A/N: WOOOO I'M BACK! And I bring with me the longest chapter yet to hopefully, ahem, smooth things over (although it's only been a...what three month wait this time?...Yeah I know, still too long.)

So apologies for the wait but I decided to write the next chapter and got hit with PLOT. WHOA. It's bombarded me! YAY! So hopefully expect more updates soon as I am about to go write some more!

So I know it's been a while so here's a quick little refresher of things you need to know:
-Shawn and Juliet have this dare going where they can't kiss (I think for a week?). Neither have broken. YET. BAHA.

-Brooke Hayfield found her stepfather John Hayfield beaten up at the bottom of this slide that Shawn rode later. Shawn ended up unconscious at the end.

-John Hayfield married his new wife Elizabeth after 2 months of knowing her and there are rumors about financial motivations.

-The team is 'undercover' at a water park. Gus is suspicious of Shawn's odd behavior. No one knows about Shawn and Juliet's relationship. Shawn's still psychic. McNab is there, about to be subjected to some plan of Jules and Lassie yet to be revealed, in order to figure out what the heck is up with this death slide.

So that seems to be about it! Thanks for all the reviews/alerts/favorites/general support even though I probably don't deserve any of it! Also, I just spent an hour and a half writing this so I didn't really care to go back and edit (hopefully there aren't any giant mistakes, but tell me if ya spot something!) Sorry about that!

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Ya'll know this by now right? I don't own Psych at all. Or Water World. Or...snow cones?

Gus, snow cone in hand, was standing in the intense heat by the kiddie pool. He was beginning to wish he had sunglasses, in fact, the sun was so bright. He stared into the glimmering water, still trying to pinpoint to himself how exactly Shawn was different...but the sweet syrup from his snack was taking the edge off his curiosity..

"Mmmmmmmm!"

The sound of pleasure from Shawn broke into his thoughts.

"This snow cone is pure pleasure man!" Shawn was grinning as he looked up to his friend. "I mean seriously, how are all those vendors not millionaires by now? I would totally eat these 24/7 if I could-"

"You mean if you could use my credit card nonstop don't you? Oh wait! You already do." Gus was acting annoyed, but his heart wasn't in it. The summer heat seemed to soften his irritation. "Man though it's scorching out here!"

Shawn merely laughed. "Well maybe you should have gotten a chair in the shade," he motioned to himself, seated under an umbrella near the pool's edge. The last chair available.

"Come on, Shawn, you took the last one!"

"I won it fair and square," Shawn smirked. "And I'm pretty sure if you ask anyone they'll tell you only winners get to sit in the shady chair."

"You pushed me-" Gus began heatedly, but suddenly cut off. Shawn glanced around to see the reason but he stopped when his gaze fell on a little girl standing next to Gus.

"Hello mister?" The child tugged on Gus's swim trunks. "Do you have any money?"

Gus shot a confused look towards Shawn before kneeling down in front of the girl. She immediately adopted a pleading look.

"It's so hot, mister, and I was hoping to get a snow cone-" At this the girl shot a longing glance towards Shawn's half eaten snow cone.

Shawn grinned at his friend. "Oh come on, Gus." He leaned towards the little girl conspiratorially. "Gus loves to lend money to his friends."

The girl brightened and looked to Gus once more. "Well I'm Shanna Hayfield! I can be your friend, can't I?"

Shawn and Gus exchanged glances after hearing her name, but before either could respond to Shanna, a tall brunette interrupted, a scowl on her face.

"Shanna! What have I told you about talking to strangers?" Shanna's expression flipped immediately to one of irritation as well. "Go on, get back in the pool!"

And so with a little prompting, Shanna ran back into the water, muttering about the woman ruining everything.

The woman turned her glare to Shawn and Gus. "What do you think you're doing? Do you even have any kids?"

Gus gulped, but Shawn was quick.

Grabbing his friend's hand, Shawn pointed in the general direction of the pool. "Yep! Little Jimmy!" He shifted his gaze and directed his next words to the children. "Be careful Jimmy! Your daddies don't want you to get hurt!"

Gus ripped his hand out of Shawn's angrily but said nothing.

The woman was still suspicious, so Shawn hurried on. "So is Shanna your daughter?"

Her expression twisted. "No. She's my stepsister." Her irritation seemed to have faded though. "My name's Brooke, by the way."

Shawn smiled and stood. "I'm Shawn and this," he clapped his hand on Gus's shoulder, "is Gus."

Brooke Hayfield returned the smile, and shook Shawn's hand.

"Do you mind if we have a word with you, Brooke?" Gus asked eagerly. Brooke looked apologetic, saying she had to return to her stepsister, and just like that she was gone.

Shawn and Gus were walking, deciding to leave the kiddie pool behind for the day, Shawn thinking while Gus talked. Well, Shawn thought while Gus ranted.

"-really tired of you doing stuff like that Shawn! First she thinks we're creepers, and then BAM we're actually just gay!"

Shawn yawned pointedly. "Are you going to be done any time soon?" Gus opened his mouth angrily, but he steamrollered on. "In fact, Gus, you should be thanking me! Now she likes us, and we need her to solve this case!"

"You mean you need her to fool the police yet again into thinking you're psychic..." Gus muttered, but he couldn't deny that Shawn had a point.

"Anyway, I was thinking, wasn't that little girl totally weird?"

Gus frowned. "What do you mean? All she wanted was a snow cone. Seems normal to me."

"No no no Gus, you didn't see it. Those innocent "pity me" expressions she was shooting you? And the way she was so annoyed when her sister-"

"Stepsister, Shawn," Gus interrupted matter-of-factly.

