#tim bradford sister

[newobsessionweekly]

Under the radar

Main masterlist | 9-1-1 masterlist

Evan "Buck" Buckley x Bradford!reader

Crossover 911 x The Rookie

Fandom: 911; The Rookie

Summary: You and Buck are happily together in a relationship kept away from your big brother, Tim. Little did you know he's going to find out in a not so pleasant way.

A/N: Crossover! I looove this. Tim would surely be an overprotective brother, looking out for his sister every step. I loved the chemistry between Tim and Angela and how they have that brother-sister kind of relationship and couldn't help myself. I love Buck too. Hope you like it and can't wait for your feedback. Thank you for your support! Lots of love, bubs! I really appreciate all of you.

Fluff | A bit of angst

Requested: no

Words: 5.4k

Warnings: Description of a pileup, unconsciousness, hurt, fire

You wake up to the sound of your alarm blaring, groaning as you roll over and squint at the bright light filtering through the curtains. Another day, another shift. You stretch, feeling the knots in your muscles protest from the previous day's exertion and made your way to the kitchen.

Tim groaned as he poured himself a cup of coffee, his expression as sour as the burnt toast sitting on the kitchen counter. "Morning," he muttered, barely sparing a glance in your direction.

You were lost in your own little world, your phone held tightly in your hand as you typed away furiously. A dreamy smile tugged at the corners of your lips as you texted Buck, your heart skipping a beat with each message exchanged.

You: Morning, sunshine

Buck: Good morning, beautiful. Did you dream of me last night?

Your feelings for Buck had blossomed gradually, like a delicate flower unfolding under the warmth of the sun. It had started innocently enough, with casual conversations and shared laughter during your shifts. But as you worked side by side, facing danger and disaster together, your bond had deepened into something more profound.

"Thank you for not ignoring me," your brother remarks sarcastically, his tone dripping with sarcasm.

You: Maybe... or maybe I dreamt of murdering Tim. Anyways I did had a good sleep.

Buck: Ouch, right in the heart! But seriously, can't wait to see you today.

Finally emerging from your daydream, you blink blearily, trying to focus on Tim's figure looming over you."Sorry," you mumbled, finally tuning into the conversation. "What were you saying?"

Tim eyed you suspiciously, his grumpiness giving way to mild annoyance. "You sleep well?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

You: Sameee. Just don't forget to bring coffee, or else I'll have to reconsider this whole relationship.

Buck: Yes, ma'am.

You nodded absentmindedly, a dopey smile spreading across your face as you relived your daydream. "Uh-huh," you replied, barely suppressing a yawn.

"What's with the smile, huh?" he eyes you suspiciously, his gaze lingering on your phone "Who are you texting?" he asks, his tone tinged with curiosity.

You feel a pang of guilt gnawing at your insides, knowing that if you tell Tim the truth, it could lead to a confrontation you're not ready for. But at the same time, you can't bring yourself to lie to him, not after everything you've been through together.

You found yourself drawn to Buck's magnetic charm, his unwavering dedication to his job, and his genuine kindness towards others. He had a way of making you feel safe and understood, of easing the burdens that weighed heavy on your shoulders. And as you spent more time together, you couldn't deny the growing affection that bloomed within your heart.

"Just picturing all the ways I'm gonna kill you some day," you quip, a mischievous glint in your eye.

All you can think about is Buck – his bright blue eyes that sparkled with mischief, his tousled blonde hair that fell effortlessly across his forehead, his strong, lean frame that radiated confidence and strength.

Tim rolls his eyes, but a hint of amusement flickers in his expression. "Very funny. You know, you're lucky I even let you live here rent-free."

"Yeah, yeah, remind me again why I agreed to be your roommate?" you retort, stretching lazily.

"Because you're too lazy to find your own place, that's why," Tim shoots back without missing a beat.

Your mind drifts back to Buck, his infectious laughter ringing in your ears. You can't help but smile at the thought of him, your heart fluttering at the mere mention of his name. But as Tim's voice pulls you back to reality, a pang of guilt washes over you. You know you should tell Tim about your relationship with Buck, but the fear of his disapproval holds you back.

"Lazy? Says the guy who leaves his dirty socks all over the living room," you tease, poking fun at his infamous habit.

"Hey, those socks are strategically placed as a warning to any potential intruders," Tim defends himself, a smirk playing at the corners of his lips.

"Right, because nothing scares off burglars like the smell of your sweaty feet," you counter, unable to suppress a giggle.

"You're hilarious, you know that?" Tim chuckles, shaking his head.

"Just calling it like I see it, Timmy," you reply cheekily.

"Don't call me that," Tim grumbles, though there's a trace of fondness in his voice.

"Whatever you say, Timmy," you tease, unable to resist poking fun at him.

"Ugh, you're impossible," Tim declares with mock exasperation.

"You love me, though," you say with a grin, knowing full well how much your brother cares for you.

"Yeah, yeah, don't push it," Tim replies, though there's a softness to his tone. "Well, I was actually gonna ask if you wanted to grab breakfast before we head out. There's this new place that just opened up-" he continues, but you quickly interrupt.

"Sorry, Tim, I can't. Got to get to the station early today," you interject hastily, hoping he won't press further.

"Early? Since when do you voluntarily show up early?" Tim's brow furrows in confusion.

"Since today! Gotta, uh, organize some... stuff," you lie, willing him to drop the subject before he uncovers your secret.

Tim eyes you suspiciously, but eventually shrugs, deciding not to push further. "Alright, suit yourself. Just don't forget to lock up before you leave."

"Got it," you reply, already mentally preparing yourself for the day ahead.

As Tim heads out the door, you let out a sigh of relief, grateful for the brief reprieve. But as you gather your things and make your way to the station, the weight of your secret hangs heavy on your shoulders. You know you can't keep hiding forever, but the thought of confronting Tim fills you with dread.

For now, you push aside your fears and focus on the task at hand, burying yourself in your work and trying to ignore the nagging voice in the back of your mind. But deep down, you know that sooner or later, you'll have to face the truth and find the courage to tell Tim about the man who has stolen your heart.

As the morning sun streamed through the curtains, casting a warm glow over the room, you found yourself wrapped in Buck's arms, the two of you basking in the quiet intimacy of the moment. His touch was gentle against your skin, each caress igniting a spark of affection within you.

"Morning, sunshine," Buck murmured, his voice soft and filled with warmth.

You playfully nuzzled closer to him, a smile tugging at the corners of your lips. "Hey, handsome," you replied, your heart fluttering at the sight of his endearing smile.

As Buck gazed at you, his heart swelled with a mixture of love and adoration. To him, you were a vision of beauty, your features illuminated by the soft morning light. Your eyes sparkled with warmth, reflecting the depth of your soul. He could lose himself in the depths of your gaze for hours, finding solace and comfort in the silent connection you shared.

He grinned as he handed you a steaming cup of coffee. "Here's your coffee, as promised," he said, his eyes twinkling with mischief.

"Oh! You're my hero," you teased, taking a grateful sip of the warm brew.

"Speaking of heroes," Buck said, a playful glint in his eye, "How about I save you from Tim tonight? A little date at my place. I'll get some pizza, we can continue our show. How does that sound?"

Your smile was like sunshine, lighting up the room and chasing away the darkness. It was infectious, capable of lifting his spirits even on the darkest of days. And when you laughed, it was music to his ears, a melody that echoed in his heart and filled him with joy.

You raised an eyebrow, unable to suppress a teasing grin. "Sounds like you want to save Tim," you quipped, leaning in to plant a soft kiss on his cheek. "But its perfect."

As you settled back into his embrace, enjoying the peaceful moment, Buck's fingers traced gentle patterns on your skin, sending shivers of pleasure down your spine. His touch was a soothing balm, a tangible reminder of the love and affection you shared.

It was the way you moved with grace and confidence, a silent strength that drew him to you like a moth to a flame. Your touch was gentle yet powerful, capable of soothing his soul with a single caress.

In your presence, Buck felt a sense of peace and contentment that he had never known before. You were his anchor in the storm, his rock in times of uncertainty. He cherished every moment spent with you, treasuring the memories you shared like precious gems.

But above all else, it was your love that meant the most to Buck. It was a love that transcended words, a bond that defied logic and reason. With you by his side, he felt invincible, ready to face whatever challenges life threw his way.

As he looked at you now, snuggled close in his arms, Buck couldn't help but feel overwhelmed with gratitude. And as he pressed a tender kiss to your forehead, he silently vowed to cherish you, to love you with every fiber of his being, for you were the light of his life.

You cuddled together, enjoying each other's presence, while Buck took a sip of his coffee. "It's a quiet morning," he remarked, his voice laced with contentment.

"Hey there, big guy, don't jinx it," you teased, snuggling closer to him. "I won't survive another catastrophe today."

Buck chuckled, leaning in to steal another kiss. "Make me shut up, then," he murmured against your lips, his touch sending shivers of delight through your body.

Just then, Hen's voice broke through the tranquility of the moment. "Morning, love birds. You're here early."

You exchanged a sheepish glance with Buck before responding. "Just wanted some peace and quiet. Tim's been overly grumpy and asking a lot of questions lately."

Across the room, Hen busied herself with her morning routine, flashing you a knowing smile as she prepared for the day ahead. Eddie glanced up from his paperwork, curiosity evident in his expression as he listened to your conversation.

"You still didn't tell him yet?" Eddie asked, his tone gentle yet probing.

"It's none of his business," you replied firmly. "But ever since what happened to Lucy and the serial killer she met at the bar, he's been overly protective."

Hen nodded in understanding, her gaze filled with empathy. "Not surprised. That man has seen a lot of bad things. And people."

"You should tell him, it'll be easier for both of you," Eddie suggested gently, his eyes meeting yours with unwavering support.

Before you could respond, the shrill sound of the alarm shattered the silence, announcing multiple calls at once. Everyone turned their attention to Buck, who raised his arms playfully in surrender.

You leaned into Buck, stealing a quick kiss before jumping into action. "You're in trouble, and I don't think I can save you this time," you whispered teasingly, a playful glint in your eye as you prepared for the day ahead.

When you arrived at the scene, the full extent of the chaos became apparent. A pileup on the highway had caused a scene of utter devastation, with mangled cars strewn haphazardly across the road. Smoke billowed from the wreckage, obscuring the sky with a thick haze.

"My brother's here," you muttered, your voice tinged with resignation as you spotted Tim amidst the chaos.

Without hesitation, you and Hen rushed to assess the situation, your training kicking in as you surveyed the scene. Tim followed closely behind, his expression serious as he briefed you on the situation.

"Multiple vehicles involved, injuries reported," Tim explained, his voice tense with urgency. "We need to triage and assess the scene before you can begin extraction."

You couldn't help but feel a surge of frustration at the news. "What did you do until now?" you demanded, your tone gruff with irritation.

Tim sighed heavily, his shoulders slumping with weariness. "We tried to do some triage, but there are much more people trapped in cars than we thought," he admitted, his voice strained with exhaustion.

With a shared glance, you and Hen wasted no time in getting to work, your focus laser-sharp as you assessed the situation and began to formulate a plan of action. Despite the chaos surrounding you, you felt a sense of determination coursing through your veins, a fierce resolve to save as many lives as possible.

Eddie joined you, lending a helping hand as you worked together to triage the injured as Buck and Bobby prepared the necessary equipment, coordinating with the rest of the team.

Buck's eyes never strayed far from you, his gaze filled with concern and admiration as he watched you work. You spotted one victim in particular who needed immediate assistance. Their car showed signs of imminent danger, with smoke billowing from the engine and flames licking at the edges of the wreckage. The victim was unconscious, barely breathing, and time was of the essence.

"Buck! I need your help over here!" you called out urgently, your voice cutting through the chaos.

Without hesitation, Buck rushed to your side, his expression filled with determination as he assessed the situation. Tim couldn't help but notice the glances exchanged between you and Buck, couldn't deny the bond that existed between you and Buck, nor the unwavering support of Buck by your side.

"Bradford, take the conscious and slightly hurt victims out of the cars and away from this place," you instructed your brother, your voice firm with authority.

Tim nodded in acknowledgment, his gaze filled with pride as he followed your orders without question. With a shared glance, you and Buck continued to work tirelessly, your determination unwavering as you fought to save lives amidst the chaos of the scene.

The flames danced menacingly around the wrecked car as you and Buck exchanged a brief, determined glance before springing into action. With a sense of urgency, you assessed the situation, noting the victim's precarious position amidst the wreckage. Their breathing was shallow, and time was running out.

Working quickly but methodically, you and Buck coordinated your efforts, communicating silently as you devised a plan of action. Buck moved to one side of the car, while you positioned yourself on the other, your hearts pounding in unison as you prepared to extract the victim from the burning wreckage.

With practiced precision, you reached into the car, carefully maneuvering around the flames as you worked to stabilize the victim's condition. Buck mirrored your movements, his touch gentle yet firm as he assisted you in securing the victim's vital signs.

Tim's watchful gaze lingered on you and Buck as you worked together, his eyes narrowing slightly as he observed the subtle exchange between you. He couldn't help but notice the way your hands lingered on each other's, the way Buck never left your side in face of danger, guarding you from the fire.

You synchronized your movements, lifting the victim free from the wreckage with practiced precision. The flames licked at the edges of the car, threatening to engulf you in their fiery embrace, but you refused to be deterred, your determination unwavering as you fought to save the victim's life.

With a collective effort, you and Buck carried the victim to safety, laying them gently on the ground as you assessed their condition. Their breathing was shallow, their pulse weak, but there was hope yet. With swift yet careful movements, you administered emergency medical treatment, your hands moving with practiced precision as you fought to stabilize the victim's condition.

And as the flames finally engulfed the wrecked car, sending plumes of smoke billowing into the sky, your hearts racing with adrenaline as you watched the scene unfold before you.

When the last of the victims were safely extricated and the flames were extinguished, the chaos of the scene began to dissipate, replaced by an eerie calm. You gathered around the ambulance, watching as police officers worked to ease the flow of traffic, their lights flashing in the fading light of day.

Buck's arm was wrapped around your waist, a comforting presence amidst the chaos. He pressed a tender kiss to your forehead, his voice filled with admiration as he spoke.

"You were incredible out there, Y/N," Buck murmured, his eyes shining with pride. "And so beautiful in action."

You couldn't help but smile at his words, the warmth of his praise filling you with a sense of accomplishment. With Buck by your side, you felt invincible, ready to face whatever challenges came your way.

But as the scene began to return to normalcy, Tim approached with Lucy by his side. You and Buck subtly distanced yourselves, exchanging a quick glance of understanding. Tim's eyes flickered back and forth between you and Buck as he spoke, his expression a mix of curiosity and concern.

It was killing you to keep your love a secret, especially from your brother. Eddie's words painfully echoed through your mind, knowing that telling Tim might ease the awkward tension. But it might as well make it worse, considering Tim's opinion regarding Buck.

There was this general misconception of police officers about the other branch of first responders. In Tim's mind, Buck was this reckless guy, putting himself in danger without hesitation, without considering the risks. He is way out of your league, he thought. Fearing that one day, Buck's action will put you in danger as well.

Buck was this ball of happiness and joy, leaving the impression of childishness. But he was more than that. Buck was selfless, putting everyone's life upon his. He was this ray of sunshine, warming everyone's day.

"Damn, Y/N, you were seriously badass out there," Tim exclaimed, his voice filled with genuine admiration. "You did a great job."

You couldn't help but grin at your brother's praise, his approval meaning more to you than words could express. Despite the occasional clashes and disagreements, Tim's support was unwavering, a constant source of strength and encouragement.

"Thanks, Tim," you replied, your tone sincere as you exchanged a brief hug with your brother. "I appreciate it."

Lucy chimed in, her eyes shining with admiration. "Seriously, you guys were like superheroes out there," she said, her voice filled with awe. "I don't know how you do it."

Buck chuckled, a playful twinkle in his eye. "Just another day at the office," he quipped.

Tim's gaze lingered on you and Buck for a moment longer, his brow furrowed in silent contemplation. Lucy nudged him gently, a knowing smile playing at the corners of her lips.

Tim's expression softened, his gaze filled with concern,"Be safe out there, okay?"

You nodded in acknowledgment, the weight of Tim's words settling heavily on your shoulders. "I will, Tim," you assured him, your voice filled with determination. "You too."

Tim and Lucy patrolled the streets as the events of the chaotic scene replayed in his mind, his thoughts consumed by concern for his sister. He couldn't shake the image of you working alongside Buck, your undeniable chemistry and shared closeness impossible to ignore.

"Hey, Lucy," Tim began, his voice filled with uncertainty. "What do you think of Buck?"

Lucy glanced over at Tim, a knowing smile playing at the corners of her lips. She had sensed Tim's unease ever since you arrived at the scene, his protective instincts kicking into overdrive at the sight of you in danger, especially when Buck was the one who came to your rescue.

"Buck?" Lucy repeated, her tone thoughtful. "He seems like a good guy to me. Always ready to lend a helping hand, never backs down from a challenge."

Tim nodded, his brow furrowing in silent contemplation. "Yeah, but what about him and Y/N?" he pressed, his concern evident in his voice. "Do you think they're...you know..."

