Chapter 28: Illusionist
Those who knew Callen best were dealing with work matters at the moment. So, Deeks stood at the bedside, feeling somewhat helpless, trying to decide if he should say something to Callen to offer some kind of support, or just leave him alone. The fact that the Senior Agent had not bothered to wipe the tear from his face was a good indication that he had not yet regained his composure. What would Hetty do in this situation? What about Sam?
After coming to the conclusion that Callen needed some space, the tall blonde silently made his way to the edge of the room and sat down on the couch.
Callen mostly stared off into space the rest of the morning, only speaking when asked direct questions by the hospital staff. He didn't look up when Deeks raised the head of the hospital bed. And it hardly even fazed him when the young Lab Tech came to draw blood; he flinched and then merely turned his head away, peering out the window while the vials were being filled.
Deeks received a text from Hetty at 11:42.
Good Morning, Mr. Deeks.
Hi Hetty. When are you coming back up here? (Deeks instantly cringed, realizing how desperate he must have sounded.)
I'll be back as soon as your partner and Agent Hanna have completed their investigation. It's Sunday, so we're operating with a skeleton crew here in Ops. Am I picking up on a hint of panic, Mr. Deeks? Is Mr. Callen proving to be too much of a challenge for you?
Even without hearing her voice, Deeks knew Hetty was lovingly baiting him. (At least he wanted to believe it was lovingly.) Challenge? No. Not at all. Things are going great. I haven't let Callen escape or dropped him on his head or anything like that. I'm actually a very competent caregiver – not to mention, entertaining.
Of that I am sure, Mr. Deeks. The reason I am contacting you is to get your assessment of Callen's present state of mind. I spoke with his nurse earlier. He said the patient appears to be rather "despondent" this morning. And he assured me that it is too soon for the new medication to be having any effect.
I think I'd have to agree with the nurse. Callen sort of shut down after we tried to sit him up - things didn't go so well.
So I was told. Do you think Mr. Callen is merely discouraged?
Maybe? I'd be depressed too if I was stuck in a hospital bed for this long. It would suck to feel this helpless.
I consulted with Nate a few minutes ago, and he is of the same opinion. He believes that, as Agent Callen is becoming more alert and oriented, he may also be increasingly aware of his limitations. And I fear that my recent approach with him may have only fostered this feeling of helplessness.
You can't blame yourself, Hetty. Up until lately, he barely even knew who he was. So what do we do now?
Nate suggested we take a step back for a little while. Allow him some space to work through this.
Deeks was thankful that he had pretty much come to this same conclusion earlier this morning. So don't smother him.
Exactly. Nate also said that the mood swings we've observed over the past several days should occur less frequently, and be less extreme as Agent Callen's condition improves. I have to take a call now. Thank you. I'll be in touch.
Just as Deeks pocketed his phone, a Nurses' Aide entered the room carrying two lunch trays.
Deeks looked confused. "Uuuuhh… I don't think he can eat all that."
The woman shrugged her shoulders. "Requisition for this room says – '2 trays: patient and guest.'"
"Really… Well in that case, thank you very much."
"You don't have to thank me. Someone put the order in early this morning. Enjoy." The Aide turned and exited the room.
Deeks placed the 'guest' tray on the couch and rolled the portable table over to the bed.
Callen turned his head toward the table. With one eyebrow lifted, he visually inspected the lunch tray. "I don't want this. You can have it."
Deeks was actually relieved Callen had attempted to reject the food tray; at least he had talked. "This is your lucky day, for over there," Deeks pointed to the couch, "I have my very own scrumptious hospital meal."
Callen frowned and turned his head away.
Marty opened the food containers and placed the table in front of Callen. He then dragged a straight-back chair over to the couch and placed his guest tray on it. Without a word, he sat down in front of his makeshift table and began eating, watching Callen out of the corner of his eye.
Callen waited a couple of minutes then, using both hands, picked up a glass of ice water and took a drink. The stubborn agent began eyeing the contents of the tray. Eventually, he picked up a plastic spoon and awkwardly used his splinted right hand to take a bite of red Jell-O.
