Note: Alright, this is it!! I hope that I don't disappoint with my ending :p. Thanks so much for reading!!! :D

Juliet Gets Engaged

by: jewel of athos

Chapter 4 – Shawn Tells the Whole Truth

Bang bang bang!

Shawn groaned and rolled over, covering his head with his pillow. "Go away!" he moaned. He was not going to wake up today. This was the day that Juliet was getting married, and he didn't want to remember any of it.

Bang bang bang!

"Go away!" He threw his pillow in the general direction of the door, absently wondering why it was so light in his room and realizing that he had come back to his office and crashed.

Click.

That quiet click shocked him awake.

"Don't shoot!" he pleaded, sitting straight up and throwing his hands up, his eyes squeezed closed in preparation for pain.

"Shoot you?" His eyes snapped opened, and he saw Gus standing there, looking confused. "Shawn, I may be angry with you, but you know that I could never shoot you."

"Then what was that click?" Gus raised an eyebrow.

"You mean me closing the door?" Shawn made a face as he considered that.

"Yeah, probably." Letting his hands drop, he squinted and rubbed at his eyes, trying to clear his vision and his brain. "What are you doing over here so early, anyways?" he asked. "Don't you have a wedding to go to?"

"Shawn, it's twelve thirty in the afternoon. But I didn't come to talk to you about the time."

"Then why are you here? I thought that we weren't friends anymore."

"Yeah, sorry about that." At least Gus had the decency to look embarrassed. "I was mad. I still am; and I expect an apology for ignoring me for the past month in a half." Shawn sighed.

"Gus, I am sorry. I wasn't trying to ignore you. But…well, I've kind of needed my space from people lately."

"Yeah, so I've noticed. Apology accepted."

"Good. Now will you---" he paused to cover a yawn. "Will you please tell me why you came over here?"

"Well, originally, I was gonna come and yell at you for trying to crash the rehearsal last night."

"You knew?"

"Lassiter told me about your grand scheme, and how you were going to give him all the credit for the next five cases you solve for him." Shawn made a face.

"Five? The deal was two…"

"Yeah, I figured he was exaggerating," Gus admitted. Shawn grimaced again, shaking his head.

"Wait, you said that you were going to come over here and yell at me. What are you going to do instead now?"

"Don't worry, I'm still going to yell. But not about what you were planning last night." Suddenly, he reached over and smacked Shawn in the arm. "What the heck are you thinking, letting Juliet get married to that Jeremy?"

"Since when do you not approve of Jerry?" Shawn asked, putting intentional stress on his nickname for the man.

"Since he's not you! Shawn, you know that you love Juliet. What ever made you okay with them dating in the first place?"

"I was never okay with it; but there was nothing that I could do, he got there first!"

"We both know that's not true, Shawn. You've had four and a half years to make your move with her, and you haven't. What were you waiting for?"

"Gus, what does it matter? She's getting married today." He dropped into a chair. "And it's not to me."

"You're right it's not," Gus said, disappointment in his voice. "But it could have been you, if you'd done something sooner." He shook his head, and for a minute silence reigned, crushing down on Shawn until he couldn't take it anymore.

"What should I do, Gus?" he asked. Gus raised an eyebrow.

"Juliet is still your friend, Shawn. You should go to her wedding." He sighed. "Look, I've gotta go. But think about this, Shawn. Don't add another mistake to the list. I'll see you around."

Once Gus left, the silence became even more oppressive. Shawn covered his face with his hands and groaned, not even trying to untangle the thoughts that were swirling around in his head.

He heard a creak, but he didn't move this time, figuring that the building was just settling. But then he heard Gus's voice again.

"You know, I don't know how long you were spying on the rehearsal last night, but Juliet didn't kiss him. She said that she wanted to save the real kiss for today, for their wedding. But she's not happy, Shawn." The door clicked closed again, and this time, Gus didn't come back, and Shawn was left alone with his thoughts.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Over the course of his thinking, Shawn realized that he must have fallen back asleep. He was awakened by the phone ringing. Too lazy to answer it, he heaved himself up off the chair and started scrounging around for something to eat while it went to voicemail.

"Hey, "Psychic Detective", this is Lassiter. Listen, I agreed to help you help Juliet, and so far all you've done is sneak around. So I'm telling you that you'd better get your butt over here to this club right now and at least be at her wedding if you're not going to stop it. If you aren't here by the time that they walk down the aisle at four o'clock, I wouldn't come around SPBD again without a gun and a bodyguard, you got it? Lassiter out."

Shawn had gotten used to not taking any of Lassiter's threats seriously; and besides, he didn't plan on going back to the police department any time soon, anyways. Not with Jeremy sure to always be hanging around.

Still, out of prompting, he glanced at the clock, wondering if he could slip in, show Lassiter that he was there, and slip out again before the wedding started.

"Three thirty?" And Lassie had said that there was only half an hour until the wedding march. He'd have to move fast. But the club was on the other side of the city; it would be pushing it to get there in time. Still, he had to maybe he'd be able to see Juliet before he left, too.

I'm coming, Jules…

~*~*~*~*~*~

Shawn parked his bike carelessly in front of the country club building---he'd been given no trouble at the gate today. He knew that he would probably pay for leaving the vehicle there later, but he could have cared less as he stumbled up the steps. He could hear the music starting as he rushed through the building in the general direction of the terrace that they had practiced on the night before.

