April, Come She Will
By: Aubrie1234
"So as I was saying," Shawn spoke as he and Alex hopped into the Blueberry, "You, Me, Ghostbusters, as soon as we get to the office."
"Don't you have a job to do?" Alex raised an eyebrow. Shawn waved it away.
"We're off right now, not a job in sight. Right buddy?" He turned to Gus, who began to drive off.
"For now, but who knows when something'll come up?" Gus reasoned, "And it'd be just our luck for something to happen while you're with us!"
"True." Alex nodded, "And I have my own string of bad luck anyway." He turned to look out the window, "Things probably won't end well with our luck combined."
"C'mon, you don't have bad luck!" Shawn protested.
"Yesterday." Alex pointed out. Shawn winced.
"Okay, yeah, you have a point. But you don't have bad luck always!"
"How do you know? You don't know my life. And don't even try looking for it." Alex was closing off to them again as he gazed through the window. The men shared a look and Shawn sighed.
"So you guys are just gonna watch movies all day?" Gus asked, lowering his voice despite knowing Alex would probably overhear anyway.
"For the most part. This kid doesn't even know Ghostbusters, man. Ghostbusters." Shawn waved his arms slightly to illustrate his point, "He barely knew the remake and that one's just terrible!"
"You're kidding!" Gus' voice was indignant, "You better have a movie marathon!"
"Planning on it." Shawn glanced at him, "But dude, haven't you noticed?"
"Noticed what?" Shawn dropped his voice.
"He's like Despereaux or a young James Bond. He's hiding secrets and I really wanna help him, but since he's not telling us anything, I don't know what to do."
"Let him tell you when he wants to. You can't just force help on him." Gus advised.
"Don't you think I haven't thought of that?" Shawn sighed, irritated, "And Jones and Crawley are really getting on my nerves. We've tried to find out about them but so far, nothing's come up. And how did they forge the docs that had me and Jules adopt Alex? Why did they do it?"
"Maybe they're trying to protect him?" Gus suggested.
"But why? That's what doesn't make any sense to me! Nothing does!" His voice was rising slightly until Gus gave him a glare as Alex glanced at them. Shawn blinked, then sat back a little to calm down, "Sorry."
"So what if nothing fits together? Why does this bother you?"
"...He's just a kid, Gus." The fake psychic glanced in the rearview mirror at Alex, trying not to give himself away, "He doesn't deserve any of this and it all screams like some kind of weird plot to do something."
"I think you're being a little overprotective." Gus murmured, "I can't help you with anything there. You're the detective here, not me."
"Fine." Shawn huffed. All was silent for the rest of the trip to the office. When they arrived, Shawn and Alex left the car and entered the building. As Gus was about to leave, suddenly Shawn rushed back out.
"Gus!" he cried, "Gus!" The dark man rolled down the window.
"What, Shawn?"
"I think we have ourselves a case!" squeaked the lighter man.
"Wait, where's Alex?!" Gus climbed out of the car as Shawn paled and ran back inside. Gus followed him and paled himself as they came across the dead body of a man on their couch, leaving a bloodsplatter in the nice cushions. Gus felt the urge to be sick at the sight and it got worse when he saw Alex actually examining the body, as if looking for evidence like Lassiter and Juliet. As Gus got sick in the nearest trash can, Shawn watched as Alex examined the man easily, not getting sick or even looking pale. At least he wasn't touching anything, right?
"Looks like a .32 caliber." muttered the teen, "Wonder if there's a trace of the gun on the bullet."
"...How-?" Usually scenes like this didn't faze him, but with a kid doing this and not freaking out, it was putting a major dent in Shawn's confidence.
"...I'm gonna call the cops." Gus said, voice shaking as he stumbled away from the scene.
"And the three of you just found him like this?" Lassie asked as the group of officers cordoned off the office. Shawn, Gus, and Alex were sitting on a bench outside as Lassiter questioned them. Shawn and Gus could've done it inside, but Lassiter didn't want Alex seeing the body again it case it traumatized him further. He also had to question the three as a group for now, and it all led up to here.
"Yeah." Shawn nodded, "I was bringing Alex to the office to keep an eye on him and WHAM, we see the guy on the couch."
