The Psychic and His Tiger (Psych Fan Fic)

9. The Pup

"Dad?" Maddie called as she walked into the door. "Living room!" Shawn yelled. Maddie bit her lip and walked into view of him. "Okay, don't freak out... wait, what are you doing? Whose baby is that?" She asked. 

Shawn had a toddler in one hand, a rattle toy hooked on his ear, a video game remote in his other hand, a baby bottle propped against his chin, an old owl stuffed animal balanced on his leg, and only basketball shorts and tennis shoes on. He turned his head slowly, careful not to drop the bottle or the rattle toy. "Oh, hi!" He said, then his face turned into a frown. "Why the hell do you have a puppy in your hand?" He asked. 

"Um, I kind of won him at Corrinne's party." Maddie said awkwardly and set the bulky bernese mountain dog puppy on the floor. It immediately ran to Shawn and peed on his shoe. "God, I've already been thrown up on multiple times!" He groaned and started setting things down, including the baby girl. "What are you doing?" Maddie asked Shawn as he took off his shoe and sock. 

"Multi-tasking." Shawn said and rubbed behind the dogs ears. "Okay, but whose baby is that?" Maddie asked. Shawn picked up the puppy and set him on his bare chest, scratching him all over. "Chief Vicks. Her name is Iris. She asked me to babysit for a day, because she was going to be really busy today with cases and her usual nanny is sick." He said and the dog gave him big kisses all over his face. Iris started screaming and throwing the owl toy around. Maddie picked her up and placed her on her hip. 

"Stop playing with the puppy and help me." She said and started picking things up. Shawn set the dog on the ground and folded his arms. "Would you like to tell me how you won this dog?" He asked.

 Maddie sighed and set Iris on the ground next to the puppy. "So y'know how snooty and stuck-up Corrinne is? It's because she's spoiled. Anyway, she was giving away her dog's puppies as prizes for some of her stupid games, like pin the eyelash on the Corrinne, and 'who can find Corrinne's eyeliner first'. She had us play the eyeliner game because she lost her eyeliner and ran out of money on her credit card. Anyway, I won 'who can do the best makeup on Corrinne' game and got... him." She explained and pointed to the squishy dog that was sniffing around. Shawn grabbed the newspaper off the table and threw it on the ground, putting the puppy over it. 

"I guess we can keep him, unless he pees all over everything. We also have to hide him when the landlord comes every month." Shawn said. Maddie pumped her fist in the air. "Yessss!" She yelled and grabbed the startled puppy. He showed his teeth, but not in a bad way. It looked like he was smiling. Iris clapped her hands. 

"Here, I'll go and grab some stuff that he needs, you watch Iris and come up with some names for the pup. Gus'll be down here in about 25 minutes." Shawn said and brushed Maddie's hair out of her face, giving her a kiss on the forehead. He ran to the door. "Wait!" Maddie said as the baby clung to her leg, pulling on her shoelaces. 

