Hello lovelys!

Epilogue is up, meaning it's over now! Thanks everyone for sticking with me, through all my long updates. Most (all) of the law bits that are mentioned here have been explained by my roommate who does law. All mistakes are hers. (okay, mine too…)

Special shout out to The Potato Salad, who I can't respond to. Thanks for sticking with me from the very beginning and all your amazing reviews which genuinely brought smiles to my face.

Anyways, thanks again everyone. Next up is a Psych/Supernatural crossover, in case you're interested. So please review and maybe keep an eye out for the crossover!

Present Day

"Everything after that is a bit fuzzy," Shawn admitted. "What with concussions and all that. I remember the ambulance arriving and the paramedics checking me over. Next thing I remember is being in the Emergency Room. They kept me in the hospital overnight for observation, and the next day they released me. Except, instead of family and friends waiting for me, there was the ever pleasant Detective Bastard."

Juliet frowned in disapproval while Carlton raised an eyebrow. "You mean Detective Baxter?" he asked.

"I've heard it both ways," Shawn shrugged.

"So they took you down here yesterday," Carlton continued, ignoring Shawn's comment. "And you…"

"Decided to exercise my right to remain silent," Shawn answered. "At least until someone I actually trusted came around."

"So for the whole day, you were quiet?"

"Yeah."

"You didn't say a word?"

"No."

"Why don't I ever get that treatment?"

"Oh, please, Lassie. Like you could last one day without my soothing voice."

"I dream of that every night."

"That's hurtful."

"Guys!" Juliet intervened at last. She was about to continue speaking, a lecture just at the tip of her tongue, when the door to the interrogation room opened and two men walked in. Shawn turned to face the detectives who had walked in, glaring briefly at Detective Baxter, before his eyes settled on Paul.

"Hello again, Shawn Spencer," Paul said with a smile. "I never got the chance to properly introduce myself," he said before he outstretched his hand towards the psychic. Shawn stood up and took his hand. "I'm Junior Detective Paul Miller. I've been working for the NYPD for just over three years now."

"Yeah, that would have been useful to know two days ago," Shawn said as he released his hand and sat back down.

Paul laughed and shoved his hand back in his pocket. "Yeah, sorry about that – "

"You have nothing to be sorry for," Detective Baxter cut in. "You were undercover, had been for over three months." Paul's eyes shifted between Baxter and Shawn, clearly feeling uncomfortable. "Besides, Shawn here has no one to blame for his current situation than himself."

"Excuse me?" Shawn retorted in disbelief.

"If you would have just testified sixteen years ago, no one would be in this mess!"

"Are you still hung up on that?" the psychic asked incredulously. "They put me in a coma!"

"Well then you shouldn't have left the station!"

"See, this is why I wouldn't talk to you yesterday. Why I still refuse to tell you jack about Ricky. You're an arrogant ass."

"Look, the fact stands. If you had actually done something the last time you were here, Ricky and his men would have been behind doors. All the people who died because of that son of a bitch is on your hands, psychic."

At this Shawn was speechless. He had never thought of all the people who died since he had been here. He wouldn't allow himself to, out of fear and shame. And now, the idea had finally presented itself to the consultant, and he didn't know what to say.

"Get out," a low, dangerous voice growled.

"Excuse me?" Detective Baxter responded.

"Get the hell out," Detective Lassiter growled again. "You risked his life, and now you're trying to blame all those deaths on an innocent man. Maybe if you had been able to do your own job, there wouldn't have been a problem. Now get the hell out, you're useless."

Detective Baxter turned to respond, but the glare on the Head Detective's face made whatever witty retort he had planned die on his lips. Baxter glared again before turning and walking out the door. Paul Miller hesitated before turning to follow his superior out, clearly confused as to where he should go from there.

"Not you, Miller," Carlton growled again. "It has been one hell of a long day and I have been dealing with too many incompetent people here, you seem to be bearable. And that is not a compliment to you, merely an even bigger insult to everyone else in this dump. The point is, it has been far too long and Spencer – "

Carlton turned to glance at the psychic, double taking when he took in Shawn's shocked expression. Carlton turned to his partner, noticing the same shocked expression on her face. The Head Detective paused, taking a second to compose himself again. He cleared his throat and straightened his tie before turning back to the young detective in front of him, who looked like he might wet his pants.

