A/N: Final chapter of this fic.

CHAPTER THREE: The Call

He allows himself a shower before calling her, but he knows that putting it off any longer will amount to something resembling treason in her eyes. He pulls out his cell phone and pushes the send button twice to dial her number (she's almost always the last one who called)...

He settles onto his bed and rubs his eyes as he waits for her to answer.

"Hey, Carlton!" Juliet exclaims upon picking up. "How'd the date go? I expected you to call at least an hour ago..."

"We went for coffee after we got done shooting."

"Oh! Does that mean it went well?"

"I think so. She's amazing, O'Hara." he says, and if his voice sounds just a bit too admiring, it's because he can't help himself.

"You didn't get competitive with the shooting, did you?"

"No! We just shot, tested out each other's guns, let off some energy."

"That's really nice, Carlton."

"We, um, kissed again. Twice." he says, reddening slightly. He's not entirely sure why he's telling her this, but it feels like something he should mention.

"She must like you a lot."

"I hope so." he admits. "We talked about whether or not we wanted kids in the future..."

"Ugh, no. That's way too long term for second date conversation. I thought you knew not to bring that up."

"It wasn't me!" he defends. "It sorta happened by accident. She started it, but I told her the truth. I want to have kids if I can. She does too, but we know that would be way in the future. And you know, that's assuming that this actually turns serious."

"I guess you two are forgiven, if it didn't make things awkward..."

"It didn't. Or maybe for a second it did, but we got past it."

"Good. I guess I'm gonna have to call her soon. Ask her how she thinks it went...and if you're a good kisser." Juliet teases, and Carlton can hear her laughter on the other end of the line.

"Shut it, O'Hara."

"What? I've always been curi-"

"O'Hara," he tries to growl. He's glad they aren't talking in person; this way, his partner can't see that he's fighting a smile.

"Oh, fine...I'll stop. For now."

"Thank you for acting your age."

"You're welcome. Anything else to report?"

"No, I guess not. We should be going out again soon, though."

"I'm glad to hear it." Juliet says, and Carlton can hear how much she means it. "Now, if that's all," she yawns, "I think I'm gonna get to sleep now. I'm honestly pretty exhausted...but thanks for calling and letting me know how it went."

"Don't expect me to make a habit out of it." grumbles Carlton into the phone, but he thinks he just might.

Juliet laughs slightly. "Goodnight, Carlton."

"Goodnight, O'Hara. And hey, can you do me a favor?"

"Sure."

He feels heat rise up his neck and into his face (once again, he's glad that this is a phone conversation). He rushes out the words. "If you do call her...tell me what she says, okay?"

Juliet laughs again. "Will do, Partner."

A/N: The end...of this fic. :P Thank you for reading, and thank you to everyone who reviewed! There will be only one more fic with Lassiter and Elizabeth, but it's a really huge collection of firsts and whatnot and spans over a long time. It's one of those fics where I can keep writing until I run out of ideas. And I still have quite a few ideas as of right now, so no real worries about that yet. I'll probably post the first chapter within the coming week. Some other non-Lassie/Elizabeth stories will crop up from me too, I'm sure. It's gonna be a long summer. ;)