Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

May 28th, 2021

Lucy Chen has not lived a normal life. Ever since she was little, her parents were controlling her all the time. When she started preschool, they put her in every sport they could possibly think of. The one sport that stuck the most was figure skating. It was the one sport where she was able to be herself and wasn’t pressured to be better than anyone else. Her parents only liked it cause they didn’t think she would stick with it for so long, they were wrong. The skating rink to her was an escape from normal day life.

It’s where she met her best friend Tim Bradford in 9th grade. He was a hockey player for their high school team. It was known that figure skaters and hockey players have a little rivalry. That didn’t matter to them. Despite being on opposite teams, Lucy and Tim hung out together all the time. Once they graduated high school and went off to college, they still talked to each other every single day. 

During her sophomore year at UCLA, Lucy started dating Caleb Wright. He was a year older than her and had just became eligible for the NHL draft. After the school year was over, Caleb was drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks. He asked her if she wanted to move there with him but decided to stay to finish up her college degree. After she graduated, Lucy packed her bags and moved to Chicago to be with Caleb. She moved into her own apartment downtown and got a job at an elementary school near the Lincoln park neighborhood, she loves every minute of it. Caleb was able to secure her a spot as a figure skating coach at the local arena near her apartment and she loved that even more. Everything had been going great, until recently.

Lucy had been noticing that Caleb has been disconnecting from her. He’s not coming around as much anymore, he’s making excuses to not hang out and cancels important date nights. One day in April, Lucy had enough. She asked Caleb to meet her at a Starbucks that was near her apartment and he agreed. When she arrived, Caleb was already sitting at a table with a coffee in hand. They tried talking it out but nothing came out of it. In the end, Lucy knew what she needed to do. Without hesitation, Lucy broke up with Caleb. Before he could get a word in, Lucy gets out of her seat and walks out of Starbucks.

Since their breakup hit national news, Lucy hasn’t gotten any privacy. When she leaves her apartment and the school, she is getting followed by cameras. Caleb has shown up a few times trying to get back with her but she rejects him every single time. Now, over a month since the breakup Lucy has had enough with all of it.

Lucy got up at the sound of her alarm and regretted having to get out of bed. It was the last day of school for the year so she was in for a crazy day. She climbs out of bed and hops into the shower. Once she is out, she heads over to her closet to pick out an outfit. After she chose an outfit, Lucy headed over to the kitchen and made herself a quick breakfast of toast and oatmeal. Once the clock hit 7:15, Lucy grabbed her bag and keys and walked out the door.

The drive to the school was hectic as always. Lucy got caught in a little bit of traffic but was able to get to work in a timely manner. When Lucy parked her car and walked inside, she made her way over to her classroom and got set up for the day. As she was getting settled, she heard a knock at her door.

“Knock Knock”

Lucy looks over at the door “Morning Rachel”

“Morning Lucy, how’s your morning been so far”

Lucy shrugs her shoulders “Fine, I guess. I’m just ready for this school year to be done with”

Rachel scoffs “You could say that again” Rachel walks further into the classroom “Anything crazy happen this morning”

Lucy shakes her head “Not today but I did have one of Caleb’s buddies come find me at Millennium Park last night”

“What did they want”

“Just wanted to ask me out on a date since I’m not with Caleb anymore. I just left without saying anything”

“Uh Huh” Rachel nods her head “And what were you doing at the park. If I remember correctly, the only reason you go there is when you have to think something through”

Lucy sighs “You got me there”

Rachel crosses her arms “So, what were you thinking about”

Lucy sighs once more “It’s just…… since Caleb and I split, I been thinking that I need to take control over my life again and be my own person”

“Understandable”

“And that might even mean starting fresh”

Rachel shakes her head confusingly “What are you saying”

Lucy huffs out a breath “I think it’s time I got out of Chicago”

Rachel’s eyes pop out “Seriously”

“Yeah, it’s either that or I switch school districts and find a new apartment”

“I’d go with that option”

Lucy chuckles slightly “Rach, I know this is sudden but I need to do something to feel like myself again and being in Chicago isn’t helping”

“But…..” Rachel pleads “There has to be another option. Why can’t Caleb just be traded off to another team”

“It doesn’t work like that”

“Ok, umm……… I can’t think of anything else. But the point is Lucy that you shouldn’t let one event make you turn your whole life around”

“But Rach…..”

“Lucy” Rachel interrupts “Don’t rush into this. Give yourself some time to think about this. Heck, get a second opinion. Just please don’t make up your mind so quickly”

Lucy sighs “Fine, I’ll give myself some time to think it over”

“Great” Rachel looks at her watch “I better get going. The kids are getting off the bus”

Rachel leaves the room and Lucy takes a seat in her chair. She thinks about what Rachel said for a minute before pushing it to the back of her head to welcome her students into the classroom.

Lucy goes on for the rest of her day thinking about Rachel’s proposition. She knew Rachel was right with not rushing this whole entire thing but she knew she needed to do something. Once her students left for the summer, she took a seat over at her desk and glanced over at her phone. Lucy picked it up and scrolled down to a certain contact.

Hey, I need to talk to you about something

Once the text was sent, she cleans up her room and starts packing her bag. After she was all done, she walked over the door, shut off the light and closed her classroom door for possibly the last time.

She makes the drive back over to her apartment quickly afterward. When she arrives home, she slips off her shoes and heads to her bedroom to find something comfy to wear. Lucy plopped down on her couch and turned the tv on to start watching Top chef. She decided to order dinner tonight since she’s not in the mood to cook. After she places her order, she goes back to watching Top Chef. Once her food arrived, she brought it over to the kitchen. As she was about to start eating, her phone started to ring. She glances over to see the Caller ID, she picks up immediately.

“Hello”

“Hey Luce”

“Tim, I’m happy you called”

“Well, the message you sent me earlier seemed urgent”

“You would have got that right”

“So, what’s going on”

Lucy sighs “You know how I broke up with Caleb last month and people have been following me around asking questions”

“Yeah, I remember you telling me about that”

“Well because of this, it’s got me thinking”

“About what” Tim questions 

“If I should start over”

“In Chicago”

“No, In Los Angeles”

Tim stays silent for a moment “You’re considering move back to LA”

“Yeah, I am” Lucy said with a smile “It’s just, I came out here to be with Caleb and now that we're not together anymore, I think it’s time for me to start fresh”

“That doesn’t sound like a bad idea”

“I know it doesn’t but my friend Rachel got into my head and now I don't know what to do”

“Well” Tim thinks “Think of it this way, you have two options. Stay in Chicago and live your life as it is or move back to LA and start over normally”

“That’s actually a good way to put it, thanks”

“No problem” Tim comments “But honestly, the decision has to come from you. What do you want to do”

Lucy stays quiet for a second “Right now, I can’t decide”

“And that’s not an issue. You still have some time to think about you options, you literally just ended school”

“You’re right, I’ll give myself a day or two to think this over”

“Glad to hear” said Tim “Now, tell me about your last day with the kids”

“Only if you tell me about your day at the crime lab”

They continue talking for the next thirty minutes about how each of their days went. Once Lucy got off the phone, her food was cold. She threw it into the microwave to warm it up. After she’s done eating, Lucy makes her way over to the couch once again and turns her show back on. She had a lot to think about but in the end, she knew what the right decision was.

()()()()()()()()

June 14th, 2021

After thinking about it for a while, Lucy decided that she was going to leave Chicago. 

Lucy got a hold of a realtor in Los Angeles and was able to see a few places when she went out for a quick visit. She found a place that she liked and put a bid on it. As of yesterday, the homeowners accepted her offer and told her to move in whenever. She finally told Rachel about her decision and she was a little upset but knew this was the best for her.

Lucy woke up at around 8am and quickly hopped in the shower. Rachel was coming over at 9am to help her with packing her apartment. She got dressed and headed over to the kitchen and started a pot of coffee. As the coffee was brewing, she made herself a breakfast of pancakes and eggs. After she was done eating, she waited for Rachel to show up. At exactly 9am, Lucy heard a knock at the door. She ran over and let Rachel inside.

“Thank you for coming to help me”

“No worries, I didn’t have anything going on today” Rachel comments “So, where did you want to start”

“Umm….. I was thinking that we started in the living room and kitchen packing up the smaller items then we go from there”

“Sounds like a plan”

Lucy and Rachel each grabbed a box and got to work. Lucy started in the living room while Rachel started in the kitchen. They wrapped up the non essential items like some nicknacks that were on the shelfs. As they were packing, someone knocked on the door. Lucy was a little confused since she wasn’t expecting anyone. She stopped what she was doing and walked over to the door. After she opened it, she realized her mistake.

“Hey Luce”

“Caleb, what are you doing here”

“Well” Caleb walks into the apartment “I heard through the grapevines that your moving out of Chicago”

Lucy sighs “Yeah, that’s right”

“Why didn’t you tell me”

Lucy crosses her arms “Because we’re not together anymore. I don’t have to tell you anything”

Caleb scoffs “Would have been nice to know”

“Why” Lucy questions “So you can guilt trip me into getting back together with you” 

“Wow, you catch on quick”

Lucy’s turn to scoff “Well, sorry to burst your bubble but it’s not going to happen. I have spent most of my twenties following your life and now it’s time to take mine back. There’s nothing you can say to get me to stay here”

Caleb chuckles mischievously “You really believe that”

“Yes, I do” Lucy said with confidence “Now, get out of here before I call the police on you for trespassing”

Reluctantly, Caleb leaves soon after, not wanting his reputation to be tarnished. Lucy shuts the door as soon as he leaves. 

“Ok, what was that” Rachel comments 

“Just Caleb being Caleb”

“Lucy, that seemed more than that”

Lucy shakes it off “It’s ok, I’m a little used to this by now. At least when I leave, I won’t have to worry about this”

Lucy goes back over to the living room and continues packing. She was able to get a few boxes done by the time 1 o’clock rolled around. Lucy and Rachel decided to get some lunch at a restaurant near her apartment. They chatted the whole entire time until it was time to go back to the apartment. They continued packing until 6 o’clock rolled around. Rachel told Lucy goodbye and went home. Lucy went over to her living room and put on the movie Legally Blonde for some background noise. She went over to her kitchen and made something small since she wasn’t really hungry. After she was done eating, she crashed on the couch for the rest of the night.

()()()()()()()()()()

July 5th, 2021

Today is the day Lucy has been looking forward to for the past few weeks. She was finally leaving Chicago.

She got up at 7am since she couldn’t contain her excitement. The movers were getting there at 8:30 to put all of her belongings into the moving truck. She waited patiently for that time to come. A little before 8:30, a knock was at her door. Lucy ran over to the door and happily let the movers in. They started with all the heavy furniture and brought it all down to the truck, which took them a little while. After a while, Lucy and the movers were able to start moving all of her boxes down. At around 12:30, almost all of Lucy’s stuff was in the back of the truck. Lucy was handing the movers her last box when she heard her name being called. She looked around and saw Rachel walking towards her. She excused herself and walked over to Rachel and wrapped her in a big hug.

“I can’t believe it’s really happening” Rachel wipes away a tear

“I know” Lucy comments “But, this is going to be good for me. I’ll be able to live the life I should be living”

“I hate it that you’re right” Rachel smiles slightly “Now, what’s the plan”

“Now, it’s time for me to catch an uber and head off to the airport while the movers start their drive to LA”

Rachel starts to tear up again “I’m really going to miss you”

“I’ll miss you too”

Lucy gives Rachel another hug before the movers inform her that it was time to leave. She sees Rachel head off to her car while she heads to the parking garage to retrieve hers. She brings it over to the movers and they attach it to the trailer. Once that was all done, she called for an uber to take her to the airport. Lucy told the movers they could leave since they had a long drive ahead of them. After the Uber arrived, she headed off to the airport.

Lucy arrived at the airport earlier than she expected, her flight wasn’t supposed to leave until 2:40. She dropped off her bag at the check in and went through security. She stopped and got some lunch since she was hungry then went over to her gate. After waiting for almost an hour, Lucy boarded her flight. She took her seat near the window and waited for the plane to take off. 

()()()()()()()()()()()

After about 4 hours of flying, Lucy landed in Los Angeles.

As soon as she got off the plane, she texted Rachel to tell her she arrived. She went over to the baggage claim then went to get her rental car. Once she had her car, she drove over to her hotel. It didn’t take her long to get checked in and settled. After she did that, she immediately ordered in some food. After she was done eating, she didn’t really know what to do. Then an idea popped in her head. She knows that Tim knew she was coming back home but she really didn’t tell him when. Lucy went onto the rink’s website and looked to see if Tim was hosting a camp. When she saw that he was, she grabbed her hotel key and headed off to her car.

The drive to the rink felt longer than normal, possibly because she was excited. When she finally pulled into the rink, she put the car in park and ran inside. She looked around the lobby and saw that nothing has really changed since she left. As she was looking around, A lady got her attention.

“Hi there, I’m Angela Lopez”

Lucy extends her hand “Hi, I’m Lucy Chen”

“Nice to meet you Lucy, what brings you here”

“Well, I used to skate here when I was younger and I literally just moved back to LA”

“Oh and you wanted to see if anything has changed”

Lucy nods her head “Yeah, that’s part of the reason. The other part is that my friend is a hockey coach here and I wanted to surprise him”

Angela smiles “Oh, that sounds great. Which coach is it”

“The Boy’s Mid-Wilshire Coach”

“Bradford”

Lucy smiles “Yep, that’s the one”

Angela has a realization “Wait, you're Tim’s Lucy. The one he talks about all the time”

“I guess you can say that”

“He’s going to be so happy that you are here” Angela cheers “Did you want me to bring you over to him or did you want me to call him to the lobby”

“Whatever works”

“Ok then, stay here. I’ll bring him to you”

Angela walked out of the lobby and into the rink while Lucy waited. Lucy watches Angela go over to the coaches box and inform Tim that he had to come to the lobby. She saw him talking to the other coach and made his way out of the box. She decided to move away from the door so Tim didn’t see her right away. After about a few seconds, Lucy heard the door swing open.

“Ok, Angela. What did you ……..” Tim stops in his tracks “Lucy”

“Hey, Haven’t seen you in…….”

Before she could finish, Tim rushed up to her and gave her one of the biggest hugs she’s ever received, lifting her off the ground.

“What are you doing here? I thought you weren’t going to be here until the end of the month”

“I wanted to surprise you, did it work”

“Yeah, it really worked” Tim brings her in for another hug “I can’t believe you’re here”

“Me neither”

Tim releases her from the hug and turns his attention to Angela “You know you don’t have to stay and watch, right?”

“I know, I just wanted to see this moment unfold” Angela smiles and walks back down the hallway

Tim turns his attention back to Lucy and sees her smiling “I’m really happy that you’re back”

“I know, I am too”

Tim smiles back and looks at the time “Do you have to leave right now”

Lucy nods her head “No, why”

“Can we go out to dinner tonight to catch up cause I have to get back before the boys go crazy”

“No problem, did you want me to wait here or…….”

“Please wait here, I can drive you over”

“Sounds like a plan. Now go back to your boys”

Tim flashes another smile before heading back into the rink. Lucy looked as he happily walked back over to his players and continued on with the camp. She was happy that he had this type of reaction but she wasn’t expecting him to basically wrap her in a bear hug the moment he saw her. That was a pleasant surprise. But, it gave her the satisfaction she needed. She was truly happy to be home, with Tim especially.

Chapter Text

July 5th, 2021

After waiting for about 30 minutes, Lucy sees the boys getting off of the ice. She watches them heading off to the locker room while Tim heads towards the lobby again.

“Hey, give me about 10 minutes then I’ll be ready to go”

“No Problem”

Lucy goes back and takes her seat over by the benches. She knew Tim needed a few minutes to decompress from the day so she let him take his time. After a bit, Lucy catches Tim walking back down the hallway.

“So, where do you want to go eat? What are you craving” Tim asks

“Weirdly enough, I’ve been craving the beef tacos from Charlie’s since I landed”

Tim chuckles “Of course that’s what you choose”

Tim and Lucy walk out of the rink together and head over to Tim’s truck. He opens the door for her and she gets in. They head out of the parking lot and make the drive over to Charlie’s. It stayed pretty quiet on the ride over, not knowing what to talk about. Tim would shoot a smile over to her every once in a while. They pulled into the Charlie's parking lot and went inside. The waiter brought them over to a table and they ordered their drinks. As the waiter leaves, Tim starts up the conversation.

“Ok, honestly. How does it feel to be back after all this time”

Lucy sighs “It feels surreal. I just can’t believe I actually did it”

“It took you long enough”

Lucy chuckles “Hey, you can’t blame a girl who’s ex-boyfriend works for the NHL”

“Sorry, I’m just giving you a hard time” Tim chuckles “So, how was packing up that apartment of yours”

“Ugh, it was a little bit of a nightmare”

“Why’s that”

“Caleb kept coming over and interrupted me while I packed. He kept asking if he could have certain thing, like my fancy margarita glasses ”

“He wanted that out of everything. Can’t he just get his own”

Lucy sighs “Well, apparently since he got me them for my 25th birthday, he should have them back”

“That’s ridiculous”

“Tell me about it”

The waiter came back with their drinks and proceeded to take their order. Lucy got her tacos while Tim settled for enchiladas. Once the waiter left again, Tim started the conversation back up.

“Oh yah, I forgot to ask you. What neighborhood are you moving to”

Lucy adjusts in her seat “I found a place in Harvard Heights”

“That’s a great place”

“I know, right”

Lucy goes on to tell Tim about the house she bought. 2 bedrooms along with 2 bathrooms, which is 1 more than her apartment. She goes over the little details that she loves about the house and Tim just looks at her with a smile on his face. A little bit after that, their food arrives. They eat for a little bit while maintaining a conversation. Once they were about halfway through with their food, Lucy gets a message on her phone. She looks over at it and quickly puts it down.

“Was that Caleb” Tim comments

“Yeah, how could you guess” Lucy said with sarcasm “He keeps messaging me and I’m getting a little sick of it”

“Why don’t you just block him”

“I wish it was that easy. He’ll just find a way to communicate”

Tim shrugs his shoulder “It’s worth a shot”

Lucy pulls up her messages and goes to Caleb’s contact. She clicks on his picture and hits the block button. She lets out a sigh of relief and puts her phone back on the table. They continued on with dinner with a light conversation. Once they were almost done, the waiter came back with their check. Tim picked up the bill and put his card in before Lucy had a chance. After they paid, Tim and Lucy walked back out to the truck. He drives her back to the rink to get her car. As they were driving, Lucy remembered something.

“Oh, I forgot to ask. The movers are supposed to be here by Thursday or Friday and was wondering if you could help me unpack. Only if you have nothing better to do”

Tim nods his head “Yeah, I can help. Besides, I’m not going to let my best friend be alone when she moves into her new place. That would be unfriendly like”

Lucy chuckles “Yeah, Of course it would”

They pull back into the parking lot of the rink and Lucy gets out of the truck. She watches as Tim drives off as she starts her car. She heads back towards the hotel and instantly crashes onto the bed when she gets back. Today took a lot out of her.

()()()()()()()()()

July 9th, 2021

Lucy waited for the next few days until the movers showed up. In the meantime, she’s done a little bit of shopping but only for stuff for the house. Tim tagged along with her so she could have another person’s perspective. They did make a small pit stop at the real estate agency to pick up the keys to Lucy’s new house.

Lucy got a call last night from the moving company saying that they are in LA but won’t be ready to unload until the next morning. She confirmed with the company a time to meet and gave that time to Tim. They agreed to meet at the house since it would be easier for Lucy.

Lucy arrived at her house around 8:30. The movers weren’t showing up until 9am so it gave her time to walk around her house and imagine where things were going to go. A little bit after she arrived, she heard a knock at the door. Lucy walked over and opened the door. It was Tim, holding up a bottle of wine and some snacks.

“Happy move in day” Tim announces 

“You are so corny but I appreciate it” Lucy smiles “Come in”

Tim walked into her house and placed the wine and snacks in the kitchen.

“Wow, this is a real nice kitchen”

“I know, I really like the cabinets. There aren’t too high for me to reach”

“Unlike your apartment”

“Hey, I was able reach them”

Tim chuckles “You once told me you had to get a step stool just to get to the bottom part of the cabinet”

“I was joking”

“Yeah Right” Tim said jokingly

Lucy playfully hits him in the arm “Jerk”

After joking around, Lucy gave Tim the full house tour. She showed him the living room, the bedrooms and even the backyard. Tim liked all of it. Once they were done with the tour, Lucy saw the moving truck pulling into the driveway. She excitedly ran outside and met with the movers. They came up with a game plan and got right to work. The movers and Tim brought all the heavy furniture in while Lucy directed them on where to put everything. After all the furniture was brought in, they started to move the boxes in. Lucy brought in the smaller boxes while Tim and the movers brought in the bigger boxes. Lucy didn’t mean to do that but they were insisting that they could handle the big items.

Once all the boxes were moved in and put into their specific area, the movers detached Lucy's car from the van and moved it to the street. After that, Lucy paid the movers and they left so Lucy could start unpacking. Tim volunteered to stay behind and help her unpack. 

“Lucy, where do you want this”

Lucy looks over and sees Tim holding up a table lamp “Umm…… Put it over by the side table, the one next to the recliner”

Tim goes over and places the lamp on the side table. They continued to unpack until around 2 o’clock when they both decided that they needed some food. Lucy offered to drive but Tim insisted on driving. They went to a sandwich truck just near Hancock Park. Tim pulled out a seat for Lucy then sat across from her. Once their food arrived, they dived right in. After eating for a little bit, they got to talking.

“What do we have to do when we get back”

“Umm…..” Lucy thinks “We still have to finish the kitchen and living room. Then we have to finish the bedroom and the office. The bathrooms I can do myself. I can’t really think of much else”

“Sounds like a plan” Tim goes back to eating his sandwich

They finish up eating and head back over to Lucy’s house. They finished up the kitchen and living room then headed over to Lucy’s office. As they were unpacking, Lucy got a notification on her phone. Tim saw the expression on her face and it didn’t look happy.

“Is it Caleb again”

“No” Lucy puts her phone on the desk “I applied for a position at one of the elementary schools around here and they just told me I didn’t get an interview”

“Seriously”

“Yeah” Lucy sighs “It’s fine, I already figured I wouldn’t get an interview. But now, I need to find other schools to apply to”

“Well” Tim stops in his tracks “Is there a specific neighborhood you want to teach in”

Lucy shakes her head “No, just as long as it’s less than 30 minutes away from here, I’m fine. Why do you ask”

“You know Angela”

“The woman who came and brought you to the lobby”

“Yeah” Tim answers “Her husband Wesley is the principal at Campbell Hall and from what I know, they are looking for a first grade teacher. I can see if he’s willing to give you an interview”

“You would really do that” 

“Of course, you deserve the best”

Lucy walks over to him and gives him a hug “Thank you”

“No problem”

After that, Lucy continued to unpack the office while Tim stepped out to call Wesley. He explained the situation to him and he was more than happy to give Lucy an interview. Tim went back over to Lucy while still on the phone with Wesley. He got her attention and she turned towards him.

“How does next Tuesday at 11am sound”

Lucy nods her head happily “That works”

He confirmed the time with Wesley and thanked him for doing this. Lucy gave him another hug once he was off the phone. They finished up with the office then spent the rest of the day in Lucy’s bedroom. After they were done, Tim plopped on the couch while Lucy ordered in some takeout. Once that was taken care of, Lucy joined Tim on the couch. Their food arrived shortly after. They indulged in their food and found a movie to stream on the TV. After 9:30 came by, Tim decided it was time to go home. He wished Lucy goodnight and walked out the door. Once he pulled out onto the street, Lucy quickly grabbed her phone and dialed Rachel’s number.

“Lucy, you do realize it’s 11:30 in Chicago, right”

“I know, I’m sorry. I just wanted to call you and tell you about the day I had”

“Oh yeah, you moved into your house today” Lucy and hear Rachel shuffling around “How was it”

“It was amazing, I basically have everything unpacked besides the bathrooms”

“You got all of your boxes unpacked by yourself”

“No, I had someone helping me”

“And this someone wouldn’t happen to be your best friend Tim, wouldn’t it”

Lucy sighs “Yes, it was Tim helping me”

“Ohhh……”

“Rachel, please don’t start”

“Come on Luce, you’ve liked his guy since you became best friends in 9th grade. You should see if he’s single…”

“Rach”

“Ok, I’ll stop. Now tell about the house”

Lucy went on talking about the details to her house. Lucy liked hearing Rachel’s positive attitude over the phone. Then after a while, it was getting late so Lucy told Rachel goodnight and hung up the phone. She grabbed her remote and scrolled through her tv to find something good to watch. After she finds something watchable, she throws a blanket over herself and hits play.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()

July 13th, 2021

Lucy woke up jumping out of her bed

This morning she goes in for her interview at Campbell Hall and she’s really excited. She picked out her outfit last night so it wouldn’t be time consuming in the morning. Lucy rushed out of bed, threw on her outfit and made herself breakfast. After breakfast, she runs to the bathroom and throws her hair in a nice braid. Once she had everything done, she went over to her office to prepare for her interview. She ran over some basic prep questions and deemed herself ready.

At 10:15, she got into her car and made the drive over to the school. To calm herself down, she put on her playlist that she had for every occasion. She was over halfway there when her phone went off. Lucy quickly looked over and saw the message.

Good Luck on your interview. You’re going to do fine

Lucy knew that Tim had her back but the message reassured her

About 10 minutes later, Lucy pulled into the parking lot of the school. She parked her car and went into the main building. The school looked massive, she knew it was a private school but she didn't realize that it was about the size of a small college campus. Lucy makes it inside and makes her way to the office. Once she got there, she checked herself in.

“Hi, Is this where I come for the teaching interviews”

“Yes, you are in the right place. I’m guessing you are Lucy Chen”

“Yes, that’s me”

“Good to see you” The secretary hands her a clipboard “Just sign in here and I’ll let Mr. Evers know that you’re here”

Lucy signs her name on the sheet and goes over to take a seat. She twiddles her thumbs together as she waits to be called back. After 5 minutes have passed, Lucy sees the door open and someone walking over to her.

“Hello, I’m Wesley Evers. I’m the principal at Campbell Hall” Wesley extends his hand

“Nice to meet you Mr. Evers. It’s a pleasure to meet you”

“Glad to hear” Wesley smiles “Now, if you’d follow me I can take over to our interview space”

Lucy grabs her purse and follows Wesley down the small hallway. He opens the door to a room at the very end of the hall. Lucy walks in and sees one other guy sitting at the table writing some notes. As Wesley closes the door, Lucy takes a seat at her side of the table.

“Lucy, this is John Nolan. He is the assistant principal and he will be helping me with the interview today”

“Nice to meet you John” Lucy smiles

“Good to see you” John responds “Let’s get started”

Wesley and John pull out some papers and get settled to start the interview. Lucy adjusts herself in her seat to make her comfortable

“So Miss. Chen, tell us a little about yourself” Wesley asks

Lucy takes in a huge breath “Well, I was born and raised in Los Angeles. I come from overbearing parents who wanted me to be a psychologist like they are. I started teaching at Abraham Lincoln Elementary School in Chicago as a 3rd Grade Teacher. I taught there until this past school year, that’s when I made the move back to LA”

Wesley writes some things down “What prompted you to move back home” John asks

“Honestly, I was going through a lot at the end of last school year and it took a toll on me. Once the school year was done, I just felt like I needed to come home and be around some familiar faces”

John writes something down and looks over at Wesley “I’ll right then. Now Lucy, one thing we value here at Campbell is that the students are taken care of. How would you be able to make that happen as a teacher”

“Well, I will make sure to encourage them to treat other students correctly and not hurtfully. I can also make sure that my lessons are attention seeking and I’ll be able to attend to their attention spans, I know for elementary child it’s small” Lucy sees both of the men nod “One thing I will make sure of is that I can find a way to set limits and help them with time management

Wesley and John looked at eachother and went on with the interview. They continued to ask Lucy questions and she answered them wonderfully. By the end of the interview, both of the men looked impressed by Lucy’s answers. After Lucy didn’t have any questions, they got up from their seats and each shook Lucy’s hand.

“Thank you for coming in Lucy” John comments

“It was a pleasure” Lucy replies 

“We’ll let you know my the end of Friday about our decision” Wesley interjects

“I’ll be looking forward to your call”

Wesley goes over to the door and opens it for Lucy. She walks out of the little room and heads back down to the secretary's desk. Lucy signs out and walks back over to the parking lot. As she was walking to her car, she pulled out her phone and scrolled to Tim’s contact.

“Hey Luce, how was your interview”

“Not too bad. They say I should hear by Friday about the position”

“That’s good to hear. That means you have a good shot”

“I know” Lucy smiles “That alone make me happy”

“Good to hear” Tim comments “Now, that’s it over with. What are you going to do now”

Lucy sighs “Right now, I’m going to go home and take a nap then I’m going to binge watch something that’s on Netflix. Why do you ask?”

