I Pretend You're Mine

17. Prove It

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Both Tim and Lucy were so heartbroken that they forgot about the tiny fact that all of their colleagues thought they were engaged.

When Lucy entered the station, she was greeted by well-meaning officers who kept congratulating her about her news. Aaron gushed for five whole minutes about how perfect Tim and Lucy are for each other and asked if they needed help planning the wedding. Through the swarm of kind cops, a warm hand settled on Lucy's shoulder, and she looked up to see Tim. As hard as it was to be around him, she was grateful that he was there with her, because she was so uncomfortable listening to everyone tell her how happy they were for her engagement- an engagement that was not even real. At least he could back her up in this situation the way he had so many times before.

"Hey, guy, thanks so much, but we really should change for shift," Tim said kindly to the group to free Lucy from what seemed to be torture for her, since he could see the hurt in her eyes behind the smile plastered on her face.

When they walked away far enough, she murmured, "Thanks."

"No problem," he responded tightly and escorted her to the women's locker room.

Sergeant Grey was waiting outside of the locker rooms for them with his arms crossed and his eyes narrowed. "My office. Now," he seethed then stalked towards his office with his officers in tow. He sank into his office chair while Tim and Lucy sat in chairs across from him at his desk. Grey sighed and knitted his fingers together, trying to calm himself down before he spoke. "I can't say I'm surprised to hear about you two...but, I'm disappointed nonetheless."

Lucy swallowed hard and Tim wanted to reach out and touch her, but he kept his hands to himself.

"You are two of my best officers in the entire station, and both of you know the rules. You're supposed to report a romantic relationship to Human Resources. There are rules about this for a reason so that there's not even a hint of impropriety here. Dating in secret? Getting engaged when no one even knew you two were together? It's against the rules, and more than that...we're close. You could've come to me and told me that you're in love. I could've helped. I would've wanted to help. You know that," Grey said unhappily.

Tim saw that Lucy was shifting uncomfortably in her chair, and he piped up. "It's all my fault, sir. Don't blame Chen for any of this."

"Tim," Lucy shook her head.

"We weren't even together until we left town last week. We weren't dating while on the job, and the rules for reporting a relationship are that it should be considered 'serious' when we go to H.R.," Tim pointed out and was grateful he knew every single rule.

"And now that you're engaged, I'm assuming it's serious," Grey connected the dots. "If that's the truth, then you won't face any backlash for this surprise engagement."

"It's the truth," Lucy promised. Nothing had really happened before they went to Carmel; before then, they kissed for work and maybe had a few charged moments, but nothing that could be considered a romantic relationship in any sense that anyone could prove whether or not her heart felt differently about their daily interactions and the time they almost slept together after returning from their undercover assignment.

"Okay, then...I feel a little bit better about the fact I already solved your problem," Grey said with a smile starting to stretch across his lips. "The second I found about your engagement, I knew you couldn't be in the same chain of command any more, so I called in a few favors, and I got Tim transferred to Metro Liaison Sergeant."

"Metro?" Tim asked excitedly. It was a cool division.

"You'll fit right in, and then you two can work at the same station so neither of you have to transfer."