Another agonizing two hours later, a wordless Shawn was returned to his cubicle.
"So," Juliet said after a long minute of silence. "How'd it go?"
'They won't tell me," Shawn whispered, sounding exhausted.
"Oh."
"They don't need to say anything though. I'm sure it's nothing."
He nodded off a few seconds later, leaving Juliet, who made a mental note to ask the doctor about the results of the tox. screen the next time he came around, alone. She was more than anxious to find out what the results were, because she was beginning to feel like they could change everything. Of course, anything that made her go from thinking about spending the next fifty years with him to praying he had another day left was bound to change everything.
Minutes passed, and still nothing. Much to her annoyance, the silence only kept her on the same thought trail longer. She was so lost in her own thoughts in fact she did not hear her work phone ringing until the third ring. Putting on her work persona, she answered.
"O'Hara," Lassiter's gruff voice sounded from the other line.
"Yes Carlton, what is it?"
"We've found the snake pit."
"What'd you mean?"
"The drug bust was only the tip of the iceberg. This family is worse than the mafia. At least twenty of them all have been linked to murders and robberies all around Santa Barbara. What's worse, they're like ants. If one of them gets squashed ten more pop up. In fact over the years, we've arrested about half of them."
"How long have they been in business?"
"Thirty years."
"Unbelievable."
"You're telling me. That explains why they're so desperate to keep Spencer quiet. He could ruin everything for them. The problem is even if we push ourselves to our furthest limits of man power, there are so many criminals to apprehend that Spencer could be dead long before we get them all. Even then, we may not be able to nab them if he doesn't spill whatever information it is that he may be holding, and he may not even be aware that he's holding it."
"So we need to talk to him as soon as possible."
"And that's why you're there. Stay on it. I've got to go."
"But Carlton…" she tried, but dial tone was her only answer, so she hung up.
She would have been peeved, had Dr. Tillmen not entered Shawn's cubicle at that exact moment.
"Ah, Detective O'Hara."
"Wait, how did you…" she trailed off when he held up a hand.
"Your name is in his file as the officer on guard."
"Oh, right. So what can you tell me doctor?"
"I can tell you that I do have good news. We were able to find no trace of poison in his system. All signs point to him being just fine. Guess your guy was bluffing," he said smiling, reassuringly.
"Oh, thank God. Pardon me for asking, but do you have an idea when he might be able to get out of here?"
"Well, it all depends. If everything goes well, he should be out in no more than a week."
"Thank you, Doctor."
"You're welcome," he said, leaving the cubicle.
Ever full of surprises, Shawn proved everyone wrong, and was discharged from the hospital three days later. He had wanted to go back home to Mee Mee's, however, Juliet maintained that he may not be in the hospital anymore ,but she still had a job to do as they had not made any head-way in finding out where the man who had put a target on his back was. For all they knew, he could come back any day. That being so, she insisted that he stay at her house, which was a safe haven whether she was there or not courtesy of the array if weapons stashed around it, and the emergency buttons hidden underneath practically every lamp and piece of furniture.
As per his doctor's orders he was not allowed to take any more cases for the time being, so he had spent the better part of the past two weeks bored out of his mind. Even a day long marathon of Miami Vice did little to ease the entertainment rut he had found himself in. So he was glad that Friday when Juliet came back to the house for an extended "vacation", which was really just a continuation of her protection detail.
Just like she had promised, she made him his favorite meal, Hawaiian pizza from scratch which despite Juliet's misgivings about her culinary ability turned out excellently. It was so well done that Juliet figured it warranted another slice, which she rarely went for, though Shawn was in the middle of his third. She was taking a swig of her equally rare Coke, when an earth-shattering noise like a firework landing in her backyard nearly knocked it out of her mouth.
"What was that," Shawn mused aloud once the noise had died down.
"I don't know. Stay here, I'm going to check it out. You remember where the sig is right?"
"Got it," he said, grabbing it from the lamp it was hidden underneath and jumping in front of her.
"Shawn, what are you doing? I'm the cop, you're the civilian; I'll handle this."
"Yeah, and you're my girlfriend. I'll handle this."
For a useless minute they stared at each other in a silent stalemate.
"Same time," Shawn asked her and she nodded, giving him the go ahead he needed.
At the last minute, Shawn jumped, gun drawn in front of Juliet, shielding her from the potential assailant. It would have been a sweet, although dangerous gesture had the potential assailant not been the stray Saint Bernard from up the street breaking into Juliet's trash. Tucking their guns into their pockets, the pair chased the animal out of the yard, and across the street where he belonged.