"you promised" angela snapped at her best friend as he stood over her desk trying to worm his way out of babysitting for her son while she and wesley went on a much needed date night. tim groaned "but there's a game—" "a game that you can watch at my house with jack" angela rolled her eyes. "can't you find anyone else?" tim crossed his arms "no, and you know that i've tried" angela leaned back in her chair "when you and lucy need a date night in the future, maybe i can return the favor" angela smirked. "that's not even..." tim rolled his eyes "besides, jack loves his uncle tim" angela teased. tim said nothing and turned around to walk away "see you at seven" angela called over his shoulder laughing.
true to his word, tim knocked on angela and wesley's door at 6:55pm. "seriously, thank you tim" angela said with a sigh "we haven't been able to go out in so long. "mmhmm" tim tried to look annoyed, but couldn't help but crack a smile
when he saw jack in his high chair. "he's almost done eating, and then he'll probably start to fall asleep in an hour" wesley said slipping his shoes on. "sounds good" tim nodded. "you can help yourself to anything in the fridge, and, oh, also we probably won't be back until after midnight, so if you don't feel like driving home before work tomorrow you can crash on the couch or in the guest room!" "what??" him gasped at his friend "thanks!!" wesley and angela called and they rushed out the door before tim could complain. sighing and running his hand down his face, tim chuckled "well, little man," he walked over to a spaghetti-covered toddler "looks like we've got a long night"
tim cleaned off jack's dinner mess and helped him get changed into some footy pajamas. he made sure he had a dry diaper on and then gently laid him in his crib. tim closed the door and kept an eye on the baby monitor to make sure jack stayed asleep as he plopped down on the couch and turned on espn quietly. it was now close to 8:30pm, and tim had time to kill. just then he got a text: "how's babysitting going?" lucy's message read "well he is still alive" tim responded quickly. "angela must not have high standards for babysitters" lucy sent back with a laughing face. tim couldn't help but laugh "i actually am the best in the business" tim said with a smirking emoji. he sighed and returned his attention to the tv.
soon the clock read 10:30pm, which is around the time tim usually falls asleep. not wanting to take up too much space in the guest room, tim rummaged through a cabinet and found a blanket. he turned off the lights and settled down on the couch placing the baby monitor on the table next to him so he could hear if jack woke up.
angela and wesley got home around 12:30am and noticed tim asleep on the couch. "i guess jack wore him out" angela giggled as she picked up the baby monitor off of the table. not wanting to wake their friend, angela and wesley quietly made their way into their room.
not even two hours later, angela woke up to yelling. she shot up straight in bed thinking it could be her husband, but he also was groggily waking and looking over to her. "ahhhh— no, no, no" she heard louder and she and wesley both scrambled to figure out what was going on. it was then, that angela remembered that her friend was asleep on her couch. she rushed to the living room with wesley close behind "NO, COME ON" she stumbled into the living room, to find tim thrashing on the couch and breathing heavily. "tim!" angela tried to shake her friend awake "no, please, no come back" tim was still trapped asleep. "tim, hey" angela braced her hands on her friend's shoulders. she could feel him fighting it, but she held him down firmly "tim, wake up, you're having a nightmare" she said loudly trying to get through to him. suddenly tim gasped, and his eyes flew open. he sat up so quickly he almost ran into angela. "hey, you're alright, it was a dream" angela knelt back on her heels. tim was gasping as if he was trying to catch his breath "no, no, it..." he shook his head rapidly "no, i lost her, she's gone, i can't..." tim was still breathing very quickly and looking around the dark room trying to orient himself. immediately realizing what he was dreaming about, angela moved to sit down next to tim and put her arm around his shaking shoulders "tim, lucy is okay, she is safe—" "NO" tim snapped standing up "she's still in there, we need—" "tim, tim" wesley rushed forward to help "lucy is safe, we found her— you found her" he tried to calm the other man.
