Hey! I finally have a chapter ready! Someone had commented that they wanted more "emotional connection." I'm not sure how well I did at that, although I did add the first 2 sections of this in hopes of making it more believable of Shawn's feelings(?). Honestly, I've lost most of my notes to this story so am basically starting all over. I know the general outline and end goal, but now I have to figure out the details again, so any suggestions are welcomed! I can make no promises on future updates since my life is complicated right now and depression sucks.

Anyways, reminder that if you recognize it, than I probably don't own it. Also, I know almost nothing about gun ranges, or guns for that matter, and don't remember where I got my research from.

Enjoy!

Mid-March

When Gus arrived at the Psych Office, Shawn was laughing. "Shawn! What are you doing?"

"Updating my will." Shawn rolled his eyes as he typed on his phone.

"Really? With that goofy grin on your face?" Gus squinted at him. "Are you texting Lassiter?!"

"I don't think it's any of your business." Shawn replied as he turned to his laptop.

"Shawn! I thought you were going to break things off before they got serious?!"

"Psh! Things are so not serious."

"Really?! How many times have you texted Lassiter within the last week?"

Shawn shrugged, "I don't know, does it really matter?"

"Have you even checked the Psych phone for messages today?"

"Of course!"

"When?"

"When I first came in."

"Shawn! That was over 4 hours ago!"

"Relax, Gus! If there was an emergency, Lassie would leave his boring conference." Shawn's phoned buzzed and he grinned. "Since he's still texting me, it means that nothing important is going on!"

Gus shook his head and searched for the office phone. "What if a potential client needs us?"

"Then they can come to the office like everyone else." Shawn mumbled as he read his phone.

"Shawn! We've talked about this. You can't keep lying to Lassiter."

Shawn groaned, "Oh, dude! You sound just like my dad! And I so don't need two of him on my case! I'm fine!"

Finding the office phone under Shawn's motorcycle helmet, Gus put it back into the charger before coming over to Shawn. "Shawn, you know I care about you, right?"

"Of course." Shawn sighed as he looked up at him.

"I just, I know how badly you like Lassiter. I don't want you to get hurt."

"And you think telling him the truth won't hurt me?!"

"It could. Although, according to Juliet, Lassiter is pretty smitten with Sharon. Juliet even asked me if Psych could help track down Sharon's address and place of employment."

Shawn winced. "What did you tell Jules?"

"That your gifts don't work like that, but we would see if we could come up with something."

"Thanks, Gus. You're the best!"

"You know that's right." Gus grinned as he walked back to his desk. "So, are you going to tell him?"

"I'll think about it. It's not exactly something I can text him or blurt out over dinner."

"No, but you'll think of something. You're not a complete idiot." Gus shrugged as he sat down. "Hey! Shawn!" He exclaimed as a plush ball hit his forehead.

"Sorry, must have slipped." Shawn grinned as he got up. "Wanna grab dinner early?"

"Sure, but you're paying."

"With what money?! In case you haven't noticed, business has been kind of slow lately."

"Well then, I guess I'll grab dinner by myself." Gus replied as he hurried out of the office.

"Gus! Don't be like Scrooge McDuck! Gus? Gus?!" Shawn yelled as he tried to catch up before Gus reached his car.

*A week later*

Shawn smiled as he entered the gun range. "Hey Tom."

"Hey Shawn! How you doin'?" The owner smiled as he held out a fist.

"I'm good. You?"

"Can't complain, man, Can't complain."

"So, how's the competition looking this year?"

"The usual suspects, along with a few rookies thinking they can prove themselves."

"Got any good videos?"

"You know that I am only allowed to release footage if there is a suspected crime."

Shawn shrugged. "Maybe next time then."

"Don't try to get Anita in trouble! She's a good kid. Crack shot and able to ward off any unwanted behavior, including yours! My buddies and I actually have a small wager on where she will place in the rankings."

"She that good?"

"Yep. Pretty close to beating your records, assuming Carlton doesn't break them first."

"Is Lassie, I mean, is Carlton here? I thought I saw his car outside."

"He sure is. He comes by almost every other night, except when his girlfriend is in town."

"He's mentioned having a girlfriend?"

"Well, not in so many words. Even an ex-cop like me can still string clues together. He actually declined an invitation to join us at the gun exhibition a few weeks ago. First time in over a decade that he's missed. Must be serious."

"Yeah. Hey, do you mind if I get an hour of practice in? Gotta keep my gun license up to date."

"Sure, but try not to show off too much. There are some super competitive people here tonight. Give me a minute to get your gun out of the member's safe."

