A/N: This is the first actual Psych Fanfic I've done that I'm posting. Hopefully, it will be the first of many. I'm still learning a thing or two about Jules' character, so if she doesn't seem right on, please forgive me.(This story is currently a work in progress, as there are two people working on it at the same time.)There may be slight language involved, but nothing too heavy.

Disclaimer: Said friend and I own no right to the characters or show. Just so you know. Potential spoiler if you haven't seen the Bounty Hunters episode. Consider yourself warned.

-Need Help with the Case, Need to See You-

Juliet O'Hara sat quietly at the counter of the restaurant that she'd first met Shawn Spencer at, bouncing her foot lightly in slight impatient-ness. In the back of her mind, she was hoping that Shawn had gotten the voice-mail she'd left him. She needed his help again in another case, and wasn't going to let Lassiter know. She couldn't. Drumming her fingers nervously, she glanced over at the door before the person behind the counter set down the glass of orange juice she'd ordered. A soft 'thank you' escaped her lips before she sipped it through the straw she'd put in it. Chuckling lightly, she shook her head. "Out of all the days I could hope you get this call... let it be today..." Juliet groaned softly, not directed at anyone really. Just a thought that was verbalized.

Slightly ruffled from having been woken up by a loud beeping near his ear, Shawn Spencer was now astride his Norton Commando motorcycle, speeding down the streets of Santa Barbara toward the little cafe. The message from Jules was playing again and again in his mind. Need help with a case. Need to see you. That was about all that really stuck out in his mind. He turned the corner and parked at the little cafe, stepping off his bike and removing his helmet with a sigh. He set it on the bike's seat and hit the kickstand as he attached the helmet so it wouldn't get stolen. He then strolled slowly toward the cafe, grabbing a paper as he did so. There she was, Juliet O'Hara, in the same seat she'd been in when they first met. He stepped into the cafe and moved right up next to her. "Excuse me, that's my seat," he said jokingly as he sat in the stool next to her.

"Yeah, I know, and that's why I'm sitting here..." she joked back. Sighing heavily, Juliet looked at Shawn and shook her head. "I'm glad you're here and got my message though. There's either something I'm missing in this River's murder case, or everything we know now is all there is to know. Either way, I'm not sure this..." Juliet was at a loss for words now. This case had been frustrating the hell out of her for three days now. "I need your help. I can't figure this out, and it's bugging me."

"Jules," Shawn smiled brightly at her and turned to look her in the eye. The waitress at the counter didn't even need to ask him what he'd like as she brought out a nice tall glass of iced pineapple juice. He picked it up and took a sip through the straw with a contented sigh. "Thanks, Beth-ann." He then set the drink down and shrugged. "From the looks of it, all we know is all we know, or are going to know. This guy's good. He's been doing this far too long to make silly mistakes, so we have to stop looking for the silly mistakes, and start looking for the serious ones. Things like..." He put two fingers to his temple and recalled the last crime scene to the front lines. There was one thing the police had skimmed over. He'd seen it, but hadn't moved or touched it. "Missing jewelry... He lost something precious to him at the crime scene... Something that we missed..."

This was the exact reason that she'd called on Shawn. He always seemed to find the smallest little detail to bring the cases to a close. Smiling lightly, Juliet looked at Shawn. "Jewelry. I guess that means I'm going back into the last scene to look for it then. I want this case to be over with already." Sipping her orange juice for a brief moment, Juliet thought. 'I should probably get Lassiter to come along, but for once, I sort of want to do this on my 'own'...' Setting the glass back down on the counter, Juliet looked at Shawn. "You feel like going back with me? See if we can't find this 'something precious' he lost?" It was worth a shot right?

Shawn smiled at Juliet with a quirk of one eyebrow. "I'd love to, Juliet." He took a final sip of his juice and glanced at Juliet's little area. He then laid down enough cash to pay for both their drinks and tip. "Let's go."

