Hey all! *nervous wave*

I'm so sorry this chapter took so long. It was a struggle to figure out the second half (I focused too much on the case), plus life is busy. My goal is to have the next chapter done by the end of December.

Sharon is about 34 weeks pregnant!

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Chapter 24

*Thursday, October 14th*

"Guster!" Carlton yelled when he saw Gus approaching the crime scene. "What the hell are you doing here?! You better not have brought Sharon with you."

Gus shook his head as he held up both hands in a peaceful movement. "I did not bring Sharon, no matter how much she begged. Although I did agree to Skype with her so she could see the crime scene."

"She should be resting. We don't need Sharon's help, we are capable of solving cases without her."

"True, but the Chief called us and said it was a high profile case, possibly a serial killer, and she wanted to see how much we could help from the sidelines."

"Is video chatting a crime scene even legal?" Juliet asked as she joined them.

"There's no laws against it, I checked before coming over." Gus shrugged.

Carlton rolled his eyes. "O'Hara, did you know about this?"

Juliet nodded. "Yes, I just got off the phone with the Chief. She wants all hands on deck, even Sharon."

"Fine!" Carlton growled as he got back to work. "Just stay out of the way, Guster. And don't touch anything!"

"Hey! I'm not Sharon! You don't have to tell me twice." Gus nodded at a couple of officers before pulling out his phone and starting the call. Juliet stepped closer to him as they waited for the call to connect. "Hey Sharon."

"Gus! About time, man! Did you stop for food on the way over?"

Juliet laughed as Gus rolled his eyes. "No, but this is a crime scene, so I had to check in with Lassiter and Juliet first."

"Hey Jules!" Sharon smiled.

"Hey Sharon! How are you feeling?" Juliet questioned.

"I'm okay. The baby is pretty active during the day, which is so not fair while I'm basically restricted to bed. I don't know how I'm going to survive 5 more weeks of this!"

Juliet smiled, "It's only been a week…."

"4.5 days so far." Gus chimed in. "And it's only a partial bed rest right now. You can get up every few hours and take a walk around the block or something."

"If only! It takes too much time and energy to put on shoes that hurt my feet. Plus, my dad has stolen my flip flops, claiming it's too dangerous for me to walk outside when I can't see my own feet."

"I actually agree with him. You're clumsy on a good day, even more so since you entered the third trimester."

"Gus!" Sharon whined. "You're supposed to be on my side! Not my dad's!"

"Not when it comes to your health." Gus glared.

"O'Hara!" Carlton called from the other side of the room. "Let's get to work!"

Juliet shook her head as she looked back at Sharon. "I'll talk to you later, Sharon."

"Bye, Jules!"

Gus glanced around the room. "We should get started, too. I don't need to waste any more phone data than I already am."

"Please, like you don't have plenty of data usage to spare."

"Not while on a video chat." Gus rolled his eyes while he hooked up an earpiece. He turned the camera around and scanned the room. "Let me know if I need to get closer to anything."

"How about you slow down, everything is too blurry."

"Sorry." Gus took a deep breath as he turned the camera onto the body and tried not to look at the same time. "Can you see it?"

"Yeah." There was a few seconds of silence before Sharon asked "Can you get closer to her right arm?"

"I'm assuming you want me to move the camera to the left?"

"If you didn't want to be my eyes, you shouldn't have agreed to this."

"I only agreed to this because you threatened to call a cab to bring you here!"

"Eh, potato, tomato. I wish there was a way to take pictures with this thing."

"Since you're using your laptop, you can take a screenshot. Also, why don't you just ask your boyfriend to let you see the crime scene photos?"

"Obviously I'm going to do that anyways, but it will take a few days before I can get my hands on them. This way is the next best thing to actually being there."

"I still can't believe that the Chief agreed to this."

"This is the third high-profile celebrity to be murdered in a week!"

"I wouldn't exactly call a local news anchor, high school janitor, and a city council person high-profile celebrities."

"They are recognizable and beloved local faces! So the Chief and DA want to wrap these cases up as quickly as possible in case it is a serial killer and they are planning to strike again."

"This sounds like something the FBI should be involved in."

"If there is a fourth victim, or they find a solid connection between the victims, then they will have to call the FBI. But for now, it's still for the local cops. Okay, I think I have everything from the body, can you look around the room again, focusing on the immediate area first, then expanding outward."

Gus sighed as he followed directions. "You know I'm giving up my lunch break for you? And I only have about 20 minutes left before I have to get back to the office."

"And I will make sure you get a nice dinner out of this. I think my dad is making steaks tonight."

"Actually, he's making chicken and has already asked me to bring dessert."

