Chapter 27: The Vest

The one where Tim gives Lucy a big scare.

Working for the LAPD came with a warning label of its own, it was a dangerous job there was no questioning it. The worst part was that it wasn't outrightly dangerous, it was unpredictable, one minute everything was normal and the next it was hell. One of the most valuable teachings given at the academy was to never lower your guard on the job, the most inoffensive of routine searches could go terrible wrong and you had no way to know when that could happen.

That was the worst part of the job for Lucy, the not knowing when her life would be at risk, when she would last see her loved ones or when they would lastly see her. She tried to keep the worry out of her mind, as her T.O. said: there was no point in suffering from anticipation. They couldn't know for sure how their next call was gonna go, how someone would act and how they would react to a certain situation, all they could do was prepare themselves as best they could and have no regrets, regarding what they had done during their lives.

Today was not a good day for either Tim or Lucy to die. Lucy and Tim didn't fight often, or they didn't have serious fights often. They did have heated discussions about The Mask or about what show was better: OG's or remakes but they stirred clear of big arguments. The fact that they had only had 2 or 3 major fights since they met each other was a miracle, considering that Tim was the confrontational type and Lucy the avoiding one. Apparently, they had chosen today, of all days, to have a stupid blown-up argument about weather or not mentally unstable people should get the same legal outcome as mentally stable ones. Needless to say, Tim's opinion was more rigid on this topic than Lucy and the two couldn't find common ground.

"So why are the two of you sulking about?" Jackson asked as he come to stand by her, next to her shop. After their argument at Lunch, Sargent Grey had called for Lucy and Tim to assist Angela and Jackson in a potently dangerous house arrest.

"Nothing." Lucy answered gruffly as she checked over her Gluck, making sure it was all set. She loved Jackson; she really did but she did not feel like dealing with him.

"It clearly isn't nothing. "Jackson told her, turning slightly to look at a very sulking Tim Bradford. "Or you wouldn't be here looking like a little puppy and he wouldn't be sulking."

"We had a disagreement." She explained curtly, not wanting to give any further information, but Jackson wasn't about to give up…. After all he was Jackson West.

"Clearly." He answered not one bit convinced with her excuse, if there was something Lucy Chen stull hadn't mastered was the art of Lying.

"What do you want me to say, Jackson?" Lucy asked irritated as she put her gun back in her belt and turned to face him, arms crossed over her chest.

"Don't shot the messenger." Jackson said playfully, raising his hands in a playful manner.

"Look I'm not backing up from my opinion and Tim isn't either." Lucy explained exasperatedly, they were too stubborn to back down. She knew she was not completely right in her vision, maybe she was too liberal, but neither was Tim. If there was something Tim and Lucy had in common was that they were both proud and it would take a little time for them to gather their thoughts.

"You two are as stubborn as a mule." Jackson muttered, but Lucy heard him anyway what earned him a glare from her. "Look, I just don't think you should barge into a house completely pissed off with one another."

"We're not mad at each other. We just need to take a breather." Lucy explained, she wasn't truly mad at Tim – in fact she felt like she physically couldn't- but she needed to figure out her next step and how to handle his stubborn and inflexible line of thought… and he needed to do the same regarding her.

"That's what every couple says." Jackson teased with a knowing smile, they reminded him of his parents. Sometimes they would have a fight over something as simples as what sauce went better in a salad and not speak to each other for a couple hours. Then one would take the first step towards reconciliation and the other would follow, just like he had seen Tim and Lucy do.

"I'm not up to your innuendos Jackson." She had a small headache, that she had grown almost used to, and she really didn't want it to evolve to a full-on ticking time bomb.

"I was pretty clear with what I wanted to say. You fight like you have been married for 20 years: It's a fight with no reasoning and you are sulking while throwing longing glances at each other."

"Why are we friends?" Lucy asked rhetorically, don't get her wrong she adores Jackson, but he could be a huge pain in the ass.

"Because there weren't that many people at the academy, and you looked the most normal." He joked and Lucy laughed slightly if anything it was the completely way around. She and Nolan looked the most wrongly placed of al the initiates at the academy, the Asian girl and the middle-aged dude but Jackson was never the one who chose the normal.

"Chen are you ready?" Tim asked as he walked closer to her, his voice firm and stern. Jackson saluted her and walked away to go over the details with his T.O. and also because he didn't want to be caught between all the awkwardness those two had.

"Yes, Sir." Lucy answered curtly, avoiding looking at him, focusing instead on the buttons of her shirt.

