A/N: Prepare for feels.

TW: Emotional manipulation.

Rhianna smiled, the expression not quite reaching her eyes, "I would like to discuss a mutually beneficial arrangement-"

Gus shut the door in her face, locking it for good measure.

Rhianna knocked again and he braced his back against the door as he pulled his phone out, ready to call for help if she tried to force her way in. He knew he was being paranoid; he was a good head taller than her, she wasn't going to be trying to brute force anything.

Rhianna called through the door, "Burton, if you don't let me in, I'll just say what I have to say out here… I don't think either one of us wants that."

"Go away!" Gus called back, trying to keep his voice strong as memories pushed in from the last time he'd heard her voice.

Rhianna spoke louder, her voice carrying easily through the door and down the hall, "Three months ago you underwent a groundbreaking experimental procedure, a procedure that made you-"

Gus cursed as he unlocked the door and flung it open.

"Fine." He spat out, standing to the side so she could enter his apartment. A door down the hallway opened and an old lady peeked out, blinking owlishly at Gus. He smiled at her and softened his voice, "It's ok Mrs. Smith, you can go back to bed."

His neighbor looked him over in confusion before closing the door with a large yawn. Gus sighed and closed his door, making sure to always keep Rhianna in sight. He leaned back and crossed his arms, "Why are you here?"

Rhianna looked around the apartment curiously, "I sent you several letters and never received a response. I decided it was time to try a different approach."

"I responded to your first letter." Gus replied coolly, "I'm pretty sure I remember my exact words. 'Leave me the hell alone.'"

"Have you had to change any of your living conditions since you gained your psychic abilities?" Rhianna asked, clearly ignoring his response.

Gus clenched his jaw, determined to get the conversation over with as fast as possible, "What do you want?"

Rhianna turned and studied him, her glasses magnifying her pale eyes. She answered his question earnestly, "I want what I've always wanted, Burton: to understand how our mind works, to find ways to improve it, and to do my part to change the world."

"That's bullshit and you know it." Gus growled out, "You want to be right, and you want everyone to know you're right. Everything else is secondary."

"I was right." She said proudly, "Everyone has psychic potential, you are proof that we only need a way to unlock it. Imagine how much better the world would be if everyone was able to see each other like you can!"

"I'm not helping you." Gus said flatly, refusing to flinch at the echo of the crazy scientist's justifications.

Rhianna sighed as her electrodes pulled in frustration, "Burton, how many people had to die for you to be standing here today? Don't you owe it to them to continue the research? Make their sacrifices worthwhile?"

Gus did flinch then and she adjusted her glasses smugly. He clenched his jaw, refusing to answer the question.

An idea suddenly popped into his head. It was a long shot, but if it worked it would get her out of his life for good. "The procedure didn't work; it was all for nothing. I can't read minds, never could. I was lying last time so I wouldn't get poisoned again."

Rhianna shook her head, "Don't insult my intelligence. I saw you using your abilities. You knew what your friend was saying even though he was gagged, you read my mind, your answers lined up perfectly with my research…"

"I guessed what my friend was saying because it helped keep both of us calm. I remembered your birthday from a web search. And I read your paper, so I knew what answers you'd expect." Gus lied easily, having already said most of the same things in his statement to the police.

Rhianna squinted her eyes in thought as the electrodes pulled nervously, "You didn't just know my birthday, you knew when I was thinking it."

Gus forced himself to roll his eyes, pushing back memories of blood dripping down Shawn's neck, "I'm a salesman. Reading people is part of my job."

"Lying is part of the job too." Rhianna pointed out mildly, "You must be a very good salesman."

When Gus didn't respond she sighed and continued, "Very well, if you aren't psychic then you shouldn't have a problem with giving me a copy of any brain imaging you've had in the last few months. You had a head injury, I know they would have taken scans for it."

"I'm not giving you anything!" Gus glared at her, knowing full well that his MRI showed several anomalies in his brain.

