While chatting during a night drinking, Jackson realizes that Lucy might have a crush or two...or just a very specific type.
Hello, all! This is the first fic I'm posting for this fandom, and I hope you all like it. While working on another fic, I was chatting with my bestie @somekindofflowergirl about how funny it would be if Lucy had been interested in Katie Barnes and he'd later found out (and broken his brain). This isn't that, but it led to this short fic about Lucy having a bi moment. And a type.
Rated T, also on ao3. Chenford-adjacent (just some light pining), pre-relationship, but astoundingly, canon-compliant.
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“So, did you figure out why Tim was being so nice to his new rookie?”
Lucy peers across the coffee table at Jackson, eyeing him blearily as she sloshes her glass. Ostensibly, it’s a margarita. In reality, it’s mostly tequila and ice. This is her third one, and she’s definitely feeling it.
“Yeah, it’s fine.”
Jackson smiles over at her, taking a drink of his beer. He’s not drinking as much, but this is probably his fifth beer. “So? You gonna tell me, or will I have to speculate wildly?”
“She…she’s got other stuff going on. Big stuff. He said he was being nice because that’s what she needs.”
“What kind of stuff?”
“She needs to feel safe, and I needed to feel like the world was dangerous. Something like that,” she says, waving her hand.
He bristles, “Um, I think you know the world is a dangerous place. Caleb, anyone?”
Lucy makes a face, reaching across to pat his arm. “No, not anymore. At first. You know as well as I do that Tim hasn’t been harsh like that with me in forever,” she says. After a moment, she continues, “Did you know she was in the Army too? Katie, I mean?”
“No shit, really?”
“For real.”
Jackson looks over at her, where she’s staring into her drink, frowning at it a little. “What’s wrong?”
“I thought he liked her better than me.”
He finishes the rest of his beer, unwilling to touch that one with a 10-foot pole.
Lucy isn’t finished, though. “I asked him…I mean, not like that, but he said I’m kind and insightful and maybe one day Katie could be as good as me.”
Wow. That’s…unexpected, from Bradford.
“What if he doesn’t mean it, though? What if he’s just saying that to make me feel better?” she asks, voice wobbling.
“Okay, first of all, does that sound like something Tim would do? If he’s actually using words to compliment you, he means it. Also, he’s right, and you are both kind and insightful. And astoundingly good at your job.”
“But she’s just so pretty and smart and fit,” she says with a sigh.
Jackson isn’t really sure where to start with this one. “Uh…”
“She is, did you even see her?”
“I did, Lucy, along with everyone on the day shift in patrol. She’s not really my type. Hey, is this still a thing where you’re upset about Tim ‘moving on’ with a new rookie, or…?”
Lucy takes a long pull of her watery, iced tequila. “I just can’t stop thinking about how beautiful she is. And what if she’s Tim’s type?”
He stands up and rounds the table, joining her on the couch. “Can we stop for a minute and focus on how you’ve mentioned three times that you think she’s hot?”
“Well, she is!” Lucy looks comically surprised at her outburst, and he’s sure the expression is mirrored on his face.
“Okay, then. Is this a new development, or have you been hiding things from me, your best and also gayest friend?”
“Please, like you’re my gayest friend. One of my friends from college is an activist who writes about being gay. You’re my best friend, though.”
“I’ll take it, but yeah, I’m still waiting on an answer to my question,” he tells her, laughing.
She shakes her head, turning a deep red. “I mean, I kissed some girls in college, but who didn’t?”
“I can assure you that I did not.”
“You know what I mean!”
Jackson takes a sip of his beer, grinning over at her. “I’m just saying, the fact you said ‘girls,’ plural, might mean something.”
“So what if it does?” she asks mulishly.
“Then I would support you, but I’d still have more questions.”
“No, I’ve never had sex with a woman, but I’m not opposed to it.”
“That’s not what I was going to ask, but I will be circling back to that.”
Lucy snorts. “Okay, so…?”
“Listen, I-I kind of thought you liked Tim? Like, like—”
“Oh my god, Jackson!” Her face flames scarlet.
He wags a finger in front of her face emphatically. “Please, don’t act like that’s completely crazy.”
“He was my T.O.! I set him up with one of my best friends!”
“Mmmhmm,” he teases, “your very hot former T.O. who isn’t dating your friend anymore. Who you’ve been just a little possessive of the last couple of days.”
“I-I have not! I was just…I needed some reassurance, which is completely normal. Psychologically speaking.”
“Lucy,” Jackson says gently, “Angela is one of my closest friends. Harper and Nolan have each other’s backs. But none of us look at each other the way you and Tim do.”
Lucy rolls her eyes and sips her drink. “Well, you’re gay and Angela’s a woman. And Nolan and Harper…well, can you imagine what Harper would do if Nolan got a crush on her?”
That is a funny mental image, but he isn’t willing to be sidetracked. “Oh, so you’re admitting to a crush?”
She tosses a throw pillow at him, and he manages to catch it without spilling his beer. He sets it down to avoid any further potential spills.
Gathering his thoughts, he’s quiet. Lucy seems content to sip her drink, her head tipping back after the exhaustion of the day.
Suddenly, he can’t hold it in, and Jackson giggles.
Lucy sits up and quirks an eyebrow. “What?”
“I-I just…you have such a type,” he laughs.
She just looks at him in befuddled questioning.
“Look. Former military turned cop…that athletic build…beautiful down to the cut jawline…Lucy, they even have similar haircuts.”
Lucy stares at him for a long moment, then joins him in raucous laughter. “Oh my god, you’re right. This is horrible.”
“No, this is the best thing ever, and I can’t wait to tell Lopez,” he wheezes, still leaning back into the couch in tipsy amusement.
“Jackson,” she says, growing serious, “no. We will never speak of this again, and you will not tell Lopez.”
“Or what?”
“Or I will feed your Mandalorian figurine to Kojo.”
“You wouldn’t dare.”
“And you wouldn’t dare tell Lopez about this conversation,” she says with a victorious smirk.
“Fine, but don’t think I’m done teasing you about this. For, like, forever.”
“You should get cleaned up”, he told her softly, letting his hand fall back to his side as he realized the dirt he had tried to rub away wouldn’t come off.
As much as he resented himself for thinking that way, he had to admit she looked adorable, even with traces of dirt on her face.
He wondered if she would ever not look beautiful to him.
or
Tim and Lucy share a moment after the explosion nearly took Lucy's life.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/5
Fandom: The Rookie (TV 2018)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Tim Bradford & Angela Lopez, Tim Bradford/Lucy Chen
Characters: Angela Lopez, Tim Bradford, Lucy Chen (The Rookie), Talia Bishop, Isabel Bradford, Jackson West, Wesley Evers
Additional Tags: Friendship, Eventual Romance, POV Outsider, Background Wopez, Canon Compliant, Canonical Character Death, I am looking at the timeline and telling it I'm the captain now
Summary:
"Tim is one of her closest friends, but she’s beginning to harbor several suspicions, chief among them that he’s an idiot."
Angela gets a front-row seat to the development of Tim's relationship with Lucy, and she kind of wants some popcorn.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
“Can we talk about something else?” Tim didn’t look at her, but he pinched his brows together. Before he could interject Lucy decided she was done talking about herself. She had given him enough time to come up with it on his own.
“About your engagement perhaps. Congratulations by the way.”
Her words sounded more forced than delighted and Lucy bit her lip, willing herself to get her emotions under control. She was doing a terrible job at hiding her bitterness and she certainly didn’t want Tim to catch up on it.
or
Tim doesn’t directly clear up his proposal is a prank and Lucy has to face the reality that she might lose Tim.
