musicalluna

Juliet watched silently as the rain fell on the grass and slicked the path in front of her. The soft pattering of it resonated on the large black umbrella over her head soothingly.

It wasn’t fair.

She and Carlton had done everything right. Every t had been crossed, every i dotted, every operating procedure followed. And this stupid, mindless jerk was still going to get off, on a technicality. The unfairness of it all was like a dark, bitter medicine coating her mouth and oozing down her throat.

It was so stupid.

The path in front of her glistened dully in the flat gray light.

Just out of her peripheral vision she heard the sound of sneakers squeaking and shuffling quietly through the grass and a moment later a familiar figure eased onto the bench beside her.

She glanced up at him and said quietly, "Hey."

"Hey," he replied, voice matching hers. "You okay?"

Glancing up at him again, she was exasperated to note that he was wet, his hair drooping under the weight of the rainwater and his shoulders darkened from the damp sprinkling across them. "Get under the umbrella, would you, Shawn, before you get soaked."

He smiled, lips curling up at the corners and he shifted sideways a little until their arms brushed just barely, his jean-covered thigh whispering warmth in a tiny line against hers. "I’m already wet you know," he said.

She wrinkled her nose at him and rubbed at her dampening sleeve. "Yes, you are."

A little grin crooked his mouth as he watched her and she fell silent again, gazing out at the wet foliage moodily. She ignored the feel of his eyes on her face, and the feel of the warmth of his skin through their two bare points of contact.

Finally, he spoke up again. "Are you all right?" he repeated, voice low.

She sighed. "I’m fine. Just…frustrated."

"It sucks," Shawn agreed and she smiled faintly because of course, why wouldn’t he know what she was brooding out here about? "One of many reasons I didn’t become a cop," he said and she looked up at him in surprise. She’d never talked with him about anything like this before.

"Oh?"

"I don’t really do politics," Shawn said with a small, dry smile and she couldn’t help a little grin growing on her face.

"You? No. I never would have guessed."

"Paperwork isn’t really my thing either."

At that, Juliet laughed.

Shawn smiled at her, and for a moment, her self-made rules faded away and all she knew was that she wanted to know everything about Shawn Spencer.

"We’ll get the next one," Shawn murmured.

"Yes," she said, and her hand brushed his. "We will."