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icameforthefics · 7 months ago

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“A Private Channel for This?”

Tim Bradford x Fem OC Aurora Steel

Warnings: no Tim x Lucy, fluff, a kiss or two maybe

Word count: 2141

About: Tim’s partner confesses her feelings for him.

Everyone knew Tim was rough around the edges, especially after his divorce with Isabel. His attitude and sass never phased me. That’s what happens when you’ve known the guy since middle school. The Bradford family lived a couple houses down from mine. I was friends with his younger sister, Genny and Tim was friends with my older brother, Johnny. Tim and Genny spent most of their time at our house, their dad wasn’t the greatest to be around and our parents wanted to be their safe haven. I didn’t mind one bit. Genny was like the sister I always wished for and Tim was my live-in crush.

I never told anyone about the crush, I didn’t want to ruin my friendship with Gen and he would never look at me that way. Plus he was with Isabel by their senior year and married the first year he graduated.

Gen never understood why I wanted to be an officer. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that I wanted to help people because of what her and Tim went through growing up. Tim was also someone I looked up to and inspired me to follow my dreams. I never expected to be working with Tim when I became a cop, it was just a happy coincidence.

It was always strange seeing the work side of Tim, even 4 years into working together. Boot after boot, department after department and we were finally riding together. For some reason, I was nervous when Grey told us we’d be riding together after the hits on cops started. No one was to ride alone, no matter how long you’d been a cop and no matter what rank you were. I felt safe with Tim and hated riding alone, it was boring. Both stemmed from growing up with Tim and Johnny always being the overprotective older brothers and never letting us go alone anywhere.

“Hey boot, ready to go?” Tim had a shit eating grin on his face as he asked me the question.

“Timmy, if anyone is the boot, it’s you. Grab the war bags, let’s go.” I sassed back to him.

“Alright, alright. Neither are the boots and I’ll be a gentleman and grab the war bags. But I am driving.” He said.

“That is more than fine with me, I will happily be your passenger princess today,” I responded while turning to grab the bodycam. Tim just laughed as he grabbed the bags and his own bodycam.

“Alright Ro, let’s go. Maybe I’ll even let you pick where we eat lunch.”

“Have I died and landed in the best part of heaven? Did I just hear Tim Bradford agree to let me, Aurora Steel, pick where we eat?” I was shocked.

“If you question it too much, I’ll change my mind about the food and the driving,” Tim laughed to himself.

I held the door open for him that led to the garage where our shop was. I started to run to the passenger door but stopped as I saw Grey watching me.

“Hey Sargeant Grey! How’s your day going?” I asked, trying not to act like I got caught doing something I shouldn’t.

“Steel, can I ask why you’re running to the shop?” Grey had a skeptical look on his face.

“Well you see, Tim agreed to drive so I get to be his passenger princess today. Very exciting day for me,” I explained. I’d never seen someone look as confused as he did.

“Don’t ask Sarg,” Tim said as he shut the tailgate. Grey walked away from us, shaking his head. I looked over at an amused Tim and shrugged.

“Okay so would you ever get married again?” I asked Tim. We were three hours into our shift and we were bored out of our minds so naturally I started asking random questions.

“If I met the right person, I’d definitely consider it. Especially if she wanted to get married.” Tim replied, he sounded so mature.

“Wow, that’s very “I’m healed and ready to move on with my life” of you Tim,” I said back.

“Yeah, yeah. After seeing Genny thrive after her divorce, I was inspired. Seeing her happy after everything that she went through makes me believe I can achieve it too.”

“Okay. First you offered to get the gear and drive. Then you told me I could pick where we eat lunch. Now you’re telling me you’ve moved on and are inspired by your sister? Who are you and where is the Tim I know?” I asked him, looking around.

“I don’t know. Lately I’ve just been feeling like letting go of more stuff instead of letting it affect me so much. I don’t want to be alone and miserable my whole life. I’m getting old ya know.” He explained.

“Oh don’t I know it,” I smiled as I glanced at him.

“That was supposed to be a joke and you’re only two years my junior so that makes you old too,” Tim said as he poked my side.

“Hey! No poking on duty. And I like to believe those two years are kind to me and that I don’t look nearly as old as you,” I stuck my tongue out at him.

“Okay, Miss almost-thirty-year-old.” There was no way.

“How dare you remind me that I am going to be that old. That’s just rude.” It didn’t bother me that I was almost thirty, I just loved messing with Tim about his age. The radio interrupted our conversation.

“Bradford, you got ears?” Nolan said over the radio.

“Go for Bradford.”

“Head to channel 13. Lopez, Harper, Chen and Thompson are already on it.” He asked.

“What’s up guys?” Tim asked after switching channels.

“Thompson is wondering how everyone feels about family friends and crushes. You two were the first people we thought of.” Lopez said over the radio.

“And why did we come to mind?” Tim asked over the radio while looking at me with what looked like horror. I laughed to myself. Now or never I guess. I grabbed the radio from Tim.

