Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Chen, open the door,” Tim says, leaning against her bathroom door. She was hiding from him, as she did every time he came over to check on her.
“Tim. I’ve told you before, I’m fine.” Lucy said, leaning against her bathtub. Tim hadn’t seen her since she’d been in the hospital. He’d been over many times to try to help her in some way, but she wouldn’t let him. She could do this on her own.
“This isn’t a game, boot,” Tim says, getting a bit upset now. “If you don’t unlock the door in the next 30 seconds, I will kick it down.”
“Honestly, Tim.” Lucy says, pushing herself to the back of her tub in case he followed through with his threat, “I am ok. Don’t you have any work to do?”
“I can’t do work until I’ve seen you, boot. You know you can’t come back to work unless I see progress.”
She sighs but holds her ground.
She lays her head against the wall, feeling slightly dizzy. He had to leave so she could get food. She hadn’t eaten in days and she was on the verge of starving.
Suddenly, her head jerks up to the sound of ramming against the door. Or so she thought it was ramming. It was only Tim knocking on the door.
“Chen.” He was getting impatient. “Unlock the door.”
She stays put.
Suddenly, the footsteps retreat. She begins to stand when she falls backwards and her door flies open.
She laid in her empty bathtub, looking at her busted door lock.
“What the hell, Tim? I told you, I am fine. See?” She realized how awful she looked and then brought her arms close to her thinner frame.
“Lucy.” Tim almost gasps. “What have you done to yourself?”
“What do you mean?” She asks, attempting to stand up as Tim walks closer.
“How do you expect to hide away and starve yourself and then magically walk back to work?” Tim asks, looking at her bags under her eyes and sickly looking body.
Lucy wipes her face again with her sleeve. “I-I didn’t expect-”
Tim reaches down and lifts her easily out of the tub. She was still wearing the clothes from when last actually saw her a week ago.
He walks out of the bathroom and out into her living room. He lays her on the couch and goes to her kitchen to try and find something to feed her.
“Tim, I can get some food by myself. I was waiting for you to leave.”
Upset, Tim ignores her and pulls out some microwave macaroni from her freezer.
He follows the instructions on the box and grabs a fork before handing it to Lucy.
“Eat it, Chen.” He says, sitting down on one of her chairs.
“I'm ok, Tim,” Lucy says, taking a bite. “You can go now.”
He doesn’t move.
Lucy begins uncomfortably eating, as she was really hungry but still a bit hesitant to eat under Tim’s stern gaze.
“I’m worried, boot,” Tim admits. “You don’t look good. You don’t sound good.”
“Well,” Lucy assures, “I am good.”
She gets up shakily and throws out the container and puts the fork into the empty sink.
“I’m going to go to sleep soon,” Lucy says, still feeling very awkward, having her T.O in her apartment watching her eat.
She walks away and closes her bedroom door, sighing in relief. She brushes her teeth and hair, hoping to feel a bit more like herself, before laying in bed not bothering to change.

She sits up in her bed, sweating and gripping her pillow. She takes a deep breath and steps off her bed to go get water. She opens her door and silently grabs a glass from her cupboard. She turns on the sink and holds the glass under, yawning and finally realizing that she was exhausted.
She turns off the sink and walks back to her room, sipping on the water. As she turns the corner, she sees a figure slumped over in her chair.
“Oh my god” she thinks, dropping and shattering her glass. She runs through it, ripping her feet and legs on the glass. She approaches the figure quickly and realizes her gun had been taken away. She goes behind and holds the person by their neck.
They don’t seem to be struggling and are only mildly inconvenienced by her presence.
“Nice, boot.”
She releases quickly, realizing Tim had never left.
“I could have killed you right now with that weak-ass choke,” he says, standing up.
“I-I’m sorry Tim. I didn’t recognize you.”
“No shit.” He says, flicking on her lights.
“How long have you been here?” She asks, pulling hydrogen peroxide from her drawer and disinfecting her legs.
“All night. I figured you wouldn’t sleep very long, but I guessed wrong.”
“When is your next shift? Why didn’t you go home?” Lucy inquires while cringing at the shards she pulled from her legs.
“Here, let me do it,” Tim says, grabbing the tweezers and pulling glass carefully from her leg. “It hurts less when you can’t see it.”
She allows Tim to gently take the glass out, his large hands surprisingly accurate.
He cleans the blood off and helps bring her back to her bed, as it stings for her to walk.
“Tim, you never answered me,” Lucy says, laying down. “When is your next shift?”
Tim puts her head on top of a pillow. “7.” He replies.
Lucy glances the clock and sees it’s around 3 o’clock in the morning.
He walks out and says that he probably won’t see her before he leaves.
“How are you going to get your uniform?” Your house isn’t very close.
“I’ll manage,” he says, closing her door.
He decides to sleep for an extra hour then go home and get his uniform before work.

