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It’s been a few days since they got back together, spending the first properly getting reunited with each other. But then they had to go back to work, and she was finishing up her last few night shifts. He took a day off mid week just so he could spend actual time with her before the madness of moving and promotions come for both next week.
Shes never denied that she sleeps better when he’s there, so she actually slept until mid afternoon for once, and then they cuddled.
“So, I know we haven’t exactly done things the traditional way,” he jokes as she’s sprawled on top of him, his hand absentmindedly rubbing her back. “But, I want to take you on a date.”
She wants to look at him, her elbows coming up to rest on his chest to prop her up, “A date?”
“Mhm,” she smiles softly, “Like a third first date if you will. You seemed a little disappointed when I didn’t ask you out back at the docks.”
The smile on her face widens as she leans forward, her lips brush his, kissing him softly. They both let the moment linger, sharing a few more little pecks.
“So,” she smirks, “When is this date?”
He chuckles, letting his hand run through her wavy hair, “I was thinking this weekend before you move in if that’s okay?”
“This weekend sounds nice,” she contentedly sighs as she lays her head back onto his chest, relishing the moment of being there with him.
***
He helps her out of the truck once they get to the restaurant, looking her up and down, admiring how beautiful she is. She curled her hair, those beautiful waves he loves so much. She bought a new dress for tonight, it’s forest green and is sleeveless. The neckline leaves little to the imagination, and she did that just to drive him crazy all night.
The views at 71Above are absolutely breathtaking. When the hostess shows them to their table, Lucy is so enthralled with the view, she doesn’t even notice that Tim pushes in her chair before he goes to sit in his own.
“It’s so beautiful.”
“Yes she is,” he responds smugly. Her head snaps to look at him, rolling her eyes.
Their waitress stops at their table with a smile. “Good evening and welcome. May I get you two a drink?”
Tim looks at Lucy, motioning for her to go first. “Can I please do a glass of the Pinot Grigio?” The woman nods and looks to Tim.
“I’ll do the same, please.”
“Great, I’ll get those for you and give you some time to check out the menu.”
Once she’s gone, Lucy reaches out her hand to put it over top his where it’s resting on the table next to his menu. He flips his hand over so they can interlace their fingers. “Thanks for taking me here honey. The views and menu are unreal.”
“Of course, Luce. I’ve been wanting to take you here for a while, glad I scored myself a third first date so that I could.”
She rolls her eyes again, but gives his hand a squeeze. “I can’t believe in a few days I’ll be moved in with you.”
“I can’t believe it either.”
“Question for you?” He gets a little nervous seeing the smirk on her face.
“Hmm?”
“Can I paint and redecorate a little? Nothing major, but we need to make it look like a home, not like the bachelor pad you and Kojo have been living in.”
“Sure,” he says easily, “You can do whatever you want, Luce. I trust you, plus it’s your home now too.”
She’s about to throw another idea at him when the waitress comes back with their drinks. “So sorry that took so long, we had a little issue over at the bar but all is okay now.”
“No problem,” they both say in unison, they’ve been too busy talking to notice anyways.
“Are you two ready to order your food? If not, I can come back in a few minutes.”
They exchange a look, Lucy nodding to Tim’s silent question asking if she’s ready. “We’re ready. Go ahead Luce.”
“Can I please do the Lemon Chitarra?” The waitress nods with a smile and jots it down before looking over at Tim.
“Can I please do the Short Rib Triangoli Pasta? And if possible can I remove the mushrooms please?”
“Of course. I’ll get that in for you so the kitchen can get started on it.” She smiles at them again and walks away.
“Okay, another question for you?” He’s intrigued.
“I still have a lot of packing to do and I was wondering if maybe you’d want to come back to the apartment with me and help a little tonight? Then we could really tackle it tomorrow, Celina said she’d help too.”
“Sure baby. We can go pick up Kojo and then head over.” He takes a sip of wine and watches as her eyes drift back over to the view. “So, now I have a question for you.”
She looks back over at him. “How are you feeling about starting as day Sergeant on Monday?”
She exhales softly, “It’ll be good. Nightshift gave me enough of the basics, I think. It’ll be nice to be back on the streets with my peeps.”
“Plus you know, I’ll be there if you need anything or have any questions. But I know you’re going to be the best roving Sergeant Mid Wilshire has ever seen.”
“Please,” she rolls her eyes, “Speaking of you, how are you feeling about Watch Commander?”
“I think it’ll be good. Hoping I don’t get too bored with all the meetings, but it should be a nice change of pace.”
“You’re going to do great.” She blows him a kiss from her seat, and it takes everything in him to not stand up to kiss her properly.
The waitress delivers their meals, both already eyeing each others. That’s kind of their thing, sharing their meals with the other. They take a bite of Tim’s first, both of their eyes going wide as the flavors hit their tongues.
