Tim took his old wedding picture down a few days after he returned from Atlanta. Removing it from the wall didn't feel as significant after… well, after everything that had happened in the past two weeks. It didn't feel as weighty as it might have once. Instead, it simply struck him as the next logical step and one of the last necessary for closing this chapter of his life. He filled in all but two of the holes that dotted the wall, leaving only the pair that Isabel had succeeded in making level. With the portrait gone, the space looked bare and boring. Tim had it in mind to purchase and hang a replacement, but that could wait until sometime in the future. For the moment, he was in no rush; he could live with the blank space.

He offered the photo to Isabel the following evening when he brought the signed divorce papers to the sober house where she currently lived. Isabel remarked on the ironic timing with a great deal of amusement, but as she had neither the space nor the desire to keep the portrait, she turned him down. At her suggestion, they took it to the giant green dumpster at the back of the building. Tim chucked it, frame and all, into the container before Isabel let the lid come down with a slam. They hugged goodbye in the parking lot, and that was that.

HIs first therapy session took place a week after coming home. Upon meeting, Dr. Zimmerman insisted Tim address him by his first name, Rich. Rich appeared to be in his mid-sixties. His curly gray hair was thinning at the top. His beard was thick and mostly black, except for a few silver strands in his sideburns, and he spoke with an accent that sounded out of place on the west coast. When Tim pointed it out, the doctor replied he was born and raised in the Bronx before gesturing to a New York Yankees pennant that hung above his desk. By the end of the first session, Tim had forgiven him for being a Yankees fan, noting wryly as he left that it felt like a good fit, despite that single character flaw. He was scheduled for weekly sessions. After the third, he invited Lucy over to help him study, despite the fact that the latest appointment left him feeling pretty fatigued. It was by far the most intense yet, with both his father and mother coming up during the session, but seeing Lucy on his doorstep shortly within an hour of calling gave him a perceptible jolt of energy. It waned only slightly when he noticed her arms were overflowing with an assortment of office supplies.

"It looks like you're opening an aftermarket school store," Tim joked, eyeing the bundle as he let her inside. "I probably won't need half of that stuff."

She unloaded her armful onto the couch. "I like to be prepared."

"I'll say. If the world ends and office supplies become currency, we'll be millionaires." Then he grabbed his latest assigned reading off of the window seat and tossed it to her.

Lucy's nose wrinkled as she read the title aloud."'Split Second Leadership: Leading Men in the Line of Duty'. Men?"

"Don't look at me. I didn't choose it. Mind reading it while I cook, please?" When her frown deepened as she read the back cover, he teased, "If I have to suffer, so do you."

"How sweet of you to share," Lucy replied as she followed him toward the kitchen. She paused on the way there, stopping just before the hall that led toward the bedrooms and guest bathroom. He could tell by her stare, by the furrow of her brow, that she noticed something had changed, but that she had not yet placed it.

"I took it down," he said simply.

"Oh." She turned to him and said, a little sheepish, "Sorry."

"Why?"

"I… don't know. I guess I'm worried I just made it awkward."

"You didn't, but if the blank space bothers you, I have that picture from New Year's in my car," he teased, thinking of the photo in his truck.

He cooked while Lucy read to him from the book. A couple of times a sentence or paragraph left her amused, and she'd pause to chuckle at the author's outdated manner of communicating before continuing on with the content. Once, she nudged Tim's leg with her toe and shot him a look with a raised eyebrow; an unspoken can you believe this guy? Later, she hummed inquisitively when he revealed he learned better by hearing. She did not ask him to clarify what he meant until after they'd eaten, and beyond that point, Lucy brought it up no further. The subject was forgotten for good when Tim traded Lucy for the book, handing her a glass of red wine to end their study session.

"So… Jackson is moving in with me."

Lucy made the announcement in the shop shortly after the roll call the next morning. After introducing the team to the new night general detective -a man named Nick Armstrong whose congenial nature almost made Nolan seem cranky in comparison- Grey had congratulated the other rookie on busting his landlord for dealing drugs, then handed him a change of address form. An officer of the law could not reside in a place of "ill-repute", as the apartment complex had now been declared. It didn't surprise Tim to learn that Lucy had made her spare room available to West, but he was suspicious of her motivations for informing him.

"Okay. And?"

"And…" she eased into the rest of her news, "I may have told him I know someone with a truck."

"I'm not helping him move, Lucy."

"Okay, before you get all you about it-"

"- All me about it? What does that even mean?"

"He hasn't asked you to help. I just," she waved her hand, "kind of offered your truck preemptively."

"Well, consider this me declining 'preemptively'," Tim replied, chuckling when she rolled her eyes. Lucy opened her mouth to retort, but stopped short when her phone dinged, alerting her to a new message. A second later, she gasped.

"What's wrong?" Tim asked.

