A/N: Thank you again for the reviews, guys! This chapter is much longer than the previous and there's also more action. Hope you enjoy

Juliet sighed as she fell back against her chair, exhausted. The excitement from finding the bodies had worn off quickly once they'd realized how monumental the task of recovering all of the evidence would be. The chief had called in more divers, but even so it still took more than three hours before they had recovered everything. Juliet was hungry and exhausted. It was almost 6 pm and she had promised Shawn she'd do her best to get to his father's house for dinner by 7. That was beginning to look less and less likely.

The evidence they'd collected was good. Good enough to hold Rodrigo Estevez and hopefully convict him. Lassiter was in the interrogation room with him now, confronting him with the evidence they had recovered. Juliet wanted to be involved but she was too busy handling the paperwork from the day's recovery mission. And from the sound of it, Carlton had it covered.

Her phone rang and she smiled when she saw Shawn's picture on the caller ID.

"Save me Jules," he whispered when she picked up, and for a second Juliet's stomach dropped.

"Shawn? What's wrong?" she asked, immediately concerned. She'd thought he looked pale earlier and a million thoughts ran through her head, none of them good.

"He's making me make flan."

Juliet huffed out a relieved breath. "What?"

"My dad! He's making me cook."

"So you're fine?"

"Did you not hear what I just said? Flan, Jules!"

Juliet laughed. "Yeah, too eggy if you ask me."

"I agree. Vehemently." Juliet heard the rattling of silverware "So should I set a place for you?" he asked hopefully, and she wanted so desperately not to disappoint him.

"I'll try my best, Shawn."

"Shawn! You need to beat the eggs!" Henry shouted in the background.

Juliet laughed. "I think you need to get back to work."

"Hold your horses!" Shawn yelled back. "Save me, Jules," he whispered again before hanging up.

Juliet shook her head, returning to the stack of papers. She tuned out everything around her and focused only on the paperwork at hand. Nearly thirty minutes had passed before she even took the time to check her watch.

"What are you still doing here, O'Hara?"

Juliet looked up, startled. Carlton stood in front of her, hands on his hips. She motioned to the paperwork on her desk, choosing to leave that as answer enough.

"I can do paperwork, you know. Weren't you supposed to go up to some cabin with Spencer for the weekend?"

Juliet shrugged. "He knows I have work to do. Plus, this case is too big to miss out on." She turned to continue working, but Lassiter put his hand over her paperwork.

"McNab!" He shouted, and the eager young officer came running.

"Yes, Detective?"

"I have some paperwork for you," Lassiter said, picking up the stack of papers and depositing it in Buzz's hands.

"Hey!" Juliet exclaimed.

"I'm pulling rank, O'Hara. If Spencer hadn't found the bodies we'd be back at square one and Estevez would be free. We can't do anything until the crime techs scour every inch of the evidence, and Estevez isn't going anywhere. Plus, the chief said you maxed out on overtime these last two weeks, so you're technically not even allowed to be here."

Juliet grinned, finally agreeing. "Are you saying you're doing this for Shawn?"

Lassiter looked disgusted. "Of course not, O'Hara." Juliet kept smiling. "I'll deny it if you tell him. Now get out of here. I'll call you the second anything changes."

Juliet pushed out of her seat. "Thank you, Carlton."

Lassiter nodded. "Don't mention it," he said, heading back towards the interrogation room.

Juliet picked up her phone and quickly dialed Shawn's number to let him know she'd be coming to dinner. She heard him say her name, but immediately the call dropped. "Dammit," she huffed, annoyed.

"Something wrong, Detective?" McNab asked, looking up from his new pile of paperwork.

"My phone keeps dropping calls," she said frustrated. "I need to go let Carlton know." Juliet quickly packed her bags and headed towards the interrogation room where Lassiter was still grilling their main suspect. When she opened the door, her partner looked up surprised.

"O'Hara! I thought I told you to leave."

Estevez looked up as Juliet entered and she felt his eyes on her, studying her. She made eye contact for a brief second and then quickly looked away towards her partner.

"Don't worry, I'm leaving," she reassured him. "I just wanted to let you know that my cell service has been spotty and it will probably only get worse up in the mountains. If anything happens with the case, can you call me on Shawn's number?"

