Shawn walked wearily into the Psych office, a Red Bull in one hand, a container of pineapple chunks in the other.  He sat down with a whoosh of air, setting the container of deliciousness on his desk. 

            Gus looked up and watched as his buddy took a long drink from the blue and silver can.  He shook his head.

            “Still no sleep?” he asked.

            Shawn swallowed and shook his head, “Not a wink, Buddy.  I just laid in bed all night, my mind racing.”

            “Did you try what I told you to do?” Gus asked with that “Motherly” tone in his voice.

            “Yes, “Mom”, I did.  Nothing.  You’re relaxation method just kept me awake while I counted my heartbeat,” Shawn spat.

            “I should probably get to work.  I have to finish up my route since I couldn’t yesterday,” Gus stated, referring to the case they’d wrapped up yesterday.

            “Yeah, sorry.  I get crazy when I don’t sleep,” Shawn said, taking another drink.

            “You know those can raise your heart rate, right?” Gus mentioned, pointing toward the can. 

            The look on Shawn’s face made Gus move out the door with a quiet “See you later” and left the faux psychic to his thoughts.

            Shawn watched as the Blueberry drove off, then opened his container.  Despite his weariness, he smiled, knowing Juliet had packed these especially for him before she left for the station that morning. 

            The phone rang as he shoved a piece into his mouth.  Sighing, he picked it up with sticky fingers and pushed talk.

            “Mmph?” he tried to say, his mouth full of juicy goodness.

            “Mr. Spencer?” Chief Vick asked curiously.

            “Mmph.  Mmm mm,” Shawn said.

            Shawn chewed and tried to swallow, which sent juice down the wrong pipe, forcing him to cough and spit out half of the chewed fruit.  Most of it landed on the receiver.

            “Shawn?  Are you all right?” he heard Juliet’s voice.  She must’ve been on the other line.

            “Y..yeah, Jules.  *Cough cough* I’m *cough* fine.  What’s up? *cough cough*”

            “Mr. Spencer, we have another case.  A young girl has been kidnapped.  We need you to come down to the station and see what you can pick up from the parents,” Chief Vick said.

            Shawn nodded, his weariness diminishing for just a moment, “On my way, Chief.”

            He hung up the phone and stood up, stretching as he did.  Walking into the kitchen, Shawn turned on the faucet and splashed water onto his face to try and wake himself up. 

            The last time he’d been up this long was when his father had gotten shot.  He remembered that he was most definitely out of it after not sleeping for so long.  He’d barely gotten a wink at the hospital, and once he set his mind to taking Carp down, sleep was the furthest thing from his mind.

            Now, it was the only thing he wanted to do.  Jules didn’t even know he hadn’t slept.  She would be sound asleep in bed and he’d be staring at the ceiling or out the window at the stars, not daring to move and wake her up.  When her alarm would go off, he’d pretend he was asleep until she left the bedroom for the bathroom.

            Sighing, he walked out to his Norton, shaking his head at what his father would say if he knew his son was driving the “death machine” when he had insomnia. 

            He tugged on his helmet, jumped on his bike and headed toward the SBPD with crazy thoughts racing through his mind.

            At the station, he took a few deep breaths before entering.  Taking a quick glance in the glass of the door, Shawn saw that he didn’t look *that* tired.  Maybe he could get away with it.

            He froze halfway in.  ‘Then again, Jules will know.  She didn’t see my face this morning in the light,’ he thought. 

            Putting on his best happy face, Shawn walked in and spotted Jules, the Chief and Lassie standing near the Head Detective’s desk with looks of concern on their various features. 

            In his hands, Lassiter held the case file.  Shawn took a glance, ‘seeing’ anything he could use.  Gleaming a few things, he cleared his throat (the pineapple juice was still tickling deep down) and walked up to the trio.

            “Good morning Chief!  Hey, Lassie!” he said in his best cheery voice.  Lassiter glared at him.

            “What’s so good about it?” he asked.  Shawn could see circles under Lassie’s eyes.  He hadn’t slept, either.

            Shawn raised his hand to his head, “I’m sensing you haven’t slept, Lassie-opolis.”

            Lassiter nodded but said nothing more.  Shawn took this into consideration for later and turned to the Chief. 

            “A nine year old girl with long, brown hair and a scar over her right cheek, right, Chief?”  Shawn said.

            Karen looked shocked, knowing she hadn’t said a thing about the appearance of the kidnapped girl.  She nodded slowly, “Yes, that’s right Mr. Spencer.  She was taken from the local mall while her parents were shopping for Christmas presents.  At least that’s their story.  I wanted you to see if you could get any feelings from them.  Something seems a bit off about the couple.”

