For Fiona

37. Recognition

Requalification day. Tim understood the value of the mandatory LAPD requalification day, but that did not stop him from hating it. For a whole shift, instead of patrolling the streets, he was forced to shoot at targets as if suspects would stay still like the far away pieces of paper with outlines of a person and participate in obstacle course competitions that paled in comparison to chasing his four year-old daughter around the house for a day. However, there was one bonus to requalification date for the first time: Lucy.

As usual, she was the winner of the obstacle course, and though she only beat him by two seconds, it was enough to warrant some bragging rights. Instead of being slightly annoyed that he lost to her yet again, he was proud of her.

"Two seconds," Lucy boasted while wiggling two fingers in the air with a victorious smile.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," he replied dismissively, though his lips twitched upwards.

She took his water bottle out of his grasp for a desperate gulp and made a refreshed sound. She saw him scowl and asked, "What?"

"That's MY water," he pointed out.

"We can share some water." Much lower, she whispered, "It's not like we haven't shared other stuff."

He smirked thinking about the "other stuff" they had shared. "I know, but don't you have your own water?"

"It's all the way over there, and I'm too tired to go get it, you know, on account of beating you by two seconds."

He rolled his eyes and went over to retrieve her own bottle of water before offering it to her with his best attempt at an annoyed expression despite the fact that her incandescent smile was hard to be aggravated with. Tim saw that a dusting of sand was smeared across the corner of her chin, so he gently wiped it away as her grin widened. For a moment, he held her warm gaze as he continued to cup her face despite the mess having been cleared away.

"Do I get a reward for kicking your ass again?" She wondered quietly, her tone sultry enough to communicate what she had in mind.

"I never get rewarded when I kick your ass."

"That's because you never do."

"Not true."

"Okay, name one thing."

"I get Fiona to agree to take a nap faster than you do."

Lucy narrowed her eyes at him. "Because you play dirty. Three princess kisses and a bear kiss yesterday was a little excessive."

"It worked."

"Whatever. I could get her to take her nap faster than you do."

"Is that a bet?" He inquired playfully.

To which she hummed in confirmation and excitement then asked, "What are we playing for?"

"I can think of a few things."

That unmistakable glint in his eye made her heart skip a beat.

He glanced around as if he cared where his fellow officers were, then grabbed at her hips to direct her backwards towards a wall of the obstacle course. Without wasting a second, he slammed his lips against hers, capturing her small gasp into his mouth. Even when he lost, something about competing against her was electrifying. Though he used to allow the sparks to crackle between them as they looked at each other heatedly, now, he could kiss her hard as his tongue zinged with the high voltage that grew between them.

Grey was going to speak up and tell Tim and Lucy that despite their best efforts to "hide" from the group, he could still see them wrapped up in each other, but instead he sighed heavily, because he was only surprised that they had not tried sneaking off earlier considering their nonstop flirty competitive banter all morning that was destined to bubble up.