A short little chapter to get Callen through Wednesday night. :)

CHAPTER 53: Settling In

Callen was handing Sam his empty shake container when Deeks returned with a plastic bag of take-out in one hand, and one of Hetty's brightly colored tapestry tote bags in the other.

"Oh, good!" Kensi said, then let out an exaggerated exhale. "I'm starved."

"Me too," Deeks said, handing the tote off to Kensi, and carefully setting down the bag of food. "Lunch was a long time ago."

"Yes. It. Was," Sam concurred.

Deeks began handing out the food. "I'm fairly certain today was three days rolled into… Ut-Oh, Sam. They didn't put your vinaigrette dressing in the bag."

"That's okay." Sam took his chef salad and plastic utensils from Marty and lowered himself back down into a chair. "I'm so hungry right now, I might even be tempted to eat some of that garbage my partner puts into his body."

Callen shot Sam a look.

Kensi sat down on the couch and unwrapped her burger. "Callen? I feel bad eating in front of you. Do you want some of my cheeseburger? Or some fries? I have plenty."

Callen shook his head. "No thanks."

Deeks took his food out of the bag and held it out toward G. "Chicken sandwich?" He lowered his sandwich and pointed to the big SEAL. "Sam's salad?"

"I'm good," Callen answered with a small, crooked smile.

"Good," Sam said without looking up from food. "'Cause I wasn't gonna share with you."

Callen's smile was interrupted by a prolonged grimace that his partner didn't miss from where he was seated.

When G's features finally relaxed, he scooted up in the bed a little, and pressed the control to lower the head of the bed. With a faint groan, he rolled over onto his left side, facing the wall.

Sam was almost finished eating when he heard a soft hiss from the bed.

Kensi and Deeks watched Sam, as he got up from his chair, put his salad down, and strode around to the other side of the bed.

Sam studied Callen a moment. His partner was shaking slightly. His entire body was tense and his eyes were squeezed tight.

A few moments later, he his body relaxed as he let out a breath.

"G?"

Callen's eyes flew open as his body flinched. He blinked sideways up at Sam.

"You want me to get the nurse?"

Callen closed his eyes, exhaled slowly, and shook his head negatively.

"Hot tea? Another blanket?"

"I'm okay," he answered weakly.

"You are not okay. Where are you hurting?"

"Sam… I'm fine. I'm cold. And I just want…" Callen grimaced. "…out of this bed," he finished through clenched teeth.

Sam gazed across the room to where Kensi and Deeks were now standing, both watching with worried looks.

Kensi wrapped up her almost-finished burger. "I think there's one more blanket."

Just as she pulled the folded blanket from the closet shelf, Callen's IV pump began sounding loud, repetitive beeps.

Deeks pressed the nurses' call button.

A few seconds later, a female voice came over the speaker. "May I help you?"

"Yes. Ahhh… His IV machine is beeping?"

"I'll let his nurse know."

"Thanks."

G opened his eyes. He directed a brief glare to where the offensive sound was coming from, and then looked up at Sam. "You have your gun on you?" he asked, barely heard over the alarm.

One side of Sam's mouth twitched a couple of times. "You probably have it wadded up under you again."

Sam stepped out of the way when he saw Olivia come through the door. "You might want to hurry," he said with a chuckle. "He's trying to get me to shoot this thing."

The nurse smiled back at Sam as she made her way around to the machine. "By all means, then. Let me see if I can fix it."

She gave the bag of IV fluid a quick glance, and then pressed a button that stopped the high-pitched sound. Olivia looked down at the bed. "I'm fairly certain the tube is just constricted where you're lying on it."

Sam took another step back toward the wall. "You're starting to make a habit of this, G. Ms. Esther had to come in here last night and untangle you."

Olivia gently lifted the covers away from Callen's side. "Yeah… We need to get this tubing out from under you. Can you roll over on your back, for me?"

G flopped over onto his back, but ended up too low in the bed, and in an awkward, cattycornered position.

Needing to reposition himself, he instinctively reached for the siderail, resulting in a sudden, simultaneous shout from the four onlookers.

"No," "Hold up," "Don't…," "Wait!"

Callen startled, and then froze.

After a few seconds, he blinked up at his partner.

Sam tilted his head to the side and gave G a sympathetic look. "We'll help you. You've got to stop pulling with that broken hand."

Callen lowered his arm, glanced at his cast, and then gazed blankly toward the space in front of him. He didn't even seem to notice when Deeks approached the bed, or when Sam dragged the covers off of him and down to the foot of the bed.

"Bend your left leg, G," Sam instructed.

Several seconds passed with no response.

Facing each other from opposite sides of the bed, Deeks and Sam exchanged looks.

"G," Sam said, raising his voice a little, and lightly tapping Callen's left knee several times.

Callen raised his head and met his partner's eyes.

"Your foot is caught." This time he rested his fingers on Callen's knee. "Bend your leg for me so we can move you over."

Starting to shiver a bit harder, Callen looked down to where his ankle was wedged between the metal bars of the siderail. He bent his knee and freed his socked foot from the bars.

As soon as Callen's leg was no longer restricted, Sam and Deeks reached in from both sides of the bed, slid their arms in under Callen's back and legs, and gently scooped him up. They moved him up and toward the middle of the bed, carefully lowered him to the mattress, and then slipped their arms from beneath him.

Callen's shaking had become so intense, at this point, that he appeared to be barely able to take in a full breath.

"That should do it," the nurse said while checking to make sure the tape was secure on the back of Callen's hand. "That's all it was… a kink in the tube." She turned the IV machine on and then looked down at her patient. "Oh, my goodness," she exclaimed. "Let's get you covered up."

Olivia, Sam and Deeks all worked together to spread and straighten the multiple layers of blankets over Callen's shivering form.

As soon as the nurse had gone, Sam raised the head of G's bed, located the fresh mug Hetty had sent, and filled it half-way with hot tea.

Whether from being too cold to want to pull his arms from beneath the blankets, or realizing he was just too shaky to hold the cup, Callen may no attempt to take the mug when Sam held it up to his mouth for him to take a drink.

"You want some more," Sam asked when the cup was empty.

Callen shook his head lightly and then closed his eyes.

"Sleepy?" Sam asked.

Callen shook his head, again. A small smile appeared on his face. "Meditating," he answered hoarsely.

Sam placed his palms on the top of the side rail and leaned in closer to his partner. "Imagining you are next to a warm fireplace?... or sitting on the beach?"

With his eyes still closed, Callen's smile broadened. "Pretty much," he mumbled.

Sam patted G's shoulder a couple of times, and then returned to his chair.

Kensi and Deeks talked softly from the couch for the next thirty minutes, or so, while Sam sat catching up on his messages.

By the time Nurse Esther came on duty at eleven, Deeks and Kensi had gone home, and Sam had retreated to the couch.

Other than a few visits from the nurse, G's one trip to the bathroom, and Sam's occasional push to get his partner to drink something, the night was fairly quiet.

Callen quickly dozed off after receiving his 1:00am medication.

Knowing Hetty would be arriving early, Sam took advantage of the quiet, settling in for some much needed shut-eye.