"Oh no, I'll just take a newbie's gun."

"Really? You don't want to show off?"

"You know I only do that for dates. Besides, I need to talk to Las-Carlton, don't want to intimidate him."

"All right." Tom pulled out some forms. "You gotta sign this waiver and rental acknowledgement form first."

"Thanks, Tom!"

Shawn glanced at the other people as he made his way down to the far end of the indoor range. Carlton was in the last bay, separated from everyone else. Once he was close enough, Shawn took a moment to appreciate Carlton's form and stance: The appropriate mix of tight and relaxed muscles, proper positioning of his arms, controlled breathing, muscles absorbing the recoil of each shot taken in one-second intervals. Shawn felt like he could stand there and watch Carlton all night.

Taking a deep breath, Shawn waited until Carlton lowered his weapon to reload rounds before he approached. "Hey Lassie!"

Carlton jerked his head around, barely keeping the gun on the table, "Spencer! What are you doing here?!"

Shawn shrugged as he reached forward and pulled the earmuffs off Carlton's head. "Dad wants me to keep my gun license up to date, which means I need to practice."

Carlton frowned. "Since when do you have a gun license?"

"Since I was old enough, so 18 or whatever the age limit is."

"Do you even own a gun?"

Shawn smiled, "Wouldn't you like to know!"

"Yes, I want to know what idiot gave you a gun."

"My dad. And yes, it is locked up far away from my place and the Psych office. Anyways, have any tips for me?" Shawn asked as he walked up to Carlton's table and started to load his gun.

"Aim at the target and not at your foot. Or me, for that matter."

Shawn grinned as he pulled on his earmuffs. "Thanks, Lassie. You better cover your ears."

"Spencer, wait! You need a new sheet!" Carlton said as he quickly replaced his earmuffs.

"Relax, Lassie!" Shawn said he lifted his handgun. "Firing!" Taking a deep breath, Shawn aimed for the sheet and fired off all the rounds in rapid succession. Smiling, Shawn replaced the safety, lowered the gun, and removed his earmuffs. "So, what do you think?" He asked as he turned to grin at Carlton. His smiled faltered slightly when he noticed that Carlton had stepped closer so that they were now almost touching.

"What?!" Carlton whispered in disbelief as he stared at the target. Without diverting his gaze, Carlton reached across Shawn to retract the target sheet, their arms brushing. As the target got closer, Carlton could make out an 'S' out of both his own and Shawn's bullet holes on the chest. "How?!" Carlton looked down and found himself almost nose-to-nose with Shawn.

"Lucky shot?" Shawn whispered as he backed up as much as the divider would let him and looked away. He suddenly felt a wave of dizziness and stumbled. "Woah."

Carlton frowned as he grabbed Shawn's arm and gently took the gun. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, sure." Shawn slowly straightened and pulled away from Carlton. "I'm probably just dehydrated; my body likes to dramatically warn me about drinking water. I must have forgotten my afternoon pineapple smoothie."

"Would you like me to call someone?"

"Thanks Lassie, but I'll be okay. I'll have Tom give me some water." He started packing up his things. "Look, I should probably go."

"No," Carlton whispered. "Show me again."

Shawn shook his head as he slipped around Carlton. "I can't, I have plans tonight. Besides, your girlfriend will be back tomorrow, you probably need to clean your house or something."

It wasn't until Shawn was already out the door before Carlton stopped staring at the sheet and whispered, "How does he know that Sharon will be here tomorrow?"

March 28

"Holy Batman, that hurt!" Sharon panted as she laid on the floor of her dad's living room.

"Good thing you started on the floor this time." Henry patted her shoulder. "Let me call Emera."

Sharon shook her head. "No, I don't *gasp* have time for that."

"Shaw-Sharon! Something is wrong! You can't blame alcohol this time since you said yourself that you haven't had a drink in days!"

"I'm supposed to meet Lassie in a half hour, and I don't want to be late." She held a hand to her stomach as she slowly sat up. "If it's still painful when I change back, you can call her then. In the meantime, I need to go pretty myself up."

Henry shook his head and went into the kitchen. "You need to talk to Carlton."

"I know that! I just haven't figured out how to tell him. Or how to make sure that there are no guns within a 10 mile radius."

"I can drop the two of you off in the middle of the desert, or the middle of the ocean."

"Haha, very funny." Sharon rolled her eyes as she went upstairs with her duffle bag.

"Don't leave any of your makeup in the bathroom!" He yelled up the stairs. "I don't need to answer any awkward questions from dates!"

"Eww! You're too old to date!" Sharon replied before shutting the bathroom door.