“Cause, I was wondering if you want to go and celebrate little bit”

“But I don’t have the job yet”

“I know but it would still be a nice thing to do”

Lucy sighs once more “Ok, that sounds good. Where did you want to meet?”

“Does that Mediterranean restaurant near your place sound good”

“Good enough for me”

“Alright then, I’ll see you there at 6:30”

Lucy hangs up the phone and hops into her car. She drives home thinking about how the interview went. Lucy knew she did a really good job and could see herself working at this school but she didn’t want to get her hopes up. Mr. Evers and Mr. Nolan looked happy with her answers so that was a good sign. All she could do right now was to go home and rest until she had to meet Tim.

()()()()()()()()()()()

Lucy arrives a little bit early and grabs a table near the front of the restaurant. She orders her drink and looks through the menu to see what she wants. As she was looking through the menu, Lucy saw Tim walking through the entrance. She flags him down and he walks over.

“Good to see you” said Tim “How are you filling after taking your nap”

Lucy nods her head “Pretty good. My worries haven’t fully gone away but I’ll be better when I hear back from them”

Tim nods his head and takes a seat across from Lucy. They look through the menu a little bit before deciding on what they want. As they were looking, Tim’s phone went off. Lucy saw him grab his phone and respond to the message. She wanted to question him about it but she let it go. A moment later, Tim excuses himself and walks over to the front door. She looks over at the door and sees Angela, the woman she met at the rink. Lucy turns back towards the table as Tim and Angela walk towards the table.

“Lucy, I’d like you to meet Angela. She’s a good friend of mine”

Lucy extends her hand “Nice to meet you again”

“You too” Angela replies 

Angela takes a seat over by Tim and looks at the menu. The waiter comes over and takes their order and walks back to the kitchen. Once the waiter was out of earshot, Tim spoke up.

“So Angela, I know you’ve technically met Lucy before but I wanted to fully introduce her to you”

“That’s fine” Angela looks over at Lucy  “Where do you want to start”

“Umm….. How about where do you work”

Angela nods her head “I work at the rink as the full time General Manager. I’m also the head figure skating coach”

“Wow, that sounds like a lot of work”

“It is but I love it” Angela smiles “So, what do you do”

“I’m a elementary teacher”

“Woah, impressive. It takes guts to work with little kids”

“Tell me about it” Lucy comments “I was a teacher up in Chicago but then I moved here”

“She’s also a figure skating coach” Tim interjects

“Really” Angela asks “What do you mainly coach”

“Mostly older kids”

“Interesting” Angela looks mischievously at Tim “You came at the right time actually. We have an opening at the rink for High Advanced coach position”

“Really” 

“Yeah” Angela nods “Would you like  it”

Lucy acts shocked “Are you sure”

“Yeah, no one else has applied so it would automatically be yours”

Lucy nods her head “Then, yeah. I’ll do it”

“Great” Angela smiles “I’ll call Bailey to let her know we can stop looking”

Angela gets up out of her seat and walks over to a more quiet area. Lucy looks back over at Tim and he just had a big smile on his face. She knew Tim set this up but she didn’t mind. She was actually kind of excited for this, she really did miss the ice. After a minute, Angela comes back to the table and their food arrives. They continued on for the rest of the night with light conversation. Tim and Angela talked about the perks of working at the rink and Lucy just listened as they listed off everything. After a while, Angela went home and left Tim and Lucy at the table. They stayed and talked a little bit longer before asking for the check and heading to the parking lot.

“Thank you for introducing me to Angela. She seems like a lot of fun”

Tim slightly nods “Just wait until her husband is with her. They are a true dynamic duo”

Lucy chuckles as they walk over to Lucy’s car

“I’ll call you tomorrow on my lunch break”

“You better”

Lucy hugs Tim good night before hopping into her car and drives home. She thought about how crazy of a day she had. She wasn’t expecting the coaching job but knew Tim had something to do with that. As she arrived home, she put on her sweatpants, turned on the tv and crashed on the couch for the rest of the night.

Chapter Text

August 24th, 2021

After having dinner with Tim and Angela, Lucy has been in for a whirlwind. A few days after the dinner, Lucy got a call from Wesley telling her she got the teaching position. She was really excited but anxious at the same time. She had to figure out where her classroom was, what she still needed for the room, getting her class list, coming up with a theme and ton of other things. Tim decided to help and to make sure Lucy didn’t go down the rabbit hole. They went to many places around Los Angeles to make sure Lucy had everything that she needed. After they got everything, they spent the next few days decorating her room. It turned out pretty nice to say the least. She ended up meeting all of her kids at the open house and the parents seemed to like her, some of them.

Lucy got up early to make sure everything was alright. It’s the first day of school and she wanted it to go great.

She ran over to her coffee maker and put in a fresh pot. Once she had her coffee, she went to her bedroom and changed into her sundress. She applied her makeup and didn’t do it too overboard. As she was styling her hair, she got a text message from Rachel. She looked over and saw what she wrote.

Have a great first day Luce. It’s hard not having you here. Wish you luck

Lucy smiled and responded to the message. After she finished getting ready, she made sure she had everything and walked out the door.

The drive over to the school wasn’t too bad. She didn’t have to go on the main freeway to get there so it saves her a bunch of time. In the meantime, Lucy jammed out to her playlist and let herself go. As she pulled into the parking lot, she saw that she was one of the first ones there. She wasn’t surprised since she didn’t have to be there until 7:45. Lucy parked her car near her building and headed inside. She walked over to her classroom, which she was happy was on the first floor, and got herself settled for the day.

Around 8 o’clock, Lucy decided to go down to the bathroom really quick before students started coming off the bus. When she returned to her room, there was something on her desk. It was a bouquet of flowers, Yellow Roses to be exact . She knew those weren’t on her desk before she went to the bathroom so they came while she was out. Lucy walked over to them and found a card sitting on top of the bouquet. She opened it up and her heart melted.

Happy First Day of School Miss.Chen. I hope these aren’t too much. I just wanted you to have a good start to your day.

Anyways, Have a good day

-Tim 

As soon as she finished the note, she grabbed her phone and dialed Tim's number. He answered right away.

“Hey Luce, I’m guessing you got my flowers”

“Yes, I did” Lucy smiles 

“Do you like them”

“I really do” Lucy expresses “And I love that you went with yellow roses”

“It is because they symbolize friendship”

Lucy acts shocked “Is that why you did that”

“Maybe”

“Oh…. I so wish I could playfully punch you right now”

“I can believe that” Tim chuckles “So, you ready for your group of first graders”

“As I’ll ever be” Lucy explains “I just hope they like me”

“And they will” Tim sighs “Well, I better get to work. DNA isn’t going to figure it out on it’s own”

“Alright then, I’ll see you at practice”

“See you later”

Lucy hangs up the phone and prepares for her students to come in. After about 10 minutes, Lucy saw kids starting to pile up in the hallway. She goes out into the hall and watches as the kids put their stuff in their lockers and enter the classroom. Once everyone was out of the hallway, Lucy goes into her classroom and closes the door. She walks into the front of her classroom and introduces herself.

“Hello, My name is Miss. Chen and I will be your first grade teacher this year. I am really excited to be teaching you guys this year” Lucy sees all of her kids smiling “A little bit about me is that I am originally from Los Angeles but I spent the last few years teaching out in a city called Chicago. Growing up, I was an only child whose parents put her in every sport possible. I went to UCLA for my teaching degree and that’s what brought me here today. Do any of you have any questions for me” Lucy sees a few hands go up and calls on a kid.

“Why did you move back to LA” one of her kids spoke

Lucy sighs “I was getting a little homesick so I decided to come back” Lucy knew it wasn’t really the truth but she doesn’t want to tell her new students about her breakup

Lucy calls on the next kid “What was your favorite sport as a kid”

“Ohh….. Great question. I would have to say figure skating was my favorite”

Her students asked a few more questions and Lucy was happy to answer them. Once all the students asked their questions, Lucy grabbed her expo marker and got started with the day.

()()()()()()()()()

Once the clock hit 3 o’clock, Lucy was dead on her feet in a good way. Her first day felt like a success. The kids didn’t give her any trouble and they all respected her. After the kids hopped on the bus, Lucy headed back to her classroom to pack up for the day. She was contracted to stay there until 3:15 so she still had a little bit of time to kill. She cleaned off her student’s desks and some of the counters. As the clock ran past 3:15, she grabbed her bag along with her phone and keys and walked out her door. As she was walking down the hallway, her phone went off. She grabbed it and saw it was a message from Caleb. Before she could respond to the message, she accidentally bumped into someone.

“Oh, I’m sorry” Lucy explained

“No, It’s alright. I know you didn’t mean to do it”

“Still, I’m sorry” Lucy pleads 

“Like I said, it’s Ok. Besides, the message you were looking at must have been important”

“Yeah umm…..” Lucy sighs “I broke up with my boyfriend and he keeps messaging me”

“And you were going to send him a message to leave you alone”

“Exactly”

“Yeah, I’ve been there before” 

Lucy slightly smiles “Oh, sorry. I haven’t introduced myself yet” Lucy extends her hand “Lucy Chen, I’m the new first grade teacher”

“Nyla Harper, I’m one of the Special Ed. teachers”

Lucy nods her head “Nice to meet you”

They continue talking for the next few minutes, finding out they have a few things in common. Nyla went on talking about her husband James and the community work that he does. Lucy expresses some interest and Nyla promises to tell James. After a little bit, Lucy’s phone went off again. She said goodbye to Nyla and walked back down the hallway. Lucy pulled out her phone to see that Caleb texted her again. She wanted to ignore it but another message came through, seemed more hurtful than the last one. To get him to stop, she responded with some not so nice words and walked out the door. 

()()()()()()()()()

On her drive home, Lucy felt like she had a pit at the bottom of her stomach. She didn’t know why she was feeling like this so she tried to let it go. But she couldn’t, she knew something was going to happen. And that thought became true when she turned onto her street and saw an unfamiliar car in her driveway. As she pulled in, she took a closer look at the car but didn’t see anybody in it. That was until she looked at her front door and saw Caleb standing there. She didn’t know what to do, drive back down the driveway or get out of the car and face him. Without a second thought, Lucy got out of her car and walked with a purpose to her front door.

“Hey Luce, Long time no see”

“How did you find me” Lucy asks

“Wow, right to the catch” Caleb sighs “Umm……. I don’t want to tell you how I found you. It would ruin my edge”

“Ok, that’s just creepy”

“I wouldn’t say creepy” Caleb shrugs his shoulders “Anyways, we’re getting off topic here. How are you doing”

“Really, that’s what you wanted to ask me” Lucy said with annoyance “Fine, I was doing great until I saw you at my doorstep”

Caleb nods his head “Nice to know”

“Ok, Cut the actual crap. What are you really doing here”

“Why are you being so hurtful” Caleb gloats “Fine, I just wanted to know if you had come to your senses and wanted to move back to Chicago”

“You gotta be kidding me. Why would I go back, I’m where I belong”

“Cause, All of your friends are there, your students are there and most importantly, I’m there”

“Ugh…..” Lucy pleads “Caleb, why can’t you get it through that head of yours. We’ve been broken up for months now, you need to move on. I sure did”

“Yeah, I bet you did” Caleb gets a little angry “Is there a certain person you wanted to move back home for”

Lucy shakes her head “What are you talking about”

“Your hockey friend, I saw you guys at the rink last week while you were at a meeting”

“That is none of your…….” Lucy stops in her tracks “Wait…… were you spying on me”

Caleb didn’t answer back but Lucy got her answer. They continued to argue for a while and Caleb wasn’t letting go of his agenda. He wanted to make Lucy come back with him but Lucy was able to deflect. After a bit, Lucy stopped arguing. She threatened to call the police if he didn’t leave her house. He didn’t take it seriously at first until Lucy pulled her phone out and he walked over to his car.

“This isn’t over Lucy. You’ll come to your senses and realize you don’t belong here”

Lucy ignored him and pulled out her keys to get into her house. As soon as she walks in, she immediately locks the door. She brought herself over to her bedroom and let out a couple of breathers, seeing Caleb again shook her. She went through her calming exercises and it helped her calm down. Once she felt better, she went back into her living room and saw that Caleb had left. She went to her kitchen and quickly made herself something to eat since she has to go to the rink later. As she was cooking, she kept thinking about Caleb. How did he figure out where she was? The only people she really told about LA were Tim and Rachel and she knows they would never tell him about her whereabouts. To take her mind off it, she turned on her radio.

“Alexa, play my calming playlist”

The playlist started to play and Lucy immediately felt better. After dinner, she got into her skating attire and put her hair in a ponytail. She looked in the mirror to make sure everything looked good. Once she felt good enough, she grabbed her stuff and headed off to her car.

()()()()()()()()()()()

Lucy arrived at the rink still a little shaken up. She tried to not let it show on her face that something was wrong. She walked inside happily and went to the locker room. Bailey and Angela were already there and already had their skates on. Lucy joined them on the bench and laced up her skates. Once she was ready, the three of them headed off to the ice. As they were walking by, the hockey players were getting off the ice after their seminar. Lucy told Bailey and Angela to go ahead and she’ll catch up. She cuts off from the group and goes over to Tim. 

“Hey, Can we talk for a minute” Lucy asks

“Sure”

Lucy and Tim walk over to a more quiet area of the lobby to have some privacy

“What’s going on” Tim questions

Lucy lets go of a huge breath “You know how I didn’t tell Caleb I was coming back to Los Angeles”

“Yeah”

Lucy sighs “Well, He found me”

Tim’s eyes popped out of his head “What”

“Yeah, I got home after work and I saw this weird car in my driveway. I didn’t see anybody in there but then I saw Caleb by my front door”

“How did he find out where you were”

“I don’t know. He didn’t want to tell me”

“Jerk”

Lucy nods her head “He came to tried and convince me to move back to Chicago”

Tim shakes his head “That guy can’t let go can he”

“Not for a minute” Lucy sighs “I told him no but he’s not going to stop until he gets what he wants. What am I going to do”

Tim puts his hand on her shoulder “First, you are going to calm down”

Lucy takes a breather “Ok, then what”

“Then, you are going to forget about it for now and go out on that ice to meet your skaters”

Lucy nods her head “I think I can do that”

“And afterwards, you and I are going to get some ice cream to celebrate”

“That’s sound good”

“Good” Tim smiles “Now, you get on that ice and start your practice”

Lucy smiles back at him and heads over to the doors. She takes one last look at Tim before walking over to where Angela and Bailey are standing.

“Sorry that took forever”

“No worries, the girls aren't on the ice yet” Bailey comments “What did you need to talk to Tim about”

Lucy sighs “Ohh, just my ex-boyfriend showing up at my door”

“Oh, that had to seem fun”

“Yeah but I don’t want to get into it right now”

“That’s totally fine. I’m here if you need me”

Lucy nods back and watches as the girls get on the ice. Angela calls the girls all over to the boards and they start their little chat. Lucy introduced herself to the skaters and they seemed happy to see her. Angela goes over the exceptions and rules that the girls have to follow and sends them on their way. Once the girls were gone, Angela goes over the list of girls that Lucy would be coaching. She points out to Lucy who each of the girls are so she doesn’t get confused. After Angela explains everything, Lucy calls her first girl over.

“Tamara” Lucy yells “You’re up first”

She sees Tamara skate over to the boards and they get started. Tamara wants to work on her jumps first and Lucy was fine with it. She instructs Tamara to start off with the basic jumps and they would go on from there. As the girl was skating, Lucy couldn’t believe how graceful this girl was. She made everything look so easy like she didn’t have difficulty at all. Lucy could tell this girl has been doing this for a while. She did however demonstrate how Tamara could have a better take off position when jumping and Tamara agreed to do it. Once her lesson was done, Lucy moved on to her next skater.

()()()()()()()()()()

After it hits 8 o’clock, Lucy was ready to get off the ice. She followed Angela and Bailey back to the locker room and took her skates off. They asked Lucy how she felt after today and she couldn’t lie, she loved it. After everything was taken care of, Lucy heads out of the locker room and goes to the lobby to meet up with Tim. As she entered the lobby, Tim was standing right near the entrance smiling at her. She walked over to him and gave him a hug.

“How was your first practice”

Lucy smiles “Honestly, it was amazing. Angela, Bailey and the girls are all so nice”

“I agree, they are a great group. I have nothing but good things to say about them”

“That feels relieving to hear” Lucy sighs “And I do have to say, these girls are extremely talented especially that Tamara kid”

Tim nods his head “Yeah, she is good. I once saw her do something called a double lutz into a loop, whatever that is”

“Wow, that is impressive”

“I’ll say” Tim smiles “So, you ready for some ice cream”

“Absolutely, where did you want to go”

“Does that place across the street work for you”

“Sure, sounds nice”

Lucy and Tim make their way out of the arena and head over to Lucy’s car. She throws her bag into the back seat and walks over with Tim to the parlor. Once they get in there, Lucy looks over the menu choices.

“What the……. I have never heard of some of these flavors before”

Tim looks over at Lucy “Seriously, Chicago didn’t have anything like this”

Lucy shakes her head “No, we didn’t have Ginger Pineapple or Honey Pistachio. We had the regular flavors like Chocolate or Vanilla”

Tim shrugs his shoulders “Well, gotta remember, this is LA, They come up with the craziest things”

“I guess you're right” Lucy smiles slightly “Besides, these flavors do sound good”

Lucy looks over the menu one more time before ordering. She went with strawberry rhubarb while Tim got Cherry Almond. They didn’t have to wait long for their ice cream. After they had their cups, they went outside and sat at one of the tables.

“Now” Tim eats some of his ice cream “Besides the whole fiasco with Caleb, how was your first day”

Lucy smiles brightly “It was amazing. The students are so nice and they really respect me. One of them actually made me a drawing to put at my desk”

“That was nice of them. Anything else happen”

Lucy went on talking while Tim listened. She went into detail about her talk with Nyla and how she might do some stuff with the community center. After a while, Lucy and Tim were done with their ice cream. They threw their cups away and headed back over to the rink. Tim walks Lucy over to her car and gives her a hug. 

“Just so you know. If Caleb ever bothers you again, just give me a call. I’ll know what to do with him”

“Do I want to know what it is”

Tim nods is head “Let’s just say I might be able to do something with his DNA”

“And how would you be able to do that”

“I work in a forensics lab, I could figure out a way”

Lucy smiles “Well, if he does bother me again, I might take you up on that offer”

They say goodbye to each other as Lucy hops in her car. She watches as Tim walks over to his truck and drives off. She pulls out of the parking lot and makes her drive home. Once she unlocks her front door, she plops her bag on the couch and binge watched some tv. Letting all of the stress from the day bounce off her.

Chapter Text

August 28th, 2021

Since seeing Caleb at her front door, Lucy has taken some extra precautions. She asked a neighbor to warn her if they saw Caleb again, which did happen again. She went and got a new deadbolt since hers was a little bit old. Tim was able to come by just in case. Lucy has tried everything she can to make sure Caleb wouldn’t come back but it still doesn't feel like enough. 

Lucy woke up on Saturday with an agenda. She found a security camera online and she’s going to try and install it. It was a more fancy system but it was enough for her to feel safe. She chugged down her coffee and ran out the door. She hopped in her car and drove to the hardware store near her house. As she pulled up, she pulled out a list of all the stuff she would need. Once she was done she ran back home to get started.

While trying to read the instructions for the installation, Lucy couldn’t understand a thing she was reading. It just seemed a little confusing to her. Before having a little bit of a tantrum, she decided to call in some special forces. She picks up her phone and presses on Tim’s contact.

“Hey Luce, what’s going on”

“Well……” Lucy pauses “I ran into a bit of an issue”

“What kind of issue”

“I’m trying to install my security camera and……”

“And the instructions seems a little bit confusing”

“Yes, they do”

“And you called me to see if I can install it”

“That would also be a yes”

Tim chuckles “Not a problem, just let me take a shower and I’ll be there when I can”

“Thank you so much”

Lucy hung up the phone and plopped out on her couch. In the meantime, Lucy started watching a movie on her tv. She didn’t have to wait too long until she had a knock at her door.

“It’s always open” Lucy yells from the couch

“You know you shouldn’t leave your door unlock, a stranger could just walk in here” Tim comments

“Shut up, I knew it was you at the door”

“How did you know”

“You have a very specific knock”

“I what…” Tim acts confused

“Nothing” Lucy smiles “Anyways, like I told you earlier, I tried figuring this out myself but it just seems too confusing”

“No worries, just give me the instructions and we can figure it out together”

Lucy hands Tim the instructions and they got to work. Lucy read off the paper while Tim did the installation. Lucy assisted as much as she could but Tim did most of the work. It only took them about an hour to get everything situated. They ran a test to make sure it was working right and it passed successfully. Once they were done, Lucy and Tim went and sat down at the kitchen island for a water break.

“Thank you so much. I swear I was going crazy over that camera”

“No problem”

“I feel like I have to repay you in somehow”

Tim shakes his head “You don’t need to”

“But I want to” Lucy smiles

Tim sighs “Ok, fine. What would like to do for me”

“How about I take you out to lunch as a token of my appreciate”

“Depends” Tim adjusts in his seat “Where would you be taking me”

“Anywhere you want”

Tim smirks “Including that steakhouse I really like”

Lucy sighs “Yes, including that”

“Great, then that’s where we're going”

Lucy just rolls her eyes and grabs her car keys. Tim offered to drive but Lucy insisted that she should. They walk out of Lucy’s house and head over to her car. They get inside and Lucy asks Tim to put the directions to the steakhouse onto her phone. Once he does that, Lucy pulls out of her driveway and they make their drive over.

()()()()()()()()()()()

Lucy and Tim were seated immediately after they arrived. Tim was surprised since it’s usually a 30 minute wait but since it’s lunchtime they probably don’t get too many people. Once they were seated, Lucy and Tim ordered their drinks and grabbed their menus.

“So…..” Lucy spoke “Since you’ve been here so many times and I haven’t, what should I order”

Tim looks over at her “You’re really asking me for a food opinion”

“Yes, Seriously. I don’t know what to order”

“Ok….” Tim looks through the menu “I would suggest the 8oz Sirloin with a baked potato. It’s one of their smaller steaks but it’s still really good”

“Sound good” Lucy closes her menu “Do I want to know what you’re getting”

Tim shakes his head “No, you don’t”

Lucy chuckles as the waiter comes back with their drinks. They place their order and the waiter walks away. Once their waiter was gone, Lucy and Tim fell into easy conversation, mainly talking about work. Tim brought up a story about how one of his coworkers accidentally slipped in the puddle of blood at a crime scene. Lucy couldn’t help but laugh. As she was bringing up a story from work, her phone started to buzz. She looked at her phone and saw it was Caleb.

“Is it him again”

“How could you guess” Lucy said sarcastically “He’s just wondering why I’m not home on a Saturday”

“How would he know you aren’t at home”

Lucy sighs “It must mean he’s at my house again”

“Did you want to go deal with that”

“No” Lucy shuts off her phone “I just want to enjoy having lunch with my friend”

Lucy smiles at Tim and he smiles back. Their waiter came back with their food and they dived in. They continued on with their conversation from earlier while they ate. Lucy was able to bring up her story from work without any interruption. As they were eating, Lucy’s phone kept going off every 5 minutes and everytime it was from Caleb. She kept ignoring it and at one point she threw her phone in her purse so it wouldn't interrupt. Once they finished eating, the waiter brought over their check and Lucy paid for it, even though Tim insisted.

“I’m the one who said we should go to lunch so I’m paying”

“Are you sure you can pay this with your teacher salary” Tim said jokingly

“Shut up” Lucy chuckles

The waiter brings Lucy her card back and they walk out of the steakhouse. They get back to Lucy’s car and they make the drive back to her place. Her phone was still going off every few minutes but both of them ignored it. Once they got back to Lucy’s, she promised to answer it the next time Caleb tries to call. And just like that, Lucy’s phone started ringing again. She quickly grabs it and puts it on speaker phone.

“What do you want Caleb”

“Wow, that’s not a nice way to answer the phone”

“I don’t care” Lucy said with frustration “You have been the one messaging me all day trying to get my attention”

“You weren’t answering your phone. What was I supposed to do?”

“You were supposed to get the message that I didn’t want to talk to you”

“But you’re talking to me now”

“Yeah, just to tell you to stop calling me” Lucy almost hangs up the phone

“Wait” Caleb pleads “I just want to ask you something”

Lucy rolls her eyes “What is it”

“I want to talk”

Lucy scoffs “Yeah Right”

“No, I’m serious. I’m leaving tomorrow to head back to Chicago and I just wanted to talk to you one last time”

“And why should I trust you”

“Cause I’m telling the truth, I just want to talk. I promise to not do anything”

Lucy looks at Tim and sighs “Fine, but I get to pick where we go”

“Totally fair, just text me the…..”

Lucy hangs up the phone before Caleb could finish his sentence. She sets her phone on the table and folds her head into her hands. Tim comes over to her and rubs her shoulder.

“Are you Ok”

Lucy shakes her head “Not really, he is so unbelievable”

“I can tell”

“He just wants to talk my ass” Lucy rants of “He has some in play”

“You think he’s going to throw the Chicago card back in your face”

“I wouldn’t put it passed him” Lucy starts rubbing her head “What am I going to do”

Tim sighs “Well……. You are going to go to this dinner and I’m going to keep an eye on you”

Lucy pulls her head up “What”

“I’m going with you”

Lucy shakes her head “You don’t have to do that”

“But would it make you more comfortable if I was there”

Lucy sighs and nods her head “Yeah, I would”

“Then, it’s settled I’m coming with”

Lucy smiles back at him as she sits down at her table. They go over a plan for dinner and wait it out for the rest of the day.

()()()()()()()()

After some discussion, Lucy decided where she wanted to meet Caleb. She chose a place that's not really romantic so Caleb doesn’t get the wrong idea. 

Around 6 o’clock, Lucy started getting ready. She pulled out a pair of jeans and a nice blouse and threw it on. She didn’t bother to put on too much makeup and just straighten her hair. As she was finishing up, Lucy heard a knock at her door. She walks over and sees Tim through her window. She opens the door and lets him in.

“Hey, Ready to go”

Lucy nods her head “Nope, but let's do this”

Lucy grabs her phone and her keys and walks out the door. She walks over to Tim’s truck and got inside. They pulled out of the driveway and made their way to the restaurant. Lucy stayed quiet as she just kept thinking about how the night was going to go. Tim let her be and didn’t interrupt her process. As they pulled up to a stop light, Tim reached over and grabbed Lucy’s hand. She looked over at him and he was smiling at her. She smiled right back at him.

“Thanks” Lucy comments

Tim nods his head and continues driving. They pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant and parked the truck.

“Ok, I’m going to go inside and take a seat at the bar. I’ll see you in there”

Lucy nods her head while Tim gets out of the truck. She sees him walk towards the entrance while she waits outside. She takes a moment to herself before getting out of the truck. As she's walking inside, she spots Tim at the bar motioning to where Caleb was sitting. She sees him sitting near the middle of the restaurant with two glasses of wine. She sighs before she walks over to meet him at the table. 

“Hey, sorry I’m late” Lucy mentions

“No worries, I didn’t get here too long ago”

Lucy takes her seat at the table and Caleb hands Lucy one of the wine glasses

“Here, I got you some Merlot, your favorite”

“Oh, thanks” Lucy took the glass of wine but sets it aside “So, have you ordered yet”

“No, I was waiting for you to get here”

Lucy nods her head as she grabs her menu. She seeks a look at Tim to make sure he was still there. As she turns her head back, the waiter arrives.

“Hello, I’m Miles and I’ll be serving you tonight. Did you guys want anything else to drink besides the wine”

“Um….” Lucy speaks up “Can I actually have a ginger ale”

The waiter nods his head “And are you guys ready to order”

Lucy looks over at Caleb and sees he’s not ready

“No, we still need a minute or two”

The waiter nods his head again and walks away from the table. Lucy looks over her menu trying to decide on what she wants. As she was looking, the waiter came back with her ginger ale. She takes a sip of her drink and goes back to looking at the menu. After deciding on what she wanted, she looked over at Caleb to see if he was ready. Once Caleb was ready, the waiter came back over. He takes their order and walks away from the table, leaving Lucy and Caleb to himself.

“Now” Lucy crosses her arms “Is there a reason why you wanted to talk to me so badly”

Caleb sighs “Honestly……… I just wanted to see how everything was going with you”

“You being honest”

“Cross my heart”

Lucy sighs “Fine. To tell you the truth” Lucy could see Caleb’s face getting all happy “I love it here” The smile on Caleb’s face fades “The school is really great, the rink is even better and the friends I have made here, I couldn’t imagine my life without any of them”

“Oh, that’s great” Caleb said depressively 

“Why, were you expecting a different answer”

“Yeah, I was”

“You were expecting me to say I hate it here and that I wanted to move back to Chicago”

“Well………..”

