A blast from the past - psych episode part
Shawn’s cousin, (y/n) is moving to Santa Barbara and helps the team solve a crime - but their cousin and his best friend are not the only familiar faces…
Shawn sat in the living room, Gus by his side and their eyes glued to the screen. Shawn’s cousin was visiting, and the boys were waiting for them to finish up some stuff, and then they’d join them for a game of Clue. (y/n) came out of the guest room and into the kitchen, pouring themselves a glass of water. “Shawn, Gus, water anyone?” They called out, and the boys yelled back in unison “no!”.
“Zombies!” Shawn called out, pressing the circle button on the remote. “Watch out!” It was Gus’s turn to warn his player 2 from the monsters attacking them. He pressed the square and the triangle, hoping this move would help.
“You guys are still stuck on this level? You’ve been at it for hours now” (y/n) sighed and rested their glass at the table, taking a seat next to their cousin. “It’s not the same level” Gus said in a defensive tone. “It is Gus, it says in the side level 3. I arrived at 3:30pm, when I came in you were on level 3. You nearly even said hello, meaning you were already invested in the game” they started, “I went to my room, unpacked and organized, got some homework done and now it is 5:30”. Shawn rolled his eyes.
“You lost!” The game called out. “See, you made us lose focus-“ Gus started, but (y/n) just laughed. “You would’ve lost anyway” they said. “Oh, so you think you can do better, (y/n)” Gus asked, challenging his best friend’s cousin. “In fact, I am sure of it. I already played through the entirety of ‘Apocalypse of the damned’ with Ella” (y/n) smirked, and reached out their hand toward Gus, who unwillingly handed them the remote.
Shawn walks into the police station, Gus by his side. “Do you know why we were called here? I heard nothing about a body in my police radar” Shawn says. “Shawn, I thought we agreed you need to return it” Gus sighs, though he isn’t surprised to hear his best friend is not listening to a voice of reason. “Well, I returned that one. Then I took a different one” Shawn replies.
“Shawn-“ Gus starts. “Well, we better wrap it up fast here, my cousin should be at my dad’s in about two hours and I want to be there to welcome them” Shawn cuts him off. “(Y/n) is coming to town?” Gus says, surprised. “Yeah, I told you about it like, a week ago” Shawn said. “No, you didn’t” Gus insists, slightly upset but once again not surprised.
“Yeah, don’t you remember? They got an interview here to be a pro filer, it makes sense, you know, they’ve always been really organized-“ Shawn explains, and his friend is about to cut him off to explain that this is not a job but they were interviewing for, but they got to the center of the station. Since Gus didn’t have the answer to Shawn’s question, he looked for someone who might know.
“Yo, Lassie!” Shawn called out and waved at the tall, black haired detective as he approached his desk. “What, Spencer?” He sighed, fixing his tie at the reflection of himself on the computer screen. “I was wondering-“ Shawn starts, and as he starts he can’t help but notice a few things.
Lassiter is fixing his tie, he is moving his face around to check all angles. His eyebrows are furred and he is focusing on fixing himself up, his desk is the cleanest Shawn has ever seen, which could only mean…
Shawn is raising his hand and resting it on his temple, “oh, Lassi, I just got a vision” he says dramatically. Lassiter rolls his eyes, but deep inside he was a bit worried Spencer’s vision had something to do with his plans for the day. “You are expecting someone. Someone you care about, someone you like, someone who you have a… a romantic interest in, maybe. Is it a special lady friend?” Shawn asks, raising his eyebrows as he dragged the words “lady friend” to poke Lassiter. He puts his hand down with a proud face. In return, the detective looks at the psychic with the usual annoyed, cold look in his eyes.
“No” He says, “a friend of mine from college is in town. They got their Masters at criminology recently and I’ve been talking to Chief Vick about getting a Profiler for the precinct for a while now, so I got them an interview” Lassiter explains himself, “they are finishing their interview as we speak”. Shawn was not fooled. He knows his favorite frenemy is interested in this new profiler, and he had every intention to be a wingman in this case.
“And you like this friend, don’t you? You like them, and you wanna kiss them-“ Shawn continued to poke the detective, making kissing noises as he puckers his lips. “Uh, Lassie?” Gus cuts his friend off, shushing him by covering Shawn’s mouth and pushing him back. “Where did you go to college?” He asks the detective, with his know-it-all smile. Unlike Shawn, he knew what the interview the cousin was here to have.
