Chapter 22: For warmth purposes

The one where Tim and Lucy are caught in a storm.

Everyone described California as the sunny state, great beaches and the perfect weather year-round. Perfect for daisy dukes and bathing suits but when it stormed, it stormed for good. It was cold, extremely wet and loud. Oh, the noise, the endless thunders were the worst part, at least for Lucy. Since she was a child, Lucy enjoyed the storms, precisely she enjoyed the sound of the rain and watching it fall but thunder had always scared her, maybe it was because as an LA native she had seen how many fires had been caused from it.

As a storm settled onto LA, Lucy breathed deeply to hide the small whimper that threaten to escape when another Thunder made itself heard. She didn't want to appear weak, especially not on Tim's watch even though she was sure he had seen her flinch every time a thunder echoed. She really wished Sargent Grey hadn't ordered them to patrol the secondary roads around Angels Nacional Park to search and warn potential hikers, she preferred to patrol the streets rather than the dirt isolated roads.

"Jesus Chen, what are you 10?" Tim asked jokingly as Lucy jumped from her seat next to him, when another thunder hit.

"Shut up." She whined, pulling her legs up into the seat and seating crossed legged, Tim would have commented if it was any other situation but because he knew sitting like that made her calmer, he refrained from doing so-

"Wouldn't take you for a scary cat." He teased softly, perhaps if he could get her a little distracted, she would relax.

"Who handle that snake ugh?" She bitted back, sarcastically and Tim smirked, there she was.

"Exactly, you are not scared of a venomous snake but yes of thunder. It's just noise." He answered and watched from the corner of his as she smiled slightly at his hidden compliment. He could understand why so many people were afraid of storms, why Lucy was, they were unpredictable, and most people preferred the predictability. Not Tim, while he was a man of routines, he found them quite predictable because after every great storm came better weather but after great weather could come more great weather or a bad storm. He understood that deeply, how much he correlated to his life.

"Maybe for you." She told him, ever since she was young it was not the dark that scared her, it was the sounds.

"Ok, so what's the story behind?" He asked intrigued, throwing her a quick glance before adverting his eyes to the dark road ahead.

"Why would there be any story behind it? Fear is fear." She asked surprised, she had never giving it much thought, she had always been afraid of thunderstorms.

"there is always something, you know that." Of course, she knew that, we always associated our fears with a certain situation, or person and for the most part it was so subconsciously that we never knowledge it.

"So, there is a motive why the great Tim Bradford didn't catch that snake?" She teased him, it felt good to up him at something. She felt like he always saw through her, he knew her achievements, her barriers, her stressors and now her fears, but she didn't know much about his fears – it felt good to know he wasn't immune to fear, made him more approachable, more human.

"Maybe." He admitted, looking forward to the rain covered road, it was hard to see ahead, and Lucy thanked the fact that Tim was the one driving. "I tell you mine if you tell me yours."

"I don't think there is an event specifically that caused me to fear thunders." Lucy explained, fidgeting with her out of service phone. "But I remember listening to people tell me how many people died hit by lightning."

"Really?" Tim laughed and Lucy glared at him. "Sorry, Sorry but come on what's the odds of getting hit by lightning: 1 in a million?"

"Actually 1 in 700 000." When Tim laughed harder, Lucy swatted him across the arm. "That translate to around 50 deaths per year from lightning."

"You are more likely to die from bad seafood than that…but alright, a fear is a fear, as illogical as that is." Who was he to judge her when most of his fears – still present or not- were as irrational as hers. Exhibit number 1: Snakes.

"And what exactly is the explanation for your fear of snakes?" She asked him, rubbing her hands together jokingly, now it was her time to mock him.

"I'm not exactly scared of them." He explained, he really wasn't – he disliked them at best- but Lucy didn't look one bit convinced.

"You did look scared during that call." She teased ignoring the look he threw at her.

