After radioing for immediate assistance, Tim asked for privacy so he could talk to Lucy. "Tim, are you guys okay?" she pressed, panicked.
"For now. Trying not to look down," he admitted.
Aaron whimpered next to him. "We're going to die," he moaned.
"I have something to tell you in case this goes south," Tim told Lucy, ignoring Aaron for the time being.
Lucy's breath caught in her throat. She instinctively knew what he wanted to say. "You better not be admitting something because you think you're going to die. Forget it, Tim Bradford. That's not happening on my watch."
"I need to say it just in case I can't because time's running out. I love you, Lucy Chen. I am so in love with you I can't think straight sometimes." He felt lighter finally admitting the truth even though the fear was overwhelming right now.
"I knew it!" Aaron shouted triumphantly, resisting the urge to first pump. Off Tim's look, he shrugged. "What? We might be dying any second now so let me have this."
Lucy gasped and a tear rolled down her cheek as Nyla and Angela finally pulled up to Tim and Aaron's side, a fire truck racing down the other side of the street to get them to safety. "I love you too, Tim. Damn it. And we are making that date - don't you dare think you're getting out of it."
He laughed, and he and Aaron both froze when the car creaked and rocked again. "Can one of you please get Lucy out of here? I don't want her to see this," Tim pleaded.
"I don't want to see this," Aaron muttered.
Angela grabbed the radio off Lucy. "Not a chance, Tim. I want to know all about how this happened and it better not end in tragedy so I can celebrate. Got it?"
"Got it," Tim responded.
The firefighters managed to pull the car back a little, and then Bailey and a co-worker helped Tim and Aaron out of the shop in less than five minutes. Five minutes in which the two men tried valiantly not to panic, but Tim sent off a quick goodbye message to his sister just in case. As soon as they were free, Tim bolted towards Lucy and swept her up in his arms, kissing her. "Hi, you."
"Hi back. Something you want to tell me again now that you're no longer on death's door?" she urged.
"Look at them!" Angela stage whispered to Nyla and Aaron.
Free from death and watching this love story unfold in front of him, Aaron had to force himself not to start dancing. "They're adorable."
"I love you," Tim repeated, well aware of their audience but not giving a single fuck.
Lucy laughed. "Love you too." She surged forward and kissed him again and then the two of them reluctantly separated because they still needed to find their suspect.
"We're going on that date tonight. I had our first date all planned out but once this is over and done with, fuck it. Not wasting any more time,"" Tim declared.
She beamed. "Sounds good to me!"
Aaron stepped up then. "Can I plan it? What do you two like?"
"Aaron, leave them alone," Nyla fondly chided.
Tim and Lucy glanced at each. "Yeah, go ahead and plan our date. I'm sure we'll like whatever you come up with," Tim agreed. What could it hurt letting Aaron plan their date?
"Have fun! Can't wait to hear all about it!" Angela called as they all finally went their separate ways to hunt down their suspect.
Tim and Lucy kept checking in with each other over the radio until they met up again, both needing reassurance that the other was safe, until they met up again after finding the suspect. They briefly kissed right before Angela kicked the door in, and then they got lost in the chaos.
Thanks to Aaron's love and care, Tim and Lucy's first date went extremely well and they enjoyed it all the more after the day nearly ended in tragedy. They had many more dates - and a lot of milestones - in their future. For once, time was on their side and they weren't about to let anything get in their way again.