Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tim Bradford was going to die.

Lucy Chen sat on the other side of the door, pleading with him, “The vaccine is almost here!” Tim didn’t respond. He couldn’t. The man whom they had been coming to warn only 30 minutes earlier was lying dead on the floor in front of him, blood still pooling from his eyes and nose.

Tim pressed his head against the door, trying to steady his breathing. If he let Lucy know what he knew, she would feel every second of the inevitable. He gripped his pistol harder, swallowing the words he so desperately wanted to say. He would not let Lucy feel his death.

Chapter Text

*6 months earlier*

“I love rookie day.” Tim strutted through the locker room, hands on his hips. “It’s like Christmas and the purge rolled into one. And there’s my first present. Good morning, Boot.” “Good morning, si-” “Did I say you could talk?!” Tim demanded, interrupting the new rookie. “West” said his nametag, which could only mean that the IA commander’s son was finally on the force, officially.

Walking away from the interaction, Tim halfway hoped that he’d be given the legacy. After all, he may enjoy making the rookies’ lives’ living hell, but he was a TO to train new cops, not keep all new blood off the force. Tim sat down for roll call, Angela and Nyla sitting on either side.

“Did you see the new rookies?” Angela asked, eyes sparkling in excitement.

“Met West’s kid in the locker room. He seems like he knows his stuff,” Tim admitted.

Nyla cut across him. “You see that one?”

“You mean the one who looks like he should be retiring soon?” Tim scoffs.

Nyla’s voice is gleeful. “Lopez and I sent him to the captain’s office to present himself.”

“He must have run to make roll call,” Angela added, laughing.

“Settle down,” Grey calls. “We got some new blood this morning. Some pushing the expiration date,” he adds, glancing at the older rookie.

When Tim meets his new rookie, there’s something about her that feels slightly off. She’s nervous, sure, but not overly so. She’s smart, was top-of-her-class, and apparently brought in her first arrest this morning. Tim watches as she follows his instructions, checking the shop thoroughly for any marks. It’s only as she reports back in to him, waiting expectantly for her next orders, that he realizes what’s different about her. 

Officer Chen's eyes are brown.

Chapter Text

Tim’s never seen the color brown before. It’s not that uncommon, actually. He knows a lot of people who can’t see brown. After all, over half the people in the world have brown eyes. It’s common knowledge that you can’t see the color of your soulmate’s eyes until you meet them.

Well. There are technically two kinds of soulmates. The ones who are ready and open, the ones who will dive into the relationship headfirst as soon as they know.

Then there are the ones who are more hesitant. The ones who want to make sure they actually want a relationship, colors be damned. Those ones always fall first. It makes some degree of sense, this way no one’s heart gets broken. The other half doesn’t get to know until the hesitant one admits they’re in love.

And Tim is in love. Just with somebody else. Someone with blue eyes and blond hair, who has been missing for a year now. Someone who took his heart with her when she left.

Tim decides he wouldn’t care if his new rookie’s eyes were pink, there’s no way she’s his soulmate. So he barks an order and Chen climbs into the shop.

As they're driving along, Tim turns to her. “Why do you wanna be a cop, Boot?”

“Is this a trick question?”

“You want me to train you, I need to know why you’re in this car.”

Chen looks out the window for a moment, thinking. “My parents were both therapists. I grew up trying to-” She cuts off abruptly as the shop screeches to a halt.

“I’ve been shot! Where are we?!” Tim yells.

“Wh-”

“I’ve just been shot, and you need to call for help! Where are we?!” Tim repeates.

“Oh, uh-” Chen twists in her seat, looking for the nearest street sign.

“Now I’m dead.” She turns back to him, mouth still open. “Get out.”

“What?”

“I said get out, Boot. You’ll walk until you know where you are.”

Chen opens her mouth to argue, and then closes it when Tim glares at her even more. She steps out, fuming, and Tim drives alongside her as she finishes her story. As she does, Tim notices the trees along the road aren’t quite as gray as they normally are.

Which means when the green truck behind them honks, and Tim gets out to berate the occupants, he’s disoriented just enough to tell Chen “good job” for avoiding an escalation, instead of berating her for not relaying his exact words.

Chapter Text

At lunch, Chen joins West and the other rookie - Nolan, Tim remembers vaguely - and Tim joins Angela and Harper at the TO table to watch and gossip about their new rookies.

“So?” Angela’s asking as he sits down.

Harper studies Nolan for a moment. “He’s dedicated, I’ll say that. Grey thinks it’s just a rebound from a mid-life crisis, but I think he really wants to be here.” She shakes her head, turning back to her food. “We’ll see how long he gets to stay. What about you two?”

Angela smiles. “West is making my job easy. Training him is gonna be a breeze.”

“So far Chen is doing better than some rookies I’ve trained. I guess we’ll see how she does too.”

They finish their meal quickly. Jackson reports back for duty before the other two rookies. Harper walks over to Nolan, but Tim takes the quicker approach.

“Chen! Time to go!” Tim yells, getting up. He’s not sure whether he’s imagining things or not, but he could swear Chen touches Nolan’s arm briefly. Something flutters in his stomach, he’s not sure what, but he squashes it instantly.

He decides to test his rookie’s reflexes and mettle, so they end up at a convenience store sizing up a dealer. Tim’s arrested Ghost Head more times than he could count, so he’s not worried about the man getting away. Although maybe Chen should be.

He nods towards the man. “Go get him Boot!”

Chen looks like she wants to argue, and does start, but a quick word from Tim and she’s squaring her shoulders. To her credit, she doesn’t buckle after that blow to the ribs. It’s going to leave a nasty bruise, but that tends to happen when you’re a cop.

She’s searching him against the shop when Tim hears a voice he never thought he’d hear again.

"Hey! Let him go!"

Chapter Text

The problem with falling in love before you know if someone is your soulmate, is that when you find out the answer is no, you don’t want to let go.

Isabel looks like, well, a junkie. Her cheeks are sunken, and her beautiful hair hasn’t been washed in months. But while Tim takes this in, he also takes in how scared she looks.

“Isabel! Hey, Isabel,” he reaches for her, and she flinches and backs up. Tim’s voice becomes softer. “Isabel, it’s Tim.”

Recognition flashes through her eyes, and she shifts nervously. “What do you want?”

“Just- Are you okay? Do you need anything? I want to help,” Tim can’t say what he really wants. That he just wants her home, safe and clean. His. He reaches for her arm, to steady her like he used to, and she flinches back.

“I’m fine, get off me!”

“I just want to help”

“Gimme your money.”

“Wh- What?”

“You want to help, then give me your money.” Isabel won’t look him in the eyes, and the last bit of hope shatters in Tim’s heart.

“Honey, no, you need rehab, we’ll get you rehab,” Tim urges.

“Do you want to help or not?”

Tim stares at her for a moment, jaw trembling, then reaches for his wallet and hands her his cash.

“And let him go,” she’s nodding at Ghost Head, picking a drug dealer over her own husband. Tim wants to cry. Or break something. Instead, he nods at Chen and she releases the man. He and Isabel run off down an alley, and Tim climbs silently into the shop.

He can hear Chen slide in beside him, but he keeps staring out the window.

She starts to say something, pauses, then demands, “What the hell just happened?”

“That was my wife.” Tim looks down. His wife. Who he’d loved. Who he thought loved him. He hadn’t even cared he could see her blue eyes from the moment they met, because that’s all he could see. Tim thought they’d been happy together. That they’d been in love. And then Isabel started using, and Tim started making excuses, and now he was sitting here in his shop watching her run off with some junkie. “I haven’t seen her in almost a year.”

