IV.

Not but ten minutes later they had pulled into Juliet's favorite pizzeria, Little Italy. When he opened her door for her he found her staring at him in shock. She had not expected to remember her favorite restaurant.

"Surprise," he quipped, once again sporting his signature grin as he grabbed her hand and led her inside the restaurant.

"Table for two, Spencer," the host asked with a glint in his eye.

Shawn nodded still smiling as they were led to their table, which conveniently was located in a secluded corner of the restaurant.

"Wow, Shawn. I don't know what to say. You planned all this already?"

"Well, I've had it on the backburner for a while; the only thing I needed to do was wait for you to show up again."

"So, how'd you even know that I'd come with you?"

"I didn't, I just took a step of faith."

The meal was wonderful, full of innocent chatter and Juliet's favorite Italian dish, manicotti. After their dessert, which happened to be another one of Juliet's favorites, tiramisu she got up figuring that she had spent enough time away from the office, but before she could make her hasty exit, Shawn grabbed her arm lightly to stop her.

"Jules wait," he asked, sounding all of twelve years old. "Let's go to the beach."

She stared at him incredulously, ready to walk away when she noticed the pleading look in his eyes. Sighing in defeat, she followed him back out to his car. Another ten minutes later, they were sitting on a bench overlooking the emptiest area of the beach. Minus the fisherman's rigs chugging away in the distance, it was also the most incredible sight the Santa Barbara Beach had to offer. In fact, it was almost too perfect. Even the seagulls were not their normal predatory selves. She was so caught up in her own thoughts she barely noticed Shawn dropping to one knee, holding a little black box which itself held the most dazzling, and yet simple diamond ring she had ever seen.

"Shawn, what are you doing," Juliet asked once she found her voice. "Get up."

"Alright, then, I can do this sitting down too, I guess. I would have done this sooner. I planned on doing it after I told you my little secret, but you know. Jules, I have to be honest with you. Watching you walk out of my life, it was probably the worst thing I have ever experienced. Seeing you again, it's just made me realize that I never want to go through that again. I- I love you, and that's not about to change. So, Juliet O'Hara, will you marry me?"

"Shawn, I don't know what to say," Juliet finally answered him, caught completely off guard.

"Yes, would be the operative word."

"Shawn I love you too, and I know that I'm ready for this. Trust me; all I want is to be able to settle down with you. It's just, I'm not sure that I ready for what this means. If we get married there's no way I'm going to be able to stay at the SBPD, and to be honest with you I don't know where to go from there."

"Well, it wouldn't have to be that way; we could keep it a secret for now, until you figure out what you're doing. We could be a like a regular Anakin and Padme."

She thought about it for a second, only to find her logical mind completely suspended as she really took in the scene before her: the man she loved, sitting next to her asking in his most romantic way possible for her to marry him. Logically, she would have understood that there would be repercussions, but she could not think of them, and even if she could she would have also known that logically there was no way her heart was even going to let her say no.

"Yeah, but look what happened to them. I mean, we might need to pull back and think about this a little longer," she quipped at last, smiling like a giddy school girl, when he pulled her in for a heart-melting kiss which only ended when he put the ring on her finger.

"One problem though," Juliet told him once she could catch her breath.

"What's that?"

"I think people are going to notice if I leave for a lunch break and come back with a ring."

"Ah, that's why I got this," he said, handing her another box.

Inside was a simple gold chain.

"For now, I hate to say it, but I think the safest move would be to just put it back in the box and keep the box in your purse. This is for later, when it will be a little less conspicuous, and in case you are wondering, I have actually thought of a cover story for why you're going to be wearing an engagement ring around your neck."

"Oh?"

"It was your grandmother's ring. Your parents gave it to you for safe keeping."

"That could work."