Work Text:
A door slamming pulled Tim from his dream. Who could be here this early? His sleep-addled brain struggled to focus on something other than the warm curves of the woman wrapped around him. He closed his eyes and breathed in. She always smelled fantastic. It had been a while since they’d been this close, and, it was cheesy to say, but honestly he slept better with her by his side.
He craned his head to squint at the time on his bedside clock. A bright red 10 AM looked back at him. Did he forget to cancel the dog walker? She normally came a little later, but maybe she was early? He’d swapped two shifts with Hernandez, one of the other Patrol Sergeants, so she could make her kid’s orchestra performance, so he lucked out and got both Friday and Saturday off this week. Forgetting didn’t sound like him, but maybe. The noise in the house quieted and Tim relaxed. He’d probably just imagined it.
These sheets were pretty damn good, he thought as he willed himself back to sleep. He’d have to thank Ashely again for suggesting this brand. Tim had never been one for fancy homegoods. Isobel had paid stuff like that more mind than he did, but that wasn’t saying much. The first time Ashley had slept over, she’d promptly proclaimed that he needed to replace them and ordered him new sheets before she’d left the next morning. A box addressed to him had arrived three days later, two packages of buttery soft Brooklinen sheets at his front door.
His bed partner shifted slightly against him, her body curling more towards him and her leg slotting over his, just barely brushing against his groin. Morning sex was his favorite, he errantly thought, though he knew that wasn’t in the cards here. It didn’t stop him from appreciating her warmth against his thigh or the way her nose nuzzled against his collarbone.
"WHAT THE FUCK?" A loud voice punctured his attempt at falling back asleep and Tim's eyes shot open. It was as if a cold shower washed over him. His girlfriend stood at the end of his king size bed, shooting him daggers, before spinning on her heel and more or less stomping to the living room.
Kojo stood from his dog bed, growling in the direction Ashley had gone. Tim assumed that he was supposed to follow her. He glanced back at Lucy, who barely stirred. Not for the first time Tim thought she could probably sleep through an earthquake. He slid out from under her, trying his best not to enjoy the way her leg felt against his own as it slid from his hip, down his leg and off him.
Lucy, undoubtedly frustrated at being pulled from sleep, groaned quietly. "Tim?" She questioned.
He leaned down to brush a kiss on her brow. "It's okay. Go back to sleep." She nodded sleepily and burrowed back under the covers. He tucked the comforter in around her.
He heard a loud crash. That sounded like something glass breaking. Shit. Tim hoped it wasn’t his new tv. Kojo started barking at the disturbance. Tim snapped and pointed to the ground, causing the dog to sit, then flop back over, whining.
"I'll get her to stop. You go back to sleep too." Tim didn’t think it was possible, but he was pretty sure he saw Kojo roll his eyes.
Having stalled enough, Tim pulled on the first Tshirt from his drawer and followed Ashley out to the living room. She was pacing back and forth between the couch and the mantle. She’d thankfully not broken his tv, but instead the vase on the entryway table. Fuck, he’d need to make sure that was swept up before Kojo came out here.
He really wasn't sure how to handle this. He went for nonchalance, hoping that Ashley wouldn't light him on fire. “You’re here early. I thought we were supposed to meet for lunch at noon.”
“Don’t fucking try to distract me.” Well that didn't work. Her words were laced with venom. If she were within five feet, Tim was pretty sure he'd be covered in her spittle.
“I’m not, I just...” he started.
"Why the fuck is another woman, why is LUCY in your bed? She was fucking wrapped around you like a vine, Tim."
"Ash…" He knew how it looked. He barely knew how to explain it to himself really, let alone explain it to Ashley.
"Don't fucking 'Ash' me. I've been understanding, okay? I have been ridiculously understanding for someone who’s boyfriend has inside jokes with, shares secrets with, makes goddamn eyes at one of his employees. Tim, do you get that? She's your employee.“
"You don't understand what we've been through together." Of course Tim tried to backpedal. He didn’t even mean it defensively, but Ashley really will never understand. Even though they're both first responders, the things that he and Ashley see are worlds apart in terms of seriousness. Without even touching on everything he’s gone through with Lucy. Parts of his and Lucy's relationship existed between them, and them alone, and he couldn’t, he wouldn’t break Lucy's trust, even for his girlfriend.
