When Tim got off the phone with Angela, he immediately began searching on his phone for flights. He lucked out in that there were still seats available on a flight that was leaving later that morning. He would have to do a layover at BWI in Baltimore, but it would get him to Los Angeles by the late afternoon LA time. Without hesitation, Tim booked it and sent Angela a text about his flight details. When he went back into the kitchen, Lucy was sitting at the kitchen table, eating an omelet. There was another one on a plate across from her. Tim sat.

"Thanks for making breakfast," he said.

"It's too early for breakfast, remember?" Lucy said quite coldly.

"Right, we decided it was a late night snack," Tim said as he shoveled some food into his mouth. He recalled the conversation he and Lucy had had about food just fifteen minutes prior when they were both still naked on the floor of her office, but his brain was fuzzy with the details. He was both tired from the physical energy they had been exerting and his brain was already going over details of the case that Angela had told him on the phone. Tim ate quickly. He hadn't realized just how ravenous he was.

"Did you book your flight?" Lucy asked.

"Yeah, it leaves in like five hours out of Hartford."

"Well, that's at least an hour and a half drive from here so…"

"So…I better start packing."

"Yeah."

"Do we need to talk more about this?" Tim asked. He could tell she wasn't happy.

"Why would we? I get it. You need to go home to do your job and to help your friends. I'm fine, Tim. Alex and I will be fine. And maybe some separation would be good."

That last sentence took him aback. "Why do you say that?"

"Because maybe it'll give us some perspective. Maybe it'll be a reality check that you are really going to leave in a few months."

"Lucy, I…"

"Do you need a ride to the airport?" Lucy asked, silencing whatever question or statement Tim was going to say. She clearly didn't want to talk about feelings or their future or what was really going on between them.

"No," Tim answered. "I don't want you to have to drive all that way. I know you have to pick up Alex from his sleepover and you should get some sleep. I'll take my truck and leave it in one of the airport parking lots."

Lucy nodded. Having finished her late night snack, Lucy brought her plate to the sink. She put the dirty dishes in the sink and then turned back to Tim.

"I'm going to go up to bed," she said.

As Lucy walked past him to go upstairs, Tim put out his arm. His arm went around her middle.

"I'm coming back," he said to her.

"Have a safe trip," was all she said before she brushed him off and went upstairs. Lucy went into the bathroom in an attempt to wash her face and brush her teeth. When she turned the faucet, no water came out. The water was still turned off because the sink still had a leak. Lucy bit her bottom lip to stop herself from yelling out in both anger and sadness.

Three hours later, Tim was stuck in traffic just a few miles from the airport. Even though it was still early, a good two hours before rush hour would begin, some overnight construction had gone late and was causing a backup. Tim glanced at the clock. He still had plenty of time to catch his flight, but the traffic was making him more agitated than he already was. Before he left to go to the airport he had tried to talk to Lucy one more time, but when he had peeked into her bedroom, he saw that she was, indeed, asleep. Not wanting to wake her, he left the house. He thought about texting her, but he didn't know what he would say. He was only leaving temporarily. He would be back. And she said she was fine with it. Really, she had no reason to be upset or angry. And yet Tim felt miserable that he was leaving.

As his truck crawled down the highway, his phone rang. He hoped it was Lucy, but when he glanced at the screen on his dashboard, he saw that it was his sister. Already connected to bluetooth in the car, Tim accepted the call.

"Hey Genny," he answered.

"What are you doing?" She asked, accusatory.

"What?"

"You're going back to LA?"

"Temporarily," Tim corrected.

"Still. You're leaving. Just like that?"

"Angela needs help on a case," Tim explained. "It should only be a few days. No more than a week. Why are you angry?

"I'm angry because I found out about you leaving from Lucy when I texted her this morning to see if you and she were done having sex and if you wanted to meet me and Greg for breakfast before we have to go pick up the boys."

"So, you're not mad that I'm leaving. Just mad that I didn't tell you? I was going to text you. It all happened really fast and…"

"Of course I'm mad that you're leaving!" Genny shouted. "You can't just leave on a whim and play with people's lives, Tim!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Lucy. She sounded devastated this morning."

"I talked to Lucy about this," Tim explained. "I even basically asked her permission. She's fine."

"Well, she didn't sound fine to me."

"It's not like I walked out in the middle of the night and left a note on her pillow. We talked about it. And I will be back."

"Are you sure?" Genny questioned.

"Of course I'm sure. My truck and all of my stuff will still be here for goodness sake."

"Is that all you care about? Coming back for your truck and some clothes?"

Tim took a deep breath before choosing to respond. He felt like his leaving was being blown completely out of proportion and that he was being blamed for something that was completely reasonable for him to do.

"Look, Gen, I am really not in the mood for this. I'm trying to get to the airport and…"

"I want you to think long and hard about something while you're gone," Genny interrupted.

"Yeah, what's that?"

"Are you just stringing Lucy along?"

"What?"

"She's trying to set up a new life here, the best life she can for her and Alex. If you're just going to come and go or…or leave and never come back at the end of all of this, you need to let her go, Tim."

"You're the one who was pushing us together!"

"I know. And looking back, I think I was wrong."

"Unbelievable," Tim muttered. "We all knew I was going to leave eventually, Genny. We tried to resist each other. We did, but then we had people like you pushing us to get together and our natural chemistry with each other. But you know what, all three of us, you, me, Lucy…we all knew that I would go back to my job in LA. I never hid that from anyone. And I'm the one who has tried to convince Lucy that we can make this work anyway. She's the one who keeps pushing me away and saying we can't do long distance. I'm trying here. So don't make me into the bad guy."

"I'm sorry."

