Normally, Juliet didn’t mind grocery shopping. After a week of police work, the mundane activity of wandering around the store seemed almost soothing. Today, however, she was as far from relaxed as she could get. She and Lassiter had been chasing a gang of thieves all week, and they weren’t any closer to figuring out their identity than they had been during their walkthrough of the first scene. Of course, the lack of any leads meant that Carlton was on his last nerve, which meant he had Juliet on hers as well. It didn’t help that she was pretty sure her partner was in the middle of another fight with his ex-wife. Why he thought yelling at Juliet for anything and everything – seriously, what difference did one sugar more or less in your coffee make? – would help the situation, she had no idea.

Of course, there was the added problem of the three-year-old masquerading as her supposedly adult boyfriend. Juliet had wanted to go shopping by herself. She had her list planned out so that the trip wouldn’t take that much time, and she could go home, take a bath, and forget about the world. Shawn, however, had insisted that he wanted to come along, complaining that he hadn’t seen her all week. Now, she was seriously regretting giving in to that pout he knew she could never resist.

"Jules! You said if I was good I could get Skittles!" he whined, tugging on her sleeve.

She rolled her eyes, brushing his hand away. "Shawn, we're not even at the candy yet."

“But you promised!”

Juliet, forgetting for a moment that he wasn't the kid he was acting like, snapped, "I said if you were good! Harassing me is not being good! Do you remember what happened at the dry cleaners?" 

“You made me stay in the car,” he sighed, hanging his head. 

She nodded firmly, pushing the cart up the next aisle, determined to get out of there as quickly as possible before Shawn started whining again. If she could make it through three more aisles, Juliet thought she had a chance of saving her sanity. 

He followed closely behind her, dragging his feet as she browsed through the produce. Looking closely at his girlfriend’s annoyed expression, Shawn asked, "What's wrong, Jules? Your face is all crinkled." 

"Thanks," she muttered sarcastically, dropping some peaches into a bag. "It's been a long week, Shawn. You have no idea what Carlton is like when he doesn't get his coffee."

Shawn laughed, gently nudging her with his elbow. "It can't be any worse than the time someone replaced all his white out with black ink."

Juliet grinned despite herself, laughing at the memory. "Oh, it's worse...but at least my favorite shirt isn't stained this time." Digging through the peaches, she tried to find another to match the perfect ones she’d already picked out. She just needed one more – that’s all. They were on sale, but only if you got five. Focusing on the search, Juliet knocked the inferior fruit around the counter haphazardly, getting more irrationally irate at the bad quality by the second.  Finally, she gave up the hunt in disgust and groaned. "They’re all bruised!" she complained. 

"I think that's because you're squeezing them like one of those little rubber guys with the bulging eyes," Shawn observed. "Seriously, Jules...you're assaulting the fruit. Isn't that a crime in some states?"

"I'm not assaulting the fruit!" she returned, finally finding one that suited her purposes and dropping it in the bag. "I'm just..."

"What?" Shawn snorted. "Interrogating it?"

She shot him a dirty look and tossed the bag into the cart, pushing ahead into the next aisle. Shawn laughed unrepentantly as she stopped to compare prices on rolls of toilet paper.

"You're not going after the Brawny paper towel guy next, are you?" Shawn gasped in feigned horror. "Jules! He's just a lumberjack! He doesn't stand a chance!" Although she wanted to tell him that she felt more like assaulting one particularly annoying psychic at the moment, Juliet decided to ignore him. Shawn, however, ignored her ignoring him. "Is no one safe from your mad grocery rampage?" he lamented dramatically, grabbing her shoulder playfully. "Is no one safe?"

In the state she was in, Juliet really wanted to believe that his touch didn’t affect her, but, since, as always, she could feel the warmth of Shawn’s hand tingling all the way down her arm, she had a hard time sustaining her denial. She could feel the grin tugging against the edges of her mouth, but she fought it.

