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“Must be bad if the Watch Commander came out.”
Tim turned to see Lucy hopping out of the patrol car behind him, and smiled briefly.
“It’s not good,” he replied, gesturing for Lucy to step ahead of him. “Heavily armed suspect on the Secret Service watchlist is in the wind.”
He took his position between the detectives and the Secret Service agents, Lucy stepping around him with a hand on his upper back.
“What exactly is this guy’s history with the president?” Lopez asked.
Agent Reynolds, the Secret Service agent, glanced at them briefly before settling his gaze on Tim. “Cyber threat team flagged Hudson a year ago. He was posting about revolution, rooting out tyranny, all standard fare. About six months ago, he started demanding a meeting with the president, sending hand written letters to the White House–“ He shifted his weight so he was completely facing Tim, as Angela interrupted.
“We’ll need copies of those letters.”
Agent Kelvin, Reynold’s second, looked at Angela. “I’ll send you copies of our reports.”
Nyla crossed her arms across her chest. “Not the reports, the originals.”
Reynolds turned to the detectives then, his features pinched like a headache was coming on. “I can assure you, our analysts are very thorough.”
Nyla quirked an eyebrow. “No doubt, but I insist.”
Tim jumped in after her. “Just say yes.”
“Fine,” Reynolds caved, turning to face Tim again. “But I want every available officer out looking for this guy.”
Lucy began. “Absolutely, you’ll have all available resources and full coordination with our divisions.”
“Good,” Reynolds replied, not taking his eyes off Tim. “I want to embed Agent Kelvin with your team.”
Lucy made a point of looking directly at him as she spoke. “Yeah, no problem, we can do that for you.” She turned to where Celina was talking to another officer a few metres away. “Officer Juarez?” Celina walked over. “Agent Kelvin’s gonna ride with you, he’s gonna help question Hudson’s family members.”
Celina nodded. “Let’s go.” She gestured for Kelvin to follow her.
Nyla sighed. “At what point do you cancel the president’s visit?”
“We are nowhere near that point,” Reynolds rolled his eyes. “For all we know, this guy could be out on a hunting trip.” He turned to Tim. “I know that this is high-level stuff.”
Angela and Nyla exchanged glances, rolling their eyes, while Lucy pursed her lips, trying to contain her laughter.
“This is my everyday.” Reynolds continued. “So let’s just chase down the bad guy, and check him off the list.”
Both men nodded, and Reynolds walked away. Tim stepped closer to the three women as Angela spoke. “I’m just gonna say it, not a fan.”
“That’s twice it felt like he defaulted to talking to Tim, right?” Lucy asked, looking between the detectives and Tim. “Am I crazy?”
“No!” Lopez and Harper said at the same time. Lucy nodded slightly, content.
“I don’t think he meant anything by that, we’ve worked together before, he’s just…comfortable with me.” Tim shrugged.
“Mm-hmm.” Lopez responded, looking at her ignorant best friend, as Lucy tilted her head at her boyfriend.
“All right, I’ll go talk to him,” Tim conceded, turning away.
“No!” all three women said, Lucy reaching out for Tim’s shoulder to pull him back.
“That definitely is worse,” Nyla said.
“It’s fine,” added Lucy. “We eat ingrained misogyny for breakfast.” Tim looked between her and the detectives, and sighed as Harper and Lopez walked away.
She looked up at him. “Can you give me 10 minutes, I just need to pump. I was going to before I got this call.”
He nodded, “yeah, go. You got everything you need?”
She nodded, smiling, and headed back to the patrol car, where she unbuttoned her uniform shirt, reaching for her bag, and covered her chest with a blanket.
Later that day, as Tim was getting ready to pack up and head out, Lucy knocked on his door quickly and then stepped inside.
“Hey, hi, I have bad news.”
“I heard, you have to redo the motorcade route.” He sighed.
She bounced on her feet, bringing her hands together in front of her body. “Yes. I’m sorry, I know we planned to put Zoe in her own room tonight but that might have to wait one more night.”
