Protecting Sunshine

7. Heading to the Nest

A loud alarm woke Lucy up, and she felt movement before her eyes were fully open to see Tim silencing the noise on his phone.

"Sorry," he apologized with a wince.

"What time is it?" She asked.

"4:30"

"4:30? I can't believe you wake up so early," Lucy whined.

"I know I usually work out, but you're the priority right now. How are you feeling?"

"Hungry," she answered honestly when she sensed how empty her stomach was.

"Okay," Tim snickered. "I'll make us some breakfast."

"Not right now! Right now we're going back to sleep for at least another hour, and then you can make me breakfast," she insisted and nuzzled into Tim to keep him from moving.

"Whatever you want," he smiled down at her and kissed the top of her head.

He obeyed her instructions, of course, and spent the next hour watching her sleep on top of him while he admired how beautiful Lucy is. Then, he gently maneuvered himself out of bed to start making breakfast while she continued to sleep. When the eggs and bacon were done, Tim heard light footsteps before he saw her leaning against the doorframe.

"Hey, ready for some breakfast?"

"Yes!" She said happily. "Honestly, when you said you were making breakfast, I thought you were just gonna pour some cereal."

"I do have cereal if you want that instead."

"No, this looks delicious! Thank you!" Lucy felt a little embarrassed that she finished her breakfast so quickly, but she really was so hungry after getting sick the night before. "Thanks again for everything last night. I know that wasn't part of the plan..."

"Don't worry about it. I'm just glad you're feeling better," he smiled softly.

"Yes, and I learned a valuable lesson to never trust Wes' choice of food truck dumplings."

"I'll take you to a good food truck that has really great burgers you'll love."

"Sounds perfect. Maybe tonight for dinner?"

"Sure," Tim turned away from her to start washing the dishes.

Lucy picked up her coffee mug and slowly walked around the living room connected to his kitchen. That's when she saw something that piqued her interest. "You have a fire exit."

"What?" He asked and saw an unmistakable glint in her eyes that made him abandon his task to give Lucy his full attention. "Why do you have that look?"

"You have a fire exit!"

"I do."

"That means we can tell my security I'm staying here with you, and then we can escape down the fire exit to go wherever we want! Just the two of us!"

"I thought your days of escaping were over?"

"No, they were momentarily paused, but you have a fire exit! Come on, Tim, it'll be fun!"

"Didn't you learn your lesson after the carnival? Besides, Talia will notice."

"She didn't come in a single time last night. We'll have hours to go somewhere."

"Where would we even escape to?"

"Let's finish crossing off what's on my list."

He KNEW she was going to suggest that. "No way, Lucy! Paint ball is a game where other people have LITERAL guns pointed at you. What if someone sneaks a real gun into the place and shoots you? It's too dangerous."