The Gala

"Listen up everybody," Sargent Grey said as he strode to the front of the room. "Before we get started on today's cases, I have an announcement to make. This year marks the precincts 75th year, and every 25 years since it's opening, the precinct has thrown a benefit gala to raise money for our departments, as well as to honor some of the exceptional officers we've had over the past 25 years. Many high-ranking officials from other precincts will be in attendance, so it is a good opportunity to make connections if you are thinking about moving up in the ranks in the near future," he said, his eyes quickly landing on Tim and Angela. "The gala will be held in 2 weeks on Friday, January 15th, from 6:30-11. All officers who are not on duty that night are required to attend, and you each are allowed to bring a plus one. Now before anyone asks," he said, raising his hand to quiet some of the officers who were starting to whisper to each other, "you may only be allowed to change your shift if you find someone else to cover it for you, and I will need that change in writing. If your replacement fails to show up for duty, you will be called in their place. The officers I have listed for duty that night are Collins, McMurray, Sanchez, Lopez and West."

"Shit, I should probably go to this thing, huh?" Angela muttered next to him as the rest of the room erupted into chatter. "Plus Jackson's gonna have a fit if he can't go," she added as Jackson turned around to give her a look.

"Don't look at me," Tim said, sitting back and crossing his arms. "I need to network just as much as you do."

"I don't," Nyla said, leaning over Tim to look at Angela. "Nolan and I can take your shift if you want, galas really aren't my thing."

"Yeah trust me, they're not mine either," Angela said, "but since I'm going for detective I might as well get my name out there."

"Okay guys, let's refocus on our duties for today," Grey interrupted, raising his voice to be heard over the noise. "We have a few complaints left over from the night shift that need to be followed up on, but other than that we're all set to start patrols."

Tim stood up and started to move towards the door, with Lucy quickly catching up with him as they made their way through the precinct. Once they stopped to grab their bags they both headed for the garage, with Tim walking towards the driver's seat of their shop before he heard a "uh hem" behind him.

"It's a habit," he said, raising his hands in defense as he changed directions.

"That's the second time this week," Lucy replied as they buckled their seatbelts.

"Well maybe if you weren't such a crazy driver, I would feel more comfortable letting you have it."

"I am not…" Lucy started indignantly before she glanced over at him and caught him smirking, which earned him an eye roll. "Anyway, are you planning on taking anyone to this gala?"

"Probably not," Tim said. "I don't really have anyone to take, and I'm just going for the networking, so I wouldn't be much fun anyway. Are you gonna invite Emmett?"

"No," Lucy said with a sigh, "I actually haven't seen him in a while."

"Oh yeah?" Tim asked, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye. "Did he do something stupid? I warned you about those firefighters."

"No," she said, shaking her head. "I'm actually the one who backed off. He's a really nice guy and all, but we don't have a lot in common, and all we ever did was go out for drinks every time we hung out, and I was kinda getting bored of it."

"Typical," Tim muttered, but couldn't help feeling oddly satisfied that Lucy hadn't found Emmett to be very fun.

"Really, what do you have against firefighters?" Lucy laughed, looking over at him.

"Well first off, they run into burning buildings by their own free will, so that alone makes them not the brightest."

"C'mon Tim," Lucy said, frowning at him.

"No," he smirked, "I don't really personally have anything against them, it's more of an emergency service rivalry thing."

"I have never heard of this rivalry," Lucy said skeptically.

Tim shrugged and added, "Plus I enjoy annoying you, so there's that."

"Oh, that I believe," she said with a smile. "Well, I guess that means we'll both be going alone then, unless you wanna help save the planet by carpooling?"

"Are you asking me on a date Boot?"

"Not a date, just a carpool."

"Afraid your car isn't going to make the trip?"

"Would you leave my car alone?"

Tim shrugged and said, "Whatever, we can carpool, but I'm driving."

"Deal."

Much to Tim's happiness, it turned out that he and Chen got the day of the gala off, which meant he didn't have to work all day before stuffing himself into a suit and pretending to be fully awake for the rest of the night. Instead, he got to go to the gym and grill a quick burger before he left, because he was pretty sure he wasn't going to like whatever fancy food the venue would be serving. Chen was planning on being at his house for 6:15, which meant he had exactly 8 minutes to get dressed before she got there. She had texted him earlier in the day asking about his tie options, and the conversation had gone like this:

'Hey, do you by chance have an olive-green tie?

'Maybe, why?'

