Shawn Spencer

The problem with a lack of Chicago – aside from the fact that Shawn lost a good chunk of his family and friends with not high hopes of ever seeing them again, and the world ended, of course – is that there’s nothing to ground them. With rabbit holes before, they could go skipping through the universe as lackadaisically as they pleased, because no matter what, Chicago was always there to tether themselves to. Now, they have no tether. They drift through the worlds, hoping that they can sit still for more than a second before the rifts scoop them up and carry them away again. They don’t always get scooped up together, either, which made for a heartbreaking realization when he and Irma came out the other side and the cab of the wiener mobile is empty. But as far as Shawn is concerned, that doesn’t matter. He’ll find his way back to them again.

If he doesn’t have a place to tether himself to, then he’ll just have to change his course. Adapt. Make Jules his tether, and eventually he’ll find his way back to her again. There’s no rule that says home base has to be a place, after all. Besides, he’s never been one for rules anyway.

Why follow them when you can change them?

***

The first time they’re separated, it takes two jumps for him to get back to her.

It’s awesome, mostly because they’ve found themselves in a living museum. Jules has been there for a while, so she’s managed to make a little bit of money for them to have a place to stay. The reunion is a happy one (lots of kissing, ample ridiculousness, there’s even some pineapple), even if they spend the evening having to mitigate a war between the Old West exhibit and Ancient Rome.

Shawn gets a job as a security guard after that, coming home making comments about Dick Van Dyke and stuffed monkeys, and all of it is true, but there’s a kind of normalcy to it that almost reminds him of home. He says things that would not make sense in any other context, she humors him solely for the benefit of making him get to the point, and but they find their way, one way or another. He buys her dinner every night and she makes breakfast every morning and for a little while, their life works.

They get three months before Shawn disappears again. He doesn’t get to keep Jules, but he keeps his flashlight, just in case.

***

Four worlds later, Shawn wakes up in a flying house being supported by balloons, and is fairly convinced that he’s going to die. He’s not kidding. There is girlish screaming that was downright shameful, but at the time, he felt he had legitimate concerns. He doesn’t find Jules until he touches down on the ground, which was a few days after the fact, when he realized that if broke the balloons one at a time, he would be granted a slow descent. This came with some trial and error, however, and a great deal more screaming.

This world isn’t exactly as fun as the one before, and not nearly as domestic. There’s a mad scientist to defeat and talking dogs to liberate, and Shawn does it in his own, ridiculous way, but once that’s done they have an island paradise at they’re disposal.

They barely get two weeks before Jules disappears on him again.

It’s not even close to enough. Then again, Shawn isn’t sure that one hundred years would be enough either.

***

It’s a long time before he finds her again.

Each world without Jules in it only serves to make him angrier and more frustrated with the situation at hand. He leaves the jungle with a talking dog at his side and tries to make his way through, pretending as though nothing bothers him. He’s become an expert at that over the years, on more than one occasion.

But one day, there she is, like a bolt out of the blue.

(He’s never understood what that lyric meant, but when he sees her in the middle of the crowd, he starts to feel like he’s getting it.)

The one thing that Shawn is sure of, though, is that he doesn’t want to waste any time. He knows there stands to reason that they might not get much time but as the months tick past, he thinks they might have finally gotten lucky – finally found a home. They conquer every hurdle, get a house, get a cat, get jobs, slowly turn everything into a life, and he knows that this is what he wants.

He’s never actually wanted it before, but he wants it now. That’s the part that matters, in his opinion.

He buys the ring on a Saturday. It’s simple, but pretty, and very Jules, through and through. He makes the reservations, all the arrangements, does pretty much everything but write the speech because he’s always better on the fly. The days count down and he knows that they’ll make it. They can do this.

He gets caught by a rift two days before the dinner. He leaves the ring sitting on the bedside table as he goes.

He hopes the next time he sees her that she’s wearing it.