I started rewatching the Pysch series because I never finished the last three episodes, so I started from the beginning, so it inspired me to write this. Plus I just wanted to try it. I will need readers help to figure out what to do with these people.
On a rather warm February day in 1977, a baby girl came screaming into the world. Her mother was in labor for hours, but it was worth it. As her parents held her in their arms, they loved her unconditionally.
Slightly unfortunate for the couple, the doctor who delivered their daughter was in America learning English, and was still struggling to grasp the language. He congratulated the happy couple on their new baby boy. It wasn't until after the birth certificate had been filled out that the couple checked and discovered it was a girl.
Still, the name Shawn Henry Spencer stuck to their daughter, who giggled every time her parents said it. New parents Henry and Maddie Spencer smiled at their daughter, and repeated her name just so they could see her smile.
Shawn grew up a happy child. She met her best friend Burton Guster, Gus, in kindergarten. It was recess, and one of the bigger kindergarteners was picking on Gus because of his unusual first name. Shawn, who hated bullies, approached the child and in the process of one minute, was able to expose some of his most embarrassing secrets to the whole playground. The bully went off crying, and Shawn and Gus became best friends. Unfortunately for them, the bully came back the next day and made sure that none of the other kids would be friends with either of them for fear of the bully's wrath. But that was okay with them. All they needed was each other.
Shawn's father started to train her to be a detective at a very young age. With Shawn's brilliance she blew through the training with ease. Shawn deduced from a young age that her father had probably wanted a boy that he could train to follow in his footsteps, so she strove to be just as good as any boy so she could prove to her father that she was just as good as any man. Shawn kept her hair cut short, and she was always pushing herself to be the best. She excelled in school, sports, and her fathers training.
Shawn spent a lot of time at the station with her father. She would bring a book or homework to work on while her father worked. Sometimes her dad would even let her in on the cases, which she loved. At first, the other detectives were skeptical that a little girl could see things that grown up trained men could not, but when five year old Shawn came in and exposed every secret they had by just looking at them for two seconds in her adorable little voice, they gave her the respect she deserved. After the third time someone doubted her ability, it became great entertainment. Every time new academy graduates would come in and question the little girl, the older officers would gather around and snicker as Shawn adorably destroyed the recruits self esteem. This practice continued until Shawn ran away.
By the time Shawn was fifteen, she was top of her class with ease. She would have been happy to stay in the middle of the pack and not draw any attention to herself, but that would have meant that she and Gus wouldn't share any classes. Shawn couldn't let her best friend be alone in nerd classes without her, so she took one for the team and decided to show everyone her intelligence. Shawn still kept her hair short and her tomboyish attitude at fifteen, still wanting to be the son her father never had. That didn't stop almost every boy from falling at her feet. She wouldn't pay much attention to them though. The only men in her life were Gus, who would always be just her best friend, and her father, who she still looked up to. That would all change soon though.
Shawn was hanging out at the police station one day when Captain Connors, his father's boss, approached her. Things were starting to deteriorate at home. Her parents were always fighting about one thing or another, so the police station was the one place where she couldn't feel the ever-surrounding tension in the air. Captain Connors approached the girl who was whizzing through her AP English homework with ease while waiting for her father to take her home.
"Hey Shawn, got a minute?" Connors asked her.
"Yes sir. I'm just about done anyways. Its too easy." Shawn said with slight frustration. School didn't provide a challenge, and it annoyed her.
"Well I have something that might prove a challenge for you. Come with me to my office." Connors said with a smile.
Shawn's ears perked up at the thought of something actually challenging her, and got up to follow him to his office. There was a desk in the corner with a packet of paper on it.
"Do you mind taking this test for me? There is just something I want to see." Connors told her.
Shawn nodded and sat down. She turned the packet over and began. It took her about five seconds to figure out that this was the state Detectives Exam. Shawn didn't care though. She was starting to get tired of her father's drills; she wanted to really test her knowledge. It didn't take her long to fill out the multiple-choice part, because it was all so easy. The essays did take her longer, but she felt like she might have done pretty well.
When she handed it to the Captain, he smiled at her and wished her a good day. She did the same and went back to her father's desk to finished her homework. When her father came back to the station after finishing up a case, they went home.
The next day she was back at the station, her father was out on another case, and she was there doing homework. It was business as usual, until the Captain called her into his office.
