So... new fan fiction. For those of you following The Most Unlikely Team, it's still a thing. This isn't gonna replace it. Hopefully you'll enjoy this.
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The best thing about Santa Barbara was the nearly constant tropical weather. It was a very good thing for a certain Shawn Spencer, who spent a large majority of his time outdoors.
At the current time of year, it was the rainy season. Shawn wasn't a fan of the high winds and the cool, stinging rains.
"Gus buddy, I really appreciate this." Shawn turned around, no longer watching the rain pound and streak down the window of Gus's apartment.
"Are you kidding me Shawn? You're my best friend and you never ask me for anything." Gus said honestly. "Your insight on my news articles let me keep this place."
"I hate it though." Shawn admitted. "I can't stand being a third wheel to you and Rachael two months a year."
"Shawn, please." Gus tried to argue with his messy haired friend. "You earn your keep. You don't pay for anything but,"
Gus was silenced by Shawn's raised hand. "Don't patronize me Gus. You just said yourself, I don't pay for ANYTHING. I'm a man, not a leech. I eat your food, watch your TV and soak up your heat like it comes out of that little vent down there." Shawn pointed to the radiator in the corner.
"It does Shawn, you had your feet under it this morning." Gus told him calm and straight faced.
"That's not the point, damn it!" Shawn yelled, pulling his own hair with both hands out of anger. Shawn sighed loudly and shook his head in defeat. "I have a lot to think about. Good night buddy." Shawn headed down to the cot in Gus's storage room. It wasn't much, but it was more than Shawn had otherwise and the best Gus could do for him.
"Good night Shawn." Gus said as Shawn's form disappeared around the corner, closing the door. "Love you, man." Gus admitted quietly about the poor man that felt like a brother.
"What was that?" Shawn stuck his head out the door with a lopsided, confused look on his face.
"Nothing Shawn, go to sleep." Gus said, trying to remain calm after fearing Shawn heard him.
"Love you too buddy." Without another word Shawn slipped back into his quiet abode. Gus was always interested, but never knew what Shawn was doing in there. Often times, Gus could here Shawn screaming during his worst nightmares. It made Gus wonder and broke his heart, thinking what happened to his usually happy-and-bubbly friend. What movie was playing through that clever, humorous head? Shawn always seemed so upbeat and happy for a man in his current predicament. The real Shawn came screaming out in the middle of the night, tearing his best friend's soul apart. He would sleep well tonight, Gus hoped and prayed.
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Gus knocked on the solid oak door, not surprised that Shawn wasn't up at 10:30 a.m. The rejection of every business Shawn had applied to was being to tarnish his boyish character.
"Shawn, me and Rachael made breakfast." Gus slowly pushed the door open to see an empty but well made bed. A small piece of white laid on the pillow, which Gus took to be an explanation to his absence. Maybe he was doing some early job hunting?
Gus walked to the cold bed and took the note in his hand. His jaw slackened and a hand covered his note when he took in the meaning of the words.
Thanks for everything, buddy.
-Shawn
Tears threatened to fall as it sunk in. Shawn had left and went back to his old place... nowhere.
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"My name is Burton Guster and I would like to file a missing persons report." Gus said hurriedly, trying to fight through the worry. The wind continued to whistle and scream while the rain came down in cool, relentless sheets.
"What can you tell me about the person, Mr. Guster?" The blonde asked, keeping her blue eyes on him intensely to show she was with him.
"He's about 5'10, 5'11. He's 27 years old with green eyes and messy brown hair. He's wearing tennis shoes, jeans, and a button down shirt." Gus quickly rattled off the description of his former roommate.
"How long has he been missing?" She asked sweetly, touched by the obvious care showed by this man.
"About half an hour, Officer." Gus replied respectfully.
"You know you're not supposed to" the young detective was stopped by Gus interjecting, knowing the protocol.
"48 hours, yeah yeah." Gus began to lose patience. "But that's my best friend out there and I won't forgive myself if anything happens to him."
"I'm sorry Mr. Guster, but there is nothing I can do." She stressed, feeling for the guy but unable to act.
