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chenfordsource · 3 days ago

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Reuniting

Chenford Rated: Mature WC: 3955

~ Just me being impatient about season 8 and imagining all the ways they could get back together (with some added drama!) It's just a wordy snippet with two measly borderline explicit paragraphs at the end. I wrote it quick to get the brain bug out so it is what it is.

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It had been a week and Tim still didn’t know how to bring it back up. The timing was never right. With Lucy working nights, their paths had not crossed with enough time to allow them to have the conversation that he desperately wanted.

More than anything he hoped that she was willing to give him a second chance.

He yawned as he drove home. There had been a lot of sleepless nights, wondering when he would get the opportunity to tell her what he had attempted to a week ago, and more importantly, what she was going to say in return.

Part of him felt like they could get things back on track, and part of him had a deep fear that she might be reluctant for how he had hurt her. She had forgiven him, but that did not mean that she could trust him the way that she had. The only way that was going to happen, was for him to be able to show her. He just needed her to allow him to do so.

He yawned again and shook his head to shed the fatigue, when his phone rang. He looked at the display and frowned. It was Lieutenant Grey.

“Bradford,” he answered.

“Tim, I just got a call from Sargeant Miller. There was a shooting right after night shift rolled out. A couple of ours were hit.”

Tim’s body went ridged with fear and his heart started to hammer in his chest. “Lucy?”

Grey was silent for a beat. “All I know is that the injured officers are being rushed to St. Stephen’s. I don’t have any other information at this time, I am sorry. I just wanted to let you know as soon as I heard.”

Tim barely heard the last of what the Lieutenant said. He hung up the phone and pulled a u turn in the middle of the street and sped towards the hospital, terrified for Lucy.

-------

There was blood everywhere. Lucy was terrified. It had happened so quick. They barely had enough time to take cover. The crew they rolled up on had automatic weapons.

She looked down again at Officer Mitchell, terrified that he wasn’t going to make it. He’d been hit the worst of all of them.

“You were very lucky,” the woman next to her said. She was a paramedic and she was working on Lucy on their way to the hospital. “A little to the left and this would have caught you in the neck instead of glazing the top of your shoulder.”

Lucy nodded, watching in vain as the other EMT’s were working to save Mitchell’s life. Truth was, she hadn’t even realized that she had been hit other than the round she took to the vest. That one knocked her off her feet and took the breath out of her lungs. The pain was currently inconsequential though compared to Mitchell.

She wondered how Officer Singer was doing in the other ambulance as theirs pulled up to the emergency bay at the hospital. She’d chosen to stay with Mitchell as his injuries were worse and she felt a duty to be with him. Then again, she wasn’t a doctor, and she hoped that Singer was okay. At least Officer Cruz went with him. He’d been hit in the vest too but nowhere else as far as Lucy knew.

She stayed out of the way as Mitchell was rushed out of the back of the ambulance and she followed him into the hospital. He was rushed to surgery just as Singer was being wheeled in. He was conscious and seemed stable, which was a relief.

Officer Cruz followed close behind and held back with Lucy as Singer was taken to be assessed.

“How is he?”

Cruz shrugged one shoulder. “They stopped the bleeding and said it was a through and through, so I think he’ll be okay. How is Mitchell?”

Lucy pursed her lips. “Not good. They took him to surgery. How are you?”

Cruz put a hand on the round that caught his vest. “I’ll be bruised all to hell, but pretty damn good considering.”

She nodded. “Get yourself checked out to make sure. Okay?”

Cruz nodded once. “Yes Ma’am.”

Lucy knew there was nothing she could do at this point but wait and get checked out herself. While her adrenaline was still high, it was starting to come down leaving her feel the pain of her injuries.

-----

Tim was beside himself as he rushed into the Emergency department at the hospital. The entire drive over he feared the worst. He didn’t know what he would do if…

He pushed the dark thought from his mind as he looked around for someone to help him. He stopped the first nurse he saw. “The officers involved in that shooting, where-”

“That way,” she cut him off, and pointed to the left.

He entered the doors she had pointed him to and looked around. Right away he clocked a uniform, only to realize it wasn’t Lucy. He walked further, looking for a nurse to help him, when he spotted another uniform in a room just behind the nurse’s desk.

Lucy looked up at him as soon as he entered the room. Her uniform shirt was open and in tatters on the left side of her shoulder where the paramedic had hastily cut the fabrics to patch up a wound. She stood immediately as Tim charged over and pulled her into a tight embrace. “Thank God,” he whispered, resting his cheek on the top of her head.

