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Chapter Text

Snowed In

“Hey! Just wanted to call and tell you that I got through security just fine.  The flight is listed as on time, and I can just now see the plane.  So, I think you should drive back to the cabin before the storm starts.”

“Are you sure?  It’s not a big deal to wait until you are actually in the air,” Rachel said.

Lucy Chen sighed.  She loved her friend, and she’d had a great four days with her.  They skied and snowboarded.  They made a fire in their cabin’s fireplace each night and caught up with some of their closest college friends while sipping on hot chocolate or wine.  They shopped at all the cute shops in town.  But Lucy was ready to return to her regular life and not be surrounded by so much drama – or maybe just the type of drama she was accustomed to.

“I’m sure. My weather app says that there’s a storm coming in the next hour or so.  You should get going before you get caught in it.”

“Okay.  It was so fun to see you. We should do this more often.”

“Well… It was easier to do things like this before you moved to New York…” she said, teasingly.

“Alright. I know. I know. It’s all my fault. But I love my job there.  You’ll have to come and visit sometime.”

“Definitely.  It’s been a long time since I’ve been there,” Lucy answered, smiling as she thought back on a memory from years ago.  “I’ll text you when the airplane door closes so you know everything is fine.  Besides, it’s a direct flight to LA.  We’ll be fine.”

“Okay. Bye.”

“Bye.”

Lucy reached her gate and perused the seating available.  She checked the screen by the jetway door.  It still listed the flight as on time, which meant boarding should start sometime in the next 30 minutes. Most of the seats were full, but she found a couple of open seats close to the window. Perfect.

Lucy plopped her heavy coat and backpack onto one chair and sat down in the other.  She pulled out her phone to check something but was stopped by a little voice across from her.

“Mommy, that lady is really pretty,” the little voice said.

The woman next to him, his mother seemingly, smiled back at him.  She was tall and thin with long auburn hair. “Yes.  And it’s always nice to give someone a compliment right to their face.  Why don’t you go introduce yourself and tell her she’s really pretty again.”

The little red-headed boy squirmed in his seat and shook his head. His cheeks flushed, making his freckles stand out, and he was suddenly too embarrassed to talk.

Lucy looked over at him and smiled. “Were you talking about me?”

He nodded.

“And you think I’m pretty?” Lucy asked with a big smile.

He nodded again; his voice still silenced by his embarrassment.

“Thank you,” she turned her body to be fulling facing him and bent over to be less intimidating.   “My name is Lucy.  What’s your name?” she said quietly.

The little boy turned to his mother for encouragement.  She smiled at him and patted his back. “My name is Tyson.  I’m six.”  Once his tongue was loose, he kept sharing.  “This is my mom.  Her name is Genny. And that’s my brother Tyler.  He’s ten.”

“It’s so nice to meet you, Tyson,” she said smiling at him. “And it’s nice to meet you, too, Tyler.”

Tyler looked up from his Nintendo Switch just long enough to smile at Lucy.  He had light brown hair and blue eyes that he must have gotten from his dad.

Lucy smiled and looked at Genny, “Merry Christmas, Genny.  You have very nice sons.”

Genny looked at her boys and smiled back at Lucy.  She rustled Tyson’s hair. “They’re pretty good most of the time,” she chuckled.  “I’m sorry if they’re bothering you.  Tyson is super friendly, and he doesn’t have much of a filter,” she said looking him in the eye.  “But he’s also a strict truth-teller,” she said looking back at Lucy.  “So, he was sincere when he told you that you’re really pretty.”

“Thanks again.  That’s really sweet of you to say,” she said winking at Tyson.

Tyson nodded his head. “Of course. Mom says we should only say the nice things we think about people.  That’s why I didn’t tell that guy that he’s too fat,” he said pointing down the row. “Or tell that lady that her ears are too big,” he said pointing a few rows away. “Or tell that grandpa over there that he has a lot of boogers in his nose.”

Now it was Genny’s turn to blush. “Tyson!” she whispered to him. “Shhhhh!”

“Oooooops.  Sorry, Mom.” Tyson said, retracting his accusatory pointer finger and lowering his head.

Lucy giggled. “I see I got one of the better comments,” she said, trying to hold back any louder laughter.   Then she tried to change the topic before anyone got upset. “So, are you visiting your grandma and grandpa for Christmas?”

“No.  We’re going back home to celebrate Christmas in our new house. We used to live here in Denver, but we moved during the summer,” Tyson said.

“Oh.  So home is in California now?” Lucy asked.

“Yeah.  We live in LA, close to where my mom grew up.”

“Hey! Guess what? I live in LA, too!  I’ve lived there most of my life though.  Do you like it there?”

“I guess.  But I miss the snow.  That’s one of the reasons we came back to Denver – to play in the snow.”  Tyson looked outside and pointed at the distant mountains.  “We had a great time playing in the mountains again, but there wasn’t a lot of snow by the house we rented.  I wish we had more time there.  It’s supposed to snow a lot tonight.  We could have made snowmen and snow angels and snow caves and…” he sighed.  “But Mom said it was too expensive to switch our flights to stay longer.”

“Bummer.  Switching flights can be really expensive; that’s for sure.”

Just then a tall, thin man with light brown hair and smoky blue eyes sat down on the other side of Tyson. “Hey. I got all the snacks and drinks you wanted for the flight,” he said as he opened up a plastic bag to show the kids and Genny its contents.

“Thanks, Tim,” Genny said smiling at him.  “You’re the best.”

“So, this must be your dad,” Lucy concluded.  “I can see how his hair matches Tyler’s. He actually looks a lot like his dad. And it seems like your family really likes names that start with T.  Tyson, Tyler, and Tim.”

Tim and Genny chuckled.  Tyson looked confused.  Tyler couldn’t be bothered to look up from his game.

“Tim? My dad? No. He’s Uncle Tim,” he clarified, drawing out the word ‘uncle’ as far as possible. “My dad is still in Denver.”

Lucy sat back, taking in the new information.  “Oh,” she said.

“Sorry,” Genny said.  “I can see how you would think Tim is my husband.  He and Tyler have always looked really alike. My ex-husband and I just got divorced this summer and things have been…weird. So, I convinced Tim to come with us back to Denver. I wanted an excuse not to spend all the time at our old house and a buffer if things got… rough.”  Genny looked over at Tim who returned her gaze with a small smile.

“Okay,” Lucy said, her wheels spinning again. “So, what’s the story with the T names, then? It can’t be just a coincidence.”

Tim scoffed a bit. “Genny thought she should continue a family tradition.” He rolled his eyes, but then looked at her fondly.

“Yeah!” Tyson chimed in. “In our family we have Tyson Bradford and Tyler Bradford,” he said pointing to himself and his brother. “Then there’s Uncle Tim,” he said, putting his arm around his uncle. “And our grandpa’s name was Tom Bradford. And our great-grandpa’s name was Theodore Bradford. And… What’s after that, Mom?”

“Before him was Thaddeus Bradford.  He was the first T. Bradford,” Genny explained.

“Ahhh.  Gotcha.” She turned to Tim and said, “So, I suppose you have sons named Troy, Tanner, and Travis?”

Tim gave a half smile and said, “No. I don’t have any kids. I thought I would by now, but life didn’t work out the way I thought it would.”

Genny reached around Tyson and rubbed Tim’s shoulder, her lips tucked together in a tight, sympathetic smile.

“Oh.  Sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up a sore subject. I was just playing the T name game,” Lucy said bashfully.

Tim looked over at Lucy. “Oh, you didn’t offend me at all.  Your question was logical given the conversation.” Then he looked over at Genny and narrowed his eyes jokingly. “But if I ever do have a son, his name won’t start with a T.  That’s for sure.”

Genny giggled and shrugged her shoulders. “Let’s just see if you can find someone who can tolerate you and your grumpiness well enough to have a family with you first.”   She punched him in the shoulder softly.

“Ouch,” he responded, wincing and rubbing that shoulder. “Love you, too.”

Lucy could tell from the way they spoke to each other that they were siblings.  Lucy enjoyed watching how much they cared about each other, evident even through their teasing.  She had always wanted a sibling, but her parents were too focused on their careers and never wanted more children.

“Okay.  Just one follow up question,” Lucy said.  “Most people in the US take their dad’s last name, not their mom’s.  So how are Tyson and Tyler more T. Bradfords?”

“Well, when I got married, I hyphenated my name.  I didn’t like my husband’s name very much.  And then when I got divorced it was easy to drop the extra name.”

Then Tyler spoke up. “We used to have hyphenated last names, too.  But it’s just easier to be Bradfords now.  We get made fun of a lot less.”

“Made fun of?” Lucy asked.

“Yeah,” Tyson said, chiming in. “No one wants the last name of Butts!!”

“We were already going to a new school and making all new friends.  We didn’t want to be the butt of anyone’s jokes,” Tyler said, proud of his play on words. “Get it?” he asked.

Genny nodded at Tyler and smiled. “Over the years the kids were bullied a bit because of the Butts name.  I spoke with my ex about it, and he understood the kids’ desire to drop it.”

“So now I’m Tyson Bradford instead of Tyson Bradford-Butts. It’s a lot easier to write down on your papers at school.”

Lucy nodded in understanding.  She opened her mouth to say something else, but they all heard a noise overhead.

“Ladies and gentlemen of flight 347 to Los Angeles. I know we are scheduled to board in a few minutes.  Your plane is here, clean, and ready for you. Your checked baggage is already loaded.  But your flight crew hasn’t arrived yet. They’re coming from Minneapolis and were delayed by an ice storm there.  But they are in the air now.  As soon as they arrive, we should be able to get everyone off to LA.  I know it’s Christmas Eve and everyone is eager to get on the plane. We appreciate your patience,” came the voice over the loudspeaker.

“Does that mean we won’t get home for Christmas?” Tyson asked.

“No, honey.  It just means we’ll get there a little later tonight.”

“But we have to get there before Santa comes!”

“Don’t worry about it, sweetheart.  Santa won’t forget you.”  Genny looked over at Tim with a skeptical glance.

Tim nodded back at her. “I’m sure we’ll be leaving soon,” he said to Tyson.  Then he looked out the window.  The sky was blue when they arrived at the airport, but there were heavy clouds in the sky now.

Lucy picked up her phone and opened her weather app.  The hour-by-hour forecast only showed a 50% chance of snow over the next hour and 60% chance in the hour after that.  But the radar seemed to tell another story.  There was a huge blob coming in their direction, covering a large part of the state, and it looked like it would start snowing soon.

Eager to talk about something other than the weather and their flight not leaving, Lucy looked at Tyson, “Did you ask Santa for anything?”

“Yeah.  I want to get Legos like Tyler has.  Not the Duplo Legos I have.  I’m a big boy now. See,” he said, grinning and showing the large gaps in his teeth.

“Oh.  I see that now,” she said very seriously.  “Hey. Do you know the song ‘All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth?’”

Tyson furrowed his brows and shook his head. “Never heard of it.”

“What? With a mouth like that at Christmas time?” she giggled.  “I’ll sing it for you.”

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth

My two front teeth

See my two front teeth

Gee, if I could only have my two front teeth

Then I could wish you, “Merry Christmas!”

Tyson’s eyes lit up as she sang.  Genny’s eyes got wide, and she raised her eyebrows as she listened to Lucy’s beautiful voice. Tim just stared at her for a moment. Who was this cheerful, attractive woman with the voice of an angel, he thought.  Even Tyler peered over at Lucy for a moment before he looked back at his game.

“Wow.  Is that it or is there more?” Tyson asked.

“Oh, that’s just the chorus. I think there are a few verses to it. I don’t think I know all the verses, but we can work on learning them together if we’re stuck here for a while.”

“Yeah!”

“You really don’t have to do that,” Genny said. “I’m sure I can find the song on my phone.”

“I don’t mind at all.  Hopefully we get to leave in a few minutes, but if we’re here for a while I’d be happy to teach him.  I have nowhere else to be,” Lucy said, smiling at Tyson.

“YES!” Tyson said.

Lucy smiled back at him and gave him a thumbs up. Then she looked at Tyler.  “And what do you want from Santa, Tyler?” Lucy asked.

Tyler looked a little surprised that she was talking to him.  He put his game down a little and said, “Just NBA 2K24 for my Switch.”  He paused for a moment, and Lucy felt like he might continue, so she waited. “I’d really like to get tickets to see the Lakers play the Nuggets, but Mom says that’s a bit much for Santa since he wouldn’t know how many people wanted to go and where we wanted to sit.”

“Ahh,” Lucy said, nodding. “I can see how that would make it tricky.”

Genny looked a bit uncomfortable.  Lakers tickets were really expensive, and she just had a single mom income now. 

Tim could also see that Genny was uncomfortable and knew that Genny was struggling financially since the divorce, moving to LA, and buying new house, etc. He normally didn’t make small talk with strangers, but this woman was… different. “What did you ask for from Santa?” he asked Lucy.

“Me?” she said in surprise.

“Yeah.  I think I missed your name when I was getting our snacks and drinks.”

“Oh. Lucy. Lucy Chen,” she said with a smile.

Lucy Chen, he thought. I’m sure I’ve heard that name somewhere.  “Okay, Lucy Chen. What do you want for Christmas?”

“Hmmm.  I hadn’t really thought about it.  I don’t know if I’m getting any gifts for Christmas. I’m not married or dating anyone. I don’t have any kids. I don’t have siblings.  And I’m working on Christmas,” Lucy started talking with a smile on her face, but her smile faded more and more as she spoke. “My parents aren’t talking to me right now, either.” She sighed. “But I do have a great roommate, and I just spent the last four days with some of my closest friends from college,” she said, trying to not make herself seem so pathetic.

“So, what do you want for Christmas then?” Tyson asked, confused as to why she wouldn’t know.

“Uh.  I guess I just wish that people would be nice to each other.  I see a lot of people being mean to each other at my job, and the world would be a better place if we all just decided to be nicer.”

Tim scoffed, folding his arms and leaning back in his chair a bit. “World peace? Is that really your answer?"

“Why not?” she said, pushing back at him, surprised that he was so critical of her wish. “Is that really so bad?”

“Just a bit too cliché,” he answered, shaking his head in disappointment. “That’s what you say at a beauty pageant; it’s never going to happen.”

Lucy narrowed her eyes at him. “Hmm.  Let me guess – current or former military, right? You can tell by the haircut, the way you talk, how you fold your arms when you’re upset, and your curt answers.”

Tim held his breath and stared at Lucy. Am I that obvious, he thought.

“So, you probably think you know a lot about ‘peace’ and what goes on in the world around you, right?”

“You bet I do,” he said, sitting up straighter and looking right at her with a challenging stare. “Yes, I was in the army, but I’m a police officer now.  So, yeah, I see how someone naïve like you might think that ‘world peace’ or people being ‘nicer’ would fix everything.  But it’s not realistic.”

“Someone naïve like me?” Lucy questioned, starting to get worked up.  Lucy unfolded the leg that was tucked underneath her, putting both feet on the ground. She sat up to her full height and looked directly at Tim, leaning forward slightly. She had a flame in her eyes that was new to the Bradfords.

Genny and her boys leaned back out of the conversation.  It was getting a bit intense. Genny knew her brother could be a bit grumpy, but generally he was a bit softer around her kids. Lucy had only been chipper and friendly up to this point, so they weren’t expecting this shift.

“I’ll have you know that I’m a detective with the LAPD, and I’ve also done my fair share of undercover work.  So, there is nothing naïve about me, sir, not anymore.  I’ve seen the underbelly of society.  I work with it.  I’ve lived in it,” Lucy spat out in deliberate and firm words.

Tim had his mouth open, ready to give another snarky response, but her response threw him off. “You’re a detective with the LAPD?” His eyes grew wide, and his mouth hung open in shock.  “Really?? Which station are you at?”

“North Hollywood. Major crimes division,” Lucy said. Then she paused and let her guard down a little. “Why?”

“I’m the Metro Liaison Sergeant at Mid-Wilshire,” he said, still examining her.

“What?” she said.  Her posture slowly relaxed back to what it had been before as though she was a balloon that was slowly leaking air.

The two of them stared at each other as though they were the only ones in the world for a minute, taking in the new information and sizing each other up.  Genny and Tyson watched them in silence.  Tyler continued to play on his Switch, blissfully unaware of the goings on around him.

Eventually, Tim broke the silence. “Wait,” he said slowly, still thinking back to something a couple years ago.  “Were you the undercover officer that took down the Salonga crew a while ago? Maybe two years or so ago?”

Lucy scrunched up her forehead in surprise and nodded.  “Yeah.  That was my first solo undercover op, right after I finished my rookie year.”

“And your team lost contact with you, right? You missed your check-in or something?”

“Uh huh,” Lucy agreed, not sure where he was going with this.

“Ha. I led one of the teams searching for you. Everyone was called in to work that night. Mine wasn’t the team that found you; I think your original team was the one that did.  But I remember your name and being woken up to look for you.”

Lucy smiled briefly. “Sorry you lost sleep over me,” she said with a light laugh.  “I had it all under control.” A half-smile took over her lips as she remembered that operation and the success she had with it.

“Apparently.  Didn’t you end up taking down La Fiera with the Salongas that day?”

Lucy nodded, starting to blush a little with the focus and attention he was paying her.

“That’s pretty impressive taking down two drug cartels on your own as a young P2.”

Lucy shrugged. Now she was getting quite pink with the intensity of his gaze on her.  Once she couldn’t tolerate the heat of his eyes any longer, she said, “So do you still think I’m naïve? Or have I earned a little credit with you?”

Tim smiled but didn’t have time to say anything before Lucy spoke again.

“You know, being optimistic is really important to how I do my job. There are plenty of depressing and horrible things I see, so I need my optimism to be able to combat that. I have to hold on to the hope that I can make things better,” she sighed briefly.  “So, I’ll keep my Christmas wish of people being a little nicer... or world peace, if you want to say it that way,” she said with a slight roll of her eyes.  “And perhaps you could use a little more sunshine and a little less grumpiness in your life, too.”  Lucy finished her statement with a smug smile and a little twinkle in her eye.

The air between them was almost electrified.  There was definitely a connection being forged during this banter and intense staring. Neither of them could look away from the other.

“Well, I…” Tim started to say, but he was interrupted by an enthusiastic six-year-old.

“Look!!!  Looooook!!” Tyson said pointing out the window.  “It’s snowing!!”

The whole of flight 347’s passengers seemed to hear his cry and follow his finger toward the windows.  Even Tyler managed to look up from his game to confirm it was, in fact, snowing. 

Genny, Tim, and Lucy all dropped their jaws and opened their eyes wide in unison as they shifted their gaze to the windows. Huge, fluffy snowflakes were rapidly falling out of the sky.  Within minutes there was a soft, white covering over everything they could see.

“Moooom! Mom! Hey, Mom!” Tyson cried as he shook his mom’s arm to get her attention.

Genny blinked a few times and then looked at Tyson. “Umm. Yeah.  What is it, buddy?”

“Can we go back to the house and play in the snow now? This looks like great snow to play in!”

Genny winced a little bit.  Changing their flights at this time would be pricey.  Plus, all of the kids’ snow gear was already packed into a checked bag that was already loaded onto a plane. “Tyson, just a few minutes ago you were worried about not getting home in time for Santa to come.  Now you want to stay?”

“But Mom! They don’t have snow like that in LA. I want to play in the snow!”

Although she couldn’t argue with him, she also couldn’t see a way to make things work out. “Sorry, buddy.”

Forlorn, Tyson went to stand next to the window.  He opened his hands and pressed them flat to the chilly window as though he was trying to reach through it and touch the snow.

Genny glanced over at Tim.  The shock had worn off of his face, but it was now replaced with a grimace.  When their eyes met, he shook his head.

Lucy watched the interaction and spoke up. “This is Denver.  They’re used to snow here.  I’m sure it won’t be a problem at all.”  Lucy was ever the optimist, but even the Bradfords, who met her less than an hour before, could tell that she wasn’t so sure.

No one wanted to say much.  They just watched the snow continue to fall in silence. Several minutes later they saw some snowplows outside moving along the runways.  For a moment there was a stripe of bare pavement behind each plow, but it didn’t last long.  Soon the field of concrete in front of them was covered in stripes of various depths of snow, and the borders of that field were accumulating larger and larger banks of snow.

Genny pressed her palms to her eyes, trying to wipe away what was happening in front of her. Tim’s grimace never left his face; it seemed to harden there, his expression never faltering at all. Lucy decided to keep Tyson busy so he wouldn’t bother Genny.

“Hey! Ty!” she started. “Oh, I guess you can’t use that nickname because it could be either you or your brother, right?” Lucy chuckled. “Tyson it is then.  Come here.”

Tyson moved toward Lucy.  They sat on the floor by the windows and watched the snow.  Lucy hadn’t grown up with snow since she’d lived most of her life around LA.  So, she decided to ask Tyson everything she possibly could about snow – how to play in it, what it tasted like, the different types of snow, how to make snow ice cream. They chatted for quite a while, allowing Genny a few minutes of peace.

Tyler piped into the conversation occasionally since he was sitting right by them.  Because he was four years older than Tyson, he had a lot more experience with snow.  Lucy tried to engage him by asking him specific questions.  Soon enough he powered down his Switch and started teaching Lucy how to really enjoy the snow. He talked about sledding in tubes versus a disc versus a traditional sled. He told stories about building ice caves out of the snowbank next to their driveway.  Tyler even shared some secrets on how to make a really good snowball.

Lucy’s giggles and cheerful comments, along with the kids’ stories, were the only happy sounds to be heard in their part of the terminal. The rest of the sounds were moans and groans and phone calls to friends complaining about their situation.

Eventually the crackling of the loudspeaker drew everyone’s attention.

“Ladies and gentlemen of flight 347 to Los Angeles, I have good news and bad news.  The good news is that your flight crew has been circling over the airport for the last 30 minutes and has now been cleared to land.  They will be with us shortly.  The bad news is that currently no flights are being allowed to take off. The snow is accumulating so quickly that the airport has had to prioritize getting the planes out of the sky.  So, we will soon have our airplane and our crew and all of our passengers, but I cannot tell you when we’ll be able to leave.  That will be up to Mother Nature.  We appreciate your patience at this time.”

The silence of everyone listening to the announcement was quickly replaced with a fervor of motions and sounds. Moans, groans, whining, phone calls, angry words, and frustration filled the room. But there was already six inches of snow on the ground without any sign of it slowing down.

“What does that mean, Mom?” Tyson asked.

“It means we’re stuck here forever.  We should have just stayed at that rental house another day.  Then we could have had Christmas around Dad and played in the snow.  This sucks,” Tyler answered.   He picked up his Switch again to tune out the world.

Genny leaned over to Tyler, “It’s not so bad.  They’re good at cleaning up snow here.  It’s only 5:00.  There’s still a good chance we can still get home tonight and celebrate Christmas tomorrow like we planned.”

Tim looked over at Genny skeptically.  “I’m going to take a walk. I’ll be back soon. Just call or text me if something changes, okay?” He glanced over at Lucy and Tyson on the floor before he left.

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Lucy reassured Tyson.  Then she started engaging him in some non-snow conversation, asking about his friends, school, etc. They even worked on a couple verses of “All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth.”

A half an hour later Tim returned.  It was still snowing, and no new announcements had been made.   Tim carried with him two large bags that he set down by his feet.

“Hey.  What did you get?” Genny asked.

“I think there’s a decent chance we’re going to be stuck here for a long time, maybe even overnight. So, I went and bought us some pillows and blankets to make camping out here a little bit more comfortable. I overheard a lot of people talking with hotels on their phones and checked out a few hotel apps.  It seems like there’s no rooms available anywhere.  I thought I’d get some stuff quickly before they’re sold out or the shops close,” Tim answered her softly.

Genny smiled at Tim, gratitude emanating from her face, “Thanks, Mr. Boy Scout,” she teased. “I’m glad you’re prepared.”  She elbowed him gently. “No room in the inn, apropos to the season, right?”

Tim just scoffed at her joke and shook his head. “Well, if it turns out that we can leave soon, then I’ll just go return it all. But I’m not looking forward to spending the night here cold and uncomfortable with whining kids.  This will help a little bit at least.”

“It’s perfect, Tim, really.  Thanks.”

Tyson overheard their conversation and walked over to look in the bags. “Which one is mine? Can I pick?”  

“Sure.  I don’t think we need to open them up yet, but you can choose yours.”

Tim reached down into one of the bags and pulled out a Nuggets fleece, Rockies fleece, and Broncos fleece.  “I thought each of us boys could choose one of these,” he told Tyson as he pointed to the three Denver sports team blankets. 

“Oooo.  I want the Rockies blanket!” Tyson said. “I love baseball.”

“Can I get the Nuggets blanket?” Tyler asked. “They won the NBA finals this year, you know.”

“Sounds good.  I’ll take the Broncos blanket then, even though I’ll probably have to give it away when I get home.  I only cheer for the Rams,” he told the boys.  “Maybe next season we can go to a Rams game together, huh?”

“Yeah!” they said in chorus.

Then he reached down deeper into the bag to pull out two more rolls of fleece blankets.  “I thought your mom and Lucy would like these blankets a little bit more.” One of the fleeces had a Rocky Mountain silhouette with cool winter colors, and the other had the same silhouette with warm autumn colors.

Genny smiled at Lucy whose eyes were wide with her mouth agape. “Well, we redheads always love autumn colors,” she said when Lucy stayed silent.  “That is, unless Lucy would prefer that one.”

Hearing her name awoke Lucy from her daze enough for her to speak. “Uh.  Sure. Whichever one you want,” she said to Genny.  Then she turned to Tim, “You really didn’t have to do that. I’m a perfect stranger to you.”

Tim shrugged, his cheeks turning a light shade of pink. “Consider it a fulfillment of your Christmas wish that people will be a little nicer.” He paused for just a second, “And you said that I could use a little more sunshine in my grumpy life.” Their eyes locked again, and they could both feel the intensity of their connection. Tim smiled just a little and said, “Plus, I already lost a night of sleep because of you before I even knew you.  I didn’t want to make it a second night because you were whining about being too cold.”

Lucy’s mouth drew up into a bow, and she raised her eyebrows at him. “Well played, sir. You win this round.”  She smiled bigger as she walked up to Tim to examine the blanket. “Plus, this will be the perfect keepsake for remembering being snowed in at the Denver airport. Thank you.  Really,” she said looking up at him. 

She was close enough to him now that she could smell his cologne and appreciate how tall he really was. She could also get a better appreciation for how muscular he was.  He was wearing a plain black Henley under an unbuttoned, powder blue long-sleeved shirt. At this distance she could tell see how his biceps and deltoids bulged against the sleeves and his pecs were firm and well-defined. Suddenly, she was feeling a little flushed.

“It’s not a big deal,” he said, looking deep into her eyes.

Genny was smiling as she watched them.  Perhaps Tim isn’t so helpless when it comes to women after all, she thought.

Tyson pushed his way between Lucy and Tim. “What about that bag?” he asked.

“Oh,” said Tim, refocusing his attention on Tyson. “Well, I didn’t find lots of great options for pillows.  So, everyone gets to choose a different color of small travel pillows.  Your favorite color is still blue, right?” he asked, handing him a small, rectangular blue pillow.

Tyson nodded and took the pillow. “Thanks, Uncle Tim.”

“And Tyler is still a red guy, right?”

“Yeah,” he said putting his hand out without moving away from his seat or looking away from his Switch.

“Annnnd…” Genny prompted him.

“Thank you,” he said reluctantly as he set the pillow on his lap and rested his hands and the Switch on top of it.

“Genny. You’ve always been a ‘green to match my eyes’ type of a girl, right?” Tim asked.

“You know it,” she said smiling at her big brother and taking the dark green pillow he extended to her.

Tim dug into the bag again and produced two more pillows. “Lucy, I thought maybe you’d like a sunshine yellow pillow.”

Lucy was speechless for a moment.

“Unless you’re rather have this gray one that I have left over…” he said when she didn’t respond.

Lucy cleared her throat. “Uh.  No. Yellow is my favorite color, actually.  How did you know?”

“Well, you seem like someone who would dress up for holidays, but you’re wearing a black sweater with a fluffy yellow scarf.  So, I assumed that yellow was your favorite color.”

Lucy raised her eyebrows high in surprise.

“Plus, yellow just seems to match your personality, so…” Tim said, trailing off, his eyes looking back at the pillows in his hands.

“Hmmm,” Lucy said, still examining his face carefully as if she was trying to get a better read of him. “A yellow pillow is perfect.  Thank you.”

Tim nodded back.  They stared into each other’s eyes quietly until Tyson interrupted them by tugging on Lucy’s hand. “Come here, Lucy.  Look!” 

Lucy blinked a few times, coming back to an awareness of her surroundings, and said, “Uh huh. What?” She blinked again and then looked at Tyson. “What, buddy?”

Tyson pulled her to the window.  “Look at how much snow there is now! It has to be at least a foot!”

Lucy stared out at the snow.  As much as she just wanted to get on that plane and fly home, she had to admit that it was really beautiful. After looking out the window for a while, she put her arm around Tyson’s shoulders and said, “You know what? I bet there were a lot of kids in Denver who asked for a white Christmas from Santa, and that’s why it’s snowing so much.  It must be that Christmas magic, right?”

Tyson was still staring out into the snow and said, “Lucky kids.  I wish we could play in the snow.”

Tim took the opportunity to continue to stare at Lucy under the guise of watching the snow. His mind was replaying their interactions that day as well as searching his old memories of any interactions he may have had with her through work.  He looked down at his phone and sent a quick text to his best friend, Angela Lopez, who was also a detective and may have known Lucy because of that.

Tim – Hey.  Weird question.  Do you know anything about a Lucy Chen?  She’s a detective at North Hollywood.

Angela – Merry Christmas to you, too.

Angela – I’ve never worked with her directly.  But she has a great reputation.  Nyla may know more since they’ve both done UC.  Need me to ask her?

Tim – No. I was just wondering. Thanks.

Angela – Stop. This conversation is far from over.  WHY do you want to know?

Tim – Long story.  Our paths crossed.  That’s all.  Conversation over.

Angela – I’m in the middle of a family event, but we WILL talk about this later. I won’t forget.

Tim – Merry Christmas.  Give my godson a hug for me.  I have a gift for him I can bring by after my shift tomorrow if that works.

Angela – Sure.  We can talk more about this Lucy situation at that time.

Tim rolled his eyes and then focused them back on Lucy who was still standing with Tyson at the window.

Genny saw Tim put his phone back down and then stare back at Lucy.  She moved over a seat to where Tyson had been sitting so she could sit next to Tim.  She leaned over and whispered teasingly in a sing-songy voice, “I think someone has a cruuuuush.”

Tim furrowed his brown and brought his lips in a thin line. “What?” he whispered back. “I’m just looking at the snow.  We don’t see it often in California, you know.”

“You’re a lying liar who lies,” she said quietly but forcefully with a self-satisfied grin. “Your eyes have been following a certain someone for the last couple hours we’ve been sitting here.  Don’t you dare try to deny it.”

Tim narrowed his eyes at her, giving her a tight-lipped grin, and nodded his head just slightly in acknowledgement.

Genny giggled and swatted at Tim’s shoulder. “Good for you!” she whispered again. “I really like her. And the kids are ready to start calling her Aunt Lucy already.”  She had another little giggle fit causing Lucy to look toward them for a moment before turning back to the window and continuing her conversation with Tyson.

“Shhhhhhh,” Tim whispered. “Geez.  Stop laughing like a 14-year-old girl.”

“Sorry,” she said, trying to suppress her laughter. “I just haven’t seen you act like this since I was a 14-year-old girl.”

Tyler leaned over toward his mom and said, “Are we going to get dinner tonight, or do you plan to starve us and make us miss playing in this snow?”

Genny rolled her eyes.  Tweens are so much fun, she thought to herself.  “Why don’t we go look at the airport map and see what’s available? We probably want to get takeout so we can be close enough to hear the announcements.”

Tim smiled at Genny as she and Tyler went to find a map of the various restaurant options. Lucy turned to watch as Genny walked away, too.  Lucy and Tim’s eyes met again for a moment, and they both smiled.

Genny returned a few minutes later. “Come here, Tyson.  We have a few options for dinner close by, but Tyler really wants to get Chick-Fil-A.  What do you think?”

“I like Chick-Fil-A.  Can I get a milkshake? Do they have the Christmas peppermint one right now?”

“If they have it, I’ll get it for you.  And you want the waffle fries and chicken nuggets, right?”

“Yep,” he said to his mom. “And Lucy needs a peppermint milkshake, too.  She’s stuck just like we are.”

Lucy was caught by surprise. “Oh, I can go get something on my own.  Thanks, Tyson. Maybe I’ll even get a peppermint milkshake.  That sounds delicious.”

“It’d be my pleasure,” Genny said, laughing to herself. No one else got the joke.  The Chick-Fil-A workers always respond with ‘It’d be my pleasure’ whenever you ask for anything. “But seriously, you’ve kept Tyson happy the whole time we’ve been here.  You’re practically family now,” she said, giving Tim a side eye. 

Tim squinted back at her comment, but his face softened when he saw Lucy looking at him curiously. “I’ll go with you.  There will be enough food that you need plenty of hands to carry it back.”

“Thanks.  Lucy, are you okay keeping Tyson company here so we don’t have to take our stuff with us?”

“Of course.”

“Perfect.  So, chicken nuggets and fries for everyone and at least a couple peppermint milkshakes. Is that good?”

Everyone nodded, and Tim, Genny, and Tyler turned to leave.

“Would you make sure to get some Polynesian sauce for me? That’s my favorite.”

“And lots of Chick-Fil-A sauce for me?” asked Tyson.

“You got it,” Genny called.

Of course, she would want the sweetest sauce they have, thought Tim.  That’s totally on point for her. He chucked to himself as he walked down the concourse to the Chick-Fil-A.

When they returned twenty minutes later Lucy bounced on the balls of her feet in excitement, and Tyson rushed at his mom.

“Whoa, buddy.  Slow down! You’re going to knock everything out of my hands,” Genny said. “I’ve got plenty of food.”  Genny set the food down on a chair and then maneuvered an end table around to act as their dinner table.  They pulled the five chairs they were sitting on around the small table.

After she set everything out, she announced, “I wasn’t sure how much everyone would eat, so we’re just eating family style.  There are three boxes of 20 nuggets each.  There’s the pile of sauces.  And there are three very large fries.  Plus, everyone has their own milkshake…because it’s Christmas Eve in an airport.  So why not?”

“Lucy, you’re going to LOVE the peppermint milkshake.  It’s the best,” Tyson said, taking the first pull on his straw and then making an overabundance of yummy noises.

“Oh, if It’s that good, I’ve really been missing out,” she said with a giggle. She put the milkshake straw to her mouth and tasted it. “Oh my gosh! You’re right, buddy!” she said over exaggeratedly as she put her arm around his shoulders and pulled him close to her.

Genny laughed at the unlikely pair and sipped on her milkshake.  Tyler shrugged his shoulders and drank his milkshake without much ado. Tim tasted his peppermint milkshake.  He wasn’t much of a milkshake person, but Genny had persuaded him to get it since everyone else was getting one. Tim shrugged his shoulders and said, “It’s good, I guess.”

Tyson rolled his eyes at his uncle and encouraged him to drink more.

“Come on,” Lucy said.  “You don’t seem like someone who takes the time to enjoy treats very often. It’s a holiday.  Just relax a little and enjoy a treat.” While Lucy spoke, she absentmindedly reached her left hand over a few inches to grab Tim’s right forearm and give it a little shake. It wasn’t until her hand left his arm that she realized what she had done.  Her laughter faltered for a second as she looked over at him to see what his reaction was.

He grinned back at her and took another drink. “Okay. Because it’s a holiday.”  A moment later he set it down and said, “I’m glad I grabbed this water bottle earlier.  That drink is super sweet.”  He guzzled some water, and then remembered to offer drinks from the original bag he bought to the rest of the crew.

They ate and chatted about whatever the boys wanted to talk about.  Somehow, Tim and Lucy ended up sharing one of the boxes of nuggets and one of the fries, and their hands would touch occasionally as they were picking them up.  Each time they would jump a little bit and pull their hands back, much to the amusement of Genny who was thoroughly enjoying watching them.

Toward the end of their meal, the boys had finished eating and were back to playing. Lucy was coating a nugget in her Polynesian sauce to get every last bit out of the small container. As she ceremoniously plopped the dripping nugget into her mouth, it left a trail of sauce down her lip.  Tim, who was paying attention to every move she made, waited a moment or two before saying anything.  But when she didn’t do anything about the line of sauce, he said, pointing to his own lips, “Um. You have a little sauce right there.”

Embarrassed, Lucy grabbed a napkin and dabbed at the clean part of her lip.

“No, right there,” Tim said, pointing again to his own lips.

Lucy dabbed again, but still missed the spot.

Tim sighed and leaned over, brushing his thumb across her lip to wipe off the sauce.  His eyes met hers for a second and then dropped to his hands.  He wiped off his thumb on his napkin.

Lucy sheepishly reached up to touch her lips where he had touched them.  She ran her tongue over her lips to pick up the last of the sweet sauce.  She could still feel the warmth of his thumb there, and she felt a chill run down her spine.

Tim watched the movement of her tongue as though in a trance.

“Thanks.  I guess I relaxed and enjoyed my meal a little too much,” she said with a nervous giggle.

“Yeah. But you really seemed to be savoring each bite and loving a meal as simple as chicken nuggets, fries, and a milkshake.  Maybe I should learn to relax and enjoy my food more often.”  He said smiling softly at her.

She returned the smile and let her fingers trace down his arm gently for just a second as she sat back in her chair and pulled her legs up underneath her.

A moment later her phone buzzed in her pocket.  She glanced at it and said, “Sorry, would you excuse me for a little bit?”  Genny and Tim nodded as Lucy grabbed her backpack and walked away from the bank on chairs while she talked on the phone.

Genny swatted Tim’s knee hard, “If you don’t ask her out before we leave this airport, I’m going to do it for you.” She giggled for a moment, and then said, “Or I’ll have Tyson do it for you! Ha!  That’s even better.”

Tim glared back at Genny. “Geez. Okay. Okay. I know.”  Then he turned in his chair to watch Lucy walk away until she couldn’t be seen anymore.  He got lost in his thoughts for a few moments.  She’s pretty amazing, right? I mean, she’s obviously beautiful. But she’s a great cop. She’s really good with the boy. She’s super friendly… And she… she wants world peace, he said to himself as he quirked his lips into a small smile.  He sighed and said out loud, “She’s definitely not the type of person you met every day.”

“Just ask her,” Genny encouraged him. “I’ve seen the way she looks at you, too. It seems like some Christmas magic has brought the two of you together.”  She winked at him and reached across the table to tap his knee twice. “Don’t deny the magic, Tim.”

Tim took a deep breath and looked in the direction that Lucy had left, but she wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

A few hundred feet away, Lucy finished filling her friend Rachel in on what was going on with her flight.  She reassured her that she was fine, and that she would be able to get home eventually.  Then she shot a text to her sergeant about the snow delay but assured him that she would come into work as soon as she could tomorrow.   Then she started on the mission that she was really interested in; the phone call was just an excuse to get up.

She looked around the terminal for a minute and then found what she was looking for – a tourist shop.  She walked quickly through the aisles trying to find the items she had in mind.  The Bradfords had been so wonderful to her that she wanted to repay them for their kindness.  She didn’t find everything at that shop, so she had to stop by a couple more shops to find everything on her list.

Twenty minutes later Lucy returned to her newfound friends and collapsed onto her chair out of breath.  The Bradfords all looked up at her.

“What? I was trying to rush back.  I didn’t want to miss an announcement about the airplane or anything.”

“Rush back?” Tyler said.  “You were gone for a long time for someone who was rushing back.  What were you doing?”

Lucy was surprised that Tyler, of all of them, was the one that commented on how long she was gone. “I had to answer that call and use the bathroom and grab some more snacks,” she said, patting her now bulging backpack.

“Snacks for the next week? How long do you think we’ll be stuck here?” he asked looking at her bag.

Lucy blushed and said, shrugging, “I guess they’re just bulky snacks.”

Her awkward return was soon forgotten as another announcement came over the loudspeaker. 

“Ladies and gentlemen of flight 347, I regret to inform you that your flight crew has now exceeded their allowed working hours and will not be able to work this flight.  The airline does not anticipate finding another crew before morning.  So, I’m afraid that flight 347 will not leave until 5 AM at the earliest, and then it will only leave if the weather conditions allow for flights to take off again. I’m being told that we have already accumulated 18 inches of snow, and that more is predicted to fall overnight.  Snow crews will continue to work overnight to ensure that you will be able to leave to see your loved ones as soon as possible. Please keep your phones charged and with you so that you will get updates on your flight in the app.  Thank you.  We appreciate your patience.  Merry Christmas.”

Even though most of the passengers predicted this announcement given what had happened so far and the conditions outside, there was still plenty of complaining.  Some people picked up their things to leave.  Others got on their phones to call loved ones.  Some slumped down in their chairs defeatedly. 

But Lucy Chen shouted a little louder than she planned, “Yes!”

Those all around her looked at her strangely.  The Bradfords were all thoroughly confused at her enthusiasm for being stuck there overnight.

Tim was the first to respond, “Uh. I know you liked that blanket, but I would have let you keep it even if we were able to leave tonight,” he chuckled. “Why are you so excited to stay here instead of fly home?”

“Because I have plans,” she said as she raised one eyebrow high and narrowed her eyes at him.

“What plans?” Tyson asked, beating everyone else to the question on the tips of their tongues.

“Come on,” Lucy said.  “Everyone gather up your stuff.  I have a surprise,” she said with a twinkle in her eye.

Tyson was the first to move.  He put his things back into his backpack, slid his arms into his coat and stood next to Lucy. “Ready.”

Tyler, Genny, and Tim all followed suit, albeit, with much less enthusiasm.

“Come on,” Lucy called, leading them out of their bank of chairs and back to the main walkway. As they neared the airport exit Lucy slowed and turned back to her followers. “I’m afraid we’ll have to go through security again.  There are some lockers here for the drinks and any small things, but I didn’t think it would be worth it for our suitcases since we won’t be gone that long.”

Lucy pointed to an aisle with coin-operated lockers.  Tim took his bag of drinks and snacks from earlier and deposited it in the locker.

Tyson asked for at least the twentieth time, “What are we doing?”

Instead of telling him, “You’ll see,” as she had the previous nineteen times, she said, “You’re going to love it.  Just a little bit more to go.” Lucy guided them through baggage claim until she found a particular door marked door 11.

She bent down by some chairs and pulled several things out of her backpack.  Apparently, her ‘bulky snacks’ weren’t the only things filling her bag.  She set down a large wad of plastic bags, duct tape, plastic forks, marbles, and a bag of baby carrots.  Then she looked up at the four Bradfords staring at her dumbfounded. They obviously didn’t understand her Christmas magic yet.

She laughed and said, “Well, let’s get going then.” She grabbed the wad of plastic bags and handed two to each person.

“Okay,” Genny started. “I’m just going to say what we’re all thinking. I have no idea what you’re doing.  But you’re obviously excited about it, so we’re all willing to go along with it.”

Lucy’s smile glowed even brighter. “We,” she said ceremoniously, “are all going to play in the snow.”

Question marks were practically painted across each of the four faces looking at her.

Lucy giggled and explained.  “You see, as a kid growing up in California, you didn’t have any snow gear.  Once when I went to visit my cousins in Canada, it snowed.  All the other kids went out to play, and I wanted to so badly.  But my mom wouldn’t let me because I didn’t have any boots. I just had a coat and gloves.  When she wasn’t looking, I snuck into my aunt’s kitchen and grabbed some plastic bags and some duct tape.” 

Lucy bent down and placed a plastic bag over each of her feet.  She wrapped the bag tightly around her foot and then partly up her leg.  Then she grabbed the duct tape and quickly wound it around the wrapped bag, securing it to her pants. “Voila!” she cried victoriously. “It’s time to play in the snow!”

“AWESOME!” shouted Tyson.  “Would you do mine?”

Lucy made quick work of wrapping up Tyson’s shoes and pants.  Since he was shorter with smaller feet, the bags actually came up over his knees.

Tyson gave Lucy a big bear hug and said, “Let’s go!”

“Just a minute, bud. We’ve got to get everyone else ready, too.”  Lucy looked at Tyler who nodded back at her, his smile slowly growing.  His feet and legs were ready to go just a minute later. Then she looked at Genny and Tim. Neither of them had said and word; they had just watched Lucy in shocked silence.

“Why not?” Genny said with a giggle. She sat on a nearby chair and Lucy followed her to help her wrap the duct tape on her feet and legs.

Tim was the last one to respond.  He was still watching Lucy with his mouth hanging open a bit.

“Let’s go, Sarge,” she said with a faux military tone and a smile.  She grabbed the bags from his hands and knelt down at his feet. “Come on,” she said when he still didn’t move. “It’ll be fun.”

Tim looked intensely at Lucy.  Never in his wildest dreams did he see this as something he would be doing… ever, let alone on Christmas Eve while stranded in the Denver airport with a beautiful woman kneeling at his feet. He let out the breath he was holding and lifted a foot.

Lucy smiled up at him and quickly wrapped one foot and then another. When she stood up, she was just a couple of inches away from him.  Their eyes met again. As they stared at each other a huge, goofy smile bloomed on Lucy’s face. She patted both of her hands on Tim’s chest, winked at him, and said, “Let’s have some fun, huh?”

In ordinary circumstances, Tim would have scoffed and told her that he would watch the luggage and stay inside, but something inside him urged him to follow Lucy.  Maybe it was that Christmas magic that Genny was talking about.

Lucy picked up the bag of carrots, marbles, and forks in one hand, and took her backpack and carry-on with the other hand.

“I know it’s not perfect to have to bring our carry-ons, but it’ll be fine,” she said as she pointed to door 11 again. She obviously had talked to one or more of the airport employees about the best place to go.  When they had all exited the building, they found themselves in a small courtyard that was brightly lit even at that hour for the safety of patrons leaving the airport.  The sidewalk around it had been plowed relatively recently; it only had a few inches of snow.  But the center of the 15 by 20-foot courtyard was covered in 18 inches of virgin snow.  You could see the outline of a couple benches, but the rest of it was open.

No one had to tell Tyler or Tyson what to do next.  They hurled themselves into the snow, grabbing handfuls as they went. The adults all watched them for a minute, taking in the perfect joy of children’s laughter.

While Tim was busy looking at his nephews, he felt a wet splat on his back.  He looked up and saw that Lucy had hit him with one snowball and had another ready to throw his way. He tried to dodge it, but Lucy got him in the arm.  Was a snowball fight childish? Yes. Had he participated in a snowball fight in the last twenty years of his life? No.  But there was no way Tim was going to lose this game.  He quickly reached down and made a snowball and threw it at Lucy, hitting her squarely in the back. Lucy guffawed and pelted him in the chest with another one. 

As the boys continued to tromp through the snow, make snow angels, and throw snowballs at each other, Genny watched Tim and Lucy engage in the most flirtatious snowball fight she had ever seen.  She stood back and took a few pictures while the other four of them clearly went beyond the limits of their plastic-bagged legs.  Soon she was lured into her sons’ snowball fight when they teamed up to attack her from behind. “You’re going to regret that,” she called at them.

The boys cackled with laughter and ran away from her, hiding behind a snow-covered bench.  More frivolity ensued. Genny had spent the last several years of her life in Denver, so she was skilled in snowball making and gave her two sons a run for their money.

Eventually the boys collapsed in giggles along the side of the building, their faces red from the cold.  Tim and Lucy finished their fight at about the same time.  Tim had snuck up behind Lucy and covered her ears with twin snowballs while she was getting up with a new snowball.  Since she was bent down, she took her revenge by snaking her hand up the back of his coat and under his shirts and smacking the large snowball against Tim’s bare lower back.  He hissed as he felt the cold, wet snow shock his back and then melt down into his pants.  He screamed and jumped around for a moment, trying to wipe the snow off before it all went down his pants. That elicited a ripple of laughter from the other four members of their group.

Once he had cleared out the majority of the snow, he turned and narrowed his eyes at Lucy.  She smiled back at him, her cheeks rosy from the cold and snow; she was practicing glowing with joy. “Alright,” he said while raising his hands in the air, “I surrender.  You win this round.”

Lucy did a quick victory dance and grinned at him as they walked closer to Genny and the boys.

“Lucy,” Tyson said, “What are the forks, carrots, and marbles for?”

“For a snowman, of course,” she said as though anyone would know that.  She picked up the items from where they sat near her backpack, and then asked, “Where should we build him?”

Tyson and Tyler had plenty of ideas. Soon all five of them were working together to pack the snow into three different sized balls. With so much snow and five people, it only took a few minutes to assemble their snow man.  

Lucy handed Tyson the largest baby carrot she could find in the package. “The honor of nose placement goes to Tyson,” she grandly decreed.  Then she giggled some more and opened the bag of marbles.  “Two for Genny for the eyes and a bunch to Tyler for the mouth,” she said with a bit less grandeur.  Lucy grabbed the two forks and enthusiastically plunged them into the sides of the middle ball for some arms. Then she turned and handed Tim three marbles. “Think you can manage the buttons, Sarge?” she asked with a glint in her eye.

Tim playfully scoffed at her and bent down to place the three marbles in a row down the middle ball. When he turned to stand to his full height, he was surprised to find Lucy’s head right next to his.  Their faces brushed for a second, and they both jumped back from the contact, mumbling an apology.

Genny giggled at their awkwardness, but started talking in hopes that she could help them move on quickly. “Hey! Let’s get a picture.”

“But Mom! He needs a scarf!” Tyson implored.

Lucy’s mouth formed a perfect circle, “Oh! Yes, he does!”  She unzipped her coat a bit and reached in to grab her yellow scarf.  She handed it to Tyson who turned to wrap it around their snowman.  Tim, on the other hand, was a bit shocked to notice just how wide and deep the V of her black sweater was revealed to be.  Lucy caught him staring at her chest and blushed, zipping up her coat again. Tim tried to blink himself back to reality as Genny herded them together for a picture with their snowman, a coy smile on her face. 

Genny tried to get the right angle but struggled to get everyone in the picture.  She handed her phone to Tim, insisting that he take the picture since he had longer arms.  Then she moved him to a different spot so that he conveniently had to squeeze in close to Lucy for the shot.

Lucy smiled as she felt Tim wrap his body tightly behind her and lean his head on hers. “Cheese,” they all called out. After the picture, with his arm still up in the air holding Genny’s phone, Lucy turned her head to look at Tim, whose face was just millimeters from hers.   They stared at each other for a moment until they were distracted by the sound of the camera.  Genny had taken control of the camera with her Apple Watch and had taken a couple pictures of the pair staring at each other. In moving to stand up straight, their cheeks, shoulders, arms, and hands all brushed up again the other person. 

“Genny…” Tim said in warning.

“What? I was just taking a couple pictures,” she said in pseudo-innocence.

Lucy, her cheeks now a deep red, glanced back at Tim with a smile, and then moved over to Tyson.  “Buddy, would it be okay if I took my scarf back?  It’s one of my favorites.”

“Sure,” he said looking at the snowman and then back at Lucy.  “Um.  I’m getting pretty cold now.  Can we go back inside?”

“Of course,” Lucy said as she removed her scarf from the snowman and shook the snow off of it.  “Are you ready to be done, too, Tyle….. Ahhh!”  As she had wrapped her scarf back around her neck, a hidden clump of snow slid down her chest and fell into her bra. That icy cold feeling against such sensitive skin caused her to yelp as she did a little dance.  She dug into her shirt to get it back out, but it took several tries to get all of it, making Lucy contort herself a bit to be successful.

“Maybe you should offer to help her out,” Genny whispered to Tim with an evil grin.

He squinted back at her silently, shaking his head. His eyes quickly returned to Lucy, who was now trying her best to look natural.

Genny giggled some more as she corralled her boys toward the door to go back inside. Tim waited for Lucy who took a moment to compose herself before grabbing her luggage. Tim held the door open for her with a smile, which she returned.

Once inside, they removed their plastic bag boots and deposited them into the trash.  Each of them had a line of moisture from the snow just above the tape line.  Lucy reached into her backpack again and pulled out a stack of paper towels.

“Sorry,” she said.  “It’s not the same as having boots and snow pants.  But hopefully your feet are still dry and warm.”  She handed everyone a few paper towels to blot their pants a little bit drier. “We can stop by the bathroom and use the hand dryers to dry our pants if we need to.”

After they went through security again and grabbed Tim’s bag of drinks and snacks from the locker, they returned toward their gate and their new favorite chairs.  They each took a trip to the bathroom and discovered that it dried their pants quite quickly.  Another Lucy win. On their way back to their gate, they passed a Starbucks.

“How about some hot chocolate for everyone?” Lucy asked. A round of ‘yes’s echoed around her. Ten minutes later, they were all seated in the same chairs, sipping on hot chocolate as it warmed them from the inside out.

Tyler broke the quiet humming of everyone sipping their hot chocolate. “Lucy, that was one of the coolest snow experiences I’ve ever had.  And I grew up in Colorado, so that’s saying a lot.  Thanks for doing that for us.”

Lucy smiled back at him, but Genny spoke before she had a chance to speak. “I agree.  That plastic bag trick was great. I can’t believe how well it worked.   I’m so happy that you randomly decided to sit near us, and that Tyson was bold enough to start talking to you.  It must be a bit of Christmas magic.”

Lucy giggled and rolled her eyes at the mention of Christmas magic. “Well, this has been the best flight delay I’ve ever had, hands down.  I can’t remember a time I’ve had more fun stuck in an airport.”  She paused for a moment and then continued, “And it’s been so wonderful getting to know the Bradford family.”  She looked at each of them down the row – Tyler, Genny, Tyson, and Tim.  Her eyes connected with Tim’s again for a few moments.

“So, Lucy, what’s next?” Tyson asked, downing the last of his hot chocolate and adding one last layer to his chocolate mustache.

“Next?” she asked. “Do you think I have an agenda for tonight?” she said with a giggle. Then she thought for a moment. “I have some cards. Do you want to play a card game?”

“Yeah! I’m the best at Slap Jack!” Tyson said enthusiastically.  Tyson handed his mom his empty cup and slid down onto the floor, waiting for Lucy to join him.

Lucy rummaged through her backpack again and produced a box of cards. “Anyone else want to play?”  No one answered, so Lucy divvied up the cards between herself and Tyson. They played one round. But the time they were done, Tyler decided that it wasn’t too childish to do and joined them on the floor.

Tim watched them play, enjoying the excuse to look at Lucy without too much judgement. After a few more rounds, Tim cleared his throat and said, “Now let’s make it a real competition.” He rubbed his hands together and hoisted himself from his chair, conveniently choosing to scoot Tyson over so that he could sit next to Lucy.

Lucy shuffled the cards for the next round, but before she dealt them out, Genny decided that Tim and Lucy were still sitting too far apart for her taste.  “Wait up!” she said.  “I’m in, too.”  She sat between her two sons, effectively making everyone else, including Tim and Lucy, move closer together.  Tim saw what she was doing and caught her eye. She just smiled back at him innocently and patted her sons on the back at the same time.  “Let’s do this!”

After a few more rounds of Slap Jack, Tyler announced that he was bored. So they switched to Go Fish. They played a few rounds of Go Fish, and then switched to Old Maid.  When Old Miad became boring, they played King’s Corners.  Once they had been playing various card games for a solid hour, Tyson and Tyler were both done with cards.

“I’m just going to play my Switch for a little while, okay, Mom?” Tyler said, crawling back up to his chair.

“Sure.”

“Mom,” Tyson said. “I’m getting tired. Can I cuddle and read with you?”

“Of course, buddy.”  Genny moved back to her chair and pulled out some of the paperback books she had brought along with her. She let Tyson stretch out on his chair and Tim’s chair, resting his head on her lap.  She covered him with his new Rockies fleece and put his new blue pillow on her lap. He nestled himself in close to Genny and listened to her read to him.  His eyes started fluttering closed before Genny was done with the first book.  Genny stroked his hair and gave his head a kiss. 

Lucy watched the whole interaction with a soft smile.  Genny was obviously a good mom who loved her boys dearly. Once Tyson was asleep, she stood to put her cards away. 

With Lucy’s back turned, Genny flapped her hands at Tim to get his attention.  Then she positioned her hand in a c-shape and motioned like she was taking a drink from an invisible cup.  She pointed at Lucy and then back at Tim.   She was using both hands to try to shoo the two of them away when Lucy turned around and gave her a quizzical look.  Genny dropped her hands immediately and smiled sweetly at Lucy.

Tim rolled his eyes at Genny.  Apparently, she thought he needed plenty of help when it came to wooing a woman.  Lucy’s eyes went back and forth from Tim to Genny as she watched their silent conversation.  Genny raised her eyebrows while looking at Tim and tilted her head toward Lucy. 

Tim raised his hand to scratch the back of his head and looked over at Lucy.  “Umm. Would you be interested in getting a drink with me?  I saw a few restaurants further down the concourse that looked like they’d have a good selection of drinks.”

Genny smiled proudly, like the cat that got the mouse, and looked over at Lucy. 

Lucy looked at Tim and then at Genny and the boys. Genny definitely didn’t look like she needed help at this point, and it would be nice to have some adult conversation and get to know Tim a bit better. “Sure. Yeah. That’d be nice.”

She threw her backpack over her shoulder and then looked at Genny.  “Is it okay if I leave my suitcase here?”

“No problem.  I’m not going anywhere for hours,” she said, patting Tyson’s sleeping form.

Lucy looked back over at Tim and smiled.  He pointed to the right, indicating were he wanted to go, and Lucy started walking.  Soon she felt his hand on her lower back, guiding her to the place he had in mind. She smiled and leaned back into his touch, enjoying the warmth and closeness of it.

The restaurant was only a five-minute walk away.  Even though the airport was still quite crowded for 9 PM, the dinner crowd had dissipated enough that there were plenty of tables available.  The sign at the entrance read ‘Please seat yourself.’ Tim picked a tall, round table a good distance away from the entrance.  He pulled out a chair for Lucy and then sat down next to her.

There was an awkward silence for a few minutes.  They both eyed the drink menu in silence.  The waitress came by, and they ordered their drinks. When she returned a moment later with a basket of bread, they were still quiet. Lucy fiddled with her yellow scarf while Tim needed to adjust his watchband twice.

“Uh. It’s good bread,” he said a minute later after he took a bite of a roll.

“Yeah,” Lucy agreed, searching the basket.  “It’s such a nice assortment.”

After they each took a few more bites of bread, Lucy asked, leaning over, “Why is this so weird? We’ve spent the last few hours together talking just fine.”

Tim raised his eyebrows back at her. “Well, maybe because before we were surrounded by my sister and her kids.  It felt like family time.  And this… holds the promise of… something more.”

Lucy twisted her mouth into a bow as she looked over at Tim. “Yeah.  Something… more.”  She looked back down at her scarf and then met his eyes again.

“I… uh… I just want to…” she paused what she was saying, looking+ up at the ceiling while she blew out a breath, and then looked back at Tim. “I know we don’t know each other well yet. But I’d like to get to know you better.  Just… slowly.  I’ve had… not the greatest track record with men.”

Tim nodded as he listened to her, keeping his eyes locked on hers.

“I… I don’t want to start this…” she said motioning between them,” with stories about my exes, but I do want to be clear and… set expectations.”

“Okay.  Yeah.  I agree. I don’t want to rush into anything either.”

The waitress came by with their drinks a moment later. They had both decided to try beer from a local microbrewery.

After taking a couple sips of the beer, Lucy started up the conversation again.  “Okay.  Let’s talk about something we can talk about easily – work.  Tell me about an interesting case you’ve worked recently.”

Tim took a deep breath.  This was something he could do.  Unlike the other women he had tried to date in recent years, Lucy would understand his work.  From there the conversation flowed without stopping.  They shared stories about crazy things they had seen, compared injuries they had gotten on the job, talked about people they worked with – both the good and the bad, and talked about why they had gone into policing in the first place. 

After talking for over an hour, Lucy put her hand on top of Tim’s and said, “Okay.  Tell about the scariest thing that has happened to you NOT on the job.”  She looked deep into his eyes.  They were veering away from work and into more personal territory now.

Tim looked down at her hand on his.  Then he looked around the room and then back at their hands. “Uh.  I was married once.  For several years, actually. She… she was also a police officer.  We met at the Academy.  She also became a detective, like you, and she also did undercover work.”

Lucy sat up straighter and searched Tim’s face, trying to understand all the non-verbal cues and the depth of the story.  She wasn’t sure where this story was going, but she could tell it was very personal and his ex-wife sounded a lot like her in some ways.

“It’s… it’s a long story. But she became addicted to heroin.  I didn’t recognize it early enough. I tried to get her to get help, but…” he took a shallow breath and, as he exhaled, he said, “One morning she was just gone.”  Lucy squeezed his hand and waited for him to say more, watching him intently. “I…uh…I found her a year later while I was working. It’s a long story.  But I eventually got her into rehab and then we got a divorce.” He closed his mouth into thin line, taking a deep breath in and out through his nose. “I should have seen it coming, but the morning she was gone for good was the scariest day of my life. And the loneliest.”

“Tim… I…” Lucy didn’t really know what to say to that.  “Thank you for being so… open about that.  I can tell you really loved her.”

Tim nodded but didn’t say anything else.  He just looked at their stacked hands, deep in thought.

“I,” she giggled a bit, breaking him out of his deep thoughts. “I was going to chicken out and tell a half-assed scary story.”  Her laughter stopped then as she looked at their hands. “But since you told a really scary, personal moment, I’ll share mine.”  She looked at the ceiling again and then back down at Tim, clearing her throat. “I once met a guy at a bar for drinks.”  She waved her hand around the room they were in, indicating how similar it was.  “I thought everything was going fine, but he drugged me.  I was kidnapped and hurt.  He tattooed my side,” she said touching an area on her left side, “with my day of death.  Then he left me in a barrel buried under the ground to die.”

Lucy could feel tears coming, so she blew out a breath and blotted at her eyes. “But, I survived, and he didn’t.  My roommate, my best friend, he found me.  But he had to give me CPR to bring me back.”  She cleared her throat and blotted at her eyes again. “That was definitely the scariest day of my life.”

While she was talking, Tim moved his hand from under hers to on top of it.  She squeezed her hand as she spoke, rubbing his thumb gently back and forth along the side of her hand.

“So that was you,” he said, studying her face.  “I knew Rosalind’s protégé abducted an officer from North Hollywood, but I didn’t realize that was you.  It’s pretty impressive to return to being a police officer after that. Let alone getting a drink in a bar with a stranger like me.” He said with a soft smile.  “I…uh…” he smiled even wider, trying to pull Lucy away from the intensity of her story. “I’ll have to thank your best friend someday, if I ever get to meet him.”

Lucy chuckled.  “Well, you’re not much of a stranger anymore. And I think a meeting like that could be arranged,” she said wiping at her eyes again.

“Geez, why did I suggest that topic?  That was so stupid. I should have asked about your most embarrassing childhood moment or the stupidest thing you did as a rookie or your favorite color or something.” Lucy shook her head, trying to shake away the memories of everything that happened.

“So,” Tim started, squeezing her hand again. “I happen to already know that your favorite color is yellow. Mine has always been blue.”  He smiled at her. “And the stupidest thing I ever did as a rookie was to let my shop get tagged, not once, but twice! By the same person!”  He chuckled. “I heard about that for a loooong time afterward.”

