Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Chapter 16
Author's note: Lately a reader only commented on mistakes I made. I'd like to remind you that no matter how hard I try, American English is not my mother tongue and sometimes mistakes are made. And no matter how hard I try to get to know more about Los Angeles, it is still about 5662 miles from here, about an 11 hrs flight. So yeah, I may miss a few details… Please do forgive me!
Disclaimer: by now you know that none of the usual characters of the show belongs to me. There are some OC's in here who are mine, as is the storyline, of course.
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How would they really form a team without a team captain? Sam really didn't know, but he had a whole night to think of any possible way.
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Los Angeles || Sherman Oaks Hospital
Sam still waited outside the cubicle when finally the first nurse came out of the said room. She addressed him and said "There's a comforter extra, in case you still want to sit with your, ehm, with your friend. The night temperature is several degrees lower, you see."
"That's good to know," Sam said.
"It's in the lowest cabinet," she said, motioning with her hand back to Callen's room. She was more or less on her way to the nurses desk already and Sam nearly bumped into the second woman.
She met him with a smile and said "He's doing fine. Perhaps better than expected. There is only the tiniest sign of inflammation in the lowest wound, so we used a cream treatment next to the antibiotic in the IV-tube."
She paused a moment to see if the large man understood what she meant. "He's still receiving a sedative, so he'll stay asleep, I suppose for a good couple of hours. My expectation is that a real fever will not really stand a chance. Perhaps a slightly higher temperature. We'll move him to a medium-care unit as early as possible tomorrow morning, unless we'll be needing this cubicle later this night. But please don't hesitate to warn us if anything out of the ordinary occurs."
"Will do so," Sam answered, grateful to hear the good news. He now was sorry Nell just left, but he'd send a text message to inform all team members and she'd read it once she'd get home.
The nurse nodded as a greet but a second later she mentioned "He is quite a warrior, right? I mean... he has so many scars. And mind you, we usually don't discuss matters like this, but still —"
Sam slowly nodded. "You're right about that, about him," he admitted. He glanced at her name tag. She was more than an ordinary nurse, that he understood because of the title 'nurse practitioner'. He continued: "But listen, Marcia, it's not something we should share. I really appreciate that you don't talk about this. At all. There'll be a regular LAPD surveillance on the outside of the hospital, and it is why I am staying in, since there are too many enemies who may take advantage of his vulnerable situation."
The young woman blushed as she was feeling embarrassed by Sam's remark and he nearly felt sorry for his words.
His smile was sincere and warm when he rested his hand on her forearm. "We're federal agents and I can't risk to discuss our job. I'm glad you take care of him, but please, let's not talk about this patient."
"We won't," she finally managed a brief smile too, then turned to join her co-worker.
Sam took his time to send a text message to the other team members and copied it to inform Hetty as well.
Then he sat down in the room and rubbed his tired eyes. He sure preferred to be at his own place, yet here he was. By now the nurses had disconnected some of the tubes and the nervous beeps of the monitor were muted, which felt better in his opinion.
He watched his partner for a while. Now he was asleep, a more boyish expression had appeared on Callen's face and now Sam thought about it, most of the paranoia he was used to recognize with the other man was left behind in the past and the lone wolf had grown to be a team player. Maybe that was bothered Sam — being left out like back in the first years the two of them worked together. Earlier this week Callen didn't share. Where and why Callen had gone still was a mystery, he simply had managed to disappear after Roundtree had driven them out of the hospital. An act he forgot Callen mastered. And it wasn't like the relaxed way of sharing facts he'd grown to get used to.
But never mind the fact that Sam missed the usual way of working, he also knew how Callen had carefully thought out a scenario that worked out well. Most crime groups worked compartmentalized and Sam couldn't remember that joined federal forces managed to get to them all, especially at such short notice. But as ever, Callen had done a great job planning the operation and he must've done a risk assessment as well. Was it pure ill luck that he got wounded?
Sam let his thoughts go — had he, had they, missed anything? Not that he knew of, not that he'd seen.
He shook his head and let his gaze go over his friend again, grateful that Callen wasn't wounded any worse.
He yawned and closed his eyes.
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Sam woke up, alerted by some kind of sixth sense. Nobody around and no different noises. Or were there? Immediately he looked at his friend, fearing something was wrong. Instead he met Callen's blue eyes.
"G!"
"You snored".
Despite of all his worries, Sam couldn't help chuckling. In a lower voice he replied: "How you're doing?"
