It was one of those mornings that everything seemed to be going just Shawn's way. He had woken to one of his favorite songs on the radio, Dude Looks Like a Lady; his favorite cute cashier was working when he stopped by the Jamba Juice; even the sky seemed bluer than usual and the clouds, dare he say, fluffier?
Making a mental note to ask that cashier what she was doing next Friday night, Shawn opened the front door to the Psych office. "Got you orange!" called Shawn to his best friend and business partner who sat behind his desk, occupied with some form of paperwork. "I thought I asked for pineapple?" said Gus as Shawn placed the smoothie in front of him. "Sorry man, they just ran out. Some scoundrel got the last one." answered Shawn. "So what kind did you get?" "Pineapple." said Shawn nonchalantly as he sat down at his own desk and began to sip his smoothie. "So what's on the agenda for today good buddy?" "Same as yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that." Retorted Gus, not looking up from his paperwork. Shawn looked at the Psych office planner. Next to each time slot was a space to write an appointment name. Every single one was empty. It had been Gus' idea to get that dumb planner anyway.
Just as Shawn was about to comment on the "usefulness" of the giant planner, he noticed someone walking up the path toward the office. A young woman, no older than 20 with naturally wavy brown hair, half of which was pulled back into a bun. The rest was left to cascade down her back reaching just past her shoulder blades. She wore dark blue jeans, white collared shirt, tan jacket, and black converse sneakers. He didn't get a good look at her face but just judging by her fast pace and reserved way of carrying herself, he could tell she was not from around Santa Barbara. "I feel our luck is about to change, Gus." Said Shawn as the young woman passed the blueberry and started walking up the path toward the office. "You still remember you're not really a psychic, right?" replied Gus, still not looking up. Almost jumping on top of Gus' desk, Shawn exclaimed "5 bucks someone walks through the door within the next 10 seconds!" "You're on Shawn!" Gus said in return. "I could use an extra few bu-" "Excuse me, is anyone here?" a female voice called from the front door. Gus gave Shawn a "How did you do that?" look as he handed over a five. "And hello mister Lincoln!" Shawn said just loud enough for Gus to hear. He shoved the five in his pocket, but not before waving it in front of Gus' face one last time.
"Hello, my name is Shawn Spencer, resident psychic in association with the Santa Barbara police department and your host for the next half hour. This is my partner, Burton Guster. He provides the super-sniffer, the blueberry, and a gorgeous chocolate dome of a head, which I even cant help from stroking every once in a while, so if you feel so inclined, please feel free to touch it." Shawn approached the young woman. Now that he got a better look at her he was able to see that she had pretty face with soft features. She wore square, dark-brown rimmed glasses, but it was what was behind the glasses that caught Shawn's attention. Her eyes were a striking shade of light blue and were small, yet not disproportional to the rest of her face. Her eyes looked so familiar to Shawn, yet he could not seem to place them. The young woman spoke nervously, yet surprisingly unfazed by Shawn's flamboyant introduction, "It's nice to meet you both, my name's Emily. I'm afraid I'm in need of some help." "I sure hope so!" replied Shawn. "Otherwise Gus will literally drown himself in paperwork, which I assume has nothing to do with our business because we haven't had a case in weeks. I mean, how much paperwork is involved in pharmaceuticals anyway?" Gus gave Shawn another look causing Emily to giggle a bit. "I'm looking for my birth father." "Say no more!" Shawn exclaimed before she could get any further. "If you truly believe in us, and maybe hold my hand a bit along the way, I can guarantee we can locate your birth father in 2 weeks time! Now do you have something of his? An item of clothing? Walking stick? Childhood lunchbox? An old cuff link perhaps?"
Before he could continue on his tangent, Emily politely interjected, "I actually have a photo…and a name." Shawn paused. The only sound he seemed to be able to make was "Oh." Emily reached into her messenger bag and pulled out a small photo of a man and a woman and handed it to Shawn. As the man in the picture became clear to him, Shawn almost stopped breathing. The man wore a navy blue plaid shirt and a dark gray jacket. He was clean cut, tall, lanky, black hair. Striking blue eyes…
"His name is Carlton Lassiter."
Well now Shawn knew where he'd seen those eyes before…
