Chapter Text
It was just an average day at the Santa Barbara Police Department Precinct. There at the office of the Chief, sat down in two chairs were Shawn and Gus, the local consultants for the department. They were flanked by the Head Detective Lassiter and his partner Juliet O’Hara.
Lassiter’s brow was creased in annoyance,”Chief, we can do the case ourselves. We don’t need the two clowns causing a scene at my crime scene.”
Chief Vick let out a soft sigh, as she massaged her temple. “Listen, Lassiter, the crime took place at the Cake Baking Competitions, something that Mr. Spencer and Mr. Guster here have been in the audience for, for the past week. They already know the players, and their insight on this is invaluable.”
Shawn and Gus were practically dancing in their seats, excitement was abound. They shared a look, knowing that they were finally going to be able to go into the backrooms, the kitchens and taste all those wonderful and delicious cakes.
“What do you say, Mr. Spencer.” Chief Vick asked, her gaze concentrated on Shawn. She already knew that the Psychic would say yes, but still asked as is customary,”Will you take the case?”
Shawn grinned as he leapt to his feet,”Of course we’ll-“ He stopped as his phone rang, he plucked it out of his pocket and his eyes went wide as he saw the caller ID. Without hesitation he answered it, directly in front of the chief of police.
“ . . . Wait, are you okay?” He asked, his voice twisting in concern as he took a step back towards the door. Gus craned his head to stare over at Shawn, unsure of what was happening. “Okay . . . Alright . . . How is she holding up? Yeah . . . Today? I can do it, don’t worry about it. No, I won’t take my bike . . . Just focus on getting better.”
He then closed his phone and looked over at the chief. His grin became wider,”We won’t be taking the case, Chief. Lassie and Jules, you got this. If you need any information about the competitors just call.”
The Chief was taken back about this, Juliet O’Hara tilted her head as she wondered what it could be that got Shawn rushing out of there. The only one who seemed happy and satisfied with this was Carlton Lassiter, but even his strong, Irish gaze had a hint of curiosity.
“What was that all about, Shawn? We were about to be in cake heaven, but you refused the case!”
Gus shouted as he trailed after Shawn. His eyes narrowed, angry that he had gotten up and came with his friend to Psych. Angry that he got excited and hungry dreaming of all those cakes. Angry because his friend stole that away from him.
“Gus don’t be the half a dad in two and a half men, I need to borrow your car.”
Gus folded his arms across his chest. He let out a huff,”My car? It’s a company car, Shawn! And no, I’m not letting you have my car when you wouldn’t let me have the cake!”
Shawn flinched and looked back over at the Blueberry,”Gus, please . . . I need it, man.”
Gus simply shook his head,”No. I need it to do my rounds. If you need a car, go ask your dad, or better yet buy your own car.”
Shawn took a breath and ran his hand through his hair,”I-I can’t ask my dad, he wouldn’t understand . . . Look, if you need to do your rounds, you can take my card and Uber.”
He said and pulled his credit card from his pocket. Gus’ eyes narrowed as he snatched the card from his hand,”You can’t try to pay me off with my own card, Shawn. Not this . . . “ He trailed off as he stared at the credit card, one that had the face of Val Kilmer on it. It was Shawn’s credit card.
“ . . . What do you need my car for, Shawn?” He asked almost in a whisper. Gus watched as Shawn shuffled from foot to foot, a sense of anxiety suddenly filling the Psychic. He watched as Shawn opened his mouth and suddenly spoke up to cut him off,”The truth, Shawn.”
Shawn glanced down to his feet,”The truth, huh.” He glanced up at Gus, giving him an awkward smile,”I need it to pick up my daughter.”
For a moment, the world was silent.
"You don't have a daughter, Shawn." Gus shot back in an instant, eyes narrowing at the fact that his friend was lying to him. Shawn flinched, looking as if he had gotten punched in the face.
