Chapter 2: Their Day (Revised)

Lassiter sat in his car and stared at his steering wheel. The fight between him and Marlowe kept replaying itself in his head and he couldn't get it to stop. "Son of a bitch!" He finally yelled as he smacked his hands against the steering wheel. He leaned forward and rested his forehead on the wheel and closed his eyes. "I messed up. I'll probably never get to see Lilly again.." he told himself, which only made himself feel worse. He stayed in this position for a good few minutes until his phone started to ring, causing him to jump. He looked at the caller I.D and sighed of relief. "Juliet.. Thank God. What did the Chief say?" He asked her hopefully.

"She gave me and Shawn the next two days off to help you," she told him, especially emphasizing the 'and' part.

Lassiter sighed to himself, "That knit-wit is going to be there?" He asked her.

"Well, considering that 'knit-wit' is my husband and we live in the same house, yes. But if you prefer I can tell him to plan something with Gus," she compromised for him.

"That would be great. Thank you so much Juliet," he told her before he paused for a moment. "I hope I'm not putting an early end to your guys' anniversary," he told her truthfully, because he did wished that he didn't have to barge in on them on their special day.

"Oh, no, no, no. Don't worry, Carlton," she told him in a cheery tone. "We didn't have anything special planned anyway." She paused as it sounded like she pulled the phone away from her for a second. "Sorry, but Shawn's on the other line. I'll see you when you get here. Bye, Carlton." She told him before she hung up.

Lassiter brought the phone down and tossed it into the passenger seat. He reached forward and turned the key, starting the ignition. "Three hours down, two to go," he mumbled to himself as he backed out of the gas station he stopped at momentarily.

Shawn stood outside the blueberry with his phone to his ear waiting patiently for Juliet to answer her phone. When she finally picked up, Shawn was the first to speak. "Hey, honey," he said simply.

"I was just on the phone with Calrton, Shawn," she said getting straight to the point. "He sounded really upset. I've never seen him like this before," she continued.

"I feel bad for him. I really do," Shawn replied. "I wish there was something we could do to help rather than just listen."

"About that.." Juliet started off. "He really doesn't want you here when he gets here," she told him quietly, hoping Shawn wouldn't be mad.

"That's fine," he told her. "I mean, it makes sense. I've always annoyed the crap out of him, so he needs some time to just let it all out."

"I'm surprised you understand and are so willingly okay to stay away from him for a bit," Juliet said with a slight chuckle.

"Well, I was already planning on hanging out with Gus for a little longer today, so I think this just made our day longer." Shawn was going to continue talking until gus leaned over towards the passenger window and knocked on it, signaling Shawn to hurry up. "Sorry, Jules. I gotta go. Gus really wants something to eat."

"Shawn, it's only 10:30. You just had breakfast not too long ago," Juliet reminded him with another small chuckle.

"Well, you know Gus. Always hungry," He said with a laugh. "Bye, honey. Text me when it's safe to come back home." Juliet said goodbye to him and Shawn hung up the phone. He quickly dropped the phone into his pocket and slid into the blueberry.

"What was that about?" Gus asked Shawn with a mouthful of donut.

"Oh, nothing," Shawn started to say. "Just that Lassie is driving up here right now," he finished his sentence with a mumble.

Gus just about choked on his donut before he replied. "W-what?" He asked, clearly confused. Almost as much as Shawn.

"Yeah. Apparently he and Marlowe had some huge fight. I don't know anything else because he only wants to talk to Juliet about it."

"Well, that's just stupid," Gus said, followed by another huge bite of his donut.

"Chief gave me and Juliet the next few days off to deal with him," Shawn said with a slight smirk and Gus sat straight up in his seat.

"I like where this is going," He told Shawn with an even bigger smirk. "What are we gonna do first?"

Shawn laughed slightly and broke the news to Gus. "As I remember, the chief gave me and Juliet days off. I don't think you were ever mentioned."

Gus almost choked on his donut, again. "What? So i'm supposed to go work on a case by myself?"

"I'd assume she's assign an officer to work with you," Shawn said as he laughed again.

"This is not funny, Shawn. I'm calling the chief right now," Gus said sternly while he pulled his phone out of his pocket.

"Good luck with that," Shawn said and slyly reached over and grabbed the donut Gus had sat down in the cupholder. "Yummy," he said to himself as he took a bite.