Shawn was bored.

To be fair, most ordinary affairs were lackluster to the pseudo-psychic. He had to find ways to keep himself occupied most of the time, which usually led to a lecture from his father and his best friend giving him the cold shoulder. It wasn’t his fault that the rest of the world was so unimaginative.

The predicament he had let himself be swayed into this time gave him no options, however. He was currently stuck on his dad’s boat with said dad, Gus, and a grumpy officer of the law. His father was busy steering the sea-vehicle, Gus was almost literally green with seasickness and Shawn was not about to place himself in his best friend’s line of fire, and Lassie was Lassie. He had nothing but miles of uninspiring wetness to work with.

Shawn sighed and climbed to his feet. He sighed again before edging up to his father’s side. The only acknowledgment he received was a side glance before Henry’s focus was given back to the ocean. Shawn only inched closer and cleared his throat.

“What do you want, Shawn?” Henry didn’t even try to mask his annoyance.

“Can I drive now?”

“No.”

“C’mon!”

“No.”

“Please, dad?”

“Not on your life, kid. If I don’t trust you in or around my house unsupervised, what makes you think I’m going to trust you to drive my boat?”

“That’s a trick question; no one trusts me in or around their house unsupervised. That doesn’t count, ask me another one.”

“Nice try. Sit your ass down before I throw you overboard,” threatened Henry.

“I’m thinking of throwing myself overboard,” mumbled Shawn before he huffed and made a beeline for his seat. He plopped down with more force than necessary, causing the boat to rock slightly. Gus tried to give Shawn ‘the look’ but he mostly just managed to look even sicker than before.

Gus took a deep breath before he focused his attention on Henry. “While I appreciate the invite and do look forward to spending the week fishing all alone on the open waters, with no chance of help finding us if we die, I have to wonder why Lassiter came with us.”

“Hey!” cried the head detective in protest.

“I was actually kind of wondering that myself, Gussykins,” interjected Shawn with a smirk.

“Detective Lassiter is here because he actually enjoys the sport of fishing. He also knows the difference between a Blood Knot and a Clinch Knot. You, Shawn, cry every time I hook a fish and Gus passes out at the sight of the hook.”

Shawn scoffed in offense as Lassiter threw him a smug grin. “First of all, you are removing poor defenseless creatures from their natural and familiar habitat; how could I not cry at the cruelty of it? Second, why did you even invite us then? Why not just rip off the still-healing scab that was the Henry/Carly fishermen duo and call it a day? Well, week but you get what I mean.”

Henry fought the urge to roll his eyes. “First of all, this is what normal father and sons do; they spend time together, Shawn. Second, I am finally able to say that you actually work hard so I thought I’d treat you to a nice little vacation. Is that so terrible?”

“No, that isn’t terrible at all and I’m only somewhat insulted. It’s just that there is nothing remotely normal about the father/son relationship that we may or may not have. If you really knew me, you’d know that an outing to the zoo would have been just as effective. Also, if you wanted me to actually enjoy this trip then you’d let me drive the boat for a while.” Shawn raised hopeful eyebrows and jutted out his lower lip at his father’s back.

Henry didn’t need to actually look at his son to know what he was up to. “Those puppy-dog eyes didn’t work on me when you were a two year old and they certainly aren’t going to work now.”

“That’s because you are a heartless pod-person. You are the empty shell of a human being. You are-”

“An alien who is indifferent to human emotion. Get some new material, son.”

Shawn slumped in his seat. Good Lord, he hated fishing. He looked over to Lassiter and was dismayed at the satisfied sneer that covered the detective’s face. He stuck out his tongue at Carlton and turned away before the detective had a chance to react. His gaze landed once more on Henry. He wouldn’t be the adorable man that everyone loved if he didn’t try at least one more time. He slowly stood and crept over to the elder Spencer’s side once more. Once he was close enough, he braced his body for the struggle that he knew was about to take place.

“Dad, look out!” Shawn threw his arm out dramatically, pointing to a random spot outside of his father’s vision. Startled, Henry whipped his head to the general area that his son was pointing to. Shawn took the opportunity to grab the wheel and turn with as much force as he could. He regretted the action as soon as he heard Gus shriek. The entire boat jerked to the side as it turned abruptly and Shawn heard a heavy object hit the water. An elbow colliding with his gut prevented him from looking but he wholeheartedly hoped that it was Lassie. The boat jerked again; needles shot up and down his upper extremities as his arm threatened to dislocate but he just gritted his teeth and gripped the wheel even harder. He heard his dad and Lassiter shouting, but he couldn’t really understand what they were saying. His adrenaline was working overtime and his senses were going haywire. He was telling his brain to unclench his fingers, but the small appendages were being uncooperative.

