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The hospital is behind them now, they still have on their torn and dusty uniforms. Neither speaks as Tim drives, it's almost 10 pm, they don't let you drive if you are still in shock, Tim had escaped a concussion, how ? he's not sure. He glances over at her , she's lost in thought, watching the lights of the city from the passenger window, her hands in her lap, they have been given pain meds to take later.
He pulls into the drive and unbuckles his seat belt waiting for her to do the same, she doesn't move, she doesn't look at him, just stares out the window. He clears his throat. "Hey, we're home". He says softly.
She nods her head in recognition "Mmhmm"
"Hey, are you crying? Are you in pain? Baby please" he doesn't know where to touch her, they pulled out so many shards of glass.
She lets her head rest on the window as her silent tears become something altogether louder and uncontrollable. "I couldn't..., " she sobs , her shoulders quiver as her tears stream. "I couldn't see you, I thought....., I thought...oh God". She swipes angrily at her tears as she finally turns to face him. His eyes are glassy too.
"Hey, we're here, we're safe, I got you". The first tear falls and he wipes it, doesn't want to fall apart in front of her. "Let's take this inside huh? Kojo will wonder what happened". He gets out of the truck and opens her door.
He takes her elbow, gently ,and leads her to the front door, he gets the key in the lock, "Who brought the truck to the hospital"? She asks absently.
"Wade, he had to make an arrest, the guy who caused all this chaos".
Her tears turn to anger quickly, "Chaos? He could have killed you Tim, fuck, I just got you back, he could have taken you from me again, what if it wasn't just little pieces of glass, you could have been stabbed in vital organs, you could have been decapitated, what then huh? How do I survive without you again"? She clenches her fists at her sides.
He grabs two bottles of water, once they lock up , and notices Kojo hasn't made an appearance, he hasn't called Genny yet so she must have seen it on the news, his personal phone was in his locker, now there is no locker. "I'm glad I didn't die, but Luce, you risked you life handing me that mask, you think it would be any easier for me to be without you"?
She closes her eyes as her vision blurs, "I couldn't see you Tim, all the dust, all the flames, you need to promise me you won't die ok". She reaches for his hand, "Promise me Tim, you can't become this new guy, this beautiful gentle guy and get me hooked on you just to walk away again". She gulps, her throat swallowing painfully.
"You know I can't promise that, if I thought we could make promises like that I would have demanded it already, what about you huh? You and Celina, 5 more minutes out on patrol and you would have died in that shop, this...., us..., we always knew it came with risks, but Lucy, I won't ever walk away from you again, not willingly, they are gonna have to drag me kicking and screaming. The mask was risky though, please tell me you see that , and promise never to do that again".
She shakes her head, "I can't, I won't, you are the air that I breathe , the only way I stop protecting you is with my very last breath".
He holds her face in his hands. We seem to be at an empass, you were right, at the hospital, saving each other is what we do, but I know you dying in that shop, away from the station is going to haunt my dreams for an eternity, I wouldn't have been able to get to you in time, that's a horror I never want to live through".
She places a hand on his heart, wipes a tear from his cheek " Little different from last year huh"?
He chuckles wetly, "Wildly different, though my heart was still in my mouth, I thought I'd lost you then too".
"I'm never letting you out of my sight again", she says into his shirt, "Phone Genny, she must be worried sick"
"No phone, it was in my locker". She hands him hers, she never leaves it. He nods and dials Genny's number.
"I'm debating changing your partner, turns out ,Nolans, danger magnet rubs off on his rookies, you can ride with Jan".
"Fuck off Tim"she circles her arms around his waist as Genny answers , she shouts at them too, for almost dying, she has Kojo. The shop horror is not something that's going away anytime soon.
Lucy's just got to lose the urge to sit on his tail, and he has got to not wrap her in cotton balls, it's gonna take some adjustments. It's also gonna take a while to fix the station.