AUTHOR'S NOTES: Very close to the endgame. I hope you like the little surprises I threw in the chapter. People have been asking for it and I aim to please :)

Only one more chapter after this guys. Things are starting to come to a head for poor Shawn.

Chapter 14- Dysfunctional Reunions

Santa Barbara- September 1995,

Shawn was pissed. Beyond pissed. There was no word in the English language that could possibly portray how upset he was at that moment. He would have made one up if he hadn't been so massively pissed.

"Mom, you know this is a bad idea, right?"

"Goose, the fact that your father is going to be there is no excuse for me not to do my job. I was called in as a favor to Chief Fenich and we're going."

Shawn slouched in the passenger seat and covered his face with his hands. "At least let me stay with you."

"You have a perfectly good place to stay at the house. I don't understand what is up between you and your father lately. Did he do something to you?" She looked at her son as they stopped at the light, searching for some clue as to why Shawn had refused to talk to Henry for so many months.

"It's more of what he didn't do," Shawn mumbled, mostly to himself. He didn't want me. He didn't even try to keep me or keep mom.

"What? I didn't hear what you said."

Shawn shook his head. "Nothing," he didn't want to upset her, "I just had a lot of fun this summer."

She smiled. "I had a lot of fun too. Now, let's go see your father."

"Great." He stared out the window and began counting trees, people—with and without hats—and other random objects to get back into the habit. Lord knows his father wouldn't want him going "soft."

Henry had still been at the station when he'd gotten the call. Shawn and Maddie would be arriving in less than half an hour. So much for advanced warning. He'd hoped to get the house cleaned up before Shawn got there. Maddie would stay at a hotel, but Shawn would be staying with him while they were in town. The fact that Shawn hadn't spoken more than three words to him since June put him on edge. It was the most time they'd been apart. Even camp hadn't taken his son away for this long.

He rushed through his paperwork and headed for the door, bumping into a uniformed officer on the way. "Watch it!" Henry snapped at the young man.

The officer's bright blue eyes widened when he saw who'd run into him. Henry Spencer was a legend in the precinct already. "Oh, sorry I was just…" The officer started but they were interrupted by the chief.

"Henry, glad I caught you. I just wanted to introduce you to our newest officer he just came in a couple months ago and I don't believe you have been formally introduced." Fenich gestured at the tall, black-haired, mustached rookie.

The young officer extended his hand. "Carlton Lassiter. It's a pleasure to meet you Detective and might I say that the Chief has said nothing but good things about you."

Suck up. Henry understood the politics but didn't have time to chat. He shook the officer's hand and turned to Fenich. "I have to get home. Maddie and Shawn are on their way. I'm sure she'll be here later this afternoon. I'll be back too once I get my son settled."

The chief nodded. "Go take care of your boy."

Henry hurried out of the station, leaving the two men staring after him. Fenich knew his situation. The rookie? Time would tell. First impressions were hard things to overcome, especially in his book.

When Henry arrived, Shawn and Maddie were already waiting for him. The first thing he noticed different about Shawn is that he looked very tan and a bit more lean, which was surprising because Henry had thought that all Shawn would be doing is sitting around hotel rooms all day.

The second thing he noticed was the earring. Shawn had always wanted one but Henry had put his foot down. He didn't want his son looking like a punk when he showed up at the academy. Shawn must have conned his mother into letting him get it.

"Shawn, I see you still have all your fingers. You couldn't dial a phone and give your old man a call?" Granted, the attempt to cover his disapproval with humor was pretty lame, but he didn't expect the shockingly spiteful expression on his son's face.

"Sorry, I lost all my fingers in a terrible accident two days after you sent me away. They just managed to reattach them today. I'm officially a medical miracle."

There was no humor in Shawn's voice, only venom. Henry's eyes narrowed.

Maddie jumped in, interrupting their glare fest. "Henry, good to see you. Are you going to invite us in?"

Tearing his eyes away from his son, Henry faltered a bit. It was still hard for him to wrap his head around Maddie asking to go into the house. "Uh… yeah sure." He opened the door and moved out of the way.