Deeks fought the urge to jump up and offer his assistance when Callen winced, dropping the spoon and the next scoop of gelatin on the tray.
G changed the spoon to the other hand. He scooped up another spoonful of Jell-O and brought it to his mouth, almost knocking over the water glass when the IV tubing dragged across the tray. Carefully and slowly, he finally finished the Jell-O, and then drank a few more sips of water.
Obviously, with no intention of consuming anything else on his tray, Callen let out a shaky breath, rested his head on the pillow, and closed his eyes.
Deeks quietly rolled the table away from Callen's bed and clicked the rail into place, giving Callen some time to rest.
The remainder of the afternoon went more smoothly than the morning. Even though Callen remained silent, he accepted his next round of medicine without protest, and was able to sit on the side of the bed for five minutes without incident.
When Nurse Anna returned for her shift at 3:00 pm, she found Callen to be awake, but in no apparent distress.
But by the time the supper tray arrived, G had become increasingly restless. He had lowered the head of his bed, but seemed to be having difficulty finding a comfortable position. It was obvious that the pain had returned.
Deeks received a text from Kensi, letting him know that they were on their way back to the office, and that they should get to the hospital around 6:30. When she asked how their Lead Agent was doing, Deeks looked up to find that Callen had somehow turned himself over onto his left side, and was finally resting.
When Hetty returned at 6:20 pm. Callen was still lying on his side, his back to the door, and Deeks was standing next to the bed flipping through the TV channels.
Deeks quickly switched off the muted television and turned around. "Hetty. Thank goodness you're here. I think I would have gone absolutely bonkers if I'd endured another one of those house makeover shows."
Miss Lange placed her handbag at the end of the couch. "Well then, it looks as if I arrived just in time. LAPD would not appreciate it if I allowed my Liaison to die of boredom. Oh, by the way, how was your lunch?"
Marty opened his mouth and tilted his head back and grinned. "Aaahh... I should have known."
Hetty glanced at the untouched supper tray, and then glided around to the other side of the bed. She smiled gently at the bright blue eyes looking up at her. "Mr. Callen. How are you feeling?"
G slowly turned himself over onto his back, grunting and grimacing a few times in the process. He pressed the control button and raised the head of the bed. When he was in position, he looked up at Hetty with his brow furrowed. "I need…" Callen's raspy voice was barely audible. He cleared his throat and tried again. "I need you to get me out of here. I don't know how much more of this I can take."
Hetty let out a breath through pursed lips and nodded her head. "I understand. But I have to follow the doctor's recommendations on this one. The moment he clears you, we'll take you home."
"At least let me get out of this bed." Callen shifted his weight off of his right hip. "I need to get up." Although his tone was soft, a bit of panic could be detected.
"Tomorrow. The doctor said if you do well sitting on the side of the bed today, you can sit up in a chair tomorrow."
Nurse Anna entered the room in time to see Callen avert his gaze and sigh in frustration. She looked across the room at Hetty with a questioning look.
Hetty came around to where the nurse was standing. "It seems the patient is rather restless this evening. He wants to get out of bed."
"I see." She put her clipboard on the small table beside the bed. "I can't get you out of bed, Agent Callen, but I did come by to ask if you would like to sit up on the side of the bed for a little while. It'll go a long way in building your endurance for when you do get up."
Callen peered out the window for a moment. When he finally nodded his head in agreement, Deeks and the nurse assisted him into a sitting position. Even though the transition caused the patient to grimace a couple of times, it went even better than the previous attempt; Callen was definitely getting stronger.
When Kensi and Sam showed up a little while later, Callen was still sitting with his legs dangling off the side of the bed. His dinner tray was positioned in front of him on the portable table. He was holding a fork in his left hand, absentmindedly rearranging several pieces of fruit on his plate.
Sam closed the door and came closer to the bed. "You're eating fruit? I'm impressed." Sam's big personality seemed to fill the room when he spoke.
G sat up a little taller and looked up at his partner with a hint of a smile.
Hetty placed her fisted hands on her hips. "Don't be too impressed, Mr. Hanna. Your partner's been scooting that same piece of melon around on his plate for the past five minutes."
