A/N: Hope you enjoy this much longer chapter. Also, for the record, this takes place about 2 years from now. Late 2013.
EDIT: Sorry, I had to edit this. I just realized that my page break didn't show up. I didn't want you to be confused.
Juliet and Amelia sat in the car, an awkward silence filling the air. Juliet's eyes were constantly darting back and forth between the road and the teenage girl's face.
Juliet took a breath as she prepared to break the silence. "You have brown hair."
She could practically hear Amelia roll her eyes. "You're observant."
There was a silence as Juliet thought about what she should say to her daughter she hadn't seen in over 16 years.
"I, uh—I don't understand why you're in foster care. I was told there would be no problem getting you adopted—that there was some sort of waiting list.
Amelia turned to look at the woman whom she'd just learned was her biological mother. "I don't know if you knew this, but I was born with this heart thing…a hole. I had to have a bunch of surgeries. A baby on the operating table isn't exactly a selling point. I'm totally fine now, but by the time it was all over, I was three years old. Most people want babies." Amelia paused. "Well, not everyone."
Juliet pulled her eyes off the road to look at Amelia. Her eyes then went down to her current baby bump. Her eyes quickly returned to the road as she noticed her car was slowly veering to the right. She regained control and kept her eyes on the road again until they pulled into the parking lot of the Santa Barbara PD. Jules pulled into her parking spot and put her car in park.
"Look," Juliet said softly, turning to face Amelia, "it's not that I didn't want a baby—"
"Clearly," Amelia replied shortly, eyeing Juliet's stomach. "You just didn't want me."
"No, Amelia, I was your age! I couldn't take care of a baby then. I'm in a totally different situation now. I'm 32 years old and engaged. When you were born, I was only 16—I had no way to support you."
"Whatever, it doesn't matter. All that is important right now is finding out where this Nate guy is so I can get him to sign this paper. My hearing is in two days."
"Two days? What's the rush? You don't want to wait and maybe see if someone adopts you?"
"Nobody wanted a three year-old. Do you think someone's really gonna want a teenager?"
"Okay, you're right. I just—when I was sixteen, I thought I knew everything, but I was wrong. Do you even know where you're going to live or go to school? Do you really have a plan?" Jules asked, exasperated. "Emancipation is not common; you really need to know what your plan is if you want the judge to grant it to you."
"No offense, Juliet, but I didn't have a mom for 16 years. I don't need one now. Can you just go in and get the information so I can get out of your hair?"
Juliet bit her lip, but nodded as she climbed out of the car.
"Detective O'Hara, didn't I send you home an hour ago to get some rest? It's not good for the baby to be working so hard," Chief Vick said as Juliet made her way into the station and to her desk.
"I know, Chief. I did go home, but I had to swing by real quick to get a file off my computer. I forgot to take it with me when I left earlier." Juliet hated lying to her boss, but she wasn't technically supposed to look up where someone's information if it wasn't pertaining to an SBPD case. "Trust me; the baby is doing just fine. Shawn wouldn't let me overwork myself."
The chief nodded. "Alright, well, have a nice night, Juliet. I'll see you tomorrow," she said as she went back into her office.
Juliet quickly strode over to her desk and turned on her computer monitor. Looking over her shoulder to make sure nobody was watching, she pulled up the police station's database and typed in the name Nathan Parsley. She impatiently tapped her foot as she waited for the results to come up.
Juliet looked at the screen confusedly. Nathan Parsley: deceased. That could not possibly be right, Juliet thought. She looked at the date of birth: 04/16/1980. That was definitely him. She checked the date of death: 11/16/2009. Cause of death: drug overdose.
Juliet let her head drop to her desk. She couldn't believe he was actually dead.
Suddenly, Juliet heard a voice and her head popped up, her fingers immediately moving to exit the browser window she was in.
"O'Hara, didn't I see you leave half an hour ago?" Lassiter asked, raising his eyebrows both at his partner's presence and her suspicious behavior.
"Hm? Yeah, I forgot something. Got it now. See ya later, Carlton," Juliet replied cryptically, popping up as quickly as she could with the extra weight she was carrying.
"What could you possibly be working on at home? You're on desk duty. You're pretty much nine-to-five right now." God, it could be really tough fooling a detective sometimes.
"I've just been looking at some of the case files that have shown up on my desk, double-checking to make sure everything is accurate. I'm just really devoted."
Lassiter and Juliet stared at each other for a few moments. Juliet could tell he didn't believe her—she had complained about desk work every day since the Chief had removed her from field duty a month and a half ago when it was evident that she wasn't as quick on her feet as she had been before and it became a safety hazard for her and her baby. However, Lassiter seemed to be debating with himself over whether or not he should call her out on her lie.
As he continued to stare at her silently, Juliet spoke. "Okay, I'll see you tomorrow, Carlton. Night!" And with that, she turned and scurried out of the police station.
Juliet bolted toward her car, eager to get away from the police station and all the questioning people. She climbed into the car and turned to Amelia.
"So, did you find his information? Does he live in Santa Barbara," the brunette asked eagerly.
"Amelia, your father…" Jules bit her lip. "Your father is dead."
"Dead? How can he be dead? He was your age, right? Oh, god. Did one of your high school teachers get you pregnant? Is that why this is all such a big secret?"
