A/N: It's been a few days, but I'm back!... For now- I lost my old version of MS Word and the one I'm on now is only a 60 day trial. Sigh. Oh well, by the time the 60 day trial is up, it'll be mid June and I can just live off of Open Office up until June 27th which is my b-day. For my b-day I'm asking for the student version of MS Office.

Alright lol, no idea why you needed to know that, but now you do! So fair warning before you read this chapter – OC's rule it, just a little. To make up for it though ¾ of the chapter is Shawn and Gus. Please enjoy!

~Matilda

F Bombs Ahead! This fic is rated M for a reason, if you're opposed to swearing – you know where to find the back button! Thanks!

Derek, Kayla & Peter's Laundry

"Good god Shawn." Gus had to gawk at the pile of laundry in the middle of his best friend's apartment. How much clothes did Shawn even have? "How does this even happen?"

"Good question." Shawn shrugged. "I still haven't figured it out; maybe my clothes are all living breathing creatures that congregate here to say mean things about me, OR I lack the enthusiasm one needs to actually do their laundry. We may never know."

"I've got a pretty good idea." Gus grimaced as he held up a stray t-shirt with just the tips of his middle and index finger. "You know there's no way in hell I'm helping you – right?"

"Maybe not." Shawn commented. "If you want though, you can take before and after pictures."

"Whatever." Gus said. "Grab a basket."

Shawn didn't move away from the pile, instead he put his hands in his pockets and regarded his clothes with a strange amused grin on his face. "Gus – popular culture aside, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"It's time to take over the world?" Gus finished.

"I said popular culture aside." Shawn puffed out his lower lip. "Listen man,"

"Alright – what are you thinking?" Gus took the bait.

"Let's jump in the pile." Shawn insisted.

"Shawn, underneath this pile is a hard floor. You're a grown man."

"Can we at least make a fort?" Shawn asked, Gus made a face.

"I can smell your laundry from here – hell no, and again. You're a grown man Shawn."

"Damn!" Shawn exclaimed. "Damn you for being right. Alright, there will be no jumping or forting." Shawn made for the nearest basket. It wasn't long before he and Gus were in the car heading for the laundry mat, with three over stuffed baskets in the backseat; darks, whites, and colors. Shawn had always been fascinated by how racist laundry was.

"I think it's hilarious." Shawn went on to say. "If these two loads were small enough, I could wash my darks and colors in one go. However if a white t-shirt were to accidentally get thrown into the mix – look out! It's going down, and that white t-shirt is never going to be the same again."

"My favorite part about everything you just said is that whites are the weaker power." Gus said the line in a monotone voice – Shawn might've been the 'funny one' but Gus had his shining moments too. He stared straight ahead at the road as he said that – and Shawn lost it; laughing uncontrollably.

"Gus – I love you."

"What?" Gus cocked his head a bit, "say that again?"

"Bro me forever." Shawn insisted.

They pulled up to the laundry mat and Shawn was happy to see that it wasn't all too busy, which was great – for Shawn. Not too many people did their laundry on weekdays. As they lugged in Shawn's laundry Shawn was quick to hog three machines. "Faster." Shawn commented, and he whipped out a plastic baggy full of quarters.

"Derek!"

Shawn didn't lift his head; he didn't realize that the person calling for Derek was addressing him. "Derek hey!"

Gus gave Shawn a quick jab with his elbow which got Shawn to look up just as another man was approaching Shawn with his hand stretched out. Confused – Shawn tilted his head but none the less shook the man's hand. "Hi…?"

"Man!" The guy continued. "What happened to you the other night? You left the party and no one saw you again."

"Party?" It took Shawn a second, but he realized what this man was going on about. Wow- talk about dumb luck, not even off the case for a day and someone recognized him as the victim. "Oh! The party!" Shawn played along and looked to Gus wordlessly telling him to play again. "Yeah – yeah, man" he put on a 'stoner' tone "I was so ruined that night, I don't even remember if the couch I woke up on was mine."

Gus gave him a bemused look like he couldn't believe Shawn just said that. "Anyway!" The man went on. "If you're not busy you should totally come to the next party this weekend! Your friend here to!"

"Yes!" Shawn agreed immediately. "Where at bromeo?"

"Same as the last party, down in the warehouses." The man looked psyched about it which he probably was. Shawn on the other hand was psyched the man said warehouses.

"Really." Shawn gave Gus a look that clearly said 'guess where we're going!' Gus made a face trying to say no, but Shawn was back talking to this stranger. "Same one as before?"

"Always the same one." The man said. "The one on the corner of Brock and Clydedale."

The one next to the one where the victim was found.

"Wicked!" Shawn said. "I will be there – Saturday?"

"Friday – 9:30."

"Done and done!" Shawn bumped knuckles with the guy. "Alright my buddy and I are going to grab some food, but one more quick question if I may….."

