A/N: Here's a one shot fic about Shawn and Henry. It's another installment of the I believe Challenge from Psychfic.
Please enjoy.
I believe in leaving those you love with kind words.
It was without fail that another week had passed and him and his father couldn't get through it without arguing. He was shocked that they had gotten this far, but Shawn knew that there would be an argument before Saturday ended, and he was right. He didn't even know what he had done to set his dad's anger a blaze this time, but when did he ever actually fully understand why his dad was ever mad at him. Sure he would make mistakes, he'd screw up on things that he shouldn't, but he's not perfect and that's the wonderful thing about being human because nobody is perfect.
His dad had called him a few hours ago already mad about something that broke on his truck and he needed him to bring him the part that he was in need of. Shawn picked up the part but had been busy helping Jules and Lassiter finish up a case, even though Lassiter didn't want him there, he was the one who had discovered the newest lead. Shawn wasn't going to leave the action behind to take his dad the ball joint that wasn't desperately needed; his dad could wait to go fishing. When Shawn arrived at his dad's house he barely had enough time to get off his bike before Henry had come out of the house, his face red, scrunched up in frustration, already starting to yell.
"I asked for this over two hours ago Shawn!" Henry was fussing and he looked as if his head were going to explode from anger. "You know what it doesn't matter. You've never been responsible in the past why would you be responsible now."
Shawn was concerned about the immediate calm like demeanor his dad had transformed into within a minutes time. He still hadn't had the chance to say anything. Maybe it was because his dad was rambling about every mistake that he had ever made. Maybe it was because for the first time ever he didn't know how to take his dad. Maybe it was because for the first time Shawn was actually allowing the hurtful things that his dad was throwing in his face from his past sink in and get to him.
"Have you ever thought about someone other than yourself? It would do you some good to know that the world doesn't revolve around you. You need to start putting others before yourself." The anger was still quite clear in Henry's voice but that wasn't what bothered Shawn. It was the fact that his dad wasn't just irritated, he meant the bitterness behind each and every word that he spoke, he was speaking how he truly felt, and that hurt Shawn to the core.
"I…" Shawn's voice was low as he tried not to show how the entire situation was affecting him.
"You what Shawn?" Henry stared right at him in silence. "Wow, for the first time ever my son is speechless. Amazing." There was a hiss behind the last word, a hiss that finished breaking Shawn.
"I'm going to go." Shawn put on his helmet that he still had in his hands.
"I think that's best." Henry turned around and walked off.
-X-
Shawn's week had been terrible. The case that he was working on had drained him mentally and physically from the long nights he sat up trying to find a break in the case at the Psych office. He had barely gotten any sleep. To be exact he had only had eight hours since Sunday and it was now Saturday. It didn't make it any better that the lead he had fell through and he was back where he started. It hadn't helped that his Dad blew up on him and let him know how much of a disappointment he was. It didn't help that he felt useless and like giving up.
Shawn isn't a fan of going to a bar to get drunk. In fact he's not a huge fan of drinking period but when he went home he couldn't sleep. When he went to the Psych office he couldn't concentrate and before he knew it he was walking into Joe's Bar. He went straight to the counter and ordered a shot of tequila, which he knew was a bad idea because he could never control his actions when drinking it, but he did it anyway. After about ten rounds and a few beers later he was drunk enough that he was feeling the cocky attitude, that he gained when drinking tequila, set in. He couldn't control it he just became overly confident and a tad bit mouthy. Okay, mouthier than what he already was as a person.
Ever since he had entered Joe's there had been a blonde girl, in her late twenties earl thirties, staring at him. He was never the type to pick up women from a bar, but tonight he was strongly considering it. He hadn't been seeing anyone in over a month which was a new record for him and the lady had bought him a few rounds of shots so why not show interest. She was definitely a looker and a lot of times those really pretty, flirtatious women in bars had a jealous ex boyfriend that would hang around or would have a guy that wanted her and would do anything to get her by watching from a distance because he had failed in past attempts to buy her a drink.
In this particular case she had a jealous ex-boyfriend. Shawn found that out the hard way when he asked her to dance. The man came up behind him and without thinking Shawn started being the overly cocky guy that the tequila brought out in him.
"Hey, you're dancing with my girl." The really big, muscular biker guy said as he tapped Shawn roughly on the shoulder.
"If she were your girl then she'd be dancing with you, but she's not. She's dancing with me and who can blame her? I'm way better looking than you if I do say so myself and not to bring it up but my hair is a lot thicker and a lot better than yours as well." Shawn knew that he was jumping right into dangerous territory because the man had a receding hair line, actually he was almost bald, and he was definitely the kind of guy that was very possessive and had anger issues.
"What are you implying?" The very large man asked with his hand now resting on Shawn's shoulder.
"I'm implying that this gorgeous lady wouldn't want to be dancing with a badly if she clearly chose someone with as good as looks as me." Shawn felt the solid and very painful connection of the man's fist when it hit his jaw. Painful, it was, but Shawn didn't just grow cocky when drinking tequila, he grew overly confident. Shawn threw a punch back. He landed a successful blow to the biker guy's chin. He would have gone for the cheek or the eye but this guy wasn't just massive because of his muscles but because of his height as well.
