Chapter Text
Tim has lost count of how many times he's re-started the same paragraph from Split Second Leadership: leading men in the line of duty . It's not like the topic doesn't interest him, but in the act of reading and reading again in an attempt to memorize the book, he has only managed to get more and more frustrated as the hours go by.
He's in his favorite coffee shop down the street from his place, because the TV at home and his bed are too much of a temptation when he has studying to do. The aroma of fresh coffee surrounds him and the chatter of the other patrons is low enough to become pleasant background music, allowing him to be in the present and focus more.
Tim passes his hand over his face, taking a deep breath before starting to read again.
The number one mistake new leaders make is to think themselves suddenly infalible. The best leaders understand —
“Excuse me, Sir. Can I please plug my laptop in?”
It's a woman above him who asks, her voice equal parts soft and sure enough to be pleasant. He knows the polite thing to do is to look up from his screen, but if he does, he'll lose the little focus he has left.
“I’m sorry, but my laptop will die if I unplug it," he says, trying to sound neutral as he vaguely gestures to the back of it, where the battery is missing.
It stopped working a few weeks ago and he hasn't had the time yet to go buy a new one, which makes going out with his laptop complicated.
From the corner of his eyes, he catches glimpses of a multicolored cardigan and delicate fingers holding a laptop filled with stickers. “Yeah, well, I’ve been waiting for a while and mine will die if I don’t plug it in. Plus, I’m kind of in the middle of typing a very important report and-”
“Can’t you use another outlet?” Tim asks, almost groaning as he gives up on reading and lifts his face to look at the woman standing by his table.
But looking up was definitely a mistake, because it's not just any woman, it's her. Tim has seen her a few times before in the shop, her presence catching his eye almost instantly and making him almost choke on his coffee.
Maybe it was the way her soft but evident curves were perfectly hugged by her tight jeans as she checked the pastries display, or maybe it was the moment she turned around and he caught a glimpse of her face that made him unable to look away from then on. Younger than him by some years, her long dark hair framed the delicate features of her round face, and her big brown eyes seemed to look at everything with curiosity. And beyond that curiosity, Tim caught something else, something that was vaguely familiar from all of his years of being police.
She also seemed to carry with her a brightness that had nothing to do with her colorful choice of wardrobe, or the huge smiles she directed to other people when she greeted them. To other people but himself, of course. He doesn't think she even knows he exists.
Tim fought in a war, and his current job places him in the middle of shoot outs while chasing dangerous criminals through the streets of LA every day, but somehow approaching an attractive stranger to start a conversation feels like a far bigger challenge.
“This is a small shop," the woman suddenly says after letting out a frustrated huff, waking Tim up from his reveries. "I either use this one or the espresso machine one, and I don’t think the caffeine junkies that frequent this establishment will like that very much," she adds, the ghost of a sassy smirk appearing on her full lips.
Tim isn't sure how to proceed now. On one hand, he's finally talking to her, on the other, he's a little pissed that his study session got interrupted. “Well, maybe you could–”
"–I’m not leaving," she quickly says, frowning.
“I didn’t say you had to."
She lets out a deep sigh, taking a step backwards with one hand up in the air as her voice raises slightly. “Listen, if you just want to be left alone, I get it, no need to be rude about it.”
Tim scoffs. “I’m not being rude about it, I just got here first. Maybe try that next time?”
He's talking before thinking, and he doesn't know if it's his nerves or the exhausting week he's had that makes him snap, but he sure doesn't like this side of him.
“This is unbelievable," the woman says while rolling her eyes, and Tim knows he went too far.
He doesn't know how to fix this without shoving his foot further in his mouth, so he just shuts down his laptop and starts to pack his things.
“Wait– where are you going?” she asks, but he can't look directly at her without feeling ashamed. Still, his voice sounds a little harsh when he answers under his breath.
“You got a report to finish, don’t you? I can continue what I was doing in the quiet of my own home. I don’t want to be the cause of some college kid failing their class.”
He knows he picked the wrong thing to say before he finishes, because just as he does the woman is taking a step closer and pointing a finger at him. Her cheeks are tinted red with anger and her eyes are glowering. Tim feels trapped between her and the wall.
“First of all, I may look young but I’m not a kid. Second, I graduated from college years ago. And third, I asked you nicely, so save that attitude.”
Oh, he definitely screwed up.