Lassiter nodded. "Sure." He paused to think for a second. "What's the name of the mountain in case I can't get through to Spencer?" he asked.

"Big Pine Mountain in the Los Padres forest," Juliet said. "The ranger station has a landline and is only a few miles from us. I'll let them know we're up there in case you call."

Lassiter jotted down the information. "Got it. Now go have a good time. I better not see you until Monday."

O'Hara smiled and nodded. "Bye Carlton," she said before turning to leave, unaware of Estevez's eyes following her out.

"Gus! Knock it off," Shawn scolded as he slapped his best friend's hand away from another corn-on-the-cob. It was his third attempt in the last fifteen minutes to steal food from the spread on the table.

"Well I'm hungry, Shawn! And you said we would be eating at 7, so I think I'm entitled to some food."

"Dad, help me out here?" Shawn asked, looking at his father hopefully.

"You did tell him 7, Shawn."

Shawn threw up his hands. "Jules texted and she will be here any minute! Do you really want her to get here and for all the food to be gone?"

"Just one cob, Shawn," Gus tried again.

Shawn was about to make another argument when he heard Juliet's car on the gravel.

"Hear that? She's here. Now behave yourself."

Shawn left his father and Gus at the table and went out the kitchen door to greet his girlfriend. Juliet had parked her green Beetle next to Gus's Echo and Shawn could see a few bags in the front seat as well as a pillow.

"Do my eyes deceive me or is that an overnight bag?" he asked her, greeting Juliet with a kiss on the cheek.

"A double overnight bag," Juliet corrected, smiling widely.

"Does this mean what I think it means?"

Juliet nodded happily. "Carlton gave me the weekend off. We can't move on the case until Monday as it is, so I won't be missing anything."

"That's fantastic!" Shawn said, excited. He went over to the passenger door and took out Juliet's bag and pillow. "But you have to break the news to Gus. I think he was convinced he and Rachel would have the cabin to themselves for the weekend."

"Well wouldn't you have gone up with them anyway?"

Shawn shook his head. "And leave you all alone? Not a chance. Now m'lady, shall we?" Juliet grinned widely, allowing Shawn to take her hand as they walked up the path to Henry's house. "I can't vouch for my dad's fish, but the corn on the cob and flan are top-not...Gus, what the hell?" Shawn exclaimed when he saw his best friend sitting at the table, a bare cob on his plate and corn kernels scattered around it. We were out there for five minutes tops!"

"I told you I was starving, Shawn! You know what happens when I don't eat."

"It's been about three hours," Shawn huffed in disbelief. "You couldn't stop him?" he asked, turning towards his father.

Henry shrugged. "Not my job, Kid."

"You guys didn't have to wait for me!" Juliet exclaimed guiltily.

Gus shot Shawn a smug look that clearly said 'I told you so.' Shawn chose to ignore it.

"Of course we waited for you, Sweetheart," Shawn said, pulling out a chair for Juliet. "Or at least those of us who aren't half-animal waited," he added, motioning towards Gus.

"Yeah, yeah. Can we eat?" Gus said impatiently, already helping himself to another cob.

Henry stood up, taking a few Coronas out of the fridge and removing the tin foil that was covering the fish and vegetables. "Dinner is served."

"That your partner?" Rodrigo Estevez asked after Juliet had left the interrogation room. Lassiter turned back towards his suspect, the smarmy grin plastered on Estevez's face making him cringe.

"None of your business," he answered gruffly.

"She's one fine piece of ass."

Lassiter was up so quickly Estevez didn't even have time to blink. And then Lassiter had the suspect pinned up against the wall and he saw a glimmer of fear pass across Estevez's eyes. Lassiter released him roughly and Estevez stumbled into the chair he had just been sitting in. The fear that had flickered across his eyes disappeared and was immediately replaced with a smug smile. "You better watch it, Detective. Something like that can put a serious kink in your case against me."

"Can it, Estevez. With the amount of evidence we have against you, you won't be going anywhere for a long, long time. Now tell me, who were you working with?"

"Why don't you just get your 'psychic' to divine the answer to that question?" Estevez challenged. Lassiter was caught off guard. He had no idea how Estevez knew about Spencer's involvement in the case. "Didn't think I knew, did you Detective? But then of course I suspected something was up. Last I saw, your officers couldn't find a dead body even if there was a big X painted over it."

