"Dad."

Who?

"Come on dad, wake up."

 Who is this dad person? Forget that. Who is screaming in my ear?

"DAD!"

Henry groaned as his eyes opened to a world filled with pain and noise.  Blearily blinking against the light he took in his immediate surroundings, he was in his truck but something was wrong with it. The windows were broken, the windshield was spider webbed and his seats were above his head.  He closed his eyes and rubbed at them hoping when they reopened his world would have been righted.

"No sleeping dad. Not with a concussion." 

There's that dad word again. Henry smacked at the fingers that incessantly tapped his cheek, interrupting his chance at a nap. "Leave me alone m'sleepy."  He heard a chuckle follow quickly but a gasp of pain.  The sharp intake of air was followed by coughing, the coughing was followed by a groan and the groan triggered something in Henry's brain. I'm dad and that's Shawn!  Despite the searing pain he opened his eyes again and looked around for his son.

"Shawn?"  His vision was blurry but he saw the mess of brown hair and the worried hazel eyes.

"Hey dad, naptime's over." 

"What happened?"  The worry in Shawn's eyes grew.

"Close your eyes and tell me what the last thing is you remember." 

Henry gave an exasperated sigh. "Really Shawn?"

"Just do it. Ok and then we'll go from there."

Henry closed his eyes and concentrated.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

"We are sooo late!!"  Shawn kept bouncing around in the passenger seat of the truck.  "Can't this thing go any faster?"  Henry clenched his jaw as Shawn took it upon himself to turn his dashboard into a drum.  "Jules is going to be so mad at me!"  Shawn continued his drumming but it took on a frantic pace.

"STOP!"  Henry reached out with his right hand and grabbed Shawn's wrist. "Just. Stop."  He let go of the hand and sighed in relief when it stayed still.

They rode in blissful silence for the next fifteen seconds. "So why are we taking a road that reminds me of Wrong Turn?"

Henry was confused by the reference but didn't ask. "Because Shawn this road is quicker than the main one."  The truck hit a particularly large hole in the road and the occupants were bucked around in their seats.

"And it's bumpier than the main road too."

"Shut up Shawn.  It evens out in about two miles."  They continued to rattle along the little road till Henry was forced to slam his breaks.

"Woah!" Shawn had put his hands out to brace against the sudden stop.

 Henry gave his son a sidelong glance and saw him breathing fast from the adrenaline dump.  "Yeah woah."  The truck had come to stop just feet in front of a downed tree.

"What now, Dad?"  Henry bit the angry retort at Shawn's condescending tone.

"Now we back up to the turn around and go to the main road."

"What if another car comes this way?"

"Doubtful this road is only really used by hunters and it's out of season."  Shawn just nodded as Henry began the slow decent to the turn around that was only a few hundred feet away, to get a better view Henry unbuckled his belt and twisted around with the aid of his arm on the headrest.

Shawn scoffed. "You used to rag on me for taking my seatbelt off before the key left the ignition and now you're driving backwards, on a dangerous road, with yours off." 

Henry's eyes left the road for a second. "Shut-" 

The trunk lunged violently toward the passenger side and the tires on that side slid off the road, Henry spun the steering wheel and tried to get some traction but it didn't work.  The rear end of the truck left the road completely and Henry felt as the front end left as well, he could hear twigs snapping and feel the truck shuddering as it slid and then his world jerked and he slammed into the roof.  Shawn shouted as the truck continued to roll and after its fifth revolution Henry's brain could take no more and unconsciousness claimed him.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

"Dad?"  Henry opened his eyes and this time his vision was less blurry.  "What do you remember?"

"We were going to a cabin where you planned some big weekend with all of us."  Shawn nodded. "We took this road because we were running late, because you absolutely had to go to Psych before we hit the road. There was a tree in the road, I tried to turn us around and then the truck slid off the road."  Henry screwed his eyes shut as his head began to throb with his heartbeat.

"Dad. No dad you gotta stay awake. DAD?!"  The outburst was followed by another groan of pain.  Henry's eyes shot open and for the first time since he woken up he remembered that he wasn't the only one in the truck when it rolled down the side of the mountain.

"Shawn?"  Shawn was pale and shaky, he was hugging himself tightly and was breathing through clenched teeth. Forgetting his head Henry went to push up with his left arm and almost yelled when it exploded in pain. Definitely broken.  Broken bones was something Henry could deal with, seeing his son in pain was not.  So this time he pushed up with his right arm to a semi-sitting position and reached out to touch Shawn's shoulder. "Hey kid. You ok?" 

Shawn nodded as he opened his eyes. "Yeah just got a little banged up, I wasn't the one who being thrown around as made our little detour."  He smiled a bit. "This new path you took seems quicker than that road, I don't know why we didn't choose this way to begin with."  His tone was filled with worry so the joke fell flat. "Anyways I haven't been able to get a good look at you but now you're awake so...."  Shawn began to poke and prod Henry's bruised and battered body.

Just as Shawn poked a particularly sore spot Henry smacked his hand away. "My head hurts, I'm nauseous, my left arm is definitely broken, my bruises have bruises, and my leg feels like it might be broken too.  On the bright side I can feel everything so my spine is still intact and I can remember almost the whole day so the concussion is not too bad."

Shawn nodded and scooted out of the truck, Henry could hear him rummaging around the brush for something. "Got it!"  Before Henry could ask Shawn was back in the truck with two backpacks which he recognized as Shawn's.  Shawn opened both packs and dumped out their contents. Henry watched in mild fascination as Shawn turned some odds and ends into a makeshift splint and ripping up the light jacket he was wearing into bandages.  Shawn pointed at his arm and Henry lifted it the best he could, hissing as Shawn tightened the splint around it.  "And now your head."

"My head?"  Henry felt around his skull and when he hit the source of his pain stars burst before his eyes, withdrawing his hand he saw red coating his fingers. "My head."

Shawn sighed and rolled his eyes as he wrapped one of the bandages around his head and then tied a knot in it. "How ‘bout you lie down."  He helped Henry lie down on the roof of the truck and with the clothes he had packed padded his head and elevated his injured leg. "Not broken but definitely bruised all to hell."  Henry bit his lip and nodded as the pain flared in his leg as Shawn positioned it.  "You also got a nasty cut on the back of it."  As Shawn wrapped another bandage Henry closed his eyes and started to drift off to sleep. Again Henry was rudely awaken as Shawn tapped his cheek roughly. "No sleeping with a head injury."  Henry opened his eyes and huffed at his son.

"Have you called for help, yet?" 

"Was just about too."  Shawn whipped out his phone and laughed when there were no bars on it.  He slid out of the truck and Henry could hear his footsteps get fainter as he searched for a signal.  Henry sighed and was about to close his eyes when the footsteps came back.  "No signal. They know we were taking this road and will come looking for us when we don't show."  Henry was quiet, Shawn leaned over and saw his dad trying to sleep. "Hey! No sleeping!"

"Well how do you plan on keeping me awake?"  Shawn sat outside the widow next to Henry's head.

"I'm gonna talk. You always said my incessant talking pisses you off so what a better way than pissing you off to keep you awake."

"Well if you're going to talk that much I get to pick the subject."

Shawn chuckled. "Shoot old man."

"Tell me what you did all those years you traveled."  Shawn was quiet for a second.

"Ok let me tell you about the time I became a masseuse...."

"Have you seen the new guy he is Cute with a capital ‘C'." 

"I've heard that his fingers are that of a God."

"He's already all booked up for the next month."

"You ladies wouldn't be talking about me now would you?"  Shawn smirked cockily as the two women jumped at his words.  The women's faces turned a brilliant shade of red and they all but ran out of the break room.

"You know you're the ‘it' kid right now."  Shawn smiled at his boss. "If you would just do some private sessions than you would be really raking in the dough."  Shawn seriously considered it while he was eating lunch and decided that the next time one of his clients asked for a private session he would be more than happy to oblige.

The door cracked open and the pretty redhead from reception poked her head in. "Shawn your three o'clock is here."  Shawn looked at his watch and saw that it was only two-thirty.  "She said she was willing to pay you double."  Shawn smiled and nodded.

"Get her set up I will be there in five."  Shawn quickly finished his lunch and made sure he looked the part before he entered his work room. 

When he stepped through the door the client was not at all what he was expecting; usually the massageé was already face down in the table, the candles would be lit, and some soft music would be playing but this woman was sitting up and barely holding onto her sheet as she extended a hand to shake it.

"I'm Darla and I've heard the greatest things about you Mr. Spencer." 

Shawn shook her hand. "Call me Shawn, Mr. Spencer is my father and I am nothing like my father, trust me." 

The woman laughed. "Well, Shawn, as I was saying I heard great things about you and I wanted to monopolize your time."  Darla dropped the sheet ‘accidently' and Shawn couldn't help but see every square inch of her body as she slowly picked the sheet up.  "I'm such a klutz."  She lay down on the table and adjusted the sheet dangerously low on her hips.

Shawn swallowed deeply as he prepared the room. "What kind of music would you like?"  His voice squeaked as he turned the dimmer low.

"Anything but soft jazz."  Shawn nodded as he silently turned some mellow instrumental blues on. "mmmmmm.....perfect."  Usually women didn't purr like that till Shawn got his hands on them.

Dear God.  Shawn picked out some lavender oil and set about his work.  One hour later Darla was near passing out as was Shawn but for completely different reasons.  All he could do was keep replaying the noises she made as he massaged her. Cats in heat are quieter.  Just as he was going to leave the room and give her some privacy so she could get dressed she reached out a hand and grabbed him by a belt loop on his jeans.

"I was wondering if you do private sessions." 

Shawn cleared his throat and tried to keep the squeak out of his voice. "Um...yes I do."  He grabbed his date book. "But I must warn you it's twice as much."

"Anything to feel your magical hands on my body again." 

Shawn was thankful she was still face down on the table because he was quite sure you could light a match from his face. "I'm free tomorrow after five and then on Saturday..."

"Tomorrow five-thirty sharp."

Shawn nodded and squeaked out a thank you to the woman before he ran out the room to gulp in some air that wasn't thick with whatever pheromone that woman released.

The next day all he could think about was Darla, her all over tan, and the rose tattoo she had on her hip.  As soon as his four- thirty left he almost ran over two co-workers as he left the building.  When the cab pulled up outside Darla's house Shawn didn't know what to expect but the nice brick ranch house with bushes that lined the walk wasn't it.  He grabbed his gear and slowly walked up to the front door.  Before he got a chance to knock the door swung open and there stood Darla in a skimpy silk robe.

Shawn swallowed and closed his eyes and when he opened them he saw as Darla sauntered away slowly dropping her robe on the floor.  Shawn ran after her almost forgetting to close the door behind him.  When he entered her bedroom he knew that she did not have a massage in mind.  The bed was turned down, candles were lit, there was champagne in a bucket, and Barry white was playing in the background.

"Well are you going to do me or what?"  Darla scooted back on the bed and propped herself up on her elbows.

Shawn choked on the intentional innuendo and being a red blooded all American male he did what was asked of him. 

Before he had time to think clearly he could hear a car pull up outside the house. "That's my husband!!" 

Shawn jumped up, grabbed his clothes and went to run out of bedroom when he heard heavy footsteps approaching the room, he reversed direction quickly and ran to the closet shutting the door quietly.  He watched through the slats as Darla threw on her robe and opened the door letting her husband into the bedroom.

"Is all this for me baby?"

"Sure is sweetie."  Shawn continued to watch through the slats as her husband kissed Darla deeply.

"Son of a bitch!"  Shawn clamped his mouth shut and continued to watch as his boss kissed Darla.  Abruptly his boss broke the kiss and looked toward the closet.

"What was that?"  Darla tried desperately to get her husband's attention again but it failed.  Shawn prepared for the worst and he certainly got it.  As the door opened everything moved in slow motion as his boss grabbed him by his hair and dragged him to the front door, when the door swung open his boss socked him in the eye as hard as he could and Shawn spilled out in the yard in only his boxers.

"So I take it I'm fired?"  Shawn flashed a cheesy smile at the man and had to scramble to run down the block nearly naked as his ex-boss chased him with a baseball bat.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

"Please tell you didn't just tell me about your first time."  Shawn snorted out a laugh at his dad's mortification.

"No, I am never going to tell you that story but that was my first cougar."

"Rate her from Bettie White to Demi Moore."

"Gave Demi Moore a run for her money."

Henry nodded in approval. "Way to go kid."

"I just thank God that her husband was overweight and a horrible swing." Shawn listened to his father chuckle and smiled. "Well I am going to try sending a text off."  Shawn stood slowly and walked even slower to a tree that was fifty yards away from the truck.  He sank against the trunk and unbuttoned his polo; the wife beater that was under it was slowly being stained red.  He groaned softly as he lifted the shirt above the wound in his side.  When he came to in the truck there was some sort of metal rod sticking out his side, he didn't know what it was and he knew he wasn't supposed to remove it but it was tiny and his dad had to be hurt worse after bouncing around in the truck as they rolled.  Removing it was something he never wanted to experience again and he was just thankful he didn't pass back out.  Shawn closed his eyes and breathed deeply to stop his head from swimming, his father wasn't the only one with a concussion.  Knowing that his dad would begin to worry he whipped out his phone and tried to send off a text message to Juliet but it failed miserable.