“I won’t tell anyone,” Chen reassures him, compassion flooding her voice.

He turns, and catches her staring at him with those big brown eyes. Eyes he never wants to see again. “You’re damn right you won’t.”

Chapter Text

Lucy doesn’t know what to make of her new TO. She had started the day thinking he was a cold-hearted sociopath, incapable of anything but hate and anger. But she’d seen the way he’d reacted to the woman – Isabel, he’d called her – and knew that a lot more lay underneath the rough exterior.

“I won’t tell anyone,” she promised.

“You’re damn right you won’t.” He practically snarled it, and if he hadn’t been so visibly distraught, Lucy would have thought she’d imagined the care she’d seen earlier. He certainly wasn’t about to let anyone else see it.

The ride to give Harper and Nolan backup was long. Twice, Lucy tried to say something, but then stopped. Tim was clearly not in the mood to talk about anything other than work.

“That’s the address for Selby. We’ll set up in the alley behind, in case he rabbits when Harper and Nolan come calling.” Lucy wished she could be going with Nolan. She’d much prefer her boyfriend, or even scary Harper, over the cold man beside her.

Unfortunately, Selby didn’t rabbit when Nolan and Harper got there, because he was already in the alley when Tim and Lucy pulled up. She got out and started to walk towards them, but Tim stopped her.

“We don’t approach until we’ve cleared the car,” he said quietly. Then, “Put your hands in the air and step away from the vehicle!”

“Is there a problem, officer?”

“There will be if you don’t show me those hands! Now!”

Selby stood for a moment, eyeing them. Then an assault rifle popped up from behind the car, and Lucy didn’t have time to think anymore, as she and Tim ducked behind their car doors.

Lucy didn’t even realize her TO had been shot until she ducked around the back of the shop for more cover. She glanced over at him, to see him lying on the ground, hands clutching his abdomen.

“Seven-adam-19, officer down, shots fired. Repeat, officer down! Please hurry.” She dashed over to Tim, grabbing him by his shirt, and dragging him behind the shop. Nolan and Harper finally pulled in from the other side, so she had some time to check on Tim.

He was bleeding pretty badly, she wasn’t sure if the bullet had hit anything important, but it certainly didn’t look good. She slammed her hands over the hole in his side, pressing down, and ignoring the tingle that rushed up her arms.

Tim’s hands covered hers, applying his own pressure. “Go get him boot!”

Lucy glanced down at him one more time, then took off after Nolan, Jackson close behind her. They followed Selby into a park, where he grabbed a woman and pressed his knife to her neck. “Let me go or she dies!”

Nolan was talking him down, pointing out how there was no escape, urging him not to do anything he would regret. Finally, the man started to lower his knife, and Nolan shot him in the knee. Selby went down, and Nolan practically pounced on top of him, yanking his hands behind his back.

Lucy rushed up to him. “Are you okay?”

Nolan grunted, dragging Selby to his feet. “I’m fine, are you hurt? I heard you say officer down.”

“Tim got shot, but I’m fine.”

“Why aren’t you with him?”

“He told me to go. Are you sure you’re okay?” Lucy put a hand on his arm. “You’re shaking.”

“It was pretty intense for our first day.” Nolan smiled. “I’m fine.”

Lucy gave him one last look, before turning to go back to the shop, when Nolan’s TO caught her eye.

Harper was standing at the top of the hill, arms crossed, glaring in a way that might even scare Tim.

Lucy felt trapped, but continued walking up the hill, pretending she didn’t notice. But she knew. Harper knew.

Chapter Text

The rest of the day was over quickly for Tim. His surgery went well, as far as he could tell anyways, and he had plenty of time to lay in his bed, staring at the ceiling and running today through his mind over and over again.

He kept hearing Isabel call out. Kept seeing her not recognize him. And then the way she flinched when he tried to touch her.

And he kept feeling the buzz through his chest when Lucy was putting pressure on his bullet wound. Remembering the way it was easier to breathe when she was touching him, even despite the hole in his stomach. He’d heard about the merits of the soulmate connection. How you could sense the other person, even if you weren’t with them. How their presence and touch could help the healing process, both mentally and physically. Why couldn’t he have that with Isabel?

Harper and Angela were waiting for him when he was released the next day. Of course they were. Although he couldn’t help feeling the tiniest shred of gratefulness, even as they took a selfie with him in a wheelchair. Tim Bradford never admitted to having friends, but if he were to have them, Angela and Nyla would certainly be at the top of the list.

He wanted to be out on the streets, but he wouldn’t be cleared for duty for at least two weeks. So he called Grey, and asked Chen to be placed with Scott Wrigley, to see how she’d do with a calmer TO. He almost laughs when he hears how she pulls him into a kidnapping case. Almost. He manages to crack a grin though.

Driving to work isn’t a problem. He’s used to the almost-brown greys around him by now, and he’s doing his best to ignore it. But when he enters roll call, he doesn’t even need to see Chen to know she’s in the room, because every single wooden thing in the room – there’s not even that many, how is it this bad? – flashes into bright colored existence. He almost reels back from the sudden change in vision, and he has to blink several times before he’s steadied himself.

Which is how he finds himself telling Chen to drive. He’s never let a rookie drive this early, and Angela is for sure going to ask questions if she catches them, but the world has never been this bright, and he knows if he tries to get behind the wheel, they’re going to wreck somehow. He makes an excuse about needing to assess her driving skills and catches a glimpse of empathy in her eyes before she slides into the driver’s side. For a panicked moment he thinks she knows what he knows. But when she asks about his side, he realizes she thinks it’s because he’s still hurting. He doesn’t appreciate the sympathy, but he’ll take it over the truth.

Angela and Harper tease him about it during lunch, and he wonders for a brief moment if he should tell them. They might have some idea with how to deal with the situation – his rookie is his soulmate – but decides against it. His heart belongs to someone else, and while the new colors are certainly posing a problem right now, he’ll adjust quickly. He’s had enough challenges thrown at him in life to be able to deal with this one.

But Lucy lays into him for picking fights while he’s hurt, and he realizes this may be a bigger challenge than he thought. Even though there’s no way Lucy can understand what he’s going through, she’s still trying to help him. He’s been an ass to her, and instead of resenting him for it, she feels sorry for him. Once again, he pushes down an emotion he can’t quite place, and pretends that the only thing wrong with him is the bullet hole in his side. And then Lucy offers to bring the Narcan up herself.

Chapter Text

So many things have happened in the past week. Harper talked to her and Nolan both about their relationship, and they agreed they needed to break up. It hurt, but at least they were still friends.

Her TO was obviously hurting, but wouldn’t admit it. He seemed disoriented, and he kept looking around like he didn’t know where he was, eyes flitting around the trees and houses as if taking it all in for the first time. He was jumpy at first, too, but he seemed to get over that. Then they’d been called in to the hospital, and it turned out his wife had overdosed. He seemed genuinely angry, not just upset, going out of his way to pick a fight with a gang member. And when he takes Narcan from the station, she knows he’s letting it go to far.

“Tim.”

He looks up from the shop trunk, the Narcan in his hand. “Are you deaf, Boot? I told you to stay in the shop!”

She takes a deep breath. “You’re not helping her, you’re enabling her!”

Tim is radiating fury. “You think I don’t know that?”

“Addiction doesn’t just hurt the addict, it hurts the family.”

“Oh and you know this because you’re some shrink’s kid?” He says the word like it crawled out of the sewer.

“I’m your rookie!” Lucy spits, forgetting her fear in a wave of fury. “And I need you to train me, not put me in danger because you’re so scared of losing your wife you can’t see straight!”

