AUTHOR'S NOTES: Sorry about the slow update guys. Being sick is not conductive to creativity. Thanks for all the reviews and the patience!
Chapter 7- I'm Sensing Something
That afternoon, Henry paced the floor nervously. The doctor was unable to see Shawn till later that evening and the wait was nerve-wracking. It didn't help that Shawn's mental state was slowly deteriorating since he had woken up. Glancing over at his son, Henry saw Shawn was currently counting the lines on his knuckles.
"One... two... three... three..." Shawn's brow scrunched and he looked puzzled for a moment before his expression brightened and he continued. "Oh! Eight... six..." Henry would have thought Shawn's actions were funny if they weren't so concerning.
Fifteen minutes later, Gus hurried in the room. Henry had called him earlier to let him know Shawn was awake and had injured himself again. Gus desperately wanted to be there right then, but he was unable to leave work at the time. "Hey, how is he doing?"
"Gus, thank God." Henry said, relieved at the reprieve he was about to receive. "I need to go get some coffee. Could you watch him for a few minutes?"
Gus agreed, even though he was suspicious at Henry's quick exit. He did want to see how Shawn was doing so he didn't mind much. "Go ahead. I'll keep an eye on him."
Henry was out the door in a flash, the need for caffeine temporarily taking over his worry for his son.
Gus turned towards Shawn, who didn't even seem to realize his friend had entered the room. "Hey Shawn, how's it going?"
Shawn looked woozily up at Gus and waved feebly. "Hey buddy. What are... you doing here? Thought... you had...*cough* work."
"Shawn, it's almost 5pm. I did go to work." Gus was a bit confused at the question.
"Oh hey." Shawn exclaimed. "Wanna see... something cool?"
Rolling his eyes, Gus relented and took the bait. "Ok Shawn. What's cool?"
"Punch me... in the arm." Shawn was wracked by a few coughs but once finished looked up at Gus expectantly.
Gus leveled a glare at his friend. "I'm not going to punch you in the arm Shawn."
Shawn gave his friend the most pathetic pout he could manage and whined, "It will...be fun. Trust me."
Gus snapped, "I'm not going to Shawn. You should see yourself. You look horrible!"
Smiling, Shawn waved him off, "Aw, you're just...sayin' that."
Gus' brow scrunched "What? It wasn't a compliment..."
"If you don't..." Shawn coughed and took a few ragged breaths. Gus could see just talking was wearing him out. "I'll tell everyone...about your...Rainbow Bright fetish."
"I don't have a Rainbow Bright fetish Shawn."
Shawn's eyes narrowed and he gave Gus a wicked grin. "Just saying it... will make people...wonder."
Knowing Shawn would keep his threat, Gus grimaced and muttered as he walked closer to the bedside. He gave the prone man a light punch on the arm.
Looking affronted, Shawn raised his voice. "Like you...mean it...Rainbow boy."
Gus grit his teeth. If Shawn wants to be in pain, fine. He thought before winding up and socking Shawn in the arm full force. He felt bad afterwards but Shawn didn't even flinch at the blow. Gus' jaw dropped and he looked at his fist, which was stinging from the punch.
"Don't you wish... you had super...powers." Shawn let out a breathy laugh.
Henry walked in on the scene of Shawn laughing and Gus staring at his fist and put two and two together. "He got you to punch him didn't he?" Shawn had mentioned it once or twice, or ten times since realizing his condition.
Shawn had leaned back in the bed and was currently humming to himself, once again oblivious to the other two in the room.
"There is something really wrong with Shawn." Gus stated the obvious. Henry was about to say so when Gus continued. "If he isn't feeling pain, why is he so drugged up?"
Pausing and considering Gus' words, Henry realized he was right. Shawn shouldn't be in such a bad condition medication wise. His eyes narrowed and he noticed the self administration button for the morphine was within Shawn's reach. He walked up to the bed and leaned over his son, trying to look into his eyes when Shawn grabbed his face and gave him a slobbery kiss. "Hey beautiful..."
Henry flailed and pushed Shawn away, trying to avoid his injured wrists, "What the! Aahhh! Shawn!" Even as Henry pulled away, Shawn was still making kiss faces. "Shawn, focus!" Henry yelled in his son's face, trying to illicit some kind of sane reaction out of him.
