A/N: Can't wait till Psych comes back! But in the meantime, I shall entertain myself with super sexy thoughts of Shawn shootin' stuff. -pj

It was all fun and games until that moment. It was just another bank robbery, with another pair of dim witted bank robbers with ski masks and guns they didn't know how to use. It was all a joke until one of them grabbed Gus.

And put a gun to his head.

Then Shawn didn't think everything was so funny anymore.

He didn't want to criticize their hostage negotiations techniques or make fun of their cliché robber outfits.

He just wanted them to let Gus go.

"Hey!" he shouted, jumping to his feet and making all the other hostages wince.

"You gonna shut your mouth now, funnyman?"

"Look, yes just," he swallowed hard, taken by surprise by the fear in his best friend's eyes, "just let him go. Please."

The first robber, who Shawn had affectionately dubbed 'Clem', crushed his arm harder across Gus' neck, and the look of panic that washed across his best friend's eyes was too much for Shawn to bear. With hardly a thought, only an entire childhood's worth of training in his head, he turned to his side and slung one fist at the second gunman, 'Howard', while his other hand reached for the gun in his hand.

Hardly a moment later Shawn was leveling the gun at the other man's head

"Hey! Hey!" Clem yelled, pulling Gus further in front of him.

"Look, I don't want to kill you," Shawn said, his voice so low and even it didn't sound like his own.

"Put the gun down!" The robber screamed, desperate and close to hysterics. Outside blue and red lights flashed and every now and then they could hear someone barking orders through a megaphone. This was out of his league now. It was supposed to be a simple smash and grab job. But the funnyman had decided to make a nuisance of himself and Howard shot the security guard. From there, it all went to hell and he just wanted out.

But unlike Clem's hold on his weapon, Shawn's gun was steady and his aim was true, long since having learned how to overcome adrenalin and remain calm in such situations.

He could practically hear his father's voice in his head.

Breathe, Shawn, keep your head clear. If you allow your emotions to get the better of you, someone could get killed.

"Dude," Shawn said evenly. Something about his tone made Gus' stomach drop, "Don't. Move."

"Shawn no!"

---

"Tac Team One is everyone in position?" Lassiter barked, "I want two men stationed in the back along with a cruiser and some plainclothes across the street in case they make a run for it."

Juliet stood stoic beside him, hidden behind aviator glasses and her hands in her pockets to keep from fidgeting. She'd held herself together rather well so far considering who was inside with two armed and dangerous bank robbers.

"We've got two of our own inside this bank," Lassiter continued, calling officers' attention back to himself, "so I want this to go by the book, no mistakes. Let's get in there, get our hostages-"

Suddenly the sound like several small explosions erupted from inside the bank. Everyone immediatly recognized the tell tale pop-pop of gunfire and took cover.

Lassiter was crouched behind his car with Juliet, both trying to get any sort of information over the suddenly active radio's.

"Shots fired! Shots fired!"

"Anybody have eyes on the shooter? What's the 20?"

"What's going on in the bank? Anyone wounded?"

"Make entry! Go go go go go!" Lassiter shouted, but before anyone could move, the front doors of the bank flew open and a dozen haggard civilians ran out, screaming in fright. Officers started directing them to the paramedics and Lassiter felt Juliet on his arm.

"I don't see them Carlton," she said, searching the crowd anxiously, "I don't see Shawn and Gus."

People were running in all directions, the surrounding media was in a frenzy as Lassiter and Juliet ran toward the building.

"Shawn?" Juliet called immediately, searching through the chaos for her friends.

She spotted him, his back was to her and his arm was stretched out ahead of him. But there was something odd about his stance. Something both rigid and resigned in the set of his shoulders that concerned her.

"Shawn, are you ok?" she asked quietly, stepping over the man by his feet, checking briefly for his weapon before she realized it was in Shawn's hand, gripped so tight his knuckles were white.

"Shawn," she reached over and carefully started to pull the gun from Shawn's fingers, "let go now Shawn." After a moment he did, but he never looked up, never responded. His eyes still glued to something on the other side of the room. She followed his gaze and saw Lassiter standing over another black clad figure liked the one at her feet.

He carefully kicked Clem's gun away while absently glancing at Gus, who was frozen to his spot.

"Guster, you alright?" Lassiter asked as he crouched down beside the other robber, examining a perfectly placed bullet in the middle of his forehead. Gus opened his eyes and, seeing the dead robber, blanched.

"Shawn!" he practically shouted, "did you shoot at me?"

Juliet started to stop him; Shawn didn't look as though he was in any condition to be arguing, even with Gus. But she didn't know the two as well as she thought she did. She didn't know that no one knew better than Burton Guster the effect firing a weapon had on the Happy-go-lucky Shawn Spencer. What killing a human being could do to a man who became vegetarian at age twelve and went out of his way to save spiders and ants that wandered indoors.

"Shawn, you just shot at me," he repeated, looking indignant, "that's it. That is it!"

"Gus, I didn't shoot at you." Shawn responded finally, his voice a bit too low and quiet.

"Yes you did." Gus strode over to him, subtly grabbing his arm and turning so that to keep facing him, Shawn had to pull his eyes off the body and put his back to it.

"Dude, I shot at the robber."

"The bullet whizzed past my ear, Shawn," Gus insisted, "I felt the wind."

"You felt the wind?" Shawn raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, I felt the wind. You could have taken my ear off. My ears are worth a fortune Shawn. You know no one can identify the distinctive yet subtle differences in the voices of each of the 306 members of the Vienna Boys Choir better than me!"

Juliet turned to Carlton to mouth 'boy's choir?' and he rolled his eyes.

"Correction Gus," Shawn said, beginning to sound more like himself as he got into the rhythm of their banter, "no one else wants to do that."

"Speak for your uncultured self, Shawn."

Shawn nodded, suddenly realizing that they were outside in front of the Bank.

"I do," he said, and pointed to a small creature on the grass, "and also for that ground squirrel."

"Hold it, hold it, you two," Lassiter called, he and Juliet exiting the bank a few paces behind, "what the hell happened in there?"

"Shawn decided we needed to take our check and deposit it at the bank during a bank robbery."

"It wasn't my fault Gus, I mean, how unlucky do you have to be to get caught up in two different bank robberies in one lifetime?"

"Not your fault? It's not my fault! You know I like to use the bank on the other side of town."

"You like that hot teller at the bank on the other side of town."

"Regardless, I'm not unlucky! I just spend too much time with you. "

"Oh! Gus! That's offensive! I take offence!"

"Need I remind you I wouldn't have even been in this situation if it weren't for you and your big mouth?"

"You're welcome by the way."

"For what? Almost getting my head shot off?"

"No, for giving you a much more exciting Thursday than you was going to have on your own."

Juliet and Lassiter watched as the two made their way toward the blue car sitting peacefully in the parking lot.

"Want me to go after them? We still need their statements," she said, a small smile on her face from their antics.

"Na, we'll get to them tomorrow."

Juliet looked surprised, "are you giving them a break, Carlton? That's so sweet."

"I'm not giving them a break, but I've only spent thirty seconds with them today and I'm ready to shoot them both," he did an about face and went inside to begin processing the scene.

Juliet glanced at him and then turned back to the blue car in time to see Shawn drop his facade just for a moment and ask his friend genuinely if he was ok. At Gus' nod, she smiled.

"He's giving them a break," she nodded to herself, and turned to follow her partner inside.

END