“Oh my gosh, this is incredible.” She takes another bite, enjoying that one even more than the first.
“Yep, this one’s a winner,” he adds.
Next, they try hers which she isn’t too surprised that he isn’t the biggest fan of. It’s more lemony than he typically likes. She however is a huge fan, savoring every bite.
Neither finish, and when the waitress comes back over to offer them dessert, they politely decline because they are both stuffed. She brings over the check and Tim snatches it before Lucy even has a chance to. She protests, but he makes the argument that he asked her out so he’s paying.
They walk hand in hand out of the restaurant and into the elevator. As it goes down, she rests her head against his arm. He leans down to kiss the top of her head, holding his lips there for a moment, “You tired?” Another kiss before he pulls back.
“Mhmm,” she mumbles, “But I need a second wind if we’re going to pack. Ice cream?” She looks up at him with those puppy dog eyes, the ones she knows he can never say no to.
“Luce,” he chuckles, “I thought you were full?”
“I was, but that was then. And by the time we get there, I will have found just enough room in my stomach.”
The elevator dings at the parking garage, and she strides out ahead of him, looking back at him with a proud little grin. He just shakes his head trailing her to his truck.
***
When they get to the ice cream drive-up, she’s sleepy and a little cold, so he grabs a hoodie from the back and hands it to her, telling her that he’ll be right back.
They like this place because they have a wide selection of dairy free options for her. Her go-to is always vanilla with cookie dough pieces. She’s a little surprised when he’s walking back to the car with two cups in his hands, struggling to open his door.
“You get one too?” She takes them both from him so he can hop in, peeking to see what he got.
“No, got one for Celina. Figured you’d still be eating it once we got to your place and since I’m sure she’s going to be helping us pack, I figured why not.”
“Aww, that’s so sweet.” He just ignores her as he pulls out of the parking lot and they’re finally on the way to his house to pick up Kojo.
Once he pulls in his driveway and turns off the truck, he turns to her, “Do you want to just wait here? I’m going to let him out quick as I lock up and then we’ll be out. Do you need anything from the house?”
She thinks for a moment, “I want to sleep in one of your shirts tonight, the one I have at the apartment has lost its ‘Tim smell’.”
“Tim smell?” He repeats, not able to hold back his laugh.
“Don’t question it,” she shoos him away, watching him walk up to the house and disappear once he closes the door.
***
Somehow, Lucy, Celina and Kojo are all on the couch eating their treats, Kojo licking away at his peanut butter filled Kong while Tim is on the ground going through her things in the tv entertainment center to pack up.
“Luce?” He spins to face her, “Do you really need… 15 dvds? Do you even have a dvd player?”
“Oh my gosh,” she stands up fast, abandoning confused Kojo on the couch. “Those were Jackson’s, how did I not even realize they were in there all these years? He used to have a dvd player but it broke and he kept forgetting to find a new one.”
Without another word, Tim finds room in the box for all of them, making a mental note to himself to look for a dvd player.
“Thank you,” she says mouths to him and he just shakes his head like it was the obvious thing to do, which to him it is. Lucy doesn’t have too many memories of Jackson left, and if he will do his best to save as many as he can.
They apparently liked to never throw away a single manual for anything they owned, all of them just getting shoved in there. There are some magazines as well that he sets to the side, unsure if Lucy wants to keep them or not.
An envelope falls on the ground and he sees Lucy’s name written on it. He already has a feeling of what it is, recognizing Jackson’s handwriting.
Lucy doesn’t seem to notice at first, she even excuses herself to go use the bathroom. Once the door is closed, he sighs and looks up at Celina who’s scrolling her phone.
“Seems like Jackson left her a letter. You didn’t know it was here, right?”
She shakes her head, “No, and she hasn’t mentioned anything about it,” they both quiet when Lucy walks back into the room, taking her place back on the couch next to the dog. “I’m going to call it a night, thank you for the ice cream surprise. Goodnight you two.” Celina gets up to throw her garbage away.
“Goodnight,” they both call out to her as she walks into her room and closes the door behind her.
He gets up off the ground, moving slowly as his knees crack as he stands up. She of course makes some ‘old man’ jokes as he plops down next to her. She swings her legs over his, not wasting any time getting comfortable.
He holds out the envelope for her, she looks at it confused for a second before her hands start to shake once she notices the same handwriting that he had.
“Jackson?” Her voice is already trying to betray her.
“I’m guessing,” he nods, “It slipped out from the stack of magazines. Open it.”
She hesitates as his hand starts moving up and down her leg.
She gasps when she opens it, seeing the date on the letter. Right after they became P2s.
Lucy,
If you’re reading this, it’s likely because I’m gone.
I want you to know how proud I am of you and how honored I was, and still am to have been your best friend. The academy was tough, but because of you I made it through. And then when I needed a place to live, you were there in an instant.
