Work Text:
Everyone who was a TO in the LAPD knew that rookies were off limits, especially the ones you trained. It was an unofficial official rule, and Tim Bradford was a rule follower at his very core. A secret people pleaser one might say, not that you could tell from his I eat rookies for breakfast personality.
But they didn't know him like Angela knew him, they knew Sergeant Bradford of the LAPD but they didn't know Tim Bradford from LA. He was a stickler for rules it was true, he knew how things should be done and he did so every single time. Ever since they themselves used to be rookies his paperwork was spotless and his gear was always returned as if he'd never taken it at all.
Every TO/Rookie relationship needed something to thrive on, something to help it succeed. Angela couldn't really describe what it was that turned those pairings into something special, when you had it, when you got a rookie that just worked, you knew you had what every TO could only call the perfect pair.
Tim never called it that though, never paid it heed and just said 'it's my job Angela, I don't need a good pairing we just need to do our jobs' and walked away. But she had seen it with her own eyes, her and West, Bradford and Chen, hell even Harper and Nolan, there had been something in the air with this batch of rookies and she knew Tim had felt it too.
Everything shifted when he pulled her out of the ground, like he finally knew it was worth staying, that what they had was something he'd never had before - and would probably never get again. It's probably why he turned down the Sergeant's position in North Hollywood, he knew that Lucy needed him that little bit more, relied on his presence like one trusts their shadow to follow, not that she would ever admit it.
Or maybe he just didn't want to see her get lugged off to another TO(Smitty) and squander her career, or that whatever entanglement that they called a pairing would somehow work with Chen and Smitty. He just didn't want to lose what he once thought was impossible to gain.
It was one thing to know that Tim was a rule follower but it was in an entirely different galaxy to know that he actually loved, fiercely. Although he'd probably use the world tolerate in its stead.
So all those 'robot' rumours that she had been hearing lately could lay to waste.
When a rookie is delivered onto the iron clad grip of Bradford they usually bend to his will, that was until Lucy. She never stopped being, well, her and miraculously bent his will instead(something he'll only agree with later down the line).
She'd like to say that she'd caught it earlier than most, after all, detectives were supposed to detect things, were they not?
The first time something had tickled her senses she was not supposed to be there. Well, she was meant to in a physical sense - the Mid-Wilshire break room was open to all, but in an emotional sense she had the feeling that if she moved any closer she'd set off some sort of alarm.
The lights had been switched off - intriguing for 2.43pm, and she'd almost sped off in the other direction. If the lights were off that usually meant that Smitty was having what he called Indulging Time. No one had been brave enough to find out what that entailed but it was known that if the lights were off, you stay away.
Angela was about to do exactly that however, she stopped in her tracks when she heard hushed voices, one of them striking her as Tim's.
"Give me that." The distinct sound of a protein bar rustled. A moment of silence.
"Have you been eating anything of substance?" his voice sounded again.
Blinds drawn and door shut, she could barely see into the room.
Someone must've given him a nonverbal response as he replied, "God, Lucy you know better than this."
Lucy?
She mumbled something back that couldn't be transmitted through the walls.
His voice was quieter this time, "Do you need me to come over?"
"No."
She replied instantly, and firmer than any of her other responses.
"Lucy," he warned.
That was when she finally got a glimpse into the room. Lucy's head was braced in her hands, fingers threaded through her usually tight hair, arms held like pillars up from her thighs.
What she didn't expect to see was Tim crouched down in front of her, one hand placed gently on her knee. She had expected to find him pacing the room, leaning against the coffee table, vending machine, wall anything but right there with her. Tim Bradford was not a physical touch man, but Lucy was very much a physical touch woman.
Interesting.
"We can eat, I can help you pack or clear if you want, if not me then someone else," he urged, squeezing her knee slightly.
"I don't want to pack up his stuff just yet."
Jackson. That's what this conversation was about. In hindsight she should've known.
They were all still reeling. Recovering. Mourning.
The black band still covered all their badges and the feeling struck Angela in the chest, she really wasn't supposed to be here.
