Samuel Dean Rhodes, big time dealer. He dealt everything, from drugs, to money, to rare animals, to expensive cars, all the way back to drugs again. The SBPD had been trying to nail him for years, but he always managed to prove himself innocent, even though Shawn knew he wasn't. Everyone else believed him too, and he really was guilty, but the slippery little crook would always manage to escape conviction, one way or another. Carlton was especially angered, because he blamed himself for every next time the man cleared his records. The detective prided himself on catching every bad guy they ever came into contact with, and he really tried, but this guy was a master. Shawn had almost gotten himself and Gus killed, twice. Both times Lassiter and O'Hara were just on time to watch him escape once again, only stifling Lassiter's anger ever the more. Although Shawn swore he wasn't working alone, the detectives could find no evidence of a second individual who was in contact with Rhodes.
This whole case had gone on for five months, nearing a sixth, and still, with little to no evidence, Carlton Lassiter was beginning to drive himself mad.
Juliet walked into the station a few minutes late, and was nervous because she knew her partner would overreact. She ran up the steps, down the hall, and ended at his desk. "Carlton, I-"
The older detective was laying face down on his desk, asleep.
Juliet jostled his shoulders, "Carlton? Hey. Wake up, partner!"
"Huh? Whaa?" He slowly lifted his head, and upon seeing Juliet looking down at him with concern, he jumped up in his chair and rubbed his eyes. "O'Hara, what happened?"
She let go a small laugh, "You must have fallen asleep when you got here this morning, is everything ok?"
Carlton raised his eyebrows in thought, "Hmm.. I don't really remember this morning. I guess I must have been tired," he yawned and slicked back his hair and straightened his jacket.
"Are you sure you're okay?" His partner asked.
"I'm fine. Lets get to work."
Juliet motioned for him to follow her to her desk and he scooted his chair across the room to sit beside her.
"So, the security footage came back, and it turns out that Rhodes was in the building, but he wasn't exactly close to the crime scene. So, in a way, Shawn's vision was correct, just a little skewed. He has been in the dealing business for a while, but his alibi still checks out. I'm sorry, but he's innocent."
"Dammit," Carlton slammed his hand down onto her desk, rustling some papers, "I finally thought we were going to catch the bastard, but every time he just slips through my damn fingers!" He pushed off Juliet's desk, and slid back across to his own desk before violently typing on his computer.
Detective O'Hara stood and walked over to her partner, "Carlton, don't worry. We're doing everything we can to prove that Rhodes is guilty, but please stop blaming yourself. None of this is your fault." She lay her hand on his shoulder and looked down.
Carlton scooted his chair and let her hand drop, "No one's fault? O'Hara don't be ridiculous. This is all my fault. If I was just a little bit better of a cop, then perhaps he'd be in jail right now!" He wiped the sweat from his temple and sighed, "Dammit."
Juliet kneeled besides him, "Stop talking like that. We'll get him, I know we will. And for the record, you are the best damned cop I've ever known, and I'm proud to call you my partner."
Carlton looked up, "Thanks O'Hara, but sometimes a compliment isn't enough to put them all away for good." He stood up and walked off and she let him go. Best to let him blow off his own steam.
Lassiter threw open the bathroom door and kicked one of the stall doors, unhinging it, and briefly smiling as the clatter surrounded the room. He huffed and sat against the wall, a fresh scowl on his face once again. "Think Lassiter, think. There's more to this and you know it. Think!"
Juliet went back to her desk to do a write up for another case when Shawn came bounding up to her desk with Gus trailing behind. "Shawn. Hi."
"Jules, I sensed that Lassie is in a state of distress and there might be something I can do to help." His finger to his temple, Shawn raised his brow and smiled at the woman.
"I don't know, Shawn. He is taking this really hard. It might be better to let him solve it himself."
Gus butt in, "For the record, Juliet, this was all Shawn's idea."
"That's why Gus and I are going to solve it first, and give Lassie all the credit. We'll lead him to all the answers without him even knowing we were involved."
Juliet took a deep breath, "Shawn, you know how much trouble you'd get into for this. Not to mention me, for just getting involved." She closed her eyes and sighed, "He needs to solve this case. Ill let you do it, on one condition."
Shawn smiled in surprise, "Anything."
"I need you to go find him, and show him that he isn't a horrible detective, or a horrible person, and that he isn't bad for not figuring this out in the first place. Okay?" Juliet looked up at the psychic, "Okay?"
