When Lucy emerges from her room 20 minutes later, showered, dressed, and as ready to take on the world as she can be given how her day started, she finds Tim again leaning back against the kitchen island, this time with a cup of coffee resting on the counter at his side.
He holds it out to her, the corners of his mouth turning up slightly. "The place on the corner didn't have a Chai tea latte, but I told them not to be shy with the cream and sugar."
The sweetness of the unexpected gesture is enough to give new life to the well of emotion she'd worked so hard to tamp down under the spray of the shower. Kindness from Tim is always something that manages to unbalance her, such a stark contrast to the tough love TO approach that's defined so much of their dynamic in the past that she often doesn't know what to do with it, isn't sure of how to even begin to process how it makes her feel. She swallows before forcing a smile and reaching to take the cup from him, pausing at the moment their fingers brush in the handoff and looking directly into his eyes to make sure he knows she's referring to more than just the coffee, "Thanks."
She half expects his customary dismissal of any gratitude from her, as if whatever he's done is nothing, that anyone would do the same, but he instead simply acknowledges her with a slight nod.
***
At the station, Angela envelops Lucy in a warm hug, and Lucy is again brought to the brink of tears in response to the kindness. But she quickly swallows the emotion back, knowing she owes it to Tamara to keep it together and to do whatever she can to help find whoever it is that did this to her.
Lucy vaguely recognizes the other detective in the room with them, Rita Calderon, as the detective that had given Angela a hard time, before ultimately coming around and putting in a good word for her to get the hard-earned promotion.
"I hate to say it, Lucy, but we don't have very much to go on at this point. So anything you can tell us about Tamara — any trouble she could be in, anyone that may have wanted to hurt her, could really help us."
Lucy shakes her head. "I don't know. I just — I still can't believe this. She's a good kid. She's really turning her life around."
Angela pins Lucy with her gaze. "Didn't she steal your car, Lucy? Is it possible she could have done something like that to someone else who may have been less forgiving than you were?"
Lucy sighs and nods; Angela's tone is gentle, but the message is loud and clear: looking at this situation through rose-colored glasses isn't going to do Tamara any favors.
"She called me about two months ago; she was pretty upset and scared. Her cousin Scott had kicked her out of his apartment. He didn't get violent, but he was pretty angry with her. She said it was because his girlfriend didn't want her in the apartment, but honestly, it seemed like there was more to it. I don't know — I just got a really bad vibe from him, and Tamara was pretty close-lipped about the whole thing. She did seem to think she was relatively safe at his place up to that point, but of course, relatively is the key word. She didn't exactly have many options."
Rita nods. "Yeah — we actually brought her cousin in for initial questioning a bit earlier. He's got a record — petty misdemeanors, mostly — but it was enough for us to bring him in. His girlfriend is vouching for him; she says they were together all night at his apartment up until mid-morning."
Lucy frowns, knowing that a confirmed alibi will likely send them looking for other suspects before allocating more resources to investigate Scott. "So is that it, then? You believe them?"
She catches Rita shooting Angela a look and knows she isn't ingratiating herself by questioning their ability to investigate the case. Her emotions are clouding her judgment, and she knows she needs to keep them in check if she wants to be kept in the loop. "Look, I know I'm not giving you anything concrete to go on, but I do think something was going on at that apartment between the three of them that's worth digging into."
Angela nods reassuringly. "And that's why you're here Lucy — we want you to tell us anything you think could be relevant. We'll keep looking into it, but we also do need to get a better understanding of what the motive could be."
Lucy nods, feeling increasingly frustrated that nothing obvious is coming to mind. "She mentioned some kids at school — they were giving her a hard time when she was living on the street, but it sounded like typical high school bullying. I know she went in and out of several shelters and kept getting her stuff stolen. I can try and get you the names..."
The rest of their conversation continues on this way — Lucy struggling to grasp at any tidbits of information Tamara had shared with her in the past, trying to make sense of a situation that continues to make no sense at all in her own mind, and feeling like she's offering the detectives very little of actual value to work with.
As they wrap up their conversation, Angela makes a final comment, "Lucy — I almost forgot. We weren't able to find her phone at the scene, and we did an initial check of her apartment as well. We'll need to do a more thorough search, but no sign of a phone or computer or anything so far."
Lucy straightens, relieved to finally have something substantial to contribute. "That girl is always glued to her phone — I can't imagine she didn't have it with her when..." Lucy trails off, heart dropping as she contemplates the end of her sentence before mentally shaking herself. "She does have a laptop, and actually — you know what? It may even be right here — at the front desk!"
