Chapter 17: In loving memory

The one where Tim faces the loss of someone important.


Sargent Wade Grey wasn't blind, in fact he prided himself in being such a good observer. He noticed the change in Tim as soon as Lucy became his Rookie. Tim was always standoffish, even when he was a Rookie, but it only got worst when Isabel felt down the rabbit hole and he fear Tim would not be able to recover from it or do something crazy to save her. He didn't, but he figured that the young officer had something to do with it. He feared the news he had for Tim would halt the progress he had made.

Losing those close to us or those who had left a lasting impression in our lives was hard, probably some of the hardest things we faced, but the majority of people found ways to move past them, something or someone to hold on to. That wasn't the case with Tim, all the hardships he faced in his past, he faced alone – pushing away everyone who tried to offer a hand. Lucy had managed to fight through most off his barriers, and Wade had to admit the girl had fire in her. And that she would be there for her T.O. even if he pushed her away time after time.

Most Sergeants would have seen a problem in their relationship, would have seen that it went beyond Mentor-Mentee, perhaps even more than friends but Wade pretended he didn't see it. He trusted Bradford to make the best decision for the two and Chen proved countless times to have her head in the right place… besides what they did in their free time was their business, only if it affected their work would it be his problem.

"Bradford." He called, to the soon to be Sargent. "Can I see you in my Office?" Tim nodded and pointed to Lucy to head into the lockers and go home for the day. The younger officer nodded and offered him a sheepish smile when she passed by his door.

"What can I do for you sarge?" Tim asked as he stepped inside his office. When Tim noticed the sombre look on Sergeant's Grey face, he knew this wasn't some routine chat. "Is something wrong?"

"Officer Dexter Adams passed away last night." Grey informed and the younger officer had the expected reaction. He maintained the stoic look Tim perfected over the years in the military but the sadness that passed through his eyes was noticeable to someone who was waiting for it.

"Was there…" Tim tried to ask but his voice failed slightly.

"It was a natural death." Grey informed and Tim nodded solemnly. "The funeral is tomorrow at 11."

"I'm on duty tomorrow." Tim explained stoically, using that fact as an excuse not to attend the funeral.

"He was your T.O, Tim. You can take a day off." Tim nodded almost reluctantly, knowing that there was no point in arguing with Grey. It had been years since the last time Tim talked to Dexter, but he had a lot to thank his Mentor. He made him the cop he was today, thought him the principles he lives by, the ones he passed on and helped him transition from staff Sergeant Bradford to Officer Bradford. "Chen..."

"I'll have officer Chen ride with Officer Lopez tomorrow." Grey assured Tim with a nod.

"Yes, thank you." Tim nodded almost mechanically, his thought far away. "Can I go now?"

"Yes." Sargent Grey nodded and Tim turned to leave. "Bradford would you like someone to accompany you?"

"No, I can handle this on my own." When Wade prepared himself to open his mouth to intervene, Tim cut him short. "I rather do it alone Sir." Grey nodded, not entirely sure if he agreed with Tim's decision.

Tim exited the Sargent's office, his brain processing a million different thoughts, from everything he learned from his T.O. and from all the times the two tried to meet up but something always came up. Now there was no rescheduling, no more opportunities to catch up and like many times before Tim had left thing to be said and done. He only noticed he ran into someone when he felt a small body colliding with his. He held Lucy around the waist and close to him, preventing her from falling from the speed and strength from their collision.

"Hey there Mr. Hurry." Lucy laughed as she straightened up but when she noticed Tim clenched jaw and absent expression, she sobered up. "Hey what's wrong?" She asked softly, reaching to touch him slightly on the arm.

"Nothing." Tim said sharply, shrugging her hand off. The action surprised her, not in a long time had Tim been so cold towards her.

"Tim…"

"Seriously leave me alone, Chen." Lucy took a step back upon his rude, cold tone. She remined as expressionless as possible but she was sure she had failed, and that anyone could see the hurt in her face. "Just go home." He added more softly but still distant as he left her standing there.

Unknown to Lucy Sergeant Grey had witnessed the internet encounter. Tim reacted like he feared old Tim would, pushing everyone away, even those he cared the most about. He pondered whether going against his fellow Officer was better or worse, but he ended up deciding he preferred Tim to slightly resent him than to see him spiralling out of control.

"Officer Chen." He called and sighed when the younger officer turned to him, looking clearly upset. "Don't take it personally."

"I'm sorry, what sir?" Lucy asked, shaking her head to regain focus.

"Bradford, he just got some bad news today." He informed her and watched as she turned to look back to where Tim had headed with a sad look. "Tim's…"

"I'm not sure he wants me to know Sir."

