#2x03 The Bet

[bronx-bomber87]

We're off to episode 3 another fantastic one for our fav couple. Let's get started shall we?

2x03 The Bet

Tim and Lucy are getting ready to head out when she asks how his night was. Seems like an innocent enough question by her. So Tim is honest. Lucy's response is sassy to say the least. Being as comfortable as possible in its delivery. Tim isn't too happy with her reply. Let me say this, Lucy is the ONLY person Tim would ever allow to talk to him like this LOL No way in hell he would indulge anyone else to even broach the subject. But then no one else would have the guts to like Lucy either. She is always the exception for him.

Once again Lucy is doing it for his own good. To shake him out of his routine. Help him move on. Everything this woman ever does is in his best interest. Tim’s deep breath in the first gif when she starts up is so funny. Like he is bracing himself for whatever Lucy barrage is headed his way. He knows she is going to say something he doesn't want to hear LOL She tries to broach the subject lightly but is instantly shot down. Now he isn't mad so much as annoyed which is progress believe it or not haha

Lucy clams up pretty quickly after he mentions jogging behind the shop all day. Her face is hilarious. Lucy has learned to take her foot off the gas when need be. She opened the door a crack to this convo and shut it quickly. It’s like she pokes the bear gauges his reaction then strategizes for a bit on how to better approach him later. She is no where near done meddling in this matter.

We rejoin them at the station booking a couple of sex workers. This is where Lucy decides to bring this subject up once again. The lack of personal space in this scene is primo. Personal space? Never heard of her.... I love it so much. My goodness they are awfully close to one another in this scene hehe She sees this as her window and is right back at it. Lucy is saying she thinks she can help him. He looks at her like she’s insane. But he allows her to continue. Almost bemused at her confidence to set him up properly. It becomes a point of pride for Lucy. The more he seems to doubt her the more she wants to prove him wrong. What else is new? Haha

This quickly goes from setting him up to a work flirt. I mean look at those two above. They're not subtle in the least...All their work flirts stem from challenging one another. This whole situation goes from helping Tim go out on a date to a competition. Because well it’s them LOL They’re both so damn competitive...That’s literally what this entire thing boils down to. Both of them digging in their heels and not relenting. Thinking they're right and the other is in the wrong.

Tim has grown a lot I keep saying but it’s true and I'm just so proud of him. Last season Tim wouldn’t have allowed Lucy anywhere near his personal/love life. Let alone make a bet about it with her. They’re both SO cocky and confident they’re going to win as well. They decide on the the winner's spoils. For Tim he gets 50 push ups after each call. Lucy gets the short sleeves she was robbed of.

Tim agrees and says she has to pay if he does this. Lucy doesn’t even care and hastily agrees to this. Just wants so badly to be in short sleeves. These two are ridiculous fools and I love them for it. Also the way Lucy looks at him after they make their bet above is so cute. Little smitten kitten this one. As I've said before as transparent as glass. She is so adorable in how she looks at him. If he looked next to him he would see the heart eyes being lodged his way. Also lets pay back attention to the lack of space. *sigh* I just love them so much.

Tim does what he does best. Getting under Lucy’s skin as much as possible. In a way only he knows how. Since Lucy is paying he’s taking Rachel to most expensive restaurant possible. He's such a shit haha I adore him though. The work flirt continues. We haven’t had one in a bit this definitely constitutes as one. Tim going on about the expensive food and wine. You can see the irritation all over her face. Eric and Melissa are masters at conveying so much with a look. Right now she wants to shove him off that chair.

Lucy is trying to turn it back in her favor. Saying how romantic it is. That he wouldn't have chosen that if he wanted his date to fail. Their banter is unrivaled. I enjoy their verbal sparring so much. Tim is ever so cocky of course. He thinks he has this in the bag. That Lucy is destined to stay in long sleeves till her probation is up. Well if he has anything to do with it she will.

He is more excited at the prospect of Lucy doing those push-ups and winning this bet than the date itself. Oh Timothy. His damn cute smile in that last gif though above. Lord help me. I swear he only smiles that way with her. Amazing the amount of chemistry these two have without even touching. Testament to how good it is.

