Work Text:
Tamara didn’t have a good time on the field trip. In fact, she ended up being the bad guy in the situation, all because she refused to accept that the only way one could have fun in the city of sin was if they consumed a peer-approved amount of drugs. So while her friends gathered to hit the night scene in Las Vegas that Saturday night, Tamara took the train back home.
It was a little past 3 am when she arrived at her and Lucy’s apartment. She didn’t want to wake up her roommate, so she took off her shoes carefully and tiptoed to her bedroom. But not a long while after, she heard the bathroom door open and close, and sighed. So much for being quiet.
The water started running in the shower, which made her frown. Maybe this wasn’t about her after all. An early Sunday wake-up call from her job perhaps? Or a simple case of insomnia—whichever the reason was for Lucy being up and active this late at night, Tamara was relieved on a certain level. She wasn’t in the best state emotionally and a grown-up’s advice felt like something she needed right now.
So she waited for the shower to stop and then walked out of her bedroom to meet her roommate.
“Hey, don’t get startled,” she said in the dim light, but she heard a gasp regardless. And then, Tamara gasped as well. Because the other person’s voice was not Lucy’s, but a male-sounding one.
For a moment, she stared wide-eyed and mouth-gaping at the man she had not expected to find.
“You!” she said in a loud whisper.
“You!” he echoed.
Tim Bradford stared at her bare-chested and holding a towel for dear life around his lower body.
Tamara’s lips slowly lifted up at the corners.
Finally.
“Let me guess. More work practice?” she quipped, folding her arms across her chest.
Tim opened his mouth in shocked disbelief.
“Hey, it’s okay. Don’t mind me. You guys are adults,” she went on.
Tim took a deep breath, and lifted his finger. “Wait here,” he ordered, before he disappeared into the bathroom again. A few seconds later, he came out dressed in one of his usual three-piece outfits. He opened Lucy’s door slightly to check inside, and after probably finding her asleep, turned back to Tamara. Tamara looked between the bathroom and his now fully-clothed body and nodded knowingly.
Tim pressed his eyes closed, sighed and lifted his palm. “No more comments,” he said and Tamara grinned. He used the same palm to point towards the sofa. She walked to it and took a seat, while Tim sat next to her, turning to face her.
“I thought you were to return on Monday?” he pointed out.
“Yeah… I wasn’t having fun anymore.”
She didn’t know why she actually told him the truth. He didn’t need to know her problems. But perhaps it was the lateness in the hour or the fact that she was just tired from the ride back home—whatever the reason was, Tamara didn’t really care about putting up a front right now.
Tim lifted his eyebrow in question. “Someone gave you trouble?”
Tamara grimaced. “Are we really going to discuss about me, when clearly there’s a more pressing matter here that needs to be addressed, I mean… things have obviously changed!?”
Tim exhaled and as he did, a smile trembled on his lips.
“Look… this,” he started, pointing between Lucy’s bedroom and himself, “you can’t mention it to anybody, alright? Me and Lucy are keeping it low-profile at work.”
“Meaning, you’re secretly dating.”
Tim lifted his shoulders, then nodded.
Tamara beamed at him. “Don’t worry. Your secret’s safe with me. And…” She considered her words for a moment, wondering if she would be stepping across some line. “Well, I’m really glad it worked out between you, guys. But just so you know, if you ever hurt her, you’ll have to deal with me.” She waved two fingers between her eyes and his to keep the mood light, but she meant every word of the threat.
Tim smiled. “Our interests are aligned in this matter, so you don’t have to worry.” Then he squinted. “Did you also tell that to her previous boyfriend? Or every guy she dated for that matter?”
Tamara looked sideways. “No. But well, she didn’t really love Chr—” She covered her mouth, realizing she’d just stepped over that invisible line.
Tim’s eyes opened up. “She told you that?”
“No, no!” She took a breath to calm her voice. “Really, she didn’t. It just wasn’t hard to figure out.”
Tim nodded. “Well… that makes one of us.”
She choked a laugh. “Dude, honestly, for a cop, you clearly lack some observational skills.”
Tim opened his mouth in protest. “Ok, first of all, I’m not your peer, so forget calling me dude. Second of all, you’re Lucy’s protégé and therefore, not the person to have this discussion with me right now. And last, my observational skills are good enough to tell me that you, little miss, have something that’s troubling you. So enough about me and Lucy. Care to share what happened?”