Rhianna sighed, "Burton, I understand your reluctance, but I'm not your enemy…"

"Would you stop with that?" Gus snapped, letting his anger bleed into his words. "The whole 'use their first name so they think you're friends' routine works a hell of a lot better if you're using the right name. Though I'll give you points for effort, at least it's better than 'the acquired.'" He used finger quotes around the term she had started using for him in the basement.

Rhianna frowned in annoyance, "In case you forgot, I was kidnapped too. Jeffery had my phone, he had my keys, he had a gun… I didn't have a choice-"

Gus cut her off, "You had plenty of choices. You made the wrong ones. Deal with it and leave me alone."

"Saving your friend was the wrong choice?" Rhianna asked pointedly.

"You saved Shawn so you could run more tests on him. That's not a moral high ground." Gus answered, his hands gripping his arms tightly as he remembered the sheer terror of that moment.

She narrowed her eyes, "Would you have preferred I didn't save him? I did the best I could."

Gus felt a rush of anger at her words and narrowed his eyes, speaking with a quiet fury, "Apple pie."

Rhianna tightened her jaw and the smell of lilies faltered. He snorted and put as much derision into his voice as he could, "I've climbed out of my fair share of windows… it would have taken less than two minutes for you to get out and start running to the road. He wouldn't have even noticed; he was having too much fun cutting into me and Shawn."

"I didn't know what was happening." Rhianna answered just as quietly, electrodes pulling in justification, "For all I knew, he was going to be coming up the stairs right behind me."

"And here I thought you didn't want your intelligence insulted. Last I checked, old houses make a lot of noises, but yells of pain aren't one of them." Gus growled out, trying to ignore the phantom stinging in his scars.

"I didn't-" Rhianna cut herself off, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. Gus tucked his hands further under his arms and looked closer at her thoughts, seeing the memory she was trying to push back.

He was sitting at a neat kitchen table, a large journal open in front of him with his own notes on brain synapses set off to the side. It was truly remarkable how much the other scientist had managed to learn with so few test subjects. He jumped as he heard a loud cry rise from the stairs. The sound was quickly muffled and he sighed, looking back down at the book.

The men downstairs should have just listened and done as they were told, it didn't have to be like this. He winced as he heard a quieter groan, remembering the look in the acquired psychic's eyes as he had begged for help. He shook his head, dismissing the memory as he adjusted his glasses. The chance to learn how to unlock the full potential of the human mind was priceless, it could literally change the world. Surely that was worth the price of a couple of convicts' lives.

He had a thought and quickly grabbed his own notebook, flipping it open to a diagram of a brain. There had to be something in the journal that would help him find where the psychic receptors were located…

Gus opened his eyes and snorted again, ignoring the look Rhianna was giving him, "Yeah, you knew exactly what was going on. You just didn't care. Anything could happen to us as long as it meant you could get your answers." He spat out the words, "Quick, clear, thorough. I'm not going to give you what you want. Stop trying."

"And how would you have known that if you hadn't read my mind?" Rhianna asked as the electrodes vibrated in victory.

Gus opened the door as he growled around his fury. "Get out."

Rhianna shook her head, "I can't do that. This work can change the world and you're a key part of making that happen. The first man-made psychic. I had hoped we could do this the easy way and work together. It doesn't have to be like last time."

Gus tensed, fear quickly joining his anger as he watched her hands to make sure she wasn't reaching for a weapon. He pulled his phone back out of his pocket, "I have the head detective of the SBPD on speed dial. Get out or he'll arrest you for trespassing."

"You invited me in." She reminded him calmly, not moving. "And you don't want to involve the police."

He met her eyes as his thumb hovered over the button that would call Lassiter, "Why not?"

"Because I know Shawn Spencer isn't a psychic."

Gus' stomach jumped with nerves even as he forced out a laugh, "Maybe Shawn's right. Maybe insanity is contagious. Didn't you just tell the police a few months ago that both of us were psychics?"

"Yes, I did." Rhianna agreed evenly, "And then I looked you two up once I was finally allowed to go home. Several of his 'visions' have been caught on tape and put on the web… He does a good act, but it doesn't make sense with anything I know to be true of the psionic potentials of our minds. He's a fake. And you don't want people to know."