Lucy raised an eyebrow, a mischievous glint in her eye. "You mean, are they more than just friends?" she teased, a playful smile tugging at the corners of her lips.

Tim's cheeks flushed with embarrassment, but he pressed on, his curiosity getting the better of him. "Yeah, exactly," he admitted, his voice tinged with uncertainty.

Lucy considered Tim's question for a moment before responding, her tone gentle but firm. "I don't know. Tim, you know your sister better than anyone," she began, her voice filled with sincerity. "If Y/N cares about Buck, then maybe he's not as bad as you think."

Tim sighed heavily, his shoulders sagging with resignation. "I just want what's best for her," he confessed, his voice tinged with frustration. "I don't think Buck would be the best fit, but..."

Lucy smiled sympathetically, her eyes filled with understanding. "Sometimes, we have to trust that our loved ones know what's best for them. And if Y/N believes that Buck is the right guy for her, then maybe we should give him a chance."

Tim sighed heavily, knowing that Lucy was right. "Yeah, maybe you're right," he conceded, his tone resigned. "I just... I don't know what to do."

Lucy squeezed Tim's hand once more, her gaze filled with warmth and understanding. "Just be there for her, Tim," she said softly. "Support her, no matter what. And if Buck makes her happy, then that's all that matters."

Tim nodded in agreement, a sense of determination settling over him. "Yeah, you're right," he said, his voice filled with resolve. "And if Buck hurts her, I'll kill him."

Lucy couldn't help but chuckle at Tim's earnestness, her laughter ringing out in the quiet of the shop. "Yeah, sure tough guy." she teased, a playful twinkle in her eye.

After the chaos of the call had subsided and the shift had come to an end, you and Buck retreated to the comfort of his apartment for a well-deserved date night. The soft glow of string lights cast a warm ambiance over the room, creating an atmosphere of intimacy and comfort.

Buck's place was a reflection of his personality – eclectic and inviting, with an array of knick-knacks and mementos adorning the shelves. The scent of pizza hung in the air, tantalizing your senses as you settled onto his bed, the soft comforter enveloping you in its warmth.

With the pizza box balanced precariously on your laps, you and Buck leaned back against the pillows, your laughter filling the room as you reminisced about the events of the day. The TV flickered to life, casting a soft glow across the room as you settled in to watch an episode of your favorite crime drama.

As the characters onscreen navigated the twists and turns of the case, you found yourselves drawn into the storyline, eagerly discussing each plot twist and revelation as it unfolded. Buck's arm was wrapped around your shoulders, holding you close as you leaned against him, your head resting on his chest.

"This episode is intense," you murmured, your voice barely above a whisper as the drama unfolded on screen.

Buck nodded in agreement, his gaze never leaving the television. "Yeah, but it's nothing compared to the real-life drama." he replied, his voice tinged with a hint of seriousness.

You couldn't help but feel a surge of pride at his words, grateful for the sacrifices he made to keep others safe. "I know," you said softly, reaching up to brush a stray lock of hair away from his face. "But I'm glad we can still find moments like this."

As the episode drew to a close, you and Buck found yourselves lost in conversation, discussing everything from your favorite moments in the show to your plans for the future. Despite the late hour, neither of you were ready to part ways, content to linger in each other's company for as long as possible.

"Do you think Tim would mind if you spent the night here?" Buck asked tentatively, his voice laced with concern.

You paused, considering his question carefully. "Maybe," you admitted, biting your lip nervously. "But what Tim doesn't know won't hurt him, right?"

Buck nodded in understanding, his fingers gently tracing circles on your back. "I just want to make sure you're comfortable," he said softly, his gaze filled with love and tenderness.

You leaned into his touch, feeling the weight of his words wash over you like a warm embrace. "I am," you replied, your voice filled with certainty. "With you, I always am."

You settled into Buck's embrace, the warmth of his body enveloping you, and you couldn't help but feel a sense of contentment wash over you. His arms around you felt like home, a safe haven in the midst of life's chaos.

"So, about that call," Buck began, his voice breaking the comfortable silence as he shifted slightly to get more comfortable. "Your brother was practically breathing down our necks the whole time."

You chuckled softly, remembering Tim's overprotective nature all too well. "Yeah, he does that," you replied with a playful smirk. "He thinks he's the big tough cop, watching over his little sister and all."

Buck's laughter filled the room, the sound warm and genuine. "Well, he certainly made his presence known," he replied, his tone filled with amusement. "I think he sent me enough death glares to fill a whole season of crime dramas."

You snorted in amusement, burying your face in his chest to hide your grin. "You should count yourself lucky he didn't pull out his handcuffs," you teased, earning a playful swat on the arm from Buck.

Buck chuckled at your playful remark, his fingers tracing lazy circles on your back. "Oh, I don't know," he said, his voice tinged with mischief. "I wouldn't mind borrowing them for the night."

You lifted your head from his chest, a mischievous glint in your eye. "Oh, really now?" you replied, a teasing smile dancing on your lips. "And what exactly would you do with my brother's handcuffs, hmm?"

Buck grinned back at you, his gaze smoldering with desire. "Oh, I think you can use your imagination," he said, his voice low and husky.

You felt a shiver run down your spine at his suggestive tone, the air between you crackling with anticipation. Leaning in closer, you captured his lips in a heated kiss, your hands tangling in his hair.

Buck responded eagerly, his lips soft and sweet against yours as he deepened the kiss, his hands wandering teasingly over your body. The heat between you intensified, desire simmering just beneath the surface as you lost yourselves in each other's embrace.

And it was one of the most intense and beautiful nights you'd spent with Buck, wrapped in each other's arms, lost in a world of passion and desire. But the fairytale ended just as quickly as it began, the morning sun casting a soft glow across the room as the loud banging on the door shattered the peaceful atmosphere.

Groaning softly, you shifted in Buck's arms, the warmth of his embrace still lingering on your skin. Tangled in bed, naked and happier than usual, you didn't mind the sound at first. But when it grew louder with each passing second, you couldn't help but turn to Buck.

"Please make it stop," you pleaded, feigning a dramatic cry as you buried your face in his chest.

Buck chuckled at your reaction, pressing a tender kiss to your forehead before untangling himself from the sheets and reaching for his underwear. "I'll go check it out," he said with a smile, his voice filled with warmth and affection.

You watched Buck move gracefully across the room, his muscles flexing beneath his skin with every step. Despite the annoyance of the situation, you couldn't help but admire the sight of him, the way he exuded confidence and strength even in the most mundane of tasks.

As your boyfriend opened the door, his smile faltered at the sight of your brother standing on the other side. Tim's expression was a mix of concern and frustration, his eyes darting around the room as if searching for answers.

"Buckley," Tim greeted him, his voice tight with worry. "Have you seen my sister?"

Buck's mind raced as he tried to come up with a plausible explanation. "No," he lied, his heart sinking at the realization of the predicament you were both in. "Did something happened?"

Tim's brow furrowed in concern. "She didn't come home last night, and she's not answering her phone," he explained, his voice laced with worry.

Without waiting for permission, Tim urged his way into Buck's place, his eyes narrowing as he spotted you, covered only by the sheets, in Buck's bed.

"Thank you for letting me know you're not dead," Tim said sarcastically, disappointment evident in his voice as he addressed you.

You bristled at his tone, your patience wearing thin. "I don't need to report to you every hour, Tim," you snapped, your voice laced with frustration. "I'm an adult, and what I do is none of your business."

Tim snapped back, his voice sharp with anger. "I didn't asked you to do that, I just need to know you're safe," he insisted, his concern for your safety overriding any sense of courtesy. "I don't care what you're doing or who you're fucking."

You held your ground, meeting Tim's gaze with steely determination. "I'm safe with my boyfriend," you declared, your voice unwavering. "And you need to worry less about me and more about your own life."

Tim's expression softened slightly at your words, but he remained wary. "Your what?" he asked, his tone incredulous.

You sighed, knowing it was time to come clean. "Boy-friend. Lo-ver. Whatever you want to call him," you replied, spelling it out for him.

Tim's eyes widened in surprise, but he remained skeptical. "Does reckless child suit him?" he quipped, his attempt at humor falling flat in the tense atmosphere.

You bristled at his words, feeling a surge of protectiveness toward your boyfriend. "Buck is so much more than that," you began, your voice soft but firm. "He's selfless, caring, and always puts others before himself. He's seen things most people couldn't even imagine, and yet he still manages to find the good in every situation."

You paused, searching for the right words to convey the depth of your feelings for Buck. "He's my rock, Tim," you continued, your voice filled with emotion. "He's there for me when I need him, no matter what. And I love him."

Tim's expression softened as he listened to your words, the tension in the room easing slightly. "I just want you to be safe, Y/N," he said quietly.

Buck stepped in, his presence a comforting reassurance by your side. "I care about Y/N," he interjected, his voice filled with sincerity. "And I wouldn't allow anything to happen to her. I love Y/N."

Tim's gaze remained cautious. "If she gets even slightly hurt for whatever reason, you're the first I'll be hunting down," he warned, his tone serious.

Buck met Tim's gaze head-on, his own resolve unwavering. "Yes, sir," he replied, his voice filled with sarcasm and amusement.

As Tim shook his head in disbelief, still trying to come to terms with the idea of his little sister being in a relationship with a firefighter, he couldn't help but see both you and Buck as two reckless kids in his eyes.

"Kids these days," he muttered under his breath, a mix of exasperation and resignation in his tone.

You and Buck exchanged a knowing glance, unable to suppress a shared smile at Tim's reaction. Once he left Buck's place, the tension in the room dissipated, replaced by a sense of lightness and relief. You and Buck shared a laugh about the absurdity of the situation, finding humor in the unexpected turn of events.

"That's not exactly how I imagined you introducing me to your brother," Buck quipped, his laughter echoing through the room.

You chuckled softly, leaning into Buck's side. "Hey, at least he didn't pull out his handcuffs," you teased, a playful glint in your eye. "I think he likes you."

Buck grinned back at you, his playful air returning in full force. "It's not too late to ask him for the handcuffs," he joked, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

You rolled your eyes, swatting playfully at his arm. "Oh, shut up," you laughed, the tension of earlier completely forgotten. "We're gonna be late for work."

[justabigassnerd]

Unexpected Visitor and Revelations

Pairing - Jake 'Hangman' Seresin x Bradford!reader

Word count - 4,843

Warnings - swearing, angst, fluff, Jake almost punches Tim, Tim's a bit of an ass at first (and potentially OOC), alcohol, brief mentions of military

Summary - one evening at the Hard Deck, your brother decides to visit, meaning you and Jake have to confess your relationship status

A/N - hey y'all. sorry it's been so long since I last uploaded a fic, my motivation took a divebomb so finishing this took longer than expected. it's been a hot while since I wrote for Jake but I had fun with this! as per y'all, please send in requests, feedback, and enjoy!!!

Much like your older brother, Tim Bradford, you had grown up in a rough household. You had wanted out the first chance you had, so when Tim joined the Army after moving out, you had wanted to do a similar thing a couple of years later when you finally turned eighteen. Only you found yourself more drawn towards the Navy, and instead of wanting to throw yourself on the front line the same way your brother did, you decided to go to college, get a medical education and become a nurse within the Navy and funnily enough, it led you to meet your boyfriend Jake Seresin.

After a few years of moving around from base to base, even helping on certain deployments, You found yourself getting a permanent position in Top Gun’s medical centre, and one day a rather handsome aviator had been brought in after an ejection during his training session. You had heard him outside your office insisting he was fine and didn’t need any sort of evaluation but the second he walked in and locked eyes with you, he never wanted to leave the room. He started coming to your office complaining of various minor things like headaches and stomach pain so that he could have a ten-minute conversation with you. You had somehow unknowingly made Jake uncharacteristically nervous, and it took him a few unneeded visits to your office to get the courage to ask you out for drinks.

And from there your relationship blossomed.

Two years later and you still hadn’t yet told your brother of your relationship with Jake. You truthfully didn’t communicate enough to warrant telling him such information. You knew he was busy with his career in the LAPD and you were always up to your eyeballs in various Navy personnel and their ailments. But part of you wished that he’d respond to your texts and calls instead of only contacting you when he saw fit.

“Hey, Darlin’. I was thinking we could head to the Hard Deck for some drinks tonight.” Jake muses from where he is lounging on the couch, his eyes flicking up from his phone screen to look over at you as you enter the house, kicking your shoes off at the door.

“What did Bradley challenge you to this time?” You ask with a laugh, entering the living room as Jake gets up from the couch, meeting you halfway, sweeping you into his arms and pressing a delicate kiss upon your lips.

“Why do you always assume Bradshaw challenged me to something?” Jake asks lightly, his hands coming to rest on your hips as he pulls you ever so slightly closer.

“Because you either go to the bar straight from work. Or you get home and start texting the Daggers and then one thing leads to another and you’re asking to go to the Hard Deck because someone, usually Bradley, has challenged you to something and you’re incapable of saying no.” You say with a smile, watching as Jake rolls his eyes jokingly.

“It was a pool match,” Jake reveals, smirking at you.

“Told you.” You say, raising an eyebrow as you pat Jake’s chest.

“So… are you coming?” Jake asks with a raised eyebrow, testing the waters.

“Of course, I’ll come. Can’t support my boyfriend from home can I?” You say, smiling at Jake before he leans in for another kiss.

“Perfect. Because I need my good luck charm.” Jake whispers against your lips softly both of you smiling as you pull away.

“I better get changed.” You say, pressing one last kiss to Jake’s lips before heading upstairs to shower and change into something. You pick out one of your favourite outfits, put it on and admire yourself in the mirror with a smile before you finish getting ready and heading downstairs to join Jake who smiled widely.

“Lookin’ gorgeous, Darlin’.” He says, already grabbing the keys to his truck and gesturing for you to come with him, letting you take his hand with a grin. Jake leads you out to his truck, opens the door for you, and lets you get comfortable in the passenger seat before closing the door after you. He then rounds the truck and gets behind the wheel to begin the drive to the Hard Deck. As soon as Jake pulls out of the driveway, one of his hands naturally comes to rest on your thigh, and both of you are unable to stop the smiles widening on your faces.

Pulling up at the Hard Deck always filled you with excitement. The nights were never repetitive and you loved watching the aviators and their friendly competitions as they’d attempt to win free drinks from each other, only stopping when the familiar sound of the bell rang out, signalling a free round from the person who ignored Penny’s rules. As you entered the familiar bar, you smiled at the familiar patrons, giving them friendly nods as you passed them by before you made your way over to where the rest of the Daggers were hanging out by the pool table.

“So, you didn’t run away then?” Bradley teases from where he was leaning against the pool table, pool cue in hand as you and Jake approach the group.

“In your dreams, Bradshaw.” Jake retorts, scoffing lightly as he takes the spare cue from Javy’s outstretched arm.

“I’m going to grab us some drinks. Do you want a beer? I’ll drive tonight if you want.” You offer, resting your hand on Jake’s shoulder and giving it a soft squeeze as he smiles at you.

“You sure you’re okay driving? I can go one night without drinking if you want a couple of drinks, Darlin’.” Jake then says, his eyes scanning yours for answers as you nod.

“I’m fine to drive tonight. I’ll have just as much fun without the alcohol.” You say reassuringly, shifting your hand to pat Jake’s chest before turning on your heels and heading over to the bar, greeting Penny with a smile and ordering a drink for yourself and Jake. Once you get both drinks, you make your way back over to Jake who is beginning to set up the pool table with Bradley, both of them exchanging friendly teasing as they prepare their game.

“Just on time. Are you ready to see me kick Bradshaw’s ass?” Jake boasts, taking the beer bottle from you as Bradley rolls his eyes behind Jake’s back.

“Two years of dating and you can’t make Hangman less of an asshole?” Bradley asks, glancing over at you as you shake your head with a shrug.

“It’s a work in progress.” You reply, a teasing tone to your voice as you briefly glance in Jake’s direction.

“You love it, don’t lie Darlin’,” Jake says with a wink, making you giggle lightly before you lift your drink to your lips to take a sip.

“Can we quit the yapping and start the game? I’ve got good money on this.” Mickey complains, gaining joking glares from the Daggers as Reuben reaches over to slap Mickey on the back of the head lightly.

“Did you really bet on this?” You ask in a hushed tone as you sidle up alongside Mickey, your eyes fixed on Jake as he takes his first shot.

“Yeah. Coyote came up with the idea and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get some money out of him.” Mickey replies, glancing over at Javy who was studying Jake’s moves carefully.

“I take it you bet on Bradley winning then?” You muse lightly, taking another sip of your drink as Mickey nods sheepishly.

“Yeah… sorry,” Mickey admits, making you chuckle and shake your head.

“Don’t apologise. I won’t be the one having to pay up when Jake wins.” You joke, nudging Mickey lightly as he laughs.

“Wanna bet?” Mickey says, raising an eyebrow as you scoff lightly.

“I’m good. I don’t want you to lose too much of your money.” You tease before shooting Mickey a quick wink and crossing over to Jake.

“Hey, Darlin’, what were you and Fanboy talking about?” Jake asks, leaning back against the wall while Bradley readies himself.

“Oh, nothing much. Just finding out about the bets going on.” You reply nonchalantly, leaning into Jake’s side as he wraps an arm around your middle, pulling you close.

