Author's Notes: Takes place after s3e15, Tuesday the 17th. Victoria makes a suprise appearance at the precinct.

Carlton stood at the coffee station, stirring creamer into his coffee. Juliet approached to get some coffee as well and smiled at him. "Good morning. How was your day off?"

"Oh just great. I got a divorce". After that brief statement he walked away from the coffee station.

"Wait-what?" Juliet hurried to catch up to him, not yet prepared to let the subject drop. For the moment all thoughts of coffee were forgotten. She had no idea he was even going to see Victoria yesterday, let alone get a divorce.

Carlton stopped and turned around to face her. "Yep. Victoria handed me the divorce papers last night, and I signed. I am now officially a single man".

"Oh, Carlton. I'm so sorry that the marriage didn't work out. If you need anything, let me know".

"Oh it's been over for a while. I just refused to let it go. I wanted to save it," he replied.

Juliet was surprised at the sweetness and honesty of those sentences, as well as the maturity. She knew how desperately he had clung to the remnants of his marriage, and sometimes Carlton's responses to things that upset him were less than productive.

"You're going to find someone else that'll make you happy. I'm sure of it," Juliet told him confidently. She meant it-he was a smart, handsome man with a great career. He was sure to find a new girlfriend, even if he could be awkward around women and intimidating around people in general.

Without asking and, to Carlton's chagrin, she reached forward to give him a hug in the middle of the station. After a second he wrapped his arms around her. They had been sharing a surprising amount of hugs as of late. The hug continued on a little too long, and some people were beginning to stare at them.

Noticing the watching eyes, Carlton cleared his throat and said, "O'Hara".

Getting the hint, she released him. "Hey. Want to come over later and watch some football again?" She thought maybe a little company might be good for him right now.

"Yeah. No can do". Their last football game viewing had officially turned him off of football forever. He also didn't want O'Hara hanging out with him out of pity.

"Plans?" She asked, even though she already knew deep down that it was more that he didn't want to, more so than he couldn't.

"Nope," Carlton stated, and that was the end of it.

It was mid-afternoon, and Juliet sat at her desk finishing up a report. Many people were filtering in and out of the station- plainclothes detectives, uniformed officers, witnesses, arrested criminals, and a variety of other people. She always loved the atmosphere of a police station- bursting with energy and almost always something going on. Definitely kept one on their toes and occupied.

Out of the corner of her eye, Juliet noticed a tall woman with dark brown, slightly curly hair that reached just past her shoulders. She stopped McNab, and they had a brief exchange of words. McNab pointed towards Carlton's unoccupied desk, and soon after the woman headed in that direction.

Curious, Juliet slowly stood up from her chair and started walking towards Carlton's desk as well.

"Hi, can I help you?" Juliet asked the woman, trying to figure out who she was.

"Oh no, thank you. I just needed to return something to Carlton". She held up a red box to Juliet before placing it in the center of Carlton's desk.

It suddenly clicked in Juliet's mind. A woman who called Carlton by his first name, in the station a day after his divorce signing. "Are you Victoria by any chance?"

"Yes, that's me," Victoria replied.

Juliet gave her a bright smile and stuck out a hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm Juliet O'Hara, Carlton's partner". Although it actually wasn't that nice to meet her. She felt a little upset at her for hurting Carlton, a man that always appeared so strong and tough. But she also understood Victoria's perspective in it all. Carlton could be a difficult man to deal with, and that his job seemed to always come first.

Victoria took her outstretched hand to shake it. "Oh, he mentioned you briefly at dinner. Been a couple of years, right? Kudos for sticking it out so long".

"Yeah well, underneath the grumpy and sometimes off-putting exterior, he's a good man". Juliet didn't know why she felt the need to say that. Obviously Victoria knew of Carlton's good qualities-she had been his wife, after all.

"That he is. I'm sure he told you about the divorce?"

Juliet nodded, recalling her brief conversation with Carlton about it earlier.

"I was honestly surprised by him last night. He handled the divorce far better than I thought. He told me that he signed the divorce papers because that was what I wanted, and so that we could both have our futures, free of any emotional baggage".

"Wow, that's great. Sounded like an amicable divorce". It sounded like Carlton had been just as mature about this divorce last night as he had been this morning. She was proud of how he had taken it. It had been a long, heart wrenching road for him, but he'd weathered the extended separation and divorce well.

Victoria laughed, sensing Juliet's surprise. "I know, I was surprised too. It was a very un-Carlton-like response, but a much appreciated one".

Victoria glanced at her watch. "I should get going. It was nice to meet you, Juliet,". She smiled at her and then walked away from Carlton's desk. On her way out, she paused and turned, giving Juliet a strange, curious look. Was this the woman Carlton had drunk-dialed her about last Christmas? Victoria wondered. Juliet didn't notice her gaze, already moving back towards her desk. Victoria shook her head and exited the station.

Juliet sat down at her desk and looked up just in time to see Victoria vanish through the precinct's doors. She knew she likely would never see this woman again. And she was fine with that. Her absence meant that Carlton could finally move on.

