Chapter Text
Joy had spent the last few days leading up to their girls outing slowly becoming more familiar with Tim and Lucy’s life after her (and Timmy’s) initial fumble upon arrival. They didn’t spend an inordinate amount of time together, the couple’s demanding jobs taking them away from home for long hours, so Joy always had breakfast ready in the morning, and dinner prepared when they got home.
The time they shared around the dining table had been some of the greatest moments of her adult life. Tim was giving her a rare, inside glimpse into his life--the life he was building with Lucy--something he had never really allowed before. He had always kept her at arm’s length and because of that Joy had never really known Isabel. Of course, they’d crossed paths in those early years of the marriage, but from what Joy could recall, it had all seemed like a whirlwind, rushed and somewhat intense, and then suddenly she found out it was over.
There had been so much instability in Tim’s life, from his childhood and then his tours in the military, that in many ways joining the LAPD seemed like a logical choice. It actually gave him the structure and direction he had been seeking. And though he never said it outright, it seemed to Joy like marrying Isabel had been part of the same effort. It wasn’t that they hadn’t loved one another. Joy could see there was love there, but somehow, their marriage seemed to be a step taken because it had been the thing to do. Another box checked in Tim’s search for stability.
Tim had perfected keeping his distance from her over the years, and at the time of his first marriage Joy had been certain that was the reason she only referred to Isabel as ‘her son’s wife.’ It had seemed like a reflection of his fortress-like boundaries. But Isabel had kept her distance too, never truly letting anyone in. Over time, the space between them only grew until eventually, Joy stopped seeing her altogether. So while she never got the full story of what went wrong, their divorce hadn’t come as a surprise.
But now there was Lucy.
Lucy was vibrant. She cared about Tim with an energy so palpable that even people who barely knew them could feel it. It showed up not just in the way she looked at him, but how she talked about anyone who mattered to him.
After this week… after starting to get to know her, after watching the way Lucy reached out so intentionally to build a connection, Joy began to understand what had been missing all those years.
Lucy wanted happiness for Tim. Fiercely wanted it. And she was willing to do whatever she could to make sure he found it. It was evident even in the smallest of gestures, but especially in the deliberate way that she gently nudged Joy back towards her son, encouraging her to take those first steps to repair what had been broken. Lucy saw Tim clearly, his past, his walls, what he wanted…what he actually needed. She knew that all wasn’t lost between the two of them, and that it wasn’t too late to rebuild.
It had become clear to Joy over the past few days, that Lucy had played no small part in shaping the man Tim had become. To learn that she was even close to Genny, and her grandchildren, was icing on the cake. It told her everything she needed to know.
And it was because of that, that Joy found herself eager to connect with Lucy, eager to accept every opportunity to get to know the woman that her son was head over heels for in a way that she had never seen before.
That was how Joy now found herself suppressing a groan as she slipped her feet into the warm water in the basin of the pedicure chair. She was sitting beside Lucy, who was seated in the middle. It had been some time since Joy had treated herself to a manicure and pedicure. She typically went once a month but amidst the preparation for coming to visit Tim and Genny, she missed her appointment. Perhaps the reason for it was for this exact moment.
Lucy and Genny did not have the same level of modesty as Joy, and the older woman chuckled when the two women released simultaneous moans at the sensation of soothing water and massage jets slipping between their toes.
They were in a private space in the nail salon, calming music and gurgling water the soundtrack to their outing. They were alone for now, transitioning to the peaceful atmosphere, releasing the stressors and distractions from the hustle and bustle of downtown.
“I honestly think I might need to do this more than once a month,” Lucy sighed, closing her eyes and dropping her head back.
Genny let out a huff of laughter and Joy peeked past Lucy who was seated in the middle, to meet her daughter’s eye. “She says this every time.” Joy sent the two a smile.
“I’m serious this time,” Lucy replied, glancing between the two women. “The other night Tim massaged my feet for over an hour. I don’t know why he misses the streets. It can be hell on the body on a busy day.”
“Because he’s an adrenaline junkie, just like you,” Genny said flatly. “Face it, there’s no way you could be tied to a desk permanently. Just like I know soon Tim’s going to get bored and want to figure out a way to be back on the street.”
“Stop,” Lucy sucked her teeth in amusement. “He likes being Watch Commander…most days. He just…wants some action too. He hasn’t said it yet though.”
