A/N: At last, the final chapter. Blame the season finale for not getting an update sooner because it very nearly killed me. The psychiatrist at the mental institution I checked myself into says I am somewhat mentally stable now though so I could finally finish the story and update. Enjoy!

Someone or something was moving on the other end of the door, Shawn was sure of it.
He'd been sitting upright in bed for the past 3 minutes, trying to locate the sound that had woke him up and now he had. Well, sort of anyway. For a second he wondered if he should wake up Jules but because she was looking so peaceful whilst asleep he decided against it. He listened intensely, there was the noise again, it sounded like someone was shuffling up and down the hallway.

"Okay Spenstar be brave now." He quietly mumbled to himself, gently stepping out of bed. Grabbing Juliet's bathrobe from the bedroom floor he slowly crept to the door that gave access to the hallway.

Through the sound of his ragged breath he tried to listen at the door and just when he thought he'd maybe just imagined it, he heard the sound again. This time it seemed closer... Shawn grabbed the vase standing on a side table near the door and without waiting another second opened the door, with the vase held above him, ready to strike whomever or whatever was on the other side of the door...

He had not expected to be staring at a now very frightful looking 5 year old.
Of course if he had actually remembered Juliet's 5 year old nephew was staying over for the night, the possibility of encountering Jim instead of some highly dangerous criminal had seen more likely.

"Hey buddy." Shawn whispered, quickly composing himself and putting the vase back on the side table and then closing the door.
As he closed the door he glanced at Juliet and was relieved to see that at least she was still sleeping.

He then knelt down to be on eye level with Jim: "What's wrong?" He asked in a hushed voice.

"I had a nightmare." Jim said so quietly Shawn could barely make out what he was saying. With a shock Shawn realized that Jim was close to crying, his lips trembling and his breathing irregular.
Shawn looked at the door, now desperately wishing Juliet had woken up and was on the same side of the door as he currently was. She'd know what to do. Yet he couldn't bring himself to wake her up in the middle of the night just because her nephew had a nightmare. No, this was something he should be capable of handling himself. Or at the very least try to handle himself.

"Okay okay." Shawn heard himself say. "Just...don't cry okay. Let's talk about this uhm, not here so close to this door here but back in your bed. I'll be right beside you the whole time okay?"
He took Jim's hand and gently nudged him to the other end of the hallway, back to the guest room. Jim reluctantly went along with him and went back into bed but during the process never letting go of Shawn's hand.

Shawn sat down on the bedside, absentmindedly stroking Jim's hair while he tried to think of what he should say or do next. It seemed to calm Jim down because it didn't seem like he was closing to bursting out in tears anymore, his breath sounding much more regular.
Maybe this was all you needed to do when a five year old had a nightmare, Shawn thought to himself.

Just as Shawn was about to ask Jim if he was alright again and going to sleep, Jim began talking: "Do you ever have nightmares?" He asked in a small voice.

This made Shawn think for a little while, unsure if he should be truthful or not. He finally settled for the first one: "Yes I have." He admitted.

"What are they about?" Jim asked.

A chill went down his spine. They pretty much all involve your aunt getting either kidnapped, mortally injured or dying, usually by the hands of Yang, he thought. But of course he couldn't tell Jim that.

"Why don't you tell me what yours was about?" Shawn hastily suggested.

"There was a big monster in the closet and he wanted to eat me!" Jim blurted out, close to crying again.

"But monsters don't exist, Jim." Shawn said. At least not the kind you are talking about, he added as a mental note.

"You don't know that!" Jim objected fiercely. "He could be hiding in the closet right now and the minute I close my eyes he is going to...he is going to..." The rest of Jim's words were impossible to make out because now he was actually crying.

Okay so being truthful and reasonable definitely had not been the best available option, Shawn thought. Which made sense considering he was very much dealing with an irrational, scared 5 year old.

Plus the whole talk about nightmares made him feel uneasy as well. He still had nightmares about the Yin / Yang events quite frequently. And they always ended the same. They always ended with Juliet dying or being close to dying.
When he and Juliet hadn't been dating yet and he had such a nightmare he used to lie awake for what seemed like hours, fighting the urge to call her. Just to hear her voice, just to make sure she was okay.
Now that they were increasingly spending more nights together, making sure she was okay had gotten easier. If this was the reason the nightmares occurred less often, Shawn did not know. All he knew right now was that he was dealing with a very upset child and him thinking about his own nightmares sure wasn't helping.

Suddenly he remembered something else. Something which might actually prove to be helpful. Without saying anything he let go of Jim's hand and practically stormed out of the guest room.

"Shawn?" Jim sobbed when Shawn had let go of his hand. "I'm here buddy, I'm here." Shawn replied 10 seconds later completely out of breath and grabbing Jim's hand again. He turned on the lamp standing on the nightstand.

