Legal Disclaimer: I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.

Warning: This work may be offensive to some readers. There's also references to animal blood and Daddy kink. Feel free to back out if need be.

Author's Note: Was binge-watching Psych and while watching this scene in Episode 415, it occurred to me how often my ADD messes up my elocution and I smear words together, especially if the smear forms another word. So I giggled my way through writing this because it was the only thing willing to be written and I twisted as needed for my competition needs. In unrelated news, I think Henry would have stuck by his choice of baby name even if the kid came out a girl rather than the expected son. (You know, kind of like how he stuck by the idea that his son would be a cop despite Shawn's lack of interest.)

Submitting Info:
Stacked with: Hogwarts (Term 15); MC4A (Year 4); Whumptober 2021
Individual Challenges: La Vie Boheme; Adult Activities; Not the Mama; My Favorite Things; LEO MC (x2); Neurodivergent (Y); Rian-Russo Inversion (x2); Ethnic & Present; Ship Sails; Setting Sail; Gender Bender; Go Fluff Yourself; Colors Galore; Zed Era (Y); New Fandom Smell (Y); Fresh Fandom High; Wheels Up; Sentinel; Short Jog (Y); Two Cakes (Y); Eating Cake (Y); Green Ribbon
House: Slytherin
Assignment No.: Term 15 – Assignment 11
Subject (Task No.): n/a
Other Hogwarts Challenges: 365 [129]("It was a mistake");
Other MC4A Challenges: Ship (n/a)[SpMic1 (Sentinel/Guide); 1E (Celebratory Kiss)]; Chim [Sulfa] (Sentinel/Guide AU; Gender Bend; Emerald); Fire [x3](Zuke the Hini; Femme Fatale; AU Reserve); Garden [Personal Favs (Sentinel/Guide AU); Blood & Water (Father & Daughter); Good Night (Any Show Fandom)]; Hang [Phrase 04] (Outside Challenge/Competition; Generic & Games/SE Challenges)
Representation(s): Fem Shawn Spencer/Carlton Lassiter; Shawn Spencer/Burton "Gus" Guster QPR; Sentinel/Guide AU; Guide Shawn Spencer; Sentinel Carlton Lassiter
Primary & Secondary Bonus Challenges: Where Angels Fear; Under the Bridge; Second Verse (Rock of Ages; Muck & Slime; Lyre Liar; Lovely Coconuts; For the Vine; Brooms Only; Unwanted Advice; Spinning Plates; Middle Name; Zucchini Bread; Nontraditional; Found Family; Not a Lamp; Ladylike); Chorus (Some Beach; Sitting Hummingbird; Turtle-Duck; Surprise!; In the Trench; Abandoned Ship; Creature Feature; Unicorn; Larger than Life; A Long Dog; Tomorrow's Shade; Peddling Pots; Machismo; Fizzy Lemonade; Wabi Sabi)
Tertiary & Generic Bonus Challenges: War (Sanctuary; Monomania; Obstruction); O3 (Ox); FR (Satisfaction; Liberation)
Word Count: 1034 words

(^^)
The Tongue
(^^)

Shawn centered Gus' senses almost absently as they followed the other two people they were with out of the storage facility. Centering Gus' senses was as automatic as breathing after so many years of doing it as was the way that Gus raised his hand for a fist bump once he was complete out of potential fugue danger. They had been working together as a Sensitive pair even before they could understand what the words meant. Being online as a Sensitive had caused a few problems when they were kids, mostly because kids didn't usually come online without severe trauma (so no one was expecting any problems of that sort) but also because neither of them acted in the stereotypical ways for their Sensitivities.

