Henry sat at his kitchen table, feet up, reading the newspaper. Flipping the page, he noticed yet another picture of his son with the caption: “Another Case Solved By Psychic Detective.” He grinned at his son’s picture. He was looking up and to the right, and Gus had his elbow on Shawn’s shoulder, looking the other direction. Henry thought to himself, “That’s one for the scrapbook.”
He didn’t know exactly when he started keeping the articles on his son, but over the past six years, two and a half of them- the big ones, from Michael’s- were filled.
As he contemplated standing up, getting his scissors, cutting the thing out, walking upstairs, getting the highly hidden book from the secret lock box stashed inside one of the walls of his closet, coming back downstairs, gluing the thing in, waiting for it to dry, then taking it back upstairs, and hiding it again, he heard jingling.
He knew the sound. It took him a while to figure it out, but he realize that his son always jingled whenever he came to his house. Whether he was shaking some change in his pocket or swinging his keys around, Henry didn’t know. But it was a great warning signal.
“Hey Shawn.” Henry said with his voice raised so Shawn could hear him. When his son poked his head around the corner, with an inquisitive eyebrow raised, Henry peeked over the top of his newspaper, if only for a second.
“How’d you know I was-“ Shawn stepped into the doorway fully as Henry returned to his paper. He placed his jacket on the back of the chair closest to the door.
“I’m psychic.” Henry said sarcastically. Shawn fake laughed as he sat down at the table. They just sat in silence for a while, enjoying the cool, Santa Barbara fall breeze that was flowing in from the window above the sink. After a while, Henry broke the silence. “Any particular reason you’re here, son?” he took the page with Shawn’s face on it, folded it, and put it on the table, Shawn up. Shawn didn’t fail to notice.
“I stole something.” He said frankly. He knew that would peak his father’s interest. He was right. Henry slowly put the newspaper down on the table. He eyed his son, gauging his sincerity. Seeing that he was, in fact, telling the truth, Henry leaned back, disgusted. Seeing this reaction, he quickly responded, “Oh don’t worry. I stole it from you. I’m not a criminal, good god, dad.” He let out a hearty chuckle, but was cut off by his father’s unbelieving stare.
“And why are you telling me this, exactly?” Shawn shifted uncomfortably in his chair. He kept taking a breath to speak, before letting it out. He did this, maybe… eight times. “Spit it out, kid.” Henry leaned forward, putting his elbows on the table.
Shawn squirmed a bit before reaching into his pocket. He paused, and fished around. His eyes darted from left to right, before digging into his other side. His face relaxed as he pulled something out. He held it gently in his palm, obscured from Henry’s view.
“Frankly, I’m surprised you didn’t notice.” Shawn held open his palm, revealing Henry’s mother’s engagement ring.
“Shawn! Why would you even steal your grandmother’s ring? That thing is worth more than your whole savings account! You lose everything, Shawn, what were you thin-“ Henry’s rant face quickly fell from his features.
“Make the connection…” Shawn placed the ring hazardously on the table.
“Oh.” Henry sat up straight, staring into space.
“Yeah.” Shawn slouched and looked at the floor.
“Shawn.” Henry cracked a tiny grin and crossed his arms.
“Yeah.” Shawn smiled as well, shooting a tiny glance towards the ring on the table. A ray of light reflected off of it into his eyes, so he had to squint, but he found himself really not minding.
“Why.” Shawn looked at his father like he was stupid.
“Why do you think.” Henry rolled his eyes.
“I mean why did you steal it?”
“Dad, the only reason I’m even telling you I stole is to get permission to take it. I wasn’t going to do anything with it without you knowing.”
“Well, that’s awfully out of character for you, son.” Henry eyed Shawn skeptically.
“Come on dad, gimme some credit.”
They just sat in silence for a while, both stealing glances at the piece on the table.
“Did you ask her father?” Henry cautiously picked up his newspaper again and held in front of his face, but they both knew that he wasn’t reading anything.
Shawn nodded while taking a breath. “I did, and he promptly said ‘no,’ because he didn’t believe that I am a thoroughly ‘honest’ person.” Shawn swiped a hand through the air in front of him, indicating how ridiculous he found that.
“Well, you aren’t.” Henry scoffed and snapped his newspaper out in front of him.
Shawn’s hand hit the table heavily and he glared at his father. “Wasn’t.”
Henry peeked over the top. “Excuse me?”
“I wasn’t a thoroughly honest person.”
“You told her?” Henry lowered the paper in disbelief.
“I did. And the world fell apart for a while. But I groveled a little bit, and-“ Henry scoffed. “Okay, yeah, I groveled a lot, and I proved that everything I do is at least borderline legal, and everything was fine after a while. And things are great now. They really are.” Shawn smiled. “And then I called up her father and told him that I have been completely ‘honest’ with her, and he said yes, so… here I am.”
Henry smiled and nodded subliminally. “I’m proud of you, son.”
Shawn chuckled and said, almost to himself, “I am too.” They shared a moment of proud silence, before Shawn broke it. “So I guess the next step is… uh, can I take this?” Shawn held up the ring. Henry didn’t notice him taking it from the table.
“Yeah, Shawn. Yeah. It’s yours to take, anyway.” Shawn raised the ring slightly in thanks.
“Mine to take, mine to give.” A few moments of mutual understanding passed between them before Shawn started talking.
Henry read his newspaper as Shawn rambled on about some ‘hilarious’ thing he did to Lassie at work- something to do with a fish and Camelot. It took Henry a few minutes to realize he had stopped talking.
“You scared?” Henry spoke cautiously, eying his son.
“Terrified.” Shawn said frankly.
Henry waited a moment, contemplating what to say.
“Yeah.”
Story Notes:
Sorry I've been away so long! My grades are sucking, so, that needs to stop happening because the end of the year is upon us and it would royally suck if it didn't go well.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Again, hi. Sorry for being away so long. Enjoy.
Chapter End Notes:
It sort of sucks. I haven't written in a while, so let me know what you think! I've already been begged for a sequel, so, if you want, that could happen. Lemme know, fools.
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