A/N: So yeah, it's been awhile – I'm so terribly sorry! I've been so busy lately that fanfiction just hasn't been a priority, how horrible! I should be tied to a post and stoned for such blasphemy! Haha, anyway I hope this chapter makes up for the long unexpected hiatus, and as usual reviews are encouraged!

~Matilda

P.S

Don't forget, if you're a big fan of Shassie you need to join my forum 'Shassie Love Letters.' We're a small community, but I would love for us to be a big community! The link is set up as my homepage, just visit my profile and have a click see!

Brick Wall

"Dad!"

After running into Henry on the street, Shawn was a bit perplexed and breaking away from Lassiter had followed his dad right back to the police station. "What are you doing here?"

"Karen called me." Henry explained. "Said you had a rough night, figured it'd be best if I came by to make sure you were okay."

Oh lordy, Shawn's head spun a bit. The last thing he wanted to do was explain to his dad that he was assaulted – Shawn was content in the fact Lassie had saved him, he wasn't so sure about his dad sadly.

"You seem okay now." Henry said then. "Carlton looks like he has things covered." The smug look Henry gave Shawn then had Shawn hitting the breaks in defensive mode.

"Ha...ha." Shawn quipped. "But yes, I'm okay now. Lassie has it covered, and the case is almost over with...so everything's good."

"Good." Henry repeated. "Now what aren't you telling me?"

Shawn grumbled under his breath, he imagined telling his dad would be like something out of the twilight zone. He'd say 'dad last night during my mission I was sexually assaulted and almost raped' and Henry would just look at him blankly with an unmoving 'oh.' Before getting up to leave, it was the last thing Shawn wanted.

"Everything's fine dad." Shawn urged. "Seriously – fine."

"You're a terrible liar." Henry pointed out. "I can read you like a book Shawn."

His dad was interrogating him? Really? Even using old methods. Shawn chewed on the inside of his cheek. It wasn't going to work. Not even a little he decided.

"Oh really." Shawn challenged, and he leaned in close to his father. "Then read me. What aren't I telling you?"

There was a moment of silence, both Spencer's staring each other down, Henry trying to analyze his son like a science project and Shawn never breaking face, refusing to let Henry in.

Lassiter and Juliet were off to side and they were watching the whole thing, Lassiter had never seen Henry so – determined to make Shawn say anything and Shawn looked as if this tension between them was nothing new. It was downright scary. The tension continued to grow.

"Oh for goodness sakes!" Juliet was the first to break under the tension. "Mr. Spencer, Shawn helped us with a stake out last night – that's all. There really was nothing to it."

Lassiter shot Juliet a stare, he had been certain the younger detective was about to spill the whole story, which he knew right off the bat Shawn didn't want shared. When Juliet didn't spill the beans however Lassiter breathed a small sigh of relief.

"Okay." Henry caved in – Juliet always having that sweet little effect on him. "I won't ask questions, but Shawn – if it was something really bad, you'd tell me right?"

Shawn paused, and pretended to be interested in a spot on the wall.

"Shawn!" Henry repeated. "Right?"

"Hmm...what?" Shawn shrugged. "Sure dad, totally..." He chuckled nervously.

Henry gave an exasperated sigh. "Then I guess I'll just go home." He was up then and getting ready to make his leave, he stopped for a moment and gave Lassiter a mini stare down. "Carlton." He said Lassiter's name in warning, and considering what Henry had just seen Lassiter was willing to bet it was subtext for 'hurt him and I'll kill you.' Lassiter could actually feel hair on the back of his neck rise up. Henry was gone then, and Shawn was looking to Lassiter apologetically.

"You could've told your dad." Juliet said lightly then. "We have Peter in custody so it's not like you have to worry about him."

"I'm not worried." Shawn insisted. "There are just some things better left unsaid, I'm a grown man, my dad doesn't need to hear about – that."

Besides, I'm sure catching Lassie and me playing tonsil hockey in the park was enough for one day.

"What did the Chief say anyhow?" Lassiter's attention was back on Juliet.

"Well we have Peter on an assault charge, but if we want to nail him for the murder we have to match his prints to the ones found on the letter opener."

"Fair enough." Lassiter grumbled lightly. "Which means we have paper work to do."

Juliet sighed. "Yes we do."

"Do you need me here?" Shawn asked lightly.

"I guess not." Juliet admitted. "We'll call you later on though."

"Perfect." Shawn said – he was dead tired and he had the overwhelming urge to shower. "Do so – Lassie, a second?"

Lassiter nodded and followed Shawn out the door. "You're sure you're okay?"

"Peachy!" Shawn promised.

