AN: I am absolutely stunned by your amazing responses! Thank you very much! I don't own Psych (I forgot to say that earlier), and you will be seeing some quotes that actually come from the show in this chapter. You'll know them when you see them-They're not mine!

Lassiter stalked back into the station, barely managing to hold back the frustration that was ready to spill from his mouth in the form of a colorful string of curses. As soon as that madman had stopped tormenting Shawn, Lassiter had stormed from the office, prepared to look up every bit of information he could on Cole and his brother. He hadn't needed to do any work. McNab had recruited two officers to help him find information on Cole and his family as soon as he had heard Cole's explanation; which meant that within minutes of stepping out of the Chief's office, Lassiter was ready to head to the only address they had that was connected to Cole. His only hold up was O'Hara. He sent McNab and the two officers who had helped him to their squad cars, instructing them to wait for his return before they could leave, and began looking around the station for her.

He found her in an interrogation room, leaning heavily against the table, her head hanging low.

"O'Hara, we have a possible lead. Are you ready to go?" He wasn't so callous that he didn't know how difficult this situation was for her. But if she didn't get her head in the game, she would be of no help in locating Spencer.

"He shouldn't be there," She said hoarsely. "If he hadn't lied about being a psychic, he wouldn't be in this situation. And maybe…maybe if this hadn't come out, his secret, maybe he would have been with one of us and not been kidnapped. If I hadn't told the Chief, maybe this wouldn't have happened."

Lassiter gave a silent sigh, biting back his impatience at the delay. It was his job to watch his partner's back, and that meant making sure she was able to focus on the job, making sure she was ready to help when Lassiter needed her. And while he did not necessarily need her now, he did want to include her in this search. He knew she needed to be included. "You heard Cole; Shawn was the target long before his secret came out. It's not your fault."

She dropped her head even lower, closing her eyes and forcing out a hard sigh. She opened her mouth to say something and then quickly closed it, shaking her head.

"Listen to me, O'Hara. You're not going to be any help finding him if you don't get your head in the game." He hesitated uncomfortably before adding, "I know you're angry and…feel guilty, but you need to put those emotions aside so you can focus on finding him. And when we do find him, feel free to be as angry as you want to be at him; yell, scream, I don't care, but help me find him first."

She met his gaze for the first time since he entered the room, studying him. Finally, she straightened from the table and gave him a nod before leading the way out of the room.

They hadn't found anything at the house. The house was empty, and looked like it had been deserted for quite some time. He and O'Hara had spent several hours looking for a clue, a new lead they could investigate, but there was nothing. He had left McNab behind to continue searching with the other two officers, but he wasn't holding out any hope. Cole had not left any loose ends, and that just made Lassiter even angrier.

He looked at his partner out of the corner of his eyes, worried at how pale she looked. This was not a good setback for her. They sat at their desks and Lassiter leaned back in his chair, rubbing his hand over his mouth, thinking. There had to be a way to find this guy. He wasn't willing to give up on Spencer; he had to figure out a way to find him. He pushed away from his desk to head to the tech department. The video feed was the only lead they had. There had to be a way to break the encryption that was blocking their location.

…

"Daddy, look at those stars!"

Henry looked down at Shawn, not even trying to hide the smile that crossed his face when he saw the awe on his three-year-old son's face. "I see 'em, kid. You know, some of them form shapes."

"Like a reckangle?"

Henry stifled a laugh. "Yeah kid, some of them do form rectangles. But think bigger. Look." He scooped Shawn up in one arm and pointed out a group of stars with his other hand, tracing the shape with his finger. "See? That one looks like a person. It's called Orion."

"Oh, that's Rion."

This time, Henry did laugh at the matter-of-fact way Shawn tried to repeat Henry's words. He pointed out more constellations, watching as Shawn's blinks got slower and longer until he finally fell asleep. Henry would never admit how his heart softened when he saw how tightly his son clenched his shirt in his small fist. "Sleep, son. I've got you."