“Sounds like you know Tim better than he knows himself,” Joy remarked, making Lucy and Genny turn to her. It had been a running observation over the past week that Joy continued to get more and more proof of. To know her son, this version of her son, unburdened by anger and pain, was to know him through Lucy’s eyes.
Lucy uttered a low, “thank you,” as her technician began to remove the polish off her toes, Genny and Joy echoing the same to theirs as each woman sat down in front of the basin.
“Sometimes it’s a blessing and a curse,” Lucy chuckled in response to Joy’s comment. “It makes surprising the other a challenge sometimes.”
“They both do,” Genny rolled her eyes, but there was no weight behind it. “Sometimes it borders on annoying. You should’ve seen ‘em on Valentine’s Day. They kept calling me because they each got the other the perfect gift and then Lucy hid hers from herself and Tim’s was stuck somewhere—did you eventually get it by the way?”
Lucy nodded, placing one foot back in the bubbling water and lifting the other out placing it on the stand. “Yeah, it came while I was on that op with Nyla. It was impressive.”
“What did you two give each other?” Joy asked curiously, accepting the book with polish choices with a smile.
“Originally Tim got me the full set of this Korean skincare line I’ve been wanting for so long, but it’s super expensive and he always would think it was ridiculous when I showed him. But I knew…if I could just get him to try one face mask he’d be sold and couldn’t give me shit anymore. So I got a sample one day and that was it.”
Genny burst into laughter. “You got my brother to do a face mask? And you didn’t tell me about this?! Better yet you didn’t send pictures?!”
“Oh I wouldn’t be so shocked,” Joy said wryly. “When you were three and Timmy was eight, you two were out in the yard and you convinced him to let you do a mud mask on him.” She could still picture that warm spring afternoon all those years ago.
Flashback…
Tim had the day off from school and he and Genny were out in the yard helping her with the gardening. It was tax season and Tom was working later and later, so instead of the usual heaviness of anxiety that blanketed the air around them, everything was bright and relaxed. A rare, happy calm as they planted tulips in the garden bed.
Tim’s high pitched, “Genny!” had made Joy look up from the dirt. He had ducked back from his sister, whose hands were covered in mud, two streaks were on his cheeks.
“Genny!” Joy barked out a laugh of surprise. She cringed inwardly at the cleanup that was going to be needed, but the radiant smile on her face would make it all worth it. “What on earth are you doing?”
“Timmy mud faces wit Gen Gen!” she squealed, smearing mud on her own face as Tim looked on in disgust.
“Ew that is gross,” he said, wrinkling his nose and moving further away. “I’m not doing mud faces!”
“Timmy no mud faces?” Genny’s bottom lip poked out and began to tremble, her bright blue eyes quickly growing wide and glassy as her face crumpled. It was the telltale sign that a full-blown meltdown was about to hit, and that was always Tim’s kryptonite.
The sigh he released sounded far too old for an eight-year-old, but its tone was all too familiar to Joy. Tim had never been able to take Genny’s tears.
He rolled his eyes and sat down on the grass, gesturing for his sister to come closer.
“Fine,” he said finally, crossing his legs and closing his eyes. “We’ll do mud faces.”
Genny squealed in excitement, dunking her hands into the little pool of mud she had created, scooping up two gloopy handfuls of mud. She launched herself at Tim as if she hadn’t been on the verge of a meltdown a moment ago.
She watched for a moment as Genny smeared glob after glob of mud from her tiny hands on Tim’s cheeks and down his neck before turning back to her gardening.
“Genny, watch my hair!”
Present…
“Oh my god!” Lucy laughed, “Are you serious? That is the cutest thing ever.”
Joy nodded, “Mmmhmm… he was annoyed at first, especially when she got it in his hair, but he clearly didn’t mind it too much because at four he let you put a honey mask on him. That time you only had to ask once.”
“Are you sure it wasn’t because he just wanted to eat it?” Genny smirked over at her mother.
“There was that,” Joy cocked her head and the three women chuckled, all knowing that despite his iron clad self-control, Tim had a sweet tooth.
The trio grew quiet as the technicians moved around them, patting their legs dry with warm towels and covering their skin with moisturizing mask. They followed up by wrapping their legs and feet, sealing in the mask and then covering the wraps in warm towels to begin the treatment.
As the technicians left them to relax for a few minutes, to prepare the next elements of the pedicure, Joy’s mind began to wander again, marveling in the ease of the interactions between the two women next to her.
