I'm back (already?) yeah kind of ridiculous. If you haven't read my most recent story, it's called "At Least This Truck Has Airbags" and I won't spoil it for you more than the title already does, but Shawn, Henry, truck. That's it. Read if you'd like! There may be some connecting material in this story, but if you haven't read the other one, it won't affect your understanding.

This is a story more about Shawn and Gus, more specifically the lengths that Shawn will go to to keep Gus safe. They have a hilarious relationship but it's actually really deep (obviously!) I just watched "Gus Walks into a Bank" and the scene that Shawn finds out that Gus is inside and lunges forward, only to be held back by Lassie and Jules, wow that got me. So let's see where this fic goes!

Note: I love old music, the title is a Led Zeppelin song.

Disclaimer: Don't own Psych. Rated T to be safe.

Note again: Set somewhere in Season 2

PSYCH~PSYCH~PSYCH

"Come on Buddy, you need some cheering up." Shawn said to his unusually gloomy best friend as they both walked on the sidewalk of downtown Santa Barbara.

"No Shawn, what I need is to go home, sit on my couch with a bowl of popcorn, watch the Real Housewives of Orange County, fall asleep, and wake up tomorrow as if tonight never happened." Gus replied angrily.

"Guuuus." Shawn whined. "First of all, I'm going to ignore that pathetic suggestion and remind you, as your best friend, that the real Burton Guster would not give up this easily."

"Really Shawn? You'd call this giving up easily? Let me just remind you of what happened tonight." Gus glared at his friend, who had looked down and put all of his focus into kicking a small rock in front of them on the sidewalk.

"Shawn."

*kick*

"Shawn!"

*kick*

"Alright that's it." Gus said as he stepped in front of Shawn and kicked the rock into the street.

"Hey! You owe me a new one." Shawn complained.

Gus gave Shawn an irritated glare.

"It was never new in the first place. Rocks are millions of years old." Gus said impatiently.

"Well it was new to me..." Shawn replied sadly.

Gus let out a slow breath.

"I can't do this with you right now. Can we get back to me please?"

Shawn finally let down his dramatic mask and looked at his friend.

"Gus, for the millionth time, get over it. I already said just forget about it and let's just go have some fun." Shawn elbowed his friend's shoulder.

"Shawn, you don't understand she-"

"Went out the bathroom window at the restaurant, I know."

"Wait how did-"

"That girl ain't afraid to climb."

"Shawn!"

"What?" Shawn asked innocently.

"How did you know she went out the bathroom window? I only told you she left in the middle of dinner."

His only answer was silence. He looked at Shawn and saw that his lips were pursed and his head tilted back up toward the sky, making a pathetic attempt at nonchalantness.

"Oh my God, did you have something to do with this?" Gus asked incredulously.

"Yes."

"Yes?!"

"Well no."

"What do you mean no? Shawn this question doesn't have two answers!" Gus said, unable to comprehend Shawn's inability to give a straight answer.

"Alright Buddy fine. I was there. And no I wasn't stalking you or anything. I was picking up food for my dad and I. He apparently won some gift card at some fisherman's competition or something-is that even a real thing? And did you know that fancy places like that let you order ahead now? What an advancement in the food industry!"

"Shawn stop talking about food."

"Oh right. Okay anyway I saw you and her and she had just gotten up to go to the bathroom. I promise I was not going to interrupt you but I could hear her talking on the phone. Dude, she's married."

"Okay Shawn you don't have to try to make me feel better."

"Oh that's not what I'm trying to do. I'm being honest here. The thing is that she was going to go back to the table and carry on like nothing happened. She was blatantly lying to her husband on the phone and that's just not okay." Shawn said seriously.

"Okay..." Gus said slowly. "But why did she go out the window?"

Shawn shrugged. "I confronted her."

"You what?"

"I told her I heard everything."

"That doesn't explain why she went out the window instead of the front door, Shawn." Gus said, his anger still boiling under the surface.

Shawn couldn't hide his smirk.

"Did you see her necklace? Her own Zodiac sign? This girl is a believer of not-so-factual things. So I bumped into her, had a little 'psychic' episode and basically told her if she didn't go out that window right this second she would disrupt the balance of the earth or something like that. She was out of there before I could say 'sharcutlery.'"

"It's Charcuterie."

"Well, that does sound more delicious." Shawn admitted.

Gus was still pondering the past hour when they came to a crosswalk and paused.

"Wait a minute. If you knew she left me there why didn't you come tell me?"