I don’t know what’s funnier. The fact that Lucy is casing his date or that she dragged Jackson along for it LMAO Kills me. ‘Mama needs to get into short sleeves’ I’m dying haha Also Jackson telling her how weird this is. I loved their friendship so much. Down to do and help each other with whatever.

Tim crashing and burning on this date is too funny. He needs an ice breaker. What does he do to rectify the situation? Brings up his work wife. Yes baby, that’ll fix the current train wreck you have going on. Smh. He does look damn good though. Feast for the eyes and all that. I will say I did like Rachel. She was the perfect person to get him back into the dating world. A Lucy 2.0 you could say. Because she challenges him and calls him on his crap too. I mean look at that second gif. Got him to go from saying Chen to Lucy with a pointed look.

I like Rachel for what she represented for him. Showing him he could have a functional relationship post Isabel. I think she was very important in shaping Tim into who he becomes in that regard. I hope this doesn’t sound as mean as it may come off. Rachel was a means to an end for Chenford. A good one but one none the less. Serious enough to show Tim he was capable of that again but not enough that he would leave LA for it.(But that’s much farther in the future for s2.) I will say I do love what Rachel does for him in the long run. I didn’t hate their scenes by any means. They had their purpose. I.e. Lucy who will eventually win this bet as we will see later on.

Lucy and Jackson continue to watch the date. It looks like Tim is flailing and Rachel is off put. Tim admits the bet he has with Lucy. That he wants to win. Rachel flirts and says being with her isn't a win? Then they start to click a bit. Tim says he can help Rachel with her civil standbys. She asks what he’d like in return? Tim being Tim knows Lucy is watching. Has Rachel slap him in the face and leave. Lucy is crushed and convinced she will be in long sleeves the rest of her probationary period haha

Oh Lucy you know why you care if Tim dates LOL Just last episode you recorded an old ass book for this man. But it is far too early for you to understand the true meaning of those actions just yet. She cares so much and is so empathetic. She will do things to her own detriment. Like this date haha Jackson’s reply is the best though. ‘You just want everyone to be happy. That’s a good quality’ He was such a good friend. ❤️

I love that Lucy couldn’t stand the idea of Rachel thinking badly of Tim. So she made sure early the next morning to visit her and rectify that. Almost like she couldn't move on with her day until she did this. That even if they didn’t work out romantically, she had to come and defend Tim to her. Lucy has seen his good side more than anyone else. To her there is no one better to defend his name than her. So that’s exactly what she did. Gah I love it. She’s so loyal.

Lucy looks down and sees a pair of boots. Then Tim does his glorious entrance. A shot we all love let's be honest. He's all wet from the shower and in a low hanging towel. Phew lord. Lucy looks a little thirsty at first. Then she turns her brain back on. (I can’t blame her girl I'm thirsty from seeing him too ahaha) Lucy confidently looks him in the eye and says ‘Short sleeves’ then takes off with a glorious smile and stride out of Rachel's place and back to her car.

