Epilogue
Lucy is sitting behind her desk, nose deep in a stack of paperwork, when she hears the faint sound of footsteps approaching. She scans one last sentence and writes something down right as the footsteps stop in front of her desk. She peers up and is met with a smiling Ernie. He has a playful look in his eyes and Lucy knows that this isn’t going to be about work.
“First of all.” Ernie lays a hand on top of hers briefly. “I’m glad you’re okay.” Lucy appreciates the sentiment. It’s her first day back at work in two weeks. She has finally been cleared of her mild concussion and the doctor cleared her for work. However, her shoulder is still a little banged up, so she isn't 100 percent better, so unfortunately she has been stuck on desk duty all day while the rest of the team was out trying to locate a missing naval officer. She doesn’t mind desk duty every once and awhile, but it does suck to miss out on a case that the whole team is working on.
“Second of all.” Ernie wiggles his eyebrows and she feels her face slightly redden, preparing herself for Ernie’s inevitable teasing. “So, like a fake dating rom com without falling in love huh?”
Lucy rolls her eyes. When she first volunteered to be Kate’s fake girlfriend, she told Ernie it was like a rom com movie plot but that obviously there was no way she’d fall in love with Kate. Oh, boy was she wrong. She fell. And she fell hard. “I never said we were in love.”
Ernie chuckles. “Okay Luce, if you say so.” Lucy takes a stack of papers and covers her face with them. She knows there’s no hiding how she really feels from Ernie. He can read her like a book. “She did say she was your fiancé though, so-”
“Shut-up.” Lucy lighting smacks him with the stack of papers she is holding. “Don’t you have anything better to catch me up on while I was out?”
Ernie puzzles this for a moment. “Honestly not really. You and Whistler have basically been the sole topic of conversion while you were out.”
“Great.” Lucy shakes her head but all she can do is laugh because she could basically say the same thing. Her two weeks of resting consisted of Kate coming over to Lucy’s apartment afterwork, cooking for her, and cuddling on the couch. Oh. And kissing. Lots of kissing.
Ernie gives her a smirk before walking away and leaving her to do the rest of her paperwork.
_______
“What are we doing here Lucy?” Kate asks as Lucy approaches the table and plops down into the booth with a smirk on her face. “I got this cryptic text to come by the bar near your apartment.”
In the two weeks or so that they have been ‘dating,’ Kate has found out Lucy is a complete goofball. A goofball that she loves though. Everyday it has been something different with Lucy or she finds out something new about her that she didn’t quite expect. Tonight is no exception as she finds herself at the bar with no explanation.
The bar isn’t too packed for a random Wednesday night so they can talk at a normal voice, without having to shout. They are seated in a booth off near the side of the bar.
Lucy ignores her question. “Hi, I’m Lucy. It’s nice to meet you.” Lucy reaches out her hand and Kate gives her a questioning look. Lucy doesn’t move her hand, so Kate reluctantly offers her hand and Lucy gives it a shake before finally moving it back down to her side.
Lucy offers no explanation, but Kate suddenly remembers the notecards and how she wrote about their fake first meeting. Kate curls her lips into a toothy smile. Lucy must be recreating that, so she decides to play along. “Kate. Whistler. Nice to meet you too.”
“Whistler. Got it.” Lucy responds and Kate keeps her smile plastered to her face, ready for wherever the night takes them. And she knows everything will be okay because she’s with Lucy.