*Bradford*
*Monday morning*
Tim really didn't want to return to Mid-Wilshire that following Monday morning. That's a lie, he absolutely did want to go back, he had only wished that Lucy was going back with him. Alas, she had made her way to Metro when he left for Mid. Tamara was doing her classes from home so she was home with Jaclyn.
He did smile though as he went to get his backpack out of his backseat, and he saw Jaclyn's car seat. He also thought back to yesterday when they had gone to his place to get more stuff to leave at Lucy's, including a second pair of boots. What had made him even more happy was that they'd taken some of her stuff to his home. While Tim was overjoyed with this development, he still had a few issues.
On one hand there was the fact that he had no baby stuff at his place, so it's not like Jaclyn could stay there and the other bedroom remained empty so it's not like Tamara could or would want to stay. And on the other hand, he had been so happy with everything going on, that he hadn't talked to Lucy about Chris yet. And, as he would have guessed, that was exactly what Lopez wanted to talk about the moment he walked out of the locker room.
"So, is Luce still going on a date with another dude?" He scowled down at her as they walked towards the bullpen.
"Uhh.."
"You don't know, do you? You chickened out, didn't you?" Angela gave him a look. Tim sighed and rolled his eyes.
"I didn't chicken out, Lopez..."
"Sergeant Bradford is a brave man. He would not chicken out, ever. Welcome back, Sergeant." Tim pinched the bridge of his nose. He knew it was a Monday and Monday sucked, but it was too early for this. "Officer Presley." Tim addressed his very flirty boot in a curt tone.
"Our shop is set up, just the way you like it. And here's your coffee, black." She handed him a cup as Angela made a gagging noise. Both Tim and Delilah shot her a look.
"We aren't done talking about this, Bradford!" Angela called out to him as she walked away. Tim turned to start walking towards the roll call room, he was not in the mood to deal with Delilah yet, unfortunately she caught up with him.
"So, how was your weekend? Did you do anything interesting or fun? My roommates and I went to this awesome rave.."
"Boot!" Tim cut her off, stopping suddenly, causing Delilah to bump him slightly, spilling his coffee a bit. Tim let out an exasperated groan. "I don't do personal talk with my rookies. I do not care what you do outside this station. Is that clear?" He stared down at her, he could tell she was nervous as she swallowed hard.
Delilah nodded. "Yes, sir."
"Good. Go grab your seat in the front row boot!" He gestured towards the room for roll call. He smiled as she ran. Sure, he was being harsh, but this was his favorite part of being an F.T.O, it was how he did things. He may have been a little out of line, considering how much he had cared about Lucy and everything she did when she was his rookie, but Chen was different... and she still was.
"Bradford!" He turned to see Grey in the door of his office. Making his way over he entered and allowed Grey to close the door. He made a point to throw away the gifted coffee before folding his arms over his chest.
"Welcome back to Mid, Bradford, we'll be happy to have you back on our streets. How's that little girl of yours?" Grey sat down at his desk, motioning for Tim to sit.
"Thank you, sir. It's good to be back. And baby boot is amazing. I'm in awe of her."
"But?" Of course Wade had heard the hesitation in his voice. "What's on your mind, son?"
Tim hesitated, he had never been one to complain or seem needy. "It just kind of sucked leaving Lucy today. Watching her drive to a different station. It never really hit me how much Mid had changed since she left, for me at least, until this morning." Grey nodded.
"I can understand that. I am glad to hear that you guys have reconnected, maybe more than the OP required, but I'm glad to see you happy. And, this might help, we need to go and actually meet with Chen and McConnell to get the full report on the other night. Harper and Lopez will also meet us there to keep us updated."
"Copy that, sir. Anything else?" Tim nodded.
"You'll be doing roll call in full today." Inside Tim was floored. He had helped and even lead roll, but he'd never done it on his own while Wade stood off to the side as a silent observer.
"Just like plain clothes day.." Tim muttered, while Grey laughed at him. Unsure of what tone he would take yet, Tim followed Grey out to the room. Before entering he was handed the report from the night shift and any other papers Grey had held.
Tim watched Grey stop and stand to the side, arms crossed, as he walked up to the podium. He didn't miss Nyla and Lopez clapping and cheering in the back. Lopez even had her phone out to record him.
"Alright team, quiet!" Loud and harsh, yep that was a typical Tim tone. He had gotten most of the way through the report when he thought of one last thing. "Thorsen, as you are almost through your time as a rookie, you'll be riding with me today so I can evaluate you. Presley you'll be riding with Harper." He saw Delilah open her mouth like she wanted to protest. "Problem, Officer Presley?"
She shook her head. "Okay, everyone be safe out there!" With that everyone began to disperse.
"Asshole." Nyla muttered at him as she passed. Tim couldn't stop himself from laughing.
Aaron caught up with Tim. "How do you like your gear set?" Tim smiled and looked behind him to Delilah who was grabbing more gear for she and Nyla's shop.
"Don't worry about it, Thorsen. Ours is done." He smirked as he walked towards the shop, a confused Aaron following behind.
"So, what's the real reason we're riding together today?" Aaron asked him once they were on the streets. Tim shot him the side eye.
"What do you mean Thorsen?" Tim was not trying to get into this right now. He also didn't want his personal information around the station.
"Listen, I get it. Presley is a flirt. She doesn't care if you've got a family or a girl. I know the type, knew a bunch of them before everything. But, hey, we don't have to talk about it if you really don't want to.." Tim sighed, damnit, Thorsen was making sense and sounding wise.
"Okay, so uhh, hypothetically, how would you go about shutting her down.." Tim prayed he wouldn't regret asking for Aaron's help. And as he laid out his thoughts and a plan to Tim, in between calls, Tim realized just how helpful Aaron was.
