Hello lovelys!

I just wanted to put a quick warning/disclaimer. This is a fictional story about a fictional show. So bearing that in mind, note that any driving that occurs will always have the outcome I have planned. Please don't be like I've written Shawn to be, don't ride a motorcycle with an 8 year old, you shouldn't even have them in the front seat of a car. Don't speed, don't ignore traffic lights, don't go through train tracks when the barriers are down, and ALWAYS wear your seatbelt.

Now that that's said and done, on with the fic!

Thank you for reading, please review!


It took almost an hour to calm Daniel down. Shawn apologised what must have been a hundred times and simply held the young boy, but that wouldn't work. He still cried and wailed loudly. He was obviously terrified and Shawn was overwhelmed with guilt knowing that he had caused that. He didn't want to scare the kid, that was never his intention, he just wanted to keep him away from whoever was following them. So he would wait as long as it took to calm him down.

When the tears finally stopped falling, Daniel still didn't calm down. He still shook and he still held on tightly to Shawn, but he didn't care. He held the boy in his arms and rubbed his back until he fell asleep. Shawn picked him up and laid him on the couch and moved to the kitchen. As Daniel slept, Shawn prepared some food for lunch, after all they had skipped that meal.

Daniel woke up twenty minutes later and joined Shawn in the kitchen. Shawn offered a smile and served two plates of food, placing them both at the table. The two of them sat and ate their late lunch, exchanging only a few words. When they finished, Shawn cleared the table and washed the dishes, but Daniel still sat. So when the psychic had finished cleaning, he joined the kid at athe table again.

"The Bad Man was in the car, wasn't he?" Daniel asked.

"I don't know for sure, but it's what I was afraid of," Shawn said honestly.

"Is he going to hurt me like he hurt mommy?"

"Over my dead body." Daniel looked up in horror. Shawn closed his eyes and mentally cursed at himself. "Poor word choice," he admitted. "I won't let him hurt you."

"But what if he hurts you?" Daniel's lip started to tremble. "Or what if you leave like Ria?"

"Hey, hey, Daniel, it's alright," Shawn cooed. He got out of his seat and moved towards Daniel's chair. He kneeled in front of the kid and looked him in the eye. "I want you to listen carefully, okay? Ria didn't leave by choice. She would have preferred to stay with you, always and forever, and she's fighting very hard to be given that opportunity, okay?" Daniel sniffled and tried hard to keep the tears at bay, but he managed to nod his head. "Good. Secondly, I've got the police helping me, okay? They know as much as I do and they're working hard to catch the bad man before he can get close to us, okay? Meanwhile I will do everything I can to keep you safe. I won't be hurt and I won't leave. Got it?"

"You promise?"Daniel held out his pinkie.

"Of course," Shawn said without missing a beat and wrapping his pinkie around the kid's. Daniel moved forward out of his chair and jumped onto the psychic, wrapping his arms around his neck. Shawn returned the hug instantly, and they stayed like that for a couple minutes. Daniel was the one to break the hug. He pulled apart and looked at Shwn with a small smile forming.

"Can we watch Star Wars?" he asked.

"You wanna watch Star Wars?" Shawn asked excitedly. "I thought you'd never ask! Why don't you go pick up the DVD? Do you know where it is?"

"Yeah, Ria keeps it in her room. She tries to hide it from me so I don't watch it too many times. She doesn't know I know where it is," Daniel smiled and ran off to get it. Shawn laughed as he watched the kid take off, glad that for the most part the sadness was over

Daniel returned, holding the DVD in his hand. He gave it to Shawn and he set up the TV. The main screen for the movie appeared and Shawn was about to push play, but Daniel had another thought in mind.

"When's Ria coming back?" he asked. "Can we go get her something? She likes flowers, the yellow kinds."

"I'm not sure when she'll get back," Shawn admitted. "and we can get some flowers when we go to pick her up, but for now we'll have to stay at home."

"Why?"

"Because it's not safe to go out yet."

"When will it be safe?"

"When I get a phone call. Then we'll have to go to the police station and you'll have to talk to some very nice detectives."

Daniel froze. "I don't want to," he said.

