Chapter Text
It all started on her last day as a rookie.
Tim blew out a puff of powder and looked up as Lucy sauntered away with Jackson. She was ruining his plans with her little gift. Pulling his phone out he navigated to his messages and typed out a quick note. He looked up as she was just opening her door.
“Hey, Chen!” He called and she whirled around.
“Yeah, Tim?” She asked still grinning.
“Check your messages,” he says then gets in his car. He sees her going to dig into her bag as he drives off, giving a peace sign to Jackson.
Tim: I know you aren’t celebrating til tomorrow. Pick you up in an hour since I now have to TAKE A WHOLE ASS SHOWER thanks to you. Wear something athletic, warm, and dark.
Confused, Lucy looked up at Jackson who was watching her curiously.
“What’d it say?” he asked, peering over to try and see.
“He’s picking me up in an hour to go do something…I guess we’re…celebrating?” She frowned looking around the parking lot, “Am I being punked?”
“Well you’ll never know til you follow the instructions…” Jackson looks at his watch, “Annnd…you’re down to 50 minutes, so you better get moving. I don’t think his obsessive need for punctuality has changed just cuz you’re not his rookie anymore.”
Lucy rolled her eyes in exasperation, climbing into the driver’s seat as Jackson got in on the other side, “I should totally just come outside in an hour and 10 minutes just to annoy him.”
Jackson snorted, “Oh that conversation would be fun.” He looked over at her as she pulled out of the garage with a smirk, “And you’re totally going to do it aren’t you? You two like live for pushing each other’s buttons.”
Lucy giggled joyfully as she turned off to head to their apartment.
An hour later she was pulling a hoodie over her head when her phone started buzzing. Shoving the sweatshirt the rest of the way on, she reached for it on the kitchen island, quickly swiping to answer.
“I’m coming, I’m coming,” she said in a huff.
“Listen Chen I’m doing something nice for you, the least you could do is be on time. I had to wash that god awful powder off my face, and I still made it here with five minutes to spare.” Tim’s reprimanding yet amused voice boomed through the speakerphone and Lucy looked up at Jackson who was watching her and silently shaking his head at their banter. She grinned as she scooped up her keys and purse. Tim knew she was going to be late.
“Hey, it takes time to look this good!”
Tim scoffed and she could practically hear his eye roll through the phone, “You know you look good all the time Chen…Except when you haven’t had coffee.”
She sucked her teeth, still grinning as she opened the door, “See what I heard was…a compliment.”
“Would you just come on already!? We’re gonna be late!” He complained. Lucy turned back to Jackson rolling her eyes.
“I’m walking out now. See you later, Jackson!” She heard him call out ‘Have fun!’ as she door shut behind her.
A few moments later, Lucy was climbing into the passenger seat of Tim’s truck. Dropping her bag to the ground in front of her, she buckled up looking over at him as he waited to hear the ‘click’ before he pulled off.
“Are you going to tell me where we’re going? What are we late for?”
Tim glanced over at her, “If I haven’t told you already, what makes you think I’m gonna tell you now? Just wait and see.”
“Tiiiim!” Lucy whined, “You know I hate surprises. Especially your surprises.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” He looked mildly offended.
Lucy cocked her head at him, wondering if he was serious, “Come on, your surprises typically end up with me either stranded, digging through sex toys or cleaning a bunch of baby powder off my face.”
“In all fairness, your surprises either have me stranded with no money, out on a date or also cleaning a bunch of powder off my face, so I’d say we have a clean slate.” Tim rolled his eyes jokingly as he pulled onto the freeway. Neither mentioned her most obvious prank from that day. It was better to avoid talking of feelings altogether. They were friends. At least he could safely say that now.
She snorted at his comeback, conceding to his point, “Fine, we’re even. Although if I don’t like this surprise, you should sleep with one eye open.”
“Whatever, Chen. You’ll like it, trust me.” Tim said cockily.
Lucy didn’t comment, but instead opted to mess with Tim’s radio, ignoring him when he started complaining. He had satellite radio which gave her so many options. Landing on the 90s pop station, she started singing along, losing herself in the lyrics that made her nostalgic for her childhood. At one point she even caught Tim rapping along to one of the hip-hop songs that came on and she ribbed him incessantly, though she secretly loved seeing him let his guard down. It confirmed her beliefs that underneath all that harsh stoicism was a fun-loving guy.
