The Booth at the End

by Kkarrie

In the booth at the end there sits a man. He doesn't have a name, and no one ever asks him. They only tell him what they want and when they do the tasks he gives them, things happen. Five different people visit the man, but is what happens what they really wanted? Crossover with The Booth at the End

CARLTON

Lassiter wasn't even sure why he was here. This particular diner wasn't on his list of normal places to eat. He hadn't done a background check on the owner to make sure the guy didn't have a grudge against him and would slip poison in his coffee or pull a shotgun out from behind the counter.

Yet, despite not knowing why, Lassiter was here. Taking a deep breath Lassiter tried to steady himself, mentally noting the aroma of bacon and coffee. It was half past seven and Lassiter had stopped by on his way to work.

He could see a man sitting by himself at in the corner booth, a plate of waffles in front of him and a newspaper covering his face.

Glancing around to make sure that there wasn't anyone he knew in the diner, Lassiter slid into the booth. He cleared his throat and the newspaper lowered slightly. A pair of blue eyes studied him for a minute and then the man folded the newspaper and put it on the bench next to him.

Lassiter tapped his foot impatiently, waiting for the man to say something, but after three minutes of silence, the detective finally spoke.

"Normally I would think that the stories I've heard about you are complete and utter bullcrap," Lassiter glanced around nervously, and then leaned in and lowered his voice, "But are you the man who can make things happen?"

"I don't make anything happen." The man said conversationally.

"But things happen, when people talk to you, things happen." Lassiter persisted, glancing around the room again.

"That's how things seem to work." The man took a bite of waffles.

Lassiter waved the waitress away as she came over to offer him coffee. "How does it work?"

The man shrugged, eating another bite. "I don't know. You tell me what you want and the book gives you a task."

"The book gives me a task," Lassiter repeated in disbelief, giving the worn leather journal a skeptical look.

"First let's start with a name. Your first name." The man put down his fork and put a hand on the book.

Lassiter scowled, but answered. "It's Carlton."

"Alright, Carlton, what is it you want?"

Iris

It was after school, her mom was still working and her dad was on yet another business trip. She could feel the weight of her cell phone in her pocket and hoped her mom wouldn't call until after she got done here.

She had forged a note for the after school ballet class she was supposed to be in. It said her mother would be picking her up early. It wasn't the first time she'd done it. But, maybe after this note she would be able to get away every Thursday. She didn't like missing ballet, but the man had wanted updates.

He was waiting for her, just like he had been last week. As if he knew she was coming. A cup of coffee was in front of him and he was stirring it, empty sugar packets sitting on the table.

"Hello, Iris," he gave her a smile.

"You told me I had to come back," she put her backpack in the booth and sat down next to it. "And tell you what I was doing."

"I did tell you that." He nodded and stopped stirring his coffee.

"You said I had to steal ten things." She glanced around nervously.

"That's the task."

"The task said they had to be valuable." She fidgeted in her seat. "That each of the ten items have to cost more than a hundred dollars."

The man nodded again.

Iris sighed. "My mom is a cop, if I steal anything like that, she'll find out and I'll get in trouble."

"Will she find out?"

Iris kicked her legs against the booth, thinking. "Probably not," she finally admitted. "She doesn't seem to know anything about what I do. I mean I'm here right?"

The man didn't respond and took another sip of his coffee.

"And if I do this, then I'll get what I want; my parents will be home more?"

"That's what the deal was."

Iris felt a knot form in her stomach, and then jumped as her cell phone rang. "I have to go," she mumbled and bolted for the door.

The man watched her leave, sipping his coffee and wondering when he started giving tasks to ten year olds.

Juliet

"I just want us to be happy. I want to see him smile again." Juliet was trying to get through this without crying. "There are nights where he doesn't come to bed. Other times I'll talk to him and it's like he's in his own world. He's not the man I met all those years ago," she sighed, looking out the window.

"Is that what you want? You want him to be that man again?" The man was taking notes in the journal.