Shawn's eye lids fluttered a bit and he seemed to realize who was in front of him. "Dad? Oh my God! UH!" He had just realized who he had kissed and his reaction caused another coughing fit.
Henry kept Shawn at arms length as he coughed and tried to keep his attention. "Shawn, how much morphine have you given yourself?" Shawn reached up and tried to squish his face. He pushed his son's arm out of the way and stated again, "Shawn, how much?"
Turning his head away from his father, Shawn stared at the still form of Juliet. A pained expression crossed his features. His lip started to tremble and he closed his eyes mumbling, "Not...enough." Before grabbing at the morphine button again.
Henry kept the button out of Shawn's reach and handed it to Gus, who put it on the table next to him. Both of the men finally realized why Shawn had been self medicating more than he needed. He didn't want to deal with the mental anguish and guilt he was feeling with Juliet being hurt. "Shawn, look at me. You can't block out your feelings with drugs kid. She needs you to be strong right now. Can you be strong?"
Shawn frowned, his fathers words finally reaching him through the drugged haze he had managed to put himself in. "My fault. Should've been... faster...better. I...need her dad. She has to...be ok." His eyes were tearing up and he looked down, noticing just then that Gus had grabbed his hand and was crying too. "When is she...gonna wake up." Shawn's eyes started to drift closed. "Still have to...say sorry." He managed to get out before passing out from exhaustion.
Gus and Henry glanced over at Juliet's frail form and Henry put his hand on Shawn's brow. "We'll just have to wait and see kid."
Shawn watched and winced as sharp metal descended towards his foot. He was feeling a bit apprehensive; his distaste of pointy things notwithstanding, but it was more nervousness of what could be going on with his body. Shawn was grateful, however, that the doctor had gotten him off the morphine before doing his experiments. Not only did it help him think more clearly and make him realize what an idiot he had been for almost overdosing, it also wouldn't mess up the sensory tests the doctor was now performing. It had been a couple days since the incident and Shawn was more than a little embarrassed for what he did, but was still depressed that he couldn't do anything for his injured girlfriend but sit in a bed and wait.
"Can you feel this?" Doctor Straus poked the bottom of Shawn's foot hard.
Shawn nodded and wheezed out. "Can feel, pressure."
Gus, Henry and Carlton were watching from the sidelines, the latter holding Juliet's hand. Their collective worry for Shawn had increased with each test. Dr. Straus had started out with feathers and having Shawn blind folded. As kinky as it sounded, it was a good test to find out nerve sensitivity. Shawn had been incredibly ticklish since he was a baby, and he had not reacted at all. Each test moved up Shawn's body and it seemed the feeling came back around his upper shoulder blades where the bullet had hit his spine and traveled downward at an angle.
After the feather, the doctor started using his finger to poke and lightly touch Shawn's skin seeing which sensations he was feeling. Shawn could tell where the pokes were but couldn't feel any of the times the doctor lightly touched him. They were currently testing his pain receptors, with pin pricks, which was also coming up nil.
Dr. Straus rubbed his head. "I have a pretty good idea what is going on. I just have one more test to administer and we can do an EMG and MRI just to be sure. Give me a moment and I will be right back."
As the doctor left the room Henry turned to Gus and asked what an EMG was. "It is short for Electromyogram, it tests the spinal cord controls the muscles. I am sure he just wants to make sure there is no muscle weakness."
Shawn hung his head. "Dang. Was hoping... was a type of... sandwich. Like a BLT."
Carlton let out a snorty laugh just as Juliet's alarms started going off signaling another seizure. They were happening about once every couple hours now and each were equally disturbing. Shawn plugged his ears and closed his eyes tightly as the others called the nurses. A hand pulling his arm away from his head let him know that it was over.
"This one wasn't as bad as the last one Shawn. She may be getting better." Henry tried comforting his son. Shawn waved them off. He wasn't the one needing sympathy. He couldn't even feel that he was in pain. Carlton apparently agreed as he stayed next to his partner's side.
When Dr. Straus came back a few minutes later, he had on pot holders and was carrying something that looked like a metal wand.
"Are you going to touch Shawn with that?" Gus exclaimed, wondering if there was something besides a heated poker that Shawn could test this with.