"God, no!" Juliet exclaimed, a shocked expression covering her face. She couldn't believe her daughter would ask such a thing. What kind of person did she think Juliet was? "Nathan was my age. There was not some May-December, inverted Mary Kay Letourneau situation! Nathan died four years ago of a drug overdose."
The two blue-eyed women were silent for a few moments. Juliet thought she saw remorse on Amelia's face, as if she regretted accusing her mother of having an affair with a teacher.
Amelia bit her lip in the same way Juliet normally did. "So what do I do for my hearing if he's dead?"
Juliet sighed. "I can take you to the Office of Vital Records over on Camino Del Remedio and we can get a copy of his death certificate that you can give the judge. They should still be open. It's 5:30 now and I think they close at 6."
Amelia nodded. "Yeah, okay."
Juliet shifted in her seat so she was sitting in the normal driving position. She quickly buckled her seatbelt and started the car before looking over at the brown-haired girl next to her. "Put your seatbelt on."
"Wow, you sound like such a mom," Amelia groaned, rolling her eyes.
"I'm a cop, remember? I'm supposed to enforce the laws… It would not look good on me if I got pulled over because my passenger wasn't wearing her seatbelt."
"Okay, I got it. It's on." Amelia turned her face away from Juliet, staring out the window.
Juliet pulled her eyes to the front of the car, then briefly back to Amelia to watch her for a moment. Juliet then took a deep breath and began to pull out of the parking spot.
Juliet and Amelia walked out of the Office of Vital Records, a copy of Nathan Parsley's death certificate in the younger one's hands. Juliet started to walk left to go toward her car, but stopped when she noticed Amelia start going to the right.
"Where are you going?" Juliet asked, trying not to sound so forceful. She realized she was already starting to parent this girl who made it very clear that she didn't need any parents.
"I'm leaving. You've helped me as much as you can. I've got everything I need. Like I said earlier, I'm going to get out of your hair now and you don't have to worry about seeing me or helping me again. I'm not your problem anymore."
It was difficult for Juliet to just let the young girl go. Even though she had only met Amelia barely an hour ago, Jules was starting to get way too attached to the idea of having her around, which made it hurt all the more that she had to let her go again.
"Are you sure you have everything under control? We have a spare room if you need some place to stay until your hearing. I mean, there's a bunch of baby stuff in there, but we can figure out a solution for you."
"Juliet, I'm fine, okay? You don't have to worry about me anymore." With that, Amelia turned and walked away from Juliet.
Tears formed in the blonde's eyes as she watched the daughter she had just been reunited with that very evening walk away, not even seeming to care.
Juliet slowly climbed into her car and turned the engine on, intent on driving straight home, but instead, softly pressed her forehead against the steering wheel and began to sob.
Juliet pulled into the driveway ten minutes after Amelia walked away from her. She couldn't believe her daughter was back, and just as suddenly, she was gone again.
When she walked through the front door, she immediately noticed Shawn sitting on the couch, his body pointed toward the door, watching television. He quickly jumped up and moved towards Juliet.
"Jules! You're back; thank God!" His arms wrapped around her body and he pulled her as close as he could with her rounded stomach in the way. "What's going on? You just left without any sort of explanation. I've been watching For Keeps? since you left, hoping Molly Ringwald might be able to shed some light on the situation, but all that's done is made me want to watch some quality Ringwald in The Breakfast Club."
"I'm sorry, Shawn," said Juliet, pulling him toward the couch to sit down. "I should have told you about her before we got engaged, in interest of full disclosure. And now we're having a baby, and it could affect our child's life."
"You know, I sensed that you seemed to know an awful lot about pregnancy for your first child, but I thought maybe you knew all this stuff from hanging around your brother's wife when she was pregnant with your nephews. You can tell me anything, you know that right, Jules?"
Juliet nodded, beginning to cry. "I know, you told me your biggest secret. I should have told you mine. I don't even know why I didn't tell you. I guess I was ashamed of it; I thought maybe you'd think differently of me if you knew."
"Jules, I love you more than anything, except maybe pineapple—I don't know, it's a close race-, and nothing is going to change that. I don't care if you got knocked up at—how old were you?"
"I was fifteen when I got pregnant, sixteen when she was born."
"I don't care if you got knocked up at fifteen. I made loads of mistakes when I was in high school, and my father will gladly attest to that. I still love you, no matter what. You understand, Jules?"
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you, Shawn," Juliet cried softly.
"It's okay, Jules. It's in your past. As far as you knew, it was always going to stay in your past."
Juliet looked up at Shawn, staring into his eyes. Neither said a word for nearly a minute before Juliet leaned in and kissed Shawn, then snuggled into his chest.
"Her dad is dead. He overdosed four years ago," Juliet told Shawn. "We got his death certificate, and then she just left. She walked away from me. I can't fix things with her because she just walked away."
"Shh, it's okay," Shawn said, comforting his pregnant fiancée by rubbing circles on her back. "It'll all work out."
Shawn placed his hand on Juliet's stomach, feeling their child twist around inside of her.
"I love you, Shawn," Jules told him quietly. "And in case you didn't know, or started to question it because of this situation, I am so excited to be having a baby with you."
"I know you are, Jules. I could never think otherwise. I love you too."
Between the physical exhaustion pregnancy was causing her and the emotional exhaustion from that evening's events, Juliet was wiped. In less than two minutes, Juliet was asleep on Shawn's chest, despite the fact that it was only 6:20 PM.