Beneath Your Beautiful (A Chenford | The Rookie Fanfic)

Part Ninety-Nine: The Only Way Out Is Through

Week 7, Day 1: Sunday

Tim is at the kitchen island dicing vegetables when Lucy lets herself into the apartment. She barely even processes the crew members completing their set up or Kojo jumping up to greet her. She distractedly gives the dog some love as Tim glances up at her.

"Hey, how was brunch?"

The smile he gives her is so genuine and warm it makes her heart ache. Makes her wish she could just rewind and erase Angela's revelation. Or that she could just let it go. But she can't.

For some reason that she doesn't completely understand herself, the new information is eating at her. Swirling inside her and pooling into a pit in her stomach that is entirely unique to being disappointed by someone you deeply care about and trust.

And her own confusion over why this feels like some kind of a betrayal is only magnifying her discomfort and unease.

Because it's not like she suddenly thinks that everything between them is a lie. Or that his feelings and intentions toward her now are anything less than 100% authentic. She knows in her heart that they are. Knows he is not the same angry man who'd been waiting for her at the alter on their wedding day.

But it still hurts.

He almost immediately picks up on her mood, setting down the knife and wiping his hands on a towel as he studies her, "What's wrong, Lucy? What happened?"

She crosses the room to stand on the opposite side of the island from him. "Why are you here, Tim?"

He looks at her in confusion, "What do you mean?"

"Why did you really decide to do this — the show?"

His eyes flick toward the cameras and then back toward her uncertainly. But he seems to push aside whatever hesitance he has about answering the question. "I told you... at the beach. After Isabel, I —"

"Tim, stop," she shakes her head, feeling suddenly frustrated that, once again, it feels like he is skirting around the truth. And equally frustrated that she is far more upset about this than makes any kind of rational sense.

"I know about the bet."

***

Tim's mouth opens and then closes in surprise, his brows knitting together. "The bet?"

And though, yes, on some level he has an inkling of what's she talking about, but on another, he's certain he doesn't. Because there's no way she'd be so upset about the dumb agreement he'd made with Genny and Angela, would she?

Obviously he'd be the first to admit he'd been wrong about the process, and if he'd had any intention of actually "winning" the dumb bet, he'd certainly be doing a piss poor job of it by falling head over heels in love with his match.

She doesn't beat around the bush, and it may be one of the things he's starting to love most about her.

"Angela and Genny told me. That you wanted to prove to them that this couldn't work so they would stop trying to set you up. That is why you agreed to do the show, isn't it?"

And though the tone of her voice betrays very little, her eyes of course give her away. He feels something tighten in his chest because he can't stand the way she's looking at him — hurt and confused and maybe even a little distrustful.

He nods slowly, "Technically, yes, that's true. But Lucy —"

"Why didn't you tell me?"

He shakes his head, feeling helpless, because yes, sure, he hadn't told her, but not because he was intentionally keeping it from her. "It wasn't like that, Lucy. I wasn't trying to keep it from you; it's just that it's not relevant to —"