Only the Curious Have Something to Find

Note: WOOHOO!! My life is fantastic right now, guys! I did well on the SATs, I finished my confirmation classes, I've lost 20 lbs(!!!), and my birthday is next week! SWEET! Life is awesome! –does happy dance–

Anyway, enjoy!!!

--

The week progressed as slowly as humanly possible, it seemed to Shawn. Every moment of every day dragged on so horrifically slow he wanted to cry – well, except lunch, of course. Lunch zipped by faster than lightning.

Lassiter has started to really loosen up by Wednesday. He would contribute to all the conversations and even laugh every now and then. Every time he smiled Shaw could feel his heart stop for a few beats. The two had gotten pretty comfortable with each other, really. They were able to talk to each other without being completely and utterly awkward, even more so when Juliet and Gus weren't there. It puzzled Shawn still, but maybe Lassiter just didn't like an audience. Shawn especially relaxed, he was pretty much his normal self with Lassiter…for the most part anyway.

Gus and Juliet had gotten pretty close, as well. Gus wore a little bit of orange each day just for her. He even picked her an orange flower during lunch one day, Shawn almost gagged but Juliet was touched.

The four of them were becoming a little group of their own, they had even hung out after school on Thursday. Shawn was feeling so giddy about how close they were getting that any time he opened his locker and saw his brown bag lunch he'd smile. I'm getting rather pathetic, he thought jokingly to himself.

Finally, Friday had come along and Shawn could barely control himself. Tomorrow! He kept screaming in his head. He must have been pretty manic looking with his wide smile because at one point Gus threw him a look that said Tone it down, would you? After that Shawn managed to keep a calm exterior, but on the inside the circus was in town.

When the hour came, the four were munching on their lunches, discussing Shawn's latest drawing for his and Lassiter's class.

"It looks like a monkey." Juliet said as she squinted at the paper.

"It looks more like an airplane." Gus said.

"Its abstract art." Shawn said in mock defense as he pulled the sheet from Juliet. "It's supposed to be whatever you want…and besides, it's clearly a pineapple." Lassiter smirked, a small laugh rumbling from deep within his throat. Shawn smiled widely at the older teen, and opened his mouth to say something when there was a loud cry.

"Shawn!" He turned to see Jason Paul and Allison Digby, two juniors that Gus and Shawn were friendly with, walking towards them. "Hey guys!" The two waved at the four. "Shawn, can you help us for a second?"

"Yeah, we're taking pictures for our photography class and no one at our table is brave enough to climb the tree over there, and we just want a shot of someone in the leaves." Allison over-explained.

Shawn nodded, grinning at his friends. "Sure, no problem. I was born to climb trees."

"Yea, and fall out of them." Gus added. All but Shawn laughed, he merely pushed Gus so he nearly fell from the table, before he ran off to the tree, Jason and Allison trailing behind him.

"Moron." Gus mumbled as he regained his balance with Juliet's help. The dark teen readjusted himself and turned to Lassiter, who was watching Shawn as he began to climb the tree, a ghost of a smile on his lips. "Lassiter."

The older teen turned, looking at Gus with raised eyebrows. "Hmm?"

"We need to talk."

"Uh-oh, Carlton. Sounds like Gus wants to break up with you." Juliet joked, surprising the other two.

Gus shook the smirk from his lips and got serious. "Seriously, Lassiter. I need to talk to you about something."

"About what?"

Gus turned to Shawn, the other two following his gaze, as he nearly fell from the tree, managing to hang from a thick branch so he didn't crash to the ground. "Shawn."

Lassiter furrowed his brow, looking ever so slightly concerned, "Why? What's wrong with Shawn?"

"Besides everything? Nothing. At least, there better not be. Look, I'm just gonna give you a simple warning. Shawn likes you a lot. And when he's that into anything he puts his who self into it and you have no idea how crushed he can get." Gus sat forward, leaning hard on the table. "He's been through a lot. He's been hurt a lot. And I've always been there to pick up the pieces, so I know first hand how bad he can get. And I swear to God, if this ends badly and you hurt him?" He got right in Lassiter's face, a menacing look in his eye. "You will be so torn apart that there won't be anything left for anyone to find - not even the professionally trained search dogs. Got it?" Lassiter, with wide, shocked eyes, nodded numbly as Juliet pressed her hand to her lips, looking both shocked and like she wanted to laugh. "Good," Gus said brightly, leaning back, "Then we understand each other!" This was a Gus they had never seen.