“Well, I got my criminal justice degree in Arizona state univers-“ Lassie starts. “Ha, that’s funny, my cousin got their criminal justice degree there as well. Maybe they were in the same class as you and your fri-“ Shawn starts, but mid-word the puzzle pieces connect in his brain.
“EW” Shawn calls out, taking a step back, “Lassie, you got a crush on my cousin?” He says, his voice laced with disgust.
“(y/n) is your cousin?” The detective says, and the horror in his voice was noticeable even to the most oblivious people. “Yes, Lassie, they are” Shawn cries out as he starts pacing around, “did you not notice we have the same lovely smile and the same beautiful shine in our eyes?” Shawn continues to compliment himself as he lists the ‘similarities’ between himself and his cousin.
“Well, I didn’t know that they were your cousin, I didn't even know you when I met them-” the detective replies, his voice slightly horrified. He tried to think back at the times he shared with (y/n) in university and tried to remember if they ever mentioned having a psychic for a cousin, it’s something you’d think would come up in a conversation. “i- and I don’t have a crush on (y/n)” he adds.
“What? Are you saying my cousin is ugly? Dude, my cousin is way out of your league-“ Shawn gets upset. “I- no, (y/n) is fine, I mean, they look fine-“ Lassie stumbles, confused at the argument he got into. “Gross, man, this is my cousin you are talking about-“ Shawn argues back and Gus rolls his eyes.
“What did I miss?” A voice sounds from behind the boys. “Lassie has a crush on my cousin” Shawn whines, and Juliet looks at him, her eyes filled with confusion and a smile threatening to spread on her face. She finally breaks. “No, no, O’hera, I don’t have a crush on Spencer’s cousin, I had a few classes with them in university, we were good friends and than I moved here, and at first we stayed in touch, but you know, long distance is hard- long distance friendships-“ he tries to save himself but Juliet’s laugh just gets louder and louder and Shawn’s whines whinier. Lassiter signs and decides to give up. “Look, it was before I even met Shawn, and it was a long time ago” He finally admits.
“This is the best thing that I have ever heard” O'hare laughs. “What is?” A new voice is joining the conversation. “(Y/n), hello” Lassiter says with the closest thing to a warm smile his face muscles can produce. He reaches his hand for (y/n) to shake, but they take his hand and pull him into a hug. “Hey, Carlton” they say. He may not be able to actually see the smile on their face, but when he closes his eyes and allows himself to take in the moment of reunion he can see it in his mind. Carlton clears his throat and breaks the hug, remembering there are people around them and he cannot get emotional.
“Hey cousin” Shawn smiles, opening his arms for them. They take the invitation and as they hug Shawn they pull Gus into the group hug. “The gang's back together” Gus smiles, hugging his childhood frenemy. They break the hug after a few seconds.
“Hi, I’m Juliet, I work with Shawn and detective Lassiter” Juliet says, reaching her hand out for a handshake. “Oh, hey, it is so nice to finally meet you” (y/n) smiles, shaking the offered hand. “Finally?” Juliet asks suspiciously as she moves her hand back to her side. “Yeah, Shawnie told me all about you. Don’t worry, he only ever says good things about you” They smile at Jules. She laughs a bit awkwardly, giving Shawn a slightly shy look.
“And he never mentioned me?” Lassie asks, confused, “cause if he did, I mean, you never realized it was me?”. (Y/n) clears their throat, “well, he always just said detective dipstick, so I… I never made the connection” they admit. Shawn lets out a small laugh. “That’s right, I did” he says. His eyes go to the detective, but he looks away after less than a second when he sees the angry look he shoots at him, saying ‘I’ll deal with you later’ without using a word. “Anyways, uh, Chief Vick wants everyone in the hall in five” (y/n) breaks the silence.
“Hello, officers. Today I would like to introduce you to our brand new profiler” Chief Vic says, pointing next to her and inviting (y/n) to stand in front of everyone. They walk up next to their new boss, waving at everybody. The officers all clap their hands and Shawn calls “wo!! Yes, wow, what an amazing-“.
“This is (y/n) Spencer, and yes, they are related to our very own Psychic detective” Vic starts, cutting off Spencer. “They have a B.A in criminal justice, which they got alongside our head detective, Carlton Lassiter, and they recently got their masters in criminology. It is fair to say they are very talented, and a promising addition to our precinct” Vic continues, “(y/n), a few words?”.