Tim is so mad he’s lost this bet he doesn’t even care Lucy is seeing him in a towel. Or the fact that he’s there cause he spent the night with her friend. He’s more annoyed she won the bet LOL Classic. He thought he was going to have his cake and eat it too. Sorry Tim that’s a hard no haha This ep was one big work flirt for them both and I loved it.

~~~~~

Side notes- Meh didn’t really have much. Was cool to have couple Castle peeps on the show Seamus and Jon retuning. And Wopez was cute with his mom and stuff but nothing major. Jackson' SL with Smitty was really good tragic but good.

Forgot to thank everyone last review my apologies. Always so very thankful to those that like/comment (I adore comments)/ reblog and such you all are the best. :)

[renegadesstuff]

THE TEASING 😩🤏

[momowoah]

Buck flirting with men is soooo embarassing lmaooo I'm rewatching the crossover and his conversation with TK is just hilarious. Why is his first instinct every time to pick up a fight? Like damn flirt like a normal person

[fanfoolishness]

Our fucked up little guy is gonna be SO MUCH MORE FUCKED UP next week 😭😭😭😭😭

What month is it? Don't you mean "quarter"?

Severance— "Who Is Alive?" (2025)

[jesuis-assez]

Tim & Lucy ↳ 2x03 - The Bet

[virginiaisforvampires]

How do you imagine we got to this interview where Armand is manipulating and controlling it and he's not revealed until the end of ep 7.

Like how did that convo go between Louis and him? How did the agreement come about?

A: "I'm only gonna allow it, if I'm close by"

L: "ok only if you pretend to be a servant"

Do you think we'll we get that backstory in season 3?

Based on everything we know from the S2 reveals, I think it essentially came down to Louis giving Armand some sort of ultimatum, and Armand going along with it under the belief that he would just continue to reprogram and brainwash Louis should he start to remember anything. Armand never saw the interview as a legit threat to his house of cards, because he never counted on Daniel being able to lift the veil and expose what he’d been doing to Louis all those decades.

You know how Louis apologizes for the “outburst” aka the lone tear during the recollection of his turning in 1x02?

You know how Armand “agrees” to get the missing diary pages for Louis, yet we never actually see them and the subject is dropped by the next episode?

You know how Armand intervenes when Louis starts to remember or get emotional? Like at the end of 2x01, yet Louis is back to following Armand’s “love of my life” script by 2x02?

You know how Louis is mysteriously “resting” in both 1x04 and 2x03 in which the two most triggering subjects for him — Claudia and Lestat — are broached in a manner that could potentially trigger Louis into remembering? And we later see Armand commanding Daniel to “rest” in 2x05?

You know how Louis and Armand are furiously fighting at the end of 2x04 over the mysterious photographs with Louis being enraged at Armand? Yet at the beginning of 2x05, they are back to being all lovey-dovey as if nothing happened?

You know how Armand let Louis suffer the burns for days in 2x05? Compared to how Armand let Louis suffer for who knows how long in the vault in 2x08?

You know how Louis was genuinely scared and told Daniel to please hurry and try to remember about San Francisco before Armand got back in 2x05?

You know how we see Armand has literally implanted word-for-word phrases and mantras into Louis’ head at the end of 2x05?

Jacob confirmed that Louis threw Armand into the wall in 2x08 just to make him stop lying. Assad had talked about how Armand has been spinning this web of lies for decades since Paris to cover up the massive lie from the trial — Armand was a willing participant and directed the entire thing that was meant to humiliate Louis and meant to let Louis die with Claudia until Lestat intervened, and I would bet Lestat played a part in Louis finally being freed from the vault as well.

Armand never meant for the interview to go off the rails in 1x07. I said before they wanted to omit Lestat’s role in Paris, and now it makes perfect sense why they (Armand) never intended to mention it. It’s because Armand didn’t want Louis to remember Lestat at the trial, because that could possibly risk Louis remembering that Lestat was the one who saved him, which would’ve been the final nail in Armand’s coffin as we see with that bombshell reveal in 2x08.

And yes, I do think there’s more to come wrt everything Armand did to Louis in those 77 years, and I think it’ll come via Louis telling Lestat.