From that point, their conversation resumed its normal flow, and their hands never parted.  Occasionally one of them would lift their hands while telling a story, but when the story was done, Tim and Lucy’s hands quickly found each other again.

“Okay. Okay,” Lucy said, still laughing from the last story. “The bar closes in a few minutes, and we’re already getting an evil eye from the waitress over there.  So just one last question, and then we need to go.  Where do you see yourself in ten years?”

Tim paused for a moment, envisioning the future in his mind.  If he was honest with himself, he’d like to see Lucy with him in that future. But it was waaaaaay to early to say something like that. “I’d like to get married again, someday, if I find the right person.  I always wanted to have kids.  Maybe I’d have a dog.  I want to stay in LA, of course. I hope I’m still with the LAPD. I really love my work there, and I’m not really sure what I would do after that.”

“Hmmm,” Lucy said, picturing Tim a little older with a couple kids climbing on him and playing with him.  She had already seen how good he was with his nephews.

“And you?”

“Me? I hope I’m still with the LAPD, too. Maybe a sergeant or commander or captain,” she said with a giggle. “One of the reasons I became a cop was to be able to change how cops are seen by the public and how cops approach certain situations.  We don’t have enough training with mental health disorders or negotiation or racial inequalities. I want to be in a position that I can make some positive changes, help us work better with our communities.”

Tim nodded at her, watching her glow as she talked about things she wanted to do and change. He admired that she was so optimistic, even though it definitely wasn’t his style.

“And a family? Yeah.  I’ve always wanted to have a family. And a dog for sure. Jackson, my best friend, isn’t a big fan of dogs, so I don’t have one now. But someday… someday I’d love to have a dog. And staying in LA? Sure. That’s where I’ve always considered home to be, so I don’t have any plans to move.”

They saw the waitress that had been giving them the evil eye approaching their table, so they stood up.  Lucy grabbed her backpack and flung it onto her back.   Tim had paid for their drinks a while ago, so they just thanked the waitress and walked out. Lucy stepped out of the restaurant first and paused to wait for Tim.  When he stepped up next to her, he grabbed her hand and gave it a quick squeeze.

“Shall we?” he asked, pointing back toward their gate. They walked back to the gate together slowly, continuing to chat as they went.  Once as Lucy was finishing telling a story, she turned toward him and grabbed his arm. As she looked up at him in that moment, she could sense something, like a magnetism, pulling them closer together.   Slightly overwhelmed by the intensity of it, Lucy shook her head and let her hand drop from his arm. She laughed awkwardly, and then there was silence for a moment or two.

Tim could see that, despite the slow pace of their steps, they were almost back to their gate. “Lucy,” he said, stopping their movement as he turned toward her. “I… I’d like to see you again.  And not just at a crime scene.”

Lucy giggled and looked at the ground and then up at Tim again. “Agreed. Although I think it’d be sort of fun to work alongside you, too. I feel like we would have a good rhythm together.”

“Um-hmm,” Tim said, nodding his head and stuffing his free hand in his pocket. “Mmmm. Do you want to get dinner sometime? Go on a real date?”

“Yeah,” she said softly. “I do,” Lucy said, looking deep into his eyes.

They stood there staring at each other for a moment, unsure what should happen next. Eventually, Tim cleared his throat. “Um.  I can look at my schedule, and maybe we could find day in the next week or so?”

“Yeah.  I’d like that.” Lucy breathed out.

They resumed walking and soon found Genny with her two boys asleep on her.  Tyson had barely moved a muscle since they’d left.  Tyler had eventually abandoned his Switch.  He was cuddled under his new Nuggets blanket with his head resting on his new red pillow, which was resting on Genny’s shoulder. Genny was leaning her head on top of Tyler’s as she read a book. 

Genny looked up and smiled as her new favorite couple approached.  She saw them walking hand-in-hand and raised an eyebrow at her brother.  Tim smiled back at her and nodded his head.  “Hey! How were the drinks? It looks like the company was good,” she said with a self-satisfied grin.

Lucy could feel her cheeks getting rosy.  She looked over at Tim and smiled. “Uh.  They were good.  We tried a couple beers from a local microbrewery.”

“I hope you switched to water at some point,” Genny said.  “You were gone for over two hours,” she chuckled. 

“It’s not like we’re driving anywhere or working tonight,” Tim said rolling his eyes. “And we just had two beers each – nothing crazy.”

Genny hummed and looked carefully at the two of them.  She was so happy Tim seemed to have found someone to make him smile.  She hadn’t seen him smile so much in a long time, even when he was playing with her nephews. And Lucy seemed amazing in every way she had seen so far.  

“So…” Lucy said. “Should we sleep in shifts, so someone is always watching our stuff, and we all get a little shut eye?”

“Do you think that’s necessary?  Who would want our backpacks and suitcases?” Genny asked.

“You’d be surprised,” Lucy said.

At the same time Tim said, “Stupid people.  Criminals are generally stupid people. But we all have our wallets here.  I don’t need my identity stolen.”

Tim and Lucy looked back at each other and smiled. Genny shrugged her shoulders. 

“Well, I’m not going anywhere until these two wake up.  I can take a shift.”

“No, you watched our things for the last two hours.  Your shift is done.  It’s after 11:00 now, and they said our flight might leave at 5:00.  Sleep.  I can stay up,” Tim said.

Genny nodded. “Thanks.”

“No way I’m going to let you stay awake for the next five hours by yourself. If you’re not tired now, you can take the first shift, but I’ll split the time with you,” Lucy said looking at Tim. “It’ll be like a stake out,” she said smiling up at him.

Tim hesitated, but he could already tell he was going to have a hard time saying no to Lucy. “Okay,” he conceded.  “But if you stay asleep, I’m not going to wake you up.”

Lucy swayed back and forth looking up at him, “Well, these aren’t the most comfortable of chairs.  I doubt I’ll be sleeping so soundly I don’t wake up.”

“Hmm.  Tyson and Tyler look pretty comfortable.  I bet you that you sleep through your alarm.”

“You bet me?  Okay,” she said narrowing her eyes at him in a challenge.  “If I wake up to my alarm, then you buy everyone breakfast.”

“And if you snore on through it, you’ll buy breakfast,” Tim returned.

“I do NOT snore,” Lucy argued playfully.

“We’ll see…” Tim teased her. He held out his right hand to shake on their deal. 

It was a little awkward because Tim was already holding Lucy’s right hand.  But she freed that hand to shake his right hand. “Deal,” she said.  Then in a quiet sing-songy voice she said, “I hope you like to lose. I’ll send you my coffee order.”

Tim scoffed. He happened to glance over a Genny who was pretending not to listen, but had obviously heard every word.   She had her blanket pulled up to her chin, and when he looked over at her she pulled it up over her mouth to smother a laugh.

“Well, two hours of sleep is better than nothing,” Lucy said.  She let go of Tim’s hand and said, “I’m going to use the restroom before I lie down.  Back in a minute.”

He nodded and watched her walk away. 

Once Lucy was out of sight, Genny pulled the blanket back down from her face. “Sooooo… Tell me everything,” she said like a 12-year-old at a sleepover.

Tim glared at her. “No,” he said in a much higher pitch than normal. “There’s no way I’m telling you everything. Lucy and I had a good time.  We talked.  We laughed.  She’s… well, she’s amazing,” he said with a starry look in his eyes. He collapsed down in a chair across from Genny, a giddy smile on his face.

“Um-hmmm,” Genny said, enjoying every second of her brother’s happiness.  “And…”

“And…what?” he said.

“And… Did you ask her out? On an actual date?” Genny said as though it were obvious.

Tim’s cheeks flushed a light shade of pink. “Yeah. We’re going to see if we can do something together this week.”  He had a little bit of a faraway look to his face and Genny was eating it up.

“Oh my gosh! You are so smitten!” she whisper-shouted.

“What? I am not.”  Tim shook his head, but he couldn’t quite manage to wipe the smile off of his face.

“Are you going to make a bet on that, too?” Genny teased.

Tim rolled his eyes and then glared at Genny again.  “No,” he scoffed. “But I am open to suggestions for where I should take her on our first date.”

Genny only had enough time to list a few places before Lucy started walking back toward them.  She quickly whispered one last time to Tim before Lucy could hear her. “See if you can go to the first one though.  It’s the most romantic restaurant in town.”  Then she sat back up and smiled at Lucy as she sat down.

Lucy eyed the two of them suspiciously.  “What is it that people say? If your ears itch it means someone is talking about you?  I feel like my ears should be pretty itchy right now,” she said as she looked back and forth between the two of them. She grabbed her new blanket and pillow and stood in front of the chair by Tim.  “Do you mind it I take the chairs next to you?”

“Not at all,” he said motioning to the chairs. 

Lucy plugged in her phone and then opened up the timer app. “Okay.  I don’t want to be accused of losing a bet that I’m clearly going to win.  What time to you want to swap shifts?”

Tim chuckled. “Well, our flight could leave at 5:00, so you should wake up by 4:00 to have time to get us all breakfast before we get on the plane.”  He was trying to hold a serious face, but he was obviously failing.

Lucy narrowed her eyes back at him.  “Okay, it’s 11:25 right now.  And YOU will need to be awake by 4:00 to get MY elaborate coffee order,” she grinned over at him.  “But I probably won’t fall asleep for at least 5 more minutes…” She scrolled through the times on her phone.  “Okay.  My alarm is set for 1:45. Then each of us get 2 hours and fifteen minutes of sleep. Deal?”

Tim rolled his eyes and smiled at her. “Deal.”

Genny held her blanket up over her mouth again to stifle her giggles. These two were perfect for each other.

Lucy fluffled out her new blanket and sat down two chairs away from Tim.  She put her new yellow pillow right next to his leg, and then settled down with her back to the backs of the chairs, curling her legs up and pulling the blanket over herself.

Once she was comfortable, she shifted back a little bit to look up at Tim.  “You should know that I hate to lose.  And if I find out that you turned off the alarm on my phone somehow, there will be consequences,” she said with a grin and a giggle.

“I promise not to turn off your alarm.  But I will not be waking you up, either. I also hate to lose.”

“Hmmm. Okay, Bradford.  I guess I have to trust you.”

“Sweet dreams, Lucy.”

She smiled back at Tim and then pulled the blanket up to her chin. “I’m glad you’re here with me tonight, Tim.”

“I am, too.  Now go to sleep.”

Lucy nodded.  Soon he could hear her breathing slow as she drifted off to sleep. Tim spent the next two hours and fifteen minutes looking at his schedule for the next week and making dinner reservations.  He didn’t know when Lucy would be free, so he tried to get a reservation for every night that he would be free over the next week. He also logged into the LAPD website to look more at Lucy’s career, at least what he could see.  When 1:45 came around, Tim was looking into all the information he could gather about Lucy’s abduction and burial by Caleb Wright. He wanted to know everything he could without bringing it up to Lucy or making her upset.

Somehow, while Lucy was sleeping, she had shifted around, so when her alarm went off, she found that her head was resting on Tim’s lap.  Her eyes slowly opened to the sound of her alarm, and she was met immediately with the smoky blue eyes that had been in her dream.  Her eyes shot open and she sat up quickly, wiping at her mouth to catch any drool. 

“Uh. Sorry about that,” she said, combing through her wild curls with her fingers.

Tim smiled at her.  “No reason to be sorry.  It looked like you were having good dreams.  You kept smiling and laughing.”

“What?” she said, hoping he wouldn’t ask any questions about what or who she was dreaming about. “But no snoring, right?”

“I would consider it deep, noisy breathing, but not snoring,” Tim teased.

Lucy swatted him with her pillow. She took a deep breath, “Well, I win the bet.  So I’m going to text you my coffee order. I think I’m going to do decaf this time since I only want to stay awake enough to make it onto the plane.  Then I fully plan to sleep on the 3 hour flight to LA.”  She opened up her phone to send a message. “Oh. I guess I don’t have your number yet.”

“Well, you haven’t needed it yet.  We haven’t been apart for more than twenty minutes of the last ten hours,” Tim chuckled. He told her his number, and a minute later got a text.

Unknown number – Hi. It’s Lucy. You probably figured that out. Thanks for getting my morning coffee.  Decaf chai latte with two sugars and oat milk please.  And I also like blueberry muffins in case you were wondering.  Sleep well, Tim.

“Okay,” she said looking up from her phone. “Now you need to get some sleep.”

Tim grabbed his blanket and pillow and stretched out next to Lucy, his head right next to her leg just as she had been when she fell asleep.  It took a while for sleep to come to Tim.  He kept his eyes closed and tried to slow his breathing, but his mind was still too full of Lucy to sleep.  He could feel her warmth, smell her perfume, and hear her mumble to herself every once in a while.

After five minutes or so, Lucy leaned down and whispered to him, “You really should get some sleep.  Rest is great, but sleep is better.”  Then she moved her left hand over and started gently stroking the small hairs on the back of his head.  Without even thinking about it she started singing softly.  Tim was so taken back by her gentle caresses and the sweet tones of her beautiful voice. If he weren’t so tired, he could have listened to her for hours.  But her tender touches and melodic voice were like an enchantment that soothed him to sleep swiftly.

Once he was finally asleep, Lucy took several minutes to admire his handsome face and what she could see of his figure. She felt a shiver go up her spine when she thought about some of their interactions over the last several hours. It’s amazing how fast life can change, she thought to herself.

She checked again to make sure that both Genny and Tim were asleep and then opened her backpack for the last of her surprises for the Bradfords. Under each set of Bradford hands, she placed a small gift.  Then, pleased at what a good little Christmas elf she had been, she picked up her phone to get some online shopping done.  She had a first date coming up, and she wanted to make a good impression.

Tim’s 4:00 alarm startled him awake.  He was having the most amazing dream that he was stuck in an airport and met a gorgeous, talented, caring woman.  As his eyes started to focus on his surroundings, he realized that he was, indeed, stuck in an airport.  As he turned his head, he saw the gorgeous, talented, caring woman of his dream.  It turned it, it wasn’t a dream after all. 

When Lucy saw Tim startle and arch his back like a scared cat, she set her hand on his shoulder and whispered, “Good morning. Merry Christmas,” with a soft smile on her face.

“Good morning. Merry Christmas,” he said in return, but he wasn’t sure if he was saying it as a question or a statement.  He really was sleeping deeply. He glanced out the windows and noticed that the runways had all been cleared.  I appeared that the snow had stopped sometime while he was asleep. It was still dark, but there were lights all over the runways showing the bare concrete.

He moved to sit up, rubbing his hands over his face.  The movement jostled something that then fell on the floor.  He leaned down to pick it up.  He studied it carefully and then looked at Lucy.

“Santa came while you were sleeping,” she said simply, shrugging her shoulders.

“Santa, huh?” he said, examining the item in his hands.  It was a dark grey hoodie with a silhouette of the Rocky Mountains in various shades of yellow, orange, and red. The material was very plush; he could tell that it wasn’t just a cheap tourist gift. He pulled it on over his clothes; it fit perfectly.  He slid close to Lucy until they were touching from shoulder to knee and whispered in her ear, “Thank you, Santa. I love it.”

Lucy felt the warmth of his breath tickle her ear; then it seemed to spread through her whole body. She could feel her cheeks get a little pink. “You’re welcome,” she whispered back. She enjoyed their closeness and was disappointed when he moved away from her to look at the agent at the gate.

A new agent had recently appeared, and there was a new departure time listed on the placard above her.  5:00 departure. Boarding at 4:30.

Tim stretched his arms high above his head and then extended them out to either side of him. As he finished his stretch, he allowed his right arm to wrap around Lucy’s shoulders.  “I’m going to see if that Starbucks is open and take care of my breakfast duties,” he whispered to her.

She giggled and looked back at him. “Don’t worry. I may let you win the next bet.”

“You may let me win the next one?” he said incredulously. He scoffed and shook his head, “I’ll have to be more careful placing bets with you.  I won’t underestimate the incredible Lucy Chen again.”

“You better not,” she said with a sly smile.

With that he slowly removed his arm from her back and stood up.  When he surveyed the rest of the Bradford crew, he saw that Santa had come to all of them, too. “How did you manage to get all of these things?”

“I have my ways, Sergeant Bradford.  Never doubt me,” she said impishly.

Tim stared at her for a moment, basking in the kindness that was Lucy Chen.  A woman who befriended complete strangers and made snow play possible and granted Christmas wishes. A woman who was looking back at him with soft, caring eyes, who laughed at his jokes, understood the dangers, demands, and challenges of his work, and even sang him to sleep.  A woman he was going to take out on a date this week. It couldn’t come soon enough.

After a minute or two, Tim blamed his self-deprived state for his staring. “Sorry. I better get that coffee so I can wake up.” Then he smiled at her again and turned down the aisle of chairs to head to Starbucks.

Soon after he left, Genny woke up to her alarm. She took a minute to take in her surroundings and then smiled at Lucy.  “Good morning,” she said.

“Good morning,” Lucy returned cheerfully.  “Merry Christmas.”

“Oh, yes, Merry Christmas,” she looked around at the people starting to gather close to their gate agent. “Is the flight really going to go?”

“Yes, as far as I can tell,” Lucy responded.  She pointed to the sign. “It says we start to board in 20 minutes. Tim just left to grab some breakfast for everyone.”

Genny smiled at Lucy. “I see he lost the bet,” she chuckled. “He hates losing, but I’m going to take a wild guess that he didn’t really mind losing to you.”

“Huh?” Lucy replied, wondering what Genny was implying.

“Oh, come on,” she said skeptically.  “I know you’ve only known Tim since yesterday afternoon, but does he really seem like the type that deals with losing well? The man is fiercely competitive.  He never let me win at games when we were kids.  He would say things like I had to ‘earn his respect’ or that I would never learn if he were soft on me.”  She let out a breath and looked into Lucy’s eyes.  “But ever since you stood up to him yesterday after his ‘world peace’ comment, he has been nothing but soft.”

Lucy pondered that for a moment.

“I’m just saying that there’s something about you Lucy.  You’re a good influence on him.”  Genny shifted around to try to wake up her boys and noticed something laying on her lap. “What’s this?”

“Oh, Santa came while you were asleep,” Lucy replied matter-of-factly.

“Santa?” she asked, looking at the very soft, dark green scarf.  She lifted it up to examine it more carefully.  It was a carefully woven knit.  Her fingers glided down the fabric where they eventually located a tag. Her eyes bugged open when she read it. “You got me a cashmere scarf?”

“No. Santa did,” she said adamantly. “I think he said something along the lines of ‘Genny needs something soft to cuddle with since this is her first Christmas as a single mom.’  But I may have heard him wrong.  He was whispering,” Lucy said, grinning widely at Genny. 

Genny couldn’t help herself.  She stood up and walked the three steps over to Lucy and enveloped her in a huge bear hug. It took a while for her to be willing to release Lucy.  Who was this astonishing woman who was such a perfect blessing for her family? There really was some Christmas magic at work, she thought to herself.  Eventually she released Lucy when she heard her boys moaning behind her.

“Merry Christmas!” she greeted them cheerily, wrapped the scarf around herself. Both boys moaned back to her in response. It was then that Genny noticed that she was not the only one that Santa had come to visit. “Hey guys, guess what? It seems like Santa found you here in the airport!”

That did the trick.  Two pairs of eyes shot open as they looked around them. 

“Legos! Santa got me Legos like Tyler’s Legos!” Tyson said shaking the box in his hand with a wide, toothless smile.

“A new game for the Switch?  What kind of a game is this? A girly cooking game?” Tyler’s eyes fell a little bit. “Santa fail,” he said flatly.

“Wait, what’s it called?” Lucy asked.

“Um. Overcooked,” he responded.

“Ooooo.  I’ve played that one before with one of my friend’s kids.  It’s a super competitive game where you compete against other players that are either with you or online to make a meal.  It’s won a lot of awards. It’s definitely NOT a pink and glittery, girly cooking game,” Lucy said, worried that she had failed. “Maybe I can come by sometime and show you how to play it.”

Of the four Bradfords, Tyler was definitely the least attached to Lucy, but when she described the game and offered to come play with him his eyes lit up. “Really? My mom hates playing the Switch with me, and Tyson is too young.  He messes everything up.”

“Totally.  I can teach your mom how to play, too.  Maybe she just doesn’t understand your complicated sports games,” she said, trying to cover for Genny.

“Yeah.  Mom likes to run, but she doesn't do a lot of sports,” he said, agreeing with Lucy.  “Would that be okay, Mom?”

“Of course, buddy.  I’d love to have Lucy come by sometime and hang out.”

Tim just caught onto the last part of what Genny was saying as he returned with breakfast. “Hey.  Not so fast. I get to have some time with Lucy, too.”

Lucy laughed. “Maybe Uncle Tim and I can both come over.  I may even let him win a time or two,” she said squinting at him playfully.

“Hold on a minute.  No one needs to let me win.  I can win just fine on my own,” he said defiantly.  “Now what are we talking about winning?”

The other four people laughed, and Tim, confused as to why exactly they were laughing, said, “What? I’m good at winning, okay?”

Tim then showed what he had purchased to everyone.  The boys were excited about their hot chocolate steamers, but Genny insisted that they all needed to go to the bathroom, wash their faces, and brush their teeth before it was time to board the plane.

“Mmm,” Lucy agreed.  “I definitely need to brush my teeth.”  She picked up her backpack and squeezed Tim’s shoulder as she walked by him.

Somehow Lucy was the last to leave, but the first to return. She had combed through her wavy hair and looked amazingly fresh for someone who only had 2 hours and 15 minutes of sleep. “Do you want me to watch the things while you get ready?”

“No.  I already did.  I stopped by the bathroom before I went to Starbucks. I had one of those disposable toothbrushes in my pocket.”

“I can see why Genny called you a boy scout,” Lucy said smiling at him.

“Look who’s talking.  You just keep pulling things out of that backpack of yours like you’re Mary Poppins.

Lucy giggled and shrugged her shoulders.

Soon enough, Genny and her crew returned to their favorite bank of seats.  Everyone grabbed the food Tim had gotten and started munching while they waited for their boarding zone to be called.

“Where are you sitting, Lucy?” Tyson asked.  “Mom, Tyler, and I are in row 26, seats A, B, and C.”

“Mmm,” Lucy said. “Bummer. I guess I won’t get to sit with you then.”

“I won’t either,” Tim said.  “I bought my ticket a long time after Genny did.  It was a sort of a last-minute thing that she convinced me to come.  So, I’m stuck in a middle seat – 19B. Hopefully I don’t get anyone chatty next to me. I just want to sleep the whole flight home.”

“Well, I have been accused of being chatty before,” Lucy said slowly showing Tim her seat assignment of 19A.

“Unbelievable! Did you switch your seat? How did you know where I’d be sitting?” Tim asked, completely beside himself.

“Well, I have been accused of using some Christmas magic over the last 12 hours, but coming up with a window seat on this flight is not in my bag of tricks.  This is the seat I picked months ago when I bought my ticket.”

Genny’s eyebrows were still raised in surprise as were Tim’s.   Neither knew what to say, so they just laughed. 

“This is the craziest airport experience I’ve ever had, hands down,” Genny said.

“For sure,” Tim agreed looking at Lucy. 

Their boarding zone was called next, and they made their way to the gate. Lucy and Tim bid Genny and her boys farewell as they moved a few more rows back. After they tucked their bags away, Lucy finished off the last of her coffee and blueberry muffin while they were waiting for the cabin door to close. She tucked the trash into the seat pocket in front of her and leaned her shoulder against Tim’s.

“Thanks for breakfast, again,” she said.

“I’ll get you breakfast anytime you want me to,” he said somewhat suggestively.

Lucy raised her eyebrows at him and bumped her shoulder against his slightly. “Hmmm. Noted,” she said looking at him carefully.  She glanced out the window, trying to calm the heat that was now glowing deep inside her. She took a deep breath. “Now, what was it you said about not wanting to sit by someone chatty? I would hate to ruin your flight.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever regret sitting by you,” he said honestly, catching her eyes and looking into them.  After a moment though he admitted, “But we do both work today, so we should probably get some sleep.”

“Mmm,” Lucy agreed.  She wound her arm around his and interlocked their fingers.  Then she shifted her body a little and leaned fully against Tim, laying her head on his shoulder. “Is this okay with you?”

Tim smiled down at Lucy.  He leaned over and kissed the top of her head.  “Perfect,” he said as he rested his head on hers.

Lucy’s free hand brushed up and down Tim’s arm gently, and she started to hum again.  Just like a few hours before, Lucy intoxicated Tim into slumber; he was drunk on Lucy.

Before they knew it, the plane landed at LAX. The landing jostled Tim and Lucy awake and startled them apart. They both blinked a few times, reacclimating to the light. Lucy squeezed Tim’s arm with her free hand.  “You really are the best sleep partner,” she said with a drowsy, rough voice.  “That was a great nap.”

Tim scoffed a little at her compliment, “I hope the next time we sleep together you are more impressed by the other things we did together, not just sleeping.”

Lucy pulled her head back and looked Tim in the eye, fully awake now. She giggled as her cheeks turned red. “Hmmm,” she said playfully.  “Sergeant Bradford, what are you suggesting?”

“Well, first I’m suggesting we go on a real date. But I’d like to hope there’ll be a second date, a first kiss, and then… maybe… more.”

“Hmmm… I do like the sound of that,” she whispered.  “And do you have a day in mind for the beginning of said events?”

“I got Tuesday off since I’m working today. Are you working Tuesday?”

“Tuesday?” she said, a little surprised.  “You mean, tomorrow?”

“That’s the Tuesday I’m talking about. Yeah.”

Lucy reached into her pocket to retrieve her phone. She pulled up her calendar app to confirm she was free. “Huh. I don’t have the whole day off, but I’m only scheduled until 3:00.  So, yeah.  I’m free tomorrow night.”

By the time that was decided, it was their turn to leave the plane.  Lucy grabbed her backpack and suitcase and followed Tim off of the plane.  As they waited for Genny and her boys, Tim stepped closer to Lucy and took her hand.

“Are you okay with the boys seeing us like this?” Lucy asked, moving their joined hands.

Tim scoffed. “Of course, I am. The boys love you.  And Genny adores you. Didn’t you notice her pushing us together?”

Lucy laughed. “It was hard to miss.” 

When Genny, Tyson, and Tyler emerged a minute or two later, Genny’s eyes were like laser beams to their hands.  She smiled at them and shook her head. “Christmas magic,” she muttered. 

They all walked down the concourse toward baggage claim.  Genny had packed one large bag with most of their things in it that they had to pick up. 

Tim and Lucy didn’t have any checked bags, but they weren’t eager to separate either, so they went with Genny to get her suitcase.

As they were standing around waiting for the baggage carousel to come to life, Tyson pointed at the ceiling above Tim and Lucy. “Mom, what’s that?”  The airport had a lot of festive decorations, but he was pointing to something he didn’t quite recognize.

Genny followed Tyson’s finger to a small clump of mistletoe hung as part of a garland.  She grinned widely and answered Tyson while making sure Tim and Lucy heard her. “That’s mistletoe, buddy.  The rule at Christmas time is that you have to kiss anyone who stands under the mistletoe with you.”

“Uncle Tim, did you hear that?” Tyson said.  “You have to kiss Lucy cuz you’re standing under mistletoe with her.”

Tyler rolled his eyes and covered them with his hand while he turned away from Tim and Lucy.  He wanted nothing to do with that.

Lucy turned to look up at Tim.  “It is a rule,” she said quietly.

“Really? Here? Now?” Tim asked.

“Sure, why not?” she said. “Apparently there’s magic in airports around Christmas.”

Tim dropped her hand and looked closely at her, suddenly feeling a bit awkward and unsure of himself.  He leaned forward.  They both closed their eyes.  Then Tim gave Lucy the tiniest little peck on the lips.  Then he leaned back and opened his eyes, looking pretty proud of himself.

Lucy had a look of shock on her face.  “Uh… I’m sorry, but is that it?”

Tim dropped his bravado saying, “Look, if you’re going to criticize me…”

He never got to finish his sentence.  Lucy leaned forward and held his face between her hands as she crushed her lips to his. It only took Tim a beat to respond.  His hands quickly came up to Lucy’s shoulder and waist, pulling her closer and reciprocating the kiss.  One of Lucy’s hands migrated down to Tim’s chest, while the other was still wrapped around his neck. They seemed to have forgotten that they were in a crowded airport with Tim’s family watching them for a few moments.

But they were reminded of that quickly enough when Tyson asked, “Mom, does this mean Lucy is going to be Aunt Lucy soon?”

Genny laughed at Tyson’s question. “I don’t know, buddy.  Maybe.”

Lucy pulled back from the kiss, smiling a little nervously at Tim. He didn’t seem like the type to really do a lot of public displays of affection, and that was definitely affectionate.

“What was that?” Tim asked, a bewildered but ecstatic look on his face.  “I thought you wanted to go slow?”

“Just because I want to go slow doesn’t mean you should kiss me like you kiss your grandma,” she said, smiling as she winked at him and patted his chest.

Tim shook his head at her, smiling wide, about to spit out a retort about kissing his grandma, but Genny interrupted him.

“Well, I hate to break this up,” Genny said, eying the two of them.  “Really, honestly, I do.  But I’ve got my suitcase now and two kids who want to be at home on Christmas morning.  And don’t both of you need to get to work?” she said smirking.

It was just after 7:00 now since they were back in Pacific time, and they both were supposed to be at work by 8:00.

“Right,” Lucy said.

“Yeah.  Uh huh,” Tim said at the same time.

Tim scooped up Lucy’s hand again and squeezed it tight. “We should get going.”  He leaned over and kissed Lucy’s temple as they started walking toward the exit.

“Again with the grandma kisses, Sarge?” Lucy teased.

“We’re walking through the baggage claim now.  It’s not like we can do much el…”

Lucy proved him wrong. She dropped his hand and grabbed a handful of Tim’s shirt, pulling him to her, and planted another kiss on his lips.  This one only lasted a moment or two as they were still walking, and it’s technically difficult to see where you’re going if you get too deep into a kiss.

“I stand corrected,” Tim said. “Happily.”  Tim straightened his shirt, licked his lips, and looked over at Lucy.  He could taste her lip gloss lingering there, and he loved it.

“Some things are worth the effort,” she said looking in his eyes seriously but with a playful tone to her voice. “But, for the record, I actually like sweet little kisses like the last one you gave me.  I just had to prove you wrong,” she said with a smirk.

Tim took a deep breath.  “You may just be the death of me, Lucy Chen.”

“What?” she said, looking ahead at the doors they were about to go through and then back at him. “No. I’m going to bring sunshine to your grumpy-ass life.” She raised an eyebrow at him and then went through the automatic door.

He followed her through the door and then paused for a moment while his eyes adjusted to the bright California sun. “I’m not always grumpy,” he said, trying to defend himself.

Lucy smiled back at him.  “Not with me you aren’t,” she said with a giggle. She pointed to the right at the shuttle bus that was loading passengers.  “I’ve got to get this shuttle to get to my car.”

“Oh.  Right.  Good-bye then.” He squeezed her hand.  He half-expected and more than a little bit wanted her to turn and kiss him again. But the last two passengers were getting onto the bus, and Lucy didn’t want to miss it.  She dropped his hand and blew him a kiss.  “Text me the details for tomorrow! Bye!!” she called as she ran.

“Be safe out there!” he hollered as she handed the shuttle bus driver her suitcase and stepped inside.

The shuttle bus pulled away just a moment later.  Tim waved at it until disappeared around the curve in the road.

What the hell just happened, he said to himself. That was the strangest and most amazing 16 hours of my life. Maybe Genny was right, and there was such a thing as Christmas magic.

Chapter Text

After The Snow

“Thorsen,” Tim said briskly.

Aaron Thorsen’s voice was scratchy and thick with sleep. “Sir? Is everything alright?”

“Of course.”

“Then why are you calling me at 7:30 AM on Christmas morning, sir?” Aaron said, trying to be polite while at the same time trying to process this odd circumstance.  He’d known Tim Bradford for over a year, and this was only the second time Tim had ever called him.

“I need a favor.”

That woke up Aaron pretty quickly.  Sergeant Tim Bradford was strong and independent and never, ever asked for help. “Sir?”

“I know that you know people.  People with money and power.”

Now Thorsen’s interest was piqued. Tim didn’t care about money or power or fame. “Yes, sir.”

“Is there anyway you can get me a reservation for two at the dining room of the Skylounge of 71above tomorrow night? With a window view?” Tim winced a little.  This was going to be expensive, and he hated overspending on fancy things.  But he really wanted his first real date with Lucy to be special. 71above is in the heart of downtown LA.  Its Skylounge is 1,000 feet above ground level, the highest restaurant west of the Mississippi, and the view is supposed to be spectacular.  But you generally have to have a reservation at least a few weeks in advance, particularly for a window view, and especially this close to Christmas.

“Sir?”

“I…I… met someone.”

“While you were with your sister and her kids in Denver?” Thorsen asked a bit confused.

“Why do you know so much about my personal life, Thorsen?” Tim asked in a gruff voice.

“We were talking about it at the station’s Christmas party, sir,” Thorsen said.  If he was going to stick his neck out for Tim, he wanted to know what was going on without having his head bitten off.

“Oh.  Right,” said Tim, trying to calm himself a bit.  His body still felt so charged from that kiss… well…kisses… less than an hour ago that he wasn’t quite himself yet. He had almost arrived at the station, and he just wanted to get some wheels in motion here so he could try to focus on his work for the next few hours. “I met someone in the airport.  It’s a long story,” Tim said, not wanting to divulge everything yet. “Do you think you could do that for me or not?”

“Yes, sir.  I’ll see what I can do, sir,” Aaron said, wisely choosing not to ask anymore questions.

“Good,” Tim said, confident that Aaron would be able to do this for him. “Thank you.”

Aaron rolled over in bed and shot off a few text messages before he closed his eyes to go back to sleep. Tim Bradford met someone at an airport… What kind of a woman would fall for a grumpy man slumped in a chair sitting by his sister and her kids in an airport?  I’ve got to find out the rest of this story, Thorsen thought to himself before he drifted back to sleep.

Thankfully Tim’s morning was uneventful.  Even criminals will go see their families for Christmas, apparently. He caught up on some paperwork and training materials he was supposed to be working on.  He talked with his team about upcoming drills they had scheduled.  He also watched his phone like a hawk.  Nothing had come through for hours.

When he returned to his desk after lunch, he heard a ping from his phone.  He quickly picked it up.

Thorsen – Dinner for 2 at 71above tomorrow night at 7:00. Window view. Here’s the link to the restaurant and confirmation. <<71above.com>>  <<opentable.com/reservations/925648302>>

Bradford – Thanks.  I knew you could do it.  I owe you.

Thorsen – You don’t owe me anything other than a good review of the place.  That was the stipulation from my buddy.

Bradford – Will do.

Tim smiled into a sigh.  Now he had an excuse to text Lucy.  He had been looking for one since he watched her get on the shuttle bus that morning.

Tim – Hey.  Are you staying awake okay at work?

Lucy answered immediately.

Lucy – If you don’t count the daydreaming I’ve been doing, yes, I’m staying awake just fine.

Fireworks seemed to go off in his brain as images of Lucy surrounded him.  He had also spent the day trying to focus only to find a beautiful woman in a yellow scarf making an appearance in his mind again and again. Tim tried to calm himself down.  He was grown-ass adult, and he was giddy about a text message. But the idea of her daydreaming at work started some extra gears turning in his mind.  She’s flirting with me, right? Man, I’m bad at dating, he thought.

Tim – I’ve been a bit distracted today, too.  My mind keeps wandering back to this beautiful brunette in a yellow scarf I met.

Lucy – In a yellow scarf, huh? I seem to remember you liking the view when I took off the scarf.

Tim shook his head. How was he supposed to work another 6 hours if she was going to send him messages like this?  Plus, he wasn’t going to see her until tomorrow.

Tim – This isn’t helping.

Lucy – Sorry, not sorry.

Tim – It’s a good thing we haven’t caught a big case. If your head is not 100% in the game, it’ll get you killed.

Lucy – Definitely wouldn’t want that.  You owe me a date.

Tim took a deep breath. Keep cool, he told himself. Breathe.

Tim – About that.  Would 7:00 tomorrow still work for you? I got us dinner reservations downtown.

Lucy – Perfect.  Dressy or causal?

Tim – Dressy

Lucy – Trying to impress me, huh?

Tim – Is it working?

Lucy – I’ll let you know tomorrow. Be safe, Tim.

Tim – You, too.

Tim let his face fall into his hands.  How am I supposed to go over training drills now? After that, he thought.

Across town Lucy was caught giggling as she looked at her phone.

Jackson smiled at her as he walked by her desk on his way back from lunch with his team and heard her giggling. “Puppy videos again, Chen?”

Lucy tried to sober up but couldn’t wipe the smile off of her face. “Umm.  No.  Not this time.”

“Huh…Kittens? No, you’re not much of a cat person. Something funny from one of your friends from your girls’ weekend?”  Jackson was studying her face.  There was something different.  Something he didn’t recognize there.

“No.  I… uh… I just got a message from someone I met yesterday.  That’s all.” Lucy said, trying to be calm and nonchalant.  But the vibe she was giving off was anything but calm; it was bubbly, almost buoyant.  She couldn’t even sit still in her chair.

“Hold on a minute,” he said.  He ran over to his team to tell them he’d follow behind them soon.  Then he ran back over to Lucy. He grabbed a chair from a nearby desk and flipped it around.  Straddling the chair and leaning forward on the backrest with his arms crossed, he looked directly into Lucy’s eyes with a grin almost wider than his face.  “Tell me everything.  From the beginning.  Don’t skip anything.”

Lucy rolled her eyes, but she was so excited to tell someone about everything that had happened that she couldn’t downplay her excitement.  “You know how I got snowed in at the Denver airport?”

“Yeah. You texted me about that,” he said prompting her to keep going.

 “Well, I was sitting down at my gate just before we were supposed to start boarding. Yesterday afternoon, that is.  Not when we did board this morning,” she clarified.

“Uh huh.”

“And this little boy called me very pretty.”

“That’s what you’re excited about? A little boy called you pretty?” he asked scrunching up his nose and squinting at her.

“No!! Jackson,” she said, sighing.  “You told me to tell you the whole story.”

“Okay.  Sorry.  I’ll be patient. Keep going.”

“Anyway, I started talking to his mom and his brother, too.  They had just moved to LA and were visiting Denver for the holiday and to play in the snow.  Then this super hot guy sat down with them…”

“Lucy Chen,” he interrupted. “Do not tell me you are having a thing with a married man,” he said, clicking his tongue and shaking his head playfully.

“Would you stop?!  No!  You know I wouldn’t do that,” she said pushing his shoulder.  She could tell he was joking, but he was also ruining the story as she told it. “He’s their uncle, the mom’s brother. The mom is recently divorced, so she convinced her brother to go with them back to where they lived so she’d have a buffer around her ex-husband.”

“Okay…”

“Anyway, we all got snowed in overnight, so we had a lot of time to talk to each other.  He and I really had a… connection,” she said, getting dreamy-eyed.

“Right….”

“Turns out the guy is also a police officer with the LAPD.”

“The super hot uncle is with the LAPD? You go to Denver on a girls’ trip, get snowed in at the airport, and meet someone from the LAPD?” said Jackson.  He shook his head like he had whiplash.

“Yeah.  He’s the Liaison Sergeant with Metro,” Lucy said smiling brightly.

“The one out of Mid-Wilshire? Sergeant Bradford?” Jackson asked.  Jackson’s face was frozen in surprise. His eyes blinked at her, but the rest of him was stiff.

“Do you know him?” Lucy asked.  She was excited for half a second that he might know Tim but didn’t love the weird feeling he was giving off.  Like something awful had happened.

It took a minute, but eventually Jackson started talking. “Uh.  Well… you know SWAT and Metro work together on some of the bigger cases, right?”

“Yeah.  So… you’ve worked with him?” Lucy asked.  She really didn’t like the way this conversation was going and was starting to feel a bit unsure of herself.

“Umm-hmmm,” Jackson said, still in shock that Lucy might be sweet on Tim Bradford.

“And…” Lucy probed.  She didn’t like that Jackson was being so hesitant.  Was Tim not the guy he said he was? Was he a dirty cop or something?

“I mean… I agree that he’s super hot.  I don’t think anyone would ever argue with you about that. I’ve been in a locker room with him.  He’s built like a Greek god,” Jackson said, his eyes wide to show that in his mind Bradford was unequivocally, strikingly handsome.

“Uh huh…” Lucy said.  She didn’t need to be convinced on that point.

“And there is absolutely no doubt that he’s a great cop.  His record is squeaky clean.  He’s innovative in his approach to tough situations. He’s a great leader.  He has the respect of everyone on his team.  He used to be a TO for years,” Jackson paused for a second and chuckled.  “My dad actually requested that he be my TO because he had such a good reputation, but it just didn’t work out with the timing of when we finished at the academy and when he was available to train a new rookie.”

“I feel like I’m waiting to hear the catch.  All of those things sound great.  Like he’s the best of the best,” Lucy said, trying to get Jackson to keep eye contact with her. “So, what aren’t you telling me?”

“Well… Some people might say… There’s just this…” Jackson was trying to figure out how to say it without being really rude or ruining what Lucy might think about him.

“Jackson, spit it out,” Lucy said firmly.

“He’s… He’s just a jerk,” Jackson said, relieved to have finally said it. Once it was out, he just kept going. “Super grumpy.  A stickler for the rules.  He’ll scream your head off if you just happen to carry something in your gun hand for two seconds.  More of his rookies have washed out than any other TO’s rookies in the last ten years.  My buddy from SWAT who had him as a TO told me tons of stories.  No AC until the afternoon – in LA! He made him get out of the shop and walk on his first day until he figured out where he was.  He pranked him with powder bombs. He made him wear long-sleeves for the full 13 months. He would bet against his rookies doing well in competitions…”  Jackson paused for a second, and then concluded his assessment of Tim Bradford by saying, “But everyone who trained under him says he made them who they are today.  He’s a great cop, one of the best, and a complete asshole.”

He looked over at Lucy.  All the bounce was gone.  The blood was drained from her face.  Her fingers that had been fidgeting in excitement were now slowly tracing the edge of her desk with a different kind of tremor.  She didn’t say a word.

“Luce?” Jackson said, trying to get her to look at him. “I’m sorry, Lucy.”  He reached his hand over to touch her shoulder, but she pulled away from him.

“Maybe he’s different when he’s not a work…” Jackson offered.

Lucy held her hand up. She didn’t want to hear any more. “You should probably catch up with your team,” she said weakly, looking down at her desk. “I’ll see you later.”

Jackson got up slowly.  Now he was the one that felt like the big jerk.  He had stopped to talk to Lucy because she was super excited about something, and now she looked like a 7 year-old whose friends didn’t show up to her birthday party. At the same time, Lucy was sometimes too blind when it came to men.  She saw the good traits and didn’t have insight into how bad the bad ones were; she was too forgiving.  He wanted to protect her from another man that would manipulate her and push her around without giving any thought to her wishes or opinions, like her last boyfriend, Chris.

Jackson sighed and walked away.  “Sorry, Lucy.”

Once Jackson was out of sight, Lucy pushed all of the cases files she was working on to the side.  She pulled up Tim Bradford’s records with the LAPD.  She hadn’t done it earlier because it sort of felt like cheating to get to know someone that way, but now she was so unsure of herself that she needed to know more.

Jackson was right about at least one thing: Tim had a squeaky clean record. No meetings with IA.  No red flags.  Nothing.  He toed the line perfectly.  There were several rookies who washed out under him, but their exit interviews didn’t seem bitter or angry in any way.  The Watch Commander had given him rave reviews when he moved over to Metro from patrol. Everything pointed to Tim being an excellent cop.  But the records wouldn’t be able to tell the whole story. She needed to talk to someone she could trust who knew him.

She knew hardly anyone at Mid-Wilshire, but she had worked with one person.  And that one person would tell it to her straight.  So, she got out her phone to send a message.

Lucy – Hey.  I’m sorry to bother you on Christmas.  If you have a few minutes to spare, would you give me a call?

Nyla – Just give me a minute.

Exactly one minute later, Lucy’s phone was ringing.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Chen.  Thanks for getting me away from my mother-in-law.  I owe you one,” Nyla said with a chuckle. “What’s going on? Are you going under again? With someone I know maybe?”

“No. Nothing like that. I…” Lucy didn’t know how to start.  She really didn’t know Nyla very well, but they had worked a case together once with Nyla as her handler.  So, she trusted her.  “I wanted to get your opinion on something…well, on someone.”

“On a CI? Or someone I knew when I was undercover?” Nyla was trying to figure out why Lucy was calling her and why she was being so vague.

“No…. Someone that you work with, actually,” Lucy confessed, biting her lip as she said it.

“Okay…”

“Can you tell me what you know about Tim Bradford?” Lucy blurted out.

That caught Nyla by surprise.  “Sergeant Tim Bradford, the Metro Liaison Sergeant?”

“Yeah,” Lucy said, bracing for more of what Jackson had told her.

“Um.  Okay.  Tim is a tough cop.  He plays by the rules.  He follows protocol. He’s 100% dedicated to his work.  If we work together, I can always count on him.  We were TOs at the same time here at Mid-Wilshire for about a year. He’s a good guy,” Nyla said.  Then she paused for a minute. “He isn’t going undercover with you, is he? He hates undercover work.”

“No.  I don’t have any assignments with him.  It’s… uh… It’s a… personal matter,” Lucy said.  She didn’t know what to call it.  They weren’t dating. Jackson had her doubting if she ever should go on a date with him.

“Personal, huh?” Nyla said, reading between the lines. “Well, I haven’t known him as long as some of the other people here.  My partner, Angela Lopez, is his best friend.  They’ve known each other for ages. I could get you her number…”

“Oh.  No.  Please.  I just…” Lucy didn’t know how to say it, and she didn’t want anything to get back to Tim. “Can you promise me that this won’t get back to Tim? Or to Angela for that matter?”

“Lucy.  Of course.  You can trust me,” Nyla reassured her.

Lucy took a deep breath.  “Um.  I met Tim yesterday while we were snowed in at the Denver airport.  I know it’s the weirdest thing. But we really connected and…” Lucy knew that Nyla couldn’t see her, but she hid her eyes with her hand anyway. “And we’re going on a date tomorrow,” she said as fast as she could. She continued before Nyla had a chance to respond.  “I was super excited about it.  But then I told one of my good friends, and he… didn’t have good things to say about him personally.  As a cop he’s great.  But personally, he said he was a jerk.”

“Okay.  Now I see where this is going,” Nyla said as the pieces of the puzzle were falling into place. “Like I said, I haven’t known Bradford for more than two years.  But I know his ex-wife was a detective with narcotics and a UC.  She did a lot of undercover assignments, long ones. She got addicted to heroine and left him.  During that time, he really was a jerk.   He wasn’t in a good place.  It was actually his rookie at the time that really helped him through it all.  His name is John Nolan, oldest rookie in the LAPD.  Have you ever heard of him?”

“Yeah.  He was in the group just after us at the Academy.”

“Well John talks.  A lot.  And Tim hates talking to his rookies.  ‘The shop is a personal-life free zone,’ he always says.  Despite Tim hating the sound of John’s voice, John had also recently gone through a divorce and was able to help Tim get through the worst part of it.  Then Tim moved up to patrol sergeant, and I took over John’s training.  And he definitely talked too much for my taste, too,” Nyla paused for a minute.  “Sorry, back to Tim. He is a tough TO.  Very no-nonsense.  His rookies don’t like him much, but he trains them well. But as far as dating?” she took a big breath. “I think he’s dated a couple women since I’ve known him.  One of them moved away.  The other one broke up with him a few months ago.  Rumors were that she didn’t like that he was a cop and wanted him to retire. Whenever they came to the station, he would always open doors for them.  He was very attentive to them.  I really don’t know any more.”

“Hmmm,” Lucy said processing all the new information. “Thanks, Nyla.  Just one more question.” Lucy held her breath for a second and then spit out. “Would you describe him as a jerk or an asshole?”

Nyla laughed. “Never to his face,” she said chuckling more. “No. Tim is tough, but he isn’t a jerk.  He really cares about the people in his life. Angela gets him to babysit for her regularly.  Her son adores Tim.”  She paused for a beat or two and then said, “I would never date him because (1) I’m married, and (2) we’re a little too alike.  Both of us need someone that’s a little softer around the edges to bring a little bit of balance.”

“Um. Thanks, Nyla. I really appreciate it.  I should get back to work.”

“Anytime. Thanks again for giving me a break from my mother-in-law.” Nyla was about to hang up when she remembered something. “Hey.  One more thing.  I heard from Caradine that he’s been recruiting you to join our team here.  We had a couple of people retire recently, and we could really use the help.  Caradine doesn’t want to start two brand new detectives at the same time, so he was hoping to poach you from North Hollywood.  Everyone sings your praises both about UC work as well as your case closure rate as a detective.”

“Mmm. Thanks.  Yeah.  I’ve gotten an email or call from him at least once a week for over two months,” she said with an awkward laugh. “I just haven’t had any reason to want to leave North Hollywood.”

“Well, you should consider it.  We’ve got a great team here.”

“Thanks, Nyla.  Merry Christmas.”

“You, too, Chen.  Be safe.”

As Lucy put down her phone, she took a deep breath.  Maybe things weren't as bad as Jackson had said.  Nyla seemed to respect him. Her mind was a flurry of thoughts trying to put together the puzzle of Tim Bradford.  Great cop.  Grumpy. Fun uncle. Mean TO. Amazingly hot.  Divorced. Good friend. Hates UC. Looks at me with stars in his eyes.

In the midst of her jumble of thoughts and emotions, Lucy remembered something that Genny had mentioned when they very first met. 'Let's just see if you can find someone who can tolerate you and your grumpiness well enough to have a family with you first,' she had said to Tim in the first few minutes of Lucy meeting them.

Lucy suddenly knew what she needed.  Genny.

Lucy - Hey! Merry Christmas again! Thanks for the pictures you sent me. I'm already missing you and your boys.  Would it be possible for me to swing by this evening?

Genny - You want to come see us? I thought there would be another Bradford you would want to hang out with tonight...and he isn’t here.

Lucy paused before she answered Genny's text. She did really want to see Tim again, but with the information she got from Nyla and Jackson she was unsure about a lot of things. 

Lucy - He said that he had to go to his friend Angela's house tonight.  Something about dropping off a gift for his godson.

Genny - Well, you're always welcome here.  Tyson and Tyler would love to see you again.  I'll send you the address.  Just send me a text before you leave so I can make sure we're all decent. LOL.

Lucy spent the rest of her shift distracted.  She kept teetering back and forth between relying on the information she got from others and trusting what she had experienced.  After hours of equivocating, she slammed her file drawer shut, snagged her things from her desk, and left the station.  

She drove for a while, just needing to see open road and clear her mind a bit.  However, open road doesn't really exist in LA, so she just ended up frustrated with the traffic.   Somehow, she ended up in the drive through line and mindlessly handed over her credit card to get a veggie burger and fries with extra pickles.  As she pulled out into traffic again, she remembered that it was Christmas.  This was the strangest Christmas she'd ever had.

The weather was, of course, much warmer in LA than it was in Denver.  Lucy found a small park with only a few cars in the parking lot. This will do, she said to herself. She parked her car and grabbed her food.  There was a bench close by on the top of a small hill that overlooked a pond. Lucy took a few deep breaths as she looked out on the sunset. She ate her food in peaceful solitude. She passed her time in contemplation, trying to get all of her thoughts and emotions in check. 

By the time she texted Genny her ETA, she had decided that it was more important to base her decisions on her own experiences rather than reports from other people.  She might try to protect her heart a little bit more than she was doing before, but it was unfair to Tim to judge him by his past or what others told her about him.

With a smile on her face, she arrived at the Bradford home. She heard a clamor of movement as soon as she started approaching the door.  Tyson opened the door and hurled himself at her before she even got to the doorstep.

Genny chuckled at the sight of Tyson tackling Lucy from the doorway.  “Sorry, Lucy.  Tim insisted that we get these motion-detectors installed when we moved in here, so they kids knew you were here when you got out of your car.”

“No problem,” Lucy called as she tried to regain her footing.  “Hey, Tyson.  Did Santa come here, too? And did you mom get you some great things?”

“Yeah!” he hollered, even though he was still hanging on to her.  “Let me show you!” Tyson climbed off of Lucy and grabbed her hand.  He led her into the house to the living room where a sea of toys, packaging and wrapping paper still covered the floor. He directed her to an open area on the couch.

“Sorry about the mess, Lucy.  You’d think I have twelve kids from all the mess they make.”

“The mess he makes,” Tyler corrected from nearby.  “I’ve already put most of my new things away.”

“Hey, Tyler!” Lucy called.  “When Tyson is done showing me his things, would you show me your favorite things?”

“Sure,” he said. “And then would you play on the Switch with me on the TV?”

“Yeah.  That sounds perfect.”

For the next two hours Lucy was completely occupied with Tyson and Tyler. They showed her all their new things.  Lucy read a couple of Tyson’s new books to him. Then Lucy and Tyler played the new game on his Switch while Tyson worked on assembling his new Legos. 

Genny came in for part of the time.  Lucy had to teach her how to play the new Switch game.  She also helped Tyson with some Lego assembly that was more complicated.

When 10:00 rolled around Genny had to pry her sons away from Lucy.  “Come on, guys. I already let you stay up late because it’s Christmas, but none of us slept well last night.  So, we all need to get some sleep.  Go get your jammies and brush your teeth.  Scoot!”

Tyson and Tyler reluctantly put down what they were doing and slowly, with plenty of moaning, moved toward their bedrooms. “Goodnight, Mom.  Goodnight, Lucy.”  As they trudged past them, Tyson gave his mom and Lucy hugs while Tyler bid them farewell with fist bumps.

“Mom, can Lucy come over again before we have to go back to school?” Tyson asked.

Genny looked at Lucy and then back at Tyson.  “That’s entirely up to her.”

Lucy picked up Tyson, who was still clutching onto her, and swung him around. “Of course! I’d love to come back and play sometime.”  She laughed as she released Tyson to the ground, and he swayed for a moment before reorienting himself. “But right now, you need to listen to your mom and get to bed.  Goodnight!”

Genny suspected from the time that Lucy texted that she had more than just playing with the kids in mind for the evening.  “Let me just tuck them in and then we can chat for a little bit.  Okay?”

“Yeah.  Great,” Lucy said.  Then she got to work tidying up the mess of Legos and other toys that Tyson had strewn all over the floor. 

Genny reemerged several minutes later to a very tidy living room as Lucy was tossing the last of the wrapping paper. “Wow.  Thanks,” she said, pausing to take in the room.  Maybe I should have you over every night to entertain my kids and clean up after them.”

Lucy blushed as she sat down on the couch again.  “You have great kids.  You’ve done a great job raising them.”

Now it was Genny’s turn to blush. “Thanks.  Can I interest you in a drink? Sometimes I end my day with a small glass of wine.”

“Mmm,” Lucy said.  “That sounds perfect.”

When Genny sat down next to Lucy a few minutes later, she extended to her a glass of red wine.  “So, tell me why you really came tonight,” she said looking intently at Lucy.

Lucy took the opportunity to take another long sip of her wine before she answered. “Well, I did want to see all of you again...  And make sure the Santa found the boys.”

“And…”

“And…” she paused and took another long sip.  She couldn’t quite meet Genny’s eyes; instead, she stared down into the wine glass for another moment.

“And you want to know something about Tim,” Genny said knowingly.

Lucy’s eyes jumped up to meet Genny’s and her mouth opened slightly, unsure what to say.

“Come on.  I don’t need to be a detective to figure things like this out,” she pshawed, waving her hand in the air. “But… you are a detective.  And you and Tim both work for the LAPD.  So, I’m guessing you talked to someone about him or read something about him that is making you… hesitate more than you did this morning when you plastered him with a kiss under the mistletoe.”

Now Lucy’s mouth was positively agape. She was frozen staring at Genny, who was pretty proud of her assessment. After a moment, Lucy pulled her thoughts together and managed to form words. “That is impressive,” she said pointing at Genny. “And 100% accurate.”  Lucy looked down into her glass and took another sip of her wine.

“Can I fill you in a little bit about Tim’s past? Maybe then you’ll understand who he is a little better and why he does what he does.”

“Please!” Lucy said, tucking her leg underneath her and curling herself into the couch like a kid getting comfy for a bedtime story.

“When Tim and I were younger, we didn’t have the best home environment.  Our dad drank… a lot.  And when he drank a lot, and sometimes even when he was sober, he was really angry.  He hurt our mom regularly.  When Tim got old enough to realize what was happening and to try to protect our mom, Dad hurt him, too. Tim always protected me, so I wasn’t hurt much physically.  But Tim was hurt often, sometimes daily, until he left home.”

Tim had alluded to a rough childhood in some of their conversations, but he never expanded much on what ‘rough’ meant. Lucy shook her head. “I’m so sorry, Genny.  Home should be a place where you feel safe, not where you’re hurt or have to hide.”

“I totally agree.  One of the reasons that Rob and I divorced is that his drinking was getting out of hand.  I had to get myself and my kids into a safer place.”  Genny sighed as she looked around her home.  “We’re safe now.” 

Then, she resumed her story. “Tim was a protector from a very young age, so it only made sense that when he finished high school, he would escape our house and join the army.  And when he was done in the army he moved directly into the LAPD. He thrives on rules and structure and protecting people.  That’s how he knows how to keep the people he loves safe.”  Her eyes drifted far away for a moment, recalling the past.  Then she blinked a few times and refocused on Lucy.  “So, Tim is tough.  He is a fierce protector of those he loves and of the city he loves. I was never around him much when he was training his rookies.  We lived apart for many of those years. But I do know that he took being a training officer very seriously.  He only wants the best and most skilled officers out there to help protect his city.”

Lucy was soaking this information in like a sponge as she nodded along to what Genny was saying.

“Because we had such a rough home life, Tim has always wanted to prove that he can build a better, safer, happier home life.  He met Isabel in the Police Academy.  They dated for a couple years and then got married.  I understand that they always planned to have kids, but it just never worked out.  Isabel did a lot of undercover assignments.  It was during those assignments that she got addicted to drugs, heroine specifically. Tim doesn’t like to talk about it a lot.  He blames himself for not intervening early enough and getting her help.  What I do know is that she just disappeared one morning.  She took all their money and anything she could sell and left.  Tim looked for her for a long time; he didn’t find her for almost a year.  By then she was in a really bad place, rock bottom.  She was forced into rehab.  While she was there, she and Tim agreed to divorce.”

Genny took another sip of her wine and looked at the ceiling before looking back at Lucy. “During those years Tim was also in a really bad place, a very dark place.  He barely spoke to me. I think he was really angry and really lonely for a long time. He blamed himself a lot,” she sighed. “So, if you talked to people who knew him during those years, I’m sure it wasn’t very positive.”

Lucy nodded, not wanting to interrupt.

“Since then, he’s only had one serious girlfriend.  But I never liked her that much.  Tim always acted differently around her – fake, like he was trying to be whoever she wanted him to be. I was happy to hear that she broke up with him, but sad that Tim blamed himself again and was so lonely.”  Genny looked down at her fingers for a minute and then took another sip of her wine. “And that is the history of Tim in five minutes.”

Lucy took a deep breath.  “Thank you for that.  Now the other stories I heard about him seem to make more sense. I sort of feel like I’m cheating by asking people about him, instead of talking to him.  But the first person I told was my best friend. And his response was faaaar from positive. My last relationship was a huge mistake that I had a hard time getting out of.  And my best friend was trying to help me see that for months.  I really didn’t want this to be more of the same.”

“Hey.  I’m happy to talk whenever you want someone to talk with.  I’ve made a few friends since we moved back a few months ago, but I could always use another friend.  Plus, my kids adore you and think you’re magical. So, please, come over whenever you’d like.”

Lucy looked down at her watch. “Oh.  I’m so sorry I’ve kept you up so late.  I should go,” she said as she got to her feet. Walking her wine glass to the kitchen sink she said, “Thank you again for letting me come and for filling in so much of Tim’s backstory.” She found her jacket and shoes by the door as she called, “Definitely let me know if you need a night out without your kids or if I can help at all.”

Genny followed her to the door.  “Thanks, Lucy.  You’re the best kind of guest: you entertained my kids, cleaned up their mess, and then had adult conversation with me.  You’re always welcome here.”

“Thanks.  I really appreciate your help. Merry Christmas! Bye!” Lucy called as she walked out the door.

“Bye!” she called. As Genny waved goodbye, she said quietly to herself, “And you’ve made my brother happier than I’ve seen him in years – in less than a day.  Take good care of him, Lucy.”

After she closed the door and turned on the alarm, she took out her phone.

Genny – Merry Christmas.  Hope the rest of your day was great. 

Tim – Merry Christmas to you, too.   It was a good day at work.  Not busy. Then I went to Angela’s house to see my godson. Did the boys have a good day?

Genny – They did.  And then Lucy came over to make it even better.

Tim – What? Lucy came over?  Why didn’t you tell me? I would have come over to join you.

Genny – Lucy needed to talk.  I had to do a little damage control.  Your reputation has gone beyond just your station.

Tim – What?

Tim – Crap. What did she hear? How I am supposed to fix that?

Genny – Don’t worry.  I gave her some more background into why you are a grumpy asshole.

Tim – Please tell me to you didn’t call me that to Lucy.

Genny – Of course not. That’s what people had told her though. It may be worth calling her and reminding her of what a softie you are.

Tim – I’m not a softie.

Genny – You are for Lucy. Don’t forget I was there at the airport with you. You can’t fool me.

Genny – Call her.

Tim – What am I supposed to say? Sorry people think I’m a grumpy asshole?

Genny – LOL. No. Just be your softie self.

Tim – Okay. Crap.

 Tim – I’ll see you in the morning, right?

Genny – The boys can’t wait to show you all their new things.  Good luck on that call, Tim.

Tim rolled over on his bed.  After Angela’s house he had collapsed fully clothed on his bed in exhaustion. Angela had grilled him about Lucy for at least half an hour.  She didn’t know much about her, so she pried every detail she could from Tim. He had been lying on the bed for just 15 minutes when Genny started texting him. 

Now he was fully awake. How am I going to fix this, he asked himself. Who did she talk to about me?  I’m finally excited about a relationship and my history has to come and ruin things.  As he was stuck in a spiral of confusion and self-pity, he heard a ping on his phone.

Lucy – Are you still awake?

Tim – …

As soon as Lucy saw the three dots show up that Tim was answering her text, she hit the ‘call’ button.

“Hey,” Tim said as he answered the call.

“Merry Christmas… again,” Lucy said with a giggle.

“Merry Christmas. I’m excited to see you tomorrow night.”

“Me, too.”

There was a pause over the phone for a minute.

“I heard you went over to Genny’s tonight.”

Lucy’s heart skipped a couple beats.  She wasn’t sure what Genny would have told him. “Yeah, well, Santa’s elf had to make sure her gifts were well received.” She laughed nervously.

“I’m sure the boys loved them.”

“Well, I am a great gift giver.  Plus, there was that Christmas magic thing…” Lucy said trailing off.

“Hmmm…” Tim mused. He didn’t know what else to say to prove that he wasn’t a grumpy asshole. “I stopped by my best friend’s house after work.  I had to give a gift to my godson.  He seemed to think that I was a pretty great giver, too.”

Lucy giggled. “It’s not always a competition, Tim. Plus, if it were, I would win.”

