Tim already knows that Lucy had radioed in a call that they were taking fire, and next thing he knows, Harper's radioed in saying the suspect is down and they need a medic. He's only glad he hadn't heard it for himself, because he knows the panic would've been instant. So the second he sees Angela's name light up his phone, he answers immediately. "What the hell happened?"

"She's okay," Angela says instantly. "She's not hurt – I mean, she's going to be pretty bruised up, but nothing serious, she's okay."

"What happened?" he repeats again, trying his hardest to stay calm because Angela said she's okay.

Angela takes a deep breath, the adrenaline still running through her and she has to calm enough to tell the story. "She went after the shooter, she took fire. A bullet hit her radio, so she took some blowback and…" Angela trails off. "Tim, she's the one who took the shot at the suspect. It's… serious."

Tim frowns, rubbing at his forehead, knowing the call after the suspect was down had come in from Harper. "But she's not the one who called it in," he states, as if he can deny away this pain for her, then he realizes. "The radio."

"She's okay, Tim."

"If she shot someone, she's not okay," he responds instantly, already standing and gathering his things. "Where is she?"

"They're taking her to St. Stephens to get checked out. We can't go with her…" Angela states and Tim lets the silence finish the rest of her sentence. They can't go with her in case the guy dies and they can't discuss the incident with her because of the investigation.

"I'm on my way," he informs Angela, thanking her, before hanging up.

His head spins. If there's an investigation, they took her clothes. She needs her go bag. He rushes to the women's locker room, first considering asking a female officer to get her things from her locker, but then instead asks one if anyone's inside and to watch the entrance while he goes to her locker himself. He's in and out in less than a minute, nodding to the officer who seems to understand his urgency.

His mind spins as he thinks about how this is everything he's always feared but tries not to dwell on, the unspoken possibility of how either of them could always end their day. Something happening to her on shift and her things left in her locker, her car left in the parking lot for her to not come back to. But he ignores the negative thoughts and thinks about how she's okay – physically, at least. He can take the bag to her. They can get the car later. She's alive.

At the hospital, he doesn't waste a second before going to her, doesn't worry about Grey or Wesley because right now he's not one of them, he's here to be Lucy's support. His nerves only slightly relax when he sees her sitting up and unharmed, physically, for the most part other than some scratches to her face.

"Hey. Are you hurt?"

She shakes her head. He tries to crack a joke with her, lighten the mood – because if anything, he's been able to do that the past few weeks. Trophies and jokes about bodily fluids and tempting her with a shower together have been able to momentarily break her from her stress and anxiety, put a smile on her face or a laugh in her throat, but not today. They're beyond that, now. His entire heart aches when he hears the pain in her voice as she says she doesn't feel like a hero, asking him what if the suspect dies and she's the one who killed that guy.

He'd been her training officer, the one to guide her through all her firsts on the job. But instead of leaving her to her own devices after her rookie year was over, he realizes he's always going to be guiding her through the firsts she's never experienced, many of them things he has.

Grey and Wesley inform them that Budny's survived his surgery and he prepares to take her home, holding her in his arms as long as she needs before she's ready to get dressed, just wanting to take away all the pain and carry it for her.

•

Tim watches her carefully as she unlocks the door and flips on the lights in her apartment. Tamara clearly wasn't home yet, but he'd texted her earlier to let her know what happened and that she was okay, trying to downplay it as much as possible so she wouldn't panic.

"You hungry?" he asks. He doesn't wait for the reply, because he's sure she's going to say no. "You should go take a shower and I'll order dinner. I'll order from that new fusion place you've been wanting to try."

She snorts a little laugh, gives him a soft smile. "The place you said you'd never get within ten feet of?"

He crinkles his nose at her. "Did I say that?" he feigns obliviousness.

She rolls her eyes, swats at him a little. "Yes. You did."

"Well, if I order for delivery, I'm not going within ten feet of it, am I?" he teases. "Go shower."

She nods. "Thank you."

He knows she doesn't just mean for dinner, and he nods in return. He watches as she moves towards her bedroom, her gait indicating she's sorer than she's let on, waiting as she pauses momentarily. He's not sure if she's in pain or she's emotionally drained, but he waits as she stands there.

"What's the matter?"

