A/N: Shawn and Amelia do a bit of bonding, which I think is fun, and Lassie finds out about Amelia!
LUX 06
Juliet's maternal instincts were in overdrive, between the nesting she was doing due to her pregnancy and the sudden arrival of her estranged daughter.
She had insisted on enrolling Amelia in school at Leland Bosseigh High School because she believed it was in a safer area of Santa Barbara and it was also closer to their home. Amelia felt like it was an unnecessary change, but had relented when Juliet's hormones nearly caused her to begin crying. Amelia hated when people cried.
On a Tuesday, a little less than a week after the judge had placed her in Juliet and Shawn's care, Amelia began to walk away from the high school at the end of the school day. She then noticed a motorcycle pulling up alongside the curb she was walking.
"Amelia!" a voice shouted, causing the teenage girl to turn her head. The voice was familiar. She noticed it belonged to the man on the motorcycle who she realized was Shawn. She made her way toward him.
"Here," Shawn offered, handing Amelia a spare helmet. "I was in the neighborhood, realized you'd be out of school, and thought I'd give you a ride home."
"You really don't have to do that, Shawn. I'm fine walking. You can get back to work—whatever it is you do."
"No case right now," Shawn responded, "so all I've been doing is sitting in the Psych office watching reruns of Twin Peaks while eating bowl after bowl of Captain Crunch. And I realized—cereal drowns in milk, so that makes milk a cereal killer!"
Amelia laughed at Shawn's antics. She was really taking a liking to Shawn. He was silly, but not in an entirely immature way.
"Besides," he continued, "you won't get many more chances. This baby is going up on Craigslist to accommodate for the other human baby that I'm going to be having. Jules says motorcycles aren't good for transporting babies, and I have to say, I agree with her."
"Alright, I'll come. But instead of going home, can we go to your office? I'd like to see you in action."
"Of course you do, mini-Jules. I'm so incredibly impressive that everyone wants to see how it's done. I guess you can head back to the Psych office with me. You can do your homework while I try to see if I can get myself put onto a new case."
Amelia pressed the helmet onto her head and climbed onto the motorcycle with a smile. This would be fun.
• • •
Half an hour later, Shawn got a call saying there was a case. He immediately called Gus, who was on his way to the office anyway, having just finished his rounds for the day.
"Thank goodness you're here, buddy. This looks like it'll be a good one," Shawn greeted, grabbing the keys from his best friend's hand. "Come on, Amelia. You ready to see the real magic happen?"
Amelia's eyes brightened at the idea of seeing a real crime scene—not just one on television. It seemed like it would be exciting.
"Amelia calls shotgun," Shawn informed Gus as Shawn climbed into the driver's seat.
"This is my car, Shawn! Don't you think I should be able to sit in the front—or, I don't know, drive it?"
Shawn cut off Gus' ranting, having heard it about a thousand times before. "Gus, I need to bond with my soon-to-be step-daughter."
Amelia glanced at Gus who sighed, motioning to let Amelia take the front seat. However, glancing in the mirror, she noticed Gus pouting as he sat in the back seat of his own car.
"I have to warn you, Amelia. Sometimes the crime scenes can be a little gruesome," Shawn disclosed. "Gus has been known to go screaming from the sight of the body."
Amelia laughed, thinking Shawn was joking. From what she'd picked up about Shawn, it seemed like most of what came out of his mouth was a fib.
"Shawn, I don't do that anymore!" Gus exclaimed defensively. Amelia's eyebrows went up and she puckered her lips slightly as she eyed Gus.
"You work with the police but you're afraid of bodies?" Amelia inquired.
"I used to be afraid of the blood, but I'm better with it now."
"Spoiler alert: he's not," Shawn whispered not very subtly to the blue-eyed girl.
Suddenly the car whipped around as Shawn parked on the opposite side of the road than he had been driving on. "We're here, guys."
"Smooth parking job," Amelia commented sarcastically, tugging on her seat belt that had locked up on her.
"You check it when you get out. You'll see that my park job is exquisite."
Finally unbuckling her seatbelt, Amelia opened the door and climbed out of the car. She looked at the edge of the gutter and the wheels of the car. Shawn was right. He had parked perfectly.
"Alright, the crime scene is this-a-way," Shawn directed, taking long strides in the direction he pointed.
