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Tim’s never really understood his sister’s fascination with northern California.
Even as kids, she confused him with it – taping up posters of the Golden Gate bridge on her walls, asking for a Golden State Warriors jersey over a Lakers or Clippers one for Christmas, even insisting that Tim tour UC Santa Cruz even though she knew full well he wasn’t going there so she could tag along. It hadn’t surprised him even remotely when he heard she’d be going to UC Berkeley (she was smart, obviously) or when she and her husband (then boyfriend), Matt, bought a house in San Mateo, just outside the city.
It’s not like he doesn’t like it up there, but it’s out of the way. He’d come back to LA after being deployed and his first thought had hardly been go visit Genny and Matty in the Bay Area. It had more been...figure out how to sleep through the night, finish school, find a job, you know...the usual things. Anyway, the point is: Genny’s a six hour drive north, and Lucy doesn’t seem to take issue with this.
“Get this in your head right now: I’m not stopping every hour for you to pee,” he grumbles, sliding her suitcase into the back of his truck, then squinting over at her. “Any particular reason you packed a suitcase for four days?”
Lucy crosses her arms over her chest, huffing at him. “It’s Christmas, you need at least two outfit changes a day.”
Tim shakes his head, his mouth settled into a firm line. “I don’t know what your family’s Christmases are like, but no, you don’t.”
Lucy launches into a chatter-filled story about Christmas pajamas that he’s pretty sure he’s heard before, and Tim finishes packing the truck, trying to figure out just how it had come to be that Lucy Chen was coming to Christmas with the Bradfords. It’s not that he didn’t want her there – he’d invited her, after all – but there had been a time not-too-long-ago when the thought of her accompanying him on a six-hour road trip, plus a four day stay with his sister’s family, plus another six-hour road trip home would’ve been laughable. Now, it felt like the most normal way to spend the holidays.
“Hey,” Lucy’s voice cuts through his thoughts as he finishes rolling the cover over his truck bed, “are you listening to me?”
Tim looks up at her, his brows raised. “Definitely,” he nods, his tone betraying the fact that he had not, in fact, been listening. Lucy rolls her eyes at him. “I’m just preparing myself,” he grins over at her, “you know, re-training my ears. They’re not used to listening to you without interruption for this many hours straight anymore.”
Lucy shoves at his shoulder, shaking her head. “You’re a moron,” she mumbles, laughing up at him. “Fine, you didn’t listen, you owe me one extra bathroom break if I need it.”
Tim sighs, plastering a frown on his face. “You drive a difficult bargain,” he grumbles, but he knows she can see the corner of his mouth twisting upwards, the slightest hint of a smile on his face.
“You’d do it for me,” she shrugs, after a long moment, then hooks her thumb over her shoulder towards his house. “I’m going to go grab my phone off the charger. Need anything from inside, or should I lock it up on my way out?”
Tim gets lost in her, for a second – not in a deeply romantic way, or anything. She just has nice eyes. He swallows, shaking his head and patting over his pockets to make sure – he has his wallet, his phone, his keys. Everything else is stowed away in the truck. “I’m good,” he nods. “You know the code?”
Lucy nods, then turns on her heel and heads into the house. Tim lets himself watch her as she goes, ignoring the tightness in his chest, the urge he has to follow her inside and delay their drive a little bit longer...doing what, he’s not sure yet, but instead of letting himself find out, he hops up into the truck and starts the engine.
–
Midway through the drive up to Genny’s, Lucy decides they’re far enough outside of their comfort zone that she can start asking a few questions.
It’s been a year since she’d met his sister – and now, on her way up to spend Christmas with Genny, her husband Matt, and their kids, she thinks it’s safe for her to ask Tim about his opinions. She figures he can’t really shut her down when he’d invited her, when she was doing this whole thing, in part, to be there for him. Lucy’s genuinely proud of Tim – he’s spent the year making a valiant effort where his family’s concerned. He’s visited Genny more than once, hosted her kids for a weekend, even committed to calling her a few times a week, talking to her about his life. It’s been nice, if she thinks about it, to see him like this...paying attention to his family, caring about what’s going on with them. It’d been nice to have him hop into the shop and tell a story about a nephew, to see him actually planning time off around trips, to know that he cares about them just as much as they care about him.
Lucy knows that at the end of the day, she still cares about him the most – but they don’t really feel the need to talk about that. There’s something between them, sure – and they both know it, she thinks – but it’s not something they need to discuss. Caring about one another more than anyone else does, the fact that they’ve both opted to stay single for the last six months, spending their off time together, Tim trusting her with his security code...none of that needs to be discussed, apparently, because it all speaks for itself.
Or so she’s noticed.
Anyway, they’re about three and a half hours into the drive when she turns to Tim and sets her elbow on the center console, resting her chin in her palm. “So,” she hums, and she watches as Tim’s brow furrows, “tell me about Matt.”
Tim shakes his head, reaching up and adjusting his sunglasses. “There’s nothing to tell. Matty’s nice,” he shrugs. “He’s a Giants fan...but he lets my sister boss him around.”
Lucy snorts, rolling her eyes. “You let Genny boss you around.”
“Hardly,” he looks over at her and Lucy reaches up, plucking his sunglasses off his face, placing them on her own nose. She watches him blink, adjusting to the light before looking back out at the road. “I’ve let her win a time or two.”
