Shout

Shout

Let it all out

These are things I can do without

Come On

I'm talking to you

Come on

"Hello," I say, grabbing my phone from my nightstand.

"Oh good, O'Hara, you're awake." It's Chief Vick on the other line.

"Yeah, now I am," I reply tiredly.

"Sorry to bother you so late, but there is a very important case that has been handed to us. Dobson's son was just found dead."

I feel my heart drop at this news. "What?"

"I need you to get down there as soon as possible. And bring Mr. Spencer with you." She hangs up without waiting for me to reply.

"Shawn," I say, suddenly wondering why he hasn't woken up yet and started talking. I roll over to see nothing but crumpled bed sheets where he should be.

I become aware of a noise coming from the living room. It sounds like Shawn talking, but I can see his green iPhone case sitting on his nightstand. "What is he doing now?" I murmur to myself.

Shaking my head, I sit up and stretch. My bare feet hit the wooden floor and I walk into the living room.

In the living room, Shawn looks terrible. He was wearing nothing but boxers and an old gray T-shirt, topped with his signature bed-head look.

I watch him for a minute to see if I can figure out what he is doing; its odd for him or anybody to be awake at this hour. The only time I've ever seen him like this is when he's trying to crack a case, but I can't think of anything he has been working recently that hadn't been solved.

"It was an accident," he says to himself, "I didn't mean to, it was an accident… it was an accident… it was a-"

"Shawn. What was an accident?" He whirls around to stare at are tears racing down his face. I have never seen him cry this much.

"What?" He stares blankly, not really seeing me before saying," Oh, nothing. Just trying to work something out." He turns his head, not making any eye contact, and walks right back into our bedroom. I hear the closet door slide open as I stand in the living room, trying to make my still drowsy brain understand what just happened.

"We have a case, Shawn, you should probably make yourself look decent, it's urgent. And call Gus." I don't say anything else because he obviously doesn't want to talk about it.

"Okay," is all he says, like he has no interest in a case.

I try to push that incident into the back of my mind as I get dressed and start making my coffee.

"What case do we need to go to at this hour?" Shawn comes out, searching for some food.

"One of Dobson's sons was found dead," I reply, finding his wording very strange. It was almost as if he didn't want to go which isn't normal, but yet again it is two-thirty in the morning.

"Coffee me," Shawn says, making eye contact once again. Maybe it was just a dream he had; I'll just try to let it pass. I pour out coffee into our cups and head out towards my car.

The drive there is almost silent. I at first thought Shawn had fallen back asleep, not that I would blame him, but when I glance over, he is just staring out the window.

"Shawn? Are you okay?" I decide I may as well try and broach the subject while we're alone. It's not often that he cries.

Shawn looks over and smiles. He almost succeeds at making it look normal, too. But his eyes are just a little too bright and his smile is just a little too wide to be genuine. If I didn't know him so well, I wouldn't have caught it. "Fine, Jules. I just had a weird dream."

"You want to talk about it?"

"Maybe later." That's the end of the car conversation.

The blueberry is pulling in among all the cop cars as we pull up to Dobson's house. The whole street is bathed in red and blue light from the police cruisers.

"Where is my food that I was promised, Shawn?" Gus says, walking over towards us. He looks way less sophisticated than usual. His shirt is untucked and he is in sweats, which I guess is okay because it's three in the morning but still it is very unlikely for Gus to be in public looking that way, especially during a case.

"Gus," Shawn says like he is his normal self again, "You must have heard me wrong. We are getting food after we are done here."

"I know that you said you were bringing me food, that's the only reason I came," Gus starts searching through my car like a raccoon in a trash can.

"Out of my car Gus, let's go." I pull him away from the the seat and lock up the car because I know that's the only thing that will stop him from looking for his food.

"Why the heck did I come here if there isn't any food?" He says, chasing after Shawn's retreating back so he can steal the coffee. "That's my coffee! Juliet," Shawn whines, "Make him give me my coffee." I ignore him because I've learned to stay out of these things.

I make my way to the house, leaving the boys outside doing whatever they are doing.

"It's about time you showed up." Lassiter says, leading me towards the family room.

"What is going on here?" I ask, confused, because I am not seeing a crime scene here.

"I will let Chief and the family explain it to you." It's not normal for Lassiter to let somebody else do the explaining on a case.

"O'Hara, take a seat," Chief Vick says making a gesture towards the couch.

"What's going on?" I sit down reluctantly.

"Where is Shawn?" She asks, completely ignoring my question.

"He and Gus are fighting over Shawn's coffee. Please tell me what's going on." I get up, using all my willpower to not yell.

"Lassiter," she says sternly, "Go get them, we won't be repeating this twice."

"Once might not be enough for those hooligans," Lassiter mumbles as he walks out.

"Chief, is everything okay?" I lay back a little bit because she seems all shaken up about this one. I wait for a reply but she starts walking away. She might be saying something but all I can hear is Shawn and Gus fighting over coffee.

"Jules made me that coffee with love," Shawn whines. "And she loves me not you, so it's mine."

