Chapter 15
The Sting
[A sting ~ a confidence game, especially one implemented by undercover agents to apprehend criminals ~]
Disclaimer: all the original characters belong to CBS and Shane Brennan. I just used them for this storyline. As for all the other names and characters - they're all made up and are never meant to resemble any persons - dead or alive. If you do recognize names, it is purely coincidental!
Authors Note: To those who stick to this story, thank you. Not as many are, though, which makes me wonder why to continue this. However, we're near to the end of it, so, I may just as well finish what I started. Guess I need new fuel, so I do hope the team of writers, crew and cast let us know and show the first episodes of season 12! Next to that, I love to read other writer's stories, more than it is the other way around, so it seems.
Please, just enjoy the read, and feel free to leave your review.
Kni®benrots
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Anna started to pace the room, again. "He hás to be okay, Hetty. He really has to."
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Los Angeles || Cedars-Sinai hospital || halfway the night
Hetty unconsciously shook her head with the words Anna Kolcheck just said. "But of course I agree with you, dear. And he will be, in the end. It is just to remind you that we, you, his team and I, will have to take care of him in the near future. And how I would love to see him settle even more than at this moment."
She let her thoughts run freely. If only he'd take the time to smell the roses… Could Anna Kolcheck be the right woman for him? She hoped, but who was she to make a choice? She continued to address the young woman.
"The two of you need to figure this out, of course. Until now, he values his own life less valuable as he seems to cares for the others… Although Mr. Callen never had an ordinary life himself, he most certainly know what it means to other people. He's most satisfied when he knows that in the end, he can make sure that the people he fights for are able to lead an ordinary life, the one he never knew and thinks will not be meant for him. But perhaps, dear Miss Kolcheck, we may prove him wrong. If you are willing to try too, I am pretty sure the two of you could just fight for have such a life."
Anna nodded and pondered over the message that the older woman spoke. "That is your opinion. But what if —"
"What if-s don't count, dear," Hetty interrupted. "You mean: what if you don't want to? Well, then I suggest that if you may just as well leave at this very moment. The simple fact that you decided to be here, stay, shows in my humble opinion, that you want at least find a moment to discuss this precious matter with Mr. Callen in here."
Anna sat down in the chair again, though she never was relaxed at all. She let her elbows rest on her knees and her head sank in het hands.
Hetty felt sorry for the young woman, who went through such a difficult time. In a softer voice she continued. "He may or may not be willing to fight for it. Rest assured, that the moment you showed him you didn't want to be together, he must have felt it was necessary to let you go, let you leave, looking for a kind of life that suit you better. And yes. I saw him suffering with that decision, and to be frankly with you he most probably would have preferred you to stay. Make sure to be around as much as you can be and find the right moments to let him know how you feel right now."
Anna let her gaze rest on the woman who appeared to be so calm. "I won't run this time."
She stretched and took the comforter again. She at least needed to try and get more rest.
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Los Angeles || Cedars-Sinai hospital || early next morning
After a light breakfast with a cup of tea, a nurse came into the room to check all vitals. She smiled apologetically and said "I will need ask doctor Lee to come and check as well."
"Is anything wrong?" Anna asked.
"That is up to doctor Lee to decide," came as an answer.
A quarter of an hour later, the doctor entered and he addressed both of them. "Henrietta, Miss Kolcheck, good morning to you. I'm surprised to find both of you in here already."
"Cut the chit-chat, Guillaume," Hetty replied. "There's this nurse who entered and she told us you are needed. Explain, is anything going on?"
Lee nodded and closed the door. He rested his upper back against the wall of the room and said "His temperature is still, or again, too high in our opinion. And for the trained eye, it has been noticed his skin is too yellow too. This is exactly what we are scared of. His liver is in overdrive and most probably, there's gall leaking. We need to make sure there's nothing else wrong… Therefore, I suggest we are going to have a look inside. Drain the wound. At this moment, I must say I'm grateful that we've kept him sedated. And —" He raised his arm in a way that kept the others from interrupting, "this is a matter of routine."
The nurse knocked on the door and Lee was the one to open it. She rolled in a trolley with all kind of medical supplies on it.
"Now, if you'd please?"
