Title: A Scanner in the Night Chapter 5
Author: mysteriousgirl4
Beta: jadecastle6. She’s super awesome and stuff.
Rating: M for Slash and references.
Pairing: Shawn/Lassiter *giggle*
Disclaimer: Seeing as I can’t afford to buy them, I tried to trade for the
characters (but apparently two family packs of Mnm’s and a case of
vodka is not ‘sufficient trade’). Don’t worry. I’ll get ‘em.
A/N’s: Another chapter so soon! And it’s actually LONGER than the last
one. I’m cranking em out at record pace!
Summary: Gus and Shawn try to stop Lassiter from getting suspended
and Shawn manages to get Lassie right where he wants him

Five minutes later, Shawn and Gus were in the car heading to the police station. Shawn was briefing Gus on the plan.

“So, your role in this is distraction. You’re the stink to my cheese, the wheatgrass shot to my pineapple smoothie, the Robin to my Batman. You dazzle ‘em with some theatrics and I swoop in for the kill.”

“I’m down with that, but I resent the homo-erotic implications of making me Robin.”

Shawn gave Gus an incredulous look.

“What are you TALKING about?”

“Batman and Robin were full of Homo-erotic subtext, Shawn. Everyone knows that.”

Shawn shook his head.

“Wouldn’t worry about that Gus. You’re not my type.”

Gus nodded and stopped for the traffic lights.

“Damn straight I’m not your type.”

Shawn looked over at the people in the car beside them and noted that the female driver of the car was thinking about leaving her husband. At least, he thought so. The way she was twiddling her ring finger and staring at the kids in the back was a strong clue. Then again, so were the hastily packed bags in the hatchback of the car.

“Why not?”

Shawn was pulled from his train of thought by Gus’ voice and turned his head to find Gus staring at Shawn. The glare was almost enough to make him uncomfortable.

“Why not what?”

“Why am I not your type?”

“Eww Gus! We’ve been friends since grade school that would be creepy.”

“I’m not saying that Shawn. I want to know that if you have a ‘type’ why am I not it?”

“Gus! You…”

“I happen to be very attractive Shawn!”

The sound of the honking cars alerted Gus to the fact that the light had been green for some time now. He grabbed the wheel and accelerated a little too fast away from the intersection.

“It’s not that you’re not attractive Gus. You’re a regular catalogue model with your high cheekbones and your big puppy dog eyes and…things. You’re my best friend! You’re funny and sweet and stuff. You deserve better than me man. And we’re like brothers. It would be weird.”

Gus thought about this for a moment and then nodded. Shawn leant forward to change the radio station.

“It’s cause I’m black isn’t it.”

“Aw Gus! C’mon!”

“C’mon what Shawn? You tell me I’m not good enough for you and you expect me to let it go? I’m a catch! And my best friend can’t even see that!”

Shawn let out an exasperated groan.

“Let me put it this way, Gus. My type is Lassiter. Do you see where I’m going here?”

Gus pondered this for a while.

“So… you’re saying you like overly aggressive, armed, divorced Detectives who spend a lot of their time threatening to hurt you and who have no idea how to date anyone?”

Shawn smiled.

“Uh-huh.”

Gus’ face dawned with comprehension.

“Oh! Well that explains why I’m not your type.”

“See?”

Gus got a self satisfied smirk on his face and pulled the car into the Police Station parking lot. He found a spot, pulled up and turned the car off.”

“So your type is more like…your dad.”

Shawn’s mouth opened in horror and he got out of the car as fast as he could to catch up to Gus, who was walking briskly into the station, chuckling to himself.

“Dude! That was so not cool!”

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

They spotted Juliet and Lassiter standing in the hallway talking and drinking coffee. Lassiter had showered, dressed and was back in his suit with his hair back in that cake mould shape. Shawn felt a strange tingling sensation in his stomach at the sight of him.

He wondered if anyone had noticed the tinge of a red mark on the Detective’s throat.

When the Detective looked up and saw Shawn walking in, his eyes opened wide and he excused himself from Juliet by telling her he had ‘Some paperwork to take care of’. He then handed the coffee mug to Juliet and said ‘Not a word about the case.’ Shawn knew this, because he was intently watching Lassiter’s lips from down the hallway and had lip-read what he said. Juliet looked startled at Carlton’s swift exit but sat the coffee down on a desk and waved Shawn and Gus over.