She sighed into him, hugging him back tightly. It felt so good to be able to hold her in his arms. He had feared the worst, and this was like a breath of life after almost drowning.

“Are you okay?” he asked, unwilling to let her go.

She made no move to leave his embrace. “I’m okay.” She sighed. “Singer’s was a through and through but Mitchell is fighting for his life.”

Tim understood the fear she was going through. It was something akin to the fear that went though him when someone under his watch was injured on the job. Although, nothing like the fear he’d felt once had for Lucy, feeling that he was to blame for her getting abducted and buried alive. His fear tonight had been just like that, only worse, because he was helplessly in love with her.

Finally, she stirred in his arms and he loosened his grip, taking a moment to place a gentle kiss on her forehead before pulling back to look at her. “Where were you hit?”

She stepped back and slowly began to take her shirt the rest of the way off to reveal where the round had hit the vest right about where her heart would be. Above that, the quick patch in the ambulance to stop the bleeding where she had been grazed. Tim winced, noticing how sore she was. He stepped forward before she could finish and helped her the rest of the way out of her shirt and then the vest.

As soon as she was free of the bulk of it, her hand went to where the bullet had struck her vest, placing it on the tattered white blood-stained t-shirt. “I’m lucky,” she said quietly.

Tim nodded and helped her back onto the bed. “No one has checked you over yet?”

“Not yet.” She slowly sat and laid herself down. “I told the nurses to take care of my guys first. They’ll be with me soon.”

He smiled softly, taking a seat in the chair beside the bed and pulling it closer. Her compassion was only one of the many reasons he was in love with her. “Can I get you anything? Are you hungry?”

Lucy shook her head, staring up at the ceiling. “No. I just want to know how Mitchell is doing. And Singer and Cruz of course.”

“Want me to find out?”

She looked over at him and nodded, giving him a gentle smile of gratitude.

-----

Tim had his arm around her back as they walked down the hallway to her door. He hadn’t once let her go since helping her out of his truck. She was grateful.

Lucy fished her keys out of her purse and Tim gently took them from her, unlocked the door and followed her inside. Only then did he let go to close the door behind them while she dropped her stuff on the edge of the island and took a seat on the nearest stool.

Tim turned and leaned his back against the door, appraising her closely. “What can I do? Are you hungry? I can make something, or run out and grab some food?”

She shook her head. “I don’t feel hungry yet.”

He nodded, eyes never leaving hers. “Do you want to lay down? Or I can draw you a bath or something?”

Lucy looked into his concerned blue eyes and felt a deep sense of comfort in having him there. No matter what, she was going to ask him to stay with her. She did not want to be alone. “A nice hot bath actually sounds amazing right now.”

Tim gave her a soft smile as he lifted off the door and went straight to the bathroom. Lucy took a deep calming breath. She was still in love with him, but they still needed to have a talk. She thought they would have a week ago, and then she’d gone and fell asleep, and it was all because Tim was there and he gave her that incredible sense of solace that she had been able to find what had alluded her since starting the night shift.

However, the forefront of her thoughts was currently with Mitchell. His surgery went as well as it could have, but he was still in a coma. Singer’s through and through to the shoulder was patched up no problem and Cruz had a clean bill of health except for the large contusion on his chest. Lucy had peeked her own and knew it would only look worse in the morning.

“It’s ready,” Tim said, walking out of the bathroom and over to where she was sitting on the stool, clearly ready to offer a hand if she needed one.

She smiled at him and stood up, not near as stiff as she figured she might be. “Thank you.”

“Need anything else?”

“Maybe a glass of white wine?”

He nodded. “No problem.”

Lucy went to the bathroom while Tim went to her fridge to get her drink. “There’s beer in there too,” she said, pausing at door. “Help yourself.”

“Thanks,” he said quietly as he grabbed a glass from her cupboard and filled it with the chilled wine. He walked over and handed it to her, looking down at her with that way he had of looking at her. She truly felt weak when he looked at her like that.

She averted her eyes and took the glass with a ‘thanks’ and went into the bathroom, closing the door behind her but leaving it open an inch so that she could talk to him. She undressed slowly, and after a reluctant moment, looked in the mirror to see the deep bruising on her breast where the bullet had struck the vest. She winced as she looked away, finished stripping naked and slipped gently into the bath.

