Purple. His skin is purple. His figure is mottled, bruises already covering every inch of him, and she has to look away.

Juliet is in the waiting room when the doctor calls her in.

"You can come in now, detective," the woman says in a subdued tone.

Juliet's surprise is great enough that she can't move for a second, but then she quickly rises and follows her.

They pass through a door, and immediately Juliet is greeted by the sight of Shawn.

Seeing him takes her breath away, and not in a good way. His broken, bruised body is mostly covered by sheets, but what she can see makes her gag.

His eyes are closed- apparently he is still unconscious. He is covered in ugly bruises, a tube is in his mouth, and there is a bandage covering his chest- the place where he was stabbed. She can tell that Shawn has broken bones, and he has a neck brace as well as an arm and a leg both in casts.

For a few brief seconds, the only sound that can be heard is the slow beep of the heart monitor. Then, a nurse steps forward, murmuring "It's time for a new bandage..." She uses gloved hands to take of the slightly bloody gauze, speedily replacing it before Juliet can see much of the stitches beneath.

Juliet takes a shaky breath and turns to face the doctor. "How is he?"

She seems reluctant to speak, and Juliet is trying to read her expression. "Well.." the woman begins, speaking gently. "His arm and leg are both broken as well as a few ribs. We were able to close his chest wound before he lost too much blood... but the knife pierced his lung." Juliet swallows, afraid. The emotion has become her constant companion.

"He went long enough before we could repair the lung that his body didn't get enough oxygen. It may have caused irreparable damage." At this point, tears begin to leak out of Juliet's eyes, but they are silent, and she listens, more aware than she can ever remember being. "He can't breath very well on his own, either."

Juliet sinks into a chair that is beside Shawn's chair, gasping now as tears pour down her face. "But...will he be okay?"

A sympathetic look crosses the doctor's face. "It may be the time to say goodbye-" And before that last word is even out of the woman's mouth, Juliet is sobbing.

She clenches her eyes shut, shakes her head.

It cannot be true.

They are lying.

Because there is no way, no way at all that Shawn is dying.

She refuses to look as a hand is placed on her shoulder, because if she can't see, then maybe it isn't true. She doesn't want to open her eyes, see Shawn dying, but she cannot un-see what she has already witnessed. Shawn lying there, broken and bruised.

The agony is too great. She doesn't move for a while, but finally, she finds the strength to look up. The room is strangely deserted, except for her and Shawn.

Juliet moves closer to Shawn. Her hands hover for a second, then she gently clasps his. They are cold.

Juliet takes a slow, shaky breath, tears pouring down her face.

"Shawn..." she whispers. "This shouldn't have happened- I should've done something. I...I... " She gasps, unable to continue.

The irony of it all is that the one person in the world who would have been able to comfort Juliet was the one person who couldn't.

And suddenly she is sobbing even harder, because it is hitting her.

Shawn is dying. He won't come back to her.

She stays that way for a while, curled up by Shawn's bed, holding his hand. The passing of time barely registers, but after a while, a doctor comes in. Juliet can hear her heels as they click on the ground.

And, just like that, she knows it's time to go.

Releasing Shawn's hand seems to Juliet as the hardest thing she has ever done, but she lets go.

"I love you..." she breaths, her voice barely loud enough to hear. She brushes her lips across his for the last time, silent tears cascading down her cheeks.

And, as Juliet walks out, she can't help but look back. Shawn looks like he could be sleeping.

But she knows he'll never wake up.

Nothing. The world is gone. There is no white, no black, no other color, because there is nothing.

A/N: Sorry I didn't do a author's note yesterday (because I'm sure you all look forward to it SO much), but I was super busy and I kinda spaced. So basically, what you need to know is that this story is over (duh) and Shawn DID die- as evidenced by the last "color thing" that talks about nothing instead of a color (that part is technically part of Shawn's POV, but that did not make so much sense...ah well). Anyway, tell me what YOU think, huh?

Thank you for all your awesome reviews during this story- it was very fun to write :)