“Hey guys. Good timing. He’s acting so weird today.”

Gus snorted a little and Shawn elbowed him in the ribs. Juliet looked confused but let it go. Shawn put on a look of mild curiosity.

“Really? That’s not like him.”

“I know right? Anyway, here’s the case file. Do not let Lassiter see you with it.”

“Don’t worry Jules, you’re talking to the dynamic duo here. Our middle name is discreet.”

Gus interrupted.

“I’m like a Jackal.”

“Aw Gus! Again with the Jackal nonsense? Ignore him Jules, he was hit in the head with a lawn dart when he was a kid.”

“You threw that dart! I was unconscious for eight minutes!”

“I maintain that there was a second dart chucker on the grassy knoll.”

Gus took in a deep breath to argue back, but Juliet waved her hand in front of them.

“Guys! This can wait. Can we focus on the case please?”

Shawn and Gus looked at each other and nodded and then turned back to Juliet. Gus gestured for her to continue.

“Okay. A 54 year old woman, Maureen Johnson, went missing from her home. She has no listed next of kin, and she was missing for roughly two weeks when the report came in.”

Shawn flipped open the case file.

“Who called it in?”

“Her neighbor. And she only noticed because the newspapers had started piling up on the doorstep.”

Shawn scanned over the files and saw the picture of the house. His eyes pulled in the details of the exterior and especially the garden. It looked familiar. Aha! He had seen it in the gardening section of the newspaper last month. It won an award of some kind. He brought his hand to the side of his face and touched his temple with two fingers.

“I’m seeing a woman, an older woman, she’s obsessed with her garden. She mows the lawn every day and weeds every other day. Her flowers are her friends…”

Jules watched Shawn with wide eyes.

“That’s exactly what her neighbor told us! Good work Shawn.”

Shawn gave a modest smile and sighed.

“I do what I can.”

Gus rolled his eyes. Juliet continued:

“We have no leads on this one, the neighbor barely knew her, and she had no other friends or family that we know of. Her house has been messed up but there’s no sign of forced entry. Any insights you could pass on would be great. Just keep it quiet. I really wanna stay on Carlton’s good side at the moment.”

Gus snorted and tried to suppress giggles. Shawn had guessed what was making Gus laugh but ignored him anyway. He reassured Juliet that they would do what they could to solve the case and led Gus away by the elbow.

“What happened to the Jackal? How was that discreet?”

Gus just stared, his lips quivering from trying not to laugh. Shawn sighed.

“Just say it before your brain explodes.”

Gus stayed quiet and his cheeks started to bulge with his laughter. Shawn rolled his eyes and adopted a girly voice:

” I really wanna stay on Carlton’s good side at the moment.”

Gus near erupted.

"SO DOES SHAWN! Ha ha ha!”

Shawn just rolled his eyes while his friend laughed.

“And people think you’re the mature one. Are you done? Can we go and kick some missing person ass now?”

Gus straightened back up and put on his sunglasses.

“Let’s do it.”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One short car ride later Gus and Shawn were breaking into a 54 year old woman’s house. Although Shawn thought that crawling through a window hardly counted as breaking in.

“These pants cost $45 Shawn!”

“And whose fault is it that you didn’t look for random protruding nails before climbing in the window?”

Gus made an irritated noise and brushed his hand over the rip in his pants as though that would fix it.

“Let’s just look for clues, Gus. What does the super smeller say?”

Gus sniffed the air a few times. He shook his head and shrugged.

“Nothing unusual here, but I think the neighbors are making butter chicken.”

“Ooo, we’re stopping there for a visit when we’re done here.”

“We don’t even know them, Shawn!”

“Like that matters. We’re investigators Gus, talking to people is a big part of that. And if they happen to offer us some of their delicious butter chicken it would be rude of us not to accept.”

Gus had found the answering machine while Shawn was talking and hit the button.

“You have…No messages.”

Gus looked over to Shawn.

“She’s been gone two weeks and has no messages? That’s just sad.”

