The Fever

Tim Bradford's week just kept getting better and better.

The Monday after Rachel had broken up with him Tim tried, without success, to get through his shift without having to talk to anyone about it. He was hoping Rachel hadn't told Lucy yet, but as soon as he saw her face at the end of roll call he knew he hadn't been so lucky. Her mouth started to open before she had even reached him, and Tim figured he better get ahead of this while he could.

"I don't wanna talk about it, Boot," he said, holding up a hand to shush her.

"I just.." Lucy started, then thought better of it when she saw his face.

"You've got 5 minutes to meet me in the shop, then I'm leaving with or without you."

"Yes sir," Lucy said, holding his gaze for longer than necessary while giving him her classic "this isn't over yet" look.

After enduring about an hour of Chen throwing him worried glances from the passenger seat, Tim suddenly hit the brakes and slammed his hand against the top of the steering wheel.

"Out with it Boot," he demanded, meeting her startled gaze.

"I um, I just wanted to know how you were doing, and to say that I'm sorry," she said, not meeting his eyes.

"I'm fine," he said, but when she gave him another look, he sighed and added, "it was a mutual thing, no hard feelings."

Lucy nodded, saying, "Rachel told me the same thing, she didn't really say much, not that I need, or want to know anything…" she trailed off, looking more uncomfortable by the second. "I just wanted to make sure you're okay."

Tim nodded in acknowledgement of her concern and said, "Well now that we've established I am, let's focus on the job Officer Chen, and not my love life."

"I can do that," Lucy said, throwing him a relieved smile.

He couldn't help but give her a tiny smile as he shook his head and pulled the shop back onto the road.

On Tuesday, he and Chen answered a call about a fender bender that involved a haggard, sleep-deprived mom and her twin sons who had the flu. While Officer Chen was taking the mom's statement, Tim couldn't help but feel bad for the woman as she tried to balance both crying boys in her arms. Against his better judgement he offered to take one of the boys while she finished up, earning him a surprised but proud look from Lucy, which he had to admit kind of made up for any potential illness he was about to expose himself to. He looked at the wriggling, snotty mess in his arms and muttered,

"No snot on the uniform, kid."

"You softy," Lucy said softly as she made her way back to the shop, gently bumping his shoulder.

"You saw nothing," he answered, climbing back into the shop.

But by Wednesday afternoon, Tim was ready to take back his thoughts about how making Lucy proud could make up for him catching the flu. He had been feeling progressively more exhausted as the day went on, and now he was starting to ache all over.

"Tim," Lucy said forcefully, bringing his thoughts back to reality.

"What?" he snapped, a little more aggressively than he meant to.

She raised her eyebrows at him and said,

"I asked if you were feeling okay. You're looking a little pale, and your eyes are starting to glaze over."

He frowned at her and grumbled,

"Think I'm coming down with something, probably from that snotty kid yesterday."

"Do you want me to drive?" Lucy asked. "We can head back to the station if you want to leave early."

He snorted and said, "Nice try Chen, but I'm not gonna leave early, Tim Bradford always finishes what he starts."

Lucy gave him a smile that told him she remembered the last time he told her that, and said, "So I've heard." But her smile faded as she continued, "But if you start to feel even the least bit nauseous, you're out."

"Oh yeah Boot?" he said. "I'd like to see you try."

Thankfully, the nausea didn't arrive until later that night, but when Thursday rolled around Tim found he could barely get himself out of bed. He called out sick, which was not something he was used to doing, and continued to sleep for the rest of the day. He was hoping to get this over with quick, but ended up having to call out again on Friday too, because he felt even worse than he had on Thursday.

Soon after falling back asleep Friday morning, Tim awoke to the sound of his doorbell ringing and Kudjoe barking. He groaned as he tried to pull himself up into the sitting position, wondering who the hell was at his door this early on a Friday morning. He felt so shaky and weak that he wasn't sure he'd be able to make it to the door. Luckily, just as he was about to attempt standing up, he heard a familiar voice shout,

"Tim, are you awake?"

He sighed as he grabbed his phone from his bedside table, selecting a contact from his recent calls list. She picked up on the second ring.

"Hey, are you okay?" Lucy asked.

"There's a spare key in the top drawer of the toolbox in the garage," Tim answered. "The code is 0825."

"Okay, I'll be in in a minute," she said, ending the call.

Tim slowly leaned back against his headboard, closing his eyes against the light that was coming through his window. He heard the door open and Lucy greeting Kudjoe as she called his name.

"In here," he answered, rolling his eyes at how weak his voice sounded.

"Tim," Lucy said again as she appeared in his doorway, "are you okay?"

"I've got the flu, Boot," he said, "not the Bubonic Plague."

"Well yeah, I know, but this is the second day in a row you called out sick, and Angela said she's never known you to do that, and to be honest you don't look so great…"

Tim felt an overwhelming urge to come up with a witty comeback for that, but he was honestly too tired to.

