"No."

"Oh come on! Is that the only word you know?!"

"I know plenty of words, the only one you need to hear is NO."

Gus sighed; the Spencers had been going at it ever since they'd arrived at Henry's house. He was pretty sure that there could be a speck of dust floating in the air and they'd find a way to fight about it.

"Dad, this is what we do! We do the things that the police can't."

"Shawn, there's protocol for a reason! Why do you think you get guns pointed at you even more than Lassiter?!"

Gus had to admit, though, he was on Henry's side on this one. Shawn's plan was terrible.

"Really? Do you have a tally going or something, how far back have you looked in Lassie's records? I bet that number is-"

"Damnit, I know enough to know that he hasn't been kidnapped, gagged and tortured before!"

Gus winced, he might agree with Henry, but he didn't agree with his method of going about it. He debated if it was time to step in and break up the fight, the fact that Shawn hadn't immediately come back with an argument settled it for him.

"Ok, that's enough!" Gus said firmly. "Shawn, we are not using you as bait. Henry, that was low and you know it. Now shake hands and apologize."

"I didn't do anything-"

"I am not going to-"

"Shake!" Gus ordered, refusing to back down from the twin glares leveled his way. He stared back at Shawn, knowing he would break first. Shawn narrowed his eyes before holding a hand out to Henry without looking. He sent an annoyed broadcast: Bud from the Cosby Show.

Gus clicked his tongue at him before shifting his glare over to the other Spencer. Henry gave him a ghost of a smirk before reaching out and taking Shawn's hand, giving it a quick shake before dropping it again. Gus kept up his stare and raised his eyebrows, waiting. Henry's smirk fell and he looked away first, mumbling towards the floor, "Sorry, shouldn't have said that."

Shawn brightened up slightly before deflating again when Gus turned his expectant stare to him. He crossed his arms and mumbled back, "Sorry I didn't tell you I was safe, because I didn't tell you there was danger, because no one was shooting at us."

Gus nodded, that was honestly better than he'd thought he would get. "Thank you. We're stuck in this house together, let's not kill each other while we're here."

"Agreed," Henry said, his fishing line vibrating with slight smugness, "I haven't bought groceries this week, so we're a bit low on ingredients. You guys'll need to help with dinner. I've got fish in the ice locker that need to be cleaned and prepped."

Gus paled, wondering if this was revenge for breaking up the argument. Henry smirked at his reaction before pointing to the kitchen, "Gus, you got rolls. Shawn, you're with me."

"Aww man… Why can't I help Gus?" Shawn whined as he followed Henry down to the basement.

"Because I want you to actually be useful and not just stealing bites of dough. Besides, I need to see if you still remember how to do this."

"Of course I remember! I wish I could forget. The smell alone…"

The argument picked up again and Gus rolled his eyes as he made his way to the kitchen and pulled out a bag of flour. The police needed to find the bad guys quick or there might not be anyone left to save.

For not having many fresh ingredients, Henry was still able to put together a good meal. Gus figured that was what happened when someone was low-key stocked up for an apocalypse.

Shawn had just stood up to grab another serving of fish when a knock at the door cut through their conversation. Henry sprung up with a gun in his hand as he hissed out, "Stay down!"

Shawn rolled his eyes and hissed back, "Yes, because a kidnapper is going to knock."

Gus wasn't fooled; he could see how Shawn had angled his body to be a smaller target, and he could hear the ponging thoughts tracing routes to the nearest weapons. He listened to his psychic sense for a second before relaxing and grabbing another roll.

Henry checked the window before relaxing as well and opening the door, "Lassiter. Come on in."

"Spencer," Lassiter greeted as he entered the house. His smell of gunpowder tinged in approval as he saw the gun still in Henry's hand.

Henry quickly tucked the weapon back under his shirt before gesturing towards the kitchen, "We've got dinner, there's plenty if you want some."

"Thanks, but no. This isn't a social call." Lassiter walked into the kitchen and his approval grew when he saw the curtains drawn closed over the windows.

