Work Text:
1.
Tim doesn’t mean to blurt out he has feelings for Lucy but he does and what makes it worse it’s to Angela. But Angela is insistent and she keeps asking questions. Lucy’s at UC school which is technically his fault. And in Angela’s words she drags his sorry ass to the bar and sits him down.
“Talk Bradford.” She demands and Tim rolls his eyes. He has a beer in front of him and it’s third one of the night.
“You’re annoying.” He growls at her and she grins at him undeterred
“You love me.” She bites back.
“That’s debatable.” He says shaking his head at her. “What do you want?”
“I heard you sent Lucy to UC school.”
“It’s a great opportunity.” He says dully. And it is a great opportunity but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t regret sending her off like he did.
I’m just trying to look out for you
It’s basic biology
He shakes his head and takes a long gulp of his beer. Angela gives him a strange look but he ignores her.
“Timothy.. do you miss Lucy?” Angela asks him a teasing lilt to her tone.
Tim is silent because yes he misses Lucy with all his heart. But he wasn’t going to admit that. Especially not to his nosy best friend.
He settles on just shrugging at Angela as a answer.
He takes another sip of his beer and realizes he’s out. He mumbles something to Angela about getting another round. He shouldn’t be this depressed about Lucy being gone, he’s with Ashley. He’s dating Ashley except does he really want that?
It’s easy with Ashley. She doesn’t push him to be better. She just is there to have fun. He likes her, he can’t deny that. But maybe it’s not enough anymore. So no maybe he doesn’t want to be with Ashley but he is and right now that’s okay.
He comes back to the table with another beer and drowns it. Angela is just staring at him, he knows she’s not judging him. But it’s still unnerving.
“What?” He snaps at her maybe a little too harshly. He can feel the alcohol setting in and his head starts to feel fuzzy.
“Are you happy Tim? Like truly happy with where your life is going?”
Tim closes his eyes. Was he happy? He’s happy when Lucy is around. He’s happy when she’s in the shop with him and just chatting away. He’s happy with Lucy as his aide. He’s happy with his job but is he happy with everything in his life?
He doesn’t know. He wish he had a clear answer for that question.
He tells Angela as much. He knows the one person who would make him happy is miles and miles away from him fulfilling her dream of becoming a undercover cop.
“Lucy makes me happy.” He says quietly and Angela turns her head to look at him her eyes wide.
“I’m lost without her here and it’s actually scary how much I need her.”
“Tim..” Angela starts to say and her tone has lost its teasing tone. But Tim shakes his head, once he has started talking he knows it will be impossible to stop.
“I do miss her Angela but I sent her away and now we are miles apart even when we are in the same room and it.”
Angela just listens and then she reaches out to touch his arm.
“Tim. When she gets back talk to her. Tell her how you feel.”
“I pushed her away.” He argues. “And she’s with Chris.”
But Angela shakes her head at his stubbornness. “Talk to her Tim. You never know what you might discover.”
Tim takes in her words, maybe he should talk to her. Tell her sorry for sending her away. Tell her how much he needs and misses her.
He nods at his best friend silently. She smiles at him softly but doesn’t say anything more. Tim is grateful for Angela, as persistent as she is she also just wants him to be happy.
2.
The second time he confesses his feeling for Lucy to Angela is when he’s laid up in a hospital bed. Ashley just left after she broke up with him. Angela comes into the room and sits next to his bed.
“What are you doing here?” He asks her turning his head to look at her.
“I just saw Ashley leave. She looked upset.”
Tim snorts a little. He’s sure Ashley didn’t mean to hurt him but breaking up with him while he was bed bound wasn’t exactly the nicest thing to do. He doubts she’s that upset.
Angela eyes him suspiciously, “What?”
“She just broke up with me.” He says dully.
“She- what?” Asks Angela incredulously. “Just now?”
He nods and Angela turns toward the door as if she debating whether or not to go after Ashley.
“Don’t tell Lucy.” He mutters. Angela blinks at him.
“Tim..”
“Don’t tell her about any of this. The surgery, Ashley. She has enough on her plate.”
“Tim, she would want to know.” Angela insists leaning forward. “She cares about you.”
“I know- she would drop everything to be with me. I can’t—”
“You can’t what? You can’t face her? You can’t let her see you like this?”
Tim groans a little bit. The painkillers are kicking in making him feel a little fuzzy. Angela’s insistent questioning isn’t helping. The truth is he doesn’t want Lucy to see him like this. If he sees her looking at him, the way she looks at him like she’s trying to figure him out. He will break, and there’s no telling what he might say.
“No. I just- she means too much to me. We are getting back to normal. I don’t want it to go back to awkwardness.
“You still haven’t told her how you feel?”
“She’s happy Ang.” He says shaking his head. “I’m not going to be the one to come in between her and her happiness.”
Angela sighs loudly. “You deserve some happiness too Tim. I think Lucy would want that for you.”
Tim wants Lucy but he doesn’t dare say it out loud.
3.
The next time Tim admits his feelings for Lucy is after she steals her radio. He knows Lucy and he knows she was just trying to cheer him up. It worked until he saw her with Chris and his heart broke into a million pieces. He was more heartbroken at seeing Lucy with Chris than Ashley breaking up with him. That should have told him something.
Angela finds him at the food trucks and sits down next to him.
