Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters.

Chapter 7

"I have word on Mr Callen," Hetty announced, slowly walking into the waiting room two hours later. They all focused on her, not at all surprised at seeing her at the hospital when her favourite agent was down.

"What is going on, Hetty?" Sam fretted when she didn't elaborate any further. Hetty composed herself, "Mr Callen was very lucky. The knife missed all major organs. The wound itself was deep, though which resulted in severe blood loss and had to be compensated by transfusions. They stitched him up, successfully but decided to keep him sedated for the next 24 hours in order to give his body the rest it quite desperately needs."

Hetty heavily sat down on one of the waiting room chairs. "Our Mr Callen seems to have run down himself quite badly over the last few weeks, I am afraid that is in my responsibility. His body is covered in scratches and bruises from his latest undercover job, nothing severe but the sheer number of it makes it an issue. He was dehydrated, physically exhausted and poorly on the nutrition side of things, so they had major difficulty stabilizing him in order to sedate him, at all. From the fallout with Garcia's men he gained another massive bruise, this time to his chest which makes it difficult for him to breathe."

Sam took in Hetty's words. "What undercover job, Hetty?" he asked alarmed, "When? And why wasn't I involved to have his back?"

Hetty sighed, "Mr Callen was on a secret intel gathering case for the CIA over the last 4 weeks, they had requested his special skill set via Leon. Mr Callen worked on it after office hours and at weekends. The case turned out to be more challenging than I anticipated and obviously took more out of him than I realized, I am afraid. His cover as a self defence trainer turned more and more into a coach for hand to hand combat and he obviously trained with some pretty lethal fellows. His cover was blown this morning which put him in quite a hopeless situation but by thinking out of the box he managed to take out the suspects in a shoot out."

Sam turned pale. His partner had been by himself with no one to watch out for him, had been in a deadly situation with no backup at all. "Hetty, I should have been there, I am his partner!" Sam growled.

"There was no need for you to get involved Mr Hanna, Mr Callen has been on his own on far more challenging operations," Hetty replied.

"He needs someone to have his back! You know how he gets involved in a case. He forgets all about his own needs and private life." Voicing this truth about his partner Sam instantly realized why Callen had been so detached, lately. And what had made him miss family gatherings and workouts. "I should have guessed," he groaned, feeling a headache rising. "Mr Hanna, as you know Mr Callen is very much capable of handling himself," Hetty answered, "and his ability to improvise saved him numerous times."

Sam pondered about the new information. "A self defence trainer," he thought, grinning to himself. No wonder his partner had appeared fit and strong in the camera footage. In those 4 weeks he had probably worked out more than ever. Sam couldn't help shaking his head at the thought, "And I accused him of being too slow!"

"Is he going to be OK, Hetty?" Kensi asked. "The main concern is for infection setting in but he is on strong antibiotics for that. He should fully recover, eventually but he will have to take his time to heal up," Hetty explained. "Can we see him?" Sam had to make sure Callen was OK for himself. "They will inform us as soon as Mr Callen has been settled into his room," Hetty said.

They had to wait for another hour before said nurse came to show them to Callen's room. "Mr Callen is on antibiotics and nutrition supplements through an IV in order to replenish his stocks. He gets oxygen through a nasal cannula to help his breathing and he won't wake up for another 24 hours due to sedation. Please keep your visits short and only two at a time, the patient needs rest."

Kensi and Deeks went in to see him first. Kensi found it disturbing to see Callen appearing fragile but overall he didn't look so bad as the main bandages where covered by a blanket. „Hello Callen, how are you?" Kensi tried to connect with her unconscious mentor and sat down next to him.

"Man, you sure know how to make us jump!" Deeks joked. Kensi sat down next to her friend, taking his hand. She just sat there looking at him. "We are all here for you," Kensi tried to reassure Callen. Deeks supportively lay his hand on her shoulder. Finally Kensi got up to give Callen a kiss on his forehead, "Get well! I can't wait to see those baby blues tomorrow!"

Sam settled down in Callen's room to stay, whereas Hetty stood by the bed: "You gave us quite a scare, Mr. Callen. I am glad you will be fine," she squeezed his hand reassuringly, "Mr Hanna, look after him, please." she turned away and quietly left the room.