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Lucy should’ve made plans with Tamara, Angela, Aaron, John, anyone. Sitting here now, in the silence of the shop next to Tim, she wished she'd said declined the offer to do overtime, and on the very night of Halloween no less. She hadn’t been on duty this late since her mandatory night shift hours back when she was still his rookie. As the streetlights cascaded in and out of sight as they cruised down the streets, she begged her eyes to remain alert, the last time she’d fallen asleep Tim had made shirts, and if given the chance, she knew he’d make them again.
Tim’s voice hummed from the driver’s seat, “I’m surprised you didn’t have plans with anyone.”
“As it turns out, the only person I wanted to spend time with is right here in this very shop.” The tired words tumbled out of her mouth before she’d even had the chance to register them, her voice deep, bleary and on the brink of sleep.
Tim shot her a warning look then, anything remotely incriminating about their relationship could be brought up and investigated if caught on the shop or body cams. It was bad enough they were going behind both Grey and IA.
“That because I let you keep the lollies we confiscated from that kid?” he muttered, hands gripping the wheel tighter as a smile broke out on Lucy’s face.
God her smile.
“Maybe.”
The air crackled, warming slightly as he studied her. He probably shouldn’t while driving but the idle trick or treaters were just as tired as she seemed to be. She was trying to hide it and he wished he could send her home, they just had to last 37 more minutes until 11 and then they were both free to do whatever they liked, together. Her usually tight bun was slightly mussed, frames of hair sneakily sliding out, if she looked at it in a mirror he knew Lucy would be horrified but it made him want to reach out his hand and let all her hair down, raking his fingers through the soft wisps. 36 more minutes until he could, with no cameras watching, no duty or responsibility to any other civilian but her.
“You looking to get my hair care routine or something?” Lucy questioned as she caught his stare in her own before he turned back to the road, cop eyes scanning for the occasional ghostly straggler.
He cleared his throat, a slight burn crawling up his cheeks from being caught in the act, “No, I’m good thanks, just checking to make sure you don’t have nits or something.”
“Liar, liar pants on fire” she poked a finger at him.
“Hey watch it, I’m driving, I can’t get distracted.” he shot back.
“Like you weren’t distracted 2 seconds ago” Lucy grumbled, turning back to face the passenger side window.
“What was that?”
“Nothing!” she replied in a sing-song voice, temple slowly resting on the cool glass, a welcome change from the ‘electricity’ fizzing around the shop or whatever Celina had mentioned she had felt whenever both she and Tim were near her. Her eyes had nearly fluttered shut but a flash of light caused her to sit up in alert. After one glance in Tim’s direction she picked up the radio and called it in.
“Control 7-Adam-19 investigating a disturbance, we are code 6 at 45 Roland Avenue.”
A disgruntled copy filtered through the line as Tim parked the shop a house down from what appeared to be a block party and Lucy prayed they wouldn’t have to arrest more than one person.
In the slow shuffle towards the pulsing party Tim posed a question, “You still want to be primary?”
“No, please go ahead,” she said, arm ushering him towards the door first. If Tim wanted to be primary then by all means, she was too tired to be anything more than secondary tonight. The swell of empty cans and bottles littered the lawn as she followed him up the small footpath, not a single soul in sight, almost like the house was harbouring an old secret.
When they reach the screen door, Tim knocks three times and calls out “LAPD” to a seemingly empty house. Just as the pair reach for their guns, ready to breach, Reese Witherspoon opens the door. Lucy blinks. No. It was a girl dressed as Elle Woods in that one bunny costume with the ears and everything, man she must be really tired.
“No we’re not the strippers.” Tim stated out of the blue as Lucy chuckled. Boy he was so traumatised, she made a mental note to make him tell her exactly what happened when he’d gotten his uniform torn all those years ago.
“Too bad,” the woman started, “You’d make a pretty good one from what I can see.”
Lucy fought the urge to throw up.
Hiding her grimace though, she turned slightly towards Tim, their eyes catching each other as the same thought rang through their heads.
Badge bunny.
Dressed as a bunny no less, how ironic. They had come across them in the past across cases and on patrol, people wanting them for their uniform, but an unfamiliar feeling prickled through Lucy’s chest at how close the woman was standing to him, but more importantly how he wasn’t pulling away.
The woman smiled almost too sweetly, “What can I do to help?” her voice turning syrupy as her eyes landed on Tim again, raking him up and down.
“I’m Sergeant Bradford and this is Officer Chen. We’re just investigating a potential disturbance, do you mind if we come inside?” Tim asked, poking his head slightly inside.
Lucy watches the woman place her hand on his forearms as he rested them on his duty belt, “Of course, whatever you need.”
Whatever you need? It was disgusting to watch, a pit slowly forming in her stomach the longer Tim didn’t pull away. It wasn’t fair that strangers got to touch him while they were on duty and she couldn’t. His head was angled down, eyes flicking down to the point of contact and Lucy waited for him to say something, anything, ‘Hey, I have a girlfriend’ or ‘Please take your hand off me,’ but he remained silent. The quiet of this revelation cut through her like a knife. She knew that it was risky, but surely their relationship didn’t mean nothing to him, right?