Tim reels back as though she’d hit him, emotions she doesn’t recognize flashing across his face.

“At least let me take it up instead,” she offers, suddenly realizing she just yelled at the man who’s been threatening to wash her out since she met him. “If you do- Do you really want to see how she’s living right now? Or who she’s living with?” He clenches his fists and looks around as though the apartments around them will magically hand him an answer. Finally, he hands her the box and tells her the apartment number, and she hurries upstairs.

When she knocks on the door, Isabel won’t let her in until she mentions Tim’s name and threatens to get him. Isabel waves her in, and Lucy steps in. Isabel rushes to move a pair of men’s boots from sight, and Lucy is suddenly glad she’s the one who came up, and not Tim.

“So? What’d you want?”

Lucy hands her the box. “It’s Narcan. It won’t get you clean, just reverse the effects of an OD.”

“I know what Narcan does, I spent a decade bringing junkies back from the dead with it.”

Lucy stops. “You were a nurse?”

“A cop. Did you need anything else?”

Lucy pauses. “Did you know your husband was shot recently? We were ambushed, he took a bullet to the side.”

Isabel shrugs, clearly uninterested. “So? He looked fine to me.”

Lucy stares at her. “Your soulmate was shot, and you don’t even care a little?”

“Tim’s not my soulmate.” There’s a bitterness in Isabel’s voice that Lucy wasn’t expecting.

“He’s not? I- I mean, he clearly loves you, he-”

Isabel cuts her off. “Did you need anything else?”

“Um, no ma’am.”

“Then leave. We’re done here.” Lucy is almost out the door when she says, “Don’t let him come back here. There’s no future here.”

Lucy walks numbly down the stairs and back to the shop. Tim is waiting expectantly for her. “Well?”

Lucy suddenly knows Tim has been hurt enough today. “It’s a good apartment. She’s not doing to badly.” She will not mention the men’s boots, or the callous indifference – or hatred, Lucy isn’t sure which – that Isabel clearly felt towards Tim.

Tim nods, satisfied. “What are you waiting for then, Boot? Let’s go.”

Chapter Text

“I’m your rookie! And I need you to train me, not put me in danger because you’re so scared of losing your wife you can’t see straight!”

Tim reels back. Lucy clearly has no idea what her words mean to him, and he’s not about to let her know. When she offers to take the Narcan up instead, he lets her and then goes to sit in the shop and think.

The Isabel he knew is clearly gone. And if he’s honest with himself, he’s not the Tim she knew either. Actually, he’s not sure he still loves her. He misses her, yes, he misses what they have. But as much as it hurts, he doesn’t want to chase her anymore. He’s tired of looking for her, tired of trying to win back a woman who clearly doesn’t want him.

“Don’t let him come back here. There’s no future here.” The words are distant, but he can hear them clearly. They pierce him the same way the bullet did, but he also feels more at peace than he has since she first left. When Lucy tells him Isabel’s in a good place, he doesn’t push it.

That night, Angela corners him after work. “Something’s wrong. What’s up.”

Tim tries to brush past her. “It’s just my wound, I’m fine.”

Angela raises her eyebrows. “Tim Bradford admitted that he’s hurt? Something must really be wrong. Spill.”

Tim tries to protest, but she keeps pressing until he talks.

“I saw Isabel today. At the hospital. She overdosed.”

Angela lays a hand on his arm. “I’m sorry.”

“I brought her Narcan. Well, Lucy brought it up. Made me stay in the shop. But she-” He stops, then chokes out, “she told Lucy to tell me not to come back. That there’s no future for me there anymore.”

Angela is pulling him into a hug. “I’m so sorry Tim.” She doesn’t mention the fact that he called his rookie by her first name. Or tease him that he let his rookie boss him around. “Are you okay?”

Tim shudders, nodding his head until Angela raises her eyebrows again. “No. Not really,” he admits.

“You know I’m here if you ever need to talk.”

Tim wants to tell her. He wants to reveal everything, how he doesn’t even know if he still wants Isabel, who his new rookie really is, how his rock-bottom life has hit the basement and is still digging. But telling Angela would mean admitting it to himself, and he’s not ready for that yet. So he nods curtly, says, “Thanks,” and escapes past her to his car.

Chapter Text

Tim practically runs out of Isabel’s apartment, pulling off his hood to breathe the fresh air. Lucy was right, it was nice enough, as long as you ignored the stench of weed. He was stepping into his truck when he heard a car door slam, and looked up to see Lucy staring at him.

Looking around to see if anyone else had followed him, he stalked over to her. “What are you doing here?” he demanded.

“You can’t keep cleaning Isabel’s messes up for her,” Lucy says. “Look, I’ve been riding with you for two months, and you project the rogue cop thing, but you’re always on the right side of the law.”

“She’s my wife.”

“Tim, you know where this road leads.” Lucy is practically pleading with him. “If you keep helping her, you’re going to regret it. Covering for her, it- It’s not going to change her. It’s only going to change you. You need to let her go. It’s the only chance she has to get her life back on track.”

Tim stares at her, mind reeling. He turns, and stalks back to his truck. He can feel Lucy watching him go, although he doesn’t think it has anything to do with a soulmate bond. She’s right, he knows that. He’s been on her side of this story enough times to know how this is going to play out. He watched her pull away, and knows, with a sinking feeling, that Isabel was right. There is no future for him here anymore.

He's there when they’re pulling her for the transfer. The detectives with her allow them a few moments to talk.

Tim hesitates. “I’m sorry.”

“I needed you. And you weren’t there,” Isabel spits at him.

Tim recoils. “It wouldn’t have fixed things.”

“You don’t know that! Now y-”

“Yes,” Tim interrupts. “I do know that. I’ve been trying to ‘fix’ things for a year, Isabel. Everytime you just dig yourself back in.” He steps closer, lowering his voice. “When’s it gonna stop?”

Isabel stares at him, and all Tim can see in her blue eyes is a hatred for the mess she’s in. He knows she blames him. She always will.

“We’re done here,” she calls. The detectives start leading her away, but Tim has one more thing he needs to say.

“I’m filing for divorce.” She freezes but doesn’t turn around. “They’ll give you the papers in a couple of days.” She stands still for a moment and then keeps walking. Tim realizes he’s crying.

Lucy’s waiting for him – since when does he call his boot by her first name?. It’s clear she heard and saw everything, although she doesn’t say anything. Tim can see the pride in her eyes though, and suddenly he wants to puke.

Angela and Harper find him sitting in his truck after shift. They climb in before he’s even realized they’re there.

“What are you doing?” He asks, voice hoarse.

“Hanging out with you.”

“Look, I- appreciate the thought, but I’d rather be alone.”

Angela scoffs. “Too bad.”

“I’m not gonna talk about it.”

“You don’t have to talk.” Harper’s a lot more gentle than she usually is.

“But we’re gonna be here when you do,” Angela finishes.

Tim is silent for a moment. “Fine. What do we do now?”

Harper and Angela grin. “Drink.”

Tim can hold his alcohol, but it’s been a long day, and part of him wants to talk about it. It’s only a couple of beers later that he’s said it. “I’m filing for divorce.”

It catches both of them by surprise. He knows they weren’t expecting it, he wasn’t expecting it. If circumstances had been any different, he wouldn’t have even considered it. But the pair of brown eyes sitting next to him for the past 2 months has been too much. He’s not ready, he doesn’t know if he’ll ever be ready, but he knows he can never go back to Isabel.

Angela and Harper are gaping at him, and it’s only then that he realizes he’d said that out loud.

Chapter Text

Angela met that insufferable lawyer today with blue eyes, and had fully been ready to distract Tim with the story when he revealed that his soulmate was his rookie.