"More like unenthusiastic to see one." Lucy rose an eyebrow at Tim, and he sighed, not adverting his eyes from the road ahead. "When I was 7, my parents and I went to visit my gramma in Arizona and a snake attacked me."

"you actually got attacked by a snake?" She asked genuinely surprised.

"Well attacked is a very strong word." Tim threw a glance at Lucy from the corner of his eyes and could see that the younger officer was trying to contain her laughter. "My dad shook a tree and the snake fell on me." Lucy laughed loudly and Tim threw her a glare but to no vain as she was unable to stop laughing.

"Oh, I wish I was there to see it." She continued to laugh, and his annoyed pout only made her laugh harder.

"I was 7 Chen, it scared me." He defended almost offendedly, how could she laugh at his childhood trauma!?

"It's just my imagination is taking me places." She laughed harder as she imagined her T.O. screaming as some prairie snake fell on him. "Oh, don't pout." She tried to pat his arm, but he pulled away.

"I'm never telling you anything." He threatened but he knew it was an empty threat, all she had to do was push him a little and he would tell her almost anything.

"Oh please no. I'm sorry it was mean and inconsiderate of me. I'll buy us lunch tomorrow." She tried to apologize, a smile still present on her face. At least he had managed to distract her a little.

"You better." He warned, looking slightly at her.

"TIM." Lucy screamed while Tim turned his eyes back to the read and slammed the breaks as a deer ran in front of their car. Instinctively as he hit the break, Tim reached his right arm across Lucy as to prevent her from leaving her seat, even if she was wearing a belt. "Oh god did we hit it?" Lucy asked after the car halted with a screech of the tires.

"Are you okay?" Tim asked, still focusing on her instead of looking back to the road, using his right hand to turn her face towards him. She looked a little startled and that was all.

"Yes, you?" She reassured him, squeezing the hand that was holding her face with hers.

"Yeah, we are definitely suspending our conversations on the shop though." He informed her, looking straight at her and she nodded her head in agreement, remembering the accident that could have injured Tim's sergeant's carrier. He looked back outside to confirm that the road was no longer obstructed.

"I swear to god, next storm we are patrolling the Santa Monica area."

"Damn Right." He agreed, for sure Nolan and Harper were having a much better time than them. Tim ignited the car by turning the key, but it gave no sign of starting. "You got to be fucking kidding me." He muttered as he tried a second time and obtained the same reaction.

"It doesn't work?" Lucy asked and he shook his head. "Great." She muttered ironically.

"I'm gonna go check." He informed her, removing his flashlight from his belt and turning it on.

"It's pouring." She told him and he rolled his eyes at her, like he hadn't noticed.

"Can you fix it with the power of your mind?" He asked ironically as he opened the door to the shop, allowing the noise of the rain to overwhelm them and the cold air to enter the car. "Just stay here." He ordered as he stepped out, rain immediately drenching him and disappearing behind the hood of the shop.

"What are you doing Boot?" Tim asked as Lucy came to stand beside him, flashlight pointing towards him, running in her place to keep warm.

"I felt bad, besides you needed light." She tried to smile as she said it but her teeth shattered so she closed her mouth.

"You felt bad for what?"

"You being here alone." She explained like it was obvious, it didn't feel right to leave her partner to handle the situation all on his own.

"You are going to get pneumonia." He warned her tenderly, but Lucy offered him a small grin and flashed the light towards the car.

"What's wrong?" She asked instead, pushing a strand of wet hair from her eyes.

"Battery is dead." He explained solemnly.

"That's fixable, right?" she questioned, raising an inquisitive eyebrow as she remembered the time he had jump started her old car.

"Right." He told her tentatively." But we need another battery to hock ours to…"

"Okay, so we get another battery." Lucy told him as it was that simple turning around but like something finally clicked in her head, she looked back at him. "We need another car."

"Basically." He answered, they didn't necessarily need another car but finding a battery laying somewhere would be a little unlikely.

