Story Notes:
I wrote this as a break from my Behemoth of a story I started over the summer and have been making progress on. That is, until I got to the Shules-being-serious part. Believe me, they do not take well to being forced to be serious.
So I set it aside for now, and wrote this silly little story to get it out of my system.
And, because it's me, there's an attempt at a mystery story, too.
No warnings, really. A handful of spoilers, mostly for Season 6, and no violence or anything beyond a bit of suggestiveness.
So I set it aside for now, and wrote this silly little story to get it out of my system.
And, because it's me, there's an attempt at a mystery story, too.
No warnings, really. A handful of spoilers, mostly for Season 6, and no violence or anything beyond a bit of suggestiveness.
“Shawn, is that you?” Juliet asked, slipping on her shoes and poking her head through the door into the foyer. She couldn’t find the suit jacket she could have sworn she had left here, but maybe Shawn would know where it was.
“Juliet? Nope—sorry. It’s just me.”
It was spring time in Santa Barbara, which meant three things. The summer heat and the swarms of summer tourists had not yet invaded her city, meaning it was comfortable to go on her typical morning run outside. But, secondly, spring meant it was construction season and her normal route was blocked off to repave a road. Juliet didn’t mind, though, as, even after the years she had served Santa Barbara, there were parts she wasn’t yet familiar with. Her run offered her an opportunity to see a new neighborhood. But, as if out of some romantic comedy, the sereneness of her early morning run was suddenly disturbed by several fat rain drops.
Because, oh yeah, that was the third thing about spring. April showers brought May showers, too. Or something like that. She was pretty sure she’d heard it both ways.
Slowing her pace, Juliet took stock of where in town she was. She had come a few miles from her house and could find her way back. But she did have to be at work soon, and would not have time to make it home, get un-rained-on, and make it to work on time. That normally wouldn’t have been a problem, but she knew she and Carlton had a case of robbery to deal with first thing this morning.
Though her house was too far, she knew she was pretty close to the Psych office, where enough of her work clothes had found a temporary home that she could scrounge something up. In the several years she and Shawn had been together, they had resisted moving in together, mainly because they were both stubborn people who anchored themselves to their furniture. Juliet would readily admit that Shawn’s living room was optimized for their frequent movie nights. The couch was just the right size for the two of them and it really was smart (if a distinctly bachelor move) to put a well-stocked mini-fridge within an arms length of the couch.
But even for all the comfort Shawn’s couch offered, Juliet always preferred to go back to her own bed. Since college, she had been almost obsessive about making sure her mattress was just the way she liked it. It had to be firm enough to offer support but still have a pillow top so that it was actually comfortable. The pillows were the same way, she had one soft pillow on top of a more firm one. Shawn’s bed, on the other hand, was, much like him, over the top in every way. It was loaded down with every just about feather bed in a ten mile radius, had the tag torn off, which she was pretty sure drew some severe consequences in the California Law Code, topped off with a down comforter and a brightly colored duvet, and had enough pillows stacked that you could forget the pea. That princess wasn’t feeling a slab of concrete if it was stuck under her.
So, needless to say, she had been happy to wake up with Shawn in her bed this morning, rather than the other way around.
As had become her routine, she crawled out of bed, planted a kiss on his cheek to briefly rouse him, and asked if he wanted to join in her morning run. As always,he grunted and turned his face into the pillow, which she usually took as a dismissal.
But now the rain had ruined her plans, and she ran back to the Psych office, searching for any work clothes she had left there.
And that was how she ended up frantically searching for a jacket she could wear to work while being barged in on by Henry Spencer. Blushing slightly that Shawn’s dad should see her in whatever state of dishabille she was in while running a bit late for work, she asked him to help her look.
“Sorry for not knocking,” Henry said. “I was wondering if Shawn was over here. We need his help on that museum robbery, and he wasn’t answering his phone. I dropped by his place, but it didn’t look like he was home.”
“He—um—slept at my place last night,” she said. “I left for my run about an hour and a half ago and just got caught in the rain. It wouldn’t surprise me if Shawn’s still asleep.”
She knew she was rambling a bit, but she still needed to find her suit jacket, and Henry’s presence was suddenly unnerving.
“Juliet—“
She went on with her search, now realizing that, if he had called in Shawn, the case was bigger than she had thought.
“Juliet. Calm down. I have the truck here, so we can stop by your place to get Shawn and you can get another jacket.”
When she settled into the truck, Henry called Shawn’s cell a few more times, before Juliet told him just to dial her home phone number, which Shawn couldn’t ignore. They were in front of her house in no time, and only had to wait five minutes for Shawn to come out of the house, carrying a bowl of cereal and one of Juliet’s work jackets.
