*Bradford*
The sound of a crying Jaclyn was what pulled Tim out of his peaceful slumber that next morning. As he looked at his phone, he was relieved to see nothing from Ashley. Quickly he then got out of bed, careful not to wake Lucy, as he pulled on his jeans from yesterday. He then ran to Jaclyn's room to find Tamara already there, soothing her little sister. They both stopped with wide eyes as Tim realized he was shirtless and his pants were undone.
"Uh, yeah, I'm... I'm gonna go. You good? Okay." Tim stuttered before he ran back to Lucy's room, closing the door as fast as he could. Of course this woke Lucy up. "Are you okay? What's going on? You look like you just saw a ghost." She rubbed her tired eyes and she semi laughed at him.
"Funny story, actually, I just went to go get Jaclyn because I heard her crying on the monitor. And, uh, well... Tamara has now seen me shirtless. And considering how smart she is.."
"She will 100% figure it all out. And probably text Val and Lopez." Lucy cut him off. With tight lips he nodded. Before he turned his gaze back to Lucy, giving her a mischievous grin. She was not at all ready for him to jump on top of her, showering her with kisses and tickles.
However much fun they were having, it was interrupted by both their phones. They'd been put into a group text with Sergeant Grey and Captain McConnell.
SG: Metro. 1 hour. Be there.
CMc: Hope ya bonded. Don't let me down Chen.
Lucy: Yes sir. I won't sir.
Tim: Copy that.
"Guess we both better get ready." Lucy muttered, taking Tim's brief distraction to escape and run to her bathroom. Tim was faster though. He caught up to her to join her in the shower. It took them a minute to actually start getting clean...
Once done, Tim went to his bag and Lucy went to her closet. He went with his forest green Henley, gray jeans, and his black boots, since that was all he had here. When he turned around he saw Lucy had gotten as far as a bra and underwear.
"I'm absolutely loving the look girl, but I don't think Grey or McConnell will approve." He really was enjoying the view, even as she threw a pillow at him.
"Hush you. I got..... this. Yes!" She started throwing out clothes. She threw on a long black floral skirt, black sandals, and a green shirt that matched the flowers. "Tada" she cheered.
"Great. Let's get our girl."
"We're bringing Jaclyn with us?" Lucy didn't really sound surprised.
Tim shrugged. "Yeah, I texted Lopez. She's going to meet us at Metro later and take her for the night." Lucy nodded.
"Well done daddy Bradford." She winked at him before leaving the room.
"If you keep talking like that, we are going to be late." He ran after her.
"Okay, you guys are wicked cute and I'm digging this, but gross." Tamara met them in the living room. She handed a dressed Jaclyn to Lucy, who smiled brightly at her and she handed Tim a baby bag and Lucy's purse. "Got her all squared away for you. Bye momma bear and Zhaddy!" Tamara called to them as they left.
They got everything set in Tim's truck before heading to Metro. "What is with this Zhaddy nickname?" Lucy laughed at Tim's question. "Don't worry about it, she came up with it the first time she saw you years ago." Tim just nodded, still smiling. He honestly hadn't stopped smiling since he met his daughter.
"Oh, I'm not worried. I kinda like it." Tim shrugged. Lucy just laughed as she turned on his radio. She was instantly singing the first song that came on. He could really get used to this and he hoped that he'd have the time to.
Arriving at the station didn't take long, nor did setting Jaclyn up in her stroller, which Tim happily pushed. They took the elevator up to Captain McConnell's office since they had the stroller. There, they were met with Sergeant Grey and Captain McConnell who were chatting away. The men stopped talking when the two entered. Grey instantly went for the stroller, he removed Jaclyn and held her up in the air.
"You just had to come and see Grandpa Grey didn't you?" Tim shot Lucy a look with a raised eyebrow and a smirk. Lucy just laughed, clearly holding back a laugh.
"Oh no way, she wanted to see Gramps McConnell." This time both Tim and Lucy laughed as the other older man walked over and took their daughter from Grey's arms.
"Okay, okay, if you two are done playing hot potato with my daughter, can we get this meeting started?" Tim was being serious, but his tone was lighter and happy. As Tim pulled out a chair for Lucy, the looks he received from his Sergeant did not go unnoticed. As he took the chair next to her, he made sure to keep a careful eye on McConnell who was still bouncing his daughter gently.
"Detective Silver will be here later to dress you guys and get you caught up on their lives. She's been sent the files and notes which were taken by Lopez and Harper. She will also upload the address for the club into one of the cars' gps." Sergeant Grey was the one to start as McConnell had been focused on Jaclyn.
