First Psych Fic. What if the unimaginable occured and Shawn got a taste of reality.
Usual disclaimer. I OWN NOTHING related to Pysch or any partial movie quotes.
Where was he? What happened? These are the thoughts that went through Shawn Spencer's head as he came to. As Shawn slowly opened his eyes the first thing he saw was Henry his arms perched on his knees with his head in his hands.
"Dad?" Henry's head shot up.
"Shawn!? Hold on kid. I told the doctor I'd let him know the second you woke up." Henry got stiffly to his feet. It felt like he'd been glued to the awful hospital chair for centuries. He was a across the room and out the door in three paces.
Shawn felt like his head had been sent through a commercial dryer on high. I wonder what that would look like from the inside. Well maybe I won't try that out just yet. As his conscious mind began to clear, Shawn noticed that he was in a hospital bed hooked up to all the bells and whistles that that he could possibly imagine.
He felt like Frankenstein's monster. Hey maybe I am, and this was all some strange dream. Well then if that was the case, maybe I could get Jules to be my bride she certainly could pull off the hairstyle, heck she could pull just about anything off and I would be okay with it.
Shawn was jolted out of his thoughts by the doctor coming in the door to his room followed closely by his dad and Gus.
"Shawn!" Gus rushed over to his friend's bed. "How are you feeling?"
"Mostly dead, but that does mean I'm slightly alive. How alive am I, Doc?"
"Well Shawn do you feel lucky? Because, it's a miracle that you are here. Do you remember what happened to you?"
Shawn tried to think back, but it hurt too much. "No, I don't."
"What's the last thing you remember?"
"I went to make a pineapple run."
Henry rolled his eyes
"We were just about out of the yummalious fruit of the gods. And when I got back to the office there was a note from Gus saying Jules called and said there was a case they need us on right away."
Shawn fiddled with the tubes that were taped to his hands "The note said that Gus was already there and to meet him, Lassie, and Jules at the scene. That's the last thing I remember before waking up and seeing the old man there." Shawn nodded towards his dad.
Henry struggled to control the relief that flooded through him that his son was alive and the anger at the fact that his son still had his stupid motorcycle. Well not anymore. The anger won out.
"See Shawn, I was right. That deathtrap almost cost you your life."
"Now Henry, this is not the time to bring that up." said Doctor Max Montoya at the same time Gus piped up with "I think we can wait to talk about that later. Mr. Spencer"
"I really need to run some tests and check to see how he's doing. Will you please excuse us gentlemen?" said Max as he picked up Shawn's chart from the bottom of the bed.
Henry and Gus turned to go. Henry stopped and looked first at the doctor and then at his son. "Max, thanks. I appreciate you taking Shawn's case. You're the only ER doctor the SBPD trusts, and as for you," Henry said, pointing towards the bed. "We are not done talking about this Shawn."
Shawn thought he heard his dad once again mumble about his "stupid contraption" as
Henry walked out the door.
As Gus entered the waiting area of the hospital, he spotted Juliet on her cell phone. " Carlton , I don't care. I am staying here until I get word on how Shawn is. Get McNab to help you pull profiles. I'll be in the office as soon as I can."
"Juliet?"
"Oh hi Gus, how is Shawn?"
"The doctor is running tests and checking him out. What did Lassiter have to say?"
"He thinks that I'm being silly, worrying about Shawn. He said that I can't do any good to Shawn pacing the waiting room and that I should come and help on not only the murder case we wanted you two to help with but also Shawn's hit and run." Juliet looked at Gus and saw the worry in his face.
Whoever hit Shawn was going fairly fast. Luckily his bike took most of the blow from the car and that when he went flying he landed in a softer section of the brush along the road. If he'd been any further he'd have hit a patch of gravel or a telephone pole."
"So do you think it was on purpose?"
"We don't have all the information yet. It was still coming in when I came over. When the doctor lets us go into Shawn's room again I'll explain what we have so far."
Juliet sat down in one of the seats next to the window of the waiting room. They waited about forty-five minutes, Henry was just about to go find out what was keeping them when Dr. Montoya entered the room.
"Henry, you can go and see him in just a moment. I want to let you know what's going on. Shawn was very lucky. His injuries are extensive, but they could've been a lot worse." Dr. Montoya consulted Shawn's chart.
"He has four fractured ribs, others that are bruised, a broken collar bone, and several minor cuts and abrasions, my main worry right now is his concussion." the Dr. tried to soften his voice so as not to alarm them.
"Although he was wearing his helmet the impact of hitting the ground was still quiet severe. I wont know the extent of the trauma for a few days." Dr. Montoya led them to a lightboard on the wall of the hall, and put an x-ray of Shawn's skull on it.