She didn’t know how to respond, and Harper is clearly also at a loss. The look on Tim’s face turns from depression to horror as he realizes what he said. It’s too late to take it back, although he tries.

“I swear, nothing’s happened. She doesn’t have any idea I’m anything but her TO.” Tim is desperate, and Angela realizes he’s farther gone than he realizes.

“Does anyone else know?” Harper asks. She’s right, they need to see how much damage control they have to do before they can decide how to deal with this.

Tim shakes his head. “No.”

“Breathe,” Angela tells him. “We’re gonna figure this out, okay?”

Tim looks at her. “How?”

“I’ll check regulations, see if there’s anything about soulmates in there,” Harper says.

“I’m her superior officer,” Tim protests weakly.

“If she doesn’t even know then nothing’s happened. As long as there aren’t any regulations that specifically mention soulmates, you shouldn’t have any problems.” Angela pauses, but she has to ask. “Do you love her? Is that why you’re filing for divorce?”

Tim looks even more shocked. “No! She’s my Boot,” as if that settles the matter. Angela glances at Harper; they’re going to have a long talk later, but right now Tim needs them.

“Ok. It’s okay. We-”

Tim explodes. “No it’s not okay! My soulmate is my boot. How is that in anyway okay?!”

“Shh!” Harper hisses, glancing around. Thankfully no one else from the station is at the bar.

“Tim, look, you’ve been dealing with this for two months on your own, but Harper and I are here for you now, okay? We’ll deal with this, and it will be okay. We’ll figure it out, I promise.” Angela tries to calm him. Tim is breathing heavily, and for a moment Angela wonders if he’s going to have a panic attack.

“Let’s just focus on the op tomorrow for now, ok?”

Tim looks up. “What op?”

Angela glances over at Harper, both surprised he didn’t know. “Isabel’s going undercover on a buy. She’s a CI now.”

Chapter Text

Tim had thought things couldn’t get worse, but after having already been proved wrong twice the day before, he really should have expected this.

They found Isabel in a dumpster, a bullet in her head. The doctors at the hospital eventually said she’d make it, but Tim was still livid. Make it or not, she had still been shot. Vance, the dealer, was going to pay.

They ended up trapped in an apartment having a shootout with Vance while Lucy delivered Vance’s baby. Tim caught himself admiring how calm and focused she was, how she moved with intention and purpose, calming the mother while certainly freaking out herself. He shook his head. Now was not the time to get distracted.

Less than a month later, he’s driving a panicking Lucy to the hospital for a dirty needle injury. He doesn’t admit to himself that he’s slightly panicked as well. Doesn’t want to think about what it would be like if she had to go because of accidental drug exposure. Doesn’t want to think about how he would react to not riding with her anymore. He likes having her around because he likes the color brown, he tells himself, if she was gone it would fade again. He pretends he’s telling the truth.

Harper told him a month ago he was in the clear. Regulations said nothing about soulmates. As long as they were professional, as long as Tim didn’t give in, they were perfectly fine.

Isabel had made a full recovery, and the divorce papers had been signed. Tim was officially single again.

They make it through the next month – the rookies are proven innocent of theft, survive plain clothes day, and Nolan being green lit.

Angela and Wesley have moved in together at this point, and are completely in love. Tim is happy for her, and trying hard not to be jealous.

They’ve made it to their mid-training exam now. Lucy is ready, Tim knows it, although he doesn’t tell her that. Then the CDC gets called in. Apparently there’s a biological weapon out on the streets. Tim and Lucy get to be the lucky ones to find it.

Tim follows the man into the bedroom, where the black backpack is sitting on a chair.

“Sir, did you touch anything in there?” Tim is silently begging him to say no. He can hear Lucy calling it in behind them.

“Yeah. I cut my finger going through it lookin’ for an address. Some kind of broken vial. Won’t stop bleedin’.” The man starts coughing, then stops.

Tim pulls out his gloves. “Everything okay in there?” Lucy asks.

“Yeah, just stay out there,” Tim instructs. He’s reaching for the bag when the man starts coughing again, and sprays blood into Tim’s face. He takes a step back, trying to comprehend what he knows is happening, analyzing the blood dripping from the man’s mouth and sprayed over his shirt.

“Tim.” Lucy steps forward. They both lunge for the door at the same moment, but Tim is closer. He slams in in her face, sliding the lock as he hears her yell “No!”

Chapter Text

Tim Bradford was going to die.

Lucy Chen sat on the other side of the door, pleading with him, “The vaccine is almost here!” He didn’t respond. He couldn’t. The man whom they had been coming to warn only 30 minutes earlier was laying dead on the floor in front of him, blood still pooling from his eyes and nose.

“You know, you’re good at a lot of things. Lying isn’t one of them,” Tim smiled weakly.

Lucy’s voice came through the door. “You think I’m good at things? Can I get that in writing?”

It had been horrific, watching the man die. He couldn’t stop coughing; blood was pouring from every opening in his head. Tim knew he’d probably have nightmares for weeks. If he made it past today.

“It’s going to be okay,” Lucy spoke again. “I really believe that.”

“I’m sure you do. But if it isn’t-”

“Don’t- think like that.”

“Look, if it isn’t, I’m not going out like that.” He wanted to say something else. Something he’d known for a while now. Fuck, he wanted to say it so BAD. But if he let Lucy know what he did, she would feel every second of it. She’d sense his heart stop. And he couldn’t do that to her.

“What do you mean?”

“If it comes to that, I’m going out on my own terms.” Tim gripped his pistol harder, swallowing the words he so desperately wanted to say. He would not let Lucy feel his death.

There’s a moment of silence. Then Lucy says, “Can I ask a question?”

Tim can hear the hesitation in her voice. “Sure.”

A beat. Then, “Isabel said you weren’t her soulmate.” Tim nearly chokes, but she continues. “I was just wondering. What happened?”

Tim hesitates for a moment, wondering how much to tell her. “We were young and stupid. She was hot, and I was lonely. I thought we could make it work.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Me too.”

A couple minutes pass before either speaks again. Tim presses his head against the door, trying to steady his breathing. “Lucy?”

“Yeah?”

He pauses, trying to find the words. “You’re a good rookie, Boot.”

Chapter Text

It’s over an hour later when Dr. Morgan knocks on the door with the vaccine. Lucy has never been so thankful to see a doctor in her life. She watches from a safe distance as the doctor gives Tim the vaccine, explaining that it’s still experimental, but they’re hopeful.

She walks out of the house first; the doctors insist on keeping a perimeter around Tim just in case. Nolan, Jackson, Lopez, and Harper are all waiting on the front lawn.

“I heard you guys saved the day.”

“It was a group effort,” Jackson says.

“Is Tim okay?” Angela asks, interrupting.

Lucy glances back at where he’s emerging from the quarantine house. “They think so. They’re taking him to the CDC for a 24 hour observation, just to make sure, but he doesn’t have any symptoms.”

Angela looks like she wants to ask him a question, but he shakes his head, and she turns back. “I’d bet my pension he just told the doctors ‘Tim Bradford does not ride in a wheel chair’.”

Harper grins. “Only way I’m leavin’ here is on my own two feet,” she says, in her best Tim voice.

Tim smiles tiredly back at them and lets the doctors lead him away. Lucy notices him stop, and is wondering if something is wrong, when he falls, and the entire world seems to go with him.

Chapter Text

Lucy is the last to react. She had relaxed, she thought the danger was over, and now the doctors were holding her and her friends back as they surrounded Tim. Angela was vehemently arguing with a doctor, Nolan and Jackson were actively trying to push past.