“Unbelievable” Lucy gets up from her seat “I knew you were going to try and spring this up on me. You have to accept that I’m not coming back. So, whatever antics you want to try, just save it” 

Caleb gets up from the table as well “Hey, all I’m trying to do is to have you see that there’s nothing for you here. Everything that you are known for is back home in Chicago”

“I’m already home”

Lucy walks away from the table and walks towards the door. She makes it outside to where she finds a bench and she sits down. She should have known Caleb was going to try this, it’s all he’s been doing since he found out she was leaving. She kept thinking why did she even agree to talk to him knowing his motive. As she was lost in her head, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up and saw Tim taking a seat next to her. 

“Hey, I saw what happened. Are you ok” Tim asks

Lucy shakes her head “No, I’m not. I can’t believe I put myself through this. I knew what he was trying to do and I still fell for his tricks”

“You couldn’t have known what he was going to do. All he said is that he wanted to see you one last time before he left”

“I know but I should have known what he was going to do. Why I’m I too trustworthy”

Tim wraps his arm around Lucy “Because that’s who you are. It’s what people like most about you, including me”

Lucy smiles “Are you just saying that to get some brownie points”

“No, I’m not” Tim smiles “I’m saying it because it’s the truth”

“Thank you”

“No worries” Tim rubs Lucy’s shoulder “Now, are you ready to go get some beer and head home”

“You read my mind”

Tim grabs Lucy's hand and they walk over to his truck. He opens the door for her and she hops in. Once both of them are settled, they pull out of the parking lot and head to the nearest liquor store.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()

After stopping for some beer and burgers, Lucy was still hungry, they pulled into Lucy’s driveway. Lucy unlocked her front door and they head inside. Tim sets up the beer on the kitchen counter while Lucy unwraps the burgers. They sat down at the island together and ate their food. They talked for a little bit but mainly they were invested with their food. Once they were done eating, Lucy and Tim each grabbed a beer and headed over to Lucy’s couch. Lucy may have gotten more drunk than Tim.

“Alright, truth or dare” Lucy asks

“Ok, umm….. Truth”

“When you were dating Ashley in college, did you actually have feelings for her”

Tim shakes his head “No, I didn’t”

“Then, why did you date her”

Tim shrugs his shoulders “Cause, She was the head cheerleader and I was a hockey player. It was kind of expected”

“That only happens in movies”

“I know but at the time it made sense”

“That’s stupid”

“Well, it also didn’t help that the girl I had a crush on was dating someone else”

“Oh” Lucy spoke “You had a crush on someone”

“Yeah” Tim continues to drink his beer “And I still do”

“Do I want to know who it is”

Tim shakes his head “No, I don’t think you do”

“Ok, Fine”

They drink for a little bit after that, Lucy more than Tim. After a while Tim starts to notice that Lucy looks a little sluggish and decides to put her to bed. He wraps his arm around her shoulder and escorts her to her room. As they were walking over, Lucy brings up a conversation from earlier.

“Just to let you know” Lucy said a little drunkenly “I had the biggest crush on you when we first met”

Tim almost stops in his tracks “What”

“I said” Lucy stumbles on her words “I had a huge crush on you in high school”

“Ohhh……… Wow, that I wasn’t expecting” 

“Shhh, I’m not supposed to tell you. It’s a secret”

Tim nods his head “I promise I won’t tell anyone”

They make it over to Lucy’s room and Tim gently places her on the bed. He takes her jeans off and slides on some pajama pants that he found in her dresser. Once Lucy was settled, he pulled the blanket over her and put her to sleep. He went and got her a glass of water and some aspirin for when she woke up. He left her room and walked back down the hallway. Deciding that it was too late to go home, Tim grabbed the blanket from off the back of the couch and went to sleep.

()()()()()()()()()()()

August 29th, 2021

When Lucy woke up, she was a little confused. She remembered the night before but doesn’t remember what happened after her and Tim left the restaurant. She knew they went and bought some beer then went back to her place but can’t recollect how much she drank. Yet, for the little bit of a headache she has, it would have to have been a lot. Lucy looked over at her nightstand and saw a glass of water and some aspirin sitting there. She knew Tim had to have put them there. 

Once Lucy took them, she got out of bed and walked down the hallway. She looked in her living room and didn’t see him on the couch so he must have left earlier. As she was making her way into the kitchen, a piece of paper caught her eye. She walked over towards it and read what was on there.

Hey Luce,

You’re probably wondering what happened last night. Let’s just say you may have gotten a little too drunk and you may have said some things that I didn’t know if I was supposed to know but… now I do. Anyways, I left you some blueberry pancakes on the stove, just reheat them in the microwave. I also brewed you a fresh pot of coffee. Have a good rest of your day

-Tim

Lucy finished the note and was a little confused. She tried to think of what she could have said to him but she couldn’t remember. After grabbing a coffee mug from her cupboard, it finally hit her.

“No, No, No….. I didn’t” Lucy said to herself “Oh gosh, what did I do”

She couldn’t stop thinking about it for the rest of the morning. Her secret was out, Tim knows she likes him and she couldn’t take it back. Even though it should be a good thing now that he knows, it still scares her to death. What if Tim doesn’t like her back, what if she ruined their friendship forever and so many other what if’s went through her mind. She wanted to message him to see what the outcome was but decided to wait it out until she was ready to face the music. All she needed was a little time to think.

Chapter Text

September 1st, 2021

Since Lucy had her little drunken confession to Tim, she hasn’t talked to him in the past few days. It’s not like she doesn’t want to, it’s just she doesn’t know what to say in this situation. She didn’t know if he felt the same way or if he didn't see her in that light.

To pass the time, Lucy has been going to work and the rink and has been minding her own business. The hockey team didn’t have practice all the time but Tim would still come in and do some work but Lucy wasn’t able to go and talk to him. She would sneak a glance every once in a while but nothing too dramatic.

After work, Lucy made a quick pit stop home before she had to go to the rink. Angela needed her and Bailey for a small meeting and wanted to meet before practice. When she arrived home, she threw her stuff onto the couch and went to her bedroom. She put her hair into a messy bun before getting into her skating attire. Once she’s all set, she heads back out to her car and drives off.

When she arrives at the rink, she only sees Angela’s car in the parking lot. Lucy parks her car and heads inside. As she’s walking in, her phone goes off. She looks down and sees a notification from Bailey

Hey, I’m running a little late. Can you tell Angela I’ll be there as soon as I can

Lucy sighs in relief and responds to Bailey. She gets inside the rink and makes her way to the locker room. As she walked in, Angela was sitting at the coaches bench.

“Hey Ang” Lucy sets her bag down “Bailey texted me saying she’ll be a few minutes late”

Angela nods her head “Yeah, I know. She is always late. But, since it’s just you and me, I need to talk to you about something”

“Oh, Ok” Lucy takes a seat at the bench “What is it”

Angela sighs “It’s just…… over the past few days, you’ve been looking off”

Lucy acts confused “What do you mean”

“You’re acting like something happened” Lucy tries to speak up but Angela beats her to it “And before you say nothing is wrong. I’ve noticed you being distant from Tim when he gets here and you haven’t been texting him. What’s going on”

“Do you really want to know”

“Yes”

Lucy sighs “Tim came and helped me out with my ex on Saturday. As a thank you, we bought some beer and drank at my house all night. I may of had a little bit too much and I may have admitted that I’ve had a crush on him since high school”

“Oh”

“And that’s not all. When I woke up the next morning, I didn’t know I said any of that until I found the note that Tim had left me”

“Oh”

“Yeah, now you know why I have been acting a little weird” Lucy puts her head in her hands “I think I messed everything up with him”

“No, you didn’t” Angela scoots closer to Lucy “People do stuff all the time when they’re drunk”

“Do people admit their feelings to the other person”

Angela shrugs her shoulders “That’s what happened with me and Wesley”

“That’s different. You guys didn’t know each other in high school”

Angela nods her head “That may be true but look how it worked out for us. Him and I have two amazing kids together and I wouldn’t change it for the world. What I’m saying is that this admission of feelings may be the best thing to ever happen to you. Who knows, maybe Tim has feeling for you too”

“I doubt that”

“You’ll never know until you talk to him”

Angela continues to comfort Lucy until Bailey walks in. She asks what’s going on and Lucy fills her in. Once Bailey knows everything, the three of them have their little meeting, basically going over certain things when it comes to the skaters. Once the meeting was done, they put on their skates and headed over to the ice and waited for the girls to arrive. After the girls made their way to the ice, Angela goes over the practice schedule for the next few weeks and they get started with practice. 

()()()()()()()()()()

About 30 minutes into practice, Lucy was finishing up with one of her skaters when she saw Tim walking in. She noticed that didn’t have any of his stuff with him so he’s probably just stopping in for a few minutes. Lucy saw this as her opportunity to go and talk to him. She nudges Angela on the shoulder to get her attention.

“Hey, I just saw Tim walk in. I’m going to go and talk to him”

“No problem”

Lucy skates over to the door and puts her guards on. She debates whether or not to untie her skates but figured it would waste too much time. As she was making her way down the hallway, Lucy started thinking about what she was going to say. She didn’t know if she should just blurt something out or ease into it. She didn’t have too long to think about it because she was about to get to Tim’s office. Lucy took a deep breath before knocking on the door.

“It’s open”

Lucy puts her hand on the handle and opens the door. She saw Tim look up at her and he was decently surprised to see her.

“Luce, what are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be at practice”

Lucy nods her head “Yeah, I am but I saw you walking in the lobby and figured I come and see you”

“Oh, well that’s fine” Tim shifts his stance “So, how have you been”

“Not too bad, Work has been keeping me busy the past few days. What about you?”

Tim shrugs his shoulders “Same as you, we have a backlog at work that’s been keeping me on my feet”

“That’s good to hear”

Both of them stayed quiet for a moment “So, did you want to…….” They both say at the same time

“Sorry, you go first” Tim initiates

“Ok. Umm………” Lucy thinks for a second “I wanted to talk to you about what happened on Saturday”

“Oh……. yeah, that’s fine. Where do you want to start”

“Well actually, I didn’t want to talk about it here. I was wondering if you wanted to go to the bar around the corner then we could talk”

Tim nods his head “Sounds good. When did you want to meet”

“Could we meet after I’m done with practice”

“Sounds good” 

“Great, I’ll talk to you then”

Lucy makes her way out of his office and walks back down the hallway. She makes it back onto the ice and goes on with practice. Angela and Bailey shoot her a few glances but she ignores them. She called over her next skater and started her lesson.

About an hour later, Angela declares practice is done and the girls head off the ice. Lucy gets off the ice first with Angela and Bailey following after. They make it to the coaches room and Lucy quickly takes her skates off. Angela and Bailey watch in amusement. Lucy looks over at them but doesn’t say a word yet luckily Bailey does.

“So Luce, how was your talk with Bradford”

Lucy stops packing her stuff “Ahh, we really didn’t talk. We agreed to meet for drinks after I was done with practice”

“So that’s why you’re rushing out of here” Angela interjects

“Exactly”

Bailey and Angela nod their head before they continue talking

“Are you guys going to talk about about happened” Bailey comments 

Lucy shakes her head “Yeah, we are. I just hope that Tim or I don’t change the subject cause it’s too hard to talk about”

“You won't” Angela interjects again “Once you guys start talking about it, just stick to it. Don’t do anything to cause a subject change”

“That might be hard to do but I’ll give it a shot”

“Good” Angela smiles “Now, get out of here and have the talk”

Lucy nods her head and walks out of the room. She makes her way to the parking lot and gets into her car. She notices Tim’s truck is still there so she messages him saying she’s heading out. After he responded, she put the car in drive and pulled out onto the street.

()()()()()()()()()()

Lucy arrived not too long after. She finds a secluded spot to sit right near the back of the bar and waits for Tim to arrive. As she’s waiting, she goes through her head all the possibilities that could happen after tonight. Most of them are slightly bad but a few pop into her head that were good. As she was thinking, the bartender comes over and takes her order. She asks for a Lemon Daiquiri for her and a Whiskey on the Rocks for Tim. Once the bartender is gone, she goes back to thinking but this time about what she’s going to say. A few words went through her head.

“Ok, I could say this but it might lead into this thing. Ugh!!!! Why did I agree to do this” 

As she was going through her head, she heard the bar door opening. She looks over and sees Tim making his way over to her. She takes a deep breath and waves Tim over. Once he gets closer, Lucy gets out of her seat and gives him a hug. After they greeted each other, They took a seat.

“I ordered you a whiskey on the rocks. I hope that’s ok”

“Yeah, that’s perfect”

The bartender comes back with their drinks and asks if they want anything to eat. They decided to get a wings and fries platter so they could eat it while they talked. Once the bartender was out of ear shot, Lucy decides to start talking.

“Alright, Now I think it’s time that we talk about what happened”

“Yeah, I think so” Tim comments “Did you want to start”

“Yes” Lucy nods her head and takes a breather “I’m sorry that I put you in that situation. I was drunk and wasn’t thinking clearly”

“It’s ok Luce. You were letting yourself go and I don’t blame you for that”

“I know but it feels like I shouldn’t have brought that up after I had asked you about Ashley”

“It’s fine Luce, I didn’t care. Besides, you had a bad night, I wasn’t going to blame for anything that went down”

“Even if I embarrassed myself” 

Tim grabs Lucy’s hand “Yes, even if you do that”

“Good” Lucy smiles slightly “Now, can we actually start talking to each other again and not be awkward”

Tim smiles “I would like that”

“Great cause I wanted to talk to you about what happened in my class yesterday”

They went on with Lucy’s story about how one of her student’s tried to cut another student’s hair, Tim couldn’t believe it. Their platter arrived shortly after and they started eating. The rest of the night was spent talking about anything under the sun and smiling along as they do. Lucy decided to switch to water after her second drink while Tim stopped after his first. As the night drew to a close, the bartender gave them their tab and they split the bill. They get up from their seats and walk out of the bar together. Tim offers to walk Lucy to her car and she gracefully accepts it.

“Thank you for meeting with me tonight. I’m really happy we talked about it” said Lucy

“Yeah, I am too” Tim smiles 

“Good to hear” Lucy smiles back “Well, I better get home. We both have an early morning”

“No worries, I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Have a good night”

Tim walks over to his truck while Lucy gets into her car. She waits for Tim to pull out of the parking lot before she makes her way out. Lucy thought that their talk went really well tonight but something still felt a little off about it. Everytime she looked over at Tim, it looked like he wanted to say something but decided against it. She tried to figure out why he was doing that but didn’t let it get too far in her mind. As she was driving she noticed that she needed to get some gas in her car. She pulls over to fill up her tank and makes her way home. As she was pulling onto her street, she noticed a vehicle in her driveway. Once she got closer, she saw that it was Tim’s truck. Confusingly, she got out of her car and walked over to her front door where Tim was waiting.

“Tim, I thought you were heading home. What are you doing here” 

“Sorry, it’s just…. There’s something I wanted to say to you but I couldn’t do it at the bar”

“Ok” Lucy asks “What is it”

Tim sighs “Remember when I told you that I only dated Ashley cause the girl I liked was dating someone else at the time”

Lucy nods “Yeah”

“Well, there’s one thing I didn’t mention” Tim looks right into Lucy’s eyes “The girl was you, Lucy”

Lucy shakes her head “What?”

“You were the girl I had a crush on. I thought since you were with Caleb, I missed my chance. That’s why I started dating Ashley to get my mind off it. I know it was stupid but…..”

Lucy doesn’t let Tim get another word in. As he was talking, she grabbed his face and pulled him down into a kiss that took his breath away. She didn’t know why she did that but was happy she did it. She moved her hands to grip around his neck while hands landed on her hips. It took them a while to let go of each other but when they did, they smiled geekly at each other.

“Well…… That was unexpected” Tim comments

“You could say that again” Lucy continues to smile

“So, what does this mean for us now”

“Umm…… I hope it means that we can stop ignoring our feeling and actual go out on a date”

Tim smiles more proudly now “Yeah, I would like that. How about this Saturday I take you out somewhere a little more private”

“I would love that”

“Good” Tim lends down to give Lucy another kiss “I better get going. I need to be at work early tomorrow. Talk to you tomorrow”

“You better”

Tim walks back down the driveway and gets into his truck

()()()()()()()()

Once Lucy walks back inside her house, she lends her back against the door and smiles. She couldn’t believe it was actually real life. Tim liked her when she never thought he would. It took her by surprise for sure. Once she was able to pull herself together, she pulled out her phone and dials Angela’s number hoping she would pick up.

“Lucy, why are you calling me so late? It is about your talk with Tim”

“Yes, it is” Lucy said cheerfully 

“Ok, I’m guessing by your voice that it went well”

“Oh, it went extremely well”

“What happened”

Lucy sighs “We had our talk and it went really well. When the night ended, he walked me to my car and wished me goodnight. But when I got home, he was standing near my front door. He told me about how he had feelings for me in college and they never really went away. Then, in the heat of things, I kissed him and he didn’t pull away”

“What” Angela shouted through the phone “What does this mean for you guys”

“It means that we decided to start dating”

Lucy joined Angela as she screamed through the phone

“That’s so great. I’m happy for you guys”

“Thanks and also thank you for pushing me to talk to him”

“No worries. Now, on an unrelated note, you do know you guys are going to have to fill out some paperwork at the rink right”

Lucy chuckles “Yes, I know. But that won’t happen until after our date”

“Deal, just tell me how it goes afterwards”

Lucy laughs as she says goodnight Angela and hangs up the phone. She walks towards her bedroom and gets ready to go to bed. She picks out a tank top and shorts, then heads to her bathroom and brushes her teeth. As she was climbing into bed, She got a buzz on her phone. She looks at the messages and smiles.

Hope your day was as good as mine. Can’t wait for Saturday

Lucy quickly responds back and lays her head on the pillow.

Chapter Text

October 29th, 2021

After Lucy and Tim went on their first date, they have been inseparable. They hang out together almost everyday, mostly outside the rink. They talk on the phone every night before going to bed, take hikes every single weekend and they can’t stop being around each other in public. Angela has even started to notice that both of them seem happier now and that made her stomach feel warm inside.

Lucy got up a little bit earlier this morning, Her and Tim’s date ended late last night so she didn’t have time to shower. She hops in the shower and rinses off quickly. After she is dried off and changed, she heads to her kitchen to make breakfast. She remembered to put the coffee pod in the coffee maker last night so she was able to start coffee right away. Once she’s had about 2 cups, she grabs her bag and keys then walks out the door.

As she was pulling into work, she noticed that there were a bunch of cars in the parking lot. She couldn’t figure out what it was at first then remembered that the seniors had a college fair that morning. Afterwards, she grabs her stuff and walks into the building. She made it to her classroom and got everything set for the day. As she was setting up, someone knocked on her door. Lucy looked over and was surprised to see who it was.

“Tamara, What a nice surprise”

“Yeah, well. I knew you always got here earlier and I wanted to ask you something”

“No worries, you're fine” Lucy takes a seat on top of a desk “What do you need”

Tamara sighs “I was wondering if I could do some of my homework here. I tired doing it at home but it was a little nosy and I couldn’t focus”

Lucy nods her head “Not a problem. Did you want to do it at my desk or at the table in the back”

“Is it fine if I use your desk”

“Yes, Of course” Lucy walks over and moves her chair back “Here you go, Take as long as you need”

Tamara takes a seat at Lucy’s desk while Lucy finishes setting up her room for the day. She went down to the copy room and got her papers all printed out and went back down to her room. She frequently asked Tamara how she was doing and she was doing good. Once Lucy finished up her classroom, she excused herself to go to the bathroom. After she comes back, Tamara is packing up her bag to head to class. 

“Got everything done” Lucy asks as she walks towards her desk

“Mostly, I still have a few things to finish up but there not due until next week”

“Good, glad you were able to get some work done” Lucy smiles “So, I bet you have a class to get to and I’ll see you later at practice” Lucy looks up and sees the look on Tamara’s face “What’s wrong”

“Well” Tamara said anxiously “That’s another thing I needed to talk to you about”

Lucy crosses her arms “What’s going on”

Tamara sighs “I don’t know if I can do figure skating anymore”

“What, why”

“My parents, well…. my foster parents, decided that they can’t drive me to practice anymore”

“Seriously”

“Yeah, apparently it’s too much for them to drive me so they’re not going to do it anymore”

“That’s unbelievable” Lucy comments “Are you going to do anything about it”

Tamara shrugs her shoulders “I don’t know. I don’t want to quit skating but if I can’t find a ride, I can’t do it anymore” Tamara begins to tear up a little

Lucy felt bad for Tamara. She is truly a talented skater and she deserves to be recognized for what she’s accomplished. Lucy pulled Tamara in for a hug and comforted her. There has to be something that she could do. Then…..  A thought popped into Lucy’s head.

“Hey” said Lucy “How about I drive you to practice”

Tamara wipes the tears off her eyes “What”

“I can take you to practice. We always have to the same schedule anyways so it wouldn’t be too much out of the way”

“You would really do that”

“Of course, what are coaches for”

Tamara smiles “Thank you”

“No worries” Lucy smiles back “Just be back here after school and we can head to the arena”

“Sounds great, Thank you” Tamara hugs Lucy tightly

“My pleasure”

The school bell rang and that was Tamara’s signal to head over to the high school. Lucy stepped out into the hallway and watched as her students put their stuff into their lockers. After all the students are in class, Lucy double checks the hallway and closes the door. She walks over to her desk and passes out the worksheet that they will do today. Once everything is settled, Lucy starts her day.

()()()()()()()()()

Lucy was so happy when lunch time came around. The kids weren’t too bad this morning but she could tell they were a little bit hangry for lunch. She couldn’t blame them, it was pizza day. Once she made it back to her classroom. She was shocked to see that her door was open, she thought she closed it. Anywho, she proceeded to walk into her class and saw a very fine gentleman sitting at her desk.

“What are you doing here”

Tim smiles “Well, I have my lunch break right now and I was wondering if…….” Tim picks up a bag of food off the floor

“I could have lunch with you” Lucy smiles and walks over to Tim

“Yes”

Lucy smiles more brightly “That sounds wonderful. You’re so sweet” Lucy leans up and kiss him

“Well, I try”

Lucy smiles back as she grabs a chair and brings it over to her desk. Tim pulls out her food and passes it over to her. When she unwrapped it, she was pleasantly surprised. It was a veggie burger and fries with extra pickles, her favorite. It’s been her order since junior year of high school, she couldn’t believe he remembered. As soon as Tim pulled his food out, they dove right in. Lucy brought up her conversation with Tamara to Tim and he wasn’t shocked when Lucy said she would drive her. 

About 30 minutes later, they cleaned up their mess. The students were due back in 5 minutes so Lucy had to go back to work. Tim threw their trash away while Lucy cleaned up her desk. As Tim was able to head out, Lucy wrapped him a slight hug.

“Thank you for lunch”

“No worries, I just thought it would be nice since you never go out for lunch”

“Well, thank you for thinking of me”

Tim smiles and he meets Lucy for a quick kiss. Just before he walks out the door, he stops in his tracks.

“Wait, I forgot to ask you something”

Lucy turns around to face Tim “What”

“My players have this seminar today on getting better with certain ice skills and our instructor pulled out this morning. I was wondering if you could help us out”

Lucy nods her head “Sure”

Tim acts surprised “Really, just like that”

“Yeah, it seems like it will be fun”

“Great, I’ll get everything ready for you”

“Perfect, I’ll see you there at……..”

“4 o’clock”

“Good, see you then”

Tim walked out of the classroom while Lucy started to prepare for her afternoon. It’s the halloween party for elementary kids so she had to make sure she was ready for the chaos that was going to happen. After her students came back, she told them to change into their costumes while she changed into hers. She was going as a pumpkin so she changed into her pumpkin shirt and white skirt. Once everyone was in costume, the halloween party started.

()()()()()()()()()()

After all the students had left, Lucy changed back into her normal clothing. She packed up her bag and waited for Tamara to arrive. High School got out 15 minutes later than the elementary school so she had some time to kill. To make up for it, Lucy cleaned off her students desks and cleaned up the floor. Once she finished that, Lucy saw Tamara enter her classroom.

“Hey Tamara, ready to go”

“Yep, all set”

“Great, then let’s blow this pop stand”

Lucy grabs her stuff off her desk and locks her door. Lucy and Tamara head out to the parking lot and get into Lucy’s car

“Did you need to go anywhere before we get to the rink”

“Umm…… I need to get home and get some stuff to wear for practice. Is that fine”

Lucy nods her head “Absolutely. Just tell me where you live and we can go”

Tamara tells Lucy her address and they make the drive over there. Once they arrived, Tamara ran in quickly and got everything she needed. Lucy could hear some commotion happening on the inside but didn’t know if she should intervene. After 30 seconds, Tamara walks out of her house and gets back into Lucy’s car.

“Everything Ok”

Tamara shakes her head “No, but I’m used to it. Can we just head to practice”

Lucy says nothing else and drives out onto the street. They quickly stop for a snack so Tamara could have something before practice. They make it to the rink and they head inside. Once they were inside, Tamara set her stuff down on one of the tables and started some homework. Lucy continued to walk towards the locker room to get herself ready. She starts to think about Tamara’s situation, she knows it’s probably not good as she knew it was. Tamara has had a tough life and it shows, she feels bad for her. Lucy wants to figure out a way to help but she can’t think of anything. She lets the thought sneak away for a bit and continues to get ready. 

Once her skates were all laced up, She walked over to Tim’s office. His eyes shined brightly as he walked over to her.

“Hey, you ready to deal with some sweaty teenage boys” Tim asks

“Bring it on”

Lucy follows Tim out of his office and they make their way to the lobby. They make it into the rink and no one is on the ice. It was still 5 minutes to 4 so the boys still had some time to get ready. As they were waiting, Tim hands Lucy the guide.

“This is what I want them to get help on today. Do you think you can do it”

Lucy looks through the list “Yeah, I can do it. This will be a walk in the park”

Tim chuckles back at her while the boys get onto the ice

()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Tim lets the boys skate around for a little bit before calling them all over to introduce them to Lucy. He goes over the game plan for what she is going to teach them and Tim sends them on their way. Tim goes over to the coaches bench while Lucy gets on the ice with the boys and gets them started.

“Ok” Lucy claps her hands together “How many of you have done some sort of figure skating training” Lucy sees a few boys raise their hands “Good to see a few hands go up. Now, a question for all of you. What is something that figure skaters and Hockey players have in common” Lucy sees some hesitant faces then a hand shoots up

“Hockey players have great leg strength and balance just like figure skaters” A player said

“That’s right” Lucy calls out “Now, when a player doesn’t have any of these, they aren’t going to be that good of a player. So that’s why Coach Bradford asked me to come and help you guys retain your balance and make you all a little bit stronger, does that sound good to everybody” The boys nod their “Alright then, let’s get started”

Tim watches from the bench as Lucy demonstrates how the boys get a stronger push when darting down the ice. He took in the scene in front of him and he couldn’t have had a prouder coach moment. The boys were hanging on to Lucy’s every word and he loved to see that. As he was focused on the ice, he didn’t notice Angela coming over to take a seat next to him. 

“So, how are they doing” Angela asks as she scoots over to Tim

“Great, Actually. I’ve never seen the boys more interactive before”

“Probably because the person training actually knows what they are doing. Remember last year when you had that one Blair girl come in and you could tell she didn’t know what she was doing at all”

“Yeah, not my finest moment” Tim chuckles “So….. why did you come and sit over here”

Angela shrugs her shoulders “I just wanted to make sure that your hockey players don’t ruin the ice for my figure skaters” 

“Yeah, right. You wanted to talk to me about Lucy didn’t you”

Angela sighs “Fine, you got me. I just wanted to see how you and Lucy were doing”

“You being honest”

“Absolutely, I swear” Angela puts her arms up in defense

Tim sighs and smiles “Ok, to answer your question. Lucy and I have been doing pretty well. It’s better than I thought it would be”

“Love to hear that cause you don’t want to know what happens if you hurt her”

“Trust me, I have no intention to” Tim looks over at the ice “Besides, I wouldn’t want to break a heart like hers”

“Good cause I like Lucy and I want her to stick around”

“Me too, Ang” Tim smiles “Me too”

They continue chatting for the rest of the seminar. Lucy kept the boys engaged with some power drills and good leg exercises that they could do while they are skating. After a while, Lucy declared that the boys could be done for the day only if Coach Bradford approves. She skates over to where Tim is and sees him talking to Angela. When she gets over there, they are still deep in conversation.

“Tim” Lucy calls out

“Yeah” Tim faces towards Lucy

“The boys did well enough for the day. Can I send them home”

“Umm……” Tim thinks “Yeah, they’re good for the night. You can send them off”

Lucy nods her head and yells to the boys that they could get off. Lucy joins Angela and Tim over at the coaches bench and joins in on the conversation. After a few minutes, Angela leaves the bench to go get ready for skating practice. Lucy tells her she’ll meet her in a few minutes after she talks to Tim.