[nalyra-dreaming]

"Hi! I was watching the last one again and I was wondering, is the memory of the tractor salesman a misremembered memory or an edited memory? Why would Armand edit that? It's just Lestat teaching him how to hunt, or did they just notice there was a debate about it?"

It was supposed to be "our clue" that Armand edited it.

Because Lestat cannot have talked to Louis mentally after the turning.

It will be interesting if they will ever clarify what really happened there, but Armand did try to paint Lestat in a very narcissist way, which is evident in the little "fanfic version" of their meeting in 2x03 as well, and as such it hints at this then being ... shifted as well. Because that scene, as seemingly harmless in the greater context, is also Lestat not heeding Louis' wishes for the kill, then being callous when Louis has problems with it, and then...

... letting Louis run out into the sun. Not going after him either.

After courting him for months, working hard to woo him, and bringing him over. Riiiiggghhhht.

What did Armand put into Louis' mouth there? "He abandoned Nicky. He abandoned Armand. He abandoned the coven. Lestat is, was, and will always be only for Lestat."

... yeah. Nope. THAT is not how it happened^^

But we will only get to see that next season.

For now, we have a lot of cues that Armand edited - "tinkered", as Assad called it. Constantly readjusting Louis. I bet the whole extent of all that tinkering will only become clear over the next seasons.

[starwarjotta]

okay so after Tales of the Jedi we're getting Tales of the Empire and on a complete non-squitur, in TBB episode 3x10 Hemlock says the other operatives aren't ready yet, which means there're more clone assassins in the making my bet is still on clone x (or the current assassin clone or whatever you call him) being Tech, because him being Cody just wouldn't be the same, it wouldn't be as emotionally devastating for Omega and the Bad Batch as the clone being Tech would be and I saw a theory that maybe Cody is one of the other operatives whose brainwashing just isn't done yet instead so hear me out, hear me out after Tales of the Empire, we could get Tales of the Clones, right? and in Tales of the Clones we could get the story of what happened to Cody, that maybe Cody tried to escape the Empire in TBB 2x03, but he was caught and sent to Hemlock's sick assassin clone program, but the badass he is he's resisting the brainwashing and he maybe escapes??? MAYBE WE COULD GET THAT STORY OR SOMETHING??? WHERE HE ENDS UP ON TATOOINE LIKE HE WAS SUPPOSED TO IN THE OG KENOBI SHOW SCRIPT???? I'D BE SO UP FOR IT OKAY???

[thoughtfulchaos773]

I'm having some random thoughts about other awesome meta and subtext. Here it goes:

The reason we see these same sets of photos in 1x05 and 2x03 is Sydney's connection to her mother. This is possibly the first birthday Sydney had without her mom - maybe her 5th birthday. She dismisses the pain of experiencing her loss as being too young, but I bet she remembers the grief she experienced her first birthday without her. I'm leaning towards episode 4 in season 3, where we learn about Sydney's pain with her mom, and that inspires either Carmy or Marcus to make a dish for Sydney.

The most important song of season 2 "Strange Currencies" has a different version playing saying "Where were you when I kissed you". as Claire and Carmy head to the new restaurant. The story is telling us Carmy was subconsciously thinking of Sydney instead of Claire. Really the whole pop episode plays into the subconscious actions including Sydney's slip-up of sorry that you're here once they arrive.

Claire and Sydney costume projection? This is the one I doubted, until the UPS jacket comparison. Also when they arrived at the restaurant. I used to think this moment of entering the restaurant was a dig at Carmy not being chivalrous, but this is such a choreographed moment and it has to be a dance between the camera, actors, and moment. Claire mirroring Carmy. She almost has on her damning UPS jacket entering the restaurant but mirrors his actions and entirely takes it off a second before meeting Sydney.

CInematography -Speaking of Camera movements the DP for the bear says Storer wants the world to look different outside the kitchen and confirms the camera has to move perfectly with the actors.

