I cannot think of anything to say. Oh wait, yes I can: I'm so mean to Shawn. XD

Happy reading!

Edit: I rememebered something. I stole the format for the mini-memory-flashbacks from windscryer. Just FYI. XDDDDD

"Josie!" Juliet called from the Wave Pool shore, her voice with an edge of anxiety to it, but otherwise carefully controlled. "You don't have to do this. Just put the wire down, and let him go."

"Why?" she retorted. "He ruined everything I planned. What reason do I have to let him go?"

Shawn spoke up, studiously ignoring the feeling of the wire scraping along his skin. "Well, I know you didn't mean to kill your father." He grit his teeth as Josie tensed.

The looks on the faces of everyone on shore clearly told him to shut the hell up. He pretended he hadn't noticed.

"That's right, Josie," he said, and his voice was stronger this time, his words directed over his shoulder at the girl breathing into his skin, loud enough for everyone to hear. "You weren't trying to kill your father, were you? It was an accident."

"Of course it was an accident!" she whispered, voice choked.

And Shawn began to lay everything out, intent on distracting her as long as possible. There was no way the police were going to use bullets when there were so many onlookers, so he'd just have to figure something else out. Or hope that they did. "You'd never kill your own father, Josie. Not on purpose. I know that. No, you were trying to kill Clarice, weren't you?"

His head pulled back as her grip on the wire tightened, a wince flickering across his face. "That whore," she spat.

"Your dad was cheating on your mom. And on you. And that pissed you off, didn't it, Josie? When you realized that it wasn't just the rides your dad was letting her go on first?"

//What more do you want to know? I clean the attraction, Robbie lets his girlfriend have the first ride, then he rides and we all go on our merry way.//

"So you took the first opportunity provided you. You started stealing money when you were helping your dad and your uncle out after hours, framing your uncle for the embezzlement so he would have a really good motive when you suggested to your father that Clarice must have figured out what he was doing and was planning to rat him out."

//A little socially awkward, but sweet. She helps us with the paperwork sometimes after hours.//

"It was worth it to get rid of her," Josie mumbled.

"You must have been thrilled when the Twister broke down. The perfect opportunity. And he'd even given you the chance to set up the trap, calling off the routine cleaning to keep the meeting with the detectives secret."

//Not today. Robbie told me to come back and clean it tomorrow. I don't understand it. We do things the same way, every time, and now he changes it on me? Because of some secret meeting?//

"So you came to the park, acting like just another patron, because hey, no one knew who you were, so you could strut around the park without ever raising any suspicion."

//No, not her. His other daughter. The non-bastard child.//

Shawn dimly registered that someone had turned the wave generator off, and the water had gone eerily still around them. "You even planned to watch the destruction of everything that had been screwing with your family, didn't you? That was why you were there. Why you helped drag your father's body from the pool. And it wasn't until then that you were scared of being found out. So you fished your little booby trap out of the water while Clarice ran to get help. That must have made you so angry. First she steals your father, and then he dies because of her, and now you have to spend all day with the girl who destroyed your life? The injustice of it all must have made you crazy," he said and his voice echoed slightly, carrying easily over the flat surface of the water. The crowd surrounding the pool were silent, captivated by the narrative.

"He was my dad! He was mine! And that whore took him away! She took him away from me and my mom! She deserved to die!" Josie cried, and Shawn felt something wet fall onto his shoulder blade. Great. Now the psycho killer was crying on him too.

"Come on, Josie," Juliet wheedled and Shawn winced as the girl in question jerked, the wire miraculously managing not to cut him. The junior detective had managed to wade into the pool up to her waist without Josie noticing, so apparently his monologue had worked. "Surely we can work something out. You don't have to hurt anyone else."

Shawn gasped slightly, breath catching in his throat as Josie increased the pressure. "What are you doing?" she breathed. "Get back."

Juliet's gaze was fixed on him, however, obviously itching to close the five feet between them, her forehead lined with worry. "Shawn?"

He shrugged and flashed a smile. "Doin' all right, Jules."