Juliet smiled a little more and sipped her juice one final time. "You didn't have to do that you know, I could have..." Shaking her head and laughing softly, she stood up. "What are you going to do about your bike? You going to leave it here, or do you want to take it back to your place? I can follow you back there if you want to go about it that way..." Shrugging her shoulders, she picked up her purse from near her feet, and returned to her standing position.

"My bike? It's safer here than back home. Beth-ann'll watch after it, won't she?" He glanced at the waitress, who gave him a girlish giggle. "No, I won't make you watch the Commando. I'll drive it home, then we can take your car," he said, turning back to Juliet with a smile. "If it works out okay for you, of course, Jules. Otherwise, I can just drive my bike to the scene."

'No... I want you to go in my car with me...' she thought before she shook her head. "You can ride with me. I'll follow you along to your house so you can drop it off, then you can get in my car. We'll go from there." Returning that same smile back to Shawn, Juliet nodded her head. That sounded perfect to her. 'I'm just a little surprised I was thinking that and then voiced it...'

Shawn laughed and nodded. "Alright then." He pulled out his keys and gave Juliet a one-arm hug. "We'll hit my place first." He went to his bike and pulled on his helmet, waving back at the young detective before he swung his leg over the bike, knocked the kickstand back and started the engine with an almost ferocious roar.

Juliet managed a sly little smile and retrieved her keys from her purse. Giving Beth-ann a polite little wave and a second 'thank you' on the drink, Juliet headed outside and to her car. 'Shawn, be careful on that thing will you? I don't want to see you get hurt or something...' Okay, why was she so concerned about Shawn now? There could have been a few reasons. One of them being that maybe somewhere in the back of her head she did sort of like Shawn... a little more than she displayed. Opening the door to her car, sliding into the seat, and starting it, she closed the door and buckled in, waiting to see where exactly it was that Shawn was going to head off.

Shawn, of course, was no idiot when it came to that bike. He watched traffic, pulled out in a break, and kept to the speed limit as he headed down Third toward his apartment building. He wasn't sure if it was because he could sort of see the tenseness in Juliet's shoulders whenever she watched him get on the bike, or if it were just for that fact that Juliet was, in fact, a police officer and could ticket him, no matter how much she obviously liked him. This last bit made him smirk slightly beneath the helmet as he rounded a corner to take a less-traveled road back home.

Juliet followed Shawn along, quite impressed that he wasn't testing his limits with her behind him. Even if she wanted to slap him with a ticket if he was speeding, she probably wouldn't be able to do it. That was one of those things that came with feelings. The uncertainty of it all. Turning on the radio in her car, she sighed at the music playing through the speakers. "Can't ever play anything good can you? At least not for me..." Chuckling a little, she just let her thoughts run around in her head. Sure, they were getting jumbled around and things like that, but at least there was a little movement of thought going on in that head of hers. With a little luck, maybe working with Shawn alone would let some of that work-related-stress out of her head.

Shawn pulled the bike into his usual parking spot, making sure to park the proper distance from the fire hydrant and even going so far as to look around in fear of seeing his father's truck, stalking him or something, like that damned raccoon. He finished the parking business and got off the bike, helmet in hand, and waited for Juliet to come to a stop so he could get in.

Juliet put her foot lightly on the brake and came to a rolling stop, waiting on Shawn. She'd lowered the window in the process and looked at him with a slight hint of a smile on her face. "Let's go get this case finished or something. It'd be nice to have it all done and out of the way or something." Shrugging she waited for him to get in the car and fiddled with the radio a little more before finding something that would keep her attention for a moment or two.

Shawn slid into the passenger's seat and smiled at Juliet as he pulled the door closed. "You're rather anxious, Jules. Ready to prove your worth to Lassy? If that's the case, you don't even have to mention that I helped." I wouldn't mind going Holmes on this and giving you all the credit for the case.