Shawn looked him over. He was still scared of the cops then. "They're my friends," Shawn told him gently. "They're not going to hurt you, they're not even going to raise their voice at you. You've done nothing wrong, but they will want to talk to you."

"But I don't want to talk to them."

"You'll have to."

"But Shawn – "

"It's the easiest way. Look, Daniel, don't you trust me? These guys are my friends. In fact, I promise you will talk to my very good friend Juliet O'Hara. She's a lovely lady who's been helping me out these past couple days." Shawn actively avoided mentioning the fact that she was the one who arrested Ria yesterday. That would just cause mistrust. "She's very kind and I like her a lot, you can trust her. But, if you're still scared, I promise either me or Ria will be by your side the whole time. Is that fair?"

Daniel looked as if he were debating his options for a while. "And then it'll be over? Then Ria and I can go home?"

"I can't promise anything," Shawn admitted. "But that's the idea."

"Okay," Daniel agreed in a quiet voice. "Only if you or Ria are there with me."

"Sounds like a deal," Shawn assured him. "Now, why don't we watch some Star Wars?"

So Shawn pushed play, and they watched the movie together. Daniel enjoyd every second of it, laughing loudly in all the right places and admiring the battle and space scenes. More than once, Daniel demanded he paused the movie while he ran off to the bathroom. He'd return running into the room and jump onto the couch, only then allowing the movie to played again. By the time they finished the movie, it was already dark out and all of the lights in the house were still off. Shawn looked at the time and saw it was only twenty minutes past five. He sighed and rolled his eyes, the winter times were really messing with his head. It felt much later.

"Can we watch the next one?" Daniel asked excitedly jumping up and down on the couch.

"The next one?" Shawn asked incredulously. "The credits are still rolling!"

"So, you can just skip it."

"Those poor people who worked so hard on the movie. You want to skip the part where they get recognition?"

Daniel cocked his head to the side. "Huh?"

"A lot of people's hard work go into movies like this. Their names at the end are the only recognition they get, and you're just going to skip through it?" Shawn, of course, was just teasing Daniel. He never meant for the kid to actually feel bad.

"Oh… I'm sorry, we'll watch it." and he sat right back down onto the couch, fully intent to watch all if it.

Shawn chuckled to himself. "You're so silly," he said. "We don't have to watch the credits."

"We don't?" Daniel asked excitedly. He jumped off the couch. "I'll go get the next movie then!" and he ran past Shawn towards Maria's bedroom.

"Hey, wait!" Shawn took off running after him, letting the sounds of Daniel's laughter ring out. Shawn caught up to the kid and grabbed him with both hands, picking him up off the ground. "Gotcha!"

Their fun was immediately cut short when they heard a window break. Daniel stopped laughing and Shawn froze in his spot, the kid still held in his arms. They could do nothing but stand still and be quiet. The Star Wars credits music was playing in the living room, but they could still make out the sounds of the front door being opened. The smallest of whimpers escaped Daniel's mouth, and so he made a move to cover his mouth. Shawn held Daniel so the kids back was against his chest. One arm wrapped around Daniel's torso holding him in place, while the other covered his mouth. They listened intently to what was happening.

The intruder had entered the small house, his shoes making loud noises with every slow step he took. He paused for a moment, and Shawn could basically imagine him looking into the living room to see if there was someone there watching TV. Once the intruder was sure there was no figure in the living room, he began to walk again. Shawn breathed the smallest sigh of relief when he realised the footsteps were going further away from him. A light turned on and Shawn was thankful for the wall blocking him and Daniel from the intruder's view. The light was close by, so Shawn assumed the intruder was going to the garage. He heard the door open, and for a moment the footsteps were gone. They heard clattering around for a couple seconds, then the footsteps returned.

Another light was flipped on. The one above Shawn's head didn't turn on, but the lights behind the wall shone brighter. The living room lights were turned on. The footsteps moved down the house towards the living room. Shawn snuck closer to the front door, still holding Daniel and still making sure he was obscured by the wall. Another light flipped on, the kitchen light that time. Shawn dared to peak out from behind the wall and noticed a large man in the living room moving towards kitchen. Shawn looked straight ahead towards the garage and noticed the intruder had left the door open. He knew that after searching the kitchen, the intruder would make his way towards the bedrooms. That meant he'd go towards the front door and meet Shawn in the hallway. So, Shawn really only had one choice in order to stay safe.

