Thanks for the reviews for the first part of this. I give up on predicting the length of stories. This will end when it ends, I guess.
xxxxx
Sam and Hetty sat and quietly watched as the two men from transport effortlessly transferred Callen from the gurney to his hospital bed. His eyes were closed and he appeared extremely pale. Neither of them spoke, not wanting to wake Callen. After about 15 minutes, he began to stir, groaning softly as he shifted on the bed.
"Hey, G…how are you doing?" Sam asked softly as he stood and went to his partner's bedside.
"I feel like I went 10 rounds with a shark and someone should have called the fight in the second round, but let it go the distance," Callen replied with a slight smirk.
"That good, huh," Sam said, giving him a sympathetic look.
Callen's eyes went to Hetty who had just joined his partner by his bed. "Hey, Hetty."
Hetty took Callen's hand and grasped it tightly. "Oh, Mr. Callen, I don't know what I'm going to do with you," she said. "You gave us quite a scare."
"Gave myself one too," he admitted with a slight shudder. "I have to say, it really wasn't one of my better moments. " He turned his gaze to Sam. "Thank you, Sam…you really saved my ass."
"You're welcome," Sam said. "I'm just glad you're okay."
Callen nodded groggily. He was fighting to stay awake and it was obvious he was losing the battle. "I'm good, thanks to you."
"I'm going to go and let you get some sleep," Hetty said, seeing how wiped out he was. "I'll be back to see you tomorrow. I'm very glad you're going to be okay."
"Night, Hetty…thank you." Callen allowed his eyes to close and began to drift off.
Hetty looked up at Sam. "Are you coming?"
Sam looked at Callen and then back at Hetty. "I…I think I'm going to stay here, just for tonight…"
"I'm fine, Sam," Callen said with his eyes still closed. "Go home to your family."
Sam settled his gaze back on his partner and was able to detect the moment his breathing evened out and he knew he was asleep. "I'm going to stay with him," he said to Hetty. "Just in case…" He knew it likely wasn't necessary, but it would make him feel better.
"I understand," Hetty said, smiling up at him, thinking, not for the first time, how glad she was that these two were partners and best friends. Sam was the best thing that had ever happened to Callen. "Will you be in tomorrow?" The members of her team were dropping like flies. She hoped it wasn't the start of a trend.
Sam nodded. "Yeah, I'll be there."
"Okay then, take care of yourself, Sam. I'll see you tomorrow. It's fine if you come in a bit late."
He nodded again. "Good night, Hetty."
xxxxx
"Can I get you anything?" Deeks asked Kensi, after he had gotten her settled back on her bed. She hadn't said a word since they had left Hetty and Sam, not that it was particularly odd, she didn't say much these days. He just wished she would. He missed her.
Kensi shook her head. "No thanks, Deeks."
He nodded, looking a little bit lost. "Guess Callen was pretty lucky today," Deeks commented, just to try to make conversation.
"I wouldn't exactly call him lucky," Kensi said, shaking her head. "That must have been awful for him…"
Deeks nodded. "I'm sure it was, but it could have been a lot worse. He easily could have been killed."
"I don't even want to think about that," Kensi said.
"You're right. The important thing is he's going to be okay." Deeks looked at Kensi expectantly, hoping she would say something…anything to continue the conversation, but she remained silent. Disappointed, he decided he might as well turn in for the night. The team was sorely shorthanded now. He was prepared to go in for a full day of work tomorrow. He obviously wasn't doing any good here anyway.
xxxxx
Callen slept poorly. He was in more pain than he was willing to admit and on top of that, at about 3:30 a.m., he awoke feeling nauseous. The feeling kept getting worse until he was finally forced to awaken his sleeping partner. "Sam? Sam! I think I'm going to be sick."
Sam awoke instantly and quickly found a basin in the nightstand, next to Callen's bed, which he handed to his partner just in a nick of time. Callen then proceeded to lose everything that had been in his stomach. Exhausted and miserable, he finally leaned back against the pillows as Sam buzzed for a nurse.
"I'm sorry," Callen said, glancing at his partner, looking mortified.
"You don't have anything to be sorry for, G," Sam said. "It's not a big deal."
"Is for me," Callen mumbled. When he was a boy, most foster families had had very little patience for him being sick. At times, he had even been punished for it. One particularly vile foster mother had even locked him in a closet with a bucket. He had curled up in a nest he'd made out of old coats and told himself stories of happy families with parents who loved their children. Finally, hours later, she had let him out. It was a hard thing to forget.
"I have kids. This isn't anything I haven't dealt with countless times before. Forget it. I just want you to feel better."
A nurse came in then and quickly and efficiently disposed of the contents of the basin. "I'll notify the doctor," she said, giving Callen a reassuring smile. "It's likely one of your medications isn't agreeing with you. We'll get you feeling better soon."
"You should go home, Sam," Callen said, turning to his partner after the nurse had left. "At least you could get a little sleep before you have to go into work. This isn't doing you any favors."