“I guess we’ll have to wait and see about that,” Tim challenged.

“Yes.  Next Christmas we can have a gift-giving competition.  Then you will see that I am the best gift giver.”

Now it was Tim’s turn for his heart to skip a beat. Did she really just say ‘Next Christmas,’ as in they would still be talking to each other, maybe dating each other a year from now?  This was the reassurance that he needed to calm his anxieties. “You’re on, Chen.”

Lucy laughed in response. “You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into, Bradford,” she said referring to competing with her at gift-giving.

“On the contrary, I’m quite excited about the prospect of what will happen between now and then,” Tim said, dropping the teasing tone.

Lucy let out a little gasp.  Her fatigue had slowed her understanding of the timeline they were talking about, but his last words were quite clear. “Hmmm.  Me, too.”

After a moment of silence Lucy said, “Um.  You told me we were eating downtown, but you didn’t tell me where.  Is this a surprise still?”

“Yes.  I’ll send you a location for where to park.  We should get there at 6:45 for our 7:00 reservation.  Call me when you park, okay?”

“Okay.  Good night, Tim.  Sleep well.”

“Good night, Lucy. Sweet dreams.”

Lucy had been asleep by the time Jackson came home Christmas evening. But they were both getting ready for work at the same time on the 26^th.

“Morning, Jackson.”

“Good morning, Lucy.” Jackson looked at her as he started the coffee pot.  “Hey.  I didn’t get to talk to you again after we chatted at the station.  I’m sorry if I burst your bubble about that Bradford guy.  I just… I just don’t want you to get in a bad situation again.” Jackson looked at her with his soft, puppy dog eyes full of caring.

“Hmmm.  That did sort of burst by bubble. But I looked into his records a little bit more and talked to a couple other people about him,” she said slowly, not wanting to offend Jackson nor start an argument. “It seems like a couple years ago he was in a really rough place personally and that translated to a really harsh, unconventional training style.  I understand that people around him feel like he’s in a better place now and not so… grumpy.”  Lucy sighed. “Plus, I have a really good feeling about us.  We really connected.  So, I don’t feel like I should base my feelings about him on the stories I get from others.”

Jackson lifted both hands to the level of his shoulders like he was surrendering. “It’s your call, Lucy.  Of course. I just don’t want to see you get hurt or wind up in a bad relationship again.” He walked over behind her and rubbed her back for a second.  “You know I love you like a sister, right?” he said softly.

Lucy turned around and enveloped him in a big hug.  “I know.  Speaking of which, how was the West family Christmas last night?”

“Oh, it was great. My parents asked about you.  They said you’ll have to come join us for a family dinner again soon.”

“That would be great.  Let me know when the next one is, and I’ll do my best to make it.”

After that Jackson and Lucy finished their morning routine and headed off to the station.

Lucy still didn’t have any new cases, so she broke out some of her older cases to work on.  She checked her phone throughout the day, hoping to see something from Tim.

Across town, Tim was spending the day with Genny and her boys.  It wasn’t new or different to be spending time with them, but somehow everything seemed to remind him of Lucy.  The boys kept referring to her or asking about her.  Or they were playing with something she gave them.  Or Genny would bring up something that happened with Lucy.  Regardless of how hard he tried not to text her because she was at work and he was going to see her this evening, his phone seemed to be burning in his pocket.  He kept checking it to see if he had missed any messages. Finally, he gave in.  He pulled out his phone to send her a couple pictures of the kids. 

Tim – <<Picture of Tyson and his Lego creation>>

Tim – <<Picture of Tyler playing the Switch game Lucy gave him>>

Tim – <<Picture of Genny wearing the scarf Lucy gave her>>

Tim – I gave each of them gifts today, but my gifts have been overshadowed by someone… elfish.

Lucy smiled as she looked at the pictures and the message from Tim.  She felt a warm feeling come over her as she thought about Tim and his family.  

Lucy – I told you I’m a great gift giver.

Tim – It was probably just that Christmas magic.

Lucy – Let me just remind you that *I* was the Christmas magic.

Tim sighed as he read her message. She was, he thought to himself.  Everything good that happened was all because of her. He didn’t know what to say next, so paused for a minute as he looked around Genny’s house.  Hoping for inspiration.

When Tim didn’t respond right away, Lucy got a little nervous. She was just trying to tease him.  Maybe she had taken it too far?  Then she saw the three dots start blinking on her phone, indicating Tim was typing something.

Tim – So do your magical abilities extend beyond the holiday? Is that why you have such a high case closure rate?

Lucy smirked as she read his response.  Apparently, she wasn’t the only one using LADP resources to look people up.

Lucy – I supposed you could call that magic.  Or I’m just insanely good at what I do.

Lucy – So it seems you’ve been looking at my records.

Tim – Can you blame me for wanting to learn more about you?

Tim – Everything that’s happened with you over the last 2 days has been… amazing.  Like something from a book or a movie. It just seemed too good to be true. And then I started reading your records, just the ones that are public, and you just keep getting better and better, more and more amazing. It doesn’t feel real.

Lucy didn’t know how to respond. He was being so kind and complementary, nothing like how Jackson and Nyla described him.

Lucy – Thanks.

Tim was worried about her brief response.  He looked up at the ceiling for a minute, worried he had gone too far, pushed it too much.  But when he looked back at his phone there was another message from Lucy.

Lucy – Although you’ve never claimed to have any magic, your record looks pretty outstanding.  There are several awards and accolades.  You scored really high on the sergeant’s exam and then moved up pretty quickly to staff sergeant with Metro from patrol sergeant. Impressive, Sarge.

Tim practically preened at her words.  He was glad she had found out the good things from his records as well as hearing about him being a grumpy asshole.

Lucy – So I guess you really are a good boy scout.

Tim – And you really may be Mary Poppins.

Lucy giggled at his message as she remembered back to their conversation at the airport.

Lucy – Well, I’ve got some cases that need a little bit of my magic.  I’ll see you tonight, right?

Tim – Can’t wait.

Genny had been watching Tim the whole time he was texting Lucy.  He was practically vibrating with excitement by the time he put his phone down. She walked past him and patted him on the shoulder. “Happiness looks good on you, Tim.”

Lucy walked into her apartment just before 4:00.  She glanced around the apartment and decided to tidy up a bit.  She wanted to take things slow, but what if they ended up back at her apartment? Tidying led to vacuuming and moping, which then led to a quick scrub of her bathroom, which then led to clean sheets and lighting a few candles so that the apartment smelled good.

Once she was pleased with the results, she made herself a sandwich and cut up an apple.  She knew they were going out to dinner, but she wanted to have something in her stomach, so it wasn’t rumbling, and also so that she didn’t scarf down her dinner like a starved animal. She glanced at the time and quickly ran for her shower.  Twenty minutes later she emerged with one towel wrapped around her head and another wrapped around her body.  She had ordered a new dress when they were stuck in the airport, but it hadn’t come yet.  So, she had to choose something from her closet.

She tried on dress after dress.  She couldn’t choose.  After twenty minutes of changing her clothes, she gave up and went to the bathroom to dry her hair and do her makeup.  Maybe if that part was done, she’d be able to pick an outfit.

She had mapped how long it would take her to get to the parking spot near the mystery restaurant. She needed to leave by 6:15 if traffic didn’t change much.  When she glanced at the time when she came out of the bathroom, it was 6:10.  She panicked. As she ran to her closet, she heard her phone buzzing.

It was Tim.

“Hey.  Hi.  I’m almost there,” she lied as she put it on speakerphone.

“No.  No, you’re not,” he said as he heard her hangers clanking together when she moved them back and forth.  He smiled as he imagined her having the same problem he was having.

“Uh.  No.  I’m not.  Does… uh… Does this restaurant have a dress code?”

“Yeah.  Actually, it does.  But it doesn’t get into a lot of details.  It says, ‘Our smart casual dress code does not require jackets, although they are suggested.’ Then it talks about no beach attire, shorts, athletic wear, etc. But it seems to apply more to men than to women.”

“Hmmm. So, you’re just going to throw a jacket on with some cargo pants?  I mean, what does it matter, as long as you’re comfortable?”

“Nice try. That was clearly a test. Once you get to know me better, you’ll know better than to test the master.”

“Mmmm.  Looking forward to that,” Lucy said as she paused and glanced around her closet again.

“Well, we should get going.  Traffic is getting ugly.”

“Right.  I just neeeeed to make a deciiiiiiision,” she said looking around once more.  “Yes.  The green dress.  It is decided.”

“Great.  I’ll see you soon.”

“Okay.  Bye.”

As Lucy hung up the phone, she looked at the green dress again, rolled her eyes, and tossed in on the stack of clothes on her bed.  So much for cleaning up my room just in case, she told herself as she looked at the mess on her bed. 

She pulled up her phone app as she pulled into the parking lot at 6:45. She wasn’t parked yet, but she didn’t want to be late.

“Right on time,” came Tim’s voice. “I was a little worried after our last conversation.”

“What can I say?” she giggled “It’s magic.”  She navigated her car higher and higher in the garage, praying that she’d find a spot quickly.

“I can hear you’re still driving though.  Head all the way to the 7^th floor.  There aren’t any spots until then.  Then take the elevator down to the second floor.  There’s a bridge at that level.  I’ll meet you there.”

“Yes, sir,” she said playfully.

A couple minutes later, the elevator doors opened, and Tim saw Lucy walking towards him in a dress that was most certainly not green.  But she looked absolutely gorgeous in a long, form-fitting floral dress that had cut outs along her mid-section.  Her hair hung in long, loose curls, and she’d obviously put on a little bit more makeup than she had worn at the airport. She was stunning to the point that it took his breath away.

Lucy saw Tim right as the elevator doors started to open.  He was in a dark gray suit with a black button-up shirt.  He had left the top two buttons undone.  Lucy had to take a breath and remind herself that she was the one that wanted to go slow.

“Hi,” she said as she waved awkwardly at him.

“Hi,” he said in return as he let his eyes study her body. “We’re… uh… this way,” he said, extending an arm toward the bridge. She took a step toward him, and he put a hand on her back to lead her toward their restaurant.  As he rested his hand there, he let out a loud gasp as his hand was met with her soft, warm skin instead of the silky, cool fabric he was expecting.

Lucy looked over at him and smiled impishly.

Tim cleared his throat and then smiled back at her.  “You look amazing,” he managed to croak out.

Lucy laughed softly. “You clean up well, too, Sarge,” she said as she let her eyes roam his frame again. As they walked, she thought she heard him mutter something about ‘black magic’ as his hand slowly explored the exposed skin of her back while keeping some pressure there to move them forward.

Once they crossed the bridge, Tim directed her to another set of elevators.  Inside the elevator Tim pushed the button for the 71^st floor.  He kept his hand on her back, reveling in the connection to her tender, warm skin that he didn’t think he’d have the opportunity to touch that night.

Lucy gasped as she realized where they were. “71above? This is on every list of the most romantic restaurants in LA.  How did you get a reservation here on such short notice?"

Tim smiled back at her.  “I know a guy,” he said, shrugging his shoulders.

She smiled back at him, adoration apparent in her eyes, as she shook her head.

Soon they were seated at a table for two by the window, just as Aaron had promised. The night was clear, so they could see all of LA below them, lit up with homes and businesses as far as the eye could see.

Once they had ordered their wine and appetizers, they both looked out the window for a while.

Lucy eventually reached her hand across the table to squeeze Tim’s hand. “Let’s not waste any more time with awkwardness like we did at that airport bar.  Tell me about your day.” Her eyes twinkled as she spoke to him. She left her hand of top of his as he told her about spending most the morning and afternoon at Genny’s house. Soon after they got their appetizers, she felt one of his legs brush up against hers, and she leaned into it.

At the other end of the lounge, there were tables arranged for a dining experience, where the chef cooks your meals in front of you interactively.  When they were done talking about Genny’s family, Lucy pointed to some people over with the chefs. 

“We should come back here another day and do one of those chef experiences.  I love to watch cooking shows, and it would be cool to see them cook up close and learn from them.”

Tim had never been into cooking shows, but he did appreciate good food and enjoyed forgetting his other problems for a little while by focusing on cooking sometimes. “Yeah.  I’d like to do that,” he said, meeting her eyes.

Just then there was a clatter over at the tables.  One of the patrons at a chef table was arguing with the chef.  Lucy and Tim both sat up straighter, watching carefully what was happening. A moment later, the arguing turned to shouting and the man grabbed one of the knives from the table.  He slashed at the chef’s hand, accusing him of ruining their expensive experience and his girlfriend’s Christmas present.

Tim and Lucy were both quickly on their feet.  Tim pulled out his off-duty weapon and walked up to the man with the knife, demanding that he put the knife down while he showed him his badge.  Once the knife was far from the man, Tim glanced over at Lucy.  She also had her off-duty weapon out with her other hand putting pressure on the wound with a cloth napkin.

His eyes bulged open in shock as he whispered to her, “Where did you have that hidden?”  He looked at the table.  She only had a tiny clutch purse big enough for her phone and keys.   Then he looked back at her.

She smiled at him with a devious smile.  “Maybe I’ll show you another day.”

He raised his eyes to the high ceilings of the lounge and whispered, “More Lucy magic,” to himself.

Lucy overheard him and grinned even bigger.

Soon the police arrived.  Lucy and Tim gave them their statements, but it was a slow process. By the time it was all done, the food sitting at their table was cold, and they never had the opportunity to try their other courses.  The maître d’ thanked Tim and Lucy for their help and discretion and offered them a complementary meal at another time. Although police officers weren’t allowed to take gifts like that, technically they were off-duty acting as citizens, as Lucy reminded Tim, and they could technically accept a gift if it wasn’t of too great a value. Before they left the restaurant, they had a chef’s table experience scheduled for three days later on Friday night.

Lucy laughed softly as they bid the maître d’ goodbye.

“What’s so funny?” Tim asked, his lips curled up into a half-smile.

“Well, for one, this is just fitting to be involved in a crime scene during our first official date since we’re both police officers,” she said as she let another giggle escape her mouth. “And for two, you just managed to get yourself a second date doing something I said I wanted to do without even asking me.”

Tim smiled bigger as he studied her face. “Well, it pays to always be prepared.”

Lucy guffawed and rolled her eyes.  “Again with the boy scout thing?”

“Look who’s talking, you just made a gun magically appear out of thin air!”  He furrowed his brow and his eyes traveled up and down her body again.  There were strange bulges anywhere, no sign as to where the gun went. “Hey.  Really.  Where did you put that?”

Lucy smirked and raised an eyebrow at him. “I told you.  Maybe I’ll show you another day,” she said seductively as she leaned fully into his space.

At that moment, the elevator doors opened.  Lucy brushed the whole front of her body against him as she walked past him to get in the elevator.   When she turned to look back at him, he was frozen in place staring at her.  “Tim,” she whispered.  No response. “Tim,” she said a little bit louder. The second time he seemed to hear his name and be broken from his daze.  He followed her into the elevator and stood next to her.  His hand automatically went back to the exposed skin of her back even though he had no excuse that he was guiding her at that time.  Lucy turned her head back to meet his eyes, and they smiled at each other.

They crossed back over the bridge to the parking lot in a comfortable silence. At the next elevator, they entered and ascended to the 7^th floor.   Tim followed Lucy to her car.  During the entire walk to her car, Tim kept trying to come up with some excuse for their date to last longer or for them to need to meet again before Friday. He was getting ready to voice a lame excuse to meet when Lucy spoke first.

“This was definitely a memorable date. I don’t know that I want to repeat every part of it again,” she said with a soft chuckle. “But I’d like to see you again.  Before Friday, that is.  Since we already have a date scheduled… and paid for… on Friday.”  She smiled at him.

“Yeah.  Yeah, that’d be great,” Tim answered with a grin, turning slightly to look at her face but still unwilling to remove his hand from her back.

“When do you work this week?”

Tim ran his free hand through his hair.  “Mmm. Every day…” He puffed out a breath.  “And my schedule with Metro can be a bit demanding and unpredictable.”

“Ditto,” Lucy said, taking a moment to think through things.  “How about this,” she started as she turned more toward him, “We just call or text each other when we’re done with work.  If we’re available, then we’ll see each other.  If not, we can at least talk when we are.”

“Yeah,” he said, the corners of his mouth turning up in a smile. “I like that idea.”

“Between Metro hours and detective hours and being at two different stations… this could get complicated.”

“It’s okay,” he said, brushing a strand of hair away from her face. “We’ll figure it out.”

“Yeah…” she said her voice trailing off as the gears in her mind turned. She had stopped walking. “This is my car.  So, I guess this is goodbye for now.” She looked up into his eyes, feeling that connection they had again.

Tim hummed. He looked down into Lucy’s beautiful eyes.  He really didn’t want to leave her there.  But it was late, and they were both tired, and they both had to work the next morning.  He used that hand that had been on her back since the first elevator to roll her in toward him, and wrapped his other arm around her, pulling her as close as he possibly could. 

Lucy sighed into the hug, letting her body completely relax into him.  Despite their clothes being less than comfortable, she felt comfortable enough to fall asleep against him. She nuzzled her head into his chest, taking in a deep breath of his cologne so she could remember it later. One of her hands, which had been resting on his shoulders, moved up to rub the back of his neck and scrape through the short fuzz that lay over the back of his head. 

Tim moaned into the motion and allowed his head to rest on Lucy, reaching a new level of comfort and contentment as they swayed together in the parking lot.

After a few more moments, Lucy lifted her head. “Good night, Tim.  I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

Tim was slow to let go, but he reluctantly did. Just a second after he moved away from her though, he moved right back.  He leaned his head down and gave Lucy a sweet kiss on the cheek. “Good night, Lucy.”  It took a lot of restraint for him to step back away from her. The more he was around her, the more he wanted to be around her.

Lucy’s eyes fluttered up at Tim’s.  “Here we go with the grandma kisses again,” she teased with a sparkle in her eyes. “Let’s get through at least one whole, regular date, and then we’ll see what we can do to bring back a mistletoe kind of kiss again.  Okay?”

Tim had his mouth open ready to defend his simple cheek kiss, but after she talked about doing more, maybe as early as tomorrow, his lips drew up into a smile.  He shoved his hands in his pockets and stepped back. “Okay.  I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

Chapter Text

While Tim was driving home from the date, he pressed the buttons on his phone to call Genny.

“Tim?! How did it go? Did you mess things up? Is that why you’re calling me instead of texting me?” she blurted out the words anxiously, like bullets from an automatic rifle.

“Calm down, Gen.  Everything is fine.  I just called you to save time while I’m driving home.  I knew you’d want to talk about it. That’s all,” he said with a smirk on his face.

“Geez.  Don’t do that to me. I had a lot riding on this date,” she said as she blew out her breath and audibly relaxed.

“You had a lot riding on it?” he queried.

“Yes!” she said, exacerbated. “The kids and I are very interested in the success of this relationship! They love Lucy, and if you mess this up, I doubt she’s going to keep hanging out with them.  I love Lucy, and I have always wanted a sister. So, yes, I have a lot riding on this, okay?  I’m invested.”

“You never mentioned anything like this when I was dating Ashley,” Tim threw out.

“Tim…” she whined, as though it was obvious. “I think I only met the woman twice, and the way she grimaced at my kids didn’t make me want to see her again…ever.  Plus, I knew it would never work out between the two of you.  You were the ‘just Ken’ to her Barbie. It was all about what she wanted to do, and you were just her accessory.  I knew it could never last.”

“Ouch,” Tim said, wincing at her all too accurate assessment of his relationship with Ashley.

“So,” Genny said, trying to refocus back on Lucy. “How did things go on the date?”

“It was good.  Lucy was…stunning,” Tim said, smiling as the memories of her played in his mind. “We talked and started eating.  But then there was a knife fight. And our dinner sort of got ruined.  But we were compensated with a chef experience dinner thing that Lucy is excited about on Friday.”

“What? You broke up a knife fight on your date?  Like with the police involved and everything?”

“Yeah,” Tim said, nodding his head even though she couldn’t see him. “Crazy, right? So many unusual things have happened since I’ve met Lucy.  I just never know what’s going to happen next.”

“Well, I’ll tell you one thing that’s going to happen.  You are NOT going to wait until Friday to speak to that woman. Alright?”

“Genny.  Geez.  Talk about being overbearing. I’m 40 years old.  I’ve been married before.  I’ve dated since then.  I know what I’m doing.”

“Yeeeeeeeah…” she said drawing out to word to last a full five seconds.

“Fine.  This conversation is over then,” he huffed.

“Okay.  Okay.  Just tell me what you’re going to do next.  I’ll see for myself if you know what you’re doing,” Genny insisted.

“I don’t know.  Maybe call her when I get off the phone with you?”

“No, you’re not.”

“I’m not?” Tim said, confused.

“Nope. THAT is overbearing.”

“Okay.  Call her in the morning?”

“Also, a no.”

“Too much?”

“Yep. Try again.”

“Genny.  I don’t think Lucy would be that opposed to talking to me,” he said, trying to defend himself.  He thought for a moment and then said, “How about if I send her flowers to her work?”

“Now, that’s a good idea.  What kind of flowers are you going to get her?”

“Umm. I hadn’t thought that far.  Sunflowers?”

“Yes.  Perfect, but don’t overdo it.  Sending just a couple flowers is lame and seems cheap.  Too many flowers seems like you’re compensating for something or trying to buy her affection.”

“Okay. I’ll send you a picture before I buy them then.  Is that what you want?”

“Now you’re figuring it out,” Genny said with a giggle.

“You know, for all your advice, I don’t think you’ve gone on a date with someone new in over twelve years.   Maybe things are different now,” he said in a playful tone.

“Touché,” Genny said, pausing for a moment. “But, I am a woman, and I really want this to work out, so would you just work with me here?”

Tim chuckled.  “Okay.  I’ll definitely keep you in the loop.”  The tenor of his voice changed then as he said, “I do appreciate your help though.  I really like Lucy, and I don’t want to mess this up.”

“I know. Good luck, Tim.  Good night.”

“Good night, Genny.”

As Tim was climbing into bed later that night, he heard a ping on his phone. His eyes opened wide, and a smile crept onto his face as he glanced at his phone.

Lucy – Thanks for a... memorable night. Even though I’d rather not be interrupted by a crime every time we go on a date, I had a good time. I hope we find time to see each other again soon.

Tim’s heart seemed to beat a little bit faster as he read and re-read her message. He sighed and looked up at the ceiling, trying to decide what to write.

Tim – I had a good time, too.  Trouble just seems to follow us.  Hope to see you again soon. Sleep well, Lucy.

Lucy – You, too, Tim.

Lucy didn’t get a chance to talk to Jackson that night or the next morning. She hoped she would run into him sometime during the day.  She was dying to tell someone about the date.

Her morning started off with a new case sitting on her desk before she even got there. Overnight some patrol officers had arrested someone that claimed to have information he was willing to share in exchange for his freedom.  He was already waiting for her in an interrogation room when she arrived.

Lucy sighed and read through the file.  The man was arrested for resisting arrest, attempted assault with a deadly weapon, and attempted robbery.  The officers found him fleeing a pawn shop where he had stolen several automatic weapons.  He tried to fire on the officers chasing him only to realize the rifle didn’t come with ammunition. The officers quickly stopped the frustrated man and brought him in for processing.  On the ride in, he told the officers that he was just getting the weapons for a bigger attack, one he was willing to tell them more about if he wasn’t charged.

Lucy walked into the room.  The man who had been arrested was sitting cuffed to a ring in the middle of the table.  He was a young white man.  She looked at the file again after she glanced at him.  He was 20 years old, but he didn’t look a day over age 15. He was a student at UCLA in his junior year studying political science.  His grades for his first two years were all A’s and B’s, but his last semester grades had plummeted to C’s and D’s. 

She studied him through the two-way mirror.  There was nothing about him that screamed criminal.  He was wearing a dark hoodie and well-fitting jeans. He was clean, freshly shaved, and well-kept.  He was jittery with both of his legs bouncing uncontrollably.  He kept looking around the room as though something was going to jump out and bite him.  Just in the three minutes she was observing him he had to wipe the sweat from his palms off on the table twice.

She shook her head.  What brought you here, she thought.  Made some bad friends? Joined the wrong club? Got desperate for money?  She clicked her tongue, tucked the file under her arm, and went into the interrogation room.

“Mr. Harris,” Lucy said as she took her seat. “I’m Detective Chen. I understand you’ve had a rough morning.  Can you tell me more about what happened?”

The man recounted going into the pawn shop and trying to buy several automatic weapons.  When the owner told him there would be paperwork and a waiting period, and he would have to show ID, he became upset.  “Who does he think he is telling me I can or cannot buy guns?  It’s my right!”  He was very anxious, but also very upset about what landed him in that room.

Lucy nodded and then prompted him to continue his story.

“So, the idiot called the cops on me because I just wanted to get my guns!  I even put some money on the counter for him!!  Then I grabbed my guns and ran out of there.  I don’t know how those cops got there so fast.”

“And then you tried to fire on the police officers that were chasing you?”

“Yeah.  But the butthole at the pawn shop didn’t even put ammo in them.  So, the cops caught up to me and brought me here.  I didn’t hurt anyone.  And the guy is going to get his guns back.  So, just take these cuffs off of me and let me leave, okay?”

“I’m afraid that’s not how this works, Mr. Harris. You were caught stealing automatic weapons, and you attempted to fire those weapons on two police officers.”  She looked at him carefully; he really didn’t seem violent, much more confused and nervous and more than a little bit naïve as to how the criminal justice system works. “Tell you what. Let’s talk a little more without these cuffs on. Would that be better?”

The man looked carefully at Lucy, sizing her up.  Then he nodded his head.  Lucy reached across and removed the handcuffs.  Rubbing at his wrists where there were now red lines from pulling against the cuffs, Devon Harris looked across the table at Lucy, waiting to see what would happen next.

“Why did you want to buy those guns, Devon?  What were use going to do with them?”

He squirmed in his seat, not willing to answer.

“Come on.  Let’s just talk.  I took off the cuffs.  Now you tell me what you were going to do with the guns.”

“If… If I tell you, can I go?”

“You still stole guns and tried to fire them on people, Devon.”

“But… But… I didn’t want to.  If I tell you about the people that wanted me to get the guns and what they’re planning to do with them, then can I go?”

“I think we could talk about a lesser sentence, but there still has to be some type of consequence for what happened.”

“Like community service? I can do that.  My parents are going to kill me though if I have to go to jail or drop out of school.”

“We can talk with the district attorney’s office and see what kind of deal can be made.”

“I want to know I have a deal before I say anymore,” he said crossing his arms.

Lucy sighed, “I’ll be back in a few minutes then.”

Lucy made a couple phone calls and returned to the room.  “I have a friend at the DA’s office.  He’s new there, and he’s confident we can make you a deal.”

“I’m not an idiot,” he returned.  “I want it in writing.”

Lucy rolled her eyes but acknowledged that she could get it in writing.

Once back in the other room, she called back her friend at the DA office.  At one point she had considered calling her ex-boyfriend at the DA’s office, Chris, but their break-up was… messy, and they hadn’t talked since.  So, she called someone else at the DA’s office that she met through Chris and trusted. “Wesley? Hey.  It’s Lucy Chen again.  This guy wants to get his deal in writing before he’ll talk.  Any way you can help me make that happen?”

“Uhhh.  Yes.  Yes.  I can do that.  It’ll take maybe an hour for me to put something together.  Then I’ll fax it to you.  Okay?” Wesley Evers answered.

“Great.  I think we can make that work. Thanks.”

Exactly an hour later, the fax machine spat out a three-page document.  Lucy swept it off the printer and read it through quickly as she went back to interrogation. She laid it down in front of Devon Harris, who started reading it eagerly.

“So, you tell us everything you know about the people who wanted these weapons and what they plan to do with them, and then this is your deal.”

“Okay.  I’m ready to talk,” he said, looking back up at Lucy.

She nodded back at him to continue and handed him a pad of paper.  “Please write down any names you mention or locations.”

Over the next ten minutes Devon Harris outlined an elaborate plan to get revenge on a sorority that had offended his political science club, the Freedom Fighters.  It sounded like the Freedom Fighters were already getting a bit radicalized by the leader of the group who was very adamant that they maintain their freedoms as outlined in the Constitution.  The leader had written a contract that the members of the group all had to sign – their own constitution, essentially.  It was only after they signed the agreement that he told them about how they were going to get revenge on the sorority that offended them.

The plan, as far as Devon knew, involved about 20-25 university students from his club attacking the 20-30 sorority students as they did their traditional after Christmas shopping spree at Westfield Century City Mall.  The sorority sisters were going to eat lunch together first and then shop all afternoon.  Devon and his club members were supposed to meet at 11:30 at the latest and then get into place.  The sorority lunch was supposed to start at noon.  Depending on how many guns they could bring, they were either going to attack the group during lunch or go after them in small groups to take them all out.

Lucy looked down at her watch.  It was already 11:00. How did this take all morning?  She instructed Devon to write down all the names of the club members as well as the sorority sisters that he knew. Then she sped out of the room to alert her sergeant and the watch commander at the North Hollywood Station.   They rallied patrol officers to track down the people on Devon’s club list.  Then another large group, including SWAT, were to head to the mall.

Lucy ran back to interrogation.  She convinced Devon to ride with her in a squad car.  He might be able to help them identify members of his group as well as the sorority sisters.  Westfield Century City Mall was near the major intersection of Santa Monica Boulevard and Wilshire. She knew they were going to run into traffic issues, even with their lights on, as well as difficulties with blocking access to the mall.  There would also be thousands of shoppers there. 

When she pulled up her shop there were already a dozen or more police vehicles there.  It was 11:30, so they needed to move fast; the Freedom Fighters were likely there and watching.  There wasn’t a lot of time to set up a net or work several strategies.

Some of patrol officers had been successful in contacting the sorority girls.  Since that group of women was particularly talented at sharing gossip, word spread quickly.  Most, if not all of them, were not coming to the mall. That, at least, eliminated the original target.  But there were still an unknown number of shooters lurking somewhere in the mall. Who knew what would trigger them or who else could be hurt?

Lucy recognized some of the other officers there and walked over to talk with them to see who would be in charge.  Moments later she saw two large police vehicles arrive.  One she recognized as a SWAT vehicle since it had the word SWAT written in letters three feet tall on the side of it. The other one had a similar look, but it just had LAPD written on it.  Leaving Devon locked in the back of her shop and excusing herself from the other officers, she moved toward the two vehicles that had heavily armed and armored officers spilling out of them like clowns from a clown car. The officers formed a rough semi-circle around the back of one of the vehicles. 

As she approached, she could see one officer standing at the head of the group barking orders at them.  She caught the end of his strategic planning.  He was assigning officers to specific locations as she got closer.  It wasn’t lost on her that the man in charge was wearing a long-sleeve black shirt that had letters on the sleeve under his bulletproof vest.  But the letters were scrunched up, making them difficult to read. His broad shoulders filled out the shirt well, and she could easily appreciate the musculature of his arms as he pointed to different officers and locations and his muscles pushed against the black fabric as he flexed.  His voice was strong and authoritative, leaving no room for questioning him. She also appreciated the view from behind; she had never before considered cargo pants to be so sexy.

When she was just ten feet away it dawned on her who this incredibly strong and passionate leader might be.  As he stretched his arm out, she recognized the word METRO on his sleeve. For a moment she froze in place, unable to breathe.  Surely, it couldn’t be Tim.  There’s no way that after having zero career contact with him for three years on the force that he would show up in her orbit the day after their attempted first date.

Just as those thoughts crossed her mind, the man turned his head just enough for Lucy to see his profile.

That amazing jawline.

His furrowed brow. 

Those smoky blue eyes with an intensity she hadn’t seen in them before. 

If they had not been in an emergency situation at the moment, Lucy may have just fainted on the spot.  She already felt weak in the knees. How is it possible for a man to look so hot and unbelievably sexy in a black t-shirt and cargo pants?  On second thought, she pondered wickedly to herself, if they had not been in an emergency situation, she may have just hauled him back into that vehicle, locked the doors, and had her way with him. Her lips curled deviously as she thought about that possibility.

But she had to get her head in the game; there were lives at stake.  He had just finished giving out assignments. So, she took a couple steps closer to him and said, “Sergeant Bradford.”  Her voice was smaller and more fragile sounding than she intended it to be, but once it was out, there was no taking it back.

Tim had sensed that there was someone behind him and heard his name coming from a higher pitched voice.  He rolled his eyes. “Hansen, if I have to tell you one more time where you’re supposed to go, you’re going to be running the Academy training course in a bomb disposal su…”  His words spewed like fire as he spat them out, and his head slowly turned around to meet the eyes of his less-than-exemplary underling to let her feel the burn of his eyes with the harshness of his voice.  But his threat was cut short when he found it was not Hansen at all. 

His face froze in the middle of the word ‘suit’ with his lips in a pucker and his eyebrows nearly touching.  His eyes were ready to burn a hole in Hansen, but instead they were locked on none other than Lucy Chen, the woman who was constantly on his mind for the last few days.  A vein pulsing on his forehead was the only movement his body made for a full minute.  He couldn’t even breathe.

Lucy, who had already experienced her epiphany and recovered from it, smiled back at him innocently, enjoying watching the shock on his face.  Then she took a few steps forward, closing the gap between them until they were less than a foot apart.  “Sorry to disappoint you,” she said to his still frozen face. “I’m not Hansen.  But seeing someone run the Academy training course in a bomb disposal suit sounds like solid entertainment.”  She giggled a bit, but Tim was still stuck staring at her. “Perhaps I should introduce myself,” she said with a huge grin staring right into his eyes. “I’m Detective Lucy Chen.” Lucy stuck out her hand to shake his hand. “It’s my intel that led us here.  My source is in the back of my shop. I just wanted to offer my help if needed.”

Tim slowly defrosted as she spoke, eventually managing to shake her hand. “Your intel? Your source?”

“I know things had to come together quickly for this op,” she said, holding eye contact with him and thoroughly enjoying his confusion.  “That’s why I wanted to come over here and collaborate with the leader of the team going in.”

Tim realized that he was still holding her hand and quickly dropped it, like a kid found with his hand in the cookie jar. He looked around to see who was watching them. Thankfully, his team was all moving into the building and hadn’t noticed his fumble. He cleared his throat and then pointed to a map in his other hand.  “Um… We have people at each entrance looking for signs of the Freedom Fighters.  They’ll clear the shops and corridors one by one. We also have people over there,” he said, pointing to a nearby van, “who are combing through all the security cameras in the mall.”

Lucy had turned and taken a step closer to him to examine the map, so that she was now leaning part of her weight on his side. She was definitely closer to him than she needed to be to see well, and they both knew it.

He looked into her eyes and smiled. “SWAT and Metro are working to sweep the whole building, but it’s a huge mall. Even with the 50 officers in there, it could take some time.”

They were interrupted for a moment by someone from Metro hollering at Tim.

Tim expression immediately changed as he turned and yelled back at them. “Give me a minute.  I’m getting some intel here.”

The harshness of his voice startled Lucy for a moment, but as soon as he was done answering the man, he turned back to Lucy.  All traces of anger quickly melted away as he met her eyes. “Go on,” he urged her gently.

Lucy kept eye contact and said, “I have uniformed officers tracking down as many of the Freedom Fighters as we can.  It seems that several of them didn’t show up today, but we could still have 10-15 armed assailants in there.”

“Hmmm,” he answered.  “It’s a dangerous situation.  Keep me informed.  I’d like to know how many gunmen we’re really looking for.”  He paused for a moment and bowed his head toward hers. “But hopefully we can get it all wrapped up quickly without any injuries.  I have other places I’d rather be tonight.”

Lucy’s eyes twinkled, and she opened her mouth to give him a snarky response about keeping his focus on the job, but they were interrupted by another team arriving to help search the mall.  So instead, Lucy cleared her throat and said, “Carry on.  I’ll keep you informed of any other intel we get from the outside.  Good work here, Sarge.”  She was trying to keep it professional, but when she patted him on the shoulder as she turned to go, the pat turned into a gentle squeeze followed by a rub.  She was blushing as she left, but she had a mischievous glint in her eye that Tim most definitely noticed.

Tim had to shake his head to regain his focus.  He started to talk to the new officers that had appeared, but he couldn’t help but follow Lucy out of the corner of his eye.  Just making sure she’s safe, he told himself.  Yeah right, he said back to himself. You were blatantly checking her out. He shook his head again.  Focus.

Over the next two hours teams of officers radioed in that they had found some of the gunmen.  By 2:30 the only person still missing was the leader of the group.  Lucy and her team were doing parking lot interrogations, which, of course, were not ideal, but it’s what they had at the time.  She was able to confirm that the leader had entered the mall with his band of followers.  But he had turned his phone all the way off, so there was no way to track him.

Lucy walked back over to Tim with more intel.  She had done this several times over the two-hour span, and they were getting increasingly comfortable with working together.  They even managed to hold back on the adoring glances, longing stares, and flirtatious comments… most of the time. They still lacked personal space with each other but seemed to consider that a reasonable compromise.

During one of her interviews, one of the Freedom Fighters had just told her that he saw the leader duck into the Build-a-Bear Workshop just before he was caught. Lucy ran over to Tim with the information.  Tim radioed his team to narrow their search to that part of the mall.

Lucy watched him communicate with his team. There was definitely no sunshine in his demeanor, and she could see how Nyla had described him as tough and how Jackson had described him as grumpy. It was only when he looked at her that she could sense any of the softness that she affiliated with him.  Otherwise, Tim was all business and expected the same from everyone around him.  Anyone caught giggling or making light of the situation earned themselves a harsh glare.  Even Lucy caught one of his glares when she giggled at the comment of a fellow officer before Tim realized who had done it. She responded to the glare with immediate silence, but she couldn’t help the wink she gave him as the corners of her mouth perked back up in a smile.  He rolled his eyes at her and got back to the business at hand.

Less than 20 minutes later, the leader was apprehended.  No one had been injured.  All the weapons were accounted for as well as all the members of the club. It was a huge success.  Police officers started removing the yellow police tape and escorting the gun-toting club members to the back of the police cruisers. The SWAT and Metro vehicles had lines of officers refilling them.  Tim looked around to see if he could see Lucy before he left.  She was talking to some other uniformed officers when he walked toward her. 

As he waited for her to finish giving them instructions, he could see her start to flush under his stare.  She pulled at her collar for a moment, uncomfortable with the heat she felt, and gave him a side glare.  That only encouraged him.  Tim walked up behind her and then slowly got closer and closer to her.  She could feel the warmth coming off of his body as she finally sent the other two officers off. Tim’s right hand came up on her right shoulder.  To most, this would still seem professional, unless they knew Sergeant Bradford; he never touched anyone. They were standing close, but not touching anywhere other than the hand/shoulder contact.

Lucy took a deep breath and then spun around to look at him while keeping their close proximity.  “Good work today, Sarge,” she said looking up at him.

“I was just going to say the same thing to you, Detective Chen,” he said smiling, his hands now at his sides.  He wasn’t sure what to do with his hands now, so he stuffed them into his pockets. “I… uh… I hope you’re fast at filling out paperwork.”

“What?” she said giving him a quizzical stare.

“This,” he said, motioning to the mall and all the police vehicles still there, “means mountains of paperwork.  So, you better get back to your station and get started.  You’ve got somewhere to be in two hours.”  Then he gave her shoulder a squeeze just like she had done to him earlier and walked away.  Lucy enjoyed watching him go.  When got into the front of the vehicle, he turned to her again and gave her a quick salute.  She smiled and gave him a little wave as he drove away.

She quickly got into the driver’s seat of her shop and hurried back to the station.  She handed over Devon Harris to a uniformed officer with a copy of the paperwork he signed. Then she headed for her desk and the paperwork she needed to work on.

When she arrived at her desk, she was surprised to find a vase filled with sunflowers and daisies.  Her breath caught in her throat as she stared at them.  After a few moments, she looked for a card, but she was fairly certain she knew who had sent them.  Victorious in her quest, she opened the envelope to read its contents.

Lucy,

Thanks for a great date last night.  Maybe next time will be more peaceful.  Hoping to see you soon.

Tim

Next time, Lucy repeated several times in her head dreamily.  I better get working on my paperwork.  She moved the flowers to the corner of her desk and started on her mountain of paperwork.

Jackson found her a while later with a large stack of paperwork completed and not too many more papers to go. “Wow,” he said, surprised. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you get through this much paperwork this quickly.” He had a knowing ring to his voice that let Lucy know he had more to say.

“Oh. You know. Just eager to get this done.  Let justice be served,” she said, somewhat tight-lipped as she kept her pen moving.

“I… uh… I did happen to notice that you were working closely with Sergeant Bradford today,” he baited her.

“Oh.  Well. Of course.  It was my investigation that led us there, and he was leading the raid,” she said simply, hoping that he would just drop it.

“Hmmm.  It did look like you were working pretty closely together,” he repeated teasingly.

Lucy huffed. “Yes.  We were working closely to catch all the armed students.  You were there, Jackson.  You saw what was going on,” she said, hoping that would satisfy him.

“Oh, I know what I saw. I watched you working closely with Sergeant Bradford,” he said as he moved right behind Lucy, closing all the space between them. “Were you having a hard time reading the map?” he asked peering over her shoulder.  “Or was it difficult to hear him whispering in your ear?” he stage whispered teasingly.

Lucy flushed a deep shade of red, and she pushed Jackson away. “Stop.”  She looked up at Jackson for a moment.  But she couldn’t hold back the giggle in her throat. She tried to calm herself as Jackson enjoyed basking in her embarrassment.

“We were just sharing information. Who had been caught and who was left in there. That kind of thing,” she said, trying to cool her cheeks with her hands.

“Mmmmmm hmm,” he said looking right at her. “I’ve seen a lot of police collaboration in my day, but that… that seemed like something… more.”  He leaned in close to her and whispered in her ear. “Bradford never acts like that.  And neither do you.”

“What? I…” Lucy started, but she couldn’t argue with him.  She never cozied up to fellow officers to give them intel like she did today with Tim.

“And is he, perhaps, the source of this beautiful bouquet of flowers?” he said, gently touching the petals of one of the sunflowers.

“Um,” she said, wondering if she should deny it or not. “Yes.  We went on a date, and he sent me flowers. Okay?”

“So apparently, you have uncovered a soft side of the toughest, grumpiest man on the force,” he said chuckling. “I don’t know if I should offer congratulations or condolences.”  He gave her a side eye, and she whacked him on the chest.

“Hey! Don’t say that,” she said defensively. “Sergeant Bradford did an amazing job out there today.  Not many people could have coordinated a raid like he did today on such short notice.  And it was a complete success, I might add.  No injuries.  All the suspects were caught.  Don’t be so critical.”

“Ummm,” he said watching her stand up for Bradford. “And I saw how well the two of you work together. It was seamless.  Even though you don’t share any work history, you seemed to almost be communicating without words.”

Lucy smiled quietly at his comment.  She, too, had noticed how easy it became to work with him over just a short time.  Toward the end, she could just raise her eyebrows to get his attention, and just a few words would communicate everything he needed to know.  Then, before he walked away to relay the communication, he would touch her shoulder or squeeze her elbow in acknowledgement.  She actually really loved it.  She had never felt that connected to her TO or anyone in her detectives’ group.  She loved riding with Jackson when they were both P2s, but they had both moved on in their careers.

Lucy had a far-away look in her eyes.  “Yeah.  It was really nice working with him,” she confessed as the blush crept back onto her cheeks.

“So, I’m guessing that your date last night went well, too,” Jackson said as he watched her eye glaze over.

“Oh,” she said, startled back to the here and now. “Oh! I didn’t get a chance to tell you!”

Lucy then took a few minutes to tell Jackson all about their date and the knife incident.

“Yikes. That’s a pretty memorable first date,” he said leaning back. “So, it seems by the look in your eyes that there will definitely be a second date.”

“100%” she said dreamily.   Then it occurred to her that she had been talking too long, and she looked at her watch. She swatted at Jackson, “Ah! You distracted me for too long.  Tim and I were going to try to meet for dinner tonight if we both get off in time.  I’ve still got seven forms to finish and only 20 minutes to do it!” she said pointing at her stack of papers.  “Shoooooo!  Stop sidetracking me!”  She waved her hand indicating that he should go away. “I’ll talk to you more when I get home tonight.  I promise.”

Jackson chucked at her as he walked away. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do….” he said playfully as he waved back at her.

“Stop,” she said bashfully as she refocused her energy back on her paperwork.

Across town, Tim was getting to the last few papers in his stack of paperwork and repeatedly looking at his watch when someone knocked on his door.  He cursed under his breath for a moment, and then said, “It’s open.”

When the door opened, he saw Aaron Thorsen standing there. “What do you need, Thorsen?” he said gruffly. 

“Um, sir,” he said, walking on eggshells. “I was just… I was wondering, sir…”

“Spit it out, Thorsen.  I don’t have all day.”

“Yes, sir.”  Thorsen took a deep breath. “Sir, was… uh… the woman you took on that date… the date at 71above…” he looked at the ceiling for a moment.  He had always been intimidated by Sergeant Bradford, and he had seen how the sergeant could bite your head off if you spoke out of turn or offended him. He had no desire to get on his bad side, but this question had been bubbling inside him for too long. He met Bradford’s eyes and asked, “Was the woman you meet in the airport that detective from North Hollywood that was at the op today?” He spoke rapidly, like ripping off a bandaid to avoid more pain.

Tim folded his lips into his mouth and pulled them into a straight line.  He leaned back in his chair and folded his arms over his chest, sizing up Officer Thorsen.

Sergeant Bradford was a force to be reckoned with, and if the question wasn’t burning in his brain, Aaron never would have said anything, but now he had to know.  He had seen them working together during the op.  He noticed how Bradford leaned into her space and smiled at her.  SMILED!  Sergeant Bradford smiled in the middle of an intense operation. He also caught the small touches and eyebrow raises they shared. This was not the Sergeant Bradford he knew. So Thorsen stood his ground and stared down Bradford, waiting for him to answer.

“Yes,” he said simply. “And thank you for the reservation.”  Then he motioned toward the door.

“Of course, sir,” he said, shuffling back out of his office as he spoke. “Happy to help, sir. She… uh… seems very… competent, sir,” Thorsen said awkwardly.  That’s what Bradford would want in a woman, right, he thought.

Bradford’s forehead creased as he turned his head to stare at him silently.

“And very beautiful, sir,” Thorsen said, trying to cover his bases.

Bradford shook his head and again pointed to the door. “Good night, Thorsen.”

Tim chuckled to himself after Thorsen closed the door. ‘Very competent,’ he laughed to himself. Well, sure.  She was amazing out there today. But she was also gorgeous and kind and smart and funny… He shook himself from his reverie as he looked at his watch again and got back to his paperwork.

A few minutes later he heard a buzz on his phone.

Lucy – Ha! I finished my paperwork first. I win.

A smile broke out on Tim’s face as he read it.

Tim – It’s not a competition, Chen.

Lucy – You’re just saying that because you lost.

Tim – I’m on my last page.  It’s really more of a tie.

Lucy – Oooo.  Sore loser I see.

Tim – Fine.  What do I have to do now that I lost?

Lucy – Hmmm…

Lucy – You get to buy dinner for me.

Tim hated losing, but if losing meant going on a date with Lucy Chen, then he’d lose every day for the rest of his life. He smiled as he texted her back.

Tim – Nice move there, Chen.  Trying to get a second date out of me without even asking.

Lucy – Unless you have other plans for tonight…  I mean, I did meet this super hot sergeant while I was at work today.  Maybe he’s available. I’ve never seen anyone look so good in a long-sleeved black t-shirt and cargo pants.

Tim felt his face flush a little bit, and he was glad Lucy wasn’t there to see it.

Tim – Hmm.  I may be able to clear my schedule for tonight.  What do you have in mind?

Lucy – I don’t need anything fancy.  We did that last night, and we’re doing it again on Friday. Plus, I didn’t bring anything to wear that would be appropriate for a fancy dinner.

Tim – Well, the detective I saw at work today was VERY attractive.  I would take her with me anywhere.

Now it was Lucy’s turn to blush.

Lucy – Mmm. This isn’t getting us any closer to dinner. I’m going to get my things and start driving your direction.  Traffic this time of day can get ugly.  Just text me where to meet you. Okay?

Tim paused in thought for a moment and then texted her an address.

Tim – See you soon.

Fifteen minutes later, Tim parked his car. He had flown through that last bit of paperwork, quickly showered, and ran to his truck so that Lucy wouldn’t be waiting long. He picked up his phone to call Lucy.

“Hey! Where are you? I just parked.”

“Urgh.  You picked a spot close to you so that you could win, didn’t you? I’m still a couple minutes away.”

“Sore loser, Chen?” he laughed.

“It’s LA traffic.  I left a while ago, but you chose a place just a few blocks from your station.”

“That’s what you told me to do!”

“Fine. You’re still buying dinner.  But afterwards I’ll buy ice cream. Deal?”

“Perfect.”

Tim recognized her car pulling into the parking lot just a couple minutes later.  He walked over to open her door for her and offered her his hand to help her out. She smiled up at him as she felt the warmth of his hand holding hers fill her whole body with excitement. He led her over to a food truck area that had twinkle lights strung up in the trees around it giving it a beautiful, romantic ambiance.  With his hand on the small of her back, he stood in line with her, chatting about what they should order.

A few minutes later, they sat at a tall round table, similar to the table they had shared at the airport restaurant.  Tim pulled out a chair for Lucy.  When he sat, he scooted his chair close enough that his thigh bracketed hers, and his knee gently rested against it.

He looked over at her “Streets of Vietnam.  That’s where we ended up.”

Lucy giggled back at him, taking in how different it was than the night before.

“So, I guess this is our official first date,” he said looking gently over at her.

“Mmm.  Last night was, for sure. I mean, it’s a better story for the grandkids.” Her eyes were dazzling as she gazed at him playfully.

Tim did a quick double take at her, studying her face. They had only known each other for a few days, but they could both feel the intense connection that they had. His head bobbed in surprise, but his eyes stayed locked on hers. “We’ve got grandkids now?” he said.  With any other woman he had dated, he would have said that with sarcasm or disdain, but with Lucy? With Lucy, it just felt right, like another piece of their puzzle was just falling into place. His voice was still somewhat surprised, but with a welcoming, accepting tone to it. 

She laughed back at his reaction as he said, “Nice.”  They were both so confident that they were on the same page that they could joke about grandkids on their first official date.

Tim’s eyes caught a movement in the parking lot close to their cars.  “Do not break into that car,” he said with a flat tone to his voice.

“What? What car?” Lucy said, caught off guard.  Her eyes followed his to the parking lot where she saw a young man with a window jack attempting to break into a car.

Tim stiffened in his seat and grabbed for his badge that was attached to his belt. “Hey, moron!” he called holding up the badge.

The man recognized the badge immediately and ran away quickly.

Lucy looked across the table at Tim, wondering if he was going to run after the kid or not.  But to her surprise, he put his badge away and looked back over at her.  “You know, he’s just going to break into a car in a different neighborhood,” she said shaking her head and making eye contact with Tim.

“Well,” Tim said, leaning into her space a little more. “Then some other cop can arrest him.” 

He smiled softly at her, lifted his left hand, and slowly extended it toward Lucy’s head, giving her time to pull back or say no.  But his eyes lit up when she leaned into him, too.  Their lips met in a gentle kiss, followed by another and another.  One kiss never seemed like enough for them. Their bodies danced back and forth together as their kisses dictated.  Tim’s right hand spread over Lucy’s thigh, holding her close.

Eventually their heads parted as Lucy’s stomach growled.  She smiled out of the kiss in embarrassment. “I… uh… I think I may have missed lunch today in all of the craziness.”

“Me, too,” Tim said as he smiled back at her. “And this place has amazing food.”

As they ate their meal, they chatted about the events of that day. That conversation bled into others about old operations, gun control, crazy things that happen on college campuses, etc. Before they knew it, their food trays were empty, and their drinks were drained.

“So,” Lucy said leaning back and smiling at Tim. “I think I owe you an ice cream.  This is your part of town.  Any recommendations?”

Tim returned the smile and said, “Yeah.  I do.  Think you can keep up with me?  You got here sort of slow today…” he teased.

“I was coming from North Hollywood!” she said as she smacked playfully at his chest.

He laughed as he offered her his hand to get up from her chair.  He took their trays to the trash while Lucy grabbed their empty cans to put in the recycling bin. Then he offered her his hand, and they walked together back to their cars.

“I’ll send you the location, in case you get lost,” he teased as he opened her door for her.

“Shut up,” she shot back at him as she settled into the driver’s seat.

He jogged over to his truck, and they both pulled out of the parking lot. Five minutes later they parked next each other near a boardwalk along the beach.

“The beach, huh? I didn’t peg you as a beach guy,” Lucy said getting out of her car.

“I don’t hate the beach.  I’m just not a fan of the ocean,” Tim replied as he took her hand, and they started along the boardwalk.

“You know, psychologically speaking, fear of the water equates to a fear of not being in complete control of your environment.  That seems very on brand for you. You’re just a little bit of a control freak.”

Tim glared over at Lucy. “I am not.”

“Um-hmm,” she said, nodding her head at him.  “You forget that I have actually seen you at work now.  And I saw you beeline to get those blankets and pillows for everyone at the airport as soon as it looked like we might be snowed in.  And the disposable toothbrush in your pocket? Hmm? Come on,” she said leaning back and laughing.

He narrowed his eyes at her. “I’m not a control freak,” he said defensively.  “And that,” he said pointing with his free hand to some fishing net wrapped around some plastic bottles, a flip-flop, and other various trash at the water’s edge near them, “Is why I don’t swim in the ocean. It’s a dumping ground for sewage, narcotics, and human remains.”

Lucy rolled her eyes at him as she let go of his hand in favor of wrapping her arm around his instead. She leaned into him, laughing as she looked up at him. “Fine.  No swimming in the ocean tonight.  No problem.”  She looked around them for a moment and then asked, “But what about that ice cream?”

“It’s just a little bit further along the boardwalk,” he said pointing a ways in front of them.  “You trying to speed up to the end of the date, Chen?”

She turned her body towards him and looked up at him again, scrunching her brow at him. “Never keep a woman from her ice cream, Tim.”  Then she went up on her tiptoes and giggled into a quick, chaste kiss on the lips.  As she was settling back down on her feet, she felt Tim’s arms bring her right back up to him, holding her close, for another sweet, lingering kiss, like they had shared at the beginning of dinner. 

When she went back onto flat feet a second time, she licked her lips as she looked up at him and said, “Or we can take our time to get there…”

Tim took that as an invitation.  He wrapped one arm around her back as the other combed through her hair to pull her back up to him.  Lucy similarly wrapped her arms around Tim’s neck and shoulder.  Their lips crashed together, much more like their mistletoe kiss of a couple days ago. As the kiss deepened, they got lost in each other, their hands exploring each other while simultaneously holding each other close. Out of breath and with sore toes, Lucy pulled back and dropped onto her heels.

“Mmmm,” she said looping her arm in his again to resume their walk. “That may be my new favorite dessert.”

Tim laughed softly at her as kissed the top of her head.

“But, I may have to start wearing taller shoes.  I haven’t had a boyfriend as tall as you before.  I’m going get a calf work out every time I kiss you,” she teased.

Tim clicked his tongue.  Did she just casually call me her boyfriend? After just a couple dates? Without even having sex? Wow, he thought, this amazing woman is willing to do that for me?

Tim’s silence for a few moments started to worry Lucy who was afraid she had moved too fast, gone too far. She looked over at his face and tried to decipher the emotions she saw dancing over his features.  Her worries were quenched a moment later when Tim turned to face her, reached under her thighs, and scooped her up. Pressing them together, he encouraged her to wrap her legs around his waist. A ripple of laughter erupted from Lucy as she suddenly found herself latched onto Tim, their heads now at the same height.

"Is that better?" Tim asked, grinning at her but still a little unsure.

"Much," she said with a wide smile and a soft laugh as she lost herself in his deep blue eyes.

Their lips met again, colliding in a mess of smiles and teeth and laughter. After a moment, they coordinated their movements better and melted into one another for a much longer, more passionate kiss.

When they came up for air a while later, they didn’t move far as they rested their foreheads together. “Definitely my new favorite dessert,” Lucy giggled, basking in the glow of this new intimacy.

After they swayed together for a while, Lucy pressed a chaste kiss to his lips, held onto his shoulders, and relaxed her legs back down to the boardwalk. “But I still owe you an ice cream,” she said playfully as she pulled their joined arms to walk further down the boardwalk. “And we don’t need you to get a bad back from carrying me around, old man.”

“What? I am NOT old.  Did Genny tell you my age?” he asked in pseudo anger. “She always seems to forget that if I’m getting old, then so is she.”

“No. Don’t blame Genny for this one,” she said giggling again. “I looked you up in the LAPD database, remember?” She paused as he remembered back to that conversation. “But I don’t care how old you are.  You’re healthy and extremely fit,” she said as her eyes scanned his body again. She sighed and then looked ahead of them at the small ice cream shack that was now just about a hundred feet away.

“But I still might beat you in a race!” she hollered as she let go of his arm and started running along the boardwalk.

Tim was caught by surprise but sprinted after her just a beat later. They arrived at the ice cream hut slightly out of breath. “I win again, Bradford,” she said in jest.

“It wasn’t a fair race.  I’ll beat you next time,” he said, challenging her.

Lucy raised her eyebrows, “Hmm.  I guess we’ll have to see about that.” She moved closer to him so that their bodies were pressed together. “I like a challenge,” she whispered.

Tim leaned down to kiss her again, but their kiss was interrupted early by the ice cream server clearing his throat. “Cone or bowl?” he deadpanned, ignoring the fact that they were getting lost in each other.

Tim raked his hand through his hair as Lucy spun around to look at the options. “Bowl,” he said as the same moment that Lucy said, “Cone.”

“Control freak,” she muttered under her breath at Tim.

He rolled his eyes. “Fine.  Cone for both of us,” he told the ice cream guy. Then he whispered to Lucy, “I can let go sometimes.”

Lucy met his eyes with a smirk on her face and then broke out into laughter.

“Flavor?” he deadpanned again.

“Hmm... Tootie Frootie,” Lucy ordered after staring at the menu for a second.

Tim grimaced at her order and shook his head. “Strawberry,” he said.

Lucy paid, and they started walking back the other direction along the boardwalk. “I would have bet a dollar that you’d get vanilla.”

Tim hummed at her assessment. “I do love a good vanilla ice cream. But all of their signs say they have the best strawberry ice cream in California, and I always want to try what they claim to be the best,” he said simply.

“Oh.  I must have been distracted and missed the signs,” she said with some disappointment.

Tim wrinkled his forehead at her.  “You’ve gotta have cop eyes, Officer Chen. Situational awareness.” He shook his head at her.

Lucy rolled her eyes at him. “Geez, you’re not my training officer, Sergeant Bradford.” She paused for a moment. “Can you blame me for being a bit distracted?” At that, she popped up on her toes again and gave him a quick kiss on the lips.

Tim closed his eyes into the kiss, and then leaned down to catch her lips again. 

Lucy opened her eyes quickly and took a big bite out of his ice cream leaving him surprised and still puckering. “Mmmm.  Situational awareness, Bradford. Gotta pay attention,” she teased as he scoffed at her. A moment later she said, “But the signs were right.  This is amazing strawberry ice cream,” she said as she turned, laughing, and walked backwards away from him.

“Lucy,” he moaned for a second as he watched her. He shook his head. "What am I going to do with you?” he said as he hurried to catch up to her.

“Mmm.  Excellent question,” she said, wrapped her free arm around his. “It might take us a long time to work that out,” she joked.

They walked back along the boardwalk to their cars arm-in-arm.  Tim took her ice cream paper and napkin and tossed them in the trash can with his while she unlocked her car. Tim opened the door for her again, but she paused before she got in.  That gave Tim just the window of opportunity he wanted.  He nudged her up against her car and leaned over her, capturing her lips with his.  She moaned into the kiss as he sucked and bit at her lips, his hands pulling her flush against him. Eventually, Lucy put her hands on his shoulders to push him off of her.

“Thank you,” she said, her lips kiss-swollen and red. “This was a great second first date after our truncated first date and pseudo date at the airport.”  She giggled again and looked up into his eyes. “Shall we do it again sometime?”

Tim moaned as he leaned back in for another kiss. This time, though, he pulled back quickly. “I would love that,” he said with one last chaste kiss on her cheek.

“One more grandma kiss for the road, huh?” she teased.

Tim glared at her in exasperation. “We had plenty of other kisses!”  Unwilling to let her label him with ‘grandma kisses’, he grabbed her face and pulled her in for one last passionate kiss, exploring her mouth and tangling his hands in her hair. He smacked his lips as he stood up. “Better?”

“Mmm.  You win, Sarge,” Lucy said playfully as she sank into the driver’s seat. “Good night.”

“Good night, Lucy.”

Chapter Text

As Lucy curled up into bed that night, she grabbed her phone to send Tim a message.

Lucy – Hey! I forgot to say thank you for the flowers you sent me.  I love sunflowers and daisies!  I left them at my desk at work to remind me of you tomorrow.

In her head Lucy continues by saying, like anything has stopped me from thinking about you since we met.  But she decided not to add that to the text.

Tim – I’m glad you liked the flowers. I’m really glad we were able to wrap up that case at the mall in time to spend the evening together.  I guess that was a little bit more of your Lucy magic, right?

Lucy smiled and curled her knees up closer to her chest. Lucy magic, she thought as she shook her head.

Lucy – LOL.  The Christmas magic has already passed.  That was just good policing and good teamwork.

Lucy – It was nice to work with you at work today. I got to see the grumpy, tough side of you that everyone was warning me about.

Tim – I wasn’t grumpy.  It’s a job, not happy hour.  I had people to direct and lives to save.  It wasn’t the right time for a karaoke party or a tea ceremony.

Lucy – I know.  I know.  You did a great job today.  It’s just… You’re so different when you’re with me.  So soft and sweet.

Tim – I’m not soft, Lucy.

Lucy – You are with me.

Tim huffed.  He actually couldn’t argue with her on that point.

Tim – And who is ‘everyone’ that is warning you about me?

Lucy – Don’t get mad.  We just know a few of the same people, and they didn’t really think we were a good fit for each other based on our personalities at work. But I knew that I got to see a different side of you that other people didn’t see. I’m so glad I didn’t listen to them.

Tim – Me, too.

Both phones were quiet for a minute as they each thought about what to say next.

Tim – Are you working tomorrow?

Lucy – Yep.  Regular day. You?

Tim – Yeah.

Tim – If we get off at a reasonable time, do you want to get dinner together?

Lucy – Another date? Three nights in a row?

Tim panicked a little. He didn’t want to seem too pushy, but after they kissed and kissed and kissed that night, he really didn’t want to spend any time apart. Lucy was like an addiction, and he just wanted more.  He could still taste her lip gloss on his lips, and he didn’t know if he could wait another two days to see her again.

Lucy – That sounds great.

Tim released the breath he was holding. Phew.

Tim – Great.  I’ll text you sometime in the afternoon, and we’ll see if things will work out.

Lucy – Perfect.

Tim – And we’re still on for Friday back at 71above, right?

Lucy – Of course. I’m really looking forward to that.

Tim – Great. Well, I’ll talk to you tomorrow then.  Sweet dreams, Lucy.

Lucy – Good night, Tim.

Lucy sighed as she set her phone down on her nightstand and turned off her light. Sweet dreams, indeed, she said to herself.