angela knew tim would not be so easily convinced, and she didn't feel comfortable letting him leave like this, so she grabbed her phone off the counter and called the only person she could think of that could bring tim back to reality.
out of the corner of her eye she could see wesley trying to steer tim away from rushing out their door "i have to help her" tim insisted fighting against wesley's hands on his shoulders. "tim, listen to me, lucy is safe" angela heard the line ring once, twice, three times and was beginning to get nervous when suddenly she heard a groggy "hello?" on the other end "hey lucy, it's me, i need you to come over right now" angela said quickly watching tim still arguing with wesley. "what's going on?" lucy asked, her voice suddenly sounding more alert. "tim had a nightmare, and we can't calm him down— i've never seen him so worked up" angela watched as wesley seemed to have convinced tim to sit back down on the couch, but tim was still far from calm. she was shocked jack had not woken up with all the commotion. "i'll be there in five" lucy said quickly and hung up not needing any more explanation.
angela put her phone down and joined wesley and tim on the couch. her friend who was usually so strong and composed was still in a panic. "i need to go find her" tim continued to repeat "i can't..." angela leaned in front of her friend trying to make eye contact "tim, i promise, lucy is safe, you found her, you saved her" anglea tied to jog his memory, but tim was just as rigid "NO" tim snapped standing up again "i can't lose her" angela gave wesley a sad smile as she rushed to follow tim before he marched out the door. "tim, wait—" angela tried to stop him before he rushed out. just as he opened the door, though, lucy was on the other side with her hand raised as if to knock. "tim—" she gasped as he rushed forward and wrapped her in his arms.
angela watched the two embrace with a sigh of relief. good thing lucy lives close-by. "what...?" lucy mumbled into tim's shoulder as he pulled back and searched for her eyes "you're okay?" he said almost more like a question. realizing what must have happened, lucy pulled tim closer again "tim, i'm here" he began to feel his breathing slow down "you found me, i am safe" she reassured him as he began to loosen his strong grip on her. lucy saw angela nod in the direction of her guest bedroom as she and wesley turned to go back to their own room. lucy pulled back and looked tim in the eyes which she was shocked to find had tears in them. this was not like tim at all to reveal emotion. "hey..." she gave him a small smile reaching out to squeeze his arm "hey, i am here" she said quietly. tim took a deep breath and nodded turning to dry his eyes quickly with his tshirt. lucy reached her arms up once more to embrace her partner. "you found me" she whispered as he held her against his chest tightly. she could still feel his heart beating too quickly.
"i'm sorry" tim mumbled into lucy's hair as he slackened his hold on her. she quickly shook her head "tim, no..." she looked around realizing that they were still in the doorway. "come here" she said softly and led him out of the doorway so she could close the door. she gently pulled his hand and led him to the guest room and sat on the bed next to him. "tim, do you want to talk about it?" lucy asked searching his eyes. he shook his head but then paused and whispered "i thought i lost you."
lucy sighed "tim, you saved me" she grabbed his hand and squeezed it "i'm safe because you found me." he shuttered "sometimes i just..." he shook his head "it still gives me nightmares" he admitted looking ashamed. lucy turned so she was fully facing him "you get them too?" she asked quietly. tim nodded slowly before turning to face her too "i can't lose you, lucy" he said so vulnerably that it almost hurt lucy to hear. she smiled softly and stood up to turn the light off. "come here" she pulled tim's hand so they could move to the head of the bed. "you found me" she reassured him again, sliding over to make room for both of them "you are never going to lose me." she promised as tim climbed in after her.
finally beginning to piece together everything that happened, tim knew he would have to face an army of questions from angela in the morning and would probably be exhausted when he had to get up for work in a few hours, but right now, all he cared about was how he could feel the weight of lucy's head on his chest as he pulled her closer in his arms "i'll always be here" he heard her whisper and breathed a sigh of relief "thank you" he whispered leaning down to place a kiss in her hair. finally letting himself relax enough to fall back to sleep.