"Shawn?!?"  Even slower than before he stood and gimped his way back to the truck. "Any luck son?"

Shawn let out an involuntary whimper as he stuck his upper half of his body in the truck. "No, but I do need to check your leg."  Shawn sighed in relief that bleeding had stopped. "How's the head?"

"Better. You Ok son?"  Shawn was sweaty, despite the coolness of the weather and he was breathing hard. Shawn nodded but bit his lip as he backed out of the truck and it jarred his injuries.

"Yeah my ribs are just bruised, doesn't make for a fun time."  Henry grunted in agreement.  "So now that you heard about my time of touching hotties."  Shawn sat outside the window again. "Want to hear about the time I worked for a carnival?"

"Straight. Looks like I win boys."  Shawn smirked as he pulled together all his winnings from the poker game. "Same time tomorrow?"  He was met with three almost angry faces but after spending nearly two weeks with them Shawn knew it was caused more from exhaustion than anger.  Smiling again he left the tiny travel trailer and began toward the place he was calling home. 

"Hey, wait up!"  Shawn spun and smiled at the woman who jogging toward him, she was an honest to goodness gypsy laden with chains and fabrics.  Shawn stopped and waited for the woman to be by his side.  In two weeks he had made many friends but this gypsy woman had become one of his closest.

"Marla, what brings you out on this beautiful night?"  She just shrugged and together they walked around the carnival grounds, Shawn making sure every gate was secure and that no one was trying to jump the fence. 

He was in Oklahoma when his bike decided it disliked the cheap gas and no oil he been treating it to.  He was on the side of the road for almost six hours when he heard the caravan of trailers, semis, and the occasional truck rumbling down the road.  Almost all the vehicles passed him save for a RV with "Marla the Magnificent" painted on the side; a woman with long gray hair opened her door and motioned for him to board.  Shawn didn't want to leave his bike behind so he sighed in relief when one of the trucks stopped and a behemoth of a man stepped out to retrieve it.  Without a word he hopped into the RV and went along for the ride.  They came to rest outside a little town and Shawn was offered a job so he could pay for the repairs to his bike.  So for the last two weeks he had worked odd jobs from running the Ferris wheel to cleaning up vomit, at this carnival that still featured things like a bearded lady, strong man, and the psychic that was matching his steps.

"Is this going to be another one sided conversation."  Shawn glanced at the woman and saw how she smiled at him, that smile made him miss his mom so much he almost couldn't stand looking at her.

"No I think tonight I will hold up my half, if you keep me company tonight."  She motioned with her head to the RV. "I know it smells of incense and sage but it has to be better than rooming with the wonder twins."  The wonder twins were a feature in the freak show, one was a giant man with arms thicker than most men's waist the other was a three foot even little person and their idea of a bath was a wet wipe and some spit.  Shawn nodded and followed the woman to the RV.

When the door opened he was assault with the strong smoky smell of incense but that was a billion times better than the odor his roomies gave off.  Shawn helped her up the steps and followed her into the dimly lit trailer; every time he was in here he couldn't keep his eyes in one place too long and not because of his ADD.  There were baubles everywhere and they were each unique, Marla had everything from shrunken heads to the eye of a wizard preserved in resin. 

"Every time I come in her I see something new."

Marla sat at the table that had a crystal ball on top of it. "Well most people do."

Shawn sat on the opposite side of her. "Well I'm not most people."

"I know."  She poured some tea in a cup and handed it to Shawn. "Drink."  Shawn wasn't sure what was in the tea but he didn't want to be rude so he sipped on the steaming liquid.  Marla studied him as he drank. "You, Shawn Spencer, are a man of the world.  You were forced to grow up way to fast and now you are trying to get your childhood back."

"Well almost anyone can see that." 

She held up a wrinkled hand. "You have a gift, though, you see what others can't.  You can put two and two together and get four, every time.  You can look at someone and tell them more about themselves than they knew."  Shawn smiled and continued to sip, the tea was slightly bitter but the honey put a nice sweetness behind it and he couldn't seem to stop himself from drinking. "You're psychic."

Shawn choked on the mouthful of tea he had and as he coughed and sputtered he heard Marla's laughter. "Psy....psychic?"   He took a few deep breaths to make sure no more coughs were coming. "I'm sorry Marla but I don't believe in psychics. Highly observant and intelligent people but not psychic."

Marla's expression betrayed nothing.  "Then why do so many come to me for their future to be read?"  She leaned forward and took the now empty cup from Shawn's hands.  "Hmmmmm...."

"What?" 

"Oh I'm sorry I thought you didn't believe in psychics and, well, tea leaf reading is part of it."  She sat back in her chair and continued to read the leaves.  "You are going to live an interesting life Shawn.  There is a lot of death surrounding you but you're not sad because of it."  She tilted the cup more and smiled broadly. "You are going to find your soul mate but it's going to take a while for both of you to realize it."  Putting the cup down her haunting crystal blue eyes met his disbelieving hazel. "You're going to right a lot of wrongs."

"Like Robin Hood?"

Marla laughed again.  "Not robbing from the rich and giving to the poor but yeah in a way you're going to have a rag tag group fixing the wrongs in the world."  She stood and yawned. "I'm going to take my leave. You are more than welcome to sleep on the couch."  Shawn saw the couch was made up with tons of fluffy pillows and warm looking blankets.  Shawn heard the jingle of the chains that separated Marla's room from the rest of the trailer so he kicked off his boots and snuggled into the plushness of the couch and unlike the past two weeks he was asleep almost instantly.

The warmth of the sun on his face was what woke him the next day and as he stretched and yawned he noted that the normal cricks in his neck and back were gone.  He strapped on his boots and went to say goodbye Marla. "Marla? "  When she didn't respond Shawn got a sinking feeling, Marla was always an early riser but it didn't even sounded like she had stirred at his voice.  "Marla? You Ok?"  Shawn decided to check on her and if some embarrassing situation arose from it then he would just have to deal.  He parted the chains and as they jingled back to their resting place he approached the bed.  Marla looked like she was sleeping but her chest wasn't moving and her face lack the pink it normally had.  Shawn reached forward and when he felt no breath on his hand his fear was confirmed.  He grasped her hand which was still warm. "Goodbye Marla."  He felt a tear roll down his cheeks and he wiped it away.  He let go of her hand and when he did a piece of paper fell from it. Shawn opened it and laughed at the elegant writing. ‘Goodbye Shawn and good luck.'  Shawn folded up the paper and put it in his wallet. "You were wrong about one thing Marla, I am sad."

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

"She just reminded me so much of mom when I found her that way I couldn't help but feel like I lost so important to me."  Shawn laughed a bit. "Marla had paid for all the repairs for my bike saying that I had better things to spend my money on." 

"Wow." 

"Yeah. She was pretty spot on with everything."  He sighed. "I still have the note."  Shawn pulled his wallet out and handed Henry a yellowed piece of paper.  Henry looked at the loops and curves that constituted of this woman's last message to the world.

"You know she was right about you."  Henry extended his arm up so Shawn could take the paper back.

"Dad you know I don't believe in psychics.  I just pretend to be one, is your concussion that bad?"

Henry scoffed. "Idiot. I was talking about righting wrongs.  You have put together many broken lives."  Shawn didn't respond. "Shawn?"

"Sorry dad my mind wandered for a second."

"It's alright."  Henry felt his eyes droop shut.

"HEY!"  His eyes snapped open and he sucked a deep breath of air. "NO. SLEEPING."

"Keep talking then."

Shawn closed his eyes and concentrated on anything but the pain in his chest that had gone from a dull ache to a much more persistent throb. "Shawn?"

"OK.  How about the time I spent in Italy in authentic brick oven pizzeria."

Shawn tossed the dough in the air and caught it flawlessly to the ‘ooohs and ahhhs' of the tourists, he found the flashier his moves the more money he was tipped so he quickly learned how to handle the dough as if it was a basketball.  The money was good, the pizza was free, and the ladies, whew!  He would catch many a woman tourist undressing him with their eyes and if he played the part of no English speaking Italian pizza maker they were more than willing to give him a taste of America.  He knew it was a good idea to get an allover tan before coming to this little town.  As he prepared to finish his last show of the day he looked up and gave the crowd a toothy smile, almost all of the people watching were tourists he hadn't seen before, except for one girl,  she stood in the corner and watched him with a knowing look.  His smile grew and then he went back to his pizza dough. He tossed, rolled, and threw it all around only to catch it and pull it into a perfectly shaped pizza.  He then set about making it up with sauce, mozzarella, and some fresh slices of tomatoes.  He absolutely loved fresh pizza and being able to make his own was more than a plus.  He slipped into the oven and turned around expecting for everyone to be gone, but that girl remained.  He studied the girl for a moment; she was definitely American with her long red hair and smattering of freckles across her nose.  She wore some very expensive clothing and Shawn knew that either her parents or her grandparents were very rich, seeing as she looked to be about his age, nineteen.

"Ciao."  The girl waved at his greeting.

"Tu seite molto buona."  Shawn was sure he got an ‘oh shit' look about him because the girl laugh.  "You don't speak Italian, do you?"

Shawn knew he was caught. "Just enough."

"To get into every girl's pants."  She gave him a knowing smile.  Shawn felt the tips of his ears turn red, but he stayed mute. "Well it's not going to work with me but I do want to have some fun."

Shawn's head perked up at that, well he had spent too much time in his little room above the pizzeria.  He took the perfectly done pizza out of the oven and put it in a box for later.  He did all the necessary thing so the place wouldn't burn down, the girl watching him the whole time, and then nodding that he was done he left with the girl.

She pointed at a Moped and all but ran to it, Shawn smiled as she hopped on the little motorized bike and with tire squealing she turned the back end 180 and motioned for him to get on. Shawn didn't normally ride but decided to go with the flow, he climbed on and then they were off weaving in and out of traffic, running stop lights, and just plainly not giving a crap about the speed limit.  Shawn didn't want to admit it but this girl's driving scared the crap outta him, like holy crap he rode a freakin' motorcycle and this little Moped had him holding on for dear life.  The scenery was a blur as they sped toward their destination, on occasion he would catch a glimpse of a building he recognized from his eighth grade geography book but other than that he was clueless as to where they were going.   They continued to drive well into the night and then finally they were on the top of a hill.  On the hill was what Shawn assumed was a barn at one point, but time had taken its toll and you could see through the slats of the building.

"Come on."  The girl giggled and walked through the overgrown field to the dilapidated building.  "I'm Anessa, by the way."

"Shawn."

"Well come on Shawn let's go in." 

After two hard pushes the door swung open to an old horse barn, all the stalls were abandoned and the same flowers that grew outside grew in here, there was a sharp undertang of manure in the air but that could be ignore as Shawn looked up and saw the night's sky through the missing roof.

"Wow."

Anessa was already climbing a ladder that led to the loft area of the barn. "A friend of mine told me about this place and since tonight is my last night I wanted to see something of Italy that wasn't on my family's itinerary." 

Shawn went up the ladder and found Anessa lying on top of some old hay gazing at the stars, he joined her. "I have a question, why me?"

"Well I have been able to sneak away from my parents every day for the past two weeks to watch you play with pizza dough.  I have seen you flirt with women you barely know and put on a pretty convincing act that you were Italian.  You are good with working on the fly and I didn't want to go up here alone." 

"That's the reason? I go with the flow so I was the one come up her with you?  What if I'm some sort of murderer?"

"Didn't think of that. Are you some murderer?"

"No."

"Good enough for me."

For hours they watched the stars and talked about anything and everything from his love of motorcycles to her love of classical music.  At what Shawn assumed was midnight, he noticed Anessa began to shiver.  He pulled her in close and soon they were lying on top of each other, making out.

"I thought you weren't going to let me charm you."  Shawn's voice was filled with lust as he gazed into her luminescent green eyes.

"Who said I didn't charm you with my driving and bringing you to this very romantic spot?"  She had him there, he was smitten with this red head and if given the chance he might have dated her.  She leaned forward and soon was kissing with more fervor, Shawn revealed in the way she tasted, like strawberries and bubblegum.

They were just getting to the good part when a voice, aided by a bullhorn broke their embrace. "POLIZIA.Vieni fuori conle mani alzate!"

Shawn only understood that the police was there and shouting at them. "What did they say?"

Anessa was hurriedly getting her top buttoned and the stray hay out of her hair. "They said police. Come out with your hands up."

Shawn's eyes bugged. "Why?!? Are we in trouble for being here?"

"Doubt. It."

"Lasciare che la figlia del senatore go!"

Shawn understood the word ‘senator' and ‘go' in that one. "Anessa. What is going on?"

Anessa sighed and held out her hand. "Pleased to meet you Shawn, I'm Anessa Willet, Senator Willet's daughter."

Shawn's jaw dropped in shock. "What?"

"And the police probably think you kidnapped me."

"What?!"

Anessa pressed the Moped's keys into his hands and gave him a sad smile. "I wish we had more time but I am going to have to go. Take the Moped and run. I'm sorry."

Shawn by this time had redressed himself and was trying to dust off a bit.  He saw how truly sorry the girl was so he pulled her close and gave her one last, making your legs jelly, kiss. "Never be sorry. You are the first girl to give a conversation that didn't involve Cosmo and manicures.  Thank you for all of this."

