Work Text:
1.
The first time it happens is literally April 2. Twenty four hours was not enough and Lucy should have known that. It was never going to be enough with Tim. She wanted him more than anything but she also wanted to protect her heart. Being with him yesterday was different from their hookup on Valentine’s Day. That had been fueled by tension, longing and the adrenaline of Tim taking down the drunk guy. But yesterday… even though it wasn’t supposed to mean anything (a lie she told herself) it felt more like them. There was passion with tenderness. It was playful yet sincere. And now her heart, her brain and her body remembered what it was like to have him and she was still tingling from the way his fingers touched her skin and the way his lips had blazed a fiery path all over her body.
She’d spent the night again, turning her twenty-four hour boundary into thirty without a single regret. She knew Celina would probably question her later when she got home after shift but she didn’t care. Tim had cooked them breakfast while she showered and it was easy to fall back into their morning routine that had once been second nature. She found some old clothes left over from when she was practically living there before to change into so she didn’t have to go home and she didn’t have to walk into the station in the same clothes as yesterday. That would definitely raise some red flags and Grey was already onto them.
But unfortunately that didn’t stop Lucy from longing to feel Tim pressed against her again. It was just after lunch and she was walking back into the station. Her eyes glanced toward the hallway where the metro office was and she has to bite her lip to keep from grinning at the memory of what they did in there yesterday.
She takes her suspect to booking and then goes to find a desk to sit and do some paperwork but she can’t seem to focus. All thoughts currently occupied by an empty office and a certain sergeant. She leaned back in the chair, pulling her phone out to text Tim. It might be a bad idea. They still had a lot to talk about. A lot to work out. But none of that mattered to her in the moment, when her body was screaming at her to find the man and haul him into that office.
Lucy
Are you at the station?
She sent the text before she could second guess herself but realized that if he was on patrol he probably wouldn’t text back right away. Especially with his rookie in the shop. However, luck must have been on her side today because a few minutes later her phone dings beside her. She eagerly picks it up and sees his response.
Tim
Penn and I just pulled in. What’s up?
She typed out her response right away.
Lucy
Come find me. I need to talk to you about something.
She bit her lip waiting for his response, not sure if she’d even get one. But when her phone dinged again she opened the message with far too much enthusiasm.
Tim
Everything okay?
Lucy chuckled at his question. Because honestly the answer was yes and no. Nothing life threatening but no she was not fine. Her lips craved his and she needed to do something about it soon.
Lucy
🙄just come find me 😏
Lucy put her phone away and tried once again to focus on the form in front of her for the next few minutes but it was pointless. Her mind was locked on what she was about to do.
She heard him before she saw him and her body reacted instinctively. “Hey. You okay?” he asked, stepping up beside her. His voice was low and rough with a hint of concern.
“Yeah. Um… can we go—follow me,” she murmured, voice low as she grabbed his wrist and dragged him to the very spot she’d been thinking about all day.
Tim stumbled, as she pulled him along. Confusion written all across his face. He thought Lucy wanted to talk. They could do that in the bullpen. Why was she dragging him to—
The metro office. He froze as Lucy stopped them in front of the door, quickly looking around to make sure nobody would see them entering together. His face flushed immediately as he too remembered their activities from the previous day.
As soon as they were in the room, Lucy quietly closed the door and turned to face Tim who was looking at her expectantly. Waiting for an explanation of why they were in there.
The look in her eye was almost predatory and Tim didn’t hate it but he wasn’t sure where it was going. Did she want to yell at him or jump him? He did mental somersaults trying to recall anything he could have done to cause her to be pissed at him… besides the obvious… but came up with nothing.
Their eyes were locked and before he could ask her what the hell was going on, she was on him. She pressed her lips to his causing him to stumble back but he caught himself, hands finding residence on her hips, just above her duty belt. He melted into the kiss bringing his hand up to cup the back of her head, as much as her carefully crafted bun would allow.