“Uh, hello everybody” (y/n) says, a warm smile on their face. ‘Just as I remembered’ Carlton thinks to himself, and he can’t help but smile at the sight. “The Chief here really said pretty much all of it, so I’ll just say I am looking forward to working alongside all of you, and I am so, so excited to be here. I want to give Carlton a special thanks for helping me get this opportunity, and, uh, I guess that’s it” they smile. Everyone claps once again and (y/n) goes back to the ‘crowd’.
The Chief nods, “thank you, (y/n), we are so happy to have you, and we all look forward to working with you too” she says with a smile on her face, “now, go back to work everybody”.
“This is so cool” Shawn says, “I can’t believe we’re gonna work together again, beating actual bad guys and not just zombies”. He walks by his cousin as they follow Lassiter to his desk. “Yeah, it’s gonna be so awesome” they reply, the word “awesome” comes out a bit singly. Lassiter stops at his desk, and (y/n) stops there too. The detective sits down and reaches his hand under his desk.
“Well, Shawn, I will see you later, k cousin?” (Y/n) says. “Don’t you want to grab a coffee? Catch up without my dad around?” Shawn asks, “I’ll even let you pay for my coffee”. (Y/n) lets out a small laugh, “well, as tempting as that sounds, I already have plans” they say, tilting their head toward their ex-classmate.
“Ew, you’re hanging out with detective dipstick?” Shawn says, scrunching his nose in disgust. He looks at the detective, who is now back to standing, one hand holding the briefcase-type-bag (y/n) arrived with in the morning and asked him to put it at his desk while they had their interview. It was a brief interaction, not even a proper hello. He is handing the bag out to the new profiler of the SBPD. (Y/n) rolls their eyes and grabs the bag, deciding to not dignify that with a response.
“You coming?” Lassiter asks, and (y/n) nods, tightening their grip over the briefcase’s handle. He walks out of the station, and they follow him, taking bigger steps to catch up to him.
“I can’t believe my cousin is going on a date with Lassie” Shawn says. “Shawn, they were good friends in university, they could just be catching up” Jules says, attempting to comfort her friend. “He better just be catching up with them” says Shawn, trying to sound annoyed and threatening but it comes out more like a child who asks his mom to give him back his toy. “I mean, it’s not like they would ever like him back. He’s so… friend and they’re so.. not” Gus joins in. “Poor Lassie” Shawn sighs, “he’s about to get his heart broken”.
“So, Lassie” (y/n) starts, using the nickname their cousin gave Carlton with a teasing smile on their face, “what have you been up to in the past… What is it? 10 years?”. The detective sighs, wanting to ask them not to call him Lassie but before the words come out he realizes he doesn’t mind the nickname when it’s coming from his old-days crush.
“I am the head detective of SBPD, I solve crimes and I put criminals in jail and, uh…” Lassie tried to think, realizing he really never does anything but work. “Wow” (y/n) laughs, “you are as dedicated as i remembered. Ever done anything other than work?” they ask.
“Well, I got married” He says. “Oh” (y/n) says, their voice almost disappointed, but Lassie didn’t catch the tone. “Than I got a divorce” He continues. “Oh” (y/n) says again, this time with a relief laced in their voice.
“Well, mostly studies. While I was studying I worked with prisons in different behavioral correction programs, I worked with some law firms and… stuff like that. Not as impressive, I guess” they say.
“No, no, I think this is very impressive, and so interesting” he says, though there is one question that he has to get the answer to. “What about a husband, or a boyfriend…” he asks. Back in university they sort-of-dated. It was never official, but they hung out and studied together, and though they never talked about it, the night they went their separate ways - Lassie got the job he applied for in Santa Barbara, and (y/n) stayed in arizona to continue their academic career and work as a freelancer in the field.
“Nothing of that sort” (y/n) says, “not much time for dating between all this… I mean, the crazy schedule…”. Lassiter nods, “yeah, yeah, of course” he says, trying to hide the happiness this answer gave him. “Why are you asking?” They tackle him. “Oh, just, uh, y’know, catching up” he says, “I’m also not seeing anyone” he adds. He is not sure what’s going on. Since when does he behave like this? So.. awkward, losing his words and his focus… /like a 20 years old with a crush/ he thinks to himself, realizing he may not be as over (y/n) as he thought.
