- TWO: Retrospective regurgitations -

His father was waiting for him in the chief's office when he returned.

Shawn hesitated in the doorway before closing the door behind him and going over to the desk. Ignoring the way his father's gaze burned holes in his back, Shawn put his LAPD ID back in the lockbox then picked up his badge. He ran his thumb over it with a sigh before he carefully returned it to the box and closed the lid, locking it.

"Could..." Shawn trailed off, swallowing hard. "Could you..."

"C'mon, I'll give you a ride."

Shawn's head shot up to look at Henry. His father's expression was unreadable. With a jerky nod, Shawn followed his father out of the office, carrying the lockbox. He made sure to grin and wave at Buzz and a few others before he left, letting them know that all was well.

Henry said nothing until they got to the truck.

"You hungry?" he asked simply, glancing at the lockbox on Shawn's lap. Sensing a long talk ahead of them, Shawn nodded. Henry smiled slightly and turned out of the SBPD parking lot, heading for the house.

The car ride was silent, an awkwardness lingering between the two men. Shawn fought the urge to open the door and tuck and roll, if only to get away from it. By the time they pulled up to Henry's house, his skin was crawling but he forced himself to get out of the truck and follow his father inside.

"Beer?" Henry asked, walking into the kitchen. He tossed his keys into a bowl and turned to look at his son. Shawn set his lockbox down on the table and met his father's eyes.

"Let's just get this over with, I know you want to ask," Shawn said tersely. Henry raised his eyebrows and went to the fridge.

"Definitely need the beer..." he muttered, pulling two out. He set one in front of Shawn at the table and unscrewed the cap of his own, taking a swig.

"Seriously, you're starting to freak me out. You're never this relaxed when it comes to anything to do with me," Shawn said staring at Henry like he had grown another head. Rolling his eyes, he leaned against the counter.

"Well..." Henry began, "First I get a call saying that you're being arrested for an ADW... then I'm told that my son, who from the age of 16 has been hellbent on making sure he never goes into law enforcement, actually went to the academy, graduated, and became an officer of the LAPD."

"Detective," Shawn muttered, correcting him. Henry took a deep breath to calm himself before he ended up screaming at his son.

"And not only did he become a detective," Henry went on in a disturbingly calm voice. "He's been working undercover for the last six years, without saying a word."

"That's what undercover means, Dad."

"Why didn't you ever tell me, Shawn?" Henry asked, his anger and hurt finally bleeding into his words. Shawn fiddled with the lockbox.

"You arrested me..." he said so softly, Henry almost missed the words.

"You arrested me for borrowing your truck... Grand theft auto, Dad. That pretty much slams the door on any chance of me going to the academy," Shawn hissed, glaring at his father. "After everything you put me through-"

"You didn't even want to go to the academy!" Henry shouted at him, no longer able to contain his anger.

"That's- That's not..." Shawn looked out the window, pain clouding his face.

"Didn't you?" Henry whispered, shock settling in as he realized for the first time, he may have misunderstood how his son felt back in highschool.

"After Stan was shot..." Shawn explained in a broken voice, "I hated it. All of it. I hated the police and the academy and you... you most of all... but-" He let out a choked laugh, turning to look at Henry. "When I visited Stan, after he retired because of the paralysis, you know what he said?"

Henry shook his head dumbly, overwhelmed by the raw emotion on his son's face.

"He said that I wasn't mad... he said I was scared," Shawn chuckled and rubbed a hand over his mouth. "Stan... just called me on all of it.. all the bullshit. That I was scared about him almost dying, that he'd never walk again, that it could've been you instead..."

Shawn trailed off, turning his head to stare out the window again.

"Then everything went to hell, you and mom fighting. The divorce," he murmured. "And I was so mad at you, I thought it was your fault..." He gave a mirthless chuckle. " 'Course, now I know that it wasn't, but... then, I just wanted to get back at you. Make you think I didn't want to go to the academy but..."