"Add this to the front of your vest, just in case." He order, giving her the extra padding peace to add to the front of her vest, as extra protection.

"Have you added yours?" She asked concernedly as she accepted the peace, she might be mad at him at the moment, but she still wanted him to be protected. If he thought she needed the extra protection, then the situation must be a little more dangerous and he too needed the extra protection.

"I'm not a Rookie, I don't need to be asked that." He reminded her, he was her T.O. after all and he knew what he had to do perfectly well, he didn't need to be reminded by his Boot.

"I was just checking." She defended herself, raising her arms slightly in a defensive gesture. Sure, she was a little mama bear, with everyone, but she meant good. Sometimes she needed to remember that Tim Bradford wasn't used to be pampered and needed his breathing space.

"I have mine." He reassured her after he realised that he was a little harsh, they were mad sure, but he knew she just wanted him to be safe like he wanted her to be.

"You two ready?" Angela asked as she and West walked up to them, their guns in their hands, ready for action.

"Yup, your orders Lopez." Tim told Angela, as much as he liked to be in control of things, Angela was primary and Lucy and him were just backup.

"So, Jackson and I take the front door, you and Chen take the back." Angela order, from their position behind Tim and Lucy's shop, they could see the small house 9 feet away from them.

"Copy that." Lucy answered at the same time her T.O. nodded, her heart throbbed in her chest with adrenaline.

"Be careful." Angela warned the other two officers, Antony Valentti was low life scum accused of killing his brother and his girlfriend with a rifle. He had been out of jail for just 2 months and they had gotten multiple call because he was waling around waving his gun around. Finally, his mother had called them and confessed he was home with a bunch of fire weapons. Perfect time for an arrest if Valentti didn't have a predisposition to shot at cops.

"You ready?" Tim asked Lucy, as they took their position at the back entrance of the house, it was small enough that they didn't need to cover much ground but Valentti knew it better than them, so he still had his advantage.

"As I'll ever be." Lucy told him with a small nod, the only one she could master. She wasn't super nervous but there was always some level of apprehension that come with these situations, no matter how experienced they were.

"That's good enough." He said and Lucy could hear the teasing tone in his voice, it was hard being mad at her or soo long, especially when she made her cute uncertain face. "At Angela's move, I break down the door, you advance and then allow me to stay ahead, after the first sweep. Understood?" He instructed, looking straight at her.

"Sir, yes sir." Lucy whispered back like she was military, that earned her an eye roll from Tim. Their issues weren't solved, they were still mad at each other and need to talk things over when they were calmer. It was a truce, as small as it was, it felt good to know that things were fixable, especially when entering a dangerous situation.

Tim nodded at Lucy when they heard Angela yell LAPD, she held her gun tighter in her hand and nodded back, as soon as West broke down the front door, Tim broke down the back. The house was badly lit from what Lucy could see as she entered the house, Valetti must have figured out they were coming - everything was too calm. Lucy felt Tim pat her on the shoulder and move past her to stand in front of her, Lucy could hear Angela and Jackson move from the living room to the first floor. She fallowed Tim as he advanced further into the house.

Things could change at any minute, like a complete 180 without you even realising it. Lucy understood this the night Caleb abducted her, one moment she was having drinks with a nice guy and the next being shoved by said guy in the trunk of his car. When she noticed Antoni Valentti jump from the bathroom door and into the corridor, it was already too late. His gun was armed and loaded, and he was waiting for the right moment to shot, he wasn't waiting for them to make the first move – he wanted blood. Before either Tim or Lucy could fire their gun, Valetti had already fired his. Two bullets hit Tim straight across the chest, sending him backwards from the proximity and knocking him out against the laundry cabinets. Lucy could see that her partner was not moving, unfortunately she couldn't examine him further to check if he was breathing. That only fuelled her anger and her fears, and before Valetti could turn his gun towards her, she had already pulled her finger off the tiger and hit him straight on the chest. Lucy watched him fall to the ground as blood soaked his shirt before turning to Tim. Who would have known that so much could happen in a couple of minutes?

"TIM." Tim called to him, almost screaming as she threw herself down on the floor next to him. She busied herself trying to open his shirt, struggling to do so due to the tears that accumulated in her eyes. "TIM wake up." She screamed again, as she listened to Angela and Jackson make their way downstairs. She ripped the shirt open and pulled out the extra protective pad he had put before entering the house, thankfully the two bullets were lodged in the hard plaque. Lucy breathed in relieve as she realised that he was just out cold from the impact, she felt tears stream down her face and rested her head on his chest.

