Written for Silverluna for the Secret Santa Fic exchange on Psychfic

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Silverluna gave a very interesting and challenging request and I did my best to deliver it :)

I'm splitting the chapters up in this even though it was one long one in the Secret Santa exchange. Hope the arrangement leaves some nice cliffies ;)

*SPOILERS FOR SEASON 7*

Just Desserts

Chapter 1: Happy Anniversary

The night was still young as Carlton Lassiter and Juliet O'Hara enjoyed their seventh anniversary as partners for the Santa Barbara Police Department at one of their favorite restaurants. It used to be Antonio's but had changed hands after the owner had gotten in some hot water with a vegan group and later the board of health. With their reputation going down the drain, they'd decided to sell while they could and for the past few years it had been named Mario's.

The tradition had started six years ago as a way for Juliet to get to know Carlton outside of work in a way that didn't start out with Juliet snooping through Carlton's desk and ending up with her partner's home up for sale. Since then, they'd made it a habit to come to the place and just chat while celebrating being alive for another year.

Unfortunately, due to what they'd come to call, "The Trout Situation" they weren't technically partners anymore. Carlton was quick to point it out, but Juliet told him just as quickly to shut it. They were still partners no matter what an egotistical, control freak said.

This year, with Carlton's new relationship status, Juliet had suggested that they bring Shawn and Marlowe along with and make it a double date. The prospect of having to spend a meal sitting across from Shawn Spencer didn't outweigh the fact that he'd get to spend more time with his bride, so he'd accepted.

The restaurant was sparsely occupied as the group sat down and started to read the menus. With about thirty five other guests in attendance it was a slower night for the restaurant, as was usual for that day of the week.

"Oooh Carlton!" Marlowe exclaimed pointing at the menu, "They have those little cream puffs you like for dessert."

Carlton gave her a patient smile, even though he felt like melting into the seats. A snort from across the table didn't help any but it was cut short as Juliet elbowed her boyfriend in the ribs. "Ow!"

Shawn was still recovering when the waitress came to get their drinks. She wore a nametag that said Denise and pleasant smile that Shawn saw didn't quite reach her eyes. He passed it off as her just being tired. He'd had to wait on tables once for a couple of days. It was hard work, but the food made it worth it. She'd also brought water and a basket full of sampler breads that Juliet was eyeing with interest.

"Good evening and welcome to Mario's. I'm Denise and I'll be your server. Can I start you out with some drinks?"

Juliet made her choice. "I'll take a strawberry daiquiri."

Shawn chimed in, "I'll take a virgin Bahama Mama."

The waitress gave him a questioning look. "Um, isn't that just straight pineapple juice?"

"Yes, yes it is." Shawn replied simply.

Regaining her composure from such an odd request, Denise continued on, "Um okay, and what would you like to drink ma'am?" She asked as she turned to Marlowe.

Marlowe looked over the wine selection and was about to choose one of the more moderately priced ones when Carlton stopped her. "We'll take the Château Lynch-Bages." Marlowe gasped and smiled. He knew it was one of her favorite wines and had been planning on surprising her with it.

Juliet and Shawn grinned discretely, Carlton had been gushing about it all week, since they'd decided to make it a double date.

Denise nodded, "Excellent choice! That's one of our best wines." She smiled again and left to get their drinks.

Shawn settled back in the booth, putting his arm around Juliet's shoulder. "So Lassie, how are things at the Casa de Lassiter?" Shawn hoped a bit of small talk would get some of the awkwardness out of the evening. "Going well I hope?"

Carlton narrowed his eyes, trying to figure out if Shawn was implying what he thought he was implying. "That's none of your damn business Spencer…"

"I'm sure," Juliet cast her boyfriend a warning glance, "That Shawn was just wondering how everything was going. We haven't really seen Marlowe since the wedding."

Marlowe smiled and put a calming hand on his arm. "Everything is great! I'm getting new curtains for the windows and Honey Bear here is picking out a couple of antique guns to mount on the wall, aren't you?"

Shawn turned to Juliet and mouthed, Honey Bear? Before addressing Marlowe. "That's great. A bit safer to have around than swords. Right Lassie?"

Carlton pursed his lip and nodded reluctantly, obviously remembering his bout with insanity and almost killing Gus with his authentic saber.

While they continued to wait for the drinks, the topic shifted to Carlton and Juliet's past cases and they enjoyed talking about some of the more interesting ones. Juliet laughed through a mouthful of bread at the memories. "Oh my God!" She swallowed, the bread going down rough caused her to cough. Shawn rubbed her back till she stopped and handed her some water. She cast him an appreciative glance before taking a drink and continuing her story, "Remember the time when we got called to that ten-fifteen on State Street?"

Marlowe didn't follow and gave Carlton a questioning look.

"It means a disturbance, baby."

"Technically it's a civil disturbance." Juliet added with a smirk.

Nipping the ensuing argument in the bud, Shawn got Juliet back on track. "Soooo Jules, you were saying?"

"Oh right, so anyway this guy was yelling up a storm and had gotten himself caught in…" A crash across the dining room interrupted her tale and the three detectives were instantly on their feet, looking for the origin of the noise. It seemed that someone had fallen backwards out of their seat and lay unmoving on the floor. All three of them pushed through the gathering crowd to see what was going on.

"SBPD! Step aside!" Carlton ordered out of habit.

By the time they got there, a woman in her mid to late fifties was lying unresponsive on the ground, her eyes still open. By the pale pallor of her skin she definitely wasn't breathing.

While Carlton started taking off his jacket to put under her head, Shawn addressed the woman's table mates which consisted of another couple and a distraught man, who was presumably her date or husband, "What happened? Did she choke on something?"

The man shook his head, "No! She was just talking to us and she fell over!" He paused for a moment and remembered something, "She did say she felt dizzy."

Shawn assessed the situation; Juliet was getting the crowd back and Carlton looked like he was preparing to give the woman CPR. Her color wasn't blue, so it wasn't lack of oxygen, she just looked very very dead. His eyes skimmed over the table for more evidence and landed on the woman's glass. Lipstick smears stained the edge, it meant that she'd at least taken a drink of her wine. Shawn started to get a bad feeling about the situation.

Looking down, Shawn saw that Carlton was squeezing the woman's nose shut and taking a deep breath. "Lassie wait!" Shawn grabbed the detective by the back of his collar and was barely able to stop Carlton from doing rescue breaths.

"Get off me!" Carlton easily shrugged him off, "What the hell is wrong with you Spencer! I have to start CPR, this woman may be choking!"

Shawn shook his head as Juliet walked over to see what her partner was yelling about. "Look Lassie, she hasn't gotten her food yet, what in the world could she have possibly choked on?"

"Maybe it was her drink then?" Juliet added.

Nodding, Shawn agreed. "You're right sweetie, it was definitely her drink… but it was no accident. The drink was poisoned. This woman was murdered!"