"You wanted to go..." Henry whispered, his eyes wide in surprise. Shawn nodded slightly.

"So I went to Karen... she had gone to the academy with one of the instructors out of LA," Shawn explained. "She explained what happened and they had me come down, tested me."

Shawn laughed and looked at his father.

"Dad, you should have seen their faces after they put me through those tests, they practically shit themselves!"

Henry guffawed and the two of them broke down in laughter. After a good minute of laughing, they calmed themselves as Henry sat down heavily in the chair across from Shawn.

"Apparently, you did a pretty good job teaching me," Shawn said dryly, grinning at his father. Henry smiled back wryly.

"So they let you in?" Henry asked.

"Dude, they practically begged me to go!" Shawn exclaimed, earning another chuckle from Henry. A fond smile crossed Shawn's face. "I loved it... the academy... I graduated top of my class, by the way."

"I never knew," Henry said quietly.

"I know," Shawn said remorsefully. "I was still angry about the arrest. I told Karen not to tell you... I'm sorry about that."

"Me too, kid," Henry said rawly. He cleared his throat. "So you joined the LAPD?"

"Yeah, they made me stay on patrol for six months before I hopped up to detective, wanted me to have that perspective first," Shawn rolled his eyes in annoyance as Henry cracked a grin.

"Smart idea," Henry told him as he finally opened his beer and took a swallow.

"Ha! They regretted it at the end," Shawn said triumphantly. "I was helping most of the detectives in my area out by the end of my time on patrol. They'd send me to respond to calls, then I'd solve the case and tell the detectives when they got there. It drove the brass nuts."

He chuckled.

" 'Cept the Captain, he always just found it entertaining. I think he was the one who started the pool on how many cases I'd break each week," Shawn told him with a grin. "There were a lot of people disappointed when they finally gave me this." He opened the lockbox and pulled out his detective badge. Shawn held it out for his father to take.

When Henry's eyes misted up as he held the badge, Shawn stood up, distinctly uncomfortable. He went over to the fridge and began rooting through it, looking for sandwich fixings.

"By the way, Dad," Shawn called over his shoulder. "Long term undercover totally does not mean less paperwork."

"Oh yeah?" Henry said, still looking at the badge.

"Yeah," Shawn scoffed bitterly. "It's more."

Henry just laughed.

Shawn muttered about the injustice of having more paperwork not less and grabbed anything he might need for a sandwich out of the fridge. Dumping them on the counter, he went to grab a plate.

"So tell me about your partner."

The plate slipped from Shawn's fingers and fell to the counter with a clatter.

"W-what?" he stuttered, picking it up quickly to check for cracks. Henry turned in his seat to look at Shawn, frowning at the tension in his movements.

"Nothing," Henry said, dropping the issue. "Is there any ham there, or did you eat it all the last time you went scavenging?" he asked lightly. Shawn grinned, hiding his relief, and put the last of the ham on his roll.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he told his father innocently.

The rest of their lunch passed with some level of normalcy. Henry asked about the bombing case that they had wrapped up earlier that day. And Shawn told him about the arrest, absently toying with his badge as he finished his beer. Then there had been the customary offer to join Henry on his next fishing trip, followed by the usual sarcastic comment about rather being Jetson'd ("It's jettisoned, Shawn") into space.

Shawn was immensely grateful that the subject of his employment didn't come up again until Henry parked the truck outside the Psych office, dropping him off.

"Good luck in there," Henry said wryly, anticipating the interrogation his son was about to be subjected to.

"Don't you think we could just drive around the block one more time?" Shawn whined. Henry chuckled and reached past him to open the door.

"Get out of my truck... or you're going fishing with me tomorrow, five am sharp," he threatened.

Shawn was out of the truck in a flash, standing on the curb and clutching his lockbox as he watched his father drive away. When the truck disappeared around a corner, he finally turned to the door of the Psych office, eyeing it nervously.

"Well... at least they can't hurt me," Shawn muttered, walking up to the door. "Assaulting an officer and all that jazz..."