Outside the kitchen, the camera should allow the audience time to reset. The longer lens inside the kitchen, the wider lens out of the kitchen- so there is a lot being done to subconsciously push the audience in different emotional directions. But outside the kitchen longer lenses are used for Claire and Carmy's scenes and noticed by even this Twitter post.

So they want to inform the audience to feel anxious, like Carmy, when it comes to dating a girl who reminds him of his past.

Don't we love subtext?

[thunderbirds-showdown]

Round 3 came and went and took with it some fan favourites. We're halfway through the tournament now, and there are only a handful of episodes left! It's time to get your bets in as to which one you think will win!

The episodes that have been eliminated this round are:

1x02: Ring of Fire - Part 2

1x09: Slingshot

1x21: Comet Chasers

1x23: Chain of Command

2x02: Ghost Ship

2x06: Up from the Depths - Part 1

2x23: Long Haul

2x25: Hyperspeed

3x24: Firebreak

3x26: The Long Reach - Part 2

Previous eliminated episodes:

1x03: Space Race

1x04: Crosscut

1x05: Fireflash

1x06: Unplugged

1x07: Runaway

1x10: Tunnels of Time

1x11: Skyhook

1x12: Under Pressure

1x13: Heavy Metal

1x14: Falling Skies

1x15: Relic

1x17: Heist Society

1x19: Extraction

1x20: The Hexpert

1x22: Designated Driver

1x24: Touch and Go

1x25: Undercover

1x26: Legacy

2x01: Earthbreaker

2x03: Deep Search

2x04: City Under the Sea

2x07: Up from the Depths - Part 2

2x08: Lost Kingdom

2x09: Impact

2x10: High Strung

2x11: Weather or Not

2x12: Fight or Flight

2x13: Escape Proof

2x14: Volcano!

2x15: Power Play

2x16: Bolt from the Blue

2x17: Attack of the Reptiles

2x18: Grandma Tourismo

2x19: Clean Sweep

2x21: Inferno

2x24: Rigged for Disaster

2x26: Brains vs. Brawn

3x01: Chaos - Part 1

3x02: Chaos - Part 2

3x03: Path of Destruction

3x04: Night and Day

3x05: Growing Pains

3x06: Life Signs

3x07: Rally Raid

3x08: Crash Course

3x09: Flame Out

3x10: Deep Water

3x11: Endgame

3x12: SOS - Part 1

3x14: Signals - Part 1

3x15: Signals - Part 2

3x16: Chain Reaction

3x17: Getaway

3x18: Avalanche

3x19: Upside Down

3x21: Break Out

3x22: Buried Treasure

3x23: Venom

3x25: The Long Reach - Part 1

[vole-mon-amour]

2x03, Starlander edition.

I'll take this as a ship, thanks. I bet it's gonna get toxic VERY soon and very fast, but hey.

She's fucked. :)

Sooo, why are they zooming in on this? His hand is way too low and brushes down her ass a bit.

He's such a clown :')

She is fuckeeeedddd. :)

[bronx-bomber87]

The Rookie Reviews Season's 1-6 Master List. Will be Pinned To Blog for Easy Access. S6 in a seperate link at bottom of list. S7 coming Summer of 25’

Top Eps Listed Season's-1-4 Made a ranking list my fave eps for an ask. Wanted to include in this list.

Started: 5/13/23

Last Updated : 10/05/24

Works: 108

Season 1

1x01-Pilot

1x02-Crash Course

1x03-The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

1x04-The Switch

1x05-The Roundup

1x06-The Hawke

1x07-The Ride Along

1x08-Time Of Death

1x09-Standoff

1x10-Flesh and Blood

1x11-Redwood

1x12-Heartbreak

1x13-Caught Stealing

1x14-Plain Clothes Day

1x15-Manhunt

1x16-Greenlight

1x17-The Shakeup

1x18-Homefront

1x19-Checklist

1x20-Freefall

Season 2

2x01-Impact

2x02-The Night General

2x03-The Bet

2x04-Warriors and Guardians

2x05-Tough Love

2x06-Fallout

2x07-Safety

2x08-Clean Cut

2x09-Breaking Point

2x10-The Dark Side

2x11-Day Of Death

2x12 Now and Then

2x13-Follow Up Day

2x14-Casualties

2x15-Hand Off

2x16-The Overnight

2x17-Control

2x18-Under The Gun

2x19-The Q Word

2x20-The Hunt

Season 3

3x01-Consequences

3x02-In-Justice

3x03-La-Fiera

3x04-Sabotage

3x05-Lockdown

3x06-Revelations

3x07-True Crime

3x08-Bad Blood

3x09-Amber

3x10-Man Of Honor

3x11-New Blood

3x12-Brave Heart

3x13-Triple Duty

3x14-Threshold

Season 4

4x01-Life and Death

4x02-Five Minutes

4x03-In the Line Of Fire

4x04-Red Hot

4x05-A.C.H

4x06-Poetic Justice

4x07-Fire Fight

4x08-Hit and Run

4x09-Breakdown

4x10-Heart Beat

4x11-End Game

4x12-The Knock

4x13-Fight or Flight

4x14-Long Shot

4x15-Hit List

4x16-Real Crime

4x17-Coding

4x18-Backstabbers

4x19/4x20-Simone/Envervo

4x21-Mother's Day

4x22-Day In The Hole

Season 5

5x01-Double Down

5x02-Labor Day

5x03-Dye Hard

5x04-The Choice

5x05-The Fugitive

5x06-The Reckoning

5x07-Crossfire

5x08-The Collar

5x09-Take Back

5x10-The List

5x11-The Naked and The Dead

5x12-Death Notice

5x13-Daddy Cop

5x14-Death Sentence

5x15-The Con

5x16-Exposure

5x17-The Enemy Within

5x18-Double Trouble

5x19-A Hole in the World

5x20-S.T.R

