Author's Notes: Takes place during Season 4 Episode 10, "You Can't Handle This Episode".

Carlton stared at an empty space on his desk, thoughts rapidly skittering through his mind.

It was a blip. A second of momentary insanity, fueled by adrenaline and the relief of being alive. He had nothing but professional feelings towards his partner. You don't try to kiss someone you're just professional with, a strange little voice in his head whispered.

It was nothing to concern himself with any longer. O'Hara hadn't noticed his intentions, and all was right with the world. It wasn't like he wanted to kiss her anymore. Stop lying, the strange little voice yelled at him. Shut up, he said back to the idiotic voice. It's just another typical day at the precinct, full of completely platonic exchanges with my partner.

"Hey Carlton. Got you some coffee," Juliet said. She set the steaming coffee down within his eyeline.

Carlton's chair rattled as he nearly jumped two feet in the air. "Geez! Don't creep up on a person like that, O'Hara, unless it's a suspect".

Juliet frowned but said nothing and carried her own steaming mug of coffee over to her desk.

Maybe he hadn't tried to kiss her at all. Maybe he had been dizzy and temporarily lost his balance. Just your upper body lost balance? The idiotic voice astutely noted. Carlton slammed his head against his desk in response to the voice.

Juliet looked over at him with wide eyes. "Carlton! Are you all right?"

"Just peachy, O'Hara" he said with a fake smile.

Yep, just another typical day at the precinct. Nothing weird going on here.

About a week after Carlton's near-death experience, the two detectives were called to the scene of a hanging in an apartment. The man hung from a rope around his neck from the ceiling, a knocked over chair in close proximity on the floor. Aside from that, there were no other disturbances to the room. Two crime scene technicians were in the process of taking the body down and laying it on the floor for further inspection.

After a brief glance at the state of the door latch, Shawn declared loudly declared, "I do not believe this man committed suicide. Unfortunately, he was murdered". Both detectives turned their attention towards him after this statement.

"Why do you say that, Shawn?" Juliet inquired politely.

"O'Hara please, I think we've got this one covered". He put a reassuring arm around her and patted her shoulder.

Juliet struggled to stay focused on the conversation, distracted by the weight of Carlton's arm around her shoulder. She didn't often get much physical contact with Carlton, and so it was a strange move on his part. It was probably just him attempting a show of solidarity for the case, but still. Weird. And kind of nice. And unprofessional. And enjoyable…gah, what was wrong with her mind? And why the hell was this distracting her from the case?

Juliet refocused on the conversation just in time to hear Carlton say to Shawn, "Do you have any idea how inappropriate that is?"

"Any more inappropriate than the fact that your arm is around your partner?" Shawn quipped in response with a pointed look at the location of Carlton's arm.

Carlton whipped his head around to look at O'Hara. His eyes were wide with surprise, having seemingly been unaware of his own motion. Juliet felt the weight of Carlton's arm disappear as he quickly retracted it to his side.

"You know Spencer-why don't you just zip it and let me assess what's going on here before you turn it into a psychic crapfest".

"At least I haven't turned into a detective lovefest like some people," Shawn replied.

Carlton gritted his teeth but didn't respond, instead deigning to take a sip of coffee from his cup.

Abigail curiously whispered to Shawn, "Are they dating?"

Carlton overheard and an incredulous expression spread across his face. "What? No," he scoffed, taking a step away from Juliet.

Shawn elaborated on Carlton's answer. "No, Carlton's more of a lone wolf. He scares off all the women with his sharp teeth and growl". He curled his hands into a claw-like gesture and bared his teeth.

"Shawn! That is so rude," Juliet reprimanded him with a look of disapproval.

"Aww c'mon Jules, we're just having fun". Shawn's eyes caught on the chair, and he put his fingers to his head. "Woah-I'm getting something here…I don't believe this man was alone in the room when he died".

"Spencer, we already know something fishy is going on here. Look at the position of the chair" Carlton gestured towards the chair with an annoyed look on his face.

"Good boy Lassie. But there's still a lot we are uncertain of. You need me to read the body". He placed his fingers against both sides of his head again. Shawn's eyes quickly flickered over the body and then he started making fake choking noises. "His throat-check his throat!. His voice rose in volume and urgency, and he brought home.

"I was just about to say that. Check his throat," Carlton ordered the crime scene tech, who promptly used a tool to extract dog tags from the dead soldier's throat.

