Juliet never expected Shawn to ever openly express any sort of feelings beyond friendship to her. She didn't think he would ever even attempt it, especially now that he was in a committed relationship. He had a difficult time being serious and and even more difficult time saying how he really felt. She just never expected him to ever say anything heartfelt to her ever.

However, something very unexpected happened: Abigail left for Uganda and apparently, she and Shawn were on a break while she was gone. This meant, Shawn was a free agent once again. However, Juliet had been spending so long trying to get over him that she wasn't quite sure what to do with this new development; so she decided she would go about business as usual. It had been so long since Shawn had made a move on her, and even if he was still interested in her in that way, which was a big if, he had only just separated from Abigail and he would probably need some adjustment time.

Her theory was proved wrong when she was in the hospital after she had contacted a rare and deadly virus. While awaiting the test results, Shawn suddenly entered the room and began babbling on about how worried he was and how everything was going to be OK and how he had come to a very important realization.

Just as he was about to explain this realization, Gus suddenly entered the room and told them that Juliet had not contacted the virus after all. Overjoyed at the news, Juliet leapt out of bed and hugged Shawn.

"I am not going to died in this disgusting robe!" she cried happily, ripping all the cords and monitors off her.

Shawn seemed more shocked than she was. He was just standing in place, processing everything. "That's great. That's so good," he said, appearing to be thinking carefully about something.

He seemed to come to a conclusion and finally said, "But I still want to say what I was gonna say... if that's OK?"

Juliet stopped moving to look at him. He was wearing a very earnest expression and she could tell that he desperately wanted to get something off his chest. She nodded. "Sure."

Gus slowly backed out of the room and Shawn cleared his throat. "OK, Jules... uh, how do I say this?" he said. He was clearly struggling to find the right words. This was strange to Juliet because he was always a man of many words. He was constantly talking even if he had nothing to say. What could he possibly have to say that was causing him to falter so?

He found his voice and began, "You know how when we were kids there were all those cool prizes at the bottom of cereal boxes?"

"Yeah," Juliet said, smiling encouragingly.

"OK," he nodded, "Well, there are two kinds of kids. There's the kid who flipped the box over and opened it from the bottom and grabbed the prize right away. Then there was the kid who waited patiently and ate bowl after bowl after bowl of cereal until the prize just tumbled out on its own."

He paused. "There's also a third kid named Mikey who will eat anything, including the prize. But, he's not really important right now."

Juliet smirked. "OK. And?"

"I didn't wait," Shawn said, "I didn't wait for my decoder ring or my Frankenberry action figure when I was a kid. So... what am I waiting for now?"

Juliet peered closely at him. What was he getting at? Waiting? For what?

"All I know is that I don't want to miss out on the prize," he explained.

"What are you trying to say, Shawn?" she asked him.

He opened his mouth, the words just on the tip of his tongue. Juliet looked at him expectantly, waiting for the answer. But then, suddenly, he faltered. "I... I don't know," he said softly.

Juliet sagged slightly. She knew that wasn't what he meant to say. He was obviously trying to say something much more important and he had come in here with such purpose, but chickened out at the last second.

Before anything else could be said, the door suddenly opened and Lassiter entered, effectively killing the moment completely. Shawn took the opportunity to slip out as quickly as possible.

Even though it remained unsaid, Juliet could guess what he had been trying to get out. She would not push him or force anything though.

However, she was convinced that he was probably just confused by his recent separation from Abigail and the thought of Juliet dying. She was not going to blow this out of proportion.