Chapter Text
+2
The sheets were warm. So was Lucy. She laid sprawled over him, her weight a pleasant and familiar feeling against him. She had one leg thrown carelessly across his thigh, and her skin still hummed, nerves alive and buzzing as the afterglow settled in slow waves. Tim’s arms were wrapped around her, his hand tracing idle lines along her arm.
“I missed this,” Lucy murmured, her voice sleepy and content.
“Me too,” Tim said, pressing a kiss to her temple and then nuzzling her hair. “Missed this… missed you.”
She lifted her head to look at him properly, eyes soft as she took him in. “I’m so happy, Tim.”
He moved, turning toward her fully, one hand coming up to cradle her face. His thumb brushed her cheek lovingly. “You deserve to be,” he said quietly. “And I’m so grateful to have another chance— to make you as happy as you make me.”
Her smile brightened. “I like it when you’re sweet.”
“Shh, don’t tell anyone,” he whispered, pressing a kiss to her mouth.
It started slow before deepening and intensifying. Lucy shifted, pushing him to his back and moving fully over him, fingers threading through his hair. His hands slid to her hips, guiding her closer, fitting her to him as close as possible.
She tilted her head, mouth moving against his, her touch deliberate, confident, making his breath hitch. Tim smiled against her lips, answering with a soft nip that made her gasp.
Lucy broke the kiss, her lips flushed and eyes hazy as she hovered over him. “Mmm… can we stay here all day?” she pleaded between kisses.
“Oh, I have no plans to leave this bed,” Tim replied, voice low, one hand sliding up her side and settling on her back. He pressed her closer and captured her lips again. They continued kissing— slow, wet, gentle.
Kojo suddenly started barking down the hall, causing Lucy to stiffen instantly. “What is he barking at?” she whispered against Tim’s mouth.
Tim smiled against her mouth, trying to keep her close. “Probably nothing,” he murmured, nudging a kiss to the corner of her lips. “A squirrel. Stray cat. He loses his mind over leaves sometimes.”
Lucy huffed a quiet laugh, relaxing just enough for Tim to kiss her again, his hand steady at her back.
But the barking didn’t stop. It only grew louder, more excited.
Tim hesitated, the kiss faltering as he pulled back slightly, his brow furrowing. He glanced toward the bedroom door. “Okay… that’s maybe not a squirrel.”
Then came the unmistakable sound of the front door opening. Footsteps. Voices.
Tim stilled completely.
Lucy felt it the same moment he did. She rolled off him and scrambled for the sheets, eyes wide. “Someone’s in the house.”
He exhaled. “Yeah.” He pushed himself upright, adrenaline spiking… until something dawned on him. He fell back onto the mattress, rubbing his face. “…what day is it?” he asked.
Lucy turned her head to look at him, confusion cutting through the panic. “What? Why?”
His eyes widened. Tim launched out of bed, grabbing the first pair of boxers and sweats he could find, hopping awkwardly as he shoved his leg through. “I’m sorry,” he said quickly. “I completely forgot.”
Lucy clutched the covers tighter around herself. “Forgot what?”
From down the hall came, “UNCLE TIM!”
Lucy gasped and dove fully under the covers.
Tim grabbed a shirt— there was one half crumpled at the foot of the bed— and tugged it on without checking which way it went. “I’m sorry. I told Genny I’d take the boys today,” he said, rushing the words. “She’s got a some day trip with her book club. I totally forgot.”
“Timmm,” Lucy groaned from beneath the covers, mortified. “I’m naked. And there are children in our house?!”
He froze mid-hop.
Our house.
She hadn’t fully moved in yet, but his heart soared at the acknowledgement. His gaze flicked to the shape of her under the sheets— how unmistakably her she was, in their bed— and his train of thought derailed completely.
A crash sounded down the hall. Tim begrudgingly tore his eyes away from Lucy’s body, adjusted himself, and cleared his throat. “I obviously agreed to this before I knew you’d be here naked,” he said, painfully.
Lucy huffed and pulled the covers down just enough to reveal her face. “Tim.”
“I’m going, I’m going,” he muttered, backing toward the door. He slipped out into the hallway and straight into the chaos.
The boys were already in the living room, voices overlapping, Kojo circling them excitedly. Genny stood near the kitchen island, a travel mug in hand.
“There you are!” Genny exclaimed. “I almost thought you forgot and took another shift—” She stopped. Took him in. His messed up hair, shirt on backwards, catching his breath. Her eyes narrowed. “Tyler, Austin… why don’t you take Kojo outside for a minute?” Genny said, waving them toward the back door.
They ran out without question.
Tim rubbed the back of his neck, trying to push away the awkwardness he was feeling. “Sorry. I overslept—”
“You don’t oversleep.” Genny’s gaze dragged over him then followed the path back toward the hallway. Her eyes settled on a pair of boots kicked carelessly near the bedroom door. Women’s boots. She sighed, already tired. “Please do not tell me you have some random woman in your bedroom right now when you’re about to be watching your nephews. My kids.”
