Inspired by Sugarland's "It Happens" while I was on my way home from spring break and free national parks week. I made it to three national parks and 1 state park in 3 days. Impressive, huh? :D
Disclaimer: I no own Psych or any of the characters, although I wouldn't mind renting James Roday for a day. I also do not own "It Happens." Just so everyone is clear that I am not cool like Sugarland or the producers of Psych!
Juliet rolled over on her side and stared at the red numbers glaring at her from her alarm clock. She smiled and shut her eyes again until her brain had time to process what they'd seen.
Her eyes quickly flew open again and Juliet sat straight up in bed, wide-eyed.
No...it can't be... She picked up her cell phone that was sitting next to her alarm clock on her bed-side table.
Sure enough, the clock read 9:00 a.m. Great she was going to be late. She was supposed to be arriving at the Santa Barbra Police Department right now.
Juliet sighed and hurried to get out of bed and over to her closet. It was going to be a great day, she could tell already.
She hurriedly picked out the dress suit and sensible shoes she would be wearing that day, and was debating on whether she could hurry and grab a quick shower when her phone rang. Juliet glanced over at her cell phone which she had replaced on her nightstand and smiled, she knew that ringtone, he'd picked it himself.
"I'm not inclined to resign to maturity-" Juliet hurried back around the bed and answered the phone.
"Hey Shawn." She said cooly, trying not to sound as happy as she actually was.
"Hey Jules, where are you? Lassie isn't in the greatest mood today and Chief's gone at a conference meeting."
"Well, let's see, I'm still at home because I slept through my alarm. I wonder why that would be Shawn. Could it have anything to do with the fact that you kept me up all night on the phone because you wouldn't just say goodbye?" Juliet could almost feel the sarcasm dripping from her mouth.
"Aww, c'mon Jules. I wasn't ready to get off the phone yet, I still hadn't told you what Gus said when he found out I'd 'accidentally' burned his power puff girls comic strip collection to ashes."
Juliet huffed in a playful way. "What did he say Shawn?"
She could hear his smile over the phone. "He said, 'their about empowering women, Shawn.'"
Juliet nodded to herself. "Sounds like something he would say." Then she went back to considering that shower while Shawn droned on about how Gus had lectured him about how feminism was a hard thing for many men to accept and maybe he needed to reconsider how he treated the women in his life.
"You don't think I need to 'reconsider' how I treat the women in my life, do you Jules?"
"Hmm, what?" She asked a little absentmindedly. "Oh, umm, no Shawn I think you understand how to treat the women in your life. As long as you don't start being chauvinistic we'll be okay with you. Anyways, I have to go Shawn. I'll hurry and get ready and be down there in 10 minutes tops, alright?"
"Okay, but be really fast Jules, I can see that vein I told you about bulging out of Lassie's neck. Love you." He said as he hung up the phone.
"I wonder what they've done to make him so upset this early in the morning." Juliet wondered to herself.
She decided she didn't have time for the shower this morning and would take one tonight, quickly changed into her dress suit, and was out the door and driving to the SPBD as fast as possible.
Once she got there, Juliet stepped out of her car and began walking up the stairs to the doors, but found her path blocked.
She looked up at the man blocking her way and stared back at him unblinkingly. He had a sandy colored mustache and a red bandana on. He had a leather vest over a grey shirt and black pants and boots on.
The man was not much older than Juliet, but he definitely was NOT her type. "Excuse me," she said, trying to navigate around him.
He followed her steps and smiled at her when she looked back up at him in frustration.
"Hows about you and me go out and grab a bite to eat?" He asked, then he held out his hand and introduced himself. "Name's Judd."
Juliet looked down at the hand and paused a moment before grabbing it and pivoting on her heels to throw him off balance, she swung her weight to toss him down the stairs. "How's about you grab a bite to eat on your own." She said, mimicking his way of speaking.
The people that had been standing around on the stairs and sidewalk applauded Juliet and laughed at the man, sputtering on the ground.
As Juliet spun on her heel, she heard him muttering something behind her but kept walking through the doors and over to her desk.
"Sorry I'm late." She said to Lassiter who was sitting at his desk across from her. "Where's Shawn?" She asked, looking around the station.
"How the hell should I know O'Hara? Can't you keep track of your own boyfriend?"