"Oh Gus come on. I had dinner for my dad and I that wasn't going to eat itself and I knew you'd call me after stewing in your own sadness for a bit. If I came over right when she left you wouldn't have believed me and blamed me for it, then you most likely would have desperately called her over and over again before solemnly driving your car home. That's a montage I could do without." Shawn replied, shrugging his shoulders at Gus's glare.

"I see how it is, you really just wanted to go out tonight and have fun. At least I can get a second date."

"Ouch." Shawn did his best to look hurt. "At least I don't date married chicks."

"Touché."

After crossing the street Gus nudged Shawn.

"Where the heck are we going, anyway?"

Shawn pointed just ahead where a neon sign was flickering outside of a busy bar.

"Seriously, dude?"

"Yup. Just like the good ole days." Shawn said with a smile.

PSYCH~PSYCH~PSYCH

"I can't believe you took me to the bar that you got me blackout drunk for my 21st birthday." Gus said.

"See I told you it'd be fun." Shawn said with a glint of mischief in his eye.

"Alright fine, I'm done being a stick in the mud. If we are going to have fun, let's do it."

"That's my best friend!" Shawn said as he fist bumped Gus and surveyed the territory of the bar, instantly spotting a pool table in the corner. He nodded toward it while eyeing Gus.

"Really Shawn? We haven't done this in years." Gus said, a hint of trepidation in his voice.

"Oh come on it'll be fun." Shawn said cheerfully as he began to strut over to the pool table that was occupied by four large men.

"Your dad is going to kill you." Gus said, although Shawn was too far away to hear him.

Gus followed a few steps behind and Shawn was already setting up a game.

"...and gentlemen this is my friend Rosemary Hotpants. Ready to play?"

One of the men growled. "Are you sure you want to do this kid?"

Gus couldn't believe these guys were falling for Shawn's con. They used to do it all the time when they were younger to pick up a few extra bucks but once Henry found out what Shawn was doing, he was livid. He was more angry about the fact that Shawn was putting himself in danger by hustling people in a bar than he was about the fact that Shawn had won so much money in a not-so-fair way.

For Gus, it felt like déjà vu. Here Shawn was acting as the naïve bar-goer that wants to play a bit of pool. Little did his competition know that Shawn was insanely good at pool. Gus never understood it, but it was something Shawn could always do. He figured Shawn could visualize exactly where he had to hit the ball and then he just did it, making the game look easy.

In fact, Gus was really just there as support. He never really touched the pool stick himself since Shawn usually won before it could even be his turn. He didn't mind, especially when just to his left stood one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen. Soon Shawn's antics faded into background noise.

"See the purple 4 ball there boys? Oh wait, now it's gone."

Gus turned to say something to the mystery woman but she spoke up first.

"Are you from around here?" She asked.

"Uh yeah, how about you?" Gus stammered, caught slightly off guard.

"I'm just in town for a bit." She replied.

"Oh wow! Is this really the winning shot? I swear I haven't played this game in years."

"Oh, business or pleasure?" Gus asked.

"Mostly business, but I'm hoping to squeeze in a little pleasure at some point." She said, touching his shoulder.

"Well here in Santa Barbara, there's plenty of pleasure to be found." Gus said, doing his best to show her the Guster Charm.

She laughed slightly. "Oh, I can tell."

"This is bullshit!" Yelled one of the pool players. The background noise in Gus's mind suddenly became front and center as the enraged man screamed at Shawn. "I ain't paying for some cheat!"

Shawn remained calm. "Listen bud, I won fair and square. Maybe if you spent a little more time practicing pool and a little less time trying to pick up college girls in bars then you'd be a better player. Also, weren't acid-washed jeans rightfully left in the 90s?"

Gus watched in horror as Shawn's opponent grabbed Shawn and threw him roughly into the wall. Shawn felt his breath forced from his body and was given no time to react as two massive hands held him against the wall. He saw one of the hands ball itself into a fist and Shawn could only hold up his hands in defense.

"Hey!" A rugged, female voice erupted from behind the bar. "No fighting in my bar Jack, now take your over-inflated ego and your friends and get the hell out of here."

The man-presumably Jack-released Shawn and stepped away. Shawn let his body sag as he caught his breath. When he righted himself he looked toward Gus and gave him a nod as if saying "Everything's fine."

Jack gathered his possey and began walking toward the exit. He gave Shawn one last look of digust before walking out the door.

Shawn stepped around the pool table toward Gus and his newly acquired companion.