5x21-Going Under

5x22-Under Siege

Season 6 Separate Post

[renegadesstuff]

THE HEIGHT DIFFERENCE 😩🤍

[theawkwardanglophile]

Going through my rewatch, and I still have questions about Tim's date with Rachel in 2x03.

*There's a spot after Rachel asks if she could talk to Grey that Tim looks over in Lucy's direction, and I think his cop eyes could've easily seen her. What do you think?

*Whether or not he saw Lucy greatly affects the answer to this question. When Rachel asked Tim what could she give him in return, do we think Tim asked her to slap him so it would look like a bad date to Lucy (assuming he saw her spying), or do you think he actually said something offensive, which doesn't seem like him?

*Do you think Rachel was genuinely trying to help Lucy out, or was only in it to get an audience with Grey?

*Also, the date was going badly! Tim and Rachel both seemed somewhat annoyed. I still find it crazy they ended up sleeping together afterward. If Tim wanted to win the bet that badly, you wouldn't think he would take that risk.

Am I overanalyzing this? Absolutely. 😁

I would love to hear your thoughts!

[les-pompiers118]

The road home

9-1-1 ficlet | 2x03 coda | 1.3K words | rated Teen

I'm back with my little asphalt truck full of words to fill in the cracks between episodes, for @911hiatus' Week 4 prompt, "refuge." We were truly robbed (robbed!) of seeing the scene when Buck meets Chris for the first time. So here ya go: the first ever Buckley-Diaz Family Moment.

“So, you made it through your first natural disaster,” Buck says to break the silence in the car. The radio’s off, the road is practically empty by L.A. standards, and the power’s still out on a lot of blocks. Staying quiet just makes the night feel that much eerier.

Eddie huffs. “You say that like there’s going to be a lot more of them.”

Buck steers them smoothly around the curve of an offramp. Okay, maybe now isn’t the best time to suggest that disasters are going to be a regular thing, while they’re on their way to pick up Eddie’s son at his school after a big earthquake. Even though he knows Christopher is safe, Eddie’s not going to be alright until he lays eyes on his kid. Buck gets that.

“I just meant that it was an intense day for someone who’s only been on the job for a few weeks. You okay?”

“Not my first rodeo, Buck. Warzones, remember?”

Eddie’s smiling in the dark beside him, Buck can tell, which means he’s not offended. “Yeah, but earthquakes are a different kind of warzone. The only enemy here was, uh—”

“Gravity?” Eddie finishes for him.

“I was gonna say tectonic plates, but yeah, gravity was definitely working against us today.”

“That elevator, man. Crazy.”

“Pfft, yeah,” Buck agrees.

“How many disasters have you worked, exactly? You’ve only been doing this for, what, a year?”

Buck tilts his head in acknowledgement. “This would be my second. There was that plane crash last winter, the one that went down right off the beach by LAX. Not a natural disaster, obviously, but a major incident.”

“Oh, wow. That must have been something.”

“It was… pretty bad.”

Eddie doesn’t say more, and Buck thinks he’s done with this particular subject, but then he asks tentatively, “What did you do afterwards? I mean, after your shift ended? How did you deal with it?”

Buck shivers, remembering the cold water and the smell of jet fuel that clung to them all on the ride back to the station. He remembers Bobby’s uncharacteristic silence and how his own thoughts kept going back to Abby and that call she took from a passenger on the plane. She was the last person that guy talked to, a faceless voice coming through his phone, and there was nothing she could do to help him.

“I, uh, took a long, hot shower and got myself cleaned up,” Buck answers after a long pause. “And then I went home and watched TV for a few hours, I think. Sitcoms, reality shows, dumb stuff like that. Anything but the fucking news.”

“So you just try to put it out of your head as quickly as possible?” Eddie asks, sounding skeptical.

“And sleep. That helps too.” Buck grins over at him in the light of some oncoming headlights. “Isn’t that what you guys did in an actual warzone, when shit went down?”

Eddie chuckles. “Sort of. It was a little bit harder to take off the uniform and drive away from it all at the end of the day, though. And the sleeping part wasn’t always as easy, depending on where we were.”

“I bet. Hey, we’re almost there,” Buck says, bending closer to his phone to look at the GPS map. “Should I park in the lot?”

