So here is the promised next story. It is already finished, so don't you worry about getting your updates.

But beware. This one is going to be long. Actually, it's a story plus sequel, both already finished. What can I say, it just sprawled endlessly after I started writing it. Sprawled into the over 120.000 word-length, actually ;-) And it went into a totally different direction than expected, just so you know.

It all started out with a challenge over at psychfic (dot) com, and this is what came out of it. You have been warned.

I hope you enjoy it.

The Longest Day

Challenge: Handcuffed by Potterwatch.

Two Psych characters get handcuffed together without a key at hand. Preferably have it be Shawn handcuffed to someone else for a day or longer since they can't find a key and don't have a spare one anywhere. Go crazy with it.

All right :D I'm good at going crazy with something.

Summary: When a case goes downhill, Shawn and Lassiter suddenly find themselves in the worst possible situation – alone, lost somewhere in the woods far away from civilization and help. The bad guys are after them, and they're pretty keen on killing them. Oh, and as if that wasn't enough, somehow Shawn and Lassiter also managed to get into this whole mess handcuffed together. Whether they want to or not, our favorite Psychic and head-detective have to work together to get out of this situation alive.

Chapter 1 – This can't be happening

It wasn't a good day.

It definitely wasn't a good day.

Oh, it had started out as fun, true enough. Most cases did. But Shawn guessed that this one was going to end on a not so happy note.

But in all honesty, what could Shawn have done differently? Those jewel thieves they had been trying to find had been too clever about covering their traces. He simply hadn't figured it all out earlier. And just for the record, he still had figured it out far earlier than either of the detectives involved in the case had.

That had to count for something.

Like for the rather improvised course of action Shawn had taken after he had finally figured it out.

There had been need to act quickly, the thieves were planning on escaping to Mexico after all. And the old saying clearly stated that What goes to Mexico stays in Mexico. No, rationally speaking there had been no other choice. Once Shawn had figured out where the thieves were hiding out, he had to get there.

There was no way he could be blamed.

After all, he had even called for backup before he left, tossing out a few random psychic visions or logic deductions respectively over the phone. But without much success.

Gus was on a date.

Juliet hadn't answered her phone.

His father had hung up on him.

So he had called Lassiter. And the detective had arrived at the warehouse only a few minutes after Shawn.

It certainly wasn't his fault.

Come on, whoever had stacked those shelves in the old warehouse with piles of statically highly unstable hubcaps had been inattentive to the point of negligent.

Anything could have sent them crashing to the floor just as Lassiter and Shawn approached the perps.

Anything.

A fly settling in the wrong place.

A gust of wind.

A truck driving by outside.

Someone in China with a bad cough.

Shawn's elbow accidentally grazing one of the shifty hubcaps.

And in the end it didn't matter what had sent them crashing to the floor.

Besides, there had been four thieves facing Lassiter and Shawn. They were outnumbered, in the most classical sense of the word. And Lassiter had adamantly refused to give Shawn a gun before they had entered the warehouse. Or to swear a secret-detective-partner-oath, come to think of it. Not that the oath would have changed a thing about their situation, but at least it would have been fun.

So no, considering all the facts it definitely wasn't Shawn's fault that the thieves had overpowered them rather quickly. And in all honesty Shawn was a little glad that one of the guys pointing a gun to Shawn's head had convinced Lassiter to lower his own weapon. After the hubcap disaster, he hadn't been totally sure that particular threat would convince the detective to surrender his gun.

But Lassiter had surrendered his weapon, and his backup, along with both their cell phones, and now he and Shawn were locked in the windowless back of a truck, shackled together with Lassiter's very own pair of handcuffs, the keys of which had also been confiscated by the jewel thieves.

No, it wasn't a good day.

And judging by the death glares the head detective was throwing in Shawn's direction every other moment, Lassiter thought so, too.

They hadn't spoken much since they had been tossed into the back of the van. Lassiter was glowering ahead darkly, and Shawn was busy trying to map their way in his mind. Since there were no windows that would have allowed them to look out this wasn't easy, but he was trying to take note of each turn they made. He was pretty sure that the had left the outskirts of the city in a north-eastern direction, but for the past half hour they had been driving straight ahead. Shawn guessed they were on a highway, so he was left with a rough estimate of their speed and the distance they were covering. It should help them a little once they tried to make their way back or call for help, but at the moment there was little chance of that.

"Where do you think we're going?"

Lassiter's head snapped up and the glare he turned towards Shawn was dark.

"I don't know Spencer. Aren't you the psychic around here?"

Shawn rolled his eyes. "Come on Lassie, don't be such a grumpy teddy-bear. It could be worse."

Lassiter raised both eyebrows.

"How could this possibly be any worse?"

Shawn shrugged. "They could have killed us, but they didn't. I wouldn't call that too bad."

The head detective rolled his eyes. "And it didn't occur to you that maybe they didn't want our bodies to be found until they're long out of the country? And that maybe they're driving us away from the city to kill us in a deserted place?"

"Not really. There's plenty of deserted places within a forty-five minute radius of Santa Barbara. Believe me, my father took me hiking in every single one of them. They want out of the country, why would they waste more time than absolutely necessary with discarding of us? No, I think they're driving us to a specific destination. And once we're

there, we can figure out a way to get out."

