Secrets (Never to be Told)

Chapter Nine

"Because you're the father. Hailee is your daughter."

Lucy's words roamed through his mind. The missile should have impacted by now, but it didn't. Now it was just Tim and Lucy in the middle of a convenience store, mildly drunk, and her telling him that he is the father of her child.

"What?" He couldn't put it together - when would this have even happened?

Lucy took a deep breath and let go of his hands, a few tears running down her flushed cheeks. "Yes, Tim. You're Hailee's father." She looked at the floor, refusing to look at him. Tim paced around the small space behind the counter, leaning on it. "How? And when?" He looked at her and she couldn't make out if it was a positive or a negative reaction to what she'd just told him.

"Ten years ago, the RAMS game at the bar?" She posed it as a question and secretly hoped he would remember himself, but according to the disbelieved look on his face, he didn't.

"Doesn't matter. I have to get Hailee now. This was a false alarm and I need to get her out of this shelter." She smoothed out her uniform and headed to the shop. "Lucy, wait- ", He came running after her. "I'll come with you, and at the station, we talk." He got into the driver's seat and buckled up. "Now that you've dropped this, you can't just run away from this." The last part was drowned under the howling of the engine, but Lucy could hear it very well. He was right, of course. She has to stop running away from the truth.

Arriving at the middle school, Lucy tried to make out her daughter in between the smaller children. "Hailee?" she called out, but no one answered.

After parking the car, Tim had joined her search and together they combed through the masses of children flooding out of the building.

"Tim!" A small girl came running towards him, smiling widely. It was Hailee and he was glad she was alright. "Hey Hailee! We've been looking for you!" He ruffled her hair and as her bright blue eyes looked at him, he could suddenly see the resemblance to his own. Tim felt his heart break a little, he had missed ten whole years of this child's - his child's - life. "Come on, let's find your mother."

He took her small hand and led her back to the shop, taking out his radio. "Lucy, I've found her. Come back to the shop." Tim looked at the girl - his daughter - and the more he looked at her, the more he could make out features of his own in her face and hair.

It didn't take long until Lucy arrived at the shop and immediately swung her arms around her daughter, holding her tight. "Oh, baby. I've been so worried." She kissed the top of her hair and sighed in relief to see her unharmed.

"Come on, we're taking you to the station." She helped her climb into the backseat and closed the door, ignoring the stare coming from Tim.

Tim drove to the station in silence, while Hailee talked to them about how they were evacuated and Lucy expressing yet again how worried she was for her. He still kept quiet when Lucy had left Hailee to play with Lila who had been brought in by Harper.

"Lucy." Tim's deep voice made her turn around. "We have to talk."

They disappeared into the briefing room and closed the door behind them.

"So, from the beginning?" Tim was leaning against the podium while Lucy had sat down on one of the tables.

"Uhm, yeah. Ten years ago, while I was still in college, I went out with my friends to a bar. Somehow, I lost them and found myself at the bar alone. You were there at the public viewing for the RAMS game the bar was hosting and eventually came to get a drink at the same time as I did. We talked and you invited me to watch the game. I don't really remember what happened after that so clearly, but I know that we had hooked up at your place. You were still sleeping when I left and when I found out I was pregnant about three weeks later, I had no way of contacting you." She sighed and fidgeted with her fingers.

"I only realized it was you, when you were assigned to me as my T.O." Lucy's gaze fell back to the ground and he took a few steps forward, reaching for her hand and squeezing it softly to get her attention. "Why didn't you say anything before?"

Lucy sighed as she looked back up at him. "I was considering it multiple times. Especially after you guys found out about Hailee.", she let out a huff, "I couldn't have kept her a secret forever, I know, but I tried to after I realized that you didn't recognize me at all." She forced a smile. "It was ten years ago after all."

Tim nodded slowly. He does remember snippets of a RAMS game about ten years ago - the one that had them miraculously winning after a bad season.

"It was fine, usually, with Hailee not asking too many questions about her father, but I think she slowly realized that there was more to it." She paused for a few seconds.

"You know how cruel children can be - they constantly asked her about father's day and it wouldn't stop bugging her. She needed a father figure in her life and when I saw you guys talking about sports together, I was so happy you guys got along well." She felt tears welling up in her eyes again. "That day I thought that she had figured it out on her own. I had told her that you liked sports and thus the minute she has the opportunity to ask you, she did." She huffed out a laugh.

"You know, she shares a lot of habits with you." Lucy grinned and pointed to her daughter in the break room. Hailee was frowning at the piece of paper in front of her and it looked just like Tim when something pissed him off.

Tim watched her for a minute, his expression softening at the sight. He still couldn't wrap his head around it - he was a father; he had a child. It felt surreal and yet it was the best news he'd received in a long time.

"So...does she know?" He didn't take his eyes off the girl and Lucy joined, standing next to him. "I haven't told her yet, but she's smart. Could be that she has it all figured out." She shrugged. "I was thinking of telling her as soon as we have figured this out. Now that you know the whole truth, you should take your time to come to terms with the situation - I made it pretty unfair to you." Lucy admitted, looking up at him. "Of course we can also do a DNA-test if you want scientific proof on not just my word."

She left the briefing room as he shook his head, but Tim stayed there, looking at his daughter from afar. To him, there was no denying that he was actually the biological father - there was just too much of a resemblance in their features and antics.

He was unsure what to do, but he did want to be in Hailee's life as her father - not just as a friend of Lucy's. He sighed and pulled out the makeshift father's-day card from his uniform pocket and looked at it. It felt great getting this and Hailee has gone from an unknown girl to someone he has gotten protective over in such a short time.

He had to talk to Angela, that he was sure of, but right know she was stuck at the hospital and he was stuck with his thoughts alone.