Tim knew what he was doing. The water temperature was perfect, and he had added some of her lavender infused Epsom salts that she used whenever she had a rough day on the job. The fact that she had only mentioned that in passing in conversation before they were even dating, spoke volumes about him as a man.

“How’s the bath?” Tim’s voice came in faintly though the cracked open door.

She sighed with a smile, settling further into the bath but being careful to leave her sutured shoulder above the water line. “It’s heavenly.”

A faint chuckle. “That’s good.”

“You got yourself a beer?”

“I did, thank you. You all set in there? I can grab you anything you need.”

“No, I’m perfect.” As soon as the words left her mouth, she felt a deep shame for saying them. “I meant I don’t need anything. I didn’t mean… Actually, I should be at the hospital.”

“Lucy…” Tim’s tone a gentle warning. “I know how you are feeling, but Grey told you to go home and the doctor strongly agreed with him. Mitchell’s family is there for him. He’ll be okay. He’ll pull through.”

She swallowed a painful lump in her throat. “And if he doesn’t?”

Tim didn’t answer right away. Instead, she heard the stool shift on the floor and his footsteps softly approach the door and stop. “If he isn’t, I am here, Lucy. In whatever way that you need.”

She wiped the tears that were forming and took a shaky breath. “I know.”

A soft sigh from the other side of the door. “How about you try and sleep after the bath. Maybe get a half hour, and if you really feel you should be at the hospital, we’ll head over, okay?”

A sudden thought occurred to her at his offer. “Wait, aren’t you supposed to be headed to work right now?”

“I called in. I’m not leaving you alone.”

That brought fresh tears. “Thanks,” she said, managing to keep the emotion off her voice. If he heard it, she knew it was only going to worry him further.

-----

Tim checked on her again. While she had asked him to wake her up after a half hour, he could not bring himself to wake her just yet. She needed this.

When she went to lay down, she had lingered at the door, like she was struggling with weather or not to ask him something, just like he was struggling with weather or not to offer. In the end, she didn’t, and he figured it would be better not to offer. Now though, he wished he had, and that he was in there with her, holding her while she slept.

It was not the time to be saying the things he had been wanting so badly to tell her. Only after this was in their rear view would he do so.

He went back to the couch, and no sooner did he sit down, his phone was ringing. He pulled it out of his pocket and saw that it was Grey.

“Bradford,” he answered.

“I’ve got word from the hospital. Mitchell is still weak, but he is awake and talking. The doctors are optimistic will make a full recovery.”

Tim was thankful for Wade’s straight to the point conversations during times like this. “That’s great to hear, Sir. Thank you for letting us know.”

“How’s Lucy?”

He looked towards the bedroom door. “Resting. She needs it.”

“No doubt. Let me know if either of you need anything.”

“Will do,” Tim said, and hung up. He thought for a moment of just letting her rest, but he knew she would be upset if he didn’t wake her up right away to tell her.

He walked into the room and looked down at her. She was on her back, head to the side and one arm over her head. A part of his heart ached to take in her beauty, knowing how much he had hurt her. He intended to make good on Angela’s advice; if she did take him back, he was going to send out a prayer of gratitude every night before bed. Lucy was unequivocally the best thing that had ever happened to him.

“Lucy,” he said quietly and he reached down and placed a palm gently on her arm. As soon as he touched her, her eyes sprang open and her body jolted. He felt terrible for scaring her, so he spat it out before her mind could start spinning. “Mitchell is awake. He’s going to be okay.”

“What?” Her eyes darted around, confused for having been deeply sleep.

“Mitchell is going to be okay. He’s awake.”

Her focus snapped into place and she started into his eyes. “He’s going to be okay?”

“Yes, Lucy. Mitchell is okay.”

Tears filled her eyes as she sat up and Tim didn’t hesitate to sit on the edge of the bed and pull her into a hug.

-------

After a couple of hours at the hospital, checking on Mitchell and Singer and texting Cruz to make sure he was taking it easy at home, left Lucy feeling a deep sense of relief. In the short time she’d been working with these men, she had come to feel a touch of that bond that cops have with those they work closely with. While there were still things to iron out, like sleeping most of their shift, a lot of them had started to smarten up the last few times on duty. Lucy had started to feel like she was making a lot of headway with them.

Even Tim mentioned the looks of respect from the men in the hospital to know that their Sargeant was there for them.

In the end, Singer was going to be released as soon as the doc checked him over one last time and Mitchell was being taken care of by his wife and teenage children. The family was rightfully overjoyed that he was going to pull through, and Lucy felt their happiness and relief in the depths of her soul.