Lucy jumps to her feet, and Angela and Rita follow as she continues to explain, "She got into the habit of leaving it here when she was living with her cousin, and she still does it sometimes if she's planning to go to the library after school. She met me here before my night shift so we could grab dinner — there's a chance she may have left it then."
"Nice!" Angela exclaims as the officer at the desk retrieves the laptop upon Lucy's request. "This is great, Lucy — thank you. It would have been literally right under our noses, and we'd never have known."
Her elation at having delivered the laptop to the detectives is short-lived as she mulls back over the conversation in her mind, realizing with a sinking feeling the complete lack of solid leads at this point. She makes her way back to the bullpen, where Tim is working on the paperwork he'd abandoned during his earlier shift. He looks up as she approaches, "How'd it go?"
Lucy shrugs and briefly recaps the unproductive conversation, dropping into the chair across from him. "Anyway, they said her cousin, Scott, has an alibi, but I just know there's something there, Tim," she finishes.
Tim watches her with an unreadable expression before nodding slowly. "You've got good instincts, Chen. Angela knows that. If she said they'll keep working that angle, they will. And they've got the laptop now, thanks to you — that's not nothing."
Lucy sighs heavily, shaking her head in resignation, "I just — I feel so useless. I should be able to do more. I should know more. How could this have happened when she was literally living with me just a few days ago? How could I not have known she was in trouble, Tim?"
She doesn't vocalize it, but she's also questioning what she may have missed during her time undercover and entrenched in the search for Angela — to say she had been consumed with work during the time Tamara was living with her was an understatement.
"She's a teenager, Lucy. They're literally wired to not tell you anything that's going on in their lives. And listen to me — hey, look at me," he taps her arm with his pen, voice taking on a slightly more authoritative Tim tone, "I mean it, Lucy. This isn't your fault. You've done more for Tamara than anyone else has in a very long time. The last thing you should be feeling right now is guilt. You are the one person in her life that didn't let her down. Don't forget that."
Lucy nods, but though his words are meant to ease her guilt, they just serve to remind Lucy that she is literally the only person in Tamara's corner, the only person that will fight for her for as long as she isn't able to fight for herself.
Tim can tell she isn't fully hearing him from the distant expression in her eyes. He closes the folder on his paperwork. "You ready to head to the hospital?"
Lucy nods, "I am. But Tim, I can grab an Uber. I know you've got work to do — you don't have to chauffeur me around all day."
Tim ignores her objection as he moves to put his paperwork away, fixing her with a look, "Don't be a contrarian, Lucy."
Lucy rolls her eyes, but can't suppress a small smile. "I'm not being a contrarian," she grumbles after Tim as he leads the way out to the garage.
***
Even though the update is what she's expecting, it's still a punch in the gut to hear firsthand about the blood loss that has left Tamara in a coma and the uncertainty surrounding her prognosis. The nurse warns Lucy that visitation policies are far stricter in the ICU than in other parts of the hospital and seems to falter about whether she should allow Lucy in to visit at all, until Tim steps in, gently pushing Lucy to the side as he leans over the desk to catch the nurse's eye. Like most women with a pulse, her reaction betrays an attraction to Tim that is hardly unexpected, but Lucy still finds herself stifling the urge to scoff at his overwhelming display of ego, even if this time he's using his powers for good rather than evil. Did he learn nothing from the Nelle incident?
"Look, Nancy — it's Nancy, right? Hi — I'm Tim." The nurse's cheeks redden slightly as she accepts Tim's extended hand. "I understand you're just doing your job, and that you're only supposed to allow family into the ICU, but trust me when I say Officer Chen here is the closest thing to family Tamara has. Do you think there's any way you could make an exception? Just this once?"
***
If there's any part of Lucy that hasn't yet accepted the reality of Tamara's situation, it's long gone once Lucy sees her lying in the ICU bed, connected to more machines and monitors than she can count. As she reaches to squeeze her limp hand, Lucy is rattled by just how fragile and young she looks, with none of her trademark brashness on display to act as a defense against a world that had long since proven to her that armor wasn't optional.
Lucy feels foolish now, realizing that she had allowed herself to hope that Tamara was finally getting to a place where she could start to relax some of her defenses, to actually begin to experience some of her youth without the full weight of survival sitting on her shoulders at every turn. To instead end up here, by her bedside, as Tamara fights for her life is an almost unbearably cruel twist of fate. "Who did this to you, Tamara?"
***
Lucy is uncharacteristically quiet on the ride back to her apartment. She can feel Tim's gaze drift towards her periodically, but she's too emotionally drained to engage in conversation.
Finally, as he pulls up in front of her apartment building, he breaks the silence, "Are you going to be okay?"
Lucy nods distractedly, "Yeah, Tim. I'll be fine. Thank you. Seriously. For everything today."
