"Do you know how cool you're being right now Lassiter?" Shawn cried excitedly, as they whipped out of the parking lot at full speed.

"Shut up Spencer," Carlton snapped. "All right, at the next bus stop, we storm the bus and find Gloria. You're job is to make sure no leaves the bus, all right?"

Shawn nodded, grinning like an idiot. "This is so awesome."

"It's not awesome, Gloria could be in serious danger," Carlton yelled, catching up to the bus. As it rolled to its next stop, he pulled over and the two hopped out, running up to the bus.

They got to the bus as its doors right as it opened. Charging in, Carlton pushed back the people trying to get off. Holding up his badge he yelled, "Police, everyone remain seated!"

"What's the problem officer?" the bus driver asked, frighten and confused.

Carlton ignored him, and began walking down the isle, searching for Gloria.

"Rash of bus robberies, this is for your own protection," Shawn told him seriously.

Shawn knew from the first second he walked on the bus what Carlton would find, but figured he better keep that little tidbit to himself. He also noticed a man in the front looking extremely nervous and kept fidgeting. As soon as Carlton walked passed him, the man made a beeline for exit, but Shawn was there to stop him.

"Hey there Speedy Gonzales, where you heading?" he asked, and then smiled when he recognized the man. "Joey!"

"We meet?" Joey questioned, confused.

"She's not here!" Carlton cried, hitting an empty seat.

Shaking his head, Shawn grabbed the back of Joey's neck and guided him towards the bus's door. "You're coming with us Gonzales."

Gloria sighed and picked up the pay phone. By now, if her planed worked, Shawn and Uncle Carl should be on Elm Street, realizing she was not on the bus. She should have at least a solid thirty minutes before they could find her. If it did not work, they would be there in little of five minutes. Quickly dialing the number she ripped out of the phonebook, she waited for someone to pick up.

"Hello, Stevenson Brokers Office, how may I help you?" a female secretary greeted.

"Hi, may I please be connected to Daniel Montgomery's office please," Gloria requested sweetly.

"One moment please."

There was a brief pause of elevator music, and then a male voice picked up. "Daniel Montgomery."

"Hi…" Gloria suddenly felt awkward and not sure how to go about asking her question. "Um, it's Gloria and I know we haven't spoken in a few years, but-"

"Gloria who?"

"Gloria Montgomery," she answered.

"Montgomery?" he repeated, still having no clue what her true identity was.

"Your daughter!" she snapped at him.

Juliet O'Hara tried never to eavesdrop on telephone conversation of complete strangers, but she could not resist this conversation. It was something straight out of a soap opera, a father not knowing his own daughter. So instead of walking back to her car with her coffee, like she had been previously doing, she stopped and pretended to be window-shopping, only a few feet away from the payphone. Also, she just wanted a quick glance at the drama queen, just to have an image of her to match to the voice and the drama.

Imagine her surprised when she realized the drama queen was her partner's niece. This made it even better, and now she was not just eavesdropping to be nosey, she was eavesdropping because she was concerned.

"Oh right, Stephanie's daughter, right?" Daniel asked.

"Sarah Lassiter," Gloria corrected. "And I'm just wondering if you remember what we talked about last time, I know it was almost six years ago, but-"

"Yeah no, I remember," he told her.

"Really?" This meant hope for her.

"Yeah, you got a puppy and made straight A's, right?"

Angered bubbled over in her. He was just saying anything to cover his ass. Sarcastically she commented, "Yeah, only this time I got a pet bear and I made it into Yale."

"Yale, good school, is that all you wanted to tell me?"

"No because I was being sarcastic! Listen the last time we talked, I asked if I could live with you. You turned me down, and told me when I was older if I still wanted to live in Los Angeles you would help, and I'm older now," Gloria told him. "I just need to get out of Santa Barbara, and Los Angeles is far enough. All I need from you is place to stay for two weeks at the most, till I find my own place. Two weeks, that's all I need from you and I don't want any of your money, just a place to sleep till I find my own."

There was a long pause, and she knew the answer would change her life.

"I'm sorry Gloria, but right now just not a good time in my life," he told her without guilt.

"The only thing I ever got from you was your name, you know that? That money you gave to my mother, I never saw any of it. She didn't even set up a savings account for me. And the second time in my life I ask you for something, something important too, you say no. So screw you, I'm changing my name to Lassiter! But not before I tell the Association of Dead Beat Dads, that you can be their new mascot."