Henry rubbed his hands across his face in frustration, unable to stop his eyes from being drawn back to the unconscious figure of his son. His son, the newborn baby he had held in his hands, the young boy he had raised and taught, the troublemaking child that had sometimes given him a heart-attack or made him secretly laugh at with his antics, the teenager he had argued with and pushed away, the young man who had returned and wormed his way into Henry's life once more, was kidnapped and in pain. He was going to die if they couldn't find him.

"Dad…I'm sorry."

A small part of Henry knew how hard it had to be for his son to apologize. That small part, however, was lost under the swell of anger and bitter disappointment that was growing towards his son. He couldn't stand to be in the same room with him right now. "I don't want to hear it, Shawn! Just get out!" Why was Shawn hesitating? "Now!"

Henry watched as Shawn spun away from him without another word, leaving the house and quickly walking to his bike. He leaned against the table, watching to make sure he left. Life as Henry knew it had just been destroyed by his very own son. He continued to glare out the window, a small sliver of unease shooting through him when he saw Shawn did not leave immediately. He just sat on his bike and looked at the house.

Henry straightened from the table when Shawn finally started his bike and pulled away.

"So help me Shawn, if you don't show up at that meeting…" He mumbled as he turned away from the window.

He hadn't even taken the time to realize how upset Shawn was when he had told Henry his secret was out. He hadn't seen how badly his son was hurting. His eyes fell on the screen, fell on the still figure of his son…He was seeing his pain now.

Henry pushed himself from the chair, swearing as he tried to push away the weight that was sitting on his chest, ignoring the startled looks from Karen and Guster as the chair toppled over. Henry couldn't look away from that chair; all he could see was the chair his son was tied to toppling over as he was beaten.

"I wonder what our lives would have been like if you had stayed wherever the hell you were…and never come back to Santa Barbara," Henry told Shawn.

He leaned heavily against the wall as his legs gave out. He was going to find that out if they couldn't find Shawn. He didn't want to find out. Not Shawn. Please…not him. It didn't matter that he had been angry at his son; if he could trade places with him, he would. He wouldn't even need to think twice about it.

"Are you ready to begin again?"

Henry spun around to see Cole standing beside his son, an object in his hands that made Henry's stomach clench in fear.

Karen darted to the door of her office, yelling for Detectives O'Hara and Lassiter and ordering the rest of the officers to keep looking for leads, but Henry couldn't look away from the screen, couldn't look away from the object Cole let drag across his son's chest and back.

"I'm ready, if you all are. Shall we start?"

…

His eyes fell on the newspaper, shocked when he saw it was a picture of him. His father was keeping the article on his first case? Shawn was surprised at how happy that made him. His father was…proud of him. Henry wasn't going to say anything; that wasn't the way he did things, but Shawn knew his father well enough to know what that small action meant. It had been…years since he had felt like his father was proud of him, and…he liked it. Of course, he wasn't going to let on to his father that he had seen the newspaper. Not yet, at least.

"Time to wake up, Shawn."

No. No, no, no. Please no. It was a bad dream, that's all.

"Shawn, stop wasting time."

But it wasn't a dream; this was his new reality. He stifled a groan, the pain from the beating he had received earlier making itself known once more.

"Shawn…"

He heard a strange crackling noise that he couldn't place, but he kept his eyes tightly shut, refusing to listen to the psycho. That was why he was completely unprepared for the electricity that ran through his body, stealing his breath and making him jerk in pain. He didn't even know he was yelling until the current stopped. His eyes snapped open, one eye only opening halfway, and he glared at Cole as he gasped for breath. His gaze fell, landing on the cattle prod gripped in Cole's right hand and he clenched his jaw, his mask automatically falling into place with his return to consciousness.

"We have to work together, Shawn. If you don't listen to me, we won't be able to accomplish our goal!"

"Our goal? Wow…you didn't just get on the crazy train; you rode it all the way to Crazyville, didn't you?"

"I thought you would want to help me. They're realizing how much you mean to them! They won't be angry anymore!"

Shawn just gave a short laugh, shaking his head in feigned amusement. When Cole didn't say anything else, Shawn lifted an eyebrow in question. "Did you wake me up for any specific reason, or did you just miss my sparkling personality?"

