Chapter Text
Tim’s body jerks awake as his phone rings on the nightstand. Even though his room is pitch black he can see Kojo lift up his head from his spot at his feet towards the end of the bed.
It had been a late night. He hadn’t left the station until about twelve am after responding to a particularly nasty bar fight a few hours earlier on patrol. Once he got home he had let Kojo out, fed him, and practically collapsed into his bed. He was exhausted.
He glances over to the alarm clock and groans.
3:38.
It was three in the fucking morning. He had been in bed for all of two hours? MAYBE three?
Squeezing his eyes shut he reaches out and blindly searches for his phone, not even looking at the screen when he accepts the call and brings the device to his ear.
“Bradford.”
At first he doesn’t hear anything on the other line, it’s silent. He’s still a bit groggy from sleep so it takes him a few moments to register the sound of rapid breathing on the other line.
“T-tim?”
His eyes widen and he sits up straight suddenly more awake then before. He pulls the phone from his ear to see the selfie Tamara had taken on his phone when he wasn’t looking a few months back. She had done it to piss him off, and in return he made sure she knew that it was now her profile picture.
She rarely ever called him though, only has maybe twice before. Ever since they had met at the diner a few weeks before they had been messaging one another more often than usual. But she hadn’t called him.
“Tamara?” his voice is much softer then it had been before, his concern tangible as he spoke.
“i-I’m sorry…” her voice cracks on the other line as she inhales deeply. “I know it’s late… I.. need- AHH.”
Before he knows it Tim’s on her feet and flipping the switch of the lamp beside his bed.
“Whats going on Tam?” he asks, using his shoulder to pin his phone to his ear.
“I- I don’t know.. But somethings not-” she cries out again, the speaker in his phone cracking a bit.
“Whats wrong?” he asks, pulling a pair of jeans from his dresser. “Are you safe? Where are you?”
Shes silent for a few moments. Tim holds his breath waiting for her to respond as he snaps the button of his jeans into place and reaches blindly for a shirt.
“Tamara!”
He cringes a bit at how harsh his voice sounds, but the girl has to give him something to go on. He needs to get to her, but he can’t help if he doesn’t know what's going on.
“I-I’m home… I’m at the apartment.” she whispers. “I’m fine… I mean.. I’m safe. But…Tim something is wrong.”
His stomach drops as her words register in his brain.
“What do you mean?”
“My stomach… It… hurts… I just woke up and… fuck.” her voice breaks as she curses, her pain practically audible as she takes deep breaths. “I think I passed out… I GOD… it… I can’t-”
“I hear you Tam, I hear you.” Tim says his voice soft as he pushes his bedroom door open.” He crosses the hallway and reaches his front door in seconds and braces his free hand against the wooden door frame as he shoves his feet into his boots.
“I’m coming ok?” his voice is low as he speaks. “I’ll be there soon.”
Blindly he reaches for his wallet and badge which are in a bowl by the entryway and flips the deadbolt to the left swiftly unlocking the door. Kojo’s nails click on the wooden floor and he sees the dog looking over at him from the living room, annoyance on his face.
He feels bad leaving the dog after only being home for a few hours but Tamara needed his help. Fuck… she probably needed to go to the hospital.
“Stay.” he calls out just as the pitbull starts to gallop towards the door. He can see Kojo come sliding to a stop just as he slams the door and fumbles to lock it.
“Tim?” Tamara’s voice is barley audible on the other line. “I-I’m scared. I-it hurts.”
“Im on my way Tamara.” He says, just as the deadbolt locks in place. He yanks the key out and jogs to his truck, pulling the door open and practically jumping inside. “I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
___
A few minutes ended up being eight… which in hindsight was extremely impressive given the fact that Lucy’s apartment was usually a fifteen minute drive from his house. While he did he drive a good twenty miles over the speed limit… the roads were mostly empty due to the early morning hour. Thank God.
As soon as he pulled into Lucy’s apartment complex he drove up practically right up alongside the curb at one of the side entrances. If it was the middle of day he knew that he would be unable to get away with leaving the truck there for even just a few minutes but with it being so god damn early he wasn’t too worried about leaving it there.
“Ok Tam.” He says as he shifts the truck in park. He turns the ignition off and blindly reaches for one of the lights in the cabs ceiling. He had a key to the apartment… one that Lucy had given to him a few weeks before the Vegas undercover op. He had only gone over as a favor once when she was tied up at the station and he never had the chance to return the key.
“Are you here?”
His chest aches at the sound of Tamara’s voice. It’s small, and quiet. She almost sounds like a little kid. It reminds him of his nephews… and that just makes his chest burn more.
“Yea. Yea I’m here.” he replies, fumbling with his center console looking for the obnoxious key chain Lucy had handed him over two months ago. It takes him a few seconds but as soon as he has it hes jumping out of the truck slamming the door behind him.