Lassiter didn't quite believe the psychic, but he figured it was only because he wasn't okay himself. All he had to do was stop for a second and he could see Peter with his hands on Shawn - the pit of Lassiter's stomach was turning uncomfortably. He could feel the same fury in him that had appeared when he learned of Marcus' history with Spencer.

"Okay." Lassiter relented, he sighed a bit – was none of this phasing Spencer? At all?

"Maybe not that okay." Shawn suddenly admitted. Lassiter blinked – was he speaking out loud?

"It was just a rough night though." Shawn explained. "Nothing really happened, honestly once I get home and take the longest shower of my life and eat the rest of the pineapple in my fridge – I'll be fantastic."

Lassiter cracked half a grin, always with the pineapple...god dammit Spencer. The half grin didn't go missed by Shawn.

"Do I see a smile? Lassie's smiling!" Shawn was smiling enough for the both of them now. " 'Atta-boy Lassie, don't worry about it anymore okay?"

"Fine." Suddenly all the anger building up inside of him had dissipated, and Lassiter was thinking clearly again. All he had to do was get Peter booked and hope that his finger prints matched the one on the letter opener. "So – long shower huh?"

"The longest." Shawn repeated. "Scolding hot water, scrub my skin off right down to the bone – Skeletor Spencer is on his way."

"I hope not." Lassiter said. "Skeletor Spencer? He sounds kind of gross – I like you the way you are."

Shawn felt like he needed to be slapped, or, pinched, or resuscitated, because all the air in his lungs just got sucked out. "You like me..?"

Lassiter looked up at the other man. "Did I say something wrong? I mean, yeah...I like you Spencer... Isn't that why we're doing this?"

"Yes!" Shawn said happily then. "This is exactly why we're doing...what are we doing?"

"Dammit Spencer!" Lassiter cursed. "What are we doing? How the hell am I supposed to know? You started this!"

"I did?"

"Back in the car, you took the stupid crime scene photos."

"Oh..." Shawn's face went blank. "Oh yeah that was all me." He chuckled. "My bad."

"Alright." Lassiter was satisfied. "So what are we doing?"

"I like you Lassie." Shawn smiled. "I like you the way you are – just...don't tell Bruno Mars – swell vocals aside I think I might crack if I turn on my radio and hear another ballad."

Lassiter had no idea who Bruno Mars was; he just nodded in agreement thinking it was the best course of action. "Ballads. Bad. Got it."

"Have fun with all that paper work." Shawn said then. "I should get going, the sooner you get done, the sooner you can go home and relax for a few hours."

"That does sound good." Lassiter admitted.

Shawn leaned forward then, and stole a quick kiss. "Call me later?"

"I had planned on it." Lassiter admitted, he made the move then bringing Shawn closer to him and laying on a kiss. This one lasted, and tasted sweeter than the previous kisses. He could feel Shawn melt against him, and their arms locked around each other easily – it was instinct. Neither man could breathe when they finally pulled away.

"Wow..." Shawn saw stars, and the need to shower? Gone.

"Yeah..." Lassiter said in a low voice. "Definitely, wow."

They had stopped kissing, but their bodies hadn't separated. Each man was still holding onto the other, their grips fully locked. "Paperwork." Shawn said lightly.

"In a minute." Lassiter wasn't budging.

"Now." Shawn ordered. "Call me as soon as you're done. Then we can carry on doing this."

"Yes." Lassiter agreed. "What is this?"

"We like each other." Shawn offered. "We'll figure out the rest as we go."

Lassiter agreed, and finally they separated. The moment passed and Shawn felt like he could walk away.

"Later." Lassiter said again. "As soon as I'm done."

"Agreed." Shawn left then, and for a good few steps he walked backwards not taking his eyes off the detective. Finally though he had to pry his eyes and away and turn around – he felt love sick, happy, and also tired.

Tiredness aside though, he practically skipped home the memory of what Lassie just said still fresh in his mind. "Lassie likes me." Shawn repeated it to himself, Lassie liked him and Lassie admitted it. Last night? Totally worth it!

Coming up to his apartment however, Shawn was taken out of his own little world and slammed right back into reality. Sitting on his stoop, smoking a cigarette was Marcus – Marcus looked dead tired and judging by the pile of cigarette butts built up around his feet he had been there for awhile.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

Marcus looked up, and looked shocked to see that Shawn had shown up. He stood quickly, but didn't put out his smoke; instead he took a long puff. "Waiting for you." Marcus admitted.

Shawn didn't really like the sound of that. "For me? Why?"

"Can we go inside?" Marcus asked. Shawn immediately shook his head.

"No way." Shawn said. "We can talk here."

"Alright." Marcus agreed. "My dad kicked me out."

"Dude." Shawn shook his head, he really didn't care. "You're almost 40."

"I know." Marcus didn't sound worried about it. "I have some money saved up, so I'll be okay but – he kicked me out because I finally told him."

