Chapter Text
For the record, Tim would like to state that he had no clue how things had gotten to this point. Things had been completely normal and fine and then this happened. Winona had come down to see Raylan about something and Tim couldn’t help noticing how upset Raylan was becoming, even if he didn’t show any of his feelings on his face. The acrid scent coming from him told Tim that Raylan was not particularly pleased with what Winona was saying or doing. No one else seemed to notice, but they did notice when Raylan began to get up and follow wherever Winona intended to lead him by the grip she had on his wrist.
Tim heard a growl echo through the small Marshal’s office and looked as Raylan turned back and started making his way towards Tim, letting off a soothing scent as he did so. That’s when Tim realized that he was the one who was growling.
Raylan brushed his wrist over Tim’s head, asking “You alright there Tim? What’s got you so upset?”
Tim couldn’t help but remember all the times his mother used to do that same thing when he was a pup and his father had done something to upset Tim, how she used to smell of the same upset that Raylan did just moments ago, while they were arguing, and how sometimes his father held his mother the way Winona was holding Raylan. Tim couldn’t help but to remember all the times he had wished to do something to help her but he was too small and weak to protect her.
He hadn’t even realized what he was doing until after he had dragged Raylan behind him and put himself between Winona and Raylan, not growling any longer but still scowling at her for upsetting his-Tim’s thoughts cut off. Had he really been about to call Raylan his parent? That was ridiculous. Sure Raylan was older than him, but not that much, a ten year age gap was much too small for that particular relationship. They were work partners and Tim would like to think that they were becoming friends as well, but-
“Tim?” Raylan’s voice piercing through his head made him lose his train of thought, “Come on Tim, want to tell me what set you off?” He sounded worried and was releasing a scent that was very calming, and all Tim wanted was for Raylan to stop worrying. Tim looked around to see what had Raylan so worried but didn’t see anything, the office looked like it had cleared out, aside from Art, Rachel, Raylan and himself.
Then Tim heard Winona protesting to Rachel “Why do I have to leave, I haven’t done anything wrong! The one causing trouble is Tim, can’t you tell that he’s hurting Raylan?”
Tim growled again at the thought that he would hurt Raylan, and instead focused on making sure that Raylan was alright after being around that harpy. He turned around to face Raylan, trusting that Rachel could handle Winona, and started checking Raylan, beginning with Raylan’s wrist, which looked fine, but smelled wrong, like possessive beta. So Tim decided to get rid of the scent and started rubbing his own wrist against that spot.
That’s when Winona started running her mouth again, “Really Raylan, you’re going to let them force me to leave when I need you? You’re acting like he’s an upset child, and he isn’t, he is a fully grown adult and if he can’t control himself that is on him, not you.”
Was he acting like a pup, Tim wondered? He didn’t think so but he hardly remembered a time when he had been allowed to be one so he wasn’t sure. It was natural that he would smell a bit like Raylan, they shared a workspace and were constantly in close contact, and everyone knew that omegas liked to scent mark the spaces they spent time in so they would feel more comfortable there. And if sometimes that meant others they were around took on a slight scent that was totally normal and to be expected. And if maybe Tim soaked it up just a little bit more than he had to, well obviously he was doing it for Raylan’s sake. Art had told him a bit about what had triggered the shooting of Bucks, and that Raylan might still be a bit unsettled, and everyone knows the more uncomfortable omegas are, the more they make clear what is theirs. If just maybe, finally, having the scent of someone besides Rachel on him for the first time since he left the Rangers also made Tim feel better, well that wasn’t anyone’s business but his.
The lunches were also easily explainable; when Raylan had come to Lexington originally, he would sometimes go over to Art’s and use his kitchen to cook food, with Art’s wife hovering around if the conversations between them were anything to go off of. Raylan apparently got tired of her hovering and fussing though, because he stopped going over there after she mentioned setting him up on a date. After a week of side-eyeing Raylan’s rapidly shrinking fuse and ice cream for lunch diet, Tim offered Raylan the use of his kitchen, that way it would at least get some use, since he barely used it. As a bonus, if they did wind up having to chase after someone, at least Raylan wouldn’t collapse from hunger, Tim had said, sarcastically of course, at the time. And if Raylan sometimes made too much food, with how small the fridge was at the motel he lived in, he couldn’t keep it there or it would simply go bad, so he left it for Tim to have.