"We don't have to," his voice was so soft she almost considered calling him an ambulance.
He let out what appeared to be a sigh. "What if Kojo came over?"
Lucy's eyes peeked up, hands moving to her chin. "I suppose that could be arranged," she spoke slowly.
The smallest of smiles graced his face, progress was progress, "It's a done deal then."
Angela flattened again the wall outside as he stood up, pulling away from her.
"There's water in the shop, if you ever need to take a moment let me know, I can't have my aide dropping dead on me now can I?"
"I've been promoted to aide, huh?"
"They're the same thing anyway," he huffed.
Angela hurried away before she could be caught outside. She didn't know what to make of this, at all. There was nothing to report, but they were close, so close that he'd invited himself over.
She wasn't one to pry(a big lie and everyone knew it) but she was going to catalogue this for review later. It could just be support, Lucy needed that right now, they all did.
It wasn't anything. Not yet.
"What snacks did you get?" Nyla asked not looking up from the paperwork she was knee deep in.
"Realised I wasn't actually hungry halfway through," she lied, her partner hummed never the wiser.
The moment she really knew it was something else, that he'd broken his code of rules for her was during what she had coined the Bradford and Chen idiot era.
They'd come back lovestruck from Vegas, Tim looked like he'd just received a love letter and Lucy was glowing(more than usual).
She had been back from UC school for about three days and Angela was already sick. Of what? She couldn't tell, but it probably had something to do with the fact that both Tim and Lucy looked like they wanted to maul each other, sexually.
Quite frankly she was sick and tired of their games, and apparently everyone at the station had finally clued into it too, and yet the last people to make a move were Bradford and Chen.
But then one day he did make a move, out in the open.
"What are you doing tonight?"
"Nothing, I hope."
She wasn't even supposed to be near the vicinity of whatever they were discussing right now(this was becoming a running theme) but since the vending machine in the east corridor was getting an upgrade the usual one minute walk to the evidence locker was blocked, meaning she had to go the long way, past the break room.
It was always the break room.
"Nothing sounds perfect."
Call her a fool, strip her of her detective rank and remove burritos from her diet for the next month if she was wrong, but it sounded like Bradford and Chen had finally become Chenford.
Lucy left the break room shooting her a smile as she entered, finding Tim excavating his coffee from the machine.
"We need to have a heart to heart," she confronted watching him almost drop his coffee.
"Sorry, what? When have you ever wanted to have a heart to heart? With me?" Tim's head reared back in confusion.
"Are you and Lucy dating?"
She watched his face carefully.
"No. Why would you think that?" He was too good at steeling his face, currently he had all the empathy that TO Bradford held on his face when training rookies; absolutely none.
"You two seem a little..."
What was the right word?
"Close."
His arms flexed but remained crossed, eyebrows plummeting down, as if he were talking to a suspect and not Angela Lopez.
"I don't know what you're talking about, and excuse me I have to get to roll call," he deflected, brushing past her shoulder. That wasn't weird at all.
They hadn't filed any paperwork with HR, she'd checked the moment Tim was complaining about their practice undercover kiss. No relationship disclosure, no change of address form, nothing. But they weren't slick.
It was like someone shot a laser beam every time they made heated eye contact from across the room and she was surprised someone hadn't been burned from the fallout.
She was also constantly surprised that there weren't more bugs in the station as when their smiles were directed at each other they were bright enough to light up the night sky.
Anyone could see that there was something going on there.
It was a routine traffic stop so Angela wasn't actually at the scene, but she was with Tim when it happened.
"7-Adam-19, code 3, call for backup, supervisor and an RA to my location," Lucy's voice came out shaky as her voice rang through Tim's radio. The conversation she was having with him about a case had ceased immediately, hand zipping to his radio, as if touching it would help him hear her better.
"Gotta go," he shot over his shoulder, he was already halfway out of the station.
It turns out that she'd encountered a pack of high teenagers, one with a gun, a group of people who wanted nothing more than to stay out of prison.
