Psych: Solid Steel

Disclaimer: You can skip this part, I wish these characters were mine tho.

A/N: Thank you for the favorites and follows! Feel free to leave a review and let me know what you think so far!


The first thing that entered his awareness was pain, so much of it. His side hurt and his head was killing him. The darkness that had offered him blissful ignorance was receding too quickly. His mind was pushing him to wake up, but his heart wasn't in it.

He isn't ready to rejoin the land of the living. Although a small part of him was grateful he had the option. Images flashed through his mind: Elin's crazy smile, Juliet's cold indifference, the pain in his side, the blood covering his hand.

Then all those images are gone. Elin and Shawn are alone, she's crouched on the ground with flowers for her mother. They talk about matronly women, mental facilities, islands, and she asks him to help her. But before she extends her hand to him, Lassiter and Juliet show up with guns.

She surrenders with a wicked and coo-coo for cocoa puffs grin tossed in Shawn's direction and then Lassiter cuffs her and puts her in his car. Juliet rushes to his side, asking if he's okay before she kisses him.

As the kiss finished, he smiles at her. This is what should have happened. But just as soon as he sees it, reality twists its way back in with a loud beep erratically going off in the back of his mind.

He doesn't understand what the beep means, but then he hears voices, they're calling out medical information. His medical information, he registers faintly.

A coldness overcomes him. He feels like he should be panicking, but he doesn't have the energy.

Without realizing it, he finds himself falling back into the darkness, the world with the noise, disappointment, and pain fading away.

"We're losing him!" A nurse shouts as the doctors start compressions and prep the defibrillator. After a few tense moments, sinus rhythm returns and they collectively exhale in relief.

"That was close." One of the nurses' comments, another shakes his head.

"Stabbed, collapsed lung, four hours in surgery, coding in ICU, this guy is having a rough night." They share a sympathetic look.

"He's not out of the woods yet. I'm going to go talk to his family. If he makes it through tonight, his chances will greatly improve."

Shawn's eyes move beneath his eyelids; the darkness isn't as heavy as it was. He doesn't feel as cold either.

Part of him recognizes that as a good thing, but somewhere deeper he feels tiredness creeping in. Before his mind can force him back to consciousness, he feels warmth spread into his body and he recognizes the pain medicine working.

A different darkness forced the waking world to fade from Shawn's mind.


Henry stood abruptly when he saw a doctor walking towards them, Juliet, Lassiter, and Gus stood as well.

"How is he?" He asked before the doctor could open her mouth.

"He's not out of the woods yet. But he's stable for now." Looking down grimly, the doctor makes eye contact with the group. Three are cops and they want the hard truth. She can tell in the way they stand, their shoulders set, that they will see through anything less. The fourth's expression is hardened in determination.

"We are monitoring him closely. He lost a lot of blood, his lung collapsed, and had to be repaired; his body has been under a lot of strain. We're keeping an eye out for infection, but the surgery went well and if he makes it through the next 12 hours without complication, then we are very hopeful for a speedy recovery."

"The next 12 hours." Henry said with a sigh, rubbing his hand down his face, "Thank you." He says, nodding to the doctor. She nods back, "One visitor at a time, 12pm to 4am is a no visitor period."

As the doctor walks away, Lassiter turns to the group, "Henry, you go see Spencer. Juliet, please go to the cafeteria and find some food. I'm going to take Guster to get a change of clothes, then we'll meet back here. Any questions?" He asked, hands on his hips, daring them to argue.

When no one said anything, each preoccupied with their fears, Lassiter nodded. Juliet began hesitantly making her way to the cafeteria, Lassiter manhandled Gus out the door, and Henry began making his way towards Shawn's room in the ICU.

Upon approaching Shawn's room, Henry stopped and stared at all the machines through the glass wall. Shawn was on a ventilator, leads hooked him up to a heart monitor, and an IV was in his arm.

Taking a deep breath, Henry went into Shawn's room and pulled up a chair. Hesitating, he reached out and grabbed Shawn's hand.

"I know if you were awake, you'd make some stupid joke, but man up and let me hold your hand," Henry said gruffly. He has been lucky so far that Shawn's hospital visits had been limited to a knee injury, an appendectomy, and a gunshot wound to the shoulder. Henry shook his head, thankfully the shoulder wound had been a through and through and not something worse.

Breathing deeply, he settled in to sit with Shawn, hoping he would sense his presence and wake up, but knowing it was unlikely.

The time crept by until Gus stepped into the room and Henry went to find the cafeteria, not that he could eat anything, it just gave him something to do.

"H-hey man," Gus said, smiling despite the fact that Shawn couldn't see him. These last few days had been crazy. Taking in Shawn's appearance, he couldn't believe how worn out he looked. Gus knew, despite Shawn trying to hide it, that he was really hurting. Juliet had him all torn up emotionally. Shawn had pretended nothing was wrong at first, but Gus broke through when he saw him staring off with a confused expression on his face and Shawn told him about the different realities he was living.

Part of him knew it was due to the concussion, but the other part of him was worried Shawn's broken heart was affecting him in a more severe way.

Gus took in the bruise on Shawn's head, noting how it stood out in stark contrast to his pale skin. The ventilator did not look comfortable and Gus picked up Shawn's chart to distract himself from Shawn's uncharacteristically still form.

Gus paced the room, talked to Shawn, tried to make jokes, anything to push away the reality that Shawn had been stabbed, had surgery, and was now on a ventilator.

Breathing deeply, he almost jumped out of his skin when a nurse appeared at the door.

"Visiting hours are over, Sir. I'm afraid we need you to leave the ICU." The nurse stepped out of the doorway and Gus nodded. Stepping closer to Shawn, he fist-bumped his best friend's limp hand, "You better not leave me alone here, man, the blueberry may be better off, but I've got too many bills to pay."

With a final glance, he left to find Henry and the others.