Falling for You - Chenford

Part 32

One year later. 365 days.

TJ's first birthday. This year had flown by for the entire family. Lucy and Tim's little boy had been the best addition to their family, and it showed with every passing day. The two parents decided to throw a cute baseball themed party for TJ, which was mostly Tim's idea. Lucy loved it, though. She thought it was perfect for their little boy.

"Hey, I need to pick up TJ's smash cake after work, so I'll be home right before dinner." Lucy said as she was about to walk out the door. 

"Ok, I'll have dinner about ready for you when you get back. Have a good day at work, Luce." Tamara responded. The two exchanged smiles, and Lucy walked out the door. 

Tim had already headed to work, dropping the kids off at Lucy's parents' house. It was nice that they could rely on family. 

The workday for the couple was packed. Lucy helped the detectives again, which was something she really enjoyed. While her job was not all happiness, she thoroughly enjoyed the company of her work family. 

Once shift finally came to an end, Lucy could breathe. The primary case that the unit was focusing on was kidnapping, which ended up outside of Midwilshire jurisdiction. The abductor had crossed state lines with the two kids. This had Lucy in a spiral, but she was lucky to be able to go home to her husband, best friend, and kids. Her family. 

As she headed home, she stopped to pick up TJ's birthday cake from the bakery. It was perfect; decorated to look like a baseball field, and even had a little bat and ball laying near home plate. She knew that Tim was going to love it. 

After a short ride, she made it home and walked to the door with the cake in hand. 

"I'm home." Tim looked in the direction of the front door and walked over to his wife to grab the box from her. They shared a kiss, and then he let her get settled. 

"Hi, Luce. How was work?" Tamara asked as Lucy walked into the kitchen. 

"Stressful. We're working a kidnapping case, and the suspect took the two kids across state lines. There's nothing we can do, unfortunately. We've got a BOLO out, though, so hopefully, something will come up." 

"Well, I made homemade pasta and bolognese sauce. And, the house is still standing, so I call it a win-win." The three started laughing and enjoyed a nice dinner. 

The next day happened to be TJ's first birthday party. The ladies set up the decorations, and Tim got his son ready for the day. He had picked out an outfit that fit the theme perfectly. Once everyone arrived, the festivities began.

Harper and Collyns, who were both about to turn three, stole the show while TJ was napping. Everyone loved the Bradford kids, and there was absolutely no reason not to. 

Once the future baseball player woke up, the family began the smash cake tradition. In his high chair, TJ ripped through the cake and covered all of himself with it. Lucy and Tim watched and laughed about it, seeing how he was so similar to his big sister. 

After the cake was demolished, Lucy took TJ upstairs to clean him up and change his outfit. Once they were done, they headed back downstairs to join the party. 

After a couple of hours, the party was over. Most of the guests had left, but their family had stayed to spend more time. Lucy and Tim wanted to extend their gratitude and had another sweet announcement. 

"So, we wanted to tell you guys something." Tim said, smiling. 

"We are having another baby!" Lucy added while everyone cheered. 

"Congratulations, guys!" Grey said, as he hugged Lucy and then shook Tim's hand.

"So, are you guys going to name this one after Angela?" Nyla asked, earning laughs from everyone in the house. 

"We've got a few names swirling around, but we have no idea what this baby is." Lucy smiled.

"Another beautiful Bradford kid, you guys are amazing parents." Angela added. 

"All of you have been the best chosen family I could have asked for, so thank you for all you've done for us." Tim said. 

After everyone left, the three adults cleaned up from all of their festivities, which took a while. Then, they put all of the littles to bed and piled on the couch for movie night. It had been a while since they'd had a night like this. 

A few days later, Tamara needed to talk to Lucy. She had been out of the house most of the day and hadn't seen her best friend since the wee hours of morning. 

"What's going on, T?" 

"Well, I wanted to tell you some good news." Tamara was smiling.

"I'm all ears." 

"I met this guy in my class, and we've been dating for a few months. I didn't want to say anything for a little while because I had to be sure about him, but I want you guys to meet. If that is something you want." Lucy was beaming. 

"I am so happy for you, T, and I would love to meet him. Let me talk to Tim, and we can have him over for dinner." The two shared a hug and went off to have a girl's day.

A week later, the couple had Tamara's boyfriend over. He was cute, blond, and tall. Like... Tim Bradford tall.

"Lucy, Tim, this is my boyfriend."

"I'm Hunter Mason. It's nice to meet you both, I've heard many good things." Already, he'd won the hearts of Lucy and Tim.