Eventually his brain caught up to him and as much as he wanted to continue to do this forever, his rational mind needed answers.
“Mmmm,” he hummed, pulling back from her for just a minute. “What was that for?”
“Couldn’t stop thinking about yesterday,” she punctuated each of her words with a short kiss and moved in so they could keep doing what they were doing.
But he stopped her, putting a hand on her shoulder. She let out a small huff and pouted. Tim watched her with an amused expression. His eyebrow quirked and a smug grin on his face.
“Don’t look so smug?” she said, once again trying to get back to business.
He gave in this time but only for a minute before pulling back again. Lucy frowned. All she wanted was for him to kiss her senseless, and all he seemed to want to do was talk.
“You’re the one who dragged me in here for an encore performance. I think I have a right to be a little smug,” he joked, before fusing his lips to hers once again. A happy little sigh escaped Lucy because finally!
They continued to lose themselves in one another, the sounds of smacking lips and breathy moans filling the otherwise quiet space. Air didn’t seem to be a concern for either of them and neither did the fact that literally anybody could walk by, or worse… in… and catch them.
Neither one knew how long they’d been in there, just happy to be in each other’s space. It wasn’t until they heard a loud noise outside that they were forced to break apart.
“So…” Tim began. “Twenty four hours?” he teased. He raised his eyebrows and smirked.
“Stop it—” she shot back, playfully shoving at his shoulder.
“I’m just kidding. And I’m definitely not complaining,” Tim added, his face softening into something tender.
They leaned forward at the same time, brushing their lips against one another one more time. It was softer than before but full of meaning.
“I think this just might be my new favorite thing to do at work,” Tim chuckled, placing one final chaste kiss to Lucy’s lips.
2.
The next time Lucy dragged Tim into his old office to make out, it wasn’t actually her plan but she was worried about him and it just kind of happened.
She had left the hospital with Celina after making sure Aria, her baby and her sister were okay. Her mind was a mess with the events of the last twenty four hours and all she wanted to do was sleep. She felt bad for backing out of the flag football game, but grateful that Tim had her back.
When they entered the apartment, Lucy made a beeline straight for the bathroom. Desperately needing a shower to reset. She heard Celina in the kitchen and then heard her bedroom door close. Lucy let the hot water fall over her as she just stood there, replaying every horrible thing from today.
Eventually she got out and changed into a comfortable pair of pajamas. She made herself a cup of tea and settled into the couch with the remote and a blanket. Ready to decompress with a marathon of House Hunters International. Celina had already left and honestly, Lucy was glad to have the apartment to herself for a few hours.
She was deep into episode two when a series of buzzes emanated from her phone next to her. She turned it over to see the group chat was going off. A small smile crossed her face as she read through what was mostly Angela’s anecdotes.
Angela
The hitmen picked the wrong day to mess with LAPD.
Angela
Who’s ready to kick some LAFD ass?
Wesley
Babe maybe tone it down some? Bailey’s in this chat and her husband did get a little beat up today.
That made Lucy sit up a little straighter. Nolan got beat up. She knew Tim was with him trying to take down Molvado. Was he okay? The messages kept coming and Lucy read each one in hopes of getting an update on Tim.
Angela
When have you ever known me to care about that Wes?
Angela
Besides… my bribes didn’t work on you so trash talk is necessary. And Nolan will be on the sidelines with me anyway. It’s Bradford we need to worry about.
That made Lucy’s heart rate pick up. Why did we need to worry about Tim?
Wesley
🙄
Bailey
LAPD is going dooooown!
Nyla
In your dreams. We have a secret weapon this year.
Lucy clutched her phone a little tighter. Reading each message right away, waiting, wondering why nobody was saying anything about Tim. She was about to jump in when another slew of messages came through.
Angela
This is our year!
Celina
Come on guys. It’ll be fun regardless of who wins.
Angela
Keep telling yourself that Celina. With Tim Bradford as the captain, you better hope you guys win or every rookie/P2 is going to be doing pushups between calls next shift.