“You’re trying to tell me you willingly let her win?” Lucy raises her brow, shaking her head as she leans a bit further into the console. “I’m going to need details about that.”
Tim shrugs. “Sometimes you have to pick your battles in close relationships...especially when you’re dealing with someone loud. You’ve got to know when to be quiet. ” He glances over at her pointedly, a smirk on his lips.
“Trying to say something, Tim?” Lucy adjusts a bit, tucking her leg up under herself and leaning her side into the passenger seat. She tries to ignore the fact that Tim lets her boss him around all the time. “I couldn’t hear you, you were too quiet over there.”
“Very funny,” Tim huffs, reaching towards her without looking. Lucy ducks her face out of the way so he can’t grab the glasses off her nose, laughing as Tim’s palm lands on her shoulder. He gives it a light squeeze, letting his hand trail down her arm slowly before pulling it away. “Ask me a better question.”
Lucy rolls her eyes and glancing down at his hand, settled against her forearm. “Tell me about Matt,” she laughs, shaking her head, “in an actual way. What was your first impression of him?”
Tim hums in thought, drumming his fingers against the steering wheel for a long moment. “I didn’t like him the first time I met him,” he shrugs. “He tried way too hard to win me over, it was exhausting.”
“Yeah, because you’re you, Tim.” Lucy purses her lips. “I can’t imagine thinking I was meeting my significant other’s brother and then you walk through the door.”
“What does that mean,” Tim laughs, glancing over at her.
“Oh, please. You’re a menace,” she slides her arm up in his grip, making it so he’s holding her wrist more than her forearm. “Or, you try to be, it’s a whole thing. The Bradford persona.”
“The Bradford persona,” Tim grumbles, but she can hear the amusement in his voice. “What did you do, make a Tim dictionary and not tell me about it?”
Lucy shrugs. “There may be some...Tim terms.” She grins, watching as the wheels turn in Tim’s head, his eyes squinted in the sunlight. “None of which I can share with you, really. They’re top secret.”
“Top secret Tim terms,” Tim mutters under his breath, shaking his head. “Unbelievable.”
“Hey,” Lucy laughs, sliding her hand into his, tapping her fingers up against his palm. “They’re my top secret Tim terms only. That should be...at least a little comforting.”
Tim’s hand curls around her fingers for a moment, then flattens, and Lucy watches as he lets her tap her nails against his palm. “You don’t share?”
The question feels more serious than it’s supposed to, she thinks. She takes a slow breath, glancing up at Tim’s face for a long moment, watching as his jaw clenches and unclenches. “No,” she says, quietly. “Definitely don’t share when it comes to you.”
Tim nods, just once, curtly. Lucy’s pretty sure she’s the only person alive who would be able to tell he’s smiling, somewhere in there. “Feeling’s mutual,” he says, quietly, after too much time has passed.
Lucy lets it hang in the air, sliding her hand around his and splaying her fingers lightly against the back of his palm, her thumb dragging along his lightly as she lets herself stare at him for a long moment. “Good,” she nods, after another long pause.
“Good,” Tim repeats back, glancing over at her. “Any other questions, then, or is the Q&A portion of the drive over, now?”
Lucy snorts, shaking her head and settling back in her seat. She reaches around herself, keeping her fingers on Tim’s hand and using the other to crack open the passenger’s side window, the wind brushing along her cheeks as Tim tears up I-5. “Oh, I have enough questions to last us the whole drive, Bradford,” she hums, turning back to face him and pushing his sunglasses up on her nose.
Tim sighs, but she can tell it’s an amused one. “Alright,” he nods, “shoot.”
–
Tim can tell Lucy’s going to pass out within the hour by the time they reach Genny’s. Even if it’s just a little nap before dinner, he can tell that the drive’s skimmed her of some of her energy, and his nephews will suck up the rest in a matter of seconds.
Tim also knows Lucy will push herself and refuse to nap, citing the need to be a good guest or something stupid like that, so he stops for gas on the outskirts of Genny and Matt’s neighborhood and sends her inside to pay, pulling his phone out of his pocket as he holds the gas pump in his other hand. He types quickly, albeit with one thumb – Lucy exhausted, will resist napping, convince her it was your idea? She won’t listen to me. Already has given me two strikes this drive for listening to the Bee Gees and singing along.
Genny texts him back an eye roll emoji quickly, followed by a, Yes, loser, I will convince your wife to take a nap.
He frowns down at his phone, shaking his head and starting to type when he feels it buzz again. She’s nice for only giving you two strikes. The Bee Gees? Are you 65?
Tim sends the middle finger emoji, then slides his phone into his back pocket, watching as Lucy walks back to the car, visibly dragging a bit. She leans against the truck bed and hands Tim his card, wrapping her arms around herself and rubbing her hands over them with a soft yawn. Tim watches her, sliding his card back into his wallet and giving her a soft smile as he tucks it into his pocket. “Cold?”
Lucy nods. “It’s cold up here,” she chatters her teeth for a little bit of drama, laughing at herself. Tim smiles at her, shaking his head. “Why does your sister like it again?”
Tim presses his lips together, shrugging. “No clue. Water’s cold, air’s cold,” he hums, tipping his head to the side as the gas pump clicks loudly, finishing up. “You know what,” he smirks at her over the pump, pulling it from the car and settling it back into the stand, “kind of makes sense for her.”
Lucy laughs, her eyes widening a bit as she reaches over, shoving at Tim’s shoulder. “Don’t say that, your sister’s a saint.”