“Bets, huh? Are you not getting involved?” Jake asks, looking at you, one eyebrow cocked in amusement.

“I already know you’re going to win. I’d feel too mean taking people’s money on top of that.” You say with a soft smile as Jake lets out a soft chuckle.

“You’re too good, Darlin’. I’d be taking advantage of my incredible skills to win all the bets I could.” Jake jokingly brags, kissing the top of your head as you laugh, lightly elbowing Jake in his side.

“Hey, Hangman. If you’re done flirting, it’s your turn.” Bradley calls over to Jake, watching your interaction with an amused grin.

“And he has the audacity to call me an asshole when he’s the one disturbing my time with my girlfriend,” Jake whispers against the shell of your ear, his breath tickling your ear as he squeezes your waist slightly, manoeuvring around you and stepping up to the table to take his next shot as you watch with a smile. You continue to watch the game with a smile, taking small sips of your drink as you watch the game progress. As time passes, you begin to feel flushed, the heat of the bar beginning to feel suffocating so you approach Jake once more, taking his hand softly to get his attention as he smiles at you softly.

“I’m going to step outside for some air.” You say, not missing how Jake’s expression quickly became concerned.

“Are you feelin’ okay?” Jake asks worriedly, his eyes searching yours for an answer.

“I’m fine. It’s just a little hot in here so I just need five or ten minutes outside.” You explain as a cheeky smile makes its way across Jake’s face.

“I knew I was good-looking, Darlin’ but I wasn’t aware I was making the whole bar hotter.” Jake teases, making you roll your eyes as you laugh.

“You’re insufferable.” You joke, making Jake’s grin widen.

“Yet you love me,” Jake says smugly.

“That I do.” You admit quietly, giving Jake a soft kiss before taking a step back and heading out onto the porch of the Hard Deck, the cool air hitting you like a ton of bricks as you sigh in relief. You quietly watch the waves crashing against the sand, taking in the beautiful views of Miramar. After ten minutes of enjoying the cool evening air, you hear the door swing open behind you before a pair of arms wraps around your middle.

“Guess who won, Darlin’?” Jake asks, a large smile on his face as he presses repeated kisses to your cheek.

“Was it Bradley?” You say teasingly, turning in Jake’s arms and smiling at him as he raises an eyebrow in challenge.

“Where did all that faith in me winning go, huh?” Jake replies, his teasing tone matching yours as he pulls you a little closer.

“You know it never went anywhere.” You reply quietly, winding your arms around Jake’s neck as his smile widens, leaning to meet you halfway as your lips connect. One of your hands finds its way into Jake’s hair, running through the short hairs on the nape of his neck as he pulls you impossibly closer, squeezing your waist slightly as he deepens the kiss.

“y/n?!” At the sound of a shocked voice saying your name, you pull away from Jake, looking over in the direction of the voice, and quickly notice your older brother staring at you with a look of absolute shock.

“Tim, what are you doing here?” You ask, moving away from Jake slightly as you turn to face your brother.

“I wanted to come and visit. I thought I could surprise you when I saw you were here and I find this happening?” Tim says, eyes wide as he gestures between you and Jake who subconsciously tightens the arm he wrapped around your waist.

“This is your brother?” Jake whispers, putting two and two together.

“Jake this is my brother, Tim. Tim, this is Jake, my boyfriend.” You say, deciding now was the best time to introduce them.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Jake says, a friendly smile on his face as he holds his free hand out towards Tim who glares at the outstretched hand before focusing on you.

“How long have you been together?” Tim asks, an almost accusing tone to his voice as his gaze flicks between you and Jake, watching Jake’s hand slowly drop, returning to his side.

“Two years.” You state proudly, leaning closer to Jake’s side.

“And you didn’t think to tell me?” Tim questions accusingly, his glare hardening by the second. You were aware of the side eyes you were on the receiving end of from the other patrons of the bar that were out on the porch but with Tim’s accusing tone you couldn’t help but stoop to his level and continue to argue.

“I’m a big girl now Tim. I don’t need to tell you everything. We barely talk enough as it is. I don’t expect you to tell me when you get into a relationship-”

“If you were newly dating him I’d understand why you weren’t ready to tell me, but two years? I thought you’d at least have the decency to tell me by now.” Tim interjects, his anger rising.

“Would you have even cared to pick up the phone if she rang? I may not know the ins and outs of your relationship but every time y/n calls I’m the one watching when her face falls when she gets no response.” Jake says angrily, dropping his hand from your waist so he can take a protective step forward, manoeuvring himself in front of you slightly to shield you from Tim’s lethal glare.

“Did I ask for your input? This is between me and my sister.” Tim says lowly, stepping closer to Jake who clenches his jaw, his hands balling up into fists but holding himself back.

“When you’re being an asshole about something that has quite frankly been none of your business, I’m going to have an input.” Jake snaps, feeling the urge to punch Tim grow stronger and stronger until he feels your hand gently grab his wrist, stepping alongside him.

“Hey, Jake. Why don’t you step inside and hang out with the others and cool off? I think Tim and I are overdue a conversation.” You say softly, your hand drifting from his wrist to his hand, gently prying his closed fist open and interlocking your fingers.

“Are you sure?” Jake asks, his voice quickly becoming soft and gentle as he faces you.

“I’m sure.” You confirm with a nod. At your confirmation, Jake nods softly, pressing a soft kiss upon your lips.

“Get me if you need anything.” Jake then whispers softly, shifting his gaze to give Tim one final warning glare before making his way back into the bar.

“Let’s sit over here.” You say quietly, leading Tim down to one of the benches sat just by the sand. Both of you settle onto the bench, watching the ocean quietly for a moment before you let out a small sigh.

“So why are you here? How did you even find me?” You ask, struggling to believe that Tim came just purely for the reason of it being a surprise visit. That just wasn’t in Tim’s character.

“I still have you on that phone tracking app. I check on it sometimes… I also wasn’t lying about it being a surprise visit. But… someone did push me to visit. She said something about not distancing myself from you. You’re the only family I have left and I was wrong to barely communicate with you.” Tim says, glancing at you, a soft expression not many get to see on his face.

“I’ve missed you. It used to just be us against the world but that stopped so quickly I don’t think I was ready for the change.” You whisper softly, a ghost of a smile on your face as you look at your brother. 

“I’ve missed you too. I’m sorry for the way I’ve been handling communication with you over the last few years.” Tim apologises, already prepping himself for you to reject his apology.

“It’s okay. I can imagine life in the LAPD keeps you on your toes.” You say softly, reaching out and resting your hand on Tim’s shoulder.

“It’s not an excuse. What if you had needed me? Did you need me at all?” Tim asks, concern all over his face as you nod lightly.

“Things get a little lonely while Jake’s on deployments. But I can handle it.” You assure softly, frowning lightly when Tim shakes his head.

“I should’ve been there for you,” Tim says apologetically as you take your hand off his shoulder, resting it in your lap as your frown becomes a soft, reassuring smile.

“Well, you can start now, right? We can make more of an effort to meet up and talk.” You offer gently, watching as Tim nods, a small smile of his own making its way onto his face.

“We can. So… how did you and Jake meet?” Tim asks, smoothly changing the subject as you roll your eyes jokingly.

“If you must know, he came into my office after an ejection for a check-up. I heard him from a mile away complaining about how he didn’t need to be there in the first place but he changed his tune as soon as he came into my office.” You explain, chuckling fondly as you relive the memory of meeting Jake for the first time.

“And he’s treating you well?” Tim then enquires, wanting to make sure you were happy with Jake.

“I’ve never been happier with anyone than I have been with Jake.” You admit with a smile, watching as Tim nods, clearly happy that you were happy.

“Have you got anyone?” You then ask curiously, not missing the way your brother’s eyes widened slightly and a slight blush crossed his cheeks before he nodded slightly.

“I do yeah… her name is Lucy. She’s actually the one who talked me into coming to visit. You’d probably love her.” Tim admits, a small smile gracing his face as he talks about Lucy.

“I might have to come to LA so I can meet her. It’s only fair since you’ve met Jake.” You say, your smile widening as Tim lets out a breathy laugh.

“Hey, I feel like I owe Jake an apology. I was pretty rude to him and I’d like to meet him properly.” Tim then says, becoming more serious as you nod and get to your feet.

“Come on. We’ll head in and you can properly get acquainted with Jake.” You say as Tim stands up alongside you, following you into the Hard Deck, and you expertly manoeuvre your way through the various patrons until you find Jake with the other Daggers by the pool table. Upon noticing you approaching, Jake lights up, swiftly crossing to you and bringing you into his arms, noticing Tim over your shoulder and fighting back a frown.

“Is everything okay with you guys?” Jake asks quietly, pulling back to look you in the eye.

“Everything’s good. We’ve talked it out and Tim wants to get to know you so make an effort please?” You ask, your hands moving to rest on both of Jake’s shoulders as his hands drift to your waist.

“I was willing to make an effort at first but then he was a dick to you,” Jake says with a slight frown, his gaze flicking to glance at Tim who was awkwardly mingling away from the group before focusing on you.

“Tim knows he owes you an apology. Just meet him halfway.” You request softly, watching as Jake sighs lightly before nodding.

“For you, I’ll try. But if he’s an ass to you again we’re heading home.” Jake says before you give him a soft reassuring kiss, hoping both Tim and Jake are able to form some sort of friendship. After pulling away from the kiss, Jake heads over to Tim, as you follow behind.

“y/n said you wanted to talk?” Jake says, folding his arms across his chest as Tim nods.

“I wanted to apologise for the way I acted earlier. It wasn’t right of me to be so rude to you for no reason.” Tim apologises, studying Jake’s expression, briefly glancing at you as Jake remains stonefaced.

“It wasn’t just me you were a dick to.” Jake states simply, making you speak up.

“He’s already apologised to me, Jake.” You say quickly, defending your brother from Jake’s potential anger.

“You’re right. I was rude to y/n too and that wasn’t okay either. We’ve talked it out and we’ve agreed that we’ll make an effort to communicate and meet up more.” Tim explains, his gaze flicking between you and Jake who nods slightly.

“I better not find out you stop talking to her after this,” Jake says, watching carefully as Tim shakes his head.

“I won’t let myself. I don’t want to lose my sister.” Tim says, looking over at you and smiling softly which you mirror, the action finally getting Jake to soften.

“Okay. Fine. Let me buy you a drink and we can talk properly. Darlin’, are you good to stay with the others while we talk?” Jake says, at first directed to Tim before he turns to face you, watching you carefully as you nod.

“I’ll be fine. You go and talk with Tim.” You assure Jake softly, waving him off and watching as Jake leads Tim over to the bar, both of them sitting on a stool as Jake orders drinks before you turn to join the Daggers.

“Here you boys go,” Penny says, placing the two beers down on the bar counter, watching as they each take a beer with a nod after they pay for their drinks before focusing on other customers.

“So, y/n said she met you after you went through an ejection. That makes you an aviator, then?” Tim asks, after taking a sip of his beer, watching as Jake nods.

“Yeah, I am. That group over there with y/n is my squadron. We’ve been a permanent squadron just longer than I’ve known y/n.” Jake replies, glancing over at you laughing with the Daggers.

“I used to be in the Army. I served on a couple of tours myself.” Tim says as Jake turns around to face him, smiling.

“At least you had the sense to get out of there. I’m glad y/n was smart enough to join us in the Navy.” Jake says teasingly, chuckling as Tim quirks an eyebrow.

“If that helps you sleep at night,” Tim says with a laugh, lifting his beer bottle to his lips and taking a sip.

“I mean I sleep very well at night. Especially considering-”

“You know what, you can end that sentence there.” Tim quickly says, holding his free hand up, grimacing at the thought of what Jake was going to say.

“Alright, alright,” Jake says with a laugh, holding his hands up in surrender as Tim rolls his eyes.

“You know. y/n told me how happy you make her. I’m glad she has someone like you.” Tim admits quietly, but somehow Jake hears him, instantly softening, his eyes flicking across to you as the corners of his lips tug up in a small smile.

“I don’t deserve her. She makes me so unbelievably happy. So I’ve made it my mission to make her as happy as she makes me.”  Jake replies, his voice quiet as he turns back to face Tim who nods in some semblance of approval.

“I can tell you both love each other. But if she ends up telling me you did something to break her heart I won’t be afraid to hurt you.” Tim says, suddenly becoming serious as Jake nods.

“Well, the same can be said for you. If I find out you’ve cut communication with her again or are just being an all-around shit brother, it won’t just be me tracking you down. It’ll be those guys too. They love her just as much as I do.” Jake says pointing over at the Daggers who were all far too busy chatting with you and playing darts and pool to notice Jake pointing them all out as a warning to Tim.

“You’re very protective over her. I appreciate that. And I won’t fuck up. I won’t let myself lose my sister.” Tim says, nodding when Jake glances back over at him.

“Of course I’m protective. y/n is the love of my life. But I also know she can hold her own if she needs to. I know what you mean though. I’m an older brother as well, it would be hard for me to handle seeing my sister with a partner because well… she’s my little sister I want to make sure she’s safe from any heartbreak.” Jake admits, thinking of his younger sister and how he’d react if he went to visit her one day and found out she was dating someone.

“You’re a good guy, Jake,” Tim says, offering a hand out towards Jake who smiles before grasping his hand, shaking it firmly.

“You’re not bad yourself Tim. I think we’ll get along.” Jake says, releasing Tim’s hand and moving to hold his beer bottle up in an act of cheers. Tim gently taps his bottle against Jake’s before the two men exchange a nod, solidifying a friendship.

“How has it been going over here?” You ask, getting the attention of both Tim and Jake as you stand alongside Jake.

“I think we’re going to get on well, Darlin’,” Jake says with a reassuring smile, his free hand grabbing yours and squeezing softly, pulling you a little closer.

“Good, I’m glad. I didn’t want to have to break up a bar fight or something.” You laugh as both men’s jaws drop in mock shock, both of them insisting that they’d never do such a thing.

“You picked a good guy, y/n,” Tim says with a soft smile, nodding in approval as you smile gratefully in return.

“Thank you, Tim. I’m so glad you came to visit. Even if it was a surprise and we argued at first.” You admit with a soft laugh as both Jake and Tim nod with laughs of their own.

“I’m glad I came too. Look, as much as I’d love to stay longer, I might need to head home. I’ve got an early start tomorrow and I don’t want to get caught in traffic.” Tim says, noticing how you frown slightly before you nod, understanding why he needs to go.

“Okay. Text me when you’re home. I’ll have to find time to come and visit you in LA.” You say as Tim stands up, moving to hug him tightly.

“I’d love to have you come visit me in LA. I’ll keep in touch.” Tim says, squeezing you softly before releasing you. When you step back, Jake shakes Tim’s hand.

“I’ll see you around, Tim,” Jake says with a smile.

“Definitely,” Tim replies, releasing Jake’s hand, both of them nodding at each other before stepping back, letting you lead Tim to the door to say one last goodbye, watching as he gets into his truck and drives off to head back to LA. After Tim has driven off, you make your way back into the bar and over to Jake who sweeps you up into his arms, holding you close.

“Thank you for everything tonight.” You whisper only audible to Jake who moves to kiss your temple softly.

“You don’t need to thank me. I did nothing. I’m just glad you and Tim have been able to make amends.” Jake says with a soft chuckle, hugging you a little closer.

“You supported me and tried to get to know my brother even if you almost punched his lights out earlier.” You say, pulling back enough so you could look Jake in the eye, your hands gliding up to his shoulders and winding around his neck, fingers playing with the hairs on the nape of his neck.

“For you, I’d do anything,” Jake replies softly, leaning in closer as you mirror his actions, leaning in until your lips connect, kissing softly, not caring about the things going on around you.

“We definitely need to plan a trip to LA. Tim told me he has a girlfriend and I need to meet her.” You mumble as you pull away, hearing Jake hum lightly in response before the reality of what you said sinks in and his eyes widen.

“Wait. Tim has a girlfriend?”

Top Gun tags (comment or ask to be added):

@malindacath @kmc1989

[rookieoneil]

Tamara: I just think that it’s your favorite album because your depressed and broken hearted

Lucy: I’d take offense to that but you’re probably right

Tamara: I’ll ask you this again when you’re happy

[writingsonsaturn]

| writingsonsaturn’s milky way |

hiii !!

requests are: OPEN

masterlist || characters i write for || my do’s and do not’s

all nsfw content is marked as 18+ please do not interact with nsfw content if you are a minor.

[kanerallels]

Me: *is watching the "it doesn't just feel like pretend" scene in 5x01* My sister: Somewhere @hecckyeah is screaming

[bxlleville]

C.I in making

summary: you were on the streets before Lucy and Tim found you.

DO NOT REPOST OR TRANSLATE MY WORK

The time line and story is a little different from show so don't mind that.

My imagination's gone a little wild for this one so don't mind me LOL

this fic is happening through S04 ep1

word count: 12k

****************************************************

"police! stop what you're doing and put your hands in the air!"

"aw shit" you cursed under your breath. you placed your spray can into your backpack and zipped it up before placing your bag over your shoulder. you had been in this situation before, and you knew what you were going to do. you took your skateboard and skated the opposite direction of the police officers.

