Psych: The Real Deal

Summary: What if Shawn Spencer was actually psychic? What would be the repercussions? How would it affect the story? And what happens when criminal sights are set on him for his gift…?

Disclaimer: This is a fan-fiction story of the TV show; Psych and is in no way affiliated with the actual show. All characters and other materials related to the show that are used are not intended to infringe on any Copyrights. Elemental-Zer0 takes sole responsibility for any mistakes or offence that may be taken but truly not meant. However, any characters that are not related to any copyrights are copyrighted to Elemental-Zer0 as is any variations to the plot set out in the show.

Authors Note: Apologies to those following this fic. I've been absent for a longer than intended period of time. Reason is because I've been moving house, work commitments have taken control of my non-working hours, and I've been actively involved in my not-so-local amateur dramatics group before this whole nationwide lock-down started. So I've had a lot going on.

I'm hoping to resume a semi-frequent schedule though, so good news for you 😊. I'm currently only focusing on this fic and my Scorpion fiction at the moment. That may change when inspiration strikes but until then, this is the plan.

This chapter feels a little rushed and not quite to my better standards. I'm sure I'll be back in the future to clean it up a bit but for now – just to get the creative juices flowing – this is the update I have for you all. I hope you can forgive me, and I hope it's enough to satisfy until Chapter 12.

Be sure to let me know your thoughts, and if you have any criticism to make, please do it politely.

Case #2: Spelingg Bee - Part 4

Juliet wasn't sure what had just happened. One minute it was going so well, and then the next Shawn had gone very pale and clammy. He began breathing really fast, and then he was moving away from her in a hurried fashion. It took her by surprise and for a moment she didn't know how to respond except to look to Gus, the other man involved in the psychic agency, for an answer.

"What just happened?" She asked, eyes furrowed with concern. Gus was staring after Shawn as if itching to follow but her query seemed to hold him back.

"I'm sorry," the man replied, eyes still tracking his friend as the rattled psychic headed for the nearest door with a dog-eared determination. "He's very sensitive to touching people. It really messes with his visions sometimes." He explained, and given the man's profession, the sentence made sense logically, but it failed to really give the Junior Detective any meaningful context.

"Will he be ok on his own? He looked very pale." Karen asked, a touch of concern dotted her features as she spied the psychic leaving the building. Gus turned to face her in order to respond.

"Uh no." He said flatly and turned to follow his friend, but Shawn was gone in the crowd of people. A spike of panic flooded the salesman's gut. "He shouldn't be on his own. There's someone who's been following him and harassing him since yesterday, and I'm worried they'll try again." He admitted as he started to walk toward the door. "I'm going to check on him." He added over his shoulder as he moved. Juliet gave her boss an asking look, to which Karen nodded.

"Go with Gus, find Shawn but follow Gus's advice, he seems to know how to handle our new psychic's quirks." She ordered and made to move to a seat to wait for results and call Lassiter. Being as pregnant as she was, it was exhausting to stay standing for too long. Realistically, she should be on maternity leave right now, not neck deep in a crime scene but as the scene involved the Mayor's son and her own cousin's daughter, she was hard-pressed to sit still in her office.

Juliet wasted no time in catching up to Gus who had powered on ahead. It took a few minutes to locate him through the throngs of people in the esplanade outside the door they'd exited. People were crowding round the police tape and blocking most of their view of the area. Shawn could have gone in any direction. She caught up to Gus who was panicking slightly at the misplacement of his friend.

"Did you see where he went?" She asked uselessly when she caught up to him. It was more of a statement to let him know she was present and ready to help however she can. He shook his head.

"No, but if I know Shawn, he'll head to the least crowded place possible. Currently that's the beach as all these tourists are here." Gus replied as he started to make his way through the crowds of people. The crowds parted for them rapidly after a scream rose from the beach behind them. A shot of adrenaline flooded her senses when she heard it. Then the sound of a muted whoosh helped her to locate the disturbance. The beach wasn't as empty as they'd imagined; several people who'd been picnicking were rapidly running toward them, away from a disturbance further along the shore. They'd been the ones screaming. A moment later, she saw why.

Her eyes widened in surprise.

Shawn was stood in the water with the waves lapping about his chest. He had eyes only for the woman stood confronting him from the water's edge and they were wide with fear. The woman however, was facing the psychic with a menacing glare and holding something out in her hands, aimed at the young man in the water.

"Oh my God! Shawn!" Gus cried out in a panic and that was all Juliet needed to hear, to know that this was not a friendly person trying to help. She was quite possibly the harassing person that Gus had warned them about mere minutes ago.

The woman stepped further into the water, her weapon (if it was a weapon) aimed straight at Shawn, and unwavering. Juliet wasted no time and quickly drew her own gun. She called out to the attacker with her strongest voice.

