As Lucy fit the fresh out of the washer and dryer fitted sheet around the corners of the mattress in the guest house, she heard the first splatters of rain hitting the roof overhead. Tim appeared from the small bathroom, which he had been sweeping, getting rid of some small cobwebs that had formed in the months since Lucy's aunt had passed away. They both walked over to the new window they had installed a few hours earlier. The rain began to pelt against the window, showering down hard and fast.

"Looks like we did a good job," Tim said, inspecting the window for any leaks. There were none that he could see.

"And I'd say this place is just about habitable," Lucy commented, looking around. They had spent hours cleaning, wiping down dusty surfaces, sanitizing the bathroom, and bringing in a bureau Lucy didn't want from inside the main house so that Tim would have somewhere to put his clothes. He had insisted he didn't need much seeing as how he hadn't brought much from LA, but Lucy wanted him to have a place that felt as much like home as possible. What Tim didn't tell her was that the small guest house was beginning to feel more like home than his own house in LA did.

"I'd say it's more than habitable," Tim told her, looking around. "Thank you again."

"You're welcome. I know right now it doesn't have a TV so that you can watch the sports you love so much, but I can get you one."

"I can swing by the store and pick one up."

"You've already done enough for me," Lucy said. "You don't need to buy me a TV too."

"The TV is for me. And you're letting me stay here rent free."

"You're renovating my house."

Somehow in their little argument they had moved even closer together. Tim stared into her eyes. He noticed a little smudge of dirt on her cheek in almost the exact same spot the wood stain had been when he had arrived at her house to return her sweatshirt. Had that only been 7 days before? Tim felt like he had known Lucy for a lifetime.

"You have a little…" he said, reaching his hand towards her to wipe the smudge away with his fingertips. He longed to touch her. But, before his finger could make contact with her skin, a loud horn sounded.

"That's the bus," Lucy said. She licked her lips, wondering what might have happened if the bus hadn't interrupted them, and gave Tim one last look. He sensed that she was as desperate for his touch as she was. Without a word, though, she bounded out of the guest house and into the pouring rain. Tim stood, watching her until she disappeared behind the front of the house. Tim finished making the bed and began to clean up the cleaning supplies they had used to give the guest house a good once over. He looked around the place. It would be perfect for him.

Closing the door tightly behind him, Tim raced for the house. He slipped in the French doors at the back of the house. Lucy and Alex were standing in the kitchen, both soaking wet just from the short walk from the bus into the house. Lucy was trying to wrangle Alex out of his soaking wet jacket. They were both laughing hysterically as water dripped from every inch of their clothes and body.

"My feet are squishy!" Alex squealed, stomping around in the kitchen and making squishing noises with his sneakers. Lucy roared with laughter. Hearing it made Tim smile and pretty soon he was laughing right along with them. While Lucy tried to catch her breath, Tim pretended to be a monster, chasing after small, wet children. Alex loved the little game. With each step he took, his shoes squished even more. Tim chased him around the kitchen and living room, leaving little puddles everywhere.

"We need to get you out of those wet clothes," Lucy said to her son through her laughter as Tim scooped him up in his arms and began running circles with him around the island in the kitchen.

"Can we have a pajama party tonight?" Alex asked as Tim put the boy back down. "Have dinner in our pjs and watch a movie? You know, like we used to do in New York."

"Sure," Lucy said with a smile. She helped him finally take off his coat and his shoes. "Why don't you run upstairs to your room and pick out the pajamas you want. I'll be up in a minute to help dry you off."

"Ok, mommy! Can Tim stay, too?"

"Tim has to go home and see Genny and Tyler."

"Actually," Tim interjected. "Tyler is with his dad tonight and Genny told me she has a teacher thing at school. And I texted Genny earlier about staying at the guest house. She was really happy that I'll have a real bed to sleep in."

"Wait, Tim's staying in the little house outside?" Alex asked excitedly.

"He is. But just for a little while. Tim's going to go back home in a few months," Lucy explained.

"To California?"

"Yup, to California," Tim said. A small twinge sounded off in his back as he said the words. Tim ignored it.

"Well, he's not going to California today," Alex surmised.

"No, I'm not," Tim assured him.

"So, you can stay for our pj party!" Alex shouted, racing up the stairs.

Lucy began to pick up Alex's discarded wet things from the floor. She pushed her own wet hair out of her face. Tim grabbed a roll of paper towels off the counter and began wiping up some of the water from the floor.

"You don't have to stay," Lucy said to TIm.

"Do you not want me to stay?"

They both stopped what they were doing to look at each other.

"No, I do want you to stay. I just…I don't want you to feel obligated."

"I don't feel obligated," Tim assured her, stepping closer to her. "I want to be here."

"Ok."

"Ok."

Lucy could feel the chemistry between them. It was as if an invisible string was pulling them towards each other. It both excited and terrified her.

