I'm so bad, I know. I so did not mean for this chapter to take so long. I really apologize. Won't happen again! Thank you to everyone for so wonderfully leaving feedback, I really appreciate it. And I will add the next chapter as soon as possible:)

Special thanks to Geeky BMWW Fan for being my uber beta. Love ya, friend!

And thank yous to Kippling Croft and Alexis Seven for helping me out with ideas. You guys rock!!

Disclaimer: Neither Stargate Atlantis or Psych are mine. However, playing with the characters is fun.

Chapter Five: Between Nerds and Murder

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The hall they walked down, not to mention the entire building, was overly busy. Lighting people, staff, technicians... everyone filled the area getting ready for the long weekend of nerds and more nerds.

And yet, Gus and Shawn seemed oblivious as they discussed and dissected, and, at times, argued over everything and nothing. All while John trailed behind them slowly.

With his hands stuffed into the pockets of his board shorts, he silently wondered how anyone could stick around with the two of them for more than 24 hours. That is, without yelling at them or threatening their lives in some way.

"And by the way. It's General Shugura. Not Shakira, Shawn," Gus commented, giving his friend a look.

Shawn then gave Gus the same look. "Oh, but I'm sure his hips don't lie..."

"Seriously. Don't you two have work to do?" John interrupted finally. "This isn't as fun for me. I'm on vay-cay-shun." He hoped drawing out the last word would help sink it into their brains.

Shawn gave his brother a reassuring nod. "No worries, bro. I'm figuring this thing out..."

On the other hand, John was having a somewhat decent time with them. But when he realized that he could be doing countless other things that made his little holiday worthwhile, well,... he felt the need to complain. Just a little.

And the idea of Wormhole X-treme made him slightly curious. Or maybe he was slightly worried.

Either way, he'd have to learn more about it first.

Shawn stopped for a moment after passing the commissary, which had its doors wide open. A throng of busy convention workers were setting up a coffee stand. Or two.

"That looks familiar..."

Gus looked over to where Shawn was staring. One of the coffee workers was wearing the same mask the dead body wore.

John sauntered up behind them, and checked it out alongside Gus.

"Interesting," he quipped. The fact that the mask still resembled a Wraith's head made him question the SGC's tight hold on information.

First the mask. And now Wormhole X-treme.. What was next? Aliens with parasite problems and a fetish for Egyptian mythology?

It was time for Shawn to work his magic.

He walked quickly to the stand and smiled at the guy. "Nice mask, buddy..."

"Uh, thanks. Are you here to help?" The guy asked.

"No, we already did our work. Heard there was a coffee stand and we wanted to see if it was open yet."

The guy shook his head, making the tentacles on the mask move a bit. "Not yet. It'll open tomorrow along with the rest of the convention."

Shawn frowned while looking over the menu. "Darn!" He looked back at the masked worker. "Wow. An Americano for three fifty. That's practically murder..."

The guy just stared at him. "Uh, yeah..."

"I mean, they really prey on the public here. It's killer."

"Right, uh..." the guy then pulled his mask off, revealing a pasty, relatively normal looking nerd. Nothing overly special. He looked as though he couldn't have hurt fly. "Look, I've uh.. . got to get back to work..."

John stepped in a moment, displaying a disarming smile. "Can I see your mask? I'd love to buy one for my brother and his friend."

The guy seemed to lighten up a bit. "Sure, yeah... it's my own design. I'm starting my own sci-fi comic series about a vampiric alien race. I get to display it for the first time to the general public tomorrow."

John looked over the mask for a moment while he heard Shawn whisper to Gus, "And by general public he means thirty-five year olds who live with their mothers... "

Checking over the mask, John noticed a 'Phil and Justin' scrawled on the inside with a copy-right next to it.

John handed it over. "Thanks, we'll check it out tomorrow. Sounds interesting. What was your name?"

The guy took the mask back and became slightly suspicious. "Uh, m-my names Phil. Phil Matthews..."

"Thanks, Phil," John said with a wave as the three said their goodbyes.

With shifty eyes, Phil hurriedly walked away from his station and was soon lost in a crowd of workers.

After he was gone, Shawn leaned into them like it was a football huddle. "It's him."

Gus raised a brow. "Phil the nerd? He seems harmless."

John nodded grimly. "I think Shawn's right."

Gus now turned his attention to the taller of the brothers. "And why do you think that?"