"Hey Shawn, how's it going?" Captain Connors asked when Shawn entered his office.
"Not bad. Gas prices are up, but they should drop. My dad still thinks computers are just a fad and everyone will get over them, but that's not new. Oh, and I think the secretary might be embezzling from the school, but I can't be sure yet." Shawn said simply.
Captain Conner's chuckled and wrote the secretary thing down on a note by his desk. That's what drew Shawn's attention to her graded test exam on the desk.
"Do you know why I called you in here?" Connors asked.
"You graded my Detectives Exam." Shawn said simply.
"I did." He said with a smile. "In all my years on the force, I have never seen anyone get a perfect score. I had one of my buddies at the academy grade this so I wouldn't be biased, and he told me that if he could have given extra credit if he could have. You scored 100 easily on the multiple choice questions, and your essays were well thought out and reasoned, so much so that my friend asked if you were already a well seasoned detective. He was shocked that I told him that a fifteen-year-old girl completed it. He also said that if you ever applied to the academy, you would be accepted immediately, and it would be an honor to train you. Not like you need much training with the way your dad has raised you."
Shawn stood there in silence. She knew she did well, but she didn't think she did that well.
Captain Conners smiled at her and handed her the detective's exam.
"I won't tell your father, I'll leave that up to you. I know things have been a little rough at home lately, so when you are ready you can. But keep this, you should be proud." Connors told her. Shawn smiled at him, and left the room.
She couldn't really concentrate on her homework after that. She had placed the exam in her folder so no one else could see it. She kept trying to concentrate on the math in front of her, but she just couldn't. So much so, that when her father came back, he took one look at her homework, and began to yell at her.
"Shawn this is the second day in a row I come back and you haven't completed your homework. Come on Shawn, you will never make it in the force if you don't concentrate and work hard." Henry reprimanded her.
Shawn nodded and began to pretend to focus until her father left to go talk with the other detectives working his latest case. What he said stung a little bit, but she just put it off to him just wanting the best for her.
Shawn kept the test secret for over a month. School ended for the summer, and report cards were handed out. Shawn came to the station with straight A's that day, no surprise to her. She stopped by the conference room where her father and his partner were trying to figure out the latest case, and handed it to him. She left and went to her father's desk, dropping her backpack on the ground to wait for him. She glanced at the bag; her Detectives Exam was still inside. She considered for a moment about whether or not to show him, then decided to pull it out and bring it too him. Might as well pile all the good news together so she maybe she could have one night where her parents didn't fight. They might actually go out to celebrate! She grabbed it and began to make her way back to the conference room, where the door had been left open slightly so she could hear every word that was being said. And what she heard stopped her in her tracks.
"Look at this Lou! Straight A's are great, but these teacher's comments." Henry was saying. "Needs to pay attention. Really smart, but has blatant disregard for authority. Needs to stop distracting other students. Needs to stop combining random chemicals to see if they will explode!"
"Now Henry-" Lou began.
"Lou, I don't know what to do with her. The way she is going, she will never make it on the force. Years of training wasted! I tell you Lou, there are times when I just wish we never had her. Maddie and I constantly fight, and most of the fights are about her. Things would have just been easier if Maddie and I had just never had a child." Henry said.
"Henry, you don't mean that." Lou said, disappointed that his partner would say something like that.
"Don't I? I just don't know what to do anymore Lou." Henry sighed.
Shawn had heard enough. She turned from the room, balled up her exam and threw it in a passing trashcan, grabbed her bag and ran out of the station, tears running down her face. She was so focused on getting out of there; she had to get to Gus, the one person in the world who would understand.
When she showed up on Gus's front door step in tears, he brought her inside, shouted something to his parents, and hurried her up to his room. In it, she broke down completely. She told Gus everything she overheard in-between sobs. Gus put an arm around her and let her cry it out. An hour later she had finally calmed down.
"Gus, would it have just been better if I had never been born?" Shawn finally asked quietly.
"Of course not! What would I do without my best friend and partner in crime? Even if your father is a totally dick, I'm glad you were born." Gus told her.
Shawn smiled, then grew quiet at the sound of a phone ringing. Gus's mother appeared a minute later. Gus's mother took one look at Shawn and Gus and knew something was wrong.
"Shawn, do you want to stay for dinner? Your father called and said he would like you home, but you don't have to go yet. We are celebrating Gus's grades so I made something special." She said.