Nyla
LOL. Ain’t that the truth. Captain Bradford’s playing with a black eye and some bruised ribs. Y’all better bring your A-game!
Black eye. Bruised ribs. What the hell happened? Logically Lucy knew he was probably fine. He was still playing in the game for crying out loud. And he’s definitely had worse. But that didn’t settle the worry in her chest. She was probably…definitely overreacting. Maybe the feeling was magnified because of everything that happened today. Who knows? She just wanted to see with her own two eyes that he was okay.
She checked her watch and jumped up to change into a pair of leggings. She grabbed her phone, keys and purse and was out the door. Her phone kept buzzing with messages but they went ignored as she drove to the station praying that Tim was still there.
When she pulled into the parking lot, she flew into the first available spot, and barely had her car off before she was rushing into the station. She saw a few officers that she knew for sure were playing later still there so she took that as a good sign but she didn’t see any of her friends. She bribed Jan to check the men's locker room to see if Tim was still in there. He came out two minutes later with a brief nod and a neutral expression. Nothing that told her he was just fine or in rough shape.
She let out a breath and decided to wait.
He emerged ten minutes later wearing his flag football uniform and Lucy had to admit he looked good. Her eyes traveled to his face and Nyla was right. He was sporting a pretty gnarly black eye. And she obviously couldn’t see if his ribs were bruised but if the way he was holding his duffle was any indication, he was in at least a little bit of pain.
Lucy started walking over to him and he spotted her immediately.
“Hey,” he said, brows furrowing and looking around. “What are you doing here?”
She didn’t respond right away. She took a deep trembling breath and she felt her eyes stinging. She knew this wasn’t a rational response to the situation but the emotions from the day were bubbling over in the relief of seeing that Tim was okay.
“Luce?” Her name a question on his lips, his voice low.
Lucy looked up at him, biting her lip to stop any tears that may inevitably fall. She grabs his arm—carefully—unaware if has other injuries and drags him toward his old metro office. A space they’ve shared some intimate moments in recent weeks, but a space where she knows they’ll be alone and free from any prying eyes.
She ushered him into the dark room and turned to close and lock the door. Tim was immediately in front of her, gently placing his hand to her arm. “Lucy. Are you okay?” He tried again, voice laced with more concern than was needed. She was being overdramatic and she knew that.
“I just—” she choked out, wiping at her eyes. “Angela said we needed to worry about you,” she continued.
Tim’s brows furrowed in confusion. She wasn’t making sense. When did Lucy talk to Angela?
“Lucy,” he began but she barrelled on like she didn’t even hear him.
“And then Nyla said you had a black eye and bruised ribs…” Lucy continued to ramble and Tim tried to follow as best as he could. That’s when it hit him. The group chat. He’d heard his phone ding several times on the way back to the station but he didn’t bother checking it. He didn’t even know why he was in that stupid thing. But he pulled his phone out and opened the chat, reading back some of the messages and saw the one where Nyla had disclosed his injuries from fighting Molvado and suddenly Lucy’s babbling made sense.
“—and I know you’ve been injured way worse than this before but I—I don’t know I just needed to see for myself that you were okay.”
Tim lets her finish and when her words stop she takes a deep shaky breath, trying to calm herself down. She looks up at him and he can see the deep emotion swimming in her beautiful brown eyes. He knows this isn’t just about him being hurt. Everything from the day, hell the last few weeks, is catching up with her and as strong as she is, he knows she can only take so much and she’s about three seconds away from breaking.
He moves to say something but before he can, Lucy lunges forward, throwing herself into his arms and pressing her lips against his. Tim, caught off guard, is left awkwardly standing there while the love of his life is offering a piece of herself to him. Another small piece of her heart that he is working carefully to repair. He jumps on board pretty quickly and begins kissing her back. She deepens it right away, bringing one hand to cup the back of his neck, the other tangled in his shirt, hanging on for dear life.
