Chapter Text
Lucy Taras apartment, tuesday night 9:38pm:
It had been a few days since the apology in the bullpen and their hug. A hug had felt like some form of closure for Lucy. But for Kate, it felt like the end.
They had been in sort of limbo since then. They were not overly friendly with each other but also not angry or passive-aggressive. They had a strange relationship at the moment. Lucy felt they could eventually move forward together at some point, but Kate kept her distance. It was frustrating.
Kate and Lucy were on … good terms. That had to be enough for now. Maybe they could actually talk in the coming days and sort everything out. Try as she might, Lucy Tara could not stay away from Kate Whistler, no matter how much she tried to.
Wallowing in a bit of self-pity, lots of memories, and what-ifs' Lucy glanced at her drink.
Then her phone lit up, and she saw the caller ID. A smirk made its way to her lips as she put down the drink she had been nursing on the soft wooden table. Finally, a chance to kick ass. Or so she hoped. Anything to get her mind off Kate Whistler.
“Tennant?” she picked up, her chest tingled with excitement as she heard what Jane had to tell her. “Lucy? Ernie is about to send you a location on your phone. Meet us there in twenty minutes. Whistler and the FBI are joining us.”
“I'll be there in twenty.” The brunette agent confirmed and hung up the phone.
Lucy took her jacket from the back of a chair, got her gun and badge from their usual drawer by the door, and prepared herself to work with Whistler again . Apparently, the drug ring they were chasing was more of a threat than they initially thought if NCIS asked the FBI for reinforcement.
Lucy caught herself looking in the mirror and made sure she was presentable before leaving her apartment, which she mentally scolded herself for doing later. She and Kate Whistler were over. Kate broke her heart, and maybe Lucy hurt Kate too. But that was not important right now.
Besides, Kate had seen her face covered in blood and dirt, so Lucy shouldn’t care if her hair was a little messy after having a long day, especially since what Kate thought of her didn't really matter (except it somewhat does, but that's beside the point).
Getting in her car and driving to the address Ernie had texted her, Lucy's heart was beating out of her chest. She blamed it on having a couple of beers before, ignoring the fact that it took a lot more than a few beers to get her even slightly buzzed and pushing away the idea it was a result of seeing and working with Kate.
As she got further away from the city, Lucy noticed the stars shining bright above her head, the dark night sky harboring many marvelous things. She couldn't stop herself from thinking about Kate's eyes or the way they shone, causing the universe to pale in comparison to their beauty. Stop it! She broke your heart, Lucy!
Once again, Lucy couldn't help it and found herself smiling at the thought of Kate Whistler. She forced that weird feeling she would get whenever she saw the other woman to disappear.
Approaching the warehouse, Lucy noticed her team and a few FBI people were already there. Her eyes ran through the trees surrounding the path leading to the building, but the night didn't give anything away.
“There you are.” an all too familiar voice sounded behind her.
“Jesus, Whistler, are you trying to scare me to death?” Lucy cursed under her breath. Her frown was replaced by a wonderstruck look as she took in the beauty that was Kate Whistler in her FBI jacket and bulletproof vest.
The FBI agent chuckled lightly, and oh god , it was the most amazing sound Lucy had ever heard, the kind you could get a record of and listen to for hours. STOP IT! Get your shit together .
Lucy crossed her arms and pushed the pleasing sound to the back of her mind. She had to stop these annoying feelings from invading her with such terrible timing; after all, the women had a job to do, and they broke up for a reason (a reason named Cara, ugh). Right? Right!
"The teams have already checked the perimeter. We are just waiting for Tennant's signal to engage.” Whistler informed, handing Lucy her NCIS bulletproof vest. Kate beckoned her to the entrance of the building, where Lucy greeted Jane and the rest of her team.
Jane Tennant's voice was professional, but her lips still curled up in a smirk as she explained that this should be an easy arrest since the suspects didn’t have any clue about the raid that was about to happen. Ernie had found their location only an hour ago. So, this should come as a total surprise. If everything went well, then another drug ring would be off the streets in no time.
***
But things never turn out the way you expect.
Turned out it was, in fact, not an easy raid. The warehouse was filled with shipping containers full of not only drugs but also guns. A crucial piece of information that the teams did not have. Who messed this up?!
Minutes into the attempted arrest, Lucy's breath was ragged, and her heart was pounding due to the effort of getting thrown to the ground or ducking behind containers. Her knuckles were bruised from the occasional times her punches had actually been able to hit their mark, and her lips stung from the cut she got there after hitting her head on the gravel floor.
Ignoring the feeling of something wet and warm flowing from her eyebrow down to her chin, Lucy focused on the fact that one of the dealers had taken a liking to beat her up, leaving Kate (her backup and partner for this mission - hello, when did that happen?) alone. She saw her gun, which she had lost some moments ago, lying on the floor a couple of feet away and tried to get to it, only to be kicked in the stomach by a very angry-looking guy. This was not how Lucy thought her night would go. Maybe she should have stayed at home. With her beer and her unfiltered thoughts of a certain blonde FBI Agent. Anyway …
This was a fucked up way to die, she thought, attempting to block the man's next kick.
By the time she heard Whistler yelling something at her attacker, Lucy was having trouble breathing and she could taste the iron from her own blood. She was not a quitter, though, especially when it was not just her life on the line, and so she took the opportunity Whistler's distraction gave her and got her gun, not hesitating to fire on her attackers back, even though that was not something she found honor in.
However, just before she fired her last rounds, the guy dropped to the ground. Obviously, he was hit by Kate's shots. (When did Whistler shoot at him? ) By the time the brunette agent noticed the change in positions, her finger had already pressed the trigger twice, and the criminal wasn't the one to fall harshly on the ground. (He was already on the ground, presumably dead, duh )
Kate!
No, oh no.
Caring about someone much more important than the ongoing raid around her, Lucy rushed over to where the blonde agent had fallen on the ground. Dragging Kate's body out of the open and behind some containers, leaving a trail of bright red blood on the floor.
“Whistler ... Kate, fuck, I’m so sorry,” Lucy's heart was now beating so much faster than it had when she was the one being hurt, she thought it would actually come out of her chest.
Kate's shirt was already soaked in blood, even though it had been less than a minute since the bullets hit her ( fucking bulletproof vest, your target is impeccable Tara ) and Lucy had trouble finding where all of it was actually coming from. She noticed a hole in the dark fabric that covered Kate's shoulder and quickly covered it with both her hands until she realized her partner ( they were work buddies, right? ) was holding onto her lower abdomen. This was not supposed to be happening.
Kate's eyes were fixated on Lucy's, which kept blinking as she hoped what she saw wasn’t real. There was no denying it though, from the thick liquid that kept gurgling out of Kate's wounds and flowing right past Lucy's fingers, that this was very real.
Kate managed to brush one of her hands on Lucy's cheek, leaving a trail of her blood on it. “I’m going to be okay Luce, don’t cry,” she mumbled.
“The worst day of loving someone is the day that you lose them" - Elena Gilbert