When Sharon neared the pub, she spotted Carlton sitting at one of the outdoor tables. Coughing slightly as she passed a couple of smokers, she made her way through the maze of tables. "Hey Carlton."

"Hello Sharon, I was afraid you were going to stand me up." Carlton greeted as he stood to give her a kiss on the cheek.

"Yeah, sorry. I'm having some stomach problems, nothing serious, and had to track down some Pepto-Bismol."

"If you're not hungry, we can leave."

"No, I'm fine. I'll just eat like a bird tonight."

"That expression is actually a falsity. Birds eat a lot, compared to their body weight."

Sharon smiled, "Did you just quote Psycho?"

"Maybe." Carlton replied as he looked for the waiter.

"Oh man, you totally did! Do you see yourself as Detective Arbogast? I hate to break it to you, but, spoiler alert, he dies."

"Why would I quote a movie if I haven't seen it a few times? Of course I know he dies. It was a stupid death that could have easily been prevented if he was checking his surroundings properly."

Sharon leaned her chin on her palm and asked, "So who was your favorite character? Obviously not Norman; unless you also have a mommy complex and a love of stuffed birds."

Carlton shook his head as the waiter came over. "Can I get a refill on my scotch and a water for the lady? Maybe some ginger tea?"

"Yes sir," the waiter nodded before walking off.

Sharon crossed her arms and leaned back in the seat. "You could have asked me what I wanted first, instead of ignoring me. I am totally capable of speaking for myself, you know."

Carlton nodded. "Yes, and I apologize. I just noticed that the waiter has been unnecessarily flirting with every female customer and I didn't want him to linger any longer than needed."

Sharon looked around and noticed that the waiter was indeed being an obnoxious flirt with a table of young women who barely looked old enough to drink; a few of whom looked uncomfortable with the attention. "Are you going to stop him?"

"He hasn't broken any laws, but I will have a word with the manager."

"Allow me." Sharon stated as she stood up and walked over to the waiter. "Excuse me!" She said sweetly.

The waiter turned around and grinned lewdly at her. "Good evening, sweetie. Anything I can help you with?"

"Yes." Sharon placed a hand on his upper arm and leaned in to whisper harshly, "You better leave these women, and all the other women patrons, alone! Nobody wants to be harassed by a creep like you! You don't want to know what will happen if I see you doing more than just your job for the rest of the night! My date is the head detective for the SBPD and therefore knows how to leave no evidence behind!" She leaned back and squeezed his arm tightly. "Okay, sweetie?"

The waiter nodded and nervously glanced at Carlton. "Yes, ma'am."

"Good! Now, be a dear and put the young ladies' total check on my tab. I will be watching to see if you need a tip or not." She smiled and walked over to the table of young ladies and said, "On behalf of the people of Santa Barbara, I would like to apologize for the inappropriate behavior of that waiter. I hope you have a wonderful time in our fair city while on your vacation!"

Sharon was smiling when she returned to the table. "That should make everyone's evening better."

"What did you say to that waiter? He's more skittish than a cat at a dog park." Carlton crossed his arms.

"I just gave him some friendly advice." Sharon grinned as she took a sip from Carlton's scotch.

"I didn't take you for a dancer." Sharon whispered as they swayed to the music the band was playing.

"My mother made me take dance lessons when I was younger."

"My mom tried to teach me, but I was always tripping over my own feet. Ended up hitting my head and had to miss school for a week because of a concussion. Best week of fifth grade, even if I don't remember much of it."

"You're doing alright now."

Sharon laughed, "What can I say, this body is surprisingly more balanced than when I was 12 years old. Plus, I've had plenty of really helpful teachers in the last few years."

"Any that I should be jealous of?"

"Nope. So, how long have you been coming here?"

"Since I was a rookie on the force. Followed a witness here during one of their monthly dance nights. My ex-wife seemed to enjoy it; one of the few things we both agreed on. Since we separated, I have only been here a few times with dates."

"Never alone?"

"The only people who seem to come alone are little old ladies who can be a bit grabby."

Sharon laughed as Carlton spun her out. She glanced at a nearby elderly couple and smirked, "I see what you mean." When he brought her back in, she whispered, "And of course you wouldn't want to arrest any of them for assaulting an officer."

"I tried that once. The Chief was not happy."

Sharon laughed and shifted closer as the band transitioned into a slower tempo. A young lady walked up to the microphone and started singing with the band:

"Kiss Today Goodbye,

the sweetness and the sorrow.

Wish me luck, the same to you,

But I can't regret what I did for Love, what I did for Love.

