Too Good to be True
hi guys! I know it's been a while but here's the sequel to Bribery, But it's Totally Romantic
After a few months of dating, y/n's hidden trauma resurfaces, sending her spiraling into the fear that something this good couldn't possibly last. Casey doesn't push. She just finds her own quiet way to prove her wrong.
word count: 3.4k
(fair warning, im kinda trauma dumping through y/n lol)
The witness stand felt smaller than you remembered.
You'd testified before, plenty of times in fact , but never with Casey standing ten feet away in a burgundy suit, addressing you like you were nothing more than Detective Y/N, first officer on scene.
"Detective, can you walk the jury through what you observed when you arrived?"
Her voice was even, clipped in that particular courtroom cadence she used, no warmth in it, none of the softness you'd gotten used to over the past few months. You knew it was an act. You knew she had to be exactly this: sharp, unshakable, a woman the jury could trust with the truth. But some small, foolish part of you still ached at the distance.
You answered her questions the way you'd been trained to. Focused on the facts, no hesitation.
Defense tried to rattle you on cross, they knew you were young and not very experienced at the job, so they used it against you. Implied you'd jumped to conclusions, implied your report was sloppy, implied a dozen small things designed to plant doubt. Either way, you held your ground. When you glanced toward the prosecution table, just once, Casey's expression didn't so much as flicker. But there was something steady in her eyes that told you she saw exactly how well you were doing.
Olivia and Elliot were behind her. And judging by Elliot's smug face you could tell you nailed it.
By the time closing arguments wrapped, your shirt was sticking to your back and your hands hadn't fully stopped shaking, the good kind of adrenaline, the kind that came from doing something hard and doing it right.
The jury took four hours:
Guilty on all counts.
You caught up with your girlfriend on the courthouse steps, coat still half-buttoned, evening traffic humming past below. Casey was tucking a folder into her bag, hair falling loose from the twist she'd worn all day, looking for just a second like herself again instead of ADA Novak.
"You were incredible in there," you said, breathless with something that wasn't just the cold.
She looked up, and there it was, that smile, the real one, tired around the edges but warm. "Couldn't have done it without you. Defense counsel looked ready to eat his own tie by the end."
You laughed, stepping closer without thinking about it, the pull toward her as natural now as breathing. Your hand found the front of her coat, fingers curling into the lapel, and you leaned in.
Casey's hand caught your wrist. Gentle but firm.
"Sweetheart." Her voice dropped, quiet enough that only you could hear it. "Not here."
You froze, cheeks going hot. "Casey, there's nobody-"
"There's always somebody." She didn't let go of your wrist, but she didn't pull you closer either , just held the space between you. "Defense counsel's paralegal is twenty feet away pretending to check her phone. If anyone so much as suspects we're together, they'll use it. A retrial, an appeal, an ethics complaint. Everything we just won, everything that family just got, could unravel over a rumor."
You swallowed hard, the adrenaline curdling into something closer to shame. "You're right⊠I wasn't thinking."
"I know." Her thumb brushed once, briefly, over your pulse point, before she let your wrist go entirely and stepped back, restoring the careful distance between you. "I wanted to. For the record."
You gave her a shy smirk.
Something flickered across her face, guilt, maybe, or just the same ache you were feeling. Neither of you moved for a second.
"ADA Novak, a word please?" Some reporters gathered nearby.
"I'll call you tonight," she said finally. "We'll talk. I promise."
You nodded, throat tight, and watched her walk down the steps.
You didn't get far before you heard footsteps falling into step beside you.
"Hey." Olivia's voice was easy, casual in the way that always somehow felt like an invitation rather than an interrogation. "First time on the stand for a big one, right?"
"Yeah." You tried for casual too, and mostly missed. "It went okay, I think."
She studied you for a second too long, that particular look she had, the one that had cracked open more suspects than her badge probably had. "Okay? You did great!"
You opened your mouth to deflect. Nothing came out.
She could tell something was up.
"C'mon," she said, already turning toward the corner. "There's a coffee place two blocks down. My treat. You look like you could use a minute before you head back."
The café was quiet, tucked between the noise of the afternoon crowd, and Olivia let the silence sit for a while after your coffees arrived, like she knew better than to push. You turned your cup slowly, watching the steam curl up.
"I feel kind of stupid ranting to you about this," you finally admitted.
"Try me."
"It's not even work stuff."