A half-hour later, Tim pulled his truck into the parking lot on the perimeter of a wooded area, his tires crunching on the gravel. Lucy glanced out the window, noting the tall trees and few people milling about, dressed in tactical gear. Cutting the engine off, Tim turned to her with a grin. "Surprise," he said, nodding towards a weathered sign that read "Paintball Zone."
Her eyes widened in realization and excitement. "You didn’t!" she exclaimed, a smile spreading across her face.
Tim grinned at her, getting out and opening the back door to dig into the large duffel in the backseat, revealing their gear. "Ready for some nighttime fun?" he asked, handing her a vest.
“Oh hell yeah!” She took the vest from him and looked at it, hesitating, “Did you take these from the station?”
He cut his eyes at her innocently, “It was from the old stock that they use for training. No one will miss ‘em.” Lucy watched him in amusement, putting the vest on over her hoodie. Tim handed her a camo jacket to go over it.
“Did you buy this for me?” She looked at him softly. Had Tim really gone through these lengths to celebrate her?
“Don’t make it weird. If I told you to bring your camo jacket, you’d know what we were doing.”
Lucy kept staring at him, a dopey grin on her face, touched that he had taken the opportunity to plan something for her. She put it on, noticing that it was a perfect fit, and read anything into it, given that he could have found the information from her extra uniform. He handed her the rest of the protective gear, followed by a mask.
Both ready, they went to check in at the field house, receiving their play instructions and field map, paintball guns and extra pods, and met the other players. It was a special night event, and they were one of 8 teams.
Tim and Lucy stood at the edge of the field, the breeze warm against their skin. The sunset cast a glow over the clearing where the paintball game would begin. The trees and underbrush created a maze of shadows and hiding spots, perfect for a night game.
“Ok, Chen…you are calling the shots tonight. I will follow your lead.” Tim adjusted his jacket, “But I’m counting on you to not get us too messy, alright? We’ve got somewhere to be after this.”
Lucy grinned, the excitement in her eyes unmistakable as she brought her mask down, then she realized what he said and brought it up swiftly, looking at Tim in shock, “Wait, what? We’ve got somewhere to go after this? Tim!” Tim grinned waggling his eyebrows, but otherwise ignored her and pulled his mask down.
“You ready for this?!” He asked, not taking on her questions.
She huffed, rolling her eyes as she pulled down her mask, “Just try to keep up.”
Guns loaded with glowing paint they moved quietly into the forest, each team in their own starting locations. The loudspeaker counted down the game start and they were off. The only sounds were the rustling of leaves and the distant thud of paintballs hitting trees.
Staying low, they crept through the course, using the darkness to their advantage. Suddenly, a volley of paintballs zipped past them, splattering against a nearby tree. They ducked behind a large rock, adrenaline pumping.
“What’s next, Chen?” Tim asked.
Lucy smirked. “Time to return the favor.” She leaned out, spotting a set of players hiding behind a fallen log. With a quick shot, she hit one, the paint glowing brightly against their dark clothing.
"Nice!" Tim said, firing a few rounds to cover Lucy as she moved to a better position.
The game was fast and intense. The sun had set and they were relying on the night vision in their masks to aid them. They dodged through trees, leapt over logs, and fired paintballs in quick succession, taking out teams left and right with Lucy leading the charge. The forest was alive with the sounds of the game, the glow of paint marking their progress.
With the flag in sight, Lucy whispered, "Cover me." Tim nodded and fired a barrage of shots to distract the remaining opponents. Lucy sprinted forward, grabbed the flag, and dashed back to their base.
The game ended with Lucy sounding a foghorn, signaling their victory.
"We did it!" Lucy said, her smile wide as she and Tim high-fived to celebrate their win. Panting and laughing, they pulled off their masks, exhilarated by the night’s adventure as they walked back to the fieldhouse to turn in their equipment.
They looked a bit disheveled but exhilarated. Their jackets have small splatters of paint in various colors but are speckled rather than heavily smeared, showing that they avoided direct hits. Their faces are flushed with excitement, a few smudges of paint dotting their cheeks and foreheads.
Tim grinned back. "Again, you did it Chen." Lucy preened under the praise, unaccustomed to getting it, let alone from Tim.
She ducked her head slightly, a little smile on her face, “Thanks Tim.”
