Safe Place to Hide || Chenford / The Rookie

Chapter 14

Friday is Lucy's day off, and she spends a good portion of it at the hospital with Tamara. The younger girl hasn't woken up, but her condition has improved enough for her to be moved out of the ICU and allowed regular visitation, so Lucy makes the most of it, updating Tamara on what she's learned about the case, reading her pointless entertainment news articles, gushing a tiny bit about how hot History Zaddy actually is, before breaking down over her confusion about what is happening between her and Tim.

And even though Tamara can't actually offer her a response or her always snarky, but usually surprisingly spot-on perspective, the entire afternoon is hugely cathartic for Lucy, a chance to talk through her emotions that has been long overdue.

On her way home, she swings by the mall to pick out a string bikini that is far more attention-grabbing than anything in her own personal collection, in preparation for her infiltration of the Beyond Crystals party the next day. Studying herself in the dressing room mirror, she's pleasantly surprised that she might actually look better in a barely-there bikini now than she did in her early 20s thanks to the intensity of her police training, and even though she knows better than to let an angry 18-year-old's commentary impact her self esteem, she can't help but feel a tiny bit gleeful that Jenna might just have to eat her words.

***

By this point, Tim really has no excuse not to be mentally prepared for Lucy's apparel to shock him when she swings open her apartment door, but, alas, there's truly nothing that could have prepared him for this one.

His eyes widen and he can feel his mouth dropping open as he drags his gaze up her long, toned legs to the frayed hem of her criminally short cut-offs, up over the smooth skin of her stomach that he'd just been craving to see more of not even 2 days prior, on up to a hunter green string bikini top that flat out confirms for him that her uniform does not do her body anywhere near the justice it deserves. His throat goes dry as he takes note of a provocatively placed tattoo that leaves him wondering what other things he has yet to discover about his former Boot.

She does a quick spin in front of him, "What do you think? Can I pass for a clueless 20-something co-ed?" She reaches up to toy with her large hoop earring as she waits for his response.

Tim forces himself to focus on her eyes as he clears his throat and tries to recover from his short-circuit. "I— uh— I — sure."

Lucy's lips twitch slightly, "That's the response I was going for. Thanks, Tim."

His cheeks heat as he realizes that she has effectively used him as a guinea pig to test out her cover. She turns to move toward the couch and Tim finds himself thinking that the view from behind is almost as good as the front, forcefully tearing his eyes away from where her cut-offs reveal the tiniest bit of the curve of her ass as Lucy turns back to face him. She pulls the zipper up on a hoodie that seems to have magically appeared from nowhere. He works to clear his head as he wryly remembers mentally patting himself on the back for how effectively he'd dismissed and compartmentalized any physical attraction to Lucy Chen just a few short days ago, up until she'd managed to swing a wrecking ball through just about everything he had believed to be true about their relationship.

There's still a twinkle of something there in her eyes, in the purse of her lips, as she watches Tim — that tiniest bit of gloating victory that she always emotes anytime she thinks she's gotten something over on him — before she clears her throat to ask, "So what's the plan?"

***

Lucy scoops both of the girls from Jenna's house, or, more accurately, from Jenna's mother's employer's mansion, and Lucy has to wonder what it must be like to live in proximity to such wealth and privilege and grandeur, but not actually have any of it yourself. She feels a sudden pang of empathy for Jenna as she idles outside of the gate.