Chapter 10

"I'm baaack!" Shawn said, walking into the police station with Gus. "Did everyone miss me?"

It had now been two months since everything had happened. Shawn's vision was completely back to normal and he was healed from his previous injuries. It didn't take long for a jury to convict Chandler Adams on Keith Parker's murder and for the attempted murder of Shawn. He was found guilty on all charges and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. And after all Shawn had been through, it really made him think long and hard about his future and what was missing from it.

The police station broke out in applause and cheers when Shawn entered, making Shawn realize that this was defiantly his home.

"Oh great. Well my vacation is over," Lassie replied, as he rolled his eyes.

"Aw I missed you too ya big lug," Shawn said putting his arm around Lassie's shoulders.

Lassie fed him with a glare. "Get off me, Spencer."

"Yup things are defiantly back to normal," Shawn said.

"Hey Shawn! Glad to have you back!" McNabb said, giving him a slap on the back as he walked by.

"Thanks, Buzz! Boy do I feel the love. Gus, how about a hug?" Shawn said, holding out his arms.

"Uh, no," Gus said walking away.

"But Gus! Come on you can't leave a brother hangin'!"

"Some of us have to go to work, Shawn!"

"Okay, well my arms will still be open when you get back!"

"Hey, Shawn. Welcome back," Henry said as he walked to his desk.

"Thanks, pops," Shawn replied.

Confused, Shawn watched his dad as he buried his face in some paper work. Since the accident his dad seemed different. More quiet and reserved and spending more time burying himself in work or projects.

"Uh, dad, you okay?" Shawn said, walking up to his desk.

"Fine. Why do you ask?"

"Well it just seems like something is wrong. You haven't seemed like yourself lately."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean like acting distant all of a sudden. Like now, you haven't looked at me once, you keep shuffling your papers on your desk. Come on dad, talk to me, I know those papers can't be that important."

"Since when do you want to talk?"

"Well call me crazy, but almost getting killed makes you realize how important some things are."

Henry stopped what he was doing suddenly and sighed. "Alright fine. You wanna know the truth? The truth is that I almost lost one of the most important things in my life a couple months ago. And as you know, I'm not always good at dealing with my emotions. So once I knew you were going to be alright I just left you in Gus's and Juliet's care and I kept myself busy. I couldn't even go to the trial cause it would've taken all I had in me to hold myself back from choking the life out of that sleaze ball and I couldn't deal with hearing about what happened to you over and over again without completely falling apart. You have no idea how scared I was when I heard you had gotten in that accident. And then seeing you lying in that hospital bed… well, that's just something a parent never wants to go through."

Shawn sat there taken aback, trying to take in what his father had just said. He now realized how worried he must make him sometimes when he would ignore his father's protests in the past and work on his cases without thinking about how dangerous things could be sometimes.

"Dad, I… I don't know what to say except that I'm sorry. And that I should've listened to you when you told me not to go over to the Parker's. But you know me, I've always done what I want to do and I know being that way has given me quite a few close calls over the years. But from now on I promise to be more careful. I mean when I was blind all I kept thinking about was not being able to do what I love anymore, and if I keep taking the stupid risks I always take one day that could all be taken away from me, and I don't think I could handle that."

"Well I'm glad you've finally come to your senses, Shawn, but other than being a little more careful, I don't want you do hold back from what you were doing. You have helped so many people by doing what you do, and this is the only time in your life where I've seen you do something that makes me very proud of you and that I know has made you proud of yourself. And the most important thing is that it's made us have a closer relationship."

Shawn slightly smiled and sniffled as he wiped a tear from his eye. "Thanks, dad. That means a lot."

Henry swallowed hard trying to choke back some tears that were starting to develop as well and continued.

"Well, I know I don't express myself as often as I should. But I'll promise to work on that if you promise to never give up on who you are."

"I promise."

Shawn paused for moment then cleared his throat and got up from his chair. "So… lame handshake or lame hug?"

Henry smiled as he got up from his desk. "Well lame handshake of course."

They both locked hands together, then in a split second pulled each other into a tight embrace.

"I love you, Dad,"

"I love you too, son."

They held each other for a few more seconds, when Henry suddenly cleared his throat and pulled away, nodding to something behind Shawn. "I think someone wants to see you."

Shawn turned around and his heart immediately sprung with happiness when he saw a smiling Juliet behind him. Shawn gave Henry a smile then walked towards her, an equally big smile on his face.