"You got something?" Shawn asked in interest.

Lassiter snorted at the question, "Barely. We know who the other guy is now, Ian Rossman. That name mean anything to you?"

"Nah," Shawn said as he looked over to Gus questioningly. Gus shook his head; the name didn't sound familiar.

"It sounds like he's just another grunt for the underworld," Lassiter informed them. Shawn smirked at the description but didn't interrupt. "And Novikov has used mercs before, though he prefers using his own guys, so that tells us absolutely nothing. I'm waiting to hear back from a CI, but all of the scum in this city are hunkering down until the gangs figure their crap out…"

Lassiter mindlessly grabbed a roll and bit into it, tearing the bite off with more ferocity than Gus thought possible. Shawn watched with his eyebrows raised, "So… You had to come all the way out here just to tell us you have nothing?"

"It was on the way…" Lassiter mumbled around the roll.

"Lassiter, we all know where you live," Henry reminded him dryly.

Shawn grinned, "You came to check up on us!"

"I did not!"

"You totally did! You were worried and wanted to make sure we were safe! You totally like us, admit it!"

Lassiter glared, "I would rather lie to a priest."

Shawn cocked his head to the side and asked, "Is that something you're not supposed to do?"

Gus sighed, "Why do you even have to ask that?"

"I just wanted to check if you recognized the name. I'm leaving now. Thanks for the food." Lassiter stuffed the rest of the roll in his mouth and turned to leave.

"We like you too Lassieface!" Shawn called out.

Lassiter mumbled something back, but it was lost around the food. Gus felt confident that it was some sort of fond insult, even if the detective would argue against the 'fond' part.

Henry locked the door behind Lassiter and walked back in, shaking his head, "Do you have to antagonize him all the time?"

"It's our thing," Shawn answered cheerfully, "He growls, I make jokes, everyone ignores the sexual tension-"

"Shawn!" Gus interrupted, not wanting to know how far his friend was planning on taking the joke.

Henry rolled his eyes, "Whatever. Let's just get back to eating and forget I ever asked."

Shawn grabbed his plate and served himself another serving of fish as he retorted, "Can't forget, remember? There's always been something unsaid between us…"

"Oh my god." Henry put down his silverware and left the table. "I'm not listening to this. I'll be in the living room, clean up when you're done."

Shawn smirked in victory as he sat down and dug into his food. Gus rolled his eyes, "Feel proud of yourself?"

"You know I am," Shawn pointed out as his ponging sounds glowed with pride.

Gus smirked and looked back down at his plate, pushing his vegetables around as he debated the best way to bring up an important conversation now that Henry was out of the room.

"You're sleeping tonight," Shawn answered before he could say anything.

"How did- We could just do a movie night. Or I could keep watch…" Gus tried to think of more compelling arguments.

Shawn smiled gently as he reminded Gus, "You haven't slept a full night since this case started. Before, actually."

"You know why I can't-"

"You know why you need to," Shawn crossed his arms stubbornly.

Gus groaned, "I guess I could try to sleep in the basement… maybe that would be far enough away."

"Yes," Shawn said with sarcasm, "because that won't be nightmare-inducing at all…"

"No one's sleeping in the basement," Henry made his presence known again.

Shawn gasped, sounding scandalized, "Were you spying on us?"

Henry gave him a look and lectured, "I didn't turn the TV on, I practically broadcasted that I was spying on you. And you're both sleeping upstairs while I take the couch." His tone didn't change as he laid down his wisdom, "Nightmares are part of the job, you agreed to them the second you decided to start doing this schtick." He held his hand up to his head and shook it around sarcastically.

Gus braced for another argument, but Shawn just tilted his head in thought as he looked at his father. He sounded completely genuine when he asked, "Is there a lesson on nightmares?"

Henry blinked and his puzzle pieces edged in faint blue before he responded more gently, "Yeah. They suck. But they're part of the job and you can't avoid them. If you try, then you're just making yourself vulnerable to mess up and get even more of them. You've just gotta deal with it."