"That could be it... but I think it's because he seemed rather grouchy today. I know this case has been wearing on everyone at the precinct. I just want to get it over with so things just go back to being... normal. Whatever that is..." she said with a chuckle and let off the brakes, putting the car back in motion. Even this station she was growing bored with, and opted for trying to find a CD to listen to. Then she remembered she'd left her CD's at home. Sighing, she looked over at Shawn and smiled weakly. "I asked for your help because I know that you'll see things I won't. And it'd look nice on your record too, that much you're aware of. And maybe it was partly an excuse to get a chance to talk to you a little more. Whatever it was, who cares. It's a case. It needs to get solved. After it's solved, maybe we can... go find something to do together." 'Oh Juliet! What are you doing?!' she thought and stopped at the light that changed from it's warning yellow to it's 'DON'T DRIVE' red.

Shawn nodded gently. "Perhaps we could," he said softly, glancing at Juliet then back out the front window. "I noticed Lassy's aura was becoming a sickeningly dark brown. It's usually a crimson. But it's just been fading more and more toward black. He's distressed because of this case. It'd be nice to end it. Get his mind off it." At the same time, us solving it is going to piss Lassy off. He reached out and hit the seek button on Juliet's car radio without another word and found an old-school rock station. It was currently in the middle of one of those long-ass rock guitar riffs that could only mean it was an eighties song.

"I noticed you haven't been your normally 'perky' self either lately. Seems it's bugging you too then?" Watching as the light changed from red to green, Juliet hit the blinker on her car and took a right, heading up the street. 'It would be nice to get his mind off it. It'd be better if I could figure out why we're talking like this...' she thought. Was it that obvious she sort of liked Shawn in that oddly-cute little 'He's-so-cute' kind of way? She hoped not. Sighing, she cast a glance in Shawn's direction, which caused her to smile a bit and blush. "Um... So... what would you want to do... after this case is over?"

"Eat," was Shawn's immediate response. "You a big fan of jerk chicken?" He smiled at Juliet before dropping his gaze back to the radio self-consciously. "Or we could go bowling... Or kite-flying..." Or anything that'll make it just you and me, enjoying ourselves away from everyone else...

Juliet smiled. "Any of that will work. Just as long as it gets me away from work for a little while. I need to do something fun anyway... it's been a bit of time since the last time I did anything fun..." she groaned, and took in immediate left this time, heading down the street to the place where the last murder had taken place. Drumming her nails on the steering wheel nervously, Juliet bit her lip.

Shawn chuckled. "Well, then. We'll do whatever we feel like doing, whenever." He smiled and leaned back, closing his eyes. The music on the radio was now an old Meatloaf song, "You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth." It made him smile briefly as he opened his eyes again to watch the road. "I have a strong feeling that our culprit's missing item is... his wedding band. But he's not married. He just continues to wear it because he still loves her."

"Really. You think that has anything to do with these murders?" Raising an eyebrow and looking over to Shawn, she managed a light smile. 'You never cease to amaze me...' she thought, allowing her smile to grow a little bit. "Things like that are known to be a good cause for murder... so I learned." Or was that what she'd read on those nights she was at home bored out of her mind and stuck reading cheesy romance novels? She knew she'd seen it somewhere though.

Shawn put a finger to his temple. "His motives are fuzzy to me, but his breakup with his wife is the cause of his anger and blood-lust. He's killing these people... They're all men in a happy marriage, yes? Or some sort of relationship that's benefited them in some way. He's watched them, and destroyed them because they have what he will never have now." He sat back, faking exhaustion and gasping slightly.

Juliet pulled up to the curb outside of the last crime scene and sighed. "If anything, it's pushing her further away. I know I'd run for my life if anyone did that sort of thing to try and bring me back to them..." Turning off the ignition to her car, Juliet sat back against her seat and closed her eyes. This scene had been particularly gruesome, she remembered watching Gus leave. Shuddering a bit, she took a deep breath and kept her eyes closed. 'I wonder...' she thought, more or less wondering if she sat still long enough if...

"I'll keep that in mind, so as not to drive you away with my latent homicidal urges," Shawn joked. He glanced across at Juliet a minute. "You okay, Jules?"

