Three weeks later, Lassiter, Juliet, Gus, Henry and Karen sat in Karen’s office.  No one had said a word for almost an hour.  Lassiter carefully wiped his eyes.  Juliet’s eyes were red-rimmed.  Gus sat with his head down, playing with a piece of paper he’d found, and Henry looked at the floor. 

Karen looked at her team with a sadness in her eyes.  They hadn’t been the same since that night.  She knew and felt for them.  It was hard on all of them. 

The doors opened to reveal Agent Sky, Agent Sanders, Agent Chalmers, Agent Sims and Agent Samson.  Buzz accompanied them, still dressed in his police uniform.  In Agent Sky’s hand was a file. 

“I’m sorry to interrupt you all, but I figured you might want this for your records,” Agent Sky said, handing the file to Karen.

She looked at it with curious eyes.  Looking up, she spoke, “Shawn’s personnel file?”

“That’s right, Chief!” came Shawn’s voice. 

In he limped, a cast on his left foot, his right arm in a sling and a bandage on his head.  He smiled wide at his friends.

“Shawn!” Gus cried, wrapping him in a big hug.

“We thought, well, we…” Juliet said.

“Thought what?” Shawn asked.

“Well, after Agent Sanders and I revived you, the agents that were there escorted you two off and left me with the San Fran PD.  They wouldn’t tell us anything!” Gus said.

Agent Sanders nodded slowly, “We had to do that, for safety.”

“What about Seamus?” Lassiter asked.

“He’s alive.  Gus, who knew you were a crack shot?” Shawn asked.

“I just pointed and shot.  Sorry about your shoulder, Agent Sanders,” Gus apologized.

“It’s no big deal.  Just a graze,” she replied.

Juliet sat there, smiling through the tears that had formed, “I’m just glad you’re all right.”

Shawn looked over at Juliet with a warm smile, “I’m sorry we had to worry you.  Protocol, you know.”

Lassiter scoffed, “You don’t follow protocol.  Look what you’ve done over the last seven years!”

Everyone stiffened at this comment except the Chief and Shawn.  He sighed, turned to his team and motioned for them to leave.  Without a word, they complied, leaving the team alone.

Karen looked at everyone in the room, noticing the looks on their faces.  They all shared a look of worry, except Lassiter, who’s face just held a look of triumph with what looked like sadness.

“Is there something I’m missing, Shawn?” Karen asked.

He looked up at her, then looked around the room to his friends and his dad.  He limped over to a chair and pulled it in the middle of the room.  He didn’t sit down, but leaned on the back of it for a moment.

“Here’s the thing, Chief,” he began, running his good hand over his face, then shook his head.  Shawn took a deep breath, closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them to look in the eyes of Karen, “Chief, how many cases have Gus and I helped solve over the years?”

Karen shrugged, “I’d say over 200 cases.”

“And in those 200 or so cases, was there any doubt in your mind of my abilities?” Shawn asked.

“Of course not, Shawn.  I fully believe in your abilities,” she replied.

Shawn’s heart sank a little in his chest, “I…I have to say something, but first, do you remember what you said to me the first day we met?”

She nodded, “Yes.  I hired you for the McCallum case.”

“I mean, about me being psychic?”

“Yes.  I told you that if I ever found out it was a scam, I’d prosecute you.  You would’ve been hindering a police investigation.”

Juliet swallowed hard, her eyes darting in between Shawn and Karen.  She saw Gus out of the corner of her eye with a nervous look on his face.

Karen stood up out of her seat, “What’s this all about, Shawn?”

Shawn limped forward and grabbed the glass fish off of her desk before answering, “Chief, I…I’m not really psychic.  There, I said it.  Now we can get out of here?  Jerk Chicken, anyone?”  Shawn made his way to the door.

“Wait one minute, Mr. Spencer,” Karen said firmly. 

Shawn dropped his hand, turned around and faced her.

Karen noticed he still had the glass fish, and was now looking at it; sticking his finger in its mouth as he always did.  “Sit down,” she commanded.

Shawn limped back over to the chair and sat down obediently.  He continued playing with the fish.  Karen, afraid for its safety, grabbed the fish out of his hands and set it on her desk, out of his reach. 

“Do you mean to tell me that this whole time, you’ve been pretending to be psychic?” she asked angrily.

Shawn swallowed hard, “Yes, Chief.”

With an exasperated sigh, Karen turned to face the window.  Shawn took the opportunity to tell her the story.

“You see, when I was little, my dad started training me to become a cop.  He made sure I would notice things, little things, where ever we went.  What was the name of the waitress when we walked in?  What letter is out in the EXIT sign, how many hats are in the room, stuff like that.  As I got older, he started survival training, picking up tells when a person lies or is telling the truth, how to pass a lie detector test,” his eyes darted toward Lassie, who glared back.

Karen stayed turned around, so Shawn continued, “I grew to hate being tested.  After my parents divorced, I was living with dad and got so angry at him that I knew I wouldn’t follow in his footsteps.  I was not, nor would I ever, become a cop.  Around my eighteenth birthday, I stole a car to impress a girl, since I was batting zero since high school, and Dad arrested me.  Not too long after that, I took off.”

Henry looked at his son with interest.  He’d never actually heard the story of how and why Shawn changed his mind.

Karen turned around, “What’s this got to do with anything?”

