AUTHOR'S NOTES: This story takes place in Season Seven right after Nip and Suck it so there are spoilers up till then.
This is not something that I would usually write but the idea popped into my head and would not leave until I wrote it. Being that I usually write comedy or suspense, this is blazing some new territory for me and was really hard for me to write.
"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge." By Ambrose Bierce, has always been one of my favorite stories. It explores the prospect that the moments before death are not seconds but can be hours, or days at the speed of thought. If you are interested in reading the story you can easily find it online.
It is a bit archaic, having been written in the 1800's, but I am sure a lot of you already know it from school or the short films that people have made based off the story.
I know a lot of you are going to hate me for doing this but I honestly could NOT get it out of my head or concentrate on writing anything else until it was done. For those of you who know the story this is based on, I hope I did the original justice. Psych style.
Head Detective Carlton Lassiter stood in the middle of the police station with his hands raised in surrender. He was surrounded by his colleagues and friends with a woman pointing a gun straight at him. The detective was puzzled how everything had ended up this way, after such a routine start.
It had been a typical day at the SBPD for Carlton. After getting up this morning and spending as much time as he could with his new bride Marlowe, he sped off to work with his usual eagerness.
Buzz had brought him his regular coffee. Two sugars and one cream, he was trying to cut down on the unhealthy three creams and four sugars he usually had. He now had a wife to look after, someone who needed him around for a long time, and he intended to be there for her.
Juliet had beaten him there today, which was a surprise because since their make-up, she and Shawn had been spending as much time as they could together. Carlton shuddered to think what they were doing and tried not to let it bug him. Besides, he had other things to think about now. Like how good his Marlowe looked in her sun dress that morning.
The Chief called them into her office as soon as he'd arrived. As usual, there was no rest for officers of the law in the Murder Capitol of the world. A man had been murdered by his wife yesterday and they hadn't had a chance to question her after Carlton had brought her in the previous afternoon. So, he and Juliet were spending most of the early morning talking to her.
Shawn and Gus had arrived at their usual 10:30am, early enough to be able to still grab doughnuts from the break room, but late enough that Shawn would be able to drag Juliet away from work for lunch.
In retrospect, Carlton knew he should have known something was wrong when Shawn stopped and stared at the evidence board for the murder case they were working on. He had a feeling the psychic was just about to go into one of his episodes when a woman came through the front doors.
She was pretty non-descript. Carlton never would have given her a second thought except for the way she was looking around the precinct, as if trying to spot someone. Shawn was backing up from the board and turning to him to say something, when the psychic caught sight of the woman too. She had locked eyes with Carlton and started to reach in her jacket.
"GUN!" Shawn screamed and put himself protectively between the gunwoman and Juliet. Gus dove behind one of the desks with a scream and peeked over the side. Other officers started drawing their weapons but there was no way they were going to get to Carlton in time. He didn't even have enough time to draw his own gun.
So there Carlton was, after a perfectly normal day he had a woman stopped about five feet from him, screaming that he'd arrested her sister when it was she that killed her sister's abusive husband. Carlton had raised his hands, but the woman, crazed and guilt ridden had every intention to shoot the unarmed detective.
Carlton closed his eyes, trying to have the image of Marlowe's face be the last thing he thought of. He heard the gun go off, resigned that this was it.
He came to an instant later to the sound of more gunshots, and realized he was on the floor with a weight on his chest. Carlton opened his eyes and stared disbelievingly at Buzz McNab, who was laying protectively over him.
Buzz McNab had tackled Carlton out of the way while the Chief, who had not been in her office and thus, unnoticed by the woman, had shot her down. The other officers started to move in and surround the woman's body, just in case she wasn't dead, while Shawn and Juliet helped Carlton and Buzz to their feet.
"Wow buddy!" Shawn exclaimed. "That was a close one."
Juliet forced Carlton's head to look at her slapped him lightly on the face trying to get him to focus. "You with us partner?"
"Yeah, yeah I guess." Carlton looked around and caught Buzz eyes. Regaining his composure he grabbed the officer's hand and shook it. "Well done McNab."
The officer grinned at the praise. "Thanks a lot sir!" Other officers were patting him on the back and congratulating him.
Woody appeared from downstairs with a body bag. Carlton hadn't remembered anyone calling him, but knowing the coroner, he kept one of those on him at all times just in case. Woody looked around a couple corners suspiciously, as if to make sure there were no more bullets coming from anywhere, before approaching the body.
The Chief walked up to Carlton and made sure he was alright. "Detective, do you feel like you need the rest of the day off?"
Carlton opened his mouth to say no, but the thought of Marlowe stopped him. His chest still hurt a bit from Buzz landing on it, and he wanted to see his wife more than anything. "You know Chief, I think I will step out for the rest of the day." Everyone around him looked at him in surprise but agreed that he should take it easy. He gathered his jacket a minute later and rushed out of the station.
The next thing he knew he was at his condo, even though he had not remembered the whole fifteen minute drive home. It must be the shock. Carlton figured as he hopped out of his Ford Fusion.
Forgetting the elevator, he rushed up the few flights of stairs get home. At the top he started feeling very woozy and it was getting hard to breathe. I must have been injured in the fall… He stumbled the rest of the way to the door and opened it, stepping a few feet in. His one thought at that point was to get to Marlowe.
Out from the bedroom, his wife emerged, still in the sun dress from that morning. She was looking radiant as ever with her golden hair streaming behind her. God she's beautiful. He thought.
She smiled widely and moved to greet him. "Hello lover." But it seemed with every step forward she took, the hallway was getting longer and longer. Carlton's breath hitched in his chest and it seemed all the oxygen was sucked out of his lungs. His vision went completely white and the last thing he heard was the crack of a gunshot echoing through his head.
Juliet had tears in her eyes as she watched Woody close up Carlton in the body bag, his complexion pale but his face was peaceful. The coroner shook his head and was doing his best to not get emotional as well.
The Jr. Detective jumped a bit as strong arms grabbed her from behind and held her close. "He didn't feel a thing Jules. We all saw it was instant." Juliet nodded at Shawn's words. Knowing they were true.
Carlton had been hit directly in the heart and was dead before he hit the ground, due to the woman only having five foot distance to shoot and no real need to aim. She had been tackled to the ground by other officers a second after the shot, and now Carlton's partner and friends were left to tell his widow what happened.
Letting more tears fall as she hugged her boyfriend, Juliet watched as her partner's body was taken away and hoped that the expression on his still features meant that his last thoughts were a comfort, and that he was at peace.
END NOTES: I still can't believe that I did a death fic. I didn't think I had it in me, but I am glad to get it out and hope you guys like it.