"It's Nolan. He just saw his soulmate for the first time in twenty years."

"Is he okay?"

"I think so. Maybe?" Her phone chimed again as a new message came through. "He said she's a doctor at Shaw Memorial. Just started working in the ER. He ran into her while answering a call. He's stunned. Of course, he's stunned. He didn't think he'd ever see her again. He told me they were really in love when they were younger. Did you know that?"

"This may come as a surprise to you, but I know very little about your friend's love life."

"Funny. I wonder what's going to happen now? Probably nothing, right? He's with Jessica."

As a couple, Nolan and Agent Russo still left Tim flabbergasted. He wondered what an agent of Russo's caliber could possibly see in the LAPD's oldest rookie, but knew better than to ask and risk upsetting Lucy. Instead, Tim replied, "I don't know about that. You just said they were in love once, right?"

"Yeah. A long time ago. He's lived a whole life since then. He's in a relationship now."

"I don't know, Chen," he said, adding pointedly, "Proximity can be a pretty intoxicating thing when it comes to soulmates."

"… I don't suppose you're speaking from experience?"

"Oh, I'm absolutely speaking from experience, and now that he knows she's close by-"

"- But he really likes Jessica."

"How much do you wanna bet they'll call it quits in a month? Two, tops?"

"I am not going to bet on my friend's relationship."

"Come on. We could make it interesting." Following a second to think, he quickly came up with some low stakes for a casual bet. "If I'm right and they break up, you have to wear the duty hat for two weeks. If you win, well…" he glanced at her, smirking as he said, "you wanted to get into short sleeves didn't you?"

"… I am not going to bet on my friend's relationship."

"I was kidding anyways, but you're tempted, aren't you?"

She sighed with exaggerated weariness. "So tempted."

He should've noticed the wheels turning in her head when she commented on his study methods; should've realized a single, noncommittal "hm" was not and would never be the sound Lucille Vanessa Chen made when she chose to leave well enough alone. Although Tim hadn't thought about it since that night, she continued to mull over learning that he memorized material better when he heard it. A few days later, Lucy joined him in the gym after their shift had ended, catching him mid-way through a workout. He slowed the punching bag with his palm as she came near.

"You heading out?" he asked.

"Yeah, in a minute. This is for you." In Lucy's extended hand rested a small MP3 player and a set of white headphones.

He took the player and earbuds. "What's this?"

"It is 'Split Second Leadership', the audiobook," she informed him proudly.

"There's no audiobook," he began to say before looking up. "Lucy?"

"So… I made one for you. I know. I know. I'm amazing," she smiled, clearly (and rightfully) satisfied with herself. "Listen, diagnosing these sorts of things is way outside my area of expertise, but I think you might be what they call a kinesthetic learner. It means you learn by listening while being active. It's how you absorb information."

"… Is that a bad thing?"

She spoke quickly to assuage his concerns. "No. No, not at all. It's different, but it's also probably a large part of what makes you such a great cop."

He looked down at the MP3 player in his hands again. "I don't know what to say."

"I've found 'thank you' is always a good place to start."

"Thank you. This is incredible."

"Well," she rocked back onto her heels, pleased with his gratitude, "we'll see if you still think it's incredible once you're sick of my voice."

"I doubt that'll ever happen," Tim replied, then asked, "Does this mean you're not coming over to help me study tonight?"

"Do you hear me right now?" She pointed to her throat. "I sound like Joe Cocker… but I'd love to come keep you company, if you'll have me."

"I'd like that very much. Let me finish up here, okay?"

Lucy nodded once, grinning. "Okay. I'll pick up dinner and meet you at home, all right? What would you like?"

"You choose." He watched her go, waiting until she'd disappeared from sight to put on the headphones and press play.

"'Split Second Leadership: Leading People in the Line of Duty'. See what I did there?" In the recording, Lucy laughed. "Anyway. Chapter one…"

His thirty-ninth birthday snuck up on him. Tim never really celebrated the occasion anymore, even though Angela and Talia both normally made an effort to send him a funny text or something like that every year. The most he'd ever done to mark the day in recent years was take time off, but as luck would have it, they weren't on the schedule July 17th, leaving him free to spend his birthday however he wished. Tim had decided to use his free time to study. In the past week, Lucy had finished and provided him with two more audiobooks; he had plenty of material to choose from while working on chores around the house. He had just reached for the MP3 player on the kitchen counter when his phone began ringing, and he smiled seeing Lucy's name on the screen. When he answered, she sang the birthday song instead of greeting him.

"How did you know it's my birthday?" he asked after she'd finished. "Did Lopez tell you?"

"Nope. Remember when I stole your money clip?"

"You went through my money clip?"

Lucy scoffed. "Uh, you're the genius who left your ID facing info-side out. I didn't have to go through a single thing. I just turned it over."

"A likely story from a known criminal."