Jim blinked against the unexpected brightness, which for a minute made him forget about crying and he looked at Shawn curiously. Shawn was sitting on his bedside again, his arms behind his back.

"I was actually planning on doing this when you leave in the morning." He began a bit awkwardly. "But I suppose now is as good a time as any."

"Here, I want you to have this." He said as he held out both of his hands to Jim.

"Perry!" Jim exclaimed when he recognized what Shawn was holding in front of him.
Perry was a stuffed animal and happened to look exactly like Perry from Phineas and Ferb, even the size was comparable. Shawn had found it when they'd been grocery shopping and, knowing Jim's love for the show, he just knew he had to buy it for him. Fortunately it seemed like Jim liked his present a lot because he was stretching out his little arms and when Shawn put Perry in his arms he immediately pushed it against his cheat while petting its head.

"Perry will protect you from things like nightmares and monsters you know." Shawn started.

"He will?" Jim asked suspiciously, but he sounded much calmer again.

"Of course he will. Even when you're sleeping, like I protect aunt Jules."

"But you can't protect her all the time can you?" Jim asked.

But I wish I could, Shawn thought wearily. And for the second time in 5 minutes he realized that this conversation was not going as he'd planned. "Maybe I can't." Shawn finally answered, "But I know that Perry can."

"You promise?" Jim asked.

"I promise buddy. Nothing will happen to you as long as Perry is there with you." This seemed to convince Jim because he snuggled Perry even closer and closed his eyes.

Shawn waited a little while until Jim's breathing had become slow and regular before getting up from the bedside. The last image he saw before turning off the light was that of Jim snuggled together with Perry, his eyes closed and a small smile on his face. "Goodnight." Shawn whispered, quietly leaving the room to get back to his own bed. Back to Juliet.

(...)

It was the sound of a loud crash that yanked Juliet out of a very pleasant dream she'd been having. She groggily opened her eyes and sat upright, trying to find out what had woken her.
Looking around the room she couldn't figure out what had made the loud noise, but she did notice a whole lot of other things. For one, her bedroom was truly a mess with pieces of clothing scattered everywhere across the floor and the white drapes that were supposed to hang in front of her window mysteriously missing.

That wasn't the only thing she was missing though, because when she turned her head to look at Shawn she found herself staring at an empty spot beside her. This was also when she noticed the alarm clock. For a second she thought it must be broken because according to the alarm clock it was 10 am. Juliet very rarely slept in while Shawn loved to do nothing but.

This is definitely weird, she thought to herself. It was only then that the thought of Jim crossed her mind. She found it hard to believe that Jim would still be sleeping at 10 am and Shawn was not lying next to her in bed which could only mean...

Another loud crash made her lose her train of thought and this time she thought she could faintly distinguish something like laughter sounding through it as well.
She hastily put on her bathrobe and slippers and opened the door to the hallway. Now she could clearly hear laughter and she immediately recognized the sound as to be Shawn's. She quickly made it down the hallway, part of her dreading what she would see the moment she walked into the living room. As soon as she had a clear view on the living room she saw what had happened to the drapes in her bedroom.

Shawn was currently running around in them.

He was closely followed by Jim who was apparently chasing him with some kind of green object in his left hand. By the time Jim had caught up with Shawn, Juliet could finally recognize the object Jim had been holding as Perry from Phineas and Ferb. The rest of the living room was even a greater mess than her bedroom, she noticed with a sigh. Cushions and pillows everywhere, one of her tables had been turned upside down, for which purpose Juliet could only guess, and a box of cereal lay open on the ground, with cereal scattered all around it.

Jim and Shawn didn't seem to notice the disheveled state of the room, being too busy with whatever game they were playing.

Just as Juliet was about to make her presence known, Jim shouted: "Hold it right there Dr. Doofenschmitz. You are under arrest!"

Shawn slowly put his hands above his head "Ah Nein! I guess I have no choice left but to surrender. Unless..."

In a flash Shawn put his hand down and began tickling Jim. A moment later they both collapsed on the nearby couch, Jim laughing and at the same time struggling to get away.

Juliet decided this to be a good time as any to loudly clear her throat.

Two heads turned around simultaneously and while Shawn merely sat down on the couch and smiled at her, Jim sprang up and ran towards her. "Aunt Jules! Look! Me and Perry have captured evil doctor Doofenschmitz."

Juliet did her best to look impressed: "Wow, that truly is a great accomplishment." Just as transforming my living room into a battle field, she thought to herself but she decided not to make a big deal about it.
Jim would get picked up by his parents in less than two hours and she didn't want to spend it being mad at Jim.