"And you both ran out and joined Guster before you called us?" They knew Lassie was double-checking the facts but it was kinda annoying.
"Yep." Alex nodded. Shawn and Gus glanced at him but didn't call attention to his lie. Lassiter wrote it down, "Who was he?"
"We found an ID on him, his name is Michael Afton." Alex's eyebrows shot up.
"Really? You're certain?"
"Yes, I am. Why?"
"Just that the name is also the name of a video game character." Lassie wrote it down.
"What game?"
"Five Nights at Freddy's. Maybe it's just a coincidence, but..." Alex shrugged.
"Anything helps." Lassiter said, "It'll be a few hours before the scene's cleared."
"I've still gotta get to work!" Gus realized. He'd forgotten in the chaos and now would be late. But where would Shawn and Alex stay for the day?
"Go ahead, buddy." Shawn waved off his concerned look, "I can take Alex on my bike and go to my Dad's." He gave a grimace, "As much as I don't want to go, it's not far."
"Are you sure that's safe?" Gus wasn't so sure about it.
"I've ridden motorcycles before." Alex piped up, "It'll be fine."
"Jules is gonna chew me out so much..." Shawn murmured to himself.
"I'm not gonna tell her anything." Lassiter added, "Unless you dig yourself into a hole, then you're on your own." And with that, Lassiter left the group alone. Gus dropped them off at the apartment and watched them take off before he left in his own car, knowing that they had a case and that Alex was giving him a serious case of the willies.
"Here we are." Shawn said as he parked the bike.
"Big house." Alex said.
"Yeah, and it all belongs to one guy." The man tucked the two helmets under his arm as they approached the door, "When he answers, let me do all the talking."
"Right." Alex took the time to look around. Shawn knocked on the door and it didn't take long for it to be answered by a balding man who had this permanent scowl on his face.
"Shawn? What are you doing here?" The man frowned as he gazed at the bandages on Shawn's arm, mostly covered by his shirtsleeve but not completely.
"Nice to see you too. Look, can we stay here for the day?"
"'We?'" He glanced down and saw Alex, "Don't say you adopted a kid without telling me!"
"It's a long story." Shawn groaned, "Alex, this is my dad, Henry. Dad, this is Alex."
"Shawn-"
"I said I'll explain, okay?" Shawn pushed Henry back into the house, calling, "You can look around but don't touch anything!"
"Shawn!" And with that, the two disappeared upstairs. Clearly Alex's new 'father' didn't want him speaking to his 'grandfather' just yet and the boy was fine with that. Henry didn't look nice but he could be wrong. As it was, while he took stock of all the fishing stuff, his thoughts were running over the murder from that morning and couldn't let go. When Psych took the case (because Alex was sure Shawn would take it and convince Gus to join him), the blond would be there too. He'd gotten involved and now his curiosity wanted him to see it to the end. That wasn't the only factor, however, but if he spoke it, it was possible his luck would make it come true.
He didn't want it to come true, not at all. He couldn't kill anyone else, he just couldn't.
Minutes later, Shawn and Henry were back. Though he clearly disliked the circumstances of why Alex was in Shawn's care, Henry was treating Alex like his son, showing the boy all his fishing trophies while Shawn was trying to call Juliet. When he was finally able to connect to her, he wasn't expecting the anger she shot through the line.
"You could've asked Gus to take you guys to Henry's!" she said, "He could've died!"
"I was careful, Jules! We were wearing helmets!"
"Still!"
"Look," Shawn rubbed the bridge of his nose, "Have you found out anything else on Alex's case?"
"No." Juliet said sadly, "I can't find anything on Jones and Crawley in the States and I don't have access to anything overseas, especially since it's not in my jurisdiction. As for the explosion, it really was a gas leak and the home was rented by one Edward Pleasure, who was Alex's adopted father. Sabina was his daughter and Elizabeth his wife. He'd rented the home for a story in Santa Barbara, since he was a journalist, and so he'd taken his family with him, like a vacation."
"One that ended really badly." Shawn quipped. He could practically feel Juliet's glare through the phone, "Anything else?"
"Since I can't trace Jones and Crawley I can't make much progress on the adoption papers. As for the shooting, we learned the victim's name but that's about it. Even though both of us and Alex saw the shooter we didn't see much and so there's not much to go on." Juliet gave an angry sigh, "I wish we could do more for him. He doesn't deserve this, any of it."
