Maybe we figure it out in the morning... || Chenford / The Rookie

Part 2

Her scan of the bar finally leads to her gaze meeting his across the room. He's staring at her with an intensity that takes Lucy back to her first day as his boot. But even despite that intensity, Lucy feels immediately comforted. She's amped up on adrenaline and nerves and catching sight of Tim immediately brings her back down to earth, and she realizes how right Nyla was to push for this.

At first, she had balked at the idea of having her T.O. babysit her on her first 'official' UC mission since the takedown with Nyla and June. And, beyond that, the idea of having to flirt with her former boss left her feeling more than a little uncomfortable and uncertain.

The lines between them had always been so clear — rookie-T.O., superior-subordinate. And even when the lines blurred a little — partners that had each other's backs in life and death situations, friends that enjoyed pushing each other's buttons — the hard lines were still 100% clear.

And it was clinging to those lines that had allowed her to get through her rookie year with a T.O. that was as insanely attractive to her as Tim Bradford just so happened to be.

Tim Bradford was hot. The kind of hot that had made her knees weak and stomach flutter since that very first day in roll call. There was no questioning that fact as she was frequently reminded by the line of unabashed, fawning women that seemed to follow him all over LA, popping up at crime scenes just to remind him [and Lucy] how devastatingly attractive he was.

But the lines were always there to remind her that he was her T.O., and they had worked together — side by side, day in and day out — dealing with life-threatening situations on a regular basis.

The fact that he'd been a massive asshole toward her in the beginning also ended up being a great catalyst for stuffing her slightly embarrassing schoolgirl crush over his hunkiness back into the deep recesses of her psyche where it belonged... for the most part, anyway.

And she instead focused on becoming the best cop she could be. All in all, she considered their time together a pretty effective course of exposure therapy.

But, she wasn't his boot anymore, and it had been six months since she'd graduated. Six months since Tim had been an everyday presence in her life.

And now the lines were... less clear. So, she tells herself, it's perfectly natural — completely expected, in fact — that a now relatively rare Tim sighting might bring back a slight flutter, isn't it?

It certainly does not help things that her attraction to him only grew as she slowly, but surely, got to see Tim for the man he was underneath his asshole facade. Slowly, but surely, could start to see through to the storm of emotion lurking just beneath his confident aloofness at any given point. Principled, but rogue. Calculated, but passionate. Cold on the surface, but so, so warm underneath.

Nyla had laughed reassuringly when Lucy had voiced her concern about the inappropriateness of flirting with her former T.O. "Pretend this is some alternate parallel universe where he wasn't your training officer. You're just two strangers in a bar. Are you really telling me you wouldn't want someone who looks like Tim Bradford to hit on you in a bar? One of the perks of UC work... you can be someone other than you for a little bit. Plus, trust me, I think you'll be a lot more comfortable with Tim than if we pull in a UC you don't know, but it's absolutely your decision."

Lucy had relented relatively quickly, trusting Nyla's judgment 100% and realizing that this mission wasn't the right time to test out how she'd respond to a relative stranger invading her personal space, fellow UC or not.

She shakes herself out of her brief reverie and begins to put their plan into action, noticing as she heads for the open spot at the bar next to Tim that there's still something about the way he's looking at her so intently, taking in every bit of her with what seems to almost be... appreciation?