A/N: This is a super duper long chapter. The next chapter is the final, Epilogue. I've considered uploading it the same time as this one it just depends on how many reviews I get with this chapter. So please let me know something. Thanks to all those who've reviewed/messaged me on the story. As well as to those who've followed and favorite. This was by far one my favorite stories I've written and had the pleasure of writing.

So I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint. Enjoy and review!

Chapter 9: Safe

He was a savage jungle cat moving swiftly and silently through the tall grasses of the clearing in the woods, rifle in hand. He and Talon parted ways a few miles back so they could corner them.

By the position of the sun, there were a few hours of daylight left in the day. One time during his childhood his father blindfolded him and dragged him into the middle of the woods to fend for himself. His father thought it was a way to 'toughen him up',

Jake spent seven, long agonizing days in the wilderness, alone. When he managed to find his way back home his father showed him no praise. Instead, he was returned with a look of disgust.

Ever since, he spent a considerable amount of time hunting animals and perfecting his hunting techniques. Jake had never thought of himself as a killer before. But when he took down his first deer, he enjoyed it and craved more. The feeling of power and adrenaline was intoxicating.

He kneeled down at the sight of blood droppings and smirked. They were smart changing course, but he was smarter. He was hoping for more of a challenge, but this would have to do for now. He licked his lips in anticipation and moved forward towards his prey.

~PSYCH~

"Shawn, stop" Kaylee wheezed, slowing her pace to a slow walk. "I can't breathe."

Shawn immediately stopped and wheeled around to the asthmatic teen. "Just a little further Kaylee," Shawn said. "You can do it."

Kaylee placed her hands on her knees and shook her head as she gasped for air. "I…can't." She said. "It…hurts.

Shawn turned around and kneeled down in front of Kaylee. "Get on," He said. "I'll carry you."

Flushing, Kaylee brought her hands on his steady shoulders as he grabbed her knees from behind before standing up, carrying both her weight and his. "Man kid, what have they been feeding you?" Shawn said teasingly as he took his first few steps. Her flush darkened and she smacked him across the head. "Ouch, I was teasing." He whined. "Don't take it so seriously."

"You don't…ever…mention a woman's weight," She panted, wrapping her arms around his neck. "It's rude."

Shawn chuckled and jumped a bit to move her up. "I was joking," He said. "You're seriously light for your age though. You should eat more or you'll end up withering away."

Kaylee smiled, closing her eyes and buried her head into the crook of his neck. After she managed to get her breathing somewhat under control she decided to speak up. "I'm sorry." She mumbled.

"For what?" He said slightly turning his head to her.

"For being such a burden," She said. "Because of me, I'm slowing us down. You were right. We wouldn't be in this mess if I just went to the authorities like you said. I was scared. I knew if I stepped foot on that property they would be there, waiting."

"Well, as long as you're not blaming me," Shawn said. Growling, Kaylee smacked him upside the head once again. "Joking," He cried. For once in his life, Shawn decided to push the jokes aside and make amends to the young girl. "First off, you're not a burden, you're sick. You can't help it." He began. "Second, because of me we're in this mess. I was just too wrapped up on what happened to my dad that I took it out on you. I'm sorry."

Kaylee smiled to herself and tightened her arms around Shawn's neck. "You never seize to amaze me 'Psychic." She whispered. "It's an honor to be working alongside you."

Shawn blushed at her generous words and opened his mouth to speak, but was cut short when they heard a twig snap mere feet away. "How did they manage to catch up to us so fast?" Kaylee whispered, panic evident in her voice.

Kaylee jumped off Shawn's back and grabbed his hand, squeezing it tightly. Shawn swallowed nervously as he stared in the direction where they heard the noise. He wondered the exact same thing Kaylee did. How did they manage to track them down so fast? He glanced down at Kaylee's worried face. He needed to get her out of harm's way. He quickly glanced around the area and noticed a small cliff to the left of them. Large boulders spotted the landscape, which would give Kaylee enough cover.

"You see that cliff," Shawn said, pointing. Kaylee looked over in the direction where Shawn was pointing and nodded her head in confirmation. "I want you to get as far from here as you can and don't look back, no matter what you hear."

