Chenford Fanfic - Tumblr Posts
Awww. Thanks for quoting me, @arch78. This is one of my favorite scenes of this story. They’re SOOOO awkward. It makes me miss writing for this story.
Things have been crazy at my house for the last couple weeks, so I’ve hardly had any time to write. Plus, my muse seems to be on vacation. Perhaps I’ll carve out some time to write again today or tomorrow. My antibiotics are helping me to feel more human today, so anything is possible.
Thanks again.
He was wearing dark jeans and a short sleeve gray Henley. His hands were resting on the desk, and he squeezed them into fists a couple times causing the muscles in his arms to ripple. The Henley was just tight enough to show that he was chiseled like a Greek God. He had a Dodgers hat on and was staring down at the desk. He turned his head to look at someone near the door that Lucy couldn’t quite see, and then he looked down at the desk again, flexing into fists once more. Jackson’s whisper into her ear brought her out of her frozen reverie. “You’re drooling, Luce.” Lucy blinked a couple times and brought her hand up to her lips. “What? No. No. I’m not,” she stage whispered back, wiping at her lips again. Jackson chuckled a little louder and stepped forward toward the desk. That laughter and movement caught Tim’s attention. He looked up at Jackson and smiled. It was a small smile of greeting. They had obviously talked for a few minutes before he came to get her. When Jackson stopped at the desk Lucy took a couple of slow steps forward. Bradford looked beyond Jackson and saw her. Lucy was frozen in place again. Their eyes locked for a moment. Lucy felt an immediate connection as she gazed into his smoky blue eyes. She felt her skin start to tingle all over. She slowly started to smile, eventually blooming into a large smile that almost made her cheeks hurt. He followed suit, gradually showing a brilliant white smile that would disarm almost anyone.
-Catch of a Lifetime by @mamadoc (submitted by @arch78)
Why is it, when your muse returns, that she has to throw you the same scene a dozen different ways all during your sleep in a crazy sequence of dreams that each wake you up? And it’s a scene 3 chapters ahead of where you’re currently writing.
Seriously?
But at least she’s coming back. I guess I’ll take what I can get since I couldn’t find words for that story for almost 2 weeks.
Does this jump remind anyone else of Flying Cop Lucy from my Catch of a Lifetime fic?
If you squint at it, you can imagine her with a baseball glove on. Sort of. Maybe.
Perhaps this is a sign that I should get back to writing that story. Hmmm…
(Except I just started writing a post 6x10 fic for an anon during my lunch break today. Shhh 🤫)
After getting an anonymous request (and the muse for my other stories apparently taking a prolonged vacation), I decided to throw my hat into the ring and write a post 6x10 story.
I happen to be a Chenford foreverer. I HATED the break up, but since no one consulted me, I guess I have to roll with it like everyone else.
I really hope the writers put a good amount of love and care into Tim and Lucy coming back together.
Here’s my version of events immediately following the elevator scene in 6x10.
Enjoy!
Wow. This chapter of Worth the Wait was difficult. It just felt so unnatural to write domestic Tim and Ashley. It was like brushing your hair the wrong way or nails on a chalkboard. Ugh. So it took me some time to write it in a way that felt right. I hope you take a few minutes to enjoy it. I’d love to get any feedback you have. Thanks.
Six Sentence Saturday
Sorry I've been absent for the last week or so. I have an accumulation of asks in my inbox that I hope to get around to today.
My muse returned and I wrote about 14k in a little over 2 days. Then I've been busy with work and kids since that time.
Here's a little preview of the next chapter of Worth The Wait. This is going to be a monster chapter because I want to get it to a certain point in the storyline. It's 10 sentences instead of 6, but hopefully you'll forgive me for the indulgence.
