The Call

"She's one hell of a shot, isn't she Bradford?"

"Yeah, she sure is," Tim Bradford muttered under his breath, shaking his head as his friend continued to praise the random blonde he had picked up at the bar earlier on her billiards shot. She hadn't left Mike's side since meeting him an hour ago, and now Tim was stuck playing a 2 on 1 game of pool with them. Though he had expected something like this to happen- he had been to enough bars with Mike over the years to know- he was starting to think this wasn't as good of a distraction as he was hoping it would be when he had made these plans yesterday. Because here in this crowded bar, watching Mike work his magic on yet another 20-something year old, Tim found his thoughts drifting back to Lucy, as they tended to do these days.

He was fully recovered from his concussion now, but it had taken him 10 days to get cleared for duty, which had driven him absolutely crazy, because it meant he was missing 10 days of Lucy's final training. Thankfully Nyla had offered to take Lucy on for some of that time, so she wasn't solely on desk duty, but it still didn't sit well with Tim. He knew Lucy hadn't been happy about it either, even though she never said anything about it. She hadn't been saying much about anything these days, which was bothering Tim more than he wanted to admit. The thing was, he had no idea what to do about it.

The day he returned to duty was the day that Grey officially announced Bradford's promotion. Even though Lucy had stood and clapped for him with a smile on her face like the rest of his colleagues, Tim hadn't missed the way her smile never reached her eyes. He had tried to apologize to her again once they were in the shop, but she told him the same thing she had that night at the hospital; that she understood why he hadn't told her, and that she forgave him. Tim didn't really think she was lying about that, but it still didn't change the fact that the comfortable silence they used to enjoy was now filled with tension, and their usual friendly banter was replaced with silence and stolen glances when the other wasn't looking. Deep down, Tim understood why his leaving was affecting their dynamic so much, but the reason for it was something he didn't feel fully comfortable admitting to himself yet, let alone talking about, because once he said it out loud, it would become a lot more real, and Tim wasn't sure if that was a good idea.

Just as Mike sank another one of his solids into the corner pocket, Tim's phone started to vibrate. Taking it out, he was surprised, then concerned, to see Lucy's name lit up on his screen at 11:30 on a Saturday night, especially this night of all nights.

"Hello?"

"Tim?" Lucy asked, and his heart skipped a beat at the fear he could hear laced in her voice.

"What's wrong?" he asked, already heading back to the table to grab his jacket and keys.

"I um, I was wondering if you could come pick me up, I'm at this bar, and I was with my friend, but she had to bail suddenly and now I'm here alone and I don't have my car and…"

"I'm on my way," he replied, waving a hand at Mike to catch his attention, showing him his keys and pointing to his phone while mouthing 'gotta go'. "Where are you?"

"I'm at The Little Bar, on South…"

"I know where it is," Tim interrupted. "I'll be there in 10."

"10 minutes," she asked in confusion, "but your house… you're out too, aren't you? Oh, I didn't mean to bother you…"

"It's fine, I was just catching up with an old army buddy of mine, and we were just about to leave anyway," he said, which wasn't totally a lie. He had been ready to leave, whether or not Mike had been.

"Are you sure?" she asked, the tension still obvious in her voice. "Jackson is out of town for the weekend with Sterling, and Henry and his fiancé are visiting Nolan, but…"

"I meant what I said Lucy, when I told you if you needed anything to let me know," he said gently, "I'm glad you called. Just breathe, I'll be there soon."

"I'm trying," she said, letting out a shaky sigh.

"Are you still in the bar?" Tim asked, trying to keep her somewhat distracted, while also trying to figure out how safe she was at the moment.

"Yeah, I'm standing by the line to the women's bathroom. I don't really feel comfortable anywhere else."

Tim couldn't help but smile a little; that is exactly where he was about to tell her to go, as she was least likely to be bothered by any men there. Even drunk and scared, Lucy was still thinking like a good cop.

"Good, that's good Boot, just stay there until I get there, okay?"

"Okay," she replied, and it pained Tim to hear the uncertainty in her voice.

He stayed on the line with her for the whole ride, updating her every few minutes on his ETA. When he got within sight of the bar, he told Lucy he was there, and quickly pulled his truck over into a no parking zone. She came out about 30 seconds later, and before he was even able to unbuckle his seatbelt, she was already hurrying over to his truck. She climbed in, bringing with her the scent of lavender and alcohol.