An ambulance is already on scene, and Tim is loaded in. Angela and Harper push Lucy on after him. “Keep him alive long enough for us to kill him.” Angela says, and Lucy isn’t completely sure she’s joking.

“Is it the virus?”

“There’s no bleeding. Looks like he’s having an allergic reaction to the shot we gave him, he’s going into anaphylactic shock. Get me epinephrine!” The ambulance is racing through town, cop cars giving it the fastest escort they can.

Despite the restraints, Tim is seizing on the stretcher. Lucy reaches out, trying to steady him, and feels that same buzz when she was putting pressure on Tim’s bullet wound. That feels like a lifetime ago.

Everything is blurred. Lucy notices Tim stops seizing, but he’s laying too still, and then someone says something about cardiac arrest. One of the paramedics starts chest compressions, still yelling instructions. Another one starts charging a defibrillator.

Lucy can’t seem to focus on anything. Tim is supposed to be okay, he’s supposed to be making her do paperwork and laughing at her for worrying so much. Not laying there… dead?

They make it to the hospital. Tim still isn’t breathing, but his heart has restarted. The ambulance has stopped, and the paramedic is getting ready to move him, when they hear Nolan shout, “Gun!”

Gunshots follow immediately, and Lucy throws herself over Tim as the paramedics duck beside her. His body feels electric to her touch, and Lucy vaguely wonders if the defibrillator has gone off.

She hears her fellow cops regrouping outside, people yelling, more bullets. She wants to stay, watch over her TO, but her friends need her help, and it’s not like she can make Tim breathe on her own. She draws her weapon, and steps out of the ambulance.

Chapter Text

Tim feels like he’s been struck by lightning, and simultaneously de-aged 20 years. He can’t move, but he can feel Lucy laying on top of him. What the hell? Then the gunfire registers, and Lucy moves away.

He has no idea what happened. The last thing he remembers is walking out of the quarantine house feeling slightly sick. He takes a deep breath, and the burning in his lungs subsides. Then he sits up.

The paramedics look at him like he’s come back from the dead. Which, when he thinks about it, is actually probably what happened. His gun belt is laying on the floor. Dammit Lucy, don’t you know better than to leave it lying around? He grabs his pistol, and kicks the ambulance doors open.

Nolan is standing in the open – in the open – trying furiously to reload. A woman with an AKG is advancing on him, gun raised. Tim takes it all in in a glance, before raising his own gun and firing.

Nolan tackles her before she can recover, and puts her in cuffs. Tim walks over to see her go still.

“You okay?”

Nolan looks up from his bloody hands. “I should have reloaded on the move. You?”

Tim laughs. “I should’ve taken yesterday off.” His words are slurred, and he wants to sit down.

Then Lucy’s running over, grabbing his arms. “Tim! You’re okay! Are you okay?”

Tim looks down at her, wondering what on earth is happening to him. Her touch feels like it’s burning, but it’s also the only thing keeping him standing right now. Later, when he’s had time to think, he knows what it felt like. Life.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I- I’m fine.”

“Really? ‘Cause you don’t look fine. You lo-”

“Lucy.” Tim cuts her off.

“What?”

“I’m fine.” And he is. The longer she holds his arm, the more fine he feels. Is this normal? He needs to ask Angela more about the soulmate bond. He’s forgotten too much since Isabel.

“Okay.” She backs up, fiddling with her hands, unsure what to do next.

Tim sighs. “If you really need to help, you could find me something to sit on.”

“Okay,” she runs off grinning.

“And DON’T TELL LOPEZ!” He calls after her.

A smirking voice comes from behind him. “Don’t tell me what?”

Chapter Text

Lucy was glad that Tim didn’t die because she was going to kill him.

After everything they’d been through, after him almost dying, she still wasn’t allowed to wear short sleeves, and even worse, Tim had sent her after a flower bomb that went off when he told her to radio it in.

“You think I’m not being fair to you, Boot?”

Lucy didn’t reply, but she didn’t have to. Her fury was evident enough.

“You lied on a report. You think that deserves to go un-punished?”

Lucy wheels on him. “What?!”

“I read your report on what happened at the quarantine house. When I thought I was infected, I told you I’d rather take my life than bleed out. You failed to report it.”

She doesn’t think this day could get any more stupid. “That’s what this is about?”

“Suicidal ideations by an officer are extremely dangerous and should have been reported immediately!”

“I was trying to protect you! You weren’t even really suicidal!”

“Not your call. You should have reported it anyways.”

“You mean like I should have reported Isabel?” Tim freezes. “You didn’t seem to have a problem with lying on a report then! You know what, you wanna rake me over the coals for the next six months, fine. But don’t pretend it’s because you’ve got some code.”

Tim won’t look at her, which Lucy is glad of. She shouldn’t have pulled the Isabel card, and she knows it, but she was just so sick of him treating her like an idiot. He’s terse through the rest of the shift, but just before she leaves, he calls her name.

“Chen!”

She stops, sighing, then turns. “What?”

“Wear your short sleeves tomorrow.”

Chapter Text

Tim needed a drink. Specifically, he needed to talk to Angela and Nyla, but they hadn’t had the chance to sit down together since the quarantine. Which meant there was a lot to un-pack tonight.

“How’s it going with your rookie?” Nyla asked, smirking as she sat down next to him at the bar.

“Fine.”

“Aw, come on.” Angela took his other side. “Nothing’s happened? At all?”

Tim sighs, pushing his shot glass away and gesturing for a refill. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know if something happened?” Angela raised her eyebrow across him at Nyla.

“Ok, fine, something happened. But I don’t know what it means.”

“Tell us,” Nyla says, taking her own shot.

Tim explains about the ambulance. How he was pretty sure he started breathing because of Lucy. How her just touching his arm calmed him and kept him from passing out. How he didn’t know if she’d noticed or not, but how could she not have? How much of an asshole he’d been to her since, trying to distance himself before he did or said something he’d regret.

Angela and Nyla listened silently through the whole thing. Then they exchanged a glance Tim didn’t understand.

“Sounds like there’s more to this soulmate thing than you first thought,” Angela said when he was done.

“What am I supposed to do though? I can’t stay mad at her, but if I don’t keep her at arms length, I’m gonna-” Tim stops abruptly, heart pounding over what he’d almost just said.

“You’re gonna what?” Angela asked.

“He’s gonna tell her he loves her.” Nyla grinned, elbowing him in the ribs.

“No. No!” Tim didn’t know if it would count if someone else said it and he agreed, but there was no way he was taking the chance. “But I’m gonna cave soon.”

“Look.” Angela leaned closer. “She’s your boot, so you can’t do anything right now. But, if you wait just a few more months-”

“-or ask for a rookie transfer-” Nyla interrupted.

“-then you’ll be free to tell her what you know, and she can do with that information what she will.”

Tim sat back. “What do you mean, ‘what she will?’”

Nyla shrugged. “I mean, you haven’t exactly treated her like royalty. You could tell her and she shoots you down.”

“I thought the more hesitant one was supposed to find out first.”

“Yeah. Doesn’t mean she won’t say no at first though.” Angela downs another shot.

The idea hadn’t even occurred to Tim. He’d been so focused on making sure Lucy didn’t find out, that he didn’t even stop to wonder if maybe she’d be as against the idea as he was. Was he against the idea?

Chapter Text

Lucy stared at Tim. She could swear he’d almost kissed her, but instead he was offering her a bottle of whiskey.

“I’m not really a whiskey girl.” She said, finding a bottle of tequila. She opens it, and then holds it out. “To the end of the world.”

