Little change of plans…because we just got a new computer, obviously anything and everything I've been working on has been lost, again! What are we going on now, like the fourth time this has happened to me!? Anyway…I lost all the stuff I had planned for this story.

Disclaimer: Don't own. I want to, would love too, but don't own.

So now I'll need more than one chapter to wrap things up cause…what I'm doing is just plain…well, mean dude!

All's Well

Early the next morning, long after his alarm clock shrilled the whole apartment awake; Carlton watched Shawn lay within his embrace beneath the blankets.

Lassiter wasn't sure if this was the younger's new found…persona, but he had the slightest inkling that maybe, hopefully, the old Shawn Spencer was trickling through cracks anywhere he could, a hastened sort of virtue Shawn had, he was impatient by nature. He wanted to be back, and Carlton wanted him to be back.

For once, Carlton couldn't be happier to recognize this.

"Mhmn…… Heya Lassie." Carlton never knew Shawn could purr. Honestly the man couldn't be more acquainted with a feline…Lassiter's brain collided heavily with his early morning memory. Cats!

That might just be it!

Shawn woke up, a drowsy sort of euphoria yawning with him. He blinked tiredly a number of times until staring up at Carlton. "What today? Work?"

"No," Lassiter said as he sat up as well. "I took a personal day. What do you want to do?"

"Hmm…" Shawn shrugged with one shoulder, watching Lassiter disappear around the corner out of the room, and then returning with a change of clothes for the younger.

Shawn struggled with his green shirt. First it rolled forward, and then tucked itself high around his chin. Lassiter reached forward, only slightly reluctantly before grasping the folded edge of the shirt from somewhere around Shawn's chest and yanking the twisted fabric down. Which was what Shawn had been trying to do in the first place.

Shawn grinned in thanks before responding, "Anything. As long as I can do it with you, Carly."

"I was hoping you would say that. Shawn, how bout we go to the pet store?"

"Really? What for?"

"I'll tell you over breakfast."

"Waffles." It wasn't a question, and usually Lassiter gave orders.

"With pineapples." But he could take orders for Shawn-he was Shawn's, it felt like.

Shawn grinned, "With pineapples!"

Of course they needed to cut the insanely delicious fruit Lassiter had stocked up on a day ago. And as Shawn was hacking away at the defenseless fruit with a sort of practiced ease Lassiter was sure he was pulling from his memory, he couldn't help but wish he was the one cutting fruit and not mixing the batter.

Not that he didn't trust Shawn, he just…

"Ow!" Shawn shoved his lips over a red swelling cut he received from looking at Lassiter and not the fruit and extensively sharp knife.

Didn't trust him.

"Nice Shawn, nice." Shawn grimaced into his cut, cradling his wounded arm. The open cut was right on his wrist, obviously someone had bad aim when distracted.

Rolling his eyes at Shawn's self-inflicted pain, Lassiter twisted around, turning on the water spigot above the sink. "You know, it's gonna hurt more if you keep poking it." He scolded back over his shoulder.

Shawn crossed his arms, frowning. "It doesn't hurt." He lied, feigning indifference. A sudden firm grip on the wrist of his injured arm was followed by an insistent tug. Yielding to Carlton's hand, he found himself crouched on the smooth cold tile, his wounded arm plunged under a constant stream of ice cold water. With a cry of protest, he tried to flee backwards, only to find himself trapped against the chest of his detective.

"Oh, no you don't." Carlton muttered, reaching around Shawn with his other arm to hold the younger in place. "That more you argue the longer this'll take. So just sit still." Fighting through several more escape attempts, the detective finally felt the brunette slump against him in defeat, his complaints ceasing. "Good. This is for your own benefit anyway."

Now fairly damp, Shawn 'humphed' up at his captor. He was walled in on both sides by Carlton's powerful legs. The young man found himself fascinated by the lines of the tightly knit muscles of his friend's bare left calf.

"Just a few more-" Carlton stopped short when he felt a poke at his lower leg. He waited a moment, and the finger seemed to have stopped, so he opened his mouth to continue. "-A few more min-" The finger was back, tracing a path along the curve of the back of his leg. Carlton forced his mind to focus and willed his leg not to twitch, hands momentarily tightening on Shawn's arm. "Just a few more minutes." He ground out, and finally the curious digit disappeared.

The brunette-haired youth settled himself comfortably against Lassiter's slightly broader than his chest and stomach. "Oh, good." His arm was pretty much numb by now, but he still felt the tight grip on his wrist soften, the hands shifting to clasp the span of his arm below where he had been nicked by the cutting knife. His Carly's thumbs rose, pressing gently into the flesh around his rapidly forming bump. "Lassie..?"

"Quiet." He ordered faintly, leaning casually on his charge. He propped his chin on top of the messy early morning hair, his fingers idly massaging in circles around his companions injury. "I remember students doing this after they took a severe beating from their trainer. It's supposed to ease the pain." He felt the boy shudder slightly beneath him. "You cold?"

Shawn shook his head as much as he could with Carlton leaning on him like that. It felt really nice to fit so closely against his friend. And the fingers, calloused from years of training, were soothing the pain down to a dull ache that was barely noticeable over that scent that was so distinctly Carlton... and the steady, rhythmic sound of Carlton's breathing... Shawn's mind was trying to drag him in four different directions, after every sense with the exception of taste. But before he had a chance to act on that little idea, he felt the detective releasing him and standing up.

Shawn wanted to 'humph' again-but he held it in, instead totting back over the recently abandoned pineapple. Breakfast went by smoothly after that…

TBC

I'm too impatient to keep going. I like this chapter to much. Next chapter…

…Shawn gets a gift…mee-oow. xD