I still love you (I promise)

Lucy

"Bradford!" A voice called out, and Lucy was sure she was hearing things. She had spent the past five years dreaming, fearing, hating, longing to hear that name again. It stung to hear it in a ER while her heart was shattering, though she doubted it was THE Bradford.

She still turned her head, curious who sported the same name as someone she used to call the love of her life. Half expecting to see a nurse, or a doctor, to read the name tag and have a little laugh. A moment of relief from the pain of the sky falling down on her.

But then she saw him.

Standing still, white as a ghost. Deep lines in his forehead and a new scar on his left cheek. His day three stubble, and a uniform. She saw the chevrons on his arm, only two. So he was TO'ing again. He'd left her and worked only one city over and still managed to  fly under her radar. He'd been un traceable. He'd been right under her nose. The look on his face rivaled no pain she'd ever seen before. It probably only matched that of her own at that very moment. She held his eye contact for a minute, absolute shock in her system.

She'd spent the first few years in San Fransisco searing for him, shocked that his name didn't pop up on any radars. She'd given up all hope that her baby would ever meet her father. As much as she resented Tim for leaving her, for shutting her out, for ruining them, she knew her daughter deserved to know her Daddy. Zoe deserved to get to love Tim blind and naive, the way Lucy once had. At least get the chance to. What are the chances that he would have found her, escorting her to the hospital where her baby was hurting.

"Lucy?" he said, his voice cracking.

And then he was running at her, wrapping her up in his arms, hands flying to her cheeks. Embracing her, inspecting her. She fell right into it, hands grasping at his vest. Pulling him in to her. He planted his lips to her forehead, the same way he had five years ago.
"Oh my god, i've been looking for you for years," he whispered against her head, an arms dropping around the small of her back. The other hand, cupping the back of her head. He held her tight to him as she began to break.

Tears came for the time she'd spent missing him. For their wasted years. For their baby he didn't know. For their baby who was being pricked and poked and tested all alone in a scary hospital. She cried for herself, for the fact that she hadn't been able to break down. She cried for the firsts he missed. First steps, first words, first smile, he missed her birth.

And then she couldn't cry anymore, the shock and the comfort and the happiness was over. And she was ANGRY. "How dare you," she said, pulling back from him. She watched his face crumble, her words striking him like a bullet. She pulled back from him slightly, not completely out of his embrace, but just enough to slam her first against his vest. "No. This is not okay. None of this is okay. You can't just show up now. You can't be here now that i'm breaking, you should have picked up the fucking phone if you missed me."

She looked up and saw that he had tears falling down his face. The impenetrable Timothy Bradford was crying, in his uniform. With his rookie standing right behind him. Looking lost and confused. "No Lucy," he started, looking genuinely hurt and confused. "I called you! So much! I went all the way back to LA when I got out! looking for you, i thought you didn't want me to find you,"

She couldn't tell if he'd been shot in the head, or if he had just gotten better at lying. Because part of her really truly believes what he was saying. The other part of her screamed to run. "No, no I called you every day for three YEARS!" she cried, slamming another first against him again. He still had his arm around her waist, and she made no attempt to remove it. She hung her head against his chest, letting out a sob.

"I-I oh my god, Lucy, I have so much to tell you, that is such a long stor-"

"Ms Chen?" A nurse peeked out from behind the big blue double doors. Lucy pulled away immediately, wiping her eyes and trying to reel in some composure. Despite the fact that they had just created a rom com kiss in the rain worthy scene in the middle of the hallway. She was suddenly all too aware of the audience.

"Yes? Can I come back there is she-"

"Your daughter is going to be okay. The seizure was brief and non life threatening, a grade 2 grand mall." Lucy nodded, hanging onto the nurses every word. "We did an overall body check, and despite her running a temperature and come down from the shock of the situation, we haven't found any real big issues. We've got her on fluids, but we're going to run some bloodwork. We've ordered her an MRI as well, make sure there's nothing abnormal in her brain that caused this episode."

Lucy nodded, "Can i come back there, please? She's a brave little girl but Zoe is FOUR, she needs her mommy."

"Of course, we just couldn't have you present in the room for the X rays, radiation exposure and all,"

Lucy began to step through the doors, rushing to Zoe, when the nurse stopped her. "Is her father going to come as well? Because we will have to ask him to strip his weapon as well, unless he's on duty,"

Tim froze, the title of father hanging in the air. "No, he's on duty. I'm going in alone," The nurse nodded, sharing one with him as well. Before the two of them took off down the hallway, to her baby.