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For a moment, all Tim can do is stare at her.
She’s practically glowing under the fairy lights outside the food trucks, and he is caught in her orbit, his heart heavy in his chest and his throat thick with everything he wants to say but isn’t sure is appropriate yet.
Eventually, though, higher brain functioning returns, and he clears his throat as he sits back and takes a slow sip of his beer.
“I know you didn’t do it for me,” he murmurs again, because if today has taught him anything, it’s that honesty is the best policy always.
Lucy hums and regards him carefully, her lips still pulled into that beautiful half smile that makes his heart race even after seven years of knowing her.
“Yeah?”
He nods and picks at the label of his beer, unable to pull his gaze from hers even though he’s in constant danger of drowning in her beautiful, brown eyes.
“I won’t lie and say it’s not a huge benefit,” he adds, his own smile stretching impossibly wider as she giggles and ducks her head in that adorable, shy way of hers. “But I do know you don’t make decisions lightly and that this is the best move for you. You are…”
He pauses and searches for the right words, his lips parted as he watches one of Lucy’s curls fall out from behind her ear and frame her face. His fingers itch to reach out and tuck it back into place, or to just caress the impossibly soft strands, but he forces himself to stay in his seat even though it’s one of the hardest things he’s ever done.
Everything at her pace.
“You are brilliant,” he finally continues, even though the word is woefully inadequate to describe all that she is. He thinks, though, that the English language simply hasn’t created a word to accurately describe her. “I’ve known that since you first got in my shop, Lucy. I knew, even when you were a bright eyed rookie, that you would do amazing things. And becoming Sergeant? That’s just the beginning. You’re going to do something amazing one day, and I just… god, I just hope I’m around to see it.”
Lucy is frozen, her eyes wide and her fingers tight around the neck of her beer, but Tim continues on with little to no regard for the way her heart is about to explode out of her chest with the praise and adoration dripping from his words.
He grins and winks at her, and then leans back in his chair, his gaze lazily drinking in the beautiful sight of her sitting before him, smiling in a way he thought he’d lost forever.
“Who knows, maybe one day you’ll be in charge of all of us. Captain Chen has a nice ring to it, don't you think?”
Lucy doesn’t respond for a long time, and Tim has to fight down the amusement that he knows will annoy her once she comes back to herself.
When she finally does respond, though, it’s his brain that breaks.
“When I become captain,” she says, her smile stretching wide across her face, her cheeks dimpled and her eyes shining with mischief and a happiness that suits her perfectly. “Well, by that time… it had better be Captain Bradford.”
She raises an eyebrow in challenge, her face teasing and serious all at once.
This is one challenge Tim has no interest in winning, however.
He’d run home and get the damn ring right now if he thought that she was ready.
She’s not, though.
And, honestly, neither is he.
He has some more work to do in therapy to be the man he wants to be when he slides that ring on her finger.
But… he figures he has a few years before she’s ready for the Captain's test.
“Okay,” he finally says, nodding slowly as he raises his beer to his lips again. “Okay, I can work with that.”
Lucy giggles softly and ducks her head again, but even as she breaks their eye contact, Tim continues to stare at her.
God, he loves her.
He loves her more than he ever thought it was possible to love another person, and his breath catches in his throat as the intent behind her words settles heavy in his chest.
He’s never been trusted with a more precious gift than her heart, and the second chance he’s been given to be worthy of that gift is one he will not fuck up.
He will see his ring on her finger one day.
She’s blushing when she meets his gaze again, and it only deepens when she realizes that he’s been staring at her the whole time, unable to look away from her, to tear his gaze from the way the sparkling lights dance in her eyes and illuminate her beautiful skin.
The moment is almost too heavy, though, and Tim clears his throat as he stretches his foot out under the table and nudges hers with it.
“Are you sure you don’t want to ... celebrate?”
He waggles his eyebrows in a way that lets her know he’s joking, no pressure or expectations, and she takes the bait, snorting as she tosses the pieces of her torn up beer label at him.
They bounce harmlessly off his forehead, and he laughs as he flicks one off of his eyelash.
“Hush, Tim,” she admonishes, rubbing her leg against his as she settles down in her chair, a clear indication that she’s not planning on leaving anytime soon. “We can’t jinx it! You know I’m too superstitious for that! We have to wait until the results are in, and then…”
Tim feels a warmth settle low in his belly at her words, and he clears his throat as he raises his beer to his lips before realizing it’s empty.
“Can I at least buy you another drink for not passing out during the test?” he asks, his tone teasing and soft all at the same time.
Lucy pretends to think for a moment and then nods, holding out her mostly empty bottle for him to take as he passes. He grabs it but doesn’t walk away immediately, staring down at her as she stares up at him, his breath caught in his throat.
He doesn’t know what he did to deserve her, to deserve this second chance, but he’s endlessly thankful every single day that he did.
“I’m so proud of you,” he finally whispers, his voice hoarse as he leans down and presses a soft, chaste kiss to her cheek.
Her flush deepens as he stands up and walks back to the food trucks, a smile dancing on her lips as she settles in for a long night of talking and teasing the way they used to, the promise and anticipation of more heavy between them.