Gus kept his face as neutral as he could, "I guess your research is wrong then. Shawn's the psychic, not me. The police won't listen to you."

"Are you sure? You two were already arrested for it once; it would be a shame if that were to happen again…"

Gus clenched his jaw and debated whether or not to call Lassiter. He was fairly sure the detective wouldn't jump at the first chance to arrest Shawn anymore, but the possibility was definitely still there.

Rhianna smiled at his hesitation, "All I'm asking for is a few scans and interviews, nothing that's worth throwing your friend's life away. I'll let you think it over." She pulled out a blank business card with a phone number written on it and laid it on the table next to his couch. "I expect to hear from you by this time tomorrow. Have a good night Mr. Guster."

She nodded at him and waltzed out the open door; it took all of Gus' self-control to not slam it on her as she left. He locked the door and leaned up against it, resting his head against the wood. He let himself relax and shakes started to run through his body as he whispered to himself, "Shit."

One thing was for sure, he definitely wasn't getting any sleep tonight.

*ding*

Gus looked up from his book and checked the clock, noting that it was just a little after seven. He grabbed his phone, glad that at least Shawn had been able to get a full night's sleep, and read the text: "Another body, I'm with Jules, meet us."

Gus raised an eyebrow and stared at the phone, hoping that the intentional silence would get his point across. A couple minutes later a second text dinged with the address and a snarky response: "Way to use your words."

He smirked and texted back: "Why use words when silence works better? See you there."

He grabbed his things as his phone dinged with another text. He knew it was all in his imagination, but even the notification sounded grumpy: "Silence is gross."

Gus nodded his head to the side in concession and sent out an olive branch: "You eat yet?"

"Not even awake yet."

"I'm grabbing coffee, what do you want?"

Gus locked up his apartment and made his way to his car, his phone continually dinging as Shawn kept adding to his order. Gus finally cut off the list: "Food costs money. Pick three."

"I can't pick favorites, what will the others think?"

Gus rolled his eyes and tossed his phone to the seat next to him as he started the car. He was on the road by the time Shawn texted again with his choices and a parting shot: "And you get to tell the blueberry muffins why you don't love them."

Gus followed the directions on his phone and found himself at a small park. He climbed out of his car as Shawn walked up, smirking, "I can't believe you ordered blueberry muffins for yourself just because you felt sorry for them."

Gus looked down, quickly brushing the damning crumbs from his shirt, "I did not! I was going to order them anyway."

"Uh huh," Shawn replied, unconvinced. He took the bag of food offered to him and rummaged through it as he led Gus to the crime scene. "Same as the last one. You dream about it again?"

"Nah, didn't sleep." Gus shook his head at Shawn's questioning look, "I'll tell you later."

Shawn scanned him quickly, thoughts ponging in slight concern, before shrugging and pulling out a container of mini-cinnamon rolls.

They walked up to the crime scene tape and Gus looked over the new body. The dead man was slightly older than the last victim; his tough features and large muscles immediately earned him the designation of 'grunt' in Gus' mind. The bruise on his neck was accompanied by bruises on his face and knuckles; he didn't go down without a fight. The electrical burns and the bullet hole showed how the struggle ended.

Lassiter was kneeling next to the body, lifting up a wrist so the C tattoo was clearly visible, "This is going to be a problem…"

Juliet looked around, scanning the area, "Same as last time, no signs of a struggle, the body was dumped where it would be found quickly…"

"Yeah, but it's more populated than last time… Whoever this is wants their message heard."

"What message would that be?" Shawn called out, "I can't come to the phone right now… Dare to say no… Wet paint."

Lassiter groaned at the voice, gunpowder spiking in annoyance, "O'Hara…"

"He was there when I got the call!" Juliet responded defensively.

Lassiter sighed and walked up to Shawn and Gus, his nose wrinkling when he saw the nearly empty tub of food. "You brought a snack to a crime scene? What, is this some kind of picnic for you?"