When the intruder's figure was fully hidden within the kitchen, Shawn moved quickly and quietly towards the garage. He dove into the room and hid so that he was out of view. Just as they settled, Shawn could hear the footsteps move out of the kitchen and move closer towards them. The footsteps started crunching on glass, and Shawn could only assume he was close to the front door. The intruder paused and flipped another light switch. The hallway outside the bedrooms must have turned on, and he could hear the footsteps move away from him. He was almost done searching the whole house, would he make second rounds? Shawn didn't have the time to take a chance.

Shawn looked around the garage, desperately trying to come up with a plan. His eyes quickly landed on his bike. He debated for a second, but quickly decided he had no choice. He hadn't brought Maria's car in the garage, plus a movie was playing, so the intruder knew someone was home. They'd have to make a quick break for it. Shawn moved towards his bike and placed Daniel sitting on the back of it.

"Don't make a sound," Shawn whispered to him. "Don't move, just sit here and wait for me to come back." Daniel managed a small nod, and Shawn moved back towards the garage door.

He peaked his head out of the door, the intruder was nowhere to be seen. He could make out that the light in the hallway and the guest room was on, but that was it. He had to assume that that was where the intruder was. Shawn's heart pounded quickly and strongly, he was terrified, but he needed to get into the living room. His bike keys and helmets were in there. So, he carefully snuck out of the garage. He did as his father had taught him, walking on the ball of his feet. He had already been in the house long enough to know which floorboards creaked and he made every effort to avoid them.

Soon enough, he was in the living room. He found his keys easily enough on the coffee table and one of his helmets on the bookshelf. He picked up both of them and quickly looked around the rest of the room. For the life of him, he couldn't see where the other helmet was. Then it dawned on him, he was wearing it the day before. When he walked in, he left it in his room. Shawn didn't have the time nor the ability to get it. He pursed his lips together, figuring he'd have to drive recklessly again. He'd have to, he needed to save Daniel. So Shawn started to make his way towards the garage again.

The footprints sounded off again. Shawn froze in place. The footprints made their way out of the guest room, turned left, and went further down the hallway. He was making his way toward Maria's room. Shawn was running out of time.

He moved quickly to the garage, careful again to avoid every creaky board and making as little sound as possible. He was at the door and noticed the key sticking out of it. He pulled it out, walked into the garage, slowly and quietly closing the door behind him. He quietly place the key inside and locked the door. He move towards Daniel, who hadn't moved an inch. He was pale as a ghost, his eyes wide with horror and his jaw hanging loose. Shawn placed his one helmet on the kid and tightened it as far as it would go. He put his bike key into ignition, but didn't turn it. He walked back towards the door, where the switch for the garage gate was. He took in a deep breath and pushed the button.

The garage gate moved into gear loudly and slowly slid up the wall. Shawn could barely hear the intruder running through the house, making his way to the garage. The psychic ignored him and ran instead to his bike. He turned his key and his bike roared to life. The door to the garage started shaking as the intruder was now pounding on the door, trying to break it open. Shawn demanded for Daniel to hold on to him tightly, and the kid did as told. Most of his breath was squeezed out of him by the kid, but he chose to ignore it. He had to wait for the garage gate to open enough for him to make his escape.

The door to the garage burst open. Edward Lynne stood in the frame. Shawn accelerated the bike at all force. The tires burnt rubber on the garage floor but finally lurched forward, Shawn only just reacted in time to duck under the gate as it opened. Edward took off after them, sprinting in vain hope to catch up. As the bike pulled away from the house, Shawn could only just make out the dark blue Ford parked in the driveway, blocking Maria's car's exit. Edward seemed to have remembered it too as he gave up sprinting and turned back to his car.

