Carlton didn't need to hear his partner say it to know that the detectives from Los Angeles had just dropped a bomb in that meeting. The expressions of Juliet and the chief told the tale clearly. Frowning, he poured himself a cup of coffee, sure that he'd need it.

"What is it?" He asked her when she just stared at him, not talking. She shook her head, taking her time to come back to her senses.

"They are taking Shawn and Gus under police protection," she finally said, crossing her arms over her chest.

Carlton raised his eyebrows in confusion. "What? They want to take over in our jurisdiction? And the chief is okay with this?"

"No," Juliet shook her head. "They are going to take them to LA with them."

The older detective's mouth dropped open in shock, before a silent anger settled on his face. "They can't do that," he demanded. "Spencer's part of an investigation with us right now."

"The chief's signing the papers right now." Juliet jerked her head back towards the office that was being abandoned by the LA detectives. Carlton watched them follow McNab down the stairs to the interrogation rooms.

"I don't get it," he said through gritted teeth. "What, just what, makes the chief so willing to agree with everything they do? I'm head detective! I should be allowed to know about this!"

Juliet ran a hand through her hair, sighing. "I don't understand it either. But it's got to have to do with the time Shawn spent consulting there."

Carlton went to nod but hesitated for a moment when a thought struck him. "Wait a minute..."

Juliet followed him curiously as he made his way over to his desk and sat down behind his computer. "What is it?"

Her partner didn't look up to answer and instead frowned at the screen. "You know how Spencer came here first?" She nodded, even though he couldn't see her and looked over his shoulder at what he typed. Juliet frowned when Carlton ran the name 'Shawn Spencer' through the system.

"I ran his file that day," Carlton explained to her. "I was sure to find something, some kind of explanation why he would know the stuff he does. Either he was a criminal and part in it all or a trained law enforcement officer. Right?"

Juliet did understand what he had thought, but there was another explanation. "But he's psychic. He's a civilian and just had a vision about it, or something."

Carlton just rolled his eyes. "Right. Whatever. However, they would've noted it if he'd worked with law enforcement before, wouldn't they?" She nodded. "But everything I found that day included a GTA from 1995. And look." He nodded at the information regarding Shawn that showed on his screen. "Still no note."

Juliet frowned, confused. "So what? Are you saying Shawn and the LAPD never worked together? How else would they know each other?"

The head detective leaned back, staring intently at the picture of Shawn that looked back at him. "No. I'm not sure but... whatever happened back then wasn't supposed to come out either way. The only explanations for this lack of note I can think of are that they agreed to not note his work beforehand - or somebody wiped it from the system afterwards."

His partner leaned back, confused. "But why would they do that? It makes no sense."

Carlton shook his head. "I don't know, but either way Spencer had to have some connections very high up in the rank. I wonder what kind of case they worked that got him so close to the LAPD." He paused for a moment. "They wouldn't incriminate themselves like this for just about anyone."

Juliet hummed. "So, Shawn was actually very well-respected in the LAPD? Is that what you're saying?" Her partner nodded. "So they either worked together for a long time or very high-profile cases?"

"Seeing as Spencer was all over the world during his time away, I'm betting it's the second," Carlton told her and crossed his arms. "I wish we'd have access to their archives."

"Well, we can look it up on Google," Juliet proposed. "If it's high-profile, we might find a newspaper article about some cases."

"Yeah, maybe -" Carlton was interrupted by Chief Vick calling them from her office. He exchanged a glance with his partner, who looked caught in the act. No wonder the chief had become suspicious.

"Detectives, I hope you're working on the case that came in a few minutes earlier?" She asked, voice cold enough to make a shiver run down his back. "If not, I will ask you to start right now. For example, by going to the crime scene first?"

"Um," Juliet trailed off uncomfortably. "What case?"

The chief raised her eyebrows. "There was a robbery on State Street," she told them. "As far as I'm concerned, the notice should've gotten to you."

"Of course, Chief," Carlton said and stood up. "We'll be there right away."

"Wait," Juliet stepped up and the older adults looked at her curiously. "When's... when's Shawn leaving? I wanted to say goodbye and... and we still have his phone..."

Carlton barely refrained from a small smile slipping on his face. There were moments when his partner really proved to be genius - this could be their opportunity to get some answers out of Spencer before he left for LA or got to talk to the detectives from there at all.