'Well I was just thinking it might be a good idea to coordinate colors, just so we don't clash with each other.'

'I thought this wasn't a date Boot, now you want us to be matching?'

'I just don't want you to show up with a bright purple tie or something and make us look like Barney on the walk in.'

'Really, of all things, you're worried we're going to remind people of an oversized purple dinosaur? Do I look like someone who would own a bright purple tie?'

'Hahaha idk, it's the first thing that came to mind.'

'You're nuts, and I'm seriously starting to re-think giving you a ride.'

'Whatever, wear what you want, just know I will be wearing olive green.'

'Good, I'll be sure to wear my yellow tie and blue pocket square, so everyone knows we're one of the teenage mutant ninja turtles.'

She had followed that text with a bunch of the eye-roll emojis, which were pretty common in their text thread. Tim shook his head at the memory before pulling his olive-green tie out of the closet and wrapping it around the back of his neck. Just as he finished tying it, he heard Lucy pulling into the driveway, right on time. Walking through the living room, Tim turned on the lamp for Kudjoe before grabbing his keys and making his way out the door.

"Let's go Boot, we don't wanna get there too late and have them valet park us 10 blocks down the…" he trailed off as he got his first look at her.

"I bet most people are Ubering in, I don't think you have to worry about it. Honestly I think we should've done the same, cause now one of us has to stay sober, but I know your distrust of ride share services" she replied, looking up from searching her purse to find him staring at her. "What?"

"Nothing," Tim quickly replied, "you just look, really nice, that's all. I guess I'm not used to seeing you in all this," he said, waving his hand at the olive-green dress that was sequined head to toe and hugging every curve of her body. 'Really nice' didn't even cover it, but Tim was not about to tell his rookie that he thought she looked beautiful and smoking hot all at the same time.

"Thanks, you don't look so bad yourself" she said with a smile as she opened the passenger door to his truck. "And I like your tie."

"It was the only clean one I had, just a coincidence," he replied, turning on the engine.

"Ha, whatever you say Bradford.

Once reaching the gala, Lucy was quickly swept away by Jackson and Sterling, leaving Tim to network on his own. He found Sargent Grey and his wife in the crowd, and made his way over to them, hoping the Sargent would be able to point Tim in the direction of the right people.

"Good evening Officer Bradford, you're looking very handsome tonight."

"Thank you ma'am, you look lovely as always."

"I always knew I liked you," Mrs. Grey said, smiling at him. "And I have to ask, who is your date tonight, you guys looked like quite the power couple walking in just now."

Tim opened his mouth to answer, but Sargent Grey beat him to it.

"That would be Officer Bradford's rookie, Officer Chen."

"Oh," Mrs. Grey said, a look of surprise flashing across her face. "Well, if you two are as intimidating in the field as you look tonight, then I feel safer already."

"They make a good team," Sargent Grey said, nodding at Bradford, a small smile on his face.

"Sir," Tim said, shifting his weight, feeling uncomfortable with the way the conversation was going.

"I'm assuming you came over here to ask who you should be talking to tonight," Sargent Grey continued, rescuing Tim from more scrutiny.

"I might've."

"Good, because I have some people I want to introduce you to."

And with that, Sargent Grey offered his arm to his wife, and headed towards a group of men who would take up the next 2 ½ hours of Tim's time.

In between chatting with various Sargent's and Officers from other precincts, Tim couldn't help but watch Lucy as she made her way around the room. He watched her dancing and laughing as Sterling twirled her around on the dance floor, and talking to Wesley and Angela as they ate at one of the tables. No matter how hard Tim tried to pay attention to the men in front of him, his eyes kept coming back to her.

Finally around 9:15 it was announced that the ceremony was about to begin, giving Tim an excuse to head towards the table that Lucy, Jackson, Sterling, and Wesley were currently occupying.

"Ugh, finally," Angela mumbled as she fell in line beside him. "I had some detective from the precinct over in Hollywood who would not stop talking- I think I got 5 words in in the last 45 minutes. How long do you think this is gonna take? I'm dying to get out of these heels."

"It better be quick, I've about had it with this whole thing."

"Lucy looks great by the way, I was surprised you guys came together."

"I was just giving her a ride. I don't think she felt like driving in that outfit, and I don't think she feels safe using those ride sharing apps after what happened with Caleb."

"Mhmm."

Tim frowned at Angela and asked, "What?"

"Nothing, it's just if she were any other rookie, you would never be caught dead giving them a ride anywhere, let alone a fancy work gala, no matter how valid their excuse was."