"Told him what?"

"That the therapy never worked, and you can't stop someone from being gay. He threw a whole shit show – his exact words were 'no pansy ass fags are going to live in this house' it was really quite loud."

Shawn winced a bit, mostly in sympathy – that had to have sucked. "Sorry man." It was really all he could say. "So you've been sitting here all night?"

"All night." Marcus confirmed. "My dad is happy though, I'm out and his new girl friend is in."

"I didn't even know people your dad's age could still date." Shawn was slightly amused – also disturbed.

"It gets worse." Marcus told him. "This new girl? Younger than me. Your age I think."

Shawn visibly shivered. "That's...well...ugh...At least she's over 18 am I right?"

Marcus made a 'pfft' sound. "Right, atleast."

"So, why does any of this concern me?" Shawn asked right away. "I still don't get how fighting with your dad is grounds to sit outside of my apartment all night."

"I figured you had a right to know." Marcus explained. "You were always the one telling me to bite the bullet and rip off the bandaid, I finally did it and I feel great. I owe you so much."

"That's great." Shawn congratulated him. "So don't take this the wrong way, but I'm going inside now. You're not allowed to follow me." Shawn walked passed him then and was half way up his stairs, Marcus didn't say anything he just did what Shawn pretty much told him to do, and left.

Shawn was a little disgruntled then, Marcus was gone and he left a pile of cigarette butts outside his door – fantastic. Shawn was running off little to no sleep and the happy feelings he had whilst holding on to Lassie were starting to drain from him. Time for a shower. He grabbed a couple towels from his linen closet and was half way to his shower when his phone started ringing. Shawn groaned.

"Ack what now..." Shawn grumbled a bit displeased and reaching for his phone, he barely hit the talk button when Gus was on him like a mother hen.

"Dude!" Gus yelled. "What happened last night? You said you were going to call me!"

Shawn winced, he forgot about Gus – he never forgot about Gus! Feeling guilty now he dropped to the couch with his phone clutched to his ear. "I know, last night got pretty weird... Weird being the understatement of the century, and then the chief called my dad and then Marcus was just on my porch." Shawn hadn't noticed that he had started rambling. "I'm so tired man."

"Sounds like it." Gus sounded sympathetic. "Do you want me to come over?"

"No." Shawn said immediately. "I honestly left the station just to sleep."

"That rough of a night?"

Shawn without even realizing it spilled the whole story, by the time he finished Gus was eerily quiet.

"Gus...Gus?" Shawn tried his friend a few times. "Gus say something."

"I'm thinking." Gus finally said. "I'm thinking and – I'm clutching my phone to the point where my knuckles turns white."

"Sounds painful." Shawn commented.

"It isn't comfortable." Gus admitted.

"Seriously – white knuckles?" Shawn did his best to lighten his friend's mood. "That's dangerous man, you're black. I'd get that checked out."

"Why didn't you call me Shawn? !"

"There was no time." Shawn explained again. "I literally just got home; I need a shower, and a long nap."

Gus sighed. "Are you sure you don't want me to come over?"

Shawn's heart strings tugged just a bit, there was a reason Gus was his best bro. "I'm sure." Shawn promised. "Hey silver lining though." Shawn announced.

"Oh?" Gus asked.

"Yeah – Lassie, in his own way told me liked me." Repeating it now Shawn's chest swelled a bit, he was so happy to tell Gus the news.

"Lassiter said he likes you?" Gus sounded surprised.

"Just the way I am." Shawn smiled into his phone, Gus groaned.

"Bruno Mars much?" Gus sounded a little put off. "What is he 12?"

Shawn laughed then – a good strong power laugh. "Dude you're awesome! I made the exact same reference not even an hour ago."

On his end of the line, Gus relaxed. "Lassiter had no idea who you were talking about did he?"

"Not even a little." Shawn told him. "Look dude; come over later in the afternoon okay? I need a few hours to just sleep and then I'm all yours, sound good?"

"Okay." Gus said. "Pizza?"

"Always." Shawn said. "Pineapple on half?"

"Always." Gus said.

They hung up, and again Shawn felt a little better. He dropped his phone carelessly onto his couch and stood up, finally managing to get that shower he'd been meaning to take all morning. By the time he finished scrubbing himself raw he finally got to hit his mattress, the world around him going completely black.

Back at the station Lassiter had hit another brick wall; that happy go lucky feeling had after Shawn left? Gone the second Juliet came back with her full report.

"Peter's prints weren't anywhere on the murder weapon."

"Are you kidding me?" Lassiter could've smashed his head off the desk. "He's not our guy?"

"He's a guy." Juliet offered. "Just not ours."

