Chapter Text
The number one thing Angela Lopez missed about patrol since making the move to detective was morning roll call. She loved watching the rookies squirm every time Grey glanced in their direction and the sheer panic in their eyes when a question was directed their way. Plus, it was always a good time to catch up with her friends before starting shift.
So when Grey asked her to come in early this morning to share the faces behind LA’s latest string of gang wars with the patrol officers, she happily accepted and arrived even earlier than usual.
“What are you doing here slumming it with us lowly patrol officers, detective Lopez? Don’t you have a desk to be at?” Tim asked as his friend entered the debriefing room. Giving Angela a hard time was one of his favorite pastimes.
“My job, officer – sorry, Sergeant Bradford,” she threw back at him with a smile as she walked over to him. The only person who loved a smart-ass remark with a side of sarcasm more than Tim, was Angela. “Unlike you. Aren’t you supposed to be up at the front these days? Don’t tell me they’ve already gotten tired of seeing your face up front – not that I’d blame them.”
“You’re hilarious–”
“– I know–”
“I can’t sit down here and… I don’t know? Catch up before shift?” Tim asked. Really, he just didn’t feel like standing up front and waiting for the fifteen minutes until roll call started. He found it a little awkward – like a he was teacher hovering over his students’ shoulders during a free period.
Angela raised her eyebrows. “You want to catch up? As in discuss personal details of your life at work and hear personal details about other peoples’ lives too?”
“Ha!” Lucy interjected, plopping down next to Lopez and joining in their conversation. She loved to mock Bradford’s hatred of sharing personal details at work, even if deep down she agreed to an extent. Tim rolled his eyes and fixed her with the ‘TO glare’ she’d become immune to, so she added with a smug smile and a slight lilt to her voice, “But, if you insist, we could talk about our plans for the award ceremony for you this weekend.”
Lucy smile widened as his expression changed from mildly annoyed to fully shocked. Gosh she loved messing with Tim. The look on his face was absolutely priceless.
“How did you… I told Grey not to mention that to anyone!” he said with a slight blush creeping up the back of his neck that he really hoped Lucy didn’t notice.
“I have my ways.” Lucy replied smirking as Lopez smacked Tim’s arm.
“I can’t believe you, well okay I can believe you didn’t tell us, but still! My god, you’re getting more difficult by the day.” Lopez retorted, only half joking.
Sheesh Tim could not catch a break today. “It’s not a big deal. Seriously, let’s just drop it okay?” He folded his arms and willed the blush creeping up to his cheeks to disappear quickly. It’s not that he wasn’t grateful for the award, he was, but Tim wasn’t one to need extra attention focused on him. He liked to do his job well. Being thanked was nice and all, but too much praise made him uncomfortable – probably because he had never gotten it much as a kid.
“Hey,” Lucy said gently despite his deflection, lightly placing her hand on Tim’s arm. “You’re a damn good cop, Tim. Let us celebrate you a little, okay? I promise we’ll keep it low key – a round of drinks on each of us after the ceremony and you’ll be home in time for the Rams game.”
Lopez watched Tim as he soaked in Lucy’s proposition. His eyes softened and his shoulders relaxed. Lucy’s thumb gently rubbed his arm as she spoke, and Tim didn’t seem to mind. If she didn’t know any better, she’d say he might even like it.
“Please?” Lucy added, knowing she was wearing him down. It was really important to her to get to celebrate the amazing accomplishments of the man who spent day in and day out sitting beside her, helping her become the best cop she could be.
Tim sighed, knowing he’d probably regret his decision later but unable to say no to Lucy when she looked at him like that. Damn her and those puppy dog eyes. He swore she could give Kojo a run for his money. “Fine. One round. One.” He said, waving one finger mostly at Angela to emphasize his point.
“Well, two,” Lucy corrected. “One round from me and one from Angela. Oh! Should we see if your sister wants to join us? And maybe Grey and Harper and Nolan and…” Now both of her hands were on his arm, squeezing gently with excitement as she looked around and continued planning the evening out loud. Her eyes were bright, and she dropped all pretense of a quiet celebration as her excitement grew.
For his part, Tim just sat and listened. He’d seen this before many times, so he knew she was officially lost in her own world and any attempt to interrupt would be futile. Plus, he did like seeing her so happy – even if it was at his expense.
Lopez waited for the inevitable rebuttal from Bradford, but all she got was a slightly reluctant, “I suppose we could consider looping in Genny if you think we have to… I doubt anyone else would give up a weekend night to sit through a boring ceremony so you really don’t have to bug them with this...”
Was Tim Bradford willingly letting Lucy, his former boot, plan an evening out to celebrate him, at work, in the briefing room, all while she invaded his beloved personal space? What the hell was happening? Angela was going to get a headache from how fast her eyes were flicking between the two cops as she observed the whole interaction.
“Don’t worry! I’ll figure out all of the details. All you have to do is show up!” Lucy finished with a smile.
Tim smiled back at Lucy. A real smile that reached his eyes. One Angela hadn’t seen on his face since…
Woah. Angela froze. Bradford. Timothy Bradford had feelings for Lucy. Well, that’s new, she thought to herself still debating if the past five minutes had actually happened or if her alarm would be going off soon to interrupt what could only be called a bizarre dream.
Grey chose that moment to walk through the doors, and Tim immediately schooled himself back into sergeant mode, standing up quickly and joining him in the front of the room after making Lucy promise to keep this weekend small and low key. He made sure to emphasize ‘low-key’, despite knowing it was useless. Angela told Lucy to catch her after shift to talk about plans for the weekend and headed up to the front to join Grey and Bradford.
To anyone else it would seem to be business as usual, but now Angela was more aware of how Tim’s eyes lingered when he caught Lucy’s gaze and how he held the door and let her walk ahead of him out of the briefing room as they prepared to hit the streets.
Oh, he’s got it bad, she thought as she watched them walk off towards the shops.
She laughed to herself as she walked back to her desk to get started on the never-ending mountain of paperwork created by the recent gang violence and shook her head. Tim Bradford is dating Lucy Chen, and he doesn’t even know it.
Yep. She was officially the best detective ever.