Shawn was looking around the living area and his observant eyes picked up details as he scanned the room. Neat and tidy except for a few desk drawers half open. Two line marks about a foot apart running through the plush carpet over to the phone table and back to the polished wood hall.

He creased his brow in thought and walked over to the hallway, looking for the bedroom.

Gus meanwhile was going through the mail on the kitchen bench.

“She has a suspicious letter from someone named Gob. Sounds like a codename to me. And there’s some strange code in it. Maybe she’s a spy and fled to avoid assassins!”

As Shawn was looking around the bedroom he opened the wardrobe and looked around inside.

“That seems highly possible Gus. What does the code say?”

“K 2 QR4/ B 2 KK3.”

Shawn’s discerning eyes took in the half open bureau drawers and the nightstand with the glass of water still on it. He flipped up the bed cover and stuck his head under the bed.

“Intriguing. What do you think the code means?”

“It could be co-ordinates to a place, or the address of a target for assassination!”

Shawn walked over to the nightstand and pulled open the drawer. After sorting through some medications and romance novels he found a photo. Maureen Johnson and a young woman. The young woman was wearing the same bracelet as Maureen. Shawn’s eyes took in the slight swelling of the younger woman’s stomach. He smiled to himself as the pieces slotted together in his head.

Gus found him in the bedroom.

“…what if she was an assassin and she went rogue? Like that movie Rogue Assassin!”

“Gus!”

“What?”

“I’ve solved it. I may have broken my record for best ever solving case thingy!”

“So she’s an assassin? Cause that was my idea Shawn!”

Shawn rolled his eyes.

“Oh come on! King to Queens Rooks four, Bishop to Queens Knight three! The code is chess moves, Gus.”

Gus grabbed the letter and scanned it again. Eventually he looked up at Shawn with bemusement.

“Heh. I was just kidding.”

Shawn patted his friend on the shoulder.

“Sure you were Gus. Wanna know where our missing old lady is?”

Shawn led the way out to the bedroom and as he stood in the living room he flourished his arms out wide.

“She’s in Seattle with her daughter and new grandchild.”

He clapped his hands together. Gus crossed his arms over.

“How do you know that? And give me the condensed version. Someone just added cream to the butter chicken sauce.”

Shawn sucked in a deep breath and held up the photo he had just found.

“This photo shows Maureen and her daughter. The identical eyes and smiles give them away. The space needle is in the background, so obviously they’re in Seattle in this photo. There’s snow in the background so this was taken about 5-6 months ago and anyone could tell that Maureen’s daughter is pregnant in this picture, not only is her stomach getting rounder but those bra-buddies are definitely going into the milking business. Maureen must have gotten a call that her daughter was going into labour and left in a hurry! There are track marks on the carpet and there’s a space under the bed that would perfectly fit a suitcase with wheels. She went through the house with the suitcase, packing things quickly and was in too much of a hurry to close the drawers all the way. She’s not missing. She’s being a grandma!”

Gus took all this in and nodded. Then he got a thoughtful look on his face.

“We don’t have any proof but it makes sense. You forgot one thing.”

Gus walked over to the phone table and pulled out the drawer.

“If this woman is as organized as me…”

Shawn interrupted.

“You mean as anal retentive as you.”

“…then she would have changed the answering machine tape over before she left to make sure that she didn’t miss any messages.”

Gus rifled through the drawer and found what he was searching for. He held the tape up to Shawn, opened the answering machine, put it in and pressed play.

“*BEEP* Hello Ms. Johnson, you’ve been selected to receive a free carpet shampoo and Scotch Guard! To receive information on how to collect this exclusive offer…”

Gus hit the ‘next’ button.

“Mum? It’s Lisa. My water broke! The baby’s coming early! I’m on my way to the hospital now. Just get here as quick as you can okay?”

Gus looked at Shawn and they both broke into a victory dance.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shawn and Gus watched the black and white pull into Maureen Johnson’s house from the window and realized that was their cue to leave.

“Mrs. Dawes? Can we get this chicken to go? We have reports to write and… stuff.”

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shawn and Gus were in the car when Juliet rang.

