Chapter Text
It takes them both a second to realize that they’re not alone. For a moment, the world stays silent, just the two of them, trapped in their own bubble of overwhelming joy, holding onto each other tightly, Shawn leaning down and kissing Juliet’s temple and cheek and lips in turn. For that moment, they don’t even notice the sound of half a dozen SBPD officers, who had been staking out the back door of the warehouse, who suddenly rush towards them, stopping suddenly as they realize the moment they’re interrupting.
But then the officers reach them, and they’re back in the middle of an enormous police investigation, officers buzzing around them, ready to usher them away from the scene.
At first, Shawn refuses to separate from Juliet, squeezing her hand tightly, holding her close to him. After what they just went through, after the threat that he might watch her die in front of him, or never see her again, he feels as though no one could ever make him separate from her. Not now, not ever.
But the SBPD—well, Lassie, mostly--can be awfully persistent.
As Shawn and Juliet are ushered towards the dozen or so black-and-whites and ambulances that have set up camp a safe distance from the warehouse, the Chief and Lassiter run up to meet them, Vick throwing her arms around them in an uncharacteristic display of affection. They give her one-armed hugs back, while maintaining their grip on each other’s hands.
“You might want to rethink the ‘safe’ part of the safehouse, Chief,” Shawn says, as the Chief pulls away, straightening her blazer to ease the awkward moment, to look them over.
“Noted, Mr. Spencer,” she says, but there’s a twinkle in her eye, and Shawn can tell how relieved she is that they seem to be okay.
Lassiter is by Juliet’s side the moment the Chief releases them, and he, like Vick, gives Juliet an awkward embrace. “I’m glad you’re okay, O’Hara,” he says, and then, when Juliet raises an eyebrow at him, he continues with a gruffness that even Shawn can tell is mostly feigned, as the relief is evident on his face, “You too, Spencer. Good work getting out of there. Was anyone else in there with you?”
Shawn shakes his head, but Juliet answers. “Not that we saw, but there may be more explosives yet, we didn’t see for sure what else was there. And Carlton, there are at least three perpetrators that got away—Hernandez, like you must have figured out--.”
“I got your text,” Lassiter cuts in. “We were just figuring it out at the time. Thornton from the safehouse sang like a bird, they never had a chance.”
Shawn smiles. “I told you Todd wasn’t a murderer.”
“Yeah,” says Lassiter, rolling his eyes, “he’s up for citizen of the year. Anyway, we caught Hernandez and Arthur before we got to you. They didn’t get more than a few miles from here before we got to them, and that’s what held us up getting to you. But they refused to tell us where the explosives were or how many were in there, so we were just about finishing up getting ready to make our way in there when you came out.”
Shawn nods. “There could easily be more stuff in there, that guy was psycho,” he says, and Lassiter nods in agreement.
“I’m running point on this,” he says, mostly to Juliet, “and we’re getting ready to send in the bomb squad. You both need to be checked for injuries, but if you’re okay, are you feeling up to helping, O’Hara?”
Shawn turns to Juliet with concern, but she squeezes his hand. She doesn’t want to let go of his hand, not now, not after everything. In fact, she’s dreading the thought of being any more than a few inches from him. But it’s the right thing.
“I’m fine, Shawn,” she says. She nudges him towards the ambulance that’s waiting by a nearby police barrier, behind which Shawn can see that Gus and his dad are very reluctantly being held by an equally reluctant-looking Dobson.
“You go on, I’ll be right here,” Juliet encourages, and just like that, she’s back in cop mode. But it’s different to walk away from her now, knowing that he hasn’t lost her. Still, Shawn is reluctant. It’s too soon, and even knowing that he can keep his eyes on her still, after all that they’ve been through, he hates to be anywhere but next to her.
At last, with one last squeeze of her hand, Shawn leaves her with Lassiter, making a beeline not for the ambulance, but for Gus and his dad, who by this point have busted past the barrier and Dobson, despite the Chief very clearly yelling at them to stay back. Even she knows better than to think those efforts are anything but futile.
“Shawn, oh my God,” Gus is next to him in an instant. “Kidnapping? A bunch of bombs? How’d you make it out of there?”
Shawn tsks at him, feigning a modest shrug. “Gus, don’t be the last of the Mohicans. What’s a little dynamite and a couple head injuries when I’ve got this hair to protect me?”
Gus looks at him, sizing him up immediately. “You were terrified,” he says flatly.
Shawn nods, dropping the act immediately. “Yep. Oh, yeah. Big time.”
Before he can say anything further, his dad is there, pulling him into a bear hug. “You did good, kid,” he says, and Shawn lets the relief wash over him for a moment, taking a deep breath and simply nodding, as his dad pulls him towards the ambulance.
When it’s over, when he’s been poked and prodded by half a dozen paramedics, who can’t be waved off no matter how hard he tries, when he’s told Gus about how Gus’s voice in his head helped him solve the puzzles, when he’s drank the pineapple smoothie Gus brought him (along with at least half of Gus’ blueberry smoothie), and when he’s told his dad and Gus the whole story, and attempted to assure his dad that his mom—who is already on her way—has no need to come down, since he’s totally fine, he goes looking for Juliet again.
Juliet, meanwhile, has been on her own journey, immediately throwing herself onto working on the case. But after she’s given her preliminary statements, and after the bomb squad officially enters the warehouse, with Lassiter directing them over the radio based on the layout information Juliet provides, she gives a meaningful glance to her partner, who nods, and begins clearing people away from her, giving her some space. She wanders off to sit on the curb behind one of the ambulances, far enough from the entrance to the warehouse that she’s out of the fray, but not so far that anyone would worry about her.
It’s there that Shawn finds her.
He doesn’t say anything at first, just sitting quietly on the curb next to her for a moment, but then he puts his arms around her, and all at once, he can tell, the full weight of what they’ve gone through hits them. They’re both shuddering together, there on the curb, just like they were in those final moments in the warehouse.
Juliet trembles in his arms, but Shawn knows that he’s also shaking so badly that it’s hard to tell where his shaking ends and hers begins. He pulls her closer to him, burying his lips in her hair. God, it feels so good to be able to do that again. Her very closeness brings him comfort, easing some of the pent-up anxiety and trauma and fear that’s still coursing through him.
“It’s over now, Jules,” he whispers, as much for her as to make the words seem true in his own mind. “It’s over, and we’re going to be okay.”
She pulls her head back from where it’s buried in his chest just enough to look up at him, smiling, and leans up to him, brushing her lips against his for just a moment, the faintest whisper of a kiss, before she pulls back, smiling even wider. “No,” she says. “You and I? We’re going to be a lot more than just okay.”