Genny had always been the more social and outgoing of the siblings, mainly because Tim’s fierce protectiveness shielded her from as much of the horror as he could and allowed her to have a childhood closer to the one he should have had. Because of this, it was no surprise that Genny made friends easily. She was open and vivacious that drew people in and a quick wit that put others at ease.
Tim was surprisingly no less popular, especially because he played sports year-round. But while people gravitated towards Genny because she was friendly, they gravitated towards Tim because he was talented in sports and a great team leader.
Despite this, Tim was still guarded, both with his friends and his family, a thread that carried through to adulthood. And so when Joy finally visited Tim to discover not only was he in a serious relationship with Lucy, but that Lucy and Genny had also formed a friendship, she was shocked and intrigued.
Now she was witnessing just how strong that bond was between the two women. How comfortable and at ease they were with each other. In some instances, it almost seemed like Tim had ended up dating his sister’s best friend.
“I’m curious,” Joy broke the silence, making both Lucy and Genny crack an eye open to look at her. “How did you two meet and then become so close?”
Lucy and Genny both let out a huff of laughter and glanced at each other.
“Well…do you remember when I was trying to figure out what we were going to with Dad’s house? And I was trying to get Tim to help but he wasn’t answering my calls?”
Joy nodded. There were many evenings spent on the phone during that time leading up where Genny complained about Tim’s poor communication skills. Unfortunately for her Joy had a similar affliction when it came to her son. She was just happy to speak to him regularly regardless of how much substance it had, so she was really no help when it came to improving their communication.
“And then you remember when I decided to come here to see him?” She asked rhetorically, not waiting for confirmation from Joy before continuing. “Well I didn’t tell you that I ended up doing a ride along with him and Lucy.”
“What?” Joy breathed out in surprise.
“Yeah, Tim was trying to avoid me and even tried to tell me there was too much paperwork involved to do a ride along, but Lucy was his aide at the time and debunked it immediately.”
“Honestly, I was just looking for dirt on Tim,” Lucy chimed in cheekily.
“Yeah, I could tell they had a unique friendship,” Genny added with a grin. “There were definite vibes.”
Lucy rolled her eyes, “She always says this.”
“Honey you were not happy when he said he was seeing someone. It was written all over your face. I will never let you live that down,” Genny smirked, cocking a brow. “Even if it was my stinky brother.”
“Anyway,” Lucy took over the story, “Tim and I both ended up dating other people for a while. But Genny and I bonded over HGTV and I was helping with the renovations a bit, so we would text back and forth until she finally moved to back to LA—”
“At which point Timmy finally got his head out of his ass and they started dating in secret, which you two were terrible at by the way,” Genny interrupted.
“Which you love to remind us about,” Lucy rolled her eyes.
“Because it was so comical,” Genny laughed. “They ended up coaching Tyler’s tee ball team for a little while and were so obviously together even the other kids pointed it out.”
Joy listened attentively as the technicians returned to the room and began unwrapping their legs and feet. She wasn’t surprised that a bunch of kids picked up on Tim and Lucy’s relationship. Sometimes it was as if the world ceased to exist around them when they started talking to each other.
“So when did you two start hanging out?” Joy asked, bringing the conversation back to her original question.
“Right around that time actually,” Lucy replied brushing some hair out of her face. “We all started having dinner together after practices and then just continued after Tim and I stopped coaching.”
“Mmhmm…And then when they were broken up—”
That made Joy start and nearly pull her foot back from the massage. “You two broke up?” A breakup was not mentioned in any of the stories that the couple had told her. They were so in love with each other, it was hard to even picture the hell Tim put her through as a training officer, and now, a break up. Lucy visibly winced at Genny’s words, then sent the redhead a quick glare, clearly not anticipating going down that particular road.
“Oops,” Genny cringed apologetically. “But in all fairness, I didn’t know that was off limits.”
Lucy turned back to Joy and reached out, placing a reassuring hand on her arm. “We broke up for about a year. A lot of things happened but suffice it to say…Tim just…wasn’t in a good place at the time. Honestly in the long run it ended up being for the best.”
Genny leaned forward, to meet Joy’s eyes. “He went to therapy for her. Still in it too.”
Joy’s eyes widened at that. There may be a lot of things she didn’t know about her son, but one of the things she did know for a fact, is that he despised therapy.
“He didn’t go for me,” Lucy corrected. “He went for him. And that’s all I’ll say. Anything else about that should really come from Tim.”
Even Joy didn’t buy for a second that Lucy wasn’t an instrumental catalyst in Tim seeking therapy, especially judging by the look Genny was sending her. It made a lot of sense now, thinking back to this past week and Tim’s willingness to share more of his life with her.