Anessa cheeks flushed deeply enough to match the shade of her hair and then reluctantly she climbed down the ladder and out the barn.  Shawn heard the commotion outside as the police took her away to ‘safety' and realizing that they would be storming the building for her ‘kidnapper' he ran out the back entrance.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

"That was you?" Henry gave a short laugh. "I remember seeing that on the news there was a providence wide hunt for her kidnappers."

Shawn scoffed. "Providence wide?! Try country wide. I had to leave Italy after that." 

"Seriously?!?"

"Yeah but totally worth it.  I'm just glad I gave her some fun on her trip."

Henry looked at his watch to figure out how long they had been here but the face was cracked and there was some blood on it, it wasn't even ticking. "Shawn, how long have we been here?"

Shawn checked his phone. "Only about two hours."

"I wonder why they haven't come looking."

Shawn poked into the truck and began checking on Henry's injuries. "Well I only texted that I had to run an errand and then we were going to take this road.  They probably think we haven't left yet."  Satisfied that Henry's injuries were no worse than before Shawn retreated from the truck and went looking for something to drink.  He walked slowly up the one hundred and fifty foot path the truck had made seeing bits and pieces of their stuff.  Finally his eyes landed on something shiny and clear, he ambled quickly to the lone bottle of water and almost gave a whoop of joy, he was so very thirsty.  He cracked the seal and almost chugged a quarter of the liquid before he began to choke, he coughed and sputtered and almost dropped the bottle in the process but managed to get the lid back on it.  He fell to his knees as he continued to cough and soon the coughing turned to vomit, once his body quit the rebellion he spit to rid the taste and winced as he realized he had thrown up blood and not just thrown it up but was spitting it at well. "Well that can't be good."  Standing on extremely shaky legs he stumbled and tripped to the truck, he all but fell on his butt and reached the bottle of water into the truck. "Got some water dad."

"You get some?"  Shawn winced at the thought of his vomit fit earlier.

"Yeah, we packed a whole case of that stuff so I've drank plenty.  Drink up."  Henry drank greedily and sighed in relief as the sun warmed water wet his throat.

"Thanks."

"Not a prob.  So on to the next story, you want to hear about the time I was a sniper?"

"Yeah sure. Wait?! What?!?"

"Wind ten knots, temp. eighty-two, humidity forty-three percent." Shawn nodded at his spotter.

"Jerky." He reached out his hand and some bits of the dried beef were handed to him. "Supplies?" He chawed on the salty protein as the younger man rummage through the rucksacks.

"Two gallons water, four protein bars, and you're eating the last of the jerky."  Shawn swallowed the wad of meat and held out his hand for a canteen.

After three small sips he decided it was time for a break. "Take post I need to take a leak."  Shawn hurried off and was back in less than a minute. "Activity?"

"Nope." The younger man started to twitch with irritation. "I don't know why we just go and take them out." Shawn was brushing his teeth with a dry toothbrush listening the rant. "I hate this, absolutely hate this."

Shawn chuckled. "Snipers wait, boy, they don't hunt otherwise the job would be called hunting not sniping."

"Pffft.....you know when they said I was teamed up with you I thought it would be all jokes and risk taking but we have been here for three days!!! You barely talk, there are no jokes when you do, and you barely move a muscle for hours on end."  Shawn leaned back and placed his hat over his face. "And now you're going to take a nap."

"Wake me if our targets come into view."  He couldn't stop the wide grin he got as the other man kept mumbling complaints. Silence quickly overtook the little area. "Spence we have activity."

Shawn stifled the groan at his nap getting disturbed; he lifted the hat off his face and hunkered down under the sniper cover with the other man. "How many?"

"Four."  Shawn took the gun and peered into the sites.

"Confirm it."

The spotter used his own site and got a good look at the intended targets. "Confirmed."

"Now watch." Shawn pulled the trigger four times in rapid succession; red bloomed on each of the men's helmets before they all fell to the ground. The young man was up and running toward the downed men as Shawn packed his weapon and gathered the gear.  He pulled his sidearm and went to be by the younger man's side. "Just what in the hell are you thinking Micheals?"

The young man looked up eyes full of eagerness. "You got all four of them before they could even get a shot off. That's......just.....wow!!!"

Shawn chuckled, raised his sidearm to aim, and shot the young man twice in the chest.  Micheals eyes widened as he fell to the unforgiving ground dust being kicked up in a cloud. "Another rule to being a sniper kid, you keep quiet because the person you're working with has no qualms in killing."  Shawn answered his phone as it rang. "Spence.....yeah.....all four plus one.......couldn't keep quiet and never considered someone might be tagging along with the intendeds.....yeah.......ok.......ooooooh glazed with the grape jelly."  Shawn hung up his phone and smiled.

"Captain's got doughnuts, who wants?" He held his hand out and help Micheals to his feet.

"You killed me!"

"You also heard why. Now go and help the other's up when you take paintballs to the head it stings like a mother."  Shawn smiled as the young man helped the four people up and like an eager puppy was at his side. "That said I think you pass, young grasshopper."  The eagerness he had before was nothing matched to now.

"Really!!?"

"Yeah really kid, now let's go get them doughnuts." 

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"Who'd you do this for?"

"CIA. They even offered me a job, doing it full time."

Henry shifted and bit back the moan as the gash on his leg pulled. "Why didn't you take it, sounded like you had fun."

Shawn sighed. "It was fun but the job was shooting people and not with paintballs."

"Oh."

"Yeah I'm just not a killer."

Henry furrowed his brow. "But you taught killers."

"No."  Shawn shook his head. "I was teaching my replacement and I was up on that hill to teach agents to spot a sniper better. I tried to help and save lives."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

Shawn sniffled and wiped a hand over his face. "Enough seriousness." Henry nodded in agreement. "You know I was a roadie once?"

"No, who for?"

"You're not gonna believe this.................."

Juliet looked at the clock on the wall and furrowed her brow. "Gus did the message say when they were leaving?"

The man looked up from his laptop. "No, just that they had an errand to run and that Mr. Spencer said that they were going to take some back road to cut the time." Gus read the message on that Shawn had sent just to be sure. ‘Gus!! I'm gonna do it buddy. Gotta get the ring from Psych 1st.  Papa Bear said we'll take some podunk back road to cut time. @.@ Seeya soon.'  He just shrugged his shoulders. "You know Shawn, a quick errand is never quick."

"I know, I just feel like something's wrong."

"O'Hara calm down every minute without Spencer is a minute we can enjoy this cabin and fishing."  Carlton whipped his fishing pole a bit. "And there is a bass out there with my name on it."  The detective actually began to whistle as he trekked outside the cabin and toward the lake that the home faced.

"Why did we invite him again?"

Juliet smiled. "Because Marlowe is visiting family and I didn't want to leave him to wreak havoc on the station by himself."

Gus sighed and tried calling Shawn's cell and not because he was worried. After it rang and rang and went to voicemail, he was willing to admit that he was maybe just a little worried. "Let's give them some more time before we go looking."

Juliet nodded and decided to grab one of the many books that the cabin had to offer and although she hated to admit it, the fact was it was awfully quiet without Shawn and definitely without the father/son bickering.

#######################################################################################

"So whatcha guys doing." The redhead looked up and smiled.

"We, our fair roadie friend, are trying to find a better name for the band."  Shawn leaned over the table and looked over all the papers on the table, most of them were covered in doodles not all of them PG.

"Travis that doesn't look like name ideas, in fact." Shawn cocked his head to the side. "That kinda looks like Hunter and what is he doing to that pickle?!" The man in question crossed the small size of the RV and grabbed the paper from Travis' hand before he could destroy the evidence.

"Travis!" He smacked the sniggering man upside the head. "I think this is physically impossible."  Hunter than smiled. "But damn that is inventive. Danny! Come see this."

The long haired man left the cab and joined the other three, Hunter all but threw the photo at him. "Damn." He blew out a low whistle. "That's just wrong man." Danny  put the paper back on the table. "So, Travis, have you come up with any names worthy of our band."

Shawn wandered about the small space and made sure everything was secure before they took off. "I don't know why you guys insist on changing you name, I like De Soto."

"People get us mixed up with the damn car and De Soto sounds too much like a warm up act and not the main show."

Shawn plopped down in a spare seat at the table and leaned backward in it. "Coley were set to go, whenever you're ready."  He was answered with the sound of the RV starting and pulling out toward the interstate. "So what were you thinking of, my main man?"

Travis slapped his hand on the table. "I don't know man we've been traveling with Don't Die Cindy all summer, eating Ramen noodles and rolling change for the laundrymat  so that we don't smell like monkey crap. If it wasn't for you, Shawn, we'd have to scramble to get everything set up."

"Yeah man, thanks for working for us."

"Free to boot."

Shawn chuckled. "It's really no problem, guys, I'm enjoying it."

"God we should be living like kings by now."

"Yeah golden scepters and crowns."

"Hmmmm....how ‘bout We The Kings?"

The three men looked at him. "Naaaah......that's why we do the lyrics and you do the setting up."

Shawn chuckled and stood  to go and keep the Coley company as they drove toward their next destination.

#######################################################################################

"They ever become rockstars?"

"Yes, very famous ones actually."  Shawn chuckled. "They even went with the name I gave them."

"We The Kings?? Never heard of them."  Henry shifted some. Shawn stuck his cellphone in the cab and pressed play, the lyrics from "Check Yes Juliet" began to play. "Isn't that your ringtone for when Juliet is calling you."

"Yep and it's probably their most popular song."

"So they're pretty famous?"

"Yep."

Shawn closed his eyes and tried to take some calming breaths, it felt like his heart was trying to fly out of his chest.  He pressed a hand against his pounding heart and winced when he hit a particular sore spot.

"Hey kid, you ok?"

Shawn opened his eyes back up and mentally counted to three to try and keep the pain out of his voice. "Yeah, just a little sleepy. I think I hit my head as well."

Henry heard the slight slur in his voice and tried to sit up only to have Shawn pop his head into the cab  and push him back down. "Kid, you have a concussion."

"Probably, not the first one and definitely not the last. I'll be fine a knot on the head never really bothered me. How you doing?"  Shawn gave his father a critical once over and sighed in relief when he noticed that Henry's pupils were  beginning to even out. "You're getting better, but to be safe you should stay awake."

Shawn backed out of the vehicle and took his spot. "Did you know that being a bag boy isn't as bad as it sounds?"

Shawn blinked against the hot Arizona sun and brushed back a few stray hairs that fell into his face. "What a place to be stuck."  Being twenty-one and still  relatively new to the whole responsibility thing, he hadn't thought to check his transmission fluid on the Norton and now he was stuck till he had enough money to give the garage so he could be on his way.  There were a few upsides to being in this desert town; his tan never looked better, it was easy finding a job, and the girls tans were without any lines.

"Mr. Spencer, break time is over."

Shawn rolled his eyes and got up. "Whatever you say, Mr. Mackey."  He tried to hurry past the man with a Napoleon complex and coke bottle glasses before he had time to process his joke.

"It's Mr. Mack-ay, Mr. Spencer.  Mack-ay.  Mmmmmm.......kay?"

Shawn was glad his back was turned toward the man because he could hide his uncontrollable laugh with a cough.  The other stock and bag boys either bit their lips or suddenly found a ton of work that needed to be done.  This man was just too easy to joke on, he took his job way too seriously and it didn't help that he looked and talked like a certain character from South Park. "Yes, Mr. Mackay."

"Mmmmmmm....kay. I have you working with Kate for the rest of the day."  Shawn couldn't stop the wide grin that hit, Kate was perhaps his most favorite cashier and it definitely was not because of her quick ring up time.

"Mmmmmmm.....kay. Mr. Makey."

Shawn all but ran out of the stock room toward the front barely hearing his boss. "Mack-ay, Mr.Spencer. It's Mack-ay." He grinned widely as he bee lined it toward the front of the store and saw his intended target's crystal blue eyes. "Kate!"  He spread his arms wide. "I'm all yours, do with me what you will!"  The girl covered her mouth with a hand and giggled as Shawn jogged up to her register.

"Well Shawn, how about you help Mrs. O'Daly here?"  Shawn went to grab the box and the few bags that were all packed only to have his knuckles rapped by the handle of a cane. 

"Boy, don't be all grabbing and no words. You introduce yourself first and then offer your help."  Shawn's jaw dropped as he shook his hurt hand and the woman gave him the stare down with her hawk-like green eyes. "I'm Maureen O'Daly and you are?" She thrust out her hand that wasn't holding the cane and looked at him expectantly.

Shawn darted his eyes back and forth between Kate, Maureen, her outstretched hand, and the cane.  When Maureen cleared her throat and tightened her grip on her cane, he decided to speak up. "I'm Shawn."  He went to shake her outstretched hand to only have it rapped again.

"You got a last name boy?"

Shawn shook his hand some more. "Spencer. My name is Shawn Spencer." The hand he was currently inspecting for broken bones was grabbed roughly and shook by the old woman.

"Nice to meet you Shawn Spencer."  She motioned at the box and bags. "Help me, will you?" Shawn nodded dumbfounded, grabbed the items, and followed the woman out of the store.  They came up to a very well kept up 1970 Cadillac. Maureen pointed with her cane at the blue car and preceded to get into the driver's seat. "Don't break my eggs or squish my bread, boy, or I will smack you good!"  Shawn smirked and put the groceries, carefully, into the backseat of the car. "When you're done, boy, come up here."  He froze for a second worried what this woman had planned for him but feeling Maureen's eyes on him he quickly went back to work.  

