This will range from Shawn and Juliet friendship to full on SHIP-ship.
The titles and prompts are taken from the lyrics of the Rent song 'Seasons of Love' but that is where the similarity ends. They are plucked right out of context so don't bother trying to connect them.
And if they DO connect it's purely by chance.
Also, so not mine. Rent or Psych.
Dammit.
Tiny spoiler for 03x01 Ghosts.
Juliet sighed, rolling over, knowing the change in position wouldn't help, but hoping she was wrong anyway.
A few minutes later she punched her pillow and sighed again.
When that failed to help she rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling.
She needed to sleep.
She had another long day of work ahead of her and she needed to rest, blank her mind and shut down so she could start fresh in the morning.
Problem was, she couldn't sleep.
With a whimper she rolled to her side, burying her face in her pillow and willing sleep to come.
Nope. Nothing.
She was trying to decide if she should growl or cry in frustration when her phone rang.
She blinked, all thoughts of her insomnia gone as she frowned.
Who was calling her at one in the morning?
She stretched and snagged the phone with a fingertip, dragging it closer until she could wrap her fingers around it and pull it from the cradle, bringing it to her ear.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Jules!"
"Shawn?" she asked in confusion. She glanced at the clock. Yeah, it was one a.m. "What are you doing up?" she asked.
She could almost hear him shrug. "I couldn't sleep. Which is weird because I am exhausted and usually have no problems dropping right off. But tonight I just can't. And I can't help but feel like it has something to do with you."
There was a pause and she dropped her head back to the pillow, staring at the ceiling again.
"Jules, are you having trouble sleeping?"
She debated telling him the truth, but, well, he was psychic. He read truth for a living. Why bother?
"Yes."
There was another pause.
"Get dressed."
She half sat up at that, bracing on her elbows. "What?"
He ignored her. "I'll be there in five minutes. No wait! Fifteen. See you then!" he said cheerily and hung up.
She pulled the phone away and stared at it.
It had no answers to offer so she replaced it on the cradle and with one more sigh fell back to her pillow.
She debated whether or not to actually do as he'd essentially ordered her.
Ten minutes later she was sitting in her living room waiting for Shawn to arrive.
o.o
He knocked and she answered. He smiled and she gave a half-hearted attempt at the same. His smile faltered, but he reinforced it and then silently gestured to Gus' car parked at the curb.
She arched an eyebrow, but he just shrugged and finally broke the silence.
"My bike won't work for what I have planned to help you sleep."
The eyebrow inched higher and he laughed, lightly, not at all offended, knowing her suspicion was pretty well deserved. "Nothing like that. I promise." He held up a hand like he was on the witness stand and her smile this time was a little more genuine.
"Okay," she said.
She zipped her jacket and locked the door and followed him to the car.
o.o
They drove for some time, soft, soothing music playing on the radio.
She was beginning to wonder if he was lost when she realized they were leaving the city.
She said nothing, not wanting to disturb the comfortable silence they'd settled into.
It wasn't making her sleepy, but it was allowing her to relax.
She couldn't completely stop her brain from running over the case that was causing her insomnia, but it did slow down a little.
She'd tried not thinking about it, but that hadn't worked. She just couldn't turn it off like that.
Sighing softly—again—she let her head rest against the window and wondered where Shawn was taking her.
o.o
The car came to a stop and she jumped and sat up, blinking and looking around. They were at a scenic lookout, the city spread below them, glittering as it sprawled over the valley. It was beautiful and she smiled a little at the sight of it.
It wasn't her city of birth, but one of choice. She didn't regret her decision for a moment.
"Did I wake you?" Shawn asked, turning the ignition to Accessory so the radio would keep playing but the engine was off.
She shook her head. "I wish. I was just lost in thought."
Shawn's lips twitched, but he didn't say whatever he was thinking.
She didn't ask. She just turned to face him more fully.
"Now what?"
He reached into the foot well behind his seat and retrieved a thermos and two mugs.
She accepted one of the mugs and waited as he cracked the seal on the vacuum container.
The smell of coffee immediately flooded her nose and, like any true addict, she closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, exhaling contentedly.
Then her eyes opened and saw he was watching her closely.
Thankful for the low light, she felt the blush creep up her cheeks, but kept her voice level as she said, "Shawn, coffee won't exactly help me fall asleep."
"The coffee is for me," he said with a grin, pouring a mug.
He balanced it carefully on the dash and then recapped the thermos and exchanged it for a second.
This time an unfamiliar scent, vaguely apple in nature, wafted out.
"What is that?" she asked.
"This is for you," he said, filling her mug.
She took a cautious sip, eyebrows rising at the flavor which only reinforced the thoughts of apple, though it wasn't quite right.
"Chamomile," he said at her look of confusion. "A relaxant and natural sleep aid."
She smiled and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear as she took another sip.
"It's good."
"My mom used to make it for me before bed." He laughed and looked out over the city as Juliet tried to mask her surprise at hearing about the mysterious Mrs. Spencer.