"Look, if you're going to be cranky with me, I just won't give you your present."

"… You got me a present?"

A smile was in her voice as she replied, "I have a whole afternoon planned for us if you're free. Are you?"

"I am."

They agreed to meet in an hour. The time flew by, a rush of excitement filling Tim as he showered and changed, trying to prepare for whatever she might have had in mind. In anticipation, he called Angela, beating her to his regular birthday wishes to ask whether Lucy had clued her in on the scheme.

"Dude, I don't know. Whatever this is, she's doing it all herself." After a pause, she wondered, "Why are you so nervous about it?"

He couldn't say for sure, only pinpointing that he was, indeed, nervous for whatever reason, and those nerves did not abate until he spotted her car through the bay window as it rolled to a stop on the street. Lucy smiled widely as she approached the front door, and he opened it to welcome her before she got the chance to knock. He couldn't tell from her appearance what activity she had in store for them, and not because he didn't try, either. Tim took mental stock of her outfit -form-fitting jeans that wrapped snugly around every inch of her legs, a plain yellow t-shirt knotted at the waist, white sneakers- and while he looked, Lucy laughed.

"Why are you staring at me?" she asked.

"I'm trying to figure out what you're planning," he replied, which made her laugh a second time.

"The point of a surprise is to be surprised, you big dope." She grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the threshold. "Come on. We're on a time crunch."

He grabbed his keys off the hook by the door. "Can we take my truck?"

"Only if I can drive. The birthday boy shouldn't drive himself to his birthday plans."

"I don't know," he replied, holding out the keys apprehensively. "The last time I let you drive, you rolled the shop."

"That was one time, and I don't have any high-speed chases on our agenda."

"Bummer," he joked and tossed her the keyring.

It was a little hilarious watching Lucy finagle the truck's settings to her liking. Although she got into the driver's seat just fine, she had to push it all the way forward in order to reach the pedals. Seeing over the front of the truck was only possible when she tilted the seat at an angle, leaving her to steer with her wrists resting on the wheel, grandma-style. Her complaints throughout driving, though exaggerated and humorous, had a twinge of honesty to them, and Tim laughed more than once as she compared it to driving a tank.

Their first stop was a small Italian restaurant where Lucy had made lunch reservations. After their main course, a few of the waitstaff approached their table carrying a plate with two chocolate-covered strawberries and a piece of cheesecake. A single candle had been inserted into the cake, and the waiter lit the flame as he and the other staff sang Tim a version of the birthday song set to the tune of Dean Martin's "That's Amore". It was a little embarrassing, feeling like the entire room was looking at him, but Lucy was smiling at him with so much fondness that his only response after the singing stopped was, "I'm a little too old for this, don't you think?"

"No one is too old for the birthday song," she replied, and he didn't stop her from snagging one of the chocolate strawberries for herself.

The next place she drove them to was an axe-throwing range. Tim was a little surprised that Lucy chose an activity so, well, active on their day off, but he couldn't say he didn't find it fun. He was a little daunted when, after only a very brief presentation on safety and throwing techniques, the alley attendant handed them axes and said to go for it, but all thoughts left his brain when he watched Lucy make her first throw.

She had planted her legs firmly, knees slightly bent as she prepared to throw, and paused a moment before stepping forward with her left foot. Her right arm arced over her head, and she leaned her whole body into the action. He could see the way the muscles in her legs lengthened beneath her jeans as her right leg extended behind her, her toe pointing against the concrete floor as she swung the axe. The back of her t-shirt lifted up as she completed the throw, revealing the thin strip of skin above her pants. The entire movement, one fluid motion that engaged her entire body, was both a display of her athleticism and really, really fucking sexy. It was getting more and more difficult for Tim to ignore just how perfect he found her body; more and more difficult to pretend like he wasn't about to burst out of his skin from sheer lust at any second. Moments like this only made it more impossible to keep a rein on his baser instincts, and he was so distracted by the sight of her that at first, he did not notice she'd turned to him and spoken in a sulky mumble.

"Did you hear me?" she asked.

He blinked twice. "What? Sorry. What?"

"I said it's harder than it looks." When he chuckled, Lucy frowned. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing." He weighed the other two axes in his hand and, after a moment, decided to go with the heavier of the two. "Step back, Chen. I'm about to kick your ass."

Tim beat her in three out of four of the games they played. She was a gracious loser, but he started to feel bad for Lucy by the time they started the fourth game with fifteen minutes left in the hour she'd reserved. He praised her poor attempts, silently thanked God she had better aim shooting a gun than she did throwing an axe, and at one point feigned pulling his right shoulder during his turn. It gave him the excuse to pitch poorly with his left arm for the remainder of the final game. She scored a fluke bullseye in the last three minutes of their time and in her excitement, jumped into his arms. He supported her weight with ease, arms locked firmly around her waist as Lucy grinned at him.