            Shawn saluted, which made Lassie scoff, “On it, Chief!  Jules, a word?”

            He and Juliet walked down around the corner.  He stopped when he was sure they were out of earshot.

            “You amaze me sometimes, you know that?  I was just about to have you come with me,” Jules said.

            “Sorry, I could see it in your eyes,” Shawn apologized.

            “Are you all right?  You look a little tired,” she asked. 

            “Fine, Sweetheart.  Let’s just go see this couple.  If the Chief thinks something’s off, then I’ll find out what it is,” Shawn said, walking toward the holding cells.  Juliet stopped him.

            “Shawn,” she said, turning him around to face her, “I think we need to talk.  After this case, I want you and I to figure out why you haven’t slept in four days.”

            “Five days.  The first night you were on that stakeout until four in the morning,” Shawn added.

            Juliet gave him a heartening look and shook her head, “Just get in there, Shawn.”

            Shawn blinked, “All right.  Let’s find this little girl,” he said as he walked into the room. 

Inside the interrogation room, two people sat; looking slightly nervous as Shawn entered.

            “Hello.  My name is Shawn Spencer, Psychic Detective for the SBPD,” he said cordially. 

            The couple gave him the strangest looks then glanced at each other before the woman spoke.

            “A psychic?  I’m sorry, but there are no such thing as psychics.  The ones who claim to have abilities are in need of serious help.”

            Shawn took a slight step back upon hearing those words.  In all the years he’d been doing the psychic shtick, he’d heard the line a few times, but the way the woman clipped her words. 

            Shawn put his finger to his head, “You are a psychiatrist, are you not?” he pointed toward the woman.

            “Yes, but you could’ve gotten that from your girlfriend out there or the tall, lanky detective that set us down in here,” she replied with a huff.

            “No, Detective Lassiter and Detective O’Hara do not share info with me.  The spirit world does,” Shawn said as he studied the man, “And you sir, are an engineer.”

            The man looked up with a disbelieving glance.  Right then Shawn knew the psychic angle wouldn’t hold water with these two.  He’d have to step carefully.  That’s when he looked up, glancing behind the couple and saw the image of a what looked like a snake crawling through the upper window.

            Shawn jumped back with a small yell.  Juliet, who’d been watching from the outside, ran in to find her boyfriend against the wall, looking at the opposite wall with a frightened look.

            “Shawn?  What is it?” she asked.

            “There is a huge snake crawling through the window!  Don’t you see it?”

            Juliet looked over to the window and saw a stick that must’ve pushed through it the night before.  She walked over and grabbed it.

            “Shawn, it’s just a stick.  There is no snake,” she said, showing him.

            Shawn peeled himself off the wall and carefully moved in for closer inspection.  Juliet was right; it was just a stick.  Why would he, of all people, see a snake where there was none?

            “Are either one of you afraid of snakes?” he asked the couple.

            “I am.  That still doesn’t prove you’re any type of psychic.  A great many people are afraid of snakes,” said the husband.

            ‘This guy sounds like Trout,’ Shawn thought, thinking of the ornery man that once had a hold of the SBPD.

            It was at that point Lassiter walked in with a small smirk on his face.  It was directed, of course, to Shawn, who was now slinking out of the room without so much as a glance in the Head Detective’s direction. 

            As soon as he got to the main lobby of the station, he sat down at Juliet’s desk and ran a hand through his hair.  He was trying to figure out what had happened back there.

            ‘Why would I have seen a snake?  I’m hyper observant, I would’ve, no, I should’ve seen it was a stick.  I must be tired,’ he thought.

            Juliet appeared beside him, the stick in the trash by the cells.  She was already worried about Shawn not sleeping, and now he was seeing things. 

            “Shawn, honey, are you all right?” she asked gently.

            “Yeah, Jules.  I’m fine, just a little spooked is all.  You know I have an overactive imagination,” he replied, looking up at her.

            “Well, you don’t have to be on this case.  I’ll just tell the Chief and…”

            “No!” Shawn jumped up and intercepted Juliet before she went down the hall, “I’ll be fine.  I’ll take this case and solve it like I always do.  After that, we’ll go home, draw a hot bath and you can massage my shoulders.”

            Juliet’s eyes softened, “Don’t you mean my shoulders?”

            “Well, if you want to massage your own, I suppose I can’t stop you,” Shawn started, but Juliet swatted him playfully.

            “I’ll take the case.  Let me have a look see at those files, okay?”  He asked.

