Chapter 3

"Shawn what the hell were you thinking?!"

"Oh...Hey Dad." Shawn flashed his trademark grin as he watched his father storm towards them, all the while wondering how the hell he'd found out. He looked at Gus out of the corner of his eye, but his friend looked just as surprised as he was.

"Don't you 'Hey Dad' me!" Henry snapped, "I don't know what's worse, having a son with a blatant disregard for his own life, or finding out you were in here from Buzz McNab!"

"Hey, the risk of danger is always high in my line of work!"

"Sorry to disappoint you Shawn, but the 'Village Idiot' isn't an occupation?" Henry rolled his eyes.

"Yeah? Well this 'Village Idiot' just got a breakthrough on his case." Shawn's retort didn't hold quite as much bite as it usually did, truth was this little argument was really taking it out of him; he turned to his best friend, "But of course Gus is still being difficult."

"Difficult? Shawn, you found out that Lassie and Juliet are working a case with a serial killer who's killing homeless people, and now suddenly the girl you 'saw' is homeless too...You must be out of your damn mind if you think I'm gonna buy that!"

"Damnit Kid, when the hell are you gonna let all this go?!"

"Once I find the serial killer, locate then girls body, and prove everybody wro..." Shawn erupted in a coughing fit, "...Wrong..." He squeaked pathetically.

Man hospitals are boring, Shawn thought as he stared at the little smudge on the dimly lit wall that sort of resembled a dears head...Or a beetle if he squinted. His father had left shortly after their argument, he'd made some excuse about it being pointless staying there because there was no getting through to Shawn, but really he just wanted Shawn to get some rest, and Gus had stayed until visiting hours was over.

The psychic detective turned his attention to the sleeping form in the bed next to his...Sleeping, something Shawn wished he was doing, but no, he couldn't sleep...There was something bothering him; had been all day since Lassiter and Juliet had left...He just wished he knew what it was.

Then it hit him...The Doctor! His interest in the case had seemed a little too excessive, not to mention he'd been asking way to many questions for it to have been just simple curiousity...There had to be some reason behind it, Shawn just wasn't sure what that reason was.

Without giving it any thought, the fake psychic swung his legs around so he was in a sitting position, and took the IV line out of his hand; he needed answers, and he knew just where to find them.

Standing up he became aware of how much his body felt like a dead weight, yet when he walked he was struck with a strange floating like sensation...It was all a little unnerving, but there was no deterring him; Shawn wanted to find answers, and answers he would find.

Skulking past sleeping patients, and ducking in and out in a bid to avoid any hospital staff that might be lurking about, Shawn headed down the corridor until he found the room with his Doctor's name on 'Dr. A.R. Samuals."

He crouched down and peered through the keyhole, as he attempted to spy on his Doctor, it was no use however, the lights were out. Shawn's mouth curled up into a smile...Perhaps he could break in and take a look around. He put his hand to where his pocket and Gus' credit card should have been, only to remember that he was wearing a hospital gown.

'Damnit!" Shawn cursed under his breath.

"What are you doing?"

Shawn let of a high pitched squeal, before composing himself and turning around, "Oh...Hey Doc." He replied casually.

The Doctor narrowed his eyes at his patient, "Why are you out of bed Mr Spencer?"

"I..." For once Shawn couldn't think of any clever excuses, and that disappointed him...Although with the amount his head was now pounding, he supposed he could forgive himself...Suddenly he really wasn't feeling too good.

The Doctor frowned, and felt the younger mans head, "Your fever's right back up again," He sighed, grabbing Shawn's arm and ushering him back towards his bed, "You really need to rest..."

"No...Wait..." The fake psychic protested feverishly, "You...Know something...What do you know...?"

"I know a lot of things Mr Spencer." His Doctor replied patiently, as he helped the younger man back into his bed.

"Case...You know something about the case..." He waved his hand clumsily in front of the Doctor, "...I sensed it...With my mind powers...I have mind powers...My powers are...Mindly..."

Dr Samuals hooked Shawn back up to the IV and took his temperature, the thermometer read almost 105 degrees, the Doctor's brow furrowed in concern, "We need to get your temperature down." He pressed the call button.

"But you haven't...Told me...What you...Know..." Shawn mumbled, as a nurse rushed in.

