Will's POV

Bright morning light brought me awake again, but this time it didn't hurt and more noticeably, there was nobody next to me. However, the sheets hadn't been washed and still smelled of Tamara's perfume. I was still stressed with my thoughts, so I was relieved that today was my day off. I really didn't want to complicate things, but I really wanted to text Tamara.

Hey, are you free today?

I mean I'm babysitting tonight, but I'm free most of the day.

Okay. Wanna meet up?

Sure. Where?

Come over for breakfast?

I'd love to. When?

How about now?

Getting ready. Be over in a few.

See you soon.

I felt bad for texting her, but also a little glad I did. I was really stressed out because of the whole situation, but I didn't really have many people to talk to; Tim was very apathetic and most of the guys wouldn't be helpful. Tamara was kind of the only person I could talk to.

About fifteen minutes later, I heard a knock at the door. Tamara was standing in the doorway, smiling.

"Couldn't stay away for more than a day, huh," she said, laughing.

I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and walked her to the kitchen. "No, I could not. So, what's going on with you?"

"Not much other than Lucy being pissed at me."

I looked straight at her, a serious look on my face. "About us?"

"What?" She looked very confused.

"Lucy being pissed—it's about us?"

"Yeah, but Will, you don't have to worry about it. I've got it handled."

"You sure?"

"I've got it."

I walked her to the table and grabbed the food I made while waiting. We ate pancakes, eggs, and bacon, talking about work and life and pretty much everything. And then the conversation went South when I brought up my worries about—well—us.

"Tamara, there's something I wanted to talk about—about us."

"What?"

"I just was a little concerned about—you know—I'm eight years older than you."

She rolled her eyes. "I already took this from Lucy, I'm not taking this from you, too. Drop it. It's fine."

I shook my head. "Okay, I get it." We finished eating and then just sat there. And waited.

"Why is this so weird," Tamara finally asked.

"I'm not sure; I guess it's just cause I brought up the age thing again."

"Nope, don't bring it up again."

"I got you. So, what now?"

"So," she said, standing up and grabbing my waist, "We go into that bedroom and have a little fun."

"I thought we were…" she cut me off with a kiss.

"Shut up and walk with me." She grabbed my hand and slowly walked me into my bedroom.

My breathing heaved as she rubbed against me, and she slammed the door behind us.

Tamara's POV

It had been an hour since me and Will did it again. It was fun, but I went back home to avoid Will complaining about me being too young or a friend of a coworker. I wanted to stay, but I knew he'd be worried. I didn't want to take either, but Will's worry was a whole different beast from Lucy's disapproval. So, with that little bit of unreasonable logic, I pulled into the parking lot of me and Lucy's apartment.

I walked into the apartment and immediately noticed Lucy watching TV alone. I tried walking to my room quietly, but her voice called out, "Were you at Will's again?"

I halted, for some reason no longer scared of what she'd say. "Yeah I was. Is there an issue?"

"No, just asking."

"What's with the change of heart?"

"Tim. Made me realize I was being too controlling over you."

"Well, thank him for me. I'm gonna rest right now; I have a babysitting job later."

"Sleep well. But, even if Tim changed my mind, Tamara, please be careful."

"I will be." I walked into the room and passed out a minute later, extremely sore and extremely tired from my time with Will.

Will's POV

After Tamara spent a second time over, I felt that she knew what she was doing, and that I needed to stop worrying about everything. She was right, she's an adult and can make her own decisions. After I had come to terms with that, I thought of calling her up, but I remembered she just left. I thought it would be kind of rude and desperate to call her back. It was already midday though, and I had absolutely no plans for the day. So, I figured it wouldn't hurt to log some overtime hours. I called Gray and logged in, then headed up to the station to work on some open cases.

I pretty much spent my entire overtime in the office. Every single open case I had was mostly paperwork, and that pretty much made me fall asleep at my desk. Gray was on my ass the entire time, continuously saying, "We don't pay you to sleep, West!"

At end of shift, I was sitting outside the station, in my truck, for the better part of a half hour. Chen and Tamara's place was only ten minutes from the station, and I was really struggling with whether I should swing by or not. And then, I made a stupid decision. I drove there without even calling.

I knocked on the door to Tamara's apartment, nervous if I had made the right decision. The door opened, but it wasn't Tamara that opened the door. It was Lucy.

"Hey Will, what you doing here?"

I gave her a funny look. "First of all, you don't seem mad at me."

"I recently came to the realization that I'm not supposed to interfere with Tamara's relationship choices."

"I also came to that realization, and that's why I'm here."

"Wait, why did you have to come to that realization?"

"Um—I might have repeatedly complained about age factors and other social factors that made our relationship weird."

"So you fucked up?"

"I fucked up bad. I was being pretty annoying about it."

"She's in her room. Good luck."

"Thanks for being understanding."

"I'm more stressed when I worry."

"Me too," I replied, "I should probably go talk to her."

"You two sound just like high school sweethearts."

"Funny. Ima go in."

"If you two—just be quiet."

I laughed a little. "It's not like that."

"I've said that before."

"I hear you. See you later, Lucy."

"Later, West."

I walked to Tamara's room, knocking on the door before opening. And that's when I realized I probably should've waited for her to open it for me. She was standing in the middle of her room with panties in her hand and nothing on. She turned, and went wide-eyed.

"Shit, Will, what the hell are you doing here? Never mind, just get the fuck out, now!"

I shut the door and awkwardly stood by for a while, and Tamara opened the door and let me in a minute later. She leaned against the doorframe and looked me dead in the eye.

"So, what exactly are you doing here?"

"Tamara, I—uh—just wanted to say sorry for complaining too much; I realized you can make your own decisions."

"Oh, ok, if that's all." She shrugged and waved towards the door to the apartment.

I fixed my jacket and went to turn, saying, "Well, then, I should probably be off."

She was smiling, though, and started to speak. "Will," she said, getting my attention, "I was kidding, you don't have to leave. Would you like to stay for take-out and maybe a movie?"

"If that's okay with you and Chen."

"I'm sure she's fine with it. What you want to eat?"

"Whatever you want. I should go grab my phone from the car; I completely forgot it when I ran up here."

"Be quick."

"Of course." So, I started downstairs and into the parking lot. Then, just a few seconds after, I felt pain in my temple and my vision went blurry. Hot liquid spilled down my head, and everything went black.

Tamara's POV

Will had been gone for almost twenty minutes, so I started to worry. He said he'd only be a few minutes and now it's almost twenty. I told Lucy, and she confirmed that it was probably concerning. So, we walked downstairs, and when we got to the parking lot, I gasped in horror.

Will was laying on the sidewalk, blood covering his head, and his head covered in bruises. Lucy tried to get him up, which he didn't, but she reassured me that he was still breathing. She called nine-one-one and minutes later dozens of cops surrounded us, from rookies to Sergeant Grey. We were questioned a million times, and when they learned we knew nothing, officers were looking all over the parking lot looking for evidence.

I was crying the entire trip to the hospital and the entire time we were there. The doctors said he didn't need surgery and was fine, but the stitches on his head and lack of consciousness could have fooled me. I sat in the hospital for hours with him; Tim, Lucy, Grey, and a few other of his cop friends stopped by to check on him. And, after a few more hours he woke up.