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Wesley’s losing party is in full swing. The team had just arrived and everyone was preoccupied with expressing their sympathy to Wesley and socialising amongst themselves.
Except Tim and Lucy.
They’re huddled at the table adorned with rum and liquor hoping that no one pays them too much attention.
“I can’t drink any of this.” Lucy whispers to Tim as her eyes take in all the alcohol.
Tim takes a glance at the empty glass in her hand and grabs for a bottle of sparkling water on the counter instead. He halves her glass with the water and pops a lemon slice from the liquor table into it afterwards. She looks up at him quizzically.
“A gin and tonic.” He suggests, gesturing to her glass.
“Seriously?” she stares at him incredulously.
“What?”
“They’ll notice!” she exclaims softly.
“Aren’t you a trained undercover operative? Pretend.”
Lucy swishes the bubbling clear beverage around in her glass sceptically. Tim slips his arm around her waist after filling his own glass, hoping to reassure her after noticing her hesitation. Lucy glares at him with no real fire behind her eyes. This is all his fault she muses.
“This is all your fault.” Lucy voices, her annoyed tone just above a whisper.
Tim chuckles as he pulls her closer, his fingers cupping at her waist, and plants a kiss to her temple. “I love you too, babe. Don’t worry, it’ll all be worth it.”
The clinking of a glass sounds throughout the room signalling that Rodge is about to sing a song. Tim and Lucy shuffle toward the living room and settle into a spot at the back, Tim still holding onto Lucy’s waist tightly as she leans into his side. He’d been doing that a lot lately; hovering overprotectively, holding her closely, not letting her out of his sight. Lucy, although initially irritated at his newfound overprotective nature, finds it endearing and sweet. Her fierce protector. He’s wanted this for a really long time and so has she, so she understands.
Rodge begins his guitar serenade as everyone settles in to listen. Lucy gingerly sips on her gin and tonic. Her stomach did not want that at that moment. Tim looks down at her with a mischievous glint in his eyes and a playful smile on his lips. He leans down to whisper in her ear.
“Feeling the buzz yet?”
“Don’t make me hurt you.”
The smile on her lips betrays her threat as she glances his way before focusing back on Rodge. She holds the glass to her lips pretending to take a sip again.
Tim points a finger at her glass, still amused with himself, "I'm just saying, they'll notice that you barely even touched it."
"Babe, stop talking."
The two begin laughing quietly, trying not to distract from Rodge’s stellar performance. After Rodge’s SNL skit song is over, everyone scatters to enjoy the party once again.
Tim and Lucy stay near the couch. Lucy feels an unsettled feeling unfurling in her stomach and leans against the back rest of the couch for support before Tim notices. He's already hovered enough without actually having a reason and Lucy didn't want him worrying any more than he had for the past few weeks.
Her close brush with death in that tunnel with Martin, her return to the job, her open case with IA and now the secret they were trying to keep? She has zero chance of him letting up on worrying about her for the foreseeable future.
Luckily enough, he doesn’t notice her slight discomfort because Nolan chooses that moment to call Tim over to where he and Bailey were standing a few feet away. Tim reluctantly parted from her with an I'll be right back, babe and a tender kiss to her lips.
Lucy closes her eyes, savouring his kiss, and doesn't reopen them until Tim has already walked away. She stares at him from where she sits on the back rest of the couch. The love of her life, her best friend, her person. He's the best thing that ever happened to her, even if he always insists it's the other way around when she tells him that. He's changed so much since they got back together. He’s much more open and communicative with her and she’s so grateful for him. He'll make a great-
"How's that water?" Her thoughts were interrupted by Harper's voice behind her.
Lucy whips around to see Nyla sitting next to her on the back rest of the couch. She was so consumed with admiration for her boyfriend that she didn't even feel the couch dip when Nyla sat down next to her.
"W-what?" Lucy stumbles out, caught off guard by her presence and her question. Nyla raises her own glass and tilts it towards Lucy's.
“It’s sparkling water right? I got the same thing. It’s easy on your stomach when you’re pregnant.”
“You’re pregnant too?”
“Oh, God no. But clearly you are.” Nyla responds with a small smirk on her lips as she realises she has her exactly where she wants her.
Lucy stares at Nyla's expectant expression, dumbfounded. I can’t believe I fell for that Lucy thinks to herself. Way to go, trained UC. There’s a moment of charged silence as Lucy tries to think of a way to get out of having to answer that. She glances toward Tim hoping to get an out but his back is facing her and he's deep in conversation with Nolan and Bailey. She turns back toward Harper, defeated.
"It’s supposed to be a fake gin and tonic.” Lucy responds with an eye roll at Tim’s ridiculous idea. “How'd you know?"
"I've been a detective for a very long time and a UC for even longer. It's my job to watch and observe. And I've been pregnant twice, I know what it looks like."
Lucy's eyes widen as she looks around the room, making sure that no one heard them “Shhh, I don't want anyone to know yet. Don't say anything, please.”
“Relax, your secret's safe with me, Chen. But Angela will figure it out on her own when she's done fussing over Wesley's DA race.” Nyla’s expression softens uncharacteristically as she looks Lucy over. “Congratulations mama. How far along?”
Mama. She'll have to get used to that. Lucy releases a breath of relief that she didn’t notice she was holding. She's happy to talk to someone that's not Tim or her doctor about her pregnancy for once.
"Nine weeks."
Nyla’s brows furrow and Lucy can see her connecting the dots in her head. She knew as soon as she said it Nyla would piece it together.
“Nine weeks? We got back from Baja nine weeks ago.”
“Yeah.” Lucy laughs quietly, looking down at her glass again. "When we got back, I saw you with Leah in the parking lot and it got me thinking about the future... We weren't even really trying but apparently I conceived that very night. Tim was just a little too happy to see me again I guess."
Nyla scrunched her face in displeasure. "I know how babies are made, Chen, I did not need that extra detail."
Lucy chuckles at her antics. "We're waiting until I'm out of the first trimester to tell everyone but we're really excited."
"You'll be amazing parents, I'm so happy for you." Nyla says, her voice soft with sincerity.
"Thank you."
Tim chooses that moment to come back over to Lucy.
"Is everything okay?" He asks as he looks between the two women.
"Everything's perfect." Lucy responds looking up at him, completely enamoured.
Nolan clinks his glass again signalling that they were about to give a speech. Nyla gives a sly wink to Lucy with a small smile on her lips as she moves to stand next to James. Lucy stands and Tim's arms slide around her waist protectively once again as Wesley begins his loser speech.
"I can't say that it was an enjoyable experience but man, was it memorable." Wesley begins. "We've all gone through so much together this year and sometimes it felt like it was more than we could handle but it wasn't, because we had each other."
Wesley's words resonate with Lucy the most and she looks up at Tim with so much love and adoration in her eyes as he finishes that sentence. The past year for her and Tim had been a collection of breakup angst, will-they-won't-they, avoiding feelings, ex sex, getting back together, moving in together, close calls at work and now they're unexpectedly having a baby. But in the end, they're going through all of it together and that's really that matters.
"Safe to say that I have no idea what the future has in store but I do know one thing. We won't be going through it alone because we're a family."
In a few weeks they’ll be telling their friends, their family, that a new addition will be joining them and they'll be starting their own family. And Lucy couldn't be more thrilled to begin this new journey with the love and support of her people.