"I know what you mean, but now it's our job to keep him safe." Shawn glanced over his shoulder at his 'son,' "I introduced Alex to my dad just now."
"How did it go?" Juliet sounded like she was wincing on the other end of the line.
"Pretty well, considering. They're getting along, Dad knows everything we know, and he's not trying to prod Alex about anything. It's the best I could hope for."
"Looks like I've gotta get back to work." Juliet suddenly spoke, "Bye, Shawn."
"Wait!" He heard the pause on the other end and went on, "Anything else about the murder this morning?"
"A little. It seems the ID was fake, but Alex's lead on the video game is giving us some progress. The lore is terrifying, though."
"I've heard. See you later, Jules." He ended the call and went back into the room, finding Henry telling Alex about one of his many fishing adventures that related to the mounted fish above the mantle. The kid looked kinda interested, kinda bored, and Shawn didn't blame him.
"...and that's how I caught the marlin!" finished Henry.
"Wouldn't it have been better if you set the fishing rod in one of those holders and reeled it from there so you wouldn't have a chance of going overboard or hurting your back if the line snapped?" Alex was blunt.
"I'm more fit than I look!"
"Uh huh..." Alex turned to see Shawn and gave him a look that clearly said, 'Get me out of here and I'll answer any question you want.' If that's what it took to get the kid to speak a little bit, Shawn should've taken Alex to Henry sooner.
"Hey, Dad," began the detective, "Do you mind if I show Alex the rest of the house?" Henry gave him a look, not believing that for a second, but gave a small nod. There was a hint of understanding in his eyes.
"Sure, go ahead." Alex practically bolted to Shawn's side before they went upstairs. He guided the boy to his bedroom and made sure the door was closed before they began to talk.
"So, what's going on with you?" he asked, trying not to sound demanding, yet his voice was rising slightly, "Why can't Juliet find out more about Jones and Crawley? Why is it so hard to figure out anything that relates to you?"
"They're British, so you need British jurisdiction to really find anything out and then they'll take it away from you as soon as you do." Alex said, "As for why you can't figure anything out, don't ask me. I'm a bad luck magnet, it just happens." There were tears in his eyes, trying to well up, and Shawn knew he had to back down.
"Look, hey, don't cry! I'm not trying to be mean-"
"I know you're not." Alex wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, not wanting to appear as a crybaby, "You've read about my life but you don't know it. Don't deny it, I know you have, it's what a detective does."
"Alex-" Shawn began, then cut himself off. He went another direction, "I'm sorry. Is there anything you wanna do?"
"...Can I do anything I want?" Shawn frowned.
"If you think you're getting involved with this case-"
"I saw it first, I was there. I have a right to be involved and find out who wanted to kill that guy. Besides," Alex gave him a look, "You were the one to ask if I wanted to do anything."
"Me and my big mouth." Shawn groaned. Alex smiled. Shawn was glad the other wasn't crying anymore and briefly wondered why Alex had cried. He hadn't cried before, so why now? Had Shawn accidentally touched on something sensitive? Well, with Alex coming along, they wouldn't have to worry about him getting into trouble while they were away. But Juliet would kill them. Probably.
With Henry around, there was no way Shawn and Alex could go out anywhere without telling him and Henry was just as likely to skin them alive as Juliet was, so Shawn decided they might as well go through the movie marathon he'd promised. Henry had copies of the movies and so they spent the day watching Ghostbusters, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Princess Bride, and more. By the time the sun was setting, Alex was more versed in 80s culture than he ever thought he'd be, and he didn't know if that was a good thing. It wasn't like he could use it in conversation like Shawn could, not at all. But by the time they left, at least he knew a little of what Shawn was talking about sometimes. Juliet was waiting for them back at the house, having come in only minutes previously, and was glaring daggers at Shawn.
"What? What did I do?" Shawn asked, "We're wearing helmets!"
"Tomorrow, you're both staying home so you won't get yourselves killed." she said. She wasn't going to budge on it.
"Don't be so mad at him." said Alex, "He's just doing his job." He walked past them into the house, carrying his helmet.
