Chapter Two:

Christmas arrives and they spend the first part of the day together at her apartment. They have a quiet morning and afternoon (her family couldn't come this year, so there's not a giant celebration.) They exchange gifts. He loves his presents, which included the first season of The Mentalist, and a pineapple themed gift basket, complete with pineapple and pineapple-flavored candies (he can't believe she took the time to put this together, but he loves her for it.) She, in turn, loves the necklace he gives her (although it looks expensive and she halfway wonders if Gus unknowingly paid for it.)

At around six o'clock, they make their way over to Shawn's dad's house for Christmas dinner.

Juliet's a little nervous, because even though she's been over for dinner before, this is the first Christmas meal, and it seems like a big deal.

Shawn doesn't knock upon arrival – he just barges into the house, and she gives him a look as she follows him inside.

"What, Jules? It's my dad. He always expects me to come in at any given moment, no knocking required."

"Although it would be nice." Henry Spencer appears in the living room. He smiles kindly at Juliet. "Nice to see you again, Juliet."

"You too, Mr. Spencer. Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas." he turns to Shawn. "You're late, you know."

"I wanted to give you time to take off your embarrassingly girly apron. And you did, so now Juliet hasn't been scarred for life and you haven't been shamed. You should both be thanking me."

"It's not girly, Shawn. Now quit being a smart-ass and help me get the food on the table."

Henry turns toward the kitchen, but just for a second, Juliet sees something.

A grin. A smile.

A look in Henry's eyes.

A look that reminds her of Shawn at Christmas-time.

She thus resolves to watch Henry closely throughout the rest of the night.

The dinner passes without much incident. Shawn and Henry go back and forth with little, inconsequential arguments, but never actually seem to get mad. Once or twice, Juliet even thinks she sees Henry smile at some of Shawn's jokes.

Henry asks her about her family's holiday plans, and they all talk, and the food is good.

Gus arrives after dinner, bearing gifts for all of them.

They spend the rest of the the evening opening gifts, and everyone seems really happy with their fare. Henry receives new lures, hooks, and fishing line from Gus. Shawn gives Gus a few books he'd been wanting, and Gus gives Juliet a gift card for Bath and Body Works.

Finally, there are only two presents left.

One from Shawn to Henry.

One from Henry to Shawn.

She's heard about the competition, of course. Shawn had spent the two weeks prior to Christmas, mumbling to himself over possibilities, looking up popular Christmas gifts, and calculating weights and prices on spare pieces of paper.

Juliet watches as the two men stare at each other, holding their respective presents. Their eyes are challenging and mischievous, and they're wearing identical smirks.

"I've got you this year, Shawn." says Henry smugly. "It's a framed eight by ten picture of me, and you and Gus when you were kids. It's from your eleventh birthday party. Your mother took it."

Shawn deflates slightly. "How did you know?"

"My closet door was ajar one day. I knew I hadn't done it; I never leave it open."

Shawn groans. "The door..."

"Anyway, I looked in the back and found the old shoebox. You only stole that one slip of negatives."

"You have all the negatives memorized? How did you possibly realize that was the only one missing?"

"You saw that they were still in the return packs, Shawn. It was a simple matter of figuring out which pack didn't have twenty four photo negatives accounted for, then I looked through that pack, and took an educated guess on which photo you would have chosen from the missing slip. You had it enlarged and framed..."

Without further ado, Henry rips the wrapping paper off his present to reveal a cardboard box. He tears open the box and tilts the opening downward, and sure enough, the framed photograph slides into his hand.

Juliet makes her way over to look at it. The photograph is a definite keeper; Young Shawn and Gus sit behind a birthday cake, faces lit with candlelight and smiles. A slightly younger version of Henry Spencer stands beside Shawn, beaming and looking...proud.

Shawn interrupts Juliet's observations by bringing her back to the competition at hand. "I know what you got me, too, Dad. I guess it's a tie this year," he says confidently.

"Oh, yeah? We'll see." scoffs Henry.

"You got me three things. Well, make that four, I guess. First off, you got me earbuds to replace the ones you stepped on at Thanksgiving. Second, you got me two round-trip plane tickets for a flight in April, so that Juliet and I can visit Mom. And last of all, you hid both the earbuds and the tickets inside of a stuffed toy elephant. I can only assume it was to throw me off."

Henry scowls. "Did you talk to your mother, Shawn? You know that's cheating."

"No, but you should clear your web history sometime. Or do you not know how, old-timer?"

"Shawn..."

"Thanks for the presents, Dad. Those tickets...it's going to be great to use them." says Shawn, and there's sincerity in his voice that everyone can pick up on – Juliet especially.

Henry relaxes slightly, manages a smile. "Merry Christmas, Kid." he says, and he pulls his son into a quick hug. "I'll have to find a good place to hang the picture."

They let go quickly, but Juliet and Gus share a look – they both know how much it means for Shawn and Henry to actually be happy not only with, but because of one another.

And Juliet's found her answer. She can see exactly why Shawn loves Christmas as much as he does.

A/N: I may have made Henry a little too nice, but hey, it's Christmas – why not? One more chapter to go. Reviews are great.