"Chen… CHEN." Officer Lopez called alarmedly as she and Jackson came running into the kitchen, to find her laying almost on Tim. A complete mess that made their heart falter.

"He's alive." She whispered, clearing her throat so that her voice would come out stronger. "Tim, open your eyes."

"Lucy, did you or Tim shot Valentti?" Angela asked after she regained her composure and analysed the entire situation. She rested her hand against Antony Valentti's next to confirm what she already knew, he was dead. A single, straight bullet to the chest.

"Tim, Tim." Lucy called again, shacking his shoulders roughly. Her eyes welled up with even more tears when he gave no response in return, he must have hit his head pretty hard against the cabinets.

"Chen, he's out cold." Angela told her as she tried to pry Lucy away from Tim's body, but it was turning out to be a much harder task than she expected. "CHEN!"

"WHAT?" Lucy screamed harshly at Angela as she removed her eyes from Tim for a few seconds, using only one hand to wipe away her tears.

"Who shot him?" Angela asked again, now more softly, the young woman was clearly in pain and even though Tim would live, that didn't ease the pain that almost losing him caused. She remember how she felt about Weasley when he was shot, and she could blatantly show her affection towards him.

"Why does it matter?" Lucy asked annoyed, all she wanted to do was focus on Tim's well being not on that scumbag.

"He's dead." Angela explained and watched as Lucy blinked, registering her words. She looked at Tim and then back at Angela.

"I shot him, he shot at Tim as soon as we got through the door." She explained, her brain was all jumbled. She couldn't shake the feeling that she had shot Anthony so quickly because she thought he had killed Tim and that feeling didn't seat well with her.

"I need your gun and you need to get the facts straight in your head when they get here!" Angela informed her, even though she was sure Lucy knew the protocol but the first time you shot someone death did cause a lot of confusion and if you add an unconscious partner to the mix even worst.

"I…" Lucy said hesitantly, looking back at Tim. He looked peaceful with his eyes closed and she could feel his chest raise and fall regularly under her breath but still she would feel better when she saw his bright blue eyes opened.

"Lucy he's ok. Jackson already called for the ambulance." Angela gripped Lucy's shoulders and tried to pull her away from Tim.

"Can't my statement way for when his ok?" She asked hopefully, her brain couldn't focus on anything but his wellbeing for now.

"It doesn't work like that, I'm sorry." Angela apologized, knowing perfectly well how har it was to see a partner like that.

"Lucy, he's ok. He's breathing look at him." Jackson whispered to her as he took Lopez's place and helped pry Lucy away from Tim, even if she didn't take her eyes away from said man. "Besides, he would scold you for disobeying a direct order from superior and getting in trouble."

"I know, it's just… Hard." She admitted, she felt like she couldn't breath and wouldn't be able to do that until she was sure he was ok.

"You are Lucy Fucking Chen, get your shit together." Jackson shook her as he told her that and she nodded almost automatically. "I got him." He promised what tranquilized her.

"Okay." Angela said as she took Jackson's place in front of Lucy. "Walk me through what happened." Angela ordered as she guided Lucy to the front of the house, the least she could do was help Lucy get though the questioning that would fallow, Tim couldn't do it, so she had to.

A few minutes later, an ambulance from LAFD arrived on scene to take Tim to the hospital at the same time Sergeant Grey arrived. Lucy knew she should have waited for the sergeant and the evaluating office to reach her but instead, when she saw Tim come out of the house supported by the two firefighters, she couldn't help walk towards him.

"Officer Chen." Angela called after Lucy, as she walked away from them but there was no stopping the younger woman.

"Are…" She couldn't find her voice to finish the question, it was a mixture between happiness, to see him awake, and sadness from seeing him like this. Her brain felt like it was about to explode but her heart felt like it was in a rollercoaster.

"I'm okay Boot, I just need a check-up." He reassured her, he wanted to reach out towards her and squeeze her hand in support, but he couldn't, not in front of everyone.

"I'm sorry." She apologized, her voice soft and near the breaking point, she couldn't shake the feeling that she had failed him.

"Don't be stupid." He cut her roughly. "You did great." He added more softly, offering her a strong and reassuring smile, even though he had a sharp headache and his bones ached.

"You got shot." She reminded him, he got shot a mere few inches away for her and she couldn't do nothing to stop it.