This close and now that they're both standing, Tim realizes just how big their height difference is, having to bend his neck to look at her. Her eyes that haven't wavered since she last spoke, and that he can't seem to stop staring at, are a warm brown color– almost like dark honey when the light hits on them–, and if he doesn't leave now he'll just get lost in them forever.
For a moment, they just stand there, staring at each other as the air between them fills with tension. Tim suddenly clears his throat, side stepping around her before leaving.
“You could say thank you" he says last, because he's a petty idiot, immediately cursing himself after.
He barely gets to listen her mutter a low "asshole" as he walks away, wincing as he realizes how badly he fucked up all his chances to even establish a civil conversation with this woman, even less become friends with her.
Lucy takes a deep breath before opening the door to the cafe, hoping that she actually makes some progress with the paperwork she has piled up for today. She knows being a detective's aide means she has to write twice as many reports than when she was on patrol, but if she makes a good impression and scores high on her upcoming test, the detective stripes could be hers soon.
As she approaches the usual table she picks, she notices there's someone already sitting there. And not just anyone, no, it's exactly the very person she doesn't want to cross paths with today.
Because it's the man from a week ago, the one she nicely asked if she could take a turn using the outlet only for him to be all snappy for no reason.
Ok, maybe she got a bit snappy too there at the end, but the last couple of days had been a lot, and the man had been there for at least a couple of hours just like her, so she thought he might be done when she approached him.
And besides, no one owns the freaking public outlet of a coffee shop.
“This isn’t really happening," she can't help but let out as she stops only a couple feet from the table.
The man hears Lucy then, lifting his face from typing on his phone and getting a little pale when he notices it's her.
“Hey, I’m just waiting for my order so I can go. Power outlet is all yours," he says, his deep blue eyes boring into hers, making Lucy remember just how unfairly handsome he is.
That day, when she went to his table to ask about the outlet, she hadn't really noticed his attractiveness until she was close enough that she couldn't take a step back. He wore a henley that hugged his muscled arms, much like the burgundy one he's wearing today, and something about his buzzcut hair and the way he carried himself –rigid posture, alert eyes– made Lucy immediately think that he worked in some sort of security-related business.
That, or he's a really sour magazine model.
“I’ll just find another table," Lucy says, starting to turn around on her spot.
“Good luck with that," the man says, his tone a little amused. And when she looks around Lucy quickly notices why, the place is unusually packed for a Saturday afternoon, and there's no empty table.
“Ugh, great.”
"You can sit here, I'm leaving in a bit," the man says, standing up when she turns back to face him again.
Without meaning to, their combined movements draw them closer, with barely a foot separating as they almost clash into each other.
"It's ok. You don't have to–"
"–please."
Lucy tries her best to keep her breathing even, and her eyes from staring too much into his. This close, she catches the faint smell of his aftershave and she has to remind herself she's pissed off at this man. She doesn't know what it is about him that throws her off balance so much, and not completely in a bad way.
"Ok."
She nods and he nods, moving so she can walk past him and deposit her bag on the table. But he doesn't move further than that and she can feel his stare in the back of her head as she starts to take out her laptop and notepad.
“Actually, uh, I wanted to apologize for how I acted last time,” he says, making Lucy stop in her tracks. “I had a draining week and I needed to do some mandatory reading for work, so I came here to focus better. And when I was finally getting somewhere, you interrupted and I snapped when I shouldn’t have. So, I’m sorry," he finishes, hands in his pockets as he suddenly looks worriedly at Lucy, something like shame hiding behind his eyes.
She's so stunned she barely managed to answer, “that’s– thank you ?"
"You seem surprised."
"I just wasn't expecting an apology," Lucy says, shaking her head. "But I do appreciate it," she adds, her lips curving into a sympathetic smile without meaning to. “I actually come here for the quiet too. With two roommates there’s always some noise or someone coming over so...”
Tim nods, his own lips moving into a nervous smile. “Yeah, I can imagine the chaos.”
“You come here often?” she asks, suddenly curious about this stranger that just keeps confusing her the more they interact.
He nods. “Mostly on the weekends. I like that they make actual coffee and none of that stuff with weird names."
Lucy smiles for real this time. "Let me guess, you always order black coffee?"
He frowns, looking almost offended. "What's wrong with black coffee?"
"Nothing," Lucy says, shrugging. "It's just… simple."
"I work long hours and weird shifts. I need the simplicity of black coffee to stay alive," the man says, crossing his arms. "I bet you order some of that hipster stuff that's not even coffee.”
"Chai tea latte is not hipster."
