"Okay," said Juliet for the fourth time. "What is the game-plan?"

Shawn rolled his eyes (for the fourth time). "No visions, no insults, no stealing your stepdad's apron."

"Thank you!" she cried. "Why is this so difficult?"

"Because no grown man should own a "kiss the cook" apron. I had to torch my dad's entire kitchen just to be safe."

Juliet smiled and shook her head. It was an hour long drive from her house to her parents' and she'd spent most of it quizzing Shawn on what not to do.

"I don't get why you're worried," said Shawn. "I've met part of your family, those times went great."

"Number four, no bringing up my brother, my dad, or the fact you're not a millionaire."

"Oh, come on! They liked Declan? He was a liar with a stupid name."

"That was their first thought when he hired an Iron Chef for dinner."

"Well, how impressive that is relies entirely on which one it was."

She pulled into the driveway. "Bottom line, don't accuse anyone of murder and you'll be great."

The house was right out of a catalog, a soccer mom's dream right down to the picket-fence. There were several picnic tables set up in the yard, and Lloyd was barbecuing in an apron Shawn had hoped he was joking about. People milled about with drinks in their hands.

A woman walked over to the car and hugged Juliet once she had climbed out of the driver's seat.

"Hey, mom!" Juliet said. "This is Shawn."

"Hi!" said Maryanne, shaking Shawn's outstretched hand. "Juliet's told me so much about you."

"Obviously not that much!" he replied grinning.

Juliet cleared her throat. "Where's Alex?"

A man tackles her from behind. They stumble a few steps forward.

"Hey, J!" he says.

"Didn't they teach you anything in the police academy?" she asks. "Never surprise an officer."

"Sorry," he replies. "Guess I didn't think the rule applied to sisters."

"Well, you're just lucky you didn't meet my partner."

Shawn elbowed past to shake Alex's hand with too much force. "Alex! Hi!"

"Hey," replied Alex. "Um…"

"Alex," said Juliet. "This is my boyfriend Shawn. Shawn, this is my brother Alex."

"Yeah, Shawn! Hey, good to meet you, man."

"Juliet, honey!" cried Lloyd, walking over oven mitt still on and hugging her. "And you must be Shawn, nice to meet you..." He hugged him as well.

"Uh, hi, Lloyd, right?" said Shawn.

"That would be me."

"Hey, you need any help on the grill, Lloyd?" asked Alex.

The two walked away, leaving Shawn, Maryanne, and Juliet. Unfortunately for him, two kids, around maybe six, wandered up to them.

Juliet leaned down. "Hey… I haven't seen you guys in forever!"

Laughing, the kids dragged her away.

Maryanne cleared her throat. "So, Shawn, Juliet tells me you're a… a psychic?"

He laughed. "Don't be ridiculous! I'm a psychic detective. I only use my powers to solve crimes, and sometimes find out the winners of reality shows."

"Yes, well…" she trailed off. "I hear you've solved a lot of cases!"

"Well, Jules' helped with a lot of them."

Maryanne smiled but gave him a look. "She's a great detective. She's worked hard."

"I know. And I'm not… I'm not going to underestimate her."

"Good."

The food was ready shortly. Shawn sat down at a table and took a bite of the juicy burger. Lloyd slid into the seat in front of him

"Hey," said Shawn. "Great food, man."

Juliet didn't see any of what happened next, but she did see Shawn, fifteen minutes later, walking quickly toward her, shielding half a burger with his hand.

"Oh, my god," he whispered.

"What's wrong?"

"I just met stepdad."

She straightened up from where she was still talking to her cousins. "You don't like Lloyd?"

"No, he's… God, Jules, he spent the last ten minutes talking about how his last shopping trip! That's a one sentence story: 'I went to the store'. I had to pretend I finished eating just to walk over her." He held up his ketchuped hand for proof.

She sighed. "I'm sorry. Here, I'll go talk to him. Why don't you go say hi to Alex?" She pointed to where he was sitting.

"Thanks," he said, pecking her on her cheek.

He slid into the seat across from Alex.

The other man looked up. "Hey, there's the boyfriend!"

Shawn laughed a little awkwardly. "That's me."

"So, J tells me you're like a psychic detective, right?"

"Finally, someone who gets it."

"That's gotta be pretty crazy. So do you like talk to dead people or read people's minds or what?"

Shawn held his finger to his head. "Little a this, little a that. The spirits communicate in many ways."

Alex leaned forward and lowered his voice. "Listen, don't tell J, but I got into a little trouble in Colorado."

Shawn tilted his head. "You're gonna need to elaborate for me there, A."

"It's nothing serious - I just got a little behind on my payments. But if you could tell the lottery numbers or something..."

"Okay," said Shawn slowly. "I'm gonna go with 'no' on that one..." He pulled a business card out of his back pocket. "Call this number." He winked. "Burton Guster can get you out of any debt."

Alex squinted at it and raised an eyebrow. "This says he's a pharmaceutical salesman."

Shawn shook his head. "That's... just his cover. I'll be right back."

He rose and glanced at where Lloyd was seated alone. He took a look around, but didn't see Juliet anywhere.

"Have you seen Jules?" he asked a woman.

"I think I saw her go in the house," she replied.

Shawn entered through the front-door, into the kitchen. A few people were milling about. He glanced down the hall and spotted an open door at the end of the hall.

Inside, the floor was covered with an old shag carpet, and the walls were painted baby blue. There was a bed and a few pieces of white furniture. On top of the desk was a small collection of stuffed cats. Juliet was standing by the bed, her back to Shawn. She had her hands over her face.

"Jules?" asked Shawn.

She turned and put a hand on her forehead. "Oh, god, Shawn. I'm sorry what's up?"

"Well, first of all we should talk about your brother's… debt-handling methods… are you okay?"

She sighed and wiped her eye quickly. "I just… I don't know. We do this big family reunion thing every couple years and I guess I just sort of thought… maybe he'd show up? I don't even know what I would have done if he did but…"

"Hey, hey, hey," said Shawn, guiding her to the bed and sitting down next to her. "Your dad?"

She shook her head. "Ewan. I mean, even when he was in the army, he would always… get on Skype, and we'd all say hi, and it was just really nice. And now I haven't seen him in years, and I don't know if I ever will again."

He put his arm around him and kissed the top of her head. "He's your brother, of course you'll see him again someday."

"Do I want to?"

She curled into his chest, letting her breathing fall into sink with his. After a minute, she said, "We should get back to the party."

He nodded.

The sky was grey and it was getting chilly outside. A light breeze blew through the trees. People filtered to their hotels until the only people left were Juliet, Shawn, Lloyd, Maryanne, and Alex. They sat around one of the outside tables, Shawn's arm around Juliet's shoulder.

All together it was easy to forget Lloyd's boring stories, Maryannes' misgivings, and Alex's questionable life choices.

They were his family, too.