“It’s okay. I’ll go pick her up from daycare and get her settled. Do you want me to come back, help you out?”
“No.” she replied, looking directly into his eyes.
“You’re worried it’ll look like I don’t trust you and I’m taking over.” He responded, leaning forward.
She smiled. “Yes. Even though I know that’s not what you’d be doing. It’s just, appearances are important, and the Secret Service are already out to prove that I don’t know anything, I just…”
“It’s okay. Listen, I’ll keep my ringer on, call me if you need anything or have any questions, and no-one needs to know.”
A look of surprise passed over her face. “Thank you. Give my baby a kiss for me, and tell her mama loves her, if I’m not there before bedtime.”
He nodded. “Of course. Can you give me your milk so I can take it home and put it in the fridge?”
She nodded, backing towards the door. “I’ll be back in a second.” A mischievous smile came over her. “You know, in my mind, I’m kissing you right now.”
He quirked an eyebrow and smiled, watching her laugh as she walked away.
Two hours later, she was in the briefing room, pouring over the motorcade route on the whiteboards in front of her.
Reynolds walked over, his air of superiority getting on her nerves. “No,” he said simply. Lucy stared into him, her jaw locked.
“Line of sight is too clear on the western edge. This guy is a sniper. Take another run at it. I’ll be back at 4am for an update.”
She sighed, her shoulders dropping as she shook her head. She turned around, gathering up her laptop, binder and documents, when her phone started ringing. She smiled, confused, when she saw the caller ID. She shoved it between her shoulder and her ear as she carried everything out to one of the tables in the bullpen.
“Hello?” she asked.
“Am I talking to Sergeant Chen, or LIGF-mother of my daughter-Lucy?”
“Oh god, I don’t even know anymore,” Lucy smiled, despite herself.
“Still working on the motorcade route?”
“You know, here’s the thing. I cannot shut Sepulveda down for three hours.” She placed her binder and laptop down. “It’s just not even on the table. And don’t even get me started on Wilshire. We do not have the manpower to cover even half of those rooftops.”
“So it’s gonna be an all-nighter?” Tim asked. Zoe squealed in the background, and he chuckled.
“For sure,” Lucy said, smiling. “Hi, baby girl.”
“She says hi, too. Have you eaten, at least?”
“No, but it’s not a big deal, I mean, there’s a vending machine I can get something from.”
As she finished her sentence, a bag of takeout landed on the table next to her, and she looked up, mildly irritated, until she saw Tim with Zoe on his hip.
“God forbid,” he said, smiling. Zoe giggled. She looked at both of them, her eyes brimming with tears, as Tim sat down in the chair next to hers, shifting Zoe into his lap and then pulling the containers out of the bag.
“This is really sweet, I think I’m gonna cry,” she said, widening her eyes and looking at her laptop to try stop it.
“At work? You would never,” he responded.
“Maybe before I had a baby, sure,” she reached out for her daughter, lifting her into the air. “Hi, bubba. Now,”–she wiped a tear out of the corner of her eye–“I’m a wreck with all the hormones.”
The baby whimpered, fretting in Lucy’s lap. Lucy turned Zoe around to face her, adjusting her top so she could feed her. “You have impeccable timing, Zozo. Mommy’s boobs were nearly ready to burst.”
The baby latched on easily, and Lucy reached out for a piece of sushi as Tim laid out the containers.
They sat like that, talking about Zoe and each other and the Secret Service for the next 10 minutes.
Halfway through Zoe’s feed, as Lucy was switching sides, Reynolds walked over, hands on his hips.
“Sergeant Chen! We need you back on the motorcade route. You’re at work. You can’t be doing this,” – he gestured vaguely to Lucy’s chest – “while you’re at work.”
“I’m feeding my daughter, Agent Reynolds. The motorcade route can wait 10 minutes.”
“Are you saying this comes before POTUS?”
Lucy sucked in a breath, her tone much firmer. “I need 10 minutes to feed my daughter, or pump.”
“Pump what?”