“Good to know” (y/n) smiles at him awkwardly. They don’t know what to say or do next, and they are desperate to fill the silence with something. Lassie and them got along so well, but they just didn’t know how to do this. It’s been years, and the crush they had on Carlton back in university surfaced the second they laid eyes on him this morning. “So-“ they start, but both of their phones start ringing.
“Yes, Shawn?” (Y/n) says, as Lassie asks the Chief what happened. “Yeah, I’m here with Carlton, be there in 10” they say. “Ben there in 5” the detective corrects (y/n) as well as letting the Chief know they’ll be there soon. He gets up and pull his car keys from his pocket, “let’s go, (y/n)!” He calls out, and they follow him to the car - but not before grabbing the coffee cups they got to-go just in case there’s, well, a case.
When Lassiter and (y/n) arrive at the scene, the rest of the team is already there. “What do we have here?” (Y/n) asks, their eyes scanning the scene.
They were standing in the kitchen of an apartment where there was a body. It full of light wood furniture. In the center of the kitchen there was a counter, which had the sink as well as a knife stand and some drying plates and utensils.
“This is Nancy Price, her parents started to worry when they didn’t hear from her for a few days. She’s on a break from college for the holidays and she wasn’t supposed to be at work until today. When the parents checked and heard she didn’t show, they called us for a wellness check and… well, this is what we found” Jules says, gesturing at the scene. The woman on the floor is slim-figured, and looks like she is in her 20s. She is lying in a pool of blood. Her clothes are soaked in blood, her pajamas no longer white. (y/n) gets closer to the body and look over it, looking for more hints of what this unsub is like. They count the thin rips on the victim’s clothes and they find about 6 stab wounds Just by observing.
Overkill, this is a crime of passion. Probably personal. Her eyes are close, but since she is lying on the kitchen floor in a pool of blood, she was definitely killed here so it’s safe to assume she wasn't asleep when she got murdered. The killer closed her eyes, that shows mercy. That makes that even more likely this woman knows her killer.
“(Y/n), any thoughts?” The Chief asks. “Well, With the amount of stab wounds I’d say it’s a crime of passion - possibly someone who had a personal vendetta against our victim, someone she knew” (y/n) says, “the person who killed her, they showed mercy at the end, you can see they closed the victim’s eyes” they continue, their voice growing more and more confident as they go, especially once they focus their eyes on their trusted family- Shawn and Gus, who at this point of their life they considered a cousin of some sort.
There is a spot in the blood pool which is smeared, it’s close enough to the face of the victim and it’s probably where the killer rested their knee when they closed the victim’s eyes, confirming (y/n)s thoughts.
“Yes, yes, I can see it” Shawn yelps as he brings his hand to his temple and puts on his ridiculous psychic face. “The killer closed her eyes, he was kneeling right…” he continues, waving his finger around the room and leaning his body in the direction he is pointing at as if the spirits are leading him to the point the killer stood at. He finally stops, making his way around the body and pointing at the smeared spot. “Here” he finishes his show, using the opportunity of being closer to the body to scan it further and gather more details.
(Y/n), who followed him there, leans a bit closer to scan the body as well. They knew Shawn’s tricks, but it was a great show.
Her ring finger has a lighter strip in the shape of a ring, looks like she got a tan around the missing jewelry piece. It was either stolen or taken by the killer, or it was recently removed.
Shawn continued to look around, making sure he’s not missing anything.
The knife stand at the counter has a missing piece. By the placements and handles of the ones still there, the missing knife was one especially good for meat, and a very good murder weapon.
“This wasn’t planned” (y/n) says, pointing at the knife stand. “One of these is missing, my guess is that our unsub got in a heated argument with the victim and killed her” they explain the reasoning behind their words.
Carlton walked up to the counter, scanning the pieces. As he makes his way over there, (y/n) continues their theory.
“That means we are dealing with an impulsive person with some serious anger problems. They regret their actions, which means they’ll display signs of distress, it’s likely they’ll avoid social interactions” they say, and their eyes go back to the body near them. “We should see if we can find someone in her close circle with a history of bar fights or other violent behavior, maybe someone in an anger management program” (y/n) suggests.
When (y/n) finishes their shirt briefing it is Carlton’s turn to contribute. “It’s missing the meat knife, it’s not a bad choice of weapon. We need to see if the stab wounds match, but we’ll have to wait for the ME report” he says, impressed by (y/n)s contributions so far.
The light hits something under the drawers by the door to the balcony. It’s something shiny.