Her shoulder had been grazed just before she'd called it in. She hadn't been hit but to this day even Angela herself feared being shot at in close range, and that wasn't all. Lucy had taken some heavy blows, enough to land any person, officer of the law or not, in hospital.
When she walked into Lucy's hospital room it was as if Tim had lost all shreds of dignity. Angela placed a vase of flowers on Lucy's bedside, her eyes were closed, no doubt resting.
Tim was hunched over, looking in worse shape than her even though he wasn't even there when it happened. Despite what he said before his hand encased hers.
"How is she?" Angela asked, sliding down into a seat on the opposite side of the bed.
"She'll be fine," he breathed, "Doctors said everything was shallow, and it looks worse than it is, but they'll need to monitor her overnight."
"And how are you?" she tried to pose the question like it didn't mean anything. Like her knowledge of Tim and Lucy hadn't changed.
His gaze left Lucy for the first time that Angela had entered the room, "I'm okay, she's the one that's hurt."
She wasn't satisfied with his answer.
"Have you eaten? Changed? Showered?"
He shook his head, he looked a little too ruffled for Angela's liking, she'd like for him to go home, to tell him that Lucy would be fine if he took a break for just a second but she couldn't move mountains.
"Grab something to eat, I'll get Wes to bring you some spare clothes," she began, preparing for him to fight her on it but he obeyed which scared her even more.
It was quite a turn from the Tim Bradford she had met at the academy all those years ago. Watching him walk out the door she quickly dialed Wes, eyes finally assessing Lucy. If the doctors were right then she had nothing to worry about, but she looked bad. If Wesley was banged up like Lucy she'd probably look as worse as Tim.
When Tim returned he had a cup of coffee and some questionable package presumably sourced from a vending machine.
"We need to have a heart to heart," he spoke, taking his seat again.
Angela's jaw dropped, "Never in a million years would I have thought those words would leave your mouth."
He scowled, taking a sip of his coffee. "Well maybe this is the millionth and one year."
Her hands rose in defense, "Sorry, sorry, go ahead."
This was new territory for her and probably even him, Tim was never one to open up - probably why they were keeping their relationship under wraps(or trying too at least).
"Lucy and I are dating."
In all seriousness he looked shy, like he was proud of a silly little achievement and couldn't wait to show his parents type shy. The confession sat in the space around them, settling into the creases until all you could hear was Lucy's soft breaths and her heart on the monitor.
When she didn't reply, he kept going.
"We're not really telling people because you know the dark cloud surrounding dating other cops especially since she used to be my rookie, you know the unofficial official law," Angela watched him begin to fidget with the contents of his duty belt, nodding slowly to make sure he knew that she was present.
"We want to make sure that this is the right choice," he peered into her eyes, totally petrified at what her response might be, "That we're the right choice."
She had never seen him so in love.
"Do you love her?"
She didn't mean to spook him like this and he totally had no obligation to answer but as his head swivelled to Lucy for just a second the words slipped out.
"Yes, I think I do."
Lucy had broken him. Totally, completely, and entirely broken Tim Bradford.
"You're such a sap," she smirked watching him blush. He didn't deny it.
Her phone lit up and it brought her to the elevator to her husband who was carting bags of clothes and food to Lucy's room.
"You wait here," she ordered grabbing the bags before Wesley even had a chance to reply, she needed to continue her conversation with Tim and she could fill him in on the details later.
But when she got there Tim wasn't the only one awake. Lucy had shuffled towards Tim on her side of the bed and he had scooted just as close.
She appeared in the doorway slowly as Tim tucked a tendril of hair behind Lucy's ear as she leaned over to him, he was saying something but his voice was so low she couldn't make it out.
They were so wrapped up in their own world that Angela quietly delivered the bags, dropping them inside the room at a table by the door. She didn't need to interrupt.
She risked one final glance as she quietly moved away to make sure that it wasn't a trick of the light and that they were really finally dating. It was fleeting but he smiled up to her as his hand was on her bicep, watching as she let out a little giggle in response to whatever he'd just whispered, a twinkle in her eye despite the day's events.
They were one and the same, the perfect pair, she thought, and about damn time too.