Shawn and Gus both gave him incredulous stares. He drew himself up and snapped at them, "What? You asked, that's my answer."

"Just deal with it?" Shawn asked. "Easy for you to say, you don't have this," he tapped his head, "or that," he pointed at Gus' head.

"I was on the force for twenty years; I know how crappy the dreams can get." Henry looked over at Gus, "And what does being a psychic have to do with it?"

Gus let out a high-pitched giggle that he promptly stifled by stuffing a forkful of vegetables in his mouth.

Henry looked at him in concern before sighing, "Look, just camp out in your old room. Pretend like you're kids at a sleepover again, it shouldn't be that big of a stretch for you… Surround yourself with good memories and remember that I'll be downstairs, keeping you safe."

"Two best friends from childhood, only one bed… what could possibly go wrong?" Shawn mused.

"For fucks sake." Henry stalked back into the living room, "And remember to clean up after you're done!"

That night, Gus woke up gently. His eyes fluttered open as he looked around the darkened bedroom, exhaustion blanketing him and trying to pull him back under. He ignored it and listened carefully, both with his ears and his mind, trying to figure out what had woken him up.

The wind rustled the leaves outside, Henry's fishing line pulled gently as he kept watch, the air conditioner kicked on, Shawn's thoughts ponged quickly next to him.

Gus stood up from his nest of blankets and turned on the lamp next to the bed, checking on his friend. Shawn was clutching his He-Man blanket to his chest as he twitched, his eyes moving rapidly behind his closed eyelids. Gus reached over to nudge his shoulder, "Shawn, wake up. It's a dream."

Shawn curled up tighter and let out a small whimper as he stayed locked in the nightmare. Gus remembered to brace his mental shield before trying again, shaking his friend's shoulders and speaking a little louder, "Shawn! Wake up!"

Shawn woke up, arms flailing as he rolled off the bed and sprung to his feet. His frantic thoughts clicked loudly, like hail pounding a window, as he looked around and took in everything around him. Gus waited out the deluge, keeping still with his hands held out in a non-threatening manner.

Shawn finally met his eyes as he breathed heavily, "Gus? What are we doing back in 1988?"

Gus let out the breath he'd been holding, "We're staying here so Henry can keep an eye on us, remember?"

Shawn's eyes traced the lines on the crumpled blanket as he thought, "Russian, mercs, fish."

Gus huffed a small chuckle, "Yep, those are clearly the most important details."

Shawn nodded, "Gotta watch out for the fish, man, they'll come back to haunt us."

Gus nodded back, just as seriously, "I'll keep that in mind. You good?"

"Oh yeah, sure. Sorry I woke you up."

Gus let his hands drop and stretched out the kinks in his back, "Don't be, you probably saved me from having to see anything from Henry. Wanna talk about it?"

"Nope," Shawn shook his head as he watched Gus, "I told you the floor was going to be terrible, man."

Gus scoffed, "Like I was going to give you even more ammunition for that 'dating' joke."

Shawn smirked and looked around his room again, "You know, I think I still have Mousetrap under the bed. Want to relive our childhood?"

"I am not fixing it every time you test it out," Gus warned as he knelt down to dig under the bed, content to let Shawn pick the distraction.

"Same rules as always," Shawn agreed, "You test it, you reset it."

Gus found the box and pulled it out, "Yep. Let's do this."

Shawn had to reset the trap thirty-eight times; Gus had to reset it twelve times. The mouse was caught twice.

"Gus, Gus, Gus! Look at this!"

Gus sighed as Shawn threw himself on the couch and held his phone out. Only twenty-four hours of quarantine and he already missed the quiet of his own place. He glanced at the screen, "Why am I looking at a hammock?"

"Because our office totally needs one. What do you think, rustic or-"

"No. You in a hammock is a terrible plan," Gus argued.

Shawn scoffed, "What are you talking about? I would look so dope while hanging out and divining…"

"If you get that then you owe me five bucks every time you fall out because you couldn't sit still." Gus thought for a second, "Actually, you know what, you should get it. I'll actually make money."

