Chapter 7: The Last Person He Wanted to See

Shawn was tired. Extremely tired. He didn't know where he was or what happened, but he didn't care. He just wanted to roll over and sleep. At that thought, he was suddenly aware of the pain. His chest stung, his arm throbbed, and his head was pounding. Maybe if he focused harder on sleeping, the pain would go away. As he scrunched his eyes tight in an attempted to ignore what sounded like someone banging on a drum inside his head, he heard someone speak up. "Shawn?" The voice called out. As much as Shawn wanted his pain to go away, he also wanted to zone everything around him out, and get some more rest. Although Shawn just wanted to ignore the world, the tone of whoever called his name was pulling at his gut. He wondered who it could be and/or why they would be upset. He did his best to think back to what was the last thing he remembered. Shawn could see the four of them sitting inside the police station going over the case file. He remembered speaking up and suggesting lunch. The group had decided on a small restaurant within town and they headed outside. Shawn climbed into Lassiter's car and they pulled out of the parking lot. He watched a cruiser pull out right behind them and everything started to get fuzzy. Something was off about that car, and something was missing. Shawn felt his world come crashing down at his realization of what had happened. Lassiter was kidnapped.

Juliet watched, with tears in her eyes as Shawn struggled. She wasn't exactly sure what was causing his struggle, whether it was pain or the accident, it just hurt her to watch him like that. She could hear the heart monitor beeping at his elevated heart rate, and she watched his breathing speed up. "Shawn, if you can hear me you need to calm down. Just open your eyes and look at me, please?"

Begrudgingly Shawn slowly opened his eyes, giving them time to adjust to the brightness of the room. Once he finally managed to filter out the light, he glanced around at his surroundings. He, of course, was lying in a hospital bed in the middle of the a white room. The room had its signature disinfectant smell and he scrunched his nose, he hated that smell. He looked down to his side and noticed his arm was encased in a plain white cast. When his gaze met Juliet's, she looked relieved to see him finally awake. "Shawn, you were in an accident. Do you remember it?"

Shawn looked down to his lap in thought. Yes, he remembered most of the accident, the important parts. The police cruiser and Lassiter being taken were the clearest in his memory and that's all he needed. Without looking up, he spoke quietly. "Where's Lassie?" He asked, with little hope of him being safe. He listened carefully as Juliet's breath hitched at the sudden question.

"He's.. He's missing, Shawn," she answered as she lowered herself down into the chair next to the bed, in fear of her legs giving out under her.

Shawn clamped his eyes shut and used the edge of his blanket as a sort of stress ball. It actually happened. Lassiter, his Lassiter, was taken from him right in front of his eyes, and he wasn't able to do anything about it. When he reopened his eyes he found it hard to see through the tears building up. "It's all my fault," he mumbled to himself, although he was a little too loud and Juliet was up and by his side in an instant.

"You can't blame yourself, Shawn. Whoever hit you had the intention of taking Lassiter no matter what. Anything you would've done would've ended the same," she attempted to reassure him, but it just made Shawn feel worse about his actions at the time.

The anger mixed with fear and worry was building in Shawn and he couldn't hold it back. As much as he hated letting his mask slip, and allowing everyone to see his emotions, he had to let this out. He looked up and met Juliet's gaze, just barely able to make out her features through the tears in his eyes that had yet to fall. "You don't understand!" He shouted louder than he wanted to. Shock registered on Juliet's face at the sudden outburst, but it was quickly followed by confusion. Shawn shook his head and cursed at himself mentally. He almost let it slip about their relationship, and now he had to explain himself somehow. "I should've, could've, done more to alert Lassie of the cruiser. But he wouldn't listen to me Jules. He wouldn't listen," he babbled to her through the tears that were now streaming down his face.

Whatever Juliet was thinking about the outburst had left her mind and she squinted at Shawn. "What do you mean, 'cruiser', Shawn?" She asked, concerned with the new bit of information.

Shawn looked up with an eyebrow raised. They didn't know it was a police officer or detective who caused them to crash? He mentally cursed at himself again for now letting slip the only leverage he had over the department. He reached his free hand up to his face and wiped away the tears that had fallen. "You didn't know?" He questioned and continued his explanation when she didn't change her glare. "A police cruiser followed us out of the parking lot of the station and swerved into the side of us. I tried to warn Lassie, but it was too late.." he trailed off.

Juliet reached into her pant pocket and pulled out her cellphone, "Sorry, Shawn. I have to talk to the chief," she said to Shawn's general area without looking up from her phone screen. "I'll send in the next visitor.

