Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Psych belongs to Steve Franks, USA Network, and anyone else who owns it.

*OoO*

Carlton Lassiter was walking toward his black Fusion as he heard the telltale beep of the remote control unlocking Juliet O'Hara's VW. They'd just gotten off-duty and both were looking forward to a well-deserved weekend off.

"Detective O'Hara!" Buzz McNab called out. He saw her stop and double-back to where the officer was standing. Honestly, they were off-duty. Carlton didn't understand why she was so polite to everyone all the time.

His thoughts were interrupted by a loud boom and a blast of heat. The next thing he knew he had pieces of pavement and automobile raining down around him. His ears were still ringing as he struggled to sit up and search for his partner.

She was crumpled on the ground about ten feet from what was left of her car; McNab was a few feet away from her.

"O'Hara!" Carlton pulled himself up, ignoring the burning sensation in his leg. He'd later discover a piece of her VW Bug ended up in his calf. Right now, all he was concerned with was getting to her.

"O'Hara," he repeated as he reached her side and knelt down to check her pulse. It was strong, but she was out and there was a gash down one side of her face. He saw officers coming out of the station. "Call an ambulance!" When they didn't move quickly enough, he bellowed, "Now!"

"Come on, O'Hara, stay with me," he said softly. He kept checking her pulse; feeling relief each time it thumped against his fingertips.

He was moved aside when the paramedics got there. One of them tried to get him to sit in the other rig so they could work on his leg. He told them he was staying with her and if they tried to stop him, he was still carrying his service weapon.

That shut them up. Even though it would probably earn him another reprimand from the Chief.

Speaking of—

"Carlton, what happened?" Karen Vick stepped out of her car. She'd been at City Hall in a closed-door meeting with the mayor and had just made it back to the station.

He climbed into the ambulance. "I'm going to the hospital with O'Hara, Chief."

"I need you here to tell me what the hell happened!"

"You can call me at the hospital or see me there," he said as the door started to close, "but I'm not letting her go alone." The door slammed shut and the ambulance lurched forward before Vick could say anything else.

*OoO*

Carlton ended his cellphone call after giving his statement to Vick and glared at the doctor washing his wound to flush out the rest of the embedded dirt and concrete after pulling out a piece of metal about an inch long. He swore the little pencil-neck was enjoying this. Especially since he'd demanded to know what was going on with O'Hara and no one would tell him until he got his leg taken care of.

Once the doctor finished bandaging his leg, Carlton was out and searching for O'Hara's room. He could hear the doctor muttering behind him, but he really didn't care. He found the ICU floor and stopped at the desk and asked the nurse on duty where her room was.

"This way," she said as she led him to the room with a uniformed guard in front of it. Vick was taking no chances because the lab had determined O'Hara's car hadn't blown up accidentally; there had been a bomb. The only thing they could tell the chief right now was it was tied to her car remote. When she unlocked the car, it had armed the bomb and started a timer. The only reason she wasn't in pieces was the fact she had stopped to talk to McNab who had escaped with just a few cuts and bruises.

The nurse opened the door and his breath caught as he saw O'Hara. She had tubes everywhere.

"You can stay for 10 minutes and then you're going to have to leave." The nurse, whose name tag said Simmons, told him. He nodded, moving further into the room to take a seat by the bed. He gently put his hand over hers. She was so still. O'Hara was always moving, always talking, always so alive.

His thoughts were interrupted by Nurse Simmons. "Detective, this came for you."

She handed him an envelope with just his name on the front. He absently opened it as he kept most of his attention on O'Hara. Until he read it.

Too bad she's still alive. I guess I'll have to try harder next time. Then it's your turn.

His hand shook. He stood so fast the chair shoved back several inches. He jerked the door open and barked at the nurse, "Who delivered this?"

She glanced up from her paperwork, startled, "I don't know. When I came back from taking you to Detective O'Hara's room, it was lying on the desk."

Carlton quickly turned back to the officer at the door. "Are there any other cops here?"

"Yes sir. They came by to see Detective O'Hara."

"Get them up here now. He's here."

"Sir?"

"The bastard who tried to kill O'Hara. He's somewhere in the hospital." Carlton fingered the envelope as his mind raced. There wasn't time for the man to mail the letter, so it had to be hand delivered. He could hear the uniform calling it in. He desperately wanted to join the search, but he wasn't about to leave her alone again.

"Call security. I want this hospital locked down. No one goes in or out without my approval." he told the nurse. She nodded and picked up the phone. A moment later, she confirmed hospital lockdown.

The uniform gave him a nod. The other officers were searching. Hopefully, the son-of-a-bitch hadn't gotten away.

*OoO*

Carlton wearily entered the station an hour later. A search of the hospital hadn't turned up anyone suspicious and he'd had to call off the lockdown. Now he wanted to see what progress had been made on this end.

He saw through the conference room windows that a whiteboard with the case's information had been set up. He changed direction from his desk to head to the conference room.

"So, what have we got?" he asked as he entered. Vick was sitting at the table with four other detectives.

"Give us the room, please?" Vick said. The others left and Carlton knew he wasn't going to like what she said next.

"Sit down, Detective."

"Why?"

"Just sit down, Carlton."

He sat.

Vick paused and he knew what was coming.

"No, no, no. No way in hell."

"Detective!" Her voice was hard.

"No!" he almost yelled. "There is no way you're not letting me have this case."

"Carlton, you're too close to this."

"You're damn right I'm close to this. Whoever put a bomb in O'Hara's car tried to kill my partner!"

"And that's precisely why you can't be a part of the investigation," Vick continued. "You have to let someone who isn't as emotionally involved handle this!"

He shook his head vigorously. "No way in hell," he snarled again. "This is my case."

Vick's spine straightened. "No, it's not," she said with authority, "and since I'm still the one who runs this place, I have the final say. You're off this case!"

Carlton knew she wasn't going to budge and he made a decision.

"Fine," he said quietly.

He stood up and Vick breathed a sigh of relief until she saw what he was doing next. "Lassiter, don't do this."

"Sorry, Chief, I don't have a choice." With that, he lay his gun and his badge on the table and walked out.

Vick stared at the items in front of her and wondered when she'd lost control of the situation and her head detective.

TO BE CONTINUED