"Well then, I'll make sure you get a pineapple smoothie delivered to you in an hour."

"Deal."

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*Sunday, October 17th*

Laughing at the movie, Sharon looked towards Carlton, who was sitting on the couch. "Lassie, you're missing the best part!"

"We watched this a few months ago, I don't need to watch it again." Carlton replied as he frowned at his laptop.

With a sigh, Sharon paused the movie. "Lassie, are you working on the case?"

"Yes."

"Dude, it's your day off! That means no working!"

"Crime doesn't take days off, why should I?"

She rolled her eyes as she shifted in the recliner in order to see him better. "Because you need a break, you're not a robot. You've been going almost nonstop on this case for over 72 hours. The Chief kicked you out of the station last night and sent you home because you were clearly running on fumes."

"I got some sleep."

"Lassie, crashing from exhaustion doesn't count as real sleep. Besides, you were barely on the bed for 3 hours before you got up."

"You were sound asleep, how do you know when I got up?"

"My bladder woke me, it decided 2am was as good a time as any to be emptied, and so I heard you fiddling with the coffee maker."

Carlton rubbed his face. "I just really need to solve this case."

"I understand the drive to solve the case as quickly as possible. I get it, I really do. But you're no good to anyone if you get burned out. Can you honestly tell me that you made any progress in the last 2 hours? The last 6?"

"I guess you're right." Carlton sighed.

"Well that settles it. You're definitely too exhausted if you're outright agreeing with me."

"You don't have to rub it in." He rolled his eyes as he set down his laptop.

"I can rub something else for you, if you want." Sharon grinned. "Like a nice, sensual massage."

"As tempting as that sounds, you're supposed to be taking it easy."

"And I am. A shoulder massage isn't that taxing. How about a bath? We can both just sit in the tub and let the hot water do the work for us." She grinned.

"I thought you didn't approve of baths?"

"I never said that. I just don't approve of a grown man taking bubble baths alone. Two adults having an intimate bath? Now that's sexy. Would be even better in a hot tub, but your bathtub should be big enough."

Carlton shook his head as he stood up. "I guess we can give it a go. Just don't be surprised if I fall asleep in the tub."

"I'm pretty sure I can think of ways to keep you awake." She smirked as she held her hands out to him. "Can I get a little help, please?"

"Maybe you should pick better places to sit down." He said as he helped her out of the recliner

"Well, I can get up by myself, it just takes me a while. It's not my fault that your recliner is so comfy."

Sharon sighed as she leaned back into Carlton's chest. "This is nice. I'm glad you have a slightly bigger tub."

"Yeah." Carlton agreed as he wrapped his arms around her so he could feel the baby moving. "I never saw you as the domestic type."

"I think I should be offended, but I'm just too tired." She placed her hands on top of his and intertwined their fingers.

"I'm just saying, you never struck me as one to settle down."

"And 6 months ago, I would have agreed with you." She turned her head and looked at him. "I never would have pictured this in a million years. I mean, I'm still scared to death of being responsible for a vulnerable little baby and part of me still wants to run as far away as possible. But..." She trailed off and looked at her belly.

"But?"

"But then I see how much you want this, even though you never seem comfortable with babies or kids. You seem genuinely happy and excited and I want that too. Also, the fact that you care about me, how you want me to stay. It terrifies me. But how can I give this up? How can I give you up?! I have been pining over you basically since we met. I never thought that you would want me too, let alone accept me." She laughed shakily and wiped a few tears away. "Wow, okay. I so did not mean to get emotional. These stupid pregnancy hormones are so not fun!"

"Hey." He gently turned her head so she was looking at him. "Thank you for being honest and open. I know it's going to be hard and we'll both get frustrated and overwhelmed, but it will be worth it."

"That's what everyone keeps saying."

"Then it must be true." He leaned his face closer to hers and whispered, "Can I kiss you?"

"Finally cashing in that rain check, huh?"

"Something like that."

"Then by all means, please do." She smiled as they closed the gap.

After a couple of minutes, Sharon pulled back slowly with a moan. "Now that's nice. Although, can I make the suggestion of relocating to the bed? I think if we continue, the tub is going to leave me with some bruises, and not the fun kind."

Carlton nodded, "Yeah. Let me grab some towels first."

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*Monday, October 18th*

"Hey sleepyhead!" Sharon greeted from the recliner in the living room as Carlton entered the kitchen. "I was getting worried about you. I think you slept for 12 straight hours."

"It was my bladder that finally woke me." Carlton called back as he started the coffee machine. "Now I know how you feel."

She laughed, "I told you that you were exhausted! You fell asleep on me during our makeout session."