"control, 7 adam 19, we got a runner. purple hoodie blue jeans with a black backpack on a black skateboard, requesting back-up to our location" you heard one of the officers called out as the 2 officers started chasing you and you smirked, they were not going to catch you.

you skated faster and rounded the corner and was stopped by a different police car. how did they get here so fast? you used your feet to kick up your skateboard and caught it with your right arm before running towards the alleyway and you used your left arm to help you over the fence, you slipped a little but you continued running. Before you could use your skateboard to skate away, you felt someone push you to the ground and placed handcuffs around your wrists and made you stand up. you groaned in anger at yourself for slipping after jumping over the fence.

"you're under arrest for property damage. wanna tell me-" the woman officer pulled down your hoodie and her eyes widened as the other officer lowered the gun he was pointing and you saw that her name tag said "Chen".

"control, suspect in custody." he placed his walkie talkie on his belt and came over to Chen and you saw his name said "Bradford"

"you're a child." Chen stated and you rolled your eyes.

"way to state the obvious." you said out loud. Chen didn't say anything and took you and your skateboard and brought you to their car and put you in the back seat before both of them got into the car and drove off.

"do we really have to bring her to the station? I mean she's just a kid." Chen told Bradford.

"It won't be very serious. she didn't do any harm, but she still has to be checked. I'm sure she won't be there for long." Bradford reassured her.

"do you want to tell us why you were spray painting on the walls?" Chen asked you.

"what can I say? I love showing off my skills." you told her.

"does your parents know you are spray painting the walls?" Bradford asked and you looked out the window and didn't say anything. He looked at you through the rear view mirror before focusing on the road. Chen looked at you and saw the sadness in your eyes and thought something had happened to your parents and felt bad for you. the rest of the way was silent and you were grateful that the officers didn't press on about your parents.

once you reached the police station, the female officer brought you in and made you sit on the bench and uncuffed you before sitting opposite from you while the male officer stood next to her.

"let us do this properly this time, I'm Lucy and this is Tim. what's your name?" Lucy asked nicely.

"Tasha" you answer.

"Why were you spray paiting the walls. do you know it's illegal to spray paint the walls?" Lucy asked in a soft tone and you sighed.

"I don't have anywhere to paint so I just like painting wherever I can, which is the walls of L.A" you told them and Lucy nodded.

"you don't have any bad intentions so i'm sure you can get off with a warning. we'll be right back." Lucy and Tim were about to leave but you stopped them.

"Am I gonna get those back?" you asked, referring to your skateboard and backpack that were in Tim's hands.

"you'll get it back once we're done with it." Tim told you and they both left and you sat there, contemplating whether to run or to sit, but you might just get caught again and be put in jail so you decided it wasn't worth the risk and after 10 minutes, Lucy and Tim came back.

"we did a check and nothing seems to be wrong so you're off the hook. do you have anyone to call to pick you up?" Lucy asked as she and Tim led you to the front of the station.

"that's alright. I know my way home." you lied.

"well I can't let you go on your own so how about we drive you home." Lucy suggested.

"no that's ok! trust me, i've gone home alone multiple times, my parents are fine with it." you insisted, you weren't going to tell them you were living on the streets.

"alright fine but i'm giving you my number, promise me you'll call me to let me know you're home safe" Lucy told you and handed you a piece of paper.

"alright fine I promise." you lied and took the paper before taking your bag and skateboard from Tim and thanked them before going out of the station.

you place skateboard on the ground before putting your hoodie up and you place your hands into your pockets and skated off. Once you reached the alleyway you spend most of your night in, you got off your skateboard and picked up your skateboard. you were about to walk deeper into the alleyway when you heard police sirens behind you. you groaned and turned around to see Lucy and Tim coming out of their car.

"you live here? you were never going to call me were you?" Lucy asked.

"I was!" you told her and she raised an eyebrow and you sighed.

"I would if I had a phone ok?" You told her and her eyes softened.

"you don't have a phone but you have a laptop?" Tim asked.

"my laptop was a gift." you explained.

"how old are you?" Lucy asked.

"16" you simply answered.

"where are your parents?" Tim asked.

"dead." you said.

"how long have you been living on the streets?" Lucy asked.

"about a year." you told them.

"I'm sorry, must be hard living like this." Lucy told you.

"why do you care?" you asked in an irritated tone and Lucy sighed.

"how about this, you come with me to my place and take a nice shower and i'll give you a place to stay for today and tomorrow we can think of something for you ok?" Lucy said and Tim cleared his throat.

"oh right, I'm still on shift, what about after my shift, I'll come find you here." Lucy said and you were skeptical but you agreed. Lucy smiled at you and her and Tim went back into their car and drove off. you weren't really sure if she was really going to come back but you had hope so you went to the mat you sleep on every night and took a nap because you felt tired.

****************************************************

"hey, tasha, wake up" you felt someone shaking you and you groaned and sat up.

"I didn't think you would show up." you told Lucy and she smiled.

"my shift just ended. come on." Lucy gestured and she helped you get up and led you to her car.

"can I ask you something?" you asked her.

"shoot"

"why are you helping me? I'm just some random girl on the street. There are other's like me." you stated.

"It's just who I am, I helped another girl who is a year older than you, she was living on the streets too before I took her in. you can meet her later." Lucy smiled and you smiled back before leaning back on the passenger seat. you couldn't believe how nice Lucy was being so nice to you. This was the first time anyone was nice to you and you thought it wasn't normal.

Once Lucy parked the car, you got out and carried your backpack on one shoulder and held your skateboard in the other as she led you to her apartment.

"hey Lucy, you're back, can we do the interview-" The girl sitting on the sofa turned around which caused you to drop your skateboard on the ground in shock.

"Tamara?" you asked out loud.

"Tasha." she said at the same time.

"you 2 know each other?" Lucy asked.

"she's my sister." you said and Tamara looked at you with an apologetic look.

"this is the sister you were talking about?" Lucy asked Tamara.

"you left me. you left me with our cousins when you promised you wouldn't. you said you would come back but you didn't." you said with angry tears in your eyes as you looked around Lucy's apartment.

"and you hit the jackpot I see." you scoffed.

"Tasha, I-" Tamara started but you raised your hand and stopped her.

"save it, I can't do this. I'm out of here." you picked up your skateboard and left the apartment.

"We have to go after her." Lucy told Tamara and she nodded

"I'll talk to her." Tamara told her and left the apartment, she knew where you would be, it was your go to place whenever you were sad or angry. she climbed up the mountain that you and her used to climb when you were younger and saw you sitting at the edge of the cliff, watching the beautiful view in front of you. Tamara came up to you and sat beside you.

"I needed you, and you left." you said with tears.

"Tasha, I'm really sorry for leaving you. but I had the chance to leave that awful place. I know I should have take you with me but I thought it would be better for you to stay with our cousins because I didn't have money and couldn't take care of you myself." Tamra explained.

"It didn't matter, I would have come with you either ways and we cou have worked it out together." You told her.

"I see that now and I'm sorry. I can't rewrite the past but I promise to do whatever it takes to make it up to you." Tamara vowed.

"don't make promises you can't keep." you told her.

"Tasha look at me." she told you and you looked at her.

"I know I broke my promise before, but I love you, so much, you are the only family I have left and I will do whatever it takes to gain back your trust and I will make it up to you." She told you with determination in her eyes and you just burst into tears and hugged her and she hugged back tight with tears in her eyes. you missed your older sister so much and you still loved her, after all, she was your older sister. The 2 of you hugged each other for a few minutes before pulling away and staring at the view.

"I missed you." you told your sister.

"I missed you too." Tamara told you.

"you know my life wasn't all that good." Tamara told you and you looked at her, intriged with what she said.

"remember scott?" Tamara asked and you nodded. Scott was one of your cousins that you hadn't spoke to in a long time.

"well I lived with him and his girlfriend for awhile after I ran away from the place we lived. it wasn't the best experience but beggers can't be choosers right? And I after I found an apartment which I would move to, he was happy that I wasn't free loading off of him. But there were some complications and when I told scott I needed to stay with him longer, he went off on me and he wouldn't even let me get my stuff from his place. If Lucy never helped me i don't know what I would have done." Tamara explained to you.

"that sounds awful. I'm glad Lucy was there to help you." you smiled at Tamara and she smiled back. you two sat there in comfortable silence for awhile, soaking in the view.

"come on, let's go back, Lucy is worried about you." Tamara said and the both of you got up and went back to the apartment.

"from the looks of it, you guys are in good terms again. i'm glad." Lucy said with a smile as you and Tamara came into the apartment.

"do you guys want take out? we can get some for dinner." Lucy suggested and your eyes lit up.It's the first time in a long time you have had take out and you were excited.

"yes please! i'm starving." you groaned and Lucy laughed.

"alright pizza?" Lucy asked.

"yes!" Tamara and you both exclaimed and Lucy chuckled and she ordered the pizza.

"while the food is arriving, i got to work on something." Lucy announced.

"you guys didn't manage to find Angela?" Tamara asked and Lucy shook her head.

"find who?" you asked.

"a detective who was kidnapped by a mafia boss named La Fiera, we've been trying to find where she's holding Angela captive." Lucy explained.

"well I can help you if you'd like." you offered and Lucy raised an eyebrow.

"you know how to find out where La fiera is holding angela?" Lucy asked.

"yea sure" you shrugged.

"yea she can do it within a few minutes." Tamara backed you up. you placed your skateboard on the ground and took of your shoes and went over to the sofa as you removed your backpack and took out your laptop and removed the protective screen and it showed your real screen, filled with protected files of different types of information for different occasions. Lucy and Tamara were watching from your side. (idk if it's called a protective screen but the protective screen is used so that if your laptop is stolen or smt the people using the laptop will see that screen instead of the real screen which has all your stuff. honestly im just using my imagination so bare with me LOL)

"did you just put down a protective screen?" Lucy questioned and you just shrugged. you continued to type on your laptop and after a few minutes, you did it.

"here, La fiera is holding Angela at a compound outside Guatemala City." you showed her and Lucy the address and the live camera footage in Angela's room showing she's fine and that someone was in her room, guarding her.

"how did you do that?" Lucy asked jn disbelief

"well ever since I was a child my dad taught me a lot about hacking and coding and i have been hacking ever since." you explained and Lucy looked at you with disbelief.

"you know hacking is illegal right?" Lucy told you.

"well is it illegal if you are hacking for the right reasons?" you asked and Lucy scoffed.

"i got to let the other know." Lucy told you guys and stood up and started dialing her phone.

"good job sis, you just helped them get a back a dear friend." Tamara congratulated you and you smiled, proud if yourself. At that moment, the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it." you got up and went to the door and the delivery guy was at the door with the pizza. you thanked him and took the pizza and brought it in and placed it in the counter. Lucy put down the phone and looked at you and Tamara.

"they want me and Tasha to meet at Wesley's house. Tasha bring your laptop, Tamara you will okay right?" Tamara nodded and you took your laptop and placed it in your bag and followed Lucy to her car, you didn't know who wesley was but you just followed. Once you guys got to what you assumed was wesley's home, Lucy led you inside and you saw other people in the living room looking at you.

"this is the girl that found out where Angela was held?" a guy asked.

"yup this is Tasha, Tasha, these are the others, you've met Tim, and these are Nyla, Sargent Grey, Nolan and wesley." Lucy introduced everyone and you said hi.

"so could you tell us where La Fiera is holding Angela?" Sargent Grey asked.

"I can show you" you smiled and took out your laptop from your bag and a stuffed teddy bear fell out and you looked at everyone sheepishly before putting it back into your backpack and continued with what you were doing by connecting your laptop to the television and you showed everyone what you showed Lucy and Tamara.

"how did you manage to get a location when none of the officers were able to come close to it." Sargent grey asked.

"i'm just really good at hacking sir" you told him and he raised an eyebrow and everyone looked at you with a fixed expression and you gave a sheepish smile.

"she knows its illegal but now is not the time to talk about this." Lucy butt in and Sargent grey agreed.

"now that we know where Angela is being held, I am going to get her back, but i could use help." Wesley announced.

"i'm in" Tim said with no hesitation.

"me too" Nolan announced.

"we all are" Lucy said.

"I mean I can help too" you told them.

"hold on, the only people qualified to even think of doing this craziness is bradford and Harper. And there's no way im letting a 16 year old join this mission." Sargent grey told everyone and you grunted.

"are you saying we don't even try to save her?" Tim asked.

"of course not, but we can't just go running into hostile territory without a good damn plan. La Fiera is gonna have sicarios and half the police force protecting her, she'll know the second we step of the plane." Sargent Grey told him.

"so then we don't fly commercial." Nyla said.

"last time I checked, LAPD doesn't have an air force, and the DEA isn't gonna lend us theirs." Sargent grey informed everyone.

"well I might be able to help with that." you announced, making everyone turn to you.

"i know a guy named max, he works in the shadows at the defence department." you started.

"oh yes max! how do you know max?" Nolan asked.

"I have a lot of connections." you told him.

"ok who the hell are you?" Nyla asked and you just shrugged.

"who the hell is Max?" Sargent Grey asked and everyone looked at him.

"I'm listening." he said.

"Um, you remember that counterfeiting case a while back, that started with the murder of a transient?" Nolan asked.

"you mean the case where the killer came wandering up to you at the docks in long beach? Yeah I remember it" Sargent grey said.

"Yeah well you weren't fully "in the loop" for some aspects of that arrest" Nyla told him and he looked at her with a confused expression.

"like Tasha said, Max works in the shadows at the shadows at the Defense Department. His unit runs covert operations around the globe, they printed that counterfeit money to to fund them." Tim explained.

"and we let him walk with it in exchange for our killer." Nyla continued.

"he would have the resources to fly us under the radar, maybe even provide tactical support on the ground" Nolan said.

"and why would he do that?" Sargent Grey asked.

"oh I know he would" you told everyone and everyone stared at you.

"what? i told you I have connections." you said with a shrug.

"he owes me one, he will do it if I tell him to." you told everyone.

"and he doesn't want his sins put on blast." Lucy added.

"do you have a way to contact this guy?" Wesley asked.

"of course. I will help you guys, but i have a condition, I want in on this mission." you told everyone.

"like I said, there is no way I am letting a 16 year old in this mission, we don't know what might happen." Sargent Grey told you.

"with all due respect sargent, I'm more capable than you know." you told him and he raised an eyebrow and you sighed.

"come on, all of you, come at me." you told them and stood in a fighting position with 2 fists in front of you. everyone looked at you with a questionable look.

"you want us to fight you?" Tim asked.

"yes" you told them and they all stared at you.

"alright if you guys won't do it, I will" Nyla announced and ran and attacked you but you stopped her and twisted her wrist and kicked her legs, making her fall to the ground. Tim decided to come at you but you took his arm and did a back roll over and kicked him onto the ground. Everyone stared at what the hell you did while Tim and Nyla groaned and laid on the ground for a bit.

"she's got skills" Nyla groaned as you stood back up.

"ok what the hell is going on? who are you? we are not going anywhere until you tell us everything." Sargent Grey told you and you sighed.

"When I was younger, my dad would teach me self defence, he thought it would be good to be able to defend myself you know?" you explained to everyone as Tim and Nyla got up and you stared into spaced for a moment as memories of your training days flooded your mind. you shook your head to shake off the memories and looked back up.

"does Tamara know about this?" Lucy asked.

"she does now" you told her.

"alright fine, you can join this mission, but you are not doing anything dangerous, you will come with me and Chen to the station and work on a murder case we've been trying to solve. Nolan, you fold in with Bradford and Harper, start a mission plan." Sargent Grey told everyone and everyone nodded.

"Tasha can you contact Max?" Sargent Grey asked and you nodded. You went over to your laptop and typed a few things before looking up.

"He is asking where he should meet." you announced.

"text him the address to my house, we'll take it from there." Nolan said and you nodded your head and continued typing on your laptop.

"Nolan, come here" Sargent Grey instructed and Nolan looked confused but did what he was told and went over to Sargent Grey.

"Given everything that happened, it's easy to lose sight of what today signifies for you, the end of your time as a rookie. you accepted your punishment with grace and humility and i'm proud to say you are officially P2, congratulations." Sargent Grey said and shook Nolan's hand and everyone clapped for him and you decided to go along and clap too as Sargent Grey picked up his phone that was ringing.

Nolan went around hugging and shaking his friends' hands, and you sat there, happy for him for whatever he accomplished and that was when Sargent Grey got off the phone.

"The DNA came back, we have an ID on Jackson's killer." Sargent Grey announced and everyone's face fell.

"who's Jackson?" you asked.

"I'll tell you later." Lucy told you and you nodded.

"ok everyone needs to get some rest, we have a big day tomorrow." Sargent Grey announced and everyone nodded their head and dispersed. You packed your things and followed Lucy to her car and she drove off.

"you know, you don't have to tell me anything, I saw how your eyes fell at the mention of Jackson's name. I shouldn't have asked." you told her.

"no that's ok, you should at least know a little of what is going on. Jackson was another friend of ours who were rookies with me and Nolan. but he was killed on the day Angela was taken." she told you and you could see the sadness in Lucy's eyes and you knew Jackson meant something to Lucy.

"I'm so sorry." you told her and she smiled sadly at you.

"now you tell me something." Lucy said and you raised an eyebrow.