“No!” Ashley screamed, pulling her arm away from him. “Don’t touch me! You’re the whole reason I have to be here and go through all of this. You and your stupid sperm. The sex isn’t even that good. And then you didn’t want me to get an abortion. I should have just done it, and it not told you about it.” She paused for a beat to take a big breath. “I gave you the biggest ultimatums I could think of so that you would give in and agree to an abortion. And you just gave up everything. Your job, your friends, your dog, your house, the city you’ve lived in for most of your life, and even the woman you love more than me!”
Tim's response and the rest of the chapter will be posted soon! Thanks.
Into the dark
Chapter 3
Everything that follows happens in slow motion.
Rosalind crumples to the ground.
Blood blossoms from the center of her chest, spreading across her pale, freckled skin and darkening the fabric of her dress.
On the screen, the grate slides open as the flames finally burn out. Someone – Tim thinks it’s Officer Juarez – dives into the tank, arms wrapping around Lucy’s limp body and lifting her toward the surface. At least three other pairs of arms reach in to pull her out, and then help Juarez out as well.
He distantly hears Angela radioing it in, her voice in his ear and then growing louder as she appears in front of him. Gently, she pries the gun from his hand and then guides him away from Rosalind's dead body. She says something – the words IA and shooting and Grey is all he really registers – before beginning to secure the scene.
And then Tim is left staring at an empty screen, with nothing to do except pray that he pulled the trigger in time.
Read the rest on AO3
Should my next chapter of Worth the Wait have both Tim and Lucy’s separate aftermath stories? Or should they be separate chapters?
I’ve written Tim’s side, and it’s just 3k words. My guess is that Lucy’s side will be about 3-5k words.
I can’t decide….
How is it that 2 sentences, just 9 words, in my outline somehow translates into a 10k word chapter? Seriously.
New chapter coming your way later today (maybe) or tomorrow (more likely).
Hello Chenford fanfiction friends!
I got another chapter of my Worth the Wait story posted this evening.
Here’s how it starts.
Tim stood in their half-empty garage for a long time staring at the slab of concrete which Ashley’s Jeep should have occupied.
Eventually his sleep-deprived, emotionally exhausted, and completely dumbfounded brain comprehended what had happened. Ashley was gone. He wasn’t sure if she was gone for the night or gone for good, but she had left. She had left him and their daughters.
He staggered into the kitchen to get a glass of water as his mind struggled to understand what this could mean if she was really gone for good. When he set his glass down to shuffle back to his bed, he saw through the dim moonlight that illuminated the kitchen a large manila envelope that hadn’t been there earlier. Upon closer inspection, it had just one word in the center: Tim.
He flicked on the lights and settled down on one of the tall kitchen stools to inspect its contents. The envelope was much heavier than he anticipated, which only made him more curious. On the top of the stack of papers was a handwritten note.
Tim,
I’m sorry I didn’t have the courage to say goodbye. I can’t live this life anymore. I can’t be a mother. I’m just not wired that way.
I finally got all the money from my dad’s house and estate this week. I made a trust fund for Aly and Lily with 50% of the money. He would have wanted them to have that. All of that paperwork is included in this envelope.
I’m using some of the money to go far away. I sold my Jeep. I’m going to drop it off at the buyer’s home and then go to the airport. By the time you get this note, I should already be on an airplane. Please don’t look for me. I don’t want to be found. I’m leaving the US for now. I don’t know if I’ll ever come back.
You are a great dad. I know that you love Aly and Lily very much and that they’ll always be safe with you. If you choose to tell them anything about me, please be kind. I know that I’m an awful mother. They know that, too. I think that this is for the best for all of us.
Also enclosed in this envelope is my release of all parental rights. I worked with a lawyer to finalize it this week. According to the law, you are their sole parent with all rights and privileges. I will never be able to regain those, have any contact with the girls without your permission, or argue for custody of any type. I’m releasing all three of you from me and my horrible mothering skills.
When I first started this process, I felt a lot of guilt that I was abandoning you and the girls, but as it completed today and I bought my plane ticket, I felt more free than I have since before I had that positive pregnancy test.