“I heard Lucy sent you on a wild goose chase.”
Tim shrugs his shoulders at her as he picks at his food. His mind flashes to the look on Lucy’s face as she headed into the station with Chris. All wrapped around him. If he only told Lucy how he felt that could be him with her.
“What happened?” Angela asks and Tim looks up at her.
“She took my radio so I would tell her what was going on with me.” He says.
Angela gives him a look and he shakes his head. “I told her Ashley and I broke up.”
“And then.” Angela prompts him to continue. Tim takes a deep breath before he does.
“And then nothing.” Tim says. “She went to dinner with Chris.”
“You wish that was you.” She says simply.
Tim doesn’t answer but he knows his silence says it all.
Angela studied his face for a minute before speaking again. “Tim, I know you are stubborn and you don’t want to get in the way of her happiness but how do you know you aren’t what she wants?”
Tim opens his mouth to speak but Angela continues as if she’s on a mission to get this out.
“I’ve seen the way she looks at you Tim. I saw the way you guys were after Vegas. I think she feels the same way. You both are just too scared to admit it.”
“I don’t want to lose her.” Tim admits. “I can’t lose her.”
“You don’t know what will happen if you don’t try.”
Tim continues to pick at his food and Angela gets up from the table.
“Just think about it Tim.”
He does think about it and makes a decision he will talk to Lucy eventually because no matter what she is worth it.
+1
The next time Tim admits his feelings for Lucy to Angela it’s different. Angela invites him to have drinks at the bar with her and Wesley. He accepts readily and strolls in the bar with Lucy holding her hand. He smiles at Angela as they slide into the booth. Wesley is at the bar getting them drinks, and Angela grins at Tim.
Lucy adjusts herself so she’s basically sitting on his lap and Tim doesn’t mind at all the closer she is to him the happier he is.
“So I guess we have come full circle.” Angela says smugly and Lucy looks at her in confusion. Tim glares at Angela, as happy as he is to finally have Lucy at his side he doesn’t really want her to know how desperate he was before they were dating.
“What do you mean we have come full circle?” Lucy asks and this time she is looking at Tim eyebrows raised.
Tim opens his mouth to speak, to say it doesn’t matter. But Angela beats him to it.
“Oh just how Tim missed you when you were at UC school.” She says and it’s not the worse of it but he still grimaces.
“You missed me?” Lucy turns to him again and she’s grinning. “Wow Bradford we really have come full circle.”
Tim shakes his head at her and then his eyes find her brown ones and he wonders how he ever lived without her.
“Of course I missed you Luce.” He wants to add in a quip about how he didn’t think he would miss all her talking but he actually did miss all her talking. But she’s looking at him with such tenderness he can’t find it in himself to do it.
“I missed you too when I was away.” She admits her eyes downcast not looking at him.
He kisses her cheek softly and she sighs happily. He puts his hand on her thigh holding her even closer to him.
Angela is watching them closely and when Tim finally turns back to her she has a soft smile on her face.
He raises his eyebrows at her. He almost forgot that she was at the table with them.
“Like I said we have come full circle. You finally told Lucy how you felt.”
“Actually we both realized it and we both told each other how we felt.” Says Lucy. “It was like a mutual realization.”
Angela laughs. “So you both basically stopped being idiots and just went for it.”
Tim rolls his eyes but looks at Lucy and then nods. “Yes. That’s basically what happened.”
Angela is grinning at them again. “I’m going to go help Wes with the drinks.” She says and then slides out of the booth. Tim turns to Lucy, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
“Sorry she’s so annoying.”
“She cares about you.” Lucy says. “She’s a good friend.”
“I know.” He replies quietly. “She helped me through a lot. Like when you were gone and she came to see me after my surgery.”
Lucy runs her hand through his hair. “I’m glad you have her.”
“Me too.” He admits. “I told her other stuff other than the fact that I missed you.”
“Oh yea? Like what?” Lucy asks
Tim swallows and he doesn’t know why he’s nervous. He’s dating Lucy, he has Lucy.
“I told her I really liked you but I just wanted you to be happy.”
Lucy brings her hand down and cups his face. “I wanted you to be happy too.”
“Angela is right we were idiots.” Tim says shaking his head at that fact. If they both hadn’t been so scared and stubborn maybe they would have been them a lot sooner.
Lucy laughs but she doesn’t remove her hand from from his face.
“So you like me huh?” She asks quietly as if this is a new fact to her. As if he doesn’t show her how much he likes her every night.
“Yes Luce. I like you. A lot.”
He knows it’s a lot more than just like. He loves Lucy with ever fiber of his being. But they’ve only been dating a few months and he thinks it may be too soon to say those words.
“Well that’s good.” Says Lucy cheekily. “Because I really really like you Tim Bradford.”
Tim kisses her on the lips, long and hard and then rests his forehead against hers.
“Good.”
He pulls back from Lucy, and looks around the bar. He never thought that he would be here again but this time with Lucy tucked into his side.
It was a long road to get here but god it was worth it. He glances down at Lucy and kisses the top of her head.
She’s worth it.
They will always be worth fighting for no matter what.
He nudges Lucy and when looks at him and nods his head toward the bar floor where there are a few couples dancing. She smiles at him and moves to get out of the booth holding her out for him.
He takes it and leads her to the floor, and it’s almost like he’s leading them into the future.
Into forever.