Chapter Text
Juliet woke slowly, the sunlight filtering through the blinds dragging her into consciousness without her consent. She glanced at the clock and saw that it was 7:53. She hid her face in her pillow in an attempt to fall back asleep, but she gave up after a few minutes.
Getting out of bed quietly so as not to wake Shawn, Juliet crept to her kitchen and started gathering ingredients for a smoothie. Just as she went to pour the orange juice, she realized that the blender would wake Shawn way too early for a Saturday morning, so she put everything away and fixed a bowl of cereal instead.
She settled on the couch with her bowl of Lucky Charms and turned the TV on to the local news. The first story was about a robbery that she and Carlton were already working on, the second was on a mugging in which the offender had already been arrested, and the third featured a local man who was celebrating his one hundredth birthday today. She waited through a commercial break so that she could catch the weather. Sunny with strong gusts of wind.
Finished with her breakfast, Juliet took her empty bowl to the kitchen, making a mental note to thank Shawn for insisting they buy the sugary cereal. The microwave clock said that it was 8:18, which meant that it would still be a couple of hours before Shawn was awake.
Deciding to go for a run, Juliet went back into her bedroom to change. She thought she managed to get ready without waking Shawn, but when she started for the door, the supposedly sleeping form spoke.
"Jules," he called, drawing her nickname out slowly. "I thought we were past the 'sneaking out the morning after' phase. Not that it would make much sense for you to sneak out of your own apartment. Makes about as much sense as Go-Tarts. Aren't Pop-Tarts already portable? Do they really need to be extra portable?"
Smiling, Juliet turned around as Shawn rolled from his side to his back. She walked to the bed and sat down next to Shawn.
"I was just going to go for a run. I thought you'd be asleep for a few more hours. Sorry I woke you up."
"Don't be sorry, Jules. Waking up is never fun, but since it has to happen, usually at least once a day, being woken up by you is towards the top of my list of best ways to wake up."
"Towards the top?" Juliet said, repeating Shawn's words as a question. "What are some of the better ways?" she asked teasingly.
"Well," he said, pretending to think about the question, "let's just cover the top five. Number five is being woken up by a phone call to work on a case with you, number four is being woken up by you, number three is being woken up by naked you, and number two is being woken up by naked you holding food…preferably pineapple, but it's not a requirement," he interjected with a small shake of his head.
"And number one?" Juliet asked, grinning like an idiot.
"Number one is waking up naturally with you in my arms, even better if it's naked you" he said with a smirk, "and since I was deprived of that opportunity this morning, I think you should make it up to me."
"Oh? And how can I do that?" she asked, leaning towards Shawn as she asked.
Reaching up and wrapping a hand around the back of Juliet's head, he brought her face an inch from his own. "Like this," he said, pressing his lips to hers. He ran his tongue across her bottom lip, then slipped it into her mouth when she opened it.
Pulling away after he thought she'd been thoroughly kissed, he grinned at her. "Someone's been enjoyin' me lucky charms," he said, his Irish accent sorely lacking. "You know, I have some lucky charms of my own. Do you want to enjoy those, too?" he asked, pulling Juliet across his body onto the bed and rolling so that he was on top of her.
"Hmmm," Juliet mused. "Sounds fun," she said. Shawn grinned in triumph and leaned down, but Juliet held a finger to his lips before he could kiss her. "But," she said with emphasis, "I am going for a run."
Juliet wriggled out from under her boyfriend, still frozen in mock shock at being turned down.
"You're just going to leave me here? That's cold, Jules."
"You're welcome to come with me," she said, "but you know I'm training for the Pier to Peak Half Marathon. You'd have to keep up with me, and I'm not sure you're up to the task," she joked.
"Oh, I'm up to the task," Shawn answered, throwing off the sheets and hopping out of bed. He ran in place for a few seconds. "What about you, Jules? Think you can keep up with me? I'm a man of many secrets."
"And one of those secrets is that you're a marathon runner?" Juliet asked.
"It could be," he said, still running in place. "C'mon, Jules. Psychic versus detective. This is going to be epic."
"You're on."
An hour later, Juliet and Shawn were stretching on Stearns Wharf. She hadn't planned on running the actual marathon track, but Shawn had insisted, so they made their way down to the pier. They had been trading barbs the entire time, and both were eager for the challenge to begin.
