FIC: "Right Place, Wrong Time" by Regann - PG-13/R - Shawn/Lassiter (15/??)
Title: Right Place, Wrong Time (15/??)
Author: Regann
Pairing: Shawn/Lassiter
Rating: PG-13/R
Disclaimer: I don't own anything; I just play with them.
Notes: Extra Special Weekend Update! I think you'll thank me for it when part 16 and 17 aren't split up over a weekend!
Summary: 17-year-old Shawn has a fake ID burning a hole in his pocket, a college party to crash, and a mission to stop being the only virgin in his senior class. Unfortunately, there's this big-earred, good-doing grad student by the name of Carlton who catches him in the act. The unfair nature of cosmic humor being what it is, thus begins something that'll come back to haunt them both ten years later -- when an adult Shawn Spencer decides to give psychic investigation a try.
Past Parts: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10| 11 | 12 | 13 | 14
Right Place, Wrong Time (Part 15)
Burton Guster had always considered himself a decent guy and had tried all his life to make his deeds match that opinion. He'd been voted "Mr. Nice Guy" in high school and while Shawn had chortled about that for years, Gus had never had any problem with that label. He liked being the good guy.
Being the nice guy, Gus had never put much stock in hating people. It took up too much time, energy and other consumables that could be used more constructively in other areas of his life; it wasn't worth the effort.
Gus still hated Carlton Lassiter.
In fact, he'd hated him almost since the day they'd met at the SBPD's 4th of July Picnic he'd attended with Shawn the summer after high school, when he'd been faced with this 20-something adult who had obviously taken advantage of his stupid underage friend by having sex with him. Shawn, of course, had assured him that there'd been no advantage-taking in the mix but it had never sat right with him that any 25-year-old would do something like that.
What had started out as dislike and unease in the face of Lassiter's complete lack of moral conscience had rapidly hardened into something else when he'd found out that the almost-cop had spent the weekend shacked up with Shawn while the Spencers were away. Gus remembered thinking about the disrespect there: the guy worked alongside Mr. Spencer at the station and was willing to do this to him? Gus had always been taught about respect and that just wasn't it.
Then had come the piece de resistance -- a week of happy-as-a-clam Shawn followed by the devastated, angsty shadow he'd become after "Carly'" broke it off with him. Gus had eventually pressed for details but Shawn had been uncharacteristically closed-mouth until they'd gotten drunk enough one night for him to admit a few blurry details, including the fact that he'd been told that he wasn't "worth it" and Lassiter been worried about Shawn tattling on him to someone.
So even as a teenager, Gus had felt justified in his hate for Carlton Lassiter, a man who could use and discard the stupid, blind-in-love kid Shawn had been and then only worry about himself when he got tired of it. If it had been up to Gus, Shawn would've taken it to Mr. Spencer and Lassiter would've been made to pay; but the one time he'd brought that suggestion up to Shawn, he'd looked so sick and sad at the thought that he'd never said it again.
And just because Carlton Lassiter had become the head detective of the SBPD, a supposedly upstanding guy, and was a co-worker of his didn't mean that that hate had just went away.
When Shawn had first explained to him who Detective Lassiter was, Gus had been understandably worried about Lassiter making the same connection and taking it out on them. As the months had passed, though and it had become obvious that Lassiter didn't remember Shawn, Gus's concerns had changed focus.
On one hand, he was incredibly angry on Shawn's behalf, pissed that Lassiter could actually not remember him. It seemed like the last of many slaps in the face he'd dealt his friend since that night in Irvine.
Most of Gus, though, was just incredibly worried about Shawn. Shawn had made noises for years about how "Carly" hadn't meant much to him, how it had all been about getting laid and various other lies but Gus had been there and Shawn's lies didn't work on him. He knew that Shawn had been in love with his Carly, as much any teenager could be, and that it had left its mark on him. For the adult Shawn to have to work with him, day in and day out, he knew it had to be uncomfortable. And, to his horror, he saw the last thing he'd ever want to see happening ---
Shawn was falling for Lassiter again.
Gus had no romantic illusions: he knew that it was going to end in heartbreak again and the broken heart would be Shawn's -- again. But this time it would be a grown-up Shawn suffering through it and he wouldn't just hide in his room or do stupid things to piss Henry off, he'd jump on his bike, screw up the PI gig he enjoyed so much and probably never come back to Santa Barbara ever.
He'd already decided that if it came to that, Gus would personally kill Lassiter himself, jail be damned. A guy could only let a bastard break his bi-flexible best friend's heart so many times in one lifetime before he had to take action.
