Psych
Momma's Boy
Based on the TV series Psych, created by Steve Franks
1988
Prologue
Henry Spencer was working a tough suicide case that looked like a possible murder when Shawn flew his remote control airplane into a telephone pole. This of course, resulted in a neighborhood wide power outage. All because Shawn had refused to follow the rules. Now, Henry had done everything he could to raise his son, Shawn, to have morals and values. To respect other people's property and not to damage anything that didn't belong to him.
But, just like everything else Henry tried to teach Shawn, those rules were completely ignored. The city of Santa Barbra was going to make him pay a fine of thee hundred and fifty dollars to repair the pole, which was severely damaged. Shawn's plane had hit the converter box, knocking it off the pole, destroying it completely.
"That's gonna come out of your money, Shawn!" Henry told him.
"I don't have three hundred and fifty bucks!" Shawn shouted.
"Well, you better find a way to get it." Henry said in a surprisingly calm voice.
"Gus." Henry heard Shawn mumble under his breath. Henry knew what Shawn was thinking, Gus had been saving his money for years, and he might have enough.
"You cannot get the money from Gus." Henry reminded him.
Shawn sighed.
"Or, you could earn the money in housework. That's folding all the clothes, doing all the dishes, vacuuming, mopping, etcetera." Henry told him.
"I'll find a way to get the money." Shawn said, sounding disappointed.
"It better be legal."
"It will."
Sure enough, two weeks later, Shawn had the money.
"How did you get the money this fast?" Henry asked him.
"Ways."
"And what does that mean?"
"I found some of it."
"This isn't the way you found the money to buy that game thing, is it?"
"No."
"Then how did you get it? I won't accept it unless you tell me." Henry said, sounding stern.
"I found it on Gus' living room floor." Shawn said, knowing he was caught.
"That's stealing!"
"No it's not, it was given to me."
"I said you couldn't get it from Gus!"
"I didn't, I got it from Mr. Guster."
"How did you get three hundred and fifty dollars from Mr. Guster?"
"I told him you'd make me sleep outside if I didn't get the money."
Henry hadn't solved the suicide case yet, but he was wishing he was stuck in the office, trying to solve this baffling case, instead of dealing with Shawn. He decided to do something he rarely did when it came to discipline.
"Go tell your mother what you did. She'll decide your punishment." Henry said.
Chapter1
2011
Shawn Spencer's parents had gotten divorced when he was sixteen. Shawn had wanted to stay with his mother, but it was determined that it was better for him to live with his father. Because of that, Shawn wasn't close to his mom, or—because of their conflicting personalities—his dad. But, despite all of that, Shawn felt he had done well for himself. He and his friend Gus had opened a private detective agency; he was dating the girl of his dreams, and the best part? He rarely saw his mom, and only saw his dad about once a week. That's why he was surprised when his parents walked into the Psych office, together.
"There's a sight I thought I'd never see again." Shawn said to them.
"It's nice to see you two again." The ever polite Gus said.
Shawn's parents nodded and shook Gus' hand.
"We're here because your mother is receiving threatening messages." Henry told them.
"Maybe it's one of your patients?" Gus offered.
"I still don't understand why you two are in the same room." Shawn said.
"I figured since your father is in the police business, he could help." Madeline said.
"And I figured you could help, for obvious reasons." Henry added.
"I see, do you have the notes?" Shawn asked.
Madeline nodded and handed Shawn and Gus some pieces of paper. They set them down on the table. The notes were nothing out of the ordinary, just things like; I know where you live, and such.
Shawn studied them and saw the distinct way the writer wrote the letter E, which had a unique swivel.Saw the smudge on the paper, which could have just been sweat from a nervous hand, but it could be something important. He wasn't sure what to make of these notes. Neither was Gus. They weren't ransom notes, and they didn't appear to have anything to gain from threatening Shawn's mom.
"Do you have any idea who could do this?" Gus asked.
"Not a clue, I don't have any enemies…that I know of." Madeline responded.
"That you know of? Is there something you're not telling us?" Shawn asked.
"No, of course not." Madeline said, nervously.
"Why don't you two step out while we discuss this?" Gus said.
"Try not to kill each other!" Shawn called as they left to the other room.
"These notes don't make any sense, Shawn." Gus said.
