Chapter Text
Angela wasn’t made detective for nothing.
She’s not entirely sure when she noticed Tim definitely having feelings for Lucy, but it’d definitely been sometime before Lucy’s kidnapping. She remembers Tim’s call, an “I need you,” and everything had been so clear. There hadn’t been any shock, or questions, or wonderings of how it came to be. It just made sense, like all the puzzle pieces she’d subconsciously picked up on sliding into place.
After that, it was just facts. Tim had some kind of feelings for Lucy. Lucy might have some kind of feelings for Tim. Lucy wasn’t just a normal rookie to Tim. Tim would absolutely never act on his feelings for Lucy while she was his rookie.
Then, Lucy wasn’t Tim’s rookie anymore. And Angela watched. And waited.
She’d been so caught up with her wedding that she hadn’t noticed anything—rightfully so, she knows; it was her wedding, and she deserved to have her day without wasting time wondering what her idiot of a friend might be doing with his old boot—until the next day.
Tim hadn’t been there for cleanup. Jackson was missing too, though he’d given a head’s up. It was just a fleeting mention from Patrice, stating that he’d never returned. Not after... Leaving with Lucy, apparently.
Patrice had mentioned it so casually, that Angela thought she must’ve misheard. But, no, her mother-in-law had confirmed it—the last time she’d seen Tim, was when he chased after Lucy, who’d stormed out of the reception. Then, nothing. She doesn’t know what happened after that.
Angela wishes she’d gotten someone to be on gossip duty. She curses herself for not thinking of it beforehand.
She tries not to dwell on it. Everyone had been extremely drunk. It’s possible that Tim just wanted to make sure Lucy got home safe, and then crashed. It’d be a very Tim Bradford thing to do.
So, of course, she scours for evidence the next time she sees him. It’s not something she wants to ask around about—even if Lucy is now a P2, it’s still a delicate situation.
It doesn’t take long for Angela to make a break in the case, and it’s in the form of a small, dark spot. She almost doesn’t see it, because it’s mostly covered by his shirt, but she sees just as the backpack forces the hem to slide down and...
Gotcha.
“I didn’t think you had it in you.”
Tim glances at her, not pausing his walk, brow furrowing. “Had what in me?”
“You left the wedding with Lucy,” she says slyly, keeping in step with him, “and now you have a hickey right at the collar of your shirt.”
There’s a small falter in his step as he takes in her words, before continuing to walk. “Those are...unrelated.”
Angela hums. “So, you just wanted to make sure she got home alright?”
“Exactly.” He gives a firm nod, but it’s not very convincing.
“Who’s home, Timothy?”
He blinks. “Uh. Hers. And then mine.”
She hums again.
He narrows his eyes. “What are you implying?”
Angela smirks. “What do you think?”
“I just took her home,” he insists.
He doesn’t give her any more than that, so she lets out an exasperated sigh. “Come on, it’s not like none of us have ever done it,” she prods teasingly.
“Wait.” Tim stops, alarm in his eyes. “Have you slept with a boot before?”
“I haven’t slept with any of my rookies,” she reveals carefully. “But I have slept with a rookie— after they washed out.”
“Who?” he asks incredulously.
“Remember Meghan Brown? Super hot, tall—”
“You slept with my rookie?” he cries out. “Seriously?”
“Oh, stop clutching your pearls,” Angela waves off. “She washed out so early that I never rode with her. We ran into each other like two months later and talked about how big of an asshole you were and then one thing led to another.”
“I—Lopez!”
She smirks. “Thanks for being my unknowing wingman. I really appreciated it.”
“I can’t believe you.”
“At least I never slept with my boot,” she says offhandedly. “That seems to be your new accomplishment. You and your rookie, huh?”
“Ex-rookie,” Tim quickly corrects.
Angela smirks at him. Got him.
His face falls. “I’m not sleeping with her!” he exclaims desperately, his voice pitching up an octave.
“Do you call her ‘Boot’ in bed?”
“I’m reporting you to IA,” he mutters.
“Oh, feel free,” Angela cackles. “I may not have slept with my rookie, but I’m sure he’ll still put in a good word to his dad.”
“I’m not sleeping with her,” Tim insists one last time.