He'd been hoping that maybe he'd just been paranoid about the whole thing until Shawn had dropped the Valerie case on their workload, all in the name of helping Lassiter feel better. Even though Gus had at least reached a point where he tolerated Lassiter and maybe even accepted the fact that he'd matured in ten-plus years, it didn't mean he had any special considerations for the guy's feelings. Gus had seen in the light in Shawn's face, first at the press conference and later at their offices and he'd known that his friend was in serious trouble again.
It was why Gus had decided to stick close through the next few cases, the very next being the mystery of the grassy-assed guys that had landed them at the speed-dating event. As he sat at the table with Juliet and Shawn, he watched as Lassiter walked up and immediately gained all of Shawn's attention without ever trying, then watched as Shawn flirted with him in the subtlest way he knew, managing to tease, touch and compliment him all under the guise of shop-talk. It was a gift that Gus had often wished he possessed but, at that moment, he only wished Shawn didn't have it.
After his disastrous date with Darcy, while he was changing into the snot-free shirt that Mr. Spencer had been nice enough to lend him, Gus finally had a chance to ask about his erstwhile partner.
"Got a call from the detective working the case," Henry explained. "And there was something about a leprechaun?"
Gus finally met up with Shawn, Lassiter and the Chief at Shenanigan's where Shawn managed to break the case. He had to admit he -- like Lassiter -- was glad that Marvin turned out to be crooked, just because he'd been so obnoxious since day one.
Their conversation over jerk chicken later that night was mostly about Shawn's incredibility about Henry's sudden turn into metrosexualism but it eventually turned back to the case they'd just closed.
"It's too bad you missed Lassiter grilling Marvin," Shawn said, pausing in his consumption of spicy chicken to take a swig of his cold beer. "It was hilarious. He was so smug, like he was above it all."
"Who? Lassiter?"
"Lassiter?" Shawn furrowed his brow. "No, Marvin! But I got him, yes, I did."
"Yeah, you did," Gus agreed.
Shawn grinned at him before enthusiastically attacking his food once more. Gus watched him for a moment before speaking. "Your dad said Lassiter called you in?"
He nodded. "When he picked up Marvin, so I could be there for the questioning."
"So, that blonde you tried to chat up," Gus continued. "Anything happening there?"
"No, not really," Shawn admitted. "She was nice, though."
"How about...Juliet?" Gus asked hopefully. "You seemed preoccupied with the fact that she was on a date."
"Gus, it's Jules," he replied. "Did you see that dude she was with? Pffft!" Shawn stopped eating and looked at him. "What's your point with this? You trying to set me up with Juliet?"
"No," Gus promised. "Just trying to, you know, see what's going on with you. You haven't been up on the action lately, if you know what I mean." He didn't want to admit to Shawn but he was just hoping that his friend could be distracted by a pretty female face.
"I just...haven't been feeling it lately," Shawn admitted.
"Uh huh."
"Maybe I'm working too hard."
"Uh huh."
"Maybe..." Shawn looked down at his plate, steadily avoiding Gus's gaze. "Or maybe you weren't all that off the other day."
Gus's felt his hope sink at the resignation in his friend's voice, at the guilty way he kept his head bowed. "I knew it! Damnit, Shawn!"
"I know, Gus, I know!" Shawn hissed back. "It's not like I was looking for this to happen!"
"I told you, Shawn," Gus said, wagging his finger at him. "From that first day, I told you something like this was going to happen!"
"You think I want to have the hots for Lassy?" Shawn asked him petulantly. "It didn't exactly work out last time and it's not like he likes me all that much now!"
Gus opened his mouth to say something pointed and probably biting but he saw the real uneasiness in Shawn's eyes and the words died. Shawn was his best friend, had been for as long as he could remember, and it was obvious that the confession wasn't sitting well with him any more than it was with Gus.
He sighed. "I suggest you try to move past it. Don't even try anything."
"Yeah," Shawn nodded. "I know."
"He'll just screw you over," Gus reminded him. "Again."
"I know."
"I'm just saying!"
Shawn sighed, busying himself with wiping his hands with his paper napkin. "Do you really think I don't know all this?"
Gus winced and accepted the point. He couldn't help but feel partly to blame for driving that point home but he'd only done it out of friendship. The last thing Shawn needed was to push it with Lassiter and end up hurting a lot more than he would from some unrequited pining. And Gus was sure that it would end with Shawn being hurt -- while he may have been able to accept Lassiter as the stand-up guy he was today, that didn't mean he'd ever trust him where Shawn was concerned.