"Of course they do." Shawn responded.
"They do?"
"Yes."
"How?"
"Because, I've solved the case."
Chapter 2
"You solved the case?" Gus asked.
Shawn laughed, "No," he said. "But if you could've seen your face when I said that," Shawn had to stop talking because he was laughing. "You actually believed me."
"I wonder why I still work here." Gus said, frustrated.
"Gus, don't be a snappy turtle." Shawn said.
"Do you actually have anything to say about the case?" Gus asked.
"Besides that we shouldn't take it?"
"Why shouldn't we? She's your mom."
"That's why."
"What is it with you and your parents?"
"They're my parents."
"And?"
"They're obnoxious."
"So are my parents. But I jumped on the case when my dad was in trouble."
"Yes, Burton," Shawn said, sounding impatient. "But that's you. You like your parents. I don't."
"Why?"
"Because my dad was always wanting to know 'how many hats are there?'. Or 'how many blades of grass are on the lawn?'. And then, my mom was never there. Guess how many times they won parent of the year." Shawn said, angry.
"You need counseling." Gus told him.
Shawn sighed and opened the door, letting his parents in.
"We'd be glad to help." Gus said.
"Dude!" Shawn shouted. His parents stared at him. "You…stole my thunder…to…tell them…yes." He said weakly.
"How about you guys go on and we'll start investigating." Gus suggested.
"I hate you." Shawn said after they left.
Chapter 3
Razor sharp claws, bodies flying left and right. All Shawn and Gus had to do was disarm the bomb in sixty-six seconds, and the world was saved. He ran over to the bomb and fiddled with it. Gus ran over and fired at the bomb with his optic blasts from his eyes. It ticked, shook, and then seemingly disarmed. Shawn and Gus ran over and saved the hostages and ran up to the bank robber, who was no match for their mutant powers. Or so they thought. The robber stripped his mask to reveal to be the evil monstrous Toad. Shawn and Gus ran up to him and were killed instantly.
Game over.
"We aren't getting anywhere." Gus said, setting down his controller.
Shawn sighed, facing the sick reality that he wasn't really Wolverine, that Gus wasn't really Cyclops, and neither one of them were part of the X-Men. "Why did you tell them we were taking this case?" Shawn asked.
"Because, your mom is in danger!" Gus said.
"No she's not."
"What?"
"She's not in danger."
"She's not?"
"I'd be very surprised if she was."
"Why do you say that?"
"Listen, my mom has a tendency to make things up."
"You think your mom is pretending to be threatened?"
"Possibly."
"How come?"
"Can we start playing the game again?" Shawn asked.
"Why do you think your mom is faking it?" Gus said.
Shawn restarted their game. Gus paused it.
"Does she have a history of doing this?" He asked.
Shawn started the game. Gus pressed pause again.
"If I tell you, can we play the game again?" Shawn asked.
Gus nodded.
"Let me tell you a story." Shawn said.
Chapter 4
"Once upon a time, in a land far, far away…" Shawn had started. He'd gone on to explain his mom once claimed that she was dying of a disease, and that Shawn needed to see her one last time. It was a lie; she had just wanted Shawn to visit her. But she was shy and nervous about asking Shawn to come, so she made something up. Gus was shocked. He couldn't see Mrs. Spencer—she never changed her name after the divorce—could create a horrible lie such as that. She had never seemed the type to lie. To Gus, she was too nice, too old. Too honest.
"Wow." Gus said, he couldn't think of anything else to say.
"Can we play the game now?" Shawn asked.
"Aren't you going to point out to your mom that you found out what she's doing?" Gus said.
"I don't know for sure, it just seems likely. Are you ready now?" Shawn started the game. Gus paused it.
"Come on!" Shawn shouted.
"We need to figure this out!"
"After this level!"
"No!"
"You're no fun."
Gus walked over and turned off the Xbox.
"Gus! You can't just turn it off like that! You'll ruin the game!" Shawn shouted.
"I'll turn it on after we discuss this." Gus said.
"You disgust me."
"What if your mom really is in danger? What are you going to do then?"
"Save her. Just like I did when she was kidnapped by Mr. or Mrs. Yang. Can we play the game now?"
"Yes." Gus said.