"I was an energetic kid. I would go and go and go until I dropped like a brick. Unfortunately this point always came well after my parents intended to be asleep. So my mom, at her wit's end about how to get me to sleep at a reasonable time, looked everywhere for a solution. Being a psychiatrist, of course she tried all kinds of therapy things. None of them worked. Then one of our neighbors mentioned one day that she drank chamomile tea every night to help get herself to sleep. My mom thought, why not? She gave me a cup of tea half an hour before she wanted to go to sleep and by the time she was ready for bed I was down for the count."
Silence fell as Juliet continued sipping her tea.
A few more moments passed, then he started in again.
"When I was four my mom took me to the San Diego Zoo. My dad had a meeting in town, some regional law enforcement gathering or something, but Mom didn't have any clients scheduled that day so we went with him.
"While he spent the morning in his conference we went to the Zoo and then he met us for lunch and we saw more of the Zoo that afternoon." He laughed again, soft and affectionate as he recalled the memory.
"They had these geese. They weren't really confined to any area. They might not have been actual animals of the Zoo. Either way they were wandering the park looking for people to drop food—or hand it to them. This one, probably close to my height, biggest freaking goose I ever saw, walked right up to me and looked me in the eye. I was eating popcorn and he wanted some. He eyes me for a moment, then bends his head down toward my popcorn. I'm four and it's my popcorn so I pull it away.
"My mom, though, she just says, 'Shawn, can't you share?'"
"Well, yeah, of course I can. I'm not a baby," he says, indignation in his tone making Juliet chuckle. "So I take a piece of popcorn and hold it out to the goose.
"He eyes it—and me—some more, and then snatches it up. I remember it tickled, his beak scraping against my hand." He chuckled. "An instant bond was formed. I didn't want to see anything the rest of the day. And of course, he wasn't going to leave as long as I was feeding him. Another goose came over to try and get some of my popcorn, but that big goose just let out this massive honk and scared the other one away. And of course, being four years old, I had to try and imitate the honk." His grin widened.
"I did a pretty good job if I do say so myself."
Juliet laughed at the thought of a tiny Shawn honking like a goose.
"Well, like I said, I didn't want to do anything the rest of the day but stay right there and feed that goose, honking at him and having him honk back at me. Dad was pissed. Said we could see geese at the park by our home. He was paying to see monkeys and lions and elephants.
"My mom said she was just happy that I was having fun." His smile turned wistful and she felt a pang of sorrow for him, wondering if he was thinking about how things were simpler as a child. She knew his parents stayed together until he was a teen. At four he probably didn't know there was a problem—if there even was back then.
Then it cleared and he smiled at her again, uncapping the thermos and topping off her cup with more tea.
"I honked the whole way home and for the next two weeks I pretended I was a goose every chance I got."
"Is that how you earned your nickname?"
He looked momentarily surprised at her knowledge, then shrugged. "I guess. I'm not sure why it stuck, but yeah, probably."
She laughed quietly, then reclined her seat, perfectly content to let Shawn try to lull her to sleep. She still wasn't anywhere near that point, but she was a lot more relaxed. She closed her eyes, thinking that even if she didn't fall asleep, maybe she could at least rest her body and mind as much as possible while Shawn talked, his tone low and very conducive to relaxing. Maybe it would get her through another day.
"When I was seven, my dad and I went to the store to get a birthday present for my mom . . ."
o.o
Half an hour later he was carefully prying the mostly empty mug from her hands in her lap.
She was sound asleep.
If it hadn't been his intent all along, he'd be highly offended that her insomnia was cured by listening to him talk about his childhood.
But it had been his intent and he was just glad it worked.
He retrieved a blanket from the back seat and carefully tucked her in. It wasn't the most comfortable place to sleep, but at this point he was just glad she was unconscious. Bad sleep here had to be better than no sleep at home.
He watched her for a few moments, then pulled his phone out, dialing the number he needed quickly.
"Lassie?" he said when it was picked up on the fifth ring. "Of course I know what time it is."
He listened to irate grumbles of the head detective then said, glancing at the subject of his words, "Juliet's going to be late into work today."
He let the protest get about halfway into really building up into anger, then said, "No, I didn't corrupt her. But I did get her to go to sleep finally."
There was a pause and then a softly muttered expression of both annoyance and gratitude.
Shawn smiled.
"That's doesn't change the fact that she's needed at work, Spencer," Lassiter protested.
"No, it doesn't," Shawn agreed. "But this does: McGrath did it. Get a warrant and check his shed. There's a safe buried in the ground in the rear right corner of the floor, under the boxed cans of paint and about six inches of dirt."
There was silence for a long moment.
"You're sure?" Lassiter asked. "I mean, really sure?"
"I'm not, no," Shawn said. "But the spirits? They're positive."
Lassiter sighed. "Do I need to act on this right now or can this wait until after I've gotten at least an hour or two of sleep?"
"Nah. It'll keep," Shawn said. "He has no reason to believe that you're coming. He still thinks he got away with it."
"All right. I'll tell Chief that O'Hara's going to be a little late. Make sure she's no later than nine though."
"Will do, Lassie. See you later."
He ended the call and tucked the phone back in his pocket.
Another glance at the soundly sleeping Juliet and he reclined his own seat, snagging the other blanket from the back.
His phone alarm was set to wake them if his internal alarm didn't. He checked the locks on the doors, then cut then engine completely and got comfortable.
Review, plz&thx?