He saw the truck parked out front and opened the passenger side door, throwing his leg up to pull himself into the cab.
“And how do you expect to not spill that milk while we’re driving?”
“It’s nice to see you too, dad,” he said. Purposely refocusing his attention to Juliet, he planted a kiss on her cheek before buckling his seat belt, handing her her coat, and getting his cereal secured.
“Hey Jules.”
“Morning, Shawn.”
She maneuvered into her jacket, and they started moving. Immediately, she lowered the visor with the mirror and made sure she was presentable after her run through the rain and her frantic search of the Psych office.
“Oh, by the way Jules, will you marry me?”
Pulling her attention away from her appearance, she turned to Shawn, who was non-chalantly taking a bite of cereal.
“I’d love to,” she said, moving her hand to his leg.
Against her better judgment, though, she turned to glance at Henry, whose eyes were suddenly glued to the road. His hands were locked at ten and two, and it was clear that he was doing everything in his power to keep himself from looking at either one of the truck’s other occupants.
The only sound for the rest of the luckily short ride to the station was Shawn chewing his Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Juliet trying to stifle a laugh at the outrageousness of the situation. When they finally made their way to the employee lot, Juliet noticed the clock and scurried into work. Shawn and Henry stayed behind, having a quiet conversation. She knew she should probably go assist her fiancé in dealing with his dad. But really, he deserved it after proposing like that in the car.
Deciding that he could handle himself in this situation, she stepped in to see that Carlton was already waiting with the case file of the museum robbery. She could deal with Shawn later, as she had transitioned into work mode. But, as Henry was involved and she didn’t want to find someone new who she liked as much as Shawn, she resolved to go out and check with them as soon as the case got underway.
“I see you decided to join us this morning, O’Hara. As Chief told us last night, there was a robbery at the Old Mission. The larceny team did the leg work last night, so all we have to do is work out the details. There was no sign of forced entry—”
“So, it’s an inside job?”
“That is one possibility we’re looking into,” said the chief, interjecting. “The objects stolen were two precious Andalusite gemstones. It is a gemstone specific to Malaga, in Spain. The stones were first discovered only a few years after the Mission was founded, in 1786. Along with some of the 17th and 18th century El Greco paintings that the monks brought over with them, one brought some Andalusite to remind him of his home city. Recently, a family in Spain sent a gift of a matching stone to mark the 225th anniversary of the founding of the Mission.”
“And that was all that was taken?”
“More or less. According to the museum docent and one of the brothers who still lives there, the thief also lit a candle in the chapel. But, for that, he left a five dollar bill with a typed up note saying it was to pay for the candle.”
“Do we have a copy of that note?” asked Juliet. “And can we search the serial number on the bill?”
“McNab is running it as we speak,” said Lassiter. “Some of us were on time this morning and have already started working.”
Juliet rolled her eyes and grabbed the file to take back to her desk. Following a whim, she pulled up the Wikipedia article on Andalusite. The thief had left cash at the site, so she had an inkling that this wasn’t a get-rich-quick scheme. She learned very quickly that, while refined Andalusite could sell for a couple hundred dollars or slightly more if it had a long history like these stones did, two small stones would not be worth enough to break and enter a well-protected building like the Mission. There also was, as the chief mentioned, El Greco paintings and gold artifacts and plenty of valuable things that had been left completely untouched.
Her next thought was about the specific pieces of Andalusite. The recent one seemed easier to find, but the internet only brought her to dead end after dead end. She did learn that the piece brought over in the 18th century was one of the first pieces to be called Andalusite, as the gem had been discovered before that, but had not been cut and named until three years after the founding of the Mission.
Pausing to recoup her thoughts, Juliet could have sworn she heard music coming in from the front entry-way of the police station. As it grew louder and louder, she looked up to see Shawn standing in front of her desk. She recognized the song a second too late, and he thrust a boom box into the air and let it play.
“In your Eyes?”
“Got it in one. Jules. You know I love you.”
“Almost as much as you love Say Anything, right?”
“More, actually. I think you’re perfect. And Say Anything is only 9 stars out of 10. 9.3, tops. Will you marry me?”
At this point, Juliet had to laugh. Her wide smile was infectious, and soon, Shawn was smiling, too.
“Come on Jules, say something. Say Anything…”
“Of course I’ll marry you.” she said, standing up and allowing him to envelope her into a hug.
“And how long have you been saving that line?” she whispered.
“At least ten years,” he said, still smiling.
———
The previous night
It had been a relatively easy, if boring, day at the station. Juliet had had a court date in the morning, before coming back to work to finalize some of the paperwork from the case they had closed on Tuesday. Shawn came around the station around 2:30 to pick up a paycheck, and he stuck around for an hour or so. Lassiter even left early, proving how much of a different person he was now that his girlfriend was out of jail.
