Getting there. Just a couple more chapters.

I hope you all watched Tuesday the 17th last night. I know I did!


Shawn, Gus, and Chief Vick were finishing up interviewing the last of the suspicious staff that Mr. Denial had suggested. So far it seemed that they were each just lazy, hiding a forbidden affair, or planning to quit their jobs in the near future which accounted for their strange or undesirable behaviors. None of them seemed smart enough to stage an elaborate hostage situation, trapping the entire SBPD, nor did they have a motive to. Their current interviewee was a young bottle-blonde with heavy make-up. She didn't seem to have all of her crayons in the box…or pencils sharpened? What was that saying? But it could have just been her appearance that screamed "Bimbo." She was nervous about something. Shawn could tell from her shifty eyes and the wringing of her hands, but he had yet to figure out what it was. He suspected from the fact that her bag contained a number of the candle centerpieces from the ballroom she was probably just a kleptomaniac. That combined with the fact that it was only her second day on the job told him that she wasn't a likely candidate.

Just as the Chief was telling the girl she was free to go, they heard it….the thunderous crash and screams coming from the ballroom. They didn't waste any time in rushing to see what happened and were met with the scene of the crystal-filled ballroom before them. The Chief's and Gus's faces were filled with shock and despair, but Shawn had little time to notice. All he could think about was Juliet and Maggie and whether they were ok. He immediately ran towards their table and thankfully saw there wasn't a scratch on them, although Juliet was clearly in a lot of pain. As he usually did when Shawn found that Juliet had narrowly escaped a dangerous situation, he hovered over her, inspecting and kissing every part of her body down to the tips of her fingernails.

"Oh, Jules! Thank God! I thought…" said Shawn said frantically. He had no desire to voice the actual horrible thoughts that were going through his head.

"Shawn, I'm ok….very uncomfortable right now…but ok." She reassured him with a gentle stroke on his cheek.

"You must be the daddy," said Dr. Lesser, reaching out her hand to shake his.

Shawn was confused. He had no idea who this woman was or why she was introducing herself. He shook her hand anyway. "Yeah, Shawn Spencer, psychic detective." He had gotten so accustomed to using his title at introductions it was second nature now.

"Oh! You're that psychic guy that's always in the news! You are amazing!" exclaimed Dr. Lesser.

"Yeah, that's me," he said, too frazzled to be interested in boasting about himself at the moment.

"So does that mean this little baby of yours is a psychic too?" Juliet rolled her eyes. She was actually curious to see how Shawn would answer that question, but to her disappointment he didn't give a witty answer.

"I don't….I'm sorry, who are you?" asked Shawn.

"Oh, my apologies," she laughed. "I'm Dr. Jennifer Lesser, OB-GYN. I was told her wife was in labor and I offered my services."

Shawn sighed a tremendous sigh of relief to know that there was a "doctor in the house," as the phrase goes. "Oh…Thank God! Jules, we have a doctor. It's going to be ok!" He was so happy he even hugged Dr. Lesser. Juliet just smiled happily, but her smile quickly faded and she shouted for Shawn to grab her hand.

"Another one is coming…" she groaned and braced herself. Shawn took her hand as asked and she gripped the chair with the other. For next 60 seconds or so Shawn was sure he'd hear the bones in his hand crack. Juliet's grip was so tight her knuckles turned white. This time she was unable to stifle her cries which attracted attention from others who were nearby. "They're getting worse!" she choked out as the contraction subsided.

"We're going to move her to one of the rooms," said Rachael, who was done convincing Gus that she was fine and had her arm around him.

Dr. Lesser, looking a little concerned, said, "Yeah, she needs her privacy and I am going to have to examine her. I think her labor may be progressing a little more quickly than I originally thought."

"What?!" shouted Juliet. "You said five to six hours. What happened to five to six hours?"

"Juliet," the doctor said carefully, "I can't be sure until I take a look, but it's possible this may be happening a little sooner than that."

Shawn was about to ask how soon, when almost simultaneously Francie and Marlowe returned with a key to room 214, and Chief Vick returned from checking out the chandelier situation to call Shawn and Gus to her aid again.

