Work Text:
“There is no way we were that clueless. I mean, I know we were rookies, but we had some common sense.”
Lucy sat back in her chair, feeling relaxed despite the chaos of the past two days and the fact that she was sitting between not one, but two of her ex-boyfriends. It felt good to be out with Nolan and Tim, swapping stories about their latest shifts. These food truck hangouts had been a staple during her own rookie days, providing comfort and humor even on the darkest days. She smiled at the memory of her, Nolan and Jackson leaving Tim and the other T.O.s with the bill after the insanity of their own plain clothes day.
Tonight, Tim had willingly paid for her food, slipping his credit card to the cashier while Lucy fished for her own in her purse. She’d tried to stop him, insisting it wasn’t necessary.
“Tim, you don’t have to do that…” she’d said, her hand on his arm making him pause in his efforts to hand over his card. “Really, it’s fine. I’ve got it.”
But Tim brushed it off.
“It’s no big deal,” he said before handing over his card and shoving his hands back in his pockets awkwardly, his eyes never leaving hers. “Small doses.”
Lucy had relented easily. It was easy to do when he looked at her like that.
“No rookie has common sense,” Tim quipped back. His eyes were light - the nostalgia of past food truck hangouts wasn’t lost on him either.
From sitting with Bishop, Lopez and their rookies in the earliest days of working together to his second first date with Lucy, Tim had always been fond of these staple moments in their relationship.
“After my first day as a TO, I wrote Harper a very long apology letter and sent her a spa gift certificate,” Nolan said with a smile. The Mid-Wilshire “T.O. club” was exclusive enough as it was, but now that it included Tim and Lucy together? Nolan was just glad to have been invited.
“Aww,” Lucy hummed.
Nolan was a sweetheart and she was glad he’d agreed to tag along. It made this whole ‘friends with Tim’ thing a little easier when it wasn’t just the two of them in such an intimate setting.
“Aww,” Tim parroted back, a sarcastic smile on his face as he looked at Lucy from across the table.
And yeah, it felt good to be back to this place where they could share the same space and give each other a hard time - something that had been the foundation of their friendship from the very beginning.
Lucy credited Tim for helping them shift back into this more comfortable flow. The bet he’d suggested had gotten them back on a level playing field - the commonalities in their day a safe subject to talk about after work as they slowly figured out how they fit together again.
Yes, Angela and Harper and Juarez (and she was sure the rest of the station too) thought it was them flirting, but to Lucy it was finding their new normal by reverting back to the best parts of their old normal.
And yeah, okay, if she flirted with him a little bit or if her eyes lingered for a little longer than what could be considered a friendly glance, she was okay with that.
He had been the most important relationship in her life, and to have any semblance of that remain after the hell they’d walked together was a blessing.
And if Tim was still willing to flirt with the lines of friendship, who was she to shut that down?
She could give as good as she got.
“Forget it! You made my life hell. Besides, any amount of gratitude you might have been owed was more than paid off while we were dating.”
Okay, that was definitely flirting. Any and all mentions of ‘naked time’ was definitely flirting. Lucy resisted the urge to bite her lip.
“Fair enough.” How could he argue with that?
“Mm-hmm.”
Memories of quality sexy time with Tim threatened to swarm her brain, and despite her earlier admission that she was ‘over’ the breakup, Lucy knew that at best she was just starting to find herself again. These little moments helped, but thoughts like that were still dangerous. Her heart clenched a little at the reminder that she and Tim wouldn’t be going home together.
Nolan spoke next, interrupting her spiraling thoughts.
“All right. That is it for me. I'm gonna go home and soak my entire body in ice.”
The trio laughed, but as she and Tim said goodnight, Lucy couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous at the loss of their buffer. Things were ‘safe’ with Nolan around. His presence kept her mind from wandering too far away while she sat opposite of Tim.
She glanced up at him, feeling her heart flutter a bit in her chest at the look on his face. Tim put on a good front, but she knew he was hurting too, and somehow that made things easier.
At first Lucy assumed he was fine from the way he’d acted right after the breakup - easily asking how her day was, making dumb small talk, and seemingly fine on shift. But as the days passed, she’d realized it was just his way of dealing with things while they were at work. Their stolen moments in the elevator proved that he wasn’t able to flip the switch from lovers back to friends as easily as Lucy had first thought.
She’d almost caved in the elevator as she held him in her arms. His response of, ‘I am now’, to her ‘are you okay?’ a wakeup call. He missed her too.
“So, uh, your Boot handled himself okay out there today,” Tim said.
Lucy let out a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. Sure, Tim looked a little awkward and his smile didn’t quite reach his eyes, but he was trying and Lucy appreciated that even more than him paying for her food.
“Yeah, he's, um... yeah, we're... we're figuring it out.” It was the truth. She’d never felt like more of a rookie than she had the past few shifts, even when she’d actually been one. “How was Texas the rest of the day?”
Lucy watched as Tim relaxed again too. Thank goodness for this bet.
“We’re about to find out,” he said, answering his phone as it rang. He got up to talk to his boot, but didn’t bother to hide Lucy from the background of the facetime camera. He wasn’t ashamed of their relationship.