Lucy closed her eyes. “Men.”
Agent Reynolds looked between the two of them, eyebrow arched.
He looked at Tim. “You allow this in your station? On work time?”
Tim turned to face Reynolds so his body slightly obscured Reynolds’ view of Lucy. “She’s feeding our child. Step aside.”
Agent Reynolds went to open his mouth. “Our–“
“She’s managing, I’m managing. Walk away.” Tim interrupted sharply, watching as Reynolds walked away.
He turned back to Lucy, who was quietly fuming. Lucy held Zoe on her forearms in front of her, quietly talking to her.
“Zozo, baby, you never let anyone tell you that you got somewhere because you slept with someone. You are a gonna be a strong, powerful woman when you grow up. And I hope to God that if you have kids, it’s not this hard for you.”
The baby gurgled, smiling at her mom.
Tim came up behind her, gently brushing her back.
She looked up at him. “Hey,” she said softly.
“Hey,” he replied, and gently took the baby from her, placing her over his shoulder and patting her back.
She was scarily silent, a vast contrast to the talkative Lucy he’d seen just 5 minutes ago, as she pulled out the documents she’d shoved into the binder, and opened up her laptop.
He waited a few minutes, gently bouncing Zoe, before taking a seat. “You okay?” he asked, transferring Zoe to his lap.
“Fine.” She pressed her lips together tightly.
He waited a beat before continuing. “None of it’s true, Luce.”
“I know.”
“You are smart, and capable, and strong, and a hell of a cop. In fact, being a mom probably makes you a better cop, not a worse one.”
She stayed silent for a minute before looking at him, and when he met her gaze, he could see her eyes were filled with tears.
“Luce,” he said gently, reaching out and squeezing her arm.
“I really don’t want to talk about it, because then I’ll cry, because hormones are dumb, and I don’t want to do that.”
He nodded, meeting her gaze. “Okay. Okay, we can do that.”
She waited a beat, gathering herself. “Thank you. For being here.”
He softened, and then looked at the baby who was currently trying to crawl all over him. “Of course, Luce. I’m here for you no matter what.”
After another hour of Lucy complaining about the Secret Service, checking, re-checking and getting frustrated with the motorcade route, Zoe was getting whiny and tired.
Her little face scrunched up as she sat on Tim’s lap, letting out a cry.
Tim quickly lifted her onto his chest, letting his heartbeat quiet her cries to small whimpers. “Daddy’s got you, baby, Daddy’s got you.”
Lucy sighed, frustrated, as Tim stood up to bounce Zoe gently.
“Luce, you gonna be okay? Zo needs to go down soon otherwise she’s gonna be cranky tomorrow.”
Lucy gave a tired smile. “Yeah. I’ll be fine.” She stood up to meet them, helping Tim strap Zoe into the carrier on his chest.
He pulled her in by her waist, looking around them before giving her a chaste kiss, and she pulled away, smiling.
“I love you,” he whispered. “You got this.”
She tilted her head to the side, that I love you smile that he loved so much appearing on her face.
He leant down to put his mouth near Zoe’s head, kissing her crown. “Mommy’s got this, doesn’t she? Mommy’s got this.”
Zoe let out a whimper.
Tim made a face. “Better get her home.”
Lucy nodded, then pressed a kiss to Zoe’s head. “You be good for daddy, baby, okay? Be good for Daddy. Mommy will see you when she can.”
She sat down, watched them walk away, and then turned back to her laptop.
It was 6am when Tim came back to the station, Zoe strapped to his chest.
Sergeant Enriquez saw him first. “Bradford,” she said plainly. “You look like hell.”
“Thanks,” he let out a half-laugh. “I, uh, don’t sleep well when she’s not there.”
Enriquez made a sympathetic face.
After Lucy and Tim had gotten back together, before Lucy moved back onto day shift, Enriquez had become pretty accustomed to Tim stealing her sergeant for a few minutes at the end of her shift before the beginning of his. They’d sneak into the metro office and relive the April Fool’s Day they spent apart, and Sergeant Enriquez would pretend not to notice when Lucy came back with flushed cheeks and swollen lips.