"SBPD! Put your weapon down now!" Juliet knew she could be intimidating at times. Growing up with the type of rough-housing brothers she had, it was to be expected. But this was not one of those times it seemed. It was the standard warning, one that almost everyone reacted to, but this woman just ignored her. Instead she murmured something in a foreign language before letting her weapon discharge.

Instinctively Juliet fired her gun at the attacker. She hit the woman in the shoulder, it was a clean shot. The woman jerked to one side as the force of the bullet hit her. She let out a pained grunt and quickly held the wound, but did not retreat or waver.

Stunned, Juliet fired twice more but still the woman did not drop. She only grunted again as the bullets found her thigh and her abdomen. There were wounds. They were bleeding. But the woman did not seem to feel the pain that should be crippling her.

Feeling her heart speed up in her chest and her breath become shallow, she quickly radioed for help. The woman turned her head back to the water and Juliet felt her stomach sink.

Shawn had yet to resurface.

"Freeze! SBPD! Put your hands where I can see them and drop your weapon now." Juliet's nerves were through the roof but hearing Lassiter's voice loud and strong was a welcome relief.

The woman stopped and glared at the new intrusion.

That was all the distraction Juliet needed. She could leave the situation in Lassiter's hands for the moment. She had a victim to rescue.

"Victim in the water, likely injured. I need help and the coastguard now." Juliet called out rapidly into her radio as she stripped down to minimal clothing to avoid the current's drag. There were several other officers present who had followed Lassiter to the scene after hearing Juliet's gunfire. Two followed her while even more surrounded the woman. "Be careful, she won't go down easily. I've already fired at her three times. Suspected enhancing drugs or some other mind-altering substance may be in effect." She shouted out over her shoulder as she ran at the sea, radio discarded with her attire on the beach next to a frozen Gus. The water was cold, but she barely had time to feel it. She dove into the water like a fish and swam for the last place Shawn had been spotted. She knew that undercurrents had probably dragged him further out but if she started at his last know location and let the currents pull her, she'd eventually find him.

Other officers joined her in the water as did several lifeguards who finally made it to the beach too. A boat was already circling the area after several witnesses had already called in the incident. Minutes passed which felt like hours and the tension and panic was building. During her swim she heard the sounds of guns firing back on the beach, and shouts and a fight but she paid it no attention as she searched the waters for the psychic.

It was mayhem in the water, with bodies swimming and searching, tension rising to dramatic proportions, but then came the shout.

"I've got a body!" Juliet's heart sank a little at the turn of phrase but at this point, what else could she hope for? The man had been submerged for more than twenty minutes. No one can survive without oxygen for that long.

She swam toward the officer who called out and found the boat had beaten her there and already pulled the psychic up on to the rescue boat. She climbed aboard with a little help and found the coastguard team in the middle of resuscitation attempts. The drama was a little too much and she sat herself heavily on the deck next to the unresponsive man, being sure to stay out of the way of the team working on him.

Her eyes would never let her forget that moment. It had only been a few minutes earlier when she'd spotted the cute young psychic talking to her boss. He'd been animated, charming, and handsome. Now, he was pale, still, and a very different sight to behold.

"Call it." A voice said as the action surrounding the man stopped to a subdued stillness. Her heart hammered in her chest at the call.

'No.' her thoughts told her that this wasn't the end of Shawn but the evidence before her said otherwise. A pang struck hard in her chest.

She didn't know why, or what possessed her to do it, but tentatively she found herself reaching forward to hold his hand. It was only the barest of touches, but something jolted down her wrist as she made contact with him. His hand twitched once in her grasp. Then it twitched again, a little more violently than before.

Then he was suddenly coughing and jerking to one side to expel a lungful of water. The team jumped back into action at the new signs of life. No one questioned it right then, but Juliet knew that questions would be asked eventually, but she honestly wasn't sure how she would answer them.

Her thoughts were interrupted though when tired hazel green eyes opened and found her own. It was almost as though he knew what had brought him back, even if she wasn't completely convinced herself. But his eyes held a depth to them that she suspected few had been privy to see. He coughed again however and the moment broke; his eyes closing as he struggled to breathe around a lungful of seawater.

She couldn't be sure, but Juliet knew there was a deeper connection between the two of them that warranted a very frank conversation, soon.

For the moment though, she threw it to the back of her mind. She had to focus on getting Shawn back onto dry land and into a hospital with a police protection order in case Lassiter couldn't put the crazy woman into custody.

She took one last look at Shawn though before dishing out orders, just to be sure he was still alive. She wasn't sure what or how it all happened, but she'd be asking him some serious questions when this was all over.