Shawn sighed, "Fine, ill go talk to Lassie. You have to find a way to cut me some pay though. I'm not going to do this for free.."
"Shawn, do this for me. I'll take you out for dinner or something."
A smile lit his face, "That's a deal Jules. We've got a deal."
Shawn turned on his heels and walked happily off toward the bathroom, where he guessed Lassiter would be, and he was right.
Gus shook his head and Juliet allowed herself to smile, "Let him go alone, I think Carlton is in a really bad place right now."
"We'll I don't blame him, having to deal with Shawn 24/7 isn't all that easy."
Juliet laughed, "I hear you, Gus. I hear you."
"Hey Lassie? You in here?" Shawn opened the door only to see the detective slumped up against the wall, asleep. "Lassie? Lassie!"
Carlton stirred and looked up, "Spencer, what!?"
"You fell asleep. Are you feeling okay?"
"Yes, of course I am. I'm fine," he scoffed and stood up, brushing off his pants, "Let me guess, O'Hara sent you in here to talk to me."
"Well yes and no," Shawn replied, "She's worried about you, but I came by myself," he lied.
"And why do you care?"
"Well, I care that we solve this case." Shawn shuffled his feet.
"We? Who the hell is we? Oh, don't tell me you think this is your case too! Don't go near this case, do you understand me Spencer?" He pushed at the younger man's shoulder with a long extended finger.
Shawn's eyes widened just a tiny bit, "I didn't mean it like that. Promise." Lassiter backed off. "Look, I just know that if you give this time, the answer will come to you. I had a vision. It's going to work out."
"Now you're going to be giving me life advice? What is this, Dr. Phil? Get out."
Shawn frowned, "I'll leave then, but Jules wanted me to tell you that she thinks you're the best detective ever." He smiled wide and ran out the door, leaving Carlton confused.
"You told him that? Shawn.." Juliet tugged on her hair nervously, "That isn't what I sent you for. He's probably still sitting there confused and unhappy."
Shawn looked awkward, "This is gonna work Jules, were going to get Lassiter out of this dizzy spell. Leave it to me."
Juliet watched as Shawn strode off and found Gus sitting on one of the benches near the entrance. He said something to the other man and they giggled and walked out. Weird.
Jules flipped her curls over her shoulder and wandered back to her desk.
The rest of that day was uneventful, if anything. Carlton spent the day feeling distant and avoiding everyone, but Juliet did nothing but file reports and occasionally travel down to the evidence room.
After hours, Jules found her partner down in one of the interrogation rooms, sitting leaned back in one of the chairs, his eyes closed.
"Carlton. Hey," She let her hand stroke his shoulder and neck, "Are you okay?"
He slowly opened his eyes and glanced up at her with his bright blue irises glowing and reflecting her concern. "O'Hara. What are you still doing here?"
"You fell asleep again. What's going on with you?"
"Nothing's wrong.." He trailed off and yawned.
Juliet's face was now full of concern, "No, Carlton. This really isn't like you. Do you want me to drive you home? You look exhausted."
He rubbed at his eyes and tried to perk up, "Really, I'm fine." The detective tried to stand, but caught himself on the table.
"No. I'm not letting you go alone like this. Let me take you home."
He yawned again, but didn't resist her as she led him to her car and helped him get buckled up. "I really don't know if you're okay, Carlton. This is totally unlike you."
"Mhmm. I guess I'm just.. Tired.." His words drawled out, and halfway to his house he fell asleep again.
"We're here. Hey. Carlton. Carlton?"
Juliet shook him, but to no avail. "Well shit. What now?" She asked herself out loud.
He was much to big to carry, but she didn't want to leave him alone. She reached into the back and grabbed the blanket she had draped over the seat; had a feeling it would come in handy one of these days. Juliet leaned over and tucked him into the warm fabric, reaching up to caress his soft hair. His forehead was warm and sweaty. Poor thing was running a fever.
She drove home, ran inside to grab a blanket and change her clothes, before coming back out to finally lay herself in the back seat and try and get some rest. She promised herself she wouldn't leave his side.
Morning came with the horrible sounds of coughing and retching as Juliet was jostled awake by noises from the front of the car. Sitting up straight immediately, she crawled up front to lay a hand on her quivering partner.
His face was pale and there were dark circles under his eyes. The smell of fresh vomit circled the air and he lay back, his mouth dripping and his breathing shallow.
"Carlton. Oh god." She removed her jacket and wiped his mouth, "Lets get you inside and cleaned up, okay?"
