Buried With You

Chapter Eleven

The following morning Lucy was awoken to the sound of music, and the smell of pancakes. Upon entering her kitchen she saw Tim and Tamara. Tim was at the stove pouring pancake batter onto a skillet, while Tamara sat on the counter, singing along to the Beatles song playing and putting blueberries into the batter.

"Good morning." Lucy's voice sounded surprisingly happy.

"Hey!" Tamara jumped off of the counter. "We know you've had a rough few days so we thought maybe breakfast in bed would help."

Lucy looked at Tim, he smiled softly at her. "You kind of need to be in bed for that though."

"Well, how about we all have breakfast at the island, together?" She went and pulled out a bar stool across from Tim.

"Yeah, I guess that works too." Tamara sat next to her.

Lucy watched as Tim cooked, and Tamara told him all about her classes. Tim could deny his affection for Tamara all he wanted, but Lucy knew he loved the girl just as much as she did.

Once they finished breakfast Tamara volunteered to do the dishes so that Lucy and Tim could get to work on time.

"I'll uh, see you at work?" Lucy sounded unsure, earning a confused look from Tim. "It's just, that we should probably drive separately. So you don't have to go out of your way to bring me home."

"Lucy, don't be ridiculous. There's no point in driving separately if we're already in the same place." Tim nodded his head towards the passenger side of his truck, he opened the door for her. "Get in."

Lucy smiled as she got in the car. "Thanks."

This morning had been exactly what she needed to get her mind off of everything that happened the past couple of days. Her two favorite people cooking and having fun. Her heart was light with happiness and adoration, something she hadn't felt, well, ever. She had never met someone who made her feel the way Tim did.

Lucy's thoughts were interrupted but the sharp chime of Tim's phone. Ashley's name flashed across his phone screen. Her heart dropped, she glanced over at Tim and noticed his expression had gone stoic. He briefly glanced at Lucy before accepting the call.

"Ash, hey." Why did he sound upset?

"Hi. Look, I'm sorry to call but I left something at your place I really need." Ashley let out a hard sigh. "This is weird. I was calling to see if I could go get it. I know you're at work but I still have your key. I thought maybe I could go in get my stuff, drop yours off, and then just leave the key."

Ashley was giving her key back? And exchanging stuff? When had they broken up? And why hadn't Tim told her?

"Oh, uh yeah, yeah that's fine." Tim took a deep breath. "Just make sure to not let Kojo out."

"Right." Ashley paused, almost as though she wanted to say something else. "Okay well thank you. By Tim."

"Bye." Tim quickly hung up his phone. He refused to look at Lucy.

"Tim?" Lucy stalled, he hated talking about personal stuff. She thought about their conversation last night, how he'd called her his safe space. "Are you okay?"

It took him a while to respond. "Yeah, I'm okay. Honestly, it was for the best, we never would have worked out."

"I'm sorry, Tim."

"Thanks."

Lucy debated whether or not she really wanted to ask her next question. "Did you- or was it Ashley."

"It was kind of mutual, I guess. It was her call but I could've prevented it and I didn't. There was just too much we disagreed on." Tim paused and looked quickly at Lucy before moving his eyes back to the road. "That and apparently, I'm in love with someone else."

He was in love with someone else? Who? Lucy wanted to ask but at the same time wasn't sure she wanted to know. Instead, she reached over and squeezed his hand. "If you need anything, I'm here."

Tim smiled softly at her. "Thank you, Lucy."

As much as Lucy wanted the happiness from that morning to carry over into the rest of her day, she knew it wouldn't. They had a killer to find.

The roll call room was unusually quiet. Officers kept shooting looks Lucy's direction. Of course the news of the barrel delivery got around, news and gossip spread around the station faster than sound. The looks varied from questioning to concerned.

"Alright everybody, starting off, all over time has already been approved. If you somehow haven't heard, we have a new potential serial killer. They have already taken the life of one victim, we need to make sure they don't take another one." Grey's voice always sounded pained and frustrated when there was a tough case, and this one definitely qualified.

Grey handed off a few assignments before sending the officers off with his usual dismissal. "Alright, that's it. Be safe out there."

Lucy made her way to the kit room to grab her war bag. The detectives needed Nolan today, requiring Tim to take Thorsen, leaving Lucy to ride solo. She could feel Tim watching her as she loaded her shop, he was nervous, probably about her riding alone with a new killer on the loose. He still blamed himself for her abduction. Lucy thought about their conversation that morning, who was he in love with? She wanted to entertain the idea that it could be her, but she couldn't. It would hurt too much when it wasn't.

Lucy pulled out of the station. Conflicting thoughts and emotions bounced around her head. She wanted to find the killer and bring them to justice, but she also wanted this to be a nice and easy day. The last two days had mentally and emotionally drained her, the nightmares from her abduction had just started to subside but after everything that happened they were back at full force.

Lucy thankfully got a calm morning, she had a couple of reckless driving or speeding tickets but nothing crazy. The call she got from Grey, however, changed all of that.

Lucy's radio crackled to life, breaking the quiet peace of her shop. "Officer Chen, go to channel nine."

Lucy switched her channel and brought her radio to her mouth. "Yes, Sergeant?"

Grey's voice sounded tense. "Tox reports on Darla came back. There was a discontinued chemical found on the surface of her skin. Harper and Lopez found an abandoned mechanical warehouse that used the chemical before it was shut down."

Lucy froze, were they going to get their killer?

Grey took a deep breath. "I thought you'd like to join the search. I'll send the address to your box."

"Yes sir, thank you." Lucy quickly input the address.

Hopefully, today would be the day all of this ended.