by pebble/scifipony
Fandom: Psych
Characters: Shawn Spencer, Juliet O'Hara
Pairings: Established Shawn/Juliet
Words: 3,554
Tags: Shawn Whump, Hurt/Comfort, Action, Adventure
Warnings: Stabbing
Author's Notes: Originally posted to tumblr in May 2020. Previously archived on FFN and SquidgeWorld. Written for the Bad Things Happen Bingo challenge. Prompt: "Hiding an injury" - requested an anon user on tumblr.
"That's why I should never let Gus answer the phone again," Shawn complained as they stepped out of the restaurant. Under the glare of the streetlight, he could easily see his girlfriend's amused grin. "It's not funny! That traitor sold me out!"
Juliet laughed. "Come on. It's your dad, not the mafia. I think you can survive one Saturday with him."
"You've met him, right? Besides, there's a Magnum PI marathon playing this weekend. Now I'm gonna be spending the whole day tomorrow cleaning gutters and repairing shingles when I should be watching Higgins and his attack hounds."
"They were Dobermans, not hounds," Juliet corrected as they stopped beside her green Volkswagen.
Shawn grinned at her over the roof of the car. "I love that you know that."
While she was digging through her purse for her keys, Shawn decided he might as well bite the bullet and let his dad know he'd be coming over the next day. He reached into his jeans pocket but came up empty. It only took a quick check of his other pockets to determine that he was missing one lime green device.
"Hey, Jules, have you seen my phone?"
She frowned as she considered the question. "I think the last place I saw you using it was at the Psych office."
Shawn groaned. "Yeah, that's what I was afraid of. Mind if we swing by the office on the way home?"
"Sure." Juliet pushed her car door shut and walked back around to his side. "It's only a block away, we can walk down there real quick. It'll give me a chance to walk off some of this pasta."
Threading her fingers through his, she started off down the sidewalk. Shawn shrugged and fell into step beside her. He wasn't a huge fan of exercise, but it wasn't far to the office. And it was a gorgeous night; the breeze rolling in from the sea kept it from feeling too warm.
The ocean rippled gently under the night breeze as they walked along the boardwalk. Shawn took a deep breath of the salty air and smiled. During his years on the road, one thing he definitely missed about Santa Barbara was the beachfront. None of the other beaches he visited in his travels were quite like the ones here.
They reached the end of the block and turned the corner. Across the parking lot, the familiar Psych office sat empty. It was late enough that all the shops along this stretch had closed for the day.
Well, almost all of them.
"That's weird," Shawn murmured.
"What's weird?"
He pointed to the antique shop across from their office. In front of the shop was a dark blue truck, and several men were walking between the truck and the front door.
"It's pretty late to be getting a shipment in."
Juliet frowned, hand sliding towards her purse, where Shawn knew she kept her off-duty sidearm. "Do they usually accept shipments after hours?"
"Sometimes, but not often."
Something about this situation wasn't sitting right with him. He didn't know the owner of this shop too well, but he was positive he'd never seen them bring in shipments so late at night – especially right before the weekend.
One of the men suddenly broke off from the group and approached. He stopped in front of them, hands shoved deep in his jacket pockets and a scowl on his face.
"Can I help you with something?" he asked gruffly. From his weasley face to the dark cap on his head, Shawn couldn't help thinking he looked a little too stereotypically shady.
"Nothing at all," he responded as nonchalantly as possible. "Just passing by and surprised to see a shipment being delivered so late."
"Yeah, well, the shop owner had something else to take care of earlier today."
Shawn shrugged. "Makes sense. We'll be on our way, then. Good luck with unloading and everything."
He could already tell the man wasn't going to let it drop that easily. Judging from the look on the guy's face, they had a matter of seconds before he did something desperate. Apparently, Juliet came to the same conclusion, because her hand suddenly let go of his and inched closer to her purse.
Before anything else could be said, the man turned and pulled something out of his jacket. Shawn caught a brief glimpse of moonlight on steel. There wasn't enough time to shout a warning before the man was lunging at Juliet, knife aimed at her chest.
Shawn leapt at almost the same moment and reached her first, tackling her to the side. They fell off the boardwalk, landing on the packed sand below. A sharp pain stabbed through Shawn's side as he hit the ground. There must have been a piece of debris where he landed; he'd have to lodge a complaint with the tourism board in the morning.