She threw the jacket and blanket into the laundry and allowed him to lay on the couch. Moments later, she returned with a thermometer. "Under the tongue. That's it. Just breathe." She stroked his forehead with a wet washcloth and watched his temperature reading rise to 102. "Oh god, you've got a high fever. Tell me what hurts."
He lamely blinked his eyes at her, "O'Hara.. It's.. Ow."
She pressed her cheek to his forehead, "You're burning up. Lets get you cleaned up now, okay? Can you walk?"
He reached forward to grab her hand, "Help. Please."
"Alright, Carlton. Lets go, just don't let go of my hand." With her free hand, she gently rubbed his back and kept his balance while they slowly walked to the bathroom.
She helped him to pull his shirt off, before he started gagging again and fell down onto the floor, clutching the toilet as he threw up a second time.
Juliet kneeled down and rubbed slow circles against his back, trying to ease his shaking body. "Carlton, what happened to you?" She asked herself aloud.
The older man spit a few times and glanced up to look her in the eye, "I don't.. Want you to see me... Like this."
"Sick? You can trust me." Jules frowned, but continued to rub his back.
"It's weakness.." He managed to get out before turning to vomit a third time.
"Poor baby.." Was all she could whisper as she lay her cheek against his back, feeling the warmth of the fever evaporating off every inch of his skin. "Do you want to take a bath, Carlton?"
"Mhmm.." He moaned out, obviously in pain.
Juliet wiped his mouth with a tissue and leaned over to turn the warm water on. "Would you like me to leave? I don't want to invade your space.." She said slightly nervous. Juliet had absolutely zero intention of seeing her partner naked, but if he needed her, she could always pretend like it never happened. Still, she'd rather him wash himself on his own.
"You're gonna see.. Me.." He mumbled, clearly on the same thought track as she was.
"Urm.. Yeah.." She spoke softly, embarrassed about seeing him like that.
"I feel dirty.. In more ways than one, O'Hara.." His mouth curled the slightest, almost like he was trying to smile.
She blushed, "Take your pants off now, Carlton." Juliet reached up and grabbed a towel off of the towel rack, "Put this around your waist."
He obliged, and while she looked away briefly, he got himself situated into the tub, the now wet towel still draped over his lower body.
Juliet glanced back. Her partner was laying with his eyes closed, his entire face red with heat. She splashed some of the lukewarm water onto his forehead to cool him down, and watched some of the color disappear. "Why don't you just lay here for a while, and you can call me to come help you get out when you feel like it, okay?"
He opened his eyes slightly to nod, before closing them once again. 'He looked so peaceful,' She thought..
Juliet stroked his hair back softly and then stood up and closed the door gently behind her.
Juliet O'Hara wandered into her living room and settled onto the couch. She felt so bad for Carlton. He wasn't the type to let anyone else "care for" him, or help him out in any way. He was either really sick, or really trusted her, and she suspected it was a little bit of both. 'Aww, he trusts me...' She loved the fact that such a gruff and distant man was so trusting of her, just because they were partners. Not at all saying she didn't trust him with everything she had, however. It was a little jarring to almost see him fully exposed, but she managed to keep it together. He did happen to have quite the body though..
"Juliet!" His voice rang throughout the house to reach her ears. Jules jumped up and ran back down into the bathroom.
"Carlton, I'm here. You ready to get out now?"
"Y-yeah.." He coughed.
"Alright, give me your hand," Her heart skipped a beat before she realized what she was doing, and before she could stop it, his hand was wrapped tightly in her own and she was pulling him out of the tub. "Come here, Carlton." She grabbed another towel and took him into her arms as she wrapped it around him. Juliet led the quivering bundle into her bedroom and lay him down onto the bed. "You sleep here tonight, okay? It's warm here." She took the towel not covering him and handed him some clean sweats that Shawn had left lying around, "Put these on, and then you can sleep."
He took them and wiggled around under the covers a bit before settling back with the sweats finally on.
Juliet tucked the covers in around him, and ran a hand through his wet hair once more, "Goodnight, Carlton. Call if you need me."
"O'Hara?" His voice was squeaky.
"Yes?"
"Thanks. For everything."
Juliet was blushing, "No problem, partner." She flipped the light and closed the door. 'Well, that's over. For now...' She grabbed an extra blanket from the closet and lay back down on the couch with a sigh. Both of them were going to be taking a few days off, she was guessing.