"Yeah..." Shawn nodded in agreement. "...you know, if you had a roomie you could split the cost of toilet paper. And toothpaste! Do you have any idea how much money the average American spends on toothpaste?"

“No.” She didn’t tell him that, at the moment, she didn’t particularly care.

"Neither do I," Shawn shrugged. "But it's got to be like, what? At least a couple hundred bucks, right?”

Narrowing her eyes, Juliet began to wonder exactly where he was going with all of this. Arching an eyebrow, she asked suspiciously, "Shawn, did you get evicted again?" 

"No!" he insisted. "I'm still....victed...I was just thinking that since we're paying so much for toilet paper..."

Juliet sighed. This was a conversation they’d had before. She had tried to explain to him that she just wasn’t comfortable living together yet. Since Shawn hadn’t brought the subject up since, Juliet had thought that he understood. "I've told you, Shawn; we're not moving in together.” 

"I know..." Shawn shrugged. "But I just thought you wouldn't mind splitting the cost of toilet paper and toothpaste with the guy you were married to...that's all. I mean, isn't that why people get married? The toothpaste savings?"

She stared at him, absolutely dumbfounded. "You think people get married to save ten cents on toothpaste?"

"What?" Shawn blinked. "Like there's a better reason?"

She smacked his arm, her cheeks flushing. "You didn't just propose to me in front of toilet paper!" she shouted. 

"I didn't?" Shawn asked, rubbing his arm. "Are you sure? I meant to...well, not in front of toilet paper..."

"Shawn! I'm not going to get married because the economy stinks right now!"

"I didn't realize I could only propose during a bull market...or is it bear? Which is the good one? I can never remember. I haven't played Pit since I was a kid..." 

"This isn't about Pit!"

"Well, you brought it up," Shawn snorted.

"I did not! And you're not supposed to propose like this! You don't even have a ring!"

"What am I supposed to do then?" he asked, apparently wounded that his proposal technique was being questioned.

Too agitated to think clearly, Juliet exclaimed, "I don't know! Something....normal! Get on one knee..."

"Okay," Shawn shrugged, dramatically falling to his knees. "Juliet...will you do me the honor...of upgrading to quilted?" 

Juliet stared down at the man in front of her, the harsh glare of the fluorescent lights reflecting in his eyes. If there had ever been any doubt in her mind that he was insane, he had just put them to rest. No one decided, on the spur of the moment, to propose marriage in order to split the cost of household items. Shawn couldn’t be serious – it had to be one of his jokes. Juliet was about to retort that there wasn’t any toilet paper discount in the world worth putting up with him when she took another look. 

While his lips were curved in one of his patented grins, Juliet saw something else shining in his eyes – he was nervous. She couldn’t believe it. In all of the time she had known him, there was only one other time she had seen that look – the day she had actually agreed to go on a date with him. And that could only mean one thing – he was serious. He had just asked her to marry him. 

"Shawn..." she started, her voice hoarse, but he stopped her before she could get another word out.

"I'm not getting up until you say yes, Jules." Shawn waved his arm to emphasize his statement, and Juliet caught a slight tremor in his hand.

It might not have been the beach in Antigua she had secretly dreamed about since she was a little girl, but Juliet decided that, given the guy who was asking, it was actually better. She smiled. "Yes." 

Shawn jumped to his feet. "Woo-hoo!" he exclaimed, startling a couple of other shoppers at the end of the aisle, who quickly rolled their carts in the opposite direction. Pulling Juliet into a tight embrace, he practically lifted her off her feet as he spun her around. When they were dizzy, he stopped and kissed her until they both forgot where they were.

As they broke apart, Juliet leaned her forehead against Shawn’s shoulder. And, even as she shivered as he nuzzled her ear, she suddenly had another thought; frowning, she leaned back to look into his face. "But I want a real proposal!" she told him, smacking his arm again. "And a ring!"

"No problem!" he assured her. "Now that I'm saving ten cents a roll on toilet paper, I can totally afford a good one!"