"It's true, buddy." Shawn stated as he pulled out his wallet, and produced a small photo of Shawn and a little girl together. The girl was small, barely getting up to his knee. She had ginger red hair, freckles that dotted her cheeks and a beaming smile. What struck Gus the most was the eyes, the excited hazel eyes which he saw everyday through Shawn.
"She's . . . her name is Marion Miller, she's only six years old and right now she's in a big dinosaur phase. Which her mother blames me for, after you and I discovered that T-Rex skull."
Shawn uttered out, glancing to the side. Gus simply stared at him, his mouth opening before promptly closing. He was at a loss for words, how could his best friend keep something like this from him!?
"And you didn't tell me, Shawn?"
"Well, you didn't tell me that you got married!"
"This is much bigger than getting married, besides I was only married for three days. You've had this kid for six years, Shawn! Why didn't you tell me."
Shawn once more looked to the side, a frown marring his face. "I wanted to, Gus but . . . "
"But what?"
"But I knew you'd tell Dad. You wouldn't be able to keep this from him, even if you tried."
Gus' eyes widened ever so slightly, a realization that even Henry didn't know. Of course he didn't know, if Shawn didn't tell Gus then he would definitely not tell Henry. "I would've . . . I could've kept the secret."
"Gus, man, maybe you can keep it from other people, but my dad? You'd fold after he says hi to you." Shawn chuckled, and Gus shook his head, knowing it was true.
"Let's go pick up your kid, Shawn."
"Don't you have your job?"
"Please, this is more important." Gus replied giving his friend a soft smile. He wanted to be here for Shawn and his kid. His face then morphed into one of annoyance as he continued to speak, “You’re going to have to tell me everything. Shawn. You hid a kid from me, and you owe it to me to tell the full story.”
Shawn glanced away, shuffling a bit in his seat,”Yeah, I do . . . But first, we need some snacks for the drive to Los Angeles. Smoothies?”
Gus chuckled and fist bumped his friend,”You know that’s right.”
After a quick stop for smoothies, the duo was out on the road. Shawn sipped his drink and thought in silence. He glanced back over at his best bud, feeling guilty for not telling him sooner.
“It happened back when I was traveling. I spent a few weeks in Denver, I worked at the Clocktower Cabaret as a temp host for the events. Anyways, while there I met a woman named Willie.”
“Her name was Willie?”
“Well, it was short for Wilhelmina.” Shawn explained.
“Like the Indiana Jones character?” Gus blinked,”Wait, your daughter is named Marion!? Like the Indiana Jones character?”
Shawn chuckled,”Yeah, her dad was a big fan. Named her Wilhelmina, and she wanted to name her daughter that in honor of her late father.” Shawn nodded,”Anyways, the day before I left me and Willie got together and well one thing led to another. I drove off the next day.”
Gus glanced over at Shawn,”You left like that?”
“Yeah, well, it was a going away date. You know me, at that time I couldn’t stay anywhere long . . . Anyways, it was over a year until I heard from her again. She called me and said she had a kid, guess she spent a few months after giving birth, debating on whether or not to let me be a part of my daughter's life.”
Gus nodded, following along with the story.
“I drove back there and before you ask, Gus, I did get a DNA test . . . But I knew it had to be mine. I saw her smile and I just . . . I just knew.” There was a bit of vulnerability in Shawn’s voice. He remembered it all too vividly, the trepidation and joy, the overwhelming awe as he held her for the first time.
“I stayed back in Denver for a few months, the longest I ever stayed in one spot. Eventually, Willie got a job opportunity and moved away with my daughter, and I realized that whatever I had with Willie, was not there and not coming back. Still, she told me where she moved and we got an agreement that I can visit my girl on weekends.”
Shawn took a breath, taking another sip of his drink,”I didn’t argue, I knew I wasn’t ready to be a steady part of her life . . . I was just happy that I was allowed to be in her life to begin with.”
“I did notice that your post cards for the last two years all came from the east coast.” Gus had noted,
“Yeah, I never wanted to go too far. I wanted to keep traveling and exploring, but not at the expense of her. I was always less than a day's travel away. I made sure of it.”