"On the count of three?" Shawn asked. At Juliet's nod, he started counting.
"One," he said, waiting a few seconds before yelling, "two, three!" as quickly as he could and taking off as fast as he could.
He made it several dozen yards before he looked back and realized that Juliet was nowhere close to him. Worried that something was wrong, he turned around and started running back, then stopped and waited for her to come to him when he saw that she was fine.
"Jules, you're not even trying," he said, starting to jog alongside her. "This isn't even a competition."
"It is a competition," she said. "It's just not a race. And I'm beginning to suspect that marathon running is not among your many hidden talents."
"What makes you say that?"
"You do realize that a half marathon is thirteen miles, right?"
"Thirteen miles!" Shawn exclaimed. "Why would a person ever want to do that?"
"Lots of reasons, one of which is charity," Juliet answered.
"I don't see how running can help charity. Is it a It's a Wonderful Life thing? For every mile run a child gets a cure?"
"No, Shawn. Now stop talking so that I can kick your ass in silence."
The pair jogged through the streets of Santa Barbara. They were evenly matched for about the first mile, and then the difference in their training became more and more obvious. Whereas Juliet's strides and breaths were sure and even, Shawn's were unsteady and erratic.
When they reached the fourth mile at East Mountain Drive, Juliet shouted back to Shawn to ask if he had had enough. His response consisted of waving his arms and shaking his head, so Juliet continued.
By the time Juliet reached the halfway point, she couldn't see Shawn anymore. Figuring that even Shawn would have to concede defeat and figuring they'd gone far enough, she pulled her phone out of her zipped pocket and called Gus.
The phone only rang once before Gus answered. "Juliet," he said in way of greeting. "Is Shawn in trouble?"
"No, no, he's fine, Gus. Are you free to do a favor?" she asked, even though Shawn had informed her even before they'd even left the apartment that Gus was available all day.
"I'm over working at the Psych office, but it's nothing important. What do you need?"
"A ride, if it's not too much trouble. We're on Gibralter Road, a couple miles before Hairpin Turn."
"On the Pier to Peak track? I've been trying to get Shawn to do that for years. How did you…Never mind. I don't want to know. I'll be there soon."
"Thank you, Gus. See you soon," Juliet said.
"Bye, Juliet."
Juliet waited almost five minutes before Shawn jogged into view. He was gasping for air, but he was still plodding along. He reached her in a couple of minutes, then stopped beside her. He bent over, hands on his knees, and drew in huge gulps of air.
"Giving…up so soon..., Jules?" he asked in between breaths.
Juliet stared at him incredulously. "No, but I thought you might."
"Why would I…give up?"
"Maybe it's because you can't breathe, Shawn. Or the fact that your running has turned to staggering."
"That's not fair. It's the elevation."
"You really can't admit that you lost, can you, Shawn?"
"Two out of three?" he asked, finally standing up straight.
"That means I won," Juliet gloated. "And there's no way you can do this another time."
"I can so!" he defended quickly. "And it's two more times, because I'm going to win."
"You are hopeless," Juliet said, shaking her head with a smile on her face. "Besides, Gus is already on his way."
"Fine," Shawn said, pretending to be put out. "But what are we going to do to pass the time?" he asked, stalking toward her with a growing smile.
Juliet put her hands up and backed away. "Oh, no. We are both sweaty and gross."
Her protests did nothing to stop Shawn's advance, and he soon had his arms wrapped around a playfully struggling Juliet.
"Shawn! Shawn, stop!" she giggled, but her laughter just spurred him on.
"Admit it. Admit that I won," he said, starting to tickle her.
"Never!" she gasped in mock outrage, which was quickly replaced by more squeals of laughter. She continued to try to pretend to try to escape, enjoying the flirting despite her proclamation of being too gross.
All of a sudden, Shawn stopped torturing her with his prodding fingers and became still as a statue. She raised her head and saw him looking at something over her shoulder, but before she could turn to look, he had jumped to the side of the road, pulling her along just in time for the car driving perilously close to the edge of the road to miss them. The quick moment had thrown them both off balance, though, and Shawn only had enough time to push Juliet back onto the road before he tumbled out of view.
"Shawn!" Juliet screamed in panic, scrambling to the edge on her hands and knees. Looking down, she could see his body bouncing farther and farther down the side of the mountain.
"SHAWN!"