Taking a deep breath, he opened the door and walked into the office, only to stop when two pairs of eyes glared daggers at him.

"Uh, hi Gus... Jules..." Shawn said nervously, skirting around where they sat on the couch to head to his desk.

"Shawn," Gus said sternly, "You have some explaining to do."

"Really Gus?" Shawn said lightly, setting the lockbox down on his desk. "Pulling out the 'I Love Lucy'?"

"Shawn..."

The serious tone of Juliet's voice made Shawn pause. He sighed, closing his eyes for a moment before opening the lockbox to pull out the badge and ID again. Shawn went over to the front door, locked it, and flipped the sign to 'closed'. He took a seat in a chair across from Gus and Juliet.

"Alright, go ahead," Shawn said tiredly, wiping a hand over his face.

"How the hell could you keep this from me, Shawn?" Gus exploded. "I mean, I can understand why you couldn't tell Juliet-"

"Gus!" Juliet cried in protest.

"Sorry, Juliet, but you didn't know him before all of this," Gus apologized before glaring at Shawn again. "But me, your best friend, Shawn? How could you?"

"I don't know-"

"You don't know?" Gus yelled, incredulous.

"No! I don't know!" Shawn snapped, losing his temper. Gus deflated, taken aback by the outburst.

"Look, man, you remember how things were at the end of high school..." Shawn trailed off, looking away.

Juliet looked from Shawn to Gus, who seemed genuinely remorseful about yelling. From the little Juliet knew about Shawn's high school years and the divorce, it was obvious that it had been a very painful time for everyone, especially Shawn. It really wasn't that hard to understand why Shawn would've taken off on his own for a while.

"Anyway," Shawn cleared his throat before continuing. "When I was in LA things were... complicated. But I should have told you. I'm sorry, man."

Gus looked at the ground for a moment.

"What about the postcards... all those crazy jobs...?" he asked quietly, looking up to meet Shawn's eyes.

"The postcards... were from tourists and people at the bureau," Shawn admitted, "The jobs were real starting with Costa Rica, but before that... stories from people I met in LA."

Gus shot to his feet and began pacing on the other side of the room, muttering to himself. Juliet, despite her own feeling of betrayal, felt bad for them as Shawn watched his best friend, clearly hurting as well.

"The Captain said you were-are- a detective?" Juliet asked, changing the subject. Shawn blinked at her in surprise before nodding as he handed the ID and badge to her.

"Yeah, I passed all the requirements right out of the academy, but they made me wait like six months," Shawn said. He jumped when Gus laughed from where he was standing on the other side of the room.

"So all that crap your dad put us through paid off?" Gus asked smiling. Shawn grinned back.

"Dude, the instructors pretty much told me I didn't even need to go to the academy!"

"You know that's right," Gus said proudly, coming over to hold out a fist. Shawn bumped it with his own as Juliet looked from one man to the other in confusion.

"What do you mean?" she asked. Both men turned to look at her.

"Huh?"

"What you said," Juliet clarified, "about your dad?"

"Oh," Shawn chuckled. "Dad decided basically when I was in the womb that I'd be the next great Detective Spencer. So from the age of what... six?" Gus nodded. "Dad trained me how to be the perfect cop and detective."

"Yeah, things like how to process a crime scene and how to tell if people were lying," Gus said, sitting back down on the couch. "He even buried Shawn's easter eggs three feet underground."

"Oh my god, that's horrible!" Juliet said, but couldn't help the laugh that bubbled up.

"Thank you!" Shawn exclaimed, then chuckled. "But even after all the crazy stuff he did, I'm kinda glad he did it."

"Shawn, he locked you in the trunk of his car when you were ten to teach you what to do when you're kidnapped," Gus said flatly.

"And it turned out to be really useful!" Shawn defended. "Or do you not remember Garth Longmore taking me for a ride?"

All three grimaced, remembering how terrifying it had been when Shawn had been shot and kidnapped.