"your father taught you self defence right? but there's gotta be more, you hid some details, i saw your face." Lucy said and you looked down and she saw your sad expression.

"oh you don't have to tell me anything if you're not comfortable." Licy told you but you shook your head.

"no it's ok, I was just thinking about my training days just now, during the times he trained me, he would push me to do my very best, we trained and trained until my legs gave way but he still pushed me to train some more and there were times I would train until I bled out." you explained and Lucy gave you a sorry expression.

"Is there a reason why he trained you so hard?" she asked.

"him teaching me how to hack and code wasn't just for fun, it was so that I could learn about what he does at work, and his line of work is very dangerous, he had enemies and knew that bad men would try and come for his family and he wanted to be prepared."

"and what about Tamara? how come she wasn't in on any of this?" Lucy asked.

"she was never the one who loved to hack and code like me, so my dad agreed never to let her in on any of this, she wasn't part of the family records so nobody knew she was family." you explained.

"and your mother is in on it too?" Lucy asked.

"yup, but after awhile, everything went south, my parents started taking drugs and then OD'd, I don't know why our parents took drugs but after our parents died, Tamara and my life changed so much. We went to children shelters and our family homes which was never permanent by the way and the rest you know" you told her and she sighed.

"I'm really sorry about all this, but now I'm sure your life will be so much better" she told you and you smiled at her.

"you cannot tell Tamara what I told you today, she doesn't know what our parents did for a living and what I had gone through during the trainings. She only knew our dad taught me those for fun" you told her.

"I promise, but I think you should know let her know that, she deserves to know that your parents aren't who they said they were." Lucy told you and you nodded, promising yourself you would tell Tamara when you were ready. The rest of the drive was silent and once you got to the apartment, Tamara was waiting on the sofa, watching television.

"how did it go?" Tamara asked.

"it went great, we identified Jackson's killer and we are planning a rescue mission to save Angela tomorrow." Lucy explained and you were grateful that she didn't mention that other thing that you told.

"I was waiting for you guys to come back so we can eat and watch a movie." Tamara smiled and you giggled happily and placed your bag on the ground before sitting beside her and Lucy sat beside you and Tamara put on the movie "Tangled" and you guys ate and watched the movie before falling asleep on the couch with you sleeping on Tamara while Lucy slept on you and the 3 of you snuggled together. (i'm imagining the scene and it is so cute oml)

****************************************************

The next day, the 3 of you woke up and got ready for the day. Tamara got ready for school while you and Lucy got ready to go to the station. Tamara lent you her clothes and you went to take a shower and changed into the clothes she lent you.

once you were done, you packed your backpack was about to leave with Lucy when Tamara stopped you. She came to you and hugged you.

"I cannot believe my baby sister is going on a rescue mission while i'm stuck in school." Tamara said as you guys pulled away.

"I will tell you all about it tonight." you smiled at her and she smiled back.

"just don't die ok? I just got you back J can't lose you again." Tamara told you.

"Don't worry, dad made me take defense classes remember. I'll be fine." you told her and she nodded and looked at Lucy.

"you too, don't die, and take care of my sister." Tamara told her and she nodded her head. You and Lucy left the apartment and started going over to the station.

"remind me to enroll you to Tamara's school once everything is settled." Lucy told you.

"what? no you don't have to. I'm smart enough not to go to school." you told her. you didn't want her to spend money on your school

"I don't need to, I want to. you deserve to live a normal life with Tamara." Lucy told you.

"are you always this nice? you're so willing to do anything for me and Tamara." you asked her.

"I told you, its just me, and it's fate that I found into you and Tamara." she told you and you smiled. You felt so touched someone is willing to do so much for you even though you just met.

Once you guys reached the station, Lucy helped you get a visitor pass and then she led you to the roll call room before she went over to change to her work clothes as the other officers started coming into the room so you went to the back and sat at an empty table.

"His name is Armando De Leon, 17 years old, Gang unit says he was jumped into malos Dorados 6 months ago. Murder weapon is outstanding and he's considered armed and dangerous. Shooting policy is the following, even if he's fleeing deadly force is authorized." A guy you didn't know explained as a picture of the guy came up. you recognised the face but didn't announce it.

"he already killed on of us." the guy started but Sargen Grey cut him off

"hold up sargent. we're not in the retribution business. This kid comes in handcuffs unless there's no other choice is that understood?" Sargent Grey announced and everyone said a "yes sir".

"good, an no solo riders today. everyone doubles up. Be safe out there." with that, officers stood up and headed out to do their jobs. You went over to Lucy who was talking to Sargent Grey.

"Look at him, he's just a child." Lucy told him

"no he's a killer, now let's go find him." Sargent Grey said and left.

"Lucy I need to telk you something." you told Lucy.

"yea what is it?" you look in the room to see that no one was in it before looking back at her.

"I know the killer." you told her and her eyes widened.

"what?"

"not really know him know him but I've seen him before. Remember how I told you my dad works for bad men?" you asked her and she nodded.

"when I say bad, I mean really bad, and my dad and I hacked into the system and it gave us a list of a lot of bad people and we met some of them before and worked for some of them before. which means I've worked for Lafiera as well." you explained.

"we have to tell Sargent Grey, you can help out with the mission." Lucy said and was about to leave but you stopped her.

"I know we have to but I'm really scared. all this might lead to me being in jail and I don't want that. I've put all that in the past and never continued working for those bad men. I can't go to jail, i have my whole life to live I just can't." you told her with a shaky breath and tears were forming in your eyes.

"hey hey hey, come here." Lucy said and pulled you in for a hug and you sobbed and hugged her back.

"I promise I will do everything I can to not let that happen. everything will be alright." Lucy soothed your back and you calmed down and pulled away and wiped your tears away.

"I promise everything will be fine." Lucy told you and you nodded your head before going over to take your bag before following Lucy as she led you to Sargent Grey's office and knocked the glass door before going in.

"may I help you with you guys with something?" Sargent grey asked as he stood up and crossed his arms.

"actually, we are here to help you." Lucy told him and he raised an eyebrow. Lucy gave you a nodded and you stepped forward.

"the guy who killed Jackson, I know him." you told him and he unfolded his arms.

"do I want to know how you know them?" he asked.

"you will know, but now is not the right time." Lucy voiced and he nodded.

"Tasha, you will come with us to arrest, if it goes south, you will talk to him and distract him so we can arrest him." Sargent Grey instructed and you slowly nodded. He expected you and Lucy to leave but you both stood where you were standing.

"is there anything else?" Sargent Grey asked. You looked at Lucy and she gave you an encouraging nod and you took a deep breath.

"I know Lafiera, I worked for her before." you spoke with a shaky breath. Sargent Grey crossed his arms again and took a deep breath.

"ok then, change of plans, you will meet Nolan, Tim and Nyla at Nolan's house and they will get you to meet with Wesley and you both will go to Lafiera. with you there, Lafiera will let her guard down a little bit knowing her former employee is there. I'll let Tim know you are going over. Chen, go get ready for the arrest." Sargent Grey instructed and Lucy looked at you and you nodded your head, telling her you would be okay. Lucy nodded her head and left the office. Sargent Grey called Tim to let him know you were coming and told him why then Sargent Grey led you out off his office.

"I'm really sorry I didn't tell you earlier, but I didn't think I would have to go back to my old life until now, I left it all behind you know? I'm going to Jail aren't I?" you asked him.

"we will talk about this later. for now I need you focused, one wrong move and you will end up dead." Sargent Grey told you and you nodded your head. He led you to the front of the station where an officer was waiting for you. the officer led you to a police car and you got in, hugging your backpack

Once you reached Nolan's house, you got out the car and thanked the driver as you sling your backpack over your shoulder and closed the door. you walked over to Nolan's place and knocked on the door. After a few seconds, Nolan came by and opened it.

"oh hey! come on in!" Nolan let you in and you went in and saw Tim, Nyla and Max. you waved at Max and he waved back.

"Heard from Grey Lafiera knows you so you're helping with the mission." Tim said.

"yes, you will know more after the mission is done, I promise." you told him as you place your backpack on the sofa the going to the kitchen counter and they continued going on with the mission.

"like I said, I can get you in and out, provide basic supplies on the ground but no personnel, and if you get caught, you're on your own" Max told them and Nolan looked at Nyla, who nodded her head and he looked at Tim who also nodded his head.

"alright next stop, guatemala" Nolan announced and everyone packed up for the road. you took your backpack and followed them.

****************************************************

Once you reached guatemala, the helicopter touched down and all of you exited the helicopter. Max led you all to 2 trucks that were parked up nearby.

"two unspeakable vehicles, full gas tanks. 4 ARs, five mags each." Max told all of you.

"we won't need them, if this turns into a shooting war, we lose ten times out if ten." Tim said to him.

"sure, but i'm gonna take mine" Nyla announced as she opened the car boot.

"In the bags, there's pistols, an RC ground drone, scrambled radios, flashlights, food, and water. you have 10 hours to get your woman and get her back here for exfil. we won't wait and we will not make more than one pickup is that clear?" Max asked and everyone nodded.

"happy hunting." Max said and turned to leave.

"alright the first thing we need to do is to plan on how to protect Tasha if anything happens." Nolan announced.

"you really won't be able to do that. we will be separated. don't worry, I know how protect myself. I will need a gun just incase." you told them.

"there is no way u're getting a gun." Nyla don't worry.

"don't worry, I know how to use a gun, my dad trained me. I won't use it unless absolutely necessary." you told her and she nodded her head before handing you a gun and a loaded magazine and you loaded the magazine into the gun and placed it in the secret pocket at the side of your backpack.

"alright, we're gonna set up an overlook, recon the compound while you go steal the blueprints from the architect, find us a way in." Tim told Nolan.

"wait a minute, what blueprints?" you asked.

"we need the blueprints of the compound so I can come up with a plan to rescue Angela, you and Wesley." Nolan explained to you.

"oh? I can get you the blueprints." you told them.

"and you didn't think to tell us?" Nyla asked.

"nobody asked." you shrugged and they all rolled their eyes as you took out your laptop from you bag

"wait you brought your laptop?" Tim asked.

"yes? I don't go anywhere without it. don't worry, it can't be tracked if that's what you're worried about." you told him and started typing on your laptop before a blueprint showed up on your screen.

"I got it, I'll send the blueprints to you." you told them and started typing on your laptop and sending it to the 3 of them.

"this puts us ahead of schedule. wesley's plane will be landing any minute. we need to get Tasha to the airport, stat." Nolan announced.

"I'll drop her off." Nyla told everyone.

"i'll let Wesley know you're on the way." Tim said as you took you stuff and followed her to the truck.

"look, I don't know much about you, and I don't trust you one bit. you are mysterious, mysterious isn't good. If you do anything to betray us which gets Angela or Wesley killed, I will not hesitate to comw for you myself, got it?" Nyla threatened.

"I assure you, I'm fully on your side. I would never do anything to harm you and your friends. I know you probably don't care about me and if anything happens you'll probably leave me to save your friends, and it's fine, but if everything goes smoothly and we make it out alive, I hope to gain your trust. Once the mission is over, I promise you'll know everything about me." you told her and her eyes softened as she stared at you for awhile before looking back on the road. Once both of you reached the airport, you thanked her and got off the truck and went into the airport where you saw Wesley coming out of arrival.

"Wesley!" you called out and went up to him. the 2 of you walked further out of the airport when 2 guards came up to both of you.

"hola senor" one of the guards said and Wesley said hi back. The 2 guards looked at you and nodded their head to acknowledge your presence and you nodded your head back.

"this way." the guard grabbed Wesley and pushed him against the pole.

"spread your legs." the guard demanded.

"take it easy" Wesley said as he did what he was told so the guards could pat him down. the other guard cane to you and you knew the protocol, you took your backpack and gave it to him and he looked into your bag to check for any weapons. you hoped he didn't find the gun and luckily for you, he didn't. he didn't pat you down of course because it's invasion of privacy. after he was done, he handed your backpack to you and you wore it.

"I'm here to talk to Sandra de la Cruz." Wesley told the guard.

"man guess what? she doesn't want to talk to you. so it looks like you flew a long way to meet death." he said the last part in spanish, yup you speak spanish, your dad made you learn all the languages in the world so that you can understand every conversation going on between him and the clients. and also so that he could talk to you in secret if needed.

"Pero ella hablará conmigo. (but she will talk to me)" you told the guards and they looked at you before grabbing you both and leading you both to the trucks. they drove you both up to the compound and once they reached, they brought you into the compound where you saw Lafiera pouring wine into her glass.

"Hola hermana, se suponía que estabas muerta. (hello sister, you were supposed to be dead)" Lafiera told you.

"Y sin embargo, aquí estoy. (and yet, here I am)" you said to her.

"Mis condolencias por el fallecimiento de tus padres. (my condolences on the passing of your parents)" she told you.

"gracias, Mis condolencias por tu hijo. (thank you, my condolences on your son)" you said and she nodded her head.

"¿Quieres un poco? (do you want some?)" she offered you some wine but you politely declined.

"¿Qué te trae aquí con el Sr. Evers? (what brings you doing here with Mr Evers?)" she asked you.

"Dijo que quería negociar contigo. (he said he wanted to negotiate with you.)" you told her and she did the same "hmm" face.

"you know I speak English, why'd you speak to me in spanish?" you asked

"it's nice to speak to a friend in my native language, I don't get to do that often" she said and you scoffed at the mention of "friend". she never cares for anyone but herself and her son diego. you missed diego, he wasn't the bad guy, he was like you, destined to follow your parents' footsteps. whenever your dad was discussing with Lafiera, you and diego would hang out and it would be so fun and you loved hanging out with him so much, he was the only one who understood you.

Lafiera turned to Wesley.

"Mr Evers, you surprise me, didn't think you were the type to die for love."

"I'm here to negotiate." Wesley told her.

"I've heard, your office is next to an aquarium supply store, what could you possibly have to offer me?" she asked.

"If you know about my office, then you know thag my family has money. a lot of money." he stated.

"I have more" Lafiera simply said.

"no doubt, but what you don't have is a U.S. senator in your pocket. One who is standing ready to insert language into the trade deal that's currently being negotiated with your country." Wesley explained.

"trade deal doesn't apply to what I sell." Lafiera simply said.

"no, but they do apply to the export companies you use to launder money to the U.S. Tariffs are killing you right now, I could cut them in half with one phone call." Wesley told her.

"If I let you walk away with Angela."

"and my baby" Wesley said and Lafiera stared at him with the "are you serious?" look

"come on Lafiera, you know what it's like to have a son, you loved him, you know what it's like to love someone so much. I know you miss him, I miss him too, but don't take that away from 2 innocent people who had nothing to do with Diego's death." you told her and that got her deep in thought before looking at Wesley.

"I'll make a few phone calls, ensure that you can deliver on what you promise." Lafiera said.

"then we'll have a deal?" Wesley asked with hope.

"Maybe." Lafiera said as she walked up to Wesley.

"or maybe I don't care about the money, and I feed you to my dogs" she said and Wesley looked defeated and you couldn't just stand there and do nothing.

"Lafiera, please, at least let him see Angela." you told her.

"Fine, guards, take them to Angela." Lafiera instructed and you sighed with relief and Wesley thanked you silently and you nodded your head. the guards brought you both to the room Angela was held and when you both got in, wesley rushed over to angela

"hey hey are you ok?" Wesley asked.

"what the hell are you doing here?" Angela asked as she went to hugged him.

"Negotiating for your release." Wesley told her.

"hey! hey! back it up! she's not yours anymore, no, she's mine okay? and you don't touch her unless I say you can." Abril threatened.

"hey hey abril, it's ok. Lafiera let us in here." you told her and she glared at Wesley before stepping back.

"who are you?" Angela asked you.

"I'm Tasha, nice to meet you." You offered your hand and she took it and you guys shook hands.

"you were supposed to be dead." Abril said to you.

"I've been told" you answered and Abril looked at you. you, angela and wesley went to the sofa and sat down while Abril stood guard of you all. you didn't remove your backpack incase of anything, you can't trust anyone here. Suddenly, you heard a huge fireworks explosion and Abril went outside to take a look.

"that means there's a problem, we have to go to plan B." Wesley told you guys.

"what's plan B?" Angela asked. you also would like to know that.

"we have to get Lafiera to get us out of here." Wesley explained.

"how? she's not letting me leave until I have the baby." Angela told him.

"I can try to talk to Lafiera again." you offered.

"no, there's no time." Wesley said and looked at angela, telling her to trust him.

"hey! go get a doctor! she's feeling really lightheaded. she's had blood pressure issues during the pregnancy." wesley called out as you and he helped Angela up from the sofa.

"lay her on the bed." Abril instructed and you 2 did what you were told as she went out to get a doctor.

"hey, it's ok." Wesley told Angela as he took out a needle from his pocket.

"what the hell is that." angela asked.

"pitocin, enough to start contractions." Wesley told her and he was about to inject it into Angela but she stopped him.

"no no, it's early. we will lose the baby." angela told him and you could see the fear in her eyes.

"there has to be something else we can do, what about me? If i'm hurt she will have to take us to the hospital." you told him.

"if you get hurt she will not bring Angela, it has to be Angela." Wesley said and turned to her.