"Just don't let him hurt you," Gus finally said.
"I'll try," Shawn told him. "But I make no promises."
That was exactly what Gus was afraid of.
**
From the beginning, Juliet O'Hara had realized that Lassiter and Shawn had a very strange relationship, almost from the first moment she'd seen them together. The fact that Shawn himself was strange, if charming, probably helped form that early opinion but their subsequent interactions had only cemented it.
Lassiter's animosity had always been apparent, along with his impatience and disbelief. Juliet understood the latter because she hadn't actually known what to think about Shawn being a psychic herself, but he'd long since proved his abilities to her. Shawn had had some issues with Lassiter, too, she'd noted early, but it had always been more about teasing some reaction out of the detective than about arousing that animosity. Of course, there had been times -- especially in those early cases -- when it had been an eruption of anger on both sides.
Things had started to change after Hiltonbock's arrest, though the change had been slow. Lassiter still had his days of extra-crankiness that had meant hell for everyone and not just Shawn but, for the most part, Lassiter had started dealing with Shawn and his psychic abilities with a bit more equanimity. Shawn hadn't much changed his ways but Lassiter's tolerance had eased the entire situation.
But for all of Shawn's easy-going-ness, Juliet hadn't realized how much Shawn actually liked Lassiter until she'd busted "KKarlton" reopening the Bryant Valerie case. She hadn't been able to imagine anything more gracious on Shawn's part -- doing all of the work, taking none of the glory, all for Carlton. It was why she'd agreed to help him in the first place and she'd never regretted her part in the operation. Shawn had even told her later that Lassiter's uplifted spirits during the media heyday was more than enough reward for him.
All that didn't mean that Shawn didn't drive Lassiter crazy at every turn but Juliet was willing to chalk it up to fundamental personality differences -- and Shawn's unique version of humor.
As one of Lassiter's older cases, the Sandra Panitch case, approached trial-time, Juliet could tell that he wasn't as satisfied with the case as he had been at the time of the arrest. He came back from testimony preparation with the district attorney left him unsettled and she wondered how she'd deal with the same situation if she ever faced it. Lassiter didn't have any idea what to do about his doubts with the case and he was still one of the prosecution's star witnesses.
"This is really bothering you, isn't it?" she asked him as they headed to the trial.
"Of course it does," he told him sharply. "I'm a cop and it's my job to put the criminal behind bars, not just anybody. But the evidence is strong and after all this time, the trail would be cold even if someone were to investigate."
Juliet thought about what he'd said. "This may sound crazy," she admitted. "But have you ever thought of asking...Shawn?"
"No," he told her. "Asking for Spencer's help is placing him under the very mistaken impression that I believe his psychic crap and I don't, haven't and never will."
"But he does figure things out."
"Yes," he admitted. "He does."
"So why not ask him?"
"Because I don't want to."
"But you do think he's good?"
He rolled his eyes. "Do I need to spell it out, O'Hara? He always closes his cases, usually with a tidy confession or at least enough evidence that the arrest is guaranteed, and I haven't tossed his ass in jail yet for obstruction of justice. What do you think?"
Juliet didn't reply but she smiled to herself, proud that she'd just learned something about her enigmatic partner. Despite the way he acted, he obviously respected Shawn's skills and -- maybe -- he even liked the psychic a little. She'd seen him behave that way a time or two, a stray conversation or look that was amiable but only seemed to happen when Shawn and Lassiter were alone, as if Lassiter was afraid that someone would figure it out.
She wonder how Shawn -- a psychic -- been missed it so far. She though he had to be blind to it or else he'd have been nicer to the detective.
Given that they'd been talking about him on the drive over, it was certainly a surprise when they ran into Shawn at the court house -- at the Sandra Panitch trial, no less.
Juliet wasn't sure how she'd expected Lassiter to react to the news that Shawn had hired himself out as a legal consultant to the defense; his comments were a mixed bag and Juliet could tell that his "Don't screw it up" rattled Shawn more than his earlier, more offensive words.
If knowing that Shawn was involved calmed Lassiter's doubts any, he didn't show it, at least not where Juliet could tell. She did see, however, how Lassiter watched the psychic in court from their seats in the back room and she wondered what he was thinking when he did. She was doubly sure that Shawn had no idea about Lassiter's good opinion of him when Lassiter openly vouched for him with the judge. She doubted anyone had ever expressed their surprise in terms of handicrafts before, but Juliet had always known Shawn was odd.