"Fuck." Lucy shouted, her voice muffled by the loud thunder that echoed, lightning striking almost immediately, making Lucy jump closer to Tim. "We should radio for backup. I have no reception on my phone."

"Mine either, the storm probably cut communications. Come on, lets get back in before we get sick." He told her pushing her slightly towards her door and she followed his instructions immediately.

Tim followed he close the hood of the shop and shivered as his wet and cold body connected with his seat. The car was cold and as he made to turn the heating on, to keep them warm, he cursed remembering that it also didn't work. He looked at Lucy who was trying to remake her hair bun but her shaky hands were making the job much more difficult.

"I told you to wait in the car, you are going to freeze." Tim scolded her, not to harshly. "Take off your jacket."

"A-A-A-RE you crazy?" Lucy asked teeth chattering as she watched Tim remove his wet jacket, the 51,8ºF outside and the fact that it was super cloudy and dark only made it feel even colder. "It's freezing."

"Rather cold than cold and wet, Boot."

"Dispatch..." Lucy tried to communicate but the coms emitted only the sound of interference and nothing else. "You got to be kidding me."

"Dispatch." Tim tried as well but got the exact same response as Lucy. "Fuck."

"The cut must be general, we're stranded." Tim cursed at her comment, smoking his fist against the steering wheel.

"We can't stay here." He simply told her.

"What are we walking to downtown LA? It's like a fucking hailstorm out there, Tim." Lucy informed him pointing outside, he had to be messing with her!?

"We're not walking to LA Lucy." He told her dryly, he wasn't a freaking idiot. "There's a Ranger's shed at the base of the park, like a mile up ahead. They usually have extra supplies."

"You're not going to walk there on this weather, alone." She stated firmly, he was crazy if he thought she would allow him to do something so reckless.

"Lucy it's literally freezing, you are soaking wet and we have no heating system. I rather walk there than spend the next week at the hospital because you have pneumonia." He explained, not wanting to argue with her.

"Oh wait, you want me to stay here?" She asked shocked, she was cold, wet and moody she was in no condition to put up with his protective shit.

"Of course, Boot. are you even listening to me?" He asked her, rubbing his temples.

"We shouldn't split up. It's not safe." She explained nervously.

"Boot you have the war bags on the back." He told her, he would leave her if he though she couldn't protect herself if danger appeared.

"You can't really shoot at thunderstorms." Lucy answered him ironically and Tim rolled his eyes. "Besides we have no way of communicating to each other."

"Lucy I'm going there, get what we need and come back. If I jog it takes me 12 minutes." He explained softly but her face was indicator enough that she wasn't backing down.

"I'm not comfortable with that."

"Lucy we can't stay here." They really couldn't, if they didn't have something to warm themselves or to get the car started, they would get sick.

"Then we both go." She told him firmly, not giving him any room for complaints. She was not going to stay inside like a damsel in distress.

"That beats the purpose of…"

"I can make the 2 miles in 12 minutes." She said lightly, wanting him to comprehend her but to not be mad.

"there's no contradicting you is there?" He sighed, giving up. They were wasting time.

"You know there isn't when I'm right." She smiled at him and he fought back his own smile, he really needed to learn to say no more often.

"You get sick and I'm dropping you at your parents." He threatened her with no malice, throwing his door open allowing them to get costumed to the chilly weather.

"Auch." Lucy said in mock hurt, much more pleased that he had conceded. "Just so you know, I'll make you a soup if you get sick."

"Boot, I rather die from pneumonia than food poisoning." He told her jokingly as he exited the shop, the rain soaking him immediately and chilling him.

"Very funny." She screamed over the sound of the pouring rain as Tim locked up the shop.

"you know Boot, you can't shoot at storms." Tim told her smugly as he pointed to her hand that had fallen unconsciously onto her gun. He threw her a smirk and started to run. "Don't fall behind."