With one final jerk, the boat came to a stop and Shawn found himself weightless. He was reminded of those moments in movies where all time seemed to stop and couldn’t help but feel disappointed that it wasn’t at all like that. He felt every bit of wind lashing his face as he sailed through the air and he watched a large patch of sand rush up at him as if to swallow him whole. He heard an unusually loud snap as he collided with the gritty stretch of earth, but the stars that situated themselves in his line of vision pulled his focus from searching for what was obviously broken. He tried to shake them away but that only doubled the feeling of dizziness that washed over him in waterfalls. His father was going to kill him.

“Shawn! Are you ok?” That was Gus’ voice. He knew that for sure. It had too much soul to be Lassie or his dad. He felt a set of knees dig into his side and his best friend’s face appeared above him, proving his suspicions.

“Gus,” he moaned. “Am I dead?”

Gus snorted. “You are when your dad gets a hold of you. You crashed the boat and it’s pretty wrecked. You’re also still bleeding a little, so try not to move too much.”

Shawn was only too happy to oblige. “What did we crash into?”

“It looks like we’re on an island or something. We’ve been a bit busy with you so none of us had any time to explore. Or really do much of anything.”

Shawn frowned and squinted at his best friend. “What do you mean ‘busy with me’? We just crashed.”

“You’ve been unconscious for a little over an hour, Shawn. We couldn’t wake you up so we made a sling for your arm and stopped the bleeding from your head. We’ve been taking turns trying to wake you up. Right now, Lassiter and your dad are walking the perimeter of the beach to make sure it’s safe or whatever,” explained Gus.

“Sling?” The psychic blinked at his partner a few times before he looked at his right arm. Sure enough, what used to be Lassie’s jacket was holding his arm at a ninety-degree angle. This gave him a full view of the jagged, white object that was jutting out of his skin. A sudden wave of pain and nausea overtook him and he closed his eyes. “I was ok with not knowing that my bone wasn’t happy with living inside of my arm anymore. Thanks for that, Guster.”

Gus rolled his eyes. “You were going to have to find out sooner or later and sooner is definitely better than later with these kinds of things.”

Shawn sighed. “Fine. Hey Gus?”

“Yeah?”

“Since we have a profuse lack of volleyballs, will you be my Wilson?”

“You must be outta your damn mind, Shawn. There is no one from that movie that I am willing to be, especially not the imaginary friend.”

“Wilson was not imaginary! That was a true and raw friendship, Gus!”

“I’m so glad to see you’re having a jolly old time,” interrupted Lassiter. He and Henry were standing by the boat looking none too amused. “I can’t believe you got us into this,” growled Lassiter as he examined the boat.

Shawn managed to wiggle himself into a sitting position. “Really, Lassie? Because my track record begs to differ. I appreciate the faith you have in me, though. It’s refreshing.”

“I take that back,” continued Carlton as if the younger man had never spoken. “Not only do I believe it but I am even beginning to expect it. You know, I really think that this is fun for you!”

“A broken arm and a mild-to-severe concussion is definitely not fun, Lassifer! You should be nicer to injured people.”

“Well you only have yourself to blame, Spencer. What were you even thinking? Do you even realize that we are always the ones that have to suffer because of your half-baked ideas? In every single moronic situation you manage to wheedle your way into, it’s everyone else who has to pay for your selfish decisions!”

“I’m pretty sure that this protruding bone and the drying blood holding in my brain is payment enough. I don’t even see a bruise on any of you! As for what you call ‘selfish’, I call it ‘awesome’. I like to think that I’m spicing up your lives. You’re welcome for that, by the way.”

“You are the only one who thinks that. I’m curious, though; do you ever shut the hell up?”

“That would be a negative,” quipped Shawn. “Scientific studies have proven that to be impossible.”

“Both of you need to stop,” snapped Gus. “This isn’t helping us at all. If we turn on each other now, we’ll never get home.” Shawn laughed and gave his best friend an incredulous look.

“Now? When were we ever on friendly terms with the Grumpy Gray Giant over there?”

“That’s it, injured or not I’m going to kick your ass!” Lassiter started over to where the ‘psychic’ was sitting and Shawn tried to force himself into a standing position so that he could defend himself.

