"So I guess this is a bad time to ask if you're coming out with us tonight. For the probie's first night out with his new team."

"The one with a giant crush on you?" Lucy teases.

"Don't let Evan hear you say that," the voice muses, and Lucy throws a quick glance over at Taylor for a moment.

"Speaking of lover-boy, are you bringing him?"

"He's got baby-sitting duties tonight, but he's sending his love."

"Probably for the best. Can't risk the probie's ankle on his first night out. Bet you'd love it though."

"… I am not confirming or denying anything."

Lucy laughs. "I'll see you tonight, Kinard."

"Don't wear yourself out too hard now, Luce."

"Speak for yourself. Oh, and if lover-boy is there, tell him to bring more of those cookies next time he comes to the station!"

"I'll make sure to pass along your message. Later, Luce."

The call ends, and Lucy tosses her phone to the side and immediately gives Taylor a hard slap on her ass.

"You heard the man, Firecracker. We're going out tonight."

Which definitely surprises Taylor enough to sit up and let the blanket slide down her shoulders. "Oh, because that will go well, she huffs. "You know I'm not the most popular with LAFD workers, right?"

"Thought that was just the 118."

"Words goes around," Taylor shrugs and sinks back down onto the soft mattress. The idea is nice. To go out and meet some of Lucy's friends, but in reality… she knows it can get complicated real fast, and she's not really looking for complicated right now. Lucy flops down as well and scoots her way closer to Taylor.

"You know, Tommy wouldn't call me knowing that I have company unless he wanted you to hear about tonight. That was his dumb-ass way of hinting for me to bring you."

"That's sweet and all, but does this… Tommy guy know who I am? By name?"

A pause.

"…Well, no."

Taylor isn't sure what to make of that response. On one hand, she feels a bit relieved knowing that Lucy's been keeping things on the down-low. On the other hand… a part of her wouldn't mind it if she shouted it from the rooftop.

She sighs and glances over at Lucy, who is looking back at her expectantly.

"So why do you want me to come tonight? And no, I heard that! Don't you dare—"

"You wouldn't just be coming tonight, T." Taylor sighs and rolls her eyes, just as Lucy lays down on top of her and starts mouthing at her neck and leaving a trail of goosebumps across her skin.

"I don't have anything to wear," she finally says, somewhat distracted by Lucy's lips and the weight on her on top of her. She shifts, draping one of her legs around Lucy's thigh and she can feel the other smirk as she pauses her action on her neck.

"Don't worry your pretty little head about it. I'm sure I've got something for ya!"

It wasn't the typical badge and ladder bar that Taylor had expected, and she quickly learned that this was the usual place to go out for drinks for their team. As for the team, none of them seem to bat an eye to Taylor as she was being introduced. At least not until she was being introduced to Tommy, the man who Lucy had been on the phone with earlier.

He was very eye-catching, and big. Certainly the type of man Taylor would find interest in, hadn’t she known he was seeing someone. His smile was wide and genuine at first as he introduced himself, but then he seemed to tense up a little when she introduced herself in return, and maybe she had imagined it at first, but she could swear she saw him and Lucy share a look for a brief moment before he composed himself.

"Well, Lucy has been keeping secrets," he then says lightly. "I wasn't aware you two knew each other so well."

"I mean, we only kissed the same guy," Lucy interjects, and Taylor and Tommy glares at her. "What? It's true."

"Luce—"

"You know the story, right?"

"Oh, I know it," Tommy muses. "You should also know… He's on his way."

A beat. Silence, and Taylor is feeling more confused than anything.

"Oh," Lucy says.

"Yeah. Oh."

"Well, fuck."

"I take it she doesn't know."

"She is standing right here," Taylor reminds them sharply, and both turns to look at her, looking equally as apologetic as the other, which doesn't really help the matter. "And she would appreciate it if you didn't talk in riddles around her, and you—" she turns to face Lucy. "—you really think it's funny that you kissed my boyfriend at the time that you have to walk around and tell strangers about it? Was it that hilarious to you?"

"Hey now, I wasn't—"

"Save it. I'm gonna go get a drink."

Shouldering her way past Lucy, she can feel both pair of eyes following her. She doesn't bother turning around to earn them her attention, but heads straight towards the bar to order herself a drink. Coming here had been a bad idea. She had already known that it would be a bad, and that brief little interaction had confirmed it for her.

Whatever she had with Lucy was already bordering on being complicated. It had the moment she had agreed to come here, and that wasn't a road she was willing to face just yet. She gets her drink- a Blue Lagoon cocktail, and she lingers there for a moment just as she feels another presence joining her side.

