Part 7: Life, Lies and a Lassiter

Lassiter had been having a hectic morning. Firstly there was organising everyone's duties, then questioning some witnesses on a case before finally picking up a guy on another case. Since the chief seemed to excuse O'Hara coming in a little later, Lassiter had done this all solo. The only thing he wanted to do was head down to the gun range and take out all his irritancy on a paper target. Despite how much he loved his job, sometimes being head detective could be a pain in the rear.

"Grand theft auto case, the guy is in interrogation room two." McNab caught up with Lassiter by the coffee maker.

"Great now I have to deal with that as well." Lassiter muttered, giving up on making a coffee for himself.

Luckily when he turned around, O'Hara appeared with a cup of coffee in hand. She offered it to him with what appeared to be a nervous grin.

"Three creams and four sugars." She commented, almost like she was expected a reward for getting his coffee right.

"Thanks." Lassiter was confused at the gesture but nevertheless took the beverage. His partner had been acting a little up and down lately, much like most of the stressed out force. But her behaviour made him particularly wary. After doing a decent job all morning, he found no problem in finishing things off alone.

Then Juliet spoke up again before he could leave. "Listen, Carlton I think we need to have a talk."

The head detective felt a little annoyed, having a sneaking suspicion about what his partner wanted to discuss so earnestly. That was Juliet O'Hara's way. She just couldn't let things go without talking, despite the time that had passed.

"What could we possibly need to talk about?" His eyes narrowed, implying that the woman should not bring up the incident they had managed to deny and work around for this long.

"Just come have lunch with me and we can talk about it." Juliet's eyes filled with a sense of urgency and a touch of guilt. She knew telling Carlton was going to be an unpleasant experience, precisely the reason she had delayed it.

As if on cue, McNab came back to the head detective, providing the perfect escape. Lassiter had never been so glad to see him. He held up a hand before the tall officer could speak.

"I know, room two." Lassiter turned his attention back to Juliet. "I have to go, unless you want to tag along." He began to walk away to where he was meant to be, hoping with a little time Juliet would change her mind about talking.

All his leaving did was annoy her. The woman couldn't help but voice her frustration. "God you can be such an asshole."

Carlton wasn't sure whether he was supposed to hear the comment or not, as Juliet had clearly said it through gritted teeth. But he paused on his path. His neck began to redden and Carlton couldn't help but turn around and confront his partner.

"I beg your pardon." His eyes burned into her with an angry intensity. "How about you repeat that to my face O'Hara?"

Buzz continued to stand there, wondering if he should go or continue watching on curiously. Having not moved for a few seconds during the two detectives' stare down, he decided to stay.

Juliet's mood swing had not calmed down. "Can't you just be a little bit, I don't know, human for once? I swear, sometimes you're like this workaholic robot with a bad buzz cut."

"You just can't let things go can you?" Carlton snapped back. "Maybe you should go to lunch by yourself. And If I were you I'd order a salad!"

"Are you kidding me? You're the one who can't let go if someone is better than you at something. Like when I did better on the detective's exam, or when my boyfriend solves a case that leaves you baffled."

Juliet knew she was being harsh, which was unwise as she was planning to tell Carlton about their child. But the words kept falling out of her mouth. Soon Carlton was red-faced, furious and clearly appalled by his partner. Buzz continued watching on, looking ready to break up a fight.

"On that note, maybe I should take the grand theft auto suspect." Juliet walked briskly towards the interrogation rooms, feeling an arrogance overtake her. It wasn't the first time that work stress had brought on a childish competition between the two partners, but things didn't usually get too heated.

Carlton stormed after her with wide, threatening eyes. "Don't even think about it O'Hara."

He quickened his pace, trying to catch up. Unfortunately Juliet managed to forcefully elbow him back and get herself through the door first. The moment the door shut in his face, Carlton could hear the woman yelling on the other side. It surprised him a little, as O'Hara was considered the "good cop" of their partnership.

Despite how competitive as he usually was, a sense of relief came over him. The suspect was one less thing to deal with now. The head detective figured he deserved a break, if only for five minutes. At the very least he could drink his coffee in peace.