"Fine, I will." Shawn typed quickly and ended with a dramatic screen press, "You always underestimate me."

"... You actually bought it."

"Yep."

"Where are you even going to put it?"

"... I didn't think that far."

Gus sighed and shook his head, turning to watch TV again. Shawn's phone rang and he immediately jumped up and answered, "Jules! Hi!"

Gus kept an ear on the conversation, curious if things were going to be going back to normal for the couple.

"Yeah, yeah, we're ok, are you ok?" Shawn's thoughts were tinged with affection and worry as he listened for several seconds, "Woah, Jules, take a breath."

Gus stopped pretending to watch tv and turned to watch Shawn pace. The clicking thoughts suddenly tinged with static as Shawn froze before frantically answering, "Nononono, we don't need to talk. I can not talk. It's fine, I can do the space thing and the-"

Gus could hear Juliet's voice cutting off the panicked ramble, though he couldn't make out her words. Shawn relaxed slightly, even though his free hand continued to twitch with frantic energy. His eyes flicked over to Gus as he tentatively answered Juliet, "Ok. I can do dinner. Your place?" He listened and started to run his hand through the back of his hair, "Ok, easy. You bring the food here. I'll tell Dad to do old people things for a few hours."

Gus frowned and pointed at himself in a silent question, Shawn answered by circling his hand to include both of them. Gus shook his head and mouthed 'NO' as emphatically as he could. Shawn gave him a thumbs up as he answered Juliet, "Of course Gus is going to be there. It's not like I can kick him out of the safehouse."

Gus glared and mouthed four words as clearly as possible, 'I. Will. Kill. You.' Shawn nodded in understanding and held his hand out in a placating gesture, "Gus says he wants tacos."

Gus clicked his tongue and spun around to pout on the couch. It wasn't fair. He did want tacos.

"Ok, so 6:30 tonight. I'll see you-" Shawn paused and listened before sighing and saying evenly, "I promise I won't psychically read you… Ok, see you."

Shawn hung up and walked over to collapse on the couch. He turned to Gus with pleading eyes, "Dude, I need you to psychically read her."

Gus immediately answered, "Oh, no. Nope, I'm not getting involved in this."

"Come on, son. Something's obviously up; she's been avoiding anywhere I might go, she hasn't been talking to me, and now we're having dinner and 'need to talk'? …Oh god, we're going to Ross and Rachael it, aren't we? She's going to want a break, I'm going to make terrible decisions, she's never going to get off the plane-"

Shawn, stop it," Gus said, cutting off the spiral, "You two are clearly better together than those two ever were. Now tell me what she actually said."

"I just did!"

"No… You told me a Shawn-ified version of what you think she was saying." Gus pointed at the phone, "What did she actually say after you freaked out?"

Shawn fidgeted with the pillow next to him, "She said it wasn't 'anything like that'... BUT she also said she's 'terrible at this'! I'm getting really mixed signals here!"

Gus cut to the heart of the matter, "Do you trust her?"

Shawn's eyes snapped over to him, "Of course I trust her."

Gus shrugged and sat back, "Then she's not breaking up with you."

Shawn stopped and thought for a moment before turning to fully face him, "See? This is why I need you there. I need you to be my port in the storm, buddy."

"No!" Gus argued, feeling his resolve weaken, "We agreed, I don't sit in on dates anymore. Never means never, Shawn."

"Pfft, never never means never." Shawn paused and mouthed the words again before nodding to himself and moving on, "We both know I'm going to be freaking out, I need you there to read what's actually happening and to stop me from making things worse because I'm totally freaking out."

"You don't need-"

"Yes I do! Come on, I'm begging here. Help a brother out."

Gus sighed, knowing he'd lost. That didn't mean he'd go down without a fight, "You're like my brother. You're not a brother."

Shawn grinned and relaxed, knowing he'd won, "But I have brother blood in my veins! Right next to the Indian blood and the…" His face scrunched up as he thought, "Wait, what are Spencers?" He looked at Gus in concern, "Oh no, we're not Canadian, are we?!"