Carlton stared down at the red jewelry box. It was the same one he had given to Victoria last night, back when he thought there was hope for reconciliation between them. Even after signing the divorce papers, he had insisted on her keeping it. He loved her, regardless of whether they were married or divorced.

"McNab!" Carlton bellowed.

McNab scurried over. "Yeah, boss?"

"How did this box get here?" He gestured to the red jewelry box in the middle of his desk.

"Oh. Victoria came by and dropped it off earlier," McNab brightly informed him.

She must have felt guilty about keeping it, Carlton thought to himself.

McNab continued talking. "She wasn't here long, just dropped off the box and chatted with Detective O'Hara for a bit".

"She talked to O'Hara?" He angrily said.

McNab's eyes went wide and he slowly backed away from Lassiter.

Carlton groaned. Oh shit.

Juliet reentered the bullpen, a file she had collected from the file room in her hands. Carlton abruptly stepped in front of her, blocking the path to her desk.

"Oh. Hi". Juliet lifted her gaze to meet his, and was shocked by the panic she met there. He also appeared to be breathing rather quickly. What has made him so riled up? She wondered.

"Why were you talking to Victoria?" He asked her, his voice rushed and tinged with anger.

"She came to drop something off". What, was she not allowed to talk to Victoria? Or was he just surprised that she had shown up at the precinct, and wanted to know why?

"Did she say anything to you?" He pushed the subject, still not indicating why he cared so much.

Juliet scrunched her face in confusion.

Misinterpreting her expression, he said, "Look I was really drunk and-"

Woah woah Victoria and I didn't talk about anything personal. We certainly didn't talk about something Carlton did when he was drunk. "No, no," she interrupted him, "It was just a quick conversation. She only said nice things about you, if that's what you're worried about".

"Y-yeah. That is what I was worried about". But it didn't sound like he meant it.

Juliet almost regretted interrupting him. She knew she had to respect Carlton's privacy, but damn it, now she was curious. He left Juliet standing there, wondering what Victoria knew about Carlton that could be so damaging for her to hear.

December 25, 2007

This Christmas season was shaping up to be a mediocre one for Carlton. He couldn't have said it was all bad, though, because O'Hara had invited him to a Christmas party with her family. He was honored that her nephews thought he was so cool (although he felt bad for O'Hara, who was likely used to being the cool aunt). Yet at some point you just have to step back and put other people first. He understood that O'Hara was jealous of his popularity with the kids. So as much as it sucked, he knew why he couldn't go to her family's Christmas dinner. Hey, an important part of the holiday season is to be selfless, right?

It was tough being alone on Christmas day. The family members that he did want to see had other plans, and the rest he would rather avoid. The separation from his wife hit him harder during the holiday season, when he sat alone in a quiet house with no one to celebrate with.

Despite all of this, he didn't mope around the house all day on Christmas. Bright and early in the morning, he went down to the precinct shooting range. Just like he had done with his wife's figurines, he set up the snow globes he had received as targets. His hands had shook considerably as he did so, and he broke a few in the process. Then, while humming Jingle Bells, he shot the snow globes one by one. Fake snow and whatever liquid they put in them coated the walls of the shooting range, and glass shards littered the floor. It was a pain to clean up, but certainly worth it. Quite therapeutic in his opinion.

After that he had gone to Church, and for dinner he ate some ham and mashed potatoes. The dinner had been quite depressing, sitting alone at the table on a holiday. Also depressing had been his tree with scant gifts beneath. This all inspired him to head to a place he knew would be bustling with life- the bar.

And so after a few hours of heavy drinking and an expensive cab ride, he found himself back home. He was completely wasted, giggling like a fool and singing the wrong words to Christmas carols. Eventually he collapsed onto the couch, landing on his cell phone. Pulling it out from beneath him, he stared at it wonderingly like it was an ancient artifact.

I should call someone! His inebriated mind thought. Fumbling with the keys, saying "beep boop beep" as he punched in the numbers, he called someone. The phone rang and rang, and no one picked up. A pre-recorded voice came through the phone, kindly telling him to leave a voicemail. And leave a voicemail he did.

"Heeeeeyyy Victoria!" He chuckled. "Merry Christmas! I'm just calling to say my Christmas was grrrrreat, as Tony the Tiger would say".

"Yes, I did spend it alone, but I went to a Christmas party the other day and everybody loved me. Actually it was my partner Juliet's party".

He grew quiet for a moment. "She's nice. And hot. If we weren't partners we'd be dating. Then I wouldn't be alone tonight. See Vicky, can I call you Vicky? I'm doing fine without you. All the girls are chasing me, and I just keep swatting them away". He made a feeble karate chop motion as if Victoria could see him. "Juliet wants m-," he hiccupped, "me, but I'm all like, no, that'd be unprofessional".

Losing track of this one-sided conversation, he began singing, "Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, had a very shiny nooooseeee…"

He ended the voicemail after that and promptly fell asleep on the couch. Aside from a few shouts and murmurs in his sleep, he was dead to the world until a hangover and a cloud of regret greeted him the following morning.