Shawn dashed past him and ran up the stairs to his room leaving him alone with Maddie. "What's wrong with him?"

Looking up the stairs, Maddie shrugged her shoulders. "He'll miss his friends. The last place we stopped he became a lifeguard. He was really good at it too."

Henry snorted. "Well he should be. The kid's known how to swim since he was two and CPR since he was five."

An awkward silence followed. It seemed neither of them knew what to say next. The only thing they had in common now was Shawn, so there wasn't much to talk about.

"I suppose I'd better go check in at the station. I'll bring in Shawn's things." Maddie started towards the door.

"I'll help." Henry said quickly, joining her.

As they gathered Shawn's luggage, Henry caught Maddie studying him. She hadn't seen him much in the two years since their separation but he knew he looked so much older now. There were some deeper lines on his face and maybe less hair than before. He was really starting to look like his dad, probably because of all the stress he'd been under lately.

She stopped and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, which surprised him. "Henry, are you going to be okay? Did you find someone to talk to?"

Getting the gist of what Maddie was asking, he nodded. "Yeah, I'll be fine. There are others worse than me." She nodded. They retrieved the rest of Shawn's stuff in silence. When they finished, she smiled sadly and left without another word.

Shawn watched his mother go from his bedroom window and angrily knocked over a stack of magazines. How can she just leave me here? He sat down on the edge of the bed and stared at the wall. He wondered how much begging his mom had to do to get Henry to take him back. They just kept passing him around back and forth, probably because no one really wanted him, but didn't want to make the other feel bad about not wanting him.

"I feel like a fruitcake." He said aloud then realized the other implication of his words.

"Shawn come down here and get something to eat!" His dad yelled from the bottom of the stairs.

"I already ate!" Shawn yelled back.

"COME DOWN!"

"NO!"

"Shawn Henry Spencer you get down here right now!"

His dad never used his middle name unless he really meant it. Shawn didn't want to be grounded within the first five minutes of being home so he reluctantly went down stairs.

Shawn knew being back with his father after four months of freedom would be pure hell. He'd had so much independence when it was just him and his mom. Now he felt like his whole life was once again, for lack of a better word, policed. Henry would waste no time pushing him back into training mode and talk about nothing else but him going to the academy as soon as he was eighteen. Meanwhile, his mom would spend most of her time at the station doing therapy sessions with the officers, so he'd probably only got to see her probably once every couple days.

It didn't help that Gus was off at college and he had no one to talk to. Sure he talked to Gus on the phone often enough, but it wasn't the same. When he was being an ass Gus could just hang up on him, and that ruined half the fun.

Henry looked up as his son came in. "Grab a plate. Pizza will be ready in a few minutes."

"Henry Spencer's famous cooking." Shawn grumbled and sat down at the kitchen table. If it wasn't boxed, frozen, or grilled, it wouldn't be edible. These next couple of weeks were going to be great, just great.

Santa Barbara- October 1995,

"All right Joe, glad I could help." Maddie ushered Officer Duritz out of her temporary office. She'd known him since he was a rookie. It was sad to see so many good officers so overwrought and disturbed. She had cleared most of them to return to duty, but a few would need additional therapy.

She'd been in Santa Barbara almost two weeks but with another assignment on the East coast, would have to leave soon. Her job kept her on the move. Traveling was what she'd always wanted to do and it was wonderful.

"Thanks, Dr. Spencer." Duritz gave her a sad smile. "Tell Shawn I said hi."

As she watched him leave, Maddie spied a young man standing in the middle of the bullpen looking quite out of place. He was probably only a few years older than Shawn was. He wore half-rimless Buddy Holly-esque thick glasses, his sandy blond hair was straight and almost plastered to his head, and he had the longest eyelashes on a man that Maddie had ever seen. He kept approaching officers as if to ask them something, but each time the officers would brush right past him as if he wasn't there.

Stopping a passing detective, Maddie asked, "Who is that man? Why is everyone ignoring him?"

