More Finals week avoidance. Keep up the reviews and I'll keep up the updates! Thank you for all the feedback guys!

"Yes!" Shawn screamed as he finally set Juliet back on the ground. Forgetting that they were still connected by the Velcro strap, Shawn started to jump up and down. "Jules, we did it, we won!" Shawn frowned, breathless, "Wait, what exactly did we win?"

Juliet grit her teeth, shaking her head slightly. Worried about her partner, she glanced over her shoulder. Most of the department was already congregated around Gus and Carlton.

"Actually Shawn, you didn't win," Edwin said apologetically as he brushed past them with a first aid kit.

"What?" Shawn was still breathing heavily, hands on knees as he struggled to calm himself.

"You carried your partner across the finish line, you're disqualified," Edwin shrugged as he headed towards the duo on the ground.

"Man," Shawn stomped his foot. Only then did he seem to realize Gus was on the ground, "Oh my god," he murmured, moving towards his friend, causing both of them to stumble.

Juliet stumbled into Shawn's chest. Buried there, Juliet smiled against his shoulder; she could hear his heart rate accelerating. She pulled back slightly, feeling her cheeks flush. Her strategy of pretending their almost kiss last night wasn't working too well.

Shawn cleared his throat uncomfortably, "Shared leg first?" he gestured towards their down partners.

"Or, we could take off the Velcro Shawn," She reminded him with a small smile; he could be so hair brained sometimes.

"Right," Shawn nodded and complied, bending down to undo the strap. His hand brushed against her leg, lightly, so lightly she was inclined to believe it was a completely innocent move on his part, and she swallowed hard biting back a gasp. She didn't look at him when he came back up, strap in hand. He wanted this. She wanted this. This entire teen angst dance they were doing was getting ridiculous. She took a deep breath and strode over to her partner purposefully; she would focus on him, on anything and everything that wasn't Shawn.

"Your coccyx is fine Gus," Edwin assured Gus as he helped pull him into sitting position. Gus winced. "Your ankle however…both of your ankles actually," he continued, looking between the men, Lassiter was rubbing his, grimacing, and Gus's was still in the divot, bent rather awkwardly.

"I'm gonna need an X-Ray, an MRI, an nMRI, and Vicodin," Gus ordered, wincing as he pulled his ankle from the hole. He glared up at his best friend. "This is all your fault Shawn," he accused angrily as two other detectives helped him to his feet.

Shawn rolled his eyes as he joined his best friend, taking one of the detective's spots and some of Gus's weight.

"I'm pretty sure it's just sprained," Edwin placated.

"Are you a doctor!" Gus challenged, the pain in his ankle making him hostile.

"Oh boy," Shawn muttered; Gus shouldn't have gone there.

"Am I a doctor?" Edwin repeated, moving around to face Gus, "I am a certified on sight medic. I served for 5 years at Disneyland. Do you have any idea how dangerous those teacups are? Do you!"

Gus blinked in surprise, completely taken aback as Shawn smirked; he'd heard that speech before.

Juliet rolled her eyes and glanced at her partner who had made it to his feet on his own. He wasn't putting any weight on the ankle that he gone into the hole though, "Carlton, are you ok?"

"I'm fine O'Hara," her partner chuckled and tried to take a step. He stumbled and growled, "Damnit Spencer, I'm gonna kill you."

"Ok, how is your injury possibly my fault Lassie?" Shawn rolled his eyes.

Juliet sighed, "Come on Carlton, let's just get you inside." She maneuvered herself around to her partner, taking his weight on her as they limped inside.

By the time Juliet got Carlton inside Gus was already sprawled out on a sofa. He winced as Edwin touched a sensitive spot on his ankle.

Her partner rolled his eyes as she settled him into a chair, "Man up Guster," Carlton sounded offended.

Gus glared at Lassiter as Edwin moved to inspect her partner. "I have a torn meniscus, a torn ACL, a dislocated patella, and I'm pretty sure I broke my pinky toe," Gus said indignantly.

Shawn rolled his eyes, "Gus, you sprained your ankle," he gestured to the injured appendage, which Edwin had wrapped with gauze.

"OW! What the-!" Lassie shouted as Edwin touched his ankle. Lassiter glared angrily at the man, his nostrils flaring.

Edwin backed away slowly, "Right well…both of you guys sprained your ankles. You definitely are going to have to stay off them for a little while," his face fell in disappointment, "You'll have to miss the woodland scavenger hunt." He looked absolutely devastated by the thought.

Lassiter settled back into the chair, "Darn," he muttered, lifting his injured foot up onto an ottoman.

