This turned out way more angsty than I intended, but I think you'll like it
Shawn pushed Juliet's wavy golden hair behind her ear and gave her a soft peck on her cheek. She gave him a crooked smile as if to assure him that everything would be ok before turning and entering Taylor Zane's room at Maplewood Psychiatric Hospital. The door latched behind her. Shawn watched through the 1 foot by 1 foot window in the door while Juliet carefully lowered herself into the chair next to Taylor's bed. Her voice was muffled through the heavy door as she announced her presence to Taylor who was lying just as she was the last time Shawn visited her room, her head covered by her pillow. Shawn realized he had never actually seen the girl's face before. He didn't know what she looked like.
Juliet gently laid a hand on Taylor's shoulder, but the girl didn't budge. Juliet tried speaking to her softly, making friendly conversation to try to build a trust between them. She assured Taylor that she was only there to ask her a few questions, that she was not a threat. Taylor only pressed the pillow more tightly over her head. Juliet shook her head, at a loss at what to do. She turned and her eyes met Shawn's. He could see they were filled with pity. Juliet stood and began to walk towards the door, but suddenly stopped mid-step. Her mouth dropped slightly and her eyes widened staring into Shawn's with a look of utter terror.
"Jules…what's wrong?" said Shawn loudly enough so she could hear him through the window.
Her head dropped to look at her stomach which her hands were clutching as if trying to keep it from falling away from her. Her knees buckled and she fell to the floor, hunched over in pain.
Shawn panicked. "Jules, it's ok! I'm here! I'm coming in!" He reached for the doorknob and turned, and to his horror found the door locked. He frantically turned the knob back and forth as if it might suddenly unlock itself and open. It didn't. He checked through the window again and saw his wife writhing on the floor, a puddle of blood forming underneath her.
"Shawn…help me," she moaned.
"Juliet! I'm here! I'm coming sweetheart!" Shawn's panic multiplied and he began pounding on the door and kicking it, but the solid metal didn't give. "Help! Someone help?! My wife…she's locked in!" The halls were not empty but no one seemed to hear him or come to his aid. "Taylor!" he yelled through the window. "Get up! Open the door! Please!" She didn't budge. Juliet continued to moan as blood continued to pool below her and her skin paled. "No! Juliet! Hang in there." He turned and started sprinting down the hall running headlong into Gus and falling backward.
"Gus?! You're back! I thought you weren't coming back until tomorrow." He stood up. "Thank God you are here. You have to help me. Jules is in trouble." Gus didn't move or say a word, his expression blank. "Gus? What's wrong with you?!"
"You shouldn't have let her go in there," said Gus robotically.
"Gu…what?! Dammit! What is going on?!" Shawn ran his hands frustratingly through his hair and pulled. He turned and ran back towards Taylor's room and found the last person he expected standing in front of her door. But it didn't matter. It was someone who could help. "Despereaux? Thank God! Please help me! My wife….my daughter!"
Pierre Despereaux didn't budge either and in just the same monotone voice as Gus said, "What have you done?"
"What the hell is going on?!" Shawn screamed, turning his attention back to Taylor's door. Juliet was still on the floor barely conscious, her right hand and eyes reaching towards her husband desperately. Shawn saw that Taylor had finally gotten out of bed, her wild knotted hair framing her psychotic expression. She looked remarkably like Scary Sherry. Taylor pulled a knife out from behind her and held it above her head with both hands. Almost in slow motion, Shawn watched in horror as the she lowered the knife towards Juliet.
Shawn cried out in despair "Noooooo!"
He sat up in his bed sweat pouring down his face and bare chest. His covers had already been thrown off of him sometime during the night. Shawn's eyes darted about his bedroom and he came to realize he was in a familiar place. He sighed with relief to see his beautiful Juliet sleeping quietly. Just to make sure she was real he placed a passionate kiss on her lips that woke her from her slumber. He then pulled down the covers to make sure his daughter was still there. He rubbed Juliet's round stomach and kissed it softly.
"Shawn? What are doing? I was sleeping." said Juliet drowsily.
"Just making sure you and Maggie are still here," he said.
"We're here," she said. "What's wrong, Shawn?"
"Nothing. Nothing," he said through a laugh of relief and bringing his face close to hers again. "It was just a nightmare."
"Oh…we're here Shawn. Maggie and I aren't going anywhere," said Juliet cupping Shawn's prickly cheek in her hand. She kissed him lightly on the lips.
"Please don't go," he said, nuzzling his face into her neck. Juliet ran her fingers through Shawn's thick hair and his nerves calmed. They eventually drifted back to sleep in their positions and stayed that way until morning.
+++Pineapple+++
Shawn spent a better part of the morning just driving around aimlessly on his motorcycle. He was so grateful that Juliet had gotten it back for him, because he felt it was the only thing he could do to keep from going crazy at the moment. He just couldn't get that image of Juliet writhing on the floor out of his head. He knew it was just a dream, but it had seemed so real. At that moment, as unreal as it was, he felt like everything he had lived for was suddenly ripped away from him. He was afraid…terrified that he would lose everything. He needed Gus. He always could trust his oldest and blackest friend to make him feel that everything would be ok. Gus wasn't due back for another eighteen hours, so for now his dad would have to do.
Shawn parked his motorcycle in Henry Spencer's driveway. Shawn was disappointed it seemed for the first time ever that his dad was nowhere to be seen. He wasn't home. Shawn retrieved the spare key he had hidden behind the garage. As if by some miracle, Henry still didn't know that it was there. Otherwise he would have made sure it was removed from its hiding spot a long time ago. Shawn entered through the kitchen door and immediately grabbed a bottle of beer from the fridge and popped it open. He then proceeded to wander through his boyhood home. It had been a long while since he had been there alone, with nothing but the mounted fish to keep him company.
