Shawn and Gus sat starting wide-eyed at the photograph. Both friends tried to say something, but no words came to mind. Shawn still couldn't believe what he had just heard. "His name is Carlton Lassiter." How the hell could Lassie have a kid? And an 18-year-old kid, no less! Shawn peered around the corner into the waiting room where Emily now sat. She was playing with a small turquoise pendant hanging on a silver chain around her neck. "Nervous habit." Shawn concluded to himself. The chain was clean as the day it was made. "There must be some special meaning to that pendant because she obviously never takes it off." Shawn thought. "That or she just really likes it."
Gus was the first of the two to speak. "Dude! How is this even possible? I mean, do you think she's really Lassiter's daughter?" "I'm 99.99% sure Gus." Shawn replied, not taking his eyes off Emily. "They're eyes are almost exactly identical! Just look at them, look at the color." Gus also strained to look around the corner at Emily. "She has a rare gunmetal-blue iris." Gus said, thinking out loud. "A trait like that is only shared between siblings or…" "Parents and children." Shawn finished his sentence for him. Shawn put in face in his hands and sighed. He had so many questions. Where did he begin? Not to mention, how were they going to break this to Lassie? As if he could read his mind, Gus said "Let's get the full story from Emily, then go from there." Shawn nodded in agreement and grabbed the photo lying on the desk. The two stood and walked into the room where Emily sat.
"Sorry to keep you waiting." Shawn apologized. "I'm sure you must be very nervous." "Yes, I guess I am a little nervous." Emily said, self-consciously ceasing to play with her pendant. "Could you maybe start at the beginning for us?" Gus asked cautiously. "Well, I guess I should start with my birth mother." Emily said looking back at the picture in Shawn's hand. Shawn looked at the photo again, this time focusing on the woman seated next to Lassiter. Emily had the same brown wavy hair, oval shaped face, and soft features. If he hadn't known any better, Shawn would've guessed that it was Emily herself smiling back at the camera, but something was different. This woman's eyes were brown.
Emily launched into her story. She didn't know much about her birth mother. Her name was Meaghan Phillips and had died when Emily was barely one year old. With no immediate family, Emily was placed into foster care. For 17 years she moved from foster family to foster family, no one being able to keep her for more than a few years at a time. "I turned 18 a few months ago, and decided to get some answers about my birth parents. I had next to no knowledge about them prior because I was under age, you see." "And I'm guessing your mother only left you that photo for you to claim when you turned 18?" Shawn said, not really guessing at all. "That's right." Emily replied. "The envelope they were in read 'Santa Barbara, 1992.' Figured I had to start somewhere." "That still doesn't explain how you know Lassiter's name." Gus said. "He's wearing a police badge in the picture, it's hidden just under the jacket." Emily pointed out. Shawn looked back at the picture again. Barely visible under the jacket, a police badge was clipped to the man's belt.
Typical Lassie, wearing his badge in a social setting.
"I google searched the SBPD and this name and photo matched mine." Shawn was starting to like this girl's style. "So how did you find us?" Gus inquired. "You guys are a little more famous than you know." Emily said. "I knew the your agency was in association with the SBPD and was I thinking that maybe-" "Consider it done." Shawn stopped her mid-sentence. "As it turns out, Lassiter is a good friend of ours, we'd be happy to introduce you. I'll call, him right now. 10:30 good for you?"
This prompted another look from Gus. Emily swallowed. Waves of relief, excitement, and terror coursed through her. She had never expected her search to go this smoothly! When she woke up that morning she had expected to find maybe an area of a town where he lived, an address if she got lucky. She hadn't exactly planned on meeting her father that same day! Her hand moved to her neck by itself and began to play with the pendant again…
