Want You to Stay || Chenford / The Rookie

Part 5

Seeing Lucy for the first time after everything that happened is somehow worse than Tim could have ever imagined. He would blame the universe, except he knows this particular nightmare is all the fault of the LAPD Chief of Police.

In all the turmoil of the past few days, Tim had completely forgotten that the Mid-Wilshire division was scheduled for a training day today. Normally, that would have been great. An excuse to blow off some steam at the gun range. But this wasn't a normal training day. The department had gotten so much pushback about brutality and excessive use of force that the brass had decided to retool a few of the usual training exercises in favor of something a bit softer. Something that might actually get them good press, for a change. Which is how they had all ended up here, in a downtown LA warehouse owned by a local start-up that specialized in...

"Team building!" Grey's voice booms from the building lobby, the entire Mid-Wilshire crew gathered around him. "The LAPD is going back to basics and doing some good old-fashioned team building."

A smattered mix of cheers and groans erupts from the officers, and Tim sneaks a peek over at Lucy from his position next to Grey. She's smiling, of course, as she leans over to whisper something to Nolan. It's not that he had specifically tried to avoid her at the station this morning. It's just that by the time he finished catching up on the pile of paperwork that had accumulated on his desk over the last couple of days, Lucy had already boarded one of the vans being used to transport everyone to the training. That van was full, so he boarded a different one. No avoidance at all, whatsoever.

Nolan laughs at whatever Lucy says, and when she lifts her eyes back towards Grey she momentarily catches Tim staring at her. Her mouth falls open in surprise before she quickly diverts her gaze back to Nolan at the same time that Tim attempts to cover his staring by turning his head to the left and faking a cough.

"Smitty, Harper, Thorsen, Rodriguez, Alcazar — you're over on the ropes course first..."

Tim shifts his attention fully back to Grey, who he realizes has been handing out assignments to the group. Assignments, team building nonsense, whatever.

"And finally, Officer Chen and Sergeant Bradford, I saved the best for last," Grey turns to him with a grin. "You two have the honor of taking on the escape room first."

Tim flinches and his eyes dart back to Lucy, whose jaw has momentarily dropped open with a look of horror.

"I, ah, sir — Officer Chen and I have spent lots of time riding together. Maybe it would be beneficial for us to...team build with some other people." He looks to Lucy for, he doesn't even know what — maybe support? — but now she's staring down at the floor.

"Knowing how to problem-solve with your partner can mean the difference between life and death," Grey says, shaking his head. "At least, that's what the brochure said. So just do the damn escape room, Bradford. Fastest escape time of the day wins a free round at Los Torres," he adds as an afterthought.

Tim's jaw clenches as he swallows back another protest. A few of the officers are watching him curiously as they start to mill toward their assigned activity. Lucy, meanwhile, is standing stock-still, something indecipherable in her eyes as she looks at him.

"Yes, sir," he mutters after a moment.

***

Tim can't believe he spent the last two days feeling worried about being stuck in the shop with Lucy. Because right this second, he'd give anything to be there instead. The shop would have calls to distract them. And he could break his own rule and turn on the radio.

The shop would be fucking heaven compared to the 10-foot by 10-foot room they just got sealed up in.

The stillness hangs thick in the air for a few moments as the door locks from the outside with a dramatic click and a large, red countdown clock lights up on the wall. 30 minutes. Lucy's back is to him, and she's staring at the door, her arms folded across her chest. There's a phone on the wall just to Tim's right. They were told they could use it if they absolutely needed to get out before they solved all of the challenges. Over Lucy's dead body, he thinks wryly.

He studies her back for a moment, his eyes drifting from her low ponytail, to her tense shoulders, down to her —

Nope. Nope.

"Let's just get this done."

It comes out gruffer than he intends, and Lucy whirls around suddenly, her eyes alight like she has something to say. Tim sucks in a breath and holds it, waiting for her to speak. He steels himself for a rehash of their awkward morning-after after conversation, or some kind of psychological platitude about why they did what they did. Honestly, anything might be better than this unbearable silence between them.

But instead of speaking, she starts walking right toward him. Tim balks and steps back on instinct.

"What are you —"

Lucy rolls her eyes as she points past his shoulder to a sign that says Start above a table filled with various shape and letter blocks. "I'm getting this done," she says, brushing past him.

Tim furrows his brow. Maybe they really aren't going to talk about it. The thought of Lucy not wanting to share what she's feeling with him — when she's done it so freely in the past — is so unsettling to Tim that he sucks in a sharp breath.

Which turns out to be the exact wrong thing to do, because it makes him catch a whiff of her shampoo. He has smelled the sweet, floral scent of it hundreds of times before. In the shop, at the station, when they go out for drinks with the rest of the Mid-Wilshire crew. But right now, all he can think about is the way that it lingered on his pillow after she left in the morning.

Tim turns around abruptly to walk as far away from Lucy as possible. Which isn't very far at all, thanks to this godforsaken escape room.

"Maybe we should just work separately," he says brusquely, eyeing some kind of strange design on the wall that is obviously another puzzle.

"We can't work separately, escape room puzzles are sequential." There's a tight edge to her voice. She's messing with the first puzzle, turning the blocks over in her hands and trying to rearrange them in the grooves on the table in front of her.

Tim sighs as he scrubs a hand over his face. "This is so stupid."

"It's not stupid," Lucy says, placing the last block in position and clicking it into place. A green light flashes on the wall and a hidden panel door suddenly pops open next to Tim. "Just because you don't like something doesn't mean it's stupid."

She's advancing toward him again, her eyes pointedly avoiding his. Tim quickly steps aside to let her pass, then turns to look over her shoulder at the latest puzzle. To his surprise, it's a map of LA with a set of little flags with various neighborhood names on them. He takes a few steps forward so that he can see better over Lucy's shoulder. She tenses a little as she feels his body encroaching behind her.

"Could you give me some space to work?" she says with strained politeness, already busy moving the flags around to their proper spots.

"That one's wrong."

Lucy twists her head to look at him and okay, yeah, they are standing very close together. Tim's eyes involuntarily dart down to her lips, then back up to her eyes, then quickly down to the floor as he stumbles back from her like he's been shocked.