Shawn replied cheerfully, "Lassie, why ask questions you already know the answer to? Of course we brought food to a crime scene, it's part of my process."

"Your process of annoying me to death?"

"What? No." Shawn tutted and looked at Lassiter in disappointment, "If you could have been annoyed to death then it would have already happened. I'm annoying you to life."

"What does that even mean?" Gus couldn't help but ask.

Shawn shrugged, "I dunno. It sounded cool though."

Juliet rolled her eyes, pop rocks fizzling in fond exasperation, "Shawn…"

"Oh hey Jules, want a mini cinnamon roll?" Shawn held out the container to his girlfriend.

Juliet gave him a look and waved back towards the body, "Just… are you getting anything?"

Shawn popped another cinnamon roll into his mouth before offering the container to Gus, "Sorry, I got nothing. It's all the same as last time."

Gus happily took the last cinnamon roll as Lassiter grumbled and stalked off, "Some use you are… McNab! Make sure the CSIs are competent and swab his knuckles for DNA. We need to check the surrounding area for cameras too."

Shawn grinned at Gus, "I think he's starting to like me."

Gus shook his head at his friend's optimism, "He likes me. He tolerates you."

"Yeah, that's what I said. He's starting to like me."

Gus had nothing to say to that, so he turned to Juliet, "Have you guys found anything else on the first victim?"

"No, Bates from the gang unit says he might have something later today…" Juliet informed them, "We got the warrant for the shipping yard though, we're heading there next."

"We're coming with." Shawn said immediately.

Juliet nodded, "I figured. We'll see you there."

She walked off quickly to rescue a rookie who was almost in tears as Lassiter laid into them.

"Is it just me, or is Lassie even more wound up than usual?" Shawn asked as he watched the spectacle.

"I was wondering the same thing…" Gus agreed.

"I figured having a girlfriend would help him loosen up, not make him even more jerky…" Shawn glanced over at Gus, "Come on… you know you want to know."

Gus shook his head, "Not everything needs an answer, Shawn. I'm not digging. Figure it out your way."

"Good idea, I'll ask Jules." They watched as Lassiter snapped something at Juliet and she snapped something right back. "Later. I'll ask Jules later. Let's go."

Gus nodded in agreement and followed Shawn to their car.

"So, what happened?" Shawn asked as they drove to the shipping yard.

"What happened when?" Gus asked back, still thinking about the crime scene.

Shawn gave him a look, "You said you didn't sleep and you'd tell me later. It's later."

Gus groaned, he'd managed to forget about his visitor for almost an hour. "Last night Rhianna came to my apartment."

"Wait, what?!" Shawn immediately turned and inspected Gus again, waves cresting as he looked for hidden injuries.

"Dude, I'm fine. She just wanted to talk."

Shawn glared at him, "Why is this the first I'm hearing about this?"

"I knew you were with Juliet," Gus explained, "I didn't want to bother you." He silently added that he didn't want Shawn rushing off to his rescue twice in one day.

"Less than twenty-four hours ago, you were lecturing me on being partners and not leaving each other out of the loop. A bad guy coming to your place is something I should be in the loop on!"

Gus opened his mouth to argue back before pausing, realizing Shawn had a point. "You're right, sorry. I just didn't want you to worry."

Shawn raised an eyebrow and Gus rolled his eyes, "I know, I know. I've already said it, I'm not saying it again."

"So what'd she want?"

Gus sighed, "The same thing she always wants…"

"To take over the world." Shawn answered definitively.

Gus huffed a humorless laugh, "Just the usual: Scans, interviews, probably parading me around to all the other scientists…"

"I'm assuming you told her where to shove it?"

"Of course I did. I even told her she had it all wrong, that I'm not actually a psychic."

Shawn snorted, "So, you pulled my move, but in opposite world. Nice. Did it work?"

"Eh, not really. She wondered for a few minutes… Before I read her mind."

"Ah, no impulse control. Another page from my play book." Shawn pointed out in approval.