Shawn could tell by the look on her face she was about to cry. He didn't want her cry. He just wanted to keep her safe. There wasn't much time to think of a good plan, but this was the best idea he could think of at the spur of moment. As he assumed, Kaylee began to cry. "What about you?" She croaked out. "You're coming with me, right?"

Shawn shook his head. "I'm going to try to take them out one by one," He said. "But I don't want anything to happen to you in the process, alright. I'll catch up, I promise."

Kaylee's tears fell harder. "That's a lie," She sniffled. "You don't stand a chance against them Shawn. They'll kill you once they get sight of you. Please don't leave me alone. I'm scared. I don't know what to do."

Shawn lowered his head and pulled his hand away from her grasp. "Go," Shawn ordered. Kaylee stood her ground, refusing to leave his side which infuriated him. "I said run Kaylee, now!"

Kaylee took a step back in surprise as he raised his voice at her. She knew what was going to happen if she left him behind, she didn't want to lose any more people who where dear to her. And she surely didn't want anyone to risk their life for her over something so stupid, but it's what he wanted. So she did as she was told. She took one more glance at Shawn and turned towards the cliff, running.

Shawn watched as Kaylee disappeared from his sight and let out a sigh in relief. He closed his eyes as he heard a gun cock behind him. Slowly, Shawn raised his hands in the air and turned around to his captors. As he turned around he was surprised to only see one of the men, but where was the other? Surely they didn't notice Kaylee running towards the cliff and split up to go after her.

Kaylee stopped in her tracks. Just ahead of her the ground began to slope up sharply. The large boulders gave her enough cover as she moved forward so she didn't have much to fear of being noticed. Suddenly there was a sound in the air. It sounded like voices. But where were they coming from? The stream was running off to Kaylee's right side, and the sweet tinkling drowned out the faint sound of speech.

It must be Shawn and the captors, but Kaylee couldn't make out what they were saying. Just keep talking, Shawn, Kaylee thought as she maneuvered her way to the first of the large boulders and pressed herself against it. Let me know where you are.

For what felt like an eternity, there was nothing but silence. And then she heard Shawn's voice again. It sounded desperate, as if he were pleading for his life. Who knew how much time he had left before they silenced him forever?

There was an enormous boulder up the hill to Kaylee's right and she peered through the crack. There was only one man, Talon. But where was Jake? Kaylee scrabbled around in the ground at her feet for a weapon. She came up with a stone the size and weight of a brick. It would do.

At least, it would have done if she and Talon were Cro-Magnons fighting it out in a prehistoric age. Unfortunately a lot of time has passed since then, and mankind had invented far more advanced weaponry, including the gun that Talon was pointing at Shawn.

The rock wouldn't do Kaylee any good if Talon could take her out fifty feet away. Kaylee needed one more weapon, and there was only one available-the element of surprise. She was striking from above. But for the surprise attack to work she would have to move silently. And that was nearly impossible. The ground was scattered with loose stones, and they skittered down the hill with every step she took.

She lifted one foot and pressed it down gently, making sure there were no loose rocks underneath. Kaylee had no idea how long it took for her to get to the top of the boulder. She pressed her back against the boulder and listened for the voices. When she heard them once again she raised the rock over her head and leaped down from behind the boulder.

The element of surprise didn't exactly go as she planned. The ground around the boulder was strewn with loose rocks, and as she pushed off with her foot, the rocks slid out from beneath her. Talon had heard her. Kaylee was upright now and moving fast. Talon wheeled around, leveling the gun. She could see his finger tightening on the trigger as she stumbled towards him. Kaylee brought the rock back up.

"Kaylee!" Shawn shouted.

Shawn's words penetrated Kaylee's mind at the same time instant as the tingling sensation from the shock of the rock slamming into Talon's head. Kaylee dropped the rock onto the ground as Talon was sprawled out over the grassy ground. "You're welcome." Kaylee gasped as she kicked the gun out the unconscious man's hands and heard it splash into the stream.

"Nice shot Chingachgook," Shawn praised. "I figured you wouldn't leave so easily and come back to perform something stupid. I think my crazy antics are starting to rub off and onto you."

