After his missed opportunity to be intimate with Lucy because Alex had gotten sick, Tim knew he needed a game plan. He wanted to take her out and do something romantic, but it was difficult since they were trying to keep their relationship a secret from Alex. Genny was more than willing to watch him, but Tyler was with his dad for the weekend and Genny had her own second date planned with the dad from school. Tim still wasn't sure how he felt about that situation, but he had his own things to worry about.

Following a double header of Little League games, which had taken up most of their Sunday, Tim approached Lucy in the kitchen while Alex played with some of his super hero action figures in the living room.

"I have an idea," Tim said, keeping his voice quiet so that Alex wouldn't hear him.

"Oh?"

"For our official fourth date."

"What did you have in mind?"

"Tonight. After Alex goes to bed. Meet me in the backyard under the pergola."

Lucy smirked. "I'm intrigued."

"Good."

Tim desperately wanted to kiss her, but he restrained himself. He was hoping that and so much more would come later.

As Lucy put Alex to bed a few hours later, Tim began to set up the backyard. He replaced the folding chairs and tray table that Lucy still had under the pergola and grabbed a much sturdier and nicer outdoor table and two chairs that he had bought for her. He strung some outdoor string lights from the pergola and set the table with one of the candlestick holders they had used the night the power had gone out. Right on time, he got a notification that the food he had ordered was delivered to the front steps. Tim ran to the front of the house and grabbed the two bags. He laid out the sushi on a platter on the table, set the table for two, put a bottle of wine that had been chilling in the fridge in an ice bucket full of ice, and waited for Lucy.

While Tim got things ready outside, Lucy had made sure Alex was asleep before she started getting ready in her room. She wasn't sure what Tim was planning, but she figured getting dolled up couldn't hurt. Opening her closet, Lucy took out a dress, still wrapped in a garment bag. She had seen the dress just a few days earlier when she had been shopping at the mall with Alex. He needed new sneakers because his feet never seemed to stop growing. Lucy had seen the dress in one of the store windows. It immediately caught her eye, but she hadn't taken time to try it on. Unable to get the dress out of her head, she went back the next day in between virtual clients and bought it.

The dress was a forest green. It had sleeves that fell off her shoulders and the front had a criss cross pattern with a slight v-neck. The rest of the dress was tight to her curves. When she had seen it in the mall window her first thought was that Tim was going to love it. As she slipped it on, she hoped her instincts were right. Trying not to rush, Lucy put on some makeup and slipped her feet into a pair of black wedge heels. She put her hand on her stomach, trying to calm her nerves. It wasn't Tim that made her nervous. It was the possibility of the evening.

Before going downstairs, Lucy peaked in on Alex. He was still sound asleep in bed. She left his door slightly ajar and went down the stairs. She could see the glow from the lights Tim had strung before she even made it to the bottom step.

Tim was standing at the French doors with a single red rose in his hand.

"Welcome to our fourth date," Tim said with a big smile. He looked her up and down. "You look incredible."

"Well, someone once told me that green was his new favorite color," Lucy remarked as she made her way over to him.

"It is."

"You know, I should have asked you what your old favorite color was."

"I can't even think of any other color with you in that dress," Tim stated.

"That was pretty corny."

"I know," he said with a smile. He handed her the rose.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Taking her hand, Tim brought it to his lips and kissed her skin. With her hand in his, Tim led her outside. They kept the glass doors open and just closed the screen door. Lucy looked around the patio.

"You did all this?" She asked, taking in the sight of the lights, the new furniture, and the fancy meal on the table.

"Well, since it can be hard for us to go out to a romantic restaurant, I thought I'd bring the romantic restaurant to us."

"I love it. Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Tim pulled out Lucy's chair and she sat. He sat across from her. He poured them each a glass of wine.

"To a successful and hopefully uninterrupted fourth date with just the two of us," Tim said, raising his glass.

"To a successful fourth date," Lucy toasted.

After they each took a drink, Tim pointed out some of the different sushi options and filled their plate. As they both expertly used chopsticks to eat, Tim couldn't take his eyes off of her.