"Are those dog tags? Aw crap this guy was a soldier," Carlton said in dismay.

"What does this mean?" Juliet asked in confusion.

"It means it's not just a possible homicide, now it's a military crime," he replied.

"Y'know, I may know someone who can help," Juliet ominously told the group. They could hear the sound of her phone dialing a number as she walked off.

"Wha-Who? O'Hara, where are you going? That better be a sanctioned call to a coworker and not personal," Carlton called after her in an attempt to retake control of the whole situation.

A few minutes later, Juliet practically skipped back over to Carlton's side. A wide grin lit up her face, and she resisted the urge to jump up and down with excitement. "My brother's coming to visit, and he's willing to help us on the case. He works for the military, and I'm sure he'll be a beneficial addition to our investigation".

"Oh good. Another coworker's acquaintance in our midst," Carlton said with a pointed glance at Shawn and Abigail.

Juliet rolled her eyes at him. "Oh wipe that grumpy look off your face. Trust me, you're going to love him". She started to reach out to teasingly physically lift his face muscles into a smile. But then Shawn's earlier quip about inappropriate behavior came to mind. Instead she brushed a strand of hair behind her ear.

Shawn observed her movement curiously, then shrugged and sidestepped them to get a closer look at the body.

Ewan leaned casually on a desk as he regaled stories of his heroics in the army. A crowd had gathered around him, eagerly hanging onto his every word. Carlton and Juliet sat side by side on her desk and they were just as enraptured as everyone else by Ewan's stories. More than once, Carlton and Juliet shared a happy grin. Each time their eyes connected and Juliet saw her own joy reflected in his, a comfortable warmth bloomed in her. She loved the somewhat rare moments when Carlton was outwardly happy.

As Ewan's story came to a close, a final joke had the room bursting into laughter. As the noise quieted down, Shawn shared his two cents. "Wow, pretty impressive. Maybe a tad exaggerated? Don't worry, I do the same". His hurt ego was displayed clearly on his face, as evidenced by the downturn of his lips and the frustration in his gaze.

"Honestly man from what my sis tells me, you, you're the amazing one," Ewan informed him.

Shawn turned to Juliet, a little light back in his eyes. "You said that?

"I said you were prophetic," Juliet elaborated.

Shawn put a hand to his chest like what she had said was an affront to his character. "What? You're prophetic".

Juliet wrinkled her brow at that, but didn't bother to correct him.

"What has Juliet said about me?" Gus asked Ewan with a grin on his face.

Juliet bit her lip and turned pleading eyes on Ewan. Why hadn't she brought Gus up to Ewan? At least once? Hopefully her brother could come up with a good enough lie.

Ewan opened his mouth but didn't speak for a second. "Plenty…I'd tell you but I'd have to kill you," he said with a shrug. The room chuckled at his response.

The smile slowly faded from Gus's face, and he grumpily crossed his arms over his chest.

Ewan caught Carlton's eye and said, "But she talks about you more than she does anyone else here".

Gus and Shawn put on pouty-lipped expressions. Gus glanced over at his friend, took note of his expression, and whispered, "Why are you upset? At least she actually talks about you". Gus's pouty look turned into a frown. "I'd tell you but I'd have to kill you. Please," He scoffed.

"What has she said?" Carlton slowly asked with a suspicious glance over at Juliet.

"Nothing bad. She said you're a great detective and taught her a lot. Also something about a cold exterior?".

Carlton shifted on the desk to better face Juliet "Cold exterior, huh?"

Shawn and Gus were adamantly nodding yes nearby in response to Carlton's question.

"Well what Ewan failed to mention is that I said beneath that cold exterior is a very sweet man with a lot of hidden joy," Juliet explained.

Carlton cleared his throat and ducked his head. "Alright everybody back to work". No need for anyone to see how much O'Hara's kind words had meant to him. He didn't think anyone else had ever called him sweet, aside from perhaps Victoria when they were still in the dating phase. Was he actually nice? Most people called him rude and abrasive. Maybe O'Hara was just crazy. Seemed more plausible to him. Or lying. But man, did he hope she was telling the truth.

While it was generally nice to have someone think he was a good person, it mattered more to him that it was O'Hara who thought that. And that thought really scared him.

