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Finding Samantha had been a surreal experience.
They hadn't even been expecting to find her in that motel room— nobody had been expecting it, of course, which is why it was such a shock.
Lucy understands in her logical mind that she got lucky. She had a plethora of people who cared about her; Samantha's parents were dead. There was overwhelming evidence surrounding Lucy's case and resources to pursue the leads that evidence provided; Samantha and her parents had lived out by a state park, so far away from populated areas that a trip to the nearest grocery store required an hour's drive each way. Lucy was a police officer in her late twenties; Samantha was a teenager, a child.
In her time on earth, Lucy has concluded that humans are beings inclined to selflishness. She does not have a jaded view of humanity, but a realistic one, she thinks. Lucy also believes that human beings will do the right thing when you give them the opportunity and sees it as a part of her job to provide others with those opportunities.
A million things went right for Lucy to be taken, but only one thing had to go wrong for her to be found.
A million things went wrong for Samantha to be taken, but only one thing had to happen the right way for her to be found.
The tattoo on Lucy's ribs serves as a reminder that even though she had lain in the embrace of a killer, she was freed.
The fresh wounds on Samantha's arms serve as a reminder that even though she has been freed, her mind is still trapped in the hold of a killer.
Lucy's mind travels back and forth between the past and the present.
"You know, I got half a dozen scars. Bullet wounds, knife wounds, broken bottle. Then there's the ones you can't see— Isabel's addiction, a dad who would tune me up on the regular. And whether I like it or not, they're a part of me."
"I know you're not ready to hear this, but when it's time, the first step of your recovery will be to stop blaming yourself."
"But you didn't die, okay? You lived. And now he's the one in the ground."
"I know, it's easier said than done. But I know what I'm talking about. I want to share something with you, something that happened to me, if that's okay."
"I was tattooed by a sadist who etched my day of death into my skin!"
"For months afterwards, I'd just obsessed about every second with him before he drugged me, how I should have seen through him, how I should have been faster, smarter. I wanted to believe that I was in control, but I wasn't. So eventually, I stopped focusing on the things that I didn't do, and I focused on the thing that I did. I survived."
"I'm not trying to tell you what to do with it. Burn it off, keep it, whatever gives you peace. All I'm trying to do, is give you some hard-won perspective."
"You survived, Samantha, you're here. I know that you don't see how brave and powerful you are, okay? But I do. I really, really do."
"You can choose to see that tattoo as your greatest failure, but I see it as proof that you're a survivor. It wasn't your day of death, Officer Chen, It was the first day of the rest of your life. And no one can take that away from you."
She's not sure how long she stays at Samantha's bedside, but eventually she makes her way home.
Later that night in bed after they've just celebrated being fully unpacked, Lucy rolls onto her side and lays her head on Tim's chest, throwing a leg over his and her left arm slung over his abdomen.
He waits, curious, for her to voice whatever is on her mind as she lifts the arm resting on his stomach up to trace his jaw and run her fingers through his hair.
"Thank you," She says quietly, looking up at him with a soft expression.
Tim raises an eyebrow. "I mean, I've done multiple things for and to you this evening, so you might have to be a little more specific—"
He lets out an exaggerated gasp as she pokes his cheek, rolling her eyes.
"Well, that too," she concedes, "but I actually wanted to thank you for… for being my Lucy, when I was Samantha."
"Oh?" Tim murmurs, setting his gaze upon hers.
"You know that, uh, that little speech you gave me in the gym when you returned my moonstone ring?" She wonders aloud, and he nods. "I gave Samantha a version of it today in the hospital. And I just— I wouldn't have gotten to be there for her if you were never there for me. So thank you."
Tim grins and presses a kiss to her forehead. "Anytime, Lucy."
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