Hi guys! It's me again! I'm alive, I promise. Just a warning following up on the three or four weeks of no posting: I probably will NOT be posting for another two or three weeks. This is the time of year when things get crazy because we have this HUGE fine arts competition at my school. And because it's small...everyone is in everything. And that includes me. So I have no time ever at this time of year. If I do get a chance to post, I'll be really happy though. This chapter was harder to write than I thought it would be and I didn't always have my computer with me all the time I was ready to write. So I will sincerely say that I am sorry I haven't posted in a while. Please enjoy the chapter! And review, because I get really excited when I see the e-mails. :) Those who have stories know what I'm talking about. Oh and PS: Dear person who commented about the Speedway thing: Thank you so much for that comment! You don't have a PM account so I couldn't message you about it, but that is such an interesting fact that I didn't know (If you're wondering, they said there are no Speedway stations in CA). I may go back and change it later, but I feel the need to respect them and their amazing Slurpees...so we'll see. :D haha! Anyway, thanks for that technical comment/fun fact! Now please stop reading this insanely long author's note and enjoy! :D
Chapter 9
Hospitals were always cold. Nothing but tile floors, white walls, and too much air conditioning. They were filled with tired doctors and nurses, hurting patients, and worrying families. There was no way to make a visit to the hospital fun.
Scratch that. There was one person who could make the hospital a fun place.
He remembered the dare quite vividly. He had begged Shawn not to do it, but even back then Shawn had never listened to him. They were at a party senior year and some big college kid had dared Shawn to jump from the home's second story balcony onto the trampoline.
Gus was pretty sure that even Shawn wouldn't have been stupid enough to try it except that (unknown to them) the college kids had spiked the punch. To make things worse, Shawn's love interest, Abigail, had been there. The drunkenness combined with wanting to impress Abigail was what had landed Shawn in the hospital with a broken shoulder bad enough to get him surgery and an overnight stay.
But Shawn hadn't been one bit worried or afraid and Gus knew the credit for that didn't go to the alcohol in his system – not entirely anyway. Even with his arm hanging limply at his side Shawn had been determined to cheer up the elderly woman in the waiting room whose young granddaughter had fallen and cracked her head and the girl whose mother had just been diagnosed with cancer. By the time it was his turn to be examined he had them both smiling and laughing. He also had the younger girl's phone number.
Gus glanced up at his friend lying pale and stiff on the hospital bed. He shuddered. He had only caught a glimpse of what Shawn had looked like when they first brought him in, and what he had seen hadn't looked good. His friend couldn't die. Not now. This wasn't how Shawn was supposed to go out.
He glanced over at Juliet. She and he had been together in this up until this point, but now his grief was nowhere near the level of hers. It also helped that he hadn't gotten a good look at Shawn. She had, and she had just come out of shock a few hours ago. Now she was curled up in the chair next to him.
She felt his eyes on her and smiled a little. Wordlessly she moved around and rested her head on his shoulder. He didn't try to protest. She was tired and he was cold and they were both completely worn out by the events of the day.
When they had first brought Shawn in, he could tell that the doctors expected the worst. They kept coming out during the surgery and reporting to those in the waiting room. Shawn had flatlined twice but they had been able to bring him back. According to the doctor their biggest concerns were infection and what his mental state would be when he woke up. The doctors had been forced to sedate him because he had started to wake up on the ambulance and had continued to yell and scream no matter what they did. The doctor said Shawn wasn't "lucid."
Gus sighed, trying to release some of the pressure in his chest and convince himself that his best friend would be fine. Eventually he felt his eyes slipping closed and he fell asleep.
X X X X X X X X X X
Henry and Maddie returned from their taco run to find Gus and Juliet snuggled together on two of the uncomfortable bedside chairs. Henry almost woke them up, but eventually he thought better of it. It had been a hard day for all of them, but especially for Juliet. When Buzz brought her in she had been completely in shock. It had taken awhile for her to snap out of it and then she had cried for almost an hour.
The doctors and nurses had been great to all of them. He tried not to consider that it might have been because they didn't expect Shawn to make it. During Shawn's surgery they had given him constant updates. They had even offered to run next door for food for him, but he had turned it down. He was pretty sure he couldn't sit on his butt for much longer and they weren't going to try to bring Shawn out of the sedation until the next day anyway.
He sat back down in his chair and opened his taco. At least he knew the police were being thorough. Lassiter had been with them and he hadn't shown up at the hospital yet. Buzz had assured them that he was helping first at the scene and then at the station and would be over as soon as he was done.