"Everything!" she bursts, turning towards him, and he blinks in surprise. "I almost killed a man today. He could've died – still could. And I made a stupid joke about it. I said, 'If his head pops up, blow it off.' I said that, Tim, when Harper and Lopez were telling me it was too dangerous to go, I told them if his head pops up, blow it off."

"You didn't mean it."

"And then I almost got shot. If the radio hadn't been there, it would've been me. Everything is sore. Oh, and let's not forget I have no idea what the hell I'm doing with my career anymore. I'm looking at two more years of my career to guard vomit and secure perimeters. And I get it, that's the job. I know that. But I felt like I was so close to…" she trails off with a sigh. "And in two years, what I'm barely going to start doing what I want to do? I thought in two years we might be ready to have-" she stops herself short, before saying too much. "Nolan and Celina – I don't know who's the rookie and who's the training officer and you know I love both of them but they keep screwing up and yet they get to go on TV. The only thing I have going in my favor right now is you," she exhales and she can see she catches him by surprise. "And sometimes I think I let you down."

He frowns. "I told you…"

"Not you," she clarifies. "Training officer you. For… not doing anything more than being a patrol officer standing over puke for four hours."

"You didn't."

"How do you know?"

"Lucy, you do know we're the same person?"

She's quiet for a moment, staring at him, then lets out a laugh at his words and herself before putting her face into her hands and falling onto the couch, wincing in pain as her body yells at her.

"It's just a lot."

"I know, baby," he says as he moves to sit down next to her and takes her hand to give it a squeeze. "You're a good person. You're kind and empathetic and you know that's why I was hard on you as a rookie. But that's what makes you a good cop and that's why I fell in love with you. That's why you're taking what happened to Budny so hard. That's why you feel guilty about the comment you made. That's why you see injustices and why we both know you deserve something good to happen to you, too. You deserve it, Lucy. Today sucked. Yesterday sucked. The exam sucked. A lot of things suck right now, but you will get through this."

She scoffs a little bit. "It's all my fault, anyway. The five-player trade. Which Harper warned me about, and you were mad at me for doing, anyway."

"Which, again, you did only because you are a good person. And it's not your fault, because doing that shouldn't have cost you all this. Hey," he gently tilts her chin up to look at him. "What you did today… that's who you are. You think fast on your feet. You're not going to let the guy get away if you've got a plan. That's why you don't want to guard dumpsters. You've never been that kind of cop and I've known that since the day you rode with Wrigley," she snorts, remembering what seems to be a lifetime ago. "You're brave and courageous and ambitious and you've never let a roadblock take you down and this one won't, either. And that's impressive. As for Budny… he almost shot you. If you hadn't taken the shot, it would've been you."

"That's the part…" she shrugs. "I don't know. It's hard to say that my life is worth his, you know?"

"It is to me." She blinks up at him. "What? It is. You wouldn't have hesitated if he was approaching someone else with that gun aimed at them. It always feels harder to justify it when it's yourself that you're protecting. But it wasn't just yourself that you were saving. It was me and Tamara and Kojo and your parents and everyone who loves you."

She closes her eyes, feels the tears burn, and lets out a sniffle as she nods her understanding. "Yeah."

"I can't solve all your problems today," he teases with a kiss to her head. "We can talk about the career tomorrow. You've got two years before the exam, it doesn't mean you have to stay stagnant. Training officer Tim has a whole list of things you'd excel at. But let's start with a shower for the sore body and go from there." She nods and he helps her to stand, taking a moment to lift her shirt and look at her hip, where the bruise from the radio is turning dark and purple. She bites her lip as his fingers gently brush over it, looks into his eyes. "We'll ice it when you get out," he says simply.

"Okay." She gives him a smirk. "Does boyfriend Tim also have a list of things I'm good at?" she teases.

He gives her a warm smile, happy to see her lighthearted playfulness again. "You know it. But it's a totally different type of list. Starting with the fact you just roasted Nolan."

She lets out a breath, laughing at herself. "I didn't mean it."

"You did a little bit."

"…maybe," she admits with a small smile.

"That's my girl, and I don't know that I've ever been prouder of you."

She rolls her eyes at his teasing, but then her face turns sincere. "I love you so much," she says softly.

"I know," he returns gently. "I love you, too." He raises his eyebrows. "Now, shower?"

"Yes, sir," she teases as he shakes his head in amusement before she slips into the bedroom.