Five Months Later

Juliet sat serene, staring at Shawn's ashen face. Her hand cradled Shawn's as her foot lightly tapped against the baby carrier at her feet. A quick glance down showed that Brandon was sound asleep. His tiny fist shoved into his mouth. Looking back up she stared long and hard at the man laying in the hospital bed in front of her.

Five months ago Shawn had crashed his motorcycle. Five months ago Shawn had fallen into a coma. Everyday since then, for the exception of a couple here or there, Juliet sat in the chair by his bed holding his hand. None of those days had started out like today had.

As per usual, Juliet was awoken at seven by the wailing of one month old, Brandon. Juliet wiped the sleep from her eyes as she padded down the hall and entered the nursery that Gus had helped Juliet finish putting together. Leaning over the guardrail of Brandon's crib, Juliet smiled at her hazel eyed baby boy. He squealed loudly, his tiny fists waving around. Picking him up, Juliet made her way toward the kitchen to start heating up a bottle. Halfway there, her cell phone started to ring.

She had sighed, but decided to grab her phone since Brandon was being fairly quiet. Quick strides and she entered their bedroom again. Leaning down, Juliet snatched up her cell phone and checked the caller id. Her nose wrinkled slightly when it read back Santa Barbara Memorial Hospital. Juliet answered it before pulling the phone up to her ear.

“Hello?”

“Yes, is Mrs. Juliet Spencer there?”

Juliet sighed, shifting her weight uncomfortably. Brandon was quite small and didn't weigh much, but her arm was tired of having his weight weigh down on top of it for so long. “This is her.” Juliet shifted Brandon slightly on her hip, before pinning her phone between her head and shoulder. She started shuffling down the hallway and toward the living room.

“Mrs. Spencer. It's about your husband, Shawn Spencer.” Everything inside of her tensed up. A feeling of dread overcame her, and she had sinking feeling in her chest. “As you know, three months ago, Shawn was moved to a long-term care facility. Since then, his doctor there has been keeping a close eye on Shawn's brain activity. We were informed today that there was increased activity--” Juliet's breath caught in her throat. She didn't dare do as much as breathe in fear that it might jinx the next words out of the nurse's mouth. “We have reason to believe that Mr. Spencer might wake up soon.”

Juliet sat Brandon down inside his playpen, fearful she might drop him. “Are you sure?” This had been the moment she had been waiting for. Yet for some reason it didn't feel real. Shawn had been gone, lost inside his own mind, for so long now that the thought that he might come back to her was not something that sat right.

“Yes, Ma'am. We're having him transported back here as we speak.”

Juliet sighed in relief. The long-term care facility was extremely depressing. “I'll be there as soon as I can.” With that she disconnected the phone.

Juliet sighed and shook her head, bringing herself back to the present. Three hours had passed, and every now and then a doctor will pop in, look at Shawn's stats and mumble something before disappearing again.

“How is he?” Juliet's head whipped around, and saw Gus standing inside the doorway.

“Same. The last time the doctor came in, he said that Shawn's activity has been slowly climbing since he was brought back in today. He said that Shawn should wake up anytime now.”

Gus nodded his head. “Mind if I sit with you?”

Juliet smiled lightly. “Of course not. Is Madeline coming?”

Gus nodded. “She said she'd be here as soon as she can. You know Maddie. She's always busy.”

Juliet nodded. “I can't say that I'm not grateful that she's stayed here this whole time. I'm not sure that I could handle all this alone.”

“You wouldn't have been alone either way. I am Uncle Gus.”

Juliet laughed. “You got that right.”

***************************

Shawn's body felt heavy and it ached. He was fairly certain that it was the flu, yet he didn't feel sick. His eyes probed the room, and couldn't place where he was. The walls were a dingy brown color. Though he was sitting in a chair, his arms weren't contained in any way. Standing up, Shawn felt like his legs might buckle under the pressure. Taking a deep breath, he continued to look around the room. That's when he spotted something peculiar. Chained to a table by the arms, was Detective Lassiter. He looked worse for wear. His once white, button down shirt was now dingy. His face was covered in a scruffy beard and his hair was grown out into a shaggy mess that sat on his head.

His head raised, and the pain that radiated behind his eyes scared Shawn. He had never seen the elder detective look so defeated.

“Cheer up, Lassifrass. I'm here to save the day.”

Shawn staggered toward him, his knees locking up on more than one occasion. However the closer he got to Lassiter the more Shawn realized that Lassiter couldn't see him. This couldn't be good. It was like he was seeing his life from afar. He couldn't say anything or do anything to change what was going on. He could only observe. So when a door slammed behind him and Lassiter's eyes grew to the size of saucers, Shawn knew that he was about to witness something horrible.

“How could you! You bastard!” Lassiter barked as he pulled against his restraints. After a couple of tugs, he barked out in pain before slumping back against the table.

“Is it my fault that he couldn't withstand torture? I thought cops were taught to fight against torture. His body gave out faster than I've ever seen.”

Shawn took in the scene. Lassiter was seething with anger, but his newly dislocated shoulder was hindering any plans of attempting to attack his captor. Shawn sat back, taking in the man that had taken Lassiter captive. He was scrawny with an unshaven face. His hair was mostly black with gray flecks thrown in. However it was the constant sneer on his face that made Shawn's insides shake.

“I would like to know his name. As easy of a target as he was, I do have to say he was brave. Taking the torture for you.”