"Excuse me?" Juliet asked frowning at Lassiter.
"He's been here all morning moving things around on my desk when I wasn't looking and rigging things to fly out of my desk drawers when I was getting a cup of coffee. I don't know where he is now though and that makes me think he's up to something worse."
Juliet sighed, but perked up at the mention of coffee. She smiled and almost jumped out of her chair to get to the coffee machine. When she picked up the pitcher though, she frowned.
No coffee, only the dregs of coffee beans leftover. Oh well, she'd just make a new batch...except they seemed to be out of coffee grounds.
"Great." She said, exhaling a sigh and wandering reluctantly back to her desk.
She closed her eyes and began massaging her temples. Then she felt someone behind her rubbing her shoulders.
"Shawn, what are you doing?" She asked him wearily.
"Just thought you could use some help. I trained as a masseur one summer until I realized I may have to give massages to men, then I decided not to further my education." He smiled at her and went to sit on top of Lassiter's desk, until Lassiter slapped him upside the head and told him not to try it.
Shawn slunk back around to Juliet's side of the desk and grabbed a chair, pulling it to sit in between their two desks, facing both detectives. He leaned on the back of the chair and began to study the two detectives as they filled out paper work on a case they had wrapped up the day before.
Then he looked down and smiled, noticing something very odd about his girlfriend.
"Jules?"
"Hmmm?" She asked distractedly.
"Why do you have two different pairs of shoes on?"
"What?" She asked, alarmed and scooting her chair back to examine her feet.
Sure enough, she was wearing a sensible brown loafer with a black one. They were about the same height, heel wise so she wouldn't have even known she was wearing two different shoes as she put them on and walked around in them.
She groaned. It was definitely one of those days. She put her head on her desk closing her exhausted eyes, then she scooted her chair back in and went back to doing her paperwork. She was trying very hard to completely ignore the fact that she was wearing two different shoes.
As they finished their paper work, Lassiter stood up and piled it all on her desk, then sat back down.
"What are you doing Carlton?"
"It's your turn to file the reports O'Hara, I did it last time."
Again Juliet groaned and picked up the papers. Then she stood up and walked towards the records room. She could feel eyes on her and hear snickers and comments about her shoes as she walked down the hall, but as she turned around she saw that everyone was doing their work. She was just paranoid.
She hurried to get the files sorted and when she returned to her desk, Gus was there, sitting next to Shawn around her's and Lassie's desks.
She sat back down in her chair and Shawn handed her a box.
"Shawn what is it?" She asked, a little wary that it could just be a practical joke. He had a huge grin on his face and she couldn't shake the idea that she could potentially, worst case scenario be holding a bomb. But of course, that was ridiculous, right? He'd never hand her a bomb.
"Just open it Jules." He urged, smiling like a kid on Christmas with his eyes shining.
She opened the box and stared down at the two shoes that were in it, one was brown and the other was black, they were the pairs to the ones she had on.
"Shawn how did you-"
"I had a psychic vision of where your hidden key was and told Gus he should run over to your house and grab those before he came here."
Juliet smiled and pulled the match to the brown pair of shoes out of the box. Then she slipped it on her foot in place of her black one and stuck the black one in the box with it's mate.
"Thanks Shawn, and Gus."
I'll just have to remember to move that key now, she thought to herself as she stuck the box in a corner under her desk.
"Your Welcome Juliet." Gus answered. "I understand how it feels to wear mismatching shoes. One time when we were kids, Shawn stole one of all of my shoes. I had to mix and match with what I had left." He glared at Shawn who chuckled loudly.
"I told him the elves from that story with the shoe cobbler came and stole them in the night and decided they were old man shoes, not fit for a 10 year old. He believed me for about a week, until my Dad found them in our freezer in the garage and made me give them back."
Juliet laughed and shook her head.
Lassiter, who had been gone using the restroom came back over and sat back down at his desk, grabbing a folder and looking it over.
Juliet sat down at her desk and sighed.
"What's up?" Shawn asked, sitting down in his chair from before.
Juliet loved Shawn, but he was being annoyingly cheerful today; while she could barely keep a smile on her face.
"Well let's see, my jacket has a ketchup stain on it from your's and Gus' earlier competition of shooting ketchup packages into the garbage can," Juliet began, giving Shawn a glare.
