Work Text:
“What the hell Bradford! You can't be serious!” Lucy was almost yelling. “So you just tell me to leave! You are giving up on me!” Lucy could hear how frantic she was, it was woven into every word she spoke.
“Giving up? No!” Tim almost growled in response, “I am letting you go Lucy.”
Set straight after 5x02
After Tim tells Lucy she should take the offer to go to go to Under Cover school, and she feels like he is abandoning her and she chases him down the hall. But it is only when Tim sees how distressed she is, that he spills his heart.
***************
Lucy Chen stood, bare feet and frozen in the now empty hallway. Moments ago Tim Bradford had stood in front of her.
“But we didn’t” he had gently corrected her, when she tried to point out what might have been. What had almost happened. “We didn’t,” he repeated, so impossibly softly, as though the words and moment was just for her.
And those words almost broke her.
“Are you trying to get rid of me?” she had gasped, “As your gopher?”
“No! No. I’m trying to look out for you,” And then, as though he was actively trying to break her heart, Tim stated, “It is time for you to move on.”
In that moment, she realized that she had forbidden herself to ever think about her time with Tim ending, because it was something she truly dreaded.
To move on.
Those words stabbed with every syllable.
She scrambled to find the words, trying to not show the hurt on her face as she responded.
“And some time away would be good.” Did she sound as broken as she felt?
“It’s a great opportunity Lucy.” Tim tried to reassure her. In response, all she could do was mumble, words uncharacteristically abandoning her.
“You should go for it.”
Tim’s own parting words. And then he was gone.
Her aching heart pounded as she looked at where he had been moment before. But that ache started to transform, bubbling fiercely and filling her with fury.
And before she had fully formed the thought, Lucy charged down the hall, her barefeet tumbling after Tim. She caught him just before he left the apartment building, his hand already on the door handle.
“Bradford!” Lucy was louder than she thought she would be, and she saw him pause in response. As she pounded closer, he hesitated, before his hand dropped from the handle and he turned to face her.
“Chen.” His tone was a lot less angry than hers. Did he look, almost sad?
What did he have to be sad about!
He stood still, watching her approach at rapid speed. And when she finally stood infront, she slammed into him, pushing him back against the front door. Both of her hands latched on his open blue shirt, holding him still.
To stop him from leaving? Perhaps.
But maybe more so to keep him close to her.
“What the hell Bradford! You can't be serious!” She was almost yelling. He didn’t respond, only raising his eyebrow at her, so she continued. “I am so not okay with you and Chris -,” she searched for the right word, “- conspiring - behind my back!”
“He was just trying to look out for you,” Tim tried to defend, “We both are,”
“Oh sure you are!! And then you just tell me to leave! What, are you abandoning me!? Are you giving up on me!?” Lucy could hear how frantic she was, it was woven into every word she spoke. But she couldn’t control it.
“Giving up? No!” Tim almost growled in response, “I am letting you go Lucy.” He was watching her closely, looking for something that she couldn’t identify.
Her sight was getting a little wet.
“You can’t let me go!” She declared as she pushed against him again, the front door rattling on its hinges. He did not try to escape her grasp. “You are my rock! You are beside me every day! Through every shift. Through …. Through being buried alive! Through losing Jackson! You are… Tim, you are my best friend. I know I’m just your boot, but you can’t – you can’t – give up on me –“ Lucy was gasping a little, tears welling in her eyes as she looked up at him.
Before she knew it, his arms wrapped around her, tucking around her waist and pulling her to squish against him. She had she had even been hugged so tight in her life, her face squished in to his chest, his warmth seeping into her. She could feel his chin come to rest of the top of her hair.
“Do you think I won’t miss you?” he asked her quietly, the warmth of his breath tickling her head.
“I already feel your absence. All week I keep turning around, expecting to see you beside me. Or next to me at the station. Or arguing at me in our shop.” He lightly chuckled at his own little joke, and gave her a quick squeeze.
“I’ve been spoilt for far too long, keeping you with me. Lucy Chen, you aren’t my boot. You are my partner. In more ways than you should be.” She almost gasped, her brain not quiet processing the info he was telling her.
“And you are my lifeline.” She could feel how deeply he was breathing now, and hear his heart pounding just like hers.
My lifeline. Lucy almost lost it.
Had she even known how much she needed to hear that?!
Not that she had time to react, as there was a quick knock from the door behind Tim.
They broke a part quickly, both looking through the window in the door. A confused lady staired back at them, holding the hand of her daughter. She was clearly wondering why exactly they were blocking the entrance to the apartment.
Lucy took a step back, whilst Tim instantly leant to open the door. Neither Tim nor Lucy offered an explanation to the lady, who shuffled her daughter past them both and disappeared down the hall, but not before giving them an unimpressed huff.
The moment they were out of sight, Lucy resisted the urge to crawl back into Tim’s arms and beg him to continue his lovely words. Tim was looking a little breathless, eyes wide as he took her in.
“But Lucy, I understand that you aren’t mine to have.” She stepped towards him, the protest on her lips. The lips Tim was staring at.
But then he shook his head.
“I will always choose protecting you. Every shift. Every day. But if you stay here… If you stay with me…” She could see the big swallows he was taking. “You will ruin your career. I can’t let you do that.”
“That is my decision to make, Tim.”
“Yes, and I will always support your decisions. But more than that, I will always put you first Lucy. You deserve nothing less. It is why you need to go. You need to take up the offer of Under Cover School. You need to look after Chris. You need to do what is right for you.”
Tim Bradford’s eyes flashed, like he couldn’t resist the thought. And without further hesitation, he took 2 quick steps forward, and planted the softest of kiss on the top of her hair. He whispered to her once more, these parting words so much gentler than she knew him possible of speaking, drifting down to settle on her.
“I promise, I am not going anywhere.”
Tim Bradford’s his hand was on the door handle once more, and he left before Lucy Chen could ask him to stay.