“Jules! How are things at the station? Has Lassie’s head exploded yet?”

Juliet opened her desk drawer and pulled out her chewing gum stash. Today had been stressful.

“Shawn? The case is solved, Lassiter figured it all out. We got a call that some punk kids were in the Johnson house. When we checked it out, Lassiter found this answering machine tape and a photo. Turns out Maureen Johnson is in Seattle with her daughter while her daughter is having a baby.”

Shawn held his fist out for Gus to bump. Gus took a hand off the wheel and obliged.

“Really? Dammit! I was looking forward to sinking my psychic teeth into this case.”

Jules got a strange smile on her face.

“Yeah, I’m sure. Well, the chief is ecstatic and Lassiter is in a much better mood. He’s even whistling.”

“I’m honestly not sure if that’s good news. We’re on our way to the station now so we’ll see you in a minute.”

“Okay, see you.”

Juliet hung up just as Lassiter popped his head out from around the corner.

“I thought I told you not to call Spencer.”

Jules nearly jumped out of her skin.

“Lassiter! You ah… kinda snuck up on me there. I thought you were in the evidence locker?”

Lassiter narrowed his eyes. He had known she would call him eventually. She always did. It was reassuring in a way. But damned annoying in another.

“I was. I finished. Did I not give you my defenestration speech?”

Juliet laughed nervously.

“Oh yeah! You did…. See ya!”

Before Lassiter knew what was happening, Juliet had gotten up and weaved through the Officer’s desks like a professional skier. She was out the door before he had time to decide what to do. It struck him as funny how it could take a woman two hours to get ready to go somewhere, but they could move when they really wanted to.

He smiled a little bit and walked over to his desk. He sat down in his swivel chair and leaned back. It was 7:00 pm and the only ones left in the station now besides him, were Vick and some Patrol Officers in the evidence locker. Lassiter was dog tired and he couldn’t help but close his eyes briefly. His mind drifted to the reason why he was so tired.

Spencer.

He found himself replaying the events of the night before over in his head. Remembering the courage it took to walk back to the Psych office door. Feeling an electrical explosion in his chest when Shawn jumped on him and their lips touched for the first time. The raw animal lust and passion that overtook him. He would have eaten the younger man alive right then and there…

A voice startled him out of his reverie.

“Penny for your thoughts Lassie-Face.”

Lassiter got a taste of his own medicine when he too, nearly jumped out of his skin. He shot straight up and pretended to busy himself with the paperwork on his desk. When he finally risked looking up he saw the face he had been picturing smiling down at him. ‘Wow, the lamplight really brings out the blue in his eyes’ Lassiter thought absently before he cleared his throat and put on his serious face.

“Spencer. What are you doing here?"

Shawn lifted himself up and onto Lassiter’s desk.

“I’m here to fight crime and generally look handsome.”

Lassiter mumbled under his breath:

“Funny, thought you were here to torture me.”

Shawn’s face broke into a grin.

“Was that sarcasm?! Why, Carlton Lassiter. You continue to surprise me. Speaking of torture, are you into that? I still have your handcuffs so I guess I could work with that…”

As he spoke Shawn pulled Lassiter’s handcuffs out of his jeans pocket and swung them off his finger. Lassiter immediately went to grab for them but Shawn yanked them just out of his reach. Undeterred, Lassiter stood up and made another grab for them but Shawn yanked them back behind his head. Lassiter reached for them again and his hand closed on Shawn’s around the time he realized that his face was a mere centimeter away from Spencer’s.

He froze and tried to form coherent thoughts. All he could think about was the feeling of Shawn’s soft lips on his own. He gulped. He spoke just above a whisper.

“Vick and O’Hara are here.”

Shawn’s mind was also occupied. His eyes were fixated on Lassiter’s lips. Watching them move. Committing the sight to memory. It took a few seconds to form an answer.

“No they’re not. Gus has generously offered to take them to dinner and a play downtown and the Patrol Cops have just started their shifts.”

Shawn paused for dramatic effect. And to stare into Lassiter’s eyes once more in an effort to figure out how one person could have eyes that blue. Even his own weren’t that blue.

“We’re here alone and unsupervised… Carlton.”

To be concluded. Very soon.