Chapter Tex

It's 5am and she's staring at a pregnancy test with a big plus sign, and another one with an oddly cheerful happy face.

Holy crap.

She's panicking. Not that she doesn't want this, but because she's totally unprepared for this to have happened so fast. They had talked about trying to start a family, when they would want to, but – as these things tend to go, she figures – there had never been an official decision, just a series of events that led them to this moment. She had never really understood people who say they aren't trying but they're also not trying to prevent it: and now suddenly it makes perfect sense. She had opted to get her IUD removed at her last gynecologist appointment since she knew that they were going to plan for a family soon and didn't want to fool around with it later, she'd heard it takes some women a while to get pregnant after, and for some reason she was sure she would be one of them. Then they went about their lives and their sex life and…

Apparently, she was not one of them.

Holy crap.

She almost can't contain herself. She wants to go back into the bedroom and wake Tim up and tell him right now because she's excited and terrified and amazed all at once. She's feeling a lot of emotions and Tim has always been her safe space to land, the person who grounds her.

She must be puttering around too long, making too much noise, because next thing she knows he's calling her name.

"Lucy?"

"Hmm?" she returns, trying to sound totally normal but she knows she's failing. She shoves the pregnancy tests back into a box just in case he appears and hides them under the counter because damnit she's had a plan for years now about how she wants to tell him and she's not going to foil it. Because if she's anything, she's stubborn.

"What's going on?" he asks, and she bites her lip. Cover story, cover story. Come up with a cover.

"My period," she lies, figuring that will both make him stop asking questions and distract from the idea of pregnancy. She has a plan, she has a plan. She has a plan, and now she has to act like she's on her period for at least a day or two while she executes it.

"You okay?"

God, she loves him. He knows how her cycle hits her sometimes, how she can get bad cramps that make her nauseous the first few days.

She wants to say everything that's on her mind. Yes, she's fantastic, actually. No, she's freaking out, actually.

"Yes, baby. I'll be back to bed in a second."

She spends the first day reeling, trying to keep the secret while all the while gathering the items she needs to put the reveal into place the next day.

They arrive at work on Wednesday, and she heads off to her desk while Tim goes to the locker room to get changed. She has to admit, one of the perks of being a detective, now, is not having to change into her uniform after having just gotten dressed, not having to tie her hair into a bun with ten different techniques to keep her thick hair from falling, not having to take the time to change out after. She's not surprised to see his name light up her phone shortly after she starts to settle in.

"Hey," she says, trying to keep casual. How does she usually talk, anyway?

Tim doesn't bother to respond with a greeting. "What's with the boots?"

"What boots?" she feigns obliviousness even as her heart pounds. Channel your undercover skills. Pull this off.

"Lucy."

"I have no idea what you're talking about –"

"I know this was you. Who else does this?"

"And I have a case I have to get to work on-"

"Lucy," he says. "I know you did this. No one else leaves boots in my locker on a regular basis and no one else plays mind games with me like this."

She can't help but chuckle at that – mind games – and stifles her laugh so he won't hear.

"Tim, come on. We came in together this morning. How would I have done this? And a better question is why?"

"That's what I want to know," he shoots back instantly.

She isn't sure what her play is here, so she makes noises like something's going on in the background, acts like someone has just approached her. "Oh, shoot, I have to go. See you later!"

Even as she ends the call, she can hear him still calling her name.

Not long after the call with Lucy, Tim is in his office staring at the boots he brought with him from the locker room. Her hears a knock and looks up from the shoes to the doorway, where he sees Angela poke her head in.

"Hey," she greets with a bright smile.

"Hey," he says back, dropping the boots down on his desk and looking at Angela who pushes the rest of the way into his office.

"Those are cute. Not your size, though," she says with a teasing grin, eyes sparking at the playful banter.

Tim frowns at her, then looks back at the boots. "Lucy put them in my locker."

"Why?"

"I don't know. She does this sometimes – when I got promoted to sergeant, when I started in Metro. You know. She likes to tease me like I'm a boot." Angela snickers at that.

"Well, turnabout's fair play," she comments.

"But I don't know why she put these there today," he frowns, holding them up. "I'm not stepping into any new roles." Angela looks at the boots – tiny. Small. Cute. Then she looks back at Tim and his confused expression and bursts out a laugh. "What?" he asks.

"Oh, I know why," she teases as she starts to back out of the office.

"What?" he calls after her. "Lopez!" he tries his authoritarian voice. But Angela is similar to Lucy and they don't find him threatening and he grumbles when he realizes she's gone.

Angela makes a beeline straight from Tim's office – having abandoned what she had gone there for, in the first place, and heads straight to Lucy's desk.

"Your husband is an idiot," Angela says as she plops down in the chair next to her.

Lucy smirks and chuckles, Angela probably the only other person who she would allow to call him an idiot. "I know." She looks up from her computer at her. "What did he do?"