Kaylee frowned and made her way back towards the cliff again, mumbling to herself. Shawn glanced down at the unconscious man once more before quickly following after the young teen. Halfway up the cliff Kaylee heard a sound in the air again, a sweet and beautiful sound.

"You hear that!?" She grinned, smacking Shawn in the arm.

"Yeah, the sound of another bruise forming from your abuse," He retorted.

Kaylee rolled her eyes. "No you idiot, It's a rescue chopper, they've come for us!"" She said, waving her hands in the air frantically. "We're down here! Help us!"

"Let's get to higher ground." Shawn said, running up the steep cliff. "Maybe they'll spot us from up there."

~PSYCH~

The area was full of steep hills and Jake chose to say on high ground for a perfect vantage point. He walked along the ledge and peered through his rifle scope. And that's when he saw them. The Psychic and that rich brat right in the open about 250 feet away from him.

The girl was waving her arms frantically in the air, but at what? Confused the raised his rifle scope and muttered a curse when he noticed a chopper passing by. There was no way he was going to let them leave alive. He wanted them dead.

"Time to die," He said to himself as he leveled his gun to his prey and pulled the trigger.

"Almost home free Kaylee," Shawn panted. "You can do it."

Kaylee nodded, ignoring the searing pain in her chest. She was going to see Scott again and she couldn't be happier. But not a moment later, those happy thoughts were quickly ripped away when she heard a gunshot echo throughout the sky and Shawn slowly falling onto the rocky ground in front of her.

"No!" She screamed, rushing to his aide. "Shawn!"

~PSYCH~

Scott's head snapped as he heard a few gunshots go off followed by a blood curdling scream that send shivers down his spine. He quickly jumped off the hood of the police unit and scanned around. He recognized the voice, it was Kaylee's.

Everyone had headed into the woods towards the source of the gunshot earlier, leaving him alone until they'd returned. He ran to the back of the car and opened the door, quickly grabbing a few Epi-Pen's and her inhaler just in case. He had enough sitting around doing nothing. Enough was enough. It was time to get his daughter back, no matter the cost.

Gus and the rest of the force heard the gunshots and the scream as well. Before anyone else reacted, Gus launched himself towards the source of the scream. "Guster!" Lassiter shouted. He realized this was incredible dangerous, but he recognized the voice that was screaming, and he had to help.

~PSYCH~

As she ran towards him, Kaylee screamed as another bullet rang out, missing her head by mere inches. She skidded to Shawn's side where he was lying unconscious behind a huge boulder. "Shawn!" She cried, trying to will him back into consciousness. "Please don't be dead."

Shawn stirred and began to moan. Blood began seeping from his side and he winced from the pain. "I've been shot." Shawn spoke painfully.

"No duh Sherlock," Kaylee panicked. She needed to remain calm or she was going to risk another full blown asthma attack, then she would be no use to Shawn. She took a few deep breaths and managed to get her breathing under control once again. Removing her satchel from over her head, she grabbed Shawn's Swiss Knife out of the bag and cut the long strap off the bag and folded the rest into a cloth.

"That was your moms," Shawn mumbled tiredly.

"Keeping you alive is more important at the moment, I'm sure mom will understand." She said quickly. "There's not much time before Jake catches up to us, before that I need to stop the bleeding or you'll risk bleeding out before I get you to the others."

Shawn cried out in pain as she slowly sat him up. Kaylee placed the fabric gently over the bullet wound and applied pressure. Next, she grabbed the satchel strap and wrapped it around his waist, making sure to tighten it tightly. Lastly, Kaylee grabbed Shawn's arm and draped it over her shoulder, lifting him up.

Kaylee was terrified to take another step forward, in fear Jake was ready to pull the trigger once more. But she knew Shawn was in desperate need of help. Pushing aside her fear, she took a shaky step forward and then another and so on until they made it to the top.

They started to move through the woods once again. The pace was slow, but it wasn't because of Kaylee's asthma, it was because of Shawn. Every step was painful, but Shawn was committed getting Kaylee to safety. Though he didn't know how long he could stay committed for her, the blood loss was taking its toll on him.