"I'll tell you later, once we get your fever down." The Doctor assured him.

"But...It's late time now..."

"O'Hara...A word." The Chief summoned the young Detective into her office, and closed the door behind them after Juliet had entered, "Any news on Spencer?" She asked as she sat behind her desk, her voice barely louder than a whisper, with all the earlier authority in her tone, now being replaced with what could possibly be described as slight concern.

Juliet sat in the seat opposite, "Gus called a couple of hours ago...Apparently Shawn now thinks that the case he imagined is connected with our serial killer case."

The Chief sighed heavily, "He isn't gonna let this go, is he?"

The young detective shook her head, "Shawn won't stop, even if it kills him."

That's what Chief Vic was afraid of, "Well then, to prevent the SBPD's only psychic detective from pursuing his imaginary case to death, I guess it couldn't hurt for you and Lassiter to..."

"Humor him?" Juliet interrupted

"...Give him a little leeway on this."

"Right."

"Hey...This conversation never happened...Now go."

Juliet nodded and got to her feet, unable to hide the smile from her face as she left the Chief's office.

"103.8." The Doctor read the reading on the thermometer, "It's still higher than I'd like it to be, but at least it's falling."

"So...Are you gonna answer my questions now?" Shawn asked tiredly, his teeth chattering together as he held the thin blanket tightly to his chest, chills running through his body.

"I really shouldn't...But there's no way you're going to rest until I do..." He sighed, "Ok, yesterday evening a young woman, who's attire lead me to believe she was homeless, came to the hospital with a high fever...The hospital was busy yesterday evening, and I had to deal with a man with a severe head injury, so I left the female in an examination room...Now I could've only been gone about four of five minutes, but when I returned the female was gone. I asked around, but no one could remember seeing her leave...It's not really that unusual for homeless people especially, to leave without treatment, so I didn't really think that much of it...Until you mentioned about the serial killer that's targeting homeless people of course."

Shawn just about managed to keep up with what the Doctor was telling him, his body was demanding sleep, and the fake psychic was finding it increasingly different to go against it's wishes, "Can you...Describe her?"

"About 5ft 5", short red hair, wearing a large woolie sweater."

"It's not her...That's not what she looked like." Shawn pinched the bridge of his nose, "Whether she'd a victim or not Doc...I'll find her."

"Hey, all I'm interested in right now is you getting some sleep."

Shawn nodded, "Ok..."

With his questions now answered, Shawn was fast asleep within seconds.

"Why am I still here?" Shawn asked impatiently, as the morning sun shone through the window. The fake psychic was sat on the edge of his hospital bed, fully dressed and ready to go.

"Shawn your fever reached a record high last night, your Doctor's just making sure you're good to go," Gus wasn't sure how much more of his best friends complaining he could take, "and anyway, if you hadn't have drove around on your bike like an idiot, you wouldn't be in here."

"Hey, I wouldn't have been on my bike if you'd have helped me!" Shawn instantly regretted his retort when he saw the look of guilt that flashed across his best friends face, "You know what...None of that matters now, I just wanna get outta here so I can carry on with the case."

Shawn's Doctor approached, "Ok...Looks like you're good to go." He grabbed the younger man as he jumped to his feet, "Not so fast...Now it's imperative that you rest Mr Spencer, or you're going to be coming straight back in here."

"Yeah, yeah, rest, I got it...Thank's Doc." He turned to Gus, "Come on dude, let's go!"

The Doctor sighed as he watched them leave...This wouldn't be the last he'd see of Shawn, he was certain of it...

"So...What are we investigating next then?" Gus asked casually as they walked towards the exit.

Shawn's face lit up, "You're gonna help?"

His friend nodded as they left the hospital, "But only because you're probably gonna end up killing yourself if I don't...I still believe you just imagined the whole thing..."

The fake psychic smiled, "That's ok buddy, right now I'll take all the help I can get."

As Shawn followed Gus towards the 'Blueberry', he started to feel dizzy, and leant against a wall for support; once everything had stopped spinning, the fake psychic pushed himself away from the wall and attempted to catch up to his friend.

Realising that Shawn wasn't right behind him, Gus turned around, "You good...?"

"Never better..." He lied.