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SNN 2 Ep 15 – Hand-off
“I know,” Lucy says realizing the unfortunate position she’s put Tim in with Rachel’s dad, “but try to stay positive,” she adds as she gives him a friendly slap on the arm.
Tim just rolls his eyes; it’s going to be a very long day.
Lucy watches from the shop after saying goodbye to Rachel’s dad and it looks like whatever conversation he’s having with Tim it’s not a good one. She can’t imagine why, Tim is a great match for Rachel, and she’s been good for him. He’s in a stable relationship, he’s opening up, committing to someone, not afraid of it falling apart; he’s doing really well. And as far as she knows Rachel has really fallen for him; regardless of his stubborn and broody personality.
Tim gets back in the shop with her and doesn’t say a word.
For the rest of their shift Lucy keeps sneaking glances at Tim and sees his jaw looks tense and his grip on the steering wheel looks tighter than usual. Something is definitely wrong.
“Are you okay?” she asks after debating with herself in her head for the last ten minutes if she should even bring it up.
“What?” Tim asks looking a little distracted.
“I asked if you are okay? You seem a little more tense than usual, did Rachel’s dad say something to you?” Lucy asks.
“No. I’m fine, I don’t want to talk about it,” he says.
“Okay…” Lucy replies agreeing to let it go.
Tim unfortunately feels obligated to say something to Chen. He wants to know if she knows about Rachel and he also (against his basic instincts) wants to talk to someone about it.
“He told me something,” Tim finally says.
“What?” Lucy asks.
“Look, I don't want you to say anything to Rachel okay, she can't know about this,” Tim warns her.
“Tim,” Lucy says, "she's one of my best friends, what ever it is I might have to tell her," she says.
"No, this you can't, at least not until I talk to her first," he says.
"Okay, fine, but only because whatever you and Rachel’s dad were talking about clearly left you in a less than stellar mood,” she says.
“She might me sick,” Tim says.
“What? What kind of sick? And what do you mean might be?” she asks as he pulls the shop into the station.
“You don’t know?” he asks realizing Rachel really must not want anyone to know if she hasn’t even told Chen.
“Know what?” Lucy asks turning her body to face him, “what are you talking about?”
“Her dad has a gene for something called Huntington’s, he said it’s genetic and he tested positive for it, his sister had it, and Rachel might but she won’t get tested,” he tells Chen.
They exit the shop and Lucy pulls out her phone so she can look up the illness on Google.
“Do you want to know?” she asks before she gives Tim the WebMD definition.
He nods. He needs to know how bad it is because on one hand Mr. Hall is probably right. If he’s with Rachel long term and she gets sick he won’t want to give up his career; or maybe he would. All Tim knows is that he doesn’t know anything right now but he’d really like to talk to Rachel about it. He listens to Chen read off the description and they realize they have terrible timing when they run into Rachel who is back at the station.
Tim and Lucy watch Rachel walk away clearly very upset and Lucy is about to say something, Tim can tell, but gives her a look that tells her he does not want to hear it. Lucy keeps her mouth shut and lets Tim set the tone for the rest of their shift.
When they finally make it back to the station after a rather boring afternoon Lucy can’t help but break the silence.
“Are you going to talk to her?” she asks in almost a whisper as she and Tim start walking towards the kit room to drop off their bags.
“I texted her to meet me,” he says almost as quietly.
Lucy places her hand on his shoulder for the second time that day and gives him a reassuring look before walking away to go get changed out.
Rachel shows up and the manage to discuss her non-diagnosis and Tim doesn't know what their future looks like but right now he knows he'd like to keep Rachel in it.
“So, are we still going for dinner?” Tim asks after he breaks away from Rachel.
“Um, I told my dad that after everything that I wasn’t up for it,” she says.
“Are you sure? I mean we have a reservation, and I hear they have great bread,” he says smiling.
Tim and Rachel decide to go to dinner after all to not waste the reservation but after the emotional day they've had they go home separately.
Tim get into bed, grabs his phone and against his better judgment decides to do more research. He finds himself on Web MD and thoughts begin to spiral out of control a little. The idea of having to take care of someone who slowly fades away physically and mentally is not something he wants to take on. It makes him think about how Isabel started to turn into someone he didn't recognize before she disappeared in the middle of the night. Just as he's about to put his phone down he gets a text from Chen.
Chen: I've been doing research, here are some articles that might help ease your mind
Tim: Thanks, and get off Web MD and go to bed
Chen: Yes Sir