"I think it's time for a drink."

PSYCH~PSYCH~PSYCH

Shawn, Gus, and Cory-who Gus had learned the name of-had been sitting at the bar for over an hour. Gus could not believe how perfect she was. He quite literally could not find a single thing wrong about her.

However, Shawn wasn't so sure. He didn't know exactly what the problem was but something just felt off about her. But he didn't want to ruin Gus's night for the second time, so he kept his opinion to himself.

They learned that Cory worked in real estate.

Do real estate agents have to travel often?

But Cory seemed to be interested in asking Gus most of the questions, even getting oddly personal at times. But Gus was soaking up the attention and happily answered everything while Shawn sat there rolling his eyes.

Shawn's eyes wandered to Cory's hands and he caught sight of the ever so slight indent on her ring finger-an indent from a ring.

Oh come on not again.

Shawn sighed.

Maybe it's old. Maybe she's not married.

Shawn was busy musing possible scenarios when the bar door was aggressively kicked open, revealing a furious looking man, eyes scanning the entire bar until they locked on Gus.

"Oh you piece of shit! Cory!" He screamed as he pushed his way through the crowd of people in the bar. He stepped directly in front of Gus and Cory, his maniacal eyes switching between the two.

Gus was about to say something in defense but Cory spoke up first. "You've got no right being here Jay. We're over."

Jay's eyes widened. "Oh is that it? You go find some short stack rebound the day after you stop returning my calls?"

"Hey!" Gus interjected. "I'm 5'10"!"

"You're gonna pay for this." Jay growled as he picked up a beer from behind the counter and fisted his hand into Gus's shirt.

"Hey!" The female voice behind the bar yelled again, but this time she was ignored.

"Jay, no!" Cory pleaded.

Shawn could not longer sit there. He shot out of his seat. "Whoa! Everyone hold up." He held his hands up in surrender. He saw Jay's shoulders stiffen.

"You sir, are angry at Cory, yes?"

"That's right man." Jay replied.

"Well listen, I know breakups are hard and by the looks of this, breaking off an engagement is even harder but-"

"How'd you know that?" Cory asked, turning back to Shawn.

"You see, I'm psychic." Shawn shrugged.

"Oh bullshit, who put you up to this?" Jay asked angrily, but released his grip on Gus.

"No one. Now just relax." Shawn said while eyeing the bottle in Jay's hand. It was still completely full and unopened.

"I AM relaxed! I'm not going to let my girl get taken away from me!" He yelled.

"Alright, alright." Shawn said cautiously. "But it's not Gus's fault okay? Leave him alone. It was my idea to come here."

"Oh so you're the reason for all of this?!" Jay took a step toward Shawn.

"Well I haven't had anything to do with your relationship up until about five minutes ago so that's a pretty big jump. I'm going to assume that Cory here broke up with you for reasons beyond my control."

"Don't you dare speak about her like that. Just shut up okay? If this little shit," he turned toward Gus "thinks he's good enough for Cory then you've lost your damn mind. Now get up!" He said to Gus.

"No way, man." Gus said, somewhat fearful. He was surprised when he found himself on his feet, pulled there roughly by Jay's meaty hands. Now that he was nearly eye level with Jay, Gus could clearly see that he was under the influence of several drugs.

Shawn could see out of the corner of his eye that the woman behind the bar had just gotten off the phone, hopefully calling the police. This will be over soon.

"No one can ever replace me!" Jay screamed as he raised the beer bottle above his head, holding it tightly by the neck, looking as if he was about to spike a football. Right into Gus's head.

Gus.

Shawn immediately lunged forward, pushing Gus out of the way and driving Jay into the ground. His momentum carried him farther than he anticipated and he found himself on his knees. He was in the process of putting his feet under him when he heard his best friend and Cory simultaneously call out in horror.

"Shawn! Look out!"

"Jay! No!"

Shawn looked up at his assailant, only to catch a glimpse of a downward blur heading straight toward his skull. He tried to put his hands up to stop the blow but he knew he had failed when he felt the bone-jarring force against his temple.

Gus could only watch helplessly as the bottle was smashed over his best friend's head. He saw Shawn go limp and collapse to the floor.

Everything seemed to slow down. There was no noise and only darkness. Shawn could feel his body falling to the floor as gravity took hold. It seemed to take forever to finally hit the ground but when he did, all senses came rushing back.

He could hear downright chaos happening above him and see blurred images moving about.

