Chapter Text
The thing about secret dating was that you had to get creative with dates or drive to an area where you wouldn’t be spotted. Lucy Chen found out her boyfriend actually loved to cook, after listening to him nearly yell at the TV when watching Top Chef, and that became a way to enjoy date night. So they’d cook together and then watch Top Chef, going all the way back to the very beginning episode of the series. Since she had a nosy roommate, they spent those nights at his place.
“Alright, caramelizing the onions is next.” Tim turned from the stove to find Lucy standing with a wine glass in hand, watching him. “What?”
She shook her head, “nothing, I just realized I like watching you work.”
“You do?” He asked her, “I mean, you’ve been doing it for years.”
Placing her wine glass down, she moved the two feet to him and slipped her fingers into the belt loop of his jeans. “Yeah, but that was before.” A grin formed before she kissed him, “before you were dating me. I kind of scored the jackpot if you think about it. Loyal, dedicated, and a little hot.”
“Uh huh?” Tim wrapped his arm around her and kissed her again. “As much as I enjoy you singing my praises…” she slapped his arm and he raised an eyebrow. “Did you just assault me?”
“Oh trust me, you’ll know when I assault you.” Lucy told him and pulled away, “you can’t file charges against me anyways.”
Tim put a hand on his hip, “and why not?”
Pointing at him as she grinned, Lucy informed him why he couldn’t. “What was I doing at your house? Huh? You’d have to explain that to Grey when you file an officer-on-officer complaint. Questions would be asked and while you’re good babe, lying doesn’t come naturally. You’re good at avoidance but lying, oh you can’t do that without giving something away. Then Lopez would start asking questions and it’d be over within a few moments.”
Realizing she was right, he sighed and shook his head a fraction. “You done yet?”
“Maybe.” Lucy pulled on his shirt slightly, “kiss me.”
“You want me to kiss you?” Tim asked her before motioning to their area, “after you assault me?” Seeing her continued grin, he pulled her closer and kissed her. “You’re going to be the death of me, Lucy Chen.” When they parted, he reached up and brushed a piece of hair behind her ear. “Come on, dinner won’t cook itself.”
Lucy nodded and put her hand on his back when he turned back to the island. “What’s next?”
“As I was saying, next we caramelize the onions.” He motioned to the onion that was next to the cutting board, “so can you cut the onion while I prep the rice to cook?”
“You know what would be good with this recipe?” She opened the drawer beside her hip and pulled out one of the various knives that lay with the other cutlery.
“What?” He moved to the pantry to pull a bag of rice from within.
Lucy didn’t bother looking up as she spoke because she knew what his face would look like when she finished speaking. “Maybe some portobello mushrooms.”
“Hell no!”
She started laughing and looked up to see him starring at her, “just an idea.”
“Mushrooms don’t exist in this house and won’t ever come through the door.” He shook his head and walked to the stove. “Are you actually trying to kill me?”
Returning to the onion, she spoke softly. “No but you should be warned one of my favorite Italian dishes is mushroom ravioli.”
“How is that possible?” He knelt down to pull out a pot front the cabinet, “baby, move to your left for a moment.”
She looked down and found him wanting the cabinet she stood in front of. “Yeah.” He got both a pot and a sauce pan from underneath, hand going to Lucy’s back as he stood up. “It’s really good with Bolognese sauce. All the flavors just melt together and it’s amazing. Di Cessi makes the best for sure.”
“I should make you my mother’s Spaghetti Bolognese, trust me you’ll be like we were as kids constantly begging for it.”
Lucy looked at him and nodded. “I’d like that. I can make my nana’s lotus root soup because while the ingredients may make you question me, it’s amazing. My mother wasn’t one for cooking and so once I could cook for myself, she kind of left me to feed myself to a certain degree. My nana made sure I could cook good, nutrious food.”
“I have a feeling if weren’t cops who had to run considerable distances after criminals, we’d both gain weight from all the cooking we’ll be doing.”
“Yeah.” She got really invested in the onion and Tim immediately noticed.
Tim walked the two feet to her and reached a hand up to brush back some of her hair behind her shoulder. “What did I say wrong?”
“Nothing.” Lucy smiled at him and he folded his arms, his gaze laser focused. “It’s stupid.”
“Are you going to elaborate? I can’t fix something I’m unaware of.”
Putting the knife down, she bit her lip before speaking. “I uh, I’ve had issues with my weight since I started taking the PTSD meds.” Her hands went up, becoming animatedly as she spoke as was the case most times. “I know you didn’t mean that the way you said it but it just brought up the fact that I’m not the ideal size.”
“Ideal to whom?” He asked.
“Everyone.” Lucy shook her head and stared at her hands. “The women in the locker room, they have a comment every day in some way. They think they’re subtle but they’re not.”