Fighting the urge to say something, Lucy shoved in between them, entering the premises and not looking back to see whether Tim was following her. She was a professional and didn’t care for the burning silence she left behind, not acknowledging the betrayal of her body flushing hot, and not the good kind. Clearing room after room, her face had nearly turned to stone trying not to think about what had gone down at the door, and now breaching the final room, she didn’t even know where he was, she always knew where he was. He was probably still standing by that door. ‘That door’ or the beautiful woman by it, her mind intruded. She brushed the thought away upon encountering a figure in the corner of the kitchen.
“LAPD hands up and turn around. Slowly.”
The boy turned around dropping a mysterious package onto the bench as his hands flew up in surrender.
“What’s in the package?” she mused, chin pointing toward whatever lay on the bench.
The words fractured out of his mouth, “s-spark-lers.” That would explain the flash of light. Walking over and inspecting the collection of sparklers Lucy lowered her gun, placing it back in her holster.
“Have you been setting these off recklessly?” she asked.
“N-No, just a few in the front and backyard for photos.” he swallowed.
“Alright, it’s not a crime to use sparklers but I don’t want to be back here because of any injuries or anything like that okay?”
“Yes ma’am.”
Lucy nodded, sending him a polite smile before letting dispatch and her partner apparently, know that everything was code 4. Where even was Tim?
Just as she was about to storm out, there he was walking towards the kitchen. But there she was, trailing him, touching his uniform, his badge, infiltrating his personal space, things that she had to refrain herself from doing. If this went on any longer she would be the next one in custody and Tim would have to bring her back to the station in cuffs. Part of her wanted to jump into his arms and kiss him right then and there so that she backed the hell off, but that wasn’t an option. How long could they keep going along like this, hidden in the background of brushing fingers and lingering stares? The dark feeling she didn’t dare to name wading itself to the surface any time someone hit on him, the terribly possessive nature coming out any time he got hurt.
Her eyes finally lifted to his which looked vaguely uncomfortable, eyes surrendering as they peered deep into hers as if to ask, a little help here?
She really wanted to look amused, she really did, but she couldn’t bring herself to be amused by this at all.
“Alright ma’am, thank you for your time, here is my card in case things go south, feel free to contact us if anything arises.” she forced, handing her card over to the woman she never wanted to hear from again.
“Call me Clara, but before you leave can I have your number?” Lucy grew still seeing that her question wasn’t directed at her, waiting to see what Tim would do.
“My partner already gave you her number in case you need to contact us.” He finalised.
Clara pursed her lips, “It wouldn’t hurt to have yours as well.” Her mouth left slightly ajar, like she was about to lap him all up. Tim went to pull out the card from his uniform pocket but he was stopped by her voice. “No silly, not your city issued number, your number number” she winked not so subtly. Lucy wanted to throw up again looking at her perfect smile and perfect body and perfect hair. They would look good together, her mind rattled, and she hated herself for thinking it, because it was true. It’s not that Lucy hadn’t been jealous previously, it just seemed to bubble to the surface more easily than ever before and she was the one that felt ‘silly’ for even feeling jealous. But however much she tried not to, her stare kept hardening the more tricks she pulled.
“You know a lot about law enforcement, do you have a family member in the force?” Tim asked politely, shoving the cards back where they belonged and something in Lucy relaxed, slightly.
“My ex was a police officer too.” Bingo.
Sensing no road forward in the conversation Clara placed her hand on his shoulder, “Why don’t you stay at the party for a bit, I know we’d have a good time or at least let me thank you.” she forced out in a sultry voice. Tim’s jaw tightened, enough was enough.
“We don’t take gifts but have a nice night Clara.” he declared before walking down the stairs.
“Did you really have to say her name?” Lucy whispered to him, her stare still glowering like she had been ever since they approached the house.
“I was just being polite.” he replied, not knowing he was walking into dangerous territory.
“Polite?” she hissed now that they were far away from the door.
“What did I do something wrong?” he asked, stopping and turning towards her before the shop.
“No.” said Lucy, slightly annoyed because technically he hadn’t, but she couldn’t get over him just standing there and taking whatever Clara was throwing at him.
“Are you squared away?”
Lucy’s neck snapped up, “Am I squared away? Yeah sure.” she replied sarcastically. All he could think to ask was whether she was squared away?
At that response Tim softened, voice lowering, “You okay?”
She knew that they were keeping their relationship under wraps, in a way it was really sweet, but what she had just encountered had made her want to scream it from the rooftops. A primal instinct she hadn’t known was there had fought its way into her system in a way it hadn’t before with any of her other exes, but none of those had been truly serious, not in the way she and Tim were and it made her overwhelmingly shy in a way she didn’t expect.
“Not here.” she whispered looking down, hoping he didn’t catch any of the vulnerability written across her face. Tim relented, dropping the subject for now, sensing that this was neither the time nor place before returning slowly to the shop, warily watching her every move until their shift was over.
