Chenford: One Shot to the Heart

Sacred

"Why!"

"Why what," Angela replied evenly, taking a sip of her drink.

A frazzled Ashley sat across from her, her coffee untouched.

"What is it about them? Tim and Lucy? Look, I'm not typically a jealous person. But I cannot be the only one who doesn't see whatever it is between them. And I cannot be the only one who thinks that it is not strange. I certainly cannot be the only one who thinks it is "nothing" as Tim so emphatically claims."

Angela set down her mug and sighed. "Alright, hush up and listen to what I am going to say. You are not wrong. They have a connection. It is not nothing. You are not completely right either. It is not strange. I'd call it sacred. It is like active art watching them work together. You have to understand that partners, no matter what Tim calls her, have a status quo connection. I have seen grown men on this job break down at the loss of their partner. The adrenaline and cost of this job are heavy. As a beach lifeguard, I am sure you understand the value of communication and trust. Both of which Tim lacked when Lucy became his rookie."

"Look," Ashley interrupted, "I appreciate your effort but I need to know that this is going in a meaningful direction and you aren't just sending me down a vortex of shiny words that make the situation easier to deal with instead of letting me understand."

"Tim was married."

Ashley was effectively stunned into silence. 

"He was married to another cop. Her name was Isobel. They were rookies together. They were adorable together."

"What happened?"

"She became an undercover cop. Came out hooked on drugs. The day he found out, she went on the lamb. She left him. He waited for months for her to come back. He would come into work, the shell of the man he once was, and once he went home he would wait for her to come back through the front door. She didn't. He never gave up hoping that she would come back. But he grew distant. He closed himself off from everyone. He was crass, harsh, and sometimes aggressive. No one could get to him. Then Lucy became his rookie. Coincidentally, they ran into Isobel. It had been a year since he had seen her and it threw him for a loop. I don't know what Lucy did, but she set him straight. He was flailing and taking it out on her."

"Next thing I know, I see the walls on my best friend slowly crumbling down. The only explanation is Lucy. I start seeing the man I once knew. Someone kind, open, and even funny. Lucy managed to worm her way into his life and help him in a way none of us could. So that's one reason."

Ashley gaped, "There's more?"

"Honey, I've only just gotten started. But are you getting it? Lucy saved him."

She nodded.

"Then came the days from hell as I like to affectionately. Do you remember the headlines about Rosaline Dyer?"

"The serial killer? But how... oh my-"

"Yeah. Something like that. What happened was this: Lucy was kidnapped by Dyer's protege, Caleb. He drugged her, beat her, and then buried her alive in an oil drum. Tim called me, absolutely frantic. Well, about as frantic as Tim Bradford can be. He said three words to me on my day off in the most haunting tone. I need you. I was on sight asap. There was something eating him and I pushed him to tell me. Caleb had approached Lucy before we even knew it was him. Handed her a number and invited her out for a drink. She wanted to go home that evening. Tim told her to go out. You know Tim, carries the weight of the world on his shoulders. He blamed himself. He was absolutely beside himself. And we all know that he did plenty of things that he should not have that day. To find her. We found ourselves in the desert. Miles of nothing but dirt.  Lucy, resourceful badass she is, had left her ring just outside of where Caleb buried her before she had to hop in the barrel. He saw it. We dug her up and out. She wasn't breathing. He administered CPR. I say that in the barest terms. But think of it this way. She was his rookie. He carried that guilt of sending her straight into the arms of a killer. She was one of the only good things that he had in his life. It was a desperate attempt to revive what had brought light back into his life. We were all frightened. Frightened that we'd have to tear him away and watch him slowly die inside. Her gasp was absolute music to our ears."

"Recovering from something like that was not a cakewalk. Tim did what she had done for him: provided support and light. That's the long version. The short one is, they've saved each other and been through hell and back at all walks in their life and career."

"I'll be honest, I'm skeptical too. I think that this connection they have could be way more if they weren't such oblivious idiots. But know this. Tim won't duck and run from whatever it is you guys have. He isn't one to not try. Lucy, on the other hand, has been literally refereeing your relationship. She's convinced him to approach things from a different angle with you and made him see your side of things. She's rooting for you. Tim, being the stubborn, honorable man he is, wouldn't leave you even if he did realize that his connection with his former rookie now partner is more than that. What you need to understand is that if anyone does anything. It'll have to be you. Because Tim, no matter how he feels about you, would never want to hurt you." 

It was a lot to process, to say the least. But at least now, it all made sense. Why they knew so much about each other. Why they were so concerned for each other. Why they cared so much for each other. 

It hurt.

But now she understood. Being left in the dark had hurt less, but it hurt more at the same time. 

Where to go from here? She had no idea. 

"Thank you, Angela," she said. It was all she could say. 

"Any time, doll. Call me whenever." Angela left, knowing the girl behind her was a broken mess. She hated the knowledge that she did that. But Ashley, as sweet as she was, in her opinionated mind, would never be what Tim needed.

Ashley stood and walked. And walked. And walked. It was all too much. And the fact that the only outcome painted her as the villain? Well, hopefully, she thought, she'd go down in the history of their minds as the Baroness from The Sound of Music instead of, well, a disregarding heart breaker. 

A/N: Ashley and Sanford just bore me. They aren't even competition to Chenford chemistry. If anything the writers are just unnecessarily hurting two outside parties. If Chenford isn't going to happen yet still, FINE. But why do you have to drag them into it? Because they are sweet. Boring, but sweet and not at all deserving of what is going to happen to them once Chenford is official.