Shawn nodded, grateful that Mrs. Guster could read how upset she was. Mrs. Guster disappeared again, and Gus pulled her slightly closer for comfort. A few minutes later his mother called them down to dinner.
As happy as Shawn was to spend time with the Gusters, she knew she had to go home and face her father sometime. She thanked the Gusters for the meal, gave Gus a hug, and walked home. The second she walked in the door she knew she should have stayed at the Gusters.
"You are pushing her away and forcing her into something! She should have the right to choose her life, not have it planned by you!" She could hear her mothers voice scream from the kitchen.
"I am training her to be the best detective on the force! She has a gift, and I want her to utilize it for good!" Her father screamed back.
"But you are still forcing her to be something without her consent!" Her mother yelled back.
"She seems pretty happy to do it! It's just her focus and maturity needs to change." Henry said.
"She's immature because you never let her have a childhood. If she actually had one she might have grown up a bit." Maddie yelled.
"So now its all my fault! You what!" Henry cut off. Shawn could make out the quick scratching of a pen. "Here, you happy? We are now officially divorced. I get Shawn, you get to go off and travel the world. Be happy."
Shawn heard her mother storm upstairs and into her parent's room. But she couldn't believe it. Her parents were getting a divorce. She knew in the back of her mind that this was probably inevitable, with how much they fight, but she never realized it would happen. She heard her father sigh and sit down in the kitchen, and that snapped her back to the fact that her parents didn't know she was home.
Shawn took several deep breaths, waited a minute, then opened the door rather loudly.
"I'm home!" She called out, trying to make her parents believe she hadn't heard the whole thing.
"In here." Henry called tiredly from the kitchen. Shawn took another deep breath, pulled off her shoes and went towards the kitchen. She found her dad sitting at the table with a beer in his hand, a packet of papers sitting on the table.
"Hey." Shawn mumbled. She could clearly see that the papers on the table were divorce papers.
"Shawn what happened today? When I went to check on you at my desk you were gone, and some of the other officers said that you ran out crying." Henry asked, worry for his only child on his face. But Shawn knew better. She knew he was only faking concern.
"Nothing Dad. I'm fine. I just went over to Gus's. I'm going upstairs." Shawn told him.
"Shawn, wait a moment." Henry called out before she could go upstairs. "I need to talk to you about a few things."
"Not tonight Dad, not in the mood." She said, and raced up the stairs before Henry could call her down again.
The next day when Shawn woke up, both her parents had already left. She peaked into her mother's room and noticed the closet door open, clothes and suitcases missing.
She went downstairs, fixed herself some pineapple pancakes, and checked the clock. Shawn had to leave for her part time job soon. She got dressed, cleaned up the kitchen a little bit, and left.
After work she stopped by the station to see her dad, who told her that he needed to talk to her tonight, no exceptions, and then went to Gus's house.
"Hey Shawn!" Gus greeted opening his door.
"Can we go for a walk? I need some fresh air." Shawn said.
"Course, let me grab my shoes."
Five minutes later they were sitting on the swings in the local park and Shawn was telling Gus everything that had happened. She kept it together for the most part, but she felt like crying the whole time.
"That sucks." Gus said when she finished.
"Yeah, well, I'm done. I don't want to be a cop anymore. I'm going to grow my hair out, and I'm going to buy a motorcycle once I can." Shawn declared.
"Shawn! Motorcycles are dangerous! You could get yourself killed." Gus protested.
"I don't care." Shawn stated. Gus gave up, knowing that once Shawn made up her mind about something, there was no changing it.
"Look Gus, I need to get home. My dad wants to talk to me about everything. Thanks for being the best friend a girl could ask for." Shawn said, giving Gus a hug. Gus squeezed his best friend tightly, and walked her back to her house.
Henry was waiting for her in the kitchen. He was seated at the table, drinking a beer.
"Hey Dad, you said you wanted to chat." Shawn said.
"Yeah, have a seat." Henry motioned at the empty chair to his right. Shawn sat down, and the bad news came out. Her parents had gotten divorced, her mother had been kicked out of the house, and her father was disappointed in Shawn's report card.
By the end of the night, Shawn and Henry had another screaming match, and it ended with slammed bedroom doors.