Tim moves his hands so they are cradling both of her cheeks. A conscious but silent gesture that tells her she’s safe. He’s right here and he’s not going anywhere.
He momentarily forgets about the hitmen and the football game and winning and grounds himself in this moment with her.
Neither one wants to stop, a needy sob comes from Lucy when Tim pulls away. Both of them are flushed and panting, lips kiss swollen. They stare at each other for a few moments before Tim leans back in and places one gentle kiss to Lucy’s forehead.
“Are you okay?” He asks softly, leaning back to look at her again.
Lucy closes her eyes and slowly nods. “I am now,” she whispers and the faintest smile crosses her face before her eyes rove over his body, silently checking for any other visible injuries.
“I’m okay Luce,” Tim says as if reading her thoughts. “We got him. He’s dead and I am okay. I promise.”
She brings her eyes back to his and nods again. “You should probably get going. Team captain can’t be late.”
Tim’s eyes widen as he checks his watch because he had completely forgotten about the game. He does need to get going but he’ll put up with the hell he’ll catch from Angela and the rest of the team for being a few minutes late if it means getting to make sure Lucy is okay.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” He asks her again, running his hand down her arm.
“I’m okay Tim. I promise. Just been a heavy day.”
Tim gives her a sad smile, wishing he could do more to take her pain away.
“You sure you don’t want to come to the game,” Tim proposed, changing the subject to hopefully lighten the mood. “You don’t have to play. You can just watch us kick some LAFD ass.”
Lucy chuckled but shook her head. “No. I’m going to go home and finish my House Hunters International marathon.”
“Okay,” he sighed, trying not to sound too disappointed.
“Thank you,” she said quickly as he moved to pick his bag up off the floor. “For the invitation,” she hesitated. “And this,” she made a back and forth motion with her hand between the two of them.
“Of course,” he smirked, standing up. “Anything I can do to help.” He grinned and Lucy rolled her eyes playfully.
She unlocked the door to make sure the coast was clear before exiting the office with Tim right behind her.
3.
The next time Lucy drags Tim into his old office to make out, it really wasn’t her fault. It was Grey’s. He told them to sit quietly and not talk to anyone while he called for an RA to take them to the hospital and get them checked out. He left them alone, so really they couldn’t be blamed for what happened.
They were still drugged with sodium pentathol and sitting still was literally impossible. Lucy was giggling. Tim was spinning in the chair and almost fell out which made Lucy laugh even harder. They received odd, confused stares from officers passing by but neither Lucy nor Tim paid them any mind.
“Alright what’s the freakiest thing you’ve ever done at work?” Lucy asked in a stage whisper.
Luckily nobody walked by at that moment, but even if they had, Lucy wouldn’t have cared.
Tim raised his eyebrows and his jaw dropped while he thought about his answer. Then his face morphed into a slow sly grin. “April Fools Day.” he said simply and they both blushed at the memory.
“Oh my gosh!” Lucy practically yelled and Tim looked around with wide eyes and put a finger to his mouth to tell her to quiet down. He was still under the influence but was of a little more sound mind than her.
She snickered, lowering her voice but only just as she continued. “Do you remember the next day? I couldn’t keep my hands off of you.” Lucy finished her sentence with a wide smile playing at her lips and Tim once again looked at her, jaw dropped.
He definitely remembered April 2. That wasn’t why he was staring at her with his mouth open. He couldn’t believe they were talking about this so openly in the middle of the station. But he wasn’t putting a stop to it. Couldn’t even if he wanted to.
“Oh!” Lucy’s voice went up another two notches before she caught herself and started to whisper, leaning into Tim. “And then before the football game. I was so worried about you,” she snorted and Tim smiled, recalling that memory as well.
“You know,” Lucy drawled, her voice more serious than before. “We could—” she started and her eyes roamed around, landing on the hallway and Tim knew where this was headed.
