Chapter 2:

A Year and half prior: The Hospital

He shouldn't have been there. Shouldn't have forced Lassiter to come after him.

Shouldn't have been playing his childish game's, because in truth...even if he wouldn't exactly admit it...he always looked forward to it. To the look of panic that would overtake Lassiter's face when he'd come racing in, or when he awaited Shawn to appear from a building, always expecting the worst. To the small look of relief that he'd get when Shawn would still be alive. The rush he'd get when his knight in shinning armor stepped up to protect him. Lassiter always looked so cool at those moments. It was one of the perks of his job.

But...he shouldn't have been so careless. He shouldn't have been so obnoxious, rebelling against any orders like a child. And here he was forced to admit that Gus was right again. He needed to grow up. Not that Gus really could say much with the way he acted, but, then again, Gus was at least trying to play adult.

Still, because of his behavior, he had caused the shooting; forced Lassiter to take a bullet for him.

He realized all too late the heroic feat that the other had accomplished. Throwing himself in front of Shawn like that. He had lunged, it was why the bullet had impacted his skull, of course, this also was a good thing. The doctor claimed it had been this reason alone that the bullet was thrown in at an angel and managed to slide along the side of his skull with very little damage to his brain before exiting. It was why Lassiter was even still alive, so there was that.

The impact, combined with Lassiter's unbalanced lunge had sent the head detective flying, slamming into Shawn. It was the only reason the other had even sustained damage at all.

He scoffed at that.

Here he was, sitting, the fault of it all, in a chair like nothing had just happened. Nothing but a headache to show for his misconduct, while Lassiter gets to lay in a hospital bed unconscious and unsure to ever even wake up. His head was banaged up, the remaining shrapnel of the bullet finally pulled from his skull, but he'd been out of surgery for over 2 days now, and the detective had yet to open his eyes. Shawn, on the other hand, had yet to leave his side.

There was no way it could end like this, not with Lassie. He had so much to live for...well, if you could call spending all your time on and off duty studying cases and spending your time at gun ranges "living"...Regardless, Lassiter would never allow "Spencer" to end his life. That was for certain. That was why Shawn was sure the other was going to wake up. There was no doubt about it. Carlton Lassiter was stronger and more stubborn then anyone he'd ever met, and that was saying something do to growing up with his father.

Carlton Lassiter wouldn't let himself go down like this...

A finger twitch caught Shawn's eye, pulling the young male from his thoughts. He unconsciously reached out, grasping at the hand as his eyes moved up to stare at the others face. He gave a soft, gentle squeeze, trying to coax the other awake, and as if on cue, the detective's eyes fluttered and his head turned to the side as a soft groan pushed past parched lips.

"Lassie?" Shawn stood up as blue eyes finally peeked out from under long lashes, the man's brows furrowing as he tired to focus on Shawn's face leaning over him. "Lassie, you're up!" A look of relief and delight finally flooded Shawn's face as he gave the others hand a slightly harder squeeze. His own chipper voice causing not only his own head to throb (no sleep could do that to you), but Lassiter's as well, judging from the look on the man's face as he flinched. He was fine though, he was up. He was in one piece. That meant something right? Everything was going to be okay now. Shawn didn't have to walk around carrying the burden of killing his favorite head detective, nor suffer under the wrath of the Chief and the rest of the SBPD.

Shawn had to will himself to calm down, afraid that he might actually burst into unmanly tears on the spot. Two entire days of sitting in an uncomfortable chair, staring for hours on end at an unmoving body; hoping, pleading for a sign of life, just happy the other was breathing on his own. And now, finally, he had been rewarded. Finally everything could go back to normal. "You don't know how happy-"

"Who are you?"