As the next morning dawned, Lucy stretched and got ready to go on her morning run with Jackson.  They met in their kitchen and decided on their route.  While they were warming up Lucy told Jackson all about her date with Tim the night before. By the time they got back to their apartment, Jackson had listened to every detail that Lucy was willing to share of her whirlwind romance with Tim.

“Looks like I’m going to have to afford this place on my own soon,” he joked. “The way things are going you’ll be moving in together next week, engaged next month, married in the fall, and pregnant by next Christmas.”

“What? I know things are going well, but I’m not trying to rush anything.  We’ve only kissed.  That’s it. I want to take things slow.”

Jackson laughed at that.  “Slow, like seeing each other every day and spending all of your free time together.”

Lucy blushed. “He’s just… I don’t know.  I just want to spend all my time with him.  We just have this amazing chemistry, this energy, together.  It’s intoxicating really,” she said, her eyes glazing over as she stopped speaking.

“Geez, Luce,” he said staring at her. “You’ve got it bad.”

Lucy batted at Jackson’s chest. “Stop.  It’s just that… I’ve never felt like this before, you know? With other guys I dated there was a first date and then maybe some texting and then a second date a week or so later.  And that was fine.  It felt right at the time.” She took a deep breath and let it out. “But with Tim… With Tim, I just want to be around him all the time. I don’t know how else to explain it.”

Jackson smiled softly at Lucy. “I’m happy for you, Lucy.  I’m really glad you found someone that makes you this happy.  I hope it lasts a long time, and they he doesn’t get all grumpy and drill sergeanty after a while.”

“Umm. I think I could handle him if he does,” Lucy said with a grin.

Jackson smiled bigger at her, “I’m sure you can.  I’m just looking out for you.”

Jackson and Lucy both showered and got ready for their workdays.  They drove in together and promised to meet for lunch if they could. 

Lucy doesn’t have anything out of the ordinary that day.  She worked on a few simple cases and solved those as well as a couple others in her stack of active cases.  Jackson got caught in a longer case and couldn’t make it for lunch. 

When Lucy returned to her desk after lunch, she saw a red light flashing on her phone indicating she had a voicemail.  She picked up the receiver and pressed the button to listen to the message.

“Good morning, Detective Chen.  This is Sergeant Caradine calling again.  I heard about the case you had yesterday at the mall with all the shooters.  Nice work there.  I heard even more positive things about you from Lieutenant Pine from Metro. She was impressed with how well you worked with her team. Call me when you get this; I think I may be able to sweeten your offer a little bit since the last time we talked.”

A smile curled up the corners of Lucy’s lips. She looked around the room.  All of the other detectives were off working cases, so it was pretty quiet. She took a breath and returned the call.

“Hello?” came the voice.

“Hi.  This is Detective Lucy Chen. I was just calling to…”

Caradine cut her off, “Detective Chen!  Great! Thank you for calling me back.  Yes, I heard good things, great things about your op yesterday.  Lieutenant Pine apparently loved watching how well you worked with Metro and SWAT yesterday.”

“It was a great team effort.  Everything came together very smoothly.”

“Yes.  So I hear. Mid-Wilshire could really use your help.  With two detectives retiring, we’re just a bit overwhelmed here. We’ve got a really great team. I don’t want to pull in two more rookie detectives.  I want someone with at least a little experience. I just hired one guy who will be coming from patrol.  Since he’s brand new, my budget will allow me to offer you a little bit higher salary than we discussed before. Perhaps you could meet us for lunch tomorrow?  No commitment needed.  Just come have lunch with us and see if it could be a good fit for you.”

Lucy smiled.  She looked around at all the empty desks.  Maybe it was time for a change, she thought.  The only one I’m really close to here is Jackson, and I hardly see him anymore since I made detective, and he moved to SWAT. “Okay. Sure.  Lunch tomorrow sounds great. Just text me a time and location.”

“Perfect.  See you tomorrow then.”

“Bye.”

A few minutes later an address and time popped up on her phone. She clicked ‘Accept’ to add it to her calendar and then went back to her caseload with a smile on her face.

Around 5:00 she heard her phone ping again.

Tim – Hey. We’re in the middle of a big op. I don’t know when it will be done.  I hate to cancel on us tonight, but I’m not sure when I’ll be available.

Lucy’s mouth drooped into a frown, but she knew that might happen.  They were lucky that work hadn’t gotten in the way yet.

Lucy – No worries.  Genny texted me this morning that Tyson and Tyler were asking if I could come over and play.  I’ll let her know that I’ll be by after work.  Be safe, okay? Don’t rush or be too hasty. I’m not going anywhere. 

Tim – Thanks. Tell Genny and the boys hi for me.

She sighed and then smiled as she sent a text to Genny.

Lucy – Looks like I’m free once I’m off of work in an hour.  Do you want me to swing by and pick something up for dinner for us?

Genny – Awesome.  The boys will be so excited.  I’m just getting a lasagna ready for dinner.  If that sounds good to you, we’d love to share it with you.

Lucy – Sounds perfect. See you in a little bit.

Around 7:30 Genny heard a motion alert go off on her phone, and she touched the screen to see what was going on.  She saw Tim getting out of his truck, and she went to meet him at the door.  Tim had his hand up to ring the bell when the door opened.

“Hey!” Genny greeted.  “I didn’t know you’d be coming by.”

“I’m here to pick up my girlfriend from a playdate,” he said with a chuckle and a twinkle in his eye.

Genny moved away from the doorway to let him in. “Girlfriend?” she whispered in excitement as he walked past her.

Tim shrugged his shoulders as a smile grew on his face. He didn’t know what to say.

Genny pulled him into a big hug. “Apparently my advice has been working,” she said teasingly as she pulled back from the hug.

Tim rolled his eyes as he said, “I think we would have been able to figure it out just fine,” he muttered in quiet exasperation.

“Still,” Genny said, clicking her tongue. She shook her head again. “They’re in the living room playing together. Did you get any dinner? We ate lasagna earlier with Lucy.  I have some left.  I can warm a plate for you if you want.”

“Lucy already ate, too?” he confirmed. “Then sure, that’d be great. Thanks.”

Genny walked into the kitchen to get a plate of food for Tim while he walked into the living room.  As he got closer, he heard all of the sounds and music of Mario Kart. Somehow, he was not at all surprised to see Lucy sitting on the floor next to Tyler and Tyson with a controller in her hand.

“Hey!” he called as he entered the room.

“Uncle Tim,” Tyson called as he looked over at Tim.  Immediately after he said, “Oh man! I ran off the track.”

Tyler didn’t acknowledge him at all. 

Lucy didn’t turn to look at him, but she said, “Hey! I didn’t know you were coming over.  Did you get some dinner? Genny made an amazing lasagna that I’m sure she’d be willing to share with you.” Lucy never looked away from the screen as she spoke, watching it intently and moving her body back and forth as her character wove around the turns.

“Yeah.  Genny’s a great cook.  She’s warming some up for me now,” he confirmed.

Tim moved over behind Lucy and sat between her and the couch, bracketing her with his bent legs.  He leaned his body forward, pressing his chest against her back and gave her a tiny kiss on the cheek. “It’s good to see you again, Lucy,” he whispered.

Lucy flushed a little, and she chuckled. “You know I love your grandma kisses, but if you make me lose this race, I’m going to have to hurt you,” she said playfully, still keeping her eyes locked on the screen.

Tim laughed as he pulled back just a little. “Intense,” he said. “Thanks for the warning.” He moved his chest away from her back, leaning back on the couch, but his hands moved to her lower back and his legs stayed right next to hers.

When the race was over Lucy leaned back against his chest and twisted her head to look at him. His armed wrapped around her in response.  “We have two races left until I’ve proven to Tyler that I really am the queen of Mario Kart. I can join you in the dining room when we’re done,” she said.

“The queen, huh? Maybe I’ll stay and watch.”

Lucy raised her eyebrows at him. “You doubt my skills?” she asked in a higher pitched voice. “Watch and learn, Bradford,” she growled at him.  Then she gave him a kiss on the cheek, sat back up, and resumed the next race.

Tim squeezed both of his hands her around the waist as the next race started. “I learned quickly to never doubt the magic or abilities of Lucy Chen,” he said.

“Mmm.  Wise move,” she said as she shot a turtle shell at Tyler. 

Tyler groaned as his vehicle spun out of control. “Lucy,” he moaned.

“You told me to not take it easy on you,” she chided as she laughed at him.

In a matter of seven minutes, Lucy beat Tyson and Tyler easily at both races.  She stood up with her hands raised high above her head and spun around a couple times, cheering for herself.

Tyler rolled his eyes and then challenged her to a rematch.

Lucy looked at her watch.  “Let’s talk to your mom.  I don’t want to get in trouble for keeping you up too late.”

“But it’s not a school night.  We’re on Christmas break right now,” he countered, moaning.

“Okay. I get that. Still, I’m new in this family, and I don’t want to get myself in trouble for promising something I can’t deliver.”  She squeezed her shoulder.

Tim held his breath for a minute when Lucy mentioned so casually that she was part of their family. In some ways it felt like she belonged and had always been there.  But realistically, they had only met her four days ago. He smiled at her as she talked with Tyler and Tyson, envisioning her being a part of their family for a long time.

“Fine,” Tyler deadpanned.  Then he walked out of the room to find his mom and ask her permission.

Tyson was still sitting on the floor staring at the screen. “Lucy? Would you teach me how to do that?” he asked, staring up at her in adoration.

As Lucy looked down at Tyson, she fell just a little bit more in love with the little boy. She leaned down to meet him at his eye level.  “Of course, buddy.  One of the tricks is to start pressing the go button early so you get a quick start.  I can also help you pick the right character and car.  It makes a big difference.” 

Tyson stood up and wrapped his arms around Lucy. “Thanks, Lucy.”  He walked after Tyler to see if they could get permission to keep playing from their mom.

A smile still stretched across her face, Lucy looked at Tim who had been following her every move. “What?” she asked when she saw the adoration in his eyes not too dissimilar to that of Tyson a moment earlier.

“Have I told you how amazing you are?” he asked, still staring at her from where he sat on the floor.

Lucy’s mouth twisted into a bow, and she cocked her head to the side. “Mmmm. Not today,” she teased. Then she kicked gently at his foot and said, “Did I just win you over with my Mario Kart skills? Apparently, you have been out of the dating game for a while.” She giggled and then offered him a hand to pull him up next to her.

“No,” he laughed and took her hand.  Once he was standing just inches from her, he looked deep into her eyes and said, “You just have this way about you. I… I don’t know how to describe it.  But you just make everyone happy when they’re around you.  It’s that special Lucy magic.”

Tim was looking so intently into her eyes that she couldn’t turn away. Her face started to flush with both the kindness of his words and the heat in his eyes. She lifted both of her hands and set them on his chest. “I don’t know anything about magic other than a few tricks that will only trick people who aren’t paying attention,” she said, trying to make a joke. “But this Lucy magic that you’ve mentioned a few times? It’s really just me.  Just Lucy.”

“I think that’s what adds to the magic.  You don’t even notice or understand the effect you have on people because it just comes so naturally to you,” he paused for another moment, still holding her gaze. “I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone like you before, Lucy Chen.  You’re amazing.”

Lucy’s face was genuinely hot now, and she imagined her cheeks must be beet red. “Hmmm.  You already said that,” she said playing with the collar of the gray button up shirt he had on over a black t-shirt.

“Mmmm. You’re going to have to get used to hearing it. Or maybe I’ll need to look up new words to use.” Tim leaned forward and ghosted a kiss over her lips in a very reverent and adoring way.

Lucy smiled and returned the kiss just as gently. “I suppose I could get used to that,” she replied as a smile bloomed on her lips that lit up her whole face.  “But you might have to get used to me saying things like ‘You’re a fantastic Metro sergeant’ or ‘You’re wear a Metro uniform so well that I get weak in the knees’ or ‘You’re so kind and sweet.’” She chucked quietly for a moment. “I bet you don’t hear that last one very often.”

Tim shook his head and went back in for another kiss. Lucy returned the kiss and then deepened it, fisting his shirt to pull him closer to her. Tim’s hands, which had been wrapped around her back, moved to comb through her hair, keeping her head close, and splayed wide across her upper back.

A couple of minutes later Genny walked in to see what was taking them so long.  She gasped when she saw them making out in her living room. She was torn.  She loved what was happening here, but she didn’t want things to get too spicy with her kids in the next room. So, when they didn’t respond her to gasp, she decided to clear her throat. She turned her body away from them to minimize any embarrassment and called, “It’s a good thing I told the kids that screens are done for today.” She laughed awkwardly. “They insisted on having ice cream sundaes for dessert though.  They told me ice cream was Lucy’s favorite dessert, so we had to have them.”

Lucy and Tim broke apart, but they didn’t move too far away from each other. “Oh,” Lucy said, licking her lips subtly, “Yeah. I love ice cream. We’ll be right there.”

Tim watched her as she straightened out her blouse and ran a hand through her hair. Then she ran her fingers around her mouth, trying to catch any errant lip gloss that might raise the boys’ suspicions. She wrapped her arm around Tim’s bicep, turning them to leave the room, and reached her head up so her lips were close to his ear. “It’s not my favorite dessert anymore though,” she whispered.  Then she kissed him softly just underneath his ear and pulled him toward the kitchen.

Tim’s smile grew, and he bent down to kiss her forehead. “I think I found a new favorite recently, too,” he mumbled into her hair. Lucy squeezed his arm more in response.

They reached the kitchen far too quickly.  Lucy kept her arm around Tim’s arm until it dawned on her that he still hadn’t eaten dinner. “Oh.  I’m sorry.  Now your food is cold.  I should have told you to go eat instead of watching me play with the boys. You must be starving.”

“I’m fine. I’ll just warm it again. It’s not a big deal,” Tim insisted, grabbing the plate of lasagna and garlic bread.

Lucy immediately felt a shiver when he stepped away from her to get his food.

Genny snuck up behind them once Tim had returned to her side and said quietly, so the kids wouldn’t hear, “I think Tim already got what he really came here to get.” She chuckled and raised her eyebrows as she walked away and saw Lucy’s cheeks get pink again.

Tim couldn’t argue with her, so he just enjoyed watching Lucy squirm in embarrassment for another moment.  The microwave beeped soon after that.  He took his plate and sat down at the table, getting a serving of salad to go with it.

Lucy stood there frozen for a moment, then, like a moth to a flame, she walked over to Tim and rested her hands on his shoulders as he ate.  He twisted his head to look at her, and they shared a small smile.

Meanwhile, Tyson and Tyler were arguing about how many scoops they could have based on how good they had been that day and who won more Mario Kart races.  Genny stepped in and said, “Just two scoops each is plenty of ice cream.”

Moans and ‘but Mom’s’ quickly filled the air, but Genny held firm. “I said just two scoops, and I mean it. You can have toppings tonight, though,” she promised in a sing-song voice as she moved to the fridge to get the maraschino cherries and the whipped cream.

“YES!” they yelled in chorus.

Lucy watched happily as the boys put an obscene amount of chocolate syrup and sprinkles on their ice cream.  Once they were done, Tyson turned to Lucy and said, “Want me to make one for you, too?”

Lucy giggled. “Thanks for the offer, bud.  But would it be okay if I made my own? That’s half the fun.”

“Sure.  Just don’t forget the cherry,” he admonished seriously.  “It’s the best part.”

“Totally agree,” Lucy said as she watched them move with their creations to the table.

Genny moved over next to Lucy with the ice cream, showing her the flavor options.  As Lucy took a scoop of mint chocolate chip and a scoop of cookie dough, Genny bumped hips with her and said, “Thanks for coming by tonight.  I’m sure there are plenty of other things you’d rather be doing.”

“You have great kids.  I love spending time with them.  I didn’t feel obligated to come tonight – I wanted to come. I don’t get to spend much time with kids, and being around you guys just makes me feel like I’m part of a family.” She shook her head.  “I don’t have any siblings, and my parents don’t talk to me anymore, so this just feels so peaceful and happy.” Then she looked over at Genny as their eyes met, “Thank you for making me feel so welcome.”

Genny’s eyes had glazed over a bit.  She put her arm around Lucy’s shoulders and pulled her into a side hug. “Well, we love having you here. You’re welcome any time.  But I don’t want to steal you away from anyone else you might want to be spending time with,” she said wiggling her eyebrows at her.

Lucy rolled her eyes and glanced over at Tim who had undoubtedly heard the whole conversation. He was pretending not to be listening in, but he showed his cards when he turned his head to see Lucy’s response.  She caught his eyes and smiled a little wider. “Well tonight worked out perfectly.  I got to spend time with all of my favorite Bradfords.”  She giggled and then picked up her ice cream to go sit between Tim and Tyson, who both smiled at her as she sat.

“Mom?” Tyson called.  “Can Lucy come to our party on Sunday?”

“You can invite her, but she might not be interested, or she may be working,” Genny said.

“Hmm.  I love a party.  What kind of a party is it?”

“It’s a New Year’s Party!  We each got to invite some friends over, and we’re going to count down to the New Year!  We’re going to have balloons and games and noise makers and confetti and…”

Tyler cut him off. “Dude.  We’re counting down to noon.  It’s a Noon Year’s Party.  It’s lame,” he scoffed.

Genny put her hand on Tyler’s shoulder.  “This is a tradition we’re had for many years.  We host a NOON Year’s Party instead of a NEW Year’s party.  We count down to noon instead of midnight.  It’s much easier on young kids that shouldn’t be staying up all the way until midnight.”

“Oooooh,” Lucy said. “I understand now.” Then she looked over at Tyson.  “I’m off of work on Sunday, and I don’t have any plans that day other than watching the ball drop with my roommate.  I’d love to come.”  She smiled at Tyson who grinned back a toothless smile surrounded by a halo of chocolate syrup and sprinkles.

Tim finished his late bite and then pushed his plate away from him a little bit.  He crossed his arms and said, addressing Genny and the boys, “So Lucy gets invited, and I don’t?”

Genny blinked hard and squinted at him. “You want to come to a Noon Year’s Party? With a bunch of kids screaming and running around?”

Tim readjusted his arms a little bit, flexing them as a sign that it wasn’t really his comfort zone. Then he said, “Well, you might need some help setting up the balloon drop or getting the house ready or cleaning up afterward…” he said trailing off. “And if Lucy’s here…”

Genny laughed as Tim obviously just wanted another reason to spend time with Lucy.  “That would be great, Tim. Thanks for offering to help.”  She reached across the table and squeezed his forearm.

Tim nodded his head. “What time should we come?” He looked over at Lucy as he spoke, confirming they could come together.   Lucy smiled back at him softly.

“The party is from 11-1.  If you’re willing to help with setting up, come over around 10:30.  Would that work?” Genny asked.

Lucy and Tim both nodded.

“Speaking of time,” she said looking at her boys, “Even though it’s not a school night, it is past 8:30. So we should finish up and get ready for bed, okay?”

The boys both moaned and groaned, but they reluctantly agreed.  A few minutes later Genny herded them up the stairs to get ready for bed. They all called out their goodbyes as they left the room.

“Thanks for playing with us, Lucy!”

“Bye, Lucy.  See you in a few days!”

They were nearly up the stairs when Tim called out, “I’m here, too, you know.”

“Bye, Tim!” they hollered together from the top of the stairs.

Lucy shook her head and laughed. She walked over to the sink to deposit her bowl.  Then she turned around to look at Tim. “Did you want any ice cream? Genny put it back in the freezer, but I can grab it if you want some.”

Tim stood, bringing his plate to the sink, and leaned his hip against the counter right next to Lucy. “Hmmm. While I like ice cream sometimes, I had something a little bit sweeter in mind.” He leaned closer to Lucy, bringing his face just an inch or two from hers, sporting a bit of a goofy grin. “My new favorite dessert.”

“Ahhh,” she said smiling back at him. “Maybe just a little taste.  I don’t want to get caught with my hand in the cookie jar again,” she giggled. She tilted her head up toward him, letting him make the first move.

Tim wrapped his hands around her waist, pulling her flush against him. He dipped his head to rest his forehead against hers. Then he raised his right hand to her jaw.  He traced his fingers delicately along the length of it a couple of times.  Then he wove his fingers into her hair just enough to move her head just where he wanted it.

Lucy moved with him willingly, smiling adoringly at him.  Her hands rested gently on his chest.  As she felt his warm breath on her neck, her fingers curled into his shirt, holding him close to her.

Tim kissed her gently under the ear and then started trailing kisses down her neck to her collarbone. Feeling her shiver under his touch, he smiled and moved back up her neck.  He nipped at her earlobe for a moment, and she squirmed closer to him in response, moaning his name. A low rumble of a laugh escaped his lips as he gently kissed down her jaw.  When he reached her chin, he leaned forward to touch their noses together.

Lucy’s eyes fluttered open to meet Tim’s stare. They smiled at each other for a moment before Lucy decided it was her turn to make a move. Her right hand slid up his chest to the back of his head where she raked a couple of times over the tiny hairs there, eliciting a small moan of pleasure from Tim.  Then she tilted her head to the side and brought their lips together.  She felt her whole body melt into his as their mouths joined and they pressed against each other.

They stayed there lost in each other for several minutes before they heard a crashing sound coming from upstairs.  That was quickly followed by Tyler’s voice screaming, “Tyson! What did you do to my Hogwarts Legos??!!”  Soon after that they heard Genny’s voice trying to calm her boys down and negotiate a peace treaty between the two of them.

Tim gave Lucy a quick peck on the lips.  Then he put his hands back around her waist and lifted her up onto the kitchen counter, bringing her face to the same height as his. He stepped between her legs, which seemed to lock around his hips, holding him close. “Given what we just heard upstairs, we probably have a few more minutes.”

Lucy giggled and wrapped her arms loosely around his neck.  “Is that more of your situational awareness, Sarge?” she teased.

“No. That’s just basic uncle-ing – stay in a different room than the fight long enough that you can still be the favorite uncle later,” he said with a chuckle.

“Mmm. I think I could be persuaded to stay here for a few more minutes,” Lucy said coyly.

Tim didn’t wait any longer for an invitation, his lips quickly captured hers, sucking on the top lip and then the bottom lip, drawing her as close as he possibly could.  Lucy leaned forward from the counter, resting more of her weight on him and pulling their bodies completely together. They stayed there lost in each other for several minutes until they heard doors slamming upstairs.  Lucy looked up and shimmied back onto the counter, putting her hands on Tim’s shoulders to hold him there as they both listened for more activity. Just after that, they heard Genny’s footsteps on the stairs.  Lucy nudged Tim away, and she slipped off the counter.  She ran her hands through her hair and straightened out her blouse.

Genny caught the last part of Lucy putting herself back together as she entered the kitchen.  She smirked at them knowingly. “I see you did decide to have some dessert, Tim,” she chuckled as she went to clear off the rest of the table. “It’s like you two are a couple of smitten 16 year-olds. None of that when you come to the Noon Year’s Party, okay? There will be a lot of kids and their parents around, and this is our first time hosting a party since we moved here. I don’t want to get a bad reputation in the neighborhood,” she said playfully.

“Genny,” Tim groaned. “That’s not going to happen.  We’ll be good.  We promise.”

“Yeah,” Lucy agreed.  “We’ll be here to support you, not put you in an awkward position.”

“Ummm hmm,” Genny said skeptically, laughing again.

Lucy looked down at her watch. “I should probably get going. I want to get an early start tomorrow so I can try to finish early.”  She winked at Tim.

“Same,” he said. They both helped Genny clean the table, counters, and dishes until the kitchen was sparkling clean.

“Thanks for coming over tonight,” Genny called as Tim and Lucy put their shoes on and grabbed their jackets.

“Thanks for the invitation. I had a great time,” Lucy said.

“Yeah.  I caught the tail end of that great time twice,” Genny teased.

Lucy blushed and said, “No.  I meant dinner and playing with the boys…” she said, flustered as she glanced at Genny and then over at Tim who was laughing softly.

“No worries, Lucy.  You’re always welcome here,” Genny said, opening the door for them.

“Thanks, Gen,” Tim said as he gave her a hug before walking out the door.

Lucy put her hand up in a small wave as she walked past Genny, but Genny responded by enveloping her in a hug. She leaned down and whispered in her ear, “I will always be grateful for that snowstorm.  I haven’t ever seen Tim this happy.  And you’ve been such a blessing to me and my boys.  Thank you.”

Lucy choked up a little bit and hugged Genny harder. “Thank you for letting me hang out with you and your kids.  It feels like the family I always wanted, especially around the holidays.  Aaaaand I think I’ll keep your brother around for a while, too,” she said with a quiet giggle.

Genny pulled back just enough to look her in the eye. “I know we haven’t known each other long, but, girl, we’re family now.  You couldn’t get rid of us if you tried.” She paused for a moment and then said, “Don’t let him ruin things.  Sometimes he gets a little too stuck in his own head. He’s already falling in love with you, Lucy.  Just give him some grace if he screws things up, okay?”

Lucy was a little shocked that Genny was making such bold statements, but after everything that had happened over the last few days, it somehow didn’t surprise her. “He’s a pretty amazing guy.  Most people just don’t see beyond the walls he’s built up.  But somehow, he just keeps letting me in.  We have some type of connection; I don’t know how to explain it, but I love it,” she whispered back.

Tim could tell they were talking, but he couldn’t hear what they were saying. “Care to share with the whole class?” he asked with a little edge to his voice, his eyes suspicious. 

“Just talking trash about you,” Lucy lilted as she gave Genny one last squeeze with a wink and then started walking toward him.

Genny laughed and called, “Be safe out there.”

Tim, his mind still focused on what happened in the kitchen and then flashing back to posters in his high school health classes, flushed, scoffed, and replied, “Gen! We’re adults!  I have condoms!  And all we’ve done is kiss!  No naked time!”

Genny’s eyes twinkled, and she tried to suppress a giggle.  She scrunched up her face at him.  “I meant because you’re police officers, and your jobs are dangerous.  But now that you mention it, sure, be safe that way, too. And ‘naked time’?” she said using air quotes.  “Seriously romantic there.” She glanced over at Lucy and said, “Good luck, Lucy,” eying the shocked look on her face.

Lucy blushed deeply and had a fit of the giggles as Tim’s face froze.  He couldn’t believe he had said that. ‘Be safe out there’ was even one of his catch phrases at work. He had obviously been thinking about other things.  Naked time.  He was thinking too much about sex, and now he sounded like a complete fool.  He waved back at Genny as she returned to her home laughing while she closed the door.

He turned to Lucy and put his hand on her back softly and said quietly, “I… Sorry.  I… I guess I was a bit distracted.  My mind was just… somewhere else.  Apparently, you have a strong effect on me.”

“I know the feeling,” she said as she turned to meet his eyes.  She lifted up onto her toes and gave him a soft kiss on the lips. “Good night, Sarge. I’m glad you’re preparing for whatever may happen next.  The perfect boy scout,” she said with a playful smile as she unlocked her car door.

Tim opened the door for her.  Then he pulled her close for one last kiss that was sweet and slow. “Good night, Lucy,” he whispered against her lips. “See you tomorrow.”

On the way back to his house, Tim’s phone started ringing. He glanced down at it, hoping it was Lucy and that he could apologize again for his weird ‘be safe’ response.  He still couldn't believe he had said that. ‘I have condoms.’ ‘Naked time.’ It was like he was drunk on Lucy.

But instead of Lucy’s name, he saw the name Angela Lopez on his screen.

“Hey,” he answered.

“Hey, stranger,” she said. “I’ve hardly seen you since Christmas.  How are things going?”

“Fine.  Why are you calling me at 9 PM?”

“Why aren’t you at home at 9 PM? I just drove by your house.”

“Lopez, I don’t have a curfew.  I can be away from my house at 9 PM. And why were you driving by my house?”

“I needed to pick up some eggs and milk, and I drove by your house on my way. Back to my earlier question, why aren’t you at home at 9 PM? Metro’s case is closed.  You left the station the same time I did almost 2 hours ago. You’re always home at this hour.”

“I’m just driving home now.”

“From where?”

“My sister’s house.  Why do you need to know?”

“Disappointing.  I thought I might have something to do with that woman you were telling me about on Christmas evening, the one you met in the airport when you were snowed in.  What was in her name again?”

Tim stiffened in his seat. His tongue may be loose around Lucy, but he wasn’t usually an oversharer, even with his best friend. “Lucy Chen,” he said simply, hoping that would be the end of it.

“Yes! The detective from North Hollywood, right?”

“Ummm hmm.  Why?” Tim was growing suspicious.

“I was just following up.  I know you had date plans, but you never told me what happened.  And then I heard through the grapevine that she was involved with that crazy shooter at the mall situation yesterday. So that means you would have been working together, right?”

“Umm hmm.”

“Ooookay.  So, the date didn’t go well? Or you screwed things up during the joint op? Is that what I’m hearing?”

“No.  We worked really well together during the joint op.  She’s a great cop.  There were even moments it seemed like we could communicate without words, which is odd since we never worked together before that.”

“So, she’s great to work with.”

“Yes.  Why?”

“But you screwed up the date?

“Why would you assume I screwed up the date? I can be charming and chivalrous.  I know how to date,” he said defensively.

Angela didn’t speak for a while because her whole body was shaking with laughter. “Sorry, sorry.  I must have had too much to drink tonight.  Did you just call yourself charming? And say that you know how to date?”  The laughter overtook her again.

“Maybe you have had too much to drink tonight,” he said, ready to hang up the phone.

“Sorry.  Sorry.  So, the date went well then?”

“Yes.”

“Did you ask her on a second date?”

“Yes.”

“You know this would be easier if you just told me what’s going on instead of me asking lots of questions and you answering with only one word.”

“Fine.  We went on our first real date on Tuesday, but it was cut short when another patron got in a knife fight with a chef and we stopped it and the police got involved.”

“Excuse me. What?”

He ignored her and kept talking.  “Then we worked together on the mall shooter case for several hours on Wednesday.  We had a redo of our first date that night.  And tonight, we hung out with my sister and her kids after I finished up my op.”

“Stop!” she said firmly. “Cool your heels there. My turn to talk. So you met on Sunday, and you’ve seen her every day for five days now? Including being off duty at a crime scene and working as partners on the job?”

“Yeah.”

Angela smiled from ear to ear.  She could hear Tim’s voice soften a bit with his last word, and the fact that he had been with her in multiple capacities for five days in a row without her walking away from him was amazing.

“OMG. Is she in the car with you right now? Is that why you’ve been so closed lipped? Are you taking her back to your house to…”

“No! No, I wouldn’t have answered the phone if that were happening.  She wants to take things slow. We’ve only kissed.  She mentioned something early on about her last boyfriend being too pushy and not taking no for an answer. So, we’re taking it slow.”

“Uhhhh huh,” she started. “Seeing each other five days in a row sounds super slow. Why not take her on another date tomorrow?

“I am.”

Angela threw her hands up in the air. “Of course, you are. Because this is you knowing how to be charming and chivalrous and date,” she said sarcastically.  She paused for a minute, her mind chasing through the past. “You never did this when you were dating Ashley.  Hell, you never spent this much time with Isabel either! You were always on different schedules that didn’t sync up.”

Tim sighed. He was fully aware that this was far from his normal behavior. “I don’t know how to explain it, Angela. We just have this… connection.  I know it sounds like something from a stupid girly movie, but I… I’m just… different around her.” He thought for a moment about what word he could use to describe how he felt, but nothing seemed to accurately explain it. “Lucy… makes me happy,” he said, settling on something simple.

“Hold on a minute,” Angela said.  He heard her get out of her car and the rustling of her purse and a grocery bag.  He heard her front door open and close and then the sound of the bags being put on a counter.

“Okay,” she resumed.  “Let’s summarize this.  You met a detective from North Hollywood while you were snowed in with your sister and her kids at the Denver airport.  Since that time, you’ve seen her every day.  You even worked together on a case.  And now you’re acting all soft and romantic.  Mmmhmm…  It sounds like you’re totally smitten.”

“Well, at least the first part is right. I…”

Angela cut him off. “Okay. That’s what I needed to know.  So, you’ll be bringing her to our New Year’s party on Sunday, right? Patrice rented this great venue and had all the food catered so we wouldn’t have to worry about it.”

“Um. I haven’t asked her about that yet.”

“Timothy.  I insist.  I must meet this woman than has swept you off your feet.  Be there at 8:00.  No excuses.  I know you aren’t working that day.”

“I’ll ask her.”

“You’ll come with her. No excuses.  See you tomorrow.”

With that Angela hung up the phone. “Wesley!” she hollered as loud as she dared to without waking up their toddler. “Come to the kitchen!”

He jogged in a minute later. “What’s wrong? They didn’t have the right milk?”

“No. The milk is fine,” she said pointing to the counter.

Wesley saw the grocery bags and started to load them all into the fridge. “So? What’s going on?”

“Tim is in love.”

“Tim? Tim Bradford? He broke up with that Barbie girl a few months ago, right? So, this is someone new?”

“Yeah.  It’s the craziest story.  He told me the beginning of the story when he was here on Christmas evening, but I think you were giving Jack a bath at the time. Anyway, he was in Denver with his sister and her kids, right? They ended up getting snowed in on Christmas Eve, and he met a woman at the airport. She lives here in LA, and they’ve seen each other every day since!  You should have heard him on the phone.  He’s totally smitten!” She whacked him on the chest to emphasize her point.

“Tim? Smitten?” he said, pulling the corners of his mouth into a frown and squinting his eyes. “Wow.  I can’t imagine what that looks like.”

“I know, right? I told her that he has to bring her to the party on New Year’s Eve, so you’ll get to meet her then.” Then she curled up her lips into a devious smile. “But I am having lunch with her tomorrow, and Tim has no clue!”  She cackled at the thought of it.

“Wait, you’re having lunch with her tomorrow? How?”

“That’s the best part of the story.  He went all the way to Denver to meet a detective from North Hollywood!” Her mouth was agape in amazement at the coincidence of it all. “And Sergeant Caradine has been trying to recruit her to join our group with the other detectives retiring. He told me today that we’re meeting her for lunch tomorrow.  Crazy, right?” Angela was blown away with how it was all coming together.

“Hold on a minute. A detective at North Hollywood? What’s her name?”

“Lucy Chen.”

“WHAT??!!” he said, his jaw practically on the floor. “Lucy Chen?” he repeated.

“Yeah. Why?”

“I know Lucy Chen.  We met soon after I started with the DA. She used to date Chris Sanford from my office.  I just helped her out yesterday with deal for someone who had information about some mall shooting.”

Now it was Angela’s turn to be shocked. “What? And you’ve been holding out on me?”

“For the record, I had no idea I was holding out on you.” He took a breath and said, “She has long, dark wavy hair and brown eyes with a petite build.  Maybe she’s part Asian based on her name?  She’s very kind and compassionate. She seems to care a lot about the people who would otherwise be labeled ‘felons.’  We seem to have some shared beliefs about prosecuting the poor, underserved, and racial minorities.  She’s very insightful and a deep thinker.  And she always seems cheerful.”

“And she likes Tim?” Angela said, taking in all the information. “Huh.”

Wesley shrugged his shoulders. “I guess we’ll see on Sunday.”

“Mmm. I may see what I can find out over lunch tomorrow.” Angela’s gears were spinning. She had to meet this woman who had such an effect on her best friend.

Chapter Text

Chapter 5 

 When Friday morning dawned, Lucy woke up with a smile for a few reasons.  First, she had had the most amazing dreams; the kissing in the kitchen scene from the night before seemed to be playing on repeat for her throughout the night. Just the thought of kissing Tim again gave her the shivers. Second, she was excited about their chef experience date that evening. Hopefully they would make it through a real date without any arrests or witnessing any crimes, attempted or otherwise.  And third, she was looking forward to her lunch with the Mid-Wilshire detectives that day.  She had enjoyed her brief time working with Nyla, and if she just happened to be closer to Tim to be able work with him or have lunch with him or just see him here and there, that would be a pure coincidence. She smirked at the thought of Tim discovering she had switched stations. She loved seeing that shocked lock on his face, like she had broken his brain.

Giggling at the very thought of it, she swung her legs out of bed, eager to get an early start on the day.  She changed into her work out clothes to see if Jackson was ready for their morning run.  He was reluctantly willing to go out early on their run.  When they returned Lucy showered and got ready in record time.  She hollered, “See you at work!” at Jackson before he was even dressed.

At work that morning she was extra focused.  If she wanted to make this switch, she wanted to leave with an empty case list. She did manage to send a few texts to Tim in between cases.  They had both mentioned getting to work early, so she sent him a message when she got to her station.

Lucy (6:48) – Just got to work! It’s going to be a great day.  Bet I got to work before you did. 

Tim (6:49) – Nice try, Chen.  I got called in for an op at 5:00.  Better luck next time.

Later that morning, she thought she’d see how he was doing.

Lucy (10:09) – Did you finish your op? Everything go okay?

Tim (10:11) – Wrapping everything up.  Everyone’s safe. Now I’ve got paperwork to do. Worst part of the job.

Lucy (10:12) – Just one case, huh? I’ve already closed three cases. I’m on a roll.

Tim (10:13) – 🙄 Apples and oranges, Lucy.  You can’t win when it isn’t the same kind of case.

Lucy (10:14) – Sore loser again.

Tim (10:15) – Whatever. You probably had a couple of P2s doing your dirty work for you.

Lucy (10:16) – And you didn’t have a team of P3s working with you?

Tim (10:17) – Fair point. But I should get back to my paperwork. Keep up the good work.

Lucy (10:18) – Bet I can finish my paperwork before you…

Tim (10:19) – Lucy…

Lucy (10:20) – Be safe out there, Tim.

Tim (10:21) – You think you’re so funny.

Lucy (10:22) – Because I am.

Tim (10:23) – You know that sentence is forever ruined for me, right?

Lucy (10:24) – You know that I’m never going to let you forget about it, right?

Tim (10:25) – Mmmhmm… Can’t wait to see you tonight.

Lucy (10:26) – Finally we agree on something. 😘

Lucy couldn’t suppress the smile on her face as she navigated to the maps app to see how long it would take her to get to the restaurant for lunch. 17 minutes.  So, she had about an hour to dive into cases before she needed to sneak out for lunch.

That hour flew by, and before she knew it, Lucy was standing at the door of the restaurant at 11:55.  She took a deep breath in and out, straightened her clothes, ran her fingers through her long wavy hair, and opened the door. Lucy had only taken a few steps when she heard a familiar voice call her name.  She turned to her left and saw Nyla waving her over to them.

Lucy pulled her face into a wide grin – nothing too much as she didn’t want to seem too enthusiastic, but she did want to put her best foot forward. If everything came together the way she thought it might, these would be the people she worked with every day.

Nyla stood as she came close to the table at which they were seated.  Sergeant Detective Caradine sat next to her.  At the other end of the large, square table sat two men in their 30s who had the same look as the detectives she worked with at North Hollywood. They wore tieless button up shirts and looked as though they thought themselves a little too cool to be hanging out with just anyone. Opposite of Caradine and Nyla was a stern-looking woman in her 50s and a younger man that couldn’t be more than 27 or 28.  He must have been the rookie detective that Caradine had mentioned was joining their team. 

In the last chair, next to the empty one seemingly reserved for Lucy, was a petite Latina with dark, wavy hair.  She had on what appeared to be a graphic t-shirt with a black blazer over the top of it, the sleeves rolled up a few times, and black slacks.  Her hair was pulled back with a leopard print scarf tied like a headband that matched the leopard print purse at her feet. She had keen eyes that seemed to be taking in every detail critically.  Lucy nearly blushed under her gaze because it was so intense.

Nyla started making introductions as she pointed to people around the table.  When she reached the woman with a flare for leopard print, she said, “And this is Angela Lopez. She and I work together a lot.” She paused for a moment and then stage whispered, “I would not get on her bad side, if I were you.”  Then she smiled at Angela and laughed softly.

Caradine took over from there.  He talked about all the advantages of working at Mid-Wilshire.  He spoke about the management and the other departments that were based at the station.  When he mentioned, “And you know, of course, that Metro is based out of Mid-Wilshire,” Lucy’s face flushed for a moment, and she nodded in agreement.

Angela noticed the tinge of pink on Lucy’s cheeks and made eye contact with Nyla.  Nyla nodded back at her but kept her face neutral, ever stoic.  Angela, however, had a Grinchish grin on her face for a few seconds.  It rapidly morphed into a sweet smile when Angela sensed Lucy was looking at her and turned toward her momentarily.  Angela and Nyla had talked more about Lucy that morning, so now Nyla knew that the potential date with Tim had become a real date and that it was a progressive situation.

Soon afterwards, the server came to the table to take their orders.  As the others were giving their orders, Angela leaned over to Lucy. “So, Caradine tells us that you have the highest case closure rate in the LAPD.  Pretty impressive for someone just six months into being a detective. How are we going to convince you to make the move to Mid-Wilshire?”

Lucy smiled back at Angela. Lucy knew that Angela was Tim’s best friend.  Nyla had confirmed that a few days ago on the phone.  But she didn’t know how much, if anything, Tim had told her about them. She was about to open her mouth to answer when Nyla interrupted her.

“Lucy, don’t fall for any of her tricks. Angela is just a little jealous because she used to hold that title,” Nyla said with a smirk.

Angela shot Nyla a playful sneer, and then turned back to Lucy.  “The way I see it,” she said with a hard glare at Nyla, “Is that if we team up, we can blow the rest of the LAPD out of the water. Powerful women need to stick together. Isn’t that right, Nyla?”

“Damn straight,” she confirmed with a nod. “Plus, if you choose to do some UC work, I could work with you and run your ops.  We’d be a great team.”

Caradine cleared his throat to speak again once the server left.  He resumed talking about how amazing their situation was at Mid-Wilshire.  Then he went through each of the detectives sitting there and praised the work they had each done.  He talked about many of the high-profile cases that came their way because of their location.

Once the food was delivered, Caradine asked Lucy to tell them more about herself. In between bites she talked about her decision to join the LAPD, her training officer, and her best friend who had been a rookie with her and then rode with her during their P2 year.  She talked about some of the bigger cases she had in her first two and a half years as a cop, what her undercover experience was, as well as some of the bigger cases she had worked on since becoming a detective.

“I hear the Freedom Fighters at the mall on Wednesday started as your case,” Angela started, obviously with an agenda in mind.

“Yeah,” Lucy said.  She tried to make her voice sound sure, but she wasn’t quite sure where Angela was going with her questioning, and she didn’t want to seem like some flighty girlfriend who just wanted to be closer to her boyfriend, even if that was at least partially true.

“I worked with the DA to make a deal with one of the Freedom Fighters who had been caught stealing automatic weapons.  He turned on the rest of his club pretty quickly to avoid jailtime. From there it was just working with patrol, SWAT, and Metro to find everyone and keep everyone safe.”

“Lieutenant Pine from Metro was really impressed with you that day. She thought you did an excellent job communicating with her sergeant and working together to keep everyone safe and find all of the potential shooters. She hasn’t stopped nagging me since then that she wants you at Mid-Wilshire. She even emailed me right before this lunch,” Caradine said.

He looked down at his phone for a minute and then read the email to the group. ‘Get that Chen woman to come to Mid-Wilshire. We could use another strong woman like her.  I’ve never seen my sergeant work so willingly and closely with the detectives. They were a great team.”

Caradine chuckled and then said, “And she just texted me again. ‘Seal the deal, Caradine.’”  He looked over at Lucy.  “It takes a lot to impress Lieutenant Pine.  Well done, Detective Chen.”

Lucy flushed a deep red.  She didn’t know what to say. She didn’t want to share anything about her relationship with Tim, so she just mumbled, “Thank you, sir.  I really do appreciate the offer. It was easy to work with her team that day.  I think we could probably work well together again in the future.”

“Had you ever worked with Metro like that before? I mean, if you worked together so well, like Pine said, I wondered if you knew some of the team or had worked with them before?”

“Umm.  No.  I don’t think I ever worked with Metro before.  At least I know I haven’t since I became a detective. Because SWAT is based out of North Hollywood, we work with them a lot,” she said, hoping that would satisfy his questions, and they could move on.

“Well.  I guess that makes sense with SWAT being at your station. But you really didn’t know the team at all?” Caradine asked.

Angela was watching the exchange eagerly with a small smile to see what Lucy would say.  It was almost like watching an intense tennis match with her eyes jumping back and forth. Caradine couldn’t do a better job putting heat on her if he tried, even though she didn’t think he knew anything about Tim and Lucy.

“Oh, well,” Lucy said, trying to decide what to say.  On Wednesday when it all happened, they had only been on one botched date. But at the moment Caradine was asking the questions, their relationship had definitely progressed.  “I… uh… At the time, I had met Sergeant Bradford outside of work a couple times, socially, but we had never worked together.”

“Bradford socializes?” Caradine asked incredulously, laughing at the idea of it.  The rest of the table joined him in laughing.

Lucy flushed a deep shade of red and didn’t know what to say.  She looked around at the group who all seemed to agree with Caradine’s assessment, even Nyla and Angela.

“Ahhh,” said Caradine, trying to stifle his laughter. “We mean no offense to Sergeant Bradford.  He’s an excellent cop and leads his team with proficiency and skill.  He’s just… Well, he rarely socializes, and he generally seems angry about something. That’s why we usually have Angela handle working with him if we have a choice.  They’re close, and she has a way of cutting through his bullshit.”

Lucy glanced over at Angela who smiled back at her with a tightlipped smile.

“But Nyla won’t let him boss her around either,” Caradine said as he thought on it more.  “So perhaps the secret to working with Bradford is to send in powerful women.  Because I’ve definitely seen him make other women cry at work.  When he was a TO he had the highest wash out rate for his rookies.”  He paused and thought about that for a minute. “Huh. I never thought about that before.”

“Well, I… uh… I had no problems working with him, sir,” she said.  Then she held her breath for a moment, trying to decide if she should say anything more. “I don’t know how Detective Harper or Lopez generally work with him, but I found him very accommodating and considerate. He always listened to what I had to say and never criticized me or got angry at me.  We actually worked together easily, seamlessly.”  She wanted to defend Tim without revealing anything about their relationship.  It was all so new.  They hadn’t filled out any paperwork with HR.  They hadn’t even brought that up in conversation yet.

“Huh,” he said again, taking in this information. “Perhaps that’s the reason Pike has been so adamant about you coming. You’re like a snake charmer… a Bradford charmer,” he said laughing a little louder.

If it were possible for Lucy to disappear at this moment, she would have. A Bradford charmer? Geez.  There may be some truth to it, but that’s not how she wanted to be known at her new station, she thought to herself. Since the floor didn’t swallow her up, she decided to say something, anything, to move the conversation along. “I guess… I’ve always been a pretty friendly person,” she offered weakly.

“So true!” Caradine said.  He looked around the table at the other detectives. “You should see all of her reviews.  Everybody loves her.  One more reason to add her to our group, right?”

Lucy smiled and nodded, eager to move on.

Angela smiled deviously at Lucy’s discomfort. It looks like she may be just as invested in this relationship as Tim is, she thought to herself.  Then she took a little pity on Lucy and decided to change the subject to address something else Lucy had mentioned. “Hmm… I happen to know the DA that made that deal. He’s smoking hot and damn good at his job.”

Lucy was confused and wove her eyebrows together.  She had expected Angela to say something more about Tim, but she had not expected anything about Wesley.

Nyla saw the confusion on Lucy’s face and swatted her hand toward Angela. She shook her head and turned to Lucy. “Ignore her.  She’s just talking about her husband, Wesley Evers.”

“Wait… What?” If Lucy had looked confused before, she looked completely bewildered now.  Then everything seemed to be clear to her as though the snow had fallen in a snow globe revealing the characters inside. “Oooooh,” she said, her mouth making a perfect, puckered circle. “You’re that Angela,” she said, her mouth converting into a wide grin.

“I’d like to know what that means,” Angela said, a bit taken aback that she would know anything about her from Wesley.

Lucy quickly explained, “No, no.  It’s all good things.  Wesley actually brags about you all the time. He’s always showing me pictures of your son, Jack, who is quite adorable, by the way. But I had never made the connection that you were a detective at Mid-Wilshire. Now it makes so much sense.” Lucy paused as she thought through her prior interactions with Wesley. “Wesley is my favorite DA to call when I need help. He and I seem to be on the same page when it comes to who should get a deal and who needs help and who needs to be prosecuted.  He’s a great guy, really amazing.”

As Lucy paused, she repeated the words she had just said again in her mind. Her eyes opened wide, and she quickly corrected, “I mean.  I’m not jealous or trying to steal your husband.  I didn’t mean it to sound like that. I… Wesley is just a good person, a good friend.  That’s all I was trying to say.”

Angela and Nyla laughed as Lucy’s concerned ramblings. “No worries, Lucy.  I know Wesley only has eyes for me; I’m not offended.  Plus, he knows that if his eyes were to wander, I could easily kill him and make it look like an accident. No one would ever know,” Angela said lightly, as though she was telling a joke about golfing at a country club.  Angela and Nyla’s eyes connected, and they both laughed a little bit harder.

Lucy looked back and forth between the two detectives and then joined in the laughter. She was at least 90% sure that Angela was joking… okay, maybe just 80% sure.

When the laughter died down, Angela leaned over and whispered to Lucy, “Besides, I hear your eyes have found someone else important to me instead. Tim speaks very highly of you. I don’t think I’ve seen him so interested in a woman in the ten years I’ve known him.  Be gentle with his heart, okay? He’s more delicate than he’ll ever admit, and he really deserves to be loved.”

Now Lucy was truly blushing… again. She didn’t know what to say for a moment, and she was trying to calm her breathing and heart rate before anyone else noticed. “I… uh… care about him a lot.  I would never try to hurt him,” she whispered back. “But he doesn’t know about this meeting or the offer from Caradine.  So, would you mind keeping this between us for now? I promise I’ll tell him soon.  I just need a little bit of time to think.”

“No problem. I totally understand,” Angela said, nodding.  Nyla nodded once as well.

The two women straightened back up and joined in the conversations around them. Lucy found herself laughing and sharing stories with all of the detectives at the table, even the stiff older lady softened up a bit and the cool guys as the end of the table eventually deemed Lucy worthy of their company.

Before they knew it, their table was being cleared and everyone started to grab their phones and purses. As he stood, Caradine spoke loudly enough that other conversations ceased. “Well, Detective Chen, I think I can speak for at least the members of my team here today in saying that we would be happy to welcome you to Mid-Wilshire. I know I’ve been pestering you about filling a vacancy here for a while.  I hope today’s lunch has convinced you.  The powers that be want me to have the spot filled by next week. I know that doesn’t give you a lot of time, but I want you to really think about it this weekend.  You have my number. Let me know when you’ve made a decision, okay?”

“Yes, sir,” Lucy said, nodding back at him.

As the group filed away from the table and out of the restaurant, each of the other detectives shook Lucy’s hand and mentioned they hoped to see her soon.  Once Lucy was in front of her car, it was just Nyla and Angela who were with her.

“Well, Lucy. It would be great to work with you again.  I think a tall, handsome man we all know may have done more to convince you than we did today.  But I hope this helped a bit,” Nyla said with a knowing grin and one eyebrow raised.

“We’d be happy to have you at Mid-Wilshire.  Maybe not as happy as Tim, but I don’t know if that’s a fair contest,” Angela said slyly. “Nyla and are a great team, but we’d be happy to have you work with us. Aaand, I wouldn’t mind being part of a record-breaking case-closing team, either,” she said with a Cheshire grin. “I love to win.”

Lucy smiled back at the women. “Yeah.  I think this could be a good transition for me. But I want a little bit more time to think. I should probably tell Tim before I just show up at work; I want to make sure he’d be okay with it.  And I want to run it by my roommate since I’d be leaving him and our rookie station.”

“I get that.  It’s never good to have too many big secrets in a relationship.  But I’m 100% sure Tim would love to have you at Mid-Wilsire,” Nyla said.

“And best friends are important, so I can see why you want to talk to him,” she said with a twinkle in her eye. “Speaking of which, Tim is supposed to invite you to my New Year’s Eve party on Sunday night.  I’m not sure if he’s mentioned it yet.  He may not want to overwhelm you with so many people that he knows and you don’t.  And he really doesn’t love large social functions or dressing up. But I’d really like you to come if you can.  Bring your best friend, too.  There’s going to be plenty of room and plenty of food. Maybe meeting us and seeing how awesome we are will help soften the blow of you leaving.”

“Oh.  No, Tim didn’t mention anything about a party on Sunday night. But that sounds like fun. Originally Jackson and I were going to spend it at home together, so if I could bring him that would be perfect. What’s the dress code?”

“I like to ring in the new year in style. Dress to the nines,” she said.  Then she added with a wink, “I don’t think Tim would mind getting dressed up if he knew you were going to be there with him.  I happen to have seen Tim in a tux a few times before. And, although things have always been platonic between us, I still have eyes, and let me tell you, that man can wear a suit better than anyone else I’ve ever known.”  She paused for a minute, sizing Lucy up, “And I bet you can rock a little black dress with the best of them.”

Lucy blushed under the heat of Angela’s gaze.  She laughed to try to dissipate the scrutiny of Angela’s eyes on her. “Okay,” she said. “Sounds good.”

“Men don’t understand the effort it takes to find the right dress and get ready for a formal night out.  So, I thought I’d give you a heads up.”

“It’ll give us another chance to convince you come join us at Mid-Wilshire, too,” Nyla said with a smirk. “Text or call me with any questions.  See you on Sunday, Chen.”

“It was nice to meet you in person, Lucy.  I look forward to seeing you on Sunday.  I’d love to see you and Tim together away from work; he seems pretty smitten with you,” Angela said with her eyebrows lifted.

“Bye,” she called as she got into her car.

Lucy spent the drive back to North Hollywood and the rest of the afternoon a bit distracted.  She had so many things swirling around her mind – her date that night, the New Year’s party, and this potential move to Mid-Wilshire. She tried to focus on her cases, but every time her eyes would wander up and see the bouquet of flowers still sitting there, a smile would creep onto her lips, and she would be daydreaming again.

Eventually it was 5:55. Lucy had set an alarm so she could leave as soon she possibly could. She tidied up her desk and sent Tim a text.

Lucy – Finishing up here.  I just have to run home and change before our date.  How are things with Metro?

Tim – I’m about to head out, too.  Paperwork done. No active cases.

Lucy – Perfect. I can’t wait to see you. 

Tim – Same. Hopefully no crimes this time.

Lucy – Don’t jinx us.

Tim – You know that isn’t real, right?

Lucy – It’s not worth the risk, though. Shhhhh…

Tim – Fine. See you soon.

Lucy smiled as she walked out of the station.  She knew exactly what she was going to wear this time.  The dress she had ordered while they were snowed in had arrived.  She had it hanging in her bathroom all ready to go.  When she got home, she quickly toed her shoes off and dropped her bag by the door.  She flew to the bathroom and changed her clothes.  Then she plugged in her curling iron and opened up her makeup drawer.  There’s such a double standard for men and women, she thought.  Tim just has to change his clothes and spritz some cologne. Done. I’ve got to do my hair, makeup, accessories…

She was brought out of her thoughts by a message from Tim.

Tim – Meet at the same parking lot?

Lucy – Sounds good.  I’m just about ready.

Tim – I’m sure you look fantastic.

Lucy – Mmm. Can’t wait to see you again.

Tim – Ditto.

Twenty minutes later Tim called her. “I’m standing at the elevator.  Where are you at?”

“Just driving into the parking garage now.”

“There isn’t any parking until you get to the 8^th floor.  I’ll meet you at that elevator, okay?”

“Great.  See you in a minute,” she said.

Tim stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked around.  This was the sixth day in a row that he had seen Lucy, but it felt like they had known each other for much longer. They were getting pretty comfortable around each other, but he was still nervous.  As he surveyed the parking lot, he suddenly saw her walking toward him.  She was wearing a long, flowing, dark green dress that danced around her legs as she walked.  He gasped when he saw that there must be some type of long slit or two in the skirt allowing her muscular legs to peak out of it occasionally. The top of the dress didn’t do any less to distract him from her face.  There was a deep central vee that was accentuated by a gold pendant necklace that rested just above her cleavage and shimmered when it caught the light.  Her hair was long and wavy, as she normally wore it, but she had added some early curl to it that bounced as she walked, and part of it was pulled gently back from her face.  As she drew closer to him, he realized that she had chosen a dark red lipstick to go with the outfit. His eyes moved slowly up and down her frame, unashamedly, while he pulled his lips tight, as though to hold the breath that he hadn’t been able to exhale since he first saw her.

Lucy could feel the heat of his gaze from far away, and by the time she was standing next to him, her cheeks felt like they might match the shade of her lips. “Hi,” she said looking deep into his eyes.  She had already had her moment admiring him as she walked to join him.  He was wearing a light blue button up shirt with charcoal gray slacks and matching jacket.  The blue of his shirt made his eyes seem a lighter shade of blue than they usually did. He had left the top two buttons undone, showing just enough of his chest to curl Lucy’s toes in anticipation of what the rest of him may look like.

“Hi,” he breathed out. “You look… incredible,” he said, his eyes meeting hers.

“Thank you,” she said, swaying back and forth. “You are very handsome tonight.”  Her fingers moved nervously on her clutch purse, rotating it in her hands.

“Hmm… thanks. Shall we go?” he asked, holding out a bent arm to her. 

She smiled up at him as she wrapped her arm around his elbow. “Yeah.”  After a few moments of silence while they rode the elevator to the second floor, Lucy said, “I’m really looking forward to tonight.  Some of the chefs here have been featured on The Food Network.  It would be so amazing if we got to meet one of them.”  She squeezed his arm tighter in excitement and her face oozed enthusiasm from every pore. Her smile was so brilliant that Tim almost forgot that he had never watched The Food Network before.

Tim nodded.  “That would be great,” he said, trying to match her excitement level.

Then Lucy talked about her favorite chef shows for the rest of their walk to the restaurant.  Tim continued to smile and nod all the way to the maître d’s podium. They were shown to their table and told that the chef would join them soon. They sat next to each other on a small, padded bench.

A moment later Lucy’s eyes opened as wide as saucers as their chef joined them. Tim enjoyed seeing her fan girl moment, but he had no idea why she looked the way she did.

“Good evening,” the chef said, smiling at them. “I understand that you are special guests of ours this evening who helped out with a difficult situation earlier in the week, so I wanted to thank you by serving you myself.  My name is Javier Lopez; I’m the executive chef here.”

Tim looked at Lucy to speak first, but her tongue was still tied.  He smiled and said, “Thank you.  I’m Tim, and this is Lucy. We’re very excited to be here with you this evening.”

Lucy managed to clear her throat and nod in agreement, breathing out a small, “Hi.”  Tim reached over and squeezed her hand, laughing softly. 

Javier explained to them that their dinner that evening was a customizable five course meal.  He pulled out a menu explaining the different dishes that he could make for them. Some of the items seemed simple and self-explanatory, like the farm salad and the bread service, but others, like the spiced carrot granita and the nori bucatini pasta, needed more explanation. 

Tim was generally very conservative in his food choices, but he could tell by the look of excitement on Lucy’s face that she wanted to try more of the elaborate and complicated dishes.

“Some of the dishes require a lot more time to prepare than others, so I’d like you to select all of your courses first, and then I’ll prepare them for you. This experience is designed for me to make two portions of the same five courses, so you’ll need to select items that both of you will enjoy.  I’ll give you a few minutes,” Javier said.  He walked back into the kitchen.

Lucy looked over at Tim.  “Okay.  Tell me what your favorite things are.  I like everything on this menu, so we can choose things that you will like, too.”  She could tell he was apprehensive to make any choices.

“Let’s start at the top. Bread plate or caviar service?”

Tim winced. He had never had caviar before and the thought of it made his stomach twist. “Bread service?” he said weakly, hoping she’d agree.

“Sure. Caviar always gives me funny breath, and we don’t need any of that tonight,” she said with a giggle and a wink.

Tim breathed a sigh of relief.  Maybe this won’t be too bad, he thought. 

“Okay, next. Olive medley or cheese plate?”

“Mmmm. I would lean toward the cheese plate, but I’d be happy with either one.”

“Cheese plate it is,” she said. She could see the relief on his face again and smiled at him.  “You know, you don’t have to eat anything that you don’t want to eat, right?”

Tim hummed and said, “Yeah, but I want you to be able to eat the fancy food you want to eat.”

She leaned her shoulder against his and looked up at him. “Although I’m really excited to eat here tonight, especially with Javier Lopez as our chef, I’m here to spend time with you. You are my priority and the most important part of this experience. Okay?”

Tim swallowed hard. He couldn’t remember another relationship in his recent or distant past where he had been put first. He was in awe of Lucy and her kind, selfless nature that was always taking care of other people.  That was part of her magic. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close, and kissed her temple.  “Thank you,” he said sincerely. “The bread plate and cheese plate are a great start for me.  You choose the next dish.  There are a lot more options.”

Lucy stayed tucked next to Tim and lifted the menu for both of them to see it. “Hmmm… Bluefin Tuna Crudo or Grilled Octopus?” she asked.  She felt him stiffen a little beside her and offered up a third option, “Or we could try the Ricotta Gnudi…”

“Ricotta Gnudi?”

“The explanation says it has lemon, pepper, chives, and parmigiano-reggiano espuma.”

“Espuma?”

“It means foam.  It’s a fancy newer technique in cooking.  I think it would be really cool to see Javier do that.”

“Okay, sure.”

“Perfect.  Fourth course. You strike me as a steak guy.  So maybe the Japanese Wagyu? Or the grilled ribeye?

“Well, since this dinner is complementary, I’ve always wanted to try wagyu beef.  I just haven’t been able to stomach the price tag.”

“Great.  Let’s get the filet. Now we just have to choose our dessert.”

“Oh, I already know what you want from this list.”

“You do?”

“Of course,” he said. “I know you love your fancy chai lattes with two sugars and oat milk.  So of course, you’d want to try the chai poached pears.”

Her face lit up with his suggestion. “You know me so well,” she said, and she gave him a kiss on the cheek.

“Now who’s giving grandma kisses?” he whispered to her.

“Mmm,” she hummed bringing her mouth right up to his ear. “The difference is I have no plan to stop at a grandma kiss,” she whispered back.  Her hand found his knee and gave it a squeeze.  Then she dragged her fingers as lightly as a feather up his thigh, ending by tracing a swirled, little circle just below his hip. “It’s just the appetizer,” she said in a low, sultry voice.

She could see Tim’s eyes open in surprise, his pupils dilating and his cheeks turning pink. Then she returned her hand to the table, looking at him with cheeky innocence.

It took Tim a moment or two to find his voice.  When he did, it was a little gravely, “I thought we were taking it slow?” The hand on her shoulder tapped it a couple times and then held it tight.

“Well, we’re seen each other every day for six days now. That’s not particularly slow either.” She shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t think we need to go all the way yet, but there are things we can do before we need those condoms you mentioned last night,” she whispered raising her eyebrows.

Tim flushed again and was about to apologize again for his little outburst the night before when the chef returned to get their selections.  Lucy, who seemed much more composed than Tim, rattled off their list.

“Excellent selection,” Javier said.  “I’m going to get everything we need to get started.  Are you interested in wine pairing to go with each course?”

“Yes, most definitely,” Lucy said adamantly. 

Tim was still processing everything and nodded in agreement.

A moment after the chef left someone else returned with a large basket of bread for them.

Tim and Lucy were quiet for a moment as they each picked out one of the breads.

Tim broke the silence. “It’s good bread,” he said nodding his head.

