Tim + Lucy = ?

What Was He Thinking?

#104daysofsummervacation
#104daysofchenford
#Day16

After a few sleepless nights consuming whole pints of ice cream and slightly awkward days spent sitting less than three feet from the man she had kissed twice with a kind of frustrated passion she didn't realize she was capable of, Lucy was coming around to the idea that maybe, just maybe, she was in love with Tim Bradford. 

Well, she was, of course. She just...wasn't ready to admit it. But she still knew. 
Even though she wouldn't head-on confront what she knew within herself, she skipped some details and went straight to: what is he thinking?

Tim...was Tim. That was all there was to say (but she loved every detail that made him, him). She reasoned that she could officially make up her mind once she knew exactly what he was feeling. That was the reason. It wasn't at all because she didn't want to admit to something as delicate as "I'm in love with you" and end up rejected. 

Besides-Tim needed to pull his own emotional weight. 
Either that or, yeah, she was scared of rejection.
It wasn't as simple as she could make it sound in her head. Just get him alone (which they were usually anyway) and tell him how you feel. 

The worst that could happen was he could reject her. They'd work in awkward silence until they found themselves drifting apart. She'd apply for another position, either UC or out of district. Soon they'd just forget about each other. Even the strongest of bonds faded away.

The best that could happen was he could reciprocate. They'd keep it a secret for as long as they could (with the proper higher authority in the know, of course). She'd either be able to keep working alongside him or she'd have to make a positional move depending on the higher-ups decision. People would find out somewhere in there. A select few would support her while the remaining 95% whispered behind her back about how she must have been sleeping with him since she was a rookie. That, of course, was the only way she even passed. Tim had failed eleven rookies, there was no other reasonable explanation for why she was the exception. Unless she slept with him. Not because she was actually a good cop. 

She didn't even want to think about her parents would react. This, would just be the icing on the cake for them. You've sold out by choosing this profession and now you've sold out by choosing him. It's unethical, Lucy. She chuckled at the bitter irony of knowing who her real father was.

She broke free from the bonds of negativity. She was a good cop. The people that actually mattered, knew that. 
So...if she could finally admit that she was in love with Tim, that she had been for a while now, the new question was, would it all be worth it? 

Would it be worth it, all so she could wake up next to him?
Would it be worth it, all so she could take comfort in his arms?
Would it be worth it, all so she could kiss him any time she wanted?
Would it be worth it, the criticism and ridicule, all so she could have exactly what she wanted?

Hell yes.