"Get back!" Josie said, her voice rising and Juliet's gaze flicked to the eyes she could see glaring at her over Shawn's shoulder.

"Look, Josie, if you just let him go, I'm sure we can—"

With a movement that Shawn hardly even registered, the wire slid just a fraction of an inch to the side and he stifled a cry, the pain sharp and acute. The wetness of a thin trail of blood trickled downward from the fresh slice across his Adam's apple. "Get back!" Josie snapped.

Juliet blanched, her wide eyes meeting his for a split second and she immediately backpedaled. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

Shawn grimaced, and gave a small nod to let her know that it was okay. Juliet's eyes flickered upward, glancing at something to their left. What on earth—?

Juliet's eyes jumped back down to he and Josie and she started again, her voice soothing. "Just let him go, Josie. Please? Just don't hurt him anymore, okay? Please?"

Shawn's forehead creased slightly as he watched her plead for his life. Something was going on. And the only thing to their left was more water and...the side of the pool. He would have smacked himself in the forehead if it wouldn't have quite possibly meant his death. Of course. The police wouldn't just hang out on the Wave Pool shore, hoping to get a good shot or something. By now—a quick glance to the right confirmed this—they probably had officers surrounding the pool. They were angled away from the pool edge slightly, but judging from the reflection he was just now noticing near his left hip, two officers were standing at the pool edge, hardly five feet away.

Juliet's voice returned to the forefront in his consciousness as he brought himself back to the present. "...Josie, please. We can make a deal, can't we?"

"Just go away and leave me alone," Josie mumbled into his neck.

Shawn cleared his throat, flinching as the cut across his neck stung at the movement. "Hey, Jules?"

Juliet faltered, her eyes meeting his. "Yes?" she asked hesitantly.

He slowly began raising his hands to his temples. "I'm seeing..."

His hands shot up suddenly, slipping through the gaps along the side of his neck and the wire and he wrapped them around it, pulling sharply forward. The pain was instant, and excruciating, Josie's shriek of surprise mingling with his own strangled cry.

Lassiter's voice bellowed, "DO IT NOW!" And there was a tremendous splash behind him, upsetting the still water. He staggered forward, thrown off balance by his own movement and the new man-made waves. The pain in his hands increased dramatically as they were plunged into the chlorinated water. He spluttered as blood-tainted water flooded into his nose and mouth, coughing as he tried to right himself.

Then a pair of small hands were pressing against his chest, Juliet's higher-than-normal pitched voice exclaiming worriedly, "Shawn? Shawn, are you okay? Shawn—"

He coughed, still working a few stray water droplets out of his lungs, and hissed as one of the helping hands pressed against the claw-marks stretching across his chest. "I'm fine, I—"

"Spencer, what the hell were you thinking?!" Lassiter demanded, and his hand wrapped around Shawn's upper arm, helping pull him upright. Shawn let out a muffled but audible whimpering sound as his hands were jerked, and Lassiter let up slightly, mouth pulling tight.

"We were at an impasse. When the options were 'dying' and 'slashing my hands open', the pros of 'slashing my hands open' kind of won out, Lassie. Besides, I sensed that I had some back up." He glanced backward over his shoulder briefly to see two officers busily restraining Josie.

"I hope you're happy, Spencer," he replied grouchily. "Now I'm going to be stuck in a wet suit all night."

Shawn grinned but before he could open his mouth to retort another voice had cut in.

"Shawn!" Gus exclaimed, meeting them as they waded into the two foot deep area, "What the heck happened?! I thought you were going to get Juliet and Lassiter!"

"Well, that was the plan. But when Clarice ran up wailing about how her little girl had disappeared, I didn't exactly have time for that." He caught a glimpse of Josie being dragged out of the Wave Pool behind them, hands cuffed, as the detectives helped him sit on one of the lounge chairs that were scattered across the Wave Pool shore.

He hissed sharply, his attention snapping back as Juliet's fingers began gently trying to pry his blood-streaked hands open to remove the wire stretched between them, the handles dangling from either fist. "It's all right, you can let go now Shawn," she said gently.