Lucy giggled, remembering how he said that when they ate bread together at the airport. “Yeah,” she said, “Such a nice assortment.” She looked at Tim, trying to see if he would remember that they’d had this exact conversation before.  He didn’t seem to.  He brushed some crumbs off the table and then smiled at her.

“Why are we suddenly all awkward again?” she asked, trying to catch his eye.

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe because I thought I may just get a few kisses tonight, and now I my mind is just a little fuzzy at the prospect of… naked time,” he said in an exasperated tone.

Lucy puffed out a laugh. “I… I’m sorry I messed with your expectations. That’s my fault. I do still want to take things slow. It’s all so new.  So, even though a good part of me is disappointed that I’m saying this, it’ll be a while before you see me naked.  Just because we have this amazing connection, I don’t think we should just jump in bed together. Right?”

Tim had been watching her face carefully as she spoke. It was clear to him based on her actions a few minutes earlier and her words just now that she had plenty of desire to move things forward, but she was trying to restrain herself, to do things the right way. “As much as I would like to disagree with you, I agree that we should do it the right way and make sure we’re ready for the next step.”  He put his hand over hers and clutched it tight.  They sat there quietly for a moment.

“Oh, um, before I forget, do you have any plans for New Year’s Eve? I know we both said we’d go to Genny Noon Year’s party, but do you have any plans after that?” Tim asked.

“Hmmm.  We originally Jackson and I were planning to binge some movies and ring in the New Year at home, but that was before I met you.  We haven’t really talked about it since you came around.”

“Would you… uh… I mean, you don’t have to, but…” Tim was frustrated with himself.  This should be easy by now, the thought. “Would you come with me to a New Year’s party? My best friend, Angela, hosts this big fancy party every year, and she really wants me to bring you so that she can meet you.”

“Oh,” Lucy said, realizing that Angela had kept her promise not to tell Tim about their lunch that day. “Yeah.  I’d like to meet her and some of your other friends.”

Tim scoffed a little bit. “It’ll be pretty much everyone I know except Genny and her kids.  Work keeps me busy enough that I don’t know many people outside of work,” he said, shaking his head. “The, uh, dress code for this party is formal.  Angela married into money and her mother-in-law likes to throw lavish parties.”

“What?” she said, more shocked that Wesley was wealthy than with the dress code. “Well, I’m sure I can find something that could work,” she said, trying to cover for her surprise. “I’d really like to spend New Year’s Eve with you.”  Her face softened as she said that, and she gazed deeply into his eyes.

“Mmm.  Me, too,” Tim said, pulling her closer and kissing her cheek. “Now don’t get on my case and start calling that a ‘grandma kiss’ again.  Just like when you kissed me earlier, that is just a promise of more to come, okay?” he said a bit defensively, but sincerely. “There’s only so much that can be done inside a restaurant.”

“Okay, I’ll stop calling them grandma kisses,” she said and paused for a moment. “I am looking forward to whatever comes next.”  She saw the chef coming and sat up a little straighter. “Um, do you think Jackson could come to the party, too? I hate to bail on him for New Year’s Eve with only 2 days’ notice.”

“I’ll ask Angela, but I’m sure it’ll be fine.”  As their chef returned to the table wheeling in the food and equipment he needed on a cart, Tim pulled out his phone to text Angela.

 Tim – Good news.  Lucy can come to your NYE party.

He saw the three dots appear immediately.

Angela – That’s great!  I can’t wait to meet her.  From what I hear from you and Nyla, she’s pretty amazing.

Tim – Yeah.  She is.

Tim – Can her roommate come, too? He’s also LAPD – with SWAT.

Angela – Sure.  The more and merrier.  Especially since Patrice had already rented the place and paid for all the catering.  I’m sure there will be an insane amount of food.

Tim – Great.  Thanks.

Angela – How is the date going?

Tim – Fine.  I should get back to it.

Tim looked up from his phone and put it back in his pocket.  With his left hand he grabbed his bread, and his right arm went back over Lucy’s shoulders.  He leaned into her ear and whispered, “Angela is happy to have Jackson join us.”

“Great.  Why are we whispering about that?” she whispered back, quirking up her eyebrow.

Tim’s lips curled down, and he shrugged his shoulders. Then he leaned closer, smilng, and kissed her cheek. “Maybe I just wanted an excuse to do that again.”

Lucy swatted at him playfully. “Stoooop,” she said rolling her eyes. “You and your gran… sweet kisses,” she said, catching herself in time.  Then she gave his knee a squeeze again and focused back on the chef.

They ate their bread as the chef explained the other dishes he was starting to prepare.  Lucy kept her eyes on what he was doing, but Tim’s eyes were mostly on Lucy.  She would look over at him every once in a while and catch his eye with a smile.

There was a different wine offered by a sommelier who stopped by their table with each course.   Tim rarely drank wine, and most of the names were in French or Italian and unrecognizable to him, but he could see Lucy’s eyes light up with the mention of each new wine.  As she sipped each one, it was as although she had found a new favorite every time. Her eyes rolled back in pleasure, and she moaned with each one.  This did not help Tim to keep his focus away from ‘naked time.’  Instead, he found himself imagining what other sounds he could cause her to make, and then he had to shake his head to return his focus to the food and what Lucy was talking about.

Their conversation during the meal was mainly on what they were eating and what Javier was making. Lucy and Tim both enjoyed being able to sit so close to each other while they ate, their bodies touching the whole time in one way or the other.

The third course was quite elaborate.  Lucy watched Javier with bated breath as he completed each step, in awe of how beautiful everything was and how skilled Javier was. She was so eager to taste the dish.

Tim leaned back a bit when the dish was placed in front of him.  He tried to smile and look excited, but Lucy noticed while Javier was cooking that he had stiffened at one particular step. 

Lucy smiled and leaned over toward his plate, “Let me help you.  All you need to know is that that pancake is made of mushroom, which I know is not your favorite, so I’m just…” Lucy took her fork and gently removed a pancake looking part of their food from his plate to hers.

“Thank goodness.  Yes. Take it. Yeah,” he said, putting his hands up.  Tim scrunched up his nose as he watched Lucy take a bite of it. 

Her voice rumbled in pleasure, and she closed her eyes as the flavors melted on her tongue. “You are definitely missing out,” she said as she slowly opened her eyes. Then she looked over at Javier and said, “That was absolutely amazing.”

Tim managed a small smile and said, “I think we’ll have to agree to disagree on that one.”  He paused for a moment and then asked, “How did you know I don’t like mushrooms?”

“Please,” she scoffed gently as she patted his knee. “I may have only known you for less than a week, but I’ve studied your face long enough to know when you don’t like something. I might not have you all figured out yet, but that cute face of yours says plenty.”

“Cute face?” he scoffed.  “I’m not cute.  Men aren’t cute.”

“You look pretty cute to me,” Lucy said as she leaned over to kiss his cheek.

He narrowed his eyes at her, his lips pulled into a line, and his head tilted to the side a bit as he nodded it.

Lucy just giggled in response and took another bite of her mushroom pancake.

After the third course there was a short lull in the conversation as the chef went to get a few more items for the fourth and fifth courses. 

“So,” Lucy started.  “You’ve been at Mid-Wilshire the whole time you’ve been with the LAPD, right?”

“Yeah.”

“And you like it there?”

“Well, since I’ve always been there, I don’t have a good comparison, but I have a good group of close friends there. Metro is based out of Mid-Wilshire, but we work with patrol from all the other stations of the LAPD.  On bigger cases we sometimes work with SWAT, like the one on Wednesday. I’ve never really wanted to move.  My house is close to the station.  I love working with Metro. I just don’t see a reason to change.” He studied her face as he spoke.  She seemed to have something she wanted to say, but she wasn’t saying anything.

“Are you thinking about moving stations?” he asked.

She looked up at him and shrugged her shoulders.  “Maybe?” Then she looked down at her hands for a moment, trying to decide how much to reveal. “I…uh…” she looked back up at him.  He was following every little micro-expression she made. “I have an offer to join a different group of detectives, but I’ve never left North Hollywood.  I don’t know if I really want to make the move or not.” She took a deep breath and continued, “Most of the people I was close to have moved on.  Jackson is still there, but he’s in SWAT now, and it feels like I never see him.  I’m not that close to my old TO. He was just a grumpy pain in the butt. And the other detectives… I don’t know,” she said rolling her eyes. “They just act like they’re too cool for me.  They’re not very friendly, and they keep to themselves.”  She looked up at the ceiling for a minute and then back at Tim. “So, I’m considering this other offer. I had lunch with some of the group earlier today, and I think it could be a really great fit for me.”

Tim had been nodding his head as she spoke and trying to smile, but he was afraid that this was leading up to her announcing that she was moving far away and that their relationship would be over or long distance. “Ummm.  Would this is a big move? Somewhere far away?”

Lucy’s whole face lit up, and she chuckled as she answered. “No.  No.  Definitely not. I mean, we just found each other.  I don’t want to move far away,” she said, taking his hand her hers.

Tim breathed out a huge sigh of relief.  “You got me for a second there; I was afraid you were about to break up with me.”  His face softened, and he said, “Well, as long as you’re still close, then I think you should go somewhere that would be a good fit for you, like you said.”

Lucy screwed her face up tight, her lips tied into a bow. “What if it’s really, really close?”

“Really, really close?” he said, a bit confused.

Her hand squeezed his even tighter, and she turned further to face him so she could see his reaction well. “Like at your station?” she squeaked quietly.

“What?!!” he said in surprise, dropping her hand, turning to face her all the way.  A moment later he grabbed her shoulders.  “You’ve got an offer to come to Mid-Wilshire? From Caradine, I presume?”

Lucy nodded her head with a small smile, trying to judge if he was happy or upset with the situation.

She didn’t have to wait long for her answer. Tim’s hands quickly, but gently cupped her face as he brought his lips to hers. The kiss started a bit abruptly, but it was a sweet, gentle kiss, one showed how excited he was to have her closer to him and how much he cared about her. The kiss didn’t last long; they were in the middle of a restaurant with their chef returning any minute now.

When he pulled back, he rested his forehead on hers while his hands stayed on her cheeks. “So, I could see you sometimes at work?” he said quietly.

“Umm hmm.”

“And get lunch together sometimes?”

“Umm hmm,” she said.  Then she smiled a little bigger, “And maybe we can save the planet a little and drive back and forth together, too.  If you ever invite me to your house, that is.”

Tim dipped his head to give her another small kiss. “That sounds perfect.”

“I do want to be clear that if I make this move, it isn’t just for you.  I mean, that’s a big perk, but Caradine has been asking me to join him for a couple months.  It just seems like everything is coming together right now to make it happen,” she said with a smile as she shrugged her shoulders.  “But I thought it would be best if I ran it past you before I just showed up at your station or you figured out that I already knew Angela at the party. I don’t want any secrets between us, okay?”

Tim gave her another gentle peck and then leaned back to look into her eyes. “I love everything about this: no secrets, having you closer to me, seeing you every day, you working with Angela, you staying over at my house….” He leaned a little closer when he said that part and gave her another gentle kiss. “It’s perfect.”

“I’m so glad you’re okay with it.  Now I just need to talk to Jackson,” she said.

The chef arrived and cleared his throat to show him what he was going to do next.  Tim reluctantly let his hands fall from Lucy’s face, but he pulled her closer to him and wrapped his arm around her again.

When the chef was done talking, Tim had thought of another question. “Did you say that you met with Caradine’s team for lunch today?”

“Yeah.”

“So, did you already meet Angela then? But she didn’t say anything about it.”

Lucy smiled back at him. “Yeah.  I asked her not to say anything to you.  I wanted to be the one to tell you.”

“Ahhh,” he said, nodding his head.

“And she already invited me to her New Year’s party.  And she said that Jackson could come,” Lucy said with a giggle.

Tim smiled and shook his head in amazement.

“Plus, I already know Wesley.  He’s my favorite DA.  He works with my ex over there.  But I didn’t realize that the ‘Angela’ he was married to was your best friend until I met her earlier today.  And I definitely didn’t know that he came from a wealthy family.  I mean, he’s always in a suit, but all the lawyers we work with always wear suits. So now all the puzzle pieces are coming together.”

“Yeah,” he said, still processing all of this information.  “So, if you decide to take this job, you’ll be working with Angela and Nyla, and I could see you every day?” he said, repeating what he had already said at least twice.

“Well, I technically have seen you every day for the last six days, even though we’re at different stations.  But yes, I could partner with your best friend, work with you on occasion, and see you at work every day.”

“This is the best news… if you decide to take it.”

“Mmmm.  Apparently, Lieutenant Pine is interested in having me around, too.  She’s been pestering Caradine since our op on Wednesday to bring me to Mid-Wilshire. She emailed Caradine, and I quote, ‘I’ve never seen my sergeant work so willing and closely with the detectives. They were a great team.’”  Lucy giggled. “So apparently other people also noticed that we have a bit of a connection.”

Tim chuckled. “I always get the job done.  I’m very focused at work.  But I’m not always... gentle in my suggestions and communications like I was with you.  I guess Pine noticed.”

They had to turn their attention back to the chef who was showing them the marbling on the Wagyu filets and explaining to them the best way to cook steak.  Now it was Lucy’s eyes that kept wandering to Tim while he watched closely to see how to cook a steak just right.  Lucy suspected that Tim was more of a grill type of chef than an oven type, so this was right up his alley.

Their roles remained reversed as Tim took the first bite of his steak.  He closed his eyes and moaned softly.  Lucy watched him envisioning other ways she could make him moan like that. She was awakened from her daydream when the chef asked her why she wasn’t eating her steak and reminded her that it’s best eaten right off the grill. She blushed and cut a bite.  As she put it to her mouth, she thought about Tim’s reaction, but it turned out, as good as it was, she didn’t have the passion for good-tasting steak like Tim did.

Just before their dessert, the sommelier brought by a dessert wine in a much smaller bottle and offered it to them.  They accepted it, but Tim took just one sip and offered the rest to Lucy.  It was far too sweet for him.  She laughed and enjoyed a few more sips before Javier finished their chai poached pears.

By the time they were done with their poached pears, it was already 10:00.  Tim’s hopes of having enough time for Lucy to come over to his house were pretty much dashed. They both worked the next day, so they couldn’t stay out too much later. But Tim really wanted some alone time with Lucy to explore whatever next steps she alluded to earlier. His mind searched for a good solution as they walked across the bridge to their parking garage.

Lucy bumped his shoulder, “Hey.  You okay? You’re thinking too loud,” she said with a giggle.

He smiled back at her.  “Guilty. I was just trying to think of how to sweep you off of your feet and take you home with me. Maybe? Please?”

Lucy groaned. “I’m 90% with you, but the last 10% tells me that I need to be responsible and go home.”

The elevator bell dinged, and they walked inside.  As soon as the doors closed, Lucy pushed him up against the wall and crashed her lips into his. Tim wrapped his arms around her and reciprocated eagerly. A few moments later, as they were getting close to the 8^th floor, Lucy reached over and hit a button labeled ‘STOP.’ The elevator stopped, but they did not. They stayed there for several minutes enjoying some privacy and the taste of wine and poached pears from each other’s lips while their hands moved all over each other’s bodies.  Eventually Lucy pulled back, gasping for air, and hit the button again.  She slid back down the wall where Tim had held her up, holding his shoulders to slow the descent.  The doors opened a few seconds later, and they left the elevator.

“So, after that,” she said, pointing to the elevator, “I feel a little bit more justified in being responsible.” She sighed and said, “I should get back home.”

“Really?” he asked, aghast. “After that,” he said, pointing to the elevator just like she had a few seconds before, “I only want more.”  He glanced around the parking garage for a moment to see if anyone was watching them.  Seeing no one around, he smiled and lunged forward, crashing his lips into hers and pushing up against the wall by the elevator. Lucy giggled into the kiss, but her laughter was soon swallowed up as the kiss deepened.

Coming up for air, Lucy breathed out Tim’s name.  He responded by kissing down her jaw toward her ear, laughing softly as he heard her moan in response. Her right hand scratched through the tiny hairs on the back of his head as he moved down her neck.  Her left hand still held a handful of his shirt, holding him close. At the base of her neck, Tim’s trail of kisses migrated across her collarbone.  He slowly moved the silky fabric of her dress out of the way and groaned when he realized he had reached her arm without finding a bra strap.  His lips kissed and nipped down the edge of the vee of her dress toward her sternum.  When he reached that spot that his eyes had been drawn to all night at the base of the vee, he stayed there for a moment, his hands around her waist holding her close.

Soon, far too soon for his liking, Lucy lifted his head back up her hers.  She greeted him with a passionate kiss that lasted for another few minutes and then pulled away with a little pop. She gave him another little peck and then lowered herself back to the ground.  She nuzzled at his neck for another few minutes, peppering it with tiny kisses.

“Hmmm,” she moaned against his skin. “You’re right. More was definitely better.”

They heard the slam of a car door a moment later that startled them apart. “I guess it was too good to last,” he said into her hair, not wanting to let her go far.

“Well, we are in a parking garage.  There are dozens of cars around us with no presumption of privacy,” she said, laughing softly and taking a step toward her car. “We’re lucky we got the time we did.”

Tim hummed in agreement.

Lucy took a tissue out of her small clutch and started wiping away some of the red lipstick marks on Tim’s face and neck, but Tim squeezed her hand to stop her.

“No. It’s okay. I want to keep them there just a little bit longer. I don’t want to erase what just happened yet,” he said, looking deep into her eyes.

Lucy smiled back at him. “Okay,” she said in a small voice.

“Can I see you again tomorrow?” he asked, not wanting to let her go just yet, still holding her hand to his face.

Lucy smiled back at him. “Another day in a row, huh? Not tired of me yet?” she teased. 

Tim shook his head, keeping his eyes locked on hers, and kissed the hand that he had been holding on his cheek.

“What do you have in mind, Sarge?” She moved closer to him and put her other hand up on his chest.

“My place. Dinner.  I’ll cook.”

Lucy raised her eyebrows in surprise. “Oh. Okay.”

“I mean, it won’t be anything really fancy like what Javier just did, but I can cook.”

“Mmm.  Sounds perfect. And then after dinner…”

“Then after dinner… is your favorite dessert,” he said with a smug smile.

Lucy laughed and swatted at his shoulder. “Sounds perfect.”  She lifted back onto her toes and gave him a sweet, lingering kiss. “See you tomorrow, Sarge,” she said as she waved and walked away.

“Can’t wait,” Tim said as he watched to disappear into the parking lot.

Chapter Text

Chapter 6

When Lucy got to her car after making out with Tim in the parking garage, she took a deep breath to try to slow her heart rate. Then she took out her phone to send a couple messages. She texted Jackson first.

Lucy – Are you still awake? I have something to talk to you about when I get home. I should be there in less than 20 minutes.

Jackson – Yep.  Just put my pajamas on, but I can wait for you.  It sounds… interesting.

Lucy – Thanks.

Then she bit her lip and texted Genny.

Lucy – Hey.  I have a big favor to ask. Tim invited me to this fancy New Year’s Eve party, and I’d like to get a new dress for it.  I was going to go after work tomorrow, but Tim just invited me over to his house for dinner tomorrow. So now the only time I have is during my lunch break tomorrow.  I’m afraid if I go by myself, I won’t have enough time to find the right dress. Any way you could come with me?

Genny – Absolutely. I’ll see if I can set up playdates for the boys.  I’ll confirm with you in the morning.

Genny smiled as she sent out a few messages to the parents of the boys’ friends to see if any of them could have the boys over for an hour or so.  She hadn’t been dress shopping with a friend in ages. Then she was pleasantly surprised to get a text from Tim.

Tim – Hey. I could use your help.

Genny – Funny that you’d ask that right now.

Tim – Why?

Genny – No reason. Continue.

Tim – I invited Lucy over to my house for dinner tomorrow.  And I’m going to the store right now to pick things up.  What should I make?

Genny – You’re cooking for her? And you probably just blurted it out so you’d have an excuse to see her again.  And you want it in a private place so you can make out without interruptions. And now you realize you have no plan.

Tim – Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.  But I can cook; I cook for myself all the time, Gen.

Genny – Then make something you’re comfortable making.  Lucy has never struck me as a picky eater.

Tim – Right.

Tim – Like what? I’m drawing a blank. I don’t want to screw this up.

Genny – Well, you’re having her over after work, right? So, it needs to be something simple or something you can prep tonight.

Tim – Right.

Genny – Tim?

Tim – What?

Genny – It’s going to be fine.  She doesn’t expect you to be a 5-star chef. Aaaand she’s probably not coming for the food, but for the company… 😉😘

Tim – Genny.   Stop.

Genny – You were the one that texted me.  And I’ve already caught you making out in my living room and my kitchen.

Tim - …

Before he could finish what he was typing out, he got another message from Genny.

Genny – Be safe out there.🫦😘

Tim – You are no help at all.

Tim rolled his eyes, put down his phone, and started his car, navigating it to his favorite grocery store on the way home.

“Hey!” Lucy hollered as she opened the door to her apartment.  “Jackson, are you still awake?”

“Barely,” Jackson answered from where he sat on his couch scrolling through his phone. “I’m beginning to wonder if I should have listened to my dad and gone into IA. Or maybe I should have stuck with you and become a detective.  Some days SWAT just kicks my butt.”

“Ooooo,” she said.  “Sorry.  Can I get you some tea? Or an ice pack? Ibuprofen? Massage?” She set her things down, slipped off her shoes, and rounded the couch to look at him better.

“I already took ibuprofen.  I’ll pass on the tea. I don’t feel like icing my whole body, and that’s what hurts. But I did ice my hand.  I did something funny to it today, and it’s cramping up.”  He opened and closed his right hand a few times, grimacing.

“Mmm…” Lucy hummed, sitting down next to him.  “Let me help with that.”  She held his hand and gently started to massage it. After a minute of massaging, Jackson seemed to relax a little bit more, and she spoke again.

“I have a couple things to talk with you about if you are up for it.  One is work related and the other is social.  Which one do you want to talk about first?”

Jackson closed his eyes and leaned back onto the couch. “I really don’t care as long as you keep massaging my hand.”  Then he paused for a moment and said, “Actually, let’s not talk about work for a minute.  Start with the social one.”

Lucy nodded. “Well, I know we talked about staying in this New Year’s Eve and…”

“Let me stop you right there,” Jackson said, putting his other hand on top of her hands so that all four of their hands were together. “I’ve known for days that you were going to cancel on me to kiss Sergeant Grumpy at midnight, and I’m just fine with that.  I’ll find something to do.”

Lucy scoffed, a bit offended that he called Tim ‘Sergeant Grumpy’ and that he thought she was just going to leave him alone on New Year’s Eve. “First, his name is Tim, and he’s not grumpy at all around me. Second, I’m not going to leave you high and dry.  What kind of a best friend do you think I am?” She paused for a moment and then asked, “Have you ever worked with Wesley Evers at the DA’s office?” She didn’t wait for a response and kept plowing forward. “He’s married to Angela Lopez, a detective at Mid-Wilshire and Tim’s best friend.  Wesley and Angela are throwing a big fancy party, and we are invited. You’re going to have to dust off your tux.  But there will be a lot of people there from the LAPD and the DA’s office.  I think we’ll have a good time.” By the time she was done she was looking at Jackson with her big doe eyes and sweet smile, begging him to say yes.

“Right now, anything other than my couch, my bed, or a warm bath aren’t very appealing, but I have tomorrow off and Sunday.  So, I’m sure by Sunday evening I’ll be up for some partying. I definitely need to see you and Bradford together away from work.” He was leaning back on the couch again, allowing Lucy to keep massaging his sore hand.

“There will be a lot of fancy food and probably some karaoke…” she tempted him.  “And apparently Wesley is well off, so maybe even some celebrities or really wealthy people? I don’t know exactly.”

“You had me at karaoke and not being by myself for the New Year.  That would be truly depressing,” he croaked out.

“Great. Thank you,” she said.  She leaned over and pulled him into a hug.  He groaned at the movement. “Oh. Right. Sorry,” she apologized.

“Now that I’ve agreed to the social thing, what’s the work thing?  I don’t know how much longer I can keep my eyes open at this point,” he said as he readjusted himself on the couch.

“Sorry.  I’ll be quick,” she promised. “Do you remember me telling you about the offer I got a couple months ago to move over to Mid-Wilshire?”

“Hmmm.  That sounds vaguely familiar…”

“Well, the Sergeant there, Caradine, he’s been emailing or calling me at least once a week for a couple of months now, but I haven’t really considered it since I’ve never worked at another station and didn’t want to leave.”

“Mmm.”

“But he called me again this week and offered me more money and had me meet with his group.  We had lunch together today, and...”

“Let me guess,” he interrupted.  “Now you’re going to go there because you’re head over heels in love with Tim, and you want to be closer to him, right?” he said as he stayed reclined on the couch with his eyelids barely cracked open.

“What? I wouldn’t go there just because of him. And no one said I was in love with Tim,” she said dropping his hand for a minute.

Jackson pulled his eyes open further and leaned toward Lucy. “Infatuated? Smitten?  Besotted? Enamored?” he asked, pulling his lips into a grin. “Do those words work better for you?”

“Well… I…” Lucy started.

“Luce,” he interrupted, managing to sit up all the way. “I love you like a sister. I have never seen you so into a guy before. You’ve spent all of your free time with him for what?  Five days now?”

“Six.”

“And you’re probably going to see him again tomorrow, right?”

She nodded.

“And on Sunday, apparently,” he said. “Look.  I’m very happy for you.  But I want you to be careful. Do you really want to switch stations to be closer to him after you’ve known him less than a week?” he asked sincerely.

“But I’m not switching stations for him,” Lucy said defensively.

Jackson’s left eyebrow shot up to his hairline as he looked at her skeptically.

“I’m not!” she said emphatically.  “I promise.”  She narrowed her eyes and met his. “Look, none of the people we were close to are still around.  They’ve all moved on.  And you’re with SWAT now, and I never see you.  And the detectives in my group are just… they’re just not… I don’t know what to call them.  We’re not friends.  We don’t work together on things. There’s no collaboration.”

Jackson hummed at her.  He had heard her complaining of not feeling connected to anyone in her group before, so that rung true to him.

“And I think I would really enjoy working with Caradine and his group.  Nyla Harper is there.  We worked one UC op together a while ago.  And Angela Lopez that I mentioned a minute ago is there, too.” She huffed out a breath. “I don’t know.  It just feels like the right time to change.”

She met his eyes again, “But I don’t want you to feel like I’m leaving you.”

Jackson leaned forward slowly and carefully.  He held her hands in his again. “Lucy, don’t worry about me.  I’ve been so busy with SWAT that I hardly see you anymore anyway.  If you feel like this is the right move for your career, then I 100% support it.  I just wanted to make sure that you were doing it for the right reasons.”

“Thanks,” she said with a smile. “I think so.  And I still get to see you at home, so it’s not like I’m really leaving you.”

“Hmmm,” Jackson said. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.  If things keep going like this with Tim, you’ll either me moving out or at least spending all your time at his place soon,” he said with a smirk.

“Jackson,” she chided. “I know we’re spending a lot of time together, but it’s not like that.  We want to take things slow.”

“Mmm…” Jackson moaned.  “I’m too tired to argue right now.” He tried to push off the couch, but he fell right back down onto it. “Mind giving me a hand?  I need to collapse into my bed for the next 24 hours.”

Lucy smiled and grabbed his hands, pulling him up to standing. She rubbed his back for a minute as he tried to straighten it and groaned the entire time. “Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked.

Jackson nodded. “Nothing that sleep, ibuprofen, and time won’t fix.”

“Okay. Call me when you wake up, okay? I want to make sure you’re doing better.”

“Promise,” he said as he limped into his room and shut the door.

The next morning, Lucy woke up to a text from Tim.  She opened the messages app and saw that he had sent her a picture. In the picture, he was obviously in a grocery store, but still had lipstick marks on his face and neck. His cheeks were a little flushed as he smirked at the camera.  She looked below to read the message.

Tim – I guess I should have let you wipe it all off.  It took me a few minutes to figure out why people were staring at me at the store last night.  But I got everything I need for dinner tonight.  Can’t wait to see you.

Lucy – OMG! That’s amazing. I wish I could have been there.  I can skip the lipstick tonight.  We’re having a more casual night anyway, right?

Tim – You can wear as much or as little as you’d like.

Lucy – Subtle. Very subtle.🙄🥰

Tim – A guy can hope, right?

Lucy – I’ve got to get ready.  I’ll text you later if I get a chance, okay?

Tim – Okay.  I will, too.

Lucy – Be safe out there.😉

Tim – Never going to let it go, are you?

Lucy – Nope.

She giggled as she got out of bed and put her running clothes on.  She tiptoed over to Jackson’s room where she heard him snoring loudly. Deciding to go on a run by herself instead, she grabbed her pepper spray and whistle before heading out the door.

Her first order of duty at work was to send Caradine a text and formal email accepting the position at Mid-Wilshire. He responded to the text just seconds later.

Caradine – Excellent news.  That just made my day.  Any way you can start next week?

Chen – I’m scheduled to be off on Sunday and Monday.  But I’d be happy to start on Tuesday if I can get approval from my sergeant here.

Caradine – Perfect.  Let me know after you’ve given him notice.  He’s a friend from years past.  I’m pretty sure I can convince him to let you come over on Tuesday.

Chen – Great.  See you Tuesday.

After she sent the email, she walked over to her sergeant’s office and broke the news to him.  He told her he was sad to see her go, but that Caradine had been pestering him, too, so he wasn’t surprised. Then he told her to finish up the cases she could and pass the rest back to him before she left.   He okayed that being her last day at North Hollywood.

Lucy walked back to her desk feeling as light as a feather.  She sat at her desk and tried her best to concentrate.  She could tell when her sergeant sent the email to the rest of their group about her departure because the other detectives she worked with started griping about taking on more cases.   Lucy just rolled her eyes and kept working. Definitely time to move on, she told herself.

At 11:30 she texted Genny.

Lucy – I’m so glad you can join me. Where should we meet?

Genny – I have no idea.  I haven’t bought a formal dress in ages.

Lucy – Well, thanks to a case a few days ago, I know Westfield Century City Mall pretty well now.  Let’s start there.  Meet me at the main entrance at noon if you can.

Genny – Perfect.

It was weird going back to that mall a few days later as a patron.  She kept having little flashbacks as she and Genny walked around.

As much as Lucy had loved spending time with Genny and her kids, she was really loving spending time with just Genny. They grabbed smoothies and the soft pretzels that you only buy at malls and sporting events to eat as they were walking around.  Both of them spent about as much time laughing as they did talking. They talked about Tim, Genny’s kids, their awkward moments at formal occasions, Tim’s awkward moments at formal occasions… Genny even promised to send her a picture of Tim when he tried to highlight his hair right before prom and ended up looking like Slim Shady. The image in her head made Lucy laugh for a full two minutes straight.

Between eating, chatting, and laughing, they stopped by a couple shops that didn’t end up having much selection. The third shop they came to had several good options.  Lucy left her things with Genny and went to try a few dresses on.  The first was too baggy and did not fit right at all.  The second was far too tight and revealing.  But when Lucy put on the third dress, she knew she had found her goldilocks dress. Genny agreed, and Lucy purchased it.

Lucy was running low on time at that point, so she was glad she already had some jewelry that would go well with it and shoes that would work, too. The two of them walked back toward the entrance, and then Lucy had to get back to work and Genny had to pick up her kids.

“Thank you so much for inviting me to shop with you.  We’ll definitely have to do something like this again.  If Tim ever lets you out of his sight, that is,” Genny said, chuckling.

“Definitely,” Lucy said, pulling Genny in for a big hug. “One of my closest friends moved to New York a few months ago.  She was one of the people I met in Denver before we got snowed in.  Ever since she moved, life has been busy, and I haven’t gone out on many girls’ nights.  We should totally make this a regular thing.”

“For sure. Send me a picture once you’re all dressed up for this party.  I wish I could see the look on Tim’s face when he sees you.  But I’m pretty sure it’ll be that dumbfounded, eyes-wide-open, mouth-gaping looks he gets when he’s overwhelmed.  I’ve seen it many times before,” she said with a grin as she bumped her hip against Lucy’s.

“Mmm… I love that look of his.  It’s like someone hit ‘pause’ on his brain for a minute,” Lucy said with a giggle. “I’ll see you tomorrow at 10:30. Is there anything you want me to bring?”

“Nope.  I’ve got it all taken care of.  See you then!” she called as they split ways, walking to their own cars.

When Lucy got into her car and looked at her phone, she saw she had a missed call from Jackson.  She went to the voicemail and hit play.

“Hey.  I wanted you to know that I did wake up… eventually… when I got called back in for some all-hands-on-deck hostage situation at an IKEA. Driving in now.  Hopefully this is quick, and I can head back home soon. BUT my hand feels much better today. No cramping.  Thanks for that hand massage.  You’re the best friend I could ask for.”

Lucy groaned for Jackson.  Poor guy couldn’t catch a break this week. She looked at the time stamp.  It was 20 minutes ago.  She must have been trying on a dress at that time. She was sure that he was already at the station by now, so she sent him a text instead of calling him.

Lucy – I’m so sorry you had to come in to work.  Stop by my desk before you leave if you need another hand massage. You can use some of my bath salts if you need a good soak in the tub tonight. Be safe.

She thought for a moment and then sent a text to Tim.

Lucy – I heard there’s a hostage situation at an IKEA.  I bet that’s where you are right now, and that you won’t be able to see this for a while. If we need to reschedule dinner tonight, I totally understand. I’m not going anywhere. Be safe out there.

Lucy grinned as she put her phone away. She was never going to let Tim forget what he said that night.

Three hours later at IKEA, the hostage situation was finally resolved.  Shots had been fired, but they only resulted in minor injuries. SWAT and Metro were reloading into their large vans while the patrol officers were herding the arrested men into the back of their shops. There was a sea of navy uniforms and black bullet-proof vests swarming around the parking lot with police vehicles and ambulances in a large semi-circle around them.

Tim was directing his team back to their vehicle and hollering directions for where to put their gear. In the midst of giving instructions, he heard a voice behind him call his name.  He turned toward him just slightly to repeat his directions again, “I said, ‘Get in the van. Vests on the left.  Helmets on the right.  Hold onto your weapons.’”

Then he really looked at him. He didn’t recognize the man who now was giving him a quizzical look.   On his vest he saw the word SWAT. “Your van is other there, officer. You better hustle.”

“Sergeant Bradford, sir, could I speak to you for a minute?  It’s not related to the case.”

Bradford rolled his eyes and turned around enough to face the man. “This is a personal-life free zone, Officerrrrrr…. West,” he said as he saw his name on his vest. “We have a job to do here, and I don’t want to stay late tonight.”

“Yes, sir.  That’s why I didn’t want to bother you earlier, sir. I won’t take long,” Jackson said.

Officer West… why does that name seem familiar… Tim wondered. He didn’t know many of the SWAT officers by name, not unless they worked at Mid-Wilshire before.

“Fine,” Tim grumbled, moving toward the front of the van where there were fewer people.

“Thank you, sir,” Jackson said. “I don’t think you know who I am.  My name is Jackson West.  My father is Commander Percy West of IA.  But you may actually know who I from my roommate and best friend, Lucy Chen.”

Realization dawned on Tim midway through Jackson’s explanation of who is was, and he started nodding, his features softening.  “It’s good to meet you, Jackson.  Lucy has told me a lot about you.”

“Same.  I’m fairly certain she thinks you’ve hung the moon,” he chuckled.

Tim didn’t know what to say to that.  He scrunched his eyebrows, shifted his weight a bit, and then opened his mouth to say something, but Jackson kept speaking instead.  So, he closed his mouth and rested his hands on his duty belt, willing to hear Jackson out.

“And that’s why I wanted to talk to you.  Lucy is a very kind, trusting, empathetic person.  She cares deeply about the people in her life, which is why she’s such an amazing best friend. She always sees the best in everyone. But that has backfired on her in the past, particularly in her romantic relationships.  Her college boyfriend cheated on her with her best friend; she says she never saw it coming.  Her last boyfriend was really clueless when it came to Lucy.  He never listened to her and nearly persuaded her to buy a house with him even when she didn’t like doing things with him or feel comfortable with him. She just trusted him and went along with whatever he wanted.”

Jackson sighed deeply. “It wasn’t until she and I had a heart-to-heart about why she was panicking about moving in with him that she realized she wasn’t happy with him and finally broke up with him. And, most notably, she once went on a date with a guy that she thought she could trust who ended up being a serial killer.  She barely made it out that situation alive,” he said solemnly with a distant look in his eyes.  Then looking back at Tim, he said, “She looks for the best in those she cares about or wants to care about to the point that she doesn’t always have a good perspective on what is actually happening,” he said shaking his head.

“Plus, there are a lot of problems with her family situation.  Her parents have essentially disowned her since they don’t approve of her being a cop.  So, I’m really her only support person.  Well, me and my family.”

Tim was nodding along with what he was saying, taking in the new information he offered.

“To be honest, sir, I’m just a little bit worried about your relationship with Lucy.  Is Lucy just grasping for a family? Just trying to feel loved by a family again? I know she met you with your sister and nephews.  And she’s told me how much she loves them,” he said.  Then he took a deep breath and looked up at the sky, trying to draw more courage from the heavens. “And I… I just… I want to make sure you have good intentions toward Lucy, that you will listen to her and take care of her.  I want to protect her from trusting the wrong person and getting hurt again.”  Then he looked back at Tim and said, “I mean, I don’t think you’re a serial killer or anything.  I just… I’ve seen you at work… and… I… I just wouldn’t have thought you two would make a good match.”

Having finished the speech he had been working on all afternoon, Jackson blew out his breath and took a step back, bracing himself, half-expecting to be punched in the face. He could tell that Tim was starting to get upset.

Tim was struggling to decide what to say.  He knew that Jackson and Lucy were very close. He didn’t want to hurt his chances with Lucy by offending Jackson, nor did he want to put a wedge between Lucy and her best friend. But he wanted to be clear that he had only honest and caring intentions toward Lucy.  So, he took a few deep breaths, trying to calm his anger, studying Jackson’s face, and digesting his words.

“I appreciate that you came to talk to me. I can tell that you really care about Lucy and want to protect her. I can see how people who only know me at work would think we’re not a great match. When I’m at work, I… I’m very focused on the job. I know that some people… most people find my style a bit... cold and heartless.  I recognize that Lucy is exactly the opposite.  She is warm and caring, full of heart. But who we are at work is not necessarily who we are away from work. I guess it is for Lucy, mostly. But it’s not for me. I’m not always grumpy like people say I am. I do know how to smile. You should see us together away from work.  I really care about Lucy. I promise I don’t want to hurt her at all.”

Tim shifted his feet a little and then continued, “I don’t know much about Lucy’s family situation.  She’s only mentioned her family a couple times.  But I don’t get the feeling that she’s that desperate to be a part of a family.  I think she just really connected well with my sister’s family. My nephews really love her. Honestly, if I screw things up with Lucy, I still think they will try to spend time with her,” he said with a small laugh. “They would probably drop me and keep Lucy,” he admitted, smiling and rubbing the back of his head.

“I…uh… I know I’m not the easiest person to approach,” he continued. “So, I’m sure talking to me about this was probably tough.  That shows how much you care about Lucy.  I’m glad she has someone else in her life who cares so much about her.”

Jackson was pleasantly surprised that he wasn’t being derided or yelled at. Tim seemed to be able to control himself and be pleasant when the situation required it.

“I understand I’ll get the chance to see you two together on Sunday night, right?” Jackson said. “Maybe then I’ll feel a bit differently, once I see how you act around each other.”

“You’re a good man, Jackson,” he said, clapping him on the shoulder. “But we should both get going. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yes, sir,” Jackson said as he nodded and walked over to his vehicle.

Tim rounded the van to make sure his crew was all inside and ready to roll. Then he went back to the front of the vehicle to ride back to the station. On the way to the station, he took a moment to check his phone. He saw Lucy’s text and responded to it.

Tim – The op is over now. I’ll speed through the paperwork.  Unless something else comes up, I think we’ll be fine to have dinner together still.  Then I’m off for two days. Thank goodness.

Lucy – Didn’t I talk to you about not jinxing things? 🙄😆

Tim – Didn’t I tell you that isn’t actually real?

Lucy – I’m happy the case is done though.  I’ve been wondering for days what Tim Bradford’s house looks like.

Tim – I’d hate to leave you in suspense. But it’s nothing fancy or fashionable.

Lucy – I imagine it being very clean and functional and neutral.

Tim – That’s a fair description.

Lucy – I could help you liven things up a bit.  Add some color, art, plants…

Tim – Slow your roll, Chen. One step at a time.

Lucy - 😜😂

Tim – Do you think you’ll be able to finish work on time?

Lucy – Yep. If traffic is on my side, it should only take me twenty minutes or so to get to your house. Do you need me to bring anything?

Tim – Nope.  I’ve got it all covered.

Lucy – Beer?

Tim – Got it.

Lucy – Salad?

Tim – Prepped in the fridge.

Lucy – Dessert? 😉

Tim – Mmmmm… I have some ideas. But I may need some of your input.

Lucy – What if I want to have dessert first?

Tim – Hmmm…

Lucy – I do have a bit of a sweet tooth today.

Tim – Lucy…

Lucy – But I think I’ll take my time eating it.  Lick it slowly. Take lots of little bites, tiny nibbles.🫦😚

Tim – Lucy…

Lucy – Is there a problem, sergeant?

Tim – How am I supposed to focus and get my paperwork done if you keep sending me messages like this?

Lucy – Would pictures be better?

Tim – No! You’re killing me here. I might even have to turn off my phone so I don’t re-read this text thread too many times.

Lucy – Fine.  Have it your way. See you soon.😘

The officer sitting next to Tim kept looking at him sideways, curious as to why Tim seemed to be texting so intently and sighing frequently.

“Eyes on the road, Mad Dog,” he said gruffly as he stuffed his phone back into his pocket. “Nothing to see here.”

Several minutes later, as he was sitting at his desk in his barely-more-than-a-closet-sized office, Tim pulled his phone out of his pocket to set a couple alarms to keep him on track with his paperwork in order to leave on time. As he unlocked his phone, he noticed one more text from Lucy.  She had sent a selfie.  He shook his head as he stared at her beautiful face, which filled most of the screen.  Her eyebrows were lifted high with her eyes closed and her lips pulled into a perfect pucker. He rolled his eyes and set the phone back down. He tried to resist it, but he couldn't wipe the smile off of his face for the full hour he sat there filling out the paperwork, nor could he stop looking at his phone every few minutes.

When her shift was over, Lucy cleared off her desk, placed her few personal items in a box, and handed over her last few case files.  Then she went to her locker where she changed into a yellow, floral peasant-style blouse and some comfortable, well worn-in jeans that fit her just right.  The rest of the items from her locker either went into her bag or the box.  She had said her goodbyes to most of the people she felt she needed to earlier that day, and now it was over. Her time at North Hollywood was complete.

She took a selfie in front of the station and sent it to Jackson.

Lucy – I’m going to miss it here.  This place is full of mostly happy memories.

Jackson didn’t answer.  She presumed he was back at their apartment fast asleep by that time. Hopefully he would feel well enough to enjoy the party tomorrow.

Then she texted Tim.

Lucy – I’m headed your direction.  See you soon.

Tim – Great.  I just got home. Dinner should be ready about the time you get here.

Lucy – Perfect.😍

When she arrived at Tim’s place 20 minutes later, the house looked exactly as she expected it would.  The lawn was neatly cut and trimmed with minimal landscaping.  The house was moderate in size, nothing outlandish nor miniscule. She took a deep breath and started walking up the sidewalk. For a moment she considered traversing the lawn, but Tim seemed like a bit of a stickler for rules, so she opted for the sidewalk instead.

As she approached the door, she heard a loud crash followed by an even louder series of curse words coming from inside.

“Tim?” she called out.  There wasn’t an answer for a moment, so she took the five remaining steps to the door and rang the doorbell. There was still no answer, so she called out his name again.

Suddenly, the door flung open and revealed a shirtless Tim. He was trying to play it cool as he leaned his hand against the door a little, but he was clearly off kilter.  Shocked, Lucy stood there staring at him.

“Hi,” he greeted, a bit embarrassed. “Um… Do you want to come in?”

Lucy nodded, her mouth slightly agape as she took a few steps inside and removed her shoes and purse, never taking her eyes off of Tim.  Well, never taking her eyes off of the naked part of Tim.  She tried to force herself to look at his face, but her eyes refused go that high. Her mouth felt like it was full of cotton, but she tried to get some words to form. “Ummm… I guess you were serious when you said, ‘You can wear as much or as little as you’d like’ in your text” she said.  She was trying to smile, to make a joke, but she was still very focused on the chiseled torso in front of her, the one that she had only felt through clothing so far, the one that kept popping up in her daydreams.

“Uh… Yeah… Sorry about that.” He closed the door behind her and followed her a couple steps into the living room. “I was getting the chicken out of the marinade when my security system’s motion detector went off letting me know that you were here… which is fine!” he clarified a little too loudly, trying to say the right things, but not saying them very smoothly. “It’s good that you’re here.  It just…  It startled me; I suppose I’m a little nervous.  And I spilled all of the extra marinade down my shirt and onto the floor. I was just trying to clean up quickly before you saw it. But then you were already at the door, and…” He huffed, raised his eyebrows, pointed at her, and took a deep breath. “And now I’m going to get a new shirt,” he said, disappearing down a hallway that likely led to his bedroom.

Once she wasn’t distracted by his physique, she was able to shake away the shock of what had happened. “It’s a good thing it didn’t get on your pants, too!” she hollered, trying to make a joke. I’m not sure I could have stayed standing up if he answered the door in just his boxers, she said to herself.

Tim reappeared with a short-sleeve, grey Henley on a minute later, and they greeted each other again.

“Sorry about that again,” Tim said, clearly embarrassed and feeling awkward.

“No need to apologize.  I was the one that said I wanted dessert first,” she said with a smirk. “I just didn’t expect you to go along with it,” she chuckled. “It was like having a delicious Belgian chocolate stuffed in my mouth the moment the door opened.  I loved it.  I just wasn’t prepared for it.”

Tim nodded, unsure what to say next.  After a few moments of awkward silence, he remembered that he was supposed to be making dinner. “Oh.  Right.  The grill is probably nice and hot by now,” he said pointing to his patio on the other side of the living room.  He went to the kitchen where he retrieved the marinated chicken.  Then he walked out to the patio to put it on the grill.

“Now we just have to wait a few minutes until it’s cooked. Do you want a beer?”

“Sure,” she said watching him go to the kitchen.  She followed him and saw that he already had a dish of baby potatoes and a salad sitting on the counter and the table set. “Mmm…  This looks delicious.”

“Thanks,” he said, handing her a beer. “Do you mind walking with me to the patio? I’ve got to flip the chicken in five minutes,” he said looking at his watch.

“Lead the way,” she said, extending her arm to the side to wave him out first.

The patio was not large, but there was enough room for a grill, a small table with four chairs, and a two-person, cushioned glider. There were lights strung up from the roof of the house to a tree nearby in a zigzag pattern. Tim sat down on one side of the glider and put his right arm over the back of the seat next to him. 

Lucy smiled and sat next to him, tucking into his side. Then she leaned over a gave him a peck on his check. “I missed you today.”

“Hmmm… Seeing me last night and texting me during the day wasn’t enough for you, huh?”

She shook her head and then rested it on his shoulder. “Nope.  Apparently not,” she said lightly.

Tim’s voice rumbled in her hair as he said, “I missed you, too. I couldn't stop looking at the picture and texts you sent me.  We may have to make a no teasing at work policy.”

“What? Where’s the fun in that?” she asked, pulling her head from his shoulder to make eye contact with him.

He stared at her for a moment. Then tucked her head back down against his shoulder and kissed it.  “You’re just too distracting,” he said, tracing his fingers in circles around her shoulder.

“I’m distracting?” she said incredulously, popping her head back up to look at him better.  “You answered the door shirtless!  If I wasn’t so shocked, I would have jumped up and kissed you senseless. But as it was, I was lucky to put one foot in front of the other.”

Tim chuckled and squeezed her closer to him. “Hmmm… that may be something to remember for another day.”

“Be my guest.  We’ll see if I can compose myself better next time,” Lucy said as she turned her head into his chest to give it a kiss.

After moment of silence, Lucy said, “Do you think we could come out here when it’s darker and dance under these lights of yours?”

“Uh. There’s not a lot of room to dance, but we could push a few things out of the way, I suppose,” he said eying the items on the patio.

“Good.  We don’t need a lot of room though. We’ve been doing things together… dating? Are we calling this dating? Well, whatever it is… we’ve been dating for seven days now without dancing together once.  That’s practically criminal.”

She could feel the rumble of his laughter in as chest.  Then he leaned down and kissed the top of her head again. “I’m not much of a dancer, but I’d love to sway around here with you.”

Soon he had to get up and flip the chicken, and then he sat back down next to Lucy.

“How many minutes do we have now?” she asked.

“Another seven minutes should do it,” he answered. “Why?”

“Because I’ve been thinking about doing this all day and particularly since you opened the door shirtless,” she answered.  She stood, turned around to face him, and then brought herself back down onto his lap, her legs straddling him.  She set their beers down on the table next to the glider and put her hands on his shoulders. “I know you said we should wait until after dinner, but we have six minutes or so until you need to do anything, right?”

Tim was slightly surprised at how forward she was being, but he didn’t mind at all. He wrapped his hands around her waist to pull her closer. “Six minutes,” he whispered into her lips.

The next six minutes were enjoyed slowly and sweetly as their hands roamed and their mouths melted into each other.  When Tim’s timer went off, Lucy pulled away and gave Tim a mischievous smile.  “Mmm… I suppose that will do… for now,” she said as she lifted off his lap.

Tim laughed and swatted her butt as she moved away, and Lucy yelped in surprise. She turned back to him and squinted her eyes in feigned anger.  Tim was still smirking as he took the chicken off of the grill.  Lucy opened the patio door for him and then swatted his butt as he walked through.

“Hey!” he called at her.

“Turnabout is fair play,” she sing-songed back at him.

Tim shook his head back at her. They moved about naturally in his home and settled into the kitchen. 

“So, how were things at work today?” he asked as he brought the food to the table.

“Mmm. You know.  Regular stuff.  Just trying to close as many cases as I could before I left.” Lucy was being intentionally vague.  She wanted to talk to Tim before she moved stations, but she did still want to see that look of surprise on his face when he saw her there for the first time. To switch focus quickly, she asked, “What exactly happened at the Ikea hostage situation this afternoon?”

As they dished out their food, Tim started to explain the situation.  “Three days ago, this man bought several pieces of furniture from IKEA with some Christmas money he got.  Apparently, he spent all of those three days trying to figure out how to assemble the furniture, and it drove him insane.  So today he came into customer service, and he kept insisting that they give him the missing parts or come assemble it themselves.  When they tried to explain that they couldn’t do that, he broke out two guns and starting shooting.  He wouldn’t let anyone leave until he had all of the pieces to assemble his furniture.”

“Well, I can see how he could be so frustrated. I hate assembling furniture.  I always spend forever staring at the wordless instructions trying to figure out the right order for the washers, screws, and wingnuts.  Sometimes I even take a picture of the instructions so I can zoom in better,” she said with a giggle.

“Really? You’re siding with the crazy IEKA customer on this one?” he asked with a furrowed brow.

“I mean, I wouldn’t start shooting people or taking hostages, but if I had spent three days trying to assemble furniture, I’d be pretty crazed, too.”

Tim shook his head at her in amazement. “How do you do that? How do you have so much empathy even after seeing so much crime?  What was it you called it in the airport – the underbelly of society?”

Lucy’s eyebrows popped up a bit. “You remember the words I used when I shut you down in the airport when we first met?”

Tim shrugged. “Answer my question first.”

“Hmmm… I don’t know,” she said.  Then she took another bite of her potatoes and continued. “I mean, there are different ways to deal with the bad stuff we see every day.  I try to understand why they did what they did, where they’re coming from.  Partially because that’s what comes naturally to me. But… I don’t know.  There are different ways to cope with the bad stuff.  You can build up walls and compartmentalize things, which is what many people do. You can profile people and put them in different categories. But that doesn’t work for me.  I need the humanity of it still; I need to try to understand it.”

Tim studied her for a minute. “We are so different, you know?”

“You think?” Lucy responded, chuckling.

“No, really. I rarely take the time to try to understand where people are coming from.  But I do think about what their next steps are and how they’re going to do them.”

“Mmm hmm,” Lucy said.  “I analyze.  You strategize.”  She took another bite of her food. “Detective,” she said pointing to herself. “Metro sergeant,” she said pointing to Tim. “We’re where we’re supposed to be. And although we’re different, for sure, I prefer to think of it as complementary.”

Tim looked at her for a moment and then set his fork down.  He grabbed her free left hand in his right and brought it up to his mouth for a kiss. “Yeah. I suppose we are. I love that.” 

Her eyes went from their joined hand to his eyes.  Her heart had skipped a beat for a moment when he started to say ‘I love,’ not knowing what he was going to say next, but she totally agreed with him. Their styles were so different and yet they worked together and talked together so seamlessly.

Then her smile turned into a smirk as she said, teasingly, “Don’t forget my earlier question!”

Tim groaned and rolled his eyes. “What can I say? You’ve had quite an effect on me, Lucy Chen. So, yes, some of the things you say and do have just… stuck with me. Okay?”

Lucy smiled back and him and then took her turn kissing their joined hands. They ate in silence for a couple of minutes. Then Lucy started a new conversation, “So I know you were a TO for a long time, and then you moved to be a patrol sergeant.  Why did you decide to move over to Metro since you had been on patrol in one way or another for all of you career?”

“Patrol is where all the fun is.  Or, at least, I used to think that.  Metro is pretty fun, too.”

“So, why the move?” she probed.

Tim sighed.  “It’s actually quite the story, but it’s a little long…”

“I want to hear the whole story,” she interrupted as she smiled at him, looking carefully at his expressions.

“Fine. It…uh… it actually as a lot to do with my last girlfriend, Ashley.”

“What?” Lucy said, resting her chin on her hand. “Now I have to hear this story.”

“The whole story started three years ago.  I was shot in the lower belly,” he said, motioning to where he wound was,” during a fire fight on my super old Rookie’s second day.”

“Nolan? I’ve heard of him, but I don’t think I’ve met him.”

“You’d remember him.  In fact, I bet you two would be friends.  He’s a bit of a do-gooder, and very optimistic about things.”

“Hmmm,” Lucy said, thinking about that for a moment.

“Anyway, I had surgery that day to have the bullet removed, but there was a small fragment that was close to my spine that wasn’t removed,” he said with a sigh.  “It didn’t bother me until about five months ago when I tackled a suspect to the ground.  I felt this weird twang in my back. It got worse over the next hour when I was finally convinced that I needed to have it checked out.  Once the imaging was done, they saw that the fragment had migrated, and I would need to have surgery to have it removed.”

“That was just five months ago?”

“Yeah.  They thought they might be able to do it laparoscopically, but I did something stupid and made it worse before surgery.”

“Wait, I thought you were already in the hospital.  What did you do to make it worse?”

“Oh, well, there was a suspect on the loose in the hospital that day, and when I made him, he tried to run. So, I tackled him.” Tim shrugged, recognizing the stupidity of it all.

“Smart move there, Sarge,” Lucy said smiling and shaking her head.

“It wasn’t my best moment,” he puffed out. “Then because I lost feeling to my lower body…”

“Hold up,” she said, putting up a hand. “You lost feeling to your lower body?”

“I said it wasn’t my best moment. You know what it’s like being a cop; after a while you just do things naturally.”

“Ummm hmmm,” Lucy said. “So, you had a complication of a gun shot wound that nearly paralyzed you and your girlfriend convinced you to switch to Metro?” she asked in confusion.

“Quite the opposite.” Tim sighed. “It’s weird to talk to you about Ashley. But… uh… when I woke up from the emergency surgery, she told me that she was breaking up with me if I didn’t retire or take a desk job.  She said she couldn’t handle the stress and worry of being with a cop.”

“Ooooh. Ultimatums are definitely not a sign of a healthy relationship. And forcing your boyfriend to change his career? Phew!” she said, blowing out a breath. “And you stayed with her through that?” Then she paused for a moment and said, “But how did that get you into Metro?”

“Well, I had been lonely for so long, and I was recovering from a back injury. I really didn’t want to be left alone again. So, I took a desk job.  I moved to be a court liaison sergeant.”

“What? How did I miss that in your file?” she said in surprise, sitting up straighter.

“Well, perhaps because I was only a court liaison sergeant for about two weeks,” he chuckled.

“Two weeks?”

“Well, I had to take a little bit of time off of work to recover from my surgery first, and then I moved to the desk job.  But Angela saved me. She saw how absolutely miserable I was. She pulled together all of our friends and worked out this amazing five-player-trade among sergeants.  She didn’t tell me anything about it until after I got the job, of course. Angela can be a bit conniving and underhanded.  I think I warned you about her before.”

Lucy nodded her head, seeing it all play out in her mind.

“Anyway, she sort of set it up as both an opportunity and a test.  I kept telling her that I was fine.  But she kept telling me that ‘the light in my eyes was out,’ whatever that means. The day after the trade got in motion, I got a call from Lieutenant Pine offering me the position I have now with Metro.”

“So, you took it?”

“There was no way I could pass that up! I was healed enough from the surgery, and working in high stakes cases with Metro was something that I always considered doing. Plus, I was amazingly bored sitting at that desk.  That’s not the type of police work I was meant to do.”

“Okay.  So, you took the job with Metro.  So then what happened with Ashley?”

“Well, I was so excited about the position that I wanted to go out and celebrate.  So, I called her right away, and I told her I had exciting news I wanted to tell her during dinner.”

“Umm hmmm,” Lucy hummed.  “I imagine that didn’t go over well.”

“Not at all. The moment I told her, she stood up and slapped me on the cheek.  Then she poured her drink on me,” he said with a sigh. “I seem to remember her saying something like I never listened to her, and I never really loved her.”  He paused for a moment and said, “She was right about the second part for sure.  I never loved her.  We were fine together, but there was never any magic.”  He looked down at his plate for minute and then said, “But I did try to listen to her.  We always did the things she wanted to do and went to the places she wanted to go. It just wasn’t meant to be.”

“Selfishly, I’m glad it didn’t work out.  We wouldn’t be together now if that hadn’t happened. And this past week together has been the most amazing week,” she said with a twinkle in her eye.

“Even before you came into my life, I knew that Ashley leaving and my move to Metro were some of the best moves of my life.  I really love working with the Metro team.  They are my type of no-nonsense people.  Our cases are intense but generally very rewarding.  Plus, I knew that Ashley and I weren’t going to be together long term. We didn’t want the same things.  We rarely had much to talk about. I just… didn’t want to be alone.”

“I totally understand that. The loneliness is the worst part of a breakup.”  Lucy took a bite of her dinner and looked at Tim. “So, what is it that you want?”

She caught him by surprise, and he choked a little on his dinner.  After taking a long drink of water to clear his throat, he said, “What do I want?”

“Yeah.  What was it that you wanted that Ashley didn’t? I mean we all want world peace… but other than that…”

“World peace,” he said shaking his head. “Back to that conversation again, huh?”

“Just checking to see how much you remember,” she teased.

“Huh… What do I want… Well, right now, I really want to spend time with you,” he started.

“No.  Come on,” she chided with a smile. “What did you want that Ashley didn’t? What does Tim Bradford really want?” she probed.

“Honestly?”

“Of course,” she said flipping her hand a little bit as though that should be very obvious.

“I love being a cop. I know I’ll have to retire someday, but I’m not sure what I would do next.  I know I’m getting a little older, but I love what I do… what we both do.”

Lucy nodded.  That wasn’t anything unexpected.

“And I’ve always wanted a family.  I want to get married again and have a few kids. I didn’t have a great home life when I was younger, so I’ve always wanted to prove that I could do better - be better than my father.”  After he paused, he said, “Ashley didn’t ever want to get married or have a family.  When she first told me that I said ‘Okay,’ but I knew down deep that it wasn’t going to work out long term.”

Lucy hummed and nodded again, staring into his eyes. She remembered when they first met, and she thought he was Genny’s husband. Tim had said then they he always wanted kids, but it never worked out. And then Genny had replied that first he would have to find someone to put up with him. Oh, how things have changed in the last week, she thought to herself. “I’ve seen you with your nephews. You’re going to make a really great dad one of these days,” she said smiling at him with a little twinkle in her eye.

Tim hummed in response, and then sat up a little straighter. “What about you? What do you want in life?”

“Oh, well, world peace, of course,” she said with a giggle as Tim rolled his eyes. “I do really enjoy being a police officer.  Being a detective has definitely been different than being on patrol, but I like it.  I really enjoy the challenge of UC work, too.” She noticed that Tim stiffened a little bit when she mentioned UC work, but she tucked that into the back of her mind for later.

“And I suppose I’d like to travel some. You know, see the world,” she said with a very far away tone to her voice. “I… uh… I also didn’t have the greatest home life growing up.  I’ve always wanted to have kids that I could show more love to than my parents did.  Accept them for who they are and let them make their own choices, but still love them.” She sighed. “My parents don’t even talk to me anymore,” she said, closing her eyes and rubbing at her temples.

“Hey,” he said, reaching for her hand and squeezing it tight. “I think you’re going to be a great mom someday. Just look at how much Tyson and Tyler adore you,” he said stroking her hand with his thumb as she smiled back at him.  “And I think that your parents may realize at some point that they’ve missed out on one of the most magical and amazing women I’ve ever met. They may come around.”

Lucy smiled at his kind words and put her other hand over their joined hands. “Thanks. Maybe they’ll come around. But for now, I’ve made peace with it.”  She looked down at her nearly empty plate and took another bite of her dinner. “Okay, we need a little bit lighter topic. Where would your perfect vacation be? I know you don’t love the ocean, so probably not a beach vacation. Maybe mountains? Skiing? Biking? International or domestic?”

“Perfect vacation? Hmm…” He took another bite of his food and then looked up at the ceiling for a moment while he thought. “Ashley and I nearly went to Hawaii.  Thankfully that never worked out. And you’re right, I’m not big on beach vacations.” He thought for another moment. “I’ve always wanted to go to all the baseball stadiums. I enjoy driving and being active.  So, if I were to make the perfect trip…”

“Oooo… We could go on a road trip!” she interrupted. Tim was surprised at her enthusiasm, but just watched her as she continued to talk.  She didn’t realize that she had used the word ‘we’ when talking about the trip, but Tim sure did.

She took just a moment to think, the vision of the two of them driving to different places dancing around in her mind. “We could start at San Diego and then drive up the coast to see the Padres, Angels, Dodgers, Giants, and Athletics.  We could even go all the way north up to Seattle to watch the Mariners!” Lucy said in excitement.

It should have caught him by surprise that Lucy would insert herself into his perfect trip.  After all, they’d only known each other for a week. But somehow it made perfect sense that she would be a part of his perfect trip. He just stared at her lovingly and said, “Yeah.  That does sound perfect.”

“I mean, that would only get us to…” she paused to count for a minute, “six stadiums.”

“How many teams are there again?”

“30.”

“Oooh. This might take us a while,” she said, still thinking.  “Well, if the first trip goes well, then we can start planning out the next one.” Her voice trailed off for a minute. “One of my best friends lives in New York now.  We could fly out to see her and catch the Yankees and Mets.  And doesn’t Boston have a team? Yes,” she reminded herself, “of course, the Red Sox.” She rolled her eyes as though she should have known that. “Maybe we could catch a few of those teams together. And the Phillies are close, too.”