"Is Juliet going to be here?" Amelia asked. She knew Jules was a detective with the SBPD.
"Nah, Jules is on desk duty for now because of the bun in her oven," Shawn explained, eyeing the crime scene ahead. He suddenly stopped as his vision narrowed in on certain key features of the setup of the scene.
"I'm sensing something!" Shawn exclaimed, throwing his finger to his temple. "I'm getting strong vibrations! Rolling! Vroom! Vrrrrroom! A car! The car, it's bloody! The body is in the car! THIS BODY WAS MOVED!"
Shawn took a deep breath to gather himself after his 'psychic' outburst, and then glanced toward Amelia to gauge her reaction. Her mouth was agape in an impressed fashion, but her brows were furrowed, indicating confusion or disbelief.
From the side, where he had been talking to one of the CSIs, Lassiter turned to scowl at Shawn, and then turned his gaze toward the body.
"We have blood spatter indicating wounds were inflicted at this site, however, the amount of blood at this scene does not suggest the victim would have bled out. The number of wounds, however, should denote a much higher volume of blood." Lassiter turned back toward Shawn, grimacing as he conceded, "Spencer is right: the body was moved—but additional wounds were inflicted after the movement, perhaps to make us believe that this was the original point of attack."
Shawn began to applaud. "Great job, Lassie. I could've told you that, but I thought I'd give you the pride of figuring something out on your own for once. Although, maybe I should've taken that one, side I have someone to impress."
"Who's the girl, Spencer? And why are you bringing her to a crime scene?" Lassiter asked.
"Why, Lassie! This is mini-Jules, of course! Doesn't she look so much like her? Other than the brown hair, of course."
"Spencer, stop messing around and just tell me why you brought a teenage girl to an active crime scene!"
"Lassie, this is Amelia, Jules' daughter. Amelia, Head Detective Carlton Lassiter," Shawn introduced.
"Funny, Spencer, but really—who is she?" Lassiter pushed.
Shawn's eyebrows rose as he looked at Lassie's face. "Jules didn't tell you about Amelia?"
Amelia stood next to Shawn feeling incredibly awkward. They were talking as if she wasn't even there. And it was growing apparent to Amelia that Juliet hadn't even told her coworkers she had a daughter—whom she'd just gotten custody of.
Amelia reached out her hand, offering it to Lassiter for a handshake. "My name is Amelia, sir, and it's true. Juliet is my mother."
"Right, O'Hara's daughter," Lassiter mused. He then looked to Amelia. "How'd he get you to play along?"
Amelia did not respond, but turned her gaze toward Shawn, who stared at Lassiter quizzically.
"Lassie, I think you should have a talk with Jules. She's your partner—I had just assumed she told you already." Shawn patted Lassiter on his shoulder, causing the older man to scowl. "Alright, Lassafrass, we're going to go for pineapple smoothies. We'll meet you in Woody's office in an hour."
Shawn turned and began to walk back to the blueberry, leaving Lassiter looking slightly dumbstruck.
"That's it?" Amelia questioned, following Shawn away from the scene. "You tell them the body's been moved then go for smoothies?"
"Usually," Shawn replied. "We'll go to see what Woody—the coroner—has to say about the body later. But generally, the spirits tell me more when the police aren't around." Amelia gave Shawn a questioning look, but did not respond. "So, what kind of smoothie do you want?"
• • •
"You took my daughter to a crime scene?" Juliet screeched quietly as Shawn tried to hand her a pineapple smoothie.
"Relax, Jules," Shawn placated his pregnant fiancée, "Amelia wanted to see me in action. What you should be worried about, however, is the fact that Lassie was there and apparently you haven't told him about your daughter. He was very confused. He was under the impression I was messing with him. Like I would ever lie to him…about something like that!"
"What?" Juliet hissed. "You saw Lassiter? Shawn, don't you think it's my place to tell him about Amelia?"
"I thought you already told him! It's been nearly a week since you two reunited!" Shawn defended. "He doesn't believe me, anyway, so you still have the opportunity to tell him. Isn't that right, Gus?"
"Yeah, Lassiter never believes a word Shawn says," Gus provided after being elbowed by Shawn.
"Why haven't you told him?" Amelia asked curiously. She wondered if Juliet was ashamed of her.
