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"You've been pushing yourself too hard," Gus told him, watching him with an edge of concern; watching him the same way he'd been watching him for almost two weeks now.

Shawn sighed and picked at the shish-kebab in his hand before holding it out to Gus.

"You're not going to eat it?" Gus said, putting his hand out, but waiting to touch, waiting for the request.

"No." Shawn grimaced. "I don't feel like eating anything." He waved it a little and Gus accepted it, bundling it together with his own empty stick. Shawn's gaze moved out across the beach, his hand rubbing at his forehead. He had a headache. Gus knew because he'd had a headache for the last two days, going on three. The case, everything that was happening; it was wearing him down.

"I was a complete jackass to Jules today," Shawn said bitterly, the orange light of the sun only making the darkness in his face more pronounced. He grimaced and tipped his head back, biting out, "She wouldn't even talk to me about seeing the case file. I—" He huffed out an unhappy breath. "—I told her to stop calling me for help if she wasn't going to bother repaying the favor."

Gus winced.

"God." Shawn leaned forward, pressing his palms against his forehead, his fingers threading into his hair. "What the hell is wrong with me, Gus? I just—I said that to Jules! Lassie thinks I'm a complete waste of existence now, because he heard it and the look on Juliet's face—" He let out a strangled little noise.

"And that's not the only thing. Everything is so screwed up right now. Mom is dating some lawyer or something and it's eating Dad alive. He snaps at every little thing. We can't even talk for more than a few minutes before we're fighting. And not the way we've been fighting. It's like—it's like before. Like when—"

Shawn cut himself off, his mouth turning down in a ferocious expression, but Gus heard what he'd been about to say anyway.

Like when Mom left.

"What about Abby?" Gus asks quietly. "Things are okay?"

Shawn shrugged one shoulder. "Fine. She thinks I'm stressing myself out too much." He paused a fraction of a second. "I haven't been sleeping."

"I know," Gus said.

Scrubbing his hands over his face again, Shawn said, "I don't know what to do. Nothing makes sense right now. I can't— I can't even figure the stupid case out. It's like I know there's something. Something right there. If I could just— If there was— If—" He growled, frustrated and pushed his hands through his hair. "There's too much," he said, tapping a finger, hard, against his temple. "I can't think."

"I think," Gus said, after a long stretch of silence, "I should have told you this a month ago."

Shawn's head turned sharply toward him, and Gus saw a flash of pure terror cross his face. Gus grimaced, took a deep breath, and then said, "I think...you need to break up with Abigail."

Nearly a half a dozen emotions flitted across Shawn's face before he settled on shock. "What?"

"Hear me out," Gus said, lifting one hand. "Just...hear me out, okay?"

Shawn's mouth worked, the slide show of emotions crossing his face all over again. "But— She— Gus, that's the only thing that's not completely screwed up right now."

"I know. Just—listen. Okay?"

Shawn shook his head, letting out a breath and then waved a hand. "Yeah, sure, I guess so, why not."

"I know you and Abigail get along. The sex is great—"

A ghostly smile flashed across Shawn's face.

"—and you're having fun. You like having someone to be close to." Shawn's eyes dropped to the sand and he squirmed, but Gus kept going. "I know you're not really having any problems. But...it's been almost a year. Dating isn't a job part-time job, Shawn. Just because you don't hate it, doesn't mean you shouldn't look for a better position with options for advancement.”

“But that's the only thing that is working for me right now, Gus,” Shawn said, desperation leaking into his expression.

Gus carried on in spite of it. “You should love your job and you should love—or at least really, really like your girlfriend. I mean, look at Psych. You've been here in one spot for how long? And you don't stay for the money, do you, Shawn? You stay because you LOVE the work. That's how it should be with a girlfriend. If not...you need to give two weeks notice and start checking the classifieds. Especially when the okay-but-not-awesome job is wreaking havoc on the other parts of your life.”

“It's not Abby's fault Dad's screwed up,” Shawn protested.

“I'm not talking about your dad,” Gus said. “I'm talking about Juliet.”

Shawn flinched. “There's no way Jules is even going to think about dating me,” he muttered.

“I didn't say you should ask her out. I'm just saying that your relationship with Abby has affected your friendship with Juliet. And I know her friendship is important to you. I've talked to Abby. You guys are both just gliding. You're content with what you have right now, but what you have right now isn't really going anywhere, and it's killing your relationship with Juliet and as a side effect, that's destroying whatever semblance of a relationship you've managed to work up with Lassiter. You can't fix everything that's going on right now, Shawn, but you can at least start fixing some of it.”

Shawn rubbed a hand over his mouth, forehead creased. “But...Abs, she... I can't leave her on the dock again, Gus.”

“You've been in a monogamous dating relationship with her for ten and a half months, Shawn. I think it's safe to say you made up for leaving her on the dock when you were a kid.”

Shawn swallowed, looking out over the water, face pulled into an expression of anxiety. “What if she cries?” he finally asked, voice a low whine.

Gus' shoulders lifted in a slight shrug. “I don't think she will,” he told him honestly. “But I'll go for KFC before you go.”

A faint laugh huffed out of Shawn's mouth as he bent his head, running his hands through his hair again. He swallowed. “I haven't broken up with anyone in a long time, Gus.”

“It wouldn't be easier, even if you had broken up with a thousand girls, Shawn.”

Shawn sighed. “You really think this is what I should do?”

“I wouldn't suggest it if I didn't. I want you to be happy, Shawn. And right now, your relationship with Abby is hurting you more than it's making you happy.”

Shawn was quiet for a long time, shadows darkening and finally overtaking his face. Finally, he said, “KFC? And Pretty in Pink?”

“You know that's right,” Gus said.