For all her appreciation of Shawn's humor, though, Juliet wished that he would sometimes give it a rest, especially where Lassiter was concerned. Sometimes she wondered if maybe her partner wasn't right about Shawn's lack of psychic ability because there were some things that were so obvious that she wondered how he could miss it.
When she and Lassiter ran into Shawn and Gus on the steps outside of the court, she wished that Shawn had been able to show a little tact and not give Lassiter such a hard time; not that it was obvious to anyone else but she knew that this trial was pulling Carlton in a million different directions. Shawn's humor was out of place, especially when his barbs tended to be personal.
Juliet wished she could make Shawn see that about Lassiter, that it was about more than which of them was right or wrong and even though Lassiter didn't show it, he did respect Shawn and what he could do. Juliet tried to tell him but she wasn't sure how much he heard. He heard something, though, because he hurried off even before she and Lassiter had made it into the courthouse, Gus trailing behind him.
Lassiter had not been looking forward to his time on the stand but his doubts turned into absolute shock when the defense attorney, Hornstock, asked him about a memo he'd sent. Juliet could tell how surprised he was by the way his eyes immediately sought out Shawn and lingered on him, probably deciding that it was the only way that the defense could have learned about it.
Although he didn't say it, she knew that Lassiter was pleased when Shawn and Hornstock managed to coax a confession from Priscilla on the stand, thus clearing Sandra and bringing the real killer to justice. As soon as the chaos had begun to die down, Juliet pushed her way through the crowds to congratulate the defense team. Gus actually hugged her when she stopped to talk to him and together they headed over to Shawn, Sandra and Hornstock.
"You did really good!" she told Shawn.
"Thanks, Jules!" he returned. He thudded the lawyer on the back. "H-stock here did all of the work though!"
"No, no, not me," Hornstock demurred. "Shawn was amazing."
"You were allwonderful," Sandra broke in and Juliet immediately liked her for some reason.
"Lassiter was really impressed, too," Juliet said, touching Shawn's arm to get his attention.
"Oh really?" Shawn didn't seem convinced.
"Yes, I'm sure he..." Juliet turned in time to watch Lassiter slip out of the courtroom. "Oh."
Shawn patted her arm. "Nice try, Jules," he said. "Now, we're all going out to celebrate. You coming with?"
Juliet decided not to join in the festivities and instead headed back to work. Lassiter was there at his desk when she walked in, thoroughly engaged in paperwork. When she questioned him about his sudden departure from the courthouse but he refused to say anything more about it.
It wasn't too long after the Panitch trial ended that the police station held their repossessed vehicle auction; Juliet passed several of the signs as she came in the door. She'd just settled down at her desk when Lassiter came loping over, shirt-sleeves rolled up and having that look that said he'd been at work for many hours already.
"O'Hara," he barked. "Do you have the autopsy on the Greenwich case?"
"I do," she answered. "Hold on."
Lassiter loitered by her desk as she shuffled through her desk, only to remember that the file was in her briefcase. She was leaning over to pull it from the black leather bag when she heard Shawn call out, "Hey, Lassy!"
Juliet righted herself in time to see Shawn half-jog to their location. "There you are!" he said, looking Lassiter up and down.
"I thought I told you to go home, Spencer," he said.
"And I will, soon," Shawn promised. "But first I had to thank you. And, you know, ask you what you did with the real Carlton Lassiter."
"Shawn, can't you just say thank you," Juliet asked, exasperated.
"Of course," he assured her. "But I like words! Lots of words! And thank you is just sooo short."
"Spencer, if you want to thank me, you can do it by leaving me alone," Lassiter told him, taking the forgotten file from Juliet's hand.
"Without giving you props?" Shawn asked. "I couldn't do that."
Lassiter sighed, rubbing a hand over his eyes. "I'm going back to my desk."
Juliet watched him stalk off and then turned to Shawn. "Can't you ever just be nice to him?"
"Jules," Shawn began, turning to face her. "If I was what you call nice to Lassy, he'd die from the shock."
"Still..."
Shawn looked away from her, eyes watching Lassiter as the detective worked at his computer. "We've got our own thing going. It's weird but it works." He paused. "Most of the time."
Juliet watched Shawn watched Lassiter and thought about what he'd said.
Lassiter wouldn't ask for Shawn's help even though he knew Shawn could solve a case and when Shawn took on the case, Lassiter acted angry. Then when what he really wanted to do was congratulate him, Lassiter avoided the psychic -- only to go behind his back and return Shawn's precious motorcycle to him. And then Shawn said thank you in his own obnoxious way, a sentiment that sent Lassiter for cover, leaving Shawn to watch him from her desk, the oddest look on his face.
Juliet had been right in the first place.
