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“Shots fired 4800 Edgewood Street” Tim is driving when he hears Seth yell into the radio. He tries to keep his cool but internally he’s panicking.
“Officer down, I repeat Officer down!” He quickly followed.
Miles quickly flips on the lights and sirens without a word from Tim and they’re off. Fortunately they’re only a couple miles away.
When they get to the scene, there’s of course other responding officers who have already got the scene under control and two ambulances. Tim panics when he doesn’t see Lucy and pushes past everyone to see her lying on the ground while paramedics work on her.
“Boot, what the hell happened?” Tim yells out at Seth.
“Sir, I made a mistake. I let my guard down and he had a weapon. Before we realized, he shot Officer Chen.”
“What do you mean you made a mistake? You can’t make mistakes like that. You could have cost Officer Chen her life!” He takes a step closer but is stopped by a hand on his chest.
“Sergeant Bradford, walk away.” He looks up to see Grey with a serious look on his face.
Tim wants to keep going after Seth but knows it won’t benefit anyone, especially Lucy.
After calming down some, he returns back to where Lucy is now getting loaded into the ambulance, he walks up to Bailey who is half way in.
“How is she, Bailey?”
“GSW to her right shoulder. She lost consciousness a few minutes ago likely from the blood loss. Taking her to Shaw. You coming with?”
Before Tim can even respond, he hears Grey answer for him.
“Go. I’ll get the rookies back to the station and meet you there.” He walks away with another word. Tim quickly jumps up into the ambulance and takes a seat next to Lucy’s feet.
“She’s going to be okay Tim.” Bailey squeezes his arm giving him a smile.
“I can’t lose her Bailey.”
“You won’t.” Is all she said with another smile before turning her attention back to making sure Lucy was okay.
Once they got to Shaw, Lucy was rushed into surgery which was to be expected. Knowing where the waiting area was, Tim walked that way. He couldn’t find himself to sit down though, so instead he was just pacing the small little area.
He’s not even sure how much time has passed when he feels a hand on his shoulder. He looks up to see Angela. She immediately pulls him into a hug.
“I can’t lose her Ang. I’ve almost just now got her back.”
“There’s no quit in Chen, you’ve said it yourself. She’s going to be fine and you’re going to get your girl back. Now c’mon let’s go sit down and wait.”
“How did you—“ He doesn’t even have to finish his question, she knows exactly what he’s going to ask.
“Grey called me. He’s taking care of the rookies but said he’d be here soon.”
“Hopefully washing Ridley out. He has no business being a cop.”
“Tim—“
“No, Angela. This isn’t the first time he’s screwed up. I get it, he’s a rookie but after this many months in, he can’t be making these mistakes. His training officer is in surgery right now because of him. Because of a mistake he made.” His voice now raised, getting a few looks from others.
“You’re right, but it seems like he has a lot going on right now.”
“Then maybe this isn’t the career for him.”
Silence falls between them and Angela looks over to see Tim with his elbows resting on his legs, palms covering his face.
“You need to let it go. You need to be there for her when she gets out of surgery, she can’t see you like this.”
“I can’t let it go. I knew he would get her into trouble and I should’ve done more about it.”
“Timothy Bradford, this is not on you. And you know she’s going to say the same thing.”
“If she’ll even want to see me.” He says looking up at her.
“What do you mean? I thought you two were okay?”
“We were until I made her mad yesterday. I made yet another decision for her. I regretted it immediately and wanted to apologize but she left before I could.” She can now see the tears forming in his eyes.
Before Angela could say anything, they saw Grey walking in the door. Tim quickly sat up straight and wiped the tears from his eyes.
“Any news yet?”
“No sir.” Tim says as Grey sits down next to him.
Silence falls over the group until they hear a door open and a doctor walking towards them. They all stand up.
“I’m Doctor Evan’s. One of you Timothy Bradford?”
“Yes. That’s me.” Tim clears his throat.
“Great. I’m assuming you two are family?”
“Yes ma’am they are.” The doctor gives him a smile, “Great. Officer Chen’s surgery went as well as we could’ve expected. She had a lot of blood loss but we expect she’s going to make a full recovery. We plan on keeping her overnight just to monitor her but assuming all goes well, she’ll be released tomorrow.”
Finally able to catch his breath and not able to speak yet, Grey and Angela thank the doctor.
“Can she have visitors?” Angela asks, knowing that’s the next thing Tim wants to know.
“Only Mr. Bradford for now as she’s still waking up, but it’s up to her after that. Sir, if you want to follow me, I can take you back.” She starts walking back towards the same doors, Angela giving Tim a push to get him walking.
Finally catching up to the doctor, Tim finds his voice.
“Thank you for taking care of her.”