I’m not even gone yet and I already miss the crap out of you.
I hope you know that no matter what happens, I’m always going to be your biggest fan (I’ll fight Tim even in my grave).
Love you 🩶
-Jackson
The tears were falling down her cheeks faster than she could stop them. Tim is there, wiping them away and pulling her closer. He kisses both of her tear stained cheeks, her forehead and then finally her temple.
“I’m sorry baby,” he wipes more tears, “I can’t imagine how proud he is of you though.”
“All I’ve ever wanted to do is make him and you proud. The two people who have always believed in me.” She sniffles.
“You have,” he assures her, “You make me proud every single day Lucy. And I know he’s watching down on you just as proud.”
His arms wrap tighter around her, somehow, and he gently rocks her. Her head lands on his chest, just wanting to be held and loved on in that moment by him.
“I just miss him so much.”
“I know. I know.”
She feels Kojo gently nudges her leg, and she looks down to see him looking very concerned and unsure what he can do to help his hurting girl. She untangles a hand from Tim to reach down to pet him.
“You want to go to bed? I think we’ve done enough for today.”
She barely nods, her eyelids already half closed as she makes no attempt to move from her spot on his lap. He doesn’t want to make her move, but knows they’ll be much more comfort in bed. And he’s definitely going to hold her there, too.
“Okay,” she feels a kiss to the top of her head, “Let’s get you up and getting ready for bed. I have to let the boy out to use the bathroom. Then I’ll come back, get ready for bed myself and come hold you in bed. Sound like a plan?”
He hears her give a quiet “mhm,” as she slowly gets up, not making any attempt to walk to the bedroom. Once he’s standing, he grabs her hand and makes sure she’s okay in the bathroom before throwing on Kojo’s leash to go outside.
***
She’s underneath the covers when he shuts the bathroom light off to join her. He sees that she’s wearing his shirt that she insisted he grab, always making him smile seeing her in his clothes. Kojo has already claimed his spot near her feet.
He barely lays down before she’s sliding over to him, finding her spot in his arms where she fits perfectly against his chest.
“That was hard, but it was still a really, really good day. Thank you for taking me out tonight.”
He smiles, kissing the top of her head not once, not twice but three times. “I’m so honored I get to be the one who gets to love you, who gets to be proud of you and who gets to hold you during the hard moments. I will never take that for granted. You’re everything to me and I find myself falling more in love with you every single day, and I didn’t even think that was possible.
I can’t believe we’re starting our life together soon, I’ve never been this excited for a next step. I’ve come to realize that home isn’t a place, but it’s a person, and with you I always feel like I’m home Luce. I love you.”
He hears her soft snores, laughing to himself that she fell asleep on him putting his heart out there again. But just like the first time, he certainly doesn’t blame her. Maybe he just has poor timing when he decides to get sentimental.
***
He’s in the kitchen making pancakes when the door to her bedroom opens. He woke up at his usual time, letting Kojo outside to do his business and then deciding to get started on breakfast while she slept in.
They have a lot they should tackle today, a lot still needs to be packed with not much time likely during the week. Hopefully last night was the hardest emotionally that it will be for Lucy.
“Morning, honey,” she’s still half asleep but seeing her like that is something he’s never going to get tired of. She walks over to him, giving him a kiss before popping a strawberry in her mouth.
“You sleep okay?”
“I did,” she happily sighs, “You know, I had a really cute guy and a really cute dog in my bed last night. That definitely helped.”
He chuckles, carefully flipping a pancake, “I guess it’s a good thing that soon we’ll be sharing a bed every single night then. My girl needs her sleep.”
She watches him in awe as he finishes up breakfast. He catches her watching when he turns back around, both of them breaking out into smiles.
“What? He asks still grinning.
“Just thinking about you. About us. How home stopped being a place a while ago. My home is you, and it has been for so long now.”
He gives her a look, one that makes her stand from the stool and round the counter to kiss him hard. He frees his hands from dishes and moves them to her waist, pulling her impossibly closer, their lips still attached.
“Good— oh,” Celina’s voice startles them apart, they were to wrapped up in each other to hear the sound of her bedroom door opening. “I guess Tamara was right.”
Tim sends her a glare, Lucy hiding her blushed face in his chest.
“I’m sorry, I was just heading out to breakfast with Aaron. I’ll be back later if you need help packing.”
She lifts her head to look at her roommate, “Thanks Celina. Say hi to Aaron for us.” She says she will and she’s out the door.
“Boy, I can’t wait to be free from your nosey roommates,” she swats his chest, he grabs her arm and pulls her in for another kiss.
Eventually they remember that Tim made a whole breakfast spread, taking their time to eat and share sweet kisses in between bites. Lucy giggling after she snuck Kojo some bacon. They did the dishes together.
Yeah, they’re home alright.