Tim smirked. Or maybe it was a real smile, she didn’t know anymore. He clinked his bottle against hers. “Whenever that may be,” he replied, and they both took a swig.

Lucy doesn’t remember the rest of the day very well. She was pretty sure she and Tim were both wasted, they’d each had a full bottle after all. She thinks she remembers him holding her when the false alarm call comes through. Them laughing together about how scared they’d been. And there’s a flash. She doesn’t know what it is exactly. It might be Tim’s eyes, standing out starkly from his face, different somehow. Or it might just be the sun glinting off the tequila bottle.

The call that follows is enough to sober them both up, though. It’s on Tim’s phone, not the radio.

His face goes pale, and he runs for the shop, calling her after him.

“What’s wrong?” Lucy asks as he starts the car and pulls out, sirens blaring.

“It was Angela. She went to the courthouse to check on Nolan and Harper and Wesley, apparently they couldn’t get the all clear from the courthouse bunker.” Tim’s knuckles are white on the steering wheel. “Wesley was stabbed, they don’t know how bad yet.”

When they get to the hospital, Angela is gone, but Jackson is sitting there. His face brightens slightly when he sees them.

“Hey. Where is she? How’s Wesley?” Tim asks.

“He just got out of surgery. Doctor said it went well, and if there aren’t any complications he should make a full recovery.”

“They’re letting visitors in already?” Lucy asks.

“I mean, she’s his soulmate, so-”

Lucy nods. “Of course. Her just being there will help him recover faster.”

Tim moves as though to say something and then seems to think better of it. “Do you know when they’ll allow visitors?”

Jackson shook his head. “Probably not today. Angela said she’d call if there were any updates.”

Tim nods. “We should head back to the station. Let everyone know.”

Lucy sighs as they walk out.

“What?” Tim asks, still on edge.

“I just- it must be nice. To know who your soulmate is. To have someone who can heal you just by touching you, someone who won’t ever leave you.”

Tim opens the door without comment, but Lucy catches him staring at her again when he thinks she’s not looking.

Chapter Text

“Where is she?” Tim bellows, running towards the house. The code 4 had come through a minute earlier, but the radio message before that mentioned a bomb, and that Lucy was in trouble. Nyla stops him at the gate, one hand holding the suspect.

“You need to calm down. She’s still your rookie, Tim.” Her face softens. “Lucy’s fine, I promise. She’s puking her guts up in the trash.” She gestures over her shoulder, and Tim spots her leaning over the can, wiping her mouth.

“Lucy!” Tim stopped running, but he’s still moving quicker than technically necessary. “You okay?”

She swallows, making a face. “Yeah,” she nods.

“Good. Scare me like that again and you’ll be doing 50 push-ups after shift.”

She looks like she doesn’t know whether to yell at him or laugh in his face. “I was almost blown up, and you’re threatening me with push-ups?”

“You got a problem with that?”

She smiles faintly. “No, sir.”

Lucy has clearly become a distraction. Tim does his best to ignore it, but when he rams into another car because he was too busy looking at her to watch where they were going he knew things had gone too far. He needed to back off, let her go.

Nyla agrees with him. “It’s a shame. You two make a great pair, but if she’s all you can think about-”

Angela isn’t quite as quick to agree. “The break lines were cut; the accident wasn’t your fault. So technically she hasn’t caused any problems yet.”

Tim shakes his head. “I can’t focus around her. And that is a problem.”

The girls grin. “Too busy staring into her eyes to take out bad guys?” Angela teases. “Wow, he really is in lo-”

Tim claps a hand over her mouth, looking around despite himself. “Stop it.” When he’s sure no one’s heard, he lowers his voice and strikes back. “I’ve seen the way you stare at the sky, I know you’re thinking of Wesley.”

Angela shrugs. “What can I say? You’ve gotten to see blue your whole life. I live on the seashore but have only gotten to really appreciate it for a couple months. Can you blame me?”

Tim can’t. He’s caught himself memorizing the wood grain on his dining room table, and he put his whiskey bottles in the windowsill just to let the golden-brown spread over the floor when the sun hits the window. As for how the whole thing started, Lucy’s eyes have only become more captivating, if that were possible. They’re the color of whiskey, or honey – he was never a fan of honey before – or caramel. He could get drunk on those eyes without touching a bottle.

It doesn’t matter what Angela thinks, Lucy has definitely become a distraction. He needs to do something fast, before he ruins both of their careers. So when they run into a boy at the station that she met at a bar the night before, he only half-heartedly tries to discourage her.

And when she wants to go home alone and sleep after the new serial killer gets away, he encourages her to go out with the boy instead.

Chapter Text

 Tim has no idea why he feels antsy. But he’s this close to snapping at Grey for no reason at all, when Harper approaches them, Nolan and Jackson in tow.

“Tell them.”

“Lucy did not come home last night,” Nolan starts, and Tim’s heart jumps into his throat, “and she’s not responding to texts or calls.”

Tim keeps his voice steady as he asks, “Ok, well, did she go out with that guy? The one she met at the bar. Caleb Wright. With a ‘w.’” Nyla eyes him with a smirk, but Tim ignores her.

“Yeah yeah, she was headed out to meet him when we walked out together about 8:30.” Jackson says. “Haven’t heard from her since.”

“Could’ve ended up at his place, overslept,” Grey offers, but Tim already knows the answer.

Nolan and Jackson speak at the same time. “No.” “Lucy doesn’t do one night stands” “and she’s never late.”

Grey nods, thinking. “What do you know about this Caleb guy?”

Jackson shakes his head. “Nothin’.”

Tim holds up a hand. “No, no he said he worked for a medical supply company. I saw a video of him playing with a puppy.” The others give him weird looks. “What? Lucy was checking out his social media page.”

Grey nods again. “Alright, take West, run a background check. I want to know everything you can find on this Caleb.”

Tim’s moving before he can hear the rest of what Grey tells Nolan and Harper. By the time Jackson’s followed him into the room, he’s already working on the computer.

There was nothing.

“Impossible. I saw the social media page.” Tim leans back, worry gnawing at his stomach.

“Maybe he deleted it,” Jackson suggests, reaching for the computer. “Let me try.”

“I’ve been doing this longer than you boot, if I say it’s gone, it’s gone.” Tim turns suddenly and strides out to find Harper.

They run into each other in the hall and it’s clear she was coming to find him. “The GPS on her phone was turned off. She was last seen at the bar she met Caleb at. Her car’s still there, and cameras caught him shoving her into his trunk last night. Tim. Tim!”

Tim is pressed against the wall, reeling.

“Tim, we need to focus. It’s safe to assume that Caleb’s our serial killer. In that case we have less than 12 hours to find her before she’s dead. Tim.” Harper grabs his face, forcing him to make eye contact until she’s sure he’s listening. “You need to stay focused. Lucy needs you right now.” Tim swallows and nods. “Call Angela, get her down here. I’ll go see what else we can find out. And Tim.” He looks up from his phone. “Don’t do anything stupid until we’re out of other options.”

Chapter Text

“I need you. Lucy’s been taken.” Tim’s voice trembles despite himself.

“I’m on my way,” Angela responds after a moment. “Let me get Wesley settled.”

When she gets there, Tim is having a quiet panic attack in the break room. “Tim. Hey, Tim!”

He looks up, voice breaking. “I told her to go.”

“What?”

“She wanted to go home last night, go to bed. I told her being alone wasn’t a good idea, and suggested she go with Caleb.” Tim laughs hysterically. “I told my soulmate to go out with a serial killer.”

“Hey!” Angela’s voice helps to ground him. “This isn’t your fault! Lucy’s a grown woman, she can make her own decisions, and it’s neither of yours faults that the guy she met turned out to be a serial killer.”