Tim took her hands and held them. “Listen to me, they can talk but they’re wrong. You’re beautiful.”
“I’m not.”
“You are.” Tim pulled her chin up and shrugged, “I look at you and all that comes to mind is how beautiful you are. The women maybe trying to pick you apart but I’m struggling not to shove other cops into lockers or threaten them because they’re making comments ranging from the lewd to awe.”
Lucy squeezed his hand. “Don’t start a brawl in the locker room.”
“I may end up having to considering the male population of the station, barring a handful of cops, is overly attracted to you.” Tim pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her. “If nothing else, you’re perfect to me Luce. I’m not lying either.” He kissed her crown and pulled back to brush her hair behind her ears. “I love your hair. It has its own personality.”
“Thanks.” She took a moment before speaking again, “how many men exactly?”
Tim glanced at her, “why? Are you going to start a brawl?”
“Maybe.”
“Just give me a heads up before you do.” He told her as he held her hands, letting her play with his fingers and thread their hands together before undoing them. “That way I can distract Grey and let Lopez know so she can help you.”
Laughter escaped Lucy, “you wouldn’t.”
“For my girlfriend, you bet. Now, as your superior, I have to warn you there are consequences for such actions.”
Lucy nodded, “I was stupid, huh?”
“No, nothing you’re feeling is stupid. Just know you can tell me anything.” He kissed her head, “now can we get back to cooking dinner because I’m starving.”
That surprised her because he always made sleep and meals a priority, said he couldn't be an effective cop without them. “You didn’t have lunch?”
Tim shook his head as he moved back to the stove. “I got stuck at a scene babysitting a body until detectives could show up. By the time Rios and Martin showed up, it was almost end of shift.”
“You could have radioed to have other officers come relieve you.” Lucy went back to the onion.
“I could have but considering the victim was the kid of some big shot movie producer, thanks to Aaron’s insider knowledge, it’d have been a nightmare if some rookie officers couldn’t do their jobs properly.” He motioned around them, “it wasn’t a total bust, I got a chance to look up some recipes.”
Lucy nodded, “did you ask Aaron for any suggestions?”
“I can do that on my own, thank you.”
Finished with the onion, Lucy turned to him. “Finished, what else can I do?”
“For the rest of the evening, I want you to let me cook for you.” Tim took the cutting board that held the onion, “you just enjoy your wine and keep me company.”
“No sir, not a chance.” Seeing the counters, she nodded and moved to the sink. “You cook and I’ll clean.” She paused for a moment, “but first I’m going to use the bathroom.”
Tim nodded, “you know where it is.”
“Be right back.”
“I’ll be here.”
Lucy wasn’t back in the time he knew she used the bathroom, having ridden with her for years gave him that very intimate knowledge, but he didn’t worry. At least until he heard her talking to herself on the edge of the kitchen. “You’re an idiot, Lucy. You should have known and now everything is ruined.”
He left the kitchen to find her leaning with her head against the wall. “Everything okay?”
“No, I have to go.” She picked up her head and looked at him.
“Tamara?”
She shook her head, “no, I just have to leave. I’m sorry I ruined the night.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.” Lucy sighed, “I forgot something and I know this just ruins everything.”
Tim walked to her and pulled her into his arms. “It’s not that big a deal. If you have to go, you have to go.”
“I’m sorry.” Lucy whispered against his shoulder.
“We can try again on Friday.” Kissing her, he let her go. “Call me before you head to bed.”
She nodded, “I’m sorry.”
“Luce, baby, it’s fine.” He rubbed her arm, “I’ll bring some to the station tomorrow for you.”
Tamara was at home and she smiled when Lucy walked through the door, leaning against the barrier. “Are you okay?”
“No, you know Chris and I broke up.”
“Yeah, like two weeks ago.”
Lucy looked at her, “I was on a date with a new guy and I realized halfway through the meal that I started my period. I was on the toilet and there I was with nothing in my purse and definitely not anything in my car. I ruined my date which I hate because he’s so great and now he may think I’m just weird.”
“Okay, well first you’re going to go do whatever you do for your cycle. After that I’m going to feed you and we’re going to talk about why my generation is so selective on dating.” Tamara told her, “so go on, we’re reversing roles tonight.”
The cop stood straight and nodded. “Thanks.”
“Dude, we’re going to talk about how to screen if this guy is worthy of you.” She shook her head as she watched Lucy walk to her room. “Because we both know Chris wasn’t the best guy for you. Or the firefighter before that.”
Lucy turned to look at her, “how do you know about Emmett?”
“Please, Jackson and I talked about your exes at one point.”
“Great.”
Tamara grinned, “but you know who would be a great person for you?” She pointed to Lucy, “Tim, your boss who you kissed.”