"What?" Shawn asked. "You might want some clothes and another shoe." Maddie said and giggled. Shawn looked down at himself. "Oh. Right."

~~~

"Whatchya need, kid?" Henry asked over the phone. "Um, I kinda need your help." Maddie said. "What did you do?" "Um... I have a puppy and a baby here and Dad's not here and Gus isn't supposed to be here for 15 more minutes, and my leg really hurts, like, it's aching and its stinging, and I know you live only, like, 7 or 8 minutes away—" "Okay, okay, I'm coming. How the hell did you end up with a dog and a baby?" "It's a long story." Henry beeped off and Maddie put her phone down, brushing her hair out of her face. She had put the puppy under a laundry basket with newspaper and a giraffe squeaky toy that was the babies, and the baby was under another laundry basket with three toys and the stuffed animal owl. 

Maddie bit her lip as she looked at the dog's pee and poop on the ground and all the toys scattered on the floor. She impatiently waited for her grandpa to get there. There was a knock on the door. "It's open." She called and Henry rushed in, raising his eyebrows at the mess. He rubbed his hands together. "Okay, first thing first, get the dog and kid out from under those baskets. You're gonna be a horrible mother if you do that to your children. Strap the baby in the car seat and grab a rope or something to tie the dog to." He said and grabbed a handful of paper towels  from the kitchen, picking up the dog poo and soaking up the pee. He threw the towels in the toilet and ran back to Maddie, who was strapping the baby in her carseat. 

Henry opened some of Shawn's desk drawers and shut them, sighing. He walked into Shawn's room and came out with rope. Maddie groaned. "Ew. You found those in his room?" She asked as she grabbed the puppy and handed it to Henry. "Yeah yeah, we all know my son is disgusting. I'm gonna tie the dog outside, you start putting all the toys in the sink and put the one's that can't get wet in the laundry room." Henry instructed and walked outside, tying the rope around the dog's neck loosely. He tied the other end to the leg of Shawn's random picnic table that was sitting in one of the three parking spaces. Gus pulled up and got out of the Blueberry. 

"Mr. Spencer? What are you doing here? And... with a puppy?" Gus questioned. "Uh, Maddie somehow got a puppy. I'm helping her clean up the office." Henry said distractedly. The puppy flopped onto his side and stuck his tongue out. "What do you mean, 'clean up the office'?" Gus asked. "Um, I-I don't know, Maddie had a baby and a dog in there and they made a big mess." 

"Chief's baby." Gus whispered and ran inside. "Maddie?" He called and Maddie looked up from the sink. "Oh. Gus. I'm sorry, I really tried to keep it clean, but Shawn was watching Chief Vick's baby and I got a puppy at Corrinne's party, long story, and, um, it ended in disaster, and my legs really hurts, and Dad's at the store getting stuff for the dog, and so I called Grandpa to help and he came down and now there's this." Maddie said, out of breath from her long explanation. 

There was a faint beep and Maddie groaned, looking at her pump. "I have to eat something. God, could this day get any more annoying?" She whined. (A/N: Remember, she has diabetes? I haven't talked about that in this book since, like, chapter 2 or something lol)

"Maddie?" Shawn yelled in the house. "Living room!" Gus yelled back as Maddie grabbed a banana and peanut butter. Shawn walked in, bags hooked on the crook of his arms and a collapsible dog kennel in one hand, a giant bag of dog food in the other. He set the bags on the ground and put his hand on Gus' head. 

"What the hell are you doing, Shawn?" Gus asked and grabbed Shawn's wrist, pulling it off of his head. "I'm disappointed in you, Gus. I have told you before that if my father ever comes here, you are to smack him in the head with a pineapple and stick his lifeless body in the ocean!" Shawn scoffed. Gus gave Shawn a look. "I am never hitting your dad in the head, Shawn. Or disposing of his body. Besides, Maddie's the one who brought him down here." Gus said. 

"Dispose of whose body?" Henry asked as he walked in, the puppy in his hands. "Get your hands off of Bruce, Dad." Shawn said and pulled the dog out of Henry's hands. Shawn cooed at the dog and made kissy sounds. "Since when was his name 'Bruce'?" Maddie asked as she finished off her food. "Since I decided in the car on the way here." Shawn said and scratched behind the dog's ears. 

"Well, I think his name should be Finn." Maddie said and pulled the dog out of Shawn's grip. "His name is Bruce. Isn't it, Bruce?" Shawn cooed to the dog and tried pulling him back. "Stop, you're gonna split it in half." Henry said and grabbed the dog. "Ooh, I call his front, then." Shawn said. "He's my dog!" Maddie protested. "No, not unless we call him Bruce." Shawn insisted. 

"Shawn, stop acting like a child and let your kid name the damn dog." Henry said. "I'm not acting!" Shawn yelled. "How about you put him in the middle of the room and whoever he comes to gets to name him." Gus suggested. "That's a wonderful idea, Gus. Isn't it, Bruce?" Shawn murmured. Henry held the dog. "Maddie, sit over there, Shawn, sit right here." Henry instructed. Shawn plopped the the floor and Maddie sat criss-cross across the room. 

"On your mark... get set..." Henry started and set the dog on the ground. "Go!" "Brucie! Bruce... come to dada! C'mere!" Shawn said in a high-pitched voice. "Come here, Finn baby! Come sweetie! Come here! Finn! Finn!" Maddie cooed. The dog looked back and forth confusingly. Maddie suddenly had an idea. She started breathing out of her mouth really hard. The dog raised his head in the air, sniffing in her direction. He toddled over and jumped onto her lap. 

"She-she cheated! She used peanut butter!" Shawn protested. "Ohh, good boy, Finn! Good boy!" Maddie said, then looked at Shawn smugly. "It's my secret weapon." She sneered. Shawn grabbed one of the bags and pulled out a red collar. "But I already put Bruce on the tag..." He whined.