EDIT: FF seems to have taken all my punctuation out the first time. I apologize; I think this will fix it ...
This story has taken forever to finish! I had the original idea months ago, but I just now got around to completing it. I rather like it, though. :)
A big thank you to Lost for stalking me as I wrote most of it, offering commentary, and contributing suggestions. Also, thank you veggiewoppa for betaing the completed product, as well as helping me end the thing (it didn't want to be finished) and the title. And apple jacks jules for the moral support last night. ;) You three are made of win and awesomeness.
Psych and all of its characters belong to the original creators. No copyright infringement is intended and no profit is being made.
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It was a quiet evening at the station. The night staff were going about their normal duties, but over near the detectives' desks, it seemed quite deserted.
Which was just fine with Juliet. She was enjoying the peace and quiet as she finished up several stacks of paperwork. They had occupied space on her desktop for the better part of a week, but she hadn't had a chance to deal with them previously. When they began taking over her workspace, she had decided to put in extra time. Staying late outweighed searching for an empty surface during the workday, and far outweighed a lecture from Lassiter.
As she was filing the last document, her phone rang. Wondering who would be calling her so late, she picked up the receiver.
"Jules!" a familiar voice greeted her.
"Shawn? Why are you calling at this hour?" she asked, shutting the drawer and sitting back in her chair.
"Well, I knew you'd be there to pick up."
"How – Never mind," she sighed. "Is everything all right?"
"Not exactly."
"Shawn, why are you whispering?" Juliet's stomach clenched. She sat up straighter, and her mind spun through the different possible reasons for his tone.
"See, I'm in a …" he trailed off.
"Shawn? Shawn, where are you?" she prompted. "What's going on?"
"I'm at the Stop 'N' Go on 5th Street. There's a robbery in progress. One suspect. Three hostages." His whisper grew a little more tense.
"Including you?"
"Ah … no. I'm in the bathroom. He didn't clear it yet."
So that explained the slight echo she could hear. "Is he armed?"
"Yes, a handgun. I'm think he just has one clip, but I'm only eighty-nine percent sure of that. Maybe ninety."
"Okay. Just stay where you are." She was already halfway out of her seat, digging in a desk drawer to locate her purse.. "We'll be there as soon as we can."
"Okay. Jules?"
She paused. "Yes?"
"There's a kid." She rarely heard that depth of emotion from Shawn Spencer. "Hurry."
Her stomach even tighter, Juliet sped through the process of calling in backup, then rushed to her car. She dialed her partner on the way.
In the bathroom, Shawn was just hanging up when his attention was drawn beyond the door. Several crashes and frightened cries made him tighten his hand into a fist. Disregarding the fact that he was safer in the stall he currently occupied, he crept to the door to the main store area, cracking it open as quietly as he could. What he saw made him forget anything Jules had said about staying put.
The clerk was sprawled on the floor behind the counter, his protruding feet the only indication that he was even there. From his viewpoint, Shawn couldn't tell if the young man was simply unconscious or worse. The only other occupants of the room were the intruder and the customers, a woman and her young daughter.
The man was yelling and waving his arms like a madman – which Shawn supposed he was. Anyone who would invade a convenience store and take people hostage had to be at least somewhat insane.
It was difficult to make out what he was saying from across the store. Shawn held his breath, hoping to hear something that would give him an idea of a way to calm the guy down.
When the man turned slightly, Shawn's eyes narrowed in thought. The similarities between the man and the child huddling behind her mother in aisle were uncanny. As suddenly as it had come, the confusion cleared, and Shawn realized what was going on. What he had thought was a robbery was actually something very different.
Reaching around the woman, who was doing her best to keep him away, the man tried to take hold of the little girl's arm. Shawn had had enough by then. He knew full well that it probably wasn't in his best interest, but he swallowed and did it anyway.
"Hey!" he called, stepping from the doorway. "What's going on?"
All three turned to face him. The man's eyes widened slightly, and Shawn noticed the resemblance even more.
"Where'd you come from?" He swung the gun in Shawn's direction, his hand shaking as he gripped it tighter. "You weren't here a second ago."
"Good observation," Shawn nodded, raising his hands in front of him. Hopefully he could keep the man at-least-somewhat calm long enough for Jules and Lassie to arrive. "You know, it's a long story," he continued, forcing a chuckle. "You want to hear it all, or just the condensed version?"
"None of it! Just tell me where you were." The man's eyes darted around, trying to make out the shifting shadows in the shop. "If anyone else is hiding, you'd better come out now!"
"It's just me," Shawn assured him. "I happened to be in the bathroom when you came busting in. I had one too many smoothies this evening."
"I don't care," the man snapped. "All I asked was where you were. Can't you just answer a simple question?"
Shawn shrugged. "Never been a strong suit for me."
"What –" he broke off as sirens began wailing in the distance. "How'd they get here so fast?" Keeping his gun trained on his hostages, the man backed towards the door, checking to be sure it was locked and pulling several displays of sunglasses and postcards in front of it.
"Get behind those shelves," he instructed, waving them to a spot out of sight of the glass store front.
