Juliet was beyond excited as she went to pick up her nephews from the airport. It had been over a year since she had last seen Isaac, Finn and Drake, and she always enjoyed spending time with the boys. Plus, this would be her first Christmas with Shawn as a couple, and she knew he would be better with kids than Lassiter was. Gawd, that had been a disaster. Shawn would be spending the week at Juliet's place, only partly because he had just been evicted from his apartment (again). Unfortunately he wouldn't be home tonight until after six. Something about having to work a private case with a guy who may or may not think he's a vampire. Juliet didn't even want to know. She just hoped Shawn was being careful; a tragic death would put quite a damper in the Christmas cheer.

Auntie Julie and the boys had a lot of catching up to do as they drove home from the airport. Isaac, Finn and Drake talked over each other about life in Miami, and Juliet took the opportunity to tell the boys more about Shawn. (Not that she hadn't already told her family a lot about him over the years.) The boys were entering their teenage years, and Juliet hoped they had a better time than she had. All the drama and hormones had been a nightmare. Getting kicked out of cheerleader camp hadn't helped. (Though cheerleader camp probably wasn't a factor with her nephews.)

As Juliet opened the door to her apartment, she gasped at the sight inside. The whole place was head to toe in Christmas decorations, and Juliet was pretty they were not there when she left. There was a fake Christmas tree in one corner, a blow up Santa in another, and everything was covered in tinsel and fake snow. Juliet also noticed an unusually large number of mistletoe leaves hung from the ceiling. She was pretty sure she knew who was behind this amazing display.

"Did you do this?" Isaac asked

Juliet shook her head, awestruck.

"Look there's a note!" Finn pointed to a piece of paper hanging from a string in the doorway. "What does it say?"

"Dear Jules," Juliet read aloud, "Gus wouldn't let me decorate the Psych office this year, (something about it distracting the working space) and it seemed so sad that all of these decorations had no use. I tried to put them on Lassies desk, but apparently he's not really in a holiday mood. So tada! I wish I could have seen your face when you walked through the door, I'm sure it was hot." Hmm, maybe Auntie Julie should have skipped reading that part to her nephews. "I'll rent 'Home Alone' on the way here, because what better way to bring on the Christmas cheer than a John Hughes Christmas movie? Big fat kisses, Shawn." Awwww, Juliet's heart warmed. Shawn had really gone all out for her.

"Big fat kisses?" Drake asked

"Don't judge." Juliet muttered, but was smiling. This was going to be a great Christmas.

Night numero uno at Jules's had been great. The food was delicious, her nephews were cool, and it was an excuse for Shawn not to spend time with Gus's sister, Joy. It was the first time Joy had been in town since they admitted to Gus's family that they had had a "fling", and Shawn hadn't quite told her that he had a girlfriend now. Avoiding her wouldn't be too hard, because Shawn planned on spending every second of the week Joy was visiting with Jules and her nephews. Or at least half of those seconds, he needed to see Gus too, just without a sister. Of course the plan with Jules was ruined when Juliet's phone rang way too early in the morning for Shawn's taste.

"O'Hara" Shawn heard her say next to him. Great, it must have been someone from the department; she was in cop mode.

"Don't leave Jules," Shawn said sleepily, "too early."

After hanging up the phone, Juliet turned to Shawn. "I'm sorry, I have to. Carlton needs my help with a case. Show the boys the Psych office or something, I'll be back tonight."

"M'kay," Shawn muttered, "be careful out there."

"I will." Juliet put on her usual gray skirt suit and kissed Shawn goodbye before leaving.

The rest of the morning was fun; Shawn took Juliet's nephews to the Psych office, and introduced them to Gus. The five boys started a Halo tournament on the Xbox, which Drake was winning, much to Shawn's annoyance. Halfway through a thrilling shootout between he and Drake, the phone started to ring. Shawn paused the game, and reached into his back pocket to answer, but froze when he saw the caller I.D.

"Shawn, who is it?" Gus asked, seeing the shocked look on his best friend's face.

"Santa Barbara Hospital."

Isaac tried to keep himself together as Shawn hung up the phone, looking stunned. The call wasn't necessarily about Aunt Julie, Shawn hadn't really said much on their side of the line. But Isaac had the feeling they weren't going to be that lucky.

"What is it Shawn?" The black guy, Gus was the first one to speak.

"A warehouse roof collapsed on her Gus." His voice was shaky, "The suspect they were tailing broke a support beam and..." Shawn trailed off.

Isaac could tell by the shocked silence in the room that everyone else also knew who "her" was.

Again, Gus was the one to break the ice. "So is she... you know.."