Gus sighed as he wondered why he knew the answer, "You're English."

"That's even worse!"

"Why?!"

"Because their biscuits are cookies and their chips are fries and their jelly is jello and don't even get me started on the rutabaga." Shawn flopped back into the couch, "It's just all messed up, man."

Gus let out a groan, "Fine. I'll stay and read her. But I want proper tacos, not fish tacos."

"Yes! That's what I'm talking about!" Shawn smacked his hands together in victory. "You won't regret it!"

"I'm already regretting it," Gus complained as he turned the TV back on. He pointed at Shawn, stopping him from leaving the couch, "Nuh-uh, if I have to sit through you two being all awkward tonight, then you have to sit through my shows."

"Yeah, I guess that's fair," Shawn sighed out before grabbing the pillow and hugging it to his chest. "You realize these shows suck, right? It's all just drama."

Gus smirked as the show started, showing two women yelling at each other, "These shows are a documentary on humanity, they're great."

"Humanity is doomed…" Shawn grumbled as one woman slapped the other.

Gus nodded and grinned, "Probably. But at least we get front row seats." He glanced over towards the kitchen, "Think your dad has popcorn?"

Shawn's legs jittered nervously as he peeked through the curtain and watched the road in front of the house. He was surprisingly well dressed for someone on lockdown; Henry had taken it upon himself to stash away extra clothes for both of them once his place had been established as a safehouse.

"What's taking her so long…"

Gus glanced at the clock again, "Dude, she's not even late yet."

"Maybe she's not coming. Maybe it's like Declan and she's running to another country…" Shawn started to pace in a small circle.

"I told you, she's not breaking up with you…" Gus said for the upteenth time.

"It's the only thing that fits all of the clues!" Shawn whined as he checked the window again.

"Except for the clue where she said she wasn't breaking up with you."

"Yeah, except for that."

Gus threw his hands up in exasperation and looked over to where Henry was happily hiding behind a fishing magazine. Henry glanced over the cover before flipping another page, "Don't look at me, I'm not getting in the middle of this. You should have ran when you had the chance."

"Right," Gus deadpanned, "because there's so many places to run to in this house…"

Henry shrugged, clearly unaffected by Gus' dilemma, "He probably wouldn't have gone by the fish locker."

Gus wrinkled his nose at the idea of all of those dead fish that were just waiting for their heads to be chopped off. "No thanks, I'd rather deal with Shawn."

"Love you too, buddy," Shawn chimed in distractedly, looking up and down the street. He suddenly perked up, "She's here!"

Gus looked at the clock, "Oh look, right on time."

"Yep. Totally. Right on time. That's my girl…"

Shawn's jittering grew more pronounced and Gus rolled his eyes before walking over to his friend to put a hand on his shoulder, "It's fine. Chill."

Shawn took a deep breath and let it out as he forced himself to relax, "Ok, chill. I can do chill." He took another breath and held it for a second before the jitters came back and he let it out all at once, "Nope, can't do it."

Gus rolled his eyes and watched Juliet as she looked around before making her way to the house. He focused on the fizzling pop rocks on his skin: Nerves, no one following, a list of traits, the comforting weight of his purse, worry mixed with affection.

The thoughts weren't as definitive as he'd been hoping, but he still felt confident when he said, "Told you, not breaking up."

"Really?"

"Really really," Gus said with a slight Scottish accent.

Shawn turned and gave him an unimpressed look, "Shrek? Really?"

"Yep. Because the ogre gets the girl," Gus grinned and walked to the door to open it right before Juliet could knock.

"Hey, Gus," Juliet greeted him with a smile as she came into the house, holding several plastic bags. She was wearing a classy red dress with heels and a purse hung from her shoulder, large enough to be concealing a police-issued handgun.

"Hey Juliet, you look fantastic. I can take those…" Gus closed the door and quickly took the bags from her before nodding over to Shawn, "Now can you please tell him you're not breaking up with him?"

"Gus!" Shawn snapped out with a glare. Gus met the look with a smirk; it was nice to flip the script for a change.