Shawn didn't have a chance against the guy. He got his butt kicked and literally thrown out of the bar by the guy. His lips were split, his left cheek was already bruising around the cut, and his stomach hurt from the punch that was landed there before he was roughly tossed into the street. Yeah, this definitely wasn't his day or night.
Shawn wasn't done drinking though. Instead of going back to the Psych office to crash, because there was no possible way that he could drive home, he decided to walk a block over and get a bottle from the liquor store. He figured that he had already drunk enough tequila so he went with a bottle of Jack Daniels.
He walked and drank for a good hour or more. He hadn't realized where he was going until he found himself walking up the driveway at his dad's house. He didn't know why he was there. He wasn't wanted there. He turned to walk away as the porch light flicked on and he knew that within seconds he'd hear his dad's voice, and he most likely would be yelling at him.
"Shawn?" Henry's voice sounded gruff. "What are you doing here?"
"I—I dunno, but don't you worry. I'm leaving." You could hear the slur in his voice and words. He was definitely drunk.
"Shawn, have you been drinking?" Henry knew the answer before he even asked it. He could smell the whiskey.
"Why doess it matter?" His words were slurring badly. Shawn had reached the sidewalk by now and was starting to stagger, actually he was starting to lose strength of his legs, he'd been staggering this entire time.
"Shawn, come inside. It's freezing out here." Henry had put on his shoes and was chasing his son down.
"No, I'd better not. Wouldn't want to be a burden." Shawn was trying his hardest not to let his dad catch up, but failed.
"Why would you be a burden?" Henry sounded confused.
"It doesn' matter. You wouldn' care." Shawn's world was starting to sway worse than what it had been.
"It does matter and I do care. Shawn, come inside." Henry was concerned not only about why Shawn was saying the things that he was saying but about how much alcohol his son had consumed. He saw that there was a fifth of Jack Daniels in the brown paper bag but didn't know how much his son had drank.
"I—I'm going to hav' ta decline." Shawn lost his balance and started to fall over.
"You're not drunk, you're wasted; and it wasn't a request." Henry caught him before he could fall and smack his head on concrete. It wasn't until now that he had gotten a good look at his son, and had seen the damage done to his face. "What happened to your face? We're going inside."
"Da.." Shawn didn't have time to respond.
"No, Shawn. You are coming inside whether you like it or not." Henry had thrown Shawn's arm over his shoulder and put his arm around Shawn and was helping guide him into the house.
"Well, isn't someone bos-sy." Shawn emphasized on the word bossy.
Henry helped Shawn up the stairs and into his room. Shawn went to sit on the bed but missed it and ended up on the floor. His dad had gone who knows where so Shawn dragged himself onto the bed in a sitting position. He felt his stomach churning and he knew it was because he was so hot. He took the short sleeved flannel shirt off that he was wearing over a white t-shirt to help cool down. He knew that he would eventually get cold so he left the white shirt on. He leaned over and rested his head on his pillow. That's when his dad reappeared. He walked over to the bed and took a seat next to him.
Shawn's eyes had drifted shut but that didn't last long when he felt something wet and cold touch his face which caused it to hurt and start burning.
"Owww! What was that for?" Shawn asked in a tired slur.
"I have to clean this cut on your face to help prevent infection. Then I have to bandage it. While I'm doing that you're going to tell me what happened." Henry was being a bit bossy but he was concerned. His son never drank and the few times he did it was nothing like this.
"Like you care." Shawn said after wincing form another dab to his aching cheek.
"Why do you keep saying that Shawn, of course I care." Henry wasn't mad he was concerned, but for those who didn't know him would never be able to tell the difference.
"Because you don't. I'm a disappointment, I can never do anything right, and I am always thinking of nobody but myself. I can see why you hate me." Shawn whispered the last part but Henry still heard it.
"I don't hate you. I never have." Henry's voice was a little more kind this time.
"S'not true." Shawn was barely awake.
"Shawn, if this is about today then I'm sorry. You're not a disappointment, you do a lot of things right, and you do think of other people besides your own self. I don't hate you Shawn. I just…" Henry fell silent.
"You what dad?" Shawn's voice sounded sleepy.
"I care, Shawn. I don't make the right decisions either and I shouldn't have yelled at you like I did today. I'm sorry." He fell silent. " I believe that… I believe that you should always leave loved ones with loving words. It may be the last time you see them, but just because I believe that doesn't mean that I live by it. I don't know why we always have to argue and most of the time it's my fault, and I know that." He paused. "I felt guilty after you left but I couldn't bring myself to call you because of my pride. I love ya, kiddo." Henry looked over and took in the still, steady breathing, of his passed out son. He looked like a child again. Standing up Henry took off his son's shoes and covered him up with a blanket.
As he turned the light out and shut the door he let a small smile curl up the side if his lips. He wasn't glad that his son was wasted but he was glad that he had made his way back home. Henry was glad that he got the chance to tell his son how he felt even though he wasn't sure if his son would remember it the next day.
A/N: I hope that you guys enjoyed this. There'll be more chapters added to this but each chapter will be a different story. I am doing the, I believe challenge, and I'm just going to do it under one title. Each story will have a ,I believe, title of some sort.
Please leave a review. I appreciate them more than you know. The next story will be a Shules one shot so stay tuned for that.
If you are interested in the challenge you can find the prompts in my bio. :)
Until Next Time,
-ElmerFudFry-