It was only when Lucy and Enriquez were told that she’d be moving back to day shift and the older sergeant made a comment about not having to sneak away to get some quality time with her boyfriend that Lucy realised just how much Enriquez had caught on to.
Over Lucy’s first few months as a sergeant, Enriquez and Lucy grew closer, Enriquez offering her advice as a role model, female sergeant of colour. Lucy would spend the whole ride home with Tim glowing about what they’d talked about.
So naturally, Enriquez was one of the first people who figured out Lucy was pregnant. (It became pretty obvious after Lucy threw up every morning for a week during these talks at shift change without mentioning anything).
Enriquez, having had two kids of her own while being a uniformed officer, gave her advice on morning sickness, how to adjust her duty belt when her belly got heavier, and helped her get on some pretty interesting projects when she was stuck on desk duty after 20 weeks pregnant.
She’d always had a bit of a soft spot for Lucy since meeting her, and so it came as no surprise to Tim what she said next.
“Did she get some sleep?” He asked.
“She’s passed out on the couch in the Watch Commander’s office. She was exhausted, and I told her to rest, shut the blinds and pulled one of your blankets over her. She fell asleep pretty much straight away. Been out for about 2 hours, after Reynolds came and okayed her plan.”
“Thank you, Enriquez. I know she appreciates it as much as I do.”
“Of course. Anything for my favourite young sergeant.”
Enriquez gave him a smile and walked away.
He gently pushed open the door to his office. Lucy, predictably, was chaotically passed out on the couch, her hoodie over her head, arms tucked up under her chin, one leg hanging off the side of the couch and the other spread out as far as possible on the couch. The blanket was only half on her by that point. She didn’t stir.
He knelt in front of her, brushing a strand of her hair away from her face, placing soft kisses on her forehead to get her to wake up.
Zoe, for her part, remained very quiet against his chest, like her mother, not fully acclimated to the morning despite having been awake for two hours already.
Lucy blinked awake. “Tim?” she asked, groggily. “What–what are you doing here?”
“Came to wake you up for work, sleepyhead. Figured you’d want to feed Zo before you started your shift.”
She smiled sleepily, and sat up with Tim’s help. Zoe started trying to gnaw at Tim’s fingers as he lifted her out of the carrier.
“Easy there, baby girl, you’ll get your food soon enough.”
Lucy lifted her top and hoodie as Tim took a seat beside her. “You get the motorcade route done?”
“Yeah,” she replied. She detailed about exactly where they would go, and he smiled as she talked through her process.
“That sounds really good, Luce. Way to pull off a win. Was Reynolds happy?”
“Thankfully. He came in at 4am and just nodded and left, which I took as a win. I don’t think I could’ve stood to be in the same room longer than a few minutes with him at the current moment.”
“Yeah, he was going pretty hard yesterday. But, one more day and he’ll be gone.”
“Yeah.”
“Did you get a chance to pump overnight?”
She nodded. “Yep. Somewhere around midnight. I don’t really remember a lot of it.”
After a few minutes, Lucy handed Zoe back to Tim as she adjusted her top. She leaned back onto the couch when she was done, turning to look at the baby who was currently trying to leg press her father.
“Hi, sweetheart.” She gently stroked Zoe’s hair. “Hi bub. Mama missed you.”
She pressed a big kiss to Zoe’s cheek and the baby giggled and smiled, reaching her tiny hands out to grab her mama’s hair.
“We missed you,” Tim said softly, letting Lucy take the baby again.
She looked between him and the baby. “You didn’t sleep?” she asked gently.
He shrugged, moving closer to her, shuffling down the couch and leaning against her, wrapping his arm around her and pressing a kiss to her hair.
He reached over to tickle Zoe’s belly as Lucy held her up from under her arms.
“She was not happy you were gone.” He said, in the voice he reserved especially for her.
Lucy let out a laugh, smiling at her daughter.