"I always get shot." He tried to make a joke, but Lucy didn't look amused, it never boded well with her that he was constantly getting shot- especially when he was right next to her. "Lucy, I'm proud of you but you need to go." He nodded at her and Lucy nodded repeatedly in response, almost like a nervous tick. Had they been someone else or been anywhere else she would have hugged him or kissed him. But they were Police Officers and she couldn't do that, so she simply used his words as her strength source and walked back towards Sargent Grey.

For a change, Tim discharged himself from the hospital. Yes, the doctors wanted him to stay for a night under observation, but he wasn't having any of that. The Tylenol had helped relieve his headache and his banged up back would heal eventually with rest, he waited only for the results of his CT scan so that he could present them to be cleared for duty. As soon as all the paperwork was done and handled, he grabbed a cab back to the precinct, after all he needed to check if his Boot was okay. The first kill on the job always stayed with you it was inevitable and Lucy had seen that happen with Nolan, he had always said to himself that if that happened while he was her T.O. ( or not anymore) he would give her all the support she needed, he would be there for her through all the steps…but he hadn't.

"What are you doing here?" Angela asked as she ran into him on his way out of the locker room.

"Yes, I'm alive and well thank you for the concern." He answered teasingly as he switched his bag to his less banged up shoulder.

"Please like you would allow a guy like Antony Valentti to kill you." Angela scuffed and Tim laughed, she was right: if he was going down on the line of duty, he would go out with a bang. "You should talk to Chen, she was pretty shaken up." Angela added in a more serious tone.

"That's what I was gonna do, saw her heading to the parking lot." He explained, Lucy had passed by him on her way out so deep in her thoughts that she didn't even notice that he was the one heading out too.

"yeah you should, I tried my best, but she needs you." Angela admitted, remembering Lucy's gaze during the remaining day.

"I know." He replied simply, no point lying to Angela. She knew perfectly well that Lucy needed him as much as he needed her. "Thank you."

"No need for that." She shrugged but turned back to look at him. "Oh, they cleared her by the way, clean shot."

"That's my girl." He muttered proudly and nodded at Angela. "You get some rest." The female officer nodded in agreement and the two parted ways, Tim rushing to catch up to Lucy. He watched her make her way towards her car, almost mechanically but like she felt someone stalking her, turned around swiftly ready to tell him to fuck off.

"Hey" He greeted before she could speak, she looked surprised to see him and adverted her gaze so that she could better control her emotions. He didn't need to see how freaked out she was from the entire ordeal.

"Hey" Lucy greeted looking up from her sneakers to him, checking him over for any injuries. "I was going over to the hospital to see you."

"I got discharged." He lied, knowing perfectly well that she wouldn't believe his words, if there was something everyone knew about Tim Bradford was how much he hated hospitals.

"Yeah, sure." Lucy answered, she didn't believe for one second that he actually got discharged but she would still call Grace when she got home and ask if there was any particular symptoms, she should pay attention to.

"So…rough day ugh!?" Tim teased slightly; his hands stashed inside his pockets. When her face remained stoic, he ran his fingers through his hair nervously. "Come one boot you know cockroaches are hard to kill."

"I almost lost you today." She cut him short, ignoring his attempt of a joke. She needed to get it off her chest, he needed to know how much he meant to her.

"But you didn't." He took another step closer to her as he reassured her. He couldn't promise her that he would be safe, because they didn't know that, but he would work his hardest to never fail her.

"The last thing I told you was that you were bigoted." She recalled their argument at Lunch, eyes welling up with tears. Just the thought that those could have been her last words towards him, made her want to cry.

"I know, you didn't mean it." He too didn't mean the things he had said, he thought her infuriating yes but not spoiled.

"Still, there's a million things I want to tell you rather than that." She said exasperatedly, there was soo many things they needed to talk about but couldn't right now… unless they felt like turning their worlds upside down.

"I know what you want to say." He wanted to say them too, soo much.

"But I haven't said it. I said hurtful things, that I would regret for the rest of my Life." She frizzed as a tear rolled down her face.

"I was nasty too, we're even." He stepped even closer to her and whipped the tear from her eye.

"No, we're not. I want to tell you how amazing of a T.O. you are, how much you taught me to be a better person, how grateful I am you saved me, how I feel ..." She told him, as she recalled all the feelings and ideas that rushed through her head when she saw him laying there, motionless.