Tim loved watching her mind work.  She got so excited when she thought of something new that she just lit up with enthusiasm.

“So, you like sports? And going to games?” he asked. She hadn’t really mentioned sports at all in any of their conversations.

“Well, not really, but you said that’s what you wanted to do.”

“So, you’d go with me even though you don’t pay much attention to sports?” he said, trying to understand what she was saying.

She laughed in response. “Of course, I would.” Then for a moment her smile drooped as she started to second guess herself. “Um. Unless you prefer to go by yourself or with someone else…”

“No,” he corrected strongly, furrowing his brow slightly. “No, there’s no one else I’d rather go with.” He looked over at her intently. “It’s just… You asked what my perfect vacation would be, and then you just started planning away. And I really love that. But what would your perfect vacation be?”

“Well, when I left my graduate program, I traveled a decent amount.  I didn’t have a lot of money, but I did get to go many of the places I wanted to go see,” she said with a distant look in her eyes. Then she sighed and said, “Plus, I seem to be happy anywhere if I have good company. I’ll go to the beach, the mountains, the desert, out on the ocean… But I don’t really want to go alone. I was alone when I traveled before, and it just wasn’t as fun without someone to share it with.”

“So, you’d use your vacation time and money to do what I want to do with me?” Tim still didn’t quite believe that she would really do that.  When Ashley wanted to go on a vacation with him, it was her idea to go to Hawaii, and the plans were all centered around all the beaches she wanted to see and things she wanted to do.  Tim didn’t do much of the planning or decision making.

Lucy picked up on his surprise and little bit of insecurity. She released her hand from his and brought it up to his cheek, holding his eyes to hers and rubbing her thumb across his cheek. “Of course, I would,” she said seriously. Then she smiled with a little glint her in eye and said, “But the baseball games wouldn’t be the only things we do,” she said as she popped her eyebrows high. “I’d want to check out a museum or two, go to a national or state park and hike around, spend a little bit of time on the beach, maybe rent a tandem bike and ride around a bit.”

“A tandem bike?  Really?” he huffed playfully.  “Somehow when I think of us on a tandem bike, I’m the one doing the work in the back while you’re taking pictures from the front.  Sort of like a rickshaw in reverse,” he said chuckling.

Lucy smiled back at him. “Maybe?  But I wouldn’t make you do allllll the work,” she said with a giggle. “I’d help. I’m not a slacker. I just… Of the two of us, I probably spend a little bit more time enjoying the sights around me than you do. Right?”

Tim raised his eyebrows. “Eeeh. Probably so. But regardless of whether or not you pull your weight, I think that sounds like a fantastic trip.  I really enjoy hiking, and I can tolerate a few museums.”

“We should totally do it! Maybe in the spring so we don’t have to worry about the summer heat as much.  But… after the spring breakers are gone.  So maybe May?”

Tim smiled at her. “Sure,” he said.

“Great,” she said as she took her last bite. She stood to take her plate to the sink, and she kissed his cheek as she passed him by.

“Thanks again for dinner,” she said as she started rinsing off her dish.  “The food was delicious.  I want to say I’m not surprised, but...” she said with a giggle, “But I am a little bit – pleasantly surprised.”

While Lucy was talking Tim stood and came up behind her with his dish.  He wrapped his arms around her as he put his own dish in the sink. “Mmm…” Tim hummed in her ear. “Thanks. I am good at some other things.” He kissed just beneath her ear and said, “Dinner was good.” He punctuated that with another kiss. “But I’ve really been looking forward to dessert the most.”  He pulled her hair to the side and started kissing the tattoo she had on her neck behind her right ear, holding her close with his other arm.

Lucy moaned in response and laced her right fingers into his, her left hand gripping the counter. “But just some dessert, remember? We’re going to take it slow…” her words trailed off into a groan as Tim found just the right spot over her pulse point.

He laughed softly as he continued to kiss in that spot and her head drooped back to rest on his shoulder. “Geez, you are good at other things…” she managed to whisper. 

He chuckled again and continued to kiss down her neck and collar bone. He would pause every few kisses and whisper something into her skin. “You are amazing.” “So beautiful.” “Very kind.”

After a few minutes, Lucy, flushed red from all the compliments, spun herself around to capture his lips with hers. The kiss deepened immediately, and they held each other close.

Tim allowed one hand to leave Lucy’s back for a moment to check that state of the counter behind her.  Finding it clear and dry, he hoisted Lucy up effortlessly to sit there. She opened her legs for Tim to come even closer to her. Without even thinking about it, she locked her legs around Tim’s waist sometime in the few minutes after that.

A while later, when they paused to get a breath of air, Tim scooped her up and carried her to the couch in his living room. She giggled in surprise and held onto his shoulders as they went. He lowered them slowly onto the couch, giving her time to bend her knees, so that when they settled, she was kneeling on the couch straddling his lap.

She was giggling still, but managed to say, “Thanks for the ride, Sarge,” before her lips crashed back into his. As they continued to make out on the couch, Tim dug his fingers into the exposed skin just below her blouse, kneading the skin and holding her close. His hands slowly migrated higher as they continued to kiss until suddenly Lucy gasped, stiffened, and pulled back.

She stayed sitting on his lap but put a little bit of distance between them.  She was breathing deeply with her hands on his chest and her eyes focused on her hands.

Tim wasn’t sure what had happened or if he had done something wrong.  So, he just watched Lucy’s face for a moment, staring at her kiss-swollen lips and her beautiful, chocolate-colored eyes. When she didn’t say anything for a while, he shifted around a little bit on the couch to try to get her attention. That only resulted in her squeezing her eyes shut, so he decided to try apologizing.

“I’m sorry, Lucy. You said to go slow, and I…”

She put her right index finger to his lips. “Shhh.  No.  You did nothing wrong.”  Her eyes came up to meet his.   “It’s just… I…” She huffed in frustration and shimmied a little further away from him.  Tim furrowed his brow and kept his hands only lightly around her waist. A tear formed and trickled down Lucy’s cheek, which Tim brushed away with his thumb, cupping her face as he did it.

Lucy took a deep breath and finally started talking. “Do you remember the scariest day of my life that I told you about in the airport restaurant?”

Tim nodded but didn’t say anything.

“Well, I don’t want to get into everything that happened that day.  But some bad days leave scars, and this bad day of mine left a tattoo. A tattoo with my day of death.” Her voice wavered as she spoke the last sentence. “The man that tried to kill me – Caleb was his name – he tattooed his victims with their day of death before he put them in barrels to suffocate to death. The… uh… the first memory I have after he abducted me is when I woke up to him tattooing me.  If I close my eyes, I can still hear the tattoo gun, and smell it, and feel the sharp, stinging pain there.” When she said her last few words, her left hand came up to rest on her ribs. 

It was then that Tim realized how he had triggered her.  He opened his mouth to apologize, but Lucy put her finger back to his lips.

“You didn’t know.  You don’t need to say anything. I’ve thought about getting rid of it somehow or covering it with a new tattoo.  I just… haven’t yet.” She paused and said, “But this is one of the reasons I wanted to go slow.” She took another deep breath to calm herself. “I’ve only been with two other men since I was abducted, and I never let them see it or touch it.” She huffed a bit, smirked, and said, “Some men are pretty easy to distract.” She looked back up at Tim and said, “But I don’t want to hide it from you. I don’t want to feel ashamed when you see it or touch it. I don’t want to always have sex with my shirt on or in the dark. I don’t want to let this affect me anymore.” She let her eyes drop to her hands again.

“Lucy,” he said reverently, gently squeezing her waist. “You should never be ashamed of that.  You did nothing wrong.” He took a deep breath to try to put as much feeling into the next words as possible. “It wasn’t your fault.”  She nodded and pulled her mouth into a straight line in response as she continued to stare at her hands on his chest, but she didn’t say thing else.

“You know…I’ve got half a dozen scars – bullet wounds, knife wounds, broken bottle,” he huffed.   “Then there’s the ones you can’t see – Isabel’s addiction, a dad who would tune me up on the regular.  And whether I like it or not, they’re a part of me.”

“I know what you’re trying to do, and I appreciate it. But this is different.  I was tattooed by a sadist who etched my day of death into my skin,” she said, her voice wavering much more now.

“Mmm,” Tim hummed as he ran his thumb over her cheek with one hand and squeezed her waist with his other hand. “But you didn’t die,” he said kissing her forehead. “You lived,” he said as he gave her a sweet, gentle, loving kiss on the lips. “And now he’s the one in the ground,” he said softly, cupping her face with both hands.  “I’m not trying to tell you what to do with it.  If you don’t want me to look at it or touch it, I won’t.  Whatever gives you peace.”

She made a little high pitch huff, almost like a chirp, and then opened her eyes to look at him.

“Let me just share with you some hard-won perspective.  You can choose to see that tattoo as your greatest failure, a scar from the scariest day of your life,” he said.

She looked down at his chest again, unable to meet his eyes, her shoulders slumping.

He saw tears welling in her eyes again and brushed them away. “But I see it as proof that you’re a survivor,” he said kissing her forehead.  “It wasn’t your day of death, Lucy.”  He moved her head to encourage her to look him in the eye. “It was the first day of the rest of your life.  And no one can take that away from you.”

New tears formed as she gazed into his eyes. She blinked several times to keep the tears from falling, but they still fell.

“Come here,” he said, pulling her whole body flush with his and tucking her head into his shoulder. “You’re a survivor,” he whispered into her hair.  “You’re so strong. So smart.”

Lucy let her tears fall for a few minutes.  She felt so safe with Tim, like he would never let anyone hurt her again. Eventually she sat back up and smiled at Tim.  Then she scooted back a couple of inches. 

Tim wasn’t sure what she was doing, but he didn’t want her to go anywhere, so he put his hands back on her hips. His eyes studied every move that she made, trying to understand what was happening.

Lucy took a deep breath. She put her left hand over the spot where the tattoo was hidden under her shirt. “Is it weird that I want to show it to you now?”

Tim’s eyebrows jumped up to his hairline. “I don’t want you to do anything that you don’t want to do.  We can do this another day if you’d rather wait. I’ll be more careful now.”

Lucy smiled at Tim. He was so much more understanding and respectful of her wants and needs than anyone she had ever dated before. Then she took his right hand in her left hand and pressed it to her the covered tattoo. She closed her eyes and got used to the feeling of his hand being there.

Tim didn’t move a muscle unless directed by Lucy.  He followed every sound she made and every little twitch of her skin.

Then Lucy opened her eyes, smiled at Tim, and brought their hands down. She took another deep breath and reached for the hem of her shirt.  She slowly slid the shirt up just enough to expose the tattoo.

Tim didn’t dare look at anything except for Lucy’s eyes. She kept intense eye contact with Tim as she brought his right hand up again to touch the actual tattoo. She winced involuntarily when she felt the first touch of his fingers, and he tried to pull his hand back. But she held his hand in place and whispered, “This is important to me.”

As she pressed his hand against her ribs another tear fell. She swiped it away in frustration.  “I’m okay,” she said as much for him as for herself. “Tim? Would you just keep your hand there and kiss me? Please?”

Never one to say no to Lucy, Tim blinked a couple of times, nodded, and then brought his lips to hers.  He kissed her so gently at first that she wasn’t even sure their lips were touching.  Lucy leaned further into the kiss, her right hand wrapping around his neck to pull them together.  It was a beautifully slow, passionate kiss, the kind that she could imagine enjoying for years to come.

Once she was out of breath Lucy leaned back from the kiss and looked at Tim.  She giggled for a moment and said, “Thank you.  That was perfect.” She cocked her head to the side a bit and said, “You know, sometimes when you’ve had trauma, there are just these triggers that you can’t get past.  But once you finally force yourself past them, you realize that you are stronger than your past, stronger than the badness that haunts you.  Part of it is just reliving the trauma and the anticipation of something happening again.  But this?  This is good.”

She leaned back in and gave him another peck on the lips. “I am a survivor. I didn’t die that day. No one can take that from me.”  Then she leaned in a second time for a deeper more passionate kiss.

Pulling back from the kiss she smirked and said, “It’s even better a second time.”  Then she blew out her breath and lifted their hands from her tattoo.

Tim kept his eyes on hers the whole time, careful to only do what she was comfortable with.

“Would you look at it now?” She scooted back a couple of inches and made sure her shirt was pulled away from the tattoo.

Tim looked at her hesitantly with a furrowed brow.

“Really.  This is very freeing for me. I feel like I’m finally healing from something that happened two years ago.”

Tim slowly looked down at her shoulder and then let his eyes move slowly to her exposed skin.

DOD12919

He breath caught when he finally saw it.  Somehow, he had imagined it was much smaller than it actually was. But it was easily an inch tall and several inches long. There was no subtlety to it at all – a very bold statement. His fingers gently traced the letters and numbers.  He thought she would wince again, but it seemed like she was getting more comfortable with it being touched.

“Lucy… I don’t know what to say…” he started.

Lucy smiled back at him. “You’ve said exactly what I needed to hear. Thank you.  I feel better about that tattoo than I ever have.” Her right hand raked through the tiny hairs at the back of his head.  “I am so glad we did this today instead of the first time we have sex. I want that day to be about us and not about someone who hurt me years ago.”

“Does that mean you want to leave now?” he asked, unsure of what her expectations were and what she wanted to do. “That felt like a goodbye.”

“Oh no,” she said with a giggle.  “The night is still young, and, technically, you still owe me a dance.” She motioned to the patio where she had mentioned dancing underneath the lights.

He grinned like a little kid at Christmas at the prospect of spending more time with Lucy. “There’s no ‘technically’ about it,” he said giving her a peck on the lips. “A debt is owed.”

With that Tim stood up, holding Lucy to him as she giggled in surprise. He spun them around a couple times and then set her down.  “Why don’t you pick out some music, while I rearrange the things on the patio.  I have a Bluetooth speaker over there that we can take outside.” He said pointing to a small metal sphere on his kitchen counter.

Lucy flipped through her playlists until she found one that she was happy with and set it to shuffle. Then she followed Tim out to the patio.  With the sun long down, the lights gave off the perfect ambiance now.  She set down the speaker and walked over to Tim. “May I have this dance?”

“Aren’t I… I mean… Shouldn’t I be asking you instead?” he said with uncertainty as he closed the gap between them.

Lucy threw back her head and laughed as her right hand settled in his left.  Her left hand rested on his shoulder as his right hand rested on her lower back. “You have been out of the dating game for a while, haven’t you?”

“Not really.  I just don’t think I was ever good at it in the first place,” he said with a chuckle.  He lifted his left hand, putting pressure on her lower back with his right hand, and spun her a couple times before he reeled her back in.

“Wow. Check out those Bradford moves!” she said as she laughed and spun back into him.  Her eyes twinkled as she looked back up into Tim’s eyes. “Oh, we’re going to have to do this often.”

“I’ll dance with you on my patio whenever you want to,” he promised.

They laughed and talked for the next couple of songs.  Then a very slow song started, and Lucy moved her wrap her hands around his neck instead. Tim pulled her up flush with him and let his hands rest on her lower back.

After a few minutes, Lucy said, “This just feels so comfortable, so natural – like I could do this for hours.”

Tim hummed into her hair and then kissed the top of her head.

Several songs and a couple dozen spins later, Tim pulled her impossibly closer to him and whispered into her ear, “Is there anything else I could convince you to do tonight?” He slowly let his hands move a little lower to rest comfortably on her butt.

She lifted her head to look at him and hummed. “Hmmm… What did you have in mind?” she asked with an arched eyebrow.

Tim decided that actions spoke louder than words as he sunk his lips into hers.  They got lost in that kiss and several others before Lucy whispered, “Couch.”

“Hmm?”

“You’re too tall, and neck is getting achy again,” she said with a soft laugh.

“I think I know some neck pain remedies… if you’re interested,” he offered as he lowered his head to kiss her neck while walking her slowly back to the patio door.

“Hmmm… Sounds perfect,” she said, moaning into his neck kisses.

An hour or perhaps much more later, with her hair completely askew, her lips red and puffy, and red splotches all over her face, neck and chest from Tim’s evening scruff, Lucy pushed herself off of Tim. “I know this is a total mood killer, but I’m afraid I need to use the bathroom.”

Tim let his head fall back to the couch as he said, “Down the hall, first door on your right.”

When Lucy came back a moment later, she announced, “You know, it’s almost midnight.  I should probably go before we go too far, or it gets too late.  Especially since we have two parties to attend tomorrow, and the second one will definitely go late like this.”

Tim groaned and stood up from the couch. “I was afraid you would say that.”  He walked over to join her. “You’re probably right.”  Then he pulled her close to him again and smashed their lips together, kissing her soundly to let her know that he disagreed with her assessment.

“Tim,” she breathed out between kisses. “Go,” she tried again when he didn’t stop. “More tomorrow,” she promised with a giggle.

He reluctantly relaxed his hold on her, tipping his forehead to hers. “But I can’t even kiss you at Genny’s party.  We promised.”

“I’m sure we can find some time tomorrow morning. Maybe brunch at my place before we go to Genny’s?”

“Mmm… Okay.  Sure,” he said.  “But we can’t be late to Genny’s or show up with hickeys.  We’ll never hear the end of it.”

Lucy laughed. “We better make it 9:00 then. Genny’s place is just 10 minutes from my apartment,” she said. “I make amazing omelets, and I promise not to sneak any mushrooms into yours.”

“Deal,” he said, sealing the deal with another kiss.

Lucy pulled back a minute later. “Stooooop or I’ll never get out of here.”

“That’s the idea,” he said with a smirk.  He moved to kiss her again, but she ducked down to grab her shoes.

“Tomorrow,” she said, swinging her purse onto her shoulder. “I promise.”  She walked backwards to the door and grabbed the handle, giving him one last peck on the lips.

“Okay,” Tim reluctantly agreed. “Tomorrow. I can’t wait.”

He waved as she pulled away from his house. Tomorrow was going to be a great day.

Chapter Text

Chapter 7

Sunday morning Lucy woke up with a smile on her face.  It was going to be a great day. She got her work out clothes on and went into the kitchen area to see if Jackson was awake yet. There was no sign of him there, so she cracked open his bedroom door.  He was definitely still asleep. So, she grabbed her pepper spray, whistle, keys, and a credit card before she left on her morning run. On her way back from her run she stopped by a grocery store to grab just a few things for her brunch with Tim.

When she returned to her apartment, Jackson was still asleep.  So, she put the groceries away and went to shower and get ready.  She opted for black leggings and a red v-neck sweater. Even once she was ready, Jackson was still asleep.  She didn’t want him to be caught off guard by Tim being in their kitchen when he woke up, so she sent him a quick text message that she hoped he would read before he was surprised.

Lucy – Hey.  I just wanted to let you know that I’m making omelets for brunch this morning.  Tim is coming over at 9.  I’ll make you an omelet when you wake up.  Hope you’re feeling better.

It was 8:30. Lucy took a few minutes to tidy the apartment, vacuum the floor, wipe down the counters, etc. Satisfied that the apartment would meet Tim’s high standards of cleanliness, she started chopping some vegetables for the omelets.

At exactly 9:00, Lucy heard a knock at her door. Of course, he would be exactly on time, she thought, smiling as she went to the door. Her smile widened as she saw Tim.  He was wearing a Henley again, that seemed to be his preferred look, but today’s was black and long-sleeved. In his hand was a small bouquet of flowers that he extended to her as he said, “Good morning.”

“Aww.  Thank you,” she said as she gave him a hug and kissed his cheek. “Come in.”  She walked into the kitchen to find a vase for the flowers.

As she was trimming the stems of the flowers under the water and putting them in the vase, Tim came up behind her.  First, he rubbed her back for just a few seconds; then, he wrapped his arms around her waist and pressed himself to her back. 

He whispered in her ear, “I had the most amazing dream last night.  There was this super hot woman in my house.”

“Oh?” she responded with a smile as she finished arranging the last few flowers in the vase.

“Mmm hmm,” he continued. “We had dinner and danced on my patio and kissed… a lot.” He punctuated that statement with a gentle kiss just below her ear. “She had long, dark, wavy hair,” he said as his twisted a tendril of her hair. “And the most soft, creamy skin,” he said while kissing down her neck. Then he swept her hair to the opposite shoulder and kissed along the back of her neck while he said, “She was so kind and smart and selfless and strong.” Then he kissed her other ear and said, “And she listened to everything I said and looked interested, even though I’m really boring.”

Lucy giggled in response to that and turned her head to face him. She opened her mouth to say something, but Tim silenced her with a gentle, caring kiss on her lips.

“And she had the cutest nose,” he said, booping her nose with his. “And I got lost in her gorgeous, chocolate-brown eyes,” he said looking deep into her eyes and turning her so that they were facing each other. “I was convinced that it must have been a dream because it was just too good to be true…” He paused for a moment for dramatic effect. “Until I got out of the shower and noticed this.” He pulled the collar of his shirt to the side to reveal a small hickey at the base of his neck near his collarbone.

Lucy giggled as she gently touched the little bruise. She looked up at Tim to see if he was really upset at all, but as the first part of the word ‘sorry’ left her mouth he caught her lips with his.

When they separated a moment later, Tim said, squinting his eyes, “What was it you said when you hit my butt yesterday? Turnabout is fair play?” Then he dove back in to kiss the sensitive skin at the base of her neck.

Lucy laughed and then moaned as he found just the right spot.  But she pushed him away pretty quickly. “Hmmm.  Another time.  But the dress I’m wearing tonight definitely does not cover that part of my body, and I don’t trust my cover up to hide that all night.  I do not need to meet your friends with a hickey on my neck.  Yours doesn’t show at all because your shirt covers it.”

Tim growled his disapproval but acquiesced. He pulled her close and tucked her head under his chin. “So, what’s the plan? Omelets still? And we need to leave around 10:15?”

“Mmm hmm,” she agreed.

“And how long does it take you to make the omelets? 10 minutes? Maybe 15?”

“Yeah… why?”

“Because I’ve been thinking about you all morning, and I want to know how much time I have to kiss you before we have to go,” he said with a smirk.

Lucy rolled her eyes playfully after she leaned back to look at him. “So, what’s your plan? Kiss me until I can hardly walk. Then I make omelets quickly, and we scarf them down right before we need to leave?”

Tim tilted his head to the side as though he was thinking hard about what she said for a moment. Then he looked down at her with a smile and said, “That’s pretty much my plan.”  His head lowered to hers as he caught her lips. Lucy smiled into the kiss and wrapped her hands around his neck. After kissing her for a few minutes, he lifted her up onto the counter, nudging her legs apart to get closer to her.  She clamped her legs around his waist and dove back into another kiss.

Twenty minutes later, Lucy heard a noise coming from Jackson’s room and pulled back. “Crap,” she said as she ran her hands through her hair and readjusted her sweater. “I remembered that Jackson was here before you got here, but as soon as you started kissing me I just… I just couldn’t think about anything else.” She smiled at him and giggled as she said, “Like kissing amnesia.”

Tim smiled back at her and the whispered in her ear, “You have that effect on me, too.”  Then he couldn’t help himself and started kissing her under her ear and then along her neck tattoo.

Lucy knew they should stop.  Jackson could walk out at any moment, but she just couldn't bring herself to do it.

So, when Jackson emerged from his bedroom just a couple minutes later, he walked in on Lucy sitting on the counter while Tim was kissing down her neck. They all spoke at once.

“Oh!” Jackson cried.

“Crap,” Tim said, making some space between Lucy and him.

“Uuuuh… Good morning,” said quietly as she sprung off the counter. “I… uh… I sent you a text about Tim coming over this morning.  But it looks like you didn’t see it.”  She closed her eyes and scrunched her brow as the edges of her mouth drooped downwards. “Sorry, Jackson.”  She raked her hands through her hair again and smoothed down her sweater that didn’t need to be smoothed down at all.  “Well, uh, Jackson, you know Tim from work, right?” she said awkwardly.

Jackson nodded his head. “We’ve met.”

“Nice to see you again,” Tim said because he had no idea what else he should say. He nervously wiped at his face, trying to get rid of any lip gloss streaks that may be lingering.

Lucy felt a mixture of guilt and embarrassment, so she decided she just needed to plow forward. “Um.  I was just about to make omelets.  Can I make one for you, too? I’ve got peppers, onions, tomatoes, sausage, mozzarella, and cheddar. What would you like?”

“No mushrooms?” he asked incredulously. “You love mushrooms on your omelets.”  He looked at Lucy who glanced over at Tim and then back at the counter.

“Uhhh. I just didn’t feel like having mushrooms this time,” she said, trying to pass it off as nothing and move on.

Jackson stared at her inquisitively for a moment until Tim cleared his throat and spoke up.

“I’m not a fan of mushrooms. She probably didn’t get any because she knew I wasn’t going to eat them.”  Tim looked over at Jackson with a stoic expression.  Jackson looked back at Lucy who shrugged her shoulders.

“Ooookay. Well, this is still nice and awkward.” Jackson said looking around for a moment and then turning to Lucy. “Luce, I’d love to eat one of your fabulous omelets, and I love everything on your list. I trust you’ll make it delicious just like you always do.”  With that he smiled at her and sat at the barstool by the kitchen counter.

“Great. Yeah. Sounds good,” she said. She looked around the kitchen as though she was confused as to where everything was.  As she collected things, she muttered to herself, “Peppers.  Yep.  Right where I left them. Aaaaand the sausage is still in the fridge. Of course.” After she closed the fridge, she opened it again immediately and mumbled, “Eggs.  Definitely need eggs.”

Tim stood watching her, not exactly knowing what to do for a minute. Then he said, “How can I help? I’d like to do something to help.”

Lucy paused her flustered movements and looked over at him. “Ummm. Sure. Would you put some of that oil in that frying pan and turn it on medium heat? I think I already have all the veggies cut that we need.”

After Tim did as she asked, he put his hand on the small of her back.  She relaxed into it immediately and looked up at him with a smile. “Thanks.” Then a thought occurred to her. “Oh, did you want everything on your omelet, too? Or just… peppers? Or sausage? Or…”

“Everything on your list sounds great,” he said with a smile. “I’m sorry I ruined your normal mushroom omelet.”

“Oh, no. That’s not a problem,” she said with a smile. “Jackson and I just like hanging out with mushrooms because they’re such fun guys,” she grinned from ear to ear and chuckled a little bit.  “You know… fungi… mushrooms.”

Tim stared at her with one eyebrow raised.

Jackson bowed his head and covered his eyes, shaking his head.

“Okay.  Fine. No mushroom jokes. Got it,” Lucy said more somberly as she slid the sliced peppers and onions onto the hot pan.

With that, both Tim and Jackson started chuckling.  Lucy joined them a moment later. Lucy’s bad joke eventually did what she had intended it to do – break the ice.

She handed Tim a spatula to stir and sauté the veggies. In a separate pan she cooked the sausage.  Then she handed Jackson the carton of eggs, a bowl, and a whisk. “Here. Make yourself useful,” she instructed with a grin.

They all worked in silence for a few minutes, and then Lucy spoke up again. “So, you two have worked on a few cases together before, right?”

Jackson just hummed his response.

“I’m sure we’ve worked together several times, but they are large teams, and we aren’t always on shift so it’s not like we rode together or anything. I’ve been with Metro for four months now, and we work with SWAT about every week or two.”

Jackson nodded in agreement.  “Yeah.  Every week or two is right. But, actually, you and I have ridden together before.”

Tim furrowed his brow at Jackson, clearly not remembering riding with him.

“It was a while ago, before you were with Metro.  I was riding solo on patrol that day because Lucy was away on a UC assignment.” Jackson noticed Tim flinch when he said ‘UC assignment,’ but he didn’t say anything about it. “It was about a year ago.  I was called in as back up to a domestic by dispatch since I was by the border of North Hollywood and Mid-Wilshire and the closest unit. When I got there, I found out that a detective had been interviewing someone when things went south.  Just seconds after I entered the house, the woman who was being interviewed was shot as well as the detective.  I was able to tackle the husband, who was the shooter, and disarm him.  You showed up just after that. You sent your aide to book the shooter, while you had me take you to the hospital. I understand that the detective was a friend of yours.

“You actually never said a word to me once we were in the shop though.  You sat in the front seat clinching your fists with a very hard look on your face. Believe it or not, the air in the shop was more charged and uncomfortable than it was when I walked in on you a few minutes ago,” he finished with a soft laugh. “When we reached the front of the hospital, you jumped out of the car and slammed the door without saying a single word.”

Tim listened to Jackson’s story carefully.  It wasn’t until he mentioned that a detective was shot that he could recall that day.   Once he did, memories of that day flooded his mind. “That was my best friend, Angela Lopez, who was shot that day.”  He paused for a moment, lost in the memories of that day. “She… uh… she was lucky that day.  The bullet hit her arm instead of her chest because she ducked at the last moment. She wasn’t wearing a vest that day because she just had a few simple questions for the person she was interviewing. Angela ended up needing a minor surgery and a blood transfusion because the bullet it an artery, but she did well in the end.”

Jackon nodded but had a confused look on his face. “Angela Lopez, you said? The one that’s hosting the party tonight?”

“The same.”

“Huh.  Small world.”

“I… I’m sorry that was an uncomfortable ride for you and that I wasn’t very friendly,” Tim said, rubbing the back of his head. “I was really worried about Angela. She was really bleeding a lot, even though it was just her arm.  She and I have been friends for a long time. Until I met Lucy, the only people I really talked to were Angela and my sister Genny.”  Tim shook his head and smirked, “Plus, making small talk isn’t really my forte, at least not at work.”

Lucy had been busying herself with making the first omelet while she was listening to Jackson and Tim talk. “But you can be very friendly and make great conversation once you know people,” she said as she wove her arm around Tim’s waist and looked up at him. “We’ve talked for hours and hours.”

Tim chucked and said, “That may be an effect of your Lucy magic again.  I don’t normally talk this much even when I do know people well.”

“Lucy magic…” she said rolling her eyes. “It’s not magic,” she said.  Then she turned to Jackson and continued, “Tim seems to think that I have some type of magic because of some of the things I did back in the airport and everything that’s happened between us.” Lucy rolled her eyes at Jackson and then looked back at Tim with a fondness that bordered on adoration.

Jackson looked back and forth between the two of them, “Lucy really is amazing.  We met at the Academy, and we’ve been inseparable ever since then. I couldn’t ask for a better best friend.”  Jackson smiled widely at Lucy who responded by shaking her head and returning a smile.

“Well,” she said, clearing her throat and a little uncomfortable with all their praise, “The first omelet is done.  Who is the hungriest?”

“Jackson should take it,” Tim said. “It’s the least we can do for making him feel awkward in his own home.”

Lucy smiled up at Tim and bumped shoulders with him. “Agreed.”

“Thanks,” Jackson said. “I’m not really sure what I ate yesterday; the whole day is a bit of a blur.  So, I’m famished.” He took the plate that Lucy scooted toward him and started to eat immediately.  He moaned into the first bite and said, “Maybe you do have some type of magic, Luce.  No one makes omelets like you do.”

Lucy laughed back at him. “You just need to eat real food,” she said shaking her head. “Surviving on protein bars and caffeine is no way to live.”

They settled into more comfortable conversation about SWAT and Metro and patrol from that point on.  They compared best and worst stories and compared their experiences.

A little after 10:00 Jackson excused himself to go get his work out in for the day. “Thanks for breakfast, Lucy.  I’m sure I’ll be running a little slower because of it,” he said puffing out his belly and patting it, “But it was 100% worth it.” Then he looked over at Tim. “Good to talk to you more, Sergeant Bradford.”

“Tim,” he said. “Call me Tim when I’m here, okay?”

“Yes, sir,” he answered as he entered his bedroom to change his clothes.

Lucy started gathering the plates to clean them.  Tim helped her put all of them in the sink and then stood behind her, holding her close. “I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you before, and we had that awkward moment when Jackson walked in,” he whispered in her ear. “Think he’s coming back out here soon?” he said as she started to nibble on her ear.

Lucy giggled, “Stooppp.  You’re going to get us in trouble again.”  She tried to focus on rinsing off the dishes, but she was having a hard time concentrating as Tim’s mouth migrated down her neck to her shoulder.

A minute later Jackson called out, “I’m coming out!”  Then he slowly opened the door before emerging from his room.

Tim had gotten the clue and relinquished his hold on Lucy as he stepped to the side to start drying dishes.

Jackson noticed the blush on Lucy’s cheeks and darker pink spots on her neck. “I can see that a warning call is going to be necessary around you two,” he chuckled.  “See you later,” he called as he walked out the door.

Lucy started to laugh and turned to Tim to bury her laughter in his chest. Tim pulled her in and mumbled another ‘sorry’ into her hair.   Lucy lifted her head up a moment later and asked, “Are you going to be able to control yourself at Genny’s party?  There are going to be a lot of kids and their parents around.”

“Probably,” he said, “But Genny’s house is big enough that we could probably find a room to ourselves at some point. Or we could just go back out to my truck…”

Lucy slapped him playfully on the chest and then returned to finish the dishes. “We should get going soon,” she said handing the last pan to Tim to dry.  She wiped off the counter as Tim put the last pan down.

Lucy turned to say something else to Tim, but instead she yelped as she suddenly found herself scooped up in Tim’s arms bridal style as he took them to the couch. “Five minutes,” he said as they collapsed on the couch.  Lucy rolled her eyes and giggled into Tim’s mouth as he quickly claimed it.

 After the first long, passionate kiss, Lucy pulled away from him just long enough to say, “You’re impossible,” as she grinned from ear to ear.  She adjusted herself so that she was straddling his lap instead of sitting on it sideways.

“But you love it,” he replied, matching her wide grin.

“Yeah, I do,” she said as they both smiled into another kiss, holding each other close.

Ten minutes later, Lucy managed to check the time. “Tim! We’ve gotta go. We told Genny we’d be there at 10:30,” she said as she pushed off of his chest.

Tim groaned at the forced separation from Lucy. “Fine.”

“I suspect, sergeant, that you are rarely late to anything.  It just doesn’t fit your personality,” she said as she slipped on her shoes.

“If you’re not early, you’re late. That’s one of the principles I live by,” he agreed as he grabbed his jacket and shoes. “I have a feeling I’ll be compromising that one a lot if keep hanging out with you.”

“What? Us being late is my fault now, Mr. Five Minutes?” she said teasingly as they hurried out of her apartment.

“Well…Maybe not all your fault,” he said as he pushed the button for the elevator. “But if you weren’t so damn irresistible…” he said as he pushed her up against the wall of the elevator to kiss her again as the doors starting closing.

When the elevator doors opened, Tim stepped back from Lucy with a smug look on his face and exited the elevator.  Lucy’s legs wobbled a bit as she followed him out of the elevator. “Yeah, it’s obviously all my fault,” she said sarcastically.

They walked hand-in-hand to Tim’s truck.  Tim opened the door for Lucy to climb into his truck, and then jogged around to get to his side. They chatted and held hands for the full ten minutes to Genny’s house. Once they parked, Lucy moved to open the door and get out, but Tim put his hand on her thigh to stop her. She turned her head to see what he needed, and he pulled her in for another kiss.

“I just needed to get one more before we’re surrounded by a circus of kids,” he said as he went back in for one more peck on the lips.

Lucy laughed at him. “You’re ridiculous.”

“You love it,” he said again as he jumped out of the truck.  He jogged around to Lucy’s door and opened it for her.  He reached out a hand to help her down and then interlaced their fingers to walk up to the front door.

Tyson threw the door open before they even rang the doorbell. “Lucy!” he called as he encircled her in his arms.

“Hey, buddy!  It’s so good to see you,” she said, patting his back.

When he released her from his death-grip of a hug, he grabbed her free hand and dragged her across the threshold.  Though entirely ignored by Tyson, Tim was pulled along with Lucy since she was still holding his hand.

“Hey!” Genny greeted as she saw them being dragged into the house.

“Lucy! You have to come see the Lego sets that I finished.  The big boy ones!” Tyson said, continuing to pull Lucy’s hand. 

“You finished them? That’s awesome!” she said as she squeezed Tim’s hand with a smile and then let go to follow Tyson to his room.

Genny shook her head at them, and then said, turning to Tim, “I almost called you when you weren’t here right at 10:30.  Five minutes late is not exactly your style.”

Tim flushed just slightly. “Sorry about that.  I guess I just lost track of time.”

Genny nodding knowingly and studied his face carefully. “Uh huh.  And I noticed that you drove here with Lucy.  Did you… spend some quality time together this morning?”

Tim rolled his eyes and then crossed his arms. “First, that’s none of your business. Second, we had breakfast with her best friend this morning. Third, we still haven’t slept together.  And fourth, it’s still none of your business.”

Genny hummed as she continued to stare at Tim.  Then she took a spin around him, taking in every inch. “But you definitely look happier…” she said, “And I think I just found evidence of why.”  She folded back the collar of his shirt to reveal the hickey he had showed Lucy just a couple hours before.

He slapped her hand away gently. “Hey!” he called as he readjusted his shirt to hide it again, internally cursing himself for not asking Lucy to help him cover it up with makeup. “Again, none of your business.”

“Fine,” she said with an air of victory as she strutted back to the kitchen.  “Come in here to help me finish with the decorations.”

Several minutes later, Lucy and Tyson returned to the kitchen to offer their help.

“Well, would you get Tyler to come out of his room first? He’s supposed to be helping, too, but all he wants to do this morning is read.”

“Sure,” Lucy said as she turned to go back up the stairs.

Genny and Tim finished hanging the streamers by the time Lucy and Tyler returned.  “Hey, Tyson and Tyler, would you get the food out of the fridge and the pantry for the party and set it on the counter? And Tim, would you and Lucy help me set up the ball drop in the living room?”

Soon enough, 75 balloons were suspended from the ceiling in the living room. Then, they all moved back to the kitchen to finish plating all the food and setting up the table. They were all done by 10:50.

“Wow.  It goes so much faster with three adults instead of one! Thanks,” Genny said.

Tyson and Tyler then told Lucy about their friends who were coming and the games they had set up.  Lucy nodded and smiled and asked questions appropriately.  Genny interjected with explanations as needed.

Still largely ignored by his nephews, Tim slowly moved to stand between Lucy and the kitchen counter she had been leaning on.  She smiled as she felt Tim nudge her off the counter and encircle her in his arms.  Then, she leaned her whole body back against him and turned her head momentarily to make eye contact with him with a smile. But she was still busy acknowledging Tyson and Tyler’s explanations and stories.

Once 11:00 hit, there were swarms of kids, at least two thirds of them boys, and their parents milling around the house. Genny directed the games once a quorum was formed with Tim and Lucy assisting as needed. At 11:50 Genny gave everyone instructions regarding the countdown.  The kids surged toward the box of poppers, noisemakers, funny glasses, and silly hats.  The parents took pictures as their kids posed and modeled.

Genny had set up a countdown to appear on her TV and got it all ready to go.  Tim ascended the step stool that he had been designated to stand on to release the balloons. He looked down fondly as Lucy mingled with the kids and made silly faces for the camera with them.

Finally, it was time for the countdown.  Lucy glanced over at Tim and smiled at him, blowing him a kiss.  Though Tim had gotten pretty soft around Lucy, there was still no way that he was going to blow her a kiss in a room full of kids and their parents.  So, he smiled at her and shook his head, which Lucy accepted with a soft laugh.

Genny directed everyone to the screen where the countdown began.  All the kids and their parents started chanting the numbers together followed by a reverberating cacophony of ‘Happy New Year!’ accompanied by all the ringing, banging, and rattling of the noisemakers. Parents and kids moved around the room family members with a New Year’s hug or kiss. to greet their

In the midst of this rowdy chaos, Lucy heard her name and felt a tug on her sweater.  She turned around to find Tyson standing on the couch beside her. 

“Happy New Year, Lucy!” Tyson shouted with a grin.  Then he reached his chubby little hands for Lucy’s face, pulled her close, squeezing her cheeks tightly, and gave her a very affectionate, very wet, very clumsy kiss on the lips.

To say that Lucy was shocked would be an understatement. Her eyebrows were raised nearly to her hairline, her eyes bulged from her wide-open eyelids, and her arms were extended out to either side of her with her fingers stretched so tight she felt like the skin might split. When Tyson pulled back after a solid, ten-second-long kiss, Lucy tried her best to school her features. She dropped her hands to her sides, forced her eyebrows back down, and attempted a smile.

“Wow. Thanks, Tyson,” she managed to say, still too surprised to know what else to say.

 Tyson blushed. “Happy New Year! I heard my mom talking on the phone to her friend the other day about not having someone to kiss on New Year’s after the countdown.  She said you’re supposed to kiss the person you love most and want to spend the next year with.  She was sad that she didn’t have anyone like that to kiss.  But I knew exactly who I wanted to have my New Year’s kiss with – YOU!”  He smiled brightly at Lucy and gave her a hug.  Then he jumped down from the couch to go and play with his buddies.

As Tyson was bounding away, Lucy looked up to see Genny bent over in laughter just a few feet in front of her.  She straightened up gradually and moved over to Lucy.  “You okay?” she asked Lucy. “I’m sorry about that.  Tyson… well, he… he’s always been very affectionate.  But that’s the first time I’ve seen him do something like that. I guess he really loves you, Lucy,” she said, still trying to stifle her laughter. “But I’ll talk to him when the party is done about who we should kiss and who just gets a hug.”

Lucy nodded back at her.  She was still getting her bearings back, but she managed to say, “Okay.  Yeah.  I love Tyson, too.”  Genny was still giggling as she went to attend to the other party guests, and Lucy turned around to where Tim was still standing on the three-step kitchen stool.

Tim had a birds’ eye view of the whole kiss. It seemed to happen in slow motion in front of him as his jaw dropped, his eyes matched Lucy’s protuberant eyes, and he was frozen in place. When it was over and he saw Lucy trying to recover and talk to Genny, he tried to recuperate himself. As his eyes met Lucy’s, he smiled at her.   She smiled back, shrugged her shoulders, and then covered her face with one hand as she started to laugh. 

Tim came off the stool and crossed to the room to stand by Lucy.  He smiled, took her hand, and led her away from the noisy room.  They walked through the kitchen, where Lucy assumed they would stop, but Tim guided her through another door on the opposite side of the kitchen that Lucy wasn’t familiar with.  It was clear as soon as she looked around her that it led to the garage. 

Tim closed the door behind Lucy, and in an instant, he had her pushed up against the door with his whole body pressed against hers. His lips crushed into Lucy’s lips, and she reciprocated willingly, her hands finding a grip on the back of his neck and the shoulder of his shirt. They stayed in that position until they both ran out of breath.

With their lips separated by just millimeters, Lucy whispered, “Do I sense a little jealousy? I mean, for a six-year-old, Tyson was a pretty good kisser.” She laughed softly and opened her eyes to see Tim’s reaction.

“I’ll admit, for a kid, he had some pretty good moves. But I think he was a little out of his league,” Tim responded.

“Yeah? So, whose league am I in?” Lucy teased.

“Mine,” Tim said kissing the corner of her lips. “Mine,” he whispered again as he kissed her jaw. “Just mine,” he said as he kissed just under her ear. Then he returned to her lips and kissed her passionately, claiming her mouth as his as well.

Lucy hummed in pleasure as Tim kissed around her face, and then moaned into his kiss. “To be clear,” she said as they both came up for air, “I don’t belong to anyone. But I’d be happy to claim the title of your girlfriend. I don’t plan on looking for anyone else to date.”

“Hmmm.  That’s good to know,” he said kissing down the other side of her face, “Since I’ve already been calling you my girlfriend.”

“What? Who are you telling?” Lucy said, pushing him back enough to see his face.

“Genny. Angela,” he said, pausing to think. “I think that’s it.  I don’t really talk about my personal life with my co-workers. It’s a personal-life-free zone.”

“And that’s why people think you’re so grumpy and stern.  They don’t get to see this side of you like I do.  The soft side.”

“I’m not soft,” he said adamantly, furrowing his brow.

“You are with me,” she sing-songed, kissing the tip of his nose.

Tim couldn’t really argue with that, so, instead, he pushed his lips against hers again, slotting them together. Lucy didn’t miss a beat.  She pulled Tim close and held him there for a while.

Several minutes later, they heard Genny’s voice calling to someone else in the room.  “I’ll just get some more drinks from the garage.”

Tim quickly pulled back and looked around for the drinks.  He gave one pack of drinks to Lucy and took another himself.  As Genny opened the door to the garage, she was surprised to see the two of them walking toward her.

“We thought you’d need some more drinks, so we came out here to get them for you,” Tim said, trying to sound as innocent as possible.

“Is there anything else you need, Genny?” Lucy asked, following Tim’s lead.

Genny eyed them suspiciously. Their kiss-swollen lips and disheveled clothing didn’t help their cover story much. “I think you both got what you needed in the garage,” she said slyly. “But I’ll make sure to send you back there to get anything else I might need,” she smirked.

Lucy blushed a little bit as she set out the drinks.  When she stood back up, Tim was right there beside her.  He looped his arms around her and whispered in her ear, “I have no regrets.”

“But we told Genny we wouldn’t do that at the party,” Lucy whispered back with a note of concern in her voice.

“We weren’t at the party. We were in the garage.  We weren’t even in the house.”

“That’s just a technicality,” she said, pausing in thought. “Should we apologize?” Lucy asked as she worried her lip.

Tim had difficulty moving his eyes from her lips but managed to pull them up to meet her eyes. “No. Definitely not. Genny is our biggest fan.  She totally ships us.”

“You know what is means to ‘ship?’” Lucy asked curiously.

“I’m not that old,” he scoffed.  Then he kissed the top of her head and took a step away from her to grab her hand.

Lucy bumped his shoulder with hers and pulled Tim to walk around the party with her for a minute.  They saw kids playing together, parents chatting in clusters, and kids and parents alike posing for pictures with all their New Year’s gear. Satisfied that their help wasn’t needed any further, Lucy said, “I’m hungry, and it doesn’t look like Genny needs any help.  Let’s grab a plate of food.”

Tim nodded in agreement and followed Lucy back to the kitchen. There weren’t many chairs available, so once they had their plates of food, Lucy sat comfortably on Tim’s lap to enjoy their food.

Genny rolled her eyes at the pair when she came back into the kitchen, but she was happy to see them so in love.   She patted Tim’s shoulder as she passed him.

Soon enough, parents and kids started to filter out the front door, waving their gratitude and goodbyes to Genny and her boys. Lucy stood and started cleaning up the discarded plates and other trash. Tim followed suit. The house was back to its normally tidy state pretty quickly with the five of them working on it.

The boys begged Lucy to join them in Mario Kart again before she left.  She feigned reluctance but then raced the boys to the controllers.

Genny laughed softly as she collapsed on the couch. “I’m glad that’s done. I think it came together well, though.  Thanks for your help.”

Tim smiled at Genny and then sat near her on the couch. “You did a great job.  Everyone was smiling and having fun.”

“I still can’t believe Tyson kissed Lucy like that though. I’ll talk to him about it after she leaves,” Genny said as she glanced toward the other room where they were all playing.

“At least he has good taste,” Tim chuckled.

“Hmm… I’m fairly certain you followed his lead soon afterward,” Genny said, narrowing her eyes at him.

“Maybe,” Tim said shrugging. “I can’t be upstaged by a six-year-old.”

Genny laughed at the ridiculousness of the idea. “It’s so good to see you looking so happy.  It’s been a long time since you looked this good.”

“I’ve never felt this good before, honestly. It’s like Lucy breathes this life into me that I’ve never felt before,” he said, taking a deep breath and leaning back on the couch.

Genny studied his face for a moment. “Man, I really want to feel that way again.  Things had been bad with Rob for a while before we got divorced. But I don’t feel like my heart is ready to get out there yet. Maybe by summer…”

Tim reached over and put his arm around Genny. “It takes time to heal. It took me a long time.”

Then Tyson bounded into the room, “Uncle Tim, would you come play with us? We can do four people at a time.”

Tim leaned forward and said, “I don’t think I’m very good at that game.  I haven’t played in a really long time.”

“That’s why we’re putting you on a team with Lucy.  It’s the only way that Tyler and I can beat her!”  Tyson laughed as he pulled on Tim’s hand.  “Come on!”

Genny laughed and swatted Tim’s butt as he groaned and reluctantly left the couch to play in the other room. “I want to see this,” she said as she followed them into the other room.

Tim tried to slide in between Lucy and the couch as he had a few days ago, but she pushed him to the side instead. “You won’t be able to play sitting like that!” she exclaimed. She handed him his controller and explained the buttons to him. Then she gave him a few tips and helped him pick a good character and vehicle. “Now remember, I like to win.  Don’t go dragging me down.”

“I thought that was the whole plan so that Tyson and Tyler could win,” he said with a smile.

“That’s their plan.  We’re going to prove them wrong,” she said wiggling her eyebrows at him.

The first race didn’t go well, but by the third and fourth races Tim and Lucy were pulling ahead of Tyler and Tyson. After Lucy and Tim’s characters won the tournament, Tyson and Tyler declared they were done with that game and left the room.  Genny followed after them.

Alone again, Tim leaned over to give Lucy a kiss. “We make a pretty good team.”

“Yeah, we do,” Lucy agreed as she kissed him back. She hummed for a moment and then said, “We should probably get going. It’s almost 2:00.”

“Why? Do you have somewhere you need to be?” he asked curiously.

“Yeah.  My bed.  I want to take a nap this afternoon. I’ve been staying out late every night this week, and we will definitely be out late tonight.”

“Hmmm… Do you want any company? You told me before that I was a great sleep partner.”

“Uhhh huhhh,” Lucy agreed. “And I look forward to doing that again in the future. But since we slept on the flight back together, things have changed a little bit, and I’m not sure you could keep your hands to yourself at this stage.”

“What?” he said incredulously.

“Just look at where your hand is now,” she said pointing to his hand. “When you first put that hand on me it was on my knee.  Now it’s magically moved up to my inner thigh. I see what you’re doing.”

“What am I doing?” he asked in a low voice, his head just a few inches from hers.

“It seems as though you’re trying to seduce me, sir,” she said playfully.

“That’s my own magic. Is it working yet?” he asked, moving his head closer and closer to hers.

“A weaker woman would be a puddle in your arms right now,” she admitted. “But I’m going to make you work a little bit harder for it.”

“Mmmm,” he moaned as he brought his lips to hers. “I do like a challenge.”

Lucy finally closed the tiny gap and kissed him. But she didn’t let it last long. “We should go.  We can’t get caught making out at your sister’s house again.”  She pushed off the floor to stand up and then offered Tim a hand.

His head fell in disappointment. “Fine,” he said as he stood up beside her. He took her hand, and they walked back into the kitchen.

“Thanks for inviting us to your Noon Year’s Party,” Lucy said to Genny, pulling her into a hug.  “It was a lot of fun.”

“Thanks for all of your help. It made it much easier,” Genny responded.  “And remember to send me a picture of yourself in that dress.”  Then she leaned into Lucy’s ear and whispered, “You’re going to knock his socks off.”

Lucy giggled and said, “Thanks.  I will.”

Tim also gave Genny a hug goodbye. “Thanks, Gen.  Happy New Year.”

“Happy New Year to you, too.”

Then Lucy called a goodbye to Tyson and Tyler.  Tyson came running down the stairs to give them goodbye hugs, while Tyler just called goodbye from his room. “Thanks for being my New Year’s kiss, Lucy,” Tyson said, kissing her cheek instead when he pulled back from the hug.

Lucy chuckled, “Thanks for choosing me.  That’s quite the honor.”

Tim rolled his eyes and grabbed Lucy’s hand as they left the house.

“Be safe out there,” Genny called after them with a knowing smile. 

They both turned and smiled at her. “Bye,” they said in chorus.

When they got to Lucy’s apartment, Tim walked her to her door hand-in-hand. Lucy turned, her keys in hand, and leaned against the door. “I should probably say goodbye out here. If I invite you inside, I’ll never want you to leave.”

“Is that really such a problem?” Tim said, leaning into her space.

Lucy could feel the warmth of Tim’s body hovering over her. She closed her eyes and breathed him in. “Tim,” she rasped. “We’ve only known each other a week.”

“But we’ve seen each other every day,” he countered. “We’re not exactly strangers anymore,” he whispered into her lips.   He shifted closer to her, leaving just the tiniest sliver of air between them.

“You’re very persuasive,” she said as she brought her hands up to his chest and then let them explore his torso. “Soon,” she promised giving him a peck on the lips. “But not yet,” she said chasing his lips for another kiss.

Tim’s hands, which had been on her shoulders, snaked their way down to her butt as he deepened the kiss. He squeezed tight and then lifted her up to him. She moaned in response to his touch and wrapped her arms around him, holding him close.

They stayed there lost in each other for quite a while until they heard the elevator doors open and one of Lucy’s neighbors walk toward them. Relaxing their hold on each other, they created a little space between them and greeted the neighbor as they walked past them.

Lucy, flushed with embarrassment, let her head sink into Tim’s shoulder. “We should probably say goodbye before I jeopardize any other relationships with my neighbors,” she whispered into his shirt.

Tim rubbed his hands up and down her sides and then squeezed her waist. “How many more could realistically come into the hallway in the next ten minutes?”

Lucy lifted her head to look at him and answer his question, but her words were swallowed up in another kiss before a single syllable was uttered. “Tim,” she breathed out when they parted for breath. “You should probably go.”

“I don’t want to leave you,” he said pecking her lips again and rubbing his hands up and down her back. He gazed into her eyes with nothing but love. “But,” he whispered, “I’ll leave if you ask me to.”

Lucy moaned as her body and her mind conflicted with each other.  Then she decided to show him how much she wanted him with one more kiss.  She jumped up into his arms, wrapping her legs and arms around him, and captured his lips in an overwhelmingly passionate kiss.

Tim was caught off guard for just a moment, then he placed one hand on her butt and the other in her hair, as he gave his best argument for letting him come inside. Their tongues twisted around each other as their bodies practically melted into each other. Their bodies were locked into this dance of passion until the need for oxygen overcame their need to continue.

Gasping for breath, Lucy gave Tim another peck on the lips. “I’ll see you in a few hours, babe.”

Tim groaned begrudgingly and lowered Lucy back to the ground. But he hadn’t missed the term of endearment she had used for the first time. It made his heart skip a beat. He bent his neck to let his forehead fall against hers. “That’s too long,” he grumbled, reluctant to accept their separation. Then standing up and taking a deep breath, he said, “What time should I pick you up?”

“I’m going to get a ride with Jackson and meet you there.  I don’t want him to come by himself.”

Tim wove his eyebrows together in confusion at first, but he understood that she didn’t want her friend to feel alone or awkward at the party. “Okay.  I’ll see you soon.”  He leaned in and kissed her cheek.

Lucy had used up all of her strength kissing Tim and managing to resist the urge to drag him to her bedroom.  So, when she opened the door, she practically puddled onto the floor. Holding onto the wall for support, she slipped off her shoes, jacket, and purse.  Then she sighed and slowly trudged to her room. She used the bathroom and then tucked herself into bed, setting an alarm for 6:00.  The last thing she did before closing her eyes was send a text to Jackson.

Lucy – Grabbing a nap before the party tonight.  Let’s plan to leave around 7:45. 

Chapter Text

Chapter 8

When her alarm went off, she slowly rolled over and pressed the button to turn it off. She smiled into a stretch, and then she swung her legs out of bed. First, she went to the kitchen to get something to eat so she wouldn’t be starving by the time the party started.  Then she spent the next hour getting herself ready – hair, makeup, dress, and jewelry. 

“Luce!” Jackson called at 7:30. “Are you about ready? Do you need help with a zipper or a necklace clasp or anything?”

“No, thanks.  I’m almost done,” she called back. She walked into the living room a few minutes later.

Jackson whistled when he saw her. “Wow!  You are smokin’! That’ll definitely leave an impression on everyone there from your new station.  Absolutely gorgeous!”

“Oh no! I hadn’t thought about that… Do you think I should change to something more conversative?” she said, suddenly unsure of her choice.

Jackson furrowed his brow and said, “Because you don’t want them to know that you’re a gorgeous, badass detective?”

“Well, the way you said it before… I don’t want to look like the floosy girlfriend who’s changing stations just to be close to her boyfriend.”

“This is a formal event, right? Not a work conference.  Not someone’s birthday party. Not a normal day at the station.”

“Right…”

“And that is a spectacular dress for you.  The color is perfect for your skin.  The sequins on it make it look like you emanate light. And that cut hugs your curves perfectly. I love everything about that dress for you.  And Tim won’t be able to keep his eyes off of you.” Jackson chuckled and said, “Or his hands based on what I saw this morning.”

Jackson’s appraisal of her dress made Lucy blush, and his comment about Tim’s hands made the blush deepen. “Thanks. Maybe I’ll just bring a shawl to wear, too.  That will tone it down a little bit if I start feeling self-conscious.” She went back into her room and returned a moment later with a shimmery black shawl. “I got this to go with a different dress I wore a few years ago.  It doesn’t help you warm up much, but I think it’ll work well with this dress.”

Jackson nodded his approval and stood up.

“And look at you!” Lucy exclaimed.  “You are looking fine in that tux.”

Jackson spun around to show it off. “No one would ever know we’re police officers. We look like we could blend in with all the celebrities over in Hollywood.”

Lucy finished moving over a few items from her regular purse into a small, black, sparkly clutch.  She blew out her breath and said, “I’m ready if you are.  I don’t know what the parking situation is like there, so maybe it’s better to leave now and have a bit of extra time.”

Jackson offered her his elbow.  Lucy wrapped her arm around it, and they strutted out of their apartment in style.

Only a few blocks from where the Freedom Fighters had attempted an attack a few days prior sat The Pavilion at Century Park. Angela and Patrice had selected that location for the floor to ceiling windows around three-quarters of the building as well as convenient, lit outdoor space which allowed for great firework viewing. It was a private space that promised to never be crowded with other parties.  There was just one large room with a kitchen and one small private room off to the side. 

Patrice had paid for the venue to be decorated earlier that day, and her favorite catering company was taking care of the food as well as the bar. She, Angela, and Wesley arrived early to make sure that everything was arranged to their liking. Jack was excited to be spending the night with his abuela, so Angela and Wesley were childfree for the whole night.

As the beginning of the event drew near, Tim Bradford was the first one to arrive at the party.  Much to Angela’s dismay, he arrived alone.

“Hey! You’re looking nice tonight,” she said as she glanced around him.  “I know that ‘if you’re not early, you’re late’ is your mantra, but in your rush to get here, did you forget something? Or rather someone?” she asked with a quizzical look on her face.

“I didn’t lose or forget anyone. Lucy is coming with Jackson.  She didn’t want him to feel like he was alone or being abandoned,” he explained.

“Oh yeah.  The best friend,” she said nodding her head. “Is he the ‘we used to date but now we’re best friends’ kind of best friend or the completely platonic, sibling-like best friend, like us?”

“The second one. I understand that Jackson only dates men.”

“Oh,” Angela said, nodding her head with the new information. “Just trying to feel out if he’s a threat to you or not.”

“Angela, Lucy and I are fine.  No one is threatening us,” he said and then paused. “But Jackson did give me a ‘big brother’ talk yesterday when we worked together on an op. You know the ‘what are your intentions’ kind of a talk.” He shook his head. “I know I’m not the easiest person to approach at work, so it took guts to come talk to me.”

Angela snorted in agreement, “Most people wouldn’t have even dared to try.  I like this guy already.”

“Oh, and I found out this morning that both you and I have worked with him briefly before.”

One eyebrow shot up in curiosity as she stared at Tim for more information. “We did? He’s with SWAT at North Hollywood, right? And patrol there before that? Why would I ever work with him?”

“Do you remember when you were shot in the arm a while ago when an interview went south and the husband got angry?”

She nodded, trying to figure out how that all fit in.

“Jackson was on patrol that day, and he was the closest one to your area, so dispatch called him in to assist.  He was the one that stopped the shooter.  He was also the one that took me to see you in the hospital.”

“What? That’s crazy,” she said, remembering back to that day.  “Is he a really fit black guy? That’s all that I remember before I passed out.”

“Yep.”

“Well, I guess I’ll have to thank him tonight.”  She paused for a moment and then called out, “Wes!”

“Yeah.  What’s up?” Wesley asked walking over to join them.  “Do we know any hot, gay men that are coming tonight? Or any at all that are single?” Then she turned to Tim, “You said he’s single, right?”

“As far as I know,” Tim said, shrugging his shoulders.

“Not that I can think of,” he said, looking to the ceiling as he thought. “But I can ask my mom.  She’s much more of a matchmaker than I am.”

“Yes.  Good idea.  That’ll give Patrice something to do.”

“I’m not sure if Jackson…” Tim started before Angela cut him off.

“He won’t be obligated to do anything about it, but the least I can do is explore the guest list. I mean, if he didn’t come when he did that day, I may be a lot worse off,” she said.

By that time, more guests were arriving. Tim didn’t recognize at least half of them. Some were friends of Patrice, some worked at the DA’s office with Wesley, and the rest of the guests were from the LAPD.  Angela and Wesley excused themselves to start greeting the other guests.

As they were exiting their car, Lucy shivered and pulled her shawl around her shoulders in the chill of the evening air.  Jackson pulled her toward him and rubbed her back.

“Society’s double standard in formal attire between men and women is just crazy sometimes, isn’t it? To dress formally, men cover everything from their mid-neck to their toes and down to their wrists. While the same people expect women to flaunt around in as little as possible, the less the better.  But don’t wear too little or you’ll be labeled a harlot or ‘asking for trouble.’” He shook his head. “I mean, you look amazing, don’t get me wrong. But you would look amazing in anything.  And now you’re freezing.”

Lucy smiled, hummed, and tilted her head against Jackson’s. “I love you, Jackson.  Thank you for coming with me tonight and keeping me warm even when society demands that I be cold.”

“I have a feeling that duty won’t be mine for long,” he chuckled. “But I’m happy to be here with you.”

“Is it weird that I’m nervous right now?” Lucy asked, moving her head to look Jackson in the eye.

“No.  There are going to be a lot of people there tonight that you’ll be working with at Mid-Wilshire. Making a good impression is important, so it makes sense to be a bit nervous,” he said, rubbing her back again. “Plus, you and Tim haven’t really made your relationship public yet, so this is another big step that way.”

Lucy wove her eyebrows together. “Was that supposed to make me feel less nervous?” she said in a small voice.

Jackson chuckled. “I didn’t finish yet. You are an amazing woman.  You’re smart, funny, and beautiful.  Everyone who meets you loves you.  And you’re a great cop.  You have nothing to worry about.”

“There’s the best friend pep talk I needed,” she said as she squeezed his arm.

As they walked up the steps into the pavilion, Lucy saw Angela right away.  She was dressed in a form-fitting, strapless leopard skin dress that extended to her knees, but had a slit up halfway up her left thigh.  She wore several gold chains of varying lengths and large gold hoop earrings that sparkled in the lights and made her look radiant.

“Lucy!” she greeted as soon as she saw her. “You look fantastic!” Angela pulled her into a hug and then looked at Jackson. “And you must be, Jackson West.  I’m glad you could come.”

“Thank you for the invitation.  This place looks amazing,” he said, letting his eyes wander around the venue.

“My mother-in-law enjoys throwing big, lavish parties,” she said looking around her. “Thankfully she lets us invite our friends to them, too.”  She paused for a moment and said, “Tim told me earlier that you were the cop that came to my rescue a few months ago when I was shot during an interview. Thank you for that. I never really got to thank you that day.”