I know you probably hate me. You have every right to. I just can’t do it though. I tried, but I can’t. At least I was able to give you the children you always wanted to have. I’m sorry I don’t have anything more to give.
You can sell or donate anything else in the house that was mine. I don’t need any of it.
I’m sorry that I was never good enough for you to love. Maybe you can go back to LA and find Lucy. You always loved her more than me anyway. I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to be a mother to the girls or a partner to you.
If the girls ever ask, please tell them I tried.
Goodbye, Tim.
Ashley
Read on here to see how Tim manages life by himself with newborn twins. You’ll also get Lucy’s story during her time undercover.
It’s another long chapter, so hydrate and get comfy.
While at a family reunion in Colorado, I suddenly feel motivated to write Catch of a Lifetime again.
We went to watch the Dodgers play the Rookies (they won, just like in my story, chapter 10). Jason Heyward and Freddie Freeman both played, like in my story (Mookie Betts was sadly injured the day before and Clayton Kershaw wasn’t pitching). It just felt like Tim Bradford should be out in center field (which he wasn’t, of course).
Then today we went hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park with my kids, just like Tim in my story said he wanted to do in chapter 10. It was a gorgeous day to hike.
I’ve been working on the next chapter of Worth the Wait since I underestimated how upset people would be about how the last chapter went. But maybe it’s time to bounce back to Catch. Hmmmmm.
I’ve never done a good job of bouncing back and forth between my stories, but maybe it’s time.
Thoughts?
Six Sentence Saturday
Today my family started driving back home from our family reunion. Hopefully the hundreds of miles of cornfields we pass today will inspire lots of writing. 🤞🏻🙏🏼
My husband is awesome at driving, and doesn’t mind doing >90% of it so that I can manage the kids, food, drinks, entertainment, etc. Luckily our kids are old enough now that screens entertain them for quite a while, so hopefully I’ll have some good writing time.
I only have 661 words at the moment, so it’ll be a little while until this chapter is ready. But here’s the six (I think it’s actually 9) sentence preview.
More to come soon!
The next chapter of my fanfic is posted.
If you were waiting for the happy, angst-free, fluffy village without roller coaster part of the story to arrive to start reading, it’s here! Only minor angst remains.
Angela, Tamara, and Genny conspire to bring Tim and Lucy back together.
Here’s a snippet to pique your interest.
“Bradford,” Tim said as a call interrupted the audiobook he was listening to on his commute home. He couldn’t see his phone to see the caller ID, so he just pressed the button on his steering wheel to answer the call blindly.
“Hey, stranger. It’s been too long,” came the voice over the car speakers.
“Lopez?” Tim confirmed, immediately recognizing his best friend’s voice, but a little bit confused as to why she was calling. “What’s going on? I haven’t heard from you in a while.”
“You know. Same old shit. Just kicking ass, raising two kids, and trying not to kill my husband,” she rattled off.
Tim chuckled. Some things never change, he thought to himself as he shook his head. “What has Wesley done this time?”
“Well, he swears that he talked to me about this months ago, but I swear that I would have remembered this conversation if we had had it. So a couple nights ago, we were chatting about our plans for next month, and he asked me if I had taken the last two weeks of June off for our trip. I told him that we weren’t going anywhere for the last two weeks of June because that’s when Jack and Amelia are at their favorite summer camp. Then he told me that we had already signed them up for some international camp that Patrice paid for them to attend in Italy. After arguing about it for over an hour, apparently Wes and Patrice are taking the kids to Italy.”
“Wow. That sounds like quite the argument. Are you going to be able to join them at all?” he said with a low chuckle, envisioning the solid hour of yelling that would have shaken the walls of the Lopez-Evers house.
“I was able to swap shifts around to join them a little bit late. And, when Wesley explained the situation to his mom, she offered to buy me a first-class ticket if I would still join them. How could I saw no to that? I’ll be traveling to Italy by myself in first-class and can drink as much as I want without dealing with charging the kids iPads or settling arguments about who gets to sit by the window or lugging around two weeks’ worth of their crap. There’s no way I would say no to that. Plus, she rented this villa for us to stay at right next to a vineyard, and she won’t even be there most of the time because she’s meeting a friend to travel around Italy together. It’ll actually be a real vacation.”
