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Too Good at Goodbyes

Summary:

Lucy is trying to grieve and Rachel is leaving

Notes:

We did it! We've made it to the end of season two!
Creative license was had – the Chenford moments in this ep were cute but they were scarce. I did like them both being bummed about Rachel leaving – but I also would have liked to see some concern from Tim about Chris and Erin being killed.

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

Season Two Ep 20 - The Hunt - Season 2 finale

 

Goodbye Rachel

“So how are you feeling about the move?” Lucy asks Rachel once they are seated at their table.

It was Rachel’s last week in town and Lucy was treating her to dinner.

“Good, I mean I’m excited about the job and my apartment,” Rachel says, “I just don’t know where Tim stands with all of it.”

“I know for sure that he’s going to miss you,” says Lucy because that is something she’s sure of, the rest of Tim’s emotions are however a giant mystery to her.

“Has he said anything about it? Have you tried to ask him?”

“He hasn’t said much honestly, he doesn’t like talking about his personal life at work or with me,” Lucy says, “But that doesn’t mean that he’s not thinking about trying a long-distance relationship,” she adds trying to be optimistic.

“I have a feeling he isn’t exactly keen on the idea of long distance. He puts on a good face for me but I think he’s planning his official break-up speech," Rachel admits.

“Well, try not to think of it as a break-up and more of an end to something that had its moment but has run out of time,” suggests Lucy.

“Right, sure, because that will help me from feeling sad,” says Rachel.

The two women eat their meal and focus on the good things instead of the negative. They reminisce on how they met and the classes they had together. They talk about Lucy’s ex-boyfriend who went off and married her ex-best friend and how that doesn’t seem to matter anymore. By the end of it both of them are feeling better about Rachel leaving and Lucy selfishly is glad Tim isn’t doing anything crazy like moving to New York.

 

Missing moment from the end of Ep 19

They hear the sound of two gunshots but they have no idea who’s shooting at whom. Tim and Lucy look at each other from across the bleachers and neither of them looks optimistic.

“Down here,” Tim says as he starts heading down through the rows of seats to get closer to the field.

Lucy follows from the other end of the rows and once they reach the grass all she can see is Nolan leaning over someone’s body and Armstrong holstering his weapon.

Lucy’s body comes to a full stop without her consent.

Erin is dead.

First Chris and now Erin; how many other rookies from her year in the Academy, how many more of her friends were going to lose their lives to this job?

“Chen!”

She hears her name and shakes herself out of her emotional fog and turns to see Tim.

“This way,” he tells her and gestures back towards the way that they came in.

They walk back through the stadium entrance in silence. She’s happy for it. She doesn’t want to talk, to admit out loud that Erin is dead. This is one of the times she’s thankful for Tim’s stoic attitude and resentment towards being emotional.

Once they are back in the shop and headed to the station to report in Lucy starts speaking.

“I go to the flea market there all the time, and now, now it’s ruined,” she says.

Tim looks at her confused so she keeps talking trying to explain herself.

“The Rose Bowl Flea Market, it’s once a month. I go there, if I have it off, to find things for my apartment, you know like cute coffee cups or little vintage trinkets,” she says.

Tim nods now understanding, “Not with that attitude," he tells her. "I mean you can’t let every bad case ruin something for you, because if that were the case there’d be so many places in L.A. you’d have to stop going to. Like think of all the bar fights we’ve broken up or the vandalism at local restaurants, you’d starve,” he jokes trying to lighten the mood.

“You’re right, just because we’ve responded to a call somewhere it shouldn’t stop me from enjoying it. I mean that taco truck we go to all the time, how many drug busts have we done in that park? Nothing can keep me from one of those bean burritos,” she says with a small smile.

“Good,” Tim says smiling.

 

After his peaceful last morning with Rachel Tim walks into the locker room and changes into his uniform. He makes sure the black band is properly placed over his badge before he walks out. With two cops dead and Rachel leaving town he’s not having a great day but more importantly he has no idea what kind of emotional state Chen is going to be in. He takes his seat in the roll call room to wait for Grey’s update on the case and sees Nolan, Jackson and Chen come in and take their place in the front row.

Lucy sits down and turns around to find Tim in his usual spot near the back of the room and attempts at giving him a smile. She sees him give her a small nod of acknowledgment in return. She didn’t get much sleep after she spent most of her night curled up with Jackson as he cried. Eventually he fell asleep and she was able to take one of the hottest showers of her life to clean off the terrible day they had and attempt to get a few hours of sleep.

Once everyone is up to speed on what they know about Serj and Ruben they are sent out to do whatever they can to find them. Tim has one contact that might help but he hasn’t been able to get through to him yet. He meets Chen at the kit room as she collects their bags.

“So, um…” he starts saying as she gives him a funny look, “how are you holding up? Yesterday was a rough one.”

“I’m okay, I spent most of my night consoling Jackson,” she tells him.

“Okay, well just try to keep your head on straight today and we’ll do what we can to catch this guy,” he says.

“Of course, and um thanks,” she says softly.

 

Tim and Lucy get back in the shop after raiding the 'massage parlor'

“So does Cisco know where Ruben or Serj are?” Lucy asks as she buckles up her seatbelt.

“No, he said they had to give up their phones and lay low after the shooting so I slipped him a new one,” Tim tells her.

“And you think he’ll listen?” she asks.

“If he knows what’s good for him.”

 

After the raid Lucy can tell Tim is upset about missing his dinner with Rachel. She knows that even though he’s trying to put on a brave face (as per usual) he is actually genuinely going to miss her. So once everyone is secured and arrested she lets him go.

“Hey, go to Rachel, catch her before the airport, I’ll ride back with someone else,” she says.

“What? No, it’s too late, and I meant it when I said it’s better this way,” he insists.

“No, it’s not and you know it. Now go, say goodbye to her, properly,” she repeats.

“I don’t even know where she is right now,” he argues. The truth is he wants to say goodbye to Rachel. She’s the first person he’s dated in a very very long time and he actually really liked her. He doesn’t want things to end on shitty terms.

“She’s here,” Lucy says as she holds up her phone for him to see that she has Rachel’s location on some find my friend app, “now go Bradford,” she says.

Well he can’t argue with that so instead he rolls his eyes and gives Chen a small smile, “thanks” he says as he runs back to his shop and drives off.

Notes:

Next up: Season 3! Which as we know has some wonderful Chenford moments! :)

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