“So, how did you think the boys did”

Lucy nods her head “Pretty well, it seems like they were actually interested in learning some new skills”

“Good, cause I wasn’t sure that they would listen to after what happened with their last instructor” Tim sees Lucy making a weird face “Long Story, I’ll tell you later”

They continued to talk for another minute about how the boys did. Lucy told him about some more skills that he could use to train them and Tim liked them. After a bit, Lucy had to go back to the locker to get ready for practice. She gives Tim a kiss on the cheek then heads over to the coaches room. When she gets there, Angela is barely putting her skates on while Bailey hasn’t arrived yet. She does what she needs to do before she re-tied her skates and puts her hair in a messy ponytail. After that’s done, Bailey comes running into the room apologizing for being late. Once all three ladies are ready, they walked towards the ice.

()()()()()()()()()()()

Once practice was done with, Lucy’s feet were killing her. She knew it was because she did the hockey seminar before practice but she didn’t think her feet would hurt this bad. She gives herself 5 minutes before she attempts to put her shoes on. She waits for Angela and Bailey to finish up before walking out of the locker room. They talked while making their way over to the lobby. As they entered, Lucy spotted Tamara sitting near the entrance. She excused herself from Angela and Bailey and walked over to where Tamara is sitting.

“Hey Tamara, what are you still doing here? I thought you would have left already”

Tamara nods her head “Nope, I texted my foster parents and they said I had to figure out my own ride home”

“What”

“Yeah but it’s cool. I’m used to it at this point”

Lucy gets closer to the teenager and takes a seat “Tamara, do you want to tell me what’s really going”

Tamara starts to tear up “I don’t think you’ll understand”

Lucy rubs Tamara’s arm “Try me”

Tamara sighs “My foster parents haven’t been the nicest people. When I first got there, they seemed nice. But after everything was finalized, they turned into these monsters of people. They would leave for days on end and have no food for me to eat. They refuse to help me with my homework so I have to go to the library to get some assistance. Anytime I try to stand up for myself, they always find a way to make it my fault. But I would say though worst of all, they don’t want me in figure skating. They say it’s a worthless sport. They only kept me in it because the social worker told them to. I just don’t know what to do at this point”

Lucy pulls Tamara a little bit closer and consoles her. She comforts the teen until she stops crying, it ends up being almost 5 minutes. Once Tamara has pulled herself together, Lucy pushes her off her shoulder.

“Have you told anyone about this”

Tamara wipes a tear away “I told a few teachers but they didn’t want to get involved”

Lucy sighs “What about Angela”

Tamara shakes her head “She knows a little bit but not the whole story”

Lucy nods her head “Is there anything I can do to help”

“I don’t know……. Unless you want to drive me home”

Within a second, An idea pops in Lucy’s head “I think I can do one better” Lucy sees Tamara look right at her “How about you come stay with me this weekend”

“What”

“I’m serious, I don’t feel comfortable sending you back to that house if that’s what’s happening. I would feel better knowing that you are safe”

“But, what would I tell my parents”

Lucy thinks “Just tell your parents you are spending the night at a friend’s house”

“What about my clothes”

“Tonight, I’ll give you some clothes to sleep in then tomorrow, I’ll take you clothes shopping so you have some new outfits”

“You would seriously do that for me”

Lucy shakes her head “Of course, you’re a great kid. You deserved to be treated like that”

Tamara gives Lucy a smile before pulling out her phone and texting her parents. She wanted to wait for a response but Lucy told her to not worry about it. Lucy grabs Tamara’s bag and walks her out of the building. They make it over to Lucy’s car and they get inside. Lucy pulls out of the parking lot and makes her way over to a pizza place to pick up some dinner. After they get their food, Lucy makes the drive to her house.

Lucy opened the front door and let Tamara inside. She set the pizzas on the table and told Tamara to help herself. They sat and chatted at the table together while eating their food. Tamara brought up some stuff from school and talked about her friends. As they finished eating, Lucy went to get Tamara’s room all settled. She pulled out a fluffy comforter and got her some nice pillows from the closet. After she was done setting up, she pulled out some clothes to give to Tamara to sleep in. She put them on the bed for when she was ready. Once Lucy heads back out into the Living room, she calls Tamara over to the couch and they spend the rest of the night watching some movies on Netflix.

Chapter Text

November 23rd, 2021

The past few weeks have been going over smoothly. Lucy ended up letting Tamara stay with her as long as she needed and she’s been there ever since. Lucy and Tim have gotten stronger, they’ve been spending time at each other's places, not spending the night just yet. Tim has taken her out for some fancy dinners with Angela and Welsey which she really enjoys. Lucy has talked to him about Tamara and he has nothing but support for her.

Lucy wasn’t in much of a rush this morning, her school is off for the week for Thanksgiving. She let herself sleep in until 9:30 before starting her day. She made her way to the kitchen and saw Tamara on the couch watching TV. Lucy went into the kitchen and decided to make breakfast for both of them. Once she was done, Lucy called Tamara over. They sat down at the Island together while they ate.

“So, got any plans for the day” Lucy asks

Tamara nods her head “Not really, I was going to stop by a friends house if that’s alright with you”

“Not a problem, just make sure to make good choices while you’re there”

“I will, I promise”

They continued on eating for a little bit before Tamara gets up and puts her plate in the sink. Lucy finished up not long after. She headed off to her room and got changed for the day. She decided to keep it simple and wore leggings and a graphic tee. After she was done getting ready, her phone buzzed. She looked down and saw a message from Tim.

Call me when you can

Lucy picks up her phone and dials Tim

“Hey, why did you need me to call you”

“Cause, I wanted to know if you wanted to go to lunch today”

Lucy chuckles “Sure I do but why didn’t you just text me that”

“I just wanted to hear your voice”

“You’re such a softie” Lucy smiles “Where did you want to meet”

“Is it Ok if we go to the sushi place around the corner from the lab”

“No problem, So, I should see you around 12:30”

“Yep, I’ll see you then”

Lucy hangs up the phone and walks towards the living room. She plops herself on the couch and watches TV with Tamara. She tells her about her lunch date with Tim and she was fine with it. About half an hour later, Tamara excuses herself to go to her friend's house. Lucy tells her goodbye and Tamara walks out the door.

Around noon, Lucy locks up her house and heads over to have lunch. She pulls up to the place and walks in. She got seated quickly and looked over the menu. As she was glancing at it, Tim messaged her saying he was on the way. Lucy waits a few extra minutes before feeling a hand on her shoulder.

“Hey” Lucy smiles

“Hey” Tim lends down to kiss her “How was your morning”

“Not bad, had breakfast with Tamara and we watched TV”

“Sounds like you’re living the life”

They continued to look through the menu as the waiter came to take their order. Once their waiter leaves, Tim starts talking.

“How has it been with Tamara staying with you”

Lucy takes a sip of her drink “Honestly, it’s going really well. She been adjusting so good and she hasn’t had a complaint”

“That’s good” Tim nods his head “Are you thinking of taking over her guardianship”

Lucy nods “I’m not sure. I really want to but I would have a bunch of hoops to jump through”

“Is it something you really want to do”

Lucy shakes her head “More than anything. She’s had a tough life, she deserves to have something good”

Tim smiles “Then I say go for it”

“Really”

“Yes, if it makes you happy then do it”

Lucy smiles back at Tim in response. They continue talking until their food arrives. They eat their meals while still holding a conversation, mainly talking about work and plans for Thanksgiving. Tim is going to his sisters while Lucy is going to have a small thanksgiving at home with Tamara. Once they were done eating, Tim picked up the check and paid for their meal. Tim excused himself to the bathroom before they left. As Tim was leaving, Lucy’s phone started ringing like crazy. She looked at the Caller Id and saw an Illinois number. She went outside and answered the call.

“Hello”

“Hello there, is this Lucy Chen”

“Yes, it is”

“Good, we’re able to get ahold of you”

“Who is this” Lucy questioned

“I’m Doctor Grace Sawyer from Northwestern Memorial”

“Why do you need to talk to me”

Lucy hears Grace shuffling “We have a patient here in the ICU and we’ve been having trouble finding any family to contact. We looked at his records and you were listed as his emergency contact”

“I’m sorry, who are you talking about”

“Umm….” Grace looks at the chart “Caleb Wright”

Lucy couldn’t believe her ears “You’re serious”

“Yeah, he came in two nights ago after he collapses at a hockey practice”

Lucy sighs “Do you know what’s wrong with him” Lucy said with no concern in her voice

“We’re not sure yet, but we are going to be running some tests to see what is happening. We’ll be happy to go over the results when you get here”

Lucy shakes her head “What do you mean when I get there”

“You’re coming to the hospital to come see him aren’t you”

“Umm…… No, I’m not. I broke up with him a while ago and I don’t even live in Chicago anymore. Can’t you just tell me over the phone”

“No, we can’t. It’s better to tell you in person what is going on”

“Seriously” Lucy asks “Can’t you just accept it this one time”

“I’m sorry but you have to come to the hospital for us to go over everything”

“Ugh….” Lucy grunts “Fine, I’ll figure out something. Goodbye”

Lucy hung up the phone before Grace could get a word in. What were they thinking? Why couldn’t she just tell her over the phone what is happening? She really didn’t want to go and she felt like she had no other choice. She tried coming up with solutions in head but all of them ended with her hopping on a plane. As she was thinking, Tim came outside.

“Hey, you Ok”

Lucy sighs then tells him about the phone call. He was as stunned as she was. He also couldn’t believe they couldn't tell her over the phone. He could see Lucy was slightly freaking out over this and pulled her in for a hug to calm her down.

“What am I going to do”

Tim lets go of Lucy “Well, I think what you should do is go to Chicago”

Lucy looks at him concerningly “Really”

Tim nods his head “Yeah, just go and figure out what’s happening”

“But….. what about Tamara”

“I can stay at the house while you are gone” Tim puts his hands on her shoulders “Just go, book a flight, figure out what the heck is going on and fly back. You’ll be back by thanksgiving”

Lucy sighs “Fine, but I’m not going to like it”

Tim gives Lucy one more hug before going back to work. Lucy makes it over to her car and heads home. Once she gets back, she pulls out her computer and finds the earliest flight for her to head out. The only one she was able to find was the next day at 9am. She books the flight and goes on to find a hotel. After she does all of that, she waits for Tamara to get back to break the news. Tamara was understanding about the situation and was fine with staying with Tim. The rest of the night was spent ordering in takeout and watching true crime documentaries.

()()()()()()()()()()()

November 24th, 2021

 Lucy got up at the crack of dawn and got ready for her flight. She packed a bag the night before and packed the remaining stuff after she woke up. After she was all packed, she hopped in the shower for a quick minute to wash all her stress away. Once she dried her hair and put on some clothes, she walked over to the living room to get a cup of coffee. To her surprise, Tamara was already up and had the coffee ready.

“What are you doing up so early”

“Well, I thought with the situation that has unfolded that you would need some comfort coffee to get your day started”

Lucy pouts her lip “That is so sweet of you”

Tamara smiles “Anytime”

Lucy takes the coffee cup from Tamara and takes a seat at the island. Tamara goes into the cupboard and grabs some oatmeal to make for the both of them. After she is done, Tamara passes a bowl over to Lucy and she joins her to eat. They talked about what was going to happen and Tamara told her she’ll be fine. Once they were done eating, Lucy put both bowls in the sink then went to her room to grab her suitcase. 

She waits on the couch comfortably for Tim to show up, he offered last night to drive her to the airport so she didn’t have to call an uber. Around 6:45, Lucy got a text from Tim, he was five minutes away. She got off the couch and grabbed her suitcase. She waited by the door and watched as Tim pulled up. She gives Tamara a quick hug and heads out the door. Lucy walked over to Tim’s truck and threw her suitcase in the backseat. She gets in the passenger seat and they take off.

“You are ready for today”

Lucy nods her head “No, but I know I have to do this. Even if I don’t want to do”

Tim glances over “Did you want me to come with you”

Lucy shakes her head “No, I couldn’t ask that of you besides someone needs to watch Tamara”

Tim sighs “Are you sure”

“Not really but I have to do this on my own”

Lucy stays quiet for the rest of the drive. Tim let her be and continued on driving. Lucy kept going through scenarios in her head about what happened. She also kept thinking why Caleb still had her as his emergency contact, they’ve been broken up for months. The thought didn’t go too far because they finally arrived at the airport. Tim gets out and pulls her suitcase from the backseat and hands it to her. Lucy puts a smile on her face and reaches out to Tim for a hug.

“You’ll be back this time tomorrow” Tim commented

“I know” Lucy continues to hug Tim “But it will still feel like forever”

Tim let's go and grabs her hand “It will be over before you know it”

Tim smiles back at her and rubs the back of Lucy’s hand. Lucy gives him a quick peck on the lips then heads inside to check in. Once she got through TSA, she went and grabbed herself some snacks to eat on the plane then went over to her gate. She still had 40 minutes until she boarded her flight so she just decided to wait until it was time to leave. As soon as her flight started boarding, Lucy made it onto the plane.

()()()()()()()()()()()

A few hours later, Lucy arrived at O’hare. She sent off a text to Rachel to tell her where she is. As soon as she does that, Lucy goes to baggage claim to grab her suitcase. Once she secured her luggage, Lucy heads out of the airport to meet with Rachel. She didn’t tell her to wait too long since Rachel’s car was at the front of the airport. She throws her bag in the back and hops in the passenger. Lucy quickly leans over to hug Rachel.

“Thank you for coming to pick me up”

“No worries, I had the day off anyways” said Rachel “So, did you want to go to the hospital first or your hotel”

Lucy thinks “Let’s just go to the hospital so I can know what’s happening”

Rachel puts the car and drive and they make their way over to the hospital. They ended up in a little bit of traffic but that’s expected for Chicago around Thanksgiving. About 35 minutes later, Lucy and Rachel arrived at the hospital. Rachel lets Lucy out at the entrance while she goes to park. Lucy walked up to the reception desk to sign herself in.

“Hi, I’m Lucy Chen. I’m here to see Caleb Wright”

The receptionist gives her a visitor's badge and Lucy makes her way to the 5th floor. Not too long after Lucy finds herself in the ICU. She checks in with the desk and waits for Caleb’s doctor to show up.

“Hi, you must be Lucy. I’m Dr. Sawyer, I’m the doctor assigned to Caleb’s care”

Lucy shakes the doctor’s hand “Nice to meet you”

“Did you want to go somewhere private so we can talk”

Lucy nods “Yeah, that's fine”

Lucy follows behind the doctor as they make their way down the hallway. They find a quiet room near the entrance of the unit. Once the door is closed, Lucy takes a seat.

“So” Lucy clasps her hands together “What couldn’t you tell me over the phone”

Dr. Sawyer sighs “Caleb came in by ambulance after he collapsed at hockey practice the other night. We ran our standard test and found out that he’s in respiratory failure”

Lucy shakes her head “What is that exactly”

“It’s means that he wasn’t getting enough oxygen in his body and too much carbon dioxide was getting released”

“How could this happen”

“Well, it could be due to damaged lung tissue or a lung condition he’s had since birth. Did he ever mention to you about anything to do with his lungs”

Lucy nods her head “No, he didn’t” Lucy sighs “Is he going to be fine”

“It’s too soon to tell. We have him on a ventilator now and he has been making little progress so we’ll see how he goes from there. Did you want to see him”

“Umm” Lucy thinks for a second “Yeah, I would like too”

Lucy and Dr. Sawyer walked out of the room and headed down to Caleb’s room. He was right around the corner so they didn’t walk too far. Once they got there, Dr. Sawyer went over some simple instructions that Lucy had to follow when she was in the room. After that was done with, Lucy opened the door and walked into the room. When she entered, she took a look at Caleb and he didn’t look like himself. She expected the tube down his throat but wasn’t expecting all the monitors that were watching his lungs. He also looked like he hadn't eaten in days so he looked skinny. She quickly found a chair next to the bed and took a seat. Lucy stared right at him and took it all in. She received a message from Rachel saying she was heading up after getting some coffee.

They left her alone for 15 minutes before one of the nurses came barging in.

“Sorry to interrupt, I just need to change one of Mr. Wright’s meds”

“No worries, go on right ahead”

The nurse comes over to Caleb’s bedside and switched out his meds. Lucy stays in her seat while the nurse does her job. In the meantime, the nurse tries talking to Caleb to see if he responds.

“Caleb, if you can hear me squeeze my hand”

Lucy looks down and sees no response from Caleb

“Has that been pretty normal”

The nurse nods “Pretty much. He did have a little movement yesterday but nothing since. I would ask his girlfriend, she would know more than I do”

Lucy looks at the nurse a little stunned “He has a girlfriend”

“Yeah, she’s come by everyday since he's been here”

“I didn’t know he had a new girlfriend. What she like”

“Ohh, Brown eyes, darkish brown hair in some type of cornrows”

As Lucy was hearing this, a thought popped into her head. The girl she is talking about sounds alot like Rachel. To figure it out, She pulls out her phone and looks for a picture.

“Is this the girl you're talking about” Lucy shows the nurse the phone

“Yes, that’s her”

Lucy didn’t know what to think. One of her great friends was dating her ex and she kept it a secret from her. She didn’t know what to think but for one thing, she felt betrayed. She held her emotions in until the nurse left the room. After that, she let herself go. She went into a little bit of sadness but mostly she was mad. A second later, Lucy heard the doors open.

“Hey, didn’t know which coffee you wanted so…..” Rachel stopped as soon as she saw Lucy’s face

“When were you going to tell me”

“Tell you about what” Rachel tries to play it off

“That you were dating Caleb”

“What, you’re crazy I would never date him”

“The nurse told me that you’ve been coming in everyday”

Lucy could see the look on Rachel’s face change 

Lucy scoffs “I can’t believe it. How could you do this”

“I don’t know it just happened”

“It just happened, Wow….. there’s an excuse if I’ve ever heard one”

“Lucy, if you let me explain”

“No Rachel, I won’t. The only thing I want to hear is why would you even date him after what he did to me? And don’t give me that bullshit that he’s changed”

“Well……. After you left for LA, he was upset. We became closer and started hanging out more often. One thing lead to another and we started dating”

Lucy puts her hands in her face “Unbelievable”

“Listen, I wanted to tell you but Caleb didn’t want it going public”

“I don’t want to hear anything you have to say” Lucy said a little harsh “Because of this, I don’t think I’ll be able to trust you again”

“You don’t really mean that”

“Yes, I do” Lucy said firmly “I don’t think I can even be here right now”

Lucy walks past Rachel and walks out of the room. Rachel tries to follow her but Lucy was too fast. Lucy got into the elevator and made her way over to the parking garage. In the heat of the moment, Lucy forgot to ask Rachel where she had parked. Even though she wasn't a fan of hers right now, she texted Rachel to see where her car was. After Rachel responded, Lucy made her way over to her car. Luckily, Rachel left her car unlocked so Lucy was able to grab her stuff. She went down to the main level and hailed for a cab. 

“Can you take me to Whitehall Hotel” Lucy tells the driver

The driver nods his head and drives off

()()()()()()()()()()

Soon later, Lucy arrives at her hotel. She checks in and makes her way up to the 7th floor. Lucy walked into her room and immediately plopped on the bed. She went to the bathroom to wash her face and went back to turn on the tv. There were a few good channels on but nothing too interesting, except for Top Chef. After flipping through the channels, Lucy ordered some food to be delivered. Once she placed the order, she waited on her bed for the food to arrive.

A while later while Lucy was eating her food, her phone started to ring. She looks at the screen and sees Tim’s picture flash across the screen.

“Hey” Lucy said happily 

“Hey, How’s Chicago”

“Ugh, not so great”

“What happened”

Lucy went into detail about everything, Caleb’s lungs, him being on a vent, finding out about him and Rachel, the whole deal. Tim didn’t know what to say, he was shocked to say the least.

“Woah, that’s a lot to take in”

“Tell me about it”

Tim sighs “How are you dealing with all of it”

“Not well, the only thing that has me happy right now is that I get to go home and see your face tomorrow”

Tim chuckles “I know, I’m excited for that too”

In the middle of their talk, Lucy hears a knock at her door. She thought it was strange since she wasn’t expecting everyone.

“Aren’t you going to answer the door” Tim asked through the phone 

“It’s probably no one”

“Are you sure about that”

Lucy starts to get a little confused then has a realization. She hops off her bed and walks over to her door. She looks through the peephole and the sight excites her. Lucy wipes the door open and finds Tim standing in the hallway. She rushes forward and wraps him in a hug.

“What are you doing here”

“I thought I come and surprise you”

Lucy let's Tim walk into the room “But how did you get here”

“Easy, After I dropped you off, I circled around the airport for a little bit and came back inside to get on my flight”

Lucy chuckles “Why would you do this”

“Well….. I know you didn’t want to come in the first place, So me and Tamara came up with a plan for me to fly out here to be with you”

“And what about her”

“She’s with Bailey and Nolan, but don’t worry about her right now. All you need to do is take care of yourself”

Lucy smirks “And how would I do that”

Tim smiles down at her before leaning down and planting a big kiss upon her lips. Lucy fell into sync and followed along with him. It stayed simple at first but the moment Tim’s hands started moving down to her waist, Lucy knew what was going to happen. She looked up at him and saw the look in his eyes.

“Are you sure about this” Lucy questions 

“I am if you are”

Lucy smiled back at him and leaned in for another kiss. Her hands went up to the top of his shirt and she started unbuttoning it. After that, it was Tim’s turn to take off Lucy’s blouse. Once everything was set and done, Tim walked Lucy over to the bed and pushed her up against the edge. Lucy fell onto the bed softly and let Tim come over top of her, her lips never leaving his. They took it slow for the time being, they didn’t want to rush a thing.

Lucy never believed in a million years that she would have sex with Tim Bradford and now it’s actually happening. She had to pinch herself to make sure it was real. Once she realized it was her reality, she let herself enjoy it. She let Tim do all the work by letting him inside her while he sucked on her neck. He didn’t expect anything in return which made her more relaxed. Once both of them felt satisfied, Tim pulled himself out and collapsed into the bed next to her.

“Woah” Lucy exclaimed “I can’t believe that just happened”

“That we just had sex”

“A little bit but it’s also the fact that I never thought our first time would be in Chicago”

Tim chuckles “I didn’t expect that either but the moment felt right”

“I would have to agree”

Tim smiles back at Lucy as she places another kiss to lips. They didn’t go too far since they literally just finished their round one.

“So, what are you plans for the rest of the night”

Lucy thinks “Umm…. Honestly, I was just going to order a movie on the tv. Is that fine with you”

“As long as I’m with you, it doesn’t matter”

Lucy curled up next to Tim as she grabbed the remote to pick out a movie. They spend the rest of night together, cuddled up in a warm bed and watching a sappy movie

Chapter Text

November 29th, 2021

Since getting back from Chicago, Lucy and Tim spent some days apart. Lucy was able to research what it would take to be Tamara’s legal guardian and it looks like a lot of work but Tamara is totally worth it. Lucy and Tim would message each other everyday just to see how each of them were doing. Lucy did get invited to have thanksgiving with Tim and his sister but she said no since she was with Tamara.

Last Night, Tim was able to surprise Lucy with a dinner date at his house. He made french bread pizza with all of Lucy’s favorite toppings. She was pleasantly surprised that Tim even got her favorite beer since he doesn’t like that brand. They enjoyed dinner together and ended up watching a movie on the couch. When Lucy was ready to go home, Tim came up behind her and started kissing down her neck. She pleaded to him that she had work the next day and had to get to sleep but she couldn’t help the sensation that ran through her body. She finally gave in and started kissing Tim passionately. After a minute, Tim took Lucy’s hand and brought her over to the bedroom.

Lucy woke up this morning and felt great. She was a little sore just in all the right places. She was only in her shirt and underwear, her bra ended up over on Tim’s dresser somehow. Lucy looked over at the other side of the bed and saw Tim still dead asleep. Trying not to wake him up, she got out of his bed and made her way over to grab her bra so she could shower. She knew she had to be quick since she had to head to work today. She was happy when she remembered she had a bag of clothes in her car. After she was done in the shower, she headed out of the bathroom and made her way to the kitchen. She quickly grabbed her car keys and got the clothes out of her car. When she walked back inside, she was surprised to find Tim standing near the coffee pot.

“When did you get up” Lucy asks

Tim shrugs his shoulders “Not that long ago, you were still in the shower”

Lucy nods her head “Then why weren't in here when I walk by”

“I was in here, you walked right past me”

“Ohh, well…… didn’t mean to do that”

“No worries, I figured you were getting clothes out of her car” He sees Lucy’s face in surprise “I used to do the same thing in college”

“Right…… In college”

Lucy sees Tim smirk while she heads to the bedroom to change. She pulls out a pair of leggings and a white top and she knows that she had a jacket to go over it but it’s still at school. As she was packing up her bag, she felt a small presence behind. It made her tingle inside. She turned around to find Tim walking towards her.

“So…….” Tim says as he walks towards her “What can I do to make sure that you stay here with me all day” Tim starts kissing Lucy’s neck

Lucy chuckles “Nothing, I actually have to go to work today unlike some people” Lucy pulls away

“Ugh…….. You’re no fun”

“I know but I promise to make it up to you tomorrow tonight after practice” Lucy pleads

“Ohh yeah” Tim smirks “What about Tamara”

“She got herself some noise canceling headphones”

“I like the sound of that”

Lucy and Tim gave each other a little kiss before heading out to the kitchen. Tim got the ingredients together to make some breakfast tacos and Lucy watched while he made them. Let’s just say, she liked the view. Once Tim was done, he passed Lucy her plate and made one for himself. They ate breakfast together talking about Lucy’s day ahead, she was happy to be going back to work after all the chaos. After they were eating, Tim brought the dishes to the sink while Lucy got the rest of her stuff packed for work. Once she had everything, Lucy walked over to the door with Tim right behind her.

“Have a good day at work”

“Have a good day lounging in your sweatpants” Lucy smiles 

“I’ll try” Tim joins her with a smile “I’ll see you later”

Lucy leans up to give Tim another kiss before she walks out the door. She walks over to her car and gets inside. She quickly finds her podcast to listen to and rolls out of the driveway. Tim gave her a quick wave before he headed back inside. As he walks inside, Lucy gets onto the street and makes the drive over to her house to pick up Tamara.

()()()()()()()()()()

After the school day was done, Lucy was ready to go home. She waited for Tamara to show up so they could head out. As she was waiting, Lucy gets a message from Angela asking to get to the arena early tonight. She replied saying she would and put her phone away. Tamara arrived a few minutes later.

“Hey, how was your day”

“Long… Mr. Unger wouldn’t stop talking about this ex girlfriend taking his prized guitar signed by Bob Dylan”

“Yeah, that would be a long day” Lucy chuckles “Ready to go”

“Absolutely”

Lucy grabs her bag and locks up her room. They make it out to Lucy’s car and head out for the night. Tamara asked if she could get something to drink before they got home and Lucy pulled over to a gas station. Lucy pulls into the driveway not long after. Lucy and Tamara head inside and plop on the couch. 30 minutes later, Lucy gets up to make dinner. As Lucy was cooking, she told Tamara that they had to get to the rink early since Angela had to talk to her. Tamara seemed fine with it. After Lucy was done making dinner, she called Tamara into the kitchen. They eat quickly before heading to their rooms to change into practice wear. Once they were all set, they headed to the arena.

Lucy and Tamara arrive a while later. Lucy tells Tamara to wait in the locker room while she talks to Angela. She knocks on the door and Angela calls her in.

“Hey, thanks for coming in early”

“No worries, I wasn’t doing much before practice” Lucy looks around the room “Where’s Bailey”

“She’s coming in later, I didn’t need to see her”

“But you need to see me”

“Yes” Angela gestures for Lucy to sit down

“Am I in trouble”

Angela shakes her head “No, you aren’t. I just wanted to know how your time in Chicago was this past week”

Lucy nods her head “It was Ok, despite the fact that my good friend Rachel is dating my ex”

Angela’s eyes pop “Seriously”

“Yeah and the sad part is that I had to find out from one of the nurses”

“That’s unbelieve. What did Rachel have to say”

“She denied it but after I said a nurse told me, she broke down”

Angela scoffs “Of course she denied it. What happened after?”

“I got my stuff out her car and I hailed a cab to take me to my hotel”

“Well, that sounds boring”

“Yeah, pretty much”

Lucy didn’t want to tell Angela about Tim coming to surprise her and that it would end up with them having sex. She kept her mouth shut about that.

“So….. Is there anything else you wanted to go over”

“Yes” Angela said excitedly “But we have to wait for Bailey to discuss that. In the meantime, can you please tell me the whole story on why the doctor made you come to Chicago instead of just telling you over the phone”

Lucy readjusts in her seat and tells Angela the whole story from start to finish. She loved seeing Angela reacting when the nurse told Lucy about Rachel unknowingly. As they talked, they didn’t hear Bailey walking through the door until she shut the door loudly.