"It's a hunch..." John was now excited that he was in the middle of solving a murder. He turned to Shawn. "Call that guy who doesn't like you. What's his name?"

Gus and Shawn said in unison, "Lassiter."

"Yes. Him. Ask him if they've identified the body yet. Ask if his name was Justin."

Shawn gave him a look. "Justin? Was that a name you randomly pulled out of the air? Do you have Timberlake on the brain?"

"The name inside of the mask... the copy-right... it was Phil and Justin."

Gus smirked. "So, Phil the nerd didn't want Justin reaping all of the benefits, whether shared or not."

"I was thinking along the same lines..."

"Or maybe it was an accident," Gus said distantly. "Or perhaps Phil just wanted to off him."

Shawn shook his head. "Didn't you notice?"

Both John and Gus looked over at him. "Notice what?"

"Phil the nerd's scrape on his arm. It was almost the same perfect distance apart as the two holes on Timberlake's neck." Shawn then dramatized the situation by sticking an imaginary weapon in his arm and scraping it across his arm.

John was impressed. He couldn't remember Phil's outfit, let alone what his arms looked like. Shawn was better than he thought.

"Call Lassiter, Shawn."

Shawn dialed the number, "Hello, Lassi, my friend!"

Apparently, Lassiter grumbled something over the other line, and Shawn simply ignored it.

"So, you're already here? Have you identified the body yet? Is his name Timberlake? Whoops! Sorry! I mean, is it Justin?"

Shawn nodded and then his face looked grim. "I think we've already seen him."

Shawn hung up, and John asked what the other man had said.

"The finger prints at the docks belong to a Phil Matthews."

Gus shook his head in disgust. "How can a nerd like him have a police record already?"

"Looks can be deceiving," John said. And how true that was...

Shawn shrugged. "The fashion police, no doubt."

John nudged Shawn and then gave him a look, which was a very Gus like thing to do.

"We need to get Phil the nerd, before he gets spooked and leaves," Gus stated hurriedly. "Hopefully he hasn't already."

After questioning workers, not many knew about Phil, but a handful remembered him.

Mainly the coffee people.

The three soon figured out that Phil was working on his set in the warehouse area of the center.

So they took off to the lower, secluded area of the convention center.

The closer they got to the warehouse, the emptier the place seemed. In fact, hardly anyone was around.

John was glad he was there to protect his brother and his friend. Despite what Shawn and Gus thought about nerds, John knew not to judge a person by their outward appearance.

Who knew what Phil the nerd..., er rather Phil, was capable of.

"This place is getting kind of creepy." Gus had stated the obvious.

"Well, Lassi and Jules are here. Somewhere."

At the end of the corridor, John opened the steel door and peered in. An endless supply of nerdom was everywhere.

Tables, chairs, sets, props. It was stock full.

John saw a sign for Wormhole X-treme and made a face at it.

The area seemed empty. And quiet. And creepy.

"Phil?" Gus called out. He moved closer to John.

"Hey, Philly!" Shawn exclaimed loudly. "We're here to help you, bud!"

"Have you ever solved a case this fast before?" John asked in a low whisper. "I mean... we don't have the complete evidence... but..."

The evidence they needed came out from around the corner. Phil, now looking slightly un-nerdy and wielding a semi-automatic hand gun, glared at them.

"Don't even think about moving."

Gus gasped and held his hands up. Shawn stared at him blankly, while John merely narrowed his eyes.

"Easy, Phil. You don't have to do this." The strength in John's voice was unwavering. If only he could count the times he had had a gun pointed at him.

If only he had a dollar for every time a gun had been pointed at him...

"You knew about Justin didn't you?"

"No." Which was the complete truth. Or a half-truth at least.

"Phil, we don't know what's going on..." Shawn said slowly, adding a smile. "We're here to help you. We know just as much about Justin Timberlake as you do..."

"SHUT UP!" Phil moved in closer, and John wished for Shawn to stay quiet. For once. "I have a police scanner. You're that psychic detective... I recognize you. Well maybe you can for-see that you're not leaving this room alive."

John knew Phil the nerd was quite unstable. He wasn't thinking clearly and he was reacting on emotion. That was a bad combination.

Without moving much, John shifted and looked Phil directly in the eye. "Don't finish it like this Phil. It's not worth it."

Phil motioned his hand towards the wall. "The janitor's closet. Get in it. Now!"