"Please."

"These warehouse parties, is it a different crowd every time – or is it a lot of the same people?"

"Always new faces, but a lot of the same people yeah. My friends and I go almost every weekend."

"Thanks for that." Shawn smiled. "Well we're off!" Shawn quickly started to collect his laundry – he hadn't even started to wash it. "Gus! Let's go!" Gus and Shawn made for the door, Gus giving the man a polite smile, doing the one thing Shawn probably should have done.

"Nice to meet you …..?"

"Peter."

"Got it- well see yeah!" Gus left the laundry mat to catch up with Shawn who was throwing his dirty clothes back in to the backseat of Gus' car. "We're not going back to the warehouses." He made it perfectly clear.

"Gus please!" Shawn sounded like he was disappointed. "Think about it, the only reason I'm off the case is because Marcus is a suspect, not because I wanted to be. I was content in thinking that maybe this just wasn't my job and that maybe I could let Lassie have it all. Thank god I'm a believer in fate!"

"Since when?" Gus frowned at him.

"Since what's his face-"

"Peter." Gus offered.

"Since Peter – thank you Gus- came into the laundry mat coincidentally on the same day we did. Mistook me for Derek and blatantly pointed us to a second ware house FULL of potential clues."

"Just call Detective Lassiter and tell him about the second warehouse – please." Gus pleaded with his friend. "It's not that hard to do."

"Oh but it is." Shawn said. "Because not only were we pointed to the second warehouse, we were invited to another party – where my murderer will most likely attend."

"Your murderer?" Gus scoffed a bit. "You're not dead, you mean Derek's murderer."

Something twinkled a bit behind Shawn's eyes, and immediately Gus was yelling at him. "Hell no! You're not doing what I think you want to do! No way Shawn!"

"Gus – Gus, listen!"

"Not listening! You're not doing it!"

"Gus come on, aside from knowing the victim's name, and having ONE suspect – the police have NOTHING on this case. No matching prints came up on the murder weapon. This might be the only chance anyone has of catching this guy. Think about it, a whole ware house full of suspects – if you killed someone then a week later ran into them what would you do?"

Gus sighed. "I'd probably freak out."

Shawn grinned. "Exactly yes! We're on the same page!"

"No we're not." Gus huffed and then proceeded to get into the car. "I don't like this."

"I think it's awesome." Shawn said and he dropped himself into the passenger seat next to Gus. "I can be like – a spy."

"Spy my mass." Gus grumbled.

"It'll be great." Shawn insisted. "You'll come to the party too and be my back up."

Gus sighed and wanted to be done talking about this particular topic. He downright refused to take Shawn to the second warehouse, and urged Shawn to just call Lassiter and give him the tip. They argued about it up until they were back at Shawn's apartment – Shawn promptly shoving his still dirty laundry back into his closet.

"You know, we probably still had time to do your laundry." Gus pointed out.

"Nah." Said Shawn. "That Peter guy was doing laundry, would've been awkward I'll do it tomorrow…. after we hit up the ware houses."

"We're not going to the warehouses!" Gus snapped. "Dammit Shawn, just call Lassiter."

Shawn huffed a bit but for Gus' sake he digressed. "I can always just tell him tonight – if it means that much to you."

"It does." Gus confirmed. "Thank you." He paused then, and looked over to Shawn skeptically. "Wait – tonight?"

"Yeah." Shawn said. "Didn't I tell you? He's coming over later."

"That explains the sudden urge to clean your apartment. Since when do you hang out with detective Lassiter?"

"Since I invited him over earlier." Shawn coughed a bit. "After we uh – kissed and such. I figured it only be right."

Gus nodded in perfect understanding. "Oh okay."

Silence stretched between the two of them. "Hold up." Gus finally said. "You and detective Lassiter did what! ?"(A/N: I know this breaks up the story- but I'm happy to note that as soon as I typed this line; my ipod shuffle started playing the Psych theme. I squeed like a fan girl, and did a victory dance! Seriously – .ever!)

"Calm down." Shawn said lightly. "We just kissed – I know what you're thinking 'but he hates you' and you're right he probably does, however that didn't stop him from lip smacking so I'm taking the shot anyway."

"Real happy for you." Gus said "You've only been crushing on him since…?"

"Since he cuffed me at the McCallum house, so many moons ago." Shawn made a wistful sigh. "You're totally invited to the wedding by the way."

At this point Gus had walked over to Shawn's coffee table and was looking over the contents. "If you want any chance with him, you're going to have to hide this." He held up what he liked to call 'incriminating evidence.'

"Say what you will." Shawn said, and he snatched the CD away from Gus. "Taylor Swift is hot."

