We are Family

Day 23: Exhaustion

It had been a long 3 days for the team. The case had been long, confusing, and everyone was tired.

The one most exhausted then everyone else, was Hetty. She had spent the last 3 days making calls, getting mouthed off by rude people in power over the phone, worrying about her agents when 2 of them almost got killed. And had hardly slept.

Her fatigue was eventually noticed by Callen, when she fell asleep at her desk and he woke her up.

'I was just nodding off for a bit. I swear!' She said.

'You sure? You look really exhausted.' Callen pointed out.

'Mmm. Too much to do. No time to sleep!' She said. And then she almost fell over getting up.

'Hetty, please get some sleep! I know 2 days ago, what happened was scary, but I lived! And so did Sam.'

'You came very, very close to stepping on a landmine! If you had made one more big step to the left, I'd be planning your funeral! How am I supposed to feel?!' Hetty exclaimed.

'Is that the only reason you're like this right now? Has anything else happened lately?'

'Sigh. For 3 days, I've made call after call, been mouthed at multiple times over the phone, then I find out you came dangerously close to a landmine. Well, I'm too anxious to go to sleep, I'm afraid I'll wake up and find out one of my agents is dead!'

Looking astonished, and worried: 'Hetty... You can't let stuff like that prevent you from sleeping! You almost fell over getting up out of your chair! You need to get to sleep! The case is almost over.'

'I can't. I have calls to make. And I need to oversee this mission to success.' Hetty said, And right after saying that, she passed out, exhausted, on her couch.

Callen gave her a blanket to keep her warm, kissed her on the forehead, and left her alone.

Nell took her calls as her assistant, saying that she was unavaliable, but that she had everything covered.

The case was solved later that day.

That early evening

'Hey sleepyhead.' Callen said when he saw that Hetty was waking up.

'Mmm. What time is it?' Hetty said, sleepily.

'It's 5 pm.'

'What? How long have I been asleep?! Those calls, wait what?!'

'Calm down, Nell took care of them. She said that even though you were not around today, you had the case under control.'

'She did? That was, very nice. Um, why did you let me sleep for so long, was the case solved?' Hetty asked.

'You were tired and needed sleep. And yes, The case was solved.'

'Oh. Well, I guess I should go home now. Callen...'

'Yeah?'

'Thank you for letting me sleep. I haven't felt this good in 3 days.' Hetty said, sweetly.

'You're welcome!'