#4 – Dark

Still don't own...

Shawn didn't remember eating dinner. He wasn't hungry, so maybe he had. But with the way his stomach was churning, maybe he had simply known that he couldn't eat anything.

He didn't remember keeping or breaking the date he had for tonight. But it was midnight and he was alone. So Shawn was guessing he had either broken the date or stood her up.

He couldn't remember driving here from his dad's. He hoped he had driven from there. If he left the Norton at his father's there was a better than average chance that it had been sold by now.

Where the hell was he anyway? It was dark. He felt dark so that fit somehow.

There were no stars out tonight. No moon. There was supposed to be an overcast sky tonight with a chance of early morning showers. How had he known that? Oh, yeah. Gus had mentioned it to Shawn. Said if he spent the night with his date, he might want to have her drive because of the showers. If his father had overheard them he would have gone on about why Shawn needed a car instead of a motorcycle.

Shawn kept walking down the darkened street. He was trying to get his thoughts straight and it wasn't working.

His mom was back. She had not been a major player in his life in years. Hell, she not only hadn't been in the same state as him in years, for the last two she hadn't even been in the same country. His dad had been. His dad who, as much as Shawn fought with him, Shawn knew could always go to. It hadn't been like that before. But left on their own, without Madeline around, Shawn and Henry had found their way back to each other.

Shawn should have been happy to see his mother again. He loved her and any normal person would be happy to see his mother again after so long. What was wrong with him, he opened the door to his mother and he felt as if he had been shoved into a darkened closet. With the door locked. And your grandmother's old clothes sucking up all the air.

"Shawn?" Turning around, Shawn saw Juliet O'Hara walking up to him, a flashlight in one hand and the other clutching a gray tabby to her chest. From her old sweats, Shawn presumed the pretty detective had been at home when her cat – Shadow? – had gotten out. Both her cats were indoor cats, so Juliet must have gone looking for him.

"Jules. Shadow sneak out again?"

Juliet didn't argue when he pulled the cat from her grasp. The cat immediately began to snuggle to the pseudo psychic. Juliet smiled. Somehow, it looked so good to see Shawn with her cat…Then she looked more closely at Shawn.

"Shawn? What's wrong?"

Shawn smiled, one that didn't reach his eyes. Juliet was amazed to see the amount of pain and confusion darkened the hazel orbs.

"Jules, I…I'm just feeling really confused. I should…I wanted to call Gus, but I promised him not to call tonight. He has an early morning meeting and he wants to be sharp."

The fact that Shawn had been so considerate of his friend should have touched Juliet. Instead it concerned her. But wait – wasn't Shawn supposed to be on a date tonight?

"Shawn, didn't you have a date tonight? You know - the one I missed out on?" Her teasing tone was lost on Shawn.

"I think I missed it."

Truly concerned now, Juliet put a hand through Shawn's free arm. "C'mon, Shawn. Let's head inside. It looks like that rain is coming sooner than expected." Sure enough, a few sprinkles had begun to fall. "Let's talk in the house."

Still holding the cat, Shawn blindly followed Juliet's flashlight into her condo. Trusting her to lead him from the dark.

a/n - please read the next part - it will all make sense.