“Shut up!” Lucy told her, “I told you that kiss was for work.”
“I still think you’re in denial.” She called after Lucy as the door shut behind her.
Sitting down with Tamara after a shower, Lucy picked at the boxed macaroni and cheese that Tamara made. It wasn’t the meal she had been looking forward to that night, or the company. She loved Tamara like a little sister but she just wanted to be on the couch at Tim’s watching Top Chef and laughing as he got angry at the chefs on the screen. Tamara seemed to sense she wasn’t up for eating and so the college girl asked an important question.
“So you run out of dinner and you think the guy is great, but what do you think his response would be if you told him you had a period emergency?”
She knew what Tim would do because she’d had a similar issue a month into being his aide. Even more he’d torn into the detective who tried to make like she planned the whole thing to leave a scene. “Probably help, I mean he is ex-military so he probably served with women who had similar issues.”
“So did you run out of necessity or embarrassment?”
Lucy put the bowl on the side table. “Embarrassment.”
“Were you planning to,” she caught Lucy’s attention, “get a little frisky?”
“No.”
Tamara shrugged, “then what is the big deal, although that isn’t always a big deal. I mean, I have this classmate who in graphic detail told me why she thinks period sex with her boyfriend is amazing. More power to her because when I’m like that, no one is coming near me in any fashion.”
“We really do need to get you on birth control.” Lucy told her.
“Relax, I’m not doing anything. I’m juggling two jobs and going to school full time. Adding a boyfriend is low on the list of things to do, really low.”
Lucy sighed, “what do you think I should do? Even if I’m the one with the psych degree.”
“Call him and tell him, see what he says and if he’s an ass about the fact we as women bleed every month, delete his number. If he just brushes it aside like it’s an everyday thing, carry on with the conversation.”
“Did you get a psych degree while I’ve been out on a date?”
Tamara smiled, “no, but I do know what immature assholes the boys my age are. We have to be so much more selective than you or women slightly older had to. Honestly, in my opinion we should be dating older guys and not the boys around us.”
“He’s older, like a decade older.” Lucy knew that was a fine line because she didn’t know if she mentioned Tim’s age to Tamara at one point or not. “Is that weird?”
“Nope, sounds like Los Angeles dating to me. Is he good looking?”
“More like hot. Like on a scale of warm fireplace to the sun, we’re at the sun.”
That got a grin from Tamara and Lucy covered her mouth, “damn, you have to take a photo if he’s worth going on a second date with.”
“I’ll ask but I’m not one for taking photos of people who don’t want their pictures taken.”
“Hey, my hot and your hot possibly differ. Just tell me one thing, if you could jump him and it doesn’t affect the relationship in any way, like a free pass with amnesia come dawn, would you?”
Lucy nodded, “like several times in a single night.”
“Lucy!” Tamara gasped at her, “I have no words, like none.” It caused Lucy to end up laughing.
After dinner, Lucy watched Tamara grab her stuff to head out for the night. She had an exam at the end of the week and had a study group at a twenty-four hour diner. Lucy knew her routine when it came to her biology and chemistry classes. She’d eat and then leave to study and be with friends before crashing at her friend Melanie’s place.
“Just remember to leave me a text message.” Lucy told her from where she sat on the couch.
“I know, I will.” Tamara told her as she grabbed her bag from her room. “Oh, are you going to be home tomorrow night so we can talk about your phone call?”
Lucy nodded, “yeah, I was hoping to get some housework done.”
“Oh,” Tamara told her, “text me before you have a guy over because I don’t want any part of that show.”
“Shut up, go study.” Lucy said around laughter.
Tamara opened the door and they both saw Tim with his hand raised ready to knock. “Hey Tim, bye Tim. Bye Lucy.”
Lucy stood up and made her way over to where he was at the door. “Hey, you don’t have to stay out there.”
Tim made his way inside and closed the door behind him. “Everything alright? She just ran out of here like the place is on fire.”
“Her biochemistry final is on Friday and she’s stressed. Apparently, the professor is a hard ass who expects perfection or you don’t get anything more than an eighty-five.”
“Are you okay?” Tim asked her, “if my insensitive comment had some linger doubts…”
Lucy shook her head and waved her hand. “No, nothing like that. I uh, I started my period and I had to come home to change.”
“Oh.” He took her hand, “text me what you use so I can buy it for you to have in case it happens again.”
“Wait, really?”
Tim nodded, “I don’t know if I told you this before we went on a first date but I was married at one point. Plus, I have a sister.”
“Stop.” She said around laughter and took a step into his space, kissing him. “Thank you for being understanding.”
“Basic part of life.”