For now, seeing the slight rise in his chest was enough to let her mind rest for a moment.

Back on the beach, Lassiter had tried to talk the woman down but to no avail. She instead brought her hands up and aimed them at him. Though he could see no weapon, he still didn't take the risk that there was one hidden. He fired at her twice. A quick tat-tat to put her down.

The two bullets hit their mark, but she did little more than grunt in pain. She instead continued to move toward him. Lassiter could not process what he was witnessing.

"What crazy drug are you on lady?" he muttered under his breath as she continued to raise her hands toward him. Something dark and fast exploded at his feet. He fell backwards in surprise. He hadn't heard anything go off. Had it been a grenade?

No, he wouldn't be alive if it was.

"All units, code 30! We have an 11-60 (attack in a high hazard area) and a 10-57 (firearm discharged) in progress, and a likely 10-32 (drowning) in the sea. I need all units back up now. Suspect is a possible 10-50 (under influence of narcotics) but it's like nothing I've ever seen before. She's taken five bullets already with no reaction. Bring in the tranqs and the heavy unit team." He reported into his radio, all the while being careful to keep her attention on him so that the coast guard had time to rescue the victim in the water.

In the distance, he could see the rescue boat make a beeline for the harbour in the next beach along. Clever. Whoever was in charge had decided to keep the victim as far away from the suspect as possible. A smart move, especially if the victim had survived. The last thing they wanted to create was an opportunity for this perp to try again and succeed.

It was a gruelling ten minutes later, with Lassiter firing shot after shot to try and slow the woman down a little – it was starting to work – when his back up arrived on scene with heavy artillery and a SWAT team. The woman took in the reinforcements with an angry glare but then turned her attention to the direction the rescue boat had disappeared to. She scrutinised the horizon for a moment before cursing out a word he hadn't heard since his mother had last scolded him.

But before he could react, and in front of the whole SBPD and its reinforcements, the woman raised her hand into the air with intent. A wind whipped out as if from nowhere, and as quickly as it arrived, it disappeared. Along with the suspect.

Wide eyed, and a little off kilter, Lassiter just stared for a minute.

What just happened?

Gus met Henry at the harbour where they had brought Shawn in, only to discover that he was already on his way to the hospital with an armed escort. Neither of them wasted time asking questions. They jumped back into Henry's truck and raced to the hospital.

It wasn't a doctor that greeted them when they arrived. It was the new detective; Juliet O'Hara who looked a little worse for wear. Her perfectly coiled hair was now a bedraggled mess. Her make-up was streaked and her shoes and jacket were missing. She looked a little damp too.

"Mr Guster." She greeted, recognising Gus from before the drama unfolded. She gave him an apologetic wince of remorse. "I'm sorry I left you back there. Are you alright?" She asked quickly, giving him a once over while she did.

"That's fine, you had to do what you had to do and I'm glad you did. I heard he's alive because of you." Gus replied rapidly. The details of what he'd heard were sketchy at best but those could wait for the moment.

"Is he ok? What happened?" Henry asked, interrupting the conversation. Worry etched in his voice.

"He's alive, that's all I know." Juliet replied, then added, "I'm sorry, you are…?"

Henry gave her an impatient look but answered, nonetheless. "I'm his father. Where is he? Who's his doctor?" He asked in rapid fire but before she could respond, a nurse came to her rescue.

"Liaisons of Shawn Spencer?" She called out and immediately had the attentions of all three adults. "Please follow me. The doctor has an update." She said and lead the way to a small private waiting room.

Shawn lay sleeping on the hospital bed. He'd been sedated to keep panic down while they medicated his lungs for excess water. The last thing he needed now was for a secondary or dry drowning. The medication he was on, required him to be fully intubated for several hours. This would obviously cause alarm if he were awake.

But because he was under the influence of a sedative, he was unaware of the unwanted visitor he had in the room.

The girl, 'Shadow-striker' as Gus had dubbed her, watched the sleeping psychic with disdain and a curious glint in her eye. She'd been impressed with him in the park, he'd been able to withstand her attack with a fair amount of ease. But she'd had to cut her attack short due to the other people in the area. Not that she'd paid much mind to that the second time around, but then her deadline was as forgiving.

This latest attack however had proven her fears. He was woefully under-trained and unskilled. The prophecy had been clear that he was the one. There was no doubting that. But at his current state, he'd be dead in seconds. She'd have to up her ante if she was to have him ready in time. Though she had to admit that she may have taken it a little too far today.

She moved silently to stand next to his bed. He was handsome in a young, childish way. If she were in any other profession… they might have been compatible.

But She was who she was. And he was who he was.

And he had capable friends too, she noticed as the hairs on the back of her neck rose in static response.

Spirits.