Lassiter didn't know how he felt about that, maybe if Peter had been the killer Lassiter would've felt a little better about what happened the previous night. At least then Shawn wouldn't have been assaulted for nothing. "I can't believe this..." Lassiter grumbled. "Alright, throw the book at him for assault and let the system take care of the rest. We've got more work to do."

Derek was on the forefront of Lassiter's mind now, as tired as he was there was still a killer out there and Lassiter would gut himself before letting the trail go cold. "O'Hara call Kayla Atkinson, get her here for a few questions."

"Sure thing." Juliet was on it right away. "Anything else?"

"That's it for now." Lassiter said. "I have a bit more paper work to do, hopefully more from her will help us form a better game plan."

"Right." Juliet went to her desk to grab for her phone. "Do you want me to call Shawn too?"

"Shawn?" Lassiter repeated. "Why?" Not that he'd mind seeing Spencer again so soon.

"Maybe ask Kayla a few questions of his own... Do the psychic thing." Juliet suggested.

"He's probably sleeping." Lassiter noted.

"Must be nice." Juliet sounded a bit jealous. "Sleep."

"Yeah." Lassiter agreed, he sounded a little jealous too. Only he wasn't jealous of Shawn, he was jealous of Shawn's bed. He imagined Shawn sleeping soundly, curled up tightly in a blanket – Lassiter wondered if he was going insane. Who could actually admit to wanting to be another person's bedding? "Coffee." Lassiter said then. "I think we need more."

"Oh agreed!" Juliet said then.

Lassiter was up then and heading over to the staff lounge to grab coffee, he gave a small nod of acknowledgement to McNab who was there pouring his own coffee.

"How's the case going?" McNab seemed eager, which was normal. He was a good cop, and he was always interested in what Lassiter and Juliet were up to.

"Alright." Lassiter said lightly, and he grabbed the coffee pot to pour himself and Juliet a cup.

"That's good." McNab said. "Last night sucked, I feel so bad."

"Er – it's alright." Lassiter lied, though he was still pissed that Peter wasn't the guy. "We're bouncing back."

"That's good." McNab sounded encouraging and happy; Lassiter had to wonder how the hell McNab managed to keep that smile. He was running on just as much sleep as him and Juliet. "Did Peter mention Marcus Tuly at all during questioning?"

"Hmm?" Lassiter quirked a brow. "No?" Lassiter tried. "His name didn't pop up."

"Oh." McNab chewed on his lip a bit then, and then proceeded to drink from his own cup. "I just thought that maybe his name would've popped up, course no idea why."

"Marcus Tuly came to the station on a voluntary basis." Lassiter explained. "He admitted to owning the murder weapon, but he claims he dropped it, and until we match the second pair of prints on the weapon we can't make any connections."

"He came here voluntarily?" McNab sounded surprised, but then something clicked in his head and he shrugged. "Makes sense, he was probably here apologizing for his father."

"His father?" Lassiter raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah." McNab said casually. "Old scary man, he was here the other day practically screaming at Shawn."

"Say what now?" Lassiter snapped his head up, McNab had his full attention. McNab however stopped talking and actually paled a bit.

"Aw man." McNab said. "I promised Shawn I wouldn't say anything, he said it was strictly a Psych thing."

"Not a word." Lassiter promised, he finished mixing the two coffees. Meanwhile he was making a mental note to bring Marcus in for another visit, Marcus and his old man.

Only there wasn't an answer at the Tuly household, Lassiter called multiple times but nothing. It was incredibly frustrating. "O'Hara." Lassiter finally asked. "Did Kayla Atkinson answer her phone?"

"She sure did." Juliet replied. "Quite the mouth, after a few f-bombs she said she'd be in around 2 and that it was the best she could do."

Lassiter gave an exasperated sigh. "Alright 2 it is."

By the time 2 o clock rolled around, Kayla was late. Not that she meant to be late, while in Santa Barbara she didn't have a car and from her hotel room she was currently making her way to the police station on foot. She was lost in her own world, a pair of large headphones covering her head, her head bobbing up and down to whatever song she was listening too. Rounding a corner, she stopped at an intersection – her face paling.

Derek? She was seeing Derek! No way in hell!

"Derek!" Kayla yelled; Derek turned to look at her – holy shit it was Derek! She made her way across the intersection and marched right towards her brother. Her brother watched in a scrutinizing way as she made her way towards him. "The fuck happened to you!" Kayla yelled. "You're supposed to be dead!"

Shawn had woken up after his power nap; the first thing on his agenda was to head over to the police station to get an update before meeting up with Gus. He wasn't even halfway to the station when he heard someone call for Derek. He turned and saw Kayla marching right towards him, and Shawn had trouble reading the emotion on her face; surprise? Shock? Anger? He honestly didn't know, and the way Shawn's stomach turned a bit had Shawn convinced he didn't exactly want to find out.