Shawn shook is head. "No, she's gonna be fine, right? I mean, a broken leg, a concussion, a few broken ribs, and a collapsed lung, isn't fatal right?"

Wow, Isaac was no doctor, but that many injuries sounded bad to him.

"That depends." Gus responded, "Did they say anything else?"

"Yeah, they said she may have something called tension neumthrax, whatever the hell that is."

"Do you mean tension pneumothorax?" Gus asked his eyes widening.

"That sounds bad." Drake whispered. It was the first time anyone besides the two best friends had spoken.

"It is," Gus agreed, "pneumothorax is when a lung collapses, but if air comes out of the lung when you breath and can't come back in it becomes tension pneumothorax." He explained. "The air outside the lung presses on other things in the chest, and can damage vital organs or cut off the blood flow to the heart if it's not treated fast enough."

Isaac let that sink in. Out of anyone in his non-immediate family, losing Juliet would probably be the worst. Even though she lived across the country, his aunt had always been there for him in a way that even his parents couldn't be. She was so easy to talk to, Isaac could tell her things he couldn't anyone else. They would talk on the phone every once in a while, and their conversations lasted hours, or until one of them realized that they had probably gone past their data limit. Of course, no one had said that she was going to die. Isaac could still easily have those moments back once Julie recovered. 'If she recovers,' the pessimistic side of him thought.

A sniffling sound interrupted Isaac's thoughts. He looked up to see Gus scrunching his face up in an odd way and crying.

Shawn, who had had his head in his hands, also looked up. "C'mon dude, really?"

"I'm a sympathetic crier, Shawn."

"I'm not crying!"

"You're crying on the inside."

Suddenly, Shawn put one foot on the table and a hand in the air. "Come one, let's pull ourselves together, we're men!" he said to the group.

From what Isaac had seen of Shawn, he was definitely the type of guy who would make big, dramatic, inspiring speeches that would only really work in movies. He guessed this was going to be one of those.

"And men are supposed to help women in times of need!" Shawn continued. "Especially women who have saved our asses more times than I can count, and not just because I can't count very high! At least she saves me and Gus's lives on a regular basis," Shawn trailed off, "I don't know about you guys." He gestured to Isaac, Finn and Drake. "Point being, Juliet has had our backs, now we need to have hers! So let's get over to the hospital and heal her with friendship, love, and a little bit of delicious flavor!" He picked up the pineapple on the table, and held it in the air, marching out the door, and towards the blueberry, like he was going into battle.

Isaac didn't know if that speech was supposed to be inspiring through drama, humor or both, but it worked. The rest of them followed Shawn out the door.

Carlton tapped his foot anxiously against the waiting room floor, waiting to hear news about his partner. He held gift wrapped box in his hands. Carlton had been planing to give it to O'Hara as a Christmas present, but now it could double as a get-well present. That is if she, you know... got well. Lassiter gulped; he couldn't bear to think about it. He loved O'Hara like a sister. (Not otherwise, that would be gross.) When she'd first came to Santa Barbara, Carlton had thought of her as a little girl who was way too nice to be a detective. Then he'd watched O'Hara turn into a strong woman who wasn't afraid to shoot anyone who crossed her. Carlton bit his lip. He needed his sister of the soul to be okay. Just then a familiar voice interrupted Carlton's thoughts.

"Lassie, any news on Jules?" Spencer rushed into the waiting room, followed by Guster and three boys Carlton vaguely recognized.

"Not yet." He shook his head as he studied the boys a little more. Now he remembered where he'd seen them; these were Juliet's nephews, who Carlton had met a few years ago. O'Hara had mentioned they were coming for Christmas. But if Spencer was with the nephew's, did that mean that he was staying at O'Hara's? And did that mean that they were...

Spencer, who had in turn been studying Carlton, spoke before the detective could finish his thought. "Gus and I met up with Juliet's nephew's in the hallway." He said a little too quickly. Carlton was about to open his mouth to speak, when a doctor walked in.

"Family of Juliet O'Hara?" she asked.

Spencer shot up before anyone could react. "Doctor, is she gonna be okay? Jules is okay right?" he asked, almost hysterical. "She's gotta be okay!"

Guster put his hands on his best friend's shoulder as the doctor spoke.

"Luckily we were able to put in a chest tube before any permanent damage was caused due to the tension pneumothorax. Also, it looks like the mouth to mouth detective Lassiter gave Miss O'Hara at the scene may have save her life. It looks like she's gonna pull through. You should feel proud." She said to Carlton.

He did indeed feel his chest fill with pride, but Spencer ruined the moment.

"You kissed Jules?" He asked incredulously.

