Chapter 4

The sun beat heavily upon Sarah as she sat on the pier lost in her thoughts. She slowly sipped her PB Chocolate Love smoothie from Jamba Juice and readjusted the baseball cap on her head as she stared out at the ocean. Something about the ocean was calming. Granted, it wasn't as calming as stress-baking, but she couldn't bake her father out of house and home. So, this would have to do.

Someone came to a stop beside her and Sarah's immediate response was to panic internally. Slowly, she turned her head and sighed at the sight of her brother, who handled his own Jamba Juice smoothie. "Saw you from the office," Shawn said looking at his sister over his sunglasses. "And I figured I'd come check on you. After getting my Aloha Pineapple smoothie first though. You know, priorities."

Sarah shook her head. "Oh, how sweet of you. You come see me after getting yourself a smoothie. I see where I rank."

"Hey, I had Gus keeping an eye on you the entire time. See, he's right there." Shawn pointed over his shoulder at Gus, who was sitting on a bench wearing a fake beard drinking a smoothie. She had been so distracted that she hadn't noticed her brother's best friend creeping on her.

"That's not creepy at all," Sarah responded sarcastically before she took another sip of her delicious smoothie. "Now, what do you want Shawn?"

"I have to want something in order to see my baby sister?" he asked feigning hurt, which Sarah could immediately detect. She knew her brother, probably more than she wanted to. She simply raised an eyebrow at him and he groaned. "I might want something...but I still wanted to check on you."

"I'm fine, Shawn. You don't have to talk me off the ledge or anything. There's just only so much stress-baking someone can do and still be fiscally responsible."

"Speaking of cookies, you wouldn't happen to have more of them, would you? Gus and I were going door to door selling cookies. Psych scouts.."

"Ah, ah, ah, don't try and distract me with the Psych scouts thing. Tell me what you want."

Shawn glanced at his sister. "I already told you. Cookies." His bottom lip jutted out much like a child's. "C'mon, Sare-Bear. It's for the psych-deprived youth of America. Do it for America."

Sarah sighed and shook her head."If you and Gus want more cookies, then you need to buy me the ingredients."

Shawn turned around. "Gus? You got that, buddy? You gotta go buy her the ingredients."

Looking over her shoulder, Sarah noticed Gus pop out from behind a bench before he took off running down the pier, his fake beard fell off in the process. Gus bent down to pick it up. He tried to put it on again. He was no more than a few steps when it fell off again. "Dude, just go!" Shawn shouted. "I'll get the beard." Gus quickly looked back. He then looked down and took off in a sprint, leaving the fake beard behind.

"Are you two ever going to grow up?" Sarah asked her brother.

"Never. You should consider regressing, it does wonders for the skin." Shawn patted his face and then reached over and smushed his sister's face.

"There's nothing wrong with my skin," Sarah groaned as she tried to bob out of the way of her brother's hand. "Shawn, stop. Stop. I said stop!" Shawn's hand instantly fell away as Sarah stood there breathing heavily. "Sorry," she muttered.

Shawn looked at his sister sympathetically, but she refused to meet his gaze. "Sarah?"

"I'm fine, Shawn." Her tone was clipped. But she was trying to convince herself more than she was her brother. Before Shawn could say anything Sarah pushed past him. "I just want to go home. Have Gus drop the stuff off at my place later. Bye, Shawn." She turned back and placed a kiss on her brother's cheek before she walked away from him, not entirely sure what was going on with her.

Sarah unlocked the door to her apartment and quickly shut the door behind her. She then walked up the stairs to her main living area. Her beta fish, Nemo, was there to greet her as she plopped herself lazily onto her couch. She grabbed the TV remote and turned it on to watch some mind-numbing show on HGTV. Feeling rather sleep-deprived, she curled up under a blanket and fell asleep.

Eventually, she was awakened to the sound of her doorbell continually going off. "What the hell?" Sarah muttered to herself, taking a moment to process where the sound was actually coming from. She glanced out the window to see that it was still light outside, meaning that not too much time had passed. The doorbell continued to ring. "I'm coming," Sarah shouted as she lost the blanket and walked down the stairs to her front door. She looked through the peephole to find the door-ringing culprit was Gus. Sarah groaned and then opened the door.

"So, Shawn and I narrowed it down to our favorite dozen," Gus said without even allowing Sarah to say anything. "Which is significantly knocked down from our top 100 treats list that you've made us. So I went to Costco and bought in bulk. I mean, look at the bag of chocolate chips. They were on sale!" Gus pulled out a giant bag of Nestle chocolate chips and shoved them toward Sarah. Sarah grunted as he dropped the bag in her hands.

"Now, don't tell Shawn but I removed one of his choices. Don't get me wrong, I thing you make a mean caramel flan. But I was thinking more quantity than quality right now." It was then that Gus noticed Sarah's lack of response. He let one of the grocery bags slip down his arms before he snapped his fingers in her face. "Sarah? Earth to Sarah? Are you alright?"

Still holding the bag of chocolate chips, Sarah folded her arms across her chest. "Gus, I could have died last night. How do you think I'm doing?"

