Chapter 26: A visit from the past
The one where Isabel and Tim finally part ways.
From the few time Lucy had talked with Tim about Isabel, he had made It clear that she was part of his past. A very important part of his past, yes! One that he would never be able to forget, they had spent amazing moments together as well as some truly horrible ones. It had been what made them strong, until the point where they broke. They had been good friends before they started dating, the academy bringing them together and Tim had admired her tenacity, her confidence and her sass. How easily she had broken down his barriers, maybe that should have been his warning sign, how easily she broke things and how truly untalented she was to piece them back together. So, after he spoke to Isobel at her rehab centre, Tim had turned the leaves on their book -closing it permanently behind him.
It was on a Saturday morning like this, where Lucy and Tim where going on routine run with Cojo, that Tim had asked her to stop by Goodwill, where he deposited all the belongings from Isabel he didn't want to keep in his garage. He kept their wedding photos and some albums in the garage as well as some items they had bought together but everything else was donated, he needed to move on, and he couldn't do that with the constant reminders.
With that Lucy deducted that Isabel was part of Tim's past, like locked in a mid-century trunk in the bottom of the ocean past. Of course, she knew that it was impossible to toss someone you once cared soo deeply for, so far away but she definitely didn't expect to find her at Tim's house on the first Saturday of May.
It had become almost like a tradition for Lucy and Tim to take Cojo on a run together on Saturday morning, it was kind of their thing since the little for legs partner joined their lives. Lucy would grab coffee and two bagels on her way to Tim's house and Tim would drive them to Runyon Canyon Park, where they would spend a couple of hours simply hiking in silence. Lucy had even been impressed with herself when, for at least 3 times, she had been able to convince Tim to join her for brunch. She was surprised when it happened, but she thought that the fact that her training year was coming to an end had played a huge factor in it, they had both been more on edge as the time neared.
Lucy rang the doorbell and waited for Tim to answer, usually he was ready, and she was late. As soon as he opened the door, Cojo would jump and lick her face excitedly which would earn him a scolding from Tim. Maybe it should have been a warning when it took him more than 2 minutes to open the door.
"Yes?" Tim asked as he opened the door before he even realised who she was but as soon as he did, his face resembled one of confusion. "Boot, what are you doing here?"
"It's Saturday." Lucy explained hesitantly, as she noticed that he was wearing jeans and a shirt, not exactly the most appropriate hiking attire.
"Shit." He muttered, rubbing his face and Lucy noted how stressed he was just from the rigid stance he had. "I completely forgot…" Before he could answer, Cojo run up to them and jumped into Lucy, completely oblivious to the tension between the two.
"Hey big boy." Lucy smiled softly at the dog, scratching behind his ear. She looked up at Tim to see him watch her intensively. "It's okay you know!?" She asked with a small chuckle. "We all forget arrangements; you can go and get ready and I'll watch Cojo."
"Lucy that's…" Tim started to explain, rubbing her neck slightly but a female voice interrupted him.
"Hey, are you sure I can take the record player?" The female that the voice belonged to was Isabel, and Lucy watched her appear from behind Tim. The older woman looked healthy, certainty a lot better than the last time Lucy had seen her. "Oh, you are Lucy, right?" Isabel asked, a little surprised to see the Rookie there, her eyes wandering between Lucy and Tim to gawk their reaction.
"Ugh… Yes, it's really nice to properly meet you." Lucy answered after the initial shock had passed, of all people she would have expected to see at Tim's house: Isabel was not one. But watching her stand besides Tim, healthy and with a wide smile, Lucy could understand how once they had been a good couple- or at least a very attractive one.
"You too." Isabel smiled, watching them closely. While Lucy was avoiding looking at Tim at all costs, Tim was watching her intensely trying to figure out what the younger girl was thinking.
"Would you mind giving us a minute?" Tim asked, his voice coming out more irritable than he hopped for, but his eyes never left Lucy
"Sure, I'll just be inside." She answered with a slight smirk as she cast the two on last look, before turning and heading back inside.
"Lucy..." Tim began to say, only to have her interrupt him quickly.
"You don't need to explain anything to me." Lucy said quickly, she really wanted to avoid this conversation and if possible, reset her day.