The man just shakes his head in fake disappointment as he smiles. And yes, it definitely makes him look more attractive.
"Hey, it's delicious." Lucy retorts. "I also drink regular coffee while working, but the weekends are for indulging in tea and hot chocolate."
The man's smile only widens but he doesn't fight her point, almost as if he knows he can't win this one.
"I'm going to check if my order is ready," he simply says, turning around and leaving her standing there.
Lucy doesn't get him. At all.
She sighs, sitting down to start cramming more for her detective test.
When Lucy's on her second page of reading, he appears again, leaning in front of her over the table.
“I gotta go, but maybe we’ll see each other around?” he asks, a hopeful gling appearing in his eyes.
And– wait a damn minute, what is going on? Why does she suddenly want to see him again too?
“Maybe. But that means we’ll have to fight for the power outlet again," Lucy says, her lips stretching into a teasing smile.
What is she doing? Are they flirting?
“I like the challenge," he says with a barely-there smirk before he deposits something on the table and leaves.
Lucy notices it, looking down to see what he left. It's a regular size to-go cup, still warm and with a small yellow post-it underneath it.
“Wait, what's this?" She asks. And when she lifts her face to look at him again, he's already gone.
She looks back at the cup and grabs it, turning it around a little, knowing from experience to not take drinks from strangers. Only this stranger, somehow, she feels she can trust. So she tentatively takes a sip, feeling the warm liquid travel down her throat as she recognizes immediately the taste. It's Chai Latte, and with just the amount of sugar she uses.
She looks down at the table, remembering the post-it note, and when she grabs it she sees a sentence written in big, script handwriting with a pen.
She smiles despite herself, hugging the cup to her chest as she feels her chest filing with warmth. Because of the latte or something else, she isn't sure. The only thing Lucy's sure of, is that every time she sees the stranger with blue eyes, she's left even more confused than before.
Tim spends the whole week wondering if buying her a coffee and the note were a little too much, if it was too conceited of him.
He also wonders if she, too, has him on her mind the way she's been on his. It's not a crush, he repeats to himself in his head, he's just curious about the woman, intrigued. He wants to talk with her more, know more about her.
The next time Tim goes to the coffee shop, he hopes to see her again, but she isn't there. So he quickly orders his usual and waits to pay. When he takes out his money clip, Aaron– the young man that works the register on the weekends– just shakes his head at Tim and declines his payment.
“Your coffee’s already paid for," Aaron says with a secretive smile, sliding Tim's to-go cup and a small brown bag over the counter. “They also bought you a cupcake and left you a note," he adds, gesturing to the pink post-it note stuck to the side of the bag.
Tim thanks him as he grabs the coffee and bag, eying them with confusion as he walks away from the counter. He goes outside, squinting his eyes under the afternoon sun before he properly sees the note, reading what's written there in a neat and round handwriting:
During shift, in the in-between moments where everything gets quiet as Jackson drives the shop, Lucy's mind wanders back to the two encounters with the coffee shop man.
She thinks about his blue eyes, and his smile that must be charming when it's genuine. About how, after his apology, conversation had actually flowed easily between them, as mundane as the topic was.
Lucy also thinks she might have made a too-early judgment of the man. He looked rough around the edges, but maybe he wasn't as tough inside.
She goes to the coffee shop one morning before shift, knowing she probably won't bump into the handsome and confusing man, but still hoping she might.
She isn't expecting, though, that the moment she goes to pay, Aaron tells her it's not necessary because someone had already paid for her coffee in advance, even upgrading it to a large size.
“Who–"
Aaron just shrugs while smiling. "Same one you bought that cupcake for last week. Said to give you this too," he says, handing her a chocolate croissant in a box with a post it note on top.
Surprised, Lucy quickly reads it, a treacherous smile forming on her lips as she does. 
And she doesn't know why she does it, but before Lucy can think twice about it, she's already giving Aaron instructions to pay for a certain stranger's coffee in advance again.
Tim thinks this last note might be it, that she'll take it and enjoy her coffee and croissant and that they'll probably never interact again. But then, the next time he goes to the cafe for lunch and tries to order, Aaron just shakes his head.
"Sorry, man. She told me to give you this instead."
Aaron hands him a bag with a sandwich and a water bottle, and places over the counter a to-go cup of what he thinks is coffee. He grabs it and reaches for the cup, under which Tim finds a folded note. 
When he looks from the note, he eyes the cup in his other hand, hesitating before taking a sip. He tastes warm milk, a hint of black tea and then too much sugar and cinnamon for his liking.
