Only the Curious Have Something to Find

Disclaimer: (because I forgot in the last chapter) Psych is owned by Steve Franks (sobs) and the title is from the song 'This Side' by Nickel Creek. So yea…I own nothing but my peanut butter oreos and this computer.

Note: Oh my goodness! I got so much love after that last chapter! Thank you to everyone that reviewed, favorited and alerted! I love you people! And no flames either? Holy crap! I'm sendin' the love back your way with this new, and longer, chapter!!

Also, I'm posting this chapter so quickly because I go back to school on Monday and the updates won't be coming as quickly. I may even post chapter three before then if I get the time. I'm just trying to get you hooked now so you'll stick with me during the waiting periods ; )

Thanks again to everyone for reading! This is for you, I hope you enjoy!

-Chapter 2-

Lassiter pulled up in front of the police station, eyeing the beaten junior in the seat beside him worriedly. "You…you want me to help you inside?" The boy looked like crap. He had dark bruises forming all over and dried blood still clinging to his skin in some spots, despite their attempts to clean it off in the boy's locker room near the parking lot.

Shawn turned and smiled warmly at Lassiter. "No, it's all right. Thank you, though. Really, I'd be dead without you."

"I doubt they'd kill you…" Lassiter started but stopped when he saw the look on Shawn's face. "They were actually planning to kill you?"

"I think so…whatever. It's not important."

"Not important—?! Three guys tried to kill you and it's not important??"

Shawn shrugged. "It's not that big a deal, I—why do you care so much?"

Lassiter shut his mouth, looking a little taken aback before indignantly saying, "I-I just don't like injustice, that's all."

Shawn looked at him for a moment, getting all sorts of feelings he didn't recognize. A flash of an older Lassiter in a police uniform passed through his mind. "Yea…yea, you should be a cop." Lassiter raised an eyebrow and Shawn smiled. "Thanks, Lassie. I owe you my life." With that Shawn zippered up his navy blue hoodie and opened the car door. It wasn't until he shut the door that he realized he'd once again called the other boy Lassie.

He pulled his hood on, to both shield himself from the starting rain and hide his bruised face. He pulled his visitor's badge out of his backpack side pocket and put it on his jeans pocket as he limped up the stone stairs. He pushed open the front door of the station, turning to see Lassiter still sitting there, watching him. He wanted to make sure you got inside ok. Shawn couldn't help but smile, but regretted it slightly as his lip split a little again. He waved to the older boy before turning inside.

"Hey Shawn." Several officers greeted, everyone knew him here him. Shawn nodded, not wanting to look up too much as he made his way to his father's desk. His father wasn't there so Shawn let himself fall into the chair, trying to relax despite the ebbing pain.

"All right, thanks Hastings. Oh, hey Shawnie. You're a little late, today." Shawn didn't look up, rapidly trying to think up an excuse and failing miserably. "…Shawn?" Shawn knew that voice, his father knew Shawn was hurt, hiding something. Deciding there was no hope of hiding it, Shawn looked up at his father, who gasped. But it wasn't a shocked gasp, it was one that said he knew it was coming and yet he was still burned by it. "Oh, Shawnie. Not again…what happened?" His father gently pushed Shawn's hood off to get a better look.

"Three wrestlers with a vendetta happened." Henry, who was now kneeling checking his son's wounds, looked up. "Remember my…idea about Buzz during dinner on Monday?" Henry nodded, "Well…obviously I told Hilliard, and Buzz was fine, but they found out it was me who told."

Henry looked back at Shawn's bruises, not wanting to meet his son's eyes. "Damnit, Shawnie…" He whispered.

"Oh jeez, Henry, what happened?" Both Spencers looked up to see Jim Hastings, Henry's partner, standing there with a worried look on his face.

"You should see the other guys." Shawn grinned halfway.

"Guys? As in plural?"

"Yea…some of the school wrestlers don't like me very much. Something about being jealous of my hair…" Henry rolled his eyes.

"Good thing they didn't break your funny bone."

"Is that bone seriously for being funny?" Henry playfully glared at his son, who laughed a little.

"I'll get you the first aid kit from your truck, Spencer." Hastings nodded, going of.

Shawn signed, "I'm sorry dad." He moaned.

Henry looked up, confused. "For what?"

"I—I should have seen this coming. You have enough to worry about. You don't need me-"

"Shawnie." Henry stopped him. "First of all, I'm always worried about you, so that's not even a part of it." Shawn smiled, "And second…you are the most important thing to me. Not this job, not…not the past, you. OK?"

Shawn looked away, "Ok, dad." He said quietly.

Hastings stepped up, causing both Spencers to look away and break the moment. "Got the kit, guys."

--

"T.G.I.F." Shawn said as he collapsed on the couch, now covered in bandages and two velcro braces, one on his left wrist and one on his right knee. Henry's first aid kit was like a bottomless pit of medical supplies, but with a son like Shawn that was a given.

