30. Under the Rain

Shawn is in the kitchen making pancakes-pineapple for him, regular for his Lassie. He's his own boss, so he can have as many days off as he wants, but having Lassie for an entire weekend is almost unheard of and he's planning on making the most of it. His plans start with breakfast in bed. If he's worked out the timing right on his itinerary, they might actually make it out of the bedroom in time for dinner.

Somewhere in the distance, he can hear sirens. They sounded like police and fire, but he ignores them. None of that has anything to do with them for the next forty-eight hours. He's unplugged the internet and phone, hidden Lassie's cell, and thrown their paper in the next yard for their neighbor's pit bull to eat. He's even reprogrammed Lassie's television so that the only shows they can access are cartoons. This weekend is just for them. A kind of honeymoon almost.

Shawn loads a tray with their breakfasts and whistles happily as he carefully makes his way back to the bedroom. Despite his care, Shawn stumbles and nearly falls as the floor underneath him suddenly trembles. He braces himself against the bedroom door frame and just barely manages to save the food from falling. "Whoa," he says to a surprised looking Lassiter. "Wasn't expecting the earth to move until later."

Carlton rolls his eyes at Shawn's leer and pulls back the covers for him. He frowns as Shawn crawls into bed beside him, settling the tray between them. "Earthquakes aren't really common around here. I don't think Santa Barbara's had one since the seventies."

Shawn shrugs and spears a bite of pancake to waggle in front of Lassiter's mouth. "Yeah, but we are in California. It's not exactly unheard of. Besides, it might have just been a building being demoed or something. Open wide, Lassipants."

"Do you smell that?"

"What?"

"That smoke."

"It's probably just some kids on the beach with a bonfire."

Shawn nibbles on Carlton's lower lip and that's just plain distracting. He hums into the kiss for a second before turning his head away to glare out the window in the general direction of the beach. Shawn makes a little disappointed noise and noses insistently along his jaw. "That beach isn't zoned for bonfires."

"Lassie," Shawn says lowly in his ear, his breath making Carlton shiver.

"Huh?" His grip around Shawn's waist tightens, but he doesn't look away from the window.

"I don't care." Shawn shifts to straddle Carlton and bite his earlobe. "Just for a little bit, forget about being a cop. If they're still there in an hour, I'll give you back your phone and you can sic McNab on their asses, okay?"

Carlton nods, suddenly slightly breathless as Shawn starts to press hot, open mouthed kisses along his jaw. He cards his fingers through the younger man's hair and tugs him closer. "Yeah, okay."

If it wasn't for the faint buzz of a plane overhead, it would almost be possible to believe that the entire world had shrunk down to just the two of them in their perfect, private moment.

Then the next bomb fell and the moment exploded.

Kristin: It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel like a hack. Not entirely happy with this one. I like the general idea, but I don't think I executed it as well as I could have.

PeanutTree-Oh, Lassie has hidden talents like you wouldn't believe. *grins* Thanks!

45/100