Ch. 2

"This has to be the most dangerous, half-assed plan you've ever cooked up, Spencer." Joss said, leaning against her car. She grinned at him, flashing her sharp teeth and sly tongue. There was a reason he'd called.

"I'm not so sure about that." He smiled grimly and sat next to her, eyes on the closed hotel door. Gus was asleep when he'd slipped out, all the while anxious and eying everything that moved. "But you've had my back through worse."

Joss tilted her head up towards the bright sun. "Yeah, but this is different. This isn't just you or one of us. I bet he's never even fired a gun before or had to go from cover to cover at the drop of a hat. If this goes sideways, he's going to be fucked in more ways than one." And at the pained look on Shawn's face, "They will find ways to break him. They will tear him down, piece by piece until there's nothing left. Until he's exactly like you and me. Either side will and you know it."

Shawn nodded, avoiding her eyes. "They'll use him. I know that, but can you help me?" He asked, silently begging she'd give him what he wanted and half hoping she'd say no. He was asking too much of her now.

Joss sighed, sliding off the hood and landing gracefully on her heels. She looked up at him, her hair falling in waves against her cheek. "You know I will, babe." She kissed him softly on the cheek. She loved him, but she wished for the day he stopped harboring this silly crush. If not because it was dangerous, then because it was breaking his heart. "I've got your back."

Shawn looked up, determined look in his eyes. "Thanks. I just- I love him you, know?"

Joss sighed, kicking at the dirt beneath her. She blamed the stress of the Iris job for the quake in her stomach at his words. "Yeah, I do. Love isn't enough Shawn; not for us anyway."

"But if you could've saved Carly, you would've done it." Shawn stated defiantly, blinking up at her intimidating figure. In not so many ways, she reminded him of his father. She was a constant reminder of the strength he needed but never got. Joss was a pistol, she always had been.

"That's different. It was too late for her from the start. And I'll never forgive myself for that." She shook her head and watched Shawn check the room again. Gus was obviously his weakness.

"It's not too late for Gus." He dropped his head to his hands and breathed softly for a moment before finishing. "Just once, why can't love be enough?"

Joss stepped forward and brushed the hair from Shawn's face. He was due for a haircut and she longed for the days he'd worn it short and combed back from his face. In some ways, Shawn was her weakness too. It wasn't safe, it was dangerous. She was a hypocrite and she embraced it.

"I don't know, Shawn. I just don't know." She whispered.

Gus was awake when Shawn slipped back inside, under the guise of gathering breakfast. He set down the bag of donuts on the dresser. "Hey, you're up." He sat up on the small table in the corner, watching Gus put on his shoes. "I got us breakfast. We're going to have to eat on the road. If we make good time, we can get there in a few days." If I drive through the night, he thought.

Gus was silent, gathering his things. When he had everything together, his bag neatly closed where as Shawn's had to be stuffed shut, he finally spoke. "Who was your friend? You seemed pretty cozy."

Shawn looked confused, knowing full and well Gus had seen Joss outside. "Just a friend. She's helping me out."

He stared at Gus, seeing the doubt apparent in Gus' gaze. Slowly he saws bits and pieces dissipate.

"How?" Gus asked, reluctantly starting on breakfast.

"She has a way with things like this." Shawn said, trying to decide how much to reveal. "She has experience."

"What kind of experience?" Gus asked, mouth full with food. The sight made Shawn smile.

"Experience-- as in the literal meaning of the word. Anyway, let's get going." Shawn said in a rush, gathering everything and heading out to the car.

Shawn wished he could say it was out of fear that he drove non-stop through three nights. The truth was he couldn't sleep. Anytime he'd start to feel tired, he look over at Gus' sleeping form in the passenger seat and picture it bloody and beaten down, his eyes growing duller by the second. And morbid or not, realistic or not, he couldn't sleep with that image in his head.

Gus woke at one point, the cease in the repetitive motion waking him. The car was stopped at the side of the road, the driver side empty. Half worried, half drowsy, Gus unfastened his seat belt and opened the door. Shawn was crouched in front of the car, the headlights creating a small shadow in the dirt, smaller than Shawn had ever been. He stumbled over to the figure, still too tired to register that he was wrapping his arms around this man he'd tried so hard to hate. But he had and mumbled little assurances over Shawn's panicked cries that he'd "done something bad. Something so bad he didn't think even God could forgive him." He'd even hastily agreed when Shawn had told him that "this was it and if Gus wasn't sure he could handle it, he could have him on a plane in thirty minutes—home in an hour." And would Gus stay if "he really, really needed him to."

Shawn didn't mention it when they got back in the car. He did however, hours later, tell Gus that he wouldn't hold him to his promise. "I know you were just trying to put me back together again. That's your thing."

"Yeah, that's me: your personal King's man."

Shawn hadn't smiled, not even an inch. He just continued. "I think you know by now that this isn't just for the weekend or a couple of weeks."

"You're kidnapping me for life, huh?" He wished he didn't sound so unopposed. "That'll go over well with my parents."

Shawn didn't mention that he knew they were currently having problems of their own. In the process of spying on Gus, he'd swung by the Gusters. If the lawyer fees in their checking accounts and book titles like "Explaining Divorce to the Kids" were anything to go by, the Gusters were becoming singular units.

"Maybe not for life. For the rest of mine anyway." Shawn responded.

So Shawn drove, over the speed limit, through state after state, through night after night. He drove until he reached the Kansas border.

He set everything up in a city he'd only heard of in passing. He rented a small, two-bedroom house big enough to let the neighbors know he had money and small enough to let single women know he had already found the rest of his life. And he had, the rest of his life just hadn't been returning his calls.

He pulled up along side a parked car just outside of town and woke Gus. He pulled all of their things out and placed them in the light green SUV. He asked Gus to go find some lunch while he exchanged the license plates. It was illegal and, though Gus was unaware of the felonies he'd acquired, Shawn didn't want to add more to Gus' rap sheet.

He drove into the quaint, tiled driveway, eying the puzzled expression on Gus' face. "Who lives here?" he asked, getting out reluctantly as Shawn did.

Shawn grinned and nodded towards the mailbox. Erickson and Duquette. "We do, silly." He pulled out two drivers licenses. "From now on, your name is Gus Erickson and I'm your roommate Shawn Duquette. We've been living together for years."

It was a lot to process but Gus chose the least important to question. "You know everyone will assume we're gay, right?"

Shawn wrapped an arm around Gus' shoulders, ignoring the way he flinched at first. "Oh Gus, I hope so. Nosy neighbors are the first to accuse but the last to acquit. If you only knew the many neighbors that still claim the serial killer next door was as sweet as could be."

And so, unknowingly, Gus began his new life.