"Yeah, well, let's just say she definitely knew what was happening that day and I never want to read her mind again." Gus made a face, thinking that the thirty-minute shower he'd taken hadn't been nearly long enough.

"No wonder you didn't sleep…"

Gus tried to shrug it off, "Her memory wasn't as vivid as yours, so at least I had that going for me."

"I'm surprised you looked. There's no way that was a memory you wanted to see." Shawn said with a questioning look.

"She was trying to convince me that we were both on the same side, that she did the best she could that day. It was so much bullshit and I think she actually believed it… I needed to know."

"So I'm guessing the conversation didn't go the way she wanted it to."

"I called her out, I told her I wouldn't help her, and I told her to get out."

Shawn nodded in approval, "Good. So what did she say that freaked you out?"

Gus gave his friend a look, "You're scary sometimes, you know that?"

Shawn grinned at the compliment, "If that was all that went down, you would have at least texted me."

Gus huffed, not disagreeing with the assumption, "She tried to blackmail me. She said to do what she wants or she'll tell the police you aren't actually a psychic."

"Wait, she already told the police I am psychic… She needs to get her story straight."

"Yeah, I pretty much told her the same thing…"

Shawn looked him over carefully, "You're seriously thinking about doing it, aren't you?"

"I don't know!" Gus rubbed the back of his neck, feeling uncomfortable with the direction the conversation was going in, "I mean, how many people would jump at the chance to arrest you? We cut it way too close with the last guy. And it's not like I'd have to worry about us getting hurt this time, it would just be questions and stuff. I mean, it would suck, but it wouldn't hurt. And maybe everyone's right, maybe it could help-"

Shawn cut in, "Stop it. You are not working with her. One, I've always been able to talk my way out of trouble before, and now I have a literal psychic on my side. We're not going to jail, even if she tries to go to the police. Two, you know damn well it wouldn't stop at questions. How many movies have we seen with blackmail in it? Once they know you'll do what they want, they just keep asking for more. Tres, you don't owe anyone a thing, especially not her."

Gus sighed and pulled over, a mix of guilt and desperation rising up as he tried to find the right words, "I should have died, man. There's no reason I got to live when the others didn't. I mean, the whole reason I survived was because they didn't, and… that should mean something, right?" He swallowed around the lump in his throat and met Shawn's eyes, "So, maybe I should be doing more, maybe I should let her figure out why it actually-"

Shawn shook his head and firmly cut him off again, "I'm sorry man, but no. Number quatro: you can't help her cause you know her research will be based on Dahmer's research, which means eventually she's going to try and recreate that formula. Which is something I know you don't want to ever see the light of day again."

Gus shuddered, knowing Shawn had a point. No one deserved to know what it felt like to be burned from the inside out. Gus remembered crazy blue eyes and a bleeding scalpel and amended his thought, almost no one deserved to feel the fire.

Shawn pointed at him knowingly, "Exactly. As for the other stuff… I don't know. I wish I had a really awesome speech to tell you why all of that shit happened. All I know is I'm insanely, out of this world, I-would-watch-an-entire-season-of American-Duos-with-you-and-not-complain grateful that you're still here."

Gus couldn't say anything, too overwhelmed by both of their emotions.

Shawn continued, his voice low and steady, "And if you keep living your life -your very long life- the way you are, you'll already be doing enough. You didn't ask for this and you don't owe anyone anything you don't want to do."

Gus took a deep breath and nodded, not trusting himself to speak yet.

Shawn cleared his throat and quickly moved on, "So you need to tell Rhianna where to shove it. Don't worry about the cops, we can handle them. Once she knows that won't work, she'll have to leave you alone."

Gus sighed as he heard the worry running under his friend's words. He moved to the emotionally safer conversation and asked, "You don't actually think she'll leave me alone, do you?"

Shawn hesitated before answering, "I mean, it's a desperate play. She should be out of options when you say no. But… she is obsessed. We know what that does to people."

"You ever wonder what it's like to be normal and not worry about this kind of stuff?"

"Nah." Shawn answered easily, "Normal is boring. You know I hate boring."

Gus huffed a laugh and started driving again, "Fair."