Lucy nodded, “like you told Detective Rice before you made him apologize to me. I never thanked you for that day.”
“Trust me, if you didn’t need to go back to the station so urgently, he’d have gotten a lot more said to him. What made me really upset is that he has a wife and three daughters so he should be more aware that it’s not something that can be stopped by a woman crossing her legs.”
“Some men are stupid.”
Tim nodded, “we see that proven right every single day.”
Lucy motioned over her shoulder, “Tamara will be gone all night, do you want to stay for an hour or two? We could watch the episode we planned on watching tonight.”
“Did you eat dinner?”
“I took a few bites of macaroni and cheese but sometimes Tamara forgets that I’m lactose intolerant. She didn’t use my soy milk so I couldn’t eat it.”
Tim nodded, “we’ll order some takeout so you’re fed.”
“Okay.”
“What do you want?” Tim pulled his phone from his pocket, “sushi? Thai?”
As they sat down, Lucy reached for the remote. “I can make something really quick.”
“Allow me to spoil you.” Tim insisted, “I’d wait on you hand and foot if I could but you would assault me.”
“You know me so well.” She told him and smiled as he took her hand. “Surprise me.”
Tim glanced at her, “the make or break phrase said to men.”
“I think that’s actually ‘we need to talk’.”
“Alright, I’ll surprise you.” He focused on ordering food for her while she queued up the episode they planned to watch at his place.
As they sat watching the episode and then a second, Lucy enjoyed the competition but also watching Tim’s reaction. He was invested and she had to beg when suggesting it the first date in that they’d had at his place. She knew he was an avid sports fan and the occasional western, some science fiction, but reality or near reality television was not something he’d watch. Sometimes she enjoyed watching him more than the shot itself.
“That’s raw!” Tim said to the screen, “can you believe that?”
“I’m watching it also.” Lucy told him and leaned her head against his arm, eyes focused on the television. Tim picked up his arm and put it around her, allowing her to relax into his side.
The sound of a knock made them both look towards the door. Tim pulled away and stood up, walking to the barrier since it was Lucy’s food. He opened the door and the delivery man looked at him. “Delivery for Bradford?”
“That’s correct.” Tim pulled his money clip from the back pocket of his jeans and pulled off cash, handing it out to him. “Keep the change.”
“Thanks, have a good night.”
Lucy smiled as Tim closed the barrier and came back over to the couch with the delivery bag. “What did you get me?”
“All yours.” He handed her the brown paper delivery bag that had no information on the outside that gave away the restaurant.
“Let’s see if you’re in the dog house.” Lucy told him playfully as she opened the bag, careful of the staples. Reaching inside, she pulled the container out and looked at the recipe taped to the top. Reading it, she paused and looked at her boyfriend. “Mushroom ravioli, thank you.”
Tim squeezed her knee, “there should also be some tiramisu in there also.”
“Okay, we’re only out of the starting gate and already you’re the best boyfriend ever.”
“I’m doing the bare minimum.”
Lucy nodded as she opened up the top container to find it was dessert so she put that aside. Taking her fork, she dug into the ravioli. “If this bare minimum, then all my exes didn’t even hit minimum. I mean you were doing minimum before we even dated.”
“You deserve it and I don’t just say that. You deserve so much Lucy Chen and I hope to prove that time and time again.”
“Stop being so sweet before you make me cry.”
Tim chuckled and reached for the remote, “how does HGTV sound?”
“You hate HGTV.”
“Yeah, well I need to reno my bathroom and I need some type of inspiration before asking Nolan for help.” He saw her watching him, “I’m serious about the reno. I know you saw how small that bathroom was.”
Lucy grinned, “alright, hide behind your excuse. I won’t say ‘no’ to some HGTV.” She relaxed against the couch and pulled her feet up to cross, at least until Tim reached out to pull her feet into his lap. They focused on Fixer to Fabulous as it played, Lucy ate her ravioli and tiramisu as she relaxed back. Tim kept his hand on her ankle, rubbing his thumb back and forth against her skin. It was a nice, modified date after life ruined the one they had planned.
If he brought her the risotto she missed out on the next day, it was just a promise kept.
If he actually bought her period products for his bathroom, he just kept yet another promise.
If he dropped his jaw when she told him of the conversation with Tamara, well after they had sex the first time, she definitely enjoyed his reaction.
If he set the bar for what minimum should be and Lucy told Tamara to expect it from her future boyfriends, that was between the two women.
If she and Tim both explained what they expected to each of Tamara’s boyfriends, that remained between the couple.
If Tim put the fear of god into his daughter’s boyfriends, explaining how he expected his daughter to be treated, that was between him and the boys who weren’t deserving of his daughter.
If Tim made sure his son learned how to treat women by the way his mother was treated, he did something his father never did.