Timothy, like a lying liar who lies, most definitely is sleeping with his ex-rookie.
Angela’s just unfortunate enough to get confirmation by accidentally walking in on it.
She’s shocked, but not because they’re together. After her conversation with Tim, she had paid close attention. She noticed when they’d leave together, or how often they seemed to mention each other, or how they’d eye one another across the bullpen. It’d been extremely obvious to anyone who knew what to look for, no matter how many times he denied that anything was happening. So, no, Angela isn’t shocked to know that she’d been right all along. No, it’s seeing Tim’s ass and—
Oh, god, she definitely didn’t need to see that.
“What the hell are you doing here, Lopez?!” Tim yells out, as the two of them desperately try to cover themselves up. But it’s too late. She’s already seen too much. She hates her life.
“What am I doing here?” she screeches. “What happened to not fucking your rookie!”
“Ex-rookie,” Lucy corrects quickly, automatically, before shrinking under Angela’s hard gaze.
“Follow me,” she orders her, eyes fiery and firm. Lucy hesitates, but she refuses to take no for an answer. She needs to get Lucy’s side of the story, without Tim involved. “Now.”
Reluctantly, Lucy wraps the sheet around her body, and Angela leads her over to the kitchen. This isn’t what she wanted to deal with today. Not when she has more important things going on. But, as it happens, the world just had to throw her an obstacle, and she can’t exactly pretend like it didn’t happen.
She leans against the counter, observing Lucy carefully. She seems nervous, wrapping the sheet tighter as she tucks in the corner to secure it, but it doesn’t seem like she’s embarrassed about being caught beyond the circumstances.
“Oh, come on, Chen, we share a locker room. I’ve seen it all—it’s Bradford’s ass that’s a surprise,” Angela points out. Lucy only tightens the bedsheet around herself, so she puts all her jokes aside. “Alright. When did this start?”
“Uh.” Lucy grimaces before confessing, “The night of your wedding. Sporadically.”
Angela laughs. “Timothy is such a liar.”
“Sorry?”
She only sighs. “I hate to ask, but is he in any way making you feel like you have to—”
“No!” Lucy immediately exclaims. “Absolutely not! Tim would never—”
“Okay. Good,” Angela responds with a pleased nod. “Tim’s my best friend and all, and I don’t see him ever intentionally doing that. But he’s a man. And I think sometimes men don’t realize the position they put us in, even if they don’t mean it.”
She remembers when she’d been a rookie. A P3 had propositioned her—not anyone she worked with regularly, but a superior officer nonetheless. She had shut him down hard and fast and mercilessly, then promptly spent the entire night preparing a speech defending her job—only to find out that the officer had no grudge, only a broken heart.
He had no retaliation in mind whatsoever, but Angela still had panicked that whole night. Lost sleep over it. Even after the realization, she’d waited around for him to change his mind and suddenly try to get her fired.
She thought her rejection would cost her her career.
She never wants anyone else to feel that way.
“It’s not like that,” Lucy assures. “I did most of the initiating. We’re just having fun and it’ll end the minute he gets the new position.”
“You seem awfully confident about that,” Angela notes. Tim tends to do the right thing, especially when it comes to the job, but she’s seen how deep his feelings can run. She doesn’t know if he’d give up someone he cares for so much in the blink of an eye.
Lucy frowns. “Well, Grey’s backing him, and he’d be amazing in the position—I don’t see how he wouldn’t get it.”
“Not that,” Angela starts, and then she starts feeling the tightening in her stomach again. Ah, right. That’s why she’d come here in the first place. She holds a finger up. “Actually, hold that thought.” Her forehead wrinkles in pain, and she bends over slightly, hand over her swollen belly.
Lucy looks at her with concern. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” Angela breathes out, eyes shutting closed as the cramping gets more intense in her abdomen. “Just peachy. Can you get Tim?”
“TIM?” the woman yells out, suddenly concerned.
The next thing Angela knows, Tim is by her side, hand calmly on her elbow, grounding her slightly. “What’s going on?” he asks.
“Can you grab the bag by the door?” Angela asks.
“What’s the bag for?” he asks.
“It’s just my birthing kit,” she answers simply. Isn’t it obvious?
