What We Almost Lost

The apartment was quiet.
Too quiet.

Tim Bradford leaned against the doorway, hoodie half-on, gun belt still strapped from a shift that shouldn't have ended so violently. Lucy Chen's eyes didn't meet his. She stared at the coffee mugs, two of them going cold - reminders that they were supposed to be together, but maybe still too broken to know how.

"Are you really okay?" she asked, her voice tighter than she intended.

He smirked, but it didn't reach his eyes. "I survive."

She didn't laugh. "I want more than surviving, Tim. I want... us."

The silence stretched between them, but neither of them moved. They had loved, lost, and somehow found each other again.

And now, the city needed them undercover as a fake engaged couple - a role that would force every truth, every hidden feeling, every old wound to the surface.

Pretending wasn't the hard part.
Not with him.

It was keeping herself from falling in love all over again.