Thanks to everyone who reviewed once again!
Jen: Thanks for the pineapples :) They sustained me as I wrote this chapter! :P
Psycho4Life: I seriously cannot thank you enough!
X-X-Midnight Star-X-X: Thank you so much for the encouragement!
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Previously
Vaguely noticing that Lassiter was glaring at him for taking so long, Henry was looking on and judging, Juliet was smiling in encouragement, Gus was staring in shock, and Yang was beginning to move, Shawn pressed his finger on the trigger.
As a shot rang out through the room, Yang crumpled to the ground.
Holding her shoulder, Yang realized that she had nothing left to lose. Pointing her gun up at the random cop, Yang let a bullet fly into his body before she passed out.
And everyone else could only watch as Buzz fell backwards jerkily and landed on the ground.
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As Buzz landed heavily next to Gus, Gus couldn't help but scream. "Guster!" Lassiter reprimanded. "Keep your head together! This isn't over!"
"Lassie," Shawn answered sluggishly, his eyes unfocused. "When did you grow a…pineapple head?" He blinked slowly at the detective as Gus felt the ghost of a smile hit his lips. As usual, Shawn could make Gus cheer up with one simple comment.
Lassiter looked over at Shawn like he had lost his mind. Which, Gus reflected, he probably had a long time ago. Right now, though, it was obvious that his best friend was hallucinating. Or just messing with Lassiter.
"Gus," Juliet asked, looking over at him from where she was bound to the third leg of the table. "What is that on the ground next to you? I think it fell out of Buzz's pocket."
Gus looked to where she was motioning. In shock, he used his foot to scoot the object next to his bound hand. "That's my phone!" Gus exclaimed.
"No, it's not!" called Shawn out, confused. "That's mine!" He turned his head over to face Lassiter. Grinning a half grin, Shawn deliriously added, "Inside is the ring for Jules. Shh, I'm gonna propose soon!" Shawn snorted and dropped his head to his chest.
As Juliet stared at Shawn in complete shock, with a red blush creeping up her cheeks, Henry tried to peer at Gus from across the table. "Gus," he said. "It's important that you call 9-1-1. Shawn obviously doesn't have much time left!"
Gus snapped out of his reverie and typed in the numbers. "Hello," Gus said pleasantly to the man who answered the phone. He then proceeded to give the address, answer some questions about their conditions, and explain why there was someone singing Happy Birthday loudly and off-key in the background. "Will you please stop it, Shawn!" Gus called out for the fifth time as he hung the phone off.
But Shawn was lost in his own world.
Lassiter groaned and glared at Shawn. "We can't do anything about him until we're untied from this table!"
Henry frowned when he saw how much trouble his son was having breathing and how mangled each word sounded. "This can't be good for his throat."
Juliet was the closest to Shawn, so she reached out a foot and tapped his leg. "Shawn," she said. "We have an ambulance coming. You'll be okay!"
"Shawn, open your eyes," Henry called over, cursing that they were stuck to the table until the paramedics came. "You're going to hurt yourself if you keep singing like that!"
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Luckily, hearing his father's voice from across a great sea, Shawn gave his tortured throat a small break to listen. All he managed to hear was, "hat."
No! Shawn knew that he could not call upon his memory. Each breath hurt, and he didn't even know where he was!
But Shawn really wanted to feel better. He knew that his dad wouldn't let Shawn feel better until he said how many hats were in the room.
It was so unfair. Shawn began to sob. Everything hurt, and here was his dad asking for yet another unattainable goal.
"No!" Shawn wailed, not realizing how much pain using his throat caused. "I don't know how many hats there are! Dad!"
He couldn't hear anything over his sobs, but Shawn knew that Henry would never back down at a time like this. Right now, though, Shawn couldn't take it. Shawn tried to heave in a big breath, but couldn't seem to. Stop, he tried to tell his father, who was obviously keeping him from getting oxygen.
Gasping for air, Shawn couldn't get enough into his body, and blackness consumed him.
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Lassiter felt utterly horrible as he watched Shawn sob and cry out about hats. He looked over at Shawn's dad. Henry's face had gone completely white, and he was staring at his son in horror.
"What was he talking about? With the hats?" Juliet asked Henry, trying to get the words "I'm gonna propose soon," out of her head.
Henry sighed. "Shawn has an amazing memory. He can enter a room once and remember everything, down to the number of tiles on the floor, in twenty years. When he was a kid, I…" he sighed again in shame. "I wanted him to be a cop, so I'd take him places and get Shawn to close his eyes and answer all sorts of questions about the room. Shawn could do it, but he absolutely hated it. He must be reliving a memory of some sort."
Lassiter looked over at Gus. Unsurprisingly, Shawn's best friend was not surprised by the information, but he was worrying about Shawn.
The room went quiet.
It took a moment for Lassiter to realize that something was horribly wrong. What happened to Shawn's outburst?
The self-proclaimed psychic had stopped crying, and seemed to instead be gasping for breath. His face was turning steadily blue.
As Lassiter frantically tried to free himself from the table, Gus could only watch in shock. There it was, history repeating itself. Once again, Shawn was running out of air and Gus could do nothing to stop it.
What they needed was a hospital, or at least someone to untie their ropes. The only people who could do that were Buzz and Yang, but they were both unconscious. And, Gus realized with a start, losing blood!
Luckily, Buzz was close enough for Gus to press his hand onto the wound, situated in his left shoulder. It scared Gus to see the blood seeping into his jacket, but what scared him even more was the way Buzz's face had lost its color.
And Shawn still wasn't breathing.
Gus heard pounding footsteps and, looking up, saw paramedics rushing into the room. They took Shawn, Buzz, and Yang out on a stretcher, and removed the ropes keeping Gus, Henry, Lassiter, and Juliet attached to the table.
Gus stood up shakily, feeling blood rush into his arms from where the circulation was cut off. Henry, Lassiter, and Juliet were doing the same.
Henry ran out after the paramedics and managed to talk his way to stay with Shawn. After all, he wouldn't dare leave his son alone in such critical condition.
As if waking up from a strange dream, Lassiter shook his head to clear it and offered to give Juliet and Gus a ride to the hospital.
Gus stumbled along and fell into the backseat of the car.
As Lassiter drove quickly after the ambulance, Gus looked down at the blood on his hands and fainted.
It was really over.
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