Shawn and Lassiter had a very strange relationship.
To Be Continued...
Author: Regann
Pairing: Shawn/Lassiter
Rating: PG-13/R
Disclaimer: I don't own anything; I just play with them.
Notes: Extra Special Weekend Update! I think you'll thank me for it when part 16 and 17 aren't split up over a weekend!
Summary: 17-year-old Shawn has a fake ID burning a hole in his pocket, a college party to crash, and a mission to stop being the only virgin in his senior class. Unfortunately, there's this big-earred, good-doing grad student by the name of Carlton who catches him in the act. The unfair nature of cosmic humor being what it is, thus begins something that'll come back to haunt them both ten years later -- when an adult Shawn Spencer decides to give psychic investigation a try.
Past Parts: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10| 11 | 12 | 13 | 14
Right Place, Wrong Time (Part 15)
Burton Guster had always considered himself a decent guy and had tried all his life to make his deeds match that opinion. He'd been voted "Mr. Nice Guy" in high school and while Shawn had chortled about that for years, Gus had never had any problem with that label. He liked being the good guy.
Being the nice guy, Gus had never put much stock in hating people. It took up too much time, energy and other consumables that could be used more constructively in other areas of his life; it wasn't worth the effort.
Gus still hated Carlton Lassiter.
In fact, he'd hated him almost since the day they'd met at the SBPD's 4th of July Picnic he'd attended with Shawn the summer after high school, when he'd been faced with this 20-something adult who had obviously taken advantage of his stupid underage friend by having sex with him. Shawn, of course, had assured him that there'd been no advantage-taking in the mix but it had never sat right with him that any 25-year-old would do something like that.
What had started out as dislike and unease in the face of Lassiter's complete lack of moral conscience had rapidly hardened into something else when he'd found out that the almost-cop had spent the weekend shacked up with Shawn while the Spencers were away. Gus remembered thinking about the disrespect there: the guy worked alongside Mr. Spencer at the station and was willing to do this to him? Gus had always been taught about respect and that just wasn't it.
Then had come the piece de resistance -- a week of happy-as-a-clam Shawn followed by the devastated, angsty shadow he'd become after "Carly'" broke it off with him. Gus had eventually pressed for details but Shawn had been uncharacteristically closed-mouth until they'd gotten drunk enough one night for him to admit a few blurry details, including the fact that he'd been told that he wasn't "worth it" and Lassiter been worried about Shawn tattling on him to someone.
So even as a teenager, Gus had felt justified in his hate for Carlton Lassiter, a man who could use and discard the stupid, blind-in-love kid Shawn had been and then only worry about himself when he got tired of it. If it had been up to Gus, Shawn would've taken it to Mr. Spencer and Lassiter would've been made to pay; but the one time he'd brought that suggestion up to Shawn, he'd looked so sick and sad at the thought that he'd never said it again.
And just because Carlton Lassiter had become the head detective of the SBPD, a supposedly upstanding guy, and was a co-worker of his didn't mean that that hate had just went away.
When Shawn had first explained to him who Detective Lassiter was, Gus had been understandably worried about Lassiter making the same connection and taking it out on them. As the months had passed, though and it had become obvious that Lassiter didn't remember Shawn, Gus's concerns had changed focus.
On one hand, he was incredibly angry on Shawn's behalf, pissed that Lassiter could actually not remember him. It seemed like the last of many slaps in the face he'd dealt his friend since that night in Irvine.
Most of Gus, though, was just incredibly worried about Shawn. Shawn had made noises for years about how "Carly" hadn't meant much to him, how it had all been about getting laid and various other lies but Gus had been there and Shawn's lies didn't work on him. He knew that Shawn had been in love with his Carly, as much any teenager could be, and that it had left its mark on him. For the adult Shawn to have to work with him, day in and day out, he knew it had to be uncomfortable. And, to his horror, he saw the last thing he'd ever want to see happening ---
Shawn was falling for Lassiter again.
Gus had no romantic illusions: he knew that it was going to end in heartbreak again and the broken heart would be Shawn's -- again. But this time it would be a grown-up Shawn suffering through it and he wouldn't just hide in his room or do stupid things to piss Henry off, he'd jump on his bike, screw up the PI gig he enjoyed so much and probably never come back to Santa Barbara ever.
He'd already decided that if it came to that, Gus would personally kill Lassiter himself, jail be damned. A guy could only let a bastard break his bi-flexible best friend's heart so many times in one lifetime before he had to take action.