            Jules handed him the grey folder, “Here, this is everything we have on the parents. Maybe you can glean something off that.”

            “You’re starting to sound like my dad,” Shawn stated, opening the folder and glancing over the report the parents had given earlier.

            To his disappointment, there was nothing to go on.  The parents seemed pretty clean cut; even though they acted as if they had something up their butts.  Shawn sighed as he put the folder down. 

            “What?” Juliet asked.

            “The parents aren’t hiding anything.  They’re innocent,” Shawn said.

            “Well, we should tell Lassiter that.  He’s been grilling them for about twenty minutes,” Juliet said.

            “Let Lassie have a little fun before we break the news to him.  Do you guys have the security video from the mall?”

            “Yeah, Lassiter and I watched it before you came.  Come on, it’s still in the conference room,” Juliet said, walking toward the doors.

            Shawn followed right behind, hoping that this would at least yield a better clue.  He just had to focus.

            Jules played back the video from ten minutes before the kidnapping.  Shawn watched carefully as the people moved about.

            That’s when he spotted a suspicious man standing almost out of frame.  He was wearing a white baseball cap and a black jacket.  The hat was pulled down to the point the camera wouldn’t pick up any features.  He pulled his hand out of his pocket to check the time.  Shawn immediately paused it.

            “Jules, look closely at that man’s hand.  What do you see?” He asked.

            Juliet practically touched her nose to the screen, but saw nothing, “Shawn, it’s too small.  I can’t see anything,” she said, turning to face him.

            “I do.  It looks like he has a tattoo on his left hand.  It could be a dragon or a lion,” Shawn said.

            Juliet looked again, “A snake, maybe?”

            Shawn blinked, “A snake?”

            “Well, I mean, it could be anything.  I’ll have the IT guys blow it up and see if we can get a clearer image,” she said, taking out the DVD and walking out toward the IT techs.  Shawn watched her go, then put his fingers to his temples.

            Closing his eyes, he replayed the scene in his head, trying to specifically focus on the guy’s hand.  He ran through any design he could think of that matched what he could see.  When he tried the snake image, it fit, but something else was added.  Some kind of symbol.  A Chinese symbol.

            Shawn’s eyes flew open and he ran toward Juliet, who had dropped off the video to the IT tech.

            “Jules!  Pull up everything you can on the Chinese Mafia,” he said.

            “Chinese Mafia?  You think they’re involved?”  Juliet said as she sat down and woke up her computer.

            “The parents of the little girl had ties to them, according to their records.  Maybe they tried to cut ties with the Mafia and fled?” Shawn asked.

            Lassiter came down the hall, hearing the last part, “They finally spilled that tidbit to me about five minutes ago.  We’re keeping them here for protection.”

            “Protection?” Karen said, coming out of her office.

            “Yeah, Chief, the Chinese Mafia is after them and has their daughter,” Juliet said.

            Lassiter grimaced, “I was hoping we would never have to deal with the Triads again.”

            “I don’t think it’s the Triads, Lassieface.  I think it’s a different group this time,” Shawn said, looking over the computer screen, trying to find the symbol he saw. 

            “This coming from the guy who had a fit over a stick in the interrogation room,” Lassie said snidely.

            “I wasn’t having a fit!  It was a vision of what I needed to focus on,” he said, giving a sideways glance to Juliet, “I was supposed to find the Snakes.”

            “The Snakes?  There aren’t that many of those members left.  They’ve either gone to the Triads, the Dragons or they’re dead,” Karen said.

            “The guy who took the girl had on a white hat, black jacket and a tattoo on his left hand. It was a Snake with a Chinese symbol.  There!” Shawn said, pointing to the screen.  In front was the Chinese symbol for the word Spirit. 

            “Spirit of the Snake.  The Snakes believe that they are reincarnated from snakes, and they train themselves how to act and think like a snake,” Juliet read.

            Lassie scoffed, “That’s a load of bull!”

            “What matters, Detective, is that we now have a lead.  Mr. Spencer, go with O’Hara and Lassiter back to the mall to see if you can get anything else.  The girl’s parents will remain here under heavy guard until we get this solved,” Karen ordered.

Twenty minutes later, the three were at Santa Barbara Shopping Center; in front of the store the little girl had been taken from.  Shawn looked around, but knew it wasn’t any good.  Too many people were passing by.  It was a couple days before Christmas, after all.

            “There’s too many people here.  I can’t get a fix on the kidnapper or the girl,” Shawn said in disappointment.

            “Come on, we can get more clues back at the station.  I hate the mall during Christmas,” Lassiter said. 