"It really isn't what you think." Tim explained, watching her closely. She was looking away, trying to gather her own thoughts but Tim knew perfectly well what she was thinking and if there was something, he desperately wanted was that she didn't think this situation was anything more than it was. "She's just…"
"It's your private life Tim. It's really none of my business." Lucy cut him short finally looking at him, she whished her voice had come out stronger but unfortunately it had sounded shacky like her resolute. Tim's eyes were as clear as the blue sky above them and Lucy desperately wanted to believe the honesty, she saw in them but something in the back of her mind was creating a little green monster: Jealousy.
"We're just talking." He said honestly, taking a step closer to her so that she could see how honest he was being. He and Isabel was never going to happen again, they had changed too much – he had changed too much but he couldn't blame her for assuming the worst, he too would if he saw an ex at her house at 10:30 A.M.
"I get that, I do." She answered, not completely sure if she did. He had no reason to lie to her and one thing Tim Bradford was for sure was honest but seeing him with Isabel made her uncertain. They were married, they loved each other, feelings like that aren't easy to forget.
"I'm sorry that I forgot about today, it was just an overload of information it slipped my mind." He admitted, Isabel had showed up at his house a little before 9 and thrown his entire day of balance.
"That is ok, I'll just run some errands. I needed to do some grocery shopping anyway." Lucy answered, looking at her feet intensely, afraid that if she looked up Tim would be able to see right through her lies. "I'm gonna go."
"Lucy…" He tried once more to explain himself to her, but she wasn't ready to hear more explanations, not yet.
"I'll see you tomorrow, night shift. Right?" She remembered, walking away towards her car, she needed her space. If there was anything to be discussed between them, it could wait for tomorrow.
"Right." He nodded at her, cursing internally. He didn't want her to have the wrong idea about what was going on but he was sure she had and that caused him to become even moodier than he was already. "I'm sorry."
"Don't sweat it." Lucy answered, throwing him a smile as she closed the door to her car, he could tell it was completely fake so unlike the smiles he had gotten used to receive from her. Tim watched her drive off before he closed the door with a loud bang.
"Hey there cowboy." Isabel called when he came into his living room, where she was rummaging through the boxes of things that once belonged to the two of them and now simply existed in his garage.
"Really not in the mood." He warned her seriously, as he opened his medicine cabinet and swallowed an Advil for his raging headache.
"Sorry, didn't mean to ruin anything between you two." Isabel apologized, watching Tim's reaction carefully.
"There's nothing between me and Lucy." He answered irritably, he didn't enjoy when people made insinuations about them, especially when that someone was his ex-wife.
"Right! I'm not high anymore, so I'm pretty sure I don't hallucinate." Tim looked at her sternly to which Isabel simply raised her hands in surrender. "It was a joke."
"Lucy is my rookie." He told her passing her another box of her stuffs, the one that contained her police equipment.
"Sure, that's just that." Isabel did not sound one bit convinced; she didn't sound bothered either. Actually, she sounded like she expected that reaction from him.
"What do you want from me Isabel?" He asked siting on the sofa across from her and looking at her intensively, she had already told him her news and he was truly happy for her, but she had no right to meddle in his life. She lost that right long ago.
"I want us to part in good terms." She explained, when he had come to visit her at the rehab centre, she hadn't been at her best but still they had patched things up, mending their problems and accepting that they were over. Now, she was moving on, starting her life away from all of this and she needed to know that he too would do that, with no regrets.
"We already did that." He told her, he remembered perfectly well how hard that had been for him, even if he never admitted out loud.
"I'm moving across an Ocean Tim, if I didn't see you once last time, I would doubt if we ever did end it well." She admitted to him, they had been great friends once, before they had even been lovers, but she hoped they could at least leave this as good acquaintances.
"I don't know if we ended it well or not, but I've made my peace with you."
"I appreciate that, I just want you to know that my addiction had nothing to do with you. In fact, you were the only one who ever tried to help me no matter how much I hurt you."
"Is there a point to this?" He asked, arms crossed over his chest protectively. He was never one to openly speak about his fingers and that wasn't about to change.
"Don't close yourself to love, because of what I did." She asked him, almost like a beg, he deserved to be happy. He had always had her best interests at heart, she had been the one who screw up.
"I…" He said hesitantly, not sure of what to say. He wasn't the most open person to love but he never thought her decisions affected his love life, but maybe they did.
"I'm not blind and neither are you." Isabel smiled at him as she packed one of her favourite pictures of them in her final box. "She seems like a good match to you, the perfect side of the balance."