“I’m seeing…” Spencer starts, “an argument, uh, oh, they are yelling in my head, aw” he calls dramatically. He gets up and spins around, seeking his head as if to make the voices go away. Gus walks up to him and pulls him further from the body, making sure his friend doesn’t temper with the crime scene. “Talk to me buddy” Gus says calmly.
“Oh, I am so done with you!” Shawn says in a slightly higher pitched voice. He’s mimicking a movement of a ring removal and throws the imaginary ring to the direction of the balcony. “I hate you, I hate you-“ he continues his show, then stops and then puts on a surprised look. He falls back as he’s shaking his body side to side as if he’s being stabbed over and over again. He doesn’t get to finish his dramatic death scene since (y/n) is right behind him and they flick the side of his head to snap him out of the ‘trans’.
Gus walks over to the drawers and rolls the stand to the side. Jules walks up to Gus and bends down to make sure her eyes don’t deceive her. “Gloves” she commends, and soon enough Mcnab hands her a pair of gloves. She kneels down and picks up a shiny gold circle with a just as shiny green stone”. “looks like an engagement ring, maybe a promise ring” Jules says, “I think we know who we’re looking for”.
“Detective Lassiter, I want you to find out who Nancy was dating and why would she break it off with them. This person is our main suspect” Chief says. “I’m on it, miss” Carlton says, nodding at his boss. His eyes wander to (y/n). “Nice work there, newbie” he smirks at them. “Gross. Just gross” Shawn says and shakes his body to express his disgust, “Gus, we are out of here”.
“I can’t believe Lassie is hitting on my cousin! This is basic bro code, a bro shall not hit on another bro’s family member” Shawn sighs as they walk back to the blueberry. “Shawn, you slept with my sister” Gus reminds him. “Well, yeah, but I did it behind your back!” Shawn justified. “-that’s much worse than a cousin, plus, you and Lassiter aren’t bros” Gus continues with his lecture of reason. Shawn clicked his tongue,“No, no, Gus, Lassie and I have a special bond, we’re friends in a way that is beyond your understanding” Shawn insists, but Gus rolls his eyes as he decides to change the subject.
“Well, we need to find Nancy’s boyfriend” Gus says, “let’s see what we can find-“. “-yes Gus, I know, already on it” Shawn cuts him off, pulling a small notebook out of his back pocket. “Shawn, what is this?” Gus asks. “This is our victim's phone book. Or should I say phone notebook” Shawn answers, a smirk spreading on his face at the joke he just made, even though he was the only one finding that funny. “it was by the house phone and I took it” he finishes his explanation.
“Shawn, one day you are going to get arrested for theft” Gus says using his serious tone. “Who’s gonna report that something is missing? A dead woman? Come on Gus, I’m like Robin Hood, I steal for a good cause” Shawn claims, opening the notebook and flipping through it. “So you admit that you stole this” Gus replies, taking the notebook off of Shawn’s hands to look through it as well. “Gus, let’s just focus on what’s truly important - finding Nancy Drew’s murderer” Shawn avoids the argument knowing Gus is right.
“Her name is Nancy Price” Gus corrects him. “Yeah I thought that was weird, I mean, if it was Nancy Drew she could’ve solved her own murder” Shawn says, putting on his thinking face. Now it’s his turn to steal the notebook off of Gus. “No shawn, she wouldn’t be able to do that, she would be dead” Gus sighs at his friend’s way of thinking. Sometimes he wondered how a stupid man like Shawn could be so smart.
“I think” Shawn says loudly, hand to his temple, “we should start with a man named…” he stops dramatically, “Michal Smith”. “Shawn, are you serious? I am the only one here” Gus says, a bit annoyed. “Well Gus, you are not, there are people around us, and since we are famous now, they might recognize me” Shawn gives a typical smart-ass reply.
It takes Gus some in-and-out breathing to ignore that and stay focused. “Well, what makes you think that Michael is the guy we are looking for?” Gus asks, and Shawn hands him the notebook opened on one of the pages.
The page had hearts all over it, and a photo of the two of them together was glued to the left corner. “Okay, looks like a good lead” Gus agrees, and just in time they stop by his bright blue company car. “Bath street, you better get your soap ready because we are coming to clean your streets” Shawn says as he enters the car and shuts the door after him. Gus looks at Shawn with disappointment in his eyes and his eyebrows slightly furrowed in confusion. As per usual, Shawn was the only one finding himself funny.