Olivia leaned back, unbothered. "Even better. I could use a break from work stuff." When you still hesitated, she softened. "Y/N. I mean it. Whatever it is, I want you to feel like you can come to me. For anything."
That undid something in you a little.
"It's Casey," you said quietly.
Olivia's eyebrows lifted, just slightly, but she didn't look surprised. "Okay, what happened?"
You stared at your cup, avoiding eye contact. "After the trial, I justâI was so excited about how well it went that I forgot and I tried to kiss her on the steps. She stopped me. Told me someone could've seen, that it could mess up the case, mess up everything."
"She's not wrong to be careful."
"I know that. I do. It's not even about her being wrong, because she isn't."
You exhaled, frustration and something rawer tangled together. "It's just- this is the first time in my life something's actually been good, Liv. Like, really good. And every single time something good happens to me, some part of my brain starts waiting for the part where it falls apart. So the second she pulled away today, even for a completely reasonable reason, that part of me just lit up like⊠see? Told you. Too good to be true."
Olivia was quiet for a moment, turning her own cup slowly.
"That's a hard thing to carry," she said finally. "Waiting for the other shoe to drop, even when nobody's holding a shoe."
"It's exhausting," you admitted. "Being scared of something I want that badly."
"For what it's worth," Olivia said, "Casey doesn't strike me as the type to let something good slip through her fingers over one moment of caution. She was careful today because she's protecting the both of you, not because she's pulling away." She nudged your coffee closer, like the smallest push in the right direction. "You shouldn't have to carry that fear alone⊠after all, you are a couple and she loves you. I've known Casey for a while now and I can tell she truly cares about you. She'd probably want to know if you're going through something, especially if she can do something to ease that pain."
You nodded slowly, some of the tightness in your chest finally starting to loosen.
"Thanks, Liv."
"Anytime." She tossed a bill on the table and squeezed your shoulder as she walked away.
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Paperwork had never felt so endless.
Your phone buzzed against the desk.Â
Casey đ: Dinner tonight? Or just takeout, if you're tired.
You looked at it. Read it twice. Your thumb even hovered over the keyboard.
And then you set the phone face-down and kept typing your report.
You didn't know why. That was the worst partâthere wasn't a reason, not really. Just some quiet, stubborn weight in your chest that wouldn't let your fingers move. You knew Casey hadn't done anything wrong. You knew this wasn't really about dinner, or takeout, or even the courthouse steps this morning.
But some old, tired part of you had already started pulling away before you'd even decided to. Quietly. Just enough. Like if you let the distance in first, on your own terms, it couldn't be used against you later.
It didn't make sense. You knew it didn't make sense. But the part of you steering right now wasn't interested in sense, just in not being the one left standing there if your fear ended up becoming real.
Your phone lit up again. A call this time. Casey's name, her photo, the one you took of her laughing at something you said, wine glass in hand. You watched it ring until it stopped.
This is stupid, you thought. You know she's not the problem. Answer the phone.
You didn't.
Across the bullpen, Olivia's desk phone rang. You weren't listening, not really, until you caught your own name.
"Yeah, she's here," Olivia said, glancing over at you. "Finishing some paperwork."
Your eyes met hers for a second too long. Something passed between you, she didn't say anything else, just a small nod, like she understood exactly what was happening before you'd said a word about it.
She hung up, walked over, and rested a hand on your shoulder.
"Go home," she said, gentle but not a suggestion. "Call her. I'll finish this."
"Liv, I canâ"
"Y/N." Just your name, quiet. "Go home."
You didn't call her on the way home. You couldn't make yourself. But somewhere between the precinct and your apartment, you opened the chat thread and stared at it for two full stops on the train.
You: takeout
That was it. That was all you could give it.
Three dots appeared. Disappeared. Appeared again.
Casey: đ
You stared at the thumbs-up until the letters blurred. Something in your chest cracked open, sudden and stupid and entirely disproportionate to a two-word text exchange, and by the time you got off the train you were blinking hard against tears that made no sense at all. You felt unhinged. Like you were losing your grip on something you couldn't even name.
She didn't do anything wrong, you kept telling yourself. You know that. So why does it feel like this?
When you got home, the smell of reheated lo mein greeted you before Casey did. She was still in her suit pants and button-up shirt, stirring a carton with a fork, hair pulled back messy.
"Hey," she said without turning around. "Figured since you went quiet, you weren't up for going out. Hope Chinese is okay."
"Hi," you said. Your voice came out smaller than you meant it to.
You didn't move closer. You just stood there, in your own doorway, feeling impossibly far away from someone twelve feet away.