“Depends on the situation, really. Sometimes it just happens and you can’t help it. But just know what’s at stake if you tell the person,” I replied back to Lopez.

“So what exactly do you mean by that?” Harper chimed in this time. These guys were gonna be the death me, the cop killers wouldn’t have a chance.

“I mean that you have to weigh everything out. If you tell them, you risk them not feeling the same way and you ruin the friendship you’ve had for a lifetime. Or they can feel the same and you guys make the steps to change your dynamic. OR you stay quiet, too afraid to admit it out loud and especially too afraid to admit it to them.” I explained to everyone over the radio. Hopefully Tim didn’t catch how well versed I was on this topic.

“Sounds like you have experience, Steel.” Shit. Lopez really had a way with her words. I chanced a look at Tim to see his reaction. His brows were furrowed and he looked lost in thought.

“Um, I read a lot of romance books. It’s a common trope in them,” I stammered out, starting to get nervous and sweat.

“So this is why you guys asked for a private channel?” Grey cut in.

“Sorry sir,” we all said at the same time.

“Very smart input tho Steel. Tim you should take her advice,” Grey responded. I froze. Time froze. Everyone ooh’d and ah’d over the radio. “Back to the main channel everyone, there’s still people hunting us out there.”

Tim and I didn’t say another word for what felt like an hour. I couldn’t take the silence anymore.

“Tim, I’ve had a crush on you since I was 11 and you were 13. It was obviously innocent at first. And then when you got with Isabel I moved on and didn’t acknowledge the crush at all. Then you started the process of divorce and I nurtured the crush again. Now we work together so much that I wish I didn’t have feelings for you but that’s just not the case. We pretty much spend all our time together and that makes it hard to not like you in that way. And I don’t want to ruin what we have and I don’t want to ruin my relationship with Gen or your’s with Johnny. And I’m sorry and I regret everything I just said so please forget it and let’s just do our job, okay? Okay.” I’m not sure anything I just said was understandable.

“Did you just say crush and then switch into feelings?” Tim asked. That’s what he got from that?

“Not sure what you’re talking about. We haven’t said anything to each other in over an hour,” I said as I looked anywhere but his face.

“Ro, look at me. Please.” Tim all but pleaded with me. So I looked at him. “Did you just say you currently have feelings for me?”

“Depends… why are you asking that?” I inquired.

“Ro, please.”

“Yes Tim, I just told the man who’s been in my life for the last 19 years that I’ve had a life long crush on him and that when he was the most hurt, that crush started turning into more. And before I knew it, I had developed very real and very deep feelings for him.” It felt like he was looking into my soul as I admitted my one secret to him.

“Oh thank god.” Wait. What? What did he just say?

“Excuse me? What?” I asked.

“I said thank god that’s how you feel because I feel the same way you do Ro. I’ve always kept quiet about it because I never thought you’d see me that way. I also never found the right time to do it. I think that’s why Lopez was getting at. She knows about my feelings for you. I got drunk one night and ranted about it. She must’ve told Harper. Grey I think is just too smart. And the boots love a good imagination. But it’s very real. I very much have feelings for you too.” Tim had never opened up like this before.

“Bradford, Steel, respond to channel four. There’s been another attack on cops. This one is the worst it’s been.” Grey said over the radio.

“Copy,” I said back. I needed to respond. I just had Tim confess to me what I’ve felt for him and I didn’t know how to respond.

“Ro, I know that was a lot, especially right now with everything going on. So let’s focus on getting to the bottom of these attacks and we’ll talk. Okay?” Tim suggested.

“Yeah, that works.”

Three days, 4 gangs, 2 cops and a lawyer later, we’d finally figured out who was behind the attacks and it was worse than expected. Now it was up to the DA to figure the rest out.

I tried my best to not think about what Tim had told me before things really kicked off but I had to find him before going home and sleeping for the next 24 hours. I made my way out of the locker room and towards the garage we always parked in. Tim found out where I parked the first day I showed up for work and made sure to park next to me everyday. He said it was a habit, him protecting his sister and I since we were kids and all. Now it brought a different sense of comfort since the other day. I was watching my feet as I walked, lost in thought, thinking about what I was gonna say to him once I found him.

“Ah there she is, finally,” I heard Tim say from in front of me.

“Oh thank god,” I ran into his arms. I’m not sure why I did but it felt like the right thing to do. He happily hugged back and squeezed.

“You don’t know how bad I needed this Ro,” Tim whispered in my ear.

“I’ve been thinking about what you said,” I started to say. “I want this. Whatever you and I turn into, I want it. But I want us to be honest with Genny and Johnny. And I want us to promise, to our best abilities, that if this doesn’t work out then we will try our hardest to stay friends for the sake of everyone around us. I also can’t imagine a life without you in it.” I continued.

“Ro, you stole the words out of my mouth. Now that we both agree, can I kiss you?” Tim asked.

“I never thought you’d ask.” I got on my tip toes and kissed Tim like I’d always dreamed of.

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