“Enough!” yelled Henry. Everybody froze mid-motion. “We need to assess the damage and see what supplies we have left. In case you’ve forgotten, this is supposed to be a week long fishing trip; no one is going to have any reason to look for us so we’re on our own.”

Lassiter sighed and made his way onto the boat, followed by Gus. Shawn let himself slide back onto the ground as he watched the others get to work.

“We don’t have many supplies left. All of our food and first aid kits went overboard when our resident idiot decided to kill us all,” Lassiter said as he and Gus rummaged through the clutter of objects. “We have our fishing poles and our clothes, but everything else is pretty much gone.”

Henry nodded and stepped back to look at the head detective. “It’s not as bad as it seems. Thankfully, the damage is only to the front area. I have a repair kit in the front compartment on the boat; I could have it fixed in a few hours if we’re lucky.”

Gus stopped searching and looked at the elder Spencer. “And if we’re not lucky?”

“I suggest we try to be lucky. Carlton, did you find the kit? Good, get down here and help me patch up these holes.”

 “Dad?” Shawn’s uneasy voice permeated the air as Lassiter leapt onto the beach.

“Not now, Shawn.”

“But Dad, the-”

Henry grunted, but didn’t turn around. “I said not now. I’ve had enough out of you for today. You’re lucky I haven’t throttled you yet. I don’t want to hear another peep out of you unless I say so.” Shawn frowned but to his credit he didn’t say another word. He let the other three men continue in silence. Henry and Lassiter worked on correcting the damage while Gus organized the supplies that survived the crash.

Just as Henry had said, the boat was fixed in little more than two hours. Henry and Lassiter shook hands and Gus whooped as Henry climbed unto the boat to start it up. After a few moments, Henry frowned and looked at his companions in confusion.

“What’s going on?” questioned Gus.

“The key,” answered Henry. “I left it in the ignition and now it’s not here. Unless…” He narrowed his eyes at his son. “Do you have something you’d like to tell us?”

Shawn raised an eyebrow and smirked. “Am I allowed?”

“Stop being a smart-ass and spit it out. What did you do?”

 “I didn’t do anything. The monkeys took it. Well, they were either monkeys or really hairy pygmies. Either way, it’s gone.”

Lassiter looked at Shawn as if he grew another nose. “Exactly how hard did you hit your head?”

“I’m serious. I tried to tell you guys when you were fixing the holes in the boat but you kept shushing me. I have it under control, though. I made friends with a friendly little capuchin, I named him Abu, and he’s going to find it for us. I didn’t even know that those kinds of monkeys were around California, to be honest. Lucky for us he’s here, though, right?”

Henry hopped off of the boat and slowly made his way over to Shawn. He knelt in front of him, put a hand under his chin and tilted his head up. “Are you feeling ok, son? This is my fault, I should have checked for a concussion. I was just so mad about the boat. If you just tell us where the key is, we can get home and get you the medical attention you need.”

“I’m fine,” Shawn protested. “While I don’t deny the possibility of a concussion, I’m telling you the truth. Abu left a little under an hour ago, so he should be coming back any moment now.”

 Henry exchanged a look of concern with Lassiter and Gus before he focused on the smiling face of his son. “Shawn, there are no monkeys. None. I need to know what happened to that key. I’m not saying you took it, but maybe you saw it fall.”

“I did see what happened to the key, you just won’t believe me,” responded Shawn, smile still spread across his face. “I’m going to tell you one more time, so listen. The monkeys snuck onto the boat while you and Lassinanomus were fixing the boat. Gus was too busy avoiding whatever bait we have left to notice them snatching the key and they took off. Why is that so hard to believe?”

“Enough with the monkeys, Shawn,” demanded Henry. “They’re not real, so stop with the nonsense and tell us where the key is.”

“Abu!” shouted Shawn. A smallish monkey darted out of the woods and straight into the psychic’s lap. His companions looked on in disbelief as the capuchin handed Shawn a shiny silver object. Shawn scratched the monkey under the chin before it turned around and ran back into the forest.

“I cannot believe this,” muttered Lassiter, wide-eyed.

“Can I say ‘I told you so’ now or should I save it until later?” He tossed the key to his father and gave him a satisfied look.

 Henry laughed and shook his head, the events of the day almost already forgiven. “After we get you to a hospital, I’ll take you to any zoo that you want.”