"Not interested," she mutters, a well-practiced line she's been using ever since this whole thing with Lucy had started. Which is another thought she stores away from her mind.

"Good. I can think of many reasons to why this wouldn't work out," a deep voice agrees, and Taylor scoffs as she realizes who it belongs to. She turns to face Tommy. "I came to apologize."

Taylor regards him for a moment. His words sounds sincere, and his eyes just as apologetic to match out his words. It's almost endearing. "That's noble of you," she says. "And I appreciate the sentiment, but it's not you I need to hear it from."

"Between you and and me, she could use a little groveling," Tommy muses. "But I do owe you an apology. I wasn't really expecting you to be her company."

"Well, that much is obvious."

A beat.

"You don't know who I am, do you?" Tommy sounds nervous, and Taylor frowns as she glances back at him again to assess him. Nothing about this man seems familiar.

"Should I? Have I, like… interviewed you before or something?"

"Uh… no. Nothing like that. We've never met until now," he assures her, which does absolutely nothing to still her curiosity. "It wasn't Lucy who told me. About the kiss," he then says. "And I apologize if that draws a wedge between you two. I just wanted you to know that it didn't come from her."

"Okay? I mean, the only person who knows would be—" she pauses as she realizes. "You know Buckley." She laughs as she ducks her head. "Of course you know Buck. LAFD, right? Well, I'm glad he finds enough humor in it to tell people about it. Yay me."

She takes a longer than necessary sip from her drink through her straw. The temptation to just leave just seems to grow by the second.

"Not people. Just me."

"I honestly don't care. It wasn't even about the kiss."

"I know."

"Does he tell you everything?"

"Pretty much."

"Doesn't sound like Buck. Unless you're really close, and from what I'm aware, he only ever hang out with the 118, or his sister, and I know you're neither, so…"

"You're not completely wrong. I was a part of the 118 before Evan joined."

"Evan, huh? Not one calls him that," Taylor laughs, and then pauses, again. She thinks back to that morning. The Face-time call. Don't let Evan hear you say that. Lucy referring someone as loverboy.

It's enough to help put the pieces together to make her realize what the actual situation is here, and she gets it now. Why Tommy appears nervous around her, the glances between him and Lucy after their introduction.

"You and Buckley," she says out loud in realization, eyes wide as she stares back at Tommy. "You two are—"

Tommy nods. Confirming, and Taylor feels a bit taken aback by the information. "Wow."

Tommy frowns. "Wow?"

"Not— not Wow as in wow, but… huh. Good for him, I guess? He seems to have good taste," she offers. "I'm sorry. I don't know what to say. This is…"

"Kind of my reaction when I realized who she had brought in, Tommy offers in return. Which. Fair. He probably hadn't expected his friend to come in with the ex of his current boyfriend. He seems more relaxed now though, and orders himself a beer as the bartender approaches them. "I don't think it was Lucy's intention to hide this from you. She genuinely believed he wouldn't show up tonight and—"

"Wait. You said he's on his way?"

Tommy swallows and nods.

"I'm sorry. I can… I'll call him. Tell him he doesn't need to come, that I'm not feeling great so I can leave—"

He pauses when Taylor raises her hand. "Oh, my goodness, no. No, let's not do that. We are all adults. I can handle seeing my ex. It’s been years, it's not like I'm not over him or something." Would it be weird to see him again after all this time? No doubt. They hadn't exactly ended things on great terms, either. But Taylor wasn't going to be the petty ex, either.

"I should warn him, at least," Tommy offers, fishing out his phone out of his pocket. "Leave at least one of us without surprises."

"Probably for the best," Taylor agrees, and orders another drink. She's gonna need it.

She knows Lucy is about to apologize when she finds her a few minutes later, looking apologetic and Taylor is not having it. Before she has the chance to speak, she grabs Lucy by the hand and tugs her along with her towards the bathroom. She has her pinned against the wall inside one of the stalls in seconds where she kisses her fiercely.

"I'm pissed at you," she then clarifies.

"Look, T, I'm so—"

"I don't wanna hear it," Taylor groans. "Not now. I came here because you wanted me here, so… that's what we're doing. But I'm still pissed."

Lucy looks back at her, her gaze roaming over Taylor's body before tilting her head to the side, tongue swiping over her bottom lip. "How pissed?"

"Fuck you," she huffs in return, and attaches to her again, despite herself. She licks her way into Lucy's mouth, and moans in delight when the pilot reciprocate by grabbing a handful of her hair to tug her closer and uses her leg to spread Taylor's legs apart. Immediately, she feels the arousal growing and herself pulsating when the friction of her thigh pushes up against her, urging her to grind to chase more of that delicious friction. Her own hand wonders down to the waistline of Lucy's pants, but Lucy stops her.