"It was CPR Spencer."

"Yeah, but eew."

"Hey, kissing my partner isn't exactly on my top ten list of things to do either, but don't forget I saved her life." Carlton snapped.

Spencer scoffed and turned to the doctor. "Can we see her?"

"Yes, but she's unconscious."

"Let's go then."

-----

O'Hara wasn't looking great. Her right leg was in a cast, she had an oxygen tube under her nose, and she had a chest tube and a few other tubes and wires sticking out from under her robe. Juliet also had a small bandage on her forehead where Carlton remembered a piece of shrapnel had hit her. She had fallen down while everyone else ran out as the roof collapsed. Carlton shook away the memory as he watched Spencer walk to O'Hara's side, her nephews in tow.

"Oh man, Jules..." Shawn sunk down in the chair next to her bed.

For a moment everyone was speechless. Carlton cleared his throat. He wanted to stay, but he had never been good in intimate situations, and what use was there talking to an unconscious woman? Besides, their suspect, Max Sterling had gotten away while they were pulling the junior detective out of the rubble. Carlton had police work to do. "I'm gonna go back to the station," he said, "call me when O'Hara wakes up." And with that he put his Christmas/get-well present down and left.

Shawn swallowed and hugged the pineapple he had brought, like a very spiky teddy bear. It was hard to see Jules this way. She was one of those people who sometimes tried to hide her emotions, but always ended up showing them anyways. Shawn had watched her do this when he had been with Abigail, trying to hide the sad look on her face. Or when Shawn told a joke, and Juliet tried not to laugh in front of Lassiter. Shawn would have killed for any sort of emotion from her right now, hidden or not, sad or happy. He hated seeing Juliet blank faced and unconscious, all sorts of tubes sticking out of her.

"Hey Jules." Shawn took his girlfriend's hand, hoping maybe she would wake up from the sound of his voice. No response. He kept talking. "Look, I know that I owe you a lot more than you owe me for saving my life countless times, but I'm going to ask you a teensie favor. Juliet, could you please wake up, and soon? Because we all like you a lot better that way." Shawn rambled, "I know I'm very fond of you. So are your nephews. Even Lassie, who gave you that nicely wrapped gift... which Gus is now eating. What's wrong with you man?" Shawn turned to Gus, who was eating the chocolates that had been in the box Lassiter had dropped off.

"You know I'm a stress eater Shawn." Gus said, looking up. "Besides, it's not like she's going to want them anytime soon."

"Dude, at least pretend you have a heart." Shawn scoffed. "Was there anything else in the box?"

"Yeah, it's kind of creepy actually" Gus pulled something else out of the box.

"Whoa, he gave her a gun?" Finn asked.

"Yep, that's the Lassie we know." Shawn muttered. "Buddy, if you're stressed just use that." He gestured to the pistol in Gus's hand.

"You want me to shoot someone to deal with stress?"

"No, time yourself disassembling and reassembling it. That's what Jules does for stress."

There was a tense silence in the room as everyone glanced at the unconscious junior detective.

"Can I see the gun?" Drake asked, breaking the silence.

"I don't think that's a good-" Gus started, but Shawn shrugged, taking the gun and handing it to Drake.

"Just don't shoot anyone, I don't think we need anyone else hospitalized."

"Okay."

"...So Jules told us that we could tag along with her to the suspect."

Shawn and Gus had been cheering the boys up with amusing stories of their past cases. At the moment they had been telling the story of the time Juliet had signed them up for the academy, only for them to go on a case anyways.

"Unfortunately that crafty little doodlepumpkin locked us in the cruiser." Shawn continued still holding Juliet's hand.

"But it actually turned out to be some tiny old Japanese lady in the car." Gus interrupted.

Soon the five boys were doubled over in laughter as Shawn and Gus finished the story. Suddenly Shawn stopped laughing. Someone had just squeezed his hand.

"Jules!"

-----

Juliet woke up to the sound of laughter. And pain. Numbed pain, she had an IV in her arm, she was probably on some serious pain killers. Juliet's chest still ached with every unusually short breath. Someone was holding her hand. Shawn. He was doubled over with laughter, and hadn't noticed her wake up. She squeezed his had.

"Jules!" Shawn exclaimed. He leaned towards her in his chair anxiously. "Juliet, are you okay? Can you talk?"

Jules could tell Shawn was panicked; he hardly ever called her Juliet. It was hard to speak with her breaths so short, but she managed to convey how she felt.

"Ow."

"That's fair." Shawn said. "Do you need anything? Some Jell-O from downstairs? Are you pillows lumpy? I can give them a floof."