            Juliet looked around sadly.  Shawn and Lassiter were right, it was crowded.  If any clues had been left, they were gone now, no doubt.  She walked behind them out to the car.

            Shawn looked around as they walked out and spotted something shiny nearby.  Upon closer inspection, he saw it was a necklace.  His mind flashed back to the picture of Selena, the little girl, and remembered he saw the same necklace on her.  Picking it up, he turned it over to find an engraving.  To our darling Selena.  Love, Mom and Dad.

            “Jules!  Lassie!  I found her necklace!” Shawn shouted.  The detectives were almost to the car when they heard him.

            They both ran back and examined the necklace closely.  Lassiter looked up to see four cameras on the roof, pointing toward them. 

            “Let’s go back inside and find the footage from those cameras.  Maybe we can get a make and model of the car they took off in,” He said, pointing up at the cameras.

            They did just that, only stopping long enough for Shawn to grab a churro from Churros and More (much to Lassiter’s annoyance).  Shawn had defended himself, saying he had only had a piece of pineapple, that was mostly spit out when he choked on the phone earlier.

            Lagging behind, it didn’t take the faux psychic long to get separated from Juliet and Lassiter.  He had stopped to tie his shoe with the churro hanging from his mouth.  It fell, making him sigh and going back for another one.  When he looked back, he couldn’t see hide nor hair of his girlfriend or the lanky detective.

            “Uh, oh.  Gotta find the security office,” he said to himself with a new, very hot churro burning his hand. 

            He rounded a corner, thinking it was the right way, when a sharp pain in the back of his head made him black out.  His still form was then dragged out to a waiting car near the cargo doors.  Shawn’s churro lay where he fell, still steaming from the fryer.

            Juliet and Lassiter were inside the security room, looking over the last couple of hours of video from the outside.  Juliet just happened to look over to the live feed and gasped.

            “Carlton, look!” she cried, pointing at the screen that showed the outside doors.

            Lassiter looked over to see Shawn being dragged into a vehicle and the car speeding off. 

            “Oh for the love of…come on, O’Hara, let’s go.  You,” he turned to the security guard, “Rewind that and get the license plate number off of that car.  Call it in to the SBPD and tell them it’s for Detective Lassiter. Got it?”

            The guard nodded and began to back the video up while Juliet and Lassiter ran out to the Crown Vic. 

            “How many times can your boyfriend get in trouble, O’Hara?” Lassiter complained as they sped out of the parking lot a moment later.

            “Let’s just find him and the person who has him,” Juliet said, shaking her head.

            “Knowing Spencer’s luck, it’ll be the same people who took that little girl,” Lassiter said, a little softer.  He knew when to not overstep his bounds when it came to his partner and her boyfriend.

            Juliet nodded and called in the kidnapping, making sure all units were on the lookout of a black or gray sedan. 

            ‘Please be okay, Shawn,’ she silently begged.

            In a remote location an hour later, Shawn snapped awake.  His head pounded.  When he tried to reach up, he found his was tied up tight.  He felt the tingling in his feet, telling him the ropes were too tight around his ankles.

            Groggily, he looked over, his eyes adjusting to the light that shone above him.  About ten feet away was Selena, sporting a black eye and a bloody lip.  She was awake and glancing around frantically. 

            Carefully, Shawn looked right and left, seeing that they were alone, for the moment.  He wasn’t sure where the kidnappers were, but he didn’t want to hang around long enough to find out what they had planned for him.

            “Psst, Selena,” he whispered.  The girl looked at him curiously.

            “You’re awake!  How do you know my name?” she asked.

            “I’m a psychic detective.  I was hired by the police to find you,” he said.

            “I don’t believe in psychics, but if you were hired to find me, you succeeded,” Selena said, sounding just like her mom.

            “Do you know who has us?” Shawn asked.

            “I thought you were psychic?” Selena said sarcastically.

            “My abilities are out of order for the moment due to a whack on my delicious head.  Just answer the question,” Shawn replied.

            “The Chinese Mafia.  Just before I was born, my parents were involved in some shady deals with them.  I guess these guys wanted me in exchange for money owed, so my parents fled to where we live now.  We thought they would never find us, but looks like we were sadly mistaken,” Selena explained.

            “I thought you were nine?” Shawn asked.

            “Yeah, but I’m in college courses.  I’m apparently a super genius.  Before you woke up, I was figuring out the trajectory of a bullet if it were to go awry and ricochet off the building.”

            “Why?” Shawn asked.

            “Because,” came a man’s voice, “that’s how we’re going to kill the both of you.  Hello, Mr. Spencer.  I am Jacob Lee.  I hope you enjoy your accommodations for the remainder of the evening.”

