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The wake and the funeral had all gone smoothly, nothing big had happened. His former colleagues had shown up to show their respect and there were even a several people who he hadn't really worked with. Juliet had come, giving him a hug the moment she saw him and Lassiter gave him a shake of the hand, any arguments set aside because there was no room for such pettiness. After everyone had left and given their condolences, those who were used to seeing him show up at the station didn't expect him to be in for while so when he showed up they were all surprised.

"Jules, how ya doin'?" he asked full of his normal energy.

"Ok, what are you doing here, Shawn?" she asked, searching his eyes.

"For a case, why else, well, maybe to bother Lassie too." He said, chuckling a bit.

"A case, Shawn, your dad just died." She said, shocked that he was thinking about working a case.

"Jules, a good detective doesn't let personal business get in the way of work. You should know that. Isn't that right, Lassie?" Lassiter had walked up next to Juliet when he noticed Shawn.

"Spencer, go home. There's no cases for you." He said, his voice firm. He understood what Shawn was talking about, but he also knew that Shawn needed some time.

"You sure, I mean, even a simple one I'll do." He said, there was no pleading in his voice, but there was in his eyes. He needed something to do, to keep his mind occupied.

"Where's Guster?" Lassiter asked, suddenly noticing that Shawn's trusty sidekick wasn't there.

"Ahh, he kept pestering me, I told him to go to work. Took him an hour to leave." Shawn said as he walked over to Lassiter's desk and started leaving through the folders and papers on it.

"Spencer, go home." He said wanting to get Shawn out of the station.

"Fine, I'll go be bored, doing nothing, if I blow up a building, it'll be out of boredom, just so you know. But yes, I'll be very bored. I'm going now, to wreak havoc on the town. Bye." He said as he slowly walked out. Lassiter only rolled his eyes.

Shawn drove around, not quite knowing where to go. He didn't really want to go back to the office and there was no way in heck that he was going back to his apartment, there was nothing to do there. He was just driving now though, not paying too much attention, just enough to stop at stop signs and red lights, so he was a bit surprised when he ended up in front of his dad's house.

"Guess I could go through his stuff." He said to himself, with little enthusiasm.

He walked up to the house and unlocked the door with the key he had on his key chain. Henry never knew he had it, but he'd made a copy just to be safe.

As he stepped into the house the smell that he hadn't related to his father until now hit him. It brought dozens of memories to mind, memories he wanted to put out of his head.

He first walked into the kitchen and just observed the different things in it. Everything was in the exact same place it had been the night he'd been there. They'd had an argument, which was really not that unusual, but this time was different, the ending was bad.

"Shawn, I'm not helping you. You have to learn how to figure these cases out on your own. I won't always be here to help you." Henry said as he chopped up an onion.

"Oh, dad, you'll always be here." Shawn said as he nibbled on a piece of sliced pepper.

"Shawn, I'm serious and stop eating. Geeze, how old are you?" he shook his head at his son.

"Last time I checked 30, but I could be wrong. So, about this case." He knew his dad was rolling his eyes.

"Just sit down, food's 'bout ready." Shawn did as he was told, getting two beers out of the refrigerator.

"I'll make a deal with you, Shawn. I help you with this case and you have to clean out the attic, got it?" Henry said as he sat down with the stir-fry he had cooked up.

"Well, I guess I could." He said as he took a bite of the food.

"Shawn, I really need it cleaned out, it's a pig sty, plus majority of that stuff's yours anyways."

"Fine." He said rolling his eyes.

"So, what's the case?" Henry asked after a minute of them eating in silence.

"Homicide, guy was killed, apparently he was the son of one of the detectives you had worked with back in the day." Shawn said, taking a swig of his beer after speaking.

"Detective I worked with, who?"

"McLubin. I don't remember him though."

"You wouldn't. He retired when you were two. Does this guy have a pattern that you know of?"