"I'm her supervisor…" He tried to explain, like it was his usual excuse when people confronted him for his feelings for Lucy.
"That's bull and you know it, I'm not telling you to make a proclamation of your undying love for her just yet. I'm telling that it's okay to allow yourself to love someone again, that my stupid, selfish actions can't ruin your vision of love… especially when you have something so positive standing in front of you."
"You spoke to Angela?" Tim asked rhetorically. Of course, she had spoken to Angela, she was the biggest blabbermouth they knew.
"I ran into her at Walmart but that awkward I can't-look-at-you-when-you-fulminate-me-with-your-intense-gaze moment outside kind of erased any doubt I had." She admitted, Angela had told her that Tim had found his right match but was hesitant to move forward, maybe she had nothing to do with it but she wanted to make sure of it.
"Am I the only one uncomfortable right now?" He asked her surprised, after all they he was discussing his new love interest with his ex-wife.
"I think so." Isabel admitted with a smirk, he had always been the first one to find a situation awkward or uncomfortable, maybe it was the strict soldier in him.
"You were always the weird one after all." He accused her with a relaxed smile, they had teased each other like this, many years ago – it felt nice to remember the times where they were friends.
"I was." Isabel laughed earnestly, the two could not remember the last time they had laughed like that together. "I think we were always doomed to fail from the beginning."
"Really?" He asked raising an eyebrow. He didn't believe they weren't meant to be, just that they were faced with adversity, they weren't able to overcome.
"Our photographer and DJ bailed so we ended up with crappie photos from our cheap camera and music from my iPod." Tim laughed as Isabel reached around his kitchen isle and pulled a whiskey bottle from under it. "And we got food poisoning on our honeymoon."
"Guess we were." He laughed as she poured him a glass as well. "I hope you find happiness in Hong Kong."
"I hope you take the chance standing in front of you." Isabel answered clinking their glances together and drinking it in one go. "I need to go; have some places to go before my flight tomorrow."
"I'll help you take the boxes to the car." He offered, as she picked up her bag and wore it cross body.
"Thanks." She said appreciatively as she picked up the lighter box, allowing him to take the heavier one. "I also think you have somewhere to be tonight."
"What are you now? fairy Godmother now?" He asked sarcastically, Isabel always enjoyed meddling into other people lives, she could never leave them alone. In fact, she reminded him of a feisty brunette he had come to care deeply for.
"You now me, I enjoy a good romantic movie." She winked back at him and gave him a hug. "I know it is hard but fallow your heart a little more." He nodded.
"And you fallow your head." Isabel laughed as she closed her truck and entered her car with a goodbye wave. It was bittersweet moment for Tim, the closure of another important chapter of his life that had shaped him into the man that he is. He had loved her once, but it was time to go make things straight with the most important person for him now.
Lucy was once again alone in her apartment, for a change. Jackson had plans with Sterling and Lucy didn't felt like tagging alone or ruining it for them, John had night shift with Harper and even Rachel had dinner with her friends. Once more she found herself completely alone after a miserable day, cooking pasta by herself and binge-watching Queer eye. She might have been 28 years old but she felt more like a 60 years old, maybe if she wasn't such a weirdo she might have taken emmet…
Her thought process was interrupted by the ringing of her doorbell, it startled her making her drop her spoon inside the pan.
"Shit." She left the spoon inside after the ringing persisted, it was a freaking awful sound for someone already battling a headache. "I'm going." She shouted annoyed.
"Easy Boot, that's not the way to great your superior" Tim answered as soon as Lucy opened the door, he had his best teasing smirk on to hide how nervous he felt.
"What are you doing here?" Lucy asked as she leaned against the door, she kept her face serene, but she was surprised to see him standing at her door, she thought Isabel would occupy more of his time.
"I bought wine and sushi." He explained cheekily, raising the box and the bottle as prove. He hoped her love for both things would break the ice and grant him access.
"My T.O. always told me never to accept bribes." Lucy threw his teachings back at him, causing him to smirk.
"This isn't a bribe, it's more of an apology." He explained, wiggling the box comically but his eyes showed how honest he was being.
"you have nothing to apologize for." Lucy told him. He really didn't but the fact that he wanted to and had come all this way to do so, pulled at her heart strings.
"Can I come in and explain myself, without all your neighbours hearing it?" He asked almost playfully, traying to lighten up the situation. "Besides, you don't want them to think of you as unreasonable."