Before long, Shawn found himself in his old bedroom for only the third, maybe fourth, time in fifteen years. Still, nothing about it had changed in all those years. Shawn wondered why his dad kept it that way. He could have reutilized it for anything, but he didn't. He wondered if becoming a grandfather might inspire him to redecorate…swap out the blue and dinosaurs for pink and butterflies. Shawn began to shuffle through his old record albums, looking for something he felt like listening to, when he heard the front door open and close and then a whistling to the theme song from M.A.S.H. Shawn put on his favorite Tears for Fears album and began bouncing a Superball off the wall. About a minute later, the bedroom door was suddenly kicked open and Shawn saw the barrel of a gun pointed at him.
"Really?" he said sarcastically to his father.
"Dammit, Shawn!," said Henry angrily. "What are you doing here?! You oughtta know better than to sneak in here like that! I thought you were a burglar."
"A burglar who plays old 80's albums while ransacking your house? Come on Dad. I know you are smarter than that."
"Don't argue with me, kid. You could have gotten yourself shot."
"Dude, are you listening to yourself? What kind of person can't visit their childhood home without the risk of getting shot?"
"The child of a cop, that's who," said Henry.
"Retired cop," Shawn corrected him, "and I seriously hope Jules doesn't go pulling a gun on our kid when she comes to visit thirty years from now."
Henry sighed, "Why are you here, anyway?"
"Geez, dad. It's good to see you too….and I came here just to…reminisce. Can't a guy hang out in his boyhood room and reminisce?"
"Sure," said Henry. "But he should call his dad first." Henry sat on the bed next to Shawn who had turned his attention back to the Superball he was still bouncing. "What's on your mind, kid?"
"There. That," said Shawn. "You calling me 'kid'. Why do you do that?"
"Because you're my kid. I was pretty sure you knew that."
"No, I mean, why do you still call me that? I'm 35 years old. I'm not a kid anymore. Am I that irresponsible? That untrustworthy that my own father can't treat me like an adult?" Henry was taken aback when Shawn's voice began to raise and he stood up pacing around the room. "God! What is this?" he said, waving his arms around the room. "Why is all of this stuff still here? I mean…do you expect that someday I am just going to give up on adulthood and come running back here to stay in this room and listen to my old albums and play with my old army men and Shrinkidinks all day?!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, son! You've got the wrong idea! I don't think that. I don't….I don't know why this is still here…maybe it's just me trying to hold onto the past, or something…I don't know. But the last thing I want to do is hold you back. I know I've been… tough on you over the years…"
"You think?!" said Shawn harshly.
"…but I never meant to make you feel like you could never grow up…if I did, I'm truly sorry." Henry sighed and put his head in his hands. Shawn just shook his head and paced a little more before sitting back on the bed, grabbing his beer from the nightstand, and taking a big swig.
"Dad? How am I going to do this…?" his voice no longer angry, but worried.
"Do what, Shawn?"
"Be a father…and a husband," he said avoiding eye contact. Shawn usually avoided serious conversations like the plague, especially serious conversations with his dad, but he had to get everything off his chest. "I…I love Juliet with all my heart, and…I love our daughter. I can't even imagine life without them. But somehow…I just keep thinking that at some point I am going to fail them. Seriously, why did she choose me? I'm not good enough for her. She deserves so much better."
"Shawn…again, I'm really sorry if how I've treated you has made you feel like you are not good enough, but please listen to me when I tell you that you are…you are good enough. If you weren't Juliet wouldn't have chosen you…"
"But Dad, what if I…"
"Let me finish," said Henry cutting off his son and holding up his hand. "As I told you before, you probably are going to fail them at one point or another, but that's normal. God! Look at how much I've failed you! No one is perfect. But you love her…you love both of them. Just keep loving them and in the long run, you won't fail them."
Shawn nodded and took in his dad's words. He looked at his feet and bounced the ball a few more times.
"I'll…uh…leave you to your thoughts…and your bouncy ball," said Henry, hefting himself off the bed and leaving the room.
Shawn simply nodded without looking away from his feet or saying a word. Right before Henry shut the door, Shawn caught his attention. "Dad?"
"What is it, son?"
"You didn't fail me."
===Pineapple===
After finally cooling off, Shawn arrived at the SBPD to pick up Juliet and head out to Maplewood, as planned. He expected to find her sitting at her desk, but was surprised to see her chair empty. Shawn stopped officer McIntyre who was walking by.
"Hey Macks? You seen Jules?" McIntyre simply pointed at the Chief's office. The door was closed but he could see that Lassiter, McNab, and Juliet were inside with the Chief, and unexpectedly they were conversing with Dr. Franklin from Maplewood. Shawn invited himself inside.
"Spencer," said Chief Vick. "Come in, and close the door behind you." Juliet took Shawn's hand and pulled him close to her.
"Jules? What's wrong? I thought we were supposed to be leaving for Maplewood now. What's Dr. Franklin doing here?" Juliet didn't answer but nodded towards the Chief, indicating that Shawn should pay attention.
"We have a bit of situation," said Chief Vick addressing Shawn. "It appears that our suspect, Miss Taylor Zane…has gone missing?"
Unlike Henry's hair...the plot thickens.
How have I gotten to Chapter 9 already and they still haven't made it to the New Years Eve Gala? Next chapter, I promise.