“Alright come on…let’s get back to my car. We can’t be late!” He sets off quickly, Lucy hurrying behind him under the weight of the vest, the gear in her hands.
“Wait! Tim! Do you at least have a towel or handy-wipes or something?” They stopped at his car, taking off their gear and throwing it back into the duffle bag.
He stopped as he opened the door to his truck, turning to Lucy to take in her appearance, “You did a good job making sure we stayed out of the line of fire. Get in, there are some wipes in the glove compartment.”
Lucy spent the car ride with her face in the mirror, trying to get every speck of paint off of her face, while complaining to Tim that he should have told her they had another destination so she could have brought a change of clothes.
“Would you relax, boot? If you really needed a change of clothes I would have prepared you for it. We don’t need to change.” Tim glanced over at her as he pulled into a parking lot. “You look fine.”
She cut her eyes over at him as she reapplied her lip gloss, “Not your boot anymore, Tim.”
Tim just smirked at her as he shut off the car, “We’re here. Come on.” Lucy grabbed her bag and looked around as they exited the car. It was a parking lot for their local cop bar.
“We’re having drinks? Why didn’t you just tell me?” Tim didn’t respond and held the door so she could walk ahead of him through the entrance. Lucy was looking back at him, her expression waiting for a response.
“Hey P2!” Lucy whirled around to see Jackson waving her over from a large high-top table with Nolan, Lopez and Harper. Lucy shrieked in delight and hurried over to the group, hugging Jackson as Tim brought up the rear.
“You guyyys! Did you really organize team drinks to celebrate us?” She cocked her head at the two female TOs in front of her, looking around to try and find Tim who had seemingly disappeared.
Harper raised her eyebrows, “Don’t look at me, this one still has time on his clock and I’m not that nice.”
A glass appeared in front of Lucy’s face interrupting her questions. A Paloma. Her favorite.
Tim.
Taking the offered drink, she turned to see him standing next to her, taking a swing of his beer with the other hand. She narrowed her eyes at him playfully and then turned to Lopez.
“This was all pretty boy over there.” She said gesturing towards Tim. Lucy looked over at him with a grin, and he just smiled back, but didn’t acknowledge his role in this part of the evening. Conversation flowed easily after that, the three newer officers regaling the group with stories of their craziest experiences during their rookie year, and each of the TO’s offering up a few of their own, much to their delight.
Tim and Lucy sat next to each other, in sync as they always were, Tim taking the opportunity to get a second and final round since all but he and Angela were on shift the next day. The conversation turned to more random topics and Jackson saw his opening.
“So,” Jackson interjected, still chuckling from listening to Nolan’s story about a concert he had been tricked into going to with Pete, “What did you two get up to before you graced us with your presence?” He directed his question at Lucy whose eyes lit up as she prepared to gush about their evening.
“Oooo, we went night paintballing!” She took a sip of her drink as all eyes jumped to Tim. Angela’s were narrowed in suspicion. If the rookie class got along, generally they would take them out for one drink if they made it through and Angela or Talia always had to coax Tim to go.
He’d roll his eyes and cross his arms, saying: They made it to P2 and everyone clapped at roll call, isn’t that celebration enough?
The fact that he was the one to initiate the plan for celebration drinks was already miraculous, but now to discover he also organized a separate outing for him and Lucy that sounded remarkably like a date? It was fishy.
“Night paintballing, huh? Where was our invite, huh Tim?” Angela wasn’t letting him off the hook on this one, “What were you afraid to lose to La Adelita? And you know Harper’s just as good of a shot as you. And West isn’t too shabby.”
“Hey! What about me?” Nolan piped up, sounding slightly offended.
“Do we need to remind you about the scuba guy, boot?” Nyla said dryly and Nolan clamped his mouth shut, while the others let out a laugh.
“Again, I ask…where was our invite, Timothy?” Angela wasn’t letting him off the hook, “I’ve never been paintballing before, it looks fun.”
“Oh! It’s so much fun! And it was even better because I finally got to call the shots! The last couple of times we went Tim led the team or we joined a larger group. But this time, it was only teams of two and I led us to victory. Annnnd he got us night vision goggles, which were really cool!” Lucy’s excitement was infectious and Tim smiled down at her for a moment and then caught himself, looking back up.
Straight into Lopez’s narrowed eyes.