Gus sprinted the few steps to Shawn and dropped to his knees next to the still form. Shawn's hair and most of his shirt were soaked from the broken bottle and he could see a steady stream of blood trickling from his temple and to the floor. Gus had to fight his natural reaction to run away and vomit, the only thing keeping him there was the fact that it was his best friend lying there, and not some random person. Gus also wasn't going to let Jay come near Shawn again-not like he could even stop him-but Gus was going to stay next to Shawn for all it was worth. He was relieved to see that Jay had apparently been detained by several other bar-goers. And then Gus heard an even more beautiful sound.

"Nobody move! Hands in the air!"

Finally.

Shawn let himself remain still. He wasn't sure he'd be able to do anything else.

"Shawn!"

Gus?

"Shawn, hey buddy come on."

Shawn realized that Gus was kneeling next to him, looking at him sideways with his face nearly on the floor. What a strange way to look at someone.

Oh crap I'm still on the floor.

Shawn tried to put his arms under him and push himself upwards but failed immediately.

"Whoa man take it easy, help is coming."

"Don' need help." Shawn slurred out. Why isn't my tongue working?

"Shawn, your head is bleeding, just take it easy."

Bleeding?

"You were knocked out for a minute or two."

Knocked out? Gus stop imagining things. If I was really bleeding we both know you'd be about a half mile away at this point.

"Over here!" Gus yelled above Shawn.

Shawn became aware that two new sets of knees were kneeling next to him.

Can knees kneel?

"What happened to him?" One of the pairs of knees asked.

"He was hit over the head with a sealed beer bottle by that deranged man over there. He was out for a minute or two." Gus answered.

The paramedics turned toward Shawn again.

"Hi Shawn. I'm John and this is Mary from the Santa Barbara Fire Department. Do you remember what happened?"

Shawn closed his eyes as the headache radiating from his temple demanded his full attention. It was becoming incredibly hard to think. He started to reach toward his head but Gus stopped him.

"Just take it easy man."

Shawn took a moment to answer John's question.

"Crazy guy, beer bottle, Gus's date went out the window."

"Ignore that last part." Gus said grudgingly, but looked down at Shawn sympathetically as he saw Mary preparing gauze with antiseptic.

"Now this might sting a bit." She said as she pressed the gauze pad into Shawn's temple.

Shawn winced painfully. "Sorry kid, but we need to stop the bleeding."

"'m not bleedin'."

"Shawn." Gus put his hand on his friend's shoulder. "Just let them do what they need to."

"'Kay buddy." Shawn said, letting his eyes slip closed again.

However the comforting darkness was short-lived as his right eye was opened and blinded by a light. Shawn thought it was incredibly rude, and that feeling only increased when the same action was applied to his left eye. His headache was pounding throughout his skull at this point.

"His pupils are sluggish. We need to get him in, probably do a scan just in case."

Gus felt his heart sink. The gravity of the situation began to hit him.

That should be me on the ground. Shawn was protecting me and this is what he gets. He didn't even think about himself, he only thought about helping me.

Gus shook his head in sadness.

The paramedics were preparing to put Shawn on the gurney when he reached out and clumsily grabbed Gus's arm.

"Buddy...you really need to pick better dates."

Gus smiled.

"I hear that."

He followed the paramedics and Shawn to the ambulance, refusing to drive separately. Shawn remained in and out of coherency throughout the short ride. Gus winced sympathetically anytime they went over a bump and he saw Shawn's eyes squeeze in pain.

Has to hurt like a-

Okay we are here!" John announced and the doors were opened.

He briefly turned back to Gus. "He will be checked out by a doctor. You're welcome to follow and wait in the waiting room."

Gus nodded. "Thank you, but I've got a call to make first."

He watched as Shawn disappeared through the doors of the Emergency Room. He pulled out his phone and clicked send, placing the phone to his ear.

It rang a few times before a gruff voice answered. Gus took a steadying breath.

"Mr. Spencer, Shawn's hurt. You need to come to the hospital right now."

PSYCH~PSYCH~PSYCH

Alrighty, when I began this I had no idea where it would lead! This could be kept short but I'm thinking of making it into a deeper, multi-chapter fic? What do you think? Cory could be an interesting character-either good or bad *smiles evily*

I started writing and couldn't stop. It's 1am so if there are mistakes that's my bad. I'll go through and reread before I decide how to proceed. College is a bit overwhelming so it may take me a little longer to update compared to last time. This was a long chapter, and I hope it wasn't too boring leading up to the action! Please review! I love hearing from you!