Jackson smiled and said, “I’m sure any cop would have done the same thing. But I’m glad I got there when I did.”

Tim meandered around for a while, checked out the food that had been set out, and ordered himself a beer. He found a few people from Mid-Wilshire that he talked with for a few minutes, but the one person he wanted to talk to wasn’t there yet. He checked his watch and his phone nervously as he anxiously awaited Lucy’s arrival.

Finally, his ears picked up on a laugh that he recognized immediately.  He searched the crowd of people entering the room, but he still didn’t see her. Then he heard Angela’s laugh.  He suspected the two were connected, and he was able to find them in the crowd. As he walked closer to Angela, he confirmed that she was talking to the beautiful brunette he had been looking for.  Lucy saw Tim at the same moment and winked at him. Angela noticed the exchange and moved out of the way so that Lucy could easily get to Tim.

Tim started walking at a brisk pace, but when Lucy came into full view, he was frozen where he stood. Her hair was curled and pulled over to one side so that it cascaded over her right shoulder.  He noticed she was wearing the red lipstick again; the one that he had accidentally worn on his trip to the grocery store. Her dress was a dark green color, similar in shade to her dress from Friday night.  Although Tim wouldn’t have been able to name the style of the dress, it was a mermaid style that hugged her curves to her mid-thigh and then flowed gracefully to the floor after that. The top and middle sections were covered densely in sequins, but they were sparser in the flowing, lower part of the skirt. The neckline was a deep, wide vee that extended down the full length of her sternum.  There was a slit in the skirt on the left side that came up to her mid-thigh. She had a black shawl wrapped loosely around her arms that also seemed to have a sparkle to it. The lights caught all the sequins as she walked, giving an illusion that she was glowing. Tim’s eyes moved slowly up and down her frame, but he seemed unable to talk or move otherwise.

When Lucy saw that she had broken his brain once again, she smiled slyly and congratulated herself on a job well done. Tim was dressed in a standard black tux with a black bowtie and white shirt. She silently thanked his tailor for doing such a fabulous job of allowing his muscular torso to be clearly evident even through all those layers of fabric. She gave Tim her most brilliant smile as she drew close to him.

“Hi there, Sarge,” she said when she stopped in front of him. “Funny meeting you here.”

Tim had already seen Lucy dressed up twice for their fancy dates, but each time he saw her he was more in awe of her. “Lucy… yeah… hi,” was all his brain managed to scramble together. He shook his head for a second, frustrated with himself, and tried again. “You are absolutely breathtaking tonight. How is it that every time I see you, you look more beautiful?” he asked genuinely.

Lucy blushed under his intense gaze and praise. “Well,” she started with a grin and a chuckle, “The first time you saw me I was in travel clothes in an airport. So, I suppose there was a lot of room for improvement after that.”

He smiled and shook his head. “No, you were beautiful then, too.  And I’m not sure it’s the clothes that make the difference. I… I suppose it’s just more of that Lucy magic.”

“Hmmm…” Lucy hummed and twisted her lips a little bit, unsure of what to say next. “Well, you look very handsome in your tux tonight. Although I will admit, I like the tieless button-up shirt look for you, too.”

At that Tim laughed again and then leaned close to Lucy to whisper in her ear. “Unfortunately for both of us, if I take off this tie and let the collar hang open, I expose a somewhat embarrassing mark that a certain beautiful woman left on me last night. So, like it or not, I’m stuck with the tie for the evening.”

Lucy squeezed her eyes closed and giggled as her hand came up to caress Tim’s cheek. “Sorry, not sorry, babe,” she whispered as she kissed his other cheek.

Tim’s heart skipped a beat again with her use of the term ‘babe.’  He growled softly back in her ear, “Just remember that turnabout is fair play.  This dress of yours is giving me plenty of inspiration for places I could leave a mark or two.” Then he leaned back and let his eyes explore her body again.

Lucy flushed under his inspection and slapped his chest. “Stoooop,” she groaned. “There are a lot of people here.  People that you work with, and I may work with someday.  We have to be on our best behavior.”

Tim wrapped his arm around her shoulders this time, pulling her close to his side. “Hmmm… As long as I can keep you with me all night, I can probably behave.” He paused and kissed her temple.  “Perhaps we can find a more private spot to escape to later. Four hours of looking at you while you’re dressed like that without touching you much may be a challenge.” He took a breath and said, “Come on.  I’d like to introduce you to a few of my friends.”

“Yeah. That’d be great. I left Jackson talking with Angela.  I want to make sure he can meet everyone, too.”

Tim pulled her closer and kissed her temple again. Lucy hummed into the kiss and wrapped her arm around his waist as they walked back to where Angela and Jackson were still talking. When they were a few feet away, they could hear Angela and Jackson’s laughter mixing.

“Hey,” Tim said as they walked up to them. “It looks like you two are getting along well.”

“Hey. There you are,” Angela said. “I thought you’d be stuck standing in place and staring at Lucy all night,” she teased.

Tim scrunched up his face and nodded at Angela. “You think you’re so funny.”

“You think you’re so subtle,” she countered.

Lucy sighed and butted into their argument, “So, I see you and Jackson found a few things to talk about.”

Angela glared at Tim once more for good measure and then looked at Lucy. “Yeah. We were just sharing stories of the most awkward calls we got when we were on patrol.”

“Ah.  I’m sure we’ve all had some memorable ones,” Lucy replied.

The four of them continued to share their stories for while until Nyla, James, and Wesley walked up to them.  James and Wesley were deep in conversation about the justice system, and Nyla was looking for someone else to talk to while those two only talked to each other.

“Lucy!” Nyla said as she patted her arm.  “I’m so glad you could come.”  Then she pulled hard on James’ arm to get his attention. “This is my husband, James. He runs a community center.  He and Wesley love to talk about how to fix the world and can get a little caught up in conversation at times,” she said pointedly.

James pulled his arm free and gave Nyla a look. Then he turned to Lucy. “Hi.  Nice to meet you. I’m James Murray.  And you are?” he asked looking at how attached she was to Tim.

“I’m Lucy Chen.  I’m a detective at North Hollywood,” she explained.

“And she’s my girlfriend,” Tim added with a bit of pride as he gave her shoulders an extra squeeze.  

Nyla, James, Angela, and Wesley all raised their eyebrows and nodded their heads in unison at Tim’s declaration. “Well, nice to meet you, Lucy.”

“This is my best friend, Jackson West.  We trained at North Hollywood together.  He’s with SWAT now,” Lucy said, pulling Jackson into the conversation.

“Nice to meet you, Jackson.  I’m Nyla Harper.  I’m a detective at Mid-Wilshire.  Lucy and I worked a UC op together once.”

“Nice to meet you,” Jackson replied.

“Did I hear you talking about reforming the justice system?” Lucy asked. “Have you started tackling the treatment of those with mental illnesses? I mean, first, it shouldn’t be the police that handle those things alone.  They should have therapists and trained psychologists that work with them to help them get the help they need. We shouldn’t just incarcerate them because they never got the help they deserve.”

James and Wesley looked at each other for a moment, and then then three of them dove into another conversation about scarcity of resources for metal health in underserved communities and strategies for how to address them.

“And I thought she was one of us,” Angela whispered to Tim as Lucy moved to the other side of Tim, switching to holding his other hand instead, to engage more fully in conversation with James and Wesley.

Tim chuckled softly and whispered back. “She is. Don’t worry. But she has a big heart and lots of ideas for how to make the world better. When we first met, she told me that she wanted world peace for Christmas.”

Angela and Tim laughed together for a moment and then their conversation turned to how ridiculous and unrealistic world peace was. Nyla and Jackson agreed wholeheartedly, and the four of them continued their conversation separately.

A while later Aaron Thorsen walked up to the groups.  He had arrived late since he was stopping by multiple New Year’s parties that night. “Hey, hey!” he called as he walked up to the group.  He had seen that Tim was there and holding someone’s hand, but he couldn't see any more of her because of the crowd around her, and he really wanted to meet her.

“Thorsen,” several of them said as he approached.

“This party is really great,” he said to Angela.  “I’m impressed.”

“Thanks, I guess,” she said with an odd look at his underhanded compliment. “I’m sure it’s not as fancy as the New Year’s party your parents are throwing, but it’s…”

She was cut off by Lucy, whose jaw had dropped the moment that Aaron joined them. “You’re Aaron Thorsen! I followed your whole trial and appeals.  The detectives in France completely botched your whole case. I even learned French to be able to follow along with all of the proceedings.  And then you were finally exonerated! And your friend was the one that killed Patrick!” Lucy was totally awestruck. “I heard you were with the LAPD, but I never thought I’d meet you.  Are you at Mid-Wilshire?”

Aaron was totally overwhelmed with the knowledge that Lucy had of him and his case. “Um. Yeah.”

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to come on so strong. I’m Lucy Chen.  I’m a detective at North Hollywood,” she said with a blush. 

“And my girlfriend,” Tim injected again.

Lucy looked over at Tim with heart-eyes again at his words. “Yes, right.  That’s why I’m here tonight.”  Then she remembered Jackson and introduced him to Aaron as well.

A moment later, John Nolan and his fiancée, Bailey, joined them. After introductions were made, Jackson said, “I’ve heard about you. You’re the oldest rookie in LAPD history. That’s pretty impressive. Not many people would want to start this kind of work in their 40s.”

“He was born before disco died,” came a bass voice. “But somehow he made it through a rookie year with Tim Bradford and didn’t wash out.”

“Oh, I tried to wash him out,” Tim reassured the man. “But he earned his place, and now the department is better for it.” Then he turned to Lucy. “Lucy Chen, this is the watch commander at Mid-Wilshire, Sergeant Wade Grey, and his lovely wife, Luna.”

“Ahhh,” Grey said. “Lucy Chen… You’re the detective that Caradine has been trying to recruit.  He’s talked to me about you at our sergeant’s meetings. He even tried to commandeer part of my budget to sweeten the deal for you.  But I didn’t know Caradine was using other tactics to get you,” he said pointing to Tim and Lucy’s joined hands.

Lucy blushed and was tempted to hide her face, but Tim spoke up first. “Caradine didn’t have anything to do with Lucy and me meeting. That was just an act of God with a little bit of Lucy’s magic.”

Grey raised one eyebrow at Tim.  Luna was also intrigued.  She had also known Tim for over a decade and was pleasantly surprised to see such a beautiful woman attached to his hand. “Oh, you can’t just say it was an ‘act of God’ and not tell us any more!” Luna insisted. “How did you two meet?”

Tim and Lucy looked at each other. Tim pulled Lucy closer and put his arm around her again as she wrapped her arm around his waist.  Lucy nodded at Tim to start the story.  For the next few minutes Tim and Lucy took turns telling it. The whole crowd eagerly lapped up each drop of their story. When they concluded, everyone nodded a bit wide eyed at the amazing circumstances that brought them together and everything that had happened since then.

“Does Caradine know about this?” Grey asked.

“No, sir,” Lucy answered.  “He knows that Tim and I worked together on the Freedom Fighter operation earlier this week, but he doesn’t know we’re dating.”  Then she paused at looked at Tim, “I guess we should probably file paperwork with HR now and make things official, huh?”

Tim smiled back at her. “Sure, but I don’t know that it really matters much unless you actually decide to move to Mid-Wilshire.”

Lucy twisted her lips into a bow and made eye contact with Jackson, Nyla, and Angela, all of whom knew that she had already made her decision. “Right.  Yeah.  We can cross that bridge when we come to it.”

“Well, it looks like Tim has done his part in convincing you that Mid-Wilshire is the best station in the LAPD. We get way more interesting cases that they do up in Malibu and probably even in North Hollywood.”

“He is quite persuasive, sir,” Lucy said with her lips in a little puckered smile as she looked up at Tim.

He smiled back at her and then brought her closer to kiss her forehead. “It would be great to have her closer, but it’s her career and her decision to make.”

Lucy tried to change the topic, “Oh.  Sorry.  Sergeant Grey, this is my best friend, Jackson West.  He…”

“He didn’t listen to what his father wanted him to do and joined up with SWAT instead of IA,” Grey finished for her.  When he saw the confused looks on their faces, he explained, “Percy West is an old buddy of mine.  I hoped that you would come to Mid-Wilshire when you finished at the Academy, but we didn’t have any room for new rookies at that time.”

Jackson’s eyes bugged out that Sergeant Grey knew so much about him. “Perhaps there will be an opportunity to work with you in the future, sir.  I know my father has spoken highly of your leadership.”

Grey beamed at the compliment and was about to say something, when suddenly there was a loud noise from one side of the room. Everyone turned their attention toward it.

“Welcome, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Smitty, and I’m going to be your DJ for a while.”

Angela had fire in her eyes when she looked over at her husband.  Wesley put up and hands and quickly said, “I had nothing to do with this.” Then Angela grabbed Wes by the arm, and they marched over to where Smitty was starting to play some music that was much louder and more upbeat than what had been playing before.

Lucy and Jackson looked at the reactions of the other members of their group. Some were laughing, others were rolling their eyes, and Grey just put his hand over his eyes.

“I assume you all know him?” Lucy asked.

“Yeah,” Nyla answered. “I feel like every station has someone like him – a little crazy, a bit lazy, and not the greatest cop. But he doesn’t hurt anyone, and the union protects him from being fired.”

Jackson and Lucy looked at each other. “We have one of those, too.  He goes by the name Badger,” Lucy said.

“He had to go through extra weapons training because he accidentally fired his weapon during roll call on his first day as a rookie.  But he had a caring TO who helped him make it through his rookie year,” Jackson said shaking his head.

The loud music abruptly stopped, and they all turned their attention back to where Smitty was.  He walked away from the controls with his hands in the air. “Just trying to liven things up around here,” he said as he walked away from Angela.

Angela took over the microphone. “Sorry about that everyone. Please resume your conversations.  We will be clearing some room for dancing in about 15 minutes, if you’re interested. An hour after that, we will open up the area to my right for anyone that wants to indulge in some karaoke.”

More calm music resumed, and Angela walked back to the group. “There are some distinct disadvantages to having an open guest list,” she said as she tried to shake off her frustration.  “I need some tequila.  The rest of you should make sure to try all of the food and drinks we have here.  I insisted that we have some tamales, which is my family tradition for New Year’s, as well as some tres leche cake.   I tried both earlier, and Patrice’s caterers did a decent job.”  With that Angela and Wes walked over to get some food.

At her suggestion, the rest of the group moved over to enjoy some of the large bounty of food laid out across three long tables.

“This is enough food to feed the people at my community center for two weeks!” James said as they approached the table.

Wes patted his arm. “I know what it looks like. My mom loves to have plenty, but anything that’s left over goes to a homeless shelter that she likes to donate to.  So, it’s not as much of a waste as it looks like.”

James looked back at Wesley and nodded his head at him. “Thanks.  That makes me feel less guilty.”

Several minutes later, as they were standing in clusters around some bar height tables eating their food, an older woman approached the group. “I hope everyone is enjoying themselves this evening,” she said.

Wesley smiled at her, “Everything is perfect, mom.  You throw amazing parties.”

She nodded and continued to walk around the room to chat with different people.

After the staff cleared some sofas and chairs from an area to the right of the DJ’s station, some couples started to move over to utilize the dance floor. Lucy and Tim were finishing up their plates of food, and Lucy leaned over to whisper in Tim’s ear, “Shall we dance?”

Tim smiled at her and responded, “Sure, but I do think that I’m the one what supposed to be asking, right?”

Lucy giggled into his ear and kissed his cheek. “I guess next time you’ll have to try harder to beat me to it, then.”  She stepped away from him for a moment to set her plate in a designated discard table.  Then she took off her shawl and set it on the back of a chair near them. 

As she turned around to walk back to Tim, she flung her hair back over her shoulder. Tim was watching her every move, and when she swung her hair, he suddenly saw that her gorgeous green dress was entirely backless.  His face froze as he stared at her naked back for a moment before she turned around. It was still frozen when she walked back to him.

“Everything okay?” she asked him curiously.

Tim shook his head and forced himself to meet her eyes. “Uh. Yeah. Yeah.  Let’s go dance,” he said as he offered her his hand and led her to the dance floor.

Lucy rested her right hand in his left hand and put her left hand on his shoulder, just like they had danced on his patio the night before. Tim moved slower than she expected to put his hand on her back. When his hand finally made contact with her skin, Tim moaned.  He leaned his head toward hers and whispered, “I really love this dress.” Then his hand roamed all over Lucy’s back, feeling bump of her spine and shoulder blades, gently touching every hill and valley as they slowly danced around the floor.

Lucy was amused at the effect her naked back was having on him. “You have touched my back before,” she said, looking at him with a little smile. “It’s so cute that you seem to be enjoying touching it so much tonight.”

“First, I’m not cute,” he said giving her a stern look for a moment. She giggled at his response, but he kept going before she could say anything. “Second,” he said, softening his features and giving her a dazzling smile, “You are the sexiest woman in this room, and I am just beginning to understand how lucky I am.”

“Mmmm,” Lucy said, looking back up at Tim with heart-eyes. “You may not like the word ‘cute,’ but you are easily the most handsome man I’ve ever met.  And I am also just beginning to understand how lucky I am.”

Tim splayed his fingers wide across Lucy’s back and pulled her to him as he bent his head down to capture her lips in a kiss. Lucy smiled into the kiss and raked her fingers along the back of his head. They both quickly forgot they were surrounded by other people.

They danced and kissed and kissed and danced for several songs. Tim spun Lucy around once or twice a song since he loved the giddy look on her face when he did it.

After one of the spins, there was someone next to him that caught Lucy’s free hand before she had a chance to rest it on his shoulder. Tim furrowed his brow as he looked to his right to see who would make such an audacious move. Before he could see the person’s face, he felt someone shove his shoulder where Lucy’s hand was supposed to be and say forcefully, “Get your hands off of my girlfriend!”

That made Tim’s head spin to his right to face his accuser.  But before he could say anything, he heard Lucy’s voice say just as forcefully, “I’m not your girlfriend anymore. I never even used that term. And we’ve been split up for months!” She pulled her hand away from the man and took a couple steps back to stand by Tim.

“But Lucy…” he started with a bit of a whine.

Tim interrupted, putting his arm up to block him from getting to Lucy, “Listen, I don’t know who you are, but you better keep your hands off of my girlfriend and leave her alone.”

“Oh, you’re his girlfriend, huh? You never used that word with me, but you meet this guy who looks like he belongs on the cover of GQ, and now you’re his girlfriend?  Ridiculous!” he spat with fire in his eyes.

“Chris, don’t make more of a scene than you already have. We’re done. It’s time you move on,” Lucy said with a firm, steady voice.

“Move on, huh? I love you, Lucy.  We were good together. We never fought,” he insisted, failing to see the futility of his argument.

“Please,” Lucy said a little louder. “Leave me alone. It’s over. I never loved you.”

Chris looked visibly injured for a moment, but then he screwed up his face and said a little louder, “Fine. Just crush my heart again, you bitch.” Then he looked at Tim, pointed a finger at him, and said, “She’ll never love you either.  She’ll go along with everything you suggest, acting all nice, getting ready to move in together until one day – BAM!” he said clapping his hands loudly, “Suddenly she’s gone!  Probably one of those stupid UC tricks she does. She’s just a lying bitch!” He shook his head at her and narrowed his eyes. “I wish I never met you.”

By this time, Tim’s face had hardened into gruff Sergeant Bradford mode.  His jaw was firmly set, and his mouth was a straight line. The only thing that moved on his face was a vein that pulsated with anger on his right temple and an occasional flare of his nostrils.  His chest was heaving as he tried to control his anger. His hands were balled into fists. When he spoke, his voice left no doubt at all. “I’m only giving you one warning. Get away from Lucy.  Leave this party.  You are not welcome here. You do not want to find out what will happen if you do not listen to me.”

Lucy put a calming hand on Tim’s arm and pushed it down, moving slowly but intentionally to stand in front of him.  She looked up at him and smiled, then she addressed Chris. “I need you to leave now.  You are not a part of my life anymore, and you may not treat me like this. Please go before you cause more of a scene.”  She spoke calmly, but there was a little quiver to her voice.

The yelling had drawn the attention of most of the party to the point that all conversations ceased, and the music was even turned off. Wesley was on the other side of the room talking to another district attorney, Sean Del Monte, when he noticed what was happening.  He and Sean recognized that their co-worker was at the center of the commotion, and they walked briskly to intervene.

Chris had his hand up with his index finger pointed ready to argue further with Tim when Sean and Wesley grabbed one arm each to escort him to the exit. As he was leaving, he decided to shout a few more slurs. “You look like such a slut! You never care about anyone!  What a self-centered bitch!”

After Chris was out of sight, Tim turned to Lucy and pulled her into a hug. She allowed it for a second, but then she pushed back from him. Her face was red, there were tears in her eyes, and she was shaking. She tried to stretch her lips into a smile to put on a good face for Tim, but her voice wavered as she said, “I just need a minute.  Excuse me.”  She folded her arms in front of herself, looked to the ground, and beelined for the bathrooms.

Tim started to follow her, but Angela stopped him with a hand to his chest. “Just give her a minute. That was a lot.”

Tim left the dance floor and found a sofa near the bathrooms to sit and calm himself down.

Lucy managed to keep it together until she crossed into the bathroom.  Then the tears started to flow as she locked herself into a stall.

Ten minutes later, Angela and Nyla entered the bathroom. “Lucy?” Angela called. “I brought you a bottle of water. Do you want to talk?”

“Not really,” Lucy admitted. But she opened the stall door and came out.  She splashed some water on her face and groaned at the streaks of makeup and red blotches she saw in the mirror. Then she downed the bottle of water from Angela.

“Exes are the worst,” Nyla said. “I’m sorry that happened to you ever, but especially sorry it happened tonight. What a way to end 2023.”

“I feel a little guilty that he was here,” Angela said. “Wes just invited all the DAs to the party.  We didn’t think it would turn out like this.”

“It’s going to be okay.  I just…” Lucy said, trying to come up with the right words. “As much as I know he was just saying those things to hurt me, there isn’t an erase function in my mind. And I just keep…” She paused and took a deep breath.  Then she looked at herself in the mirror to speak directly to herself. “I am not self-centered. I am not a slut. I am not a liar. I do care about the people in my life.”

Angela put her hand on Lucy’s shoulder and said, “We all know that. Tim knows that. Chris was just jealous. He must have seen the way that you look at Tim and the way that Tim looks at you.”

Lucy turned her head to look at Angela. “Yeah?”

“Honey, I have known Tim Bradford for over a decade, and I have never seen him look at anyone that way he looks at you.”

“I haven’t known Tim for nearly as long, but he is a strict rule follower.  I wouldn’t have imagined him ever acting the way he was tonight.  I saw him dancing and making out with you on the dance floor surrounded by his co-workers. Plus, I think I heard him call you his girlfriend at least five times in the last hour or so. Tim Bradford is totally smitten. And nothing that an ex says is going to change that.”

Lucy smiled as she felt blood rush up into her cheeks again. “I… Thanks.” She took another deep breath. “I… uh… I feel the same way.” Then she turned, looked in the mirror, and whined, “But I can’t go back out there like this.” Then her affect went flat and her mouth pulled into a pathetic looking frown. “I look like a meth addict offering five-dollar blow jobs under a bridge,” she deadpanned.

Angela and Nyla both paused for a moment in surprise and looked at each other, unsure what to say, and then they both erupted into laughter. Their laughter was contagious, and soon all three of them were doubled over laughing together.

As the laughter started to subside, Nyla lifted a bag she had in her hand to show Lucy.  “We’ve got you covered.” Nyla made quick work of getting out the supplies she had in the bag while Angela got a few paper towels cold and wet. Angela gently blotted Lucy’s face, wiping away the errant makeup and cooling her off to reduce the redness. Nyla found some eyeshadow that matched what Lucy had put on earlier and started applying it.  While Nyla finished touching up Lucy’s makeup, Angela calmed some of Lucy’s curls and rearranged them on her shoulder.

Pleased with the outcome, Angela and Nyla stood back to let Lucy look at herself in the mirror again.

“Not even a trace of the meth addict left,” Lucy said with a smile as she turned to look at her new friends. “Thank you.  Really.”

“Women need to support women,” Angela said.

“And strong, badass detectives definitely need to stick together. We’ve got your back now.  And we will at work, too, come Tuesday.  But it seems like that is still a secret?”

“Yeah.  I mean, it won’t be a secret for long.  That’s just two days away, but I wanted to surprise Tim.”

 “Well, we should get back out there. You’ve got two very worried men pacing and worried about you,” Angela said.

“Two?” she said, thinking for a moment. “Jackson! How could I forget about Jackson?!” Lucy took one last deep breath and started walking toward the door.

When they heard the bathroom door open, both Tim and Jackson turned abruptly to see if it was Lucy.  Jackson ran to her first and pulled her into a hug. “Girl, you know I can’t follow you into a women’s bathroom. How was I supposed to help you from out here?”

Lucy smiled back at Jackson. “Sorry.  I’m okay now though.  I just want to put it all behind me.”  She pulled back from the hug and said, “I know you’re always looking out for me.  Thank you.”

Then she looked over at Tim and smiled.  She could tell that he wanted to comfort her, but he wasn’t sure how to do it. He was fidgeting with his hands and standing awkwardly at the end of the hallway.   Lucy started moving first, but Tim started walking to her just a beat afterwards. Tim stopped when he was a few feet away from Lucy, but Lucy didn’t stop until her head was resting over his heart and her arms were encircling him, holding him tight. Tim responded immediately, his arms enfolding Lucy in a tight embrace and his head dipping down to rest on hers.  He kissed the top of her head as he waited for her to speak.

“I… uh… I’m sorry about all that. My ex…” Lucy started.

“Is a complete jerk and a damn fool,” Tim finished. “You have nothing to apologize for, Lucy. Nothing.”

Lucy’s breath caught at the sincerity and affection in his voice, but she didn’t want to cry again, so she took a couple more deep breaths. “Thanks,” she muttered into his chest.

“Do you want to go home?” he asked, pulling away just enough to see her face.

“No,” she said shaking his head. “I’m not going to let him ruin this night for me.”  She smiled wider and said, “I think you still owe me a few more dances, unless the dancing is over.”

Angela spoke from behind her and said, “I’ll make sure there are at least a few more for you two.”  Then she walked past them to go talk to the DJ.

“Jackson?” Lucy said. “Would you walk out right in front of me so that everyone doesn’t look at me?”

“I will gladly draw all the attention away from you.  Wesley’s mom had just introduced me to someone before Chris exploded, and I want to keep that conversation going.” Jackson winked at Lucy and then did a nice spin move.

Lucy looked up at Tim and said, “Thank you for understanding and being so patient. Chris just… He was never very good at reading a room or taking no for an answer. That’s what led to…” she stopped herself and shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. It’s all over now,” she said looking back at Tim. “And it’s time we move on.”  He nodded in agreement.

Jackson started drawing attention as he danced back out into the main room, singing along to the music.  Tim and Lucy slipped behind him and quietly went to the dance floor.   This time, Lucy didn’t want any distance between them.  She brought both hands up to Tim’s neck and laid her head back over his heart. Tim was happy to oblige as he spread both of his hands across Lucy’s bare back, and they swayed to the music.

By the time they were done dancing, the light in Lucy’s eyes was back, and she wore a genuine smile. The DJ announced they were going to rearrange some furniture for some karaoke, so Tim and Lucy moved away from the dance floor to connect with some of their friends.

“So,” Lucy started, “You already know I love to sing. Do you want to come sing a karaoke song with me?”

Tim smirked. “As much as I’m willing to follow you around and spend as much time with you as possible, you really don’t want to hear me sing. But I’ll be in the front row to watch you.”

“Ha,” she laughed and rubbed her hand up and down his torso. “I found a chink in your armor of perfection. You really don’t sing?”

“Not like you do,” he said shaking his head.  “I like music, I dance some, and I play the guitar a little bit, but singing is not my forte.”

“That’s a shame.  There are so many good love song duos I could sing with you.  But there are still thousands of love songs I can sing solo for you,” she said as she kissed him on the cheek. “But first, I have to find Jackson.  We always sign up to sing together.”  Her eyes panned across the room until she found Jackson deep in conversation with a man she didn’t recognize.  She made a mental note to ask him about the man later. Instead of interrupting him, she shot him a text message about karaoke that he could read when he had time.

They fell into easy conversation with Nyla, Angela, James, and Wesley. 

Several minutes later, Lucy heard a buzz from her phone and looked to see if Jackson had gotten back to her.

Jackson – Yes to karaoke. Tell you more about him later.

Jackson – I’ll let you choose the song.

Lucy scanned the room to find Jackson. He was still talking with the same man. Hmm, nothing romantic.  We don’t want to give anyone the wrong impression, she thought.  Maybe a break up song given everything with Chris tonight?

Lucy – Okay.  Telephone by Lady Gaga.  And then maybe Since You’ve Been Gone by Kelly Clarkson?

Jackson – Perfect.

Lucy excused herself from their group to go sign up for a few songs. No one else had signed up yet, so Lucy and Jackson were called up first.

She looked across the room for Jackson who nodded his head and then started trotting over to join her.  They belted out the song for all to hear. The whole Mid-Wilshire group turned to watch them and applauded loudly. When Lucy returned to Tim’s side, he greeted her with a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. 

Then Lucy urged the other people there to consider going up. Wade Grey surprised everyone with his rapping skills. Thorsen belted out some R&B and one of his dad’s songs, Flex and Flow that he convinced Jackson to perform with him.  Nyla chose an old Aretha classic, Respect. Lucy went back up for a solo singing Taylor Swift’s New Year’s Day, which seemed 100% appropriate for her relationship with Tim and the party they were at. Angela did a little salsa dancing with her rendition of Bésame mucho.

Luna called out, “I need some backup singers, ladies!  Who’s with me?”

Nyla, Bailey, and Angela hurried up toward Luna.  Then, they called to Lucy, “Come on! Come sing with us!”  Lucy’s smile nearly split her face as she squeezed Tim’s hand once and then ran up to join her new friends.  Nyla showed everyone some moves to use so that they would be coordinated. The five of them sang and danced to Janet Jackson’s Escapade in a spectacular fashion, and then returned to join their group laughing hysterically.

The Mid-Wilshire group dominated the stage for a long time, only occasionally interrupted by an outsider. Everyone’s focus was on the stage, which is what everyone blamed later for the events that unfolded next.

In the middle of Lucy and Jackson belting out Since You’ve Been Gone, all the lights went out.  All conversations stopped for a moment and were replaced with sounds of confusion.  A few people turned on the flashlights on their phone to try to find light switches on the wall.  However, about a minute after the lights went out, they all came back on.  People blinked several times to adjust to the change in light, but as everyone looked around the room there was a unified, audible gasp. 

At the front of the room near the karaoke station were four men dressed all in black, including black ski masks, with automatic rifles.

There were two more men at the entrances dressed the same way, and there was one stationed outside of each long set of windows. That made the total count eight armed men.

Some people started to panic and make for the exits only to be stopped by the assailants stationed there. One of the men in front stepped forward and spoke into the microphone to get everyone’s attention.  “Ladies and gentlemen, Happy New Year,” he said with excellent pronunciation but a distinct Eastern European accent.  “We apologize for disturbing your festivities this evening, but we have some pressing business to take care of. Our business, however, only involves some of the members of this party.  Those that are not involved are welcome to leave.  If, by chance, anyone contacts the police, we will start killing hostages.  One for each notification.  We have people listening to the police radios, so, please, don’t bother.  We will also shoot to kill anyone that tries to leave who should be staying. We would like to leave here without any violence.  We just need out demands met.”

He took a deep breath and resumed speaking. “We only need members of the LAPD and the DA’s office to stay.  We will be making our way through the room to decide who must stay and who may go.  If you are part of either of those groups, you may line up by the exits or wait for my men to come to you.  Please have your IDs handy. Detective Lopez and Mr. Wesley Evers, please come to the front of the room.  You are our guests of honor and the key to everyone’s freedom.”  He set the microphone down and pointed to two chairs near him.

Lucy and Jackson stayed where they were on the karaoke podium close to the speaker so they could hear what was going on. Lucy double-checked that their microphones were off and then whispered to Jackson the words ‘UC drunk.’  Jackson nodded in acknowledgement. 

Angela and Wesley moved slowly to the front of the room and sat where the masked man pointed.

“Thank you for joining me,” the very polite criminal said. “I’m sure you’re wondering what is going on.”  He pulled out a phone and pressed a few buttons.  “Before you or anyone else decides to be a hero, please take a look at this.” 

On the phone they saw a video with a split screen. One side showed their son Jack sleeping in his crib.  The other side of the screen showed Angela’s mother, Emilia Lopez, duct taped to a chair with two similarly dressed armed men next to her. She looked scared, but unharmed.

“If anyone contacts the police or the FBI or any other agency, my men here will decide which one will die first.”

Wesley grew pale immediately as his hands gripped the edges of his chair.  Angela grew angry, her face beet red, as she stared down the man in charge.

“You don’t honestly think you’re going to get away with this, do you?” Angela sneered. “You’re in a room full of cops and attorneys.  This is a really stupid move.”

“Ah.  Thank you for your input. If my demands are met, I assure you that my men and I will leave here quickly without any violence, never to bother you again.”

“Why us?” Wesley managed to ask.

“Excellent question, counselor.  You see, about a year ago our friend, Josip Richard Mirkovic, was arrested by Detective Lopez, tried by you, Mr. Evers, and subsequently incarcerated. His last appeal is next week, and we are here to make sure that he is released.”

Angela scrunched her face in confusion and asked, “Are you talking about Tricky Dick? The money launderer?”

The man laughed. “Ah, yes, some people know him by that name. But our family in Serbia calls him by his first name, Josip.  We would like to take him back home.”

“So,” Wesley said, “What exactly are you asking us to do?”

The man snapped his fingers, and a man next to him opened up a briefcase. The man in charge retrieved a laptop and handed it to Wesley. “All you need to do, sir, is to make sure that his appeal is heard by Judge Wheaton and that he is released next week.  There are two new witnesses that we have found that can testify that Josif, or Tricky Dick as you call him, was not involved.”

“New witnesses?” Wesley asked. “There was video evidence of him laundering the money.  The equipment for making the fake money was all found in the basement of his business. What are the witnesses going to say that will change that?”

“Well, that’s where Detective Lopez comes in.  We need the evidence against him to disappear. By all accounts, you are a clever woman.  I’m sure you’ll find a way.”  He motioned to have the briefcase brought back to him.  “These are duplications of the documents used in his arrest and conviction for your reference,” he said holding up one folder.  “These are blank copies of the same documents. I also have the witnesses’ statements here so that you are consistent in your documentation. I’m sure you can connect the dots here,” he said as he handed the two folders to Angela with a pen.

“You will likely be called to testify at his appeal as well.  I need to know that you will be on our side.  Josip never hurt anyone. He just made some fake money.  We will take him back to our country, and no one will be hurt.  He will never come back to America again.  We’ll see to that,” he promised.

“Hey,” Wesley said opening the laptop. “This is my laptop.”

“Of course, Mr. Evers.  We wanted you to have access to everything you normally would have to make this happen.  That is also why we have kept your LAPD and DA office colleagues here.  Perhaps they can help you find a solution so that tonight doesn’t end in tragedy. It would be a shame to lose a child and his grandmother on one night, not to mention any number of your colleagues here.”

“You and these other officers from Mid-Wilshire are to blame for Josip’s situation. I recommend that you get to work.  It’s 11:03 right now, and if you do not have a solution presented to me by midnight, you will have a bloody mess to clean up when you go home.”

While he was talking, two of the other men were checking the IDs and allowing some of the guests to leave, reminding them not to contact anyone, including the police, or people would die. Now that Lucy knew what they wanted and what was at risk, she needed to find a way to exit. Since she and Jackson weren’t with Mid-Wilshire, they may not be identified as cops if they didn’t have their IDs.

Lucy and Jackson made their way over to where Tim and the others were standing.  Lucy grabbed her clutch purse as she went. She shook her head at Tim when their eyes connected. Then she pretended to trip on Tim’s foot while she slipped her wallet and Jackson’s wallet into Tim’s suit pocket. Then she winked at him, and very obviously tripped again, weaving on her feet when she managed to stand up straight.

Jackson also tripped and wove as he walked, speaking much louder than necessary and slurring his words, “You okay, Nova? We gotta get outta here.”

“Huh? Why are you screaming at me, you fool?!” she slurred back at him.  Then she grabbed his arm as they stumbled toward the door. They found a serving table with available drinks, and they both made a show of drinking them down, while they were really just swishing the alcohol in their mouths to back up their cover story.

As they approached the door with the armed men, Lucy started a fight with Jackson about how much he had to drink and who would be driving home.

“Stop here and show your ID,” one of the armed men insisted.

“We didn’t bring any IDs.  You can search us; we don’t have anything,” Lucy insisted as she opened her clutch. “We just came here for the open bar.  We didn’t know anyone here until we came tonight.  But we made lots of new friends, right, babe?”

Jackson nodded and turned out his pockets to show he just had his keys and his phone.

“With no IDs, you cannot leave,” the armed man insisted.

“If you just let me use my phone, I can show you our arrest records.  Those have pictures of us with our names.  You shouldn’t need to see anything else, right?”

The man narrowed his eyes at Lucy but nodded for her to continue.  She quickly navigated to a federal website and showed him the arrest and conviction record of Nova Lin.  Her picture was with the record as well. The man nodded once and then pointed to Jackson.  “What about him?”

“Oh.  We do everything together. I’ll show you his record, too.” She quickly navigated to Jackson’s alias’s record to show the man.

The man stared at Jackson and stared at the picture on the website carefully to make sure they were a match. “Fine, you’re free to go to, Titus Jackson.”

Jackson and Lucy thanked the men and left the building.  They continued their drunken walk until they were in the parking garage and beyond the eyes of the armed men. 

“Okay, Jackson, we don’t have a lot of time.  What do you have in your go bag that can help us?” she asked as they neared his car.

------------------------------------------

Fun Facts:

Mekia Cox (Nyla) was a backup dancer/singer for Michael Jackson.

Jenna Dewan (Bailey) was a backup dancer for Janet Jackson.

Melissa O’Neil (Lucy) won Canadian Idol in 2005 (at age 17!) followed by several years as a singer and in musical theater (including Broadway).

Titus Makin, Jr (Jackson) had a career in dancing (half time shows for the NY Knicks) and singing.

Richard T Jones (Grey) and Tru Valentino (Thorsen) apparently hogged the karaoke at Eric Winter's Christmas party for the crew and cast.

So, I just *had* to include some karaoke at this party even though it did not significantly contribute to the storyline.

Chapter Text

Chapter 9

As Lucy and Jackson went through the items in Jackson’s car that could be useful, they were joined by a few other people they didn’t expect to see. Bailey was allowed to go as she was part of the LAFD, not LAPD.  James and Luna were allowed to go since they were just married to cops. 

Several minutes later, Aaron Thorsen also joined them. He had seen the last of them following Lucy and Jackson and tried to find where they went.

“How did they let you go? You actually are a cop with Mid-Wilshire,” Lucy said with a furrowed brow as Aaron walked up to the car.

“The leader recognized me from my arrest in France for Patrick’s murder.  He said he was convinced I was a killer, and he wanted me to get out. Something about not being honorable,” Aaron chuckled. “I think that may be the first time that actually worked in my favor.”

“Okay,” Lucy said.  “There’s no time for small talk. We’ve got to move quickly.  It’s already 11:25. Aaron, do you have a gun?”

“Do you? Who brings their off-duty weapon to a party?”

Lucy and Jackson both showed him where their guns were concealed.

“Point taken.” Aaron said with a nod.

Lucy immediately got back to business.  “Jackson, I want you to go to Angela’s house and free Abuela and Jack.”

“I can go with you,” Bailey offered. “I’ve been to that house several times before, and I have an idea for how we can get in. We can take John’s truck.  I have the keys.”

“Do you know how to use a gun?” Jackson asked, handing her his only spare handgun.

Bailey took the gun, unloaded it, loaded it, and stuck it in the back of her skirt. “Army National Guard. Top marks in hand-to-hand combat and firing range champion.”

“Alrighty then, let’s go,” Jackson said, impressed. He grabbed some other gear and followed quickly after her.

“Aaron, you and I will be the offense.  Luna and James, I’d like you to be our lookouts.”

They all nodded as Lucy discussed the plan and handed out the gear.

As they approached the building again, all four of them had their AirPods in and a group call started.  It wasn’t quite the same as the earpieces the LAPD issued, but it worked well enough for them. James and Luna walked arm-in-arm along the sidewalk and then stopped to examine the gardens outside the building and take pictures of the plants.  Aaron and Lucy had found a blind spot in the southwest corner where they could approach without the guards seeing them. Once they hit the blind spot, they beelined for the building from the sidewalk. 

When James and Luna gave the signal, Aaron ran up behind the armed guard on the south side.  He surprised him with pepper spray, covered his mouth, and dragged him back into the blind spot. There he stuffed a gym sock of Jackson’s in his mouth with duct tape on top, zip tied his wrists, and duct taped his ankles together.  He took his automatic rifle so that he was now armed as well. Then he clocked him with the butt of the rifle to knock him out.

The man on the north side windows paced up and down the building methodically.  When he eventually approached Lucy’s hiding spot, she jumped out and took him down by breaking his nose and then sweeping his feet. Quickly dragging him out of view of everyone inside, he was similarly knocked out, gagged, zip tied, and duct taped.  Ideally, they would have zip tied both the wrists and ankles, but their supply was limited, so they had to deal with what they had.

For the next stage of their operation, Luna and James were walking along the sidewalk and then Luna pretended to fall and sprain her ankle. She screamed loud enough to wake the dead. James also yelled for help. The two men at the door were granted permission from their leader to silence them so they didn’t draw attention to what was happening inside.

As the men moved into the blind spot outside where Luna had fallen, Lucy and Aaron attacked them.  Soon they were both knocked out, gagged, zip tied, and duct taped like their friends. 

Four down. Four to go.

Aaron and James then made quick work of shedding their suitcoats, ties, and button-up shirts to don the men’s black shirts, bullet proof vests, and ski masks.  They already had black slacks on, so they decided to save time and not swap them out for their black cargo pants. They re-entered the building a minute later and stood at the door as the actual criminals had a few minutes before. All the people who could leave had already left by that time, so they just had to stand there.  The ski masks made it easy to fit in.  They kept their hands out of view so the color of their skin wasn’t obvious.

While this was happening outside, Angela and Wesley were busy trying to look like they were complying with the men’s demands inside.  They knew that Lucy and Jackson had a plan. They just didn’t know what it was or if they would be able to pull it off in time.

Sergeant Grey immediately recognized his wife’s scream and started to get up.  The armed men warned him to sit down.  Grey stood up anyway and insisted that they let him see his wife who was screaming.  Tim stood up next to him to support his request and protect his watch commander. Grey’s persistence earned him a pistol whipping which resulted in a cut on his left cheek and a large bruise. When Tim protested, he got the same treatment, resulting in a cut over his right eye and some bruising. As the screaming stopped, they reluctantly sat back down to avoid escalating the situation further. 

When the door guards returned to the building, Grey quickly noticed that they weren’t the same men and caught on to part of the plan.  He tapped on Nyla’s foot and gestured subtly to the door guards. 

Nyla squinted at them for a moment, and James flashed her an okay signal for half a second.  Her eyes went wide, and she shook her head firmly. James had no weapons training whatsoever.  She didn’t want him to get in harm’s way.  She had been happy he had been able to leave.  James sent her an okay signal again and nodded his head.

The next stage of the game was entirely dependent on Jackson and Bailey getting into position.

Lucy put her group call on hold while she called Jackson. “Are you close yet? We want to enter at the same time you do so they don’t see you on the camera and suspect something.”

“I think Bailey may have a future with NASCAR. We got here crazy fast.  We’re going to climb in though the guest bedroom window.  Bailey said that John was supposed to come over here and fix the latch, but he hasn’t gotten around to it.  We just parked a few houses down. I’ll text you when we’re in the house.”

“Sounds good,” she responded.

A couple minutes later Jackson texted that they were in.

Lucy left Luna outside with an automatic rifle trained on their four, semi-conscious, restrained victims in the blind spot so she would be safe. Then she snuck around the corner to the part of the building with the bathrooms. When she was in the bathroom a couple hours ago, after the Chris incident, she had actually opened up the bathroom window to air out a foul smell.  She really didn’t need to be wallowing in self-pity AND a foul smell. Lucy found a garden hose storage box to move and climb up on to boost herself into the bathroom.  She slowly lowered herself down from the high window and was grateful that the beautiful, flowing skirt of her dress allowed her such great movement after she hiked it up a bit.

Lucy – Ready when you are.

Jackson – It’s a go.

Lucy silently crept out of the bathroom and down the abandoned hallway.  Aaron was watching for her to arrive. Then he slowly walked forward without saying anything, trying to draw the other men’s attention to him.  James stayed tucked into the doorway.  The leader was watching what Angela was currently writing, but the other three men looked at Aaron curiously as he approached them.  Before they could recognize that he wasn’t actually one of them and after Lucy had a chance to sneak partially into the room, Aaron rolled what appeared to be a couple of small grey balls toward their feet. They looked at him with confused expressions (at least, as much as you can tell that they looked confused with ski masks on) for a few seconds until the room started filling with smoke.

Aaron moved quickly to subdue the man farthest away from the hostages.  Nyla, who was quick to pick up on the plan, took down the man closest to her with a few well-placed hits.  Lucy popped up out of nowhere and took down that third man that was close to the leader with another broken nose, knee to the groin, and sweeping of his feet.

Unlike the four they had taken down earlier, these men didn’t succumb to their attack like the extras in an action movie; they fought back.  Thankfully the element of surprise was in Lucy and her team’s favor.  Each of these three was able to overcome their suspect quickly without any serious injury.

Angela didn’t realize what was happening for a moment as she was focusing on the paperwork in front of her, but she had been ready to attack the leader of the group from the moment he spoke her name.  So as soon as she recognized what was happening, she grabbed the man’s face with both hands as it hung over her shoulder and slammed it into the desk.  Then she knocked the air out of him with a few quick gut punches. 

Unfortunately, as she stood to deliver another blow, the leader lunged at her and knocked her back into her chair.  Then he grabbed her and pulled her to stand up with one arm around her neck.  His other hand held a handgun that he brought up to Angela’s temple. He shouted out, “No one makes another move or you can say goodbye to Detective Lopez!”

Lucy zip had tied her own man by this time, and Aaron had taken care of the other two. Lucy wasn’t sure if the leader had seen her at all since he had been so focused on Angela.  She slipped behind a large speaker as his eyes panned the room. When her head peeped out a minute later, she quickly found Tim’s eyes.  She motioned for him to start talking. 

“Most of your men have already been taken down.  You really think you’re going to get out of here at this point?” Tim called, drawing his attention toward him.

Seeing that Tim had gotten her message, Lucy smiled briefly. Then she crept toward the leader, hiding behind another speaker and a couple chairs as she approached him.

“That’s why you are going to release my men,” he shouted belligerently.

“With what?” Nyla asked. “You took away all of our weapons and other stuff when you searched us a while ago. Did your men make a mistake and leave a knife or scissors with one of us?”

He huffed for a moment. “I have a knife strapped to my leg.  Take it out slowly and release my men.  Don’t try anything tricky or Detective Lopez will die,” the leader threatened.

Angela tried to speak, but the leader just gripped her neck tighter.

Nyla stood up from where she was sitting with both hands in the air and intentionally made some noise as she moved, pushing a chair away and moving a table.  The noise served as a good distraction to allow Lucy to move closer unnoticed.

When Nyla crouched down to get the knife from his leg, Lucy was just a couple feet behind him. Luckily his men were face down on the ground still groaning from their injuries, so they couldn’t alert him at all.  Nyla crouched down and took the knife out of the holster. As she started standing, she made eye contact with Lucy who nodded at her.

In an instant, Nyla stabbed the leader with his own knife in the inner thigh near the groin, hitting the femoral artery.  When he bent over in pain, Lucy wrestled the gun from his hand and placed her own gun against his back. Angela was able to get out of his grip and move away from him.  She was coughing with red marks on her neck, but she was free and alive.

“You messed with the wrong people,” Nyla said. “Now you’ll never see the light of day again outside of a prison yard.”  Then she took the last zip tie from Lucy and handed it to Angela. “Would you like to do the honors?”

The leader was bleeding heavily from the knife wound in his leg. “Aren’t you going to stop the bleeding?” he asked still bent with pain and looking at the blood pumping out between his fingers and making a large puddle underneath him.

“Anyone have a tie or a belt I could use for a tourniquet?” Lucy asked.

Tim stood up and untied his tie. “Here,” he said handing it to Lucy.  She smiled at him and tied it around the man’s leg, slowing the bleeding. 

Angela took his bloody hands and zip tied them behind his back. “I think it’s best that you never mess with me or my family again.  I could tell you to forget about us and move on with your life, but I’m afraid your life is only moving to prison, and you will likely think about the mistake you made coming here tonight for the rest of your life.”

Once the leader was zip tied, Angela grabbed the phone that had the live feed to her house. All the stress she had been holding in was released the instant she saw Jackson bouncing a happy Jack in his arms on one side and Bailey chatting casually with her mother on the other.   She showed the phone to Wesley who had rushed to her side.

Wesley pulled Angela into a hug and kissed her temple.  Patrice, who had been sitting further away, ran over to them to see the video footage, too.  She hadn’t been allowed to leave because of her connection to Wesley and Angela, and she was worried sick that she was so helpless.

Wade Grey ran outside as soon as the leader was tied up.  He was quite surprised to find his wife with an automatic rifle in her hands pointed at the four incapacitated men.  “Luna? What are you doing?” he asked in a higher octave than normal.

“Saving your sorry butt,” she replied with some sass.

Grey chuckled, shook his head, and said, “Of course you are. Did you get hurt at all?”

“Nope.  Lucy tried to keep me as far away from harm as possible. I like that woman,” she said with a smile. “She’s smart, and she’s got spunk.”

Grey rolled his eyes. “Okay.  You two can hang out more later. Right now, I need to take a picture to remember this moment,” he said as he took her phone from her purse; his phone had been taken earlier and he hadn’t gotten it back yet.  Luna posed once with a smile and then again with a wicked snarl.  “We have got to send these pictures to Dominique,” he chuckled. “She’s never going to believe it.” Then he took the rifle from her, wrapped his arms around her, and called dispatch to send in enough units and ambulances to bring all of Tricky Dick’s crew in.  He also requested a unit be sent to Angela’s house to get the men there.

Nyla quickly found James still stationed by the door.  She took the weapon from him and pulled him into a big hug.

“You know, I never thought I would see my community activist, save-the-planet, pacifist husband with a gun like this in his hands,” Nyla said.

“Me neither,” James agreed.

“Never do that again, okay?” Nyla requested.

“Well, you may have bad things to say about some of the people I hang out with at the community center, but I just want to say, for the record, that things like this only happen when I’m around you.  I’m just saying it,” he said with a smile, putting both of his hands up.

Nyla smiled back at him and said, “Shut up.”  Then she kissed him soundly.

Aaron watched the men that had been captured inside while they waited for the patrol units to arrive.

As soon as Lucy was done securing their suspects, she looked up and saw Tim watching her.  He had a dumbstruck look on his face that Lucy had seen a few times now. She started walking his direction as he seemed to be a bit stuck in place. “Hey, Sarge,” she said when she was right next to him with a smile on her face.  “This is quite the party you invited me to.  Are you okay?” she asked as her hand came up to gently touch the cut over his eye.

“Yeah.  I’m fine.  I think I was just saved by some Lucy magic,” he said with a twinkle in his eye.

Lucy laughed. “You know,” she said smiling up at him, “I don’t think it was my magic this time. I’m beginning to wonder if this was something else. Like one of those Tim Tests I’ve heard you do for your rookies?” she asked with narrowed eyes and a tiny smile as she studied his face.  “I’ve heard a lot about those.  Is this the girlfriend version? To see if I can escape armed guards and then lead a team with varied experience and limited supplies to bring down ten armed men and save dozens of hostages in two locations without firing a single bullet or causing any irreparable harm to people or facilities?”  She smiled up at him coyly.

Tim huffed out a laugh.  “What? No,” he said shaking his head. “This was not a Tim Test. I’ve put together some elaborate Tim Tests in my day, but nothing like this,” he said shaking his head. “That was some exceptional police work. I mean really, really good. Do you have a military background you haven’t told me about? Special forces? CIA?”

She shook her head with a little smile.

“Are you sure you don’t want a spot in Metro? I mean, the skills you just showed…”

Lucy interrupted him and put a finger to his lips. “Tim…” she said shaking her head fondly.  “Would you stop thinking like a cop for a minute and kiss me? I think I earned that.”

Tim smiled as he leaned down and pulled Lucy to him in what was intended to be a simple, chaste kiss, but quickly evolved into a passionate kiss.

When their heads parted Lucy said, “I think I’ll stick with being a detective.  I would rather stand next to you like this,” she said patting his chest. “If I were in Metro, you’d be in my chain of command, and I wouldn’t be able to kiss you whenever I wanted to.”

“Whenever you want to, hu…”

His ‘huh’ was smothered with another kiss from Lucy.  This one was a bit shorter and only designed to shut him up. “Yep,” she said popping the ‘p’ at the end of the word and giving him a wicked grin.

Angela yelled to get everyone’s attention. “Hey! It 11:58. We’ve got 2 minutes still.”  Wesley ran up to turn on a projector they had set up to count down to midnight and watch the ball drop. It turned on right at 11:59.

As Lucy leaned back against Tim’s chest, their arms tangled together while they watched the time tick down, Tim whispered in her ear. “You were the best part of 2023 for me.”

Lucy turned her head to look at him, “But that was only for eight days,” she said incredulously.

“The best eight days I can remember,” he said kissing her forehead.

“Well, lets hope for 366 great days in 2024 then.”

Tim squinted at her for a second.

“Leap year,” she responded with a smile as everyone started counting down the last ten seconds.

Lucy turned back to look at the numbers as they counted down to midnight together. Then Tim spun her around a lifted her up to him.  Their lips crashed together as their bodies melted into each other.

Couples all around them were sharing their New Year’s kisses, but Tim and Lucy’s lasted the longest.  When they came up for air, nearly everyone had left them to look out the window at the fireworks.

A couple of minutes later, they had their own version of fireworks as the lights from the patrol cars and ambulances filtered through the front windows of the pavilion.

Everyone started to gather their things that had been taken by Tricky Dick’s gang.  Lucy grabbed Jackson’s backpack that she had kept all of her supplies in and added her wallet as well as Jackson’s and her shawl.

Grey’s voice rose above the chatter, “Happy New Year to all of you.  I’ll make some calls to ensure that all of you have the day off today.  And I’ll have the officers on patrol tonight fill out as much of the paperwork as they can.”  The group responded with cheers of gratitude.

“And,” he said, not yet done with his announcement, “I’d like to offer a special thanks to Lucy Chen and Jackson West for coordinating and executing our rescue so expertly and to Luna Grey, James Murray, Aaron Thorsen, and Bailey Nunes for their help in the rescue effort.” The whole room erupted into cheers at the same moment that Bailey and Jackson returned from Angela’s house.

Angela, Wes, and Patrice ran to greet them amidst all the cheering, encircling them with hugs and thanks.

Tim pulled Lucy back into his arms as they watched the Evers-Lopez family smother Jackson and Bailey.  “You really are amazing,” he whispered into her ear, holding her even closer and kissing her temple. 

Lucy twisted in his arms to meet his eyes. “You’re not too bad yourself, Sarge,” she said teasingly. “Finding you was the best part of 2023 for me, too.”  She laughed and said, “I think I say this every year, but this time I mean it: this is going to be my best year yet.”

Tim showed that he agreed by bringing his lips to hers in a chaste kiss.

“But the first thing I need to do this year is get some sleep.  This has been a very full week and I just want to cuddle in my bed for a while,” Lucy said.

“I don’t suppose I could convince you to let me join you, could I?” Tim asked hopefully.

Lucy took a deep breath and smiled at him. “I’m fairly certain that if we share a bed there won’t be much sleep,” she said with low, raspy voice.

Tim’s lips curled down in a frown and his eyes looked to the ceiling as he slowly shook his head. “You’re probably right.” Then he brought his lips to kiss underneath her ear and whispered, “But I’m up for trying if you are.”

“Tim,” she whispered back in exasperation. She flushed with the heat of his breath on her neck and the thoughts of what they would do when they did share a bed. 

He kissed lower on her neck and then migrated along her collar bone toward her shoulder and back to her neck.

Angela walked up to them and cleared her throat to remind them that they were still in a room with plenty of other people. “Hey,” she said, “I just wanted to come by and thank you again, Lucy, for everything you did tonight.  I don’t know how I’ll ever pay you back for this.” Then she gave a side eye to Tim. “I was going to suggest that you two go home to celebrate, but by the look of Tim’s neck and what I just saw, you’ve already been celebrating,” she smirked.

Tim grabbed at his collar. He had forgotten that he didn’t have a tie on anymore and his hickey from the previous night was now exposed. He flushed pink, shifted uncomfortably, and rebuttoned the top button.  Lucy covered her mouth to try to hide her giggles.

Angela gave him a self-satisfied grin and wished them both a happy New Year.

Lucy turned into Tim’s chest and smothered her laughter in his suit jacket for a moment.  Then she looked up at him and said, “Do I get to see you tomorrow?"

“Hmmm… I could probably fit you into my schedule,” he teased.

She slapped his chest playfully. “We do both have the day off tomorrow, but if you need a day to yourself…”

He shook his head, “And miss spending time with you? No way. What do you have in mind?”

“Well, I usually start the year off with a hike.  I like to get away from the city and its smog and start the new year feeling more at one with nature. I can bring a picnic lunch, and we can explore Topanga State Park.  There are some small mountains to climb, cool rock formations, and great ocean vistas, since I know you’re not a fan of going in the ocean.”

“That sounds like the perfect way to celebrate a new year.”

“Great.  I’ll call you when I wake up.  Don’t call me first. I plan to sleep as long as possible,” Lucy said wagging her finger at him.

Tim leaned down to seal their deal with a chaste kiss. When he opened his eyes, he saw that more people had walked over to them. He huffed and asked “Yes? Can we help you?” He held Lucy close to him where she blushed and giggled into his chest. 

Nyla laughed. “We’re just heading out, and we wanted to stop to by to say thanks again to Lucy.”

“Yeah,” James echoed. “We really appreciate how you helped us all get out of that situation and kept us safe.”

John and Bailey echoed the same thoughts.

“I’m just glad we all came out of here relatively unharmed.” Then her fingers traced the cut over Tim’s eyebrow again.  “We make a pretty good team,” she said, looking back over at the group.

“We’d love to have you join us at Mid-Wilshire,” Nolan said. “Maybe Tim can work on persuading you a bit more,” he said smirking.

Tim narrowed his eyes at Nolan, “Good night, Boot.”

“Not your boot anymore,” he said as he waved goodbye.

“Bye, Lucy! Bye, Tim!” called Nyla and James.

“Bye!” Lucy and Tim said.

Lucy whispered to Tim, “You are quite persuasive.  He’s right about that.”  Tim smiled in response.

Then Aaron approached to say goodbye. “Thanks for trusting me on the op, Detective Chen.”

“It was my pleasure to work with you.  Thanks for all your help,” Lucy said as she and Tim moved toward the exit themselves.  “I’ll see you around.”

They joined Jackson at the door as they started walking toward the parking garage. “Soooo….” Jackson said. “Am I driving home alone tonight?” He winked over at Lucy.

“Noooo,” Lucy said, rolling her eyes. “You’re still my ride if you’ll have me.”

“Really?” he said, surprised. “I thought for sure…” He stopped talking when he saw the glare that Tim was giving him. “Okay.  I’ll… uh… I’ll head to the car,” he said taking the backpack from Lucy, “and I’ll meet you there. Good? Yeah, good,” he said answering his own question and leaving before he got another glare from Tim.

As they walked through the front doors of the pavilion, they bid farewell to Luna and Wade Grey. Sergeant Grey felt like he should stay until all the police and emergency vehicles were gone.  Luna waited there with him patiently.

Lucy had her arm around Tim’s waist, and Tim was rubbing his hand up and down her naked back.  After they passed all the patrol cars and ambulances and approached the entrance of the parking garage, Tim pulled Lucy flush against him, wrapping his hands around her back and tucking his fingers just under the edge of the dress on either side. Lucy’s hands climbed from his waist up to his shoulder blades as she tucked her head against his chest and breathed him in. Tim’s head rested on hers.

“Tonight was…fun,” Lucy said with a giggle. She felt Tim pull back from her to look at her, but she didn’t move at all.  “Okay, okay.  It was… memorable?” He rested his head back on hers and hummed in agreement. “I can’t believe that it was just this morning that we were having omelets with Jackson.  And I was kissed by a younger man.”

Tim felt her giggle rubble against his chest. “Yeah.  First, my girlfriend’s roommate interrupted our alone time. Then, my girlfriend cheated on me with my nephew right in front of me.  And later we were harassed by her ex-boyfriend. I don’t know if she’s worth all of this drama,” he teased.  Lucy tried to break away from him to argue back, but he held her close and continued to speak. “It’s a good thing she saved my life and that of all of my friends in a truly spectacular, badass cop fashion afterwards.  And she sang me a couple love songs in front of everyone.  And she’s so smoking hot that I can barely keep my hands off of her.” As he said the last few words his fingers pushed forward another inch under her dress. “I take that back, I can’t keep my hands off of her,” he said as he splayed his fingers wide and then pulled one hand back to roam all over her back again. “She was, is, and will always be worth the effort.”

Lucy felt a shiver go up and down her spine as Tim’s hands moved around her back. She dug her fingers into his back as he went from a feather-like touch, to a gentle caress, to a more insistent massaging of her skin.  “Tim,” she breathed out.

“Mmm… I love this dress,” he mumbled into her hair.

“Tim,” she said softly.  “Are you sure it’s the dress you love?” she whispered barely loud enough for him to hear. 

Tim made a guttural sound while all ten of his fingers anchored into her soft, smooth skin and he held her impossibly closer.

Lucy let out a sound that was between a sigh and a groan as she struggled to control her growing arousal. She tried to take a deeper breath, but only managed a couple shallow ones. “We… uh… we’re still outside next to a parking garage. We should probably go…”

Tim didn’t want to talk about leaving her again, so he swallowed her words with a kiss.

Lucy eagerly deepened the kiss as one of her hands moved to the back of Tim’s head to scratch through the little hairs there and hold him where she wanted him.

 They were forced to break apart when they heard footsteps getting closer to them.

“Don’t mind us,” Angela said as she drew closer, snickering at them.

“Just ignore her, and she’ll go away. I thought you were staying there until everyone else was gone.” Tim said louder than he needed to for Lucy to hear him.

“Patrice said she was stay, so we could get home to Jack.”  She paused for a moment and looked at them. “You know,” Angela continued, “I’ve been to Tim’s house before.  He has a really nice bed.  Maybe you should go test it out,” she said, laughing maniacally.

“Angela, leave them alone,” Wesley said teased.  “They already seem to know what they’re doing.  I mean, we already saw the hickey on his neck, we saw them kissing as much as they were dancing, and we just walked up on them making out like teenagers outside a parking garage.”

“Don’t make me arrest you for indecent exposure, Bradford,” Angela threatened as she and Wesley walked away, laughing as they went.

