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Tim Bradford couldn’t be happier.
Curled up with his LIGF on the couch in his their house as rain pattered on the glass windows, he felt truly at ease in a way he had been painfully mourning while they were broken up.
Lucy had her head on his chest, one leg slung over his, arms around him with her eyes trained on the TV as they sat, breathing synced, and watched in comfortable silence.
And when she shifted to nuzzle closer to his chest, the action so natural, Tim felt a surge of love radiate from his chest, reaching parts of him he thought would be forever plagued with darkness.
She did that for him a lot.
Just as he tightened his arms around her, Kojo clambered his way onto the space in Tim’s lap not occupied by Lucy’s leg.
Lucy, of course, started showering him with so much love Tim felt a whip of admonishment at himself for briefly feeling like he had to compete for his girlfriend’s affection with his their dog.
Still, for good measure, he pulled her impossibly closer into his chest, TV programme forgotten about and Lucy bathed in the love of her boys.
Then she spoke and, as always, Tim found himself missing the first few words as he soaked in the sweet sound of her voice.
He caught the main idea though.
“I can’t believe you continued dating a girl who showed clear disrespect towards our baby,” she said, looking up at him, chin against his chest.
“Clearly I was not thinking straight,” he replied. Not that he was thinking particularly straight with her beautiful brown eyes trained on him, her breath tickling his neck.
He started running a hand in her hair as she continued, “I didn’t like Ashley before that either,” and as Tim gave her a sceptical look, “I mean it. She gave me a bad vibe. And I was right too, I mean who breaks up with their boyfriend when he’s straight out of surgery?”.
Tim hummed thoughtfully before responding “well her reason was pretty valid. It can’t be easy dating a cop as a civilian. Especially when you’ve gone through it all with your dad”.
“And what’s the excuse for the Kojo slander,” she teases, tilting her head.
Tim doesn’t miss a beat.
“Well, that, my dear, is inexcusable,” he drawls with a smirk, pressing little circles into her back with his free hand.
“And also, for the record, Chris was painfully subpar. If the guy had a personality, I must have mistaken it for a cardboard cutout,” he said, widening his eyes as Lucy smacked his chest.
“What? It’s true. You could have done a lot better.”
Lucy smirked.
“What like you? If you’re jealous, just say that, baby,” she teased.
“You first,” Tim replied, twirling a strand of her hair around his finger before leaning in to kiss her. He loved that he could do that at every chance he got now.
The kiss is brief, but when Lucy pulls away, her smile practically touches her ears.
“Just in case I haven’t made it perfectly clear, I decided you were my best relationship from the very beginning,” she says, recalling herself telling Tamara this when she found out about them.
“The bar was on the floor, baby, it wasn’t difficult. Lang and Sanford, come on,” he scoffed. But Lucy didn’t miss the way his eyes had flooded with affection and pride when she had spoken. Didn’t miss his smirk growing a little wider.
“Well, they both did have one edge over you,” she counters, eyes turning mischievous.
Tim, terrified of her answer, raises his eyebrows, encouraging her to elaborate.
“They were in my age range,” Lucy says, far too proud of herself.
Tim is grinning now.
“Oh, so that’s how it is?” He exclaims, pulling his arms away from her as Lucy breaks into giggles.
The warmth of her laughter goes straight to his soul, wrapping it up in a protective layer of love.
She composes herself and tilts her chin up to kiss him, their matching smiles getting in the way.
Lucy goes back to her spot on his chest, and Tim’s hands find their spots again, continuing their movements.
He kisses her forehead, once, twice, before saying, “Well, at least being the oldest guy you’ve dated is some form of accomplishment.”
She leans forward slightly to drop a kiss on his bicep before replying.
“I hate to burst your bubble, Mr. Competitive, but you’re not the oldest guy I’ve dated.”
She regrets it instantly, his hands slowing in their movements, and he pulls away slightly, fingers guiding her chin until he’s looking at her face.
“You’ve dated someone older than me? Someone over ten years older than you?” He asks, his expression a hair away from concerned.
God, how does she get out of this? She doesn’t think Tim knows about Nolan, almost sure he would have already teased her about it had he learned. She doesn’t imagine his immediate reaction would be very amusing though.
She answers carefully.
“Not that much older than you. Seven or eight years.”
Tim’s eyes almost fall out of their sockets.
“Lucy. 18 years older?!”
“Maybe 17,” she counters defensively.
“Oh, that makes me feel much better. Who?” And by his tone, Lucy knows she’s not getting out of this one. Maybe she’ll just say it fast and change the subject. It was a long time ago, surely he’ll be cool about it. Lucy takes the chance.
“Promise you won’t make fun of me,” she says, shifting so their eyes are to eye.
“I’ll see what the situation demands,” Tim replies, jokingly, but she can see the curiosity buzzing around him.
“When I was in the academy, I had a short, semi-casual relationship with a fellow recruit that ended a few weeks after I started at our station,” she said evenly, dreading saying the name.
Tim’s brows knitted together.
“Lucy, you were like 27 at the academy, no other recruit would have been 18 years older than…” he says, starting so confidently, but she sees the exact moment realisation hits and his face drops. God, he looks appalled.
“Lucy, no.”
“Tim, it wasn’t that-“
“Lucy. No. You cannot be serious.”
“He was newly divorced, and I was looking for something safe,” she defends.
His hands have stopped moving entirely.
“Lucy, you looked so young when you first started. How did he…and it’s…it’s Nolan. Why did you never tell me this before?” He exclaims, face contorted in confusion and positive anguish.
“It wasn’t that big of a deal,” and when his eyes widen at her, she continues before she can interrupt.
“I mean, it was so long ago, and we have a perfectly healthy and professional relationship now,” she says, hoping this will cool him off a little.
For extra assurance, she also leans forward and kisses him.
When she pulls away though, he still looks troubled.
“Now I just have a mental picture of you and Nolan kissing in my head, and it’s making me want to rip it off. Hold on, if you were dating for months, did you…” he trails off, and she’s unsure if he actually wants to hear the answer.
But she’s starting to find this amusing, so she responds.
“Yes, Tim. Me and Nolan, two adults who were dating, had s-“
“NO. No, don’t say it. I’ll gag,” he interrupts, holding out a hand and screwing his eyes shut.
“God, you are ridiculous,” she giggles.
He opens his eyes, clearly about to give her a snarky retort before a question appears in his eyes.
“Am I…,” he trails off, clearly unsure of how to phrase it.
Lucy catches on after a second though, groaning and throwing her head back, closing her eyes now.
“Oh my god, Tim,” she grumbles before opening her eyes, determined to give him peace of mind so they can talk about anything else.
“Yes, you are better in bed than John Nolan,” she assures him.
This seems to placate him a little, although he still looks appalled.
Before he can ask anymore mortifying questions, she quickly says, “Please, please, can we move on?”
Tim looks reluctant to, clearly still bursting with questions, but he only sighs and says, “We will be revisiting this.”
“I would expect nothing less, Sergeant.”
And she settles back into her starting position, Tim’s hands getting back into their routine, and she melts against him with a sigh, making a mental note to apologise to Nolan when he finds himself inexplicably ordered to clean the drunk tank tomorrow.