Shooting Stars, Falling Objects

Chapter 3

And now a week had gone past, and he's somehow managed not to tell anyone about his breakup. He didn't want to look too closely at his reasons for keeping it a secret. Every time he imagined telling Angela he could almost see the sly smile that would break across her face and the million accusations/questions that would follow. He knew she would play dumb but make it clear she knew that Lucy was the reason for the breakup.

He had kept to himself as much as he could that week - going from work to the gym to home where he stared at bad TV until he could hardly keep his eyes open. He tried not to allow too much time to think. But now the week was over, and it was the weekend, and he didn't have work to distract him. And even though he officially wasn't thinking about her he really, really missed her. And in fact, was thinking about her quite a bit.

In the four years that had known each other, he hadn't been able to only think of Lucy professionally, no matter how hard he tried. As much as he had not wanted to get close to her, or to anyone, he just couldn't resist her kindness and spunk. After about a year of riding with her he realized he considered her not just his boot but one of his closest friends.

The day she made her fake love confession was the first day he felt a little spark that there might be something more between the two of them. In the few seconds before she started laughing and explaining that she was just showing off her UC chops he felt a frightening flair in his chest. He knew they couldn't be together because he was her TO but for a minute, he was so happy. Afterwards he told himself that it was just a weird moment and of course they were just colleagues and friends.

But everything changed when they got ready to go undercover together. From the moment they sat in her candle lit apartment, everything inside of Tim felt electric. He knew they needed to "practice" being physical with each other and even as they talked about their back story his mind was racing. When Lucy gave her version of how they met his mind went completely blank before it was filled with images of the two of them doing the things she described.

When they stood up for their practice kiss it took everything in him to lean across the distance and peck her on the lips. When he was done, he was proud of himself for still keeping things professional. He could see Lucy was disappointed and then his heart stopped when he felt her hands on his face and her lips on his. His mind was racing for days after that, but he had no idea if she felt their connection too or it was just another example of her excellent acting.

When they found out that Rosalind had escaped the only thing Tim could think of was protecting Lucy. He meant it when he said he was ready to call everything off for her.

The whole time Lucy was in the shower he tried to distract himself, he knew if he didn't, he was going to follow her in there. While he waited, he realized that he was tired of wondering if she was feeling all the same things he was and convinced himself to ask her. He tried to cover up his hurt when she said it was just acting, he chastised himself for getting carried away with the assignment and reminded himself that they were both seeing other people.

But then they walked back to her apartment, and she invited him in and Tim was thrown into confusion again. Was it possible she wanted him as much as he wanted her?

When Chris called him and asked him to talk to Lucy and convince her to go to UC training Tim knew it was the right thing to do. There were a million reasons they shouldn't or couldn't be together but despite that there was an attraction between them that he couldn't ignore. He knew it was better if there was space between them and he had seen for himself how made for under cover she was. It broke his heart to send her away, but he felt like he was doing the best thing for her.

And while he had said they needed to go their separate ways that didn't mean he couldn't check in with her, did it? Just one little text to see how he she was doing.