This isn't how she imagined they'd spent their first Valentine's Day.

She should've known it would be Smitty. She'd never told him not to say anything to Tim, specifically, about how she convinced him to get Lauren Fuji to retire. But everyone else had kind of understood that it was sort of being done on the sly.

But she knows how Smitty can be, and it's on her for thinking he wouldn't say anything inadvertently.

She knew Tim was upset the first time she saw him at the station that morning. They'd seen each other last night, ate dinner at this new little Italian place that had just opened. He'd been in a good mood then. He had laughed at her jokes – even the ones she knew weren't funny, he'd let his hand wander from her knee to her thigh and back again while they waited for the check. He'd kissed her goodnight with a lot of purpose and had whispered things in her ear to try and convince her to come back to his place, but she'd turned him down because she still had prep to do for his Valentine's Day gift, though she hadn't told him that was why.

And now this morning she passes him in the station as she heads to the locker room and when she smiles at him he just gives her a curt nod and a half smile and it's like she's gone back in time and they barely know (or like) each other.

"Hey. Hi," she calls out to him and doesn't give her much more of a reaction this time, so she reaches out to stop him by grabbing his arm. "Okay, what's going on?"

She can tell he's upset about something, the way he opens his mouth to speak and his jaw clenches. He nods to his office door and she follows him inside.

"When were you going to tell me?"

"Tell you what?" she asks, confused. She's retracing the last interactions they've had, everything that's happened in the last few weeks, trying to figure out what she's failed to tell him. He crosses his arms and waits and she's completely lost.

Then Smitty passes by, waves at Tim through the window and nods at her, gives her a thumbs up. "You ever need another favor, Chen, hit me up. Unless you'd clean the RV for Doritos?"

Shit.

"Oh," she says suddenly, realizing. "That?"

Tim raises his eyebrows. "So you weren't going to tell me that the only reason I got this position is because of you?"

"Okay, that's not... I mean, it didn't-" She's caught off guard and the words are not coming. They haven't had so much as an argument since they've gotten together and while they sure as hell had their fair share of arguments and bickering and debating in the past, this one seems way more monumental. "It's not a big deal."

"Of course it is, Lucy!" he exclaims. "And I have to hear from Smitty of all people that you the one who went behind my back to manipulate several people so I could get this job. Do you realize how this looks? My girlfriend played chess with everyone's careers just to get me a better job?"

"It's not like that. I mean, everyone doesn't know," she says. "I mean, unless Smitty opened his mouth to everyone. But no one else will say anything."

"That's not the point –" he starts, then narrows his eyes. "What do you mean no one else? Who else knows?"

She looks down at her feet. "Well, Nolan." Tim sighs. "Lopez." Tim groans. "Harper."

Tim's just staring at her now. He waits a beat for her to continue. "That all?" he asks sarcastically.

"Well, then - Bailey and Wesley and James." She shrugs. "But they hardly count, they don't work here."

"You all went behind my back," he mutters. "Fantastic."

"It's not like that. We all just wanted to help you."

"I didn't ask anyone to help," he reminds her. He can feel his irritation rising with this new information, realizing it wasn't just Lucy who had kept this from him but a handful of his colleagues and friends had gone behind his back.

She doesn't know what to say, this whole thing taking her by surprise. It's not something she had thought he would be upset about, it's not something she had been purposefully hiding from him.

"I'll talk to you later," he says easily after the long moment of silence before breezing out of his office.

She isn't sure what this means, but it consumes her the rest of the day.

They haven't been together that long. Could something like this ruin them?

No. They know each other too well. They've only been together for a little while, but that's only a small portion of their relationship. They couldn't ruin it over something like this.

Could they?

How could she have screwed it up so fast?

When her shift is over, she thinks about going straight home. She knows it's Valentine's Day, but all that is out the window now. She thinks about giving him space, but it's going to drive her crazy if she doesn't try and resolve this.

After she changes in the locker room, she tiptoes down the hallway to his office where she can see him looking at a file on his desk. The door is cracked open so she knocks lightly a sign that she comes in peace.

He looks up and she can see something flash across his face – relief, she wants to say, but she's not sure. Maybe he's relieved she's come back to hash it out.

"Hey," he says, and his tone is a lot softer than it was earlier today.

"Can we talk?" she asks carefully and he nods, so she steps inside and closes his office door behind him. "Look, I'm sorry."

She's had the whole day to think about it, and she knows her intentions were good. She knows she didn't mean to do something to upset him or hide something from him. But she imagined the roles reversed and she could see how maybe it wasn't the best way to do things. Either way she knows he's upset so she figures an apology is in order despite her intentions.

