He and Jules were giggling about the sassy, red headed bartender who was so obviously hitting on the oblivious Lassiter. Jules’ eyes were twinkling especially bright that day it seemed. He opened the door to the Rainbow Ballroom, Santa Barbara’s newest up and coming LGBT bar, and she graciously smiled a thank you. Shawn followed so closely behind he even cut off Lassie during their exit.

“No sign of any disturbances here Lassiter, all of their records were untouched and pretty much flawless,” Juliet pulled a pesky bunch of hair behind her ear; hair that had disheveled slowly but surely throughout the long day of investigating and questioning.

Shawn remembered the irritated look on Lassie’s face (an oldie but goody eye roll) as Chief Vick explained the case to Shawn and Gus. Okay, so Shawn wasn’t exactly listening to the Chief word for word, but wasn’t that what Gus was for? As soon as they left her office Gus explained that a business magnate was opening businesses around Santa Barbara and after a week or so, cleaning them out of all their saving and profits. Psych had only taken the case because it gave them a chance to visit all the new restaurants in town and get paid to do it. Luckily for Shawn, Wednesdays were Gus’ full workdays and Shawn was able to spend the entire day taking Juliet out on mini-dates (with Lassie the Chaperone by their side, of course).

“Well, this place seems alright to me O’Hara. What do you say we call it a night and meet at that new barbeque joint across town for some more questioning? Does 0800 work for you?”  Lassiter seemed so exhausted, Shawn decided against any overtly antagonizing banter, so he went with mild banter instead.

“So it’s 9:25 pm right now, so you guys are going to meet at… Five o’clock in the morning Lassie?? That’s just too early for anyone, you guys should meet around noon, I mean, how can you investigate a barbeque joint and not enjoy the tasty delight that is a pulled pork sandwich??”

“Spencer-“ Lassiter was abruptly cut short by Juliet. Shawn always loved how she was the first to stick up for him and save him from going too far with grumpy ‘ol Lassie. Shawn shot her a sideways smile and he could see her beauty shine while she chatted Lassiter away.

“Lassiter, it’s late, go home and I’ll see you tomorrow at 8 o’clock, on the dot.”

With a deep breath and the same old concerning glare directed straight at Shawn, Lassie turned the corner to his standard dark blue Crown Victoria in the parking lot behind the bar. Jules spun on her delicate feet and Shawn was right in front of her causing a hitch in her breath.

“Did I scare you?” Shawn was desperately trying not to grab Jules and have her right there on the park bench a few feet away.

“Oh, no, of course not,” Jules’ breath was quickening and Shawn was beginning to get anxious. This was rare for two reasons: one, Shawn couldn’t recall a single memory in his life when he was filled with pure anxiety like he was experiencing in that instant.

He had experienced a small bout of anxiety once in Texas during his years away from Santa Barbara; he was driving too fast and had had too many drinks… The second reason was that he usually experienced an adrenaline rush whenever he was this close to Jules or in any noteworthy interactions.

Shawn was beginning to feel his heartbeat as if it were about to rip apart his chest. He tried to slyly swipe the sweat from his brow, but Juliet definitely noticed the abrupt change in Shawn’s disposition.

“Hey are you feeling okay?”

“Yeah, uh, I think I may have eaten some bad wings back at that sports bar..”

“Shawn, why don’t I give you a ride home? I don’t know if I like leaving you to ride your bike back to your place like this, “ Jules’ concern was almost as adorable as when she was angry. Shawn particularly enjoyed her when she was laughing; partly because she always got the punch line and partly because she never held back at a good joke. Like this one time, Shawn had told a mindless joke to relieve some stress from an especially troubling case. He knew it was a lame joke when Gus didn’t blink an eye at it, but for some reason, it struck at Juliet’s funny bone so hard she had tears streaming down her red face from laughter.

“Shawn? Are you okay? I can drop you off really quick and – “ Shawn snapped back to reality and realized he had been staring into Juliet’s eyes not saying a word.

“Thanks for the not-so-subtle hint Jules,” joking as always, Shawn did not want to show Juliet any weakness, “but I think I’ll be okay.” Shawn smiled his charming smile that put Juliet’s worries to rest. He figured he was okay because he didn’t actually feel sick or nauseated; however, this new notion of worry and anxiety plucked at his brain.

“You are the one that needs some rest Jules, if we’re ever going to catch this thieving, fraudulent tycoon we’ll need our detectives to be bright eyed and bushy tailed.”

Shawn jumped onto the nearest street lamp and waved as though his ship was taking off for it’s final cruise. He watched Juliet giggle, wave back, and head to the same parking lot behind the bar and leave to her apartment downtown.  

Shawn stepped down and began walking in the opposite direction. And that was the last thing he remembered before gulping down a pineapple smoothie by himself on Friday.