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to shut it so hard”

“It’s fine” Angela comments “We should have been paying more attention. You ready to get started”

“Yes, But…..” Bailey pulls out her phone “I need your guys opinion on something”

Lucy and Angela nod their heads “Sure, what is it” Lucy asks

Bailey continues to scroll through her phone “I was wondering which of these pictures should John and I use when it comes to our Christmas card” Bailey hands Lucy the phone “I know it’s not really important but John and I can’t agree on the same ones”

“Not a problem, Wesley and I are having a little bit of the same issue” Angela comments 

Lucy scrolls through the pictures while her and Angela look through them. A few of them seem good and some of them seem fine. But there was one picture that made her do a double take. It was a picture of Bailey and John holding little converse shoes. Lucy didn’t understand it at first but apparently Angela did and she was freaking out. The realization finally came over her when she scrolled to the next picture and saw them holding a little baby onesie.

“Oh my god” Lucy drops the phone and whips Bailey into a hug “I’m so happy for you”

“Me too” Angela comes over to join the hug 

All three stay in the group hug for a little bit before letting Bailey breathe again

“How did this happen? I thought the doctor said you couldn’t have kids” Angela asks

“Well….” Bailey removes the tears from her eyes “The doctor said I only had a 10% chance of getting pregnant naturally so me and John decided that we were just going to adopt or foster instead. But a few weeks after the appointment, I started feeling nauseous and was going to the bathroom all the time at work so I decided to take a test and low and behold” Bailey smiles

Lucy and Angela smiles back “How far along are you” Angela asks

“They say I’m around 10 weeks”

“So you’re due…….” Lucy comments

“End of June”

All of the ladies squeal and get in for one more hug

“Ok” Angela said “Now that’s this is out of the way, how about we talk about our skaters”

Lucy and Bailey nod their heads and sit down on the bench. Angela goes over the plan for the next few weeks, including the testing session that is happening at the arena. They go over the girls from their club that will be skating, including Tamara on that list. 

“So Lucy, did Tamara decide if she was doing her freestyle test with her moves in the field”

“Yes, she said she wouldn’t mind doing that as well. Mainly, since she gets out of school for the whole day”

All of them chuckle before continuing on with the plan. Once they were done talking, it was almost time to get on the ice. They grabbed and laced up their skates and quickly made their way to the ice.

()()()()()()()()

After practice was done, Lucy was ready to head out. Her and Tamara had big plans for sitting on the couch and watching some trashy reality shows. She got out of her skates and made her way out of the coaches room. She sees Tamara walk out of the locker room at the same time. They walk through the lobby and head to the parking lot. As they were walking over, Lucy saw a figure standing near her car. She started to question who it was until Tamara and her got closer.

“Hey Stranger, what are you doing here” Lucy asks

“I just thought since you had practice tonight that I come see how you were doing”

“I’m alright, tired but alright. Why do you want to know?”

Tim smirks “Cause I was wondering if you wanted to come somewhere with me tonight”

“Really” Lucy smiles “What did you want to do”

“I can’t say it yet but all I can say is that both of you are not dressed for the occasion”

Lucy looks at him weirdly “Both of us”

“I’m saying you and Tamara better head home and dress into some more comfy clothes. I’ll be picking you guys up in an hour”

Tim heads over to his truck and starts the engine. Lucy and Tamara look at eachother and just shrug their shoulders. They get into the car and head back to the house. Once they were back, they each went to their bedroom and changed. Lucy decided to change into some leggings and a long sleeve shirt. After they both changed, they waited for Tim to arrive. Just like he said, he was at the house an hour later. Lucy and Tamara head out of the house and walk over to Tim’s truck. Tim pulls onto the road and they head off.

“Are you going to tell us where we are going” Tamara asks from the back

“Yeah, where are we going”

“I’m not telling you guys until we get there”

“Can we have one little hint” Lucy asks nicely

“No”

They continued on with the drive and they still question Tim on where they are going. The whole time Tim keeps his mouth shut. About 15 minutes later, Lucy sees that they are pulling into a parking lot. She looks over at the sign to see where they are at. She laughs as she realizes what’s happening.

“No way” Lucy comments

“Yep” Tim smiles

“What is this place” Tamara questions 

“This is Ultrazone, one of the best laser tag spots in LA. Tim and I used to come here all the time in high school. Why are we here”

“Cause you’ve been under some stress lately and usually when you are stressed, you like to do something that will burn it off”

“And Laser tag was the answer”

“Yes, it was either this or we went bowling. I think this is a better option”

Lucy chuckles back to him while Tamara just gags in the backseat. The three of them get out of the truck and head inside. They walked over to the laser tag station and got suited up. Tim and Tamara were on one team while Lucy was on another. Tim and Tamara knew they were screwed when Lucy wasn’t on their team. Once the teams go to their battle stations and hear the rules, the game is on. 

Lucy was able to almost get everyone out on the other team while scoring some points for her team. It was down to the final two, Lucy and a player from the other team. Tim and Tamara had already gotten out and were watching as the scene unfolded. Lucy was able to hide due to her small size so the other player didn’t see her. She waited until the player came around the corner before shooting him and winning the game.

After all of that was done, the three of them went over to the counter to order some pizza. They end up getting a pepperoni and a veggie pizza since none of them could decide on what they wanted. 

“That was an incredible game Lucy. How are you able to sharp shoot like that” Tamara asks

“Ask Tim, he’s the one who taught me” Lucy gestures over to Tim

“Seriously” Tamara exclaims

“Yeah but I only taught you that because I didn’t think you were going to use it against me”

Lucy chuckles “I will never be sorry about that”

They continue on for the rest of the night telling Tamara about different strategies that she can use whenever she plays again. After they were finished with the pizza, they did another round of laser tag. This time they were all on the same team. Once they felt like they were done, They piled into Tim’s truck and headed back over to Lucy’s. They made a pit stop for ice cream since it was nearby. Soon after, Tim pulls into Lucy’s driveway. Tamara goes inside first so Lucy and Tim can talk.

“Thank you for tonight”

“No problem” Tim smiles “I hope it’s fine that I invited Tamara”

“No worries. It looked like she actually enjoyed it. I think this is the first time she’s actually been a kid in forever”

“Yeah, it really showed”

Lucy smiles and looks back at the house “Well, I better get inside before Tamara causes some chaos”

“What could she do in 2 minutes”

Right on time, Tamara yells out of the house

“Lucy”

“And that’s my queue. I better get inside” Lucy unbuckles her seatbelt “Did you want to come in for a little bit”

“Umm……. Sure”

Lucy and Tim get out of the truck and head inside the house. When they walked in, they didn’t expect to see Tamara trying to clean up something she spilled in the kitchen with kleenex. Lucy walks over and helps Tamara out. Tim sits down at the counter and watches as the girls clean up the spill. Once the floor was cleaned up, The three of them went over to the couch and started watching some tv. After about an hour, Tamara excused herself to go to bed. 

“Ok, I better get home before it’s too late” Tim started to get off the couch but Lucy follows after him

“Are you sure you want to go home”

Tim sighs “No but I kind of have to”

“And who is saying that” Lucy grins

Tim smiles “Fine, I’ll stay here but I’m only sleeping over. No funny business, alright”

Lucy reaches her hands “Got it”

Lucy escorted Tim out of the living room and walked down to her bedroom

()()()()()()()()()()

November 30th, 2021

Lucy woke up the next morning to an empty bed. She figured that Tim had to head out early to go to work so she didn’t mind. Once she got out of bed, she quickly took a shower and put on some nice clothes for work. She puts her hair into a ponytail and walks towards the kitchen. When she walked in she expected Tamara to be sitting on the couch watching some tv but she wasn’t expecting Tim to be making breakfast.

“Hey, I thought you headed out already”

“Well, since you invited me to stay the night, I figured that I should make breakfast before you and Tamara go to school”

“That’s sweet of you” Lucy smiled “What are you making”

“Some scrambled eggs and waffles”

“Sounds good”

Lucy let Tim finish breakfast and sat down at the island. Once it was done, Lucy called Tamara over and they ate their breakfast. They all talked about their day ahead and what they were looking forward to. After they were all done, Lucy and Tamara cleaned up the dishes while Tim cleaned the table. By the time they were done, it was time to head out. Lucy scrambled to find everything but the one thing she couldn’t find was her keys.

“Where did I put them” Lucy looks around “I don’t have time for this”

“Hey, Calm down” Tim puts his hand on her shoulder “Would it make it easier if I just drive you and Tamara”

“Really……. Are you sure” Lucy questions “Won’t you be late”

Tim shakes his head “Not really, as long as I get to work before 9am, I’m all good”

“Ok, then that’s fine”

Lucy calls for Tamara and they walk out the door. Tamara questions why Tim is driving them and Lucy just says she couldn’t find her keys. They make their way out of the driveway and make their way over to the school. They talked a little bit but mostly kept to themselves. Tim pulls into the parking lot of the High School and Tamara gets out. Then they went around the corner over to Lucy’s building.

“Thank you so much. I really owe you one”

“Just make sure you don’t have a hectic day and I’ll be all good”

“Deal” Lucy smiles “I better get inside”

“Ok, have a good day”

Lucy quickly gives Tim a kiss before getting out of the car and walking into her building. She gave him one last wave before she saw him drive out of the parking lot. She makes it to the classroom and unlocks her door. She settles in for the day and waits for the kids to arrive

Chapter Text

December 29th, 2021

Over the past month, everything has been hectic. Tim’s hockey season officially started so Lucy doesn’t see him as much. Figure skating practice for Lucy has been taking up a lot of her time. She’s been to the rink 4 times each week for lessons and meetings. Angela, Bailey and her are trying to come up with a theme for their annual show. The testing session happened at the arena and all of Lucy’s kids did extremely well including Tamara, she packed her Senior moves in the field and Novice freeskate. Lucy started helping out more at the community center where Nyla’s husband works and the kids seem to really like her.

Once Christmas hit, everything started to slow down a little. Lucy and Tim spent Christmas Eve together since Tim was going to his sister’s the next day. Lucy wasn’t expecting much since they haven’t been dating for a while but Tim pleasantly surprised her and Tamara with spa passes to the four seasons. Lucy may have gone overboard by getting Tim tickets to a Rams game. They enjoyed their day together and couldn’t wait for the rest of break.

Since it was break, Lucy decided to stay in bed a little bit longer. Tamara spent the night at a friend’s house so she didn’t have to rush out of bed. Around 10am, she got out of bed and started her day. She took a shower and got dressed then went to get a pot of coffee started. As her coffee was brewing, Lucy pulled out some pancake batter and made herself some breakfast. Once she was down, she cleaned up the kitchen and crashed on the couch.

Around 12:30, Lucy gets a phone call. She didn’t recognize the number but answered anyways

“Hello”

“Hey Lucy, It’s Nyla Harper”

“Hey Nyla, What do I owe this pleasure”

“Well, I was wondering if you wanted to go have a quick lunch this afternoon”

“Sure, when did you want to meet”

“Does 1:30 at The Bistro work”

“Yeah, that works. I’ll see you then”

Lucy hangs up the phone and watches a little bit more Tv. Once 1 o’clock rolled around, Lucy grabbed her stuff and went out the door. She quickly texted Tamara saying where she’ll be and got into her car. She made her way out of the driveway and drove off. On the drive over, she wondered what Nyla wanted to meet, was it just a social thing or did she want to ask her a question about something. Lucy didn’t let it get to her head too much since it was nothing to worry about. As she pulled up to the Bistro, she spotted Nyla waiting by the front door. She parked her car and walked over.

“Hey” Lucy greeted

“Hey” Nyla hugs Lucy “Thank you for coming on short notice”

“Don’t worry about, I wasn’t doing anything special today anyways”

“Good to hear” Nyla nods “Do you want to go inside”

Lucy shakes her head and they walk inside. They get seated very quickly and look through the menu. The waiter came and ordered their food and drinks. As the waiter walks away, Nyla gets ready to talk..

“Ok, you are probably wondering why I called you today”

Lucy nods “A little bit, I hope it’s nothing bad”

“No, No, No, nothing like that so you don’t have to worry”

“Ok, good. Then what did you want to talk about”

Nyla sighs “I need your opinion on something”

“My opinion” Lucy questioned

“Yeah, only because it’s something you know a ton about”

Lucy starts to realize “You want to take to me about figure skating, don’t you”

“Yes” Nyla pleads 

“What did you want to ask”

“I was wondering if it’s worth it to put my daughter in figure skating”

“Ok” Lucy comments “What has you wondering”

“Well……” said Nyla “I’ve been wanting her to participate in something for years now and she doesn’t seem to like anything that she hasn’t done. But, when we went ice skating with some of her friends a few weeks she actually liked it and wants to continue with it”

“That’s exciting”

“I know it is but I’m worried that if I pick the wrong club for her to skate, she won’t end up liking it”

“So, you are wondering if the club I work for is the right fit”

“Exactly”

Lucy takes a breath and explains everything about the rink to Nyla. From the coaches and the girls to the fun banter they have on the ice. Lucy even told her that it isn’t that much to get her daughter started since she is only 7 years old and it’s the perfect age to start at. What really calmed Nyla down was that Lila would be in the low advanced group with kids her own age. After Lucy was done talking, the waiter came and brought their food. They spent the rest of lunch talking about their personal lives since the question Nyla wanted to ask was already talked about. Lucy brought up Tim and Nyla seemed to remember him, apparently Nyla met him on a field trip with her stepson. As they were talking, Lucy gets a text from Tim.

Nyla can see Lucy smiling as she responds “I’m guessing that’s Tim right now”

“Yeah, he’s on his lunch break and just wanted to know how I’m doing”

“That’s nice of him”

“I’ll say”

Nyla crosses her hand and lends back in her chair “Don’t mind me by asking but how did you and Tim meet”

Lucy adjusts in her seat “We actually met in High school and we’ve been friends ever since. We just started dating around September”

“What caused you guys to wait so long”

Lucy sighs “I was in a long term relationship with another guy and I just broke up with him this year”

“So when you moved back to town, you guys started dating”

Lucy shakes her head “No, it was a few weeks later after I got a little too drunk and confessed my feelings for him. But because of that, he told me about his feeling towards me and since then we’ve been together”

“That’s quite a story”

“Tell me about”

The waiter came back and gave them the check. They fought back and forth on who was paying but Nyla ended up paying the bill. As they were leaving the Bistro, Nyla started to head off to her car.

“Thank you once again”

“No problem, we should do this again sometime”

“That would be great” Nyla looks at her phone “Now, I better get to the community center so I can see James”

Nyla gets into her car and drives off. Lucy makes it a little bit of a way to her car and gets in. As she was buckling up, she started to think that she didn’t want to go home just yet. As she was thinking about what to do, another text from Tim came through. As she responded back, an idea popped in her head. She happily started her car and drove away from the Bistro. 

()()()()()()()()()()()

Lucy quickly parked her car and raced inside. She found the front desk and signed her name in. She was given a visitors badge and she left down the hallway. After a quick glance at the directory board, Lucy made her way down to Tim’s Lab. As she was approaching his lab, she didn’t know if she could just walk in or if she should knock on the door. Once she is at the door, she notices that Tim is facing away from the door, it was a perfect opportunity. She quietly opened the door and made her way over. She stood behind Tim and took a shot.

“What’s you working on” Lucy spoke

Tim jumps out of his seat and Lucy lets out a laugh. The look on Tim’s face was priceless, she could really tell he wasn’t expecting that. After a minute, Tim was able to catch his breath.

“Well…… That’s the last time I leave my door unlock”

“Yeah…. Sorry about that. He just looked like you were so focused that I thought it would be funny to scare you”

“No worries” Tim chuckles “Come here”

Lucy gets pulled in by Tim’s grasp and wraps her in a hug. She felt him give her a kiss on the head and she smiled 

“What are you doing here? I thought you were staying home today”

“I was but Nyla invited me to lunch to talk about her daughter joining figure skating. After we were done, I thought I come and see you since I have never been in your lab before” Lucy looks around “It looks nice, very you”

“What do you mean very me”

“The Dodgers memorabilia, the Kings themed desk chair and most importantly” Lucy picks up a picture frame “Your signed LA Rams poster by Aaron Donald”

“Umm…… That is not the most important thing I have”

“Than what is”

Tim points to the wall “The picture that is next to the poster”

Lucy looks up at the wall and sees what it is. Tim had taken Lucy to Runyon Canyon to take a hike along the trails. Once they got to the top, Tim pulled out his phone and took a quick picture of Lucy staring at the scenery around. Lucy didn’t know that picture was taken and she was even more surprised that Tim took a good shot. Once she was done looking, she looks back at Tim and sees the smile on his face.

“I take it back, that is the most important thing in your lab”

“Glad you think so”

Lucy smiles “Anyways, is there any chance you can take me on a tour of this place”

“It would be my pleasure”

Tim opens the door and leads Lucy out of his lab. As Tim is telling her about the lab, Lucy just took it all in. She never knew that Tim worked in such a nice laboratory. She kind of expected a police crime lab to be dark and dungeon feeling not bright and wide open but she also expected them to be in a basement so that didn’t help. As they were walking along, Tim introduced Lucy to some people. His coworkers seemed nice except for one guy named Smitty, he seemed a little creepy and uncoordinated. Once they were done, Lucy went back to Tim’s lab.

“I got to tell you, This looks like a nice place to work”

“You can say that” said Tim “It is nothing like I expected”

“I can see that” Lucy smiles “I’m happy I finally got to see where you work”

“I am too” Tim smiles as he leans down and kisses Lucy “Ok, I better get back to work”

Lucy sighs “Alright, I’ll let you be”

Tim sneaks in one last kiss “I’ll see you at the game tonight”

“Wouldn’t miss it”

Lucy takes one last glance at Tim and makes her way out of his lab. She signed her name out at the desk and headed out to her car. As she climbs in, she sends one more text to Tim and starts her car. Before she drove off, she started to think about Nyla and Lila. If Nyla really wanted to get to know the rink, why not come to a hockey game and see how it goes? She quickly pulls out her phone once more and dials Nyla’s number.

“ How would you feel about you and Lila coming to a hockey game tonight”

()()()()()()()()()()()()

Around 6 o’clock, Lucy arrives at the rink. Tamara decided to stay home since she was going over to a friends to watch movies. As she walks in, she is greeted by Angela. They talk for a minute before Lucy excuses herself to Tim’s office. Once she arrives at his office, he isn’t there. His phone was still there so she figured he’d be coming right back. She waited there for about a minute before she heard Tim’s voice coming down the hallway. She could tell he was happy when he saw her face.

“Hey” Tim kisses Lucy “What are you doing back here”

“Well, I figured I come back here and wish you luck before the game”

Tim smiles “You know you didn’t have to do that. As long as I saw you in the stands would have been good luck enough”

“I know, But…..” Lucy grabs Tim’s hand “It’s better to do it in person to your face”

Tim smiles more brightly “Ok then, Thank you”

“No worries” Lucy smiles “What are hockey girlfriends for”

Tim leans down to give Lucy another kiss and she returns the favor. Once they broke free, they talked for a little before Tim was called away to his team. He gave Lucy one more kiss before leaving his office. As he leaves, Lucy waits until he is in the locker room to put a surprise in motion. It wasn’t anything big, she just got him something that they can use one of these nights when Tamara isn’t around. Once she puts the present on his desk chair, she heads over to the lobby to meet up with Nyla. Around 6:45, Nyla and Lila show up.

“Hey” Lucy hugs Nyla “So glad you can make it”

“Thank you for inviting us”

“It’s my pleasure” Lucy looks down at Lila “And you must be Lila, your mom has told me you want to be a figure skater”

Lila nods her head 

“I love hearing that, I’m actually a figure skating coach”

Lila’s eyes get huge “Really”

Lucy nods her head “Yes Really and I would be really happy if you joined me here”

Lila looks up at her mom and smiles huge “I’m guessing you really want to skate now” Nyla sees Lila shake her head excitedly “Well…… Can you wait until next season”

“Yes” said Lila

Lucy chuckles as she and Nyla continue to talk for a little bit before going into the rink to find some seats. They end up finding some next to where Tim’s team is sitting. Once they took their seats, the announcer came over the intercom to introduce the players. Lucy yells as each of Tim’s players were called on the ice, she went extremely loud when Tim’s name was mentioned. After the players and coach were introduced, the national anthem was played and the game was ready to begin. The refs dropped the puck and the players were off.

At the end of the 1st period, the Mid-Wilshire Bulldogs were up 2-0. Lucy was excited the whole time, especially when someone from the other team was checked into the boards right in front of them. Once it was a break, Lucy went to the lobby to get some things from the concession stand. She got Lila a slushie while all Nyla wanted was a hot chocolate. She decided to get herself some popcorn as well. As she was walking back, Angela came up behind her. Angela questioned why Lucy had some many things and Lucy explained that she’s here with a co-worker. Once Lucy was done, she invited Angela to come and sit with her. She denied at first but decided to take a little break. They walked over to Lucy’s spot and took a seat. Lucy introduced Angela to Nyla once they were settled.

“Angela” Lucy gestures to Nyla “This is Nyla, she a special ed teacher at Campbell”

Angela extends her hand “Nice to meet you”

Nyla extends her hand “Nice to meet you as well”

Angela looks over at Lila “And who is this little one”

“Ohh” Lucy comments “This is Lila, Nyla’s daughter. She wants to become a figure skater next season”

“Really” Angela said enthusiastically “That’s exciting”

“Yeah, you can say that. I’m just wondering if this rink will be a good fit for her”

“Oh” Angela asks Lucy to scoot over “This is definitely the right rink for her. I can say that since I’m the figure skating director”

“You are” Nyla exclaims

“Yeah, so if you have any questions you can ask me”

“That’s great because I actually have a lot”

Lucy chuckles as she hears the conversation in front of her. After Angela and Nyla go on about Lila joining, Lucy turns her attention back over to the ice. She sees Tim yell at his players on the ice to get to the puck. Lucy has never seen Coach Tim in action and she kind of likes it, she’s not lying. 

()()()()()()()()()()()()

After the game is done, The bulldogs win 5-3. She quickly said goodbye to Nyla and Lila and made her way over to the team’s bench. She saw the look on Tim’s face when he saw her coming down. Lucy leans over the bars to hug Tim.

“They did amazing Tim, you should be so proud of them”

“I am” Tim smiles 

Lucy sees all the boys coming over to join Tim and the other coaches 

“Congrats, you guys. You were fantastic out there”

All the boys thanked Lucy and turned her focus back over to Tim. She smiles brightly at him and he smiles right back at her. Some of the players noticed it and Lucy and Tim tried to hide the looks on their faces but it didn’t really work. The boys were all giving Tim some looks like something was going on.

“Ok” Tim announces “What is going on in your heads right now”

“Umm….” A player spoke up “We were just wondering why you and Lucy are giving each other longing looks right now”

“Because we can, what’s the problem with that”

“It’s just…..” Another player jumped in “People only look at each other like that when they are dating” Lucy and Tim’s eyes pop out of their head “Are you guys dating or something”

Lucy and Tim looked at each other and Lucy shrugged shoulder “You can tell them”

Tim sighs before facing his team “Yes, Lucy and I are dating, Happy”

The boys stare at Lucy and Tim for a minute before telling Tim they were happy for him. They also wondered if this is why he’s been in a good mood all season. All Tim said was that he would never tell his secrets. Once the players calmed down, Lucy excused herself so Tim could finish talking to his team. Nyla and Lila had left by now so Lucy decided to wait for Tim back in this office. It was about 10 minutes later, he came back in.

“Great game Coach”

Tim smiles “Thank you” 

He comes over and kisses Lucy chastely. As he walked over to his desk, he noticed the present on his desk.

“What is this”

“It’s for you” Lucy smiles “I thought it was something you might enjoy or…..” Lucy stutters “Something you might enjoy on me”

Tim looks at her confusingly but then gets the idea when the smirk appears on her face. He opens up the present to find a lacey black lingerie set. He smiles back at Lucy then chuckles. He sets the lingerie set back in the bag then walks back over to Lucy and kisses her passionately, Lucy smiled as the kiss deepened further. Lucy stopped him before he could get too far.

“We can’t go that far yet” Lucy comments “we have to wait until we are not in the vicinity of the arena”

Tim smiles “I know but I don’t know how long I can wait”

“I kind of figured that” Lucy starts slides her hands down Tim’s arms “So that’s why I will be meeting you at your house once you are done here”

“You serious” Tim said seductively

“When have you known me to not be serious about something like this”

Tim smiles “Ok then” Tim kisses Lucy again “I’ll meet you back at my place, you know where the key is”

Lucy smiles back at Tim as she grabs the present off his desk. She quickly kissed him on the cheek and made her way out of his office. She walks over to her car and gets inside. She pulled out of the parking lot fast so she could get to Tim’s before he got there. As she pulled into his driveway, she didn’t see his truck. She got out of her car quickly and grabbed the key that was hidden under one of Tim’s fake plants. Once she walks in, she rushes to the kitchen and orders something to eat. After that, Lucy grabs some wine glasses from the cabinet then some wine from the fridge. She pours some wine into the glasses and brings them to the living room. She patiently waits on the couch for Tim to arrive. Some time after, Lucy sees Tim’s truck pull into the driveway. She grabs his wine glass and meets him by the door.

“Welcome Home” Lucy said as Tim walked through the door

Tim sets his bag down and takes the wine glass from Lucy  “Thank you” Tim takes a sip “This is something good to come home to”

“And we are just getting started” Lucy looks towards the kitchen “I have more wine when we are ready and I have some food coming from Rodney’s as we speak”

Tim chuckles “Couldn’t ask for anything better” 

Lucy sees Tim glance over to the present on the table “And that is for after dinner”

Lucy hears Tim chuckle once more before leading him over to the couch and turns on the tv. Half an hour later, their food arrives. Lucy moves the presents off the table and sets the food down. They got some more wine to fill their glasses and started eating dinner. Once they were done eating, Tim put their dishes away while Lucy made her way over to the bathroom to change. Lucy took a minute to get herself in the zone before she went to join Tim. As she walked down the hallway, she could still hear Tim washing some dishes. She leaned herself against the wall then got his attention.

“Hey” Lucy sees Tim look over at her “You ready to get started”

Tim smiles as he walks towards her “More than ever”

Tim quickly grabs Lucy’s hand and walks her down the hallway down to his room. Lucy starts chuckling to herself as Tim swiftly closes the door and starts kissing her as they walk towards the bed.

Chapter Text

February 5th, 2022

In the last few weeks, it has been eventful. Lucy was able to get all the paperwork filed to become Tamara’s legal guardian and it got accepted. Lucy got told by Angela that Nyla’s daughter was definitely joining next season. Lucy got the official call from the hospital that Caleb was being taken on the ventilator since his lungs never got any better. She did call his family and sent her condolences. 

Lucy has been keeping up with work and the kids have been keeping her on her toes. Wesley and John have visited a few times only to relay messages from Angela and Bailey which Lucy thought was funny. Tim has also stopped by a few times for lunch when he’s been off. They’ve gone out on a few dates and would sometimes bring Tamara along if it was something she would like.

Lucy has also had her hands busy with the skating show coming up. It’s the first show she’s really been hands on with so it’s a thrill for her. Angela assigned the routines out to everyone and was very excited that Tamara got announced as a soloist. They’ve been trying to finalize everything before show practice starts which is in two weeks. Everything that has been happening has been making Lucy a little bit stressed but nothing could match for what happened afterwards

Lucy woke up not feeling the greatest. She looked over at her alarm and saw it was only 2am. She wanted to go back to bed but something wasn’t letting her sleep. Without warning, Lucy felt something coming up her throat. She ran over to the bathroom and was able to make it to the toilet to throw up. Once she spilled everything out, she sat next to the toilet. She tried giving herself a minute before going back to bed but as soon as she stood up, she was throwing up into the toilet again. Tamara heard what was happening in the bathroom and went to make sure Lucy was ok.

“Do I need to get you anything”

Lucy shakes her head “Could you get me some ginger ale from the fridge”

Tamara nodded her head and left towards the kitchen. She comes back moments later and passes the bottle to Lucy. She quickly sips on the drink and feels better a little bit later.

“Are you going to be fine”

“Yeah, I will be” Lucy comments “Go back to bed, I’m heading back to sleep in a bit”

Tamara gives Lucy an unsatisfied look but ultimately leaves the bathroom. Lucy spends another 5 minutes on the floor before getting up and heading to her room. As she entered, she grabbed the garbage can by her door and brought it over to her bed. After a few minutes, Lucy was able to fall back asleep.