"I don't know," she was tired, pulling double shifts all week had eaten away at her sleep schedule, leaving her so exhausted she was willing to try anything.. "I don't know, I just know things need to change. I want our relationship back to normal."

"Most people find it's easier to want something specific." The man gently told her.

"But life's more complex than that!" Juliet protested.

"Is it?" The man didn't bother hiding his smirk. "I think deep down you know what you want."

Juliet sat back against the booth and glared at him.

"Let's go back to where he changed."

"I don't remember," Juliet sighed. "It's been a slow process."

"There must be something that happened."

Juliet sighed and pushed the plate in front of her away. "About six months ago there was this case. It got personal and that's when I first noticed."

"Have you talk to him about it? You don't seem like the type to shy away from that sort of thing."

"He doesn't talk about it." Juliet said simply. "Just tell me what I need to do."

Buzz

"Good Morning, Buzz," the man smiled as the younger cop slid into the booth. It was Tuesday at ten. The rookie was always on time and always had a smile on his face.

"Morning," Buzz waved the waitress away when she came over to serve him. "I can't stay long; Detective Lassiter is waiting for me."

"Why would you be riding with a detective?" The man doesn't bother to hide his amusement.

Buzz shrugged. "He came to me this week and told me he wanted to tag along on my patrols. I was going to say no, but you can't say no to a head detective."

"No indeed," the man pulled out his journal. "How are things going?"

"I'm still not sure exactly what I'm supposed to be doing," the cop furrowed his brow in confusion. "I mean, I know what you've told me to do. I need to help someone who doesn't want to be helped, but I'm having a hard time figuring out who that person is supposed to be. Am I supposed to go looking for them? Will I know that they're the person?"

"Those are good questions," the man sipped his tea, "but I'm afraid I don't have the answers to them."

"But this is what I need to do, to get what I want." Buzz sighed. "We're still waiting on the test results, but since we've had such a difficult time there isn't much hope that they won't be bad."

"Your wife is anxious?"

"Of course Francie is, I mean it isn't for lack of trying that she isn't pregnant." Buzz gave a sheepish grin. A horn honked from the parking lot and Buzz glanced at his watch. "I have to run."

"Good luck," the man called after him.

Carlton

"I am a damn good cop!" Lassiter exclaimed, much louder than he had planned. He quickly glanced around the diner, but at midnight there wasn't anyone to witness his outburst except for the half asleep waitress.

The man ignored the volume level and continued to take notes in his journal.

Lowering his voice Lassiter continued. "I have put in my service to this city and what I want is recognition."

"So you said the other day," the man didn't look up.

"And since I'm a seasoned officer and an asset to the entire state, I fail to see how doing rookie cop shifts for two months is supposed to help give me proper recognition." Lassiter was fighting the urge to outright tell the man he was full of crap.

"Start, and see where it takes you," the man continued to jot down notes.

"I did start and all it's gotten me is a bruised jaw," Lassiter pointed to where a punk kid had landed a lucky punch earlier in the day.

"Sometimes it takes time to see the fruits of your labor."

"Sweet Justice, you are a trip," Lassiter rolled his eyes. "You sit here, telling people what to do and then when they come talk to you, all you do it spout off cryptic bull shit."

The man finally looked up at him, his eyes clouded with a mixture of anger and amusement. "You have to decide if doing this task is worth it."

Gus

"I want to stop lying," Gus was playing with the napkin in his hands.

"I don't think you quite understand what I do," the man frowned. "I'm not a priest, Gus, I can't absolve you of your sins."

"No," Gus shook his head. "It's not that simple." He sighed. "This lie... I can't just tell the truth. I would ruin so many lives if I told the truth."

"So, if you don't want to tell the truth, what do you want?" The man pulled out his worn leather journal.

"I want this whole lie..." Gus paused. "I want it to be true. I want Shawn to actually be a psychic."

The man flipped through a few pages of his journal. "To get that, your task is..." He ran his finger down the page to find his place. "Your task is to find a girl and marry her."

Gus raised an eyebrow. "I thought this was a serious thing."

