Disclaimer: I do not own Psych, as I have stated numerous times!!
Author's Notes: Second to last chapter! Wow! Has it really been almost three months since I started posting this story! WOW!! Anyway, here is chapter eleven! Please feel free to let me know if there are any errors in this chapter. I'm away on vaca right now so I hurridly typed this up just before my plane took off so there might be mistakes!! Feel free to point them out and I'll make the appropriate changes!! Thanks!!
ENJOY!!
Chapter Eleven
Shawn was whisked away once they reached the hospital and Carlton was left hanging around waiting to hear when he could see his lover. Luckily, his waiting was filled by several phone calls and getting his own wounds dealt with. He hadn't even thought about his own wellbeing until a passing nurse had noticed blood seeping through his shirt and dripping onto the hospital floor.
He had a few bruised ribs due to Walker getting in a few lucky punches to his torso when they had wrestled with each other. Carlton also had to get ten stitches to close the semi-deep gash on his shoulder from Walker's knife.
Carlton was starting to become inpatient as he waited to hear about Shawn's condition and when he could see him. He was just about to go and yell at someone at the nurses' station when a nurse finally came up to him. "You're here for Mr. Spencer, right?"
"Yes. How is he?" Carlton asked worriedly as he rose from the uncomfortable chair he had been sitting in for over three hours.
"He's doing fine. He's awake and already charming all the nurses," she said sweetly with a small smile. "The paramedics who brought him in said you wanted to interview him. You can go and do that now if you'd like, Detective."
"I'm not a detective anymore but I do need to see him," Carlton clarified.
"Oh..." She eyed Carlton with a confused and worried expression. "I'm sorry, only family or the police can be allowed to visit him right now. You can come by tomorrow and visit during regular hours."
"No, I need to see him," Carlton stressed.
"I'm sorry but only family – "
"I am family! Shawn's min – my lover. Please let me see him," Carlton pleaded. He didn't care who happened to overhear him pleading desperately with the nurse.
She thought it over for a minute before smiling softly. "Alright, he's in 2501. Stay as long as you need."
"Thank you!"
Carlton headed straight for Shawn's room. He didn't even hesitate for a second when he arrived. He burst right into the room and was at Shawn's bedside in a heartbeat. Shawn lay in the hospital bed, hooked up to an IV and some basic monitoring devices but he was awake. Sleepy eyed but awake and smiling at him.
"Hey," Shawn said, voice rough with sleep and exhaustion.
"Hi," Carlton whispered as he gripped Shawn's free hand tightly.
"You okay?"
"Me? I'm fine. Though I wasn't the one held captive for almost twenty-seven hours," Carlton joked lightly.
"Twenty-seven hours? Really? Felt like so much longer," Shawn mused.
"Same." Carlton squeezed Shawn's hand tighter. "So, what's the diagnosis?" The younger man made a face and the ex-detective sighed. "What did the doctors say about your injuries?"
"Oh, um... Mild concussion resulting from the nice blow to the head that prick Walker bestowed upon me. Oh, and four stitches," Shawn briefed Carlton and pointed at the bandage above his left eye.
"Next on the list; the nice cut on my neck, it's shallow and will hurt while it heals but no major damage there. Dislocated shoulder..."
"Shouldn't the doctors have, um, relocated it?" Carlton asked.
"They would have but the muscles are too damaged at the moment to sustain the trauma that 'relocating' it would cause." Shawn saw Carlton wince and squeezed his hand fiercely. "Its okay, Carly. I'll heal nice and quick, you'll see."
"I know. What about the cuts along your stomach and chest?"
"They weren't as deep and they thought and only a few needed stitches and there shouldn't be any scarring. Thankfully, none of my wounds besides the one above my eye got infected and even with the infection in the cut above me eye is minimal. The docs think I'll be here for about three maybe four days. Then we can go home," Shawn smiled.
"That's great. I want you home," Carlton whispered and pressed a kiss to Shawn's hand.
"Good because I really want to go home," Shawn smiled lovingly at his lover. "So anything exciting happen while I was kidnapped?"
"Uh... Well..." Carlton scratched the back of his head nervously. "I, um... kind of quitmyjob."
Shawn stared at Carlton blankly. "I'm sorry. This concussion must be really screwing with me because I could have sworn you just said you quit your job."
"I... did quit..."
"You... What! Why?"
"Vick... Well, she wouldn't authorize your rescue fast enough after I got the call from Walker. She wanted to strategize and talk over ideas with SWAT. I couldn't just sit around and wait so I quit and came after you."
"You... You idiot!" Shawn half yelled, half murmured. "I'm not worth quitting your job over."
"Yes you are" Carlton snapped. "I fucking love you! I'd do anything for you"
"I know...and that's what worries me." Carlton was about to protest when Shawn cut him off. "But I'd do anything for you too."
Carlton got up from where he knelt beside the bed and moved to lean over Shawn. "I love you..." He pressed a chaste, yet possessive kiss to Shawn's lips.
They broke slowly and Shawn smirked up at Carlton. "Took you long enough to say it. I love you too." He placed a soft kiss on Carlton's lips, soon losing himself in his lover's feel and taste, relishing in what he had thought he'd never be able to feel or taste again.
And that's how Gus and Juliet found them.
"Dude!" Gus yelped. "Don't do that in front on me!"
Shawn pulled away from Carlton's lips slowly but not before drawing the ex-detective's lower lip into his mouth and nibbling on it sensuously. "Aw, come on, Gus. You're just jealous of our hot gay lovin."
"I see you're feeling well," Juliet beamed as she walked over and pecked Shawn on the cheek.
"I'm good, Jules. You know me. Never one to let anything get me down."
Shawn smiled widely at Juliet but Carlton could see traces of fear still lingering in his lover's eyes. But he knew it would eventually fade, just like it had eventually faded away after Carlton had been shot.
"That's good, Shawn." Juliet smiled but there was a hint of mischief in her eyes. "But... Why didn't you tell me that you and Carlton were dating?"
"Did the kiss you just walked in on clue you in?" Shawn joked.
"No, Gus spilled the beans."
Shawn stared in awe at his best friend. "You did?"
"I... uh... kind of let it slip when I yelled at Lassiter last night," Gus admitted sheepishly.
"God, I sure missed a lot."
Juliet immediately jumped at the opening Shawn gave her and filled the psychic in on everything – even though it wasn't much, every detail of his case, Gus' outburst and Carlton's - word for word in both cases.
Carlton just sat there and watched Shawn as the other three talked. So he was the first to notice Shawn's eyes droop and the exhaustion seeping into the psychic.
"O'Hara, Guster," Carlton interrupted. "Shawn needs his rest. Come and visit tomorrow."
"Okay. See you later, Shawn," Juliet said and left after giving Shawn one more kiss on the cheek.
"It's good to have you back, buddy," Gus said and gave Shawn and awkward hug, very mindful of his best friend's injuries. "See you both tomorrow."
Gus left the room and then it was just the two lovers. Shawn's eyes were slipping shut, which caused Carlton to smile. "Go to sleep, Shawn. I'll be here when you wake up."
"Good. Love you." With that he slipped off into a deep sleep.
"Love you too," Carlton whispered. He brushed the hair on Shawn's forehead back. He just needed to know that his lover was here and safe. "I thought I was going to lose you."
Carlton made a promise to himself, right then and there. He was going to ask Shawn to move in with him permanently and he was going to make their upcoming one year anniversary more memorable than anything else before it.
He gripped Shawn's hand tight in his. They were together and nothing else was going to come between them or try to separate them ever again.
TBC