ONoes! Whatever will happen?!

Happy reaaaaaading...

It was impossible to know where he should search. The park wasn't exactly a monster, but it was large enough that searching the entire place wasn't probable, or even plausible. He was watching the last few people being shepherded out of the Relaxing River before it was closed when, out of the corner of his eye he caught a flash of a woman with dark hair and the top of the head of a small blonde girl and he spun, taking off after them.

"Hey! JOSIE!"

Shawn caught the woman by the arm and she cried out indignantly, turning to face him. He immediately dropped her arm, mouth falling open. Not Josie. "Uh—sorry ma'am, I—"

She smiled slightly and shrugged, proceeding to direct the blonde girl beside her—who had short hair, he realized, and couldn't be Anna—toward the park entrance. He was getting way too worked up. It was affecting his eyes.

He fell still, watching the crowds making their way leisurely in the same direction. For a split second, he froze up entirely. He had no idea where to go now. He had no idea where to go and Josie was out there, still—

"You can get in the Wave Pool for five minutes honey, then we're going home," a voice from the crowd said and his eyes widened. Of course!

The Wave Pool was one of the only attractions still open at this hour. And if you were a crazy jealous psycho freak bent on murdering a four-year-old girl, the slowly emptying Wave Pool would be the perfect place to drown said little girl and make it look like an accident!

He took off at a run, shouting an apologetic, "SORRY!" as he cut through a small herd of seven and eight year olds. The trip across the park was the speediest he'd ever taken.

Two minutes later, he burst out into the open area surrounding the rectangular Wave Pool, bare feet stinging, and his eyes rapidly scanning the sixty or so faces bobbing amongst the waves. There! He spotted Josie's pale face just shy of the five foot deep mark, bobbing slightly as the foot-high waves rolled past. His heart nearly stopped when he saw the shimmer of blonde hair just beneath the water. He put on a new burst of speed, shouting, "Out of the way! Out of the way! Lifeguard coming through!" which rapidly cleared the way for him and he pushed off, plunging into the water.

Twilight had brought the temperature outside down considerably, and the water was just cool enough to sting. Adrenaline had flooded his system, and underwater, the sound of his own heartbeat hammering in his ears was almost unbearably loud. He couldn't be too late. He couldn't.

The chlorinated water stung Shawn's eyes but he kept them open, glad that he'd gotten those lessons in speed from his stint at the Olympic training center. His eyes met the terrified gaze of the weakly struggling little girl as he approached and he could tell she was fading fast. He wrapped his arm firmly around her waist and wrenched her out of Josie's grip.

A sharp stinging sensation erupted across the back of his arm, Josie's hands groping for Anna and he kicked off of the bottom, shooting them out of reach and to the surface. The little girl gasped raggedly as soon as her head had broken the top of the water, caught between crying and coughing violently into his shoulder. Behind them he heard Josie shriek shrilly, "NO!"

Shawn ignored her, focusing on keeping the little girl in his arms safely above water and panting reassuringly at her as he stroked for the side of the pool. "Ricky!" he shouted at the twenty-year-old lifeguard standing at the edge of the pool watching them with a bemused look on his face. "Come get her! NOW!" The younger man immediately scrambled to do as told, lifting the girl out of Shawn's arms and wrapping her awkwardly in his own. "Go get the police Ricky!" he ordered, pushing himself up on the edge of the pool.

He was halfway out of the water when a hand wrapped around his ankle, jerking sharply. Grunting in surprise as his arms gave out, he dropped back into the pool, and nearly sucked in a lungful of water as he slid beneath the surface again. Josie's hands came down roughly on his head, pushing him farther down and he immediately thrust out his own arms to push her away, thinking, "Oh hell no."

The burning in his lungs was fast in coming though, and he couldn't help his movements becoming more frantic as Josie's hand smashed into his face, preventing him from moving upward. He caught her wrist in his hand, his feet brushing the bottom and he pushed off, hard, rocketing both of them back to the surface. He gasped as he cleared the water, and coughed, lungs and throat burning. Josie raked her nails down his chest, shrieking, "Why did you stop me, you bastard?! It was almost over!"

"You're insane!" Shawn snapped. "She's four-years-old, for the love of—"

"I AM NOT CRAZY!" Her hands swung at his head again.

"Oh, yes you are," he retorted. Josie's hand caught hold of his arm, her nails digging deep into his skin and he hissed, trying to pry her off. "Let go of me, you—"

"Ma'am!" a voice called, tone sharp and Shawn glanced over, relieved to see Troy, one of the other lifeguards, moving toward them, chest deep in the water and bobbing slightly with the waves. "I'm going to have to ask you to back off."

It was then Shawn realized that their struggle had scared the remaining patrons out of the water, and they now stood around the pool in scattered groups, gawking. He rolled his eyes. Great. Now he was putting on a show.

"Stay back," Josie snapped and he winced as her grip tightened on his arm. She looped something that glinted faintly in the light over his wrist and his eyes widened.

"Troy—just do—"

For the barest second he felt a thin wire slide against his skin and then suddenly, with a flash of searing pain, the wave passing over them bloomed red.

Oh crap.

"Shawn, what the he—"

Josie's arms swung up around him, the wire pulling sharply, and painfully, from the wound across the back of his arm, which was now now dyeing the water surrounding them pink. His head jerked backwards instinctively, the wire moving with him to kiss the skin of his throat and his stomach dropped sharply. Shit.

It pulled taut against his Adam's apple, and he realized suddenly that he was breathing rapidly, nearly hyperventilating, because with each breath he could feel it pulling uncomfortably against his skin.

"Get out of here!" Josie snapped at Troy and the other lifeguard began backing away, his eyes large and apologetic. Shawn waved a hand just barely, indicating that it was okay.

Josie's breath was hot against his neck as she hissed, "You ruined everything. I was finally going to get out of this hell hole and—"

He winced, because with every word, she tugged just slightly on the wire, which dug a little further into his skin, and he swallowed, wincing again.

"Shawn!" Juliet and Gus' voices carried easily over the water, as did the sound of at least half a dozen guns cocking, and Shawn opened eyes he hadn't realized he'd closed to see Juliet and Lassiter heading up a group of officers at the Wave Pool shore, guns all aimed, essentially, at him.

Charming.

He winced, back arching as Josie's grip on the wire tightened.

This wasn't going to go well.