A raspy cough from his left reminded him of the more immediate concern.
"Jules! Are you okay?" he asked, dragging himself into a sitting position.
She was less than two yards away, already climbing to her feet. "Yeah," she assured him. "Just got the wind knocked out of me." Her eyes drifted up towards the boardwalk. "We need to move. Now."
Nodding his agreement, Shawn pushed himself up. He groaned as his side twinged with the movement. He grabbed his side with one hand and breathed through the pain as best he could.
It was Juliet's turn to look concerned. "You okay?"
"Yeah. I think I landed wrong."
A shout from overhead let them know that their window of opportunity was closing fast. The man was calling for reinforcements.
Juliet grabbed his free hand and pulled him against the seawall. Her other hand signaled the need for silence. They crouched low and began creeping forward, keeping to the shadows. Fortunately, the sand under their sneakers made their footsteps almost silent. What little noise they did make was covered by the waves lapping against the pier.
The small twinge in Shawn's side was rapidly climbing towards blinding pain. He was beginning to worry that he might have really damaged something during their fall.
The seconds it took to reach their destination seemed to last forever. Finally, though, they made it to the safety of the pier. Ducking under the wooden structure, they climbed the steep incline towards the base. It didn't take long to find a good hiding spot. Several support beams came together to form a protective barrier; the deep shadows they cast were an additional cover from anyone looking for them.
Shawn dropped to a sitting position as soon as they were inside their little hiding hole. Beside him, Juliet was frantically searching her pockets.
"What's wrong?" he whispered.
She muttered a curse under her breath before turning to him. "My phone is gone. It must have been in my purse, which I lost when we fell. My gun was in there, too."
"Oh. Well that's not good."
"No kidding."
"Time for Plan B, then."
She glanced at him expectantly. "You have a Plan B?"
"No," he admitted. "But my Plan C is for us to come up with a brilliant Plan B. I'm thinking something Ethan Hunt-esque."
"Well, let me know as soon as you've got that figured out," she muttered dryly.
Keeping to the shadows, she leaned out of their hiding place to get a better look at their predicament. After a minute, she leaned back in, her jaw set determinedly.
"Alright," she said, "I've got a plan. It's not that far from here to the office. We can sneak around to the parking lot and go in the back door; then use the office phone to get us some back up."
It wasn't a great plan. It relied entirely on their ability to cross the empty parking lot without being detected by any of the criminals. Still, it was the best option they had available.
Shawn nodded. "Okay, I'm on board. But for the record, when I referenced Ethan Hunt earlier, I didn't mean we should literally attempt a mission impossible."
He braced himself before pushing off the ground. Fire stabbed through his midsection, stealing his breath away. He hissed and pressed his hand into his side again. His vision greyed out for a moment, and he nearly ended up on the sand again. When his world finally stopped tilting, he became aware of the fact that Juliet was hovering nearby. She sounded worried.
"Shawn, what's wrong? Are you okay? Please don't pass out on me."
That last request didn't sound particularly sympathetic, but Shawn understood the reasoning behind it. Collapsing right now would be a very bad idea. He took a moment to steady his breathing before answering. "I'm fine. Still a bit shaky from the fall, I think."
He was never more grateful for his ability to lie convincingly. Seeming to accept his response, Juliet turned to peek out from their hiding space, probably checking to see if the way was clear.
As soon as she wasn't looking, Shawn pulled his hand away from his side to inspect the damage. He had a suspicion as to what was actually causing this pain, and he desperately hoped his guess was wrong.
The deep shadows made it impossible to see anything more than vague shapes. But the warm liquid on his fingers left no doubt about his condition. When that Peter Lorre wannabe had tried to stab Juliet, he must have hit Shawn instead. Judging by the amount of wetness seeping into his shirt, he was guessing the blade hadn't hit anything vital. He hoped so, anyway. That knowledge certainly didn't make it hurt any less, though.
He knew he couldn't say anything about it. Juliet would insist on him waiting here if she knew he was injured. And, as far as Shawn was concerned, that option wasn't even open for consideration. There was no way he was going to sit back and let her take on an unknown number of assailants on her own.
Juliet popped back inside a moment later. "Okay, we have an opening if we run right now. You ready?"