"Ohhhhh...Ohhhhhh...Ohhhhhh…" Gus responded. He then dropped all the grocery bags to the ground and tightly embraced Sarah in an awkward embrace. While the gesture was appreciated, it was still quite awkward. After nearly a minute, Gus finally released her and Sarah backed up, still clinging to the chocolate chips. He then looked down at the grocery bags at his feet. "I really hope the eggs weren't in there."

"Just bring them up here," Sarah said as she carried the bag of chocolate chips upstairs.

After a few moments, Gus called, "The eggs are fine!" as he climbed the stairs after Sarah. At the top of the stairs, Gus stopped to admire Sarah's apartment. Her housekeeping skills were much more like Henry's than Shawns. Although her interior design style was definitely her own. There were no dead fish or movie posters hung on the walls.

"The table is fine," Sarah said poking her head through the opening over the counter between the kitchen and living room.

Gus set the bags down on the table before he looked at the small buffet against the wall. On the buffet were several pictures. But the one that caught Gus' interest was the one of Sarah, Shawn, and himself from when they were kids. The three of them were with their bikes and they had ice cream cones in their hands. "That one's always been my favorite," Sarah said lightly from behind.

Sarah's voice started Gus causing his hand swat the other two picture frames. The frames flew off the buffet and landed on the floor, shattering the glass. "Oh. My. God. Oh. My. God." Gus immediately ran over to the photos and began picking up the pieces as Sarah immediately went for a broom and dustpan. "Sarah, I am so sorry," Gus apologized as he picked up the first frame.

It was a picture of Sarah with both her parents at her med school graduation. The frame was beyond repair. Gus then picked up the second photo. It was a picture of Sarah and Shawn and it looked like it had been taken within the last couple years. Its frame was mangled too. "Sare-"

"Gus, it's fine," Sarah said with a sigh as she began to sweep the shattered glass. "They're just frames. I got them at the Dollar Tree."

"I can get you new ones," Gus offered standing up, brushing his hands against his pants.

Sarah sighed again. "No, you don't have to. I'll just swing by the Dollar Tree tomorrow. It's not that big of a deal."

Gus walked over "Here, let me."

But Sarah flinched. "No, I got it. I'm fine."

"Sarah…"

"Gus, just go. Please? Just go. I-I want to be alone." Despite the fact that words flowed easily from her mouth, they were the furthest thing from the truth. She didn't want to be alone, but there was only one person she needed right now. Gus took this as his cue to leave and Sarah pulled out her phone and made a call.

Ten minutes later an old pickup truck pulled up in front of Sarah's apartment. Sarah ran outside to greet her father. "Daddy," she sniffled as she threw her arms around her father. Henry hugged his daughter back. "I'm so sorry about this. I thought I was stronger than this."

"Kiddo, it happens to the best of us," Henry said, resting his head on top of his daughter's, gently running his fingers through her snarly hair.

She was silent for a minute as she hugged her father with tears stinging at her eyes. "I'm supposed to be better than this. I grew up a cop's daughter. I shouldn't be letting this get to me. I mean, I should be fine."

Henry backed slightly away from his daughter. He gripped her shoulders and looked her in the eyes. "You had a close call. Sarah, this is completely normal behavior. You're a doctor. You know that. I'm sure you've read plenty about patients like this and maybe even seen a few."

Sarah pulled a stray tendril of hair from her face. "But I'm supposed to be different. I mean, you never let it get to you...and you went through much worse."

Henry chuckled and shook his head. "I've been there kiddo. Believe me. The first couple times, I was in rough shape. And even later in my career, sometimes it was just as hard. I just never let you kids see it because I thought that was what was best for you." Sarah's breathing began to even. Henry hugged his daughter tight again. "Why don't we go inside."

Sarah gently pulled away and raked her fingers through her hair in frustration. "I'm an adult. I shouldn't need my daddy to come over."

"Sare, you're only human, but if you need to rationalize it to yourself you can pretend I'm here for dinner." Henry ruffled his daughter's hair before he headed for her apartment. Sarah followed her father inside, making sure to lock her door behind her.

Sarah sat down at her dining room table, which was still covered in groceries as her father walked into the kitchen. "Ugh, I'm so pathetic," Sarah groaned she banged her head against the table a few times before she looked up to see her father pulling chicken breasts out of the fridge. "Can you grill it?" she asked innocently.

Henry chuckled and nodded his head before he set to work. He cooked them grilled chicken with buttery mashed potatoes and asparagus. They ate it together in the living room using TV trays, watching some old-timey show Henry wanted to watch. When they were finished eating, Henry washed the dishes and put away the groceries Gus had brought over earlier. Sarah lay on the couch curled up with a blanket.

"Daddy?" Sarah asked.

"Yeah, kiddo?" Henry responded.

"Can you stay until I fall asleep?" Henry nodded his head. He knew this was just a moment of weakness for her. Sarah was a fighter. She would get back up and be better than ever. That he was sure of.

Author's Note: Annnnddd another one. A little more angst than is usually in Psych, but I wanted Sarah to deal with that situation. Besides, Gus knocking over the pictures is an essential part of the next chapter when someone comes to visit. ;) haha. Thanks for all the support! It really means a lot to me. :)