He glanced back down the his lap and fiddled with the edge of his blanket. As much as he understood Juliet's need to tell the chief the major break in the case, he truly wished she would've stayed with him, even if she didn't know the truth behind him and Lassiter. Any other thoughts of the matter were interrupted by a slight knock at the door and Shawn perked his head up. Almost as soon as his head was up, he lowered it again and frowned. "What do you want? Here to yell at me for not stopping the crash? For getting Lassie kidnapped?" He mumbled without looking at whoever was still standing in the doorway.

The figure in the doorway scoffed and took a few steps towards Shawn. "I was actually here to check see how my son is doing after being in a crash, but you're clearly fine so I'll just be on my way now," Henry grumbled as he turned on his heels to face the door he came through just seconds ago.

Shawn quickly glanced back up to where Henry was standing. The two of them may never have had the closest of relationships, but at this point Shawn was just desperate for someone he could talk to without feeling ashamed for dating Lassiter. "Wait," he surprisingly called out, and Henry turned his head back around look at his son. "There's something I have to tell you.."

Henry crossed over to Shawn's bed, and dropped himself into the small plastic chair next to the edge. When the two made eye contact, Henry could see just how much of a toll this case, or just the accident, was taking on him. He looked beat down, and whether it was just the accident, there was something under the surface that Shawn was holding back, and Henry had a clue to what it was. Without hesitation or waiting for Shawn to gain the strength and/or courage to say what he wanted to, Henry blurted it out first, "You're dating detective Lassiter."

A mixture of shock and surprise registered on Shawn's face, clear from the raised eyebrows, wide eyes, and jaw slightly slack. "Wh-what? How did you know?" he stumbled the question out, still trying to come to terms with what just happened.

"A father knows, Shawn," Henry answered simply. When Shawn's face remained the same, he rolled his eyes and elaborated. "I've seen the way you look at him. And how you make it your goal to annoy him at crime scenes? Dead giveaway," he paused to think of more examples. "When your apartment was broken into you called him first, when both Gus and I live closer to you than he does."

Shawn closed his mouth and lowered his gaze. If it was that easy for him to figure out, he wondered how many people in the department also figured it out. "You don't care?" he asked, puzzled at the calm reaction to the subject.

Henry crossed his leg over his other, attempting to get comfortable, and watched his son go from shock to fear. "I care that you're happy. And if Lassiter makes you happy, then that's fine with me. But remind me, I need to have a serious talk with him once you find him."

It was almost as if Shawn had forgotten that Lassiter was missing, and Henry's last threat was enough to make him determined to find him. Without saying anything he pulled his IV out of his left hand, with a small sting. Henry sat up, more alert of the situation, but didn't do anything to stop him from what he was doing. Once the IV was out of Shawn's hand, he sat up and carefully placed his feet on the floor. Without anymore hesitation he pushed himself off the bed, using one hand to balance himself. His legs felt like they usually felt after watching a TV marathon, like jelly. After he got the blood flowing normally to his legs again, he pulled the heart monitor off his finger and made his way towards a cupboard. His clothes had to be in here somewhere. He slammed the cupboard door shut and groaned when his search came up empty. They'd really gotten rid of his clothes. And he was wearing his favorite shirt earlier.

"I figured you'd do something like this, so I came prepared," Henry called out and held up a small bag with a pair of jeans sticking out.

Shawn was surprised. He figured his father would've tried to convince him to stay in the hospital until he was released, but aside from a broken arm and throbbing in his head, Shawn felt fine and he needed to get back out there on the search for his boyfriend. He grabbed the bag of clothes from Henry and took it into the small bathroom connected to his hospital room.

Unfortunately for Shawn, he was down to one hand. And just his luck that it's his left hand. After a few minutes of struggle in pulling his jeans up, he managed to slip his shirt on over his cast. Out of habit he reached into his pockets for his keys before he realized he probably arrived here via ambulance and therefor had no ride to the station. He slowly peeked his head around the bathroom door and looked at his dad. "Can I, uh, get a ride?"

Henry looked up and rolled his eyes. He knew that was coming. "Yeah, let's go," he said simply as he grabbed his own keys out of his pocket. "Oh, Juliet handed me this as she left," he mentioned as he handed Shawn his phone.

Shawn frowned at the sight. The glass screen was shattered. Luckily only the top half had cracked and he could still make out the bottom half. He unlocked the phone and opened up his messages. Meet me at the station. Bring food. He typed into the screen and hit send. He sure hoped Gus would pay special attention to the latter, as Shawn was starving.

Shawn watched the ground as the two of them made their way out of the hospital. He would never show it, but he was truly scared for Lassiter. There was no way of telling what the Cinco Reyes would do to him, and Shawn wouldn't be able to live with himself if something happened to the Detective. All he could do at this point was hope they find the mole, and quickly for that matter, before anything serious can happen to Lassiter.