"I know you're scared, I am too, but this is the only way, Harper will be at the hospital with the drug to counter the effects. trust me ok, everything will be fine." Wesley told her and she stared at him for a moment before nodding her head and Wesley injected the pitocin into Angela.

After awhile, a lady came into the room and instructed both of you to bring Angela out as she called the hospital. Once the 3 of you were out of the compound, you could see Lafiera and some of her men waiting for you with 2 SUV vans waiting as well.

"what the hell did you do?!" Lafiera asked angrily as you and Wesley helped Angela to the van.

"nothing!" Wesley said and Angela stared at him before looking at you. Abril then came up to you and dragged you towards the other van as 2 other men dragged Wesley beside you. This whole time angela was shouting, calling out to wesley and telling them to stop while the 2 of you were forced into the other van. you were shouting and asking where abril was taking you but she ignored you as she shoved you in the van

"where are you taking us?" you asked worriedly.

"we were instructed to take both of you somewhere else and take away your life" Abril answered and your eyes widened in fear.

"wait why her? doesn't she work for Lafiera." Wesley voiced out.

"worked. past tense. she's now with you and Lafiera doesn't trust her anymore, she's now a liability and her life was instructed to be taken." Abril told him.

"she's just a teenager." Wesley said to her.

"it doesn't matter, she knows too much about us and it's a risk having her around." she said in annoyance and you turned to wesley.

"wesley." you called his name as tears started to formed in your eyes in fear.

"hey hey, it's ok." Wesley said as he pulled you in for a hug. he calmed you down by rubbing your back gently. you 2 didn't know each other that well and he still comforted you and you were grateful for it. once you calmed down, you could think clearly again.

"I have a gun in my bag. I can use it to kill Abril and the other guy when I get the chance." You whispered to him.

"no, when there's a chance you toss me the gun, got it?" he instructed and you nodded your head.

"hey, hey back it up, we're here." Abril said as you both pulled away. you were forced out of the van by Abril and Wesley by another guy. you both were forced to a spot with a lot of dirt and trees around.

"oh this is very dramatic." wesley called out, referring to the trees.

"life is sacred no? we should honour it when we take it no? plus, they use your bodies as fertilisers." Abril explained as she pushed you forward.

"alright this is enough." she stopped you and the guy stopped Wesley.

"where do you want it? in the face or the back of the head?" Abril asked.

"Neither." Wesley told her. suddenly, you all heard a noise and turned around to see an orange tractor driving on it's own. this gave you the chance to take out the gun from your side pocket.

"wesley!" you called out as you tossed him your gun and he caught it, pointing the gun towards abril.

"it's over Abril, surrender now." Wesley told her.

"you and what army? even if you shoot one of us, the other won't hesitate to kill you and the girl." abril told him.

"him and this army." you heard nolan's voice as he came out of hiding with a bat and hit the guy closest to him and started fighting him. Abril started shooting which gave Wesley the green light to start shooting too. you ran and dodged abril's bullets and tackled her to the ground and punch her face. she groaned and kicked your stomach and you groaned and fell beside her. she pointed her gun at you and was about to shoot you when Nolan tackled her and started fighting her.

You got up, a little blood dripping from your forehead. you saw the guy choking Wesley and you ran up and kicked the man's face and he fell back hard, fainting.

"good job." Wesley said as you helped him up. you guys heard something and looked up to see a helicopter flying past.

"come on, that's our ride." Nolan said and you started running towards the helicopter. Wesley handed the gun back to you and you placed it back in your bag when suddenly you heard gunshots and you looked back to see Abril trying to limp towards all of you and she started shooting at all of you.

you continued running towards the helicopter with Wesley and Nolan behind, dodging her bullets when one of her bullets tore a hole on your backpack, making the contents of your bag fall out. you stopped running and ran to get your stuff but wesley, who was running behing you, grabbed your arm.

"leave them, we have to get out of here!" he shouted and you nodded sadly before continuing to run towards the helicopter.

"ah." you grunted and your hand immediately went to the side of your stomach, when you looked at your hand you saw blood and you knew abril had successfully shot you. you ignored the pain and continued running towards the helicopter that was landing on the ground and Tim and Nyla came out and stood guard as the 3 of you got into the helicopter and Tim and Nyla got into the helicopter and closed the door as Max ordered the pilot to fly back home.

"this mission was a success, sort of." Nolan announced.

"and we have Tasha to thank. we couldn't have done it without her." Nyla told everyone and everyone smiled at you.

"thank you, but guys, I, I don't feel so good" you looked weakly at them and before you could say anything else you fainted from the blood loss. The last thing you saw was Tim catching you before you succumbed to the darkness.

****************************************************

you slowly opened your eyes and you looked around and you realised you were at the hospital. you also realised there was a tube in your nose. what the hell happened? you turned and saw Tamara with her head sleeping on your hospital bed and you smiled. you sat up, tired of lying down and Tamara stired awake and yawned.

"you're finally up, I'll let everyone know" she told you and started typing on her phone.

"how long was I asleep?" you asked.

"2 days." tamara told you and your eyes widened.

"what? how is that possible?! I was only shot once, it's not that bad." you told her.

"It was actually, by the time you came to the hospital, you lost a lot of blood and you had to go into surgery, you almost died in there, you had me worried." Tamara told you. That explains the tubes.

"I'm sorry, I didn't think it would be so bad." you apologised. At that moment, Lucy, Tim, Nyla, Angela, Wesley, Nolan and Sargent Grey came into the room.

"wow, that's a lot of people in one room." you joked and everyone chuckled.

"I just wanted to personally come in here to see if you're ok, and to thank you for all your help, we couldn't have done it without you." Sargent Grey told you.

"it was no big deal." you told him.

"oh here's a thank you and get well soon gift" Nolan said and placed a bouquet of flowers on the table next to your bed and you thanked him.

"how are you feeling?" Lucy asked.

"Much better than when I was shot that's for sure." you told her and she smiled. you looked over at tim and he smiled and nodded at you and you did the same thing back.

"I'm just worried about the hospital bills." you spoke up, you knew it would be expensive and that you couldn't afford it.

"don't worry, it's covered by the city." Sargent Grey said and you relaxed. Just then, the nurse came in and stood at the end of the bed.

"you're awake, great. I checked your vitals and your stats that you healed properly, we just need you to stay for a few days before we can discharge you." she told you and you thanked her and she left.

"could you guys excuse us for a sec, I would like to talk to Tasha for a while." Nyla announced and everyone nodded and left.

"am I in trouble?" you joked and she chuckled.

"no, I'm here to apologise." nyla said and you raised and eyebrow.

"the way I treated you, like you were an outsider, I'm really sorry, I was an outsider of the group once and I should have know not to judge anyone before getting to know them." she told you and you smiled.

"thank you." you smiled and she smiled back.

"does this mean I gained your trust?" you said with a hopeful smile.

"you're getting there, once I know more about you, then we'll see" she said with a smile and you smiled back. but something was bothering you, you will have to tell everyone everything soon, but you decided it was a later problem and put it at the back of your mind. Nyla pat your shoulders before heading out of your room and Tim, Lucy and Tamara came in, with lucy putting her hands behind her back.

"so everyone had to go for work, but, Nolan gave me something before heading out." Lucy said and you were curious as to what she was talk about.

"he told me he was able to save one of your things." She said as brought the item from her back to the front and you recognised it as Mr snuggles and your smiled widened.

"oh my god mr snuggles!" you exclaimed and took it from Lucy and hugged your stuffed bear.

"thank you." you told her.

"I'm sorry your laptop couldn't be saved. I know it meant something to you." Lucy apologised.

"that's ok, it's high time I let go of that laptop anyways." you told her and she smiled.

"if everyone had to go to work, how come tim's here." you asked.

"well I'm Lucy's T.O so if she doesn't go to work, I don't either." Tim explained and you gave an "ohhh".

The next few days, you stayed in the hospital and the nurses came in regularly to check up on you. Tamara stayed with you in the hospital and you 2 would hang out, catching up on the time you had lost. Lucy and Tim would visit you everyday to see how you were doing, be it on shift or after shift, tim probably came because Lucy came, but you were glad he didn't restrict Lucy from coming to the hospital on shift hours. You had gotten the tubes out since the doctor gave the green light and said you didn't need them anymore.

Today was the 3rd day you were held in the hospital and Lucy and Tim were visiting you when the nurse came in

"you are all healed up and ready to be discharged, whenever you're ready, just go to the front desk and you can sign out." she told you and you thanked her and she left.

"I'm guessing we'll have to go to the station after this?" you asked Lucy and Tim.

"only if you're up for it." Lucy told you.

"I'll have to face it eventually so why not just get it over and done with." you told them and they nodded.

"wait why do you have to go to the station?" Tamara asked.

"can you give me a few moments with my sister first? I think she should hear this from me first." you told Tim and Lucy and they nodded before leaving the room. you turned to Tamara and she was looking at you expectantly.

"you know how I said dad taught me how to hack and code for fun? and that the self defence classes were also just for fun and that I wasn't hurt during my training?" you asked her and she nodded.

"well that was all a lie" you said and started explaining everything to her, not leaving a single detail out. By the time you were done, you saw tears in her eyes.

"I can't believe it, I thought all this time it was all for fun and now I find out it was life threatening? I am the older sister and I was supposed to protect you." Tamara said with tears in her eyes.

"you weren't into hacking and coding so I made dad promise to leave you out of this. It's ok Tamara, it's all in the past, but now I have to come clean to the LAPD and hope that I don't get my a*s kicked in jail." Tamara came and hugged you and you hugged back.

"you can't go to jail, you were just a kid and they can't blame you for it." Tamara said as she pulled away.

"let's just hope the LAPD thinks so too." you told her.

"come on, let's get this over with." you said and you got off the hospital bed and you and Tamara left the room.

"I'm ready." you told Tim and Lucy and they nodded.

The 4 of you went to the front desk and you signed out and the next stop was to the police station. Once you guys reached, you and Tamara got a visitor pass and Tim and Lucy led you to the interrogation room. you felt nervous being in the police station so you grabbed Tamara's hand for support.

"I think it's best if you wait in the observation room." Tim told Tamara when you reached the interrogation room and you gave Tamara once last squeeze before entering the room, where you saw Angela and Nyla sitting at the table, waiting for you. Lucy came in after and you were grateful for her presence.

"Tasha, glad you're here. please have a seat." Nyla said and you went and sat across from them.

"don't worry, we aren't here to interrogate you, you don't have to be nervous, we just want to assess you better." Angela said and you nodded your head.

"start from the beginning." Nyla told you.

(full story coming up)

"when I was young, I went into my father's room while he was working and saw that he was doing something on his laptop and I was curious so I went up to him and he told me about all what he was doing, I was invested and he decided to teach me all about coding and hacking and I fell in love with it and my dad decided to bring me into his work and from that day on, I worked with my dad and we worked for a lot of bad people like Lafiera, Elijah and so many more, we had a list of a lot of bad people and my dad would choose the baddest of the bad, helping them hack into the system about information of each other, the government and basically do whatever they ask us to do. he chooses the baddest of the bad because they pay more, and he would do anything for money.

He also trained me in self defence, knowing that his line of work is dangerous and that I could be kidnapped for ransom or just to get my dad to work for them. He would train me so hard, so that I make no mistakes and that I can defend myself in every situation every way possible, he trained me till I was tired but still continued to push me. there were times I even bled out but he still pushed me to be the best. I know it was for my safety but sometimes I wished he would let me rest for a while. Anyway, Tamara was never the hacking or coding person so I made my dad promise not to bring her in, we never told her about my dad's work and we left her out of the family records so that she could live a normal life and so that people never would come for her.

But as I grew older, I realised that what we were doing was wrong, but I had no way out of it, so after my parents died, I took the opportunity to leave it all behind by faking my death, I hacked into the system and pronounced myself dead so no one would come looking for me, and I kept my past life hidden from everyone, thinking I wouldn't need to talk about it anymore until now, so now you know the whole life story of Tasha Collins, the one I kept hidden anyway." you explained your whole life story. Angela and Nyla looked at each other before writting some stuff down on the paper they had and Lucy looked at you, proud of what you just did.

"thank you, Tasha, it was brave of you to talk about it after wanting to leave it all behind." Angela told you.

"not like I had a choice." you said under your breath.

"sure, but most people would run away from the police, knowing they might end up in jail, but you decided to face it and that was very brave." Nyla said and you smiled.

"we're done, you can wait outside and we'll get back to you." Angela said and you nodded and left the interrogation room where Lucy and Tamara were waiting for you. Lucy led you to the roll call room and you sat at a table, Tamara sitting next to you.

"wait here alright, I'll be with the others to discuss your case, don't worry, I'll make sure you won't end up in jail." Lucy promised and you smiled at her.

While waiting for the result of your case, you were really nervous, Tamara saw it and place a hand on yours and you smiled at her, grateful she was by your side. After what like forever (it was 30min), Sargent Grey and the others came in and you and Tamara stood up. He had the same look he has every day and he had his arm crossed. you thought it must be serious if all of them were in here and you became really nervous.

"your case was really hard, no matter how we look at it, you end up in Juvie." Sargent Grey told you and you look down, you already knew this would happen but you were hoping for a different outcome.

"but," he said and you looked up with hope in your eyes.

"if you don't want to end in Juvie, we have a different solution." Sargent Grey said to you.

"what do I have to do?" you asked.

"you become a C.I" he told you.

"you want me to become a confidential informant?"

"It's the only solution we could think of"

"it was actually Lucy's idea" Tim said and you looked at her with a smile.

"hey, I told you I would do anything so that you don't end up in jail." Lucy told you and you smiled gratefully at her.

"all you need to do is give us information on everything you know when we need it." Sargent Grey told you.

"It would mean you have to go back to hacking and coding, but for the right reasons this time." Angela told you.

"I know you wanted to leave that all behind so it's really your choice if you want to do it or not." Lucy told you.

"honestly it's really clear what I should do." you said and turned to Tamara for approval, you didn't want to do it without her support. She nodded her head and you looked back at Sargent grey.

"I'll do it." you told him and he smiled and unfolded his arms.

"I was hoping you would say that." he told you and nodded at Angela. she came up to you and handed you a brand new laptop and phone and your eyes lit up at the sight.

"a new phone and laptop to replace your old one." she smiled at you and you beamed at her.

"Thank you!!" you exclaimed and smiled happily.

"I added all our contacts in the phone, you can text us whenever you feel like it. i'm sure we'll being hearing more from you soon." Angela told you and you smiled.

"alright, everyone go home and rest up, tomorrow we got another case to solve." Sargent Grey told everyone and everyone nodded.

"wait a damn minute. the night is still young, party at my place!" Nolan announced and everyone smiled and you and Tamara left with Lucy.

Once you guys reached Nolan's place, everyone was reaching and Nolan went to his door and unlocked it and let everyone in. everyone went in and Nolan went to the fridge and took the drinks out and he ordered a lot of food. everyone were drinking and talking to each other, having fun, and you felt awkward because you don't know them well. Halfway through, Tamara pulled you aside.

"so, I have a surprise for you," Tamara told you and you raised an eyebrow.

"while you were on the mission and I was in school, I took the liberty to talk to my principal and applied for a scholarship, I told him about you and he agreed to let you sit for a test and when you pass, you can join my school!" Tamara exclaimed and your eyes widened with shock.

"oh my god Tamara, this is amazing, thank you!" you hugged her tight and she hugged you back with a smile. you smiled at the thought that Tamara had said "when" and not "if" and you were touched she thought you were going to pass.

"it's the least I can do." she said as you guys pulled away.

The rest of the night, you mingled around and got to know everyone better and you guys played some board games and charades. you never thought you would meet these people, it was all thanks to lucy you met them and you were so grateful to have bumped into her and you were grateful that you didn't have to live on the streets anymore.

your life became much easier after that mission, you worked for the LAPD whenever you were needed, putting your hacking skills to use. you also go to school every day, unless there was an emergency at work. You also hang out with Tamara a lot, and sometimes the other people you met. Tim and Lucy eventually got together and they were like adopted parents to you and Tamara. Tamara also got a new car and she brings you everywhere with it. your life couldn't be much better and you were finally happy.

[dylanconrique]

picturing grumpford huffing and puffing on a family outting around disndyland with lucy, genny, and the boy's until he sees his girlfriend wearing a pair of mickey ears, and hold on just a minute, maybe that little rodent is onto something here.

[paperbackribs]

A text conversation between Angela and Genny during Chapter 14 'The Jealousy' of A Selkie's Pelt ❤️🦭❤️

~ps sorry it's fuzzy and weirdly big, it'll be better on the website~

[feral-peacock]

I, much like Tim Bradford, think Lucy Chen is the most beautiful woman in the world.

[gerstein03]

Lil bit of actor fluff: Eric Winter, the man who plays Tim Bradford once guest starred on a show called Brothers and Sisters where he played a gay minister who dates main character Kevin played by Matthew Rhys

Idk I thought some folks would enjoy this information

[newobsessionweekly]

Sneak peek

Evan "Buck" Buckley x Bradford!reader

You can find it here.

Tim groaned as he poured himself a cup of coffee, his expression as sour as the burnt toast sitting on the kitchen counter. "Morning," he muttered, barely sparing a glance in your direction.