"What's your point Lopes?"

"I think you like her." And with that, Angela flashed him a mischievous smile before plopping herself down next to Wesley.

"I.." Tim began, shaking his head as she turned away from him. Tim looked at the empty seat next to Lucy, then at the other one between Sterling and Wesley. Ignoring Lucy's expectant look, Tim sat himself down between the two men, throwing Angela a glowering look before crossing his arms, and pretending not to see Lucy's confusion. What was Angela thinking, suggesting that there was something between him and Chen. Rachel hinting at it was one thing, but another cop? This wasn't something to joke about; Lucy wasn't even an officer yet, and with Tim gunning for Sargent, any sort of relationship would be seen as totally inappropriate, not to mention he was her T.O. No matter what Tim may or may not feel for Lucy, nothing was going to change that fact.

Tim could barely focus on the awards ceremony as he turned Angela's words over in his head. If she had been picking up on something between them, who else had been? And what should Tim do about it?

Just when he felt like storming out of the room, getting in his truck and getting the hell out of there, Angela leaned over Wesley and whispered forcefully, "Bathroom Bradford, now."

Wesley gave Angela a confused look, and Tim once again chose to ignore Lucy's as he took off after Angela.

"What now?" Tim hissed as soon as they made it to the hallway.

"You looked like you were about two seconds from blowing your gasket, so I figured I needed to clarify."

"You have 5 seconds," Tim replied.

"Look, I didn't mean anything bad by it, I actually think it'd be good for you."

"In what world would it be a good thing for either of us?"

"In a world that doesn't revolve around work, Bradford. Ever since Lucy came into your life, you've been happier than I've seen you in a long time. She helped you to finally move on from Isabelle, and you've helped her through some pretty rough times as well. You guys make a really great team, and you make each other happy. What else is there to say?"

"Gee, I don't know, the fact that she's my…"

"She's your rookie, I know. But Bradford, she's not going to be your rookie for much longer. Plus, I'm marrying a defense attorney, Jackson's dating a celebrity, and Nolan was once dating a senior DHS official. None of those partners are 'ideal' partners for a cop, let alone rookies, but yet we're all still here. You and Chen are both damn good cops, and at the end of the day, that's all that matters. Plus, you know Grey has more sense than to just write either of you off because of who you may or may not be dating. Now get your head out of your ass, and go be nice to your date."

"She's not my date," Tim muttered, but Angela was already walking away.

Tim raised his eyes to the ceiling as he shook his head. This night had taken a really unexpected turn, and he didn't even know what to think anymore. What he did know, however, was that he was officially done with this gala, and he was starving.

Tim walked back into the main room and sat down next to Lucy.

"Hey," she whispered, leaning towards him, "is everything okay?"

"Yeah," Tim whispered back. "Is this almost over?"

"I think this is the last award, why?"

"I'm thinking about heading out after this. I'm hungry, I'm tired of wearing this suit, plus, we're on duty tomorrow."

"You didn't wanna eat any vegan calamari or kale salad?" she whispered back teasingly.

Tim gave her a look of disgust that made her giggle. She immediately clapped her hand over her mouth to suppress the rest of her laughter in the silent ballroom. Jackson shook his head at her as he pointed to her empty champagne glass, and pantomimed throwing back a few glasses.

The officer who Tim didn't recognize finally ended his speech, and the lights came back up as he exited the stage.

"Had a few too many Boot?" Tim asked.

"I had two glasses," Lucy retorted indignantly.

"You ready to go?"

"Yeah, just give me a second to say goodnight to everyone."

"I'll go get the valet and meet you out front," Tim said, before waving to everyone at the table and making his way towards the door.

It took Lucy about 5 minutes to say goodbye, which was exactly how long it took for the valet to grab Tim's truck.

"Finally," he said as she appeared next to him. "You know we're going to see almost all of them tomorrow, right?"

"It's called being polite, Tim."

"You should know that if you're going to stuff me in a suit and expect me to eat rabbit's food, that I'm going to have a very limited amount of politeness in me, and once it's gone, it's gone."

"Duly noted," Lucy laughed, climbing into his passenger seat as he tipped the valet.

"Hey, seriously, what happened with you and Angela? You almost looked like you were pissed at me for some reason."

"Nothing," Tim quickly replied as he pulled onto the street. "She had gotten some news about an old officer we used to know, and she was keeping me updated about a group chat I wasn't a part of."

