"Cassie what are you doing here?" Shawn asked when he had gotten her alone. They had spent quite some time in the chief's office being briefed on the case, and Shawn was still unclear as to why he had been called in to help. Other than the obvious. They had taken a break and Shawn had dragged her down the hall to talk.
"I'm working this case Shawn," she said simply.
"Since when are you a cop?"
She smiled. "For awhile now, I actually have high hopes for my life."
"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Shawn defensively.
"Oh please Shawn, a psychic? Your dad told me, it's very disappointing."
"I have a good job, I make good money, what's disappointing about that?"
"You live a lie Shawn."
"Says you."
"Oh please," Cassie said, rolling her eyes. "We aren't kids anymore Shawn, stop acting like one."
He shot her a frustrated look. She always seemed to do this, show up in his life when he was doing all right and suddenly he was being compared to her and his life seemed to suck. Just because his father didn't like his life choices didn't mean that they weren't somewhat good ones. But that wasn't his only frustration with Cassandra being around. You see, Cassie wasn't his real cousin.
Henry and Dan had met at the academy and become instant friends, drawn even closer by sharing the same last name. They had stayed close friends after that, being each others best man, being there when their kids were born, everything. Shawn and Cassie had grown up like cousins, but after a while things got more complicated. Shawn liked girls a lot, and Cassie was a girl. It didn't take long for him to put the two thoughts together. The only problem was that Cassie wasn't falling for his usual act, because she could see right through it to what was underneath.
Shawn had never felt so nervous around another human being in his entire life, and here she was, poised to screw up his life some more.
"Why does everyone always say that to me?" Shawn asked.
"What, that you're not a kid anymore?"
Shawn nodded, though he knew the answer.
Cassie laughed. "Fine, you want to continue lying to the police, that's none of my business, but I have a case to solve and I'm going to do that."
"Cass you can't," he pleaded.
"I'm sorry?"
"If they see you doing what we can do they'll put it together and I'll be in so much trouble."
"Well that's your fault then isn't it?" She smiled. "Maybe you should just use your amazing psychic ability to solve the case before me. That is if you can beat me."
Shawn grinned. "You know I always let you win when we were younger."
She laughed. "Yeah right. But either way, are you gonna let me win this time?"
Shawn shook his head.
"Then get back in there and show me your stuff."
"Mr. Spencer," said the chief as they returned to her office. "Mr. Guster was just informing me that you and Detective Connors have a history."
Shawn shot Gus a look, but decided to answer the question, somewhat. "Yes, Cassie is my cousin."
"And it's Detective Spencer now," said Cassie.
Shawn shot her a questioning look.
"My divorce is final," she said simply.
Shawn grinned maliciously. "So it looks like I'm not the only one who doesn't have their life sorted out."
She gave him an angry look before turning back to the chief. "That's correct Chief Vick, Shawn and I are…cousins," she said tentatively, unsure why Shawn had not told the whole truth.
"Well how lovely," said Lassiter sarcastically.
"Pipe down Carlton," said the chief.
"Yes ma'am," said Lassiter meekly.
"I don't care what your history is as long as we can solve this case."
Cassie and Shawn exchanged a look. Shawn smiled. "You can count on us chief."