He'd been hoping that maybe he'd just been paranoid about the whole thing until Shawn had dropped the Valerie case on their workload, all in the name of helping Lassiter feel better. Even though Gus had at least reached a point where he tolerated Lassiter and maybe even accepted the fact that he'd matured in ten-plus years, it didn't mean he had any special considerations for the guy's feelings. Gus had seen in the light in Shawn's face, first at the press conference and later at their offices and he'd known that his friend was in serious trouble again.
It was why Gus had decided to stick close through the next few cases, the very next being the mystery of the grassy-assed guys that had landed them at the speed-dating event. As he sat at the table with Juliet and Shawn, he watched as Lassiter walked up and immediately gained all of Shawn's attention without ever trying, then watched as Shawn flirted with him in the subtlest way he knew, managing to tease, touch and compliment him all under the guise of shop-talk. It was a gift that Gus had often wished he possessed but, at that moment, he only wished Shawn didn't have it.
After his disastrous date with Darcy, while he was changing into the snot-free shirt that Mr. Spencer had been nice enough to lend him, Gus finally had a chance to ask about his erstwhile partner.
"Got a call from the detective working the case," Henry explained. "And there was something about a leprechaun?"
Gus finally met up with Shawn, Lassiter and the Chief at Shenanigan's where Shawn managed to break the case. He had to admit he -- like Lassiter -- was glad that Marvin turned out to be crooked, just because he'd been so obnoxious since day one.
Their conversation over jerk chicken later that night was mostly about Shawn's incredibility about Henry's sudden turn into metrosexualism but it eventually turned back to the case they'd just closed.
"It's too bad you missed Lassiter grilling Marvin," Shawn said, pausing in his consumption of spicy chicken to take a swig of his cold beer. "It was hilarious. He was so smug, like he was above it all."
"Who? Lassiter?"
"Lassiter?" Shawn furrowed his brow. "No, Marvin! But I got him, yes, I did."
"Yeah, you did," Gus agreed.
Shawn grinned at him before enthusiastically attacking his food once more. Gus watched him for a moment before speaking. "Your dad said Lassiter called you in?"
He nodded. "When he picked up Marvin, so I could be there for the questioning."
"So, that blonde you tried to chat up," Gus continued. "Anything happening there?"
"No, not really," Shawn admitted. "She was nice, though."
"How about...Juliet?" Gus asked hopefully. "You seemed preoccupied with the fact that she was on a date."
"Gus, it's Jules," he replied. "Did you see that dude she was with? Pffft!" Shawn stopped eating and looked at him. "What's your point with this? You trying to set me up with Juliet?"
"No," Gus promised. "Just trying to, you know, see what's going on with you. You haven't been up on the action lately, if you know what I mean." He didn't want to admit to Shawn but he was just hoping that his friend could be distracted by a pretty female face.
"I just...haven't been feeling it lately," Shawn admitted.
"Uh huh."
"Maybe I'm working too hard."
"Uh huh."
"Maybe..." Shawn looked down at his plate, steadily avoiding Gus's gaze. "Or maybe you weren't all that off the other day."
Gus's felt his hope sink at the resignation in his friend's voice, at the guilty way he kept his head bowed. "I knew it! Damnit, Shawn!"
"I know, Gus, I know!" Shawn hissed back. "It's not like I was looking for this to happen!"
"I told you, Shawn," Gus said, wagging his finger at him. "From that first day, I told you something like this was going to happen!"
"You think I want to have the hots for Lassy?" Shawn asked him petulantly. "It didn't exactly work out last time and it's not like he likes me all that much now!"
Gus opened his mouth to say something pointed and probably biting but he saw the real uneasiness in Shawn's eyes and the words died. Shawn was his best friend, had been for as long as he could remember, and it was obvious that the confession wasn't sitting well with him any more than it was with Gus.
He sighed. "I suggest you try to move past it. Don't even try anything."
"Yeah," Shawn nodded. "I know."
"He'll just screw you over," Gus reminded him. "Again."
"I know."
"I'm just saying!"
Shawn sighed, busying himself with wiping his hands with his paper napkin. "Do you really think I don't know all this?"
Gus winced and accepted the point. He couldn't help but feel partly to blame for driving that point home but he'd only done it out of friendship. The last thing Shawn needed was to push it with Lassiter and end up hurting a lot more than he would from some unrequited pining. And Gus was sure that it would end with Shawn being hurt -- while he may have been able to accept Lassiter as the stand-up guy he was today, that didn't mean he'd ever trust him where Shawn was concerned.
"Just don't let him hurt you," Gus finally said.
"I'll try," Shawn told him. "But I make no promises."