The detective looked over his shoulder. "Oh, him. He's some college kid with a stick up his ass about the Yang killings. Says he's doing his master's thesis on it. He's been in here every week. We gave him the time of day at first but the dude is just creepy and we don't need that around here right now."

"Can't you ask him to leave?"

The detective shook his head. "His teacher is friends with the chief so Fenich gave him permission to be here." With one last sneer the detective walked off.

Her curiosity piqued, Maddie approached the young man, noticing that his blue eyes brightened when he looked at her. Most likely because she was the first person to pay any attention to him. "Hello, I'm—"

"Dr. Spencer, department psychologist." He finished for her, daintily holding up his hand.

Maddie didn't know if he wanted his hand kissed or shaken by the way he held it. She decided to shake it, but it was awkward. How did he know who she was? "Um, yes that's correct."

The young man answered her unspoken question. "I've heard the talk. You're doing the psych evals for the Yang murders." He leaned forward a bit too closely, "We should get together."

Maddie backed off a bit, unsure of his intentions, "What?"

Before the young man could answer, a resounding "MOM!" echoed through the station. Shawn was running straight towards her, clearly distressed.

Maddie turned back to the young man, "I'm sorry, I have to deal with this Mr.—what did you say your name was?"

"Mar—"

Shawn cut off the introduction, inserting himself between her and the strange young man.

"Sorry, but I need to talk to my mom—" Shawn paused as he took in the young man's appearance. "Nice glasses, Brian Johnson..."

It took her a minute to make the connection to Shawn's favorite eighties movie, but when she did, she agreed—the young man was almost a dead ringer for the nerdy kid from The Breakfast Club.

After delivering the gibe, Shawn grabbed her hand and dragged her into an empty office.

"Goose! That was rude."

He ignored her remark, standing his ground. "Dad told me today that you're leaving without me. Why?"

Seeing the hurt in her son's eyes tore her up inside, but his moving around with her wasn't going to work in the long run for either of them. He needed to stay here and go to college like he'd planned, not keep putting it off just because he was having fun. "Goose, your father and I decided it would be best if you stayed in one place for a while."

Shawn threw his hands up and started to pace. "This is so unfair! I don't want to stay here! There's nothing to do."

"Don't raise your voice Shawn. Your father just wants what's best for you."

Shawn shook his head. "He never lets me do anything fun. I want to stay with you! Please, Mom." He begged.

She pulled her son into a hug. "I'm sorry Goose. Life on the road isn't for everyone. You're in a critical part of your life. You need stability and I can't give that to you right now with work pulling me away all the time."

Shawn sniffed and pulled away. "You sound like a psychologist."

Maddie smiled. There's his humor. "We'll talk about it more later okay?" Shawn nodded and she gave him a reassuring smile. He would eventually understand it was best for him. Her son was a smart young man, so she knew he'd be alright.

She sent him off with a kiss and an 'I love you' before she went back into the office to wait for her next appointment.

Shawn trudged towards the station doors. That's just great. Henry figuring out what's best for me.

"Shawn!"

He turned towards the sound of his name. Chief Fenich walked up and shook his hand. "How are you? It's been a while."

He ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah. What's up?"

"Henry has been saying you're going to go to the academy this spring. I have a recommendation letter already written for you."

The chief smiled at him. Not wanting to be rude, Shawn put on his best fake grin. "Wow, that's great. Yeah, he's wanted me to go forever."

Fenich looked around to make sure no one was listening before asking, "Did you ever tell him about your DET score?"

"No. I still don't know if I'm going to tell him. You know how he is."

The chief's smile faded. "All right son. But he'll find out soon enough when you take it for real." He slapped Shawn on the back. "Can't wait to see you in a uniform."

Shawn grinned again. "Yeah. Thanks for everything." Someone else caught the chief's attention. Seeing his chance to duck out, Shawn turned around and started for the door.

He passed a desk where an officer sat reading a case file. Something in the report caught his eye. He checked the officer's nametag—Lassiter—then plucked the paper right out of the cop's hand.

"What the—? HEY!"