"Hey, he threw down the gauntlet. I had no choice but to take up the challenge. Besides, I knew I had him beat."
Juliet sighed in frustration, examining the red stain on her jacket.
"Plus I'm broke and if I was gonna be able to pay for the movie tonight I needed his $15." He continued to defend himself.
Juliet hung the jacket on the back of her chair and continued. "Well, now there's a hole in my shirt from where it snagged on that fence chasing down that brute, and I don't have a jacket to cover it up." She said, gesturing to the stairs leading to interrogation.
"True, but you have to admit, it was a pretty cool scene."
"Scene?" She asked skeptically.
"Yeah, like something from a movie You reaching over that short chain-link fence he had just jumped and grabbing on to the back of his shirt basically as he's in mid-air and him being yanked back into the fence on the ground." Shawn was almost gushing enthusias. He was gushing worse than a Fruit Gushers Fruit snack.
"Yeah, well," Juliet said trying not to grin at such praises, "now I need a new shirt." She slumped into her chair.
I know! I'll run to walmart on my lunch break. Oh wait, I can't. My car's broken down in the shop still. Stupid mechanic.
"Hey Carlton?"
"What O'Hara?" Lassiter asked not looking up from some paper work he was filling out.
"I have a favor to ask you."
"What O'hara?" Lassiter sounded just a little annoyed.
"Can I borrow your car?"
"No."
"Please, I just need to run and buy a new shirt."
Lassiter looked up and assessed the damaged shirt. Then he opened his desk drawer and reached into it to bring out a white button up. "Here." He tossed it to Juliet.
"Is this an extra shirt you keep in your drawer?"
Lassiter nodded and went back to the forms he was filling out.
Juliet smiled at the thought but held up the shirt and then set it back on his desk. "Thanks Lassiter, really, but I can't wear that. It's way too big for me."
"Ok." He said putting the shirt back in his drawer. "But you still can't borrow my car."
Juliet sighed and looked down in frustration at her shirt.
"Here Juliet, take Gus' car." Shawn told her, throwing her the keys.
"Really?" Juliet asked hopefully, looking at gus who was glaring at Shawn.
Shawn and Gus gestured wildly back and forth with Gus muttering, "It's a company car Shawn."
Finally their arms stopped flailing and both turned to Juliet, with calm and collected looks.
"Sure Juliet." Gus said.
Juliet grinned and thanked Gus, hurrying out to the blueberry.
She sped, at a safe speed, out of the parking lot and over to the intersection where the light had just turned green. Juliet crept forward to make a left turn but noticed a limo coming towards her. The light turned yellow but the limo didn't slow down and Juliet looked for an escape route, she tried to hurry and make the left turn, but it was too late.
The limo crashed into the rear passenger door and Juliet was jostled about as the two vehicles skidded across the pavement.
When the cars came to a stop, Juliet took stock of herself first. She seemed to be okay so she turned back to look at the limo through the back window.
Juliet realized the driver of the limo looked oddly familiar. She couldn't see the passenger in the back, but her racing brain told her she knew this man.
Looking around at the traffic that should be oncoming at the moment, she deemed it safe to get out of the blueberry.
Walking over to the limo Juliet pulled out her phone and dialed Lassiter's number.
"Hey Carlton, send McNabb down the street from the station to the intersection, please?"
"Sure O'hara. McNabb!" Lassiter hung up.
The elderly chauffeur got out of the limo and smiled. "Well, Ms. O'hara. Fancy seeing you here."
The epiphany of who this man was hit her like a brick and she had to force herself to smile at him.
"Hello Charlie." She said slightly apprehensive.
Charlie leaned down and shouted through the window, "Sir, it's Ms. O'Hara."
Juliet grimaced but held her ground as she saw McNabb head out of the station and down the street with Shawn and Gus in tow.
The back door of the limo opened and Declan got out, staring across the car at Juliet.
"Hello, Juliet." Declan said.
"Hello." She replied awkwardly.
"Declan? What's going on? Who's Ms. O'hara?" A female voice asked as a blonde got out of the car to stand next to Declan and look around.
Buzz, Shawn, and Gus reached Juliet and Shawn looked over at Declan and this woman surprised.