"And I'm being completely serious," the man looked him in the eye.

"What girl?"

"It doesn't say, just says a girl." The man shut the journal.

"That isn't helpful at all!" Gus protested. "I could propose to the girl right there." He pointed at the waitress who was helping a customer on the other side of the diner.

"You could, but she actually has to marry you." The man seemed unphased by Gus' outburst.

Juliet

She wouldn't be here if she didn't need to be. That's what Juliet told herself as she sent Shawn a text about meeting Carlton for lunch to discuss case details. Hopefully he didn't run into the detective before Juliet got a chance to ask him to cover for her.

The man was waiting for her. He had an empty plate in front of him. Probably from a sandwich, Juliet thought, noting the crumbs and bits of lettuce leftover.

"Have you given any thought to what you're going to do for your task?" The man asked as soon as she settled into the booth.

"You just said I had to hurt someone." Juliet played with her phone in her hand. It buzzed with a text message from Shawn wishing her good luck on the case. She stuffed the phone into her pocket and looked up at the man. "Is that physically hurt someone? Because I can go and punch someone right now."

"You just have to really hurt someone." The man shrugged. "It doesn't say how."

Iris

"I took something today," Iris was out of breath and flushed as she slid into the booth. Her cell phone was clenched in her fist and her eyes were bright with adrenaline.

The man pushed aside his coffee cup and opened the journal. He took out his pen and motioned for her to continue the story.

"One of the teachers at my school, he has this super old watch and he was on this antiques TV show last year. They told him the watch was worth five hundred dollars, but he still wears it." Iris glanced around the diner and then reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a wrist watch. "He forgot it after class today. I was walking past his room and saw it sitting there."

"How do you know that is his watch?" The man asked as Iris quickly pocketed the watch again.

"I've seen it before," Iris shrugged, clearly impatient to leave.

"Have somewhere to be?" The man gave a soft smile as the girl fidgeted in her seat.

"My mom texted me on the way over here. She's going to be home for dinner tonight." Iris smiled brightly. "I need to run home, but I knew you'd want to hear about it." With that she was out the door and running down the street.

The man tapped the pen on the table as he watched her, lost in his thoughts.

Buzz

"Finding people to help is hard," Buzz was frowning as he sat across from the man. He had decided to come after work so that Detective Lassiter wouldn't be pestering him where he was. The detective had asked him a lot of questions when Buzz mentioned that he liked to go to the diner for lunch sometimes. Almost as if he knew what was at the diner. Buzz shoved that thought away, Detective Lassiter didn't believe in things like psychics or men in diners who helped you change the future. Nevertheless, to keep Lassiter from being so inquisitive, Buzz was here after hours. It meant getting home late to Francie, but this was for the both of them after all.

"How are things coming along?" The man was poised to jot down some notes as Buzz sat down. The rookie didn't even bother to take off his jacket, he didn't plan on staying that long.

"I found a couple people," Buzz sighed. "But when I offered to help they gladly accepted, so I don't think that those counted."

"Your wife isn't pregnant?" The man raised an eyebrow.

"Nope,"

"Then they didn't count." The man jotted down some notes. "Where are you going to look for more people?"

"I don't know," the cop said frustrated. "Detective Lassiter has been running all around town on these patrols. I don't know why he's so eager to do this rookie cop stuff." He sighed again. "I'd better go, Francie will have dinner on the table."

"Just keep at it, you'll find someone." The man reassured him.

"Thanks," Buzz mumbled and headed for the door.

Gus

"I went to a club last night," Gus was leaning forward on the table, his chin propped up on his hand. "I met a girl named Amanda." He gave a small sigh.

"She's nice, I take it," the man scribbled some notes down.

"Nice?" Gus gave a laugh. "Smoothies and chocolate are nice. Amanda is... amazing," he sighed again.

"Are you going to see her again?" The man asked.

"I hope so," Gus straightened. "We're getting dinner together tomorrow."

"You'll have to let me know how it goes." The man wrote down some things in his book.

