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Tim was laying in bed, his arms full of Lucy, who was laying on his chest, lightly snoring. They had gotten back together 2 weeks ago, and currently were stronger than ever. After an op had almost cost him his life, he realized he needed to come clean and lay it all out to Lucy, and let her decide if she still wanted him.
He still felt slightly unmoored, but found a great therapist outside of the department who specializes with veterans and cops.
All of a sudden, he was brought out of his late night musings by a rapid knocking on Lucy’s front door.
He looked over at the clock, which read 12:38am.
He didn’t know who could be at the door so late, praying someone just had the wrong apartment. He slid out from under Lucy carefully, making sure she hadn’t woken up, and quietly pulled some sweatpants and a shirt on and padded over to the door.
Tim swung open the door, to reveal Tamara, her face showing her shock, confusion, then slight rage and relief at seeing him all at once.
The only person who knew they had gotten back together as far as he knew was his sister, but he assumed Lucy had told the young woman.
“Tim?” Tamara said, confusion lacing her voice.
“Hey, what’s wrong, it’s late.” Tim said.
“I left my macbook charger here, and I completely forgot until now and I have an assignment due- Wait, how are you here? As far as I knew, Lucy was in the listening to Taylor Swift all day stage of break-up grief.”
“Lets just say we- I got my shit together. Do you wanna come in?” Tim opened the door further.
“Yeah, I’m starving, and you owe me a gigantic explanation.” Tamara said while walking inside.
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“So how’s the new house going?” Tim said, talking in a hushed tone as not to disturb Lucy while reheating leftovers for Tamara.
“Good, but it's hard to adjust to living with 3 other people and without Lucy.” She said.
“So, Where do you want me to start?” Tim said, knowing this was probably gonna be a long conversation for it being so late at night, but willing to push through it knowing Tamara deserves to know why and how the man who broke her pretty much sister's heart, was standing in her apartment.
“The night you left her.” Tamara said, leaving no room for him to try to get out of this now.
“Wow, Um- So, you probably know we hadn’t talked in a few days, and I had went MIA, because two people from my time in the Army showed up. Tamara, these people brought back demons that I thought I got rid of decades ago. The moment I left Lucy, I had done something prior that was the last straw to me not recognizing myself anymore. I hadn’t felt like such a shell of a person, and hated myself so much since I was a kid than in that moment. The second I walked away and looked back and saw the shock, the heartbreak, the tears on her face, I knew I had done something that would be my biggest regret for the rest of my life.”
“Tim, why didn’t you tell her before? You know the type of person Lucy is, and how much she loves you. She would’ve stuck by you, knowing everything you had done, and brought you back to yourself.” Tamara said, the pity on her face clear, never having seen him so vulnerable.
“I know she would have, and that would’ve killed me, because I know in that headspace I would’ve taken her down along with me. I needed to protect her from myself.” He said.
“So how did you two figure things out?”
“There was an op that went south, fast, and me and Lucy both landed in the hospital, me a lot worse off than her. We talked, afterwards, knowing then more than ever that we have jobs where there's always a good chance we won’t always make it home. Now, I’m in therapy, and we’re working on things still, and honestly? It’s been better than ever. My therapist helped me see that the first time around, we were so scared of losing our relationship and kept things from each other, then brushed it under the rug.” Tim said, still in somewhat disbelief that they found their way back to each other.
“I had a feeling you guys would, you know, when I was moving out, I found that ring you hid.” Tamara said, now smiling and less enraged at him than she was 30 minutes ago.
“Yeah, before everything, I was planning on doing it in a few months, but now, I know we need to wait. Just, don’t tell Lucy.”
“Don’t tell me what?”
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fin.