musicalluna

The first time Shawn was called in on a case after he and Juliet started dating, he got full-on butterflies in his stomach.

Thousands of little wings just below his sternum, fluttering at Mach Five, so strong he almost felt a little sick. As he and Gus drove (well, Gus drove, he rode) toward the station, as they walked inside, the butterflies started escaping his stomach, fluttering up into his esophagus and sticking in his throat where they kept flapping and pulsing and making it hard to breathe.

They started across the bullpen, cutting through the people moving back and forth in every direction, and then finally the path cleared and there was Lassiter, and—

Jules.

His heart stuttered a little and he felt a grin start to creep its way onto his face, even though he had promised Juliet he was going to play it cool and keep it professional. After all this time she was finally dating him and that was just—

By the time they stopped in front of the two detectives' desks, Shawn realized he looked like a complete idiot, grinning as hard as he was. Lassiter flinched at his overly cheerful, “Morning, Lassie!”

Then Juliet looked up, smiling tentatively at him, a blush creeping into her cheeks and something warm like pure sunshine slithered down his sternum and pooled in the bottom of his stomach, setting up a crackling blaze inside him.

His grin stayed as broad as ever, but his voice lowered. “Morning, Jules.”

She tipped her head, looking pleased and he figured he was doing pretty well so far on the “discreet” thing. “Good morning, Shawn. Gus.”

“Good morning, Juliet,” Gus said.

Juliet glanced down, shifting, and Shawn copied the movements automatically, abruptly nervous again.

Lassiter thrust out a folder and Shawn took it without thinking; it was several seconds before Juliet's pointed looks crept through the giddy nervousness that was tumbling around in his head like so many lotto balls. He looked down at it, and realized Gus was asking the question he should have been: “What happened?”

“Double homicide,” Juliet explained. Her mouth was a vivid, lush pink. It made it hard to focus on what she was actually saying and not just the curve of her lips. That was so not a work-appropriate thought pattern. “A man and a woman in a hotel room, no identification, no clothes, nothing to indicate what might have happened.” God, she was so composed. How did she do that?

“Why didn't we get called to the scene?” Shawn asked curiously, the tantalizing bits of information Juliet was handing out capturing his attention, however briefly.

“We originally thought it was a murder/suicide situation,” Juliet explained. “No consultation necessary. But then the ME autopsied the bodies, and as it turns out, they were both murdered.”

“They were strangled,” Lassiter clarified. “The marks on the throat of the man didn't match the angle at which he'd been found dangling from the rope, and the woman had been strangled with the rope pulling back at a downward angle—not up like you'd expect to find if the much taller man had done the job. Whoever our killer is was shorter than either of them.”

Shawn had taken in everything Lassiter had said, thanks to his overactive brain, but his primary focus had been on Juliet, shuffling papers around and reshuffling them, peering through them without really looking at them and worrying at her bottom lip with her teeth, very clearly trying not to look at him, though her eyes slipped over regularly, a fresh blush accompanying every slip.

Gus elbowed him in the ribs and his gaze tore away from Juliet, finding Lassiter watching him with narrowed eyes. “Right!” he said, a little too loud. “Can we, uh, can we go and you know, check out the crime scene for vibes?” He waggled a thumb toward the entrance.

“We— We've actually got to go down and collect the official information from the M.E. and fill out the paperwork. But if you want to go to the scene, by all means,” Juliet said, collecting her purse. “There should still be a CSU team there, so you'll have to be careful and they'll probably harass you about wearing booties, but please.” She was making a valiant effort, but she couldn't quite keep her eyes up on Shawn's face, her hands gripped around the strap of her bag.

She stopped moving upon realizing that between Shawn and Gus, she wasn't going to be able to walk past them at her partner's side. Lassiter strode past, leaving her behind and she looked up at Shawn, her expression going a little frantic.

The butterflies, who had calmed a little after finally seeing Juliet, started up again at a ferocious pace when he touched her arm. “Um.” He dipped his head, misjudged the angle, and Juliet pulled back slightly, turning her face at the same time and they bumped noses hard, Shawn chuckling nervously and rubbing at his. “Ouch.”

“Shawn,” she said softly, glancing after her partner and then back at him, her eyes dropping for just a split second to his mouth. She bit her own lip, edging slightly toward her escape, and a bowstring in his chest tightened, vibrating with the urge. Would it be crossing over a line if he...? Just a quick kiss. To say goodbye. That would be okay, right?

“O'Hara, we haven't got all day!” Lassiter called and Juliet met his eyes, and a beautiful, vivid blush colored her cheeks. The butterflies went mad.

Shawn hesitated and then leaned forward again, swiftly. “It'll take some practice,” he murmured, lips tantalizingly close to her mouth, “but I'll get it.”

“Mm,” she breathed and he pressed his lips to hers in a quick kiss, both of them flinching away a second later at Lassiter's sharp, barked, “O'HARA!”

“See you later?” Shawn said hopefully, fingers curling up as his hand fell back to his side.

“Later,” Juliet agreed breathlessly and then turned and hurried after Lassiter. He watched after her, body tingling with a thousand different sensations, mind-racing.

When she was gone Shawn broke into another face-splitting grin and turned, punching Gus in the shoulder. “DUDE!”

“Ow, Shawn! Not so hard!” Gus exclaimed, rubbing at his arm.

But Shawn wasn't listening.