That was exactly what Gus was afraid of.
**
From the beginning, Juliet O'Hara had realized that Lassiter and Shawn had a very strange relationship, almost from the first moment she'd seen them together. The fact that Shawn himself was strange, if charming, probably helped form that early opinion but their subsequent interactions had only cemented it.
Lassiter's animosity had always been apparent, along with his impatience and disbelief. Juliet understood the latter because she hadn't actually known what to think about Shawn being a psychic herself, but he'd long since proved his abilities to her. Shawn had had some issues with Lassiter, too, she'd noted early, but it had always been more about teasing some reaction out of the detective than about arousing that animosity. Of course, there had been times -- especially in those early cases -- when it had been an eruption of anger on both sides.
Things had started to change after Hiltonbock's arrest, though the change had been slow. Lassiter still had his days of extra-crankiness that had meant hell for everyone and not just Shawn but, for the most part, Lassiter had started dealing with Shawn and his psychic abilities with a bit more equanimity. Shawn hadn't much changed his ways but Lassiter's tolerance had eased the entire situation.
But for all of Shawn's easy-going-ness, Juliet hadn't realized how much Shawn actually liked Lassiter until she'd busted "KKarlton" reopening the Bryant Valerie case. She hadn't been able to imagine anything more gracious on Shawn's part -- doing all of the work, taking none of the glory, all for Carlton. It was why she'd agreed to help him in the first place and she'd never regretted her part in the operation. Shawn had even told her later that Lassiter's uplifted spirits during the media heyday was more than enough reward for him.
All that didn't mean that Shawn didn't drive Lassiter crazy at every turn but Juliet was willing to chalk it up to fundamental personality differences -- and Shawn's unique version of humor.
As one of Lassiter's older cases, the Sandra Panitch case, approached trial-time, Juliet could tell that he wasn't as satisfied with the case as he had been at the time of the arrest. He came back from testimony preparation with the district attorney left him unsettled and she wondered how she'd deal with the same situation if she ever faced it. Lassiter didn't have any idea what to do about his doubts with the case and he was still one of the prosecution's star witnesses.
"This is really bothering you, isn't it?" she asked him as they headed to the trial.
"Of course it does," he told him sharply. "I'm a cop and it's my job to put the criminal behind bars, not just anybody. But the evidence is strong and after all this time, the trail would be cold even if someone were to investigate."
Juliet thought about what he'd said. "This may sound crazy," she admitted. "But have you ever thought of asking...Shawn?"
"No," he told her. "Asking for Spencer's help is placing him under the very mistaken impression that I believe his psychic crap and I don't, haven't and never will."
"But he does figure things out."
"Yes," he admitted. "He does."
"So why not ask him?"
"Because I don't want to."
"But you do think he's good?"
He rolled his eyes. "Do I need to spell it out, O'Hara? He always closes his cases, usually with a tidy confession or at least enough evidence that the arrest is guaranteed, and I haven't tossed his ass in jail yet for obstruction of justice. What do you think?"
Juliet didn't reply but she smiled to herself, proud that she'd just learned something about her enigmatic partner. Despite the way he acted, he obviously respected Shawn's skills and -- maybe -- he even liked the psychic a little. She'd seen him behave that way a time or two, a stray conversation or look that was amiable but only seemed to happen when Shawn and Lassiter were alone, as if Lassiter was afraid that someone would figure it out.
She wonder how Shawn -- a psychic -- been missed it so far. She though he had to be blind to it or else he'd have been nicer to the detective.
Given that they'd been talking about him on the drive over, it was certainly a surprise when they ran into Shawn at the court house -- at the Sandra Panitch trial, no less.
Juliet wasn't sure how she'd expected Lassiter to react to the news that Shawn had hired himself out as a legal consultant to the defense; his comments were a mixed bag and Juliet could tell that his "Don't screw it up" rattled Shawn more than his earlier, more offensive words.
If knowing that Shawn was involved calmed Lassiter's doubts any, he didn't show it, at least not where Juliet could tell. She did see, however, how Lassiter watched the psychic in court from their seats in the back room and she wondered what he was thinking when he did. She was doubly sure that Shawn had no idea about Lassiter's good opinion of him when Lassiter openly vouched for him with the judge. She doubted anyone had ever expressed their surprise in terms of handicrafts before, but Juliet had always known Shawn was odd.
For all her appreciation of Shawn's humor, though, Juliet wished that he would sometimes give it a rest, especially where Lassiter was concerned. Sometimes she wondered if maybe her partner wasn't right about Shawn's lack of psychic ability because there were some things that were so obvious that she wondered how he could miss it.