Lucy woke back up around 9am. She did end up throwing up one more time during the middle of the night but it was over quickly. Lucy got out of bed and slowly made her way over to the kitchen. Tamara wasn’t up yet so Lucy had some time to make herself some breakfast. As she was cooking some eggs, Lucy started to get nauseous again. She put her spatula down and stepped away from the stove for a minute. Instead, she goes over to the coffee pot and pours herself some coffee, she was able to keep that down no problem. Lucy ended up throwing away the eggs and settled on some waffles and fruit. Once she was done eating breakfast, she made her way over to the couch. 5 minutes later, Tamara comes out of her room.

“Morning”

“Morning” Tamara replies “You feeling any better”

Lucy nods her head “Yeah, I haven’t puked since 6am so I took that as a win” Lucy sees Tamara gag and Lucy chuckles “There’s waffles and some strawberries if you wanted any”

Tamara makes her way over to the kitchen and plates herself up some breakfast. She watches as Lucy sits on the couch looking a little bit green. After she is done eating, Tamara joins Lucy on the couch. She sees Lucy looking miserable when she sits down.

“Are you sure you’re feeling ok”

Lucy sighs “Yes, I’m fine” 

“Yeah, I don’t believe you” Tamara sees the look on Lucy’s face “Well….. You’ve been throwing up the past few days, some food is making you nauseous and if you haven’t noticed, you’ve gone to the bathroom a lot”

“What are you trying to say Tamara”

Tamara sighs “What I’m trying to say is that……. Is there any chance you’re pregnant”

Lucy starts chuckling “Yeah, right……. That’s not what’s happening right now”

“Then what is happening”

Lucy starts to think about something to say but nothing comes to her mind. She started replaying the last few days in her head and it was all falling into place. It had to be something else. There was no way she was pregnant, she and Tim have been so careful. They haven’t even had the talk about kids yet. What was she going to do?

“Lucy”

Lucy snaps out of her trance “Sorry, I was just freaking out about what could be happening right now”

Tamara starts rubbing Lucy’s shoulder “It’s Ok but we aren’t even for sure this is happening right now”

“So what do we do”

“Right now, we are going to the drug store and buying you some tests”

“No”

“No” Tamara asks confusingly

“We are going to urgent care just in case it’s something else, I can’t deal with this forever”

Tamara nods her head and gets off the couch with Lucy. They quickly get dressed and head out to urgent care.

()()()()()()()()()()

Once they arrived and got signed in, Lucy ended up waiting for 30 minutes before a doctor saw her. Tamara stayed in the waiting room while Lucy was being looked at. They brought her over to a consultation room where she waited for the doctor. Lucy let her mind slip away to the thought of her having a kid. She knew she always wanted them but now isn’t the right time. As she was going through her head, a knock came at the door.

“Hello” A cheery voice said “I’m Dr. Luna Grey and you must be Lucy”

“Yeah, That’s me”

Luna takes a seat “So, what brings you in today”

“Well…… the past few days I’ve been feeling very nauseous and pukey. I've thrown up a few times during the middle of the night. My roommate even mentioned to me that I’ve been going to the bathroom a lot more”

“Ok” Lucy starts to write some things down “Anything else been happening”

Lucy nods her head “I've also had some stomach pain that hasn’t been going away”

“Alright” Luna sets her board down “Could you be pregnant”

Lucy shakes her head “That has gone through my head a few times now but I don’t think so. My boyfriend and I have always been using protection”

“Ok” Luna gets up from her chair “I’ll have them run a few test to rule some things out if that’s alright with you”

“Yeah, that’s fine”

“I’ll send the nurses in as soon as possible”

Luna leaves the room while Lucy stays seated on the bed. She waits a few minutes before a nurse comes back to take over to take a blood test. Lucy doesn’t like needles but she just wants to get it over with. Once they’ve drawn her blood, they give Lucy a cup and have her give a urine sample. Even though it was embarrassing, Lucy did it without hesitation. After that is over with, the nurse brings Lucy over for an x-ray. They snapped a few pictures before they headed back over to the consulting room. She isn’t in there long when a tech comes into the room to give Lucy an ultrasound. Lucy takes a deep breath and lets the tech scan her stomach.

After everything was over, Lucy was left in the room wondering about what could happen in the next few minutes. She knew if she was pregnant that she would love that kid no matter what but her and Tim haven’t even been dating long. Would he even want to be a part of the kids' life? Even if she isn’t pregnant, her and Tim really need to have that talk. 

After 15 minutes of Lucy rambling in her head, Luna came back into the room. She watched her take a seat and took a huge breath in

“Ok” Lucy adjusts “Lay it on me, what’s going on”

“Well” Luna starts “What I can say is that you aren’t pregnant”

“Really”

“Yes”

Lucy lets out a sigh of relief and smiles “Then what is going on with me”

Luna sighs “From what it looks like” Luna pulls out some papers “You have PCOS”

Lucy shakes her head “What is that”

“PCOS is known as Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. It’s when you have cysts full of fluid that hangs out on the outer edge of an ovary”

“How did you figure that out”

“When I looked at your ultrasound and x-ray, I could see the cysts forming around your ovaries and your blood test showed high androgen”

Lucy sighs “So, what does that mean”

“It means that you will either have more irregular periods from time to time. Your cramps will become more painful and that can cause some more unexpected symptoms ”

“Like the nausea and vomiting I’ve been having”

“Exactly, your stomach was in so much pain that it caused the body to fight itself” 

“But……. Why haven’t I been feeling it until now”

“Have you been under some stress lately”

Lucy nods “Too much”

“With how much you have going on right, you probably didn’t think it was any more than the stomach flu”

“Woah” Lucy comments “So, what happens now”

“Now, I refer you to endocrinologist so they can get you set up on a treatment plan but for now, I will prescribe you some medication to help with the nausea” Luna gets up “Does that sound good”

“Yes, thank you”

Luna smiles “I’ll have a nurse come in with the information for you then you’ll set up your appointment with the other doctor”

Lucy nods her head and waits for Luna to leave the room. Lucy sighed in so much relief. She was happy she wasn’t pregnant. But now, she had to deal with something that could cause her not to get pregnant. She didn’t want to worry about it for now only because she has to let herself process what is happening. All she knew was that she had to talk to Tim about this for sure. After a minute, a nurse came in and gave her the information she needed and sent her on her way.

She met Tamara in the waiting room and told her what was happening. Tamara asked how she was doing and Lucy said she was fine. Lucy scheduled an appointment with the endocrinologist and they headed out to the pharmacy to pick up her meds. 

After they got home, Lucy sat down on the couch. Tamara let her be and went to her room. She went on for the next 15 minutes about Tim. Lucy wanted to tell him what happened but she felt like she needed to tell someone else before telling him. Without a second thought, Lucy pulled out her phone and sent off a text

Hey, Can you meet me for lunch right now

()()()()()()()()()()()

Lucy arrived at the diner a little bit before her guest. She ordered herself some lemonade and also got a Cherry Coke. As she was waiting, Lucy thought about what she was going to say. She didn’t know if she should give the cliff notes version or if she should tell her everything. She didn’t want it to overwhelm her head so she decided to wait and figure it out later.

A few minutes later, Angela walked in. Lucy sat up in her seat and waved Angela over. Angela sat down across from Lucy as the waiter was coming back with their drinks. He hands Lucy and Angela a menu and walks away. Lucy already knew what she wanted but Angela took a little bit. Once the waiter came back and took their order, Angela got right to business.

“Alright” Angela crosses her arms “Why did you ask me to come here”

Lucy looks around “Promise not to tell anyone”

“Promise”

Lucy takes a deep breath “I just found out something this morning and I didn’t know who to talk to”

“Ok” Angela adjusts in her seat “What happened”

“I hadn’t been feeling well the past few days but I didn’t worry about” Lucy sighs “But at 2am this morning, I ended up puking in the bathroom. Didn’t think anything of it until Tamara pointed something out when I woke up”

“What did she think”

“She thought I was pregnant”

“What” Angela exclaims “Doesn’t she know how careful you and Tim are”

Lucy shakes her head “Ok, I’m going to forget you said that but yes, we have been but I was still worried”

“What did you do”

“Tamara brought me to urgent care just because I wanted to see if it was anything else”

“And……”

“I’m not pregnant” Lucy sighs “I have something called PCOS”

“Oh, I’ve heard of that. It’s that hormone disorder, right”

“Yeah and basically produces cyst around my ovaries that could cause me trouble when I choose to get pregnant”

“That sounds awful”

“Tell me about it”

“So, why did you want to talk to me about this”

“Because” Lucy swallows “I don’t know if I should tell Tim about this”

“Oh” Angela comment “Since he’s said he’s always wanted kids and now you might have some trouble having them”

“Exactly”

Angela sighs “I see your dilemma”

“I told you” Lucy grudges “How can I tell him about this. Once he finds out he’s not gonna want to be with me anymore”

“Why would you think that” 

“Cause I might not be able to give him the one thing he wants” Lucy starts tearing up

“Lucy” Angela grabs Lucy’s hand “You are the one thing he truly cares about. Tim would die if he didn’t have you in his life”

Lucy sniffles “Really”

“Yes” Angela nods her head “The only thing that man cares about more than hockey is that you are with him and that you are not going anywhere. You should have seen him when your break up with Caleb hit the news”

Lucy chuckles “I can believe it”

“Ok, then you can believe me when I say Tim will love you no matter what happens”

Lucy smiles “Thank you”

“No worries” Angela smiles “So, are you going to tell Tim now”

“Absolutely, I’ll go see if he’s home after this”

Sooner or later, their food arrives. Afterwards, they just talk about the skating show and what that could do with certain routines. Angela asks how Tamara’s solo was going and Lucy said it’s going fine. Once they were done, Lucy paid for the bill and the both of them walked outside. Angela gives Lucy a quick hug before jumping into her car and heading home. Lucy walked a little bit further to her car and got in. She took a deep breath in and drove off to Tim’s.

()()()()()()()()()()

The drive over to Tim’s felt slow. The adrenaline was running through her body like she had 10 cups of coffee. She calmed herself down when she saw Tim’s truck parked in the driveway. Lucy parked her car and walked towards the front door. She took one last big breath before knocking on the door. A few seconds later, Tim opened the door.

“Hey” Tim looks confused “What are you doing here”

“Um….. I needed to tell you something and I didn’t know want to tell you over the phone”

“Oh, Ok” Tim moves out of the doorway and let’s Lucy inside “Did you want some water first”

“Sure, that would be great” Lucy goes over to the island while Tim grabbed her some bottled water “Thanks” Lucy takes a sip

“Ok so……… What did you want to talk about”

Lucy sighs “Early this morning, I wasn’t feeling well and ended up throwing up in the bathroom. I thought I was fine but it happened again around 6. Once I woke up, Tamara pointed something out to me”

“What”

“That I was pregnant” Lucy sees Tim’s eyes pop out of his head “Don’t worry, It’s not what it is”

Tim sighs in relief “Then, what is it”

“I went to the doctor and found out I have something called PCOS. It’s just a fancy term for saying that I have cysts on the outside of my ovaries”

“And that’s what was causing you to be sick”

“Yeah, but that’s not the whole thing” Lucy sees Tim readjust “It also means that it might be hard for me to have kids”

“Oh”

“Yeah” Lucy comments “And I know you have always wanted them”

“Yeah, I have”

“See, that’s why I didn’t want to tell you since I will………”

Tim stops Lucy mid sentence and happily kisses her 

Lucy acts a little surprised “Why did you do that”

“So you wouldn’t ramble off” Tim smiles “You don’t have to worry”

“What”

“I said that you don’t have to worry about that” Tim smiles more brightly “I’ll be fine if I don’t have any kids”

“Really”

“Yeah” Tim said cheerfully “As long as you're here with me, it’s all I’ll ever need”

Lucy smiles “You really know how to make a girl feel better”

“I’m kind of known for that”

Lucy chuckles as she leans forward and meets Tim for a happy kiss

“Thank you”

“My pleasure”

Lucy smiles “Well, even though there is a chance I might not be able to have kids, there is still a chance that I could”

“Yeah, I guess you're right”

“So” Lucy said happily “Did you want to discuss the situation for if we have kids”

Tim smiles “If that’s what you want”

Lucy smiles grateful as she and Tim start discussing. They quickly agreed that they would have at least one, maybe two depending on how Lucy feels. Lucy brought up the idea of adopting and Tim was on board instantly. After that they mainly talked about how their lives would be with or without kids, Tim even suggested just owning a bunch of dogs and calling those his children. Once Lucy felt like they covered everything, She decided to head out. She got up from the couch and Tim brought her over to the door.

“Hey” Lucy turns around “Thank you for telling me this”

“You needed to know, I wasn’t going to leave you in the dark”

“I know but still thank you”

Lucy smiles “No problem” Lucy leans up to kiss Tim’s cheek “Talk to you tonight”

Lucy walked out of Tim’s house and headed to her car. She pulled out of the driveway and quickly waved Tim goodbye. As she was driving home, a relief went over her shoulders. She was so happy that Tim wasn’t mad at her about this. He was so thoughtful and was able to be there when Lucy needed him. She did think it was funny when he basically brought up the dog farm. All she knows now is that this relationship was going to last, no matter what.

Chapter Text

March 7th, 2022

Since Lucy’s pregnancy scare, she has been on the ball. Lucy, Angela and Bailey have been planning nonstop for the ice show. After the routines were decided, they ordered the costumes, the props, set up the programs, organized the photographer and a bunch of other stuff . Lucy was in charge of 4 routines this year, Tamara’s solo, a high advance trio, the low advanced freestyle number and another soloist. She had more but that was with either Angela or Bailey. It was a lot of tough work and it will all be worth it. All of the routines are great and Lucy is excited to show them off.

After the school day was done, Lucy basically raced out of the building. Today was one of their final practice days before the shows on Friday and Saturday. Tamara was already waiting by her car when she arrived. Once they buckled in, they headed off. They quickly buy some snacks cause they knew that they were going to be there awhile. After they got everything they needed, they went to the rink.

When they got there, they only saw Bailey’s car in the parking lot. Lucy and Tamara quickly grabbed their stuff and raced inside. Lucy told Tamara to go to the locker room to get dressed even though practice was still 45 minutes away. As she was walking into the coaches room, She didn’t see Bailey but figured she was just in the bathroom, pregnancy bladder and all. She sat down on the bench and waited for Bailey to get back. Not long after, Bailey walks in.

“Hey, when did you get here” Bailey questioned

“Not even 5 minutes ago”

“Is Angela here yet”

Lucy shakes her head “I didn’t see her car out”

“Alright, then she’s probably not too far behind”

Bailey settled on the bench next to Lucy and they waited for Angela to arrive

“So” Bailey questions “Are you ready for your first official ice show”

Lucy nods her head “More than ready”

“Good” Bailey smiles “How are the routines going”

“Great, there’s something I need to tweak on the trio but otherwise really good. How are your routines”

“They’re coming together but it is a little hard to try and choreograph something when you really can’t skate on the ice”

“Ugh, I can’t imagine”

Bailey chuckles “I’m making this a note for myself, never get pregnant this close to showtime”

“Ahem to that”

Lucy and Bailey kept chatting as they were getting ready for practice. Angela still hadn’t gotten back yet so they had some time to kill. They started to hear the girls arriving and greeted them as they walked in since they heard them through the walls. A little bit later, Angela comes rushing in with all her stuff.

“Huh, I can really tell that I’m late. Bailey beat me here” Angela comments

“She beat me hear too” Lucy cuts in

“Seriously” Angela questioned “Wait, didn’t you have work today”

Bailey shakes her head “Nope”

“That’s probably why” Angela explains and takes a seat on the bench “Alright, I picked up the programs and the rest of the posters from the shop”

Angela passes Lucy and Bailey the programs and they looked really excited

Mid-Wilshire Skating Club presents

A night at the Oscars

“They look so nice” Lucy knowledges

“Yeah, Aaron did a nice job with this”

Angela smiles “Good, I’ll make sure to tell him that”

They went on with talking about the plans for the week and what they had to do. Angela mentioned that they still needed 2 more people to do spotlights since the people who regularly do it can’t be there. Bailey promised to ask John while Lucy said she asked Tim. After that, they discussed the routines to see how they were going. Lucy mentioned what she told Bailey earlier and Bailey did the same. Once they were done with that, Angela asked if they could stay later tonight to make sure all the costumes were put in the right locker rooms, in which they both agreed. After they were done, it was time to get on the ice. Lucy and Angela put their skates on while Bailey got into her comfiest shoes. They made their way to the ice and greeted the girls.

“Alright, ready to get started” Angela asks

All the girls nod their heads

“Ok then” Angela continues “If you read the schedule, from now until 4:45 we are running the opening number. After that, the soloist will run their routines” Angela looks at Lucy and Bailey “I forgot what was afterwards”

“I don’t know” Lucy spoke

“Me neither” Bailey followed after

“Ok, that’s just means that I didn’t look at the schedule before getting on the ice but just remember, All of us are here for a long night”

The girls nod their heads again

“Good enough” Angela claps her hands together “Ok, get in place everyone”

The girls skated over to the curtain opening while Lucy, Angela and Bailey headed over to the music player. Lucy sees that all the girls are lined up and starts the music. What a feeling from Flashdance poured over the speakers. The girls skated their routine and did it beautifully, even had Angela crying. After they finish the number, the ladies have the girls run over certain parts again that had to get cleaned up. Once the parts were fixed, they had them run the number again.

After they were done with the opening number, they got off the ice so the zamboni could clear the ice. All of the girls got their skates off except for the 6 soloists who had to get on the ice right after the zamboni got off. Once they got the all clear from the driver, The ladies and the soloist got on the ice. Lucy called Tamara and her other soloist over after they got on.

“Ok, I’m going to have you girls run your solos without the music for the first 10 minutes or so then I’m going to have you guys run them with music, sound good”

Both girls nodded 

“Good, now go on”

Lucy watches as both of her skaters run their routines and see them make corrections. After the 10 minutes were done, the girls came over

“Alright, since Bri’s solo is in the program first, She will be going while Tamara you will go after”

Lucy sees Bri nod her head and skate over to her starting spot. Lucy starts her music and Bri takes off. Lucy loved how jazzy Bri’s music was, that’s what happens when you pick a song from Black Panther. She watched as Bri was sharp with her movements and stayed with the tempo of the music, which was a little bit of a problem. After Bri was done and Lucy and Tamara applauded her, Tamara went to her starting position. Tamara picked the Adele song from Skyfall since she does better with that style of music. Lucy skipped over to Tamara’s music and started her song. Lucy really loved Tamara’s solo, it was graceful and elegant and sharp when need be. Lucy saw Angela’s mouth drop when Tamara was skating. Once Tamara was done, She received applause from all the coaches and the skaters that were on the ice. Bri skated over and gave Tamara a big hug as she was heading back over to the boards.

“You guys did amazing” Lucy commented

“Thank you” Both the girls spoke 

Lucy comments on a few things the girls have to do to correct and they skate off to fix them. As they were doing that, Lucy sat down on the bench and watched her girls. She was sitting down for not even 2 minutes when she saw Tim making her way over to her.

Lucy gets up and hugs him “Hey, what are you doing here? I though hockey season was over”

The state tournament was the weekend before and Tim’s team ended up getting third place in the tournament.

“It is but they turned in their uniforms today and I have to go through them all”

“Oh, that sounds like fun”

“Yeah, you try saying that when none of the have washed their jersey since playoffs started”

“Eww”

“Welcome to my world” Tim stands up straighter “So, how’s everything going over here”

“Great actually, the girls are coming together to make a great show”

“Good to hear” Tim smiles “Well, I just wanted to say hi before I had to start sorting”

“Alright” Lucy pouts “I’ll call you later”

Tim smiles as he kisses Lucy on the cheek and walks back towards the hockey locker rooms. Before he got too far, Lucy called him out.

“Wait, quick question” Lucy sees Tim look over “Angela was wondering if you could help out with the spotlights during the show. Our people that we had backed out”

Tim nods his head “No worries, I can do that. Someone would have to show me how to do it first” Tim questions

“Wesley can help with that” Angela yells from the board 

“Ok, I guess that helps” Tim comments 

“I guess so” Lucy smiles “Have fun dealing with sweaty jerseys”

Lucy hears Tim chuckles as he walks away. Lucy turns her attention back to the ice and watches as her girls stare at her. Lucy gives them a stern look and gets them back to work

()()()()()()()()()

March 8th, 2022

Just like the day before, Lucy rushed to the arena after work. They had to decorate the ice with decorations for the show and Lucy volunteered Tim to help along with Wesley. Tamara was running a little bit behind and told Lucy she would meet her at the car again. She quickly messaged Angela saying she was on the way and quickly made her way down the hallway. Once again, Lucy found Tamara by her car, ready to go.

They pulled into the parking lot and rushed inside. Angela was waiting in the lobby when they walked in.

“Hey, Hope I’m not too late” Lucy comments

“No, you’re fine. Tim and Wesley aren’t here yet”

5 minutes later, Wesley walked in with their two little ones and the nanny right behind him. Angela quickly hugged her kids and told the nanny to bring them to her office. They waited for Tim to show up but he was running late, apparently someone got flaming hot cheetos all over some DNA swabs and they had to fix them immediately.

A little around 20 minutes later, Tim pulled into the parking lot. Lucy quickly met him outside and walked him in. Once everyone was there, Angela and Lucy started handing out instructions. 

“Alright, here’s what needs to happen” Angela explained “All the props and decorations have been made, they just need to be put on the ice but first, you need to cover the boards with a black tarp so the logos are hidden”

“What do you want us to use to cover them” Tim questions

“I have black table covers ready to go for you two” Angela points over to the table “All you need to do is line it up at the top and tape it so it’s secure”

“Sounds Easy enough” Wesley comments

Wesley and Tim walked over to the table and grabbed the table covers and tape. Lucy and Angela watched from the lobby and saw that they were getting the hang of it. After watching them for a few minutes, Lucy and Angela got to work on decorating the lobby. All they did was set out some Plastic Oscar awards with some black and gold table cloths and put some fairy lights along the edges of the walls, nothing too overboard. They wanted to leave some stuff for Bailey since she was coming to help before practice. Once they were finished, they walked over to Tim and Wesley.

“You guys almost done” Angela questions 

“Yeah” Tim spoke “We only have 2 logos left then we should be good”

“Awesome” Angela comments “Once you guys are done with that, you can wait until John gets here to help with the props since they are a little bit heavy”

Wesley and Tim nodded their heads and continued working. Lucy and Angela left them alone to finish up. As they were walking back to the lobby, Angela asked if Lucy could talk for a minute and Lucy agreed. They took a seat at one of the tables and Angela got to asking.

“So, Be brutally honest with one”

“Ok” Lucy asks

“How are you feeling about this show”

Lucy smiles “Great, Actually”

“Really”

“Yeah, why do you ask”

“Cause, I know you really didn’t get this involved with your old club so I was wondering if this was too much for you”

Lucy smiles “I’m fine, This was actually fun for me. Getting to make the decisions when it comes to costumes, songs and routines was very thrilling”

“So……. You feel ready for this weekend”

Lucy nods her head “Absolutely”

Angela sighs in relief and they begin normal chatting. Tim and Welsey joined them a little bit after that and joined in on the conversation. Lucy and Angela told the guys about the props that needed to be brought to the ice and told them which ones would be by the curtains and which ones are going on the boards. A little while later, John and Bailey walked through the door, they had an appointment with the OB. Bailey shows them the Sonograph that the doctor had taken. After the excitement wore down, The guys went back to get the props while the girls dealt with the lobby some more.

As 5:30 rolled around, Practice was starting. Tamara didn’t have to be on the ice until 7 so she still had some time. Tim, Wesley and John still worked on the ice with some other parents that came to help. Lucy had Angela and Bailey watch the freestyle number that she put together to see if they liked it. All she could say was that they were impressed. Lucy had the girls run through it a few more times before calling it good for the day. Angela and Bailey took over practice since they were mainly working on the lower advance duets and trios. She met up with Tamara to have a quick dinner before they had to go back to the ice.

()()()()()()()()()

March 11th, 2022

Lucy was jumping out of her skin. The show was starting in almost an hour and she was excited. She had taken the day off of work so she could help Angela and Bailey with final arraignments and they were stressed. They made sure everything was perfect to make sure the show went off without a hitch.

The ticket booth was set up, the flowers were in order, the announcer was getting set up and the photographer and the videographer were ready to go. Tim and John got trained by Wesley on how to use the spotlights and they seem to get the hang of it. The girls had all their costumes and were getting their hair and makeup down. Angela wasn’t too picky on how they did their hair, it just had to be out of her face. Lucy helped Tamara put her hair into a simple braid going into a ponytail. Tamara did her own makeup and helped a few of the other girls out with theirs. 

Angela gave the girls a 20 minute warning before they had to get on the ice to start the show. Lucy took that opportunity to pull Tamara aside. She brought her over to the coaches room and closed the door.

“How are you feeling”

Tamara shakes her head “Good, I’m ready to go”

“That’s good to hear” Lucy spoke “Are your skates tight enough”

Tamara moves her feet “Yep”

“Make up in check”

“Yes”

“Any flyaways in your hair that need to be dealt with”

Tamara quickly looks in the mirror “I don’t see any”

“Good” Lucy smiles “I’m proud of you. You’ve accomplished a lot this season, especially since you got a new coach”

“Thank you” Tamara smiles “If I’m being honest, I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you”

“You’re just saying that” Lucy jokes

“No, I’m not” Tamara spoke “If it wasn’t for you taking me in, I don’t think I would be where I am right now”

Lucy starts getting teary eyed “I appreciate it”

Tamara pulls Lucy in for a quick hug and hugs tightly

“Thank you for everything”

“What are guardians for” Lucy said with a smile

Angela yells for the girls and Lucy and Tamara leave the room. Angela pulls the girls into a group huddle before giving them a quick pep talk before sending them over to the ice. Lucy watched as Tamara made her way over to the ice and took off her guards. Lucy quickly skates over to her and wishes her good luck one last time. She meets back up with Angela and Bailey for a final check in. After they were ready, they gave the signal to the announcer to start the show.

()()()()()()()()()()

After the finale had taken place, Lucy, Angela and Bailey thanked everyone for coming. They congratulate the girls on a nice show and send them off to the locker room. The ladies gathered what they needed from behind the curtain and made their way over to the coaches room. When they all arrived, they took their skates off and started to change for the night. As they were finishing up, a knock came to the door. The ladies all looked at each other before Bailey went over and opened the door. To their surprise, Tim, Wesley and John were all holding flower bouquets.

“What’s this” Lucy said while approaching the door with Angela”

“Well……..” John starts them off “Since you guys pulled off an amazing show”

“We decided to get you guys some flowers as our appreciation” Tim finished 

The ladies smile at the men as they take the flowers from them. Wesley and John did simple bouquets of Roses and carnations but Tim decided to do something different. He knew her favorite flower is sunflowers but she also likes baby’s breath so Tim decided to put both of them in the bouquet so she would love him even more. Lucy was happy that Tim got her the sunflowers and not some simple flowers like daisies and peonies. After the ladies accepted the flowers, they each gave their man a kiss on the cheek. Tim wrapped his arm around Lucy’s shoulder while John and Wesley sat on the bench.

“You three ladies pulled off a really good show” Tim spoke

“Thanks Bradford” Angela comments “Couldn’t have done it without your guys help”

“The pleasure is ours” said John 

“We do anything for you guys” Wesley adds

The ladies smiled before kicking the guys out so they could finish up what they needed to do. After they were done, they all left one by one. Bailey left first with Angela following right after. Lucy was about to leave until Tamara called out for her to come into the locker room.

“Hey” Lucy questions “What do you need, nothing bad I hope”

Tamara shakes her head “No, nothing bad. It’s that Bri invited all the soloist to spent the night at her place and I was wondering if I could go”

“Oh, No problem. Go have some fun”

“Seriously”

“Yeah” Lucy said cheerfully “Just send me the address and can pick you up before the show”

“Thank you” Tamara quickly hugs Lucy “You’re the best”

Lucy smiles back at Tamara and sends her on her way. She walks out of the locker room and makes her way to her car. As she was approaching it, she noticed Tim was leaning up by the passenger door waiting for her.

“I thought you left already” 

“I wasn’t going to leave without saying goodnight to you” Tim sees Lucy smile “Plus, I wanted to see if you would like to come back to my place and have some takeout”

Lucy nods her head “That’s sounds good depending on where you get takeout from”

“I’m getting it from that Chinese place with that Chicken Broccoli dish you like”

“Then I’m in” Lucy smiles more brightly

Tim chuckles slightly as Lucy leans up and quickly wraps him in a kiss. It didn’t last too long since they were in public and she didn’t want to embarrass Tamara if she walked outside. Lucy gets into her car and drives off to Tim’s house. As she pulled up, she got out of her car and waited for Tim on the front steps. Once Tim pulled into the driveway with food in hand, Lucy got even more happy. They walked inside and Tim put the food on the table. Lucy went over to the fridge and grabbed some beer that Tim had bought. They settled on the couch and turned on the Tv to watch some Top Chef.