"Anyway, it's like the chicken and the hen."

"I think you mean the chicken and the egg, Shawn," Gus automatically corrected.

"I've heard it both ways," Shawn shrugged.

"Back in the chief's office," Juliet said with a frown, "you said you were a psychic so that Carlton wouldn't arrest you?"

Shawn nodded, glancing nervously at Gus.

"So you're not psychic?" Juliet asked, staring at Shawn. He swallowed hard before responding.

"No, I'm not."

Juliet looked at the floor for a moment, taking a few deep breaths, then looked up again.

"How?" she asked plainly, her voice relatively calm. Shawn blinked at her in surprise, expecting a much different reaction.

"I have an eidetic memory..." he replied slowly. "That with Dad training me to be a detective pretty much since birth..."

"Wow..." Juliet murmured. "Really? But you know things..."

"Trust me," Shawn laughed ruefully, "It's nothing supernatural. Next time I do the 'psychic' stuff, I'll show you how I did it, okay?"

"Okay."

"I have to say," Shawn suddenly declared, looking at her in confusion. "This was not really the reaction I was expecting to the whole 'oh hey I'm not really psychic!' thing."

Juliet sighed.

"It's a lot to swallow," she replied softly, the lingering hurt and betrayal shining in her eyes. "Finding out that you're actually a detective from the LAPD despite not being psychic makes it a lot easier... It's going to take time though."

Gus nodded in agreement from his spot at the other side of the couch.

"I really am sorry, guys," Shawn said softly, "I should have told you... undercover or not."

"Yeah, you should have," Gus agreed fiercely before sighing. "What's going to happen now? What about Psych?"

"Nothing at all," Shawn said quickly, causing the other two to raise their eyebrows. "At least for now, until I figure out what to do next." Gus nodded in understanding. "It's been... suggested that I start carrying my weapon more often though. Just for protection."

"Thank god," Gus gushed in relief, earning a chuckle from Shawn. "We have guns pointed at us like once a week, I don't get why you never carried it before!"

"Can you imagine Lassie's face if I just started carrying?" Shawn replied with a roll of his eyes. "Besides, it's a lot harder to keep the cover of a psychic detective if people know I know how to handle a weapon."

Gus snorted.

" 'Handle a weapon' " he mocked. "I don't think Lassie would give us half as hard a time if he knew how well you can 'handle' a weapon."

"What do you mean, Gus?" Juliet asked in confusion.

"Remind me to take you to the range sometime, Jules," Shawn said with a chuckle as Gus grinned at him in pride. He yawned suddenly, causing Gus and Juliet to laugh.

"Hey, getting arrested then having to explain the last fifteen years of your life really takes it out of you," Shawn pouted.

"Then let's go home, we can get takeout and watch movies in bed," Juliet said, standing up with a soft smile on her face. Uncertainty flashed across Shawn's face, but before she could say anything he was putting his badge and ID back in the lockbox and heading back over to his desk.

Juliet glanced at Gus as they watched with great curiosity as Shawn opened the bottom right drawer of his desk and lifted the false bottom to replace the lockbox.

"How did I not notice that?" Gus muttered.

"The clutter isn't just there for kicks," Shawn told him with a sly grin.

"How much else do you have hidden in here?" Gus looked around the room incredulously.

"You'll never kn~ow!" Shawn replied in sing song, grabbing the keys to his bike of the desk. He looked at Gus nervously. "Are we...?"

"We're cool, Shawn," Gus reassured him. "Go get your girl."

With one last fist bump, Shawn followed Juliet out of the office in a bounce, pausing on the front steps.

"Meet you back at home?" he asked, holding the keys to his bike.

"Yep, I'll pick up some chinese on the way," Juliet said with a smile and leaned over to give him a smooch. Shawn grinned happily.

"Then I'll be seeing you soon," Shawn said as he pulled on his helmet and got on his Norton.

"Not if I see you first!" Juliet called as she hopped into her car, laughing as she pulled away from the curb.