Cover Me Up - Chenford

Future

"I love you too."

As Lucy spoke, Tim's heart felt not as though fireworks exploded or butterflies were released from their cage. He felt the feeling of warmth like a blanket and cocoa on a winter's night, or the summer, Los Angeles sun on your face.

He pulled her into another kiss, this one more delicate than the one before it. Lucy could feel her pain and worry from the last 24 hours crumble before her very eyes. He tended to relieve that pain from her, but this moment was different. Instead of relief, she also felt hope for her future in a way she could only dream of. Now her unspoken dream of being with Tim was no longer shunned but welcomed.

When Tim pulled away a smile crept onto his lips. Her hands moved to cup his face as she stared into his eyes and whispered, "I can't believe this."

The two giggled as she leaned in to place her forehead on his and she closed her eyes. "I've waited for this moment for a long time, Tim. I-... I never thought you would love me too." She could feel her eyes start to swell with tears as he just focused on the feeling of her skin touching his and the feeling in his heart he thought would never go away.

"How could I not love you? You're the best thing that's ever happened to me." He spoke softly in a tone she only heard twice before from him, and she wished he spoke that way to her every night for the rest of her life. The two sat in silence for a while, Lucy focusing on not crying and Tim trying not to say anything sappier than he had due to his drunken truthfulness.

"Tim?" She whispered.

"Yes?" He questioned, and his other hand moved from her waist and towards her face while she whispered, "Can I stay with you tonight? To take care of you." She added on to make sure she wasn't taking advantage of this moment, of drunk Tim.

And he had never been more elated in his life.

+++

As Lucy pulled her car into the driveway she could feel her heart start to pound. She had been to his house countless times, but not under the pretenses of what had just happened in her car moments earlier. She was nervous about something, but couldn't quite put her finger on what it was. Maybe the feelings she was experiencing, or the tension she could cut with a knife, but she didn't know. Finally, Tim broke the silence as he stepped out of the car. As sobering as the situation before was, he still felt as though the ground beneath him was unstable.

"Let me help you," Lucy said as she quickly got out of the driver's seat and came around the car. She put her arm around him and slung his arm over her shoulder and helped keep him stable as they walked in.

"I could've managed walking to my front door, Luce," He said as he pulled out his keys and looked through them, "but I like my arm around you." He smirked at his comment, and Lucy giggled and rolled her eyes.

"What a lame pickup line." She smiled as he unlocked the door and brought them inside. It was just the same as it was all those nights ago when she had stayed the night. The memories of Angela's wedding came flooding back to her and all she could feel was the relief she felt for that girl who lost her best friend and was so unsure of her feelings for "Officer Bradford." As they made their way into Tim's room and she opened the door, she realized she had never seen it before. The room was dark and only lit by the moonlight coming through the window, but she could see how tidy the room was. He laid down on the bed sideways as his feet hung off of the side. She stayed in the doorway, feeling as though if she took one step in she would be crossing a boundary she would never be able to uncross, and she figured out what scared her.

She was scared that she could never come back from this. If she and Tim did this, if she did this, nothing would be the same again. No more wishful gazing, no more teenage crushing, and no more denying. She knew when she realized her feelings that it would change her career if anything were to happen, but what she realized now was that her whole life would be changed with no way to go back. She was terrified.