Shawn and Gus meandered into the police station the day after their first visit to the military base. The station was fairly quiet, with no criminals or visitors clogging up the bullpen early in the morning. Freshly brewed coffee was steaming over at the coffee station, and it was quickly dwindling as cop after cop poured a cup. Juliet was sitting behind her desk, scanning over some documents in her hands. Carlton and Ewan were standing nearby and peeking at the documents over Juliet's shoulder.

As Shawn and Gus approached, Carlton lifted his head up to acknowledge them. "Oh, nice of you to join us. A lot has happened. Maybe you'd like to try and catch up".

Shawn lifted up his wrist as if there were a watch there. "Lassiter, it is precisely 8:20 in the a.m. What could have possibly happened?"

Carlton crossed his arms over his chest. "Well we arrested a lead this morning". He smirked as he said it.

"We did?" Juliet looked up at him and asked.

"Ye-wait". Carlton cleared his throat and stared down at shoes. "I think that was a dream." He looked up and scratched his chin, "That explains the mutant baby squirrel".

Juliet's eyes went wide and her stomach dropped. All morning since she had woken up, she had that fuzzy feeling where she knew she had had a dream, but couldn't recall it. But when Carlton said the word "baby", the memories of the dream came rushing back as quickly as a leaf flows down a rapidly flowing stream.

Juliet sat propped up against pillows in her bed. Carlton walked into the room and sat beside her. He wrapped an arm around her, just like he had the other day at the crime scene. He gave a quick peck on the cheek. In her hands was a bright blue book with the title How to Parent for First-Timers. Juliet shut the book and looked over at him. "We need to talk about something important," she said.

"Is it about protection? Because I think we're already past that point," he replied.

Juliet rolled her eyes. "No. I think we should tell the precinct that you're the father of my baby".

Carlton looked frantic. "I still think it's too soon, Juliet. What if they split us up? What if they send you away to another precinct, and I'm left to contend with Spencer alone? I'm too young to go to jail for murder".

"They're going to find out when our baby is born wearing a civil war uniform, holding a glock, and sporting your signature glare," Juliet retorted. They were going to find out eventually, so why not just get it over with now?

"I think we have bigger problems if our baby is born fully dressed and armed," Carlton said. He took his arm off her shoulder and placed his hand gently on her belly. He rubbed it lovingly with a gentle smile on his face.

Juliet laughed and lightly slapped his arm "You know what I mean".

Suddenly Juliet was in the hospital room, and out popped her and Carlton's child. Carlton was dancing a jig in the corner, and the doctor looked very similar to Woody. The baby was placed into Juliet's arms and immediately opened his mouth to speak words (as naturally all babies do immediately after they are born), and said in a voice that sounded exactly like Shawn, "Hi mommy". He said mommy in a way that it sounded like mow-my.

"It's pronounced mommy," Juliet corrected her newborn son.

"I've heard it both ways," the baby with Shawn's voice replied.

"Yoohoo, earth to Jules," Shawn waved a hand in her face.

Juliet blinked and refocused on the real world around her. Her face was heating up and she resisted the urge to tap her foot anxiously against the ground. Why was she dreaming about Carlton? And more specifically, why was she dreaming about Carlton fathering her child? They weren't intimate like that. Hell, they weren't intimate at all. Just two co-workers. She couldn't be having unprofessional thoughts about her partner.

"What's got you so distracted, sis?" Ewan inquired.

"Nothing," Juliet said. She caught Carlton's eye and quickly looked away. If her cheeks were bright red she wouldn't have been surprised. "Alright so what's our next step?"

Shawn and Gus tossed leading questions towards Carlton about Ewan's involvement in the case. After about 30 seconds of this, Carlton was even more in the mood to staple some heads than he had been a few minutes ago. He stood up abruptly. "For pete's sake, Spencer, if you have something to stay, spit it out".

Shawn leaned in and whispered "I think Ewan is deeply involved in all of this"

Carlton couldn't help but laugh. "You think O'Hara's brother's a murderer?" Nice intuition, psychic, he sarcastically thought.

"Shhh," Gus and Shawn simultaneously said.

Grimacing a little, Shawn answered Carlton's question. "Maybe".

Carlton's jaw dropped open as he looked past Shawn and Gus. Shawn and Gus slowly spun around, coming face to face with a seething Juliet. Her chest was rising and falling quickly and she had a deadly gaze. Carlton bit back an offer for her to use his stapler as a weapon against the guys.