Juliet nodded lightly. "Think so. Just... I remember that this was a pretty gruesome scene. Gus ran off screaming, remember? I'm just hoping I can hold back the fear of going in here to find this ring..." she said and sighed. 'Kinda hoping a lot at the moment...' she thought.

Shawn reached out and put a hand on Juliet's shoulder. "Don't worry. We'll go in together. And forensics cleaned the blood up, I'm sure." He shrugged lightly, forcing the disgust for the scene's mental image out of his mind the same way his father had taught him too. This was why he was always so uncaring at crime scenes. He saw it as a victim and bodily fluid. He didn't see it as a lost life and blood. Sighing, he squeezed Juliet's shoulder lightly. "It'll be alright."

Juliet smiled at Shawn's hand on her shoulder, and opened her eyes, looking up at the roof of her car. "I hope so..." she whispered, and looked over at him with a ghost of a smile. "I'll never get how you can just go in there like that though, and stand there picking up vibes off of it." 'I admire that in you... makes me wish I was a little stronger in that sense...'

Shawn shrugged again, then sighed. "It's not all that glamorous to be able to do. It's like turning off my emotions. And it's not something I do consciously, which scares me. It just... happens, it's so engrained." He coughed lightly. "Let's just get in there and find that ring, alright?"

Juliet nodded and unbuckled her seatbelt before popping the trunk on her car. "Yeah. The sooner we find that ring, the better it'll be and the faster this case can be considered closed." Taking a deep breath, she put her hand on the door handle on her door and pulled on it. 'It'd be kind of funny if you just acted on what was running through your head about him right now Juliet, and you know it. You're just afraid to. And not just that, you don't want to make that move. Make him do it.' Right now, she hated her thoughts. She had a case to focus on, not emotions or what to does.

Shawn stepped out of the car and moved around to the trunk, having noticed Juliet popped it. "What do we need from the trunk?" he asked no one in particular as his eyes skimmed the enclosed space. Shrugging, he glanced to the building and twitched his nose a bit, fighting off a sneeze. The sun did that to him sometimes.

"Well, I want gloves, because I'm not touching anything in there with anything other than a gloved hand. And I need one of those spiffy little evidence bags for that ring." Juliet looked at Shawn for a moment before retrieving a set of gloves and the bag from the box she kept in her trunk on the rare occasions she was in her own car when she got called to the scene.

Shawn shrugged, sliding his hand into his jacket pocket. He pulled out a small stack of evidence bags. "Coulda asked me for the bag." He turned and put the bags back into his pocket as he began walking toward the building, stepping over the caution tape that was still around the scene.

"Do you carry those things everywhere Shawn?" she asked as she slipped over the tape herself and headed towards the door. 'Please let someone have cleaned this one up just a bit? I can't handle too much today...' she thought as she opened the door carefully and groaned. "Damnit..." Sliding the gloves on her hands, Juliet shuddered a bit and turned to look at Shawn. "Remind me to not get my hopes up on clean up for gruesome scenes..."

Shawn laughed at the bag comment, but immediately stopped when he saw the scene. Mask on, he didn't even flinch at the sight, just stepped right past Juliet into the room. In hindsight, it made for a pretty good display. He put a finger to his temple and looked around the room carefully. "Where is it?" he asked no one in particular. "You have to help me, Richard." He figured using the latest victim's actual name not before he was technically supposed to know it might add to the mystique. "The ring... Where is it?"

Sliding the mask over her face, Juliet quietly stepped inside behind Shawn and instantly felt a shiver work up her back. Quite quickly she stepped up behind him and latched onto his arm. She'd seen this scene before, so why was she so grossed out about it now? Was it because it was just her and Shawn and Lassiter wasn't there to say anything about it? Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath in, she sighed. "I hope he tells us where it is... I really want to get out of here."

Shawn made a small shushing noise and closed his eyes. "I hear you, buddy. Where? Where did you say? In the... grate?" He moved toward a small grate in the floor, where some blood was congealing and draining into the grate. Kneeling down, he pulled out his own pair of gloves and slipped them on before prying the grate up and pulling out a gold wedding band, covered in blood. "Bag..." He almost gagged, but managed to stop himself.