"Right." Gus said, he used sarcasm but truthfully he was happy Shawn wasn't talking about the warehouses anymore, even if he was just a little uncomfortable with this newer conversation topic. Was he about to ask Shawn details about his kiss? God no, the imagery! But Shawn seemed excited, and Gus liked seeing his friend happy.

Happy was something detective Lassiter was not at that current moment. He was feeling; agitated, stressed, anxious, and downright cruel. True to their orders O'Hara and Mcnab had retrieved Marcus Tuly and brought him back to the station, and both parties unknowing of Lassiter's current situation with Shawn, had made interrogating the man Lassiter's job. This man had once hit Shawn – Lassiter kept remembering that, it infuriated him in a way he couldn't explain. As Marcus Tuly sat down across from him the detective couldn't help the snide grin that graced his features. He was going to enjoy this.

"What's this all about?" Marcus had just been getting home when the police had arrived to take him back to the station; needless to say he was confused.

"Why don't you let me ask the questions?" Lassiter said immediately. He wasn't giving Marcus a chance to act innocent. "Tell me where you were the night of the 7th."

"Home." Marcus said. "I already told this to Shawn."

"Well Shawn's not here." Lassiter said. "Now you're telling me."

Marcus sighed. "What do you want to know?"

At this Lassiter opened the first folder he had with him and slid a picture of the murder weapon over to Marcus to look over. "Recognize this?"

"Yes." Marcus said. "Used to own one just like it, but I didn't kill anybody."

"Oh I beg to differ." Lassiter said, and he slid another picture over to Marcus – the victim. "Look familiar Tuly?"

"It really is uncanny." Marcus commented. "I can see why you'd think it was me."

"No – really?" Lassiter said. "Just confess already."

"I would." Marcus said. "If I did it, but I didn't do it."

"You must think I'm stupid." Lassiter sneered. "I know you did it."

"I did squat." Marcus argued. "Fuck this, I want a lawyer."

Goddamn Lawyer card. Lassiter had to keep from reaching over the table and punching Marcus in the face, he had a hunch that'd it be incredibly satisfying despite the idea being so unprofessional.

"Detective Lassiter." Before Lassiter could start getting really mean however - O'Hara popped her head into the room. "Kayla Atkinson is here."

Lassiter gave a small nod, and getting McNab to escort Marcus out of the room, he gathered up his folders and followed O'Hara to his desk.

Kayla Atkinson was not who Lassiter was expecting to meet. The voice he heard on the phone was rather sharp and commanding giving Lassiter the impression that Kayla was a business woman of some sort. He was expecting a pant suit and a neat hair style. Instead he got the complete opposite. Kayla Atkinson was surprisingly a tiny woman, no more than five feet. She hid her figure pretty well with the baggy beige khaki pants she wore, along with an oversized tye-died t-shirt. Her dirty blonde hair was frizzy and kept in long dread locks bound together with an elastic at the nape of her neck. "Detective Lassiter." She greeted him with the same sharp tone she used on the phone and was quick to shake Lassiter's hand. Her grip was surprisingly tight and Lassiter noted she had scrapes along her knuckles.

"Thank you for coming in." Lassiter said. "I understand this must be very hard for you."

"No kidding." Kayla commented. "I told that fucker not to go to that stupid party. I even said 'Derek don't go to that fucking party' but does he listen? Fuck no."

"Er – yeah…." Lassiter blinked, Kayla Atkinson did not swear this much over the phone. "Would you like to sit down?"

"Nah I'm fine." Kayla said. "So how do we do this? We going down to the morgue, you got a picture – what?"

"I have a photo." Lassiter said. "We can go somewhere private," he suggested. "In case you need a few minutes after you see the photo."

"I don't cry." Kayla cut him off. "People die, its nature, whether it be from old age, disease, and even murder, he died when he was supposed to die and someday we will to."

Lassiter never felt so awkward in life. Figuring he had nothing to lose, he handed Kayla the victim's photo. Kayla looked at it good and hard.

"That's my brother." Kayla said. She handed the picture back to the detective. "I'll be staying at the Barbara Hotel, call me if you have any questions." She didn't give Lassiter a chance to argue with her, Kayla had left. Lassiter looked around to see if anyone else had just witnessed one of the least emotional conversations about murder he's ever had.

"No one else saw that?" Lassiter said out loud. "No one?"

Oh well, in either case. Marcus Tuly had requested a Lawyer, and Kayla had identified her brother. Lassiter was done for now. Grabbing his jacket, and grabbing his things he dialed Shawn as he headed for the car.

"It's me." Lassiter said. "I'm heading over now. " God help him he was going through with this – whatever this was. "I'll be there shortly."

"Great!" Shawn sounded happy, and that surprisingly made Lassiter smile. "I have some news, so hurry it along!" His smile then turned to an unsure frown, what could Shawn possibly have to tell him?