Secrets (Never to be Told)

Chapter Eleven

"Can we talk?"

To say Lucy's heart started beating way quicker than it should have, was an understatement. She didn't expect Tim to just show up at her doorstep at this hour, thus she wasn't prepared for that conversation.

"Oh, yeah. Sure." She sent Hailee to her room and put away the fuzzy blankets from the couch. She needed her hands to do something, or she would go crazy in here.

"Want a drink? I've got beer, wine, and soda." Lucy offered, pacing around the living room in an attempt to clean it up.

"Soda would be nice." Tim sat down on the couch, watching Lucy who was getting him a can of coke from the fridge. As she was sitting down next to him, they fell into an awkward silence. Tim stared at the rug beneath their feet. He had imagined this going a whole lot easier.

"What did you want to talk about?" Lucy grabbed the glass of wine she still had on the small table in front of them.

Tim looked up; honesty all written over his face. "I'd like to support you with Hailee, catch up on the things I couldn't do for the past ten years, even though I should have done them." His soda was long forgotten, all his undivided attention was on Lucy.

"I'd love to be there for the two of you, financially, emotionally – whatever you need me to do." I don't want to become the father I had growing up. It was unsaid, yet Lucy understood. They didn't need words to hold a conversation.

Lucy grabbed his hand. "Don't worry. You'll be a great father." She smiled, worry and panic washing off her.

"I hope so." Tim sighed and pulled out of her touch to open his can of coke. "God, this was harder than I thought it would be." He chuckled lightly as he took a sip. "What, super-cop Tim Bradford was not prepared for once?" Lucy grinned, emptying her glass of wine.

"Got me there," Tim smiled, "But how could I ever have been prepared for what's coming my way with you as my boot? You're a force of nature. Hell, you started your first day on the job with arresting a car thief." He laughed out, and they fell into a comfortable silence this time.

"So," Lucy glanced at the closed door of her daughter's room. "How should we tell her?" Tim turned to follow her gaze. "Straight up? She's smart, she might have figured it out by now." Tim suggested, and Lucy sighed. "You're right."

She got up, fiddling with her sleeves as she stood in front of Hailee's door, hesitating. Then, she knocked. "Hailee, sweetheart. Can you come here for a second please?"

It didn't take long for the little girl to open her bedroom door and walking out to join Tim on the couch. "What is it?" she asked, looking at both her mother and Tim.

"Remember, when you asked about your father a couple of weeks ago?" Hailee recalled the day, sitting at her favorite pizza restaurant and listening to her mother describing him just before father's day. "Yeah, I do. You said he was a nice man and that he liked sports." Hailee answered and Lucy nodded. "Correct. But I didn't tell you the whole truth that day." She sat down next to her daughter, placing a calming hand on her shoulder. "I already had contact to your father back then, but he didn't know."

Hailee tilted her head, trying to understand. "So, does he know now?" Tim swallowed, trying not to pull the attention on him just yet. He had expected that she'd connect the dots quite quick; he was sitting right there after all.

"Yes, I do." Tim spoke up, before Lucy could answer. He watched his daughter, her head practically snapping back in his direction and expression shifting from confused, to shocked...until, at last, it changed to happy.

Hailee's eyes lit up and she sprung into his arms. "You're really my dad?" Tim held her close. It wasn't the first time he'd had a child jump into his arms to hug him, hell he had two nephews, but this was different. More intimate. It was his child, his daughter. A part of him.

"I really am." He smiled at her and she, once again, pressed her face into his chest.

Tim shared a look with Lucy. She was smiling and he could see that the pressure he had noticed before had fallen off her. He gently went through Hailee's hair as the little girl didn't dare let go of him just yet.

"Will you pick me up from school tomorrow?" she looked up, beaming and Tim shared another look with Lucy, and she nodded. "Of course." Hailee's grin widened. "With the shop?" Tim chuckled. "I can come with the shop, yes."

After another hour or so, Hailee grew tired and went to bed, making sure to hug Tim extra-long before disappearing in her room. The two cops sat together in silence; a new bottle of wine opened – Tim had given in when Lucy asked him again.

"I've got something to show you." She shortly disappeared into her own bedroom, coming out shortly after grabbing a shoe box.

"What's that?" Tim sat up straighter on the couch, eyeing the box curiously. "Memories. I swore to myself that I would keep anything of her baby years to show you, if I should ever find you." Lucy opened it and exposed the contents, then she handed the box to Tim.

In silence, he went through the items. Looking in awe at the first few ultrasound pictures and the tiny wristband of the hospital. He traced the writing on it with his thumb.

March 13th, 2008. After a few minutes of digging, he gave the box back to Lucy. "This...this is incredible."

She took it, smiling. "I know, that's why I saved them for you." Lucy put the box down on the table in front of them.

She stayed quiet for a couple of seconds, before looking at him again. "You know, it kind of hurt when you didn't recognize me during our very first roll call together." She huffed out a laugh in disbelief. "I've held onto that image of you at the bar after I found about Hailee, but I never saw you again. Even after the years, I just couldn't bring myself to give up the hope of finding you and then boom – you end up being my boss. Ironic, isn't it?"

Tim's smile faded. He hated that he had brought her such misery simply for never seeing each other again. They both knew it wasn't any of their fault, yet Tim blamed himself for it.

"Lucy." His stern voice sent shivers down herspine. "I promise, from this day on, I will never leave you and Hailee again. Ipromise to care for you in the way I couldn't" He took her hand and for onesecond, she thought she'd felt an electric shock washing through them. "You andme. We can do this. Together. I promise."