Shawn looked over in concern, "Just… be careful for the next few days? You could probably stay at my dad's place..."

Gus made a face, "I do not want Henry dreams. No thank you."

"Ah, I forgot about that…" Shawn's leg bounced as he thought, "Is it better to have someone there to wake you up?"

"What?" Gus tried to follow Shawn's train of logic.

"You're running on two days of no sleep; we both know that tends to lead to bad dreams even without everything else going on… so is it better to deal with my dreams if you can get woken up faster?"

Gus kept his eyes on the road, feeling touched at the offer. It couldn't be easy for Shawn to willingly suggest sharing his nightmares. "I honestly don't know. Apparently, I don't even need to be near someone to dream about them anymore… but you don't have to do that. The last one just caught me off guard."

"Sure. But would it help?" Shawn asked stubbornly.

"... Probably."

"Ok, so shipping place, then food place, then your place for Gussy nappy-time."

"Please never call it that again…" Gus groaned.

"What about the Legend of Sleepy Gus? Or Sleeping Burty? Or Sleepless in Gusttle?"

"So in the last one I'm not sleeping?"

Shawn grinned as they pulled into the shipping yard and next to the waiting Crown Vic, "In the last one you're Meg Ryan. I'd claim Ross Malinger, but then you'd be my new mom…"

"Oh great, I'm a stalker? Thanks, Shawn." Gus shook his head as he climbed out of the car.

"Gus! Romantic comedies don't have stalkers, they have true love! Jules knows what I'm talking about, right?"

"I know what now?" Juliet asked in confusion as she climbed out of Lassiter's car.

"Sparkly Edward: stalker or romantic?" Shawn asked with a grin.

"Definitely stalker." Juliet answered immediately. Lassiter took off his sunglasses while still sitting in the car, rubbing the bridge of his nose like he was fighting off a headache.

Shawn cocked his head to the side, "So you're saying I shouldn't climb through your window and watch you sleep?"

"If you climbed through my window while I was sleeping, I would shoot you." Juliet said with certainty.

"And you'd deserve it." Lassiter grumbled out as he finally left the car. "Now that you're finally here, can we get this over with?"

Gus watched the detective stalk away, the gunpowder smell loaded with worry and dread even as the chest reverb rumbled with familiar annoyance. He was about to look closer when Shawn asked, "Ok Jules, what's got Lassie's panties in a twist?"

Juliet sighed and shook her head with a look of sympathy, "Apparently his mother was still holding out hope for him to get back together with Victoria. He didn't tell her about the divorce being finalized… then yesterday she found out about Marlowe."

"Oof, poor Lassie… Did you spill the beans again?" Shawn asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It wasn't me! But it gets worse..." Juliet looked into the distance, as if watching an impending storm. "They're having dinner. Tonight. So his mother can meet her…"

"I'm gonna need to know exactly where that is so we can have dinner on the absolute opposite side of town." Shawn said immediately.

Gus spoke up, "I can't believe he didn't tell her about the divorce… It's been two years."

"I dunno, I never tell Dad anything…" Shawn smirked at Gus' eye roll, "Why deny him the pleasure of figuring things out for himself?"

Juliet shrugged, "I never tell my parents anything. My mom's the worst gossip ever and my dad would just use anything I tell him for his next scam."

Gus thought about the fact that he still hadn't told his parents about his second encounter with the mad scientist and had to concede the point, "Ok, I guess it's not that weird."

Lassiter glared at them from the door to the shipment office, "Don't let me break up your little gossip circle. It's not like we're investigating two murders and trying to take down a drug syndicate or anything. O'Hara! I expect this from them, but I thought you were better."

Juliet looked up to the sky, sighing to herself, "Give me strength…" She pasted on a smile and called out in an aggressively cheerful voice, "Coming partner!"

Lassiter rolled his eyes and entered the office. Shawn and Gus traded a look before following the detectives. It was time to find a Russian gang.

A/N: I think I'm almost done with the sickness, yay! Just in time for another wedding with lots of people without masks! Yay...