"Doesn't seem like that yet. Steve, the guy's name, was the first. Had a note attached though, said, 'You put mine to death, I put yours.' Make any sense to you, Dad?"

"Shawn, get off this case." Was his only reply.

"Why?"

"Don't question me this time, Shawn." His voice was firm.

"I'll be fine, I've got Jules and Lassie."

"Shawn."

"Dad, just leave me alone on this. In fact I don't need your help, I'll do this on my own." With that Shawn got up and walked out the door. The sound of his bike starting up and pulling out was the only sound that resonated through the house.

Shawn pulled up to the second stop sign and realized he'd left his phone at his dad's. With a sigh he turned around.

As he pulled up the drive and parked his bike the only thought he had was that he was going to get his phone and just leave. No talking was necessary, especially from a guy who shot him down every step of the way.

The door was unlocked, so he let himself him, he didn't need to come face to face with his dad. When he walked in his dad didn't make an appearance. He quickly went into the kitchen where he remembered leaving his phone. His dad was still at the table, but Shawn noticed that something was off. Henry was slumped, sort of just looking at the food, his arm on the table. Something in Shawn made him concerned.

"Dad?" he asked as he went over to him.

"Dad?" he asked again a half-minute later, worry building up. When he touched him on the shoulder, putting force on him, Henry went back. His eyes were glazed over and Shawn immediately felt his pulse. When he felt none he grabbed his phone and quickly dialed 911.

"Mr. Spencer, it seems your father had a major heart attack. There was nothing anyone could have done. I'm sorry." The EMT told him before getting back in his truck and taking off.

That's when it hit him; his dad hadn't touched his food. He'd taken a Tylenol earlier for back pains. Shawn hadn't thought much of it until now. At the time he just figured his dad was too busy talking to him to eat and the back pain was normal, but now he was thinking differently.

Shawn shook his head to relieve himself of the memory. He went up to the attic first, he'd told his dad he'd do it and he would, even if his dad was no longer around.

The attic was full of boxes. He started on the first one he saw. It was filled with old clothes and stuff. He dropped that down to the floor, thankful it didn't spill all over. By the time he reached the sixth box he heard footsteps coming up to the attic.

"Shawn, you up here?" he heard the voice of his best friend ask.

"Yeah, just cleaning up. Promised Dad I would." He said as he stood up slightly and looked at Gus who had now poked his head through.

"Want some help?"

"Sure." It was then that he noticed a box labeled 'Shawn'.

"Let's take a look at that one. Probably a bunch of my stuff he through in there, hoping to get out of the house and to Good Will." Shawn said, a little bitterly.

"Oh, come on, Shawn. You know he loved you." Shawn just ignored him and opened up the box. He was surprised at what he found. His kindergarten diploma, a paper he'd written in eighth grade about detectives, his high school diploma, there were a few pictures he'd drawn, some from when he was little, others from high school, there was the award he'd won for the science fair in the sixth grade and finally a photo album. He opened this, Gus sitting next to him to look, there were pictures of him and Gus, of him and his parents, of him with his dad's buddies and coworkers from when he was younger, there were even some candid shots of him with Lassiter and Juliet, how that happened he had no clue, and lastly there were clippings from newspapers about him and the Psych agency.

"Told you." Gus said quietly.

"I hadn't realized." He replied, his voice sounding sort of choked.

"Come on, let's go get a beer, we'll go through this later, together." Gus said after a minute.

"Alright, that's cool. This attic's stuffy as anything anyways." He said, trying to manage a bit of humor as he quickly wiped at his eyes. Gus didn't say anything, only got up and went towards the stairs, Shawn following behind him.

"Gus." He called before they left the house. Gus turned to face him.

"Thanks." He said as he stood beside him.

"Don't worry 'bout it." He said, squeezing Shawn's shoulder. They went to leave then, Shawn making sure to lock up. He'd get through this, it'd take time, but he'd get through.

The End