The chief sighed and levelled her stern gaze on her head detective. "You may go now, detectives," she allowed. "But if I find out you were trying to investigate the assault of Mr. Spencer, there will be consequences."

"Thank you, Chief," Juliet smiled at her. "It won't be long." Their superior left with a sigh.

"Good job, O'Hara," Carlton praised her. She just nodded and together they left for the hospital.

The visitor's entrance led directly into the canteen of the hospital, which was conveniently near to the entrance desk. It was out of sheer luck that Juliet noticed Gus and Abigail sitting in one of the white cushy chairs by the window, sipping coffee while they talked.

"Gus!" She called and came near to the table. The man looked up in surprise, eyebrows rising at the sight of them.

"Juliet? Lassie?" With a quick look to Shawn's girlfriend he stood up to talk to them. Abigail followed suit. "What are you doing here?"

"We wanted to meet Shawn," Juliet said hesitantly. "Ask a few questions."

The detectives didn't miss the questioning look Abigail sent Gus' way. He, obviously, knew the most out of the pair of them. Juliet knew it was silly, but there was another slight stab of hurt when she realized that she was out of the loop, even though she considered herself one of Shawn's closer friends.

Oh, who was she kidding. This were his girlfriend and his best friend, of course they'd know. Shawn wasn't intentionally trying to hurt her.

"Well, Shawn's sleeping right now." Gus seemed to settle for a professional voice and put his hands in his jeans pockets, obviously a little bit uncomfortable about standing up to them.

"He is?" Juliet asked, slightly surprised. Shawn hadn't seemed all that sleepy when she'd seen him earlier. It must've been exhausting to go through everything today, though.

This time, Abigail spoke up. "I brought him a piece of cake and a pineapple smoothie earlier. He was fast asleep. The nurse told us to come here."

"Oh," Juliet said lamely. "Well, then we better get going... I wanted to say goodbye but..."

"Oh, for goodness' sake," Carlton grumbled next to her. "Listen, Guster, even if we left Shawn might only have twenty minutes left to sleep. It doesn't matter if we wake him up. You can either come with us or not. We know the way."

Juliet immediately glared at her partner, before sending an apologetic glance in the pair's direction. "Please, Gus. Give us a moment."

Gus finally inclined his head and nodded. "Fine."

Unsurprisingly, Shawn was not asleep when they entered the room, but Juliet didn't ponder on it. It didn't mean that Gus lied to her - he could've just woken up a few minutes ago. The psychic was sitting upright in his bed, with his head leaning against the board, munching on some of the cake Abigail had brought him. A television was on and running, some kind of cartoon playing on it.

Shawn looked at them quickly and smiled. "Jules, Lassie! Hi! What are you doing here?"

"Hi, Shawn," Juliet smiled back. Her partner just nodded in greeting. "We wanted to take you statement for what's happened earlier."

He hesitated, frowning. "I thought we had time for that. I'm still not over the headache, you know?"

"You were fine just a minute ago, Spencer," Carlton told him.

"It's called pretending, Lassie," he replied and raised his eyebrows suggestively. Juliet rolled her eyes.

"Then pretend some more," Carlton snarled back, already on the edge of being professional. Shawn looked at her questioningly and Juliet just shook her head. It was best if he didn't know about Karen's orders - or they wouldn't find out anything. "Did you know the man that attacked you?"

"No," Shawn denied. "Did you ID him yet?"

"Yes," Juliet answered.

Before she could continue, however, Carlton asked his next question. "Can you recount what happened?"

Shawn hesitated and thought about the question for a second, but then he nodded. "Yes, I think so."

"Please do," Juliet said and readied her notepad.

They were interrupted by a cell phone ringing and turned to Gus, who excused himself quickly and left the room. "It's work," he explained.

Abigail sat down next to Shawn's bed again and took his hand in hers, paying close attention to the conversation. The psychic concentrated before he started talking.

"He... he pretended to be a client, something about a missing daughter. I invited him in." He frowned. "While he explained his 'situation', I realized he was lying and he hit me over the head with his gun."

Juliet grimaced at that. That must've hurt a lot - it was probably what caused his concussion. Carlton prompted the younger man to continue.

