"Are you absolutely sure about this Spencer?" Lassiter questioned for the sixth time since they had gotten in the car.

"Positive Lassie." Shawn said, his stomach flipping and knotting like acrobats in Circus Ole as he and Gus bounced in the backseat; this was all his fault. He never should have left that little girl alone up there. He winced, his headache was getting worse. Even for him that was horrible judgment.

He could hear his father's scathing voice in his ear already. 'Nice going Shawn. You solved the kidnapping just in time to get charged for manslaughter' Shawn cocked his head to the side surprised. His father had forgotten to charge him with being an accomplice to kidnapping; the Henry Spencer who lived in Shawn's head was losing his touch. "Adam Jordan has a small lake house up near that ravine. I'm sensing that that is where Jeffery took Millie."

Shawn felt his fist clench on the seat in front of him as he saw smoke rise into the sky; illuminated by the occasional lightning strike.

"What was Grant planning?" Lassiter asked as he made a particularly sharp turn.

"Jeffery was trying to get fake passports for the three of them so they could leave the country." Gus explained, seeing how out of it Shawn was.

"Three of them?" Juliet asked, having a pretty good guess who the third was.

"Ms. Bensen found out about the whole thing. Jeffery told her about his plan when you were interrogating the rest of the staff at the station," Shawn offered quietly, his voice sounding lifeless and completely unlike his usual exuberant self.

Juliet turned slightly to look at the subdued psychic. His knuckles were wrapped in a death grip just behind her head rest, and his already sickly pale appearance was worse than ever, making him as white as a ghost.

"Bensen knew her daughter had been kidnapped and went along with it?" Lassiter growled loudly in surprise.

"That's not really important right now Lassie cakes," Shawn offered automatically, his usual enthusiasm for taunting their Head Detective completely gone.

Arriving at the emergency vehicle barricade, Lassiter's vehicle screeched to a halt. Emerging from the car, Lassiter looked over the hood towards the psychic; the rain was falling in torrents around them, rapidly soaking through their clothes and drenching them to the bone.

"Spencer can you get us to the cabin?" Lassiter questioned gravely.

Shawn nodded, "We need to hurry." Before anyone could respond Shawn was already sprinting up the hill, slipping in the mud repeatedly as he fought his way up the steep slope. Juliet swore under her breathe; they were headed directly towards the fire. She swallowed down a flicker of fear; why was she always wearing heels when things like this happened?

Later:

"Here it is!" Shawn yelled, coughing as he inhaled too much smoke.

"Nice work Spencer," Lassiter admitted, all usual resentfulness gone. Shawn only wished he had a chance to savor it.

Shawn glanced over the property and felt his heart stop; the front door was ajar.

"Oh no." he whispered.

"What Shawn?" Juliet asked, hearing the tremor of panic in his voice.

"She's not in here." He explained quietly.

"What?" Lassiter growled, bursting into the house to check for himself.

Shawn glanced around the property frantically, squinting through the rain. Millie could have gone anywhere, but she was smart, she would have known to go away from the flames….unless. He swallowed hard, noticing a track of muddy child's footprints perilously close to the edge of the ravine. She wouldn't…no, she would….but why?

"Spencer, you better have some idea of what-"

"Carlton!" Juliet yelled, shushing her partner as she saw Shawn close his eyes in concentration, the psychic's hand moving to his head instinctively.

Shawn winced as he flashed through memories, trying to focus on exactly what he wanted. Why was it making his headache worse? Finally he found what he was looking for. Near the lake, Jeffery picked up his daughter, promising that mommy was coming, Millie was slurring her words…and Mr. Beary dropped from her sleeping fingers. Shawn doubled over, sliding into the mud.

"Shawn!" Juliet knelt down next to him, a hand on his arm, trying to hold him up as she felt him buckle forward even more. "She went after the bear." He whispered so quietly that no one could hear him over the roar of the flames and the torrential down pour.

"Shawn? What do you see?" Juliet asked, feeling the heat from the fire increasing ever so slowly as it inched its way towards them.

Santa Barbara's resident charlatan felt the world freeze around him, pulse pounding in his ears. He stared up at Juliet, the flames and smoke of a forest fire raging behind her, and further back, out of sight, in the midst of the fire was a lake. And a little girl. A little girl who was up here because of him. Because he had let his game, his own relationship with his father, and his own arrogance dictate his choice. He couldn't send Juliet into the inferno to pay for his mistakes. He couldn't even send Lassiter in. This was his mess. He let out a slow breathe as he made up his mind.

What was one more lie?

"She went that way," Shawn declared, as he pointed jerkily in the direction they had just come from. "Millie's smart; she went away from the flames."

