Bradford and Chen walked back into the house, Bradford cut the garage light out before closing the door behind them.

All the sudden the silence felt deafening. For both of them. Bradford opened his mouth to start, and closed it. He was debating whether to face this thing between them head on, or try to keep ignoring it and take a more wait and see approach.

Lucy was following his lead. Unsure what to say she would defer and wait for him.

He walked to the bar taking 2 glasses down. There was an ice maker, when he used the tongs to pull some ice cubes out he exclaimed "Haaaaaah, I'm never moving out".

"What is it"? Lucy asked.

"Perfect ice" he turned holding the glass up. Crystal clear large ice cubes tinkled in the glass. Adding 2 to the other glass he searched the bottles, pulling down a bottle of Pappy Van Winkles Family Reserve bourbon for himself. "I hope they don't charge us per glass" then, knowing Lucy's penchant for tequila he searched again, this time choosing an ornate bottle. Rey Sol Anejo.

He poured them each a drink and motioned for her to get the door out onto the deck. Lucy walked ahead and held the door open for him for a change. He set the drinks down on the fire pit table and waited for Lucy to sit on the sofa by her drink then sat down next to her.

They each pick up their drink and Lucy smiled and said "To the end of the world"?

Tim smiles "whenever that may be". They toast and each take a drink. Looking out at the ocean.

Tim had watched her carefully as they toured the house, she didn't give any indications she couldn't handle the way this was playing out, in fact, she impressed him again with her resiliency. It didn't seem as though this assignment had too much for them to do anyway. Not sure why ADA Delmonte thought of them for it.

Tim had spent the last couple months since Lucy's kidnapping convincing her she was a cop and not a victim. Possibly being harder on her than he needed to be, in part trying to convince himself he was just her TO. Maybe she'd earned an easy assignment. Plus if it did go south, Tim trusted her to have his back.

The sun started to set, and the air has a bit of a chill so Tim flipped the fire pit on.

"You good boot"? He asked, leaning back. A favorite question of his.

"I thought you were gonna stick with Lucy". She smirked.

"No one can hear us". he dismissed, motioning to the beach, where waves drowned out the sound of their voices beyond right there.

She looked down at the fire and takes a second sip of her tequila, the burn in her throat starting to warm her insides.

Giving her a touch of courage.

"Yea, I'm good. It wasn't what I was expecting but I'm good, I mean that bed is bigger than my whole bedroom so...".She hesitates for just a moment and takes another drink. "There's something I should tell you though".

"You're a blanket hog"? He joked.

"What? Noo". She laughed.

"Sleepwalker"?

"Noo".

"Sleeptalker"????

"Tim".

"Oh God do you sing in your sleep"? He jokes "Do I need to buy some earplugs"?

"No I'm being serious" she says with mock anger.

"Okay. So with all seriousness, what is it"

"Lately"...she starts "I've been having some pretty bad dreams. I honestly thought I'd gotten past...it. I guess maybe not"

"Honestly Lucy, I'd be more surprised if you didn't have nightmares after that".

The tequila was just starting to take the edge off, the burn in her throat disappearing into a happy numbness.

"Well a few times I've actually woken Jackson, so they're pretty bad" she looks over at him sheepishly. The alcohol allowing her to meet his eyes.

"Why didn't you tell me this before"? He asked quietly. Tim took a larger swig of his bourbon.

"It feels like a weakness" she admitted "and I am not weak".

"No, you're definitely not weak". Tim's mind wandered back to how weak he felt when she'd been taken. How he'd spun almost out of control.

"You may be the strongest person I know. To have survived what you did? No, not just survive but the way you fought back". Tim shook his head. "I mean Lucy, it almost ended with us finding you sitting on top of a dog tied Caleb. He had to resort to pepper spray to subdue you. Even with those drugs in your system, YOU were stronger than him".

She fought the tears back hearing the way Tim saw her. "Thank you" she managed to get out.

"You know, I came close to asking Grey to assign you another TO after we found you". Tim stared out at the sun setting over the ocean. He might not be able to tell her the whole truth, but maybe he could start with this.

"What? Why?" Lucy felt her heart sink.

The look he gave her said 'we both know why'. but instead of admitting that truth, he said "I lost objectivity, I was willing to do anything, things that could've cost me my badge in order to to get you back". That was true, even if it didn't tell the whole story.