Right at five, Chief Vick had announced the robbery at the Mission. But, as there were no details yet, the overnight team would take care of it, and Juliet should be fresh and ready to work on it the next morning.
Excited that she not only got a case, but she would have time off before she had to start working, Juliet headed home. Though her boyfriend’s presence when she got there was in no way unusual, she hadn’t necessarily expected him to be there.
“You know breaking and entering is illegal, right Shawn?”
“I just entered. I didn’t break.” He came up and kissed her. “How was your day.”
“You were there for the exciting parts.“
“You mean there weren’t any high-speed car chases?”
“Oh no. We had about six of those today. But they’ve gotten kind of routine. Nope, I find making sculptures out of post-its much more exhilarating.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” said Shawn. “But, anyways, if you’ll step into my office, I have a—proposition for you.”
She followed Shawn into her kitchen, where she was immediately hit with the scent of something delicious. In the time that she had known him, she had learned that Shawn was a decent cook—when he didn’t try anything too fancy. He had worked in catering for all of 17 days. But those 17 days had done wonders for him.
Juliet saw her kitchen table, that was usually littered with case files and whatever Shawn had left there, transformed. A linen tablecloth covered it and two place settings were draped in candlelight. The TV was tuned to the station that just played classical music. Shawn banned Juliet from the kitchen while he put the final touches on what promised to be a good dinner.
“Shawn? Did I miss an anniversary or something?”
“No. Although I’m sure I could come up with something. Today’s Thursday? It’s the two week anniversary of when we decided we’re going to get a dog.”
“As long as we don’t name him Jimmy Kibble, I’m fine with that.”
“You got it. Because we’re going to call him Alpo Cone.”
After some continued banter, Shawn finally brought out a plate of bruschetta. “And we’re at your place,” he said. “So I didn’t even use the Easy Bake.”
“It’s delicious.”
When Shawn went back to the kitchen to bring out the main course, which was just spaghetti, but served on her nice dishes, he set the pasta down on the table. As he took a step back, he slipped, catching himself on Juliet’s knee.
“Shawn! Are you OK?”
Clutching her knee, he remaneuvered so that the next thing she saw, he was up on one knee with a simple, diamond engagement ring showing.
“Jules. Juliet. Jules. I love you. And I hope you know that I will always love you more than 80’s teen movies and Hawaiian pizza combined. You’re my—well I guess you’re my happily ever after. And I want to be with you forever. Will you marry me?”
She knew she should have expected something, but Juliet was genuinely surprised. Though she had wondered now and then how Shawn would propose, she had never really imagined it beyond a simple curiosity. And then to see it unfold in reality—and in such a traditional manner? She couldn’t help but beam from eye to eye, pull him up by the hands, and kiss him with all her might.
“Yes, Shawn!” And they kissed again as he slid the ring on her finger. “But now can we go Lady and the Tramp that spaghetti?”
“You read my mind.”
Later that night, they had migrated to the sofa, with a bowl of ice cream in each of their hands. Conversation had flowed into a comfortable silence. And Juliet kept checking her left hand to make sure it was real.
“Jules, will you marry me?” Shawn asked again.
“I’m going to, Shawn. I already said yes.”
“I know. But I’ve always sort of wondered what a girl would say if I just asked her like that, out of the blue. And now that I have you, I can try that sort of thing.”
“But why? I want to marry you, Shawn.”
“What would you have said if I had put the ring in your ice cream?”
“Shawn, you did fine. You were perfect. I couldn’t imagine being proposed to better or by anyone else.”
“No, Jules. I’m just realizing. I plan these sorts of things like it’s my job. I could have done so much better. Give me back the ring, I’ll do it better. Imagine the possibilities.”
Juliet was leery, but obeyed. She slid the ring that she had become so attached to over the last hour off her finger and handed it back to Shawn. “We’re still engaged, though, right? I’m only agreeing to give it back because I know we’ll need to get it resized.”
“Actually, why don’t you keep it somewhere safe. I’ll keep proposing, and then when I ask you in a way you like better than the dinner, you can put it back on. But yes, we’re still engaged.”
She couldn’t help the smile that flared up at the word, but she pushed it back down to get one last dig in at her new fiancé.
“You’ve lost the element of surprise. So good luck, future husband.”
Chapter End Notes:
Hope you're not too confused!
I'm anticipating this will be have about three or four chapters and I can probably get the next one out by this weekend.
Thanks for reading!
I'm anticipating this will be have about three or four chapters and I can probably get the next one out by this weekend.
Thanks for reading!
You must login () to review.