"I bet my hero is pretty hungry after all the crime-fighting." She said to Jim. "What you say I'm gonna make you some breakfast?" Jim nodded and with Perry still safely tucked against his chest sat down on a kitchen chair.
Juliet looked questioningly at Shawn because he didn't follow them to the kitchen but instead remained sitting on the couch.

"Shawn, aren't you coming?" She asked him. Shawn looked sheepishly at her.

"I can't leave this couch, it is a prison you see. I can only get up if Jim and Perry release me."

Juliet couldn't help but chuckling, then tuning to Jim: "What you say we free him so he too can have some breakfast?"

This made Jim think for a little while before saying: "Okay, on one condition. He had to promise not to be evil any more.

"Done!" Shawn happily agreed and sprang up from the couch and, as he sat down, solemnly said: "I hereby promise that from now on I will use my massive intellect solely for the greater good."

"Well I am glad the destruction of my living room has at least served a useful purpose then." Juliet said.

Jim didn't catch the hidden meaning but instead nodded enthusiastically. Shawn on the other hand looked a bit more...remorseful silently undoing the drapes around them and folding them.

After breakfast it was time to get Jim dressed and pack his stuff.
It all went by too quickly, Juliet thought sadly. Shawn and Jim thought so too because they both were remarkably quieter as they brought Jim's bag to the living room to wait for his parents to pick him up.

"Aunt Jules, I don't wanna go." Jim said desperately as the doorbell rang not soon after the three of them had sat down on the couch.

"Aww Jim don't worry, we'll see each other very soon again." Juliet promised him, getting up from the couch.

"Yeah she's right buddy." Shawn agreed, "You can come stay with us whenever you like."

This made Jim smile. "And you'll be there?" Jim asked, sounding hopeful.

"Are you kidding me? Of course I'll be there!"

Actually from now on, I'll pretty much always be here, he thought with a shock. What shocked him more however, was that he didn't feel frightened or trapped by that prospect.
He was really looking forward to it, he realized, smiling when Juliet came back into the living room with Jim's mother.

Contrary to what Jim had said before, he looked happy to see his mother, immediately running up to her the second he saw her.

With Jim in her arms, Colleen walked up to Shawn.

"Nice to see you again." She said. "I trust Jim hasn't been too much of a handful for you?" But then for the first time she looked around the living room and she began looking more worried.

"Actually, it was more of the combination of Shawn and Jim that proved to be a handful." Juliet said, but she was smiling as she spoke. "But don't worry about it, I absolutely loved having Jim here."

"Oh yes." Shawn agreed. "It was quite...insightful." He added.

Colleen wanted to reply but a loud honk from a car outside interrupted her.

"That would be my husband." She said apologetically. "He is really anxious to get back home so I guess me and Jim better hurry." She shook Shawn's hand. "It was nice meeting you."

She then turned to Juliet. "We'll talk later okay, I wanna know all about those insights this little guy gave you."

She and Juliet exchanged another meaningful look and not for the first time Shawn wondered exactly how much they had already talked about him.

Suddenly he felt a tug at his shirt and when he looked down Jim was standing before him. "Bye Shawn. It was really nice meeting you." He said dutifully, looking at his mother for approval.

"Bye Jim." Shawn replied. "We'll see each other real soon okay. And remember what I told you about Perry okay?" He added almost in a whisper.

"I will." Jim said seriously.

And then it was time to leave. Shawn and Juliet walked Colleen and Jim to the car and waved at them until the car had disappeared around the corner. And with that Jim was gone.

When they went back inside again Juliet couldn't help but mutter "Oh no, my poor living room" and sigh, looking for where to start cleaning. Suddenly she felt Shawn grabbing her arm and pulling her close to him.

"Don't you mean our living room?" He asked, bringing his face close to hers. "Hmm our living room. I like the sound of it." She muttered, slightly brushing her lips against his. "And not just because that means you have to help me clean too." She added playfully.

She wanted to kiss him but Shawn suddenly pulled away from her kiss, instead beginning to laugh.

"What is it?" She asked confused.

"I'm sorry but I can't help but picturing the look on Lassie's face when we tell him we're moving in together." Shawn said, still laughing.

He looked at Juliet who was laughing with him and in the middle of the messy living room on a Saturday morning Shawn Spencer knew that he had found a home.

A/N: Fin. The end. Einde. Das Ende. Finis.
I wanna thank everyone who has been reading / reviewing / keeping track of this story. It really means the world to me knowing that what I write is at least somewhat readable and enjoyable. Oh one last thing; if you ever have any suggestions / ideas about what kind of story I should write next, (obviously it has to be at least a little bit Shules related because I just love writing it) please feel free to tell me so in a review or a message. I mean it, don't be shy and talk to me! Again, thank you so much for reading and until next time!