“Well, I traveled the world, taking jobs where ever I was.  I worked a year in Argentina in a winery, a weekend in Seattle for the Mariners as a ball boy, even a weekend at a museum as a janitor.  I’ve been all over, and every time I was in a spot, I’d “see” things.  Like, another worker taking a few bottles of wine when no one was looking, someone taking money under the table, things like that.  Eventually, I ended up in the CIA, using my hyper-observant gift to help with top secret government projects.  I decided to come home in 2006.  I had only let Gus know I was back, living in hotels and such.  That’s when I started watching the news and calling in tips for the police,” Shawn explained.

Lassiter put his handcuffs back into his belt.  Oddly enough, he didn’t feel like putting them around Spencer’s wrists anymore.  He just leaned against the bookshelf and listened.

Gus’ face now registered relief of sorts.  The look on Karen’s face wasn’t as scary, now. 

Shawn continued, “One day, I called in a tip about the stereo store robberies, and was called into the station.  Lassiter and his former partner, Lucinda, took me into interrogation and basically informed me they thought I was a suspect.  Officer Allen was right there, with Buzz, and I “saw” her crystals and her dream catcher earrings.  Before Lassie could get the cuffs on me, I said I was a psychic and that’s how I got all those tips,” he finished.

“So, just to save yourself from being arrested, you lied and said you were a psychic?  That seems a bit outlandish, Mr. Spencer,” Karen said.

Shawn saw a small smile playing on her lips, “Funnily enough, I don’t believe in psychics.”

Karen turned to Henry, “Henry, since he started Psych, how do you feel Shawn’s been doing as a detective?”

Henry smiled at his son, “Even though I never was keen on the idea of the whole psychic bit, when he gets serious about it, he’s one hell of a detective, Karen.”

Shawn gaped, “Dad, was that a compliment?”

“Don’t get used to it, Shawn,” Henry joked.

Karen no longer could hold it in, “Mr. Spencer, I have every notion to have Detective Lassiter arrest you and book you so fast your head will spin.”

Shawn shrunk down in the chair, nodding slowly.

“However,” she added, “I won’t.”  She looked over at Henry, who nodded.  Shawn’s eyebrows raised in question.

“Shawn, I’ve known since day one you weren’t psychic,” she announced.

“What?  Are you serious, Karen?!” Lassiter asked.  A stern look from the Chief made him stand down. 

“Do you remember, Shawn, when your dad was here that day you solved the case?” she asked.

Shawn nodded, “Yeah, you said you wanted to check up on me beforehand.”

“Henry and I had a long talk.  He told me he wasn’t happy about the psychic angle, but knew that if we continued with the pretense that I assumed you were, you might just learn a few things along the way.  In the last seven years, I’ve seen the people in this room grow into a strong, well rounded team.  Yes, there have been a few glitches here and there,” she darted a look to Lassiter and back to Shawn, “but you have been there for each other.  Like the time Lassiter was accused of murder, or when I thought my days as a chief were over before they really began.  When Juliet was captured by Yin,” she caught a glimpse of Juliet shivering at the thought, “you all stuck together, showing the true teamwork I always knew was possible out of the lot of you.”

“So, you knew this whole time I was lying and just let me do my thing?” Shawn asked.

“Yes.  At first, I wasn’t a fan of the flailing about and doing the weird, trance like things you were doing.  Like during the suicide case that turned out to be murders, along with that cat,” Karen said.

“Little Boy Cat, or Girl, still not sure,” Shawn said.

Karen took a breath and looked around at the others, “The thing is, if word gets out that you were never a real psychic, hundreds of cases may be thrown out.  Criminals could be released.  If we were to arrest you for hindering police investigations, that would happen and we’d have a headache on our hands.  If not, you’d have to keep up the pretense of being a psychic out there,” she pointed to the bull pen.

“What about in here?” Shawn asked, pointing to the floor.

“In here, you are a detective.  You and Mr. Guster,” she said, acknowledging the man that was quiet in the corner.

Gus stood up and walked over to Shawn, “Chief, I know that we both should be punished for what we’ve done, but I just want to say that it was all Shawn’s idea.  I just went along for the ride.”

“Sellout,” Shawn joked.

“You could’ve said no and walked away before it even began, Guster,” Lassiter chimed in.

“Well, after a few cases, I started to get into the flow.  I have to admit, being a detective is, well, a lot better than being a pharmaceutical rep any day.”

Shawn looked up at his friend in shock, “Dude!  Seriously?  All this time you were complaining about having your ‘real job’ and Psych just being a side job and you would’ve rather had Psych?”

“Looks that way, Shawn,” Gus said.

Karen nodded, “Then here’s my deal.  No one outside this room breathes a word about this to anyone.  Everyone out there in the bull pen, everyone in Santa Barbara will continue to believe that Shawn is a psychic.  This is going against everything I was trained for, but you both have become vital members of our team and I’m against a wall with what would happen should we arrest you instead.”

Shawn and Gus fistbumped at that moment.  Juliet looked relieved and happy.  Lassiter even had a small smile on his face.

“But, in accordance with the laws, you both will be put through police training, given badges and you will take the DET before being hired on any more cases.  You both will be paid the standard rate of rookies in training until such time as you graduate.  Is that understood?”

Shawn looked at Gus, then at his dad, who had a huge smile on his face.  With that, Shawn stood up and saluted, “Yes, Ma’am!” Gus followed with his own salute.

“And guys?” Karen said.

“Yeah?” Shawn replied.

“Don’t *ever* call me Ma’am,” she answered with a smile.