You were lost in your own little world, your phone held tightly in your hand as you typed away furiously

You: Morning, sunshine

Buck: Good morning, beautiful. Did you dream of me again last night?

"Thank you for not ignoring me," your brother remarks sarcastically, his tone dripping with sarcasm.

"Sorry," you mumbled, finally tuning into the conversation. "What were you saying?"

"What's with the dopey smile, huh?" he eyes you suspiciously, his gaze lingering on your phone.

"Just picturing all the ways I'm gonna kill you some day," you quip, a mischievous glint in your eye.

"Here's your coffee, as promised," Buck said, his eyes twinkling.

"Oh! You're my hero," you teased, taking a grateful sip of the warm brew.

"Speaking of heroes," Buck said, a playful glint in his eye, "How about I save you from Tim tonight? A little date at my place. I'll get some pizza, we can continue our show. How does that sound?"

"Sounds like you want to save Tim," you quipped, leaning in to plant a soft kiss on his cheek. "But its perfect."

"Hey, Lucy," Tim began, his voice filled with uncertainty. "What do you think of Buck?"

"He seems like a good guy to me."

"Yeah, but what about him and Y/N?" he pressed, his concern evident in his voice. "Do you think they're...you know..."

"You mean, are they more than just friends?" she teased, a playful smile tugging at the corners of her lips.

"Well, he certainly made his presence known," he replied, his tone filled with amusement. "I think he sent me enough death glares to fill a whole season of crime dramas."

"You should count yourself lucky he didn't pull out his handcuffs," you teased.

"Oh, I don't know," he said, his voice tinged with mischief. "I wouldn't mind borrowing them for the night."

[callsign-dexter]

Forever Yours 18+

Request: How are we feeling about Tim Bradford meeting his high school girlfriend again as he's on patrol with Lucy and gets all flustered again cause you're the one for him (like you separated ways as he went to the police and you did something else but are back now) and you just feel the same old feelings. Later Lucy won't stop making fun of him cause he's always badass and now you seem to be his weak spot. Next day you visit him at the department with his favorite food and he asks you out on a date which you gladly accept. Just some fluffy cute Tim, with maaaaaybe smut at the end of their date and he won't let her leave him ever again? 😊 

Next week is my bday, so I thought some Tim would be adorable !

Pairings: Tim Bradford x Teacher!Reader

Warnings: fluff, smut, swearing, pregnancy

Masterlist

A/N: Happy birthday or belated birthday to the anon that sent this in!

A/N 2: @talesofreading and @imagine-all-the-fandoms some steamy Tim smut for you!

Los Angeles. You never thought you would come back here but after being away for so long you were itching to come back. Most importantly you were missing your high school crush and boyfriend, Tim Bradford. You two only split when he decided to go into the military and you wanted to become a teacher. It was a mutual break up but man did it still hurt. You two had lost contact and both of you had been too busy to try and reconnect with each other but now you were back having gotten your teaching degree and took the position as a first-grade teacher. You loved kids and they seemed to be drawn to you. It was really your true calling.

Last you heard of Tim was that he had gotten out of the military and had gone to the police academy, was married but then got divorced and he was working as a TO for LAPD. You heard all of this through his sister that you were best friends with. You had wanted to get in contact with him but school and kids kept you busy so you just let it go.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ 

The new school year was just about to start and you were excited. A few weeks before you had gone in and set up the classroom how you wanted and then started to figure out teaching material. A week before school actually starts you would be meeting the students and their parents for the first time. Overall, you were excited and couldn’t wait.

There was one week before school and you had gotten there early to start meeting the students and parents. The time had started and the students and parents started to slowly trickle in. Everyone you met were friendly and some of the dads even tried to flirt with you but you just smiled and continued on. You had your mind on one person and that was Tim Bradford. 

It was finally the end of the day and you were exhausted but you had a lot of fun and loved seeing the kids. You made sure everything was in order and everything was cleaned then you were walking you out of the classroom and locking the door behind you. You left the school with a smile on your face. You couldn’t wait for Friday next week. 

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

Your alarm on Friday went off early and you were getting up with a smile on your face. You turned it off and got in the shower and brushed your teeth. You walked out into your room in just a towel and started to get dressed. As you were doing so your cat, Biscuit, walked in and jumped on the bed and meowed at you, you turned and gave him some love and then you were back to getting ready. When you were done in there you walked out of the bedroom and into the kitchen where your German Shepherd, Steel, greeted you. You gave Steel his food and then fed Biscuit and now you were getting yourself coffee as it was brewing you let Steel out and then when he was done, he was at the door wanting back in. You finished getting ready to leave the house. The coffee chimed when it was done and you grabbed the travel mug and headed out to your blue Toyota Tacoma.

It was a quick drive to the school and you got there with no trouble. As you were driving you looked like Tim but you were too busy paying attention to the road. You pulled into the parking lot and into the parking lot for the teachers. You parked and turned the engine off and then you were getting out and grabbing your bag. As you were walking into the building you greeted some of the other staff who were all so friendly and that made you smile. 

You walked to your room and unlocked it and started to get everything ready for the day. About 7:50 AM students started to trickle in and you were at the door greeting everyone. Once everyone was in you closed the door and walked to the front of the classroom smiling and made sure everyone was sitting down. “Good morning, kiddos. My name is Ms. Y/L/N and I’m gonna be your teacher for this year. I’m excited to learn about each and every one of you and I can’t wait for the fun things I have planned for you all. It’s going to be a fun year. Now does anyone have questions for me or about me?” You asked and a few raised their hands. You looked over at them and smiled “Benson, what is your question?” You asked.

“Do you have any animals?” He asked with sweet innocent eyes and you smiled.

“I do, I have a dog named Steel and a cat named Biscuit.” You said

“Do you have pictures?” He asked and you smiled and pulled up a picture of your animals. 

The rest of the morning went without a hitch. When they were at lunch you smiled and sat in your room thinking about what the plan was for the second half of the day. You were scrolling through your email and noticed there was going to be a fire drill and that they were going to bring the fire trucks, ambulances, and police in. 

All the kids were back and you let them know what was going to be happening and you assured them that there was nothing to be afraid of and it was all a drill. Some still seemed scared so you said that they could come to you if they got too scared and that seemed like that helped ease them up a little bit. For now, the day went like normal and it would be happening close to the end of the day.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

“Did you hear that we have to go to the elementary school for a fire drill?” Lucy said as she and Tim were driving around making calls and making sure everything was good to go.

“Yes, I did.” Tim said, making his response short.

“How do you feel about that?” She asked

“I’m fine with it. It lets kids see the importance of what we do.” He said and she nodded seeing that he wasn’t up for any more discussing it. While they were waiting to be called to the school Tim was thinking about you and where you were. You were his high school love and he never stopped loving you even when he was married, he wanted to get back into contact with you but never seemed able to find the time but boy was he in or a surprise today. The time came and they were heading to the school along with the ambulance, firefighters, and two other shops. The point of this was to first have a fire drill and then show the importance of the first responders. Tim parked next to Talia and Nolan’s car and they headed over to the kids. Everyone was answering questions and then something, more like someone, caught Tim’s eye. He looked closer and it was you. You were bent down talking to a kid who was crying and you were trying to console them but it wasn’t working and so you picked the kid up and let them cry into your neck. He needed to see you and talk to you. “I’ll be right back.” He told Lucy and then was gone before she could say anything. 

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

“Hey, shhhhhh. You’re ok.” You said consoling the little boy. You were bouncing them around trying to soothe him. You didn’t even know Tim was walking up to you. “It’s nothing to be scared about. It just means that it helps on the way and they save people.” You said and he came out from your neck and sniffled.

“Really?” He asked and you smiled and were about to answer but a familiar male voice answered before for you.

“Absolutely. It means that we are on our way to save you.” Tim said and you looked up and saw him and the little boy looked at him.

“Really?” He asked and Tim smiled.

“Yup, my fellow officer John Nolan will be happy to show you and talk to you about it.” He said and then pointed over to him “He is right over there.” Tim said and the boy sniffled and nodded and you sat him down and watched him scamper off to John. Making sure he was safe before turning to Tim smiling. “You've always been so good with kids.” He said and you chuckled.

“You have too. One of the many reasons I fell in love with you.” You said and he smiled and looked down. 

“It's been a while.” He said looking up at you and you nodded agreeing.

“Too long and that is my fault.” You said and his smile turned into a frown and he shook his head.

“No. That is not true. I'm the one that took off and didn't even try to contact.” He said and you shook your head.

“I'm to blame too.” You said and once again he was denying it. 

“We can discuss this over dinner.” He said and you looked at him.

“Like a date?” You asked 

“Exactly like that. My number is the same if you wanted to text me anytime.” He said and you smiled and nodded.

“Mine is too.” You said 

“Ms. Y/L/N! She hit me!” Your student, Amber, said pointing to another student, Emma, as they ran up to you. You looked at Tim and he smiled and nodded. You bent down to the two girls. You walked back over to Lucy and the others watching you handle the situation with a smile. All he could think about was how you would deal with your and his kids and that put a smile on his face.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

Tim walked back over to the group smiling. “Is The Tim Bradford actually smiling?” Lucy asked and everyone turned to see and he actually started to blush.

“He's blushing!” Angela said with a smile. 

“I am not.” He said and tried to stop but he just saw the love of his life again. 

“You so are! Is it because of that teacher you were flirting with?” Lucy asked and he didn't say anything and then the radio saved him and then he was quick to answer it. 

“Come on Boot. We have work to do.” Tim said and walked over to his shop and she quickly followed behind him. When they got back to the shop his phone dinged and he was quick to pull it out and smiled when he saw it was you. Lucy took notice of this and she smirked.

“Is that her?” Lucy asked and Tim was quick to drop the smile and look at her.

“It’s none of your business.” He said and she rolled her eyes but smirked when she looked away, he was smiling and was quick to send a reply back and it was back to work for the both of you.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

You and Tim had been talking all week and the same old feelings were coming back. Saturday rolled around and you found out he was working and you decided to bring him and his coworkers. You loved baking and Tim knew this. You parked in a parking spot and then walked into the police station smiling. You greeted the front desk person and they smiled. “What can I do for you?” She asked.

“I’m here to see Tim Bradford.” You said and she smiled and then she paged him and he was coming down in time.

“Y/N, what are you doing here?” He asked and you smiled and turned to him.

“Well, you mentioned you were working today and thought you and your coworkers could use some baked goods.” You said and he smiled.

“Come on.” He said and you walked with him into where everyone was. It looked like they were just in for lunch. “Guys, this is Y/N. Y/N this is Angela, Talia, Lucy, Jackson, and Nolan.” He said and everyone waved as they were introduced.

“Nice to meet you all.” You said “I figured you all could use some goodies.” You said you waved your basket.

“Her cookies are to die for. They are my favorite” Tim said as you set the basket down in the break room. Tim wasn’t looking at anyone but you, everyone was smiling and looking at how lovesick he was and they were happy for him. Everyone got a cookie and they absolutely fell in love with them and they voiced this and that made you smile. “Hey, would you follow me?” He asked you and you nodded and he took your hand and led you to the briefing room.

“What’s up?” You asked as you sat on the edge of one of the tables.

“Will you go on a date with me?” He asked and you smiled and nodded.

“I would love to go on a date with you.” You said and that made him smile.

“Great! I’ll pick you up at 7 tonight?” He asked and you once again smiled.

“That sounds perfect.” You said and then you both continued to talk until he had to leave and that was cue now you had to go home and get ready for your date.

7 PM rolled around quickly and before you knew it you were opening the door to a smiling and well-dressed Timothy Bradford. “Wow.” He said and you blushed but Steel was quick to rush the door.

“Steel, off.” You said and he backed up and moved away from the door and that made Tim fall in love with you even more. You made sure to grab your keys, locking the door behind you, and the both of you headed to his truck where he helped you in and then closed the door and walked to the other side and got in and headed to the restaurant that he had picked out that he knew you would love. “So where are we going?” You asked and he smiled.

“It's a surprise but you’re going to love it. They have sushi.” He said when he looked over and saw you were about to say something and then your smile came back. “I’ve missed you. I’m sorry that I didn’t stay in contact.” He said and you shook your head.

“Nonsense. It was my fault too.” You said

“I guess it is both of our faults.” He said and you chuckled but agreed. You both were quick to get to the restaurant and he was quick to park and then was getting out and helping you out. You both walked into the restaurant and he walked up to the receptionist and he was quick to get you seated. You two talked and caught up and just had a delightful time, it was just like old times. You both ordered and now the wait for food has started. 

“I missed you.” You said and he smiled and nodded.

“I missed you too. It was hard to go on not knowing how you were but I was too selfish to actually text you.” He said and you nodded looking at him.

“It was hard finding out through your sister about what you were doing but it helped.” You said and he nodded and just then the food came and you both started eating and finished the date and now you were back at your house inviting him. Steel greeted you and so did Biscuit and they immediately fell in love with him and you fell back in love with him, though you never truly fell out of love with him. 

You sat on the couch with a glass of wine, both of your animals had left the room so it was just the both of you, and you both leaned in and now you were kissing him and he was kissing back and neither of you were stopping each other. “Tell me to stop if you want me to stop.” He said when he pulled away and you looked him in the eye.

“I don’t want you to stop.” You said and he smiled.

“I was hoping you were going to say that.” He said and crashed his lips back into yours and he laid you down on the couch. He started to kiss your neck and then got to your sweet spot and gently bit it and that made you moan.

“Tim.” You moaned and he smirked and did it again. You clenched around nothing. You both worked on getting each other clothes off and everything was off in no time in a pile on the floor beside the couch. “I love you.” You said and he trailed down your body peppering it.

“I love you too.” He said in between kisses. He ghosted over nipples giving them equal attention but he knew where you needed him the most. This was not the first time you had sex with this man, he was your first in high school, sure you had sex with other men but nothing compared to him. He still knew how you liked it and knew all the right places to please you. He trailed down to your heated core and was quick to dive in and you moaned out throwing your head back and hands going to his head. He let up for just a second. “We can take this to the bedroom if you want.” He said and you shook your head.

“No, it's perfect here.” You said and he nodded and he was diving back into your pussy licking and sucking on your clit knowing exactly where to use his tongue to please you. “Tim.” You moaned out and bucked your hips towards him and he was quick to hold you down. Your hands left his head and they came up to clutch the couch cushions and your legs spread wider. He started swirling his tongue around your entrance and was tongue fucking you and you felt that rubber band feeling starting to tighten. “‘M close.” You moaned out but he stopped just as soon as you were about to cum. “Tim.” You moaned out in frustration but he was moving up to be face to face with you.

“What?” He asked his breath fanning you and you could smell the wine on this breath.

“I was about to cum.” You said and he smirked.

“You’ll get what you want soon.” He said and kissed you as he rubbed his cock up and down your wet folds and then let up on the kiss as he pushed into you and you both moaned. “See? I told you.” He said and all you did was moan. He stretched you in all the right places and it was like you were back in high school with him all over again. 

“Tim.” You moaned and he smirked, loving the way he made you moan and the way you were gripping him. He started to move and you both moaned out.

“You’re still as tight as ever.” He said and attacked your neck with more kisses and love bites. 

“You ruined all the other guys for me.” You moaned out and he gave a sharp thrust that hit your g-spot perfectly.

“Good.” He said 

“You’re the only one for me.” You said and he gave another sharp thrust and then he started to go faster and you didn’t even have to ask for it. You both wanted this and you both needed it. Everything was perfect. Ever since he started to go faster it was making that rubber band feeling coming back. Each thrust was like heaven and you never wanted it to end. “I’m about to cum.” You moaned out.

“Me too.” He moaned out and picked up his pace and trailed one hand, leaving the other to keep his weight off of you, down to your body to your clit and he started to rub it, flick it, and pinch it all it was doing was making you come closer to the edge. Your orgasm was just right there and so was his. 

“Tim!” You yelled out not caring who heard you. 

“Cum for me.” He said and sent a flick to your clit and leaned down to bite your nipple and then you were seeing stars. Not a few seconds later his thrusts were getting sloppy “I’m gonna cum.” He said and then his hips stilled and he painted your walls right. It was a good thing you were on birth control, you thought as you and Tim came down from your highs. Tim slowly slipped out of you and then got behind you and threw an arm around you. He grabbed the blanket from off the back of the couch and threw it over you both. “I’m never gonna let you leave again.” He said and you smiled and nodded and turned to look at him.

“I’m never going to leave. Ever.” You said and he smiled and leaned down to kiss you. 

“I love you.” He said 

“I love you too.” You replied

You wanted this. You wanted forever with him and he wanted that with you too. You both wanted to marry each other and start a family with each other. Neither of you could wait to finally be with each other forever. You both wanted this since high school and nothing is going to get in the way of you both being together forever, not again. 

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ 

2 years later………

You and Tim had been married for 2 years now and had a 2-year-old son, Dakota. Your son was conceived on the last day of your honeymoon. Now you are 6 months pregnant with your second child, this one being a girl. Your jobs were going great and Tim had just been promoted to Sergeant which meant a bigger paycheck. Now you and Dakota were walking into the precinct to meet with your husband. You had just parked the car and got out and got Dakota out. “Kota, hold my hand when crossing the street.” You said and he nodded.