Lunch:

Shawn added one last scoop of questionable looking mash potatoes to the side of his volcano. His plate was piled a foot high with food. Fearing the structural instability of the broccoli forest he had constructed at the base of the mash potato volcano, he walked slowly back to the table, carefully keeping the tray level as he went.

Juliet looked at him oddly, unsure if she should be impressed or disturbed by the level of craftsmanship his plate displayed. Shawn never did anything halfway, and that included playing with his food. He set the plate down next to Gus, whose foot was propped up on a throw pillow, and grinned as he stared at his masterpiece.

"Jules, allow me to present Mount-," His words trailed off as he caught sight of a small group of camo clad men huddled in a corner, passionately discussing whatever was on the charts in front of them. Marcus Cruz was among them. "Would you-would you excuse me for just a minute," Shawn excused himself absentmindedly, sauntering over to the table as if he had ever right to be there.

"Gentlemen, hello," they had noticed his approach too late and were now shifting anxiously, attempting to cover the chart in front of them surreptitiously, using their elbows and hands to obscure important information-it looked like a topographical map of the area. It had three circles drawn onto it; a small green one closest to camp, a larger yellow one further into the forest, and a medium sized red one near the edge of the map. Pretending not to notice their discomfort Shawn continued, "My name is Shawn Spencer, I am the Head Psychic for the SBPD."

"We know who you are Mr. Spencer," one man assured him with a cordial smile. "You've actually made all of our jobs much easier over the last few years."

Shawn raised an inquisitive eyebrow, "I didn't know Bonaventure had taken my design for a pillow that combs your hair while you sleep public," he mused.

The man laughed politely, as if he had any idea what the eccentric psychic was talking about, "No, Mr. Spencer, I'm talking about your work with the SBPD. You see, all of us," he gestured to the group, "Work for the DA's office. Your impressive arrest record has helped yield an equally impressive conviction record."

Shawn grinned, momentarily forgetting the bags under his eyes and his exhaustion, allowing the man to stroke his ego. "Well, what can I say-uh," he frowned realizing the man hadn't introduced himself.

"I am Ivan Banks, this is Marcus Cruz, behind him are…" Shawn barely registered the remaining names as he shook their hands. It was always nice when suspects were cooperative.

Across the Dining Hall:

"Gus…what is Shawn up to?" Juliet questioned suspiciously as she watched Shawn's exchange with the group of hunters surreptitiously.

Gus stopped inhaling the mashed potato mountain with a frown. "He hasn't told you?" Right of course, he hadn't. This was Shawn he was talking about. Gus rolled his eyes.

"Told me what Gus?" Juliet leaned across the table. She had a bad feeling she knew what it was Shawn had neglected to tell her-there was no way the Chief would have let Shawn come on this retreat just for fun-but she hadn't pushed it like she should have. There had been a lot of …distractions.

Gus sighed and groaned, he didn't want to be caught in the middle of this; with his ankle it wasn't like he was going to get to investigate anyways. "The case we were working…it may not be as closed as Shawn said it was," Gus admitted quietly.

Juliet suppressed a groan. That was exactly what she'd thought-and feared.

"Chief let us come out here to investigate Marcus Cruz-he's a District Attorney that can be linked to two of the disappearance's and he was Ricky Connell's best friend," Gus hesitated, "She wanted us to keep the investigation from Lassiter," Gus glanced over to another table where Lassiter was sitting, his foot propped up. Lassiter was explaining something to Edwin; Edwin's face was pale…and he looked a little sick. Though Gus couldn't hear, he could see Lassiter's lips moving; it looked like he was saying something about squirrels-Lassiter used his fingers to gesture like a gun. That man needed help, "She thinks he needs this vacation…badly," Gus finished quietly.

Juliet rolled her eyes-this had turned into quite the vacation. She redirected her attention to the hunters who were chatting amicably with Shawn, most of them looked familiar. "Gus…all of those guys work for the District Attorney's office; I think most of them are prosecutors." She frowned, if Shawn was essentially working undercover-or at least was here under false pretenses-to investigate the cities prosecutors then the Connell case was much bigger than anyone had imagined. Anytime public offices started pointing fingers at each other things got messy; no wonder Chief had wanted to keep the investigation quiet.

Shawn waved at the lawyers cheerfully before heading back towards her and Gus. Juliet watched him closely. She had never watched him before-not like this, like a culprit, like someone who was hiding something. His hands were tapping out a rhythm on his thighs as he walked, his mouth was drawn into a thin line; she could literally see the cogs turning in his head. He was planning something. Something she was all but guaranteed to dislike. It would be stupid, risky, most likely illegal, and ultimately…it would lead them right to all the answers.