Casey turned then, and whatever she saw on your face made her set the fork down immediately.
"Come here," she said, quiet. Not a demand. An offer.
You crossed the kitchen on legs that didn't quite feel like yours, and when she cupped your jaw and kissed you, soft and unhurried, something in your chest that had been holding on all day simply gave out.
You started crying before you even realized you'd started crying. Not delicate tears, the kind that came with a shaking breath and a stupid, mortified apology already forming in your throat.
"Hey, hey." Casey didn't panic. She never did. She just wrapped both arms around you and held on, steady as ever, one hand splayed warm against your back. "I've got you. Breathe with me, okay? In through your nose."
You tried. It took a few attempts before your breath actually followed hers.
"I don't even know why I'm crying," you managed, voice thick and humiliated. "Nothing happened. You didn't do anything. I just- I ignored you all day for no reason, and I don't even know why, and now I can't stop-"
"Shh. You don't have to explain anything right now." She guided you both down onto the couch, pulling you into her side like it was the easiest thing in the world. "Just breathe. We'll talk when you're ready."
She didn't ask you to hurry. She didn't look confused or hurt, even though you knew, rationally, that you'd probably hurt her a little today. She just held you until your breathing evened out and the shaking stopped, and only then, gently, did she ask.
"Tell me what today was really about."
So you did. Haltingly at first, then all at once: the courthouse steps, the coffee with Olivia, the thing you now knew was true and stupid at the same time: that some part of you couldn't let yourself believe something this good was allowed to just be good, so the second anything cracked, even a little, even for a completely reasonable reason, that part of you had gone looking for the bad ending it was so sure was coming.
"And today, when you pulled back on the steps," you said quietly, "I know that wasn't a bad sign. I know you were protecting us. But it still felt like one. And I hated that I couldn't justâturn it off. So some stupid part of me wanted you to feel as bad as I did. Which doesn't even make sense, because none of this is your fault and I can't stand the thought of you hurting."
Casey was quiet for a moment, her fingers moving slowly through your hair.
"It makes more sense than you think," she said finally. "I know that feeling. Waiting for something good to prove itself fake, so you can say you saw it coming instead of getting blindsided." Her voice softened further, almost disbelieving. "Half the time, I don't understand how someone as brilliant, as good, as you somehow ended up choosing me. Some nights I catch myself waiting for the moment you realize you could do better. So believe me, I understand the fear."
You looked up at her, eyes still wet. "That's not fair. You're not supposed to have any of that too."
She huffed something like a laugh, pressing a kiss to your forehead. "Nobody's supposed to. We just do." Her arms tightened around you. "For what it's worthâI'm not going anywhere. Not because of a dry text message, not because of anything. You hear me, baby?"
You let yourself sink into her, finally, fully, the tension in your shoulders draining out for the first time all day.
"I'm sorry," you whispered.
"You don't need to apologize," Casey murmured against your hair. "You need dinner. It's gotten cold twice now."
You laughed, a little broken, but real.
She kissed your temple once more before easing up to grab the food. "Now scoot over. We're eating on this couch and you're not allowed to disappear on me again today."
You both ate dinner together and thankfully all the overthinking and stressful thoughts were nowhere to be found.
-----------------------------------------
"I can't believe I didn't even think to bring pajamas," Casey said, rifling through your drawer. "Guess I'm stealing one of yours"
"Bad news," you called from the bathroom, "everything's in the laundry bin. I was gonna do a load this weekend."
She appeared in the doorway, eyebrow raised. "Oh really? So what am I supposed to sleep in?"
You crossed your arms, feigning deep consideration. "Guess we'll have to improvise."
"Improvise how, exactly?"
"I'm thinking..." You stepped closer, fingers hooking loosely into the collar of her borrowed shirt. "No pajamas required tonight."
Casey's mouth curved slowly. "Detective, are you propositioning me?"
"Depends. Is it working?"
"Very much so" She pulled you in by the waist before you could say anything else, and the laugh that had been sitting on your lips dissolved the second her mouth met yours.
Her hands slid up your back slow and deliberate, fingertips finding the hem of your shirt and pausing there, silently asking. You answered by pulling it over your head yourself, and she made a low, appreciative sound against your throat that made your knees go a little unreliable.
You returned the favor, working the buttons of her shirt open one by one while she toyed with the clasp of your bra like she had all the time in the world, unhurried even as her breath went uneven against your skin. By the time you'd backed toward the bed, there was a trail of clothes marking the whole path there, and Casey's laugh, soft, warm, a little breathless, was the last clear thing you heard before the lamp clicked off.