That day was the first nail in the coffin of Henry and Shawn's relationship. It only got worse after that. Without Shawn's mother there to be some sort of buffer between the two, it got worse. There were nights when Shawn and Henry wouldn't even speak to each other. Shawn stopped coming by the station as much, and she grew her hair out so it was long and choppy. She started seeing a new boy each week, none of them her father approved of. Henry nearly exploded when she got a motorcycle the summer after junior year. The fighting just increased, until one final day, four days before Shawn's graduation.
Henry had been having a rough week at work already when he got the call about a car being stolen by a goth boy and girl matching Shawn's description was put in.
Henry and his partner pulled up to where they found the car, they could see through the window that the two were making out. That was the last straw.
"Dispatch we have located the stolen vehicle." Henry spoke into his radio. "Occupants inside, approaching now."
"Henry, you don't want to do this." His partner Ray told him.
"I don't have a choice Ray." Henry replied.
"Think of the consequences."
"I'm way past consequences. This needs to end tonight." With that, Henry got out of the car with a flashlight.
He didn't knock on the window or shine the light in, Henry threw the car door open and pointed the light right at the brunette driver.
"Whoops." The brunette mumbled with a smirk. Henry could smell the alcohol on her breath.
"Whoops." Henry repeated sternly.
"It's my neighbor's car!" The goth boy in the drivers seat said quickly, panic in his eyes. "We were going to put it back. It was just a dare."
"Is there a problem here officer?" Shawn asked, not looking at her father. Her long brown hair covered her face.
"You wanted my attention, Shawn, you got it." Henry said.
"Wait, you guys know each other?" The goth boy asked nervously. Henry glanced at him quickly to see that he was wearing more jewelry and make up than Shawn herself.
"Yeah, he's sort of my dad." Shawn said with a shit-eating smirk. With that, Henry pulled her from the car roughly and brought her over to the police car where he slapped cuffs on her.
"Ray, drive that car and the boy back to the station, I'll deal with her." Henry ordered. His partner quickly got out to do what he said.
The ride to the station was quiet. Henry was seething mad. He knew that he and Shawn had been growing farther apart these past few years, and he hadn't been paying her much attention, but this was too far.
They arrived at the station, where Henry parked right in front of the doors. He got out, pulled his daughter out of the back seat, and dragged her up the front doors and into the station. Officers turned to stare as Henry dragged his own daughter through the halls that once contained her laughter.
"I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask for that 'Worlds Greatest Dad' mug back." Shawn said, and Henry nearly gagged at the alcohol on her breath.
"Keep talking Shawn." Henry muttered
"Youuuu keep talking." Shawn slurred out.
"Don't worry, I will, like when I read you your rights." Henry said seriously.
"Oh I have rights! That will be new and fun." Shawn mocked. Henry snapped and pulled Shawn around to face him.
"What am I going to tell your mother?" Henry demanded.
"I don't know, what are you? You think you can get ahold of her new phone number?" Shawn asked, not backing down.
"I hope this was worth it smart ass. This officially ends your chance of being a cop." Henry said, hoping to make his daughter take this seriously for once.
"Lets be honest, I gave up wanting to be like you a long time ago." Shawn said, and Henry saw a flicker of pain in her eyes.
"That's it! Somebody book her!" Henry shouted. He spotted a uniform filling out paperwork at a desk. "You! Get over here, finger print her now!"
The guy, who had an old mans haircut and a mustache that looked like a squirrel died on his lip, looked up in surprise.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, me?" He asked nervously, looking around to see if there was anyone else.
Shawn snickered and her father only got angrier.
"Never mind rookie I'll do it myself." Henry said, and pulled Shawn roughly down to booking.
Shawn was released the next day, and she went home to a silent house. She went up to her room to nurse the headache she had from the night before, because she knew that tonight she would need all the strength she could get.
Sure enough, the second her father crossed the threshold screaming could be heard throughout the entire neighborhood. The neighbors had heard about how Henry arresting his daughter, so they expected this. People shut blinds and doors, and turned their television up to drown out the shouting. The shouting had reached its peak ten minutes after Henry entered the house.
"I can't believe you would do something so stupid and irresponsible like that!" Henry shouted. "Not only were you drinking underage, you drove a car! You could gotten yourself, or someone else killed."
"I only had one drink Dad, I wasn't drunk at all. Stop just assuming things when you never even listened to my side!" Shawn shouted back.
