Chapter Text
oO0Oo
All Good Things Must Come to an End
oO0Oo
Juliet crouched with her back to the cruiser, her eyes squeezed shut. She had no intention, at the moment, of opening them anytime soon. Things really needed to stop exploding. She vowed she would not even attend the 4th of July fireworks this year. She’d had enough.
Honestly, though, the problem wasn’t the explosions themselves. It was the people she cared about. She kept finding them in danger, or badly hurt – She kept wondering if they were worse than hurt. All because things kept exploding. And now…
Gus.
She couldn’t look.
Her partner stood cautiously, “O’Hara?” he asked, a trace of concern in his voice.
“Right behind you.” she said with a lot more conviction than she felt.
“Spencer!” Lassiter was suddenly - angrily - yelling at Shawn’s dad, so she figured so he must have rushed in right away. Gus was like a second son to him. Lassiter ran after him. Henry probably already knew whether Gus was…
Her eyes popped open. She stood and turned. She had to know. She watched her partner run past the burning hulk and towards the elder Spencer who was leaning over… Her view of the ground was blocked.
But then, in the light from the burning car, she saw Henry reach out a hand, grasp Gus’s forearm and pull him to his feet. She saw him discreetly check for injuries as he seemed to brush him off and help straighten his jacket.
“It’s a company car!” Juliet could hear the familiar wail cover the distance between them, and she allowed herself to breathe.
Before she realized what she was doing, she had crossed the distance and surprised everyone, including herself, by throwing her arms around Gus. “Are you okay? Really?” She asked, holding him at arm’s length and looking him over.
Gus was clearly shaken, but managed a small smile, “After all these years? When Shawn’s dad yells like that? – I do what I’m told without thinking about it!”
“It’s a good thing, too.” Lassiter commented dryly, but Juliet could tell he was just as pleased as anyone else.
“I was just going over to Shawn’s... Why did the Blueberry blow up?” Gus was trying vainly to fill in the blanks. “What am I going to tell my boss? Wait – why are you here?!! You’re supposed to be with Shawn!”
Henry lost his smile, “Shawn’s in the hospital.”
“What?!? Why?! What happened?” Gus looked from one face to the next, but it was Lassiter who filled him in.
“We missed one. There was another partner in the whole Rollins thing. Karen Miller – the woman we thought died when the house exploded?” He said it like a question since that had happened while Gus had been kidnapped and Lassiter wanted to make sure he’d heard the whole story.
Gus nodded.
“She didn’t. Wasn’t her. She used a body double – make us think she was dead. Throw us off the trail.”
Juliet picked up the thread, “But Shawn figured it out. She came to his apartment tonight to kill him-”
“What?!” Gus grabbed her arm, “Is he okay?!?”
At that she looked to Henry, who was already turning to leave, “You got this?” he asked the detectives gesturing to Gus and the burning hulk.
They nodded.
“Is Shawn okay?!!” Gus repeated, more than a little demand in his tone.
Henry met his gaze, “I don’t know,” was all he said and he got into his truck and left.
Gus watched him for a moment before turning back to Juliet, worry and questions all over his face.
Lassiter continued, “Spencer saw Miller was going to shoot O’Hara so he… he got her out of the line of fire,”
“He saved my life!” Juliet interjected.
“…but he aggravated some of his injuries. He was having trouble breathing again. Then he told us your car was going to blow so we headed here while the paramedics took him to the hospital.”
Gus thought for a moment, trying to grasp everything that had happened in the few short hours since he’d last seen Shawn, “I think I need to sit down.”
Juliet glanced at her partner and then took Gus by the elbow and led him to the steps. She would try to answer all of his questions, and at the same time, take his statement about the night’s events.
Lassiter went to deal with the fire crews and police that had arrived in response to the explosion.
oO0Oo
Henry strode into the hospital with a single-minded purpose. Gus was safe. Karen Miller was in custody. The only thing on his mind was Shawn.
