Gus spent the morning being ordered around the house, but he had expected it so he didn't mind. A heavenly smell wafted from the kitchen as he located his keys and got final instructions from his mom. She had assembled what would no doubt be a magnificent Christmas Feast of epic proportions. By the time he got back with all their Jamaican relatives it would be shear perfection. His mouth watered at the thought as he slipped into the Blueberry and headed off for the airport.
During this, his last brief moment of solitude before the holiday officially began, Gus took a moment to appreciate the quiet as he drove along. He rarely got to drive in such tranquility. Either he was on a tight schedule for his route, or he had to haul Shawn around on a case or a grocery run or just hanging out. Not that he minded very much, especially the hanging out part.
Their times together, outside of Psych, had dwindled as Shawn's relationship with Juliet picked up, though he worked really hard not to resent his best friend's happiness. If ever two people belonged together, it was those two. But even dating back to grade school, Gus had always figured that he would find that kind of happiness first. Seeing what Shawn and Juliet had together made him wish and want and work that much harder to find a true love of his own.
Thinking of Shawn, Gus decided to give him a call while he had the chance. He could probably use another pep talk to keep his spirits up, or he'd never last through the holiday. Gus used hands-free to make the call. And as the line began to ring, he heard familiar music coming from his backseat.
'Hang all the mistletoe. I'm gonna get to know you better… This Christmas. And as we trim the tree, how much fun it's going to be, together… This Christmas.'
That was Donny Hathaway singing, the Christmas ringtone he had picked out for Shawn this year… "Shawn!"
"Whah?" A bundle of blankets in his backseat suddenly sat upright, fabric falling away to reveal a very groggy fake psychic in his rearview mirror. Gus clenched the steering wheel, white-knuckling the ten and two positions for a few seconds before he overcame his shock.
"You scared the crap out of me, dude. I could have driven us into a ditch and killed us both, and what kind of sucky Christmas would that be. What are you doing in my car?"
"Sleeping. Obviously. Didn't get much last night," Shawn answered before a massive yawn struck.
"Why are you sleeping in my car?"
"Not my first choice," he answered as he stretched broadly and climbed over the center console into the front seat while Gus kept his eyes on the road and tried not to panic. "But my bike really isn't suitable for napping, and I couldn't get to Dad's truck keys without risking waking him up. So anyway, just drop me off at the airport and I'm good."
"Airport?"
"Yes, airport. You know, the place where you're headed right now? Keep heading there. I decided to surprise Juliet for Christmas."
"That's a pretty big surprise," Gus pointed out as he relaxed his death grip on the steering wheel a little. "But what about your family, your mom and dad, and Uncle Jack and the rest?"
"They'll never even notice I'm gone."
"Shawn, I'm pretty sure they'll notice."
"I left them notes and pictures and presents and everything. They won't miss me. They'll be fine," said Shawn, though Gus could hear the doubt in his voice. "Just… I already bought the ticket last night, okay? And my flight leaves in an hour. So drive!"
"I am!" Gus shot back just as loudly while he checked his mirrors and made the lane change for the exit to the airport. But booking a flight, same day for Christmas Eve, that had to cost a small fortune, he thought as his suspicion grew. "Did you use my credit card?"
"Of course I did…"
"Shawn!"
"Not! Kidding! Gus, don't be Good King What's-His-Face."
"That's Wenceslas!"
"I've heard it both… Wait a minute. No I haven't. You're right, my bad. Anyway, I learned my lesson about borrowing from you. And more importantly, I finally got a check card from my bank, so I used that. Of course now I have no money in my account and might be overdrawn… slightly. And I also had to clean out my half of our Raiders of the Lost Ark pinball machine fund. But it's fine. I like Ramen. And my landlady gave me a hundred off on the rent this month. Oh, and I had to return your present, too. It was really nice, you would have loved it. Merry Christmas!"
Gus didn't believe that last part for an instant. Shawn never bought his present until after Christmas so there'd be nothing for him to return. "But wait, you won't even get to Miami until nearly midnight."
Shawn just shrugged. "I know, but check this out." He snatched his bag from the backseat, knocking Gus in the head as he dragged it onto his lap.
"Hey, watch it!"
