Thank you to those who are sticking with me. Things have been a little "different" the past several months. I've had some chapters done, but just couldn't make myself "press go." Finally convinced myself to do it. So here is a little chapter to get me started again.
Good new is, during this time I was afraid to post, I have a few more chapters done-ish. Just need to edit them. Thank you for reading.
Chapter 48: CASTED
The next time Nurse C.J. returned to the room, Callen's head was drooped forward a little and his eyes were closed. C.J. looked at the breakfast tray that sat in front of his sleeping patient's chair, and then over to where Deeks was leaned back on the couch. "Did he eat any of it."
"Not a bite," Deeks answered, sitting up a little straighter. "I tried a few times. Couldn't get him to stay awake."
"Drink anything?"
"Nope."
The nurse let out a breath. "I knew we had a small window of time before the florozine took effect. But I was hoping he'd eat, at least a little, before he fell asleep. I'm thinking he was already exhausted from being up for a shower for the first time." C.J. pulled a blanket from the closet, unfolded it, and added it to the one already spread out over Callen. "Let me know when he wakes up and we'll see if we can get him to drink a protein shake."
"Will do."
Deeks eyed Callen for a few moments after the nurse had left with the untouched food tray. "You had better not be faking it, G. Callen… playing possum so you can get out of eating. Sam's not going to be too happy… with either one of us." Marty leaned back on the couch and crossed one leg over the other. He sighed loudly, picked up a magazine, and began dramatically flipping through the pages. "That's okay. If you're going to give me the silent treatment, I'll just sit here and read my surfer magazine… for the millionth time."
Deeks tilted his head to the side and looked sympathetically toward Callen was sitting. "Well… at least while you're sleeping, you're not miserably cold."
Less than an hour later, Deeks saw movement in his peripheral vision. He put down the bottle of water he had been drinking from, and began watching Callen a little more closely. He's shivering. A Lot. So much for not being miserably cold.
A moment later, G's eyes opened. He blinked a few times, as if clearing his blurry vision, and then searched the room until he located Deeks sitting to his right.
"Finally." Deeks stood and stretched his arms above his head with a groan. "I'm pretty sure I was just minutes away from 'death-by-boredom'."
G shuddered, and then turned his head toward the window. "What time is it?" he asked, his voice sounding scratchy.
"Almost nine… You missed breakfast, by the way."
Callen pressed his forearms down against the arms of the chair, and with a grimace, he carefully repositioned himself in the chair. After catching his breath, he looked down and frowned at the blankets that had just slid off of his shoulders and into his lap. "What day is it?" he asked groggily.
"It's 'Hump-day'."
Callen waited a moment, seemingly processing the information, and then he squinted up at Deeks. "Where's Sam?"
"He went home to sleep for a little while."
Callen blinked a few times and then reached up toward his face. Without warning, he was pulling at the edge of the small tape-like bandage on his forehead.
"Nonononono." Deeks took a quick step toward Callen. "Don't puuuuulll…" he trailed off.
A puzzled expression appeared on Callen's face, and then he looked down at the bandage now stuck to the tips of his fingers.
"Yeah," Deeks scrunched his face. "That just happened... Let me go get your nurse. I was supposed to let him know when you woke up, anyway."
Callen was clearly shivering when Deeks returned with C.J. a few minutes later.
"Let's see what we have going on here." The tall nurse squatted down directly in front of where Callen was seated. He placed his open palm on the side of the patient's jaw and gently guided G's head to the side to get a better look at the wound. "I don't think it was quite ready to come off. Let me go get a fresh Steri-Strip."
Before the nurse could rise to his feet, Callen held out a shaky hand, giving him the little strip of tape. "Sorry," he whispered.
C.J. took the small bandage off Callen's fingers. "It's okay. The shower probably did a number on the adhesive, anyway. I should have checked it earlier."
The Nurse returned with some supplies and went to work opening packages and donning a pair of gloves. Once again, C.J. crouched down in front of Callen. He opened a small antiseptic wipe and prepped the area around the wound. Then he reached up to the patient's forehead, carefully pinching the edges of the small cut together with one hand. And with the other hand, he applied a new Steri-Strip. "There," he said while pushing himself up to stand. "That ought to hold another day or two."
