A/N: This chapter isn't as long as the others, and maybe not as good. However it's a re-write of a re-write so hopefully well worth the wait. Reviews are always encouraged! Enjoy!

~Matilda.

Uncertain

Catching a murderer was easier said than done, but still Shawn was willing to try. Within hours of explaining to Jules what exactly he wanted to do and he was in the chief's office making his appeal to her.

Lassiter and Juliet were waiting for word by Lassiter's desk. Lassiter already knew what the decision would be, but still he had some hope. Juliet on the other hand was a bit eager; she was more on the job then Lassiter was in this scenario and was looking forward to cuffing a killer.

"Do you think it'll take long for the chief to agree?"

"Not long." Lassiter said tiredly. "Though I wish she wouldn't."

"Why?" Juliet got curious. "Shawn's capable."

"Do you have any idea how crowded this party might be?" Lassiter asked. "Even if Shawn does run into the murderer, what are the chances we can get in on time and get passed the crowd?"

"Maybe." Juliet pointed out. "It doesn't mean we shouldn't try."

Lassiter groaned a bit, O'Hara was right however Lassiter couldn't shake the feeling of uncertainty. He was really convinced that something was going to go horribly wrong. If he could talk Shawn out of doing this he would. It wasn't long before Shawn and the chief were sauntering over to Lassiter's desk and Lassiter stood as if he we were expecting a death sentence. "Well?"

"Mr. Spencer will be going to the ware house tonight; we're assisting him with a wire hook up and a backup team. Detectives, you'll be going with him. McNab and a few others will be on standby ready to join you should the occasion arise." The chief made her words very clear. Once she was done speaking, she returned to her office instructing O'Hara and Lassiter to only come to her if necessary.

Juliet agreed, and surprisingly so did Lassiter. He had fully expected Shawn to be sent into the party alone. The fact that he wasn't made Lassiter feel so much better – now he had an entire day to figure out a game plan, and to mentally brace himself for the coming evening. When the Chief left, Juliet followed her to ask a few questions, and once they were gone Shawn was the first to speak whilst looking Lassiter over skeptically.

"Are you mad at me?"

"Not as much as I thought I'd be." Lassiter admitted. "I'm more okay now that O'Hara and I are going in with you."

Shawn smiled. "I know, the Chief already panned it out for me. I'm really hoping this all works out."

"You and I both." Lassiter replied. Shawn looked around then, making sure there were no prying eyes and leaning forward he gave Lassiter a quick kiss.

"Meet back here at 9 to get me suited up?" Shawn asked.

Lassiter kissed back. "I suppose – where are you going?"

"To meet Gus." Shawn said. "I have to explain what's going on; he already hates me for coming up with this idea. Not telling him I'm going through with it and he'd never speak to me again."

"Fair enough." Lassiter said. "You'll be back here by 9."

"Nine." Shawn promised. "See you at 9 Lassie." Turning, he left then, and Lassiter was promptly up deciding it was best to go home and get some sleep before that night. He wasn't even half way through the door when Marcus was coming up the steps.

"The hell are you doing here?"

Didn't this guy play the lawyer card? Lassiter took a quick look around the station, seeing only the usual uniforms and a couple other detectives. Not one attorney.

"I'm sorry detective." Marcus said. "I'm here because I want to change my statement. Regarding my whereabouts on the 7th – I wasn't entirely honest with you."

No kidding, Lassiter already knew that. He had to keep from rolling his eyes. Also he had to keep from lunging at the other man; a couple days from seeing him, and learning his story and Lassiter still felt the need to clock him one on Shawn's behalf. He couldn't though – at least not in the station. "Alright, follow me." Lassiter motioned for Marcus to join him in the interrogation room.

"I can't officially change your statement." Lassiter told him. "I can only take a new one."

"Fair enough." Marcus looked as uncomfortable as Lassiter felt. Lassiter watched as Marcus sat down and started playing his fingers against the table like it were a piano. He was nervous.

"The 7th." Lassiter prompted. "Tell me about the 7th."

"I was at a party that night. Down in the warehouses by Clyedale."

So far that matched up. Lassiter urged Marcus to continue. "Then what happened?"

