Chapter Text
Lucy was occupied with folding the omelet in the pan in front of her when she heard the bedroom door close and footsteps approach. Moments later, Tim’s hands rested on her shoulders and slid down her arms from behind, leaving a trail of little shivers. He leaned over her shoulder to see what she was cooking, and she could feel his warm breath in her hair.
“That looks good!” But he still eyed the two frying pans on the stove a little suspiciously behind her back, wondering if he was about to experience a tofu omelet.
“You made breakfast when you stayed last time. It’s my turn now.” She turned in his arms and smiled up at him. Noting the fleeting expression on his face, she added with a smile, “Don’t worry, your omelet is real eggs… I wouldn’t do that to you.”
He chuckled and bent down for a kiss, his hand reaching up to her hair, wishing it was tumbling loosely around her shoulders instead of being up in the no-nonsense work bun it was in now.
“Don’t make us late for work!” She pulled away from the kiss reluctantly with a small laugh, brushing her fingers against his cheek as she did. “Neither of us is ever late, and both being late to work on the same day would not be the way to keep us secret for now. Besides, I’ll burn the omelets.”
She plated the omelets while Tim reached for two large mugs, poured the coffee and set it down in front of their plates. She set down a plate of sausage patties and joined him. It somehow didn’t feel quite real yet that they were sharing breakfast comfortably in her apartment, and some remote part of her was almost afraid she’d wake up and find that she’d been dreaming.
He took a bite of omelet and made an appreciative look. “So, I was wondering… um, do you…” He hesitated. He made a vague gesture with his hands. “Is this too…”
Lucy took another swallow of coffee and waited. “Hmm?”
“Has it been long enough… Oh, hell.” He saw the smile trying to form on her lips, which just added to his discomposure.
“Yes? What are you trying to say?” He was usually so controlled that she couldn’t help teasing him when he got flustered, a side of him she’d never seen until recently. And something she was quite certain only happened in her presence. By now she was wearing the innocent smile and questioning look that was her habit when he got flustered about something, a habit he found both annoying and oddly endearing.
“Do you ski?” Well, that wasn’t where he’d planned to start, but at least he’d stopped stammering.
“Do I ski?” She raised an eyebrow, but continued on. “Um, a little? I skied a few times with friends in high school, but not since then. Do you?”
“Some. I had the chance a few times after boot camp and before I got sent overseas.” This really wasn’t going where he’d intended it.
Tim took a breath and tried again. “I was just wondering if this,” he made a hand motion between the two of them, “is too new or if it’s just too soon for us to be thinking of taking a few day trip for Christmas together? We could have some time together where we don’t have to be so careful not to be seen by anyone from the precinct.” He felt awkward asking; he’d never been a relationship that was so new, yet had been there all along for so many years.
Her eyes lit up, and she reached for his hand. “No, I think a Christmas trip sounds amazing! Where are you thinking?”
“I got a call this morning from a friend. As a travel agent, sometimes the resorts she works with give her a complimentary travel package so she can better talk it up with her clients. She had five days booked at a resort in Aspen for Christmas, but her mother isn’t doing well and she can’t go. So, she offered it to me. There’s actually a lot more to do there than just ski, especially at Christmas. But I have to let her know today.”
Lucy’s eyes were wide. “Aspen is supposed to be beautiful. Why did she offer it to you?”
A flicker of sadness passed across his face so quickly that if she hadn’t known him so well, she’d have missed it. “She’s the widow of one the men in my squad in Afghanistan. I helped her, her son, and her baby after…” He left the sentence unfinished, and continued on. “Anyway, she’s gotten me a couple of deals on travel before, and when her plans fell through this time, she thought of me.”
Tim had never said much about his time in the service; it was something he seemed to keep firmly locked in the past. The topic only came up only if it was specifically work related, so it surprised her now that he’d volunteered even this little bit. Lucy mentally filed this information away with what little she knew, and just replied simply, “It’s so kind of her to give it to you. This will be so much fun!”
He smiled in happy relief, realizing that somehow he’d been afraid that she would say that it was all too soon, even though the rational part of him had known she wouldn’t.
“Oh, but... I don’t want to leave Tamara alone at Christmas. She has no family at all. My parents have stopped doing holidays with me since I refuse to see the light and get a real career, so that part wouldn’t have been a problem.” She shook her head ruefully. She hoped that someday her parents would get past her choice to become a cop, but right now things with them were still rocky.
“I already thought of Tamara. I’ll be leaving Genny alone with the boys for Christmas, but I talked to her about us celebrating with her after we come back and I hope you don’t mind, but I asked what she thought about Tamara staying with them while were gone.” A feeling of gratification warmed him again, when he remembered how Lucy hadn’t even blinked at the fact that he’d told Genny that they were together after they’d only officially gone out twice. She and his sister had gotten along so well when they were getting his parents’ house ready to sell, and now that he and Lucy were together, that was so important to him.