Juliet just sighed and walked up to Shawn, putting her hand on his face and guiding it over so he was looking at her, "Shawn. I am not breaking up with you. Ok?"

Shawn's eyes searched her face before he visibly relaxed, "Ok… But then why have you been so weird?!"

Juliet winced and dropped her hand, "...I can't tell you."

Shawn started to scan her frantically, "Oh no, you're pregnant. You're dying. Your family's dying. Your family's pregnant and dying. Lassie's pregnant and dying."

Gus groaned and turned to take the bags to the kitchen, "Great, now you got him started again…"

"Have fun with that," Henry said with a wicked grin as he walked past. He spoke to Juliet as he opened the door, "I'll be back in an hour, don't leave them alone."

Juliet didn't acknowledge him as she stared at Shawn, "How is being pregnant the same as dying on your doomsday scale?"

"I don't know! Nothing makes sense!"

Gus decided it was time to do his best friend duty, "Guys, food's getting cold."

Shawn pointed at him without looking, his eyes still locked on Juliet, "Right. Food. Gus hates cold tacos. I mean, really, most people wouldn't like cold tacos. I worked for a taco folder once; his whole job was just folding tacos, it was the craziest thing."

Juliet gave him a soft look, "I promise, nothing bad is going on. I am fine, we are fine, everyone is fine. I just… made a promise to someone and can't talk about it, ok?"

"Ok…" Shawn sighed before straightening up and pasting on a smile. He held out his arm, "Let's start over. Can I escort you to our fine establishment?"

Juliet smiled back and put her hand in the crook of his elbow, "I would love that."

Gus rolled his eyes and started to pull out the food containers while he forcibly ignored the pink ponging sounds and bubbles coming from the two lovebirds. Shawn was going to owe him big for this.

Shawn walked Juliet into the kitchen and pulled out a chair for her, "Please ignore the retro look, we're in desperate need of remodeling. I'll get drinks."

Shawn turned away from her and shot a sharp look at Gus: A green witch looking through a crystal ball.

Gus frowned and looked pointedly at the food. He had his priorities after all. Shawn rolled his eyes and walked off to take care of the drinks. Juliet waited until Shawn was further away before asking quietly, "Do I look pregnant?"

"No, of course not," Gus reassured her quickly.

He started to load up his plate with food as Shawn came back with drinks and they all settled into the comfortable pattern of eating and barely talking. He wondered if Juliet noticed that she was the only one eating the rice that smelled like cilantro.

As the food dwindled, the conversation picked up and Gus quickly noticed a pattern. Shawn would be talking like normal -or flirting shamelessly- and Juliet would start to relax until a few new thought bubbles popped up. She would become flustered and awkward until the bubbles went away again and she pretended everything was normal.

These moments were usually followed by the sound of cresting waves as Shawn tried to pinpoint what exactly was wrong. Gus finally pushed his plate away and stood up, "Excuse me, I'll be back in a few minutes."

He caught Shawn's eye as he walked past and went into the bathroom. Once the door was safely closed, Gus closed his eyes and brought his hand up to his head, focusing only on his psychic sense. He made sure he couldn't feel anyone else around the house before focusing in on the visual of bubbles and the feeling of pop rocks on his skin: Contentment, nervousness, a beat up car, a list of trait-

Gus frowned as the thought cut off and the bubble he'd been looking at disappeared. Shawn was the only one he'd ever seen try to censor their thoughts before, he couldn't figure out why Juliet was trying to keep them quiet. She didn't know he was a psychic.

Gus suddenly clicked his tongue at himself when he realized the obvious answer in front of him. She thought Shawn was psychic.

Gus' curiosity was officially piqued and he focused harder, waiting for the new bubbles to show up again so he could look closer: Lists of traits and a backstory, a beat up car, quiet words and questions, a white brick in his hand, locations and names, danger.

Gus' eyes snapped open. He knew why Juliet was acting strange. He also knew why she didn't want to tell Shawn.

Shawn was going to freak.