About a half-hour later Lassiter arrived and Gus and Juliet woke up. Henry gave Gus and Juliet their food and Maddie offered Lassiter some food, which he flatly denied. Someone found a deck of cards in the waiting room and they started up a game of "go fish" on the floor. It was completely surreal to be playing a game next to Shawn's bedside, but no one really wanted to think about what had happened and no one wanted to leave so it seemed like the best way to go. The doctor came in eventually and told them that visiting hours were over. As much as Henry protested the doctor insisted that he go home. He assured Henry that they would not be trying to bring Shawn out of the sedation until the next morning and that Shawn would be perfectly safe at the hospital.
X X X X X X X X X X
Lassiter was the first out and he went directly back to the station. He had work to do. He had to get a confession out of Gray Eyes, who they had identified as Max Brachman. He pulled up to the station and then just sat there in his car, trying to soak in everything that had happened. After over a week of doing nothing but waiting, now everything seemed to be happening so fast.
He was at his desk without really remembering the walk in. He was on his way down to the interrogation room where Max was waiting for him when the chief intercepted him and asked him for his gun. At first he didn't understand why she wanted it. It was late and his mind wasn't connecting A to C as well as it usually did. But suddenly he remembered what Juliet had said and he realized that he probably wasn't the only one that night who had considered killing the guy. Everyone at the station loved Shawn, no matter how much they pretended to hate his antics.
He handed over his beloved weapon with out complaint, just this once, he told himself. And just because he was tired and it had been a long day and he just wanted to get the interrogation over with. He sighed and pushed the door open to see the gray eyes staring at him once again. It was going to be a long night.
X X X X X X X X X X
Juliet exited the hospital room behind Lassiter with Gus at her side, as if neither wanted to be the one to leave first. She gave him one last quick hug and walked over to where Buzz was waiting on the other end of the parking lot for her. He had offered to drive her home and she had taken him up on it, for once not caring that she would have to get picked up the next morning. She was emotionally and physically drained and she just wanted to curl up on her couch with her cats purring beside her.
Buzz chatted the whole way back to her house. She appreciated not having to sit quietly in the dark but she hoped he couldn't tell that she wasn't listening. He gave her a wave and his signature beaming smile as he dropped her off. She smiled back and turned to enter her apartment. The walk up to the door seemed to take forever. She didn't even have the energy to change into her comfortable clothes. She just fell onto the couch and flipped on the TV. At this point the best thing she could think of to do was just to sleep. Maybe when she woke up all of her problems would be gone. Her eyes drifted closed as the opening credits for the Beverly Hillbillies played across her screen. Her last conscious thought was that Shawn must have been the last one to watch her TV.
X X X X X X X X X X
Gus hugged Juliet goodbye and headed out to his car. Buzz had kindly picked up his car from the police station where he had left it this morning…was it only this morning? It was hard to believe. He threw his coat into the passenger's seat. It was a nice cool Santa Barbara night, the kind that had convinced him he wanted to spend his whole life here when he was a kid. He sighed for the millionth time in the past few hours and slid into the driver's seat. He turned the key in the ignition and immediately sat back with such force that the seat jiggled. His mind was suddenly flooded with memories of Shawn. It seemed like he was hardly ever in the "blueberry" without Shawn beside him in the passenger seat.
In the beginning he used to let Shawn drive but when Shawn scratched the car for the first time and Gus found out he had to pay for any damages inflicted on the company car he had banned Shawn from driving. Sometimes it was hard to remember that Shawn was thirty. He shook his head trying to clear his memories but the empty Monster can on the floor wasn't helping.
He hadn't had a chance to clean it up since he and Shawn rode together last, the day before he was kidnapped. He had specifically told Shawn two things that day: One, there was to be no eating or drinking in the car, and two, he wasn't allowed to have caffeine. He had been crazy hyper enough already. So of course, just because Gus had said no, Shawn had gone and bought a Monster and drunk it in Gus' car. It was once of the things Gus secretly loved about Shawn. The guy didn't listen to anybody.
Gus just sat there for a moment, looking at the empty can, wondering what he should do. He really didn't think he had the energy to walk all the way back to the garbage can at the front doors but as long as the can was there he had a constant reminder of how close he had come to loosing his best friend. Dark thoughts flitted through his mind, thoughts about infection and fever and mental illness. It seemed to be what the doctor had been preparing them for. In one smooth motion Gus scooped up the can and threw it out the window. He had never littered before in his life, and (although he knew that Shawn would make fun of him for thinking it) breaking the rules, even such a small one, felt kind of liberating. So the whole way home he drove twelve over the speed limit, and when he got to his apartment building he walked the whole way to the door on the grass. He had a fleeting thought as to whether or not he could get arrested for waking everyone in the apartment building up by screaming at the top of his lungs, but he opted instead to go to bed, his heart, in spite of everything, still heavy in his chest.