Juliet

"I think I really messed up," Juliet was in tears as she sat across from the man at nearly midnight the following week. "Shawn didn't come home last night. He told me he was going to do a movie marathon at Psych with Gus, but when I drove by on my way to work this morning his bike wasn't there."

"Maybe he left early?" The man commented, more to keep the conversation going than to comfort her.

"Shawn has never been up before six in the morning." Juliet stifled a yawn, despite her tears. Her night had been sleepless and her work load bigger than it had been in a long time. Her temporary partner that Lassiter had been quick to assign for his unforeseen absence was not the dedicated civil servant Carlton was, not even close.

"So, your boyfriend didn't come home."

"No," Juliet sniffled, "and I'm not sure why. He's been so distant. I mean, it isn't my fault his dad-" She cut herself off.

"What about his father?"

"Nothing." Juliet slumped in her seat. "I..." She bit her lip. "The case got personal, maybe we all should have passed it onto another person. Shawn's dad was just too involved, but by the time we knew it was too late."

"Shawn found out about the case?" The man prompted.

"He always seems to find out about things." Juliet took a steadying breath.

"Are you afraid he'll find out about this?" The man motioned between them.

"I don't even know what this is," she pressed her lips together, trying to hold back tears.

Buzz

"I think I found someone to help," Buzz gave the man a half smile as he slid into the booth the next Tuesday.

"Excellent," the man smiled. "Who is it?"

"There's this guy at the station, he's not a cop, but I work with him." Buzz tried to figure out what exactly he should call Shawn. "He's a psychic, but for some reason he was hiding in the storage closet at the station. I asked him why and he said he needed help from the closet to joggle some of his psychic powers loose."

"So you offered to help him," the man cocked his head to the side.

"Of course!" Buzz nodded. "He told me I wasn't as good as a storage closet, but I pestered and pestered and finally he told me why he needed help." At that point in the story, Buzz's face clouded a little. "He's dating one of the detectives and I guess she's been really distant for the past couple of months." Buzz leaned forward and whispered. "He thinks she might be having an affair."

"Do you think she is?" The man asked.

Buzz shrugged. "I don't think she is, but I will say that they haven't been as romantic with each other as before."

"Do you know why not?" The man was writing furiously.

"There was a case, a while back, his dad was involved and got shot... he's not dead, but it changed them." Buzz screwed up his face in thought.

"So you're going to help him find out what is going on, even though he doesn't want you to?" The man tried to get Buzz's thoughts back on track.

"Exactly, I think I'll have to do my own investigating for a while. Without him knowing." Buzz thought for a moment. "If I find stuff out, is that what you want to hear about?"

"Whatever you want to tell me about your task." The man gave him a reassuring smile.

Iris

"I've only got one more," Iris said nervously as she sat in the booth, eating her French Toast. "One more thing and then my parents will be home more."

"What are you going to take?" The man was writing in his journal.

"There's this store at the mall, they have necklaces sitting on tables near the door. I think if I went on a Saturday there'd be enough people that I could grab one and no one would know."

"And you think it'll be easy?" The man prompted.

Iris nodded, "I mean, there's no one ever watching the store, plus, all the security guards are pretty old and slow. I already told my mom I wanted to have mac and cheese this weekend. She told me she wouldn't be home, because of some case, but I just smiled at her."

"Sounds like you've got this all figured out," the man jotted down a few notes in the book.

"I hope so," Iris said seriously. "I miss my mom and dad."

Buzz

"Juliet is sneaking around doing things," Buzz started talking before he was even all the way into the booth.

"Juliet?" The man looked up confusedly.

"Sorry, that's the girlfriend of the guy at work that I'm helping. The one who thought she was having an affair."

"You said you might do you own investigating."

Buzz nodded. "I did and I found out that she's been telling Shawn that she's getting lunch with Detective Lassiter, but I know that she's not because Detective Lassiter has been working with me and he never even takes a lunch."

Gus

"I can't do this," Gus stared into the cup of coffee in his hands.

"Can't do what?" The man looked across the table at him.