"Well, there were only a few minor injuries. Thankfully no one is in serious conditions," said the Chief. "I spoke to Lassiter and they haven't come up with much either. The search parties haven't found anything so far, but I think our best bet is to just go looking ourselves. There is still at least one member of the staff that hasn't been accounted for, a recent hire named Rose…something. Unless she happened to get locked outside, she's probably hiding somewhere which means she may know something. I need you two to come with me."

"Chief, I don't know if I should…" started Shawn, putting a soothing hand on Juliet's back.

"Shawn, just go," said Juliet looking him in the eye. "If this is really happening so soon, we are going to need to get out of here as soon as possible, and if anyone can find this guy, it's you."

"But, Jul…"

"No arguing Shawn," Juliet grabbed Shawn by the back of the neck and gave him a deep, toe-curling kiss. "Now, go get him!" Shawn couldn't argue after that. "OK, I'll be back before too late. I promise." He put his palm on Juliet's stomach and said, "Hey peanut, you wait for daddy, ok? And don't give your mother a hard time." He squeezed his smiling Juliet's hand one last time before following the Chief and Gus.

***Pineapple***

The upstairs hallways had that eerie historic feeling, like it was still holding the fleeting memories of a long gone past. The halls were dimly lit by wall sconces that added to the mysterious atmosphere. The carpet had a blue, green, and gold Victorian pattern and covered a creaky, uneven wooden floor. Like the ballroom, the walls and ceilings were framed in carved mahogany, with a matching mahogany wainscoting. Wooden bookshelves were built into the walls in various places and filled with a collection of both very old and very new books. It was the kind of place where one expected secret passageways and hidden rooms to be, if only you knew which book to pull or knick-knack to turn.

Once again, the group split up, but this time in twos; Shawn and Gus together, Lassiter and McNab, the Chief and Declan. They would each cover a part of the hallway, meet back in the middle, and then continue to the next floor and repeat. Using the master keys that the concierge had given them, they checked every nook and cranny of every room.

"This place gives me the creeps," said Gus to Shawn while they headed down the east wing of the second floor. "I half expect something to jump out at me every time we enter a new room."

"How can you 'half expect' something?" asked Shawn, while stopping to unlock the next door. "You either expect something or you don't."

"I MEAN that part of me expects something to happen and another part doesn't," explained Gus.

"Which parts, Gus? Your right knee cap expects a goblin to jump out at you, but your pinky toe with the hairy mole doesn't?" They both braced themselves as Shawn swung the door open and flicked on the light. Both of them relaxed when they found the room empty and they entered.

"You know what I mean, Shawn," Gus continued impatiently. "My instincts are telling me to be on guard, even though I know, logically, that nothing is going to jump out at me."

"Ok, I get that, but why specify half? How do you know it's not 3/4th or 5/8th?"

"I don't know, Shawn?!" Gus shook his head as he wandered around the room, looking for anything that might be amiss. The difficulty with searching this hotel was that every room was unique – different colors, décor, arrangement of the furniture – it was hard to tell if anything was out of place.

"Then don't say it's half if you don't know that it is, Gus!" Shawn argued. Besides, do I need to remind you that we are currently looking for a psych-o hostage taker, I'd say the probability of something jumping out at us, is pretty God Damn likely!"

"Shit, Shawn! Way to put your buddy at ease."

"I wasn't trying to put you at ease. There 's nothing in this room," Shawn concluded. "Let's go."

The next few rooms were similarly empty. Many of them held the suitcases and personal items of guests, but all of the people were currently confined to the ballroom. Shawn and Gus made sure to inspect the personal effects for incriminating items and to move every book or decorative item in every room just in case one of them triggered a secret passageway. Most people would have thought their suspicion of secret rooms was a bit ridiculous, but they had seen their share of hidden rooms in their time; the study in Whip Chowderly's bookstore, the underground dungeon at Harrison Yerden's estate, the secret room under Martin's Shoe Repair, the hidden video screens at the Red Balloon Nanny Agency, just to name a few. So far, they hadn't found anything of the kind at Rose Hill Mansion.

The search of the second floor not getting them any closer to finding the guilty party, they returned to the top of the curving staircase where the rest of their group were waiting, and then they continued to the third floor. However, the third floor had much of the same. They were about to head up to the attic next when, for the third time that evening, the loudspeakers sounded again throughout the entire house. At this point everyone knew that this could only mean something bad was about to go down and they prepared themselves for the worst.