"I knew you were faking it," she said after he'd placed her back on the ground.

He figured the axe range was the end of the birthday events, but Lucy still had more surprises in store. After driving them back to his house (and emphatically swearing off driving his truck ever again), she asked him to go and wait inside. He took a seat on the couch. A few minutes later, Lucy entered carrying two packages, smiling widely as she nudged the door closed with her foot.

"I can already tell you shouldn't have," Tim said as he looked at the presents in her arms.

"Too bad. I wanted to." She placed the packages on his lap. "Happy birthday, Tim."

One of the parcels was large and bulky. The other was thin and square, and both were wrapped in silver paper. He opened the largest of the two first, finding a brand new tabletop record player. The second was a vinyl record; Ella Fitzgerald's "Songs in a Mellow Mood". It was like the one his mother had once owned, too, he realized, recognizing the blue sleeve and white lettering at once. The gifts were sweet and thoughtful in a way that only Lucy could be. She'd chosen presents based on the knowledge she'd gleaned from their time spent together, something she knew he would never have thought to get for himself.

She spoke before he could thank her, explaining her choice in a ramble. "I know vinyl is kind of pretentious, but I thought it's something we could build together? A collection of our own? It doesn't have to all be Ella Fitzgerald. I know you said your mom was a collector, but you played Ella the other night I was over, so I thought-"

"It's perfect. Lucy." He placed one hand on her knee. "It's perfect." He looked around the living room, trying to decide where to set the record player as he asked, "Want to take it for a test spin?"

There weren't many places in his house that could safely hold the player with any permanence. He was already planning to purchase a stand for it, but for the moment, he placed it atop the window seat, setting one of the green cushions on the ground so the turntable could sit evenly on the bench. An outlet beneath the window was the nearest place to plug it in, and he was overwhelmed by nostalgia as he took the vinyl out of its sleeves and carefully placed it on the platter. He lined the needlepoint up to the grooves, just like his mother had taught him how as soon as he was old enough to see into the old hi-fi table. The record crackled with static as it began turning. Soon, the static gave way to piano music, and not long after that came the sound of Ella Fitzgerald's familiar voice, singing, as she almost always was, about love.

They'd only listened for a few bars when Lucy reached for Tim's hand. "You should dance with me." When he balked, she teased, "Don't tell me you're embarrassed. No one's watching." Then she tugged on his hand again. "Come on, Tim. Dance with me for your birthday. I'm only gonna offer once."

It was almost romantic and definitely cheesy, but despite Lucy gently accusing him of being embarrassed, Tim wasn't at all. He relished the feeling of her hand in his, her body so near. He'd hold her there forever if he could.

Besides, there were so many other things he couldn't give her yet; the least he could do was dance when she asked.

They turned a slow, silent circle to the beat. Soon, Tim said, "You know, I never realized how tiny you are."

Lucy snorted as she pulled away, resisting slightly as his hands held her in place. "Way to ruin the moment, Tim."

"No, I like it. It's nice. You…" his fingers ran lower, tracing down the ridges of her spine before resting on the small of her back. "You fit here well."

"Where exactly is 'here'?" she wondered aloud, eyebrow quirking up as she silently dared him to clarify.

Tim pulled her closer, almost moaning when her curves pressed against him. Every line of their bodies touched, and the want he'd struggled to conceal at the range threatened to erupt with a fury. "Right here."

She snickered, the spell over him breaking slightly at the sound. "Oh, my God, Tim. You are such a nerd."

"What? No, I'm not." Lucy laughed again, leaving him to insist through a smile, "I am not."

"Yes, you are."

"You're the one who wanted to dance."

"Yes, but I know I'm a nerd. Sometimes…" she hesitated.

"What? What is it?"

"Sometimes, you're so sweet, it takes me by surprise." She looked away, eyes falling to their joined hands. "I didn't think it would ever be like this. That we would… well. You know." Then she rested her head against his shoulder and said no more.

He pressed his lips into her hair. "Yes, Lucy. I know."

The song ended, and still, they continued to sway in one another's arms. Only when they were halfway through the first verse of the next track did Lucy begin to pull away.

"One more dance?" He kept her close, hoping she'd say yes.

She didn't make him ask more than once. For the second song, Lucy released his hand, wrapping both of her arms around his neck. "Anything for the birthday boy, I guess," she agreed with a smile. They continued dancing, Ella Fitzgerald's voice the only sound in the room.

"What is there to say? And what is there to do? The dream I've been seeking has, practically speaking, come true. What is there to say? And how will I pull through? I knew in a moment contentment and home meant just you."

A/N: The first song they dance to is "I'm Glad There Is You". The second song is "What Is There To Say". Both are from Ella Fitzgerald's "Songs In A Mellow Mood" album.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Nice little fluffy break before we get back into the drama. Thank you for reading!