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Sunlight was already spilling through the gap in the curtains when you woke, warm and golden across the sheets. Casey was still asleep beside you, sprawled on her stomach with one arm tucked under the pillow, and the light caught her hair in a way that stopped you cold, every strand a different shade of copper and gold, scattered messily across the pillow like something out of a painting.
You didn't move. You just watched her, the slow rise and fall of her shoulders, the freckles across her nose you never got tired of counting, the soft, unguarded stillness of her face that she never let the rest of the world see.
You were fairly sure you'd never seen anything more beautiful in your life.
"You're staring," Casey murmured, eyes still closed, voice thick with sleep.
You startled slightly. "I didn't say anything."
"You didn't have to." One corner of her mouth tugged upward, though her eyes remained shut. "I can feel it. You've got a very specific kind of staring silence."
"That's not a real thing."
"It absolutely is. I've catalogued it." She finally cracked one eye open, squinting against the sun, and found you already smiling at her.
"The sun really likes your hair," you said, reaching out to brush a strand back from her face, just to feel it slip through your fingers. "Kind of unfair, honestly. Some of us haven't even brushed our teeth yet and you're out here looking like that."
Casey huffed a sleepy laugh, turning her head further into the pillow. "Flattery this early is suspicious."
"It's not flattery if it's true."
That got both her eyes open. She studied you for a moment, something soft and a little disbelieving passing over her face, the same look from last night, like she still hadn't quite gotten used to being looked at like that.
"Come here," she said, voice still rough with sleep, tugging you back down against her shoulder before you could protest the morning breath. "Five more minutes. I need my morning snuggles."
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After spending the entire weekend together, you started your week in a much better mood, and Olivia could tell by the look on your face.
Monday was nothing out of the ordinary but Tuesday started a bit different.
You'd almost missed it at first: a tiny paper flower sitting on the corner of your desk, folded with more care than skill, petals slightly uneven. You picked it up, turning it over in your fingers, and something in your chest went warm before you'd even let yourself think about who it might be from.
You had a pretty good guess.
Wednesday brought a small paper bag from the bakery two blocks from the precinct, the good one, the one with the lemon shortbread you'd mentioned exactly once, months ago, in passing. No note. No name.
You didn't need one.
By Thursday there was a teddy bear. Small, a little lopsided, the kind you'd find in a gift shop rather than anywhere fancy, but it was sitting square in the middle of your desk when you got in, like it had been placed there deliberately, patiently, by someone who wanted you to notice without making a scene of it.
After all, you were a detective. You knew exactly what was happening.
You left your desk without a word to anyone and with a smile on your face, walked straight to Casey's office.
She looked up from her paperwork, something amused already tugging at her mouth like she'd been waiting for this exact moment.
"I love you," you said, before she could get a single word out.
Casey blinked, pen stilling. Then her whole face softened into something unguarded, something you'd only seen a handful of times.
"I love you too," she said simply, like it had been sitting there the whole time, ready. Then, after a beat, the corner of her mouth curved. "Did you get the presents?"
"I did." You crossed the room and perched on the edge of her desk. "It's honestly the sweetest thing anyone's ever done for me."
Casey waved a hand, a little bashful in a way she rarely let herself be. "Come on. It's just some silly trinkets and pastries."
"It's not, though." You reached for her hand, lacing your fingers through hers. "It's not the trinkets. It's that you understood. You saw what happened to me: the overthinking, the spiral, the way one small thing sent me straight into thinking this was all going to fall apart⊠and instead of just telling me it was fine, you decided to speak my own language back to me. The same way I used to leave things on your desk when I didn't know how to say it out loud."
Casey's expression shifted, something quiet and a little amazed crossing her face, like she hadn't quite thought of it that way herself until you said it.
"If a kiss on the steps was small enough to trigger all that fear," you continued, "then I guess it makes sense that something just as small could undo it. A flower. A cookie. A ridiculous little bear." You squeezed her hand. "And it works, Case. It actually does."
For a moment she just looked at you, something in her eyes gone soft and slightly overwhelmed.
"I didn't know if it would," she admitted quietly.
"Turns out you know me better than I know myself."
Casey smiled and kissed you. Her hands all over you, nothing at all like the careful distance from the courthouse steps. Just the two of you, in her office, exactly the way it had all started.












