AN: If you'll notice the time for the first part…Shawn slept really late in the day because he and Lassie were up really late the night before if you catch what I'm tossing ya ;D

Last time on 'In the Midst of This Danger':

Their proximity, feeling Shawn's breath on his lips, his hand on his hip, it was just too much for Carlton. It was time to throw caution to the wind and just give in.

Lips collided and tongues twirled against each other as if they were dancing. As it got more heated Carlton hiked Shawn up in his arms so that he had to wrap his legs around his waist and as Carlton carried Shawn to the bedroom he couldn't think of anything except getting their clothes off and finally having what his dreams had been taunting him with.

~*~

2:36pm July 4th, 2009 About seven hours ago

When Shawn woke up he figured that it was finally time to kick Carlton out of the bedroom because the couch was entirely too lumpy for his preferences. Then he realized that he wasn't on the couch, he was on the bed (which was surprisingly a lot worse than the couch). Stretching as he sat up he thought that Carlton had fallen asleep on the couch thus leaving him the bed but then the events of the night before flooded his mind.

He remembered the way Carlton kissed him, remembered the way he felt against him, in him. He remembered the way he moaned Carlton's name as he came. Mostly though, Shawn remembered the sparks that ran up his spine when Carlton had breathed his name against his neck.

He glanced down beside him then all around the room but Carlton wasn't there. He wasn't exactly sure why but Shawn knew that it wasn't a good sign. He threw on some boxers, pants, and a shirt that he saw laying on the floor before he made his way out of the bedroom.

He found Carlton sitting on the couch staring at the blank TV and slowly approached him.

"Hey Lassie." He said tentatively but Carlton didn't even look at him.

"Shut up Spencer." Shawn winced at the tone but it didn't deter him.

"Look Lassie we should probably talk about-"

"There's nothing to talk about Spencer. It was a mistake." Carlton said quickly and had it been anyone else Shawn wouldn't have cared. But this wasn't some nameless face from some nameless bar that he'd had sex with last night, it was Carlton and Shawn really didn't want to be his mistake.

He walked over to stand in front of Carlton before he spoke.

"You know, you were just as enthusiastic as I was last night Lassie and-" Again, he was interrupted.

"It was a moment of weakness. It meant nothing." With that Carlton finally looked him in the eye.

It meant nothing. Those three words pierced Shawn as though they were a finely sharpened blade. He was half tempted to look down at his chest to look for blood. Carlton had said it with such conviction that Shawn damn near believed it. He knew it wasn't true though. Carlton proved that to him last night with one little word.

"Okay," Shawn started as he slid on his shoes. "I can see that you're still going through you little heterosexual freak out so I'm gonna take a walk and leave you to it."

He started to leave but paused at the door, his hand hanging loosely on the door handle. Without looking back at Carlton he spoke.

"If it had really meant nothing Carlton you wouldn't have called me 'Shawn' last night."

And with that he left.

5:24pm July 4th, 2009 About four hours ago

Conner hid behind a tree keeping a safe distance from the police officer that was guarding the entrance to the dirt road that lead to the cabin. Even though Tony had been caught Conner knew he didn't have much of a choice but to kill Detective Lassiter and the psychic anyway. They knew who he was. They knew how he'd killed that family. Hell, the whole department knew. There was no way he could just leave it. He had to kill them.

Well, he figured he would've killed them anyway. Conner knew he had a problem but he didn't care. He knew he was a sick son of bitch but it was almost exhilarating to him. It was a huge adrenaline rush, not just the killing but the fact that he's never been caught for it.

When he was ten his father left and his mom turned to booze to help mend her broken heart. Shortly after that his mother began seeing him as the thing that drove her beloved husband away. Some days she couldn't even look at him. Conner was thankful for those days because in his mind one couldn't hit what one wasn't looking at. He was sure that had he seen a therapist or some shit he would've grown up differently but the fact of the matter is he didn't and by the age of fourteen he was going around lighting his neighbors' animals on fire.

Conner knew this plan would work and sure as rain when he lit the firecracker and threw it deep into the woods the officer on guard took out his gun and left his position to investigate. Making sure the cop was well out of sight Conner started his trek up the dirt road.

7:47pm July 4th, 2009 One hour and twenty-eight minutes ago

Looking back on it Carlton knew he could've been a little nicer to Shawn earlier. He knew Shawn was right, what he'd said before he'd left.

If it had really meant nothing Carlton you wouldn't have called me 'Shawn' last night.