He shook his head. "No, I don't think I want to."

"Shawn," she said, and her exasperation was understated, but there.

"Spencer, it's evidence," Lassiter said irritably. "Just give it to her."

"I'd really rather—"

"Here," Juliet said, her face carefully neutral as she gripped his fingers with her own, blood rapidly oozing over her hands. "I'll just—" She gently but firmly pried his fingers open and Shawn let out a strangled, gurgling cry, his face going white.

"Ow," he whispered, "Ow, ow, ow, ow, oh, god, ow."

Juliet's face pinched as she peered at his hands and she said softly, "I'm sorry, one more, okay?"

"No, Jules—"

With one careful, swift movement, she pulled the wire smoothly from the wounds in his hands. This cry was not muffled. Shawn hunched over, eyes closed, and breathing heavy.

"Damn, Shawn," Gus whispered, and he sounded faint.

"Dude," Shawn grit, "Get away from me. I don't want to be puked on, thank you very much for your concern."

The buzz of the crowd around the Wave Pool rose, various officers directing the patrons out of the park and trying to keep curious on-lookers away from Shawn and the posse surrounding him.

"First-aid kit, Officer?"

Shawn looked up and grinned broadly at Troy. "Hey, there's the man of the hour. Dude, that was a nice rescue attempt. I appreciate it."

Troy smirked and rolled his eyes, a smile flashing across his face as he handed Juliet the first-aid kit. "Yeah, don't be too appreciative. Dillon's going to kill you when he sees this mess. He's the one who has to clean this stuff up."

Glancing down at the blood splattered in small puddles in front of him, Shawn grinned ruefully. "That's true. ...Ah! Jules—" Shawn hissed, instinctively pulling away, as Juliet did her best impression of a nurse since her brief, but spectacular stint during a Civil War reenactment some months ago. She continued pressing wads of gauze against his palms, shooting him an apologetic look.

"We have to at least slow the bleeding. You're going to be a mess when we get you to the E.R."

Shawn rolled his eyes. "You'd better call ahead and tell them to get Dr. Riley. He knows my medical history like the back of his hand."

Lassiter snorted. "I don't even want to know what that implies."

Shawn grinned cheekily. "Probably not, Lassie."

Juliet sighed, finally pulling back, and dabbed lightly at a spot on the brutally red line stretching across the length of Shawn's throat where blood was beading at the surface. "Well, it's not first rate care, but I don't think there's much else anyone can do for that. The paramedics should be here soon to take you to get stitches for your hands..."

"There's no better medicine woman in the world, Jules," he said, and winced as he flexed his hands slightly.

"I'll meet you at the hospital, Shawn," Gus said, still standing fairly far back, his eyes averted.

Shawn smirked. "See you there, buddy. Bring smoothies!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever..."

"Ah. There they are," Juliet said, catching a glimpse of the approaching paramedics out of the corner of her eye. Her nose wrinkled as she regarded the drying blood now streaking her hands and gathered beneath her fingernails.

Shawn didn't miss the look. "Does this mean our relationship has gone to the next level? Blood is pretty intimate, isn't it?"

Juliet snorted and rolled her eyes. "Shawn, there is nothing attractive, whatsoever, about having your blood on my hands. If anything we've regressed. I think you need to stay away from me for a few weeks."

Shawn pouted, his head drooping and his pink lower lip protruding pathetically, and Juliet couldn't hide her smile. She leaned forward and wrapped him in a hug, one hand resting at the nape of his neck and his eyes widened slightly, arms moving outward to accommodate her. "You did good today, Shawn," she said softly in his ear. "I'm proud of you."

She gave him a gentle squeeze and then leaned back as the paramedics finally reached them, Shawn smiling sheepishly as he met her gaze. "Thanks, Jules," he said seriously and her own smile widened as she got to her feet, leaving him at the mercy of the EMTs.

"Wait! Jules!" Shawn cried after her retreating form, "Did we just have a moment? I think that was a moment! Wait! Come back!"