Work Text:
Work has been extremely busy and stressful for both Tim and Lucy lately, but as Watch Commander, the pressure has been worse than normal. He blows out a breath when trying to just find a shirt to wear today and can’t seem to find a clean one. They’ve barely done laundry, they’ve barely had time for each other, and he’s just frustrated with so many things. Lucy is the one good thing in his life but he stupidly, somehow, manages to take everything out on her.
“Damnit.” Tim just needs a clean shirt for work and is letting it get to him. It’s just a shirt. He runs his hand down his face and accidentally knocks over some of Lucy’s facial products that are sitting near the sink. He loves her things and he loves her but he’s stressed out at the moment.
“Hey babe.” Lucy walks into the bathroom to brush her teeth. She brushes her arm against Tim and he pulls away and then realizes how aggressive it came off when he sees her frowning. “Are you okay?”
“Just tired and not looking forward to the meetings today.” He hopes that she will back off and not try to pry.
“I have the coffee brewing and it’ll be ready soon. We don’t have much for breakfast but I figured that we could stop for something if we had time.” Tim just nods and he kisses the side of her head before walking out of the bathroom.
When Tim gets to the kitchen, he can’t find a cup to put his coffee in and huffs in frustration. “Where is it?”
“What are you looking for?” Lucy bounces out and she’s glowing, which Tim adores. “Tim.”
He flinches when she touches his arm. “I need my coffee and I can’t find my cup.”
Lucy finds it in the dishwasher but realizes that it was not run the night prior. “You can use mine babe.” She starts the dishwasher so they can have clean dishes later. “I’ll grab coffee at work.”
“I don’t want your cup, I want mine. I don’t have any clean shirts and Kojo chewed my socks.” Lucy is a bit taken aback by Tim’s words but it has been a long and stressful week.
“I’ll handle the laundry tonight and I’ll order some new socks for you.” Lucy puts her hand on his arm. She really is just trying to be helpful.
Tim pinches his nose. “That doesn’t help me now. I’m already late so we need to go.” He snaps at her and this is something he never does. She flinches and goes to grab her bag. It feels like nothing is going right this morning.
The ride to work is silent and Lucy stares out the window the entire time. As soon as Tim parks, she gets out and goes to change as quickly as possible.
Tim slams the door and has to rush to his first meeting since he’s already late. He doesn’t have time to think about what truly happened earlier.
Lucy hates being upset at work and hates shedding any tears but her body is betraying her. Thankfully, she’s riding alone today and can be with her thoughts alone. She leaves the station unscathed and sees that Tim is out of his first meeting. Nolan is in his office and he can be Tim’s problem today.
Her day is running pretty smoothly although she can’t stop thinking about Tim. She knows he is stressed but he never snaps like that. Her hormones are already raging which is why she’s letting it bother her as much as she is. “Focus Lucy.”
There’s a call for a suspicious person and she attaches herself to that call. When she arrives on scene, a man looks to be casing a house. “Sir.” He tries to ignore her. “Police.”
“I’m not doing nothing.” He spats out and Lucy has her hand covering her gun. “You’re on private property and need to leave. You need to come with me.”
“Get away from me bitch.” He snarls and Lucy is already annoyed.
“Put your hands up.” Instead of listening, he decides to come after her. Lucy bends over and he flips over her back. “That’s the second wrong decision you’ve made today.”
Lucy is already in a bad mood and he isn’t helping. “I don’t really care.” He comes after her and she really didn’t feel like getting into a physical fight today. She, of course, holds her own but not without some injury.
After five minutes she finally slaps the cuffs on his wrists. “You’re a world class dumbass.” Lucy calls for backup and paramedics. Bailey arrives and immediately goes to Lucy. Celina and Penn handle the suspect.
Lucy has a bloody nose and her face has some bruises and cuts. “You look like hell.”