“No,” he said as sternly as he could while under the influence of an ancient psycho drug. Lucy looked over at him and stuck her bottom lip out pouting. “We can’t!” Tim was firmer this time, but the longer she looked at him like that, the more he felt his resolve crumbling.
“Pleeeeease,” she begged, sticking her hands under her chin and batting her eyelashes.
He was trying to resist her. Really he was. “Lucy no we can’t! We’re waiting for Grey to come back.”
Lucy looks at him and narrows her eyes. She stands up slowly and reaches down to grab his hand. She pulls him up to stand and before can even offer another protest, she whisks him away to his old office. Maybe if he hadn’t been on drugs he could have been stronger. But then again… maybe not.
She hurries them inside and the minute the door closes, she pushes him up against it and attacks him. Despite his earlier objections, he doesn’t pull away or try to stop her. He deepens the kiss, running his tongue along her lips to which she grants him access immediately. A groan comes from deep in her throat which Tim happily swallows. As their tongues wrestle for dominance, their hands are not idle either. They’re still in their uniforms but their duty belts were taken from them the minute they got back to the station, so that makes things a little easier.
Lucy snakes her hands up Tim’s chest, her hands gripping the collar of his shirt tightly, as if letting go meant he’d slip away. Tim grabs her hips and slides both hands around to her back, resting dangerously close to her ass and pulls her toward him. Lucy can feel every inch of him even through both their uniforms and another moan escapes from deep within her.
They’re entranced by one another, neither wanting to be the one that puts this to an end. But they know someone is going to come looking for them sooner or later and that someone is probably going to be Grey. The last thing either of them need is for their boss to catch them like this.
“Tim,” Lucy huffs out in between kisses, gently tapping his shoulder trying to get his attention.
“Uh-uh,” he murmurs against her lips and then diving back in for more.
Lucy loses all train of thought when he nips at her bottom lip and moves his lips down her neck. For someone who wasn’t even on board with this idea ten minutes ago, he sure does know how to make her forget her own name.
It’s not until they hear Grey’s booming voice in the distance that they jump apart. Both panting heavily, hair and uniforms tousled from where their hands joined in on the fun. Tim and Lucy look at each other and share a small laugh while trying to smooth out what they can to make it look like they didn’t just make out at the station for the fourth time.
Have you seen Bradford and Chen?”
They hear Grey’s voice again and shoot straight to attention.
“I’ll go first,” Tim whispers. “I’ll distract him and buy you a couple minutes to come back from the bathroom.” He gives her a pointed look and she nods in understanding.
He opens the door carefully and slips out while Lucy is still trying to catch her breath.
+1
Lucy had been on the night shift for two weeks now. That was two weeks of not seeing each other on shift. Two weeks of only communicating through texts, short phone calls and the occasional smile as he clocks out and she clocks in.
Tim was going insane. He wanted to see her. More than that, he wanted to touch her. Taste her. He knows he still hasn’t had a redo on their adult conversation but it was coming. Whenever she wanted. Whenever their schedules allowed it. But their flirting had made it back into what communication they did have. She would text him when she woke up and ask how his shift was going. He’d always respond with some flirtatious remark about how it’d be better if there was a chance of running into her.
He would text her while he was lying in bed with a picture of Kojo curled up at his feet with a caption that said ‘Your boy misses you’ and she would respond with several emojis and a message that she misses her boys too. Boys… Plural. And it never failed to make his heart race.
So on day fifteen of Lucy working the opposite shift, he’d had enough. He wasn’t going to march into Grey’s office and demand he put Lucy back on day shift but he was going to conjure up some one-on-one time for them. Even if it had to be at the station.
It started with a text.
Tim
Any chance you can come in a little early tonight? There’s something I was hoping to talk to you about.
He knew she was still sleeping because she hadn’t sent him his daily good morning/afternoon text yet. But he wasn’t worried. She’d read it when she woke up.
He was in the middle of a traffic stop when his phone dinged with an alert. He knew who it was without even opening it. He watched Penn finish issuing the citation and then both men climbed into the shop. Tim took his phone off the mount to read Lucy’s message.