"Hold on Shawn." Kaylee pleaded. "Please don't die on me."

Shawn shook his head, but the small movement made him dizzy. "I'm not going to die." He said. He hoped that was true, things weren't looking so great for him, for either of them.

~PSYCH~

The sight that had stopped Gus was what had been lying in the middle of meadow, next to the steep cliff up ahead. Cautiously, Gus ran towards the unconscious man. He got on his knees and felt the man's neck for a pulse.

Gus wheeled around when he heard multiple footsteps heading in his direction. "Over here!" Gus called.

Lassiter lowered her weapon and turned the man on his back. "It's Talon Hayes." He said cuffing the man's hands behind his back and turned to a few SBPD officers. "You three, take him back to the cabin and place him in a squad car for the time being. Eyes on him at all times, he does not leave that car for any reason. He can be looked at once the medics arrive."

The three nodded and two of the officers pulled Talon Hayes to his feet and dragged him back towards the cabin. "Alright, let's move." Lassiter commanded. "They couldn't have gotten too far."

Everyone nodded and proceeded up the cliff, where they believe Shawn and Kaylee ventured off to. When they hit the top they saw blood all over the rocky ground. "Oh god," Juliet gasped, clasping a hand over her mouth.

"Great," Lassiter mumbled. "Looks like Spencer managed to get himself shot once again."

Another gunshot rang out throughout the woods, grabbing their attention. "That wasn't very far," Gus said. "We must be getting close."

Everyone readied their guns and proceeded back into the woods where Shawn and Kaylee were. They just hoped they would make it in time to find them still alive.

~PSYCH~

Kaylee waved her hands in the air frantically as the chopper passed over them once again. To her dismay it looked as though they didn't spot them. Muttering a curse and kneeled down to grab Shawn's arm, but stopped when she heard Jake's voice behind her.

"You've gone far enough you little brat." Jake hissed. "Now turn around and let me see that pretty little face of yours before I kill you."

Kaylee rolled her eyes and slowly wheeled around to her captor. She took a quick glance at Shawn and stepped in front of him to keep him out of Jake's sights. "I see that useless psychic is still alive" He scoffed. "That's too bad. I was really hoping that would finish him off."

Shawn opened his eyes. "Excuse me?" He said. "Are you talking about me?"

Kaylee smiled. His voice was like music to her hears. Even in the crucial state his was, he had the energy to talk back. "I do believe he is talking about you." Kaylee said, stepping aside.

"And he's calling me useless?"

"He is calling you useless."

"I have thousands of uses," Shawn said. "I slice, I dice, I chop. I can even get rid of the slimy egg whites out of your scrambled egg."

"But wait, there's more." Kaylee smirk.

"There's always more." Shawn said as he painfully stood up. "I can speak to the spirits."

"My god," Jake said. "Do you two ever shut up?"

Shawn ignored him and let out a small moan that quickly ascended to a piercing shriek, "What's that spirits, Jake here has some major daddy issues he can't get over."

"Shut the hell up," Jake growled.

"What's that?" Shawn said, cupping a hand to his ear. "Jake's daddy used to lock him and his little brother in the basement as a small child? What? He even murdered his mother before taking his own life?"

Jake pushed Kaylee down and thrusted the rifle into Shawn's face, knocking him down onto the ground. The rifle's barrel was pointing down at Shawn. All the way at the other end of the gun, Jake gave him a cheery smile.

Kaylee sprung up and grabbed the gun barrel and pulled, refusing to let go. Jake was yanking on the gun's barrel, trying to get it away from her. "Let go of my gun you little shit," Jake grunted and lifted his leg, kicking her in the side causing her to let go of the gun's barrel.

Kaylee fell hard onto the ground, knocking the air of her. But before she hit the ground, she saw Scott running full speed at their captor. Scott tackled Jake from behind, catching him by surprise. The gun flew backward, blasting a chunk out of the tree bark behind them.

She managed to get on her knees and crawl over to Shawn, while Scott and Jake rumbled. Kaylee could feel the tears well up in her eyes as she placed Shawn's head on her lap. She ran a hand through his whispering soothing words in his ear, telling him everything was going to be okay now. That he just needed to hold on a little longer.

