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Lucy Chen had finally graduated to P2 last month after a grueling 13 months of being a Rookie. Lucy had been the most annoying rookie Tim had ever had. At least that’s what he told himself. She talked non stop. All 12 hours of every single shift. So for the past month Tim had been enjoying the peace and the quiet of the shop. Ignoring the constant quiet he found himself dreading before every shift.
He didn’t miss riding with her.
He didn’t miss her psycho analyzing him. He didn’t miss her begging to turn on the AC before noon, or to turn the radio on. Her constant chatter had always annoyed him.
Right?
As he was riding in his shop alone, for the first week he kept finding himself looking over to the passenger seat to ask Lucy if she was ok. She hadn’t been talking and that wasn’t normal. When he looked over she wasn’t there.
He didn’t miss her though.
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Tim was standing in the bullpen talking to Angela. She was at her desk writing down a report for a case she had caught.
“Tim, if you want her to ride with you again just say that, you’re not a TO anymore, you’re a sergeant. Just ask her to be your go fer.” Tim looked at Angela with a confused expression on his face. “I never said I wanted to ride with her again?” Tim said, confused.
“Oh c’mon Tim, it’s so painfully obvious. At lunch you’re all gloomy and all you do is complain how quiet it is. When she was your rookie, you complained how loud she was. You seem to hate the quiet more. Plus you won’t stop staring at her.” Tim stared at her, shocked. He was not as subtle as he thought he was. “I do not complain,” at that Angela laughed.
Of course, the universe was against him and at that moment Lucy walked into the bullpen. His best friend seemed to be siding with the universe because she waved Lucy over.
“Hey guys, what's up?” she questioned. “Tim has a question for you,” and Tim swears he had never seen her look so smug. He glared at Angela. Lucy looked at him.
Tim just stands there awkwardly not knowing what to say. “For god sakes Bradford, I have to communicate for you like you’re a 5 year old,” Angela rolls her eyes and turns to Lucy. “Bradford wants to know, since he’s a sergeant now, if you wanted to be his go fer?” Tim looks at Lucy. He quickly says “If you don’t want to, you don’t have to, most people would see it as a step down.”
Lucy smiles “I would love to be your go fer, sounds fun!” Tim smiles, “Ok then.”
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Lucy had been Tim’s go fer for a couple weeks now. It was good, Tim was happy. No more quiet shifts, sometimes though he wished she would stop talking about wanting to turn the damn AC on.
They were getting off a shift one night and Lucy had left a little before Tim, she should have been on her way home already.
So he was concerned when he saw her standing by her car (which was conveniently next to his truck) looking down at her phone with a sour expression. She had her hand on her forehead and was scowling.
“What seems to be the problem?” Tim spoke as he drew nearer. Lucy looked up at him. “My car won’t start,” she said. “And it looks like they can’t get anyone out here until tomorrow.” she says with a huff. “I could give you a ride home?” Tim offers. Lucy smiles, “Thank you, but I wouldn’t want to be a bother, I’ll just call an uber.” Tim rolls his eyes, “Oh c’mon, its on my way home, plus ubers are expensive,” Lucy gave him a skeptical look. “Ok,” she gave in.
The ride there was a comfortable silence. Lucy had finally set up someone to come get her car fixed for tomorrow. Tim pulled into the apartment complex parking lot and parked in front of Lucy’s building.
“Did you want to come up and get a drink? I owe you for the ride,” Lucy offers. Tim is frozen for a moment. “U-uh yeah, yeah sure,” he stutters out. Lucy reaches to get her keys out as Tim gets out of the truck.
The elevator ride up is silent. A less comfortable silence than the ride here. She presses the number 6 button and up they went. When they get to her apartment he makes a mental note of her apartment number, just in case.
As they enter her apartment Lucy heads to the kitchen. She grabs two beers from the fridge and goes to sit down on the couch, beckoning for Tim to follow. She holds out the beer for him, their fingers grazing each other. It sends a shiver down his spine.
“How much is it going to cost to fix your car? Do you know yet?” Tim asks, putting his beer on the table, trying to keep conversation. “Not sure, they just said they’ll know, when they know,” Lucy lets out a frustrated sigh, grabbing a coaster and putting hers on the table too.
“You’re kind of cute when you're frustrated,” Tim is taken aback by his comment, and by the looks of it, so is Lucy. “Uhm,” she says awkwardly. Her cheeks flush a deep shade of red. Tim doesn’t know where this sudden surge of bravery came from but he sure isn’t going to let it go to waste.
He looks into her brown eyes and leans in. At first Lucy is unsure how to react before reciprocating the kiss. As the kiss deepens he moves closer. Their tongues dancing together, Tim moves his hand onto her thigh. Lucy moaned at that, Tim smiled.
Her hand is on his neck and soon they are standing up, heading towards the bedroom. Just as the door closes an alarm starts going off.
Tim opens his eyes, the realization hits him.
It was a dream.
The alarm continues but he realizes it can’t be his alarm because it’s too early. It’s currently 2am. It’s his phone going off, someone is calling him.
He groans contemplating ignoring it and hoping to fall back asleep into his dream. He sees her name and picture flash across his screen. Lucy is the one calling him.
He answers it, “Lucy, it’s 2am, you better have a good reason,” Tim says in his TO voice. He hears her voice on the other side of the line, “Tim? Can you come get me?” Her voice is shaky, unsure. Her words slur.
He hurriedly gets up, putting on sweats and a shirt. He shoves on his shoes and grabs his keys. He is out the door in less than 2 minutes. “Lucy? What's wrong? Where are you?” Tim asks, starting his truck and backing out.
