A Boy Named Lassie

Disclaimer: I do not own Psych nor am I affiliated with the show or USA network. All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Chapter 7: Somebody is in Trouble

Lassiter clutched the paper tight in his hands and hid it from view. He quickly read it over again. His teacher at Happy Start Preschool had pinned it to his shirt before he left and told him to make sure his parents got it. But as soon as he was out of sight, he tore it off and read it for himself. It was only his third day at the school and already his teacher was requesting to meet with his "parents".

Carlton was nervous about giving the note to Juliet, because it meant he must have done something wrong. He folded the paper and shoved it into his pocket before leaving the school building with the other kids.

Like the day before, Juliet and Shawn stood waiting with the other parents. They were talking with them, trying to get more information. Lassiter walked up and stood next to Juliet as she talked with another woman.

"We've doubled the security on our house." The woman was saying. "I'm not taking any chances."

"My husband and I just moved here." Juliet said, playing the part. "Isn't this a safe area to live?"

"It usually is such a wonderful place to live. And this preschool is the best in Santa Barbara. It's probably the only reason we haven't left." A little girl came running up and hugged the woman's legs. "My Jenny is going to be a doctor so she is only going to the best of schools." She said proudly, patting the girl on the head.

"Oh... that's nice." Juliet said, trying her best to sound pleased.

The woman finally caught sight of Carlton, "Is this your son?" she asked.

Juliet smiled, "Yes this is Car-... I mean Lassie."

The woman leaned down and looked him over with scrutinizing eyes. She flashed him a bright smile. "Well isn't he adorable, just look at those beautiful blue eyes." Lassiter felt nervous under her gaze, he quickly backed up, hiding himself behind Juliet. "Oh, and a bit shy." She said with a laugh, standing straight again. "Perhaps we could get the two of them together for a play date, I'm sure he and Jenny would be wonderful friends."

"Maybe." Juliet said with a nod.

The woman said her goodbyes and left for her car just as Shawn was returning from talking with some of the fathers. "Find anything?" he asked as they got into their own car.

"I don't think any of the parents have anything to do with the robberies," Juliet answered, Shawn nodded in agreement. "Nor do they know anything about them. It's got to be coming from inside the school."

"Yeah I think so too, someone that works here would have more access to information." Shawn turned in his seat and stared a Lassiter, "What do you think Lassie?"

"Makes sense." He answered without interest.

"So have you found anything yet?" Spencer asked impatiently, annoying Carlton. He probably should have something by now, but he didn't, and he didn't like being reminded.

He let out a deep sigh, "I've got my eyes on a few suspects." He lied.

"Oh really, who?"

"Ummmm... Elaine."

"Elaine? The receptionist?" Juliet asked, "Why?"

"Because she too cheery." He answered plainly, "All the kids love her, she brings in candy for them."

"So you think she's a robber, because she's too happy?" Shawn rolled his eyes and turned back around in his seat. "Typical Lassie."

"Hey!" Lassiter whined, "I'm serious."

"Carlton, someone is not guilty of a crime just because they're 'too' happy." Juliet informed with a shake of her head. Lassiter sat back in his seat with a huff, crossing his arms in anger. They weren't listening to him, again. What was the point of him even being there?

Juliet walked quickly to her desk with Shawn and Lassiter following closely after. The psychic plopped down on top of the desk while the tiny detective dropped his backpack to the floor. He was acting more grumpy than usual as he stormed off for the bathroom. "Maybe we shouldn't have dismissed his idea so fast." Juliet told Shawn with a hint of guilt in her voice.

"You mean the receptionist?" He asked, looking up from the file he was reading. "Yeah maybe, but come on, Lassie is just being Lassie. He hates anything that smiles at him."

"Maybe, but I'm going to check into it. It'll make him happy." Juliet sat down and immediately started typing at the computer. But before she could find anything, two men entered the station, catching her attention.

The men disappeared into the Chief's office. Juliet stood from her chair, she knew who they were. She quickly grabbed Carlton's hand when he was on his way back, surprising him. "What're you doing?" he squeaked. She didn't answer him but pulled him into Vick's office. Shawn followed closely behind; he knew who they were too.

"Chief!" Juliet yelled excitedly, not caring that she'd just interrupted a private meeting. "Chief are these the men we've been waiting for?"