He moves fast, running to the side entrance practically slamming the thob on the keychain against the scanner. As soon as he hears the small beep he rips the door open and starts running.
“Ok.. I’m inside kid”
“Ok.” She audibly sighs in relief.
He reaches the elevatory bay in seconds and slams his fist against the up button. It dings immediately, the car sitting on the main floor just waiting to be used.
He jumps inside and jams his finger against the bright number five button. “I’m in the elevator Tamara. Ok?”
She hums, her breath hitching a bit as she does.
“I’ll be there soon.”
Before she has the chance to reply the call drops, his phone losing service as the elevator groans and starts to move upwards.
Tim swears under his breath and shoves the phone in his back pocket.
The ride which really only takes about 10 or 20 seconds feels much longer… but when the doors open just enough for him to squeeze past he starts jogging down the hall, taking the first left and stopping abruptly at the door mat with bright daisies.
Without giving it much thought he shoves the key into the door, swiftly unlocking it one fluid motion. He pushes the door open and drops the key in his pocket as he steps inside.
With it being almost four am it was still pretty dark out, but the city lights outside the windows lit the apartment with a small glow.
“Tamara.” he calls.
“Tim.”
He turns to the left, squinting trying to identify where the kid was. Thankfully… it didn’t take too long for him to spot her, the dim glow of her phone lighting up her face.
He stumbled a bit across the livingroom in the dark until he made it to the doorway of the bathroom. A small nightlight outside the door made it easy for him to find the lightswitch and as soon as he flipped it on he could see Tamara sprawled out on the bathroom tile.
He bit his lip as he took in her appearance. She was in pajamas, or at least pajama bottoms. They were light blue in color and covered in tiny bows. She had on a black oversized long sleeve shirt, the collar slipping off one of her shoulders.
He takes a deep breath before taking another step in the room.
“I’m here kid.” he says, stepping over her legs trying his best not to step on her.
Her dark eyes are wide and red when she looks up at him. Her face is pale… devoid of any natural color. Her hair is braided but some of it sticks to her face, which he can imagine is sticky from the tears.
Tim falls down to his knees beside her and before he can do anything Tamara’s hand is on his shoulder clenching the material of his shirt between her fingers.
“I-I don’t.” she squeezes her eyes shut and tries to steady her breathing but only winces after taking a breath. “Owww. fucck.”
“When did this start Tamara?” he asks.
“it..wa.i… I.. don’t know..i I–” she pauses trying to breath. “I-thought it was cramps… but those are… are never like this.”
He clenches his teeth. He was no expert in understanding female anatomy… far from it. But with one of his best friends being a woman and growing up with a younger sister he knew enough. Enough to know that this wasn’t normal. That cramps shouldn’t have Tamara huddled like this on the bathroom floor.
Still… he didn’t know what to do. He wasn’t a doctor… and thats what Tamara needed. She needed to get to the hospital.
“Tam… we have to go to the hospital.”
Her brown eyes widen even more. “N-no. I- I don’t… I-”
He gently cups her hand that is still holding on tightly to his t-shirt, and tries his best to give her a reassuring smile. “It’ll be ok. You’re going to be fine.. But you can’t just stay here like this… ok?”
She bites her lip, her eyes remaining on his for a few moments before squeezing them shut once again and giving him a small nod.
“Ok.”
“Can you get up?” he asks
She nods, giving herself a moment taking a deep breath.
She lets go of his shirt and readjusts her grip on the tub. At first shes able to brace herself against it, but as soon as she bends her knees to stand she yelps. She ends up letting go of the bathtub entirely and instinctively wrapping her arm around her waist he somehow manages to reach out and catch her right before she tips over towards the toilet.
“Tim.” she murmurs, her voice quiet.
He looks down to see that her eyes are squeezed shut once again.
“Tim, I -Think im gonna-”
Thank god her understands what shes trying to say because just as he helps her lean over the toilet shes throwing up.
Tim tries his best to hold her steady but ends up practically holding her up over the bowl as she can barley hold herself up. Her body shakes as she retches again and again, but based on how little she's actually vomiting he suspects it had more to do with the pain than anything else.
After two or three minutes her body relaxes a bit, and tamara practically falls back in his arms. He gives her a minute, lets her breathe before telling her that they need to go. With his help she's able to get to her feet. She is still leaning heavily against him but shes able to walk… slowly.
With his help keeping her balanced she steps into a pair of yellow crocs at the front door. Definitely not the most practical choice in footwear but she was able to slip them on easily enough. At some point she handed him her phone and he had slid it into his pocket along with his own and pulls out Lucys spare key.
It takes them a while to get down to the truck, but once they step out of the apartment building Tamara starts to stumble a bit more. She barley makes it to the passenger side door before he has to lift her up and put her in the seat himself.
“You ok?” he asks, his eyes locked on hers as she fumbles with the seat belt.
After he hears a quiet yes he shuts the passenger side door and hurries over to jump in the drivers seat.