Gloria slammed the phone down and let out a muffled scream.

Juliet made her way over, and asked kindly, "Hey, everything all right?"

Gloria jumped, and nodded. "Yeah, it's fine, just a fight with my dad."

"So I couldn't help but over hear, you want to leave town? Does Carlton know?" Juliet inquired.

"Uh, no, probably because now I can't leave," Gloria confessed. "I've got no where to go."

"Is there any reason why you want to leave that maybe your uncle can help you with?" Juliet suggested.

Gloria shook her head and replied, "Nope, I'm half cowboy and half nomad, both are known for constantly moving and you can't fight genetics."

Juliet help but smile at that comment since it reminded her of Shawn. "You've actually liked working at Psych, haven't you?"

Smiling, despite her mood, Gloria nodded. "The guys have been really good to me."

"So maybe you could fight genetics just this once to stick around for them," Juliet suggested. She then looked at her watch and asked, "Shouldn't you be at work right now?"

With playful slyness Gloria replied, "Shouldn't you?"

"Come on, I'll give you a lift," Juliet offered.

Gloria had no intention of go back to Psych. She had no intention of still staying in Santa Barbara after tonight, but she knew that Juliet would not leave her alone unless she accepted the ride. Of course by now, Shawn and Carlton would realize that Gloria was not on the bus and might head back to the office to see if she would come back. On the other hand, they both were detectives and there was a good chance that they would be out in the town looking for her, instead of staying at the office.

This was one of the few moments in life Gloria decided to leave up to fate. If she went back and they were there then she would tell them, if they were not then she would continue with her plan.

"Sure, thanks Juliet."

As Carlton watched the bus roll down the street, he could not hold in an aggravated sigh. He had no clue where Gloria was now. Turning to Shawn and some boy he did not recognized he asked, "Now what do we do, and who the hell is he?"

"Joey, meet Detective Lassiter," Shawn introduced. "If you don't cooperate, he'll arrest you for possession of what ever drug you have in your left pocket."

Joey stared at Shawn shocked, and then nervously glanced over at Carlton, who nodded. Joey's heart raced and with a dry mouth questioned, "What do you want to know?"

"Gloria, where does she hang out during the day?" Shawn asked.

"Gloria who?"

"Gloria Montgomery," Carlton snapped.

"Do I look like someone who a Montgomery would hang out with?" Joey replied. "And I don't know anyone named Gloria."

"Gloria, I wanna see more of ya," Shawn offered, receiving a glare from Carlton.

"Oh the singer chick," Joey muttered. "Yeah, I don't know where she hangs out during the day, but I know tonight you'll find her at the club."

"Which club?" Carlton demanded.

"That rock club."

"The Python Effect," Carlton stated quietly, sending a shiver up his spine. Joey nodded. "And she sings there?"

"Puts on quite a show," Joey told them, with a huge grin. Shawn and Carlton knew they were missing out on something.

"Anything else you wanna tell us?" Shawn asked, not in his usual friendly way.

Joey shook his head. "I don't really know her too well, since every time we talk I'm not in the right state of mind to remember it."

Feeling fed up with this druggie, Carlton snapped, "Give me your drugs."

"What?"

"Either I can arrest you or you can give me your drugs and walk away a free man, which one will it be?"

Joey nodded and handed over what was in his left pocket, a small baggie with a few different pills in it. "Now get out of here and stay away from Gloria."

Joey quickly turned and walked away, while Shawn yelled after him, "Say nope to dope!"

"Was that necessary Spencer?" Carlton snapped.

"Yes," Shawn shot back. "So, got any plans now?"

"I head back to station, round up some officers, check the file on this Nick fellow, and then me and the other offices search every street in this city to find her," Carlton explained. "And you're helping."

"Great, I'll call Gus and tell him to get to Psych and stay there till we find Gloria."

"You think she'll go back there?" Carlton asked patronizingly.

"No, but then again she might realize no one is there and it would probably be the safest place to hid, so yes then she'll go back there. And it's not going to hurt if Gus is there," Shawn explained and then made the phone call as he hopped into Carlton's car.

