Night had fallen, but the small group in the hospital room barely noticed. While Juliet slept and they waited, Shawn was in his third round of surgery. His little trip ended up collapsing his injured lung as well as ripping almost all of his stitches out, requiring a second surgery and a lot of blood transfusions to fix. Dr. Straus had been out once more to let them know that once Shawn woke up they would test his reflexes and see what was going on with his nerve injuries.

            In order to stop the same situation from happening again, Henry had suggested to the doctors that Juliet and Shawn share the same room. "That way they don't end up killing themselves trying to find each other." Henry had reasoned. Both Dr. Straus and Juliet's doctor, Dr. Cumberland, agreed and she was moved to the second floor.

            A few officers, including Buzz McNab, and Chief Karen Vick had shown up at the hospital to visit after their shifts. Henry, Gus and Carlton however, had not left since arriving just after noon so the three men were beyond exhausted with worry. So when Buzz had offered to make a food run, they all graciously accepted.

            Just as the visitors had arrived, Henry was just finishing up a call with his ex-wife. She had cried when he told her the extent of Shawn and Juliet’s injuries, but she was in Spain and it would take at least a couple days to get to Santa Barbara. However, just the thought of her being on her way was a comfort to the weary Henry.

            Karen sat next to the men as they waited for their supper and watched over her severely injured detective. Some complications had arisen in the last couple hours and Juliet had experienced a few small seizures due to the swelling in her brain. It did nothing to ease everyone’s apprehension, but the doctor said once the swelling went down they should stop. Until then they just had to make her as comfortable as possible until they passed.

            Looking over at Henry and Gus, who had nodded off a few minutes before, Karen mused at how peaceful they were. She regretted the fact that tomorrow she would have to get each of their statements about the incident. It had been traumatic for everyone, but more so for the three men next to her.

            The problem for Karen was, no one really knew anything about what happened before Henry arrived except for Shawn and Juliet. It was a huge narrative hole that she was very curious about, but it would have to wait either of them were conscious. Which, if the doctors were right, would be a while.

            Carlton turned towards Karen and seeing the pensive look on her features, asked, "What are you thinking Chief?"

            "Wondering when Juliet and Shawn will wake up." She said simply, trying not to show her worry.

            The detective nodded. He was wondering the same thing but after watching what happened to Shawn earlier, he hoped it wouldn't be soon. The man needed a lot of rest after what he went through and even though Carlton would never admit it, he had a new respect for Shawn’s fortitude.

            Buzz came back with food minutes later asking curiously, "So what is going on with Shawn? Did anything happen since I left?" Buzz was still a bit in the dark as to what had happened since Shawn and Juliet had been brought in, but what he had heard was almost unbelievable.

            "No, but he should be out of surgery soon. The doctor said a couple hours, and it's been a couple hours." Henry stated as he took a sip of his soda. "Kid is going to be the death of me one day."

            Gus made an agreeing "Humph." noise as he dug into his own meal. He hadn't eaten since lunch and he figured it didn't count anymore anyway with as many times as he had vomited that afternoon.

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            It was almost an hour later when Shawn was wheeled in. Carlton noted thankfully that he was asleep. Dr. Straus had mentioned that they were going to try a different form of sedation that would hopefully knock Shawn out for a while and it looked like it was working.

            Buzz and Karen gasped at the condition Shawn was in. The consultant was attached to tons of machines and had an oxygen mask on that seemed to be helping him breathe. He was bandaged tightly all around his torso with a tube tapped into his lung on his right side. His pallor was also extremely pale. He was nowhere near the lively man they were used to. “Holy cow Shawn.” Buzz exclaimed.

             Henry was instantly on his feet and at his son’s side as soon as the bed stopped rolling. "How did everything go?"

            Dr. Straus wiped some sweat off his face. He looked just as tired as everyone else. "Good. We just have to watch out for infection now with his exacerbated wounds. We gave him a good round of antibiotics so all we can do is wait." A couple nurses came in and the doctor motioned for them to approach Shawn's bed. They took out some restraints and proceeded to secure his hands and feet gently to the bed.

            "Wait a minute!" Gus indignantly protested. "Why are you locking him up?"