Juliet shook her head, smiling at her boyfriend's kindness. "I'm okay."

Suddenly she remembered something. Her nephews were visiting! Where were they? What if something had happened to them?

"Jules, what's wrong?" Shawn asked, noticing the beeps of her heart monitor getting faster.

"Isaac, Finn, Drake." She managed, taking in another breath. "Where..."

Shawn pointed, and Juliet turned her head to see her nephews standing by the other side of her bed. The fact that she had been worried about three people who were right next to her made Jules feel kind of stupid.

"Hi Auntie Julie." Finn said. He seemed to be trying hard not to look at her. Juliet didn't blame him. It must have been odd seeing his aunt with all these tubes and wires sticking out of her. "Shawn and Gus were just telling us about the time you made them go to the academy."

Juliet smiled weakly, but her heart sunk as she realized something else. Where was Lassiter? He had been in that warehouse too. Had he made it out? "Carlton?" She asked, turning back to Shawn.

"Lassie's fine." Shawn reassured her. "I mean, besides the fact that he got you this rather disturbing get-well present."

Juliet raised her eyebrows as Shawn pulled out the very dangerous-looking weapon. "He got me..." she took a ragged breath. "a gun?"

"Yes he did." Shawn responded. "And Jules, if it's hard to talk, you don't have to. We can always use the universal form of communication."

"Please don't say-" Gus started.

"Charades!"

Juliet started to laugh at her boyfriend's silliness, but her breath caught as she felt a sharp pain in her chest. Coughing just made it worse.

"Jules!"

"Aunt Julie, are you okay?"

Juliet nodded, trying to catch her breath.

"Shawn, don't make her laugh!" Gus exclaimed.

"Why, not? Every time you laugh, you live another day."

"Not for Juliet." Gus said. "If she laughs or coughs too hard, her lung could fully collapse again, which in her condition could be fatal. So basically, a laugh could shorten Jules's life by about 60 years. Just warning you." Gus said to Juliet.

"Thanks."

"Man, that is such a buzz kill." Shawn muttered. "Really put's a new spin on 'dying of laughter'." Ironically, know one laughed. "You alright?" He asked, stroking the back of Jules's hand with his thumb.
"Yeah." Juliet breathed. She was still pretty shaken up, but the pain had gone down. "That wasn't... wasn't your fault, Shawn." She reassured him, speaking in fragments because of the shortness of breath.

"You don't have to talk, Jules."

"I want to." She didn't want everyone seeing her as a weak little girl. Juliet glanced at her leg in a heavy, white cast. "I won't... won't be able to... walk for a while... will I?

"Nope." Shawn responded.

"That's a negative." Gus said.

"Great." Juliet muttered. She could barely talk or walk, and Jules was guessing she wouldn't be out shooting her new gun for a while. Yay. This was turning out to be the best Christmas ever. At least she still had sarcasm.

Shawn woke up in the chair he had apparently fallen asleep in. Gus had taken the boys back to Juliet's house, but Shawn had insisted on staying by her bedside.

Suddenly Shawn realized something was wrong. Something was missing. It was too quiet. Shawn felt a surge of panic as he realized that the rhythmic beep of Juliet's heart monitor was no longer there. He reached forward, checking her pulse. There had to be something wrong with the heart monitor, she couldn't be gone! But Shawn felt nothing. He shook Jules's limp body, begging for her to wake up. He called the doctors, sobbing. This couldn't be happening; she had been just fine a few hours earlier! But Shawn felt his heart shatter, as his girlfriend's body was soon zipped up in a black bag he had seen so many times before, but never had it held someone he loved.

Shawn felt people around him. His dad held him like a little boy, as his son sobbed for his sweetheart. Shawn didn't know when he had arrived, nor did he really care. Gus and the boys were there too. Isaac, Finn and Drake were also crying for their aunt, but for once, Gus's eyes were dry. He just comforted the boys, looking incredibly sad. Shawn heard the doctors explain what had happened, but he barely heard them. It didn't matter. Nothing mattered. All he knew was that his Juliet was gone.

-----

Shawn woke up to someone squeezing his hand lightly.

"Shawn. Shawn, what's wrong?"

Jules! That was Juliet's voice. Oh, thank God. That meant Shawn had been dreaming. Well, it hadn't all been a dream, Juliet was still lying in a hospital bed, looking pretty banged up, but at least she wasn't dead.

"Nothing, I'm fine." Shawn reassured her. "How are you feeling, Sweetheart?"

"Shawn, you were sobbing." Her voice sounded better than it had yesterday, and her breaths were more even.