And so they did. Gus half-squealed and filed in first. Followed by Shawn. John stared their gun wielding nerd down as he walked backwards into the room.

The room was dark and dank, and smelled like old mop water. Phil had made sure to lock the door behind them. They heard the jingling of a ring of keys.

Shawn finally whispered, "Dude, Phil has keys?"

Just another odd thing to add to the list.

"I need a vacation," Gus finally stated. He sounded highly pissed. But still scared.

"I'm on vacation," John bemoaned.

"I'm swearing off Comic cons," Shawn commented dryly. He fished for his phone from his pocket and flipped it open. "At least I have service in here."

He dialed Lassiter and waited for the answer.

This was so not what he was expecting. John could have been killed. On vacation. At a science fiction convention.

He decided it was only fun in the sun from here on out.

As he stood there, his eyes were starting to adjust to the darkness in the room. John saw a outline of someone. And walked into him.

"Ooph! Easy, Shawn!" It was Gus.

"I'm John."

"Oh."

Just then, John felt something buzzing on his butt. For a second he had no idea what was going on. And it dawned on him. It was his cell phone in his back pocket.

John pulled it out and stared at it. The number was strange. It seemed fake. 000-000-0000.

Still, he decided to answer it. Unsure who could be on the other end, John walked to the door to get out of earshot of the other two.

"Hello?"

"Colonel Sheppard?" The voice was male. Also oddly familiar. He couldn't quite place it.

Still, this wasn't a civilian calling.

"This is he."

"Sheppard, this is Colonel Caldwell..." What the? Why was he calling?

"Colonel, I'm surprised to hear from you...You called at an interesting time."

"I'm sorry to interrupt your vacation, but we needed to get a hold of you immediately." Before John could ask why, Caldwell offered a brief explanation. "Atlantis is under attack... It's the Wraith," Something John had deduced. He was afraid of that happening. "We rigged away to get you there. Fast."

"Now? I mean... I'm sort of..."

"Sheppard! Atlantis needs its military commander. Not to mention, we need someone to man the chair. As soon as humanly possible."

Oh, great. "Yes, sir."

"The Daedalus is orbiting Earth now. Once we beam you, we're redirecting you to the gate bridge. Which then you will be directly beamed to a jumper. From there on, you'll know what to do." Caldwell paused for a moment. "We have your location... Santa Barbara, Green Street. You're in some building."

John rolled his eyes. "Yes, I am."

"Are you in a secure area?"

John felt like asking if it mattered. Instead he simply replied, "Yes."

With that, he was beamed away. Of course, Shawn and Gus would wonder where he went and speculate endlessly. They'd also make some conspiracy as to what the white light was.

It'd be a story that would last forever. A story he'd be bombarded with the next time John would see them. And, of course, he wanted to go back. He already regretted leaving his stuff.

John touched down to the Daedalus and not a second more had passed before he was beamed directly to the Stargate bridge and into a Puddle Jumper.

It was an odd sensation. One moment he had been stuffed into a dark closet with Shawn and Gus. The next moment he was sitting in the pilot's seat and watching a large gate power up before him.

John grimaced and leaned into the chair. He was still wearing flip flops, and the keys to his rental were safely in his pocket. The car was now stuck in the convention parking lot, only to most likely get towed away in a day or two.

Once the sequence was finished, John blasted through the Stargate. The vast, empty Pegasus galaxy space greeted him on the other side. It was time to set it into motion. John punched coordinates to the closest gate and the little ship jumped into hyperspace.

John let out a well-needed, heavy sigh.

He looked over his clothes and decided he should change before he got there. There might have been something in the back.

He stood up and walked over to the door leading to the back compartment of the jumper. With a swipe of his hand, it opened immediately.

And then his jaw went slack and could have hit the floor. John stared ahead of him to the point where his eyes could have dried out.

Shawn and Gus were holding each other like they were saying their final goodbyes.

"Oh. No."

Daedalus-

"Oh. No." Lindsey Novak had noticed a strange energy surge during the beaming process.

John Sheppard had been beamed just fine, but for some reason, the computer said that two other life forms went with him.

It could have been acting up, or they had a problem. A big problem.

Dr. Novak looked over at Hermiod and he already knew.

"Two civilians went with the Colonel," the Asgard deadpanned.

Lindsey bit her lip. "I was afraid of that." She started towards the bridge, "I'll tell Colonel Caldwell."

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