“I should have real-”

“You’re not helping Lucy by blaming yourself.” That shuts him up.

“I told you to focus.” Harper has joined them in the room. “Tim, you may be our best shot at saving her, you need a clear head.”

“How.” His voice breaks even more. “How can I possibly help?”

“Look, you know how I took a sick day and went home halfway through yesterday?” Angela asks.

“Yeah.”

“Something was wrong with Wesley. He didn’t tell me, I could just tell. Just like I could tell he wasn’t at home, just like I found him at a bar without needing to track his phone. It’s instinct, okay? She’s your soulmate, if we can’t come up with any leads in time, all you have to do is say three words, and you’ll know where she is and how much danger she’s actually in. Not yet!” she interrupts as Tim starts to speak. “If we can’t find her in time. We will find her though. I promise.”

Tim takes a breath and swallows. Finally, he asks, “Is Wesley okay?”

Angela purses her lips. “I don’t know. But he’s okay enough to leave alone right now. I’m not leaving until we’ve found her.”

Tim nods, and gets up. “What’s the plan?”

Chapter Text

They reconvene in the bullpen, joining Nolan, Jackson, and Grey.

“Do we have any leads?” Grey asks.

“We have an idea, sir,” Nolan speaks. “He can’t go the zoo, Harper and I chased him out of there. So he needs a new killing ground. It makes sense that it would be connected to Rosalind somehow, although we don’t have any specific leads yet.”

Grey nods. “It’s worth looking into. Jackson, you and Angela look into any property connections. Nolan, go back to the bar and see if you can find anything that might give us a lead. Harper, Bradford, I want you on the tip line.”

Tim stares at him. “Sir, she’s my rookie, I should be out there, put Nolan on the tip line!”

“Nolan has his head in the game,” Grey shoots back. “I know you won’t let me send you home, but you’re not currently fit to be on the street. Harper, keep an eye on him.”

“What, Harper has to babysit me now?”

“Tip line, now! That’s an order!”

30 minutes later, they get their first actual tip. There was a fight at the bar, and Nolan had been dragged away. No one knew for sure where he had gone, but he wasn’t answering the radio or his phone. A hush fell over the station. No one but Harper would meet Tim’s eyes, and there was very little conversation.

Finally, Angela came running in, Jackson close on her heels. “We found it!”

Tim leapt over at least one desk to get to them. “Where, what is it?”

“We found an old farmhouse. It belonged to Rosalind’s uncle or something. No one’s lived in it for years.” Angela told him.

“And the best part is, Nolan’s phone pinged a tower nearby just 10 minutes ago,” Jackson butted in.

Tim didn’t wait for orders. “Send the address to my box.”

Harper rides with him to the house. When they get there, they can see Nolan sitting on the couch, Caleb holding a gun on him. Tim waits by the door while Harper goes around. Then he kicks the door in. Caleb whirls, and Harper takes the shot.

“No!” Nolan shouts, rushing to the man as he falls. When he looks up, there’s a crazy light in his eyes. “He’s the only one who knows where Lucy is!”

Chapter Text

Caleb dies quickly. Tim picks up the phone, vaguely listening as Nolan explains that it’s connected to a camera in the barrel Lucy’s been buried in.

Harper looks over his shoulder. “You can’t even tell if she’s breathing.”

The whirring of a helicopter sounds overhead, and they walk outside as Grey, Angela, and Jackson step out, along with several other officers, before the copter rises back into the sky.

“What’s our status?” Grey asks.

“We shot the only person who knows where she’s buried.” Tim says numbly.

“Airship 1, we need the location of any possible burial sites around the house.” Grey says into the radio.

“Copy that. I hate to say it sir, but there’s a lot of possible locations. Mostly to the North and East.”

Tim stares out at the wasteland in front of them. Somewhere out there, Lucy is buried alive. His Lucy. Is it his imagination, or is the brown grass looking greyer by the minute?

Angela puts a hand on his shoulder. “Tim”

He looks at her with dead eyes. “I lost her. I-”

“Tim!” Angela shakes him slightly. “Find her.”

It takes him a second to realize what she means. He’s been dreading this day for the past 10 months. Although when he had imagined telling her before, it had simply put their jobs in jeopardy. She wasn’t about to die.

Tim takes a breath, suddenly resolved. He doesn’t care what Grey thinks. He doesn’t care how Lucy will react. Lucy Chen is his soulmate, and he will do whatever it takes to find her. “C’mon Boot, where are you?” He mutters. “I can’t lose you, not like this.” He takes a breath and closes his eyes “I love you, Lucy. I’m not letting you die today.”

He doesn’t have to open his eyes to know where she is. The connection is faint, she’s almost gone. When he does open his eyes, he’s already running. Angela is calling for the searchers to follow them; Grey is demanding to know where he’s going.

He’s close. He knows it. He closes his eyes again, trying to find her, when his heart skips a beat. His lungs constrict, as though he were the one suffocating. An emptiness washes over him. He opens his eyes, scanning the ground, refusing to give in. Harper and Angela are just catching up to him when he sees it. Lucy’s ring, flashing in the sunlight next to a rock.

Tim kneels, picking it up, and looking around. A step, a tap, he’s moving forward looking for any sign of freshly moved dirt. Instead, his next step makes the ground clang. He drops to his knees, shoveling furiously with his hands. Harper and Angela are digging with him, and then the other officers are there as well. Shovels appear; he can see the top of a barrel. The hollowness in his chest grows. Finally, Tim finds himself reaching down, scrambling for the latch, prying the lid off.

She’s curled up, face bowed down. Tim can tell without checking.

Lucy is dead.

Chapter Text

The world has gone gray. Tim isn’t sure if it’s actually completely gray, or if there’s just too much desert around and not enough that isn’t supposed to be brown to tell a difference. All he knows is that Lucy is gone.

Tim’s only sitting there for a second or two, but it feels like a lifetime. And then someone pushes against his shoulder, and he sees hands pulling her out. Hears himself yelling for more room.

Tim had said that he couldn’t focus without Lucy next to him, but now that she’s gone, his focus is lasered in on her. He doesn’t bother to check her pulse. He props her chin up, gives her two breaths, and then starts pushing on her chest.

One. Two. Three. “C’mon Lucy.” Four. Five. Six. “Wake up.” Electricity shoots down his arms. The same feeling he’d had in the ambulance after the quarantine house, only now he’s the giver, not the receiver.

Lucy gasps for breath. Tim gives her time to draw a breath before he’s picking her up, cradling her to his chest. She’s sobbing, but it’s the most beautiful sound Tim has ever heard. She’s alive.

By the time the paramedics have arrived, Lucy has stopped crying, but she’s still shaking. The paramedics try to take her from Tim, but he doesn’t seem to register that they’re even there. He doesn’t let go. One manages to slip a hand onto Lucy’s neck, feeling for a pulse.

“Sir. Sir, we can’t find a pulse. You need to let go so we can help her. Sir.” They’re trying to pull him off, but there’s only three of them. Angela and Harper step in.

Harper pulls them aside, explaining what just happened. Angela kneels next to Tim, trying to bring him back from whatever stupor he’s caught in.

“Tim, c’mon. She’s awake, you got her. You need to get her to a hospital; make sure she’s okay.”

Tim looks up, blinking. Angela repeats herself, and Tim nods slowly. He doesn’t let go, though. Simply picks Lucy up, still holding her close.

“That’s the best you’re gonna get,” Harper tells the paramedics, and they motion for Tim to follow them to the ambulance.