"Nuh-uh. Let me take care of you," she breathes into her ear. "You're wearing my panties. Being so wet that you are soaking through them, aren't you?" And fuck, she is. Lucy had insisted for her to borrow some of her clothes, and now the skirt she is wearing is riding up her hips as she keeps grinding up against her thigh, the slick leaving a wet spot inside said panties. The thought of it makes her movement more intense, and she moans when she feels Lucy's lips trailing over her throat and then her finger brushing over her center to add more pleasure. It doesn't take long for the orgasm to come. Lucy joyfully sucks her fingers as Taylor collects herself.

"And that's how you ignite the Firecracker," Lucy hums and helps fix Taylor's clothes so that she looks decent enough to go back out there. "I'll let you freshen up."

"Just go," Taylor laughs, and dodges the kiss Lucy blows at her as she leaves. She looks into the mirror, then, noticing how flushed she looks and her messed up hair. Anyone would know what she's been up to, so she makes and attempt to freshen up to look decent enough. The takes a deep breath before she gathers the courage to go back out there.

Buck is the first person she spots when she walks back to the group, making her pause her steps as something complicated unravels inside of her. He hasn't noticed her yet, so she takes a moment to take him in. He is talking animatedly and the entire group seems to be paying attention to what he's saying. His fingers is splayed casually over Tommy's thigh as he speaks, tightening when the probie addresses him and relaxing again when Tommy's fingers subtly brushes over his knuckles. An assurance.

He looks happy, she notes, and it doesn't fill her with as much dread as she thought it would. She had wanted this for him. To be happy, whoever that was with, and he seemed to have found that person, who seemed equally as happy to be in his presence, judging by his smile and how he looked at Buck, as if he would fight the world for him if he could.

Maybe it's something she can have, too she briefly wanders, and then takes a few more brave steps to join the group.

Buck stops chatting, and everyone turns to look at her. Unfazed, Taylor huffs and sits down next to Lucy. "Oh, don't stop on my account, Buckley. Keep going." Waves the whole thing off as if there's never been any kind of tension there, which seems to help relieve the tension off of Buck's shoulders. So he continues, and Taylor casually intertwines her fingers with Lucy's on top her her thigh.

The night goes on like that. The group are being friendly towards her, even asks her questions about the weirdest things she's had to report at her job. She catches Buck looking at her when he's not throwing daggers at the probie for acknowledging Tommy's existence, but he doesn't address her.

Not until she's off to get another drink, at least.

"Taylor. Hey," he greets her, joining her at the bar, and Taylor squirms.

"He's not gonna steal him, you know," she greets in return, turning to look at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Uh…"

"The probie? He's not gonna gonna steal your pilot."

"Am I that obvious?"

"Painfully," Taylor deadpans, which earns her a grin from Buck.

"So, uh… how have you been?"

"Do we have to do this? The small-talk thing?"

"Uh— I guess not?"

"Good. Because it's exhausting, and I just want to enjoy my drink."

That earns another laugh from Buck. "Yeah, that's fair. I wasn't sure what to expect when Tommy texted me, about you being here, but… I kinda forgot you're never one to beat around the bush."

"With that amount of muscle being around you, I'm not surprised you forgot. I imagine he's all kinds of distracting."

"You have no idea." The affection behind his words is unavoidable to hear. Taylor finds herself rolling her eyes.

"He's good to you." It's a statement, rather than a question.

"Y-yeah. Yeah, he is. He's incredible, actually. Like, in a way that I have to ask myself if he's even real." He smiles fondly and leans in closer to Taylor.

"So, you and Lucy, huh."

"Ugh."

"You do see the irony here, right?" He muses.

"That I am having the greatest sex of my life with the woman you cheated on me with once? Yeah, I do see the irony," she grins, and Buck looks surprised at first, before his grins widen.

"Well, cheers to that." He clinks his bottle with her glass and turns to keep his eyes on the group. Taylor does the same, and watches as the probie and Tommy are in deep conversation. Buck places his bottle down hard onto the counter. "Boyfriend duties," he apologizes, and strides off to pretty much glue himself to Tommy's side. Tommy looks more amused than anything, even more so when Buck winds his arm around Tommy's waist.

Lucy joins Taylor, then, propping her face up with her elbow. "You good, T?"

Turning away from the happy couple, Taylor finds herself smiling at her question. "Yeah. All good.

Lucy raises an eyebrow.

"Ready to leave?"