"Hey," Tim said, giving her a quick once-over. He noticed her face was a few shades paler than normal, and it looked like she was sweating a little, but she was currently shivering. He quickly shrugged off his jacket before handing it to her. "Here," he said, then reached behind him to the floor of the backseat to grab a water bottle. "This too," he added, holding it out to her.

"Thanks, Tim, really," she said, wrapping his jacket around her shoulders and pulling it tight against her chest before reaching out for the water.

"Anytime," he said, holding her gaze. "You're safe now, okay?"

"I know," she said, nodding.

Tim was just buckling in again when he saw flashing lights lighting up his side and rearview mirrors.

"Fuck, seriously?" he asked as they both turned around to stare out the back window. "I've been here for literally a minute."

"Tim, it's going to be one of ours," Lucy said, the fear back in her voice now for a completely different reason.

"I know," he said with a sigh, as The Little Bar fell within Mid-Wilshire's jurisdiction.

"I think that's Smitty," Lucy commented, shrinking down in her seat a little.

"Oh thank god," Tim said, feeling a wave of relief wash over him. Ignoring Lucy's inquisitive look, Tim rolled down his window as the older officer approached his door.

"Evening Sir," Smitty started before he recognized Tim. "Oh, Officer Bradford, I thought this truck looked familiar.

"Hi Smitty," Tim replied.

"Oh, and Officer Chen…" Smitty trailed off as he looked between the two of them.

"Hi," Lucy said, raising her hand in a small wave from the passenger seat. "Ti… I mean, Officer Bradford was just giving me a ride home. My car broke down, again, and I don't have Triple A, and he happened to be in the area, so…"

"Oh, yeah, okay," Smitty said, looking as uncomfortable about the situation as Tim and Lucy were currently feeling. "It's just that you're currently parked in a…"

"Smitty," Tim interrupted. "Do you remember that favor I did for you last year, the one where you said you owed me one?"

"Sure do," he said nodding, already starting to back up. "I was never here," he continued, holding up his hands as he continued to walk backwards. "Have a good rest of your night guys."

"You too," Tim replied before rolling up his window again, and putting the truck in drive.

"What was that about?" Lucy asked, looking intrigued.

"Nothing," Tim said, shaking his head as he pulled back onto the road.

"Do you think he's going to tell anyone about seeing us?"

"Not if he knows what's good for him," Tim muttered.

"Well, I guess that worked out," she said, slumping back into her seat.

"Yeah it did, now it's time to relax, for real," he replied, glancing over at her.

"Yes sir," she said, a small smile creeping over her face as she pulled his jacket closer to her, snuggling into it before closing her eyes.

Tim kept glancing over at Lucy every once in a while, making sure her breathing was staying slow and even. He wasn't sure if she had fallen asleep or not, but he did know her breathing had slowed considerably since she had gotten into the truck.

"Tim," she said suddenly as he executed a turn. "Where are we going?"

"You said Jackson was away for the weekend," Tim replied as he straightened out the wheel. "I didn't feel comfortable bringing you back to an empty apartment, especially not tonight…" he trailed off, glancing over at her again.

She gave him a look of surprise, then gratitude, before sighing and turning to look out the window. "It was going just fine until Carly's boyfriend called and said that her dog was sick, and then she bolted and just left me there. I wasn't even thinking about it up until then, well, at least not a lot," she said, catching his skeptical look. "Then I started to go into panic mode, and I couldn't stop it this time."

"You couldn't have gone to see a movie with her or something, anything else than going to a bar?" he asked her.

"I know, but I didn't want to let it stop me, to let him, get to me again. So much for that though," she said, shaking her head.

"Lucy, the fact that you could even step foot in a bar tonight proves that you aren't letting it stop you, you should be proud of yourself for that alone," Tim told her seriously, holding her gaze for a moment to emphasize his point.

"I guess," she said quietly, not sounding convinced.

Fighting the urge to roll his eyes at her stubbornness, Tim pulled into his driveway, putting the truck in park before turning off the engine, and consequently bathing them in darkness as the lights on the dashboard faded.

"Tim," Lucy said again, almost timidly this time.

Tim turned towards her, narrowing his eyes against the darkness in an attempt to get a better look at her.

