Before the sun rose the next morning, Henry was back at the hospital to be with his son. When he got there both Shawn and Lassiter were asleep. He didn't have the heart to wake either of them up so he just sat there and looked at his son. He tried to take in every inch of his boy. He knew that today would be risky for his son but he also knew he had to let him do this surgery. He knew that Shawn needed to be normal. Henry gently ran his fingers through Shawn's hair and soon Shawn slowly opened his eyes and looked at his Dad.

Shawn couldn't speak but there was so much that was communicated with that look, he didn't need to speak. Henry bent down close to his son and whispered, "I hope you know that I love you more than my life." Shawn smiled at his Dad and signed, "I hope you know the same." Henry began to rub Shawn's head some more and told him he should get some more rest. Shawn closed his eyes and did what his Dad suggested.

Right after sunrise Lassiter woke up and so did Shawn. Gus, Juliet and Chief Vick joined them. They had about an hour to visit and eat the breakfast Gus brought before Shawn was taken back to surgery. Gus noticed Shawn looking longingly at the food and promised him all the smoothies he could drink after surgery. The deal was sealed with a fist bump.

The hour passed too quickly for everyone, including Shawn. He looked at each of the people in the room with him. Each person meant so much to Shawn, all he could think about was how much he would miss them if things didn't go well in surgery. Everyone took their turn telling Shawn good luck, a fist bump was shared with Gus, a pat from Lassiter, a motherly kiss on the forehead from the Chief and a gentle kiss from Jules. On his way out of the room his Dad, who was holding his hand through all the well wishes bent down and kissed Shawn on the forehead and told his son, "I cant wait to hear your voice after surgery, you are going to do great."

Shawn smiled at his Dad and signed that he loved him and reminded his Dad to hand out the letters. With one last wave to everyone he was whisked to surgery. The doctor said surgery should only be about two hours. The group went to the all too familiar surgery waiting room and began their wait.

The first hour was casual chatting about what they all wanted to do after Shawn got better and came home.

The second hour was tenser, waiting and watching for any signs of the doctor. The third hour was filled with panic.

The end of the third hour a very tired doctor came out and informed the group, "The surgery is not going as smoothly as we hoped. We have had to restart Shawn's heart four times, but there is no going back at this point, I don't know how long things will take but I will let you know when I have something more to report."

When he started to walk away Henry stopped him, "Doc, what are my son's chances of coming out of this alive?" The Doctor hung his head low, "With the issues he has had so far, it isn't looking good. We will not stop fighting though, I promise you that. Shawn has not given up this past month and neither will we." Henry was able to squeak out a small "thank you" before the doctor went back to the operating room.

He sat for a minute in his chair staring at the floor. Everyone was waiting to see how he was going to react. Everyone but Lassiter all ready had tears freely flowing. Henry closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. He reached into his coat pocket and took out four little envelopes and gave them to each of the friends waiting with him.

Chief Vick took hers and asked, "What is in the envelope?" Henry tried but he just couldn't speak so Lassiter spoke for him, "If I am right these were written for each of us, just in case things didn't go well today." Henry shook his head and looked at Lassiter as to ask how he knew, still not able to get a word out from the knot in his throat. Lassiter reached in his jacket and pulled out another small envelope. He told Henry, "I know what they were because he had me write one for you after you left."

Henry's hands were shaking so bad he could barely grab onto the envelope. Lassiter put the letter in his hand and cupped his hand with both of his for just a moment to steady the older man. All five of them went to other places in the waiting room to read their letter privately.

Chief Vick read hers and sat quietly crying, she held it close to her heart and couldn't help but smile through the tears when she thought back at all the crazy things Shawn did to make all their days brighter at the station. Then she cried a little harder when she thought about what it would be like with out him.

Gus read his and sat with his head in his hands, you couldn't see his face but you could tell by his shoulders moving that he was sobbing. You could here him muttering, "Shawn, you better not die on me. Please don't die on me."

Lassiter read his and didn't cry but he sat silently with his eyes closed trying desperately to squash down any tears that were threatening. He neatly folded the letter and put it in the pocket of his jacket. With a little pat on the outside of his jacket he promised himself to keep that letter safe.