"Mhmm," Lucy said skeptically as she studied him from across the console. "I don't know that I believe you, but you're clearly not gonna tell me, so whatever. What's the food plan?"

"I was thinking the street taco vendor about 10 minutes from my house, he's got the best late-night tacos around."

"Didn't you have a burger for lunch?"

"For an early dinner," Tim corrected. "What's the problem?"

"That's a lot of red meat in one day."

"Did I ask for a nutritionist? Are you in or not?"

"Oh I'm totally down, I'm just pointing out your caveman-like diet."

"You don't get these muscles from munching on some grass," Tim said, patting the 6-pack that was currently hiding under his dress shirt.

"Oh yeah," Lucy laughed, shaking her head. "You don't get congestive heart failure from it either."

"You're really ruining my vibe Boot," Tim said, frowning at her. "One more word and I'm not buying you a taco."

"Fine, fine, I surrender," Lucy said with a smile, holding her hands up.

"Time to sober you up," he said as he pulled the truck over and put it in park.

"For the last time, I'm not the least bit drunk," Lucy declared, climbing out of the cab.

Thankfully there wasn't a long line, and Tim and Lucy soon had their tacos in hand. Lucy started to make her way towards the passenger side door until Tim called, "No food in the truck Boot." He instead dropped the tailgate and patted the space next to him.

"Out here?" Lucy asked, "it's freezing."

"It's like 50 degrees."

"Yeah, like I said, freezing."

"I went to college in Washington, this would be considered balmy weather for January."

"Well seeing as we're not in Washington…"

Tim sighed and started shrugging off his jacket. "Here, take this," he said, holding it out to her.

"Thanks," she replied, draping it around her shoulders before boosting herself up next to him.

They ate in comfortable silence, with Lucy confirming that yes, these were the best late-night taco's that she'd had to date. Before he knew it, they were back in the truck, on the way to his house. Pulling into his driveway, Tim could see Kudjoe peering out at them excitedly from the living room window, and he made a mental note to let him out as soon as Lucy left.

"I should probably get going," Lucy said, taking Tim's jacket from her shoulders and handing it to him before searching through her purse for her keys. Tim couldn't help but notice that the jacket smelled like her perfume as he folded it over his arm.

"You sure you're good to drive?" he asked.

"Officer Bradford," Lucy said, putting her hands on her hips indignantly. "What signs am I showing that still makes you think I'm inebriated? Am I slurring my words, are my eyes glassy?"

"I just want to make sure I'm not missing anything, Officer Chen," he said, crossing his arms and matching her mocking tone. "I don't need my rookie being arrested for a DUI a few months before her graduation."

"What do I need to do to convince you then, walk in a straight line?"

"Sure, I'll be satisfied with that," he said, sweeping his arm in front of him as he stepped back.

"I need to go to bed," Lucy grumbled, putting her purse down on the hood of her car before holding her arms out mockingly and walking towards him, putting one foot directly in front of the other. She almost made it to him when she suddenly tripped. On instinct, Tim lunged forward and caught her before she could hit the ground. They froze for a moment, staring at each other, both remembering the last time Lucy had been cradled in his arms. Then, Tim couldn't help but notice that her dress had been pulled down a little when he caught her, and it took all his willpower not to stare.

"What the hell was that?" Lucy asked, breaking the spell, and Tim helped her stand up as they both looked behind her. There, sitting right in her path, was one of Kudjoe's bones.

"That's where that went," Tim commented, walking over to pick it up before throwing it back on the front lawn.

"That doesn't count," Lucy declared as she fixed her dress, much to Tim's disappointment.

"No, I guess it doesn't," he replied.

"Well now that we've finally established I'm sober, I should get going, it's going to be tough getting up tomorrow."

Tim nodded in agreement; he was not looking forward to working an 8-hour shift with only 6 hours sleep at the most.

"Thanks Tim, for letting me ride with you, and for the taco's, and for catching me, oh, and for your jacket…"

Tim huffed a laugh and said, "Yeah, sure, no problem."

"Oh, did Grey give you any crap about walking in with me?"

"No," he said, shaking his head.

"Well that's good, I feel like I owe you one though."

"Mmm, true. How about you fill out all the paperwork tomorrow."

"Oh yay, can't wait."

"Goodnight Chen," Tim said, cracking a smile.

"Goodnight Bradford," she said, returning the smile before getting in her car and closing the door.

As Tim walked towards the house, he tried to get the image of Lucy, laying in his arms with her too low skin-tight dress out of his head, and decided that yes, this was not going to be a restful night.