After a brief stop at the nurses’ station, (you get quicker answers when the nurses already know you) he headed for Shawn’s room, and, entering, was met with an all-too-familiar sight: The lighting was dim and the room was quiet except for the familiar soft beeping of the heart monitor and the hated sound of the ventilator. His son was absolutely still, tubes and wires leading from him to various machines.
He breathed a deep sigh and thought of the hundreds, perhaps thousands of times he had wished Shawn would calm down and be quiet. Right now he would take every single one back just to hear the sound of his voice.
The door behind him opened and Shawn’s doctor entered. “Mr. Spencer – I didn’t know you were here-”
“How’s Shawn?” he interrupted.
“Just give me one moment to check on that very thing, and I will meet you outside? We just got him settled and I want to make certain he’s as comfortable as possible.” The doctor was not the least bit intimidated by Henry’s gruff exterior. He’d seen enough evidence of the affection his young patient drew from everyone around him, his father most of all.
Henry’s eyes narrowed at the request but he left the room while the doctor examined Shawn.
When he’d finished, he stepped outside and smiled gently, “I guess you weren’t kidding when you said it would be hard to get Shawn to take it easy.”
It briefly occurred to him that his son hadn’t been out of the hospital for even 24 hours, but Henry wasn’t interested in small talk, “How is he?” he demanded.
The doctor smiled briefly before continuing, “Your son is strong, and more importantly, stubborn.”
Henry snorted – but not in amusement.
“He is – barring any unforeseen complications – going to be completely fine.”
Henry frowned suspiciously, “What happened? He was bleeding and he couldn’t breathe.”
The doctor nodded patiently, “Yes. He tore a few stiches, but that was easily fixed. Shawn’s biggest issue currently, is exhaustion – pure and simple. In his weakened condition, exhaustion takes a great toll – much more than in an otherwise healthy person. Add in the fact that his chest is far from fully healed and still very tender and it becomes almost impossible to take the full breaths he needs. His body became dangerously starved for oxygen.” He didn’t mention to the worried father that Shawn’s heart had stopped – twice – before they were able to stabilize him. He saw no need to mention it because it was beating strong and steady now, and showed every sign that it would continue to do so.
“What now?” Henry asked, clearly not sure if he could believe the doctor’s optimism.
“Well, in light of recent events, we are going to keep him heavily sedated for a while. He’s going to stay exactly as you saw him for a few days at least…” He decided not to elaborate on all those ‘unforeseen complications’ that could still arise. He didn’t need to. Henry already knew. “We’ll be monitoring him very carefully.” He reached out a hand and patted Henry’s shoulder briefly, “He’s going to be fine, Henry,” and he was gone. He had other patients to see to.
Henry stood alone in the hallway, lost in thought for several moments.
‘Exhaustion’ the doctor had said, and the last few weeks had washed over him again in a rush. And then he realized: Every single thing that Shawn had been through had happened because his son was a hero. He’d been shot stopping a criminal. He’d been beaten within an inch of his life rescuing his best friend from certain death. He’d been impaled because he’d put his friends’ lives ahead of his own. And now he was back in the hospital because he’d laid a trap for a killer and he’d been unwilling to risk anyone else. He never hesitated to step in and do what he knew was right – regardless of the risk to himself – just like his dad had taught him.
He was still standing there when Gus arrived, shaken from his near-brush with death. “How’s Shawn?” he asked, his voice laced with desperation. Seeing Henry standing alone and unmoving in the hallway outside Shawn’s room had given him a moment of panic.
He looked past Gus’s worried face and into the distance as he remembered all the times he’d told Shawn he was disappointed. He resolved, at that moment, to find a way to let his son know, on a regular basis, how proud he was… Just… maybe not with words. They were Spencer Men, after all. And Shawn did have a tendency to relish any perceived praise a little more than he should.
“Is Shawn okay?” Gus’s voice was starting to tremble.
Henry met Gus’s eyes, rested a hand on his shoulder, and said confidently, “He’s gonna be just fine.” And when Gus smiled weakly at that, obviously intensely relieved, he added, “Let’s go tell him that you’re okay.”
“He’s awake?”
They turned and Henry opened the door.
