, he ducked out the side door to walk down to the beach.
He made it as far as the fire pit Hetty had set up. The cool ocean air had him wishing he'd brought a jacket to help ward off the painful ache the chill caused. He lowered himself into one of the chairs that faced the ocean.
His thoughts were turbulent at best. His head ached as he thought back over the events of the past five years. One mission, that's all it took to destroy what had taken the better part of a decade to create. Was it worth fixing? What was there to fix? Knowing what he knew now… nothing from his past seemed real. It was a mere fabrication made by the government to control him. Everyone that he remotely cared about had died… been killed… all because of what he could do for the government. He truly was nothing more than a tool for them to use.
As far as he could see, being a tribe of one was the only safe answer for all concerned. What Blackguard had put into motion a lifetime ago had made any prospect of a normal life for him, now, seem impossible.