"Hey guys!" Shawn ran up, panting. He leaned on the table, his face a little flushed. "I don't think climbing a tree with a healing wrist was the best idea." He clutched his left hand to his chest.

"Oh Christ, Shawn. Did you hurt yourself worse?"

"I might have." Shawn grinned. "But just my wrist."

Gus shook his head, "Come on, I'll take you to the nurse and she can tell you. See you Juliet…Lassiter."

Shawn waved excitedly with his right hand as Gus pulled him towards the building. "I was thinking that was a bad idea." Lassiter said shaking his head, before turning to Juliet who was openly laughing now. "What?"

"Your face…" She gasped, "Oh my god, you were so scared!"

Lassiter blushed deeply, "No I wasn't! I was just surprised!"

"No way…" She gasped out, "You were about to pee your pants!"

--

Lassiter mindlessly sketched, having finished his project for the week already. He looked down to see he'd drawn Shawn. He blinked at the paper, Gus's words floating in his head. "Shawn likes you a lot. And when he's that into anything he puts his who self into it…" Lassiter smiled at that. Gus made it sound like Shawn saw Lassiter as his reason for living. Obviously that was an exaggeration, but to think Shawn thought so highly of him…Lassiter couldn't help but smile. "He's been through a lot. He's been hurt a lot." Lassiter bit his lip at that part. He knew about Shawn's mom. He couldn't imagine living with that. He'd even heard a rumor that Shawn had been the one who'd found his mom dead. God, he just had this urge to protect Shawn from everything and he had never felt that way about anyone before. Well sure, for Juliet, whom he saw as a little sister, but never this strongly. Never like this.

The door to the art room opened and Lassiter looked up. Shawn walked in with the wrist brace back on, which he hadn't worn since Tuesday despite Gus's reprimands. The senior quickly hid his drawing by flipping to the next page in his sketchbook.

"Mr. Spencer, nice of you to join us. How was the trip to the nurse?"

"Fantastic! Did you know that Ms. Latcher's first name is actually Riley and not Rachel like everyone thinks?" Their teacher, Mr. Matthews smirked and shook his head, before turning back to the student he'd been helping.

Shawn trotted over and sat down next to Lassiter. "Hey, man." He greeted with a bright smile.

"Hey, Shawn. What happened? You make it worse?"

"Nah. She said I just bruised it. But she said it'll be fine, but that I need to keep wearing the brace." He frowned, obviously unhappy about it.

Lassiter smiled, lightly patting the hurt wrist. "It'll be fine." Shawn smiled, a bright, excited look in his eye. Had they been sitting like this three days ago they would have shrunken away from each other nervously, but in just a few days they'd gotten much more comfortable with each other.

"So, uh, you excited for tomorrow?" Well, the nervousness wasn't completely gone.

"Very." Shawn responded, smiling wider, "Are you?" He sounded a little more timid when he asked that.

Lassiter smiled, calming Shawn's fears. "Very."

--

"Hey, Shawn!" Henry called you his boy, who had just walked through the door from school.

"Hey, Dad." Shawn answered, dropping his backpack and making his way to the kitchen. "What's up?"

"Not much…hey, would you gut that fish for me? Hastings is trying to impress his newest girlfriend with a home cooked meal."

"Does it count when you cook the meal and not him?"

"It does when she doesn't know about it." Henry laughed. Shawn stepped forward, and took the long knife and began cutting up the fish, a smirk on his face. "So, you have a date tomorrow, huh?"

"Yup…"

"Is it another code teal?" Henry snickered, Shawn threateningly held up the knife he was holding and the cop began to laugh. "All right…all right. I get it." He shook his head, laughing, before asking. "So…are you excited?" Shawn bit his lip, before nodding. "Nervous?" Shawn nodded without hesitation, "Don't be. I can tell that boy really likes you. You don't have much to worry about."

Shawn smiled, and without looking up at his dad he said quietly, "Thanks, dad." Henry just smiled fondly.

Shawn opened his mouth to say something to his dad, but when he looked up he didn't see his dad. Hell, he didn't even see his kitchen.