"Hello again," said the deep electronic voice. "How did you enjoy my last trick? SMASHING?! Huh? Ha. Ha. Ha. But I kid. Now for something really hot! And when I say hot, I mean HOT!"

"Who are you? Why are you doing this to us?!" Lassiter shouted. But the villain either didn't hear him or didn't care to answer.

Simultaneously Shawn said, "Did you hear that?" and Gus said, "Do you smell that?"

"It smells like gas," said Gus.

"For heaven's sakes! Don't do this to me again," said Lassiter. "It wasn't me!"

The Chief shushed him so she too could focus on what Shawn was hearing; a soft click, click, clicking like an old gas stove starting up. It was coming from somewhere above their heads from what seemed like the wall sconces. She and Shawn shared a knowing glance and shouted at everyone to "Duck!" pulling down whoever was standing next to them by the arm.

Immediately after hitting the ground, a fiery red-orange mass spurt out of the walls above their heads. They all clung to the floor to keep from the blistering heat as the flames hovered over their heads for what seemed like minutes, but was really only two or three seconds. It appeared that only seconds was what it took to scorch the walls with blackness and destroy the framed artwork that now smoldered on the walls. From the looks of it, the flames had erupted at several spots along the hallways, and from the sounds of screams coming from the ballroom; they must have erupted down there too.

The group took off down the stairs to check out the damage and sure enough, the walls were scorched and smoking at almost every point along the way. They had made it to the second floor, when Shawn again heard the clicking. No one else seemed to have noticed. He shouted for everyone to hit the deck, and for good measure tackled as many of them as he could to the ground just in time for the second spurt of flames to erupt over their heads.

"Lassiter, your jacket!" McNab shouted, when the flames were gone and everyone stood up.

Lassiter yelped and ripped his burning suit jacket from his body. He threw it on the ground and stomped on, first with one foot then both, all the while screaming and yelping like a little girl. If it weren't for the horrified screams coming from downstairs, Shawn and Gus would have laughed. But there was no time for making fun of Lassiter right now. As soon as everyone was satisfied that Lassiter was no longer on fire, they bolted down the curvy stairs and into the ballroom.

What they found was absolutely horrific. Unlike themselves, the occupants of the ballroom had no prior warning about the flames that were about to shoot out above them and it appeared a good number of them got caught off guard. Most had burns of some sort on their bodies. Some had really nasty 2nd and 3rd degree burns covering half of their exposed skin, and still some had been burned beyond recognition. Those who had managed to escape either the first or both waves of flames had done so only by launching themselves into the center of the room that was still covered in a blanket of crystal shards, only getting themselves cuts and scrapes instead of burns. Surprisingly Woody seemed to have managed to for the most part escape cuts and burns and was helping the other officers put out the fire that was still engulfing the curtains on the walls, after which he ran around from one lifeless body to the next to see if there was anyone he could help.

"F—k," said Shawn, not believing his eyes. "Thank God Jules wasn't in here," he said to Gus in relief who had to agree the same thing about Rachael. The Chief quickly found her husband, who thankfully had walked away with only minor burns and was currently doing what he could to help the victims. Lassiter and McNab shouted for their wives.

"Marlowe! Marlowe?!" shouted Lassiter in full hysterics.

McNab too shouted for Francie, but with more of a sad, worried, and utterly shocked tone compared to Lassiter's hysterics.

"Guys!" Gus interrupted. "Marlowe and Francie went to help Juliet. They are in room 214."

They both sighed in relief and then made for the hall in an effort to check on their wives, but were stopped by the Chief. "Detectives! Don't forget you have a job to do. I need you here to help keep everyone in line."

Lassiter was about to object, but Shawn and Gus promised to check on them for him. Shawn's worry for his family was back in full force when he realized he had no idea whether the flames had hit any of the hotel rooms. He honestly didn't know whether he was going to find them dead or alive. As he and Gus started back up the curvy staircase, he caught out of the corner of his eye a familiar bottle-blonde head slinking out from the direction of the kitchen area. What had she been doing down there? She was supposed to be in the ballroom with everyone else. If he hadn't been in such a hurry to make it to his laboring wife, he would have stopped to question her. But there would be time for that later. Now he had to see to his family.