"The SPBD has some of the best officers in the country."

Estevez scoffed. "What was that psychic's name? Shawn Spencer?" Lassiter tried not to bristle at the resident psychic's name, but he knew Estevez noticed. "And that pretty partner of yours. That's his girlfriend. Am I right?"

Lassiter was up again, his hand gripping a piece of Estevez's collar. "Listen, jackass, I don't know what your game is, but you better knock it off or I'll have you -"

"Detective!"

Lassiter turned around to see the chief standing at the door to the interrogation room, a tall, well-dressed man at her side. He immediately let go of Estevez and brushed his hands on his pants. "Yes, Chief?"

Vick watched her head detective for a second before continuing. "This is Mark Sheppard. He's Mr. Estevez's attorney."

Mark Sheppard stepped forward, glaring at Lassiter. "That will be enough questioning, Detective. And you can expect that there will be some serious inquiries into the handling of my client."

Lassiter was about to protest, but Vick urged him on again. He followed her out, leaving Estevez and his attorney to talk.

"Did you get anything from him?" Vick asked once they had closed the door.

Lassiter looked through the glass, studying Estevez. "He wouldn't fold. But I'm sure the evidence we collected today will be enough to convict..." he trailed off when he saw the look on Karen's face. "What?" he asked, certain he wouldn't like her answer.

"They haven't found anything conclusively linking Estevez to the bodies. And then there's the question about how he could have gotten them out there in the first place - he doesn't have a boat and as far as we know, he isn't a SCUBA diver. Those bodies were placed in that cave, not simply dumped into the ocean."

"Well obviously he has a partner. We just need to find him," Lassiter insisted.

"And I agree. I just hope we have enough to hold him," she said grimly, turning to leave.

Lassiter took one last glance back at the interrogation room. Sheppard was clearly talking to his client, but Estevez was staring straight into the glass, his beady eyes fixed on the head detective. Lassiter shivered involuntarily before turning and following the chief out.

"Not hungry?" Henry asked, motioning his fork towards Shawn's half-eaten fish.

"I'm saving room for the flan," Shawn answered flatly, not up for his dad's scrutinizing. He was feeling slightly nauseated at the sight of the fish on his plate and had chosen to pick at the vegetables instead. Gus, on the other hand, was on his third helping.

"Delicious, Mr. Spencer," Gus said earnestly, shoveling more vegetables into his mouth. Juliet agreed.

"Well thank you, Gus, Juliet. It's good to know some people appreciate my cooking."

Shawn rolled his eyes. "Oh save it, Dad. You don't care who enjoys your cooking, you just wanted to get to use your new grill. Which, if you'll remember, I picked out."

Henry laughed, standing up to clear the plates. "It's a good grill, Kid," he agreed, slapping Shawn lightly on the back of his head. Shawn yelped in surprise, gripping his head as it spun.

"Too hard!" he yelled after his dad.

"I'll get the flan," Gus said, standing up and heading for the fridge.

Shawn dropped his head into his hands, exhausted. He felt Juliet's hand on his back. "Shawn if you're not feeling well, we don't have to go up to the cabin."

Shawn turned to look at her. "Are you kidding me? You know how long I've been waiting to go back to this cabin? And now I get to show you? No way I'm passing it up." Shawn squeezed his fingers together trying to get his joints to loosen up. "I'm fine just a little tired. A shot of Five-hour Energy will wake me right up."

Juliet nodded but didn't seem fully convinced.

"Shawn, I think there's something wrong with your flan," Gus announced, balancing four plates as he walked into the dining room. "It's all runny."

Shawn poked the glob in front of him. "I don't think it set yet, Buddy. You should probably put these back in the fridge."

Gus took a huge bite anyway. "I don't care, I'm starving."

Juliet looked at him, confused. "How? You just had three servings of fish and 4 corn on the cobs!"

"Don't question it, Jules," Shawn urged.

Henry came back into the room, carrying a pot of coffee and some cream. "I thought you all could use some extra caffeine seeing as how you insist on driving up to that damn cabin tonight." Shawn nodded vigorously, holding his cup out for his dad. Henry studied him a little more closely and Shawn looked away, aware of the scrutiny. "You look pale, Shawn. Have you been eating okay?"

