A/N: Okay, first of all, warning this chapter is slightly depressing. Now, I'm pretty sure that this is not my best work, but there are parts of it that I am absolutely in love with. So just ignore all the sucky parts please. Also, as far as spoilers go, An Evening With Mr. Yang, the ending is explained in extremely deep detail. Also, I tried to watch the scene and keep the dialogue word for word. If I messed up, I apologize. I know that this is the THIRD break-up song that I've used in a row. The next one will not be quite so depressing. REVIEWS make me happy, so please review.

Chapter Three: Jar of Hearts

No, I can't take one more step towards you

'Cause all that's waiting is regret

Juliet stared headlong at the only man she had ever been in love with. Sure there had been other guys, plenty of them. Sure she had feelings for them, she cared about them, but she had never loved any of them. At least not like she did Shawn Spencer. His quirkiness, was both endearing and loveable, his smile could warm the heart of anyone, well expect for her partner. However, it was those eyes that had trapped her. They're like a window into his soul. More often than not they were a liquid hazel, with green around the edges. Other times, they seemed to almost solidify right before her eyes. Generally that only happened when he was scared or angry.

He was also the only man to ever break her heart. He smiled at her, and she felt the healing cracks of her heart start to break again. She had been completely honest with him. Bared her soul to him, and he turned her down. Even though she could see the hurt, the devastation on his face, it still felt like he had humiliated her. Even though she knew that nobody else knew about what happened inside that theater besides the two of them, it felt like everyone was sending pity toward her.

Had he told someone else? Was her humiliation not bad enough with just him knowing how she felt? She forced herself to look away. There was no way she was going to approach him. No way was she going to talk to him. Because deep down, she knew she'd regret it in the morning.

Don't you know I'm not your ghost anymore

You lost the love I loved the most

Sitting down, she pulled a random file from the stack on her desk. It was the only way she knew to keep him at bay, at least for now. Deep down she knew she'd eventually have to talk to him again, but for now she'd settle for steering clear. He'd hurt her badly, even if he didn't know it.

Juliet entered the building, and tried to fight against the butterflies that fluttered inside of stomach. She watched as Shawn shoved a straw into a cup, and looked up.

"Jules, what are you doing here?" She saw a smile tug at the edge of his lips. Her stomach flipped flopped. "And what I mean by that is who is going to fit Mr. Yang with her straight jacket, and iron mask with face grill?"

Fighting against the queasy, uneasy feeling in her stomach she forced a small smile. "Something tells me there is an entire precinct of people bidding on that job right now."

She watched as he, himself looked a bit uneasy. Then again after what he'd been through and what he had just accomplished, who wouldn't be a little uneasy. He leaned over his tray of snack food, and grabbed for something. "Can I interest you in a delicious neco-wafer?"

It was now or never. If she hesitated one more second she'd never go through with it, and there was nothing that she ever wanted to do quite so badly, except maybe be an officer. "Shawn can you just not talk for a couple of seconds?"

He looked up as he grabbed his tray of snacks, a worried expression on his face. He had always been good at hiding his feelings, except for when it came for her. "Look, I just wanted to tell you. What you did today, I mean I can't imagine being able to function at that level, while your mom was, you know. I am a clearly not as good at words, like you are. And ummm...I know that things between us has been...a little complicated." She paused, the expression on his face was so endearing. Slightly clueless, with a hint of worry. "And I know that there has probably been some mixed signals, mostly from me. With regards of the time we spent together outside of the line of duty."

His eyes closed as he shook his head. "Look Jules."

Gesturing with her hands, Juliet interrupted him. "Please just let me finish stumbling through this. I'm almost finished I promise." Pausing she takes a breath. "What I'm saying, what I'm thinking is that maybe sometimes, the best things. The richest things. They aren't supposed to come easily. And that sometimes the moments that make the most sense, happen when everything else doesn't. And well," she paused, moving the tray of snacks from his hands back to the table upon which it had previously been sitting. "I think you deserve more than popcorn tonight." Breathing deeply, she moved in ever so slightly closer to him, "So why don't you let me take you to dinner."

Shaking his head, the smallest of smiles played at the edges of his lips. "Detective O'Hara, are you asking me out on a date?"

Staring into his eyes, she shook her head. "I am. A proper one."

This time the smile did more than play at the edges, as the left side of his mouth twitched up in a smile. "Wow." He breathed out a laugh, shaking his head. "I cannot believe this." She breathed out her own bubbly laugh. "All this time, and." Another small laugh, almost like a scoff. "You're timing is just awful." That gorgeous, weak in the knees, smile plastered on his lips, as Juliet felt her insides start to shake.

The smile that had been over so present on her lips disappeared into a look of unbelief. "It is?"

"Yeah. Just dreadful." Still smiling, and she realized now that it was in a self-deprecating type of way.

Confusion lit up her features. "What?"

The smile disappeared. "I can't go to dinner with you Jules. I'm already on a date."

Still with a confused look. "You are...what here?"

"Yeah, right now...it's weird. Yeah...with Abigail."

Realization hit her like a ton of bricks. She felt like an idiot. "The one that got away."

"Yeah."

Without another thought, she leaned forward and placed a soft kiss to his cheek, and as she pulled away, she ran her thumb over his cheek. His eyes were closed, "Get out there." His eyes opened, as a look of honest confusion lit his features. "She's not going to wait forever." She turned to walk away. His hand grazed against his cheek, the place that she had kissed still tingled.

"Jules." She turned back. He shook his head as he spoke. "I am so sorry." She felt a rise of hope, that maybe he had changed his mind. "For snapping at you earlier." Hope immediately deflated.