"Thank you again for picking me up, and for not bringing me home to an empty apartment, I'm not sure I'd be able to handle that right now. I know I haven't been the easiest person to ride with lately, and I know you think it's because I'm still mad at you, but I'm not. It's just, I've been trying to get used to the idea of not having you around after next week, and it's been… harder than I thought it would be," she admitted sheepishly, glancing down at her lap, and Tim swore he saw her face start to redden.

"I know, I've been thinking about that too," he said, turning away from her to stare out windshield. "I've worked at Mid-Wilshire for my entire career, and the thought of not walking through those doors anymore…" he trailed off shaking his head, not really having the words to explain.

He glanced over at her then, and found her staring intently back at him. He didn't know what it was about her presence that made him start to open up, but he had to admit it felt good to finally talk to someone about it.

"It must be a weird feeling," she said sympathetically, her hand trailing across his center console, looking almost as if it was going to come to rest on the arm that he had draped across it, but she pulled it back towards her body at the last minute.

Bringing his eyes back to hers, Tim answered honestly, "Yeah it is, I'm going to miss…," holding her gaze with equal intensity for a second too long before finishing, "a lot of things." Tim swore he could feel Lucy holding her breath as he finished his sentence, and there was an electric energy filling the cab that hadn't been there a second ago.

Feeling like he was walking a very fine line all of the sudden, Tim cleared his throat and said, "Anyway, enough about me, we should go say hi to Kudjoe before his tail falls off."

"Good plan," Lucy said with a smile, climbing out of the truck and following him through the garage.

As Tim predicted, they were met with a very enthusiastic Kudjoe as soon as they walked through the door. Tim headed towards the kitchen to grab himself a glass of water as Lucy knelt down to say hi to his dog.

"Hey, are you hungry or anything?" he asked as he pulled open the fridge.

"Uh, not really," Lucy said, standing back up to slip off her shoes. "Honestly, all I want right now is to go to bed."

Tim nodded as he glanced at the clock that read 1:00am. "I'll show you where the guest bedroom is, everything should be clean in there."

"Oh, I don't want to be any more trouble, I was planning to just sleep on the couch."

"It's not any more trouble," Tim said, crossing his arms. "It's not like anyone else was going to use it, plus, Kudjoe likes sleeping on a bed much better than he likes sleeping on a couch, I learned that lesson the hard way."

"Oh, so now I'm stealing your dog too?" she asked, tilting her head with a smile.

"Borrowing, not stealing," he replied, returning her smile. "But, it will cost you extra."

"I'll buy you lunch on Monday," she offered, taking his jacket that was still draped around her shoulders and placing it on the back of one of his barstool chairs.

"Deal," he said, leading the way down the hall towards the guest bedroom. Once reaching the doorway though, a thought suddenly occurred to him.

"Do you want something a little more comfortable to sleep in?" he asked, giving her fancy top and tight jeans a once-over.

Lucy glanced down at her attire, then gave him a sheepish look as she replied, "Um, yeah actually, if you have anything. If not, that's fine."

"I'll see what I can find," he said, glancing towards his room. "The bathroom should have some toothpaste, and I think I threw an extra toothbrush in one of the drawers at some point."

"Thanks Tim," Lucy said again before heading into the bathroom and closing the door.

Walking into his bedroom, Tim couldn't shake the feeling that he was toeing that line again by offering Lucy one of his shirts to sleep in. It felt… intimate, which was the last sort of thing he should be feeling towards his rookie. But tonight, Tim was finding that he didn't really give a damn what he should or shouldn't be feeling for her. Opening his drawer of old t-shirts, he rummaged around until he found what he was looking for- his favorite shirt from college. Trying not to think too much about what it would look like hanging off of her petite frame, Tim tried to coax Kudjoe, who had already settled down for the night, to get back off of the bed. As much as he enjoyed having him as a snuggle buddy (not that he would ever verbally admit it), he had a feeling that Lucy was going to need all the help she could get tonight to have a peaceful sleep.

After practically dragging Kudjoe out of his nest of blankets at the foot of the bed, Tim and Kudjoe made their way to the guest bedroom, only to find Lucy sitting on the edge of the bed, staring off into space.

"Hey," Tim said, gently knocking on the door frame as Kudjoe made his way over to Lucy.

"Hey," she replied, smiling as Kudjoe jumped up beside her.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

"I don't know," she sighed, looking down at her lap as her fingers played with the edge of the throw blanket. "It's just, I haven't felt like this in long time… I thought I was done feeling this way."