"I was really out of it, depressed. Someone my age at some; run down, drug infested ware house, and surrounded by people 10-15 years younger than me. That's when I started drinking."

Lassiter breathed a second, and he gave a silent little prayer that Marcus might confess to the killing after all. Save him and the others a whole lot of trouble. "Do you remember anything at all about that night?"

"Well after about 6 shots and a beer, I was feeling better about myself." Marcus told him. "Usual side effect of alcohol, I still didn't like where I was though. I decided to go home."

"But you didn't." Lassiter pressed. "Let me guess, this is about the time you ran into our victim isn't it?"

"He was there." Marcus confided. "It just sort of happened. He came over to me. Told me a few guys he was with bet $50 he couldn't kiss 10 strangers by the end of the night. Then he kissed me."

Marcus was really drunk, and really confused. Though at that moment in time he didn't particularly care – he was getting some action, and really that's all that mattered. Warm lips and soft hands touched him, and he responded eagerly. It had been so long since he's been with someone else.

The music of the warehouse throbbed against his ear drums in a constant mantra, and his body moved along with the beat. His arms locked around the other man and pulled him closer. Sooner than later however and Marcus needed to breathe. He pulled away and took a deep breathe. His eyes slid open to glance at his companion. Realization hit him like a ton of bricks.

"Shawn?"

Shawn looked at him with a confused look on his face, the look soon turned into mischief and Shawn grinned. "Is that who I am?"

"Yes."

"Then I'm Shawn." Shawn hooked his hands over Marcus' hips and carried on kissing the older man. Marcus got lost in ecstasy. He couldn't believe it, he was kissing Shawn again. Shawn was in his arms. He held on as tight as he could until eventually he needed air again. This time when he pulled away he tried to think of the best way he could tell Shawn how much he missed him.

"I kept the letter opener."

"What are you talking about?" Shawn took a step back.

"The letter opener." Marcus explained. "I kept it; I carry it with me everywhere. I think about you every day."

"Uh…" Now Shawn was really taking a step back. "That's cool – I guess."

"You have no idea how much I hate myself Shawn. I sit by the phone some nights and spend hours debating on whether or not to call you."

"Okay!" Shawn quipped. "I'm going to go out on a limb and say you're crazy. So I'm going to go now, thanks for helping me make an easy $50 – and chow."

"Wait!" Marcus didn't want to watch him leave, not again. "I'm sorry."

Shawn turned to look at him, a brow quirked. Marcus without really thinking pulled out the letter opener, he wasn't lying when he said he took it everywhere. Not anymore. He pressed it into Shawn's hand. "Keep it please."

Shawn took the opener looking more confused than he ever had. "Okay. I'm out."

Shawn left then, and Marcus had to watch him leave. Dammit. He should've kept the opener, now he had nothing of Shawn left. Drunk and miserable, he decided to go home. He forced himself to turn away from Shawn's retreated form and leave, not catching that Shawn had carelessly dropped to letter opener on the ground and left it unattended. Only to have it picked up by someone else.

"Not even two days later and Shawn was at my house, asking questions about a murder… I didn't know what to say. By the time I sobered up it clicked in my head that it wasn't him at the ware house. I thought that if I told him I was there and had actually been with the victim he'd get mad at me. Find a way to bend it so that I was guilty when I'm not. The only thing I'm guilty of is letting him get under my skin. I've tried letting go. I've been with other people since but none of them… There's no other way to say it. Shawn was the one."

Lassiter had heard enough, hitting this guy – was not the answer. Never the answer. The detective gritted his teeth and took a second to picture himself running Marcus down with his car. He held up his hand. "Enough with the pity party." Lassiter said. "You're just saying, that yes you were on Clyedale that night, yes you saw the victim, no you didn't stab him. Fine. That's all you came to say."

"Yes." Marcus explained. "That's all I came to say."

"Okay." Lassiter gritted his teeth one more time. He couldn't exactly book this guy with no solid proof now could he? Damn. He couldn't hit him either. Double damn. "You're free to go, get the hell out of my face." He was however free to kick Marcus out of the station and out of his hair. Thank god.