Lucy set her drink down "Tim, we've been over this, none of what happened is your fault".

"No", he started "this wasn't about guilt, it was about me and you" as he looked over at her. "Honestly, it's been different with you, from the beginning".

"I've been skirting this invisible line since day one when Isabel showed up. You saw a side of me I hadn't shared with anyone. Part of it was circumstance, but it's become so much more than that".

Definitely spontaneously combusting Lucy thought.

"I mean no rookie of mine would've survived lifting my money clip "he smirked "let alone calling me afterwards to brag about it".

Lucy smiled at that memory.

"No rookie, hell, not even my friends on the force could've gotten me to join a paintball league with them, let alone enjoy it".

That was as fun for her as it was for him.

"I'd certainly never have placed a bet with a rookie and let them set me up with someone before you. Ever".

Lucy was pretty proud of that moment too.

"I can't explain it, and it just seemed to work for us so I kept letting it happen. Even when I knew it was getting too personal, I just didn't want to admit I should get you assigned to someone else" he left out why, and looked out at the ocean again "but when I found out Caleb had you...something inside me just snapped. After all that I thought, it might be better for you to have another TO, I wasn't sure I could be objective in my evaluations"

Lucy touched his arm "Tim, you have taught me so much, even if I didn't appreciate some of the lessons at the time". She smiled "and I wouldn't want anyone else".

He looked at her hand on his arm then directly into her eyes, still full of tears threatening to fall. He could feel those eyes pulling him in, but he cut that thought right off.

She decided if he was bold enough to be honest with her she would try the same.

"Honestly maybe this is as good a place as any for us to see what this all means". Her heart thumping she continued "we've been through a lot you and I, and maybe that's all this is" as she motioned between the two of them "and why not use this time here, if they hardly need us, to see if that's the case".

Her hand still on his arm, she swore she felt him lean into her, there's no way this was just them surviving a lot together, no way.

"Lucy", he started, shaking his head, but she interrupted him. "Look, it's been a long day, right now let's just finish these drinks, get some food and settle in"

Tim nodded, she was right about one thing for sure, it had been a long day. He held up his glass and she clinked it with hers. He couldn't bring himself to say any more than he already had today anyway. They sat in comfortable silence after that until the sun was completely gone.

After the sun set they went inside, pulling some prepackaged dinners from the fridge to eat. They kept the conversation light, plans for meeting neighbors tomorrow, what they still needed to unpack, it felt more like work again. Though Lucy's head was spinning about the fact they'd actually verbalized some of what's been going on between them. She still had no idea what any of it meant but she was somehow more relaxed knowing for sure it wasn't just her.

While he cleaned up she went upstairs to unpack some essentials. It was dark upstairs but as she neared the third floor it appeared to be lit. Once again the view took her breath away. At night the twinkling lights lit up the sand and ocean as well as the bedroom. She opened the glass door to the ocean breeze and leaned against the frame, listening to the waves crash below. She closed her eyes and let herself relax.

She felt Tim before she ever heard him. He stood next to her in the doorway. She felt the heat of him standing next to her, close enough so he could look out the door with her.

"I'm exhausted, what do you say to just going to sleep and dealing with everything else tomorrow" he asked her.

"I'm so good with that" she responded and turned back into the bedroom as Tim turned on the bedside lamps.

"Okay, important question here" he paused motioning to the bed, then crossing his arms "which side"?

"Which side do you want" Lucy responded.

"I asked you first".

"Same time"? She asked, eyebrows raised.

"Okay"

They looked at each other and Tim held up fingers and counted "One, two, three".

At the same time Lucy said "Left" Tim said "Right"

They both smiled at each other. Holding that look a few seconds, she broke it off taking her stuff to the bathroom to get ready for bed. When she came back he had placed an extra blanket on her side. Tim took his turn in the bathroom and she got in her side of the bed. With the door open it was cooler in the room. He knew she'd want that extra blanket. She turned her light off and snuggled under the blanket, too tired to worry about how weird sleeping in the same bed thing would be.

A few minutes later Tim came back and seeing she had already turned off her light, he shut out the light on his side, plunging the room into darkness for just a moment before the twinkly lights lit the room again.

"That view really is something" he said. When Lucy didn't respond he realized she'd already fallen asleep.