“That sounds great, Ang. You deserve to have a break.” He wasn’t sure if she was just calling to vent or to share her luck at having a really nice vacation paid for by Patrice or if she had some other purpose in calling, so he just waited to see what she was going to say next.
“So now I only have a little problem left to resolve that I think you could help me with,” she said.
“How am I going to fix your vacation problems? I can’t exactly take your shifts or work overtime for you,” he said with an annoyed but curious tone to his voice.
Keep reading here.
I’d love to hear back from you.
Six Sentence Saturday
I’m trying to get a little bit of writing in while my husband is driving, so this is a picture of my laptop. Apologies that the quality isn’t the greatest. But this will have to do for now.
I wrote this part a little bit out of order since I needed to get my muse up and going again, but this should be the end of my next chapter.
Hopefully more to come soon!
The previous nine chapters of the story can be found here.
Six(teen) Sentence Saturday
Writer’s block has been the bane of my existence lately. I haven’t posted anything is six weeks. That’s three times longer than I’ve gone since I started this little hobby.
The chapter of Worth the Wait that I’ve been working on has a lot of new characters in it that I want to get just right. I’ve done a lot of staring at my laptop and spacing out to try to imagine the scenes I want to bring to life.
To get my creative juices flowing, I’ve been rereading Catch of a Lifetime both for inspiration and to get ready to restart writing for that story. Thank you for those who have enjoyed that story and have been patiently waiting for its return.
Here are six(teen) sentences from one of my favorite scenes from that story.
Enjoy!
It only took a moment for Lucy to see Tim. He was in the exact center of the pandemonium. Lucy paused at the entrance of the room, crossed her arms, and bit her lip. She was so happy for Tim, but also so overwhelmed by the scene in front of her. Freeman pushed through the crowd and whispered something in Tim’s ear. Lucy watched as his eyebrows shot up to his hairline, and his eyes scanned the room. A moment later those eyes were locked on hers. What happened next seemed to happen in slow motion.
Tim started pushing through the crowd to move toward Lucy. She stood still for a moment, nervous, anxious, and a bit unsure, and then she started walking toward him, passing her hat and glove to Jackson. Once he had cleared most of the people he sped up, and Lucy moved faster to match him. They each raced the last few steps to each other. Right before they met, Tim leaned down just a bit. He grabbed Lucy by the waist and hoisted her into the air, spinning her around. After spinning twice, he set her back on the ground, and they shared a heated gaze for just half a second. Then Tim leaned down and crushed his lips into hers, holding her face like he never wanted to let go. Lucy reciprocated enthusiastically and wrapped her arms around his neck, bringing her body flush with his. For a few moments they were alone in the world, enjoying the excitement and passion that flowed between the two of them and completely ignoring the throng of people around them and the fact that Lucy still had a boyfriend.
I love this strangers to friends with sexual tension to lovers slow burn of mine.
I’m looking forward to basking in writing adoring, devoted, not-very-broken Baseball! Tim again. Season 6 Tim broke my heart and (temporarily) forced me to change the subject of my writing.
I *finally* finished the next chapter of Worth the Wait. It took me forever to feel like I was creating the camp and the kids’ personalities and their rivalry/pranking the way I wanted it. Hopefully the fact that the kids are the center of this chapter dissuade you from reading. I hope you’ll find a lot of similarities between Tim and Lucy’s dynamic in them.
Is it perfect? Nope. But I think you’ll still enjoy reading it. It was a challenge, and I had four kids at home out of school, and we were vacationing… so thank you for your patience.
The pictures are AI generated pictures of Aly, Lily, and Sam.
Thanks for your support!
I don’t know a lot of details right now, but if you’re a Rookie writer you may want to sign up. I saw this on Twitter/X.