"I'm sure he doesn't but I believe he needs it." He explained and Lucy nodded understanding what he was saying. "Officer Bradford's T.O. passed away last night, his funeral is tomorrow. He and Tim were close." Lucy nodded, Tim had talked about his period as a Rookie a couple of times, not often and he never offered any details. Typical Tim Bradford.

"I'm really sorry for that sorry." She said honestly. "But I'm not sure I'm exactly the help he needs, perhaps Officer Lopez could offer better assistance." It pained to say it but she wasn't really sure if he would accept her support.

"You and I both know that that's not completely true." Grey disagreed, looking straight at her, causing Lucy to blush slightly. "I'm not that blind. I'm giving you the day off; the funeral is at San Fernando Pioneer Memorial Cemetery at 11."

"Alright Sir." Lucy nodded in agreement, memorizing the time and place. "Any tips on how I can approach this with Tim."

"Honestly, Officer Chen?" Lucy nodded at his question. "I think you know how to approach Tim better than anyone else." Lucy offered him a guarded smile and left, rummaging through her brain to find the right way to approach the situation with Tim. Lord help her.

Lucy hurried out of the car, pulling her knee length black dress down and grabbing her purse and the flower crown she had ordered from the flower shop by her apartment. She was late but she was right on time. She had planned to arrive just a few minutes before in order to support Tim but still avoid any argument, clearly, she had underestimated LA traffic. She hurried across the field, trying to avoid getting her shoes stuck on the grass.

She stopped in her track when she reached the area of where the new burials where taking place. It was empty, she was confused for a few minutes, she was sure Grey had said 11 a.m. She looked around the cemetery surveying the area, looking for anyone but she came up short. She turned further left and squinted hard, there was a figure leaning against a tree maybe 20 feet from her. She would recognize him anywhere, even in a sombre assemble, Tim's figure was unmistakable, Powerful and strong.

Lucy sighed and walked over, there goes avoiding conflict, Tim faced twitched in recognition when she approached him. his blank expression went from surprised to angry to sad and back to blank in the time it took her to reach him.

"You can't really leave anything alone, can you?" Even though his voice was somewhat harsh, it wasn't rude like the day before. It sounded more tired and sad than anything else.

"Not my strongest feature, no." She said with a soft smile, switching her feet around awkwardly, she hadn't exactly planed for this and she knew that the usual protocol held at funeral would probably not fly with Tim.

"You shouldn't …"

"Screw it." Lucy muttered to herself and stepped forward, interrupting Tim mid-sentence as she wrapped him in her arms. Even through she was wearing low healed shoes, she still stood a foot shorter than him and so she had to stood in her tiptoes to hug him properly.

Lucy's hug caught Tim of guard; sure, they had hugged before but not like this. Every other time they had hugged because of the hardships of their job, because he needed to reassure her that she was safe somehow but now their hug felt much more intimate, conscious and he was the one in need of her comfort. He decided to throw everything that made him Tim Bradford and hug her back, focusing simply on the comfort she provided, the warmth she eradiated, the smell of her lavender shampoo, the felling of her cold fingers on the back of his neck and how she smelled like the old perfume she wore and not the new one.

Lucy wrapped Tim harder into her embrace when his hands circled her waist and she felt him rest his head on top of hers, his nose against her head. She had overthinned the encountered too much, planning every detail to avoid awkward moments, to avoid conflict but now she understood that no matter how many times they pissed each other off, pushed the other way when one needed the other would always be there. And the little pieces would simply fall together, like they always did. "I'm soo sorry."

"Thank you." He kissed the top of her head and pushed her away, she smiled and nodded at him.

"Am I late?" She asked softly, looking up at him.

"No, it hasn't started yet." He explained and Lucy looked around them once more.

"Uhm… where's everyone?"

"There's not anyone else… apparently just the two of us." Tim laughed dryly and Lucy reached her hand towards him, laying it gently on his arm. "In loving memory indeed… guess I get to see what my funeral will look like."

"Don't be ridiculous." Lucy swatted him lightly and felt pain fill her chest when she noticed how truly affected Tim was.

"No really. We were similar, me and my T.O. We both pushed our personal lives aside and focused on our careers and look at how it ended." He muttered pointing at the empty cemetery. "No one to remember us by."

"That's not true, I'll always remember you." Lucy assured with a wink and Tim gave her a small smile. "I hope you don't take it personally, but I hope you go first, you know normal life progression." She joked which earned her a small chuckle from Tim.

"I hope so too." He replied honestly.

"But I'll always remember my annoying T.O. who made me a better cop and saved my ass many times." She smiled. "And everyone you save remembers you, one way or another. Besides I'm pretty sure you are hard to forget with all that cockiness and all."

"At least I know I can count on you to up my moral." He said with a chuckle and Lucy smirked amusedly at him.

"well, now you know how my speech will go." Lucy smiled at him. "You can count on your Boot to always be by your side. I think the partner oath goes smoothing like: In good and bad moments, in sickness and health and not even death keeps us apart."