"How did the bonding go? From what Wade told me, you two used to be quite close. And from what I know from Detective Chen you haven't seen each other since the last undercover op." McConnell's gaze shifted between the two. Tim knew he was watching emotions and facial expressions.
"It went very well sir." Lucy was short with her answer.
"It was better than that. I've met my daughter, I've spent time with my former Rookie, and I strongly feel that we have formed a connection as strong as the one we had before." Tim was trying to remain in cop mode and to stay serious. Although, he really just wanted to scream to the world that he had the girl of his dreams back in his life.
"So, tonight should be easy, at least on your part?" Grey asked, eyeing them. Tim gave him the look.
"Copy that, sir." This was Tim's go to response.
"On to Petrov. Not only is the leader of the drug ring, he is the eldest son of the Russian mob, which is why he's running the rising crime in LA. Ivan has been behind bars more times than we care to admit, mostly because we haven't been able to make anything stick. This is our chance. His girl, Katarina Orlov, is a former Russian Model. She has no history of crime. Ivan has kept her out of that light. She gave up modeling for him, and now lives the high life as a mob girlfriend." McConnell came in hot with more info. Tim took a second to look at Lucy, she had the same notebook from the other day, and was taking more notes.
"Harper and Thorsen will also be at the club tonight with mics. They are purely there as backup and to listen. They will not interfere unless they sense actual danger." Grey continued on. "Any questions?"
"No sir. Code 4." Tim understood the OP and was ready for it to be over. He wasn't particularly excited about having to play Dim again.
"How fancy is this club? I'm sure Detective Silver has our outfits squared away, but as far as I remember, Jake and Sava didn't have the most... classy of wardrobes." Lucy had a bit more to question, it was who she was as a UC.
"Detective Silver has that all covered for you two." Tim watched her nod slowly at McConnell's response.
"Now, both of you, go spend some time with this little girl, get some food, and be back here at 5:30 pm." Grey ended the meeting as McConnell handed Jaclyn back to Lucy. She and Tim both nodded before leaving.
"Well tonight should be fun." Lucy commented with a light laugh, as they got squared away in the truck.
"What confuses me is why and how Jake continues to get wrapped up in this mess." Tim wondered out loud.
"Tim, you know as well as I do, some people have no choice. We've seen it many times, and we will see it many more times. I can't say that this is the case for Jake and Sava, after all, Jake isn't the smartest..." Lucy was right and he knew that. Over the console, Tim reached for Lucy's hands. He took one and brought it up to his mouth, kissing the back of her hand.
"And besides, I want to know what made one of the top three Russian models up and leave her life? Either Ivan is that good of a charmer and even better in bed or he's got something on her. Even worse, she was forced to be with him and he's hurting her.." Lucy continued and her words made sense to Tim. It went unspoken but they both prayed it wasn't the last one...
When it came to food, there was no question as Tim drove to the food trucks from yesterday. He helped set Lucy and Jaclyn up at one of the tables. As he stood in the line for her favorite food truck, he couldn't help but look back at them. His heart melted at the sight of Lucy holding the child while reading from the files she had.
"This feels so right, being back here again.." she said, the moment Tim sat down next to her.
"I bet I can make it better." She raised an eyebrow at him. "Your favorite veggie burger with extra pickles and fries." She squeezed in delight as she handed Jaclyn to Tim and dove into the food.
"Another domestic Tim Bradford sighting? Pinch me, I'm dreaming!" They both looked up to see Nyla, Angela, John, Aaron, Bailey, and two other girls. Bailey immediately ran to Jaclyn.
"Okay, John told me she was cute. But, she is so much cuter than I thought!" Bailey took the baby from Tim's arms as he watched her begin to play with her.
"And who are these Boots?" Lucy asked after swallowing. Tim smiled at Lucy as she used the nickname.
"Well, this is Officer Celina Juarez. She is my new and first boot. And this is Officer Delilah Presley, she is Tim's new boot technically, but Lopez is training her while Tim is working with you." John took the lead at introducing the girls.
"Sergeant Bradford." Presley addressed Tim, he nodded back at her before looking back at Lucy, who did not look amused.
Celina smiled and waved at Lucy which Lucy happily returned before Celina joined Bailey in obsessing over Jaclyn. Tim definitely made the mental note that Delilah directly ignored Lucy and in turn Lucy ignored her.
With John, Tim went to get everyone else their lunch. It was not lost on either of them when Delilah happily followed.