Oh, yeah, definitely. What could be more fun than trying to sneak past a gang of possibly armed assailants? The rapid blood loss adds a nice layer of challenge to the whole thing.
He nodded. "Yeah. Right behind you."
Waiting until she turned away again, he pressed his hand over his wound, trying to slow the blood flow as much as possible. The wave of agony his actions produced almost made him black out.
She is definitely going to kill me when she finds out the truth.
Juliet raised her hand, three fingers lifted high. She counted down slowly towards one. Behind her, Shawn bit his lip and braced himself for what was undoubtedly going to be a painful experience.
They broke from cover and crept up the embankment. It was a tense climb back to the boardwalk. With every step, they half-expected someone to spot them. Their luck held out, though, and they reached the top of the incline without anyone trying to stop them. Juliet motioned to a minivan parked on the far side of the lot. If they could reach that point without being seen, they could hide behind it before making a final run at the office.
Switching from sand to concrete made their footsteps less muffled, so they had to slow their pace to maintain silence. Shawn found himself grateful for that small mercy. The slower pace meant less strain on his knife-wound.
A breeze blew in off the water and he shivered. Was it his imagination or was the temperature significantly lower now than it had been a few minutes ago? And why was it so cold on a summer night anyway? This was Santa Barbara, it wasn't supposed to be cold at all.
That's shock, Shawn, his inner Gus lectured him. You must be losing more blood than you thought. You need to restrict the blood flow.
Easier said than done, he argued back. Unless Juliet is hiding a spare roll of duct tape in her pocket. Even then, I am not Macgyver-ing an attempt at first aid in this dirty parking lot.
It sounded like a very logical argument and Shawn was proud of that fact. Apparently, Gus agreed because he didn't respond again. Which was probably for the best. Shawn didn't pretend to have much knowledge of medical stuff, but he was guessing that arguing with the imaginary voices in your head was not a good sign.
They finally reached the safety of the minivan, crouching low behind the vehicle. Shawn leaned against the van's side. The metal surface wasn't exactly comfortable, but it was infinitely better than collapsing onto the pavement.
"Three guys," Juliet whispered softly. "Two are near the truck and one is at the dock. I think that's the one who attacked us; he seems like he's still looking for us on the beach."
Shawn nodded, trying his best to follow the conversation. He was having a hard time focusing on anything beyond the burning in his midsection.
"If we move now, they shouldn't see us. We'll have to make a run for the back door."
Juliet was already standing up before he fully registered her last statement.
Wait, what? We're not even going to take a moment to celebrate the progress we've made so far?
She was ducking out from behind the van a moment later and moving at a clipped pace for the back door of the office. Shawn groaned quietly before taking off after her.
For once, it paid off that they never remembered to lock the doors. Inside, the office was dark. A small amount of light filtered in from the windows, but it did nothing to cut through the deep shadows.
An uneasy feeling settled over Shawn as they crept through the kitchen area. Something was wrong. He couldn't tell what it was exactly, but it was definitely triggering those instincts his dad had drilled into him.
They were almost to the desks when it finally clicked.
The light above the front door wasn't on when we passed the building. Gus always sets that thing on a timer.
The only reason he could think of for knocking out the light was if someone didn't want to be seen entering the building. Which meant their approach hadn't been as undetected as they'd hoped. And if that someone was waiting for them…
A large shape detached itself from the rest of the shadows. Shawn swallowed hard. This guy was huge. Like, could probably survive a run in with a semi, level of huge. He had a feeling his one afternoon of kung fu lessons wasn't going to bring this guy down.
A quick check of his mental map of the office did provide an alternative idea, though. Gus left his bat by his desk a few days ago, after the department's last softball game. That should make a decently effective weapon.
Shawn dove for the baseball bat at the same moment Juliet made a grab for the phone. With them moving in opposite directions, the intruder was forced to choose between them. A massive weight slamming into him informed Shawn of the man's decision. Personally, he felt it would have been smarter to go after the person capable of calling the police, but at this point he wasn't even surprised. This really wasn't his day.
The enormous body plowing into him was painful enough, but it was the resulting collision with Gus's desk that tore the scream from his throat. His wound throbbed from its impact with the corner of the desk. Pain whited out his vision. He was only vaguely aware of hitting the floor.
Muffled sounds filtered in, but he couldn't focus on any of them.
