Nightmare in Elm Street Hospital.

Hey, sorry it's been a while. This is the third version of this chapter and I'm still not totally happy. It's short too. This one's for EriKaBalDel, just because, and also for invisalite for all your constructive criticism, really helpful.


It had been a restless night for Shawn and Carlton. They'd both been plagued with nightmares of what might have been. Shawn had half woken at around four am, to find Lassiter standing over him, just reassuring himself that the younger man was alive.

Shawn's nightmare was as follows.

He was tied up. He couldn't move at all. He could hear Lassiter yelling and the sound of fists on flesh. Then he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up and there was Truman, grinning obscenely. His hands began to explore Shawn's body. He tried to get away, but he couldn't move. Truman started to unbutton Shawn's clothes. But he couldn't get away. Shawn looked away, as he felt the hands roaming all over him, and his saw Lassiter, being forced to watch by Randolf and Ellis.

"No. Please. This didn't happen. I know it didn't happen like this." He pleaded. "Lassie! Help me!"

Truman's hand found it's way into his pants. Lassiter protested, and there was a gunshot. He looked up, and saw Lassiter lolled back against the two men holding him, a bloody bullet hole in his forehead. They dropped his corpse to the floor where he lay in a slowly growing pool of blood. Shawn screamed and fought harder, trying to get to Carlton. The next thing he knew, all three of them were on top of him and six hands were exploring his body.

That's when he woke up, sweat soaked and shivering.


Lassiter's nightmare was different.

He could see Shawn being beaten, he could hear him screaming. Lassiter tried to get to him. He was running as fast as he could, but Shawn and his attackers seemed to get further and further away with every step he took. He forced himself to move faster, and looked down at his feet to make sure he wouldn't fall. When he looked back up, Shawn and his attackers were gone, swallowed into a white mist which had suddenly appeared.

"Shawn!" He cried, but there was no response. He wandered around in the mist for what felt like hours, but there was nothing. Never any response to his shouts.

The he fell over. He'd tripped over Shawn's lifeless corpse and landed in a pool of his still warm blood. He yelled and tried to back away, but Shawn's cold, dead fingers grabbed onto his wrist. He couldn't get away.

"Why? Why didn't you save me?"

He woke up with Shawn's name on his lips.


When the orderly came in with bowls of the delicious gruel they called breakfast, he found the pair of them, sitting silently in the dark. Wide awake.

When Gus peeked in on his way to work, he found them both lying down, Shawn on his right side, Lassiter on his back. Shawn was shaking, and he had tear streaks on his face. Lassiter wasn't doing much better. Gus hovered by the door, unsure of whether to go in, or if Shawn needed this.

Dr Foster came in and checked their wounds. They were both doing could go home in a day or so! He smiled at them, and suggested a psych consult in a gentle voice, when they both ignored the good news.

They ignored his suggestion.

Why it was hitting them both so hard, so suddenly, they didn't know. Shawn thought it was because this was the first time they'd had peace and solitude to actually think about what had happened to them. First, Shawn was sick, and then they'd had visitors and the doctors were in and out. Lassiter didn't care why, only that he didn't want to be feeling this. He didn't want to be thinking about this.

When Henry arrived, he could tell something was wrong, but Shawn and Carlton put on fake grins, and acted like they were fine. He stayed for a couple of hours, to reassure himself that Shawn really was going to be fine. When he left, he felt mainly confused, unable to match the way his son was acting with the emotionally charged atmosphere of the hospital room. He knew something was wrong, but he let it slide.


The Chief took her lunch hour and visited the men. She was obviously uncomfortable around them. They both noticed it, and wondered why.

It's because she knows. Shawn thought. He wasn't sure where this thought came from, the self loathing implicit in it, wasn't his usual style. She knows we were weak, and got kidnapped. She knows that he tried to... that he... He couldn't even think it.

She's angry with me. Was Lassiter's explanation. She knows I failed. I let Spencer get hurt. Worse than I was. I'm the cop. I'm supposed to 'protect and serve'.

But no, it was none of that. She just didn't know what to say to the two men. They were supposed to be under her protection. The three who had hurt them were supposed to be under her control. No matter how you put it, she was ultimately responsible.

And she cared. Too much.

"It's unusually warm for this time of year." She said.

"Yeah." Shawn replied.

"It is." Lassiter added.

They lapsed back into uncomfortable silence.

She told them about Stevens. He was suspended pending an investigation. They told her that Stevens was a good cop and a good friend. She nodded, but she couldn't help but feel they meant that he was a better friend than she was.

Before she left, she smiled a pained smile at them.

"I'm afraid that they've lawyered up. It looks like it's going to go to trial."

"Oh." Shawn's voice was small and shaky, and utterly unlike himself.

"WHAT!" Lassiter growled. "How can this go to trial!" He took a few deep breaths, and closed his eyes for a moment. "Tell the DA to offer them a deal. Anything."

"I already did. But, the DA is an ass. He wants this to go to trial. His triumph over three crooked cops will help his career, so he doesn't care."

"Oh." Shawn said again.

"I'm sorry." She smiled again, and left.


Lassiter and Shawn sat there, staring at the walls for a long silent moment.

"They're going to drag everything out, aren't they? Talk about everything that happened." Shawn asked.

"Yeah, they are." Lassiter slammed his hand into the bed rail. "I hate this. There's no need. You shouldn't have to go through that."

Shawn laughed and it was a hollow sound.

"Lassie, I've been kidnapped, beaten, whipped, molested and damn near raped. I think I can cope with the trial."

"Shawn," Lassiter frowned, exasperated. " Come on!"

"What?"

"You've been involved in a trial before! You helped that lawyer win. You know that the defence will try and tear us apart! They'll smear us, they'll pull up anything from our past that they can use against us. Do you think that they won't claim you're defrauding the police? That it was our fault. That we did something... I know how this works." He shook his head. "You were staying with me. They will allege that we're together. They'll allege that we had something against the three of them. That we tried to frame them. We got away and two out of three of them were caught by us and the third was caught by a troop of boy scouts! They'll say we tried to frame them!"

"That's..."Shawn wrapped his arms around his torso.

"I know."

They sat in the cold, sterile hospital room and watched the clock tick away.


That's pretty much all folks. I think I'll do an epilogue to give it a more upbeat ending, but I think the trial is another story. If you all want the sequel with the trial and the aftermath of the kidnapping, let me know. It may be a little while before I get chance to write the sequel, but if people want it, I can get started.