            "We don't want him to get up and move around." Dr. Straus explained. "I don't know if his body will be able to survive blood loss like that again. He isn’t a prisoner, but hopefully they will give him a bit of time to think before he goes on another unscheduled walkabout.”

            Karen stood and reached out her hand to the doctor, “Thank you for taking such good care of my consultant.”

            Dr. Straus smiled, “Your welcome. I will be back tomorrow morning to check on Shawn. Until then I suggest you all get some sleep. You can’t be there for him if you are exhausted.” The group nodded in agreement and he left the room, presumably to get some shut eye himself.

            “Detective Lassiter I suggest you go home and get some rest like the doctor said. You have work tomorrow.” Carlton opened his mouth to protest but Karen stopped him, “I am sure Henry or Mr. Guster will contact us if anything should happen.” She gave both men a look that said they had better.

            Henry made a shooing motion with his hand. “Go home Lassiter, I’ll take watch. You go too Gus. You have your route in the morning and I know damn well Shawn has made you miss too much work already.”

            With a little more convincing and prodding Henry finally got everyone to clear out of the room. He had been surrounded by people since bursting in on that horrible and grizzly scene with a madman pointing a gun at his son’s fiancé’s head. He had been happy enough to shoot that man straight through the brain, but he would have to be a madman himself to not be affected by taking a life.

            With no one around to see, Henry finally was able to let his emotions reign. He grabbed Shawn’s hand in both of his and cried, well aware that his son and Juliet were not out of the woods yet. He absolutely couldn’t bear the thought of losing either of them. Juliet was close as she could be to becoming official family, his son just had to work up the nerve to ask her. Henry wouldn’t have been much of a detective if he didn’t notice his mother’s ring was missing within a day of Shawn grabbing it. He had been waiting almost a year to see his son bound into the house announcing that Juliet would be his wife and because of one asshole with a gun, that dream could be shattered forever.

            Henry’s eyelids started to slide closed and he let them. The morning would probably bring more worries but for now he allowed himself the luxury of a little bit of shut eye. Besides Shawn won’t wake up for a while. Henry thought as his breathing evened out and his hand slid limply out of Shawn’s hand and dangled at his side.

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            Bright hazel eyes opened slowly as the last bits of the sedative’s effects wore off. Shawn winced at the light streaming through the windows. His head ached worse than a five day drinking binge hangover. He had an ill-fated Mexican vacation to blame for that comparison.

            There was also an oxygen mask over his face, forcing him to take a breath every few seconds making talking almost impossible. He attempted to reach up and pull it off but found he was unable to move. He raised his head and looked down, noticing that his wrists and ankles were strapped to the bed, making it so he couldn't move.

            “Wha?” Shawn’s mind was still cloudy with pain killers so he couldn’t figure out why anyone would want to secure him to a bed.  Am I in the nut hut again? His memory flashed back to being strapped down to his bed while under cover at an insane asylum. He moved his hand and got that same oddly detached and numb feeling he had earlier, it was also in his legs and feet.

            Looking to his left, Shawn saw that his dad was sitting next to him, limply slumped in the room’s recliner, and to his right… was Juliet. Seeing her brought everything back. The shooting, the desperate trek to see if she was alright, and finally finding her with that ugly bandage on her head. He shut his eyes and held back tears. He tried to save her but he wasn't fast enough.

                        As Shawn swiveled his head around he realized the semi-uncomfortable pressure between his shoulder blades was back along with the numbness. It was also getting a bit disconcerting to him that he was unable to feel the straps that were currently binding him to the bed.

            Doing his best to focus his drug addled brain on Juliet rather than focus on his own discomfort, he tried to piece together how badly she was hurt. She has a large bandage around her head so obvious head wound. He reasoned. Is that a drainage tube, coming out of her head? Shawn swallowed hard, drainage tubes were never a good thing no matter where they came out of. Speaking of drainage tubes… he looked down and noticed he had one of his own, jutting out from his side. “We’re a hot mess aren’t we Jules?” he thought and gave a breathy laugh that morphed into coughing.