"How dare you accuse my brother of murder," Juliet spat out. What is wrong with him? Why would he say something so awful like that? My brother is a great guy and doesn't deserve to be accused like this.

Shawn attempted to toss a bucket of water on her fiery anger. "Jules, I'm not accusing. At this point it's just a strong psychic hunch. Just ask yourself-what is he doing in Santa Barbara?"

Juliet gritted her teeth together. "Ok well maybe it's just hard for you to wrap your head around the fact that someone could have a healthy, loving relationship with their family. What, other than being a war hero, has my brother done to arouse your suspicions?"

"He has an arsenal of weapons in his pants," Shawn quickly answered.

Juliet scoffed at that. "Shawn you might just try to mask your obvious jealousy of Ewan"

"Jealousy-what!" Shawn looked towards Gus for support. Gus just shrugged at him.

Juliet pointed to Carlton. "Look at Carlton. He respects Ewan instead of being a jealous and immature buffoon. He recognizes that Ewan is a war hero without a black mark to his name".

Carlton nodded. "Right. You know Spencer, maybe your time would be better served if you focused on more viable suspects, like Phelps for example. Alright, this guy thinks he's king of the world because he's got a couple of stars on his chest. Well I've got a badge and that guy is going down". He animatedly pointed at the ground.

She lifted a hand in a splayed out gesture. "Ok I take back what I said about Carlton not succumbing to jealousy. But the rest of what I said was true". She finished with a confident nod, anger still blazing in her eyes.

Phelps arrived, momentarily drawing Lassiter and O'Hara away from Gus and Shawn. As the two detectives left the conference room, they spotted Shawn and Gus hovering around her desk.

Juliet stormed over to them. "Oh, I'm sorry, did you forget how to get home? Because we can have an officer take you". She pointed over at a uniformed officer standing a few feet away.

Shawn didn't let up. "Jules, please just let me explain. It's just a strong hunch but I saw-"

She interrupted him. "Shawn go!"

"C'mon Jules. I am sorry. You know me. I like to follow the most preposterous leads". Typically those leads panned out, although in this case he really hoped this one was false.

"Shawn…" Juliet said softly, feeling the strength to argue fade away. It felt like she was getting nowhere in this conversation with Shawn.

Carlton appeared, and stepped between Juliet and Shawn. "Spencer, why don't you get the hell out of here before I do something I might regret". Well he probably wouldn't regret it because it was Spencer, but still.

"But…" Shawn began to retort.

"Go" Carlton said sternly with an intimidating glare at him.

Shawn shuffled off with his head hung low. Gus trailed behind, occasionally tossing apologetic glances back at the detectives as he went.

"Thank you Carlton. I really appreciate it," Juliet said before returning to her desk. Once there, she began slamming the computer keys hard. The action was interspersed with seconds of furious scribbles across a page. One thought kept pushing to the front of her brain again and again- I cannot believe Shawn would say that. It felt like a major betrayal, and underneath her anger, it really hurt.

Shawn had coerced the detectives into taking another trip back to the military base. Carlton had once again attempted to use his police badge to get on base, which failed a second time. Only Ewan's badge seemed capable of getting them inside. At one point, Carlton was wandering down various hallways of the base in the seemingly futile hope of finding a restroom. He had just downed a large coffee and it had rushed through him. He made a right turn down another identical hallway and was just about to turn around when a familiar voice resounded down the hall.

He crept forward towards the sound of Ewan's voice, taking care to keep his footsteps light. Who would Ewan be talking to on his own on the base?

Carlton peeked around a corner and spotted Ewan pacing across an empty room, a phone in hand. "I've tried everything to slow it down. I've turned them the wrong way, I've shredded evidence".

Shredding evidence? What was Ewan going on about? Carlton's heart rate picked up a little.

Ewan listened closely to the voice on the other end of the line. "Yes sir. I'm still keeping a close eye on the case and will continue to bat down any beneficial leads".

Holy crap-could Spencer have been right about Ewan? Damn, was that hard to ask, on so many levels. This was going to break Juliet's heart. She definitely looked up to her brother and he was such an important person in her life. Would he have to tell her that her brother was a criminal?

Ewan glanced towards the door and his eyes widened as he spotted Carlton. "Uh gotta go…Love you". He quickly hit the end call button. Ewan waved the phone at Carlton before shoving it into his pocket "My mom," Ewan nervously chuckled.

