Guiding Light

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Summary: Shawn Farrel has a gift, but all gifts come at a price. Or maybe this is just a down side to his gift. There's only one way to find out.

A/n: Okay, I've attempted to form some sort of ritual to updating this story. I am currently writing two other stories and it will be "circular updating." Which ever one was last updated out of the three will be the next one updated.

Disclaimer: The 4400 belongs to USA… and Carter belongs to the OC… even though this has nothing to do with Carter…

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"Two Families"

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Jordan didn't exactly know what to say, where to start. He was still under the scrutinizing glares of Kyle and Tom. He didn't exactly want to go through what had happened because he knew that Tom was going to beat the living daylight out of him, and his son would be next in line to if they even got the hint that it was anything near his fault.

He could always lie. Lying was something he was amazingly good at. He could make up a story off the top of his head. "Fine." He said, somewhat coolly.

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"Okay, so we were just talking, me and Shawn, he's a great kid, did you know that? Great kid. But anyways, we were talking and he just had a spasm of an attack, I didn't know what was really happening."

Jordan was looking at Kyle as he talked. He wasn't sure if looking at Tom was the greatest idea. Unfortunately that was probably going to give away the fact that he was lying, but he just kept going with his lie.

"We tried to wake him up, he… he would wake up. He just stayed in this weird screwed up state. None of our doctors could do anything about it. That is why we had to come here…"

Jordan allowed the room to fall into silence. He could feel the two pairs of eyes on him. He was looking straight into Kyle's, but that didn't mean that Tom's eyes weren't on him.

"I don't believe you…" Kyle said, blinking a few times as if he was astonished at the fact that he said that.

More silence. Tom's grip on his son's shoulder visibly tightened.

"Why?" Tom asked.

"I… I don't know," Kyle stated honestly. "It just doesn't explain anything that is going on. It explains nothing, you know what I mean?"

Tom nodded; too bad his son couldn't see it. But Jordan could.

"I want the truth Jordan, and I want the truth now!" Tom said angrily, totally switching modes. This was getting more serious if something had happened that Jordan would want to cover up. Tom believed his son. Especially when it came to Shawn. Kyle and Shawn were more like brothers than Shawn and Danny at times.

"That is the truth Mr. Baldwin, whether you and your son want to believe it or not," Jordan said, back in his normal tone. "The boy just had an attack. I don't know how else to explain it…"

Tom sighed and looked up at the ceiling anxiously. His eyes wandered over to Shawn, stuck like Kyle for god knows how long. It was upsetting really.

"I… I gotta go do something. Jordan, get the hell out of here."

Jordan made no attempt at moving. "Don't make me call security Collier. I can put you back in quarantine."

Once again no movement from Jordan. It annoyed Tom to no end. "Do you know where Shawn has called home for the past year?" He said, "Who his new family has become? Shawn is more a part of my family than a part of your family. You're just afraid to admit it!"

Both Tom and Kyle were flabbergasted. They would have never expected something like that to come out of Collier's mouth. But the more Tom thought about it, the more he could see where Jordan was coming from. Shawn was one of the 4400, so was Collier, but that was no reason why he should be here.

"Look, I'm going to leave for five minutes, and I don't want anything happening while I am gone. Don't touch him, don't do anything."

"Are you--" Kyle asked.

"I have to!"

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Tom left the room and slammed his back against the wall. Why was this happening? It like wasn't believable. None of this was. After a few moments of taking deep breaths, he pulled out his cell phone.

He dialed the number that he had dialed so many times. He knew he was going to have to call Susan, but Diana would know better what was going on.

"Skouris," she answered the phone, as usual.

"Diana, this is Tom…" Tom said, walking out the door to the outside. The smell of cigarette smoke hit Tom like a train. Of course, people couldn't smoke in a hospital, so they went out side.

"You okay Tom, it sounds like something's wrong," Diana said on the other side of the phone. A bad feeling washed over Tom. Why had he called Diana?

'Yeah, it's just… there's a problem with one of the 4400," he said, trying to make it seem as if it wasn't personal.

"What?" Diana asked, now sounding a bit worried herself.

Tom took a few deep breaths. If it was this hard to talk to Diana, what would it be like trying to tell Susan?

"Tom, you can tell me…" Diana said.

"Shawn's in a coma," he blurted out. There it was out there.

"What?" Diana asked. Tom could tell by the tone of her voice that she didn't believe him.

"Kyle had one last appointment, just to make sure all those tests didn't screw up his brain, and we were walking through the hospital, and there was Shawn, with Collier. The nurse said that there must have been a trauma or something like that because it takes more than just an 'attack' as Collier put it, to put this kid in a coma."

"Whoa, calm down Tom, did you tell Susan?"

"No, I wanted to call you first."

"Oh," Diana said, not quite sure of what else to say. A few moments of silence elapsed between them before Diana spoke again. "Is Collier still there?"

"Yeah."

"Get him out of the room, if something did happen, I wouldn't be surprised if Collier was behind it."

"I tried, he refuses to leave."

"Call security."

"It wouldn't do any good. He… nevermind." Tom was at a loss for words.

"I'll be right over. What room number?"

"141, the…"

"Same room Kyle was in," Diana finished for him.

"Yeah," Tom said, almost silently.

"I'll be over soon, okay. Kyle's doing fine?"

Tom forced a chuckle. "I'm afraid he's gonna kill Collier if I don't get back in there soon."

Diana laughed. "Well, you go and save Collier. If what you're saying is true, I want him in perfect shape when he gets sent back to quarantine." With that she hung up.

Tom hung up as well. Now for the hard part. He took a few seconds to compose himself before dialing the all-to-familiar phone number of his sister. It rang quite a few times before Danny picked up.

"Hello?" he answered the phone.

"Danny?" Tom asked. "Is your mom home?"

"Uncle Tommy?" Danny asked.

"Yeah," Tom replied back.

"No, she's not home right now, what's up?"

"Well, it's kind of important that I talk to her, now."

"She should be home soon. Do you want me to tell her something?"

"No, just tell her to call me back, okay?"

"Sure. I'll have her call you then. Nice talkin' to ya Uncle Tommy," Danny said. Tom could hear the smile in his voice. He heard the click on the other end signifying that Danny had hung up the phone. He should have just told Danny, but Tom knew about the problems between Danny and Shawn. Telling Danny would have been out of the question.

Sighing, he put the phone back in his pocket and headed back in. This was going to be a long few hours.

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A/n: Okay, please tell me in your review if you want me to introduce our good friend Devon in on the fun… am I the only one catching the Devon/Shawn unrequited love vibes being sent from the writers? Probably… and Susan is Shawn's mother for those of you who don't remember.

Anna - thanks!

PentagonMerlin - I used to write really slow paced fics, and I can't do that anymore. Haha, but I'm trying to slow it down a little bit.

amy - Thanks… I think… haha! Heavier, eh?

Dani3 - Okey dokey!

sarahofearth - Shawn is waaaaay too hot to die, everyone knows it! Haha. Don't worry, Shawn probably won't die. Maybe he will. I really don't know…

LostAngel2 - There aren't many 4400 fics out there, are there? I'm glad you liked my lost stories (there probably won't be any until the new season, unless I have some major brain child!). Hopefully this story will go far… Hmmm… maybe I should make a 4400/Lost crossover… nope still working on the Lost/OC crossover… Hopefully this story will go far… Hmmm… maybe I should make a 4400/Lost crossover… nope still working on the Lost/OC crossover…

Kelly - Sorry about that. I typed it quickly and proofread it, but I can be slightly dyslexic at times… so I must have missed that. I will keep my eyes open for stuff like that…