Lassiter sneered back. “I won't give you the satisfaction.”

“So be it. I'll just examine his uniform. I'm sure he has identification on him, something other than this stupid name tag.” He pulled out and waved it in front of Lassiter's face. “McNabb is it? Well, goodbye Officer McNabb. Tall fellow.” He shrugged. “Not that it did him a lot of good volunteering for you, since I still get to torture you until you break. Here's hoping it's not as quick as that McNabb fellow.”

Shawn drew his knees up to his chest. McNabb was dead. What in the hell was going on. Why would he dream something so messed up? Shawn shut his eyes, he didn't want to see anymore. He couldn't take it any longer, it was too much. His body started to rock back and forth as he started to chant wake up.

Suddenly his eyes flew open and he couldn't breath. He was choking to death. What was he choking on. He tried to reach out his hands to feel for him, but they were unresponsive. Tears slowly started to track down his face, as he started to hear voices around him.

“Shawn. Take it easy. Shawn, it's a breathing tube, wait until the doctor takes it out.”

His vision started to clear up, and he could see Juliet standing over him. Shawn's breathing started to slow, as her hand caressed his face. As long as Juliet was there, everything would be okay.

**************************

Juliet felt her eyes starting to droop close. Brandon was fast asleep, his fist crammed into his mouth. The occasional sigh from Gus was the only thing keeping her from peaceful oblivion. If she wasn't afraid she'd wake up Brandon, she would have yelled at him. Her eyelids took another downward plunge when a grunt could be heard to her left. Juliet had, had it. Her eyes flew open and she turned to yell at Gus, when she saw Shawn start to thrash in his bed.

“Shawn?” She kept her voice as quiet as she could, so she didn't wake the baby up.

More thrashing followed by some moans. Gus was standing on one side of the bed, hitting the call button repeatedly, while Juliet held onto Shawn's hand as he continued to thrash around in bed.

“Shawn. Stay calm.”

“Waleke ulup.” Popped out of his mouth, as Juliet and Gus stared on in silent awe. It had been five months since either of them had heard Shawn Spencer's voice, even if it was slurred by the breathing tube.

Juliet kept her eyes on Shawn, while Gus moved around in the room. “Why aren't they coming!?” Juliet fixed Gus with a glare for being so loud, before soothing back Shawn's hair again.

“Shhh. Shawn, it's okay.” Out of the corner of her eye she watched Gus leave the room and run up to the nurse's station. “Come on, baby. It's okay. Just come back to me. You're safe.”

He thrashed a bit more, before his eyes snapped open. His breathing started to hitch. She felt his fingers twitch as his eyes probed the room.

“Shawn. Take it easy. Shawn, it's a breathing tube, wait until the doctor takes it out.”

She watched as Shawn's eyes started to really focus. As he stared at her, she felt his breathing start to slow down.

“That's it, Shawn.”

Commotion could be heard behind her. Turning her head for a moment she took in the sight of Gus sitting down to tend to the now squalling Brandon. The door to her left slammed against the wall as the doctor came running in.

“He's awake?” The doctor checked his watch, before looking down at Shawn. “Hello, Mr. Spencer. I'm going to remove the breathing tube, I need you to breathe out hard when I tell you to. Do you think you can do that?”

Shawn stared at him blankly before looking Juliet. His eyes probed hers like he was searching for her permission. She simply nodded her head. His fingers gripped hers lightly. “He understands.”

The doctor nodded, as he positioned himself to remove the tube. “Okay, Shawn, count of three and you breathe out. One. Two. Three.” Shawn exhaled as hard as he could force his lungs and the tube popped out. Shawn's throat was on fire, and it caused him to start coughing. The doctor turned toward the door that was still standing open. “I'll let you take it from here.” He paused and turned toward Juliet. “If anything changes, please feel free to let the nurse know.”

Juliet nodded, her eyes following the doctor, before turning her attention to the nurse standing beside him. “Have him suck on these. No chewing. Make sure he lets them melt.” Juliet nodded again, and the nurse left.

Juliet picked up the cup, and placed a couple of pieces on Shawn's tongue. He sucked on them for a moment before swallowing them. “What happened.” He rasped out.

“You had an accident and hit your head. You've been in a coma.”

Shawn just stared at her, before he realized something. He tried to lift his arm, but he barely made it off the bed before it grew tired and flopped back onto the bed. “Stomach.” He forced out again.

Juliet looked down and realized what he was talking about. She smiled softly. “You're a daddy, Shawn.”

His brow furrowed and he looked unhappy about something. “How long?”

“You've been in a coma for five months, Shawn. Although, Brandon was almost a month premature.”

Shawn's eyes grew wide as tears welled up in his eyes. “Boy?”

Juliet smiled, as she grabbed a hold of Shawn's hand. “Yeah. We had a boy. Would you like to meet your son, Shawn?”

His lips turned up in a smiled as he nodded his head lightly. He watched as Juliet walked over to Gus and hefted something small into her arms. “He's a little underweight, but it's normal since he's a preemie.” Shawn just stared at the tiny bundle of blankets in her arms. Leaning over his bed, Juliet pulled back the blankets.

A gasp escaped Shawn's lips. “He's beautiful.” Shawn rasped out. Juliet looked at her husband and felt tears well in her eyes, as she watched tears slip down Shawn's cheeks. “Love you.” He forced out.

Juliet leaned down and pressed her lips against his head. “I love you too, Shawn. I never once gave up on you, and I never will.”