Chapter Text
Ten minutes later, Tim had taken Suma to the nearby gras field to potty, Lucy and Kojo appeared in the vet clinic’s entrance.
"Hey, you want to check out that new place on Ashmore?" She waved over at him. Kojo had already spotted Suma and was making a beeline for the tiny dog. "Slow down bud, she just got out of the hospital." Lucy tried to slow him down by holding on to his lead.
Tim, always worried about Suma's safety, instinctively stepped in front of the tiny dog to protect her.
"Don't worry, he's super gentle and used to smaller dogs." Lucy smiled at him as she reached them.
Kojo and Suma started wagging their tails just as hard and sniffing each other excitedly. Tim was still a little tense but relaxed when he saw how happy Suma was.
“See, I told you they would love each other.” Lucy’s smile was so wide it reached her eyes as she grabbed Tim’s arm and gave it a slight squeeze. “So that place on Ashmore?” She repeated her question from earlier.
Tim was still a little shocked at how content Suma seemed to be in Kojo’s presence but he managed a nod, “uhm, yeah, sure. Okay.”
“Aren’t they the cutest?” Lucy asked, following Tim’s eyes.
“They are.” Tim agreed while he felt tears of joy welling up in his eyes as he watched Suma trying to encourage Kojo, who was much larger, to play. Suma stood in front of Kojo, pressed her upper body to the ground, and wagged her tail while making a gurgling sound, which Tim knew was her invitation to play.
She was back to her old self. And Tim’s heart skipped a beat. He looked at Lucy who was still making love eyes towards the dogs. “Let’s roll.”
"Your command is my wish, Sergeant." Lucy joked teasingly, and grabbed Tim's fingers, intertwining his with hers as they began to walk.
**
“So, can I ask you a question?” Lucy took a sip of her coffee and looked at Tim over the rim of the cup.
“Sure. What do you wanna ask?” Tim smiled softly. He loved that Lucy was the type of woman that would actually ask him first if she could ask him before asking her actual question.
He felt like he already knew her.
“Why Suma?” Lucy put down her coffee and looked down to where Suma and Kojo were calmly lying next to each other in the warm sun. “I mean why did you choose this name?” She asked curiously, her eyes finally meeting Tim’s.
He chuckled quietly. “I was waiting for you to ask me that.”
“Really?” Lucy grinned, “why?”
“‘Cause…” Tim began then stopped to move his chair closer to Lucy’s before he continued. “Because you’re… nosy.”
“Ugh! What?” Lucy faked outrage. “I am not.” She gently slapped Tim’s arm in protest.
“You are.” Tim laughed softly, tiny wrinkles forming around his eyes. “I like it.”
Lucy’s face reddened slightly. “You do?”
“I really do.” Tim nodded.
This time it was Lucy who felt her heart skip a beat - or two. Tim’s smile was beautiful, she thought, especially when it reached his eyes.
“It’s kind of a long story.” Tim said, his voice more serious now.
“Okay,” Lucy said, “I wanna hear it!” She smiled encouragingly. “I mean… only if you wanna tell me.”
“I want to.” Tim nodded quickly. “So, okay,” He began, then cleared his throat, “So there was this famous military dog who was named Suma L469 . He served with the Air Force for nine years with five years of that on tour in Afghanistan.” Tim explained. “His main job was basically sniffing out explosives and he is credited with saving over two hundred military and civilian lives.”
“Wow.” Lucy sighed in awe and leaned back in her chair.
“Yeah, you know I served in Afghanistan, right? Before I joined the LAPD.”
“I kinda figured… because I saw pictures in your office once.” Lucy admitted. “But you never told me about your time there.”
“Nothing much to tell,” Tim shrugged. “It was hard.”
Lucy nodded understandingly, knowing there would come a place and time to ask all the questions she wanted to ask him.
“Anyways, after his tour, Suma spent many years training dogs and handlers at Lackland Air Force Base. Then he retired to Houston. That’s where I met him when I trained there.”
“You lived in Texas?” Damn, there was still so much she didn’t know about Sergeant Sexy.
“Yeah, before I deployed.” Tim reached for his coffee. “Fun fact, a few years after his retirement, Suma competed on America’s Top Dog.” He added with a smile before taking a sip.
Lucy giggled. “Oh my god, that is so cool.”
“Yeah,” Tim agreed, “he was an amazing dog. Sadly he passed away two years ago.”
“Oh, no!” Lucy pouted. “That’s so sad. Wish I could’ve met him.” She added emphatically.
“Yeah, but he had a good life, especially after he retired. And well, in honor of him and all the other dog’s in the military I named Suma after him when I got her.”
“That's beautiful, Tim.” Lucy leaned over to him and reached for his shirt to gently pull him towards her. “Beautiful name for a beautiful dog.” She kissed him softly.
“Thank you.” Tim smiled against her lips. “So,” his lips spread into a sly smile a second later, “I told you mine, now tell me yours.”
“Huh?” Lucy leaned back a little to look at him in confusion.
Tim chuckled. “Kojo.” He stated. “Why did you name him Kojo?”
“Oh,” Lucy smiled, “well, his foster mom was born in Ghana. When I got him she told me the date of his birth, well what she believed was his birthday. And it happened to be a Monday.”
“Oookay?” Tim said questioningly.
“And I had been looking for names for a while but I wanted something meaningful, since his given name was Mylo and I felt like he was no Mylo. So, I looked up a few names and got stuck with Kojo. It means ‘Monday born’ in Ghanaian.”
Now it was Tim who was amazed. “Wow, Lucy. That is an amazing name.”
“Thanks.”
“You’re amazing.” Tim said, his voice serious but soft.
Lucy felt the tingle sensation spreading in her body, her stomach full of butterflies as she looked into Tim’s eyes. “I think that you’re amazing, too.”
This time it was Tim who leaned in to kiss her, and all Lucy could think about as his lips met hers in a perfect kiss was that she was hopelessly and completely in love with him.
And she couldn't wait to see what the future had in store for them.