With just these few words, both Anna and Hetty were summoned to wait outside.
They hardly spoke to each other this time, both worried for Callen. "He'll be alright," Hetty said, not specifically to the other woman.
Still Anna replied with a simple "He will." Then she looked around, got back on her feet again and took a free cup of hot coffee from a vending machine. After a minute or so she sipped from it. It tasted terrible, but she could use the caffeine.
Only a couple of moments later, the nurse left the room again and soon after, the grey haired surgeon opened the door again with a faint smile which, wordlessly, made both women relax a little and re-enter Callen's room where they sat down on the very same chairs.
"As I expected, we just needed to clean things up a bit better," the doctor explained. "The injury itself is clean, no inflammations at all. Still, there was indeed old blood and bile leaking into the abdomen. We performed a so-called 'percutaneous drainage', in other words, we collected the fluids and hope that with a small embolization, all will work out well. In another two hours his wound will be carefully checked again. But hopefully this was the only time we needed to drain," the doctor mentioned to both women.
He noticed how Hetty sat opposite of him, as ever straight up and for the eye fresh and sharp as ever. But he knew how stoic she could appear, whereas it came to sticking around, especially where it concerned this man, she cared more than she showed.
The younger blonde beauty was different. Pale now, dark circles under her puffy eyes, frowns in her face and the large eyes full of worry. She cared too, he understood. Lee then went on "He'll stay asleep and sedated for a few hours more, as agreed upon."
Somehow it had surprised him. He'd dealt with this man several times before during both their careers and until now, it had been a struggle to agree upon any treatment that would keep this agent Callen hospitalized as long as needed. In the man's own opinion, that was. He recalled the times Callen had left the hospital against medical advice several times in the past.
Not this time. Lee read the report of his colleague. Henrietta's agent probably felt more miserable than he showed anyone, to agree to it to be kept in a medical sleep.
"I'll check how he's doing around lunchtime," Lee said.
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Los Angeles || Cedars-Sinai hospital || halfway the afternoon
Sam bought himself a late lunch and sat down in one of the vacant chairs with a deep sigh, already hating how he'd continuously glance at the monitor with all kind of lines, knowing how those represented the condition of his friend. There was no one to talk to. No Hetty and no Anna. Both women left a while ago for an hour or so, to freshen up, get some fresh air and a lunch as well.
It frustrated Sam to just sit and wait, chew on some food, alone, and hope for a phone call from their HQ to tell him they at least had something to work with. So far, they'd had nothing, no clues at all.
He took his phone and went through the latest app messages from his kids, then got back on his feet and gazed out of the window, actually not seeing anything but quietly letting the last few days pass through his mind again.
There was a soft moan, or perhaps a yawn, and instead of the complete stillness Sam had witnessed since he was in the room, there now was a change, a wriggling came from the bed. His partner was definitely coming to.
Sam swallowed away the bite he just took and said with a smile "About time, you sleepy head."
The blue eyes of his friend flew open, all in shock and recognition. At the same time Callen pushed himself up, leaning on his elbows and forearms.
"Whoah, G!"
Sam dropped his lunch bag and swiftly but gently pushed his friend back with his strong right hand.
"Calm down, buddy. It's okay. It's okay," Sam repeated, soothing now.
"Sam? What…" Callen looked around, took a deep breath and hoarsely said "Thought I overslept."
A large dimple appeared in Sam's cheek. "You've been out for quite some time, but not oversleeping. And I'm not in here to catch you up for work."
The sole grunt his friend let out made clear that Callen understood already.
"Damn," he swore.
"Want me to call someone, need a painkiller?"
"How bad is't?" There was a slight slur in his voice and although he was feeling like crap he needed to clear his head too, in his own opinion.
Sam picked up the pack he'd dropped before and shrugged. "You don't want to know what they've done to you," he said. "But most important is you're on your way to recovery."
He'd leave it to the doctors to explain what they'd done so far, which had something to do with drainage and heat. Still, the wound needed to be stitched this day or the day after. It might prove to be a real challenge to make Callen stay as flat and immobile as possible for the time to come.
There was another question fired at him. "Y'got them?"
Sam shook his head. "I'll talk to you, but first you need some fluids or ice chips, G. So I've got to call in a nurse anyway.