He was in the Peterson's house, they lived in the house behind his. They were a nice family, Shawn babysat the kids whenever they needed a babysitter. The kids loved him, and he loved them too. But he wasn't in the house babysitting. He was in their kitchen, he could see the four (Angela the mother, Brent the father, Abby the four year old and Tetra the one year old) all sitting in the living room from where he was in the doorway. He glanced to his left to see the oven, cupcakes baking inside. Shawn's eyes widened as a spark from the old light above it went off and the gas oven literally exploded.

"Huhnhh!" Shawn blinked, horrified, as he sliced deep into his right palm with the knife.

"Shawn!" Henry grabbed a dishtowel and quickly pressed it to Shawn's palm, tying it tightly around his hand. "What are you-?" Henry stopped at the look on his son's face. "Shawn? Shawn!"

"The Peterson's house is on fire!"

"What?" Henry followed his son's line of vision out the window. They looked across their back yard and to the Peterson's yellow house. They could see a TV going through the window to the farthest left of the house. They watched, horrified, as a bright flash lit up the room to the farthest right.

Without speaking the two ran out their back door and into the back yard. They jumped over the four-foot high wife fence like Olympic track stars and into the Peterson's back yard. "Get the kids out, Shawn." Henry ordered as they threw open the Peterson's unlocked back door, "I'll get Angela and Brent out." Shawn nodded and ran into the living room.

"Uncle Shawn?" Abby asked, confused, as she looked from the kitchen to Shawn "What're you doin' here? What're mommy and daddy doing?"

"Abby, your mommy and daddy are with my daddy, ok? They're fine but they'll be mad if you don't come with me, ok?" Shawn said quickly, as he carefully lifted Tetra from her playpen.

"Mad? Why?"

"You remember when the firemen came to your school?" He asked quickly, ushering the girl out the door, who nodded. "Well, you know how he said you need to get out if your house is on fire?"

Abby's eyes widened. "There's a fire?!"

"Not a big one, don't worry. You just need to stay out here, ok?" Shawn asked as they stopped by the wire fence. Abby nodded. Tetra began to fuss in Shawn's arms, he quickly bounced her, trying to comfort her, as he looked anxiously at the house, wondering where his father was. It was then that he saw Angela running out the door.

"Mommy!" Abby cried, running for her mother. Angela quickly picked up her pace and ran for her daughter.

"Oh my god, baby! You're ok!" She sobbed. "Shawn. How—how did you-?"

"Where's Brent? My dad?" He quickly asked, as he handed Angela her daughter.

"They're inside, but-Shawn!"

Shawn was already running at full speed towards the house. For good measure he grabbed the hose for the pool which was sitting coiled by the door. He turned it on, the switch at the end of the hose off, and ran into the house. He found he father and Brent trying hard as they could to put out the fire with an almost empty extinguisher and the sink hose. Shawn would have laughed if the situation weren't so dire. Flipping the metal handle at the end of the hose it sprang to life, shooting water out its spout and towards the fire.

"Shawn!" Henry barked, "What are you doing inside?"

"Thought you might need some help." Shawn yelled, coughing a bit. "Looks like I was right!" The three stood there for about a minute more before the fire was finally put out. They stood panting for a second before they staggered out of the house.

"Brent!" Angela screamed, clutching her husband tightly when he made his way to her.

"We're fine, sweetie, don't worry. We're fine…I—I just-how did you get here so fast?" Brent asked, turning to the Spencers.

"We—we saw the fire out our back window and thought you might need help."

"Thankfully it was a small fire." Henry nodded, glancing at his son, who was straightening up from having been coughing. "Nothing was too damaged. But you'll want to call your insurance agency about smoke damage…"

"And you might want a new oven." Shawn added, smiling slightly. Angela, with nothing better to do, burst out laughing, hugging her children tightly as tears streamed down her face.

Shawn bent over, coughing more. Henry slapped his son's back, coughing himself. Sirens roared near by, pulling up to the Peterson's house. "Aww crap." Shawn moaned.

"What?" Henry asked, turning to his son.

"I'm not gonna get any sleep for my date tomorrow!"

--

Henry and Shawn are heroes! Woohoo!! And anyway, I'm sorry. I was gonna make their date this chapter but I needed that first scene and then it just didn't seem right. So it'll be next chapter...unless I change my mind again...hehheh! Anyway, its either gonna be the next chapter or the one after that. But most likely next chapter.

Thanks for reading guys! Until next time!

-claire