"Shawn!" Gus exclaimed when he saw his best friend walk into the room with the woman behind him, gun now fully removed from the purse now that there was no need for secrecy. He jumped to his feet from the bed he'd been sitting on and came right up to the glass window-

Sorry again, I should explain what the room looked like. It was basically a regular bedroom on the second floor, with a bed, a chair, an end table, and two doors, except that there was a huge glass window right down the middle, dividing it into two separate parts. Shawn realized that it was bulletproof.

Who puts bulletproof glass in their house? Who can afford to put bulletproof glass in their house?

The door on Gus's side of the room had the hinges on the outside, and several pieces of broken furniture on the floor nearby. That, combined with the pieces of bloody cloth wound around Gus's knuckles, told Shawn that his friend had tried to break down the door, only succeeding in hurting himself.

He gave Gus his best smile. "Hey, buddy. So this is where you've been since Friday, huh? Shacking up with a strange woman-tsk tsk, I thought you'd abandoned me."

Gus rolled his eyes. "It wasn't my fault. She drugged me and brought me here."

"How? Does she have a hired thug of some kind, because she doesn't seem to have quite the upper-body strength-"

"I'm stronger than I look," Ruby interrupted. "Besides, drugging someone doesn't necessarily mean making them unconscious. People just thought I was making sure my boyfriend didn't drive drunk."

"Why?" Shawn demanded as he was pushed into the chair and his wrists were zip-tied to the arms (giving him an uncomfortable feeling of deja vu), the flowers carelessly tossed to the floor.

"Because he was slightly drunk when I found him, and that made it seem more convincing."

"No, why did you take him?" Though he suspected he already knew the answer.

"Because I needed to get you here as quickly as possible." She looked over at Gus as she finished the cone, crunching it between her teeth. "There's a box under the bed. Would you go and get it, please?"

Gus retrieved the box, setting it on the table next to the glass gingerly.

"Open it," said Ruby. Seeing his dubious expression, she said in a reassuring tone, "Don't worry, it's not a bomb or anything."

Hesitantly, Gus obeyed her, drawing out a very nice handgun which appeared to be a twin of the one in Ruby's hand. And he seemed about to try turning it on Ruby, before he realized, like Shawn had, that the glass was bulletproof (and Shawn felt the tiniest bit proud of him for figuring it out so quickly). So instead he asked, "What am I supposed to do with this?"

"Oh, isn't it obvious?" Ruby sounded surprised. "You're going to kill yourself."

The gun dropped from Gus's numb fingers back into the box.

"Personally, I'd advise aiming here-" she tucked her own gun under her chin- "here-" her forehead- "or here-" her temple. "Here is longer and far more painful-" her stomach- "and this is dubious at best-" right over her heart- "so you might suffer unnecessarily. But you'd better choose quick."

"...You must be out of your d_ mind if you think that's gonna happen," Gus growled, glaring through the window (though Shawn could see his hands trembling slightly, betraying how afraid he really was). He leaned against the table, deliberately ignoring the box and the gun inside.

"Oh, I'm sure that I am," Ruby said with a small, kind of disturbing giggle. "But you will do it. Because if you don't-" Shawn felt the sudden pressure only a cold pistol barrel against the back of his skull could bring- "pop goes the weasel."

"...Really?" Shawn demanded, ignoring the way his stomach lurched and a chill rushed up and down his spine. "You're doing that? That is so the finale of season two of Sherlock. Except you're doing it to my sidekick instead of me."

"I am not your sidekick, Shawn!" Gus snapped.

"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery," said Ruby with a shrug. Then she clicked the safety off. "And good try at keeping me distracted, but no."

"No, wait!" Gus picked up the gun again, slowly turning it around in his hands.

"No no no no, Gus, no, bad boy, put that down!" Shawn demanded, lurching forward in his chair in sudden panic. "Don't you remember, I can't watch you die! Gus, please!"

Gus looked at him solemnly for a long moment, saying everything with his eyes that he had the last time his life was in danger, at Mr. Yin's hands.

I don't blame you.

You're my best friend.

I'm sorry.

He whispered softly, "My sister is still off limits, Shawn." Then he tucked the barrel under his chin, squeezed his eyes shut, and pulled the trigger.