Work Text:
January 3rd
Tim’s eyes flutter open, slowly adjusting to the bright rays of sun shining through Lucy’s bedroom window. He looks to his left, expecting to find his girlfriend in the space next to him, though it’s empty.
He quickly rolls out of bed and heads out to find Lucy, who has busied herself in the kitchen. She’s so focused that she doesn't notice him creeping up behind her, until he wraps his arms around her waist.
“Oh!” she jolts slightly, dropping the pancake on her spatula.
“Good morning, baby,” Tim whispers softly into her ear. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”
Lucy sets down her kitchen tools and turns to face Tim, the corners of her lips turned upwards.“Good morning to you too.”
“What’s all this for?” Tim motions to what seems to be tons of breakfast food neatly laid out on Lucy’s kitchen island. The two rarely ever had time to grab a coffee in the morning, let alone an entire breakfast buffet.
“Wha-?” Lucy stammers, furrowing her brow.
“I’m just kidding,” Tim chuckles, swaying Lucy in his arms. “Happy anniversary, Lucy.”
“Happy anniversary,” Lucy remarks back softly.
Tim gently tightens his grip on Lucy as he pulls her closer to his body. His right hand reaches up to the front strands of Lucy’s hair; he quickly tucks them behind her ear before planting his lips onto hers.
It had been 2 years since Tim and Lucy had gone on their first official date. And even though it didn’t go exactly as planned, the pair looked back on it fondly. The awkwardness, worry of being seen, it all showed them how much their relationship had grown over the past two years. And it had grown into something truly beautiful.
“I’ll be right back,” Tim tells Lucy after he pulls away. As Tim heads into her bedroom, Lucy turns back to the breakfast she had been preparing.
Oops.
The pancake she had flipped was now completely charred; she’s lucky that the smoke detector didn’t go off. Though, it’s a small price to pay for a lifetime of happiness.
Tim returns a moment later, his hands behind his back as he steps back into the kitchen.
“And what are you up to?” Lucy jokes. She leans up against the counter and crosses her arms.
“These…” Tim brings his hands forward to reveal a bouquet of flowers, accompanied by a box of dark chocolates. “Are for you.”
“Awww,” Lucy hums as Tim transfers her gifts over to her. Lilies, she notices, fill up the hefty bouquet.
Lucy likes to pretend that she doesn’t have a favorite flower. “I don’t care about those materialistic things,” she says over and over again. But Tim knows her well. Too well , some may say. He observes the way she’ll spend a couple of extra seconds eyeing the Lilies at the grocery store, and he’s never not handed her the beautiful flower.
He doesn’t mind that she’ll never admit this; he likes that she doesn’t have to feel rapacious about things like these.
“This was so unnecessary,” Lucy remarks, though the beaming grin painted across her face says otherwise.
“So was breakfast,” Tim notes, though he’s ready to dig into the absurd amount of sugar displayed in front of him.
“Touche,” Lucy giggles as she switches off the stove. Now that Tim is awake, she knows she’ll be too distracted to handle any more appliances, so she calls it a morning and joins him at her kitchen island.
“Is it good?” she asks nervously as Tim takes a bit of a waffle.
“The best,” he confirms through a mouthful.
“Good,” Lucy giggles as she swipes a dot of syrup on her boyfriend’s chin.
* * * *
“Soooo, what should we watch?” Tim asks as he repeatedly clicks the down arrow on the T.V. remote; nothing seems to appeal to him quite yet.
“How about a rom-com?” Lucy suggests cheerily. Lucy begging Tim to cuddle up and enjoy a rom-com with her was almost a daily occurrence, and always ended the same way. Tim would refuse for 15 minutes, and then Lucy would flash him a pair of puppy dog eyes before ultimately getting her way.
“Uhhh…” Tim trails off, trying to let her down easy.
“Oh, come on! It’s my anniversary!”
“Your anniversary? Don’t you mean our anniversary?” Tim raises his brows.
“Alright, fine,” she rolls her eyes jokingly. “How about… Top Chef? We are behind, after all.
“Now that I can settle for,” Tim sighs as he reaches his arm up and around Lucy, pulling her closer. She leans back and nuzzles herself into Tim’s chest, just as she does every night.
Many couples rush to spend the day out, sharing fancy meals and shopping together to commemorate their anniversaries. But Lucy and Tim… Well, all they really wanted was a day where they could be lazy and do nothing with each other.
Eating sloppy meals and watching trashy TV was their favorite way to spend the day.
* * * *
Despite their enjoyable lazy day plans. Tim wouldn’t feel right if he didn’t plan something special at least once during the day, and Lucy agrees to have a nice dinner at the restaurant of their first date.
This time, though, there was no awkward small talk or assault on the chef.
“I can’t believe we’ve never come back here!” Lucy exclaims as she digs into her seabass. Seabass that she didn’t get to enjoy the first time around.
“I mean, we didn’t have the best experience last time,” Tim shakes his head. Though, he can’t deny that the food is truly to die for.
“Well, it adds more to the plot, right?” his girlfriend insists.
“Oh, I think our plot could use a filler episode.”
Between Metro hours and brutal OT, Lucy and Tim have been busier than they would have liked. There were days where they barely saw each other, if at all, and it was torture. Thankfully, Grey and Pine had happily approved their request for PTO today.
“You know… I actually have something for you,” Lucy announces mysteriously. She reaches into her purse and pulls out a sealed blue envelope, which seems to be fillef to the brim.
“What’s all this?” Tim inquires as he runs his fingers over the delicate paper.
“Everytime I went undercover,” Lucy explains carefully, “I would write you letters, but I never sent them. It sort of, well… It was the only way I could clear my mind when I missed you.”
Tim tears off the seal and flips through the papers, which date as far back as Lucy’s first UC mission with Solonga.
Though, he begins to chuckle as he places them back in the envelope.
“What’s so funny?” Lucy asks, confused.
Without saying another word, Tim reaches down and picks up a similar envelope, handing them to Lucy.
“During your first UC mission, I drove Harper up the wall asking for updates. I could tell that she was close to punching me in the face. So, I started to write letters instead. It helped me more than I thought, so I stuck with it.”
Damn.
“This is really creepy,” she grits her teeth as she peers down at the pile of papers in her hand.
“But,” she oftens her expression, “I cannot wait to read these.”
“Me too,” Tim smiles.
* * * *
“I’m beat,” Lucy sighs as they return from dinner. “Even though we did… nothing all day.”
“Hey, that episode of Top Chef was stressful, it took a lot out of me!” Tim explains playfully.
“You’re right,” Lucy agrees. She watches as Tim slips his shoes off and places them off to the doorside. It was a small act, but Tim made sure to never leave his shoes out in the middle of the hallway. And if Lucy carelessly had, he moved them to the side without a word so that she wouldn’t trip over them.
And that’s what being with Tim Bradford felt like . Yeah, it wasn’t always easy: they both carried a lot of baggage and it weighed down their relationship at times. But not for one second has any of them considered succumbing to this baggage, because the other was too important.
Whatever risks they took for each other, they took without regret or thought. They lived for each other, and that was a beautiful thing.