Title: Family

Author: secd457

Summary: Carlton Lassiter gets the surprise of his life when he gets a visitor at the precinct.

Disclaimer: Not mine

Notes: Bear with me, y'all! This is my first Psych fic and I'm really excited! Thank you so much for taking the time to read this! I'm just warning you now, though, Lassie is a bit OOC in spots. Fair warning!

Buzz hummed quietly to himself as he shuffled through the stack of case files, trying to find the one Detective Lassiter had asked for. He would do just about anything for that man. He was his idol. Everything he aspired to be, contained in one human being. He heard a wet, squishing sound and looked up, his eyes falling on a young girl, no older than 16. She was soaked to the bone, hair plastered to her head, clothes completely drenched and dripping on the tile floor, and tears running down her face. He forgot what he was doing and went over to her.

"Excuse me, may I help you, Miss?" he asked gently, not wanting to startle her. Clearly something was upsetting her. She hiccuped and used her wet hand to try and wipe her face, but it didn't work.

"I'm looking for Detective L-Lassiter," she stuttered, her lips turning a bit blue in the cold. Buzz's eyes widened and he nodded.

"I'll go get him for you," he said and hurried to his role model, not wanting to just leave her like that, but not having any other choice. "Umm, Sir?"

"Yes, McNabb, what can I do for you?" Lassiter asked, uninterested as he continued reading the case file.

"There's a girl asking for you, by the front desk, Sir. I'm not sure what she wants," he told him. Carlton looked up with a confused look on his face, but grabbed his coffee mug and stood.

"I'll take it from here. Keep looking for that case file," he said and McNabb nodded and scampered off to the file room to look some more. Carlton walked out of his "office" and took a swig of the hot coffee, his gaze immediately locking onto the girl. His eyes went wide and his hands started shaking, sweat dotting his upper lip. The girl's eyes met his and he knew. The coffee mug fell from his grasp and shattered on the floor, but he failed to notice. She nodded and his knees grew weak.

"Carlton! Are you all right? What happened?" Juliet exclaimed as she trotted over to him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Sweet Justice," he whispered and Juliet followed his gaze, frowning.

"Do you know her, Carlton?" she asked. He nodded and fell to his knees, his arms open, but barely up off his thighs. The young brunette let out a sob and ran to him, collapsing to the ground and into his chest.

Carlton wrapped his arms tightly around the stranger, tears falling from his eyes. He didn't care who saw him at the moment. Her hands fisted in the back of his shirt and she buried her face in his shoulder. A hand went around her waist and another to the back of her head as he kissed her temple.

"My baby," he choked out, rocking back and forth with her. "Oh, Sammy."

"I-I'm sorry, Uncle Carly!" she sobbed, pressing her face into his shoulder as hard as he could.

"No, no, no. Shh, it's okay. It's all right," he said soothingly, clenching his eyes shut. He then realized how wet she was. "You're soaked, Baby. We need to get you in something warm."

"Carlton, why don't I take her to the showers and get her cleaned up? I have an extra pair of sweats in my locker," Juliet offered. Carlton looked up. He had forgotten where they were.

"Sammy, this is Juliet, my partner. She's really nice and she'll take good care of you, right, O'Hara?" he said, fixing her with a steely gaze.

"Of course. Come on, Sammy. Let's get you cleaned up," Juliet replied coolly. She put a gentle hand on Sammy's back and led her to the showers.

"Detective, a moment, please." Chief Vick held an arm out in invitation when she realized the whole office floor was staring at her head detective. "All right, people! Nothing to see here! Get back to work, or I can assign you some cold cases!"

Everyone scrambled to get back to their desks while Lassiter walked into Vick's office and collapsed on the sofa as she shut the door.

"Something you'd like to tell me, Carlton?"

"Sweet Justice," he said, rubbing his hands over his face. "Her name is Samantha, my niece. She...She's been missing for 7 years."

"Take your time," Karen told him, sitting at her desk. "There's no rush."

"I just...can't believe she's still alive. We all thought she'd been dead this whole time."

"I thought your sister only had one child."

"She's my brother's. Right before he died, he put me as her legal guardian. That was also when she..." Carlton had to stop, pressing the heels of his hands into his eyes and taking a shaky breath.

"Okay, I think I get the picture. Go take care of that little girl."