-
His keys jangled in the door, opening it slowly and pausing so she could make her way up his driveway from her car. Watching as she slid inside and following behind, Lucy all but slumped into the couch, toeing off her shoes and glancing over at Tim and he made his own way down to her.
“You finally want to tell me what that was about?” he hummed, scooting closer and wrapping an arm around her, something he had been waiting to do all day. Lucy’s head tumbled down onto his shoulder, hands twiddling, trying to avoid answering him. What was she going to say?
Oh hey, yeah I was actually super jealous that my boyfriend was hit on by a badge bunny we met on a call? How pathetic.
She didn’t want to seem possessive or stupid or insecure. Her train of thought was broken by the movement of Tim’s shoulder underneath her, forcing her to look up, interlocking her eyes with his.
“Hey,” he murmured, “you went all quiet on me,” hand sifting up and down her back in warm strokes, calming her to the point of almost confessing. She searched his face as he searched hers, a vulnerability sweeping through her, as if she knew he could see right through her. He was everything she didn’t want to lose, and maybe he deserved to know that.
“I don’t want to lose you.” she said oh so quietly, eyes flashing away and Tim’s chest ached, wanting to carry her away from the rest of the world and smother her in kisses.
“You won’t,” he said, voice hushed but as firm as steel, “but where has all this come from, hmm?” face moving down to regain eye contact with her, giving her no place to hide.
“Just that call today, with the badge bunny, I didn’t like it, I didn’t like her.” Lucy corrected, the silence enveloping her.
“Lucy, you know what badge bunnies are like, we’ve come across them before.” he replied.
“Yeah, but not like this,” she said, hand going to clutch his, before tracing up his arm, “and when she touched your forearm in the way that she did…”
“You’re mad because she touched my arm?” he questioned at her exasperation.
She shook her head, brows creasing, “No, I’m mad because she was looking at you like she could have you, and you just let her think that maybe there was a chance you would let her.” a bitter tinge to her voice forcing itself out at the thought.
“Wait, are you jealous?” accused Tim, head reeling back, a smirk begging to grace his face although he didn’t let it. He loved the thought of her being jealous over him, it made his heart beat hazily, tripping and stumbling as if trying to get somewhere faster.
“I don’t get jealous.” she shot back, trying to hide behind the jab.
“Lucy.” he hummed in disapproval, seeing right through her defence act about how she was really feeling. She sighed in defeat, knowing she couldn’t win against him.
“Okay maybe I really really like you and I really really hate it when other people like you too.”
A grin flashed across his face, “You really really like me?” Lucy fought the urge to roll her eyes, he was ridiculous.
“Not the point” she scoffed, but a glint twinkled in her eye no less.
“The only point I see that’s important.” he replied as she stared back up at him in childlike wonder. “Lucy, no matter what happens out on duty, wherever I go, you’re the only thing that’s important to me.” he said, hands grabbing her wrists and intertwining their fingers. Something eased inside of her, like the latch of a door opening, and she let him inside.
“And don’t think I didn’t notice your stunts at the house, basically barrelling into a civilian, being annoyed when I said her name?" he followed up, her hands twitching for a second at how obvious her jealousy had been.
“I know, it’s not like me but I could help myself.” she blushed, swinging her leg over his lap, bracketing his legs so that they were face to face.
“It’s cute.” he noted, face inching forward so that their noses brushed briefly.
“Cute?” she tested the word in her mouth.
“You being jealous, I’ve never seen that side of you before.” he half teased.
“And you think it’s cute?” she asked, slightly perplexed.
“I think everything you do is cute.” The sentence lingered in the air like an unspoken thought, except this one was most definitely said out loud.
“Everything?” she repeated in a soft whisper, their warm breaths mingling as she watched his eyes darken slightly.
“Bingo.” he answered, voice low as his eyes flicked down to her lips. As she felt the burn of his hands on her thighs, she brought one of her own to the nape of his neck and closed the distance. Strong and sure, their lips slid together in the comfortable way they always did, a smile pulling from both of their mouths. Tim started to inch forward being drawn closer to her, his hands slowly seeking to find purchase elsewhere before Lucy immediately pulled back before she placed her head in the crook of his neck.
“I’m tired” he heard her voice mumble from the depths of his collar as she collapsed, completely moulded against him, calm and moments from rest.
“Oh you are, are you?” he asked amused, peering down at her body tucked into his and his heart practically swooned of its own accord. He was a goner.
“Mhmm.” she hummed into his skin, eyes flickering shut as her arms circled his neck. Her wish was his command as he scooped her up in his arms and carried her to bed, her skin soothingly warm against his. He brushed a soft kiss to her hair as he lay her down, not that she felt it because she’d already lost consciousness, her mind already dipping into sleep. All Tim could do was smile down at her as the slow mull of sleep crept up in him too, his body closing down for the night, giddy and yet, solid.
For what it was worth, he didn’t want to lose her either.