"Aaand you don't have a sarcastic remark for that, so there's another red flag," she said, coming closer into the room. "Do you still have a fever?"

"Feels like it," Tim answered.

Lucy frowned at him and asked, "When was the last time you checked?"

"I don't know, yesterday."

"Have you had breakfast?"

"Don't feel hungry," he said.

"Okay," Lucy said, clapping her hands together. "I'm going to go find your thermometer and make you some toast."

"I don't need a babysitter," Tim muttered, feeling a little embarrassed that Lucy, his rookie, was seeing him like this.

"Yeah, says the guy who can't get out of bed," Lucy scoffed. "I just came by to make sure you were okay, which you're clearly not, so shut it and eat the toast."

"Yes ma'am," Tim said under his breath as she left the room. He closed his eyes for what felt like a few seconds, but when he opened them again Lucy had returned with a thermometer, two pieces of toast, orange juice, a bottle of Tylenol, and a wet wash cloth.

"Eat it, Lucy said simply, pointing to the toast. "I'm gonna take Kudjoe for a walk, have you fed him yet?"

Tim shook his head no before he took a sip of orange juice.

"Okay," she said, "I'll be back."

Once Tim finished the toast and the orange juice and had taken the Tylenol, he laid back down and put the washcloth over his forehead. He tried to stay awake until they got back, but he couldn't fight the overwhelming urge to close his eyes and fall back to sleep once more.

The next time Tim opened his eyes the clock on his bedside table read 3:00pm. He couldn't believe he had slept through the rest of the morning and half of the afternoon, but it must've done him some good, because he felt better than he had in days. He looked over to see the thermometer still lying there, and popped it in his mouth. Once it beeped he took it out and saw 98.9 degrees flashing on the screen- much better than the 101 it had been yesterday. A sudden wave of hunger overtook him, and he decided it was finally time to get out of bed. After using the bathroom he threw on a t-shirt and made his way towards the kitchen, but a sight stopped him as he came into view of the living room.

There on his couch, curled up against the armrest with Kudjoe lying by her feet was Lucy, a book in her hand. Tim had not been expecting her to still be here- he figured she would've left after coming back from her walk with Kudjoe. He certainly wasn't expecting her to stay at his place for the next 6 hours while he slept. But maybe what surprised him the most was how much he liked seeing her there in his living room, with his blanket thrown over her lap and his dog by her side.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts, and blamed his fever for the strange turn they had just taken. He continued to walk towards the kitchen as he asked,

"What are you still doing here Boot?"

"Oh hey," Lucy said, turning her head towards him. "You're awake, how are you feeling?"

"Better," Tim said, coming to stand in front of her while crossing his arms and raising his eyebrows.

"That's good, I didn't really want to leave until I knew how you were, seeing as you couldn't even stand up this morning."

"I'm a grown man, Boot, not a…"

"Oh cut it out Tim," Lucy snapped, narrowing her eyes at him. "I came over here because I knew you were sick, and now that you and Rachel aren't together anymore I knew you wouldn't have anyone looking after you. I also know it's no fun being sick alone, especially when you don't have enough energy to feed yourself or your dog- whether you're a grown man or not."

Tim sighed as he took a seat next to Kodjoe on the couch, leaning back to look at the ceiling. Tim Bradford did not like to show weakness, and the fact that he had shown plenty of it today was making him irritated, not to mention the fact that he had recently been dumped. But he did have to admit, if there was anyone in his life who he didn't mind showing a little weakness to every now and then, it was Lucy. After a minute he said quietly,

"I know, I'm just not having the best week."

"I know," Lucy responded softly.

Tim looked over at her and said,

"Thanks for checking up on me."

Lucy smiled back at him and said, "You're welcome, you were really starting to mess up my training, so I figured I needed to take matters into my own hands."

"Oh, is that right?" Tim huffed, shaking his head at her with a smirk.

Lucy shot him a mischievous grin as she asked, "Are you hungry?"

"Yeah, I'm starving."

"You want some chicken noodle soup and grilled cheese?"

"Sure," Tim said, turning on the TV and flipping to the sports channel.

After Lucy heated up some soup and whipped up a grilled cheese, she brought it over to him and laid it on the coffee table.

"Wanna watch some football?" Tim asked before taking a huge bite of the grilled cheese.

Lucy laughed and shook her head as she said, "No, I should probably get going, I don't wanna bother you anymore."

Tim couldn't help but smile at her obvious sass and said, "Suit yourself Boot, I'll see you on Monday then."

"Yes you will," she said, leaning down to say goodbye to Kudjoe.

As she went to open the door Tim put the grilled cheese down and said,

"Hey Lucy?"

She turned, surprised to hear him say her name.

"Thanks again for today."

She smiled softly at him and nodded before stepping through the door, and Tim couldn't deny the small feelings of loneliness and longing he felt come over him as she closed it shut behind her.