It's a damned Chai Latte.
He swallows, trying his best to not make a face in front of Aaron who just gives him a smug look. He realizes he has no option now, if he doesn't drink it, Aaron will tell her and he'll end up being the jerk again.
So he takes a deep breath and attempts to drink the rest of the cup in huge sips, even if it burns his tongue, while he starts to plot his revenge.
Lucy can't say she's completely surprised when Aaron hands her a plate of assorted pastries as soon as she approaches the counter, asking her to wait a moment for the rest of her order before she has the chance to even ask for said order.
A few minutes later as she's on her second cookie, Aaron places on her table a tall glass filled with ice cold brew and other things Lucy can't quite decipher just by looking, along with a folded paper.
"What's this?" Lucy asks him.
"A Black Tie," Aaron says. "He drank the Latte so I guess it's fair you try this one too," he adds, chuckling before leaving to help other customers.
Lucy can't help but chuckle too, taking a sip from her drink and giving herself a minute to savor it. She can tell it has tea, and the flavor of the coffee is very present, but it's all blended together by sweet condensed milk amongst other things.
She picks up the note and opens it:
Tim is starting to think, mystery coffee woman and him are in some sort of competition, because at first she was answering his gestures, but now it seems like they're just attempting to one up the other.
He buys her one thing…she buys him two…he buys her something bigger…she buys him something fancier. And it goes on and on.
A good thing that comes out of it though, is that Tim has gotten to try many things from the menu that he hadn't before. And the best thing is that he gets to keep exchanging silly little notes with this woman while he hopes to meet again.
When he gets home after going to the cafe, he sits at his couch to re-read her latest note. 
He looks up from reading the note with what Tim knows is the stupidest grin ever. Aaron must agree, if the way he's looking at him with raised eyebrows is any indication. “Are you guys just going to keep buying each other the whole shop before one asks the other for their number or what?” Aaron asks.
Tim almost chokes on air. “Thorsen, that's not- we’re not like that.”
The younger man nods slowly while pursing his lips, his tone sarcastic when he speaks again, “sure, I constantly exchange notes with cute strangers I have no interest in whatsoever.”
He's lucky there's a counter between them.
“I never said I had no interest."
“Then ask for her number," Aaron simply says, shrugging before he picks a rag. Gone are the times when he used to be intimidated by Tim when he asked for advice on how to get into the police academy, and it shows.
"It's not that simple."
He watches as Aaron just wipes the counter, a smirk growing on his lips. "Then make it simple, man. Because as entertaining as this is, I can't play mailman forever."
Tim is starting to read a new chapter of Split Second Leadership when someone stops by his table.
“Hey," she says, and her voice makes him immediately look up.
It's her.
It's her, with her long hair tucked into a messy braid that falls over her shoulder and a mustard yellow sweater. She looks cozy and warm, like the sun.
"Hi," he says, standing up. She smiles warmly at him, taking a step closer as she hugs her laptop to her chest. "You're here.”
She nods, chuckling. "Well, you asked nicely with a sunflower sticker and everything."
He feels his neck and ears growing warm, and he can't believe he's blushing in front of a woman at his age. "The girls were here that day too," he says, scratching the back of his neck.
"It was a nice touch."
For a moment, Tim is at a loss of what to say, so he just stands there staring at her like an idiot for a full beat until he clears his throat.
“Look," he says, gesturing to the back of his laptop on the table. "New battery, so we won’t need to fight a war for outlets anymore.”
The woman tilts her head to the side, pursing her lips. “That’s a bummer, I was already training for our final battle."
This makes laughter bubble out of Tim's throat, and before he knows it, she's joining him in laughing too. They laugh more than it's necessary, but Tim blames it on the fact that both are realizing just how ridiculous their whole situation is
After they sober up, Tim feels brave enough. "You have work stuff to read and so do I. Do you mind if we keep each other company?” he asks.
The woman's eyes shine under the warm light of the shop's low hanging lamps, her smile directed at him enough to make Tim melt on the spot.
“That's what I was hoping for," she says, before both sit down on the same table.
~~~
They sit in comfortable silence for a long while, enough that Tim loses track of time. They share a few pastries and exchange a few words here and there, but for the most part each is working on their own stuff while they accompany each other.
With the woman's presence, Tim seems to have better focus on his reading for some reason, even if his eyes do wander from his laptop screen to look at her face across from him a few times.
Ok, more than a few times.
But can he be blamed? The woman's beautiful.
