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“7-Adam-15 requesting an RA to our location. Officer down, I repeat, Officer down.”
It’s almost like Tim’s world stopped turning when he heard Nolan’s call over the radio. He was driving the shop, Miles in the passenger seat.
“7-Adam-19 requesting additional information.”
He remembers hearing a short time ago Lucy calling for backup. Himself and Miles weren’t close enough so Nolan and Celina responded to assist.
“Sergeant Bradford, go to channel three.”
This can’t be good…
“Upon Celina and I’s arrival, we found Lucy pretty beat up with what I’m sure is a nasty head injury. She’s conscious but not doing too well.”
Tim knows by the time he were to get to the scene, they would have already taken Lucy to the hospital. He decides to drop off Miles back at the station and rush to meet her. He was hoping to get some clarity as to what happened, he never heard the initial call that led them to respond.
As he was arriving back to the station in the shop, Grey was outside waiting for him. He stopped the car to let Miles out and he walked over.
“Sir, I need to go see Lucy. I don’t even care if we aren’t together right now, I need to.”
“I wasn’t coming over here to tell you otherwise. What I was going to say is, let me drive. We don’t need you getting into an accident.”
Things with Lucy and Tim were getting better but still not great. He kept his promise and was making it up to her in small doses, which she definitely appreciated. He was still going to therapy and she was so proud of him. He can’t lose her now, not after all the hard work they both have put in.
~~~
After what felt like forever, they finally got to the hospital. Both men rushing inside and immediately ushered to a waiting area. Right behind them were Nolan and Celina.
“What happened to her?” Tim asks, looking between the two.
They both share a look, before Nolan finally speaks.
“She got another call from that girl, I think her name is Kira. She’s helped her before… she went with Seth to see what was up and Oliver showed up. From what we heard, he threw her around pretty hard. Seth was able to take him down and Lucy called for backup. She was pretty out of it when we arrived.”
Before anyone could say anything else, a doctor walks out and heads in their direction.
“I’m assuming you’re all here for Officer Chen?”
“Yes, we are.” Grey answers the woman.
“Are any of you Timothy Bradford?”
“That’s me.” Tim says quietly, and slightly confused.
“You’re listed as her medical proxy so we can share the information with you. If you would like to come with me, I can fill you in.”
They all look at Tim before motioning him to go. He gets up and follows the woman behind a set of doors.
“Is Lucy okay?” He finally asks, nervously.
“We believe she will be, yes. Right now we have her in a medically induced coma. We believe when her head hit the ground, it caused her brain to start swelling. The coma is to help her body rest and heal.”
Tim looks up realizing they’ve made it to a hospital room, which he is assuming is Lucy’s.
“Can I see her?”
“You can. She can’t respond but people in comas are believed to hear their loved ones talking to them.” She says, smiling before opening the door.
He walks in and is immediately full of emotion. How can one woman who is so strong look so small and powerless lying in that bed. He’s pissed beyond words that someone would do this to her.
He walks over to her bedside and carefully sits down. The doctor can tell he’s a little apprehensive about touching her.
“You won’t hurt her, honey. I promise.” She looks at him and smiles. He carefully grabs her hand in his and immediately relaxes.
The doctor informs him that while they are letting her body rest, it hopefully shouldn’t be too long before they can wean her off. A nurse would be in pretty frequently to check her vitals.
After the doctor was done and the door shut behind her, Tim couldn’t help but breakdown.
“Luce, if you can hear me I’m so sorry. I’m sorry for everything. Sorry for not protecting you then and not protecting you today.”
He doesn’t even know how long he sits there just talking, crying and apologizing to her. He hopes the nurse is right, and that she can hear what he’s saying.
All of a sudden, there’s a knock at the door. He expects it to be a nurse but when he turns his head, he sees Grey walking in the room.
“Hey, how she’s doing?”
“They think she’s going to be okay. Giving her brain and body some time to heal.” He says, wiping the few tears that have fallen from his eyes. He feels a hand on his shoulder.
“She’s a fighter, Tim. She’s going to pull through. You just don’t leave her side.” He says looking at Tim with a dull smile.
He has to head back to the station, along with Nolan and Celina. Tim promises to keep all of them updated. He definitely has no plans to go anywhere.
He must’ve fallen asleep somehow, because the next thing he knows he’s being woken by a nurse putting a blanket on him and it was now dark outside. He rubs his eyes and goes to say something, but the nurse stops him.
“She’s doing good, go back to sleep. Just a little tip, even though it’s not the most comfortable, that chair reclines.” She says pointing to the one he’s sitting in.
