What if Lucy hadn't gone out with Caleb that night? What if she'd gone out with someone else?
Everything in italics is dialogue taken directly from the show, episode 2.10 "The Dark Side". I started this with different intentions, but somehow we're here. Hope you enjoy!
Lucy spun to face him. Her face was hopeful, nearly triumphant at her imagined victory.
"If I can be wheels up in the next ten minutes, I might beat the afternoon traffic, which means that I will be in bed within the next hour."
Tim Bradford steeled himself at her mention of bed. He tried not to, but his mind automatically pictured his boot teasing him from bed, dressed in nothing more than...He shook his head in an attempt to rid himself from the thoughts.
"That's a mistake," he immediately told her.
"What? Why?" She looked at him, confused. Before he could stop himself, he'd responded in a way he 100% shouldn't.
"Look, after working a hardcore assignment like this, you need to go blow off some steam after shift. Y'know, give your brain a different focus. It's the only way you have a fighting chance of actually sleeping. Trust me." He tried not to put emphasis on any part of his response, but the flirty tinge that has edged into their recent interactions creeped into his words. But, at least he didn't mention that he wishes that future hypothetical sleeping would be with him. Small victories.
Tim stood and Chen followed.
He started to pull open the door, but stopped and turned to look at her. He could feel she was about to say something. She was supposed to be just his boot, at most his partner. But lately he's really gotten this instinct for her. They've become a team.
"So...as my training officer, you're saying I should go get a drink?"
"A strong one. Maybe even with another human."
All Tim could do was pray when he suggested it to her, that she didn't go out with that...that...guy... when as a way to blow off some steam. He hoped it wouldn't cross her mind. He didn't dare think that he'd cross her mind, but Nolan, Jackson, her mom. Anyone but that creep.
Was Tim suggesting...? Was he flirting with her?
Lucy Chen couldn't be sure, but their interactions had felt more and more charged ever since the nuclear scare a few weeks ago. Looks felt heated. Touches lingered. She'd certainly not imagined her TO in a sexual way when she first started training, but now...
Fuck it. She decided to chance it.
She looked up at him through her lashes, and tried to predict his reaction. Not overtly flirting, she told herself. He was just taller than she was.
"What about Stithy's? Over on Sepulveda. They make a mean mojito."
Tim looked at her, stunned, and for a second Lucy was proud to have rendered him speechless. But then, he didn't respond, and she worried that she'd pushed the boundary between them too far.
He raised his eyebrows slowly, and Lucy released a breath she didn't know she was holding. The sarcastic gesture was familiar.
"Boot. You think I'm drinking mojitos?"
She rolled her eyes. Of course she'd been reading into it. Tim Bradford was his typically sarcastic self, and he wasn't interested in her at all.
"Fine. Whiskey then. Or beer. Since you're 'too good' for mojitos." She emphasised her words with air quotes and a roll of her eyes.
Tim pinned her down with a stare that had her nearly quivering. She couldn't tell why it was so heated, but his blue gaze unnerved her.
"You askin' me on a date, Boot?"
Having been called out, and unsure of Tim's intentions, Lucy backpedaled. "Yeah, right." She even scoffed a little for self-preservation. "I'd have asked Jackson, but I'm sure he's out with Sterling."
"Alright. I'll tell you what. I'll follow you there and we can have a couple drinks. But we're not talking about work. Or Isobel."
Lucy smiled and bounced on the balls of her feet at the victory. "Okay. I'll meet you back out here in ten!" She said, then darted towards the women's locker room.
Tim's moratorium on work talk lasted about 5 minutes once they got to the bar.
She loved hearing stories about his early days, really any days before she came into his life.
"I can't believe Sergeant Grey was your T.O! Why did you never tell me that before?!"
"How do you think I learned to be a hardass?"
"Well, cheers to Sergeant Grey." Tim lifted his beer to the Collins glass in her hand, now only half full of mojito. He'd been right - these cocktails really were a salve on her soul after this crazy day.
Lucy thought for a split second about that Caleb guy she'd met earlier, but knew in her heart she'd rather be with Tim.
"Let's do shots!" They were already on their second round. Lucy was enjoying her mojitos, but Tim was right. She needed a little something more to take the edge off.
"What are we? 19?"
"C'mon, old man. It's just one shot." She flagged the bartender and ordered them each a shot of whiskey.
Tim lifted his glass to cheers to hers.
"To surviving this crazy day?" He asked her.
She bravely met his eyes before she said, "To surviving this day, together." She might've invited her T.O. out for drinks, but she wasn't quite brave enough to explicitly tell him her feelings. After all, what kind of police officer would he be if he couldn't pick up on clues?
Tim nodded. "Together." He confirmed before they both lowered their glasses to the bar. Tim shot his back, not even grimacing at the taste. She watched intently as he licked the remnants of whiskey off his lips. Without having taken a sip of her own, she knew his lips would taste warm and rich, like butterscotch and baking spice.
"You gonna take that, or just stare at it?" Lucy had been too busy watching Tim take his own that she hadn't done hers. She quickly threw it back.