"I feel it too. I don't have the words to say that, I'm not the talkative type but I would say it all back to you and you know that. That is kind of our thing, isn't it!?" It truly was their relationship was silent but loud at the same time. They never spoke openly about how they felt but there was no doubts between them.

"It is." She nodded, resting her face against the palm of his hand. Searching for as much comfort as he could offer her, especially in a public place.

"I talked to grey, they cleared you. The shots was clean." He told her after a few minutes of comfortable silence and after he had finished examining her… something was bothering, and he feared it was this.

"I'm not sure of that." She admitted, she couldn't shake the feeling that she had shot back for all the wrong reasons. She had lost control, that much was true. She had allowed her feelings to control her actions and while she admitted she was a woman of heart, she tried to keep her heart out of her job.

"Well the experts are." He remembered her firmly, he knew how easy it was to fall into the self-doubt pit and he didn't want her to do that. She didn't deserve it; she had done nothing wrong.

"They weren't there." That was true, they weren't, they didn't see the hatred she had for Antony Valetti when she shot him, and they didn't know she wished him dead.

"And they'll never know what goes through our mind." He said simply, they observed their actions based on the circumstances and not every single underlined message possible and she needed to do the same, no matter how hard it was.

"Then how do they know it was clean?" She asked, how could they know when she didn't.

"You do what you have..." He started to say, but she interrupted him, tired of old useless life mottos.

"I don't know Tim, I don't know if I shot him because he was a threat or because I believe he killed you." She admitted, her voice trembling and tears streaming down her face.

"It doesn't matter." He told her, gripping her tightly and pulling her even closer to him, almost like he was hugging her.

"It matters to me" Her sobs grew louder and more erratic and Tim simply involved her completely in his warm embrace, to calm her and at the same time protect her. Lucy Chen didn't deserve to feel bad, all she did was be a good person and he needed to remind her of that when she couldn't do that herself.

"You did what you had to do to save yourself and those with you." He whispered in her year softly, running his hand through her hair soothingly. Maybe there was hatred and fear behind her actions but there were always ulterior motives in Human's motivation to perform certain acts, but those didn't define them, not entirely. Why they did it mattered more and she did it because she had to, because they had to live, they deserved to live.

"I did it because of you." She couldn't control the tears, feeling them soak his shirt as she admitted the truth. She would do anything for him and that was uncharted, dangerous territory.

"Like I would do for you." He pushed her head slightly away to wipe the tears away and so that she could look into his eyes and see the truth behind them. He too cared more for her than he could admit, and he would do whatever it took to keep him safe.

"We're soo messed up." She muttered, laying her head back against his neck and resting her lips against it. He couldn't avoid shaking his head at her statement… that couldn't be the furthest from the truth. She was perfect and having her in his arms proved that.

"Maybe a little but that's how I like you...besides you are my boot only I get to kill you." He teased her playfully, he always prided himself in scaring off his Rookies but he didn't think he was able to, even, mentally push her over the limit…. He just didn't have the guts, not when she looked at him like he held all the answers to her problems.

"Not for much longer." She remembered him and even though he knew he couldn't pursuit anything with Lucy straight away, it still lifted a weight off his shoulders.

"Clearly I'll have to stick around. You can't even handle a simple breach." He teased her, sure Tim was always on top of the best cases and he never thought he could get in more trouble, but Lucy Chen proved him wrong.

"Oh yeah mister macho, I always go first." Lucy mocked ironically, her head still comfortably lodged in his neck.

"Rather me than you." He admitted smiling softly, he had been terrified when Lucy was kidnapped, he couldn't even imagine how he would react if she was shot.

"Rather neither of us, can we agree on that?" Lucy asked, detaching herself from his embrace. She needed Tim in her life, there was no denying it.

"To the best of our abilities, yes. No dying." He agreed, offering her a reassuring smile.

"No dying." She smiled back at him, and something deep inside her told them they wouldn't break it.

There would be plenty of maiming, grades, concussions and too many close calls but no low life perp could kill Tim and Lucy Bradford... They were too scared that they would haunt them to deaths if they did. And Tim and Lucy were honest to their words: no dying, they would always find their way back to each other…no matter what happened.

Hey guys!

Here it is chapter 27! I adored writing this Chapter, even if it hurt my soul a little but I think Tim and Lucy needed to develop their emotional relationship a little more. Next Chapter will play a big part in that as well…. I'm super excited for it!

Next chapter out Sunday before the new Rookie episode.

Hope you are safe X.O.

P.S.: Thank you soo much for all the support, it has been amazing!