"Look, I get that you want to look out for Lucy. So do I. The last thing I want to do is hurt her or Alex. But I need to do my job. I need to help my friends."

"Ok. Look, I'm on your side, Tim. You're my brother. You always will be. I love you. I want you to be happy." Genny sighed. "We can talk about this more when you get back. Have a safe flight and be careful, ok?"

"I will. Thanks Gen. I love you, too."

"Bye."

"Bye."

Pressing the button on the screen to end the call, TIm wanted to pound his fists against the steering wheel. He wondered if he should get off at the next exit and turn his truck around and go back to Lucy, but he couldn't. As he told Genny, he needed to go help Angela and maybe Lucy was right. Maybe a little time away from what had been somewhat of a quick, whirlwind romance would be a good thing.

Trying to put it out of his mind, Tim turned on a sports radio channel. He tried to concentrate on baseball instead of his relationship. Yet, every time one of the hosts mentioned the word baseball, all Tim could think about was how he would be missing one of Alex's Little League games and it broke his heart.

Sixteen hours later, working off of no sleep and greasy fast food, Tim was sitting in the war room at Mid-Wilshire with Detectives Angela Lopez and Nyla Harper. They were going over details about drugs that had been laced with fentanyl that were killing people all over the city. The drugs had been linked back to a possible new gang that included members whom Tim had arrested previously in his career. But they weren't just criminals who had taken one ride in the back of Tim's shop. These were criminals that Tim had gotten to know for crimes like theft, weapons possessions, assault, and drug trafficking. The problem was, no one could find the leader of the group to take down the whole operation. No one was talking. Tim had reached out to some of his CIs and had even gone to see one of the criminals he had previously arrested in the county jail to find out any information, but everyone seemed to be living by the code that snitches get stitches.

"So, we're back at square one," Nyla said walking away from the presentation board that she and Angela had already scrawled all over.

"What do you think, Tim?" Angela asked, turning to where he sat slightly behind her. He was staring at the board, but wasn't really looking. His eyes were glazed over. He was wondering what Lucy was doing in that moment. Had she put Alex to bed? Or was it even nighttime on the East coast? Tim didn't even know what time it was on the west coast.

"Tim!" Angela practically shouted.

Tim immediately blinked to attention. His eyes focused on Angela.

"What?" He responded.

"Are you ok?" Angela asked.

"I…I think so?"

"Let's take a break," Nyla suggested. "I think we could all use some coffee."

"And some fresh air," Angela added. "We'll walk down to that coffee shop down the street. They're open late."

"Great, thanks. I'm going to check in with James to see how Leah is doing," Nyla said, taking out her phone.

As Angela began to walk out of the room, Tim followed. They didn't speak until they were out of the station and walking down the block towards the coffee shop. Even though it was the evening and the sun would be setting soon, Tim had to admit that it felt good to feel a little sunshine on his skin.

"Ok, so what is going on?" Angela asked.

"What do you mean?" Tim replied.

"What is going on with you? You're zoning out, unable to focus. It's not like you. Is it the shooting? Are you having a hard time being back here because if you are, we can…"

"No, it's not that. I just…I haven't really slept in…I don't know. Over twenty-four hours or something. And there's a lot going on back in Connecticut and…"

"What's going on in Connecticut? I thought you went out there to spend time with Genny and Tyler and clear your head?"

"I was. I did. I am. It's just…I met someone."

Angela stopped dead in her tracks.

"What? You met someone and I'm just now hearing about this. Spill. I want details. Now."

Tim thought of protesting, but knew Angela wouldn't allow it. She would get the information out of him one way or another.

"Her name is Lucy. She's got an adopted seven year old son named Alex. She moved into Genny's neighborhood around the same time I arrived. She lived in New York previously with a boyfriend who is kind of an ass, which makes sense because he's a prosecutor."

"Watch it," Angela warned. "My husband is a defense attorney."

"Yeah, and before you met him, we all hated lawyers. Actually, while you were falling in love with him, you still hated lawyers."

"True. Go on. Tell me more about Lucy."

"She's just…good, you know? She's a great mom. She's smart. She's resourceful and funny and beautiful."

"What does she do for a living?"

"She's a therapist."

Angela raised an eyebrow. "A therapist, huh? That's an interesting match for you seeing as how you're always so closed off all the time."

"I'm not closed off."

"I couldn't even get you to admit that your back hurt after you had been shot! You've got walls up higher than the Great Wall of China."

"Fine, maybe I can be closed off, but Lucy finds a way to break down those walls. She's different, Angela. She's amazing. And it was like…instant chemistry. I don't think I've ever had that with anyone."

"Well, she sounds perfect. But there's one important question."

"What's that?"

"You told me all of these wonderful things about her, but you didn't tell me how you actually feel about her. So…Tim, do you have feelings for Lucy?"

Tim thought for a moment before responding. "I do. I've fallen for her."

"Even though it's only been…what? Six weeks or so?"

Had it been only six weeks since Tim had met Lucy? If someone had asked him before if you could fall for someone else in such a short amount of time, Tim would have said that it was impossible, but it wasn't.

"Yeah. I don't know how to explain it," Tim said.

"What does that mean about you coming back here when your leave is over?"

"I don't know," Tim admitted. "We're trying to figure that out. But all I know right now is that I think I'm in lo…"

Tim was cut off when his phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and saw that it was Genny calling. He didn't want to have another argument with his sister so he pocketed the phone.

"Look, I just want to help you out with this case as best I can and then go back so that Lucy and I can figure out what we're going to do and…"

His phone rang again.

"Somebody really wants to get a hold of you," Angela commented.

"Yeah, it's my sister."

"You should answer it."

This time, Tim did.

"Genny, what…"

"It's Lucy," Genny said on the other line. "There's been an accident."