memories, psych [ 1 ]

chapter eighty-one

Vanessa is sitting at her desk in the psych office and mindlessly flipping through one of the magazines they have laying around.

Gus and Shawn are standing near her desk and quietly arguing over who should fire the assistant they hired four days ago.

"You do it." Shawn whispers.

"You do it." Gus orders.

"I don't fire people well. You know that." Shawn says.

"You wanted the assistant." Gus says. "He's the only one who would take the job."

"What does that say about us?" Shawn asks. "We'll do good cop, bad cop."

"Who's bad cop?" Gus asks.

"You. You're the unscrupulous, penny pinching boss with a chip on your shoulder and mommy issues." Shawn says. "I'm the nurturing confidant type, who's like, "Dude, Gus is a jerk, but I've got your back. Together we'll take that sucker down.""

"Nope."

"Why doesn't Nessy fire him?" Shawn asks, the two turning to the blonde.

"No. No, I did not want anything to do with this. I am staying out of this. I am still on my break." Vanessa states.

"Still?" Shawn asks.

"Yes." Vanessa nods. Shawn gives her a concerned look which she rolls her eyes at, turning her attention back to the magazine.

"Together, then." Shawn tells Gus.

"Fine." Gus agrees.

"Ken!" Shawn calls to him.

~ ~ ~

"And it turns out, business is just a little slower than expected." Shawn says.

"You guys hired me four days ago." Ken says.

"Much slower." Gus says.

"They're idiots. I'm sorry." Vanessa says.

"I thought you were staying out of it." Shawn says.

"I am. I am fully able to state a fact, though." She retorts.

"The thing is, my dad got a job at the police station, right? So we assumed that we'd get more cases." Shawn says.

"He assumed." Gus corrects. "I called this from a mile away."

"I did too." Vanessa adds.

"Zip it." Shawn hisses at her. "And exactly. Wait." He seems to realize something. "Holy crap, you're doing good cop."

"I know." Gus says.

~ ~ ~

"Think of it like Santa Barbara's having a slow news day, but with murder and stuff." Shawn says.

"And like the real estate market, crime will always trend upwards." Gus says.

"The only thing we know for sure, it's gonna pick up." Shawn says.

"And that real estate is a sound long term investment." Gus says.

"But mostly that crime's gonna pick up. And that's a guarantee." Shawn says.

"Oh, my God. Does it take you guys a week to fire somebody? God." Vanessa stands up and walks over. "Ken, I'm sorry, but Shawn got in over his head and made a wrong decision. You're fired. Thank you for your days of work, I hope you find another job quickly, have a good life."

Vanessa marches off.

"That's not staying out of it." Gus comments.

"Shut it, Burton!" The blonde yells back.