It took them more than the 12 minutes they had originally planned to get to the shed, apparently running while it is pouring is much harder. For one your clothes weight at least a couple extra pants and two the cold rain manages to penetrate your bones in a way that is both impressive and scary. Naturally, Tim beats Tim to the shed and by the time she gets to him, he had already broken down the door and was rummaging inside.

"Take of your jacket." Tim ordered Lucy as he continued to open cabinets.

"Anything?" she asks, pushing away the cold and taking the cabinets to his left. If possible, the cabin was even smaller inside than it appeared outside. There was only two cabinets against the back wall and some hiking equipment leaning against the side walls.

"Just some blankets." He told her as he threw her a pair of blankets. "warm yourself up."

"Tim." She tried to argue, pointlessly.

"Can you please just do what I tell you, for once?" He asked, almost pleadingly and Lucy had no other option than to simply throw a blanket around herself and watch Tim rummage through the remaining cabinets.

"And more cable." He informed bitterly as he punched the last draw closed.

"Can you please refrain from breaking your hand? That would simply be the cherry on top of the cake." Lucy threw him the extra blanket and slid down against the cabinet to sit against it on the floor. "You need to warm yourself up too."

"At least we won't freeze." Tim stated, not too happy with the fact. "Now we have to wait for the power to return to the area."

"We won't freeze too much." She said, trying to hide her shattering.

"Are you still cold?" He asked and Lucy nodded timidly but by the trembling of her hands he could tell she was still pretty cold. "Come here." He opened his blanket and allowed her to snuggle closer to his embrace and wrap his blanket around the two of them.

"Thanks." She said, resting her head against his chest.

"Don't mention it." He said simply, resting his head back.

"Tim." Lucy called after a few minutes of silence and even though he didn't answer, she felt him nod. "Do you think we can overcome our fears?"

"Of course, ones just take longer to do so." He explained, he too had questioned it. "Why do you ask?"

"I just seem to add to the list but I don't really take any down." She muttered against his chest. "thunderstorms, sharks, dying, killing and now suffocating. Every day more and more things scare me"

"Well that's just life." He told her softly. "The more you live, the more you love and more you have to lose."

"It feels like I get stuck in them." She admitted, when she encountered her fears in real life situations it was harder to move on than expected.

"I know the feeling." He admitted. "When I joined the army, I was terrified I was going to kill one of my own for mistake."

"How did you overcome it?" she asked softly.

"I don't know if I ever did but I studied every member of my squad so well that I could tell who they were just by the way the reflected their knees." He admitted, remembering the countless hours he had observed them for.

"You got used to it."

"Yes, and I understood that our most irrational fears are the ones who tend to stick." He explained, resting his chin on top of hers and running small circles on her back. "You'll get over the fear of suffocating, but you will always be scared of thunderstorms."

"So, you will always be scared of snakes?" She asked softly but also teasingly.

"I think there's no denying it." He chuckled. "The point is they may always be present, but you learn to live with them."

"uhm, uhm." She nodded and rested her face in the cruck of his neck. "I hope you are right."

"I'm always right." She laughed at his comment, but he shushed her when he heard a beeping sound. "What the hell is that?" It stopped only to be heard again.

"I think it's my phone." Lucy told him as she pulled out her phone. "I have a text from Jackson." She rolled her eyes and groaned when Tim pulled away. "Hey…"

"That means we got reception." He explained, standing up and pulling his phone from his pocket. "YES. I'm soo giving Grey a piece of my mind." He told her sharply as he dialled his sergeants' number.

Lucy would eventually overcome some of her fears, but she would always dislike thunderstorms and Tim would find out that that fear was hereditary on the Chen girls.

Hey guys, here it is 22! Hope you like it, I had my doubts about this one but I really pushed myself to finish it. Let me know what you think, please.

Chapter 23 will be out Thursday but I still don't know the name. Let's hope for some good Chenford content today!

-stay safe, Xo.