            He turned towards his dad and was just about to wake him up when a commotion from Juliet’s bed caught his attention. She had risen off the bed slightly and her eyes had opened to slits and moved back and forth under her lids. Shawn got excited that she was waking up “Jules?” He mumbled through the mask. Suddenly her arms and legs started moving sporadically followed by choking sounds and body tremors. He realized she was having a seizure. Oh God is she dying!? "Dad!" He tried shouting but it was muffled and weak.

            Realizing that shouting wasn't going to work, he then tried to push the nurse call button but couldn't reach it with the straps on. Shawn knew he had to get them off, now. He fiercely wiggled  his arm and grunted, twisting and turning his right wrist every which way. Finally, with a long pull he wretched his arm loose and mashed the nurse call button sending a loud beep through the room which woke Henry up.   

            “Shawn?” He saw that his son was awake and practically tearing the restraints off the bed and already had an arm loose. “What’s wrong?” He finally saw where his son was looking a second later; Juliet was having another seizure, a bad one by the looks of it and Shawn, having just woken up had no clue what was going on. Henry jumped up and tried to stop Shawn from hurting himself. “Kid you need to calm down!” He heard Shawn trying to say something through the oxygen mask so he moved it off his face.

            “Get these off!” *Cough* “She needs me!” Shawn struggled more.

            “Shawn Henry Spencer, stop and listen!” Henry hollered practically in Shawn’s face. The glare he received in response was murderous but the young man quit struggling. “Now the nurses are on their way and will help Juliet. The doctor said this would happen until the swelling went down and you having a fit about it isn’t going to help her.” The last thing Henry wanted to do was yell at his critically injured son, but there was no other option.

            Shawn closed his eyes and turned away from the sight of his girlfriend seizing. That was not something he wanted stuck in his head for the rest of his life. The nurses ran in the room a moment later, thankfully blocking her from view. Opening his eyes Shawn looked at the restraints then at his dad demanding, “Get these-*Gasp*- off me.”

            Henry shook his head, “Not until I’m sure you aren’t going to do anything stupid. Your last trip almost killed you. What were you thinking Shawn? You were shot and you just go wandering the halls willy nilly?”

            Speaking through gritted teeth Shawn choked out, “I had to… I needed to see her.” Tears started forming in his eyes, both from the struggle to breathe and seeing Juliet in such a horrible state. It was enough to make Henry feel like a complete ass-hat for scolding him. "What *Cough* happened to..."

            Henry cut him off, getting what he wanted to know. “The bastard hit her in the back of the head with a baseball bat. She has bleeding in her skull. Until the swelling goes down she will be having a few seizures like this one."

            Shawn winced in sympathy. Getting hit on the head was no picnic, he would know. His brow furrowed in confusion, and he pressed his hand to the wound on his chest. "Got shot?"

            Henry pointed to the front of Shawn’s chest. “That isn’t a bullet hole Shawn. They had to dig one of the bullets out of the front. That is what that is from." His son's eyes widened at the news. He had assumed he was just shot once in the torso. "You were shot three times in the back. You barely made it kid.”

            He leaned back and tried to take in what his dad had told him. “Doesn't hurt. He wiggled a bit to accentuate his statement and felt the same tight pressure as before. “Stiff. Hard to breathe.”

            Their conversation halted when one of the nurses walked away from Juliet and approached them. “She should be fine for now. Let me know if anything changes.”

            “Ok, thanks.” Henry rubbed the top of his head and glanced down to Shawn’s restraints. A small spreading red stain was developing around the still bound wrist and he noticed for the first time how much skin Shawn took off the one he did get out. “Nurse! Help me get these off!” He started undoing the straps and Shawn watched with wide eyes as they revealed skinned and cut up appendages. “Do you even feel this Shawn?” He showed Shawn his own wrist and touched the raw skin. It wasn’t life threatening but it should have put him in a lot of pain, but it seemed like Shawn didn’t even realize it happened. Not even morphine can do that.

            The nurse figured it out too. "I'm going to see if the doctor is here yet." She made her strategic exit leaving both Spencers in an awkward silence.

            Shawn stared at his wrists, and was genuinely afraid. "What is it?" He wheezed out.

            “I don’t know,” Henry stated gently holding one of his son’s injured wrists. “But damn it we are going to find out.”