"Not so little anymore." That was it. Completely out character, Carlton broke down, his elbows on his knees and his face buried in his palms. Karen quickly stood and shut all the blinds, sitting next to him and taking the man she thought of as her own family into her arms.

"It's okay. It's all right. Just let it out," she said gently, going so far as to rock him a bit. She laid a hand on the back of his head, not stroking, just resting there to let him know he was in a safe place.

About five minutes later, he pulled away and quickly got rid of any traces of tears. Karen kept a slim hand on his back as he took a deep breath, waiting for him to make the next move.

"I'm sor--"

"Don't you dare apologize for crying," she scolded, taking his chin in her hand and pulling his face to look at her. She stared deep into his eyes. "EVER. Are we clear, Detective?"

"Yes, Chief," he confirmed in a stronger voice. She let go with a smile and stood, opening the door.

"Go on. You can bring her back to my office for privacy once she's ready to talk."

"Thank you."

"Oh, and Carlton?"

"Yes, Chief?"

"Go change your clothes before you go see her. They're soaking wet."

"Will do."

Carlton quickly changed into his spare suit, sans the tie, and walked down to the gym, stopping outside the ladies' locker room and pulling out his cell to call his partner. "O'Hara, where are you?"

"We're in the break room. I just got her to lay down on a cot and we're just talking."

"I'll be right there." He flipped the phone shut and practically ran to the break room. He opened the door and his heart pounded at the sight of his niece. "Hey."

"Hey, Carlton. Sammy and I were just talking about what we do," Juliet said with a smile, rubbing Sammy's shoulder. "Well, I better get back to work. If you ever want to talk, Sammy, you just give me a call."

"Okay. Thank you," Sammy said softly. Juliet left, squeezing her partner's hand on the way out. Sammy pulled the blanket tighter around her body and shivered, sitting up and leaning against the wall.

"You cold, Sam?" Lassiter asked, taking his jacket off. She nodded and he laid it over her shoulders, sitting next to her and putting his arm around her.

"Uncle Carly, I'm tired," she said, her words slurring slightly. "I wanna t-talk, though."

"I'm sure you do, but you need to get some rest. You're exhausted." Carlton kissed her forehead, but didn't pull away. "You have a fever."

"I know."

"We're going to be here a little while longer. I need to ask a friend if we can stay with him, all right, Love?" Sammy nodded and drifted off, her head dropping onto his shoulder.

Carlton carefully laid her down and made sure she was warm before walking out of the break room, leaving the door cracked. At least he could hear her if she woke up. It was only 20 feet away from his desk. He sat down in his chair and pulled up Sammy's case file.

"Lassie!" Carlton inwardly sighed and outwardly brought himself to attention.

"Spencer. Just the person I wanted to see," he said, without the sarcasm. Shawn stumbled on his way to sitting on the edge of the desk and would have fallen if Carlton hadn't grabbed his arm and hauled him back up.

"Rest of the joke?"

"Nope."

"Huh…ooookay."

"Look, I need a favor."

"Okay, shoot." Shawn was intrigued. He could see the puffiness and redness around the detective's eyes, a sure sign of tears. He could also see that the shirt he was wearing had wrinkles in it, recently unfolded. He'd changed clothes. Something was up.

"I need to stay at your place for a while. I have…an unexpected visitor and nowhere to put her."

"Ooh, her?"

"Not like that, Spencer. I'll tell you the whole story later, but, basically, my niece found me and she has nowhere to go. Please, Shawn?" This whole thing threw Shawn for a loop. 'Please,'

'Shawn,' and 'wanted to see you' just weren't…Lassie.

"Actually, I'm staying with my dad. I was just evicted for not paying the rent. We have extra bedrooms, though, so it'll be fine. Just pack up your stuff and come on over." Lassiter stared at Shawn, not sure if his former partner was going to like this.

"Are you sure? Your dad--"

"Totally loves you! You're the son he always wanted, man! Cop, fisherman, by the book. Come on, how much more 'Henry Spencer' can you get?"

"All right. If you're sure. We'll be there tonight. Thanks."

"No problem. Oh, and I expect details!" Shawn jumped off the desk and skipped into Vick's office.

Well? Questions, comments, concerns? Constructive criticism is wonderful! No flaming, please! It's just not cool!