Betaed by Hutchster on Psychfic.
Originally written May 2009.

Disclaimer: Psych and its characters belong to the creators and the network. This fic is written solely for pleasure; no profit is being made and no copyright infringement is intended.

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"Shawn, look at this."

"What is it, Gus? Can't it wait? I'm about to beat this record."

Gus stalked over to the television and switched it off. He crossed his arms and gave his friend a stern look. "We need to talk."

"Why, what happened?" Shawn gasped. "Did Mrs. Pickles have her kittens? How many are there? Can I have one?"

"No, Shawn. Besides, Mrs. Pickles isn't even real." He rushed on before Shawn could interject anything else. "I want to talk about this."

Shawn tossed his controller down and took the paper from Gus' outstretched hand. "The Psych credit card bill?"

"What do you notice on there?"

"That we have a great sense of taste in office accessories?"

"The cost of those accessories!"

"Oh. Hey, we aren't overdrawn!"

"Just barely!" Gus sighed. "Shawn, you need to quit spending so much money. I don't make enough at the pharmaceutical company to continually cover all my own expenses as well as the expenses for Psych – not to mention the extra stuff you buy all the time."

"We make money here." Shawn sounded offended.

"Yeah, but not enough. How many cases have we had in the past month?"

"Uh … one."

"One, that's right. And how much did we make on that one? Was it enough to pay our expenses here this month? Or how about last month?"

"Business is slow, Gus. What else can I say?"

"How about, 'I'll get a side job to help you pay the expenses.'?"

"What?"

"Yes, Shawn. You either get some other job to help pay the bills, or I am out of here."

"But, Gus …" Shawn whined.

"No, Shawn, no 'buts.' Now get yours moving and find some source of income unless you want to be running Psych on your own."

"All right, fine," Shawn huffed. "But only until Psych business picks up again. A guy can't juggle two jobs at once."

"Yeah? What have I been doing all this time?"

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Later that afternoon, Shawn returned. Gus was still at his desk, taking care of the last few bills.

"So, how'd it go?" Gus wanted to know.

Shawn posed dramatically. "Meet the newest security guard for the SBPD Shipping and Supply Co."

"The what?"

"Security guard. You know, those guys who make sure everything at the warehouse is still there in the morning?"

"I know what a security guard is, Shawn."

"Then why'd you ask me?"

"Because I can't see you being a security guard."

"Please, Gus. I've had so many jobs between high school and now. This is just reprising one of them."

"I can't see you staying up all night and actually being able to function, either."

"Well, as you've pointed out, I don't have any work here, so I can sleep late."

"Shawn, you already sleep late."

"Noon? That's not late."

Gus just rolled his eyes.

"Fine. Go ahead and be like that. But when I start bringing in a paycheck to help out around here, you owe me an apology."

"Shawn, if you last longer than a week, I'll buy you a smoothie."

"You're on."

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Shawn and Gus entered Chief Vick's office later that day to find Detectives Carlton Lassiter and Juliet O'Hara already waiting with the chief. The head detective was holding a file, and Shawn's quick eye caught its label, as well as the labels on the files on the chief's desk.

"Mr. Spencer, Mr. Guster. Thank you for coming."

"Sure thing, Chief. You know we always come when you call." Shawn plopped into one of the chairs in front of her desk. "You wanted to talk to us about the warehouse robberies?"

Vick raised her eyebrows. "Yes, as a matter of fact. There have been a string of warehouse robberies throughout the Santa Barbara area, and we have reason to believe they were all orchestrated by the same gang."

"What makes you think that?" Gus asked.

"The group of people breaking into these places all have the same MO. They come in the middle of the night, disable the alarms and subdue the guards, and take thousands of dollars worth of items when they leave. The guards were all knocked unconscious before they could see any of the robbers, and we don't have enough evidence yet to arrest anyone. This is where you come in, Mr. Spencer."

"You want me to go undercover in the gang?" Shawn asked, eyes lighting up.

"No, that would be me," Lassiter spoke up.

"Aw, why does Lassie get all the fun? I could do it just as well as he could," Shawn complained.

"Detective Lassiter happens to be the man I've chosen, and that's final. Mr. Spencer, I need you to give me whatever information you can on these robberies and the gang pulling them off. We have information that the next place that will be hit is the SBPD Shipping and Supply Co."