Halfway through shift, they pulled up to the food truck circle and to Tim's surprise, he saw Lucy sitting there with Jaclyn and Valeria.
"Umm, Ssrge, who's that with Detective Chen?" Tim gave Aaron a side glance and a smirk. That was as far as Tim got before running over to the beautiful brunette who sat with Lopez and Harper also. As soon as he ran over and took Jaclyn from Val's arms also placing a kiss on the top of Lucy's head, he didn't miss Aaron taking the empty seat right next to Valeria.
"Good afternoon, boys." Lucy smiled sweetly at both of them.
"What are you guys doing here?" Tim asked as he stood, bouncing Jaclyn in his arms as he stood by Lucy.
"We were going over details before the bigger meeting today. And Val just needed to get out of the basement." Lucy laughed as she spoke.
"Sometimes fresh air is good." Val also laughed.
"So, what have you guys come up with?"
Lucy, Angela, and Nyla all went into careful detail about everything they had. There wasn't much that wasn't already known and there were a few theories, some that they shared and others that were one sided. As they spoke, Tim handed Jaclyn to Aaron, kind of a ploy to help him gain points with Val, Aaron hadn't stopped staring at her since they arrived. As he did this he felt Lucy stiffen beside him, under the table he gave her hand a squeeze as if to say everything was okay. As Lucy watched them, Tim help her physically relax.
Aaron looked up from the little girl in his lap, also finally turning his attention from something other than Valeria. "Yeah, but you guys didn't see what I saw.." all eyes turned to him.
"No, uhh, seriously, when you guys left, and Harper left, I stayed. I was already in the club and I thought, what the hell. Well about an hour or two in, I heard yelling from the VIP area, so I took advantage of the ability to get into any area I wanted, and I went up. I stayed back with the lower level guys, only so that I was an observer and so that my cover wouldn't be blown. Anyway, Ivan was getting pretty physical with Katarina. It seemed ugly." Tim let out a breath, one of Lucy's prior theories might be coming into play after all.
"Well Thorsen, it looks like you just escaped desk duty and got yourself invited to a meeting with the big boys." Tim nodded at Aaron, who looked so happy he might explode.
"Well, I should take Jaclyn back home to Tamara, before the meeting. Val and I will meet ya'll at Metro?" Lucy stood up, Tim rose to his feet at the same moment. He handed her her purse and took the baby bag over his own shoulder.
"Oh nonsense, I'll keep her in the lab while you guys have your meeting. It's not like we don't have some of her stuff there anyway." Val also jumped up, taking Jaclyn from Aaron. Tim noticed when they both paused as their skin touched.
"Okay, we will see you guys there." Lucy announced.
"Copy that." Both Lopez and Harper acknowledged as they went to their vehicle. Both Tim and Aaron walked Val and Lucy to their car. Tim took the opportunity to strap his daughter in with Lucy by his side while Aaron took the chance to chat with Val.
"So, we will see you there?" Tim nodded at Lucy's question. They exchanged sweet smiles, mostly because Tim wasn't used to PDA while in uniform.
Back in the shop, Tim couldn't stop smiling, nor could Aaron. "Sooo, Val, huh?"
"Yeah, yeah, I mean maybe. She's attractive and seems cool.. What was the pause with Lucy?" Aaron came back at him.
"I caught wind that she was trying to see someone else, someone from the DA's office, Chris something... and I haven't talked to Lucy about it yet.." Tim was very unsure of what was going on here. Other than Lucy, he had never been one to talk personal shit on the job. For christ's sake, he had just yelled at Delilah about that this morning...
"I feel you, man. That is for sure a convo for you and her to have. I'd say the sooner the better.. honestly though, I see the way she looks at you. It's like you hung the moon and all the stars in the sky. She's in, and I don't think she'd be tryin to see any other dude.." Tim nodded, with a tight lipped expression and his eyes on the road.
"Yeah, I know. That's the game plan. And here's a game plan for you, just ask Val for her number. Seriously, what's the worst that could happen?"
"Did I just receive some rare Tim Bradford advice? Oh, man, I'm walking on air." Aaron mocked him, this almost made Tim smile.
"Don't get used to it, boot." Tim did smile at this, so did Aaron. That was when they arrived at Metro. Tim parked the shop next to Lucy's car. The two men walked in to meet all four ladies in the lobby. Val had Jaclyn's bag and stroller while the others just stood chatting.
"Alright let's go meet Grey and McConnell. They're up in BR 3" stated an anxious Lucy. The five of them went that way as Val made her way back to the basement with Jaclyn.
*Chen*
The briefing took forever, well not forever, but as long as necessary. Maybe it just felt like forever to Lucy because her phone kept vibrating in her back pocket. Sure, Lucy was physically present in the meeting. She was even taking notes, adding her thoughts, and answering questions. Truthfully though, her mind was on those vibrations. It was most likely Val sending her pictures of her daughter, or Tamara sending her updates for the grocery list. However, there was also a chance that it was the unknown number again.. Lucy knew she really needed to say something...
"So, that's all there is right now, we will wait for updates on the next delivery date and location. Until then, just keep on with the job." Grey concluded the meeting after checking that Captain McConnell had nothing else to add.
Lucy led Tim and Aaron down to the basement, she knew Aaron had only followed so that he could see Val again. Exchanging a subtle glance, Lucy and Tim took a moment for themselves with their daughter, mostly to give Aaron and Val a minute together.
"Tim, I really need to talk to you tonight.." Tim stared down at Lucy at the sound of her voice and the intensity of her words.
"Whatever you need, baby, we can talk about it." He kissed the top of her head and Jaclyn's before calling out to Aaron that it was time to go.