"Sounds a little intense." He admitted, in all honesty intense was the best word to describe their relationship.

"That's how I roll. Leave it or take it?" She asked, offering him her pinkie finger, Tim gave a slight grin and intertwined her finger with his.

"I guess I never had a choice." Lucy shook her head and Tim sighed." He would have hated this, us here, the flowers. Would have said it's the way society shows us how truly hypocrite it is."

"We don't do funerals because of the dead, we do them because the living need them." Lucy explained to Tim, who looked to the floor. "We do them because we need the closure, we need to remember them one last time and because we need to thank them… even if that's through some stupid flowers." She said pointing to the crown in her hand.

"It.."

"It's never too late." Lucy interrupted him. She knew what he was going to say, in typical Tim mentality. "whatever you need to get off your chest, you can say it."

"I just wished I had gotten those drinks I promised, but something always came up." Tim explained, running his hand through his face. "Either it was work, or Isabel or the sergeant's exam. I abandoned him like everyone else."

"No, you didn't." Tim didn't look up from the floor, so Lucy put her hand on his chin and forced his head up. "You take him with you every day, you pass his teachings down to me and you are here, today. You make sure he lives on, that's not the attitude of someone who abandoned another. Yes?"

He nodded to reassure her, and she rubbed his cheek softly. "The pastor is here." He informed her and she turned to look at the place the grave was located. "We should go."

"Are you ready?" She asked him and when he nodded, she led them towards the grave.

The preacher greeted them with a gentle and kind smile as the couple joined them. The grave was already covered with fake grass, the inscription was simple and there were no kind of adornments. "Do you know if anyone else is coming?"

"It's just the two of us." Tim informed the pastor as Lucy laid the crown on the freshly laid grass.

"So can we start?" The couple nodded gravely, and the pastor opened his bible. "Do you have any request for a sermon?"

"n…" Lucy started to say, she knew Tim wasn't religious and she hadn't practiced in a long time.

"Isaiah 57:1-2." Lucy looked surprised at Tim and he simply gave her a nod, that she returned, taking a step closer to him and holding his hand in hers.

"Very well." He said turning the pages until he found what he was looking for. "The righteous perish, and no one takes it to heart; the devout are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death."

Lucy wouldn't have chosen a better Sermon, every word uttered symbolized what being a police officer meant to them. A life devoted to others, fighting what's wrong. A battle that was only over when they took their final rest. She really had underestimated Tim, but he continued to impress her every day.

"Would any of you like to say any words?" The pastor asked and Lucy felt Tim shake his head from his place to her left. She released his hand and took a step forward.

"I would like to say a few words." Actually, she felt like she needed to say them. She stepped forward facing both Tim and the grave as the Pastor nodded his head for her to go ahead. "I never met Dexter, at least not in person but I do fell like I know him. I know him through the lives he touched, through the values we share, through the people we care for." Lucy said looking straight at Tim. "while I wish we had met in life, we'll reschedule it for some years. In the meantime, I'll do my job to your standers, try to uphold your values and look after our friend. Thank you and may you rest now."

Lucy stepped back into her place next to Tim as the rest of the ceremony was finalize. She didn't mention the single tear that she saw escape his eye and he didn't mention the fact that she leant into him and relaxed into his embrace. The Preach left after his final words and allowed them to say their final goodbyes privately.

"Thank you." Tim said fighting the urge to rest his lips against Lucy's forehead, knowing perfectly well that if he did it again, he would be crossing a line that allowed no return and he didn't they were there yet.

"yeah." Lucy nodded shyly, their eyes connecting, and their minds understood each other in a way they didn't know possible. "I brought us some drink for afterwards, but I think I can let you share it with Dexter." Lucy pulled two mini bottles of whisky out of her purse and handed them to Tim.

"I think Dex wouldn't mind you drink it in his place." Tim said, settling himself in front of the grave and offering the other bottle to Lucy. "He would say, you need it more than him, considering you have to put up with me." Lucy laughed and sat herself next to him.

"Ok but only if you tell me some stories about your Rookie time. I'll promise I won't tell everyone." Tim nodded with a smile as he took a sip of his drink. To a stranger the two appeared to be a little strange. Sitting on a cemetery, telling stories and laughing, completely entranced with each other but to Tim and Lucy it felt like they were home.


Here it is guys. Loved writing this one, even if it is a little more serious but I always try to make a positive out of every bad situation. What did you guys think?

Chapter 18: Sweet Lullaby is out on Thursday and it involves fancy clothing. It's a fun one. I got to admit ABC is starting to scare me, I'm not giving any spoilers but the ending of the Good Doctor was a punch in the gut. They better make it right for Lucy and Tim, or I'm never watching their shows again

Stay safe, XO.