Smirking to himself, Carlton knew that since Juliet was occupied he could sneak one of the chocolate bars he had spotted his partner take from her desk drawer almost daily. Considering her earlier shot at him, he figured it was only fair. It would also go great with his coffee.

He walked back to the bull pen and over to Juliet's desk, opening the top drawer to examine its contents in hopes of finding a Clark Bar. There were the few chocolate bars Juliet kept as a stash, among other things. He examined each of the four remaining bars, trying to decide which one to take. But it was something else that ultimately caught his eye.

It was hard not to notice the sonogram staring at him. At first he didn't believe his eyes, blinking to be sure they weren't decieving him. After a few seconds of puzzlement, his hand stopped rummaging through the candy and instead slowly reached for the picture.

His eyes opened wide with shock as his suspicions were confirmed. "You've got to be kidding me."

For a moment he stood still and just stared at the sonogram. Despite how hard his mind tried to think of another possibility, Carlton knew exactly what he was looking at. His heart was beating in his ears and the one obvious question repeated over in his head.

"No, it can't be mine." Carlton answered his mental question aloud, then remembering that Juliet was dating Shawn he deducted that it had to be the pseudo-psychic's baby. "It's Spencer's kid. No way it's mine. We used a-"

Before he could complete his thought, his mind flashed back to that particular afternoon three months ago. Everything had been so impulsive and reckless. First Juliet had jumped on him, then they had made out in the car, before driving to the nearest hotel. After Carlton had booked the room, they had been back kissing and ravaging each other hungrily.

He tried to remember the moment in the furious passions that he'd put on a condom. There had to have been one moment during the events when protection had been used, or even mentioned. Unfortunately, after going through his memory time and time again, Carlton soon had to admit that particular moment had not taken place.

Then, like the detective he was, he started putting all the evidence together. Since he had been so wrapped up in work and so keen to avoid her, all the obvious signs of O'Hara's pregnancy had evaded him. She had been acting a little strange but that was normal after sleeping with your partner. Before stealing his interrogation, she had wanted to talk to him about something serious.

"It could still be Spencer's." Lassiter said to himself, even though he was starting to doubt it greatly.

He took the sonogram and stormed towards the interrogation rooms. He had to know the truth. Part of him was still getting used to the shock of potentially having a child. Another part was extremely pissed off at Juliet's secrecy.

Everything around him went quiet. It was as though nothing else existed but him and that path to his answers. Without even realising it, Carlton's hands had begun shaking and his determined pace had slowed. He planned everything he would say to his partner, using all his training to remain calm.

But when he spotted Juliet coming out of room two with a smile on her face, Carlton's attempt at playing cool was shattered greatly. He had to forcefully keep his mouth from yelling at the woman.

"He cracked." She said simply before seeing the look he was sporting. "Is everything okay?"

Carlton held up the sonogram, surprising Juliet and draining the colour from her face. His hands were still jittery in anticipation of the answer. In his state, the man couldn't even bring himself to ask the true question. Defences were up and denial was an automatic reaction.

"Is this Spencer's baby? Of course it is, right O'Hara?" He said in a quiet voice, which was clearly the calm before the anger storm. "Tell me this is Spencer's baby."

Juliet's eyes welled up with tears, fearing Lassiter's reaction. She blinked them back and tried to stand her ground. It was not the way she had planned on Carlton finding out. There was an awkward silence as she tried to find the words. The moment she had been hoping never to pass had finally caught up with her.

"Tell me this is Spencer's kid." Carlton snapped, breaking the silence so suddenly it caused the woman to jump.

Juliet bit her lip and after another few seconds of silence she finally found the words. "I can't do that."

Carlton shut his eyes and his lips tightened into a thin line. He held up his hand just in case Juliet tried to speak again. The head detective wasn't sure how to react to this news. Different emotions were stirring inside of him, few of them positive. He needed to get away and clear his head.

Carlton sighed in defeat and let the sonogram fall to the floor between the two of them. "I can't deal with this right now."


NOTE: Those who were waiting for Lassiter to find out, there you have it! So did you like it? Now what do you think he's going to do? What about Shawn when he finds out who the father is, or did a "vision" already tell him? Well you never have to wait long for this story to update. I try my best to make it interesting :-) So enjoy....I said enjoy!