Those Dreaded Phone Calls
There was a lot on Henry Spencer's mind these days. He was supposed to be retired and resting on boat, but instead he somehow got sucked back into the police business and now in charge of his fake psychic son, a big change from his previous time as a detective. Sure, his child was a fake, but Henry didn't want to ruin both his name and Shawn's. Henry wasn't keen on the idea of Shawn running around "divining" ideas regarding various cases, but, hell, Shawn was one fine officer in Henry's mind. Henry would never admit to that, but at times Henry knew that his son was a better detective than his was. Shawn could just look at a scene and process fifty things at once. Something Henry worked his entire career trying to develop. As much as he called Shawn a screw up to his face, Henry knew that Shawn helped people every day. Many people who went through major life changing events. So, when Chief Vick decided to give Henry a part time job back at the station, Henry was a bit excited, because not only did he get back to being a cop, but he also got to keep an eye on Shawn and get a bit more involved in his cases.
Another new case came in and of course Shawn had to get a piece of it. Something in Henry's mind told him that this investigation was bad news. He already warned Shawn to be careful, but again Shawn and Gus went full force into an investigation not always realizing the consequences of their actions. Henry figured Shawn would sucker Gus into joining him on hitting on the prime suspect as her young date mysteriously died. Of course, Shawn would win over the affluent woman with his quirky, sarcastic, charm as Gus nervously stood by his side. Henry was a bit intrigued about what they would uncover on their dates and expected Shawn to burst into the station the next day with a truck load of new information to "psychically" reveal to Lassiter and Juliet.
Henry fell asleep by 9 PM that evening in front of the news, not really paying attention, but reading fishermen tips in his latest magazine. Around midnight, he jolted awake having an eerie feeling in the bottom of his stomach. Shaking it off to some bad fish he ate earlier, he decided to retire to bed so he could get to the station bright and early in the morning to get some paperwork done and be ready to hear Shawn's antics when he strolled in.
Awaking at his usual 6:30 AM time, Henry did his whole morning routine and promptly dressed up in his suit and tie ready to get to the station by 8 AM the latest. Henry arrived at the precinct noticing that Lassiter already had Prescott waiting in an interrogation room. Something must have happened overnight. Lassie was playing the waiting game letting the suspect spend some time alone in the room hoping he might break and divulge more info. Henry decided that maybe he should give Shawn a heads up phone call hoping that he might come in a little earlier to get a read of this guy. Perhaps, he could pick up on some info that the others missed. Before Henry could even turn on his computer, his cell phone rang.
He quickly pulled it out his pocket thinking that Shawn might be calling him with some ground breaking news as he knew Shawn could not keep his emotions bottled up inside him and had the need to blurt everything out as soon as it came to him. Instead he saw Gus's name on the caller ID having that twinge return in his gut for a moment.
Henry remained calmed and answered the call sternly, "Hello?"
"Hello, Mr. Spencer. This is Gus."
"Obviously Gus. I have caller ID. What do you want?" Henry sharply replied.
There was a slight pause as Gus nervously decided how to respond to this situation. "Something happened yesterday night after Shawn and I had dinner. There were some complications…" Gus trailed off as Henry interrupted.
"What do you mean complications? Where is Shawn? Let me talk to him because he better not have screwed things up," Henry replied.
"Well, ahh, he can't," Gus weakly stated.
"What do you mean, he can't? I don't have time to play games with him today. Prescott is already down here at the station and you two should get here soon!"
"We're at Mercy hospital. We think Shawn was poisoned," Gus replied.
"What?" Henry shouted as he felt his heart drop through the floor. "Put him on the phone."
"He's kind of out of it. We are still waiting for the doctor to give us the final report. I don't know what is going to happen," Gus shakily replied.
"Well, what happened?" Henry asked.
"He just collapsed at the Psych office after we shared some pizza with our lady friends from the case. He just started screaming and said he had pain in his stomach then just dropped to the floor. I called the paramedics, but we really haven't found anything out yet."
"I'll come right down there. Let me know if you hear anything," Henry replied quickly gathering his things and heading out the door before telling anyone where he was going. It wasn't like anyone would really notice if he was gone anyway. He hit the end button on his cell phone, jumped into the truck, and sped off towards the hospital.
