chenford - i forget you aren't mine

Chapter six

Tim spent the whole car trip to Lucy's apartment rehearsing what to say, hoping his mind didn't blank once he had arrived.

It was safe to say he was nervous, and Tim Bradford was never nervous.

Maybe that was the effect Lucy had on him, nevertheless he swallowed those fears and decided to take his shot.

However, those fears came straight back up as he stood on her doorstep. Tim knocked on her door softly, getting no response.

He remembered she had a spare key hidden in a plant outside - which he had told her off about doing. Who knew it would come in handy.

Lucy was most likely in her bedroom - he assumed that's why his presence was ignored.

The door creaked open and Tim spotted two people standing in the living room. He didn't know she had company, this was a bad time.

They were both standing in front of the couch, talking about something but the thing Tim was drawn to was Lucy's painfully obvious baby bump.

Shit he's an idiot. How didn't he realise this earlier.

Lucy pulled the figure into a tight hug, burrowing her head into their neck.

In the dark lighting, Tim could make out two faces. Lucy and the man from the station - who he still didn't know.

The same awful feeling he got when he saw Lucy with someone at the station came back, tears welling up in his eyes.

This was a bad idea. She had obviously found someone else and he felt like he was interrupting something.

Tim backed away from the door as quickly as he could, needing to escape and make sure she didn't see him.

He was too late.

—

Lucy and Noah jumped apart as the door slammed.

"Were you expecting anybody Lucy?"

Lucy wiped her face and sniffled, "No? It was probably just the wind."

Noah had been in LA for the past couple of days and he came to tell her he was moving away and most likely wouldn't be around for a while because he had proposed to his girlfriend.

Lucy was stoked to hear about his engagement, her hormones causing her to be more emotional about her happiness. She couldn't stop the waterworks from flowing as she congratulated him.

Naturally, they developed a close bond while working together at UC school. So the news of Noah moving made her upset - or maybe it was her pregnancy making it more dramatic than it actually was.

She wished Noah luck as he headed out, remembering about the mysterious door slam from earlier. She could've sworn her door was locked and closed.

—

From that day on, riding with Tim was like sitting next to a ticking time bomb just waiting to explode. The tension between them was brought up so suddenly, she thought they had passed that when she returned from Sacramento.

She tried to figure out the cause of his mood, why he was so upset with her. Lucy didn't recall doing anything wrong.

It kind of felt like they were back at square one, when she was his rookie and he acted like her presence ruined his life.

His walls were back up, and this time she was stuck on how to bring them down.

She had to put up with his behaviour for a month; then after that Lucy would finally be on maternity leave.

Lucy wondered when it was time to tell him about her baby. Their baby.

Every time she felt like it was the right moment, something always had to interrupt them or ruin the mood. What if Tim had broken up with Ashley? That would excuse his sudden change in demeanour.

If Ashley was really gone, it would bring Lucy one step closer to revealing the truth.

Deciding to find out for herself, she hoped Tim was in better spirits today.

"Soo, How's Ashley?"

A frown appeared on his face, "No personal talk in the shop, Chen."

So she's back to Chen now. Great.

Well then there's Lucy's answer. He was being painfully annoying today and she couldn't handle it any longer.

"Could you just pull over?"

"What? Why."

"Look you've been acting like I did something to upset you - and if I did I'm sorry. But I really can't put up with this today, my head is pounding and the silence is deafening. So if you don't want to talk to me then I'll leave-" Lucy's ranting was cut off by Tim clearing his throat.

She really hoped he didn't pull over because she couldn't walk back to the station; she was too petty to admit that.

She turned over to him, their eyes locking as his gaze softened.

"Look, Lucy I-" Tim sealed his mouth shut, this wasn't the time nor the place to admit he's been moping because he walked in on her and her boyfriend hugging.

"Nevermind. I'm not going to let you get out of the shop though."

"And I certainly don't hate you, if you're wondering."

Lucy could hear how his tone shifted at the last part, mumbling it so softly that it sounded like a secret he wasn't meant to tell.

She didn't know how to respond to that, keeping quiet while leaning on the passenger window instead.

At least he spoke to her kindly today, they were making progress. Right?

Lucy couldn't wait for maternity leave to come any sooner.