Sam sighed heavily as he regarded his partner. "So tell me, G…if the situations were reversed, you'd be heading home right now?"
"What?" Callen tried to glare at his partner, but didn't really pull it off. He knew what he was doing. "No," he finally said.
Sam smiled. "That's what I thought. Sorry, G. You're stuck with me at least for a few more hours. Now why don't you try to get some sleep? It's the best thing for you."
Callen nodded, not really up to going against Sam, especially when deep down inside, he had to admit he found his partner's presence to be very soothing. He tried to get himself as comfortable as he could and before too long he had dropped off to sleep under Sam's watchful eye.
xxxxx
"Good morning," Deeks smiled at Kensi and bent down to give her a kiss. "How are you today?"
"Nothing's changed, Deeks," Kensi said. "I feel the same today as I did yesterday and the day before."
"Oh…" he looked at her for a long moment. "Well…maybe things will go better for you in PT today."
"Doubtful," Kensi said with a sigh. "Are you going into work? You probably should get going…"
"If I didn't know any better, I'd swear you were trying to get rid of me," he said with a forced grin. Kensi didn't answer him.
"Okay then…" She'd obviously woken up on the wrong side of the bed. He sighed to himself, once again thinking how much he missed the way their relationship used to be. He wondered if they'd ever get that back. "I guess I'll see you later."
"Bye," Kensi replied absently. Then, almost as an afterthought she added, "have a good day."
"Yeah…you too…" His blue eyes filled with sadness, Deeks gave her one last look then headed off to work.
xxxxx
"Come on, look at that kid. He's obviously yours," Callen said. His eyes were glued to an episode of Maury Povich on the television as he ate a cup of Italian ice.
"In the case of 2-year-old Henry, Andre you are the father!" Maury shouted gleefully as the studio audience went wild.
"Ha! I knew it," Callen said with a self-satisfied smirk as he took another spoonful of the frozen treat.
"Really Callen? Maury Povich?" Kensi asked as she wheeled herself into his room, a look of amusement on her face.
He shrugged as he smiled at her. "Good morning, Kens…Not much else on. Trust me, I've looked. How are you doing?" He was happy to see her. The time had been passing extremely slowly since Sam had left him a couple of hours ago.
"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" she asked, not particularly wanting to talk about herself. "I can't believe you got into it with a shark."
"Not by choice. He wouldn't take no for an answer. Thank God for Sam, that's all I can say," he replied.
"But seriously…are you doing okay?" Kensi asked, eyeing him closely.
"Yeah," he said with a nod. "I'm feeling pretty good today actually."
"That's good," Kensi said. "Is there anything you need? I could get you something to read. There's a newsstand and gift shop on the first floor."
"No, that's okay," he said, shaking his head. "Sam is coming back later and he's bringing my laptop. I just hope I can get him to go home tonight."
"He stayed with you last night?"
Callen nodded. "Yeah, but I kept him up half the night. He needs to be home with Michelle and Kamran getting a good night's sleep tonight."
Kensi nodded and suddenly felt a pang of guilt that Deeks had been staying with her almost constantly. Callen must have understood that from the look on her face. "Hey Kens…I didn't mean anything by that. Trust me, Deeks is thinking about you all the time. The guy's crazy about you. We couldn't keep him away from here if we tried."
"So, what have you been doing with yourself, besides watching bad t.v.?" Kensi asked, abruptly changing the subject to something other than Deeks.
"Nothing. They let me get up and walk to the bathroom so that was good." He stopped, immediately realizing what he'd said as he felt his cheeks flush. Damn. "I…I'm sorry, Kensi," he said, shaking his head. "I…I don't know what's wrong with me today."
She bit her lip, not looking at him. "Don't be silly. I'm sure it did feel good to get out of bed and walk…not that I'd know, but…" She felt tears starting to form and blinked them back furiously. She wasn't going to cry, not here in front of him.
"Kensi…look at me," Callen said, feeling horrible about his blunder.
"Its fine, Callen," she said, managing to get her emotions under control again as she looked back at him. "Please don't worry about it."
"No wonder you don't want us visiting you," he mumbled, feeling like a prize jerk. "I don't blame you…"
"What?" she asked, giving him a stunned look. "I… Why would you think that?"
"I don't know…" he said, shrugging his shoulders. God…she was never going to come back again after this visit. "It just didn't seem like you did…"
"Oh…"she stared down at her lap, knowing that he was right in his assumption, but she didn't think she had been so obvious about it. She suddenly felt like the walls were closing in on her and she really needed to get out of there. "I have to go, Callen," she said, speaking very quickly. "I…I forgot, I have to go to PT. I'll see you later, okay?"
"Kensi…wait, please don't go!" Callen pleaded, watching as she turned her wheelchair around and basically fled from the room. He sighed heavily, feeling very upset with himself. He had managed to botch that in tremendous fashion.