Tagging some people to get the word out. @makeitastrength @arch78 @centralperkchenford @chenfordspiral @fuzzywuzzywuzzawriter @imperiumwifestrikesagain @intelligentfan @jennahbennah @my-shields-are-down @mostowa @poppypickle @queseraone @randomlittleimp @rookieoneil @silverskull @thesassywitchofthenortheast @wanna-be-bold @westwingwolf
Six Sentence (Paragraph?) Saturday
Haha. 😬🫣🤦🏻♀️ I couldn’t cut it short.
This is a throw back to a favorite scene of mine that I wrote back in February in the last chapter of Snowed In. Tim and Lucy meet after he’s in Metro (Ashley is gone), and she’s a detective at North Hollywood (Chris is gone). In this scene, Tim has to take care of some paperwork, and he brings her to his office for the first time. The link to the story is below. Enjoy!
Tim opened the door and squeezed through the narrow space to his desk. There was a small stack of papers waiting for him there. “Have a seat,” he said. “This shouldn’t take too long.” He picked up a pen and started writing at a frantic pace.
Lucy looked around the office and walked from one end to the other, which only took about seven steps to do. She went to the window and pulled the cord to bring the blinds down. Then she pulled the cord on the opposite side to see how well they closed. “Hmm,” she observed. That’ll work, she thought to herself, opening the blinds again. Then she took two steps back to look at the door. “Does this lock?” she asked in an innocent voice.
“Of course,” he said quickly. The moment the words left his lips though, he realized what she was really asking. He raised his head to look at her more closely. She had a mischievous glint in her eye. “Later. Soon,” he said, repeating her words back to her with a smile.
Lucy smiled back at him and tucked that little tidbit of information away for another day. Then she moved over to examine the small couch. She pushed on it a couple of times to see how springy it was. Then she laid down on it. Lucy was disappointed that she barely fit, so Tim would definitely not be able to lay down comfortably on it. “Too bad,” she muttered to herself.
Tim looked up when he heard her voice, but he couldn’t tell what she was saying. “I can see the wheels in your head spinning.”
She turned and walked back to his desk in response. Lucy grabbed the edge of the desk with both hands and gave it a little shake. She made a high pitched ‘hmph,’ and said quietly “That should work out well.”
“Lucy,” he warned but with a laugh he was trying to stifle. “I’ve got to finish this paperwork. If I speed through it, we can be done in 15 minutes. But if all I do is envision… utilizing this space with you in the future, then it’s going to take much longer.”
“Fine. I’ll be good,” she promised. “Maybe I’ll wander around the station for a few minutes.”
I love these two in love.
Read more here.
LOVED this story. Read it. You won’t regret it
lovely to sit between comfort and chaos
They turn in perfect synchrony, instinct and muscle memory kicking in as two sets of eyes scan the parking garage, taking in their surroundings like it’s second nature.
It’s blissfully empty. Not that that should even matter. After all, there’s nothing particularly scandalous about Tim walking her to her car after shift. They’ve done it about a million times before without so much as a second thought.
But it’s different now, intimate in a way it never was before.
(or, Lucy and Tim go on their first date. And their second. And then, finally, their third.)
Read on AO3.
(Happy Birthday @sisterofficerlucychen!)
First Sentence Game
Rules: share the first lines of ten of your most recent fanfics and tag ten people. If you have written less than ten, don’t be shy and share anyway.
Thank you for the tag, @chenfordspiral !
I feel like this was a very nostalgic exercise for me. Hopefully a few people enjoy skimming through these and maybe even decide to read one or two of my stories. They vary in length from 4k to 150k (yikes!). Many of them are complete, but a couple of them are still works in progress.
1 - *Sense* You Know Me So Well (chapter 2) - complete
Less than ten minutes later Tim’s truck pulls up into the parking lot across the street. Tim jumps out quickly. He is wearing gray dress pants and a black button-up shirt. He is followed, reluctantly, by Ashley wearing a short black skirt and a revealing hot pink blouse. She moves slowly after Tim on her high heels. It was obviously date night for them, too.