Zoe’s energy was visibly dwindling by now, and she let out her telling sleep cry, her little face scrunching up and fingers brushing her eyes.
“That’s the I-want-Dad cry,” remarked Lucy, handing her over to Tim.
He rolled her eyes, shifting her onto his chest and bouncing her.
“It’s okay, bubba, Daddy’s got you. Daddy’s got you.” He gently rocked her back and forth. “Ssh, sh, sh, sh. Daddy’s here.”
Within a few minutes, Zoe was asleep.
Tim exhaled when he noticed that, tucking her safely against his chest with a kiss to her head. He grabbed the diaper bag and hooked it over his shoulder, before leaning over to Lucy and pressing a kiss to her lips as she tucked herself under the blanket again.
“I’m gonna drop her at daycare now. You see if you can get a little more sleep.”
“Drop her off and then come sleep with me,” Lucy whispered. “You’re exhausted.”
“I'm good, I promise,” he responded. “I’ll bring you coffee when I come back.”
She smiled, getting sleepy already. “That’s why I love you.”
He rolled his eyes. “I love you too, Luce. I’ll see you a bit later.”
Zoe stayed asleep the whole car ride, and all the way into the daycare centre. He carefully manoeuvred her out of her car seat without waking her up, gathering her bag and walking into the centre.
The daycare worker, Emma, smiled when she saw him.
“Hi, Tim,” she said. “No Lucy today?”
Tim shook his head. “She got stuck at work all of last night and didn’t come home. We visited her this morning, but she’s getting an extra half an hour of sleep before her shift starts.”
Emma nodded knowingly, reaching out to take Zoe. The baby didn’t stir.
“She was awake every hour last night,” he scrubbed a hand over his face. “I think she missed her mama. She’ll be sleepy for a bit and possibly pretty grumpy later. If you have any issues, just give me a call, I’ll be at the station the whole day today. Don’t call Lucy, she’ll be out.”
Emma nodded. “Got it.” She took the bag from Tim, smiling. “We’ll see you at pickup.”
Tim nodded, pressing a quick kiss to Zoe’s forehead before leaving.
He had zero recollection of stopping for coffee and driving back to the station, but when he pulled into the parking lot, he took his and Lucy’s coffee with him into the Watch Commander’s office.
When he got in there, Grey was standing at the desk, pulling his laptop and files out of his backpack. Lucy was still passed out on the couch.
Tim looked between Grey and Lucy. “Force of habit?” he asked.
“No,” Grey replied solemnly. Tim lifted his head, realising what was happening. “Tim, I just want you to know, this has nothing to do with the job you’re doing.”
Tim nodded, understanding. “I mean, it has something to do with it.”
“The brass agreed that while you’re a great Watch Commander, you’re a week back from paternity leave, and they’re worried about the handover.”
Tim sighed. “Fine. That’s…that’s fine. Probably for the best. I didn’t get much sleep last night.”
Grey looked up. “Baby up all night?”
“Yeah, um, neither of us sleep well when she’s not there, apparently.” He gestured to Lucy.
Grey made a face. “How the hell did you survive when you two were broken up?”
“Tequila at night. Sleeping pills. Coffee in the morning.”
Grey raised an eyebrow.
“Her drink of choice is tequila. When we started dating the first time, she had it a bit, so I kind of just started…and never stopped drinking it.” Tim gulped.
Grey just looked at him.
Tim winced. “That’s…not what you were concerned about.”
“No.”
“I’m fine now,” Tim offered.
“Yeah, the psychiatrist note you gave me a week ago after you had a panic attack on duty says otherwise, but that’s irrelevant.”
Tim’s eyes widened. “That’s very targeted, sir.”
“You sound like Lucy.”
“We do live together. And we have a baby together. That kind of rubs off.”
Grey rolled his eyes, and then nodded toward Lucy. “How long’s she been asleep?”
“Enriquez let her in here just after 4am this morning, after Reynolds approved the motorcade route. I woke her up at 6 so she could feed Zoe, and she fell asleep just after I left, around 6.30. She’ll get stressed if she doesn’t get up soon, though, I’ll wake her up now.”