Callen had closed his eyes again and mumbled "Headache".
"You need something?" Sam observed his friend. "I reckon you have a pretty serious concussion."
There was a hum as an answer and Sam understood how Callen knew all too well what this meant.
Sam checked his watch and noticed he'd been asleep longer than he'd expected. At a quarter to five in the morning, his body was stiff from sitting in the same position in the lousy chair. Next to that he was cold since he forgot to use the extra blanket. He gladly got up.
"I'll alert a nurse."
Again, Callen simply hummed, his eyes still closed.
Minutes later, Sam re-entered the room with Marcia, the nurse who still was on duty.
"Could you please open your eyes, sir?" she asked.
Callen knew what the next step was going to be and he detested the fact she took the small penlight to check his pupils. Without any feedback she asked some obvious questions which he could answer.
"No loss of sight?" She then wanted to know.
"None."
"In the reports we received from the other hospital I read you've had a concussion before. In fact, several times."
This time Sam replied. "Not in the past year though."
"Perhaps the doctor wants you to have a scan again," the nurse said. "Just to make sure there's no damage done."
"C'mon," Callen muttered, not looking forward to that. "It's just a headache."
"And so far there's no confusion or nausea," Sam agreed with his friend. "Maybe a sleeping pill helps."
Marcia shook her head. "The sedatives did their work until now. Best thing is just to stay put. Keep your eyes closed, try not to move or talk. I'll get you some Tylenol and water, and fill the room with some fresh air every hour. Sleep is the best medicine one can think of."
"Hmm."
The nurse left to get the said items and Sam stretched his limbs. He noticed how Callen did what nurse Marcia advised.
"We've alerted Anna, G."
"Why?" Callen opened his eyes, surprised by the remark Sam just made.
"Why? Because you are wounded. I figured she'd like to know."
Sam wondered if Callen forgot what really happened.
"It's not that bad, Sam."
"Seriously..."
Sam was annoyed by how Callen easily ignored or underestimated being wounded. Or was it that he refused to talk about it? Maybe he wanted to make others believe nothing was wrong? Sam knew all too well how Callen detested to be in the hospital, but he also had seen many times how his friend had the ability to perform under pressure, even though he wasn't recovered completely - a quality that had saved many lives already. Still, Callen wasn't immortal.
"Perhaps the sedatives still influence your memory," Sam tried. He sighed deeply. "You were out, G. Out, bleeding and only a second away from being killed."
"I know."
"You know how scared I am to lose you. And this was damn close."
Slower and softer now I know."
The nurse entered the room with a medicine cup and a Styrofoam cup which she filled with water. With a faint smile she nodded towards the bed, noticing how Callen appeared to be asleep.
"I'll put it in here in case he'll ask for it," she nearly whispered.
"Thanks." Callen muttered.
Sam shook his head and sighed. He should have known Callen had only done what was advised. Knowing his friend, he also expected Callen would stay awake, despite all the suggestions of nurses.
"Let me help you," Marcia smiled at him.
Minutes later Callen leaned back in the pillow, closing his eyes again. Still, he heard Marcia tip-toe out and he knew he was alone with Sam. He figured the big guy was tired after a miserable night in a chair.
"You can go home Sam. Catch a few hours of sound sleep."
"G… Just shut up and stay put."
A hum came as a reply.
Then both of them were silent for a few minutes and just when Sam thought his friend may finally fell asleep, Callen was wide awake again. "I should call Elisabeth."
Sam shook his head. It was an odd situation, that Callen was more or less irritated that Anna was alerted, but expressed his worry that the other woman wasn't.
"I've talked to her already."
He saw how Callen frowned with that remark and before his partner kept questioning him, Sam explained. "Your second phone. I'd hoped to inform Anna with it, instead it was Elisabeth."
Callen said "Listen Sam—" and Sam interrupted. "No. I'm not listening. Just rest. She's okay, and perhaps after some sleep, you'll be too."
"Unless you snore."
'Mission impossible', Sam thought by himself. Still, he managed to ignore the remark, leaned back and closed his eyes.
TBC - Kni®benrots
Like we're holding onto something that's invisible there
'Cause we're living at the mercy of the pain and the fear
Until we dead it, forget it, let it all disappear
Waiting for the end to come
Wishing I had strength to stand
This is not what I had planned
It's out of my control
Flying at the speed of light
Thoughts were spinning in my head
So many things were left unsaid
[waiting for the end - Linkin Park]