Shawn ignored the officer's protest. He was too busy looking at the evidence write-up from a recent robbery. He quickly scanned the page before handing it back and grabbing the second page.

"It was the owner. Insurance fraud." He put the paper down and walked out of the station, chuckling as he heard the officer exclaim, "I'll be damned! It was the owner!"

"Shawn I'm not asking you to do anything hard! I'm asking you to clean up after yourself. Your room is a pig sty."

"It's organized how I want it. Ask me where anything is and I can find it."

"Nice try kid. Any other teenager could get away with that, not you buddy."

"I'm not ten anymore. Don't call me buddy! It's embarrassing."

"Don't change the subject Shawn! You don't want to go through life shirking your responsibilities do you?"

"Is that a trick question?"

"That's it! Go to your room!"

"Make me!"

Henry watched as Shawn grabbed his jacket and stormed out the door. It was almost a nightly occurrence now. Nothing he did worked anymore. He'd tried bargaining, yelling, more yelling and then ignoring, but nothing seemed to get through Shawn's temper.

Last week he'd had to leave in the middle of a date because he'd gotten a call that Shawn was out after curfew. He should call Joan and apologize, but his son came first, even if it was gearing up to be a really good date.

After trying so hard, Henry figured if it wasn't him, there had to be something up with Shawn. What's wrong with you kid? He asked himself the same question every time a perfectly civil conversation ended in screaming.

He looked at his watch. It was his turn to pull the night shift. That meant he had to be to work in a half hour. When all the trouble started, he'd vowed not to let it affect his work and so far it hadn't. Tonight wouldn't be any different. He'd go to work like nothing happened, do his best, and if Shawn wanted to act like a jerk, so be it. He'd been walking on eggshells with his son for too long.

Three blocks away from his house, Shawn stopped and threw himself down in the sand, staring up at the sky. "Why won't he just lay off! God!" He squeezed some moist sand in his hand until his knuckles turned white then he chucked it into the ocean and flopped back down closing his eyes.

"Hey there." A feminine voice from above him greeted.

Shawn opened his eyes and unintentionally stared up a girl's skirt. He rolled over and got to his feet, blushing the entire time. "Sorry, you snuck up on me." He got a better look at her in the fading light. "Hey, I know you. We used to be in the same grade." He remembered her as a shy bookworm who was in his original class before he skipped a grade. She'd be a senior right now.

She didn't look anything like a bookworm now. Her dark hair was up in a messy bun with the rest trailing down in multi-colored braids, and she wore dark make up, making her pale skin look even paler. "Lacey, you uh... you look good." Shawn managed to get out. She looks fantastic.

Smiling, Lacey moved closer to him. "I saw you sitting here all alone and I figured I'd let you know there's a party going on a few blocks away." She gave him a sultry smile. "If you care to join me."

"Join you?" Shawn's voice squeaked. He never got invited to parties. Ever. Not only that, but his father would kill him if he ever found out. "Yes." Shawn said before he could chicken out. "Yeah I'll go."

Lacy let out a laugh and smiled brightly, or as brightly as a Goth can smile. "Oh it will be so much fun! You know, I always liked you Shawn..."

END NOTES: Dun dun dun! Oh Shawn, really does have a soft spot for the ladies.

(Spoiler for a few episodes, gonna explain my timeline reasoning due to some questions I received.) I did have a guest question my timeline and I completely understand. It took a lot of mapping out to figure out 1995 for Shawn. In Season 3 episode 1- "Ghosts" Shawn tells his mom that Henry abandoned them, but got the house and left his mom to pick up the pieces, not knowing that Maddie left Henry. So in order for that to happen, Shawn had to go with his mom. Shawn also missed his graduation so I figured that was why.

Then in the season 3 finale, Maddie says she came back for the Yang murder psych evals, which was the summer of 1995. Season 7's Cirque Du Soul says that the Car theft happened in October, so I did my best to come up with a story line that incorporated these. Took a lot of tweaking but I do try to keep this series as cannon as humanly possible. Hard to do when the Psych writers love to contradict themselves. Lol. I just do what I can.