Carlton spoke in a hushed tone. "You're purposefully screwing up this investigation, aren't you? You are breaking the law, not to mention harming your own sister's chances of solving this case".

Ewan's face went slack and his eyes went cold. "You can't bring this up to her. You really want her to find out her big brother isn't as perfect as he seems? It'll break her heart, and neither of us wants that".

Carlton's jaw was tense, and he gripped his hands into fists.

Before Carlton could clear his head enough to respond, Ewan added on, "Besides, I haven't done anything wrong, right? I'm the ideal soldier, no evidence to the contrary". With a shrug he began walking off in the direction of Juliet, Shawn, and Gus.

"Ewan," Carlton called after him.

Ewan turned around to face Carlton again. The friendly, big-brother demeanor was all gone, replaced by a soldier in too deep for his own good.

Carlton's eyes had taken on a stone-cold, serious gaze. He took a step closer to Ewan. "While you're rotting away in prison for this, I will be here to protect Juliet. I'm not going to break her heart and lie to her like you have. So when you're lying awake at night, drowning in regret, just remember that the most off-putting detective of the SBPD is being better to your sister than you are".

Ewan inhaled as if about to say something. But instead, he gritted his teeth and spun on his heel, walking off.

Near the door, Ewan paused and called over his shoulder, "I could have killed you for what you claim to know. But I didn't, because you mean so much to my sister".

Carlton stood stiffly in the room as Ewan's footsteps faded away. What the hell can I do to fix this? He could not bring this up to O'Hara without evidence. Would he be able to find proof of Ewan's wrongdoings before it was too late?

Juliet stood on the pier with her hands wrapped tightly around her gun. The barrel was pointed directly at her brother, who had his own pistol aimed at Wallach.

"We both know you're not going to shoot your older brother," Ewan stated.

He's right. I can't shoot my brother, no matter what horrible things he did, Juliet thought. He meant too much to her, and she couldn't harm him.

Carlton appeared from behind Ewan, and sternly said, "No. But I will".

Juliet's shoulders drooped and she breathed out a sigh of relief. No one was there for her like Carlton was, as cheesy as that may sound. That was only made more true here, where he was willing to do what she struggled to do. He was her best friend, even if the label would have him running for the hills if she ever spoke it aloud. He listened to her and confided in her more than anyone else. He held her up when she felt down, and he reveled in her joy when something great happened. She loved him-in a friend's way, of course. Maybe even loved him a little more than a friend should.

Later, after shoving Ewan roughly into the back of a cop car, Juliet stormed off in a random direction. Seeing her do this, Carlton followed her, not wanting to leave her alone.

Juliet watched him approach. "What the hell do you want, Carlton," she said in a harsh tone, tears beginning to well up a little in her eyes.

Carlton put up his hands as a show of surrender. "I just wanted to check on you".

She slowly sank to the ground and leaned back against a worn wooden fence. Carlton sat down on the dirty ground beside her, lowering himself down with one hand on the ground. Noting the dirt that accumulated on his hand, he frowned and wiped it down on his suit.

Juliet rested her head against his shoulder and stared out at the water lapping against the docks. Crickets chirped and motor engines grumbled to fill the silence.

A few minutes later, Juliet spoke. "Ewan inspired me to go down this supposedly noble path, and it turns out he was corrupt all along. What does that say about me, that my role model is a terrible person?"

"Listen O'Hara. What kind of person your brother is has no bearing on your character. You're a damn good detective, and an honest one. He may have been the impetus for you to go down this path, but you have defined your own career as a detective, not him".

She goes quiet again for a little while. Her voice cracked a little when she spoke again. "He's my brother, and I still love him, but I feel betrayed. How can I trust anyone if I can't even trust my own brother anymore?"

Carlton pushed himself to his feet and reached a hand out towards Juliet.

She stared at his open palm for a moment before taking it, and he pulled her to her feet. "You can always trust me, O'Hara. Now come on. Let's go back to the precinct and get this over with. Then we'll get you something to eat, my treat".

She let a small smile grace her face, holding onto his hand a moment longer than was professional. And she found herself anxiously awaiting the next time their hands would touch, even if that seemed a little foolish.

End Notes: So much for the reader not being able to handle this chapter. Turns out I wasn't able to handle it, because it took me months to complete.