She glanced over at Gus, like her partner, the pharmaceutical salesman was going to be out of commission for at least the rest of the day. Meaning Shawn would want to investigate all on his own. Her face paled; last time he'd done that he'd been shot and abducted. No, he couldn't investigate on his own. But nobody stopped Shawn from doing something if his mind was set on it.

Shawn sighed happily as he sat down before looking at his plate; his expression changing instantly, "Gus, you ate half of my potato volcano," he spun the plate around and gasped, "And the pineapple beach!" he sounded offended.

Gus shrugged, "Get me a plate next time."

The duo's bickering faded as Juliet contemplated her options. On one hand, if she went with him, she'd finally get to see his process; maybe understand just how he always managed to be one step ahead of her and Lassiter without any psychic abilities. On the other hand, Shawn had a tendency to put himself in harm's way; her finger twitched, longing for her service weapon. Unlike him she didn't enjoy going into things unarmed, just hoping she could talk her way out of whatever trouble she found.

"Fine, but I'm going to get myself another smoothie!" Shawn hissed just as Edwin clapped his hands to get everyone's attention.

"Time for the scavenger hunt!" Everyone but Shawn focused their full attention on Edwin. Shawn's eyes however, were following the group of hunters as they slowly slunk out of the dining room. Juliet watched Shawn cautiously, hoping to get some idea of what he was planning.

Outside the Lodge:

Shawn slowly followed the mass of detectives out of the lodge, not paying attention to Edwin's instructions; silently taking the offered compass-not that he needed it…or knew how to use it for that matter. His gaze was trained steadily on the attorneys and hunters who looked to be heading back out; their absurdly large hunting rifles slung casually over their shoulders. His brow furrowed, eyes drawn tight together as he watched them pull Edwin aside.

Their conversation was hushed and angry. Ivan, who at lunch Shawn had gathered was the groups leader, gestured towards a beat up shack with the words 'Employees Only' written on it. A large chain and lock were wrapped around the door. He'd have to convince Gus to hobble out to it and crack it for him later. Edwin calmed the irritated man, gesturing for them to hold on, just a moment. Edwin left and resumed instructing the detectives.

None of this sat well with him. Shawn felt a painful gnawing in his gut, and it was telling him that something was very very wrong out here in a very very bad way. He hated getting this feeling; mainly because it usually ended up being right.

He glanced down at the map he'd been handed and frowned again. For obvious reasons they were being sent away from what was labeled as the hunting grounds to the West. They were scavenging East of the lodge. But the maps he'd seen Cruz, Ivan , and the others pouring over had been marked up North of the cabin. What was North of the cabin if not prime hunting grounds?

His fist tightened anxiously around the compass; unable to pinpoint the underlying source of his fear, of the uneasiness he felt was making his anxiety worse and making his palms sweat. The pieces were there, they just weren't fitting. What was he not seeing?

Juliet nudged him suddenly and a grin spread across his face instantly as he tried to mask his fear.

"Shawn?" she sounded concerned, and if Shawn hadn't been so dead tired, he would have realized she also sounded a little suspicious. "Where does it say to go?" she gestured to the map.

Right. This was a partner activity. He spared a last longing glance at the hunters who were now following Edwin back towards the shed. Edwin pulled out his key.

Shawn needed to get in there. And he needed to find out what was North of the lodge.

"Shawn?" Juliet was more forceful this time.

"Right, sorry Jules," Shawn glanced back at the map. "I think we go this way," he said, pointing east, towards where all the other pairs were disappearing into the woods.

Shawn sighed as he led Juliet into the forest. He watched out of the corner of his eye as she pulled herself over a fallen tree. He wouldn't bring her with him; he had a horrible feeling in his gut about that group and he refused to put Jules in danger-not again. He'd have to slip away. He slowed his pace slightly, allowing the distance between them to grow until finally he slipped away altogether.

Not much to say, other then that (and I know I've been saying this for updates but hey its slowly become true) The next few chapters are Shulesy to the max.

And since this chap. isn't the most super excitign one ever, I thought I would give yall the summary of my next planned fic. It isn't going to exist in the universe of this fic. It will just take place post Yang 3 in 2d.

Summary:

Its been 5 years since they closed the book on the Yin/Yang killers. Four since Shawn left. Three since Carlton Lassiter was made Chief. Two since Gus got engaged. And one year since another sociopath claimed his first victim. And with Shawn back in town for Gus's wedding everything was about to change yet again.