"Sorry," Shawn said with no apparent remorse. Instead he pulled out something green and waved it in front of Gus's nose.
He batted it away angrily. "Dude, still driving here," he exclaimed as he pulled into the vast pick-up parking lot and began to search for a space relatively near both the entrance and the car rental area.
"It's mistletoe, Gus. The real thing. If I can make it there by midnight, at least we'll have this. And we'll have all of Christmas Day. I'll meet her parents. And Frank again. And… Ooo! Parking spot!"
"I see it." Gus waved Shawn's hand out of his face yet again and parked his Echo in a fairly decent space. "When does your flight leave," he asked.
Shawn slung his backpack over his shoulder and checked his wrist, which was bare. "Um…"
"It's five minutes to ten," said Gus as they started toward the entrance.
"Oh, well then I've got lots of time. Buckets of time. I've already got my boarding pass on-line, and my flight doesn't leave until ten thirty."
"Shawn, when was the last time you flew anywhere? You'll never make it!" Gus shouted, grabbing his idiot friend by the arm and dragging him into a dead run. "They'll start boarding the plane any minute and you still have to make it through the security check-point." Despite a lot of odd and somewhat suspicious looks from everyone they passed, including a few security guards, they ran on. Gus didn't care, much. He slowed down to an incredibly brisk walk until they reached the long and winding queue for security. Gus deposited him at the end of the line, then craned his neck toward the distant metal detectors. "You'll never make it," he repeated, feeling like somehow he'd failed his best friend, even though it wasn't in the least bit his fault. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be, Gus," Shawn said as he took one huge sidestep, out of the long line and right into the Fast Lane. "I paid extra for cut-sies," he explained with a wide grin. But he hesitated.
"Gus, is this… is this crazy? Is it the right thing to do?" He asked so earnestly that Gus had to take him seriously.
"Does it feel like the right thing," he asked back.
Shawn shrugged. "Sure it does. But everything I do feels like the right thing to do while I'm doing it. That doesn't mean it really is the right thing, especially where Jules is concerned. Every time I think I know what she wants, I'm wrong."
"Then forget about what Juliet wants. What do you want, Shawn?"
The grin returned as he answered. "I want to be with Juliet for Christmas."
"Then go," Gus urged as he shoved Shawn down the roped off lane that would take him straight to the front of the security line.
Shawn walked backward away from him, grinning like a maniac all the while. Just before he reached the security officer at her desk, he held out his fist. "Air bump," he shouted over the noise of the busy airport. Gus smiled as he raised his own fist in answer and they connected in their time-honored fashion. "I'm gonna miss you, Gus!"
"Whatever, Shawn, just don't miss your plane!" Gus called back, brushing off the comment nonchalantly when a few people in the longer line looked his way. But he knew that Shawn really meant it. And he would miss his best friend, too.
He watched as Shawn turned to show his ID and boarding pass to the officer, then threw his bag on the conveyor and kicked off his shoes. He made it through without a hitch, got his shoes back on and his bag slung over one shoulder just as a voice over the PA system announced, "Final boarding for Alaska Airlines Flight 4312 to Los Angeles. Will passenger Spencer please report to Gate 39."
Shawn took off at a dead run, and Gus crossed his fingers as he headed toward Arrivals. Since Shawn didn't come slouching back to him all depressed in the next half hour, Gus knew he must have made his flight. But he couldn't help but notice one of the many screens around the airport that broadcast the local news and weather. A big mass of storms was developing over northern Texas and New Mexico. He hoped Shawn's flight from LA to Miami wouldn't be delayed, but Shawn had incredible luck. He knew his best friend would get through okay.
Soon enough, the plane he'd been sent to meet finally came in, and he was inundated by his Jubilant Jamaican relatives all talking and laughing and hugging at once. He hadn't seen his grandmother in ages, so it was good to see her looking so sprightly, even at her advance age. His Aunt Tit and Uncle Ray were full of questions about the family and about him - who was Joy seeing and why hadn't he found a nice girl yet and did Bill get a new job and when would Winnie be coming back to visit them in Kingston, and why hadn't he found a nice girl yet and so on. Eventually he managed to herd them all down to baggage claim, where the reunion continued while they tried to watch for their numerous bags.