*Chen*
"Well, she's cute.." Lucy mused, taking in a few fries, scowling at the trio by the food truck. She definitely noted how close Delilah stood to Tim.
"She's annoying, is what she is." Angela noted. Lucy looked away from the trio, her eye catching Bailey and Celina working on Jaclyn's walking.
"We're you guys not going to warn me about that?" Lucy was genuinely curious as to why she hadn't heard about Delilah until now.
"Hey, hey now. Tim didn't tell you either.." Nyla pointed out. Lucy mused over that point.
"That is true. But, we've only been reconnected for two days. And we've been a tad bit busy..." Lucy knew the women would pick up on that without her having to go into detail. It's not like she expected to know everything about Tim's life. It wasn't like she had ever asked for details. She hadn't even known about Ashley until two days ago...
"Ooohhhhhh okay, okay. Tell us everything!" Nyla and Angela did indeed catch that as they both leaned forward, eager to hear everything. However, that wasn't going to happen now, as everyone rejoined them. Lucy and Angela stood to help move other tables over while Celina grabbed chairs so that everyone could sit together. Lucy definitely noticed when Delilah didn't help, closing to just stand behind her T.O with nothing in her hands.
"Boot! Chairs!" Tim demanded in the harsh T.O voice that made Lucy drip. And just like that Delilah finished setting up all the chairs and tables so that everyone had a spot.
Lucy locked eyes with Tim as he sat next to her. She took Jaclyn from Bailey so that she could also eat, as Lucy's food was now long gone.
"You guys ready for tonight?" Nyla asked the two. Tim only nodded as his mouth was full.
"Very ready. And I know that Tim is so excited to play greased up dumbass Dim again." That earned a laugh from everyone other than Celina and Delilah.
Celina looked at John. "I'll fill you in back in the shop." He assured Celina. Lucy smiled when no one offered to fill Delilah in, even as she looked around.
"You guys got this. I got Harper and I on the list, so we can enter any area of the club if needed. We will be there." Thorsen added in, Lucy nodded towards him gracefully.
"And I get to take this one for the night so that she can play with cousin Jack." Lopez reached over, tickling Jaclyn's belly.
"Yeah, if you can be at Metro at 5:30 that would be great. Or if you're done for the day, you can take her from here." Tim spoke and Lucy was highly tuned in to the touch of sadness in his voice. She understood though, he had spent two nights with her and two days, he wasn't ready to be away from her yet. To reassure him, Lucy squeezed Tim's hand on top of the table, in full view of Delilah. Tim smiled at her, love in his eyes.
"Oh, I am absolutely done now if it means I get to take her home and have some girl time before Wesley comes home with Jack." She took Jaclyn from Lucy and kissed her cheek. "Yeah, we're gonna have girl time without the boys. Because boys are yucky." Lopez used her cute baby voice when she spoke to Jaclyn. This earned a laugh from the majority of the group. As they finished their food, everyone made their departure, but not before Tim pulled Delilah aside. Their conversation looked quite intense and Lucy was surely going to be asking about that. While they talked, she helped Lopez pack up Jaclyn's stuff.
"So, is Delilah going on desk duty then?" Lucy tried so hard to be casual as she spoke with Angela.
Angela let out an evil laugh. "Even better. She's going on desk duty with Smitty." This time both women laughed as Tim walked over.
"What's so funny?" He wrapped an arm around Lucy's waist.
"Nothing!" Both women responded in sync.
"Okay well, Delilah is headed to the front desk, we need to get back to Metro." Tim responded, Lucy knew he didn't believe them. She also knew he wouldn't push. Lucy squeezed her little girl tightly, showering her tiny face with many kisses.
"Okay baby girl, remember momma loves you. So much. I will see you first thing tomorrow morning. I promise." She handed their daughter to Tim before she started to cry.
"Hey baby boot, how's daddy's little girl? I know we just met and you don't really know me yet, but I always keep my promises. And I am promising you now that mommy and I will see you bright and early tomorrow. You be good for Aunt Lopez and Uncle Evers." Lucy and Angela watched Tim put her in the car seat, now in Angela's car. Both girls had happy tears in their eyes. Lucy swore that was the sweetest thing she had ever heard.
The parents stood waving at their daughter as they said watched Angela drive away with her.
"I don't know how you left her for the night to go to Vegas... I want to run after that car and take her home right now and hold you both." Tim sounded sad, this was new to Lucy.
"As nice as that sounds, we have a job to do. So, you just have to used to it. Leaving her never gets easier." And Lucy knew that was the truth. They both knew they had dangerous jobs, and every day was a gamble.