“Why did you bring a birthing kit to my house?” he asks dumbly.
Angela blows out a few deep breaths, before standing back straight. “Because I’m about to have a baby.”
“WHAT?!” both of them exclaim loudly.
“I thought you weren’t due for another week!” Lucy continues.
“Looks like the baby’s impatient. But not too impatient—contractions are still about five minutes apart.”
Tim blinks at her, incredulous, almost panicked. “What are you doing here, then?!”
Lucy gently takes her by the shoulders, slowly leading her over to the door.
“Wesley’s in court and you weren’t answering your phone,” Angela explains easily, relishing in the brief softening in the pain. “I tried driving myself and then worried that I could get another contraction and you were closer than the hospital. So, come on, God-Daddy. You’re filling in until he’s done.”
Tim stares at her, slack-jawed, and Lucy has to nudge his shoulder to shake him back into reality.
“Right, okay,” he says quickly as he grabs his keys from the entrance and runs outside. Lucy continues guiding her gently to the car, opening the door for her, seating her in the back, next to the duffle bag that Tim’s already placed. Angela plops into the car, closing her eyes and blowing out a breath.
“This whole detour will never be a part of my birth story,” Angela tells the two of them pointedly, just as the contraction hits and she doubles over in pain.
“Definitely not,” Lucy agrees. She gives her an encouraging smile. “Good luck with the baby!”
Angela means to say, “Thank you,” but instead, she screams.
Tim and Lucy murmured quietly to each other, but, honestly, Angela had bigger things to worry about, doubling up in pain. But, she does notice as Tim leans forward and presses his lips to Lucy’s sweetly. It only lasts a moment, but it definitely happened. She knows she’s not crazy, even if a little feral currently.
They’re halfway to the hospital when Angela finally doesn’t feel like there’s a bowling ball trying to force its way out of her body, and she’s just dying to talk about everything she just witnessed.
“So, you’re not sleeping with Lucy, huh?” she teases.
Tim glares at her in the mirror. “Aren’t you supposed to be having contractions?” he asks pointedly.
“They’re not happening right this second,” she waves off. “And besides, I’d rather distract myself by talking about your girlfriend.”
“She’s not my girlfriend.”
“Hm. And do you always kiss your not-girlfriends goodbye?”
Tim turns impossibly pale in an instant.
Angela sits up straighter, immediately intrigued. “Wait. You seriously haven’t had the talk?”
“We had... a talk,” he responds cryptically.
“Really?” she sits up a little straighter. “Come on. I’m in labor. Give me something. Distract me.”
He’s quiet for a moment, but eventually, he seems to give in to her demands. “We agreed it couldn’t happen.”
“When?”
“At the wedding,” he answers.
Angela purses her lips. “And it happened anyway.”
“It was only supposed to be one night,” Tim says hollowly. “We... She didn’t want anything more. It wouldn’t be fair.”
“For who?” she asks. “For her, or for you?”
“Either of us.”
The way he says it is so clipped, that she knows he’s lying. Lucy, then.
“She mentioned that it’ll end when you get the Sergeant position,” she points out carefully. “So... You’ve talked about that.”
He swallows, hesitating. “She’s the one who encouraged me to go for it.”
Angela knows that some of this conversation is meant to be a distraction, but mostly, the fact that Tim is willing to tell her so much shows her that he really needs to get this out. Otherwise, he would’ve changed the subject. He would’ve told her to mind her own business.
That’s when she realizes: Tim doesn’t just have feelings for Lucy. He might actually be in love with her.
“Is this why you told Grey no at first?” Angela asks softly. “You said you wanted another station. Because you had a conflict of interest.”
“I thought...” He pauses. “It doesn’t matter. It’s a good job.”
“It is,” she agrees.
It’s his decision, she decides. If he’s taking the job—and he’s right, it’s a good job, and not worth turning down over the possibility of a relationship—then he definitely can’t be with Lucy. And Angela isn’t going to rub salt in the wound by pointing out his obvious feelings and telling him to pursue something that’s bound to end in disaster. Right now, based on his words, it’s only sex. It’s not a relationship. It’s not something worth fighting for.
She just hopes he doesn’t end up regretting it.
Or doing something stupid, like sleeping with his subordinate.