I am so sorry that this is late. I could give you a thousand reasons why, but it's not any excuse because I should've had this done Tuesday. I had been writing it out by hand, so all I needed to do was type it out in Word. You can see how well that turned out. So, again, I'm so sorry that this is late, but with my schedule, it probably wasn't in my best interest to say 'Oh, I'll have this done by Tuesday.'

Well, um, Chapter 7 anyone?

Gus gets his own little thing, and this was SUPPOSED to have more Henry in it, but I didn't get that far. The chapter is short, but sets us up for a probably action-packed next chapter.

Also, if you look and squint VERRRY closely, you'll spot a small reference to another show again!


"What now?"

The question rang around Lassiter's head for a moment, before he shook it. "I have absolutely no idea at this point," he murmured. "You confessed to doing the murders on tape, which draws conclusive evidence straight to you. The only thing you could do is plead temporary insanity, in which case you'll get a full mental workup and be declared fit and tried for murder, unless we could, without a doubt, prove that you were on drugs and did this against your conscious will."

"Sounds like a lot of bull for a simple case," Shawn tried to joke, but the glare on Lassiter's face quashed that attempt. "Looks like we're going to France!"

Lassiter almost asked why, but then remembered the one recording when Shawn had spoken nothing but French. "They're going to see me leaving with two tickets as suspicious, you know," he said instead.

Shawn thought about it for a moment, then grinned. "I have an idea," he said.


The shrill ringing of Gus' cell phone was surprising, but not unexpected. He snatched it up and spoke into the microphone. "Hello, you've reached Burton Guster, pharmaceutical sales representative in the Santa Barbara area. How may I help you?" When you're a good undercover agent, you can't associate yourself with the people you're actually working for. You have to find a mundane job to front your operation.

"Gus, man! How are you?" a cheerful voice on the other end said.

"Shawn!" Gus nearly shouted, but kept it to a very small whisper so no one who happened to be listening (and there were several bugs in his apartment that he hadn't gotten around to 'exterminating' yet) would become suspicious.

"Dude, you remember me! That's so sweet!"

"No shit I remember you, Sherlock. You're at second on INTERPOL's Most Wanted List!" Gus had stepped outside quickly and was now walking down the alley to hop over the wall that separated his building's alley from the park.

"Only second? Come on, buddy, can't you get me higher than that?"

"Your mother."

To many, that would be an insult, and to Shawn it was as well. "Ouch. Well, that's OK then. I can be second to my mother. In fact, I prefer that, especially since I have a favor to ask…"

"No. No, no, no, and no." Gus said, a sinking feeling that he knew both what was coming and what the request was in the pit of his stomach.

"But it's for a good cause! Don't you want to help me and Lassie clear my good name?" Shawn whined.

"You did that to yourself, man, I am not getting in the middle of it. My director would freak out."

"But that's the beauty of it, he doesn't have to know!"

"I'm INTERPOL, not CIA, Shawn." Though sometimes there's not much difference. "I cannot and will not help you."

"Gus!"

Gus didn't hear anything after that, mostly because he had just hung up on his best, or former best, friend.


Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep…

Shawn stared at the phone blankly, then looked at Lassiter. "He hung up on me," Shawn said slowly, shock quickly taking over.

"To be honest, I'm not a damn bit surprised," Lassiter said evenly. "It's seven in the morning, and you've, intentionally or not, killed quite a number of people, and you two are, or are supposed to be, best friends."

"We are so fucked if we can't get to France," Shawn moaned, ignoring most of what Lassiter just said. "I know she's still there."

"Slow down," Lassiter said, narrowing his eyes. "Exactly who is in France that we need to get there?"

"Well, French people, obviously," Shawn said, grinning at his joke.

Yeah, got that one genius. Who else? But Lassiter didn't voice his thoughts.

"My mom, for another."

"What the hell does your mother-" Lassiter broke off as Shawn's eyes widened.

"Oh my God, Abigail's there. She was supposed to visit this week even though I was gone. Lassie," he said, eyes barely contained in his head. "We have to get there now. Abigail's alone with my mom."


Quick note before we go on, yes, this will be absolutely horrible later on. For now, though, there's still a little more to go in this chapter.


Gus felt horrible for hanging up on Shawn about five minutes after he did. But he was a spy, an undercover man, so he knew he couldn't afford to let Shawn ruin his entire career just to try to clear his name. But the more he thought about it, the more guilt built in his gut, and he couldn't focus as he went through the ruse of selling pharmaceuticals.

There's not a damn thing you can do to help him, his mind reminded him.

"I know, I know," he groaned to himself, well aware that he was talking to himself in the middle of the street. "But this is gonna eat me alive for ages."

The guilt stayed with him, building as he went through his morning routine. By the time he reached his fifth stop, he knew he couldn't keep thinking about it.

Dialing quickly, he held the phone to his ear impatiently, speaking as soon as somebody answered. "I know I said I couldn't do anything and I hung up on you, Shawn, but my immediate superior owes me one. We leave tomorrow, 8 AM. Get there on time."

Once again, he hung up, and wondered what he had just gotten himself into.


In case you didn't notice, it was a very minor reference to Burn Notice, in the part right after Gus says 'Hello, you've reached Burton Guster, pharmaceutical sales representative in the Santa Barbara area. How may I help you?' If you are unfamiliar with the show, it references it because Michael Westen makes several remarks such as these throughout the show, like little monologues explaining tidbits. It's a little hard to explain if you've never seen the show, but it is also on USA and is a very good show, I recommend it if you like Psych (well, duh, of course you like it, why else would you be reading this story?) as well as NCIS (either), CSI (any), Blue Bloods, etc.

So, this week's not gonna be much better than the last, so I'd have to say it's gonna be the weekend before I get a chance to update again, especially since we're performing the play this week. Hope you enjoyed, drop me a line sometime berating me for being late.