Somewhere in the middle of it all, Gus's phone rang again. 'Have a Holly Jolly Christmas, it's the-"
"Hello," he answered, very pleased to have beaten Burl Ives to the punch, so to speak. But his cousins started teasing him on his festive ringtone so much so that he could hardly hear the voice on the other end of the line.
"Gus? It's so loud, what's going on?" a distinctive feminine voice asked, followed by something about Shawn that he couldn't quite catch.
"Juliet? Hi! I'm at the airport picking up my relatives," he shouted back over their noisy din. "Shawn's fine," he added, figuring that she must have asked about her boyfriend. He couldn't say more than that though, since Shawn wanted to surprise her.
"Can I - - - thing?" He heard her say, just barely. She said more, something about missing Shawn. The phrases 'wild idea', 'tell him', and 'tonight' popped out but he couldn't understand anything else.
"Don't worry, Juliet," he tried to reassure her, guessing at why she must be calling him instead of her boyfriend. He would be unreachable on his cell for quite a few hours while he was in transit to Miami. "Shawn's fine. His phone is broke. I'll get a hold of him and tell him to call you tonight."
She said something else but at that exact moment, his Granny Vita cried out, "Ee-eeee! Mi bags are missin'! All de Christmas presents was inside!"
"Look, sorry Juliet, but I really need to deal with this," he said, talking over whatever Juliet had to say back to him. She could wait. Granny Vita could not. "Good bye! And Merry Christmas," he added before hanging up on her. Really, he hoped that Shawn and Juliet would have a wonderful Christmas together down in Miami, but he couldn't spare any more energy worrying about either one of them. They'd be fine, but he still had a lot to deal with.
Eventually he flagged down a baggage worker and learned that they had all gone to the wrong baggage claim carousel. Within minutes they found the right one and quickly found all their luggage, including the ones with all the Christmas presents inside. He got a big rental van for the cousins, divided everyone up between his car and the van, got all their luggage situated, and finally got them all on the road back to his parents' house. This was going to be the best Christmas ever.
********
"Gus? It's so loud, what's going on?" Juliet asked. All she could hear when he answered the phone was a bunch of clamoring voices, barely intelligible in the background. "There's something really important I need to tell you. It's kind of a secret. Shawn's not with you, is he?"
"Juliet? Hi! I'm at the airport picking up my relatives," Gus shouted into her ear. She held the phone away from her ear and shot an apologetic look at the man sitting beside her. "Sorry," she mouthed to him as she returned the phone to her ear. "Shawn's fine," Gus said, though that's not what she asked.
"Can I tell you something? It's a secret. I had a great lunch with my family, told them all this wild idea I had, and then came straight to the airport. I'm actually sitting on an airplane in Miami right now. So I won't be able to talk much longer, but I'm on my way back to surprise Shawn. Don't tell him, okay? But I want to make sure he'll be at his dad's house tonight so I can surprise him. Gus?"
"Don't worry, Juliet," he replied, making her frown into her phone. She never said anything about being worried. "Shawn's fine. His phone is broke, that's why you can't reach him. But I'll get a hold of him and tell him to call you tonight."
"That's not what I said," she tried to reply but a loud screech on the other end of the phone had her jerking it away from her ear yet again. "Hello, Gus? Are you still there? I'm coming back to Santa Barbara!"
"Look, sorry Juliet," said Gus, "But I really need to deal with this. Goodbye, and Merry Christmas!"
Juliet frowned at her phone as the call ended., She wanted Gus to understand what she said, and help her with her surprise, but the flight attendant was already making her way down the aisle to scold anybody still using an electronic device. And she didn't want to be a Baldwin about it. Gus did have his own family Christmas to deal with, she considered. She would just have to trust that Shawn would be moping on the couch in Henry's living room tonight when she arrived to surprise him.
"Ladies and gentleman," the captain's voice came over the speakers. "Welcome to Flight 5348 bound for Dallas, Texas, with connecting flights to Los Angeles, Phoenix, Denver and Albuquerque, just to name a few. Looks like we've got some nasty weather moving into the area so be prepared for a few bumps along the way. And thank you for flying American Airlines."