“No, just pull up to the front doors. They said they’d be waiting for me right inside.”

Buck has barely put the car in park before Eddie’s out and running towards the school. Leaning across the passenger seat, he watches Eddie’s silhouette against the brightly lit hallway beyond the glass doors, his impatient little shuffle while he waits to be buzzed in. And then he’s through and down on his knees to hug a kid who looks impossibly small next to the teacher standing there.

Buck’s throat suddenly gets tight and he blinks hard. He can almost feel the relief in that hug, the fierce love. God.

Eddie talks with the teacher for a minute, then scoops Christopher up and carries him out. Through the open window of the Jeep, Buck can hear Eddie’s voice, reassuring and cheerful, as they approach.

“Where’s your truck?” Christopher asks as his dad opens the back door and sets him into the booster seat.

“Some bricks fell off the back of the firehouse during the earthquake and broke the windshield,” Eddie explains. “I’ll have someone come fix it tomorrow, but tonight we get a chauffeur. This is Buck. He’s a firefighter, too. Buck, meet Christopher.”

Buck twists around to see into the back seat better. Christopher smiles right back at him under the dome light, all baby teeth and brown curls. Something grips the inside of Buck’s chest, both painful and sweet.

“Nice to meet you, Christopher,” he says. “One-way trip to the Diaz residence, coming right up.”

Chris cranes his neck a little to talk to Buck as Eddie gets him buckled in. “You and my dad work together? At the firehouse?”

“Yup.”

“Is he doing a good job so far?”

Eddie bursts out laughing and wraps one hand around Christopher’s head to plant a kiss on top of it. “Are you asking for my report card, kiddo? I don’t think it’s time for me to get one, just yet. And Buck’s not my captain.”

“He’s doing great,” Buck assures Christopher. “He’s taking to it like a duck to water. Just jumped right into the pond with a big splash and started swimming.”

That earns him a giggle from Christopher and a barely-concealed smile from Eddie.

Buck gets their address and they set off again. Thankfully, they don’t have far to go and none of the streets are blocked off. Christopher tells his dad about his extra-long day at school and what they got to do after the earthquake instead of their usual subjects. It sounds like the teachers pulled out all the stops to make sure the kids weren’t scared while they waited to be picked up—movies, games, and music in the gymnasium.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t come get you sooner,” Eddie says over his shoulder. “There were a lot of calls coming in today.”

“It’s okay, Dad. You were helping people. And I got to make a volcano with the science teacher!”

“See?” Buck says to Eddie across the front seat. “Another natural disaster already.”

“Two in one day. I’m gonna need a few extra sitcoms tonight, I guess.”

Buck glances into the rearview mirror, where he can just see Christopher’s face in the booster seat, and tells Eddie quietly, “I think you have something better than TV to help you put the day behind you.”

“Yeah, I think you’re right.”

Buck can tell he’s smiling again.

It’s almost 9:00 PM when they pull into Eddie’s driveway. Buck expects to reverse right back out again and make his way to Abby’s apartment, but Eddie turns to him after he shuts off the engine.

“I know it’s kind of late, but do you want to come in for a bit? I can make us something to eat after I get Chris to bed. It’s just frozen pizza, but you’d be welcome to it.”

Eddie sounds tentative, Buck thinks, maybe because he’s a little embarrassed about the pizza (which Buck would gladly devour right now), or because they don’t really know each other all that well yet. Until this morning, Buck didn’t even know he had a kid. And now here he is at the end of the same day, parked in front of Eddie’s tiny mission revival house and being offered dinner.

“Come on,” Eddie coaxes. “It’s the least we can do to thank you for the ride.”

“Yeah, come inside,” Christopher chimes in eagerly.

Buck looks out at the house again. This is Eddie’s home and refuge, the center of his life outside the firehouse. He and Christopher are inviting Buck into their little world tonight, if only for frozen pizza. There’s a cricket singing somewhere in the bushes, and the porchlight casts a cozy, golden glow over the lawn, beckoning him.

“All right,” Buck says at last. “I will.”

[jesuis-assez]

↠ Tim & Lucy ↳ 2x03 - The Bet