That was the last look Shawn dared to give himself. He drove at a high speed through the streets. He didn't know if he was being followed, but that didn't stop him driving. The wind tore through his very few layers and burned his eyes, but he ignored the cold and forced his eyes to stay open. He didn't have time to worry about all that. He to needed get away.


Shawn had been driving his bike for what must have been twenty minutes. It was dark out and though the street lights were on, he couldn't see very well behind him. He had no idea how far away Edward Lynne was, but he did know he couldn't just keep driving for the rest of the night. He needed a safe place, and that was when he remembered the promise he made Juliet. Daniel was now in danger, that much was certain, and the safest place for him would be with the police. So Shawn pulled over on the side of the road. They were only ten minutes away from the Psych office. Remembering his additional promise to Daniel, Shawn decided to call Juliet to have her meet him there.

Shawn pulled out his phone, happy to have always kept it in his back pocket, and dialled the detectives number. Juliet picked up the phone after a single ring.

'This better be important, we are very busy right now,' was her greeting.

"Jules, I need you to meet me at the Psych office now," the urgency was clear in his voice and Shawn wasn't at all ashamed of it. In fact, he was thankful. Maybe that would get her to take him seriously immediately.

'Shawn… what happened?' she asked

"I'm being followed, it's getting dangerous."

'Okay… does it have to be now? Can't you meet at the station, you'll be safe there? We're just on the way back from Larry Cook's house, Edward Lynne's alibi has shattered completely. We're just on our way to Richard Brooke's office, like you told us – "

"Jules, there's no time. The station is too far away, I need you to meet me now."

'Even if we put the sirens on it'll take us time –'

"Shawn, the Bad Man…" Daniel interrupted. Shawn turned around and looked where Daniel was pointing. Sure enough, a dark blue Ford was very quickly making their way towards them.

'Shawn? Was that Daniel?!' Now Juliet's voice sounded urgent.

"Remember my promise? About Daniel being in danger?" Shawn asked her. "Psych office, now Jules!" Shawn hung up and shoved his phone into his back pocket, and yet again they took off.


They arrived at the Psych office ten minutes later. Shawn jumped off his bike and picked Daniel up out of his seat. He ran towards the front door, not bothering to turn off his bike's ignition and not caring when he heard it fall over. He unlocked the door, pushed it open with his free hand, and moved inside. He placed Daniel on the floor and undid his helmet.

"Hide in the closet," Shawn ordered. "Don't come out until I say it's safe." Daniel nodded and ran off. Shawn turned towards the front door again and locked it. He then ran to the back door and double checked that it was locked too. He then quickly ran to the windows and opened the blinds, planning for the worst. Should Edward arrive and try to attack Shawn, he wanted pretty much anybody to act as a witness. The next step was to call Juliet using the office phone. That way, should he suddenly go missing, they knew where he last was. So Shawn snatched the phone on his desk and dialed Juliet's number.

The front door started shaking. Shawn looked up at the door, his heart was racing. He needed Juliet to pick up. Shawn heard the tone on the other end of the phone. Juliet's phone was in use, he could only leave a message. The front door burst open and Shawn dropped the phone in shock. Edward Lynne was there. Shawn had nowhere to run.

Edward stared at the psychic, almost surprised that he wasn't trying to run away. He smirked and walked threateningly towards Shawn. His eyes had lit up just a little; he was actually enjoying this. He enjoyed playing the role of the predator, he enjoyed watching the fear in his prey's eyes. He enjoyed hurting people, and that truly terrified Shawn. He could only stand frozen in fear trying to stop his heart from coming up his throat

"Where is he?" Edward demanded.

The aggressive question reminded Shawn about the young kid. Daniel was in the closet right behind him. No matter what happened in this office, Shawn knew he wouldn't allow Daniel to be a witness to it. Not again. The psychic forced his legs to move and he walked away from the closet, closer towards the kitchen of the office. Once he was sure he was out of view from the closet, Shawn turned to face Edward and put on a falsely confident smile.

"Where's who?" Shawn asked, and he was genuinely impressed at how steady his voice sounded.