"It has been far too long a day and we did not fly out here for nothing," Carlton quietly amended. "We deserve an explanation for this madness."

"Right," Detective Miller said, his whole body frozen in place. "Um… well, four months ago I got promoted to Junior Detective, Baxter is my supervisor. They thought they should pair the new, happy go-lucky newbie with the angry, trigger friendly detective who knows everything there is to know about being a detective, but just can't get that promotion. It doesn't really work, and I don't know why they thought it would."

Carlton and Juliet exchanged a look. Shawn stared between the two of them before bursting out laughing.

"I don't know, man," Shawn said in between chuckles. "I've seen pretty promising results."

"Look, kid, I didn't ask for your life story," Carlton snapped, quickly recovering from his slight shock. When Shawn continued to laugh, Carlton quickly slapped him on the back of his head, effectively cutting off all laughs.

"Right," Paul said hesitantly, staring at the odd trio in front of him. "Um, well, Baxter is always pretty keen on sending me on projects that will get me out of his hair. When an opportunity came up to send me off undercover for several weeks, maybe months, Baxter jumped at the chance. I went through training, adopted this aggressive, impulsive, angry mobster persona, and then went undercover with Ricky and his men.

"Over the past couple months, we got plenty of evidence of drug dealing for a lot of his men. We could never directly link that evidence with Ricky and his closest partners, though. At most, we could get them with an accessory. It wasn't until a month ago that we actually got something concrete, but Baxter wasn't satisfied with only ten years in prison, so I stayed at it."

"He didn't convict?" Carlton asked in disbelief.

"No. he said for the amount of people he killed, ten years was getting off too easy," Paul confirmed.

"So, instead of getting a mob boss off the street for ten years, he decided to keep wasting time?" Juliet asked.

"Yeah… why? Is that... is that bad?"

"Yes," Juliet answered immediately.

"How bad depends entirely on one thing," Carlton said. "How many people died in that extra month of investigating?"

Paul hesitated, glancing between the two detectives nervously. "Two," he said at last. "Jade King and Aaron Pierce. I wasn't there when it happened, but I know Mauricio was the one to pull the trigger."

"Son of a bitch," Carlton growled under his breath. "If it's the last thing I do, Baxter will be charged with murder."

"I… I didn't…" Paul stammered, not sure what was going on.

"I'm going to talk to the chief here," Carlton said, the anger and absolute disgust clear in his voice. "Finish this off, O'Hara, and then sort out a flight home."

Juliet nodded in agreement, silently watching her partner leave the room.

"Alright, Paul," Juliet said calmly, walking closer to the other two. "Let's just finish this now. What's happening in terms of Rick and all the others?"

"Um… well, Emi is getting charged with murder in the first degree, Nico is getting charged with double attempted murder in the first degree, Danny is getting charged with attempted murder of a police officer. On top of that, all members are getting charged with multiple counts of drugs and weapons smuggling, drug dealing, conspiracy to kill, accessory to murder and multiple counts of organised crime."

"What about Ricky?" Shawn asked. Juliet stared at her boyfriend, shocked at the timidness and fear in his voice. "I know he survived the gun shot."

"Um… well… the thing about Ricky is um… we don't have a whole lot on him," Paul said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"He confessed to murder in front of you," Shawn argued.

"Yeah, I pointed that out to his lawyer, but… his lawyer is arguing a compliant false confession. To escape a stressful situation that could have ended in his own endangerment, he confessed to murder."

"Son of a bitch," Shawn murmured.

"So where does that leave you?" Juliet asked.

"He's being charged with accessory to murder and a couple counts of organised crime, but evidence is weak. Nothing directly links him, and his lawyer is an ingenious blood sucker. He's turning on everyone on his team, claiming he was playing along with it. And, from the lack of physical evidence, it looks like things might lean in his favour."

"Best case scenario?" Juliet asked

"Five, maybe ten years."

"What would secure a… better, longer conviction?" Shawn asked.

"What, seriously?" Paul asked. Shawn just nodded. Paul opened his mouth to happily explain, but all he did was stare at Shawn. He snapped his mouth shut, bit his lip, and looked at Shawn apologetically.

Shawn closed his eyes and exhaled. "My testimony."