Juliet opened the bag and held it for Shawn. "Oh ew..." she said, opening her eyes at the wrong time. Blood... was just one of those things that was really gross. It sent a shiver through Juliet's body that was evident due to the fact that the bag moved slightly when she shook. Biting her lip, she waited on Shawn to put the ring in it so that they could get the hell out of there.

Shawn dropped the ring into the bag and stood up, noting the slight bit of blood on the knee of his pants. It wasn't nearly enough to be noticeable, but he could feel the coldness against his knee and nearly gagged again. "Can we... go back to my place so I can change after we get the ring to evidence?" Somehow, he'd managed to keep his voice calm throughout the entire sentence, though he was more than likely freaking out on the inside. He'd never actually touched other people's blood before. That had been what kept him distanced from the victim.

Juliet closed the bag quickly and nodded her head. "Yeah, that's doable..." she said closing her eyes for a second. "I'd like to get out of here now. This is really making me sick to my stomach..." A slight little whine laced her voice, although she tried her best to mask it. Turning to head for the door, Juliet sighed. "You're pretty damn brave Shawn... I'll give you credit for that."

"Okay," Shawn nodded. He wrapped an arm around Juliet's shoulders and led her toward the door. "Let's get the hell out of here." He was starting to actually feel the disgust from the room.

Almost as an instinct, Juliet found her arm around Shawn's waist. Sure, that was just a little awkward for her, but damnit, she was more than a little grossed out by the mess that this particular scene was in. Opening the door, Juliet took a breath of fresh air through her mask and looked at Shawn, lucky that the mask somewhat concealed the thankful smile on her face.

Shawn led Juliet outside and closed the door behind them. He kept walking a bit, then turned to Juliet after they crossed the police line and pulled the mask off her face. "You alright?" he asked, his hands resting on her shoulders.

Juliet nodded lightly and blinked a bit. "Better now that I'm not in there..." she whispered softly, taking another deep breath of fresh air and closing her eyes for a moment. "Thank you for being here with me for this. I needed that." Juliet focused her attention on the ground for a long moment, not quite sure if she wanted to look at Shawn at that moment.

Shawn wanted to close the distance between them with a kiss. He always had. But he remembered the "mistake" conversation they'd had a few months prior and decided a hug was best. "Don't worry about it. I can always be here when you need me, Jules. You take priority over spirits and dad anytime."

And this hug was perfectly fine with Juliet. In fact, it was quite comforting. Loosely she hugged him back and smiled, resting her head hesitantly against his chest. "That means a lot to me. Let's hope I can return that to you..." Smiling softly, she moved her head away and looked up at him. "Let's drop this off and get you back to your apartment so you can get those jeans off and get a different pair on." she said, tugging him along to the car. "You want to drive this time?" It was an offer.

Shawn chuckled and nodded. "Sure, I'll drive." He laughed and hugged Juliet a little tighter before stepping back all the way. "And for the record? 'Get you back to your apartment so you can get those jeans off' is a funny as hell phrase."

Juliet shook her head. "I realized that after I had said it." she said with a slight hint of a whine to her voice. Holding out her keys, she couldn't help but smile a bit. "Next time I'll think things through a little better before I go and say them."

Shawn chuckled again and kissed Juliet lightly on the cheek. "You're adorable, you know." Before she could react though, he was already almost all the way to the car.

Juliet stood still for a moment, letting that register. Shaking her head slightly, but smiling none the less, she followed Shawn to the car without even saying anything about the kiss on her cheek. In all actuality, it gave her that funny 'butterflies' feeling in the stomach. "I try? I don't know if that's the right answer for that statement or not... but that's the one I'm giving."

Shawn laughed and slid into the driver's seat, buckling in. "You have to try, Juliet? You, try to be cute? I thought it came naturally."