“I’m at the bar closest to the station. I- I think someone s- spiked my drink.” Panic shot through Tim as he drove as fast as he could.
“Ok, I’ll be there in less than 5, are you in a place with people? Who do you think spiked your drink?” Tim said. “I’m in the bathroom, the door is locked. I came here with a guy I don’t know, it was a first date. I- I think it was him.” Tim was angry. “Tim, my phone is abo-” The call was cut off.
He drove a little faster, breaking a few minor laws.
As he got there he hurriedly put his car in park and got out. He entered the bar and looked around. He saw the restroom sign and hurried towards it. The restrooms were down a narrow hallway with a door at the end. As he looked down the hallway he saw a man shoving a girl out the door. That girl was Lucy.
He sprinted down the hallway and out the door. “Hey!” he yelled. The man turned, panic across his face. “Hey dude, don’t worry she’s my girlfriend, I’m just getting her h-” his sentence was cut off by Tim punching him. He fell to the ground. Lucy almost went with him but Tim caught her. “Don’t you lie, you piece of shit, I know you spiked her drink, and trust me, you don’t want to find out what happens if you stay here for 5 more seconds,” With that the man got up and ran off.
All his attention was on Lucy now, she could barely stand and her eyes were drooping. “Hey, hey Luce, let's get you into the truck and we’ll take you to the hospital, ok?” at that Lucy perked up. “N- no, iif we goo to the hosspitall everyonne will find ouut,” her words slurring. He saw her point, it would have to become a file and everyone WOULD find out. Ugh, ok. “Ok, don’t worry about that then, we’ll go to mine, ok? Is that ok?” Lucy just nodded.
He slung her arm over his shoulder and helped her get into his truck, she was almost completely out. He quickly put her seat belt on and ran around to the otherside. On the drive to his house he kept looking at her. Her eyes were open but he could tell she was struggling. He pulled into his driveway and jumped out.
He made his way to the other side and helped Lucy out. They made their way inside and to his bedroom. He laid her on the bed, he quickly dug through his drawers and found some old sweatpants and a t-shirt. “Hey Luce, here,” he tried to hand her the clothes but she could barely sit upright, he was torn. “Uh, ok, how do you feel about letting me help you change? Just out of your jeans and crop top? So you're comfortable?”
Lucy smiles, her brain is foggy but she comprehends what Tim is saying. She had used what she had left of her phone battery to call him because she trusts him with everything. She nods and Tim helps her change.
“Ok I’ll be right back, I’m going to grab you some water and aspirin for the morning” Tim says as he helps her into his bed. He quickly grabs a glass of water and some aspirin. As he comes back into his room he can see that Lucy finally let her body sleep, if that's what you can even call it.
He scowls, how could anyone ever be so cruel? Especially to her. She deserves it the least. She’s already been through so much and the world just keeps throwing things at her. He realizes he is staring and leaves. He sets up the couch to sleep on, though he doesn’t think he’ll sleep much.
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Tim had managed to get a little sleep that night, not much. He guessed two hours, maybe three. He was cooking up some eggs and bacon. It was still early. He grabbed a piece of bacon to give to Kojo but he was nowhere to be found.
Tim was wandering around until he spotted Kojo. He had left his door open a crack and as he peered in he see’s Kojo lying on the bed next to Lucy. Kojo isn’t supposed to be on the bed. He thinks he’ll let it slide this once though. He goes back into the kitchen and continues making breakfast and some coffee.
He’ll let Lucy sleep as long as she does, he had already called in for the day and since Lucy is his go fer he told Grey she should get the day off too.
He’s not sure what he’ll do when she wakes up. This is a new situation, he didn’t think there were a lot of those left considering his job. It scares him, he doesn’t know what to do.
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Lucy wakes up disoriented. She doesn’t remember a lot from last night. She sits up and rubs her head. She realizes this isn’t her bed, this isn't her room. Panic shoots through her. She feels warmth near her feet. She looks over and there is Kojo. Her panic disappearing.
She remembers starting to feel dizzy and disoriented while on a date last night. She figured out what was happening as soon as she remembered the symptoms from when Caleb spiked her drink. She had excused herself to the bathroom and called Tim.
She remembers talking to him but not what she said. She remembered hearing a knock on the bathroom door and her date dragging her out of the bar. Her body was too tired to fight it. Tim had punched the guy for her, and saved her. She doesn’t remember anything after that.
She was in Tim’s clothes so she gathered he must have ended up helping her change into something more comfortable. She was grateful for that. Her clothes were neatly folded on the dresser. She smelled breakfast coming from the kitchen.
She got up and headed there. Tim heard her coming, “Hey, want some breakfast?” he asked. “Sound and smells amazing, yes please,” it was obvious they were ignoring the conversation that had to come.
Tim dished out a plate for each of them and sat next to her. She grabbed a piece of bacon and fed it to Kojo. “If you spoil him, it’s going to make it harder for me to say he’s a good puppy,” Tim laughed. “If I spoil him, I’ll be his favorite though,” she smiled. “I think you’re already his favorite, he wouldn’t leave your side, all morning, not even for bacon,” they both smiled.
They are silent for a while while they eat. Lucy finally speaks, “Thank you,” she says in almost a whisper. Tim looks at her. “For what? Doing my job?” he smirks at her. She looks over at him smiling and playfully punches him in the arm. “You know what I mean, you didn’t have to come, but you did.” She says.
He looks at her, “For you, I will always come.”