Chenford week 2026 Day 8 - Friday, July 17
All Things Tim (to celebrate Eric’s birthday!)
Hurt/Comfort and Angst
Season 9 Speculation
Tim's Best Women - A Chenford Fanfic
Tim rolls his eyes as he checks his phone to see the fifth message from his sister in the last hour. She has been texting him regularly since he and Lucy got home from the hospital three days ago. But what started out as texts checking in and offering help, as they continue to recover from the effects of their kidnapping, have slowly shifted to focus heavily on wedding planning.
“Genny’s sent links to five different wedding venues now,” Tim says to Lucy, “should I be worried. Are we already behind before we’ve even started planning?”
“She’s probably just trying to give you something to do so you don’t go too stir crazy waiting to be cleared to go back to work,” Lucy laughs, “So what did she send?”
Tim answers by turning his screen towards Lucy to read.
“I didn’t know they did weddings at the zoo,” Lucy beams as she takes Tim’s phone from his hand and opens the link.
Tim rolls his eyes once more, “we are not getting married at the zoo.”
“Why not?” Lucy asks, “who wouldn’t want these little guys being part of their big day” she adds showing Tim the phone screen with the LA zoo event brochure cover, featuring a picture of meerkats.
Tim chuckles, “for one I don’t think Kojo would be allowed at the zoo.”
“Fair point,” Lucy concedes as she exits the website and navigates back to the message app, “I guess that means Dodger stadium is out too.”
“What! They do weddings?” Tim asks as he grabs the phone and excitedly opens the link, earning a laugh from Lucy.
He scrolls through quickly, excitement evaporating, “I know we haven’t decided on a wedding budget yet but I don’t think this will work unless we want to work triple overtime for the foreseeable future. As much as I hate to admit it,” he sighs handing the phone back to Lucy.
Lucy shrugs, “true, but they don’t know that.”
“What do you mean?”
“Maybe we could still check it out. Get a tour. You know, before we make our final decision,” she finishes with a wink."
“You think they’d give us a free tour if we say we’re considering having our wedding there?”
“We can’t know unless we try. Touring prospective wedding venues is a thing.”
“True. But most venues aren’t Dodger Stadium.”
“Also true,” she laughs, “I still think it’s worth a try.”
Tim nods, “where else is on Genny’s list?”
“Malibu pier.”
“I already wasn’t a huge fan of the ocean or beach and the last time we were there we got drugged and abducted so I’m going to have to veto that one. Sorry, not sorry.”
Lucy laughs, “fair, city hall?”
“Did she actually include that”
“Yep.”
Tim rolls his eyes, “what’s the last one, the police station?”
“Santa Barbara Botanic Garden.”
“Who would want to drive all the way out to Santa Barbara?”
“It’s only like an hour and a half,” Lucy rolls her eyes, “and that might not be the worst thing. Decreases the chance of work following us.”
“That’s true,” Tim concedes, reaching over to click the link.
“I like it,” Lucy says after scrolling through a couple pages, “at least as a possibility.”
“It is pretty nice,” Tim agrees, “we can tour it after Dodger stadium,” he finishes earning a playful shove from Lucy before she gets up and heads to the kitchen to refill her water.
'Thanks for the links, 2/5 aren’t bad. But again don’t feel you need to take care of me. I’m fine. I won’t go crazy from a couple weeks of sick leave,' Tim types then quickly hits send.
Unsurprisingly, Tim has been having a hard time accepting help from others. Not that that has stopped his loved ones from giving it. In fact the last time he told Angela he didn’t need her help, her response was, 'the more you fight it the more I’m going to help. You might as well just accept it.' Which begs the question of whether she’s actually trying to be helpful or just trying to bug him. As if on cue there’s a knock on the door followed instantly by a call of, “I hope everyone’s decent,” as the door swings open and Angela walks in. She’s carrying a large casserole dish and a couple of grocery bags, which she immediately sets on the counter and starts to unpack.
“I told you you didn’t have to do that,” Tim says.
“And I told you I was going to do it anyways,” Angela shoots back as she opens the fridge to put away a carton of eggs.
“Well I’m grateful for the help,” Lucy smiles as she unpacks another grocery bag into the cupboard, “what is this?” she asks bringing out a white cake box.
“An extra special dessert,” Angela smiles as she presses the buttons to preheat the oven before going over and taking the box from Lucy.
“That sounds suspiciously vague,” Tim comments as he hobbles over to join them in the kitchen, “is the special ingredient lethal?”
“Not this time,” Angela teases, opening the box to reveal 6 mini cake samples, “I saw them in the window of the bakery on my way to the grocery store with a sign saying wedding cake tasting boxes 25% off and it was just too tempting.”
“They look delicious,” Lucy says.