“What did Genny say? I don’t know what Tamara would think, but…” She smiled thinking about the possibility of actually going to Aspen. He was always so thoughtful; she should have known he’d have already thought about Tamara, too.
He squeezed her hand. “Tamara’s totally on board with it.”
“You asked her? Did she give you a hard time?” It came out with a small giggle, just at the thought of what Tamara was likely to say.
Tamara had been almost delighted when he asked. Not because of spending Christmas with Genny, though, truth be told, she thought it could be fun to celebrate Christmas with two younger kids. Almost like having younger brothers for Christmas, something sure to be more fun than the Christmases she’d grown up with. Mostly in the moment she relished another I-told-you-so moment with Tim. “You know she did. She’s still gloating about being right when she walked in on us kissing.”
“Don’t I know it! But she is really happy about it, too.”
“So you’ll go with me, then? I’ll call and accept the tickets on the drive in.” At the moment, he didn’t think he could feel any happier. “Speaking of which, we’d better get to work or we really will be late…”
They held hands the whole way to the parking lot, with Lucy chatting happily about the upcoming trip. Though they’d kissed before they left the apartment, to avoid any prying eyes, Lucy reached up and gave Tim a quick kiss before they got in their separate cars. She had a twinkle in her eye as though she was about to say something.
“What is it?” He asked as she sat down in her car.
She smiled up at him with an angelic expression. “It was real eggs in your omelet. But the sausage you just had was vegetarian.”
He threw back his head and laughed.
It had been a shorter day than expected, and Wesley was happy to be home early. Even as he walked through the door, he was still trying to decide how to break his news to Angela. Her reaction was going to be completely dependent on how he presented it.
He found her on the couch sitting sideways facing Jack reading him one of his books that made sounds and helping his chubby fingers push the right buttons to go along with what she was reading to him. Her hair was loose around her face, and she looked totally relaxed. He paused for just a moment, letting his love for them wash over him yet again.
“Hey, you’re home earlier than I expected. How did the trial go?” She looked back and smiled at him, while holding the book still for Jack.
“They cut a plea deal at the last minute, so no trial. And no late evening.” He moved to sit down behind her. He lifted her hair on one side and kissed her neck, then slipped his arms around her waist and hugged her from behind.
“Dada!” Jackson beamed at his dad and pushed a finger down on a button with the picture of a cow, looking pleased that the book made a satisfying ‘moo’ sound.
“Hiya sweetie!” He reached and tousled his son’s hair, and decided to dive right in to his news with Angela. “So, my mom got us an early Christmas present…”
“Uh-oh. Don’t tell me she got him a pony…” She was picking up on the worried vibes from her husband, and she knew his mom could make some impetuous decisions sometimes. She turned the page for Jack, waiting for Wesley to continue.
“No pony,” he promised with a chuckle. “She knows we’ve had a rough year and after the hostage situation we had, she decided to get us a Christmas vacation somewhere where we can relax and where we don’t have to watch over our shoulder for Elijah, either.”
“A vacation for Christmas? Christmas is supposed to be with family.” She pulled away from his grasp and turned partway around to meet his eyes.
“I know. But we could celebrate early with family or do New Year’s with them this year. And we could have a few days for actual rest and relaxation,” he said in an enticing tone. “She got us a trip to a resort in Aspen…”
“Aspen!” She’d always thought that would be an interesting place to go in the summer. “Aspen is supposed to be beautiful, at least in the summer. But in winter… you know neither of us ski. And it’s not going to be a relaxing place with a toddler.”
“First, there’s a lot to do there besides ski. And, well…” he dragged that out for a moment. “There’s more...” Convincing her of this might be hard, he knew, but they could both use some time away from home and jobs right now.
“I’m not leaving our son with a baby sitter.” Her expression made that doubly clear, and if that had actually been his intent he’d have been a little afraid of her right now.
As if to punctuate his mother’s thoughts, Jack’s finger found the sheep picture and the book baaaaa’d at them.
He reached for her hand and tried to explain. “No, no. My mom wants to come along and…”
“What?!” Her look of disbelief threatened to burn a hole in him. “How is that going to be relaxing? I love Patrice, but that’s not going to end up giving us any alone time.”
He reached and took Jackson’s book from her hand and set it on the couch and nudged her to turn fully towards him, taking her hand in his. “Actually, that’s what she has in mind. She wants to come along just to be full time Grandma. She’s even got a crib ordered for her room. So, we can have part of the day with Jack but she’ll take of him when we want to go out somewhere and he’ll be having sleepovers with Grandma. All she wants is that we either have Christmas Eve dinner or Christmas dinner with her.”
She leaned closer, smiled and ran her fingers through his hair. “Sleep overs with Grandma every night, huh? That means uninterrupted sleep!” And with a slightly wicked grin added, “And uninterrupted romance…”
“And uninterrupted romance,” he agreed, pulling her close and pressing his lips against hers emphatically.
Seconds later, small sticky fingers pushed at both their cheeks. “Dada!” They were both overwhelmed with laughter as they each kissed one of Jack’s small cheeks.