Eventually Chief Vick opened her eyes to check on Juliet. When she did she saw Juliet with her head against the corner of the wall and she was hugging the letter like it was a baby. Her entire body was shaking from crying so hard. Chief Vick walked over to her and gently placed her hand on Juliet's shoulder and when she did Juliet turned around and fell into Chief Vicks arms saying over and over, "He cant die Karen, he just cant." Karen did her best to sooth Juliet with the same tones she would soothe her daughter with. Juliet was not going to be consoled, not yet. She just kept crying until she eventually cried herself out after a few minutes then they both sat in the chair in silence.

Lassiter opened his eyes and saw that everyone had read their letters and were now in sobs except for Henry. He just sat there with big red eyes holding the envelope afraid to open it. Lassiter quietly got up and sat next to Henry. He said, "I know what is in that letter and has things in it that he wanted you to know."

Henry looked at Lassiter with a voice cracking from the strain he said, "If I read it then it could be true that this is my sons last day of life. Lassiter I can't handle that thought. I can't imagine my life without him in it. Oh God, my sweet, sweet, boy."

Lassiter asked the elder Spencer of he would like for him to read it to him? Henry handed him the letter and said sure. He took the envelope and gently opened it and pulled out the letter. He didn't get past the first line before Henry broke down sobbing. He told Lassiter, "Shawn calls me Papa Monkey and I call him my Baby Monkey because his favorite book as a kid was about a papa monkey and his baby monkey and…" Henry couldn't speak anymore he just cried as he listened to the rest of the letter. Every line of the letter brought more tears from Henry.

Lassiter finished the letter and put it back into the envelope and put it in Henry's hands. Henry Just kissed the envelope and put it in his jacket pocket. Lassiter put his arm around Henry and just let the man cry.

An hour later the group was sitting together again. They all gathered strength from each other. At the 8th hour after Shawn was brought into surgery the doctor finally reappeared. He was exhausted and bloody and the look on his face caused everyone's hearts to sink to the floor.

He came and stood in front of the group and told them that he wanted to talk to them in private and asked them to follow him. They all stepped into a private recovery room that had the curtain drawn. They figured that they were going to hear what they feared most, that Shawn had died and they were going to be given a chance to say goodbye.

The doctor rubbed the back of his neck and began, "As you can tell the surgery didn't go as well as planned. We struggled for much of this time to restart his heart after he would crash. I am really sorry to have to tell you that…" He pulled the curtain to show Shawn sitting up in the bed with out a trach tube and with out a ventilator Shawn whispered, "The surgery was a success"

Every ones face lit up when they saw Shawn and heard his voice. Henry looked at the doctor and said, "Doc that was cruel, you almost gave me a heart attack." The doctor smiled and said, "Blame him!" Shawn smiled the biggest smile. He spoke, this time holding his throat, "I am sorry guys, I wanted to surprise you myself." The doctor looked at Shawn and said, "Enough talking for the moment."

The Doctor looked at the group, "The part about his heart was the truth, we lost count how many times he crashed but eventually my colleague was able to finish the surgery. It will take some speech therapy and some time for his voice to come back more than a whisper but he is well on his way to recovery."

Everyone thanked the Doctor and then went to Shawn's side Henry was first to his son's side he gave him a long and close hug (he could finally get close with out all those machines). Juliet came and gave him a HUGE kiss, that made his pale skin blush and Gus came and hugged him too and told him he would bring him a smoothie tomorrow, a promise is a promise. Shawn smiled and fist bumped his friend.

Chief Vick came and told Shawn how excited she was to see him and hear his voice. She said with a crooked smile, "I will expect you to be back at work pretty soon." Shawn smiled and whispered, "Yes Ma'am"

Lassiter didn't intrude on everyone's moments with Shawn he just stood in the corner and thanked God that this nightmare was finally over and they would soon have there resident Pain in the butt back causing trouble. Lassiter smiled at the thought, he wouldn't want it any other way.