Safe Place to Hide || Chenford / The Rookie

Chapter 1

The banging on her door jolts Lucy awake and upright in her bed in a burst of sheer panic. She fumbles blindly for her phone, stopping herself from next reaching for her gun as she takes note of the time — 2:48 PM — and too many missed notifications for her brain to properly process at the moment. The past week spent working nights has turned her schedule on its head, and she struggles to find her bearings as the banging continues. It's the clear tension she hears in the familiar voice through the door that finally propels her to her feet and on a trajectory toward the door.

"Lucy. Get up! I need to talk to you."

Still bleary-eyed, she pulls open the door just as an obviously agitated Tim is raising his fist to bang again.

His eyes widen just slightly as he takes her in, though he skillfully schools any sort of reaction to her appearance off of his face so that it's gone almost as quickly as it appears.

But even the slight reaction is enough for Lucy to become acutely aware of what she must look like. Hair wild and expression dazed with sleep, she'd traded her usual t-shirt in for a cropped cami and shorts she'd hoped would make sleeping through the stifling afternoon heat of the blistering LA summer slightly less miserable. She finds herself suddenly wishing she had stuck with her t-shirt as she feels the goosebumps cropping up on her arms in response to the blasting AC in the apartment, now that she's no longer buried in the cocoon of her bed. She shifts slightly, pushing the rogue strap of her cami back onto her shoulder before self-consciously crossing her arms over her chest as she tries to sort out exactly why Tim Bradford is standing at her door.

To Tim's credit, if he's uncomfortable with her state of undress, he doesn't let on, ever the consummate professional.

"Jesus, Chen. You sleep like the dead."

"Uh. yeah. Sorry, I was asleep," she mumbles, her brain still too fogged with sleep and mortification to realize her response is completely redundant.

Tim carefully keeps his eyes locked on hers, serious expression softening slightly at her obvious confusion, "I'm sorry I woke you up, but we need to talk, and it can't wait. Why don't you take a minute to... erm... wake up?" He gestures somewhat awkwardly toward her room, finally betraying that he's maybe not so unaffected by being exposed to so much of his former boot.

Lucy nods, grateful for the out, and Tim lets himself into her apartment, closing the door behind him as she moves toward her room. And that's when it hits her. Tim Bradford wouldn't be banging on her door to wake her up with that look of concern on his face unless something was very wrong. Fully awake now, Lucy forces herself to take a deep breath, trying to ignore the feeling of dread in her stomach. In her bathroom, she quickly yanks on her robe, opting against taking the time to get fully dressed and splashes water on her face, her concern of looking like a hot, sleepy mess from just moments before fully forgotten as she hurries back out to Tim, who is leaning back against the kitchen island.

"What's wrong? What happened?" she asks immediately, unable to stop her mind from running through the many horrific possibilities of why Tim is standing here in the middle of her apartment out of the blue with that expression on his face.

"Let's sit," he says gently, nodding toward the couch.

Lucy feels a sudden urge to scream at him to just tell her what's going on, but instead, she repeats her question, the sinking feeling in her stomach is almost unbearable now, panic beginning to rise in her chest. "T-tim, what is it?" her voice shakes, her fear latching on to her vocal cords.

Is it Jackson — did something happen to him on his flight to his family vacation in Fiji? Did something happen to Nolan on shift? Is it Lopez; is the baby okay? Is it Harper? Grey? My parents?