“Please,” Tim snorts, shaking his head. “I told you she used to practice karate on me, earlier, and you’re calling her a saint?”
“She told me you put a frog in her bed, once,” Lucy points at him, raising her brow. “That’s gross, Tim.”
He rolls his eyes, listening as the gas cap clicks and shutting the door to the tank. “She found it before she got into bed with it,” he grumbles, his brow furrowed. “I don’t think that even counts, if she didn’t even have to lay there with it.”
Lucy scoffs as she turns away, making her way around the side of the truck and jumping up into it. Tim watches as she settles herself in the seat, shivering a little as she buckles her seatbelt. He reaches into the back seat, grabbing a soft black zip up hoodie off the seat and settling it in her lap. “Thank you,” Lucy smiles over at him, pulling it on and wrapping it around herself, tucking her hands into the pockets.
Tim starts the engine, raising his brows over at her. “Your last call for questions,” he speaks quietly after pulling out onto the main road. “We’re going to be there in like, five minutes.”
Lucy hums, pulling her legs up onto the seat and tucking his hoodie over them, peeking over at him, her brows raised. “Five?” Tim nods, rolling to a stop at a red light. “Not enough for a cat nap.”
Tim laughs, resisting the urge to slide his hand over her knee and squeeze it. “I told you to nap while I was driving,” he glances over at her. “Now you’re screwed, those kids are going to each take a leg and knock you right to the ground.”
Lucy whines, laughing through it as she pouts her lower lip out. “Come on, they’re not going to tackle me.”
“They’re not going to mean to,” he shrugs. “You’re just small enough that they can take you down clean.” Tim grins as Lucy frowns at him, her lips pursed. The light turns green and he turns into Genny’s neighborhood, reaching over and brushing his hand over her knee lightly, then pulling it away. “Fine, you’ll put up a little fight.”
Lucy shakes her head at him, laughing as she settles her legs back on the ground, stretching her arms over her head. “I’ll put up just enough fight that they go straight for your legs, twice as hard.”
He laughs, shaking his head as he looks over at her, his brows raised. “You going to tend to my bedside when they inadvertently knock me on my ass?”
Lucy hums, pursing her lips and keeping her eyes on him as she seems to think on it. “I’ll consider it,” she grins after a long moment. “Depends on what I get out of it.”
Tim snorts. “My everlasting gratitude.”
Lucy wrinkles her nose, shaking her head. “That sounds like a cheap thank you, Tim. I’m looking for something a little more lucrative here.” She grins as he rolls his eyes, laughing when he stays quiet. “What? I know you’ve got something worthwhile to offer here.”
Tim shakes his head. “Nope,” he pops the ‘p’ in the way he knows irritates her. “Just a guy, driving around a girl, hoping she’ll take care of me when my nephews overtake me.”
She softens a little, and he watches as she licks her lips, slowing down as he flicks on his blinker to turn onto Genny and Matt’s street. “That’s quite the sales pitch, Bradford.” She stays quiet as they roll along the street, Christmas decorations flickering through the glass of the windows, glowing across Lucy’s face as they drive by. He’s pulling up towards the end of the street when she sighs out a long breath, and he watches in amusement as she turns towards him, her face serious. “Alright,” she nods, a yawn cutting through her words, a laugh bubbling up in Tim’s throat as she frowns at the yawn. “Alright,” she starts again, trying not to laugh at herself this time, “I’ll do it.”
“Wow,” he pulls into Genny’s driveway, parking his truck at the far end of the driveway, in front of a closed garage door. “That took you a while.”
Lucy shrugs, unbuckling her seatbelt and grinning over at him. “Had to keep you waiting a little, Tim.”
He rolls his eyes at her fondly as she pushes out of the passenger side door, stretching her arms over her head again before letting out an excited little hum he can hear through the slightly-rolled-down window. He follows her eyeline to Genny’s front lawn, adorned with a small inflatable Christmas display – namely, a Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer pulling Santa’s sleigh, alongside a few lawn gnomes outfitted in flashing rainbow Christmas lights. The gnomes reek of his nephews, and he laughs as he pushes the driver’s side door open, hopping out of the truck and pocketing his keys. “That’s got to be Danny and Josh,” he nods his chin towards the gnomes, laughing as Lucy raises her brows at him, “Genny probably wanted a whole inflatable lineup out here, but the gnomes had it.”
Lucy snorts, nodding. “They’re pretty cool, I have to say.”
Tim settles his hand on her back, right between her shoulders. He drums his fingers lightly against the fabric of her (his) hoodie. “Stick with that attitude and they’ll love you more than they love me.”He slides his hand down to her lower back as he leads her inside, grinning as his nephews bolt for him at the first creak of the door. “Step to your left,” he mumbles, close to her ear, feeling her take his instruction as he stoops down and catches the boys in his arms, pretending to stumble back a bit as he wraps his arms around them, laughing loudly at their incomprehensible yells. He peeks up at Lucy from the top of their heads, grinning at her before hugging them tighter, laughing when they both start chattering about completely different plans they have for him, talking over each other. He hears an irritated howl from over Josh’s shoulder and squints, craning his neck until he can see his niece, Charlie, standing behind her brother trying to get to him.