"Hey Jules. What's going on?" Shawn asked, moving closer to Juliet.
"Well..." She found words were inadequate and simply gestured to where the blueberry was dented and the limo crushed.
Shawn took in the scene, noticing skid marks as well as the damages to the car and quickly put the scene together in his mind. Then he turned to Gus.
Gus's mouth was hanging open and his eyes were growing dark.
Quickly Shanw moved to his side and spoke to him quietly. "Buddy, it wasn't her fault. Declan's limo driver probably got told to hurry. Noticing the yellow light he sped up trying to make it, then saw Jules and tried to slow down, hence the skid marks."
"Shawn," Gus said shaking, "the company insurance won't pay for this since I wasn't driving it." He was now full on glaring at Shawn.
"How is this my fault Gus?"
"She's YOUR-" Shawn cut him off by punching him on the arm. "She's your girlfriend Shawn!" He whispered angrily.
"Gus, it wasn't her fault." Shawn sighed. "Why don't you stay with Juliet and get all of this sorted out?"
"What are you gonna do?" Gus asked petulantly.
Shawn shrugged as he sauntered on down the street. "Get some pineapple. You want anything?"
Gus growled in frustration and shook his head turning to McNabb.
Juliet watched Shawn jog off down the street wistfully before turning to face Declan, his blonde friend, Charlie, Gus, and McNabb.
"Declan, who is Ms. O'hara?" The blonde demanded.
'Hi, I'm Juliet. Juliet O'hara." She said, reaching out to shake the blonde's hand.
The blonde glanced at her then turned to Declan questioningly.
"She's my ex-girlfriend." He told the blonde. "Juliet. This is my girlfriend Annalise."
"Nice to meet you." Juliet said awkwardly.
"So what happened here?" McNabb asked and Charlie began to explain.
Once the accident report had been filed and Juliet had straightened things out with Gus, Juliet sat down in her chair and put her head in her arms on her desk, groaning. This day was just not going her way and she had no idea how it could get worse, but in her experience when you were having a day like this things could only get worse, never better.
She felt a light tap on her shoulder and peeked out of her cave and saw Shawn standing next to her and holding a pineapple. She went back to hiding and said, "what is it Shawn?"
He tapped her shoulder again and smiled wide as she looked up at him once more, this time sitting up all the way and turning her chair around.
"Shawn?" She asked, waiting for him to say something.
"Do you want some pineapple?" He asked, pointing to the fruit in his hands.
"Not really Shawn." Juliet said.
"Well, can I borrow your letter opener anyway?" He pointed to her metal letter opener sitting in a small box on her desk with her pencils and pens.
"For what?"
"To cut up the pineapple so I can share it with Gus and Lassie if he wants some and-"
"Shawn, can you just go bug Lassiter. I'm not in the mood right now."
Shawn sighed and stood there for a minute longer. "Well you could use this more than me then. You need so delicious flavor to brighten up your life." Juliet was sitting with her back to him and she didn't even know he'd walked away until she turned around and saw the pineapple sitting on her desk and under it, hanging off the edge of the desk was a shirt.
Juliet looked around for Shawn and then picked the pineapple up so she could examine the shirt. It was almost identical to the one she was wearing, a white button up.
She smiled and pulled her phone out. "Hey Shawn?" She said as he answered his phone.
"Yeah Jules?" He played innocent.
"Thanks."
"For what?"
"Shawn. You know what."
"Jules I have no idea what you're talking about."
Juliet rolled her eyes and said, "thanks for the pineapple." She smiled.
"You're very welcome Jules."
"Bye Shawn."
"Love you Jules. Bye." He hung up.
Juliet picked up the shirt and walked into the ladies room to change.
Ain't no rhyme or reason,
No complicated meaning.
Ain't no need to over think it
Let go laughing.
Life don't go quite like you planned it,
We try so hard to understand it.
Irrefutable, indisputable
Fact is
Yeah, the irrefutable, indisputable,
absoluteable, totally beautiful fact is
Pssh,
It happens.
I hope you liked this I mean, I wrote like I said back during spring break and am just now posting it. It's probably a little rough around the edges and I apologize for any grammatical errors. Other than that I hope you like it.
Thankies for reading, Leave a review if you feel like it.
OSK