“Lucy.” Tim’s voice is strained with concern as he approaches her.
At the sound of Tim’s voice, Lucy lifts her head and flutters open her eyes. “Tim.”
“It’s okay, Luce. I’m here now.” Tim moves past Chris, barely acknowledging his presence. He sits down next to Lucy. “Breathe with me.”
She closes her eyes again and tries, but her breaths are still shallow, her face is ghostly pale, and her hands are shaking.
Tim reaches slowly for her right hand and pulls it gently to his chest. Lucy looks up at him with worry in her eyes, but she accepts his hand and the movement. Even a little touch of his hand helps to calm her shaking a little bit.
“Just match my breathing, Luce.”
She tries. She does. But the panic attack still holds her in a tight vice. As she takes her next breath in she can smell the mintiness of Tim’s breath. It helps to calm and soothe her. It is the same scent she was accustomed to smelling on him for years. She can almost taste it. The mintiness carries with it a familiarity and comfort. She grips his shirt a little tighter and leans into him a bit. Now she can smell just Tim – his cologne, the aftershave he uses, and just…him. Her next breath is slower and steadier.
“That’s it. Good job. I’m here now. You’re going to be okay,” Tim mutters as the spell seems to be breaking. He has moved his hand to her back and rubs it in little soothing circles.
The sound of his voice in her ear, the smell of him, the sight of him here with her, and the feel of his touch prompts Lucy to lean in further and rest her head on his chest. All of her senses now are filled with Tim, and the rest of the world and her worries start to fade away.
Chris stands back watching this all happen. He doesn’t understand why Bradford could say the same things he did and touch her the same way he did and get a completely different reaction.
2 - *Sense* You Know Me So Well, Too - The Sequel (chapter 2) - complete
As the other officers were collecting photos and evidence from the home, Tim’s eyes wandered to a line of photographs on their mantel. They looked all too familiar – pictures with a new baby, Christmas photos, the oldest kid in a baseball uniform… Tim felt his blood pressure rise again, and he balled his hands into fists.
Aaron glanced over when he returned to the house and sensed that something else had happened to make Tim even more angry than before. Now his facial expression was so tense he had veins visibly pulsing on temples.
He leaned over toward Nolan and whispered, “Have you ever seen Bradford go super nova? I think he’s headed that way.”
“What? Tim? No, he’s been so much better over these last couple years. You should have seen him when we started. He was always so angry and so…mean. You should hear the stories Chen could tell you.”
“Nolan,” he hissed. “I’m serious. Look at him.”
“Aaron,” he chided. “He’s fi….” Nolan was going to say that he was fine, but then he looked up at Tim and saw that he was definitely NOT fine. “Okay,” he conceded. “I see your point. He’s not fine.”
3 - The Heimlich - complete
It was another beautiful day in LA. Lucy and Chris were chatting while sipping their morning coffees at the Mid-Wilshire station. Lucy was already in uniform ready to go to roll call.
“Hey. What time do you think you’ll be able to take lunch today?” Chris asked, seeing more and more officers gathering for roll call and knowing Lucy had to join them.
“Uuuuuh. I don’t know. The day can be so unpredictable. I think I’m riding by myself today, so…”
Their conversation paused as Aaron and Tim walked up to them.
“Good morning,” said a confident and enthusiastic Thorsen. “I’ll see you in there,” he said pointing to the gathering officers as he continued to walk by them.
“Sanford. Chen,” came a gruff voice as Tim nodded at each of them. He obviously wasn’t in the mood to talk. He looked at them standing close together, smiling, and sipping their coffee, and he wanted none of that. He had plenty on his mind already. He didn’t need to have images of them being so chummy and close haunting his mind today, too.
Tim walked past them to roll call, nearly bumping into Chris’ shoulder as he strode by them.
