Carlton sat in a chair in the waiting area of Santa Barbara General, hoping Shawn's doctor came out soon with some news. Shawn had remained unconscious during the trip to the hospital. The paramedics had said Shawn's temperature was dangerously high and used ice packs and wet towels in an attempt to cool him down. As soon as they arrived at the hospital, Shawn was whisked away and Carlton was shown to the waiting area. That had been two hours ago and still Carlton hadn't received any update on Shawn's condition. His Chief's badge hadn't seemed to faze the nurse manning the desk and he was seriously wishing he had his gun so he could demand some answers.

He stood up when he saw O'Hara and Guster walking towards him. "You didn't need to come."

"Of course we did," O'Hara said, pulling him into a hug. "We care about Shawn too. Have you heard anything yet?"

"No." Carlton snapped. He ran a hand through his hair as he glared at the nurse's station. "Nurse Rached over there won't tell me anything."

"I'm sure the doctor is busy taking care of Shawn." O'Hara led him over to a chair and forced him to sit. "You need to stay calm."

"How can I be calm?" Carlton asked incredulously. "He had a fucking seizure O'Hara. How could he have gotten that sick without me noticing?"

"You've been working non-stop all week," Guster said. "Shawn too. I'm the one that's been by his side. He seemed off yesterday but I thought he was just trying to get out of the stakeout." Guster wrung his hands. "I should have known something was wrong. I'm his best friend."

"And what? I'm just his husband so I wouldn't have noticed?" Carlton growled, glaring at Guster.

"Stop it, both of you," O'Hara said sharply. "This is no ones fault. People get sick all the time. Shawn's strong; he'll get through it."

"You don't know that," Carlton said. He twisted the ring on his left hand. He remembered the day Shawn had put it there, how happy they both had been. He knew there would be challenges being married to Shawn but he also knew it would be worth it. This wasn't the first challenge their marriage had faced, or the first time Shawn's life had possibly been at risk, but it was the first time he was helpless to do anything about it.

"I do," O'Hara said softly. She sat down next to Carlton, Guster on her other side. She didn't say anything else, just took his hand as she waited with him for news.

It was another half hour before the doctor came out. "Chief Spencer-Lassiter?"

Carlton sighed as he stood up, O'Hara and Guster standing with him. "It's Lassiter-Spencer," he corrected, used to the odd look the doctor gave him. He should have watched more closely how Shawn was signing his name on the marriage documents but he had been too happy to consider Shawn messing things up as only he could do. "How is he?" The doctor seemed calm, so either the news was good or he was so jaded by the job he didn't care anymore.

"Shawn is resting comfortably now. His fever was at 106 when he was brought in but we were able to bring it down. Once we did, he regained consciousness. We ran some tests and so far there doesn't appear to be any permanent damage from the seizure." The doctor gave him a small smile when Carlton let out a sigh of relief. "He's dehydrated, so we're going to keep him overnight to rehydrate him and make sure his fever doesn't spike again. Hopefully he should be well enough to go home in the next day or two to finish recovering on his own."

"What's wrong with him?" Guster asked.

"A case of influenza exasperated by dehydration and exhaustion," the doctor said. "The sudden spike in his temperature is likely what caused his seizure. We'll be running a couple more tests to make sure it wasn't something more serious but with rest he should be fine."

"Can I see him?" Carlton asked.

The doctor looked at O'Hara and Guster, then back at him. "You're his partner?"

Carlton crossed his arms, prepared to fight to see his husband. Even with gay marriage being legal, he still ran across homophobic assholes who tried to deny him his rights. "I am."

The doctor simply nodded. "Just you and you can stay if you let him rest." He looked at O'Hara and Guster. "You two will have to wait until visiting hours to see him."

"It's okay." She gave Carlton a kiss on the cheek. "Let's us know if you need anything before then or anything changes. I promised to keep Mr. Spencer in the loop in so you can focus on Shawn."

"I will," Carlton promised. He watched her and Guster leave before nodding at the doctor. "Lead the way."

Shawn scratched at the IV in his arm. The nurse smacked his hand. "Stop pulling at it."

"But it itches," Shawn whined. He was hot and miserable, and besides the itching he hated that he had something pointy stuck in his arm.

"You're dehydrated. It needs to stay in." She glared at Shawn. "Don't make me restrain you."

"Only Lassie is allowed to do that," Shawn muttered but stopped picking at his arm. He cheered up when his night in polyester armor came through the door, even if he was wearing a sweatshirt and pajama pants. "Lassie, tell her only you're allowed to tie me up."

Carlton sighed, but smiled at him fondly. "How are you feeling?"

"Cranky," Nurse Kill-joy butted in. "And he keeps trying to pull out his IV."

"Traitor," Shawn muttered. "What happened to doctor/patient confidentiality?"

The nurse smirked at him. "I'm not a doctor."

"I'll make sure he keeps it in." Carlton crossed the room and sat in the chair next to the bed. "You'll be good for me, right?"

Shawn sighed. He couldn't disappoint Lassie. "I will."

"Are you staying with him?" Nurse Kill-joy asked. At Carlton's nod, she pursed her lips. "I'll get you a fold out chair if you promise to let him get his rest."

"Of course," Carlton said, meeting her gaze. There was a tense moment where neither seemed to want to be the first to look away before the nurse finally nodded. "I'll be back shortly."

"You won," Shawn said cheerfully.

"It wasn't a contest," Carlton protested but Shawn could see the little curve to his lips and the proud set of his shoulders.

"Yeah, sure." Shawn sighed and slumped down in the bed, feeling tired. "They said I can't leave until at least tomorrow. Maybe longer." He pushed down the sheet, feeling too hot again.

"You're the one that had to end up in the hospital with the flu. You need to get better." Carlton grabbed a small towel from the table next to the bed and dipped it into the pitcher of water. He squeezed out the excess water and laid the blissfully cool cloth across his forehead. "How's that"

"Better." Shawn closed his eyes, trying to ignore how uncomfortable the rest of him was. "Did anyone call my dad?"

"He's got a flight back from Miami in the morning." He felt Carlton pull the sheet back up and kiss his cheek. "You should sleep now."

Shawn cracked his eyes so he could grab Carlton's hand. "I can now that you're here." He always felt safer with Lassie around.

He heard Nurse Kill-joy come back pushing something into the room. There was some shifting around next to the bed but Carlton didn't once drop his hand. Once the movement stopped, Shawn sighed and turned slightly so he was facing Carlton. He could just make out Carlton stretched out in the chair through blurry eyes. "Night Lassie."

Carlton squeezed his hand. "Night Shawn."

Shawn smiled and let himself drift off to sleep.

I hope you all enjoyed this. Please leave a review; even if I don't respond I promise I do read all of them.

I'm going to see if I can find anything else to post soon but I won't make any promises. All my energy has been going into a book I am writing (damn editing takes forever). I do hope to actually write A Twist of Fate but don't know if anything else will be worked on in the foreseeable future.