"C'mon son, you don't want me to starve out here do you?" Gus complains.

"Get your childish asses in here before I drag them in that house." I almost cracked a smile while grumpy Lassiter tried to get them in line.

I get up to meet them at the door. "Shawn, listen to me," I grab him before he storms in there. "This one is serious, none of your psychic vision crap; the Chief is upset."

"I've got it Jules, serious Shawn now." His crazy side was gone in a flash just like earlier. We head into the living and take a seat.

"I'm sorry to pull you all out of your beds at this hour but this is important." She paces around the room.

"Too late for that," Gus says under his breath. I slap him on the leg because Shawn didn't do it fast enough. He gives me a death stare but he most certainly deserved it.

"The son of one of our own has been found dead," Vick continued. "Dobson obviously is very shaken up about this and I want everyone to handle this with the utmost maturity and sensitivity." She makes eye contact with Shawn and Gus as she says the last part.

"Do we suspect foul play?" I ask.

"At this point, yes, it's a possibility."

"What happened?" Shawn says with more sincerity than usual.

"Dobson's son Charlie was found floating in their pond earlier." Shock fell over us all as the chief continues. "They went up to say goodnight but he wasn't there. They were already in a panic and then they found him dead, so they are in no condition to talk."

"So it's all up to us to investigate the hell out of this thing?" Lassiter asks, breaking the silence.

"This is a case Lassie, be serious" I expected a joke out of Shawn but no, he is the one putting Lassiter in his place for the first time in forever.

"Thank you Shawn, now can we get started here Lassiter?" The Chief is pretty pissed off now.

"Yes, please go on Chief." Lassiter is definitely not used to hearing that from her.

"I've got nothing else at this time, the Dobson's are sitting upstairs in their office. Get to work team." She walks out leaving us to figure all this out.

"You heard her, let's get to work." I see a small tear start to come out of the corner of Shawn's eye and run down his face.

"I'm going to go question the family." Lassiter gets and starts walking.

"Hold it right there Carlton." I get up and grab his arm firmly. "Don't you even get close to the family. People aren't exactly your strongest suit."

"Yeah Lassie, go look at the dead dude." Gus says stealing the words right out of my mouth, well I certainly wouldn't use dead dude but it was good enough.

"Jules?" Shawn asks hesitantly. "Could I come with you to talk to the Dobson's?" Shawn

"Ok, Gus, you go with Lassiter," I say taking the lead.

"But Juliet," he complains, "I haven't eaten anything yet, I need food."

"Fine. Go get food but meet back here in twenty." Shawn and I now start to make our way upstairs.

"You know you can't go in there and talk to them like a detective Jules," Shawn says breaking the silence. "Talk to them like you would talk to a friend."

"I know Shawn, they are probably completely broken. I can't even imagine what this must be like for them. To lose a child like that..." I trailed off. This conversation was depressing me.

"Yea, uh, it must suck," Shawn replies quietly.

"Shawn, what is going on? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine Jules." But he doesn't meet my eyes as he says it.

"Shawn." I stand on the stair above him, facing him. "I can tell something is going on. Will you please just tell me?"

"It's not the time right now. The Dobson's are waiting for us."

"Fine. But we are talking later." I slip my hand into his as we go up the rest of the stairs.

We make our way into the room where the Dobson's are seated. I can see that they have both been crying. "Hi. I'm so sorry about what happened."

"Hello Detective," Dobson greets me. "Please, have a seat."

Shawn and I sit in armchairs facing the Dobsons. "Can you just tell me everything that happened tonight? Anything might help."

"Nothing out of the usual. Charlie and his brother Nate were playing like usual. They always go out by the pond and look for frogs and play around in the mud like any little boy," Mrs. Dobson explains, trying to hold back the sobs. "They love chasing each other around out there too, playing some game that I never understood."

"I see." I nod and glance over at Shawn beside me. "Shawn?" I ask in shock.

Shawn was looking very upset, with his head resting in his hands. He looks up as I say his name. I can see the tears swimming in his eyes. "Could you just excuse us for a minute?" I ask politely.

"Of course."

Shawn and I left the room quietly and sat on the top step. "Shawn, what is going on? And don't you dare say nothing, that's obviously not true."

"These cases are just hard for me, that's all." Shawn doesn't meet my eyes as he says this.

"I've never seen you this upset over a case," I gently remark.

Shawn just shrugs. "I guess it's closer to home."

I still am not completely satisfied with this answer, but I don't want to push him too hard. He's already pushing me back.

"Shawn!" Gus hollers from the bottom of the stairs. "Shawn, get down here!"

He looks to me as if asking permission. "Go. I'll be fine," I say.

Shawn gives me a quick kiss on the cheek as he stands and jogs down the stairs.

"Man, what's wrong with you?" I faintly hear Gus asking as Shawn reaches him.

"I'll tell you in the car. Lets go get some tacos," They race out the door.

"I call shotgun!" I hear Shawn yell .

"Idiot, I'm driving of course you have shotgun"