My One and Only

2. My Hands Are Shaking From Holding Back From You

After spending the entire day crying, Lucy returned to work feeling unmoored. In a zombie-like state, she changed into her uniform and sat at the back of the briefing room- if she had to be in the same room as Tim, she did not want to be anywhere near him.

He walked up to the podium with Grey and went through the usual announcements. Then, Grey told everyone about the promotion. While everyone else clapped, she remained still. How could she celebrate the reason she couldn't be with him? She could not even pretend.

Instinctively, Tim looked over at her. He noticed that she had puffy bags under her eyes and a blank expression on her face. Their eyes locked, and he had to look away- just that millisecond sent sparks all over his body and the sensation was chased by a wave of crushing anguish. He clenched his fist and reminded himself to keep his face even. This briefing would be over soon, and he could bury himself in paperwork like he planned to.

Everyone was dismissed, and Lucy was the first to leave the room, eager to get more distance between her and Tim.

While stocking her shop, Nolan called for her.

"Morning, Lucy," he said cheerily.

"Hey," she sounded emotionless, but she couldn't help it.

"Can you believe Tim is our new boss?"

"Unbelievable," she replied simply. She did not need the reminder.

"I figured he would have told you he was interested in becoming the new Watch Commander."

"Why would he tell me?"

"You guys are close."

If only he knew HOW close they had gotten 48 hours ago...the thought made her choke a little.

"Lucy, are you okay?" He saw the far off look on her face.

"I'm fine," she lied and shut the trunk of her car to signal to John to leave her alone. Lucy wondered how many times she would have to lie and say she was fine when deep down she knew that she would never be the same again.

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Tim was feeling hollow as if Lucy had curled up into the hole inside of him that he didn't know had existed, and now that she was gone, he felt empty. The one person he would want to have a monosyllabic conversation about this sensation was the only person he couldn't talk to- Lucy. He realized that it was impractical to have one person be so important in his life, because now that she was not speaking to him, he didn't have his best confidante, the person that would call him out when he was wrong, the one he trusted the most to have his back on the job, the person who wouldn't judge him no matter what he said, the one who always gave him the best advice...even his preferred dog sitter for Kojo.

To punish himself and avoid the world, he sat at his desk claiming he needed to take care of paperwork before the leadership transition. Just the THOUGHT of looking next to him in the shop and seeing Thorsen instead of Lucy on such a tough day made him ache. There seemed to be plenty of clerical work to complete, thankfully, but under no circumstances was he going to interact with Lucy today.

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The universe has a funny way of laughing in Tim's face.

Lucy responded to a robbery in progress and saved the lives of everyone in the store AND disarmed the suspect before backup arrived. Unfortunately, the suspect hit her in the face, leaving a cut down the side of her head. Tim was asked to go to the scene to check on the injured officer. LUCY. HURT. was all he heard over the radio, and his thoughts were running wild with the possibilities.