"You're the one who was trying to get me to relax."

"And my plan obviously worked! Now that you're up, do you mind making some pancakes? I've got a mad craving for something covered in pineapple maple syrup."

Carlton grimaced as he leaned in the doorway that divided the living room and kitchen. "That is such a disgusting combination. I can't believe that it's popular enough for someone to actually sell it."

"Sadly, it has not caught on with the general public yet, but I do have my connections and get sent a fresh bottle a few times a year." She shrugged as she concentrated on the laptop.

"Why are you on my laptop?" He questioned with a frown.

"I'm solving the case, duh." She rolled her eyes.

"How did you even crack my password?"

"Oh please, I know all of the important numbers you use as pins, it only took me five tries to get the right one."

"I should have listened to O'Hara when she suggested getting the laptop with a fingerprint scanner."

"Oh Lassie, that would have been so much easier than figuring out your pin! My dad taught me how to lift fingerprints when I was still in Elementary School."

"I feel like we should come back to that later. Did you find anything useful?" Carlton asked as he walked over to her.

"You mean other than those baby pictures your mom sent you?" Sharon grinned.

"About the case!"

"Oh, that. Yeah, I totally solved it."

"By just looking at my case notes?"

"No, by also figuring out the connection between the celebrities that got killed. We know that all of the victims had alcohol in their systems, yet none of them had alcohol in their homes. No beer, vodka, drink mixes. They were drier than a convent! Which, now that I think about it, can't be that dry considering that they use sacramental wine..."

"Back to the case." Carlton interrupted. "Maybe all three of the victims just happened to be out of alcohol at the same time."

"Lassie, there were also no empty bottles in the houses. So, how did they get so drunk that they passed out and then died?!"

"Maybe they went to a bar and got drunk there."

"Possible, but highly unlikely. Woody puts the cause of death for two of them as alcohol poisoning, and a head wound for the other one that most likely occurred during the early stages of alcohol poisoning. I was able to determine that each victim was a regular attender of the same AA meeting and they all have had contact from the same person offering to be their sponsor. It took a bit to cross-reference phone records and emails, but we narrowed it down to one person. Jules said that they are waiting on the warrant and are going to pick the suspect up this morning!"

"And you figured all of this out without the spirits and visions?" He raised an eyebrow.

"The spirits are the ones who nudged me in the correct direction."

"You know I never believed that, so why can't you just be honest with me? Don't you trust me?"

"I do trust you, Lassie. I just…. I can't…." She trailed off and looked away. "You know what they say about old habits and all that. Besides, didn't Doc Jen say I'm supposed to avoid stressful situations; and that is one argument that I am just not ready for right now."

"Okay." Carlton squeezed her shoulder. "You don't have to confess anything; in fact it's probably best if you don't so that I don't have to lie in court. But you can just be honest with me about how you got the information, just like you did as a P.I. without any psychic crap. The way you figure out the cases is ten times more impressive than a random psychic vision."

"Are you trying to butter me up or make me cry again, Lassie?"

"No. I'm just trying to boost your self-esteem so that you will be more comfortable being honest with me."

"Well, it's called self-esteem for a reason. And I already know how awesome I am!"

He shook his head. "Do you know the address of the suspect so that I can meet O'Hara there?"

"Nope! Wouldn't tell you even if I did, Lassie! Jules said that you're not allowed to leave the house until after you have showered, shaved, and eaten breakfast."

"We literally took a bath last night, I don't need a shower."

"You still haven't shaved in a few days and you're looking a bit like a hobo. Jules said that if you show up to the station before noon, then she's gonna stick you with all the paperwork for this case and not even let you interview this guy. She did promise that they would wait until after lunch to question him."

"What the hell am I supposed to do for 3 hours?!"

"You can make pancakes." Sharon grinned.

"Fine, but only because you somehow figured out the case. But they're going to be regular buttermilk pancakes, nothing weird added to them!"

"Except my awesome pineapple maple syrup, of course!"

"Yours can have it. I'll take mine with butter."

"Just butter?! Lassie, that is so boring!"

Carlton rolled his eyes as he headed for the kitchen. "I never said you were getting just butter. Although, maybe I should call your doctor and ask her which toppings you should get."

"You don't mean that, Lassie. It's not nice to tease an invalid!"

"You're not an invalid, you're just on bed rest. And if you can't take any teasing, then you shouldn't dish it out."

"You just wait until I'm no longer under the influence of baby brain fog or these extra meds, then we'll see who is dishing out what!" Sharon yelled.

Carlton poured himself some coffee and took a sip before replying, "Whatever you say, Sharon."