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Tim wakes to a blaring alarm. Groaning, he reaches over to turn it off. He rolls back to Lucy, throwing an arm over her stomach while tangling their legs together. Tim has been in therapy for months at this point. Even though it helps tremendously, he still finds being with Lucy is the one time he can truly let his guard down, especially after a tough night.
His shift had gone hours overtime due to a hostage situation. It turned out to be a waste of time, as the teenager had been killed hours before they took the suspect down.
Tim got out of there unharmed, but three other officers were badly injured, including one in critical condition.
By the time he gave his statement and was able to leave, it would’ve made more sense to go home to Kojo and get as much sleep as possible. He found himself driving to Lucy’s anyway; not caring that it was almost midnight, not caring that Celina might be the one to open the door.
He truly did mean to crash as soon as he hit the bed, yet he found himself tangled in the sheets, unwinding the tension from his body with Lucy.
It felt like hours had passed since his alarm went off. He was lazily stroking her side while she scratched the base of his skull.
“You know, the point of an alarm is to escape before someone finds you,” Lucy mumbles, breaking their unspoken agreement of silence.
He hums. “You kicking me out, Chen?” His voice is still groggy.
“Never,” she whispers. “Want to talk about it?”
They hadn’t talked much last night, but he had given her a brief rundown of what happened over text.
A few moments pass and she doesn’t think he is going to answer.
“He was only fifteen,” he says softly, lifting his head so he can look into her eyes. “I don’t think one of the officers is going to make it.”
She strokes his cheek, silently urging him to continue.
“He’s going to die for nothing. The kid had already died hours prior.”
“It’s not your fault.” She leans forward, slotting her lips between his.
When she looks into his eyes again, they’re glossy with tears she knows he won’t let fall. “I jus- I just don’t understand how someone could do that to their child. How could he- I mean, I know he had an outstanding warrant for his arrest- but how- why- could someone possibly use their child as a hostage? How could someone even lay a finger on their child? I don-”
“Hey,” she assures he is looking straight into her eyes. “You are nothing like your father.”
He turns away, blinking back the tears.
“No, look at me,” she urges his head sideways. “You are not your father. Okay? You are absolutely nothing like him. Our kids are going to be blessed to have you as a father.”
His lips tug upward at the last part. She counts that as a win and leans forward to capture his lips with her own.
“Thank you,” he breathes against her lips.
“Always.”
They reluctantly part for much needed air, basking in the comfortable silence once more.
“How many kids do you want?” Lucy wonders.
Tim smiles. He will always smile when talking about their future kids. “I’ve always wanted at least two.”
“I thought you would want more.”
They had talked about kids hundreds of times, yet had somehow never put a number on it. “Really?”
“Yeah. I almost guarantee that number will go higher after our first.”
“I’m not opposed to having more than two. I just don’t want an only child.”
She hums in agreement.
“What about you?” He ponders.
“It’s not necessarily a number, but I do want at least one of each gender.”
“Me too,” he nods. “What happens if-”
A loud crash comes just beyond Lucy’s door, immediately cutting off Tim’s train of thought.
“What the hell?” Tim shoots up, his voice low, yet suddenly clear of any lingering sleep.
“Relax, it’s probably just Celina.”
“At four-thirty in the morning?” He doesn’t wait for a response before climbing out of bed and throwing on his previously discarded boxers.
Logically, as a cop, he knows the chances of someone breaking into an apartment, multiple stories up, in the middle of the night is close to none. It makes much more sense to rob someone during the day when nobody’s home.
Logic is not on his brain right now though.
He looks over to Lucy and sees her kneeling by her safe to grab both of their off-duty weapons. Seeing his shirt on the ground, he picks it up, tosses it to her, and rounds the bed to take his gun.
“What’s the plan, boot?” he quips, unable to hide the small smirk forming on his face from the irony of this happening to two cops. Three, actually, if you count Celina.
“Dynamic entry. I’ll open the door,” she rolls her eyes and adds a “sir” for good measure.
“I’ll cut ahead of you and block the exit point,” he agrees easily.
He sets up beside her door, shaking his head and having to force himself to stifle the laughter building up.
“You’re having way too much fun right now,” Lucy points a finger in his direction.
“Oh, come on. What are the chances?” He whispers. “Plus, it’s just like old times.”