)()(Pineapple)()(

To Shawn's and Gus's relief, room 214 was untouched by flames. After having run into Marlowe and Francie in the hall who, after hearing the screams, were on their way to find out what happened, they explained about the flames and that their husbands were unharmed. They entered the room where Juliet was on the luxurious queen sized bed with Rachael and Dr. Lesser sitting beside her and coaching her through another contraction. Shawn felt his stomach flip flop when he saw her, tense and red in the face, her hair wet with perspiration. She was struggling to keep her breathing even, while groans and cries escaped her lips. He couldn't even imagine what she was going through right now. He, and apparently Gus too, stood still as a statue until Juliet's moans softened to whimpers and her head flopped back onto the pillow behind while she tried to catch her breath.

Suddenly aware that there was someone else in the room, Juliet turned her head to the side and smiled at Shawn. "Shawn, you're ok!" she exclaimed.

"Of course I am, baby," he said immediately coming over to her. He kneeled next to the bed so that his face was inches from hers and took her hand between both of his. Rachael got up from the bed and wrapped her arms around Gus, relieved to find him in one piece.

"What happened out there?" Juliet asked Shawn.

"Our psycho just decided to heat things up a little, that's all." Shawn didn't see the point in being 100% honest with her at the moment. She didn't need the stress right now.

"More importantly, how are you doing? Is Maggie causing you any trouble?"

"The contractions are coming every few minutes now, and…well let's just say that all of those women are not lying when they say childbirth is the most painful thing a person can endure. I'd give anything for some drugs right now."

"Oh, Jules sweetie, you know I would totally do this for you if I could."

"Ha! You could never handle this Shawn."

"Whaattt?! I'll have you know that when I worked at that character building camp in Albuquerque, I kicked ass at the bed of nails and a pit of hot coals. I even won the award for most pain tolerance."

"No he didn't," Gus interjected from across the room.

"Oh please! You cry when you get a paper cut Shawn," Juliet teased.

"Of course I do!" said Shawn. "Those things hurt worse than childbirth."

"You willing to bet on that?"

"Yes, I think I will!"

"Shawn, you don't want to do that," Rachael cut in. "Speaking from a woman who has experienced childbirth and regularly gets paper cuts, I can tell you that Juliet is going to win this one."

"Even better. I'm always up for a challenge," said Shawn.

"Shawn, it's not really a challenge when there is 0% chance that you are going to win," argued Gus.

"So you're saying there's a chance?" Shawn said excitedly. "Bring it on!"

Gus and Rachael rolled their eyes, while Juliet grunted "Raincheck!" and her grip on Shawn's hand tightened to the point where Shawn was sure his bones did actually crack. The contraction lasted longer than a minute after which Juliet slumped back onto the bed and told Shawn that they were never ever going to have sex again.

"Wow, that bad?" mumbled Shawn. "You win the bet."

"We never made a bet, Shawn," Juliet said out of breath.

"Lucky for me, then, huh?" Shawn's voice was soft and missing the taunting quality now. He used his free hand to wipe the sweat from Juliet's forehead and push her hair behind her ears. "How much longer are we looking at here?" Shawn asked Dr. Lesser.

"She's almost 9 cm now, and judging by how quickly she is progressing, she'll have to start pushing in an hour or two. We are prepared to make contact with emergency response as soon as our phone service is restored, but even if that doesn't happen, we are ready to deliver the baby right here."

"Shawn, I don't want to have the baby here," whimpered Juliet.

"I don't either, honey. Gus, what time is it?" said Shawn, getting serious again.

"It's twenty after ten," he answered. "Shawn…we have less than two hours until…"

"I know, Gus, I know. We should get back out there."

"You can do it, Shawn," Juliet encouraged him. "We are going to be ok. Don't you worry about us."

"Jules, that's like asking me to not watch the Brat Pack marathon on John Hughes's birthday."

"I know sweetheart. Just get the job down and come right back here. Ok?"

"I will. I promise I am not going to miss this, sweetheart. I'll be back here before you can say, 'Windbreaker Go-bots Purple Monkey Lucky Charms.'" He kissed her forehead and squeezed her hand before leaving the room with Gus. Shawn leaned against the door after closing it behind him. He looked ready to freak out again. "Gus…this is too much…I can't…."

"Yes you can, Shawn. I am going to be with you the whole time. We can do this together."


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