"Yeah…" Paul whispered. "No one can make you testify, though," he quickly added on. "You've done nothing wrong, and we've got nothing on you. As far as we can see here, you're the victim. A very long term victim. And, sorry for the invasion, but I looked into your file from the last time you were here. Well, back then you were known as Trey Mathews, but Baxter combined your two files into one. Anyways, the whole false identity thing, no one can hold that over your head anymore. No matter what Baxter might say, he missed his chance to convict. And as for the diamonds in Santa Barbara, we can't use that either. For one thing, it's not our jurisdiction. But mainly, any half decent lawyer could get you a couple weeks of community service after arguing duress by threat. A good lawyer could even get them to reach a mistrial. The only deal we could offer you if you testify is the chance to never bring your case to court."

Shawn and Juliet stared at each other for a moment.

"Detective Miller, I want to testify," Shawn said confidently.

Paul quickly lit up, "What, really?"

"Yeah."

"Why now?"

Shawn opened his mouth to answer but only looked at Juliet. He closed his mouth and smiled sadly before looking down, deep in though. "It's just something I need to do," Shawn said quietly. Juliet stared at her boyfriend, a proud smile reaching her lips.

Paul looked between the couple in confusion at first, before he nodded in understanding.

"I'll let them know."

One Week Later

Carlton, Juliet and Shawn finally got out of the yellow cab and grabbed their bags. At long last, they were getting out of New York. Of course, Shawn would have to return in a couple months for the trial, but for the most part, everything was sorted out.

Carlton had talked to the chief of police at NYPD and managed to get Detective Steven Baxter on charges of obstruction of justice as well as two counts of criminally negligent manslaughter on Jade King and Aaron Pierce. It was not easy to convince the chief that one of his own could have messed things up so badly, but after Paul Miller provided the evidence from his undercover stunt, the chief had to agree. Steven Baxter was fired from his job, and the trial date was set. It wasn't looking good for him.

Shawn, on the other hand, had given his statement to the police and agreed to testify. He had submitted his testimony and the date was set for Ricky's trial date. They had exercised their right to a fair and speedy trial and got the date moved up. Shawn would return to New York in three months with Juliet to testify. In return, Paul Miller got in contact with the curator of the museum Shawn had stolen from, along with chief Karen Vick about the robbery of the diamonds. After explaining the whole situation and how Shawn could safely argue Duress by Threats, he explained the deal he had wanted to make Shawn, and they agreed not to take him to court. Due to the ongoing trial and the sensitivity of the case, they also agreed to a certain degree of confidentiality. As far as the public knew, the diamonds were stolen by a gang, but was retrieved before it could go overseas.

Juliet pulled out the last of her bags from the cab, and the three of them made their way to the airport. They were all exhausted, on edge, and overall, just happy to finally be going back home. They went through check in and security quickly, and before they knew it, they were boarding the plane.

"I can't believe we have to go to San Francisco," Carlton grumbled for what had to be the fifteenth time that day.

"Carlton, I will not go over this with you again," Juliet snapped.

"But why couldn't we just fly to Santa Barbara?!"

"Because I refuse to stay another day here! I'm not waiting until tomorrow to go home, not when there's a cheap flight today to a city a couple hours away."

Shawn's phone started buzzing again. He stared at the caller ID before groaning and refused the call, shoving the phone back in his pocket. Juliet and Carlton glared at Shawn for a second before continuing their argument.

"There was a flight to Santa Barbara this morning," Carlton complained again.

"Yeah, for several hundred dollars each. Carlton, we just spent hundreds of dollars on a last minute hotel. I don't even know if the chief will reimburse us yet."

Yet again, Shawn's phone started buzzing. He stared at the phone again before shoving it back in his pocket. Juliet and Carlton glared again.

"Besides, there's going to be a car waiting to pick us up at the airport," Juliet said, resuming their discussion. "They'll take us back to the Santa Barbara Police Station, okay?"

"It's not the same," Carlton grumbled.

Shawn's phone started buzzing again, and the two detectives turned to glare at Shawn again.

"I swear to God, Spencer, if your phone rings one more time I will shove it down your throat," Carlton snapped.

Shawn blinked twice in shock. "Well, my phone's going on mute…"

"Who's calling you so often anyways?" Juliet asked.

"My dad…"

"Henry's been calling you?" Juliet asked shocked. "Why?"

"He found out I'm in New York and now he's demanding answers."

"You mean you haven't told him?!"

"Nope. I told you I didn't want him to know what happened."