“Looks like someone’s trying to get Uncle Tim’s attention,” Lucy grins, reaching over the pile of boys and holding out her hands. “Want some help, little lady?” Charlie stomps her foot, a frown Tim recognizes as his and Genny’s etched over her features, before she looks at Lucy a bit skeptically. It only takes a second before she’s stepping towards Lucy, letting herself get scooped up and handed to him. “There you go.”
“Guys,” Genny’s voice cuts through from what he figures is the kitchen, “let your Uncle Tim breathe, we don’t need more cops coming by.”
Tim rolls his eyes, then grins at Charlie. “What’s up, kid?” Charlie grins, grabbing his face and squeezing it in her pudgy little two year old hands.
“Hi hi hi hi,” she grins, knocking her head against his. He hears Lucy laughing and grins up at her.
“Can you guys say hi to my friend Lucy?” He looks over at Josh and Danny, who are fighting over something he’s not totally clear on. “Guys, look alive.”
Josh looks over at him, confused. “What?”
“Can you guys say hi to my friend Lucy? She came with me,” he nods his chin up towards Lucy, turning his head to look at her. “Least you can do is say hi.”
Danny grins at him and Tim smirks at his lack of front teeth. “Is she your girlfriend?”
Tim raises his brows, keeping his expression neutral. “She’s my friend.”
“Hi!” Charlie yells from in his arms, and the boys laugh, then turn their attention to Lucy.
“What are you friends with him for?” Josh asks at the same time Danny says, “Did you bring us Christmas presents?”
“Let’s let Uncle Tim and Lucy walk into the house,” Genny’s voice is closer now, and Tim watches as his sister’s arms pull both of her sons away from him gently. Tim stands up, still holding Charlie, and raises his brows over at Lucy, who’s fussing with the hem of Charlie’s dress, a smile on her face. “Hi,” Genny grins, leaning over the boys to hug Tim, then Lucy.
Genny ushers them into the house, taking Charlie from him and settling her in a high chair before offering them both water, coffee, and tea, ignoring them both declining and handing them water bottles.
He watches Genny and Lucy for a few minutes, the two of them starting in talking about the drive, moving quickly to teasing Tim’s driving, then just teasing Tim in general, before he excuses himself, raising his brows at Genny over the back of Lucy’s head, gesturing to her and then miming sleeping. It’s not subtle, but Genny rolls her eyes at him and shoos him out of the room. He can hear, as he walks back out towards the front door, Genny saying something about letting them get some time to rest after such a long drive before they head out for the night.
Tim makes his way out to the truck and grabs Lucy’s suitcase along with his duffel bag, slinging his bag over his shoulder and rolling hers behind him as he heads back into the house, trying to shake off the feeling of how natural it had been for him to see Lucy around his family, even for just a few minutes. It felt like she belonged there, in a way – in a lot of ways. He’d experienced this feeling before – seeing Isabel with his sister, seeing her holding his nephews when they were young. He hadn’t appreciated it the same way before, though.
Now, he can feel appreciation for her radiating through him. He makes his way back through the front entrance and can hear the stairs creaking, can see Genny sitting alone at the table with her phone. He squints at her when he gets into the kitchen, having abandoned the bags at the bottom of the staircase. “You annoy her that much already?”
Genny rolls her eyes, gesturing to the chair across from her as she looks back down at her phone, typing something out. “No, that’d be you, big brother.” Tim rolls his eyes, shaking his head as he slides into the chair. “I told her the plan for tonight – dinner, Christmas lights with the kids, the whole thing...and said it was probably smart for her to take a little nap, get her energy up before she was bombarded with questions by children who are hard at work trying to promote her to Aunt Lucy.”
“Genny,” Tim hisses, shooting her a glare.
Genny grins at him sweetly. “What?”
“You didn’t say that,” he shakes his head. “Tell me you didn’t say that.”
Genny shrugs, her eyes still on her screen. “I don’t want to lie to you, Timmy.”
Tim scrubs his hand over his face, letting out a low sigh. “Wonderful,” he mutters.
“I’m just saying, I don’t get what’s going on with you two. I mean,” she shrugs, setting her phone down on the table face down before looking up at him, “neither of you have been in a relationship for, what, six? Seven months? You spend all your time together, you brought her to Christmas... I just don’t see why you’re not,” she presses her lips together, considering her words, “calling it what it is.”
Tim scoffs. “We are calling it what it is – it’s a friendship.”
Genny hums, shrugging. “Sure it is.”
“What?”
“Nothing! I just said sure it is, Tim, that’s all. Sure, it’s a friendship. I definitely look at all my friends like they could hang the moon.”
“I don’t do that,” he mutters, after a long moment of considering just how to prove her wrong. “I’ve never done that.”
“Sure you haven’t.”
Tim grumbles, crossing his arms over his chest. “Where’s Matty?”
Genny purses her lips, shaking her head. “He’s meeting us downtown after work later – and don’t,” she points at him, “don’t try to change the subject, Timmy.”
“Stop calling me Timmy,” he swats her finger out of the way, frowning at her.
“I can stop calling you Timmy, or you can tell me why, exactly, you haven’t just asked her out yet. Those are the options,” Genny grins at him, huge, “Timmy.”
Tim groans, shaking his head. He catches sight of the boys playing out in the backyard through the back window and watches them for a long moment before turning back to Genny. “We’re good like this,” he says, his voice low. “Nothing needs to be any different.”
Genny frowns, shaking her head. “That’s stupid. You’re just afraid.”
