Chapter Text
Chapter one
Shawn woke lazily with a smile, pressing her cheek into Carlton’s sternum bush with a sigh. It was still early, but it was rare that she woke up before Carlton with his very detailed morning regiment. The morning sun was barely peaking through the gaps in the blinds, casting long straight shadows across the bed and floor. Shawn ran her hand down Carlton’s chest, slowly dipping under the maroon comforter to try to disguise her intent, but he grabbed her wrist.
“Don’t. We don’t have time and you know it.” He pulled her hand out from under the blanket, twining their fingers together and kissing her knuckles.
“Awww,” Shawn snuggled closer, looking up at Carlton from under her eyelashes. “We could be quick?”
Carlton snorted, rolling over to sit up and slide his feet over the side of the bed. Shawn leaned against his back, wrapping her arms around him to grope his chest, but Carlton brushed her hands away. “You have a meeting this morning. You said it was important, remember?”
Shawn groaned, flopping back onto the bed with her arm dramatically draped over her eyes like a tragic romance novel heroine. “That’s so lame. It’s just meeting a client, I can be late.”
Carlton rolled his eyes as he stood, grabbing his pants from the floor and heading towards the closet. He ignored Shawn ogling his naked form as he stated to pick his suit for the day.
“Go to your meeting Shawn,” he called behind him. “You shouldn’t ruin your business for sex.”
“Its good sex though.” Shawn fumbled her way out of the bed, tossing blankets haphazardly as she spilled to the floor in a flailing pile of limbs. She missed the end table by an inch.
Carlton was always surprised she never hurt herself with that maneuver, but she sprang up and strutted, also naked, passed Carlton to dig through the wardrobe and grab a t-shirt and jeans. She winked as she pulled the jeans over her legs, brushing a hand along Carlton’s arm as she left the bedroom.
“I’m not wearing underwear,” she whispered as she passed. “Something to think about until lunch.”
Carlton turned, watching Shawn wiggle her hips as she left. She was going to be the death of him he just knew it. He grabbed a shirt and headed to the shower, already thinking about his standing lunch plans. Shawn would try to convince him to try some office nookie that he would always turn down, then they would end up at one of the many food places that Shawn frequented near the station. But maybe today they would head back home instead and satiate a different appetite.
Lassiter had barely started his coffee when he glanced up from his case files to see Gus wandering into the station, glancing around like he was looking for something, or someone. And given his lack of Shawn and his penchant for hiding from Lassiter it wasn’t unlikely.
“Gus!” O’Hara called from her desk. “Did Vick call you guys with a case?” She stood, flicking quickly through the case files on her own desk to see if anything seemed dire enough to justify needing a psychic.
Gus shook his head, giving the bullpen another glance. Random officers were milling around, doing their jobs, and Vick was in her office on the phone. Nothing out of the ordinary.
“I was hoping to find Shawn actually. We were going to meet up here. Our client cancelled this morning.” He spun, straining to see around the bustle of the station. “Have you guys see her?”
Lassiter groaned. “Surely you and Spencer can find your own cases without trying to horn in on legit police ones? Can’t you find a client that buys your normal psychic crap?”
“Carlton,” O’Hara warned with a sigh and brushing hair back from her eyes.
Lassiter shrugged, taking a sip of coffee as he looked back over the file open on his desk. It was a basic burglary, teens breaking into cars and stealing change or little things they could sell. He didn’t try to hide how he felt about Shawn’s psychic nonsense, even from Shawn herself much to her delight. She had mentioned something about the file on his desk the day before, but only that she would’t give hints without getting paid so he knew she was close to solving it.
“Lassiter! O’Hara! My office.” Chief Vick called from her office doorway. She paused, seeing Gus. “Mr. Guster, you and Ms. Spencer should join us since this involves you two as well.” She left the door open as she moved behind her desk, sinking into her chair and steepling her fingers.
“Whatever the case is we don’t need their help.” Lassiter was already protesting as he followed O’Hara and Gus into Vick’s office. Gus took up his normal spot against the bookcase which already looked strange without Shawn by his side. Lassiter closed the door and joined O’Hara, sitting in the two chairs in front of the desk.
“It’s not a case,” Vick replied, waving off his protests. “Where is Ms. Spencer?” She leaned to see if Shawn was lurking just outside the door, ready for a dramatic entrance.
Gus winced. “I’m not sure. I haven’t heard from her after our client cancelled this morning.”
Vick frowned, tapping a finger against her desk with a hum as she prepared herself for the chaos about to unfold. “I was just informed that early this morning Yang escaped.”
Everyone spoke at once.
“Why did no one say anything until now?” Lassiter complained, leaning forward in his chair.
“Do you think that has something to do with Shawn?” O’Hara asked.
Gus jerked to look at O’Hara. “Is Shawn in trouble? Are we all in trouble?”
Vick waved a hand to get everyone’s attention, before leaning on her desk. “Settle down, please. We need to stay calm about this. The asylum wanted to do an internal investigation before they turned it over to us.”
Lassiter snorted, but was abashed by Vick’s disapproving look. He sat back in his chair and looked away a moment. He needed to focus, his own feelings about internal investigations be damned.
“O’Hara, you and Mr. Guster try to trace Ms. Spencer’s steps this morning and see if you can find anything about her whereabouts or anything to link her to Yang’s escape. Lassiter you’ll be heading to the asylum to see what they found and if they missed anything. Take some uniforms with you. Keep me updated on what you find.”
O’Hara and Gus took off without missing a beat, but Lassiter paused in the doorway. He watched them leave, turning back to Vick.
“I don’t like this,” he murmured with a slight frown.
“I don’t either,” Vick sighed. “Maybe we’ll get lucky and it’s unrelated.” She moved next to him, one hand on the door.
Lassiter shook his head. “When have we ever been lucky with Spencer?”