Footsteps moved away from him and angry voices shouted at each other. He felt like something bad was happening – something he should be paying attention to – but the numb feeling that was taking over felt so good and he was reluctant to let it go.
Then the sound of fist striking flesh and Juliet's angry tones finally cut through the haze.
Jules!
Peeling his eyelids open – when had he closed his eyes? – he blinked to clear his vision.
A smile crept to his face at the sight of the man holding one hand to his nose in pain.
Way to go, Sweetheart. My girlfriend is awesome.
Biting back a whimper, Shawn braced his hands against the floor and pushed himself up. He managed to reach a half-kneeling stance before the fight turned ugly. Juliet was a seasoned cop, but there was only so much training could do when one's opponent was the size of a freight train.
Looking around desperately, Shawn's gaze landed on the pharmaceutical case resting beside the desk. It was sturdy, heavy, and small enough to wield as a weapon. More importantly, it was the only object Shawn didn't have to move to reach.
A sickening crack filled the air as the metal case impacted with skull. The WWE reject slumped to the floor. He wasn't out cold, but it was easy to see he wouldn't be standing any time soon.
Proud of his chucking skills, Shawn pumped both fists in the air. This movement was cut off abruptly as it pulled at his injury; he lowered his arms with a hiss, but allowed himself a victory smirk instead. Apparently all those years of waste paper basketball had paid off.
"Shawn, are you okay?" Juliet asked anxiously, squatting down beside his slumped form.
He nodded, almost toppling as a wave of dizziness washed through him. "Totally fine," he said. "Did you call the cavalry?"
"They're on their way." She gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze as she stood again. "I'm going to lock the doors before the others come looking for their buddy. Stay still."
That was one order he had no intention of disobeying.
~~~~~
"You'll need to take it easy until that heals," the doctor informed him calmly. "Don't get the stitches wet and change the bandages every day. I'll prescribe a mild painkiller for you, but I don't foresee any complications as long as you don't overdo it."
"Thanks, doc," Shawn said, smiling gratefully as the physician finished applying gauze over the wound.
She finished up and left a prescription slip in his hand before exiting the room.
Pulling his shirt back on, grunting as the maneuver tugged at his stitches, Shawn tried desperately to think of something to fill the awkward void. Survival instinct had taught him early on how to determine Juliet's level of anger towards him. And right now she was beyond pissed.
"So," he said, aiming for casual and landing far short, "I guess I won't be helping my dad with the roof this weekend, huh? Not that I'd choose stabbing over housework, but at least now I have a legitimate excuse to watch that Magnum PI marathon."
Her icy glare was the only response.
Clearing his throat, he tried again, "Okay, so I probably should have mentioned the whole getting stabbed thing earlier, but–"
"You think?" she cut in. "How hard would it have been to speak up at some point with a quick 'Hey, I think I've been stabbed'? What were you thinking?! I specifically asked if you were hurt. Twice."
"Technically, I didn't realize I was hurt that first time you asked."
"That's not the point! If I'd known you were injured, I wouldn't have let you keep moving around, making it worse. I could have gone for the phone alone."
All attempt at humor dropped from his face. "That's why I didn't say anything." His hand grabbed hers and his voice lowered. "I knew you'd try to get help by yourself. If anything happened to you and I had to live with knowing that I let you get hurt… Jules, I promised after the Yin thing that I was always going to protect you."
The anger melted from her expression as she sat down beside him. "But you don't always have to protect me, Shawn. Sometimes you have to let me protect you, too."
His eyes closed tiredly as he rested his forehead against hers. "I know. I just hate the idea of something happening to you. I can't be there for you when you're on the job, chasing down bad guys. But I could be there tonight, and there was nothing going to keep me under that pier."
He could hear the smile in her voice as she responded, "And that's exactly how I feel every time you go chasing off on one of your crazy investigations. We have each other's backs. Next time you need me to watch yours for a little while, tell me. Got it?"
"Got it."
She pulled away a moment later. His eyes slid open to take in her amused smile.
"You look exhausted."
"Well, I may have spent the evening heroically bringing down a gang of criminals."
"Oh, yeah, you looked very heroic from your spot on the floor."
"That hurts, Jules."
She laughed and held out a hand to help him up. "Come on, we'd better get some rest if we're gonna catch that marathon tomorrow."
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