A/N: Alright, so... Here's the next chapter. Thank you to my reviewers, and to those of you who don't review... Bad bad bad readers... : P
He'd been so careful. So gentle.
But somehow, Shawn had known.
And Gus wasn't prepared for the gun.
All he'd tried to do was carefully –oh so very carefully, as to avoid waking his best friend –lift Shawn's shirt up. Why, he wasn't exactly sure. Had he really wanted to see more of the scars?
But he'd tried.
And the second his hand had touched Shawn's shirt, the brunette man had come alive. Flipping over to his back faster than Gus could see, slamming his fist into his head, and knocking him backwards before Gus could even process what was going on.
But he could see the gun. He wasn't sure where Shawn had pulled it from –maybe underneath his pillow, or the sleeping bag –but he was almost sure that Shawn intended to shoot him.
Even if he didn't mean to shoot his best friend, his breathing was so ragged… his hands quivering… His eyes wide and wild… it'd be a miracle if Shawn didn't shoot him on accident.
"Shawn… Shawn, it's me. Gus. I was just… I just wanted to touch you, and… make sure this wasn't all a dream," Gus lied, keeping his voice calm and level.
The gun wavered, and Shawn's eyes slowly came into focus, right before he lowered the gun.
"Gus? What the hell were you thinking?"
Shawn tried to level out his breathing. Hell, tried to remember how to breathe.
It had been an instinctual response. He'd felt the hands on his back, and his body had reacted all on its own. No input required. He wasn't even really aware of what was going on –other than the blinding fear –until Gus spoke.
"Shawn… Shawn, it's me. Gus. I was just… I just wanted to touch you, and… make sure this wasn't all a dream."
Slowly, Shawn lowered the gun, still shaking in fear.
"Gus? What the hell were you thinking?" He demanded, shoving the gun back under his sleeping bag. "I could have killed you!" Shawn scrubbed his hands over his face, still trying to catch up with his body's reactions.
"Well… I definitely wasn't thinking you'd pull a gun on me, that's for sure," Gus said, his voice deceptively casual. "Didn't even know you had a gun to be honest."
Shawn took a deep breath, shoving the last of his mind-numbing terror out of his body with the breath, and ran one hand through his hair.
"It's uh… just something I picked up while I was on the road, you know? Just wanted something to keep the crazies at bay. It's dangerous out there on the road you know."
He had tried to put a laugh in there. Maybe some sort of accent. He wasn't exactly sure. All he knew was whatever he'd tried, it'd failed miserably. He'd wanted to pass it off as a joke.
But it'd failed. It'd come off as way, way too real. Which it was unfortunately, but Gus couldn't know that. Gus couldn't know anything about what had happened.
"Shawn, what's going on?" Gus asked softly. "What happened while you were gone?"
Shawn forced a chuckle. "That's a lot of time to cover, Gus… I was gone for almost seven and a half years. I did a lot of things; a lot of things happened. I went to Disney World, and the Grand Canyon, Sea World, Yosemite, uh…" Shawn trailed off, trying to pull names of famous destinations, but he was drawing a blank.
He hadn't really seen any of them, of course. Well, he'd seen the Grand Canyon as a kid with his dad, but that had been it.
"Bull, Shawn. I don't think you seen any of 'em. Where were you?"
"I already told you, Gus… Little bit of everywhere. Look, it's… it's late, can we pick this up tomorrow? I had a long day, and I'm tired, Gus. I just wanna get to sleep."
Gus pursed his lips. "Alright. Yeah. We can pick it up tomorrow. How 'bout right after we pick your mother up from the airport? That work for you?"
Shawn could feel his heart rate speed up, and a few moments later, he felt the low jolt from his pacemaker kicking in, trying to regulate his heartbeat.
"You… you called my mom?" He demanded, fighting to try and slow his heartbeat down.
"Yeah, I… Shawn?"
Shawn let out a small yelp, and clutched at his chest as he felt a larger volt shock him.
"Gus… Gus, I… pills… in the… backpack," He wheezed. "Bag… with… clothes." He tried the vagal maneuvers Dr. Alvarez had taught him, coughing, and panting, which wasn't terribly hard to do, all things considered. Especially with the damn pacemaker shocking him every ten or fifteen seconds.
He followed Gus's movement, watching as his best friend ripped through his bags, scattering his other pill bottles on the floor, until he found his Rythmol.
"How many, Shawn?" He asked calmly, although his frenzied movements to get back to Shawn belied the casual exterior.
"Two," Shawn wheezed, watching as Gus opened the bottle and handed him two of the large white tablets. He threw them back, swallowing as quickly as possible, grimacing at the bitter taste, as he washed them down with some of leftover soda.
After a tense minute or so, he could feel his heart rate start to slow down, and breathing gradually became easier and easier. After another minute, he grinned at Gus, who was staring at him nervously.
"Aren't I just the life of the party, huh?"
Gus eyeballed him dangerously. "Don't try and laugh this off, Shawn," He warned. "I thought you said you were fine; that your tachycardia was under control! That's not under control, Shawn!"
Shawn shrugged. "It is… For the most part," He added, seeing Gus's look darken.
"And what about the rest of these?" Gus asked sarcastically, grabbing the other bottles, and glancing at them. "Vicoden, Axert… Ceptaz? Shawn, this is a level three antibiotic! What the hell is this for? What the hell is goin' on with you? And those scars on your back?" At Shawn's deer in the headlight look, Gus continued, "Yeah. I saw 'em, Shawn. What the hell happened to you?"
Shawn hesitated for a moment, before sighing. "Look, it doesn't matter, alright? I'm fi –"
"Don't even say you're fine, Shawn! You just had a damn heart attack! You're on one of the most powerful antibiotics on the market! Your damn back is covered in whipping scars! The last thing you are is fine!"
"For starters… That wasn't a heart attack. That was a… very mild, heart-beating-too-fast episode."
"Shawn, stop it! I'm your best friend!"
"Look, Gus, I'm fine, alright! Hell, it's almost four in the morning! Let's just… let's just wrap it up for the night, alright? We'll talk more tomorrow. I think we both could use a good night's sleep."
"You expect me to sleep after that?"
Shawn's dark eyes flashed, and instantly, Gus started having a déjà vu moment. Anger contorted Shawn's face…
But only for the briefest second, and the weary, tired look returned.
"Look, Gus… My meds make me sleepy, alright? I just… I really am tired. And I really don't need another episode right now. Can we please just… let it go for now?"
"And what am I supposed to tell your mother tomorrow, huh?"
"Absolutely nothing," Shawn said, a yawn interrupting him midway through, as he laid back down on his sleeping bag. "The less she knows –"Another yawn " –the better."
"Shawn –"
He knew Gus was still talking. And even though he knew it was nothing he wanted to hear, he did try to make himself focus on whatever it was. But between the meds, and the adrenaline, and the long bike ride, he just couldn't do it.
"Shhh…" He mumbled, as his eyes slowly closed, and he slipped into sleep.