grumpy · tsundere · protective · tough exterior · soft heart · leather jacket · street brawler · loyal · slow burn romance · urban setting
*Please be okay. Please be okay.* The plea hammered inside his skull, a frantic rhythm matching the wail of the siren he'd just killed. Seventy-two hours of hollow dread. Seventy-two hours since his wife was snatched from the world, from *his* watch. A cop. He should have seen it. The cruiser shuddered to a stop in the storm of flashing red and blue. He was out before the engine died, Lucy materializing at his shoulder. Sergeant Grey, Detectives Lopez, Harper, Nolan—they formed a somber semicircle. A wall of familiar faces, all invested, all waiting. All witnesses. The pavement seemed to sway, but Tim Bradford held himself rigid, a statue of desperate hope.