Lucy
Everything okay? And how early are we talking?
Tim typed out a response right away.
Tim
Everything’s fine. Promise. 30 minutes?
His phone went off again about a second after he hit send.
Lucy
I will see you 30 minutes earlier than normal tonight 👍Stay safe out there ♥️
Tim smiled at the message and put his phone back on the mount, preparing to finish out his shift. He’d have them back at the station an hour before the end of shift because there was no way he was missing Lucy tonight.
Sure enough, Tim finished his shift with ease. Penn had wanted to go back out on patrol but Tim told him he had something he needed to handle at the station and he should finish his paperwork and clock out.
Tim knew Lucy would be there soon so he went to change out and tried his best not to awkwardly linger by the elevators. With each ding his heart beat a little faster and every time it wasn’t Lucy he got a little paranoid that she wasn’t coming. But finally the ding that announced her arrival and she stepped out of the elevator looking like a vision. Her hair was in soft curls that his fingers ached to run through and she looked beautiful in her blue and white button down. He always loved seeing her in light colors.
“Hey,” she said, walking over to him and smiling. She blushed a little because she knew he was staring but it made something in her chest tighten when he looked at her like that. “Everything okay? You said you wanted to talk to me about something.”
She nervously shifted on her feet and Tim smiled, grabbing her hand and leading her to what had unofficially become their spot, but not saying anything.
“Tim, what are we doing?” she giggled, trying to keep up with his long strides. He glanced back at her when they reached the door, the mischievous smile still playing at his lips.
Lucy furrowed her brow and he hauled her inside and closed the door. “Tim, what did you—” her sentence cut off by his lips on her. She let a little squeak of surprise that quickly turned into a needy whimper.
Her noises spur Tim on so he immediately deepened the kiss, bringing one hand to her hip and the other tangling in her luscious locks. They stayed like that for several minutes. Just drinking each other down and enjoying each other's company.
When Lucy needed air she pulled back a little panting, but that didn’t stop Tim. His lips moved to her cheek, her neck and any inch of skin he could find. Her hands were securely set on her hips and he was doing a fantastic job of making her forget any and all coherent thoughts.
“Tim,” she breathed, moving her hands to his biceps. “What—” she was cut off by his lips on hers again and for a second she gave in. She hummed to try and get his attention, once again pulling back but only slightly. “Tim,” she tried again.
Finally he pulled away but he didn’t go far. He rested his forehead against hers and stared deeply into her eyes. “Night shift sucks. And I missed you,” he whispered, leaning back in for another kiss.
Lucy eagerly accepted, something inside her cracking wide open at his words. Because she missed him too. So much. Only seeing him in passing and only talking on the phone or over text was not enough.
They continued to make out in the cover of his old office for God only knows how long before the sound of an alarm broke them apart. It was Lucy’s phone letting her know she needed to go change out now, or she’d be late for roll call.
“I have to go,” she said sadly, looking up at him.
“I know,” he nodded, tracing his finger over his lips, trying to memorize the way she felt against him.
“That was— thanks for that,” she smiled while smirking. “I think that’s better than any energy drink I could buy.”
Tim let out a hardy laugh and leaned down to press another chaste kiss to her lips. “I just couldn’t go home one more night without giving you a proper hello… and goodbye."
Lucy’s eyes softened as she looked up at him, her smile turning from something cheeky to something loving.
“Well I’m glad,” she said as her alarm went off again. “Now I really have to go,” she paused. “But I’m off tomorrow. Maybe I can come to your house after shift and we can talk… and maybe continue that.”
Tim blinked, taking in her proposition. “Uh—yeah, sounds like a plan,” he chokes out which makes Lucy laugh.
“Then I will see you in the morning,” she says, rising up to press a kiss to his cheek. “Have a good night Tim."
“You too, Luce. Stay safe and I’ll see you in the morning.”