He pressed the emergency button, then addressed his partner again. "We've got nothing, so far."
"Anna's gone." It was more a statement than a question and Sam felt sorry for the emotions his friend must feel.
He shook his head "She's having lunch, with Hetty. She's been here all night and day, waiting for you to wake up, Callen. If you stay awake, the two of you can talk about whatever it is you want to share. And –"
The entrance of a nurse came as an intervention. Sam was the one who asked "He's just awake. Can he have something to drink already? And perhaps —" he glanced at his friend before he asked "perhaps another session of painkillers?"
"I'll have to ask he doctor about the painkillers. Will you be alright for the first minutes, sir?"
Callen nodded as a reply.
She smiled politely and added "But some sips of water, as a clear fluid, should be no problem." She took a cup from one of the cupboards, filled it with water and put on a lid with a straw in it and held it in front of him.
"Could sit," Callen stated.
But she shook her head. "No sir, until the surgeon has closed the wound, you are supposed to stay as flat as possible."
He frowned, since he had no idea that until now nothing seemed to have changed. Still, it was useless and he felt far too weak to bring in this matter. He'd wait and see, and would appreciate some pain killers indeed.
But first, he gratefully took some sips, and nodded when the nurse put down the cup a second afterwards and left.
He gratefully sipped again from the straw and closed his eyes for a second.
Then he was back, glaring at his friend. He scraped his throat, still his words came out hoarsely. "Thought you said I'm on the way to recovery." He wet his lips, lifted the duvet just to peek at how things looked and said "but she tells me this still needs stitches or staples."
"What I know is that this gown they dressed you in is ridiculous. I'd say you need your pajamas, G. And painkillers. Like his nurse, Lena, is arranging right now," Sam chuckled as he hoped to keep the talk as fluff as possible. Still, he didn't miss the pain lines on his best friend's face. It had been less than a day since Callen was hospitalized of which he'd been kept asleep most of the time. Now he was awake it would prove to be difficult to keep him in this place and leave everything else to his team.
Callen managed to get the flat part of the night table swivel a bit so he could catch the straw between his lips once again. He drew in a breath and muttered "Need to get away from here."
"No you won't. You'd better be grateful you can stay in here and let that body of yours heal," Sam replied, chewing away the last bits of his lunch.
Then, as a pang of his memory, Callens bright blue eyes widened as he faced Sam "Ioulia?"
The dark brown eyes of his partner were serious now. He shrugged "Don't know yet, Callen."
There was no reply and although Sam had hardly been around when his partner worked with the agent with the Romanian name, he understood how worried Callen was. After all she had saved his life simply by shielding his body. Or, as Deeks had called it, she had been Callen's 'guardian angel'.
"The others are working as hard as they can to find out who's after this," Sam said.
"Nell's programmed that new system, maybe —"
"Just don't you worry, G. Leave this to us and you just worry about your health."
"Don't have anything else to do, right?" A faint smirk appeared on Callen's face and Sam knew that whatever the struggle was, his friend would deal with it. He hoped that with Anna around, it would be easier.
A knock on the door announced another nurse. Her gaze rested on Callen for a few seconds and then she stated "Visiting time is over."
Sam nodded and said "Like I said, you'd better relax and get your rest, buddy. I'll be back after I've finished at the office."
Callen nodded "See you."
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Once in the corridor, Sam sent a short app at the office, telling them he'd be on his way back. He then strode towards the elevators. Passing the nurses' desk, the nurse he'd seen before at Callen's room, was discussing a matter with Lee, the surgeon Sam'd seen in the past as well. The nurse recognized him and addressed him "How's your friend doing? We're just on our way with his medication."
Sam squinted his eyes "But your coworker already was with him."
"No way. One nurse per patient policy in here," Lena said with a frown. "I thought you were aware of that, since your boss arranged his stay in here."
Sam inhaled, suddenly scared that something was going on and he pivoted on his heels and ran back, followed by the other nurse and the older doctor.
The red, alarming light flashed on the wall outside of the room. From the other way, a nurse hurried to the room as well. Sam was the first to arrive. All he saw was an empty bed and what sounded were the sole screams of a flat line on the screen of the monitor.
TBC