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Because a domestic call at a residence turned into a hostage situation, Sergeant Tim Bradford was radioed to the scene to take over. When asked for details about what had happened, he was told by a rookie that John Nolan, who was the first to respond, had been taken hostage at gunpoint by the homeowner along with his soon to be ex wife. Tim had trained for this. He took out a bull horn and was ready to start talking to the man holding a civilian and one of his officers hostage when another shop pulled up.

"I'll take it from here," Lucy Chen said as she strutted over with her own bull horn in her hand.

Quick math indicated that he had not seen her in three long years, and it was quite the surprise to see her again. There was so much Tim wanted to say and yet no words came to his mind as he stared.

She allowed herself a moment to take in the sight of him. How the years had treated him. How his handsomeness was exactly as she had remembered it. His hands still showed no sign of a wedding band. But, there were differences. The stripes on his sleeve indicated that he was promoted to sergeant finally. His eyes were harsher. Lucy was able to snap back to attention and use her own bull horn to begin negotiating with the suspect inside the house.

Tim had always admired her empathy, so it seemed to be a perfect role for her. When he heard through the rumor mill that Lucy was a hostage negotiator, he was proud of her as he had been when she transferred to the Hollywood Division to start working on a major undercover operation. He was somewhat keeping tabs on her, but cops can be such gossips that it was not at all difficult to follow the progression of her career over the three years they spent without contact or even seeing each other. She looked just as beautiful as the day they met, but there was more confidence in her posture, her voice, and even her strut, which was both alluring and distracting. He realized he was supposed to have his gun drawn and be ready if the situation turned volatile, but the initial shock of seeing Lucy again had yet to wear off.

It was not protocol for Tim to stand at attention without a weapon in his hand, and though her back was mostly turned to him, she could still FEEL him, knew how he was standing, even noted the imperceptible way he shifted his weight to his other foot, and sensed how her body reacted to do the same. Lucy had never been so in sync with any other former partner she ever had, and she distantly wondered why Tim? Why after so much time was he the one she still wanted to move in tandem with? Why did she feel safer responding to the call because he was at her six? It made no sense, and yet, there was an immediate logical explanation in the back of her mind she would never dare to admit.

As in all things, Lucy proved to be successful; both hostages and the suspect exited the house safely and without incident. Tim wished he could take credit for training her to be so impressive, but her natural abilities shown in her new role in a way that could not be attributed to anything he did.

John waved away the paramedics promising that he was alright, and then he went over to Lucy to greet her happily, "It's so good to see you!"

"You, too," she replied with a smile.

"Really nice job getting us out of there safely."

"It's sorta what I do." Her gaze flicked to Tim just as he locked eyes with her, and everything else stopped. That was the same, too. How he had some uncanny skill to shut the rest of the world out so only he remained. John's voice was a mere muffled rumble in her ears, but since he was so chatty, Lucy half heartedly nodded to pretend she was listening until Tim looked away, breaking the spell.

"So, is that a yes?" John wondered.

"What?" Lucy replied dumbly.

"Are you coming to Las Torres tonight to hang out with the old gang and celebrate my rookie finishing his first year?"