Edward's smile dropped and his eyes turned dark. In one swift moment, his arm flew through the air and his very big fist made contact with Shawn's nose. The force of the blow knocked Shawn back and he grabbed hold of the counter behind him to steady himself with one hand. He held his nose with his other hand. He let go of it and looked down at his hand which was now covered in blood.

"Where's my son?!" Edward demanded.

"I don't know who you're talking about," Shawn said stubbornly.

Edward swung his arm again, the left one this time. Shawn was hit in the eye and he stumbled backwards again. Edward didn't stop there, he shoved the psychic backwards where his head smacked against the wall. His attacker place one hand on Shawn's chest, holding him in place. He pressed his forearm of his free arm against Shawn's throat, immediately cutting off his air. Shawn started chocking, gasping for any air. His hands flew to the constricting arm and scratched and pulled at it in vain. Edward leaned in close, seemingly amused at the psychic's futile efforts

"Where is Daniel?" Edward hissed at him.

"He's gone," Shawn rasped out, struggling to get a breath in. "I told him to run," he inhaled what little breath he could, "and he did." Edward pushed harder against his throat and Shawn struggled more. His vision slowly started to blur, he could see black spots forming. He pulled at the arm harder, but he was just so weak. His eyes were starting to close when suddenly Edward let go. Shawn inhaled deeply and steadied himself by placing a hand on the counter which was still by his side. He started coughing violently and his throat felt like it was on fire, but he was very aware that he was still extremely vulnerable. He knew he was at Edward's mercy, and that was not a good thing.

"You really don't know where he is," Edward said.

"No," Shawn croaked.

Edward let out a single laugh in amusement. He grabbed the collar of Shawn's shirt with one hand and pulled him close. He leaned in close and whispered in the psychic's ear, "Then you're useless to me."

Shawn was vaguely aware that Edward was reaching behind his back and grabbed hold of something. Every voice of reason told Shawn that he needed to get away, he needed to do something and do it quickly. But he was so tired and his mind was working so slowly. Edward's free hand flew forward and suddenly, a sharp pain erupted in Shawn's neck. He gasped in shock at the pain, but could do nothing else.

Edward still had a hold on Shawn but he leaned back so as to make eye contact. He had a sickening smile on his face and seemed immensely proud of himself. Shawn finally dared to shift his gaze to his left. He couldn't see the knife, but he could just make out Edward's hand and could leave the rest up to logical deduction. He had been stabbed in the neck, just like Daniel's parents. Shawn looked back up at his attacker. He still had a smile on his face, he was enjoying the psychic's suffering. He suddenly pulled the knife out and let go of his victim before moving to the side. Shawn tried to stay on his feet, holding himself on the counter in his last act of defiance. But immediately the room started to spin, his legs became weak, and all he wanted to do was collapse. So he did.

Shawn lay on the floor bleeding out fast. If he didn't get help soon, he was sure to die. Edward stepped over him and made his way to the front door. Shawn could do nothing but watch as the man walked out and shut the door behind him.

It's funny how when a man is a at the brink of death, all the little things that wouldn't usually matter seem to be the most important things in the world. For example, as Shawn lay there on his floor, pain filling every fibre of his being and blood pouring out onto the office floor, all he could think about was how mad Gus would be to come back and find an unlocked door and a bloodstained floor. He would grumble on and on about never getting their deposit back and there would be no one there to reason with him that everything was going to be fine. Of course, Gus already wasn't too happy with Shawn, so the mess he left behind probably would just make matters worse and perhaps it would be for the best if Shawn wasn't there to reason with him. And actually, the more Shawn thought about it, the more he was dawned with a horrible realisation. He was leaving things in a horrible place with everyone he cared about. His last conversation with his father was an argument, his last conversation with Jules had ended abruptly and with her annoyed at him, and of course Lassiter probably hated him now more than ever. Perhaps it was only right things ended this way, then. Perhaps it would be best if he couldn't make any more stupid decisions.

Shawn lay there on the floor, too weak to even make a sound. All he could do was hope that someone would come soon, though he knew that all odds pointed to him dying. Shawn suddenly found he was okay with this. Though he may not have left things on the highest note with the people he loved, one thing was certain. Edward had left. Daniel was safe.

Edward had left. Daniel was safe.