Tim sighs and adds, "Me too. I might not have handled this the right way."

"I understand why you're upset. I just want you to know I never… I never meant to upset you."

"We said we'd never lie to each other," he reminds her this time.

"Technically… I mean, you said that was a lie," she reminds him feebly with a little laugh, hoping to beat this down with some humor and gives a weak smile.

"Lucy."

Okay, so that tactic didn't work.

"It wasn't a lie," she shoots back. "More like an omission."

He rolls his eyes. "You know what I mean! I went up to you and told you about the job and you didn't say anything," he reminds her. "The whole time I was so excited about it and you let me go on and on like a fool-"

She feels bad instantly, recalling how happy and excited he'd been to share the news with her. "No, it's not like-"

"And you had everyone involved in it. Nolan, Angela, Harper."

"Okay, yeah. But all we did was figure out the five-player trade."

"The what?"

"We figured out if Fuji retired, then everything would fall into place and make an opening for you in Metro. It's not like I went and bribed someone to give you the position. I didn't force Grey to give you an amazing review, I didn't convince Lieutenant Pine to offer you the job. That all happened because the opening was there and because you'd earned the job."

Hearing her explain how little involvement she'd actually had in the offering of the job, he feels a little less irritated about the whole situation.

"But you can't do these kinds of things!" he rubs his eyes as if a headache is brewing. "You can't – it's tough enough for a female officer without any of this," he gestures around between them. "Yeah, I'm not in your chain of command anymore but we have a history. I was your training officer. I still outrank you. And I was in your chain of command when we got together. That's enough of an uphill battle to fight in the rumor mill. Then you go and do something like this. If people find out you're messing with their jobs, they'll bever trust you again. Let alone if they find out you're doing it for your boyfriend, it could really affect your career, Lucy!"

She huffs but is surprised that in all his anger part of it is about how it could affect her. Of course it is.

"Was it the smartest thing I ever did? Maybe not." He nods as if she's finally seeing things his way. "Would I do it again? Yeah." He gaps at her, surprised as if she's still not getting it. "You were miserable, Tim."

He crosses his arms. "That wasn't your call. It was a sacrifice I was willing to make."

"Yeah," Lucy says. "And I didn't know what to do with that. You love patrol. My whole first year all I heard you say was that's where the action was and you couldn't understand why anyone would leave patrol. Then you take a damn desk job for us when I'd already agreed to transfer, because you know I love it here and I just… I don't know how to process that. No one has ever made a sacrifice like that for me before."

They stare at each other for a moment, and they can feel some of the tension dissipating.

"I did it because I wanted to. I wanted to make that sacrifice. I did it because I love you," he tells her and the room turns so quiet you could hear a pin drop, but there is a definite shift in the air.

"Well," she says, still processing the words as she speaks softly, "maybe I did it because I love you, too."

The anger fades, the argument stops and she cracks a smile at him which he returns two-fold and she lets out a little laugh.

"So that explains it," he says with a chuckle. "Really. Smitty?"

She laughs and steps towards him, playing at the collar of his shirt. "Ugh, I should've known better! I should've known he was the weak link!" She jokes and they laugh before sighs and takes a breath as she adds, "I guess we ruined Valentine's Day," she admits softly.

But Tim just smiles at her, his eyes focused intently on her in that way that makes her stomach churn.

"We're going to fight, Lucy," he tells her as his hands settle on her hips.

She suddenly remembers the conversation she had with him in their shop when Chris was looking at houses for them to move into, how she'd said she and Chris never fight.

But do you guys not fight because you don't disagree on things or because you don't think it's worth the bother?

Maybe a little fighting isn't a bad thing.

"Yeah," she agrees confidently. "We are. And this was our first fight."

"I mean, not really-"

"As a couple," she cuts him off. "And it's our first Valentine's Day, and we just said we love each other." He groans at that and she frowns. "What?"

"We said I love you on Valentine's Day," he mumbles. "That's like something straight out of one of those romcoms you make me watch."

"Look," she says with a laugh. "Let's go salvage the night. Make up," she adds in a low hum.

The blinds are still raised and the door's cracked open, so she refrains from kissing or touching him like she wants to or saying anything more. "Come over to my place? I say we bail out on the dinner reservations. Just give me a head start. I need to put your gift on."

He swallows, glancing at the doorway to make sure no one is overhearing them. "Lucy," he mutters and she can tell she's broken him a little.

"Don't be late!" she singsongs as she disappears out of the office.