Lucy took a sip of her drink while Tim talked to Penn. Maybe she wasn’t over the breakup, and maybe this bet meant more than she was willing to acknowledge right now, especially to Harper, Lopez and Juarez - but maybe that was okay.
They were finding their own way back from the pain they’d caused each other. Yes, Tim had dealt the brunt of it to Lucy, but Lucy hadn’t always made things easy for him either. She knew what UC meant to him and went for it anyway, knowing the strain it could cause, and she’d overlooked moments early on in their relationship where he’d made decisions for her to protect her without voicing her concerns out loud.
Tim had told Grey about their relationship without talking to her first, hell bent on protecting her happiness above his own even before they’d started sleeping together. Then taking a desk job to move out of her chain of command, only telling her after the decision had been finalized.
And Lucy had maneuvered the five player trade, sacrificing her career as a detective for his happiness, all without telling him.
Wow.
They really sucked at communicating.
“Looks like your rookie might be the smartest of the bunch after all,” Tim said as he sat back down across from her, taking a very large sip of his beer.
Lucy’s eyebrows knit together, the question written all over her face.
“I told Penn he needed to find a new place to live by tonight or I’d wash him out. So the damn cowboy moved in with Smitty of all people. Smitty.”
Lucy tried her best to hold back her laughter, but a small giggle escaped and before she knew it she couldn’t stop.
God, Tim had missed that sound. He smiled in spite of the ridiculous situation he’d found himself in. It was his mission to avoid Smitty at all costs, and he was sure that Texas was going to share way too many details that Tim didn’t want to know about his personal habits and…
But Lucy was laughing at him again and somehow that made everything better.
By this point, she had tears streaming down her cheeks as she stumbled over words, trying and failing to string together a sentence.
“I’m sorry,” she said through her giggles.
Tim raised his eyebrows at her, but smiled even wider. “No you’re not,” he said.
“No, I’m not,” Lucy agreed readily, a fresh wave of laughter coming from her lips. “Oh man. Your rookie is living with Smitty. Oh! Can we dock points from him if he starts to do the ‘hashtag van life’ handshake with Smitty in the roll call room? Double if he does it out on the streets!”
“You’re enjoying this a little too much,” Tim quipped, but there was no malice behind his words. He was actually laughing too at this point. The whole thing was ridiculous. Penn and Smitty .
What a nightmare.
“Oh, I am. I really am,” Lucy said, her hands coming up to rub circles into her cheeks. They were starting to hurt from all the smiling, but every time she tried to stop another image of Smitty and Tim and Penn flashed through her mind and it all started again. “Oh wait! Wait! Maybe they’ll invite you over for dinner! Omg when he does, you have to bring me with you. I can’t miss this!”
The thought of spending more time with Lucy almost had Tim hoping he would be invited for dinner.
Almost.
Damnit. He wanted to be invited over to Smitty’s for dinner.
He rolled his eyes at her from across the table, not ready to clue her into that thought just yet. Instead he deadpanned, “There’s not enough bets in the world that would end with me having dinner with Smitty.”
He was a lying liar who lies.
He’d go to Smitty’s right now if it meant he didn’t have to say goodnight to Lucy anytime soon.
“Oh man,” Lucy said, still trying to regulate her breathing back to normal between giggles.
“It’s good to hear you laugh again,” Tim said quietly, his eyes flashing to Lucy’s for a moment before he reached for his beer. “I missed that sound.” He didn’t want to ruin the moment, but he’d promised his therapist he would work on being more open and vocal about his feelings with the people he loved.
Turns out, it was easier than he thought.
At least it was with Lucy.
“It feels good to laugh again,” she said, rewarding his honesty with some of her own before adding softly, “It feels good to laugh with you again.”
Tim played with the label on his drink in an effort to keep his hands from finding hers on the table. He wasn’t sure what else to say, but luckily Lucy took the lead.
“We should do it again sometime. Soon.”
“We should,” Tim agreed, nodding his head in agreement.
“Small doses and all…” Lucy added.
“Mhmm. Small doses.”
Tim’s heart was beating out of his chest, thrumming in his ears as it raced just from hearing her simple words and he vaguely wondered if Lucy could hear it. This was progress and he was happy .
Yes, he wanted more - hell, he wanted a damn time machine - but for now, he’d settle for beers and laughter after shift.
They sat there, content to smile at each other in silence for a few minutes until the buzz of Tim’s phone broke the spell once again.
He looked down at the text and groaned, passing the phone to Lucy at her quizzical glance rather than reading the insanity out loud.
From: Miles Penn
Hey sarge, do you think we could pick up a few extra shifts so I can start saving up for my own place? Apparently pants around here are optional…
Lucy dissolved into another fit of laughter, which apparently was contagious because there was no other explanation for why Tim would be laughing too. She stood up, passing Tim back his phone as she finally controlled her amusement. “I’m buying us another round. I need another beer to erase the image of Smitty in tighty-whities from my brain.”
Tim dropped his phone on the table and followed her, ignoring the clang it made as it landed in favor of staying closer to Lucy and her infectious laughter. Plus, maybe he could convince her to get him something stronger...
“Oh my god, unless he goes commando!”
This woman would be the death of him.
And Tim was going to enjoy every second of it.