"Oh…" She started to argue but still opened the door to allow him into her house. "Shit." She said when the smell of burnt food reached her nose.
"Can you ever cook anything right?" He teased, as he dropped the bag with sushi onto her Isle at the same time, she dropped the pot onto the sink. "At least I brought the sushi."
"You are lucky I like sushi." The truth was that she loved sushi and was never able to say no to it. Tim smiled smugly as he pulled the bottle opener from her cabinet as she set the living room table.
"About Isabel…" He started to say, clearing his throat to gather his thoughts
"you don't need to explain anything to me." She reinforced.
"But I do." He admitted to her as he poured them wine, sliding down to sit next to her on the ground. "Isabel was just saying her goodbyes."
"I thought you did that last year when you visited her." She told him, remembering the shift she had done with the captain when he had made the drive to visit Isabel and finalize their divorce.
"She's leaving for good, moving to Hong Kong a friend got her a job there." He explained with a soft smile, he was happy for Isabel she deserved a good life and a fresh start was exactly what she needed to ensure that.
"Oh…" She said surprisingly, she didn't expect that, at all.
"yeah, she showed up to get some of the stuff she had left at my house as well." He continued, when she arrived and explained why she was there Tim had felt slightly guilty from donating most of her things.
"I'm such an idiot." She added, covering her eyes with her hands. If she had any doubt about how over his and Isabel relationship was, the fact that he kept saying his house made it pretty clear.
"Nah, I would have thought the same thing if I was there." He admitted, jealous Tim Bradford was rare but not when it regarded Lucy Chen.
"So, what did she say?" Lucy asked after a couple minutes of silence, her curiosity was taking the best of her, but she still tried to sound as uninterest as possible. By the smirk on his lips, she had failed miserably.
"She wanted to make sure I didn't pass up a great love because of what she did to me." He explained, keeping his eyes on her face so that he could watch her reaction to his words.
"Ohhhh" Lucy said surprised with both the answer and the way he was looking at her. She understood the meaning of his words and the hopeless romantic in her jumped up and down at the possibility of being his great love, but her brain pushed it away, their work situation was too complicated for a relationship. "It was nice of her to do something like that." She added honestly.
"How do you woman form a bond that fast, when you don't even know each other !?" He asked flabbergasted, he couldn't understand how they did that.
"It's our superpower." Lucy said teasingly, the two falling into a comfortable silence as they ate. "How did it feel?"
"What?" He asked confused, taking his eyes from the show on the TV to look at her. He was so focused on what was showing on the TV, he didn't understand the context of the conversation.
"It felt… strange." He admitted and she nodded as she watched his facial expression. "At first just an awkward strange but then it was nice, like it was the closure we needed."
"There will always be a part of your lives that belongs also with the other." She added to compliment his line of thought, receiving a nod of agreement form him.
"yes, but there's a part of me who'll belong with someone else, like a part of her will too." He explained, he had closed that chapter behind him, and he wanted her to be sure of that too.
"the best part is finding that someone." Lucy told him and their eyes connected, sharing how they truly felt. There relationship might not be ready to take the step into the next level, but they had already formed deeper bonds than either taught possible.
"It sure his." He agreed, keeping their gazes connected for a few extra minutes before focusing his attention on the TV. "So, what is this show about?"
"you have never seen Queer eye?" Lucy asked surprised, it had been the most watched reality show in 2018, everyone talked about it.
"This is not Queer eye." Tim defended, he watched Queer eye in his 20's and this was not it.
"It's the remake. I can't believe you watched the original." Lucy teased and Tim simply knocked their shoulders together and she proceeded to explain the new format to him.
Tim and Lucy sat there on the floor of her living room floor for a couple more hours, well into the night getting interrupted by Sterling and West. They discussed everything and nothing, from the job to the bachelor, from politics to childhood bonding over lunchables and Halloween costumes. The environment was especially romantic, and they didn't talk about deepening their feelings, it was not the time yet, but it would come. The two were sure of it, as well as everyone around them was.
Hey guys, here it is Chapter 26!
Short but sweet and I had a lot fun writing this chapter. I always felt like Tim and Isabel last scene felt kind of incomplete to me, so I decided to further it here! What do you think? Let me know.
Thank you for all your support, means a lot during these times. Chapter 27 either Tuesday or Wednesday.
Stay safe, XO!