For Fiona

9. Love Day

After taking a week off of work, Lucy wanted to look forward to going back into the station, but she was driving next to Tim while still a bit heady after their kiss. It was a really good kiss. The kind that made her feel tingly from head to toe. Because her mind was wholly preoccupied, she barely spoke for the entire trip to the station.

Once they parked at work, Tim turned off the engine and sat back in his seat. Staring straight ahead, he asked, "Are we good?"

"Yeah, absolutely," she assured him and turned towards him even if he was completely averting her gaze. "I already miss Fiona, though."

"I've got her laugh replaying in my head on a loop," he shared as he began to smile. "Hers sounds a lot like yours, actually."

"Really?"

"Yeah. She's the best kid in the world."

She swooned at the sound of the affection in his voice. "Wow, she's only been ours for a week, and you already love her."

"Of course I love her. How could I not when she reminds me of you?" He asked without thinking, the bliss of new fatherhood mixed with kissing Lucy still a fresh memory both polluting his brain.

Surely, Tim was not implying that he loved Lucy. His feelings for her could never be that deep.

He realized how his statement could have been interpreted and froze, because he had feelings for Lucy, but it was definitely not love...right? His face burned as he tried to meet her eyes, and when she seemed equally stunned, he was at a loss for what to do.

Understandably so, she was caught off guard by his word choice, so she took the necessary time to recollect herself then cleared her throat before saying, "We don't want to be late for work."

Wordlessly, he stepped down from his truck, and he remained tight lipped for the elevator ride. Just when he was about to say something about how he hoped she had a good day or another equally awkward sentiment in the wake of his previous words, Aaron Thorsen practically pounced on them for an enthusiastic hug.

"Congratulations, you guys!" Aaron said. "I can't believe you finally got married! I've been waiting for this for so long! I know you were keeping it small, but I think I should've been invited to the wedding."

"I should've been invited, too. I love weddings," Celina Juarez chimed in as she approached them. "I'm really happy for you guys. Obviously, you're the cutest couple at the station, and it's really amazing that Tim finally overcame his fear of commitment and married you."

"What?" Lucy wondered.

"Celina's got it all wrong," Aaron told them. "I know you were waiting to go public until Tim got a promotion. We all know both of you respect the chain of command too much."

"Hey, guys, congrats!" Jan said with a smile. "Smitty showed me pictures of the wedding."

"Looks like everyone is congratulating the newlyweds," Angela surmised as she sidled up next to Lucy.

"Wait, Angela, you've known Tim and Lucy the longest. Do you know why they've waited so long to get married?" Celina inquired.

"That's an interesting question. That implies that they've been together for a while," Angela said then turned to look at Tim to pointedly add, "with feelings they've told each other about well before deciding to foster a kid together. I can only guess what's taken them so long is that they're both idiots. Really big idiots." She punctuated the last few words to really accentuate her point.

Aaron beamed. "I don't really care what the reason was. I'm just glad you're married now. Do you have any big plans for tomorrow?"

Lucy tilted her head in confusion. "What's so important about tomorrow?"