C.J. pulled the blankets back up over Callen's shoulders. After throwing away the empty packages, he checked his watch. "Someone from Ortho will be coming up to get you in an hour. Dr. Lee put in orders for you to be casted today." The nurse pointed to the small plastic bottles he had placed on the nearby table. "I need you to finish at least one of these protein shakes before then."
C.J. gave Deeks a long look before leaving the room.
The Detective got the message, loud and clear: Marty Deeks is now on protein shake duty… Goodie.
Deeks rolled the small portable table over to Callen, and picked up a shake container in each hand. "Well, Callen? Your choices this morning - strawberry or vanilla."
Callen pulled his splinted hand from beneath the blankets, clumsily rubbed at his eyes a moment, and then gave the shake choices a sideways look. "How 'bout neither," he mumbled.
"I'm sorry," Deeks said cheerfully, mimicking a gameshow host. "That is not one of the choices. Please try again."
Callen pressed his lips together and averted his gaze, clearly not having anything to do with it.
"Ding, ding, ding! Time's up. Vanilla it is." Deeks opened the shake, stuck a straw in it, and placed it on the table, directly in front of Callen.
"Deeks?"
G's warning was so weak that Deeks struggled to hold back a smile. "Don't get cranky with me, Special Agent Callen. I'm just following orders. If you'd prefer, I can call your partner… wake up the sleeping bear and tell him you won't eat. Or better yet, I'll just get Hetty on the phone. I'm sure she'd be more than happy to come up here and take care of you."
Callen scowled at the vanilla shake sitting in front of him, seemingly weighing his options. Then, his shoulders sagged and he let out a breath of defeat. He reached out his trembling hand, picked up the bottle, and reluctantly took a sip.
Watching how unsteady Callen's movements were, Deeks seriously considered taking the container away and holding it for him.
And seeing the face G made after the first sip, Deeks was tempted to take it from him and just pour the stuff down the drain.
Somehow, G managed to finish his drink before the Orthopedic Tech arrived with a wheelchair.
Callen politely, but stubbornly, contended that he was perfectly capable of walking down to the first floor on his own.
The tech explained, several times, that all patients had to be transported by way of wheelchair or gurney.
When C.J. came in to unhook the IV, he reiterated the hospital's policy.
It took a some convincing, but Callen finally conceded, and moved to awaiting wheelchair.
Marty trailed along behind Callen while in transit to the first floor. He didn't foresee any problems. But after the incident in Radiology a few days earlier, he wasn't taking any chances.
Deeks was asked to step out while they took X-rays of Calen's wrist. But then, he was asked to return and help hold Callen arm still; G was shivering so badly that the ortho techs were having difficulty applying the casting material.
An hour later, Callen was wheeled back into his room, wearing a freshly made blue cast that extended from the palm of his right hand, to his mid-forearm.
Deeks and the nurse corralled G toward his bed despite his attempt to sit in the chair he had been seated in most of the day.
"I'm not tired," he protested weakly, as C.J. and Deeks helped him into bed, not noticing the subsequent skeptical looks the two of them exchanged.
"Your lunch tray will be here in a few minutes," C.J. explained, guiding Callen to lie back in bed. "You need to warm up a little, because right now, you're shivering too bad to eat."
G relaxed his head back to the pillow, his eyes clearly showing more exhaustion than he was claiming.
The nurse reattached the IV, arranged the covers, and raised the bedrail before leaving the room.
The food arrived a short time later. When Deeks placed the tray in front of Callen, G let out a breath and turned his face away. "Deeks. I don't want this," he said, sounding slightly desperate.
"Can't say I blame you. But you still need to eat something."
"I'm not hungry."
With his nose slightly wrinkled, Deeks gave Callen a sympathetic look. "I know you're not. And I know you're tired of everyone hounding you about it. But the doctor said he isn't going to let you go home until you start eating."