Callen frowned at his boss. "I ate some of it."
"Four bites," Deeks piped in.
G's frown was now directed at the blonde Detective. "You were counting bites?"
Ignoring his friend's indignation, Sam turned and gave Deeks a congratulatory fist-bump. "Good job, Deeks."
Feigning modesty, Deeks shrugged his shoulders. "Well. I try. I know I'll never be as good as…"
Hetty cleared her throat loudly, stopping the antics as quickly as if she'd fired a warning shot.
Deeks and Sam turned to see that the nurse was standing right behind them. They each gave her a polite smile and then moved out of her way.
Anna sat a small medicine cup on the table and addressed the patient. "It's time for another round of medicine." She could see that Callen's shoulders were beginning to slump. "But let's get you laid down first."
After the nurse moved the rolling table out of the way, Sam and Deeks carefully laid Callen on his back. They covered him with the sheet and blanket and raised the rails.
Anna handed the patient the pink capsules and a cup of water. She went around to Callen's left side and began untangling the IV tubing.
All at once, Hetty took a quick step toward the bed, her scrutinizing eyes trained on Callen. "What did you just do?" she asked forcefully.
Sam, Deeks, and Kensi exchanged confused glances.
Callen looked up at Hetty and nervously swiped his lips with his tongue.
The room was suddenly quiet, except for sound of Callen's quick, shallow breaths.
"Where are they?" Hetty's tone was serious. Her cold, piercing stare never wavered.
Callen's face blanched. Finally, he swallowed hard and turned his face toward the window.
Hetty paused for a moment. "Would everyone please excuse us for just a moment?"
The room cleared quickly.
Sam, Kensi, Deeks, and Anna assembled in the hall, just outside Callen's room.
"What's going on?" Kensi asked, looking back at faces of people who were obviously as puzzled as she was. "Sam?"
Sam shook his head negatively. "I have no idea."
"What could he have done? He can't even get out of bed."
"I don't know," Deeks whispered. "But whatever it was, she's really pissed."
Several minutes of silence passed.
Kensi bit down on her bottom lip. "Poor Callen. If Hetty looked at me the way she just looked at him, I'd have…"
"Turned to stone?" Deeks interjected.
"No. I was going to say…"
"Peed your pants?"
"Deeks?"
"Just sain'. Shouldn't one of us be in there? Just to make sure she doesn't…"
Just then, the door opened, and Hetty stepped out into the hall. She was holding her handbag in one hand, and a wadded up paper napkin in the other. She held out the napkin and gently placed it in the nurse's hand. "I thought you would need to see these for your documentation."
With her palm facing up, Anna slowly opened the napkin.
And there it was – six bright pink capsules.
The mood suddenly went from confusion, to shock.
Anna let out a small gasp. "Where were these?"
Hetty tilted her head back and peered down at the pills through the bottom of her glasses. "Hidden in his pillow case."
Deeks ran his fingers through this hair. "How? I was standing right there. All three times. Is he like a magician or something?"
Hetty gazed at the door to Callen's hospital room and spoke as if thinking aloud, "You can take the boy out of the street…"
Sam gave an understanding nod. "But you can't take the street out of the boy," he finished.
Hetty looked back at the nurse. "I told him you'd be right back in to administer this evening's dose. Please place them in his mouth yourself. He'll not give you any trouble."
Anna folded the napkin and stepped back into the patient's room.
"So he…" Sam paused to allow a noisy cart being pushed down the hall to pass them. "He hasn't taken any of the new medicine?"
"I'm afraid not," Hetty answered tiredly.
Kensi's brown eyes looked even more perplexed than before. "But why, Hetty?... Why would he not take his medicine?"
Hetty took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "He was afraid of becoming a monster; that he'd lose control - hurt someone again."
The air suddenly felt heavy with Callen's lingering guilt.
Hetty saw the sadness on the faces of those surrounding her. "Chins up, everyone. This just indicates that Mr. Callen's will to fight has returned." Hetty smiled. "I can see it in his eyes."
Without another word, Hetty turned, clasped her hands behind her, and slowly made her way toward the elevator.