The remaining officers follow slowly, recovering from the ordeal. Finally, Grey speaks.

“Does someone want to tell me what just happened?”

Chapter Text

Tim held Lucy all the way to the hospital. When they were finally in the ambulance, he let her go long enough for a quick examination, where they found a bullet hole in her shoulder. She’d lost a lot of blood; the paramedics said it was a miracle that she’d come back at all. Tim had relaxed enough by the time they reached the hospital to let go when they were ready to wheel her into surgery, but he held her hand all the way to the door.

He was pacing in the waiting room when the others showed up. He looked up to see Angela, Harper, Nolan, Jackson, and Grey all rushing towards him, questions spilling out.

“She’s alive. In surgery right now. There was a bullet wound in her shoulder, she lost a lot of blood.”

“Caleb didn’t do that to his other victims.” Nolan said, confused.

Angela smiled. “I bet she was fighting back.”

“Tim.” Grey said. “Sit down. Pacing isn’t gonna help Lucy, and you’re just worrying yourself more.”

Tim obeyed, and everyone took seats around him. They waited for what felt like hours; Tim wasn’t sure how long it actually was.

“Officer Bradford?”

Tim turned to see a nurse sticking her head into the waiting room. “Your girl’s out of surgery; you can come see her now.”

Grey looked at Tim with a strange expression. “Your girl?”

“Ask Angela.” Tim slipped through the door after the nurse before he could say anything else. He could hear Angela yelling at him as the door closed.

“I’m told you hadn’t started a relationship with Mrs. Chen yet?”

“Officer Chen.” Tim corrects. “No, I hadn’t.”

“Was she aware of your connection?”

“That we’re soulmates? No.”

“In that case, you don’t need to feel pressured to do anything. Simply being near her should help with her recovery.” The nurse stopped and looked him in the eyes. “Officer Chen got lucky. The bullet wound wasn’t serious, and although she was badly dehydrated and lost a lot of blood, you got her here in time to stop any major damage. I do believe she will make a full recovery.”

“Thanks.”

Chapter Text

Lucy looked so small in the hospital bed. She was breathing on her own, and her stats on the various machine screens surrounding her looked good. Not that Tim needed them to tell him that.

He pulled a chair next to her bed and gently picked up her hand. If she wanted him to let go when she woke up, he would, but until then he wasn’t leaving her alone in any sense of the word.

It was morning when she woke up. Tim didn’t blame her, she’d been through a lot, and hadn’t had a proper night’s sleep the night before. He’d fallen asleep himself.

She blinked, her big brown eyes searching the room, before landing on Tim, who was suddenly very conscious of holding her hand. She tilted her head sleepily, searching his face for answers.

“Your eyes-” Tim smiled gently, and waited. “Is that? Blue?” He nodded. “Why are your eyes bl-” Realization flashed across her face, quickly replaced with horror. Tim’s heart skipped a beat, and he dropped her hand.

“Wait, Caleb?”

Tim’s fear turns to confusion, “What?”

“Caleb’s my soulmate? A serial killer is my-”

“What? No!” He pauses, unsure how to proceed.

“If it’s not Caleb, then who-?” She leaves the question hanging, looking around the room again.

Tim gently reaches over to take her hand again and hears the sharp intake of her breath as a buzz shoots up both their arms. “If it had been Caleb, I’d have killed him myself.”

Her eyes meet his again, and when she says his name it’s like she’s seeing him for the first time. “Tim.”

Chapter Text

Visitors are allowed in the room shortly after Lucy wakes up. She isn’t sure if she’s ready to see everyone yet. But Tim is sitting beside her holding her hand, and although she hasn’t quite come to terms with their newfound connection, she’s grateful that he’s there anyways.

He’d told her everything. It had been hard, she could tell. He wasn’t ready to talk about it or think about it, Caleb had forced his hand, but he told her every detail, from making her drive because his vision was swimming with too much color, to the fact that Harper and Lopez had known for months. He told her about how he’d almost said it back at the quarantine house, and how he was fairly certain she was the reason he survived that day. He told her what it was like to bring her back – Lucy realized she knew a little bit about that too. He told her how scared he’d been, how much he’d tried to fight it, and how terrifying it was to realize he was losing the fight. Then he’d looked her in the eyes and said, “You can say no. I wouldn’t have done it, yet, anyways, if you hadn’t been in danger. You don’t have to tell me yes.” He paused for a moment, and then continued, “You don’t have to say anything, right now. You can take as long as you need to figure out what you want. I won’t rush you.”

She realizes that underneath the bravado there’s something else in his eyes. Fear. And guilt. He blamed himself for sending her to talk with Caleb, and for a split second she’s mad that her soulmate sent her on a date with a serial killer, but it’s not his fault anymore than it is hers, and she’s telling him that as her parents walk into the room.

“-if anything, it was my fault for not seeing through him.”

“It was Caleb’s fault, Boot, not yours.” She never wants to hear that nickname again.

“You don’t get to call me Boot anymore.” She sees his face fall, knows it came out harsh, but doesn’t feel like explaining more with her friends in the room.

Grey crosses his arms. “She’s right. I talked to Nyla and Angela, and they’ve convinced me that you didn’t do anything against regulations, but she can’t be your rookie anymore.”

Tim swallows his disappointment. “I know.”

“Speaking of which-” Angela pokes her head around the sergeant. “How’re you feeling?”

“Like I just survived a round with Ghost Head.” She cracks a small smile and Tim laughs softly.

“I don’t understand how you’ve known for so long and I didn’t.” Grey says.

“Me neither,” Nyla agrees. “I mean, all three of us knew, and he’s been calling her ‘Lucy.’ Since when has Tim Bradford called his rookie by their first name?”

Grey glared at her. “That’s not what I meant.”

Nyla smiled. “I know.”

“The good news is that you get the next couple weeks off,” Grey said, turning back to Lucy. “Go home, lay down, drink plenty of water. If the lack of oxygen hadn’t gotten to you, the dehydration would have. I don’t want to see you near the station until you’ve been cleared for duty. Physically and mentally.”

“What’s the bad news?”

“Well, since Tim isn’t your TO anymore, there needs to be a rookie swap.” Nolan crossed his fingers behind Grey and squeezed his eyes shut, silently begging. “Tim would eat Nolan for breakfast, so he’ll be taking West, and Lopez will be your new TO.”

“I thought it was supposed to be bad news,” Angela joked.

“Lopez is a great TO.” West moved over to Lucy. “You’ll be in good hands.”

“Thanks.”

“Any tips to help me survive Bradford?”

“I’m right here, you know,” Tim interrupted, pretending to be offended.

“Right, sorry, I’ll ask later,” Jackson says, then lowers his voice to a whisper. "Seriously, though, if you can help me at all..."

Chapter Text

Lucy didn’t say yes right away. She finished her training, became a P2, and started working small undercover ops. Tim gave her time and space, he’d be there when she was ready. In the meantime, he studied for the sergeant’s exam and focused on his new rookie, Aaron Thorsen.

 Lucy didn’t say yes until Angela and Wesley’s wedding. She found Tim at the bar, wearing a stunning green dress.

“So I’ve been thinking.”

“Uh-oh.”

“Shut up.” She slapped his arm playfully. “I’ve been thinking, and I think I’m ready.” She took a deep breath, watching him expectantly.

Tim choked on his drink. “What?”

She was rocking back and forth nervously, but her eyes never left his face. “I’m ready. For us.”

Tim grinned widely. “Took you long enough.”

She smiled back at him, eyes locked on his. Suddenly, he was bending down, and she had closed her eyes, face lifted towards his. His hand found her waist.

“Angela’s gone!”