He thanks her before he drifts back into the world of sleep.
~~~
The next day was filled with a lot of anger for Tim. He hated that Lucy was stuck here because of one man. He loved her heart wanting to help Kira but hated that she had to pay a price for it.
He again, just sat and talked to her. Told her some things about therapy and how he was really starting to see a difference in himself and how he was working hard to not only be the man that Lucy deserves, but to be the man he deserves.
There was another knock at the door. He looked up and saw his best friend, Angela walking in.
“Hey.” He says standing up to give her a hug.
“Hows she doing?”
“Same, but the nurse says that’s a good thing.” He just shrugs before going to sit back down. Angela grabs the extra chair and sits down herself.
“Any word on Oliver?”
She takes a deep breath, knowing he isn’t going to like what she is about to say.
“He’s claiming he went after her in self defense. That she lunged at him first and tried to take him down.”
“That bastard. Everyone knows that’s not true, Lucy would never.” His voice has gotten quite a bit louder saying that.
“Tim, you need to relax. We know. Nobody is buying what he’s trying to sell. Nyla is trying to get it out of him, but Seth was there as a witness along with their body cameras.”
Tim just shakes his head and looks back over at Lucy.
“How could he do this Ang?” He grabs her hand again and holds it.
“Tim, why don’t you take a break. Go take a shower, get something to eat. I’ll sit here with her.”
“No—“
“Timothy, go. Plus, she probably is begging for a break from you.” She laughs, looking over at Tim who now has a smile on his face, too as he’s shaking his head.
After some more convincing, Tim walks out of the hospital to head home to shower quick. Fortunately, Kojo is staying with Genny so no need to worry about him.
After a quick shower and some food, although he doesn’t have much of an appetite, he starts driving back to the hospital. But not before making a pitstop.
He knows he shouldn’t be doing this, but honestly he can’t help himself. This man has caused Lucy so much pain and stress, he can’t just sit back and watch him get away with it.
He makes the drive to the station before parking and heading in. He’s a man on a mission and nobody better get in his way.
“Bradford, what are you doing?” Grey asks him as he comes out of his office, seeing his Sergeant.
“Taking care of business.” Is all he says as he keeps walking towards the holding cell.
“Sergeant Bradford. Stop right now. That’s an order.” Grey says loud enough for people to hear and heads start to turn.
“What are you really doing here?” He asks as he catches up to Tim.
“Going to talk to Oliver myself.”
“Absolutely not. You will not go near him. I understand your anger, and frankly I’m right up there with you. But, you and I both know nothing good will come of it.”
Tim knows he’s right. The old Tim wouldn’t have cared what consequences he would face, but the new Tim knows in the long run it’ll just hurt himself and even Lucy even further.
“C’mon. Let’s go take a seat in my office. Cool down for a bit before you head back to see her.” He agrees and they walk into the office and both take a seat.
It wasn’t but a minute later and Tim’s phone rang. He looked and saw it was Angela. He began to panic and couldn’t answer it fast enough.
“Ang, what’s wrong?”
“They’re starting to wean her off the meds. They think she’ll start waking up soon. Get your butt back here.”
“On my way.”
Grey heard the conversation and immediately shooed him away. He very quickly, but safely drove back to the hospital.
When he walked up to her room, he couldn’t help but feel slightly relieved. Maybe she would be okay after all…
Angela had left and hours later, Tim was leaned back in the chair watching something on the tv when he caught a glimpse of Lucy slowly opening her eyes. The doctor and nurses warned she might be a little scared at first and to go easy and quiet. He grabbed her hand gently. Immediately he felt her squeeze it.
“Hey Luce. Don’t try talking right now.” He says quietly looking at her with a smile. He pushes the call button and a very short time later, there’s a few medical doctors and nurses in her room.
“Okay, Lucy. We’re going to take your breathing tube out now. I apologize it’s going to be uncomfortable.”
Her grip on Tim’s hand tightens as they take the tube out. Like the woman said, it was very uncomfortable and Lucy has to stop herself from gagging.
The next few hours are slow and quiet. Lucy is doing a lot better but it hurts her to talk.
“I heard you.” She finally says. Tim looks up, surprised to hear her voice.
“You heard me? When?” He asks, knowing what she’s going to say but wants to hear it anyways.
“Everything. Tim, I’m so proud of you. I really really am. And you are the man I deserve.” A few tears escape her eyes, he quickly wipes them away with his fingers.
“I meant every word, Luce. I love you, I’ve never stopped and I never plan to stop.”
“I love you too, Tim. More than you even know.”