4 - Catch of a Lifetime - (chapter 1) - Working on chapter 19 now
The next batter was new to the Dodgers. He had come up from the Atlanta Braves organization. He was a super star there and had led his team to a World Series win. When he became a free agent after the World Series, everyone expected him to stay with the Braves. But the Dodgers had made him an offer he couldn’t refuse, and he signed with them instead. LA had welcomed him with open arms as he started the season with a .320 batting average, 4 stolen bases, 25 RBIs, and a whopping 10 homeruns. Everyone knew that Tim Bradford was good, but this was hall of fame good! He was trying his best to live up to that reputation and show his new fans that he was worth the $160 million 5 year contract.
The crowd was still on their feet when he came up to bat, and now it was stomping and cheering. Bradford stood at the plate and kicked the dirt a couple times. The pitcher wound up and threw the ball. It was a slider that hit the catcher’s mitt in the outside corner. Strike! The noise level rose even higher. The second pitch was a ball in the dirt. The third pitch caught everyone by surprise as it came right at Bradford’s hands. He was able to step back just in time to avoid being hit by a pitch. Although it didn’t seem possible, the noise level grew even more with calls and shouting at the pitcher from around the stadium.
Lucy and Jackson stood wide eyed, their attention rapt in the action of the game. It was impossible to ignore the palpable excitement. Lucy turned to Jackson and grabbed his shoulders in excitement and then turned back to the game.
The pitcher wound up a fourth time. Despite the immense noise level at the stadium, the crack of the bat echoed through the air. Bradford had hit the ball high and far. The right fielder was running back to the wall.
Everyone in their section was already on their feet eager to catch a homerun hit by Tim Bradford. As the ball soared closer, Lucy recognized it was coming right toward them. Well, almost at them, but a little bit more toward Doug Stanton. Stanton also saw it coming and was standing ready with his glove. Time seemed to slow down for a few seconds. Lucy smiled, squatted down slightly, pushed off of Jackson, and flew through the air in a perfect flying tackle, crushing Doug Stanton and catching the homerun. The whole stadium erupted in cheers, but the LAPD section outcheered them all. Jackson and several other cops from Mid-Wilshire ran to Lucy and hoisted her up in the air. Doug Stanton was left crumpled on the floor, half-stuck under the bleacher. Lucy held up her glove with the homerun ball and yelled at the top of her lungs, “I GOT IT!!!”
5 - Snowed In - complete
“Hey! Just wanted to call and tell you that I got through security just fine. The flight is listed as on time, and I can just now see the plane. So, I think you should drive back to the cabin before the storm starts.”
“Are you sure? It’s not a big deal to wait until you are actually in the air,” Rachel said.
Lucy Chen sighed. She loved her friend, and she’d had a great four days with her. They skied and snowboarded. They made a fire in their cabin’s fireplace each night and caught up with some of their closest college friends while sipping on hot chocolate or wine. They shopped at all the cute shops in town. But Lucy was ready to return to her regular life and not be surrounded by so much drama – or maybe just the type of drama she was accustomed to.
“I’m sure. My weather app says that there’s a storm coming in the next hour or so. You should get going before you get caught in it.”
“Okay. It was so fun to see you. We should do this more often.”
6 - After the Snow Melts - a series of one-shots in the Snowed In universe
It had been three days since Tim had seen her. Three days since he talked to her. Three mornings of waking up without her. She had said it would just be a day, maybe two. But undercover work can be unpredictable; they both knew that.
She had promised she’d be home by Valentine’s Day. She told him she had a surprise for him, a surprise he was going to love. He reminded her that he hated surprises, and then she recalled several surprises she had had for him in the past that he loved. He had smiled into defeat; she was right, of course. They had reservations at 71Above, where they had their first botched date and a redo date back in their first week of dating.
But here it was Wednesday, February 14th, and Lucy was still gone.