Look, my eyes are dry,

The gift was ours to borrow.

It's as if we always knew,

And I won't forget what I did for Love, what I did for Love."

"Hey, are you okay?" Carlton asked softly as he brushed a hand across her cheek.

Realizing that she was crying, Sharon nodded and laid her head on his shoulder. "Sorry, must be allergies."

"Kiss today goodbye

And point me toward tomorrow

We did what we had to do

Won't forget, can't regret,

what I did for Love, what I did for Love."

When Carlton opened his eyes the next morning, he found Sharon curled up along his side, petting his chest hair. "I'm not a dog." He grumbled.

She smiled as she looked at him. "I know. I was just…thinking."

"About what?"

"You. Me…. Us."

"What about us?"

She looked back down at her hand. "Are we an 'us'? I've never really been an… 'us' …before. I never let anyone try to stay with me."

"Do you want to, um…" he cleared his throat. "Do you want to be an us?"

"Do you?"

"I thought we already were."

She nodded, "Yeah, I guess so."

"You guess?"

"I'm…it's…*sigh* I told you that I've never…I don't do relationships."

Carlton tilted her head towards him so that she was looking at him. "I don't have a very good track record with relationships either. But I, um. I think we are…good together."

"You barely know me."

"And whose fault is that? You hardly ever talk about yourself and I have yet to meet any of your friends."

"Well, you do know a couple of my friends."

"Really?! Who?"

"I don't know if I should tell you."

"Why not?"

Sharon settled her head on his shoulder and whispered, "Can we just enjoy this? I don't want to ruin this."

"Okay." He tightened his hold on her.

"Carlton, I…I have a confession to make…." Sharon whispered as she poked her fork at her spaghetti that night.

"You're not married, are you?" Carlton frowned.

"No."

"Do you have kids?"

"Hell no." She smirked.

"Then what?"

"I am…I, um, I knew about you before we meet at the party."

"How?"

"Well, I'm…friends… with someone you work with."

"I figured that since you were able to get into that party."

She nodded and pushed her half-full plate away. "Promise me you won't get mad at them or try interrogating them. I swore them to secrecy."

Carlton took a moment to study her face before nodding. "Okay, I will try to be civil."

"Only try?"

"Yes. Since I have asked almost everyone at the precinct about you, that means someone lied to me."

"Well, they don't work at the police station, per se."

"They don't?"

Sharon shook her head and looked out the window between them. "I'm friends with … Burton Guster."

They sat in silence for almost a full minute before Carlton asked, "You're friends with Guster?"

"Yeah."

"So that means you're also friends with Spencer."

She smirked and nodded, "Excellent deduction, detective."

"And do they …know about us?"

"Basically, since the beginning."

"Those two children have been able to keep a secret for this long?!"

Sharon shrugged. "Apparently."

"I knew Spencer's antics was getting a bit too immature."

"I thought you considered all of Shawn's antics immature."

"Yes, but they have gotten worse. He's obviously in love with you."

Sharon laughed as she finally turned to look at him. "Excuse me?!"

"I figured that Spencer was just jealous that I had a lady friend while he is still single. But he must be hurt knowing that you now hang out with me when you are in town, which is probably why O'Hara tells me that she doesn't see him at the station when we're hanging out. Maybe he's stalking us."

"He's not stalking us." She grinned.

"Wait, is Spencer the one who lives at Kirkland Towers, and where you stay when you are in town?!"

"No, that's Gus. And in case you didn't notice, I brought my stuff straight here this time." She rolled her eyes and stood up from the table. "Now, let me state this once and get it out of the way: I am not, nor have I ever: dated, slept with, or even kissed Shawn or Gus. Well, I did kiss Gus once, but we were super drunk and both fell asleep soon after, in separate rooms, as per my dad's nagging. Anyways, you have nothing to worry about when it comes to those two. They are as loyal as it comes, so don't ask them too many questions. Now, I have the sudden urge for mint chocolate ice cream from the place on the beach."

"It is currently 40 degrees outside and I am allergic to mint."

Sharon shrugged as she took her plate to the sink. "Then I guess I'm going by myself. Maybe I'll call Shawn and Gus to join me."

"Not necessary." Carlton quickly gathered his plate and joined her in the kitchen. "You just won't be allowed to kiss me."

"Hmmm," Sharon wrapped her arms around his neck. "The temptation might be too much. Think you can resist me."

"I could convince you to change your mind instead."

"We'll see what happens." She gave him a quick kiss before stepping back. "Now, go get your coat. If you're not outside within 5 minutes, I'm leaving without you."