After he made sure the groceries were secure he gently shut the back door and walked over to the driver's seat. For some reason he couldn't seem to meet the woman's eyes so he found his feet exceptionally interesting. "Yes, ma'am?"  Also he had no idea where his sudden bout of manners came from but fear of the cane seemed to be a good motivator.

"Look at me when you talk, boy."  Shawn raised his head and brushed back his hair with his hand. He cleared his throat. "Yes, ma'am?"

The woman gave him a reproving nod and thrust a five at him. "For your good work, boy."  Her stern appearance melted into something more grandmotherly. "See you next time, boy." She slammed her door shut and pulled away before Shawn could even nod at her.

"Crazy old lady."  He shook his head and thanked his lucky stars that he would probably never see that crazy old woman again. Oh how he was wrong.

The next two weeks the old woman came by four times buying just enough groceries to last a couple days and rapping Shawn's knuckles with that cane of hers and sometime during these two weeks Shawn somehow began looking forward to her regular visits.  For being seventy-two and stooped over this woman had a feistiness in her that Shawn hoped he had when he got to be old.  On one of her regular days she didn't show, nor the day after, or the day after that.  Shawn thought the worst till his boss answered the phone and pointed at him to stay put.

"Mr. Spencer, that was Maureen O'Daly, she needs her groceries delivered and while we normally don't do that, for her we will."  He gave Shawn a list. "She lives four blocks away so you can walk it. Mmmmmmm.....kay?"

Shawn felt relief wash over him and then dread he was going to have to walk four blocks in the Arizona summer sun but desperation of needing this job outweighed the fact he was going to be sweating like a whore in church in about ten minutes. "Yes, Mr. Mackay."  

Ten minutes worth of shopping, twenty of walking, and four blocks later he was standing outside a very old, very nice home with a very nice blue Cadillac parked outside. Shawn double checked the number to be sure and knocked on the front door.

"It's open, boy!"  Shawn smiled at that simple sentence and opened the door to only have his breath taken away but the sheer amount of items in this woman's house. "Don't stand there with your jaw open boy a damn bee will fly into your mouth!"  He closed his jaw with a click and turned toward to the source of her voice, it was hard to keep his eyes off the walls as he walked toward what he assumed would be the living room, thousands of pictures covered the walls, all of them had Maureen in them from all different walks of her life.

"Is that?"  Shawn leaned forward and squinted at a particular picture so he knew he was seeing this right. It looked like Maureen with FDR.

"Boy, quit gawking!"  Shawn nearly stumbled over a loose bored as he entered the living room but he was able to catch himself. "Be careful boy! You don't want to end up like me." Shawn looked up and saw that Maureen was in a wheelchair, cast completely covering her left leg from foot to thigh. "Tripped on that damn thing three days ago."  Shawn's eyes kept flitting around the room taking in all the photos and knick knacks.

"Is that?" He pointed at a photo that suspiciously looked like Albert Einstein and Maureen.

"Yes it is. You got my groceries, boy?" Shawn nodded dumbly and Maureen smiled as he gawked. "I did some traveling in my day met a lot of interesting people."

"I can see that." He was currently engrossed in a photo of her with a young Nat King Cole.  "Wow."

Maureen wheeled closer to Shawn and looked at the photo he was staring at. "That was before he started singing, I knew he was going to do great things."  She grunted a bit as she tried to wheel back, Shawn nearly jumped behind her and helped. "Thank you boy." Shawn nodded. "Now go put those groceries up before my milk sweats all over the place."  Shawn was never one to hop to it but that was exactly what he did and in record time the woman's food was in their right spots.  He nearly fell again when he entered the living room to tell Maureen that he was done, the woman dropped her knitting. "Be careful! That thing needs fixed."  She rolled her eyes and shook her head. "I bet your hair doesn't help, boy."

Shawn reached toward his head. "My hair?"

Maureen scoffed. "It's all long and stringy."  She motioned about the room. "Out of all these photos do you see any man with long, stringy, blocking their eyes, hair?" Shawn knew that there was no one with hair like that, even Einey's was out of his face, weird, but out of his face.  He kept looking around the room with awe till he felt Maureen bump his hand. "Thank you, boy."  Shawn looked down and saw that she was trying to hand him a twenty.

"Oh I couldn't."  There they were again, spontaneous manners, it only happened around her though.

"Sure you can, boy, you earned it."

Shawn shook his head. "Not yet I haven't. You got any carpenter nails and a level, I'm going to fixed that warped board for you." 

Maureen smiled widely. "In the kitchen."  

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"For the next six weeks when I wasn't working at the store I was doing odds and ends at her house." Shawn smiled. "She told me stories of all the people she met, you would've liked her."

"Sounds like it."  Henry shut his eyes and sighed.

"She died in 2002, she didn't have any kids, so she left me her house."  Shawn leaned his head against the truck, only to have stars explode in his vision, he leaned his head forward and took a few deep breaths. "What I didn't keep in storage, I auctioned off and donated the money."

Henry's eyes snapped open because that definitely didn't sound like something his son would do. "I'm sorry, what?"

Shawn chuckled softly. "I donated it. It was just something I felt like I had to do."

Henry nodded. "Would this something have to do with one of your jobs?"

Shawn scrubbed a hand over his face he knew that one day that was going to come out, he just didn't know it was going to be today. "I will only tell you this once so you better listen."  Henry's ears perked at the sudden seriousness of his son's tone. "It was a warm summer day............."

"Hey rook, you think about whatcha makin' for lunch?!"

Shawn scoffed as he scrubbed the breakfast pans clean. "I don't since we just finished three cartons of eggs, four pounds of bacon, and four loaves worth of toast. Maybe something light, like my five alarm chili." 

He was met with laughter and more than a groan or two. "Rook the last time you made that crap I couldn't speak it burned so much."

Shawn dried his hands on a towel as he walked toward, what could be loosely called, the living room.  "Whatcha watching?"

"Ain't nothing on worth anything."  Shawn pursed his lips as he walked around the couch where three of his squad were perched and not really paying attention to the television, but as soon as Shawn grabbed the remote they all looked up and smiled almost evilly at him.  "What do you think you're doing rook, you know you ain't allowed to pick the channel."

Shawn wiggled his eyebrows and took off through the station all three hot on his trail.  He frantically pushed buttons on the remote effectively flipping the channel and turning the television's volume to near deafening levels. "You'll never catch me!!!"  He laughed manically as he jumped over the couch and damn near fell when his foot caught on one of the cushions.  A loud bang signified the door to the Captain's office slamming open.

"What the hell you doing rook?"  Shawn spun and froze just long enough for him to be tackled by one of his pursuers.  The man sat on his chest as the other two helped hold him down.  "Oh poor rook, you know what this means don't  cha?"  Shawn watched in horror as his boss started to remove a filthy boot and started to come closer to Shawn's face with his sweat stained sock.  "Smell it rook, smell it!"

Shawn tried to open his mouth to breathe that way but the man on his chest grabbed hold of his head and made sure his jaw stayed shut. "Sorry rook, rules is rules. Smell it!"  Shawn struggled and felt his cheeks puff out as he tried to hold on to any sort of oxygen.

He was just about give in when the alarms blared on the wall followed by the voice of the dispatcher.  The whole sock smelling thing was forgotten when the words explosion and unknown cause were said.  Everyone but Shawn started to gear up. "Rook gear up!"  Shawn looked at his captain like he had grown a second head. "We're goin' need everyone on this, rook. Gear. Up!"

Shawn grabbed his unused, spotless gear and threw it on in record time, he had just slammed the door shut on the rig as it pulled away. He had been a rookie for three weeks, doing small calls but nothing that meant someone was going to die if he wasn't quick about it.  He felt his pulse quickening as looked around the cubby that he and six other guys were crammed in, all of them doing things like praying and kissing photos. "Who's that?"  Shawn pointed at the Captain who was about to stuffed a photo in his breast pocket.

"My daughter, she'll be ten in three days." He showed the picture to Shawn, who smiled.  A little girl in a tutu was smiling a toothless smile at the camera holder, her blonde curls falling in her face and obscuring her blue eyes.

"Good thing she looks like her mom, huh?"  The captain laughed loudly as he secured the photo in his jacket.

"Yeah......oh my god!" Shawn craned his neck and saw what everyone was looking at, he muttered a curse under his breath.

"Sonofabitch!"

"Jesus Christ, almighty!"

"Fuck!"

"Grab the axes, O2, and make sure your damn strobes are on!"  The men worked almost mechanically at the Captain's words till a loud roar snapped their attention to the sky. "Holy shit!"

The eight men, along with the hundreds on the street, watched in horror as a low flying airliner slammed into the already burning building's twin. "GO,GO,GO!!!!"   

Shawn ran for all his worth and was in the front lobby before the utter shock turned to stunned realization. "Rook!"  Shawn spun and saw his captain hot on his tail. "Didn't know you could run that fast."  The Captain talked into his radio and listened to dispatch; soon the rest of his fellow firefighters joined them. "We're taking the elevator as high as it will go and then we'll start the evacs." 

The elevator was scary quiet as they rode it up, the only noises were the sound of oxygen being sucked in through their masks and gear rattling as they checked their own and each other.  Shawn didn't know what floor they stopped at but as soon as those doors opened it was like the sun was blotted out, strobes were flicked on and high power flashlights were brought out and they began their search. Shawn went to go up but was stopped by a strong hand on his shoulder. "Stop, rookie. We're going down." 

He gave his captain a pleading look, he was sure the man knew he was giving it although he couldn't see it. "But there are people, up." 

"I know rook."  There was a moment of silence as the older man sucked a breath or two. "A plane hit this building, a plane, we know it's safe down, we can't go up." 

"Can't or won't?"  The hand on his shoulder momentarily tightened and that was the answer the man gave him before he started his decent with the rest of the squad.  Shawn closed his eyes and probably for the first time in his life he actually welcomed his father's voice in his head. Sometimes, kid, the hardest thing is recognizing a lost cause when you see it.  Shawn opened his eyes and steadied his nerves, after what he saw he knew every floor above them was hopeless, the structure damage was too severe. "Dammit." 

He followed the strobing lights and helped with the clearing out.  Shawn didn't know how long they were doing the evacs but the group whittled down as each man had to take an injured party down and out.  Soon the captain and him were the only ones left. "Rook, you see that?"  The older man pointed at a young woman trying her hardest to hop down the steps. "Go get her, rook, I'll continue my sweep."

"I'll be back, capt, I promise."  The older man waved at him as he entered another floor.

Shawn nodded and hurried down to get to her. "I'm Shawn and I'm going to help you."  The woman nodded and coughed roughly. Shawn took off his helmet and mask to quickly affix it to the woman. "Breath deep." Another nod and then they hobbled down flight after flight of stairs till they hit the exit.  Several EMTs were around so he passed the woman off, put his mask back on and ran back in. 

For someone's whose memory was so good he had no idea how far he had climbed till he met up with the captain. Before the man could say anything to acknowledge Shawn's presence the world shifted and  then Shawn knew only blackness.

He woke up to a world of pain, dripping water, and flashing light. "Capt?  Capt, can you hear me?!"

Groaning was the first thing his ears perked to followed by cussing and coughing. "Rook? That you?!"

"Yeah."  Shawn tried to shift from under the debris but the pain that shot through his leg man him yelp and his vision to darken.

"You ok, Shawn?"

Shawn didn't know what surprised him more the caring tone or the fact that the man used his first name instead of the nickname, rook. "No, turns out having a building land on you isn't good for your health."

The man chuckled and then groaned again. "Don't make me laugh, please."  Shawn heard the pain in the man's voice and felt his pulse rise.

"How bad is it?"

"Bad."

Shawn dropped his head back and almost blacked out from the pain that radiated from a single spot on his skull. "Tell me about her."

"Who?"

"Your daughter."

For what seemed like hours the two men traded stories till the pain became too severe, the exhaustion too much and slowly they gave in to the unconsciousness that had been trying to claim them for too long. Shawn woke up to rhythmic thumping.

"Cap?"

"Welcome back, Shawn, and you can call me by my first name."

"Eugene? Ummmmm.....rather not."

"Ok."  The thumping began again.

"That you?"

"No."

Shawn felt relief. "So they're close."

"We can hope."  The man's voice was becoming weaker by the second.

"How long do you think we've been here?"

Shawn heard the other man shift and curse. "Well my watch is smashed but my strobe is still on so less than thirty-six hours."

"That's good."

"Yeah."  The exhaustion was overwhelming and surprising that it happened that fast but Shawn didn't question it, he just gave in.

Something was hitting his face but it wasn't uncomfortable, it was actually pleasant. He took a deep breath and realized that he was able to take a deep breath of air that wasn't stale. His eyes shot open and he saw light, it was artificial light, but it was light.  "Rook?!"  Shawn had never been so happy to hear that nickname before in his life, so to let them know he was still alive he nodded and tried to answer but only a squeak came out. "Ohmygod!!! We got a live one!" 

There was activity all around him and hands were grabbing, poking, moving.  He was vertical, then horizontal and being strapped onto a board. "Hold on, rook, hold on. We have you."  Shawn reached out and grabbed the hand closest to him.