They turned the game back on, but after only a few seconds Gus paused it again.
"What now?" Shawn asked angrily.
"I have one more question."
"What?" Shawn said through clenched teeth.
"Were those notes in her handwriting?"
"I don't know."
"You don't know?"
"No Gus, I don't. I don't keep track of what my parent's hand writing looks like!"
"We should go to the police station." Gus said.
Chapter 5
Henry Spencer had begun working for the SBPD again a few years back. So Head Detective Carlton Lassiter wasn't surprised to see him walk into the police station that morning. What surprised him was that Henry was with his ex-wife whom Henry had been divorced from for years. The divorce was ugly, or so Lassiter had heard. He didn't know for sure. Carlton wasn't a fan of Henry. Even though they were coworkers, Henry had maneuvered his way onto Lassiter's crap list. The reason for this was due to Henry's son, Shawn. Shawn Spencer claimed to be a psychic. Carlton Lassiter didn't believe in psychics and the fact that Shawn had fooled the entire state of California only pissed Lassiter off even more. To add insult to injury, Shawn was dating Carlton's partner, Juliet O'Hara.
"She needs your help." Henry said, motioning to his Madeline.
"I'm sorry, Spencer, I forgot how I'm supposed to drop everything I'm doing to help your ex-wife." Lassiter shot back, sarcastically. Then, Shawn and his friend and business partner, Gus, walked into the police station. Lassiter was beginning to wonder why God had it out for him today.
"What do you two want?" Lassiter asked Shawn and Gus.
"We've come to help solve the case." Shawn said, sounding frustrated.
"Good," Lassiter said, beginning to walk off. "They're officially your problem."
"Well then." Gus said.
"Any news?" Madeline asked.
"Nothing new." Gus answered.
"How are you, Shawn?"
"I was better when we were back in the Psych offices." Shawn said.
Gus nudged Shawn. Madeline sighed. Shawn looked at Madeline and saw the ink on her hands. Shawn had solved the case.
Chapter 6
Shawn hated when he thought he'd solved a case, only to be proven wrong. This time it turned out that his mom really was threatened; one of her patients was in love with her, but thought she was still to Henry. But instead of attacking Henry, he just threatened Madeline. All of this had been revealed when Shawn, Gus and Shawn's parents had gone back to the Psych offices and found the window broken and Madeline's patient, Michael, still inside. Michael was a around the same age as Madeline, balding and had a friendly look on his face, but seemed to be able to be intimidating when he wanted. After his explanation, Michael pulled out a gun and grabbed Shawn's mom. Jules and Lassie had pulled up when the owner of the Mexican restaurant, Don Pepe's, next to the Psych offices called the police.
"Gun down!" Lassiter shouted.
"Not a chance!" Mike replied.
Shawn just stared at his mom, it wasn't the first she had been close to death, but something was different this time. Shawn suddenly regretted everything he ever said negative about his mom.
"I love you mommy!" Shawn shouted, his eyes then bugged out and he looked down.
"What did you say?" Mike asked.
"My, what a bobby?" Shawn mumbled.
"No, you said 'I love you mommy.' You're so pathetic!" Mike said, laughing. As he laughed, he let Madeline go on accident. O'Hara quickly grabbed Madeline and brought her to safety and Lassiter grabbed and arrested Mike. Shawn and his mom hugged and then Madeline sat down.
"Nice work, Spencer." Lassiter said, laughing as he and O'Hara walked out with Mike in custody.
"I try." Shawn sarcastically grumbled.
. . .
Razor sharp claws, bodies flying left and right. All Shawn and Madeline had to do was disarm the bomb in sixty-six seconds, and the world was saved. He ran over to the bomb and fiddled with it. Madeline destroyed the robots around it.
"You know, mom? You're not bad at this." Shawn said.
"Where do you think you got your skill from? I stayed up half the night playing Nintendo when you were a kid." Madeline said.
"Wait," Shawn said, "we didn't have a Nintendo. Dad said we couldn't get one."
"Right, son, right." Madeline said.
"When can I play?" Gus, who had been sitting in the corner for hours, asked.
"Not now." Shawn said.
"But it's my turn!" Gus shouted, sounding like a child.
"Shut it, Guster!" Madeline reprimanded.
"I love you." Shawn told her.