Lassiter looked confused, "How did we miss her?"

"Between the smoke and the rain we can barely see," Juliet offered, running a through her wet hair in frustration. They were running out of time. Even if the firemen did get the flames under control soon, they wouldn't have time to do more sweeps of the area around the cabin; everything in the immediate vicinity was going to burn.

Shawn shook his head, "All I know is she went away from the flames. We should split up. You head back towards the fire trucks, Gus and I will head a little East of that." Shawn nodded, and with Juliet's help, he staggered to his feet.

"You sure Spencer?" Lassiter asked, staring at him intently.

Shawn steeled himself and held the Head Detectives gaze. "Positive."

Lassiter nodded, "Ok. We'll go with your plan. O'Hara." He added, gesturing to his partner.

Sparing one last concerned glance at Shawn, Juliet followed Lassiter back down the hillside.

Gus nodded, "Ok, let's go," he said, heading off in the direction Shawn had stated.

"Buddy…" Shawn hesitated, "I lied."

"What?"

"Millie went back to the lake. She left Mr. Beary there," Shawn admitted guiltily.

Gus swallowed hard.

"Follow Lassie and Jules back. This is my fault," Shawn shook his head, giving his best friend a determined look; "I will bring her back Gus."

"Like I'm letting you take all the credit for finding her," Gus scoffed with fake bravado. Shawn grinned, letting out a breath he hadn't known he was holding. "We're partners Shawn."

Shawn grinned. There weren't any words he could use to properly thank his best friend. Instead, they both took off full speed towards the path along the ravine; Shawn only wished they had had time for a fist bump.

"Millie!" he screamed loudly, his and Gus's shouts punctuated by spasms of coughing as they inhaled more and more smoke. Shawn shook his head to clear the fogginess and dizziness the flames were starting to cause.

"Millie!" The lake finally came into view, and so did the swaying body of the seven year old near the shoreline. As the duo approached her, she fell to her knees coughing.

"Millie, thank God," Gus breathed, scooping the girl into his arms.

"Mr. Beary," the girl whispered weakly, struggling feebly against Gus's hold.

Shawn put his arm on the little girl as she flailed, "I see him Millie. I'll get him ok. I promise. Gus go!"

"Shawn!" Gus shouted, appalled at his friends promise as he glanced anxiously at the encroaching flames. Flames were licking at the shore across the lake; they didn't have time to waste. But Shawn was already half way to the bear.

Meanwhile:

"Damn it," Lassiter swore to himself as they approached the fire trucks. They had seen no sign of Millie on the way back down either.

"Hopefully Shawn and Gus have more luck," Juliet said grimly, as she turned towards the fire. It was moving fast and wasn't anywhere close to being under control. They had only had time for one search and they had blown it.

Lassiter frowned as he squinted around the scene, "O'Hara…" he said slowly.

"What Carlton?"

"How many squad cars do you see?"

"Four."

"How many officers?"

She counted.

"…Six."

Red flags were going off like Civil War canons in Carlton Lassiter's head. "McNabb! Who all was ordered out here?" Pulled by something deep in her gut, Juliet wandered over to one squad car, parked erratically, away from the majority of emergency vehicles.

She vaguely heard young officer recited the names of the others at the scene as she circled the car, a feeling of dread flooding through her.

"Whose car is that?" Lassiter pointed towards the car Juliet was circling. She opened the driver's side door. Key's were still in the ignition. Juliet glanced at the back seat before popping the trunk.

McNabb shook his head, "I have no idea sir."

"Carlton," Juliet shouted, her voice quivering, "The rifle is missing from the trunk."

Lassiter felt a knot form in his stomach, and quickly he marched over to his own vehicle and was shouting to dispatch.

"Sweet Justice," Lassiter whispered, running a hand over his head turning to Juliet, "Alexandria Bensen posted bail for Jeffery Grant." Juliet felt her world begin to spin, "And shortly after that they found Dobson knocked out. His squad car was gone."

Lake:

Shawn reached for the stuffed blue bear, another cough wracking his body. He pulled the once fluffy, rain drenched creature close to his body as he heard his friend scream his name again. Shawn furrowed his brow. Gus sounded afraid, not angry. Gus shouted his name again, and Shawn had just enough time to turn towards his friend before he felt the butt of a rifle club him over the head. The last thing Shawn felt was the hot wet sand as his face hit the ground.

I hope everyone is pleased with that cliffhanger. I'm sitting on the next chapter. (I have through 14 written actually-which goes into part 2) I can post it very quickly with reviews.

I hope you enjoy it and I'd love to hear from you!