“I’m not afraid,” Tim scoffs, and he feels himself getting worked up. He takes a deep breath, the way Lucy’s advised him to, and bites on the inside of his cheek. Genny raises a brow pointedly. “I’m not afraid of anything, I just...we’re not...,” he shakes his head. “We’re friends.”
He knows he’s lying to her – he hasn’t known what to do about the Lucy of it all in a while, if he’s being honest. He’s thought about just pulling her into him and kissing the daylights out of her several times in the past few months (more frequently, honestly, in the past few weeks), but something’s stopping him...and he’s not totally sure what, exactly, that is. It’s not fear, though. He’s sure of that. He just doesn’t know if they need things to be different...because they’re happy, like this. He can handle just...swallowing down the urge to push her up against walls (and cars, and endcaps of grocery aisles, and most other surfaces) and slide his hands up her shirt if it means he gets to keep her in his life.
Genny shrugs. “You’re in love with her,” she says, plainly, “but, sure. Friends it is.”
“Genny,” Tim grumbles, pressing his face into his hands. “Tell me you didn’t lay it on this thick with her, please?”
“Not yet,” Genny hums, and he hears her push her chair back. He feels Genny’s hand on his shoulder, giving it a sharp squeeze. “Figured I shouldn’t really get too far into it when you guys have to share a room for the weekend...well,” she lets out a dry laugh, “with one of you, at least.”
–
Lucy sits on the double bed in the spare room in her pajamas (a Christmas themed tank top and plaid shorts, obviously) and listens to Tim trying to cajole one of his nephews to sleep, their laughter mixing through the wall as she scrolls through photos from their evening on her phone. She pauses on a photo of Tim and Charlie, Christmas lights twinkling in both of their eyes, the girl’s face twisted in laughter, the little pink beanie on her head tipped slightly askew. Tim had been watching his niece, a content smile on his lips, the corners of his eyes wrinkling a bit.
He looked stupidly good with a baby in his arms. She’d figured as much, but the proof was on her screen, and her chest was tight just looking at it. She taps on the little heart icon to favorite the photo before continuing to swipe through.
She hadn’t realized Genny didn’t have two separate rooms for them – honestly, she kind of figured she’d be stationed on a couch in the living room, or something...she should’ve known better, considering Tim’s stance on guests, after all. Tim’s duffle bag, still zipped,was settled on a made up pull out couch with a surprisingly comfortable looking mattress across the room. Lucy ignored the sensation in her arms and legs, the thrumming that was being directed by her brain – go push the mattress back into the couch, tell Tim to just get into this bed, with you.
She ignores the feeling, though, and listens, smiling through a yawn as Tim laughs through his shushing, and his nephew – she thinks Danny, he sounds younger – giggles loudly. She’s trying to decide which of the photos to send to Genny when Tim walks into the room, raising his brows over at her, a tired smile on his face. “That kid’s a piece of work,” he chuckles, making his way over to the pull out and unzipping his bag. “Didn’t want to go to sleep until I promised him we’d take just him to the park before we left.”
“We?” Lucy purses her lips, furrowing her brow. “I’m involved in this little plan of yours?”
Tim rolls his eyes at her, but he’s got a smile on his face. “He asked me all kinds of questions about you when I tucked him in, actually.”
Lucy hums, raising a brow. “What kind of questions?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Tim pokes his tongue out at her, then makes his way into the ensuite, turning on the tap.
“You’re an eight year old,” she calls through the door, then settles her gaze back on her phone, scrolling through the photos for Genny again, smiling as she hears Tim laughing.
She really likes how much he’s been laughing, lately.
They’re quiet as Tim fusses with the pullout couch, flips off the lights, and settles himself beneath his blanket, Lucy watching before she pulls her own blanket over her legs, leaning back against her pillows. It tugs at the back of her mind again – just tell him to get in the bed with you.
Lucy knows she could say it and he would listen. He would hesitate, then stand, make his way slowly towards her and ask if she was sure, even though she’d invited him in the first place. He would slide beneath the blankets and try to keep his distance until she pulled his arm over her, pressed herself into his chest. He would press his lips just below her ear and she would have no choice but to turn over, lean up, and kiss him.
She swallows, staring at Tim beneath his blanket on the pullout. “You awake?”
Tim laughs. “It’s been about fifteen seconds,” he speaks softly. “I don’t think I’ve ever fallen asleep quite that fast, before.”
Lucy huffs, rolling onto her side. “I was just asking,” she grumbles, smiling as Tim laughs into the quiet air. “Did you have fun tonight?”
“Yeah,” he answers so quickly that it surprises her. “Those kids are nuts, but I always forget how happy they are to see me. Makes you feel like you’re important, you know?”
“You are important,” Lucy shrugs, smiling as Tim makes a garbled sound. “You are.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he hums. “You’re important, too.”
“I know,” Lucy preens, laughing as Tim snorts, rolling onto his stomach. “Where are you going, over there?”
“Away from the all important Lucy Chen,” he chuckles, and Lucy lets out a soft whine, a yawn cutting through it.
“You’re not even close enough to me for that to be a thing, weirdo.”
The words hang in the air for a few moments, both of them staying quiet. This could be the perfect time, she thinks – Tim could get up, come over, get closer to her. She knows it’s not out of the question for her to say something – for her to get up, even – but there’s some part of her that knows Tim has to be the one to do this. Tim has to be the one to come to her, after everything...and maybe it’s just her being stubborn, but it keeps her firmly planted where she is.
