Tim + Lucy = ?

Phrasal Deviation: Just Work?

#104daysofsummervacation
#104daysofchenford
#Day14

He knew, deep down, it was again, an element of the moment. It had been super awkward. Tamara was watching, wide-eyed as he looked for the things he thought he had brought but hadn't.

Lucy tried to explain away the situation and only made it worse.

So as he was dodging Tamara, it didn't occur to him that Lucy had literally referred to him as "work."
He knew he shouldn't read too much into it. That was her job.

It was her job.
. . .

But he couldn't let it go. She had been referring to the circumstances. Yet she had pointed at him as she said it.
This is work.
Just. Like. That.
He was overthinking this completely. It was so out of character for himself that he nearly considered going to a doctor. He hated doctors though...so, after some reconsideration, it wasn't that big of a deal.

That didn't mean that he slept well at night or didn't have it on his mind when he wasn't thinking of the kiss.

This is work.

So...was he just a piece of work? When she talked about work outside of work, did he fall into that little pile that she shut away in a desk drawer like paperwork? Did she discuss him in the same monotonously amused voice she'd use to describe something work-related? Or did he come up in her regular everyday conversations that she was happy to talk about? Like Kojo, or Tamara's progress, or...anything else good in her life. Was he a part of the goodness that brightened her day? Or was he part of the pile she locked away from the light?

Not that her perception of him mattered. Even after the kiss. It didn't change anything. It shouldn't have changed anything.

But it still did. So if it had changed things for her, how did they? How had she seen him before? How did she see him now? Did she maybe, even ever consider thinking of him outside of the uniform, outside of a superior, outside of the force? Or was he always just a part of "work"? Would he always just be part of work for her?

Not that it mattered.
. . .

Okay, considering that he had told two people in the last three days that he was in love with Lucy, it mattered.

It mattered a whole damn lot.