Chenford + 5.13 fix it fic.
They all find out!
Hey anon -
Thanks for this request. I was also hoping for a more robust ensemble moment from 5x13. You can read my take on it below or on AO3 here.
5x13: The Reveal
“Hey,” Lucy said, whisking through Nolan's front door.
“Lucy. Sure, why not? Come on in,” Nolan replied with a flip of his hand.
“Oh, you look surprised.” Lucy set her duffle bag down in front of an empty chair in the living room. “Wait, weren't you on the group text?”
“No, no. I turn off my phone when –” Nolan paused when Bailey shot him a look. “Nevermind. Can I get you a drink?”
“Tequila. Double,” Lucy said with a sigh.
Everyone stared at her.
“I need it,” Lucy said with an uncomfortable laugh. “We have a big problem.”
“What’s going on?” Wesley asked.
“Tim is miserable in his new role and he won’t admit it,” Lucy explained. “We need to figure out what chess moves to make in order to get him into a better job.”
“Wait. Tim isn’t a sergeant anymore?” James asked. “When did that happen?”
“No, he’s still a sergeant,” Nyla interjected and then smirked. “He took a new job for reasons neither he nor Lucy will say out loud.”
“Yeah.” Angela nudged Lucy with her elbow and handed her the drink Nolan had poured. “Why, exactly, is Timothy Bradford the Court Liaison Sergeant again?”
“Grey said it was because of the officer no-show rates getting too high. He needed Tim to get that under control,” Nolan interjected, completely oblivious. He dried his hand with a towel and tossed it on the counter. “Wes, let me show you where the charging cable is.”
“Thanks,” Wesley said and followed Nolan down the hall, but not before throwing a sly look at his wife.
“I’m going to lay Leah down,” James said, motioning at his baby girl who was struggling to keep her eyes open.
“Thank you,” Nyla smiled. James kissed her on the cheek and took Leah out of her arms.
“You can use the first room on the right,” Bailey told him, pointing in that direction.
“Is Nolan right, Lucy?” Angela egged on.
“Mm-hmm,” Lucy hummed. She took a big gulp from her drink before the burn reminded her it was tequila on ice. She couched into her elbow.
“Come on, ladies,” Bailey said with a laugh. She walked over and swung her arm around Lucy’s shoulders and guided her toward the living room. “They’ll tell us when they’re ready.”
“Right,” Angela agreed before playfully narrowing her gaze on Lucy. “Even if it hurts our feelings more every day they don’t.”
“Angela–” Lucy started.
“No, no.” Angela held up her hands. “Just know that I’m not telling you my secret until you tell me yours.”
Lucy ignored the comment and unzipped the bag at her feet. She unpacked sticky notes and markers onto the coffee table and then wrote the names of different departments on separate notes: Motors, SWAT, Robbery, Metro, Vice, IA, Air Support, and Homicide. Nyla took a stack of stickies and began to write the names of sergeants and other high-level officers on each sheet.
“Is it really even a secret at this point?” Lucy finally asked, looking between the women.
“What do you mean, ‘at this point’?” Nyla asked with a laugh and Angela joined in. “You two literally went from being attached at the hip, to not being able to be in the same room together, to being attached at the hip.”
“That doesn’t mean…” Lucy shook her head.
She wrote ‘Retired’ on one more sticky note and then arranged them all on Nolan’s living room window. Nyla and Angela joined her and sorted the cops under each of their respective departments.
“You didn’t even see Tim lie to my face about not having feelings for her,” Angela said to Nyla. “His voice cracked and went up an entire octave. And that was before The Great Resistance.”
Nyla and Bailey snickered.
“The Great Resistance?” Lucy grumbled, her cheeks flaming red.
“Yeah,” Nyla nodded, picking up a grape from a bowl of fruit Bailey had set on the table. “You know? The time between the UC op and when Grey made you two ride together again.”
“Oh my god,” Lucy pressed her palm to her forehead. “So everybody knows?”
“Well, not everybody,” Bailey interjected, motioning her wine glass toward the hall. “I’m pretty sure Nolan hasn’t figured it out. He’s had his hands full with Celina.”
“Well, that’s ironic,” Lucy mumbled. “Okay, let’s focus. We really need to figure out a solution for Hicks and then everything else should fall into place.”
“What about motors?” Angela asked.
“He has triplets,” Lucy and Nyla said simultaneously.
“Oof,” Bailey cringed. “Definitely not the safest job for someone who isn’t going to get a good night’s sleep for the foreseeable future.”
“What did I miss?” Nolan asked as he jogged up.
James and Wesley were right behind him and Nyla explained the musical chairs they were trying to accomplish. Wesley took a sleeping Jackson from Angela’s arms and went to lay him down in Nolan’s guest room.
“I got it,” Nolan said. He picked up a sticky. “Hicks leaves Metro, goes to IA. Remington moves to Motors. That means Watson gets into SWAT. Halsey comes over to Metro. There's still a spot for Tim.”
“Remington's wife won't let her on a motorcycle, so that's a non-starter,” Nyla said, shaking her head.
“Okay, um, Fuji retires?” Lucy moved Fujii to ‘Retired’. “Halsey goes to Metro and Madison goes to Robbery. Hmm?”
