Dang, you guys are a tough audience. I thought for sure that cliffhanger would get more reviews. I mean, it's not that I necessarily need them, but it provides reassurance that people are reading and interested, you know?

Okay, one more chapter before the epilogue.

Juliet was becoming worried now, after Shawn had been forced to leave the crime scene. She headed for the office after work to see if Shawn was okay, and if there was anything she could do to help; it seemed like something had happened between him and Gus, which was a serious problem. It was always a horrible thing when two friends as close as they were got in a fight. And besides, he was her secret boyfriend now; she had a right to be concerned for him.

Her heart leapt into her mouth when she instead found a note on the door, scrawled in Shawn's anxious handwriting: Someone's kidnapped my partner, out getting him back. Please call again.

In another moment she'd dialed Lassiter, and was speeding off on the trail.

Click.

There was a long moment as Shawn processed the fact that he wasn't seeing his best friend's blood and brains spraying the air. Gus didn't seem to believe it just yet; he opened his eyes in confusion and pulled the trigger a few more times. Once he fully registered that he wasn't being killed, he slowly lowered the gun.

"Psych!" Ruby yelled, before dissolving into a fit of giggles.

Eventually, she straightened up and wiped her eyes. "Sorry, I've been waiting all day for a chance to say that-"

"What the-" Shawn spewed several good words, until he finally ran out of breath. "Why did you do that?!"

"To teach you to not take him for granted, you ingrate!" she snapped at him. "You treat him like dirt, and don't even appreciate how much you need him in your life, or how you could easily lose him if you're not careful!"

"Wha-" And then, in that flash that happens whenever he suddenly gets a 'psychic' epiphany, Shawn realized what had happened.

People just thought I was making sure my boyfriend didn't drive drunk...

Because he was slightly drunk when I found him…

Ruby's fingers playing with Gus's keys…

"You went out and got drunk after our fight," Shawn said aloud, looking at his friend and secretly reveling in the immense relief that Gus was not dead. "She happened to be at the bar you went to, and you talked to her about what happened-" his head whipped around to face Ruby- "and then you kidnapped him and set this all up and made it look like Gus would have to shoot himself to save me just to teach me a lesson?!"

Tapping the gun against one hand for a moment, Ruby finally grinned and nodded.

"That's about it, yeah."

"...Why?!"

"Well, I considered poison, but the Super Sniffer might have recognized that it wouldn't have been real. It was too risky."

"Why do it at all?! What makes you think our fight-h_, our relationship-is any of your business?!"

Ruby leaned forward, until she was almost eye to eye with Shawn. "You're the psychic. You figure it out."

Straightening up, she placed Shawn's and Gus's phones on the floor near the glass wall, and then added Gus's keys and a pair of large, sharp scissors.

"Bye, guys," she beamed. Glancing at Gus, she added, "You'll find the key to your door in the mattress." Then she blew him a kiss, and left the room, shutting the door carefully behind her.

As soon as she was gone, Gus wasted no time in digging the key out of the mattress, unlocking the door, and almost going to see to Shawn first, but on an instinct he instead looked for the redheaded woman, to see if he could trap her before she escaped. But there was no sign of her. So instead he returned to Shawn's side of the room, and began cutting the zip ties.

"What is it with you and crazy women?" Shawn asked after a moment of silence.

He was concerned when Gus didn't answer, and even more concerned when instead his friend's hands started trembling violently, causing him to nearly nick Shawn's wrist as he tried to cut the final zip tie.

"Hey, hey." With a touch of hesitation and some embarrassment, he put his free arm around Gus's shoulders. "It's okay. We're both alive. Though I think we need to have a talk about your willingness to throw your life away. Maybe we should find you a therapist-"

"I'm not going to watch you die if I can prevent it, Shawn. Never." The clipped tone, more than anything, made Shawn shut up for once in his life. And as soon as the other tie was cut, he instead put his other arm around Gus, squeezing for a moment and letting him lean his face in his shoulder, until the trembling stopped and his breathing returned to normal. Then he stood up, massaging his sore wrists, and said softly, "Thanks, buddy."

Gus shrugged, rubbing his nose on his sleeve. "What are friends for?"

"Yeah. And I'm sorry about what I said earlier. All of it."

"Oh, now you say that, when our lives are no longer in danger? That makes me question your sincerity." But a tiny smile cracked his friend's face. For now, he was okay, and Shawn was forgiven.

"That is so not fair. You're the ingrate, not me!"

"You don't even know what that means!"

"Do too!"

"Do not."

"Do too!"

"Fine, what's it mean?"

"..."

Gus smirked. "My point exactly."

Shawn rolled his eyes, and threw an arm around Gus's shoulders as they gathered their things. "I wonder how we're going to explain this to Juliet and Lassie…"

To answer The Storyteller's Song's question: I love Gus. He's my favorite character. I don't think I would have the heart to kill him off. Or Shawn either, really, since he's his best friend and it would break his little heart. I just really wanted to do that sadistic cliffhanger. (cue evil smile)