"I know." She was defeated. Her heart was breaking. He was going to go out, and possibly home with another girl tonight, and there was nothing that she could do about it now. Her always fragile heart was broken. She offered him one last sad smile before walking away.

Looking up again, she saw that his eyes were glued to her. She felt the familiar shiver run the length of her spine. Yes, she definitely was still in love with him.

I learned to live, half alive

And now you want me one more time

She watched as he started to move toward her. If she stood up, she had enough time to escape him, and yet it would draw attention to her. That was the last thing she needed. So instead, she placed a fake smile upon her lips.

"Hey Jules..." She saw the look in his eyes, and knew that he saw right through her smile. She was caught, and yet he was the only one that could see it. The only that could see the pain and hurt she was suffering through alone.

"Yeah Shawn." She'd fake it. It was the only thing she could do.

"Can we go somewhere to talk?" The question was innocent enough for prying ears, but she knew the deeper meaning to his words. The wound was far too fresh, and she couldn't deal with it right now. She wouldn't.

Shaking her head, she let her eyes drift down to the pile of paperwork in front of her. "No time Shawn. Sorry." She patted the files on her desk for good measure. Now was not the time for tortured what if's. Even if what happened had hurt him, he still had someone to spend his nights with, and she had no one. Well, not no one. She had her cats, but even they were sick of hearing about Shawn.

"Okay. Maybe later then." She saw a sad smile pull up the edge of his lips, and she felt a pang of guilt.

Who do you think you are?

Runnin' 'round leaving scars

Juliet unlocked the door to her apartment, and opened it with her only free hand. Upon walking in, she sat the lone bag down on the counter. It's contents were small. A single pint of ice cream, and a pineapple smoothie. Shawn had gotten her addicted. She heard a noise from the living room. It sounded almost like a sniffle. Grabbing her gun, she edged herself into the living room before flicking on the light. Shawn looked up, a redness in his eyes. He stood up, as his usual lopsided grin flashed at her.

"You're home, and is that pineapple I smell?" Try as she might, Juliet smiled.

"Yes. It's a smoothie. You've made me an addict." His hands were shoved deep into his pockets.

"Ah, I see. Well I'd saw that we should get you into PA, pineapple annoymounus. But it would be a crime if you became...unaddicted..." He sighed, as a hand swiped through his hair. "This isn't right."

He looked up, and she saw on his face, what she was currently feeling. This was forced, it wasn't right. She motioned for him to follow her. Upon his entrance into the kitchen, she handed him the smoothie.

"Jules..I can't..." She sighed and shook her head.

Collecting your jar of hearts

And tearing love apart

"What I mean is...I can't hide this from you anymore. I..uh...I broke up with Abigail.." He looked up and she saw pain in his expression.

"Why'd you do that?" Hope, once again reared it's ugly little head. She tried to beat it back down, and yet it stood it's ground.

"Because it didn't feel...right." Juliet gasped as she realized that this is the most serious she'd seen him, at least in conversation. The intense set of his face took her breath away. "It felt...forced. At least on my end. I think I hurt her." He stopped, placing the smoothie on her counter. She saw tears form at the edge of his eyes. "It's never what I wanted Jules. I never wanted anyone to get hurt." He shook his head, as that self-deprecating smile crossed his lips. "She threw things." To which he pointed at a band-aid on his forehead. "Sometimes they connected. I don't blame her though. In the same position, I probably would have too...well maybe not, but.." he sighed, as he let his sentence fall short. "I broke her heart."

You're gonna catch a cold

From the ice inside your soul

Juliet felt tears pool, threatening to fall. "It should have hurt me, to know that I hurt her. Well, I mean, it did. A little. I'm not heartless. There's no way not to feel something, when someone you care about is crying, but it was nothing..." He paused again, his fingers playing with the zipper on his jacket. "It was nothing compared to the utter devastation I felt when I looked in your eyes that night and saw the anguish you were trying so desperately to hide. It broke me Jules..."

She felt her heart leap, as she realized that he had broken up with Abigail for her. Her pain, had caused him pain, and that thought hurt her. Part of her couldn't understand why they were hurting each other when they obviously cared so deeply for each other. His hand snaked out, and grabbed a hold of hers, as he moved slightly closer to her.

"What I'm trying to say is, I think you deserve more than half melted ice cream tonight Jules."

She fought the smile that wanted to tug at the corners of her lips, and beat down the fluttering sensations in her chest. "Shawn Spencer, are you asking me out on a date?"

He smiled at her, "I am. A proper one."

She sighed, it wasn't a happy sound, but it wasn't an pained sound either. It was one of confusion. Her heart was telling her to go for it, while her head was telling her to tell him to leave. The confliction caused her to pause, his smile faltered. "Is there nothing I can do to fix this?" The pain evident in his voice broke her heart.

So don't come back for me

Who do you think you are?

She wanted nothing more than to tell him that he just had, but she couldn't make her voice work. She couldn't move, she couldn't blink. She couldn't do a thing, but stare at him. It was then that she realized, they had missed their chance. She had waited to long to make a move, and now they're time was gone. The realization caused a few tears to fall down her cheeks. Using his thumb, he caught them and wiped them away.

"I'm sorry Shawn. No there isn't. We waited too long, and we...just missed it. Maybe...later on down the road. Possibly, but right now. No."

He shook his head, trying to mask the pain evident on his face, as he turned to leave. As soon as the door shut, Juliet turned toward the untouched pineapple smoothie. The calm facade she had been trying so hard to keep a hold on, broke right then, and she slid down to the floor as tears spilled down her cheeks.