"You need to stop staring at me," Lucy said with a sly smile.

"I can't. You're too beautiful."

"I thought you'd like this dress. I bought it for you."

"It's not the dress," Tim explained. "I mean, the dress is incredible, but it's you. It's your presence, it's how much you care about everyone around you, it's how easy you are to talk to, and it's a natural beauty that you don't go around flaunting. It's everything, Lucy."

"You are a smooth talker, Tim Bradford. Maybe for our fifth date I'll wear yoga pants and a paint stained T-shirt and see if you feel the same way."

"Oh, I would. Also, how tight are these yoga pants because that sounds perfect."

Lucy rolled her eyes playfully at him. It made her feel good that he wanted her and thought she was beautiful.

"Tell me something good about your week," Lucy said.

"What?"

"It's something my mom used to make me do at dinner. Tell her something good that happened that week. I always thought it was silly, but really I think she just did it to get me to open up to her," Lucy explained.

"I don't think you and I have any problems opening up to each other. I communicate better with you than any other person I think I've ever met."

"I know, but still. You can think of something."

"Ok then…" Tim began as he thought. "Something good? Well, a beautiful woman agreed to have dinner with me and came down a staircase in this amazing green dress and…"

Lucy playfully tossed a chopstick at him. Tim caught it, pretending to be shocked.

"Hey!" He exclaimed.

"Tell me something that's not about me."

"But most good things recently revolve around you."

"Tim!"

Ok, fine," Tim relented. "I went to the gym the other morning and saw this young, muscular guy put down his free weights to help this older gentleman learn how to use the machines. Some of the machines are so hightech now that the old timer just couldn't figure it out. It just reminded me that there are good people still out there."

"That's sweet. And you're one of those good people, Tim."

"What about you?" Tim asked. "What's something good that happened?"

"I got a call from Alex's teacher yesterday."

"Oh?"

"She said every Friday she picks one student to get a positive phone call home. She said she gets tired of only ever making negative ones. She told me that Alex was doing really well. That he has fit in just fine and he has lots of friends and he's really excelling in reading and science."

"He's an incredible little boy, Lucy. You should be proud."

"I am," Lucy said. "Especially when I think about how tumultuous his first few years of life were."

"He's lucky to have you."

"We need to stop talking about this before I get too emotional," Lucy said, dabbing at the corners of her eyes with her napkin.

"What do you think of the sushi?" Tim asked, changing the subject.

"It's excellent."

"Yeah, it's pretty good," Tim agreed. He pointed to one of the dipping sauces in the middle of the table. "Have you tried that one yet? It's got a bit of kick, but…"

"I can handle spice."

Tim raised an eyebrow at her. He took his chopsticks and picked up a piece of sushi. Dipping it in the sauce, he leaned across the table and held it out to Lucy. She tantalizingly wrapped her lips around it and pulled it into her mouth. Tim felt his pulse quicken.

"That does have a kick to it," Lucy stated. "But I think a little spice is good every once in a while."

"I couldn't agree more."

They both eyed each other across the table almost like they were in a staring contest. Neither one wanted to be the one that broke the sexual tension first.

"I never said thank you for the new furniture out here," Lucy finally said. "You did not need to do that."

"Well, it wouldn't be very romantic if we were sitting on folding chairs."

Lucy smiled. "No, it wouldn't be."

"You know, someday you could…"

"Someday?" Lucy interrupted.

"Right. That word's not supposed to exist. But, to be fair, I was going to use it to talk about something you could do someday, not something we could do someday."

"Alright, I'll allow it."

"You could build a nice fire pit out here," Tim went on. "Get one of those gas ones so you just flip a switch."

"If I did that, Alex would be asking me for s'mores for dinner every night."

"I think that's a perfect idea," Tim said.

Lucy laughed, rolling her eyes once more. They both took a drink of wine.

"So, I heard you on the phone at the game earlier today talking about a case. Are you helping Chip out with something else?"

"No, it wasn't Chip," Tim answered, looking away from her and down at his plate.

"Oh. I'm sorry. I wasn't eavesdropping. I just…"

"No. It's fine," Tim assured her. "I'm not trying to hide anything. I was talking to Angela."