“The last couple of times? Exactly how many times have you guys play paintball?” For a moment Tim felt caught. He has treated Lucy differently than any of his other rookies. But, so what? He could admit to himself now now that they were friends.
So he rolled his eyes, replying nonchalantly, “I don’t know, a few times? She made me go when she was obsessed with finding me a hobby.”
“I was not obsessed!” Lucy exclaimed indignantly.
“You were too obsessed!” Tim shot back, “Who was the one who suddenly informed me that they had signed me up for a membership?”
“You make more money than me! I wasn’t gonna pay for it!”
“You’re pick pocketing abilities are scary.”
“It’s not my fault you didn’t change where you keep your money clip after the first time.” Lucy took a sip looking innocent.
“I didn’t think I needed to worry about you going for it again!”
“And just where do you keep your money clip, Bradford?” Harper asked, her tone amused.
“Yeah, it sounds like it’s a mighty interesting place,” Jackson wiggled his eyebrows.
“Watch it boot,” Tim said sternly, pointing at Jackson with the neck of his beer bottle, Lucy giggling.
“Yeah, your TO voice isn’t going to work anymore. I’m a P2, you’re friends with my roommate, and we’re out having drinks. It’s too late.” Jackson looked at him pointedly and Angela snorted in laughter, knowing Jackson had him. Tim shook his head to himself, knowing that anything else would just open him up to more scrutiny and teasing. He had dug himself a big enough hole with this evening.
Lucy took in his silence with glee, “See! You can never deny it, Tim. I told you we were friends.”
“Whatever,” he didn’t take the bait. He could think it, she could say it, but he wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of verbalizing it in front their friends and co-workers, “We should get going. Everything’s already paid for. West, am I giving you a ride?”
Jackson shook his head, “No, sir. Thanks. I’ve got some other plans.”
Lucy’s eyes lit up as she hopped off her stool to stand in front of Tim, “Oooo, can’t wait to hear about it! See you guys tomorrow!”
Jackson laughed, eyeing the pair, “Yeah, same here.” Lucy smiled, misunderstanding his reference as she grabbed her bag.
“Let’s go boot, I’ve gotta make sure your dog didn’t destroy my house. See you guys in a day or so. I’m off tomorrow.” They bid everyone farewell, turning to go and everyone heard Lucy’s voice as she complained to Tim.
“Why is Kojo always my dog when he’s bad? You could just say he ours!”
Tim stopped, waiting for her short legs to catch up, “You were the one who couldn’t train him. So he’s yours when he’s bad.”
She rolled her eyes, “Your scary TO voice just scares people into submission.”
He raised an eyebrow, “Is that what happens, hmm?” Lucy’s mouth opened and closed, as she stood rooted in shock, realizing what she had said. She finally caught herself as Tim’s face broke out into a smile, laughing as he pointed at her.
“Ugh, Tim!” She smacked him on the bicep and he dodged, still laughing, completing the rest of the walk to exit the door.
The rest of the group sat dumfounded as they watched the pair exit the door. Jackson turned to the other three.
“Y’all saw that right? Like it wasn’t just me?” He asked pointedly.
Harper snorted, “That was about as subtle as a damn car crash.”
“Are they like…dating?” Nolan asked, his eyes wide.
Angela rolled her eyes at him, scoffing, “I mean, they totally are, they just don’t know it.”
“It’s actually kind of pitiful.” Harper added, Jackson and Angela nodding in agreement.
“Seriously, and you!” Angela pointed at Jackson, “You live with the woman, how did you not know about this little paintballing tradition?! I could have been giving Tim shit for much longer!”
“I don’t know! We don’t know everything that goes on in each other’s lives! You better believe I’ll be giving her shit about that too. The real question is…when are they going to actually admit that they are hot for each other.” Jackson said devilishly.
“Please,” Harper scoffed, “I may not have been around that long, but even I can tell that those two are DEEP in denial.”
“Yeah, plus Tim has been burned hard in the past. And from what I remember so has Lucy. They might need to be smacked in the face with it.” Angela said.
Harper considered it, “Yeah, but you’re going to have to get them to smack themselves with it. That’s the only way there will be any movement with those two.”
“Ummm, excuse me, but haven’t we forgotten about the fact that he was her training officer?” Nolan raised his hand, ever the boy scout.
“Shhh, shut it boot. We only cross that bridge when we must.” Angela sassed him, “First we need to get them to admit their feelings.”