Chapter Text
“They have cops in New York too.”
For the second time in as many minutes, Tim feels his world shift on its axis.
Rachel got her dream job. That’s great.
Rachel is moving. To New York. That’s less great.
Rachel just asked Tim to move to New York with her. That’s …
Something.
Surely, she isn’t really asking him to leave Los Angeles. He’s lived here his entire life. Everything he’s ever known is here.
He doesn’t have an answer for her, so he asks about her apartment search, but her subtle invitation is on his mind all day.
Because the more he thinks about it, he doesn’t have that much in LA anymore. No wife, no friends he doesn’t see at work every day, and after next month, no girlfriend. He has his career, sure, but Rachel’s right: he could transfer to the NYPD, join the nation’s biggest police department.
And he can watch Rams games from anywhere.
So two days later, he asks Grey for a recommendation letter to put with his transfer paperwork and finds out that he’ll be able to start with the next class of NYPD recruits in five weeks. He convinces Grey to keep it under wraps until the end of his last shift, sits down over drinks with the other TOs and all three rookies (he’d only invited Lucy as professional courtesy, since his move affected her training, but she brought them anyway) to break the news two days after his transfer was approved.
It had been awkward, especially when Angela leaned over to hug him and tell him that she’d miss him. Not only had he not known what to say to that, but Nolan seemed to think it gave him an invitation to do the same thing when Tim came back with the next round of drinks.
Maybe in New York, people won’t try to hug him so much.
Three weeks later, he’s handing keys over to his new sublet and loading the last box into the cab of his truck. Most of his belongings are in the bed, but there’s a shoebox filled with the precious few personal affects that mattered enough to him to bring along – a couple of photo albums, some of the love notes he and Isabel had passed back and forth in academy, and a manila envelope with his name written across the front. Inside the envelope is a receipt with his signature scrawled at the bottom, for three rookies’ worth of after-work drinks.
He’s not sure why he didn’t throw it away as soon as he’d paid the bill. Or when he got home that night, or any number of times since. Or why he waited to slide it into the box until Rachel had gone back to her apartment, ready to fill her own boxes with her own memories.
It just hadn’t felt like the kind of story he could explain the importance of. So he hadn’t tried to, but he still packed the envelope away to drive across the country.
And now the box it’s in sits on the passenger seat of his truck, on top of a thin fleece blanket covered in white and brown fur.
Lucy had come by the night before to pick Kojo up, having pestered him into letting her adopt him back. She made some good points – especially about the apartment he’d shown her pictures of not being big enough for him to be comfortable there. Still, he was surprised to find himself reluctant to pack his toys and treats and pass the leash to Lucy at the end of the evening.
She’d helped him load the back of the truck, carefully let him lead the conversation. Tim trained her for almost a year, though, and he could tell that she was trying to put off her departure. But they could only kill so much time before she had to stand up from the couch he was leaving behind and pat her thighs, whistling for Kojo.
He had walked her to the door, rolled his eyes when she couldn’t get Kojo to sit long enough for her to clip his leash on. When she stood up, he could see the tears shining in her eyes. Neither of them said anything for a moment, then he cleared his throat.
“Well, it’s been fun. You’ll make a great cop, Boot, and I want to hear all about it.”
“Yeah.” She pressed her lips together and looked up at him. “You, uh … you were a great TO. Send my apologies to the poor NYPD cop who has you for a boot.”
“I will.” There was a tickle in his throat, so he didn’t say anything else, but she held his hand out for him to shake, and he surprised them both when he pulled her in for a quick hug.
It was over almost before either of them could realize it had happened, and Kojo whined beside them, so Lucy reached down to pick up his leash.
“Seriously, Tim. You’d better text me first sometimes, if you want me to send pictures of this guy.”
“We’ll see.” He stepped forward as she passed through the doorway. “Be good, Lucy.”
But he’s not letting himself think about the past as he turns the key in his ignition and sets his course for Rachel’s apartment. He’s got the future in front of him – their future – and it’s time to start moving toward it.
He meets Rachel in front of her building, leaned against the trunk of her car. There’s really no reason for him to get out of the truck, not when they’re both packed up and hitting the road right away, but he does anyway. She smiles at him, looking between their vehicles until he draws her gently toward him for a soft kiss.
It’s a tender moment, a celebration of what they’re doing together, and they don’t need exchange any more words when he steps back, other than to reaffirm that she’s leading the way.
Tim climbs back into his truck, turns the key again and lets Rachel lead him away from everything he’s ever known and into their new life.