"We don't see any skull fractures and there doesn't appear to be any swelling right now, but any blow to the head may cause injury to the brain but it will not necessarily be visible." He said as he pointed to the x-ray
"I want to keep him here for a few days just to make sure that it isn't getting worse. I've given him some pain meds so he will be groggy. You can go see him now. But don't stay too long."
"Dr. Montoya? Can Juliet and I come too?"
"Yes, Mr. Guster, you can come in as long as you promise not to stay long either. It really should be just family. But I know how good of friends you are with him." Max put his hand on Gus' shoulder. "So I will forgo the rules this once."
He looked over to Juliet "And as for Detective O'Hara I know you have some questions for him. I doubt he can tell you much, at the moment but the same thing applies to you. Okay?"
"Thank you." Said Gus and Juliet, as they followed Dr. Montoya, and Henry into Shawn's room.
"Hey, Jules. Did you come to see little ol' me? I feel all warm and butterflyie now. Oh wait maybe that's the drugs. Hey bye the way have you ever considered wearing your hair straight up with a big white stripe up the side?"
"Shawn what are you talking about?"
"Forget it Juliet. He's probably so doped up right now he doesn't know what he is saying." Gus said as he sat down in the chair next to Shawn's bed.
"Oh, contrare mon frare," Shawn waves his arm across the room. "Jules is my bride and as soon as the villagers leave us be and stop storming the castle. We will ride off into the sunset on four white horses. Ok we will only need two so you and dad can have the others."
Shawn turned to Juliet and beamed is award winning smile at her. "Okay, Jules I know what you're thinking. We will do the perfect kiss thing after dad and Gus leave. Oh wait noooo you want me to shut up so that you can tell us about what happe-- " Shawn got a pained look on his face suddenly.
"Juliet, that hurts. I know you think that I am goofball, but give me a break I am on lots of medication and I do have to relieve the boredom somehow while I'm stuck here."
"I WASN'T thinking that at ALL." Juliet said a little embarrassed her face was so readable.
"Well okay I was, but let me tell you what is going on so I can get back to the station and work on what happened, and more importantly you can rest and get better."
"Oh, Jules" "that's so sweet." replied Shawn, with a slight sigh.
"Okay, while we were waiting I got a call from Detective Lassiter. He said that the witness, as well, as the tire tracks that were found at the scene, prove that the car that hit you definitely sped up, so this looks to be deliberate." she could see that Henry and Gus were about to say something, so she put her hand up and stopped them before they could interrupt her.
"Here is what we were able to piece together.
Shawn was coming to meet us at the crime scene. According to the witness, he was getting ready to turn into the housing development, when a silver Mustang was seen speeding down the road and aimed right for Shawn," Juliet looked up from her notepad to see how the guys were taking what she said.
"They hit the bike from behind and Shawn went flying into the ground cover. The car then took off. The witness was not able to get a plate number. But they do remember that it didn't look like it was from California ," she could see the questions burning to be asked in Henry's eyes.
"We have an APB out on the car, and a notice to all body repair shops. My guess is that it is probably stolen. That is all the information we have right now. I will let you know as soon as I here something more."
"Thanks Jules. So are you going to tell me about the murder case?"
"No, Shawn. I am going to leave so that you can get some rest"
"I bet I would get better a lot faster if you stuck around and wiped my fevered brow." Shawn said as he winked at her.
Juliet tried hard not to smile but couldn't stop herself as she leaned into him and said softly "Shawn, you don't have a fever."
"I could get one if you were willing to stay." Shawn said, beaming.
"I think I will leave you in the capable hands of Dr. Montoya." Juliet said as she turned to go.
"But yours are so much softer." Shawn said sleepily
"Get some rest Shawn. We will be back later and check on you." said Henry irritated that his son was making jokes, and yet relived that his son was feeling well enough to make them.
"Hey, Dad."
"Yes, Shawn."
"Go eat something. You will be less irritable if you do. Perhaps a delicious cup full of pineapple smoothie goodness."
"Go to sleep Shawn." Henry shook his head as he walked out, followed close behind by Gus and Juliet.
As they left Shawn noticed that everything seemed to get quiet and even though his head still hurt the pressure from all the noise lessened as he fell into sleep.
The next two days flew by for Shawn. Of course the better he got the more he got up and flirted with the nurses. They didn't seem to mind. Shawn knew just what to say to them to get them to smile. He even helped cheer up the other patients on his floor.
As Shawn was getting his things together before he checked out, Nurse Valarie came into his room with some more forms for him to sign. "Ok Shawn this should be the last of the forms. If you need anything else just let me know."
"Thanks, Buttercup." Shawn said as he winked and smiled at her.
"I don't know why you call me that." Valerie said as she tried not to smile. "I shouldn't let you get away with it."
She held the clipboard of forms for Shawn as he signed since his arm was still in a sling because of his collarbone injury.