“Did you have fun,” Tim asks, a sleepy edge to his voice. “I know they can be...a lot. Genny can be a lot on her own, but... all of them can be,” he laughs, trailing off.
“I had a lot of fun,” she whispers, watching as Tim rolls again so he’s facing her. “They’re great, you know? All of them, and,” she hums, hoping he can see the grin spreading over her features, “now I have tons of photos of you being a sweet uncle...which will absolutely work in my favor.”
“You’re going to blackmail me for having nephews and a niece?” Tim laughs, and she can see him squinting over at her. “That’s low, Chen.”
“If I need to,” she grins. “Don’t give me a reason and we’ll keep them between us.”
“Wow,” Tim yawns as he speaks and she feels herself softening, just hearing him like this. “I always knew you had a streak in you, but I never thought you’d use it against me.”
“What’s so special about you,” she presses her face into her pillow, letting her eyes close.
“I thought I was important,” Tim laughs.
Lucy stays quiet for a long few moments, listening as Tim’s breathing becomes more even. “You’re the most important,” she murmurs, her voice soft.
She swears she hears Tim whisper, “You are, too,” into the air, but lets herself close her eyes and pretend it was just the wind.
–
Tim wakes up in the middle of the night to the sound of someone in the hallway, a loudly creaking floorboard under their feet.
He’s not as light a sleeper as he used to be – the military had made it so he could sleep through basically anything – but there’s something about the first night sleeping in a new place that usually keeps him on his toes. He’s not sure what it is, but the unfamiliar sounds tend to rouse him a bit more than they normally would.
He stares at the ceiling, listening to Lucy’s breathing for a long few moments before letting himself look over at her. There’s a strip of light illuminating half of her face, and he can see that she’s smiling.
Tim turns over on his side, facing her, as he tries to will himself to stay on the pullout. He’d wanted to crawl into her bed with her several times before he’d passed out – and honestly, he wasn’t totally sure what was stopping him. His conversation with Genny earlier had been playing in his mind over and over – his sister saying he was afraid of Lucy, in some way...afraid of whatever this thing between them was.
It wasn’t that, though – at least, he didn’t think it was that.
Lucy’s the most important person in his life, bar none. He’s never felt more comfortable with anyone before – and he’d married someone else. He thinks about that a lot – about how much she must mean to him, about how close they are...about how he’d love nothing more than to pull her into his chest and hold onto her, but...if there’s even a chance it would ruin something about them, anything, he doesn’t want to do it.
He doesn’t want to lose her – not when he’s almost lost her, more than once.
Tim knows, rationally, that something will have to give, at some point. He can feel it – he can feel her getting impatient, can feel himself getting impatient, but he’s not really sure what the next phase of this relationship looks like.
That’s the scary part, he figures. Something will undoubtedly change between them, and he doesn’t know what that thing is, yet. If he could know, he’d have done something about it months ago.
He watches as Lucy turns in her sleep, burrowing a bit further into her pillow, the smile slipping away from her features as she makes herself comfortable. He brushes his fingers along the edge of the pullout mattress so he doesn’t get up and push her hair off her face, instead.
He’d thought about it earlier – Lucy had been holding Charlie and talking to Josh, explaining something about a Christmas movie he’d never seen, and he’d thought about wrapping his arm around her, tucking his hand into her pocket, and continuing on their walk like that. He’d thought about just saying fuck it and tipping her chin up to kiss her lightly.
Instead, he’d tugged on the end of her hair and stage-whispered to Josh about how funny it was that he was basically taller than Lucy, already.
He’d sworn he’d seen her face falter, like she’d felt something coming, before she’d launched into a speech about how she wasn’t that short that Tim had heard several times already.
Now, Tim rolls back onto his back and lets out a slow breath. Genny’s words replay in his head – you’re in love with her – but, sure...friends it is.
He feels a restlessness in the pit of his stomach that he knows well. He’s unsettled. He squeezes his eyes shut and takes a few deep breaths, trying to let sleep roll through him again.
It takes him a while to get there, but by the time he passes out, he knows he has to do something... and soon.
–
Genny’s in the kitchen, still in her pajamas, when Lucy makes her way downstairs in the morning. She’d woken up to the pullout couch stowed away and Tim gone, an unread text from him on her phone – Took all the kids to the park, if I don’t make it back you can drive my truck home.
She’s dressed and ready when she gets down to the kitchen – for what, she’s not sure, but she figures it’s better to be ready to leave the house, if she needs to. Genny smiles at her, holding up a mug and tipping her head towards the coffee maker as she rumbles out a soft, “You’re going to need it for when Tim gets back.”
Lucy snorts, grabbing a mug from the dish drain and pouring coffee into it slowly. She settles herself into a chair at the table and leans her face into the steam coming up from the cup. “Why am I going to need it?”
Genny shrugs and Lucy can see the hint of a grin on her face – she looks like Tim, when she’s got mischief etched over her features. “He’s going to drag you out for the afternoon to decompress, I bet. Those kids can be a lot,” she smirks, “the person in charge of them should really figure out how to calm them down.”
Lucy laughs, rolling her eyes and taking a sip from her mug before setting it onto the table. “He’ll have them down for the count, I’m sure...did he take your van?”
Genny shakes her head, “They walked.”
Lucy pictures it – Tim wheeling a stroller down the sidewalk as Josh and Danny run ahead – and smiles, pressing her lips together. “Oh, they’ll be tired when they get back, I bet. You can put on a Christmas movie,” she shrugs. “Let them lie around for a few hours.”