            “I won’t be here that long, Jack,” Shawn spat.

            “What makes you think you can escape?  That one lesson you had three years ago?  We know a lot about you, Mr. Spencer.  I would suggest you get comfortable.  As for you, Selena, you will figure out that formula,” Jacob turned to the girl and slapped her across the face.  Fresh blood dripped down her lip.

            “You Son of a…” Shawn started, but heard a click.  He saw that another member had a gun pointed toward Selena’s skull. 

Selena merely nodded, tears mixing with the blood.  The gunman holstered his weapon and walked away behind Jacob.

            “Are you all right?” Shawn asked.

            “They want me to figure out a formula that will make them the walking dead.  So that they can reign terror and be invincible,” Selena said.

            “What are they, crazy?  There’s no such thing!” Shawn said.

            “Actually, there is.  Some scientist in India invented it about ten years ago, but in the final stages, it exploded, taking the lab and the small village with it.  It was extremely volatile stuff.   One wrong move and half of Santa Barbara would be a crater.”

            “Let’s just get out of here, then, shall we?” Shawn asked.

            “I’ve been working on the calculations.  If you can, kick me that piece of metal,” Selena said, nodding toward a piece of steel that seemingly was from whatever had been in the warehouse before.

            Back at the precinct, Lassiter, Juliet, Gus (who had gotten the call from Juliet), Henry (whom Gus had called) and Karen were gathered in the conference room, watching the tapes over and over, trying to find some sort of clue.

            Henry had seen the same thing Shawn had earlier with the snake tattoo.  Now, he watched as his son was dragged away and thrown into a sedan. 

            “The security guard got the license number, but it’s a dead end.  The plate’s a fake,” Lassiter said.

            Henry heaved a big sigh.  Gus looked over at him then back to Lassie.

            “There has to be a way to find out where that car went,” he said.

            “Guster, we have no plate, which means it’s a ghost,” Lassiter said.

            Buzz came in, escorting a young lady.  He cleared his throat, “This young lady here says she saw something strange today at the old warehouse on State Street.”

            Juliet jumped in before Carlton did, “What did you see?”

            “I saw this black car drive up and a Asian man got out.  He opened the back door and dragged out a girl with long hair and took her inside.  It wasn’t until I saw the news that I knew I had to get down here.  I would’ve been here sooner but I was caught in traffic,” she explained.

            The gang looked at each other and moved out the door in one swift move.  Juliet stopped, turned and thanked the woman for her input, then rushed out behind the others.

            It was at that same time that Shawn was getting punched by one of the members of the Snakes.  As the fists began to fly, Selena tried to leave, but was grabbed by Jacob.  A gun to her head, he yelled.

            “Maybe you should look this way, Mr. Spencer!” 

            Shawn did, which caused him to get hit on the side of his face.  Blood flew out of his mouth.  Turning, Shawn threw his fist into the guys gut, making him fall over; gasping for breath.

            Selena took the opportunity and slammed her foot down onto Jacob’s.  Crying out in pain, the gun dropped and she was released.  Shawn ran up and grabbed the gun before he could recover.

            “I would say you’ve underestimated this girl,” Shawn said with a smirk.

            Jacob, looking defeated, put up his hands and shook his head.  Shawn heard Lassiter’s voice as they burst through the door.

            “SBPD!  FREEZE!”

            Shawn dropped his arm and turned toward Lassie, “Selena disarmed him.  The other is out for the count.  There are about four others in the back room.”

            Lassiter took the gun from Shawn and motioned the other officers to arrest the others.  As Juliet picked up Jacob and slapped on the cuffs, she looked at Shawn’s face. 

            His right eye was puffed up, he had a gash on his cheek, blood was running down his face.  Behind all that, he looked tired, but his eyes were alive.  She smiled and escorted Jacob out to a waiting squad car.

            An hour later, Shawn had been treated for the gash and the eye; he was sitting on the couch in he and Juliet’s home, watching TV and drinking (carefully) some pineapple juice and eating a sandwich.

            Juliet sat down next to him and began to chew on her own sandwich.  She began to speak.

            “Shawn, I think what you should try to do when we go to bed is just breathe deeply in and out a few times.  It’s supposed to relax you.  Maybe you’ll fall asleep.”

            There was no response from Shawn.  She looked over, “Shawn?” 

            Smiling, she carefully took the glass out of his hand and the plate off his lap.  Shawn had *finally* fallen fast asleep. 

            “Sleep tight,” Juliet whispered, placing her head on his shoulder.  Within minutes, she was asleep, too.