"She's your friend from LA, right? The detective?"

"Yeah. She is working a case that includes a suspect I arrested a year ago or so. She was just looking for some information."

"How did it feel?" Lucy asked. "Talking about an old case? Being reminded of your life in LA?"

Tim sighed. "It felt good to be back in the mix of things out there. I was glad I could help."

"But you wish you were there in person helping," Lucy stated.

"I didn't say that."

"No, but it's ok to miss work. It's a big part of your life."

"Yeah, it is. For a long time, it was the only part of my life. But it doesn't feel like that anymore." He reached across the table and took her hand. "Lucy, with you…I feel…"

"This seems like we're entering a dangerous territory," Lucy interjected, jerking her hand away. She put her hands in her lap and looked down at them.

Tim was slightly taken aback by her comment. He knew he had agreed to certain rules when they first decided to give a romantic relationship a try, but in Tim's mind, things had gone beyond that.

"I'm sorry, are we not experiencing this same romantic dinner? This same relationship?"

"We are, but I think that's the problem," Lucy said.

"I'm…confused."

Lucy felt confused too and wasn't sure what she was saying. Perhaps it was hearing Tim talk about his friend in LA that made her remember all over again that he would be leaving her. She wanted to be with him. She wanted to feel things for him, but she knew that would just break her heart into a million pieces when he left.

"I'm sorry," Lucy said. "I think we just need to remember the rules we decided on and…"

"Screw the rules! Lucy, I am falling for you."

"Then we have to stop this."

"Are you serious?" Tim asked. "We have this amazing relationship. The best one I've ever been in and you want to just stop because…what? You're scared?"

"Of course I'm scared! Tim, in less than five months you're going to leave. You're going to go back to your life in LA and I'm going to be here. Heartbroken with a little boy who is going to be equally as heartbroken."

"What if it doesn't have to be that way?"

"Are you offering to stay? To give up your life in LA?"

The question caught him off guard. Not going back to LA and his home at Mid-Wilshire never felt like an option.

"I…I…"

"No, and I wouldn't ask you to," Lucy stated, not giving him the time to properly answer her question.

"There's long distance and…"

"Long distance? Tim, it's a six hour flight. We're not talking about taking quick weekend trips to see each other. I have a kid. And you have a job where you work twelve hour days. And yeah, maybe at first we could make it work, but how soon would we get tired of the back and forth? How long do you really think we could sustain that without one of us getting mad at or resenting the other?"

"If we put in the effort, we could make it work. I know we could…"

"And what if you get hurt again? What if you get shot and I'm hours away? What if I need someone here with me and you're all the way across the country? It's not going to work. So we're better off stopping now before we cross a line that we can't go back over."

"Stopping?"

"It's the logical thing to do," Lucy said quietly although she regretted the words as soon as she said them.

"Ok, fine. I'll move out of the guest house," Tim said. He felt defeated. How had everything gone so wrong so fast?

"You don't have to do that."

"I can't see you every day and not want to be with you," Tim admitted.

Lucy nodded. She understood because she felt the same. She blinked away tears.

"Tim, I…"

A crack of thunder sounded overhead. Surprised, Lucy yelped. Tim looked up at the sky just as the downpour started. The rain came down heavy and fast. They were both soaked in an instant. They both stood and Tim started to gather the things on the table to bring them inside, but then he caught the way Lucy was looking at him. She was standing completely still, letting the rain soak her and everything around them. With her hair plastered to her face and her dress clinging to her even more, Lucy was looking at him like she wanted to devour him. And he wanted to devour her too.

They both rounded the table at the same time. Tim threw his arms around her, kissing her with as much passion as he could muster. She had her hands all over him while their lips and tongues explored. The rain continued to soak them and they just didn't care.

"Lucy, I…"

"Take me to bed," she commanded, having to shout over the pounding of the rain.

"Are you sure? I don't want to…"

"I am falling for you too. And no matter what we do, however we try to stay apart, that's not going to change. I want to be with you, Tim. Now. Right now. Make love to me."

Those were the only words he needed to hear.