"The one year mark is always the hardest," Tim said honestly, leaning against the doorway. "Once you make it through that, it does start to get better."

"Good to know," she nodded, still not meeting his eyes.

"And to make it a little easier, I brought you the biggest snuggler in town, along with my lucky shirt."

"Your lucky shirt?" she asked, a surprised smile washing away the haunted look that had inhabited her face a second ago.

"Well, maybe not lucky, but this shirt came with me overseas, and it saw me through a lot of rough and restless nights. I uh, thought maybe it could do the same for you." Stepping into the room, Tim held it out to her, feeling that electric energy start to build again as she held his gaze. Without breaking eye contact, Lucy reached out to take the shirt, her hand brushing ever so gently against his as she pulled the fabric from his grasp.

"Tim," she said softly, and something about the way she said his name made him shiver. "This is really sweet, thank you."

He nodded, internally acknowledging the fact that he should be leaving now, but finding that he really didn't want to. Almost against his will, he started to back out of the room, grabbing the door on his way out. But before shutting it, he turned back around, and found Lucy still staring at him, his shirt pressed against her chest.

"Goodnight Lucy," he said quietly.

"Goodnight Tim," he heard her reply as he gently closed the door behind him, and forced himself to walk away before he decided to do anything really reckless.

After taking a much needed cold shower, Tim had climbed into bed and fallen fast asleep- it had been a long night. But he woke back up a few hours later, and although he couldn't pin-point exactly what it was that had him lying awake at 4:30 in the morning, he had this gut feeling that something was wrong. Before he was even fully alert, Tim was already walking down the hall to check on Lucy and Kudjoe. He was hoping he was wrong, but when he opened the door, what he found made it feel like someone had his heart in a death-grip.

Lucy had left the side table lamp on, so Tim was quickly able to assess what was happening. She was currently lying in the middle of the bed, but she was all tangled up in the sheets, and the bedspread had been thrown off to the side. Kudjoe was standing next to the bed, his ears perked up in curiosity as he watched her. As Tim walked closer, he heard Lucy start to whimper, and saw tears tracing their way down her face, even though her eyes were screwed shut.

Not wanting her to suffer through this nightmare any longer, Tim knelt down by the side of the bed and gently reached out, putting his hand on her shoulder as he whispered her name. When that didn't work, Tim started to shake her shoulder, saying her name louder this time. Suddenly, Lucy woke with a gasp, sitting up so fast it startled both Tim and Kudjoe. She looked around the room, her eyes wide with terror before landing on Tim's. He watched as the recognition and understanding came back into her eyes. Her face started to crumple then, sobs beginning to rack her body as she buried her face in her hands.

Moving on instinct, Tim climbed onto bed, sitting back against the headboard as he wrapped her in his arms. She leaned heavily against him, and Tim could feel her body trembling as she fought to calm herself down. Burying his head in her hair, he whispered, "You're okay, you're safe." Tim swore he could feel the desert sun beating down on his back, just as it had done exactly a year ago as he whispered those same words to her.

Tim wasn't sure how long they sat like that, with him gently rubbing Lucy's back as her sobs subsided. At some point, Lucy moved to untangle herself from the sheets, and Tim somehow found himself underneath them as well. During this time, they had unconsciously slid a lot lower in the bed, with Tim's head now resting on one of the pillows. Kudjoe had rejoined them, curling up against Lucy's feet at the bottom of the bed. Tim was only half awake at this point, but he told himself he would stay until Lucy fell back to sleep, and then he would leave. The only problem was, he could barely keep his eyes open, and despite his best efforts, his exhaustion eventually won against his resolve.

The next time Tim opened his eyes, he noted that it was a whole lot brighter than it had been just a few minutes before. After a moment of confusion, he suddenly realized that it was not just a few minutes later, it was more like a few hours later, according to the clock that was sitting on the bedside table. And that wasn't the only thing he realized. He also became acutely aware of the fact that his arm, which he could no longer feel, was still tucked under the sleeping figure of Lucy Chen, his friend, not to mention his rookie… who he was currently in bed with. And believe it or not, but the fact that he was in bed with his rookie was not what had him freaking out the most, it was more the fact that when he had first woken up, before he fully realized what was going on, he had honestly never felt more content in his life.