Tim watches her closely, "What are you going to do now?"
Lucy snorts, "God. I don't know, Tim. Eat. Call Jackson. Sleep. Did I need your permission?"
Tim ignores her snark, "Not if that's actually what you're going to do. Look, Lucy, I know how hard it is to sit back and do nothing when someone you care about gets hurt. And I know how tempting it can be to want to take things into your own hands. Just— promise me that you'll call me if— just don't do anything related to this case without talking to me first, okay?
Lucy frowns, "I'm not an idiot, Tim. And I don't need a babysitter."
"I didn't say you were. Lucy, look, if you don't want to deal with me, then talk to Angela. She's going to figure out who did this."
"Yeah. Okay. I will. But I'll be fine, Tim. You don't need to worry."
"Who says I'm worried?" he scoffs unconvincingly, the worry he's denying clearly painted across his face.
***
He's not sure what specifically compels him to stick around her apartment after he drops her off. Maybe it was her haphazard dismissal of his concerns as he tried to warn her off investigating on her own. Maybe it's just the fact that he knows her too damn well to realistically expect her to go upstairs to a night of take-out and a bubble bath while someone she loves is fighting for their life. Maybe it's that he knows exactly what he would do if the tables were turned.
Regardless, while he isn't exactly surprised when Lucy's car pulls out of her parking garage less than 15 minutes later, he is somewhat disappointed. He'd really hoped she trusted him enough to be honest with him.
He tails her to a rundown apartment building across town, waiting and watching her from across the street as she waits and watches the building.
Eventually, she seems to decide the lack of activity on the street and in and out of the building is good enough for whatever she has planned and she hops out of her car, surveying the area once more before heading up the stairs to the second level apartments, periodically checking over her shoulder along the way.
Tim grumbles to himself when he sees her peek through the windows of a second-floor apartment before knocking on the door, "Come on, Lucy. What are you doing?" After a few moments, she jiggles the doorknob before moving back to one of the windows. He picks up his phone and dials her number, frowning as he sees her immediately dismiss the call and silence her phone before sticking it back into her pocket.
He briefly debates his options, watching in disbelief as she yanks the screen off of one of the windows, managing to force it open after a brief struggle before scrambling into the apartment.
"Fuck, " he curses to himself, retrieving his gun before swiftly exiting his car, and taking a quick survey of the surrounding area before following Lucy's path to the upstairs apartment.
He groans as he approaches what turns out to be a bathroom window, knowing it's going to be a much tighter fit for him to enter the same way, but also knowing there's no way in hell he's going to let her go off the rails like this alone.
Checking again for onlookers, he lifts the window that Lucy's left slightly open and hisses into the apartment, "Lucy!"
When there's no response he sighs heavily before heaving himself through the window, awkwardly squirming his upper body through the tight opening until he's tumbling through directly into the tub with an audible "Ooomph!" and far less grace than he'd prefer for an entrance that is supposed to be stealthy.
Lucy immediately appears in the doorway, gun drawn, "Tim! What the fuck?!"
He stares up at her for a moment before awkwardly scrambling to his feet and stepping out of the tub, "I could ask you the same thing, Lucy. What the fuck do you think you're doing?"
Lucy ignores the question, "Are you following me ?!" she asks, tone laced with indignation.
Tim fixes her with one of his pissed-off TO looks, "I thought you said you weren't an idiot. I'll ask again. What the hell are you doing here, other than the obvious breaking and entering? You don't have a warrant, and the fact that you're here at all will undoubtedly compromise any case we could possibly build against this guy if, and that's a huge if, he had anything to do with Tamara getting shot to begin with."
Lucy's face falls, the fury and indignation from moments earlier fading as quickly as they had appeared. She sighs, "I know... I know. Tim, I just—"
The sound of someone on the stairs causes them both to freeze. Tim is absolutely livid - there's no mistaking the murderous expression on his face as he most certainly is cursing Lucy out in his head for getting them into this ridiculous predicament.
Their eyes connect as they communicate without words, Tim quietly securing the window and Lucy leading the way out of the bathroom and into the hallway between the living area and bedroom as they assess their options, each holding their breath as they wait to see if the steps will pass. A jangling sound at the door confirms they are not going to be so lucky.
As Lucy turns to check for hiding places in the bedroom, Tim yanks open the hallway linen closet, realizing their time is up. He wordlessly uses one arm to grasp Lucy around the waist, preventing her from going any further toward the bedroom and yanks her backward with him as he backs into the closet, using his free hand to pull the door shut, leaving them in complete darkness as they hear the sound of the front door open and voices fill the living room.
***
Hope you enjoyed! Votes and comments are always appreciated ❤️🙏🏽
— Lana