Lucy had buried her head back in Tim’s chest.  Once she didn’t hear their laughter anymore, she lifted her head. “I should go.  It’s late, and Jackson is waiting and…” Her voice trailed off as she tried to think of other reasons and came up empty.

Tim took a deep breath and said, “Yeah. I’ll walk you to your car.”  He relaxed his hold on her.  “It’s getting late.”

She sighed as she felt some air come in between Tim and her. “Yeah.”  They walked as they had before with her arm around his waist and his arm rubbing up and down her back.

When they reached Jackson’s car, he was sitting in the driver’s seat, trying not to watch them. Lucy turned to face Tim. She went up on her toes to kiss him goodnight. She had intended for it to a chaste peck, but Tim wrapped his arms around her back again and sunk his fingers under the edges of her dress. As Lucy groaned at his touch, Tim deepened the kiss against her open mouth. He kept it short but put plenty of feeling into it.

“Good night, Lucy,” he said with a smirk as he pulled away abruptly while her eyes were still closed and her lips were still parted.

“Mmm…” was all she could produce at first, but she managed to force out a ‘good night’ after a few second delay.

Chapter Text

Chapter 10

The sun was high in the sky by the time Lucy cracked open her eyes the next day. She rolled over to check the time on her alarm clock. 10:30. She had crawled into bed a little after 1:00. That made it nine glorious hours of sleep, and she felt great.  She grabbed her phone and then collapsed back onto her pillows. She unlocked her phone and saw that she had three messages waiting for her.

Tim (8:32) – Good morning.  I can’t wait to see you today.

Tim (9:24) – Rise and shine.

Tim (10:11) – Did you really sleep this late? Or are you just ignoring me?

Lucy rolled her eyes and pressed the buttons to call Tim.  She put it on speaker and set the phone next to her head as she pulled her comforter up around her neck.

Tim answered on the second ring. “Good morning, sleepy head.”

Lucy smiled at the sound of his voice. “Good morning,” she rasped back at him.

“Did you sleep well?”

Lucy groaned.  “I slept so well.  I kept having these amazing dreams about this very handsome boy kissing me.  He was tall with sandy brown hair, smoky blue eyes, and a smile that makes me weak in the knees. He is very strong, but he is always so gentle with me. He’s patient and kind and cares a lot about the people in his life. He works in Metro, maybe you know him from there. And the way he wears that Metro uniform…ugh. That’s enough to fill a whole night’s worth of dreams.”

Tim blushed at her description of him. He loved hearing the sound of her voice.  He allowed himself to imagine for a moment what it would be like to wake up next to Lucy, to have her beautiful voice be the first sound he heard each day.  The phone was silent for a moment as Lucy waited for Tim to respond.

“Sorry, Chen,” he started, “But I’ve got you beat. I dreamt about the most beautiful, badass cop I’ve ever seen.  She has long, wavy, brown hair, chocolate brown eyes, and the voice of an angel. Whenever I’m around her I just feel like I’m the luckiest guy in the world.   She just has this magic – it makes everything better. The sun shines brighter. Food tastes better. Bad guys fall like flies. I… I’m just so happy with I’m with her. If you’d met her, you would know for sure. She makes your life better from the moment she smiles at you. I think she’s at North Hollywood, but I’m trying to persuade her to join me at Mid-Wilshire.”

Lucy wasn’t sure if it was the words he used or if she really was struggling to be awake still.  But his words just overwhelmed her. He waited patiently on the phone for her to respond. It took her a solid minute to pull herself together and decide what to say. “You’re right.  You win. That was… that was so romantic and sweet. I don’t even know what to say back.”

“You don’t need to say anything.  Just let me come over and pick you up. Please? I’ve already been awake for more than two hours waiting for you to call.”

“But I haven’t even gotten out of bed yet…”

“I have a feeling I’m going to like that look,” he interrupted.

Lucy scoffed. “Tim,” she breathed out. “You’re not helping.”

“Sorry, not sorry. Isn’t that what you keep telling me?”

“Touché,” she said with a sigh. “But I’d still like to shower and get some coffee to wake myself up and… and I was going to stop by this café that I love to grab sandwiches for our hike… and…”

“Half an hour? Forty-five minutes?  It’ll take me 20 minutes to drive there anyway. We can go to the café together.”

“Okay.  Okay.  Forty-five minutes,” she said, forcing herself to get out of her bed.  “I got out of bed, and I’m turning on the water in my shower.  Now I just have to take off…”

“Lucy,” he groaned, “If you start talking me through you taking your clothes off to get in the shower, I’m going to be there in ten.”

“But you said it takes twent…”

“Exactly.”

Lucy giggled.  “See you in forty-five minutes then.”

Lucy showered quickly and put on her favorite pair of black leggings, a yellow v-neck t-shirt, and some comfy socks.  Then she went to the kitchen to make some coffee.  The shower had woken her up somewhat, but she still needed her morning caffeine.

Jackson was sitting at the counter when she walked in.  “Good morning, sunshine,” he greeted.  “I heard you in the shower, so I made enough coffee for you, too.”

“Have I told you lately that you’re the best roommate?” Lucy said as she moved around the counter to pour herself a cup.

“Mmm… Not in the past two days,” Jackson said, chuckling. “But I have a feeling you’re going to find a new roommate soon that may contend for that title. He might come with a few perks that you just might be interested in,” he teased.

“Jackson, we haven’t even slept together yet,” Lucy moaned.

“And why is that again?”

“It’s all so new still.  We’re just figuring things out…”

“Uh huh…” Jackson said skeptically.

“We’re taking it slow.  We want to do this right.”

“So… you’re not sure how you feel?” he asked with a look of disbelief.

“No.  I know exactly how I feel.  This is the most amazing relationship I’ve been in since… ever.”

“Okay… And you’re waiting…why again?” Jackson asked with one eyebrow raised.

Lucy blew out her breath.  She didn’t know what else to say.  She took another sip of her coffee. “So you think…”

“Lucy.  I’ve seen the two of you together enough to know that you’re both serious about this relationship. I mean, you’re moving to Mid-Wilshire at least partially to be closer to him.  And you make out like teenagers even with other people around.  I’d say you’re pretty far from one-night-stand territory.”

Lucy tapped her fingers on her mug as she thought.  “You don’t think it’s too soon?”

Jackson shook his head and said, “Well, it’s not my decision to make, but you already seem pretty closely connected.”

“Thanks, Jackson.  Good talk.”  She took another sip of her coffee and then stood up.  She grabbed a backpack and a duffel back out of her closet. “I should get everything packed…. For the hike.”

Jackson hummed knowingly as she set the duffel back on her bed and brought the backpack into the kitchen.  She filled the backpack with bags of trail mix, pretzels, baby carrots, apples, and water bottles. Then she found some sunscreen, bug spray, a Dodgers hat, and a picnic blanket.

She finished her cup of coffee and went to her room.  “I should just pack some extra clothes in case these get dirty while we’re hiking,” Lucy justified. “I mean, I don’t know what we’re going to do after our hike.  Maybe I’ll come back home or maybe… I just want to be prepared.”

“Uh huh,” Jackson said. “Just text me so I know you’re safe, okay?”

“Yeah. Yeah. Of course,” she said absentmindedly. Lucy looked at her watch. “Two minutes,” she muttered to herself as she went into her bathroom to gather a disproportionate amount of supplies for someone going on a hike.

Exactly two minutes later there was a knock on the door. Lucy ran to the door and opened it a little breathlessly. “Hi.”

Tim let his eyes wander up and down Lucy’s frame, as he often did. “Ready?”

Lucy looked back at him and said, “Absolutely,” with a surety in her voice that seemed to go beyond the question he asked, particularly considering her socked feet.

He squinted his eyes a little and tilted his head to the side. “Okay.” 

Lucy put her shoes on and grabbed her jacket.  Then she picked up both her duffel bag and the backpack. Tim held his hand out for the backpack, which he then slung over his left shoulder.  Then he grabbed Lucy’s hand and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

“Bye, Jackson!” they both called.

They drove in Tim’s truck in companionable silence, hand-in-hand. Lucy directed Tim to the café that she had mentioned earlier.  But she seemed to be buzzing in her seat.   Tim didn’t quite understand if she was excited to go hiking or nervous about something or just had too much caffeine to get herself to wake up. After they got their sandwiches, they drove to Topanga State Park.  Lucy talked excitedly about her favorite trails. 

After they parked, Lucy grabbed just the backpack she had brought and left the duffel bag in the truck. Tim eyed the duffel bag again, as he closed the door after her. “Um.  A backpack makes sense to bring on a hike. But,” he said, looking back at the truck again, “what’s the duffel bag for?”

Lucy blushed at the mention of the duffel bag, which made Tim tilt his head and stare at her face harder. “Oh… I just… I just wanted to be prepared. That’s all.”  Then she pointed to a trail map at the entrance of the park. “Let’s go decide which trail to take.”

Tim’s eyes didn’t leave her face as he tried to figure out what was going on, but she moved quickly to the map she had pointed out. Her finger was already tracing the map when Tim stepped up next to her.

“Let’s do this trail, number 8. It looks like it has the best place to stop for our lunch where there are some benches, and we can look out on the ocean.”

“Sure. Sounds good.”  He studied her as she studied the map.  There was something different, something off about her.

Lucy bounced up onto her toes and gave him a quick kiss. “Let’s go.”  She fell back on flat feet and started to turn to walk, but Tim bent down and caught her lips for another kiss. She smiled up at him when he pulled back from the kiss.  Then her arms came up around his neck as she returned for a third, deeper kiss.

Lucy hummed as they parted for a third time. “This hike is going to be so much better with you here,” she said as her fingers traced his lips and his jaw. She paused for a moment, stuck in thought.

“We should put on some sunscreen and bug spray,” she said blurted out, pulling them out of her backpack. She sprayed some sunscreen on her arms, ears, and the back of her neck, rubbing them in as she went.  Tim watched intently as she sprayed her chest and was tempted to offer to help her rub it in. He decided against it, however, because he knew Lucy actually wanted to go on the hike, and he wasn’t sure what would happen next if he started touching her much more.

When Lucy sprayed some sunscreen on Tim’s neck and ears, she rubbed it in so very gently.  Once it was rubbed in, her fingers moved up and down his back. She leaned her head against his back for just a moment and kissed him between the shoulder blades.

After they were done, she bounced on the balls of her feet and said, “Ready?”

Tim wasn’t sure what was different about Lucy that day; she just seemed a little bit more energetic and excited.  Perhaps this was what she was like after she slept a long time? Or maybe she had a passion for hiking that just hadn’t been clear in their previous discussions. But regardless of what was going on, he was excited to spend as much time with her as he could.

They walked at a brisk pace.  Lucy just kept going like the energizer bunny. Every once in a while, she would pause to point something out to Tim or take a picture, but then they would swiftly resume their hike. 

Conversation flowed easily as they went. They talked about what had happened at the party the previous night and some more details about what Lucy had done in her rescue.  Tim filled her in on everything that had happened inside while she was gone.  He told her about how all of their things were taken from them, and he handed off Jackson’s wallet to Sergeant Grey and folded her wallet inside his so it wouldn’t draw the attention of anyone there.

They reached the vista point that Lucy had chosen as their lunch area around 1:00.  There were a few picnic tables scattered around a clearing, and there were also some flat areas where they could sit on their picnic blanket. 

“What would you prefer?” Lucy asked, “Sit on a picnic blanket or at a picnic table?”

“Well, normally I’m more of a table guy.  We often sit at picnic tables when we get lunch from the food trucks near the station. But the spot over there has a great view, and I wouldn’t mind being able to sit closer to you.”  Tim rubbed his hand up and down Lucy’s arm.

“Mmm… I love that idea.”  Lucy moved over to where Tim had pointed and opened the backpack. They spread out the picnic blanket close to the edge of the flat area and right in front of a large boulder. 

Once their lunch was set out in the middle of the blanket, Tim sat down in front of the boulder and leaned back on it.  He parted his legs and reached his hands out for Lucy to join him.  She smiled as she sat down and leaned back against his chest. With their arms tangled together, they watched the ocean for a moment in silence. 

Tim kissed Lucy behind her ear and whispered, “I love this. It’s the perfect way to start a new year.”

Lucy hummed in agreement and turned her head to kiss Tim on the cheek.  “Thanks for coming with me. Are you hungry?” she asked as she started to lean forward.

“Umm hmm,” Tim said as he pulled her back to him and started kissing and nimbling along her neck.

Lucy moaned. “I meant for food,” she said with a soft laugh.

“Later,” he said softly into her skin as he continued to kiss her neck.

“Are you still trying to get me back for that hickey?” she asked, her breath hitching at the end when he found just the right spot.

“Maybe…” he said, his breath warming her neck as he spoke. “Your hair would normally cover any mark back here, right?  I don’t want to limit what you wear since I love the clothes you normally wear.”

Lucy giggled. “I have a different idea,” she said as she pulled away from him for a moment.

He groaned at the loss of contact, but he was curious what Lucy was doing as she started moving his legs.  Lucy straightened them out most of the way and brought them forward.  Then she knelt down over his legs, straddling his lap.

“If we’re going to forgo food for a while, I’d prefer to be able to participate a little bit more,” she said as she slid up his lap.  Her hands moved up his chest to his shoulders where her hands squeezed to pull him close as their lips met.

Luckily, Lucy had picked a trail that was less popular that day, so they were by themselves with their lips locked together for a long time.  Eventually, Lucy’s stomach started to growl, which caused them both to laugh out of the kiss.

“I suppose it time for lunch, huh?” he said.

Lucy rubbed her belly. “I think all I’ve had so far today is coffee and water. So, I suppose you’re right.” Lucy held his shoulders as she pushed up off of his lap.  She moved over to get their sandwiches and other food, and then sat back down between his legs.

As they finished their lunch and looked out at the ocean, Lucy started to get fidgety again.  She flung the now mostly empty backpack onto her back, threw away the trash, and turned to look at Tim. “Ready?”

Tim tried to meet her eyes, but she found a tree nearby to look at instead. “Is everything okay? Did I mess something up?” he asked, walking up next to her.

“Uh. No. Everything’s fine,” she said, flashing him smile that was less than genuine.

“It’s just… You…” he was debating how to say that she was acting strangely without offending her or hurting her feelings. “You know I think you’re amazing,” he decided to lead with. “And I’ve loved this hike and lunch and… well… all of it.”

“Uh huh.”

“But are you nervous about something today? You’ve been a little bit more… antsy.” He prayed for a moment that he hadn’t ruined anything, but he was genuinely curious as to why she was acting differently.

“Nervous?” she repeated, biting at her lower lip. “Well, I guess that’s one of the emotions I’m feeling a little bit more today.”

Relieved she was taking this conversation well, he tapped on her thigh with the tips of his fingers and smiled at her. “What else?”

“Excited… That’s probably the biggest emotion. Nervous, not very confident… and a little apprehensive,” she said as her fingers gently danced from his hand up his forearm. She sighed and turned to look at him, meeting his eyes this time. “Ummm… Tonight’s the night.”

At first, he furrowed his brow, trying to understand what she was saying.  “Oh.” Then, his eyebrows shot up as realization dawned on him. “Oh really…” A smile bloomed on his face as he looked at her. He grabbed her hand and lifted it to his lips, giving it a gentle kiss.

She nodded as her face reflected back his large grin. “Yeah, really.”

“What changed?”

“Nothing… and everything…” she said staring into his eyes as they continued to walk slowly along the trail.

He didn’t know what to say to that, so he just waited for her to elaborate, concentrating on her chocolate-brown eyes.

“Nothing because everything about this relationship has gone so perfectly.  I mean, I’m sure there will be bumps along the road. But nothing has really gone wrong.  I’ve screwed up so many relationships before,” she said sighing and rolling her eyes. “Or I’ve put on a façade to get some guy and then I never felt like myself in the relationship.  Or I chose to be blind to the problems in a relationship and stayed too long because I didn’t want to be alone or acknowledge that he wasn’t the right one for me. But this one… us… just feels so right. So, in that way nothing has changed.”

He nodded along.  He could have said the same thing about himself and relationships. He was far from a pro.

“And everything has changed at the same time,” she said narrowing her eyes as she looked at him. “I can’t really explain it, but I just feel like a different person than I was nine days ago.” Then she paused for a moment. “Can you really believe it’s only been nine days?  That’s crazy, right?” She shook her head and looked ahead at the trail and then back at him. “But don’t you feel like your life has been flipped upside down over these last nine days? It’s like you said this morning, ‘The sun shines brighter. The food tastes better.’ It’s like I was going through life while only seeing 12 colors, and now I can see over a hundred. And… I… I’m just so happy when I’m with you. So, in that way, everything has changed.”

Tim wasn’t sure it was possible, but somehow, he was even more in awe of Lucy now than he had been before. He leaned over and gave her a peck on the cheek. “I completely agree.”  Then he waited a bit and ventured another question. “But what made you decide that tonight is the night?”

Lucy hummed and squeezed his hand. “Well, I’ve been thinking about it for the last nine days, honestly. But last night as Jackson and I were doing our drunk walk out of the pavilion and to his car, I wasn’t just thinking about a rescue plan. We all know that even the best laid plans with the perfect contingency plans, can still go south. And Jackson and I didn’t exactly have all the time and resources we would have wanted to have.”

“But what you did last night was really impressive. I mean, most cops, over 90%, would not have been able to do what you did,” he interrupted.

“Thanks. But the other thing I was thinking about was you.  What if my plan didn’t work? What if Tricky Dick’s crew in there with you got upset and just started shooting. What if I lost my chance with you…” she sighed. “I know it’s a little silly to think like that. I mean, honestly, NINE DAYS,” she said blowing out a breath. “But it made me think about what I could be missing.  Why wait for more happiness, right?”  Tim nodded, but he could tell she had more to say, so she waited patiently. “And then the final straw was a chat I had with Jackson this morning over coffee.” Her eyes glazed over for a minute and then she blinked a few times and looked at him with a smile.

“I… uh… I have to admit I had some similar thoughts as I watched you walk out with Jackson last night.  I mean, I assumed you’d be working on a plan to come back and get us out. But what if it never happened? What if you were caught? What if it didn’t work?” He gently tucked some loose hairs behind her ear as he sighed. “But it did work, and we’re here now. And I’m so glad we’re on the same page.”

They took a few more steps and then he stopped her. “So, I only have one more question for you,” he said with a Cheshire grin. “It’s only 2:30. Do we have to wait until ‘tonight?’”

Lucy swatted at his chest. “Tim!” she said incredulously. “No.  I mean, there are no rules. But I don’t want our first time to be hidden behind some shrubs at a state park or in your truck. Later, I would be open to either option, but not today.”

“Well then,” he said, dropping her hand and stepping in front of her. “Why are we walking so slowly?” he asked, winking at her and starting to jog.

“This is exactly why I was going to wait to say anything!” she called after him as she started picking up her pace. “We were supposed to enjoy the hike together first.”

Tim slowed down and let her catch up to him. “Okay. Okay.  How much longer do we have?”

“Just half a mile to go, I think, based on the marker we just passed.”

“Fine. We don’t have to rush it,” he agreed. "But no lollygagging either.”

“Lollygagging?” she said with a giggle. “Did you just age forty years in front of my eyes?”

“Hardly. I feel like I have the strength and endurance of a 20-year-old right now.”

“Mmm… I plan to test that out a little bit later,” she said in a husky voice, slapping him on the butt.

Tim turned his head and smiled back at her. “Come on,” he said walking a little faster.

They got to his truck a mere seven minutes later. Tim opened the door for Lucy. Once she climbed in, he started to step away, but she grabbed his shirt and pulled him close.  Their lips crashed together at a much faster pace than they usually did, fueled by their excitement for what was about to come. Tim reached for Lucy’s thighs, which he then held to spin her toward him. Stepping inside them, his hands started to migrate up until he reached her hips. He kneaded into her hips for a minute, and then he continued his movement to her butt.  He splayed his fingers wide over each cheek, and then squeezed her closer to him.

Still seated in the truck, Lucy could only reach so much, but she raked her fingers through his hair just like he liked it and pulled at his shoulders to keep him close.

About five minutes into this make out session, Tim’s phone rang. He reached into his pocket to turn it off, but it rang again a minute later. Again, he silenced it.  But when it rang a third time, he huffed and pulled away from Lucy a few inches. Praying he wasn’t getting called in to work, he took his phone out. His brows furrowed as he looked at the caller ID and showed it to Lucy.

“Genny?” he said as he answered the phone slightly out of breath. “Is everything okay?”

“No.  It’s not. Tyler and I got into a fight, and then he snuck out of the house. I’ve been looking for him for over an hour, but I can’t find him. Is there anyway you can come help?”

Tim glanced over at Lucy, whose head was close enough to hear everything.  She nodded at him. “Of course,” he answered. “Lucy and I will be there soon.  We’ll drive a grid pattern around your house on our way there. What was he wearing?”

“He had jeans, a Denver Nuggets t-shirt, and a blue hoodie when I sent him to his room.” Tim could hear the panic in her voice. “But I don’t know if he changed his clothes before he left.  I didn’t even know he had snuck out until I went to try to talk things out and he wasn’t there.  His bike is missing, too.  It’s a red Huffy.”

“We’re not far away, so we’ll be there soon.  I’m sure we’ll find him, Genny.” Tim closed Lucy’s door and jogged around to the driver’s side to get in. “Would you text me the address to his school and any friends he’s really close to?”

“Sure. Yeah. Of course,” she said hurriedly. “It was such a stupid thing to fight about.  I just wanted him to do something other than video games for a while today since school starts again tomorrow.”

“That’s a normal thing to argue about.  Don’t beat yourself up.  We’ll be there soon, okay?” he reassured her.  

After driving a grid pattern for 20 minutes without any sign of Tyler, Tim pulled in to Genny’s driveway.  She and Tyson were outside talking with a few neighbors.  As soon as Tim and Lucy were close to her, Genny pulled both of them into a big hug.  She had tears streaming down her face and just needed to be held for a little bit.

When she released them, she retold the list of all the friends and neighbors she had contacted. Tim pulled up his map app and Genny showed him where she had been and where his friends’ houses were.  Then Tim noticed something on the map. “Hey.  I have an idea. I’ll be back soon, okay?” He nodded at Lucy, and they jumped back into the truck.

Ten minutes later, they parked in a small parking lot and jumped out.  There were a few bikes on the bike rack, among them a red Huffy bike.  Tim and Lucy saw it at the same time and shared a knowing look.  Tim opened the door for Lucy, and they both went into Crazy Claw Arcade. It didn’t take long to find Tyler. He was playing Mortal Combat very intensely, a game his mother would never have let him play, with another kid about his age.

Tim put his hand on Tyler’s shoulder.  As Tyler looked over to see who was touching him, his shoulders slumped as he let out a groan. “Busted, buddy,” Tim said, patting his shoulder a few times. “It’s time to go.”

“But I just want to finish my game…” he moaned.

“Not happening,” Tim said, shaking his head. “If fact, if I were to make a guess, a lot of things that you want to do aren’t going to be happening for a while.”  Then he squeezed Tyler’s shoulder a little bit. “Let’s go.”

Tyler looked over to Lucy for help, but Lucy shook her head and put both of her hands up. “I can’t help you with this one.”

Tyler reluctantly relinquished his controller and slumped further into his seat. “This sucks.”

“Oh, there will be plenty of other things that suck when you get home,” Tim warned. Genny was a much better parent than either of their parents had been, but she was still strict about following rules.  There was no way that Tyler was going to get out of this without some type of punishment or restrictions.

Lucy offered Tyler her hand and helped him out of his seat. “Let’s go.”

Tim shot Genny a text that they had found him, and they left the arcade.  Tim put Tyler’s bike in the back of his truck.  They encouraged his buddy to leave, too, but that wasn’t their responsibility.

Once they were in the truck, Tim started talking first. “You really scared your mom, Tyler.  She’s been worried sick. She loves you a lot, you know.  And she only wants what’s best for you.”

Tyler moaned in acknowledgement from the back seat.

Tim looked at Lucy and rolled his eyes. “How did you think this was going to work out? You were going to sneak away for a few hours to play some video games and then just come back home without any consequences? Your mom is way too smart for that.”

“I just wanted to play that game with my friend, and my mom wouldn’t let me buy it or go over to his house to play it. So, we came up with this plan,” Tyler said, moping that he had been caught.

“And how did that work out for you?” Tim asked.

“Bad,” he deadpanned.

“So, what are you going to do in the future when something like this happens again?” Tim asked.

“Listen to my mom.” Tyler said those words so slowly and painfully that it as though he was offering up a piece of his soul.

“Listening to your mom isn’t that bad.  She’s a great mom.  She does a lot of fun things with you. And it’s been a rough year for all of you with the divorce and the move. I know things are different now than when you were in Colorado, and you’re still working on making friends and fitting in.  And not having a dad sort of sucks,” Tim said.

“My dad was never around anyway.  He was either working or drunk,” Tyler said with a flat affect.

Tim looked over at Lucy for a moment.  She had her head tilted to the side and her face was full of concern.

“Well, you have me now.  I’m never going to be your dad, but I can be your cool uncle.  We can try to find time to do more fun things together.  I mean, my schedule is a little bit crazy sometimes, but we can try to make it work.”

“Like for baseball season?”

“Baseball season?”

“Yeah.  Baseball starts in March, and mom said I could play again this year.  They’re always looking for coaches or assistant coaches. My dad always promised that he would help, but he never showed up.  Please, Uncle Tim? You played baseball when you were little, right?”

For a moment Tim flashed back through his baseball experiences as a kid – the good times with his friends and with his school team as well as the bad times with his dad ‘coaching’ him and the scars he still had from that. He glanced up at Lucy. 

Lucy could see the conflict in Tim’s eyes. She didn’t know much about his childhood, but she knew that his dad was abusive, and she saw the pain in Tim’s eyes. So, she reached out and placed a hand over Tim’s. Their eyes met as Tim stopped at a stop sign, and she smiled reassuringly at him.

“I think we could both coach you this season,” she offered.  “I’m probably not as good as your Uncle Tim, but I spent a decent amount of time playing softball when I was a kid.”

Tim’s eyes lit up at the suggestion.  Lucy, it seemed, would never cease to surprise him and amaze him. He squeezed her hand back.

“Plus,” Lucy added, “With our work schedules it would be better to have two coaches in case one of us can’t make it. But whenever we can, we will try to be there for you. Okay?”

“Yeah!” Tyler said.  He looked like a different kid when they got out of the truck a minute later than when they picked him up.  He jumped out and ran to his mom, giving her a huge hug.

Genny patted him on the back and looked to Tim in confusion.  She had expected Tyler to be angry and sullen that he had been caught. Or at the very least, she’d see the sad face of a kid dreading his punishment.  But the kid in her arms was excited about something which totally didn’t match the events of the day.

When Tyler pulled back from the hug, he said, “I’m sorry, Mom.  I shouldn’t have run away.  I know you were scared.  And I know that I’m going to have some type of punishment.”

“Uh huh,” Genny said, still shocked and trying to read the emotions on Tyler’s face.

“Guess what?” he riddled her.

“What?” Genny obediently questioned, her eyebrows high, very unsure where this conversation was going.

“Uncle Tim and Lucy are going to coach my baseball team this year!  Would you send them the link to sign up?  Blake said the sign ups are open right now, and I want Tim and Lucy to coach me and Blake.”

Genny’s eyebrows shot up ever higher and her eye popped open wide. She looked over at Tim and Lucy, who had exited the truck with much less enthusiasm but were still smiling. 

“I told you I was going to try to be around more now that you’re back in California.  This is something I can do,” Tim said, shrugging his shoulders with the corners of his lips drawn up in a smile.

“And you roped Lucy into this, too?” Genny asked.

“No,” Tim said, adamantly.

“I volunteered,” she said. “I know I’m not as good as Tim is, but if we do it together, I think it’ll be fun. Plus our schedules can get a little crazy sometimes, so having two coaches will give us a little buffer in case one of us gets stuck at work.”

“Oh.  Well.  Great,” Genny said, taking in all of the new information.

“But you know I have two sons, right?” she whispered to them. “What are you going to say when Tyson wants you to coach his team, too?”

Tim scrunched his face for a moment as he thought. “With work I don’t know if I could coach two teams in one season.  So maybe we take turns?”

“Yeah.  Okay.  Tyson said he wanted to try flag football in the fall.  Maybe you could coach that?” Genny asked.

Tim still looked uncomfortable and a bit unsure, but he glanced over at Lucy.  She moved closer to him and put her hand on his forearm, sliding it down to nestle inside his hand and giving him a smile.  The tension he felt immediately started to dissipate. “Sure. Let’s see how coaching Tyler’s team goes first.  But it that works out, then we could coach Tyson in football… or something.”

“Yes! You’re the best!” Genny said as she enveloped the two of them in a hug. She held them there for a while.  When she finally relaxed her hold on them, she wiped the tears from her eyes and took a deep breath.  “Well, it’s 4:00, and the kids voted on tacos for dinner. Do you want to stay and eat with us?”

“Uh…” Lucy started as she looked at Tim for guidance.

Tim knew that Lucy loved his family, but they had plans.  Plans that had already been waylaid for far too long, in Tim’s opinion.  His eyes pleaded for her to say no.

“We sort of had plans for the rest of the day, but I do love tacos.  Thank you for the invitation. Can we join you another time?”

“Sure.  No problem. Just text me which night would work for you,” Genny said, sensing there was something going on between the two of them in an unspoken conversation.

“Good. Yeah. See ya later Gen!” Tim called as he put his arm around Lucy and led her to the truck. He had done his good deed for the day, and he was ready for his reward.  And he wasn’t going to let anything else come between him, Lucy, and his house.

“Be safe out there!” Genny called, chuckling as she remembered that conversation from a few days ago.

Lucy and Tim both turned to look at her and waved back. Tim whispered in Lucy’s ear, “We will definitely be safe.  Again and again and again.” Lucy blushed and covered her mouth to suppress the laughter.

Once they were in the truck, Tim leaned over and grabbed Lucy’s hand. “So, we’re going to coach little league together?”

Lucy breathed out a laugh, “Yeah. I guess so.”

“Crazy,” he said, shaking his head.  Then he couldn’t suppress a question he had any longer.  “How are you so confident in us? Ten days ago you had never even heard my name. Now we’ve spent the last nine days together, we are definitely going to have sex, we’re going to coach little league in two months, and you started planning a road trip for four months from now.”  He paused for a minute. “How do you know I’m not going to screw everything up? That you aren’t going to want to leave me?” Tim’s eyes were vulnerable. Though Lucy didn’t know everything about his past yet, he had grown to expect that anyone in his life that carried about him would eventually hurt him and/or leave him.

Lucy leaned over to give him a chaste kiss on the lips as she squeezed his hand tightly. “Well, I don’t know, but… I mean, I really care about you. In just these last nine days, you’ve quickly become the most important person in my life. I’ve never had a relationship like this before. And… And I know there will be challenges, and we’ll undoubtedly argue.  But there’s something different about this,” she said motioning between them, “About us. Something… I mean, I know it sounds a little crazy to say, but something special.”

“Magical,” he said, letting his other hand gently trace along her jaw and cheekbone.

That word made Lucy roll her eyes and smile wider. “Again with the magic,” she said, shaking her head and gazing into his eyes. A moment later, something dawned on her. “Hey. Why are we still sitting in Genny’s driveway? I thought there was a different type of magic we were going to explore today,” she said leaning toward Tim so that only millimeters separated their lips.

Tim eliminated the distance between them with a sweet and tender but urgent kiss. “Oh, I haven’t forgotten. How about we pick up some dinner on the way home that’s easy to reheat later? I don’t plan to leave the house for a while.”

“Perfect,” she said pecking his lips again.  “I was going to suggest tacos since Genny got me thinking about them, but they don’t reheat as well.  How about some Thai?”

“Great. Let’s put in an order now, so that it’s ready when we park. There’s a great Thai place right outside my neighborhood.”

“There is? Hmmm… One more reason to spend more time at your house,” she laughed.

“Did you need another reason?” Tim asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Nope. But you could have listed that as one of the fringe benefits,” she joked.

“I plan to show you plenty of fringe benefits later,” Tim said slyly as he picked up his phone and selected a couple items to order.  Then he handed the phone to Lucy who hummed as she scrolled through the menu options.  Tim put his hand on her knee as she perused the list.  The longer she took, the higher his hand went on her thigh.  The smile on her face grew as his hand migrated, and she started to laugh softly.

When he started to gently stroke and draw circles on her upper, inner thigh, Lucy blew out her breath and said, “That isn’t helping me decide, you know.”

“Time’s up,” he said in a husky voice, leaning closer to her and kissing under her ear.

She tried to keep scrolling for another few seconds, but she started to squirm in her seat as the sensations from her thigh being stroked and her neck being kissed overwhelmed her. “Fine. Done,” she said, turning her head to kiss Tim. The kiss quickly deepened. Tim’s hand never left her thigh; stroking gently back and forth.  After a few minutes, Lucy pulled back and put her hand on Tim’s. “Okay. We decided not to have sex in the truck this time, right? So, we better get moving,” she said breathlessly.

Tim chuckled, picked up his phone with his left hand, and finalized the order.  Then he started the truck and took off, his right hand never leaving its new favorite spot on Lucy’s leg.

As soon as they left the Thai place, Tim’s phone starting ringing again.  He opened the truck door for Lucy, handed her the food, and then pulled out his phone. He groaned and slumped his shoulders when he saw the name on the caller ID.  Then he cleared his throat and answered with a firm voice, “Bradford.”

Lucy couldn’t hear the voice on the other end of the phone, but she could tell that Tim wasn’t happy to get the call. He closed her door and walked around the truck.  They didn’t talk for long, but Tim had a defeated look on his face when he closed the door.

“I’m really sorry to do this.  Really, really sorry. But that was Lieutenant Pine.  She says there’s some year end paperwork that is due today before 5:00 that somehow hasn’t been done. I don’t know why I’m the lucky one that has to do it, but I am. Do you mind stopping by the station with me for a few minutes?”

“I don’t plan to leave your side until tomorrow,” she said with a small smile. “Yeah, it sort of sucks to go to work right now, but we’ll be fine.  We still have time. Let’s go get it done, so we can get back to our other plans.”

“You really are the best girlfriend,” Tim said, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek and starting the truck again.

She smiled a little wider and said knowingly, “Oh, you don’t know the half of it.” She had a smug look on her face and continued, “But we have to get back to your house before I can show you that.”

Tim looked over at Lucy and groaned, reaching back over for her thigh.

“More. Later,” she reassured him. “Soon.”

Tim had told her before that he lived close to the station, but she was still a bit surprised when they were parking just 3 minutes later. He grabbed her hand, and they walked quickly into the station. 

Lucy had been in Mid-Wilshire Station a few times before for meetings, but she was looking at it now with different eyes. As she was trying to take everything in, Tim was walking very intentionally to get to that paperwork as quickly as possible. Just off of the bullpen was a short hallway.  In the middle of the light blue hallway was a dark blue door, and next to it was a sign that said Room 111 Metro Liaison.

Tim opened the door and squeezed through the narrow space to his desk. There was a small stack of papers waiting for him there.  “Have a seat,” he said.  “This shouldn’t take too long.” He picked up a pen and started writing at a frantic pace.

Lucy looked around the office and walked from one end to the other, which only took about seven steps to do.  She went to the window and pulled the cord to bring the blinds down.  Then she pulled the cord on the opposite side to see how well they closed. “Hmm,” she observed.  That’ll work, she thought to herself, opening the blinds again. Then she took two steps back to look at the door. “Does this lock?” she asked in an innocent voice.

“Of course,” he said quickly. The moment the words left his lips though, he realized what she was really asking. He raised his head to look at her more closely.  She had a mischievous glint in her eye. “Later. Soon,” he said, repeating her words back to her with a smile.

Lucy smiled back at him and tucked that little tidbit of information away for another day.  Then she moved over to examine the small couch.  She pushed on it a couple of times to see how springy it was. Then she laid down on it.  Lucy was disappointed that she barely fit, so Tim would definitely not be able to lay down comfortably on it. “Too bad,” she muttered to herself.

Tim looked up when he heard her voice, but he couldn’t tell what she was saying. “I can see the wheels in your head spinning.”

She turned and walked back to his desk in response.  Lucy grabbed the edge of the desk with both hands and gave it a little shake.  She made a high pitched ‘hmph,’ and said quietly “That should work out well.”

“Lucy,” he warned but with a laugh he was trying to stifle. “I’ve got to finish this paperwork. If I speed through it, we can be done in 15 minutes. But if all I do is envision… utilizing this space with you in the future, then it’s going to take much longer.”

“Fine. I’ll be good,” she promised. “Maybe I’ll wander around the station for a few minutes.  Just check out the lay of the land and use the bathroom maybe.” Looking at her watch to mark the time, she left Tim to his work.  After using the bathroom, she wandered around the detective’s area, looking at all the names on the desks and the personal effects they had there. She also noted an empty desk that she thought may become hers soon. No one was there at the time.  They must have all been out working cases.

Exactly fifteen minutes later, Tim emerged from his office. “Ready?”

“Absolutely,” she said, repeating her response from this morning in word, tenor, and enthusiasm, and walking over to him.

Understanding now the meaning behind her enthusiasm with that word, Tim smiled at her and pulled her close to him, kissing the top of her head. “Everyone you met yesterday isn’t here today, thanks to Grey.  So, we can speed out of here without having to chat with anyone.”  Tim stopped by one other office to drop off the paperwork and then led her to the parking garage.

When they got to his truck, Tim opened the door for Lucy and gave her a hand to get in.  Then he stepped up next to her, cupped her face with his right hand, and traced his thumb over her cheekbone. “Nothing should get in our way now,” he said confidently as he leaned in to kiss her.

Lucy pulled back from the kiss quickly. “Did you just jinx us?” she asked in disbelief. “I mean, we already had to finish the hike, help Genny, get some food for dinner, and now stop by the station. The universe is trying hard enough to keep us from your house, and now you have to say something like that?”

“Jinxes aren’t real,” he said leaning back in for another kiss.

“We’ll see,” she said raising an eyebrow at him and then smiling into the kiss. When she pulled back, she said, “Let’s get moving before your jinx catches up to us.”

Tim laughed into a scoff, shaking his head as he closed the door and moved over to his side of the car.  As they drove, they chatted about his friends from Mid-Wilshire. Tim’s hand didn’t take long to find Lucy’s knee, and even though it was only a five minute drive to his house, somehow his hand very happily migrated up to his new favorite spot on her upper thigh.  Lucy noticed the migration and squirmed a bit, while still trying, unsuccessfully, to keep the conversation going. Tim noticed her squirming, and that only encouraged him to keep going.

There was a vorfreude, a joyful, intense anticipation that came from imagining future pleasures, that filled the truck.  Every touch, every smile, every laugh just amplified that feeling until it filled every molecule in their bodies and the air around them. Both of them felt buzzed even though they hadn’t had a drop of alcohol all day.

When they parked at Tim’s house, he couldn’t stop himself and leaned over to give Lucy a kiss.  Then he reached into the back seat to grab their Thai food, while Lucy grabbed her duffel bag and backpack. Tim opened the door and gave Lucy another quick kiss. “I’m just going to put this food in the fridge,” he said as they entered the house.  “Don’t go anywhere.”

Lucy hummed her response as she toed off her shoes and set her things down by the door.   She looked around Tim’s house again, remembering the evening they spent there together two days ago.   Then, she felt her phone buzzing and pulled it out of her pocket. She scowled at the name on the screen, but she decided it was in her best interest to answer the call since she was going to keep calling if she ignored it. “Hello?”

“San nin faai lok [Happy New Year],” the voice said with a harsh tone.

“San nin faai lok. Gung hei faat choi, muqin [Happy New Year. May you be prosperous, mother],” Lucy responded in the nicest tone she could manage.

“I thought it would be best to call you instead of waiting any longer for you to call me.  I didn’t even hear from you on Christmas,” Lucy’s mother said.

“Duibuqi [Sorry].  I got snowed in on my way back from Denver on Christmas Eve. Then I had to go to work as soon as I got back to LA. But I sent you gifts that you should have received by Christmas,” Lucy said kindly.

Tim heard Lucy speaking as he moved back into the room.  He scrunched up in face in confusion as she spoke in Chinese. He could feel the tension coming off of Lucy from the phone call, so he thought he would do what he could to make her feel more comfortable, and he also wanted to convince her to get off the phone as soon as possible.  He moved behind Lucy and wrapped his arms around her middle. She relaxed back into him and sighed as her mother spoke.

“So, you’re using your job as an excuse again.  Is that what I’m hearing?” Vanessa Chen asked.

“It’s not an excuse, Mom.  I was just busy with work that day,” Lucy said defensively.  “Did you have a good holiday?”

Tim could sense that this uncomfortable phone call was not getting any easier, so he upped his game a little bit and started kissing and nibbling at Lucy’s neck to convince her to be done.

“It was fine.  We met with your grandmother and Aunt Amy. And we were with them again last night to celebrate New Year’s Eve. You didn’t call then, either.”

“Duibuqi [Sorry]. I had a couple parties that I attended yesterday, and I was busy.  But I’m talking to you now.  Did you have a nice New Year’s Eve?” she asked.  She swatted at Tim who was so distracting that she was having a hard time continuing her conversation.   He responded by moving from the right side of her neck to the left side.

“It was fine.  Your Aunt Amy insisted on making dinner instead of ordering dinner. But her lotus root soup is never seasoned well, so I had to fix it. Then her dumplings were undercooked.  And her bao weren’t pinched properly.”  She huffed. “I should have just offered to make dinner myself.”

“Duibuqi [Sorry]. I’m sure she was trying to do something nice for you, so you didn’t have to do all the work.”  Lucy swatted at Tim again because he had found just the right spot and made her gasp in the middle of talking to her mother.

“It’s fine.  It’s all over now. Your grandmother was asking about you.  Even if you want to continue to be disobedient and rude to your parents that doesn’t mean you should ignore your grandmother.”

“Yes, mother. I’ll make sure to stop by soon,” her last few words went up significantly in pitch as Tim had gone back to her sweet spot again to nibble and suck a little bit harder. Her eyes rolled back to her head, and she slumped back into Tim a little bit more.

“Lucy? What are you doing?” she said accusatorily.

“Hmm? Oh.  I… I was just…” she struggled to find what she wanted to tell her mother as Tim’s fingers crept under the edge of her t-shirt and spread out across her belly pulling her further into him and not letting up on her neck at all. “I was just enjoying a cup of tea, and… and it… it was just a little hot.” Tim chuckled into her skin, and Lucy tried ineffectively to swat at him again.

“The tea was too hot?” she asked, confused.

“Yes.  I’m very, very hot right now.  I mean… the tea.  The tea is very hot,” Lucy said a little breathlessly.

Tim laughed softly into her skin at her slip up, and then bit the area he had been sucking on, making Lucy involuntarily release a high-pitched squeal.  Her unoccupied hand came up to cover her mouth in surprise.

“Lucy?”

“Duibuqi [Sorry].  I must have burned myself on the tea.  I’ve gotta go.  Bye,” she said quickly, hanging up the phone. She heard her mother start to say something back before she ended the call, but she just couldn’t continue the conversation any longer. She let out a breath, her hands falling down to her sides. Then she spun herself around to face Tim, her hands on her hips.

For a moment, Tim was afraid she was upset, that he had gone too far. But Lucy’s face softened quickly as she said, “What was that?” she asked with a laugh.  “You’re impossible!” She paused for a second and then said, “That’s the most… interesting phone call I’ve had with my mother in a long time.” Her hand came up to the spot on her neck that Tim had focused on.  “I’m fairly certain I’ll soon have a mark to match yours. Are you happy now?”

“Not quite,” he said grabbing her phone.  He walked further into the house and disappeared down the hallway. Lucy followed him for a few steps, but she wasn’t sure if it was okay to continue to follow him or not. A moment later, she heard a series of a few beeps and then the sounds of a door clicking open and shut. Tim reappeared a few seconds later with a smug look on his face.

Lucy narrowed her eyes at him. “Did I just hear you lock our phones into your gun safe?”

“Umm hmm,” he said, pulling her close to him again. “Nothing else is more important right now than you and me.”  His mouth found that spot on her neck again.  She squirmed as his mouth played with the bruised skin. Her hands came up to hold the back of his head.  She let him stay there for another moment, but then she moved his head, directing him to move on to a new spot.

Tim smiled as he moved along her shoulder.  When he reached the edge of her shirt, he started kissing along the edge of the vee down her chest. Lucy moaned into the change and raked her fingers through his hair, holding him close. When he reached the peak of the vee, he nuzzled in as close as he could, kissing the very edges of her breasts.

Lucy groaned again, relaxing back her shoulders and pushing out her chest. “If you would just stop jinxing us, we could have been doing this a while ago,” she said with a soft laugh. Then she pulled his head up to meet hers, their lips crashing together.

Several minutes later, Tim pulled his head back from Lucy’s.  “There no such thing as a jinx.  We just need to stop answering our phones.  And now the problem is solved.”

Lucy lovingly stroked his cheek. “Mmm.  My handsome, control freak, boy scout of a boyfriend,” she said, giving him a soft kiss.

Tim growled and reached under her thighs, lifting her up. “Let me show you what else I’m prepared for,” he said in a low timbre into her ear as he carried her into his bedroom.  Lucy giggled and kissed him as they went.

A couple hours later, as the sweat cooled on their bodies, Lucy rolled over onto Tim’s chest. “That was the best way to work up an appetite.  As soon as my legs work again, we should go eat that Thai food.”

Tim chuckled as his arms came up to Lucy’s naked back where he rubbed up and down.  “That was amazing. Easily the best sex I’ve had… ever,” he said after thinking for a moment. “More Lucy magic,” he mumbled into her hair and one of his hands started tracing circles on one of her butt cheeks.

“Hmmm… I’m not the only one with magic in here. I think we’re going to have to get a new set of sheets after all that… magic.”  Then she rolled the rest of the way over Tim and pushed off Tim’s chest to sit up. “I’m going to use the bathroom for a minute, and maybe run a brush through my hair.  It feels…” she laughed as she touched her snarled and strangely matted hair. “It feels like it I’ve let a small animal make a nest in it.”   She wobbled on her legs for a moment, and then made her way into the bathroom.

Tim enjoyed the view until the bathroom door was closed.  Then he rolled out of bed himself and stripped the sheets off of it. He carried them down the hall to the washing machine, where he threw in some soap and started the load. Then he grabbed new sheets and some towels from his linen closet, set them on the edge of his bed, and went to the kitchen to warm their dinner.

While the first plate of food was warming, he went back to the bathroom to make the bed. Lucy came out of the bathroom as he was finishing up. She squinted at the stack of towels he had brought in.  Tim saw her moment of confusion and answered her question before she could ask it. “I thought maybe we could save the number of times we need to make the bed if we put down towels sometimes.”

“Ahhh,” Lucy said nodding her head. Then she laughed softly, “Sorry for the mess. I don’t normally… I mean, usually I’m not so… Well, you are very good at what you did.”

Tim smiled at her awkwardness and hugged her closely. “You are welcome to soak my sheets any day… every day.  It’s the best type of problem to have.”  Lucy moaned into his chest but couldn’t think of what else to say, still slightly embarrassed.

The microwave beeped, alerting them that some of the food was ready. “Let’s go eat.  You’re going to need that fuel for later.” He paused and then added with a chuckle, “And we should probably hydrate well, too.”

Lucy twisted her mouth into a bow and tilted her head. “Hmmm… Just give me a minute to put something on.  It would feel weird to sit at your dining table naked.”

Tim shrugged. “If it were up to me, you wouldn’t ever wear clothes in this house again.”

Lucy slapped his chest playfully as she went to grab her duffel bag. Out of the corner of her eye though, she saw him slip on his boxer briefs as he moved back to the kitchen.

A couple minutes later, the microwave beeped again. Tim took out the food and turned to see Lucy walking into the dining room.  She was wearing a long, black silk robe with a large floral design loosely wrapped around her. He stopped what he was doing to watch her approach him. “You really are more beautiful every day,” he said, gazing at her.

Lucy giggled, “Well, you’ve only known me for nine days.  Let’s see what you think after you’ve known me for a few months.”

Tim shook his head. “No, the number of days or weeks won’t matter,” he said confidently, encircling her in his arms and humming into her hair.

Soon they moved to the table where they ate and chatted comfortably.  As they were clearing the table, Lucy glanced outside. “Is there any way I could convince you to turn on your patio lights and dance with me again?”

Tim smiled. “I thought by now you’d figured out that I have a hard time saying no to you.”

Lucy smiled back at him. “Does that mean you’re going to get my phone out of your gun safe, so I can turn on some music?” she asked holding up his Bluetooth speaker.

“Only if you promise not to take any calls,” he teased.

“Let me remind you that you were the one that answered the call from Genny and the call from work,” she said with a playful lilt.

“Fine,” he grumbled into her neck, giving her a kiss over her now purple spot.

Lucy packaged up the rest of the food while Tim went to get her phone and turn on the patio lights.

When Lucy walked over to the patio door, she noticed that Tim had put on the pants he had worn earlier. “Hmm… You’re a bit overdressed for what I have in mind for later,” she pouted.

“I could say the same thing to you. But there’s no way I’m going to give my neighbors a reason to call the police.” He smiled and then pulled her close.  “Plus, you were a bit loud earlier.  We’re going to have to turn on some white noise or fans to cover it or we’ll be reported for disturbing the peace.  We’ve had enough interruptions for one day, and I don’t want to see anyone else from work,” he said, extending his arm to take her hand.

Lucy blushed and smiled back up at him. “Sorry, not sorry,” she said with a giggle as they started to sway to the music.

“No, I’m definitely not sorry either. I think I’ll be hearing those screams in my dreams - the very best dreams.” With that, Tim spun Lucy out a couple times and reeled her back in. He loved the look of adoration he saw on her face when she joyfully spun back to him.

After dancing to several songs, Lucy went up on her toes to whisper into Tim’s ear. “If you think you’re fueled up enough and ready for some more, there’s something I want to show you.”

Tim eyebrows shot up, and he nodded his head. Lucy picked up the speaker and took it back inside, turning it off as she went. She led Tim back into his bedroom, closing the door behind them. She pushed him backwards to sit on the edge of the bed, and then she took a few steps away from him. Tim’s eyes followed her closely to see what she was going to do next.  With her next breath, she untied the belt of her robe and rolled her shoulders allowing the robe to cascade off of them to the floor.

Tim’s jaw fell to the floor when he realized what she had been hiding under that robe while they ate dinner and danced. It was an emerald green teddy.  The bra part of it was lacy with some cut outs that allowed more skin to be seen. A wide strip of lace extended down each side of her body, tied together in the center several times with little black bows.  The panties were made of the same lace, and the cut around the leg came up over the edge of her hip.

Lucy smiled as she saw the desired effect on Tim’s face. She strutted closer to him. His hands eagerly greeted her as they traced the edges of the lace. “You…” he started, but his mouth was too dry. He closed his mouth for a moment, swallowed, and then started again. “You packed this to bring with you today?

She nodded.

“And you were wearing this all the way through dinner and dancing?”

She nodded as her smile grew.

“If I had known…”

“That’s why I wore the robe over it,” she interrupted.  “So… you like it?”

Tim groaned as he pulled her close to him, nuzzled his face into her chest, and let his hands rove around her sides to her back. Then he groaned again deeper when he realized that the panties were actually a thong with all of her buttocks uncovered. “Green is my new favorite color after the dresses you’ve worn this week and now this,” he said twanging the tiny scrap of fabric at the top of her butt.

Lucy smiled as she slowly lowered herself to straddle his lap. “I had a feeling you might like this,” she said softly as her lips met his and her hands took hold of his muscular shoulders. Tim’s hands stayed on her butt, his fingers spread wide, digging in to bring her impossibly closer to him.  As much as Tim enjoyed how Lucy looked, it didn’t take long for it to be discarded on the floor with their other clothes.

Their alarms sounded far too early the next morning.  Lucy stretched out her arms that were propped under her head to find the device that was making noise and turn it off.  She was surprised to find a heavy weight on her chest and looked down to see Tim’s head resting on her bare chest with his arm tucked around her middle.  She smiled as she remembered all of the events of the last 24 hours, and particularly those of the last 12 hours.  She combed her fingers through Tim’s hair as she admired his handsome face.  

Within a few minutes, Tim started to stir. He blinked several times, not quite believing the beautiful view in front of his eyes.  He hand moved up to confirm he wasn’t still dreaming. Then his eyes fell closed again and he groaned as his hand explored Lucy’s exposed skin. “So, it wasn’t all a dream,” he mumbled.  “It would have been the best dream, too.  But the fact that it was real life? That’s a dream come true. That’s more Lucy magic.”

Lucy smiled as he started talking about magic again. She kept raking her fingers through his hair as he kept moving his hand all over her body, taking in every inch.

“You know,” he continued. “I feel like you and your magic,” he said opening his eyes and lifting his head just slightly to meet her eyes. “You have bewitched me, body and soul.  Whenever I’m around you, I feel happy and whole. Happier than I’ve ever been. And I never want to leave you, but when I must, there seems to be a hollow in my heart and in my hand where you belong.  Thank you… for last night, for the last week, for everything.”

Lucy’s breath caught and her eyes widened at Tim’s surprisingly poetic and sincere words, especially so soon after waking up. “I… uh… I don’t know what to say to that.”  Her eyes stayed locked on his.  Then she cupped his cheeks and lifted his face up to hers, bringing their lips together in a passionate kiss.  

When they parted for air, Lucy pushed him over, rolling on top of him. She kissed the center of his chest and said, “You know, I’m almost 30 years old, and I had almost given up on the idea of romance and love.  I had so many relationships that seemed to start off fine, and then they just crashed and burned. And when they burned, it really hurt. Some of them hurt so much that I was too slow to end later relationships I had, even when they obviously weren’t working out.” She sighed and looked at the ceiling with that memory. “But this,” she said, patting his chest and looking back into his eyes. “This is amazing. This is what it’s supposed to be like, right?”

Tim smiled in response and kissed her briefly. “I think so. Honestly, I’m almost 40; I’ve been married before, and I thought I was in love then, and yet, this is new for me, too.” 

Lucy leaned forward to kiss him again, and then settled her head on his chest, lost in thought.

After a few minutes, she lifted her head and then started shimmying down his body slowly.  “You know, I usually start my day by going on a run. But today, I’m in the mood to get sweaty with a different type of exercise.” She gave him a Cheshire grin and then started to kiss down his torso, letting her fingers trace the hard planes of his abdomen that had been filling her dreams for the last few nights since he had answered the door shirtless.

Tim’s chest rumbled as Lucy’s suggestion and it made her whole body vibrate, which only encouraged her further.

Thirty minutes later, she rolled off of him out of breath and out of energy. She looked at her phone and groaned when she saw the time.  “I’ve got to shower and get ready,” she said as she forced herself to get up into a sitting position.  

Tim stayed on the bed, temporarily sapped of all energy.  He heard the shower turn on, and a minute later he heard Lucy get in and shut the door. He closed his eyes again, imagining the water running down her body. Then his eyes popped open when he realized that he didn’t need to imagine it anymore; he could see it for himself. So, he crawled out of bed and called out to Lucy, “You know, we should probably conserve water and shower together.”

“Funny, I was just thinking the same thing,” she said with suds covering her hair and a big smile on her face.

Thirty minutes later, Lucy grabbed a piece of toast that Tim offered to her with a thermos of coffee. “Next time I’ll make you pancakes. I’m sorry we ran out of time for them this morning.”

“I don’t regret a thing,” Lucy said with a smirk. “But I do love pancakes, so I’ll take you up on your offer another time.”

“I wish I had time to take you to your station this morning,” Tim said. “I feel bad that you don’t have a car here, and a ride share is picking you up.”

“Don’t feel bad at all,” Lucy insisted. “I set up the ride share yesterday.  What happened this morning is exactly what I wanted to have happen this morning,” she said with a mischievous smile.

“Will I see you later today?” Tim asked.

“You can’t get rid of me that easily,” she said, giving him a chaste kiss on the lips. “I’ll either call or text when I’m close to being done at work. We can figure out what to do tonight once we’re both free. Sound good?”

“Perfect.”

A car outside honked its horn.  “That’s my ride; I should go,” Lucy said picking up her duffel bag and backpack. She leaned over to kiss Tim on the cheek, and then she was gone.

Tim sighed. Mid-Wilshire was close, so he still had a few more minutes to spare before he needed to leave. He went to switch the sheets from the washer to the dryer and added another load to sheets and towels to the washer. Then he walked back to his room with fresh sheets to put on his bed.

As he was leaving his room, he noticed the bathroom light had been left on.  He went to turn it off and noticed that Lucy had left a toothbrush next to his and her shampoo, conditioner, and body wash in the shower.  Something so simple could have meant that she was in a rush and forgotten them, but she had picked up everything else that she had brought meticulously.  It felt like something more. It felt like a promise that she would return. He smiled at the idea that she would be back, that this wasn’t just a fleeting romance or a one-night stand.

An hour and a half later, Tim was leaving his morning meeting with Metro and headed back to his office to work on some training plans since they didn’t have any cases yet that morning. As he came down the hallway, he heard a sound that made him stop in his tracks. He was frozen in place as the people who were walking with him pushed by him to get to their destinations.  Then he heard it again, and his head perked up, his eyes scanning the room trying to locate the source of the sound.

The third time he heard the sound, he also saw the source.  It was the laughter of none other than Detective Lucy Chen.  And this time her laughter was mixed with that of his best friend, Angela Lopez and fellow detective Nyla Harper. As he watched them still at a great distance, the shock and surprise on his face melted like winter hoarfrost under the heat of the spring sun, leaving an uncharacteristically large grin on his face.

Then, he had a big decision to make – how was he going to approach Lucy at work?  He had spent over a decade establishing his tough guy persona, and he didn’t want to ruin that or risk losing the respect of those he led. He enjoyed the look of intimidation in the eyes of his underlings. But this was Lucy.  Lucy that had just left his bed naked a couple hours ago.  Lucy who saw right through him and broke down every wall.

He also wasn’t sure if this was just a one time meeting or if she had taken the position at Mid-Wilshire without telling him. He didn’t want to look like the idiot boyfriend who started making assumptions about the situation and ended up making a fool out of himself. So, before he walked over to where Lucy could see him, he needed to decide his strategy.

 Lucy had arrived early as she had promised Caradine that she would.  She had filled out some paperwork and got settled at her desk.  Nyla and Angela arrived soon after Lucy sat down.  They greeted her with hugs, welcoming her to their group. Caradine instructed them to take Lucy under their wings for the week until Lucy got to know the people, places, and procedures of Mid-Wilshire. They were talking about a particularly ridiculous case when Tim happened to hear them laughing.

When the laughter died down, Lucy leaned over to pick up the case file only to be stopped by the sound of her name being called.

“Detective Chen,” came a booming baritone voice. “My office. Now,” he said very firmly, leaving no room for argument. 

Lucy immediately recognized the voice, but it was a tone she had never heard directed at her before. She blushed and set the file back down as she turned to look at him.

“Don’t mind him. He’s all bark and no bite,” Nyla said as she stared down Tim.

“I don’t know, Nyla.  I think I saw some evidence earlier today, that he does have a bit of bite to him,” she said as she gently tugged on the collar of Lucy’s blouse.

Lucy blushed a deep red and readjusted her collar. “Stoooop,” she quietly insisted. “I’ll be right back.” She walked quickly in his direction, glancing at Angela and Nyla who were laughing to themselves as she left.

When Lucy got within a few feet of Tim, she saw the stone-cold mask he wore falter for just a moment. She tried to keep her face stoic, but a smile was creeping up the edge of her lips.

Angela and Nyla shared a knowing grin and shook their heads as they watched the two of them enter Tim’s office and heard the door slam shut.

When they entered the office, Tim closed the door and shut the blinds, still not saying another word to her.

Lucy laughed softly. “I’m not sure we should be testing out the strength of your desk on my first day here.  I was imagining it would take at least a couple days until you were comfortable with that.”

Tim scrunched up his brow at her. “Lucy, we’re on the clock right now. We’ve got a job to do,” he said critically.

Lucy’s smile failed for a moment.  He was being more serious than she thought he was going to be once they got into his office.  She thought he was just putting on a façade.

Then Tim took a step closer to her. “So, you really did it?  You transferred here?  You’re not just here for a case?”

Lucy nodded her head. His voice was still much firmer than she was accustomed to, and she was having a harder time reading him.

“And you weren’t going to tell me? It’s not like you haven’t had the opportunity to talk to me recently. We’ve been practically connected at the hip,” he said, his brows knit together as he stared at her.

Lucy shrugged her shoulders. “I told you about the opportunity, and you seemed to be okay with it then, happy even.  And at the New Year’s party you seemed to be okay with people talking to me about coming here. I just… I just wanted to surprise you.”  She took a deep breath and blew it out. “Did I screw up? Do you not want me here? Now have I made it too complicated?” she asked vulnerably.

Tim took a step closer to her, his eyes softening as he met hers. “No,” he said in a gentler voice. Then he took another step forward, crowding into Lucy’s space and effectively pushing her up against the back of his door. “No. This is perfect. It’s beyond perfect. I love having you here. I…” His brain had run out of words to tell her how ecstatic he was that she had transferred, so he decided to let his lips explain how he felt without words. He dipped his head down and crushed his lips into hers.

They stayed locked together for a few minutes. When they parted, Tim rested his forehead against hers and said simply. “I just don’t like surprises.”

Lucy leaned back up and whispered onto his lips, “Control freak.”  Then she smiled into another passionate kiss, this one a bit sloppier because they couldn’t stop smiling.

When they broke apart, Lucy said, “Mmm… I should probably get going.  I don’t want to get a bad reputation on the first day.”

Tim agreed and reluctantly took a step back.  Lucy readjusted her clothes and ran her fingers through her hair so it wouldn’t look obvious that she had just made out with her boyfriend at work.

“I like the shirt you wearing, by the way,” Tim said with a devious smile. “I noticed that you picked one with a high collar.  Nicely played.”

Lucy smiled back at him and gently touched the deep purple bruise on her neck that was well hidden by her blouse. “You’re not the only one who comes prepared,” she said with a smile. Then she gave him a quick peck on the lips. “Will I see you for lunch?”

“Hopefully,” he said as he opened the door for her. “Text me when you have a break, and I’ll see if I can make it work.”

“Sounds good. Bye,” she said turning to give him one last smile as she walked away.

Tim stood in the doorway and watched as Lucy rejoined Angela and Nyla. He saw them joking with Lucy and laughing together again. He couldn’t hear what was said, but he was fairly positive he was one of the subjects of their laughter. But he couldn’t care less.

He took a deep breath and that uncharacteristically large grin reappeared on his face. This was all he could have wanted: a great career that he loved and gave him immense satisfaction, his sister living close to him again, his best friend working with him, and, most importantly, a woman that he loved, and he felt confident loved him back, right there in front of him. They hadn’t said those words yet; it was probably too early still, but he felt it in his bones. He basked in his thoughts like an alpha lion sitting on a boulder and basking in the rays of the early morning sun, letting the energy sink deep into his soul.

Lucy was here to stay. What started as a simple flight delay had turned into the best thing that ever happened to him. She had bounced into his life and filled every dark, hollow, lonely piece of him with light and love. Lucy had worked her magic.

The End

La fin.

Fine.

O Fim.

Das Ende.

Zhong.

Kkeut.

Owari.

Chapter Text

https://archiveofourown.org/works/53806927/chapters/161696098

Enjoy!