There was no way that what took place the night before had meant nothing to him. It meant absolutely everything to him. And given the look in Shawn's eyes earlier it had meant something to him too. It wasn't just some one time deal to him as Carlton had originally thought.

When Carlton woke up with Shawn next to him sprawled out across the bed he thought that Shawn would see what they did as nothing more than a one night stand. It hurt to think like that but he was sure that it was inevitable. So he did the only thing he could do; he put his defenses up and told Shawn that it meant nothing, that it was a mistake.

Though Shawn didn't know it Carlton saw the hurt look in his eyes before he left and not even five seconds after that Carlton made a vow to himself to never be the one to put that look there ever again.

He stood up and sighed hoping that when Shawn came back he would accept his apology but that hope quickly turned to fear when he turned around and saw Conner Forbes standing before him.

8:02pm July 4th, 2009 One hour and eleven minutes ago

Juliet and Gus sat in the interrogation room along with Tony and his lawyer.

Gus had arrived at the station not too long ago after Juliet had called him and told him that she'd caught Tony the day before but that he wasn't cooperating. She said that maybe he could get Tony to start talking. At first Gus was all for it, he wanted Shawn back after all (he was becoming all too bored without his best friends antics) but sitting in the same room as Tony was beginning to make Gus angry.

This man (if you could call him that) had made it so he couldn't see his best friend. Gus hadn't seen Shawn for a month now and he missed him.

"Where's Forbes Tony?" Juliet asked but Tony just smirked.

"I've been advised by my lawyer here not to speak. Sorry sweetheart."

Gus watched as he leaned back in his chair looking six different shades of smug. Just breathing the same air that Tony was breathing made Gus see red.

"Do you have a brother Mr. Giordano?" Gus asked quietly with narrowed eyes, vaguely curious as to why Tony's face grew hard upon hearing him.

"Had one, why?"

"While Shawn and I aren't actually biologically related, he's like – no – he is my brother. We've been best friends for longer than I can remember." Gus paused to lean into Tony's personal space, his eyes hard and narrowed, before he took on a calm yet venomous whispering tone.

"If you don't tell me where Conner Forbes is and my brother dies because of that, consequences be damned, I'll kill you myself and I won't be quick about it either."

Gus leaned back into his seat and then continued.

"And if you think that just because I work with the police means that I won't make good on that treat then you'd better think again."

Gus smirked slightly as he watched Tony grow pale.

"Me and Forbes were supposed to head out to that cabin you guys got your boys hidden in around five today. Knowing that psycho they're probably already dead."

Juliet and Gus both shared a panicked look before quickly jumping up and leaving the room nearly knocking a few people over in their mad dash to get to Juliet's car and as they pulled out of the parking lot and sped down the road they prayed that they wouldn't be too late.

9:13pm July 4th, 2009 Presently

Shawn slowly opened the door to the cabin expecting…well, he wasn't quite sure what he was expecting really. Was he expecting to find Carlton sitting on the couch with a scotch in his hand staring into the empty fireplace as he has for the past month? Was he expecting Carlton to greet him with a fist to the jaw? After what happened last night and the way Carlton acted this morning Shawn thought he had the latter coming to him. Walking into the cabin a part of him even expected to find the place completely empty but out of all the things that Shawn was expecting to find, a bound and gagged Carlton Lassiter strapped to dozens of large fireworks and explosives certainly wasn't one of them.

"Carlton!" Shawn shouted. It wasn't until a split second later when he felt an immense pain in his shoulder that he saw another man in the room.

"Come any closer and the next bullet will tear into your kneecap." He warned.

Gripping his shoulder in pain Shawn looked up and at first he didn't know who the guy was. It took him a couple moments to recognize him as one of Tony's partners. Shawn remembered seeing his picture on Juliet's desk a couple hours after they had talked to Jack and Nolan. His name was Conner Forbes and he was the one who had murdered that family on Shelton Drive.

A muffled screaming sound tore him from his thoughts and he glanced over at Carlton. He was sitting on the couch and strapped to his ankle were the explosives and fireworks just itching to be ignited.

"Lassie, you know I don't speak Gagnese but I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that you want some tacos . I don't blame you, I'm feeling very Mexican right now so after this we'll go get something from Taco Bell."

Annoyed, Forbes aimed the gun and fired.

Okay, screw Fearless Guster, Protective Guster is the badass!! So this has got to be my longest chapter yet. That's kind of cool. I think I liked the way this chapter turned out. Anyway, I hope you guys liked it as well.

-Squeedle