HENRY
I swear, one of these days, people are gonna realize that I'm not a complete idiot. I was a cop, you know—a damn good one, too, if I may say so myself.
And still, time after time, these high and mighty, young(ish—it depends on whether you're talking about Lassiter or O'Hara) detectives feel the need to shelter me like I wouldn't know which end of the gun to hold.
Even if no one wanted to inform me as a father that my only son was missing, you'd think that someone would have the professional courtesy to let me know that the SBPD's most valuable consultant—aka, my number one responsibility—was MIA.
But, of course, Detective Lassiter, decides he's gonna 'pull rank' on me and keep me out of the loop. Trust me, that's a mistake he'll never make again.
And it's not like I'm much happier with Shawn. I tell you what, you can train 'em and train 'em all you want, but some kids just never learn. I mean, who follows a perp down an alley, unarmed, without backup—and in a foreign country no less? Shawn does, that's who. He forgot all of his training and took off to try and save that girl without a second thought
I'm damn proud of the kid.
OooOooO
JULIET
Well hello there. It's been quite a while since I've had a turn to speak, so I'll give you a little recap.
Pretty much, when we last left off I was sitting, crying like an idiot on the balcony of my hotel suite in Italy, where I was with Declan. I, and just about the rest of the world, was seriously hating myself.
Not only was I hating myself for the obvious—you know, the whole breaking Shawn's heart and running off to a foreign, romantic country with another man, thing—but as I sat there sobbing I kept screaming at myself, "Stop it! Suck it up and go help Lassiter! It's the least you can do for him". But I didn't. I just sat there and kept on crying. I couldn't even tell you for how long. I sat there crying, and hating myself for it.
"Juliet?" Declan's voice came from the doorway. I buried my face even farther in my knees, and, if possible, started crying harder. I so did not want to see him. "Juliet, are you okay?" His voice was filled with worry which sent yet another pang of guilt my way. I didn't deserve it.
Declan crossed the balcony to where I was and slid down the wall beside me. He tried to put his arm around me, but I shrugged it off. I didn't deserve his comfort, either. "Juliet, what's wrong?"
He waited patiently as I tried to find my voice. "Shawn…" I finally managed to croak out.
"What about him?" I could've sworn I heard a tiny bit of jealousy in Declan's voice.
"H-He… He's d-dead," Of course, saying it out loud cranked up the waterworks yet another notch.
Declan didn't respond for a really long time. I guess he was trying to register the news, too. It's fair, I guess. Even if I wasn't imagining, the jealousy in his voice, he and Shawn had gotten on pretty well.
"W-What? How?"
I just kept my face buried and shook my head. Gus hadn't told me, but I didn't really need to know. Dead is dead.
I heard Declan sign sadly. His arm went around me again and he said, "Shh, Juliet. It'll be okay."
Boy did that piss me off. I raised my face off of my knees and shrugged his arm off again. "What? H-How can you say…say that? How…How will an-anything ever b-be okay again? Shawn is d-dead and he's nev…never coming back!" I screamed at him. At some point in my little rant I had jumped to my feet, so I was yelling down at him.
Declan stood up and looked at me. "I know," He said simply, but I could tell by the sadness in his eyes that he really did.
He went to hug me, and this time I let him. Before you mob me, let me explain that I wasn't hugging him because he was him; I was hugging him because he was there.
If that makes any sense…
"Dec…" I began slowly.
"It's okay, I get it," He said, letting go of me.
"I am so sorry," I told him honestly. Declan really was a great guy. He just wasn't great for me.
"Me too," He replied.
God I felt like a jerk.
"I'll call the airfield. The plane can be ready to go in an hour. You just pack." He put a hand on my shoulder, "I am so, so sorry, Juliet," he said before turning and going back into the room.
And so I stood alone on the balcony overlooking the ocean. The tears were still rolling down my cheeks steadily, but they had slowed. As I stood there, I could feel myself growing numb. It wasn't that pain and sadness had disappeared, it just sort of buried itself deeply within me—still there, but overshadowed by a much, much stronger emotion.
Anger.
I'm talking a deep, intense fury that burned in the pit of my stomach. Shawn was dead. He had been killed. I might not have known exactly how, but I did know that, no matter what the cause was, there was someone to blame.
And that someone was going to pay very dearly.
OooOooO
Oh, mad Jules! And I know that some of you would have preferred me to shamelessly bash Declan, but I couldn't. He's not a bad guy, I (and apparently a lot of you) just hate him.
And I am soooooooo sorry for how long this took. I know, it's been a crazy long time since I've updated. Next one will be sooner, I swear!
And if you haven't read my little oneshot Rock of the Ages, I'd really appreciate if you did and gave me some feedback! Yes, I know that it's irritating that I wrote a oneshot before I updated this. That's just the result of a strange combo of inspiration, writer's block, opportunity, and computers crashing.
PLEASE REVIEW! What do you want to see happen? Thanks so much!