Cole smiled, "It's time to continue."

Shawn refused to look at the cattle prod as Cole turned it on and off again as he paced next to Shawn's chair.

"Why don't you tell me about Juliet, Shawn?"

Shawn blinked, surprised by the direction this session was taking. "What are you doing, Cole?" He asked quietly.

"Tell me about her."

There were so many things he could talk about when it came to Juliet. How beautiful and smart she was, that adorable crease she got on her forehead every time she was concentrating on a case, the way her eyes sparkled at him when she laughed at something he said. Even when she was angry, she took his breath away.

Shawn shook his head, "No. I won't. If you'd like to talk about something else, though, how about what we're eating for dinner? I'm starving." He caught his breath as Cole stepped closer, the stick crackling with electricity.

"Just tell me about her, Shawn."

"Nope. Sorry."

The sound of his yelling filled the air as Cole pressed the stick into his side.

"Talk."

Shawn focused on the floor, waiting to answer until his voice was strong again. Finally, he looked back up, meeting Cole's eyes. "I won't."

Cole sighed as he took a step away from Shawn's chair. "Very well. Maybe that is too difficult of a topic to talk about right now…Let's see…" He said as he tapped his finger against his mouth. When Cole looked away, Shawn looked down, studying the rope that bound him to the chair, twisting his hands in a futile effort to loosen the knots. His head shot up as Cole exclaimed, "I know! Tell me about Detective Lassiter."

"He's a detective, works for the Santa Barbara Police Department. If you'd like to meet him, I'm sure you could set up a meeting at the station." He grinned, ignoring the way that movement pulled at his bruises.

"How did you meet?"

"I'm Shawn Spencer…I'm here for a commendation…"

"Your information was good. So good, it could only have come from the inside."

This was going downhill, Shawn knew it was, but could do nothing to fix it. And then he uttered the sentence that changed the course of his life. "I got the information because…I'm psychic."

"You have to talk sometime, Shawn. If you don't, we just start in with more pain."

"Of course we do," Shawn muttered before speaking up. "We met when I called in a tip about a crime."

"And that's when a psychic-I'm sorry, a fake psychic- was born."

"Right-in-one," Shawn said through a tight grin.

"I'm curious. Why tell them you were psychic?"

"They didn't believe me when I told them how I figured out the guy was guilty, so it was tell them I was psychic or spend a night in jail. And really, who would believe me when I told them my f-" Shawn clamped his mouth closed. The less he revealed about his father's involvement with anything, the better. If it hadn't come out already that his father had been directly involved in honing his detective skills, then there was no need to divulge that information himself.

"Told them what?" Cole asked

"Told them my fantastic detective skills came from watching Police Academy. I mean, even I don't believe that."

There was silence as Cole studied him and Shawn yawned, doing his best to look like he didn't have a care in the world.

"So Lassiter actually believed you were a psychic?"

"Of course not. He never believed I was psychic."

"You know, without you, the SBPD would never close as many cases as they have. What was Lassiter's nickname? Detective Dipstick? It does fit; he seems completely incompetent."

Shawn's eyes flashed in anger. "When I was working for the SBPD, he and Ju-Detective O'Hara were the only ones I trusted to watch my back. He is more than competent." He wasn't sure why hearing Cole insult Lassiter made him so angry, nor did he know why he just passionately defended the man who would prefer to never see him again, but…hearing that psycho insult Lassiter...It wasn't right.

Shawn leaned heavily against the car, the pain from the gunshot wound in his shoulder reaching another peak.

"Nice shooting, Detective."

Shawn couldn't help but feel surprised at the comment from Lassiter, which was most definitely a compliment.

"My mistake," Cole held up a hand in surrender, a small smile playing around the corner of his lips. He walked behind Shawn's chair, and Shawn tensed, waiting for the next shock. Cole pushed the stick into Shawn's neck, and Shawn flinched…but the shock never came. Cole just chuckled at his reaction, and pulled it away.

"Why don't you tell me about the Chief, Shawn?"