All that remark gets him is another eye roll. Twice in under thirty seconds; new record. “Ready?”
“Ready.”
She grabs the door knob with her left hand and looks him in the eye to ensure he is ready. He nods and she throws the door open.
“LAPD, hands where I can see them!” Tim shouts, rounding the kitchen counter to block the front door.
Lucy follows right behind him, taking the opposite end of the counter. It’s too dark to see anything other than a figure kneeling on the ground. “Show me your hands!”
“Woa- Wait. Lucy, relax,” A familiar voice says from the ground, interlocking his hands behind his head.
Tim flicks on the lights, right hand still on the gun and aiming it towards the man. “Thorsen?”
“Bradford?”
“Aaron?” Lucy squints her eyes as if she doesn’t believe what she’s seeing.
“What the hell is going on?” Celina chooses now, of all times, to exit her room. Why hadn’t she come out when Aaron broke something? Tim will never know. He looks from Aaron to Celina, and is pretty sure his brain just short circuited from piecing together this information.
“As much as I love guns being pointed at me, do you think we could save that delight for on the job?” Aaron still has his hands behind his head. Honestly, he isn’t sure Tim still won’t shoot him.
“Right, sorry,” Lucy mumbles as both her and Tim lower their guns to their sides.
Celina blatantly checks out Tim from head to toe, letting out an appreciative hum.
Tim’s eyebrows skyrocket as he locks eyes with Lucy. She has to bite her lip to stop herself from laughing.
Aaron, on the other hand, is not so pleased. He clears his throat and attempts to direct his new girlfriend’s attention to something else. “So…”
Tim throws his head back, lets out an annoyed groan, and mumbles something along the lines of “It is way too damn early for this” before stalking off to Lucy’s room.
“You gonna sit on the floor all day or what?” Lucy questions Aaron, attempting to avoid the inevitable conversation.
“No way,” Aaron says as he stands up and leans against the counter. “You’re not getting out of this.”
“You two aren’t getting off scot free either,” Lucy fires back. “How long?”
“I asked first!”
“No- Wait, It’s been like a month right?” Celina asks.
Aaron’s eyebrows scrunch together. “How could you pos-”
“You’re telling me you couldn’t feel the change between them?”
Lucy’s jaw drops. “Yeah, that whole voodoo thing is getting really creepy.”
“You’re not exactly quiet either,” she mumbles under her breath.
She apparently needs to get better at whispering, as she sees Lucy turn bright red and Tim come out of the bedroom with wide eyes. Still shirtless. Which she continues to appreciate.
“Lucy, I know for a fact I have at least one other shirt here,” his eyes drift to Celina, who finally gets the memo to stop staring. “Where the hell are you hiding them?”
Suddenly aware of the fact she is still half naked, standing in a room with 2 of her closest friends, she lightly shoves Tim into her bedroom.
Both fully dressed, they come out to see Aaron and Celina arguing.
“Think he’s telling her to stop staring at me?” He whispers in her ear, earning him an elbow to the stomach.
He pinches her side in retaliation. “Hey!”
Celina and Aaron each shoot their heads towards the sound.
“How long have you tw-”
“Thorsen, believe me, I could not care less about whatever you two were arguing about,” he goes to grab a coffee mug. “Though I do care about how a cop, a rich party kid nonetheless, can’t sneak out of an apartment quietly?”
“I- Uh-” he stammers.
Celina jumps in, saving Aaron from total embarrassment. “Why are you guys keeping this a secret again?”
“I’m her boss again, and there’s no good way for me to move out of her chain of command,” he replies, not exactly caring about a change of topic to a question that was supposed to be rhetorical.
“Oh my god,” Lucy whispers.
Tim sends Lucy a questioning look before pointing from Celina to Aaron. “Which is exactly why neither one of you will say a damn thing to anyone.”
“I wasn- Nevermind.” She flicks her eyes from Tim to Aaron and Celina. “Last night was your first time together.”
Both of them mumble something incoherent in response.
Tim looks back, seeing both Aaron and Celina flustered. He pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs. “Nope.”
Tim kisses Lucy’s temple, tells her something about seeing her later tonight, and makes a break for the front door. Who needs coffee anyway?
“A word to anyone and I will make both your jobs a living hell,” he warns as he treads through the door. “Oh, and Thorsen? Pick up the damn glass.”