"I don't need to listen to you when the evidence is all right there." Henry shot back. "You had alcohol on your breath, you stole a car on a dare of all things, and you have been acting this way ever since your mother and I got a divorce. What had gotten into you?"
"My problem is you. No matter what I do or how hard I try, I can never seem to please you." Shawn said. "So instead of bending over backwards just to get you to look at me, I stopped, because I just don't care what you think about me anymore. I know you don't care."
"Now what could possibly give you that idea?" Henry asked, not knowing that Shawn had heard his words all those years ago.
"I overheard you telling Uncle Lou all those years ago that you wish you never had me." Shawn told him, venom in her voice.
"You were listening in on our conversation? How dare you! That is an invasion of my privacy." Shawn couldn't believe what her father had just said.
"Are you kidding me? I just told you that I heard you telling someone I considered family that you never wanted me, and you try to blame me! That's just like you." Shawn screamed.
"You invaded my privacy-"
"You said you never wanted me. You know what, fuck this. Fuck you. I can't take this anymore." Shawn stormed out the front door, grabbing her keys and helmet in the process, and sped out of the driveway on her motorcycle.
Henry sat down at his table, alone, and rested his head in his hands. He knew he screwed up royally. He just couldn't believe she had heard the one sentence he regretting saying most in his life was the one she had heard. He really didn't mean what he had told Lou, it just slipped out with all the stress that he had been dealing with. He would have to tell Shawn how sorry he was when she got back. He went upstairs to his room, shutting the door behind him.
Shawn meanwhile drove straight to Gus's house, scaled the side, and knocked on his window.
"Shawn, what the heck are you doing here? I thought you and your dad would still be going at it." Gus said when he opened his window. He stepped back to allow Shawn entry.
"You would think, but I just can't take it anymore. I can't be in the same house with that man." Shawn told him.
"We graduate in three days, after that it's a summer of part time jobs and work hours making sure you never see each other until you leave for college in August." Gus said, trying to calm his best friend down.
"I can't wait that long buddy. There is no way we can make it through the week, much less three months."
"Shawn, you need to calm down. Take a deep breath. You need to graduate, then you will not see him for the entire summer, and on the nights you might you can just spend here." Gus told her. Shawn saw quickly that Gus wasn't going to be any help. She had to get out of here, and he wasn't listening. Shawn had made up her mind.
"You're right Gus. I just needed to clear my head. I'm going for a drive, then I'll get back home. I'll see you later buddy." Shawn said, and made for the window.
"Shawn, wait!" Gus grabbed her hand and pulled her into a hug. "You know I'm always here for you. No matter what, I'll be your best friend and you will be mine. If things get to much at home, my door, or window, is always open."
"Thanks Gus." Shawn said, returning his hug. The two stood there for a moment. "Alright buddy, I need to go. I'll catch you later, okay?"
"Okay Shawn." Gus said.
Shawn climbed out his window and down to her motorcycle. She told Gus the truth; she had to get out of here. She drove around for a little bit before returning home. She had made her decision.
As quietly as she could, she snuck into the house and to her room. She found a backpack and the saddlebags for her bike she had bought with job money, and filled them up with clothes, any money she had hidden around the room, and an old baseball hat. At the last minute, she grabbed an old photo.
It was of a warm summer Saturday afternoon. Henry was grilling in the yard, talking to Uncle Lou. Maddie and Mrs. Guster were chatting on the porch, and Mr. Guster was holding Gus's little sister Joy. Shawn and Gus were sitting next to each other, heads close together discussing their next idea for fun. She couldn't remember who had taken the picture; all she could remember was happiness. Back when her parents wouldn't fight, when she still believed that her father was proud of her, when things were less complicated, and a families could gather on the front porch to enjoy a perfect Saturday afternoon.
She put that picture in her wallet and looked over her room one last time. Her messily made bed, the drawers that were filled to the brim with concert shirts, her vinyl collection that had taken many years to organize in order of sweetness, and the cap and gown carefully hung up on the back to the door. She hadn't tried it on yet, and now she never would. With a final sigh, she shouldered her bags and snuck out the window.
She loaded her bag on her bike and took one last look at the house. It looked peaceful, like a home should. But most of the recent memories made the house look like a prison. She walked her bike to the end of the street before starting it, hopped on and started on her trip. It was June 1996; she wouldn't see her house again for ten years.