"Detective, please let me talk with Detective Lassiter." Gus was again a straight tone. Lassiter had kicked him and Shawn out of a crime scene more than once while trying to piece an article together for the paper.
"O'Hara, where's that file!" A familiar, gruff and booming voice drew a smile to Gus's face and a scowl to O'Hara.
"I have it here, Carlton." She held it out and the graying haired man swooped like a vulture, taking it from her hand.
"Thanks O'Hara, Guster." Lassiter stopped cold and back peddled. "Guster?"
"Hey Lassie." Gus waived neutrally at him with a straight face.
"What the Hell are you doing in my station, Guster?" Lassiter demanded.
"Shawn ran away this morning and I don't know where he is." The shock of the morning began to dissipate and Gus began to be rational again.
"He's only been gone half an hour, Carlton." O'Hara informed him.
"That's just long enough for Spencer to do something stupid." Lassiter said walking past the pair. "Just go help Guster find the little troll!"
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"So this Shawn guy, where would we find him?" the detective asked, keeping her eyes on the road.
"I don't know. He always tells me where he's going when he moves out after the storm season." Gus's eyes scanned the sidewalks for his stubborn, now homeless again friend.
"Okay, so we just drive around till we find him?" O'Hara asked, looking at Gus over the rims of her sunglasses.
"Pretty much. I don't know too much about him outside of what we do together." Gus shrugged, realizing just how little he knew about the poor guy. Shawn was cool with what Gus wanted and kept his interests to himself. Shawn was probably just happy to have someone.
"We don't know anything about Shawn's life outside of you. That's not much to go off." O'Hara sighed and looked at her watch. "It's noon, Burton... do you mind if I call you that?"
"I prefer Gus." He said pleasantly. "We've been out an hour and a half, we won't find him and I have to go to work." Gus got her point.
"I'm sorry Gus. I'll call you if I hear anything." O'Hara promised.
"Thank you so much Detective", Gus was caught off this time.
"Juliet. Juliet O'Hara." She offered her hand as Gus opened the door of the car.
Gus took it with a friendly smile. "Oh, and Juliet. How do you know my number?"
"I'm a cop, Gus. I have your number." Juliet assured him.
Gus looked to the sky and nodded his head like he was weighing if it made sense. "Creepy, but that's fair."
"Have a good day, Gus." Juliet said goodbye as she pulled out of the driveway, determined to find Shawn after a lunch break. A spin through the city even on a day like this was better than doing Lassiter's paperwork. If she found Shawn, even better.
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Juliet drove around Santa Barbara for what seemed like hours, looking for Gus's lost compadre. It had been hours, three hours to be exact.
Lightning illuminated the dark sky and thunder cracked overhead, a new addition to the worsening storm.
The streets were near empty now as water began to flood the roads and made it hard to drive. Juliet turned the car around in an attempt to make it back to the station before she drowned.
She turned the first corner and as she drove past a building with an awning ready to cave under the weight of trapped rain, she noticed a man underneath.
She stopped the car and motioned for the utterly soaked man to get in. Nobody deserved to be stuck out in this.
The man pulled his thin green jacket tighter around him as he ran against the wind.
"I'm sorry about your seat." He apologized, it being thoroughly drenched now.
"Don't worry about it. I'm just glad I found..." She stopped midsentence, watching the green eyes watching her. The rain had made his brown hair matted and sleek.
Juliet remembered Gus's description. "Let's get you warm and dry, Mr. Spencer."
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The car pulled into the station parking lot and came to a stop in the front row of available parking.
Shawn turned to look at Juliet expectantly, not saying a word.
"Yes Mr. Spencer?" Juliet asked plainly, meeting his gaze.
"Why do you know who I am? I've never seen you, and if I did I think I'd remember that face." Shawn said, not liking this situation. "Am I in trouble or..." Shawn trailed off to let her finish.
"No Mr" Shawn cut her off immediately.
"Can you please cut the Mr. Spencer crap? It makes me feel old or expected to do something."
"No Shawn." She stressed his name this time, drawing a smile to his lips.