The fact that he never mentioned bringing it in for the others had an easy explanation: Art’s wife always packed him lunch and Rachel almost always remembered to bring something in herself. Tim sometimes forgot but never thought of it as a big deal because there were a lot of vending machines and fast food places around the courthouse area if he even wanted to eat lunch, which wasn’t always a guarantee. Besides, if cooking extra large portions of food was how Raylan was coping with what got him sent to Kentucky in the first place, well, who was Tim to judge? Everyone had their own coping mechanisms and it wasn’t his place to question his coworkers.
Alright, so maybe Tim not liking when Raylan came in some mornings stinking of someone else wasn’t completely normal, but the man had terrible taste, and was inevitably going to get hurt when Ava Crowder finished with her rebound fling or Boyd made a choice that Raylan knew would happen but hurt him anyway. Tim just wanted to make sure that Raylan wasn’t going to get hurt and then mope around the office. And if Tim recognized when Raylan looked like he might be thinking about going out for the night and finding a Crowder, be it Ava or Boyd, or even his ex-wife, and distracted him by convincing Raylan to grab drinks, who was going to know that was deliberately done aside from himself? And if he was maybe a little jealous of how Raylan treated Loretta McCready the few times he saw them together, well, he would keep that to himself. Then if Raylan found excuses to fuss over Tim after he had to leave her behind, he was clearly just looking for a substitute to deal with his instincts, that was all.
“-don’t care if he is an adult Winona, he’s mine and that’s the end of it.”
“Is this because you don’t have an actual child, one of your own to take care of Raylan? You’re just pretending that he’s yours when you know that he’s not, that he can’t be. If you would just come to your senses-”
“Did you mean that?” Tim interrupted Winona, not caring that he was being rude, addressing Raylan.
Tim had been lost in his own head and missed that Raylan had taken the opportunity to scent Tim to calm him down, and then sat him in Raylan’s chair while Raylan went and talked to Winona, who had come closer. Tim tuned in near the end of the conversation and barely had time to realize that Raylan wasn’t behind him anymore let alone that Winona was close by again before he registered exactly what Raylan just said to her.
Raylan turned around to Tim, giving him a bewildered look, “Did I mean what?”
“When you claimed me as your pup even though I’m an adult? I am an adult by the way, I even have a nice shiny badge and federal job to prove it in case you’re wondering.”
Winona broke in, not wanting to be ignored. “See, even Tim thinks you’re being ridiculous.” She took in a breath before Raylan cut her off with a sigh.
“Winona, enough. Tim, yes I am aware that you’re an adult, and seeing’s how we’re normally partners on the job, I’m not sure how I could possibly have missed that.” Raylan couldn’t help adding sarcastically. “But just because you’re an adult doesn’t mean you can’t still be a pup to some people, and as far as I’m concerned you’re mine. And you haven’t been complaining about how I’ve been treating you so far so I don’t understand why you would be now.” Then Raylan got an odd look on his face and muttered “Unless you’ve decided that this is too weird, too much for you.” He ran his hand through his hair, his hat in the other. “I can respect that.”
Winona went to speak again and Raylan snarled at her before she could start, causing her to flinch away at the sound. Raylan sounded tired when he stated, “Winona, I said it before and I meant it, enough. Please, just leave, we can talk another time if it’s that important. Right now there are other things that I need to deal with, and to do that it would be helpful if you weren’t here.”
Winona looked annoyed when she turned and walked away, and shot a comment over her shoulder as she left the Marshal’s office, “So he qualifies as more important than me these days? Let’s see how long that lasts once you realize that you overstepped. Don’t expect that I’ll be waiting around for you though.”
Raylan didn’t give any visible indication of how he felt about her parting remarks, but he smelled upset and wouldn’t meet Tim’s eyes when he turned to face Tim. “Alright, so going off what you said it sounds like I might owe you an apology.”
Tim snorted. “You couldn’t have at least said something before all of this happened?” He asked, gesturing with his arms, sweeping them across the office. Raylan had the good grace to look at least a little embarrassed, and slightly confused.
“In my defense I hadn’t even realized what I was doing until it seemed too awkward to bring up. I take it you’re not too upset then?” Raylan asked, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.
Tim paused, he hadn’t had too much time to think about what had been said, and about everything that had been going on since Raylan had been sent to the Lexington office, but what his instinctive reaction had been to Winona upsetting Raylan when all this had started, and the fact that Raylan cared enough to back off if that was what Tim wanted, decided his response.
Tim shook his head, that tracked with Raylan’s normal tunnel vision. “Eh, I guess I can’t be too upset, especially since it gives me license to make your dating life a living hell, given the types you seem to attract. And I’m sure that Art will be very grateful for that” He said, smirking the whole time. “Just don’t go expecting me to call you anything other than Raylan, then we might have trouble.”