"The captain....near me."  He felt the grip tighten on his hand and then let go.

"We'll get him too, rook, we'll get him."

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"We were in that hole for ninety-six hours before they found us."  Shawn swallowed. "The captain didn't make it, that's where the money went. I gave it to his daughter for college."

"Shawn you don't have...."

"Yes, I do." He took a deep breath. "My leg was broken in two places, skull fracture, dehydration, broken ribs, internal bleeding.  I was in the hospital for ten weeks."

Henry felt tears threaten. "Why wasn't I contacted?" Shawn didn't point out the emotion making his father's voice thick and raspy.

"I was under mom's maiden name and I told them not to." Shawn closed his eyes. "I didn't want you to know that I was a disappointment again."

"Shawn...." Shawn sucked in a deep breath and cleared his throat.

"Ummmm.....I'm going to go toward the road and try to see if there's a signal there." Before Henry could say anything else, Shawn was up and hiking toward the road.

"You're not a disappointment kid." Henry closed his eyes and allowed for two tears to slip past before he wiped them away with his good hand.  He knew his son did some crazy stuff while he traveled but he never imagined that while the world watched on his son was in the thick of the greatest tragedy he had ever seen.  He cursed under his breath when he remembered a discussion, or really a lecture, he had with Shawn when he was just a kid. Can you even name a famous fireman, Shawn?  He opened his eyes and sighed. "Because I can."

Shawn made it to the road, with more than a little trouble and unlocked his phone.  He walked down the rocky road hoping to find some sort of signal, about three minutes of walking a blinding pain crossed through his eyes and he fell to his knees. Skull fracture.  The pain was something he would never forget and he was surprised that it took him this long to figure out that's what was going on. He put his hands out in front of him and allowed for the nausea to take over as he threw up on the dirt. Once the worst of the throbbing died down a bit he opened his eyes and saw that he had thrown up more blood and noticed more dripping from his nose. He groaned loudly as he stood and starting searching for a signal again. 

Shawn stumbled up the road for about five minutes till finally a bar popped up on his screen. "Yes!"  He knew it wasn't enough to make a phone call but he could send a text message,  the irony about how similar this was to time Garth Longmore had him was not lost. He typed away quickly and hoped that his blurring vision didn't affect the message.  As soon as he hit send he sat down on the bumpy road and draped his arms on his knees and breathed as deep as he could with his aching ribs. His head was swimming, his knee throbbing, and he was pretty sure that his puncture wound was bleeding again.  To confirm his suspicions he sat back and pulled his shirt up and sure enough a tiny rivulet was steadily running down.  Dammit!

Despite everything in his being telling him to stay down and put, he managed to stand and start making his way back to his dad.  He wrapped his arms around him as he staggered like a drunk and prayed that the pressure he was applying was enough to stop the bleeding.

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Gus looked up when he though he heard his phone vibrating but when he checked he saw that he had no messages. Hate it when I do that.  He went back to his laptop and started to ‘work' again.

"Hey whatcha playing there?"

He looked up and saw a bemused Juliet standing behind him. "I thought you were reading a book."

"I was but I got bored, explored the cabin a little, and  then saw you completely engrossed in this." She waved at the computer that he was currently playing his latest addiction on.

He smiled up at her. "It's Space Invaders, I found a website that has retro games on it."  Juliet sidled next to Gus, who pointed the laptop toward her. "Spacebar is fire and the arrow keys move your tank." 

Juliet pressed enter to start the game and began firing away. "It's been years since I've played this."  She bit her lip as she continued to battle against the aliens.

Gus smiled and stood, he figured since work was caught up on and his laptop had been commandeered by the detective he was going to catch up some much needed sleep.  He went to his room and turned in for a nice long nap.

As Juliet fought space invaders, Gus napped, and Carlton bagged his third bass for the day , Juliet's phone lit up and vibrated as a reminder for the text message that her boyfriend sent her, a message that went unnoticed.

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Shawn fell not so gently onto the ground at the truck's window. "You awake dad?"

"Yeah."  Henry shifted and tried to look at his son. "Did you get a signal?"

Shawn wiped his nose on his sleeve and cringed at the crimson staining it, he sighed. "Yeah, sent a text. It said it sent and I waited to see if they would send anything back but I didn't want to leave you alone too long. I guess time will tell."

"Yeah, Shawn...." Henry wanted to say something to his son, to let him know that he wasn't a disappointment but his mouth froze at the words. He closed his eyes and cursed himself mentally.

"Did you know I can cook?"  Shawn changed the subject before Henry could even start his own. The older Spencer snorted.

"I highly doubt pushing a few buttons on a microwave is considered cooking."  Henry knew when to pry and when not too, so he just went along with his son. "And ordering out isn't cooking either, a skill in your respect since you know which ones deliver faster but still not a cooking skill."

Shawn snorted and instantly regretted it when pain shot through his nose and eyes. "I know but it's easier for you guys to think I can't otherwise you'll bug me every chance you got."

It was Henry's turn to snort. "I seriously doubt that."                                                                              

"You do, huh? Je vais vousle prouver."

Henry felt his eyebrows rise. "I'm sorry, what?"

"That was French for I'll prove it. You see I spent two months in Paris and I was....."

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Shawn didn't know when he took a job in this five star restaurant he was going to be mopping and washing dishes till his blisters had blisters. "Monsieur Spencer, the sink is overflowing."

But he took all those blisters because the head chef was gorgeous and watching her cook was beyond the best thing he had ever seen. "Oui le chef." He put his mop away and began scrubbing on the dishes that were covered in old food.

"When you're done there Monsieur Spencer, the cooler needs a good mopping taken to it." Shawn just nodded as the woman left.

Shawn waited till he heard her moped start up and speed away till he got out some pots and pans of his very own.  Every night, as soon as he was left alone to clean the kitchen and close up, he would try to cook something that he watched her cook during the dinner shift, emphasis on the try.  He had only gotten a sample of the simple vegetable dish but it made his mouth water in torrents, so he accessed his memory and began.  He was just making the tomato/pepper sauce to mix with the other sautéed vegetables when the kitchen door opened and the head chef breezed in.

"Monsieur Spencer!"  She stood there with her hands on her hips and a scowl on her lips. "What are you doing!?"

Shawn stopped mid-taste and tried a disarming smile. "Chef Eloisé, ummmmmm.....what brings you back to the restaurant?"

Eloisé's dark eyes flashed anger as she tied her equally dark hair up with some chopsticks. "Needed some paperwork." Her eyes flitted at the pans and the sauce that was dripping off the spoon.  "You're doing it wrong."  She walked over to him and grabbed his hand, with the spoon in it, and started to stir the sauce. "You must be gentle, Ratatouille may be a simple dish but prepared right it can even bring the king to his knees." 

Shawn closed his eyes as the wooden spoon was worked gently back and forth through the mixture and took a deep breath, he could smell so much the tomatoes, the sautéed vegetable mixture, and an undertone of lavender that he attributed to the woman pressed against his back. "I'm sorry Chef Eloisé. I just loved it so much during dinner and I wanted to recreate it with some of the leftovers but it's lacking something, sensual." He turned his head and smirked at the raven haired woman who turned a brilliant shade of pink.

Eloisé cleared her throat and stepped back. "If you want the senses to come alive Monsieur Spencer then you must add passion."  She walked around to the sauté pan and grabbed an onion slice; slowly she put it to her lips and tasted it. "Your technical skill is very good, but it's still lacking."  She walked over to Shawn and pressed a slice of eggplant to his mouth, he opened his mouth and bit the vegetable allowing his lips to brush her fingers as he did. He chewed slowly and licked his lips as he swallowed.

"I don't taste anything wrong." 

Eloisé smiled. "They're perfect not overcooked at all and just the right amount of salt but that's just it, you are cooking it just like I did during dinner service." Shawn shook his head in confusion. "I was cooking for them, not for me. Monsieur Spencer, you are cooking for yourself, what do you want?" Shawn's brain kicked into overdrive and he grabbed the cream and started to drizzle it into his bubbling sauce. "Crème? Reduce the heat so it doesn't curdle."

"Like this?" He lowered the heat and continued to stir, Eloisé took station behind him and helped him.  Once Shawn was satisfied that everything was done the two chefs ate the simple dish with a cheap bottle of wine. "That was incroyable."

"Incredible, huh?"  She stood and grabbed some folders. "You are right Monsieur Spencer, it was."  She flashed him a smirk. "Your French is improving."

"Merci."

"Those dishes aren't going to wash themselves Monsieur Spencer." Shawn's groan cause her smile to grow and she turned to leave.

"Eloisé." She turned.

"Oui."

"Call me Shawn."  The woman nodded and then was gone, leaving Shawn to the cleaning.

For the next week Eloisé would stay long past closing to help with the cleaning and showing Shawn how to cook one of the many dishes she prepare that day.  Shawn usually picked and entrée or appetizer but tonight he picked the dessert.

"You want to make the saffron yogurt with rose honey? I'm impressed Shawn."  She smiled. "Well let's get to it." Shawn crushed the saffron while Eloisé whisked the yogurt. "The trick is to know when to stop so you don't lose the fluff."

"Fluff?"  Shawn smirked. "Your English is getting better too." Eloisé laughed and brought the bowl with the beaten yogurt in it.

"Now the saffron."  Shawn took a generous pinch on the spice and slowly folded it in. "Now unlike others I add the petals now and let it sit." This time Shawn stood behind Eloisé and took a handful of petals that he let flutter into the bowl while she gently stirred till she was satisfied. "Now we wait."

"For how long?"

"A couple of hours."  She walked over to the cooler and placed the bowl into it. Shawn snuck up behind her and when she turned they were face to face.

"What should we do till then?" Eloisé blushed, Shawn swallowed and soon their lips met.  Shawn tasted every part of her mouth and she did the same back, soon the yogurt was forgotten as other things were discovered and tasted that night.

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"For two months we ended up either cooking or at her apartment, it was bliss."  Shawn smiled at the memories. "She got a call from some fancy hotel in Australia, I could tell she wanted the job but she wasn't going to take it because of me."  He chuckled. "I told her to do what she wants, to live life with passion not to do what others expected of her. I drove her to the airport."

Henry heard the wistfulness in his son's voice. "Did you love her?"

"Yes, but you know what? I wouldn't change anything that happened, even her leaving."  More memories flooded Shawn's brain. "She was the first woman I truly loved."

"What about Abigail?"

"She was my high school crush, who I came to love later. Eloisé was the first woman, who I didn't mind seeing without makeup and who I didn't leave as soon as we had a fight. There was just something about her."

At that single sentence Henry was flooded with his own memories of Madeline and when they were happy, he knew exactly what Shawn was talking about. "I know what you mean, kid, your mom was like that to me. Still is."

Both men were silent for a moment while their thought took them to stolen moments, kisses, and waking up in warm cocoons with their first loves. "She sent me a letter a while back, she got married and now has two kids. She thanked me."  Shawn chuckled. "I should've thanked her, though, because she renewed a passion I didn't know I lost."

"Passion for what?"

"Life. When I came to Paris I was broke, my bike was in the states, I was basically living on the streets and then she gave me that job." Shawn closed his eyes and shook his head some to try and clear his fuzzy vision but it only caused his head to hurt more.  He had to take a few deep breaths as he felt his heart rate rise and sweat coat his body.

"That's good kid."  Henry shifted at the uncomfortable feeling in his bladder. "Ummmmm...Shawn I hate to do this but that water....."

Henry expected a chuckle or even a playful groan followed by grumbling, what he didn't expect was the silence. He rolled over to his stomach must to his leg's protest and was staring at his son's back. "Kid?" He watched as Shawn fell to the side with a whimper and shook violently. Henry backed out of the truck and ran around it to be by his son's side. Shawn did not look good, he was pale except for the dark purple bruises that had cropped up and the blood that was on his face. "Jesus, kid!" He rolled Shawn to his back and cursed under his breath at the ruby liquid that made his dark polo look wet and even darker.

"Dad?" Shawn's breathing was rapid and clipped. "I think something's wrong."  Shawn closed his eyes and his head lulled to the side. Henry tapped his cheek, forcing the hazel eyes to open.

"Come on kid stay awake."  For probably the first time in his life Henry was at a loss on what to do. "Tell me another story, kid, I want to hear more."

Shawn smiled. "You know how I have a dislike to extreme heights, that wasn't always the case." Henry listened to his son talk, his bladder forgotten as he pulled his son's head into his lap and huddled close to him as if just being there was going to make it all better.

Carlton was dead on his feet but he was a happy tired, after all, he had managed to get in almost six hours of Spencer free fishing in, the five basses he bagged were just the icing on the cake. He was damn close to whistling when he walked up the drive and noticed that the elder Spencer's truck was still not there.  He smiled widely as he opened the cabin's door and the only noises that reached his ears was muted music and clicking of a mouse coming from the direction of his partner. "This is blissful isn't it O'Hara?"  The blond seemed to be broken out of some sort of trance as she shook her head and looked up to see a grungy but happy looking Carlton.

She wrinkled her nose at the mixture of sweat, dirt and fish that assaulted her nose but she still managed to plaster a smile on. "Any luck?"  Carlton held up his catches and flung them on the counter causing Juliet's smile to fall to a grimace. "Really?"  He shrugged his shoulders and started looking for a knife to prepare the fish for dinner.