Strong ones.

And more than one.

If she'd needed any more proof that he was the Spirit-Touched she was looking for, this would have been enough. She took a slow deep breath and focused her own power to her eyes. Seven spirits surrounded the man. Each were watching with a protective stance around their boy. The most prominent one was a young female spirit who stood defiantly between her and the bed.

The shadow woman could not hear them for they had attached so tightly to Shawn. But she got the message loud and clear.

Leave.

She gave them strange grin. "I'm sorry. There are plans for this one that even the greatest of spirits cannot stop from unfolding." She said to them as she backed up to the window. "We can only prepare him." She added before disappearing into the shadows of the curtains completely.

The spirits felt an uneasiness shiver through their incorporeal existences. Their eyes found their psychic at the same moment, and despite their different relationships with the man, all seven spirits - Felix included – vowed the same thing: they were not going to let anyone else mess with their psychic.

Harriet reached tentatively toward Shawn's pale hand. The energy they'd all expelled when trying to bring Shawn back from the edge of death had not quite replenished enough for there to be much of a physical connection, but the action soothed her anyway. If it hadn't been for Juliet reaching for Shawn when she did, it'd be a very different story right now. Harriet wasn't sure of all the details yet, but she definitely had suspicions as to what had happened and why. This frustrated her, as she was a guardian type, having the information was her gift. Not knowing something as big and as impacting as this seemed to be, was troubling. She'd keep her thoughts on the matter to herself for now though, until she knew more. In the meantime, she'd be keeping a close eye on this Juliet woman. She seemed to be a key player in this new adventure that was unravelling. And if what the shadow lady said was true, then Shawn was going to need every ally he could get.

It had only been a few hours ago that Shawn had been sat at Henry's table, tucking heartily into a home grilled steak. How he'd become a grey, corpse-like victim in such a short time period, Henry would never know. It happened all the time, he knew that. His tenure of the force gave him insight there. But it happened to other people. It was all the more jarring to have it happened at home. Especially to his own son.

He'd seen Shawn in hospital beds before, one stint lasted several months in fact. But the sight never got easier to see. As Henry sat on the visitors' chair, and he tried to process what the doctor had told him, old habits came back to haunt him. His left foot jiggled with nervous energy. His hands balled up but loosely in his lap and his eyes found Shawn's sleeping face and never wavered.

"Obvious drowning symptoms."

"Water in the lungs."

"Tissue scarring is likely."

"Bruised sternum from the CPR."

"Risk of secondary drowning."

The words repeated themselves from the doctor's overview before they'd been lead to Shawn's room. They were all indicative of his son having drowned and then been successfully resuscitated. But there were other injuries and symptoms that were not.

"He's suffering from random muscle spasms, usually this occurs in patients who has suffered electric shocks."

"Several burn marks across his body."

"It might be nothing, but there was an irregular heartbeat during stabilisation. This is, again, a regular symptom of electric shock sufferers but there were no reports of any electrical items nearby."

Henry knew why that was. Because Shawn hadn't been attacked by someone who needed an electrical item nearby to create the kind of shocks he'd received. This attacker, this Shadow woman, was like Shawn; gifted. In his years of bringing up a psychic kid, Henry had had to hone his own senses acutely. Mostly to keep his wayward thinking son in line and safe, but also to keep him off the radar of anyone else. In that time, he'd come to the logical conclusion that if it could manifest in Shawn, it could manifest in anyone. And that scared him the most.

Henry's worst fear was of a psychic gone bad, finding Shawn and kidnapping him to do his bidding. It wasn't an unreasonable fear. Several times, Henry's "bad guy" radar had gone off, but most were false alarms. There were one to two legitimate warnings though. There was that one time when he'd barely managed to fight off a scorned woman who could levitate any object she touched. It had been an interesting fight, but eventually he'd managed to get the drop on her.

Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on which way you looked at it), she did not survive the encounter. Henry had managed to knock her unconscious but the large piece of scaffolding she'd been levitating above her, fell on top of her and crushed her to death.

He'd been heavily unprepared and had only won by outwitting her. So, he'd gone to several retreats and learned to meditate and hone that sense. He'd brushed up on a lot of the lore that orbited the sorts of things Shawn could do. He came up with counter measures for anyone targeting his son, and some of those counter measures came in handy when dealing with a bratty juvenile psychic too.

And it was that "bad guy" sense that was going off in spades now.

"God damnit kid…" He sighed to himself, "What have you gotten yourself into this time?"

Up Next:

Juliet talks with Shawn and gets more than she bargained for.

Lassiter interviews the witnesses and finds it difficult to accept the impossible.

Henry looks into Demonology and its signs.

Gus and Shawn solve the Spelling Bee Case.