One Time Thing || Chenford / The Rookie

Part 2

Author's Note: This part takes place shortly after 1x09 (after Isabel is shot, Vance is put away, Lucy and Nolan's post break-up secret hook up)

***

Tim spends the next few weeks reeling over how quickly things hit rock bottom with Isabel's unexpected reappearance in his life.

When she had just been gone, it had been easier to stay in a sort of permanently suspended limbo in terms of his personal life, to hope that maybe, just maybe, there was still a way for them to come back — to salvage some part of what they had built. But then she had just appeared before him like some kind of apparition in the parking lot of Circus Liquor.

He'd barely had time to process that she was alive, that she had been right there the whole time, before so much had been sent into motion. Her overdose, her arrest, the drugs in her apartment, being forced to be a CI, and ultimately being shot in the head by Vance.

Now that Vance is behind bars where he belongs and Isabel is well on her way to recovery, he finally feels like he can breathe. He finally feels like it is actually time to do what everyone close to him has been encouraging him to do since Isabel disappeared in the first place. Oddly enough it's his boot's face that he pictures when he thinks about finally moving on — the look in her eyes as she'd pleaded with him outside of Isabel's apartment to remember who he is.

And that is how he ended up here, drinking alone in a bar after shift, having decided that it's time. He needs to start putting himself out there, be open to meeting someone new.

But it's a bust. Before he's even finished his first beer, he's already signaling for his check. It's LA. There are attractive women literally everywhere he looks, but for whatever reason, he feels no pull or compulsion to engage. The idea of trying to get to know and connect with a stranger on any level is far more daunting than it is appealing.

***

He spots her in the parking lot, leaning back against that ridiculous orange Datsun of hers. And for the first time all evening, he feels something — his entire body reacting like it's been jolted with a dull buzz of electricity at just the sight of her.

He sucks in a breath. She looks incredible. He's seen her in plainclothes before, and has been almost stupidly aware of how attracted he is to her since their one and only sparring session in the gym awhile back, but this is something else entirely.

He takes her in from head to toe — loose beach waves perfectly framing her pretty face, lips painted in a deep glossy pink that makes it impossible for him not to fixate on them. The daringly low cut of the short dress she has on under her denim jacket causing his eyes to linger in a way that has him feeling like he should be smacking himself in the back of the head. He has to snap his jaw shut by the time he stops in front of her, dragging his eyes up from her shapely legs to meet her gaze.

"You okay?" he asks gruffly. His eyes sweep over her once again, but this time he's looking for signs of why she might be lingering by herself in a parking lot after dark.

Her cheeks flush, "I — uh — yes. I'm fine. Seriously. I'm just being weird — no need to stop yourself from carrying on with your evening."

His jaw clenches — this is his boot; he has literally zero interest in getting involved in her personal affairs, but the idea of leaving her out here on her own like this isn't sitting right, even though he knows she is more than capable of handling herself.

He sighs, "Are you waiting for someone?"

He can see that she's considering saying yes — lying to him —almost immediately, but something in his gaze as it bores into her must change her mind because she simply shakes her head. "No."

His brow knits together in confusion, "Then why are you standing out here like this?"

Lucy huffs an exasperated sigh and turns her gaze to the sky, as if asking the heavens why on earth, of all people, her asshole of a TO has been sent to her in this moment.

"Seriously, Tim. It's fine. I'm fine. You don't need to worry about me."

He stares back at her; he's still getting to know her, but he already has the sense that she'll break if he just gives it enough time.

"Oh my god," she laughs miserably and runs a hand over her face. "This is so embarrassing. Look. I'm going through a breakup — well, I guess, technically, I got dumped — but anyway. Things were fine until... well, things just got really complicated recently. And I'm... I'm kind of having a hard time with it. And I thought if I just got all dressed up and went in there," she gestures toward the bar, "and put myself back out there, I'd feel better. But no, instead I've just been standing here for 15 minutes, and I can't get myself to go in and I don't know why."

He nods, keeping his expression carefully neutral as he realizes he knows exactly how she feels. Isn't that the exact same reason he'd shown up here tonight — to get back out there; put the vague idea of moving forward into actual action?

He swallows, realizing his gaze is wandering south again of its own accord, and when he jerks his eyes back up to meet hers, he is certain she's noticed too.

Her eyes shift down to his left hand, and Tim watches her register that he's no longer wearing his wedding ring.

She pushes a strand of hair back behind her ear and lifts her big doe eyes to meet his. "It was sweet of you to stop. Really. But I'm fine, Tim. I don't want to interrupt your night."

And though her words are telling him he should go, there's a spark of something there in her eyes taking him back to their morning in the gym, somehow asking him to stay.

His body is reacting to that impossible pull between them without bothering to consult his mind. He steps closer to her, and Lucy tilts her head back further to look up at him, surprise and then something a little more knowing flickering across her face as her own eyes wander down to his lips.

"Would you...? You wouldn't have an interest in blowing off some steam, would you?" The question is so soft, so uncertain, and yet so startlingly direct that Tim sucks in a breath in response.

This is the worst possible choice, and, yet, isn't this exactly what he was looking for? Some kind of push to get him well on his way to moving on, moving forward?

His eyes drop to where she is worrying her bottom lip between her teeth, and again he has to force his gaze back upward. Her eyes are wide with her uncertainty, and he can't imagine how terrified she must feel, stepping out on this limb like this, all by herself.

He knows he shouldn't, knows the correct answer is absolutely no. But something in him isn't willing to let her be out there like this all by herself for any longer, something in him can't deny how ridiculously pulled he is toward this woman.

Maybe this will even make things better; they get it out of the way, and there won't be so much unresolved tension between them all the time, so much potential for distraction between them. Sure, Tim.

"Meet me at my place." His face doesn't betray any emotion. He texts her his address as he walks to his truck, wondering just what the fuck he has gotten himself into even before he hits send.