"She's a snappy dresser and a great task-master," He shot off quickly.

"Do you think she believed you were a psychic?"

That was the funny thing…funny ironic, not funny ha-ha. Shawn could have sworn Karen didn't believe he was psychic, but she had been so angry when his secret had been revealed. He just didn't understand why…

"I don't know," Shawn answered, eyes furrowed as his mind puzzled over that question.

"The Feds are itching to jump into this case and I need to make some progress. What I need is a miracle…or a facsimile of one," the Chief said.

This was an unexpected twist. "Oh, well…I see. I see. Well, I make twelve hundred dollars a day."

"It's a try-out."

Huh. If he did decide to help, she wouldn't let him get away with anything, would she? "That's what I meant to say. This is pro bono, something for you."

"And if this psychic thing is a scam? We will prosecute. You know hindering a police investigation is a criminal offense?"

He watched her walk away, stunned at the opportunity that had just landed in his lap. Investigating cases without having to be a police officer? Intriguing…

Had she really believed he was psychic?

"Do you have any idea what the fallout of your little lie is going to be, Mr. Spencer? The police department is being investigated, lawyers are swarming…" Karen broke off, rubbing her head in frustration and sighing.

"Lawyers are swarming…" She had said. Shawn closed his eyes, realizing for the first time exactly what she meant. He had been so busy with his own personal crisis that he hadn't even had a chance to dwell on the rest of the implications. "Lawyers are swarming…" How many cases would be overturned because of his involvement in the investigations?

"I wonder what our lives would have been like if you had stayed wherever the hell you were…and never came back to Santa Barbara."

Shawn pressed his lips together, eyes closing as he fought off the memories that were surfacing. He needed to stop this train of thought; he needed to focus on something else, anything else. He couldn't break down; not here, not now.

"What was that meeting with the Chief like, Shawn? Was she upset that you had lied?"

Shawn looked around the room again, avoiding the question. "Where did you find this cabin, Cole? It's…quaint. A little old and rundown, but…"

The current was running through him again, his body jerking in response, and he was unable to stop the pained moans and short yells that escaped from his mouth.

Shawn typed the message in the phone, hoping, praying that they would know what he meant, that they could find him. He shut his eyes for a moment, fighting to focus through the pain in his shoulder. He had given them the only clues he could; now he needed to get out of the trunk.

Why was he even trying to give them clues now? They weren't watching. But he couldn't help but hope that someone cared, that someone was worried about him and hated seeing him in this situation. If not his father or Gus or Juliet or Lassiter…someone cared…didn't they?

Lassiter fingered the cuffs hanging from his belt. "She should have let me arrest you, Spencer. You're a fraud, you lied to the police. You should be in jail. But after the meeting on Wednesday, I'll get my wish."

Shawn didn't reply; he just met Lassiter's eyes wearily. "I…" He wanted to deny Lassiter's claims, but it was difficult. His eyes swept the station, shoulders drooping slightly as he saw the officers either ignoring him or glaring at him. Even Buzz was upset at Shawn; he watched Shawn, a look of disappointment on his face before he looked back down at his desk. "I guess we'll find out on Wednesday, won't we?"

The pain finally disappeared, and Shawn rested his head against his chest.

"Don't ruin my plan, Shawn. Don't even try to. I don't need you to answer my questions to make them feel guilty; seeing you in pain is more than adequate for that. And I really don't think you want to deal with a broken jaw on top of everything else I have planned for you. It will just make it even more painful when you scream for me."

Shawn clenched his hands into fists, fighting the tremors that stemmed from Cole's flat, icy voice.

"Now answer my question. What was that meeting with the Chief like?"

Shawn dropped his gaze to the ground, counting the floorboards while he tried to ignore Cole.

Cole sighed, breaking into Shawn's thoughts. "You are not being as helpful as I had hoped, Shawn. I guess the questions will have to wait for later."

After that, the only sounds to fill the air were the crackle of electricity and yelling.

AN: I would love to hear your thoughts! And since I won't post again before Friday, I hope you have a safe and happy New Year's Eve!