They scrambled to do as they had been told, Shawn making sure he stayed between the other two and the gunman.
"You know this won't do anything for you," Shawn spoke up.
"Yeah? What do you know?" the man sneered. "Maybe I just need the money."
Shawn laughed, his eye once again taking in the fancy shoes and suit pants. "Right. Sorry. Unfortunately, I am a psychic. And the spirits are saying you're well off and don't need any money. They are telling me, however," he wiggled his fingers by his head for dramatic effect, his mind flashing through the newspaper articles he'd read the day before, "that you are here for her. Leonard," he added.
The woman on the floor - Katie, the papers had called her - gasped. "How … how do you know that?" she asked.
"Quiet!" Leonard demanded, his eyes even wider now than before. He flexed his hand on the grip of the handgun. "What does it matter to you? The judge took Kelsey from me. He took her from me when he had no right to! All I want is my little girl back!" He was sweating now, and his voice was rising in pitch; he was growing more and more agitated as the memories surfaced.
Finally something in Leonard's mind snapped and his eyes hardened. "That's it. I'm done here." He reached for his daughter again, causing the child to whimper and press closer to her mother.
Shawn had seen the calculating glances towards the back door and realized what Leonard was thinking. "Leave her alone."
Leonard whirled back to face Shawn, the gun clenched tightly in his shaking hand. "Stay out of this!" His trigger finger twitched as he leveled the weapon at the other man.
"Hey, hey." Shawn held his hands out to his sides. "Jumpy, are-"
He never finished his sentence.
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Shawn wasn't sure how much time had passed before he was again aware of his surroundings. It was like coming out of a dark tunnel; the voices on the other end were becoming steadily clearer. He could feel something cool against his forehead.
At first, he couldn't remember what had happened, but as awareness slowly returned, so did his memory. He remembered the sound of the shot, the pain, the way the bullet had spun him to the side. He remembered falling, trying to catch himself, and the flash of light he had seen just before everything went dark.
A groan of pain made its way past his lips as he became more fully awake.
"Sir?" a voice whispered above him.
Shawn shifted slightly, causing him to again grunt in pain, and opened one eye. He didn't feel like opening them both, and he saw no need to at the moment.
Katie was kneeling beside him, holding a wet towel to his forehead. Her eyes still showed fear, but now Shawn could also see concern for him.
"Guess ... guess I'm lucky you're a nurse, huh?" he asked, wincing at the headache pounding in his skull.
Her brow furrowed slightly. "Yeah." She licked her lips and swallowed. "I'm sorry you got shot," she told him.
"Don't worry about it."
"It looks like the bullet missed anything vital, which is good, but you're losing blood pretty quickly," she continued. "You need to get to a hospital." Looking over her shoulder towards the front of the store, she continued, "But I don't think Leonard's going to let us out anytime soon."
With some effort, Shawn turned his head to follow her gaze. Leonard was crouching behind a stack of soda cans, peering out the window. Strobes of red and blue lights came through the windows along the front wall, telling Shawn that Juliet had come through.
Now if only he had better news to give her. Somehow, his vision of helping the police catch the crazy gunman hadn't turned out the way he'd hoped.
His thoughts were drawn back to his own situation when the pain in his arm seemed to double.. Wincing, he looked down. Katie was tightening her belt around the makeshift bandage on his arm.
She shook her head in apology. "I'm sorry; the gas station has a limited supply of towels, and they're mostly washcloths for cleaning purposes. They soak through pretty quickly"
From somewhere close by, a child's whimpering could be heard. Katie turned her head towards the sound. "It's okay, Kelsey," she soothed.
The little girl didn't look convinced, even when Shawn turned and offered her a smile. Then again, Shawn thought, she probably wasn't very excited by the sight of a man lying on the ground covered in blood.
"How are you feeling?" Katie asked him.
"Okay," Shawn answered slowly, trying to focus on her face. She was pretty, with dark eyes and light brown hair, and at any other time, he would have been flirting with her. At the moment, though, he was in too much pain to seriously consider doing so. "My head hurts."
She managed a small smile. "That's understandable. You hit the corner of that shelf when you fell; it knocked you out for a few minutes."
He had been right, then. "I-" he began, only to be interrupted.
"Shut up." Leonard had stalked over from his position by the window and was glaring down at them with his arms crossed. His right still held the gun.
Shawn blinked up at the man, opening both eyes to take everything in.
"I want you to tell me how to get out of this," the man demanded.
"Seriously?" Shawn asked. "You do realize you just shot me."
"You're also a psychic!" he snapped. "Now tell me the safe way out of here."
"Look, Lenny - can I call you Lenny? The cops have most likely circled the building already. There's no way you're getting out of this."
Leonard's confused expression turned irate. "You called them, didn't you? You have a cell phone?"
"As far as I know, most people do," Shawn replied.
Spit flew from Leonard's mouth as he angrily clarified his question. "I mean with you right now!"
"Oh. Yes, actually." Shawn answered. "Do you want it?"
"I don't believe you!" The man let out a half-crazed chuckle. "Give. Me. The. Phone. Now!" His trigger finger twitched as he leveled his weapon at Shawn's chest.