"Yea…you just want pizza tonight?" Shawn glanced up at his father in surprise, "I don't feel like cooking."

"Yea, I could definitely go for pizza…wings, too?"

"Sure. Let's go crazy." Henry grinned, walking into the kitchen. Shawn smiled to himself, throwing his arm over his eyes, listening to his father give the order over the phone. Two years and a few hours ago he'd been sitting in a hospital, sobbing as Gus ran in, looking panicked. Shawn could remember at school that day how he'd know. The image in his mind that would haunt him forever. The image of his mother lying on the kitchen floor, dead.

Shawn mindlessly wrote his notes before blinking up at the board. His eyes crinkled in confusion as he read the words on the board. They'd been reviewing all the important events of 1945, but one of the bullet points confused him.

Madeline killed herself.

Who? Shawn leaned forward and poked Gus, "Dude, who the hell is Madeline? I thought we were talking about Hitler."

Gus turned slightly, giving Shawn a weird look. "What are you talking about?"

"Dude, on the boa-" Shawn looked back up and stopped. It no longer said Madeline, but Hitler. "…board." Shawn whispered, but froze. An image of his mother lying on the kitchen floor, not moving, flashed before his eyes. "Madeline." He said aloud. His mother's name was Madeline. "Oh God." Shawn nearly threw up where he sat. He grabbed his books in a frenzy, "I have to leave Gus."

"What?"

"My mom's in trouble!" Gus' eyes widened as Shawn jumped up and ran from the room.

"Mr. Spencer!" Mr. Kaz yelled after him, but he was already gone.

Shawn had literally run the two miles back to his house, not stopping for anything. But when he stepped inside, he couldn't breathe. This overwhelming feeling flew over him. His body was drowning in despair and regret. He practically passed out from the intense feelings as he forced his way to the kitchen. That was when he saw it. The image he'd seen in his mind. His mother was dead on the kitchen floor, her empty bottle of anti-depressants lying sideways, precariously on the edge of the counter, a half-empty bottle of vodka not far from it.

That was when Shawn threw up.

His father had found him, less than an hour later. He'd gotten a call from the school saying Shawn had left. When Henry entered the kitchen the image he saw would forever be burned in his mind. There lay his wife, dead, with his son curled up next to her, a sobbing mess.

Shawn shook the memories from his mind. That had been two years ago. He wasn't going to fall apart over it. He was fine. Everything was fine. Spencers were always fine.

Shawn jumped as the phone rang next to him. "I got it!" He heard his father call.

In the kitchen Henry pulled the phone he'd just hung up off its cradle, "Hello?"

There was a pause on the other end, "Uh…hi. Is this the, uh, Spencer residence?"

"It is," Henry said slowly, "Who is this?"

"My name is Carlton Lassiter. I, uh, drove Shawn to the police station after school today. I, uh, I wanted to make sure he got home all right. That—that he was all right."

Henry stopped, a smile forming on his face. "Shawn said a friend drove him to the station. Said that friend saved his life."

"I—I wouldn't go that far…"

"You're modest." Henry said, silencing the boy on the other end. "Whether you think you did or not, you saved my son's life. You can imagine I'm very grateful for that."

"I-I would think so, sir. Yes." Henry couldn't stop his smile at the boy's nervousness.

"I'd like to thank you. How about you come over for dinner sometime?"

"Oh, Mr. Spencer. That's all right, I don't want to intrude-"

"No, no. I insist. You can bring your parents too. How's fish fry? I catch 'em myself."

"Well, that—that sounds wonderful, sir. But you really don't have to-"

"All right then, how's Sunday sound? Your family doing anything then?"

"Well, no, but-"

"Than it's settled. I'll see you all on Sunday." Henry quickly gave the boy their address, thanked him once more and hung up before he could protest again. A grin passed across the father's face as he waltzed into the living room.

"Who was it?" His son mumbled from the couch, half-asleep.

"Your friend, Carlton. He wanted to make sure you got home ok."

Shawn sat up quickly, maybe a little too quickly by the look that passed across his face, suddenly very awake, "He did?"

"Yea, I told him I was grateful for what he'd done…so I invited him to have dinner with us on Sunday." Shawn's face fell into one of panic.

"You what??" Henry tried to hide his smirk, he loved toying with his son.

"Well, you said he was a friend. And you also said he saved your life. What's the problem?"

"The problem…? The problem?? You didn't tell me you were going to…I won't have anything to…I'll look like a moron!"

"You always look like a moron."

"I'm serious!" Shawn cried.

"What are you so worried about? S'not like you need to impress him or anything…unless, of course, you want to." A faint blush played across his son's cheeks as he looked away and Henry didn't even fight the smile that time.

"I—he's a senior, dad. The vice president. I—he wouldn't want to interact with me."

"He saved you life, didn't he? That's gotta mean he likes you at least a little."