“Well, I knew they were going to get back together,” Genny said, matter of factly. “Because it was so obvious that they were still in love with each other. And there was no way that I was going to just stop being her friend because my brother was being a bonehead.”
“Genny,” Joy admonished softly as she had done so many times over the years whenever Genny took a shot at Tim.
“What?” Genny replied innocently, gesturing towards the woman in between them. “You’re going to tell me after meeting Lucy that wasn’t a bonehead move?”
Lucy blushed, ducking her head shyly, clearly not used to this type of praise.
“Anyway, we started this tradition during that time and just kept it going after she and Tim moved in together,” Genny finally finished, right as it was time for polish.
“And then I finally told Tim about it, and we basically just combined it with our dinners and then turned it into a whole day,” Lucy added, echoing what she’d told her when she originally extended the invitation.
“I love that,” Joy said, her soft gaze moving between them, “And I’m really looking forward to all of us all having dinner. It’s been…far too long since we’ve all been together. This has been wonderful.”
She truly meant it. While this outing hadn’t necessarily been spa-like in the sense of peace and quiet, it had been everything she’d hoped to experience. To see Lucy and Genny together, to discover their friendship and to spend time with her daughter and her son’s girlfriend in a way that she never expected but was what she’d always dreamed of being able to do.
Lucy reached over again and Joy slipped her hand into her outstretched palm, the comforting squeeze that the younger woman gave her said the feeling was mutual.
As the three women went quiet once again, Lucy’s phone suddenly began vibrating on the side table. She picked it up thinking it might’ve been Tim.
“It’s Angela,” she commented, before opening the message. “Oh she wants to know if we’re free for dinner tonight.” She began typing out what Joy could only assume was a decline as Genny’s eyes lit up and she tapped Lucy on the arm.
“Oh you know you should invite them over too! Mom hasn’t met her yet,” the redhead suggested before Lucy could press send. “Angela is Tim’s best friend and she’s a riot. You’d love her.”
“That’s a great idea!” Lucy said, glancing back at her phone to amend her message. “I think Angela mentioned you two met once or twice.”
“I think I may have, but it was only in passing, so I don’t remember her well.”
Lucy let out a little snort. “Guarantee you’ll never forget her after today. She probably keeps Tim on his toes just as much, if not more, than Genny.”
Joy laughed, genuinely amused at the idea that Tim not only had a sister who challenged him, but a girlfriend who did too, only to discover that he’d also chosen a best friend who did the very same. The thought sent a quiet pang through her chest. Clearly her son valued strong, independent women, something he hadn’t exactly had a good example of growing up. No wonder.
“Let me just text Tim—” Before she could continue or navigate to his contact, however, their pedicures were complete and the arm rests were being raised for them to move on to the manicure stations.
“Lucy, we’ll do your wax now,” another esthetician said, walking into the room and Lucy looked up as she stepped down.
“Oh perfect!” she exclaimed, shoving her phone back into her pocket and taking the hand offered to help her hop down.
Joy frowned in confusion, “You aren’t getting a manicure too?”
Lucy shook her head. “Not really. I don’t do polish on the job, so I just get my cuticles cleaned up and my nails buffed, which takes a lot less time. But it works out because I can keep my regular bikini wax appointment.”
Genny wrinkled her nose. “I try not to think about why she’s getting waxed.”
“Genny!” Lucy gasped, stopping at the door and shooting her an unimpressed look. “You’re supposed to give Tim crap, not me. And in front of your mom? Seriously?”
“I’m sorry, this is one that I will always give you crap for. Because…gross,” she shrugged and Joy laughed, shaking her head. She would try not to think about the reason behind Lucy’s bikini wax either. It had been a week, and she’d been fortunate enough not to witness anything aside from a few kisses, but she didn’t want to tempt fate.
Once Lucy left with the esthetician, Joy and Genny settled next to each other at the manicure stations, placing their hands at the ready.
“So…Lucy’s great isn’t she?” Genny asked, raising her eyebrows.
“She is wonderful. She’s everything I could’ve wanted for Tim. So sweet, such a good person,” Joy gushed, practically glowing with happiness. “I’m just so happy for him. For them. After all he’s been through, I couldn’t ask for better for him.”
Genny smiled, “I know. They really are great together.”
“Now,” Joy released a breath as she placed her fingertips in the nearby bowl of water. “I know which direction they’re heading…what are we going to do about you?”
“Mom!”