Chapter Text

Lucy wakes up and, as Tim predicted, he had already left. He had left a small piece of paper prompting her to write down what she had done that day.
She laughs at it but decides to humour Tim, considering what he had done last night for her.
She grabs herself cereal and writes it down.
As she goes through her day, she feels motivated to do more so she can fill her piece of paper.
She decides to shower, clean her apartment, and eventually, she gets ready to go for a run. She decides to write it down before leaving.
She walks out of her apartment and onto the street.
She begins her run, feeling good. She hadn’t left the apartment in a while, and she liked the feeling of the air on her hair and her legs pumping and hitting the concrete.
The buildings fly by her as she picks up speed. She feels liberated.
She runs down the streets she patrolled.
She wishes she could go back to work. She did miss it. And she misses riding with Tim, however much she hates to admit it.
She saw a lot of people pass by her and for the most part, she wasn’t scared.
Meanwhile, Tim couldn’t help but think of Lucy. He knows he shouldn’t care as much, but he enjoyed her company. He also swore to himself to protect her and even though he was doing what he needs to do during the day, he couldn’t help but feel guilty about leaving her behind.
He wonders what will happen when he goes back later. It had sort of been decided that he would stay with her until she got back to work.
Well, he decided to himself that he would stay with her.

Lucy ducked into an alleyway.
She was being followed. She knew it. She kept looking behind her. She had nothing but herself to protect her, and she was far from her peak physical health.
She reminded herself that she still had training and that settled her a little bit.
She ducked down behind a staircase. And waited. She was ready for an attack. She wouldn’t be taken again.
She clutched her arm, staring and waiting for her now invisible attacker to come out.

Hours later, Tim arrived at Lucy’s apartment. He knocks and tries the door to find it left open. She must not have locked it after he left.
He goes over to the paper and smiles to see that she had filled it up quite a bit. At this rate, she would be riding with him within the month.
“Chen?” He called, looking around. He didn’t care really about where she had gone, as she was still an adult who could take care of herself, sort of, but he did want to tell her the good news.
“Chen, you’d better not be hiding in the bathroom again.” He says, checking.
She isn’t anywhere obvious.
“Chen?” he asks, a little more suspicious, as he remembered the door was unlocked.
“Chen?”
He goes back to check what she did last. It’s a bit invasive, but he is worried about her.
She went for a run. He nods to himself, pulling his phone out to call her. It would interrupt her, but at least he’d know she was safe.
It rings. And rings. But she doesn’t pick up.

Chapter Text

Lucy wakes up and, as Tim predicted, he had already left. He had left a small piece of paper prompting her to write down what she had done that day.
She laughs at it but decides to humour Tim, considering what he had done last night for her.
She grabs herself cereal and writes it down.
As she goes through her day, she feels motivated to do more so she can fill her piece of paper.
She decides to shower, clean her apartment, and eventually, she gets ready to go for a run. She decides to write it down before leaving.
She walks out of her apartment and onto the street.
She begins her run, feeling good. She hadn’t left the apartment in a while, and she liked the feeling of the air on her hair and her legs pumping and hitting the concrete.
The buildings fly by her as she picks up speed. She feels liberated.
She runs down the streets she patrolled.
She wishes she could go back to work. She did miss it. And she misses riding with Tim, however much she hates to admit it.
She saw a lot of people pass by her and for the most part, she wasn’t scared.
Meanwhile, Tim couldn’t help but think of Lucy. He knows he shouldn’t care as much, but he enjoyed her company. He also swore to himself to protect her and even though he was doing what he needs to do during the day, he couldn’t help but feel guilty about leaving her behind.
He wonders what will happen when he goes back later. It had sort of been decided that he would stay with her until she got back to work.
Well, he decided to himself that he would stay with her.

As the light, already dim, starts to darken, she begins to become more and more uncomfortable as the streets are bathed in the familiar orange glow from the streetlamps. She decides to head back before fully finishing her run.
As she walks, she makes sure to stop and stretch every couple of minutes.
Lucy smiles to herself after she reaches her apartment. She felt so accomplished today.
As she gets closer to her door, she readies her keys. The evening was cooler and eerie, so Lucy couldn’t wait to get back home.
Her neighbours were playing a song, but she couldn’t tell what it was.
As she got closer, she dropped her keys and slumped down to cover her ears.
It was the song playing at the bar when she got kidnapped.
She was overreacting. She tried to stand up, but her legs were frozen and her hands covered her ears tightly, trying to block the noise.
“Why is it so loud?” she thought, trying once more to calm herself down.
She sat at the door, willing herself to let go of her ears and go inside.
The song kept playing, and someone started it again.
She closed her eyes, hoping to be able to move.
The phone rings. And rings. She tries to answer it, but her hands are glued to her ears.
It feels like an eternity that she is on the floor in front of her apartment.
The song ends, and even still she can’t seem to move much than to release her legs from a ball.
Her eyes trained on the ground, she sees work boots come close to her.
She knows who it is again.
“Lucy? What are you doing out here?” Tim hadn’t bothered going home to change and it was for the better.
She tried to move, but it was impossible.
“Lucy, can you move?” Tim asks.
She shakes her head slowly, trying not to move too quickly.
Lucy feels strong arms lift her from the ground.
She wishes this had never happened.
The door clicks as it is unlocked.
She wishes she hadn’t reacted like this every time.
The keys jingle as they are rested on the counter.
She wishes that Tim hadn’t seen her so weak.