Gus was touchy about his stuff and space, yeah, but it rarely came out the way that people expected Sentinels to act. It had more in common with how Guides typically displayed territorial aggression. It certainly had nothing on Lassie's habitual snapping and snarling when dealing with other Sensitives in his space. It was part of why Shawn liked riling the Sentinel up so much. Lassie got all growly over his territory but never actually chased her and Gus out of it. More importantly, she caught him in the act of following her with his senses enough that it probably broke some kind of Sensitivity etiquette or something. (Gus would know; he was the one who actually paid attention to those lessons.) It was an amusing contradiction of behavior.

It was also as confusing for outsiders as it was for her. More than one person had accused them of dating. Jules liked to point out that not only did Shawn know how Lassie took his coffee (even when he went seemingly randomly 'off' cream and sugar), but Lassie knew how Shawn took hers (which was harder than his, given how Shawn liked to change it up). Then there was the compatibility thing. Lassie was a strong Sentinel and had problems finding Guides who were both skilled enough to balance his senses and willing to put up with all of the quirks that came along with him. Jules had been assigned his partner as much for her very extensive Guide skills as she had been because she had common interests. Santa Barbara did not have a large Sensitive population, after all, and Guides tended to go into more therapeutic fields than police work.

Yet Shawn was able to help Lassie at times when even Juliet struggled.

"Lassie," she called as she trailed behind the detective and her father. Neither man even paused in their bickering over priorities. Like there was even a contest. Both of their issues would be resolved by finding the shark. Who cared why they needed to find the stinky thing? "Lassie! Father!"

The two men still continued to argue. Watching how Lassie's eyes flashed as he got passionate about his side of things was its own kind of distraction. Against the gray tarp that hung off the dry docked skipper that was behind the arguing pair, Lassie looked particularly dynamic. And without resorting to the horrible beach bum outfits that her father preferred. Combined with the vibrant emerald leaves and rich brown body of the pineapple decorating the tarp behind him, Lassie looked good enough to eat. Shawn wondered if he could possibly be as delicious as she thought he might be. Gus huffed in frustration before nudging her side with his lethally sharp elbows.

Right. Priorities.

"Lassie! Dad!" Shawn called out as she moved towards them. Glancing at the ground, she spotted a trail of water droplets mixed with blood. It went off in a specific direction, towards the pier if a little sideways. That made sense for someone stealing a shark that had possible evidence in its stomach. Distracted by trying to recall her mental map of the buildings in that direction, she didn't pay the best attention to what came out of her mouth, which was just asking for her easily distracted brain to smush the words together. "Daddy!"

"Yes?" came the twin responses as both Carlton Lassiter and Henry Spencer answered.

Everyone went silent as they processed what had just happened. Slowly, Shawn turn back toward the trio of men. Gus and her father were openly staring at Lassie who was doing his damnedest to look anywhere except the other three. His face was quickly turning pink with the embarrassment flushing through his aura.

"What?" Lassie said, not surprisingly defensive. He straightened his back and squared his shoulders. Clearly, he was about to launch into what would no doubt be an emotive lecture about how harmless his response was. His pale blue eyes glanced at her briefly. Then he just deflated like a leaky balloon. "Look, it was a mistake. I thought she said that ridiculous nickname that she likes so much."

"She did," Gus said cautiously. Shawn could sense his growing horror at something that she couldn't quite figure out for herself. His eyes widened until the whites were comically large. His gaze was darting between the other two men. He had to be remembering that she had never actually called her father by that name, thus giving him absolutely no reason to react the way he had. That would probably outweigh any implication that came along with learning about yet another oddity of Carlton Lassiter.

At least, it did for Shawn.

She still made a mental note to think about this all more when she didn't have a shark to find.

"Look," she interrupted the staring contest going on, "I can't do this right now. So we're going to completely ignore that you two apparently share a kink that I just unwittingly exposed with a slip of the tongue and focus on how our missing shark is probably just a block or two in that direction."

Shawn pointed dramatically at the right direction.

Then she heaved a sigh and switched arms to point in the actual right direction.

Maybe it was just in her head, but Lassie looked almost like he wanted to kiss her for breaking up the tension.

She added that to the mental note to think about later.