Tim blushed. “Of course not.”
Genny squinted at him. “So you’re telling me you’re not stumbling out here after a late night hookup?”
“No, I just meant she’s not—“
“Oh my God,” Genny said, cutting him off immediately, disbelief flashing across her face. “Tim!” She crossed her arms, already pacing a step or two like she needed to burn off the frustration. “After everything with Lucy, I cannot believe you’d bring someone else home. I thought you were trying to get her back!”
“I didn’t—”
“No,” she snapped, pointing at him. “You don’t get to to do this. You already messed up once when you walked away from the best thing that’s ever happened to you.”
Tim opened his mouth again, trying to get a word in.
“Don’t even start with the excuses,” she continued, steamrolling right over him. “The boys adore her. I adore her. She fits into this family like she’s already part of it, and you—” She threw her hands up. “You break her heart, mope around for months, finally start acting like you’ve learned something, and now you bring some random woman home like it’s nothing?”
“Genny—”
“Timothy,” Genny said sharply, “if you are self-sabotaging your one chance at getting Lucy back, I swear to God—”
The hallway creaked.
Lucy appeared at the end of it, wrapped in one of Tim’s sweatshirts, hair still a little mussed, cheeks warm. “…hey, Genny.”
Genny froze mid-rant. Blinked. Then pure, unfiltered relief washed over her. “Oh,” she breathed. “Thank God.”
Tim looked over at his sister, annoye. “Can I speak now?”
“No,” Genny said, still staring at Lucy like she might vanish. “Absolutely not. But also— hi. Welcome back.”
Lucy smiled, soft and genuine. “Thanks.”
Tim muttered, “I was trying to tell you.”
Genny waved him off without even looking at him. She crossed the room in three quick steps and wrapped Lucy in a fierce hug, squeezing her tight.
Lucy laughed in surprise, arms coming up automatically and hugging her back just as tightly.
Genny eventually released her, still smiling, and Lucy drifted instinctively toward Tim.
He reached for her without thinking, lacing their fingers together.
Genny tilted her head, eyes flicking from their joined hands to their faces. “So,” she said slowly, “I take it things are official?”
Tim squeezed Lucy’s hand once. “Yeah,” he said.
Lucy looked up and smiled at him, nodding in agreement.
“And,” Tim added, like he couldn’t help himself, “Lucy’s moving in.”
Genny gasped. “Moving in,” she repeated, hands flying to her chest. “With you.”
Lucy laughed. “Yep.”
Genny shook her head, overwhelmed and delighted. “This is— this is really happening.”
From the backyard came a shout. “MOM! KOJO STOLE THE BALL!”
Austin ran up to the glass sliding door, palms pressed flat against it, face inches from the glass in an attempt to get his mother’s attention. But he froze, his eyes bulging from his head when he saw her. He slid the door open with a loud thunk and burst inside. “LUCY!”
Lucy barely had time to react before he launched himself at her, arms wrapping around her waist. She stumbled back a step, laughing as she hugged him. “Hey, buddy,” she said, voice warm.
“Are you and Uncle Tim friends again?!” he asked, muffled against her.
She pulled back just enough to look at him. “We are.”
Austin spun in a full circle, then pointed at Tim. “I TOLD YOU SAYING SORRY WOULD WORK.”
Tim rolled his eyes.
Tyler appeared in the doorway, quieter but smiling just as wide. “Does this mean you’re back for good?”
Lucy met Tim’s eyes for a beat, then nodded. “That’s the idea.”
“You’re getting married?!” Austin gasped, practically vibrating with excitement as he jumped up and down.
“No—” Tim blurted out without thinking.
Lucy’s expression shifted, confusion shadowed by disappointment.
“I mean— no, not yet,” Tim corrected quickly, already shaking his head at himself. “Not right now.” He glanced at Lucy then, his voice softening. “But… hopefully. Someday.”
Lucy’s face lit up, but Austin’s excitement dimmed just a little. He frowned up at her. “So I can’t call you Aunt Lucy yet?”
Lucy moved to crouch down in front of him. “You can call me Aunt Lucy whenever you’d like. I’m not going anywhere.”
Austin grinned like he’d just won the biggest prize before launching himself back into her arms. Tyler hovered close, pretending not to care that much, but still smiling all the same.
Genny laughed, already talking about future lunch plans, about sleepovers, about how Lucy had always been the better sibling to her. Lucy embraced it all— answering questions, laughing, fitting herself back into the Bradford fold like she’d never left.
Tim stood there quietly, Lucy’s earlier warmth still lingering in his chest, watching the way his family gushed over her. The way she belonged. The way the boys leaned toward her instinctively. The way Genny’s eyes softened every time she looked at them together.
Friends. They were really friends again. And so much more.
But this time, it was something he would never let go of again.