"I just—haven't gotten around to it," Juliet lied unconvincingly. "He's been busy with cases and I've been doing all this paperwork." Shawn silently stared at Jules, willing her to be honest. "Okay, I'm nervous about his reaction. I respect him. I'm afraid it will be like when I told my dad I was pregnant the first time," Jules admitted. "Not that the second time went much better. At least I'm engaged and older now!"
"Jules, Lassie isn't going to care about what you did in high school. He probably won't bat a single dark, Irish eyelash at the news, but he deserves to know because he is your partner, as well as your friend."
"Shawn's right, Juliet. And you're probably Lassiter's best friend. He trusts you. You don't want to keep this from him for too long, or he'll react similar to the way he did when he found out you and Shawn were dating," Gus added, providing an additional rational and logical argument.
Just as Juliet was about to respond, Chief Vick walked by Juliet's desk and then backtracked at the sight of an unfamiliar visitor.
"Detective O'Hara," the Chief greeted. "You seem to have quite the crowd here. Who might this young lady be?"
Juliet bit her lip and took a deep breath, figuring she would have to tell the chief sooner or later, and clearly Shawn was not going to let her choose 'later.'
"Chief, this is my daughter Amelia. Amelia, Chief Vick."
The Chief eyed the teenage girl, surprised, as she responded, "Your daughter?" Karen saw the resemblances—they were undeniable—, but she was puzzled by the sudden appearance of Juliet's supposed daughter.
"Yeah, it's kind of a long story. Can I explain later?" Juliet requested.
"Of course," Vick replied. "Nice to meet you, Amelia." And with that, Chief Vick walked back into her office, but not without a confused expression adorning her face.
"Uh," Amelia started, watching as the door to the office shut, "that was kind of strange. She didn't even let me respond."
"The Chief can be a little odd at times," Shawn informed Amelia. "Sometimes she wants all the details, and other times, if it's not relevant to the case or police work, she couldn't care less." Shawn glanced toward Vick's office, noticing her watching the group chat. "Although, I am sensing that this time, she is confused and wants to know, but doesn't think it is her position as Juliet's boss to pry for all the details."
"O'Hara!" Juliet heard a familiar voice call. She couldn't find the body the voice belonged to, however.
When Lassiter came into view, he had a stern look on his face and he glared at the sight of Shawn, Gus, and Amelia standing at O'Hara's desk.
"We'll just go down to the morgue now to see Woody," Gus suggested.
Before Juliet could get a chance to tell Shawn not to take her daughter into the morgue, the three had already turned and shuffled away quickly. She sighed.
"Hi, Carlton," Juliet greeted in her normal cheerful manner as he approached her desk.
"Spencer was spouting some crap about at the crime scene about that girl who was just here. I don't tend to listen to anything he says, but it did seem logical when he said that I should talk to you about it. He said that he thought you would've told me already. What haven't you told me?" Lassiter seemed hurt at the idea of his partner not telling him important life details once again. And although Lassiter and Juliet weren't currently working cases together because of Juliet's pregnancy, after the baby came, they'd be partners once again and they needed to maintain that level of trust.
"Carlton, I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I was just nervous how you'd react," Jules started, motioning for Lassiter to sit down on her desk. "Shawn wasn't trying to mess with you when he said that the girl, Amelia, is my daughter."
"She can't be your daughter; she's got to be like fifteen. And you've been here for over seven years, I've been to your house; I would know if you'd had a daughter."
"She's sixteen," Juliet responded, and she could see Carlton calculating in his head. "It's a really long story, but the short version is that I put her up for adoption, but she was never adopted. Last week, she found me because she was trying to get emancipated from the foster system. The judge didn't grant her emancipation, but instead gave me and Shawn temporary custody of her." Juliet, who had been avoiding eye contact up until that point, looked up at Lassiter. His face was relatively devoid of emotion, although she could see in his eyes that he was shocked.
"Carlton, please don't be mad at me for not telling you. It's been less than a week since the judge placed her with me, and before that, even Shawn had no idea that I had a daughter. Nobody knew besides my family."
"Thank you for telling me the truth, O'Hara," Lassiter replied calmly.
"You aren't mad at me are you?" Juliet questioned, her eyes beginning to water. Those damn hormones made it so difficult to control her emotions. She never used to cry.
Lassiter sighed at the sight of his crying partner. "No, of course not." He awkwardly put a hand on Juliet's shoulder in an attempt to be comforting. "I understand."
"Good."