“Did you see the other guy?” Lucy snorts but Bailey notices that her smile isn’t reaching her face. She seems lost in thought which is very unlike Lucy.
“Lucy, what’s going on?” Bailey asks gently.
“Nothing.” She whispers but Bailey doesn’t actually believe her. “Just a rough morning.”
Bailey starts to clean her nose. “I’m going to assume this has to do with Tim?” She asks but means it more of a statement.”
Lucy sniffles and Bailey sees tears starting to pool in the corner of her eyes. “Sorry. Yes, it does. It’s been a long week and we’ve barely had time to do anything at home, let alone have time for each other. I know he’s stressed and I’ve been trying to help however I can, but he snapped this morning. I know he didn’t mean to but he never does that.” Bailey puts her hand on Lucy’s shoulder.
“You both have a lot going on. It doesn’t mean it’s okay.”
Lucy wants to wrap her arms around herself. “I know, trust me, I wrote how I felt in a text, but I wish I had just been honest with him. We always talk it out. I haven’t looked at my phone since I sent it though.”
Bailey smiles softly. “John and I have had our share of moments. All married and strong couples fight and have harder times. Knowing Tim, I can almost guarantee he is upset with himself.” Bailey squeezes her arm. “Give me a minute.”
Bailey steps out of the ambulance and calls Nolan, since he’s riding with Tim. She explains everything and Tim hears her since he’s on speakerphone. He was already feeling bad and knew he needed to apologize. He’s been beating himself up all day and Nolan was the (un)lucky recipient for his rants. Nolan snapped him out of it a bit and Tim wasn’t even mad.
“Bailey, we’re on our way to you.” Nolan tells her. She goes back to Lucy and continues to clean her up. It doesn’t take long for them to arrive on scene.
Both Lucy and Bailey look up when they hear a noise. Tim and Nolan are standing there. Bailey squeezes Lucy’s hand and then hops out. She takes Nolan with her.
Tim goes by Lucy’s side and his hand cups her cheek. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” She knows he feels awful but she’s still hurt about earlier. “I promise.”
Tim pushes her chin up so Lucy’s looking at him. “I’m so sorry for this morning. I should have never taken my frustrations out on you. I let everything get to me, which is completely unfair to you. You’re the good in my life.” He uses the pad of his thumb to wipe her tears away.
“It’s okay, Tim.” Her voice is quiet.
“No, it’s not, baby.” He presses a kiss to her forehead. “And you didn’t do anything wrong. You didn’t deserve that. Just because I’m stressed doesn’t make it okay.”
Lucy feels Tim pulling her into his arms and she goes easily, needing his comfort. “I love you.”
“I love you too. You’re forgiven. It’s been a long week for both of us.” He presses his hand to her belly where the littlest Bradford is safely growing. “This is the one good part of it.”
Tim smiles softly. “How about we go home?” Lucy nods and they both thank Bailey for everything.
An hour later, they’re finally at home, cuddling. Tim started a load of laundry and then emptied the dishwasher. Lucy placed an order for groceries and included some new socks for Tim. “I promise that no matter how frustrated I get or stressed that I am, I won’t take it out on you, Luce. You really are everything good in my life.”
“Hey, we all have our moments, okay? Lord knows that I’ve taken things out on you when you didn’t deserve it. It doesn’t mean that you did anything wrong. No one is perfect.” She pulls Tim’s head down to kiss her. “And we can handle this after everything else that we’ve been through.”
“You really are incredible.” Tim rests his head against hers and holds her close. “I am going to get some help at work. It’ll be another aide, maybe Penn, to give him some experience.” Celina was Lucy’s gopher already.
“That’s a really good idea. I’m proud of you.” Lucy sighs softly and Tim knows she is almost asleep.
“Good night, I love you.” He kisses the top of her head and says his nightly prayer of gratitude. Tim feels like the luckiest man in the entire world every single day to have Lucy as his wife. “You’re the most incredible person that I know.”