“Primm will go to Vice?” Angela suggested.
“No, they hate each other,” Nolan shot down.
“Okay.” Lucy tapped her chin. “Um, Jones goes to SWAT.”
They stared at the window and a slow smile grew on their faces.
“And Bob's your uncle,” Angela said.
A knock sounded on the front door and Nolan went to answer it.
“Yes,” Lucy clapped and then her smile fell. “Oh, no.”
“What?” Nyla asked.
“Well, the only way this works is if Fuji retires,” Lucy pointed out, “and the only person who can convince her to do that is…”
“Smitty,” Nyla supplied.
“Yeah.” Lucy grimaced.
“Hey, Tim,” Nolan said loud enough for his voice to carry. “This is unexpected. What's your -- What's the -- What are you -- What's up?”
“Shhhit!” Lucy whispered. They all frantically pulled the sticky notes off of the glass.
“Uh, I heard you had power,” Tim said. “I was hoping you had the game on.”
Bailey plopped on the sectional and stuffed a handful of stickies behind her back while James shoved some down between the side arm and cushion. Lucy stuck a stack under her thigh as she sat.
“Yes,” Nolan stalled. “I mean, yes, we have power. The game is -- We can...”
“Is that Lucy's car?” Tim pointed over his shoulder.
”Uh, yes. Come on in,” Nolan said and waved him in. “Hey, guys, look who it is.”
Nolan headed for the kitchen while Tim approached the group.
“It's a party,” Tim said suspiciously. “What's going on?”
“Nothing,” Angela shrugged. “Just enjoying the A/C.”
Lucy nodded in agreement a little too eagerly.
“You okay?” Tim asked her.
“Yeah,” Lucy said with a smile. “Couldn't be better.”
“So you’ve all just been sitting here in silence?” Tim asked, raising his eyebrows.
“Well, we just got here.” Lucy provided.
Nolan cleared his throat and handed Tim a beer.
“The game?” Nolan asked. He picked the remote up from the coffee table and navigated to the local sports channel.
“Oh, sure,” Tim said. “If that’s cool with everyone?”
“Of course,” Bailey said and scooted down the sofa closer to Angela to make room for Nolan and Tim. She carefully slid the stickies behind her back to Angela.
An uncomfortable silence fell over the room as everyone pretended to be focused on the screen. James tapped his fingers along the armrest and Nolan’s leg bounced nervously to the same beat.
Wesley returned and sat on the floor in front of his wife. He glanced around the room, an odd expression on his face.
“Did I miss something?” Wesley asked.
“Nope,” James said, but it was clear he was holding back a smile.
“Then why isn’t anyone talking?” Wesley looked between Tim and Lucy sitting on opposite sides of the room.
“We’re enjoying the game,” Lucy said, clearing her throat.
Tim huffed and rolled his eyes.
“What?” Lucy asked, pursing her lips with a dare in her eyes.
“I’ve known Nolan for years and he’s never sat in silence this long,” Tim said. “ Something is definitely -– Oh.”
Tim’s brows shot up and he looked around the room. His eyes widened and Lucy subtly shook her head, silently trying to communicate.
“You told them?” He asked and she let out an exasperated breath.
Angela, Nyla, and Bailey burst out laughing from a mixture of relief at the awkward silence ending and amusement that Tim had picked up on the wrong secret.
“No, Tim,” Lucy rolled her eyes but she was smiling. “You told them.”
“Okay, now I’m missing something,” Nolan said to Bailey.
“Oh, honey,” Bailey slapped Nolan on the knee and shook her head.
Angela wiped tears out of her eyes and Nyla leaned back against James. The air seemed to clear with the news finally out in the open so Tim put his hands on his knees to push up from the sectional and walked over to Lucy.
He held out his hand and Lucy took it, rising to her feet. She swiped the sticky note stuck to her thigh off and it fell to the ground.
“Are you going to tell me what’s up with the sticky notes everyone thought I didn’t see being passed around?” Tim asked.
“Don’t worry about it,” Lucy said, standing on her tippy toes to peck him on the lips. “Trust me.”
“I do.” Tim smiled down at her.
“Oh,” Nolan let out a surprised noise and then chuckled. “Wow. Am I the only one who didn’t know about this?”
“Yes,” everyone on the sectional said simultaneously, leading to another round of laughter.
Tim used the momentary distraction to steal a kiss from Lucy, perfectly happy that he no longer had to hide his affection for her.
“Ew!” Angela threw a pillow at them, hitting him in the back. “Get a room!”
“But please, not here,” Nolan teased.
Lucy turned in Tim’s arms until she was leaning back against him. He wrapped his arms around her waist and held her close as they listened to their friends all join in to heckle them.
Suddenly, their relationship felt real. Lucy thought that would scare her when they finally reached this moment, but instead, the warmth of their friends' happiness and acceptance put her perfectly at ease. These people were her family and she’d never felt more grateful that she'd taken a risk on a whim a few years ago to join the LAPD. She smiled up at Tim and knew without a doubt, he felt the same way.
[Thanks for reading! Kudos and comments on AO3 -- linked here --are always appreciated.]