"You just remind me of a beautiful ray of sunshine is all, and of course they are your favorite."
"How did you know they were my favorite?" she said a little surprised.
"I told you I'm psychic." he said but as he said it he was trying to figure out where had gotten the information from. I must have seen them at the nurses' station as I passed by. He thought to himself. He shook his head to clear the thought away.
Valerie looked at Shawn with concern. "Shawn, are you ok?"
"Yeah, just a little headache." he said trying to blow it off. He didn't want to stay any longer and he was worried that if the doctor found out how bad the headaches were that he would make him do more tests, and Shawn hated tests no matter what they were for.
"Let me call Dr. Montoya."
"NO! I mean no it's ok. I think I've just done a bit too much today. I promise I'll go home and rest." Shawn could see her softening. He leaned into her and whispered, "What I could use is... pineapple. Pineapple can solve just about anything. Except for murder cases that's where I come in.
So between me and the fruit we can do it all." Shawn smiled in response to Valerie's smirk knowing that he had put her off. He really could use some pain killers for his ribs, but they always seamed to make his headaches worse.
Lately there just seemed to always be this buzzing in the back of his head that made him think he was standing near a beehive. He also wondered if he had pineapple flavored pain killers if they would be more effective. Pineapple makes everything better.
He came out of his thoughts as Valerie announced that she was going to go see if his ride had showed up yet. He wasn't sure who was coming to pick him up. Between his dad, Gus and Juliet he wasn't sure who he had seen more of. Each one of them had come and seen him in the hospital several times during his stay and they were all playing mother hen.
He blessed his mom for only coming to check on him twice. She knew he was okay and so she didn't worry too much. He was glad that at least she was mostly calm. He could sense her underline concern but she wasn't making a pest of herself like the others.
In the case of Jules though he didn't want her to stop that quite just yet, he figured he would milk that situation as much as he could. Maybe if he played the sympathy card a little longer he could convince her to actually go out on a real date with him. Ah Jules, I hope she is the one to pick me up, and that she is wearing that blue shirt I like so much.
As if thinking of her brought her to him, Shawn turned around just as Juliet came into the room.
"Hi Shawn." said Juliet as she came over next to the bed where Shawn was standing.
"Jules! I'm so glad its you." Shawn said happy to be right that she was wearing his favorite shirt.
Juliet blushed as she said. "I was in the area so I told your dad and Gus that I would come and get you."
"Oh come on Jules you were in the area on purpose weren't you?" Shawn could almost see what was going on in her mind. "Not that I am not thrilled." he said smiling. "but, you really don't need to protect me."
"Yes, I do Shawn. Until we get this solved of who wanted to hurt you. I'm not letting you out of my sight." she said seriously.
"Really?" Shawn was overjoyed at the possibilities that started going through his head of ways he could win her over now that he would have so much time to do it.
"Well I guess that means that I will work my hardest to make sure it doesn't get solved." He said slyly.
"Shawn!" she said irked at his less than appropriate attitude at the situation. "Carlton and I have set up a schedule with the rest of the officers. We will have someone outside your dad's house at all times as well as at the Psych office."
Shawn was thrown off balance with what she just said. "Wait. What did you just say?" he said appalled at the implications he just heard. "Okay for one, I'm not staying with my dad. Two, I don't need to be hounded by a swarm of police officers. The only one who is allowed to hound me is you Juliet, and admittedly I can totally go for that, but no others. And three, it isn't necessary."
"Oh yes. Shawn Spencer you will agree to this or you are not leaving this hospital." Juliet folded her arms across her chest and stood there glaring at Shawn.
At that precise moment Shawn KNEW he wasn't going to win this. He could tell that there wasn't going to be anyway around it. No flirting, no smiling, no brushing it off. Nothing, he was stuck and he was mad.
"Well can I at least still help with cases or are you going to bar me from that as well as living my life." he said sounding like a child who had his dessert taken way.
Juliet could see how mad Shawn was but she was not budging. Chief Vick, Henry and Gus had all discussed this with her and Lassiter that morning.
"Don't you think that I should've been in on the discussion of MY life." Shawn said as he imitated Juliet's stance.
"No. At the moment we don't think you have enough sense to be scared. So we will be for you."
Juliet took Shawn's hand in hers, and as much as Shawn liked the feeling of the two of them being connected this way he was still irritated with every single one of them, especially the fact that they didn't think he had any sense.
"Shawn." Juliet softened her voice and tugged on his hand to get him to look her in the eyes.
"Yes you can still help us with the case ONLY if you promise to be careful and stay with someone at all times, and you don't over do it." she tried to get him to smile by smiling herself.
"This is the real reason you were sent to pick me up. They all thought I would cave if you were the one to give me this wonderful news." he said with a touch of sarcasm in his tone.
Juliet couldn't meet his eyes, and he knew he was right.