The reward was short lived.

|PSYCH|

"It's as I feared." The doctor sighed, giving a slight nod to the three people that awaited him in the hall; the Chief, Juliet and Shawn. He closed the door to Lassiter's room as he stepped out, clutching the chart to his chest. "Like I said before, the bullet managed to slide across the inner skull, and it shouldn't have done much damage, but...damage was still inevitable. He's got amnesia. Hopefully just from the bruising and the impact, it may just be temporary. We can't be certain. But the left side of his brain is damaged. He's unable to write, and he won't probably ever be able to use his right hand effectively again. Not dominantly at least. He'll have to relearn everything with his left. Sadly, there's not much more we can do for him now, just...hope for the best. He's just lucky that's all he sustained from this. If it had been a direct hit, you would be holding a funeral right now. Or the damage could have been much worse and he'd have suffered a fate worse then death in many cases...I'd say he's a very lucky man."

"Thank you, Doctor." The Chief nodded her head, sighing in both relief and annoyance at the new found problems.

"We're going to be keeping him for a little longer, run a few more tests, but in a few days, week tops, I'd suggest taking him home. He'll need therapy to relearn everything of course, but it'll be better for him to be in a familiar area, like his home. It might help to kick start his memories faster, with a familiar routine. I would also suggest having someone with him for the time being at home maybe his wife can-"

"Oh no, no-" Juliet started up before Shawn was quick to cut in, placing an arm around the doctor's shoulder. Something that obviously perplexed the man, a hint of disgust at the action showing in his features as he leaned away from the contact."Don't worry, Doc, the Chief and I have got it all covered, Lassie here will be in good hands." He smiled at the man.

"Right..." The doctor gave him an odd look at the nickname before pulling away, pressing the chart tighter to his chest in a defensive manner, as if Shawn would continue after him. "Well, I'll be on my way then. I trust he's good in the hands of the...Santa Barbara PD..." He muttered, eyeing Shawn once more as if he was skeptical on how a man such as him could actually be related in any way to the others, because surely, he was a police officer. Right? The doctor didn't say anything else as he turned on his heels and was soon disappearing off down the hall.

"Guys touchy." Shawn pouted as he turned back to give the Chief and Juliet a grin, neither looking pleased with him.

"Shawn, you know Lassiter's wife-"

"Ex-wife." Shawn grinned. "I know, Jules. That's why I'm gonna do it."

Both of the female's stared him down like he'd just offered to off Carlton himself.

"Spencer, you can't possibly think that Lassiter would approve of you-"

"Ah, but see it's not Lassie in there, this man doesn't know me."

"All the more reason-"

"He doesn't know anyone. How would it be any different for anyone else to watch him? Besides no one knows him better than I do, Chief, I mean I even know his daily routine. He's up at like 6, coffee by 6:30, out the door by 7, pick up another coffee on the way to work. Grab folders off O'Hara's desk, maybe splurge on a donut or two...sometimes three on an off day, then-"

"Okay, okay." The Chief held up her hands. "I don't want to know how you know his schedule Spencer but-"

"Psychic." Shawn pointed towards his head a he gave a look that screamed 'duh'. In truth, he was just guessing.

"BUT-" She clenched her teeth narrowing her eyes onto Shawn.

"Oh come on, Chief. It's my fault. I need to make it up to Lassie."

"He is right, Chief." Juliet finally chimed in. "Besides he does know Lassiter a lot better than most of the department and Lassiter's been there for years..."

"Fine." The chief finally gave a heavy sigh, reaching up to rub at her forehead. Clearly, this entire endeavor was giving EVERYONE a headache. "I don't see any harm in at least allowing it for the week." The Chief's glare hardened again as Shawn turned and clapped his hands together like an excited little girl, even letting out a muffled squeal of glee, but he quickly cleared his throat and put on a "professional" face as he allowed the Chief to continue. "We'll call it...a test run. I'm more than certain that after a week Lassiter will be capable of standing on his own two feet, and if not, I would prefer an actual medical professional to be caring for him."

"You've got it, Chief." Shawn grinned, giving the Chief a thumbs up. "You won't regret it!" And with that he was throwing open the door the shout of "Lassie guess what-!" Echoing out from the room just as the door closed behind him.

"Why do I feel like I already do?" The Chief sighed as she rubbed at her forehead again.

And this is the last of the flash backs ^^ Next Chapter will be of the actual present! Yay. Review and Read if you will.