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SSN 4 Ep 12 – The Knock
Lucy
Lucy rushes home and starts ransacking her closet for the perfect dress. It’s been ages since she’s gone somewhere nice enough that she could even wear a dress.
She’s excited.
She’s going out, for dinner, with Tim…and Ashley, oh and Chris. She still can’t believe that Tim set her up like that, but to be fair she should have seen it coming. They’ve developed such a good dynamic recently and she’s really been enjoying their back-and-forth banter.
She continues to search through her closet looking for something that says sophisticated and fancy but not too sexy and she settles on a dark floral number.
“Where are you going?” Tamara asks when Lucy comes out of her room all dolled up.
“Oh! I’m going to this pop-up dinner, in Malibu on the beach!” Lucy says excitedly.
“Oh that’s cool, who with?” Tamara asks. She’s less interested in the beach dinner and more interested who Lucy is going with. She’s only known the older woman for about a year but in that time she’s pretty sure she’s never seen her go out on a date.
“With Tim, Ashley and that clown of a lawyer,” she adds reluctantly.
“Wait, you’re going on a date with that clown?” Tamara asks shocked.
“It’s not a date,” Lucy stresses, “well, maybe it is, I’m not really sure to be honest. Ashley had the tickets and she and Tim were supposed to go with friends of hers but they pulled out last minute,” Lucy explains, “and Tim knew that I was jealous that he was going, because trust me, it’s so out of his comfort zone! Anyways, they needed two other people to come and Tim suggested me, but I needed a date and Chris was conveniently at the station,” she says.
“Okay,” Tamara says processing all of that information. “So, you’re going for dinner with Tim and his girlfriend and it’s maybe a date, cool,” she says, “have fun!”
Chris
Chris can’t believe his luck.
He knows Officer Chen; Lucy, is well out of his league but he’s thanking Bradford right now for the impromptu invitation. Lucy had texted him the address and dinner details and he couldn’t believe they got tickets. He’d overheard some people at the office talking about how quickly the event had sold out. He texts one his foodie friends to let them know where he’s going for dinner and to get any insight at all as to what exactly he’s walking into. He’s not the most adventurous eater unless it comes in a take-out container and he doesn’t have to ask what it is.
For half a second, he’d thought maybe there was something going on between Officer Chen and Sargent Bradford because they appeared to have such a good dynamic when he saw them around the station but thankfully Chris learned about the lifeguard girlfriend when the severed hand showed up on the beach.
So, he goes through his closet trying to find the right thing to wear. He’s not sure if this is really classified as a first date or if Lucy will just see it as something casual, but he’s hoping to impress her nonetheless. She’s an incredible cop already and he can tell she has a great future ahead of her, she would even make a good lawyer if he could convince her.
Tim
Tim heads home and grabs a fresh shirt and jacket from his closet. He’s not exactly sure what one wears to dinner on the beach but he assumes cargo shorts are not an option. He checks his phone to see how he’s doing on time and predictably sees a text from Ash letting him know the expected dress code. He rolls his eyes but a smile still spreads across his face; she’s always looking out for him.
He arrives at about the same time as Lucy and waits for her to get out of her SUV so they can find their table together. They see Ashley and Chris already waiting.
“Did you two come together?” Ashley asks with a curious look.
“No,” Tim says with a shake of his head, “we just got here at the same time.”
“Ya, we obviously got off shift at the same time and we both live near the station, so the travel time is similar,” Lucy adds trying to solidify Tim’s explanation. She doesn’t know why Ashley looks so hesitant but it appears to put her at ease for the moment.
Tim gives Lucy a look, but figures she’s just overcompensating like usual to make sure everyone feels comfortable. The four of them get seated and patiently and awkwardly wait for their first course to be delivered.
Lucy
Lucy’s surprised at how at ease she is at dinner considering it might be a first date. She’s not entirely sure how to categorize it but as it turns out Chris Sanford is kind of cute in an awkward way and he’s not horrible once he’s off the job.
Unfortunately, the conversation doesn’t flow well the entire night between the four of them but Tim seems to find any opportunity to tell some embarrassing story about her from the job. She can see Ashley tense up occasionally so Lucy decides to steer the conversation towards one thing they all have in common: the hand that was found on the beach.
Ashley
Ashley decides she needs a moment and leaves the table to head to the restroom. She knew tonight was going to be interesting when Tim had originally not shown any interest in coming. She then knew it was going to be weirder when it was Lucy who convinced him to go, and when Tim suggested they invite her. Ashley was hesitant at first but once she knew Lucy had a date her worries subsided; this was clearly a mistake.