X X X X X X X X X X
Henry grabbed Maddie's hand and they slipped out the door behind everyone else. They stopped one more time outside the door to look back at their only son lying in the hospital bed.
"Are you sure you don't want me to…make them let us stay?" he asked her tentatively. She laughed.
"No Henry, I don't think that will be necessary. Besides, you know he's right. We both need some sleep."
"I could still sleep here…" he mumbled under his breath. Of course she heard him.
"That's my Henry, always argumentative…" she smiled.
"I am not!" His cheeks reddened and he suddenly felt like he was in first grade again as he heard her call him "My Henry."
She raised her eyebrow as if to say, "point taken" and his cheeks reddened even more. She squeezed his hand and he led her out to his old truck. The ride home was quiet and when they got back Maddie immediately headed upstairs.
Henry wasn't at all tired so he sauntered out to the front porch and just sat, staring up at the stars. His kid almost hadn't made it. He couldn't believe it but it was true. Shawn had almost died and Henry knew it. He could see it as well as anyone else could. It had been plastered all over the doctors' faces all day. Honestly, if he wanted to be realistic, Shawn wasn't quite out scott free yet. There was still the infection raging through his body that the doctors seemed to be very nervous about, not to mention what his mental state would be like when he woke up. That was what everyone seemed the most nervous about.
The doctors had told him privately that there was some brain damage done due to the beating Shawn had received right before the detectives had arrived. He figured he would see how Shawn was tomorrow before he got too nervous. Besides, Shawn had always been the most stubborn person he knew. The kid wasn't going to give up without a fight, no matter what mental state he was in. Henry drifted off to sleep, lulled by the waves. He stayed there until Maddie came and got him and led him to bed.
X X X X X X X X X X
First it was black. Then it was white. Now black. Now white. Black. White. Black. White. He was thinking. For some reason that was good. Black and white. Black and white. Black and tan? He struggled. It was familiar, but he couldn't remember why. Something green? And a beautiful woman. Suddenly a pain exploded in his head. He moaned. He was shaking. He didn't know what he had been thinking about. That was bad. But he was thinking. That was good. Where was he? How had he gotten to this nice, warm…he felt around…bed? He held his breath for a moment. Good. He had remembered bed. Black. White. Black. White. He was suddenly aware of a burning on his chest. Cuts. It felt like when he gave himself a paper cut in school. Maybe a knife?
Pain. Blinding, searing pain in his head. His head was going to blow up and his guts were going to go all over the room. An image flashed. Oh gosh no. More pain. He was bleeding, his blood coating his whole body and the chair he was in. Gosh no. No. He was shaking, shivering uncontrollably. He was barely aware that he was screaming.
"Fine! Fine!" he screamed to no one. Then nothing again. He couldn't remember. Black. White. Black. White. He was thinking. Cuts from knives. Pain in his head. No, they must have been from paper. The pain was going away. That was it! He tried to remember more. Blood…no…something…something else. The pain was getting worse. He started shivering again. And for the third time everything was gone.
Oh well. It would be ok if he didn't remember now. At least his mind was clear. There was no more pain, and he wasn't about to bring it back if he could help it. He finally pried open his eyes. Black. White. Black. White. White. White…white…more white…
Shawn is waking up! I'm actually really excited about what's to come because I kinda cheated and wrote that part first...which means I don't have any of the next chapter done but a lot of later chapters. lol. I feel like I do when I read the end of a story first. Does anyone here do that? I can't believe it when people do! My friend does. She says she does it to see if she wants to spend her time on the book. She says if it's a crappy ending she just doesn't read any more...idk. It ruins the suspence for me. Speaking of suspence...stay tuned! More will come your way in a few weeks! Until then, review! :D Oh and Youtube the video "Psych Jumpstart." No idea who made this but it is definitely the best Psych video I have ever seen! SUPER well done. You will not be disappointed! Let me know if there are any general Psych or maybe Shules videos that you've found (or maybe made) and I'll check them out! :) Last, but not least, let me know what you thought of the premiere! I loved it personally! Let me know your favorite parts! Until next chapter...bye!