Tamara looked at him, surprised that he would care. Even more surprised that she actually wanted to tell him.
She sighed. “My friend, Sophie, was into this… guy.”
She paused, studying his expression for any sign that he was bored already. Tim prodded her to go on.
“He’s our senior. He and his friends kept bragging about going to a party that involved… well, you know, drugs—the heavy kind. They invited us, so naturally, Sophie wanted to go. Despite the obvious red flag. So anyway, I talked to them and tried to suggest we hit some casino instead, or go bowling. Of course that got me labeled as the fun-spoiler. But more than that, Sophie got mad at me because she thought I was simply trying to get attention from the guy she liked. Anyway, I decided that the trip wasn’t for me and took the train back home. But now I keep thinking, what if something happens to her? Maybe I should have joined them regardless just to make sure no one tries to take advantage of her.”
“And end up putting yourself in danger as well?” Tim returned. “Tamara, your friend made her decision. You did the right thing by choosing not to get involved.”
“You’re saying this as a cop or a generally responsible adult?”
“I’m saying this as someone who cares about you.”
Tamara blinked once, twice, then nodded. “Thanks. It’s just, I feel like I should know better.”
Tim’s expression filled with curiosity then. “Is this about how we found that other friend of yours murdered?”
She lowered her gaze to her fidgeting hands. “I don’t know. Well… maybe.”
“No,” said Tim firmly. Tamara looked up at his sudden change of tone. Tim was shaking his head. He reached out to put his hand on her shoulder. “What happened to her wasn’t your fault. You couldn’t have known what would have happened then and you sure don’t know now.”
“It happened because I abandoned her though, didn’t it? I always do that—abandon people to look out for my own interests. I always make the selfish choice.”
“Putting your safety first isn’t called making a selfish choice. It’s called having a survival instinct. And you should never, never, feel guilty or apologize for that. Do you hear me?”
Tamara nodded. “Wow, I see now why Lucy always brags about having you as her TO.” Tim’s eyes opened up again and Tamara once again realized her slip. “Aand I probably shouldn’t have said that,” she muttered. “Anyway, I should probably go to bed. Thanks for the insightful talk.”
Tim smiled and nodded, as she got to her feet.
“Um…” she hesitated then, checking his outfit. “I have some of Jackson’s old oversized pajamas if you want. Lucy would give them away, but I liked them so she let me keep them.”
He looked at his clothes. “Alright, I guess that wouldn’t be so bad.”
The next morning, Lucy found her in the kitchen. She’d just gotten out of her bedroom and stood there frozen.
“Tamara! You’re back!” she said loud enough for Tim to hear from the inside.
“Don’t worry,” Tamara said, casually munching on her toast. “He knows.”
Lucy’s face shrank in confusion, her mouth shaping the start of a silent What?, as the man in question joined her side. Lucy looked at him, then looked at Tamara’s lack of a reaction, and her confusion grew more intense.
“We accidentally bumped into each other during the night,” Tim explained awkwardly.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked in an accusatory tone, turning towards him. Before he could answer, Lucy noticed his outfit. “Is that Jackson’s robe?” She closed her eyes, shook her head. “Okay, I’m going to wash my teeth and face. After that, I’m going to need some serious explanations from the both of you.”
Before any of them could make a comment, she pushed the door to the bathroom and disappeared inside. Tamara and Tim were left looking at each other. He smiled at her. She smiled back.
“Toast?” she offered.
He nodded, then took a seat next to her on the bar counter.
Lucy quietly got out of the bathroom a few minutes later. She found them chatting merrily while having breakfast together, and everything got hushed inside her, the sight too humbling for her to be able to make any move for a while. Then Tim turned and noticed her. She shook her head, realized she had been staring, and smiled awkwardly at him. The smile that he returned to her was broader than ever. Her breath caught in her chest.
The three of them took breakfast together. Tamara filled Lucy in on everything that she’d missed during the night and then the three of them decided to spend the rest of the day at the funfair.
It was the happiest Tamara had ever been. And she was once again grateful that she’d decided to steal that car once not too long ago.