Genny points at her. “Wise,” she nods, “very wise of you.”
The image of Tim with a gaggle of kids sticks in the back of her mind as she sips her coffee and scrolls through her phone, sitting in companionable silence with Genny until she can’t anymore. “Did he say anything to you before he left?”
“What about?” Genny’s quick to answer, flipping her phone facedown and sliding it away from her on the table.
Lucy laces her fingers together, her hands cupping her mug, and avoids Genny’s gaze. She chews on the inside of her cheek. “Last night,” she shrugs, “I don’t know. I was just...I’ve been thinking.”
“Thinking is always good,” Genny nods, and Lucy looks up at her, frowning. “He didn’t say anything about last night, really. He...mentioned he was glad you weren’t overwhelmed.” Lucy nods, taking a moment. “Is something going on with you two?”
Lucy shakes her head, trying not to look as solemn as she feels about the answer. “Not that I’m aware of,” she glances up at Genny, sighing before she casts her eyes upwards. “I feel like I’ve been...I don’t know, dropping hints, I guess.”
“About?” Genny perks up, and Lucy narrows her eyes at her. “Come on, you know I want to hear you say it.”
Lucy huffs. “We both know there’s something there,” she feels the dam burst in her chest and she knows there’s no stopping her, now – she hasn’t had anyone to talk to about this in a while, and now here, in front of her, was a willing participant, an active listener. She knows she’s going to spill everything, whether she should or not. “It’s been a long time coming, and I know he feels it...or, I think...I think he does? I know I feel it. I...when he looks at me, I swear to god, he loves me. He’s sweet to me – Tim Bradford’s not sweet to anybody, not really...and he’s sweet to me. I just,” she drags a hand through her hair, pulling her legs up onto the chair, resting her chin on her knees, “I don’t know, he knows how I feel. I’m not subtle, you know? I...I haven’t dated anyone in six months, I spend all my weekends with him, I invited myself for Christmas, and he just lets me. He lets me drag him to Bed Bath and Beyond to walk around aimlessly, he lets me rearrange his cabinets, he lets me bake in his kitchen and then cleans it all up for me, and yet he can’t just...do something?”
Genny stares at her blankly, and Lucy shakes her head. “I know it sounds stupid, that I don’t just...do something myself. Kiss him, tell him, shake it out of him, I don’t know...but I want him to want to, you know?”
“Sure,” Genny nods, squinting at Lucy for a moment. “I guess I get that.”
Lucy shakes her head. “It’s not that I don’t want him to know...it’s that there’s just no way he doesn’t know where I stand, at this point. It’s him that’s a little foggy, and so,” she sighs out a slow breath. “I want him to do it. I want him to take the step.”
“And you would meet him there, if he did?” Genny’s tone is cautious, but optimistic in a way that makes Lucy’s palms itch.
“Why? D-do you think he would?” She presses her lips together. “Do you think you could get him to?”
Genny holds up a hand. “Answer my question, first.”
Lucy smiles, soft. “I wouldn’t even have to meet him there. I’m there, Genny.”
Genny nods and Lucy can see her trying to hold her smile back. She takes a slow sip of her coffee as Genny slides out of her chair, making her way back to the coffee pot and pouring herself some more. “I can’t get him to do anything, for the record.”
Lucy huffs, looking at Genny over her shoulder. “You could try.”
Genny shakes her head. “I can plant some seeds, though.”
Lucy swallows, letting her words sink in and nodding slowly. “Don’t push him too hard,” she hums, quiet. “I only want him to do something if he wants to do something.” She watches as Genny opens her mouth to speak, but the front door crashes open at the same time that Genny starts talking, and before Lucy knows what’s happening, Josh and Danny are rooting through the refrigerator, both talking a mile a minute about how fun Uncle Tim is.
It’s only a few moments later that Tim walks into the kitchen, Charlie giggling in his arms. He sets her down on the floor, then glances over to Lucy. “Oh, good, you’re ready.” She frowns at Tim as Genny laughs. “Didn’t she tell you? We’re going shopping.”
Lucy glances over at Genny, who’s got another mischievous smile on her lips. “No, she didn’t mention it.”
“Couldn’t get a word in edgewise,” Genny shrugs, scooping Charlie up and grinning at her daughter.
“Sounds like Lucy,” Tim chuckles, grabbing a water bottle from the fridge and glancing at Lucy over his shoulder. “Go get your shoes, I’ll meet you in the truck.”
Lucy rolls her eyes, shooting Genny a soft glare and shoving at Tim’s shoulder before she walks out of the kitchen, muttering, “Bradfords,” under her breath so they can both hear her.
–
Tim’s watching as Lucy holds two plastic monster trucks, one in each hand, squinting at them in comparison. “Which one,” she glances up at him, her brow furrowed. “I feel like Josh isn’t really a purple kid.”
Tim hums, his hand settling on her back as he leans in to look at them. “What exactly is a purple kid?”
Lucy rolls her eyes, turning just a touch to look at him before glancing back at the cars. “I don’t know. I just feel like he might like this one,” she jiggles the shiny black truck in her hand, “better.”
“Shouldn’t it be my choice,” Tim smirks, reaching over and rotating her wrist so he can see the price on the back of the black truck, “considering these are my gifts to my nephews?”