And now they were back in her apartment, and she had no idea what was going to come next in the week she was to recover.

“You must be hungry now,” Tim mentioned, as Lucy dumped her purse on the edge of the island and wandered over to the couch.

“Actually, I am starving,” she said, plopping down on the sofa with a faint groan.

“You got something you want me to make?” he asked, going to the fridge and opening the door. “What do you feel like?”

“Well, I wouldn’t say no to some veggie burgers and fries.”

Tim closed the fridge and turned to look at her. “With extra pickles.”

She smiled. “Of course.”

He grinned back at her and took off for the door. “I’ll be right back. You sit tight.”

Lucy nodded as he threw a look over his shoulder before closing the door behind him. Alone, her smile faded away. Tim had been with her every step of the way through this, and she felt his absence in a way that she was not expecting.

That man had come a long way from the one that broke her heart. And she knew they were going to have to talk as soon as possible to move forward.

While he was gone, she sent Tamara a text to see how she was doing. While she was still hurt over how Seth had lied to her, she was okay, and Lucy assured her that she needed to stop apologizing to her. In the end, she was glad that he had had enough gumption to come clean with her.

Tim retuned and they ate together sitting on the couch and chatting absently about nothing important while they watched some cooking show that Lucy put on. When the food was gone and the light conversation stopped, she decided that it was time, and she turned off the tv and shifted to face him on the couch.

“We need to talk.”

He nodded. “I know. But I don’t want to press right now with what happened. We will have plenty of time to-”

“I want to talk now, Tim,” she interrupted him. “I want to know where we are going.” He nodded, looking resolute. Perhaps he needed the same thing. “I know that you have been going to therapy.”

“I have. And I don’t want to assume anything about our future now that you are a Sargeant, but I know the damage that I did, and after all that therapy, I know why I did it. I have been putting in a lot of work to fix what was broken inside of me.”

“That’s good, Tim. But-”

He reached out and grabbed her hands in his, squeezing them softly. “I promise Lucy, you can trust me when I tell you that I will never hurt you that way again. I can’t.”

Lucy looked into his eyes, knowing all the ways he had changed since getting help and working on himself. “Okay Tim. I believe you.”

His smile was a touch incredulous. “I was thinking, that maybe you would move in with me? To give us a real shot?”

There was a sudden warmth that spread though her in thinking about living with him. To think about that comfort that he gave her when she was in his presence, and seeing him as much as she could with the difference in their shifts. Of smelling him in their sheets when she was trying to sleep, to say nothing of the fact that his house would be much quieter than her busy apartment building. To have him hold her tight whenever they got the chance. To know that he wanted to build a life with her.

“Yeah, okay,” she said. “I’d like that.”

He let out a soft sigh, looking deeply into her eyes. “I love you, Lucy.”

“I love you too.”

“Is there anything else?” His brow knitted together in concern. “Anything you want to ask or know before we do this? I want you to be confident. And more importantly, I want you to be comfortable.”

She smiled. This was the very difference in why she never fell in love with Chris. He was just not Tim. Chris was a guy who said that things were going well so they should move in together and started spamming her with houses right away. Tim was sitting before her, heart on the line, making sure it was something that she actually wanted and not pressuring her in any way, shape or form.

Lucy was about to open her mouth and reassure him, when a better use of her lips came to mind, and she leaned in and kissed him.

He kissed her back, and they easily fell into step of the intimacy they shared before, although she could tell that he was measured. He knew her body was bruised and sore, and he was holding back.

She pulled from his lips to look at him. His eyes opened slowly and gazed into hers. “I want this, Tim.”

His head shook slightly. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

Lucy thought about for a half a second before making up her mind. “I want you, Tim. I need you.”

His gaze fell to her lips and he leaned in and resumed kissing her. Soon they were in her bedroom, Tim slowly undressing the both of them, being very careful with her. As soon as he saw the bruise, his brow came together with concern, and she put a stop to it by kissing him as he blindly finished undressing her.

Naked, and in the sheets, Lucy climbed over him and placed her hands on the bed above his shoulders as she took him in. While he was a man adept at foreplay, she needed the familiarity of being connected with him in the ultimate form of intimacy. He did not protest in the slightest. He put his hands gently on her body as she rocked against him, staring into her eyes, kissing her, moaning softly and whispering devotions like she was in kind.

And when she was there, so was he, and they shared in their pleasure together.

#reblog.#fanfic

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