Dodging Bullets (Figuratively.)

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"He told me he loves me. Tim Bradford told me loves me," Lucy thinks, still dumbfounded.

"Shit..." Lucy mumbles quietly to herself as her fellow officers start flooding into the briefing room.

John plops himself down next to her and beams.

"Mornin, Luce!"

"Morning," she responds, trying to sound as calm as possible.

"You okay?"

Well,  fuck, that didn't work.

"Yeah, haha. I'm all good! Just uh...rough night!"

John eyes her for a moment before turning his attention to Grey.

"This is gonna be harder than I thought," Lucy begins to stress.

⊹⊹⊹

As soon as Grey stops talking, Lucy almost trips over her own feet as she hurriedly makes her way out of the briefing room and to her shop.

Tim attempts at a wave before she scurries out into the garage, but Lucy doesn't even glance in his direction.

"Damn, she straight armed you," Aaron snickers.

"Get the war bags, Aaron. Not another word," Tim barks as his face flushes.

⊹⊹⊹

The rest of Tim's shift is practically hell on Earth.

Lucy spends the entirety of it avoiding so much as walking in the same direction as him.

⊹⊹⊹

Tim's eyes scan the station, somewhat frantically, before he finally spots Lucy walking briskly into the gym.

He makes note of where she is and goes into the locker room to shower and change out.

⊹⊹⊹

Tim steps into the gym, stopping just shy of the doorway which he leans against as he watches Lucy throw a few punches at the punching bag.

He admires her stature: her muscular calves, her pillowy thighs, her toned stomach.

And his eyes linger on her DOD tattoo, astonished that she kept it.

Lucy eventually stops, biting the strap of the gloves and pulling it off.

"What'd that punching bag do to you?" Tim snickers.

Lucy jumps at the sound of his voice before chuckling nervously.

He begins to step closer to her, and she reacts by walking slightly away from him to grab her water bottle that was a couple feet away from the punching bag.

"You avoiding me or something?" Tim finally asks.

"What? Psh, of course not!" Lucy scoffs unconvincingly, "It's just been a long day."

Tim nods sarcastically as he practically appears directly behind her, grabbing her forearm. Lucy whips her head around as his hand seems to burn a hole in her skin.

"Long day, huh?" Tim presses, his voice low and husky.

Lucy's throat goes dry and Tim's grip tightens slightly. She refuses to meet his eyes that are searing into hers.

"Lucy," he hisses, making her wince.

She bites her bottom lip, making Tim's eyes fly down to her pretty little mouth.

"Is this about what happened at the bar?" he finally continues nervously.

Lucy shakes her head 'no' and looks down at her feet, "No, something else."

"Just tell me, Lucy."

Lucy parts her lips as if to speak, but nothing comes out. Her mind races with every possible ending to this conversation, and she resents them all.

"I can't," Lucy manages to whisper before wriggling out of Tim's grasp.

She grabs her keys and practically runs out of the gym, leaving Tim standing there in confusion.

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