"So what have you been doing during the absence of the pain in the ass and his father?"  Carlton smiled as he gutted and cut the heads off of their dinner.

"Playing Space Invaders."  The matter of fact tone didn't match the wide smile she was wearing. "And I didn't have to hear Shawn's ‘game pointers' or any fighting, bickering, or squabbling.  I almost hate to admit it but I've enjoyed not having him here."

"Knew we'd see eye to eye someday."  Carlton sprinkled some lemon juice over the now filleted fish and wrapped them up in foil.  "Where's Guster, anyways?"

His answer came in the form of a loud yawn and heavy footsteps. "Best. Nap. Ever."  Gus came wandering into the kitchen scratching his chest and stretching his back.  "Where's Shawn?"  He rubbed at his sleep filled eyes with the heel of his palms.  "I smell fish."

Juliet had seen a barely awake Gus several times and he never failed to follow the same pattern, he would comment on how good or bad he slept, ask a question and then without waiting for an answer, change the subject, all that was missing was the.....

"Ah-choo!" There it was, the earth rattling sneeze that seemed to get his synapses firing in the correct order, one more rub at his eyes and Gus looked more awake then he had any right to.  "So has either of you heard from Shawn or Mr. Spencer?"

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"Next time we made sure to check the coordinates ourselves."  Henry shut his eyes tightly at the slurred words his son was uttering, not to mention that up until the last line the entire story was nonsensical.  "Da-?"  Henry looked down at his extraordinary pale son. " S'not hurting ‘nymore."

Henry sighed and made up his mind on what to do next. "Shawn, I need to try and get some help,"  He scrubbed a hand over his face. "I have to leave but only for a little bit, ok son?"  There was a small nod before he lulled his head to side and his breathing slowed but stayed irregular, Henry knew that he had passed out and that was not a good thing and he shouldn't go but he had to leave, he had to get help.  "I'll be back as soon as I can."  Henry dug into his son's pants pocket and retrieved the phone, wincing at the blood on the screen he unlocked the electronic, stood, and started to hike up toward the road as quickly as his injured leg and aching head would allow.

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Gus was in full on worry mode and the fact that Shawn's phone kept going straight to voicemail was not helping matters much. He checked the time stamp of the text message and felt himself pale. "How did six hours passed without us noticing?" By the looks on the detective's faces and the way he felt, they all felt an exorbitant amount of guilt. 

Juliet didn't know why but she wanted to call Shawn's cell, she knew that Gus wasn't getting an answer but she just needed to check for herself. The woman dug through her pockets, looked around the laptop she had been on, and checked her pockets again. "Where's my phone? Have either of you seen it?"  Carlton pointed in the general direction of the couch while he was looking down at his own phone dialing a number.  There was her phone, sitting on the book she was reading earlier, looking innocent and yet like it was going to answer all her questions.  She quickly crossed the expanse of the combined kitchen-living room and snatched her phone off its perch so forcefully the book fell and slapped onto the wooden floor, causing the two men to jump and look up.  She shot them an apologetic look before she pressed the button on the side of her IPhone to wake it up, but instead of her lit up background there was only blackness. 

"Dammit."  She continued to mentally curse herself as she stomped toward the room she would be sharing with Shawn and started tearing apart her luggage looking for her phone charger. "Stupid phone, stupid charger, stupid dead battery.". The only thing that mattered to the woman at the moment was getting that phone on and calling her boyfriend, she had a bad feeling,  the only other times she felt like this Shawn had almost died; the first time he was shot, the second his appendix burst and during the rush to the hospital he declined so rapidly the fear of him never waking up was do very real.  "Come one, come on, come on!"  After what seemed like forever her battery was finally charged enough to power up completely.

Anxiously she watched as it went through the sequence of pictures and sounds. "Finally!"  A small smile crossed her face at her current wallpaper picture, it was of her and Shawn on a pier just as the sun set behind them, she was smiling toothily while he had his usual smirk. The memories of that day were quickly pushed away as her phone beeped at her indicating a text message.  Sighing in relief at the name of the sender, she opened the message expecting to see something along the lines of them running late because he just had to watch a Sanford and Son marathon or something as equally arbitrary.  What she didn't expect was the complete gibberish that made no sense to her in any way. 

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Henry limped up the road quicker than he had any right to, and he could feel the warm liquid running down the back of his leg because of it. After what felt like forever the phone in his hand beeped signifying that he had service. "About time!!"He fumbled a bit with it as he tried to get it operating with one hand when it began to ring. 

"Check yes Juliet......I'll be waiting...."  

Henry quickly slid his thumb over the phone screen and nearly knocked himself out when he slammed the electronic to his ear.  " Juliet, can you hear me?!?"  There was some very loud static but faintly he heard the young woman's voice coming in and out.

"Mr. Spen.........where.......you........going on?"   Henry cursed his luck, continued to walk down the road hoping the signal got stronger, and tried to get the call for help across to her.

"There was an accident, we need help,  we're on the old access road about twenty minutes from the highway exit. It's bad,"  Henry waited for a response, any response, but all he heard was static.  That low hiss seemed to go for an entirety and he was sure that she hasn't heard a word. His desperation rose along with his pulse and for the first time in a long time he began to pray.

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When Juliet called Shawn's phone for perhaps the twentieth time in about ten minutes she expected for it to go to voicemail, so when she heard the ringing stop and some very loud static come through the earpiece she almost dropped the phone. 

"Juliet......hear me?"  The deep voice of her boyfriend's father was faint, but it was there.

"Mr. Spencer where are you guys?  We've been trying to reach you, but the signal isn't the greatest.  What's going on?"

The blonde shut her eyes in an attempt to concentrate fully on the noises pouring forth from the device that she had pushed hard against her head, as if the close proximity of it would improve the signal.  She heard some grumbling that sounding like speech, but only a few words stuck out to her, which sent her brain into overdrive but stunned her mouth silent; it was like the ice cream truck case all over again except this time the words that shocked her still weren't I love you.

"Carlton!"

Her partner was one to never not listen to her when she used that tone of voice, the tall man was in that room quicker than what seemed possible.  Before Juliet could tell him that she had reached the missing twosome he began speaking.

"O'Hara, I just got off the phone with the forestry service, they said that there is a downed tree  on the access road and that they just haven't gotten around to removing it."  He swallowed and looked at her apprehensively. "I did the math they should be here by now........."  As he trailed off, Juliet's mind kick started her stunned mouth. She held up the phone to Carlton who looked at it with confused eyes.

"I just got a hold of Mr. Spencer the connection ummmmmmm......it's bad and I was only able to get a few words of what was said."  Carlton snatched the phone out of her hand and put it to his ear.

"Henry, can you hear me?"  Juliet had almost forgotten that the call was still connected, and she mentally cursed herself for not trying to get more information from it. "Henry?"  He shook his head and handed the phone back to her. "We need to go."

Juliet nodded and watched her partner go into the kitchen, presumably to turn off the stove and grab his keys. She listened to the phone again and the low hiss of static was what greeted her. "Henry, I don't know if you can hear this but we're coming for you. Just hold on, we're coming for you."  Reluctantly she ended the connection and joined the men in the large front room.  She didn't look at them but instead walked quickly past them and grabbed her VW's keys. 

"Juliet." She looked up at her boyfriend's best friend through watery eyes, the worry in his face reflected just how she felt. "Carlton said you were able to reach them, what info did you get?"  Three words; three tiny, measly, words had broken through the tentative connection but the inflection behind the trio had meant so much more. "Juliet?"

She swallowed deeply and forced her throat to work around the syllables. "Accident, help, and bad." Those three words were enough to send both men into driven activity, Carlton grabbed his cell and started dialing numbers while Gus grabbed the ever present first aid kit that put most EMTs to shame.  Before she knew it they were ready to go.

"We'll take the Fusion, it's better for that road and we'll get there before the rangers and rescue squad."  They all knew that Carlton was going to drive like a bat outta hell to get there before the others but at this moment they didn't care.

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Just when Henry was sure that the static was going to be the only noise that was coming out of the devices a voice broke through.  "Hold on, we're coming." There was a small click and silence overtook his senses, complete and utter silence, he took a moment and shut his eyes to thank whoever answered his prayer then he began his quick trek back to his injured son.  The constant need to get to his son was the only thing that kept him continuing through the throbbing pain in his leg and cranium, it also didn't help that his sock was currently soaked in his own blood  and there was a constant trickling adding to it. 

When he could see the downed tree about two hundred yards way his adrenaline kicked in  and he was prepared to nearly run down the road when his eagle eye vision spotted something along the road. Freezing at the red mess on the road he at first thought that some unfortunate animal had met its demise till he really looked and saw that it was a puddle of blood but it didn't look like it was spilled from a cut it was almost like it was..........Shit. Shawn!!!!!

His near run turned to a full out dead sprint till he jumped off the side of the road that had been disturbed by the truck.  He not so gracefully slid down the rocky incline the underbrush  abrading his bare forearms and tearing at the bandage on his gashed leg. Once he reached the level area where the truck lay he got to his feet and rounded around the metal machine area dreading that he was going to find his son cold and his eyes clouded over with death.  The minute shivers that wracked the younger man's form sent a wave of relief through the older man unlike anything he felt before. Gently he sat down and lifted Shawn's head back into his lap. "I'm back kid."  Henry held his breath as the shivering stopped, and the lids over the hazel eyes fluttered as if the young man was trying to open them..

"Da?" It was a whisper but dammit it was the best thing that Henry had ever heard in his life.

"Yeah kid it's me.  I got a hold of that pretty girlfriend of yours."  Shawn smiled a bit. "They're coming for us son, they're coming."  The young man fought against his eyelids again but this time he actually won. Henry fought against the relieved laugh that threatened to escape as he saw that there was still that ever present mischievous twinkle in them. " Bout time you woke up kid."

Another small smile graced the stubbly face before a look of pain overtook the features.  The younger man's whole body tensed, his eyes rolled in his head, and then his whole body jerked and convulsed as a seizure tormented his body. The hammering in his chest was the only other thing that Henry could pay attention to as he rolled his son on his side and let the convulsions run their course.

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This was perhaps the most tense, and quietest, car-ride the tall detective had ever experienced since he had gotten Juliet as his partner, and it didn't help matters much that since they hit the access road he had to significantly slow the Fusion down so they didn't meet the same feat as Spencer and his father.  "Did he tell you how far up the road they were?" The withering glare the blond sent his direction had the man closing his jaw with a click.

"Carlton, I told you the only things that got through were accident, help and bad.  Don't you think I would have remembered anything else."  The venom behind her words gave the man mixed feelings, first off he was scared of the seething anger, but on the other hand he was damn proud that she could invoke such feelings in a man who had seen and done many things that would bring a lesser man to their knees.

He turned his vision back to the windshield and the scenery creeped by. Juliet went back to looking out of the passenger side window trying to spy anything that would lead them the missing men. She closed her eyes momentarily and tried to shut out the voice that kept repeating over and over in her head.  It wasn't the words as much as it was the desperation that she heard behind them she had never heard the older Spencer sound that hopeless, not even when Shawn had been shot and kidnapped.  Opening her eyes back up she continued to survey the surroundings and saw no signs of disturbance that indicated an accident. She was just about suggest they stop and wait for the forestry service or the rescue squad so there were more eyes on the old road when she felt the car lurch forward as Carlton slammed on the brakes.  The cabin of the blue vehicle was silent save for the harsh breathing of the three occupants.

"Geez."  Juliet seconded the salesman's hissed declaration mentally. "Where are they then?"

She turned around in her seat and saw the fear and worry in his eyes. "I don't know, Gus, I just don't know." 

"Over there." The attention shifted to the driver who was pointing over her shoulder and, following it, she saw the broken brush and small saplings that had recently been snapped. An inaudible curse was murmured and then all hell broke loose as the sound of crumbling rock was combined with the Fusion sliding sideways.  Juliet's scream filled the little space as the sedan continued to slide and threatened to roll on its side.

Henry didn't know what he was more grateful for, the stopping of his son's convulsions or the sound of a car arriving.  When the unmistakable sound of rock crumbling away followed by the harsh squeal of rubber on pavement the older man quickly decided that the his son's more stable condition was, in fact, better.  He heard screaming above the sound of snapping wood and instantly placed it with his son's girlfriend.  "Dammit all to hell."  Henry stood and looked over the hood of his truck only to spot a dark blue Ford Fusion sliding quickly toward where his old truck and by proxy himself and Shawn lay.  "Shit."   Despite his loudly protesting body the older Spencer kneeled next to his son and hooked his arms under his son's shoulders and pulled. He pushed the screaming pain in his left arm to the back of his mind and quickly yanked his son out of the path of destruction.  Knowing that he could not do anything while the sedan was sliding down the incline Henry could only watch and pray that no one got hurt.

            The older man's prayers were answered when the blue vehicle came to rest after barely tapping the overturned truck.  He gave his son one more glance and seeing that he was still breathing decided that the others could use whatever form of help he could offer. The sounds that had once filled the rapidly darkening day had given away to silence.  Bracing himself for the worst but wishing for the best the old man sidled up along the passenger side of the car and nearly smiled at the sight before him.   Every passenger in the vehicle seemed to be ok except for being in a state of shock which shone through as two stared straight ahead and the driver looked wide-eyed at the truck that was up close and personal to his window. 