After two courses and an hour of Tim and Lucy sharing stories from work and details about Tim that Ashley had no idea about, she decides she needs some air. And yes, she knows the irony of that considering they are literally outside but she’s starting to feel a little suffocated.
When she gets back the conversations appears to be at another awkward lull so she decides to talk about something that suits her interests – her dream of travelling the world and experiencing all the different types of beaches.
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The night continues with an air of awkwardness around it and by the time the last course comes around it’s not any better.
“Um, thanks for the invite,” Chris says looking at Lucy.
“Ya, it was fun,” she says trying her best to make it sound believable. It was for the most part. She did enjoy the food and it was nice to spend some time with Tim off the clock for once.
Chris walks off towards his car leaving the three of them.
“Um, I guess I’ll get going, thanks again for letting me join you Ashley,” Lucy says.
“Of course Lucy, I’m glad you enjoyed it. Are you going to come over tonight?” she asks turning her attention to Tim.
Lucy takes that as her que to start walking to her car, albeit slowly.
Tim
"Are you going to come over tonight?” Ashley asks him looking hopeful.
“Um, not tonight, I have an early morning,” Tim tells his girlfriend which results in another disappointed look to spread across her face, “tomorrow night, I’ll make it up to you,” he says.
“Sure,” says Ashely as she heads towards the parking lot herself.
Tim can tell Ashley is upset but he’s not exactly sure what is bothering her. He stands there a little more confused than he’d like to admit. He knows Ashley can tell he didn’t love the dinner experience they just had but he was still glad to be spending time with her. This relationship is new and they are still in the bumpy stage of figuring each other out, but he’s pretty sure it’s worth the time and effort. Tim looks towards his truck and sees Lucy standing with her hand on her driver side door of her own car watching.
Lucy
Lucy is just getting to her car, which is parked beside Tim’s truck, and she watches him kiss Ashley lightly on the cheek before walking over towards his vehicle. Lucy is pretty sure he didn’t win any points from Ashley tonight, but he did manage pretty well considering eating a meal of food made up of molecular gastronomy on the beach is literally the polar opposite of anything he’d ever chose to do on his own. He’s compromising, but she can tell he’s not enjoying it.
She also knows he’s probably starving.
“You spying on me Chen?” he asks when he sees her still standing next to her car.
“No,” she says unconvincingly, “I was waiting for you so I could tell you I think there’s a taco place down the street, in case…” she says not finishing her sentence because she knows she doesn’t have to.
“Thanks,” he says smiling, “see you tomorrow.”
Tim
The next day, Tim gets a text from Ashley letting him know she wants to talk after his shift is done. He knows he needs to find a way to smooth things over with her, whatever it takes. He doesn’t want to be alone again and Ashley is proving to be a good option for him so he doesn’t want to screw it up.
Chris
Chris decides that despite the location of the date, the overall company wasn’t bad. Mostly he just wants a second date with Lucy so he can have some one-on-one time with her. He really likes her and he doesn’t want one weird double date to ruin his chances. So, he decides to go to the Mid-Wilshire station and hang out until she gets off shift. He considered texting her but thought this was a more romantic of a gesture.
The Do-Over Dates
Lucy & Chris
Due to the lack of seating at Pinks, Lucy and Chris end up opening the hatch-back of her SUV and sitting in it like a make-shift tailgate.
“So was last night really your idea of a good meal or is this more your speed?” Chris asks.
“Um, both,” she says, “normally I would never get to go to something like Osia; its way out of my LAPD price range, but I like trying new things, especially when it comes to food. But Pinks has always been a favourite of mine,” she tell him.
“That’s good to know. I’m not crazy adventurous with food myself, but I do know a lot of excellent takeout places in LA, he says.
“That’s good to know,” Lucy says smiling.
Tim & Ashely
Ashley stops at the closest Whole Foods and makes Tim wait in the car. She emerges about 15 minutes later with 3 full bags of groceries. Tim doesn’t question it because he’s letting Ashley take the lead tonight and he doesn’t want her to think he’s regretting that decision already.
They drive to the beach and Ash still hasn’t given him any indication as to what she has planned. She gets a blanket from the back of her car while Tim grabs the bags and follows her to the sand.
“I thought it would be nice to have dinner on the beach, just the two of us,” she says as she lays out the blanket. Tim still isn’t interested in getting sand in his food but smiles and says, "that sounds like a great idea.”
“Ya?” she asks sounding a little surprised.
“Yes,” he agrees.
Thankfully their night ends at a reasonable time and Tim takes Ashley home with him, to his relief she doesn't make him call in sick the next day.