When Marcus left, Lassiter had trouble re-gaining a confident composure. He'd never been the jealous type before but when Marcus so boldly stated he wasn't over Shawn – Lassiter actually saw red. It was an odd experience the detective almost didn't get a grasp on, which would've been bad for Marcus.

Of course that meant that Lassiter didn't completely believe Marcus' new statement. Call him biased, but he was more than half convinced that Marcus did more than mistake Derek's identity. All he had to do was prove it. A glance at his watch showed he still had time to go home and rest. Still Marcus' change of statement had Lassiter feeling even more uneasy. Not really thinking about it he dialed Shawn as he headed for his car.

"Lassie-face!" Shawn answered on the second ring. "It's barely been an hour – miss me already?"

"Har har." Lassiter replied lowly. "Listen Shawn, right after you left I had a run in with your friend Marcus. He gave me some interesting factoids about the night of the 7th."

"Marcus confessed?"

"Not to the murder, he confessed to being at that party – and being with the victim."

Shawn made a 'hmm'sound. "Too bad we can't arrest someone on the basis of close enough."

"You're telling me."Lassiter commented. "In either case, I thought I'd call and warn you. He's back at the top of my suspect list."

"I don't know sweety." Shawn added. "As temperamental as Marcus could be in the past, I still doubt he's capable of murder – at least not intentional murder. That stab wound was way too pacific to be an accident."

"It astonishes me that you're protecting him." Lassiter grumbled a bit. "Also – sweety? Not flying with me Spencer."

"Aww but sweety…" Shawn teased. "Okay look, how I do my investigating is very different from how you do yours. It's unconventional – yes, but it gets the job done. Marcus is an ass, we agree there. Hell I'm the first one to say it, but a murderer? That's a pretty serious accusation aimed at someone whose only crime is staying in the closet well into his 30's, and being too embarrassed to talk about it."

Lassiter sighed. "I suppose …It still won't shock me if he is though."

"Thank you sweety." Shawn smiled into his receiver.

"Don't call me sweety." Lassiter sounded just a little agitated, but it didn't quite reach the same level as it normally did – Shawn had an inkling that Lassiter actually liked the endearing term.

"I'll see you at nine Lassiefrass."

Shawn hung up his cell, an unmistakable grin gracing his features. Gus who was sitting on the other side of the booth gave Shawn a frown.

"Since when do you call detective Lassiter sweety?"

"Since today."Shawn happily announced. "He's worried about the ware house party tonight. I'm not though; it's no different than some of the stuff we've done before."

"Not even three days ago and you were happily throwing the towel in on this case." Gus pointed out. "Now you're all over it."

"A factoid I happily thank that Peter guy for. Where ever he may be." Shawn raised his glass in toast.

"I'm still worried."Gus pointed out.

"Don't be!" Shawn said. "I'm a fearless crusader! That and I have Lassie and Jules backing me up. First one to make a move that's a little more than flirty and he's cuffed. We bring him in for questioning and if all plays well he'll be our murderer. Case solved."

Gus still wasn't convinced. "You could get hit on either not at all tonight, or all the time. How are you going to know which one to cuff?"

Shawn frowned a bit. "Well I imagine he'll be more persistent than anyone else who might try and talk me up. Also remember we're looking for a man who thinks I'm already dead – so his reaction to my face will be one of shock, possibly anger, maybe fear if I convince the chief to let me wear zombie makeup."

Gus frowned some, and poured himself another glass of soda. "Zombie or not -I'm still mad you're going through with this."

"I'll be fine." Shawn insisted one more time. Though truthfully he was a little concerned, Lassie seemed more worried than usual and even Gus was acting antsy. Shawn almost started to second guess his game plan, but then he remembered that Derek died – maybe because of him, and that seemed to drive his decision to go through it. "When it's all over, we'll kick back and have a beer. My place, you pick the movie."

"The Replacements?" Gus tried.

"Uh…." Shawn answered. "Keanu Reeves yes, football no. One more try."

"Bill and Ted marathon?"Gus asked.

"Yes!"Answered Shawn. "Absolutely yes!"

The two best friends then clinked their glasses together. It was a man-date.

Now all Shawn had to do was make sure the following evening went exactly as planned, or prove unsuccessful. God forbid this feeling of uncertainty reveals to be the foreshadowing of something more sinister.