"Yes, this is going to gauge how well Shawn can sense temperature." Dr. Straus put on his most charming smile and turned to Shawn. "If you would give me your hand."
Shawn pursed his lips and put his shaking hand towards the doctor, hoping that he knew what he was doing. Suddenly, Dr. Straus grabbed Shawn's hand and touched the object to his palm. Shawn instinctively gasped, Gus let out high pitched scream of terror, and Henry lunged to get his son's hand away from the offending object. "What the hell are you doing!?"
Dr. Straus let Shawn go and stepped back as Henry checked over his son's hand for damage. "What did you feel right then Shawn?" Dr. Straus asked.
Furrowing his brow, Shawn couldn't really say what he felt. It didn't hurt, but they had already established that was already a problem. "I don't know, heat I guess."
"Really?" The doctor cocked his head and touched the object on Henry's arm.
His eyes widened and Henry flinched back with a yelp. "Jesus that's cold!" He rubbed his arm where it touched to warm it up. "Why did you tell us it was hot?"
Shawn huffed out a frustrated breath, "Heā¦didn't."
Smiling Dr. Straus put the metal rod down and took off the pot holder. "Shawn's right. I never said it was hot. You made that assumption yourself and did what I was hoping. You see, the brain tends to fill in missing information in the absence of senses. Which is why people put in a sound proof room hear phantom noises or people who cannot feel temperature," He put his hand on Shawn's shoulder, "fill in the blanks and feel what they think they should."
Gus looked disbelievingly at the doctor. "That's messed up."
"Indeed it is. It also confirms what I thought was going on." He turned towards Gus, "Mr. Burton, could you come here for a moment?"
Eyeing the doctor warily, he walked over and stood next to him. The doctor grabbed him and turned him around, his back facing Shawn and Henry. Pointing to Gus' spine he tried to explain what was going on with Shawn. "In the spinal cord there are two pathways. One communicating from the brain," He moved his finger from Gus' head down his back. "And one communicating from the body to the brain." He repeated the motion in reverse. "If the communication from the brain to the limbs gets cut off, you get someone who is paralyzed. They are unable to move because the connection to the muscles isn't there."
Henry nodded, "But Shawn isn't paralyzed. He can move just fine."
"Exactly! Which tells me it is the other pathway that is affected. The one that communicates from the body to the brain. I was testing Shawn because without that nerve pathway, the brain cannot get pain or temperature information from the body, effectively rendering him unable to feel pain of any kind." Dr. Straus explained.
"So... I really am... a super hero?" Shawn got an excited glimmer in his eye.
Carlton sighed exasperatedly, "Spencer you don't need any more 'super powers.' Your fake psychicness is all anyone can handle." Shawn glared at him for the comment.
However, Gus was the one to realize the seriousness of the situation."Shawn, you don't know what this will mean do you? You could break your leg and not know it!"
Shawn looked at him puzzled. "How would that be a bad thing?"
"Just because you can't feel it kid, doesn't mean it can't kill you." Henry explained in words his son would understand.
"You need to be very careful with this condition Shawn." Dr. Straus said seriously, "We'll discuss the other ramifications later but for now, don't move around too much. Like your father said, just because you can't feel it, doesn't mean you aren't injured. Now rest up. I'll see if we can get some of those images of your back within the next couple days."
"Thanks doc." Shawn smiled sadly and watched the doctor leave the room. He looked over at Carlton, giving him a mischievous look. "Hey Lassie... look on the bright side. If you ever shoot... me... I won't feel it."
Returning the smile, Carlton said sweetly. "Then I will be sure to aim for your head."
Shawn widened his eyes, hoping the detective was just joking, but he didn't have a lie detector to know for sure this time. He was about to make another snarky comment, really not wanting Carlton to have the last word, but froze instead noticing the detective's hand. Or more specifically, the hand in Carlton's hand. He squinted and saw the faintest movement of Juliet's fingers. Having unwillingly seen enough of her seizures for a life time, he knew this was not one of them. "Guys... look." He pointed at his girlfriend.
They all gaped as Juliet's eyes fluttered open. Her vision cleared and she looked around noticing all the worried faces, one in particular she had been wanting to see. Smiling she breathed out, "Shawn..."
END NOTES: I had to get Juliet awake! Was thinking about a better cliffhanger but figured sweet was the way to go. Aw...