7 - Worth the Wait (part of chapter 3) - Working on chapter 11 now
“I know you have a strong moral compass. You always try to do the right thing and protect the people in your life. I’m glad I got to be one of those people.” Her voice cracked a bit as she said that, so she took another breath and tried to finish her thoughts. “I will miss you, but I… I will respect the situation you are in and keep my distance.” She sat up a little straighter and pressed down on her blouse to straighten out the folds in it. Then she stood and took her pile of tissues to the trash. She bent down to grab her purse and took a few steps toward the door.
Tim watched her in silence. She walked closer to him and looked up into his eyes. She smiled at him a very sad smile. Tim couldn’t help what he did next. It was like a magnetic force pulling them together. He closed the gap between them and pulled Lucy into his arms. She immediately tucked her head into his chest and turned her head to hear his heartbeat and breathe him in. One of her arms wrapped around his lower back while the other clutched at the hospital gown over his chest.
Tim cradled her head with one hand and put the other hand firmly between her shoulder blades, keeping her pressed against him. He leaned his head down on top of hers. “Lucy,” he whispered, his own voice cracking with emotion. “I’m so sorry.”
Lucy broke down again. Her tears that had started to moisten his hospital gown soon seeped through the thin fabric, and he could feel them on his chest. The salty water seemed to burn directly into his heart as he felt this emblem of their shared pain make a mark on his soul. They rocked together to the rhythm of her cries for several minutes.
8 - Kintsugi - The Golden Repair - complete
“But this time it’s going to take more effort.”
He nodded, even though she couldn’t see him. “Yeah. I know. I ruined things. Everything.”
“Everything isn’t totally ruined, but it is shattered into enough pieces that it’s going to take time and effort and care to rebuild it,” she said gently. “I need to know that I can trust you with my heart again.”
“Mmm.”
“Did you know that in Japan when a precious piece of pottery is broken that they glue it back together with a special lacquer and then paint the lacquer with gold or silver powder? It’s called Kintsugi, which means golden repair. Once the piece is finished, it’s considered more valuable and beautiful than before it was broken.” She paused for a moment to let what she said settle in. “Do you see what I’m talking about?”
“I broke our pretty pot, and you want to put it back together with gold glue?” he said with a note of curiosity and some hesitancy.
“Yeah. That’s the gist of it, I guess,” she said as she blew out her breath. “I don’t know if it’ll work. Even the best artisans can fail at kintsugi. Not all pieces are suitable for repair, and not all artisans are skilled enough to do it. So, I can’t promise this is going to work. I don’t know if we can repair what we had. But I’m willing to try if you are.”
9 - A Different Kind of Mother’s Day - complete
It started off as little things that Lucy saw on her social media – birthstone jewelry, mother/daughter matching outfits, Etsy shop specials on personalized mom shirts, mugs, and picture frames. All of them crept into the ads on her phone in April to allow plenty of shopping time. At first it didn’t bother her; she just kept scrolling. But as May drew closer, the ads and the chatter about Mother’s Day started to accumulate.
She never used to mind Mother's Day. She would get her mother some flowers and call or visit her, ready for the sound of disappointment in her voice or the click of her tongue as she shook her head in shame. It had been that way ever since she had started at the police academy seven years ago. Lucy usually volunteered to work that day so that her colleagues that were mothers could celebrate with their families. It was easier to stay focused on work that day than to have to deal with her mother. This way she didn’t have to trudge through guilt trips from her mother or be surrounded by families out celebrating their wonderful mothers. It was just simpler not to have to think about it. In fact, she was proud to work that day and looked forward to seeing her colleagues’ posts and shared pictures of what their children did for them. She hoped that one day the tables would turn, and she would be the one staying home with her little children.
Tagging anyone else that wants to join the fun @silverskull, @thisnightissparkling089, @arch78, @sijetaismoi, @mostowa, @theawkwardanglophile, @rookieoneil, @centralperkchenford, @girlintotv, @imperiumwifestrikesagain and @fuzzywuzzywuzzawriter