"Don't worry about me," Shawn said, "just a bad dream."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Shawn shook his head. He should be the one worried about her, not the other way around. That didn't stop Juliet from knitting her eyebrows together, and giving Shawn a concerned look.

There was a tense silence in the room, as Shawn thought of something else to say. "You know, I think we forgot to call Lassie and tell him you're awake." He took out his phone, trying to distract Juliet from the subject at hand.

"Alright," she said, "but we should talk about this later."

"Fine." Shawn agreed absentmindedly as he dialed.

"Lassiter." he answered on the first ring.

"Hey Lassie," Shawn greeted the head detective. "Jules is awake."

"Hi Carlton." Juliet said, the phone on speaker.

"O'Hara, are you alright?"

"I'll be fine." She assured him. "Did you catch Sterling?"

"Sterling?" Shawn asked. "Like the silver?"

"Max Sterling," Lassiter explained, "the son of a bitch that dropped a roof on O'Hara. He just barely slipped through our fingers last night. The Chief's got me and Dobson working the case, we'll put him behind bars where he belongs."

Shawn felt like an idiot. He had been asleep in Juliet's hospital room, when there was still a criminal who needed to be put away. He and Gus needed to catch this S.O.B. that hurt his Jules.

Juliet pursed her lips and stared at the ceiling. Isaac (who had arrived at the hospital about ten minutes ago with his brothers and Gus) was talking to her, but she was having trouble paying attention to him. Partly because she was still in a good amount of pain, and partly because she was worried about Shawn. Juliet had seen his expression when they had been talking to Carlton, and knew he wanted to go after Sterling. She also knew that emotional investment was never good when working a case, and Shawn would probably be more reckless than ever.

"Aunt Julie?" Isaac asked, seeing that she wasn't listening.

"Hmm, what?"

"I was asking if your leg was hurting."

She smiled slightly at how caring her nephew was. "It's fine." It was actually aching quite a bit, but Jules didn't want anyone to worry. "Do you think I could talk to Shawn alone for a moment?" she asked gently.

"Okay."

As her nephews and Gus cleared the room Juliet turned her attention to Shawn. "I know what you're thinking." she said quietly.

"Really, I thought I was the psychic."

"I know you want to go after Sterling, but I'm begging you, let Lassiter take this one."

"Jules, this guy hurt you-" Shawn started but Juliet interrupted him.

"That's exactly why I don't want you working this case, emotional investment can be very dangerous. You don't have to be my knight in armor right now."

"But I want to Jules!" Shawn protested. "I'll be your knight, and Gus will be my armor; my human shield."

Juliet felt a smile tug at her lips. "I'm serious Shawn."

"So am I! Things get rough out there, I'll just hide behind him."

"Fine." She gave in, knowing Shawn would probably go no matter what. "Just... take the gun."

"What?"

"The gun that Carlton gave me. Take it with you." Normally, she wouldn't trust Shawn within ten feet of a weapon, but facing a dangerous criminal with no way to protect yourself was not a good idea.

"Are you sure?" he asked. "Don't I need some sort of license, or..."

"Just take it."

"Alright." Shawn agreed as he took the gun and kissed her goodbye. "See you soon."

"M'kay. And Shawn?" she called after her boyfriend as he headed for the door. "Please be careful."

"I will."

-----

"Gus, buddy, we got a case, let's go." Shawn said as he closed the door to Jules's hospital room.

"Shawn, are you sure we should be involved in this?" Gus asked, "I mean, this is pretty high profile; a cop was severely injured."

"No, a cop was not severely injured," Shawn corrected angrily." Juliet, my girlfriend was severely injured, and I intend to catch the son of a bitch who hurt her."

"Fine, but we're getting tacos on the way to wherever we're going."

"Didn't need to be said."

"Wait!" Isaac called as they walked away. "We want to catch Sterling to."

"How did you know his name?" Shawn asked suspiciously. "were you eavesdropping on me and Jules?"

"I told them it was a bad idea." Gus said.

"We weren't eavesdropping." Drake corrected. "Just listening in on a private conversation."

"I don't know guys." Shawn hesitated. "Jules was pretty nervous about just me going after Sterling. Besides, if she finds out I let you tag along on a case, she'll probably beat me with that weapon on her leg."

"Weapon on her leg?" Finn asked. "You've never had a cast, have you?"

"No, because my bones are made of steel. Stainless steel, actually. I have been shot though."

"Really?" Drake asked.

"Yeah, wanna see?" Shawn pulled back the collar of his shirt to show the boys his scar. Gus just rolled his eyes.

"Guys, are we going?"

"Right." Shawn let go of his collar. "Let's go find a cop injure-er. Person who injures cops? Whatever."