“Right?” Angela says, “I’m starting to think I planned my wedding all wrong. Window shopping is the way to go. Today I found these and yesterday I saw the perfect wedding suit for Tim,” she continues pulling out her phone to show them pictures she took of a window display featuring mannequins in three-piece grey suits and white collared shirts with matching ties and pocket squares in various shades of blue.
“Which one?” Tim asks.
“Depends on what we decide for your color scheme.”
“We?” Tim asks.
Angela nods, “although it’s ultimately up to you and Lucy, what kind of best woman would I be if I didn’t offer my assistance?”
Tim rolls his eyes but before he can rebutt his phone dings with another message from Genny, 'I know but I’m your sister and best woman. It’s my job to help you. Both with the recovery and wedding stuff.'
Tim rolls his eyes again as something clicks, “do both Genny and Angela think they’re my best woman?” Tim whispers to Lucy as he shows her his phone screen, while Angela is busy putting the lasagna in the oven to heat.
“Seems like it,” Lucy laughs.
“Isn’t there usually only one best man, or best woman?”
“Usually. Yes.”
Before Tim can answer Angela turns her attention back to them. “That will be ready in about 20 minutes and I put the rest in the fridge. There should be enough for another couple meals.”
“Thanks so much, Angela,” Lucy replies.
“My pleasure,” she says fixing Tim with a teasing stare, “I’ll just throw the salad together and then I really should get home to help Wes with the kids.”
“No need,” Tim says practically pushing Angela towards the front door, “we’ve got it under control. Empty the bag into a bowl, add the toppings and the dressing. Presto-chango Cesar salad.”
“Are you okay?” Angela asks, “is this part of your concussion.”
“I’m fine,” Tim assures her opening the door, “just think it’s important you spend time with your kids.”
“Okay?” Angela questions stepping out the door as she waves goodbye to Lucy, “let me know if you guys need anything else.”
“Will do. Thanks again,” Tim says as he quickly closes the door behind her.
“What the hell was that,” Lucy laughs as Tim comes back to the kitchen to make the salad.
“I think I panicked.”
“You think?”
“It’s just. I didn’t know I had a best woman, let alone two.”
“You didn’t ask either of them?”
“No I guess they both just assumed. Do you want one of them? As your maid of honor?”
“I can’t. I already asked Tamara.”
“Really, when?”
“At the hospital, the first time she came to visit. I also asked Celina and Nyla to be bridesmaids.”
“You did?”
Lucy nods, “did you think about who you were going to ask?”
Tim shakes his head. “I was just focused on asking you to marry me. I didn’t think about anything beyond that.”
“That’s sweet,” Lucy says kissing his cheek, “what do you think now."
“I don’t know,” Tim sighs, “I mean Angela and Genny are the two most important people in my life, after you. I don’t want to hurt either of them.”
“Who was your best man or woman at your wedding to Isabel?”
“Isabel’s cousin, Mark,” Tim rolls his eyes, “long story, don’t ask.”
“Okay,” Lucy laughs, “Now I’m intrigued but we’ll put a pin in that and come back later. Maybe you could ask them to be your co-best women?”
“I mean that would be perfect but do you think they’d be offended to have to share the role?”
“I doubt it,” Lucy starts, “don’t get me wrong I’m sure there’s many people out there that would be but I don’t think Angela and Genny are those people. Plus, being part of a wedding party can be a lot of work, as you’ve seen. It’ll probably be nice for them to split the load.”
Tim nods, “ Speaking of which am I the only one who hadn’t started thinking about wedding planning yet.”
“Seems that way,” Lucy smiles.
“In my defense, I only proposed a week ago and since then we’ve spent the majority of our time kidnapped or in hospital.”
“There’s no rush Tim,” Lucy assures him, “I’m just excited to spend the rest of our lives together. And our friends just want us to be happy, especially now after everything we went through.”
Tim nods. Just then his phone dings with another notification. 'Genny has added you to a new group: Tim and his best women.' Then another ding. 'Angela changed the group photo'. Tim looks to find a selfie featuring his sister and best friend with him in the background asleep in his hospital bed.
“Did you know about this?” Tim asks Lucy, not accusatory, purely curious.
“No,” Lucy shakes her head and laughs as she takes in the picture, “but now that I think about it. The topic of wedding planning did come up when we were in the hospital and I may have mentioned that I assumed they would both be in your side of the wedding party,” she adds coyly, “I had no idea they’d run with it.”
Tim shakes his head with a smirk.
'You’re both fired,' he sends into the group.
'No we’re not,' quickly comes Angela’s reply.
'You know you love us,' from Genny follows right after.
And he does. Besides the woman currently sitting beside him reading over his shoulder, a look of pure amusement on her face, those are his favorite women (and people) in the world and he can’t help but think just how lucky he is.