"Of course." Lassiter's voice was dripping with sarcasm. "With four armed men threatening us, I forgot that it'll all work out fine if we only believe."

"Now that's the spirit, Lassie!"

"Just shut up, Spencer."

Another thirty minutes later they left the highway and the road got rougher. There were too many twists and turns to keep track of all of them, and the bumps and potholes the van was driving across jostled the two men against each other and into the side wall of the vehicle.

They were on a dirt road, and Shawn had the feeling that the angle of the car had changed and they were driving upwards now.

An eternity passed until the car finally jerked to a sudden stop and the engine was killed. A moment later the sound of the two front doors slamming shut sounded hollowly in the back of the van. Shawn felt Lassiter tense beside him as steps came around the car and the back door was opened.

Two of the jewel thieves had left with a different car earlier, but the other two were still armed heavily enough to make a breakout attempt at this moment seem suicidal.

"Get out!" One of them barked and slowly Shawn and Lassiter scrambled to their feet. It was difficult with their backs and legs cramped after an our of sitting in the uncomfortable truck, and it wasn't made easier by Shawn's right hand being cuffed to

Lassiter's left.

They finally made it out of the car in an ungraceful stumble of arms and legs only to find themselves somewhere in the woods, in the middle of nowhere.

Shawn had been right about them driving upwards. They were somewhere in the mountains, far away from civilization. The only thing that still reminded of human presence up here was the small but sturdy looking hut they were standing in front of. It looked like an old hunting hut, but since it wasn't hunting season it was highly doubtful that anybody would accidentally find them here. Not within the next four months at least.

"In there. And don't do anything stupid, or I'll shoot you."

Slowly, the four men trotted over towards the hut. One of the thieves unlocked the front door which opened on squeaky hinges.

"Get in!"

"What, I don't get to carry Lassie over the threshold?"

The second guy roughly pushed Shawn into the hut's interior, but the momentum jerked so hard on the chain connecting their wrists that Lassiter stumbled inside, too, fell against Shawn's back and nearly threw both of them to the ground.

"Sweet justice, Spencer! Can't you ever keep that mouth of yours shut for longer than a minute?"

"I was just trying to lighten the mood a little."

"Over there," the first man barked and waved towards the hut's small bathroom with his gun. Like the rest of the hut, the bathroom was furnished sparsely, but functional. There was a toilet and a sink in there but no shower or tub. Shawn guessed that hunters weren't coming up here for the spa experience.

What probably was the real reason for the two thieves to bring them in here were the metal pipes that ran from beneath the sink into the wall.

Thief number one, the taller one who talked more, turned towards Lassiter. "All right, I'm going to uncuff your friend now. You will sit down here beside the sink and push the cuffs around the pipe. One wrong move, one stupid attempt at heroics, and we'll shoot your friend here, is that clear?"

"Yes," Lassiter grumbled.

"Good."

He pulled the key to the cuffs out of his pocket and unlocked the cuff around Shawn's right wrist. Shawn immediately began to rub his aching arm. Lassiter obediently sat down beside the sink and pushed the open half of the cuffs through the narrow space between pipe and wall.

"Now you sit down." The more talkative of the thieves instructed Shawn and pointed to the position on the other side of the sink. Shawn sat down, and immediately one of the men grabbed his arm and enclosed his wrist in the handcuff again. Shawn winced as the metal closed around his arm tighter than it had before.

"And what now?" Lassiter asked. "If you want to shoot us, it's a bit stupid to tie us up like that first."

That actually made the two men laugh.

"Oh no", the smaller one, the one who had pushed Shawn earlier, finally chuckled. "We're not going to kill you. You're too good a bargaining chip in case anything goes wrong before Miguel and Charlie cross the border with the diamonds."

"So you're just going to leave us here." It wasn't really a question, but that didn't seem to disturb their kidnapper, who seemed to be on a roll now.

"Only until our merchandise is safely in Mexico. They're going to call and we're going to have someone come up here and take care of you as soon as the two of us are safely in Mexico as well. It's a small price to pay for diamonds worth 5 million bucks. I'd do it myself, but I'll be sipping Margaritas with a beautiful woman by the time you're going to die."

He grinned dumbly, then checked one more time that the handcuffs were tight.

"So if there's any unresolved issues the two of you need to clear up, I suggest you start now. Miguel will be calling soon."

He wiggled his cell phone at them, sneered again and together the two men left the small bathroom. A moment later the front door was shut and locked, then the engine of the truck started and the car drove away.

Shawn sighed. "Well, that is something different than what I had planned for today, but let it never be said that a day spent with me ever gets boring."

"Very funny, Spencer. Could we interrupt the comedy routine for a few moments? Just until we've figured out a way to get out of this. I don't intend to stay around here until that call from Mexico comes. Those other two guys have at least a ninety minute head start towards the border, we don't have all day."

Shawn sat up straighter and looked at Lassiter.

"Gladly. You only seem to be forgetting one thing."

"Oh, and what's that?"

"This!" Shawn emphatically tugged at the handcuff so that the chain links rattled. "We're tied to each other, and in addition to that we're also tied to this pipe! So what do you suggest we do?"

Lassiter grinned. "Oh, I can think of something."

Somehow, the grin on the head detective's face didn't make Shawn feel any better.