Grey nodded once. “I’ll give you two some space.”
Tim woke Lucy up once again, then got her up and into the shower in the women’s locker room with some help from Celina (and the coffee she skulled right as Tim handed it to her).
They didn’t see each other until after the briefing, when all of Mid-Wilshire was informed that Grey had been temporarily reinstated as Watch Commander, which Reynolds took as invitation to demote Lucy, too, relegating Tim to the motorcade route instead. Tim quickly shut that down.
Tim met Lucy’s eyes, and as the briefing finished, she made a beeline for him. He gestured for her to step outside.
“Thanks,” she said quietly.
“No need to pay the demotion forward. Your plan is good. You thought through threats seasoned agents would’ve missed.”
She looked at him then, and her Sergeant Chen mask slipped a little. “Are–are you okay?”
“I’m fine, Sergeant Chen,” he replied. “What’s our next course of action?”
“Shutting down the west side of Los Angeles.” She turned back toward the briefing room.
“Here we go.”
After the day with the president, Tim finally got his office back, and as he was grabbing his stuff, Lucy came in, knocking once and stepping inside.
“Hey,” she said gently.
“Hey,” he replied, his shoulders dropping when he saw her, a tired smile spreading across her face.
“You ready to go home? First night of Zoe in her own room.” she asked.
“God yes.”
“How was she at daycare this morning?” Lucy asked as Tim pulled his backpack on.
“Asleep when I brought her in. She slept the whole way down to the parking lot, all the way up to daycare, and then through to when I handed her over to Emma. Didn’t stir once.”
“What can I say, it’s very tiring keeping Daddy awake all night.”
Tim rolled her eyes. “On another note, great work with the president’s visit today.”
She looked up at him as he guided her out of the office, his hand on her lower back. “I know, right? But thank you for saying that.”
When they pulled up to the daycare, Lucy was the first one in the door. Emma was there at the reception when they walked in, and she smiled, pleasantly surprised both of them were there.
“Hi Lucy, hi Tim.”
“Hi Emma. Is Zoe ready to go?” Lucy asked, her fingers tapping nervously against the desk.
Emma nodded. “They’ve got all her stuff packed up. I’ll get Ingrid to bring her out in a second.” She disappeared behind the door.
After a moment, Ingrid appeared with Zoe in her arms.
As soon as the baby saw her mama and her dada, she clapped excitedly, letting out a little screech and smiling a massive smile.
“Hi, baby!” exclaimed Lucy, taking her from Ingrid. “Hi sweetie. Mama missed you.” She peppered Zoe’s face with kisses.
“She did pretty well today. Slept for the first two hours she was here. She was a bit grumpy and hungry when she woke up, but we fed her and she was a happy little baby again. She had a good nap at midday too, and everything else in her day was pretty on schedule apart from her morning nap.”
“Of course she slept for two hours this morning.” Tim rolled his eyes playfully, blowing a raspberry on Zoe’s cheek and the baby looked over Lucy’s shoulder at him.
Ingrid smiled, and handed over Zoe’s bag. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”
Lucy held Zoe as they walked out to the car, holding her for an extra few minutes to make up for the previous night before strapping her into her car seat. Zoe babbled the whole way home, and Lucy and Tim just looked at each other, looked at her, and smiled.
“God, I’m exhausted,” Lucy sighed, leaning back into the car seat.
“I bet,” Tim reached over the console to squeeze her hand. “I would say that we finally have a night to ourselves tonight, could have some Mama and Dada time, but I suspect that we’ll be too tired for that.”
“I will be genuinely shocked if I make it through dinner and her evening feed without falling asleep. So yeah, I’m sorry babe.”
He shook his head. “There’s always tomorrow. Don’t you worry.”
He stopped at the red light, and then leaned over to kiss her, smiling into it. He pulled away after a second, looking at her and then glancing at Zoe in his rearview mirror, before hitting the accelerator and taking off.