"Whew. Today is a beautiful day in Santa Barbara and in due time too after Hurricane Xena every Santa Barbara-nite is soaking up the rays at the beach..."

*Click* "Come on Gus, quit listening to the radio. Everyone is waiting for us."

Gus looked over at his best friend in passenger side. Shawn was wearing his usual beach gear- board shorts, white undershirt, and sandals. He was digging around in the glove compartment and started to mutter under his breath.

"Shawn. Whatcha looking for?"

"Sunglasses Gus. I need my Ray Bans to protect my beautiful eyes. You don't want me getting wrinkles do you?"

Gus rolled his eyes and sighed at him. Quickly he reached out and grabbed the sunglasses that were sitting on top of Shawn's head, who just raised his eyebrows at them. "Really Shawn."

Shawn quickly grabbed them out his hand and put them on. "Let's go buddy!" He grabbed his towel and jumped out the Blueberry. He took off toward the beach where the annual SBPD beach party was being held. Gus was left to lug the fifty pounds of ice that Shawn had promised they would bring.

"Dammit Shawn!" The curse fell on mute ears seeing as Shawn was currently ogling Juliet O'Hara who was wearing an honest to goodness yellow polka-dot bikini. So Gus just gritted his teeth and continued his struggle.

"Heya Jules!" Shawn craned his neck to the side as she was bending over to lay out her towel. "What is up?"

Juliet smoothed out her towel and from the corner of her eyes she saw Shawn checking her out so she took an extra long time smoothing out her towel and stood up slowly. She went a special shopping trip to buy the bikini she was wearing just so she could torture Shawn. "Nothing much, debating whether or not I am going to join Buzz and his wife playing volleyball or sun bathe."

"Well-" his sentence was interrupted when Gus smacked him upside the head. Shawn spun and began smoothing and fiddling with his hair. "Gus! What was that for?"

Gus looked angry. "What do you think? I had to drag the cooler all the way from the car to here. It has like fifty pounds of ice in it Shawn!"

"Oh Gus you are always talking about how you don't get enough exercise so I just helped out by not helping you."

"Whatever Shawn. I'm going to see what your dad and Lassie are cooking on the grill."

Shawn chuckled and went back to talk to Juliet but she had made up her mind and was playing volleyball. It appeared to be night shift versus day shift. Shawn decided to walk around and see just what this party had to offer. Several officers were chatting by a large table filled with all sorts of food, a few were dancing next to a boombox, some were next to the grill where his dad and Lassie were grilling up all sorts of chicken, hamburgers and fish. He strolled over to the group and the smell that wafted over made his mouth water.

"Dad! Lassie!" He stood in between the men and placed his hands on their shoulders.

Carlton tensed under the touch. "What do you want Spencer?"

"Weelllll." He leaned over and started eyeballing the array of food. "I was thinking two of everything but it looks so delish I may get three."

"Go away Spencer."

"What about you dad? You want me to leave too?"

"Yes I do."

Shawn got a fake hurt look about him and began his retreat. "Just tell me when it's ready. Gus! Join me!"

Gus shook his head. "Un-ugh I am going to be the sampler besides I'm still mad at you. Go find someone else to bother."

This time Shawn's feelings were a little hurt as his walked away from the trio. He didn't feel like dancing or playing volleyball and he most definitely wasn't going to try and small talk with people he barely knew so he decided to see if he could grab a board and go surfing. He was in luck some teens were surfing and had brought a board for a friend who didn't show so they let him borrow it.

Slowly he paddled out just enjoying the feel of the sun warmed water and the smell of the salt. Shawn had been surfing since he was fifteen the feeling of nature guiding your course as you just held on was something that always thrilled Shawn. Sitting on the board he soaked up some rays and waited for the next wave. As he felt the current shift he began his quick paddle to meet the wave, standing up on the board he felt the tell-tale rush that accompanied catching a big one. Idly he noticed that several officers were watching him a few pointing his direction even his dad watched for a second before tending the grill again.

Dodging in and out of the curl he was on top of the world but then he remembered he forgot one thing- the wax. His feet started to slip and he knew he was going to wipe out so acting quickly he jumped off the board to minimize the roll of his body. Coming up for air he saw that some of the onlookers had run in to the surf to see if he needed some help. He laughed as he walked toward the sand.

"Shawn! You ok."

Shawn saw the worried face of Juliet and smiled. "M'Fine Jules. The question is how does my hair look?"

Juliet just laughed and pushed against his chest before she walked away. Shawn waited till the concerned group broke up before he inspected the damage. He was going to have a bruise where the board hit him and he must have scraped his leg on something because it was on fire and there was a small welt on it. Other than that he was fine. He returned the board back to the teens who thought it was totally awesome the way he bit it and started to walk over to his towel. With each step the burn in his leg started to travel upward and his face had an uncomfortable burning feeling. Forgot the sunscreen. Man! Just when he thought he was going to collapse from the pain he reached his towel and laid down. Maybe a quick nap and I'll feel better.

Under the shade of a giant umbrella Shawn fell asleep unknowing that they little welt on his leg was not caused by a scrape and by the end of the day he would be praying for death.