Vick gave the detective a scolding glare for her behavior but answered with a heavy sigh. "Detective O'Hara this is Dr. Renner and his associate Mr. Brown. Dr. Renner is and archeologist and he's sure he can fix the artifact." Each man shook her hand in introduction. The first was a tall skinny man with a large, bushy mustache. The second was a bit shorter than the first.

The taller man held the broken cube in his hand, he turned it over several times before speaking, "It seems to be broken right along the lines it was made, so it shouldn't be a problem."

Juliet smiled and let out a breath of relief. She squeezed Carlton's hand in excitement, realizing she was still holding onto it. The shorter man, Mr. Brown, eyed Lassiter suspiciously before turning his attention back to Vick, "We were told that you claim this artifact actually worked." He said, the doubt clear in his voice. "I find that hard to believe."

Vick smirked, her eyes darting to Lassiter for a moment. But before she could defend herself Dr. Renner interrupted in excitement, "Yes, I too have a hard time believing your story but it is the reason we are here. To think that the legend of this artifact bringing back someone's youth could be true, it's simply fascinating." The man's eyes sparkled in wonder at the idea.

Vick grinned and motioned towards Lassiter, "Well then I would like you to meet my Head Detective." She said with a small laugh. Both men immediately focused on the small boy. Carlton took a timid step backwards under the sudden attention but Juliet gave him a small nudge forward.

She wasn't too fond of the way they glared down on him as if he was some lab experiment gone wrong, but they needed these men to believe them and get Carlton back to his normal self. The mustached man crouched down to Lassiter's level and looked him up and down. "So this is the man affected by the artifact... Amazing!" He exclaimed. "What is your name son?"

Lassiter suddenly straightened himself, trying to look taller. "Head Detective Carlton Lassiter." He squeaked. Renner laughed and stood back up, "Oh astonishing, I've heard stories like this before but never have I seen this first hand." He said with a smile. "I would just love if I could perhaps; borrow him for a day or two and run some tests. It would be such a benefit to see just how the artifact affected him."

Juliet's eyes grew wide at the thought of her partner being used as some sort of guinea pig. "NO!" she yelled a little too loud. She reached forward and tugged Carlton back behind her. "Um, no." She repeated, a little quieter this time. "If you could please just fix the artifact, we just want him back to normal."

Dr. Renner cleared his throat, "Of course, my apologies Detective. I may have gotten a little over excited." He let out a small sigh of disappointment. "Chief Vick, we will let you know as soon as we've fixed it."

Juliet watched the two men closely as they left the department. She kept a tight grip on Carlton's arm until they disappeared from the building. "O'Hara let go!" he whined, she hadn't even realized that he was trying to pull himself free.

"Oh, sorry." She let go of his arm and he stumbled backwards, making a folded piece of paper fall from his pocket. Before Carlton had realized he lost it, Shawn scooped the paper off the ground.

"What's this?" he asked as they left the Chief's office.

"H-hey, give that back." Lassiter yelled nervously. He jumped towards the paper but Shawn yanked it away and placed a hand firmly on the mini detective's head, keeping him at bay.

"What is it Lassie? Maybe a love letter to your girlfriend at school." He joked. "What does it say? 'Do you like me, check yes or no.'" Juliet let out a chuckle.

"No, it's nothing. Don't read it." Carlton yelled, pushing at Shawn's hand. The psychic's eyes scanned the paper and his smile quickly turned to a frown.

"A parent-teacher meeting? Lassie what did you do?" He asked in voice that almost sounded like the elder Spencer.

"I didn't do anything." Lassiter pouted, staring at the floor.

Juliet took the note from Shawn and read it over. Her mind began to fill with the many situations that Carlton could have gotten himself into over the past few days; an angry outburst at some poor innocent child, refusal to do what the teacher told him, or even worse, what if he had gotten into a fight. It certainly wasn't a far cry from Lassiter's usual personality. "Carlton..." She began, in an unintentionally scolding tone.

But when Lassiter looked up at her with pleading eyes, she couldn't continue. "I-I didn't do anything." He repeated meekly.

"Actually," Shawn interrupted enthusiastically "This could be a good thing. We can get in there and finally do some investigating for ourselves. Not that you're not doing a bang up job already Lassie, you know, between nap time and all that." Lassiter scowled at Shawn but was glad to be out of the fire of Juliet's scorn.