'I am so screwed,' he thought to himself as he re-assessed his current situation. Although Lucy's head was no longer resting on his chest, she was still curled up facing towards him. At some point in the night, Tim must have rolled on his side too, so they were both facing each other now. Because of their height difference, Lucy was able to tuck the top of her head right under his chin, and her bent knees were in line with his hips. His legs were bent right underneath hers, and his left arm was still stretched out underneath her pillow, where he could feel the weight of her head resting against it. Miraculously, the rest of their bodies weren't touching, but there was only about an inch of space between them, which allowed Tim to feel the heat radiating from her, and to smell her signature lavender scent.

Fighting the urge to close the gap between them before drifting back off into a blissful sleep, Tim told himself he really needed to get up now; there was no point in torturing himself with things that he couldn't have. As slowly as he could, he rolled onto his back, while gently trying to extract his arm from underneath her pillow. It apparently wasn't gentle enough though, because Lucy's eyes fluttered open as he laid his numb arm across his chest.

They stared at each other for a moment, for what felt like the hundredth time in the last 24 hours.

"Hey," Lucy said, her voice still groggy with sleep.

"Hey yourself," Tim replied.

"Well, this is becoming a yearly tradition for us isn't it, you staying the night with me?" she asked, and Tim couldn't help the huff of laughter that escaped his lips. He wasn't sure how Lucy was going to react, but he was glad to see she could at least joke about it.

"Yeah, seems like it, I may be able to pencil you in for next year, but I'd have to check my calendar first."

"Haha," she said, reaching out to give his shoulder a playful shove. "No, really though, I feel like a broken record, but, thank you for everything last night, it definitely wasn't one of my finest moments."

"It happens," Tim shrugged, staring up at the ceiling. "And you're welcome."

"Was I really that loud that I woke you up?" she asked. "I used to wake Jackson up all the time."

"I honestly don't know," Tim said, turning his head to look at her once more. "I just woke up and had a feeling that something was wrong, so I came down to check on you."

Lucy nodded, absentmindedly licking her lips, and Tim couldn't help his eyes from flickering towards them briefly before meeting her eyes again. She opened her mouth as if to say something, before quietly sighing and closing it again.

"I uh, should get Kudjoe his breakfast," Tim said after a few more moments of silent staring had passed. "Do you want anything?"

"No, I should probably get going, I've inconvenienced you enough. I'll grab something on the way."

"What are you, walking back to your apartment?"

"I don't know, I can get a Lyft or something."

Tim shook his head and said, "I have some errands to do, I can give you a ride back while I'm out."

Lucy looked like she was going to argue with him, but in the end just said, "Okay."

Within 30 minutes they were back in the truck, with Lucy munching on an egg and cheese bagel that Tim had made for them while she was changing back into last night's clothes. The ride back to her apartment was mostly silent, and it seemed that the tension had returned between them. Tim pulled into a 15-minute parking space right down the street from her apartment, shutting off the engine as Lucy began to gather her things. Once she had collected everything, she let out a big sigh before turning in her seat to face him.

"Tim, I feel like we should, I don't know, talk about what's been going on with us."

Tim ran a hand through his hair, taking a moment to gather his thoughts before speaking.

"I know, we should, I just don't think this is the best time." Holding up his hand to silence her, he continued, "With your last week as a rookie coming up, and my last week as a T.O. and patrol officer, there's already a lot going on. Let's just, try and focus on one thing at a time."

"But we are going to talk about it at some point, right?" she pressed.

"Yeah, we will, I promise."

"Okay," she nodded, reaching for the door handle. "Oh, one more thing. My parents are planning this family and friends get together at their house after my graduation, and they wanted me to invite you. They said they wanted to properly thank you for getting me through my first year by feeding you a delicious home-cooked meal."

"You can let them know I'll stop by," Tim said, a small smile crossing his face.

"Will do. I'll uh, see you tomorrow then I guess."

"See you tomorrow Boot."

"Tim," she said, turning back towards him after climbing out of the truck. "I know I've said it a million times, but thank you, again, I honestly don't know how I would've gotten through last night if you hadn't been there."

"Anytime," he replied, holding her gaze to show her that he meant it. She gave him one last appreciative smile before shutting the passenger side door, and Tim made sure to wait until she was safely inside her apartment building before heading off to do the errands, that up until about an hour ago, had never actually existed.

'Yup,' he thought to himself as he pulled back into the busy traffic of L.A., 'I am so totally screwed.'