"I've barely spoken to him! How could he like me?" Shawn leaned forward a little, quietly muttering to himself, "How could I like him?"

Henry sighed, the smile still on his face, and he sat down next to his son. "Oh, come on, Shawnie. It's not like this is your first crush."

Shawn blushed even deeper. "I never said he was a crush."

"You didn't have to."

"You'd think you were the psychic."

Henry shrugged, "Don't have to be, I'm a father." Shawn smiled at that. "You know I don't have a problem with it, Shawnie."

Shawn looked down, "Mom seemed to." He whispered.

Henry tensed, "What?" Shawn put his head in his hands, "Shawn—look at me." Shawn didn't move, "Damnit, I said look at me." He finally looked up, not wanting to meet his father's eye, "Shawnie, don't you do this. Don't blame yourself for what your mother did. It had nothing to do with you."

"How can you say that??" Shawn cried out, slightly startling his father, "I come out and two weeks later bam! Mom kills herself!"

"She was sick, Shawn! She loved you-"

Shawn shook his head, "No! She couldn't stand having a little faggot for a son!"

"Shawn!" Henry cried, shocked. "Where the hell is this coming from?!" His son looked away, tears forming in his eyes. "Who put these ideas in your-" He stopped, "Those boys." Henry snarled the two words so venomously that Shawn looked up almost afraid, "Those boys from today said something, didn't they?" Shawn didn't answer, "Oh those little fuckers!" He cried, shooting up.

"Dad-"

"That's it, I'm having them put away for assault - no, no! Attempted murder! They're eighteen, right? I can have them put away for life. I'll-!"

"Dad!" Shawn cried, "Dad, no. It—it doesn't matter-"

"Of course it matters, Shawn! You matter! They hurt you! They put these horrible ideas in your head!"

"Dad, you'll pop a blood vessel if you don't calm down!" Henry stopped in his tracks, turning to his son.

"Shawn." He said, taking a deep breath and sitting back down. "Shawn. You are the most important thing in my life. I—I can't have you thinking these things. All right? I can't lose you too, Shawn."

Shawn comfortingly put his hand on his father's knee. "You're not gonna lose me, dad." he whispered, They sat there for a moment, just enjoying each other's presence, before Shawn finally broke the silence. "Holy shit."

"What?" Henry asked, looking up.

"We just had a really sentimental moment, our second one today, and it lasted more than thirty seconds." Henry stopped, blinked at his son, then burst out laughing, Shawn joining in almost immediately. Neither one was really sure why they were laughing so hard, but it felt good. They continued to laugh for several minutes before they finally caught their breath.

"Aha, aww. All right," Henry stood, wiping his eyes on the back of his hands. "I gotta go pick up the pizza."

--

"You're going to his house for dinner?!" Lassiter pulled the phone from his ear as his best friend screamed into the receiver.

"Did you really need to scream?"

"Carlton! This is so exciting! How did this happen?? What are you going to wear??"

"Juliet, I—I don't really know. I called to make sure he got home ok and his dad basically decided I was going to come over for dinner on Sunday…and I have no idea what I'm going to wear."

"Oh! Can I come over and help you pick it out??"

"Why are you more excited than I am?"

"Because you're going to dinner at the house of the boy you've been swooning over for months!!!"

"I don't swoon!"

"Fine, the boy you practically collapsed over when he bumped into you." Juliet sighed dreamily, "Remember when he was Karen's little brother sophomore year? How you were so jealous of her getting him in the 'underclassmen sibling' program?"

"I wasn't jealous! I didn't even know him then."

"You certainly liked the way he looked."

Lassiter let his head fall into his hand, shaking his head he let out a single laugh, "Juliet…"

"Aww, come on Carlton! Be excited! You've wanted to talk to him for months! Now you've gotten invited over to his house and you're not excited?!"

"I don't know what I feel, Juliet. I mean…he and his father are convinced I saved his life-"

"From the way it sounds you did."

"All I did was yell 'Hey!'"

"You scared them off, come on!"

"I think you're just excited that if I get closer to Shawn then in turn you might be able to get closer to Guster."

There was a paused, "I—you—you've totally tried to change the subject!" She sputtered, causing Lassiter to laugh.

"It was worth a try. Besides, you've been the one swooning lately, seriously. Stuttering every time you see him."

"Stop trying to change the subject!!" She screeched, causing her friend to laugh harder.

Lassiter shook his head, deciding he'd toyed with his friend enough. "How do we even know Shawn is gay? I could be swinging at a ball that wasn't even thrown."

"Nice metaphor there, slick. And no, he definitely is. He's notorious for making the homophobic kids in our gym class uncomfortable."

Lassiter let out a laugh, "You two do have gym together, don't you?" He asked as if he didn't already know.

"Yea, we chat sometimes…hey!"

"What?"

"I'm definitely gonna ask him on Monday how your date was!"

"Don't you dare!"

-TBC-