"Dad, would you drop it? I'm fine!"

"Why don't you all spend the night here and get an early start on the day tomorrow?" Henry suggested, still studying his son. "Weren't they saying something about storms tonight?"

Gus shook his head. "Shawn doesn't do early. If we don't go up tonight, we won't get there until at least after noon tomorrow."

"And then we'll have so much less time for activities," Shawn agreed. "It's only a two-hour drive, Dad. We'll leave soon and be up there before eleven tonight. I don't think they're calling for rain until 1 or 2 am."

"Fine," Henry agreed. "But you better be careful with my truck. If you so much as scratch it -"

"It's fifteen years old, Dad!" Shawn argued, cutting him off. "You wouldn't even notice the difference."

"Oh I'll notice, Shawn."

Shawn sighed. "We'll be careful."

Henry looked at Juliet and Gus, waiting for their nods before dropping the argument. He lifted his coffee mug in a toast. "Well then drink up. You've got a long drive ahead of you."

"How much longer?" Gus asked from the back seat, rubbing his eyes as he woke up from the nap he had unintentionally taken.

"Have a nice nap, Gus?" Juliet asked.

"Yeah, until my head was bashed against the door. Can't you drive a little more carefully?"

Shawn scoffed. "We're in the mountains, Gus. What do you expect me to do? This isn't exactly the highways of Santa Barbara."

"I'm just saying, try to avoid the huge holes in the road."

"Alright Buddy, I'll try my best."

Gus grunted his thanks. "So how far out are we?" The wind was picking up and Gus was getting a little nervous about his best friend's driving ability on the rocky mountain roads.

"We've got a little more than a half hour left," Juliet said, looking at a map. "We should be crossing a bridge in about 10 miles."

Gus shuddered. "I hate that bridge. All rickety and old. I'm amazed it's still standing."

"I'm sure it's fine, Gus," Shawn reassured him, rubbing his eyes. He had been feeling slightly dizzy since they'd started their ascent up the mountain and there was a strange pressure in his chest. He didn't want to scare Jules or Gus, but Shawn was beginning to think there was something really wrong. He planned to tell them as soon as they got to the cabin - no use worrying them now.

Shawn took a swig from the five hour energy - his second of the night. He could almost feel Juliet's look of concern, but he tried his best to ignore it. They drove in near-silence for the next twenty minutes. Juliet had lowered the volume of the radio so Shawn could concentrate, and he hadn't complained.

"There's the bridge," Juliet said, eyeing the narrow wooden bridge up ahead. Gus had been right - that bridge had no business still standing. "They should really replace that," Juliet thought aloud.

"Not enough people come up here," Shawn explained. "I guess it just isn't worth the money it would take." He was silent after that, concentrating on not freaking out as the bridge creaked beneath the weight of the truck. When they were safely across the bridge, every occupant in the car released the breath they'd been holding.

"How much farther from here?" Juliet asked.

"I think it's only about 10 or so minutes," Shawn told her, remembering the many trips they'd taken up there in years past. The bridge had always been the marker for "almost there." "The road gets pretty rough, though, so hold on."

Juliet wanted to ask how it could get any more rough than the road they'd just been on for the last hour but decided to keep the question to herself. She could tell Shawn was struggling and didn't want to distract him.

Shawn hadn't been exaggerating - the road was so bumpy it felt like they were on a roller coaster ride as they traversed it. On more than one occasion, Shawn's grip had faltered and he'd only just managed to grasp the wheel in time to keep them from careening off the road.

"Shawn, maybe you should pull over," Juliet suggested. "I can drive the rest of the way."

Shawn shook his head. "We're almost there, Jules. The cabin's just a mile or so -" Shawn gasped as he felt a pinch in his chest. Without thinking, he reached his right hand out to clutch at his chest, feeling for a second like he couldn't breathe.

"Shawn!" he heard Juliet yell, but it was too late - he had already lost control. Shawn felt the wheel jerk out of his left hand and he wasn't nearly quick enough to grab it with his right. The rocky terrain sent the truck careening, and in the second before it came to a rough stop at the bottom of a ditch, the only thought that crossed Shawn's mind was how pissed his dad was going to be. And then everything went black.

Sorry for the cliffhanger! Thanks so much for reading – I'd love to know what you think!