Callen glanced up at the Detective and then glared at the food in front of him.
A few long moments passed, before he picked up a piece of dry toast and took a small bite.
Deeks quietly let out a breath. He retrieved the mug Kensi had brought from the office, and filled it half way with the broth from Callen's tray. "You might want to drink this while it's warm." Please, please, please, drink the stuff.
Callen put down the toast. After studying the broth for a few seconds, he moved both hands toward the mug. But when he attempted to grasp it, his casted right palm bumped the handle, almost sloshing the contents out onto the tray.
Callen glanced up at Deeks and then looked down at his cast with a furrowed brow, as if it had somehow offended him.
"Yeeeah," Deeks drawled. "That's gonna to take some getting used to… Here." He rotated the handle to face away from Callen. "Try this."
G managed to get both hands wrapped around the mug, and brought it to his mouth with minimal shaking.
Three sips later, he lowered the mug down on the tray and squinted toward the window. "What day is it?"
Deeks tilted his head to one side. And there's the confusion Sam was talking about. "It's Wednesday."
Still squinting a bit, G looked at Deeks. "Did they ever find Zamora?"
Great. He can't remember that I've already told him it's Wednesday, but he remembers the case?
"I haven't heard anything, today." … Not a lie.
Callen let out a breath and looked toward the wall in front of him.
"You need to drink some more of that broth," Deeks said, pointing to the lunch tray.
G blinked a few times, as if snapping out of his thoughts. "I'm not hungry."
And here we go again. "I know. But just pretend you are. Take ten more sips, while you're not so shaky."
Callen peered into the mug. "Four."
Deeks couldn't help the grin that appeared on his face at Callen's attempt to negotiate. "Eight."
"Five."
Deeks shook his head. "Okay. Five… Just do it."
Slowly, but surely, Callen complied, taking five more small drinks of the broth.
He had just set the mug down on the table, when Nurse C.J. came by to check vitals. "So… how much did you eat?"
"Enough." Callen mumbled
"Uhh… a little less than half the broth," Deeks offered. He pointed to the small plate. "... Oh, and the corner of that piece of toast there."
C.J. smiled. "I don't know if a nibble of toast counts, but I'll chart it." He rolled the table out of the way and looked squarely at the patient. "You'll need to drink that other protein shake in just a little bit."
Callen glanced at the drink the nurse was pointing to, and then gave a tentative nod.
C.J. took Callen's temperature, pulse, and blood pressure, and then exited the room, taking the food tray with him.
With much prompting from Deeks, Callen had almost finished with the strawberry protein drink by the time C.J. came by the with one o'clock dose of medicine.
About twenty minutes after the florozine was administered, Sam returned from his, much needed, break. He nodded at Deeks before approaching the bed. "What's going on?" He picked up the almost empty shake container and swished it around. "You actually drank this? Did you eat lunch?"
G blinked owlishly at him, barely able to keep his eyes open. "Yezz."
"Barely," Marty countered from where he sat on the couch.
Sam turned and looked at Deeks. Then, with one eyebrow raised, he turned back to Callen, looking as if he were waiting for an explanation.
Blinking even more slowly Callen's brow furrowed. "I wazn't hungry."
Sam shook his head, and then he turned and poured Callen a cup of water.
For a moment, G just stared blankly at the Styrofoam cup that was being held up and front of him. Then he clumsily brought his arms from beneath the stack of covers, and extended both hands up to take it.
Sam's eyes widened. "You finally got your cast… Did they tell you how long you'd have to wear it?"
Callen briefly looked up at his partner, and then tiredly shook his head.
"Five weeks," Deeks reported. "They x-rayed it first. Said everything's still in alignment. The Orthopedist wants to check him again in two weeks."
Sam turned his attention from Deeks, back to his partner, who was now, barely able to keep his eyes open. "Give me that, before you fall asleep and spill it all over yourself." Sam reached and took the cup from G's hands.
"Emm not falling 'sleep."
A smile tugged at the corner of Sam's lips as he pulled the blankets up over Callen's shoulders. "Just close your eyes."
Callen did.