"The deal," Gus sighed. "I mean, it seemed so simple. I just had to marry a girl, but now..."

"I thought you liked Amanda."

"I do!" Gus protested. "I like her a lot! I just realized that I like her too much to rush things. What if she's the one and I mess things up because I want Shawn to be psychic?"

"You never set a timeline for your deal, you don't have to marry her tomorrow." The man pointed out.

Gus nodded. "I know, but... I also realized that I like Shawn and have liked him since we became friends. I don't want to change him."

"So the deal is off?" The man opened his book and had his pen poised to start writing.

"The deal is off," Gus nodded emphatically.

Buzz

"I think I helped Shawn," Buzz was beaming as he slid into the booth.

"Really?" The man raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah, I mean, I must have because Francie's pregnancy test came back positive this morning."

"Congratulations," the man smiled his knowing smile.

Buzz blushed a little. "Thanks, I hope that Shawn and Juliet work things out."

"That's another task," the man closed his book. "But I think you're done with tasks, aren't you?"

"Definitely," Buzz nodded. "I have a wife and a baby, there's nothing else I need."

Juliet

Juliet reluctantly slid into the booth, her foot tapping against the floor as she waved the waitress away..

The man raised an eyebrow and looked up at her expectantly.

"I can't stay long, Shawn and I are going to head out for a weekend."

"That sounds like he's back to normal."

Juliet laughed. "It took him thinking I was having an affair when I was visiting you to get us back together."

"Did he find out about me?" The man looked up sharply at her.

"No, not who you are." Juliet sighed. "I ran into a friend coming into the diner one day, and he told Shawn that I wasn't having an affair." She frowned in thought. "It's weird, because it's almost like Buzz was following me for a while, but he couldn't be following me if he was walking out of the diner and I was going in."

A horn honked from outside the diner.

"That's Shawn," Juliet stood. "Thank you for everything." She flashed a smile back over her shoulder.

Carlton

Carlton practically threw his jacket into the booth before sliding in. He sat there, arms crossed, glaring at the man.

"Carlton, how are you?" The man sipped his tea, as if oblivious to the look on the detective's face.

"How could you know?" Lassiter narrowed his eyes.

"Know what?"

Lassiter grabbed the day's newspaper from across the table. He flipped to the front page and pointed to the headline.

"Detective Busts Chief's Daughter." The man read. "That would be you?" He raised an eyebrow at the head detective.

"I said I wanted to be recognized for my service to the station, not to bring Karen down in a scandal to be given her job." Lassiter slid down in the seat, his voice sounding as defeated as he looked.

"You're Chief Lassiter now?"

"Damn it!" Lassiter snapped. "Stop this naivety ploy. You've read the paper you know what happened."

"But for our deal to be done, I need you to tell me what happened." The man's eyes darkened momentarily, then he pulled out the journal and motioned for Lassiter to tell his story.

"I've been on call for the mall all week. It's Spring Break and kids are more stupid than normal." Lassiter leaned forward and let out a sigh, running his hands through his hair. "Yesterday I get a call, one of the stores has a shoplifter, mall security was there, but I needed to go in to do paperwork. I get there and there's this ten year old girl with blonde hair, bawling while she sits against the wall."

"What did she take?" The man interrupted.

Lassiter frowns, "I think it was some sort of necklace, it was kind of a higher end store."

The man doesn't say anything and Lassiter continued.

"I had her look at me, so I could get her name and her parent's names, and that's when she started crying harder. I felt like such an ass." Lassiter rubbed his hands over his face. He was running on fumes and just wanted to sleep and hope things would be better when he woke up.

"It was Iris," the man prompted.

"Iris Vick," Lassiter didn't even bother to wonder why the man knew, he could have read it in the paper or divined it from that stupid journal. "I called Karen, it was the only thing I could think of. When she got there we filed the paperwork and I told her I'd be discreet with it, but somehow the mayor found out."

"And now you're Chief Lassiter." The man finished.

"And now I'm Chief Lassiter."

The End