Juliet shook her head and slipped into the passenger's seat. "You're something else Shawn, you do know this, correct?" she asked, looking over at him for a brief moment. "Maybe you see it naturally... I don't know. Can we change the subject?"

"Okay," Shawn shrugged. He started the car and pulled away from the building, aiming for the police department. "How about... we talk about... uh... kittens?" His face fell almost the instant he said it. "That was pathetic."

Juliet managed to chuckle a bit over that. "No, it was a good attempt Shawn. What about discussing what to do after we 'eat' as you suggested. There's half a dozen things that we could go do... like, maybe go for a walk on the beach and talk?" That was awkward, and Juliet knew it. Why the hell had she just said that? Then she remembered. 'Maybe that way I can start to get to know... you a little more? I don't know...' Sighing, she bit her lip lightly and looked out at the front window of the car. "That was pretty pathetic too..." she said with a laugh.

Shawn chuckled. "No, that wasn't pathetic. But it was obvious." He pulled up to a red light and glanced sidelong at Juliet. "You want alone time with Shawn. You want to get to know me better. Maybe... find out whether a mistake is just what you need to make today." He raised an eyebrow and turned back to the road as the light changed back to green and he proceeded on.

Juliet's jaw dropped slightly, and she blinked rapidly. "Please stay out of my mind..." she said softly as she fussed a bit with her hair. "Look, Shawn..." Juliet couldn't finish that sentence though. Instead she sighed again, and sat back against the seat, crossing her arms lightly. 'I want to say it wasn't a mistake, but I know in the back of my head I can't say it. Only because in the front of my mind, I won't allow myself to. It's just far too complicated.'

Shawn pulled the car in at the police department and killed the engine. He turned in his seat and looked at Juliet with a small smile. "Some mistakes are worth making, Jules." He slid out of the car and shut the door, clearly not willing to say another word on the subject as he started walking toward the building.

'Maybe... but what's more important: friendship or a potential relationship?' she thought as she grabbed the keys from the ignition and unbuckled herself. Opening the door and climbing out, she locked the car and put her keys in her pocket, following a few steps behind Shawn. "So, you think this will be more than enough to put or murderer away?" 'Smooth topic change Jules...'

"It's covered in his DNA, Jules. I mean, it's only the man's wedding ring. I'm sure he's even probably-" He stopped, both mid-step and mid-sentence. He glanced at Juliet, considered his next words carefully, then went for it. "He's probably jerked off with that hand, just for the hell of the feeling, and of course we both know what sort of fluids might be left behind after that."

"Well, needless to say, that was more than I wanted to know..." she said in a slightly grossed-out tone, but shook it off. As grossed-out she was, Juliet still managed to keep a smile on her face when she looked at Shawn. "Thank God this case can finally be closed. It'll be great to have a bit of normalcy resuming itself around here..."

Shawn chuckled softly and put a hand out to Juliet, resting it on her shoulder. "Sorry, but it's the truth, and it had to be said." He shrugged and pulled his hand back. "And the whole thing will be over with and we can go get jerk chicken and walk on the beach or something."

Juliet smiled and headed towards the evidence room, gross blood covered wedding band in bag in hand. "I knew there was something we were missing..." she said softly, laying the bag down with the ring in it. "And I had a little help with this one. Seems our resident Psychic had a nice little chat with the spirits, and the spirits lead us to find that." She looked over at Shawn, giving him a look as if to say 'Your input here would be nice...'

Shawn shrugged and glanced to the officer in evidence. "The spirits were in a particularly giving mood. I can't take all the credit for it. Richard just wanted his death to be the last." He put a hand over his heart and lowered his head, gazing up at the officer through his eyelashes, a look that made him look surprisingly sexier than he already was.

-TBC-

Chapters will probably be fairly long, considering I'm a fan of having long chapters. It'll probably be a few days before the next one is posted. I gotta get on her tail and tell her we need to work more on it! Or... yeah. Heh. I'll have more for you eventually.

A/N - I'm hoping to have another good part of this to post very soon! Reviews and things are totally welcomed and appreciated! And I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can.