When she and Lassiter ran into Shawn and Gus on the steps outside of the court, she wished that Shawn had been able to show a little tact and not give Lassiter such a hard time; not that it was obvious to anyone else but she knew that this trial was pulling Carlton in a million different directions. Shawn's humor was out of place, especially when his barbs tended to be personal.
Juliet wished she could make Shawn see that about Lassiter, that it was about more than which of them was right or wrong and even though Lassiter didn't show it, he did respect Shawn and what he could do. Juliet tried to tell him but she wasn't sure how much he heard. He heard something, though, because he hurried off even before she and Lassiter had made it into the courthouse, Gus trailing behind him.
Lassiter had not been looking forward to his time on the stand but his doubts turned into absolute shock when the defense attorney, Hornstock, asked him about a memo he'd sent. Juliet could tell how surprised he was by the way his eyes immediately sought out Shawn and lingered on him, probably deciding that it was the only way that the defense could have learned about it.
Although he didn't say it, she knew that Lassiter was pleased when Shawn and Hornstock managed to coax a confession from Priscilla on the stand, thus clearing Sandra and bringing the real killer to justice. As soon as the chaos had begun to die down, Juliet pushed her way through the crowds to congratulate the defense team. Gus actually hugged her when she stopped to talk to him and together they headed over to Shawn, Sandra and Hornstock.
"You did really good!" she told Shawn.
"Thanks, Jules!" he returned. He thudded the lawyer on the back. "H-stock here did all of the work though!"
"No, no, not me," Hornstock demurred. "Shawn was amazing."
"You were allwonderful," Sandra broke in and Juliet immediately liked her for some reason.
"Lassiter was really impressed, too," Juliet said, touching Shawn's arm to get his attention.
"Oh really?" Shawn didn't seem convinced.
"Yes, I'm sure he..." Juliet turned in time to watch Lassiter slip out of the courtroom. "Oh."
Shawn patted her arm. "Nice try, Jules," he said. "Now, we're all going out to celebrate. You coming with?"
Juliet decided not to join in the festivities and instead headed back to work. Lassiter was there at his desk when she walked in, thoroughly engaged in paperwork. When she questioned him about his sudden departure from the courthouse but he refused to say anything more about it.
It wasn't too long after the Panitch trial ended that the police station held their repossessed vehicle auction; Juliet passed several of the signs as she came in the door. She'd just settled down at her desk when Lassiter came loping over, shirt-sleeves rolled up and having that look that said he'd been at work for many hours already.
"O'Hara," he barked. "Do you have the autopsy on the Greenwich case?"
"I do," she answered. "Hold on."
Lassiter loitered by her desk as she shuffled through her desk, only to remember that the file was in her briefcase. She was leaning over to pull it from the black leather bag when she heard Shawn call out, "Hey, Lassy!"
Juliet righted herself in time to see Shawn half-jog to their location. "There you are!" he said, looking Lassiter up and down.
"I thought I told you to go home, Spencer," he said.
"And I will, soon," Shawn promised. "But first I had to thank you. And, you know, ask you what you did with the real Carlton Lassiter."
"Shawn, can't you just say thank you," Juliet asked, exasperated.
"Of course," he assured her. "But I like words! Lots of words! And thank you is just sooo short."
"Spencer, if you want to thank me, you can do it by leaving me alone," Lassiter told him, taking the forgotten file from Juliet's hand.
"Without giving you props?" Shawn asked. "I couldn't do that."
Lassiter sighed, rubbing a hand over his eyes. "I'm going back to my desk."
Juliet watched him stalk off and then turned to Shawn. "Can't you ever just be nice to him?"
"Jules," Shawn began, turning to face her. "If I was what you call nice to Lassy, he'd die from the shock."
"Still..."
Shawn looked away from her, eyes watching Lassiter as the detective worked at his computer. "We've got our own thing going. It's weird but it works." He paused. "Most of the time."
Juliet watched Shawn watched Lassiter and thought about what he'd said.
Lassiter wouldn't ask for Shawn's help even though he knew Shawn could solve a case and when Shawn took on the case, Lassiter acted angry. Then when what he really wanted to do was congratulate him, Lassiter avoided the psychic -- only to go behind his back and return Shawn's precious motorcycle to him. And then Shawn said thank you in his own obnoxious way, a sentiment that sent Lassiter for cover, leaving Shawn to watch him from her desk, the oddest look on his face.
Juliet had been right in the first place.
Shawn and Lassiter had a very strange relationship.
To Be Continued...