“Noo – but that won’t stop him from hearing you.”
They entered the dimly lit room.
“It’s a company car, you know...”
“It was…” Henry couldn’t resist teasing him.
The door swung shut behind them.
oO0Oo
It was almost a week before Shawn was back to the ‘sitting up in bed and visiting with friends’ stage.
In the meantime Henry had a cot brought into the room, as he wasn’t leaving Shawn alone again.
Abigail finally returned and was suitably miffed that her boyfriend had been shot, kidnapped, beaten, impaled etc. etc. and she hadn’t heard a thing about it. Thankfully for Shawn, she heard the whole story from Henry while the object of her ire was still under heavy sedation. It was hard to get angry at someone on life support, and what little frustration she felt had time to cool before he woke up and started breathing on his own again.
“Is it always like this?” She’d asked Henry.
He’d just smiled at her, “Sometimes it gets really exciting.” Then, knowing she’d be there for a while, he’d kissed her on the top of her head and gone home for a shower and a few hours’ sleep.
oO0Oo
Five months later it was another perfect Santa Barbara morning: bright sunshine in a clear blue sky, warm but not quite hot, with just a bit of breeze off the ocean. It was beautiful. And Shawn Spencer was happy; purely, simply, uncomplicatedly happy.
He stood in front of the Psych office next to his Norton, his helmet under his arm. He took a deep, satisfying breath as he looked out at the ocean waves rolling in. His best friend was inside at his desk, trying very hard not to pay attention to what Shawn was doing.
The Blueberry2 was parked next to him. He’d had a fantastic time that morning pulling up in front of Gus’s place to pick him up in it. Gus had been completely surprised and more than a little overwhelmed – just as Shawn had planned. He’d even had to drive them to the office - chuckling all the way, as Gus was too excited and wanted to play with all the new upgrades with which the Blueberry2 came equipped.
It hadn’t been the easiest thing to get Central Coast to replace the Blueberry with a –nearly- identical car. But it was even harder getting them to do it with no penalty to Gus himself. Two factors had contributed greatly to his success in this endeavor: The Chief’s firm support behind his claims that the Blueberry had only been destroyed because their employee was a model citizen who was helping make Santa Barbara a safer place. The second and perhaps deciding factor was that Gus had helped save Central Coast from financial ruin – or – at least financial difficulty. Shawn had learned that the armored truck had belonged to their bank and, FDIC or not – a theft of that magnitude would have damaged the company financially. At least - that’s what Shawn had been able to convince Mr. Ogletree was the case.
And so the Blueberry was brought back to life. Shawn wanted to make it the ‘zombie-mobile’ for just that reason, but he knew it was too soon to suggest it to Gus.
The joyful task of reuniting Gus with the Blueberry accomplished, Shawn had the rest of his day planned out: He was taking Abs on a picnic, and then later to a movie. But first he had something else he wanted to do.
He had behaved himself over these last months. He had been very faithful in all his physical therapy and his assigned exercises, and he hardly even had a limp any more. It helped that Abs was always there to encourage him, even if she had a tendency to treat him as if he were fragile and occasionally made him feel a bit smothered. He didn’t mind. He liked all the extra attention – even Lassie had been treating him a little better than usual – and he had developed a tendency to milk it for all it was worth. It reminded him daily that there were people around who cared about him and it was a nice feeling.
But so was the Norton: He hadn’t been on his bike since the morning Gus had disappeared (and technically he wasn’t supposed to be on it now – which was why Gus was carefully not looking). He was long overdue for some serious freedom.
He had been looking forward to this for over a week. He wasn’t planning to go far. Contrary to popular opinion, he wasn’t reckless… much. He definitely didn’t want any more setbacks in his recovery. But he had every intention of spending a glorious hour zipping up and down the 101: Weaving in and out of traffic; Earning more than a few glares from moms in minivans; Going just slightly over the speed limit (because having to talk his way out of ticket from one of the SBPD’s finest was just not on the agenda for today); And feeling the wind in his face.
It really was the purest form of freedom he had ever experienced.
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END
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