Tim Bradford, Lucy Chen: S4 Moments

Moment 14: Arcade

A/N: Title inspired by Duncan Laurence's Arcade. Good song. 

Ashley POV

She wasn't quite sure what she was getting into when she agreed to her first date with Tim. Slowly she found herself in a very complex situation with a man of even greater complexity. Some things were easy to determine. He wasn't the most open. He wasn't accustomed to what could be considered "normal" relationship behavior. That was about it. Both of which made it hard for her to determine anything of value about him. She knew very little and it became frustrating.

He was ridiculously loyal. Of all the circumstances that could have brought that quality to the forefront was the situation with the dog. Kojo, she reminded herself. He just didn't seem to understand how uncomfortable she was. All day, she was worried by Tim's apparent indifference to the situation. She wanted to believe him. She wanted to believe that Kojo just needed to get used to her. He wouldn't launch at her and leave an imprint of his jaw on her thigh like a stranger's dog had when she was seven. 

But what if things don't get better? Will Tim choose the dog over me? In a sort of daze, she found herself reaching out to her father. Within moments she had a contact that she never imagined she would need. But relief flooded her anyway when Lucy answered the phone. Her reassurance was exactly what she needed to regain even the smallest bit of confidence in her slow-going relationship with Tim. 

Later, Tim made it apparent that he had thought things through. Sweetly, as he did everything else, he helped her make a friend of Kojo, Lucy's dog. 

Lucy's dog. That detail stuck with her. She knew it shouldn't bother her. Lucy seemed sweet enough and she and Tim were just co-workers, or whatever it was Tim had described her as. She knew it shouldn't bother her. But it did. Clearly, there was a story as to how Tim ended up with Kojo. Neither of them were open to sharing. She didn't care about that fact too much. It was more because Kojo was Lucy's. Was it because of Kojo that Tim had become so defensive of him? Or... was it because of Lucy? She shook her head. She couldn't think that way. She couldn't make a hasty judgment based on only a few base things. They were friends, anyone could see that. That wasn't something she could allow to make her jealous or distrusting. That would not be fair to Tim, to Lucy, and if she wanted this to work, to her either. So she let it go. Or at least, she tried. But now every time she saw Kojo, all she could think of was Lucy.

Things mellowed out for a while. They both began moving in a direction that felt more permanent. She hadn't had a lot of relationships that had felt that way. So, she was excited. 

She was excited to invite Tim to dinner that night. She wasn't expecting him to take a raincheck on it. She didn't think that all it would take for him to change his mind would be Lucy telling him he was too much of a control freak. She had hoped maybe she would have been capable of doing that. He turned to her, accepting the invitation. Yet it wasn't motivated by excitement to be with her, only determination to prove Lucy wrong. She definitely didn't expect Lucy to end up tagging along. Well, she brought a date, who was... pretty cute but way too young for her. 

You're dating Tim!

But was she? She ended up feeling like the third wheel on her own date. Clearly, this was more about something between... Tim and Lucy. She really shouldn't read into it. But then, she shouldn't have any reason to read into it. The problem was that she had plenty, actually.

Kojo.

The way they knew so much about each other. 

The way they defended each other. 

Tim's laugh.

She had never heard Tim laugh like he did at dinner. Ever. 

He came to her the next day, clearly wanting to make it up to her. His apology was sincere. He explained the why behind the rigidity of his personal life. He listened when she put her opinion out.  He surprised her with the suggestion for them to just drive. 

Tim being spontaneous? Tim not needing to make any major preparations? Tim offering to call off a job she knew he was dedicated to, to a disconcerting level?

Of course, she said yes.

And yet, as they sped down the freeway, giddy and laughing, she couldn't help but note that his laugh now was nothing like how he had laughed the night before. With Lucy. 

She couldn't help recalling, before their road trip, how he had adamantly begun to defend Lucy and their relationship before forcing himself to refocus the conversation. If he hadn't, she was sure he would have kept portraying their relationship as "not like that," if only for her benefit.

Right here, right now, she was happy. They were making good progress.

But a little part of her heart couldn't help hurting. He could defend his friendship with Lucy up and down, claiming that it wasn't like that. He could pull out the fact that he was her superior and that they had a working relationship that couldn't even be classified as a partnership. But that in itself sounded like an excuse as to why they couldn't have something more, not a valid reason as to why they weren't unconsciously leaning that way. She felt like she had stumbled into and interrupted something tender and unknown. 

She had seen the expressions on both of their faces at dinner that night. 

It was then, she realized, that she was just a player in a game. 

She was just a player in their game. No matter how badly she may manage to fall for Tim Bradford, she was going to lose him. Because in this game, there was only one clear outcome. 

A/N: HAHA, two notes in one piece? Who would've thought? Any way, we all know that Tim's thing with Ashley and Lucy's upstarting thing with the lawyer (which is just a carbon copy of Wesley and Angela's relationship), is not going to last. Tim has little chemistry with Ashley. He's trying to make it work, and that is admirable. She wants to make it work too, but I get the feeling that she knows she's fighting a losing battle. And seriously, a redo of Wesley and Angela? It has to be some sort of gag relationship just while the writers figure out when Chenford will happen. Because I think by now, the factor is not will they, but when should they?