"He's... he was looking for money that was stolen from him. And he said if I didn't tell him where it was, he'd kill Gus." Shawn thought back to their conversation and instantly decided to keep any other information to himself. It connected to closely to Sam for his liking. "I managed to untie myself and grab his gun, right before you showed up."

"You did," Carlton said, with an odd undertone in his voice.

"Is that everything you gathered from him, Shawn?" Juliet asked, watching him closely. The pseudo psychic glanced at Abigail who looked right back at him, biting her lip nervously.

"Yes?" It came out more like a question. "I mean, despite the fact that he, uh... threatened to kill me... yes."

"Uh-huh," Carlton and Juliet exchanged a glance and he decided to take over again. "Does this connect with your little Sam Deleon case, Spencer?"

Shawn's mouth dropped open to deny everything, but he was saved by the distraction Gus created by coming in again. His best friend stared right at him and mouthed words at him, obviously something important... brief... Vick... not... hello... no, allowed... don't... walk... no, talk... His eyes widened in realization and he levelled his look back on Carlton.

"Jules, Lassie..." He started, drawing his words out. "Are you authorized to question me?" Gus made the 'perfect' sign with a hand and seemed relieved.

Juliet at least had the decency to look ashamed. "Shawn, we're just worried... you were attacked! You shouldn't work this case alone."

Shawn shook his head. "I've told you before, Jules. I'm not working any case."

"So, you just happened to get into contact with some of your friends from the LAPD when Chief Vick runs an ex-cop from LA through the system?" Juliet asked sarcastically. "Come on, Shawn. Don't insult me."

He could feel the stares of Gus and Abigail on him when he sat up and looked at them firmly. "Have you ever considered that there are things someone shouldn't know about?" He asked them. They didn't answer. "If there's nothing else, I -" He paused, gathering his words. "I'd like you to leave."

Hurt flashed in Juliet's eyes but she nodded slowly. "We've brought your phone with us," she told him and reached in her pocket to fish it out. "I just... wanted to say goodbye."

"Goodbye?" He frowned at her, confused. "Why? Are you leaving to somewhere?"

Juliet and Carlton looked at each other, finally realizing that the LA detectives had come to the station first before they dropped by Shawn in the hospital. He had no idea he was leaving.

"Um," she paused, embarrassed. "No. We've overheard McCoy and his friend saying that... they're taking you and Gus into police protection. In LA."

Shawn just blinked at her, not quite understanding. "What?" He felt his girlfriend stand up next to him, in as much shock as he was. "You - you're sure he said me and Gus?"

"They can't do that!" His best friend exclaimed, outraged. "We - I have a job here!"

Abigail just squeezed his hand. "Shawn..."

"We need to talk about this when McCoy and Martinez are actually here," he told her and decided to stand up. He was getting dizzy from sitting while everyone stood.

"They're on their way, probably," Carlton managed finally. Shawn nodded, not quite reacting.

"We need to leave," Juliet said, finally. "Goodbye, Shawn - Gus..." She paused and nodded at the other girl in the room. "Abigail. Uh, Shawn... could you keep this conversation to yourself, please?" He stared at her, one eyebrow raised, but Juliet was relieved by the nod that followed. "Come on, Carlton."

"Wait," the older detective stopped her. "One last question."

"Lassie..." Shawn rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"Why do you own a gun, Spencer?"

The room quietened immediately, so much one could've heard a pin drop. Gus, who'd been shaking his head at the detectives and the revelation they'd made, stared at his best friend, not quite comprehending the guilty look on his face. Carlton stared at the pseudo psychic, not wanting to miss out on the reaction. Abigail's grip on her boyfriend's hand loosened in shock and confusion. Juliet just dully noted that neither Gus nor Abigail seemed to have known about this.

Shawn swallowed hard before he spoke. "Please leave. Don't make this any worse than it is."

"Spencer," Carlton growled. "Answer my question."

Shawn opened his mouth to deny it, but he was stopped by Gus who jumped in between them. "Shawn doesn't own a gun," he said, voice shaking almost unnoticably. "He got it from McCoy since the case was dangerous. He has a license?" Gus didn't seem so sure, but barged further. "There's nothing illegal. Juliet, Lassie... please go now."

Shawn blinked at the confused and angry expressions on the detective's faces when they left. Gus stood still for a long minute before he turned to his best friend, arms crossed in front of his chest.

"You have a lot of explaining to do, Shawn."