A little after 1am, Lucy was starting to get a little tired. She told Tim that she would head home but Tim offered if she wanted to stay the night, which she accepted. Lucy turned off the Tv while Tim threw their trash away. Lucy went to the bathroom and grabbed the extra toothbrush that Tim got for her and got ready for bed. Tim pulled out some sweatpants and an old t-shirt for Lucy to sleep in. She quickly changes into those and climbs into bed. Tim joined her after he locked the front door and shut off all the lights. Tim wrapped his arm around Lucy’s torso and curled up next to her.

“Goodnight” Tim said quietly “Love you”

Lucy smiles from ear to ear “Love you too”

And with that, Lucy felt a sense of happiness wash over her. Tim wasn’t going anywhere and she loved that feeling

Chapter Text

April 17th, 2022

After the skating show was over, everything slowed down. She decided to not help with Spring Ice since she needed some time off. She encouraged Tamara to go out for a spring sport and she chose to play Lacrosse, Lucy doesn’t understand it that much but she enjoys watching Tamara play. Her and Tim have been stronger than ever. The whole pregnancy scare has caused them to be more careful. They’re still including Tamara on a few date nights if they think it’s something she would like and he’s been staying at her house more often. Angela and Bailey have kept in contact with her to see how she is doing. They’ve gone to lunch a few times just to catch up.

Lucy woke up a little bit earlier than she normally does on the weekends. Angela asked if she could meet for breakfast today and Lucy agreed. She hopped out of bed and walked over to her shower. She turned on the water and started to get ready. As Lucy was about to start getting undressed, a big set of hands wrapped behind.

Tim kisses her on the head “Why did you leave the bed”

Lucy chuckled “I’m meeting Angela to talk about some stuff”

“Does she have to talk to you so early in the morning”

“It’s only 8am”

“Still, that’s early for a weekend”

“I know but it seems important so I have to go. But……..” Lucy turns to face Tim “When I get back I’m all yours for the day”

“What about Tam”

“She’s hanging out with friends later”

Tim smiled at that idea “Sounds great” 

Tim gives her another kiss before leaving the bathroom to let her shower. Once she gets out, she changes into some comfy but presentable clothes. She meets up with Tim in the kitchen and looks like he’s cooking something good.

“Seriously” Lucy sees Tim turn around “The one morning I can’t be here, you make a delicious breakfast”

“Guilty as charged” Tim smiled “But, at least it’s not for you. I made it for Tam when she wakes up”

“That’s sweet of you” Lucy walks up and kisses Tim’s cheek “I better get going. I’ll see you later”

Lucy grabs her purse and keys from the counter and heads out the door. She pulls out of the driveway and makes her way over to the restaurant. When she pulls in, she sees Angela’s car already there. Lucy parked her car and walked inside. She spotted Angela sitting near the entrance. Lucy walks over and takes a seat across from her.

“Hey, Glad you could make it”

“It’s my pleasure” Lucy adjust in her seat

The waiter comes by and gets their drink orders. They look over the menu and see what they want to have. The two of them quickly settled on what they wanted and waited for the waiter to come back. After they placed their order, Angela got to business.

“Alright” Angela adjusts in her seat “I asked you to meet with me for a reason”

“Ohh” Lucy exclaims “Nothing bad I hope”

“No, nothing like that” Angela shakes her head “It’s about Bailey”

“Ok” Lucy takes a sip of her drink “What about her”

Angela sighs “I was wondering if she told you anything about a baby shower”

Lucy shakes her head “She hasn't. I thought she said she didn’t really know if she wanted one”

“I know she did but, this is a special time for her and John. She deserves to have something like this done for her”

“So what do you have in mind”

Angela smiles “I was thinking that we throw her a surprise baby shower”

“We” Lucy exclaimed 

“Yeah” Angela said with excitement “I figured since the two of us know her best, besides John, that we should have a shower for her”

Lucy nods “It doesn’t sound like a bad idea but when would this happen”

“Well” Angela said nervously “With her due date being in June, we would have to have it in the next few weeks”

“Ok, no pressure” Lucy spoke “How would we be able to pull it together so fast”

“Easy” Angela smiles “We call in for reinforcements”

“Like……..”

“Wesley, Tim, Tamara, a few of her coworkers, her sisters, her stepmom”

Lucy stops Angela mid sentence “And what about John? Shouldn’t he know about this”

“No worries, I’ve already called him and he’s on board”

“Ok, It seems like you have this all put together”

“Yes sir, I do. All I need know is for you to get on board”

Lucy thinks about it for a minute. The idea sounds really fun and she thinks that they could pull it off

“Fine, I’ll help”

Angela squeals in excitement and goes on with the rest of her plan. Their food comes over and they eat while they talk. They made the decisions on the guest list, food, drinks, invitations and all they needed now was a venue. Angela said she would look throughout the week to see if anything pops out at them. As they were finishing up, Angela thanked Lucy for helping her with the plan and asked her not to talk to Bailey about this. They paid for the bill and headed out of the restaurant. Lucy hops into her car and makes the drive back home. When she walked in, Tim and Tamara were chilling on the couch.

“Is this all you two have been doing since I left” Lucy questioned

“No” said Tamara “We did go and get some snacks from the gas station”

Lucy chuckles “Of course you did” Lucy sets her purse and keys on the counter “Move over, I want to join you guys”

Lucy joins them on the couch and watches Tv with them until Tamara leaves to hang out with friends

()()()()()()()()()()()

April 23rd, 2022

Trying to find a venue on such short notice is tougher than Lucy and Angela thought. All the places that they have found are either fully booked or they have some renovations going on. A few places online looked nice to hold the shower but Lucy and Angela didn’t like it when they toured it in person. Lucy suggested that they hold it at Angela’s house but Angela wanted to pull out all the stops for Bailey. After looking for a few days, they decided to take a break. 

Now they took a break for a day, they continued their hunt for the right venue. They did find a place that would be nice but it wouldn’t hold a lot of people. Angela felt defeated.

“Ok, why is it so hard to find a good place to hold a shower” Angela complained

“I don’t know” Lucy shrugged “Maybe we are looking in the wrong places”

“What do you mean”

Lucy thinks “Instead of finding a venue that everyone would want, we should just focus on what Bailey would want”

“Huh” said Angela “I didn’t think of it like that”

“See”

“Alright, So…….. Where would Bailey like her baby shower”

“If I’m being honest, I think she would just like a place where she can be with the people she loves and just enjoy herself”

“Great” Angela nods her head “But where would that be”

“I don’t know” Lucy said truthfully “How about we take a break for lunch and think about it after”

Angela agrees to the idea and they head off for lunch. They passed by a place called Mirate and decided to stop there. The ladies walked inside and got seated right away. They were given the menus and ordered for their drinks. As they were looking at the menu, they looked around the place. For a Mexican restaurant, it didn't look like it was a restaurant. It had tree vines hanging on the wall, the interior looked like you were outside, the huge skylight that was looming in light and what they really liked was the giant tree that was in the middle of the floor. The place seemed like it would actually fit Bailey's personality.

“This place looks really nice” Lucy smiles

“I know” Angela follows “This would be the perfect place to hold the baby shower”

“Should we ask if it’s available”

Angela shrugs “I don’t see why not”

Angela flags down the waiter and asks if the owner was here to talk to them. As the waiter leaves, Lucy and Angela wait patiently for the owner to meet with them. After a few minutes the owner meets them at the table.

“Hello Ladies, I was told you wanted to ask me something”

“Yes” Angela talks first “We have a friend who is expecting and we were wondering if we could hold her surprise baby shower here”

The owner nods “Depends, when would it need to happen”

Lucy steps in “It would have to be at the beginning of May”

“Ok…….. Well, let me go look at the calendar and see what we have available ”

The owner walks away as Lucy and Angela anxiously wait in their seats. As they were waiting, the waiter came back asking for their orders. After the waiter leaves, The owner comes back with a planner.

“Alright” The owner open the planner “As of right now, I have all day on the 1st or all day on the 17th”

Lucy and Angela look at each other trying to figure out what would work

“Did we just want to get it over with or did we want to wait a little” Angela asks

Before Lucy could answer, her phone started ringing. Lucy pulled out her phone and freaked out a little. Bailey was calling. She contemplates on picking up but Angela told her to be calm and answer the phone. Lucy takes a huge breath before accepting the call.

“Hey Bailey, How are you doing”

“Great, I just wanted to see how you were doing”

“I’m doing good, how about you”

“Ugh, this little peanut of mine is kicking my bladder so I have to pee every hour”

“That sounds like fun”

“The most” Bailey chuckles “So, doing anything fun today”

“Not really, right now I’m waiting on Tamara to finish up at a friend’s house so we can go shopping”

“Sounds Nice” Bailey responds “Anything going on next weekend”

Lucy’s eyes pop out of her head and she looks over at Angela. She tells her to keep talking and to not say anything revealing “Um…. No, why do you ask”

“I was just wondering if you wanted to grab lunch or something”

“Ooh…….. That sounds nice. Which day works best”

“Can we go on Sunday? John’s son is coming into town on Saturday and were spending the day with him”

“Sounds perfect. I’ll call you later for the details”

“Great, talk to you later”

Lucy gets off the phone and sighs out in relief. She explains to Angela about their plans the following Sunday and that when they decide to have the baby shower. They arrange everything with the owner to make sure everything is in place. They were able to rent out the place for the whole day with the promise that they had to cater their own food. After everything was set in stone, Lucy and Angela finished up their food and headed out. Lucy and Angela notified everyone and told them the game plan. Once that was done, all they needed to do was get some presents.

()()()()()()()()()()

April 24th, 2022

Now that the venue was secured, it’s now time to get some presents. Lucy spent all of last night trying to figure out what to get for Bailey. She hasn’t gone through this before so she doesn’t know what to get her. Does she get her clothes, books, diapers or all three? Tim tried to help at one point but he was stuck as well. All she knew was that she had to get the perfect gift.

Lucy and Angela decided to meet at California Baby to start their shopping. Angela was already at the store when Lucy arrived.

“Hey” Lucy said Happily “Have you found anything she would like yet”

Angela nods her head “I might have found a few things but I don’t know if they would fit Bailey’s aesthetic”

“What do you mean” Lucy questions

“I just don’t know if Bailey would like them”

“Gotcha” Lucy sighs “Well……. we still have time to look around some more before we go to another store”

Lucy and Angela look around the store a little bit more and find some cute outfits that Bailey might like. They checked out and walked over to another store. The next store seemed to have more varieties of baby supplies. Lucy and Angela went their separate ways to try and find something nice. Angela immediately picked up diapers, baby wipes, diaper cream and some lotion for some essential items. Lucy did the same but only got diapers and wipes. They each still needed to get her a big present. Angela texted John for some ideas to see what they still need.

“What did he say” Lucy asked

“He said they still need baby monitors, bottles, teethers and the list goes on”

“So basically everything”

“Exactly”

Even though getting the list from John helped, Lucy and Angela still had a lot to choose from. They looked around the store and found some things that were on the list. Angela grabbed more of the essentials that were on the list while Lucy was still looking around for the best gift. As she was looking around at the baby items, she started to get a little emotional. She might never get to do this for herself. She knew it wouldn’t be bad if she didn’t have kids but the thought of it haunted her a little. Angela noticed a little bit as they were walking.

“Hey” Angela rubs her shoulder “You going to be Ok”

Lucy nods her head “Yeah, I will” 

As they were heading to the check out, something caught Lucy’s eye. She told Angela to go along without her and walk right over to it. When she made it over and took a look at it, Lucy knew it was the perfect present. She grabbed it and brought it over to Angela at the check out. Angela gave Lucy a look of satisfaction cause Angela thought Lucy picked out a good gift. They rang everything up and they paid for their stuff. As they were grabbing everything, the bell at the front door rang. Lucy looked over and gasped.

“What” Angela questions 

Lucy points in the direction of the door and Angela looks over. Her eyes pop out of her head

“What’s Bailey doing here”

“I don’t know…… Maybe she’s trying to find stuff for her nursery”

Angela rolled her eyes since she knew it was a dumb question “What are we going to do”

“We’re going to try and get out of here without her seeing us”

“How can we do that”

“I can handle that” The associate spoke up 

The associate made her way around the counter and made her way over to Bailey. She gets Bailey’s attention and has her facing the other direction. Lucy and Angela quickly made their getaway out of there and walked over to Angela’s car

“That was way too close for comfort”

“You’re telling me” Angela comments

They load everything into Angela’s car after they calmed down. Lucy decided to send her stuff with Angela since Lucy wouldn’t have room at her house to store everything. Once everything was loaded in the car, Angela thanked Lucy for coming along to help and made her way home. Lucy hopped in her car right after and drove back to the house.

()()()()()()()()()()()

May 1st, 2022

Today is the day, Bailey’s surprise baby shower is happening. Everything was going according to plan. Angela, Wesley, John and Tim arrived at the restaurant early to help set up the decorations while Lucy and Tamara were on Bailey duty. Bailey wanted to meet her lunch around 1 o’clock so it gave them some time to set up. Lucy suggested that Lucy and Tamara pick Bailey up at home so they could just drop her off right after and Bailey had no issue with that. Lucy kept communicating with Angela all morning to make sure everything was going smoothly. 

Right on schedule, Lucy and Tamara picked Bailey up and they headed over to a nice restaurant for lunch.

“Anything looking good on there” Lucy asks

“Honestly, everything looks good but…..” Bailey looks down at her belly “I don’t know what this little girl is craving”

“Huh, the joys of pregnancy I guess”

“You could say that again. Just wait until it’s your turn Luce” Bailey chuckled

They went on with the rest of lunch just talking about how all of them were doing and what their plans were when summer showed up. As they were finishing up, Lucy gets a text from Angela saying they were ready for them. Lucy paid for the bill and they walked over to Lucy’s car. Tamara helped Bailey get in since Bailey’s belly is a little bit bigger now. They pull out onto the road as Lucy and Tamara are trying to be discreet with everything.

“So……..” Lucy comments “Are you ready for this little one to make her appearance”

“More than anything” Bailey said happily “Even though I’m happy for this experience, I am ready to have to baby cut out of me”

Lucy looks over confused “Cut out of you?”

“I’m having a c-section, I’m not pushing a baby the size of John out of my body”

“Ok….” Lucy calms down “That makes sense….. I might just have to take your advice when it’s my turn”

They continued talking as they made their way closer to the venue. Lucy is trying to now give away the surprise but she’s worried Bailey is catching on to them. She doesn’t like it get to her as they pulled up in front of the restaurant.

“What are we doing here? We already had lunch” Bailey questions 

“I know” Lucy unbuckles her seatbelt 

“Then what are we doing here”

“I can’t tell that but what I can tell you is that you have to get out of the car”

Bailey looks at Lucy and Tamara with confusion in her eyes as she gets out of the car with the both of them. Lucy and Tamara lead Bailey inside as she’s still asking questions about what’s happening. Once they made it inside the door, the realization finally hit Bailey when she saw everyone she loved standing in the room.

“Surprise” Everyone shouts

Lucy and Tamara had to catch Bailey a little bit as she almost fell back. Bailey smiled brightly as she looked around the room. 

“What’s all of this”

“Well……” Lucy smiled “Since you were on the fence about having a baby shower, Angela and I decided to throw one for you”

“You did”

“Yeah” Angela adds

Bailey starts to tear up “Thank you guys. I don’t know how to repay you for this”

Lucy smiles “Just make sure our niece is nice and healthy and that will be payment enough”

“I would also add that you having a fun time at this shower is another form of payment” Angela added

Bailey chuckles as she hugs both of the ladies before joining the others in the room. Once Bailey was alright, Lucy made her way over to Tim, who was talking to Wesley near the cupcake. She wrapped him in a side hug as he kissed her on the head.

“You guys did a nice job of setting everything up” Lucy said happily 

“Thank you, I think it helped that Angela was basically yelling at us the whole time to make sure everything was perfect” Wesley explains

“You could say that again” Tim added “You don’t even want to know what she threaten to do if we messed up something”

Lucy looked between both of the men and saw the looks on their faces. She didn’t push it any further and enjoyed the rest of the shower.

()()()()()()()()()()()()

As the shower was getting close to the end, Bailey decided to open the presents before everyone had to leave. She opened the ones from her sisters, which just had clothes and diapers in each of them. A few people from work got together and got Bailey a diaper genie since she’s been talking about one non stop. She unwrapped a few more presents before she got to Lucy’s present. Lucy started to get worried at this point since she didn’t know if Bailey would like it. But all of that went away when Bailey opened her present and Lucy saw the look on Bailey’s face.

“You’re joking” Bailey exclaimed “You exactly got it”

John looks over at the present and is a little confused “Why are you so happy over a car seat?”

“This is the one I was telling you about last week, the one at show at that shop on La Brea”

“Oh, the 3-in-1”

“Yes” Bailey said excitedly “I’ve been looking at this forever. How did you know I wanted this”

“Well, Actually…….. I have a confession to make. I was actually in the store around the time you walked in”

“Your kidding”

“Nope and I had just purchased it before you walked in the door”

“That is actually really funny” Bailey gets up from her seat to hug Lucy “Thank you, this was the best present I got”

Lucy squeals in excitement as she makes her way back over to the table where Tim was sitting. She took a seat next to him as he was talking with Tamara for the rest of the shower. As the shower wrapped up, Wesley and John helped Bailey load the presents into John’s truck while Angela, Lucy, Tim and Tamara cleaned up inside. Lucy and Tim were taking care of the table when Angela approached them.

“Lucy, can I borrow Tim for a minute”

“Yeah, go ahead” Lucy gestures “But send him back in one piece please”

“I make no promises” Angela walks away while Tim follows behind her

“What did you need to talk to me about” Tim asked concerningly “Is it serious”

“Yes, actually” Angela takes a breath “I just need to know if you and Lucy are in it for the long haul”

“And why would you assume I wasn’t”

“Since she doesn’t know if she could have kids”

Tim scoffs “You think that would change my mind about her”

Angela nods a little “A tiny bit but only because you have talked about having kids of your own someday”

“Listen…… I know I have said that in the past but now” Tim looks back at Lucy “I rather have Lucy in my life than anything else. So if we don’t end up having kids then that’s how it’s going to be”

Angela smiles “I’m glad to hear you say that”

They continued talking for another minute before Tim headed back over to Lucy. As he walked back towards her, he saw a big smile on her face. A smile that he couldn’t go a day without seeing. With no warning, Tim burst into Lucy’s bubble and gently kisses her on the lip

Lucy smiles “What was that for”

Tim smiles “Just to let you know I’m here for you”

“I’m guessing this had to do with your talk with Angela”

“Yeah, A little bit” Tim grabs on to Lucy’s hand “She told me what happened in the store”

“My little emotional episode”

“Yeah” Tim rubs Lucy’s hand for comfort “Just to let you know let, no matter where this adventure takes us, I will always be by your side. Even if it’s different than we expected”

Lucy smiles “Thank you for saying that”

“No worries”

They give each other another kiss before they go back to cleaning up. After about half an hour, the restaurant was back to normal. Angela and Wesley stayed back to pay for everything while everyone else went home. Tim walked Lucy and Tamara to their car, which wasn’t far away from his truck. Lucy plants one last kiss on Tim before getting into her car with Tamara and driving off. As she was driving home, Lucy had a smile on face. Tim’s words were still running through her head. It brought joy to her knowing that Tim is in it for the long haul.

Chapter Text

May 27th, 2022

After the baby shower came and went, Lucy’s life slowed down. She only had a couple weeks of school left and she was going to make the best of it. Lucy and Tim have stopped by Bailey and Nolan’s a few times to help set up the nursery. Lucy may have even tried to trick Bailey into telling her the name they picked out but it never worked. Lucy did tell James that she’s available all summer if he needs any help with anything since she feels like she abandoned him halfway through the year. Lucy has been helping Tamara with studying for finals and even promised her a road trip to San Francisco if she does well.

Lucy and Tamara pulled into the parking lot of the school bright and early. It’s the last day of school today and Lucy wanted to throw her students a party to celebrate their achievements. She grabbed everything she needed out of her car, hugged Tamara goodbye and walked inside. She set her stuff by her door and went off to use the bathroom. As she was heading back, she noticed that Nyla’s light was on. At that moment, she decided to make an appearance.

“Hey, you’re here early” Lucy exclaims

“I could say the same to you”

Lucy smiles “My students are having a party to celebrate so I got here early to get ready”

“Smart” Nyla remarks “Wish some of the other teachers thought of that”

“I’ll say” Lucy chuckles “Anyways, I just wanted to stop by and say good morning and have a wonderful last day of school”

“You as well, See you later” Nyla sees Lucy about to walk out the door “Wait I forgot to ask, Tamara babysits, right?”

“Yeah she does” Lucy leans against the door “Did you need her to watch Lyla and Leah”

“Not now but I was wondering if she could do it sometimes during the summer when James and I are busy”

“Yeah” Lucy nods her head “I can ask her to see if she wants to”

“Thank you” 

“No worries” Lucy pushes herself off the door “Anyways, See ya”

Lucy makes her way back down the hallway and gets back to her room. She pulls out her keys and unlocks the door. As she flipped on the lights, She noticed something was different. Her desk was covered in decorations. She didn’t know what to think at first. Did someone sneak into her room and if so, who would have access. She didn’t want to worry about it for now so she decided to start decorating her classroom with the decorations she bought the night before. Once she was done, she went over and examined her desk. The decorations weren’t too harmless, they look like the stuff she bought at the store. As she was looking through everything, she found a little note in her drawer. She pulled it out and read what was inside.

So, I’m guessing you noticed that your desk has been decorated with something fun. I just wanted to congratulate you on finishing your first year in LA. I was going to decorate your whole classroom but you already had an idea for that so I did your desk instead. I hope you won’t hate me too much.

Anyways, Have a great day

-Tim

Lucy chuckled as she read the note. Of course it was from Tim, who else would sneak into her classroom and do this for her. After she takes it in, She pulls out her phone and messages Tim.

Thank you for the little surprise. I appreciated it

Lucy put her phone back in her pocket and got ready for her students to show up. Around 10 minutes later, Lucy heard the kids running around in the hallway. That was her signal to head to the hallway. She watched as the kids put their stuff in their locker and walked into the classroom. As she was watching the last of the kids finish up, her phone buzzed. She pulled it out of her pocket and saw the message.

Glad you liked it. I thought it would be fun to commemorate your first year by doing something nice

Well, you did something I’ll never forget

That was the plan 😀

Lucy chuckles to herself and texts back You’re such a teddy bear

Don’t say that out loud, it will ruin my tough guy image

They text each other for a little bit longer before Lucy sees that the last of her students have entered the classroom. She shoots a quick goodbye to Tim and walks back into her classroom to start the day.

“Alright” Lucy clasps her hands together “Who’s ready to have some fun”

Lucy sees all her students raise their hands exciting before starting their activity

()()()()()()()()()

With 1 minute of school left, Lucy wrapped all of her students in a big group hug. She really loved this group of kids, this was the perfect group to start with at the school. As she walked them down to the buses to say goodbye, she teared up a little bit. She didn’t want the kids to see her cry so she sucked it up and put her kids on the bus. Once the kids were gone, she continued to tear up but felt better when she got back to her room.

Nyla came and stopped by as she was leaving. James was holding an end of school party at the community center and Nyla agreed to help. After She left, Lucy started to pack up herself. She cleaned up her room a little bit but left a few for her to do on Tuesday when she comes in for workshops. As she was packing up, her phone buzzed. She looked down a saw a text from Tamara

Made it to Kellie’s house in one piece

Lucy chuckled at the comment and responded back with a heart. Lucy finished up what she needed to do and decided it was time to head out. Before she left, she decided to go to the bathroom since she hasn’t gone since lunch. After she was done, she walked back to her classroom to grab her things. As she was approaching her room, she spotted a manly figure standing by her door. Once she got closer, she saw that it was Tim holding a small bouquet of flowers. She quickly made her way over to him with a smile on her face.

“Hey”

“Hey” 

“What are you doing here” Lucy questions

“I just want to see how your last day was”

Lucy sighs “Long but happy that it’s over”

“Good to hear”

Lucy starts eying the flowers “Are those for me”

Tim smiles “Yes, they are” Tim hands Lucy the flower

It was the perfect bouquet full of Carnations, Roses and even hydrangeas. Lucy took a big whiff of the flower and sighed

“These are beautiful, Thank you”

“My pleasure, besides you deserve something special for finishing your first year here”

Lucy starts blushing “That just made me love you even more”

“Good to Hear” Tim smiled “Anyways, I also came by to ask you something”

“Fire away”

Tim sighs “I wanted to know if you wanted to do something tonight for finishing the year in one piece”

“Oh” Lucy thinks “That sounds great, what would you like to do”

“It’s up to you”

“Ok…….. Well, since I’m a little tired, Can we just order in tonight and watch some movies at my house? Tamara is spending the night with some friends tonight”

“That sounds great, what did you want to drink? I can bring it over”

“Would you be mad if I said I wanted celsius, I’m out at home”

Tim chuckles “That’s fine”

“Ok then, I’ll see you at 7 or 8, whatever works best”

“Sounds good” Tim leans down and kisses Lucy happily “Love you”

“Love you too”

Lucy heads back into her classroom while Tim makes his way down the hallway. Lucy gathered up the rest of her things and locked up her classroom. She smiled as she made her way down the hallway. She couldn’t believe that her first year was done already, it really flew by for her. Even Though she is ready for summer vacation, she’s really going to miss the kids. Lucy gets outside and makes it over to her car. She hopped inside and turned on the engine. Lucy pulls out of the parking lot and watches as the school disappears in the background.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Once the clock hit 7 o’clock, Lucy was waiting for Tim to arrive. She ordered them their favorite pizzas, Meat lovers and 5 cheese, which should be here after Tim arrives. As she was waiting, she turned on the tv and scrolled to a movie they might like. Once she found one, she threw the remote on the couch and went to the kitchen island to sit down. As the clock hits 7:20, Lucy happily hears the knock at her door.

“It’s open”

Lucy looks as the door is opening and Tim comes walking in with some drinks

“You really should lock you door, anyone could come in”

“Please” Lucy adjust in her seat “The only person I would have been afraid of is never coming back unless he haunts my dreams”

Tim chuckles as Lucy playfully slaps him 

“Oww”

“That’s what you get when you think I’m joking”

Tim rolls his eyes as he sets the drinks on the table. Lucy quickly opened up her celsius while Tim indulged with a beer. They talked a little more about Lucy’s day and how she was feeling. She spoke honestly and Tim gave her a big hug. Little while later, their pizzas get delivered. They each grabbed what they wanted from the box and walked over to the couch. Lucy curled into Tim’s side as Lucy started the movie.

“What did you pick”

“Some Avengers Movie”

“Which one”

“Beats me, I don’t know. How many are there?”

“Don’t know, Too many”

Lucy chuckles slightly as they start the movie, turns out it was Civil War after watching the opening sequence. They watched the whole movie without Lucy dozing off in the first 20 minutes, which even impressed her. Tim picked out the next movie and of course he picked an older one, Lucy didn’t mind it though. Lucy grabbed them more pizza and drinks as Tim hits play. Lucy happily cuddled more into Tim’s side once she sat back down, not that Tim minded. As the movie was playing, Lucy realized something. She likes the feeling of Tim being with her. Even though they are together all of the time, there is still a point in the day when she or Tim has to go home. She didn’t want that anymore, she wanted them to be in one place. Was she actually thinking about this…… having Tim move in with her and Tamara when it’s been less than a year into their relationship. Lucy’s mind started to wonder with the idea of them being under the same roof. As this was happening, Tim looked over and saw her spacing out of her head. Lucy quickly realized that Tim was looking at her and focused her attention back to normal. It was too late, Tim grabbed the remote and paused the movie.

“What were you just thinking about just now” Tim questioned

Lucy shakes her head “It’s nothing important”

“Yeah right, the only time that you get lost in your head is when you’re thinking of something important”

Lucy grouts “You got me”

“So” Tim turns to face Lucy “What got you lost in the head”

Lucy sighs “I was just thinking about us”

“In a good way” Tim asked concerningly 

“Yes, in a good way”

Tim sighs in relief “Then what was it”

Lucy take a deep breath before answering “I was just thinking about how time we spend together”

Tim smiled “That’s a given”

“I know but I was just thinking that we spend all of our time together but it usually ends up with one of us heading home at the end of the night”

“Right……. So, what are you saying”

Lucy sighs softly “I’m saying that one of us should move in with the other

Tim takes a second to think and smiles “I really like the idea of that”

“Seriously, your not even going to think about”

“Why wouldn’t we, we’re in a great place with one another, we don’t like it when we're alone, Tamara wouldn't mind having both of us around all the time plus……” Tim grabs onto Lucy’s hand “We get to see each other every morning when we wake up every night before we go to bed”

Lucy chuckles and smiles brightly “I guess that’s a good thing”

Tim smiles “So, I guess we have to make it official”

“Yes we do” Lucy sighs and adjusts in her position “Tim, would you like to move in with me and Tamara”

“I would love nothing more”

Lucy reaches herself over the couch and wraps Tim in a huge hug. It’s finally happening, Tim was moving in with her, this feels like the best moment of her life. To allow Tim to get up from the couch, Lucy let go of him so he could get comfortable again. The rest of the night was spent watching the rest of the movie and talking about the upcoming talk with Tamara.