It was far more decorated than it had been last night. He gaped for a moment at all of the flowers and potted plants that covered the area, and at the sheer number of guests waiting patiently in their seats.

The last of the bridesmaids was already halfway down the aisle when he got there, but he didn't see Jeremy or Juliet yet. He'd come out a side door instead of the main one that the wedding party was coming from, and he slipped outside and hid behind a grouping of potted shrubs and trees before anyone saw him, watching the proceedings from that vantage point.

The girl and her partner seemed to take an agonizingly long time to get to the end of the aisle, and Shawn found himself sweating with anticipation. This was the last time that he would ever get to see Juliet before…well, he didn't know what would happen after this; but he got the feeling that this would be the last time that he ever saw her if something drastic didn't happen.

Finally, the last girl had reached her place, and from behind another wall of plants by the beautiful carved-wood altar set up, Jeremy came out to stand in his place as well. The music changed, and all eyes turned down the center aisle, where Juliet would come out.

After a pause that seemed far too long, the bride and her father finally appeared. Shawn blinked and gasped, steadying himself against the large pot that he was hidden behind. Every time he had seen her since the engagement, he had realized just how much more beautiful Juliet was than he had though. But all of those times were nothing compared to the angel that was walking hand in hand with her father now.

But as he studied her face above the snow-white, sleeveless dress, he realized that Gus had been right. It was her wedding day, she was beautiful, and the man that she loved was waiting for her at the altar; but the smile on her face was shaky and forced, and she glided peacefully, but not joyfully. Was it actually because she was missing him?

She reached the altar, and her father sat down, and the priest began the ceremony. Shawn paid very little attention to it, still trying to figure out what was going on. But then, one phrase caught his ears.

"If there is anyone here who has good reason why these two should not be married, speak now, or forever hold your peace." Shawn knew that the words were customary, and no one expected for there to be reasons anymore; but against his will, he found himself rising from his hiding place and standing in the middle of the aisle.

A chorus of gasps rose around him, but he didn't care; there was only one person in this room that he cared about.

"I do," he said softly, his voice sounding suddenly very small. He heard someone say his name softly.

"Son, you do know that that was a rhetorical question?" the priest asked him. "Please sit down and let us get on with the ceremony."

"Spell rhetorical," Shawn challenged. And while the surprised priest was trying to figure out what to make of that, he turned to the audience.

"You can finish the ceremony in a minute," he told them, "since I guess that my reasons aren't very good ones, after all. But I'm going to say them anyways, because I can't let these two get married without telling the truth." He met Juliet's eyes. "Jules, I love you. I have for a long time. I know that I never said anything, and that I have made many mistakes, but it's still true. And while I know that I don't have a chance with you now and I can't stop the two of you from getting married, I can tell you the truth. And the truth is that I want you to be happy. Now, if you're going to be happy with Jerry here, then cheers to both of you, and I'll shut up and leave, and you'll never have to worry about me again. But if you're not…don't make the mistake of marrying him just to spite me." He paused and looked around, but no one made a sound. Every eye in the room was riveted on him. He let out a surprised breath.

"Whoa, that was weird. Well…I guess that's it. I'm done now. Go ahead, finish the wedding. I'll just go and place myself under citizen's arrest for disturbing the peace…"

"Wait!" Shawn paused his turn towards the door, and looked back. Juliet was staring at him with wide eyes, and Jeremy was giving him a look more thoughtful and earnest than Shawn necessarily liked. He squirmed uncomfortably under the intense gaze.

"Do you really think that marrying me would make Juliet so unhappy?" he asked. Shawn shrugged.

"Don't get me wrong, Jerry, you're a nice guy. But…you're not good enough for her."

"And you think that you're better?"

"Honestly, no. Even I, with all my psychic powers and impressive crime-solving records cannot dream of being good enough for Jules. If I ever find a guy who is good enough, I'll introduce you two for some pointers. Can I go now?"

"No." Shawn looked at Juliet. She was still pale and wide-eyed, but she was firm. She turned to Jerry. "Jeremy, I'm sorry. I love you, but…" To Shawn's surprise, Jerry nodded and kissed her forehead.

"Don't be," he whispered. "I understand. But invite me to the wedding when you're ready, huh?" Juliet smiled gratefully and nodded.

"Thank you," she whispered. Then she turned to their guests. "Everyone, I'm sorry about all this; I'm sorry that we asked you all to come out here for a wedding that we can't finish. I promise that I will try to make it up to all of you, but right now…right now I need to go. Thank you all so much for understanding." She and Jerry both walked back down the aisle the way that she had come, and everyone was either too polite or too stunned to stop them.

Juliet paused when she reached Shawn, who was still standing awkwardly in the middle of the aisle. Jerry, with merely a raised eyebrow and an encouraging smile, continued on and went back into the club.

"Thank you," she whispered simply, wrapping him in her arms. A little shocked that she would do that, let alone in front of all of these people, he patted her back gingerly. But that didn't feel enough, and with only a moment's hesitation, he leaned down and pressed a kiss to her golden hair.

"I love you," he whispered back.

~*~*~*~*~*~

…Fin.

Note: Thank you so much for putting up with my mini-cliffies to get to the end of this. I hope you liked it!! :D (if you did, please review and let me know, huh? O:) I want your opinions)