Gus took a breath, he was looking at his best friend in a new light. He was a father, he wasn’t just the energetic, scatterbrained detective, but now a father. This also explained why Shawn always disappeared every other weekend. He had always thought it was Shawn getting too antsy and needing to travel a bit.
“So, why do we need to pick her up now? It’s not the weekend.” Gus asked.
“Willie needs to get her appendix removed, she also has a poor immune system. So she’ll be in the hospital for a week. She wants me to grab Marion so Marion doesn’t stress and worry.” Shawn let out a soft grin,”Is it bad that I’m happy about this?”
Gus shook his head,”No, it’s not bad that you’re happy to see your daughter.” In fact, Gus too was quite excited to meet her. He was going to have to start researching kids, he didn’t want Marion getting hurt.
"Woah woah, Gus, slow down. We're here."
Shawn told Gus as his friend pulled into the driveway of a quaint place. He got out and walked up to the front door and knocked on it. A moment later, an older woman opened it. She stared over at Shawn for a moment and slowly nodded,"Marion, your father is here." She called out.
It was like a magic word, for what happened next was a small and energetic blur that charged Shawn. With practiced ease, Shawn crouched down and caught his daughter bringing her up into a hold.
"DADDY!"
She shouted as Shawn's grin grew wide,"Good to see you too, Mars Bar. Do you have everything packed? You'll be vacationing with Daddy for a week."
Marion vividly nodded,"Yeah! Grandma helped me!"
"That's good, now go and give your Grandma a hug and tell her goodbye." Shawn said as he set the kid down. Marion skipped over to her grandma, giving her a hug. "Bye Grandma!" And with that she skipped straight to Shawn, rushing towards the car.
As she did this, Shawn was speaking to the grandma and grabbing Marion's suitcase.
Marion stopped in place, freezing as she saw Gus in the driveway. Gus, likewise, was frozen, unsure of what to do or say. He gave the most awkward and pathetic of waves, too scared that he might scare the girl.
Marion felt her dads footsteps behind him and clutched his leg. Shawn glanced down at her before looking at Gus,"Oh, Mars Bar, you don't have to be afraid of him. That's just, Gus, my best friend. Remember, I've told you all about Gus."
She stood still for a moment, her face scrunching as she searched for the memory. A small little smile appeared on her face,"Magic Head!" She shouted and gave him a hug as well.
Gus wanted to yell at Shawn for once again spreading that absurd nickname, but at this moment, with that little girl . . . he didn't mind it.
"C'mon, Mars Bar. Let's get you into the car." Shawn said as he grabbed the carseat from Willie's vehicle.
It took them an embarrassing amount of time to finally get the car seat situated into the car, but it was smooth sailing after they had managed it. Gus was driving, while Shawn sat in the back with his daughter. His eyes were gleaming in a way that Gus had never seen before.
The pharmaceutical salesman chuckled to himself. He had a feeling that Shawn was the type of parent that spoiled his kid. He shook his head and concentrated on the road.
"Daddy, did you know that the parasaurolophus was a hadrosaur with a large crest that paly-on-tologists believe was used for common-cation and maintaining home-meo-thermic body temp-er-ature." Marion suddenly spoke up, an excited grin on her face.
"Yeah." Shawn nodded, all the while Gus was confused on how a six year old knew that.
"W-wait, Shawn, homeothermic, communication, maintaining. Those aren't words that kids use, Shawn. How does she know that."
Shawn glanced over at his buddy Gus, amused by his reaction, "She doesn't, Gus. She just has a good memory and likes to reiterate stuff like that. She doesn't know what half of those words mean."
As if on cue, Marion tilted her head to the side,"Daddy, what does paly-on-tologist mean?"
"They're the people who study dinosaurs." He then raised his arms up and let out a roar as he repeated the word dinosaurs. Marion let out a giggle, enjoying Shawn's antics.
"Okay."
A few minutes later, Marion looked over at Shawn,"What does home-meo-thermic mean?"
Shawn blinked,"Uh, Gus can answer that for you."