"Hi," he said approaching her desk.

"Hi. Welcome back," she replied.

"Thanks. Uh, do you have a minute?"

"Sure, what's up?"

"You, that's what's up."

"What do you mean?" Juliet asked, looking confused.

"Uh, well I, um…" Shawn started to stutter as he tried to find the right words to say.

"Shawn? Are you alright?"

"Yes, uh, sit down," he said pointing to her chair.

Confused, she sat down. "Are you sure you're alright?"

Shawn then knelt down in front of her and took her hand in his. "Yes. In fact I've been alright for awhile now, and it's because of you. I mean, Jules, when that accident happened all I could think about was what was going to happen to us and it scared me more than anything."

"Shawn, we'll always be together. Nothing's going to change that. Not even if you had stayed blind."

"I know that now. But the thought of never being able to see your sparkling, beautiful eyes, or your long beautiful hair or your tiny perfect hands, or not being able to see you as you walked down the aisle on our wedding day, it's something I wasn't sure that I could handle. But then I realized that as long as I still had you with me it didn't matter because I love you for who you are and I'll never feel this way about anyone else. You and I were meant for each other. And I want to be with you til we grow old and gray and possibly even die at the exact same time like in 'The Notebook'."

Juliet smiled. "That's so sweet, Shawn. I feel the exact same way."

"Good," he said, then grabbing a small black box out of his pocket. "Then… Jules, will you make me the happiest guy on earth and marry me?"

Juliet's mouth dropped open as he opened the box to reveal a beautiful diamond ring. As tears filled up in her eyes, she nodded with an eager "Yes."

Shawn smiled from ear to ear as he took the ring out of the box and gently placed it on her finger. They then embraced and kissed each other to the point where it felt like they were the only ones in the room, never thinking that a love like theirs would ever happen to one another. But now that they had it, they weren't letting go of it for anything.

Not realizing they had been watched the whole time, the station suddenly burst into applause. Even Lassie found himself applauding with a big smile on his face.

"Well uh, congratulations you guys," Lassie said.

"Wait a minute, you're congratulating us?" Shawn replied.

Lassie sighed. "Look Spencer, I know I give you and O' Hara a hard time about your relationship, but honestly I've come to realize that you two were made for each other and I'm happy for you."

"Lassie! Aw come here!" Shawn said as he pulled him into a hug. "You're the best, man."

"Yeah I know," he replied. "Oh and Spencer just so you know, if you ever hurt O' Hara in any way, then I will personally come find you and shoot you in your sleep, got it?"

"Uh, creepy, but yeah I got it," he said pulling away.

"Good," he said with a smile as he walked over and gave Juliet a hug. "Congratulations, O' Hara."

"Thanks, Carlton," she replied, hugging him back.

"Well I guess congratulations are in order," Henry said walking up to Shawn. "Congratulations, son. I'm very happy for you guys," he said giving him a hug.

"Thanks, Dad," Shawn replied hugging him back.

Henry then pulled away and went over to Juliet. "Well I guess I should say welcome to the family. My son couldn't have found someone better to spend the rest of his life with."

"Thank you, Henry," she said giving him a hug. "And I just want you to know that I'll feel blessed to have you as my father-in-law. I mean I guess in a way you've always been sort of a father figure, cause I mean let's face it, the relationship I have with my real father isn't a very good one."

"Well I'm here anytime you need me," Henry replied.

"Well there is one thing..." she said hesitantly.

"Sure, name it."

"Well I know this may seem kind of soon seeing as how we just got engaged and all, but since my father isn't really much a part of my life, I was wondering if you would do the honor of walking me down the aisle."

Henry smiled. "It would be my pleasure."

Juliet smiled and turned suddenly when she felt Shawn's arm around her shoulders.

"So how about a celebratory dinner tonight on me?" Henry said.

"Dad, thanks man! Oh, can we get the expensive champagne?"

"No."

"Alright, I had to take a shot."

Juliet grinned then looked around the station with a confused look on her face. "Where's Gus? I thought for sure he'd be here when you proposed to me, since he made you promise him not to leave him out of any important moments in your life."

"Uhhhhh, well I sort of forgot to mention it to him," Shawn replied nervously.

"What? Shawn he's your best friend, he's gonna be crushed," she stated.

"Not to worry, Jules, I've got it all figured out. Dad, how do you feel about pancakes for dinner?"