"He's in his office staring at the tiny little boots you left in his locker asking what they mean because he's not starting any new roles." Lucy pauses momentarily, then looks over at Angela tentatively, biting her lip and the two lock their gazes. "Look, I'm pretty sure there's a reason we're the detectives and he's not, so…" Lucy smirks. "I know you probably want to talk to him first before you tell anyone else – if this is what I think it is – so I'll let you be. But if you need anything, let me know. I've been there." Angela pushes herself off the chair and starts to head towards her desk.

"Angela?" Lucy calls and she turns back to her. "How the hell am I supposed to stay awake? The fatigue is amplified and my caffeine allowance has been cut drastically."

Angela chuckles. "I got you. I'll text you."

Lucy nods and the two women share a secret smile as Angela heads to her desk.

Lucy tries to stay calm after lunch, when she sneaks home to put part two of her plan in action, setting out the items she couldn't set out when Tim was in her presence this morning. After she's done, the anxiety is real. When they go home tonight, he's going to find out. She prays nothing delays her from getting home at the same time as him, can only imagine that he goes home to find the announcement himself, but she's just going to have faith it all works out.

She feels nervous, anxious, nauseous, and now she's not so sure if the nausea is from the anxiety or just a new part of her life she has to look forward to for the next handful of months.

She knows he's going to be excited, but she's still feeling every nerve in her body.

Fate is on her side and when neither of them are delayed on the job by some miracle and they head home together, talking about taking Kojo for a nice evening walk and ordering dinner and finishing the newest series they'd started on Netflix.

Her heart is beating so fast when he unlocks the door that she is sure Tim can hear it, but he doesn't say anything. Her palms are sweaty, and he's momentarily distracted as he greets Kojo at the door before he sees it, perched on the table.

The sign - Congrats, boot! and another, small pair of boots. She can see him frown at the sign, the confusion from the morning hitting him again.

He stands from petting Kojo. "Alright, seriously, what is going on?"

"Oh, so earlier – in the locker room - wrong boots," she tells him and damnit, she can tell her voice is shaking. "These are the right ones."

Tim walks over to take a closer look, and suddenly it all makes sense.

These boots are so very clearly baby booties.

"Thank goodness they're still there, I was worried Kojo might get to them," she rambles nervously. "Think they were a tiny chew toy."

"Lucy…" he says, looking from the boots to her, his voice soft and full of awe. She watches his expression as he processes, the confusion melting away into surprise and then… then his face absolutely lights up and she knows she's going to cry.

"I guess you're a boot, after all. Dad."

As soon as she says dad Tim's grinning ear to ear, but then he shows a little quirk of his lips. "Doesn't that mean you're a boot, too?"

She chokes back a laugh and a cry, grinning and tears falling as she can see him approaching her. "Yeah. I guess so."

He closes the gap and he's pulling her into his arms in an instant, wrapping her in a hug and then kissing her forehead, her cheeks, her lips. "This is amazing," he whispers against her lips.

She nods and cries into his shoulder. "I love you," she tells him softly.

"God, Lucy. You have no idea." He pulls back and frowns at her. "But you said… yesterday… your period."

She bursts out laughing. "Yeah, I lied."

"I swear, for a moment today I thought… maybe that's what they meant… but then I remembered yesterday and it just vanished from my mind." She chuckles, loving him so much for believing her words as if they were gospel. "This happened fast," he adds.

"Umm, yes," she lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding. "I mean, I guess we shouldn't be surprised because it's not like our sex life is lacking," she hears Tim chuckle at that in agreement. "But I'm kind of freaking out that we need more time to plan."

He kisses her on the head. "I know, baby. I know you're a planner," he laughs, pulling her into his side. "We have nine months to plan."

"Only nine months," she gasps. "And it's probably more like seven and a half by now. God, in a year – there will be a baby here. Like, solidly here."

"Yes."

"I was a rookie for longer than that."

"Lucy."

"How can they give you training for a year to be police officer and nothing to be a parent."

"Lucy."

"Yeah?"

"We got this."

She laughs. "Yeah."

"You're strong and you're smart and you're empathetic and you're a quick learner and you're going to be the best mom."

Suddenly, she knows how he felt a minute ago, because hearing the word mom fall from his lips in regards to her, she feels her worries melt away and a grin overtake her features.

When his hand falls to her abdomen, brushes over it in awe as if he can't believe there is a child growing inside of her – one that's part Tim and part Lucy – she realizes she honestly underestimated the way this would feel, something so many couples experience but suddenly, when it's you – it's as if no one has ever experienced such an amazing thing. "And," he adds with a smile. "We're a pretty good team."

"Always have been," Lucy agrees with a hum. They revel in the silence for a moment before she recalls something. "Oh," she tells him with a chuckle even as he sways her in his arms, kissing her head. "Angela knows."

Tim laughs, remembering the conversation in his office and nods. "My fault."