A blissful sigh of relief escaped his lips as he saw the lanky driver's vision track from the peeling yellow paint of the Ford to where he stood. Although Henry saw recognition dawning he decided to speed things up by tapping loudly on the window with his watch's metal band.  If the situation had been less dire the older man was sure he would've laughed at the responses of the three passengers.  Gus, always the first one to react instead of thinking and acting, jumped in his seat and upon seeing their descent had stopped and tried to get out of the police issued car's back seat; thankfully he only slammed his head against the window once thinking the door had opened before he got the point.  The two detective's in the front had similar reactions but by no means were less comical. Carlton reached for his none existent shoulder holster and realizing it wasn't there slammed open the middle console to grab a tiny Smith and Wesson .38 Bodyguard revolver.  His partner in true blue cop fashion reached for her ankle and pulled a rather impressive Glock 31 with extended clip to fit more than enough .357's to protect them from a zombie apocalypse. How in the hell did she walk with that clip? Shaking the thoughts clear from his head he tapped on the window again and this time he was rewarded with realization and Juliet opening her door. 

"Mr. Spencer?!" The blonde quickly slid the pistol back into her ankle holster, which he noticed was specially made, and looked up at him with suppressed tears in her eyes. "Shawn?!"  Wanting to go over to his fallen son but knowing he had to help the other men he pointed at the tree he had dragged Shawn to.  One curt nod was his answer before she stomped off in a gallop toward the area her boyfriend lay.

"You guys going to sit in there all day?" Carlton was studying his tiny pistol looking like, well, like his female partner who he out weighed by almost seventy-five pounds had a gun, strapped to her ankle, that put all of the department to shame. "Yes hers is bigger but there are more pertinent things at hand."  Blinking quickly the veteran officer placed the tiny firearm back in it's resting place.  "And I think Gus wants out as well."  He motioned quickly at the backseat where the bald man was looking like a puppy whose owner left  him in the car while they went shopping. "I'm going back to my son."

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            Juliet didn't know what she was going to come upon when she reached the tree her boyfriend's dad had pointed at but this horrible situation wasn't it.  Shawn looked like he had gone ten rounds with Joe Frazier and lost.  "Oh Shawn."  He was pale, so pale that she was sure his skin was translucent.  She nearly collapsed to her knees next to the prone form and brushed back some of sweat soaked hair from his face. Leaning forward she whispered in his ear. "I'm here, help is coming, you're going to be ok."  The tears she had managed to fight back since realizing the severity of danger the love of her life was in came back in full force, this time though she didn't bother knocking them back. As the little drops of salt water fell onto Shawn's face and ground she never stopped talking to him, hoping for some sort of response but the man was still. Too still.

"He's been like that since after the phone call." Startled by the new voice the young woman's fingers itched to reach for her weapon but it quickly gave way to sympathy as she spied the older Spencer looking down at his son with worry.  She watched as he swallowed deeply, his Adam's apple bobbing deeply. "I think he's bleeding internally, there's some blood on the road that looked like it was vomited." Shutting his eyes tightly he continued. "He had a seizure that lasted about a minute and he's been stabbed with something......"   He trailed off as his breath quickened and Juliet watched as he paled. Standing quickly she sidled next to the man and grasping his right arm held him as steady as she could.

"Hey let's sit down, ok?"  He gave a small nod and allowed the petite woman to lead him to a stump that was within arms length of his son. "Just rest, Mr. Spencer, we're here to take care of you.  We're here." She knew he had at least a broken arm, given that there was some sort of makeshift splint adorning it and by the way his reflexes were slowed there had to be some sort of head injury.  "Mr. Spencer?"  His eyes slowly tracked back to hers. "Is there anything else we should know?"  She watched as Henry squinted his eyes in a very Shawn-like fashion and fought a smile, she had known for some time how her boyfriend played psychic but it never ceased  to amaze her.  So much detail in one brain.

"Ummmmm....he seemed like he was having problem breathing too deeply, broken ribs I guess."  Pinching the bridge of his nose with his good hand he let out a shaky sigh. "I think the seizure was due to a concussion but if it is this is the worst concussion I've ever seen."  Juliet nodded and began to gently feel around Shawn head as Henry watched on.  She felt a small bump right above his ear but she knew where that had come from a small smile formed because she remembered him complaining about how his hairline was forever ruined, like it was her fault he got over zealous with their goodnight kiss.  If her audience noticed the smile it wasn't noted so she continued to probe his skull, once her fingers curled around the back of his head she hit a wet spot.  Not wanting to venture further but there was only blood no protrusion so she ventured on, closing her eyes so that she could concentrate purely on her touch the source of Shawn's seizure became very apparent as her delicate digits found a depression in the bone. She yanked her hand away so quickly she nearly fell over. "Juliet?" She looked up and saw that Henry had stood and taken a step toward her.

"It's not a concussion." She fought the bile that had crept up her throat. "It's a skull fracture." The young woman saw the blood on her hands and started wiping it frantically on the leaves that littered the ground.  The sticky liquid refused to wipe off but she couldn't stop, all she could do was feel her boyfriend's skull under her hands no longer rounded out but dipping in deeply.  When she realized the detritus on the ground was not going to remove the crimson fluid she resorted to scrubbing her palms on her jeans.  "It's not coming off. It's not....."  A strong hand grasped her shoulder forcing her to stop the scouring and look up at the owner.

"Juliet, take a deep breath."  She did and was surprised when it did make her feel a bit better.  The man gave a sympathetic smile as he looked down at her. "Now tell me," The man himself needed to take his own breath to stop the shake in his voice "How do you know it's a fracture?" He watched as she gripped and pulled on the hem of her shirt tightly.

"I felt the bone move." She shut her eyes tightly and let her head droop toward her chest so she couldn't see Henry's reaction. "I....I felt a dip and when I put my fingers to it,"  She let go of her shirt and flexed her fingers as if she couldn't feel the extremities and based on her pale color she was in  state of shock and probably couldn't. "I felt the bones shift over one another."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Once he was freed from the backseat of the car, Gus immediately set about to getting the trunk open and retrieving his first aid kit.  "Where did they...." His question trailed off though when he noticed the trail of destruction that the truck had made; clothes were strewn everywhere, pieces of the truck that snapped off were here and there and glass made the underbrush glitter but something caught his eye among all this debris. "Is that?"  Dropping the kit he stumbled to an almost unnoticeable glint in the forest floor and fell to his knees. Pushing aside leaves and broken twigs his hands grasped the object of his affection the cool metal in his fingers caused tears to well up in his eyes. The dark-skinned man sniffed, wiped his eyes with his free hand and stood.

"Guster what is so important you ruined those expensive pants of yours?"  There was bite in the detective's voice but his eyes held worry. He fidgeted as the other man ignored him, pocketed the item, and grabbed his kit.  "Gus?" The use of his nickname caused the salesman to grow stone cold still as he stared at the tall man.  "What did you find?"  Gus remained quiet as he sidestepped the Irishman and marched toward the direction he assumed was correct. Shaking his head at the complete shutdown Carlton just followed as close as he dared. The scene the two came upon was perhaps the worst thing the veteran officer had ever seen and he had been privileged to more than most cops his age.  He had only seen his junior partner break down once at a crime scene and that was after she was the victim but  that was nothing compared to this.  Juliet was completely despondent as Henry Spencer, of all people, was holding his son's hand and crying openly.

Complete and utter shock washed over Gus as he watch these actions unfurl in front of him, it was like some sort of waking nightmare. "Mist.......Mr. Spencer?"  When the man didn't look up Gus directed his sights to man on the ground.  The salesman had seen his friend in several predicaments, many of which ended in the necessity of the first aid kit or a trip to the emergency department at the nearest hospital, but during none of those times did Shawn look as ashen or old. The normal tan that he wore proudly faded to a shade of white that rivaled computer paper, every wrinkle and line that would normally be masked by a goofy smile shone brightly.  Falling to his knees next to his best friend, he opened the waterproof military grade hard pack and started grabbing at the contents. "What do you know?" Borne out of necessity,  the man quickly switched gears from salesman to volunteer firefighter and medic.  With a large pair of bandage scissors Gus began to cut away his best friend's shirt, careful of the large blotch of blood on his side. 

The flash of movement in his peripheral vision snapped Henry back to the present. "He was having trouble taking a deep breath and he...."  The older Spencer couldn't bring himself to say anything more about his son's condition, he just couldn't.  The man went back to holding his son's hand in a death grip and despite the strong hold he normally had on his emotions the tears that fell betrayed him.

"Henry told me he had a seizure before we got here and I found what I'm pretty sure is a skull fracture. As for other injuries Henry also told me he found blood on the road that looked like it was vomited."  The impromptu medic flicked his eyes to the woman who was grasping to reality by her fingertips. "I...I ummmmm...."  She tightly shut her eyes and took a few deep breaths. "He hasn't responded to me."  Gus nodded as he started to peel away the tattered, crimson stained shirt, dreading what may lay beneath.  "I tried but he....he just laid there." The young detective pressed the back of her hand to her mouth and stifled a sob. "He is never this still Gus, never."

"I know."  Gus was a nervous ball of energy and when he fully pulled off the clothing , he was given a  worthy reason for it.  Shawn's chest and abdomen were covered in rapidly darkening bruises, there was some sort of circular stab wound which blood was steadily trickling from, but what drew everyone's attention, particularly Henry's, was the deepest bruise on his chest.  Taking a deep breath Gus counted the little circles and confirmed his suspicions that each were from a knuckle of someone's fist. "How'd?"

"I wasn't buckled in, the truck flipped, it's from me."  Henry had let go of his son's hand and as Gus worked looking for other obvious injuries and checking for the not so apparent ones, he brushed his hand over the bruise to make sure it wasn't some sort of play of shadows. "Oh kid. I'm so damn sorry."  His hand traveled to the downed man's cheek where he brushed off some dirt that had settled there. Eyes roaming over every feature, bump, bruise and cut Henry couldn't help but sear them into his memory.   "Carlton since all you're doing is standing there how ‘bout you go to the road so we don't add an ambulance or a firetruck to the collection over there."  His tone was harsher than needed or meant to be but at the moment Henry Spencer was pissed off at himself and everyone was collateral, especially since he couldn't lash out at the person responsible for his son's injuries. Well not yet at least.

            Juliet's eyes only flicked to her partner momentarily as he gave Henry a ‘go to hell' look, turned around and started to make his way toward the road. Once he had taken two steps away from them she directed her whole undivided attention to the prone form on the forest floor.  "Gus is he going to be ok?"  She began to pull on the hem of her shirt again as if the simple act was keeping her anchored to reality. 

            Gus heard her voice and saw he pulling on her shirt in some sort of nervous habit but he wasn't sure how to answer her.  "Well I'm no doctor and I don't have all the equipment necessary for a full diagnosis...."

            "Just tell me." The sudden anger in her voice caused the man to close his jaw with a click. When she saw the shock in her friend's eyes she closed her own and sighed deeply. "Gus I know you've read almost every medical journal known to man, you frequent doctor offices more than hypochondriacs and if it wasn't for the fact that blood make you sick you would've went to medical school.   Just tell me."  She opened her eyes and made sure the man who was sitting opposite her knew that she needed to know.

"Definite broken ribs, that wound on his side,"  He pointed at the gauze that was starting to turn a deep crimson color. "It probably has punctured his intestines which is why it's still bleeding, that deep bruise on his chest,"  Henry looked up in guilt. "It's directly over his heart and his pulse is starting to race. The skull fracture I'm pretty sure that it was caused by something small which is why the depression is so bad. As for the vomited blood, I really have no idea."  He swallowed several times as bile threatened to take over his words and met Juliet's gaze which had turned to a watery sort of detachment.

"So it's bad?"  Juliet didn't know why she was asking the question, she knew it was bad, horrible even, and the answer shone brightly in the faces of the two men. Leaning over she kissed the now gauzed wrapped forehead of her boyfriend and whispered in his ear. "You better be ok, Spencer, you hear me you better be ok.  After all we have a condo to decorate and you haven't met my mom yet."  She felt the tears slip down her nose and heard them drop to the leaves beneath her. "And Carlton told me about your deal, you don't want to break my heart now do you? Because if you do I will let him shoot you."  The small smile on her face was involuntary but just something about the memory of her partner informing her how he took Shawn into the interrogation room never ceased to make her grin.   

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Carlton Lassiter was beyond angry, beyond worried, tired and calm all at the same time. Conflicted, yeah that's exactly what he was conflicted and he wasn't going to tell anyone else different. The hike up the incline was more exhausting than expected and not just physically.  Every foot he climbed the detective couldn't help but notice the wake of destruction caused by the truck and his Fusion.  "Dammit Spencer."  He pinched the bridge of his nose as his vision, yet again, caught red glimmer on the leaves that he transversed.

The veteran detective added frustrated to his battling emotions as he realized that, for perhaps the first time since he met the man, Shawn Spencer was not responsible for the predicament he was in.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Roll him on his side!!!"   Juliet watched in horror as convulsions wracked her boyfriend's body.  It was the most surreal thing she had ever experienced in her life one moment she had one hand firmly clamped to Shawn's knee and the next Gus was shouting and Henry was taking direction.  A strange gurgling noise elicited from Shawn's throat then his whole form relaxed and seemed to collapse in on itself.  "Roll him back."  The older Spencer did and stepped back as the dark skinned man did an assessment, yet again.