()()()()()()()()()

June 16th, 2022

Today is the day Lucy has been waiting for, Tim is officially moving in with her and Tamara. 

She couldn’t sleep the night before because she was so excited. Early on in the process, Lucy and Tim agreed that Tim would stay the night before at his house since it would be his last night there. They had the talk with Tamara and she was happy with the arrangement, since it mean’t that Tim would be making breakfast more often. Lucy had to clean out every space possible so Tim could move his stuff and it was harder than it looked, she had to put stuff in the basement that she doesn’t like to talk about. Tim ended up giving a bunch of his furniture to his sister since she was moving into a new house and she couldn’t take the furniture with her.  

Tim was finishing some things with his realtor so he wouldn’t be moving until later in the day. To pass the time during the morning, Lucy decided to make Tamara some breakfast for when she wakes up. She pulled out the pancake batter and grabbed the bacon from the fridge and got to cooking. Tamara came out of her room while Lucy was cooking.

“Whatcha making” Tamara said a little sleepy

“Pancakes and Bacon” 

“Good cause I’m hungry” Tamara makes her way over to the island and takes a seat “You wouldn’t happen to have….”

“Chocolate chips, Yes I already put them in there”

Tamara smiles happily as Lucy continues to make the pancakes. Lucy brought up what would happen during the day and Tamara didn’t seem to mind, she was happy Tim was moving in too. Once Lucy had everything done, she passed Tamara a plate along with some Ginger Tea. Lucy grabs a plate for herself as well and joins Tamara at the Island.

“So….” Lucy stabs her pancake “Are you ready to have another person in this house”

Tamara nods her head “Absolutely, It’s gonna feel nice to have another person in the house. Especially someone who is a killer cook”

Luck chuckles “Yeah, that’s the plus side” 

Tamara continues to eat “Besides, you feel better when he’s around. I’m happy that you have that person to lean on”

Lucy rubs Tamara’s shoulder “Thank you and I hope you can lean on him too”

They finish up breakfast and walk over to the couch. The morning was spent watching Tv just waiting for Tim to arrive. At around 2:30, Lucy gets a text from Tim. He’s finishing up with his realtor and should be on his way soon. This got her all excited, the countdown is finally coming to an end. Within the next hour or so, Tim is moving in

As the clock got closer to 3:30, Tim pulled into the driveway. Lucy couldn’t wait until he was out of the truck to rush over to him and wrap him in a big hug. After she felt that coast was clear, she did just that. Tamara came out a second later but waited until Lucy was done to give Tim a hug herself. After all three of them were done celebrating, Tim unlocked the tiny uhaul and Lucy and Tamara started helping him move in.

“Tim, where do you want this” Tamara holds up a box

“Just put it on the table for now, let’s get everything out of the truck first”

It only took them about 30 minutes to an hour to move everything into the house. Once all the boxes were in, They started to unpack everything. A few things had to go down into the basement not that Tim minded. The only majorly big thing was a small couch that Tim had in his bedroom. Lucy liked it enough that she decided to put it into what was now their bedroom. After they had everything unpacked, the three of them crashed on the couch.

“I really hope that is everything” Tamara asked tiredly

“Yes, that is everything. The only thing we need to do now is order in something to eat” Tim commented

“No worries on that front, Angela and Bailey are stopping by with pizza in a little bit” Lucy adds

“When did you have time to talk to them”

“Yesterday” Lucy mentions “They wanted to do something for us and since Bailey is about to explode and Angela has her kids all day, they figured that they bring food”

“That’s nice of them” Tamara spoke

“Yeah, just wait until they get here. It’s going to be gossip city and they won’t leave for the next hour” Tim explains

“That’s not going to happen”

“We’ll see”

That in fact did happen, but it was 2 hours instead of 1 hour. Not that Tim and Tamara minded, they mainly just ate the pizza that Angela and Bailey brought and just played Mario Kart until Lucy was done talking. Once Angela and Bailey left, Lucy joined them on the couch and ate what was left of the pizza. The rest of the night was spent with Tim and Tamara playing another video game and Lucy watches. Lucy did join in at one point but didn’t do very good and gave the control back to Tim. After the clock hit 11, Lucy and Tim were ready for bed. Lucy and Tim went to their bedroom while Tamara stayed on the couch and decided to switch over to watching a movie. Tim took his turn in the bathroom first while got changed into pajamas. Lucy gets in the covers before Tim does and reads her book before Tim comes back. Soon after, Tim crawls into bed with Lucy.

“Ready for your first night of sleeping here”

Tim chuckled “I’ve slept over before”

“I know but this is the first time since you moved in”

“Are you going to be doing that with everything that happening in the next few days”

Lucy nods her head “Maybe, Did you not want me to do that”

“No Please, keep doing it, I find it cute”

“Good to know” Lucy smiles before planting a kiss on Tim’s lips “Goodnight”

“Goodnight”

Lucy turns off the night lamp and gets settled into bed with Tim. He cuddled himself next to her and she didn’t mind it, at least she got to be nice and comfy. As Lucy was drifting off, she took in the warmth that Tim gave her. This is what she was missing, now she just has to wait and see where time will take them.

Chapter Text

March 31st, 2023

In the past year, A lot of things have happened. A few days after Tim moved in, Lucy got the call that Bailey went into labor and was at the hospital. Bailey named her little girl Lilly. Since Tamara passed her finals, Lucy took her on a girls trip to San Francisco like she promised. Lucy started her second year of teaching, she has a bigger class size than the year before. Tamara started her junior year of high school and was able to get her driver's license. Another figure skating season had started and Lucy was really happy about it. She gets to be more involved than she was last year. She was also happy to see Nyla’s daughter take lessons. Tim took it upon himself to renovate the basement since Lucy never wants to go down there. And let’s just say, it turned out really nice. Tamara even moved her bedroom down there. Around Christmas, Tim decided to surprise the girls with a trip to The Florida Keys and they all had an amazing time. Tamara started dating a boy from school and brought him over to meet Lucy and Tim. Tim approved of him immediately since he was a bookworm like Tamara. A few weeks ago Lucy, Angela and Bailey put on another skating show. They did a 90’s theme this year and it was spectacular. Everything seemed to be going well and it was about to get better.

Lucy was so ready for the day to be done, Spring Break starts next week so Lucy has the week off. She could tell that her kids were ready cause they were bouncing off the walls all morning. Around lunch they settled down a little bit but were still crazy when they got back to the room. Lucy tried to get them to be quiet but nothing really worked. It wasn’t until she put on a movie that the students calmed down.

After the clock hit 2:45, Lucy sent her students off on break. She sighed in relief when they left. Once she got back to her classroom, she plopped her butt on her desk chair and took a breather. After sitting for about 15 minutes, Lucy decided to start packing up for the day. Almost literally after she started, her phone went off. She looked at the caller ID and saw Angela's name written across it.

“Hey Ang”

“Hey, just wanted to see how you were doing”

“Ugh, I’m exhausted. Those kids were really excited for spring”

“How could you tell”

Let’s see, umm………. A few kids wouldn’t sit down in their seats and running around the room, talking over me when I’m talking and I had one literally take off his shirt and swung it around the room”

“Woah, that does sounds exhausting”

“Tell me about” Lucy sighed

“Anyways, I just wanted to see if you and Tim were free tonight to go out for drinks with Wesley and I. John and Bailey will be there too”

“That sounds nice but I won’t be able to go”

“Why” Angela questions

“I’m really tired and just want to rest but I can see if Tim will go”

“I can take that”

“Ok then, I’ll talk to you later Ang”

“Talk to you later’

Lucy hangs up the phone and goes back to packing up. She got everything packed, she locks up her classroom and heads out to the parking lot. To her surprise, she sees Tim already in the parking lot, Tamara had practice so she took Lucy’s car and had Tim drive her. He’s standing in front of the car like a guy from rom coms does while waiting for their lady, Lucy really liked it. As she approached him, she wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a big kiss.

Tim smiles “That’s one way to say hello”

“Sorry, It’s my hormones running all over the place” Lucy giggles slightly

“Yeah, I can tell” Tim looks down at Lucy’s stomach “This little one going to be causing this a lot I’m guessing”

“You got that right”

—---------------------

Early February 

Lucy hadn’t been feeling good for the past week. When she would try to eat every once in a while, she would immediately have to puke it back up. She didn’t know what was going on, neither did Tim or Tamara. Lucy woke up one Saturday and absolutely didn’t want to get out of bed. She laid in bed all morning until Tim came to get her.

“You’re still not feeling well”

Lucy shakes her head “I don’t know why I’m feeling like this. I’ve never felt like this before”

Tim rubs Lucy’s shoulder “Do you feel up to me bringing you to urgent care”

“That would be fine”

Lucy changed into some sweatpants and a graphic tee just so she could leave the house. Lucy and Tim arrived at urgent care and got seen right away. They did a bunch of tests on her and they waited for the results. Lucy felt like they were sitting there for forever when the doctor finally came in.

“So, what’s going on with me? Is it the flu, Strep…….”

“No, It isn’t any of these things”

Tim steps in “Then what is wrong with her”

The doctor sighs “Well, just from looking at your test everything looks normal. But, what I’m concerned about is your blood work”

“What’s wrong with it” Lucy questions

“Your HCG levels are through the roof”

Lucy and Tim look at the doctor confused

“I’m guessing neither of you know what that really means”

Lucy nods her head “Not really”

The doctor sighs once more “It’s telling me that you are pregnant”

Lucy and Tim’e eyes pop out their heads

“I’m what……..”

“Pregnant” The doctor looks through the file “And from what your levels are telling me you are around 4 or 5 weeks”

Lucy is at a loss for words, she didn’t know what to say at that moment. The doctor could tell that the two of them needed a minute so he left the room to give them privacy. Once he left and closed the door, Lucy was the first to speak.

“Wow…….That’s not what I was expecting”

“Me neither” Tim shakes his head “This is a lot to process”

“Yeah, it really is” Lucy reaches for Tim’s hand “Are you Ok with this. I know it’s sooner than we planned but………” Lucy gets interrupted by Tim bringing her in for a hug “I’m guessing that you are Ok with this”

“Yeah, I am” Tim smiles happily

Lucy smiles back “We’re having a baby

“We’re having a baby”

—---------------------

“So, you ready for this appointment” Tim asked 

“As I’ll ever be” Lucy smiles from ear to ear “Are you sure you don’t want to find out the gender”

“Umm…… yes, I want it to be a surprise” Tim nods “Until our gender reveal”

Lucy chuckles “Of course you want a reveal”

“Hey, you were thinking the same way”

“I know, I know, I just like giving you a hard time”

Tim smiled as he kissed Lucy one more time then opened the door to his truck to let her in. They pulled out of the parking lot and drove off to their appointment.

()()()()()()()()()()()

They pulled for their appointment and checked in at the desk. A few minutes later, Lucy’s name gets called back. The doctor comes into the room a few minutes later.

“Alright” The doctor closes the door “Are we ready to see this little one”

Lucy nods her head “Yep, we are”

“Perfect” The doctor smiled and got settled in “Ok then, let’s lift your shirt up, put some gel on your stomach and let’s start this party”

Lucy shifts down in the shirt and lifts up her shirt. She grabs onto Tim’s hand for some comfort. The doctor gets the gel on her stomach and got started. The wand moved around Lucy’s stomach and the doctor pointed out all the little features. The head, feet, hands and a little bit of the ears. The heart rate was checked and it was in perfect rhythm. As the appointment was wrapping up, the doctor wanted to ask them one question.

“So, Did you guys want to know the gender of this little one”

Lucy looks up at Tim for reassurance then turns back to the doctor “No, not yet. But is there any way you can put it in an envelope so we can give it to someone”

“That’s no problem” The doctor smiles “I’ll just finish up here and then I can get it ready for you”

The doctor cleaned the gel off of Lucy and walked out of the room. Lucy and Tim looked over the pictures they were given. They couldn’t believe that it’s actually real. A mini version of them was coming into the world and they were thrilled. About 10 minutes later, the doctor comes back with the envelope with the gender and sends them on their way. As they got into the car, they put the envelope in the glove compartment and drove off. Once they were on the road, Lucy pulled out her phone to call Tamara.

“Hey rascals, how was the appointment”

“Great, Actually” Lucy said cheerfully “Everyone looks good and the doctor has no worries as of now”

“That’s good” Tamara commented “Oh, did you guys find out the gender. You were able to find out after today, right”

Lucy sighs “Tim and I decided to not find out just yet but we did get an envelope with the gender inside”

“Oh….. that’s exciting” Tamara said happily “Why didn’t you want to find out”

“Well” Tim jumps in “We were going to find out Today but we decided last night that we wanted to throw a gender reveal and find out then”

“That’s a good idea”

“See, she liked the idea” Tim comments

“I didn’t say I didn’t like it, I just thought it was very cheesy to do”

“Hey” Tamara yells “You know I’m still on the phone, right”

“Sorry” Lucy and Tim said in unison

“Anyways, when are you guys going to be home”

“Umm” Lucy looks at the time “In about 15 minutes”

“Good, I’m hungry”

Lucy chuckles then continues on with the conversation. She hangs up when she and Tim are about 5 minutes away from the driveway. After they pulled in, Lucy grabbed the envelope for the glove box and went inside the house. She plops down the couch with Tamara while Tim starts cooking dinner. Tim decided to make quesadillas since that’s been Lucy’s latest craving. After he was done, Tim brought dinner into the living room and they all started eating. They chatted with Tamara about school and asked how her and Russell were doing, your boyfriend. Then Tamara asked them more about the appointment. After dinner was done, Tamara volunteered to bring the plates over to the sink. While she was away, Lucy and Tim started talking.

“Should we give it to her” Lucy asked

“Only if you want to. It’s your decision if you want to give it to her or not. I’m fine either way”

Lucy nods her head and turns back to the tv. Tamara comes back a minute later and sits back on the couch. After she gets comfortable, Lucy decides it’s time.

“Tamara, Can I ask you a question”

“Sure” Tamara mutes the tv “What’s up”

Lucy sighs “Remember when I told you on the phone that we got an envelope with the gender inside it today”

“Yeah”

“Well, we were wondering if you, along with Tim’s sister, would like to be keepers of the gender”

Tamara’s eyes pop out of her head “Seriously”

“Yeah” Lucy smiled “Trust me, out of all the people we know, you and Genny are the most trustworthy people we know”

Tamara smiles ear to ear “I would love to”

Lucy and Tim bring in Tamara for a huge hug and thank her for taking this on. After the excitement wears down, Lucy hands Tamara the envelope with the gender. As soon as it was in her hands, Tamara ran downstairs to go open the envelope. Without any thought, Tamara rips it open to see what it said. She looked at the results and couldn’t believe her eyes. She was looking at the gender of Lucy and Tim’s baby. She couldn’t hold her excitement in. After she took a breather, Tamara grabbed her phone and pulled up her messages, scrolling down to Genny’s contact.

You ready to plan a gender reveal

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May 6th, 2023

After telling people the news and having Genny and Tamara planning, Lucy and Tim were ready for the gender reveal. It was decided that Lucy and Tim would have it at their house since it was the easiest for everybody. Tamara and Genny took care of everything while all Tim and Lucy had to do was show up. Angela and Bailey came over at 9:30 to help set up while the parents to be got to sleep in. As they were setting up, Angela and Bailey tried to get the gender out of either of the keepers.

“So……… How is this going to happen? How are they going to find out its a boy” Angela said with a chuckle

Tamara scoffs “The way they are finding out the gender is by Tim taking his hockey stick and hitting the hockey puck into the makeshift goal”

“Ohh……. So that’s how we find out it’s a boy” Angela smirks

“That’s how they are find out the gender” Tamara pleads “You're not getting out it me that easy”

Angela shrugs “Fine”

Angela walks back over to the table to see if Bailey got any progress. She got the same as Anglea, nothing. Tamara and Genny are being very closed lipped about this. They finished getting set up before going inside to take a break until the reveal. As they were walking in, Lucy and Tim emerged from their bedroom.

“Hey, you guys all done setting up” Tim asks 

“Yeah, pretty much. All we have left to do is put out the hockey goal”

“Sounds good” Tim comments “So, since we have time before the party, would anyone be interested in me making some late breakfast”

All the girls nodded in agreement and Tim started to make the food. Since there was more than usual, Tim decided to make a big breakfast. After she was done cooking, everyone dug in for themselves. They talked about the day ahead and how it was going to go before Lucy had to get up and get changed for the party. Tim followed in behind her a few minutes later. Since they didn’t want to be biased with what they wore, they both decided to wear something white. Lucy decided on a white romper that perfectly shows her belly a little while Tim decided to wear a white shirt and jeans. Tim left when he was done but Lucy still had to put on some makeup and put some curls in her hair. After she was done, she walked out of the room and met everyone outside.

The party started a little after 1:30. Everyone they knew showed up for the occasion. Tim mingled with the crowd of people while Lucy was getting pictures taken with all her friends as she walked by. Lucy was finally able to sit down and Tim brought her over a plate of food. They were able to talk for a little bit before they both got pulled away for pictures. After everything seemed settled, they got to the main event.

“Alright everyone” Tamara yelled “If you follow me, we will be heading to the driveway”

Everyone got out of their seats and followed Tamara out to the driveway. The set up was nice, a hockey net with pink and blue balloons around it, Lucy and Tim’s skates surrounding them and Tim’s hockey stick. Lucy and Tim got dragged over to the net by Genny and Tamara. Genny explained what was going to happen while Tamara hands the hockey stick over to Tim. They put the puck on the ground and got out of the way. Lucy stood on the opposite side of Tim so she didn’t get hit by the stick. As they started counting down, Lucy got butterflies in her stomach. She was excited to find out what she and Tim were having. She doesn’t care what they were having, she just wants a healthy baby. 

Once they hit zero, Tim swung his stick back and whacked the hockey puck. The colored powder goes everywhere, everyone cheered in happiness. Lucy had to take a second to realize that the powder was pink. After the initial shock settled, Lucy wrapped Tim in a tightly gripped hug and he spun her around. 

“We’re having a girl” Lucy whispered

“Yeah, we are” Tim whispered back

Tears started coming down her eyes, but these weren’t tears of sadness, instead it was joy. Once Tim set her down from the hug, she wiped the tears from her eyes. They both went around to everybody and gave them big hugs for being there to celebrate. They gave the hugest hugs to Tamara and Genny for setting everything up and this for them. After the instant shock settled, they enjoyed the rest of the party.

Once everyone left, Lucy was dead on her feet. This is the longest she’s gone without sitting since she got pregnant. She couldn’t wait to sit down on the couch and just rest for the rest of the day. To her surprise, Tim knew that she was going to do that so he set up the living with everything she would need. Snacks, drinks and even her comfy pillow for their bedroom. She took her seat on the couch and grabbed a fit full of M&M. Tim joined later when all the ladies kicked him out of the backyard. After he sat down, She rested her head on his shoulder.

“I’m so exhausted from today”

“Agreed” Tim comments “How about we just order in tonight so we don’t have to get off the couch”

“Sounds like a plan”

They ended up sitting together on the couch for the next hour until they decided to order in some burritos. Tamara joined them once the other ladies went home. Tamara was selected to get off the couch to get the food Lucy didn’t want to move a muscle. The food got put in front of them and they dug in instantly.

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July 15th, 2023

Now with only 9 weeks left to go, it’s time to have another celebration, Lucy’s baby shower. Lucy has been talking about having a shower since they had the gender reveal. And like usual, Angela and Bailey volunteered to plan it for her. Tamara tagged along for the ride.

Angela decided that the shower was going to be at her house since she didn’t want to find a venue again after the last time. Bailey and Tamara arrived at her house around 10am to get set up. When consulting with Lucy, she insisted that she wanted a fairytale theme and they couldn’t say no to that. Angela bought all the decorations as soon as it was decided. It didn’t take them too long to set up, Lucy didn’t want anything overboard. 

“Ok, I think we’re all set” Angela explains

The ladies look around to see the work they’ve done.

“Just like Lucy wanted, Nice and simple” Bailey added

The three of them headed inside to get the rest of the house set up. Half way through, Angela sent Wesley to go pick up the cake while they were still getting ready. Around 12, Tamara received a text from Lucy saying she was on her way to Angela’s. The ladies finished up as quickly as they could before she got there. In the nick of time, they were able to get it done before Lucy walked through the door.

“Woah, This looks incredible” Lucy exclaimed 

“I told you we would make it look nice” Angela walks over and gives Lucy a hug “Plus, you deserve it”

“Well, thank you” Lucy smiled “So, Are we almost ready to get going”

“Yep, all we need is Wesley to get back with the cake and we’ll be ready for guests to arrive”

“Sounds good. Now, show me what you guys did in the backyard”

Bailey leads the way and shows Lucy what they did. She was pleased once again. She really loved what they did for the shower. All the food she’s been craving throughout was displayed on the table, her favorite lines for fairy tales printed on the table covers and most importantly, a little throne for her to sit in. In all the excitement, she almost forgot to send pictures to Tim to see what he thought. He also thought it was amazing. As the clock hit 1, Wesley was arriving back with the cake in tow. Soon after, the guests started to show up. She was ready to get this shower started.

After playing some games and watching Lucy shove her face with food, Angela decided it was time for her to open some presents. She got a few simple gifts like diapers, wipes and some clothes. Some of her fellow teachers got together and got her a highchair and baby gates. Tamara made the little one a tie fleece blanket with figure skates and hockey skates on it. Bailey and Angela decided to go in on a gift together and got Lucy the diaper bag and the stroller she wanted. Even though her mom couldn’t make it, She did drop off some books that she thought the baby would like. After the presents were unwrapped, the party started to wrap up. Lucy pulled out her phone and called Tim.

“Hey, the shower is wrapping up. You can come over now and get everything”

“Ok then, I should be there in 20 minutes. Is that alright”

“That works, see you went you get here”

True to his word, Tim arrived not long after. Tim put everything into his truck with Wesley’s help while Lucy helped the ladies clean up. Once everything was settled and packed away, Tim made his way home with Lucy following a few minutes later. As Lucy was pulling into the driveway, she saw Tim trying to get everything into the house.

“You know you can wait until Tamara gets back so she can help, right”

“I know, I just figured I could get a few things out of the way”

“Smart move, I don’t think you and Tamara want to be carrying in things all day”

As Tim continued to move some stuff in, Lucy sat down on the couch and propped her feet up on the coffee table. After Tim was done bringing stuff in, he retreated into their bedroom. Lucy was a little confused when she heard some noises coming from their room. She was going to investigate but Tim had already made this way back to the living room with a box in his hand.

“What’s that”

“It’s for you” Tim passes her the box 

“You didn’t have to get me anything”

Tim shrugs “I know but I wanted to get you this”

Lucy smiled back at him as she opened the box. Inside the box was a jewelry box, she looked back up at Tim and he had a smirk on his face. She opened it up and found a necklace, it was not just any necklace. Lucy had wanted a necklace that could have a picture embedded within a stone. She had wanted to get one and put a picture of one of their sonograms in it. She couldn’t believe that Tim actually got it for her, he really was paying attention.

“I love it” Lucy said happily

“I’m glad cause I’m not giving it back”

Lucy chuckled as she handed the necklace over to Tim and he put it around her neck. She quickly gave him a kiss on the cheek and jumped into his arms for a hug. After her excitement settled, she pulled Tim over to the couch and cuddled into him as he turned the tv on.

()()()()()()()()()()()

September 28th, 2023

Lucy hasn’t been able to sleep all night, she started to have some braxton hicks around 6 o’clock the night before. It’s 3am and she’s still wide awake. Tim had only fallen asleep around midnight since he was finishing up the nursery. Lucy has tried everything to get to sleep but nothing was helping. She tried getting comfortable again but as she was falling asleep, she had to go use the bathroom.

“Ugh, not again” Lucy whispered 

Lucy climbed out of bed and waddled her way to the bathroom. As she was making her way there, a sharp pain went through her abdomen. She thought it was just another braxton hick so she didn’t worry about it. As she was leaving the bathroom, another sharp pain in her abdomen appeared. It felt a little more painful than the last one. She made her way back over the bedroom to go tell Tim but something stopped her. Her pajama pants suddenly felt wet. She looked down to see that her water had just broke. She quickly made her way over to the bed to warn Tim.

“Tim, wake up. My water just broke”

Tim wrestled himself awake and got dressed. Lucy changed into some different clothes since she didn’t want to go to the hospital with wet pants. Tim went downstairs and warned Tamara about what was going on. She met the two of them back upstairs heading towards the door.

“Hey, don’t forget about me” Tamara shouts

“Then hurry up” Tim gestures

Tim and Tamara help Lucy into the truck and get her buckled in. Lucy starts to get another contraction as they head out of the driveway. They drove to the hospital as quickly as possible. Tamara went and parked the truck so Lucy and Tim could check in. They brought Lucy up to one of the delivery rooms and got her settled. Once everything was brought in from the truck, Lucy told Tim and Tamara to get some sleep while she waited for the doctor. They did not listen to her.

All of them were able to get a little sleep in before the doctor came to check on her at 7am. Lucy was dilated 4cm at this point and contractions were 5 minutes so it shouldn’t be too long to move things along. Tamara went down to the cafeteria to go get some breakfast while Tim went to notify everyone. 

A little after 8am, Lucy and Tim were informed by Tamara that they had some people for them in the waiting room. Lucy told her to not send them back until the baby was born. Lucy’s contractions were now 3 minutes apart but only dilated at a 5. Lucy asked if they could speed things along but the doctor couldn’t at that point.

“This is going to take forever” Lucy exclaimed 

“No it won’t”

“How do you know”

“I don’t know but we just have to trust the process”

“I hate it when your right”

When the doctor came back around 1pm, Lucy was still at 5cm. She just wanted to be done with all of this so she could meet her baby. Tim tried the best he could to help Lucy not get emotional but there was only so much he could do. He was able to calm her down by whispering some inspiring words into her ear. When the doctor came around an hour later, she had some news. The baby was breached, the only thing they could do now was a c-section. Lucy looked at Tim with a worried look on her face but Tim reassured her that it would be fine. They wheeled Lucy off into the O.R with Tim right behind her. Everything got prepped and ready and got to work.

Around 3:05 that afternoon, Lucy and Tim’s little girl made her appearance into the world. At 7 pounds, 13 oz, their little girl stole the show when her cries filled the room. Lucy wanted to hold her so badly but she had to wait until she was back in the room, but a nice nurse did bring the baby over the curtain so Lucy and Tim could lay eyes on her. Lucy couldn’t believe it, she just gave birth to a mini Tim. She chuckled at the thought.

After they were done, Lucy, Tim and their little baby make their way back to their room. Lucy had Tim grab her from the bassinet since she could get out of bed. He joined her on the bed and wrapped his arm around her.

“She doesn’t have a name yet” Tim comments

“I know but…… nothing I’ve heard seems right

“Well, I have a name that might work”

Lucy looks over at Tim “You do”

“Yeah” Tim smiles “Gracie Mae”

Lucy nods her head and smiles “Gracie Mae Bradford, I like that”

A little bit later, Tim heads to the waiting room to tell everyone the news. He brings them back one by one to introduce them to the newest Bradford. Everyone gushed over how beautiful Gracie was and all of them agreed Gracie looked like Tim. Everyone didn’t stay too long since they wanted the new family to be alone together. Once everyone was gone, Lucy, Tim and Tamara all gathered around Gracie’s bassinet.

“She’s going to be a figure skater I can tell” Tim spoke

“Really, I thought she looked like a hockey player”

“Guys come on, she was just born a few hours ago”

Lucy and Tim chuckled at the comment and put their attention back on their little girl. After a while, Lucy asked if she could have some alone time with Gracie. Tim and Tamara decided to go get some food and would come back. Once both of them were gone, Lucy pulled her baby into arms. 

“I’m really happy you’re here, A lot of people have been waiting for you to make your appearance, especially me” Lucy smiles “I know it’s not much but I just wanted to say one thing” Lucy sighs “Thank you for choosing me to be your mom, I don’t know what I do without you” Lucy kisses Gracie on the head.

A little while later, Tim and Tamara emerge with food in hand

“You hungry” Tim asks

“Yes, I’m starving. I could really go for……..”

“A veggie burger with fries, extra pickles”

Lucy smiled “You know me so well”

“Too Well”

As Lucy ate her food, Tim got settled with Gracie while Tamara already made her way over to the couch for a nap. She looks over at Tim with a smile on her face. She was living the life she was meant to have. With Tim and Tamara by her side and now Gracie, nothing could stop her.