"Yeah, but, all this time and you didn't even tell him you were in New York?"

"Of course not. Where's the fun in that?"

Six hours later found the three of them walking out of the airport, bags in hand. They all waited outside for the ride Juliet had promised. All they wanted was to get home and relax. They were all getting more on edge the longer they waited. Soon enough, the all too familiar Blueberry pulled up at the airport. The passenger side window rolled down revealing a very unimpressed Henry Spencer in the passenger seat, and a very amused Gus in the driver's side.

Both Shawn and Carlton slowly turned to glare at Juliet.

"In my defence," Juliet started, refusing to look either of them in the eye. "I didn't know Henry would tag along." And now it was her turn to glare at Gus.

"Hey, it's not my fault. Once he found out that Shawn was in New York and that I was picking you all up, he refused to let me leave my house until I let him come with me," Gus explained.

"Honestly, you all should just be grateful that you have a friend who is willing to drive five hours, one way, just to pick you all up," Henry said.

"Dad, how did you even find out I was in New York?"

"Do you really want to know?"

Shawn debated this for a moment. "No, I don't. But you, sir, have problems." Shawn huffed and climbed into the back seat. Juliet and Carlton moved to the trunk of the car and threw their bags in. Juliet filed into the car next, occupying the middle seat, and Carlton went in after her. They all buckled up, and Gus started to drive off.

It wasn't until they were on the highway that Henry started to speak again, "Okay, Shawn. I tried to get a hold of you on your cell phone, but you just simply refuse to acknowledge my calls."

"Oh, have you been calling me?"

"There's no escaping this, kid."

"I'm pretty sure if I jump out of the car now I could survive."

"No, you couldn't," Juliet quickly intervened, for a moment genuinely concerned her boyfriend might attempt it.

"Shawn, stop being an ass. What the hell did you get yourself into?" Henry demanded.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh really? Nothing about a robbery?"

"You mean the robbery we were investigating?"

"I mean the robbery you committed."

Shawn stared at his father for a moment in shock. He knew eventually his father would figure out, he just didn't expect it to be so soon.

"Oh, come on, Shawn," Henry continued. "I'm not an idiot. You borrow my spark plug and return it damaged. The next day, there're reports of a museum being broke into, and among all the glass shards they find spark plug porcelain. Am I just supposed to believe that's a coincidence?"

"Wait a minute, you knew the whole time?" Carlton demanded. "And you didn't go to the police? I could get you for withholding evidence, Henry!"

"Yeah, just as soon as you arrest Shawn for the actual robbery," Juliet muttered and Carlton glared.

"You know what, I think Shawn might be right," Carlton muttered, causing everyone to stare at him. Even Gus, behind the wheel of the car, shot him a glance. So the head detective continued, "I think if I jumped out of this car, I could potentially survive… certainly couldn't be worse than having to live through a five hour car ride with these idiots."

"Carlton…" Juliet warned.

"Don't worry, Juliet. I learnt long ago to engage the child lock in this car," Gus reassured her.

"Kid, however you look at it, you have a lot of explaining to do," Henry said, uncharacteristically calm. "We've still got a five hour car journey, there's no escaping this. You might as well start now."

"I can certainly try escaping…" Shawn muttered, reaching for the door handle.

"Shawn…" Juliet warned again.

"Alright fine!" Shawn said, defeated at last. "It's just a very long very complicated story, and I have no idea where to begin."

"Here's an idea, how about the beginning?"

Realisation finally dawned on Carlton. It was happening again. "No…" he uttered, barely above a whisper.

"Well now father, the beginning is a complicated thing… you'll have to tell me where to start…"

"The diamonds, kid!" Henry snapped. "Explain the diamonds!"

"No," Carlton protested, a tiny bit louder.

"Fine, diamonds," Shawn said, ignoring Carlton. "I can explain that."

"No!" Carlton finally exclaimed. "Sweet Lady Justice, get me out of this car!" he frantically pulled on the door handle, but Gus was true to his words. Child lock was engaged.

"Carlton! Would you just calm down?!" Juliet snapped.

"No! I will not go through this again!"

Shawn continued as if he hadn't heard a thing Carlton or Juliet said, "You see, papa monkey, I had actually planned it all out quite in depth."

"Get me out of this car!"

Yet again, Carlton was ignored, and Shawn continued, "I mean, I had to. My life kind of depended on it…"

The End