"That's better. Feels good to me, how's that working for you?" Shawn asked teasingly.
Juliet couldn't help but roll her eyes. This guy was insufferable. "You're not in trouble Shawn, but I was looking for you."
"Let me guess, Gus?" Shawn asked like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"He filed a missing persons on you this morning." Juliet filled him in. "I was going to wait the usual 48 hours... but I'm glad I didn't." Her eyes trailed the length of him, head to toe. He was visibly shivering and dripping like he just took a shower with his clothes on. "Let's get you inside and warmed up."
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Shawn sat on Lassiter's desk, gratefully intaking the warmth of a horrible cup of coffee without a care for the condition of the desk.
"How can you drink that black?" Juliet motioned to the steaming cup, a look of disgust on her face.
Shawn just smirked at her and took a deep gulp. "After where I've been, this tastes like Starbucks' best."
Juliet watched him with a slightly softer face, trying to unravel that statement. "I called your friend Gus. He was really happy to hear you're okay."
"Gus worries too much." Shawn said seriously, a hard look on his features.
"Why does Gus worry so much? Why was it such a big deal?" Juliet asked, crossing her arms. This was half work related, half personal curiosity.
"My living arrangements aren't exactly ideal... and Gus is great and all, but..." Shawn murmured out, never good with the negative things that mattered.
"Shawn, don't be so cryptic. What are you talking about?" Juliet just wanted him to get to the point. What was he so ashamed of?
"He's homeless." Of coarse Lassiter would kick that door down. "You're new O'Hara so I don't expect you to know, but Spencer is Santa Barbara's best known and functioning hobo." Lassiter said like it was no big deal.
"Thanks for putting that lightly, Lassie." Shawn grumbled, rubbing his neck awkwardly.
"You're welcome Spencer." Lassiter flashed him a fake smile before moving off again.
Juliet stared in disbelief. "Why didn't you just tell me that?" She sounded almost hurt, as if a best friend had held this secret back from her.
"Why would I throw that out there? 'Hi, I'm Shawn Spencer and a homeless loser.'" Shawn stuck his hand out during the act of a first impression. "It's not exactly a great ice breaker. Do you know how much a polar bear ways? Enough to break the ice. BAM! That's a good ice breaker."
Shawn's spontaneity threw Juliet for a Hell of a loop. "Why wouldn't you want to stay with Gus? He can't be worse than living out there." Juliet motioned to the window as the sky became a beautiful purple from another flash.
"That's between me and Gus, I'm afraid. I don't want to talk about it." Shawn told the young detective as he hopped off the desk and went to the holding cells.
"Where are you going Spencer?" Juliet called after him as he was about to pass Lassiter.
"Nap time?" Shawn asked the man who held onto his coffee like it was his own child.
"Cell 4 is clear." Lassiter told him, tossing him the keys.
"Thanks buddy." Shawn caught the keys with ease and jogged down the steps.
Juliet got up in a huff and followed him down, obviously not done with the homeless wonder she oddly felt connected to.
"Good luck O'Hara."
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Shawn was already relaxed on the stiff bed, hand behind his head and door locked when Juliet reached him.
"Shawn, we're not done here." Juliet pestered.
"What do you want from me Detective O'Hara?" Shawn snapped, using her official title. "I'm not throwing my whole book of life, stories and dreams at your feet. It's not pretty and I don't need this right now." His face was red now, and his once calm green eyes were a rolling tide of anger... and a touch of hurt? "What I do need, is sleep."
"Okay Shawn, I'm sorry. I treated you like some kind of suspect, and I'm sorry." Juliet said softly, almost defeated as she turned to leave.
"I knew you would." Shawn replied, not looking away from the ceiling. "Everyone judges you differently once they know you've been, or are homeless."
Juliet never thought about it, but damn if Shawn wasn't right. "Good night, Shawn."
"Until next time, Detective O'Hara."
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Whoo! First chapter down, people!" More to cone if I get some positive go ahead.
Kind of short, but it's a beginning and there is much more to discover in the Mind of Spencer!