"You're right, I'll call the school right now." She plopped down at her desk with a sigh, she just couldn't wait till this case was over. Juliet just wanted things back to normal.

Shawn sat quietly in a teeny-tiny chair, at a teeny-tiny table, waiting for Miss Bennett to come back to her classroom so they could have their meeting. School had just gotten out for the day and the teacher had asked the "Spencers" to wait while she saw her students out. "You would think she would have at least one normal size chair." He complained as he fidgeted uncomfortably.

"Be quiet." Juliet scolded, but she looked just as uncomfortable next to him.

"My chair is fine." Lassiter gloated from Shawn's other side.

"That's because you're as tiny as the chair is Lassie."

Lassiter was just about to yell his comeback when Miss Bennett returned to the room. "Mr. and Mrs. Spencer, thank you so much for coming." She said as she sat down at her desk. "Lassie if you'll excuse us, I would like to talk to your parents alone for just one moment. There are some toys in the next room just waiting to be played with."

"But-" Lassiter began to protest but a stern gaze from Juliet made him slide from his chair and sulk quietly out of the room.

"Is there a problem?" Juliet asked a bit nervously.

Miss Bennett pulled some papers from her desk and nodded slowly, "Yes, but just a small one." The teacher brought a paper to the tiny desk and slid it in front of them.

Shawn looked it over, expecting the worse. But instead, he was only met with a child's drawing. In the picture were three drawn figures, a tall black-haired man, a shorter blonde haired woman, and the third was a brunette man. The brunette man, however, stood apart from the other two and inside what appeared to be a jail cell, to which the taller man held the key. "I asked all the kids to draw their biggest dream come true." Miss Bennett explained. "And this is what Lassie presented to me. This," She pointed to the brown-haired figure, "appears to be you, Mr. Spencer, in jail." She said with disgust.

And sure enough the man in jail had a label sitting under it that read "Spencer". Shawn let out a loud laugh before he could stop himself, earning him a glare from Miss Bennett, "This is no laughing matter. I am a bit worried about your son; he's also having trouble making friends here."

Shawn laughed again until he received an elbow in the side from Juliet. He straightened and did the best imitation of his own father that he could muster. "Yes Ma'am, of course. I assure you we'll be having a talk as soon as we get home, I'll set the boy straight."

"Well that's not really what I-"

"Excuse me, Miss Bennett." The receptionist, Elaine, had appeared at the classroom door, interrupting the teacher. "There is a call for you at the front desk, they said it was urgent." Elaine fidgeted nervously. Shawn watched her closely; it wasn't her usual, overly cheery demeanor. Even the fake smile that usually plagued her face was noticeably absent.

"Thank you, Elaine." Miss Bennett stood from her desk. "Please excuse me for just a moment." The teacher left the classroom, passing the nervous receptionist who remained where she stood.

A moment of awkward silence passed between them before Juliet spoke up, "Is something wrong?" She asked Elaine, giving a side glance to Shawn. She had also noticed the strange behavior and was a bit on edge.

"I, um..." she was cut off when a familiar looking man entered the room.

"Yes, there is something wrong." He said, quickly pulling out a gun and aimed it at the two of them. "I don't like liars, Detective."

Juliet jumped from her tiny chair and reached for the gun hidden in her purse. "Stop!" the man yelled and cocked the gun in his hand. Juliet obeyed, freezing in her tracks. He motioned to Elaine, who obediently grabbed the purse from Juliet's hands and pulled out the gun.

"What do you want?" Juliet asked angrily as the receptionist aimed her own gun at her.

"Not here." The man ordered. "C'mon let's go." He motioned for them to leave the classroom. Shawn and Juliet gave each other a hesitant glance. "Now!" the man yelled impatiently. Shawn followed Juliet out of the room with their two captors close behind.

For now, Shawn remained silent but his mind raced as he thought of ways to get them out of this as soon as possible. They were directed to the basement door, which was already open and waiting for them. They paused at the top of the stairs but another impatient yell told them to keep moving. Just before he descended the dark stairway, Shawn caught sight of a reflection in a nearby window. Down the hallway from which they just came, a tiny, dark-haired figure dove for cover behind a trash can. 'That's just great.' Shawn thought to himself before he was forced down into the basement, ' Their only hope of rescue was the world's smallest detective.'

Chapter End