Tucking her phone away, Juliet politely listened to everything her flight attendants had to say about safety and exits and what to do in the event of a water landing, but all the while she just kept thinking about how wonderfully understanding her whole family had been, that they would even chip in to get her the ticket. She smiled to herself when she thought of Shawn and how surprised he would be when she arrived on his doorstep. Last Christmas, their first as a couple, had been such a whirl with the events surrounding the whole Czarsky case that they had barely seen each other. This Christmas had almost wound up the same way. But she knew this was the right decision. She never wanted them to spend Christmas apart again.
********
Shawn folded his arms across his chest, tucking his hands tight to his sides. He couldn't grip the arm rests like he wanted to because his neighbors to the left and right, both women, had already grabbed them so tightly they'd need a crowbar to pry their fingers free. The flight from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles had been incredibly short and uneventful, without even a bump or a shiver to make him nervous. He wasn't afraid to fly. He just didn't like it all that much, preferring the open road to the supposedly friendly skies.
This was his only option so he'd taken it. But the direct flight from Los Angeles to Miami was not going so very smoothly. The seatbelt light had been off for barely an hour when the trouble started.
Turbulence. Lots of it. The kind that made a rollercoaster ride feel like a stroll in the park. Beyond the porthole-like windows, the world outside had gone from sunny California to a disturbing white nothingness that reminded him of The Langoliers, a made-for-television movie that had contributed to his 'distaste' for flying, as well as for pointy things and Bronson Pinchot. There had been announcements about remaining seated, and diverting around the storm, and nothing to worry about. But when people started losing the lunch they'd been served not so very long ago, Shawn got worried.
Since when did New Mexico have blizzards? And this one stretched all the way to Kansas, he saw as he closely watched the tiny screen on the back of the seat in front of him. Something flashed beyond the windows to his right, and both of his seat-mates screamed, suddenly letting go of the armrests to grab his arms instead. As much as he wanted to scream and grab onto something too, Shawn tried to be calm for their sakes - Lina, a grandmother of ten on her way back to Puerto Rico to visit a grandchild who had been in a car accident, and Molly, a freshman in college who had gotten her ticket as a surprise gift from her parents in Pompano Beach, when they found out how much she missed them.
"Hey, ladies. That's quite a grip you both have," he said casually, flexing his muscles a bit to gain some wiggle room. "What was that, anyway," he asked as he leaned toward Molly to get a better look outside. Still nothing to look at beyond a few feet of wing and a fuzzy flashing light peeping through the cloud layer.
"It's thundersnow," Molly announced, shivering a bit as she spoke. "It's not good."
"Don't make things up, Molly."
"I'm not! My family used to live in Chicago and it happens there a few times. It's when there's thunder and lightning in the middle of a snow storm. It's the worst kind, and very rare. I bet the wings are already icing up. Gosh, I really don't want to be up here anymore."
"Looks like you might get your wish." One way or another, he added to himself. Shawn had seen the little blip of their plane on the monitor as it continually angled northward, following the edge of the storm. Despite the lack of labels on the map, by the look of it the captain was headed straight for Denver, Colorado. "Denver, here we come," he told her cheerfully as the captain came on to announce their new destination.
"How did you know?" Lina and Moly both asked at once, amazed.
"I'm psychic," he replied with a smile and a wink for each of them. "A psychic detective for the Santa Barbara Police Department. Me and my partner Gus have solved nearly a hundred cases. Last year around this time, I helped take down a famous Russian crime lord. And it was all thanks to psychic dream vision I had," he began, gaining the full attention of both women. They relaxed their grips on his biceps enough that he could claim both armrests for himself. And feigning a complete lack of worry about the evil thunder-snow-storm now buffeting their plane, he kept them both entertained with tales of his exploits as a psychic detective. His stories, hardly embellished much at all, helped keep their minds off the storm. And more importantly, it kept them both from throwing up in his lap.
But Shawn didn't want to go to Denver. He wanted to go to Juliet. An emergency landing would completely ruin his Christmas plans. But then again, crashing in a blizzard would so totally ruin his whole life, by the fact that he'd be dead. So he told his stories and hoped that once they reached their new destination, he would find a connecting flight to Miami that would at least get him to Juliet by Christmas Morning.
Author's Chapter Notes:
aakira's present continues. Thanks to her and to all of my readers for being so patient with me.
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