So, my first cross over and I hope you all enjoy. I'm doing this one a little differently in that I'm updating as I write (whereas normally I write the whole thing then update) so updates may be sort of slow (reviews may speed up my writing process, hint hint).

Enjoy :)

"Shawn this is ridiculous!"

"No. What's ridiculous is you believing this is ridiculous. I mean, what could be more ridiculous?"

"That sentence is what's ridiculous."

"No. The word ridiculous is what's ridiculous. Ridiculous. Rid-ic-u-lous. Ridiculo..." Shawn said, sounding at the word in his mouth

"Shawn!"

"Alright Gus! And what, pray tell is ridic... foolish about this plan?"

"There's no way we're going to pass for art experts. Neither of us knows anything about art!"

"The security guard isn't going to know that," Shawn stated as he approached the security guard, a young, dark skinned man standing, obviously bored, with his hands behind his back. "Excuse me Mr... Gale," he said, reading the name off his security tag. "My name is Shawn Spencer and this is my partner Lance Lionel Lexignton, one 'x', one 'o'. We are the art authenticators."

"Art authenticators?" Gale asked.

"Yes indeed. We came here from New Orleans to authenticate art in an authoritative, expert and artistic manner," he replied, adding flair to the word 'artistic'."

The guard paused for a moment as he pondered, then reached for a set of visitor's badges and handed them over.

"Ridiculous you said?" Shawn whispered mockingly as they walked inside.

"It's still ridiculous!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Shawn stared, making faces, at the unusual piece of 'art' lying before him. He stared at it from several angles before he finally made a definite judgement.

"Yup, definitely ridi.."

"Don't say ridiculous!" Gus interrupted. "You've overused it."

"You're the one who started it," Shawn complained childishly.

"You must be our authenticators?" A British voice came from across the gallery, preventing Gus from making a similarly childish remark.

"Uh, yes!" Shawn replied. "They were actually expecting authenticators?" he whispered to Gus.

"I told you this was a bad idea," he replied.

"Yup, that's us. Shawn Spencer," he said pointing to himself. "And Lance Lionel Lexington," he said pointing at Gus. "And you?"

"Georgia Myers, Interim Curator. And what an interesting name mister Lexignton," she commented offhandedly.

"Interim?" Gus enquired.

"Yes, the permanent curator is... indisposed," she replied. "But no matter. I'll take you to the piece I'd like you to authenticate."

She led them through a series of hallways as Gus mumbled under his breath. This wasn't their plan for the day; their plan was to go and check out the museum's security, which had the same system as a case they were working on, to find any holes in the way it worked (they hadn't, yet). Instead, Shawn's big mouth, over-active imagination and tendency to exaggerate had caused them to be in what was turning out to be a giant mess. What upset Gus most was that this was business as usual.

The curator led them to what appeared to be some sort of preservation room, where they kept the undisplayed paintings. She directed their attention to a medium sized canvas.

"That's a Van Gogh self-portrait," Gus stated enamoured not so much with its artistic beauty but with its sheer fame.

"We hope so," the curator stated. "This particular painting was stolen several years ago and has just recently resurfaced. We want to make sure it's legitimate before we announce anything."

"Well," Shawn staring intensely at the piece. "I can say that I'm one hundred percent sure that that's probably the original."

The woman's mouth opened slightly. Surprise? Shawn thought. Why would she be surprised?

"Your quite sure Mr Spencer, Mr Lexington. We wouldn't want the museum to look like a ridiculous sham would we?"

"No, we certainly don't want anything ridiculous, do we Lance?"

"No we do not," Gus replied, annoyed that Shawn had gotten him into a, for want of a better word, ridiculous amount of trouble, even if neither of them knew just how much trouble yet.

"Unfortunately, Miss Myers, I am not an expert in Van Goff.."

"Van Gough," both Gus and Myers corrected simultaneously.

"I've heard it both ways. But, as I was saying, clearly not an expert as evident by my mispronunciation of the artists name. So, in my expert opinion, I suggest that you find a Van Gough expert to evaluate the legitimacy of your painting."

"I'm confused. Aren't you the experts we called in?"

Shawn and Gus exchanged glances.

"No, we are here by pure happenstance," Shawn stated as he began to back towards the door.

"A coincidence," Gus added, following suit. "We were just here to enjoy some art."

"But you said to security that you were here to authenticate some art?" she questioned as she rubbed her ear.

"A misunderstanding," Gus laughed.

"Exactly!" Shawn said enthusiastically, throwing his arms in the air for effect. "When said we were here to authenticate some art we meant for FUN! By coming and looking at the art you had on display!"

"Keep our skills sharp," Gus continued.

The woman let out a deep sigh as she rubbed her temples.

"Forget it!" she yelled, exacerbated. "I'm calling Maggie!"

"Good for you," Shawn stated. "You call that Maggie! Now, if you don't mind, my colleague and I will be on our way, we have work to attend to."

The curator, already on her phone, waved them off and Shawn and Gus were left to find their own way back to the museum floor.

"Well that couldn't have gone worse," Gus stated.

"What do you mean Gus! We just gained a unique opportunity! We got to see a Van Gogh!"

"You don't really care about Van Gogh Shawn. You couldn't even pronounce his name!"

"True, but we did get to check out the security system from the inside."

"And?"

"And our client is innocent."

"Good, now can we go tell Lassie and get our pay check?"

"And pineapple smoothies!"