Her head snapped up as the chopper came back around in their direction and circled the area. They noticed them. Jake kicked Scott off of him and scrambled to his feet for his rifle. "Scott!" Kaylee cried. "Look out!"

But before Jake managed to pull the trigger on Scott, several bullets went through Jake from above. Jake spurted up blood and dropped the rifle and fell forward, his eye no longer containing life. Just then, SBPD officers swooped in and took over. A female detective and one she recognized as Gus from their previous meeting ran towards them.

"Shawn!" They shouted.

"H-He's been shot." Kaylee stammered. "He's not waking up. Please help him."

The female Detective nodded and Kaylee gently placed his head down and moved aside so she could tend Shawn. "Kaylee," The familiar voice called. Kaylee shut her eyes at the sound of his voice. Oh how she missed him. She turned around to see Scott standing fifteen feet away from her. "Scott," She said, wiping the tears of joy from her eyes.

Ever so slowly, Kaylee limped towards him but increased her pace to a quick run and jumped on him, wrapping her arms around his neck. Scott fell to the ground and tightened his embrace around his daughter, afraid if he'd let go she would disappear. "Thank god,"

"I'm sorry Scott, I'm so sorry." She wept into his chest. "I said so many horrible things to you that night I didn't mean. I wish I could take it all back. Please forgive me."

Scott shook his head and moved her bangs away from her tear stained face. "Sweetheart, none of that matters anymore. I'm just so happy you're alright. I was so worried about you." He said. "I love you so much."

"I love you too." She cried. "I was so scared, I was afraid I would never see you again."

Scott pulled away and gently cupped her face. "I was scared too. The one time I let you out of my sight you disappear off the face of the planet. I'm sorry I wasn't there to protect you baby. I promise from this day forward, you don't ever have to worry again. I'm here, you're safe."

Kaylee's tears fell harder and she rested her head on his chest. Scott smiled down at his daughter, gently rubbing his hand down her back, comforting her. "How's your asthma?" Scott asked.

"Two close calls and several small attacks." Kaylee spoke tiredly. "Shawn was a major help and comforted me through most of them. Unfortunately I couldn't be as much as a help to him as I wanted."

"Shawn will be able to get the help he needs now thank to you." Scott said, pointing to the air ambulance that was landing. "You did well Kaylee, I'm proud of you."

Kaylee smiled and stood up with the help of Scott and stumbled her way over to Shawn and the others. She tapped Gus on the arm, grabbing his attention. "Could you please give this to Shawn once he wakes up." Kaylee shouted over the chopper's noise. She placed Shawn's Swiss Army Knife in Gus' hand and closed it. "Take good care of him and send him my thanks."

Gus smiled and nodded at the young teen and stepped into the medical chopper. Kaylee took a step back as she watched the chopper lifted into the air and flew towards the hospital. "He'll be alright." Scott said.

"I know," Kaylee smiled.

"Come on let's get you to a hospital so we can have those wounds looked at before the press jumps all over this." Scott said. Kaylee pursed her lips and shook her head at Scott. "As your legal guardian, I'm ordering you to go. If not I'll carry your little butt there."

Kaylee smirked and smacked him playfully in the arm. "Now that you remind me, we need to have a long talk on the way back to Santa Barbara father." She chuckled.

Scott stiffened. "You know?"

Kaylee's smirk widened. "Oh yeah,"

Scott smiled and scooped her in his arms. "Perfect. This beats this whole 'awkward' conversation I prepared on the way up here." He said. "So are you going to start calling me dad from now on? Come on let me hear you say it."

Kaylee groaned and rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Cut it out, you're embarrassing me in front of all these cops." She said.

"Please," He pleaded. "I've waited fifteen years to hear you call me that."

"And you'll wait fifteen more if you don't cut it out!" She shrieked.

"Alright, I'll be quiet." He said.

"Thank you," She said. "Dad,"

A/N: Alright, finally! Now just for the short Epilogue and Change of Heart is through. If I get enough reviews I'll post it!