"Then explain it to me, Tim. Every time I bring it up, you say some cagey, charming thing to make me forget. I don’t think you're not intentionally gaslighting me, by pretending there's nothing there between the two of you. But honestly if you think the two of you are in a purely platonic relationship, you're fucking lying to yourself.”
Tim sighed. Of course he’d felt things towards Lucy. How could he not? Setting aside how beautiful she was - of course he knew she was beautiful. He had eyes - an intimacy had grown between them during their three years together. At first it had been that of a partner (even though he wouldn’t have admitted that even at gunpoint while she was a boot). Everything with her kidnapping had changed things, making him realize how much he couldn’t imagine his life without her. He still only considered her a friend, hedging towards best friend as time went on, and he was fine with that being all there ever was between them. Really, he was.
Angela’s kidnapping and Jackson’s death forced Tim to come to terms with how precious she truly was to him. They’d leaned on one another hard after that horrible weekend.
“I don’t know what to tell you, Ashley. We’ve gone through things that I can’t share, that aren’t mine to tell.”
“That’s bullshit, and you know it.”
“Oh I see. You’ll never consider me your partner, because you already have one.” Tim felt like he should object to make Ashley feel better. But honestly she was right and he didn’t feel guilty. Lucy was his person, and, even if nothing ever happened romantically between them, she’d always be a priority to him.
“Ash, I won’t lie to you. Lucy’s always gonna be important to me.”
“Well that’s my answer then, isn’t it?” Tim shrugged. He liked dating Ashley, but at the end of the day, Lucy was more important. At his silent answer, Ashley became enraged again. “Fuck you, fuck your mean dog, and fuck your fucking little girlfriend.I hope you have a great life together,” she shouted at him before picking up the bowl on the coffee table and hurling at his tv, then slamming her way out the front door. He heard her car start in the driveway and her gun it down the street.
Tim made his way back to the bedroom, shutting the door behind him as he entered. He leaned back against it and faced Lucy.
She knelt on the floor next to the bed, scratching Kojo’s ears. For such a tough-looking dog, he was a coward when it came to loud noises, so he was thankful she’d been there to comfort him. She sent Tim a curious look.
“She threw that vase from the foyer. It’s all over and I don’t want the boy to step in it.”
“Well you hated that vase, so that’s no loss.” Tim snorted.
“That’s true. The tv though…” Lucy winced.
“How much of that’d you hear?”
She looked back up at him guiltily. “Pretty much all of it. I missed the first little bit because my brain wasn’t quite awake yet, but I got the gist.”
Tim went to sit on the foot of the bed, a few feet away from where she sat. “Fuck.” He put his head in his hands.
Lucy shifted to sit on the floor, her back against the bed. She leaned her head against Tim’s thigh. She gently scratched the inside of his knee through his pajama bottoms. He felt an electric shock zip up his spine with her movement. He knew she meant it as comforting, but from where she was sitting on the ground, with the earnest look she was shooting up at him… it reinforced that he’d wanted more from her for a long time, he just hadn’t been brave enough to say it. She already freely gave him comfort, but he wanted everything with her.
“It’s okay, Tim. You’re my partner, too,” she said, cupping his knee.
“Wait, come up here. I have something to say to you,” Tim reached down, pulling Lucy up by her underarms. She perched on the edge of the bed next to him, her posture indicating she was clearly expecting bad news. Her knee was wedged between them, keeping her far too apart for his liking. He reached his right hand over, wrapping it around her neck and forcing her to look at him.
“I love you, Luce. I think I have for a long time, and I’ve been too chickenshit to tell you. I don’t know what that means for us, what the answers are about work, but I want to try. With you.” There. He laid it all on the line. If she didn’t feel the same way, at least he would have said his piece.
Lucy’s eyes became glassy as she held his gaze. “I want to do that too.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh, thank god,” Tim said, using his hand to pull Lucy’s mouth to his. It was like coming home. She pivoted, kneeling on her right leg to straddle him. He was pretty sure he could stay like this forever.
Kojo barked sharply from their feet, spinning in circles. Lucy laughed, breaking their kiss.
“He’s happy for us!”
“He’s a dog. He does not know what just happened.”
“You’re totally wrong,” she pecked him on the lips. “It’s a good thing you’re cute.” Kojo barked again, this time at the door.
“Okay, bud. We get it, you wanna go outside. Why doesn’t your mom take you outside, and I’ll try to clean up the glass in the living room?”
“First one back to the shower loses?” Lucy proposed, smiling at him with her lip caught between her teeth.
“Oh, you’re SO on…”