"G-Gus?"  She was only minutely aware that she had started crying as her vision blurred but never left the two men on the ground.  When he was done with his work the worry that poured off the crouched man's body was palpable.  Looking up Juliet saw that he had been crying as well.

"He needs help soon or he's going to die."

I first off need to apologize for this because I hate it when people update and it's not a chapter but this is something that needs to said.

I will NO longer be posting on psychfic for a while.  There are several reasons for this from trying to achieve a nursing job to a very severe case of writer's block but the biggest is the fact that everything has become a dime a dozen on this site.

I know that I supposed to write for myself but if that were true I wouldn't have posted now would I? We writers post so that others will enjoy our work but when you put so much thought, love, and hard work into the chapter and have others cranking out three or four, not very good,  new updates a day on the same story, it's very discouraging.   I am by no means stating that I am this wonderful writer but there are others out there that are worthy of publication but their work never gets seen because it's pushed down so quickly. (and no, no one has voiced this to me it's a personal opinion)  

I will return one day, maybe. 

“Cardiac tamponade...”

    “Swelling.....”

    “Multiple fractures....”

    “Bleeding.....”

    Green scrubs, black stethoscopes, and white walls......

    White.....

    Pale skin streaked with blue veins......

    “Dad?”   

    Dark hair stained crimson......

    “Dad?!?”

    Purple bruises on a silver white scar......

    “DAD?!”

    Henry jerked, or tried to, upright in the hospital bed causing the multiple aches that had been resting with his weary body to spring awake with a vengeance causing a loud groan to bubble up from his chest.

    “Whoa there Henry,”  A gentle but persistent hand placed pressure on his chest forcing him to lay back against the mattress.  He shut his eyes and breathed heavily through his nose waiting for the pain to recede.  “You know it wouldn’t hurt as much if you took the painkillers they offered you.”  The older keep his eyes shut against the voice it didn’t take a genius to know the Head Detective’s voice or that the strain in it meant that he had worked his features into worry.

“Shawn?”  His parched throat  caused his voice to crack, he heard an indignant sigh followed by the pouring of water in a cup and then a thin plastic straw at his lips which he wrapped them around and drank greedily, only to have it taken away before he was done.  His body was heavy, he hurt in more places than not and his eyes refused to do anything but stay shut. but his mind was running fast.  “Shawn?”  The older man could almost hear the gears working in the detective’s head.  “Don’t sugar coat it.”

“Ok, if you’re sure?”  Henry nodded his head minutely.  “He’s in the ICU they were able to reduce the pressure around his heart caused from the blood, they stabilized his skull fracture, the stab wound caused some serious bleeding and they had to remove some intestine but not enough to cause problems, some of the bones in his hand were cracked but they don’t think he’ll need a cast,”  The dark haired man dropped his head back to the chair he was sitting in and sighed. “Crap! ‘ He whispered loudly, “I left the fish I caught in the oven, that is going to stink to high heaven.”  

“Carlton.”  The man raised his head to be met with the icy glare of the bed’s occupant. “I know you deflecting, I’m not stupid I was married to a therapist in case you forgot.”  The officer sucked his teeth and breathed heavily through his nose, nodding in defeat before he continued.

“He’s on a ventilator because ….”  He shut his eyes, the officer hadn’t been in Henry’s room all night he had managed a glimpse at the younger Spencer through the glass of the ICU cubicle and it was unlike anything he had ever seen. He didn’t think it was possible for a single person to have all these lines running in and out of them and and the nurses were adding more.  “Because the pressure on his brain from the fracture caused multiple seizures and after the last one he wasn’t able to breathe on his own.”  Carlton wasn’t a cold hearted bastard, despite what people accused him off, and just knowing that Shawn’s brain was so far damaged that doing something as simple as breathing was too difficult really affected him.  He wouldn’t admit it out loud but that damn pain in his ass psychic detective had dramatically changed his life, first for the worse by getting Lucinda transferred to the better by somehow actually wiggling through that exterior and becoming what Carlton would call a friend.

“That it?”  Henry look even more exhausted than he had when they arrived at the hospital, every word weighing down on him and it was more than the older man could take.

“Yeah, Henry look,”  He swallowed heavily, “I know you want to see him but I also know that the nurses won’t allow you to leave this bed till you get painkillers in your system.”  Henry snorted loudly, “I know it seems counter productive, drugging you up and making you more likely to fall but you had a pretty hard knock on your head as well and pain will just cause your blood pressure to rise.”

“And that’s not good for a head injury.”  Henry finished for the waning man. “Ok send the pushers in.”  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

    Gus felt his head droop toward his chest and just before his chin touched, he jerked it up again. “You should go and get some sleep Gus, I know you don’t want to leave but you clearly cannot stay awake much longer.”  His tired eyes drifted from his friend’s form to the only other occupant.

    “What about you?”  The blonde detective didn’t look much better than he felt, her hair was tied in a rapidly falling apart ponytail, her clothes were stained in places with mud, her eyes had taken on a deep purple color and the rest of her complexion was grey in comparison.  While the ponytail and mud would normally make her look cuter in every straight man’s eyes the greyness made you want to admit her to the very same hospital her boyfriend was in.  “I mean you look like cr....”  Immediately he bit off the word as the glare from the normally happy baby blues chilled him to his core.

    “I look like what?”  The woman raised her eyebrows in question and defiance.  “Because you ain’t looking too hot yourself otherwise I wouldn’t have said anything.”  She quickly wilted as another wave of exhaustion washed over her. “Sorry Gus, but I figured one of us should get some sleep and my mind will not allow it.”  She watched as the man’s jaw tightened in fear. “Look, I know that you don’t want to sleep but you should at least try, there is a family waiting room just at the end of the hall and I think they have loungers so that people can catch a few minutes.”  He nodded in defeat.

“Just get me if anything happens, I mean anything.” She gave him a small smile as he left the little ICU cubicle. She closed her eyes and listened to the noises of the room that she hadn’t left in nearly twelve hours.  At a regular rhythm there was a woosh from the ventilator, mechanical whirs sounded at odd intervals from the various IV pumps, something would beep for a few seconds then quickly went silent, and her own breathing.  It was too quiet and yet too loud at the same time.  

“The symphony of hospitals.”  Startled out of her musings Juliet nearly fell out of the chair she was resting in. “Oh I am so sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”  The gentleman that had entered the room looked genuinely apologetic about the whole thing.  “I’m Doctor Pepper.”  The snort the blonde let out involuntarily snort which made her cheeks glow red in embarrassment, “Don’t worry about it I get that all the time.” He even chuckled a bit as Juliet’s face didn’t stop blushing.  “Most people though don’t seem to care as much as you about making fun of it though, as I was saying I’m Doctor Pepper and I am one of the specialists on your friend’s team.”

“Boyfriend and you can call him Shawn.”  The woman was feeling out this man, he seemed grandfatherly but she had met too many physicians in the past twenty four hours that appeared to care but were just there because of the interesting case that was in the bed, not the person.  He gave a smile, pulled the other chair in the room next to her, and sat in it. Well that is different.

“Shawn, as you know, was brought in with multiple injuries the worst of which is the skull fracture.”  She bit her lip hard and held back the tears as best as possible as he continued. “I am a neurologist and have been made head of the trauma team for Shawn.  I know that some of my colleagues have been fighting over this case but I assure you that has ended.”  The woman decided that she was liking this man more and more by the minute. “Now there are some tests that I would like to do to assess any damage the fracture may have caused and based on these tests we can draw up a treatment plan that everyone can agree on, including your boyfriend.”  Her tears couldn’t be held in anymore, she literally burst into them as the exhaustion and this man took their toll.  The grey haired man didn’t bat an eye, put his clipboard down, and allowed her to sob into his shoulder as she thanked him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gus had fully intended to get some actual sleep if only he could relieve Juliet from her vigil, but as he came out of the ICU and to the lounge area the sun was just too bright for him to be able to relax enough to do just that. He blinked rapidly against the bright light coming through the the blind covered window and considered asking one of the nurses if they knew how long the sunrise would be that bright.  Wait...... He looked at his watch and his confusion hit him in full force.  “It’s only four a.m.”   He wandered over to the lit up, shaded window and gently lifted back the plastic covering. “Holy Shit!”    If anyone had been waiting in the room he wouldn’t have apologized for the curse but he was glad no one was because shortly after that utterance the surrealism of the situation slammed into him full force and he went rubber legged.  He slowly slid down the wall and shut his eyes, the vision of the parking lot seared into his retina.  There were nearly a hundred people some holding up ‘Prayers for Shawn’ poster, others holding candles, and every local news van was set up with their bright lights illuminating the entire parking lot and causing a false daylight behind the shades.  He had never imagined this outpouring of support for his friend and the man who was a sympathetic cryer, and nothing else, sobbed into his knees without restrain.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The redhead with big green eyes entered from the bathroom and huffed loudly as she flopped onto the bed next to her husband. “That was like the tenth time tonight.”  Her husband chuckled as he placed a hand on her baby bump.

“Not the tenth time but close,”  He smiled widely at her and went back to flipping channels on the bedroom’s television. “And you have two more months to look forward to.”  The woman grabbed the pillow that was propping her up and slammed it hard into his head. “Ooooowww!” He gave his best pouty lip face and looked up at her like a puppy. “Kiss it and make it better.”  Just as she leaned in to give her spouse a sloppy kiss the television caught her attention.

“As reported earlier,Shawn Spencer psychic for the Santa Barbara PD, was airlifted to Cottage after suffering severe injuries in a car accident.  His father, Henry Spencer, was also.....”

The nearly seven months pregnant woman swung her legs off the bed and nearly ran into the bathroom. “That will be the tenth time, honey.”  His chuckle cut short as two toiletry bags were thrown on the bed. “Honey?”

“I don’t need to pee, well I do, but we need to pack.”  Not one to question his wife in any circumstance the man nodded, stood and grabbed the suitcases from the closet.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Bra come here and look at this,”  Kevin stabbed his surfboard into the wet sand and jogged over to the bar.  “This guy looks like the kid you took on that night jump.”  Cocking his head to the side the sandy haired man looked closely at the tiny screen.

“That’s because it is.”  Taking a few steadying breaths he gave a quick glance behind him at the Hawaiian surf. “He saved my life with all that nature survivor crap he knew.”  The man hit the bar twice with his palm.  “Mike,”  The bartender looked up at his friend. “I have to get going.”  He gave Kevin a single nod and went back to wiping down the bar.

“Don’t forget your board, bra.”  He looked up from his cleaning to see that Kevin had not only left his board but had torn down the beach so quickly he had already reached his jeep and was pulling away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Cap. what is it?”  The young firefighter was thoroughly confused why not only his captain but several of the other veteran were glued to the television that was reporting about some guy in California.

“Jesus H. Christ, that’s rook.” The captain stood and walked quickly over to the phone on the wall that was the direct line to the chief. “Hey newbs, want to go on a road trip?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Not one poker game, bonfire, or noise was to be had as people of all shapes, sizes and stages of life rounded around a television with spotty reception.  When the picture of Shawn flashed on the screen again, nothing was said but action was had as the group dispersed and began breaking down camp and getting their vehicles ready.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Chef what are we prepping tonight?”  Eloise smiled widely as she went into the cooler and began picking the fresh vegetables and cream.

“I feel the need to make Ratatouille.”  Every junior chef, dishwasher, waitress, and busboy matched her wide smile and a few chuckled.  “Consensus?”  When there were nothing but nods she began slicing, dicing, and getting the tomato cream sauce her five star restaurant was famous for.  “Turn up the television I want to hear something that’s not that horrible music.”  She wrinkled her nose as the people who moved in next store turned their ‘music’ even louder but all she could hear was the bass beat.

“Monsieur Spencer, was instrumental in the apprehension of international art thief Pierre Despereaux and the Ying Yang serial killers.  At this moment his condition is unstable and critical....”

    “Chef.....Chef!”  But Eloise didn’t hear her title being shouted she was preoccupied with getting to her moped and speeding off toward the international airport.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Rick!”  The short woman ran through her house in search for her husband. “Rick!!!”  Wide eye and his hand straying to his hip the man in question left the bedroom that had laughter bubbling out of it.

“Marta?”  His eyes kept flicking to the surroundings and then back to his wife’s worried etched face. “What’s wrong dear?”  He strode over to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Instead of telling him she grabbed the front of his shirt and dragged him to the living room.

“That’s what’s wrong, Rick.” Two tears slipped down her cheeks and splashed on the hardwood floor as the newscast played it’s loop again.  “They don’t know if he’s going to live.”

The dark skinned woman began to pace. “He may die, Rick, he may die and.....”  Her husband fully understood what was rushing through her mind.

“Marta, call your sister.”  The pacing stopped and her eyes lit up as she searched his face questioningly.

“There is no way in hell the best rookie I ever trained in the field is not going to get an ear full from his FTO.”  Marta’s shoulders sagged in relief and gratitude that, although Shawn was no longer his charge, the pure fact that he once wore a police uniform was enough for them to go to Santa Barbara.