“Otay momma.” He said and you smiled and ran a hand through his hair, he was the exact copy of his father. You grabbed his hand and the both of you walked across the street and into the precinct.

“Good morning, Mrs. Bradford and Dakota.” The receptionist said and you smiled. 

“Good morning, Veronica.” You said “Tim in?” You asked and she nodded.

“Yup, you know where to find him.” She said and you nodded and then you were heading to him with a hand on your sons and one on your stomach.

“Y/N! Dakota!” Lucy said and you smiled.

“Hello, Lucy.” You said and your son waved at her.

“Tim is in his office.” She said and you smiled and walked to his office. You looked into the room and saw him focusing on his work and you looked down at Dakota.

“Knock, Baby.” You said and he smiled and did so.

“Come in.” He said and you opened the door and you both stepped in.

“Daddy!” Dakota said and he looked up and smiled and walked around his desk and scooped his son up.

“Hello there, handsome. Have you been good for mommy?” He asked and he nodded.

“We went to the store, I helped!” Dakota rambled on and Tim smiled.

“You helped mommy?” He asked and looked at you and you nodded.

“Uh huh. I helped carry!” He said and he smiled.

“That’s my boy.” He said and kissed his cheek and then walked over and kissed you. “How is our little girl doing?” He asked.

“Currently being still for once but using my bladder as a soccer ball a lot.” You said and he chuckled. He put Dakota down and he walked over to the table with toys and coloring books that Tim kept for him. Tim put his hand on your stomach and immediately the baby kicked. “She must know that she has her daddy here.” You said and he chuckled and leaned down to kiss you. 

“Mommy! Daddy! Come help!” Dakota all but shouted and you two broke apart. 

“Ok, we’re coming.” Tim said and you followed him over there and he sat down on the ground and you sat in a chair which he helped you sit in. Tim got into helping Dakota so that you were able to lean back and watch with a smile on your face. This was the dream you always wanted with him and you got it finally after so long. You were married to the man of your dreams, had a son together, and have a daughter on the way. You rubbed your stomach as she kicked and that made you smile.

You were finally happy and couldn’t wait to spend the rest of your years with the man of your dreams since high school. They were your world and you wouldn’t trade anything for it. You loved your growing family and you knew Tim did and that made you happy. Tim looked over at you and smiled. “I love you.” You mouthed and he smiled.

“I love you too.” He mouthed and then Dakota was grabbing his attention again and you chuckled, yup you loved little growing family.

Tag list:

@kmc1989

@els-marvelvsp

@atarmychick007

@nyx2021

@grandstrangerphantom

@angenu01-blog

@talesofreading

[rookieoneil]

Dyl and Mel 🩷🫶🏼

[writingsonsaturn]

heyyyyy guys 😟so sorry i’ve been gone for so long SOOOO many things happened BUT they’ve calmed down so IM BACK 🥰 i’ll be trying to post more regularly but pls forgive me

[kanerallels]

Every day I wake up and remember how much I already miss the Bishop-Bradford-Lopez trio from season one of The Rookie

[fluentmoviequoter]

California Dreams

Requested Here!

Pairing: Tim Bradford x fem!Nolan!reader (John's younger half-sister)

Summary: You move to California to be closer to your brother John after your mom dies. There, you meet Tim Bradford and begin dating. When your boyfriend and brother meet each other, you're surprised to learn it isn't their first interaction.

Warnings: r and John have the same mom, mostly fluff, brief angst, flirty and soft Tim

Word Count: 2.8k+ words

Masterlist | Tim Bradford Masterlist | Request Info/Fandom List

Pennsylvania and California are completely different. When your older half-brother John flew out to Pennsylvania after your mom passed, he kept you at arm’s length. You were close growing up and stayed close into adulthood, so the sudden distance confused you. It wasn’t until after the funeral that you realized he was protecting you from the drama that may have tainted how you remembered her. More than what you already knew, at least. That wasn’t what shocked you the most, though. Most shocking was the question John asked before he left: Would you consider moving to California? We’re family. It took a few weeks, but once you were alone in the place where you grew up, you decided that John was right. So, you packed up your life and moved across the country. That change was the first of many.

“John,” you groan over the phone. “You practically raised me, but you won’t help with this? You’re not a very good brother.”

“I’m an excellent brother if I made you the person you are,” he counters. “But I have work, so it’s not that I won’t help you buy a mattress, but that I don’t have time.”

“Bailey would help.”

“Bailey also has to work.”

“Fine. I guess I’ll just move back to Pennsylvania then.”

“You sound like Mom,” John says before he laughs.

“Hurtful. I have to go.”

“Enjoy shopping. Love you.”

“Clearly,” you mumble. “Be safe.”

You end the phone call and look around the neighborhood. Maybe walking aimlessly while talking wasn’t the best idea. Every house looks the same, and you don’t remember if you turn right or left to get back to your house.

“Excuse me,” you call to a man walking a dog across the street. “Sorry, I just moved here, and I don’t remember how to get back to my street. Could you help me?”

He nods before he jogs across the street to talk to you. “Sure. Which street?” he asks kindly.

You tell him and he looks toward his right to explain, “Turn left at this corner, go down two streets, make a right, and it’ll be on the right.”

“Left, two streets, right, right,” you repeat. “Thank you so much.”

“No problem.”

His eyes drop to your Penn State shirt, and you roll your shoulders to stand straighter. If you knew you were going to meet a gorgeous man on this walk, you would have changed out of your moving/cleaning outfit.

“Can I ask you a favor in return?” he asks.

“Uh, yeah,” you reply, pinching your brows together.

“Join me for lunch?”

Your brows unfurrow quickly to raise. He must feel bad for you, being new in the area.

“Or dinner, whichever works better,” he adds after a moment of silence.

“For what?” you inquire softly.

“A date, or a welcome, if you prefer.”

“You’re asking me out? Why?”

“Why not?” he counters with a heart-stopping smile.

“Are you going to keep answering my questions with questions?”

“Are you going to accept my invitation?”

You shake your head to clear it before answering, “I’d love to go out with you. Lunch sounds amazing. Give me a few minutes to change?”

“I’ll come pick you up in twenty. Meet you at your corner?”

“Okay, yeah, sounds good,” you ramble. You take a step to go past him before you stop. “Can you tell me how to get there again?”

He tips his head back to laugh before repeating the directions. As you walk, you repeat left, two streets, right, right; left, two streets- why did he ask me out? – right, right.

When you exit your house twenty minutes later, he is waiting at the corner just as he said. He leans against the driver’s door and smiles when he sees you walking toward you. Your decade-old Penn State shirt and paint-stained bottoms have been exchanged for a date-worthy outfit, yet he looks at you the same way as he had before.

“Before we go on a date, I thought I should at least introduce myself properly. I’m Tim,” he says, offering his right hand.

You shake it, surprised by how gently he touches you. He repeats your name softly after you introduce yourself, and as he helps you into the passenger seat, you know that moving to California was the right choice. For more reasons than John.

“I’m stealing his best brother ever mug. He doesn’t deserve it,” you huff.

Your hands are on your hips as you look at the mattress on your driveway. When John said he’d drop it off for you after work, you thought he’d bring it in. No. He left it in the middle of the night and sent you a text to let you know it was there. Based on what he’s told you about being a cop, you should be grateful that it wasn’t stolen, but now you have to figure out how to get it inside and on your new bed frame by yourself.

“I can do this,” you tell yourself.

Someone clears their throat on the sidewalk behind you, and you turn quickly.

“Tim,” you breathe out, relieved to see him rather than a stranger. “Hi.”

He nods in place of greeting before he looks to the mattress. “Did your brother drop that off?”

“How did you know that?”

He points to a piece of cardboard taped to the end closest to the road. You walk toward him and sigh when you read it.

“Enjoy. Love, your favorite brother,” you read. “He’s such a jerk.”

“Really?” Tim questions.

“No,” you admit, rubbing your jaw briefly. “He had to work late and didn’t want to wake me up to get it in.”

“Do you want some help?”

“No, it’s fine.” You turn toward Tim to ask, “Did we have plans?”

“I was hoping we could make some. But seeing as you have a mattress to babysit, maybe I’ll come back later.”

“Give me twenty minutes,” you request quickly. You look at the size of the mattress and amend, “Thirty, tops.”

“Or…” Tim begins, leaning in. “You could just let me help.”

“You drive a hard bargain. Get the mattress inside and then we can go?” you agree.

Tim shakes his head, betrayed by his smile, as he steers you toward the mattress.

“Why are you here?” you ask.

“I just told you. I’m here to take you on a date.”

“No, I mean, why aren’t you at work?”

Tim shrugs as he squats. He flips the mattress on its side effortlessly, and you step back as you watch his arms flex under his sleeves. “Do you want to watch or help?”

You clear your throat quickly and walk to the other end. “Help,” you whisper.

“Do you trust me?” Tim asks dramatically.

“Run me into a wall and you’ll regret it,” you answer.

Tim scoffs before he instructs you to walk backward toward your front door. Within a few minutes, Tim has the mattress inside, out of its protective wrapping, and placed on your bedframe. He leans against the end of the mattress while you change, and rushes to hug you when you emerge.

“You’re happy today,” you murmur as you return his tight grip.

Tim hums in reply before he leads you to his truck. The bouquet waiting for you on the passenger seat makes you happy, but suspicious. His dropping by mid-morning to take you out isn’t inherently odd, but the rush to get you wherever it is he’s taking you is interesting.

Tim parks outside the restaurant he took you to the day you met. You said you loved the food, but Tim has been expanding your California taste by taking you to different restaurants on every date you’ve been on in the last two months.

“Are we going to go in?” you ask softly.

“Will you be my girlfriend?” he asks quickly.

You grab Tim’s hand as your smile grows. “Tim, look at me?” you request. When he turns his face and sees your smile, you answer, “I’d love to. Nothing would make me happier.”

“Really? Nothing?”

“Fine, not much would make me happier,” you correct with a chuckle.

“Thank you.”

“Is that the proper response?” you tease.

Tim rolls his eyes but leans across the console to kiss you before lunch. Moving to California was certainly life changing.

“You’ve been busy,” John says as he walks into your house.

“I know we’re family, but there’s this thing called knocking. It’s all the rage in Pennsylvania, you should try it,” you call from the kitchen.

“Then why’d you give me a key?”

“Because California is scary.”

John shakes his head as he joins your side. You shove him away from the oven before he can touch the food, and he scoffs as his hand raises to his chest.

“After every meal I’ve made for you!” he exclaims.

“Thanks for the mattress. I think you could’ve dropped it off a little nicer, but I appreciate it.”

“Where is it? I thought I’d be helping you carry it in when I came over.”

“One of my neighbors saw me staring at it and mumbling about how terrible you are and helped me get it in.”

“You let a stranger into your house?” John asks loudly. “Have you learned nothing?”

“John-“

“This is not Pennsylvania. We don’t know everyone and their dads. That was incredibly stupid. He could’ve been casing the place!”

“I never said it was a man,” you mumble.

“Okay, she could’ve been casing the place!”

“Hello?” Bailey asks from the front door. “Am I interrupting something?”

“No,” you answer while John yells, “She let a stranger in here!”

“Let her explain,” Bailey requests calmly.

“Thank you,” you tell her. “John, I know you’re worried about me, but I wouldn’t let anyone that I didn’t trust into my house. You know that.”

“And you trust your neighbors after two months?” he asks.

“When he’s my boyfriend, yes, I do,” you answer, tired of arguing with him.

Bailey looks between you and Nolan, and mouths Good job when you meet her eyes.

“Since when?” Nolan asks after a moment.

His voice is back to its normal level, and he’s your half-brother again, not a protective cop who thinks you’re in danger.

“Officially? A couple of hours. We’ve been dating for two months, though. We met the week I moved in,” you explain. “He helped me out. I didn’t tell him anything personal until I got to know him better, I promise.”

“I trust you, I do,” Nolan assures. “Sorry for yelling and worrying.”

“I want you to meet him soon, John. Just give me a little time, okay?”

“That sounds nice, and I won’t pry before then. Promise.”

“I will,” Bailey interjects. “What’s he like?”

“He’s amazing,” you answer.

Nolan lets his head fall back; he hasn’t listened to you talk about boys since you were in high school, and he thought he would never have to again. That doesn’t mean he isn’t happy for you, and you know that.

“Hey,” Tim greets as you open the door. “I brought your favorite snacks and popcorn.”

“I love you,” you sigh dreamily.

“Should’ve brought popcorn sooner,” he muses.

“I need to ask you something before we start the movie, though.”

Tim freezes in your kitchen.

“I didn’t say we need to talk, Tim. Just have something to ask,” you clarify. “It’s not bad.”

“Go ahead,” Tim agrees.

“Will you come over for dinner on Friday and meet my brother?” you ask, wringing your fingers together.

“Your brother?”

“Yeah. He’s- he’s all I have left since my mom died. I know that it’s a lot to ask-“

“Yes,” Tim interjects. “I’ll be here. Tell me what to bring.”

“That was easy,” you mumble.

“I have a hard time saying no to you,” Tim admits.

You smile, and Tim shakes his head. He points to the couch, and you walk away from him to get comfortable for movie night. You understand his dilemma completely. All you can do now is hope that John doesn’t do anything to push Tim away; you don’t think he wouldn’t do it on purpose, but he can be overbearing and protective.

Tim parks on the street in front of the house beside yours. He sits in his truck for a moment before he gets out. You told him he didn’t need to bring anything (repeatedly, because he asked a lot), yet he carries a case of your favorite drink as he approaches your driveway.

“Bradford?”

Tim looks up from the sidewalk and sees a familiar truck and face in your driveway.

“Nolan?” he asks.

“What are you doing here?” they ask simultaneously.

Neither answer but square their shoulders and stare at one another. They’re both protective, for different reasons, and the surprise of seeing each other brings that out. As they continue evaluating one another, trying to think of a logical explanation but failing because they’re thinking of you, the front door opens.

You step out and see your brother and boyfriend staring at one another in your driveway. They don’t look up, so you walk toward them. Your smile drops as your excitement evaporates. Maybe one of them said something or they came in with assumptions. Whatever is happening between them, you can’t risk losing either of them.

“Why is Tim Bradford here?” Nolan asks suddenly.

“I’m her boyfriend. Why are you here?” Tim counters.

“Boyfriend?!” Nolan repeats incredulously.

“Stop, both of you,” you say. “Just- just come in and I will explain everything.”

Tim tears his attention from John and follows you inside. He whispers an apology as he sets the drinks on your counter. When John walks in, though, Tim goes back to the hardened cop John knows. You’ve seen Tim’s protective side before, so you aren’t surprised by his change in attitude.

“Tim, John is my big brother. Half-brother, technically, but we’re incredibly close, so I wanted you to meet him. John, Tim is my boyfriend. We’ve been dating for a couple of months, so I thought it was time to let you meet him,” you explain.

“Why didn’t you tell me I worked with your boyfriend?” John asks.

“I didn’t know.”

“You didn’t tell her you were a cop?”  he asks Tim.

“He did,” you interrupt. “But he’s Metro, so I just assumed you hadn’t met. That one’s on me.”

“Well,” Tim begins, “nice to meet you, John.”

“What are you talking about?” John inquires.

“I’ve only met cop John, not brother John. Does he talk less?”

“More,” you mumble.

“That’s enough out of you,” John tells you.

“I have to go finish dinner,” you say. “Be nice.”

“I’m not going to give you the whole talk, but don’t hurt her,” John says quietly.

“I wouldn’t,” Tim promises. “I promise you that.”

“She’s happy. Thank you.”

“She’s amazing.”

“That’s because I raised her.”

Tim presses his lips together and slaps Nolan’s shoulder as he says, “No it’s not.”

“Thank you both for coming,” you say after you clear the table. “And I’m sorry for making everything awkward by not mentioning you to each other.”

“It’s not your fault,” Tim replies.

“You had no way of knowing,” John agrees. “We’ll stop fighting.”

“In front of you,” Tim says into his glass.

“I’ve got an early shift, so I have to head out,” John says as he stands.

He hugs you and says goodbye, and you walk him to the door before returning to Tim. You perch on his leg rather than sitting across from him now that you’re alone. He tilts his head to kiss you, and you relax against him. Dinner was both better and worse than you hoped. It worked out, though, and that’s what matters.

“I’m so glad you don’t act like your brother,” Tim says as you pull back.

“Don’t make this weird,” you reply as you lean in to kiss him again.

When you lean away and stand, Tim follows you wordlessly. You retrieve another drink from the case he brought but set it aside to wrap your arms over Tim’s shoulders.

“Who won the staring contest?” you ask.

“Clearly, I did. I wouldn’t have stayed otherwise,” he answers.

“You and John… you’re both protective, but you put that aside to do it together, or whatever that quiet conversation was. Thank you for giving me a chance.”

“I’m supposed to thank you. You’re the one who introduced me to your family. I just asked a yes or no question.”

“That’s not true. I met Kojo.”

Tim smiles as he pulls you closer. He and Nolan may not get along perfectly (who does? you remind yourself), but they both love you in their own ways. When Nolan said dreams come true in California, you thought it was a cheesy ploy to convince you to move, but he was right. Your dream is kissing you right now, and you’ve never been happier.