“No need to thank me for doing my job, but it’s appreciated,” said with a smile.
Once they reach Lucy’s room, he looks in and sees her looking up at a nurse who is likely giving her some type of medicine in her IV.
“Go on in.” The doctor motions before walking away.
“Hey Luce.” He says quietly walking up next to her.
“Hi.” She says giving him a weak smile.
“How are you feeling?”
“Sore.” She closes her eyes.
“You can rest.” He sits down in the chair.
“Will you stay?” She tries to reach for his hand.
He gives it to her, “of course I’ll stay. I’m not going anywhere.”
She ended up taking about a two hour nap, Tim even managing to doze off in that time too.
“Tim?” She calls out. He quickly opens his eyes and sits up.
“Yeah Luce?”
“What happened to Seth?”
“Well, I kind of went off on him at the scene. Grey told me he was going to handle him, I guess I didn’t even ask. I was just worried about you.”
“Mmm.” She closes her eyes but quickly thinks of something else to say to him, “hey Tim?”
“Yeah?”
“I forgive you for yesterday.”
“You do? I promise I’m working on it Luce. I know you’re more than capable of making decisions for yourself but I think I keep doing it to protect you from me. I’m scared you’ll see a version of me you aren’t going to like.”
“Tim, we all have those not so pretty versions of ourselves. But in no universe will there ever be a version of you I don’t like.” She reaches for his hand again and gives it a squeeze.
“I’m working on it, I am. You deserve so much… from me.”
“As long as you promise me you won’t give up on us again when it gets hard, that’s all I need to hear.”
“You’re it for me, baby. I will show you every day that I mean that.” She can’t help but smile hearing him say that.
“Come here and kiss me.” She says, earning a surprised look from him. But of course he wasn’t going to argue.
“I missed this. I missed you.” He says against her lips before they share another kiss.
“Me too.” They were interrupted by a knock at the door. They turn their heads to see Grey walking in.
“Hey Lucy, how are you feeling?”
“Sore, but much better now.” She looks at Tim with a smile, their hands still joined.
“We can talk about this later.” He shakes his head with a smirk, “I know you’re recovering Lucy, but I wanted to ask you something. Something that can’t wait.”
“Okay?” She answers nervously.
“What would you like to happen to Officer Ridley? This obviously isn’t the first mistake he’s made, although it’s obvious the most serious.”
“When do I have to decide by?”
“Right now unfortunately. IA is pressuring me, they reviewed the body cams, but because he’s a rookie they’re leaving it up to me. But I wanted your opinion.”
“Well, I know what my vote would be.” Tim says matter of factly.
“Bradford, I wasn’t talking to you.”
“Right. Sorry sir.”
“Tim, why don’t you take a walk? See if I can have some tea or coffee?” Knowing to not push her, he nodded and stood up shutting the door behind him.
“So, what do you think? Do you think Ridley is fit to be a cop?”
“I… wow… his whole career on the line. That’s a lot.”
“I understand. But I also know he’s put you in some tough situations, today obviously being the worst. I trust your decision.”
“I don’t think it would be fair to wash him out. He definitely has potential there.”
“Okay. But?”
“But, I don’t think I’m the right TO for him.”
“Well, I don’t want to put him with Nolan, we all know that won’t do anyone any good. And Bradford… well he probably will kill him.”
“Probably?” They both share a laugh.
“I have an idea. I’ll have to run it by the captain but he might be able to transfer stations. He’d have to start over, but I don’t think that would be a bad thing for him.”
“I agree. Thank you, Lieutenant.” She yawns.
“I’ll go find Bradford and get out of your hair. Get some rest and let him take care of you.” He gives her a smile before walking out of her room.
She must’ve fallen asleep because the next thing she knows, Tim is in the chair next to her. When she looks over at him, she sees he has the softest smile on his face.
“You doing okay?” He rubs his thumb along her cheek.
“Sore. Tired. But glad you’re here.”
“Nowhere I’d rather be.” He leans in to give her a kiss. “What did you tell Grey?” He inquires.
“I think Ridley is going to get transferred. Get a fresh start, see if he can do better elsewhere.” She looks down, Tim knowing exactly what’s going through her mind.
“Luce, this isn’t on you. You’re an amazing TO.”
“I know, I just feel guilty. But I don’t want to think about that right now. Come lay with me?” She gives him those eyes she knows he’s never been able to resist.
“Scoot over,” he stands up and carefully climbs into the bed making sure her injured arm was on the outside.
After she gets comfortable laying on him, he kisses her head before whispering in her ear, “good night, baby. Sleep well.”
“Good night, Tim.” She says before sleep takes over. Tim knows he won’t be getting much sleep in this hospital bed, but he has Lucy back in his arms and that’s all he could ever ask for.