Henry ignored all speed limit signs having that knot in his stomach continuing to increase and increase as he neared the hospital. He hoped Shawn was awake. He hoped that he would get the news soon. He knew that a lot of people could die from poison and Shawn must have had something really strong to knock him off his feet. He dreaded these phone calls from the police, hospitals, and most of all Gus because it was always bad news. Somehow, he was shocked that he didn't get more of those calls over the years since Shawn is so accident prone, but he always had the fear in the back of his mind that one of these days it would be the last phone call ever regarding Shawn. He did not want today to be that day.
Pulling up to the emergency room parking lot, he jumped out of his truck, straightened his tie, and ran as fast as his 65 year old legs could take him. That knot felt like it was going to burst out of his stomach. The receptionist kindly pointed him to the right direction and as he neared the location he intercepted the doctor walking towards Shawn's room. Before Henry could even see Shawn, he stopped the doctor to ask him a question. "Excuse me, are you treating Shawn Spencer?"
The doctor stopped in his tracks, a man who had clearly been around long enough in this profession with gray hair and glasses. Henry's heart started to flutter as this man was probably the chief physician of the ER meaning that Shawn's case might be a bit more complicated and perhaps worse than Henry imagined. "May I ask who you are sir?" the doctor replied in a calm tone.
"I'm his father. I just got a call from his best friend. I really need to know if my son is alright," the last part Henry lowered his voice.
"Well, you are just in time. I'm not really supposed to tell you this, but I heard Shawn mumble something about calling you so I won't delay. Yes, Shawn will be fine, but he was poisoned, luckily, just barely as there are only trace amounts left in his system. He is very lucky, but will make a full recovery," the doctor stated.
Henry stood there in absolute joy for several seconds relieved that Shawn would be fine. This was close. His life was getting too close to ending each new case Henry thought. Hell, it had been less than a year since he was shot. What would happen next? "Thank you doctor."
"Well, I'm going in there now to tell Shawn. Are you going to join me?"
"I'll be in there in a few minutes," Henry replied, secretly needing a moment to compose himself and return to his old stern way before entering the room. The doctor nodded and proceeded to enter Shawn's room. Henry stood there and rubbed his hands over his balding head ignoring the fact that his hands were trembling a bit. Breathing a big sigh of relief, Henry stood there for about one minute before deciding to enter.
Henry burst into the room taken aback a little that Shawn was still lying there in a hospital bed with a gown on just recovering from getting poisoned, "Shawn, how are ya?"
Shawn and Gus both looked at Henry while Shawn put up his arms, "Papa. Daddy. Come. Come closer. Come and hug me," while Henry pushed back Gus not intentionally, but secretly wanting to get closer to see Shawn and make sure he was alright in his own standards. But again, Henry didn't want to break his usual character. Shawn went and did something stupid again that almost cost him his life. He wanted Shawn to be stronger and realize his own consequences, because that is the only way that he would learn. Henry didn't care that others told him to be more compassionate towards his son; he just called it tough love. It didn't mean that he didn't care. He just had his own style.
Henry looked down at his son, "Shawn. Shawn. Lassiter is interviewing Prescott at the station. You should be there. I vouch for you. Do not make me look like a fool."
"Dad, I was poisoned," Shawn remarked shocked that his dad was ignoring the fact that he was lying in a hospital bed nearly dying hours before with extreme pain.
"I heard barely."
"What?"
"Come on. Get your pants on. Let's go," Henry stated as he pulled out Shawn's IV. The faster he got Shawn out of this place, the faster Henry could forget that Shawn was even in the hospital. He didn't like to see his son hurt and now he was anxious to catch the person who almost ended Shawn's life.
"What are you doing…ahhhhhh!" Shawn exclaimed as he shot up in bed. Shocked that his father ignored all his pleas for some fatherly love in this stressful time.
Henry reached over and grabbed Shawn's clothes throwing them at his head. "I'll give you five minutes to get ready before I come back." Shawn just sat up in bed with his mouth open subconsciously rubbing his arm in the spot he just had his IV torn out. Gus dared not speak a word, but simply watched the situation knowing well enough never to get in-between those two men.
Henry exited the room and again gave a sigh of relief and paused for a brief second to thank God before heading to the cafeteria to get a coffee because he knew today was going to be a long day.