"So, how was your day?" Shawn changed the subject, hoping to get Juliet's irritation off of him. She rolled her eyes but went along with it as they followed their 'son' inside.
"Pretty good. Tackled an armed robber when I was out buying groceries."
"Didn't get hurt, did you?" Juliet smiled and kissed Shawn's cheek.
"Trust me, I'm fine. How was your day?"
"Well, after Dad met him, we kinda had a movie marathon. He didn't even know Ghostbusters until we watched it today. Ghostbusters!"
"Someone has been lacking in his education, then." She quipped, "How do you feel about having mac & cheese tonight?"
"Sounds great." He smiled, "Thanks Jules." It was only half an hour later and they were sitting at the table with Alex, having dinner. Unlike that morning, there was an uncomfortable feeling that hung in the air, even as Shawn and Juliet tried to bring up things to break it.
"How do you like the food, Alex?" Juliet asked. So far the only things they'd asked him had to do with his previous life and he hadn't answered any. In fact, the whole dinner he'd seemed quite gloomy despite his more cheerful attitude earlier. This got a response out of him in the form of looking up from pushing his food around and sometimes nibbling on it.
"Oh? Uh, it's good." He dropped his eyes.
"Well, it better be good. Juliet's the better cook out of the two of us." Shawn said, "You're lucky I didn't burn anything this morning!" Juliet gave his unhurt arm a light smack. He rubbed it in mock hurt, "What was that for?"
"Shawn, be normal." Alex gave a snort.
"Telling him to be normal is like holding a bone out to a dog and telling it it can't have it." Alex grinned slightly at the slightly offended look on Shawn's face.
"I can be normal! I just choose not to!" Juliet smacked him again.
"Just settle down, then." Shawn did so, glancing at Alex. The happiness, however brief, had now faded away to his uninterested look. There also seemed to be a hint of hurt as he stared at the food. He looked to Juliet and she seemed to have noticed too. They didn't want to ask but knew something was up. They were just as surprised when Alex suddenly began to speak.
"Before she died, Jack used to make me mac and cheese a lot." he muttered, "Not from scratch, she didn't like making anything big unless it was for an occasion, but this tastes a lot like how she used to make it." He glanced up, "Thanks for making it."
"No problem, Alex." Juliet gave him a welcoming smile and Shawn could feel that the awkwardness had finally lifted. Around an hour later he found himself standing in the doorway to Alex's room as Juliet bid him goodnight. Alex was a teenager, yes, but that didn't mean they didn't want to wish him goodnight. Shawn had gotten iit sometimes as a child and had the feeling that, no matter how much Alex said he didn't want it, the blond actually loved the gesture.
"What are you guys planning on doing tomorrow?" Juliet asked as she sat on the end of Alex's bed. The blond was dressed in fairly new pajamas, which one of the other officers had gotten for him that day. In fact, Shawn was pretty sure Alex had been given a giant care package of clothes from the department, since all his old ones had been destroyed in the explosion.
"Nothing much." Alex didn't even look at Shawn as he spoke, "Maybe another movie marathon."
"Well, just don't go out on the bike again. I don't want you getting hurt, even if you do wear a helmet." She gave him a hug before switching places with Shawn. Hesitantly the man entered the room and took Juliet's seat on Alex's bed. Shawn stared into Alex's eyes and wondered if the boy had been telling the truth or had just lied flawlessly to the both of them. If it was the latter, Shawn wondered how he could do it and if it would put someone in danger. But he didn't have long to wonder, as he had to say goodnight to the boy before he could go to bed himself. They shared some pleasantries and a hug, but as Shawn began to pull away, Alex held on a little tighter and whispered something in his ear.
"Tomorrow, use your psychic thing and tell them about the .32 caliber. It could be a lead." And with that, Alex laid back, smiling as if he hadn't just told Shawn what he'd noticed at the murder scene. The man stared at him for a moment, surprised, then composed himself and joined Juliet in closing the door. Juliet couldn't know what they were planning to do tomorrow and certainly not what Alex had told him. The teen had said it so matter-of-factly that it had sounded like he was speaking of a normal conversation instead of a weapon of death. Shawn knew he wasn't going to have good dreams that night with that knowledge floating around in his head.