And, this time, he gets to properly appreciate her and take notice of her features, the way her brows furrow in concentration as she reads, or how she looks up from her laptop to subtly check around them every fifteen minutes or so.
Still, no beautiful woman is enough to get Tim to read for more than two hours straight. So when the letters on the screen start to blur, and he can't retain a single extra word, he pushes back from the table as he rubs his tired eyes with a hand.
“I don’t think I can read anything more for today without my brain exploding."
The woman groans, closing her laptop before she starts massaging her temples with the pads of her fingers. “Ugh, same. This case file is a mess.”
The comment makes Tim stop and stare at her for a second.
"Case? You're a Lawyer?” he asks.
She shakes her head, her gaze suddenly becoming sharp. “Cop.”
Something on Tim's brain suddenly clicks.
“Makes more sense.”
Her eyes grow wide in surprise. “Really? People usually act surprised when I mention what I do for a living. Many say that I don’t seem…the type," she says, gesturing vaguely over her face and chest.
Tim frowns, because there's no such thing as one way to be a cop, which means there's not only one kind of cop.
“That’s because most people aren’t properly looking at you," he says, and at her raised eyebrows he realizes how that sounds, quickly jumping to save face. “What I meant is– you have cop eyes.”
Beautiful ones, at that.
"What do you mean?" she asks.
Tim shrugs as he moves his laptop to the side. "It’s just the way you look at everything around you. Most people focus on things they find interesting and that’s it. You don’t just look, you assess," he says, leaning on his forearms over the table. “I know you sit often at this table, and it's probably because it lets you sit facing the door which gives you a better view of the whole place.”
The woman's face is hard to read as she moves her laptop so she can mimic him by leaning over the table with her arms crossed. "So...you've been looking at me for a while?"
Tim feels his face growing hot again, rushing to explain himself. "I– well– not in a creepy way. I'd just seen you around in the shop a few times before we met. I wanted to talk to you, but then I was an ass and ruined everything so–"
She giggles as she shakes her head. "Stop. You didn't ruin anything. We're good," she says with a soft smile, her eyes roaming his face as she studies him. "I just can't believe I hadn't noticed you before."
"It's probably because I'm not exactly the most social person."
"I can tell," she says, making him frown. "You're a cop too, right?” she asks just after.
Tim nods. "Yes ma'am."
The woman tilts her head to the side, and Tim thinks she shouldn't be allowed to look so cute doing that. “My guess was that or sports coach," she says, making Tim let out a genuine laugh.
“You’re not that far off."
The laughter dies as silence grows between them. It's not completely awkward, but they're still not used to each other's presence enough, both looking nervously around them.
She's the first one to break the silence.
"So...We've talked a lot for two people to not know each other's names, don't you think?" she asks, her dark honey eyes finally looking into his.
Tim nods. "You're right. Nice to meet you, I'm Tim Bradford,” he says, extending his hand.
She does the same, her grip strong as her smaller hand gets lost in his. "I'm Lucy. Lucy Chen."
Lucy. He likes it. Likes the way it sounds in his head as he repeats it silently a few times.
After a longer than necessary beat, they let go of each other's hands. "So, tell me, Tim. Where are you stationed?" Lucy asks, grabbing the lone cookie that's left on the plate between them.
“I'm a TO at Mid-Wilshire. Sergeant soon, if all goes well," he says. "And you?"
This question makes her smile as she straightens on her seat. “I'm on a steady path to become a detective at North Hollywood."
He nods slowly, his lips stretching into a teasing smile. "So you're shadowing other detectives and doing their paperwork?" He asks.
"Basically," she says, before both let out short laughs. She shrugs after, looking down at the table briefly before finding his eyes again. "It'll be worth it. The test is in a few weeks, so I've been using every single free hour I get to study as much as I can."
"Really?" Tim asks, surprised. "My test is coming soon too."
Lucy's eyes twinkle with something like hope then, as she directs a big secretive smile at him. "You know what that means right?"
"What?"
"We could study together," she says, as if it's obvious. And then, mistaking Tim's surprised look for one of confusion, she adds, "if that's something you'd like, of course."
Tim is quick to answer, nodding. "I would love that, yeah," he says. “I mean, the notes and buying each other coffee was really nice but–"
"But?"
"But this," Tim says, gesturing vaguely between them. "Being face to face– is even better, don't you think?"
"Yeah, definitely," Lucy answers, beaming, and all of Tim's nervousness melts at the sight of her warm smile.