Friendships Transferes and other Complications

Chapter 6 "Hugging"

There was a heavy silence hanging in the air for a few minutes. Tim had already known it, but to hear it from her and let even the last littlelest hope inside him die, it was still hard.

Lucy had sunk down the door, sitting leaned against it, her knees pulled up to her chest. There was just the sound of her sobbing, and Tim sitting down next to her. Slowly, he laid one hand on her knee, hoping that she would let it happen and appreciate his try to comfort. To his surprised, she grabbed his hand and gave it a soft squeeze.

And there they sat. Two best friends crying next to each other and comforting themselves just with the others present.

After a while, Tim dared to speak softly, his curiosness winning.

"What happened, Luce?"

With the sound of his shaking voice and the silent tone he had asked in, it almost sounded more like a sigh than a question. But even when he knew it would probably hurt her to talk about it, he had to ask her. It was the only way he could help her with whatever had happened and to punch faces if he needed to.

Luce. She loved it when he called her that. It always let her stomach flutter even when she didn't know why. She knew that she had to tell him eventually. Tim was a patient person, but about things like that, he would ask until he got an answer. Lucy knew that she also owned him an answer after everything but struggled with pulling him into her shatered past. Then, she eventually gave in and started, her sobbs still coming up sometimes.

"It all started with compliments and coffee."

Tim looked up at Lucy, squeezing her hand once more to comfort her, and even when she felt that bad, she couldn't help but give him a faint smile. It was a good thing that Tim was sitting in that moment because he had probably with the wobbly knees she had caused with such a little movement.

"He always had been a kind Sergeant. But with everyone not just with me... I have to admit first I enjoyed it a little, thought I had made a friend with him, but..."

The way Lucy's expression changed let Tims heart break. She looked kinda horrified, and he knew that it now would come to the worst part for her to tell.

"Then he touched me... I first thought he didn't do it on purpose... that he just fell or didn't notice, but..."

Her sobbs made their way more often up her throat, and Tim gave Lucy the time she needed to go on.

"A few weeks before I finished training Hailey, I had realized that he was doing it on purpose... One night, I stayed a bit longer to get all of my paperwork done when he called me into his office. I already had a bad feeling about it because there was almost nobody at the station more... and, well, my feeling was right. I entered the office, and he... he kissed me..."

Lucy took another short break, not wanting to relive it again. She wanted to have that done as fast as possible, and even when she felt embrassed to tell it Tim, she did.

"He... he put his fingers into my panties..."

Lucy looked down as she began to cry harder again when she felt Tim hugging her.

"I'm sorry..."

"The problem is just..."

She went on.

"I couldn't have done anything because I made a terrible mistake..."

She sighed deeply, regretting her own stupidness.

"When I joined academy, I didn't inform anybody about my diabetis... and of course, neither I did at the station... Don't worry, I told Grey when I tranfered Midwilshere, but in Hollywood... He used it as pressure against me... I waited to finish training Hailey, but she found out because she saw him kissing me. After that, I gave him the papers for my transfer, and he had to allow it because it had been obvious if he hadn't. And Hailey, well, she just transferred with me. I never heard from him since then, but now, well... here we go."

Tim couldn't help but feel a big anger raising inside him. But it didn't feel familiar. Not like the anger he had felt before he met Lucy. Full of frustration and sadness about Isabel, which he had to let out. This anger was stronger. He felt the urge to punch Carson right into his ugly face. He had to protect Lucy. He desperately wanted to protect her and to take away the pain she had because of the captain. And that he couldn't do that just made him even more furious. Tim felt his muscles tense but knew that this moment shouldn't be about her taking care of him, once again, so he decided to take care of her as good as he could.

He hugged her.

Hugging had become such an important thing between them. Even when they didn't like each other at the start, Lucy had offered him a comforting hug when stuff with Isabel wasn't good. But also after that. When Lucy had told him about her diabetis, when Tim's father had died, when they had had a bad day at work, when Rosalind had escaped. Whether they liked each other or not, these hugs had always made them feel safe. It had given them a bit of piece. It was a feeling like time had stopped and nothing could happen to them.

"I'm sorry, Luce."

"I know... I know."

They stayed like that for a while. But the while turned into minutes, minutes into hours. They weren't talking, or moving, or actually doing anything, but they didn't need to.

After a few hours of Tim overthinking and just enjoying Lucy's presence, knowing that she was safe, there in his arms, he heard a slight snorting from her. Tim relaxed at that feeling. Knowing that she had found enough calmness to sleep.

He picked her up Bridal style and laid her down on the couch, and he knew it was selfish. He should've laid her down into her bed, but he needed her as near as possible in the moment.

Just as he wanted to sit down next to her, his growling stomach remembered him how long they had been sitting on the floor.

Lunchtime.

Normally, he would wake her up so that her sugar didn't go down too much, but he was sure that it wouldn't this day.

As quiet as he could, he made himself something for lunch when it bothered him too much. Never had something overwhelmed him to cry that random, but this thing did. And he knew he would eat it up. It wasn't his problem. He shouldn't feel like this. He had to help her.