Smiling, Juliet walked into the police station. She knew she had 'done good', as Shawn would say, bringing Gloria back to Psych and had been smiling since Gloria had walked through the office doors. Juliet was just so happy she could help, she almost missed all the commotion in the center of the room.

"What's going on, a new case?" she asked, tall Buzz McNabb as all the uniformed officers were huddled around Carlton holding up a picture she could not see.

"Apparently there's a missing girl," Buzz explained as a copy of the picture was handed to him. He shared it with Juliet, who gasped.

"Uh Carlton," she cried out, interrupting him. "Can I speak to you for a moment?"

"Can it wait?" he snapped.

"No."

"All right everyone, study her face for a few minutes and then I'll tell you your assignments," Carlton commanded and then turned to Juliet annoyed. "What?"

"I just dropped Gloria off at the Psych office twenty minutes ago," Juliet explained.

Not even responding to Juliet, Carlton turned and yelled, "McNabb, get on the radio and get who's ever on patrol over to 1321 Cabrillo Boulevard, right now. Johnson and Stevens, get over there now and start circling the address with a three mile radius."

"Hold it right there!" the chief's voice echoed through the room. Everyone stopped and watched as she walked up to Carlton. "How old is this girl?"

"Eighteen," he mumbled.

"Any sign of her being taken by force?"

"No."

"So she's just a runaway?"

"Yes."

"I will not have my entire police force working the case of some runway," Karen told him.

"But Karen…" he began, and then whispered only loud enough for her to hear, "Please?"

"No." She paused and added as an afterthought, "Unless she's broken any laws."

"She did, she violated probation!" he told her.

"All right then," she said loudly and turn to her officers, "You heard the man, go!"

As the officers dispersed, Karen turned to Carlton and warned, "She will hate you after this. Be prepared."

"I'd rather know where she is and that's she's safe, and have her hate me, then have no clue where she is," he confessed.

Placing a hand on his shoulder, she whispered, "You've got great parental instinct, you know?"

Then she went back to her office before people could wonder what they were discussing. He was surprised to find out how much her words actually touch him.

Gloria slipped by the cops on her way home. They were all looking for her on foot, they forgot to look in the passenger seats of cars. She had called Barbie, after a few hours of just sitting in a coffee shop, trying to figure out what to do. Barbie gladly came and picked her up, no questions asked.

Barbie had been friends with Gloria long enough to know when she was in trouble, even though Gloria would never admit it. Barbie also knew that Gloria did not have the best relationship with her mother, or with any of her mother's boyfriends. Another piece of knowledge that Barbie had was Gloria had never been the same since a few weeks after she turned twelve. Barbie tried asking about it once, and Gloria stopped talking to her.

Barbie stopped in front of Gloria's house and asked, "Jesus, how many cop cars did we pass on the way here?"

Gloria shrugged, scanning the driveway, not paying attention. There were no cars in it.

"You want me to come in? I haven't been in your house in forever," Barbie suggested.

"No, I'm good, thanks again for the ride, my ankle was killing me," Gloria told her, opening up the car door.

"Yeah, anytime. See ya at my party?" Barbie asked hopefully.

"If I'm around, ya," Gloria told her truthfully and got out of the car. "Thanks, and bye."

"Bye," Barbie called back and Gloria entered her house.

The house had no sound to it bring relief to Gloria. Her goal was to get some clothes, gather up all the money she could find, sing one last time, and then get out of the city. With no sense of danger in her mind, she started up the stairs, stepping on the squeaky one.

"Sarah?" Nick asked from the living room.

Gloria froze, panic stiffing her joints. Her breathing stopped, as his voice grew louder, asking, "You back from the store already?"

He was standing in the doorframe, right next to the stair she was on. Blinking rapidly he muttered, "You…"

She slowly started breathing, only out of necessity though. But she stopped again, once he got that evil grin.

A/N: so basically I've been waiting all story for this to happen and to write the next chapter. This whole story came out of the images of Gloria's scars. seriously. And you want to know something? I got the idea of someone being scarred like Gloria, the vertical red lines on her torso, since one time I went surf turfing (you slide on wet grass either on your back or stomach) and slide on my stomach. After I showered off all the dirt and grass and I had hundreds of red lines up and down my torso. And then bam! the idea of someone having scars like that hit! and Gloria was born! not that you really needed to know that, just felt like sharing!