Shawn glared. "Yes, alright, when her stepsister interrupted her." Shawn nodded sagely. "It seems to me that she was running a little con on you."

Gus was irritated once more. "So what, now I'm the guy that's so gullible a little girl can pull one over on me?" He shook his head. "Nope Shawn, she was reeling you in too."

Shawn sighed dramatically. "Fine Gus! She was hoping to trick both of us. Happy?" Gus shrugged, but was smirking. "My point is that she is a little con-artist in training. And she is Brooke's stepsister. Maybe that's a trick she got from her father. You know, the guy that was found half-dead this morning?"

"Ohhhhhh!"

Shawn nodded. "Exactly. Isn't it possible that daddy ran a con on someone who maybe wasn't as graceful about it as we were?"

Gus grinned. "And right there, that's motive."

Queue fist bump.

The two of them strolled a little further. In the silence, Gus returned to his thoughts about Shawn. He glanced over at his friend, trying to study him covertly.

"Whatcha doin' buddy?" Drat. Shawn caught him. Gus scrambled to come up with an excuse.

"Uh, that's, uh, a pretty nasty bruise Shawn."

Shawn grinned and nodded appreciatively. "Isn't it? The EMT guy said I must have hit my head on something...when I uh..." Shawn trailed off, apparently thinking hard. Gus waved a hand in front of Shawn's face.

"You still in there, Shawn?" And just like that Shawn snapped back, a stunned look on his face.

"Of course!" He clapped a hand to his forehead, immediately groaning when a sudden pain there reminded him of of the state his head was in. "Note to self; don't hit bruises."

"Shawn?"

"Right! Ugh I can't believe I overlooked it!" With an impatient cough, his attention was brought back to his friend. "Oh yeah sorry Gus!" He grinned. "I guess sometimes I forget you don't have," he raised a hand to his temple, "the gift."

Gus slapped Shawn's hand down, earning a pout. "Come on man!"

"Shawn!"

Shawn smiled again. "Okay sorry. So you know how I went on that slide?"

"Oh no, Shawn, I have no recollection of that whatsoever!" Gus muttered to himself sarcastically.

Shawn continued, ignoring him. "Well the EMT guy said I'd have a bruise on my forehead for a while, but I just assumed I hit it on the pool floor or something once I was out, but what if it's why I was knocked out?" He paused and turned towards Gus. "You said it was bad right?"

Gus studied the bruise once more. "Well yeah, it is."

"Bad enough for the hit that caused it to knock me out?"

Gus cocked his head, thinking. "Probably," he said finally.

Shawn jumped back, clapping his hands. "Aha! Then I think I know how old Johnny boy and I were hurt going down the slide!"

Shawn began to run off, but paused after Gus shouted to him.

"Shawn! Wait! Where're you going?"

Shawn grinned. "Gotta fact-check buddy!"

When Gus finally caught up to Shawn, the latter was using a pay phone that hung on a wall under an awning. Gus kneeled over, putting his hands on his knees while panting. He nodded to a nearby girl (a pretty girl, mind you) and held up a hand as if to say 'no, don't mind me' and slid down the brick wall to sit down on the ground next to the doors to the bathrooms.

"-are you sure he can't do anything?" Shawn sounded surprised. "Yes, sorry, I understand. Thanks anyway." He hung up the phone and plopped down next to Gus, who had caught his breath and wasted no time in bombarding Shawn with questions.

"Who were you talking to?"

Shawn glanced over at Gus. "Who that? Just the Chief."

"Why?"

"I wanted Woody to give me information about John Hayfield, but apparently Woody is a 'coronary'-"

Gus couldn't help himself. "You mean a coroner, Shawn."

"Yeah, that." Gus frowned, expecting the usual 'I've heard it both ways' response. "Anyway, Woody only deals with dead people -can you believe that? How morbid is that job?- and John Hayfield wasn't killed, just severely beaten."

Gus narrowed his eyes. "How'd you pay for the phone call, Shawn?" He was suspicious, and quickly made sure his wallet was still in it's little plastic bag (waterproof! They were at a water park) in his pocket.

Shawn looked affronted. "Why, Gus, it's not like I have no money!"

Gus raised an eyebrow and Shawn chuckled. "Alright fine, I got the cash from the lovely Melinda over there." He motioned to the girl Gus had nodded to, who was now walking away with a group of girls.

Gus was happy to see that Shawn seemed to be returning to his hyper, more chipper, personality, but there was no avoiding the faint guilt that seemed to taint Shawn's grin.

Something was definitely going on with Shawn, but Gus shoved that thought back, deciding to focus on the case at the moment.

Suddenly, Shawn was grinning fully once more, and he bounced to a standing position as Gus struggled to get to his feet.

"Alright, man, let's go find Lassie and Jules!" He rubbed his hands together and clapped once, before beginning to set off, apparently instantly in a much better mood.

"Shawn!" Once again, Gus found himself having to reign Shawn in. "What about 'fact-checking'?"

Shawn turned back to Gus, his expression falling slightly. "Ah, right, that." He smiled once more. "Well, I have an idea, buddy. You fact-check it for me?" Shawn looked so hopeful that Gus snorted before nodding his assent.

"Right so it goes like this..."

A/N: Quick note! Sorry this was all Shawn and Gus, but I had to get some things out of the way before going back to our heroic McNab! You'll see him next time, along with the rest of the gang as well. Should be fun, no?

If you review I'll be sure to send a nice thank you PM back, as I very much appreciate them all :)