"But you're wet," Lucy stuttered, trying to focus on her words rather than what would happen if she put one foot in front of the other to get closer to him. "You can't stay in those wet clothes. And I don't have anything that'll fit you."

"I've got a go-bag in the backseat of my truck. It's a habit when you're a cop to always keep an extra set of clothes and things you might need. I can stay in the guest house tonight and get the rest of my stuff from Genny's tomorrow."

"Ok, good."

"I might even have an extra set of pajamas in my truck," he said with a wink. "You know, for the pajama party."

Lucy didn't know how to responsd. She felt flustered. He was clearly flirting with her. It wasn't the first time and she liked it. Only she knew it was dangerous territory.

"I'm going to go help Alex," she finally said.

Before he did something they would both regret, Lucy bounded up the stairs.

Hours later the rain was still falling from the sky in droves. The wind howled, gusting so intensely that it shook the house. Alex was asleep on the couch with his head in Lucy's lap. He was in a matching set of dinosaur pajamas, which he picked out very specifically. A kid's movie about dinosaurs was playing on the TV. Tim sat on the other side of the couch with Alex's feet in his lap. A blanket was laid over the boy. Three empty bowls with remnants of melted ice cream were on the coffee table in front of them. Tim glanced away from the TV that he wasn't really watching and over at Lucy. She looked away sheepishly. She had clearly been looking at him.

"Look, Lucy, I…" Tim began, speaking quietly so as not to wake up Alex.

"Tim…" she said at the same exact time.

They both chuckled nervously.

"Go ahead," he prompted.

"No, you go."

As Tim opened his mouth to speak, the TV and lights suddenly went off. They were left in complete darkness.

"The wind must have knocked the power out," Tim said. He reached for his phone and turned on the flashlight feature. Lucy did the same.

"I don't have much battery left," she announced, looking at the screen of her phone. "But I do have candles…somewhere"

"I'll help."

Gently, Lucy lifted Alex's head off of her lap. She placed a small throw pillow under his head as Tim maneuvered Alex's feet off of his lap. The boy stirred, but didn't wake up. Using the flashlights on their phone to guide them, Lucy led the way into the kitchen. She rummaged in a few cupboards before finally finding the one where she had stashed the candles. She pulled out a package of a dozen tall candlesticks. She handed it to Tim before looking back under the cupboard and finding four decorative candlestick holders that held two candles each.

"Do you have a lighter?" Tim asked.

"It's on top of the refrigerator," Lucy answered. "So Alex can't reach it."

Tim admired what a good mom she was.

"I'll get it," Tim offered, realizing that due to her height, Lucy would need a stepstool of some kind to reach the top of the refrigerator.

Tim walked over to the refrigerator and saw the lighter pushed near the back. He grabbed it and brought it back to the counter where Lucy was already placing the candlesticks in the holders. He ignited the lighter and set it against the wick of one candle. It caught immediately and Tim repeated the action with the other candles in the candlestick. The kitchen immediately began to glow. Lucy picked up the candlestick holder, which now had two glowing candles on it, and was about to bring it to the other side of the room so that they could better light up the space. When Tim saw her, it took his breath away.

"You're so beautiful," he said. The words tumbled out of his mouth before he even knew what he was saying. Her skin glowed in the candlelight. Dressed in sweatpants and a baggie T-Shirt with no makeup on, she looked perfect.

"Oh," the word escaped her lips in a whisper.

Tim shook his head, trying to clear his mind. "I'm sorry. I…I shouldn't have…just the glow of the candle and…"

"It's ok," Lucy assured him. "It's nice for a woman to hear every once in a while."

"You deserve to be told that every day," Tim stated.

Lucy knew she was fairly attractive. She had had plenty of men tell her that before, sometimes crudely so. But hearing it from Tim was different. The way he looked at her so intensely, Lucy knew he meant it. And that both excited and terrified her.

Looking away from him, Lucy continued on her task of bringing the candlestick to the other side of the room. She was suddenly self conscious of her attire and very aware of her son sleeping just a few feet away on the couch.

As a slight awkwardness hung in the air, Tim lit more candles and Lucy returned to retrieve another candlestick holder. With only the glow of the candles in the room, Lucy didn't see the toy truck on the ground as she walked. She tripped over it and would have fallen down if Tim's arms weren't suddenly around her, steadying her. When she caught her breath she realized he had his arms around her waist and their faces were only inches apart. She had her hands on his chest, able to feel the muscle underneath his thin, black Tshirt.

"I really want to kiss you right now," Tim whispered.

Lucy's head was spinning. "I…I wouldn't stop you."

But Tim didn't bridge the small gap between them because he knew if he did, there was no turning back. He had told himself he wouldn't start something with Lucy and he had meant it. It wasn't fair to her or to Alex or to Tim. And somehow he knew if he pressed his lips against hers, he would never want to stop kissing her.