"Damn, Boot. You have pretty good taste in whiskey." She preened a little bit.
"Thanks. It's my favorite. Mojitos are fun, but a good rye is my go-to drink."
Time looked impressed. "I learn something more about you every day, Boot."
Lucy smiled and waved the bartender over for another round.
A couple hours and multiple shots later, Tim turned the corner of the bar to find Lucy propped up on her elbow, her eyes drowsy and blinking closed at frequent intervals.
"Alright, you're done. Lemme walk you home. From this 'not date.'" Tim's voice appeared right at Lucy's ear as he came back from the bathroom.
"What?! No. I just ordered us more drinks!" Lucy raised her head and protested sleepily.
"No you didn't. I closed our tab when I hit the bathroom." He slipped his hand behind her back and nudged her off the barstool.
And...just as he suspected, his boot was a lightweight. They'd probably had five or six shots each. He knew he was buzzed from his two beers and a few shots, but Lucy's had been all hard liquor or mixed drinks. Despite loving their shot of choice, she clearly didn't drink this quantity regularly. All that, plus her small stature, meant she was pretty sauced.
Rather than stand easily, Lucy nearly wilted to the floor, her purse falling clumsily off her lap to the ground. Tim quickly slipped his hand firmly around her rib cage to keep her from meeting the same fate as her bag. He helped her stand, leading her out of the bar.
He knew neither of them were fit to drive, but he knew Lucy's place was close enough to walk. Tim told himself he kept the hand on the small of her back to steady her. But truth was he just wanted to touch her in some small way. Just for this night.
By the time he'd walked her back to her and Jackson's apartment, she'd nearly gotten a second wind.
"You're infuriating, you know that?" She was struggling to open the front door with her keys. Tim gave her five more seconds before swiping them from her and unlocking it himself.
"Oh yeah? Why's that?" He turned back to hear her answer, ready to hear all about his hardass nature as a T.O.
"You're so damn pretty." Well, that was unexpected.
"Oh, I'm pretty, huh?"
"Totally. I wish I had someone…" She brushed past him into the house and then knocked straight into a stack of drying dishes on the kitchen counter. A metal saucepan clanged loudly to the floor. He shot a glance to what he assumed was Jackson's door. It was shut. Tim prayed he was a heavy sleeper, or, maybe, he was already occupied.
"Jesus, boot. You're gonna wake the whole neighborhood." He placed her house keys next to a pile of mail on the counter and scooped to pick up the dishes off the floor.
"Don't worry about it." She fluttered a dismissive hand towards the closed door. "Jackson and Sterling are still in the honeymoon phase. They like each other so much and they're too busy kissing each other to notice anybody else." She plopped on the end of her bed and started wrestling with her shoes.
Tim knelt down in front of her and began unzipping her boots. He froze at her next comment, spoken so softly he almost missed it. "I wish we had that."
He was scared to clarify, but he knew he had to. Drunk words are sober thoughts, after all. "You wish we had what?"
She bent down and placed a hand behind Tim's neck, guiding him back to eye height as she toed her shoes off. He could feel it all happening in slow motion, but he was powerless to stop it.
"I wish we had this." She pulled him close and, without warning, her lips descended on his. Her lips were insistent, her tongue darting out to swipe at Tim's bottom lip. His brain short-circuited, allowing her entry immediately. Lucy's mouth was warm and tasted like the 15 year WhistlePig she'd been downing like water.
They kissed for a few minutes and Tim savored the feeling. She wasn't likely to remember this tomorrow, but he would. He'd have to decide between confronting her and shoving the memory far down in his brain and burying it. He honestly wasn't sure what he was going to do.
Tim was so lost in their making out that it took him a second to realize that her hands had moved. Instead of being on the back of his neck, they were now fighting with his belt buckle. Luckily she was having the same luck with it as she did the front door. He sighed. Lucy Chen was going to be the death of him.
Tim placed his hands on Lucy's, stopping her. "Hey Boot, we gotta stop." When she doesn't he says it again, but softer. "Luce, stop."
She looked up at him, her eyelashes fluttering. "Stop?" She questioned. Her hands still on his belt. "Wait, you said my name."
"Yeah, Luce. I did. Not like this, okay? Not while you're drunk."
"Ughhh. Fine!" She let go of his waistband and threw herself back onto her bed, pouting.
Tim rolled his eyes at the quick shift in her mood.
"Y'know, you better watch out or I'm gonna tell Grey you're not so much of a hard ass," she threatened as she struggled with her bedding. He freed her from a mass of pillows and helped her slip under the top sheet. Her clothes looked comfortable enough to sleep in, so he tucked her in.
"I have no doubt he already knows. Especially when it comes to you," he said softly. Her eyes were closed and he knew she was losing a battle with sleep. Tim took one last look at Lucy before heading towards her door. Leaving her was undoubtedly one of the hardest things he'd ever had to do.
He thought she was already asleep when her words floated across the quiet room.
"I'm glad we're okay, Tim." Lucy whispered. He walked back over, leaning down to place a kiss on her forehead.
"Me too, Boot. Me too."