Lucy scoffs. “They’re obviously going to be from both of us.” Tim laughs, standing up a bit and raising his brows, incredulous. “What? I’m going to put my name on it.”
Tim rolls his eyes, grabbing the black truck and settling it into the cart. “Bold of you to assume I’m going to let you do that.”
He doesn’t give her the chance to respond, just wheels the cart further down the aisle, his eyes searching for the Hot Wheels tracks Genny had said that Danny wanted. He hears Lucy before he sees her, her footsteps quick as she walks up behind him. “What do you mean let me? Like I’m not going to wind up wrapping those things for you...we’ll just say that’s my contribution. You buy it, I’ll wrap it, we both picked it out...decent team work, I’d say.”
Tim laughs, shaking his head as he feels his heart thrumming hard in his chest. “You know you don’t need to get them gifts, right? They’ll be fine if they’re just...from me.”
Lucy huffs, crossing her arms over her chest. “You really don’t want them to be from both of us?” He watches as her face changes from confused to annoyed quickly. “I can just get them something else, then.”
“No, Lucy,” he turns, watching as she stalks back down the aisle, squatting down in front of the lower shelves and frowns at them. “That’s not what I meant.”
“It’s fine, Tim,” she grumbles, laying it on a little thick as she slides her fingers along the packaging of a red truck. “I’ll buy my own monster truck.”
It is possibly the cutest grouchy thing he’s ever heard anyone say. It’s then that it hits him – he doesn’t need to wait for a Moment to do this. He hasn’t needed to wait, period...at this point, he’s just been prolonging the inevitable.
“No, you won’t,” he says, making his way down the aisle towards her. Lucy looks over at him, her brow furrowed, but he shakes his head, holding out his hand. “Get up.”
Lucy blinks at his hand for a moment. “What?”
“Get up,” he repeats, keeping his hand out.
He watches, his breathing a bit heavy as Lucy rolls her eyes but takes his hand, letting him pull her up. “Okay, I’m up,” she tugs her hand out of his, crossing her arms over her chest. “Now, what?”
Tim presses his lips together, giving her a slow once over before taking a step closer to her. “We can give them the same gifts.”
Lucy looks up at him, her brows raised. “Oh yeah?” She squints and Tim waits her out, trying to keep his hands steady so he doesn’t just reach out and pull her against him. “Why the change of heart?”
“Lucy,” his voice is low, and he shakes his head. “It’s not a change of heart.” She raises her brows, tipping her head to the side in question. “I just didn’t realize you’d want to.”
Lucy swallows, and Tim watches as her eyes shift – he thinks, maybe, she realizes what he’s getting at. She drops her arms and bites on her lower lip, looking up at him with her brows raised. “Well, I want to.”
“Yeah?”
Lucy rolls her eyes. “Yeah, Tim. I thought I was making that clear.”
Tim shuts his eyes for a moment. He can’t help but think of several moments in the past few weeks that she was, indeed, making it clear. Lucy sliding in between his arms in the grocery store and pressing her back against his chest as she reached up for something on a high shelf, Lucy ordering takeout for the both of them and setting it up on his counter before he got home from a long shift, Lucy playing with his fingers in the car the day before absently while she’d been talking.
When he opens his eyes, she’s looking up at him, her gaze steady, her brows raised. “You were,” he says, his voice soft, and he doesn’t give her the chance to say anything else before he’s pulling her into him. He slides his hands up her arms and pushes her hair back off of her face, leaning down and pressing his forehead to hers gently as he whispers, “you were, Lucy.”
And then he has no choice, he has to kiss her. Aside from the fact that he’s pretty sure she’d kill him if he didn’t, he truly doesn’t think he has any other option – the thought of continuing to not kiss her feels unnatural…he needs to do it, and he needs to do it now.
He drags his thumbs slowly over her jawline as his tongue traces over her lower lip, and he feels Lucy’s hands slide up over his waist, balling her hands into his shirt before sliding her arms around him and parting her lips. She lets him pull her against him and he presses down into her, his chest framing her shoulders, his body looming against hers in a way that makes her feel even smaller than she is. He pulls back after a long moment, his breathing ragged, and leans his face into hers. “I really didn’t,” he pants softly, “mean to do that in a Target.”
Lucy hums in confusion, her lips brushing against his, her eyebrows furrowed in a way he can feel against his face. “At this point, Tim? You could’ve done it anywhere,” she breathes, after she seems to put his words together.
“I thought maybe a park would be nice,” his voice is soft, his lips brush over hers as he speaks and presses a gentle kiss to her mouth before he says, “or maybe just somewhere without halogen lights and security cameras.”
Lucy’s fingers rake gently against his back and she shakes her head lightly, her nose nudging his. “Did you want to wait a little longer, then? Maybe until Santa’s here?”
“Original,” he mumbles, hooking his arm tight around her waist and grinning against her mouth. “You come up with that all on your own?”
“You do want to kiss me again, right?” She pulls her face back a little, her lips breaking from his just a touch. “Not just a one time thing?”
Tim hums, leaning in further to her and brushing his lips over hers. “Only thing I plan on doing for a long time, actually.”
Lucy nods, raising her arms and wrapping them around his neck. “Alright,” she breathes, “then I think you’re going to just have to start laughing at my jokes, Bradford.”
Tim nods, nipping lightly at her bottom lip as he mumbles, “Done deal, Chen,” and kisses her again, deeper this time, right there in the toy aisle.