Reluctantly, TIm backed his head away and took his hands off of her waist. She placed her hands on the kitchen counter, steadying herself. Her heart was racing.

"I like you," Tim said simply. "I think we both know that."

"I like you, too," Lucy replied.

Tim smiled. It felt good that he wasn't the only one feeling intense emotions.

"But…" he began.

"But you're leaving in five months to go back home and I've had a lot of changes in my life recently and…"

"And starting something just doesn't seem like a good idea," Tim finished.

"You're right," Lucy agreed even though it pained her to do so.

"So…I…I don't have to stay in the guest house if it's too awkward or…"

"No, we're both adults. I think we can just be friends. Anything else isn't worth the risk of one of us getting hurt and I have Alex to think about…"

"Yeah, right," Tim said. "Friends."

"Friends," Lucy agreed.

They both finished setting up the candles around the house and walked back into the living room. They stood at opposite sides of the couch. Lucy bent down and stroked Alex's hair while he slept.

"Do you want me to help you carry him up to bed?" Tim asked.

"That would be great, thanks. Luckily he's a very heavy sleeper. Nothing wakes this kid up."

Tim slipped one hand under Alex's torso and the other at his knees. He lifted the boy with little difficulty. Holding a candlestick in front of them, Lucy led the way upstairs. Tim gently lowered Alex into his bed. Lucy tucked his sheet and blanket over him and kissed his forehead. As they left the room and went into the hallway, she kept his door slightly ajar.

"I don't want him to get scared if he wakes up since there's no electricity. I think I'll just sit out here for a while and see if the lights come back on."

"I can wait with you," Tim offered.

"I wouldn't want sitting on the hard floor to mess up your back."

"It can't be worse than the couch I've been sleeping on," Tim said with a smile.

Lucy smirked. "Ok."

She placed the candlestick holder she was still holding in the middle of the hallway. She sat down with her back against one side of the wall and Tim sat against the opposite wall.

"We seem to find ourselves on the floor a lot," Tim remarked.

"I guess we do." There was another awkward pause, something they normally didn't feel with each other. It was as if admitting they had feelings for each other had, but deciding to do nothing about it had broken the magic bubble they had created.

"So, do you want to talk about it?" Lucy asked.

"About…what?" Tim replied, wondering what else there was to talk about. Unless Lucy had changed her mind and thought that pursuing whatever it was that was between them was worth the risk.

"About the job the chief of police offered you. You haven't said anything about it since that night at the arcade."

"Oh, right," Tim said. That hadn't been what he thought Lucy was going to talk about. "I don't know what to tell him."

"If you're not ready to go back to work…" Lucy began.

"That's just it. When I left LA I was angry because I knew I was ready to go back and my commanding officer wouldn't let me. Now I have the chance to do something and I don't know if I'm ready. How can both of those things be true?"

"Because humans and our thoughts and our emotions are complicated. You probably did feel ready to go back to work in LA, but that doesn't mean you were ready. It's only been two weeks since that day."

"Yeah, but I feel different. I feel…rested. I feel…content." He almost added that it was Lucy who was helping him to feel all of those things.

"Well, then maybe you should consider the offer. And, listen, I'm not trying to push you either way, but maybe this would be a good first step in getting your toes wet before you go back to LA diving head first."

"It might be," Tim agreed. "And I've been called out on duty to enough gun accidents to know how important gun safety is. It would be a good fit for me."

"And it might give you more of a purpose out here instead of just helping me fix up my house. There are only so many projects that need to be done."

Tim laughed. "I like helping you fix up your house."

"I know and I'm very appreciative, but..."

"But you have a point," Tim finished.

"Just…don't do it because I think you should, Tim. Do it because it's the right thing for you."

"You're right. I'm going to go talk to Chip tomorrow and give it a try. Thank you for being a good friend," Tim said.

"Right…friend…" Lucy said as she trailed off.

Before Tim could respond, the lights came back on.

"Well, that was short lived," Lucy said, blowing out the candles.

"Too bad. I thought we might have had to eat the rest of the ice cream so it wouldn't all melt," Tim commented with a smile.

"Speaking of ice cream. I should go clean up downstairs."

"I can help."

"No. That's ok. I got it."

Tim got up off the floor and reached his hand out to Lucy. She took it and he helped her to her feet. He didn't let go of her hand.

"Thank you for inviting me to the pajama party," Tim said.

"You're welcome." Lucy glanced over at her bedroom door. She could invite him to stay over. She could finally answer the question that had been plaguing her for days - what would it be like to kiss him and more? But they had decided it wasn't worth the risk.

"I should go," Tim said.

"I can give you an umbrella for the walk back."

"Thanks."

Tim finally dropped her hand and they made their way back downstairs. Tim mentally prepared himself for a lonely night in bed.